Andy G

Following on from our Rod, Tube and Wire Store we've just introduced a new unit aimed at storing sheet materials such as plasticard, card and brass. It also has sections for storing strip materials. The Sheet Store has a range of slots, varying in depth so that sheets can be stored even after they have been partially used. There are three drawers and an open tray to enable the storage of smaller bits. We can also supply the Storage Tubes to protect thin strips of material from low flying plastic aircraft and tanks and to stop you getting poked in the eye!

Hi Tim, We may at some point produce a spray booth. There's nothing planned in the immediate future though we did produce a custom one last year for a customer. An airbrush stand is likely as I could do with one myself. We won't produce a turntable as 'lazy susans' (cake turntable) are cheaply and readily available. There is one fly in the ointment - currently we can't ship to North America due to insurance issues. We'll review this again in the future but at the moment the insurance costs are far higher than the sales have been. Cheers Andy

Absolutely fantastic build. Very impressed with your build skills.

Terrific build, Ced. Really enjoyed following this and the result is a tribute to your perseverance.

As promised a couple of shots showing the red soil

Hi Steve, Just read through your thread. I’ve been intrigued by these Shermans for a few years as we are involved with a children’s centre just outside Kampala. I can confirm the soil is a red colour and very sticky when it’s wet and like concrete when packed down. I’ll see if I can dig out some photos tomorrow that show it.

RFI done -

Ages ago I started a model of Sir Keith Park's Hurricane that he flew before and through the Battle of Britain. I've finally gotten around to taking the finished photos today. The build is here - The model is based on the Airfix rag wing kit married to Alleycat's tin wing conversion. Even with the advent of Arma Hobby's Hurricane kits this is still a valid way of producing the model as the early tin wing aircraft did not have one of the panels depicted on the Arma Hobby kit. The wheels are 5 spokes from an Eduard spitfire kit and the tyres from an Arma Hobby kit. The canopy is also from an Arma Hobby kit, this being a better representation than the over tall Airfix rendition. Paint is Mr Hobby Aqueous weathered with Flory washes and oils. Decals are from the kit, DK Decals and Avialogy. Many thanks to all those who chipped in on the build especially, as ever, Troy Smith. It was originally going to be part of a display of models related to the Battle of Britain film. However, I've now decided that I'll build a model of Park's Malta Spitfire and put the two on a base together hopefully later this year. Having helped my son with some fencing earlier this year he gave me a couple of bottles of beer as a thank you. One of these goes rather well with this model Think I'm on Spitfire tonight, though it's a Lancaster on the bench.

Well it has been a long time since I updated this. The build got interrupted by the Jadlam Hawk group build and whilst I was taking photos of some of the remaining build I've never got around to putting them up. I had the jab yesterday and whilst I don't feel too bad I'm not sparkling either so having an easy day today so what better to do than catch up on photos. So let's start where we left off and Troy's suggested improvements to the radiator. Hopefully, these are better. 0.3 and 0.5 nickel silver rod were used at the rear and a single strand of 7 core layout wire fort he front. Wish I'd thinned the rear side walls! Thanks for the improvement suggestions Troy. Main paints used are Mr Hobby Aqueous. Wheel wells were stuffed with paper towel and white tac Transfers are DK Decals mostly. These were good but didn't quite go to plan The O folded over on itself and I couldn't extract it. In the above I've started touching it in with white paint. I think the problem was the water being too hot. All the stickers on The serial numbers are 6" characters from Avialogy as the DK were the later 8" version, quite pleased with how they've come out as they were a bit fiddly. The O isn't brilliant but it'll do. Then we jump to photos of the finished model I've tried to keep the weathering restrained, especially compared with the previous hurricane. Most of the weathering was done with Phil Flory's washes. Exhaust stains are Mr Hobby Aqueous Tyre Rubber and then a light grey/buff mix sprayed over the top. The aluminium wear is Mr Metal dabbed on with sponge packing material. Aerial wire is EZLine fine black. Gunsight bead is bent up from 0.3 nickel silver and then super glued into a hole drilled in the fuselage. Looking at these photos it is probably too large but doesn't look too bad in reality. The underside has had oil paints streaked for the engine leaks and gun residue. I'll post up an RFI and then link it here. Thanks for looking.

Just checked my copy and it is fine.

Thanks for posting this John, they look great.

I finished this a couple of months ago having started it back in May to fill in between projects! The kit is the Revell boxing of the MPM plastic. It has a certain reputation and this one certainly lived down to it. Quite pleased with how it came out but happier to get it off the bench. The WIP can be found here Thanks for looking

End of year clean up. This was actually finished a couple of months ago, so apologies for not completing the thread. Exhaust stains were airbrushed on - tyre black first and then a light grey/brown mix. I haven't got this quite right as there was a bit a splattering from the airbrush. "Mud" from the wheels was applied using pigment. A stand and nameplate has been cut and brass tubing used for the support A Coastal Kits sea base was used to complete the base A section was cut and fitted to the base. The above should provide sufficient for three displays Finally the finished item I'll get the RFI up this afternoon hopefully when I need a rest from sticking transfers on Keith Park's Hurricane and the 19 Sqn Hawk. This kit has a reputation and it is well earned. It was trying at time but overall an enjoyable and challenging build. For a £10 outlay it certainly provided plenty of entertainment for the money and I'm reasonably happy with the outcome.

