Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 24/02/21 in all areas

  1. Hi mates, 2020 was my "year of resin kits" - everything I built was resin. Since we all hope that 2021 will see a return to normalcy, I decided to return to my roots with injection moulded styrene. And what better way than an old gem from Airfix, complete with those funky square shaped sprues that remind me so much of my misspent youth? (I could have made something of myself, but no - I was social distancing in the basement building models.) Anyway, this is the 1:72 scale kit of the Shorts Tucano T.1 and by my guess her tooling is pushing 30 years old. I used a lot of aftermarket resin bits from CMK, and by doing so made it pretty much impossible to add weight to prevent tail sitting. To remedy that, I added the wheel chocks on the port side, but then discovered that the main gear legs were flexible and she still tipped over. Ultimately I resorted to gluing her down onto one of those nice bases from Coastal. Here's my usual summary: Project: Shorts Tucano T.1 Kit: Airfix Kit No. A03059 Scale: 1:72 Decals: Xtradecal sheet X72137 for the 2011 Display Scheme on ZF378. Stencils from the kit. Resin: Several items from CMK - 7358 Cockpit Set, 7356 Control Surfaces, 7359 Exterior Set, 7357 Engine, Q72285 Wheels Photoetch: P. P. Aeroparts AC703 RAF wheel chocks; various bits from the spares box including mirrors and canopy handles Paint: Floquil 110100 Old Silver, 110015 Flat Finish; Hataka C277 Roundel Blue; GSI Creos GX112 UV Cut Gloss, H12 Flat Black, H11 Flat White, H317 Dark Gull Gray, H23 Shine Red, H90 Clear Red, H94 Clear Green; Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black Base: Coastal Kits C20040 Circular Airfield Improvements/Corrections Cut out control surfaces and added resin replacements Complete resin cockpit and ejection seats, added rear view mirrors Resin engine, exhausts, and replacement prop/spinner Resin tyres and wheels Added blast shield and handles to canopy Airfield base Scratch built antenna on rear spine WIP can be found here. Now for some pictures: A better view of the cockpit: Cheers, Bill
    28 points
  2. After my ESCI Alpha Jet I was keen to build another airshow regular from the late 70s / early 80s. I remember walking around the Mildenhall static displays and spotting a jet that looked like an F-86D but the nose was wrong. Too pointy. I didn’t know what it was until I saw a Matchbox kit with a G.91 on the front. So now, building in 1/48, I found a couple of kits I didn’t know about. The Alpha Jet and the Gina. Both had surface detail and minimal cockpit detail. So having worked on those areas the Gina is now done. Hope you like her. And with the Alpha Jet And my RF-4E Thanks for looking
    23 points
  3. Here's my finished entry to this the Australia and New Zealand GB. Unsurprisingly, it's a Vulcan. What else do I even build these days? Now it's not just any old Vulcan, that wouldn't have much of a link to NZ or Australia aside from quite a number of visits, this is XH562 which was the victim of a RNZAF practical joke in 1972. As recalled by Crew Chief Bill Pearsey: So here's my model, representing one aspect of the RNZAF's hospitality when it comes to hosting foreign guests. It's the 1:144 scale Great Wall Hobby Avro Vulcan B2, decals are from Printscale, Fündekal and some that I printed myself. Paints are a combination of Tamiya, Vallejo and Citadel. This is probably one of the least modified vulcan builds I've done. I only removed a few blisters, changed some of the ECM equipment and removed the RWR fairing from the tail. No trace remains of the X-Band Jammer that was previously on the tailcone. XH562 never had either version of this equipped. WIP thread here:
    22 points
  4. To keep company to Marcel Belgium Hurricane, here is the Roden Gloster Gladiator belonging to La 1ére Escadrille, La Comète. I have used the Part photo etch set, Quickboost wings MG gondolas, Rob Taurus canopy and the magnificent SBS engine and nose panels. I had already built two of these and I thought I knew where I was going! Wrong! She fought me hard, but really hard! It's probably time to take a break. As usual no decals but masks. Salute to the Belgium pilots who fought against all odds with those obsolete biplanes against the Me 109 and 110. Best regards. 2F591682-D5F0-4B29-B5FD-058CEC4846F8_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 3A5272F6-A573-4B0E-AA6C-9DDE1532D15E by jean Barby, sur Flickr 398C1AD1-F550-44EE-B2E3-0A318A32F9BC_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 7B56D226-6885-44DB-A260-58D3DBD54B22_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 6BA3A3DF-E1FF-402C-9764-399886BD544A_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 2E4237E9-028C-4D05-8CD1-95576086D874_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr
    21 points
  5. This one was personal. We used to get most of our AEF at Lossiemouth when I was in the Cadets and whilst this was mostly Chippie based, one glorious summer Sunday we got a long flight in this Grey Lady. Still one of the most memorable times I had in my youth. Some aftermarket added - Eduard Cockpit set and Brassin Resin Wheels. Xtradecal Shackleton Pt.1 Transfers The crew ladder was purloined form the Airfix MR.2 kit Primed with UMP Grey. Painted with Colourcoats Dark Sea Grey, Interior Green, Matt White, Light Aircraft Grey and Medium Sea Grey Tamiya Nato Black, Rubber Black, Gloss Red, Clear Red and Clear Green. Mr. Hobby Dark Iron Molotow Chrome. Washed with Citadel Nuln Oil, Seraphim Sepia and Flory Dark Dirt. Finished with Windsor & Newton Satin and Matt varnishes. WIP here So on with some pics. Thanks for looking and as always any comments and criticism welcome. Cheers, Alistair
    19 points
  6. Hi All Latest one off the workbench and something a little different for me...the 1/200 B-52D from Dragon. A really neat little kit and a very enjoyable build, but one word of caution....best to add the wings complete with outriggers LAST after you've also added the main wheels, as there's no way you'll get all wheels to touch the ground. I made the mistake of just guessing the dihedral of the wings and found that when i added the outriggers at the end they were floating in mid air! Several evenings of bending the wings later with warm water and a heated candle and finally they were back to where they should be (well almost!) This was no fault of the kit though...just poor forward planning by me. Decals were straight from the kit which although fairly elderly held up reasonably well apart from some decal film on the wing walkway lines that i just could not get rid of despite much soaking with microsol and gloss varnish. Paints were Tamiya and Mr Hobby. I took a flyer on the colours rather than matching the FS codes as every photo i could find of the 'D' seemed to show varying shades and colours. In the end I followed the example preserved at the Duxford Air Museum for comparison. Photos aren't the best as they're from the mobile phone. Thanks for looking, comments much appreciated........
