Scargsy

Yep, just going to do it straight OOB with supplied decals. Does anyone have info on why the scheme has some small patches of Humbrol 101 (Matt Mid Green) on the wings / tail fin? They appear to be mainly suggesting Humbrol 155 (Matt Olive Drab). I can't work out from the destructions whether it's meant to be some form of camo (doesn't seem enough to be so), panels painted slightly differently or weathering?

Hi Charles - can't say I'm brilliant at filling / sanding - but here's my take/results: I've haven't tried the Tamiya putty yet but one thing I want to try is melting styrene sheet into Tamiya extra thin cement (chop it up, drop it in the bottle, wait) - apparently you can make a great filler that has the same hardness as styrene (well you're making a kind of liquid styrene) - the issue I usually have is the filler being different hardness to the plastic so you end up sanding away one faster than the other. Anyhow I'm using AK white (hard) filler - just because it's what I have to hand and am familiar with, it dries pretty fast but it cleans up with water - meaning I can usually dollop some on, wait a minute then take the excess off with some moist paper towel. Here's the fit I had with the kit - the panel lines don't meet up and there's gaps, plus a lump of extra stuff where I didn't neatly cut off the sprue on one side and a chunk missing on the other where I cut a little too close... I like to fit as best as possible, then run extra thin cement all the way down the joins - holding them together as I go to try and get a good seam all the way round. So my 'method' is to lather on some filler along the joins with an old blunt knife blade - it's pretty wet but not runny stuff... The knife back/flat helps you get it squeezed into the holes. Anyhow about a minute or so later this stuff is starting to go off, so out comes the slightly damp kitchen towel and I try and get as much gunk from where it shouldn't be. Wax on, wax off... I then let it dry, repeated on a few bad spots and wait a few hours till it's fully cured. After that it's down to wet sanding - this filler gunks up the sand paper but as it's wet and dry paper I just need to occasionally clean the paper in some water... Now it's not great and I may try another application or a finer grade smoothing paper once everything is put together but it's a lot better than it was to start with! Other than that I've been trying to fit all the other bits and pieces, build up the drop tanks, etc. A lot of the fit on the kit isn't great - for example those little key points where the air intakes go seemed too big so I had to remove them. Since I'm modelling this in flight I'm going with fixed wing position (swept back) so won't be attempting the kit suggestion of melting the ordinance fins (not sure if that's the right word) so they can rotate and I can get a nice tight fit hopefully on the wing. The air-intakes had some pretty bad fit and trying to get the refueling probe correctly aligned was a pain, there's a slight mark on the plastic if you look closely which helps but when semi-dried I had to check with the clear parts in place, to check they wouldn't foul (which is nerve wracking - in case you get glue on the clear parts and fog them up). So here's where it's at, starting to look like a Tornado...

I'll be building this... Guess I'll need to leave the optional machine gun and howitzer for the Jeep out for this GB! I'll do all the sprue shots, etc. when I get around to starting it - which probably won't be for a while!

