AdrianMF

Well, once you’ve done the inside, you need to hide it: The kit continues to frustrate - really nicely detailed guns which don’t fit (top one trimmed): Got to here by 8pm (3 hours 10 minutes): I’ve had dinner and watched Galaxy Quest (excellent!) on catchup and I’m going to do a bit more in a mo…

post images is back now! Must have been a glitch. Phew! Anyhow, I recently read a build of the KP new Sopwith Triplane vs the old Revell one. The builder/reviewer couldn’t declare a knockout for KP, which I thought was amazing given the age of the Revell kit and the current state of the moulds. Now I’ve seen this one, I can see why. There’s undoubtedly some lovely moulding but it feels like mould separation lines have been designed in, and the most important set of holes in the kit (on the wing for the struts) are not aligned right! I had to enlarge the hole, mess about with the struts then fill the big hole with superglue, smooth it down and re-drill. Sorted now, I hope: Cockpit detailing is nice: A splash of paint:

Post images isn’t working for me at the moment 😡

Finally! I’ve been declared surplus to requirements until 19:45 so I can get started: Just had carrot cake and coffee while out so no food in this pic.

😂 My daughter has just been bought coffee and a cake while we were out shopping, so I will open negotiations for a bit of lung power… Are you subliminally setting us up for the P-38 GB? I’ve already got 2 Airfix “H”s lined up with aftermarket decals…

Now with added mirror:

This was brunch, left over from yesterday with home made chutney: I didn’t want to be under time pressure eating it, so I didn’t start at brunch time and fiddled about with Spifires instead. Now that I’ve just announced I’m going to lock myself in the study for some Urgent and Important modelling, I’ve been told I’m on taxi duty I’ll get there… Regards, Adrian

I know the feeling! You think “what did I use that colour for?” Nice to see a wet palette too. Very useful, especially for those touch up cycles where you seem to use one brushstroke of each paint in turn. I should use one myself more often, especially at the end of builds. And a lovely figure. Looking forward to some more pics. Regards, Adrian

Looking good! Regards, Adrian

Probably shouldn’t quote that out of context… Fantastic build and a fine example of perseverance!

A-a-and finished! (sorta): I’ve added a grime wash in the matt varnish, very faint exhaust streaking and black decal rectangles to represent the ejection chutes for the guns. I should add the cockpit mirror (as provided in the kit!), a very prominent detail, but I won’t bother with the whip aerial because it doesn’t show up in photos from the same (scale) distance away. Now, the first V-1 attack on England was 13th June and the attacks stopped in October when the launch sites were overrun. So all the aircraft involved in stopping them would have had either full D-Day stripes of at least overpainted uppers with lower stripes still showing. When I get around to the V-1 I might quietly forget that fact… How is this ancient clunker? It needs the canopy and wing fairings fixing for sure. The length at 138mm is within an inch of Wikipedia’s 32’8”. There are lots of things slightly out of place, the cockpit detail is non-existent (but would be invisible anyway), the raised detail is, well, raised, the cowling and exhausts are crude, and the underside detail is horrible. So, would I build another one? Hell, yes, it’s on my bench as I type this! Definitely SEAC this time… Thanks for all the support along the way in this mini-not-GB! Regards, Adrian

Good old Hobbyboss! They certainly know how to keep the parts count down. Looking good, just like the four that flew really low over me when I was walking round Derwent Water in March this year. What was it about mums and American comics? When I was eight or so and we were staying in a North Wales caravan site with the massed family*, my cousin was dispatched with me to the site shop to make sure I didn’t buy any “rubbishy books”. So I reluctantly avoided the DC comics stand and bought an English comic instead 🤔. Regards, Adrian * That half of the family is from Liverpool and my various aunts and uncles had three or four caravans next to each other on a site just beyond Conway. You heard more Scouse than Welsh up there!

