Garfs

Hi all, Not been around much lately due to work, etc. Here's my Xtrakit 1/72 Canberra PR9, started at the beginning of April and finally finished today. Enjoy, Rich.

Thanks for the comments fellas, always good to provide a bit of inspiration for others I think. mmaker spotted the not-so-deliberate mistake, wing roundels are upside down - that's what you get when you go at the thing in a ham-fisted manner and don't check references against the kit instructions! D'oh!! Still, good learning experience and I can't be bothered to fart around with the decals so it'll just have to stay like that now. Lesson for today, never trust the instructions. Cheers, Rich.

Hi all, Not much coming through on the work front after Easter, so I decided to have a go at the Airfix/Heller Tunnan, Austrian Air Force version in aluminium with dayglo orange fin and wing tips to waste a few hours. Just another quick little build, panel lines re-scribed but not too many of them so it didn't take long to get it ready for painting. This time I was experimenting to see how I got along with Alclad II. I used aluminium for the base colour and polished aluminium to pick out a few panels. Gunze Dayglo orange mixed with a bit of their gloss red for the other colour. All finished off with a coat of Klear and then Promodeller Dark Wash. Having previously used Tamiya spray cans for metallic finishes, I didn't expect the Alclad to be as easy to use as it turned out to be and I'm reasonably happy with the end result. Cheers, Rich.

Hi all, After taking three months over my Vulcan, I wanted to do something quick and easy for my first attempt using Promodeller Dark Wash - which I found to be excellent stuff. Found this kit for £2.99 and I have to say for the quality and fit, it's a bargain! Three days from start to finish... Cheers, Rich.

Thanks for that fellas, gives me some confidence for whatever I choose to build next. I would put it down to beginners luck with the scribing though - primer and paint can cover up a lot of wobbly lines and slips! Mike, I will do some more shots, but like to do the photography outdoors - it gives a clearer view of the colours I think, so that'll happen when we get some decent weather over here - bit too windy at the moment. Cheers, Rich.

V, I take full responsibility! Good luck with the build, it actually goes together quite well. You probably know this already, but it's worth adding a few strips of plastic inside the bottom half of the fuselage to reinforce the bomb-bay doors and give them something solid to fit onto. Apart from that no real problems - if you get frustrated trying to smooth out the intakes there's a guide to building the intake covers in my 'Work in Progress' thread. Cheers, Rich.

Trojan, My first efforts (see underside of wings) look like I used a broad chisel! But after a bit of trial and error I slowly got the hang of it (eventually, I think...) I used one of these, OK for straight lines but not so good for curves - it tends to slip away from a hard edge quite easily, next time I try scribing I'm using a pin in a craft knife handle: http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/.../0/scribingtool Cheers, Rich.

Thanks for your comments everyone, much appreciated. Since I started making kits again about 18 months ago, this is the first one that I've really taken my time over and I'm happy with the end result. I actually found the re-scribing to be quite relaxing after hours spent staring at the computer doing design work - there's only actually a handful of panel lines that are awkward, the rest are very straight-forward, although there are lots of them! I've read on other sites where people have slagged off older Airfix kits because they don't fall together out of the box, but even though this one is about 25 years old, in my opinion it's close enough to the correct shape and with a bit of time and effort scrubs up quite well - I'd definitely do another one, just not until I've built an extension on the house though! Anyway, after spending the best part of three months on this beast, my next few before attempting the Nimrod will be small fighters of some description. I've got a Revell 1/144 Rafale M to do next which looks exceptionally detailed for something so small and cheap, then after that I have no idea yet but I'm sure I'll find plenty of inspiration here. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Rich.

Hi all, A few pics of my Airfix 1/72 Vulcan with re-scribed panel lines, Freightdog decals and the addition of scratch-built intake covers (to cover up the mess I made of the intakes, it was all going so well, etc... ). Enjoy, Rich.

Thanks for the comments everyone, much appreciated. Ian, easiest way to do the engine covers - as I'm only a few miles down the road from you, break in to my house and nick mine!! Seriously though, here's a quick guide: 1. Stick a bit of masking tape over the intake 2. Use a pencil and rub around the edge to transfer the intake shape onto the masking tape 3. Stick tape template onto plastic card and cut out roughly to shape, then keep sanding and testing until they fit. 4. Make a couple of holes in the card for the handle 5. Make handle from a bit of thin fuse wire 6. Bend spare wire around back of cover and glue in place. Done, easy as that! Reference for this was the Vulcan at Newark, in reality the covers are further inside the intake, but I've left mine larger to hide the mess underneath! Cheers, Rich.

Finished at last! My first completed kit of 2008. Well almost - I just couldn't get the intakes to look right, so being a designer I cheated and covered them up. Here's a pic of the finished Vulcan, I will post more in 'Ready for Inspection' soon but I want to take it outside and do the shots in natural light. Cheers, Rich.

Hi all, A bit more progress to report. This kit has been my first time rescribing panel lines (maybe done a bit too enthusiastically on this one, I think someone could live in a few of those trenches!) and also first time pre-shading - thanks to tips I've picked up here . Anyway, it's been primed and rubbed down to give me a smooth surface to work on. Pre-shaded the whole thing and just finished the last of several thin coats of Gunze Mr. Colour light aircraft grey arcylic on the underside. I'm going to leave it alone now until the weekend, then a bit of masking and make a start on the green/grey camouflage. Cheers, Rich.

Been busy at work so not been able to do much until today. Added antennas and other bits to the fuselage, masked the clear parts, sprayed black over the canopy. Given it a rub down with 1500 grit wet'n'dry and a good clean, so ready for a coat of primer now. Have to do that outside so stuck at this stage now until the wind and rain goes away. Rich

Afternoon Ladies and Gents, A small Tuesday afternoon progress update: Wings attached, gaps filled and blended into fuselage. Windscreen masked. Undercarriage finished (and test-fitted - one flipping wheel doesn't touch the ground properly so I'm thinking of taking if off and adjusting the fit slightly, might have to use a bit of artistic license to make it look right rather than be technically correct). Nearly finished re-scribing - just the bits pencilled in on top of the wings to do, so next step will be to fit the tail cone, fin and all other bits on the fuselage and then get a coat of primer over it to find out what needs fixing. Looking at finishing it as either XH560 or XM595 from the Freightdog sheet. All comments or advice welcome. Rich.

Thanks for the comments everyone, much appreciated. I have to say they turned out as well as they did thanks to all the tips I picked up from sites like Britmodeller when I was lurking around! There's some amazing work here, and hopefully one day I can produce something similar. Rich.