matto21

Here another long term, and random project that I've dusted off. It's destined to be a freelance 7mm Narrow Gauge loco, loosely based on a Quarry Hunslet. Long way to go yet... Matt

Thanks for the comments @Gondor44 and @Robert! Empty house today has led to some progress. Although I'm no fan of "black-basing", it is useful for cockpit and internal parts so they received a quick coat of Mr Hobby black acrylic last night. Then this morning they were oversprayed with light grey and weathered using a mix of acrylic and oil washes. Instrument decals are from the kit. The airframe goes together ok-ish although as predicted, there are quite a few gaps - the worst of which is where the wing assembly meets the fuselage. I filled the gap with some scrap plastic sheet which will be cut and sanded to shape once the glue has set. Finally, the bits of AM I ordered have arrived in the shape of a turned pitot from Master and some ejector seats from Pavla. More progress soon (hopefully!) Matt

Hi all, I know there's been a Hawk GB here recently, but I'm doing this as part of a small, local "anything with a Welsh connection" themed GB. I've moved away from 1/72 scale in the last 12 months, and sold the majority of my kits in this scale, however I didn't fancy paying 1/48 scale prices! There are basically 2 options in 1/72 scale: Revell and Airfix. I'm not a massive fan of smaller scale Airfix kits, because I think the panel lines are way overdone, so that left me with Revell. This is a typical Revell kit, and has some frankly ridiculous sprue attachment points... ...and lots of random flash. It goes together OK, although it's going to need a bit of filling and sanding in places. Although the markings provided by Revell are that of a 208 Sqn RAF Valley aircraft, that's not really how I remember them. I spent many happy hours at the end of the runway in Valley with my dad in the 90's and in those days the Hawks were all Red and White, or Red, White and Blue so I also picked up these decals so I can do something more familiar and nostalgic: I've also got a few other AM bits to add, but I'm not aiming for anything other than average with this build. Thanks for looking Matt

Very nice work! I'm currently building the A3 weekend version too.

It's looking great and nice work on the freehand camo! I have this kit in the stash so I'll be following your progress!

Cracking subject- looking forward to this!

Thanks Ian! You need to get building some F1 (or Tornado's) soon too!

Another day, another small step forward. The radiators had originally been painted (badly) by brush in Humbrol Gunmetal. Once I'd removed that, they were resprayed with Vallejo Duraluminium, and now look pretty nice. You can (just about) see the carbon fibre decals I've applied here too. Engine is also now approaching completion apart from some more detail painting. I've added some subtle heat staining to the exhausts (or at least I've tried to!) Ford logo now highlighted too. Matt

Another small update. The engine: on the original build, I hadn't touched the engine - it was unpainted apart from a few bits and bobs. I told myself I wasn't going to do much other than a quick coat of satin black but ended up doing a bit more, including some primitive wiring, just to add a bit of visual interest (note it's unpainted here). It's still not completed, but I hope it looks reasonable...and certainly better than unpainted plastic! Matt

Little bit of progress tonight. The floorpan has been resprayed - mainly gloss black with the metal sections under the exhausts painted using aluminum from Vallejo's Metal Color range. After spraying, I've noticed some fine scuffing after sanding out the ejector pin marks so this has been patched and will be resanded and painted. Earlier on in the thread, I was pondering using either Zero Paints or Tamiya TS Sprays. I wasn't keen on either due to the fumes/toddler scenario. I'm pleased to say that I've worked out a compromise that suits me. I happened to have Mr Hobby H25 Sky Blue acrylic. Although not exactly right, it's close enough for me and the fact it's acrylic makes me far happier. The lower parts of the bodywork have had their paint removed and then been refitted to the floorpan and sprayed. I've also started "carbon fibering" the floor (just visible). So far, so good. Matt

I've managed to strip the car down to its component parts with, thankfully, little damage. Some of the smaller parts are currently having the paint removed. While that happens, I've stripped the floor pan back down to the plastic and filled several (visible) ejector pin marks that I ignored first time around. It's had a coat of gloss black, and it's now masked up and ready for some metallic bits. I'm planning on applying some carbon fibre decals so once I've stripped the lower rear sections of the body (which need attaching to the floor), I'll be adding them. Matt

I will bear that in mind about the Zero Paints Malc. To strip the paint I'm using VMS Clean Slate Ultra.