    18 points
  7. Hello Again; For those of you already follow construction stages on my Instagram account may notice, I just finished 1/144 Revell Airbus A319 CSA Livery as of today. My initial plan was to finish her in 2020 however decal problem which I encountered (DRAW decal totally destroyed while application) did not allowed to finish her on time. As for the paints, Tamiya LP4 used for the fuselage, lower section of the fuselage painted with Mr. Color C325 , wings and horizontal stabilizer painted with the mixture of Mr. Color C325 and 316. Engines painted with Mr. Color GX-3. All metalics are Alclad. Following to painting stage, model clear coated 4 layers of GX 112. Decals are BOA, cabin windows and cockpit windows from Authentic Airliners. Thanks for looking Greetings from Frankfurt Berk
    17 points
  8. Following on from my Build Thread here is the model on its shiny oak base. The vessel modelled is S-46, one of only 12 s-boats fitted with the 40mm Bofors (according to table 13 in Fock). The model is fully scratch built from plans obtained from Paul Stamm Modellbau in Saarbrücken, supplemented with other drawings from various publications and some excellent unpublished photographs provided by @Arjan for which I am very grateful The hull is solid wood, built up using balsa infills between ply frames, the superstructures are largely copper, supplemented with etch brass made by 4D to my drawings. Many of the other components are 3D resin printed also to my own drawings. It is painted using Vallejo paints from their Kriegsmarine set and weathered to look like its having a hard war. The following extract is from S-boot net describing how the boat was lost On 10.09.1943 the Red Army landed in the city of Novorossijsk. Six days later the town had to be evacuated. On 11.09.1943 Soviet ground attack aircraft attacked the boats of the 1. SFltl returning home. Not impressed by the defensive fire they pushed down to 10 m height and fired with onboard guns. On "S 46" all engines fell out, the torpedo in the port tube exploded and tore the forecastle off until the bridge. In spite of the ongoing attacks "S 49" went alongside and took over the partly severely wounded crew and two killed in action. The boat was then sunk with a torpedo. She is modelled as she was in 1942 serving with the 2nd flotilla based in the pens at Ijmuiden, as per the picture below. She is equipped for fast minelaying She is mounted on turned brass pillars on French polished solid oak. The name plate is from engraving studios, £12.50, good value and fast turnaround. The oak case is not ready yet, a couple of weeks away hopefully The papier mache canvas sides worked well this time. They sit slightly concave between the stanchions and have a nice level of weathering. The waterline is my own mix oily green weathering, very dilute Vallejo paint, stippled on and wiped off a number of times, resulting in a dark weathered line with a slight green hint The ensign is hand painted and soaked in weak PVA before drying in shape, the transfer was printed on my laser printer on transparent waterslide decal paper, the decks are canvas covered as per real practice View of the rear, note the slop bucket. I read somewhere that the crew had no head, they used a bucket and chucked it over the stern, had to include that detail. The mines are UMC mines, 3D printed with added wire detailing, the Bokors is made from 40 odd brass turned, etched and shaped pieces Midships and bridge detail, the lookout is there to show the help people understand the scale View from the air Comparison post coming later with my SGB Cheers and thanks for the support during the build Steve
    16 points
  9. This is just my second kit built since returning to the hobby after a hiatus of 25+ years so not up to the standards I regularly see on the forum but overall I'm still quite pleased with it even if I did make a few obvious mistakes, for example not cleaning the inside of the canopy to remove bits of dust before sticking it in place! To make the conversion I added some 'Quick Boost' items such as supercharger intake, dust filter, aileron balances and pitot tube, tail wheel from an AZ kit that ended up in the re-cycling bin and aerial wire from EZ Line. Normally I wouldn't try and weather a model for fear of making a complete mess but I've stumbled upon a method that seems to work-ish using artist's acrylic paints (the stuff sold in tubes) over a satin varnish, which seems to adhere reasonably well to the Humbrol Satincote (I'm an old time dedicated enamels user). Any comments and observations most welcome. Regards Colin.
    15 points
  10. I have just finished this one for the Australian/new zealand GB. It is a joy to build this new Airfix kit. Cheers Jes
    15 points
  11. Thanks Giorgio - great tip Thanks Ali, another vote for Aqua Gloss I guess shaking the bottle would introduce bubbles eh? Thanks Bill - yep, eventually things sink into my thick skull Good point Lewis I think the idea is that Klear is designed to be hard wearing. Maybe. Thanks Bill and Hendie. Is that smelly stuff? Thanks Johnny Aha, that's where I got the idea then Cookie Sort of works for me although I sometimes have problems with pooling or bad coverage. I think I'll try the Aqua Gloss. Seconded! Bottom done (fnaar!) Looks easy, but the serials are in three parts! Luckily the large one is shaped around the wheel doors so it's not too hard to position them.
