nimrod54

Thanks Adrian. The interior can be seen in good light and if you angle it correctly. The only area difficult to catch a glimpse of is the Flight Engineers station with his light source coming from the top window immediately aft of the cockpit - poor chap. 🙂 John

WHAT! WHAT! WHAT! A pucker build from H in a Blitzbuild is totally un-eggspected. 🤯 Hope that it is not as wet as it has been around Zandvoort buddy. Good luck getting the Gloss Appliance White on.

I have done a bit more work on this over the past couple of weeks. The cabin interior shows that there are luggage racks fitted above the passenger seats, Valom have represented these as wooden shelves but looking at images I have been able to find online they look to be similar to the style used in some railway carriages, ie: a metal frame with a mesh stretched across. Because little will be seen of the interior once the fuselage is closed up I have decided not to fit those kit parts. The lower wing and undercarriage bay has also been assembled. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Before fitting the interior and closing up the fuselage I fixed the passenger cabin windows in place. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr The next task will be to sort out the fuselage join before I fit the upper windows and cockpit glazing, then I can add the lower wing sub assembly. John

You had me worried with the first photo, I thought that you had decided to follow a magazine article for an Egg Thunderbolt.

Even though my success rate for completing models in a Blitbuild is very low I thought that I would have a go at another with this Airfix Gladiator Mk.1. Some of the parts have been removed from the sprues but apart from that the kit is unstarted and it will be finished as the Shuttleworth Collection's K7985. Here are the box and sprue shots. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Having completed this Spitfire entered for Blitzbuild 2022 - Part 2 on the 31st July this year, I should expect to have this done by mid-2024. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John.

Thanks Tony. The poses are all down to the skill of the sculptor and I agree they look really natural. The other set that I have had in work for a while are of three mounted figures charging along a road, this build has given me the impetus to try and get those finished. John

Thanks very much Adrian. I hope that the tracker washed his hands too, Mrs N wrinkled her nose at the very thought of him not doing. I had hoped to get these onto a base, but we are having some work done at the moment and access to my scatters and static grass is not possible. It should be finished by next weekend so I should be able to get on with a base then. John Cheers James and thanks for tagging along. I hope you enjoyed watching things progress. John Here are another couple of photos taken under better lighting. I'll try not to repeat those that I have posted in the gallery. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

Yankee Scout and Tracker U.S. Civil War Series 1/35 Master Box I am often drawn towards the painted figure sections when I have attended model shows in the past, particularly larger scale Napoleonic era figures and especially those mounted on horseback. The painting skills on display are superb and something that I have often wished that I could emulate. One of the things I have struggled with when I model anything are the shadows/highlights and weathering aspects of the hobby, I am worried about spoiling something that in general I feel looks fine. This group of figures was supposed to be my chance to improve my skills in these areas. I still didn't fully achieve the initial objective, though I did eventually draw up the courage to add some simple highlights, which are just about visible, to the Tracker's pony. One fail for me this time are the eyes of the Yankee Scout which I have managed to give the novice figure painters 'hard stare' to, so more practice needed there - fortunately in this case they are hidden by the peak of his kepi. Anyway here are the final results. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

I took Adrians advice and added eyebrows to the tracker then did the best I could with the eyes. I also made reins and a couple of straps for the sabre and water bottle. Another look at the boxart also showed that a Martingale was fitted. If like me you are unitiated in the mysteries of horse-tack, then briefly this piece of kit is a strap which runs from under the head via a neck collar then back between the front legs to the girth, I roughly fashioned one from foil and fixed that in place. With the straps fixed on I could add the rider, stirrups and remaing equipment. Here is the final result of the scout mounted on horseback, I can't say that all of the tack is correctly positioned or tensioned but it is near enough to the box illustration for me. I used another of Adrain's suggestions for the tracker's pony, adding some simple rope reins using 0.6mm solder painted up in a suitable colour to complete that. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr I had been putting off the final painting job on the tracker but now it was time to complete the colourful bits of his attire to complete this group of figures. by John L, on Flickr And finally, this group of figures also comes with a pile of horse dung for the tracker to check. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr That wraps things up for this build and whilst I can't say that I am more confident about figure painting I am pleased with the way these have turned out. I didn't achieve my overall objective of adding shadows and highlights to the whole set so there is plenty of room for further improvement. That said, I used the trackers pony to experiment with the technique, adding some subtle highlights of white and brown to enhance the muscles around the legs and neck. I still have another group of figures that have been in work for a while so I can use those as a further testbed for improvement. Thanks to all of those who followed and made suggestions along the way, I still like James' suggestion for adding a beaded look to fabric areas something I will persevere with. I'll post some better photos in the gallery tomorrow. Cheers for now. John

Cheers JB. The Indian pony is almost done now I painted up the head collar and touched in the eyes yesterday. I just have to decide how I am going to make up the simple reins, I am thinking that maybe some waxed thread would suffice for those. by John L, on Flickr I have also made a start on adding the equipment on the Scouts horse, the saddle bags, feed bag and bed roll? have now been fixed in place. by John L, on Flickr There are still a few items of personal equipment to add along with some straps to attach the water bottlle and sabre - I will have to make those either from foil or using Adrian's paper/superglue technique. by John L, on Flickr I tried out James' dot paint technique to represent beads on a piece of scrap plastic but decided that my touch was not deft enough to make it a viable option for this build, with some more practice it could be worth keeping in mind for future use though. I have made a start on painting in the design and it should give an acceptable result once finished. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr There is still plenty to do on the reverse of the Indian tracker too and I am still pondering what to do about the eyes on this figure, there is not a lot showing at this scale so I don't know whether to leave them alone or paint them in a dark colour. by John L, on Flickr John.

