TEXANTOMCAT

Fabulous!

Hi Matt Many thanks for your kind comments and for the steer on the windscreen- I have now raided my spares box as I was certain I parted out a Gnat! No dice but the front of a 1/72 Airfix DH88 canopy and rear part of a Crown 1/144 Lanc canopy show promise! have a great Xmas and thanks for all your help this year! ATB Ben

a) new tool 1/72 Jaguar b) up down scale 1/72 Sea Fury c) Vintage Classic 1/72 Westland Scout d) mid year release 1/350 QE2/POW but I still think 1/72 Anson C.21, 1/48 Westland Wildcat and 1/72 Spit TR.IX are coming!

Christmas Chili update! Finally managed to spend some more time at the bench before Xmas inbetween callouts.... She's now decaled! These are old Aeroclub letters - I was able to buy some from John a few years ago and tend to pick them up at shows when I see them on the 'well they'll come in handy some time' basis. The silver fuselage letters were from one of his later sheets and seem to have gone down well, thinner decal film and ok opacity - but only OK.... IMG_4713 by Ben Brown, on Flickr The blue letters I forgot I had, but were from a part used sheet picked up at a show for a quid - they are much older and show signs of yellowing and aren't the same shade of blue (there's no way I would ever find a colour match!) but were better than the black letters I planned to use. Whilst thicker they were well printed and very opaque but unfortunately most broke apart so I cobbled them back together again. I should have given them a coat of Microscale decal film first. I'll know next time. All were very closely cut out as they are on continuous film. IMG_4712 by Ben Brown, on Flickr The above pics show them after application and a dose of Microsol, they were applied over Mr Setter which I'm convinced is basically watered down PVA but it does help adhesion and to stop silvering. I used some DACO Red on the areas which covered the control surface hinges. You'll see I drilled out the 'nubs' as cast in the fuselage for exhaust stubs one of which is cast on an awkward seam and replaced them with some Albion Alloys tube which looks a lot neater. For those building the kit it's well worth doing I think. The prop was sprayed with Tamiya buff, with Humbrol 29 streaked on it. I have a tinlet of Humbrol clear orange which is dodgy stuff and now discontinued as it is very effective as gloop but not as paint. The trick is to shake it and not stir it, then use a small amount in one stroke from the tin. The spinner painted Humbrol 54 and the brass wear strips added with a gold Sharpie. I then gave the whole thing a final coat of Klear, and painted the compass on the coaming and added a dollop of Krystal Klear on top as glass. Last thing to do is to make the screen - I saw Matt added one which 'fitted well despite it's origin' but I dont know what the origin was though I suspect it was the surplus from the Comper Swift vac canopy. I could do that (I have one) or smash mould one, or trim down an IJ canopy - I'm going to try the latter, a 1/72 P-51 canopy looks promising if I can polish it well once it's been trimmed to fit. If that doesnt work then I'll crash mould one and if that doesnt work will use the Comper scrap. I might also use some Mig Blue/Black PLW on the panel lines...not sure yet! IMG_4715 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Meantimes, Merry Xmas all! TT

Thanks very much Uncle 🫡👍

Somehow even colder than the MAM show a couple of weeks ago!

Yes you’re dead right the Tamiya Lanc had a pre painted canopy boxing 👍

Yep 18th Feb has been pencilled in. Bring a thermal blanket! TT

Thank you Francis 🫡👍

Cheers fellas 🫡👍

Did the Kessel run with less than 12 parcels! Super work well done! TT

Many thanks both

Thanks gents just done for fun and to raise a smile! TT

I love it when the pro modellers forget nose weight! TT

A7UTINI! MK1 JAWA SAND CRAWLER Hi all, a bit of a departure from my usual aeroplane builds…. I've stuck this here as well as in the Sci Fi section as it crosses both! IMG_4674 by Ben Brown, on Flickr A while a go a mate and I were in a terrific model shop in Southend and came across these Weston Toy Co 1/32 A7V WW1 German tank models. They are ready-made so a bit of a cheat really but are superbly detailed – all the guns elevate and traverse! Anyway, for less than a tenner we bought one each to have a bit of fun. IMG_4673 by Ben Brown, on Flickr I had read somewhere that the good folk of ILM/Lucasfilm used the A7V as the inspiration for the design of the iconic Jawa Sandcrawler, specifically the tracks so the idea was born to do something a bit different, mainly as a painting exercise… IMG_4672 by Ben Brown, on Flickr I Dremelled off the top hatch and added an enclosure from plastic strip… it needed a figure to identify what it was actually supposed to be – then I remembered that De Agnostini did a part work series of Star Wars figures in….. 1/32 a fiver from ebay later and I had a Jawa figure! IMG_4671 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Red lead primer, then sponged with orange and browns, Mig pigments and AK washes. I got to the point I was really happy with it and decided to rattle can some Tamiya dust which wasn’t very successful so I did my best to get it back. The guns are Revell Anthracite enamel – a recent discovery which is superb, then rubbed a graphite pencil on a cotton but to give them a sheen – in fact they are the things I am most happy with – and super easy to do. Bit of random chipping and she’s done. IMG_4670 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Just a bit of fun, not high art – hope you like it – oh and Togo Togu means ‘keep off!’ in Jawaese! I hold @PeteInLincs solely responsible for this! Happy Christmas! TT

