Bonkin

Thanks Keeff. I seem to remember you were into building 1/24 scale kits as well? Maybe I got that wrong? Cheers Flintsone . You humble me Remus Thank you Jonners. With the nose stuffed with milliput I just put the assembled units (without blades) into the chuck of my Black & Decker Drill - and the sanding was easy on a high speed setting . I love East Yorkshire - beautiful part of the country. Are you anywhere near Beverley? Thanks Darwinism. Cheers. Cheers mate. Thanks George that means a lot. I still remember your tenacity with that Heller 190 kit. Cheers Keith. Although some would disagree, I do agree that the hooter wasn't right - although I'm sure somebody will correct me .

Hello. When my 1/24 scale FW190 build hit a snag (should be recoverable), I didn't want to stop building - so I embarked on the classic Airfix 1/24 Scale Hawker Hurricane. One of my all time favourite aircraft. I originally built this kit as an over excited prepubescent kid during the 1970's and of course, as delighted as I was with it, it obviously looked like it had been built by an over excited prepubescent kid - with little glue control, his sisters nail sanders and over sized paint brushes. This time I hoped to do it more justice. The subject of my build is P3803 of 501 Squadron. This aircraft was lost off the coast near Ramsgate on 12th August 1940 with F/O Kazimierz Lukaszewicz (Polish) at the controls. Sadly neither he nor his aircraft were ever found. The build is mostly out of the box - except for the Yahu Instrument Panel, Barracuda Studios Resin tyres, and RB Productions Sutton Harness. The decals were to my own design and printed by https://www.custom-model-decals.com/. All paints and varnishes are Vallejo. One modification I did make was to the (in my opinion) over-sized nose. After looking at different options I eventually stuffed it with milliput and then sanded it down to reduce the base diameter by a small margin. As you can tell... I'm not a photographer! I am pleased with how it has turned out. As with all models there are a few places I think could do with more work - but in reality I think I'm going to call this one done. Maybe time to get back to the FW190 . Thanks for looking.

I have to say Volksjager that this is probably the finest build I have ever seen of this old Airfix 1/24 classic. The added detail is superb and the finish is excellent. You are right to be proud of it and I am glad that my own (still incomplete) build was the inspiration to get you started. The photography really shows off the build perfectly - and to me, that second picture perfectly shows how you've got the setting of the undercarriage perfect - it being very reminiscent of wartime pictures of the real thing! Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! I really look forward to seeing more of your work! Thank you for sharing it with us. Incidentally... my own build has stalled due to a rather misfortunate (and expensive) incident involving a cat . Nothing that can't be sorted though... I'll share more in due course.

Slowly getting there... wiring all sorted out now. I used some Wago connectors and a box to link in the switch: And self adhesive magnetic strips for the panel fixings. These were pretty easy just to cut to length, attach to the frame and then, one side at a time, to remove the adhesive backing and press home the Perspex panel - starting with the front one: ... before repeating the process with the side ones. I'm happy with the corner edge. It all matches nicely. In the pictures below the outer protective covering is still on the Perspex sheets - which is why it looks a little frosty. With the glass shelves back in it is now back to storing some of the stash: Final jobs are to sort the top out with an edge trim (so the dust can't get in), and then to use some edging tape around the four edges of each of the Perspex sheets. Then of course it is back on with the model build . Thanks for looking.

A little bit more progress... so regarding where to fit a switch I decided to make a wooden base for the whole thing to sit on. This also has the added benefit of providing a base for the Perspex front and sides to sit on. No special joints or anything... just cut to size, screwed together and a little bit of trim added. ... then painted gloss black and a rocker switch added. For the back I've just used a sheet of plywood together with black PVC foamboard: And for shelving I opted for laminated glass. I did consider Perspex but I was advised by the supplier that for such a size it would sag - even if I went for a greater thickness. In any case, glass is cheaper . I also used self-adhesive insulating strips to sit the glass on... and I've got a mirror top and bottom. The mirrors make for some interesting perspectives... ... and give better viewing options... In this final shot you can see the shelving unit now fixed to the base. Next job is to wire up the switch to the lighting and then to fit the front and sides. The Perspex sheet for these has arrived so it is now just a matter of getting on with it... and then building the models to display within it . As always, thanks for looking.

Good to hear you are making progress - I'm afraid I haven't had much time on mine... real life getting in the way and to be honest, the weather here has been gloriously hot, i.e. good for days out but not too good for airbrushing. When I have had a little time to myself I've been doing some work on my 1/24 model display case (see sig topic) - and also researching/considering paint schemes. Still undecided on how to finish this one... but I'd like to have a lot of mottling. Can't say I've found the surface to be pebbly or inconsistent - and I haven't mounted my gunsight yet so I can't comment on that. German gunsights were always offset to one side though. Not quite sure why they did this... guess there is some logic behind it?

