MrProd

It is the airfix 1/72. Built completely oob. As I understand it its not entirely accurate, Norwegian SAR have two winches not one, radar dome behind the gearbox is a different shape, different sensors mounted on the nose etc. Kit is nice, but cockpit detail is poor if that matters to you. I'll get round to a ready for inspection, now that I've sorted a flickr account.

Even in the middle of all this mess, ordered Wednesday night, received on Friday morning. Great service Thank you Jon

How it should go together The metal tube is 1.6mm so you can see if I went for 2.1mm I'd have very little margin for error. With brake disc in place the axle will have about 3 - 3.5mm before it passes through the hole I'd drill in part B50 and then about another millimetre before meeting part B49. I think with sufficient sticky stuff that should be rigid enough?

Thanks for the replies gents, much appreciated. Your suggestions are all duly noted. I'll get round to sorting out posting photos. I've already had a practice drilling on my experiment mule (Tamiya 1/48 F15, the sunk cost fallacy expressed in molded styrene) with the pin vice and its nice to know my logical deductions led me to the technique described above. Started with an indentation and went through about three sizes of drill and ended up with a 1.6mil hole exactly where I wanted it. Troy, thanks for the link, I'd seen this but also seen people here and elsewhere on the net saying how the email bounces and how poor Kittyhawk were at customer service. Tried the email on the off chance and got a reply in less than 24 hours! If they try and charge me a bunch for the postage to correct a manufacturing fault that they are responsible for I might still go down the homebuilt axle route. And if I mess up there's always the aftermarket, thanks for the link corsairfoxforuncle. I'm not sure these exact ones will fit, they might be for the previous tooling. If nothing else I'm going to get some practice scratch building as I'm about to attempt to make a gatling gun for a sci fi mecha kit using metal tube, styrene and a cocktail stick! Thanks all Jon

Got back into modelling during lockdown vol 1 and have made a few kits now and getting more skilled/confident but I'm very much OOB, up until now. I've Kittyhawks 1/48 Flanker B on the bench and its been shipped with no axles on the undercarriage! The wheels have holes 2.1mm in diameter but the bottom of the undercarriage leg has a diameter of not much more. My concern is if I try to use 2.1mm rod or tube I'll have to be very accurate when I drill into the leg. If I'm slightly off centre or off angle the drill is going to exit in a very ugly, messy way. I'm thinking to use 1.6mm tube and before bringing the two halves of the wheel together fill them with 2 part epoxy, bring the halves together, push the tube in so the epoxy will be surrounding and inside the tube and then leave to cure and harden for a few days. Does this sound like a bodge I'll regret? I'm very open to suggestions but bear in mind I don't have a clue what I'm doing and my specialist tools consist of a pin vice and an old Dremmel.

This is great. I'm not keen on decal seatbelts, my homemade masking tape on tinfoil belts are so-so and I find pe really difficult to fold and look natural. I'm going to attempt this on my next aircraft.

Blue Thunder next?....

Thanks for the replies. Thinking about how I've been operating, I'm pretty sure I've deformed the nozzle with clumsy technique. I'm always careful re inserting the needle after stripping it down but I think I've been a bit careless when blowing thinners/cleaner and haven't been letting the needle return gently. Lesson learned Thanks all.

I've recently had a problem with my procon PS270, where it was flowing a very small amount of paint when the air was on, without any pull on the trigger. I cleaned everything thoroughly with Mr Tool Cleaner, no effect. I checked my needle and nozzle tip and with x3.5 magnification I couldn't see anything, but I carefully polished the needle anyway, no effect. Bought a new nozzle tip and bingo! problem solved. Thanks to air-craft.net for sending it out so quickly, great service, as always. So my questions, is it possible that spraying tamiya xf56 through a 0.2 nozzle has left some 'glitter' in the nozzle that is preventing the needle from sitting flush?, and how will I remove it?, the smallest cleaning brush I have won't fit. Needless to say it's currently soaking in a pot of tool cleaner. Would any damage/deformation of the nozzle mouth be visible with x3.5 magnification? I think I've been careful when cleaning but if its the nozzle mouth that's the problem then I know it's my fault and I'll be even more careful in the future. Thanks Jon

An impressive collection of builds, high quantity and really high quality. Lockdown effect? Love the Heinkel Uhu. I've a Tamiya 1/48 Uhu and I hope it turns out as well as yours.

Another member of team Victor here! I've been pondering my next kit and I may be leaning this way now. Lovely model Ivan, does the kit go together well? I'm an assembler and a modeller but I'm not a sculptor or a plasterer so I try and avoid anything that needs a lot of filling.

