Merlin

Hi, I am very knowledgeable on the Mk I and was thinking this would make for a very current standard surface finish and panel lines model of the Mk I, with some major surgery , though I have the first issue Mk I in a box somewhere, and another I made up to my early modelling standards with hand painted markings etc, . I knew it had no raised rivets when buying it, deciding to work out just how to solve that afterwards. I think fill them in and use Archer is the way to go, if they have a suitable sheet, hope so. I know frame 8 and 11 on the Mk I had raised rivets yet the kit lacks those there, so is this an Airfix mistake or did the WW2 rethink also cover internal items as well as external ? Thanks Troy for the book suggestions. Never did buy Morgan/Shacklady , have the Roy Cross book but as said its as old as the kit. I see I have the Alfred Price book as well. Merlin

Hi, Panel cut from Hopp Farm forced landing( hopps dangling around cockpit) Do17Z with emblem on outside face, awesome item, exists at Middle Wallop aircraft Museum, and the reverse of it is in RLM 66. I also have the first aid kit holder from a Do17 and its in RLM02. so maybe an earlier Do ? I hope you get the 70/71/65 correct, avoid GS and other new brand paints, none of which bothered with any deep research, or even refered to b/w or colour pics, ! I suggest Colorcoats or Phoenix Precision Paints, perhaps Xtracolor, check with the actual colour charts, CC, PPP both have matched to THE ACTUAL ACCURATE COLOUR CHARTS, Merrick/Kiroff, recreated from actual formulae sourcing original pigments and media. I have the formulation documents from WW2 as well. I keep seeing schemes as if a fighter, a variant of 71/02 , nothing like the real thing. 70/71 are LOW CONTRAST, they pop wider contrast in sunlight. so much work on the modelling then the end result look unlike the original. and for 65, OMG, Eagle chart wrong, tirquoise light blue , not flge sides, there is talk of a protective varnish for undersides which may have imparted a turquoise , needs further investigation, I have a panel from a wing underside and its got that, and a scuffed surface area reveals the Merrick 65, so maybe true. rear end tip of the fuselage in the Lashenden Air Warfare museum, taken at the time, is 'bang on' Merrick 65, no protective varnish on that area, as not wing, so stick to Merrick, and CC or PPP. and be daring and use the slight turquoise variant on the wing undersides ! Merlin

Hi, Apparently , or so I read, the particular Spitfire Airfix modelled was built with flush head rivets. hence no datum longeron dome heads, and along base if spine skin panel, but then the VIII which came before the IX, going by my schoolboy knowledge of Roman numerals, also has flush on the kit, from what little picture coverage there is of the fuselage in the box, (correct me if I am wrong) or did the VIII appear after the IX ? Are Airfix just making an error here, have they simply not bothered, its an issue for anyone wanting to model a Mk IXc, at this scale they need to appear, or even wishing to convert to an earlier Mk, as Kotare do domes on a 1/32. This 1/24 certainly needs them. This is no easy fix at all. Should the VIII have them ? Does the kit have them ? and gluing 0.3 solder balls into the holes is not a fix as the dome rivets WERE NOT SEMI SPHERES. Have stopped before even starting on what was a £99 kit missing rivets, denying earlier IX to be built, or earlier marks modded, as not sure how to solve the problem, as I aim to convert to an earlier Mark. Merlin

Hi, Its to put a bust inside, so painting the dome isnt much use. Richard E has hit the nail on the head, I hunted everywhere. Amazon (which I loathe) wins. I have gone with the 8cm dia x 11.5cm (11.75in fact) as finding a photo of the bust its 5.5cm wide and 8.9cm tall before I get a base lathed that will sit within the dome. How can I reward you ? Merlin

Hi, struggling to find a source of a glass dome 6cm dia base or even 5cm. height about 7 or 8cm. where does one buy this from. an actual source rather than try temu is needed. Temu have domes either 2cm or 8cm bases. Cheers Merlin