OK with time running short on the GB and lots of other kits in various states of destruction what better to do than to start another (actually I'm tempted to build a F117 for the GB too). So I'd been planning to do this in the Tornado GB last year but didn't get around to starting it... I seem to be continuing in my recent theme of yellow/brown or black vehicles! It's a pretty basic kit, so hopefully not going to take a massive amount of time, I'm just planning on doing it straight OOB, there doesn't seem a whole heap of bits in the box, in fact Scalemates suggests it may have it's roots back in the 70s. Instructions seem basic but adequate and decals look good, only possible issue is there are areas with what look like the body paint colour on them which might be a problem matching. I'm planning to model it in-flight, as I kind of hate doing landing gear and balancing tail sitters on the flimsy legs (the instructions show adding 4g in one step and another 20g in the nose in another???) Often trying to close up the undercarriage doors can prove a nightmare, unless the kit is designed to be friendly in that way, so the first thing I tackled was checking the fit, since it looked easier to get to the front doors from both sides before I've closed up the fuselage. The rear doors fitted quite nicely (as seen above), they were just a touch proud from flush when first tested, so I simply needed to persuade them with some sandpaper on the upper side. The 3 front doors looked like they might be a bit more of an issue - one nice thing on the kit is there are small attachment pins for them (I hate trying to superglue doors on post painting - but that's not of any help here. Since the underside is pretty flat I attached the 2 forward doors by aligning them on a piece of paper then just running a little extra thin glue down the join. Whilst that was setting I checked the parts on the interior, normally I'd stick a bit of plasticard or similar at the back of the doors so I cut out the wheel well to check - then I wasn't sure if the cockpit sits directly on that, so I cut out the floor and 2 end cheeks. They're quite nicely designed in that they both fit into small slots to keep the floor in the correct spot, I managed to dry fit them then run some glue in the seams (so the 3 bits are connected in the correct orientation) without hitting the slots so I can remove the cockpit again for now. I was scratching my head for a while as to which way to orientate the front part (since the horizontal opening isn't central) until I noticed a small arrow on it (handy), also appears to be there in the instructions (though not immediately obvious). I managed to nicely get the front doors in - just a bit of sanding down needed, one tip for sanding flat edges : place the sandpaper on a flat surface and rub the piece on the paper rather than the other way round (probably obvious to most people but it took me ages to work that one out!) Managed to get a gluey fingerprint in as the thin solvent ran through from the other side but there's some holes etc. that will need filling and sanding back, hopefully it should cleanup nicely. Once set I took a scrap piece of sprue and flattened a side down by sanding before gluing it on the inside of the doors to add some strength and added the internal wheel well too. So that's it so far.

Sign me up - I love a lopsided oddity so a Lee/Grant probably, also haven't done a tank green in over 8 years (though I'm now thinking about North Africa camo at the moment!) No M3/M4s in the stash at present but fairly sure I can fix that

Hello - not sure if this helps but I'm currently building the 1/72 Airfix kit - build log here. I don't usually build floating things, mainly rally cars, tanks and the odd plane. Also the replica on the South Bank of the Thames near London Bridge is worth a look around if he does start building it (noticed you're not too far away), though currently shut I think - some details here.

So here's my entry for the GB - the Golden Hind, as sailed around the world by Francis Drake. I did a bit of digging and apparently during the circumnavigation she stopped in Mogador (Essaouira) in Morocco, then Santiago Island (Cape Verde Islands, off the West Coast of Africa), before heading to the Americas. On the way back (several years, a few oceans and much pirating later) stopping off at the Western Tip of Africa at what is modern day Sierra Leone. It's far from my comfort zone - not something I'd usually consider but I got it as a birthday present the other year so thought I'd try build it. First thing to say it's it's a big kit, the cutting mat marked area is I think A3 for reference... So there's at least one bit broken that doesn't appear to be in the loose bits, some odd looking components - the black thing I guess is some kind of jig for making rigging from the spools of cotton and some thin vacuform sails. A few very large decals and instructions in the newer Airfix format... Onwards... The initial step involves attaching the two hull pieces to the deck, easier said than done. Firstly the sprue attachments were so thick I needed to use a razor saw to get the hull off, then they don't align very well, attaching 3 large badly fitting pieces together was a job for Paul the Octopus, thank god for Tamiya extra-thin, you can glue and hold a section for a minute or so before moving along to the next, and so on. Note the bit towards the front I spent ages trying to get the upper front deck to align but then found it neatly fit under the horizontal beam (otherwise the deck didn't want to fit on the lower section, so much so I thought maybe that's some detail part, but then no - the opposite side wasn't like that at all. After the photo was taken I managed to pry the deck there back up and attach it above that part. I'm still not 100% sure if that's the intended way or not. There were also lots of injector marks I needed to sand out to get the pieces to conform. Anyhow it's started now, lots of filler will be required!

