rwoolven76

Thanks for the feedback and comments everyone. This is my first time back to BM in some years and I'm pleased to see people here are as awesome as I remember. I'm now at something of a dilemma. I've recently acquired a SEA paint set to use with my Skyraider and I was intending to then use it on a Phantom or, once I realised it was an option, a Thud, but the Intruder was one of my first aviation loves after watching "Flight of the Intruder" as a kid (hence also my love of the A1). I guess I'll have to save some pennies and get one of each...

Whoops. Thanks jabba. Feeling pretty stupid now... Ok. Putting my stupidity to one side for a moment, any suggestions about a 105 wild weasel in 1:48 or a vietnam era phantom in the same scale?

All, I'm after a 1:48 kit of an OOB Vietnam era Wild Weasel to sit alongside my Tamiya Sandy Skyraider. I've had a look around but there are so many F4 kits about I can't for the life of me work out which one is the right one and are not a total pig to build. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Richard

Thanks all. There's nothing you guys don't know. Richard

Perfect Alex. Thanks very much. Richard

All, Quick question for the gurus out there. Can anyone tell me whether the turret on the top of the B25J had any framing to speak of? I have an Eduard mask which appears to be completely wrong, I have pictures online of aircraft, but none seem to actually show and then I found a build review of the glazed nose J which suggested that the entire dome was frame and paint free, leaving me completely baffled (see quote below): "One thing important to note with the turret: there is no metal framing! You don’t need to paint anything! What looks like “framing” is plexiglass strip that was glued over the seams of the individual parts in the production. Leave all that alone, the raised detail is perfect. Just dip it in Future. Then, once you have the turret attached, fill in the slots with white glue. On the real thing, these are fabric zippers, that run up and down as the guns are elevated and depressed. Once that is dry, paint it olive drab and you have the turret right. 99.9999% of modelers get this wrong because they have never seen the real turret, but we have several out at Chino, and that’s the way they really are." If anyone has any photos of a genuine B25J turret or any guidance on the matter it would be much appreciated. Confused, Richard

It's been a while, but stunning build Stew. I've been holding off buying kits for a while as my building has fallen by the wayside lately. But this has broken me. I wanted to model the Do17 I saw at Cosford when they first raised it. So I'm sold. I'm off to buy one now. And the new tool C47 and possibly the new Beaufighter when it's out. My name is Richard and I'm a kit buying addict... :-)

I have the Revell solid nose kit of this. If mine comes out even half as good as this (when I eventually get back to it) I'll be a very happy man. Excellent work. Richard

Spot on Stix. Another triumph for the Hairy Stick brigade. :-) Richard

Have you worked out how you're going to mount the Tiffie on it yet?

Stix, I'm pretty sure it's their Reikland Fleshade, but I'll check when I get home, which will either be tonight or tomorrow. That baseboard is just amazing, mate. You've pretty much blown all my expectations out of the water with this build. I knew you were good, but I didn't know you were this good. ;-) Richard

Stix, Seriously mate, when do you find the time to do this stuff? I'm stunned by the quality of your workmanship. Everything you tackle for the first time ends up looking like stuff you've been doing for years. Clearly you just have an eye for it. Love the figures. Citadel do a flesh coloured wash for bringing out detail in skin tones if you want to give it a try. I bought some and have since never included pilots in anything I've built so have barely used it. Keep up the good work. I just can't wait to see it all come together. Richard

Yep. Pledge with a flat brush all the way. Looking great there Stix. Richard

Stix, my friend, when it comes to brush painting, you da man! Good to see another one in the eye for the airbrushers in our midst. Hairy stick all the way. ;-) Richard

A Fuad Mosquito? Now that I have to see. Great work mate. Keep it up. Richard

Ah, the old airfix trenches panel lines raise their ugly head again. ;-) My view is that, if heavily pre or post shaded airfix lines are a little on the heavy-side, but with very subtle shading or none at all they acutally do the job very well. The last couple of AMW issues have included the new blenheim and skytrain and those builds (no disrespect to the builders) overplay the lines immensely, sometimes making the planes look like they're made of paving slabs. But I don't think they have to. Personally I love the new airfix stuff. The lines are deep enough to help me recover from my mistakes (of which there are many) and shallow enough to reduce the need for shading. But that's just my 2 penneth. Oh, beautiful Tiffie by the way. I take my hat off to you. Richard

Bill, Lovely build. I'm not aware of anyone who's built one of these and managed to retain the kit mast in one piece. I ended up fashioning one out of a cocktail stick in the end. Anyway, beautiful finish and rather puts my earlier OOB efforts to shame. Richard

Well for a start you'll need a razor saw. Still, that's good customer service for you. :-)

So it turns out that the problem is a money saving exercise by Eduard. They use the same instruction sheet for the glazed and solid nosed versions of the B25J masks and simply cut the second page off for the solid nosed version. Sadly that second page contains the instructions for applying liquid mask so that you don't end up with random splodges of paint all over the turret. Instructions for the glazed nose can be found here: http://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/cx016.pdf Richard

Sorry for the delay in getting started chaps. Finally got some paint on the interior of the fuselage and some of the internal structures. Will post some pictures when I get the chance. I also started applying the canopy mask I have and came a bit unstuck. Below is a link to the instructions for the make. I've been looking at the one for the turret and it doesn't seem to make any sense or bear any resemblance to any of the pictures I've found so far. http://www.eduard.com/store/out/media/cx230.pdf Can you guys take a look and see if it's just me? Thoughts would be appreciated. Richard

PE definitely. I'm not a big fan of any of them, but the PE version's about a million times better than the acetate ones. In my humble opinion, of course. ;-) Richard

Stix, I think I was really just pondering about the difference between the fresh painted areas (the stripes) and the rest of the aircraft, but you've done more research than me and if this diorama is representing a few days after d-day then I think your weathering is probably spot on. Keep up the good work. Richard

Stix, Looking pretty damn amazing there mate. It's a good looking plane and you're doing it justice in this rendition. I did have a quick thought as I looked over your last couple of posts. Presumably those invasion stripes were painted pretty much the day before this Tiffy left the ground, in which case is the weathering a bit heavy? The paint would pretty much still be tacky so would there really be much in the way of fading or GSR on the casing exit holes? Anyway, still a brilliant job. Richard

Very nice Stew. :-) Richard

Which is presumably why I completely missed it off mine... :-)