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Showing content with the highest reputation on 15/07/22 in all areas

  1. Hi, here's a build of Special Hobby's recent Hi-tech boxing of their 1/72 Seafire FR.47. It's all OOB and painted in the included scheme for VP480 of 800NAS flying off HMS Triumph during the opening stages of the Korean War. This particular scheme is with ID stripes introduced after a friendly fire incident with a B29. I opted for a black, rather than EDSG, spinner for aesthetic reasons. Half the central drop tank was sadly missing, so this one is in the rather unrealistic configuration of fully loaded with rockets with no fuel tanks, presumably to obliterate something no more than about 200 yards away. Partly because it seems these aircraft were kept pretty clean, and partly because I think it looks nice, I decided not to weather this model besides some panel line washing. The result was rather heavier than I intended on the upper wing surfaces, but overall the kit detail was nice and just proud enough to grip the wash. It's been my first build of something limited run, and I was rather intimidated both the amazing quality of all the builds of this kit on britmodeller, and by the rather foreboding comments about it that accompanied them. Overall it builds into a nice model of this lovely aircraft I think, but does require a reasonable amount of work. I've made some observations of it at the end of the WiP thread listed below. The kit is painted in Tamiya acrylics using @Casey's mixes (request 8752b for mods to sticky that thread please! 😁) with GSI varnishes and oil washes. Please forgive the camera work, I've got no idea how to do these things. WiP: Thanks very much for looking in, and to all those who were a great help through the build! Cheers, Andy
    23 points
  2. Hello! This is my final build until August 10 because I'm going on holiday! Despite the nastiness of this kit I managed to finish it in twelve days and I'm quite happy with it. Without further delay here she is. And here she is next to my 1:72 Junglie ZA314, they look very good next to each other even if one is RAF and the other RN. I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos! WIP thread:
    22 points
  3. This is the latest build I finished, just a couple days before signing up. The Vindicator was an American inter-war carrier-based dive-bomber and one of the first monoplanes to enter military service for the country. As such, you can see a lot of older design trends based off of biplanes in the design, such as the fabric tail-boom, the whole engine being self-contained in the front cowling, and the full set of flight controls in the rear cockpit, thus allowing the plane to be flown from the backseat (for pilots used to biplanes who preferred flying from there, and as a backup in case the pilot was lost/incapacitated). The kit was from Academy, with original molding by Accurate Miniatures. The plane next to a reference photo (my plane is US Navy operated, whereas the plane in the picture was US Marine Corps operated, per the paint schemes). Zooming out a bit for a better view of the overall aircraft. Constant combat drilling leading up to the Battle of Midway has taken its toll, and the plane is fairly dirty. The front canopy was glued open as it would not sit very well in the closed position. Rear profile, we can see the scratch-marks around the often-used panels. All the rear canopy pieces are glued in the closed position, as trying to fit all of them underneath the central canopy piece to have them open is a disaster waiting to happen with the OOB parts. I'd need to vacuum-form the canopy to do that properly. Also by my references, the solid portion of the rear canopy went between either a full metal plate covering or having the inside covered with the windows still there (I put it down to earlier models being converted). I opted for the latter option since it looks more interesting, but the former can be done by sanding off the canopy window frames in that area. The plane was equipped with a Pratt & Whitney R1530 Twin Wasp radial engine. with a two-blade Hamilton Standard propeller. The engine cylinder banks in the kit were good, but then they went and ruined the whole thing with one of the worst attempts at injection-molding ignition wires I've seen in a long time. Needless to say, I discarded all that and scratch-built all the finer details inside the engine (connecting rods and ignition wires). It was well worth the effort. The propeller does not spin because I was dumb and forgot to install the spinner inside the engine, so I had to glue it. From cockpit with instrument panel (photo-etch upgrade from Eduard). The shape of the instrument panel was actually a pretty major inaccuracy in the kit; OOB it had indented side frames leading up to the top, whereas on the real plane they were straight. I used Milliput to correct the shape. This made fitting it a major pain, but I eventually found a home for it, and thankfully left myself just enough room to fit the tubular bomb sight. Back cockpit, with navigation antenna, seatbelts, and rear machine gun visible. Underneath the plane. we can see the salty tropical air has not been kind to this bird. Getting in closer for a better view of the landing gear assembly (they rotated 90 degrees and retracted into the round divots behind them), as well as the oil and dirt stains on the bottom. I like the way the wear turned out on the bomb, as well. And last but not least a group-shot of the Vindicator with a bunch of her friends from Midway. I've got a Buffalo, a Wildcat, and a Devastator. The Dauntless is in my build queue, but I'm waiting for more materials for it, as I am doing it in 1/32 scale. That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the photos, and I'll see you soon in the WIP forums for my next build!
