Jonners

I keep a small coil of fine 'top E' steel guitar string for that very purpose: fine enough to fit down the narrow tube, stiff enough to do the job and coiled to make it easy to hold without risking a puncture wound! Get yourself one and you'll wonder how you ever managed without it... This is looking great, Ray. I've occasionally thought about buying one myself, as it would be so much more satisfying to build than the injection alternative, but I haven't yet taken the plunge. I may well do so at some point, though, as you are providing me with plenty of inspiration! It will look su

Another pheonix scratchbuild! Excellent! Jon

Agreed! Nice to see that you've given it the soft-edge camo that the CZs carried, rather than the hard-edge scheme of the EZs and F1s. Jon

Nothing to do with mojo - just circumstance brought about by working a long way ftom home! This is looking great, and coming along very quickly.

What a brilliantly simple idea...why didn't I think of that? Hmm... I do like unusual British prototypes, especially those with odd (and, in this case, apparently made-up) names! This is coming on a treat, Adrian. I'm unable to do any modelling at the moment, otherwise I would definitely have entered this GB, so I'm keeping in touch with the hobby via BM. Ive just found this thread so I'll keep a close eye on your progress, if I may, and no doubt pick up more tips along the way. Jon

Nice one, Adrian. I've just caught up with this build and it looks great. A friend bought me the Novo boxing of this kit for my 13th birthday in South Africa back in the 1980s, complete with short-shot undercarriage legs. On opening the wrapping paper and discovering a kit of an aeroplane I didn't recognise, by an unfamiliar model manufacturer (I was a committed Matchbox fan), I can still remember trying hard not to look put out when my friend said to me, "I've never heard of it, but it was the cheapest one in the shop". Oh. Thanks. I'm as impressed as everyone else by

Wow. Simply superb

Fantastic, as always!

@eclipse is quite right - the colours look good but the F1s in that scheme had hard-edge camouflage. AFAIK only the IIICZs had soft-edge camo in those colours. Jon

So you should be - they are superb. I don’t know how I missed the WiP thread previously, but I read through it last night and I’m working my way through the linked Sparrowhawk WiP again. They make my few amateur 1:144 scratchbuilds look very agricultural in comparison. I really like the jig idea and using acrylic for the wings is inspired; when I’m able to spend more time at the modelling desk (I’m on a kind of enforced sabbatical at the moment) I must give it a go. Jon

Absolutely nothing wrong with nostalgia, Mike. When I was about 9 years old my friend asked me to build his Stranraer kit as he didn't think he could manage it himself. I completed it for him, unpainted, but I remember struggling to keep the upper wing straight - the concept of waiting for struts to set hadn't occurred to me then! I've often considered getting one for myself and giving it a go again, especially as my current modelling interest is in silver biplanes. I especially like the 228 Sqn scheme - was that a Cerrux Grey fuselage? The interior looks great; I did wonder if you

I have. Time, patience, care and general modelling skill. Very nicely done so far. That’s a very nice looking kit; I haven’t seen one out of the box before. Those injection parts should help enormously when it comes to building the wings. Jon

Wot Keith said. I always use Humbrol Polished Aluminium from an aerosol can, applied over a grey primer base. It takes two or three coats to get a smooth finish. I then apply a couple of coats of Future/Klear before decalling, then I cover the lot with well-thinned Humbrol Matt Cote using an airbrush: Jon

Here you go, Dennis, I hope that this is of some use. This is my ESCI 1/48 Mirage F1CZ that I built over 20 years ago. I've just taken it out of its box-in-the-shed hibernation, so it's pretty tatty and could do with a clean. Actually, to be frank, it could do with a complete strip and repaint as the paint job (airbrushed Xtracolours) was never that great anyway. All that aside, I remember taking care to apply the red stripe decals as accurately as I could: The camouflage pattern was the same on the starboard fuselage , fin and upper surfaces of both the A

Agreed. Olive drab, deep buff and light aircraft grey, from memory. 'Vlamgats' in that scheme had quite a glossy finish - definitely not matt - and the camouflage was hard-edged.