Dr Jimbo

I've paused for a while, waiting for the cockpit side door to come in at Hannatts. I've been surfing the BM threads and reading 'The Cruel Sea', which I would recommend to anyone. I have started a couple of new threads to get some advice on what to do with the tyres and exhausts. Weathering tyres Painting exhausts Any help would be appreciated. James. PS got next week off, so when not painting the fence, will get some time to get back to it. PPS Happy Star Wars day!

I need more help! I am building a 1/48 hurricane mkI and need some help weathering the wheels. I've painted the tyres a mix of tamiya flat black and humbrol lamp black which I'm happy with, but not sure how to weather them. I want to make this as properly realistic as I can. Please ignore the finger nail dents on the hubs. An amateur mistake. I am pretending the pilot pranged the alloys on the curb whilst parking! This plane would have been using a grass landing strip(I think) at Coltishall and would have been a bit muddy/dusty. I've used some tamiya weathering stuff which goes on like make up with a sponge stick thing, but it rubs off easily and I don't want to spray on a protective layer of varnish as it will dampen the contrast of the dull shine of the hub with the flat texture of the rubber. What do you experts out there use to weather your tyres and how do you do it? Have you got any pics to show off your tyre weathering skills? Thanks ++++, James

I am in the process of building a 1/48 hurricane and have reached a point where I need some help. I'm colourblind and struggle with red/green/brown and any combination of these 3. I need to paint the exhausts and don't know what colours to use. I want to weather them authentically too. I have painted a few in the past but have never been pleased with the end result. Please can someone tell me what colours they use and also how they have weathered theirs. I assume dry brushing is the way forward, but don't know what paints to use for that either. Please help, and if you have any pics that would be great too(I can ask my 6yr old to help match the colours!). Thanks in advance, James

Morning Erik, just re-read your thread so far. I cant suggest anything for the lost window other than using a bit of acetate, which is what I'm playing about with at the moment. I like your finished prop. Is that a gentle bit of dry brushing for the scratches on the blades? If yes, what kind of brush do you use? I am about to do my hurricane prop but havent been too successful at weathering props from my previous builds. James

Have stalled a bit, waiting for a replacement cockpit door. I did think about building one, cutting away the corresponding bit of fuselage from my spare airfix hurricane, but the plastic was too thick and I couldnt face filing it down, then scratch building the details. Lazy I know, but life is too short sometimes and their is plenty of other things to get on with. My main headache now are the lights on the leading edge of the wings. I had fixed them in position but wasnt happy so have removed the covers and now need to make replacements. I have some acetate sheets which I'm guessing would do the job, but need to mould them to the correct shape. I have tried pulling a strip of acetate tight over the wing edge and using a hot hairdryer to heat it, but it only did half the job. Flames in whatever form I assume would discolour the plastic, so havent tried. Does anyone have any experience doing this, or indeed have any other ideas how I can fashion some light covers? Here is another dilemma. Paint chipping. In the past I've over-weathered my builds and dont intend to do the same here. I know the cockpit looks like it's been in action for the whole war, but the exterior I am going to try to be more restrained. However, I do plan on a few chips here and there. I know that the hurricane was mostly metal with fabric at the back of the fuselage, but would this have shown through if the paint was chipped? Again I assume (I make a lot of assumptions) they were all primed before apply the camo and this would have shown through before the metal. If they were primed, then what colour was the primer? These things keep me awake at night... Also, what were the prop blades made of? Thanks for your help in advance. James

Just joined the thread. The history of this plane makes it all the more fascinating and you are obviously doing a fabulous job on a very detailed kit. Am watching with great interest and enjoyment. James

Hey Erik, nice kit and good work so far. I've not seen an Accurate Miniatures kit up close before. It looks fabulous and unless you left a load out of the thread, it went together pretty easily. Am watching... James

Roman, it's looking good. I like your preshading and the weathering around the nose. Top stuff. Am watching with much interest and thirst for more pics and progress. James