    21 points
  4. Hello Everyone, Once I was a child, I Read 9 lives, the autobiographie of Alan Deere. Since then, I always wanted to build one of his spitfire with a kiwi. I did last year, and I'm pleased to share with you. I hope you enjoy it. Providence
    20 points
  5. Hello! Here's my recent project, the nice Eduard's Profipack Fw190 A-5, a very good kit, with no issues at all. Paints from Mr Color range. Weathering trying to replicate operating from dusty Eastern Front airfields. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!
    19 points
  6. Hello everyone, This is my P-40 from hasegawa on quarter scale. I added rivets lines with a rosie tool and used a PE from Eduard for the cockpit. I hope you enjoy it
    19 points
  7. Hello all, Here is my recently completed 1/48 Kinetic F-104S ASA-M of the 10˚Gruppo, 9˚Stormo, Italian Air Force circa 2000. The build thread is below. Extras used included a Master pitot tube, Mastercasters resin seat, Eduard Look instrument panel, New Ware mask set and an extensive set of stencils from Tauro Model, which is a must as the kit comes with little to no stencilling. I wanted a worn and weathered example so I used some post shading, Flory wash and Abteilung oils to give me the effect I was looking for. The AIM-9 and LAU-7 launcher is from a Tamiya F-14. Thanks for looking Dave
    18 points
  8. Hello Everybody! Continuing my USAF jets saga, here is the little F-5B from Italeri. Not a new kit, but quite decent. Two big issues I tried to tackle: - The wings are very thin (like the real bird) so the wheel wells are not deep enough: What I did was totally removing the whole wheel wells from each wings, leaving a large hole, glued in the extrados a thin plate of evergreen and re-construct the WW with the correct depth; after this the landing gear were installed but needs dramatically to be detailed (both main and nose); -the cockpit, a known issue in all Italeri kits at that scale: I did a new one almost from scratch, the most challenging parts are the separation between pilots and the mechanism to raise the canopies which is very complex and obviously oversimplified by Italeri. As I like camouflage "off the beaten tracks". I decided to represent an F-5B from the 405th TTW sporting an unusual version of the SEA for the F-5, the FS 30219 Dark Tan been replaced by a light beige color, but not everywhere. Also, the yellow band on the top of the fin is not completely painted. Unfortunately I have only one photo of the aircraft, right side: The 405th TTW bagde is home made, names on the canopies are fake because too small to read. So here is my version: Hope you will enjoy it! Have Fun SAFELY!
    18 points
  9. I happily admit to being a model builder rather than a modeller, rarely venturing beyond OOB other than adding seatbelts and aerial wire. So when I decided to have a go at the old Airfix Spit I knew a fair amount of scratch building would be required and wing spars were duly added, wheel wells boxed in and the cockpit enhanced with wiring, various controls and an Airscale harness. Sadly the moulds themselves showed all of their 40+ years (this was a 2011 boxing) with virtually every single part being afflicted with excessive flash or misalignment, and the fit in almost all areas is best described as 'approximate'. The additional Mk V sprue was rudimentary with little or no detailing on any of the parts. That Airfix continued to bang these out long after the moulds should have ended up in a skip probably says much about the company's desperate financial state at the time. In my humble opinion unless someone really wants a challenge, anyone with this in their stash should leave it where it is and wait for the new Mk IX, this one is better as loft insulation than anything else. So even though the decals behaved themselves (only serial nos. were stencilled) and the overall shape is generally considered to be accurate, the end result is probably best viewed from around 6ft away. Although having said all that, rather perversely I had more enjoyment from this than from any other model for a long time.... Thanks for looking J A
    15 points
  10. Even though the camera has shown me areas that still need attention, I'm calling this sort-of done. Rough and ready photos taken with my phone under my workbench lighting. This is the 1/72nd scale Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb Tropical, Rising Decal Mediterranean Spitfires decal sheet (RD72-037), aircraft EP200 based at Ta'Qali on Malta in July of 1942. I went with the suggested colours simply because I know nothing compared to folk who've spent thousands of hours researching the subject. Vallejo paint for the main colours, Tamiya X-35 varnish, Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors, and various oil paint streaks, smudges and washes. I have almost certainly overdone things heavily (and the phone camera has emphasised things a bit), but I'm fairly happy with the results. I will fix the wonky wheels, the paint on the bottle-bottom canopy, and the overdone wheel-well washes. I may even repair the pitot tube. This was, however, more of a "get myself moving" build, after a prolonged period of procrastination. I've learned a lot on this, and will never, ever use Vallejo paint for the main colours again. They do not airbrush well, at least for me, no matter what is used. Pebbly, lumpy texture, and they stick to the surface of the primed model as well as if you'd just smeared Vaseline all over it. Good colours, no stick. A shame, so it's back to Tamiya and Humbrol for me.
