kiseca

I grew up in South Africa by the way. Never got to see a Formula 1 race at Kyalami. I watched that 1983 title decider on the TV, but I was a Prost fan so it wasn't a good day for me I saw plenty of local racing and bike racing at Kyalami, it's a good spectator's track, and did manage to see Formula 1 cars there once, when Williams and BAR did some pre-season testing there. I think that was in BAR's first year. I've got a couple of photos of Villeneuve in the BAR, in a test livery that was changed by the time they went racing.

Welcome aboard! It's a slow moving train but I'll have a picture update out in a week or two I hope. Been painting the floor and getting the radiators ready. Rear wing components have been primed - I had to do some surgery first to make them all line up when dry assembled, but I'm still waiting for more breaks in the weather so I can get the upper bodywork resprayed.

Soo..... just received the 1/72 version and first impression is I should have waited for the 1/48 version!

So, mine has arrived! It caught me by surprise how small it is. A Spitfire is a lot larger on paper but still surprised just how dinky the end product is. A Spitfire tends to be one of the smaller aircraft in any collection but it completely dwarfs the Bugatti. It actually caused me to double check the scale on the box. I'm looking forward to it, but may have to display it behind a magnifying glass..

I've got the Hasegawa version too! Before I chose it I had read it's pretty good, but once it had arrived I only started noticing all the builds saying the Tamiya one is the one to get! @Pelican, Yours looks great, by the way.

The finish really is fabulous. The contrast with the seat, the tone and the sheen on the red. It looks excellent. I can only hope I can get mine finished to something even vaguely approaching that standard.

I was in the same position as you when I got back into modelling 3 years ago. I'd never used an airbrush, but for the standard of finish I know I want now, I knew from my childhood experience that I wasn't going to get it with a hairy brush. I started with a budget all-in-one kit like the two you posted in your OP. They seem to be generic kits that all look more or less the same. The one I got had a compressor closer in look to the black box one in your second link. The one I got was good enough for me to learn airbrushing basics, and it gave a finish I am happy with on the models. It didn't have clogging issues, it wasn't difficult to clean. I got through one nozzle seal in the first year - cheap to replace - and while that was in part down to the cheap seal, it was also because I used to soak the nozzle, seal and all, in cleaner / thinners to clean it after every use. Better cleaning habits, as I learnt later, would have extended that seal's life hugely. The airbrush still works fine now. Has a choice of three needle and nozzle sizes so it's quite adaptable and is currently my backup. The kit did the job and I was completely happy with it. The weak part turned out to be the compressor, in a couple of ways. Firstly, it was no good for fine detail, because it pulses. So when I try draw a fine line, it will be slightly bumpy instead of uniform thickness - there will be regular thicker points. like little speedbumps mirrored on both edges of the line. The second thing was the compressor just didn't last. It steadily deteriorated, taking longer and longer to build up enough pressure to start spraying, and then just couldn't build up the pressure at all. This took a bit over a year - and I'm not a prolific model builder. When I dismantled it to see if it was something fixable, it was some kind of gasket, ring or seal in the piston that had just completely disintegrated. I didn't bother repairing it, and solved both problems by purchasing an AS186 style compressor with storage tank. It has transformed the performance of the airbrush, and I'd never go back to a cheap compressor. Up until about 20 minutes ago I'd have said I'd never go back to one without a tank either, though that yellow one posted by someone above shows that it's not neccessarily the tank, but the quality of the compressor that matters. However it achieves it, you want a smooth, steady, finely adjustable feed of air. So I'll re-open my mind on that point. At around the same time I also treated myself to a new airbrush, settling eventually on an Iwata Revolution after an unhappy experience with an H&S Ultra. My anecdotal advise, if I could go back in time to when I bought that first budget airbrush? I'd tell myself not to bother. Rather budget more, or wait until I can budget more, at least for a decent compressor. And while I am happy with my budget airbrush, I've been lucky. They seem to be really variable quality, and chances of getting one with a fundamental problem, like an ill fitting nozzle or badly matched needle, things that will make painting really difficult for a beginner without being obvious that the airbrush is the problem, are high. Plenty of horror stories on the internet to let me know I got away with a bit of a gamble. Plus, they are worthless as soon as you have bought them. If you buy a well respected brand airbrush, it's a tool for life, and its resale value should you decide you don't like airbrushing will reflect this. it will last longer, parts will be easier to get when they wear out. Whatever you saved at first with the budget airbrush, you'll burn over time replacing it. Same goes for the compressor.

