jackroadkill

This one's coming together nicely. This thread has reminded me of two things: 1 - I need to try Looks Like Glass; 2 - I need to try black-basing (assuming that it works with enamel paints). I shall watch with interest; I do love a 109.

I managed to get this at a steal from eBay: Okay, I didn't need another Bf109, and these old Academy kits aren't my favourite, but hey.... Into the stash she goes.

As a denizen of said Welsh mountains, I'd be quite happy for you to have every flake of the damnable stuff that lands in my vicinity! Good work with the engine; I must start doing some scratchbuilding like that myself.

I have to say that's some very impressive output, especially with the standard of finishing you've shown. Being a sucker for a 109, that 1946 G6 really does it for me.

Blimey, Mark, you've shown more output than it's possible to manage whilst sleeping every night! Some cracking work there; I particularly like the Yugoslav Bf109 and the cheeky little Gnat.

Thanks all - have been laid up the last few days so haven't made any progress. As soon as I'm back at the bench I'll get these washes sorted and report back. Cheers, JRK

That's looking proper, sir. I think you've done a grand job all the way through.

Thanks chaps, much appreciated. I know the VVS did field aircraft that were "properly" finished in winter colours (that beautifully done Yak, for example) but I was going for a more thrown-together approach. Annoyingly I couldn't find the photograph I found of a P-40B that was bursting out of a thick coat of distemper like the Hulk out of Banner's shirt, but this link shows the sort of effect I'm going for: https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/media/petlyakov-pe-2-73bap-vvs-winter-1942-1943-1.31212/ This is on the basis that a coat of hurriedly applied whitewash that's been applied with a broom being more of a challenge than a workshop job with tidy paint and proper spraying gear. Right, I'm off to hunt for that picture again. Cheers, JRK

Thanks, @Troy Smith. I'll have a crack with some greys and see what I like best. As for the actual paint used, that's not a problem on this build, as it's pretty much just a test run for some techniques which I haven't used before and wanted to try out before they're used for real. The kit concerned is a 1/72 Trumpeter P-40B that I got for a fiver, so accuracy etc isn't really hugely important. What I've been trying is a partially see-through white coat of acrylic over the regular camo colours. I wanted to be able to see the ghost of the camo and also try some rubbing away of the distemper to reveal the camo in high-usage areas. The kit's a dog but so far I've learned a few things, and it looks like this at the moment: There's a bit of sorting out to do yet but I don't think I've too much of a disaster on my hands so far. Thanks especially for those links; they will definitely come in handy when I build the Il-2 that is lurking in my stash.

Hi all, got a question for you; I'm still quite new to model building and I'm very new to Russian Front winter cam schemes. As in, I'm doing my first VVS P-40B in white distemper and I'm not sure what (if any) colour I should use on the panel line washes. Any advice would be very gratefully received. Cheers, JRK

Hi Steve, I don't know much about the markings question but I do know that the canopy for this kit is a real shocker in terms of fit. Ask me how I know this.... I'll assume you've asked, and here's how I know it; I'm building this kit off-forum and fitted the canopy in the closed position to prevent ingress of paint into the cockpit. The fit between the four clear parts was terrible, with differences in angle between the back edges of the windscreen and the front edges of the sliding canopy and then again between the rear edges of the canopy and the fuselage. The fit between the canopy and the rails it runs on is pretty shonky, too. I assume this is because the canopy is meant to be positioned open - I'm hoping that this works. Good luck with your build.

Same here; as an inveterate tinkerer I couldn't help but fiddle with my Teles. One is an early 2000s Mex job that I dumped the electronics out of and replaced them with a single Bareknuckle Piledriver at the bridge, which runs through tone andvolume controls straight to the output jack. I also put a black single-ply bakelite scratchplate on it and removed most of the finish from the neck. This has been my main guitar for a few years, leaving my Les Pauls stuck in the cupboard. Another was a Squier Tele Custom when it was made, but the previous owner "upgraded" it by retrofitting a cheap Bigsby copy, mangling the bridge in the process, and chiselling out (with a screwdriver...) a cavity for a Tele bridge pickup. His wiring was of terrible quality and questionable effect. The whole thing was just a bag of parts, which I bought for fifty quid. I stripped the body and refinished it in surf green nitrocellulose, which I then relic'd (properly, not with a sander...). I also fitted a Bareknuckle Piledriver in the bridge and a Catswhisker Fat Moggy in the neck position. All the hardware was replaced with Fender parts, which were then aged with ferric chloride, hydrochloric acid etc. I sorted the fret ends, rubbed a lot of the finish off the neck, and it is now an absolute killer of a guitar. Your idea of a Dynasonic or Filtertron could be great; my next Tele will have something extra in the neck, too - possibly a Creamery Jazzmaster pickup.

She's turned out very well indeed. I had an Airfix B29 as a kid and never built it. Yours might have taken a while but you've got there nicely in the end!

This is looking pretty sharp, sir. I like.

Why did I not exercise more restraint when perusing eBay this evening? I mean, I didn't previously own an academy G-14, and £10.06 was a very good price, but why, modelling deities of your choice, WHY?

For me it's the Tele hands down. However, I must admit to a bias in this direction; I own three.

Well done, sir! That's a great start; I hope you realise, however, that you are at the top of a very slippery slope here!

To be fair, @Freester, Mark's absolutely right - that's a top notch clear coat.

Thanks, that's good to know. I was considering option for how to do the white coat, and will have a go with some of this. It sounds like it might come in handy, especially as I have a pair of Bf109's (an F and a G) that I'd like to show in winter camouflage somewhere in the middle of my stash. Ha, thanks Chris, unfortunately not, although once I can get the belts in I'll be able to cement the cockpit together fully and get the fuselage halves closed up and we should see some (hopefully reasonably rapid) progress. I have weathered the cockpit parts with a whole heap of desert sand so it's not all bad.

Wait until you find out about Corten!

In order to prove that I am at least doing something in P-40 terms, here's a wee 1/72 Trumpeter P-40B that I'm also building at the same time. The kit's pretty basic to say the least, but I'm not fussed about that. I plan to have it in VVS colours, covered in white distemper, which I'm hoping will hide the multitude of sins. Normal (i.e. 1/48) service will be resumed shortly.

This. It's simple and effective!

She looks grand, Tony, dihedral issues or not.

Thanks Stix; if the bloomin' seatbelts ever arrived I might be able to get on with the build!

This is fantastic, Stix. It would be spectacular in 1/48, never mind 1/72. Superb.