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robstopper

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Everything posted by robstopper

  1. I love how Marinell is so clean and shiny, you get good reflections of her smaller self in her surface.
  2. I got a pack with 5, 15 and 30amp wire. I thought i'd try the 0.3mm wire as that matches the thinnest drill bit I can fit in to my pin vice. Thanks for those images, great info. I got a close up shot of the TWR on Marinell on sunday, but didn't check dimensions, so thats very helpful.
  3. Lesson learnt. Don't buy cheap drillbits off Amazon. Utterly pointless, physically and operationally! Still, got some 0.3mm bits and lead wire on order with Hannants, along with the HGW wooden floor and fabric seatbelts I'd been dithering about getting to use on Marinell.
  4. Thats kind of you, thanks. But i'm building it in 1/48
  5. I heartily approve of the choice of colour scheme! You've replicated the sister aircraft to my beloved RW382 "Porky II", so it's great to see another 309FS aircraft being paid tribute to. It really is a fab scheme, and I can testify to how good it looks in the air. You'd be amazed how many people I speak to whilst on duty at Duxford who didn't realise that the USAAF had 600 Spitfires in WWII, and loved them!
  6. As back-up options, I'm thinking of buying one of the Eduard kits which has the PE fret with the TWR on. Probably 82103, the F-6D/K, as it has some interesting colour schemes. But, the TWR isn't shown on the instructions, so I'm not 100% clear on how it actually fits to the fin?
  7. Thanks! I do think the Marinell ones worked out pretty nicely.
  8. Agreed, its too thick, but as a trial, it worked. Got some 0.5mm drill bits coming tomorrow, the fuse wire already had two thinner gauges, so will try that next.
  9. Proof-of-concept rough trial, using a 0.8mm drill bit and some 30 amp fuse wire. With neater cuts and straighter wires, this might work?
  10. Quick photo recon visit to Hangar 3 this morning to get some detail reference shots and measurements off Marinell for my next build. Quiet day, so the perfect chance to take some of the "kids" to meet their real-life elderly relatives! I got shots of my 1/72, 1/48 and 1/24 "Porky II" builds on RW382 earlier this year, but they were rushed and I was never happy with them, these are a bit better. And Marinell met Mini-nell too! And a few bonus shots of Marinell and Spitfire Mk.I N3200 to boot.
  11. Thanks Chris. Going to build the 1/48 version of Marinell for her owner first, then I'll finish off my RW382 story.
  12. Stage IV is complete! Here she is in her Polish Heritage Flight, 302 Sq. colours as MK924. This is the 4th and final scheme we currently have photographic evidence of her having flown in, but it's not quite "home for tea and medals"! Once I've redone my "Porky II" build, I'll post up group shots, and it'll be done.
  13. thanks Chris. Looks smart....its just a shame that when the Polish markings went on (for very worthy reasons it has to be said) they did totally obliterate all of "Porky"s character. Not even the red nose survived! It was all removable with water and a cleaning solution though, so when the temp scheme started to fail and flake off, it was easy enough to restore her normal good looks. We do still find patches of white or black paint hidden in far nooks and crannies though! 😅
  14. Last night didn't go quite as planned, as the early finish from work that I hoped for didn't happen, and I instead had to drop in to see my mum, then got stuck in traffic, finally home about 7pm. So decalling didn't start until two hours later than planned, I disappeared in to the normal modelmaking time sink, so I didn't finish this stage until well after 11pm.... But, here we are. Decals on. And before leaving for work this morning, I fitted some of the small parts. Satin top coat, final assembly, then some mild weathering over the weekend, and it'll be done!
  15. I bought the Eduard kit for Marinell, but of course - just the Weekend edition, not the Profipack one, as I needed a D with the tail fillet. Can't track down the PE fret I'd need, but no bother, will cobble something together from wire rather than spend money on something I don't really need.
  16. Ooooh, yeh. So it does..... Time to search!
  17. Thanks for the info. I should hopefully be shooting over to Hangar 3 at Duxford this weekend to get some detail shots of the real Marinell, so will compare this with her.
  18. Got a variety of fuse wire thicknesses on its way to me tomorrow, so will have a play with those and see how it works out
  19. Hmm, hadn't thought of wire..... Seems there was a Russian-manufactured PE set years ago....so not much chance of sourcing one of those these days!
  20. Does anyone know if you can get resin/aftermarket add-ons of the tailfin-mounted tail warning radar antenna for a P-51 in 1/48 scale? Marinell has them fitted, and as I will be building an example for her owner, it might be nice to go the extra mile and replicate them. https://images.app.goo.gl/wnRAWseQ8yyxNswe7
  21. Later last night, I painted and weathered the exhausts and fitted them, fitted the fuel filler cap, red 0.50 cal stubs/covers and tail wheel, then removed the u/c doors from the blu-tacked wheel wells and fitted them to the struts. Then this morning, whilst I should have been getting ready for work, I then painted the wingtip nav lights with a silver base and then red and green clear as appropriate, painted the clear section for the signalling lamp clear orange and the recess for it silver, and the underside of the formation light silver. I also picked out some of the engine cowling fixings with silver where they've chipped up on the real thing. Having a night off from it tonight, then I'll do decals tomorrow. Crosschecked with "Chiefy" today over which stencils either got re-applied or painted over during the application of the Polish markings, so I can have a stab at some sort of accuracy.
  22. Thanks chaps. They're slightly too far aft on the fuselage, the front edge should have just overlapped the mounting plate for the radio mast, but the widths are pretty much spot on. I think the wings' stripes were painted marginally narrow on '382, as again my widths are pretty close, but the alignment around the barrels is a bit different. Close enough tho.
  23. Stripe me!!! I really dislike doing invasion stripes.....over an hour to mask, five minutes to spray.....😂 Added the yellow strip to the leading edge, and glossed ready for decals. Prop and undercarriage progressed too. Decals next!
  24. Weekend progress! Preshading panel lines Medium sea grey to the underside top camo done, with space left for the invasion stripes, so I'm not trying to lay white down over dark colours white sections done. Had to leave it here to go cook Sunday dinner and open a bottle of vino....don't drink and spray, kids! 🍷+🎨= 🤪 🤣
  25. Spitfire-shaped plastic-progress! Fuselage stuck together, wings, tailplane and engine cowlings on. Lessons learnt from many other ICM Spitfire builds means this looks a fair bit neater than previous ones. Reskit wheels sprayed, and the u/c legs flashed over with chrome. On the bare plastic, this comes up matt, but on the bit of the oleo piston I had sprayed with gloss black base, it gives it a nice shiny metal appearance. Aftermarket goodies for when I turn the Eduard MkIXe in to the revisited Porky II colour scheme
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