    14 points
  12. I found these in Argos 2 for £15 And they have some good parts...90mah lipo, 2 motors and an IR system So I fixed it with a previously started sea king. It was only a test build to test the concept so a rushed (very bad) paint job. I hate the gloss yellow as well..... so hard to use. But it works... , The module of course needed resoldering and rejigging with addition of longer wires and a transistor to allow tall light to flash. The tail rotor I used a 4x8mm motor instead (taken from old mobile phone - the vibrating motor) and needs putty to reshape the tail but allows a tail rotor action. The IR receiver is in the cockpit and sits neatly in the cockpit panel. Thankfully only a test build as now I know the mistakes eg poor placement of switch and charger The switch is under the white rails so hard to use and the USB charge position is awkward. Will go for the easier colours of the other airfix sea king next time. At £7.50 each for those revell helicopters they are a cheap source of gadgetry!
    13 points
  13. Here's Jack: my avatar, my hairy lord and master; my sidekick; an enthusiastic friend to all humans and a raging psychopath to all German Shepherds and Huskies, for some reason: He just turned 11 and still behaves like a pup. Cheers, Stew
    11 points
  14. Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my latest, the 1/72 Eduard Fw-190 A8, with metal gun barrels and pitot tube from Master, representing "Black 4" of JG300. Decals are from Eagle Strike (72002) "Home Defense Focke Wulf". The model was painted according to original photograph: https://www.jg300.de/fw-190a-8-schwarze-4.html Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. I painted with Gunze acrylics and weathered with artist oils. The RV band is airbrushed for a more realistic appearance. There should be a DF loop under the fuselage; this part went missing when I took the model to the photo shoot. (The loop was discovered after the pictures had been taken and added to the model.) I know you've all seen plenty of Eduard Fw-190s on these pages already, so thanks for your interest!
    10 points
  15. This was the final one of my January Hawk binge. Its the current Airfix Hawk "built out the box" in its wrap-round cammo option. I quite like the newer Airfix mould, although it has over-deep panel lines and a few parts have been oversimplified. It is generally a very easy build, with one exception - I just can't get that internal windscreen right ! - mind you I seem to have that problem with most of the Hawk kits I have built. And the set all together: FredT
    10 points
  16. Just came home from shopping and little one immediately staked her claim on the 80 odd pouches of food.
    10 points
  17. Yikes! It's amazing how rough things look at this stage. But, we can see that the Harrier has birthed a pair of Sabrinas. Once these are properly sanded and faired into the fuselage, there are some additional lumps and bumps to be added (specifically to the port pod). At the end of the build (assuming I get that far) the pods will sprout antennae. 📡 The pods were made from the drop tanks. I scaled the pod length from a photo which I hope was not taken with a fish eye lens, or from a fun-house mirror. Close enough for horseshoes and 1:72 scale, I say. The QinetiQ stickers have been ordered from Nils. Thank you! Coamings, instrument panels, and HUD thingies coming up next. Still need to clean up seams, do some re-scribing, etc. All in a day's play in Navy Birdland. Occasionally, Mrs. Navy Bird slides plates of flat food under the door to the inner sanctum. If I ask what it is, I hear "Shut up and eat it!" Cheers, Bill
    10 points
  18. These were kits that I didn't realise existed this time last year. They are also the first kits I have started and finished this year, less than four weeks from first post to final photos. Over the summer I was quite excited when I found the Abarth kit on eBay from a European seller at quite a reasonable price. As an aside it seems European sellers are quite often cheaper than British ones, sometimes enough to cancel out the more expensive postage costs. It wasn't until December or January that I saw a standard 500 kit come up on eBay (with a slightly silly buy-it-now price and I think it's still for sale with no price drop). The 500 kit I bought was a bit cheaper but did have a lot of parts off the sprues and although it was a bit of a gamble the seller was correct that it was complete. Building the two kits together helped provide a useful reference as many of the parts are identical so I could find the 500 part by comparing it to the equivalent from the Abarth kit. I've been fond of Fiat 500s ever since I knew what one was, my first car was the 500's boxy replacement, a Fiat 126 which was a lot of fun even if not as cute as the older model. Small Fiats also conjure up memories of holidays to Rome, where there are plenty of 500s in daily use in various states of repair. Anyway, I'm sure you want some pretty pictures. The body is Fiat Capri Blue, from a Halfords aerosol. I'm not sure if it's authentic for a 500, but it's a nice shade although it looks a bit lighter in photos. I wanted a dark blue to set of the bits of chrome and to contrast/compliment the red interior. Interior is Ford Rosso Red and Halfords Appliance White where it isn't body colour. I'm so glad I took the trouble to pick out the white piping on the seats. I was a little surprised to see that this was a feature on the 500. Engine bay. There isn't much in here but I've enhanced it with plug wires, pipes for the fuel lines and wire clips for the air cleaner. Underside, I added a little rust wash on the suspension and exhaust, more to tone down the colours than to make them look actually rusty. And on to the Abarth Body colour for this is Ford Dove Grey, again from Halfords spray can. I'm not sure if it's right although it looks quite close to the FIAT Abarth script on the decals. The instructions just suggested "light grey" without specifying a Tamiya product to reproduce the correct colour. With some kits Tamiya will either list a colour from its range or tell you which paint to mix in the correct proportions to get the "right" shade. The flared wheel arches glue to the standard 500 shell and are the most difficult part of the build. It took a bit of light filling to get them neatly fitted. I also wonder if I should have cut away the standard arches a bit underneath as the tyres barely have room to steer. The body side decals are a bit of a nightmare, they are in two parts, split at the trailing edge of the door, but really need to be in three pieces, I think. Plenty of setting solution was needed to get them to cling to the curves of the body. There are a few metal transfers on the Abarth and the only one that gave any trouble was the silver shield behind the scorpion badge on the engine cover. The Abarth dashboard is more detailed than the standard 500, it's a different moulding and there are more dials (each a separate decal and very fiddly) plus some rather lovely decals in front of the passenger seat. For some reason the engine cover doesn't want to open very far, which makes a bit of a nonsense of the wiring and plumbing I did. Maybe I should have gone for the classic Abarth "boot open" look after all? Over head view. Underside, showing the finned sump and twin exhaust as well as the "Carlos Fandango-style" tyres. The 500 in the garage. You can fit two 500s in a single garage. I would definitely class the standard 500 as one of the best kits I've assembled. It goes together so well that you never fight it and all your effort goes into getting a good finish and adding details. In fact I would go as far as to say that the 500 deserves to be regarded as a classic kit. In fact I've tracked down another 500 to build, probably with a right-hand drive conversion. RHD isn't a kit option (pity) but shouldn't be too hard to do. It would be a perfect kit for anyone who wants an introduction to building car kits. Here, if you are interested, is the build thread. Thanks for following along and all the encouragement.
