AaronKSJ

Slowly been working away on this, base colours have been done in the cockpit and sealed with a clear coat. Next up some oil washes and dry brushing. Whilst looking around for reference photos came across this - 360 degree interactive photo of a Spitfre cockpit. Pretty neat! https://www.haraldjoergens.com/panoramas/spitfire-td314/ Aaron

Morning All Finished off the last little bits on this yesterday and think I'm going to call it done I'll stick some photo's up in the gallery at some point. Will need to dig out my proper camera as I've just been using my phone and the azure blue seems to make the white balance go a little crazy. Last night made a start on the VIII and I'll try and catch up on the other builds here today. Aaron

Morning all. Need to check a detail - I thought that the Vb had an aerial line rigged from the mast to the tip of the rudder? Is it just so fine that it doesn't show up well in a lot of picture? Thanks Aaron

@Troy Smith @Johnson @trickyrich Thank you for the comments! I did decided to have a go with the heavily thinned white to lighten up some of the top surfaces. Next time I'll give that go before I do any other weathering as I had to be fairly restrained. Fingers crossed it's vaguely noticeable. I've stuck the pilots hatch (hatch / door? ) and added a little bit of chipping and then dirtied it up with some brown and grey pastel chalk. Canopy masks are off, pleased with how the self cut masks came out. Speaking of dirty... May have gone overboard Every time it comes to weathering I always remind myself that less is more etc.... Realised that I cocked up the soot streaks on the underside of the wings as they should have started from the ejector ports and not the barrels. Lesson learned! Following Troys suggestion used some newspaper squares to cover the ejector ports which were stuck in place with PVA glue. I tried to use a smoke coloured AK Interactive pencil that I picked up recently (impulse buy) Was not a fan. Looks ok ish for the engine streak but think oils / power might have been better. (If anyone can has any good tips fire away - did watch a few videos on using them last night - might just need more practice) Also attacked the underside with some brown, grey and black pastel chalk scrubbed into various areas. Also done a little bit more work on the prop. Came across another build log in the wilds of the internet and someone talked about rubbing grey chalk into the prop blades and then lightly splattering some thinned black oil paint onto it. This is how mine's turned out. The splattering is fairly heavy - will know for future. That's it for the moment. Next update will hopefully involve some stretched sprue for the antenna. Aaron

My other build in the group should be wrapped up in the next day or so. And with there still being two months left running on this GB, think I can squeeze this one through. (I'm also planning on starting two other builds for the Journey's end GB that starts on Friday...) I'm pretty certain I'll be doing the box art colour scheme as I already have the paints. Picked up the Vallejo model air medium sea grey and faded P.R.U blue last year when I was about to start this kit, but then got distracted and built a PR Mossie instead Aaron

Thank you for all the replies It's a sterling example as to why I enjoy this forum so much (admittedly I'm more of a lurker here) @Troy Smith Excellent info on the prop. I've slightly chipped away with something that can just about pass as bass. I didn't have a ready mixed bass, so resorted to mixing some Games Workshop shiver and gold to get a vague colour. Ah-ha, I had been wondering about the white patches under the wings! I'm not sure if I'll attempt that. I have painted up some Tamiya masking tape a cream colour so might take the plung, just a bit uncertain as to they'll look. So chipping. This is one area I struggle with and was not looking forward to. I've kept it fairly minimal on the majority of the airframe. Little bit around the gun hatches and then tried to replicate the heavy wear that can be seen from one of the earlier pictures, and again some heavy wear leading up the wing root to the pilots hatch. Above pictures were taken just after applying the silver chippings. Then I sponged on a little dark brown, which didn't look great. Then mixed up some Tamiya rubber black / flat black / and red brown heavily thinned and sprayed it around the place. Focusing on the wing root, control surfaces and the underside panel lines. Don't think I mentioned this earlier but also used a mix o black / brown oil to add some dirt to some of the fuselage panel lines as can be seen in the photos. This is how it's was looking. After taking this pic, realised that sprayed on grime coat had near enough hidden all the chipping. Grabbed a small brush dipped in thinners and then wiped off some of the dirt to reveal the silver underneath. Which I think ended up looking effective as it hid some of the over zealous chipping. Here's now... Thanks for looking Aaron

