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Showing content with the highest reputation on 15/06/21 in Posts

  1. Here's my attempt at the 1/72 Airfix GR.9A (recent tooling). I rather enjoyed building this one! For the most part it went together very nicely indeed and there's a superb range of options and extra parts in the kit - for example, 65% or 100% LERX, different moulded parts for flaps/ailerons up or down, air dam open or closed etc etc. In fact the only slightly odd omission was the main gear doors, which are either closed for flight or open (with gear down) - neither is appropriate to a parked Harrier so I had to tweak the closed ones a bit. I used a bit of aftermarket stuff: Pavla seat and cockpit, Brassin Paveway LGBs and a Sniper ATP pod [purists will spot they're not proper Paveway IVs as I'm still waiting for my set of them to arrive], Eduard 'Remove Before Flight' tags and the chocks are etched Flightline ones. Decals are the excellent 'Retirement Harriers' set by Xtradecal - enough stencils for at least two kits, plus markings for the entire farewell flight! I did stick with the kit nozzles, thinking I could get rid of the join lines, but I think I'll go back to the Pavla resin ones next time - those internal vanes are impossible to fix! Paints were Hataka Red Line acrylic (Dark Sea Grey over Dark Camouflage Grey) with a bit of pre- and post-shading, then a coat of Winsor and Newton Galeria gloss varnish. Weathering was with oils/white spirit and Flory's clay wash before a coat of W&N matt varnish. Thanks for taking a look, I know Harriers seem to be one of the most modelled aircraft around so there's nothing new here!!!
    34 points
  2. Another Eduard 109 wrapped up last weekend, many more to come! Bf109G-4 Trop "Yellow 8" 6./JG 27 Trapani, Italy, May 1943 MDC cockpit sidewall Yahu instrument panel Quickboost control column Quickboost seat Quickboost tropical filter BarracudaCast wheels Brassin exhaust Brassin ETC rack AK Real Colors Paints AK washes AK varnishes Montex masks Decals from the spares box Anyway, on to the pics!
    30 points
  3. Just posted these in my Bismarck build and thought, heck it’s an aircraft, I’ll post ‘em here too! Arado 196 in 1/700 scale - this is seriously tiny and takes on a whole new level of patience and fiddlyness! I realise there’s no glazing… the pilot wanted to feel the airflow through his hair… The kit is from FlyHawk - state of the art - they really are something to behold! Guy
    30 points
  4. I recently finished up the new Border Model Crusader III. This is one of my favorite tanks and it was quite a fun build, plus it was quite a departure from all of the drab green vehicles that I've been painting lately. The tracks are Friulmodel and the stowage is from Legend Productions, Panzer Art, and Value Gear, along with scratch tarps. It was painted with a mix of Tamiya, AK Real Color, and MRP paints, and weathered with Mig Productions and Ammo by Mig enamels. Comments and criticism welcomed as always!
    24 points
  5. Hello, Here are some pictures of my FW 190A-5 Eduard in 1/48 scale. Very easy model, assembled from the box (profipack). Gunze paint and Badger 150 airbrush Enjoy
    21 points
  6. WIP here: Thanks to all who contributed, commented and "liked" the WIP Rob
    13 points
  7. It's been a long time since I posted here other than comments. I recently completed the 1/350 Hasegawa Akagi and depicted the scene just before the launching of the first wave of the Pearl Harbor attack. The Akagi was the flagship of the Kido Butai which consisted of 6 carriers. The engines have been warmed up and mag checks done, the aircrew are getting the last details of the briefing and are about to head to their planes, the maintenance crew are standing by to release the tie downs and remove wheel chocks and some crew are lined along the flight deck to cheer the aircrews on. The ship was painted using Lifelike and Vallejo paints. The Hasegawa PE sets "A", "B", "C", Super Detail Set and the General Jack Stay set were used along with several general PE stets including Infini's IJN Type 96 25mm twin AA guns. The additional aircraft are the Hasegawa Carrier Based aircraft sets and Infini IJN Carrier Aircraft Detail set "A" was used to install the aircraft interiors and detailing. The crew were from Northstar and Tori Factory. The project took over 1100 hours over 13 months. This kit, along with the 1/96 scale HMS Victory which I will complete someday, has been the most time consuming, labor intensive and expensive project in my 55 years of modeling. I only wish I had better photography equipment and software to do it justice. thank you for looking.
    13 points
  8. So another one for the collection and a kit I've been looking forward to building for a long time. Although I paid a bit more for the kit than I probably should have i did receive a kit in great condition considering it was pre owned. The shell was painted with zero paints Alpine Blue and cleared with zero paints 2K clear and I think the final colour is pretty much spot on. The build was pretty straightforward though fitting the shell to the chassis was a bit of a challenge because the fitment is very tight indeed. Here's a few pic's of the finished build So time to start the next one. Thanks for looking back soon 🙂👍
    13 points
  9. In recognition of the 30th Anniversary of the Gulf War One earlier this year, I completed this in-flight diorama a day or so ago. Revell 1/48 scale kit, base from Coastal Kits. Thanks for looking.