    9 points
  19. Hi all, This is my first post here and I would like to start with the Tamiya 1/48 Mustang III in the colors of the second plane of this type used by S/L Eugenius Horbaczewski. For this build, I've used the True Details cockpit, the Yahu instrument panel, the Rob Taurus vacformed canopy, the Aires horizontal stabilizers and elevators, and the Aires wheel well. I had a hard time fitting the Aires wheel whell in place and ended up with a big step on the wing to fuselage joint. I had to sand and redo the whole area on both sides with Tamiya putty and then rescribe it. Apart from that, the kit assembled without any real problems. Canopy masks were made in Corel Draw and cut in a Kabuki sheet in my trusty Silhouette Portrait. The model was painted with Hataka enamels.. Decals came from the Techmod sheet on the type and from the spare box. Comments are welcome. Cheers, Ivan
    9 points
  20. I finally removed the digit and got on with things. The aerials were rigged, windscreen wipers stuck on and the crew ladder from the Airfix MR.2 was nicked and utilised. RFI Here I would like to thank @perdu who made my mind up for me about this build. Thanks are also due to @Learstang, @CedB, @bigbadbadge, @Spookytooth, @tonyot, @Ruskin Air Services, @Christer A, @billn53, @gazza l, @Dr. Quack, @neil5208, @roginoz, @TheyJammedKenny!, @PZRGREN, @Marklo, @ColinChipmunkfan, @Brigbeale, @2996 Victor, @DonH, @Big Dave S, @cobraleader, @Ex-FAAWAFU, @John_W, @Navy Bird, @bar side, @KevinK, @Lord Riot, @71chally, @John Laidlaw, @AdrianMF, @(ex)Sgtrafman, @Teuchter, @Shalako and @amos brierley for your time, help, encouragement and patience on this. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair
    9 points
  21. For a comparison, here she is next to the vessel that was designed to counter the threat, the Denny Steam Gunboat I built last year, waterlines the same. The model is intended as a companion to the SGB Cheers Steve
    9 points
  22. After having lost my two older dogs last year Marty and Alberto just three months apart. We got another Pug and she turned 10 months old yesterday. her name is Kàra Freyá Brown and she gives nothing but love so thats good.
    9 points
  23. Good evening folks - just a small update on my propeller error... With a deep breath & a pair of really strong tweezers I managed to "squeeze" the prop hinge (without breaking it) to release the prop & then 'ping' it back in the right way round - PHEW!!!! This is the up position & you can now see where the clutch type thingies come together... ...and here is the down position... Job done - time for a glass of wine I'm going to check if anything else needs doing - but I think we are close to a bit of "slight weathering" & we may be nearly done. Thanks for checking in on my "remedial" action -Steve
    8 points
  24. Martian found his references and there was great rejoicing. Uncannily, it was, as @DonH predicted, in the last place I looked. Spooky or what? (In best Scooby Do voice) If it wasn't for those pesky kids, I would have found it and had the job done ages ago. I did have to tidy my desk at least as even I have to accept that a 1/48 scale Canberra wing is never going to fit onto the two inch square clear space that remained. I worked on the retraction mechanism for the main undercarriage and made a couple of jacks from some Albion Alloys tubing. when these were attached to the rest of the kit part, the retraction mechanism did not want to sit in the correct place as indicated by Airfix. Much head scratching ensued until the penny dropped that Airfix had the mechanism attaching to the wheel bay roof, rather than the wing main spar as in real life. Once I had realised this and modified the kit parts, things dropped into place nicely. Next I began plumbing the retraction in. I got the starboard wing done but the work was rather fiddly and was beginning to give me a headache so I shall resume work on the pot wing on the morrow. Thanks for looking. Martian 👽
    8 points
  25. This is Righ, Gaelic for King, he's 12 on his next birthday and my third Weimaraner. His appearance in my modelling room is usually to tell me it's time for him to take me on another walk. Duncan B
    8 points
  26. Hey Dennis no problem mate, good to see you and I know 1/32 isn't your customary scale but you probably won't get a better Gladiator kit any time soon Thanks Alistair, I've got the CR.42 as well, minimal rigging but complex paint job; swings and roundabouts I can't even remember where I stole the idea for the gunsight glass but it is quite effective, though will be unnoticeable in real terms, the gunsight itself being about 2.5mm across... I'll be using Infini Lycra Thread for the rigging, and where I can some of Bob's Buckles eyelets, but it's a prospect I do have some measure of trepidation about Thanks Chris, it's always good to gussy-up the little bits where you can, it draws the eye away from the other mistakes Like the one illustrated in "No Place for Beginners" with the diamond markings on the upper wing? That would be a beauty Thanks Dennis, yes go for it mate, although there's no particular rush as I suspect this kit will be available in different guises for years to come I too am awaiting the Special Hobby Whirlwind but it might still be a while before that sees the light of day. Building two of (more or less) the same kit at once is a lot like making love to a... no, wait, I mean it's a lot like having a pair of dogs instead of one. There's a lot of time saved by not duplicating effort on two different things, in the same way that having a pair of dogs is like a 25% increase in 'work' rather than 100% as raw logic would suggest. I more or less assembled the rudders: I haven't added the position lights at the lower part of the rudders, that can wait until after painting. Of the four actuator attachments at the lower half of the leading part of the rudder, one pinged out of the tweezers while I was preparing it for glueing, was found after a long search of the locale, then promptly pinged away at the second attempt at glueing; I did not find it the second time so fabricated one from a bit of scrap plastic - it's the further one in the picture. Also the Sea Gladiator rudder has the R/T wire 'prong' on it, whereas the Belgian one