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Victory-is-in-the-Kitchen's Achievements
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Thanks, Miguel. There is definitely something more satisfying about getting the older moulds put together. I read elsewhere about the torpedos whilst preparing to build it and another forum member mentioned it too. I built this in keeping with my memory of it when I was a kid. I did think as I was gluing them on that I wouldn’t want to try to take off with two!
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Thanks! Achieved by spraying the white first, then masking over the outer white band with flexible Tamiya masking tape (the vinyl stuff), then using a compass with a blade, created a circle for placing over the front of the cowling. This left the unmasked area ready for the red band which was then hit with a base of yellow, then the red.
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I had nightmares about painting it! I joke of course, but I learnt a few things on this one. I had a really bad experience trying to get the first mottle colour (green) on, in that the brush was sputtering paint everywhere or just dumping it out the nozzle when it felt like it; there were a lot of touch ups with the dark yellow. Eventually, after I had done the entire camo, and needed to do some further touch ups, I thought ‘I’ll disobey the airbrush rules’ and whacked the pressure up by 10 psi or so and this immediately made life easier! I had been on around 15-20 psi with a 0.3mm needle and 25 psi or so made a massive difference. May sound obvious to some but lesson learned for me that it’s not always about low pressure for detail and to experiment more.
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Great job on the kit. I wish I'd done the cowlings like yours (bronze) and had wanted to change them after spraying them red/white but left them in the end. With the torpedos, I decided I would just build what was there. Historical accuracy was not the aim on this one!
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Thanks, Ian. Looks great; a neat build. Your black paint has a good sense of realism to it. I don’t mind adding the detail so I might grab one.
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Thanks to All who have written back and liked, I really appreciate your kind comments. Thinking about doing another VC, namely the P-61. That one, along with B-17 ‘Bit o Lace’ also sticks in my mind from childhood, but I have only just finished a B-17 last year. Having said that, any recommendations on a more modern moulding of a P-61? Is the Hobbyboss kit any good?
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Hello All. Probably my longest running build ever due to finding any time in the cave of solace... Please find my attempt at Airfix's Vintage Classic SM.79 Sparrowhawk. This is there re-release of the original mould with raised panel lines and very minimal detail. I wanted to build this as I had had a go when I was very young and remember thinking that there was no way I was going to attempt the camo pattern, so just painted it a sandy colour with the humbrol enamels and brush back in the day... no air brush then! I've added a lot of scratch built interior detail that can be seen in my half finished build thread (link below) and scribed most of the panel lines except for the fuselage, which I thought looked 'better' left as is. I have also added some external detail in the form of antenna wire and so on. Painted with my normal go to of Tamiya XFs and weathered with oils and washes. I have also blended the entire upper frame with the base colour to give it that Mediterranean sun-bleached looked. I decided the airplane looked a little bland so added some artistic chipping, oil, fuel and simulated an engine fire on one of the wings to liven it up a little. Historically inaccurate, yep, probably! Hope you enjoy and feedback warmly welcomed.
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Hello everyone, hope you’re keeping well. It’s been a while since I’ve updated the thread as I have had several scribing failures on the leading edge of the wings between the fuselage and nacelles, owing to a bit of “loss of mojo” and nothing really to report as I repaired with CA and tried (and tried) again. I’ve done all I can now until I hit it with the undercoat to show the results... I have however managed to have success on the warped wing. I gingerly applied a heat gun used for stripping paint etc and the wing corrected itself on its own! Luck I guess but it took less than 5 minutes!! It’s still not perfect but much less noticeable now, so pleased with that! Engines and covers are now glued into place and I’ve attached the gondola underneath. I’m now starting to get her ready for priming as you can see here (and all the scribing fun mentioned earlier)! Thanks for looking in. JB
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HNY Everyone! Hope you're all well. Aircro, it's true those engines don't look like AR's, but as accuracy isn't the strong suite on this kit (just look at my cobbled interior) I'll leave them as is. Useful to know though, thank you. They're also glued in now so... Well, success with the stretched sprue as expected, always does the trick with enough fettling and copious amounts of TamiyaET: I've also added a panel line to over the sprue to match the rest of the wing root. I've also got the horizontal stabilisers on which were fine, fitted nicely and didn't give me any 'drama', they're also re-scribed: Here she is: However... when fitting the stabilisers and ensuring they were aligned, I noticed that the starboard wing has a bend... a quite noticeable one passed the engine nacelle: My crude mark-up should highlight it. I've looked at it from all angles and I'm convinced it's just warped. What to do? I don't think I'll worry too much, it's the nostalgia on this one don't forget but I am tempted to get a heat gun out and apply just aft of the nacelle... might not be worth it though as I can see what could happen! Can you imagine it?!! When it's on its 'feet' and viewed at an angle and unless you're looking for it and head on, it won't be obvious. Thoughts? Thanks for looking. JB.
