BP85

Thanks, Dave. I'm quite pleased with how she's coming along for what was meant to be a quick stash reduction build. Another visit from the eBay Fairy yesterday - decals and a Tamiya scriber. Unfortunately the scriber arrived just too late to tackle the raised panel lines on this kit but with a few older kits in the stash/post it should come in handy in the near future. Will hopefully get the first camouflage colour on the old bird in my lunch break today.

Too work so far. Don't mind me while I pull up a seat at a the back.

Hi All, Working from home again and managed to get an early morning spray in. Gave it my first attempt at this shading on the black base. Sprayed Tamiya Flat White (30 paint: 70 thinners) at about 20psi. Tried to let the paint out slowly and concentrate it in the middle of what panels were visible. Where panels aren't visible I have attempted a bit of random marbling for some tonal variation in the top coat. Apart from a couple of splodges where the airbrush 'sneezed' I'm quite pleased with the result. As we're aiming for a dull silver paint look I decided to use Tamiya Flat Aluminium for the underside. This was sprayed on at 50:50 paint to thinners. It doesn't look like much variation in tone is visible in these pictures but to the naked eye there is a subtle effect, you'll just have to trust me on that one I really wish I had tended to those gaping holes in the landing gear bay/fuselage. When it comes to the topside I may use a thinner mixture and layer it up more slowly so not to completely undo the blackbasing effect. I also think better lighting would help, it is not immediately apparent how much paint I am laying down sometimes in yellowish artificial light. Ben

Thank you, Robin. Very kind of you to offer but I have some aftermarket ones currently somewhere in the Royal Mail. I have been struck by how many people have kindly offered to mail various bits and pieces. Makes the hobby a lot more fun when there's a real sense of community. Ben

My bemused better half chose to remind me that only a week ago I said no more kits until I completely complete one. She doesn't know that these two are currently on their way...

Brilliant. Thanks, chaps!

Hi All, Quick question: The particular Hunter that I'm going for is #3 below (43 Squadron, Aden 1965) but it says that the underside colour is aluminium? Is this correct as most of the pictures I have seen seem to show a dull light grey. Further to this, the original Airfix instructions say to go for Silver: I would hugely appreciate it if somebody could shed some light on this so that I can start making sure I have the right paints in. As an aside, the eBay fairy just dropped this off:

Already got my eye on an old Airfix F6 on eBay

I feel much more educated on Cold War jet appendages now, thank you. The sad thing is that such harmless fun in the naming of aircraft parts would no longer be permissible in our current joyless society.

That's awfully kind, Paul. Thank you. I do have the rear wheels, I just haven't attached them yet so in this case I don't think I need any replacements, but thank you nonetheless.

ICM. Check. Rare German nightfighter. Check. Excuse me while I sneak in at the back and poor myself a cold one. I'm currently fighting my own ICM kit at the moment but seem to have developed Stockholm syndrome towards it. I also struggled with some of the aimless/pin-less joins. You've made a cracking start and I'm sure it will look great once the gaps are filled. Very much looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

They look awesome. May well have to add this kit to the wish list as now that I've spent £11 on decals I'm damned well going to use them! Really is a quite beautiful aeroplane.

Primed. It's a shame there's not a super secret black version as she looks pretty great like this. Primed using a Humbrol rattle can. Next step will be to spay on some marbling before the camouflage.

Yes. This was going to be a straight OOB and as-it-comes stash reduction exercise that wasn't meant to take longer than the weekend. But one thing lead to another and here we are with filler, canopy masking and aftermarket decals that cost three times as much as the kit! It has a lovely shape so I'm now quite determined to get the most out of it. Hoping to get some paint slapped on her this week.

Thank you, m'Lord. Purchased. Only cost three times as much as the kit itself! I've decided on 43 Squadron in Aden 1965. Based on this it looks like I will be going with all the fuel tanks as the payload.

Thanks, Gondor. I do like that about the Sabrinas! Small update today, quick half hour after work. Front landing gear, pitot tube(?), canopy and masking all added and the joins sanded down. This was meant to be a quick build to reduce the stash but I'm growing quite fond of her now and will probably spend some time finishing as best I can. Will be priming tomorrow, thinking about a trial run blaclbasing before I do my beer delivery Spitfire. Does anybody know of any good aftermarket decals for this model?

Pretty underwhelming to be honest. Think I may well get myself the Tiger Month though.

