Magua87

Not too impressed with some of the moulding issues with a new kit (you might need to click on the picture to see the problem). Shouldn't be too hard to fix, but a bit strange from a new tool. Well, I'll be filling the panel lines on one of the kits anyway! Apparently the aircraft repainted in high speed silver had some/all of their wing panel join putty removed.

A bit of progress now that we've officially kicked off the group build. Interior green spraying session. Corrected with some hand painted yellow zinc chromate.

I had the same thing happen. I used the opportunity to clean up the column then glued it back together.

Hmmmmm. Considering the detail I've been adding I don't think the standard Airfix canopy is going to cut the mustard. Will give it a dipping of clear, but I think I'll need to pick up a vac formed canopy.

Well, that was a lot easier than I thought! The Hasegawa kit comes to the rescue again. There are frames inside the Mk.I/III fuselage which will be for the Maritime Reconnaissance and and ASR boxings. A few quick measurements and out with the knife on the Airfix kit! I'll have to clean up the dates on the inside of the fuselage. Don't think I'm going to bother with much detailing.

The instrument panel is in. Took a bit of fiddling, but it's looking good. I made some seat cushions from milliput for all the seats in the aircraft and have glued together the seats and table behind the pilot's seat. The lines I've added to the cockpit floor aren't accurate, but I wanted to break up the solid black paint. I think I'm done with the additions to the interior. I don't want to get too carried away. You can't even see the second seat when the fuselage is closed unless you're looking for it. It'll probably disappear when the canopy is attached. I might add the hand rail between the cockpit levels in the front as it's pretty distinctive in yellow. I now need to move to the rear of the aircraft and cut out the windows before I do anything else.

Progress in the cockpit with more Hasegawa inspiration and PE meant for the Hasegawa kit. Eduard PE. I did a poor job of dry fitting the instrument panel, so I'll need to get out the scalpel and remove a bit of the cockpit wall for a better fit.

Well, it's an interesting read and will prove very useful for the external painting. However, no internal shots. So I'm going to plow on ahead and busy up the cockpit with a few reference shots from a standard Lancaster. Next step is to find out where the observation windows sat on the rear fuselage and how big they were. Oh, and Keith, there's some great shots of the radome in the book. My local library had a copy.

I'll be building two kits for this group build, two Airfix F-51Ds in RNZAF markings. These aircraft flew in the Territorial Air Force and only flew for a short period between 1951/2 to 1955 before being retired. They had arrived in New Zealand in 1945, but were put into storage due to the end of hostilities with Japan. I'll be building NZ2425, seen at the top of the Ventura sheet here. I believe this aircraft was still in its factory finish of natural metal with the panels joins in the wings filled in and the wings painted aluminium/silver. The roundels were painted directly over the American markings on the fuselage, upper port wing, and lower starboard wing. And NZ2413 seen here. This aircraft was repainted in high speed silver and had a cuffed propeller. According to Anderson's Mustangs of the RAAF and RNZAF when the Mustangs assembled 1951 the wings, control surfaces, and undercarriage doors were painted in high speed silver. I was going to give NZ2425 painted wings regardless as I believe they came this way from the factory, but I'm not sure about the control surfaces and undercarriage doors. Need to get myself a copy of the definitive Mustang resource, Southern Cross Mustangs, by David Muir. I originally wanted to depict NZ2415 in the markings of the Canterbury squadron of the Territorial Air Force. This used to be a popular aircraft flying at shows around the country, but I haven't seen it in the air for quite some time. However, I'm happy to be able to depict two Auckland based aircraft in different schemes from this sheet! I'd like to depict a few other Auckland aircraft in the coming years. I've got a Spitfire Mk Vb W3577 I'd like to build with the crest of the University of Auckland on the port side under the forward section of the canopy.

Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted a shot of the radome in it's current state. Here's a shot of the aircraft I'm building with the radome clear and the radar visible. http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/000106552.html

It does, yep. Here's a close up from a few years ago. http://sas.raf38group.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2173 I've added some basic cockpit detailing following the Hasegawa kit. And I've removed the upper turret. I'll add some plastic card and smooth out the gap with milliput when I join the fuselage. I want to wait for my reference book before I start to do much more to the interior, but I'll start improving the instrument panel while I wait.

Hi, all. I've had an idea for a project brewing for a while and thought I should start to log my progress somewhere. My girlfriend's father gave me an old mould Airfix Lancaster in 1/72. As I've already got a Hasegawa Lanc Mk.I/III I thought I'd try something different with the old Airfix kit. The Lancaster in the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland was donated to the people of New Zealand by France. It's currently dressed up as "The Captain's Fancy" of 75 Squadron (NZ), but it was previously an aircraft of the Aeronavale flying in the Pacific. There will be some modifications to make and some detail to be added. Haven't decided if I want to commit to a rescribe. Perhaps some limited scribing. I've got exhausts from a Hasegawa Lanc' (not mine), the Hasegawa Zoom kit from Eduard, and a Montex mask. First up, a bit of scratch building to busy up the interior. Next I'll start adding interior detail and ribbing modelled on the Hasegawa kit. I've got a reference book on request from the local library. Hoping it can help a bit further with the details.

