Mick Drover

Now that's just lovely. A timely result as I'm building the same kit from the same sheet but it'll be the Philippine version. Looks like I need to pull my finger out. It looks great against the black background too. Seriously well done. Mick

Thanks GRK. The ply floor effect was achieved with hair spray. I put a thin coat of raw umber all over the deseret yellow and then dragged a toothpick across it to give it the wooden look. It kind of disappeared once it was closed up but you can at least catch a glimpse of the ply. I've since added another grey over the pox. This time I went back to the suggested neutral grey underside. I'll probably go over it with a lighter grey to put some contrast into the dark effects, if that makes sense? Cheers, Mick

The Mustang has acquired a good case of the pox. Fear not though, the plan is to remedy the effect with another layer or two of colours. So far it's been a combination of hairspray, chipping fluids and stencils and five different shades of grey, grey-green and grimey brown. It looks a bit in your face but I'm not finished yet. Mick

Hi all. I’m in need of a few solid hours to get the topside colours onto the Tempest so in the meantime I’ve cracked out the 1/48th Airfix P-51D Mustang. Much has been said about the kit that I don’t need to repeat here, most of it favourable. A group of us have been catching up via video conference for our virtual modelling session while COVID has been around. One of the group members suggested the kit for a single type group build which turns out a good choice as the kit is readily available for a good price here in Oz. I’ve been working on the various sub assemblies over the last week and I’ve managed to get it buttoned up and close to being ready for paint. Though the assembly has been all over the place, I’ll try and sort the photos as if you were following along with the instruction. The kit I’m building is the fillet less version of the P-51. It offers the two styles of filleted tail which was handy as neither of the box options took my interest. My subject needs the filleted tail so I was good to go with this one. I’ve also got a bit of resin aftermarket to replace the kit prop and exhausts. The latter being far superior to what was provided in the kit. Standard box pic. Cockpit tub with base desert yellow and oils to simulate the ply floor. The side walls primed with black and the Interior green applied. Followed by a wash and then flat coat + detail painting. The seat and final assembly of the tub plus. The worn black was achieved with the hairspray method. Some light tan pigments have been applied over the black. The sidewall stencils are supplied in the kit and dress the area up nicely. the assembly fits positively into the side walls. It looks good once buttoned up. The kit decal was used for the instrument panel with clear gloss used for the instrument faces. Probably the fiddliest area to clean up is the radiator inlet/outlet ducting. It looks like a Mustang. Don't forget to install the tail wheel and wheel well when joining the fuselage. It'll be a fiddly correction to make if you miss doing this. The main wheel well is nicely appointed. I used the Eduard instructions as guidance for the Chromate Yellow and silver areas. The fit is excellent. The fuselage and wing mated well and the insert for the underside of the cowl and the inner leading edge fitted well. The only real gap of the build so far has been on panel line on the cowl underside. Easily fixed though. The pieces for the rudder, tailplanes and topside of the cowl fit very well. Just about ready for paint. I'll install the windshield tonight as well the as assembly for the nose and oil cooler scoop. I think I'll need to remove a small amount of material from the outside edge of the IP as test fitting it revealed that it was sitting proud a tiny amount. Cheers for now. Mick

G'day again. I spent some time last night lining in the upper camouflage scheme for painting on the weekend. I'm not quite sure if I'll freehand it yet or use blu-tac rolls for the soft edge. There's plenty of colour shades to go on it so I'm erring towards freehand. Cheers, Mick

Thanks Shark. The foam is the packing material that you find in Eduard aftermarket resin sets.

Yep, right. Harder to pick than a broken nose. What better way to spend a rainy Sunday than paint. The product of a few hours of work today playing around with different blues, greens and greys and some stencil paint masks. I think I need to add a few grimy tones. ...and the paints used in order for L to R.

Love it. Very nice.

