Tim K

I've often thought while making a kit, I wish I could have made 2, ironing out the problems for the final kit. This kit luckily I had two kits in the stash and unluckily I had 2 kits in the stash. My plan was to construct with a crew crashing into/through a wave as often seen on 'Saving Lives At Sea'. The cabin looked bare so a bit of detail was added, the crew were made from silicone impressions of torso, leg arms etc and glued in a satisfactory way. The internal structures were finished and the main sides of the cabin structure fitted around the deck. It was only then that I discovered nothing really fitted and much as I tried the joins became more of an eye sore and so much attention required I pondered.... I found the kit very difficult. The instructions are poor and the colour scheme incorrect when compared to real life photos. Certain items don't fit in the intended positions. Much dry fitting was required with blue tak and tape before committing to glueing. The super structure walls and internal structure were glued. The control area was detailed.... The crew were made from silicone moulds and glued together for their roles in the cabin. And fitted The cabin super structure was glued in place After much attention to the joints which in my hands found the bevelled joints really difficult I decided to cut it down the middle and start the superstructure again. with my dremel and chisel On with the new super structure.....

This is where it all started about 10 years ago. At that time I hadn't modelled figures, dirtied an aircraft or done water! Not a hundred per cent but but after spending nearly 6 months with 4 months off something had to give... Thank goodness its finished I've really had enough of it hanging around as somebody else said number of kits in the stash divided by the kits completed in a year and I've got out to live the photon bath bath when the universe ends 🤣.

late in getting back many apologies ... been busy....

I've recently purchased the 1/48, Tamya Me 262 A-2a with the w/Kettenkraftrad. My painting with or with out an airbrush is not up to the standard for painting the camouflage. freehand. What masks are available to use an airbrush? Any advice on getting a good representation gratefully accepted!! Thanks in anticipation

This is my first WnW I'm losing the will to live ! Every time I get close to posting submission it all gets lost!!!!! Above the obnoxious join. The rear cockpit spit in two down the midline. The whole of the wood grain area sanded back and restarted. A new wood varnish applied, watercolour pencils Tamya clear orange. The rest of the inside was completed. And then joined. With masking tape in place to complete the exterior of the nacelle but with a bit of imagination and the previous photos you can imagine the result OK in my eyes.

Everything to hand... Port side complete, now onto the starboard side

The engine was completed but was short of bits and bobs so added some of the pieces from This is not the best PE from Eduard, the instructions are hazy in part and there aren't enough spark plug leads. The WNW instruction book is required to reduice its short comings. Having spent the best part of a day to lead wires form the two magnetos into the pipe-work and then from this piepwork to the 12 spark plugs (I hope its the magnetos and spark plugs 😂). Waiting for the below to harden the engine was dirtied. I've used the excellent article in 'Air Modellor's guide to WingNut Wings Vol 2; Jeroen Veen Jess'. The vertical part to the Pilot's seat is a ball ache! It's almost impossible to fit seamlessly. My work around is to thin it from the rear glue to the Nacelle and then split it and paint the seat and blend into the rest of the cockpit!! More to follow...

Well I've started my WnW kit the F2B. My apprenticeship were the previous models.... The Engine went together well except I didn't read the colours that well painting the cylinders in Alclad Aluminium and then having to paint the cylinders behind the pipe work with Warhammer copper🥴. Having read that the parts go together and paint on the glue surfaces is enough to interfere with the fit I tried to put a dob of masking fluid on anything that requires glueing. https://www.flickr.com/photos/154341814@N05/50372078788/in/dateposted-public/. The comopleted engine looked a bit barren compared with the photographs in the instruction booklet https://www.flickr.com/photos/154341814@N05/50373486452/in/dateposted-public/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/154341814@N05/50372955042/in/dateposted-public/

Thanks for the comments much appreciated. The Fury exhaust... I got so fed up of touching up the Alclad Chrome... In the end I just said "right that's it no more". Just noticed a couple of missing parts on the Bristol! There comes a time when even though it's not finished, too much time has been devoted to the kit and in my stash...

