Dr Jimbo

I'VE POSTED THIS IN THE WRONG FORUM. CHECK OUT WIP IN 5 MINS AND IT WILL BE THERE INSTEAD!! MUPPET!

Here we go. My first build log. I've been modelling for about a year and have completed 3 kits so far(started and abandoned several others) . My interest in modelling started when reading 'Reach for the Sky' and my first builds were a Spitfire, a 109, and most recently an 87, all in BoB livery. I enjoyed making them all and have learnt new techniques with each one. The often overlooked Hurricane is the obvious next choice to add to my collection. My finale will be Monograms He111 but that is somewhere in the future. I will be looking for advice and help, and welcome criticism(positively encourage it, as long as it's friendly). This is OOB with no aftermarket stuff this time. If I can achieve a 95% accurate build I'll be happy. My main aim with this one is to get the weathering right. 'Less is more' I keep hearing, and I'm going to go with that. My previous builds have been over weathered as I've got carried away with learning new techniques. My biggest problem has been modelling in the evenings in a poorly lit room, only to wake the next day to see how heavy handed I'd been the night before. Every day is a school day... I'll post as many pics as I can. They will be of varying quality as I work out how to use my camera, use a light box etc. It will be slow progress as I have a busy job, small children and a wife who thinks I have many better things to be getting on with. I may post after I've had too many beers, or I may not post for several days if I'm away. There will be several occasions where I don't know the correct terminology for various bit of the plane and kit, and will refer to them as 'that bit next to that thingy there'. Most importantly I want to have fun and learn from the build and from you all. Right. Let's get on with it. I've already put the basic structure of the cockpit together and am about to embark on the PE harness. Within 10 minutes of opening the polythene bag I'd lost a piece of the cockpit frame(one minute held in my tweezers, next minute disappeared into thin air with no trace, gone to live with several of my odd socks, my last pair of glasses, and the gunsight from my first spitfire build), hence the fuse wire addition you can just make out. Having struggled with paint chipping on PE before, I've washed it in vinegar and soapy water this time. I'm going to mould it to the seat and glue it into place before airbrushing the seat then brush painting the harness. I nearly went crazy last time airbrushing the harness separately then glueing it to the seat with CA(wrong, doesn't work). Am going to try canopy glue this time. Happy days! James. Here are some reference pics for no particular reason other than they are interesting. I'm going to try to replicate the seat weathering....

Thanks for reminding me about the booklet with the kit! Thanks to our Finnish friends too. Now, where is my airbrush? James. PS Troy, like your avatar, Kubrick my favourite director, Clockwork Orange in top 5 fav films. No guesses for no 1!

Troy, thank you. This is just what I've been after. I appreciate that these are from the Finnish Hurricane, but it sounds like the interiors were the same more or less throughout the war, and that is good enough for me. Having posted this topic I've been looking at old threads and found some other pics posted by your good self in Oct 2011. The picture of the seat is particularly good.... There are other pics out there of seats with leather backings etc but I think I'm going to go with the aluminium. James

That sounds like a better idea and avoids the use of glue completely. Like it. Thanks. James

Prime Portal - what a resource! If anyone hasn't been to this site give it a look. Thousands of reference pictures and more.... Thanks for the tip. Sadly no hurricane BoB cockpit though. James

Thanks, I'll have a look. Looking at past threads there are some pictures of aluminium chairs as well as metallic framswork and wondered when they were from. It's amazing how much you can stress about the quest for perfection and the need to be 100%historically accurate. If I cant find any good pics I'm going to do what I think looks best. If that offends anyone then please send reference pics so I can get it right!! James

Nobby, I've just joined Britmodeller and this thread. I have only recently started modelling and am amazed by your precision, patience and steady hand. I will follow this build with great interest and will learn lots from it. Thanks, James

Just to get it on the new posts list again...

I think it looks great. I am new to modelling too and I like your simple clean presentation. There is nothing wrong with no weathering. I tried to be too ambitious with my first model and made it look like it had been stored in a burning coalmine for a fortnight! I like it and your build quality is top notch. I am having the same light box issues. I've bought one similar to yours but cant get the lighting right. Do you just need strong high wattage lights on either side to light it, or is there another trick I havent learnt yet? James. PS I highly recommend getting an airbrush. It would open up new levels of modelling you could only dream of!

