Danyel

It looks great

You're one of the few builders on here that builds at about my pace, so I don't feel completely intimidated when I get an update from your thread I'm also at the virtual stages of constructing (what should be a simple and straightforward) Airfix Hurricane. For some reason I've gotten distracted by my airbrush and paints so have simply HAD TO replace my airbrush and order some Mr Hobby Aqueous paints before I can put any more paint on the model. My last model completed? November 2015! haha Looking great Brian. Good luck with those screens. Best wishes Dan

Hi uilleann I'll raise a glass to this " Here's to progress, no matter how small, or indeed how slow. " Take care fella

this is great

This is lovely to watch

Yep.. No chance. The wind will blow all the paint away. Good luck with the start. Are you going to post a WIP?

You're not wrong, Ray. It certainly has spruced it up There will also be three brass rods representing the three other struts. I am super pleased so far. Time to move onto the next set of undercarriages. It is a super etched set. Well spotted on the Airfix type decals, Ian. My plan is to trace the decals onto baking paper and offer them up to the aircraft. If they fit, great, if they don't I'll either cut/resize them or, if that doesn't work, paint the corogard panels. I think you're probably right, Jessica. I've got a situation where I have to choose the lesser of two evils. The etched component isn't going to like being shortened. You see in this photo, that the door is made from two etched components. if I try to cut the etched parts the end fold will be removed and the internal panel (part 9 on the etched sheet) won't look right anymore. This is the first time I've worked with etch, so am not confident to chop the etch about. I'd rather have a door that looks right than an aperture that is right. I am going to disguise the larger aperture with hypothetical pipework, etc., particularly as the aperture is way too shallow. Thoughtful ideas though. Please do keep them coming This is my first airliner for 34 years. I need all of the advice, haha.

I have cut some plastic, hurrah! Starting with the front landing gear. Here's what Revell supply: I have been spoiled by the excellent modern Airfix kits! Some of the molding and fit on this kit is going to be problematic. Here is the fit of the landing gear. Really loose, so am going to have to do something about this. Here is the difference in the size of the etched landing gear door vs. the aperture on the kit. Am going to have to change the size of the aperture. You can also see that I've drilled out the huge lump of plastic in the undercarriage bay and filled the hole with plasticard. Here's the landing gear with the oversized bits and pieces removed. I've turned the front section into a foot which can be fixed securely when it's time to attach the undercarriage. Here's the foot with the etched part in place. Covers it nicely: Here's the component parts. You can see small holes on either side of the landing bay. I will insert the brass rod into these to create the struts: Slight modifications to the landing gear. I've attached 0.8mm plastic rod to create brackets and hinges to attach the etched parts onto: I've also attached two pieces of rod to represent the hydraulic rams which turn the landing gear: Am having a lot of fun with this It is beginning to look like a representation of the front landing gear shown on the excellent pages by Lutz Gretschel http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/awa01/401-500/awa413-B747-400-Gretschel/00.shtm

Gorgeous model Oliver

Thanks for the kind words GeordieMc. Of course you can ask questions. I will help if I can

Thanks GeordieMc, Don't panic about the canopy. The Eduard masks are in stock at Hannants: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/EDCX306 Pmasks produce a slightly cheaper mask set, which I couldn't buy, so I used the Eduard one. The problem with the pictures was my fault for tidying up my photos (moving them around so that the links broke) on photobucket. I've fixed it now so that you can see them properly. The magnifier is really handy

I wonder if Airfix are holding back their full line up of new releases so they can drive us all crazy over December with another advent calendar? Fingers crossed they do... the one last year was great fun

haha I've started it Have been working on the undercarriage. Will post some pics soon...

Thanks for the kind words guys. I agree that the panel lines are very dark and said as much in my build thread. Next build I'm aiming for more muted panel line detail (Will buy some white oil to mix with the Payne's Grey).

Gorgeous