Silverstone 2

1/32 A-10C Update: Been a while but i thought that I really need to crack on with this enormous aircraft! PAINT......PAINT..........PAINT and more PAINT! Going through my Model Master enamels at a rate of knots Green base was first, followed by the camo patten using a more field like green and then the grey. After finishing both top and bottom it gobbled up 4 jars. A futher 2 had to opened later for minor corrections + Canopy masks. HUD is in place with it's green edge glass. Also the weapons are now all sprayed too. Starting to look more like the A-10C: A quick look to see how the finished canopy will look: Spoilers extended: The underside, took a long time to finish all the pylons: A quick look at the GAU-8, Not finished though! I've created brake lines on the main gear. This was created from thin Evergreen rods, bent into correct contours. More to follow this week as over the weekend I completed the gloss cote finsh and today the Decals went on. The Decals, What can I say? but they are microscopic in thickness and are the most difficult to handle! Takes a long time to do what in reality, is not normally a huge undertaking Pics later......

Bit more progress this week, since a 2 week break! No more painting yet but a finished set of weapons choice: GAU-8 Now complete, ready for the ALCLAD 2 setup: All aerials & Antenas on + The super Resin Gun Muzzle:-) Pylons all on, quite a bit of work and time needed there! For those who wanted an idea of scale? £1 coin. It doesn't really give a full appreciation of size IMO! I'll try to put another well known kit in view, maybe some pieces of the 1/32 Tamiya F-16, Trumpeter 1/32 A-7 or 1/32 Revell Ju-88. More to come, Weapon painting and the start of Camo Spraying......

It will be the post 2005 A-10C But in Camo colours/markings

I've noticed that most scale model's of the A-10 get this wrong. I Fly a Challenger 605 amongst others at the moment and they have the Same PW-34 engines, identical phyiscally to the TF-34. The fan is quite set back from the nacelles, very noticable. More progress: Fuselage has gone together along with wing and tail section. Size is very clear now! Thought the F-15 was big: Few gaps to fill still....

More progress: Realised Trumpeter got the instructions on the engine assembly wrong! The fan should go behind the raised ring on the engine nacelle, rather thena the front. otherwise the spacing will be to short. You want the fan inlet to look like this: And this is how it will turn out: Adds a good scale 6" which is pretty much correct.

Started the famous and very large Trumpeter A-10A. Kit is quite old now, and very different from their newer releases. Trumoeter have moved away from their moving parts to concentrating on larger detail. At first i was a fan of dynamic model kits but have realised how much hassel they can be especially when it come to compromising on detail. Although i have to say the A-10A is a gem in this scale, even with it's multimedia atempts. Originally i was going to use the Verlinden cockpit set, which i had. Decided not to, as there was a lot of cutting and butchering to do to the A-10's Nose section. Also I was not too amazed by verlinden's casting quality. Not in comparison to todays quality like L'Arsenal for example. The resin casting for the engines is a nice touch but IMO could have easily been achieved with injection pieces. Also this would prohibit the need for 160+ grams of ballast required in the nose. I am going for some extra detail on this model: e.g. Brake lines and It's also going to involve the extra resin GAU-8 Gun nozzle. So there will be an external model of the famous gun itself alongside the finished aircraft. Progress so far: Size is becoming very noticable! The wings have a nice touch of moveable/sliding fowler flaps. Ejecor seat, might need some mods? more later...............

Very very nice work, That is a super job on the paintwork and lovely Vulcan Mk1.

100% OOB Build apart from the Nw registration for the commision build Phil

HobbyCraft or any art suppliers sell large card/paper sheets. (Few£ each) Simply by the colour or shade of your choice (Blue seems the best contrast) And take any photo from a digital camera or SLR making sure you dont go over the card/paper's boundary. The vital component is light! I seem to end up taking my picutes in to much artificial light, but that's time constraints for you. Phil

The Finished 1/72 Short Stirling complete with Tractor & Bomb Trolleys. BU-N EF362

The Finished 1/72 Short Stirling complete with Tractor & Bomb Trolleys. BU-N EF362

Registration Change to EF362 by request, Also I'm more happy with the Markings as they're all the same height now. Aerial wire now attached + Matt/Satin finish applied to wing surfaces, after oil staining complete. Diorama detial set to finish in the next couple of days

If anyone is interested i used the latest Humbrol DecalFIX and it works at least as well as MicroSet. You do still need to apply a bit of MicroSOL to realy get the Decals to settle over some more raised detail. I recommend the NEW Humbrol if you haven't tried it. Phil

2 weeks later of hard slogging, lots of masking and eventually finding the right RAF green to go with Dark Earth: More pictures to follow of the finished article....

I've been building the famous but very old Airfix 1/72 Short Stirling. This is a commision build for some one I know, as his father flew this actual aircraft BU-N registration EF623. I'm pleased with the end results, Aircraft is 95% complete, just aerial wire and Matt varnish to finish. Although tractor and bomb + trollies still to be painted. The kit itself was not a very enjoyable build, to say the least! I'm sure the moulds are getting on for 30+ years and the level of acurate surface detail is in keeping with it's age. Nothing fitted together wiithout enormous seem lines, and i've never seen so many ejector pin marks in all my life Every part had flash lines that needed removing, even the clear parts had ejector pin marks! It was like creating something out of wood I was determined to get the best possible results, especially knowing how important this project was. Engines looked better once a bit of dry brushing brought out the cylinder detail Some flattend main tyres to represent weight and high flotation rubber: Tractor in the making

Glad you all like it! It's up for sale unfortunately, needs a new home due to my lack of space, if anyone is interested? I've listed it in the SELL thread, cost is 150.00 inc postage o.n.o. Price only covers money spent on the orginal kit + build materials.

Here are some pictures of the finished article:

Sorry for the out of focus shots of the 20mm:

Almost Finished! Just Nav & Position lights to go......... Vulcan 20mm cannon: Retractable Airbrake: Radar with Avionics bay with retractable nose and access panel: The underside: 3 X LGBs

Will be back to work on this tomorrow All the lenses for the nav lights still to do + the Lantern lense. After i'm working on a commision build of the 1/72 Airfix Stirling, the build will be posted on here too. Completed F-15E will be up for sale on the SELL forum as i've not got the space to keep it The fun for me is all in the making, maybe one day I'll have room?

Best shots i could make in this light: Tamiya Decals were quite difficult to use, very fragile to say the least, but after almost a full day of decal aplication the results are worth it! Still a lot more work to do however, more shots of the underside and the finshed article hopefully very soon This is a hard model to work on due to the assembly order. I normally like to put the landing gear on last but this was never going to be the case due to the nose leg. I have to say though it's very sturdy indead with no weekness when standing on the U/C. Goes together very well and is very impressive & Heavey!

Still working on those ejector pin marks, which will be flush before the end! the Ejector seat: The Crew Ladder: The Canopy sections, I used Displex to polish out the seem line after using Micromesh. And now the gloss coat in preperation for the decals: Decals are now on but i've run out of light for a good photo, Weathering then...Matt coat next!

Alclad 2, 3layers with post shading. The underside loks even better, never mixed alclads before but it's worked well and the post shading with "Jet Exhaust" has worked very well

Spraying complete on both underside and topside + Weapons on: Lantern pods, still needs it's lense.... The F-15E is finished in satin but will another gloss coat before decals. Radar on too: Avionics bay:

Quite alot of spraying was done yesterday. first the Alclad 2 primer (GLOSS BLACK 305). This was then masked for the US Dark grey and then reverse masked for my own Alclad 2 verious layers to create the desired Engine panel effects. Photos to follow...