has the 'prong' on the tailfin itself, so that's another thing for me to remember not to mix up. Finally I added the parts on which the rudder will hang: I had a hell of a time getting those in; they seemed way too big and while that could be my fault I'm not sure how, but I had to shave quite a bit off the sides of the part in question to get it to fit in the slot. I think I'll fit the rudders at the end, for ease of painting. In fact I think the easiest way forward for me may be to do what the model ship-builders do: make everything possible up as a sub-assembly then put it all together after painting. Finally... I've reached the stage where drilling becomes a necessity and that makes me a bit nervous given my inherent cack-handedness. The immediate requirement is for two holes to be drilled in the tailfin, two in the upper stabiliser and one in the lower. I have a plan - please do let me know if you see a flaw in it: if I tape the two upper halves of the stabilisers together, mating face to mating face, I can drill through both at the same time, and end up with perfectly symmetrical holes in both stabilisers, and do the same with the lower stabilisers. Either that's reasonably clever, or very stupid, but I've thought it over and I can't see a problem with it Cheers, Stew
    8 points
  27. On a boat in Lake Powell. Cora is on the seat, she's 8. Omar is on the deck, he's 7 going on 1. Both are from German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County. almost
    8 points
  28. Moving gradually forward, I’ve started on the main starboard boat deck - the one under the starboard crane. First up, if you’re a long-term follower of this build you probably won’t be surprised to find that Merit’s offering is vaguely OK but not what you’d call strictly accurate... Not that this would really matter if you built this OOB, because Merit’s boats are hopeless (as discussed at some length months ago). Generic (2 types, when she actually had 8 or 9 different designs), too small... useless. However, having purchased some beautiful printed boats that are accurate, it became apparent that they wouldn’t fit through Merit’s openings (so would look daft)... which led me to do some measuring & comparison with plans & photos... which in turn led me to 30 minutes of careful filing to get the boat bays look right - and more importantly plausible! (I’m confident that I’ll have to do exactly the same on the port side, but for now I’ve just dealt with starboard). This area of the ship housed 4 large boats per side, with 2 inboard & two more obviously visible outside them. All 4 got in & out of the water via the “seaplane crane”, but there still had to be a Heath Robinson miniature hand-cranked railway arrangement to move the inner boat crutches outboard until they plumbed the crane ready to lift. Tetra’s detail up set ignores this entirely, but WEM’s does not. Here the aft cradle in position (you can even see the hand cranks, though these will be entirely obscured by a large boat in due course!) - this opening was extended forward (to the right as we look). ...and here both of them; the forward opening (on the right) was extended aft. And here seen from directly above: Next step will be to add the cradles for the pair of boats that sit outboard of this arrangement. The common theme / plan here is that I am trying to build everything that needs to be added before the primer and base coat stage. Boats, weapons etc can wait, but boat cradles & handling arrangements cannot. Happy days Busy tomorrow evening, so more later in the week. Crisp
    8 points
  29. With the weekend's hetching psychodrama hopefully resolved now (I'll bung another lot on at the end of the week to check that's ironed out any remaining creases), I've been footering around in odd moments continuing to check the fit of parts and assembly sequences. Good news in the main, which I'll get to after ⬇️ Does it get any more debonair than that Pete? Those visions appear in my head too sometimes Bill. 😁 This rather well-known Viking frame of the morning fog in the Noctis Labyrinthus has haunted my imagination for decades: It's a Sea Vixen Massimo; resin alone is insufficient for such majesty! 😁 Ah yes my friend, decals! It's purely a personal preference but having used the process over the last few builds, I don't see myself going back from masking and painting markings to using decals here - or in there future - for the most part. I just find they look better for my purposes painted like the real thing in terms of surface integration when the light hits them, especially from strongly oblique angles. On XN708 there's nothing I can see present in terms of letters and roundels that Oramask won't let me airbrush on, although XJ481 does seem to have a much smaller non-standard tail number in some Martel shots that may go below the do-able size threshold for painting. Certainly at 1/72 I think decals remain the only way to go for things like those littlle red danger triangles and other associated airframe labels (and the RR plaque on the engines!). I am concerned though to cater for all tastes, so if anyone is looking for one of these kits, it seems only fair to provide a choice of either masks or else a digital download of everything in decal form for those who prefer to print up said markings themselves. It's sad to see the state of OMD these days Benedikt - they've really let themselves go.... Thanks G! 