Looking forward to seeing this come together .

Hey Troy... did you see my message perchance?

Thank you so very much for your kind words George... I'm somewhat humbled. Of course, I have only been able to try a different approach because generous people like yourself have gone to the effort of sharing their work and discovering the pitfalls along the way. That is what is great about communities like this... we can learn from each other and help each other to enjoy our hobby more. Great perseverance on your Heller Fw190 build btw. An entertaining read and a reminder to keep at it no matter what . I'm sharing it below for others to enjoy:

According to the label, mine is 99.9%. I will try Tamiya thinner though.

These are the two I'm using for my current build: and The Haynes one has a lot of good cockpit pictures. The latter is quite dry but provides a very detailed insight into "Norddeutschen Dornier Werk" FW190 A-F production. Of particular note is how as the war prolonged, it became much harder for Germany to manufacture a consistent colour set - which explains why there are such a variety of schemes. For me, it is useful so I don't get "hung-up" trying to get exactly the right colours or scheme.

Just took a look. Top right of the box it says JG3. Within the contents I have a colour paint guide included. There are two schemes - the one on the box (JG3) and a Black 12 - but no indication of unit sadly. I think there may be some after market masks sets which may be useful.

I've got this kit and I'm fairly sure there is a paint guide in it... although iirc it is a representation. I'll see if I can dig it out.

Cheers Mattlow. I'm fairly sure I will be posing the model with the canopy open and maybe a belt handing out ... so I will most likely end up PVAing it in place anyway. So I've made a little progress today. Spent a fair few hours in the hope of improving the "finished look" of the model - but unsure of whether it is worth it. Let me explain... I think I have said somewhere before that one of the things that bugs me with this kit is not the fit - its the over done recessed rivets. Here for example is the wing... ... and fuselage: When I've looked at completed models by others, these rivets really stand out. Some may like them but I don't really see evidence of them in pictures of the real thing. Somebody may come along and correct me on this - but I'd already decided to tone them down a bit. I had already experimented on the gun cowling with little success. This is the result after I'd filled the rivet details with Vallejo putty, sanded and sprayed in RLM74. Rivets still visible . But, inspired by this I thought I'd try again: I normally only use IPA prior to final painting... but with some on hand (no Mr Color Thinner) I thought I had nothing to lose. So with the underside of the tail to experiment on: It was out with the Mr Surfacer and on with a mask. At first I tried the 500 but this seemed much too thick to apply evenly... so I switched to the 1000. My general approach was to leave some of the detail alone and soften other parts. In the picture, the upper tailplane has the 500 on it. Once dried, I took a small towel moistened with IPA and gave it a good wipe it down. Unfortunately this did nothing to the Mr Surfacer - all it did do was strip the paint off - which is pretty much what I expected it to do anyway. So after a bit of sanding I ended up with this... ...which I then sprayed up with RLM76 to check the result... This was enough to convince me to try the approach over the rest of the model. It's not a perfect finish but the rivets are toned down and my thinking is that with a lot of re-work and patience I should be able to get the finish I want. It will just take time that is all... ... so wings and fuselage have their first fills: As with many things like this, having started I'm now committed. My poor neck is not thanking me though ! As always, thanks for looking.

Coming along very nicely.

Just tried to PM you Troy but it seems you can't receive messages?

That is a great link, cheers . I never knew this. Too bad I already cut them off .

Despite a couple of bank holiday weekends I've not managed much time at the work bench sadly - so not much to show. For the flaps I made up some wing ribs from plasticard and fitted these in place, being careful to line them up with the rivet detail on the top side of the wing: I also sprayed these up and will weather them a bit later. Then it was onto the construction and masking up of the canopy. Airfix very helpfully give you two canopy options in the box - one with a blown canopy and one without. I've gone for the latter because I believe they were far more common. I also fitted the back half of the cockpit (containing the baggage container) and taped up the fuselage whilst the glue set. One of the things I'm slightly dubious about with this kit is the over recessed riveting. Not sure what to do yet to get rid of them, i.e. do a lot of sanding down or a lot of spot filling. In the picture below you may be able to see that I've done some spot filling to the piece that fits over the guns (aft of the engine). The canopy frame has little pieces at the front which clip to the inside of the cockpit frame. I really don't know what Airfix were thinking with these... ... because as you slide the canopy back the front ends will get squeezed together due to the narrowing of the fuselage . I guess they would serve a purpose of holding everything in place if you wanted the canopy shut - but in my case I want it posed with the cockpit fully open and maybe the seat belts hanging out. In any case, off they came . Test fitting the canopy to the frame revealed the 2nd fit issue I have found with this kit. Although the front fits well, the rear sliding part doesn't, either in width or height. I guess if I'm posing the canopy in an open position it shouldn't matter too much - but I'd still like to improve it if I can. As always, thanks for looking.

