Tomoshenko

Order is restored in the universe - Grant has fully recovered and the Hurricane's are looking the absolute dog's.

Useful alternatives thanks Laurie. Gloss is too slippy, and the matt takes the pastels too well and is difficult to knock back. I find the Alclad semi-matte a good compromise, and then finish off with a matt varnish. Although I may have a crack with the Vallejo eggshell. Hey did you see what I did there...eggshell crack.. oh okay, I'll get the proverbial

I find it helps with the creativity I am on something a little more refined this evening - a nice Sauvignon Blanc care of your neighbours in New Zealand. I completed the panel line washes underneath and on top. Next up is to apply (well attempt to) some tonal variation to the underside. I do this using soft pastels. In this instance white and blue. First in the centre of the panels. Then streaks (all applied with a Q-tip). Then you just wipe and dust off in the direction of the wind flow. Then you get something like this: I will do this all over the black. Because the surface is quite glossy, the pastels don’t take too well (which stops you from going over the top). I’ll then apply some Alclad semi-matte klear kote all over. This renders the surface with more bite for the pastels. Then I’ll weather the topside and apply heavier, but localised weathering such as exhaust stains and paint chips etc, but not too much though.

Very nice Johnny. You've got the pre-shading down to a fine art now. Really showing up the details. And it's got a little motor in it to make the rotor thingies go round. Cor proper whirly bird it is now.

Well Bill urban legend has it that the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was invented to create a Command and Control System to survive a nuclear attack. I will retire to bed this evening, snug, safe and sound, fully reassured with a copy of Protect and Survive under my pillow that if Brum is nuked, I will still be able to enjoy your thrilling build...and the other threads on Britmodeller of course

It's great it's great I've seen it in real life! Bill's right too, proper quality models on display today. An auspicious start to the year for Brum IPMS.

Thanks for the kind comments Jade, pleasure to give you encouragement … and erm … and some mistakes for you to avoid … purely for demonstration purpose of course I've got all the stickers on. Where possible I cut away as much carrier film as possible to prevent any silvering. It worked fine, but getting the wing stencils to line up straight was a proper faff. Of course it didn’t help when I put a couple of them on the wrong way round, had to remove and re-apply. It seems I am a right proper bozo after all! My biggest gripe is that the instructions are in colour. Nice you think, but on the underside everything is jet black so there are no panel lines showing as reference points. There is something to be said about the old school black and white instructions. Even though it does bring to mind the classic quote by Ted Lowe (former BBC snooker commentator): “And for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green.” Anyroad I got them all down and gave a coat of klear: I must admit I do like the look with the G for “George” livery on the side and the type C1 roundel. After returning from the Brum club meet and a perusal of Bill’s Sea Vixen – along with plenty of other fine models on the bench – I’ve made a start on the panel line washes. First up is all the black bits. I made up a mixture of Paynes Gray and soft white diluted with Sansodor. The latter I find more conducive than turps because it is milder (less likely to react) and it it’s not smelly. This is the effect so far (the fin on the right hasn’t received a wash yet so you can see the contrast). I have to say I’m quite taken by the effect. The wash to date is taking very well to the panel lines. Once dry they won’t be as bright as they are now, so should be just enough to break up the black blandness. I will be using pastels to add some tonal variation too, but I’ve got quite a lot of lines to get through first…

Bill listen to what the voices in your head are saying...and do exactly what they say...

Lovely work with the liquorice allsort detailing. I have a suggestion for your next project: Think it'll look good on the club bench...

Cheers gents. I must say you do get a nice buzz and sense of satisfaction and achievement (I'm trying not to sound pretentious so apologise if I sound full of it). Those masks look the business Anil. I think I will be purchasing some Oramask, it looks excellent. Tell me of your silhouette cutter. I need some advice. I feel a CedB tool purchase is in the offing. Tonight I got a few coats of klear on. It looks shiny as hell. Part of me wishes I could keep it this way. Alas the weathering fairies await ready to pounce. Next up will get the transfers on. More klear, then panel line washes and weathering. Feel I can relax a bit now.

Nothing's too good for the worker's Laurie! Definitely a learning curve Bill and in future said spaces will be left unpainted. With plenty more RAF subjects in the stash, more experiments will ensue. "Guess who has been having dark thoughts about masked and painted single colour US Stars and Bars?" Just keep listening to what those voices are saying in your head Bill and do what they say....

No. The reason it shows through is that I painted the roundels over some dry spray. And from a certain lighting angle it looks like the demarcation shows through, from others it doesn't. Once I've put down a couple of coats of klear and some matt varnish it should...it should disappear...