    13 points
  10. Just a small update, the front and rear canopy pieces have been masked and fixed in place and the gap in between masked with tape. I have also sprayed some aluminium in areas where I will do some weathering by carefully sanding back the top colours. Next up will be to spray some RLM 78 on the undersides, maybe later today. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.
    10 points
  11. Good evening, dears! I's my next model.
    9 points
  12. Hello friends, After a far too long of a delay, I have finally added my ( paltry ) third completed project for the year. This is the Academy P-38J Lightning. Here are the highlights of the kit………………… *Note: Italeri now has boxed the molds this wonderful kit 1. Paints / colors used : A. AK Interactive Extreme Matt Aluminum ( main airframe color ) B. AK Interactive Extreme White Aluminum ( highlight airframe color ) C. MRP Matt Black ( acrylic ) for the anti-glare panels D. Vallejo washes: 1) Dark Gray - panel lines 2) Oiled Earth - gear wells 3) European Dust - accent panel lines 4) Light Rust, White, & Black - various locations E. Tamiya : 1) Metallic Gray XF-56 2) Sky Blue X-14 3) Yellow Green XF-4 4) Clear Red X-27, Clear Blue X-23, Clear Green X-25, Gunze Clear Yellow H-91 F. Model Master Interior Green G. Mission Models Flat Finish 2. Super Scale Decals P-38J/L Lightnings #72-865 3. Eduard photo etched seat belts 4. Master gun barrels 5. Various chalk pastels 6. Eduard Canopy Mask 7. Uschi “fine” bobbin thread I built this kit a number of years ago and found it to be delightful. With the desire to build a natural metal / silver finish, I chose a higher quality kit due in large part the extra effort that is required for those types of finishes. The decals went without any issues and adhered nicely with setting solution. In fact, I cannot recall when or where I obtained them. I flatten the bottom of the tires to simulate the weight of the aircraft and to aid in a proper and more realistic appearance. This kit is outstanding to spend some time with. I highly recommend it for all skill levels. Thank you in advance!!!!! With much respect, Mike
    9 points
  13. I watched the original series of Star Trek in B&W when it first aired on BBC TV in the UK in the late 1960s. The USS Enterprise immediately became an object of desire, but back in the pre-interweb dark ages there was no way of me knowing if it was possible even to buy a model replica, so I built my own based on GA drawings sketched out from glimpses of the studio model in each episode. No recording to wind back and freeze frame back then either! ½” diameter dowel rods for the warp nacelles, with carved balsa stock for the saucer and main nacelle, doped and then painted in Humbrol Neutral gra(e)y. I really wish I’d kept good care of her now, but like most things you acquire early in life it proved to be an ephemera. In 2013, my partner bought me the Revell kit as a bit of a jokey Christmas present. It sat in the stash for several years, not because of any disinterest, but because I really wanted to light it up and am a lousy electrician. I finally committed to building it in mid 2020 after buying a supposed lighting 'kit' through ebay, which ended up being a bunch of LEDs, resistors, wire and rather sketchy instructions. Despite my lack of soldering skill it does light up if somewhat unevenly, but believe me the spaghetti of wiring and resistors I ended up with under the skin wouldn’t meet IEEE safety regs. Nearly all the Revell window transparencies have gas bubbles in them, so I have no doubts the larger scale Polar Lights kit can produce a much better model in skilled hands. The original large scale studio model was restored in 2016 and is now on display at the Smithsonian NASM in Washington. The main museum in down town Washington has such iconic aviation items as the Wright Flyer, Apollo 11 command module, Spirit of St Louis, etc. and should you have a few hours to spare before your flight out of Dulles IA, the NASM Udvar-Hazy Centre is a short taxi ride away, so also well worth a visit. I took one of my old bosses there once before our flight back to Blighty after a business trip to DC. He fired me shortly thereafter. Perhaps the extra taxi bill was an expense claim too far? Accuracy is always a scale modellers main focus, but when it comes to building a model of a sci-fi subject that only ever existed in model form, what do you do? Model the studio model, or model what the studio model is supposed to represent on screen? Although the Revell model does appear to be a fairly accurate portrayal of the original studio model, it does have some trench like panel lines which were only drawn pencil lines on the studio model. I could have spent hours filling in the panel lines to better represent the finish of the “original”. Here’s the thing though, only the starboard side of the studio model was ever fully detailed and there is a dirty great wiring loom for the lighting rig projecting out of the main nacelle on the port side. I believe this is the reason why you only ever really see a shot of the ship’s starboard side and on the rare occasions where it passes from right to left, I suspect they used a flipped mirror image sequence. So, should the modeller seeking accuracy recreate the studio model with its wiring loom, and if not, can they really claim superiority of finish over a slacker like me, who decided to accept the panel lines as an attempt to add a degree of “truthiness” to an otherwise rather flat and bland surface finish? Other things I would do differently if I built it again? Well, I sprayed inside the Bussard collectors on the warp nacelles with Tamiya clear red, before realising that these were probably red only in the pilot episode. By the time the series launched, they had also lost their aerospikes and appeared to have a frosted colourless finish, relying on Christmas tree lights fitted inside to provide the changing colour effects (lost in B&W). If only I’d done my research thoroughly before ploughing on. On a more positive note, I think I hit on a good paint mix for the slightly greenish hue of the overall grey finish and its definitely an improvement on the Humbrol Neutral Grey finish of my long-lost childhood scratch build. One of the pics below shows Enterprise “flying” over a same scale Airfix 1920s era Battlecruiser HMS Hood (861ft in length). (See more pics of the Hood build here). Interesting to note that Space-X’s Starship and Superheavy booster combo will be about half the length of Hood (400ft in length). Who knows - with Space-X’s promised heavy lift capability, perhaps we will see an actual spacecraft assembled in orbit on the scale of these two ships in the next few years? Now that will be something.