The Eduard Bristol Fighter F2b was started over a year ago before two house moves. It really dragged as a build nothing wrong with the kit, in fact I would do it again minus some of the mistakes. The rigging instructions weren't' that good using WnW website for more detail. The Airfix Fury was started to get my model making mojo up and running. The kit was none too good massively raised detail and the top engine cowling was hideous to try and fit with out an obvious join. I like my kits with pilots so I purchased a Model Cellar Productions WW1 airman and pilot for the Bristol and used the modern pilot supplied in the Airfix kit(flying from Duxford maybe). The silver fabric paint was a car rattle can and the Chrome??? Alclad which always gave a better finish on the blue tac or masks! Paints used on the Bristol was the AK range of WW1 PC10/12 early and late with the clear doped linen, ver 2 and bleached. I found this paint none to hard wearing a lovely finish but this was rubbed away in places with the constant handling in the rigging phase. Turnbuckles on the Fury were portions of a PE fret N gauge railings. I tried this so I could bend the turnbuckle in line with the run of the rigging for the most part it worked well. The Bristol, I went down the GasPatch route although they are beautifully made are not easy to align. We all have our bete noirs and one of mine is turnbuckles out of alignment with the run of the rigging. Now onto my first WingNut Wing Models...

Well after much toing and froing, what set out to be a simple kit to expand my rigging skills (for a Wingnut Wings aircraft), the end result is here. Rigging has been with the very fine EZline and the aerials to try and get the sag has been with very thin copper wire. Weathering in the main AK Interactive brown streaks but there has also been thin washes of acrylics and water colour pencils. Main painting was hand brush Vellejo. Base tin foil and acrylic paints with a bit of tropical tank filter thrown in for good measure. Yes I've enjoyed it but it took on life of its own because the rigging exercise turned into the model you see.

What a truly magnificent model and diorama.Oustanding.

New to this in following on inside a topic I created. The upper wing came off and none of the struts were damaged another Yipee. the upper wing lower wing with struts attached and the fuselage with cabane struts attached have all been seperated. The model was started about a year ago then a house move intervened and somewhere in the house move this project has got the line of construction muddled up. Glossing after dry fitting the kit together, glossing with the rigging in place, glossing with the struts attached to the lower wing. Ay hum... the rear guns with the shock chord has been made with the PE in place but a little more refinement and the magazines need to be fixed. In my book thats not bad at trueness. And the nearly completed rear guns

Hi, my first posting on the ships forum. I got this little kit but beautifully formed, as an exercise in rigging for as yet to be made WW1 Wingnut Wings biplanes. Like everything else ignorance can be bliss until ignorance rears its ugly head and I found out some of the rigging was not worth the patience or the trials... My colour vision is not the greatest so I've relied on AK ship weathering to help put some Atlantic crossings on the ship. Problems with posting photos I'm happy with the ropes that controlled the derricks and the mast stays but when I tried to place the ropes that would have controlled the crane hook I just couldn't work behind the rigging that had been set up previously. Still some way to go but I think I've reached the peak and now on the way to completion.

After an hour of doing a post and then losing it and at that post unable to upload photos I'm losing it... So a very brief resume - may well be better for being shorter. The tiny struts from the fuselage to lower wing cemented onto body but on the wing used masking fluid Using the jig with lower wing tack taped to body glued the lower end of the struts to the lower wing and tacked the upper junction of them to the upper wing with masking fluid. The masking fluid kept the struts in place but importantly allowed the other struts to be placed and glued with out having that feeling of keeping ten plates spinning on garden canes. PS the rear modelling mat isn't true with anything but serendipitously I will use that idea agin for trueness. And the elevator will be sorted by the fitters before the maiden flight. The EZ super fine was CA'd to trimmed back GasPatch turnbuckles prior to the wing setting, a few have been lost but no difficult problem.

Well that's one beautiful reita👌. I wish I'd got the colour vision to do that but alas everything looks grey 🤣. Looks really good.

