Raven Morpheus

The only reason I see for holding on to old kits rather than building them is if they are rarities and you are in the habit of trying to profit significantly from such kits rather than building it yourself or allowing someone else the opportunity to do so for a similar price to what you paid for the kit...

Hoping to have a long weekend of model making, I'll be starting this afternoon on my 1/72 Academy F-14A in VF-1 Wolfpack markings that I bought this time last year... Wish I had bought this after my recent Academy 1/72 F-4J Phantom II as I probably could have made it a VF-84 bird to match, but I'm not keen on the standard grey overall livery and I've never seen a Jolly Rogers F-14 in anything but overall grey... So, this - https://www.scalemates.com/kits/264671-academy-12471-f-14a-tomcat Plus these (although these are 1/48 scale set, I have the 1/72 set) - https://www.scalemates.com/kits/208036-microscale-48-56-f-14-tomcats Will hopefully turn out something like this (although I haven't yet worked out how I'm going to do the demarcation line between the Gloss Gull Grey and the white. I don't usually do pilots in my model aircraft (despite them all being in flight), unless they're 1/35 or bigger and I only have one of those, as I don't feel my skills are good enough to make them look good (my 1/35 Huey figures aren't that good either), but I might add some of these - http://www.modern-hobbies.com/pilots-and-aircrew/usafnavy-pilots-w-helmets-1980-90s

Hey all Finally finished off my 1/48 Italeri HH-1N built up as a USMC UH-1N that I've seen photos of. The Huey in question was, from what I have read, doing it's last flight some years ago and was painted in honour of Medal of Honor recipient Major Stephen W Pless of VMO-6, who flew a UH-1E during the Vietnam war out of Quang Nai. I've tried the best I could with what I have, I added as many lumps and bumps and vanes as I had parts for, but I don't claim any accuracy. I armed it with the weapons I was advised that USMC Hueys have (M134 and a Ma Deuce with 7 shot rocket pods) rather than the M60s the actual UH-1N is armed with as I didn't want to use up my only copy of Cobra Company's XM23 system on this build. I also don't seem to be having any luck (again) with decals or clear parts, the windows don't look great in person and the decals (even the kit one's) have silvered on me, although they don't look too bad in the photos. My bottle of Future doesn't seem to be doing it's job properly and my Windsor and Newton flat varnish has gone a bit gritty on the main rotor blades (although again you can't see that in the photos)!! Also there's a light on the underside at the front, which the Italeri instructions appear to tell you paint red, I'm not sure that's correct and I only thought about it after I painted it, so I've left it as is... Not many markings on the actual UH-1N so mine also doesn't have many. Anyhow here's a few of my reference photos followed by photos of the finished Huey - My attempt at representing the above Huey - Minigun - Ma Deuce - A representation of some of the lumps and bumps on the underside and also the "hell hole" (might go back and paint it black on the inside) - Couple of quick pics after the model has sat for a while more (some witchcraft has been going on with the decals!) -

Moved to RFI.

Thanks guys. I've just seen Phil Flory on his DL-44 1 day build video on his youtube channel use the CA/Talc filler. Seems to be quite good, and probably quite cheap also. I am after something that self levels and doesn't require a lot of sanding though, so not sure about CA/Talc, I've tried to sand neat CA before and it's like concrete, i.e. almost impossible to sand unless you get a dremel with a grinding attachment. What I tend to get with LGS is it ends up looking like massive welds and even if I do get it smooth I still see a ridge at the edges. I'm very wary of putting a lot of effort into sanding due to the risk of removing surrounding plastic and obliterating details, or removing too much of the LGS, plus I don't want to be sitting sanding a small spot of filler for half an hour, for example.

No more judgemental than she thinks she's entitled. She and her husband pay taxes you know...

