Mark Harmsworth

Wonderful images. Love that scheme and I am particularly taken with the second picture - looking back to the control tower. You're a lucky chap to get so close. Thank you for posting. Mark

Excellent work. I love the look of G-IRTY and you've done her proud. This link may be of interest to any that might not know her story of the 27,000 mile journey: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7760133/Two-British-pilots-Steve-Brooks-Matt-Jones-land-Silver-Spitfire-Britain.html

I'm alternating between 'wow' and 'yuk': https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/31/barreleye-incredible-fish-with-a-transparent-head

No I don't. If I'm after a particularly smooth finish - for me that would be metallic - then I'd use a gloss primer. Otherwise I find my primers smooth enough for my purposes. But then I do WW2 planes where the finish is not that of a classic car. Mark

My solution: hold it further away Slightly more helpful, but for the future, have a single colour where the decal is to be placed as white often will show what's underneath. Like this:

Welcome. When you say 'Nee' I'm assuming: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=nee+monty+python&view=detail&mid=039BB34D1B7981E2529E039BB34D1B7981E2529E&FORM=VIRE Made me laugh (again) Mark

So, I've got this voucher the kids gave me . . . . . .

Dramatic image here: https://news.sky.com/story/red-arrows-display-at-wales-air-show-halted-after-bird-flies-through-jets-window-12684370 Amazing he brought it down ok.

Several sessions later . . . . . Work underway on those gaps. That's Mr Surfacer 500 partly filed down. I have a set of files, one of which has a curved back and which happily is almost perfect for the wing to fuselage join. I applied that Mr Surfacer in several layers which of course meant a fair amount of time spent waiting. So I gave some thought to the horizontal tail which sadly is a butt join. Those seem to be less common these days thankfully. Some strengthening required. A section of brass tube inserted through and holes drilled which hopefully line up ok. I should really use rod for extra strength rather than tube - but I find rod a pain to cut whereas tube is so much easier. Compromise. Then a very technical approach to attaching the tail. There's a slight gap so a little Mr Surfacer applied with a needle. I used 1200 this time. And more work done on the wing roots with, of course, the obligatory unexpected problem. I was being gentle with my sanding and polishing (or so I thought) and was so nearly done but there was an audible crack and the starboard wing root Mr Surfacer split open. Walk away. Walk away. A little while later I returned and opened the crack further with the back of a knife and a few other implements. A few drops of ca glue into the gap as far as possible; allow to cure and then Mr Surfacer again. Sanding. Polishing. Ho hum. All of which made me think of a silly photo. So here's the stuff wot I've been using: I've used the isopropanol alcohol applied with a cotton bud, to smooth the Mr Surface after the sanding. Oh yes - and some water for the polishing work with those strips of sanding/polishing paper. I can recommend the bamboo cotton buds for anyone that hasn't tried them. I was worried they wouldn't be robust enough but I'm happy with them. That was a strange diversion. Back to the bench. Back soon. Mark

Love it. I can only gasp at your skills. Thanks for posting. Mark

Try this:

Thanks. Yes nearly at that stage. A session or two on the wing roots then the horizontal tail (drilling and brass rod needed there), pop the engines and cowls on and we're ready for primer. Although maybe another coat of aircraft grey/green on the transparencies first - they're showing signs of having been fiddled with. Mark

Yes, but we love 'em don't we? Having said that my next build will definitely be mainstream - I need some of that pleasure you get from a well-engineered kit! And thanks - the plane on my desk is beginning to show signs of looking like an Annie. Mark

I feel like I may be the chap no-one wants at a party . . . . I love the look of bi-planes and once tried rigging a 1:72 Airfix Tiger Moth. Lots and lots of studying how to. The thing is a 1:72 bi-plane is really small - except for the swordfish I guess - and that rigging process is very fiddly. The Tiger Moth is small enough to sit comfortably on your palm. And not at all robust. A very steady hand and magnification is needed. And an awful lot of patience. And enthusiasm for a challenge. I'd made good progress, then it leapt of my hand and nose dived onto the floor. And deconstructed itself very effectively - I think the rigging may have helped that. That's all a bit gloomy. Sorry. My constructive recommendation from this would be start with something larger than 1:72. A lot larger. Maybe 1:1. Mark

Thanks. Yes, in the end I was happy with the way the framework turned out. There's some nice detail in there which I hope will be a little bit visible through the windows. Mark

I was trying to be careful with the sanding on the wings to fuselage join but I went slightly too far on the left hand side. The fuselage is more flexible than I'm used to with all that open space. I was conscious that I couldn't rely on the transparencies to give more structural integrity (managed to get a star trek reference in there). In this scale it is a challenge to find parts of the fuselage that can be gripped firmly without damage to a window. But I'm slowly making progress. Lots of Mr Surfacer applied this morning and the canopies are now back in place - but not yet sealed. I like to give ca glue a while for the fumes to dissipate before I do that - just in case of fogging. So, seal the canopies with white glue, allow to dry, and then start another round of sanding and polishing. Wing roots are one of my least favourite areas to deal with. Too easy to get that wrong and make a very visible mistake. Mark