    8 points
  14. Morning all, A few more images from me from my first visit to LHR on Sunday. Had a great day at Myrtle Avenue catching AF1 and the supporting cast for the first time, just a shame the helicopters cut their approach short, meaning the only shots I'll ever get of them are in poor light... Boeing VC-25A | 82-8000 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing VC-25A | 82-8000 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing VC-25A | 82-8000 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing VC-25A | 82-8000 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing C-32A | 09-0016 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing C-32A | 09-0016 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Boeing C-32A | 09-0016 | US Air Force | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King | 159354 | US Marine Corps | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King | 159354 | US Marine Corps | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King | 159356 | US Marine Corps | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Sikorsky VH-3D Sea King | 159356 | US Marine Corps | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Eurocopter AS365N Dauphin II | ZJ783 | Army Air Corps | London Heathrow | 13/06/21 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Thanks for looking, hope they're of interest Shaun
    8 points
  15. Another oldie finished and now weathered lightly,hope you like it: Tks for visiting! Marcus
    8 points
  16. 1/48 Revell/Hasegawa Royal Navy Phantom FG.1 892 Naval Air Squadron HMS Ark Royal / USS Saratoga. Took little break from from building as I am getting myself ready for a Master's Degree program. Here is my latest build. I was originally going to build this kit up as a later FGR.2 hence the navigator's periscope, but I decided to do this aircraft instead. I know early brit phantoms were not equipped with them. I love these markings and shows a pretty cool historical bond between the UK and US. The kit is OOB with Xtradecal markings combined with the stencils from the kit ( not sure if they are accurate but they seem to do the trick). Thanks for looking! FG.1 colonial navy by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr FG.1 colonial navy by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr Untitled by Reginaldo Reyes, on Flickr
    8 points
  17. Hi all I have been working on this one as a distraction on my main Ventura Target Tug build and this is the last distraction build on the thread. This is the Xtrakit version of the MPM/Special Hobby kit. The kit is very nice although the wing is too wide which in turn makes the air intakes too small. I did not change this as this would have been too much of a project so built from the box really. Painted Humbrol 56 by brush and weathered withan oil paint wash. I had to make a new Pitot as the kit one broke off during construction. I enjoyed this kit and have purchased a Heller kit to try and convert to a Sea Vampire. Thanks for looking in Chris
    8 points
  18. Royal Bulgarian Air Force, 2 Istrebitelen Orliak (Fighter Regimen), December 1938 - Karlovo Airfield Built almost OOB (except thee engine) with the red decals discarded in favor of Hu 60 to have the colour uniform, same with the flag on the rudder. Quite a few scratchbuild details on the engine required to look decent at least. I have used the vacuum canopy, but TBH there is not much difference. I used the injected one as a template to cut the masks At least intermediate skills required, imho P.S. Just after the shooting I realised I've missed the Pitot tube - in place now
    8 points
  19. You can't say I rushed this one... 😄 It took almost 6 months to complete, but I have to say, I enjoyed every second of buidling and painting this kit. Before I show the photos, I want to thank @Antti_K for his help, advice and encouragement throughout this build. Unfortunately I wasn't able to live up to the standards of his build, I am not at that level. But all things considered, I am quite pleased. Ok, enough of that. Let's get to the photos. Starting upside down: Then making her stand on her feet: And in the end, adding some interesting and cute details. I am not making any effort to hide my mishaps, on the contrary, I am trying to highlight them. So, in this case, the paint for the undersurfaces was just enough. The problem is that I needed to repaint the horizontal stabiliser, but since I didn't want to wait until a new jar of alcad would arrive, I chose another shade. And it shows. It shows even more where I needed to correct the paint after I had sprayed the camouflage. Apart from that, you will notice some tiny white spots on the upper surfaces. They are in fact silver. I have no idea at which point they got there, I just looked at the model one day and they showed up. Next time I will mask more carefully. And next time the radome will be more worn. I tried to make it a bit greyish, but I am not happy with the result. All in all though, it's ok. Thank you all for your time and interest in my build. Have a nice weekend. Best, Nasos Here is the WIP-thread.
