AntoineG

Hello, Please find here my latest model. This is Airfix’s Hawker Hurricane Mk.I in 1/72. This is an amazing kit that builds very easily. The assembly is lovely (I used a very limited amount of filler) and the level of details in the cockpit and in the gear bays is amazing. I must say I was very positively impressed by the quality of the landing gear fit. Well done Mr. Airfix! It is as close a OOB built that I can do … the only modifications are: seat belts from Airwaves a gunsight from Quickboost – strangely, there is none in the box the canopy from Rob Taurus – that is only because I messed up with the one of the box; the windshield is from the box and all clear parts from Airfix are very fine, so no need for replacement for anybody more cautious than I was the exhaust pipes from SBS model - this is a must imho: Airfix pipes are way too thin the wings position lights that were built out of sprue (I used the same technic as for my Ta-183 – see WIP section) instrument panel from Yahu which is wasted as you can’t see it once the model is finished: it is hidden by the control column and the gunsight; so don’t bother canopy masks from Peewit which are fine for the kit’s windscreen but useless for Rob Taurus canopy – that make sense in a way… painting masks from AML which I hope to re-use for another Hurricane. handle on the canopy was made out of copper wire I followed the paint instruction to the letter, so it should be one mount of 85 Squadron in Northern France in May 1940. Gunze paints (H72 + H73) were used for top and Tamiya's white and black for the underside. Highly recommended to everybody. Cheers, Antoine

Thanks Pete! Now that I have removed what I need to start rebuilding, I did a "plastering" of the inside of both fuselages. After a good wet sanding, I've got nice and smooth interiors (even it doesn't realy looks that way on the picture). While the putty was drying, I strated to work on the bomber/navigator place in the nose. The 'Norden' bomb sight is made of a piece of sprue and thick plasticard. The rest is plasticard. I also start to work on the bomb bay. This is indeed on the critical path. So the ceilling and the sides of the bay are glued and the bombs have been puttied, sanded and primed with Tamiya white (this is to give a good base for the yellow) I also start to work on the cockpit but only manage to cut the floor. Here is a fit test with everything in (I may have to move the navigator seat forward). Cheers, Antoine

Oups... 'forgot the engines under the sun... they are all dried up now... where are the famous UK rains?!? fortunately, I managed to get some seeds...

While the engines are sunbathing, I am preparing the interior of the fuselage. To keep it short, there is no details. What can be found in the inside of this egg are structural frames to allow a quick and easy built… and to resist any crushing. I think my dog (a good lovely lab) could have walked over it without causing any damage. Actually, she did put a paw over it (with my help) after I've emptied it... no damage (no dog nor model has been hurt during the footage) Anyway, before adding anything, let’s gut the beast (no Fw-190 in the vicinity though) So first thing is to remove all those structural bits to transform this highly engineered kit into an empty shell. On the picture, you can see the part before and after. I’m keeping some element though, just in case. We’ll see how it goes when I’ll start to reconstruct. You can also see that on the lower fuselage/wing assembly, I’ve opened an space for the lower gun turret. As provided, this (upside down) turret is only half a plastic ball (see instruction sheet on the first post). I’ll try to improve that. We’ll come later on it. In addition, you may see I’ve already started some reconstruction with the rear gunner position where I have added some plasticard to close the area. I'll come later on it too. In the end, I ended up with a good enough basis to try and recreate a decent-ish eggplane-style interior. Antoine

Hi, Eggplanes have always looked to me as a good bit of fun and when a fellow from my club came back from a show with an F4U-4, I told myself ‘ I’ve got to get this one ’. A few months later, at Cosford model show, I was able to find it on a stand. With it was nearly the complete range of eggplanes from Meng and when I saw the B-17G, I knew this was the one I was going to build. Back to the club stand, we looked at it with some fellow members (that is the reason I don’t have pictures of the complete sprues ). It appears that the kit belongs to ‘Meng Kids’ brand and for sure it can be managed by kids: one can assemble the model without glue, without paint (like good old Matchbox kits, the sprue are coloured to fit the paint scheme) and the decals are replaced by stickers. Internal details are non-existing, appart from the bomb bay that is represented opened with two big bombs. On the other hand, the surfaces details are very nice. One word about the packaging which is very well done with all the big parts and sprues packages individualy in plastic bags. In addition to the parts, the stickers and the instruction, one also get a explaining card, which, unless you read japanese, explains really few... So it could have been an express built, like shown here partially built... Could have…. … unless you like to have some details in your kits, like I do. So now the main challenge will be to add some details while keeping the spirit of an eggplane, if you see what I mean. To start with, I’ve decided to add pistons to the engines; Meng is only providing the central hub. The pistons are sourced from the spare box, from a (bad) representation of a Twin Wasp engines. With two of them, I had enough to do four Cyclones. After many tries, the preferred way to build the engine was: · Place the central hub in position in the wing · Remove the (ugly) piston heads from the pistons. · Identify where the ejector mark is on each piston · Remove one piston at the time from the carter. · Flatten the large section of the cylinder where the ejector mark is : this will keep the mark at the back of the engine; the identification is only there to help you finding the mark when the piston is removed from the carter. · Cut the thinner part of the cylinder with an angle so that it will fit on the central hub. · Place the piston around the hub; trim if necessary. · Repeat for the eight other cylinders. · Once all cylinders are in place, apply a tiny amount of glue to set them on the central hub, be careful not to glue the wing in the process. · After a few minutes, remove the engine from the wing · To hide a bit the junction between the hub and the cylinders, I had a ring of wire in front of them. As it then looked like I had a nice sunflower, I decided to try a new way to reproduce it: put it in the garden, watered it a bit... and you’ll quickly got three more. and you’ll quickly got three more Cheers, Antoine

Beautiful model. The finish of your paint is lovely. Well done !

