Stuflyer

Very cool: that's not a great kit but you got a great result. Remind me, does the kit come with a degaussing ring?

I don't normally go for Chinooks, but that one is fantastic: can you give us some more info, like Kit, markings and so on? Thanks - great work there.

Nice work so far. I'm just about to start tickling up the same kit ( but keeping it as a Wasp) so I'll be watching this closely ☺

That is a real piece of work. Beautiful finishing. And in my favourite Argosy scheme too. Well done. :-)

Oh yes, there must be or they'd be out of business. I have a feeling a lot of the models never get finished, but then I wonder how many normal kits get bought and not finished. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

Cheers Paul

Thanks John, I think I'll do that. Paul, your ladder looks fantastic! I am not sure my hands are steady enough for scratching one of those though, sadly. I may give it a go for a laugh though - where did you get the dimensions?

Hi All, a simple one that you'd have thought could have been dealt with via Google, but my Google-fu seems to be lacking. Does anyone make a boarding ladder for 1/48 lightnings? Flightpath do one but only as part of their overall set for the lightning and all I want is the ladder. I cold have sworn Airwaves did one but i'm either imagining it or it's out of production. Thanks for any info

And it's 99p extra per issue for digital issues. You know, ones they don't have to print. De Agostini: taking the mick out of the general public since 1999.

Cheers folks! Guy: treat yourself to one, they are fantastic. Rob: yup - go ahead, you'll really enjoy it.

Fantastic! 1/72 is getting a bit small for my rapidly disappearing eyesight. :-)

Thanks guys, particularly Ascoteer :-) Michelle is getting quite excited by the project :-) she is going to check with her folks for more info but does remember flying out sitting on orange crates in the hold wearing ear muffs.

Hi All, my partner was a "forces brat " and was evacuated from Cyprus in 1974 at the age of five. I want to build a diorama of her evacuation in 1/72 as a present but don't know a whole lot abut Hercs. I have the squadron info and some pictures from the internet showing the two tone brown camo, but that's as far as it goes for the aeroplane itself. I can't find a single Mk1 RAF herc kit. Can anyone advise the best way ( Kit / aftermarket / wood and fille / backhanders to Hogwarts ) to make one correct for Op. Ablaut? Ta muchly, oh Hercsperts.

Thanks all :-)

Evening all. The lightning is done. For me a fairly quick build but mostly a really enjoyable one. The kit is one of the best I have ever built. So obviously I ballsed it up several times. I had a few problems with the Klear amongst other things, but any issues are mine, not the kit's. The instructions could be better - I often ended up referring to pictures of the real thing, but that's no hardship with a laptop next to the desk. This makes 3 builds now for this year, since around ..err. July. I had forgotten how relaxing and theraputic modelling can be: It's helping a lot with the mentals. Paints were mostly Tamiya Acrylics, which I love for airbrushing, with some Vallejo acrylics for some of the brushed stuff - every time I try and brush Tamiya it all goes horribly wrong and behaves like paint stripper. I have no idea either, but there you go. There is some Humbrol enamel here too - an old favourite but a lot of the new tins don't seem to be anywhere near as nice to work with as my old ones. Clear coat is Johnson's Klear mixed with a little Tamiya flatting agent, and this is one area when everything went all horrible. The stuff bubbled like there is no tomorrow. I've not had this happen before - I brush paint the stuff as it's self levelling ( and you need to clean airbrushes with ammonia if you spray it ) and normally get a flawless finish: I went over a paint mule with it and it worked fine so I must assume the brush I used for the lightning was contaminated with dust or something. The model is nowhere near perfect, but it's good enough for me and it really is a beautiful kit. I think of it as a two footer: it looks great from a couple of feet away :-) I know lightnings weren't generally parked with flaps down and brakes out, but I like the way it looks. Right here you go:

Hi Kev - thanks for the Info: really useful and helpful :-) I'll be using that on my next HSS build :-)

Superb! What paint did you use for the High Speed Silver?

Thanks Simon. I am quite pleased with the belts. I tried to use Tamiya tape for the harness on the lightning but it's just that bit too smooth - this tape looks a lot better.

Nice! I haven't previously been remotely interested in Tomcats, but I just put an order in to Amazon for one after seeing this. Very, very nice work sir. Is the finish pre shaded? It's only just occurred to me how futuristic the Tomcat looks - and your job on the kit is what's done it for me :-)

Ello All, I started this one a little after the DO335 that was my first kit after a couple of years' break and decided to do this one in a real colour scheme. So I broke the decals. Of course I did. It's almost right but has the wrong shark's teeth on it. This really was a lovely kit - an ebay bargain and it was such a lovely build. I used a tiny amount of filler around the nose gun cowling, and that was it. Paints are almost all Tamiya acrylics, and I used some of the new Revell weathering powders. The seat harness is made of masking tape ( I have a roll off DIY stuff designed to go around curves that has a lovely texture that comes up very effectively under paint) and fuse wire. Everything else is straight from the box. I've put in a few "In Progress pics" too. I was going to do an Airfix Lightning after the 335 but I just felt like doing this one at the time, the lightning is going well though and should be done in a couple of weeks.

I can use filler. it's not a big deal as long as everything else is good and I think it looks good.

That's beautiful - on a lovely diorama too. I have not heard of the chipping fluid - what's it like to use?

Good lord those are beautiful. Well done that man.

Second build? Beautiful work mate.

I would put money on it being a late model Spit: a 14 or a 19 in 1/24. I'd like one, I have to admit, especially with the lovely stressed skin finish they have been doing lately. I wouldn't be surprised by anything though, unless its a 1/24 Blackburn Blackburd or something in which case I'll have what they are having.