I am about to start Italeri's Hurricane 1:48 as part of my BoB collection. I have found numerous pictures of Hurricane cockpits, but not sure from what era they are from. I understand that the interior changed throught the war, but not sure what changed and when. If any of you have photos(or links to photos) of the cockpit from the BoB period it would be much appreciated. Thanks, James

Thanks chaps. Washing the photo etch in vinegar eh? That makes sense and probably explains the chipping. I'll try PVA too, and will unless anyone else has any bright ideas I'll probably stick them to the seat before airbrushing etc and paint the detail after. If I need to paint a bit of phot etch before sticking it on, I'll use enamels to see if chips less. James

BEFORE AFTER Just finished the touch up job on the wing roots. Before and after. Not ideal, but better than before. Put it down to experience. Thank you. James

Evening all. I need some photo etch harness advice. I've only used it once before, but found it a pain in the bottom and fiddly as hell. However I realise it looks good and I will get better at it. When I used it last, for the harness of a Ju87 I moulded it to the shape of the seat, then removed it, anchored the bits to blu tack and primed and painted them separately from the seat. I then went mad trying to glue them into place without chipping the paint and getting Superglue everywhere. In my quest for perfection I nearly drove myself insane. Superglue didn't seem to stick it to anything and the paint came off the harness even with the gentlest handling with tweezers. Does anyone have any tips so I can keep my sanity next time. How do you stop the paint chipping(I used tamiya primer and tamiya top coat)? What is the best glue to use? Any other cunning or even general advice about using photo etch? James

Excellent. Thank you. Now for some practice.

Morning. Down to the nitty gritty. This is what I'm after. The Stuka was primed with Tamiya primer, then tamiya metallic grey, then hairspray, then top coat of XF?something. I then used a cotton bud dampened slightly with tamiya thinner to rub gently over the area. It sounds like this was my error, with the thinner softening the top paint turning it into a mulch of top coat and metallic undercoat. My problem is that I don't understand the science behind the technique. You are saying that the hairspray dissolves in water and the top layer comes off as it has nothing to hold on to. But how does the water get through the top coat to the hairspray layer? Are you saying slowly chip away at the top layer with something hard(e.g. cocktail stick) until you get through to the hairspray then the water will do its trick and the top coat will chip off easier as you continue? James

Not a bad idea. I had been thinking about it but having put several weathering layers on top of top coat, I thought the fresh touch-ups would stick out. I'm going to try it though, as all I can see when I look at the 87 is the wing roots. Will post photo results when I have a go later this weekend. I like the sprue/sand paper idea and will definitely try that at a later date, maybe on the hurricane. Every day is a school day. James PS These forums are addictive!

I appreciate how the weathering process happens in reality. The difficulty is replicating it in miniature. It IS about practice, practice, practice and I will, but when you(me anyway) can only snatch an hour here and there to model and it months to complete a kit, iot's hard to put time aside to practice! James

Thanks for your advice. Sounds like the Hurricane doesn't actually need the metallic undercoat treatment at all. I should keep it simple until I pick a model where that technique is more appropriate. I may play with the liquid mask technique and chipping with the cocktail stick. I didn't realise what you said about the primer showing through before any aluminium, but it's obviously right. You mentioned grey primer. Do you know that is what the RAF used? The reason I asked about metallic undercoats etc was because have just finished a Stuka and managed to banjax the wing root weathering completely. This gives me an excuse to see if I can download a couple of photos(not done it before) and show you. I used Tamiya metallic grey as an undercoat, a bit of hairspray and then the top coat. I gently rubbed the top coat off using a cotton bud slightly dampened with tamiya thinners rather than a cocktail stick to give a worn rather than a chipped look, and ended up with a messy overworn area on both wing roots. Although I'm happy generally with the finished model(only my third build) I think the wing roots detract from the rest of it. I was trying too hard to recreate a plane that had seen and survived several months of flights over the channel in the BoB. If any of you have advice on how you approach worn wing roots, let me know. James

I'm relatively new to this game with only a few finished models to my name. I am still learning and trying new techniques to make my models look realistic. I am making an Italeri Hurricane 1:48 and am keen to experiment with scratching through a top layer of paint to a metallic layer underneath. There are all sorts of metallic paints I could use as an undercoat but am not sure which one to use. I use mostly Tamiya acrylics but also have some Alclad lacquers that have never been used. Thoughts please chaps... James

I've got that colour. Sounds like I need to do some testing this weekend. I'll experiment with various combos and get my 6 year old to tell me which one is closest to the interior green from Edgars photo. Thanks Adam.

Thanks Edgar. I don't have any Revell acrylics but might get the ones you suggest if I can't find out how to make interior green with Gunze or tamiya. I will have to trust my other half to check the colour match! Thanks too for the reference photo of the seat. Gives me something to aim for. James.

RAF Interior green is a tricky colour to find. There is no simple match from the Tamiya or Gunze range, I can't find anywhere that sells Model Masters acrylics in the UK, and don't want to use enamels unless have no other option. My biggest problem is that I am colour blind so really struggle to mix paints on my own without clear easy instructions. I am about to start a BoB Hurricane... I am reckoning Gunze 70 or Tamiya XF-22 with a bit of something added. Any advice for a colour blind modeller? James.