    8 points
  20. Hi again, This will be the last update of the WIP. The last step to complete the build was glueing the landing gear and tail wheel in place. This was a last hurdle, since there was no positive location points or tabs for the landing gear legs. On the other hand, the instructions suggested a location for the legs (top of the rectangular panels of the polished metal area) which would result in too much lateral spread for the legs. Therefore, I decided to locate the legs on the lower part of the rectangular panels. To allow for more adjustment time, I glued the legs with 5 minute-Araldite instead of CA. Here's what I got: IMAG7333 IMAG7334 IMAG7335 IMAG7336 As can be seen, the fit of the parts is deplorable. After allowing the Araldite to cure, I applied a drop o CA to reinforce the joins. The tail wheel was also glued in place: IMAG7337 Here's the model before the final step of glueing the main wheels: IMAG7338 The following pictures show the finalised model: IMAG7339 IMAG7340 I'll post better pictures in the RFI area. I'll post the link here later. Thanks for looking and for all the comments. Jaime EDIT: the RFI post can be found here.
    8 points
  21. Some progress on the RLM79 top colour. I masked up with a mix of white tac and tape and again started random spotting and highlighting of the base colour. I’ve tried to get uneven edges where the RLM79 retouching has happened and have laid down a slightly heavier coat in that area. It looks reasonably effective up close I think and has the appearance of fresher paint. Next step will be to let that cure for a bit and then apply the RLM80 green areas. Eduard show that confined to the wings but I’ve also seen other profiles with the horizontal stabilisers and Elevators with green. The photos of the aircraft online are a little inconclusive I think so I may have to mull that one over. Any insights on that gratefully received - I’m erring towards adding the green to the tail at the moment. Steve
    8 points
  22. Well, the replacement engine was finished (AMT '71 Duster), a small-block to replace the kit's big-block which apparently any smooth-hooded Satellite would never have had. HOWEVER, many problems arose: 1) Drive shaft too short for the new engine (was lengthened, see previous) 2) Once installed, found it sat 'WAY too low. Had to redo the already-redone engine mounts to raise it several mm. 3) Once totally installed, found it was still much too far back. By this time I was far more committed....I would have had to lengthen the drive shaft AGAIN, and redo all three points the engine mounted to. VERY disappointing to see the distributor almost touching the firewall. Sadly, I gave in and went with it. Remaining wiring was connected between the engine and the engine compartment. Hopefully it looks busy enough to divert attention from the 2-3 mm the engine sits too far back. Learn from this setback, kids.... Now the rear body skirt. The kit's has two half-circle openings for the high-performance exhausts, which the actual car(s) did not have (see reference). Easier to plug a square-shaped opening in this case; so it was done with plastic, then sanded and blended to shape. Then once installed, it was blended into the body, then primed and painted to make it look like it's all part of the body, totally connected. Couldn't do it before the chassis was installed; it wouldn't have fit and it would have been torn apart in the process (only have to make that mistake once to know).
    8 points
  23. The DC-9 is one of my favourite airliners. So many classic liveries look smart on that plane type. I've always liked the KLM scheme, whether it be the old stripe tail or the new blue fuselage livery. I built this KLM DC-9-15 from a Fly Models kit with Polish manufactured Techmod decals. They were quite fragile and I had to correct them at various locations. The decals were a tough fight to win. The cockpit window decals I ordered from Authentic Airliners. The kit was quite simple and easy to assemble. I had to modify certain parts and add scratch built details and there was some puttying and sanding to be done. I painted the white upper fuselage with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer that I then covered with Tamiya gloss varnish TS-13. As to the metal colour areas of the plane I primed them first with Tamiya black TS-14. After having let the black cure properly I sprayed the areas with AK Extreme metal aluminium. For the details I also used Vallejo acrylics and Humbrol enamels,
    7 points
  24. Pilatus PC.9A, A23-051, RAAF Roulettes formation aerobatic team, CentralFlying School RAAF East Sale, Victoria. OzMods 1/72 painted with Gunze acrylics. Some antennae added from plastic card. Build thread over in the Unarmed Group Build. Very much a short run kit, some fairly agricultural looking plastic with no locating tabs and lots of flash, some nice resin parts (cockpit, exhausts, wheels etc) and three canopies, a rather nasty injected one and two vacformed ones. There is a choice of props, both in flight and feathered. A bit fiddly in places but with a bit of careeven an average modeller like me can produce a reasonable model. Thanks for looking. AW
