mark.au

In!

Welcome! I like the idea of a bunch of railroad models, it would add so much variety. There are literally tens or hundreds of thousands (millions, even) of photos already in the public domain to choose from. I’m sure the collective wisdom can follow the rules already clearly established and well policed by our excellent moderators and we will somehow manage. The sky’s not falling just yet.

I love these rabbit holes and explore them for my builds every chance I get. I can’t see a flaw in your reasoning.

Great! Welcome aboard

Oh yes, that would be a great looking model. Oh yes, that would be a great looking model.

Superb work.

A bit late to this one but I'm very much looking forward to following along. This one is on my bucket list. So far so good, the cockpit looks very nice indeed 👍

After not a lot progress through the week, I had a nice long bench session on Saturday and advanced the painting. I did manage to get the upper surface of the wings painted in the week, and now that was dry, and the underside well cured, I created the mask set and started the underside markings. First, I painted the covered Luftwaffe marking with MSG. Then, worked my way through the roundel colours going inside to out. The roundels themselves were a little interesting as they aren't standard for the end of the war. My suspicion is the roundels were painted in Europe when the aircraft was captured and unlike some of the other captured airframes I've modelled, they weren't brought up to spec prior to the exhibition. Regardless, it's clear from the photos that these roundels were simple equidistant red/white/blue circles. They came out just nicely, no paint lift or bleed to deal with (the photo looks like everything is a little yellowed for some reason, the white is actually white ). I positioned the roundels paying close attention to the photo evidence available. I had already spent a bit time cleaning up and enhancing - as much as I was able - the two photos I have of this aircraft. In studying them I was able to set the roundel position fairly accurately. I positioned the roundels using the aileron counterbalance as my reference. In this position the roundels were slightly inboard of where the standard position for the Luftwaffe markings are, hence the offset visible between the painted out markings and the roundel. Once the roundels were dry I turned my attention to the upper surface, and the camouflage. I mixed up a batch of RLM75 and applied a fairly rough mottle knowing that further treatments would clean it up. Th next step is to smooth everything out with a very thin overspray of the base colour, RLM76. This I did and then took stock; I wasn't too happy to be honest, something looked wrong. In looking at the original again, there's very little contrast between the colours applied, it's almost just a hint of the RLM75 rather than a true mottle. I took a black a white photo of mine and compared it to the original and there was a very marked difference. I mixed up another thin 76 and applied it over the mottle in several coats toning down the contrast progressively, all the while taking a photo and comparing to the original. After a few passes, I got to something I really liked, and to my eye matched the original in terms of the contrast and overall look. Now, I'm not claiming this is correct in terms of how it would have looked IRL, nor is this a proof, but I do think it translates very well against original photos of these airframes, or at least some of them. Now that I have my desired finish in place on this wing, I'll do the other one and then as much of the fuselage as I can while waiting for the replacement canopy. There's plenty I can do on the wings as well; the markings, the exhausts and even the weathering. Cheers.

27 😊

Thanks! Join in, you know you want to 😊 Buildings! Didn’t think of that but that’ll add some variety for sure. Excellent, lots of Corsair photos about… 😉 You’re ahead of me! I’ve got a few ideas for mine, too many though!

looking good! I second everything James said 👍

I sent Eduard a Support request Friday afternoon my time and received a response telling me they are sending me a replacement on Monday afternoon, also my time. Pretty good customer service so far, I'd say. You dad sounds like my dad, they should have a beer together... Funny you should say that, it's exactly what I got/get from following your progress on the Ventura. Thanks Alistair. Yes, I shouldn't have to but in my experience at least it doesn't happen often. There is... The first thing I did was insert the little support thingies in the various intakes on the wings. Whereas in the past I have fiddled around with trying to cut a piece of stretched sprue or wire to perfect length and then glue it in, I tried something a bit different this time. I drilled through the top of the intake and down into the wing and then inserted a piece of wire which I cut off flush with the plastic surface. I the just put a small drop of CA glue on the hole and sanded it smooth when dry. That worked well. With that done, I finished the weathering in the wheel wells and then added a simple pre-shade. And then finally through the doldrums, it was time to through some RLM78 at it. It's good to be painting again. The pre-shade is a little washed out in these photos but I think you get the gist. The lower side is done, when it's properly dry I'll turn the wings over and paint the uppers. Thanks for following, cheers. The usual disclaimer about lack of proof reading...

