nimrod54
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Posts posted by nimrod54
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Way back in 1997 I bought the Hobbycraft 1/48 Hawker Sea Fury kit along with a Flightpath white metal, resin and etch detail set. Scroll forward to 2020 and to the 'In the Navy Group Build' where I would finally make a modest attempt at putting this together, I should also mention that the intervening years had seen me pulling this out of the to do pile only to then return it to said pile for another time. Anyway, filled with enthusiam 2020 would finally see me put glue to bits and sticking them together. On that occasion, along with boasts of 'once I get started I will get it finished', I got as far as assembling some of the cockpit parts before it was put aside again.
Another couple of years would pass before I would give it another 'good coat of looking at', and with a slight lull in my planned model building activities at that time I had decided that I really wanted to get this finished. Then in late January of this year I thought it would be an ideal subject for KUTA 2022 hoping that this Group Builds end date would give me something achievable. It didn't make it over the line then either but on this occasion I have persisted with it and I am pleased to say that some 26 years after my orignal purchases I completed it Friday.
I dropped the flaps and opened up the gun and ammunition bays on one wing then used the wing fold details on the opposite side, all of which meant that in the end I only used around half of the Flightpath set but tried to make as much use of those parts to show what is possible. Although the cockpit is well detailed I messed up when trimming the vac-formed canopy and had to use the kit version, so little can be seen of that. The main painting was airbrushed with Hataka's Orange Line series of laquer paints. It has been a long time coming but I hope that you enjoy looking at the end result.
John
There is also quite an interesting story behind VX730 in the link below.
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
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30 minutes ago, Hockeyboy76 said:
Sorry guys, with Little h on a school trip to France and me working Sunday - Tuesday I’m afraid it will be a quiet egg free BlitzBuild for you all.
This is the first one I have missed 🥺Wot! No eggs with my breakfast!!! 😖
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Before I start working on this I thought that I would post photos of the sprue and box contents, first up are the four main sprues.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
Here are the clear and additional cockpit parts that come with the kit.
by John L, on Flickr
And the final item in the box (excluding instructions) is the decal sheet.
by John L, on Flickr
The other purchase I made for this kit was the interior detail set for the passenger cabin.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
Now its time to go and wash some parts.
John
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Here are a few more de Havilland aircraft models built for various groupbuilds/blitzbuilds, first a DH.60G built for the Flying Boats and Floatplanes GB.
by John L, on Flickr
A second Aeroclub Rapide.
by John L, on Flickr
This 1/144 Mosquito was my chosen Blitzbuild subject in 2019.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
I built this Sea Vixen for the Frog Squad GB.
by John L, on Flickr
And finally this 1/144 Vampire of 613 (City of Manchester Squadron) based at Ringway was made for the RAF Centenary GB.
by John L, on Flickr
Cheers
John
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Here are a few models that I made for the de Havilland Mega GB in 2017, apart from the 1/144 Albatross I also made an Aeroclub Rapide in AA colours and a Welsh Models Heron in BEA markings.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
I also built this 1/72 Matchbox 125 for the same Group Build.
by John L, on Flickr
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Finally finished this Sea Fury earlier this evening and then grabbed a few photos. It has been on and off the bench quite a lot over the years since returning to making models - making it the longest build that I have done to date. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with my final push to get it done, I hope you have enjoyed watching it progress.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
I have no doubt that I will be back with more KUTA candidates later in the year.
Regards.
John
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19 hours ago, Marklo said:
Nice choice. Welcome to the GB John.
9 hours ago, CliffB said:It is a beautiful plane John. Incredibly slender engine nacelles
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Welcome to the GB from me too.
Thanks for the warm welcome guys. The kit arrived this morning along with a set of passenger seats to complete the interior but I forgot to photograph those so I will do that at the next update. The box and content shots follow.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
John.
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13 hours ago, AdrianMF said:
Beautifully neat work! And pretty sharp photography for details that tiny.
A couple of questions if I may:
* Did you paint the PE before cutting it out, after cutting but before applying it, or after applying it?
* Presumably it's airbrushed?
* What glue did you use (and if CA was it thick, medium or thin?)
Thanks,
Adrian
Thanks for your comment Adrian. In answer to your questions:
Not being a ship modeller there are probably better ways of doing this, but I assembled each superstructure and any etch parts (excluding deck rails) prior to painting those. When completed they were then added to the pre-painted hull and deck assembly. The Fairey Seafox was assembled prior to painting.
