[Ultracast 2-blade Spitfire prop]

It's great to see Ultracast releasing more products especially for the Spitfire, I have used their stuff many times before and think it’s great. I currently have six completed Tamiya Spitfire Mk.Is in my collection and it looks like I'll be doing another.

John in answer to your question, to each his own.

Cheers

[Smrt Nemeckym Vrahum - Hetzer 1945]

Great dio that's very nicely executed and it has a very good visual balance. My only piece of negative feedback is the way that "Czechoslowakia May 1945" is printed on the display base. IMHO it distracts from a fine dio and would be better off being replaced with an engraved plate.

Cheers

[Airfix 1/72 Beaufighter]

Hey there Andrew, nice job on the Beau .

Just a question though, how come you used the Airfix kit as a base rather than the Hasegawa offering?

[One for the books]

Ok it took me a second but then, ahhhh yes. Now that's what you call giving the enemy the s**ts.

[Tamiya 1:48 Sherman M4]

Mish an excellent method for assembling link 'n' length tracks is to wrap a snug fitting fat rubber band around the road wheels, idler and drive sprocket so that it takes up the position of a rubber band track.

Using a steel ruler (or other) as a guide to keep them straight, glue sections of your tracks together and let them dry for a few minutes. Then slip the drying section of track under the rubber band into position on the tank where it's supposed to go. Repeat until the track run is complete and then leave it dry properly.

Also, as a special hint, don't glue the drive sprocket on and don't glue the final section of track to the remainder of the track. This makes things oh so easy to take your tracks off and paint them as one complete unit.

Can we have some more pics please, I am enjoying this one.

Cheers

[Airfix Marketing]

Alright here's my two cents worth I picked up the Eduard boxing of the Airfix Spitfire f.22/24 as was well and truly pleased with the purchase and it had nothing to do with the box art (which was nice btw) but what was in the box that got me to shell out my hard earned:

Airfix Spitfire kit

Eduard Color PE fret

Aires resin replacement for the front office

Cartograph decal sheet with four very nice options.

I dare say that if Eduard is going to rebox the Jag and the Lightening I will buy both as they will be packed full of PE goodies and resin as did their reboxes of the Heller Mirages.

Oh yeah in my humble personal opinion Hornby do need to re-invent the whole Airfix brand and I wish them every success.

Cheers

[Canberra PR.9 in progress]

Van you've gone Canberra mad and this one looks great so far

Ok I've just started this kit so now it's time for a couple of questions. I noticed you don't have the small observation windows fitted as yet. Are you going to try using the kit parts or use something like Crystal Clear? How much trouble did you have fitting the wheel well inserts to allow the wings to line up and lastly what are you using to fade the basecoat?

TIA

[Thanks Very Much!]

to the forum Spence. I've gotta say I love your work on MIS and I've have been a subscriber for the last few years now.

By the way did you ever get your He 162A2 back after it was nicked from that show?

Cheers

[And another Canberra]

Wow another great looking Canberra, sweet looking build Van thanks for posting

Cheers

[Another Canberra!]

Nice looking build Van . How did the kit build-up, did you need much in the way of filler?

Cheers

[Xtrakit Canberra 1/72 PR-9]

Thanks for posting john your bird looks superb . I've just started the Xtrakit PR.9 and if mine turns out anything like yours I'll be very pleased.

Cheers

[Tu-22B 'Blinder' (1/72)]

Mate that is one sweet looking bird, nice job

Cheers

[Tinting canopies]

Nothing could be easier. Simply get some Tamiya Smoke, and some Future or Tamiya clear and mix a very small amount of smoke in the clear medium. Test this on a spare piece of clear styrene until you are happy and then spray the inside of the canopy you want to smoke.

Remember, you can always add more tint with another coat but it's a lot harder to take it away. So spray, observe and then spray again if necessary.

Cheers

[Kleer]

I have no idea what Ronseal is but if I were you I would test it out on a spare wing or something before applying it to your model.

Also, most people (me included) use Future or Klear as a protective top coat prior to applying weathering with oils etc. Be very careful using oil based varnish if you intend to apply any sort of oil washes or filters.

Cheers

[How to?]

Tom, to resolve the issue do as Dave said but at the same time spray the paint in a couple of very thin coats of paint rather than plastering done one thick one. I find that misting the paint on like this (for both colors) will completely eliminate the ridge between colors.

Cheers

[CMK 1/48 Spitfire Mk.VC]

I came across this item yesterday and did a jump for joy, to quote the blurb from the text "Here is the coming SH48051 Spitfire Mk.VC model in 1/48 scale. Kit will be from the galvanic form and it will be available in spring 2007. There will also be the Seafire Mk.II and Mk.III in the same scale." I presume galvanic form is referring to some sort of low pressure injection moulding but I'm not too sure to be honest

http://www.cmkkits.com/en/news/spitfire-mk-vc/

I have been waiting for a decent 1/48 Mk.Vc Spitfire for sooooo long now it's ridiculous. If the kit is any good there will be at least 3 or four going into my stash straight away .

Cheers

[Do NOT miss this - prepare to be amazed...]

I'm with you guys, my jaw was on the floor just admiring the work as a static model, then when it took off I nearly fell off my seat

What an amazing feat of engineering and model making.

[Airfix Spit IIa - 1:48th]

Looks great Steve, I really love the weathering it looks spot on.

By the way I thing the tail wheel needs a bit of paint.

Cheers

[Alclad chrome on bare plastic?]

Bill the reason the any of the ALCLAD shades need a primer (apart from providing a smooth surface to paint on) is that the paint is quite "hot" and if you are not careful it can attack the plastic (don't ask me how I know this ). For the normal shades of ALCLAD I usually use Tamiya Gloss Black Acrylic.

Cheers

[Latest Build from the Lurrrrrrrve Factory]

Really sweet looking build Doc how about posting a few more photos?

[Best 1:48 FW190 kit]

Mish good luck with your A3, I'll be looking forward to seeing it progress here on BM, oh and thanks for the kind words on the 190.

Cheers

[ICM Spitfire MkIX - enough is enough!]

David I've built a few of the ICM Spits and I agree totally with Leigh, it's either everything open or everything closed and in my case it's always everything closed with all the engine bits and pieces left out.

Cheers

[Best 1:48 FW190 kit]

Mish if your criteria are good fitting, reasonably detailed, out of the box build then I would absolutely go for the Tamiya kit, it really is a breeze to build and even a ham fisted modeler like me can turn out a decent model OOB.

This is one I did last year, it is Tamiya's Fw 190A-8 backdated to an A-7 model.

Cheers

[Tamiya 1:48 Sherman M4]

Hey Darren,

Fancy meeting you here. How are you going ?

Cheers

Tony

Hey there Tony, long time no see. Are you going to make it to Wheels and Tracks in a couple of weeks, if so I'll see you there.

Btw, there's a Battle of Britain GB forming in the Group Builds section if you're interested.

Cheers

[Tamiya 1:48 Sherman M4]

So far she's been a real easy and very pleasurable build.

Your build is looking just fine from where I'm sitting Mish

The only painful thing I remember from building the 48th Tamiya Shermy was the fact that the road wheels are slightly concave making it a real pain to sand off the mould seam.

FWIW I use a very similar method to Leigh except that I use lengths of Tamiya tape instead of the lacky band (although I might give that a go in the future).

Cheers