    7 points
  25. I don't know if my cats have any brains at the moment this is meant to be a lady.
    7 points
  26. OzMods 1/72 Pilatus PC.9A, some scratched antennae not included in the kit, mostly Gunze acrylics. RAAF Roulettes aerobatic team, Central Flying School, RAAF East Sale. AW
    7 points
  27. A new build( despite me saying I was putting a halt to any more but I couldn't resist making this one). Basically the RS kit and decals. I had to mod the rear cockpit by removing the headrest and blanking the opening off. No parts or much guidance given in the intsructions to do this though. The decals are very nice BUT very thin and need great care in handling... not very user friendly! I used pies of scarp plastic and a bit of filler to cover the rear seat, appliance white and Humbrol red no. 220. The windscreen needed to be carefully cut out and the folds the get it to shape. I believe that the bulk of the remains of the real 'IUA are with a small museum near Balcombe, West Sussex. I might need to make a visit there I think. It makes a nice addition to my current trend of doing non warlike aeroplanes. Thanks for looking.
    7 points
  28. So glad to have you guys along, and thanks for the encouragement! I didn't realize you had a Canberra connection Terry, so cool. As stated above, this build is for a dear family friend who was a Maintenance Officer for a B-57 squadron and he's been telling some great stories. That's fantastic news John, can't wait for that! Thanks Ced! The Italeri nose is a little bit wider than the Airfix fuselage, resulting in the need for some rather aggressive sanding. I added some 'pedestals' for the ECM aerials made from the hexagonal Airfix sprue. They're a little oversized, but I can live with it. The EB-57 'triple' chin intake. I quickly ran into a cycle of diminishing returns on trying to fix my re-scribing errors - each 'fix' led to two new 'slips', especially for that guy on the left wing; perhaps my best scribed line, but in the wrong location - so I called it ready for primer. Stynyrez black primer on. The re-scribed panel lines don't look nearly as bad as I feared, not great, but acceptable 😜
    7 points
  29. Mozambique Air Force "MiG 21" Story goes Lt Adriano Bomba, a Portuguese speaking MiG pilot, was recruited to defect a MiG-21 to South Africa. What might have been a case of error in translation - on Wednesday, 8th of July 1981 it was not a MiG-21 that entered South African airspace but a MiG-17 with registration number "21". Lt Bomba was intercepted and escorted by two SAAF Mirage F1AZ's to a local air base where the "21" made a succesfull landing. SAAF did not really have a reason to evaluate MiG-17 but was test flown few times anyway before returned to Mozambique. Thanks again @Avgas for bringing this story to my attention, it's interesting stuff and certainly made the build even more interesting And it's just not a story, a MiG-17 "Fresco-A" registration number "21" did defect to South Africa 8th of July 1981 and was flown by Lt Adriano Bomba - but of course the other details are debatable. There are quite a few pics to be found from the internet about this plane and also - what appears to be - somekind of TV news videoy which shows Lt Bomba in the cockpit of this plane and keeping a press conference. Kit: Airfix Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F 'Fresco' (Shenyang J-5) (A03091) Scale: 1/72 Paints: Vallejo Model Air, Vallejo Metal Colour Aftermarket: Berna & Print Scale decals, Eduard Brassin wheels, Eduard PE set, Master pitot tubes & guns Weathering: Oil paints, Tamiya weathering products, Ammo Mig weathering products, A lovely kit by Airfix, the best MiG-17 around in this scale. Second one I built, first one was OOB, this with some aftermarket stuff. The intake ring can give you some trouble but other than that it should be quite hassle free build. This Airfix kit offers the MiG-17F "Fresco-C" while the subject was MiG-17 "Fresco-A". Biggest difference is the tail shape around the exhaust and the shape and size of the air brakes. So this part of the build was scratch built/altered. Also added few of the antennas that were missing, mainly the T-shaped antennas under the wings and small (what must be a) aux pitot tube on the right side of the nose. Also added nose wheel down indictator rod on the left side of the nose as the main wheel indicators were already included on the wings. Also some panel line/detail changes such as moving the signal flare launchers from the tail to the rear of the fuselage. (Thank you @RidgeRunner for mentioning few of the details that needed to be changed, I hope I remembered them all ) It was quite PE heavy build with the air brakes (which had to be cut open), wheel well covers (which ended up looking real good) and cockpit details. Berna decals were pretty thick and awful but offered better details (mainly on the insgnia) than Print Scale so they were used instead. "21" is from the Print Scale sheet. You can see more of the actual build process here:
    6 points
  30. Hmm. You twos have form. I’m suspecting sarcasm - or possibly its less troublesome younger brother irony. But I s’pose I’d better give you the undeserved benefit of the doubt What? I’ve got to get it over the line to a RFI? I suspect Italian irony now Thanks guys Much appreciated. Are you allowed to quote yourself? Seems you are. Not sure it’s the done thing though…..But anyways; here - following the unorthodox gluing sequence- are the major joins, Nose. Rear upper fuselage: Wing fillet. These needed a bit of filling with black cyano: Underside: There was an appreciable gap at the back of the under wing fillet where - but I think that’s a known issue with the fit of the kit rather than anything to do with the sequence I did. I used cyano on one half and a thin strip of plastic card on the other. I’ve run some cyano along the seems in places where there were very fine visible lines and after micromeshing the seams look pretty good (until the primer reveal). Bit, but not too much rescribing to do next.