Hi, well that photo of XP2 looks well and truly overcooked. I have that tile but far more refined as SR6. designed for folk like myself needing best settings and ultra fine detail. its the real test to use to show whats what. 0.75 to 2 secs with best about 1.5 secs is currently being used on an Any Cubic Mono X 6K . What was your exposure ? oh I see you have ditched the M5 and gt a saturn, I reckon the ultra may be better then the 6K, awaiting prints from elegoo of SR6, last lot got lost in the post and these are imminent and no sign of Royal mail having received them yet. PM me and I can send it to you. Elegoo also do R_E_R_F file tests, essential. they only manage 20microns and AnyCubic 15. This forum hasnt an easy upload image thing else I would post it but hosting companies and URL's are more time and fiddling. Merlin

Hi, attention Any Cubic Mono X6Ks users. I have a carefully designed calibration tile SR6, 6 stages into its refinement and the dogs danglies regards a decent well thought out calibration test for ULTRA fine detail scale modelling printing, arguably the best the world has to offer. Superior to all those dwarfs and goblins folk wave about in front of a crappy camera ! This is for rivets nuts bolts panel lines and no contour lines . I need to see what an Any Cubic Mono X 6Ks can do with it, as the 6K I have a bureau using has failed to impress after 6 months trialing, currently still unable to make the 1mm details stand up by more then 0.1mm ! Phrozen and Elegoo have managed it. I need to see a 6Ks results. The 6Ks superceded the 6K and I am sure its because the 6K was crap ! The stl has passed all checks by Rhino3D and PrusaSlicer. 100% good to go. So who has a 6Ks and knows how to print ? Its for a R_E_R_F file test. AND 15 MICRONS PRINTING Z HEIGHT. 8 tiles, as Any Cubic is designed to do. You get to see THE BEST SETTINGS with this item ! No serious printer modeller would pass that chance by ! For the 6K my bureau chaps are using 0.75sec in 0.25sec increments through to 2secs. Siraya Tech, also warhammer, and Any Cubic resins have been used. and its important to print with Anti Alasing OFF. That gives SHARP edges matching the CAD files. Its what us real modellers want for boxes and so on anyway ! A matt finish grey resin is wanted, black or white or translucent grey being useless at viewing and macro lens dSLR photographing. I will share with you the results after photos are taken. I will pay for the resin used and postage costs. ( I am UK so need a UK user) the tile is 3mm thick and 45 x 45mm, so very little resin gets used, and it doesnt take long. R_E_R_F tests are with tile lying flat. I need to liaise on this via email, so please pm me your email details and experience, Cheers Merlin

still cant see a thing flickr is just scenery. Merlin

Hi, Thanks for that, AK Interactive Polished aluminium in a youtube video at 10:20 looks good, stainless steel seems a bit dark for real stainless steel. Wish he would keep still for ten seconds, had to try and do a screen grab to study anything, all hands and mouth, nightmare of a presenter, keeps knocking the spons around, and the labels, just wild, however he has done the range, also he did Ammo Mig a-stand, same problem keeping things still. Polished aluminium at 20:42 looks good, in the Ammo Mig a-stand range, in this video. and Gold Titanium looks absolutely gorgeous as a colour though I need to find a subject for it ! Perhaps a Spitfire for the Mantlepiece ! Merlin

Hi, Need to recreate metal as per that on a domestic eating utensil knife blade, or as its true intention, a full size parachute harness snap buckle. so not chrome, and not polished aluminium which is too 'white' a look. any suggestions for what colour to buy and what paint please. Also what basecoat, gloss black or gloss grey or what ? and how realistic and true metal is the result. It has to look REAL. Cheers Merlin

