nimrod54

Cheers Ray, and good luck with the experiments if you choose to go down this route. John

Thanks Craig. It's the first time that I have tried this technique and I think that it has turned out OK. In the hands of a more proficient user the colours can be wet blended together to give the appearance of them merging into one another - I tried this out but I wasn't very successful this time around. If you do decide to give these a go, then I would advise that you apply them in thin coats, allowing time for each layer to dry before applying the next, and watch for them pooling around details or at the bottom of surfaces. Recommendations are that you allow 45mins for them to dry thoroughly, but by applying them thinly the time between layers can be cut down. Cheers John

Thanks for your comment and good wishes Craig, The recent jewellery purchase has earned me a few brownie points, but I don't think that it is going to be enough for me to take the kit and tools away. John Cheers Paul. I hope that things go better with the wash this time around, I don't think that I left enough time before wiping it off on the Starfighter build - we will see how things go. Congratulations to you and your wife for your 10th anniversary. Don't worry buddy, by the time you get to 40 years you may just about be getting to know her little nuances. John Update time. I have spent the past couple of days tinkering about with a few of Citadel's Shade paints attempting to recreate the heat staining on the rear fuselage. I have based it on an image of a French F-100 found in a copy of Detail and Scale that I have, so started the process by giving the area a coat of a slightly darker metallic colour than the TS-17 Gloss Aluminium used overall, before brushing on several layers of the shade colours until I was happy with the depth of colour. Here are the results after completing one side. I was hoping for something similar to this. The colour palette. by John L, on Flickr One side completed. by John L, on Flickr Opposite side underway by John L, on Flickr Thanks for checking in. John

I have been plodding along with this since the last update. The wings are on, the canopy was fitted and the kit pitot has been replaced with a Master turned brass part. I had intended to finish this as a Wild Weasel aircraft but sourcing suitable weapons (particularly a pair LAU-34's) was proving difficult, so it was on to Plan B - or is it Plan C now - and go with a kit option. Unable to find suitable images to back up the nose marking around the intake of the USAF option (Version A in the kit) I have decided to use the markings provided for a 100F of the RDAF; Eskadrille 725 based at Karup, so duly primed and with paint from a Tamiya rattle can applied to most of the parts, this is how things look now. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I still have to paint up a few details before I can start on the decals, but I hope to have this wrapped up before heading off to the Lake District next weekend, where we will be celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary. I don't think that SWMBO will let me take it with me - she can be so unreasonable at times. John

You are correct Troy, it is the AA version of Aeroclub's DH.89. I bought this and the BEA boxing at Telford several years ago. The rigging is out of scale and why I decided to have passengers waiting to board remains a mystery, perhaps I should start calling them spectators.

Hi Jerry, that's a fantastic result for a first effort. I also model in 1/144 scale because of limited space, if you would like to have a go at something larger and stay within the scale then perhaps try one of the many airliner kits. If your interest lies in military aircraft then maybe Revell's C-17 or one of the V-force aircraft would be suitable - though they are costlier and may not be within your budget at the moment. Choose wisely and you will soon have your airforce. Good luck with your future builds, I look forward to seeing more. John Here are a couple of photos of some of my 1/144 models there is the odd 1/72nd build in the background.

It could be a really tight fit now that things have cooled down here, Paul.

I made a (re)start on this over the weekend, painting up the cockpit parts, adding the resin nosewheel bay and fixing the cockpit assembly in position. The cockpit detail is a little sparse but with a few spurious bits of colour dotted about to liven it up it will suffice under the canopy. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr After the previous two days of high temperatures, yesterday I took advantage of the cooler evening to sit out and assemble the fuselage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I had to add some plastic strip to the side of the gun panel to improve the fit and keep it from falling through the opening, it still needs some further work to sort it out. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John.

. Are you feeling OK. It looks good though buddy, even without its candyfloss pink primer.

Republic F-105D Thunderchief FH-445 s/n 60-0445 U.S. Air Force, 36TFW, 23TFS Bitburg, Germany, 1962 Platz/F-toys 1/144 Paints used Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver Citadel Ammo by Mig Revell Aquacolor After Market parts used Master replacement pitot by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

The Starfighter in Europe Part 2 C.8 (Canadair Built F-104G) Starfighter, C.8-17, Black 104-17, 104 Esc. (Sq.), Ala de Caza 16 (Fighter Wing), Spanish Air Force (Ejercito del Aire, EdA) Torrejon Air Base, Spain, 1968-71 Mark 1 Models, 1/144 Paints used Ammo by Mig Citadel Revell Aquacolor Aftermarket parts. Master replacement pitot by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Link to build

The Starfighter in Europe Part 1 Lockheed F-104G Starfighter Black 26+72, 2 (Marinefliegergeschwader, Naval Air Wing), Federal German Navy, Eggebek Air Base, West Germany, early 1980's Mark 1 Models, 1/144 Paints used Ammo by Mig Citadel Revell Aquacolor After Market parts. Master replacement pitot by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Link to build

