Back in the Saddle

She resisted, but has just landed at Kemble, albeit a day later than planned🙁 No problem Dennis, at least it was 747 related! I've had a look at the decals I hope to use and they are creased in one corner: Would a spray with liquid decal film be likely to save that area? Alternatively I could scan them and reprint onto fresh decal paper... Or perhaps try both methods and see what works best! Any opinions welcome!

Most definitely!😁

She's off to Kemble in about half an hour... That thought crossed my mind too Dennis. I'm just applying some more filler to the top of the windscreens, so I can have a fettle with them later!

Thanks Phil👍 I’ll be honest, I lost my mojo on this one for a while - it had been going together beautifully before it came off the rails a bit... I’m back on it now though and quite enjoying it again!😁

Ironically I missed the programme too, but recorded it instead to watch another time. That's a great shot of IVI's final landing. Here's one of the same aircraft I took a couple of years ago in Seattle: Not entirely gratuitous, as it shows the nose and windscreens - an area that is currently demanding my attention. Here's the current state of play: Getting better, but more work still required! I have also discovered that white primer is not so good for highlighting blemishes, so once I've finished blending the windscreens it will all get a coat of grey again - at least each coat of primer makes the panel lines more subtle! When I'm happy with the finish, it will get a coat of white primer before I spray the final colours. I have dry fitted the tailplanes and they are almost a perfect fit. The wings might need a little more attention - their fit is slightly too loose. My intention is to finish each component separately then join them all together once painted. I think that will make painting, stencilling and handling easier. G-CIVO is the next one to head to the scrapyard, scheduled for this afternoon.🙁

Thanks Johnny.👍 This one's been on the back burner recently, but this morning I had a huge sanding session on my 747 and thought I would quickly sort out the gearbox housing on this one at the same time: As you can see, the nose has also built and now I've removed the seams on the tail boom, I can get that attached too.

Cheers Mikey! I masked the windscreens to provide them with a degree of protection, then liberally applied filler: I gave the model a quick blast of primer to highlight the flaws. Whilst blending the windscreen I will also attend to these areas. I realised earlier today that I have not posted any pictures of this aircraft in the 'Colum' livery. A trawl through Airliners.net found a couple of images I liked, starting with G-CIVP as she was back in 2001: This particular image is copyright Chris Sheldon and used with his kind permission - thanks Chris👍 I also found this image, which will be useful when I apply the decals to the tail: This one is copyright Andy Vanderheyden and was taken at Toronto in 2002. It is again used with his permission - thank you Andy. There's a documentary on BBC4 about the 747 at 9:00pm, so I don't think I'll be doing much more modelling tonight!

As promised, here's how it looks today: There is a significant gap at the top of the windscreens, so some filler will be needed there. The clear piece actually extends down at the base of the windscreens, which is why I had to get it fitted now - once blended into the fuselage it will form part of the nose. The windscreen was dipped in Klear four times, but is still not brilliant. I suspect by the time it has been blended it will need a probably need a polish - it should become clearer then! I also fitted a coaming above the instrument panel, as there was a slight gap there too. It might be visible at the end of the build, but maybe not...!😄 The two pitots have also been removed. The plan is still to get the fuselage primed later today.

Looks like you beat the kit into submission! Having finished one myself recently, I know how much work must have gone into this...👍

Very nice!

I enjoyed watching your progress with this one, the end result is stunning👍

I’ve fitted the windscreen tonight, as getting the nose profile correct without this in place was not easy... It will need a fair bit of fettling to get it to blend in nicely - I’ll post a picture tomorrow to show how it looks.👍

It didn't take long to destroy her...😒 My last flight on G-CIVM was in June last year, to and from Denver. Thank you! Thanks Terry, you're most welcome. Glad you enjoyed your flights with us.👍 Another sanding session has just been completed. Tomorrow I will give the fuselage what I hope is the final coat of primer, just to see if I've caught all the blemishes: I will have to remove those two bits under the 6th window back from the nose. I'm not sure what they're meant to be, but they could possibly be pitot tubes? If so, they are completely inaccurate! I also need to work on the front passenger window on the upper deck - it needs more shaping to get it correct. I think the nose profile around the windscreen now looks pretty accurate.👍