Thought I should post an update... So I started with a light coat of yellowish tone (whilst painting my Scimitar, I had the airbrush out and the paints) - note the finger marks where I flipped it to paint the other side! The camouflage is supposedly based on the US MERDC (Mobility Equipment Research and Development Center) 'Red Desert' scheme. I started with a coat of Vallejo's 'US Earth Yellow' which apparently is a match but it just looks pretty orange! Note the Kiwi tank probably isn't painted in the US paint exactly (apparently it's a modified scheme) and I'm unsure if the Vallejo stuff is anywhere close to that to begin with. From what scant photos and info I could find it looks far more yellow, I mixed up something I felt more appropriate and hit it again. Probably then ended up a little too far on the 'light' end of the scale but hopefully I can work with this - some oil filters should help pull her back more towards a yellowy colour later. Applying the camo pattern is a bit of a pain - I didn't feel I could handle the pain of trying to mask around all the tiny bits so pulled out the brushes and set to work... Note I need to go over it again, and the colours aren't really showing well in the image. What's annoying is there's little in the way of good reference photos for an entire vehicle, there's plenty of info on MERDC schemes but the Kiwi images don't seem to have followed the patterns exactly (i.e. MERDC is approx something like 45% of the 2 base colours then 5% for each of the accent ones). After a touchup / second coat I'll try then using some brownish/yellow washes I think to try tone back the colours.

Haven't tried the Gunze stuff, I tried some AK metal primer before but it didn't seem to stick to my PE! I'd be tempted just to use some lacquer paint: it's got a high thinner to binder+pigment ratio so should be less likely to 'gunk' up fine details.

British FV107 CVR(T) Scimitar. 1/35 AFV Club kit. Build log here. Pretty much OOB apart from the need to extend the rubber tracks with a little Acurate Armour resin (were approx 1 link too short for my liking). Primary colours Xtracrylix BS361 Light Stone and highlighted over with Vallejo (UK Light Stone + RAL 1001 mix). Nice kit, had fun.

So I've managed to finish it - I must say I'm chuffed with my results, far from perfect but definately my best so far. Chopped out a bit of the rubber tracks and added some short lengths of the resin tracks to hide the join - these things are brittle, luckily I wasn't doing the whole thing in resin as I lost a few of the edge bits separating from the sprue. I gave it a thin oil filter wash with some light brown / sienna colour then applied some desert wash (Vallejo acrylic) to the tracks and weathering powder - wiping off the rubber pads to try get it more into the recessed bits. Added lots of the wash and weathering powders to the base and some to the tank - hopefully helps to marry the two together tonally. The headlights I'm not too happy with - I tried using some still water resin stuff to build up lenses (with the tank propped on end whilst it dried) but I should have really used more as it shrunk back quite a bit when dry. Anyhow another build finished!

So in the end I decided to give it a 'highlight' coat with some Vallejo (a mix of their version of British Light Stone and Sand) after attaching the wheels - I kept the idler and sprockets off to aid getting the tracks on. Detail painting and then attempted to get the tracks on, unfortunately this caused them to split at the join point (even though I'd epoxy and superglued them), seems they're about one link length too short for a natural look! Still I have the resin tracks so hopefully I can splice a length of that on the underside, the rubber tracks kind of have their own shape (I'm not sure how easy it would be to heat them to bend them as needed without melting), I kind of worked with that as best I could to use the natural dip to make the top sag and applied some superglue and epoxy to hold/shape them near the idler and sprocket. I masked and painted the metal barrel (it has a silver section in the centre I'm leaving bare metal) but when inserting it into the end it stripped the black paint off, I might mask the top of the barrel housing, push it in and then paint it in-situ. The base I made up from a little MDF plaque (got a lot of 10 cheaply on an internet auction site), added some 'beach sand' texture then darkened with an acrylic wash. The tank colour is maybe a bit too light now, I think I might try a very thin oil wash/filter, then add some weathering powders to tie the base/tank together a bit better.

Great choice, I'm aware of the AA kits but haven't seen a build of one so will be following along, some great shots of UN armour in that TV clip too.

Well done, wish my first build looked that good!

