jonkka

A yearbook? What's the catch, I mean do they actually expect customers to pay for a sales catalogue or is there something more in it?

I don't know what brand of pipette you're using. I bought mine from medical supply company and I have habit of attaching them to bottles of thinner and varnish with rubber band in order to make sure that I do use only that one and same pipette with each bottle. Oldest of these has been in use for almost two years and no leakage yet so I suppose they are rather durable.

So you (too) discovered Tamiya's trouble free behaviour. I haven't yet found out whether that's due to it's composition (as it's resin based) or that alleged retarder in their thinner.

Do you mean actually starting to build but failing to finish for whatever reason? No, so far I've completed all kits I've managed to start. But there are more than one where I am either waiting a decent kit in a proper scale to appear (release, re-release, second hand or whatever) but perhaps "why there isn't kit of this-and-that in such-and-such scale available" is another discussion entirely.

Just my 2c since nobody seems to have mentioned it yet: I have had my share of this problem and early on I was equally puzzled about it, trying different pressure and thinner ratios as well as experiment with various thinners. Then I discovered that 99% of the times this happens it's because tip of the needle is clogged with dry paint. The remaining one percent is down to incompatible thinner, thus I now only use paint manufacturer's own thinner. I noticed in the video that you're cleaning the needle tip with cotton bud. Did it help? Did you look at the needle tip, was there dried paint on it? Acrylics dry very fast and higher air pressure accelerates drying. I've heard that Tamiya's thinner contains retarder (which is funny as they sell rtetarder as a separate product) so that may be one explanation why Tamiya paints work best for many people, including myself. Downside of Tamiya is their lack of selection but luckily Gunze work as well and they have more colors to choose from. Because of this problem, I'm determined to try most paint manufacturers but always come back to Tamiya. As a result I have various pots of paint sitting around, most of which are barely opened. I try to use them up but it means spraying without the crown on and cleaning the needle tip every other minute.

Oh yes, they are. Or rather, only the nozzle itself and the needle are delicate, nozzle cap, crown and airbrush are relatively sturdy. I should know as I broke nozzle on my first AB when I tightened it carelessly. Luckily, I later managed to get broken part out from the grooves (not an easy task) so I eventually got a spare AB out of that horrible experience. About proper air pressure, I myself use 1 bar (=15 psi) and it works very well with Tamiya & Gunze which I use almost solely. When I was starting airbrushing, I experimented with different pressures but I quickly discovered that higher pressure only causes hurricane around my workbench while not actually helping with the paint flow. Carry on with experimenting, that's the best way - at least it has been for me - to learn the art. What I find frustrating is that almost all new paints that I try won't work well or at all in my hands despite people using them successfully. So far the only explanation, besides my own inadequacy, are the conditions in my modeling den (I suspect it's too hot and hence too dry).

Like Colin said, the gloss acrylic coat is the key (and a must) to success with this product. Remember to apply that first and it's a breeze to work with.

Established member like Mike can voice dislike towards post-WW2 British airplanes but I don't want to commit ceremonial suicide on this forum. Then again, pretty much same can be said of many post-WW2 airplanes of any country, F-84, Mig-15, Saab Tunnan et al just to name a few. But since this is Cold War thread, I'll put forward two from that era that I really don't see myself building ever: F-105 and Su-15. Same is likely true for F-102/106 too, though.

I am currently in agonizing build with quite an awful Mk 1 Hurricane originally by Italeri and re-packaged by Tamiya. I bought it over a year ago so my timing wasn't very good, sadly. I wonder whether Airfix will make Mk 2 or later Hurricane as well since I have one slotted in my build queue for the future?

Thanks for the link to your thread, it definitely looks like one I need to read really carefully.