Evening All. Initially I thought I didn't have anything to hand that I could use to join in with... But after a rummage about have turn up two likely candidates. Although it doesn't mention it in the Academy instructions, Scalemates dates the Avenger as from April 1945 in the Battle of Okinawa (From the AM entry) So hoping that fits the bill if I understand correctly that vehicles from the month prior to May are allowed? With the Sherman I had already made a start. Does this meet the under 25% criteria? @Enzo Matrix @Wez Again with the Sherman, Tamiya have it dated as April 1945. Although as it has no markings other than the star guess it's fine. I've got a few of Accurate Minutes reboxed kits and have been putting off build any of them as yet. But now seems like a good time! Aaron

Thank you for the comments @Corsairfoxfouruncle I'll have to give them a go with just water at some point to compare. I've been beavering away on the Spitfire. Decals are on. The wing roundels really fought me on this, despite lashings of Micro Set/Sol. Ended up tearing the bleeding things in places when trying to get them to conform with a cotton swab. Not so pretty. This morning I've tried touching up the damage with some painting. Which I think does a reasonably good job of hiding the horror above The colours were mixed and look just about passable. A little bit of grime will hopefully help to mask it too. Once the decals had dried did my usual trick of lightly running a cocktail stick point along the panel lines to gently poke the decals down. I found in the past when I've tried scoring Tamiya decals with a scalpel that the decals tend to curl up and upwards and then can't get them to settle back. Thank you to @Troy Smith for the link that was posted in the reference section. Found this: And a few others too. I'm not sure I'll attempt to replicate the large patch of worn paint at the leading edge of the wing near the root. It doesn't look like there much chipping apart from there and a bit around the nose. It's are to tell on the wings from the angle, I will probably at a small amount of chipping around the gun access panels. Thanks for stopping by Aaron

To be fair it can be sprayed neat, I sprayed the prop spinner with the red from the kit after I re-read about using the paint. It's worth watching the Mig Ammo video on it and checking their website. (my memory is shocking) When they say it's best to mist on very thin coats to start with they're not kidding! I find around 15psi. Can't remember the needle size off hand although pretty sure it's 0.5. I think the problems I've been having with the paint this time round on the Spitfire is that I've been treating the paint like Tamiya stuff and thinning it a LOT. It does suffer from tip dry. So a damp cotton swab / kitchen paper is a must. Hopefully someone with a better track record with this paint will chip in now...

I'm using Vallejo thinner. In hide sight I should have bought some with my latest model shop order. But as far as I can tell the Vallejo stuff works well (when I get the mix right!)

Thank you for the comments @Corsairfoxfouruncle and @Johnson Did help confirm my thoughts that the sand was too light. I think the problem, as was suggested, is that the paint was thinned to much. I spent Monday evening finding whatever info / reviews on Mig Ammo paints and I had probably over thinned them that was causing the problems. Decided to play the prop spinner and spray that red yesterday morning and had much better results I think with the just a tad of thinners. I was not feeling brave enough to freehand a respray with the sand so I opted to try out an oil filter using raw umber. I had to keep going back to it while it was drying to reapply large areas where the paint was slightly clumping together or if brush marks start to show. Once I was fairly happy with the coverage left it about 30 minutes for all the thinner to evaporate and then very gently dappled at any left over streaky / clumpy areas with dry kitchen paper which helped to defuse the oil pigments. This is how it looks after being left over night to dry Think I'll need to seal in the oil filter before adding decals so will leave the klear coat till this afternoon. (hopefully it'll be fine to spray some Pledge over the oil filter by that time) Had a bash at the exhausts last night. Next up, I'll be looking for some reference photos for inspiration on how to weather the prop blades. As they were made of wood I won't be doing any paint chips. Maybe just some grey pastel chalk scrubbed in to give a worn / dusty look? Any suggestions welcome Thanks Aaron