Wonderful job. Lovely details. Lovely paint. Lovely weathering. I love it

Hi Fin, Yes, indeed, this is the one. Difficult to say, As I wanted an open canopy, I cut it in three parts directly. Nevertheless, the windshield and back didn't caused much trouble (way less than the kit's vacfomed canopy). I used a bit of magic putty to blend everything in though. Cheers, Antoine

Hi, Pitot tube added. Thanks Fin! Nearly put it on the wrong wing though...

Hi Fin, The canopy is indeed not accurate and very flimsy to work with. As mentionned, I replaced it by a Falcon one with is stronger (thicker plastic) and more accurate, even though a bit short on the windshield IMHO. For the pitot, you're right. I should have done my home work better . But that's easy to correct. Cheers.

Hi Gents, Thank you for your kind comments. I did it yeaaaaars ago. It's a lovely little kit too and a good Heller model. A fair point. Nevertheless, IMHO, the paints should be hungarian requirements. That means not according to RLM standard. For comparison, imagine a Rafale in Barley Grey... Go ahead! You'll have a lot of fun and a great choice of markings.

It's nice, tiny, sober, cute... and very well done. I love it! Great job!

Hi, Please find here my latest model. This is RS Model Heinkel He 112. The kit has nice details and very fine panel lines. It is a good short run kit and with a little bit a aeronautical common sense (especially for the cockpit layout: if you follow the instructions, Hungarian pilots should have had very short legs....), it ended up pretty well. Not so sure though regarding the landing gears angle (the doors should be closer to the wing). The only added details are an instrument panel from Yahu, seat belts from the spare box (most certainly Eduard's) and the canopy from Falcon. For the colour scheme is one proposed in the box. Unfortunately RS only provides generic names for the paints. Without good documentation, I could only make guesses and I used German RLM colours as a baseline: for the underside RLM76 Light Blue (Gunze H417) for the upperside RLM63 Hellgrau (Gunze H308) RLM79 Sand Gelb (Gunze H66) RLM71 Dunkel Grün (Gunze H64) wingtips and fuselage band are RLM04 Gelb (Gunze H413) propeller is RLM70 Schwarz Grün (Gunze H65) Once again, this is only my humble point of view regarding Hungarian paint colours. The decals come from the box and were very good (just be careful, they can get really soft used Microset...). Hope you like it. Cheers, Antoine

Impressive job you've done here ! The paint is stunning. I love it !

Beautiful model. The metal finish is very nice, which is particularly difficult on short-run kit. Bravo. What primer/paint did you used? Cheers, Antoine

Thank you all for your kind comments. I enjoyed building this kit (expect the time when the paint starts to crack; I nearly put the kit in the bin after the second time) and I'm happy you like the result. The green is indeed olive drab. The red band is a decal. The demarcation is quite easy to make: photocopy the decal sheet. Then, put masking tape over the copied red band. Cut (go a bit further than the red band on each end). Remove the masking tape form the copy: you've got your mask. Cheers, Antoine

Hi Kapam, Thanks for your comments. The gears were a bit of try and miss. The last finish though was Alclad Aluminium over Tamiya flat black XF1. Hi Colin, Agreed. Especially with a scheme limited to two shades of grays like this one. Nevertheless, my current build is more colourfull and has only ... six decals

Very nice build with a stunning paint and finish. Congrat'

Very nice built of a very nice aircraft. I like the fine finish you achieved

Hi guys, Thank you for your kind comments. I used Tamiya XF1 as a primer. For the first metallic layer, I airbrushed Shine (61) from the Metallic range of 'K' airbrush acrylics (www.kcolors.com). I discovered it in a model shop in Bideford. It was a first try on the Lightning and I was quite pleased with that paint. It was easy to use (no dilution + easy cleaning + no strong smell) and it gives a good metallic effect. BTW; if anyone know where to buy this paint in Gloucester area, please share the info! I finished the paint with different shades of Alcad 2 (Aluminium, Steel, Dark Aluminium). You are perfectly right. It should have gone under the left wing ... I messed up twice: first, forget to drill the locating hole before gluing; second I misread the instructions and drilled the locating holes on the wrong wing. Will probably never correct it though... Lesson learnt: read the instruction carefully; they are right (most of the time) ! Cheers, Antoine

Thank you mate!

Very good looking model! You did a great job with the paint scheme. I like it. What paints did you used? Antoine

I like this aircraft and your model makes it justice. Good job! Antoine

Hello, This is my latest model, finished just in time for IPMS Gloucester model show last weekend. The kit is Airfix's Lightning F.6. It was a pleasure to build despite injection issues (missing plastic) on a couple of parts. I improved it with Edouard photoetch for the cockpit and Master pitot tube Decals are mostly Airfix ones with some from Model Decals for the shark month and the unit markings. I must say that I get quite bored with all the stencils; I spend three long evening applying them all. But all in all it looks good in the end. Nevertheless, next model I'll choose to build will have a very limited number of decals... Hope you like it. Cheers, Antoine Last picture at IPMS Gloucester show:

Hi all, Thank you for your comments. I do remember having to slightly straighten the undercarriage legs. But nothing over-worrying. As Steeve mentionned, they stayed straight in the end. Another point I remember was the thick sprue gates. For instance, the antenna behind the canopy is a replacement (plasticard). It looks like it's an issue with all recent Airfix kit though. Nice trick. I'll try to remember it for next built (I still have Tamiya and Italeri kits in my stash ) Antoine