A7UTINI! MK1 JAWA SAND CRAWLER Hi all, a bit of a departure from my usual aeroplane builds…. I've stuck this here as well as in the Sci Fi section as it crosses both! IMG_4674 by Ben Brown, on Flickr A while a go a mate and I were in a terrific model shop in Southend and came across these Weston Toy Co 1/32 A7V WW1 German tank models. They are ready-made so a bit of a cheat really but are superbly detailed – all the guns elevate and traverse! Anyway, for less than a tenner we bought one each to have a bit of fun. IMG_4673 by Ben Brown, on Flickr I had read somewhere that the good folk of ILM/Lucasfilm used the A7V as the inspiration for the design of the iconic Jawa Sandcrawler, specifically the tracks so the idea was born to do something a bit different, mainly as a painting exercise… IMG_4672 by Ben Brown, on Flickr I Dremelled off the top hatch and added an enclosure from plastic strip… it needed a figure to identify what it was actually supposed to be – then I remembered that De Agnostini did a part work series of Star Wars figures in….. 1/32 a fiver from ebay later and I had a Jawa figure! IMG_4671 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Red lead primer, then sponged with orange and browns, Mig pigments and AK washes. I got to the point I was really happy with it and decided to rattle can some Tamiya dust which wasn’t very successful so I did my best to get it back. The guns are Revell Anthracite enamel – a recent discovery which is superb, then rubbed a graphite pencil on a cotton but to give them a sheen – in fact they are the things I am most happy with – and super easy to do. Bit of random chipping and she’s done. IMG_4670 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Just a bit of fun, not high art – hope you like it – oh and Togo Togu means ‘keep off!’ in Jawaese! Happy Christmas! TT

Another Chili update...detail painting all done, first coat of Klear, decals next then to add the exhausts and make the screen! IMG_4677 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Meantimes this was the Pete inspired madness of which I spake - further gen in RFI.... its MK.1 Jawa Sandcrawler! IMG_4674 by Ben Brown, on Flickr TT

Sadly he doesn’t do a bespoke service in deepest darkest Finland 🙂

In other news for Chilton fans, I've spoken to Mika at Arctic Decals today and he is working on new sets of decals for this kit - this shouldn't be too difficult as only three original machines were built but I don't know if he is going to do some post-war schemes (I doubt it) or some Mikron equipped examples. TT

Lovely work! TT

Thanks Matt, I think you nailed it👍 oh and I forgot I’m doing something unforgivable to an A7V tank as well as the Chili. … … this is squarely the fault of @Pete in Lincs as you will soon see! TT

With further apologies to Rt Hon Farmer, more progress this last weekend. Now, having hijacked Matts Compercopter (tm) thread - I bring you up to date with the bad news first. It being blooming freezing I decided to take the Chilli to the Museum workshop where it was at least warm to spray the super Humbrol Metalcote ally spray onto my prepped and primed model. After the first coat it managed to detach itself from the spigot 'pon which it was impaled and complete a text book CFIT onto the floor.. Drat and indeed double drat. The lower wing plate cracked and both wheel trousers were dislodged causing crackage and the tail fin and rudder unit fell off. I was displeased and unChristian language issued forth. Repairs were made but she isnt the lovely prepped machine she was. Ah well, at least she was white metal, any lesser kit faced with rapid unplanned disassembly would have been on a direct flightpath to the recycling but our LDM white metal kits are made of sterner stuff (well, white metal, obviously). So repaired and Mr Surfacered back together again we tried anew. The spray is lovely stuff and has sat down nicely on the Rustoleum grey surface primer. I had an issue with it sitting on their white plastic primer when building a Miles Hawk Major but this seems to have stuck well. A rub down with a bit of old t shirt and a bit of masking having detacked the tape to avoid it lifting any of the primer (see Matt's issue above) and on we went with the fuse colour. IMG_4586 by Ben Brown, on Flickr I ummed and arred over the correct shade. By repute she was 'light blue' but thats a broad Church. Also per above some contemporary evidence suggests a turquoise shade. Tempted as I was with that as they are primary evidence I looked at the photos I have and the shade of blue is definitely darker than what I believe to be silver reg letters on the prototype's fuselage. So I went with Humbrol 89 mid blue matt rather than the much lighter 47 gloss which a) would be more difficult to paint) and b) wouldnt provide much of a contrast with the reg letters whether they were silver or white. IMG_4585 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Two coats, rubbed down with a bit of t shirt each time. Having added the tail skid from a bit of wire matched to the template on the instructions I'm waiting for her to fully dry before a bit of detail painting and then a coat of Klear in readiness for the decals. The silver fuselage reg letters I have, but I don't have any blue letters the right size for the wings so they will need to be black. I don't think it should matter too much. I'm curious as to what the circular device affixed to the coaming is. Its cast in on the moulding and some photos seem to show something there (though not on the modern machine(s) perhaps a compass - the Chilli cockpit is tiny but I doubt you could see it clearly there? Surely not a fuel filler? If anyone knows, please let me know - I've already add a P series compass from the Mew insert to the cockpit and jolly nice it looks too so I'm not taking it out - perhaps Bertie REALLY needs to know the route to the aerodrome. IMG_4576 by Ben Brown, on Flickr In other news I met @T-21 at the recent Hamex show and he kindly donated his built Aeroclub Flying Flea to the Museum. After a repair to some hangar rash she is now on display - cheers mate IMG_4577 by Ben Brown, on Flickr Of course I now have a hankering to build one so if anyone has one in their stash please drop me a PM! With a fair wind she should be done by, or over, Xmas, - after the detail painting, Klear and decals, its just the screen to plunge mould as you don't get one in the Retrotoys kit .... TT

Looks really different and very mean with a full suite of RP3s! Lovely work 👍 TT

Aren’t they shown in the CAD?

Fab! Kudos to you for modelling this era of aviation - well done! TT