Dandie Dinmont

Oops, sorry Rich! Duly noted I wish! The fantastic belts etc come from @dogsbody Build, highlights of which he was kind enough to share. My belts will be photo etch, once I’ve found or replaced the missing pilot’s seat. Craig.

Yes, I noticed that when I was getting the instrument panel and back armour lined up. I think the way forward may be to glue the fuselage together in sections. Maybe glue and clamp the rudder first then when that's set, add the bottom of the fuselage and work forward aligning one section, gluing it, then moving onto the next. It's a theory anyway, we'll see how well it works out! Craig.

Hi Chris, This is another thing I'm having second thoughts about tackling so thanks for the advice! I've just been re-reading your build thread and I think it would be a crying shame if you don't finish your own Hurricane when it was turning out so well. I realise that your paints are probably frozen solid at the moment but when they thaw out, I encourage you to get back to it! Craig.

Another thing I had intended overlooking! I'm now scratch building a replacement which will hopefully be closer to the mark. As it happens, I also have a 1/48 Hurricane so I compared control column sizes. They're identical! I already have the PE belts and was intending doing an open cockpit, partially in the hope that it would disguise the shortcomings of the canopy frame. Is it just a case of thinning the spine down so the hood will fit over it? Thanks for the tip and for all the advice. I appreciate it! Craig.

Nice work on that cockpit Eric! I’m building one of these at the moment too (WIP here) but at a considerably slower pace than you! Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Craig.

First step was to assemble the walls of the undercarriage bay. From reading accounts of previous builds, I knew that this could be a bit tricky so I thought I would be smart and spot glue the sides and rear of the bay in place which would allow me to locate the spar which makes up the front of the bay. This was not a success, it seemed that the sides of the bay weren't quite aligned in a way which would allow them to meet the front spar at the right locations. After much futile fiddling, I snapped off the sides and rear and reverted to plan B - taking the advice of those wiser than me, in this case @Troy Smith who in his build of the same kit recommended using the upper wing to get the front spar into the correct location. This was much more successful and once the front was in place, the rest of the bay fell into place closely enough to satisfy me. Next, the cockpit was put together. The connection between the instrument panel and the armoured backplate seemed somewhat nebulous so the parts were trapped in the temporarily joined up fuselage halves and glue applied where they touched (I know the control column's squint. Don't worry, I knocked it off 5 minutes later) Everything assembled so far was sprayed with Vallejo Model Air Aluminium. Once that was dried, the cockpit sides were painted Tamiya cockpit green and various details touched up following my usual mantra of "no-one's going to see this anyway": I was beginning to realise that the dread moment when I would have to tackle the PE belts couldn't be put off much longer. I started trying to make sense of how the belts went together but soon realised I had a more pressing problem. I couldn't find the pilot's seat anywhere... More soon. Craig.

A wonderfully written, and very moving, reminder of the supreme bravery of all those who made use of the vehicles we get so much enjoyment out of modelling, and the horrors they all too often had to face. I'll follow this build with keen interest, and not a little reflection. Craig.

Hi Eric, In my not-terribly-experienced opinion, I wouldn't bother priming the interior parts and would hold off priming the exterior until the fuselage is joined up and the wings and tailplane attached. That way, the primer coat will highlight seams and areas where you need to do a bit more work to smooth things out. It might be worth considering painting the interior parts on the sprue (which I believe is the proper name of the plastic thingy) but in some of the more recent kits designed with tiny tolerances, this can make fitting everything into the fuselage tricky so you might be better assembling the cockpit etc. first and then painting it. Others who have built this kit may be able to offer more useful opinions. Your Airbus looked great so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out! Craig.

Hello, and welcome to my first WIP on Britmodeller! No exotic plastic here I'm afraid, just the newish Airfix 1/72 Hurricane which I'm sure is familiar to most readers. The obligatory box and sprue shot: This was an impulse buy. I saw it sitting on the shelf of my LMS, thought "I fancy making a Hurricane with a two bladed prop", and picked it up. Naturally, it turned out that this was not a boxing which included the two bladed prop option (I could maybe have guessed this from the box art) and that furthermore that I already had these exact same sprues in the form of a starter set I picked up a while ago but what the heck, I can learn from the mistakes I make building this one and make a proper job of the starter set. I'm not the sort to lie awake at night worrying about misplaced rivets (I have plenty of other stuff to worry about) so my intention was to build this totally OOB ignoring the myriad faults that make this kit practically unbuildable such as mis-sized main wheels with the wrong number of spokes, missing metal panels behind the gun access hatches, trailing edges a scale 7ft thick and incorrect framing on the cockpit canopy. My only aims were the usual ones of getting engrossed for a few hours in creating something, and producing a finished model which would not be mistaken for the work of an unusually clumsy 5 year old. Alas for my intentions! Britmodeller contains much dangerously seductive information and having read somewhere that adding photo-etch harnesses to a cockpit would increase its attractiveness by at least 1000% (I may be paraphrasing slightly), I resolved to give this a try. With the etch ordered, the first task on hand was to open up the holes in the seat and back armour to allow the harnesses to pass through: This was accomplished without destroying the parts being worked on or running the drill into my finger. This is going well! More soon. Craig.

