Gordon J

That's an absolutely fantastic bit of modelling on such a small scale. Love it.

Absolutely stunning diorama, all the elements are fantastic pieces of modelling. I am particularly impressed with the attention to detail on the inside of the building. An incredible piece of work.

Stunning model so far Lukasz and if it is not your first language then your written English is impeccable.

What did you use for the aerial wires?

I am interested to know how you applied the '004' marking?

Great looking Sptifire. Which paints did you use?

If you have the money to buy it and the time to do it and the space to store it then I say get it. You're born, you live, you build, you die. This will only ever be a once in a lifetime kit.

I am not a 1/32nd scale builder but I say well done to Kotare on releasing a Spitfire Mk.1. I don't agree with the people who might groan at another Spitfire release - I think it's appalling that we have had to wait this long to get a state of the art 1/32 Battle of Britain Spitfire.

Cracking Spitfire. An ingenious way to display the model and an in-flight Spitfire is without doubt the best looking thing ever.

Absolutely cracking diorama. Love it.

Hi Nimrod, The way I paint the faces of my figures is based on the old Sheperd Paine process which involves making a basic flesh tone followed by a highlight and high highlight colour, and also a shadow and deep shadow colour. I use oils for my face painting but I start by undercoating in an acrylic flesh tone then paint the eyes as slits with a black enamel. I never try and paint the whites of eyes in 1/35 scale. The highlight and shadow colours are then painted into the appropriate areas of the face. For example the eye sockets, under the nose and chin will all receive the shadow colour. Areas like the cheekbones, nose and forehead will receive the highlight tone. These colours are then blended to try and ensure a smooth transition and taking care not to blend the colours together. After the initial highlight and shadow colours have been applied and blended, I then mix a high highlight and a deep shadow tone. These colours being painted into the previously applied highlight and shadow areas. For example the deep shadow will be inside the eye sockets, the chin and under the nose and lower lip. The high highlight being applied into the highlight areas of the cheekbones, forehead and chin. The highlight and high highlight colours get blended together and the same with the shadow and deep shadow colours. I will then blend in a pink into the lips and cheeks of the figures (see the photo of the tank commander as an example). If the above is confusing for you I will get you to look at the photo of the infantry soldier walking to the rear of the tank in the diorama. Look at his eye sockets which are painted in the deep shadow colour. The sides of his nose are in shadow, the top of his nose is in the high highlight. As we see under the nose on the part called the philtrum the colour is the deep shadow with a high highlight to the left and right of this area. His top lip is shadow and deep shadow, his lower lip is highlight and high highlight with a bit of pink. The crease beneath his lower lip is in a deep shadow colour and the chin is the highlight colours again. The secret is to make sure there is a strong contrast between the colours and to never get the deep shadow and high highlight colours mixed together or else the whole face will go grey. It also helps to realise that you are painting an area and not a thing. You have to realise when painting a figure you will spend many sessions on it and have to go back and touch up and correct and blend before you are happy with the end result. I know I did with the figures in my diorama. My advice would be to get an optivisor and some figures and just use them as practice and pretty quickly you will get a feel for it. Hope this helps (a bit).

Great job on finding the motivation to dig out the kit and get it done. Finished model looks great. It's a big ol' bird though isn't it.

After the chat on the previous thread speculating about what Tamiya might be about to announce I had gotten my hopes up for a P-40, but, alas it is not. This will be a brilliant Phantom kit in a world of other brilliant Phantom kits.

If the announcement is at 4.00pm Japan time then that makes it 7.00am UK time. Japan is nine hours ahead.

Why does the Tamiya announcement point towards it being a P-40? I am not complaining - in fact I would be incredibly happy if it was - I am just curious to know what you know.

If Tamiya have never visted German WWII in 1/32nd then my prediction would be either a Bf109 or FW190.

Stunning build and superbly finished Tomcat. I love it.

Stunning model and photography. Very atmospheric. Love it.

Great model and a lovely scene. Weathering is superb and I particularly like the water dripping from the hosepipe.

This was initially started a couple of years ago but I have the Covid-19 lockdown to thank for getting this one over the line. I've never really done a vignette or diorama but have always wanted to do so, and therefore a lot of what you see here was done as experiments and trials. The model used is the Tasca/Asuka British Sherman III and despite having the Mike Starmer book to hand and finding no fewer than three photographs of the actual tank, I still had to use to some creative guesswork in certain areas when applying the camouflage pattern. I have depicted the model in the light mud/blue black colour scheme of the Sicilian campaign but it is entirely possible that the original tank was counter shaded in dark green. The blue black pattern was brush painted on. The markings came from the kit but the roundel on the turret was replaced from an old aircraft sheet. Most of the stowage on the rear deck was stuff I had in my spares box. The figures are from Royal Model, Bronco, Ultracast and Hornet and after seeing Britmodeller user Bullbasket's Sherman Shelf Queen thread - https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235067170-another-shelf-queen-finished-sherman-lll/ - I decided to copy him and give my tank commander the same Hornet head he used. My one is nothing like as well painted though. This is my first time posting work to the Britmodeller forums so I hope you enjoy looking.

Now there is attention to detail for you. Had I built a wing folded Martlet I would have put the ailerons on wrong for sure.

Should one of the ailerons not be pointing down?

Dare I ask what a desion is?

The A9 tracks remind me of the Bronco A13 kit I tried. It was progressing ok until I got to the tracks and like the A9 the contact point was minute to say the least. The tracks had to be built long before the model was completed and the end result was that the tracks literally exploded into dozens of parts that simply could not be put together again. With no aftermarket alternatives the kit ended up in the bin. Hope the same thing doesn't happen to your A9 because the early war British Cruisers are cracking subjects.