Jon Bryon

The next five years looks like this: 2020 Revell OA-10A Catalina AMP HUK-1 Huskie Hasegawa F-16A 2021 Kinetic F-16B Hasegawa F-2A Academy T-50 AFV Club F-CK-1 Classic Airframes Duck Revell F-84E Kinetic F-84F 2022 Tanmodel RF-84F Revell A-6E Kinetic EA-6B Hobby Boss A-6A Czech Model Yak-15 'Feather' Mikro Mir Yak-23 'Flora' Hobby Boss F8F-1B Bearcat Sword T-38 Classic Airframes F-5C 2023 AFV Club F-5E AFV Club F-5F Airfix Hawk T.1 Airfix Hawk Mk.127 Kinetic T-45C Hasegawa F-104S Hasegawa F-104D Hasegawa Phantom FG.1 2024 Academy F-4B Trumpeter F-100D Revell F-101B Kitty Hawk F-101C Kitty Hawk RF-101C Trumpeter F-106A Roden JOV-1A Mohawk Revell Learjet C-21 2025 Classic Airframes Seahawk Hasegawa Harrier GR.7 Hasegawa Harrier GR.5 Kinetic Sea Harrier FA.2 Kinetic Harrier T.4 Revell Falcon 10MER Academy CH-46 Sea Knight Subject to change. The mission is to finish the stash... Jon

It was a bit of a hodge-podge really. The basic metallic colours where airbrushed (from my article): The model was painted in stages over a primer coat of Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. The intention was to try and get a patchy, layered silver finish. I airbrushed Alclad White Aluminium, Steel and Magnesium in various mixes, Mr Color 8 Silver, 104 Gun Chrome and 211 Chrome, and also threw in a few areas of KColors Steel. Some of the darker areas were masked using liquid frisket film dabbed on with a sponge around the leading edges of various items before paler shades were airbrushed over the top. I also made good use of some Artoolfx and Uschi van der Rosten stencils to get more a more blotchy finish. The weathering consisted of a pin wash of Abteilung 502 Smoke mixed with some Neutral Grey. Over this I then brushed on various shades of the same brand of oil paint: smoke, neutral grey, engine oil, sepia, dark mud, and kept working it with a dry brush until I was happy. Some AK Interactive odourless thinners was also used for blending. I also got some of the brown shades from an AK Interactive weathering pencil which I applied wet and then dabbed away. The oils took a long time to dry as the metallic paint was very smooth. There are no clear coats on the model. HTH Jon

Thanks all. Nope - they're just made from Albion Alloys brass tubing: Cheers Jon

Hello all, This is Special Hobby's 1/48 Fiat G.55A Centauro. It's a mixed bag and what you'd expect from a 2008 moulding: variable fit, lots of clean-up, chunky mouldings and multi-media parts. The undercarriage is particularly terrible. The decals are excellent. It's meant to be painted silver, not NMF. Various metallic paints used with oils on top, which was difficult as they tended to get little traction on the smooth surface. Canopy is vac-formed and was designed for a different kit so unsurprisingly, in my view, is the biggest weak point of the finished article. The undercarriage actuating arms and pitot have been fabricated from Albion Alloys brass tubing. This is the first model I've made in the past 25 years (I think) with no clear coats on it. I finished it in under four weeks, so that's the fifth for 2020 and I'm on track with my build schedule More photos and longish build article at http://jonbryon.com/special-hobby-1-48-fiat-g-55a-centauro/ Thanks for looking, Jon

This complaint will always be true. Aside from assigning an arbitrary value to how many people are in 'increasingly difficult situations' I'm not sure how Covid-19 changes things much in this regard. There will always be a substantial number of people for whom buying and selling kits is trivial compared to what's going on in their lives. Jon

I've no experience of interpreting these sort of documents, but if I've understood them correctly, the two companies are effectively the same (run by the same people) and HMRC and G Hatcher are left out of pocket? Jon

I freehanded it on a 1/48 F-4E and will probably do so on other models again in the future. I used Mr Color highly thinned with Mr Leveling Thinner and sprayed through an Iwata Custom-B with a 0.18 needle. All four main colours were applied without masking. It looked like this: More photos and explanation here: https://jonbryon.com/hasegawa-1-48-mcdonnell-douglas-f-4e-phantom-ii/ Jon

The AH-1Z and UH-1Y are also pretty good. I'm interested to see how the KH version will stack up against Zvezda; I'm solidly on the fence thus far. I've seen some photos of the Zvezda plastic on a FB group where there is quite a rough texture on some of the main fuselage parts. I'd be interested to know how prevalent that is. Jon

I found the AH-1 and AH-64 volumes invaluable for making models of these helicopters. I also kept them in good nick so I could sell them afterwards, which I did. Jon

Thanks all. I'm ordering the vac canopy and will see what happens. Cheers Jon

Hello all, I'm making the Special Hobby 1/48 Fiat G55A and I don't like the canopy. I think the framing is significantly wrong. I am contemplating sanding all the framing off, but that's high risk given the potential for fracturing the plastic. I see Falcon make a vac-form canopy for the Classic Airframes G55. Has anyone tried fitting the Falcon canopy to the SH kit in the *closed* position? I know people have done it with an open canopy, but I don't want it open. Or, failing that, does anyone have both kits and can comment on how similar the cockpit openings are? Any help much appreciated Jon

Thanks everyone for your comments - appreciated Cheers Jon

I like it for very fine airbrush work as it flashes off quicker and reduces spidering. It also makes the flat clear dry quicker, which is useful. Cheers Jon

Apologies for the lack of updates. I've been busy at work and moving this forward, so now it's done: Full write up and tons of photos at https://jonbryon.com/hasegawa-1-48-douglas-a-4h-skyhawk/ Many thanks for coming along for the ride. All four are now done and my stash is now Skyhawk-free! Till next time, and thanks for looking, Jon

My project to complete all the Hasegawa Skyhawks in my stash is now complete. This is their A-4H with Quickboost resin cannons (although the barrels were replaced by Albion Alloys brass tubing) and Armycast decals. A longer build article is at https://jonbryon.com/hasegawa-1-48-douglas-a-4h-skyhawk/, but the TL;DR is: Built mainly from the box with some small modifications (filled in leading edge slat wells, some parts removed/filled in, fin on leading edge of tail added from plastic card). Paint is mostly Mr Color except for the green, which is MRP. All of the camouflage is free-handed, not with my usual Iwata Custom Micron, but with an H&S Evolution for a softer demarcation. The finish is Tamiya XF-86 that was thinned about 50/50 with Mr Rapid Thinner. There's lots wrong with it - I wish I'd faired in the intake lips properly, the canopy isn't installed very well, and there are the faltering first steps of doing some oil paint rendering - but I'm happy enough with it in the display case. Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Jon