Uncle Pete

Nothing to grumble about there, mate. If you obsess over the work you see from the real pros on here you'd jack it in and take up macrame. Some of these blokes ain't human. If it'll make you feel better I'll be sticking up pics of something that looks a bit like a P38 in a few days. I may not be very skilled but at least I'm incompetent.

"I love deadlines. I especially love the whooshing sound they make as they go by" (Douglas Adams) One of these days I'll get a couple of RAF vehicles and a WAAF figure in honour of my mum, about whom a pilot once said, "The most frightening thing about a mission over Germany is the ride out to the bomber in Peggy's lorry" Lovely job, by the way, guv'nor, a real cracker.

Nice work. It's not that often you see a Stang in war paint. The American habit of leaving warbirds bare metal is good for breaking up the sea of olive and brown on the model shelf a bit but somehow they don't look proper 'ard. Your first in 35 years, eh? You could be in trouble. Last year I built my first since about '77 and only the third since '68, a Dambuster Lanc, intending to have just one plane gracing the shelf. That was fifteen planes and a motorbike ago and I now spend inordinate amounts of time in the workshop. I saw my wife briefly last week... She seems like a nice lady...

You call that a draw? If I got a plane to look like that, especially a badly-fitting kit, I'd be saying I won in a canter! Beautiful, mate, and what a size.

Really nice and another plane I'd never heard of. Not often you see a tail dragger sans prop. Masking off for the grey around the front would have given me a stroke but you seem to have done it effortlessly. And it was very sporting of Supermarine to put the SKU stripes inside the wheel wells to speed up the purchasing process for the Admirals. I'm looking forward to seeing "the big spitfire" when it's done, too. (I see you're from Rochester... Are you familiar with Shorts Bar just down the road a bit in Fairport?)

Oooh, mate, now you're asking! There are a couple on King St in Hammersmith and a couple more around Shepherds Bush, my usual haunts when I'm hitting Marks and Spencers, the bank, whatever. Might have been Poundland but I wouldn't sign my name to it. Trouble with these shops is they get things that somebody has dumped from overstock or bankruptcy, sell them till they run out then you never see them again. Just a matter of having a butchers when you're picking up juice for the vape and such and getting lucky I'd guess nail art stuff would be fairly common, though...That aisle was Just somewhere I'd not consciously thought to look.

I may or may not have stumbled upon something useful. Whenever I'm in the pound shop I have a look around to see if anything catches my eye that might prove handy in some way shape or form with no actual agenda of what I'm looking for or why I'm looking for it. In that way I've picked up things for the kitchen, the toolbox, the bicycle, the cats (and far too many chocolate chip cookies)... one never knows... even cheap electric motors (£1 for a hand held fan, rip the motor out and throw the fan away). I happened to be toddling through the aisle with the ladies' warpaint and some paintbrushes jumped out at me. I've been trying to find something really dinky for tight spots and small details but even the couple of allegedly 10/0 I have seem more like 9" wallpapering brushes in my hands. Well, this "nail art" brush set was £1 for seven or eight brushes and three of them are about the size of a flea's eyelash. I just test drove one touching up a bit of mask bleed on a P38 and even in my ten thumbs it was magic. Pinpoint accuracy and carried the paint beautifully. At a quid for three they're hardly even worth cleaning after use. Might be worth picking a few up.

Looks good to me. I'm "The Eternal Newbie"... I don't sweat the detail too much. If my models come out looking more or less like aircraft, I'm happy. Of course, its a bit embarrassing if I was building a motorbike...

Thanks for the help. There will be no aftermarket additions, my build skills (or the lack thereof) don't warrant it... You don't gold-plate a Timex!

The eternal newbie needs advice again. Anybody know if an F104 needs nose ballast? The plans don't mention any and I'd sooner not put it in if it's not actually needed but I don't want to take any chances. Thanks in advance.

Brilliant work. It may have put up a fight but you still won by a knockout. Only thing I can see wrong is the brand of toilet paper... B2s always use Charmin...

Thanks, gents... I think I'd better go with the gloss varnish. Hadn't thought about setting solutions bothering metallic paint and my brushing is unlikely to qualify as really smooth. Onwards and upwards!

The Eternal Newbie is looking for a but of advice here, lads. I'm doing up a plane in bare metal (Tamiya acrylic chrome silver X11 to be precise). Does metallic paint count as gloss when it comes to decalling? Do I need the gloss varnish (or floor wax) before applying decals or do I waive that bit as one would with a regular gloss paint? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Okay.... That's it.... I give up! (The alternative is slamming the young lady's fingers in a car door!) But seriously, smashing job, really impressed.