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SaminCam

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Everything posted by SaminCam

  1. Evening all! First dry fit of all the main bits and pieces and it suddenly looks like a Tempest: Riveting on the wings pretty much done so moving on to the fuselage next. Need to remember to do the wing tip lights, job for tomorrow!
  2. Super interesting and nicely done so far! Tough to tell with photos and definitely going to come down to personal pov but I'd say the spinner and leading edges look about right and I would try and keep going elsewhere. Focusing in a bit more panel to panel should help with a final very light coat all over to tie it back together. That's my tuppence anyway!
  3. Have just been through the whole thread (the joys of having time off at Christmas!) and absolutely loving all the information about these "just slightly pink" spitfires that I knew nothing about before! Also, the cockpit is amazing, I'm a 72nd scale man myself but pictures like the one above do make you think... Can't wait to see what happens next!
  4. It could definitely be a grubby, just off white with cleaner, newer white stripes on top? So hard to tell with these black and white images - I wouldn't worry about it too much, yours is going to look great!
  5. This looks great! I managed a weathered white finish on a coastal command liberator last year with a similar approach. I also masked off a couple of panels before the final pass of white to give a bit of variation. The sharp edge pre shade should work great, tried this (as well!) on an SR71 a few months ago. As others say, the trick will be to stop just before you think you should, flat coats, weathering, etc, will make things more uniform. Good luck!
  6. Thanks gents! Despite the relatively old kit, really enjoyed building this one and if it taught me one thing, it is how to rescribe! Yep, I was amazed at the quality of the cockpit and pilots in the kit, I was very tempted to build with canopy open but just didn't think the SR71 looked quite right with landing gear down, sat on the tarmac - it just looks like it should be going at Mach 3! I'll post some more pics once I finally get around to making a base for this and my Lancaster, been on the to-do list for too long! Happy Christmas everyone!
  7. Thanks mate! Yep, getting in the zone with one project at a time is definitely how I work best, I don't get huge amounts of time at the bench so I find plugging away bit by bit works best for me - at the moment I'm covering the Tempest in rivets, have been at it for a few weeks but will get there soon then progress will jump forwards as wings go on, paint gets sprayed, etc. The Eduard Spit (or Spits) will be a nice change as the surface detail ootb is amazing and doesn't need anything adding. Are you doing a WiP for the Spit and 109? I did something similar a few years ago (posted on here somewhere!) and really enjoyed making both kits. I've not tried rattle cans for primer but don't see why they can't work, I guess you just need to be careful to shoot from a decent distance away and try to not let the paint pool? Airbrushing takes a bit of getting used to but is definitely worth it, a few tips I've picked up along the way: - It's worth investing in two nozzles, one for fine work, pre and post shading, Luftwaffe mottling, etc, and one for covering bigger areas - I also have two moisture traps, one at exit of compressor and one at inlet to airbrush, this was probably the biggest "aha" moment as previously I kept getting spattering - Always clean up at the end of a session. I use acetone - much cheaper than airbrush cleaner - Wear latex gloves whenever handling model to prevent finger prints - Ventilate well!
  8. Evening all and Merry Christmas! Not much to add to the intro and couple of questions above, except to say "he came!" The kit itself looks lovely but the resin Merlin, though pretty small, looks incredible! I want to get the Tempest progressed a bit further before really starting with this project but the cockpit and engine is definitely going to be tempting me...
  9. Evening all, I hope you are all doing well. I've been plugging away at riveting the Tempest: I've done the top side of one wing and the bottom side of the other so making progress. It's not perfect by any means, sometimes the tape ruler moves, it's hard to get everything perfectly square and parallel and every now and again you just slip, ...but... I think the overall effect works quite well and will bring this nice little kit to life. A few other minor modifications are to drill out the panel fastening holes already there, create a few more on the small hatches with a needle, open up the shell ejector holes underneath and add the pedal foot plates withb carefully scored aluminium foil. I'm hoping I can speed up a bit now I'll be copying the pattern across to the other wing, then it's on to the fuselage! Cheers for looking, here's the underside wing:
  10. Hi All, I think I've been well behaved this year and I've asked Father Christmas for the rather lovely looking Eduard 1/72 Spitfire Mk.IXc Profipack. In looking through the various schemes and ideas for this build I've become a bit overwhelmed with choice but I'm starting to hatch a slightly mad plan to build two of these. The idea is to do one in flight, with a scavenged Airfix pilot, wheels up, etc. To make it a bit special I'm thinking of putting a small motor in to spin the prop and perhaps some LED lights, a battery for these would be in the base of a stand which would then have a suitable plug to connect up to the electrics in the aircraft - sounds fun! A question on this: does the Eduard kit build up ok with the wheels up, it doesn't look like an option in the instructions but must be doable, right? For the second one, I'm very tempted by the resin engine, gun bay details and flap sets and I'm thinking to model it with all of these open having seen a great example on the Eduard website. I enjoy making and painting fiddly little things but has anyone on Britmodeller done this conversion, I can't find an example at the moment? The closest I've found is Fozzy's insanely good cutaway Mk1a: If you've made it this far, final question is a request really! I'd like one of these two builds to be UF-Q, a beautiful looking No 601 squadron machine in NMF. Unfortunately the 1/72 Eduard kit with the decals for this doesn't seem to be available at the moment and I wondered if anyone might be willing to do a swap if they have the decals gathering dust in a box somewhere? Message me if you can help and we can see what I have that you need in return! Thanks!
