Space Ranger

I have it on good authority that Nigel will be authoring an upcoming book for Squadron/Signal: "Aircraft Fire Extinguishers in Action," to be followed by "Fire Extinguisher Walk Around."

Would that be Peter Cooke? If so, I have been an admirer of his work since it appeared years ago in the pages of Aeroplane Monthly (or perhaps Scale Models) and subsequently in two books. Scratch Building and The Master Scratch Builders. His work was something to behold.

Gorgeous paintwork.

Yes, and fine models they are, too.

Rareplanes did a Voodoo? First I've heard of it, and I have owned at least one of every Rareplanes kit since they first appeared. Can you post photos?

Woo hoo!

This list of discontinued Model Master bottled paints was recently posted elsewhere; I have checked it against Testors' web site, and here are my findings. All have been discontinued except where noted: Armor Sand FS 30277 - available only as bottled acrylic Field Green FS 34097 Forest Green FS 34127 Pale Green FS 34227 Flat Sea Blue FS 35042 Gloss Gull Grey FS 16440 - available only as bottled acrylic & spray enamel Camouflage Grey FS 36622 - available only as bottled acrylic & spray enamel Panzer Grey FS 36076 - available only as spray enamel Light Earth FS 30140 - available only as spray enamel Africa Mustard FS 30266 - available only as spray enamel Modern Desert Sand FS 33637 Medium Field Green FS 34095 Navy Grey FS 16081 SAC Bomber Tan FS 34201 - available only as spray enamel SAC Bomber Green FS 34159 - available only as spray enamel Aggressor Gray FS 36251 - available only as spray enamel Canadian Voodoo Grey FS 16515 RAF Medium Slate Grey RAF PRU Blue Dunkelbraun RLM 61 Grun RLM 73 All WWII FRENCH COLORS Italian Blue Grey Imperial Japanese Army Green Russian Topside Grey Russian Underside Grey Russian Underside Blue Russian Earth Grey Russian Topside Blue Flanker Pale Blue Flanker Medium Blue Fulcrum Grey Fulcrum Grey/Green Another poster added the following: "The latest list I got from Testors still shows Insignia White still in production, but a number of colors are spray-only now: Camouflage Gray, Aggressor Gray, SAC Bomber Tan, SAC bomber Green, and Gloss Gull Gray. At least they still make the paint. A number of these other colors are also still in spray and were never in bottles, like Light Earth, Afrika Mustard, Modern Desert Sand, and Panzer Gray." I also discovered that some of the colors still available as enamel sprays cannot be found when using the Search function on the Testors website. However, they are still listed on the relevant product page.

Dang it! Now I'm going to have to buy a micrometer!

PM sent.

Not necessarily. Better to smooth the original coat of matt paint instead of glossing it. Paul Budzik has the answer (don't let the rail car put you off):

Give Alclad a try. The Chrome requires a gloss black primer, and the Chrome itself should not be applied too heavy. Chrome finishes, regardless of brand and whether lacquer, enamel, or water-based, require a bit of transparency to look effective.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try both.

Does anyone have a name and email address for these folks? I have an issue with one of their kits, and the US retailer I purchased it from can't help. because each of his entire stock of the kit has the same issue. My email to the address on the Olimp Pro Resin web site has gone unanswered for weeks,

At a recent demonstration of some of the new Vallejo metallic finishes by an IPMS-USA award-winning modeler, we were informed that their Chrome (and other brands as well) is somewhat transparent and needs to be applied in thin coats over a gloss black primer so as to remain somewhat transparent. It is this transparency, combined with the underlying black primer, that creates the "chrome" appearance. Other silvery "natural metal" finishes do not require a black undercoat. Achieving a "chrome" finish is somewhat of a trial-and-error process. Spray thin coats, and when it looks like chrome, stop! Any more paint will only dull the finish.

Figure painters I have known used yellow as a primer for gold paint.

I've been buying stocks of "old" Humbrol on ebay, some of it 50+ years old in the blue plaid tinlets, and some discontinued colors such as Eau de Nil and Yellow (number 8, very useful for US Navy Orange Yellow on biplane upper wings). It's every bit as good as it was when first produced. There's nothing like the sweet smell of vintage Humbrol enamel in the morning. But I've always had a problem with silver paint, going back as far as Pactra's Chrome Silver from the 1960s. Silver paint never seems to dry completely and is impossible to brush anything over it without it dissolving.

Went to BookDepository.com to order and was informed the book is temporarily out of stock. Waah!

You're welcome. Let us know how it works out. Once you receive an invoice for the total, you should be able to remit payment with Paypal.

I paid a total of $37.37 (34.95 Euros) which included shipping. My ebay purchase history does not show a separate shipping charge. That was the pre-order sale price.

Very pretty! My one and only TriStar ride was a Delta ATL-LAX flight in 1977.

Looks a winner. Your grandfather would be proud, I'm sure.

Look for Labelle #108 multi-purpose light oil. It's plastic safe.

All I see is: 404 Page Not FoundI feel like Charlie Brown at Halloween: "I got a rock!."

In the prehistoric days of plastic modeling, when tooling was pantographed off large-scale master models, instruction sheets always reminded the builder to scrape paint off of mating surfaces. Today's CAD-designed models and tooling, with their much tighter tolerances, make it imperative to do so if the model is going to be assembled at all.

What is the consensus as to best kits of these aircraft in 1/72 scale?