So progress has been in fast bursts but somewhat spaced out - I've been procrastinating and meaning to finish the Lightning for the Interceptor GB, which I didn't get round to finishing! There's lots of stowage boxes on this thing... By the time I'd finished building them and adding all the detail parts I'm sure they make up more than 1/2 the weight of the kit. Getting the viewports and detail parts on was a bit fiddly but I managed without losing any parts to the carpet monster! I have to say there's a tiny bit of PE on the top of the turret with an even tinier bit of plastic on it - I think it's a stop for the hatch (with the tiny bit being the rubber stopper!) - now that was a pain to get on with super-glue! I chopped the rear-view mirrors off the stalks, from what images I could find they would have been removed in combat (don't really need a mirror giving away your position in combat and you're probably not going to be parallel parking in the desert!) I gave it a coat of Alclad brown primer (it's kind of khaki colour) then attached the road wheels, I was trying to get some of the brownish primer coverage into the hard to reach points first. I'll attach the idler and sprocket wheels later as it might make the tracks easier to get on that way. I painted the exhaust steel before attaching the PE cover (not sure how visible it will be or how silver it will look once the tank if fully painted). Then on with the first paint coat - first time I've used Xtracrylix (XA1813 - British Gulf Armour Light Stone), it claims to be water based but their thinners I bought with it is isopropyl alcohol based (judging by the smell). Pretty thick out of the bottle, I thinned it a little too much I think (paint started to split in places into constituent colours) - it's a bit more like water based stuff (Vallejo) in terms of constituency when spraying than say Tamiya (which I think is pure alcohol thinners) - dries slower, etc. I had a few runs but blew them dry (and the aforementioned splits - where red/brown spots appeared). I'm going to give it a bit of touch-up by brush, I wasn't overly happy with coverage but with it dried I think I might just do some brush touch-up as I feel doing another going over with the airbrush might just leave it a flat single colour and lose some of the colour modulation.

It's been hard to get some time to do some building, but where I have it's been steady progress. No major dramas, the fit is pretty good on this old kit and some nice welding detail, I was worried about snapping the grab handles that fit on the turret when taking them off the sprue but no issues - can't remember how I ever managed to get them attached as a kid - I had better eye-sight but thicker blobby glue back then (seem to remember stuff that came in a tiny metal toothpaste like tube). I added the communication cable reel from the Scimitar kit I'm building (hard line comms that can be linked between tanks), and super-glued back on a couple of the clips from the mantlet cover I'd snapped off when trying to drag/hold it in place whilst the epoxy glue dried. I've seen some sources saying the machine gun should be mounted slightly differently on the Kiwi tanks but didn't feel confident moving it (would have required me to cut the moulded square mounting point off flush first). I added an extra stowage bar between the headlights - it's a bit on the thick side and I think realistically there should have been two bars but several hours of trying to cut some plasticard thin enough and straight this is as good as it's going to get! I also repurposed a 1/24 Ford Escort exhaust for the aux generator exhaust, unfortunately I didn't have any appropriately sized exhaust tip so the best I could find looks like a bit of a bean-can boy racer one - guess I need to grab some thin tubing/strips for scratch building next time I order some modelling supplies! Maybe this is the sports model of the tank Other than that I've given it a coat of primer - first time using Alclad's brown primer, I have to say it's a nice khaki shade once on.

So the tedious work of building up all the wheels was done, not difficult just a lot of sanding to ensure all the edges are similarly textured, rather than just the bits where they were cut from the sprue. The nice thing with these old Tamiya kits is that the wheels all contain poly-caps so they can be attached/detached useful to keep them in place and remove when needed for painting. Although when I removed one of the sprocket wheels it pulled the axle/connection piece off - luckily cleanly - so I reattached it and strengthened the connection with a some epoxy glue - given all the other axles are moulded onto the lower chassis this will take the brunt of any overly tight tracks! The turret and barrel were built up, though the barrel isn't yet attached so I can get the mantlet dust cover on later. The turret upper and lower parts are a very good fit, given the age of the kit. I started the modifications - trimming back the fenders, I was a bit fearful about how to do this cleanly but in the end just attacked them with some flush edge cutters - I did make a couple of overly large chops and stressed the plastic a bit, but applied some extra-thin cement, hopefully as a solvent it should help anneal the material. So my filler order arrived and I set to work... After inserting the exhausts through the bottom of the fenders I filled the main openings with some plasticard cut to size, then added some filler. Filler rubbed back then upper and lower hulls were attached - there were a few small gaps to fill after that, though it was a bit of a pain getting a nice clean rubbed back surface near the edge - but I can always make the lumps look like mud! The eagle eyed may notice an exhaust off a 1/24 Escort kit in the above photo, I'm hoping on using this to fashion into the auxiliary power generator exhaust later. The aftermarket mantlet cover was attached along with the barrel - this is made of some flexible material (the same type as the rubber tracks) and was a tight fit, getting it on and glued into place was a fraught experience as I had to use thick epoxy (don't think super-glue would cut it or styrene glue would work). Hopefully it's not in too bad a location, I would have preferred it more centered around the gunners sight cover but it's about as good as it will get, it's made for a different kit so it is what it is. I unfortunately managed to snap off two of the little fixing tags (not visible on the image below) but hopefully I can glue them back on later. So that's where it's at - will need to start adding the detail pieces and do some tidy up before paint. One thing that I haven't got a clue about how to do - there are supposed to be strengthening ribs on the sides of the storage bins (as depicted on the box art) but I've no idea what I could make it from - the same width as those on the top so it's pretty thin? Maybe some stretched sprue?