  11. Hello all! I'm pleased to present my latest finished model, the new(ish) tool Airfix 1/72 Stuka: This one is pretty much out of the box with the only additions being some holes drilled to represent big panel fasteners, a couple of extra panel lines on the wings, rivet lines added along the edge of panels, and a stretched sprue antenna wire. The kit goes together really well - the only thing to look out for is the slightly strange nose assembly which just needs a bit of dry fitting to get right. The kit is painted with Mr Color luftwaffe colours and Tamiya acrylics with weathering added with oil paints and ground up artists pastels. If I was doing it again I'd probably be a bit braver with the riveting and add some across the panels to liven it up some more. If you're interested any more details, there's a relatively quick WIP here: Enjoy! Thanks for taking a look! Here it is lined up with the rest of my luftwaffe squadron:
  12. Evening all, I'm pretty much "all in" on the riveting plan now having made a start on the upper wing surface: I'm using photos of the 1/48 Eduard kit for the pattern, dymo tape stuck to tamiya tape (so you can reuse), a fine pencil to check position, then Rosie riveter using the tape as a guide - it's going to take ages but so far I've been able to keep things neat and tidy and it should look great when the whole aircraft is done. I've also got RFI photos for Stuka taken so will get those up in the next day or two. Cheers, Sam
  13. Foil from scalpel packaging is the answer, just the right stiffness to bend around the seat but still stiff enough to keep its shape, the buckles are bits of stretched sprue 👍
  14. Evening all, I've made a little bit of progress on the Tempest this week, the cockpit is pretty much done - you can't really see much so have kept things simple except for the extra work on the seatbelts. Here the fuselage is slotted together (not glued yet) to give an idea of how it will look: These close ups are always a bit gruesome but pretty happy with how it looks IRL. I've started the job of riveting the whole aircraft - decided to properly go for it and I'm trying extra hard to be neat and tidy. Port tail plane done and starboard under way here: I'm basing the pattern on drawings I found and photos of the larger scale Tempest kits. It's going to take a while but will hopefully be worth it, even if the effect is quite subtle once paint goes on. Thanks for dropping by, more updates once the wings are done! Sam
  15. Evening all, have been fiddling around with foil wrapper and bits of stretched sprue to make some seat belts. I'm getting better at these but could still be a bit more refined ( those two big buckles might get redone next time I'm at the bench...), not too bad for 1/72 though I guess. Interior painting to come next and can then get fuselage halves together.
  16. Cheers @Rabbit Leader, I've ended up sanding trailing edges from outside as well after applying some sprue glue, it's not waffer thin but a lot better than to start with: @stevej60 @Ngantek, thanks for these tips as well gents, both noted! The leading edges weren't too bad and I've had a play with the strange "tongue" that sticks forward into the intake with some dry fitting, I see what you mean! Makes sense Steve, I'm an engineer myself (also an academic though, so not a real one 🤓) and there's always a compromise to make. I've lots of sympathy for the people who design these kits (and a little envy) and overall super impressed with this one. Further progress this evening was a squirt of rubber black then a lighter grey highlight on the insides and wheel bays to provide an undercoat for the cockpit green to come next. Probably watch the football tomorrow night but hopefully there will be some more snaps to come later in the week. Cheers, Sam
  17. Welcome all to my next WIP build, the new 1/72 Airfix Hawker Tempest. First impressions of this one are really good: there's a good amount of plastic in the box, a nicely detailed cockpit, nice clear instructions and two great looking schemes to choose from. Here's the obligatory box shot: This one will be mostly ootb, the cockpit is really closed off so won't add detail other than some foil seatbelts and think I'll use the kit markings to complete the version with yellow spinner and invasion stripes. I started with lots of dry fitting and found the thick trailing edges that others have commented on - why didn't they mould the flaps with the upper surface then have the join underneath? Anyway, I ground away some plastic on both upper and lower parts with my fake dremel tool then sanded the trailing edges until they were just going see through. I've now added the transparent bits, guns (drilled out too) and added the 0.6mm holes required for later. I glued the two halves together this evening and will see how it all looks before a bit of filling around the edges and more sanding away the TE if needed. The biggest modification I plan to make is to do a thorough riveting job on this little model as the larger scale versions I've seen look great with the extra detail. I'll do a bit of practice on an old paint mule and then get stuck in before gluing fuselage and wings together. Thanks for dropping in, more to come soon! Sam
  18. Thanks Ernest, glad you like it!
  19. Evening all, pretty much there with Stuka! Went fairly heavy with the weathering using oils and ground up pastels. It doesn't show up great under this lousy desk light but looks ok in daylight, underside is also streaked and spattered to look like it's having a hard life. Last touch will be to paint the aerial wire and then I'm calling it done 👍 Overall I've really enjoyed this one, other than the riveting and xtradecal BoB transfers, it's straight out of the box and I can highly recommend the kit to anybody looking for a stress free build! I'll get some decent snaps taken for an RFI post in the next few days but for now, thanks for following along! Sam
  20. Following with interest Steve, I'm about to get one of these started as well! Cockpit looks great!
  21. Thanks @Sturmovik, glad you approve! Decals all on and rolling into a dive here! Lashings of decal softener currently doing its job then next, another coat of varnish to seal in. Cheers, Sam
  22. ...and some more work done this evening! Main decals are from the xtradecal Battle of Britain set: These have gone down nicely - I found they work better with cold water, one started to break up a bit with warm, and have decal softener helping them to sit into the panel lines. The airfix decals are good as well, I'm using the little detailed ones from their sheet, but I like BoB subjects and have managed to keep a flash of yellow running through my Luftwaffe "squadron" so the xtradecal option fit the bill. A few more to go on the undersides and then it'll more varnish and finally some weathering. Cheers, Sam
  23. A little more progress with the Stuka today; propeller was painted with the yellow stripe and a few touch ups were completed on the main paint job. I've just whacked a gloss coat on top and once that is properly dry she'll be ready for decals.
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