End result looks lovely! Nice work, kpnuts.

Humph! Sadly missed. That show is classic radio.

The end product looks great!

It's a lot prettier than an F-35 too.

That is looking fabulous! Good work on the bonnet. In the end, did you extend the bonnet somehow, or move the radiator back? Would you recommend checking the bonnet clearances when adding the radiator and that top pipe that the bonnet is secured to, for future builds? By that I mean, when is the best time to sort the fit of the bonnet?

Incredible. Stunning build.

It's been a while since I posted an update, and to be fair, there isn't much to update. The replacement Tamiya white rattle can has arrived. I've sanded down the body ready for repainting, and the components of the back wing are all ready for primer and paint, but they're all outside jobs and the weather has been cold, wet and windy.... not ideal conditions so I'm just waiting for a good weekend to do those. I have, however, added the decals to the front wing, so there's that news, and I decided to do the underbody as per instructions - which means the floor under the tub area is now aluminium. I'll do the rest in anthracite but there's some white bits to do there as well. The metalwork for the radiator assemblies is now done, and the radiators themselves have three coats of Humbrol 11 on them. My intention is to overcoat that with Tamiya dark iron, just a light coat, and then gently sand that down to reveal the Humbrol silver on the raised detail. Here's the bodywork prepped and ready for another coat of white. And a couple of shots of the front wing: I'm in two minds about the back wing. Firstly, it will need some work to make sure it aligns well when assembled. The vertical plates don't quite sit horizontally with the horizontal plane so I need to work that out before I paint and decal. Then, there's an option for a black wing or a blue wing. Pictures of Nelson at Monaco in 1983 show his was black. There are full decals for the blue wing, but there is no black decal for the horizontal plane - unless I overlooked it - which means I'd have to paint that and hope the colours match. I did want to go with black but to keep consistency I may need to go blue instead. Decisions, decisions! Or maybe I check the decal sheet again and my problem is solved for me While I'm waiting for the weather to give me a gap, I can work on the floor at least as I'm not using smelly rattle cans for that. So the next update should have that assembly ready, maybe even with an engine and tub attached!