Welcome aboard, I'm originally from Brad-Cleck-Udders-Fax but now 'dann saaf' similarly did modelling in the 80s and early 90s but then found beer, women and some time later ended up with a mortgage, wife and kids! Came back to the hobby recently, but still fancy building a kit-car as a midlife crisis but a 1/24 kit is somewhat easier to tidy away from the wife if I leave it unfinished!

Mr. Color Levelling Thinner is lacquer based, so you should just need the paints, Tamiya have their own lacquer thinner and a 'retarder' version, which I think will pretty much be the same as self-levelling - I have a few pots of the Tamiya lacquer paint but haven't tried it yet, I'm planning on trying it on a Back to the Future DeLorean kit I have.

Just did a test - the Vallejo airbrush cleaner will remove Tamiya paint unfortunately (just tested on a wing tip I badly hand painted over the weekend - needed a second coat anyhow so not a problem), but as Spiny said - if in doubt test on a scrap/spoon/etc. I found that out the hard way once when trying to remove some excess panel line with enamel thinners that managed to eat through my paintwork on the car door!

So I thought I'd make a start on this, hopefully I can get it to priming and painting as the same time as my Desert Storm GB. There's not a massive amount of parts - but I managed to screw up putting the first one in! This first partition piece should have gone more towards the front in the next 'slot' but with the clip facing this way but luckily I managed to realise in time (well that it was orientated the wrong way for the current location and spun it around before the glue dried. I suppose in the original motorised version there would have been two of these clips so you can open and close the hull to change the batteries - the clips go through the top of the hull in the turret here... The hull has lots of holes - probably for switches and other stuff back in the day, I decided to start filling them, mainly as it's annoying seeing light shining out of the bottom of the tank model! I stuck some plasticard over the holes from inside to start. Then I backfilled the holes from the other side with some 1mm plasticard strips, which is slightly thinner than the body... I'll need to add some filler later but I've run out for the moment! I just need to make sure to leave some space for the little prong above that helps line up the top and also fill the undersides of those mudguards / stowage boxes!

One trick I just learned - that's handy for painting small bits (door handles, window surrounds, etc.) is to use a different type of paint. I use Vallejo water based acrylics (Model Air) for these detail bits and if I mess up - not a problem, once it's at least touch dry - I get some of their airbrush cleaner on a tiny cotton bud and just gently wipe off the excess, to tidy the edges. The Vallejo airbrush cleaner isn't harsh enough to lift off the lacquer paint I use to spray the body in so only the newer stuff comes off!

