MattWales

Thanks for the replies chaos, very useful!

Evening all, I'm in the final planning stages of building a Revell 1/48 Typhoon as an RAF FGR4, and have amassed a fair few aftermarket parts, including the cockpit PE set. Some of the steps call for PE to be glued to clear parts; namely the HUD. I appreciate the best way to usually glue PE is using cyanoacrylate in medium or thin viscosity. However, I'm worried about the clear parts fogging. Aside of dipping them in Klear, is there any other way to protect them? Many thanks, Matt

Really impressive again, your paint job is a benchmark to aim for!

I knew an RAF SAR winchman who often sported a "Justin Thyme" patch on his imm suit...

Really impressive, and once again, very nice faded weathering. You've got to throw together a tutorial on how you do this, I for one would be very interested in learning!

Evening gentlemen, I'm doing a three-model build for a display piece, consisting of 3 aircraft conducting strikes as part of Op SHADER, the UK intervention in Iraq and Syria against ISIS/Daesh. The three models are (predictably) a Tornado GR4, a Typhoon FGR4, and a Reaper MQ-9. All three will be the Revell 1/48 offerings. The three will be sat next to each other, on the pan, with full loads, RBF tags, and some ground equipment. (I am aware the MQ-9 launches from elsewhere, but for the purpose of the display, I'll exercise a little poetic license!) I'm using some aftermarket parts - some PE to beef up the cockpits, the Two-Mikes resin parts for the Typhoon, and importantly, some aftermarket weapons. And there lies my question... or questions. So, payload fits as far as I can tell - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong: Tornado GR4 - LITENING III Pod 3 x Brimstone on launcher 2 x Paveway IV 2 x "Hindenburger" Fuel Tanks 1 x BOZ Pod 1 x TERMA Pod 1/2 x ASRAAM Reaper MQ-9 - 2 x GBU-12 2 x 2 AGM-114 on launcher Typhoon FGR4 - LITENING III Pod on centreline 4 x Paveway IV (two on inner pylons, two on outer) 2 x ASRAAM 2 x Fuel Tanks My first question is this: 1/48 Paveway IVs, I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for resin ones as opposed to scratch-building from GBU-12s, as my modeling skills probably aren't that advanced yet! Are there any complete resin sets for the weapons fits listed above? Second question - All the Typhoons and Tornados I've seen on Shader have had what I am terming as "low profile" markings - they don't carry Squadron-specific markings/crests (The only obvious reason I can think of is security for the squadrons - so a specific jet on Shader can't be tied to a squadron) - are there any aftermarket decal sets to reflect these types of markings? I imagine you could just forego certain decals in the supplied sheets to achieve the desired scheme? Thanks for any and all help on this! Matt

They don't do Acoustics (sonics) on the Avenger, and it doesn't have any kit to support it. Avenger has a surface-search Radar, synthetic data links, navigation kit, as well as communications gear, and is used to train RN Observers and Sensor Operator Aircrewmen, and now RAF Weapon System Operator (Electronic Warfare). Generally the RN guys do end up on ASW Merlins and bagger Sea Kings, whilst the RAF guys end up on ISTAR platforms, which will end up including P-8. Acoustics is currently taught at RAF Cranwell. Source - I trained on the Avenger last year.

Evening gents, Looking at some future projects in my stash, some of which I'd like to improve with hydraulic and electrical detailing in the wheel wells, undercarriage, bomb bays etc - which I have seen done before with fuse/lead wiring. I'm wondering if anyone has any links to tutorials or guides on how to get the best effect using this technique, especially how to affix the wiring in a convincing way? Cheers! Matt

I've just last week used Vallejos RAF Day Fighters set for a Spit Mk IX in 1/48, and I agree they're pretty poor colour-wise. The Dark Green looks pretty close, but the rest were awful. Shame, as they spray quite well! Lovely looking model though!

Been looking out for a review of this for some time! Well, now I can get hold of one of these, I'll have to find their single-seat Typhoon in 1/48. Absolutely non-sensical why they would discontinue that model!

Tim, Thanks for your reply. I'll be honest, I was leaning towards Gunze, but thinking about it, theres no reason why I can't mix and match different manufacturers. Right, so the plan is; - Prime with Halfords Grey Car Primer - Pre-shade with mixed Vallejo colours (Dark Green/ Dark Grey for appropriate areas) - Gunze Acrylics for the RAF Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey, in thin layers, until desire level of pre-shade bleed-through is reached (Possibly use the salt weathering technique) - Xtracrylix Light Aircraft Grey for the Underside - Vallejo Metal Color Steel w/ Tamiya Smoke for exhausts. - Vallejo Metal Color Dark Aluminium w/ Tamiya Smoke for tailplane sections - Various pastel washes Having only ever really played with Vallejo before, I'm not adverse to trying something new. I'll find an old "sacrificial" kit from somewhere to practice and get the right results. Thanks for the advice! Matt

Morning gents, I'm sat having a coffee and staring at my stash, realising that I have a few (and realistically, will only get more!) Cold War RAF jets that will share the same RAF disruptive pattern (Dark Sea Grey/ Dark Green - Arkady's amazing FGR2 below being a perfect example!) Before I tackle my own Hasegawa FGR2 (they're like rocking horse sh*t, so I don't fancy "Experimenting" on it!), I've got a 1/48 Airfix Lightning F.2 to get my eye in and perfect my colour choices/ weathering. Question is; I use Vallejo Model Air at present, but given their sometimes "erroneous" colour selections, and given that some other manufacturers acrylics just look far better - not sure why, but in my opinion, they just do- what acrylics would you recommend instead? Tamiya, Gunze, Xtracrylics? Thanks in advance! Matt