    6 points
  31. The local farmer has had some of his cows in a field next to our horses for the last couple of weeks and they usually just ignore each other but a few days ago I went to check that the horses were OK and not getting too hot in the current heat wave and when I got to the gate I saw that our boys were close to the far fence and a bunch of cows, mostly youngsters, were watching them eat. I went and got a camera and as I approached them, the french horse lifted his head up from the grass and noticed the cows so he strode off purposely towards the fence and they all ran away, but not very far. Having shown them how fierce he was he turned around to resume his grass munching ( always has his priorities right our Frenchie ) and this happened; I suppose this it what you'd call a nosey cow. Stay safe everyone. John
    6 points
  32. Definitely can be, I love to do things like my recent NASA Tu144, Vulcan B1a prototype or Kiwi Vulcan B2, but sometimes just a non-noteworthy model is just as good to build. Got to keep organised for this... not my strong point. I'm sorting everything by things to be painted black, things to be painted interior green and other I started to put together some of the larger components that are going to be interior green. I'm aware of just how wrong the front end of the cockpit is, and that there is a resin set to correct it now, but I won't be bothering with that. I'm also starting to put together some of the etch components, and again just reminding myself how much I dislike etch even though the results are worth it. It will definitely be an improvement on the original plastic part https Last night I painted the seat and attached the etch belts and whatever that is on the back of the seat. I took a guess at green for the seat as I've seen both green and black painted Lancaster seats. The cockpit sides will need a few parts adding before painting. I'll probably just do this side for now and deal with the other side later. I could also just leave the cockpit sides for a while and focus on the other interior parts as the instructions would have you build the entire interior and two fuselage halves as separate subassemblies, then bring them all together at a later point. Would it even be one of my threads if my hamster didn't make an appearance?
    6 points
  33. This is the Hobbyboss 1/48 scale kit.I did not want to build the aircraft painted in blue and green so I decided to do the grey one.The decals are from Begemot decals. Saluti Giampiero
    6 points
  34. It’s not a complex kit, just a bit fiddly. I’m surprised at how quickly it’s coming together, if I’m honest. Any slight gaps where transparencies didn’t quite meet the fuselage have been filled with Kristal Klear. The Peewit masks are very good, but they fell into the trap of assuming thick bars on the turrets. If you read through Ced's WIP, linked to early on in this thread, you’ll note the cupolas were fixed and didn’t move. They were also made of Perspex sheets riveted together to form the bubble. That’s why I’ve used the Peewit masks but filled in the bars as well. A cursory coat of interior green over where actual bars were, and I reckon this is about ready for the first primer witness coat. The question is whether it’s calm enough outside to squirt rattle cans, or do I have to clear everything and set up the paint booth? Hmm.
    6 points
  35. Yes News Combo Box for the Spifire Vb / Vc And a Spitfire IX Early in WE Box
    6 points
  36. So although I've bought a few model kits over the last few months, I've been very conscious of getting through the small selection that I had managed to smuggle out of my old home to where I am now. Among these was a Matchbox Hunter - but the Blue Diamond's boxing. Whilst clearing out another cupboard, I found another one! I'd always wanted to build more and more display teams and these seemed like a perfect opportunity . As usual, a full review can be find by clicking here for my site. There's also a video of it here too.
    6 points
  37. Factory sealed '65 Grand Prix! I find it hard to resist rebuying the kits I had when I was younger. I built one of these when it came out (the Prestige boxing, not the original) but didn't do a good job. I'm not leaving this one in the stash, I think a simple OOB build will be my next project.
    6 points
  38. Me? I was that unhappy. Nothing to do with fussball either, the little blobby bits that comprise the damper set-up just were not convincing. They needed to protrude from below the dome section atop the rotors so I had a rethink These little dobbets of @John Aerostrut materials were reduced from the aerodynamic shape to this blobby section. Unfortunately my stuporgoo was unable to 'catch' on them and in fitting the stems fell off, boo. In service there seems to have been two variants of counterweight, the above curvy ones and some other more angular block shapes. I decided to go for the latter carved out of nice thick plasticard in the end. These are busy looking and stick out nicely from the upper dome. This looks like being the done deal, let's have us a quick looksee? Yep, that'll do. Time for another bench purrups today...
