Old timer

Good job Steve. Your weathering, particularly, strikes me. I hope mine turns out somewhere as good. Well done. Cheers...

Steve. Don’t despair. You could try Revell. Their UK office is in Tring, not too far away from you. Number is 01296 660291 Address is unit 10, Old Airfield Ind Estate, Cheddington Lane, Tring. HP23 4QR. The above phone is on the desk of Chloe Aplin. Assistant Sales UK & Ireland Customer Service. It might take 3 weeks or more to get the parts (they come from Germany) but they will supply what you need. I wanted a canopy for their 1/32 Tornado - got it in about 3 weeks through Chloe, if she’s not there anymore someone else will help I’m sure. Cheers for now.

Thanks Steve. Mine is lined with 50mm polystyrene with a 25mm Air gap to the outside wood panelling . Last winter I left a half a cup of water on my work table, next morning it was frozen solid. All the makers of (water based) acrylics say don’t store them below 0C. I tried using some of them afterwards with poor results. I’ve now taken to removing them all into the house until spring time, but it’s a pain. I’ve got light and heat in the shed but of course only use it whilst working there. I guess living 200 miles + north of you makes the difference. Anyway thanks for your experience. Cheers.

Hi Steve. You mentioned “popping out to my shed” a few posts back. Most of my modelling seems to be done in my shed too. Do you do anything special overnight with your acrylic paints when it freezes outside?...

Excellent Steve. Good to hear you solved the problem, and Yes - what great customer service from Alclad!!

So with Tamiya it doesn’t sound like the primer has anything to do with it. Like you say, dump the Alclad and go for your tried and tested MRP. I’ve not used it before but read a lot about it. I’ve tried to buy it recently but no one seems to have the colours I’ve wanted. Anyway, good luck getting it sorted. Can’t wait to see the Rhino completed!

Hi Steve. What a disappointment, the Alclad I mean! I’ve had mixed results with this paint. My last project was a Revell 1/32 Gulf war Tornado. I airbrushed it with their Desert sand Mil Spec enamel. Like you I set the pressure at 20psi and started spraying, all good for about 20 secs and then the nozzle blocked (I was spraying with HS infinity using a 0.3 needle and tip). I stripped the brush and found the tip well and truly clogged with fine sand, I guess the pigment they use. My only option was to clean it out and continue, I went through this routine more than 10/15 times before I got all the paint on. I was happy with the finish though, it wasn’t like yours at all. I emailed them got a reply that didn’t really help. You could try the same and see what they come back with. What’s the paint underneath the Alclad?

Thanks Starspell. Info on attaching PE much appreciated. Just fitted both tail fins on mine. They attached without too much of a problem but need filler to neaten them. I made a cardboard template to give the 20 degree angle which made the joint look better than I expected.

It’s looking good. Excellent in fact! I’ve got mine up to fitting the tail fins stage. It’s not been as difficult as I thought so far, there are a few gaps that need filling, but nothing too problematic. The fins on mine are pretty much like yours, needing too much filler at the front of both fins. I’ve got the Eduard zoom cockpit set 33219 thinking the parts were all self adhesive but they don’t seem to be. It’s my first time with PE, my first impression is I’ll need a big magnifying glass! But I don’t know how I’m going to fix the parts to the styrene instrument panel. Hugogo’s build has some landing good landing gear photos that may help with installing yours. Keep the pics coming, they are very useful for us others building this kit. cheers for now.

Hi Starspell. Thanks for your comments about join lines on the clear parts (windshield and canopy). I’ve got the same problem, they’re very faint but still need to be removed. The parts themselves are very, very clear. I never seem able to get back the same level of clarity. I’d be interested in the method you use to remove the lines if you’re able to let me know.

Thanks NAVY. Will you be putting your build on the site? I know the kit is a dog, but I’m sure it’ll look good when it’s complete. How are you planning to finish it?

It’s looking good Steve. I also have just started this kit, having worked up the courage to finally give it a go, after reading lots of bad press about it. I followed hugogo’s build, wow what an effort!! I’ve got my build only to the stage of fitting the fuselage underside, but so far so good. Assembling and glueing the wheel bays was a bit fiddly but no great problem really. I can confirm about the cockpit floor being about 2mm too high to prevent the HUD display being fitted successfully and the seat possibly fouling the inside top of the canopy. I’ve read a few threads about how to fix it but the fix I shall to use shave off 2mm from the underside of the Cockpit side walls/seat support effectively dropping the floor height by 2mm. I’ve just dry assembled the complete front fuse/cockpit and windshield and there isn’t enough height to take the HUD screen. So you’ll need to do something to overcome it. I can’t help much with your “intake” question but if it’s the one in the centre and to the rear of the wheel bays I didn’t see a problem with mine so long as you position the part that fits underneath the fuselage bottom parallel the fuse bottom.