Black Knight

Why not go down to 28mm? [or is it 32 or 40mm??] Warhammer stuff is very detailed, easy to paint, not toooooooooo expensive, a good range, plastic [mostly] £15 gets you a box of about 8 figures with lots of alternate parts - which are available cheaply off ebay sellers, so its easy to mix up creations.

Andrea Minatures do white metal figures of the characters from Star Wars and I think from some other films. They cost from about £20 to £35 each F

Looks nice enough. I do like the simpler models occasionally. I'll have to get one of these.

When I helped in a model shop I did help buyers of all ages. Many new to the modelling just wanted a simple kit, few parts, that they could assemble in an afternoon or evening. They liked the older Airfix kits because they had fewer parts, especially the smaller fiddly ones. If it looked like a Spitfire/Hurricane/Hawk/Harrier thats all they wanted. We offered an 'after sales' service to the customers. After being introduced to simple kits they went on to the more complicated ones. Given the choices of the better kits the customers still went for the Airfix kits. We had this Hurricane in stock, but kept selling out of it. It was very popular. Not all modellers are dedicated to accuracy [or not], the vast majority want a simple 'craft' thing to do in their spare time. Thy do not care that there is no cockpit detail. They just build a kit oob, then put it on a shelf near the TV where the family can see it and admire it. Sorry I've gone off topic rather, and waffled.

I use the fibre-glass resin all the time. It is brittle, but this can be lessened a bit by using talc as a filler. I've never had any problem with it flowing and getting the smallest detail from the mould.

Thats the chap. As a newbie here I did not know he was also on this forum. I have one of his Buchon conversion sets and its quite good. It wont need too much work to do the conversion.

The Buchon we are familiar with was the 1112 and used the 4 blade prop, an earlier version, the 1111 used a three blade prop. I believe Pegasus does/did a complete 1112 in 1/72 plus there is a seller on ebay [ a member of the Airfix Trib Forum] sells some conversion parts to convert any 1/72 109 G6 to the 1112 Buchon.

Its a real cracker, Fred

From reading numerous biographies, the regular full time RAF aircrew [not the AAF] would buy a car between them. As it spent most of the time on the airfield it was rarely taxed. Popular cars were Morris 8, Ford ten, Vauxhall, occasionally an Austin, a Ruby or Big Seven. Individual pilots sometimes bought motorcycles, often the more racey types, [right now I can't name them]. Hire purchase was available since the late 1880s but pilots were superstitious about taking on the payments. During the 1920s and 30s motorcycles and cars were available on H.P. A motorcycle typically cost between £50 and £100. Cars started at about £150 up to £250, for the smaller sporty types. The types of cars I've mentioned are available in railway scale for 1/72 scale. Some are available in 1/48 in white metal but are rarer than rocking horse poo. Some of the vehicles and motorcycles are available in 1/24th. In 1/32 its mostly the more exotic/racey types available but Fords are reasonably easy to get. Gowland and Gowland did quite a few cars in 1/32 which would suit if you can find them. F.

Neatly done,

sorry, repeat posting. computer playing silly buggers.

I think the reason we do not see this reproduced on models is a point of scale. It is pronounced on a real one, but its only a fraction of an inch. Even if it was 1 inch raised that equates to 0.014 of an inch [0.35 millimeter], When we look at something we can perceive very minor differences, which we think are large. The thicker tank cover does not stand pround by very much, I think its actually in the reagion of 6mm or a quarter of an inch - so the difference in 1/72 is about 0.0035 inch [0.09mm] Most modellers dont know about this 'armour' and it being raised so they would sand away what they would think as unevenness. If you want you could represent it, in 1/72 scale, by glueing a piece of 5thou [or less] plasticard over the tank area. and in 1/48th scale the difference is 0.052 inch, [0.13mm].

I would say 'yes, there is'

I'm not 100% sure if my experience is the same. Not only with Modeldecal, but a couple of others. It was old adhesive. I had to turn the decal over on my glass plate which I use and had to wash, almost scrub, the remains of the old adhesive off. Once it was totally clean I used micoset and sol with the decal and everything was ok. Previously, when using m.set or sol it seemed to react with the adhesive, reactivating it a bit and leaving a bit of a stain much like you mention. I was able to wash the stain away with a bit of soapy water.

Nicely done

I use Humbrol acrylic gloss varnish first. A couple of coats, then a wipe down with a very fine w&d [2000 grade], then a coat or two of Klear. Decals on. Then another coat or two of clear, a rub down, very gently, then a final finish varnish. All done by hairy-stick brush.

I cant say for LondonDerry in '70 but I do know of at least 3 centurions deployed in a certain area of Belfast in that year. I now wish I hadn't gone and looked at the links given above.

Its not a 'wrinkle' finish. Imagine a rough grit blasted surface, with a sprayed very dark grey paint. It has a fine surface roughness look to it, with some texture. I think its actually an anodised finish on the casting. Its purposely finished this way as a texture/look to compliment the high gloss of the other painted and polished parts. If I were painting this I would mix semigloss black with gummetal. As I use Humbrol paints that would be no. 85 & 53. In a mix of 3 black to 1 gunmetal. Just some thoughts.

Well, I'll throw my lot in with youse. My first bike was a Suzuki B120P - commonly refered to as a Blooper. Most of the rest are boing. Ok then, they were all boring - but fit for purpose. 'Q' bikes - used for my work. One of the best I liked was a good tuned and customized Suzuki GT380. Now 'in between' bikes. Best roads? All in Norn I'rn. Only three fixed speed cameras and four mobile ones, makes lots of the roads very 'interesting'.

And me. 95% cb in yellow/gree/red

There were both civie and Humber ambulances. The lwb landies had [some anyway] the tilt fitted right over the rear. The swb were the 'specials' - extra short w.b.

There were also some swb and lwb soft top Landrovers

Leyland and Bedford bus seats in the 1920s to 1970s was of leather-cloth. A vinyl backed with fine hessian. I've been involved, in the past, with restorations of many such vehicles. Is a good cheap alternative to leather but not just as robust.

Actually, one of the handiest to explain the codes is the old Airfix book, Luftwaffe Camouflage of World War 2 [Airfix Modelling Magazine Guides, no.10]

As soon as the leather comes out of the tannery it starts to darken. I had a piece darken from light tan to mahogany in about 3 months, most of the time it was in a box. When near iron the leather will darken even quicker. One can actually see the difference on a piece in one day in bright sunshine. Depending on the tannins the leather will stabilise anywhere from a mahogany brown to actually black.