Sorry for the lack of updates recently - time to get back to this project! I wasn’t, but perhaps I should - getting the windows filed correctly is proving troublesome. I have a decal sheet up my sleeve in case I need it, but will persevere with trying to get them shaped correctly. I’d rather not fill them, but it’s still an option... Thanks James. I’m still working on the roof profile and that photo is a huge help - Revell’s shape under the windscreen doesn’t look too bad after all. 👍 G-CIVM is looking very sorry for herself. Two other 747’s have headed over to Kemble for disposal in the past few days...🙁 Thanks John, I think I’m slowly winning that battle! Thanks Colin, you’re right - I had misunderstood. It happens more and more! Thanks for the tipped tip too, I think I’ll try that! Thanks Johnny. Hopefully a bit more progress soon... I’ll post some pictures once there is a bit more to show.👍

The cockpit frame is now attached to the lower wing: I placed the top wing sections on, just to see how they looked. The gun panels will be cut out on both sections, to display the inner workings. The air brushing is on hold, but a dry day is expected tomorrow so some aluminium will be applied as required.

I think she's due to move to EGDX at the weekend...🙁 It's definitely possible, especially if departing to the SW from runways 22L or 22R. It wouldn't take too long to get to Camden! Probably not, but there is a degree of irony with that particular registration being retired... I believe that discussions about this are being held, so fingers crossed🤞 So back to the build. It's been a bit quiet again, due to other jobs getting in the way... I have started to fill the trenches on the tail fin, using Mr. Surfacer 500. I eventually decided against @heloman1's advice regarding masking the panel lines first, simply because there are so many of them and they are close together - a blanket covering of filler and the associated extra sanding seemed to be the easier option: After sanding it looked like this: I missed the inspection panels on the rudder, so will need to do those next time, as well as touching up a few other areas. A couple of low spots at the base of the rudder and fin were also discovered and these have now been rectified. Low spots were also noticed on the wings by @DMC during his build - something else I will need to look for. It's very useful having other modellers building similar kits and highlighting any potential pitfalls! I will use a plastic drinking straw for the APU exhaust and this has been offered into place to see how well it fits - It looks promising so far👍. Work on smoothing the belly is also ongoing. Here's the current state of play: Almost time for some more primer to see if any fine tuning is required.👍 My final task is re-shaping the nose. I have built the profile up above the windscreen as recommended by @tomprobert, shown by the area next to the green dot: I think the area below the windscreen also needs building up slightly - it looks a little concave in the area of the red dot...? If @71chally could take a side profile shot of the real thing (pretty please!), that would be a huge help! The panel lines on the fuselage are gradually disappearing under primer, so I may leave them in their more subtle state, rather than filling them entirely. Once the basic fuselage shape is sorted, I just have to file all the windows!😬

Thanks Stew. Nothing wrong with your eyes - I just haven’t attached it yet. I thought if I did, there was a good chance it would break off...!😂

The cockpit is assembled and awaiting paint: A little fiddly to build, but it looks great. I shall hopefully get some air brushing done tomorrow.

Thanks Paul, I’ll do that! That seat looks ace👍

Here's the scheme it will be painted in, which is the same as the illustration on the box: Despite being used to ram a Bf 109, this will be built with the right wing tip still intact! I have chosen this scheme simply because I prefer the more rounded spinner - the other option had the more pointed version. However, I quite like the history behind this airframe, so it seems very appropriate for this GB.👍 Work has started on the cockpit. The level of detail is great and the quality of the mouldings is superb. Just one gripe so far - the location of some of the ejector pin marks... The initial components have been detached and the seat is built: I suspect that once complete, this kit will be one of the finest builds in my collection - it really is rather good.

Now that my 1/48 BoB Spitfire Mk.1a is approaching the finishing line, I thought I would build its stable mate: It's another wet day outside, so I'm getting stuck in!

I appear to be following in your footsteps!😂 I agree, it is a great time for a BoB double build. I’m using the same kits, but different boxings... Like you, I’m building OOB - I think the new Airfix offerings include plenty of detail, making OOB a good option.👍

I'm making the cardinal sin of building this one with the flaps down (apologies to any purists on here!)😉 Once the flap and undercarriage bays were masked, I applied three light coats of 'sky'. Coat 1: Coat 2: And coat 3: I promise the pre-shading can still be seen in real life! I will leave it to harden then look at masking the underside and spraying the camouflage later in the week.👍

No problem - I’m not immune to them myself...!😁

Think you meant @Back in the Saddle! 😂 Great work on the APU exhaust; I’m stealing that (unless I can find a tube the right size...!). Thank to a James for the reference photo👍 Glad the canoe fairing tip was useful too🙂