Grant

Pretty much where I am really. Now that it is standing there on it's wheels, it still doesn't 'move' me. A good exercise in weathering to come but, sorry your armour modellers, I can't see me rushing to build anymore armour. 3 wheels on a model is more than enough for me! cheers Grant

Even at this early stage of your airbrushing career it could be a bunged up needle/tubing. It never ceases to amaze me how little is required to stop paint getting through my airbrush. Check any seals aswell. Without knowing what type of airbrush or paints difficult to know what else to say, but those are my usual problems. cheers Grant

Nearly there now. Body painted, waiting for newly printed decals to dry and be applied before weathering with 'sand'. Chap painted, and looking OK. Now just needs a desert base... cheers Grant

Lethal looking T/R placement! But very cool. These personal transport ideas always amuse me - can you imagine the mayhem if it truly came to pass? cheers Grant

Thanks ferny. That is the square sorted, and now that I look at the triangle again it is actually 2 colours. And according to Clive's document, that means a fourth regiment and the colours are Red (to the left) and Yellow. Which ties up with the tones on the square. Cool! So now I am just left with working out what the 'lion' badge is. cheers Grant

Nice collection there Tony. Liked the painting on the AEW kit inside the fuselage. Reminds me I must finish off my Lynx and EH101 fleets. cheers Grant

Well spotted guys - I missed a "and ?" out of my original post. All I have come up with so far is a document of post war markings (part 1) by a Clive Elliott. In that, the only tie up I can see between a diagonal split and the number 46 is for the RAC - red and yellow diagonal and 46 for the armoured division. Would fit with the picture, but what does RAC stand for in this context? Doesn't sound like The Life Guards to me! And then, in the same document is shows the triangle is for 'A' company - good, but then the colour options are Red for a senior regiment, blue for a third regiment or green for a motor battalion. Well, I am guessing that The Life Guards would be a senior regiment, so Red, but is a car, so green? "Missing Links", that was the name I was trying to remember today. Thanks Ant. I hope you have some success with your references. cheers Grant

Interesting point about the swapping of engines. I imagine there would have been many 'in-service' mods during that time. Emphasizing the need for references, especially if you are trying to do a particular airframe. cheers Grant PS. Top marks for finding this from so long ago.

Appreciate it Daz. I have no references for this sort of thing at all, apart from these B&W photos, and the guys who's feet are in the photo can't remember anymore! cheers Grant

Please, can anybody help? The picture below is of the front end of a Daimler Mk1 armoured car, being operated by the A squadron, 5 Troop, The Life Guards in Egypt in 1955. Can anyone identify the colurs used in the square behind the number 46 on the left? In the middle is, I think, a black triangle, which is repeated on the left side of the gun turret (right side aswell?). Or do you no different? And what is that on the right? It looks like maybe a lion over red and yellow rectangles? Any ideas anyone? TIA Grant

Lovely job there Mike. Interesting to hear the mixing with metal coat has worked. I need to do a Danish EH101 in 'spangly' green, at some stage, and wondered if mixing green and gold would work. Judging by this it is worth trying. cheers Grant

Glad I didn't go with the kit struts then! Taking measurements from the above mention book, I set the wing jig (two loo roll inserts) with slits for the the wings at the correct vertical and fore and aft spacing and cut the brass to match. It doesn't take much for one bit to fit and the other not to. But working with the brass it was easy to 'file to fit' - and they look better too. cheers Grant

Thanks for the compliments, especially on the rigging. It certainly 'lifts' the model. Yeah, you are quite right Tony. I ummed and ahed about them. They are all out, but it does look worse on the smaller fuselage decals. However, the wing ones did go on and settled down nicely, so I thought I'll continue as I had not (easily) found the right replacements, ones with the white surround. I was happy, not to mention amazed, that the original decals went on as well as they did. Perhaps I will think differently when I get around to the Brisift waiting in the wings. I have certainly invested in replacement decals for the inter war biplanes in the stash. cheers Grant

I used the stuff for some panels on a Convair Pogo. It definitely looks more 'metal' than Alclad and conforms to contours quite well. However, getting it off the backing can sometimes leave ridges on it that don't always burnish out. Last year I did a Gloster/Whittle E.28/39 and covered it in foil, ordinary kitchen. A much cheaper option! Especially if you make a mistake. Having use both the kitchen foil was easier, but the next one will be in Alclad. I reckon with some better prep., ie proper undercoats, that Alcald will be quicker, much, much quicker and, provided you don't have any foil to close for comparison, it will look really good. Like anything in modelling, though, it is what works for you and what you can do best. Experiment and practice are the key. cheers Grant