    14 points
  11. Wasn't going to put this up, but then I thought, why not? Bought from Aldi a few years ago for £2.49. Its the starter set boxing, but as the painting instructions are limited by what paints come with the set, I downloaded the full instructions off Scalemates. Drilled out the exhausts, but otherwise its OOB. 20220714_215025 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr 20220714_215040 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr 20220714_215108 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr 20220714_215136 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr
    14 points
  12. Hi All, A final update for the day (promise!) I couldn't let the gaping portholes lie, so quickly set to with the Krystal Kleer: Whilst I had that on the bench, I thought I may as well take care of the wingtip lights, which were quickly drilled, 'oles filled with red/green, then the back painted with aluminium. Here's the port light in position: Whilst I often grumble about SH, they do get so much right - not many kits in this scale would include that detail. Finally, here's a shot to show the overall state of play: State of play - one mostly completed Porcupine! Outstanding list of activities: - Turrets & associated gubbins - Aileron balances - Mooring mast - Landing lights - Antenna wire (more bl**dy rigging!) Don't tell anyone, but there might be an RFI soon 🤫 Thanks for looking, Roger
    14 points
  13. Hi All, Another quick update. Whilst fixing the front dorsal Yagi, I noticed that a fair bit of plastic swarf had accumulated in the cockpit: Of course, it would not respond to any amount of coviddy blowing down the front turret 'ole, so there was little choice but to pry the canopy away. After a few buttock-clenching moments (and a de-Yagi 🤬😞 On the plus side - I do get to see that lovely cockpit again! I also noted that the Yagi frames needed touching up, so after all that we ended up back here: Belatedly I also realised that I hadn't demasked the two portholes aft of the cockpit. I have since done that (well actually I pushed them through, so will have to rectify that with some Krystal Kleer - no biggie!). One step forward, two steps back - this is the SH way... Thanks for looking, Roger
    12 points
  14. Hi all, my first prop and my first British plane ticked off. Here's the WIP: The kit was fantastic, Tamiya living up to their reputation completely. No real issues at all, the small antennas were a little fiddly and will probably drop off soon but they stayed on long enough for a few photos 😅. Few little areas i can already see I could have done better, especially seem lines but thats something to work on moving forward. Anyways, here's the photos... Thanks for looking in!
    11 points
  15. Hello This is my Sherman Firelfy Flrom Tamiya, also on quarter scale. Like for my previous topic regarding my Sherman, pictures are far from perfect... I need to improve my photographer skills. I hope you enjoy it Providence
    11 points
  16. The kittens have been behaving more since Mrs Martian returned from Cumbria, allowing my some more time in the Martian cave. I therefore decided to crack on with rigging the two Takom kits. I am torn between using .2mm or .1mm wire for the tail surfaces. My gut reaction is that .15mm would be best but to my knowledge at least, you can't get .15mm wire. What I have decided to do is to rig one Zepp with .2mm wire and one with .1mm and decide which I like best for future builds. I have begun with the P Class which I have rigged with Albion Alloys .1mm nickel silver rod and quite like the effect. I decided to give some VMS Flexi CA a try and have thus far been rather taken with the stuff. I shall now proceed to rig the Q Class and see how I get on with that. Anyway here are the pictures of the P Class and thanks for looking. Martian 👽
    10 points
  17. Hi every one, this is a Sherman from tamiya at quarter scale. I'm not a good photographer so forgive me for the medium (bad?) quality of the pictures. I Hope you enjoy it. Providence
    9 points
  18. Paper or plastic, the prop is nearly done.
    9 points
  19. Listen you lot, we have enough fighting going on here without youse lot joining in !
    9 points
  20. Cowabunga Dudes, Surf's Up for the GB. 🏄‍♂️ Yet another rebuild/restoration from me, this time I'll be cobbling together what I hope will be the two options shown on the box top of the Revell first issue kit on the left here... That box came from Revell with two bodies to choose from, the Surf Icon '31 Ford Woody and a Tudor Sedan. Only one chassis and one set of fenders though. This one would have been a collector kit for me if the dreaded tire rot hadn't attacked a few of the white plastic parts. The tires have melted part of the roof, both inside and out, of the Sedan body along with a few other parts. There's a lot of parts off the sprues as well. A borderline collectable that is now promoted/demoted to builder status, depending on how you view these things. I swing both ways. The second box, the later Woodstock issue, has enough recovered parts in there to build a Woody. The parts are a bit battered, but there's a model in there if you squint a bit. The wheels and tires look like they came from a Monogram Thunderbird. They will get changed. The plan is to make a copy of the first box top with both kits enjoying a day at the beach.