Thanks chaps. I don't usually weather my models and especially not in this scale Paul, mainly because my weathering skills ain't anything to write home about. But I did have a go at a panel line wash on the Spanish 104 by using this. Having duly applied some to the lines on one of the wings, I left it to dry for a little while and then used some thinners to remove any excess - only to find that it removed what I wanted to keep, and that is where this weathering sojourn ended, before I really mucked things up. I am certain that it is my technique and not the product, so methinks more practice is needed - a lot more practice. by John L, on Flickr Along with the Thunderchief, I also finished the detail painting on these two European Starfighters today, and here they are together. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I will pop some more photos in the gallery later. John

Thanks for your comment Craig, and for the information, I had no chance of working anything out from these Japanese instructions other than 23 and 1962. by John L, on Flickr Anyway, after painting a couple of the final details I finished this one today. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Cheers John

Thanks very much Pete, it is a nice kit but not without its challenges in some areas. The fit of parts is good and this is the first airliner build where I have felt confident enough to fit the wings after painting and decalling the fuselage - and no filler needed at the join. I have just checked out a website called VC10derness and after searching for Flight Test Rig was directed to this page (see link). At the bottom of that page are three photos which may be an aide de memoire for you. VC10derness Test Specimens Regards John

I completed this over the course of today and took these photos a short time ago, I could just about squeeze it into my portable photo studio. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr My thanks to Adam for allowing me to enter the GB at a late stage, sorry that it didn't quite make the gallery. @PeterB I have been checking up on your Test Rig experience at Warton (?) but haven't come across anything to date. The only testing that I have come across was done at Weybridge or Filton but that does not mean that there may have been something done at Warton. I will keep looking and let you know should I come acros anything for flight controls. John.

I am afraid that this one won't quite make it across the finish line chaps and chapesses. After a mammoth decal session last night, the first job this morning was to mark the locations for the top and bottom aerials and then to drill those out and after that I fixed the wings in place. Then due to some misaligned parts on sprues F, I set about cleaning up all of the undercarriage parts as best as I could, that meant removing the locating ring in one half of the mainwheels (x8) and checking the alignment, once satisfied I glued those together and started painting them up. The blade aerials and pitots are one the same sprues and these needed to be tidied up two, however two of those would eventually prove to be unusable, so I will need to scratch a couple of replacements from plastic strip. I then fixed the undercarriage legs in place which brought me to this stage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr This evening I painted up the forward turbines and engine exhausts then it was time to fit the wheels and undercarriage doors. Once they had set up it was on with the usable aerials (minus 2) and pitots and that brought me to this stage. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I reckon that the model is about 99% complete with some paint required on the front of the nacelles, the two small blade aerials to sort and a clear coat to seal everything in to wrap it up, but after a very late night and the heat of today, I am too tired to continue so it will be an early night for me and I will look at this with fresh eyes tomorrow. Cheers for now. John

Thanks Adam. It turned too cool and windy to spray outside on Wednesday, so it was Thursday evening before I was able to get the grey painting done, after that had dried I masked off for the white, which went on yesterday. With the main painting done I unmasked things for these photos a short while ago, I can forsee a long decalling session tonight if I am to have any hope of finishing off painting and adding the small details tomorrow. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

I spent yesterday afternoon masking up the Midnight Blue areas, I had intended to use copies of the decal sheet to create masks but decided to freehand it in the end. I hope to get more paint on later. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

Congratulations Jörgen, it is a well deserved award for a super build. Regards John

@modelling minion, @Dansk Thanks again for the commets guys. As you can see I have removed the plastic pitot, and not so easily seen is the 0.3mm hole that I have drilled for the replacement part. I have left that off for the time being. Decalling got underway yesterday afternoon and as can be seen I had most of those on by the evening. Today I have painted up the drop tanks, and undercarriage legs, the main legs come with doors moulded in place so there will be a tricky decal session to come when I have to position those that cross the undercarriage bays over the doors. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Cheers. John

Having discovered that the decals that I have bought are for a VC.10 and not the Super VC.10, I decided to bite the bullet and airbrush the blue areas of the cheatline, fin and engine pods using Humbrol Midnight Blue. Fortunately the details like lettering, door outlines, escape hatches and Speedbirds etc are separate decals and I should be able to cobble a code together from what is left. The second sheet includes window decals of both VC.10 and SVC.10, so I don't forsee any issues there. Anyway, painting has started and here are photos of progress so far. My plan now is to use a copy of the kit decals to create masks and spray grey on the wings, tailplanes and lower fuselage before further masking for the white. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr And I also made sure that I had plenty of coverage on the underside to allow for the drop in the lower part of the cheatline. by John L, on Flickr That;s all for now. John

Superb finish to your build and great attention to detail. I liked the idea of using a foil backing for the flags. Regards John.

Thanks buddy. I have done some more painting, and it is almost ready for decals. by John L, on Flickr A bit more work around the nose to fit this, then that should be it. I have caught the kit part a couple of times, but amazingly it has stayed in place so far. by John L, on Flickr Regards. John

Thanks Craig. It is Citadel's Grey Seer from a rattle can, and is close enough for me in this scale to the colour of F-104G's used by the EdA. Cheers Dave. I have managed to do a bit more on it over the past couple of days. I've wrapped up the bulk of the painting since the previous update, the exception being the canopy frames. I like to do those as one of the last jobs on these tiddlers. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Then earlier this evening I made a start on getting the decals on, finishing that small task a short while ago. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John.