This Jordan was originally brush painted with Humbrol enamels. I've not done any car modelling for years, I've focused mainly on aircraft where a high gloss finish isn't really an issue. Zero Paints do a matched set for this car, but I've no experience of spraying them. I believe they are a bit pungent! With a toddler, I'm not overly keen on the idea. But I'm not convinced I could get a good enough finish with the aerosols either. Matt

I have ordered new decals from Indycals, should be here in a couple of days. Trying to decide if I stick with Tamiya TS paint, or go for a Zero Paint set...

@Malc2 and @bar side, no worries for the thread hijack. Actually quite enjoyed the diversion. My threads usually lack this kind of interaction so please feel free to continue! Stripping the paint is going to take a while I think. In some areas, the model is quite easy to dismantle, not surprising given the glued joints are 25 years old. In other areas, they're actually really solid - which again is a surprise given their age. So I have to exercise caution - I don't want to cause unnecessary damage as there's no fall back... Matt

Thanks both for the comments. I've been asked a few times if I'm sure I want to strip it and restart. I do - nostalgia wise, it'd be nice to keep it "as is", but truth be told, it hasn't seen the light of day for 25 years. Also, I'm not being held to ransom on eBay - these kits are going for ridiculous prices at the moment! I've started stripping the model tonight so it's too late to turn back now!

Hello everyone, First post in the WIP section for me. I used to do a lot of F1 [and car modelling generally] in my younger years when I was in school. I used to be able to buy several of the Tamiya 1/20 F1 cars - including the Lotus 107B, the Benetton B192, the Tyrell 023, McLaren MP4/4 and the Jordan 191 from my local model shop. Time passed, the model shop closed, and my modelling interests changed towards 1/48 scale aircraft. Like many, I suspect, the lockdown period gave me an opportunity to focus on my modelling [notice I say "opportunity" and not "time" - a toddler puts paid to that!]. I found myself being drawn back into the world of F1 in the 90's and I started buying Tamiya F1 kits on ebay where they were a] available and b] within my budget [I've lost more than I won!] but the one that has continued to evade me is the Jordan 191. Why this car in particular? Well it was the first F1 car kit I owned that I built correctly. I got it for Xmas from my parents when I was 15 [so 25 years ago!]. This model has resided in a cupboard in my parents house ever since. Last weekend, I started wondering if I could strip the model and rebuild it - something I've done successfully with other models I've built. For nostalgic reasons I've decided to give it a go and see what happens. At best, I may end up with a nicely rebuilt and painted model, at worst it goes wrong and I'll just stick it back in the cupboard and forget about it for another 25 years. J191a by Matt Owen, on Flickr J191c by Matt Owen, on Flickr J191d by Matt Owen, on Flickr Not too bad actually, especially considering it's age. The main issues are: 1. It's the wrong colour - obviously the sidepods should be blue not dark green! At the time, I only had green available to me. 2. The tyres have a really obvious seam down the middle which needs sanding. 3. The decals need replacing - especially the white portions on the rear wing [although again they're not too bad]. 4. I've added some extra that shouldn't be there. This isn't going to be a quick rebuild. Step 1 will be to try and strip the old paint. If it works, I'll try to share my progress here if there's interest. Thanks Matt

Thank you! From what I remember, it went together well with no real issues at all.

Sure did, might be interesting when/if they come off! Decals, especially the red ones, have faded too but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

Hello all, I actually started this, probably 5 or 6 years ago - doesn't say much for my ability to finish a weekend kit! The recent reorganisation of my model room led to it being rediscovered. Unlike a lot of my older models, I think this might be worth trying to finish! Now the Kikka is done, I might...might get this back on the bench to finish! Matt

Outstanding build!

I've taken the plunge and ordered colours for my next build. Not sure why because I already have everything I need from Tamiya and Gunze but I'm curious as to how they perform! I'm planning on using Levelling Thinner with them.

Thank you both for the replies. @bmwh548 I'm aware that the AK RC are lacquer, however I've no experience of using anything other than acrylics. @Ray_W thank you for the comprehensive answer, much appreciated. Based on both of your responses, I may give them a go!

Hi all, I've read lots of reviews about these paints. Can anyone who has used them tell me, in their opinion, if they are any better than the Tamiya and Gunze Mr Hobby Colour acrylics? Just looking for some honest, first hand opinions. Thanks Matt

And getting there! Decals were pretty good actually although I had to hand paint the "2" on the tail because it cracked when I applied it. Undercarriage and wheel fit was not good. The wheels in particular were difficult to get aligned. All that's left now is the canopy - which needs masking. Oh joy. Thanks for looking Matt