    8 points
  21. Another smoky Tu-134AK-3 (RA-65944) lined up to the row. This time is Kolavia (Авиакомпания Когалымавиа) from the city of Kogalym, which airline was one of the last operator of this iconic type. This bird has been built in 1974. and operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines as HA-LBN until 1998. Then it was returned back to Russia and operated mainly by KogalymAvia on domestic routes in the far North. I was lucky enough to be flown with this bird, so it wasn't a question to add to my growing Tu-134s row. Kit: 1/144 Zvezda with a modified/corrected nose and radome from AZmodel kit. Decals: Ascensio, windows: Revaro, Flaps: Ladislav Hančar alias LACI Ltd. product as always. (For photo background I used an old printed poster)
    8 points
  22. You aren't supposed to inhale the paint thinner fumes, never mind drink the stuff...
    8 points
  23. Hello all The project is still on the table and unfortunately the summer transhumance and the many projects on the table are not going to boost the construction! I don't know if you can say that I am a better man! Crazier? certainly. Imagine the time I wasted making all those holes; This Helldiver is the spiker's hell! The parts are primed, I have started the painting operations: I want to find my childhood soul and rebuild this model like the one I had in the early years 80'. However, the design was revised in the 90's; a new propeller with spinner was added, as well as a cockpit for the pilot; the movable wing attachments disappeared, the bomb no longer leaves its fork. No problem, I will adapt. I made a quick aesthetic improvement to the wing folds, just to fill the gap: I think that will be enough. And then I have to move on now! Regards, ERIC-Snafu35
    8 points
  24. Hi All, I finally succumbed to the Spicy Sneeze after almost inevitably catching it from my daughter - I did manage almost 2 1/2 years, which isn't too bad! After a few days of feeling pretty ordinary, I've dragged my sorry carcass to the bench today. I've also girded my loins in preparation for some rigging action, which if I'm brutally honest is why this project has been on hiatus. Anyway, the first job was to fix the floats in position: As many have noted, slow and steady is the order of the day, so I then attached the 'float' ends of all the cables and left them to dry (here we are mid-way through that stage): After a surprisingly short space of time we had two of these: Not perfect by any shout but it'll do for me. Next I assembled and attached the under-wing Yagi antennae: This may be the last time I can rest her safely upside-down, so here's another shot for good measure: You can see that the tail wheel of the beaching gear is a bit wonky after it fell off and was poorly reattached - this has since been rectified. I didn't have the energy to tackle the turrets today, so contented(?) myself with attaching the dorsal and lateral antenna arrays: Although I won't start the turrets today, I do think I remember @LDSModeller stating that the Mk.III would still carry the single Vickers in the front turret (please let me know before I dive down a rabbit hole Alan!!). I knew that the kit had the required parts, but I could not figure out what was what. After a bit of faffing around I had the fine thought to download SH's instructions for their Mk.I/II from Scalemates, which gave me this: Stage 70 & 71 I believe will furnish me with the correct turret - huzzah for t'internet! 😍 That, however, is a job for tomorrow - I'm off for a lie down with a cool flannel for my fevered brow (and a spitoon), Thanks for looking, Roger
    8 points
  25. Hello all. As threatened, here is a batch of images from Thursday, the second RIAT arrivals day. Some great arrivals and some excellent rehearsals - well worth £17! The WSO is raising his hat! Sorry for the number of images, but it was a busy day! I hope they have given you a flavour!
    8 points
  26. Hello to all! I'm Kenneth. I have been an avid aviation enthusiast since my childhood, and had taken up the hobby from my younger to teenage years before dropping it for other things. But recently, my passion was rekindled by seeing all the amazing builds people have been putting out recently. This got me back into the hobby about a year ago, only this time my objective has been to strive for precise and accurate depictions of the planes I am building. Obviously I specialize in aircraft models, mainly focusing in World War 2, with the occasional Cold War era plane as well. Most of my recent work have been single-engine fighter planes, but I do build larger bombers, too. I mainly work in 1/48 scale for smaller planes and 1/72 scale for the larger bombers. As of now, though I am beginning to work in 1/32 scale projects to my builds as I become more confident in my ability to add finer details to my builds. Hope we all get along nicely, glad to be a part of this community! Blogspot: https://nmsphotos.blogspot.com/ Examples (More photos available at my Blogspot, I'm only posting three so as not to clutter up the post): Boulton-Paul Defiant Mk I (night-fighter variant) in 1/48 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt (Bubbletop) in 1/48 Chance-Vought SB2U-3 Vindicator (Midway colors) in 1/48
    7 points
  27. I’ve got near the end of my Pfalz and I’ve started a century series F-102, so I had no reason to pull this out just after three o’clock this afternoon: or to do this to it: But I did. I suppose I will have to get it all finished over the weekend and not let it happen again!
