AdrianMF

Thanks Mike (edit: and BigX!). The damage wasn't as bad as it looked, especially now that I have a decent match for roundel blue. I think I've seen a Flightpath set, but the person doing the build had trouble making it fit. Otherwise, (it is said) the Pavla kit makes a great detail set for the Airfix kit! Regards, Adrian

Just when you thought it was safe.... Wandering drill bits! Thanks for looking, Adrian

I made up some radiator fronts from plastic scraps to fill the ducts: The test fit went well, so well in fact that I can’t get them out again! Matt varnish will be my friend here. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Aaaah, the Pavla. It doesn’t have a great reputation. However, I hear the cockpit fits the Airfix one well Well I can thoroughly recommend this kit as a fun build, and it’s quite petite too so I’m sure you could get it in your cabinet somewhere. As for templates, there is the @CedB style high road, with computer controlled cutters and whatnot, or there’s my way which is somewhat, errr, lower tech! This is the fourth time I’ve done my own codes (despite owning sheets of the damn things which never have the right size/style/colour), and it gets easier every time. I brush paint everything unless it’s a rattlecan job, and I keep meaning to buy an airbrush. But that would turn a hobby into hard work! Regards, Adrian

Well this morning brought more masking: the stripes are too wide to use the Xtradecal striping, so insignia blue was Revell 54 night blue mixed with black, white was a strip from MPM Free French Blenheim markings and the red was mixed from Hu 70 + 60. Serials were bodged together from the kit ones with a tiny hand touch up: Thanks for looking, Adrian

I’ve not seen that kit but I must confess that I’m perfectly happy with this one. Refards, Adrian

On to masking for the codes: First side: Not a fluke! And some decals. Xtradecal for fuselage and under wing, kit ones on top (Xtradecal did not have the right size). The kit roundels need a touch up to lose the white edge. Tomorrow I need to do fin flash, serials and small bits. I will leave weathering until I am back in a fortnight. Thanks for looking, Adrian

I know what you mean about builds taking months, but sometimes a day just falls into place! Regards, Adrian

There’s something about dark green/dark earth/sky that is somehow Just Right: Thanks for looking, Adrian

Had to add a bit of spurious detail to the main doors... (I’ve since tidied up the third one down) Thanks for looking, Adrian

Last few bits now. The tailwheel doors (top left) took a lot of trimming and filing to get them nice and thin: The wheels were masked with rounds of masking tape punched out with a regular hole punch. Thanks for looking, Adrian

For reference, here are three dark earth/dark green schemes: The Hampden is in old Humbrol 29/116 enamel, the Blenheim in Humbrol 29/116 acrylic and the Whirlwind in Revell 82/68 acrylic. The Revell scheme is actually more like the old Humbrol enamels, being more saturated. I think I may stay switched over to the Revell colours. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Well seeing as it’s an Airfix build and Mrs MF is having a slow day today, I might as well press on with the green: The masking worked pretty well with only a couple of touch ups to do. Strangely, the one leading edge that I masked will need more touch up than all the others put together. To continue the spirit of experimentation I decided to use Revell 68 acrylic instead of Humbrol 116. It went on well and again it’s a bit more saturated than the Humbrol equivalent so I’m happy with the look. It doesn’t have that blueish washed out look of Humbrol 30 either. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Hello All, My Humbrol 29 acrylic dark earth was almost empty and had turned to jelly, so I dug out a new pot that I had bought a while back, gave it a good stir and started painting. It was like soil mixed with water - really thin and gritty. Luckily I hadn’t got too far along, so I could wipe most of it off. So I am using Revell 82 acrylic instead - it’s a slightly richer colour but flows on beautifully. My default paint box used to be all Humbrol: Anyhow, here’s the beast with its coat of smoother richer dark earth: Thanks for looking, Adrian

Nice to see this classic coming along. At least with the half-track you can tell what you are building as you are going along - with the tractor from the Bofors kit I found myself gluing all sorts of weird boxes together with no idea of what I was building, until it all fell together at the last minute! I've had a few cars like that... Regards, Adrian

Hu 81 Pale Yellow?

The Wikipedia page shows two pictures with pale bombs here. Also there's a picture of an early war Stirling (A type roundels, not C type) with yellow bombs here. Regards, Adrian

The instructions sure send me back and even the transfers look great - in register and not too yellowed! I would go for yellow bombs - I did mine green when I did the Hampden but I think yellow is correct for early war. Looking forward to this... Regards, Adrian

The top coats are looking very nice. Regards, Adrian

I strongly approve of the fingerprint-free canopy! If she isn't too busy could you ask her to pop round and glue my Whirlwind canopy on? Adrian

Paper impregnated with superglue works just as well as thin plastic for small parts. Regards, Adrian

Hello All, I’ve been tidying up the wing and fuselage joints, and I’ve scribed the trim tabs and flaps, which take in the rear portion of the nacelle. Here it is with a pristine(ish) coat of brushed Humbrol 90 acrylic: And now of course I have to paint one wing black. I’m going with HE-H because I’m not sure -V had the black wing. Xtradecals to the rescue for type A and A1 roundels and fin flash: I will use the B roundels, serial and stencils from the kit and mask the HE-H with Humbrol 64. [Edit - I'm going to go for HE-V because my "Camouflage and Markings 11 - Meteor, Whirlwind, Welkin" has a (the only?) picture of the much-weathered instance and I can see that the bottom of the port nacelle is Sky, so I can assume that the whole underside is that colour, and it has an explanation and a profile of the scheme. And I can cobble serial P6969 together from P6984 and the zero from P7102, so I don't have to mess around with individual letters. Too many interesting schemes - good job I have the Bilek!] Thanks for looking, Adrian

Very nice. Looks purposeful in overall grey. Didn't see anything with that much character flying down the Mall yesterday... Regards, Adrian

They both look very nice. Do you have a view on how the MPM and new Airfix compare? I built the MPM and was very happy with it (although I think I'm in a minority there). (And I've got a Revell/MPM Mk II in the stash before I throw any money at Airfix...) Regards, Adrian

Thanks Cliff. I'm hoping to wrap it up this week before I go away again. Regards, Adrian