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Happy New Year to everyone. Here's an update from the next phase of the SM.79 build... oh she has been a swine! I've finally glued the wings in place but it's not been pretty. I think that most of the problems are from my own doing with trying to cover the gaps and then sand back before attaching the wings to the fuselage. This has resulted in a poor profile around the wing roots however I managed to achieve a good solid bond... I hope! Port on, a nice bond but... Oh dear. Will have to either sand back the fuselage or add putty. Thoughts people? My clamping method. Without these, there is no way these would have set so well. Bit of a gap underneath, look at the light coming through! I'll fix that with some stretched sprue and CA. Both wings (finally) on and stretched sprue to fill the gaps.
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Merry Christmas to everyone. Despite the festivities I have made progress on the bird. I completed all of the detailing inside the wheel wells to show the inner make-up of the wing and added some bits here and there to make it interesting (no accuracy here I’m afraid) but I like the result. I painted XF20, highlighted and washed before gluing all together. I’ve also cleaned and painted the engines with AKEM aluminium and washed with black to highlight the detail, although once in the covers, you won’t see much. Next up, prepping those wings for attachment!
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That’s a beauty! You can see the detail and effort that’s gone into the camo even after 50 years!! I can also see the same features I’m working with on the 2020 plastic, proving the mould is original. Thanks so much for sharing; he just needs to get the Mediterranean sand storm deposits off the bird and complete the maintenance on that prop 😉
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And the continuation of the SM.79... she demands some serious attention! Glazing now on but the fit is terrible. There are significant gaps around most edges which I have filled with stretched sprue, superglue and sanded back. I’ll need to use plastic putty but will deliver the primer before I do that as it’s getting difficult to see the imperfections now. I’ve also got gaps around the top of the fuselage where the gunner port is. I’ve applied the same stretch sprue and CA method here too. I’ve carried on scribing the wings and flaps and also started detailing the cavernous undercarriage bays. close to closing the wings now! JB
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Thanks, it should look ok once I’ve corrected the mistakes and unified with a layer of primer! I mainly use a Tamiya panel line scriber, touch ups and hard to reach areas are done with a pin vice or new scalpel blade. Before I use them, I mark up with pencil and always use a straight edge, an old tape measure cut into pieces (you can see that in the first picture) in my case. Occasionally use dymo tape or stencils. Hope that helps...
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Hello to you all. A bit more progress on the old SM.79 for you... I have spent most of my time since the last update gluing the fuselage together which has gone relatively well. The moulds are showing their age as they really do not align well, with flashing over the edges forming a ridge and very prominent once clamped together. However nothing a good sanding and CA can’t fix. As you can imagine, no exciting pictures to show you there so whilst that glued, I moved onto the wings and panel lining!! I sanded one half (underside) of the raised panel lines on port wing back to a flat surface. Using the other as a guide, marked up ready for scribing: Scribed and highlighted with a black enamel wash: and in comparison with the starboard: There are some mistakes, I’m not happy with the lines close to the nacelle near the fuselage and will fill with CA, then redo. The overall effect is ok, I obviously started with the undersides for good reason! In all, it took about an hour and a half, so a good 4-5 hours to go!! Needless to say I’ll not be doing that in one sitting and will spread out over the next week or so. Thanks for looking, JB
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