Over the past few days got the camo marking done. The light sand colour was done using the black base / mottled coat method and for the brown that was post shaded by applying a small amount of the light sand to the mix. I was really struggling to get the paint to behave on this one. Not sure what I was doing differently with the Mig stuff. Used Vallejo thinner and flow improver as normal. Later on should get a chance to start the Klear coat. Still not sure how I feel about the colours.... Aaron

Here's some pics of the finished beastie It's a very nice kit and would recommend it. I'll certainly be building the C version when it's released. Was nice to get to try some new things out on the build - mainly my first NMF using an airbrush. So there was a lot of sanding and respraying primer involved! And tried out salt chipping which wasn't as daunting as I thought. Thanks for stopping buy. Comments, tips etc welcome Aaron

Excellent! Did you get a Yahu IP as well? I presume I'm the only person daft enough to buy incorrect seat belts for a Spitfire?! Just finished spraying the azure blue. Going to give it plenty of time to dry before masking it off. I don't really have any frame of reference for how azure blue should look - it seems to fit into the same can of worms as interior green etc. If anyone can has any links handy for good prop weather tutorials - I'd appreciate them sending this way. The last few props I've tried chipping with a 5/0 brush and silver and just haven't look that good to my eye. I'll have to have a search for good reference photos too. Aaron

I large part of the last few days has been procrastinating to put off masking the cockpit area. I'd like to think my self cut masks are improving with each model. Ended up with this: I've stuffed the inside of the cockpit and windscreen with a cut up cotton pad. Then used slightly dampened kitchen paper poked in with a paintbrush. Around the Headrest there's tape and a tad more kitchen paper. Then used some diluted PVA glue to hold everything in place. (past experience taught me that once the kitchen paper dries out it can blow out 😬 ) I painted up the insides here, and then added some masking tape with a tab created with a fold. Hopefully after the the camo has been applied I can reach in with tweezers and remove it. It was then given a coat of Vallejo Mecha black primer. Seams tidied up again, then added the various small gubbins before another coat of printer was added. And ended up here.... Later today I'll make a start on the azure blue. Aaron

Its the Hobby Boss one. I had been looking to get the GWH one as it looks amazing, but found the HB for a good price.

I've used a couple of different Mig sets in the past and been pleased with the colours. So fingers crossed. Will be interesting to see what the Azure blue looks like... Aaron

Added a few more tiny touches and calling it done! I'll get some photos of it tomorrow when it's not blowing a gale outside. For now it's been added it to shelf of twin engines American beasties Got an Accurate Miniatures B-25 and AMT A-20 to add to that shelve at some point. I do keep on putting off the B-25 as it's such a nice kit and I don't want to make a mess of it. Thanks for looking Aaron

@Markh-75 I did track down the models in RFI Do love a A-20! (I recently tracked down an original AMT boxing of their A-20J at the IMPS show in Halifax) I've managed to get a lot done on the A-26 over the last few days. After letting the Klear coat dry - attacked the panel lines with a mix of Winsor & Newton Payne's Grey and black as I found the grey on it's own when thinned turns fairly blue-ish. Undercarriage was a little bit a pain to fit as the wheel struts need a bit of twisting and a shove to get them into place. This did result in me breaking off one of the doors. There was a lot of swearing. But it's fine now! I'd say be careful with the nacelle doors as the doors are moulded as one piece connected to a bit of internal framework which also includes the locating parts for the undercarriage struts. There are not any locating pins for getting the placement of the doors/frame into place within the nacelles. I opted for gluing the front and rear bulkheads into place first which helped. Anyhow I started the exhaust staining. First off was a layer of Tamiya smoke X-19 sprayed in wide streaks. Then mixed up some Tamiay rubber black and black and tried to spray some finer more controlled lines. Emphasis on "tried". And then dabbed a bit of dark brown pastel chalk near the exhausts. As usually I think I was a little heavy handed, but still pretty please with the effect. Scrubbed a bit of black pastel chalk into the wing route area and around the nose guns. It's then been sealed a coat of Mr Hobby flat. Was really umming and ahhing about doing this given the NMF but the Tamiya smoke is a gloss finish. I think in future NMF builds I'll have to avoid the smoke paint - unless mixing it with Tamiya flat vanish works. Props had their decals added this morning and they'll get a flat coat later today Pictures! And look! It's not a tail-sitter. Huzzah. Canopy masking removed. A few small spots of paint bleed, sorted out with a wooden toothpick. So yeah, that's it near enough done. I'm not sure if I should try any more weathering as not really sure what to do. I'll post some more pictures once the props are in place. Thanks for stopping by Aaron