    7 points
  28. Nearly there. Front seat still to go in, then it's just the bumpers, fuel cap,headlights etc. I'll pick out the door handles and the cowl band with Molotow chrome. Haven't had much time today, but I did knock up some black California plates (with 1964 and 1965 tags, for the nerds). I'll have to remove and rework or replace the license plate mount from the headlight bar, because while it's the correct overall dimensions, it has a raised area - with ejector pin marks to boot.
    7 points
  29. Hello after quite a long break. Forgive me for starting my comeback with off topic. I had a period of reduced enthusiasm for modeling and I decided to do something else for a while. My work room was not designed for model making so I changed that 😊 As usual, I started too ambitiously, so it lasted three months. The room has a complicated shape, so only custom-made furniture is suitable. It is expensive, that's why I chose the DIY option. I bought a countertop and boards, and also used the old beams from the dismantling of the external stairs (very well weathered 😉) It can be said that it was a mix of kit modeling, scratch, kitbash and trashbash in a 1: 1 scale. I did it for the first time in my life so I think it's ok. Before: After: There are shelves for paints under the cork board (without sunlight access). And under the tabletop I placed movable 'cargo' cabinets (here they are slightly extended, they can be completely retracted or taken out). Now I have a place to work again, so the next posts will be about the ship. I hope. 😉 Thanks for watching. W.
    7 points
  30. I've updated this dio by adding different shades of rust to break the monotone look of the junk in its entirety. I've also added steel rods as a load on top of the Suzuki. I've also added other smaller details here and there and add more interest to an otherwise mute theme. added more photos of different junk piles from different sites around the world. Added a name tag made out of foam. If you've seen the first load of photos I put up, you will then see the small changes I have made. I will add the figures as soon as I have done painting them. Thanks for looking.
    7 points
  31. Not the easiest of all kits, but very rewarding in the end. Lots of resin, some PE, a typical Classic Airframes kit. Fit is not too bad, but the plastic parts needed a lot of attention, filler and sanding. But the result is something that looks like a SM-79. This one is a torpedo bomber of 253 sqn. stationed in Rhodes/Greece 1943. These aircraft carried only a single torpedo. The camo scheme is made of Neutral Grey (Tamiya) and RLM 83 (Gunze). The fotos were made by my friend Frank Lustig who knows how to do the trick. Thanks for looking! Volker
    7 points
  32. A most productive day today. I always leave masking canopies to a late stage in a build however with some time and patience the one-piece ESCI canopy is relatively straightforward to mask. I can understand why pre-cut masks are so popular! 20220714_134546 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Today's painting was matt black and olive drab acrylics. I have added the majority of the decals to the F-104C and, as Dansk says, the Zipper does look very cool indeed. All these decals are from either the original kit or from the spares box; I am keeping the Caracal decals for a more modern kit in the future. All I really have left to do is assemble all the parts visible here:- 20220714_161456 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Still outstanding, a pair of wingtip mounted AIM-9B missiles on launchers. The missiles will be sourced from the Hasegawa 'Aircraft Weapons C' series. Sadly, there might be a gap of a few weeks now before I can complete this build. It has certainly been rewarding to this point and thanks for the support. Michael
    7 points
  33. I’m a great admirer of your printing work Serkan, and only just beginning to follow in your footsteps. I hadn’t got as far as thinking about printing directly onto the build plate; or whether chitubox supports could be dispensed with, but they seem obviously otiose if you’ve designed in supports in the CAD; obvious that is now that you’ve pointed it out So I did a test print with no change to the designs, without chitubox support, with the bottom of the support frame on the build plate, and without at this stage tinkering with the printer layer settings. Worked fine; and saved about 30 minutes on the print time to boot. Some ‘elephant foot’ distortion on the bottom of the frame where it meets the build plate but seeing as the frame is disposed of that’s irrelevant. Separated from the build plate without problem too:
    7 points
  34. Hi all. My latest finished aircraft is Kinetic's 1/48 F/A-18A Hornet in Agressor colours. On the internet I found foto's of the actual aircraft which had some miss-matched panels that were probably taken from another airframe. Also, the paint was pretty worn in several places. This was the version I just had to build of course. Aftermarket parts used are resin exhausts from reskit, an ejection seat from Aires and the ALQ-167 pod from the AMK weapons set. Kit decals were used and everything was painted with Mr Hobby acrylics over Alclad black primer. Thanks for watching. René
    6 points
  35. Thanks Chris, There may have been more progress. I was going to get the canopy and turret in position tonight but on fitting the turret realised that I'll need to paint and unmask it before the canopy is in position as you can't fit it afterwards. I will need to plan it out. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair
    6 points