Hey all I've never been great at getting a smooth finish when filling gaps or eliminating seams with putty/filler. I started out using Vallejo liquid putty (or whatever it's called, comes in a dropper bottle) but I found that to end up powdery and crumble when sanded, so instead I have been using Games Workshop's Liquid Green Stuff, and it worked great on my 1/48 Spitfire, however on my 1/35 UH-1C I did last year and more recently my WIP 1/48 UH-1N I found I can't get a smooth finish, despite sanding. Can anyone recommend a better product to use? Or a technique to achieve a smooth finish? TIA

Nicely done. I've considered buying one of these, that car is the best thing to come out of that ever so slightly camp series... Question though, do you have to paint the red trim?

Thanks guys. I'm considering trying to strip at least the decals off, and give this a better finish - I used Tamiya Flat Aluminium and I don't like the grainy finish, although my camera probably makes it look worse, I also recently obtained some Vallejo Metal Colour aluminium and want to try that out... I've also dropped Hannants an email to see if there's anything they can do for me with regards to the disastrous decals supplied with the kit, probably a bit late now though, especially as I've chucked the box and the rest of the decals, also didn't buy the kit direct from them anyway, I bought it off evilbay...

Nice. Never been a fan of the Corsair II or Cursader though, probably the most fugly warplane ever. Never understood what the tilting wing is for either.

Pfft. Pushy overprotective well-off self-righteous entitled mother. Kids, even adults, fall off bikes all the time, they could just as easily have the same or similar accident without jets having done some grass cutting!! Get fed up with these types complaining. They're the sort that move next door to a motor racing circuit that's been there for half a century and then complain it's noisy!! Pilots need to practice low level flying somewhere, especially considering they likely have to fly over residential areas in foreign countries! Flying over the deserted areas of the highlands isn't the same as flying over downtown Baghdad! If I were the RAF complaints dept. I'd ignore it as they only have her account to go by, especially as the woman has no clue what it was she was buzzed by.

@Graham Boak/Black Knight - Cool. I can just buy a set for a green/earth scheme then. Just leaves the Super Jolly Green to get masks for or templates to print. At least if I have those I'll be more inclined to build the models.

I'm guessing you wouldn't happen to know if the North African schemes were different to the A and B green/earth schemes? @PhantomBigStu - I'd still need some kind of template... @Black Knight/Jusjay - I'll have a look at that, That Tamiya sheet looks exactly like what I was after, and I had forgotten about Frisket film, I thought about using that on the underside of the wings on my KBoP. I'll have a look on Hannants and see if they have a North African theatre set of masks.

Hey all One of the things that's putting me off building a couple of kits I have is that they require some sort of camo scheme to be painted on them, and I can't stand doing it via the usual methods - mostly using blutack... So I was wondering if anyone knows of any good paint mask sets out there for a 1/48 Hurricane MkIID in North Africa camo and a 1/72 CH-53 in South East Asia (SEA) camo? Or, alternatively, where (online) I can get masking tape in an A4 sheet, like you can with decal paper, and some in-scale (I can upsize or downsize myself if needed) templates for the camo schemes that I can print out? TIA

I love it, so much so I've considered getting the "showtime 100" boxing. The VF-84 boxing I have was a joy to build, then take apart, paint, and put back together. I built it in a couple of hours, it barely needed any glue (only on a few parts like the weapon racks and cockpit seats and panels) and only needed a little more on the wings due to them not staying on after I'd pulled the model apart for painting. The one piece fuselage is a joy for someone like me who has problems getting rid of seams - there isn't a seam on the model that you have to get rid of as far as I can tell, although I did have to do a bit of sanding on the lower fuselage piece to remove a runner attachment point piece and eliminate a gap it caused. You can paint all the parts individually and just snap it all together, like I did, although I should have paid more attention to the underside being all white. You don't even need to work out where to mask to paint certain parts one colour and other parts another colour as the colour of the bare plastic is pretty much the colour you need to paint. The only parts I needed to mask for painting were on the wings for the white areas at the back of them, the tail stabs where you need to paint a couple of stripes of an aluminium/silver colour, and on the VF-84 boxing the tail fin has a gloss gull grey strip down the front (although I've not yet actually done that). If an F-16 could realistically be painted in a Vietnam era Gloss Gull Grey colour scheme I'd have a go at Academy's version of that as well as it looks quite reasonable from the looks of this review (although it lacks proper decals, instead having stickers) - http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/FirstLook/Academy/Aca_F-16C_Multirole_Fighter/Aca_F-16C_Multirole_Fighter.html

Nice. Would like to get into doing some Luftwaffe aircraft myself, just can't stand the idea of doing mottling and stuff like it, especially on their north African birds.

