Airgunner

Utterly astounding, I don't have the words... next question, how big is the queue of museums that want to display it?

Not been here for a few days, and was surprised to see no-one has mentioned the passing of another of the Few, Squadron Leader Nigel Rose. Just 11 left now apparently. RIP Sir.

Out at the farmshop and got a fly past by a Tornado, first pass low and slow, wings unswept, second burners on and a full tilt departure. Followed moments later by a display by a Griffon Spitfire but too far away to see which on. About an hour earlier two Apaches headed that way too. I'm guessing it may well be Odihams families day?

My wife has a similar look on her face when I tell her I have just spent £100+ on a box of funny shaped plastic. It's simple economics of supply and demand.

Bit more progress over the last few days... Dot filter on, and the colours used.. This took a good few days to dry, probably down to the warm weather.. Whilst that was drying I added a the reflectors for the landing lights, I used some small pieces cut out of a Swann and Morton blade packet as it is aluminium coloured.. The canopies and turret clear parts have been painted too, first the interior colour, then Alclad Aluminium and then the exterior colours.. Once these have been left a day I will start on chipping them. More soon... Steve

Hi all, can anyone suggest a good area to watch/photograph departures, I was supposed to be working Monday but have now been stood down so have the day free. I see the 'official' area is sold out so would like a decent alternative, happy to pay. Thanks in advance.

Well, that seemed to work so I'll try and get some more photos up later...

I've hollowed the exhausts out with a micro drill and a sharp 10A blade...

Now renamed to Upton in Severn I believe.. 😄

Bloody annoyingly, thanks to PB all my photos now seem to have gone the way of the Dodo. So, I am now using Flickr, and this is going to be a bit of and experimental post. Got all the decals and stencils on now....

Got a good bit more done over the last few days, so here's an update.. Got the Dark Earth on, used Xtracrylix for this as to my eye the Tamiya version is a little too red. A marathon masking session then followed and the Dark Green was sprayed. This is Tamiya, heavily thinned.. Once it was dry, it was time to unwrap it.. Whilst the paint was soft I started on the chipping.. I also got on with the drybrush on the turret, and added the etch.. Got the prop done too... The step has some obvious detail on it, but the kit part is just a flat bit of plastic. There are lots of clear photos out there so I formed the basic shape from plasticard and added that. The end is in sight now, just getting some paint on the little bits and bobs, clear parts have all been dipped in future and are now drying ready for paint. Hopefully I'll get this finished over the next couple of days. More soon Steve

Frustrating day today, wanted to get the underside done, but had a real fight with the paint. Used, as I always do for RAF Sky, the Xtracrylix Sky which has always worked a treat but just couldn't get it to go down well. Tried loads of things but I just think the conditions I was trying to spray in was the perfect storm for it to go wrong. After about three hours I got it looking like this.... It's not horrendously bad but I'm not sure I am happy with it. I have put the airbrush away for today and will have a look with fresh eyes tomorrow. It may get away with a gentle flattening with Micromesh cloths and be presentable, we will have to wait and see. So much for getting some progress, today was the most time I've had at the bench, but the smallest amount got done. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Moving on.... Basic airframe together, primed with Halfords grey plastic primer and polished with 8000 grit Micromesh... ....ready for a coat of Alclad Aluminium in the areas there will be wear and chipping... And pre-shaded underneath. I try to preshade with a darker shade of the colour to be painted. TO me, RAF Sky has a greenish tint so I preshaded with RAF Dark Green.. While the compressor was running, I gave the turret an initial coat of Tamiya Semi-gloss Black... And one other thing that was bugging me. the wheels are not the best. One side of each wheel on the opposite side of the mounting hole was a deep sink mark, so I punched out a couple of discs to covered them, and also they add a little more depth to the wheels. A centre bolt was also added from a piece of round sprue.. Thats all for now, looking to get the underside painted tomorrow, and hopefully will get some of the other ancillery bits done like the prop and undercart etc. Steve

Managed some more bench time recently so time for a small update. First job of the day was to get the fuselage sealed up. This took a bit of time and quite a few test fits, mainly down to the Eduard IP, and the way Airfix would have you assemble the cockpit. As with all the new Airfix releases, tolerances are extremely close so careful cleanup of paint on all the mating surfaces is needed. Once the interior is aligned, it all clicks together well. The tape is there purely to hold it whilst the cement sets. Once that was done and had been put aside to set up, I thought I would take the turret. As previously mentioned, there would be the rest of the Zoom kit in the plus the Master .303 barrels. It's not the the kit barrels are bad, they're not with some careful finishing and opening of the muzzles they will look good straight from the box... But the Master barrels bring some much more, especially in 1/48th. The turret is a lovely little kit all of its own, and even without the etch and some careful painting it will look the business as is. I have convinced myself I need to do another one of these and use no aftermarket just to see how it turns out. The turret has loads of detail, but as I had it I will put the etch in, so lots of of the standard raised detail has been removed. So that's it for now, just going to leave that little lot to set up, then a bit of clean up and we can start squirting paint about again. I may well have a go at the undercarriage later if time permits, but for now, That's All Folks!! Steve

Now the hot weather has passed I can get back into to my shed and get to painting again, so I have finally got the interior painted, washed and finished. The Eduard Zoom stuff is as usual very nice, but on a kit like this, I'm sure not much of it will be see, in the cockpit anyway, but it may well help the turret along, that was really my main reason for using it. I also discovered that exposed wiring in the cockpit is minimal on a Defiant, and you wont see it anyway so I gave this a miss to. I've now moved onto the wing assembly, I really like the way this goes together and have started work on the wheel wells and a radiator scoop. I'll post up some photos when there is something worth seeing. More soon Steve