Redstaff

Thanks @Colin W I painted the pipes silver as per the sheet, but they looked very bright and clean, so I gave them and the intake mesh a light coat of Mig Ammo fresh oil wash which has given it the heat affected look which I think suits it The tailpipes have another little tube insert to fit in as well, but I have left these out at present so I can fit a piece of dowel in to use as a handle for spraying and will fit at the end Ian

Thanks Col. It's not too bad, I've primed it this morning and can see a few more little bits that need filling, but not much, I'll let the primer harden and do a bit more in the morning. The engine nacelles were awful as well, but managed to dress those out a bit at a time and not need filler, took me about an hour on each one though, but easier than trying to fill around them Next known issue is the nose/fuselage joint, I must admit mine looks ok on dry fit, but that can change. It also makes it a bit more difficult as you have to assemble and fit the front landing gear first I think I was lulled into a sense of false security when I started as the fit was perfect on all parts and now seems to be gradually getting worse as I go along, but overcoming hurdles is part and parcel of the hobby I suppose Ian

Well it's been a while since I posted as work and playing trains has got in the way The cockpit is finished and the engines are in and painted. As you can see on both sides, the wing/fuselage fit isn't the greatest and the panels for the gun bays, 1 fitted lovely and the other one didn't

Well that's me decided on the colour scheme then, due to the lack of fit between the fuselage and wings it's going to have to be WL123 H with grey/green and yellow tail kit decals as it will be easier to hide the filled joins than the NMF I was contemplating I forgot to take any pics before it was clad with masking tape trying to hold it in some sort of shape while the cement goes off, but will take and post when it has had enough time to harden so I can apply the filler Ian

Looking good there James I'm just a couple of steps behind you at the minute with the F8 Thought I would do the belts blue as I'd followed the book and done them grey, must admit it's a lot harder to paint them and be neat when the seats in the cockpit That'll teach me to look at pics before not after the event Then I've had to fashion a seat ejection handle out of copper wire as I'd removed the plastic one to fit out of the etch set, then just as I was about to place it on the superglue, it ejected itself from the tweezers and disappeared across the room never to be seen again I'll try to post a couple of pics on my thread later on

Really nice build, I've got one of these and a GR4 in the stash and if mine come out anywhere near as good I'll be happy Like some others have said, the wash is a touch dark on the whole, it looks like you've used black where I would have probably gone storm grey on a light grey aircraft, but that's just my opinion Keep up the great work Ian

That's absolutely brilliant I'm loving the total W&G thinking of this build, it makes me chuckle every time I see an update Keep up the great work Ian

Finally decided what to do now Christmas is over and I'm back to normality (well as normal as I get) I've ordered a Sword T5 Lightning and intend to continue building up my 56 squadron aircraft with XS459 in NMF (way out of my comfort zone so expect loads of questions and tips) then hopefully it may look something like this pic from the web (Top middle pic) https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/registration/XS459 Ian

Thanks Col. Just a bit of dry brushing to pick the highlights out against the matt black. Seatbelts look very dark so may brighten those up a bit, called out grey in book but i think i might use the blue as i did in the hunter to make them stand out a bit more

Made a start on the cockpit tub and lower wings and can say that everything is fitting perfectly at the minute I have used the kit bang seat as it is one of the best moulded ones I have seen in a while, I have etch for the dials and will add the etch top seat pull loops at a later stage to stop them getting bent

Cheers Serge, that made me chuckle In my defence though, the kits were coming in thick and fast at one point and I was putting them anywhere I could find away from SWMBO eyes and I lost track of a couple The GR4 has appeared above the radar, but the F3 is still in stealth mode,but on the plus side I found the single seat Typhoon I forgot about in the boot of my car under my old hi viz coat that lives in there Ian

?? what's this mythical thing you talk of???

Looking forward to that one Is that the James Hunt championship car from 1976?

Thanks for that, much appreciated My body seemed to fit better before I lacquered and polished it, so whether me doing that caused it to warp a little I don't know I'm building a Gloster Meteor now then either the Beemax Audi Quattro S1 or the Tamiya Red Bull RB6 next, might leave that for a bit though and get a bit more practice in first

Following with interest James now I have started the F8, be nice to see comparisons I know what you mean about the stash growing, I had 4 kits given to me at Christmas, a couple of rally cars finally came in stock that had been ordered for a while the same as a tornado, then I bought another F1 car plus I had picked up a couple of kits at the Coventry IPMS show just before Christmas which makes a total of 10 into the stash with one built I'm glad SWMBO hasn't got access to this forum... Ian