Wow, that’s amazing. I really like it.

Didn’t quite make it! Gloss coat on the upper surface ready for transfers. And a quick shot of the underside. Will take my time finishing it now rather than rushing the final bits.

Thanks Dave. Current position - very questionable as to whether it will cross the finish line in time. There's a possibility, but it's tight First time I've photographed in the spray booth. I'm not sure if it's the booth lighting or the point and shoot, but neither will be used for the final photos. That green is just weird! Off to unmask!

Looking good, John. It's surprising, none of the photos I've found of it show any dirt whatsoever.

That looks much better than mine. I'd say it was definitely worth the effort.

Probably too late, but here you go John - If you look at my thread you can see the changes I've made for it.

Well I must apologise for the lack of updates on this thread. Work has, thankfully, rocketed over the last couple of weeks and thanks to Covid I've been rebuilding the decking in the back garden in the hope that one day we might get to tier 2. Lovely weather for it. It's not quite the Somme out there but I'm sick of mud and soil. To the Hawk, there has been modelling and a bit of photographing. The crew have been painted and inserted into the cockpit. Cruel close up.... As you can see the airframe is together and most of the detail bits have been added. These all highlighted the poor moulding of this kit with bits short shot or needing packing out. Nobody has commented on how my cunning plan was doomed to failure. Having thought how clever I was being in painting the intakes before assembling them I failed to double check the colour. The port should be green, not brown, damn. The inside and front face has been carefully brush painted dark green. I'll have to mask with tape when I come to apply the green. Sorry for the blurred photo but hopefully it shows the difference in thickness of the two tail planes The overly thick one has been addressed by filing the upper and lower surfaces. Thankfully they are devoid of detail towards the rear edge. Jigged up and the tail feathers glued on A couple of closeups of the rear fuselage modifications after the sanding has been completed The fin insert was modified from the kit parts. The two halves were glued together and then cut down the panel line. The section under the rudder was glued into place and the mating surface on the finlet adjusted until it fitted nicely against the other half and sat on the fuselage. Masking the tail pipe early on was a mistake as glue ran down the pipe when the fuselage halves were glued together and I had a right fight to get the masking tape out. I don't think it is all out and I've had to try and clean up the rough edges as best I could. More masking tape has been subsequently applied but just around the exposed part. Unfortunately in fighting the tape off the pipe to the side got broken off. This has been replaced with a very short length of 0.5mm nickel silver rod that will have the paint scraped off it at the end. You may be able to tell from these shots that the underside has been painted aluminium (MRP Super Silver) and masked off ready for the upper surfaces to be painted. The canopy has been fitted and I've got the same problems as others have found, I think the problem with the front part forces it to far forwards as well as having a poor join on the left hand side. With the front too far forwards there is then a gap at the rear. This has been filled with plasticard carefully filed to shape and then brush painted black on the inside. More glazing issues showed with the front light. Just what sort of quality is this junk - I've had a look at one of the Red Arrows boxings I've had in the stash for a while and it doesn't show this problem. The front of the fuselage was painted aluminium and the 'light' glued on. The blob was arranged towards the bottom so that any problems with rectification work wouldn't be as noticeable. Once it had been given time to dry I set to with files and eventually sanding pads down to 12000 grit and it now looks something like what it should do. I've also fitted the Master pitot which was a mistake. Fitting it was ok but I keep bending it. Tonight I've sprayed the Dark Earth (MRP). It's not gone on as nicely as normal, possibly because the compressor is pulling in cold air from outside, or because this hawk just wants a fight. I can safely say that the Spitfire won't be completed by Sunday, it's barely started. I'm also running out of time on the Hawk. Thankfully, the prototype appears to have been kept spotless so there's virtually no weathering to do, so I may stand some chance of finishing it.

Hi John, The silver under the intakes in the photo linked below appears to be more rounded than in the Italeri profile https://www.fpnw.co.uk/p229275932/e234272c8 Cheers Andy

John, beware the Italeri colour information. You’ve correctly painted the underside of the tail plane in aluminium whereas Italeri would have them in top colours. Also, their shaping under the intakes is a bit strange compared with the prototype.

That’s a shame, it was coming along very nicely.

Sorry, I've got a bit behind in posting updates on progress. Thanks for the info on the intake supports. I've looked at the walkaround and decided on leaving the supports as they are. I've sorted the fixing point for the stand. I use telescopic brass rod and tube. The stand will have a brass rod vertical and this will slide into a matching tube that I've fixed into the fuselage immediately aft of the belly gun. This is further back than I'd like but the model doesn't weigh much so hopefully will be ok. You can just see the tube in this photo. It's held in place with 5 minute Araldite. Oh, and I've also closed the fuselage up! I had thought about leaving the intakes until after the wing had been fixed but thankfully tested this beforehand as you can't get the intakes on once the wing is fitted. Intakes have had filler applied along the seams - Mr Surfacer 1500. This has since been cleaned up and the dark earth on the front lip touched up using a cocktail stick. I've made a start on correcting the tail. A couple of pieces of thick plasticard were glued to the very end and the rest filled in with Milliput This is going to take some careful filing and sanding to get it into shape. Cheers

As Mark said you’re nearly there. The paintwork on these planes wasn’t uniform so perhaps you could blend some of the different shades if it comes to that. I got a thumbprint in the paint on the fuselage of Park’s plane so I’m now going round in brown and green circles trying to put it right.