  36. I trust everyone is having a joyous Friday and looking forward to the weekend with a song in their heart? Lets get straight into things. During the week I managed to start some detail painting while I was waiting for some new supplies of PC10 to arrive. First on the production line was the underbelly bits, well, bit really. I chose to brush paint flat aluminum for the main skin as the 1:1 shots I've seen show this as always beinga bit streaked and dirty. Wood paint and oils followed, and finished off with some satin black highlights. If all goes well, it should sit nicely on the underside as shown in this dry fit with a spare fuselage. the propellor got the same wood treatment and some brass and aluminum highlights on the propellor boss. The skid assemblies also got the wood and satin black treatment. Not much else to say really. Though I did go a bit crazy on the wheels opting for blue on the outer hub and standard bleached linen on the inner hub. I had to paint the tires twice as first time around I painted them tire black before remembering that tires of that era were not black and were in fact some shade of grey. Pringing the inner and outer hubs separate from the tires made painting as simple as it gets, though aligning the inner hub in relation to the flattish bit on the tire bottom will be more challenging - if I had thought ahead I could have designed in a small alignment key. Now I'm just going to have to trust to shaky hands and wonky eyesight. A strut forest - Hours of fun was had cleaning up the struts before priming, painting, oiling, waiting for drying, glossing, painting and there's still some more detail painting and glossing to go after this. I think I have enough spare, but... After much thought I think I have decided not to proceed any further with the Blue Max version but I am going to steal the transfers for my homespun attempt. While checking out the stickers I found there was a slight oopsie. It appears BLue Max did not make the tail transfer big enough to actually cover the tail - the Blue Max version is at top and my version at bottom. However, when I thought more about it, it wasn't really a big deal as there was a complication... the serial, H2278 sits over the red white and blue of the tail flash and the black serial needs a white background. Of course I had nothing even close in my limited decal stash but then the thought ocurred to me that it would be a lot simpler just to print my own decal with the serial, white backing and red, white, and blue all as one. It sure saves a lot of messing about that way. I scanned in the original decal sheet and used those colors as reference. Knowing how printers print and scanners scan, I knew there was bound to be some discrepancy in the colors, so I copied a bunch of tail fins and altered the color slightly on each one. I've listed the RGB values beside each one - when I print these off I can compare the printed color to the decal sheet and choose the closest match for the final version. To make things easy for myself I just copied a 2 dimensional view of the rudder and will be using this for the decal knowing that it will leave a small border around the rudder when applied - I'll just touch that in with paint which I think is a lot easier than trying to wrap an overly large piece of uncooperating decal over and around some compound curves. Now for a splash of color to keep Giorgio happy. The engine cowling. Happily the general opinion tended to agree with me in that the cowling should be red and white. T'would have been a lot simpler if it was just one color but nothings ever easy. Aizu tape to the rescue once more. I used small segments of Aizu as spacers between bands of tape to help keep things aligned. The front ring proved too much for the poor Aizu though as it fell on that front curve and I had to resort to cutting an arc from tamiya tape and hoping for the best. I kow its a crap explanation and I forgot to take a photo so... sorry. The paint rings on the 1:1 are a bit messy and not very straight, but I think that trying to achieve that look on a model always ends up looking just like a bad paint job by the modeler (at least by this modeler). I did have a little go at making things look a little less uniform by pushing here and there on the tape with a toothpick to move it slightly. I also made the first ring wider than the other two rings as it appears that way on the 1:1 I was a tad concerned about paint bleed as the tape kept lifting despite my best efforts at burnishing it down so I sprayed many light coats and waited for each pass to dry before applying the next coat. It got red. but did it work? removal of the first ring of Aizu looked promising and removal of the remaining tape thankfully showed no surprises. There was a tiny bit of paint bleed, but I'd probably cause more damage than good if I tried to fix it. If I'm honest, the bands could have been a little wider and that front band should be placed more on that curve on the face of the cowling. Overall though I'm happy with the result. There's just enough unevenness in the bands to make it look like the 1:1 without looking like a terrible paint job - and I'll keep telling myself that! and whiel all that was going on my new supplies of PC10 arrived so at lunchtime today I snuck down to the basement and masked up. I had lready given the underside a coat of bleached linen a few days ago - I masked the underside to show a slight wraparound of the PC10. I have no evidence either way but felt that it keeps some visual interest. Then PC10 was sprayed here there and everywhere, and also on a couple of test pieces. That can fully cure over the next day or so. as can these wings which are mounted on my patented cure-the-wings-while-keeping-them-straight jig. We'll see if that works. Or not. I have hopes. They're not high hopes but they are hopes. Lastly though - and for me the best bit so far. Seat belts. In my last post I had talked about some devlish plan to print my seat belts in the hope that keeping them as thin as a thin thing would help them stay flexible enough to fold into the seat and hopefully look sort of seat-beltish. Well? guess what... It looks like my crazy plan worked. Two belts down, two to go and there we have it. Surprisingly the belts are still pliable enough to form into shape and held down with a spot of cyano. I did break one belt in the process but that was my own fault. Sitting on a spare frame they look as if they'll do the job nicely. I even made the small clip from 0.2mm wire but the thinnest thread I could find to use as a lanyard still looked like rope - so, not today I'm afraid. I should of course check that they will actually fit into the fuselage from above before I go any further shouldn't I? There could be tears later.