The deck rails and ladders were primed and painted before cutting them out and fixing them in place, but I did spend some time touching things in again later. It may be better to paint them up after removal from the fret. I would advise that you get the deck rails into a rough shape prior to attaching them, and glue them at the start and finish point, especially on shaped areas, before glueing at the intermediate points. This may seem obvious, but when you start fixing the deck rails in place work from the inside, those on the hull being the last to be fixed in place.
I primed with a rattle can of etch primer and airbrushed the parts but here is no reason why they couldn't be brush painted.
I used a small amount of a standard Loctite for fixing the etch, it was applied with a piece of wire and any surplus was wicked away with the edge of some kitchen paper. I have recently started using Mig's Ultra Glue for fixing things like instrument panels to flat surfaces with good results, one advantage is that being acrylic based it cleans up with water - I am not sure how it would perform over curves though.
Hope that this helps.
Regards
John
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I have one of these winging it's way to me, and it should be here in time for the start. I built a 1/144 version for a friend in the de Havilland Mega GB and thought then that it was beautiful looking aircraft. This time I am moving up a scale to 1/72, meanwhile here is a photo of my 2017 build.
by John L, on Flickr
John
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17 hours ago, AlxBNE said:
Mission accomplished John.
Welcome to the dark side, it's not as bad as you think. Revell's C-17 or one of their larger airliners like the A380 or 767 are still pretty big models in 1/144.
John
6 hours ago, 81-er said:Those would be seriously impressive at 1/72, John, they're unbelievably good at 1/144!
James
Thanks very much James, the aggressor F-14 took quite a bit of time to mask and I used the Topgun decal instructions to create the patterns, but it was worth it in the end.
John
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15 hours ago, AdrianMF said:
I'm absolutely on board with the small scale thing but I seem to have overshot, and have an appointment with some 1/600 planes...
I have only built one in that scale Adrian, a Fairey Seafox and like you I was
enough to add some etch details to the Airfix kit of HMS Ajax - it wasn't pretty. Good luck with yours, I am really looking forward to seeing your 1/600 crew - I think I would paint them all tan and say they had their duffel coats on. 
Regards.
John
by John L, on Flickr
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Some of my 1/144 models for those of you thinking of venturing into the micro-scale. First up a pair of 'Kittens'.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
A few Starfighters and a Thunderchief
by John L, on Flickr
A mix of Mark1 and Armory Me.109's
by John L, on Flickr
A couple of Revell 'Tonkas'
by John L, on Flickr
This Valom Sopwith Pup is the smallest completion to date, the rigging is overscale but I wanted to see if it was possible using 0.1mm wire.
by John L, on Flickr
Other 1/144 models I have in the cabinet include Hunters, Harrier, Lightning, Mosquito, Vampire and many more. This Dragon EA-18G launch scene was one of my favourite builds in 2018.
by John L, on Flickr
I hope that this inspires more of you to try an occasional 1/144 build.
Cheers
John
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On 24/04/2023 at 03:21, Pappy said:
G'day John.
USN/USMC F-8Es used the MB.5. the MB.7 was installed to the F-8J. Externally, the biggest visual difference was the parachute pack with the MB.5 having the flat sided pan and the MB.7 the rounded version,
cheers,
Pappy
Thanks for the info Pappy, I have been looking around for 1/72 MB.5 seats without much joy at the moment. The examples that I have come across for -8E's from Aires and Quickboost (also Aires) look like MB.7's on closer examination. I will keep looking but if unsuccessful I may have to resort to using the MB.7 and live with the error.
Thanks again for your help.
John
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On 23/04/2023 at 23:32, AdrianMF said:
Seeing them all in grey (all my horse parts were white plastic or metal when I did figures) and on such a clean bench makes me think I'm looking at a 3D design! Looks like a really nice kit so far.
Regards,
Adrian
It's not too bad Adrian. The plastic is quite soft so care is needed when cleaning up seams etc, but it does mean that it is easy to resculpt areas to blend the joins if required. There are no assembly instructions, the parts are indentified on the painting guide and determining the best method of assembly is left to the modeller.
A quick update whilst I am here.
I have finished assembly of the horses and the seams and joins have been tidied up. They have both had a couple of light coats of one of Citadel's acrylic sprays as a base, in this case Zandri Dust, and are almost ready to be painted. I have also started working on the figures, the torso and legs of the Tracker have been glued together. As can be seen in the following photo, I have had a trial fit of a couple of necessary parts to ensure that the rider can sit astride of his horse, and Mrs N. (who being a horse rider knows about such things) informs me that he sits well
, so who am I to argue.
by John L, on Flickr
Regards.