Shame the plane went over on the nose on impact, he was looking good for a decent landing.

Went to Plan C - I managed to find a Fujimi Knight Riders boxing of their 1/72 A-6A Intruder for peanuts instead, practically the same price as the Revell kit I saw the other week.

Sitrep - getting there...

No need. The backplate is tight enough that it fit in without anything to secure it. To get it off requires a little encouragement with a knife blade.

Sitrep - this is where I was before start of play today - My camera seems to have over exposed the image a little or increased it's brightness somehow, the green is a little darker than that and doesn't look patchy to the naked eye. This afternoon/evening I spent a short while painting all the bits and bobs you can see unpainted in the picture above. including the nav lights, added the tail gearbox assembly and radio aerial and I've laid down a coat of Future, just hope it doesn't go all "orange peel" like it did on my Porsche 917/10... Looking at the model and then looking at my reference photos the green actually doesn't seem all that far off (the photo above doesn't look how it looks to the naked eye). I've tried to add as many of the avionics lumps and bumps as I can, there's actually a couple of bits underneath you can't see in the photo above, and I realise that the fin on the top at the front is erroneous however I don't feel I can take it off neatly enough. Going to make a start on the weapons system next, and get the rotors all assembled and painted black.

Thanks guys. Useful info. I might go with an SBD, but it's more synonymous with the PTO imho. Nothing else really floats my boat though. When I think of the North African air war I think of the the aircraft I mentioned in the OP. I basically want something to go with my Hasegawa Hurricane IID, as all my other WW2 aircraft are (or will be by Xmas) of the ETO and PTO. I might also end up going with a Tomahawk, even though I will already have a P40 by Xmas, one of the new Airfix kits (presumably I can make that into a Tomahawk with aftermarket decals?).

Decided to get back to this model this afternoon, spent an hour or so tidying it up on the outside and then put down a coat of Mr Hobby Aqueous FS34097, boy did that spray great, don't know what the rest of the range is like but thinned 50% with UMP thinners it sprayed beautifully! Will post pics at some point... Don't know if it's of any interest to anyone but I found out what the more modern UH-1N in Marine Field Green that I've been looking at for source reference's is - It's BuNo 158270 of HMLA/T-303 Atlas Mag 39 MCAS Camp Pendelton. It was painted that way in 2011 for it's final flight and in honour of Medal of Honor recipient Major Stephen W Pless of VMO-6, who flew a UH-1E during the Vietnam war out of Quang Nai. http://militaryaviationjournal.com/2012/04/uh-1y-retirement-marine-corps-base-camp-pendleton.htm http://www.verticalmag.com/features/west-coast-sendoff-html/ http://vietnam-hueys.tripod.com/Medal%20of%20Honor%20page.htm (3rd one down the page) I will probably be representing that helo with this build now, as it's easier to print the few black decals I need (I already have the Marines decal in black courtesy of the kit) than it is to faff around with white decal paper to make decals for the older UH-1N's I've been looking at. Doubt the overall green of the fuselage will be a match though.

Hey all I'm looking for ideas for 1/48 scale aircraft (about the same size as a Spitfire/Hurricane) that were used by the USAAF/USN or RAF/RN in North Africa. I can think of a few, P-40 Warhawk/Tomahawk/Kittyhawk etc., P-38 Lightning, Spitfires and Hurricanes, P-51 Mustangs, but I either have one of those already or will have by Xmas (I will also have an F4F Wildcat by then) so I'm looking for something different. Any ideas? TIA