    6 points
  37. I've got a '30 Ford Wagon and we call it a Woodie... Surf City, here we come. It's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goodie... And therein lies the first problem. Following along with the box artwork, I've sprayed the fenders and running boards gloss black as well as the wire wheels. All the woodwork got a yellow primer coat followed by a burnt sienna/ochre oil paint mix. That got wiped over to leave a rich wood finish. A whole load of parts got attention, including an MPC '29 Woody, hence the forest of parts in the picture. Things are starting to look a bit regal rather than sun faded and old. When I think of Surf Woodies, I don't have visions of pristine restored wagons with Dewey Webber stickers placed oh so carefully on the glass. A bleached out, bald tired, kept running with wire and hope, wagon stuffed full of surfboards is more my idea of how things were. I'll let this lot dry off for a day or two. I suspect a bit of weathering will happen once things are ready.
    6 points
  38. 1/48 F-104SASA-M 10˚Gruppo, 9˚Stormo Italian Air Force, circa 2000 Build thread Cheers Dave
    6 points
  39. Work has been progressing on these. Firstly the MK.IXc Of course, something had to break and get lost. The bracing bar disappeared into the ether but has now been replaced with a bit of brass tube. And the MK.IXe More later, Cheers, Alistair
    6 points
  40. Had these 2 turn up recently; 20220715_082939 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr 20220629_123133 by Dan Hardy, on Flickr Never done a ship build before, but always fancied doing some of the Matchbox ship kits. Might even do a dual build thread when I get round to them.
    6 points
  41. Thanks chaps for your interest. Paul. Thanks. My son's Covid was very mild and so was mine and my wife's when we got it. It is all pretty weird, however. I'm test-negative for several days but still pretty wonky. Really the inspiration for the build...was another build: https://imodeler.com/2019/12/1-72-esci-amt-usaf-f-104-drone/. There are pictures of this particular plane here: https://www.i-f-s.nl/183-1001-1010/. Weirdly this particular plane is the only one I can find photos of in the red/white letter early scheme. It also seems to be the subject of the carpena decals here and the esci/amt boxing of this kit. Likewise re the alternative tails. The fin is harder to blend than the fuselage. Thanks Bob. I know the look you mean with the faded dayglo. I think it probably stops being dayglo as it fades? Anyway, I want the lurid look. Quite a bit of progress. I've started off painting the inner aspect of the canopy. I've read, ages ago, the idea of sequentially masking and spraying frames oriented in different directions but never previously tried it. It works well, at least on the inside: I'm not sure it would look OK on the outside. Unfortunately I noticed this gap, after painting the inner canopy frame. I was concerned that whatever glue I used for the canopy, it would leak into the inside. So, I've filled this with magic-sculp using the canopy wrapped in clingfilm to mold the magic-sculp: Tad-da! Here is the seat, which has had a firing handle and lap-belts added only. and other cockpit bits. The grey is Mr.Color C317 dark gull gray. I don't think this needs any nose weight but I like a bit for a bit more oomph. And finally a bit of major sticking: and here's the canopy glued from the outside with epoxy resin. It's had 5" epoxy where there were any little gaps and, after that had dried, slow-setting epoxy to the rest. The intakes have been stuck on and the gaps filled with melted stretched sprue but the splitter plates aren't glued in so that I can paint their interior/intake sides separately from the airframe so as to have less masking to do. The coamings inside the canopy were a really good fit but I had quite a lot of self-inflicted mucking about with the HUD (? I think F-104s might be too early for HUDs) Wings on: I am very much enjoying this kit. Hopefully get some paint on this weekend. Thanks for looking, Alan
    6 points
