AdrianMF

They are from the box! They fit well and they are pretty thin and clear, so why not??

Glad to see that both the kit and you are doing well! If it's any consolation I think I used about the same amount of filler round the kit inserts for the side turrets... Regards, Adrian

Wow that's come together quickly for such a big bag of parts! Looking good. Regards, Adrian

I heartily regret mixing up Hu 64 grey with too much Hu78 interior green in it. I was young(er) and foolish. I keep being on the verge of repainting it, but y'know, on the shelf already... I think if I did it again I would either BUY THE RIGHT COLOUR, or, failing that and more likely, mix a lighter grey with maybe a smidgeon of khaki/OD to get a closer match. And it turns out that the tiger on the real thing was nowhere as glamourous as the "tiger in your tank" transfer that Airfix supplied. Good luck with your build! Regards, Adrian

The "vacform" part hasn't been so bad - for a vac it's a really nice kit (but apparently has accuracy issues). Not since the 70's, which come to think of it is about the last time I saw a grapefruit half! Micro-progress. It looked a lot neater in my head before I did it, I over-trimmed the canopy slightly and I think I'm going to need a scrap of 5 thou or some paper to build the sliding canopy frame back up:

Looks super! They should have called it the Me218… Regards, Adrian

The Airfix T34 has never looked so good! Regards, Adrian

Great salvage job. Regards, Adrian

A very different build. Looking good! Regards, Adrian

Think of it as free shading Regards, Adrian

Looks fab Ray! All the more so for starting with something so basic. Regards, Adrian

What a great project! Looking forward to your progress on this, when Life gives you a few hours off... Those PE engines look like scary things too. Regards, Adrian

Looks good! Regards, Adrian

Wow! Horse foot anatomy! I used to hollow them out a bit without giving it a second thought. Britmodeller answering questions you never knew you needed to ask (again!) Nice work. Regards, Adrian

Classy! Regards, Adrian

Wheel wells look a bit busier. Cannons are very expensive aftermarket replacements (unless you skip the cocktail and just buy the stick):

The blades are very fragile, despite being reinforced with medium CA at the root and doused with thin CA just about everywhere else: If I ever drop or mishandle this there will be another exclamation in capitals, and it won’t be “wow”…

I’ve been drafted into laptop maintenance, fridge defrosting and shelf repair, but every time I pass I get another coat of those late war bits of colour that I would otherwise forget until the dark stuff had gone on:

Super job on the Flycatcher. Those old Inpact kits are amazing but you’ve raised the bar a good few notches there! Regards, Adrian

Propeller done, radiators on, tail wheel doors added:

One last piece of craziness for tonight: I carefully extracted the blades from the moulds while they were still cheesy and I have pressed them on to pieces of balsa cut with a twist to make them look more realistic. That’s the plan, anyway - tomorrow will tell!

I guess they didn’t want to re-tool it too much. The civil version does look much daintier. I still can’t quite believe it worked! I’ve been neglecting this a bit, so tonight I cut off the rear of the nacelles under the wing to prepare to make the new deeper nacelle: I will have to extend the wheel well sides a bit and break out the Milliput. It looks like the undercarriage mounting point was the same in both so I don’t have to move that. The rear of the nacelle will probably be a plunge mould over a balsa wood master unless the spares box turns up something.

So we now have ten blades, a filled aeroplane and a spinner that’s 90% Milliput:

It turns out you can spend an awful lot of time making an air intake: This one started life as a slice off the bulged nose wheel door from the old Airfix Phantom.

Tailplanes on and all the bits prepared: I’m minded to replace the undercarriage legs and doors. I have some Oyumaru moulds for propeller blades, as @JOCKNEY will know, but they are too big for this one! I need to make some moulds for the propeller blades and then it’s Milliput time!