Antti_K

A nice photo and precious details, thank you for sharing them John (I forgot to mention those long wool socks). Your father is wearing a similar kit that my boss wore in Singapore. Cheers, Antti

A very life-like Victor. I like it a lot (and wish mine will turn up half as nice as yours). Cheers, Antti.

Wow, this really look great! I've been quietly following your WIP and this is impressive. Cheers, Antti

Lovely Hastings Tony, I like it! I wish Airfix will one day produce a Hastings in 1/72 scale. A funny story comes to my mind (read it in "Aeroplane" magazine perhaps). A Hastings was on its way to the other side of the World carrying the hot components for "Short Granite" test. During a refuel stop in the USA an American airman approached and asked the captain - Whats that aeroplane of yours called then? - Its called Hastings, replied the proud captain - I think it should be called a Dragon - Now why is that? - 'cause its draggin' its bottom The story didn't describe what happened after this insult against Transport Command's Finest. Cheers, Antti

Hello David, my former boss started his RAF career in -48 flying Beaufighters and if I remember correctly he served with 45 Squadron initially. He showed me his B&W photos and the aircrew were wearing KD (short-sleeved shirts and shorts) with a standard RAF blue-grey beak caps. Unfortunately it was more than 25 years ago I saw those pictures and I can't remember all the details. I wish I had made notes as there were some very nice shots of Spitfires, Beaufighters, Brigands,... Cheers, Antti

Hello James, MiG-21s were never left unpainted. Usually there were panels that were painted with "silvery" aluminium colour and then there were panels (like those connected to SPS) that were manufactured of darker material and finished with a clear lacquer. Then there were areas where panels were finished with a clear lacquer mixed with aluminium powder. So all exterior surfaces were treated with either paint or lacquer. That's why you see differently coloured panels. And the planes may look different when compared with each other as the aluminium paint got darker and duller over time. The Soviets also developed a light blue grey paint that was applied on all surfaces. When MiG-21BIS aircraft were purchased for the Finnish Air Force, they all arrived in different paint schemes. On some examples the dark brown was darker than others. Maybe this shed some light on export aircraft. Cheers, Antti

Lovely Gannet James! I think you are right: I used Hu 90 for "Sky" years ago and it looked very good (I didn't have that colour chart back then) but I still have some bits and pieces in the spares box. It seems that current Hu 90 is a poor match being too dark. As I said, my tins of HB 5 and Hu 23 give the exact same colour. It is the camera and lightning that makes that visible difference in my earlier photo. Cheers, Antti

Thanks Perdu, here's another one showing Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey (Humbrol 75 and 27). I also mixed Medium Sea Grey for other projects (Hu 27 + Hu 34) using this colour chart. Cheers, Antti

Hello Perdu & Co., I'm currently building the Special Hobby 1/32 scale Westland Whirlwind (mind your heart Perdu, it's the cannon fighter). As I'm "Old School" still using Humbrol enamels and mainly paint brushes I noticed that I need to mix my own paints if I wish any accuracy. However there were three paints that are perfect matches for a well known colour chart. Camera is playing tricks as Humbrol Authentic HB5 is a perfect match for "Sky". And so is Hu 23 as well. Humbrol 90 isn't a good match as it is too dark and "brownish". The third perfect match then you ask; it is Hu 75 which is "Dark Green". Humbrol 27 isn't a match for either "Dark Sea Grey" or "Extra Dark Sea Grey". It needs more white. Hope this helps. Cheers, Antti

The beam is sloping down towards the airplane centerline. And yes it should be flat. Here is a photo showing my fix: Surface details are correct for an F-4J. Cheers, Antti

Hello Anthony, here's an area I think you should check. Hopefully this picture explains it (check with a ruler). It is easily corrected with Milliput and some styrene. Of course the air brake needs some TLC also. I'll try to find a photo showing how I did it. Cheers, Antti

Hello Anthony, here is a photo giving you the measurements of that over wing panel: The photo isn't mine, so I apologise the person who originally published it in the Internet. But it goes for a very goo noble cause. Note also the correct panel line. The panel with three push-buttons for nose gear extension is visible in the photo Tony G posted some 40 minutes ago (Port MLG bay). Cheers, Antti

Lovely Dooleybird! I like this a lot. I prefer this paint scheme with blue on top of the nose and on canopy frame. I wonder where they got the idea about yellow. The pilot himself said in an interview, that he couldn't remember what the colour was and in black and white photos it could be either. Flt Lt Doley held the Matchbox kit in his hands while giving the interview. It is possible that he remembered the correct colour very well and just wanted to be polite. Hopefully we will know one day. Cheers, Antti

