PeterB

Hi Heather, He did pop up a few days ago on the Sea Gladiator thread I believe. @iang unless I am mistaken - uses a pen name for the book. Pete

Thanks Stew, I have found a "profile" of this plane that says the starboard siren only was fitted - might go with that. The splinter scheme is proving a bit of a fiddle. Pete

Hi Stu, I too have read that the sirens were not entirely popular as they caused drag, but I also believe they could be locked so they did not rotate, in which case the crew would only be annoyed by them when in use in a dive. As you may have gathered I looked at Jean's build of this kit in the recent Stuka GB, and it seems I was luckier than him with my moulding. He had a few fit problems and mentions flash, but mine is fine. I think I bought this one a few months after it first came out and as Airfix say the mould date was 2015, I would not have thought it would have deteriorated much by the time Jean bought his, unless the mould was of poor quality. Anyway, it is perhaps a tribute to the fit that I have got it primed and ready to paint in no more that 48 hours since I actually started building it - certainly easier than the Ju 88! At this rate I could be putting decs on by the end of the week - I might even have time to build my Do-17Z-2 before the end of the GB. Cheers Pete

Hi, I have never bought any myself but I seem to remember at least one make of the etched ones (Airwaves?) came with 3 or 4 different blades. They need to be fairly fine in my experience, but if you are cutting resin (with the usual precautions) sometimes a bit coarser works better as it does not clog up as easily. Pete

Sorry, seems we were at cross purposes as they say. They are indeed what I call sprue cutters and should work but as Chris said sometimes you have to "nibble" away at the big ones. Once or twice I found that cutting the sprue a bit away from the part worked as it then gave me a clear run at it with the cutters - sometimes the sprues get in the way. I have also found a razor saw useful, though mine are the old fashioned big blades, some of the small PE ones look like they might be better for some jobs, but the big ones have their uses. I guess modellers build up a collection of tools over the years - when I started all I had was a Stanley knife and some old nail clippers. Good luck Pete Pete

Hi SS, I dare say you are right but I am not really into weathering and so have no weathering powders or washes, pastels nor oils, so it will probably stay as it is. Pete

Hi, When you say "side cutters" I think of a pair of pliers with wire cutters on the side - you sound like you need a decent pair of sprue cutters, unless that was what you meant? I think mine only cost about £6 and they work well enough for me. Even then there are some sprues that just defy getting in without causing damage - I wish the manufacturers would think a little harder about where they put the attachment points, althought they will probably say that they had no choice if they wanted to mould that particular shape - it was easier when I started modelling as the parts were nowhere near true scale and so were a lot more robust. Ah- the joys of modelling! Good luck with the build. Pete

Well, so far the fit has been good and only a minimal amount of PPP used. The odd shaped grey object in nose section in the first pic is the "box" for the window the pilot could look through to see the ground. Airfix moulded both it and the bottom panel clear, but then tell you to paint the panel RLM65, which kind of makes it pointless. In real life the panel as seen in the second photo had a hatch in it which could be pulled up into the "box" to leave an aperture in the bottom of the fuselage. I could I suppose have made a replacement bottom panel with the hatch cut out, but I expect it would have been closed on the ground. There are some good images in the excelled Kagero book 54 - Stuka D/G Part 1 using a virtual 3D model of a Ju 87D. Here is the link. https://flic.kr/p/2jGRKfx And later today, in spite of being made up rom 9 pieces the nose went on pretty well. In the above pic you can seen most of the differences between the B-1 and the B-2, although the late production B-1 models were already changing to the B-2 configuration apparently. The early and mid production ones has virtually flush exhaust stubs like the early models of the Bf 109 did, but the B-2 had longer ejector stacks. It also had hydraulically operated cooling flaps at the back of the radiator fairing under the nose which stood out quite a bit more than the ones on the B-1, assuming it actually had any - not entirely sure about that? I have read that the tips of the horizontal tail also may have been re-profiled slightly, but the other main difference was that the B-2 introduced much wider prop blades. Just noticed that Airfix have included drop tanks and racks so I presume I could make an R-1 version if I wanted, though markings are not included. As to the sirens, Airfix include stubs for the front of the legs with and without the blades, but in this boxing the Spanish Civil War version has the stubs without blades, and the WWII version has no stubs. The rebox B-2/R-2 likewise does not have the sirens so I wonder if Airfix were thinking of another release, say for Poland/Battle of France where the sirens were reputedly used to good effect. They are not mentioned as an option in my instructions! Pete