Looks great. Mine was a dog's dinner. Grrrrr. James

Spent the morning priming all the other bits. I mixed a bit of lacquer thinner with the primer and it seemed to go on smoothly. I also searched for reference photos to try to work out if the Italeri painting instructions are correct. Troy, I have read the booklet you linked me, and it says Sky and Night(black) wing undersides with sky spinner. The instructions talk about duck egg green and blue, neither of which I think are right. I'm going to stick with the reference suggestions. I can't work out if the white band that goes round the fuselage in front of the tail goes all the way round, or just over the Dark earth, dark green topside and not the sky underside as suggested in some pics from the camouflage booklet. Also can't work out if tail wheel strut is painted sky too or aluminium and whether the wheel wells stay aluminium or if they were painted the same colours as the undersides. More surfing this afternoon... James

Right. Have had to have a bit of a think. Have definitely sacrificed the side panel to the carpet monster. Quickboost make one and I can't face making one myself. They are not available for a week or so, so will have to wait before going much further. In the meantime I will get on with other stuff, like the undercarriage and spinner. I luckily have the Airfix hurricane in my stash and have compared the spinners. The airfix spinner is a much better size so I'm going to use that instead. I am surprised by the obvious difference in sizes. I thought/hoped Italeri would do better. Just to compare what they look like... Airfix... Italeri... Look at the size of that conk! I'm off to find some close-up pics of the rotor spinner. There is a line of rivets around the italeri spinner, but I wonder if this is inaccurate. I can't make out any detail on the real spinner in other photos. James. Also, does anyone know how to change the size of a signature banner? I've been told off for mine being to big, and that doesn't often happen!

Troy, thanks. I've got lacquer thinner. Do you ever spend any time doing anything else?! I'm off for a pizza, but will post some pics later comparing the 2 spinners. The airfix one looks much better. James

So, is Tamiya acrylic thinner what you call a cellulose thinner? James

You've made the engine look great. I hope you have better luck than me getting the cowlings on and the nose on straight. I battled with this bit a lot and ended up sanding, drilling and filling etc. It nearly ended up in the bin at this stage! I'm sure yours won't, and I'm watching with great interest. James.

Not much time to do anything this evening. Did get the spinner on and does look marginally too big, pics at the weekend if I get round to it. Luckily I do have the Airfix Hurricane in my stash, so will have a fiddle with the spinners from that kit over the weekend too. Annoyingly have lost the side hatch so will have to make one from the Airfix kit as well. More stuff to do... James

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this... James

Troy, you are my oracle. Thank you so much. I really need to pay more attention to the pics in front of me(4 wheel spokes). I'm going to have to get another set of exhaust stubbs, the one's I've got are too much later. Again your links are great, Ettienne's photos are a rare glimpse of colour from that period. The weathered Sea Hurricane looks amazing and maybe, one day in the future, when I'm at the top of my game, I might try to emulate it. It's a pity I have to go to work. Thanks again, James

Just worked out how to reply to more than one post at a time.... Troy, I am always very pleased to get your input. I feel that you are keeping me from making too many mistakes and helping me make this build historically accurate, which is my aim(within reason!). I've downloaded the file. Fascinating reading and very useful. Good bedtime reading. Thanks for mentioning the side hatch. I completely forgot to put it in. I remember thinking ages ago that in all the reference pics it was closed. I have a couple of questions for you. I'm guessing that you know the answers. I have been trawling the interweb and trying to find out what sort of exhaust McKnight's hurricane had, and also whether the wheels from the kit are accurate. 4 spokes? The kit exhaust is poor and impossible to drill, so I got an aftermarket one which looks completely different - looks like a later Mk I production one with flattened curved pipes(like in the reference booklet pic), rather than the with 3 pipes of varying shape that comes with the kit and I think is on the earlier Mk Is. I know that P2961 was a late production Mk I and was actually the plane he was shot down in over Calais in Jan 41, but cant find any pics to check the exhaust and wheels. Please advise. Very grateful, James. Erik, as you can tell, I'm stuck on a couple of things and it may be a few days before I get the AB out and do some painting. I need to do some sanding first and I recon it'll be a while before I can summon the strength. I'm worried that I'll take too much primer off and be left with a patchy finish and have to reprime bits, losing detail along the way... I'll get there eventually, James PS here are some pics that I found in my trawlings through google images. Here is the man next to the machine. It looks like it's seen some action. I'd love to see this in colour. I want to know what the walk way looked like so I can try to recreate it accurately. Weathering the wing roots is always a struggle and I've not managed it properly yet, in fact totally ruining my last build, a stuka... Another great pic. You can see how weathered the plane is and how the foot hole thing has lost all it's paint, and oil smudges everywhere. More than anything it is just a cool image to have on the side of your aircraft. Apart from a good pic of Bader and his posse, it shows the cowling detail well and illustrates how the fasteners have lost their paint too. I could do this all night, James PPS I've looked at the bulbous kit spinner with the rotol prop that goes with McKnight aircraft and it looks too big. What do you do about that? I'll have to sleep on it.

