Courageous

Going great there Ian. I like the resin seats from Barracuda but I don't think they were standard fit? I also like the Miniworld guns, must remember to correct the cocking handle. Looking forward to your rigging exercise on the Triplane, want to see how you run the wire through the mid-wing. Keep up the good work. Stuart

T7 Models, concise details. I personally use Halfords Primer which I buff. Then it's two coats from the 'rattle-can' of Metalcote, wait 24hrs and buff with kitchen towel. I have dried the Dremel buffer approach and in my eagerness and excess pressure, buffed my way to the plastic! Stuart

I use Metalcoat for my Sabre subjects and like it. The beauty of this stuff is that from a colour you can get two tones; 'buffed' and 'non-buffed'. Although you can't see it clearly, my Sabre wings this tonal difference. Stuart

Yes, they are in the queue. The plan is to build a Sabre variant every other build and those listed were all started, well the wings were started at the same time as they all had non 6-3 wing, so I got all the slicing out of the way, might've started the tubs also... The Sabre 2 was going to be a Canadian silver job when they were arriving in Europe and Sabre 4 was going to be an early RAF variant. Stuart

Hi peeps. Managed to progress the subject a little further along after ripping out my back boiler. This was the main pain so far in this build, getting to blend in the Heller windscreen with the vacuform but I think this is the best it's going to get...primer will tell. Well, the primer went on and windscreen blending needed a little more work and this is as far as I'm willing to go. Primer on and smoothed down, hopefully all ready for the Humbrol Metalcoat. Canopy nicely dipped in the Johnsons...nice shiny. I wish I had the confidence to scribe a few panel lines on the fuselage but it's quite thin in places. Next, besides the paint, is some DIY decals, you'd have thought that Falcon would have supplied the necessary serials Until next time. Stuart

Sabrejet, welcome. Lots of good info and I'll be doing 228 (no.2) with the markings between its first flight and final scheme, like this: Antoine, IIRC this is my second vacuform and I'm in no way an experienced hand in vacuform subjects. Because their are no location lugs and the thin plastic, plastic plates were added everywhere. This gives a lot more plastic for gluing and outer surfaces are nearly level, so less filler required. If you are using the donor kit that matches the vacuform suggestion, these will be a better fit, eg. my front undercarriage bay (Heller). Other parts, like the Hobbycraft wings, were more hassle, we're modellers... Hopefully, the filling and sanding is complete and I'll get the primer on this evening. Regards to all, Stuart

Ian, excellent work. A pity I didn't come across this thread before I started my Sopwith Triplane, but I do have two, so I'll treat the first as a learning curve . Please continue... Stuart

Michael, You didn't just buy the last TERMA from Freightdog!?

Exactly the photo I was looking at early but not being any kind of stores expert, I didn't know what everything was. What would typically fit on centre? And what's on the stbd outboard wing? Exactly what I was looking at earlier. Model Alliance decals?? Stuart

Sorry if this has been asked before... Just gathering up the parts to make 1/72 Tornado GR4/4A in Afghanistan. I believe I have seen photos of GR4's fitted with RAPTOR and TERMA fitted at same time and would like to model one of these. I will be using the Revell GR1 kit with the Freightdog conversion set and would like to know a typical load-out that would be include the RAPTOR and TERMA. Over to you guys. Stuart

Hi Guys, thought it was about time I got back into the seat with this Sabre now the man cave is back up and running. Topside view of the Sabre Trainer. The converted wings have now been fitted and fillets added at the wing roots and now need filler. Very little/ no data exists for the cockpit area so I have used a bit of artistic license to fill in the gaps; fire-control console added at the front, middle platform with a few electronic boxes added and the rear platform also added. Work on the underside started with the filling of the gaping hole, and here I used a part of the Heller lower wing and then got to work with the filler. Back to the bench. Stuart

I've got the font but it needs modifying. Thanks Perdu, much appreciated.

Well, I must have sniffed too much poly cement this evening and may have effected my eyesight 'cos my google searching is finding nothing! Can you supply a link please? Stuart

Hi Martin, your previous response to this post was spot on, they're are for Sabres. Unfortunately, no decals exist for this particular one because it's for my TF-86 that I'm building at the moment. I was after more the generic type letters/ numbers and by the sounds of it different manufacturers had different fonts which doesn't help...so much for standardization! So it looks like this: could be the way to go. Where can I find this font? Thanks, Stuart

Hi Guys, Can you tell me if a decal sheet containing the above exists in 1/72, the numbers/ letters are rounded and not the 'cropped corner' type? Failing that, does anybody know what the font is so I can look into making my own? TIA Stuart

Thanks guys,

After spending winter renovating the man cave, I came across my last build that I hadn't posted. Here is my interpretation of an early Hawker Typhoon in 1/72 using the Bregun kit. It was the first time that I had built anything from this company and so didn't know quite what to expect. A 'limited-run' kit with no location lugs made life a little a different. I'm not a modeler that ends to worry to much about the minutiae of the subject and this case, the model was built mostly OOB with a slight twist, the 'car door' was presented open. The cockpit built-up into a nice little unit and had no real problems with it fitting into the fuselage. It got a bit scary cutting the door out and even more when it came to cutting the side glazing out. The model built up into a nice looking Tiffy, painted using enamel paints and kit decals. Model finished in the scheme and markings of R7635, 266 Sqn in early 1942. I have more Brengun kits of the typhoon to build but noticed that the 'fish- plates' have not been molded onto any of their later Typhoons so will need to be remedied. Stuart

Thanks again guys for your help. Update: Gr.5- Airfix GR.9 with Quickboost nose. Serge- As I have said early, I'm not wanting to spend time, money to get a near perfect model. Is their a lot of work to correct the Airfix GR.9? So what are the problems with the Airfix GR.9? Stuart

Yes, 'hanging stuff' are external stores...couldn't remember what the collective name was for tanks, weapons, pods, etc...doh! What variant would this be for? Thanks

Cheers guys. As I said at the beginning of the topic, The idea is to build an a/c for each of the GR's to cover operational history without going OTT. Thus far, the idea goes like this: GR.1 in early gloss scheme with the r/w/b roundels. GR.3 as per the 'Falklands' GR.5 as winter in Norway or in its Green/ Green livery GR.7 Iraq/ Balkans/ Iraq Gr.9 Afghanistan I'm hoping that their will be decal options to cover all the bases as well as a appropriate 'hanging stuff'. Keep it coming guys, much appreciated. Stuart

Steve219, very concise paint scheme data...thanks.

Richard, very useful info...thanks.

Thanks guys. Looks like Harrier SIG is the place to go. I used to build in 1/48 but space is always an issue so it's 1/72 from now on. My approach to modelling variants is to capture the major features; start with the best kit you can afford and go from there. My limited investigations into the Harrier world in 1/72, GR.1- Airfix, GR.3- Italeri, GR.7 & GR.9- Airfix. Not sure about the GR.5? As a matter of interest, how many different paint schemes did the Harrier have over its years? I do have plans to include an FRS.1 & an FA,2; Italeri & Airfix respectively? Stuart

Hi Fonts of Wisdom, My plan is to build a model from each of the 5 main GR variants of the Harrier from an operational point of few. I would like to cover the most paint schemes, markings, load-outs and theatres for the RAF. I do not profess to know much about the Harrier and what I do know is taken the SAM publication. To start off with, I quite like the GR.1 in its early high gloss scheme with the red-white-blue roundels but I'm not sure if this was phased out before entering operational service? So it's over to you guys. Thanks Stuart

What everyone else has said. Lovely job Ian.