The cockpit would appear to fit together well. I would add that its incomplete though, the Kuvi 2 LARGE aiming sight for the pilot is totally missing, as is the LARGE cockpit heater trunking , the oxy regulators are crude, and missing one, its missing seat belts, an incredible omission by Revell, and Radu Brinzan (spelling ?) were the best until he handed over the range to his mate who broke the business I read, The floor is plywood , look at the Norwegian Ju88A1. The side skirt is a light coloured canvas with brown leather edging, not dark grey as I keep seeing modellers do, as they dont bother to even look at the german cockpit image diagram available on the www. Medium blue pipes run along the stbd wall for oxygen feed , additional to the rubber hoses missing for the crew oxygen pipes, Other items benefit from detailing,, study Ju88A1 pics Norway. Guttorm had placed many large images on LSP. I have them all. I also know Guttorm. Its also needing a different tail fin and rudder ! The fin is a jet fin lacking the chunky rounded leading edge. Revell visited the Ju88 yet were blind it seems as it also needs the mainwheels replacing wiith correct ones. I only add this for anyone reading this thread thinking it was about what the cockpit entailed. It might prove useful. New book out by Richard Franks on the Ju88A1 and after, though the 1/32 kit gets a clean bill of health despite the corrections needed etc. The tail fin and wheels and cowlings are bad Revell errors. Finally rlm71/70 was a VERY low contrast scheme, I keep seeing what looks like 71/02 fighter high contrast, as in the LSP link given earlier. Wish modellers would look at a paint chart or even WW2 pics rather than make the thing look wrong after all the build work. Beware GS (the usual culprits) , and other paints. Use Colorcoats or Xtracolor. from makers who care ! Merlin

Hi, As Piotr notes, there are no photos of the canopy anywhere, most odd and suspicious perhaps as reviews always show canopy, essential and key focal point. I then find this :- https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/kp-172-supermarine-spitfire-mkiia-lr-raf which says beware bit warped. So what is the canopy like on the Mk 1 kits mentioned ? Has anyone bought one and has anyone the ability to take a decent photo ? What are the optics quality like and what is the structure and shape like ? Is it also a Mk1 fwd framework as such changed from the Mk V onwards. Just how does this compare to the Tamiya Mk 1 or the Airfix Mk 1 with its trenchlines (by comparison to Tamiya) and canopy I couldnt get to fit in. Thanks Merlin.

Hi, I am not sure Scampton is going to disappear, exciting proposals over £3million to be spent, museum etc (I wonder where the Lanc will come from ?) https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/developers-say-plans-transform-raf-8265094 though signing this attack on that plan might help. https://chng.it/mc7JgNjN pass it on, else Scampton , our most famous bomber station, may as well be lost, hate to be the sleepy local village with that lot let loose. Might mess up the tourism for the area as well. What scale is the diorama going to be ? One can get aerial photos from a national resource I think its in Swindon, I managed to get such for RAF Kenley. Such will give a good plan view and better ideas on peri tracks, paths etc. A lot of RAF buildings were built to a standard design, so a trip to Bicester and Linton on Ouse might help. latter also escaped refugee plans so do get distributing. That new plan and our most famous Bomber station needs that new plan and not the home office one ! sacriledge. Pass it on ! Merlin

Hi, The fabric patches over the gunports, I also have seen footage on a Battle of Britain station with the erks peeling off self adhesive patches, so yes self adhesive was used. This Czech footage would on the original have been without the ghosted edges and artefacts, its a shame that someone has despoiled it, nothing worse than misuse of the quality compression slider, youtube doesnt require such compression, so maybe one day we will see it in original quality. Merlin

Hi, I have need to insert junior hacksaw blade (6inch x 6mm) into a hole and saw, so need handle on it. I see those for its larger variant the 10 inch or so long ones with holes in the ends, such for the 6inch long blades are wanted, bit I cant find one, or another means of inserting a metal cutting blade into a 6.4mm square hole and start sawing the metal (thin steel PC case). How do we use the smaller hacksaw blades to cut through items when the end needs placing into the item ? Merlin