Thanks All! So I removed that part of the seat-belt that was bugging me. Think it looks better (I guess it was a nice idea on my part but in reality looked naff) The rest of the kit has flown together. Little bit of filler needed in a few places - mainly the cowl area (in part due to my cack-handedness) Enjoying the jowly Vokes filter on this And you can just about make out the seat belt going through the hole I cut into the seat to reach the rear bulkhead bit Can't believe it's taken me this long to get round to building another Spit. I do have another one in the stash - the Eduard 1/48 VIII HF which I may get a chance to start given the pace I'm getting through this one Aaron

So I decided to pick off the seat belts. Haven't got round to correcting the damage as of yet but I'm hoping just a bit of Matt varnish will disguise the super glue marks. Luckily no paint was lifted. Although I'm really confused as to how the seat belts should look accurately on this version. Most of today was spent doing a panel line was on the A-26 and just cleaning up bits and pieces on the Spit. Aaron

Hmmm. The more I look at the picture with the seat-belt the more I'm toying with the idea of trying to remove the strap that's there to try and show the one that goes through the bottom of the seat and just leave the shoulder straps. It may well damage the paint finish on the seat but that can be touched up. What do you lot think?

Spent a good day yesterday working on the Spitfire. Used oils for some washes, little bit of chipping and used some pastel chalks for a bit of grime. And took some better pictures this time. The Yahu instrument panel in place. If you use one you'll need to cut away a small section of each side of one of the cockpit ribs(?) Painted the tops of the rudder pedals to look like leather - hopefully this was right. As mentioned above, I'd ordered some generic RAF seatbelts rather then Spitfire specific ones... After a little head scratching and some butchery - figured that I could cut the buckles off of one part to attach to the other And ended up like this.... It's not great but I'm pleased with it as it gives the vague correct shape to show that some of the strap should go through the lower part of the seat. Maybe squint at the next photo I was quite pleased with the seat, pre-belts Glued the fuselage halves today and used a few dabs of filler on the nose. And that's it for the moment. Thanks for stopping by Aaron

Ooo I do like the Duck. How was the model? Got all of the Decals on yesterday. It required a bit of detective work as ICM provide a bunch of the smaller stencils but then the instructions tell you where they should go. Helpful. So I grabbed a copy of the Revell A-26 1/48 kit instructions from Scalemates and then found a large good quality photo of the Revell decals from a review site so I could figure it out from there. With nearly all of the decal on, gave it another coat of Klear / Pledge stuff. This morning while I've been able to grab a few minutes between work have painted the machine guns (all 18!) and the antenna (realised this morning I've attached the wrong one for my scheme, but oh well) I'm going to hold off on weathering until tomorrow to give the Klear coat plenty of time to cure. Thanks for stopping by Aaron

@Markh-75 Thanks for the tip - had a quick flick through his channel - I'll be sure to watch through the A-26 ones at some point (I'm pretty sure I'll build the A-26C version that ICM are releasing at some point too) Last night after I stopped getting distracted by my Spitfire build I got on with masking the anti-glare panels This was my first attempt at salt chipping. Found that I ended up with a few big clumps of salt grains so stabbed at them a bit with a paint brush. Here's the result A little overdone for my liking but at least I've actually tried the technique now! And think it looks better than my paint brush chipping would have done. After this pic was taken, added a few more scratches with a tooth pick to a few areas that looked a bit bare. This mornings job is to get the decals on and another squirt of clear coat. Aaron