  42. RAF Harrier GR.3 - XZ133/10, No. 1(F) Squadron. Flown from RAF Wittering to RAF St Mawgan on 28 May 1982 and then to Ascension Island on 29 May. Operation ‘Bowsprit’, 1 June. Flown directly from Ascension to HMS Hermes in the Total Exclusion Zone by Flt Lt Murdo MacLeod along with XV778/16 flown by Flt Lt Mike Beech. Flight lasted 8 hours 20 minutes and was supported by four Victor tankers. XZ133/10 flew numerous sorties in support of ground forces armed with 2-inch rocket pods, 1,000lb retard bombs, BL755 Cluster Bombs, LGBs and AIM-9Ls for CAP Ops. Damaged on 9 June when a 30mm AAA shell exploded directly above XZ133/10’s fuselage causing shrapnel damage to the upper surfaces of the fuselage and wings, repaired with aluminium (BDR) tape. XZ133 is now preserved at the IWM Duxford. Kit - Airfix H.S. Harrier GR.3 built mostly OOB. Additions - Eduard AIM-9L missiles and scratch built 'Blue Eric' ECM on stbd gun pod. Paint - Xtracolor dark sea grey, dark green, Alclad 2 metallics, Winsor & Newton matt acrylic varnish. Build thread
    6 points
  43. I actually finished this a couple weeks ago, but this is the first opportunity I've had to upload some proper photos. My goal is to have a capital ship from each navy in WW2, and next up is an Iowa-class battleship. Overall, this one took a couple months, but it was a pretty fun build. I'm still learning a lot, which is one of my favourite parts of this hobby. I haven't built many ships yet, so the learning curve is still pretty steep. I documented the build here: Anydangways, here she is, all finished:
    5 points
  44. Calling this one done, the last few parts just fell on this afternoon. I replaced the light just aft of the cockpit with some PVA applied with a cocktail stick as the kit part didn't sit correctly. More pictures in RFI: I have to say, this is a wonderful kit by Kinetic and one which I thoroughly enjoyed building. I know very little about Starfighters and have never previously built one but can safely say I'll be adding a couple more of these to the stash. Well done Kinetic, now can we have that Sea Harrier re-tooled?! As always, thanks to all who commented/followed the build. Cheers and stay safe Dave
    5 points
  45. need a peddlers licence
    5 points
  46. I present to you this Not a fan Pre-sized to fit the Airfix Demon, which might be a mistake on my behalf to use it on an Airfix Hawker Hart kit but the experiment needed making. I think it would work better if the kit had positive strut locations and a more sympathetic builder, much of my struttery is of the I guess it sticks method. Some adaptation will occur. Later. And the decision time has arriv! Wossay? LAG or HSS?
    5 points
  47. Hi All. The splinter camo. is done. Onto the decals next, thankfully there's not too many stencils. Dave. 🇺🇦
    5 points
  48. The guy I got the ligier off a couple of weeks ago sent me a list of some more kits he wanted to get rid of as he was reducing his stash (mainly aircraft) But trolling through, I have managed to fill 4 more gaps in my F1 stash for under £40 per kit from him, they were delivered today and all still in as new condition with the bags still sealed Well chuffed with the result
    5 points
  49. well that looks like a nice little challenge there Bill. I think (without the benefits of CAD/3d modeling) you have chosen the best route, that is, to scratch build it in situ. It's certainly not the easiest structure to create but with your skills... it's going to look stunning
    5 points
  50. Lost it again FGS...🥵 Try yet again. I have been experimenting with the means to get the passengers up the stairs which let's face it is what double deckers need. This version did not work, at all, not sure why I thought it might. Individual steps climbing up there Built up against a cylindrical former and curving around... Non-starter. So how about this? Mount the staircase framing on the platform and curve it round at its proper angle. Looks promising even though I admit the shot's natural ordure shows from here Ian, sorry again mate. Using a poor old fashioned method to place pictures in Postimg, need the phone it's so much better than the Olympus. Anyway I digress as usual Curve the flat side carcass around up to meet the lower deck's upper floor attachment area. Ah... I need to cut a sharper angle for the side wall which will meet the upper wall of 'downstairs' at its top. Work goes on folks, ciao.
    5 points
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