You are welcome Anthony I did, and originally noted the need for that when I tried to match upper wing panel lines with photos. It became clear that the bulge on top of MLG head was too small. I corrected the upper side but left under side as it is. Both wing pylons are at wrong locations, but if you wish to correct that then you need to reshape the MLG bay as well. A huge job no one really notices. I think that it is far more important to fix the outer wing dihedral as it is twice as much as it should. Cheers, Antti

Nice start with the landing gear and LG bays Anthony. It seems you decided to add more detail into the bay itself than I did. I used the exactly same technique with those tie down loops. There is no real improvement if you make new ones out of wire. A couple of thin hoses and the rod guiding the scissor link and you are there. Those reinforcement straps look very good! Beautiful "scratching". Happy New Year everyone, build at least one Phantom in 2022 Antti

Hello John, check out this photo, as it suggests that red was located in the front of that rectangular panel (green in your photo): I had a look at my Vampire photos (Finnish FB.52s and a Swedish T.11) but couldn't find out the colours. It looks like Finnish Vampires didn't have identification lights. Cheers, Antti

WD40, does it give a surface that feels like it was waxed? A surface that was easy to clean (especially to remove exhaust stains). When I served with the Air Patrol Squadron (Finnish Border Guard) our ground crew used some "oily" chemical on the tailbooms of our AS332 Super Puma helicopters. And after that they could just wipe the surface clean with a dry cloth. Cheers, Antti

This is a real beauty Alan. Excellent work! I built my "Ichi Ban" out of the Testor's kit and it was horrible; I've never used so much Milliput on a single model. And then I re-scribed all the panel lines... I will use your WIP as a reference when this kit becomes available here in Finland. My fingers have been itching already for quite awhile Cheers, Antti

Nice photo Tony! And an interesting one too. Are we looking at a Phantom that has been partly re-painted? And is it possible that the rear fuselage still carries original paint? As you may know, quite many modellers say that the US paint was more greyish and lighter than EDSG. Cheers, Antti

Excellent pictures Tony G, thank you for sharing them. Those photos closely "relate" to one of my Phantom models. I built my "North Sea GT Sports Model" as XT861 when she was grounded at NAS Roosevelt Roads in the early 1970s due to faulty gas turbine starter. There is an excellent first hand story about the repairs in "Phantom from the cockpit". XT861 carried a drop tank in the centerline station and was one of the very few Phantoms without modified belly door hinges, so the engineer working alone had quite a challenge to replace that faulty starter unit. But he managed to do it and impress the Americans when he lit the re-heat during ground test. Cheers, Antti

Hello Anthony, that green colour looks very good to my eye. Many photos show that it was more green than "normal" US Interior Green. I painted this area with black and then dry brushed interior green on top of that. Of course things are slightly different with 1/48 scale. Beautiful work with those interiors! I would concentrate on the engines as they carried far more pipes and plumbing than the visible fuselage structures. Cheers, Antti

Wow, more excellent work Anthony! I just love those scratch built details and fine riveting. A huge job but well worth the trouble. Keep up the good work mate. Cheers, Antti PS. I'm on my Christmas holiday and opened the box of my Hasegawa 1/48 FG.1. I compared fuselage cross sections against scaled down factory drawings and other known measurements. The verdict? The whole mid fuselage (including intakes) has to be completely re-built as it is far too narrow and "box-like". I need to start to make a plan.

Hello guys, It is the kit seat with straps made of paper and waiting for some final touch-ups. I drew them and then scaled them down using my HP printer/copier/scanner. Like this: I created these, because Eduard's PE set got the belts and straps wrong and there was very little detailing sets available back then. Cheers, Antti

Hello Pip, I would use NeOmega's seats as they look better. It requires some modification though as the head rest is wrong, but overall it looks better. I haven't used them for my Javelins (I guess they weren't available at that time) but created my own details for the kit seats. Here is one of my seats with home made straps Cheers, Antti

Terve Einar, stunning work! I guess this is the best model of a Finnish Magister I've ever seen. You really nailed the surface; it looks just right. Bare aluminium with slight oxidation. I think that very few people realize, how hard it is to polish a real Magister. I did it once with a school mate some 30+ years ago... Is the scenery from Kauhava? Kyllä sä vedät hyvin Cheers, Antti