TallBlondJohn

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50670743 Some good pictures too. Sounds like they are looking for other members of the German squadron (with the usual TV deal of course)

For those lines - techincally wires I guess - I use fishing line and get the built in curve to provide the sag. Having those lines tight never looks quite right to me

I confess I havent played in quite a while - practise is the main thing. Its not a simple arcade game for sure

It is possible to make a silk purse out of this but yeah just have fun. The cockpit is worth doing (OK bit late now) and there's not that much scribing to do. IIRC I widened the fuselage rather than sanding down the canopy, and my engine nacelles where short shot and had to be rebuilt with filler. It's worth adding the nose landing light, it just looks wrong without one.

They are odd, ugly ships - yet somehow look right. Can't put my finger on it - maybe its the proportions. Or its nobody does slanted funnels like the RN.

I see the pictures. Wow the erks must have been at the mushrooms that morning!

I originally thought that too, but your blue-tack mock up doesnt get the gun in the right position - in use it swings up and back, giving the operator room (or he can get under it to fire upwards). Here's a Rise of Flight video of a guy getting pranged by a Roland the same way I was. OK its a game but the models are done with care and are useful. Its long - he doesnt meet the Roland until 16 minutes in - but you can get an idea how the gun mount articulates (to his cost). 16:00 - begins intercept 16:20 "lets get underneath her, she cant use her guns" 16:30-16:45 Oh yes she can and you can see how! 17:15 lets try just approaching from behind... doesnt go well 17:25 "OK - they do seem to have a very manoeuvrable gun on the rear" 18:38 "bit dangerous" - good view of the mounting in action 19:12 long shot of the Roland 19:30 "Did I get him" - by sitting on his tail and just blasting away... 19:49 No you didn't - our gallant Brit (in a French plane) goes down to the dastardly Hun. Moral of the story: Don't understimate the Walfisch - its fast which makes you target practice for that rear gun!

Wingnuts' online instructions and photos are a superb resource and the reason why my WWI 1/72 builds take a year each. Life used to be so simple!

If you're drilling holes dont use kicker, it just complicates things. To speed up CA setting more gently, just breathe on it - warmth plus moisture is necessary for the reaction. Your problem is how to get rid of the loose end (which is why I use stretch sprue as its easier to get rid of - just dissolve with liquid glue). But line is tougher. You can try cutting with a fresh blade, but I always get some left over. So you have to measure to length, leave a bit of slack and if your aim is precise enough glue to the bottom of the yard, if not to the front or back. Touch a bit of superglue to the tip and then a dab of kicker to the yard and touch - they should grab at once. Never use old CA for rigging, it doesnt set right and madness ensues. Now you have a loose line, which is worse than none. Use a heat source to tighten up the slack - which will pull your mast out of line. Use a line on the other side to pull it back until its right - which is how the real thing works. The secret is to plan ahead - don't do all the lines on one side, you have to work with matched pairs and the mast must be able to take quite a bit of stress if you have to keep adjusting (another reason why master models use brass or steel masts). Sometimes its better to cut the line off and start over. Practise first and good luck!

IMO its not what I expected - and I just realised that's a good thing. It dares to be a bit different and expand upon the orginal, an atmosphere piece rather than Downton Abbey with death rays. I'll give it a go.

Yes the ring mounting - thingy extends and articulates to give the observer a limited downward field of fire (as I found to my cost playing Rise of Flight one day). If not 'extended' it means the gun usually rides quite 'high'. Your colour scheme is for an early CII so its unlikely to have a sychnronised front gun, though various lash ups were possible. Should have the 'roll cage' as just metal hoops - agree the later picnic table thing is horrid. Lots of superb pics on the Wingnut Wings site. Only just noticed the rear view mirror!

Got this in the stash, will take notes. Have to admit that stick looks a little crude compared to the rest of the cockpit, or is that just the angle?