John
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I started work on the horses of this kit yesterday by cleaning up the seam lines and flash before glueing the leg/body halves together. Once that assembly had dried the head was added and left to dry before the joins were filled where required and then cleaned up. The ears and tail were then glued in place and these need a small amount of filler to neaten up a couple of gaps and that will complete the Scouts horse.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
Here is the process underway on the Trackers horse - first the parts clean up.
by John L, on Flickr
Followed by the leg/body assembly and in this case the ears have been glued to the head before I attach it to the body.
by John L, on Flickr
Back with more soon.
John
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I made a start on this, probably the easier my two planned builds, during the week and things went together fairly quickly. I added some weight into the nosecone and covered that over with some blu-tack. The cockpit was painted up, and with the decals for the panel and side consoles added it was left loose until after fuselage halves were joined - that way I could ensure that it was level between the two locations in the fuselage halves before it was finally glued in place through the intake.
I wasn't happy with the kit supplied seat but found a Mk.7 seat in my spares box which the Martin Baker site shows as the type fitted to the Crusader. I am in the process of painting this up, and that is all the work done on the fuselage so far.
by John L, on Flickr
The kit supplied seat
by John L, on Flickr
and this is my resin replacement.
by John L, on Flickr
The wings have also been assembled.
by John L, on Flickr
Regards.
John
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Another brief update. I have removed the canopy and that will be masked up and painted before I refit it, there is also some further painting around the cockpit to tidy that area up. Other work carried out recently was fixing in place of a few detail items, the main undercarriage doors, additional fuel tanks and flaps have all been glued on and I have also added a set of Master turned brass gun barrels. I had to use some brass tube to get these to fit the Hobbycraft kit and these also require painting up. The prop blades had the yellow tips painted and once dry they were glued to the spinner, the whole assembly then received a couple of coats of clear.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
If everything goes to plan I hope get this one wrapped up during the week.
John
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On 17/04/2023 at 06:23, JeroenS said:
She's a beauty John, that's a great scheme.
On 17/04/2023 at 09:06, modelling minion said:Really great result John, they look fantastic.
🇺🇦
7 hours ago, Hockeyboy76 said:What a pair!!
Great work good buddy.
Cheers guys, they didn't turn out too badly for a couple of 'old codgers'.
The original decals worked brilliantly.
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Grumman F9F-8 (AF-8J) Cougar
US Navy, VT-26, 665, 138891
Late 50's - Early 60's
Hales/Hasegawa 1/72
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
And a final shot alongside her stablemate which fell outside the 25% rule but was finished at the same time as the Cougar.
by John L, on Flickr
Cheers.
John
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As I said above I completed the Cougar today. I did some checking on AIM-9B colours and came across this site Shelf Oddity who manufacture parts for models. On their site there was a brief colour history and it seems that in the late 50's early 60's the US Navy carried AIM-9B's with a black motor section and white seeker head or overall black version, most likely to indicate a training missile. So maybe the colour choice isn't that far off, in the end I have gone with all black. Here is the completed build.
by John L, on Flickr
And a final shot of the Panther.
by John L, on Flickr
Thanks again to all those who dropped by throughout the course of work on this pair, I hope that you have had as much fun tagging along as I have whilst building this pair.
John
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On 15/04/2023 at 21:09, modelling minion said:
They're both looking great John, I particularly like the Cougar in it's attractive colour scheme.
🇺🇦
Thanks very much Craig. I have really enjoyed putting these together and finished the Cougar off today.
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They look alright from a distance Adrian, but they are way below the standard I have seen at model shows, perhaps I am setting the bar too high.
I thought that this one would be more of a challenge because of the different skin tones of the figures.
I can always switch to the tank if you think that my standards already too high.
John
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After a busy couple of days decalling, the Cougar is almost finished, underwing tanks, undercarriage doors, and airbrakes fix in place, then lights to paint will leave me with the missiles to sort. I am trying to determine the colour for those, the kit art seems to show them painted black but I don't think that would be correct. Here is the model in its present state.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
As for the Panther, it's all but done apart from the missing letter D on the upper surface of the starboard wing. This was down to me messing up during the application but having discovered a couple of sets of US 45o letters (one set being white) that should have been an easy fix - well it would be if I could remember where I put them.
Anyway, here she is minus the D.
by John L, on Flickr
by John L, on Flickr
Back with a final update soon.
John
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Those are looking rather impressive JB, and thanks for the headsup re parts removal. Looks like I may have to get busy with the corkscrew though
, I would also need to give it a few days before starting any work.
John
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Matilda
in Blitzbuild 2023 - Part 1
Posted
That's either one tiny model or a GIANT can of beer. Great stuff Enzo, well done mate.
John