propforward

Yeah no kidding. Still waiting for those 1:48 Defiants to get back in stock..............grrrrrrr. But I digress.

I agree. Furthermore, this is going to be a very popular subject over here in the US of A, especially if they make as good a job as the recent Hurricanes. They'll sell a literal boatload, and that means even more of the more unusual subjects. Like a 1:24 EE Lightning. I can dream.

Brilliant - really want to get one of these - very interested to see how this develops.

Looking great! I wish Airfix would restock the Defiant Stateside.

Excellent work! Very impressive - nice job all round.

Thank you. It's the True Details kit - which I got CHEEP! Technically an F6 cockpit set - but I'm just going to horrify everyone and use it anyway, because it busies things up nicely. I have seen this set get bad press, but honestly it seems to fit just fine. I didn't have any trouble getting it in. Definitely - I'm going to try that approach. See if I can make a few things stand out a little better. Thanks for the tip!

I'm not sure yet. Probably a camo one though. Or else a shiny metal one. I really want to do a 56 squadron checker fin - but want to practice alclad metal finishes on a different version first. I was just working on a 92 squadron F2 and I really, really badly messed up the metal finishes. I'll finish it, but it's not a very good model. So for this one, I think the metal underside with grey and green camo upper surfaces.

The quality of the Airfix 48 scale Lightnings is well known. I have a dream to build one of each Lightning mark in 1/48 - I have all the base kits, we'll see whether it happens. Anyway, made a start by obtaining a resin cockpit set to give the office a little more oomph. I'll model the canopy open on this one. Quite a nice bang seat: Cockpit fit seems OK at the dry fit stage: In the meantime I have been working on other sub assemblies. The wing tips need a little attention for sink marks: But that shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

I bought this kit on a whim when I was in the model store a couple of weeks ago. Having access to the intertubes via phone is dangerous, because I looked this kit up while in the shop and the reviews were all very positive. So that was that. Anyway, this is a build I have going so I can turn to it while the paint is drying on my spitfire. It's a lovely kit, really well designed, with very clean moulding details. I started off by undercoating with vallejo grey acrylic primer (after washing everything in soapy water of course), and then airbrushing interior green on the cockpit tub and inside the fuselage. I am using Ammo of Mig acrylics for the interior. I also washed the interior fuselage with Ammo of Mig interior wash. My original plan had been to basically paint everything for the cockpit on the sprues - but after reading a couple of other build threads, and thinking it through, I realised that would just result in having to redo and touch up a lot of stuff, so today I assembled the cockpit tub somewhat. The decal sheet comes with some instrument dials. They are a little bit off register, but I don't think it's going to be possible to make that out through the cockpit windshield, and they will likely add just a little more detail to the instrument panel, so I will use them. I'll also make some seatbelts, but first I have to finish painting and weathering the tub.

A little more progress, and also a step back. Progress - masked off one wing and got the white band of the invasion stripes on. As I suspected, as the layers of paint go on, my pre shading is getting lost. Maybe I should do additional pre shading as I build up the camouflage? Either that or I'm just layering on too much paint. I'll try it a different way on the next build. Also - propeller is coming along nicely. Step backwards - d'oh! I did a silly thing and messed up the paintwork in this area. I think I can save it. I'll mask off the green and do a little respray. Turns out there are a couple of overspray areas, so there will be a bit of touch up elsewhere before I proceed further with the invasion stripes.

I went for it. After about 6 hours of cure, I masked up the upper surfaces. I did "de tack" the masking tape first though a bit. I think it went OK - I'm reasonably happy with this. There are some minor imperfections, but overall not bad as a first attempt (I think anyway). Let this all cure up properly, then mask again for the invasion stripes! I'm going to paint them rather than use the kit decals, but the decals are very handy for getting the masking set up.

Today's installment. Masked off the underside: And applied a couple of coats of the top layer grey. Coat 1 And coat 2. I may mist on just a little more, especially at the wing edges, but I'm worried about losing my pre shading entirely. Especially when the green goes on. How long to wait for acrylics to dry before masking for the green? I'd really like to get the green on today so that I can get all the masking tape off. Well, it's a learning experience for sure.

All looking superb!

Outstanding - a very beautiful model. The finish is fantastic.

This is a wonderful model - the amount of weathering is just right, and makes it very realistic. Impressive! I wish they would get that Defiant back in stock in the USA. Well done!

Thanks! I appreciate it. Yep - 18 years. Time flies, it's crazy. But I'm having fun with the hobby again.

So I am now at the fun painting stage - and I have been looking forward to this, because I've been wanting to try the pre shading techniques, and then some weathering. When I was last involved in the hobby, I had only just started attempting weathering, and that had taken my models up a notch, so I really wanted to keep that going. After priming I sprayed some panel lines black, using my brand new Omni 4000 airbrush. Then I started applying the medium sea grey to the underside: And ended up with I'm happy with this first attempt. The shading around panels is very subtle. It's easier to see in real life than the photo, and it definitely adds some interest. This is where I am at right now. Next weekend I hope to mask up the underside, and start the upper surfaces, hopefully getting as far as painting the invasion stripes.

I don't think I did a great job of the cockpit, but there is a little weathering there, and the washes add a bit of interest. I did some dry brushing with aluminum enamel as well. I did add some simple seatbelts using lead foil I had left over from years ago, just to add more interest, but I forgot to take a picture. Then on to building up the aircraft: I'm pretty happy with how it went together. Fit of parts really didn't need much in the way of filler, and in a lot of cases a bit of gap filling superglue did the job quickly and cleanly. In the end I decided to model this with the cockpit canopy closed, for simplicity. The cockpit doesn't look so good that it's worthy of inspection - but through the canopy will be OK.

Hello, I thought I would share some pictures of what is really my first scale model build in about 18 years or so. Just for fun, I bought the Italeri beer truck Spitfire kit. It's quite a nice kit in my opinion - fit of parts is good, not needing too much filler or hours and hours of sanding. I understand it's from Hasegawa moulds. This being my first build in a long time, it is strictly OOB, because I want to finish something in fairly short order, to a decent standard, trying some techniques I've read about, and then progress. So here we go. I started by brush painting the cockpit using Ammo of Mig acrylics. I am amazed at the quality and availability of different acrylics these days. Clearly using a primer is essential for these. I used some Ammo of Mig wash to add some interest, and built up the cockpit interior.