Alas Laurie I am a mere mortal to be toyed and played with upon the whims of the modelling gods... Ahh you’ve sussed me out. Top secret aerial designed to look like old bent coat hangers … Well now as the build is going reasonably with just the odd hiccup here and there – that’s what modelling is all about I suppose. What couldn’t be better than getting the build to an advanced point and then doing something that may completely mess everything up? With that in mind I thought I’d have a crack at foregoing the wing roundel transfers and replace them with painted versions. It’s something I wanted to have a go at for a while, and given the rather large wing roundels in two colours, it seems like a good opportunity to test out my latest tool gadgetry: It’s a circular cutter I purchased recently after seeing it demonstrated at Telford. It `aint cheap, but it’s a nice quality piece of kit. There is a discussion as to their merits and pros and cons vis-à-vis silhouette cutter on Bill’s CH-53 and Merlin build thread: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235048271-fifty-shades-other-numbers-are-available/&page=4 An interesting discussion ensued. As well as the usual mania that frequents itself on our fora, it’s also a rather nice build. Anyroad I thought I’d have a go. First you have to use a little jig which I taped firmly down so it won’t move. The cutter fits inside the jig which makes sure the concentric circles are aligned. Not quite so important for this job, but imperative if you were cutting type A1 roundels. The measuring gauge has very fine increments, thus it is quite accurate. Well after some experimentation this is what I ended up with: So tools and implements at the ready – once more unto the breach - I will need to be mindful not to spray the roundels in Aspall cider and drink the colourcoats enamels, even though they smell rather nice… The downside about masking roundels is that it’s a right blinkin’ faff to get them in the right position. You can fiddle around and adjust the transfers but you only get one shot when you paint them. It’s a matter of using the panel lines as a reference, checking that the distances below as per the compass measurements match the port and starboard. The point of this is to be consistent. As we say at work, consistency is important because even if we’re wrong, at least we’re consistently wrong… Once in position to the best of my compass measurements and mark 1 eyeball, it was on with a coat of Alclad white. Only a light dusting. I wasn’t fussed about getting a deep white undercoat down. It was then on with the red. Once this was on I nipped up the pub for a few beers. On my return I subsequently cooked a spicy pork and bean casserole. I forgot to take a picture of the outer roundel masks before I inserted the red mask, but hey I think you get the idea by now. It was then on with the blue. This was taken when the paint was still wet and with directional lighting, so as you can see the camo line shows through. It’s barely noticeable from normal angles (if there is such a thing as a normal angle), you’ll just have to take my word for it. I must say the colourcoats went on wonderfully well. They also smell like old school enamels, with the added advantage of lacking in lead additives and other carcinogenic and neurotoxin additives those old enamels had (one can’t have everything I suppose…) After eagerly anticipating the result it was off with the masking: …. Grrr There was some bleed. In fact if you look at the picture above towards the bottom right you can see that the masking tape is ever so slightly proud. Both roundels experienced this in the same position and I could have sworn the tape was nice and flush. It’s only slight but it sticks out like the proverbial cobbler’s thumb and looks as rough as the proverbial ursine posterior! Fortunately I had not yet disposed of the masking tape and was able to re-use to re-mask and touch up. It was then off with the masking a second time…and phew! Result. I really like the effect actually, even though I can’t quite capture it in this lighting. Some reflections then on painting roundels vis-à-vis transfers: Cons: Undoubtedly it is a faff and a half. Particularly aligning them as you get no second chances – didn’t help that I didn’t have the Tamiya sheet tape with the gridlines marked on it. Also it was my first attempt so naturally it would be quicker with practice. It takes much longer (especially like me if you use enamels), and you have to be mindful not to go over the top with the coats to avoid building up a ridge. I have a very slight ridge top left but hardly noticeable – hopefully after klear and coats of varnish. That said if you put down a light coat of white primer (Alclad white is ideal I find), and are using well-thinned quality paint, with practice this won’t happen. Pros: Without a shadow of doubt, what all the posters and the YouTube videos (vloggers?) say is true in spades: they look exponentially better. Seriously, I was sceptical, and given the quality of transfers (oh go on then decals) these days, I thought nah; but I am a convert. My first attempt isn’t perfect I know, but they still look pretty good. Consistency and ease for weathering / panel line washes etc. It can be difficult getting the consistency of the weathering of the decal matching that with the rest of the aircraft. Mainly panel line washes as the extra thickness of the decal makes it more difficult for the wash to take. Okay you can use pencils, but sometimes you can’t get the same colour as the other panel lines (well at least I can’t). Resilience. Even if you coat the decal in umpteen layers of klear or super-duper-hard as nails-NASA-patented-space age varnish, the weak link is the adhesive quality of the decal to the model. So if have to mask over a decal, there’s always the risk that the tape will pull away the decal (you don’t need to ask how I know this!). This won’t happen with painted markings. Okay I think I’ve droned on enough. In conclusion where you can you should give it a go, although I recommend practice on some donors first; but they do look much better. Time for my reward.

Excellent save and recovery. I'm going to repeat the comment I made previously: "I must say this is a lovely ensemble:"

Oof. You will recover. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing it on Sunday Bill … don't rush. We want to see a nice helichoptery ...