😁 1:1 scale and gently weathered.... Thanking-you Ced; it stills needs tidying up the next time around but I think stroking my parts with a brush for a bit longer to get rid of unexposed developer will provide the necessary finish.... Anyhoo. Some adventures in test-fit-land to relate, along with notes on any adjustments needed for the actual aircraft next time around. Rear exhaust/turbine section added to the Avons now: I really pleased with the overall crispness of these engines now - despite the pain of that lost 7-10 days resolving all the resin printing problems, it's paid dividends in teaching me a lot about balancing exposure times with levels of detail required. The details inside of that rear section: - and up at the front: - also retain excellent levels of sharpness on the fan blades for example. If the exposure levels for the resin were overdone, it's areas like this that would be first to show the damage in terms of blurred/soft detail in such key areas, akin to an out of focus photo. Next up I wanted to dip my toe into the multimedia side of the build for the first time by making a start on the seating: As an aside, a tool I find indispensable for working with brass these days is a set of parallel pliers: It lets easily you hold sections of brass flat between the jaws when filing, or even as a vice to flatten any accidentally bent bits along the way. Broken down into their major components then, you can see that these MB Mk.4s consist of the seat pan, the vertical seat beams, and associated upholstery: There are as you can see some visual differences between the pilot and observer seat being shown here: To my astonishment - and no doubt yours - the fit of the upholstery sections into their respective pans was nigh-on perfect. Observer on left, pilot on right: Those seat raising levers on the right hand side are on the cusp of printability in terms of size and strength, but make for a nice visual contrast of structure against the brasswork I think: If a chap were to be particularly pedantic, said chap could use some lengths of wire or cotton to represent the elastic bungee cord type things on the inner sides of those seat beams (presumably to launch the seat clear of the aircraft)- a detail I only recently became aware of from studying seat schematics. I forgot to take a shot of the pilot's seat from the front as part of the drap of upholstery from the top sections (the bit with the shoulder wings) down onto the seat cushion proved too fragile to print. It's easily compensated for by using a short length of washi tape in its place to create the fall/fold of material so not something to worry about unduly. The Obs. seat fixed into place: In terms of building materials, I used CA to glue to brass seat pans to their surrounding resin counterparts as for some reason the Gator's Grip didn't want to know; the seat rails were however bonded to the cockpit floor using resin and laser, the preferred method for resin to resin joins of this kind. From here I moved onto the nose section itself, adding he bass IP to the PAS section and attaching this to the opening for the pilot: I had to file the brass of that IP down a little at each end so that it would fit, so I think I need to adjust the PE design before printing out masks next time to make the periphery of it slightly smaller. It should be possible though to add a sliver of transparency to the top of that PAS structure to represent the angled glass projector screen. Also visible in he above shot is the fact I also for some reason seem to have printed a version of the nose that didn't have locating holes for the canopy frame, so will need to re-export that from Fusion into the output inventory.... Next in line then was the main run of brass panels from bneath the PAS, doglegging back between the two cockpits and bending round to frame the AI.18 screen on the observer's side: These structures all integrate surprising well around each other, though I will have to remove about 1.5mm at the rear of that middle brass section where it hides the locating hole for the AI.18 drum to fit in against the main console: it'd be frankly surprising to to end up without a snag sheet of such issues at this preliminary stage wouldn't it? Big nail biter though was always going to be: will this assemblage actually fit inside the fuselage though? By God it did first time, without any adjustment needed! Elated by this discovery, I went on to add the rear of the cockpit floor along with the observer's seat: This too fit first time, though - due to the height of the Obs. seat and central divider, you need to slightly tilt that section to slide it forwards and then rotate it back vertical again one in place - the resin is plenty strong enough to withstand the modest handling involved. As originally envisaged, there isn't room to fit the pilot's seat in from the rear so this slides down into place from above once the rear cockpit is installed. Not unexpectedly perhaps, the width tolerances inside there are of the gnat's whisker variety so you do have to sacrifice the seat raising lever on the pliot's MB4, a detail invisible from outside anyway so not something I'll lose any sleep over: I haven't fixed the Obs. door permanently in place yet as it's too easily broken off during subsequent assembly and painting but to give an overall impression of detailing in this area so far: Still to add on top there are the LABS boxes in front of the canopy bulkhead on the pilot's side, as well as a strut/rod thing that penetrates it. Whilst the brass was out, the nose section was joined to the rear fuselage and ventral strakes added to the airbrake: The previous changes made at the design stage to the openings for these strakes to fit into worked well in allowing them to fit first time, resin here acting as both adhesive and filler around them: Finally then tonight I stuck the underside of the nose along with all its radar and cockpit gubbins into place: On the actuall build I'll leave the radar dish and protruding mount off during building and painting as it will prove another hostage to fortune in the breakage stakes: The weather is in utter foment here at the moment - I'm a connoisseur of ghost suns that you get just before a storm hits (living in Ireland you kind of have to be...). This from last night: Tonight there was the most epic Biblical red sunset I've ever seen, skies of flame and blood in the John Martin style - I'll shove a picture up in the next epsiode. Thanks as always for enduring the prattling etc. Stay safe and keep 'em peeled. Tony
    8 points
  30. According to another thread, cats are taking over the world... but they've got a long way to go before they dethrone dogs as man's best friend! Come on dog lovers, let's see what you've got. On the left: the multitalented Bella, a border collie/Bedlington terrier cross. Nominally SWMBO's dog. In normal times she does dog agility, heelwork to music (dog dancing, basically) man-trailing (finding people by scent) and works as a therapy dog with special needs kids and senior citizens. On the right: Poppy, a Jack Russell terrier, nominally my dog. Does literally what she wants.
