Silverstone 2

Dark earth colour comes out well in daylight, These pictures don't do the results justice due to poor inside lighting. First time i've used it, glad to have done so in prep for the mighty Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster I'll be building in March.

The first Picture with the fairing mask, was pre-sanding. Although only light effort needed on Vallejo putty Dark Green camo next!

The wing fairing always is a pain to mask on Spits: Quick method for the tailplane: And now the dark earth 1st Layer:

Now it's time for masking. It's seems to take up so much time but the results are always pleasing I'm hoping the person i'm building this for likes the results? This is going to be the colour scheme of his choice. IMO I prefer the camo look of the Vb versions and onward with the grey/green. Instead of the dark earth/green.

Sanding now complete after wing-attachment now cured. Underside now painted: The panel-line detail on this kit is very crisp: Althouh it does lack detail, especilly on the catridge exhausts. This was meant to be the first picture

Hi Brian, Thanks, time surely is key with this hobby! Always too easy to spend too much in one go and perhaps regret it later Hopefully I can achieve something close to what you have, with your marvelous F-15 build. Phil

Very impressive! I was looking at building one of these soon, perhaps the C or the E version? Built a few Tamiya 1/32nds before and I think they're very enjoyable. How did the build go, anything to look out for tips wise? e.g. F-4 Intakes etc. Phil

Thanks for the links to extra detailing. I'm building this Spit OOB as requested by the owner. Think I need to persuade him to go for the amazing Tamiya 1/32 version next? If not maybe the Trumpeter 1/24 Version I've built the Airfix 1/24 VB and converted it to the BBMF with the 4 Bladed prop (Last year in the Ready for inspection Forum) Airfix one is quite old now circa 1970s detail, Although I did make it with a working Elec-motor on stand.

Benchmark P-51D Something to work towards Very well done!

The model is a pretty good fit all together, apert from the Wing-Camber adjustment. Most join lines are very small indeed. Only obviouse one was the typical rear wing fairing -body join: As mentioned earleir the Vallejo makes easy work, only light sanding needed. Now the majority of the model is complete, just cockpit, Exhausts, Prop, Undercairage and alot of airbrushing left to do. More pics tomorrow, to see how the upper-wing joins have turned out. Sorry about the focus on the last picture

Bought a couple of these tubes recently. Vallejo putty. I'm very impressed with the precise application with this putty. I'm used to using Squadron White & masking off the filled area. Perfect for small gaps. Another filler i've tried in the past which is even flexible, Decorators cork! Seems overkill but excess can be easily removed with a damp cloth. Paint goes on over it with no problems at all. Only set back is that it's not as tough as these solvent based fillers. Vallejo Putty is well worth a try IMO

For your information: If you are going to build one of these MKI/II, a slight mod has to be done to the wing routes. The top surface of the wing will not meet the wing route flush. So the camber of the upper wing surface has to be increased. Since there is a gap inbetween the wing halves, this can be done by using sprue cut-offs wedged and cememnted to slightly increase the camber at the route. Now I have flush lines on the upper halve wing - fuesalage join. See Pictures:

It's not bad for £10. Especially if there's some experimenting you want to do. Very few pieces, although nice moldings and few flash areas. I'm using Vallejo putty fot the first time here and i'm impressed with how accurate you can be with this filler.

Some more Photos of the cockpit: Fuselage halves:

I believe this is originally a Hasegawa Spit? I'm building it for someone else. Cockpit side walls and Internals are nicely detailed But absolutely no engine detail on this kit what so ever! apart from 2 external exhausts Mind you I think this model can picked up for 1/10th the £ of the Tamiya version. From a distance it's hard to tell the detail once closed up, apart from the obvious different Mks of Spitfire. Bit of Wash might be needed to bring some perspective here.

Underside photos: Colour co-ordination for the freefall weapons was obtained from internet References. Eventually I found a picture of a B-58 Hustler with all of it's weapon's options on display.

Looks very good to me! As a matter of interest are the wings movable still in this configuration that you have built? Shame that Trumpeter didn't design the fin at the bottom so it could be movable to fold and extend. I know most modelers see these moving parts as gimmicks but sometimes thay have their advantages IMO. Great work by you on the finshed Mig 23.

Blimey those scratch Mods are quite impressive. I admire your attention to detail, makes this Basic Revell AH-64 rendition look very realistic indeed. Looking forward to the end result!

Great Job so far.... Have you ever built the Tamiya 1/32 Block 50 version? If so how does the Academy version compare? Phil

I'm interested in doing one of these myself in the near future. Haven't made a new tooling Revell kit before. I would like to have a go at building either this + the Ju-88 but both Out-of-the-box builds. Do you recommend the He-111 OOTB or does it need extras? Regards Phil

Another thing i've noticed: Too many ejector pin marks were left un finished on the inside of the bomb doors. I'm new to Mr surfacer 500, only bought some yesterday. Leaving those EPM has made me realise that there is always room for improvement

Silvering on those particular decals was very hard to avoid. On reflection I should have either removed the raised rivet detail below them or modified the decal itself. Raised detail under decals is very hard to get right even with Micro Set & Sol. I do remember a lot of Micro Sol being used to soften those areas. Worked brilliantly on the Roundals. Airfix 1/24 Mosquito is a masterpiece of engineering and a delight to build though Personally I'm looking forward to the possible 1/32 HK MKIII Lancaster. Unfortunately again it'l be too big to keep

I've just observed from one on fthe recent pictures, that the nose leg is slighlty out of vertical allignment. That will be adjusted shortly. Geometry is everything when it comes to accurate modelling IMO. more pictures to follow.

Some more photos in better daylight: I've now got the ordnance on the racks so more pictures of the underside later.

Glad you like it, took a lot longer than I expected. My first time using Alclads, so I was pleased with the end results but lots of time was invested! Unfortunately for me I'll be moving it on in an auction. Because like all the models I build, they tend to be the larger aircraft and due to lack of space they aren't kept for long. Phil