You know that feeling when that vital bit plunges earthward to feed the carpet monster? Well they found this 1:1 wing tip gear door pretty quickly. No excuses for getting the colour wrong now. Various sources carry the story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-50224276 but this is my favourite as it upholds the finest standards of English regional journalism. The writing is appalling! https://www.wiltsglosstandard.co.uk/news/18005486.villager-stunned-large-chunk-b-52-bomber-lands-garden/

Kaga too - looking thoroughly wrecked. This is probably a one of the 5" gun mounting sponsons. Video at https://news.usni.org/2019/10/18/video-wreck-discovered-of-wwii-japanese-carrier-key-to-pearl-harbor-attack

I admit I haven't tried it but there's some superb sculpting work here on BM and they usually use armatures. Check this out for a masterclass, its long but shows the wire -> clay technique.

Suggestion - how about making a wire armature for the beastie? You can bend and position it before adding the clay once its right

Oven cleaner will strip plastic and attack the glue joints as well, but it will make the plastic brittle, and obviously will cloud clear parts.

Well I didn't hesitate - always like the M1C and there aren't many WW1 British monoplanes to choose from. The parts look very nice, thin wings and struts, fine detail and small sprue gates. There is a bit of flash, but nothing unmanageable. It will sell out eventually and there's little chance of another one coming along cheaper in 1/72 (or any other scale).

My M1C arrived today from Mr Hannants. Unfortunately the box was slightly squashed and promptly fell apart: Never mind, I'll convert it to top-opening anyway. Two neat little sprues, all looks nice and tidy - though on these short run kits that doesn't mean any of it will fit. Film windscreen and two decal options: The Shuttleworth's C4918, and C4996. The instructions: Lots of little pieces for the cockpit, an engine (though the spinner will hide it) and a gun. Note C4996 was a trainer which may or may not have mounted a gun, though it didn't have one when photographed. There is an optional cockpit coaming but no indication which to use. The wing is one piece, so the cowling is broken up into several parts which will need work, especially if its to be a metal finish. Spinner and prop are separate (they should be very close fitting) so the spinner can be omitted as sometimes happened on M1Cs. And two paint guides, one on the back of the instructions and a separate sheet. Eh? The left is the instructions and its gibberish - the top/bottom profiles don't match the side views. So I guess the right is the errata. Not the easiest to 'read' but the schemes are pretty straightforward: C4918: Glorious all-over brown, with shiney grey cowling. C4996: Silver/grey cowling. Avis have the fuselage as linen with brown wings, which follows the CMR resin kit in differing from the Windsock interpretation, which was aluminium dope. So your call. Note the top wing colour should wrap around the wing edges. All in all, looks very nice and looking forward to making a hash of it. For the record, here's C4996 in 1918:

Just use the Kristal Klear to make a new window, its perfect for this sort of thing. You can peel it off and try again until it looks right - though you will have the old window rattling around somewhere inside.

Does anybody know what the yellow/white diagonal bars on Phantom tails are for? These phantastic examples have them on the side and nose as well. I've googled and found nothing - they dont appear on USN F4s but they are on USAF F101s and F111s. The RAF had them on some late F4Js - are they some sort of warning marking? If so they seem to be optional. Thanks

I've just spent five minutes wondering why a hangar/drop tank shed would have such nice windows...

Xtreme Metal is very hot enamel though, I find its safer to treat it as if its lacquer just in case. Lacquer primer should be OK though

Excellent job so far - always wanted to do something like this. Are you going to add photo-etch? The WEM 1/600 anchors are a lot better than Airfix ones. You can use resin 1/700 boats as well - just use the next size up if you see what I mean.

I've always said 1/600 is the perfect ship scale - not too big, not too small, and just 'looks' right. Trouble is its a dead scale but the kits that are out there are fun and can be tarted up with after market and etch, or download some old Airfix magazines and try out the suggested conversions. Belfast is a good 1/600, the older ones are very basic. Airfix's Prinz Eugen is a delight too, my favourite model ever. It does help if you like scratchbuilding details though. And the older the issue the better - the recent ones are very soft.