    6 points
  39. I wasn’t happy with the aileron joints, on both sides. So I removed them, and removed a little material. Much happier, now.
    6 points
  40. on Curtiss H81/P40,B & C, the walkway was Linoleum sheet(Green Aero Floor) bonded to the skin and the edges were secured by metal stripes screwed into the skin. On british and AVG airplanes the camouflage paint covered the walkways , so it is not easily visible.. About walkways material: there were several method - rubber sheet(Wondergrip) bonded on skin: , D520, MS 406, hawker Typhoon - carborundum & formica powder bonded: H 75 early, F4U...("brush coat of black walkway cement....sprinkle the wet surface evenly with a full coat of No. 36 Carborundum grit...remove surplus carborundum with 15-20lbs air pressure...seal the grit surface by applying one full spray coat of black walkway cement thinned.... - Linoleum(Green Aero Floor) bonded: P36/H75, H81/87/P 40s... - Abrasive cloth(Tri-mite) bonded: NA-T6.... - non skid paint(smoother):NA-T6, P 51, P 39...
    6 points
  41. Thanks everyone for the feedback. Still some time to decide whether to show all armament whilst on the ground. Did get the master-model.pl gun barrels. There are definitely some opportunities to showcase them on terra firma after some browsing through old images. Half the fun is to conduct some amateur research on the B-17, which made me have doubts about the earlier posted progress concerning radio room and interior colours. So many different takes on the subject and "reference" images of restored aircraft do not apparently always show the war time situation with regards to coating or non-coating with regards to zinc chromate, bronze green, dark green in different areas used (or not). Plenty of threads to go through on Britmodeller or Large Scale Planes websites concerning this topic. Did find some interesting articles amongst which: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/b-17-flying-fortress-interior-colors-part-i/ https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/b-17-flying-fortress-interior-colors-part-ii/ https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2020/03/04/b-17-flying-fortress-interior-colors-part-iii/ From what I understand the early war (and pre-war) B-17's were outfitted with dark green coloured sound proofing in bombardier/navigator/cockpit and radio compartment. The aft fuselage behind the radio-room should always be aluminium coloured although some individual frames may show zinc chromate. Restored aircraft often have the aft fuselage shown in zinc chromate or similar modern coatings to preserve the aircraft. Late war B-17's did not have the sound-proofing anymore (except cockpit) from what I gather, to speed up production. Some mention that the original sound proofing was not entirely flame retardant and was was often removed as a result or it was at times removed for ease of access with regards to repairs. For my later war B-17 G (without the sound proofing) I therefore decided to paint the entire fuselage in aluminium colour except for the cockpit which is dark dull green (or can be painted bronze green-I believe for the earlier models) Since the Monogram b-17 shows the ribs and frames moulded in the fuselage, I therefore drew the conclusion that also in the radio room and bombardier navigator section the aluminium colour would be most appropriate and the same for the bulkheads (apart from the cockpit bulkhead). The cockpit sidewalls though simple in construction probably represent the soundproofing/canvas on the sidewall panels. Anyway, that is my take on it, but I am no expert on the matter. I did completely change the radio room to what I thought would be a more plausible interior colour scheme for this b-17G. I was also not entirely happy with my earlier work. The next question was the construction of the flooring. Came across a nice thread on a modelling forum, concerning an anecdote of a lady who had worked on the assembly lines of b-17's in the war and commented on the amount of wood used (in flooring, doors, desks and other items) and the wood splinters they had to endure during this part of the construction. From this anecdote I gathered that the wooden floors were mostly wood covered with rubber matting. Although due to shortages they were not always available in sufficient quantity, which resulted in part covering or no covering at all in some instances. The cockpit floor near the control flight controls do appear to be metal (aluminium) with the cockpit colour of bronze green or dark dull green. My take on the flooring issue, despite not being able to find good and enough reference material was to paint the floors a wood colour with black (rubber) walkways. Wood was simulated with a Vallejo deck tan base with ammo burn amber oil paint. I am not sure if this is entirely accurate, but it seemed a plausible representation. The doors are 2 tone Vallejo acrylics with an attempt to scribe wood structure with the help of a cocktail stick. Did some scratch building of what I think are hydraulic tanks on the cockpit bulkhead? the dark squares on the door will need to be repainted in a different colour. Some further photo etching to do and further tidying up of the various compartments as well as panel washes yet to be applied. Seat belts need to be attached as well still. So far the very slow progress. thank you for all your previous comments thus far, thanks for watching and feedback is naturally welcome.