    7 points
  31. I was thinking that all of these are already recycled.
    7 points
  32. Here's our "Flop Earred Loon" - Simba, the 3 year old English Springer... KR's IanJ
    7 points
  33. Have glued on the wings, fit is ok, negativ angel. Cheers Jes
    7 points
  34. This is Pippin, a six year old miniature poodle... who doesn’t have a topiary haircut! He’s not always as smartly turned out... best, M.
    7 points
  35. Possibly the most awkward aspect so far and one probably of my own doing but not sure how. The glacis add on armour plate, you'd think a drop fit..... Front plate, plastic, the row of brackets along the top, plastic, the top and sides etch no problem.... All fits together fine off the model but come to fit it.. Glue brackets first and the bottom of the armour plate sits high above the transmission cover, not gap in first pic, and that's clamped! Once securely glued it alters the angle of the top brackets... Hey-ho, smear of filler to fill the bottom gap. Not sure what I got wrong but it'll be fine once done. Atb Darryl
    7 points
  36. Kittyhawk Mk.IV, 3 Sqn, RAAF, Lesi, Italy, late 1944. Special Hobby kit OOB with Xtradecal markings. Vallejo ModelAir throughout with 'Klear Gloss coat and Vallejo Matt to finish.
    7 points
  37. Here's my finished entry to this one. Unsurprisingly, it's a Vulcan. What else do I even build these days? Now it's not just any old Vulcan, that wouldn't have much of a link to NZ or Australia aside from quite a number of visits, this is XH562 which was the victim of a RNZAF practical joke in 1972. As recalled by Crew Chief Bill Pearsey: So here's my model, representing one aspect of the RNZAF's hospitality when it comes to hosting foreign guests. It's the 1:144 scale Great Wall Hobby Avro Vulcan B2, decals are from Printscale, Fündekal and some that I printed myself. Paints are a combination of Tamiya, Vallejo and Citadel. WIP thread here:
    7 points
  38. I found a picture on this site that shows the same problem with the gap in the wheel well so I will just fill this and carry on. The colour filters have arrrived and I have tried to find a combination that works and will leave this side of the build now and get on with the Lightning. The perspex tubes holding the two pen torches slide up the exhaust and fit through a bulkhead made from the kit engine bulkhead with 2 holes machined 17mm apart the same as the exhaust pipes, so keeping the perspex tubes parrallel.
    7 points
  39. (This is the Bovington M4A1 Grizzly before it was restored and used as a gate guard I think ) The Canadian Sherman M4A1 Grizzly was simply a Canadian built version of the Sherman M4A1 and is almost identical to its American counterpart except for a few small(ish) details/changes that tend to give the Canadian Grizzly a very distinctive look, these changes mostly involve the Canadian Dry Pin tracks (CDP) and the big rib suspension bogies, which could be considered to be Sexton bogies really I think as they were mostly used on the Sexton SPG, and it should be noted that not all Canadian Grizzlies were fitted with these big rib bogie units, the CDP track is very distinctive because the contact face tends to resemble German Panzer III/IV track, this combined with the solid and very chunky looking front drive sprocket is what tends to make a Canadian built M4A1 Grizzly stand out, and it has to said that most, if not all surviving Sherman M4A1's that are still in working order and being used for shows and events are in fact Canadian built Grizzlies, with the tracks and drive sprockets being replaced with the more normal US track/sprockets to try and disguise it as a US built M4A1, but there are always other little detail changes that tend to give the game away, such as the Grizzly groove on the rear engine deck area, turret bin mounting lugs, and the big rib bogies if these were fitted. But anyway, This build log is just a bit of lockdown fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously, and it should be noted that this project/build was first started many many years ago, and has been put to rest on the shelf of doom many times mostly due to getting bored and fed up with working on it, and the chances of me ever getting this finished are pretty low to be perfectly honest, I tend to do a little bit of work, and then lose interest for a while, but it might be fun (who knows) to have a little play with some white plastic card again for a while, and feel free to post comments, offer advice, point out mistakes, that kinda thing, It's just a bit of fun with plastic card The Lower Hull As far as I'm aware all of the Canadian M4A1 Grizzlies had welded hulls, Tasca provides a riveted hull in the kit and it can easily be converted to a welded hull, the Tasca instructions included give clear advice on what needs to be done, which is mostly just removing all the rivets to be honest, something that's time consuming but not exactly difficult, but me being me, I decided to do things the hard way, and going against my better judgement and all model making related common sense decided to scratch build the lower hull, as you do... Pictures above, It's mostly just a copy of the standard Tasca hull really, but with a much thicker floor plate to give the whole thing some strength, the engine bulkhead wall is there also just to give the whole thing added strength, it's not really needed to be honest, though it does help when test fitting the lower hull to the upper hull as it kinda provides a handy bump stop which lets me know when things are in the right place, the tubes and stuff are also just to strengthen things up a little. My photography skills are not as good as my scratching skills that's for sure, picture above is the basic scratched hull, glued together with ca after first being 'tacked' with little spots of poly cement, Evergreen plastic sheet/card is very soft so it's best to do most of the major glue work with ca in my opinion, poly cement can cause havoc sometimes, the bolts that secure the FDA to the sides of the hull have been added already using Master club resin bolts. And pictures above are simply test fitting the new lower hull into the Tasca upper hull, the curves on the sponson edges make getting a good fit a bit of a pain but nothing to bad, the main problem is that the sponsons are fairly weak and are put under a lot of stress when test fitting, so