Spoooky Grant

Nice little collection building up there. A dark wash over the Silver sliding doors would help highlight the sections, add a bit of depth to the detail. Go on - you know you want to! cheers Grant

All good. Meteor looks great, but I have a man who tells me those lower surface strips were lime green, not yellow. Unfortunately I did mine in yellow aswell! And as for the finish on that Avenger, superb! cheers Grant

Thanks peeps. It has certainly been on the bench long enough for them to have had some input! Nice to finally finish it, and for the rigging to look the part. cheers Grant

Lovely 'used' look to the BMF. It's a brave man who does that! cheers Grant

The copyright notice moulded inside the fuselage says 1953. So this kit is conceivably older than I am! It was an old bag kit, acquired from the stash of a modeller who had sadly passed away, so I felt I really had to do it justice. A very simple kit, that was quite clean for it’s age. I even used the kit decals. They are obviously a bit thick, but settled down nicely with some Klear. Modifications made during the build: - Heating pipes added to the port side exhaust, from left over resistor legs from my EH101 with lights (see, never throw anything away!) - The interplane struts are replacement brass aerofoil sections from Strutz, made by a man in Chetnole, of all places! - The kingposts, on top of the wing, have been added using brass from Strutz. - Pitot tubes added from a section of wheel from the FlightPath 1/72 bicycle kit. - Gun site added from a bit of photo etch that came with some lights I got for doing the EH101. A curious mix of items, but very useful now. - Pilot windscreen added; the sawn of front of a spare WhirlyBird DH88 replacement canopy. - Pilot and Gunner are from the Dark Dream Studio “Pilots of the first world war” set, DDS 72003. - The scarf ring is a couple of tyres and a bit of a wheel from the FlightPath 1/72 bicycle kit. - The elevator and rudder control attachments are bits of nylon fishing line pushed through drilled holes. - ALL that rigging is done with “100% Elastaine”, by Gold-Zack (part no. 977 770). I was put onto this stuff by a man who usually scratchbuilds pre 1914 aircraft, and it is terrific stuff for rigging. It comes a bit thick for 1/72, but splits nicely. I ended up using 1/3 to ¼ thicknesses here. Bits that went wrong: - I did start carving a wooden propeller out of veneers stuck together, but I couldn’t get it fine enough without the wood splitting, so I went with the kit part. - The idea of putting the figures in was to fill and obscure the insides. However, there is room for an instrument panel and I should have done one, but it was too late by the time I realized. - Having completed all the rigging, I was holding and admiring my work, when I dropped it! The starboard tailplane took a knock, but the rigging kept it attached. However, the rigging also prevents sticking it back in place properly, so it has a slight dihedral now. - Should have done something inside the intake shroud above the engine. References - Windsock Datafile #24 RAF RE8 by JM Bruce This is only the third bi-plane I have rigged and it was quite straight forward in the end. That Elastane is superb stuff. All you need is a bit of patience and a good rigging diagram. Enjoy the photos and, as ever, all comments and criticisms welcomed. Cheers Grant The Walk around: Some shots of on an airfield somewhere in France. cheers Grant

Now there are some type you don't see very often. And proper camouflage too! cheers Grant

Stunning entrance Vincenzo! Looking forward to seeing more - and finding out how you do it! ciao Grant

WoW! Is that a paintbrush I see in the background? I find putting a scale to these models so difficult, 'cos the detail is amazing! Another stunner! cheers Grant

That masking has worked so well! Impressive stuff as ever. cheers Grant

Finally - some progress. With the daughter of the guy in the photo coming over from OZ in March, I thought I had better pull my finger out! As this is a 1950s version, there were a few bits I had to scratch build, hence the delay. But now that I have got them done, they don't look too bad. First up was the larger radiator cover. Used the PE frame from around the kits bits to make the louvers, the rest is just plasticard. The engine covers also become 2, from the 4 in the kit. Next up, that fancy, non standard toolbox mounted over the spare wheel. Mark told me how to make the over centre catches, which are so simple, but so effective, and how to make the hinges look more hinge like by scoring the hinge rod with a knife. So now comes the painting and weathering...and the figure...and the base.... all by the middle of March! cheers Grant