Grant

Lovely finish on that BRG. Sweeet! Grant

It is a kit I bought of E-bay about 4 years ago. I don't have the details of who anymore. I also don't appear to have taken any photos of the kit during the build, apart from the this one - an LED for the search light. Having ordered the paints for it I ought to start taking photos. cheers Grant

Sweeet! Those front compressor blades look good. Sadly missing from my resin example, which is in about the same state as yours. Waiting for some paint. cheers Grant

I managed to catch his display at Luke AFB years ago while I was working in Phoenix. Even though I understood what was going on, it was still very, very cool to watch. Grant

They look cool - but we NEED BIGGER pictures! cheers Grant

My thoughts exactly. Those decals so look painted on. Grant

OK finally got started. Here is the Dr1 kit from the Airfix 90years of fighters boxing. I have decided to 'busy up' the cockpit as the pilot may not end up in it. New floor added to cover that horrible centre seam. Side walls framed using plastrut and my daughters hair. rudder pedals are 1/24 NASCAR windscreen clips. Seat is an old Beaufort seat cut down with some littlecars mesh stuck to it to make it look like wicker. First resin copy is out of the mold and being painted up. cheers Grant

Hi Derek, Another interesting suggestion, but H129 isn't part of my stash. I know what I should do or could do, but getting hold of any Humbrol isn't easy in town and ordering just 1 tin of paint doesn't seem worth the effort. I'll be bearing all the above in mind next time I am out and about. cheers Grant

Cool. Nice to hear of them in action. I used to think that nose looked weird, but now I am used to it, the bog standard Mk3 nose now looks weird!! cheers Grant

Oliver - Xtracolour I didn't even think of looking at that range. Geoff - WEM looks interesting. Didn't know they did RAF colours. Bill and Jon - I am looking to do a 'proper job', having waited this long, so will hold out for a tin of the right stuff. Good to hear Humbrol is in production again. Shame nobody in town stocks it. desmojen - If it is spare yes please! Otherwise I will put some business Bills way. Many thanks all. cheers Grant

Following on from the ARC thread which some knowledgeable peeps from here took part in, and where Light Aircraft Grey seemed to be the decision, I ended up with no LAC following the demise of Airfix. So having recently soleved my searchlight problem I was once again looking for LAC and came across a new Revell paint 'SM167' that was supposed to be an alternative for Humbrol 196 and 166(LAC). It is however very light. It might look good on the under surfaces of a Hunter, but it is not the right colour for a Nimrod. Here are some test patches of various greys I have. Without being able to lay my hands on a tin of 166 I am leaning towards 127, which looked quite good out in the Sun this afternoon. Comments, or tins of 166 welcome! cheers Grant

Not too shabby there Mike. Lovely 'air to air' of the Hurricane. Grant

Wasn't it that it hadn't been opened yet? I thought it was a brand new bit of Motorway that they used BEFORE the section had been joined up to the existing roads. Grant

Nice BMF. That would cause a real double-take at any show. I like the open airbrakes, a nice touch. cheers Grant

Thanks for the info Gents. Lots of interesting options available. PM inbound Rowan. cheers Grant

Hi Folks, Currently getting started on the Airfix Dr.1, which I could finish in RED, but everyone does that. I have seen the Blue Rider decals for Jast 2 (BR233) and Jasta 19 (BR237) on the web, but only B&W copies of the instructions, that where so small I couldn't read the colour details. Looking to do something different but still colourful. Can anybody help with details of the colour schemes? cheers Grant

Personally I use a Tesco nail file to get through the excess filler, to just at the plastic level, then I use 600 then 800 and finally 1200 or 1500 Wet'n'Dry before getting out the Tesco nail buffer (3 different grades on one stick) to put the shine back on the plastic. I bought a mixed pack of Wet'n'Dry from Halfords about 10 kits ago and am only half way through it and one nail file probably lasts about 2-4 kits, depending on how much filling there is. The nail buffer lasted about 12 kits. You definitely have to work through the grades though. If you can see a difference in the finish on the plastic, painting won't help cover it up, it always makes it looks worse! HTH Grant

Oh Dear...

Well it definitely wasn't the site that Richard has posted the link to, though that is an interesting little collection of kits there. I have had a look through my ARC PM history and my e-mail and, sorry guys but I can't find the contact details for my kit. If the guy is still making them they will appear on e-bay. Maybe you could try Ed Grantham, he might be a little more organized than me and still have the contact details. I bought mine around the middle of 2003, so it's not a recent purchase. I check the 'nimrod grey' thread I started on ARC about 18 months ago and have realized that now I have overcome the light problem, I now have a paint problem. I still don't have any Humbrol 166 Light Aircraft Grey One day this kit will get finished, one day. cheers Grant

Nope (Well don't think so). I bought if off e-bay. Some chap makes these resin and white metal kits and sells them through e-bay. Ed G put me onto it. To the paint shop!! cheers Grant

It maybe they are not settling down properly. Lumps and bumps on the panel may be keeping the decal clear of the surface and so it doesn't stick properly. There are various decal setting/softening solutions out there, but I have had good results with just using a little Klear/Future to help bed the decals down on a contoured surface. HTH Grant

This kit has been sat around for over a year now. I had got to 'that point' where a step needed taking and I couldn't figure out how. Despite the scale I really need to replace that blob of resin on the stbd wing with a bit of clear plastic to better replicate the search light. However, I didn't have to confidence to use Ed Grantham's technique of turning down a bit of clear acrylic rod to the right shape. Then, yesterday, the penny dropped! I chopped the top off a spare LED I had lying around, epoxied it in place and filled to smooth off the contour change and Robert, as they say, is your Mothers Brother! You even get the 'filament' bit inside, so it looks even more like a working light. Now maybe I'll get this thing finished! cheers Grant

Lovely, all those wires and that cockpit looks great. Nice one Grant

Got it in 1! It's from the Airfix box - 90yrs of fighters. I took loads of photos of the Dr1 and F2b at Shuttleworth late last year, so those two will have some extra bits on. I also have an idea for putting them into some sort of dogfight diorama. It looks good in my head...... Grant

Hi Folks, I just can't resist it. Lots of other things to do, but the thought of building some biplanes is just too tempting. Here are the 3 WW1 kits I currently have in my stash. I am hoping at least 2 will get done. Wish me luck cheers Grant