Definitely going to get some Ezee line. I've used fine fishing line before, but it has no give and is difficult to get taut. I have some micro mesh and that is what i will use to sand the gritty area of primer, which is just about everywhere. My engine covers are wafer thin and have come away a couple of times during the sanding process. I hope they stay where they are now. The radiator fitting is odd on this kit as there are none of those plastic sticking out bits with holes for them to go in(what are they called?), just a wide recess that allows a couple of mms of movement fore/aft. I think my radiator will sit flush though(I'd better check). Thanks, James

I can't face doing anything tonight. My next task is to gently sand the gritty primed areas on the plane and I just can't be bothered. Am lacking mojo, so decided to read the stuff Troy sent me and soak up all the tips everyone has been sending. Neil, here is a dumb question, but what are cellulose thinners? Do you mean white spirit or turps stuff, or acrylic thinner, or something else. Sorry, but I can't face looking it up. James.

Eric, this is just the advice I was after, thanks. I'm in 2 minds about getting an aftermarket set now. I'm going to have to have a close look at the kit. With that fabulous canopy, it's going to be on full view and I'm not sure I'm ready to start making my own bits a pieces to go into it. Thanks for the tips on the wings and wheel wells, I will bear all of this in mind. Forewarned is forearmed or something like that! I am going to have to get a mask set though... James. Have you got any pics? I'd love to see them if you have any... James

Evening Phil, I've just been looking at some of your RFIs and was amazed that you don't use an airbrush. You manage to get a lovely smooth finish and could never tell you were using a brush. Thanks for your half second burst spray can tip. I must sleep, James

Evening dogbrush, I always assumed you should use primer, therefore I have. It sounds as if you don't and get good results. Depending on anyone else giving me any pointers, I might scrap using it altogether. It never comes out quite how I want. I don't water my milliput down, but do use it afterwards to smooth it down and help remove excess to save sanding. I have made a paste with it but made a mess and ended up with milliput strength fingerprints all over my last model! Thanks for following and advising, James.

Todays action, as I mentioned above was mainly prepping for priming and fixing various broken bits. I'm happy with the aerial mast. Although it looks ready to snap at the lightest touch, it is a hypodermic needle filed down and drilled into the tail, fixed with milliput. Rock solid. My second repair job was part of the undercarriage fairing that snapped as I pulled the sprues out of the bag 5 minutes after I'd bought it. Again used a length of needle to strengthen the mend. It will be visible, but no one apart from me will ever notice. Chuffed with both of those repairs. Eventually got around to priming it with tamiya fine grey primer. Just for the sake of posting more pics.... Before... After... I'm not sure if I'm a fan of this primer. Out of the can it sprays too fast, is uncontrollable, and makes a mess, usually leaving too much primer on the model. Decanting it and ABing it gives you more control but doesn't leave a smooth surface. The paint seems to leave a rough finish, especially in angles, like the wing roots. I'm guessing that is drying before it hits the model or something like that. I don't know enough about airbrushing to know exactly why this is happening. Anyway, I'm going to have to gently sand some areas to get rid of the sandy appearance. Anyone know what I'm talking about and what I need to do to stop it from happening again? Alternatively, can anyone suggest an easy to airbrush primer? Anyway, progress is being made and hopefully I can get some paint on the interior of the radiator tomorrow. The priming has shown up a couple of areas that look like they need touching up too. Off to bed to read about He 111s and decide what version to make next, James

Just been looking at the Aires set on e-bay - £14.25 + P&P. It looks good and reviews back it up. Who does good masks, I've never used a mask set before? Thanks, James