geoff m

Very nice.

I always use sprue cutters. Mine are xuron which I think are American. Bought them at a show last year for £10 and they are excellent. They let you cut right up to the end of the sprue and leave very little to clean up. On small parts especially they cut clean without leaving stress marks in the plastic which I used to get even with a new blade.

I use Vallejo matt varnish from a can. Its fantastic stuff.

Its the airfix kit with resin cockpit and exhausts and lots of etched brass and different decals

Yes that is the very article. It helped enormously cos I am very new to this tank building. Will check out the website and see if they can ship to England. Not sure about the rules for importing chemicals.

I have just finished the airfix version of this kit which I did as an F22 of 615 squadron. Have just bought the Eduard version + Aries engine and cannon barrels and new canopies. Still havnt decided what version to build yet. What ever you decide you need to replace the kit canopies cos they are appalling. The front isnt too bad but the rear canopy misses the guide rails by miles.

Hi guys. I have just got some of these tracks for my King Tiger cos I was told they are the dogs dangly bits. Just read an article on another web site about chemically treating them to get a dirty, rusty effect. Has any one tried this and if so what did you use? The guy on the other site used blacken it but I dont think you can get that here. Any advice gratefully recieved.

The original mark1 with two bladed propeller because of its sheer beauty, then the mark IX because that is the finished article so far as Mitchells original design was concerned and the F22/24 for its sheer aggressive look. It may have moved a long way from the grace and beauty of the original design but it just screams fighter at you.

Well four months later I have actually started it. So far I have got the hull together which was a right pain cos it was twisted but by glueing the front, leaving it overnight and then twisting the top into place it seems OK. Fitted the suspension arms after sanding off the mould seam then discovered it wasnt a seam at all and was meant to be there. Dont think it will show in any event. All wheels are together and have sprayed the rims with alclad steel and then masked off the rims. I have to say that the instructions are rubbish. Very vague and I suspect there will be a lot of headscratching to come. Will try to post some photos if I can work out how to do it.

I had exactly the same problems. I thinned it with cellulose about 50/50 the first time I tried it and with the interior green got a perfect finish but with the yellow zinc chromate got the spiders web effect. Just used it again and had the same problem with the grey undersides of a spit 22/24 however when I used Mr Color thinner it was fine. Will keep trying to get it right cos when it goes on well its brilliant stuff

Have been using it for a while and I love it. Goes on well and drys absolutely matt.

Its from maplins. Think you could be right though so am going to stop using it. I only used the Mr colour thinner as an experiment and wouldnt use it to thin Xtacrylics though interestingly I bought it from MDC at Cosford last weekend and they say it can be used on Gunze acrylics as well though I wont be trying it. Also have you read the "colour modulation" thread? The author of that article only uses laquer/enamel thinners with acrylics.

Thanks Mike. I thought that might be the answer but have just done an experiment. I mixed 3 batches of xtracrylic in a clean ceramic dish. First one thinned 50/50 with IPA. After 3 minutes had jelly! Second one thinned 50/50 with tamiya thinners. After 3 minutes still had liquid paint and didnt seem to have thickened. Third thinned 50/50 with Mr Colour thinners. Instant porridge. What was more surprising was that as well as 3 different consistencies I had 3 quite distinct colours. The paint was RLM76. The IPA mix retained its colour. The Tamiya mix was about half a shade lighter and the third was about 2 shades darker. I have painted a strip of each plus unthinned RLM 76 onto a piece of white plasticard and it will be interesting to see how they dry. As for my airbrush. Had to completely strip it down to clean it cos it was a mess.

It must be me but have just had a whole series of disasters. Am currently building the Airfix 1/48 Spitfire F22/24. I bought the Mr Colour RAF sets at Cosford last weekend cos I had used their interior set previously with great success. Everything primed with alclad grey primer and cockpit interior,wheel wells etc sprayed with interior green. Perfect finish and very pleased. Sprayed sky fuselage band. Ditto. Sprayed undersides grey. Disaster. It was like I was making candyfloss. Thin wisps of plastic were coming off all leading and trailing edges on the wings and although I was able to just blow it away the finish was awful. The undersides looked like they had been pebbledashed. Incidently the paint was thinned with Mr Colour thinners. Left everything to dry for a couple of days and then sanded the whole undersides with very fine (4000 grit) sanding pads and got a finish I could live with. Decided not to risk it on the topsides so switched to Xtacrylics. Thinned ocean grey about 40% with IPA. Started OK but lost all paint flow after a couple of minutes. The paint had turned to jelly in the airbrush cup. I was literally able to lift a plug of paint out with a tooth pick. After cleaning everything up tried thinning with Tamiya thinners cos people here had said previously that Xtacrylics likes this. Same result. What am I doing wrong? HELP!!!

I got a set of those paints too. They spray beautifully and can be thinned with cellulose BUT they are hot!!! Have just used the zinc chromate primer on the revell p47 and it turned the detail into candy floss. Had primed first with alclad grey primer. Dont know why if happened cos had sprayed the cockpit with the interior green from the same set with no problems at all.

" all you need is patience and time " Yeah right and a huge amount of skill. That is scarily good

Blimey indeed! That is amazing.

I just dont understand why they do it. It serves no useful purpose and is just annoying in the extreme.

I got this kit which is the Modelzone limited edition as a Christmas present. All was going reasonably OK till I noticed that on the trailing edge of the starboard wing Revell have very sensibly moulded in perfect relief " REVELL/MONOGRAM 1997 " WHY!!! I hate sanding at the best of times but its one of those things that have to be done but this is just so unneccessary. Do they always do this?

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have just used it for the first time and it is superb! Thinned 50/50 with cellulose thinners and sprayed at 10psi went on a treat. Airbrush didnt clog up and was a doddle to clean up afterwards. I am converted and will use this stuff as much as possible.

I saw a built version of the kit at the Bolton show weekend before last and it looked fantastic. I agree that £40 seems a lot but you do seem to get a lot for the money.

Thanks Greg. Will order some thinners but in the meantime will try it with cellulose. Thanks for the speedy reply. Geoff.

Having heard how wonderful this stuff is I bought some Mr Colour paint at Bolton show yesterday. I thought I had got the acrylic version but its not, its the enamel version. Any body know what to thin it with? It smells like cellulose so can I use cellulose thinners and will it be OK if sprayed onto plastic ( primed with alclad gray primer ) Any advice gratefully received. Geoff

Hi Zeke. Had finished spraying and was flushing out with water. Compressor was only putting out about 25 psi. Used it last night with no problem. Very strange and a bit scary.

I use an Iwata revolution HP1. There is a water filter which fits between the brush and the airline. This afternoon it exploded!! Blew the clear plastic part off the metal part. When I checked it it seemed to have stripped the thread on the plastic bit. Checked everything and there was no blockage and the bronze filter was perfectly clear and freeflowing. Have repaired it with PTFE tape on the thread and taped up the joint and it seems fine. Anyone out there had this happen to them or have any idea as to why it happened? Thanks . Geoff