I'd say the essentials are; craft knife, cutting board, liquid cement (tamiya extra thin), tweezers, endless patience, sand paper or boards of various grades 400 - 1200., paint, thinner, brushes and finally an acceptance that you will make mistakes but enjoy it anyway. Other stuff is nice to have but these are the bare minimum to build and paint a kit. With regards prices, I'd avoid doing what I did and don't buy a cheap bundle of generic stuff from somewhere like hobbycraft. Everything in the bundle has been bought again because everything was cheap rubbish. Buy dirt cheap you'll end up paying twice. Good luck Jon

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Been looking at Frame Arms as well, but still a bit "spiky" in that gundam style. Got the godnece figure on its way, may have to buy the Gro?er Hund as well. I fancy a go at a Knight or Rook from Industria Mechanika but I'll need to have a fair bit more cash lying around before I can justify that sort of outlay. The godnece thing is moulded from ABS plastic, will this be a problem for any regular modelling products ie liquid poly cement, mr surfacer, tamiya putty etc.

Got back into modelling during Lockdown Vol 1 and have built several planes and a helicopter,. Fancy something a bit different and stumbled across this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/GODNECE-Mecha-Model-Kits-8cm/dp/B08149TQC2 Looks like a decent starting point for the addition of some details, an unusual paint job and loads of chipping and weathering. Am I wrong? I like the look of the Maschinen Krieger kits but they seem pricey and I don't know where to start with Gundam, so many of them look a bit too waspish and too much like they're wearing high heels. I wish someone made kits of the ABC Warriors from 2000AD. 1/6 scale Hammerstein would perfect.

Priming is a really good way to see how well seams, sanding, filling etc will look so a good idea. Mr Surfacer 1500 will not clog or hide surface detail at all. If it's thin enough to airbrush and you aren't hosing it until pools I can't see how you'll fill panel lines etc. Regarding what Giorgio N said about some paints needing primer more than others I can't really speak to as I only use Tamiya and Mr Color acrylics, but I think some plastics need primer more than others. I don't normally prime all the small parts but if I do another Eduard kit I'll prime everything. Their plastic didn't seem to like acrylics without primer.

Mr Color thinned with Mr levelling thinners will be just as good if not better than Tamiya. Air-craft.net and emodels.co.uk both hold pretty much their full range in stock. Since I came back to modelling in lockdown vol1 I've used Tamiya and Mr Color and had no problems at all. The only time I've experienced tip dry was using Revell aqua. I've one pot, I won't buy any more.

I've a PS270 and its excellent.

I'd advise a tank on your compressor, not just for smoothing airflow but also for a bit of peace and quiet. I've an AS-186 type and when I'm spraying it's 20 seconds of noise then a few minutes of silence. Without a tank your compressor is noisy all the time. As to the airbrush, I started with a Neo cn for Iwata and whilst its decent and can spray fine detail if you're careful, the Mr Hobby ps 270 is better. Easier to clean, puts paint down beautifully, the air valve means I don't have to keep adjusting my compressor and the trigger adjuster prevents my clumsy fingers from making a mess. I now use the Neo for priming and varnishing and the PS 270 for everything else.

You may be correct about quality of surface detail salomon, I don't have the GWH kit to compare against. But I do know that my KH Su-27B kits has no axles on the main gear legs so I either bang on loads of epoxy and cross my fingers, buy tubing and drill bits and make and mount my own axles or buy aftermarket undercarriage. So regardless of surface detail, until KH mould their parts as they are shown in their own instructions I'd say the GWH kit is better. Unless they ship incorrectly made kits as well.

Be aware, a lot of these new tool Flankers have shipped with no axles on the main gear legs.

Cif Power & Shine kitchen surface cleaner works like a charm. When I made a mess of a canopy i gave it a good spray, left it in a sealed container and the next day the paint wiped off easily and the canopy was spotless and clear. I use it for my airbrush cleaning, works perfectly. The only thing I've found it struggles with is Mr Surfacer 1500, but Mr Tool cleaner takes care of that.

I've had the same problem as the op but with AK acrylic varnish rather than Tamiya, allowing the humbrol enamel wash to bubble the paint. I think my gloss coat was uneven and enamel wash found the really thin areas. The kit I'm currently working on is getting several coats before a wash gets anywhere near it...

The spray nozzle on the can projects out and is circular so a bit of rubbery tube can fit over the end making decanting a much less messy affair.