bull-nut

Finished! more pics in the gallery.

Stix: Been a busy month here, and been away with the family for a week to boot. Back now though, and final touches should be going on tomorrow morning. Gallery entry tomorrow evening, I hope!

As the figures are metal, I'd suggest dunking them in Nitromors or similar overnight before washing them off thoroughly with running water and re-priming. Remember to wear gloves and follow the safety instructions though, it's nasty stuff.

Coming together nicely. Quick query, is the glass nose included in the Italeri gunship kit? I've been looking for a glass nose Mitchel recently, but they all seem to be either the old airfix kit, or Hase/revel going for silly prices.

Every period image of FAA corsairs I can find shows them painted in the disruptive Temperate Sea Scheme of Dark Slate Grey (more of a green grey) and Extra Dark Sea Grey (A dark grey which appears slightly purple against the DSG) over what could be either White, Light grey, or Sky. Note that Pacific aircraft seem to have had the red painted over in the roundels, presumably to avoid confusion with the Japanese Hinumaru markings. There seem to be several variations on this theme, including one with bars, similar to the USN marking.

Interesting photo, it looks to be wearing an early disruptive scheme, possibly MTP20? I'd like to hear what Mike Starmer has to say in that regard. With regards to the vehicle itself, it certainly doesn't look like a Standard, as depicted by the Airfix set, possibly a Hillman? The rear wings seem to be raked back as you get towards the bottom of the panel, I always thought that the Austin rear end was vertical, but images I've found online apparently of Hillmans seem to show the aforementioned rake to the rear end. The rest of the two types seem quite similar, they both have that step between the cab and cargo area for example.

The little Humber goes together nicely, doesn't it? Re markings. I had the same problem finding any other badged MkIV, probably why Tamiya went with the Polish option. Have a look at THIS thread over on T48, it's full of Humber pictures, including the polish one that T supplies markings for.

@Flashman: Empress miniatures do a range of 1/50 modern vehicles, including a number of Hilux "technicals". Also IFV's, MBT's, etc.

Seconded, it would be nice to get the whole trio new tooled. As a Bristol lad myself, I'll be watching this with interest.

Another avid user of the citadel shades here, Agrax Earthshade can be used on skin as well if you want a slightly darker, less ruddy, tone. You could also try Drakenhof Nightshade on the uniforms.

Thinking about it, it makes sense to bomb up the aircraft below decks, since you then don't have stacks of ordnance sitting around on an open deck where they can be strafed/bombed/washed overboard, and the wings need to be folded to fit the deck lift. So I would imagine that most aircraft could carry underwing stores while folded. Of course, getting stores onto a Corsair, Martlet or Seafire with the wings folded could prove "interesting".

Thanks 'Stix, I'll get to that later, in the mean time, since I haven't had a chance to refill the printer ink yet, I've made a start on a base for my Tamiya Humber Mk4. I cut a rough rectangle from a sheet of 25mm insulation foam, and carved away most of the top to give me a lower surface, thus: Then, as an experiment, I applied two layers of brown acrylic paintable sealant, the first roughly levelled the surface, the second added some rough plough furrows, giving me this: Its drying at the moment, then I'll measure it and trim if needed. Anyone want to try and guess where I'm going with this?

Looks good, though if I may, is that a mould line I see on the outside of his right calf or just a build up of wash?

Rob, That Marauder does look good for its age, I didn't know Airfix was putting interior detail in their kits that far back. Just curious, how does the Italeri B25 match up against the old Airfix kit, or would I be better off stumping up the silly money being asked for one of the Hasegawa or Revell boxes ?

Lovely kit, built it myself a while ago. watch out though, these Tamiya 1/48 vehicle kits can be addictive.

Though I'm a bit disappointed that they don't seem to have vehicle decals for the infantry divisions, which makes my collection of 43rd (Wessex)division vehicles rather difficult to mark up, maybe I'll try printing my own.

Almost certainly, Wilf was Flt Sgt, WO/AG so they likely would have shared a mess? Don't know what flight he was on though. Regrettably we don't have anything original of Wilf's in the family any more other than a copy of his wedding photo. Since he was married, all of his PP's were sent on to his widow, who later remarried and moved away. Ironically she lived not far from where Wilf's youngest sister still lives.

Tony: Many thanks, I'm quite proud of her myself Graham: Thanks for the clarification, I know the Lib had a good load for an American bird, (double that of a B17? ). I heard that the issue was versatility. Because the bombs were stacked vertically, rather than being carried horizontally, she couldn't carry the larger bombs in the RAF arsenal, you'd never get a 4000lb cookie into a Lib or Fortress for example, and the British birds, especially the Lanc, could carry more over similar distances. Don: 1/32? This 1/72 one barely fits in the cabinet, I wouldn't know where to start with one that big!

Try here. 1/56 rather than 1/48, but they are close enough in size, and have the added bonus that you can get shoulder titles for your infantry as well!

Usually the base body colour, so SCC2. Though you could go with the previous colour, khaki green no3, for some contrast.

Following along with this as my great uncle Wilf was with 203 in the med before they shipped out to SEA on Libs. Shame he didn't come back. Edit: AFAIK zinc chromate is the yellowish colour you refer to. I used Tamiya XF4 in my build of Wilf's Lib last year, thread Here

Looking good, Always liked the 'D' series '190's, though landing with that great long cowling must have been..... "Interesting"

PICS! They were taken quickly with my phone, so I apologise for the quality. I still need to add a data plate for the tank, along with a title board, both are ready for printing, just need some ink now The rags are just small squares of paper towel, soaked in dilute PVA, then painted with Citadel Averland Sunset, and stained down with black and brown washes. Toolbox and tools by Inside the Armour as I said above, I think I need some more practice with PE. I also added some olive and black washes to the concrete areas to show some algae staining. though I've just noticed some gaps under the tree base that I need to hide with some low cover, more Ivy maybe. I may add some bird droppings to the front right tinwork/glacis, I'll give it some thought.

Also not Mike, but it looks like a good match for the Humber I painted with his Tamiya mix for SCC2. Pics in the RFI thread.

Still no pics at the moment, I'm not up to fighting with PB at this time of the morning I decided on a low, single span wooden rail to separate the subjects, made from matchsticks and a coffee stirrer from a box of 1000 I picked up on ebay for not very much cash (I think I paid £7 including shipping!). It still needs some colour, but I'll get to that this weekend. Also a nice big tree has been sourced from Woodland Scenics (about 7 inches/175mm) to finish off the back. Now I just need to have a stab at the ITA etch set of toolboxes I have, first time using etch for me, wish me luck!