Nice pair! Now, is one smaller, or further away? Regards, Adrian

Wow. I blinked and I missed it! Nice scheme too. Regards, Adrian

Looking good so far, I must have missed the photos of your extensive cockpit detailing Regards, Adrian

Hi there. After a lot of dithering on my part and changing plans on my family’s part, I am going to build this: Some time before the start of Tuesday! I will put up a formal start photo when I get to start. Regards, Adrian

The overwing decals fell off when I gave them a poke so I’ve replaced them with some from the old Airfix Mosquito, 19mm not 20mm, but I’m not telling: Happy now. Those decals were as tough as old boots and are better off in the bin! The propeller is mounted and spins, and is also removable so I can take it out for the finishing off stage.

Hahahahahaha hahahaha ha no. They are mis-registered in both white and yellow, and the yellow looks pretty lemony too: Never mind, I have Xtradecals aplenty: I had the right letters in the right sizes and the right size fuselage C1 (last one in that size) and underwing C roundels but no B roundels of anything like the right size. So: I trimmed the white border off the fin flash, the serial number was fine(!) and I’ve used an older FROG decal without a white crescent for the B roundel. I’m just hoping the rippled pie crust edges settle - I’ve hit that decal with Decalfix, Decalsoft and Microsol, so I’m hoping that it does what it’s meant to! I know it’s impossible to keep everyone happy with sheets of decals and you always run out of the ones you want while ending up with a draw full of Bristol Bombay overwing A1 roundels. I’d love to see a sheet designed for the modeller who makes small RAF aircraft from kits with terrible transfers. But then someone would complain that it doesn’t have Bombay transfers on it… All this palaver (and the time - where did today go?) has made me think that another FROG Spitfire might be a step too far for the Blitzbuild, but I’m going to start it tomorrow anyway, next to a different victim candidate…

Paint provided by a mix of Humbrol, Vallejo and AK: Im going to hope that the best set of FROG decals works, paint the canopy and finish up. Hoping to do my other one tomorrow in SEAC colours in the Blitzbuild!

Airframe really complete this time: I’ve been amazed at how well the parts fit together and how well the joins sand down. Wheel well detail next and then I can address the joins and sink marks on the fin before firing up the paintbrush. The fin will be covered by a huge decal so that may be a blessing. Undercarriage and missile bay will be done at the end of the build. I’ve scribed around the join of the nose cone because I need to paint it black, but I’m doing no more scribing. Pictures of the real thing show a very smooth surface and if I do want any panel lining I will use a pencil.

Thanks chaps. I think next time (next time??) around I would use 60 thou for the roof/floor to get a bit more of a curve in profile. But hey, I t’s not the most inaccurate part of the kit… Bit of a change of plan here. Now that I’ve bought another kit I can do both options. Obvs the one chasing a V-1 needs to be wheels up, so I’d like to do FF-B wheels down. Luckily there’s a Blitzbuild this weekend so that’s where I will build it. Even if I fail at the 24 hours I can still get most of it done. So I’ve added the yellow leading edges to this one, which is now “airframe complete”, just lacking prop, pitot tube and whip aerial (AP-D didn’t seem to have a Rebecca aerial either): So I will mask the bands and it’s into the paint shop!

Sorry chaps… Chris, get well soon. Mark, for the benefit of us slower members, please wear a clown costume when you’re making a joke. Thanks, Adrian

Just to be clear, I assumed that the last comment was made in jest. If not, please apologise to the host and I’ll get me 🧥

Wow, that was quick (and good too!). Looking forward to the painting. Regards, Adrian

Jolly tempting, but I bought the ICM kit for the scheme. A red 109 would look nice next to a blue 209, eh @Courageous? Actually, whilst I’m in a Spitfirey frame of mind (currently the FROG XIV), I might have a look at taking the Airfix ‘70s one and making a prototype out of it… Regards, Adrian [edit: sorry Chris it was Stuart wot built the 209, not you] [edit: Sunday will be my Blitzbuild day coz everyone else will be out of the house ]