Can feel "hotter than hell" being blasted out even with out the stage! Wonderful

Well thanks for the comments on my little man - rear gunner 😆. Been waiting for some sun and no winds to photograph outdoors but alas, Storm Ceira and previous rain put paid to that and now moving house under way wanted to get at least some photos of the completed???? model on the web site. You may remember my previous attempts to sort out the fixing of the upper wing to lower by cooking at gas mark 1/2 and all I ended up with the upper wing slumped forward and the straight struts as beautiful 'S' bends - if had wanted to do it I couldn't... It's a bit of a walk around... The radial engine before the fitters got on with the propellor And at this time I'd made two torpedo aiming sights form wire and the little bits I use for the rigging (Uschi the thinnest elastic, the little bag is in the a removal box somewhere) attachments. On one of its missions one of them got blown off together with the pitot tube! A very fine CD - "Best of the Rolling Stones 71-93" Tamiya Paints - I don't go along with you can't paint with them. My technique was mix up with Mr Color levelling at the time of use and use thin mixes. I think where the paint don't stick I think there's some grease. Anyway... I'd applied about 3 coats and sprayed with Tamiya rattle can varnish and the paint crazed. So burying my head in the sand ignored that and carried on. Then came the cooking fiasco. My remedy was try to over paint but it didn't really work and cut out the bent struts and make some more... In hindsight after making fixing and painting found a set of struts in the box that would have been used if I had gone along the wing hinging possibility of the kit. Well what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger... Atlas watch out! Starboard side (the half baked side!) Starboard wing and rigging More rigging - For the Eagle eyed the pilots cockpit perspex windscreen didn't want to fit, so I used so I used a Hurricaine front screen. My little gunner - (sung to the tune of My Perfect Cousin - The Undertones) and rear rigging Which reminds me - the transfers weren't great and I lost the serial number ones so again the yellow roundels come form either a spitfire or Hurricaine kit. Rudder and tail plane. The rigging was too fine so i tried to beef them up with Tamiya Paints - it worked of sorts but the slightest touched bent the "wires" - remedied by cellulose thinners so the the Uschi line was allowed to spring back but after touching the wires 3 times and getting high on the cellulose fumes decided my lungs deserved better than the looks of the model. The vertical red and white and blue stripes on the fin also got washed away so had to remake from the other kits mentioned Port Rear view Port side Port Front And now I have just noticed the flattened tyres have been put on the square axles incorrectly! Oh well another Atlas moment From the front Port And finally top front Weathering The first major one was using the salt technique along the fuselage, ground sea salt on a water base dried and then a thin wash of a sandy colour. When dry I washed the salt away and then blended the resultant wash with more thinners - Liked the result and I am using it again on 1/700 liberty ship. Finer details used the Daler Rowney acrylic inks, Chipping Prisma Colour silver pencil Tamiya weathering powders? Review of my time with the kit For the main part enjoyed this kit but didn't like all the filling and sanding around the struts, very time consuming. Transfers I didn't enjoy. New house move, finish the Liberty Ship (really for practice at rigging) and then get onto F2b Wingnut Wings kit, which I've been striving to up my modelling skills to do it and me justice. Any comments gratefully received especially where improvements could have been made.🤪

If that's the start of modelling can't wait to see what follows 👍👍👍

Where ever possible I like models to have personnel in or around them. My dad has completed many aircraft models but they look static, crew give the aircraft scale and blur the edges of reality. It could have been me in the swordfish as the pilot or rear gunner. In reality it couldn't because of poor colour vision, green flags waving me off the deck would have left me asking "what colour?" The Airfix kit didn't have any crew so using a pilot from a Hurricane and Spitfire I made a pilot and rear gunner. The pilot "Orf with his head!" well everything but... I tried to cut in line with how the human body articulates, so cuts were made at the shoulder and hip joints. Arms, thighs, knees I hadn't really a clue the actual position in this area of the cockpit of where he would be standing so I decided to put his legs back onto his torso and stand him in the rear gunner position and hoping the Airfix kit had some fidelity it might be obvious... standing on the cockpit floor. Looking at the length of his legs to his body they appeared too long, so off with his feet at ankle level. Ignoring he had no feet the leg length to head and body ratio now looked right. Gluing limbs...a dab of humbrol cement to tack limbs into position and once happy superglue. Legs on his waste was wrong so had to sand down his thighs. Positioned in the cockpit the next part was positioning his arms and hands so they fitted the gun. dab of Humbrol cement and superglue to fix permanently. So happy with with his position ... painting He had a quick shower using bathroom bleach and a tooth brush he was painted with Tamiya paints. None of the problems mentioned. Got my other half to mix a orange for his Mae West. And a wash to bring some depth and features to his face. A thick dob of superglue Gel on the cockpit floor and positioned him so his hands and arms would convincingly meet the Lewis machine gun. A bit more superglue to lock everything in place and little more painting. A photo at more natural viewing distance

