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28ZComeback

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Posts posted by 28ZComeback

  1. 12 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

    High Speed Silver was not a colour, it was a high gloss finish achieved using a specific process. The colour itself was named Glossy Aluminum and was made following DTD772

    A Spitfire would have not received such a finish (that would have probably not been adopted yet by the time these aircraft were delivered) but just  Aluminum as used before WW2 and immediately after.

    On a model this means replicating a painted aluminum finish, for which there are several options. Mine is to use a good aluminum paint followed by a semigloss clear coat, the less gloss the more worn the paint of the real subject was.

    Personally I mostly use Vallejos for metallic finishes so I can't help much with the Tamiya and Gunze ranges. Have to say that if properly applied a coat of Tamiya TS17 gloss aluminum from a spray can gives a very nice base onto which apply decals and then spary a coat of semigloss.

    On my early postwar RAF types I generally use Vallejo Model Air Aluminum but I've also recently tried the Metal Color Aluminum, again followed by a semigloss coat. The latter may probably be a better option, although a bit more demanding to apply and much more expensive

     

    Giorgio, thank you!!  I looked at the photo and thought I had seen the finish before—then realized today that I saw the very same “dull aluminum” finish on a PR. XIX stationed in Hong Kong, 1950.  No high speed silver—just painted silver or aluminum

  2. Hello all, 

    As much as I would like to build an Irish Spitfire, I am more inclined to build an aluminum Egyptian trainer (which may have a combat record).  In reviewing photos and records of factory colors, I “think” the color should be “high speed silver”. I believe the standard factory finish was applied, (however it could be a grayish silver??). Can anyone tell me the finish of later production Spitfire Tr. 9’s (such as the Egyptian machine), and secondly, in terms of keeping the silverish finish in scale, what is the best Gunze or Tamiya (or any paint) color to use for a 1|48 subject?  I intend to weather it with dust and grime consistent with unpaved Egyptian airfields of the post war era.  Please see attached photo—the only one I have seen of an Egyptian Spitfire trainerspacer.png

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  3. Hello all, 

     

    To honor my former neighbor (who piloted a USN F4H-1 Phantom to record-setting heights and speeds in 1962), I want to back-date the beautiful Tamiya F-4B (1/48) to a F4H-1.  I know there is a Falcon vacuform and Brigade conversion set (made for Academy kit) to accomplish this conversion, but does there exist a conversion kit for the Tamiya kit?  If not, does anyone know of a converted Tamiya kit, perhaps featured in a magazine article or online,, that I might look at and study for  inspiration?  Thank you all for your kind assistance and interest.

  4. In my collection, I have the original Classic Airframes 1/48 Ro.37, (radial engine). Aesthetically speaking, what is the main difference between the Classic issue versus the Special Hobby issue?  I see a new engine, maybe a more refined cowl(?); greater choice of decals, but is there anything else in the SH kit that might warrant purchase of the newer version?  Note:  I am not a skilled builder and my kits are “three footers” ie in contests, I cringe when judges get anywhere closer to my kit than three feet!!   Thank you in advance for any assistance and interest.

     

     

  5. I have a question on the TR.9:  did any of the TR.9’s serve in the Royal Hellenic Air Force, and if so, were they modified with rockets and bomb racks for anti-guerilla missions?  Thank you. 

  6. E

    On 6/2/2025 at 7:45 PM, Admiral Puff said:

    SAVED!! I capitulated and tried to order another - my bank decided the transaction was a scam and disallowed the debit on my card. To add to the joy, it put a hold on my card. I was eventually able to have that lifted, but not before an extended lecture from a subcontinental gentleman at the bank on the evils of ordering on line. This despite several assurances from me that I had done business with the company in the past and had satisfied myself that it was genuine and I was not being scammed. Amazing that someone with no knowledge of me or my business affairs apparently knows more about my business affairs than I do ... Anyhoo, the bottom line is that I can't order another one, whether I want to or not, because the bank won't let me.

    Every day the banks are losing millions in fraud claims, scams and theft. The banks “eat” these charges rather than insisting that the consumer pay (as they are obligated to do).  The subcontinental gent meant you no harm; he was only following his bank’s internal protocols and procedures for warning you of potential fraud.   I would be the first to slap that man on the back. He’s simply making sure that you know the risk. 

  7. Resurrecting this zombie thread as I build my own HPH Il-28 (the real thing of course has caused a lot of trouble worldwide over three decade by “just showing up” without ever firing a shot in North Korea; Haiphong island, Egypt, Cuba, and Biafra). I have used this build and finish for inspiration for a while now, and the more I look at it, the more I appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into making a dull finish depicted here look “interesting” in a minimalist setting—I note the subtle washes, an open cockpit or crew hatches with splashes of color,  the obscure variant with colored radomes, and diorama features such as the ladder and colorful wheel chocks.  I especially admire the handmade canopies, and also the embellishments to the bombardier compartment in the nose (how did you achieve the tiny round embellishments to the nose canopy—decal?).   The realism is completed by the understated “overall aluminum” finish which I believe might be Humbrol silver?   In real life the various overcoats applied at the Ilyushin and Harbin factories leave a definite “cloudy” and flat aluminum finish, and hardly ever the “bare metal” look.  (The communist idea of a aluminum finish in the fifties and sixties was an overall, noncorrosive “silverish” finish that had all the interest of an old aluminum cooking tray). I also like the antenna wire which is perfect for scale and effect.  So I hope you do not mine me asking a couple of questions:  1) do you recall the Humbrol color and overcoat(?) used to achieve the flat aluminum finish? and 2) what type of “line” did you use to achieve the perfect scale effect of the antenna wire?   Maybe stretched spue?  Thank you Trimmer!  

    • Like 1
  8. As mentioned above, my Neptune arrived earlier this week. Here is my dilemma:  the kit is too beautiful for assembly. She looks exquisite in the box, unassembled, smooth and svelte  Better that it rest in silent, padded comfort, for the next 20 years or so, in a climate controlled room, rather than have my wretched, twisted linebacker fingers carve into her fragile curves with an Exacto knife, and with all the nuance of a butcher’s cleaver.   

    • Like 2
  9. Hello. 
     

    I read that the Cypriot National Guard inherited a couple of Damiler Dingos from the Royal Army in early years of its existence, (1961-1962)  and the Dingos were used in the newly-formed Guard until the mid-sixties. Some other sources note that the Cypriots also acquired Ferrets around the same time, but give no specifics.  I am trying to determine when (if?) the Cypriot National Guard acquired Ferrets, and there isn’t a lot of resource material available.  I found an undated, color photo online of an operational Ferret in Cyprus but not sure if it’s part of the  National Guard or the British Army, or possibly some other army operating as part of the UN Peacekeeping Force.  I am cognizant that the Irish, Danish, and Canadian forces definately operated both the Ferret I and Ferret II in Cyprus.  Is there any source or reference that states whether or not the Cypriot National Guard also utilized the Ferret, and the year of acquisition by the Guard?  Thank you in advance for any suggestions or advice. 

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