iSteve

I guess I used the wrong word. I mean one of those small images or graphics that people have at the bottom of their posts that indicate they completed a group build. I haven't seen any on participants of this build so I guess there wasn't one.

Just out of curiosity, was there a badge awarded for this GB?

I just invested in some W&N Series 7 brushes and was wondering if they also need conditioning to keep the bristles at their best. I'm going to be using Tamiya acrylics - is it ok to clean these brushes with just IPA?

Absolutely love the finish! Well done BD!

I'm actually from Northern Ontario and at my first opportunity I'm moving to the East Coast and never looking back

Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes! All my models are assembled with maple syrup.

Hello Everyone, My name is Stephen. I presently live in Winnipeg, Canada, but lived in London for a year in my early 20's in Leyton. Prior to my joining Britmodeller, I was a member of two other modelling sites: Starshipmodeler for my sci-fi builds, and Finescale for general modelling. The majority of my builds are 1/48 military aircraft (though lately I've become a bit of a Wingnuts addict) and when sourcing information I invariably found myself here. Obviously, the logical step was to become a member. I have since found Britmodeller is truly a complete modelling site and as I prefer actual modelling to reading about it, I foresee spending most of my online time here. I have to say in my short time here, I have had a fantastic experience. You all are a wealth of information and everyone is very helpful and friendly. I did my very first group build here - a very enjoyable indoctrination to the site. I'm very much looking forward to meeting you all as I peruse and contribute to the pages here, and hope I can give something back to the site that had done so much for my experience and growth in this great hobby. I have a new blog site on modelling - imodel.blog - and I welcome you all to come and take a peek. Cheers! Stephen

It will be interesting to see where the price falls. While I love the detail of my Foxhound, I might have been less inclined to buy it if the price was, say, twice as much as I paid. Similarly, if AMK's Tomcat is twice the price of the Tamiya, I'll probably just buy the Tamiya.

You might also try simply thinning the plastic from behind the part, masking off the area where the light will shine through, and then applying black to the piece and then your final surface colour to block the light. Put a light source (LED) behind each engine port and then apply a light blue or clear blue to the area you masked off.

Just scored the Gotha! My price, including shipping, was less than the retail price alone. One more off the list.

The E.IV prototype had three guns, which turned out to be one too many, so the production model had two. These are both represented in the E.IV kit. As for I, II and III, there are subtle differences, but mostly I think it's because they were the "Fokker Scourge," leading the air war. That, and there are some nice, different marking schemes.

I realise rigging isn't fun. I'm certainly not a fan. But in the last couple of years, I've come to engage with this hobby most when I've learned something new, when I can improve my skills and grow as a modeller - when I'm challenged. So, as intimidating as some of these kits are, I look on them as the epitome of aircraft building in the same way as wooden sailing ships are to ship builders, especially those who typically do modern vessels. My Wingnut Wings kits will sit in the stash for a while until I have grown as a modeller to take on a new challenge. I highly encourage others to do the same and challenge themselves. With this in mind, I'm very thankful these are available in 1/32. My two Eduard kits in 1/48 are more intimidating because of their size. 1/72? Not a chance. That's why I broke from my preferred scale to 1/32 - just for these kits only. Besides, they're just beautiful kits. I completely agree with what a few in this thread have said about these planes. It was the beginning of warplanes and to see some of the contraptions some pilots strapped themselves to and then added the fun of bullets, you really have to admire their bravery. This is why I'm being selective in my WNW kit choices: I want some representative kits of the era, not to just simply buy the whole line. The Pfalz and Albatros planes are the Spitfires of their time - they look cool. The Camel is one of the pinnacles of aircraft in this period. I just bought a Fokker E.I because it looks so flimsy. I have the Sopwith Triplane because, well, it has three wings. I want to buy either the AMC DH.2 or an FE 2b because they look even more pathetic than the Fokker. I want a Gotha because it's a bomber, and I want the Felixstowe/Hansa W.29 duelist kit because the former is huge and looks to me more like a luxury liner, and the latter because it's goofy looking and has pontoons. I might get a Roland C.II because it's a bit of an odd duck with its windows, but beyond these choices, I'm less enthused (not that I would say no if one was given to me). A short list also makes for purchasing relief, both to the wallet and "the hunt."

Yup. The only thing that annoys me is the shipping. Living in Canada, Weta ships to me from their warehouse in the US. However, I've received kits faster from the EU warehouse than the US (which led to the double shipping), the shipping rates WNW charges from the US is a bit outrageous, and on top of it all, I have to pay customs. WNW kits are the only models I've ever paid customs on. Ever. It can be cheaper for me to buy from HLJ: the price may be higher, but the shipping charges are much lower, though I still have paid customs.

Every now and again, I get the urge to tackle a WWI subject, and so I added two Eduard 1/48 kits to the stash - the Camel and Dr.I. Like many on this thread, 1/32 is not my scale, but I was intrigued by all the praise these kits received, so I took the plunge and bought the Pfalz D. IIIa since it was apparently a good starter kit. Due to some shipping confusion, I ended up with two. I then came to the realization how much more expensive they can be once Weta and retailers sell out, so I bought the Albatros D.Va (OAW) and the Sopwith Triplane (by stroke of luck, HLJ had it listed after WNW had sold out). I've got the Camel on order from Hannants, and the Fokker E. IV is next in my sights. I doubt I will buy the whole series, but once I actually tackle one of these kits, my needs may change. I definitely intend to buy the Early Felixstowe either late this year or early next year as I see it as the HMS Victory kit of aircraft models - huge, plenty of rigging and requiring a decent amount of skill to do it justice. I think for me, the draw to these beautiful kits was the thoughtful effort, attention to detail and brilliant engineering. Without having built one, you just want to have a few around just out of appreciation for such great kits.