This stage has been slower than I anticipated. Lots of sanding and polishing of seams. First of all I attached the transparencies to the fuselage: Those transparencies are slightly wider than the fuselage (at least how I built it) but the main challenge was that they wouldn't fit length-wise. A session of gentle sanding whilst trying not to get too much dust in the fuselage. Tricky. A couple of drops of ca to attach them and the gaps sealed with white glue. I felt I could then start the messy work of cleaning up the seams with the canopy protecting the interior. So Mr Surfacer 500 (which is what you can see) and more gentle sanding and polishing. The fuselage cleaned up nicely. Time to introduce the fuselage to the wings. Unfortunately they weren't that keen to get too close so I had several sessions of sanding to get an approximate fit. Eventually I had this: Not too bad from the top but lower down things were not so bright. The right hand side: That wing root has a noticeable step to deal with. But on the left: A large gap and a similar wing root problem. Some may have noticed the missing forward canopy. All that 'gentle' sanding to enable the fuselage to be joined to the wings caused the fuselage to flex and the canopy popped off. That'll be tidied up and re-attached before I start on the next round of more MrSurfacer 500 and plenty of sanding/polishing. So far the interior is remarkably dust free. From that photo it's possible to see the good fit in some key areas like the nose and the nacelles. It's easy to lose sight of that when working on those seams - the photos are a good reminder that the end result may be worth the effort. Onwards back soon Mark

Does this page on Scalemates help? https://www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION[]=All&q=accurate+miniatures+1%3A48+p-51*

I'm a fairly long term user of Ultimate primers and I think they're great. Having said that I paint in acrylics and have no idea how they would perform under lacquers. I have white, grey, black and gloss black. I've used the gloss black under metallic (Vallejo Metal Color) which required lots of masking and unmasking and I had no problems of the paint lifting. Here's a little pic: There's a review here: and here: https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/tbpainting-ultimate-primer Maybe someone will come along who paints in lacquers. Good luck Mark

There's a discussion about their 1:24 scale kits here:

Yes. Kingkit shows 17 1:24 pre-owned kits for sale. I think these are all in stock. https://www.kingkit.co.uk/shop.php?search=kitfinder&search_term=&brand=25&cat=26&scale=1^24

A slight pause as my little room got too warm to work comfortably for a couple of days. Progress has being made though. First I dealt with the fuselage roof between the main cabin and the turret. That had so far resisted my attempts for a good join. So I did this: Which worked perfectly. Except in straightening the roof I had changed the shape of the window opening on the far side. And the window fell out. Of course the window no longer matched the shape of the opening. Some fiddling and fettling later I had it back in place secured with a couple of drops of ca glue on the inside. That's been the way on this build. One task done unexpectedly creates another. The passing of a couple of days had also given me time to sort out how to deal with the ill-fitting resin roof framework. I had a go with some styrene rod and got to this: It won't pass a close inspection but after I've attached the canopy it won't get one (!!). A view through the fuselage windows will look fine I think. After some paint: Next, getting to the wings. The attachment points for the undercarriage are in: This also shows the quite huge pour stubs (is that what they are?) inside the wings. After some careful test fitting most of them are harmless (maybe that's 'mostly harmless' - silly hitchhikers' guide reference there). Although I did have to carve off the outer ones as they were definitely in the way. Then some clamps. The fit is pretty good with only a modest amount of seam clean-up required. I like to play safe with the leading edge and so used Mr Surfacer 1200 to make a clean join. Next some careful sanding and polishing. I removed the undercarriage supports from their resin casting blocks. These should look good with some paint. The main wheels are two piece items in styrene. I do think Special Hobby could have done these in resin - which is probably why I have a picture of them Wheels aren't that interesting are they? No locating tabs of course so you have to be careful to get the two halves lined up. More sanding and polishing needed. I removed the engine cylinders from the casting blocks. There are four sets of four which means there are two spare. And that was useful as after painting one of them went zinging across the desk. It hit something but no idea what. Never mind - fifteen was plenty. Painting: And built: There's a nice piece of p.e. on the front of each engine block. Looking at that photo now one of the cylinders on the left hand engine isn't located properly and needs a good shove. Getting close to attaching the fuselage to the wings. Not quite sure whether to attach the canopies before or after that. I've decided to build and install the turret after main painting - lots of resin and transparency to deal with there. That's all for now. Back soon. Mark

Well, it just has to be a Spitfire doesn't it? I'm not too good on 1:72 fighters but Eduard is a good place to start. There's a review here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235007579-spitfire-mkixc-late-version-profipack-172-eduard/ Good luck Mark

Hello Chris. I'm sure you'll like it here - it's a very friendly place. If you are unsure about anything just ask. all the best Mark

Thanks Max. Those pictures are very helpful and Special Hobby seems to have done a decent job on that support arm from that first image. I was surprised by how much that upper framework is wrong. I was expecting some slight warping and a bit of tidying up to do. I'll be putting something in there but I may well take your approach thanks again Mark