    6 points
  42. Hello, for the "acryl mounted inflight model" lovers and all the others too, i want to share these pictures of my tiger meet legacy hornet. It´s the 1/72 kit from Academy with decals from Syhart. Finished this in february 2021. Not the best pictures but here they are. First the kit only: The kit is mounted on a ("do it yourself") painted picture of some mountains, inspired by the Axalp events of the swiss air force. 06 07 08 14 some closeup impressions: 09 10 11 12 13 15 Flickr Link: https://www.flickr.com/gp/193226342@N06/587F3E have a nice day. Falk
    5 points
  43. I'd like to share with you how I made some cheap but reasonably good cheap micro chisels Micro, or mini, chisels are useful for removing that extra plastic left by the mould release pins from very tight places, such as inside wheel bays. I bought a couple of sets of the very cheap 'jewellers' screwdrivers you can find in discount stores. They cost about £1.99 to £2.99 a set Here is a half box, with the blade screwdrivers. The other half box has the cross-head screwdrivers As you can see the sizes start at 1mm and go to 3.2mm. As they come the tips of the screwdrivers are almost sharp. It takes only a few moments on each with a file and/or a whetstone to get them chisel sharp. Then I bent the shaft so as to give some finger clearance They can be used in chisel fashion to pare away plastic or used end on to scrape plastic away
    5 points
  44. John, Beefy and Kev - Thanks. With Calcutta now done and dusted - work can continue with "375". I mask with Tamiya tape - safe that it has never once "lifted" Sovereign Colourcoats. I cut the masks with this rotary cutter or a S&M No 11 blade. Which gets us to this with a B30 camo pattern The hull below the water line is masked and Vallejo 71.055 "Black Grey" sprayed That's all topped off with a few coats of "Klear", leaving a lot of further masking to spray the deck US Blue 20. I returned to the base to lighlight some ripples and I find the AK "Water Foam" very useful. More soon It's warm Rob
    5 points
  45. Looks as though it's about to stick it's nose into someone else's business! John.
    5 points
  46. Right so the Alpine A110 is finished and I'm very happy with the final result 😀. Unfortunately the metal decals didn't work out to well so the Alpine logo across the front is missing 😕. But these things happen occasionally and although it's a shame I don't think it detracts to much from the finished build so I'm not to concerned 😉. Here's a teaser pic with proper photos to follow shortly in the rfi section As always a massive thank you to everyone who followed along and commented on the build much appreciated 🙂👍
    5 points
  47. You know, I really should just be getting on with the day job. There's four of these O gauge coaches I’m working on. They’ve reached the fiddly detail stage. All the interiors are done. All the lettering is done. I need to fit the brass castings for the door furniture, work out some complicated handrail-cum-filler pipes for the ends, and sort out some weathering and they’ll be done. Only I can’t seem to gather the wherewithall just at the moment. So, a Bombay calls me. The cockpit canopy has been masked. I bought in a Peewit mask set, and very good it is, too. The little dots on the tape are my doing. To make it easy on myself I put a little spot in each tape panel so I can find the beggars in the sea of yellow tape! The wing spar has also gone in. Ced encountered issues with his build, but I’ve checked and can’t find anything obstructing the wings themselves. I am toying with the idea of drilling through the tailplane/fuselage mounting points and fitting a spar across there, too. I’m not a great fan of butt joins, especially on models this size. Once the instant caffeine had kicked in from my mid-morning coffee and choccy biccy, I worked out what the gun frames are supposed to look like. Hint: they don’t look much at all like the Valom illustrator drew them. It took a minute or three for me to clock the rectangular block was the gun breech, the barrel of which pokes out through the slots in the bubble and fuselage drilled later. Identifying the breech, and recalling someone said the Vickers unit was mounted sideways on, the other plastic parts made a bit more sense, including what I take to be a used cartridge collection bag. I may yet install one of the spare ammunition drums for the effect. I am also wondering if I have any spare VGOs in my bits box that would be willing to donate their barrels to the cause. Once the glues have set, I’ll get paint on these frames and fit them in their required locations. Then I can close up the fuselage properly, make it primer tight and cover it in grey stuff to see what further filling and sanding may be needed.
    5 points
  48. I was thinking just the same thing. More hendie metal-mastery. And always done so apparently nonchalantly… Sound-sounding plan to both resin cast and also vac-form the nose. I’m all for putting off crunch decisions. I may be over thinking this - but won’t the resin casts be fractionally undersize if you use the wooden buck as the master? Ah! but not if the master is the wooden buck inside one of the pre-production vacforms . It’s ok - I’ve caught up now - it’s still early here Terrific update Alan.
    5 points
  49. Hmmm this is going to look like a production line.... I used Yellow one as a pattern aircraft and that worked out well so the bulkheads with floor are beaten into shape for the other three aircraft. Sidewalls are prepared as well for the resin parts. As the resin parts are quite thick they need to be thinned down considerably and that takes a lot of time so those are for tomorrow’s to do list😉 cheers, Jan
    5 points
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