Yup. Just save yourself a headache and only order product that shows "In Stock." Otherwise, you may have a long wait. Prices are almost always the best and aside from their backorder policies are a sound, reliable company. By the way, I've been to the site in three different browsers and never had any warnings, so kind of surprised you got one.

Really enjoyed reading your build Kent. I've had my eye on this particular kit for some time and finally pulled the trigger yesterday. The E-7 trop is my favourite 109. Will be using your build as a guide for mine. Well done!

Great finish Hasbabon! Beautiful work. I certainly understand the tribulations of the season and trying to make the deadline. I almost missed it myself. Next time!

Next time I'll start at the beginning of the build Thanks V-P!

Thanks! I've been watching yours too and have to say you're doing a great job. Maybe next time we should build simultaneously and compare notes as we go

Really nice build progress! I like how well your "chipping" effect worked. I haven't quite mastered the use of a silver pencil crayon yet, but you certainly seem to have the hang of it. I also tried Aqua Gloss for the first time on mine and, yeah, the "gloss" seems a bit patchy. I wonder if one needs to smooth out the finish before applying to get a uniform sheen. Keep the photos coming!

Spitfire Mk Vb Malta December 1942 Kit : Airfix 1/48 Dogfight Doubles Spitfire Vb & BF 109E-7 Aftermarket : HGW Sutton Seatbelts Paints : Tamiya Wip : http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013571-airfix-148-spitfire-vb-malta-dec-1942/

All in all, it was good project. It’s the first Spitfire I’ve built in ages so there was a bit of a learning curve to source all the different aspects of the plane itself. Perhaps one of the more challenging parts was the radio antennae. EZ-line made it much easier. This was my second Airfix kit of their new tooled kits and am looking forward to many more builds of them.

I’ve tried a few different methods of masking for camouflage and thought I would attempt something new. Tamiya (yes, Tamiya owns my soul) has this flexible masking tape for doing curves so I bought the three sizes available and tried it out on this kit. It didn’t go so well. Plan B: blue tack. It went much better. I then overlaid wax paper and trimmed off the areas I needed. The tack made trimming easy as you can sink your blade into it without harming the surface of the model. Then you just spray on your second colour. Using the same colour layering technique I was able to preserve the depth and texture I wanted to my paint job. I kinda missed taking a few photos before decaling and clear coating, but you get the idea and it moves the project report along nicely. I was really happy with how uniform the edge of the camo was in all areas and it worked beautifully around complex surfaces. The Airfix decals were a bit thick, but with repeated applications of MicroSol got into the panel lines nicely. The clear coat blended them into the surface and eliminated any decal transfer medium.

I mixed my own Middle Stone base coat for the camouflage, calculating the proportions from the British Standard 381c paint chart with Tamiya paints. I have seen many models done with preshading to highlight panel lines. I’ve tried it myself and found that while it has its place, generally it exaggerates panel lines to the point where it is unrealistic. More often than not, panel lines are molded sufficiently deep enough so that they don’t require assistance in making their presence known and still look realistic. Another approach is black-basing where the model is primed or coloured black and then the next colour is mottled on in layers to give depth and texture to the finish. My approach for non-metal finished models is to keep the typical grey primer coat and then add layers of colour. It achieves the same effect, in my opinion, as black-basing and works especially well in giving the impression of fading to the plane. I also took a stab a mixing my own Azure Blue using a formula for Tamiya that seems to have become a standard for many modelers.It may have come out a bit more purple than I would have liked, but then again from what I have read, there was quite a variance from one plane to the next because of how it was applied.

Once the main assembly stages had been completed, it was on to priming and painting. My go-to primer, after years of what can best be described as the “big suck” in levels of success, is Alclad. Their primers airbrush beautifully without thinning, go on nice and smooth, retain the surface detail, sand and feather perfectly, and never lift off. The micro-filler versions can be layered on to remove light scuffs and scratches. This kit will be the last time I use Alclad as a general primer. The one drawback is it’s a lacquer and the fumes are brutal. I always use a chemical filter mask when dealing with this stuff. One day, however, I knocked over my airbrush cleaning jar and basically evacuated the basement for a day until I felt it was safe again. I love Alclad metallics and won’t give them up just yet and a necessary evil to go along with them is Alclad’s gloss black primer for high-shine finishes like chrome, so I'm still stuck with lacquers for now. I’ve put my faith in my online modeling communities and have switched to Badger’s highly recommended new line of Stynylrez primers. We shall see on the next build. There was one fix I needed to implement before priming and that was to remove the molded-on wing braces. My plane is from 1942 and the braces were not added to the Mark Vb’s until 1943. It was a relatively simple matter of just sanding them off. Then the primer went on in it’s typically wonderful fashion and I only had to do some minor re-sanding and filling. Rescribing was minimal.