With a few kits in various stages of completion (this being one of them) I have decide to try and clear some of the backlog. Since the last update I had painted everything up making this one was the most complete out of the pile, so in between painting I have been gradually adding decals and glueing on the last few items. Here is the completed model - built out of the box and finished using the kit supplied decals. No.603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, Royal Air Force, RAF Turnhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1951. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Next up for some attention will be another Airfix kit that I ran out of steam with, and as you can see there are a few extra goodies with this one. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr John

That's coming along well buddy, looking at the earlier shot of the instructions I'd say that you are almost there.

Thanks a lot Denis, the final coat was Citadel Munitorum Varnish. John

Cheers buddy. I am pleased with the way things are going so far. John Thanks very much Adrian. I can't tell you how many figure painting videos I have watched over the past few weeks, some with useful tips and some where the techniques are above my abilities at this stage - Mrs N rolls her eyes as if to say "Not another". I just hope that the hours of viewing pay off. John Thanks James. That is a terrific idea for the patterning, and certainly worth spending some time trying it out on a piece of scrap plastic to see if I can achieve a passable result. John

Thanks for you comments fellas. It was a close run thing and I thought that the weather was going to stop things altogether but I got there in the end. It turned out well for an old kit and the final clear coat pulled everything together. I have another couple of these older Hasegawa kits which includes a Douglas Skywarrior, I may have a crack at that one day. John.

My apologies for the lack of progress folks, but having wrapped up two builds for the Crusader/Corsair II GB at the weekend I was able to get on with these again yesterday. The heads are on the figures and I have done some further detailing of those. I am still planning on how best to tackle the patterning on the Indian Tracker, the items have had a pale colour applied and I have started to rough out a possible pattern in pencil, we'll see how things go from there. I have made a start on adding some of the items to the Scouts horse, but I will get him in final position to determine how best to fit the other items around him, and everything still needs to have a wash applied before adding the highlights. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr And here is a photo for a possible vignette set up. by John L, on Flickr Cheers. John

LTV F-8E Crusader US Navy VF-162, "HUNTERS", USS Oriskany, 203/150888 Hasegawa 1/72 by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

LTV A-7P Corsair II Portuguese Air Force, Esq 304, 15521 Esq 302/304 64.000 flight hours Commemorative Scheme 10th July 1999 Hasegawa 1/72 Kit Hasegawa A-7A Parts Eduard etch for Fujimi Kit (Cockpit and some exterior details) Aeroclub ESCAPAC seat Decals Albatros Marauding Corsairs ALC/72011 Paints. Polly-S for brush painted wrap around camouflage Satin Black on rear from a rattle can Various Acrylic colours from Revell, Citadel and mig. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Thanks for stopping by. John

The thunderstorms have cleared away for now so I have been able to get outside to spray on some clear, with that completed I removed the masking from the canopy and that was job done. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Thanks for all the comments and encouragement along the way, I've had a blast. Onto the next project now. John

OK folks, this is almost there, I still have to add a coat of clear to seal everything in then unmask. Not a lot left to do, but we are in the midst of a thunderstorm so not much chance of getting outside to sort the clear coat out, hopefully it will stop soon. Here are a couple of photos of how things stand at present. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Back with more shortly. John

No danger of me wrapping it in a wrap today Paul, I am only on porridge duty this morning. 😄 It's roast chicken for tonight and that is Mrs N's area of culinary expertise. 🤤 Just about to start work on the last few bits now. John

I have just finished adding the PAF specific stencils to the nose to complete the decalling stage. I'll check over the reference photos that Andre provided in his link and if there are any obvious ones available on the sheet, then I may add those - apart from that some final detailing and fitting the last few parts should see this finished. I'm on cooking duties tonight so I think that may be it for today. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Cheers for now. John

Cheers Paul, I completed the wrap around camo early yesterday and then brushed on a couple of clear coats. Unmasking the tail and undercarriage bays this morning revealed a couple of areas that will require a bit of touching up, but I am almost ready for the decalling stage now. by John L, on Flickr John

Thanks chaps, I've made some progress with this over the past week. The fuselage was finally glued up and the joint was tidied before I fixed the wings in place. I have gone for a closed canopy so that was masked and glued in place before the tail and canopy received a coat of primer followed by a couple of coats of Satin Black from a rattle can. After masking those areas up I reprimed the remaining area and I am now in the process of brushing on the wrap around camo colours, I finished the tan colour just before lunch and hope to have the green complete by the end of todays session. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Back with more soon. John

Thanks for your comments guys. I have had quite a busy time over the past week or so trying to wrap this one up and pushing the Corsair along too, but I think I can call this finished now. I know that this is a bit clean looking for some tastes but that is my modelling style and I like it, anyway here are a couple of shots of the finished model and I'll take some more and post them in the gallery in the next few days. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Cheers for now. John