Another month, another tiny update. The aircraft has its black coat and the detail colours have been added. There's a metal plate, looks like a heat shield, at the base of the fin that on most aircraft looks a burnt metallic colour, but on the Black Thunder bird is gloss black along with the rest of the aircraft. I chose to paint it the standard colour (or at least my best effort at it). It's not accurate but it adds a little bit of detail to an otherwise monochrome paintjob. The colour is a mix of Humbrol enamel gunmetal and copper... roughly 2 drops to 3ish ratio... The radome is also black but labelled as matt. On the paintings and pictures it looks a little lighter than the rest of the aircraft. To try capture that I mixed Tamiya matt black and Tamiya dark iron in approx ratio 3:1. On its own it just looks black, but against the fuselage the contrast is clear. On its own: Balanced against the fuselage.. the metal heat shield on the fin is also visible in this shot: I've also balanced the grey on the wings and touched up a few areas that needed it. I also painted the silver / grey plates that create a circle above the tailerons, but then later discovered there are decals for those, so I'll be switching that to black and then apply the decals. They are more accurate than my masking. I also wasn't happy with the colour of the wing root seals. It looked too light, particularly against the black, so I dry brushed a darker shade over the top of those to both darken them and add some texture. They look better but I might add a wash or something to them too to tone them down a little further. I realise I should have applied the refueling probe before painting the fuselage, if I went by the instructions. However, that online build I had read had the probe in place but commented that it's a mistake as the actual aircraft never wore one. I've checked photos and indeed it did exist at least for sometime without the probe. the lines are cleaner without it so I'll happily leave those parts on the sprue and not even need to make an excuse of artistic license. Bonus! I've also made a start on the decals. The big long stripes went on first on fuselage and wings, because both have decals that lie on them and I need these to set well before putting the next layer on. Some trimming still needed here, and most of the devals still need to get applied, but it has already brightened up the jet and started to bring it to life. they sit better than they look on the wing in this image but I'll still be giving them another coat or two of microsol to get them to settle nicely. However, they aren't as gloss as the paint so I expect that change in finish visible from the decal to the wing isn't going to be resolved until it gets its final varnish. I'll use a satin finish for the final coat - the gloss black is too shiny in its natural state. The fuselage stripes looked too long to manage so I took a cue from an online build I had read on this model, and cut them into 3 pieces (starboard) and then 2 pieces (port) when I found the 3 pieces a hell of a job to juggle into place. I've made a start on the ordnance. That needs prepping and painting, and some assembly still to do as well, then it's ready. Then, decals, a couple more touchups, the varnish, and it's done. Apart from the base. I'm in two minds.... the quality of the model has led me to consider whether to spend time on a good base for this one or just have it on display in the background. I have Revell's 1/48 ADV which I could base mount instead. The exhaust cans are very shallow and I don't know that it will sit well if mounted on perspex tube by its cans. I could cut the interior detail off but then that means the model can only ever be displayed on the tubes. If they don't work out.... Anyway I'll see how the model turns out then make my decision.

Oh hell. I did want a Spitfire IX. Looks like this will be the one to get! I love large scale models... which is a problem because I have nowhere to keep them. Even the boxes are already overflowing into floorspace

Thanks for that, Kitkent, sounds like the green was the car's more common livery then, with the one outing as The Wall - and a few bodywork changes from time to time as well! I would recommend Into The Red for anyone interested in how this car, and a number of others from Nick's collection, drive. Mark Hales gives vivid descriptions on how each one feels from the driver's seat when lapping Silverstone, including Nick's old Panhard and his very famous 250 GTO, and Nick Mason gives an excellent description of his history with each car. I never knew of this Lola before I got the book but the descriptions brought it to life and give the car a character all of its own. It looks like there's a follow up, "Passion for Speed", which has the same text but adds two additional cars, to make 24 in total.

She's looking really nice! How did you prepare the seat? Is that just painted? It's come out very well.

Very nice! I remember a Lola (T297 I think) in Nick Mason / Mark Hales's book "Into The Red", it was one of my favourites in the book - and I remember they had a heck of a time getting it started - but it was a dark colour, British Racing Green I think. It looks the same though, so I'm assuming it's the same car? I've tried to trace it on Google but I couldn't find anything tracing the car's livery changes. Just seems odd for him to have two of them, so I guess it raced in the white Wall colours, changed to the green livery by the time the book was published in 1997, and from the looks of it online is now currently in the brickwork paintjob again.

I see you're in Abu Dhabi. Perhaps the image server is blocked nationally? When my brother was in the UAE (Dubai) there was a lot of internet stuff he couldn't reach. I can't tell what image service the OP has used unfortunately.

Pics are all clear to me. I had this problem on another thread, and it was because I was viewing it on a computer on which the internet security was blocking the image hosting site. If you try reading this thread on a different device, and can see the images, that will tell you if it's security settings or not.

Ooh, I've got this one in my stash so I'm following this build! How easily is it going together?

That looks awesome, and it looks like you've done a really good job getting that bison decal to settle on the bodywork.

Lovely looking build! Nice to see a Hawkeye, it seems to be quite a rare subject of build threads.

Same here I just ordered mine, after someone said prices would go up, and someone said there'd be a US version without the extra engines and stand. Thought I'd best get one in the stash now and make sure it's the version I want!