Thanks guys, As I said I know they did exist but as Graham says the evidence as to exactly what markings were applied is rather thin on the ground. Whatever colour they were I would imagine they were painted in paint that could be washed off easily, and that they would be a bit "crude" so I think decals are too solid a colour and too regular in shape. That is one of the reasons I did not either use the ones Hannants supplied or some white decal strip of my own. I did consider painting them in but frankly could not be bothered. All a matter of personal taste I guess. Pete

I guess many of you have either built this kit or seen a build on the Stuke GB earlier this year, but here is the cockpit. It went together easily enough once I had worked out where the sidewalls should go, which was a bit vague. I see that when Jean build his he put the roll cage structure in whilst building the cockpit and apparently had a problem closing the fuselage up. I have followed the instructions (for once) and will ft it at the end, but a dry run suggests it should go in pretty well, providing it does not foul the canopy. Since Airfix changed to a "modular" construction system a few years back, reports have usually commented on "an excellent fit", or "so tight I had to scrape some paint off" on the newer kits, but some modellers seem to have had problems which they admit might be down to them not getting the alignment slightly out, whilst others clearly had a kit that was not quite right for whatever reason - the Airfix 1/48 Hurricane seeems to be one of those judging by the ones in this GB. Fingers crossed this goes together well but you never quite know what to expect with Airfix these days. I suspect the "add on" nose for the B-1 could be problematic - I applaud manufacturers for engineering kits so more than one version can be made, but sometimes it can compromise the fit in my experience. As I have mentioned in a previous GB, the worst one I ever had was the Fujimi D3A Val where there were alternative upper fuselage inserts to accomodate the canopies of both the D3A1 and D3A2 which caused me a lot of problems as they just did not fit. All the optional sections can seriously impare the integrity of the fuselage making it a sod to get things lined up without using copious amounts of filler. My only complaint so far is that Airfix have put a lot of sprue attachment ponts on, some of which are in pretty difficult positions, and as the plastic is very soft great care has to be taken both in cutting the parts off the sprue and cleaning them up - I think Jean lost a bit of his rudder because of that, though perhaps his Mongoose distracted him. I realise it is probably intended to avoid damage in the box but it is a bit of a pain. Cheers Pete .

30g sounds good to me providing the u/c can take it! Pete

Hi Guys, I have an enquiry about the undercarriage colours on the F-105G I am about to start building. Trumpeter say both legs and wells should be white, whereas D&S say legs were either silver or light gray underside camo colour, and bays green, white or gray. Pics seem to show most legs silver though some are either white of gray, difficult to tell, but I have no colour pics of wheel wells. They look either dark or light in B&W pics! At least Trumpeter do give a colour for the legs, unlike the F-100F kit. That plane seems to have had silver legs and green bays, though I am pretty sure I did the legs white on my Frog rebox of the Hasegawa kit 50 years ago! So the question is, does anybody know what colours I should use for my G? Cheers Pete

Over the year I have seen some really superb paint jobs representing the worn/tarnished/burnt back end of Super Sabres. Unfortunately my paint skills are not in that league so this will have to do. I will tidy up the camo paint now, and then I will put the underwing star on so that I can fit the wing pylons - I think it will miss them but better safe than sorry!. I have made a start on the undercarriage, pylons and tanks but they need a bit more work. I might dig out my Thud and start work on the interior. Cheers Pete

Hi Greg, I mentioned the "formation" bands that were in the Xtradecal set in pink, but decided not to use them. I could have done white ones easily enough but didn't bother. Pete

I have made a start on "degrading" the paint at the back end. Bit more fiddling about to do but getting there. I don't want to overdo it as the plane had not been back in service that long in December 1965. Once I am happy I will have a go at a "tarnished" rear section and a burnt nozzle. I have looked a dozens of pics of Huns in camo and either the stencils on the rear fuselage were never put on, or they burned off pretty quickly so I won't bother with them - still thinking about the parallel red stripes near the front of the fin, but again can't see them on pics. Pete