Procopious, do I see a CAC Sabre alongside your Hunter?

Hi, gents. Thought I'd provide an update. I bought an Iwata HP-C+ for a good price through Amazon. It was a pretty tough decision, but I went with the Iwata as already owning one I figured the ergonomics would be similar. Not many people seem to stock professional airbrushes in NZ and I've never been able to try before buying. My first impressions of the brush are very favourable. It's very nice to control. Seems like it should be able to lay down a reasonable amount of paint, so I may sell the BCR. Time will tell.

Looking forward to this one. I picked up an Airfix F-51D over the weekend. I'll need some RNZAF decals before we kick off.

I went back and double checked the dates between the posts! Nice work, Tony.

Does anyone make a Hurricane MkIIa in 1/72? I haven't seen anything around. Or is there a kit that would make a good base for a conversion? Presumably you could lop the cannons and wing blisters off a IIc Hurricane and drill in some .303 gun ports. I'm thinking of building OK-2 to sit alongside OK-1 in my cabinet.

Hi, Beppe. I built OK-1 and used a variety of decals. I grabbed Xtrakit lettering and roundels from Hannants. What you'll struggle with is the pennant below the cockpit. I couldn't find anything in 1/72 and just used a pennant that looked similar, but of a lower ranking.

I'm starting to wonder if I need a new airbrush. Achieved the squiggle below at about 12ish PSI with the triple action handle, 0.5mm nozzle. Looks like about a 1mm line. Although I think a needle limiter would be more effective, especially for mottling.

I mainly work in 1/72. My smallest work would be a Luftwaffe mottle on a Bf109, the largest is the Vulcan which is stashed under the bed. Generally speaking, 1/72 fighters, both props and jets. The revolution was a good introduction to modelling, but isn't flexible enough. As noted, the .35mm set up wasn't working for larger areas, but it will be the weekend before I can play with the various nozzles and some water or food colouring to see what coverage I can get with the standard 0.3 set up. The triple action handle was good for ease of cleaning, but it's also good for fine(ish) work, such as pre-shading panel lines by setting the amount of paint required.

Bought the kit. Thanks all for the advice.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234976552-iwata-triple-action-handle-issues/?fromsearch=1Here's my thread on that issue. It is the eclipse needle with the 0.3 mm nozzle, nozzle cap, etc. I could go back to the 0.3mm needle, but I'd need to ditch the triple action handle. Alternatively, I wonder if the eclipse nozzle, etc would fit my BCR? Edit. A quick google tells me no, it's a different assembly. So I either try again with the 0.35mm; ditch the triple action handle and try the 0.3mm; or buy a new airbrush which can offer more flexibility. Decisions! Thanks for the info, guys. I might see if anyone I know has an H&S I could try. Maybe I should change the focus of this thread. What would you recommend for broad applications if I could only afford a single brush? Eg something like the H&S brush with easily interchangeable needles and nozzles for both fine work and base coats.

Is it quite a small difference? The hobby craft slatted wing looks to be very similar if not the same in dimensions as the Fujimi f-30 wing.

I'm thinking about upgrading from my Iwata Revolution BCR. I upgraded the airbrush with a 0.3 mm nozzle and 0.35 mm needle (the 0.3 won't fit the triple action handle). The 0.35 mm is great for detailed work, but it doesn't give great coverage for base coats (see the patchy job below). Unfortunately it's a pain to swap out needles, nozzles, and the action on the handle when I want to paint a larger area. I'm thinking about upgrading to an airbrush which is either easier to swap out needles and nozzles or which can reasonably manage detail and lay down a larger area of paint when needed. I was initially looking at the Badger 150, but I'm intrigued by the Badger 155 Anthem and the 105 Patriot. The 155 and 105 have a dual taper needle, allowing fine detailing and wider coverage. The 105 has a finer needle and nozzle than the 155, but it looks able to lay down a lot of paint when required (base coats, single colours, gloss coats, etc). I was wondering if anyone here has any any experience with either or both and what your opinions are of the airbrushes? What are they like for fine, detailed work? Do they work well enough for larger areas or do you have another go-to brush for base coats, etc. https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/badger-patriot https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/badger-155-anthem https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/airbrush-comparison-chart

I think you're right about the wing. Looks like it's the larger wing, but with slats. http://modelingmadness.com/scott/korean/f86epreview.htm http://www.blindbatnews.com/2011/10/kit-bashing-heller-fujimi-hobbycraft-f-86-sabre-kits-compared/8203 I could probably build some wing fences. The link below is useful for panel lines. Do we know the dimensions of the fences? http://i.imgur.com/BfTKsuI.jpg