JHF

I'm currently building the Airfix 1/24 scale FW190A-5/6 and would like to partially scratch build the interior framing. I only intend to put on the framing on the panels around the engine, as they will be left off, and inside the rear fuselage where the radio is stored. Those of you who know the Focke Wulf 190 A series will know about the rather large hatch just aft of the cockpit on the left side. I'm going to display my aircraft with this hatch open, and thereby the interior of that part of the fuselage will be visible. Which plastic rods are best to do the framing in 1/24 scale please? I'm also going to insert the Airfix electric motor to turn the prop.

Trumpeter have promised for years now to release a new 1/24 scale Focke Wulf 190 and a Stuka Ju87D but they still haven't come out. Does anybody know why? Is it costs?

Dear Troy Smith Thank you for inspecting my photos and your useful advice. You are right, post war Mosquito VP202 was a B35 and I knew I had a Mk IV model. I think one of the differences between the Mk IV and the B35 is that the latter had an enlarged bomb bay door to house a larger bomb. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of a model of such a door. I'm unclear as to what other differences were between the two types. Was the cockpit canopy different? and aerials different as well?

I'm about to start building Airfix's 1/24 scale Focke Wulf 190 A5/6, a long cherished dream to build a 1/24 scale aircraft again. This will be only my second aircraft build in this large scale, and the first one was in about 1978 or 1979 when I was either 12 or 13 years old. Hannants lists a number of after market accessories for the Airfix FW190, and I'm sure none of them appeared until decades after the said kit first came out. The kit came out about late seventies or early eighties, but I'm sure the after market stuff manufactured by the likes of Aber, Master and Eduard didn't come out until the 2000s? It's great to have them to spruce up an old kit. I have ordered sets of guns and seatbelts to enhance the FW190, but does anybody know if there are aftermarket exterior panels available, such as those that cover the gun bays and the radio compartment to the rear of the cockpit? Hannants has in stock landing gear by Scale Aircraft Conversions for the Trumpeter FW190D, but does anybody manufacture landing gear for the FW190 A version? The landing gear for the D version is metal, and thus stronger. I've checked Scale Aircraft Conversions' web site but there is no landing gear for the A version. Could this kit also be enhanced with after market ailerons, slats, tailplanes and fin? There is always the possibility of course for the modeller to do scratch building where there are no commercial products available, but I don't think my skills stretch far enough for that. Or put it this way, I don't think I would be able to invest enough time to do it, on top of what could be a lengthy project just by building it OOTB. I would also like to insert the Airfix motor made to go with 1/24 scale aircraft in order to turn the propeller but this item seems to be out of stock everywhere now. If anybody knows where I might obtain one I would be grateful. On the other hand, there are other small motors available that will do just the same.

Thank you very much to everyone who's kindly and thoughtfully replied to my query. I've only had time to quickly go through them and will return when I have time to spare. I can gauge immediately that there are brilliant hints and tips there, so I can't wait to return to read them properly. I will return soon to the work in progress section where I will try out some of the exhaust staining technique on a model.

Hi, I'm fairly new to modelling aircraft. I'm getting on quite good with my Mosquito in 1/48 scale and as I approach finishing the build phase of the project I'm thinking ahead to how to weather the aircraft. As the Mosquito was built chiefly out of wood would it mean that it had smoother, cleaner surfaces than aircraft made of metal with all their panelling? Let me explain what I mean: I've read articles where modellers choose to pre-shade panel lines before putting on the finished coat. Would you do this with the wings and fuselage of the Mosquito? My second question is how to put on exhaust stains on the wings that came from the engines?

I'm stuck with as to how to load photos from a photo hosting site like Village Photos or Flickr? Can anybody help me please?

After the photos turned out as thumbnails at first I clicked on editor to see if I could enlarge them. I've managed to enlarge them, but now they are quite blurred, whereas the original photos on my internal picture file are sharp. Oh dear, I'm not having any success.

I've managed to load thumbnails of my images of the Mosquito, which I thought at first hey-ho it's working, but I find they are near useless because I can't enlarge them.

Hi AngstROM Thank you for the advice. I had never heard before about Village Photos (strange name for a photo hosting site). I've tried and failed to use that site last night and today (in case tiredness was a factor last night), and when it claims that loading photos is a 'breeze' - its own word - then I feel dumb and helpless - I thought, Village Photos is making me feel like a village idiot. I presume that users who have turned to Village Photos rather than the more well known Flickr and Photobucket have done so for a reason, presumably they had problems transferring their photos from those two well known sites to Britmodeller. I then searched to see if my fear was founded and it didn't take long to find messages by forum users getting angst with using Flickr and Photobucket. Going back to Village Photos, I clicked on Help but found it referring to steps and features that did not appear to me. For example, I couldn't find my portfolio cover image after I'd created a portfolio, nor could I find other features mentioned in Help such as the yellow box that starts with "Drag image files here". Failing that I'm turning to Flickr, a site I haven't used for years but I had success loading photos onto it in the past. So cross my fingers and hope to succeed.

