Kitchen Modeller

Sounds like you’ve found a good solution there Christer - I’ll definitely use a bigger needle and nozzle when I get back to priming - temperature shouldn’t be problem for the next few months as we’re heading into summer here. Airbrush should be back working very soon!

Thanks for that Roger - I’ll make sure I use that thinner when I try this primer for the first time. 50/50 mix? Thanks woody - love using the oils - they’re so nice to work with and have so many uses - can’t get enough of them

You’re making me very excited about building my first Eduard kit! Everything looks great so far - looking forward to seeing how those lovely details turn out on the finished model. The underside looks gorgeous without any paint

Well after putting the airbrush nozzle and aircap (as well as all other bits) through the ultra sonic cleaner... it kinda sorted the problem - cleared out some of the gunk but the airbrush is still throwing up air bubbles and is just not giving me a consistent flow - so it's working but not 100%. I don't think the cleaner I bought is very good - no settings, just and on and off switch - and it only runs in 3 min cycles so not enough for what I need it to do. I really don't want to take it the tiffy at this late stage - as a splutter at the wrong time could be costly. Luckily the local model shop stocks replacements for my set up so have ordered a new tip and aircap. So the stall is going to continue for wee while longer. It is what it is. I'm putting it down as a learning experience. Beware putting primer in your airbrush. I've also ordered some mr surfacer 1500 @Roger Newsome

Do you thin down Mr Surfacer and if so with what? Also what size needle would you use for this job? I've used tamiya rattle can primer before which works quite well but you waste so much that way - would prefer to get something that works well from an airbrush...

I've read since this happened that I should have have been using a larger size needle and nozzle - was using my default size 0.25 ( the smallest needle) which probably lead to the problem. I've heard very good things about Mr Surfacer but it's not a product that's readily available here in NZ but I will see if I can get some... The Vallejo primer actually worked fine while I was using it, it was only later when it hardened that clogged it up my nozzle. I've since cleared out most of it but there's still some stubborn material right at the end of the nozzle that refuses to shift... A swim in my new ultra sonic cleaner will hopefully fix it. Thanks for that Adrian - the weathering has come out better than I thought and the rivets came out looking good after the oil washes - hopefully enough to distract from the off centre roundels - the plan was to "weather my way out" of that problem so I'm happy the 'plan came together'!! Re. the spike of green - I know it looks out of place - I would do what you suggest but I'm afraid of getting the colour match wrong - there's a faded paint effect in that spot along with a dark oil filter so even a tiny touch up there would probably show up and be quite noticeable. When I have serious doubts about doing a risky touch up, I tend to err on the side of caution! If I can get my airbrush going again, I'm hoping to get this project wrapped up this week - I'm more or less on the home stretch now. I do have a busy week at work but hopefully I'll still have time for modelling...!

Flash might have washed it out but it still looks good from here. Love these old jets - cuts a very nice line. Well done mate

Beautiful model - excellent paint job with a really nice scheme. Hard to believe it’s 1/72. Details are so crisp - helped along with some great pictures - Very well done

Well I’ve stalled a little... due to a catastrophic clog in the airbrush. I used Vallejo primer for the first time on Friday night and it seemed to work okay. Cleaned out the airbrush as I normally would when changing colours - sprayed some colours on some different bits. Then went to do the last colour change and... total blockage. Spent about 2 hours stripping down and cleaning to no avail. I even changed out the needle and nozzle with a brand new spare - the new nozzle got clogged up immediately. The next morning, I’ve tried soaking the nozzle in tamiya airbrush thinner which seemed to dislodge some material but when I put it back together it was still blocked. I stripped it all down and I’m letting all the pieces soak in water for a day or two. I realize that using a ultra sonic cleaner would help here. I don’t have one but had ordered one a few weeks back. Apparently it’s due to be delivered on Monday so hopefully that will sort the problem once and for all. Don’t think I’ll be using Vallejo primer again It must have cured and hardened right in the nozzle as air comes through but no paint. All very frustrating. Anyways I still made a little progress on the tiffy bits...

Good to see that she’s going together nicely- Good job on the cockpit- the green looks good and the pe seatbelts look great.

