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As the P1A has about reached the finish line and the Meteor in the STGB awaits paint, I am looking at another build. This going to be the Pavla kit of the Supermarine S6B, the winner of the final Schneider Trophy air race in 1931. It is a short run injection moulded kit with some resin for detail parts, cylinder fairings and beaching gear. Going to be fun, as basically no location tabs etc at all. The plastic parts have a fair amount of flash. This kit is going to be interesting.

Hi folks This is my first post here so hello first of all. Since I found this site I’ve learned a ton of stuff and been inspired and intimidated in equal measure. Look forward to hopefully be a bit more of an active contributor as opposed to a lurker Reading around it sounds like I’m not the only one who has picked up a model for the first time in many moons due to the COVID-19 lockdown. I can’t actually remember the last time I built a model plane but it must be at least 45 years ago. I also wasn’t quite sure whether this was the right place to post this (apologies if it isn’t)? If I’d discovered this forum earlier I would have posted some work in progress shots but as it is I’ve nearly finished the plane but I don’t consider it ready for inspection as I want to build a trolley for it. I might even have a go at a diorama but not sure yet. I picked up this kit for a fiver I’ve attached a few pictures of where I’ve got to and would appreciate any critique of the current status and also any suggestions for anything I might have missed. Happy to provide any details about what I’ve done so far too. I made quite a few changes along the way as the kit wasn’t very accurate and I’m reasonably happy with it although it doesn’t stand up to really close inspection. I kept reading about things that I’d never come across before which sounded like a good idea (e.g. using foil to make the plane look like metal) but turned out to be blooming tricky. I only came across rescribing recently at which point I almost decided to bin it and start again but in the end I couldn’t face that and decided to carry on. I don’t think it looks too bad even thought the bodywork isn’t really much like the real thing. As I said though I’m keen to build a trolley next to display the plane and I found the plans for the pavla model which I am going to use but I’m a bit stumped as to how to make the wheels and was looking for some inspiration. I wondered if anyone had any tips for making tires in particular. I’ve worked out how to do the wire spokes but am not happy with my ideas so far for tyres... all tips gratefully appreciated. thanks Daryl P.S. The decals all fell apart when I put those on and I had to slide all the bits around on the surface of the plane and reassemble them all like a jigsaw puzzle. Luckily it’s not too noticeable but it was a real pain. Is there a trick to avoiding this happening? I’m assuming it’s because they were old (I actually used the ones from the airfix kit which someone sold me on eBay)

Built this a while ago, trying to get back into the habit of posting builds. The old Frog kit is greatly superior to the very old Airfix but still has its issues, but I just added a very basic cockpit and the bracing struts - they are not wires. To get the aerofoil shape I built a jig out of scrap sprue and glued two lengths of 0.08 monofilament fishing line side by side with thin superglue, which worked perfectly. The struts could be tightened up with heat in the normal way and paint filled what was left of the central grove. Paint is Humbrol, good old 'silver' 11 does a rather good salt weathered metallic aluminium. I went for a fresh paint look, just out of the factory or into the museum. The only problem was the decals instantly fell apart, which I expected. So I painted the tail - which got the blue matched - and replaced the serials with Model Decal British pre-war serial numbers and scraps were used for the float trolley markings. Would be nice to see this historic plane retooled or in larger scale plastic, plus other Schneider racers (there are resins out there - I'm tempted to take the plunge). It may not have guns but what an engine!