I have AFV Club FV107 Scimitar in my stash and I am considering to make my next project out of that one. The most tempting setting for this is the Falklands War as it's one of the very few vehicles that saw action down there. For couple of days I have been looking through what various search engines can find about this vehicle in particular or vehicles in general in the Falklands. Unfortunately colour pictures of good size / quality seem to be scarce and I'd ask your opinion about the colour scheme Scimitars (or Scorpions, for that matter) had or would have had there and then? I am inclined to believe it was standard scheme for the era what was used but any confirmation would be nice. Also, any other pointers or advice is appreciated as this is my first foray into post-WW2 British vehicles.

So far I have used Tamiya Mark Fit Strong but I've never been satisfied with it. Even on less demanding places it takes several applications before decal wraps around contours (my experience are with Italeri and now Tristar decals). I've been looking to switch to Micro Sol but judging from sroubos' comments aboce, I am a bit hesitant. If Micro Sol is not stronger than Tamiya's stuff, I'd rather save my pennies for something more effective. And if that something turns out to be Mr Mark Softer (nor Setter), I have to find a place that sells it and has it stocked. Any words of advice (on which is best & strongest)?

Thankfully, I do remember something from my first stint with this hobby quarter of a century back and no, I could not have taken Airfix. Having said that, there are so many new or otherwise unknown brands on market now that it's a bit difficult to choose one over another. But luckily it's era of internet and most of the time reviews can be found online. It was sort of enjoyable experience, yes, but I am not satisfied with the final result. One's first is rarely one's best. So many things went wrong but then again, this was for practice. I got to try new techniques: airbrushing having been mentioned, panel line accenting too, but believe it or not this was also first time I used things like putty or plastic sheets for repairs. So, valuable experience. Historical accuracy is a double-edged sword. There are cases where it can be ignored, for example some possible what-if -scenario like Panzers in Cairo is something that I accept and could even build myself one day. Other than these, I try to achieve historically plausible result but without being overly tight about it. For example, I can live with having wrong license plates or slightly off-color painting on a tank, as long as it's not trying to be a grey Waffen-SS tank in Kasserine Pass (eg. wrong unit in wrong place in wrong color of a tank for the date). Usually I think people worry about accuracy per their knowledge level (real or perceived). Less you know about the subject, less you worry.

I know, especially as swept-wing two-seater Il-2 is from later part of the war. But as this was for practice and as I had already purchased colors for the camo, I decided to do the painting depicted in instructions.

Right, my first model in 25 years - Ilyushin Il-2m in 1/48 scale by Italeri, re-boxed Accurate Miniatures original in fact. First the pictures, then the story. It took me around two months to complete this. There are two main reasons for the long incubation time, firstly I wanted to start slowly and re-learn techniques and secondly, I missed so much equipment that I often had to wait until next visit to shop. Also, modeling isn't my only hobby so I can devote only that much time to it. I have very few complaints about the product itself but given what I know now, I would choose Tamiya's version of the model and save some headaches in the process. Admittedly, some of the problems were caused by me but practice is best way to learn. I made couple of large mistakes during the build, worst of which was joining fuselage halves before installing instrument panel. From instructions I understood that it could be inserted later from below but that was not the case. Initially I tried to correct this by splitting the panel in two but gluing it in place while model was nose down proved too difficult. I then took drastic action and sawed fuselage off just in front of the cabin. This worked but obviously meant quite a lot of repair work afterwards. This is not visible on pictures but is detectable on model if closely inspected. In technical sense the biggest challenges were all in painting. This is my first model that I airbrushed and different paints worked more or less (usually less) well. Upper surfaces have Model Master and lower surface is Lifecolor, both acrylics and sub-standard if you ask me. Curiously enough Model Master was recommended to me by store owner who claimed that it's best airbrushable acrylic in the market. Yellow ribbon on fuselage is painted on because decal refused to settle in a satisfactory way. That's Tamiya and in general Tamiya paints worked by far the best. I tried to accent selected panel lines with black enamel wash but due to painting problems and several lacquer coatings, the panel lines are so full of paint that not much wash would stay in them. Final operation was brushing the exhaust soot and that failed quite horribly. I wasn't careful enough when I started, using too much paint and when trying to fade the overly visible brush strokes, I ended up with far too conspicuous and unrealistic result.