Welcome Merlin! Might I suggest that you placate your itchy fingers by heading to your local Aldis and picking up one of the cheap Airfix starter sets they’re selling at the moment (they even have spitfires). That’ll give you everything you need (kit, paint, paintbrush, glue) to do some modelling at your kitchen table or similar and that in turn will allow you to get a better idea of what tools you’re going to need. (I’d suggest at least a decent pair of side cutters for removing the more delicate parts from sprues and a decent scalpel, Swann and Morton and number 10a or 11 blades seem to be popular around here). Then when your man cave is ready for occupation, you can get cracking straight away on your masterpiece! Craig.

That’s a nice looking cockpit. Sometimes browsing through the pages of Britmodeller, I become a little daunted by the displays of scratch building and weathering enhancements some people employ in their cockpit building, and which is way beyond my meagre skills. Seeing a cockpit like this one, which has been produced with only the skilful application of paint and glue, gives me hope that some day I might be able to produce something like it so thanks for the encouragement! Craig.

And put to very good use! Craig.

Those buildings look great. One of the things I really like about railway modelling is that you have to learn so many skills as part of it , building in card, assembling kits of wagons and buildings, doing the landscaping and even a bit of electronics to get the whole thing working. Craig.

You have every reason to feel very good about these, that's lovely work. Craig.

Thanks for the welcome Michael. I’ve just got a couple of Bandai 1/72 X-wings in the recent Hobbycraft Revell sale so I will be investigating the spacecraft side of the site shortly. Craig.

Nice photos. Looks like we’re modelling more or less the same period - BR in the late fifties to early 60s. Are your wagons built from kits or RTR? Craig.

Hi Andrés, I’m impressed by the amount of fine detail Bandai have put on this kit but I’m even more impressed by the way your superb weathering and detailing makes it all pop out. This is fantastic work! Really looking forward to seeing the finished article! Craig.

Hi Sturmovik and Clive, thanks for the welcome! Craig.

Indeed. Sadly, that doesn't apply to my layout which has some pretty rough bits, especially where I was learning the fine art of soldering droppers as ! went along. The picture of your layout isn't working for me bar side? Is it ok for you? I'd like to see it! Craig.

Dennis and bar side, thank you for your kind welcome. Lurking on Britmodeller before taking the plunge and signing up, I was most impressed, not by the awesome array of modelling skill and knowledge on display, but by the generous and supportive nature of the site, very different to some internet forums I have taken a look at. It seems like something special and something I would like to be a part of, hence the decision to poke my head above the parapet! Craig. P.S. Have you actually finished your layout bar side? I started mine about three years ago and I reckon I'm still only a third of the way along.

This one: https://www.air-craft.net/acatalog/Nozzle-Cover.html#SID=1391 It seems to have gone up in price since I bought it, it's 49p now.

I recently bought a H&S Evolution Silverline 2 in 1. I’m a complete airbrush newbie but so far have found it problem free using a variety of different paints (Humbrol, Xtracrylic, Tamiya and Vallejo, all acrylic) and the 0.2 mm setup. I’ve also found it very easy to disassemble and clean. After a few sessions I invested the princely sum of 40 pence in the cap which allows you to flush back into the paint cup. As I understand it, one of the uses for this cap is to allow you to flush back between colour changes before doing a full strip down at the end of the session. If you’ve any questions about the silverline, I’d be happy to answer them. Craig.

The Hurricane looks great but for me, the really impressive parts of this build are the scratch built hanger and airfield accessories and the little details like the grass growing through the cracks in the concrete. A fantastic job! Craig.

I’m not sure what it says about me or the wisdom of my returning to this hobby but I recently invested £1.60 on a tin of Tamiya bronze acrylic especially so I could paint the gun button of the Hurricane (1/72 lest anyone misjudge the sanity of this) I’m currently working on. I’m now wondering if bronze is a close enough match for brass... Craig.

That wasn’t what I meant to say at all! I would hate for anyone to find out how many attempts it took me to work out that the two bits had to be glued back to back so that you can see the printed bits of both. Craig.