Mike in Aotearoa

Hi there 487 Lovely work on da Mossie - TWO WEEKS??! Aye caramba - now that's what I call fast work. considering you've not built a kit for 20 years, that's a dang impressive comeback - nothing like doing it in style! It'll be interesting to see how your next one turns out. Cheers from the 'Tron Mike A (p.s. whereabouts in Aotearoa are you?)

Hi Guys contemplating doing a Lysander on ASY duties during the BoB, and having no joy in finding any useful info on the 'net. So... specific q's... did they carry a life jettisonable liferaft, if so, how and where? Where they from Coastal Comand or other services? Colours schemes and markings? Standard or "special"? More importantly, anyone have any pics of them or other "hard" data as to serials, codes etc? Cheers from Aotearoa Mike

Kia Ora peeps This year has been somewhat more prolific than usual, and I've had the pleasure of doing some neat kits along the way. In no particular order they are... Revell 1/48 Mossie Italeri Wessex Planet's Flying Pancake Hobby Boss Wildcat Italeri Re2000 (This was my first attempt at mottling, so I was rather pleased with the outcome) AZ Models Vanguard Revell's "old" Bf109K - built OOB just for fun and 'cause I had the decals. Airfix PR XIX Spittie And lastly, Monogram's B-24 with Aero/ErrorMaster decals, QB engines, and scratchbuilt bomb bay details.

Looks flippin awesome, thanks for posting the pics. I wonder if there are any plans to release the bomber version as well? From the parts breakdown I'd say it's perfectly feasible - and I think they'd be onto a winner Mike A

Kia Ora good people Well, the paint is barely dry off the last project and I'm thinking of the next one, namely the Italeri A-20G. I'm thinking of doing it in the kit markings of "La France Libre" with the invasion stripes. What I'm having trouble coming to terms with is the lack of Medium Green splotches noted on the painting instructions - my understanding is that the Medium Green was a pretty much standard affair for that period and type of aircraft - allowing, of course, that there are ALWAYS exceptions. So, I guess the upshot of my question is, should this aircraft have Med Green over the OD camo? I can't find any pics of this aircraft - A-20 photos seem to be rather thin on the ground. Any and all ideas/help gratefully received! Cheers Mike A

Kia Ora Jocke Well, for a beginner you really have made a spectacular start! Looks very well done, and the paint scheme is very interesting. Did the deals come with the kit or are they aftermarket? BTW, what sort of biking are you into? Road or MTB? Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

Well, that is a very classy piece of work there sir! I (being something of an ignoramus when it comes to Hellcats) never knew they had cameras mounted in them, and the attention to the little details like the vanes in from of the ports makes it all the more convincing. Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

I think you caught me on one of my more savvy days! Cheers Mike

Tena koe, Jonners Thanks for the compliments (reverting back to Unglish now), you're right about the armour plating - it's still in the box - there are still a few items that need to be fixed on it like missing aerials and pitots. A Macs Gold would be a far better option, but seeing as it's winter I'll wait till summer! Cheers Mike

Kei te pai ahau! Chur bro', thanks for the compliments. Kinda pleased with how it came out, but still room for improvement! Chur Mike A

Kia Ora peeps Attached are a couple of piccies of my latest almost-finished Bf109; this has been built just as an exercise in learning how to do mottling. Slowly getting the hang of it, but still a few things to nail down yet. It's the old Revell 1/48 G10/K4 finished with a mix of Ventura and Microscal decals, painted with Model Master acrylics for the uppers and home brewed mix of enamels for the RLM76. The reason for the home brew mis was simply that my tin of Xtracolour had dried out. To the rescue came a bottle of MM "Anthracite Gray" and Humbrol "Beige-Green" - mix togther et voila - "RLM76"! There are still a few minor details to be added like aerials and replacing a broken pitot and aerial. I also still have to add the armour plating behind the pilot. The red u/c legs where purely a whimsy - I recalled somewhere how some 109s had red-painted u/c to denote that they ran on 100 octane (or something like that), so I thought that might look interesting. The overall intention of this was to practice mottling and have fun, rather than a hyper- accurate, fully researched build. Haere ra Mike A