Cheers. I'll take a closer look at the barrels. I think I have seen some differences on museum pieces and photographs - so you could well be right. Thanks Keith.

I'm building this kit at the moment (see link Troy made in his post above). Personally despite what I've read elsewhere, the kit goes together fine and I'm enjoying building it. There are just a few ill-fitting places that will need some attention. It does have recessed panel lines and, in my opinion, unrealistic over recessed rivets. There are very limited after market parts sadly, but despite all this I do think it is worth buying. I got mine on a well known auction site a couple of years ago for not much more than £50.

So having gotten the colour of the oil system wrong I rushed out and bought some RLM26 brown and re-did the oil filter: I then added some piping at the rear of the engine - in the hope it may be visible from above once fitted. In truth, I studied a lot of pictures of the BMW engine and came to the conclusion that it would be near impossible (and pointless) with my limited skills to attempt to faithfully replicate all of the piping that goes on back there. After multiple dry fit checks and re-checks it was finally time to bite-the-bullet and get the glue out and, given my assembly process, I knew it was going to be a challenge to get the alignment of the engine set correctly. For this reason I elected not to glue the engine until after the front was fitted and clamped together. As you can see, the fan blades fit nicely inside the nose ring and do not protrude beyond it. I can only conclude that the key to avoid this getting this right lies in the correct placement of the firewall part 20. I did however come across my first fit issue... in order to get the engine to be correctly aligned it had to be tilted slightly forward - meaning that the engine does not fit snuggly against the frame (see red arrow). This is a gap I'll have to address later on somehow . On the plus side, the top cowls seem to fit pretty well. I set the engine in place with tape whilst the glue did its thing: Again... another view of the fan assembly. Now with the clamp and tape off I could check out the cowl fit properly - and somewhat surprisingly (and pleasingly) it seems to fit very well. Bear in mind of course that I've not fitted the guns, oil filter or the exhausts yet so some of this may yet be in error. Happy the engine alignment is ok... but getting the front part fitted may now be problematic. And finally I couldn't resist checking it out with the propeller fitted: As always, thanks for looking.

Cheers Pete .

Regarding the lighting, I purchased some LED Aluminium V Shaped 1m channels (with diffuser cover), and a 5M roll of Lepro 12V Cool White 6000K Daylight LEDs. These come pre-wired and have a self adhesive backing to them - so it was a simple job to cut them to length and then to fit them to the channels which I had already cut to fit the racking. Then it was a simple solder job (just using normal 12V car wiring cable) at each end... ...and protected with some heat shrink over the ends: I then superglued each channel to the long shelf brackets so that each shelf would be illuminated from above: I need to figure out where to fit a switch - but I'll do this later.

I did look at IKEA units and I think there are a number of them that would suit smaller scale models. The Detolf Glass-door cabinet for example is a nice unit - but I would need several of them for my (intended) collection and it wouldn't provide a home for the Mossie. Unfortunately Billy units also only have a shelf depth of 26cm. In truth, the Mossie has probably been why I've been looking at a custom unit... since I don't want to be paying a high price for a made to order cabinet solution.

Not sure where to post this so the Chat area seems the most appropriate - but I thought I'd share my attempt at building a custom display case for large scale models. This came about because after "investing" in a 1/24 scale model kit stash in my enthusiastic return to the hobby, I came to realise that I'd blundered somewhat in having absolutely no consideration regarding where I was going to put my completed efforts, i.e. I realised that for these large scale models you need quite deep shelving units - and you can't easily find affordable display cabinets to accommodate them. On YouTube I found that some folks were making their own cabinets out of cheap garage racking... so this is the path I'm going down. This video in particular got me started: Copying this idea I selected a rack with the deepest shelf I could find which would fit my available space: And then using this, I started out figuring out suitable shelf layouts (these are to scale): And here is the assembled rack with some of the stash: I've already fitted LED lighting (more on this later) and I want to fit an upper and lower mirror and clear shelving. I also want to have removable front and side panels (not doors) - so I'll use this is a build thread/log as I go. Obviously I'm interested in anyone else's home built display cases too - particularly for larger models. Cheers.