Hi again. I've had a bit of an experimental afternoon today. Rather than trying the chipping fluid over a silver and then paint I've used some paint stencils and few different shades of light grey, mid grey, dark grey and black. Once all the colours were on I used a fine and medium sanding pad to expose the metal for the leading edge. I'm happy with the result so far however I need to add some more wear to the leading edge near the tips and I might touch up some of the wear lines as they're a bit uniform. That's it for now. Cheers, Mick

Hi all. Evening temps here in Brisbane have been quite chilly this week (probably balmy to others) so it’s not been conducive to working later in the evening. It means I’ve not had a lot of time at the bench this week but when I have, I’ve made good use of the time. Earlier in the week, I spent an evening tidying up the fuselage seams with a mix of CA and talc. Before applying it I placed tape on either side of the gap (perhaps a 1 mm gap) to ensure I wouldn’t obliterate the rivet detail. The rear fuselage features raised rivets which I was extra careful with when tidying up the CA mix. The talc in the CA allows it to be sanded much more easily than straight CA and it’s a lot faster to work with. I used sprue goo for a while but I’ve not used it for a while. I prefer to work with this material now as the process is a lot quicker. Some fine sanding sponges and then scotch brite to polish the surface and it was good to go. The lost recessed rivets were reinstated with a rivet wheel using pencil marks and Tamiya curvy tape as a guide. I’m happy with the result. Last night’s job was joining the wing and fuselage and install the tailplanes. Apart from a gap on the underside of the fuselage where the wing meets the body, the fit was spot on. Sink marks do exist on the inner part of the flap exterior and there is a nasty join/seam that will need some attention to tidy it up. A few quick pics from last night, including the really nice cockpit. Cheers, Mick

G'day John. I certainly enjoyed the book and I'm enjoying the build. Cheers, Mick Thanks Shark. The book was a real boys own adventure type of read. The build is progressing well. Cheers, Mick

Hi all. I received the 1/48 Eduard Hawker Tempest Series 2 kit from my folks for Christmas last year along with the book “The Big Show’ by Pierre Clostermann. Rather than let it sit in the stash for an extended period of time I thought that it was best to get cracking on it before the year is out. From recommendations from mates who had read the book, I knew the book was a good read. They certainly weren’t wrong. I’m still undecided on doing Clostermann’s 3 squadron machine or the D-Day striped 3 squadron aircraft JF-Z. I’ll let you know what I decide when the time comes. The build has been slower paced than my recent builds due to the additional detail in the cockpit by way of photo-etch and nicely molded details which need care and attention when painting and assembly. I’ve chosen to grab a bunch of resin for the kit, the most noticeable is the replacement radiator face and the annular ring on its face. It’s a noticeable feature on the aircraft so one that was a necessity. Kit part on the left, resin replacement on the right. The gear bays have a wealth of detail which come to life with some paint. No additional details required here. Three options are provided for the instrument panel. I chose to paint the kit plastic with raised dials, switches and bezels with the kit decal for the IP. A few coats of mark softener and the decals settled nicely onto the raised instrument faces. This was the first time I’d used the Mr Mark Softer product and I think I’ll be making the switch to it from the Micro set/sol combo. Later in the assembly of the cockpit I found that application of a flat coat onto the etch parts almost eradicated the dot matrix appearance of the coloured printing. It was Mr Color Flat Clear that I used here. Cleaning seams in unnecessary places is my lease favourite part of a build. I think Eduard could have put a bit more thought into the location of this one. The seam that runs through the middle of the flap on the wing underside is one of those annoying ones. The wing parts were glues and left to dry for 24 hours. The following night I laid some tape along the join to minimise the amount of the CA/talc mix that I applied. Five minutes of sanding and polishing and voila. The lost rivet detail was reinstated with a rivet wheel. I’m happy with the result but I'll apply some primer on it to assess if any more tidy up is required. the line you see is a ghost mark of the CA and talc mix. I can't feel it when I run my finger nail across it. Since these parts were finished the cockpit could be installed and the fuselage closed up. Don’t forget the part for the tail wheel well roof and walls. Cheers, Mick

Hey Malcolm! I'm glad you like it. I might be able to do it in 72nd but the 48th option is just a wee bit too big. Considering the AM you can now get for it it'd be standout subject. And lets not forget the shares in Gunze I'd need for the paint! It is 144th scale but a real pleasure to build. I'd recommend one for sure. Thanks Andy.

Hi all. The latest box to be thrown in the bin. The Academy 1/144 Bone is finished. It took me two weeks from start to finish...say three days in total? I can't get over how well the Academy kit has gone together as the fit is fantastic. It's definitely a palate cleanser. The decals are from the kit and are courtesy of Cartograf. I think they're some of their higher end decals as they went down flawlessly. My only criticism is the lack of interesting paint schemes; you can have any colour, as long as it's grey. I need to make a base for it now. Cheers, Mick

Great result, those colours are fantastic. I like seeing Sabres in camo schemes. Mick