care is needed otherwise joints will start to creak and something will break off, more on this later, as things did start to creak and I had to strengthen the sponson joints, I have to admit that at the time I was kinda shocked at how well it fitted the upper hull, but it would of been much faster to just remove the rivets from the Tasca hull, more fun this way though... The Tasca Hull Pictures below, this is the standard Tasca/Asuka hull as supplied in the kit, basically you just need to remove a huge number of rivet heads from the hull bottom and both of the side plates, as shown with the arrows in the pictures below, and If you are a stickler for detail then I think the two cross braces will also need to be reworked as they are slightly different on a welded hull, but its nothing too difficult, and the bottom of the hull doesn't really matter anyway as it's not seen, It's important to leave the line of bolt heads that can be seen on the front edge of the side plates though, as these represent the bolts that mount the FDA to the hull. I think (but not sure) that the two cross braces that are marked with arrows in the picture above need to be reworked, they need to be more triangular in cross section and then spot welded in place with strange looking elongated spot welds, I also read somewhere that the Canadian M4A1 Grizzly had an extra hatch on the bottom? But as already stated elsewhere it's the underneath and will never be seen so it's not really that important unless you are a stickler for detail to be honest. As you can imagine pictures of the underneath of a Canadian M4A1 Grizzly are not exactly common on the internet, so it's fairly hard to check anything, but I think the picture above gives a good idea of what the cross braces should look like on a welded hull, it's like a flat plate that's been pressed to form a triangular shape and then spot welded on instead of being riveted, anyway this is what I copied when I added some detail to my scratched hull, If I remember correctly I had lost the will to live at this point after spending far too much time trying to find some pictures of the underside of the Grizzly hull. Matt
    6 points
  40. Just new to the site. I have completed my first build in 52 years. I jumped into the deep end with both feet. First time using PE and also Figures. Tamiya 1:35 universal carrier MK ll plus figures, Eduard Photo etched, and all painted by hand. Please be kind, my next effort will be a SPG Archer.
    6 points
  41. Kit: Monogram Paint: All enamels Decals: Old Models Decals 0799, Aeromaster generic RAF roundels Extras: Eduard pre-painted seat belts. NA Harvard III 2 FTS, Woodbourne, New Zealand Late 1943. This is an original 1979 issue of the Monogram SNJ kit that I've had sitting in my stash since there were Brachiosaur's roaming around . Built in just over three weeks without instructions - lost those so many years ago - I've finished my Harvard as the same aircraft that is in our local museum here ( http://www.tatatm.co.nz/ ), but just after it came into service in 1943. IMO the camo & yellow scheme is really eye-catching and rarely seen on a model, and I like finishing a project in something just a wee bit unusual. Not too much to say about the build, given the aforementioned lack of directions, it actually went together really easily with very little filler or 'modelling skills' needed. The camo pattern is sprayed freehand and isn't too bad if I say so myself, weathering is limited to just an exhaust plume as these machines were kept hangered at Woodbourne and were well looked-after generally. A quick and truly enjoyable build, and isn't that the essence of the hobby, or am I talking out of my a*se again ?. As ever all comments, criticism and questions welcomed. All the best from NZ. Ian.
    6 points
  42. Hi This is my second F-15J Hasegawa The kit is very pleasant to built. The details level is high. May be not so high than the GWH kit but more simplier to make Some other pics at this address F-15J "Air Combat Meet 2006"
    6 points
  43. Which brings us to: That really is it for the car. work continues on the crew! best, M.
    6 points
  44. Hi all, @fatfingers, @Corsairfoxfouruncle, @bigfoot, @robw_uk, @Robert Stuart, @Bonhoff, @TEMPESTMK5, @JackG, @Ted, @klr, @Bullbasket, @Jasper dog, @Matt B, @diablo rsv, @badger, @Tim R-T-C, @Angus Tura, @Marklo, @Six97s, @Das Abteilung, @diases, @desert falcon, @IanC and @pbrowne. In case you haven't noticed yet, this STGB proposal has made it through to the voting at the end of the year. Thank you to you all for signing up. We now need to keep the momentum going and get this through the bunfight. You may also notice this thread has been moved into the Bunfight section of the forum. If anyone else wants to sign up you would be more than welcome. The more the merrier!! With the GB proposal getting into the vote, my thoughts are now turning to which of the many M3s and M4s I have in the stash I might build. I've got several examples in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/35. Anyone else had any thoughts as to what they might build if this STGB gets through the vote? Thank you all again. Kind regards, Stix
    6 points
  45. Praise the lord, the destructions correctly depict the serials properly. Right wing, flying towards the viewer reads from the front on approach. Left wing ditto on departure. Looking extremely swish in the lovely blue-bottomed attire. (Awaits customary fnnaars from the usual sus...) 🤭🤭🤭
    6 points
  46. Some updates I painted a radio and a first aid kit. Sorry for the poor photos. Vytautas
    6 points
  47. 3d printed details for the engine deck, locating brackets for the tow cables. Exhaust tail pipe drilled out, probably not essential but a slight improvement. (If curious the bottom one is as RFM supplied, top one has been opened out a touch). With hindsight probably should have fitted the details after after mounting the decks...bit of a tight/fiddly fit! Lower hull essentially complete, just the extra armour on the glacis plate to fit...and of course the wheels and tracks.... Not entirely convinced this was a wise choice for the GB! Thanks for looking in! Darryl
    6 points
  48. Kittyhawk Mk.1a, 'Orace', 75 Sqn, RAAF, New Guinea, March 1943. Special Hobby kit OOB with kit decals. Vallejo ModelAir paint and Matt varnish.
    6 points
×
×
  • Create New...