On my quest to my first Wingnut model I decided to try my hand at the Airfix Swordfish with rigging. My Airbrush is still in storeage so had to be brush painted using Tamya Paints. Things I've learnt along the way....... 1) BiFocals from spec savers 2.5 and 3.5 times magnification have worked really well 2) I read some where of putting the colour call outs down the side fo the modelling mat. This prevented a lot of time wasted trying to find the correct colour form either the instructions or the side fo the box. 3) Rigging can be really simplified and predictable! I used a set of drills for the holes, stretched sprue to fix superglue and an accelerator to fix the Uschi item code 4007 0.001O.D. line to the stretched sprue. Not shown is the 2mm stretched sprue already in the white tack and the Uschi line already cut in 3-4 inch lenghts. One pot is accelerator and the other superglue. Superglue applied to the tip of the stretched sprue by cocktail stick and the end of the Uschi line brushed on the accelerator and the two brought together with the tweezers, (£22.00 from boots and worth every penny. Onto the builed Cockpit first Then two fuselage halves brought together... and brush painted The painting I found soul destroying because much as I tried I couldn't get a smooth deep finish. The fuselage received more coats and was rubbed down with wet and dry but all I seemed to do was remove the the delicate shape of the fabric covered longerons! Ploughing on to the wings, I eventually did get a good finish but this was crackled by spraying Tamya varnish on from a rattle can! I ploughed on... The rigging was applied at this stage but my technique mentioned above hadn't been refined at this stage. With the wing rigged al I needed to do was fit it to the Fuselage. Calamity, CALAMITY CALAMITY. The wings didn't fit the body!!! I thought put them in a cooking oven and soften them to bring them back into shape. I tested the oven with a thermometer but that only went up to 50degrees Centigrade - to cool to enable me to bring about any wing warping!! As I type this I can't help but laugh... So the gas oven was set at Gas Mark 1/2 Googled that, this would be about 150C decided I would time the wings in the oven by minutes. Got my phone to do the timing and by the time I had opened the oven door, the wing struts had melted on one side and the top wing had slumped forward and the struts that were straight formed a beautiful "S" curve (must remember that for when I need an S curve in a strut!?) I decided to fix to the fuselage the best fitting wings and then sort out the warped side. To do this I had to remove the lug on the Starboard lower wing. But the rigging was still in place. Thought long and hard decided to cut the S curve struts out and make some new ones with two filaments of stretched sprue sanded into some where near the correct shape. Using a jig made with wooden stirers fixed the Starboard wing into place. Even after all this manhandling I only needed to replace 2 lines. That done fitted the the four new struts sanded and painted. The control lines at the rear of he fus' took a little time to discover which control horn they went to but using my modified technique this was completed in next to no time. Pushing the 2mm stretched sprue plastic end into the body and glueing then gluing onto the control horn. So nearly there... Here is a photo comparison of the Uschi line and a human hair

I am three quarters the way to finnishing a 1/72 swordfish in greys and black as suggested by the humbrol/airfix kit. My airbrush is in storage so I'm painting using Tamya paints. The colours look correct but they are far too bright. I'm thinking of brushing on the greys a filter to tone them down and make it look more realistic but don't really know where to start. The black (black Tamya rattle can) underneath I'm going to use oil dot technique but would like advice on colours of oil dots to blend. Any advice gratefully received. Thanks in anticipation Tim K

The rigging... 😊 I want to say is from invisible thread BUT is in storage near Edinburgh... If it was in the shopping bag under the table I would have used it... 😉. You've said something I did think about, perhaps your comment is enough for me to buy some more Ezi line and Gas Patch turn-buckles... Watch this space 😂😂😂

Not the usuall at all... For the last 6 months I've been unable to do any serious modelling. All my modelling equipment has been bought at ASDA, Hobbycraft and Scoonie Hobbies, Kirkcaldy and kept in a supermarket bag. My modelling area has been the back garden and a A4 modelling mat. My stash of kits and more serious equipment, air brush, thinners, extractor brushes and paints etc etc are in storeage. My goal is to complete a WIngNut Wings and to this end completed two biplanes last year and 75% completd a third but evrything came to a halt in May this year. The Itch to complete something has been helped by a Harrier with my grandson and this latest offering. The olive drab representing PC12 was from a Tamya spray can the rest was brush painted. I wanted to complete a biplane but at the time of visiting Hobbycraft Stockport the closest thing to one was Starfighter X wing. Undaunted i pressed on... So practising wood paneling oil dot blending and enhancing moulded structures I began "In a far off galaxy" Metals had become very expensive but plywood was very cheap! The rebels using all there recycling skills to eke out their limited resources built this special to celebrate their for fathers... of two World Wars back on Earth. Of interest too me the panel lines were brush painted in using water colour pencils. The metal paints used were Tamya silver, iron and metallic blue. The goldy colours were the silver mixed with Acrylic yellow ink which produced anything from a rich gold to a bleached out one. As you can see the base I couldn't really be bothered with it was the model and its use as a practice was where i concentrated my efforts. The underneath wing was painted with Enamel colour approximating to doped lined but then I sprayed with a Tamya acrylic varnish and yes the inevitable happened it crazed! The oil dot technique used Winsor and Newton dark umber, light umber and yellow. I wanted to get a graduation from a darker leading edge (straight edge) to a lighter trailing edge (diagonal edge) The panels lines brushed in with watercolour pencils varnished and then the oil dot technique. The end result not quite what I was after but alot better than monochrome colour. To make the moulded detail pop, again it was watercolour pencils and brushed round the details and adjusted. Overall I'm pleased and itching to get on with WNW kit.

Thank you for all the kind and positive comments cheers guys Tim