So I'd been planning to finish my Lightning first but got bored after a couple of hours of doing decals and decided to start the Scimitar, I much prefer building stuff! I'd ordered some aftermarket Accurate Armour resin tracks which had arrived... They are just sub-lengths (all the same size) I guess they need to be heated to conform them to shape? No instructions provided - also I'm hopeful that they are exact size when put together and don't need to be trimmed to size. Anyhow I was opening up the parts packets and look what I spied - hiding inside the lower hull piece... the tracks I thought were missing! In preparation of the build I'd also done a colour check - taking possible paints and blobbing a bit on some paper, just to see what colour they dry (some acrylics can slightly change when dry), don't worry I'm not planning on using all of these - well not on this build. I was seeing what the Tornado pink dried and also some colours for my M41 Walker Bulldog build and also a few others for 'reference' as my phone camera can try to colour correct, plus your eyes/brain go a little mad staring at 50 yellow/brown shades! Photo taken outdoors in natural (though overcast) light... How many shades of brown does one man need? It struck me the other day that I haven't painted a green AFV for some years, even though that's the colour that first springs to mind, might need to do one soon! I got a couple of Xtracrylic paints to see what they're like, they seem to be alcohol based - the Gulf War Pink for the Tornado and their Gulf War Light Stone for the Scimitar. I think that's the shade I like the best, though I may go with the Vallejo as I've got a lot more colours I can use for modulation/mixing - oddly the Vallejo is supposed to be the same BS standard colour, used since WWII but looks more yellow? The new Tamiya lacquer light sand isn't a bad colour but again not sure what I could modulate it with but it looks more light brown than dark yellow. I hate that thing where you fall into a hole of micro-analyzing different shades of the same colour and even then why am I getting so obsessive about it - I don't exactly have the real thing parked outside to compare it to anyhow, before we get into weathering / lighting / scale effects!!! Anyhow - quite a way of paint yet, so I'll worry about that later. I made a start on the lower hull, and straight away noticed it had some sink marks - I did fill them but only later realized I didn't need to, since the upper hull only just covers them! I attached the front and end pieces first - I wanted to ensure a good fit before getting all the suspension and smaller components attached. Annoyingly they were somewhat wider - I sanded them down somewhat and added filler to the seams. The front section was still a little wider so after attaching the drive axles there, so I added a little filler there too. I gave the base a bit of a rough scuffing up with the sand paper, I imagine they get pretty dirty and battered IRL. One thing I noticed is the instruction numbering (or rather lettering) seems off - the 2 identical wheel sprues are labelled C but the instructions refer to them as D, luckily I noticed before attaching a shovel instead of the drive axle! The kit has a choice of drive and idler wheels (early or late versions) obviously for this build I'm using the late ones. The late drive wheels are made of 4 parts - annoyingly the outer gear/teeth parts had some rather nasty attachment points to the sprue (3 large points connected at the low points between the teeth and one on the outside of them. Luckily I managed to get them off and cleaned up without chipping off any teeth! The 3 main turret pieces (and gun elevation mounting) fitted together well, no need for filler. I built up the idlers and road wheels and that's where progress has finished for the day, I need to decide whether or not to prime / paint the underside before attaching the wheels, it might be easier to get the paint in that way. I mounted the upper hull on, a pretty good fit too (just a tiny bit of filler needed on the back, but that might have later been covered with one of the stowage boxes. Hopefully attaching the upper hull now won't cause any issues with trying to get the engine cover and drivers hatch in (the hole for the turret is large enough to stick my finger in to fish them out / hold for gluing if needed)! This is a pretty tiny AFV, it's 1/35 and here's the hull compared to a 1/72 Challenger 1 (actually the last green tank I made, several years back)...

Oooh looks interesting! If it's not too insanely priced I could be tempted, never really been a fan of those original Lotus 7 style front fenders!

How much are you thinning it (ratio wise)? I don't think water based acrylics can be thinned to high ratios (unlike lacquers) - whenever I use VMA I put a couple of drops per ml paint in the paint cup max. Is your airbrush nozzle/needle nice and clean? Is the paint well mixed? Throw a ball baring in the pot to help with mixing (a small metal nut works well too if in a pinch) - paint is made of pigment, binder and thinners, if it's separated then it won't work well! How smooth is the surface you're applying it to? I've had issues before spraying on top of Alclad metal coats with paint not sticking. If it is an ultra smooth paint you're applying over then a very fine grit sanding may help. What's the ambient temperature / humidity? You're in W. Yorkshire in winter (I hail from that part of the world) - I'd struggle down here at the moment, just outside Surrey as I spray in my garage, that should only affect the drying speed but if you're putting down too much, too fast it's going to run - and that's going to be more tempting to do if you've got very thin, translucent paint. Can you build it up in light coats? Maybe a light initial misting / tack coat would work, if you've masked off / aren't doing something freehand that might work. Can you 're-prime' the area? There's 70.609 Russian 4BO primer, I've not tried that colour but personally I quite like airbrushing their 'primers' as colour coats rather than primer and seem to have better success with them (might just be personal bias but their bronze-green worked a treat and they readily mix with the VMA paints).