I’m in for this one.

Uh oh, I thought of a third option…. 😆 I realised I don’t have a green/grey P-51D in the collection…. Those 357th FG look fun…

All the way to decals and still on page 1. Glad I caught this one before you finish it (at this rate, in the next post!). Great work, especially crisp paint. That sprue organiser is a game changer.

Both coming on really well. Two concurrent builds is beyond my organisational ability, you’re making it look easy.

Glad I finally caught this one, it’s a gem. Great idea with the little brushes, too, I’m going to try those.

I’ve not proposed or hosted one of these before, so here goes nothing… This GB would be based on recreating a photo of the subject, including weathering and markings details. It need not be a diorama, though obviously there’s a lot of scope for that. Once the model is completed the gallery pics include a photo(s) (which, of course, must not infringe any copyright as per Britmodeller.com's standard rules) of the model against the photo you used of the original - same angle, black and white if the original is same, etc.. There’s all kinds of latitude in subject and era, and I reckon would make for an interesting final gallery. Cheers. Edited to add… Let’s make a list. 1. Me 2. @Mjwomack 3. @Corsairfoxfouruncle 4. @Quailane 5. @Col. 6. @Wings unlevel 7. @2996 Victor 8. ?

Just as I’m coming to the end of my captured series…. 🤦‍♂️. I could ave one for this, though. Count me in.

Indeed. Replacment requested, but I'm a long way from Eduard. Indeed, again! Yes, I’ve been digging around in my spares box and found a suitable piece. My progress down that path is likely in the next update. For now, not a lot to show but I have finished the wings’ assembly and have begun to paint. I started with the wheel wells… Depending on how I go with the canopy surgery, I may take the wings all the way to completion while waiting on a replacement from Eduard. Cheers.

While I finish up my contribution to the WW2 Twins GB, I'll set a side a spot here for my Mustang. I'm not sure what it will be but the front runners are an Iwo Jima VLR Mustang from the 1st June "Black Friday" mission or a "Blue Nosed Bas**ard from Bodney". Will likely be using an Eduard 1/48 kit. Cheers

One of my favourites... I see at least one "LOU IV" already in progress, here's mine (Airfix 1/48). Yes, I'm in the blue camp. A couple of others. 15th FG CO Col. Beckwith's "Squirt" on Iwo Jima, March 1945 (Tamiya 1/48, SNJ for the NMF)) 45th FS, 15th FG "Foxy" Iwo Jima, March 1945 (Tamiya 1/48, Bare Metal Foil for the NMF) What to build for this GB...? Cheers.

It’s not Eduard’s finest work, that’s for sure. I’m a one-kit-at-a-time builder so I don’t get distracted per se, it’s more that I plow on in a rush to get through and make mistakes. Having said that, I’ve tried very hard to take my time. Here’s the results of the glued-on nacelles. Starboard is still worse, and both had a bit more of a gap at the top than I’d expected once I’d glued them in. The lower seams were more or less spot-on and would only need a smear of filler to close. After an initial fill, I taped the high side of the gap to protect the surface detail up there and used some CA glue to level things off. After carefully sanding down the CA glue, I gave both sides a test shot of dark grey to see where things were. On the port wing, the inside upper seam needed filling some more… There were a couple of other fixes needed but they were soon taken care of and I was happy that not only did I end up with some good seams but I’d managed to preserve all of the surface detail, including the fine riveting inboard the nacelle on the upper wing. I was mostly happy that I’d been relatively patient with the whole process. Meanwhile, I also started clean up on the canopy and while dry fitting it discovered another challenge. A short shot, this is the gift that just keeps giving… Cheers. The usual disclaimer about the lack of proof reading.