Beautiful paint job - detail is very well brought out. Very nice model. Sorry not to see an underside photo!

Very nice work. You did really well with the weathering- subtle and not too in your face. Great base and pose too. Well done!

Looking forward to seeing how you go. Have an Eduard in the stash - it will be my first one too

This is great - well done. Getting nice crisp lines with masking and brush painting is very hard so you should be really proud of this. You'll find with the airbrush that this process is so much easier - worth having just for this fact I feel.

There's nothing about this that I don't love - it's simply gorgeous - if you had some troubles during the build, they're not showing up at all. It's a beautiful model of a beautiful plane. Love that you're showing the Sabre engine in all it's glory. It will be a while before I attempt a model in this scale but when I do, it will be this kit. Love the other tiffies you've done but this is just something else. Very inspirational.

What make/type of tape are you using here? I keep buying label tape / plumbing tape etc but it’s always not thick enough for this kind of job! Would love a specific type to look for. Also love what you’re doing with the model. She’s looking great so far...

I’ve had the privilege of flying Cessna 172’s in the South Island of nz so this is great. I’ve been on the lookout for a 172 kit but they seem to be short on the ground... looking forward to seeing the completed model..!

Sweet ! Looking forward to that..

Thanks Smithy - what's happening with the spitfire..? Looking forward to seeing the panel line wash... I'm planning to give the wheel bays lots of attention which I'll do when the undercarriage is attached... I'll also be adding oil leaks and exhaust stains - not finished dirtying this bird:) Thanks Geoff - I'm happy enough with the colour of the panel lines so they'll be staying put. Sometimes artistic preference wins out over accuracy. Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement - I really appreciate it.

This is blowing my mind - in a good way. Just incredible work - but can't get my head around the scale from the photos which are also amazing. Have to go lie down now.

Hi all - I went ahead with the oil wash last night - I still have all the other bits still to do, prop, undercarriage, rockets etc so this should give the oils a decent amount of time to dry before the final clear coats. So mixed up black, brown, white and blue colours, thinned down with odorless thinner and put them on the model - I tried to place the wash strategically to highlight the different colours of the camo , panel lines and rivets - so not quite a sludge wash but covers just about the entire model... The underside: Left that dry a little and finished it off with a few blasts from the wife's hairdryer (as I'm a very impatient man) Then wiped everything off with a dry paper towel and dry cotton buds for the harder to reach places... Pretty easy to do - the clean up takes a while but I'm quite happy with it - I like the way the rivets are highlighted - on the other hand it highlights the rivets! The rivets... are far from perfect - but this just reinforces the point that if you're going to rivet, do the job right. I realise that the panel lines are very dark which isn't to everyone's taste - I thought I had lightened the wash compared to the last time I did this but apparently not - That said, I'm still reasonably happy with the overall look. Getting close to completion now - thanks for reading!

If this is what you can do with 1/72, I can't wait to see your work on a bigger scale. This is a great model - love the colour scheme, the weathering, the engine detail, the rigging. Great work...

Looks great so far - this is a great airplane to let loose on the weathering techniques so I'm interested to see how you get on. Cockpit is great.

Thanks Smithy - this is something I have tried to do - and the reason why I didn't go too heavy on the chipping - I really just wanted to get some discoloration throughout the model - these birds did get pretty beat up and fixing paintwork was probably not high on the priority list. I'll be going over everything with oils so this should pull back the starkness of what I've done. The biggest problem with this technique is that you're working on such a small scale the chipping might look really unrealistic - I don't think I've avoided that problem completely here but as a learning exercise, I'm pretty happy with how it went - (ie not a complete and utter disaster:) Which at this point in my modelling career - is a win. That was the plan so thanks for that - not a perfect fix but feels good to push the abilities forward a little.

Finished or not, it’s still a great model. Hard to believe it’s 1/144. Great detail and a really nice paint job. Some weathering would probably bring it to the next level but it’s still a fine looking bird. It’s such an interesting aircraft too. A pic with a paint pot or something would be good for comparison with scale... great work once again Christer!