Kia Ora, Welcome to the forums and back to modelling! The Libby interior is looking superb, the IP in particular looks fantastic. I'll be keeping an eye on this build, if you carry o in the same manner that you've started then it should be a stunner! I like your "new toy", I didn't know Dawes were still making bikes. It seems like a rather small size frame? I prefer mountain biking meself, but cruising on the roads can be very enjoyable. Apart from a few motorists. Some of them need a good swift kick up the bum. Cheers from Aotearoa Mike

Hi Mike It's the little itty-bitty 1/72 one.... now I remember why I prefer 48th... Cheers Mike A

G'day Nick Nothing major that can't be solved with patience! Mine had a large gap at the wing roots, and unless you make the base of the tail feathers concave you'll need filler there too. Instructions are a bit vague in places but just let common sense prevail! It's more just having the patience to get a nice smooth finish than it being onerously difficult. Cheers Mike

Kia Ora peeps Finally, after what has seemed like an eternity, my little Vanguard is finally done and dusted. For a small kit this presented a few challenges, but nothing that a bit o' common sense and filler couldn't fix. First time NMF for me (apart from a disastrous Lightning some years back), painted using Model master buffing metallizers and Humbrol enamels. Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

Hi Guys Got the Revell 1/72 Tornado ECR here that Im about to plunge into, and Revell, in their marketing wisdom (or lack thereof) have, as usual, only provided colour mixes for their own paints with no actual reference to a known standard i.e. FS, RAL etc. (And no, I'm not doing the Tiger Scheme!) Now, I know zippidy-doo about current Luftwaffe schemes, and so far all I've been able to guess is that the shades are something like Light and Dark Ghost Gray, and some other slightly darker Medium Gray. Anyone out there able to shed some light or further knowledge on this please? Some FS number equivalents would go a long way to clearing things up! Cheers Mike A

That's what I'm needin'! Thanks for posting. Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

Thanks for the link, most useful! Cheers Mike A

Kia Ora peeps I'm looking for interior pics of the Lynx, namely the Army version as well as the Naval one. There seems to be zippy-doo out there on the 'net. Any/all help appreciated! Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

Hi there Nice looking Cat', this is one of those kits I always regret not getting. FWIW, the side walls in the cockpit above the bottom edge of the IP were painted black, along with the upper portion of the cockpit bulkhead. I hope it's not too late to mention this! Also, sicne you're adding extra detail into the waist stations, don't forget that the MG mounts had a belt/harness arrangement attached to them, presumably so the gunners wouldn't fall out! If you have a look at the D&S book, you'll see what I mean. I'll be following this build with interest; what markings are you doing it in? Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A

Hi Nick I'm building that kit at present, I just painted mine in US Interior Green, and the wheel wells will be Zn Chromate. No real evidence of this, just best guess! Watch out for the wing/fuselage join, as it's a bit of a nasty one. As for cutting out the rear decking, it's def a case of measure thrice, cut once. HTH Mike in Aotearoa

Hola Rafael! Bonito Jaguar, este muy bueno mes amigo! There, I bet my Spanish is much worse than your English! I like the weathering on it, not an easy effect to get right but you've done it well. Cheers from NZ Mike A

Been a bizzy wizzy boy this month... This one really is brealing new ground for me... not only my first attempt at doing a mottle, but also my first Italian aircraft and camo' scheme. The kit is the new(?) Italeri one, built OOB, goes together real good too. Haere Ra Mike A

Not quite a technicolour yawn.. there are no orange squares in it! Cheers Mike A in Aotearoa

And now for something completely different... well, for me anyway. HB's easybuild Wildcat, just finished it a few days back. Went together easily, but had to paint/decal the stripey bits as they aren't included on the sheet which is surprising. I don't know who the Naval numpty was who decided that three colours on the propeller tips was a good idea, they are a PITA to paint! Cheers from Aotearoa Mike A