After digging around in the spares pile I found a flat piece that could be fashioned into the appropriate shape so a bit of sawing and sanding later this was the result. Not perfect but better than nothing Original: Mutant:

Today's partial update - Filled in the gaps with Humbrol filler and added the two blisters towards the front. Not entirely sure what they are but again the fit is nice. The airbreak(?) at the back took quite a bit of filing in order to get it fitting centrally. As for the port landing gear (the one with the missing cover) this is what I do have: Compared to what I should have: My three options are: 1) Leave it off and scratch build some sort of jack/trestle 2) Attach as is with cover missing 3) Attempt to scratch a cover Leaning towards 1 and 2 at the moment but can't quite decide. Thank you for the interest in what must be the thousandth Hunter thread on here.

Thanks! There's something quite fun about seeing what you can get out of these older kits apart from the usual issues with decals and clear parts. I wouldn't mind doing a 1/48 version in the future.

Yes - really pleased with the fit. Was expecting much more trouble than just the wing roots especially on a middle aged kit. As for the landing gear cover I have some plasticard on the way so will attempt a replacement.

Hi All, my second WIP here. Taking a break from my ICM Beer Delivery Spit as it is too cold outside to prime it. I picked this 1982 kit up a few months ago for the princely sum of £3.60 on eBay and it is also my first jet. I have only done WWII so far but also have an interest in Cold War jets. I'm not expecting any magic from this old tool but I'm sure with a bit of love something respectable can be produced. And if not for a few quid I'm sure it will be happy in the bin. Usual bits first; box, parts (detached on arrival as it is pre-owned but not started), decals and instructions. There are about sixty pieces with multiple ordnance options and wheels up/down options. Unfortunately, or fortunately, due to the lack of interior detail, there is no canopy open option which is how I usually like to build them. The decals look pretty old and thick and I'm not sure how good they will be after thirty odd years so may pick up some aftermarket ones later on if I can build anything worth spending more on. As is common with these small older kits the instructions are a single double page spread And paint and decal instructions that I will probably not use First thinks first - the office. Well, the seat and the stick and the floor. That's all there is. The parts have no great detail but that's not a shock on this older kit and some of the joins between the sprue and the pieces are more substantial than some pieces themselves The highly detailed cockpit painstakingly assembled and a pair of 5p coins superglued in so that it doesn't sit on its tail. This was the only place I could fit them As the canopy will be closed and it is only 1/72 I will not be adding any custom cockpit interior. A quick spray of Tamiya Rubber Black and some seat belts painted on with Tamyia Flat Yellow just to give a hint of some effort being made to detail the cockpit. Will give the customary dry brush when it has dried to bring out any hidden detail that may be lurking there. Got to say that I'm really surprised about how good the fit is. The fuselage halves and 'cockpit' mate almost perfectly without any gaps Bombs and stuff And the wing assembly. So far, so nicely fitting. Apart from the other landing gear cover(?) was missing from the box. Will decide whether to scratch build one or scratch build a jack/trestle to make it look like the other landing gear is being replaced The first major fit issues arrived with the fitting of the wings to the fuselage, but shouldn't be anything a bit of Humbrol filler can't fix Note. The missing port landing gear A little bit of dry brushing in an attempt to bring the cockpit to life at least a little bit Over all I'm pretty pleased and quite surprised about how well this kit fits together. Sure, there isn't the detail that we expect in more modern kits but this is proving to be an enjoyable quick build and a nice break from the beer delivery Spitfire. I really enjoy getting these older kits and trying to get the best out of them. Anyhow, that's all for today. More to follow should anybody be interested (filling, smoothing, priming...)

In my 1/48 Spitfire I added some wiring using 0.5mm copper wire fixed with superglue. Not the most workable material but doesn't require painting for WWII kind of things at least.

This is beautiful. I've just gone and bought myself one of these - think I may chicken out on the camo though!

After sanding down it looks like the Humbrol filler has done a good job. I'm pretty pleased with the joins between the two fuselage sections now and the tidied up wing roots. Tomorrow's job will be a bit more fine sanding and rescribing panel lines filled in by filler and depending on the outside temperature tomorrow will hopefully get her primed up to see if any more filling/sanding is required. Can't decide whether to go for the usual grey primer or to blackbase. I've seen quite a few uses of both but can't quite decide which way to go for this one yet.