How exciting it is for me to submit my first build to Britmodeller. Apart from introducing myself last night this is my first submission. Oh my goodness, I'm putting one of my works in the public domain for inspection. Please be kind to me, but be honest as well. If you think it's bad then say so, I've got my hanky out in case. I'll try and be a man and take it on the chin. As they say, if it doesn't kill you it makes you stronger. I have built several kits over the years but I wouldn't say I'm a prolific builder, I build about four aircraft or AFV every year of scales 1/72, 1/48, 1/35 or 1/32. My latest build is Revell's 1/48 scale De Havilland Mosquito B Mk. IV. Kit no. 04555-0389. Since I returned to modelling about 25 years ago when I was 26 years old, I have tried to improve my knowledge and skills in the hobby. Of course, the hobby does not stand still as manufacturers have continued to turn out ever more impressive kits in recent years, and techniques and skills on how to model them, especially simulating certain effects and weathering that are on the real things, continue to develop and move apace. I have always tried to pick up on some of these ways from here and there and apply them to my models but with my Mosquito build I took this a stage further by following an article in Military Aircraft Monthly on building the very same kit. My inspiration came from Tony O'Toole's article in MAM February 2010 called 'Malta's Maritime Mossies'. Tony's modelled a silver coloured Mossi with the Royal Navy in post-war Malta. Due to the fact I couldn't obtain some of the aftermarket items he mentions I wasn't able to copy to a tee what he's made, but otherwise I followed everything else. I think it's a good idea to follow a build that's been published in a magazine or on the Internet by an experienced modeller as it gives confidence to lesser developed modellers that they are following a good path. Although I've heard other experienced modellers say there often is no right or wrong way in this hobby and instead it's a matter of preference and finding out what works best for you. My build was going smoothly but, wary of what I was reading in the article, I dreaded coming up to the undercarriage as the author had issued warnings about its frailty. I didn't help myself when I failed to follow the sequence in the instructions when I glued both halves of the main wheel wells together before inserting the u/c legs. The instructions show clearly in stage 45 that the u/c is attached to the wheel well floor before gluing the two nacelle halves together. As a result I couldn't apply pressure to the legs to make them stick in the holes in the wheel well floor. Due to this the u/c was weak and wobbly. I tore them off, they broke, and I had no spare u/c. I had no choice but to change plan and model the Mossie with its u/c closed. What a pity because I was looking forward to the icing on the cake of gluing the entry ladder to the hatch as my very last work before finishing the model. As is common with all kits pretty much these days, Revell did not supply a display stand to model it in flying mode. I used a Tamiya silver rattle can to paint the main colour as per MAM article. As with some previous projects, I've failed to get washes to stay in the recesses to give a more 3-d effect and show weathering. I first tried water paint thinned down, let it stay for about 10 minutes, then used a damp cloth to wipe it off the surfaces and leave it only in the recesses. When this didn't work I tried the same with thinned Humbrol oil paint, with more failure. I couldn't get the wash to sit in the recesses but it adhered too well to the surfaces. With this my silver bird lost much of its shine. Whilst I'm trying to represent a working military aircraft that isn't likely to remain looking as good as knew after several uses, the oil paint was not dirtying my model though in a way that looked realistic. Instead it was leaving stains and blotches that didn't imitate anything that would be on the real thing. So I carefully rubbed this off as best as I could without rubbing off the decals. I didn't manage to avoid this entirely but luckily I had spare decals. Another problem I got was that the stains from the exhaust on the side of the engine nacelles is over done. Tony O'Toole used MIG pigments powder and advises not to over do it as less is more. I don't have MIG pigments but I have Humbrol weathering powder which I was guessing is similar. I am happier with the stains on the top wings as they are lighter in tone and I used my finger to smudge the powder (with a drop of thinner) and draw it in the direction of the airflow. I'd already done the sides of the nacelles and when these were over done I was unable to undo it. Despite using Future floor polish to try and make my clear parts as transparent as possible I think the result is disappointing. I also found some of the clear parts were a poor fit. [I'M GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE IT FOR NOW AS I CAN'T FIND HOW TO LOAD MY PHOTOS FROM MY INHOUSE PICTURES FILE. WHEN I CLICK ON THE TAB 'INSERT OTHER MEDIA' THE CHOICES ARE 'INSERT EXISTING ATTACHMENTS' or 'INSERT IMAGE FROM URL', AND NONE OF THESE SEEMS TO WORK TO GET TO MY PICTURES. MAYBE THERE ARE INSTRUCTIONS SOMEWHERE ON BRITMODELLER TELLING HOW TO DO IT BUT I DON'T HAVE THE TIME NOW TO GO LOOKING, IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR MY BED]. I'LL RETURN SOON.

Hi, Having delved into Britmodeller several times in the last five years and registered this is the first time I've actually inputted anything on the site. So it's a moment I have been looking forward to and one where I will not be disappointed as the site is fascinating and the help offered there is wonderful. Even though I have not inputted anything myself I have read other people's questions and answers and comments many times and these have helped me in my modelling. I was a regular modeller when a child and up to the age of sixteen, enjoying making chiefly Airfix aircraft and military vehicles. After a hiatus of 12 years I returned to the hobby after picking up an aircraft modelling magazine from a newsagent. The door began to open for me for a return to the hobby and soon it dawned on me how much it had grown since I'd left it. I'm still a hand brush painter and am happy with most of my modelling, but would love to do more airbrushing. Some poor experiences in the past has made me wary of airbrushing and whilst they say a good workman doesn't blame his tools, that is what I put the blame on honestly. I didn't get much joy with aerosol cans for air pressure and then bought what turned out to be an inferior compressor and airbrush made in China. However, that is behind me and I have bought a quality airbrush and compressor from Sparmax. I will use it for the first time on my next model which is going to be the Airfix 1/24 scale Spitfire V. The exterior surfaces of this type of large scale model will offer good practise for airbrushing. I like modelling chiefly aircraft of every popular scale (bar 1/144) and figures and vehicles in 1/35 scale. I also like to set some of my models in a diorama. I have visited the annual Model World Show in Telford in November four times but have never displayed. I want to continue to grow in the hobby.