Richard Tucker

I don't do this though as I only have a spray accelerator. I just use some more patience....

The Wildcat undercarriage is a bit different but I reckon with a bit of effort you could. The worst bit about the Special Hobby undercarriage is the 2 arms from the lower part of the wheel well. They don't help align anything.

I've used the Uschi van der Rosten rigging. It is a little elastic and can be easily attached with some super glue. It does bend a little on contact with the glue so the trick is to put as little as you can at the end of the piece and then it should attach ok. Yes - They worked a treat. I'll see if I can sort out the image. I can see ok at my end.

Here is the completed plane. It already needs a dust

Real life has got in the way of updating BritModeller but I've been making slow and steady progress on the Goblin. Here are all the updates in one big long message The fuselage went together ok. I had to do a bit of sanding but I've been pretty successful in getting rid of the joins on the fuselage. The lower wing as a decent fit but the 2 tail planes were not and needed trimming. The skids were a fiddle to attach and then I lost one somewhere so I ended up making one from some putty. Once I had done more sanding and priming, I then set about the 5 camo colours on the plane. White first, Then Sky Type S, then Black. All on the underside. I'm going to paint the whole thing, decal the plane and then attach the top wing. Having done the 3 underside colours, next with was the turn of the Dark Earth and Green. It wasn't exactly clear from the instructions which cowling to use. I pained both and then one fitted the resin engine better so that is the one I've used. The attachment for the engine and the exhausts behind it was a fiddle and needed some CA and hope to get it in place, square and centred. The decals were no bother at all and reacted well to the Microsol and Microset. The canopy was full length and had you cut off 90% of it for most of the schemes in the box. This was a high stress moment, but it was successful. Next up was the struts and rigging. There are only faint marks on the wings for locating the struts. I thought this would be a challenge but having glued in the lower struts, I found that when I placed the wing on top, it was flat and all struts made contact with the top wing. The undercarriage was not very good at all. I've recently built the newish tool Airfix Wildcat and that shows how to do complex undercarriage. The Goblin's struts were not good and didn't fit well into the strange, badly fitting wheel well. The struts on the plane needed repainting. This was them before I painted them. Most of the masking worked well. The central white / black line was the worst. Nearly done now! I added the final bits and pieces including the PE bits on the top of the wing. I expect they will get broken off if a fly farts near them. I noticed that one was wonky so this was fixed. Once again, the tail plane struts were in need of a touch-up so they got that.

I've been incredibly busy with real life and haven't posted for a bit but I've been doing some modelling and have been taking photos as I go so here are the updates..... The first step was to spray everything with some Future and then get the decals down. As the kit is quite new (but old at the same time), the decals went on with no bother. I then began to rig it using a dab of CA on a thin stick or directly putting the rigging wires into the CA. Once I had got everything in place, I finished the cockpits and got the windscreens on. I think carefully lowered the top wing on and it fit ok but needed a bit of gentle persuading. The next step was to put the undercarriage on. These didn't fit very well as the lugs and holes where all wrong so I cut the lugs off and glued them in place. I'm pleased with the end result. You certainly can't miss it.

I've begun with the internals. This really is a plane on its mother could love.... I've used some of the ModelAir Aluminium. It isn't quite as good as the AK XTreme Metal. On the other hand, it doesn't smell and need bad chemicals to clean everything so it is perfect for the cockput colours. The PE was quite well behaved. It needed painting though. I didn't think the wheel well internals werre very good. The fit isn't great and I think it is a little small.

I've done quite a bit more on this over the last few days and have really enjoyed it. It is most unlike me when doing a biplane. I started with the walkways and tail. Everything got a couple of coats of Yellow. I decided that while I had improved the sink marks, I didn't have the skill to sand them flush and keep the wing ribbing so I've made them less pronounced.

I was more meaning that they looked like they were at different angles as the drawing was terrible!

I started this a few days ago but my photo hosting wasn't working. Now I've found an alternative, I can post all the photos. I started with some cockpit colour and aluminium colour for the engine. The cockpit is totally sparse. There is no IP so I decided a little detail is needed. I made the IP from thin plastic sheet. I painted it black and then drilled into it to reveal the white plastic. Another dab of blank paint and it looked enough like a IP through the hole in the fuselage. I also added some seatbelts too. The wings have really bad injection marks which I've been slowly filling. The underneath made me smile. I can to sand away the words "Revell 1982" from the underside of the wing. A quick spray of primer and it is ready for some more filling.

I bought this kit recently in the excellent North East Model Centre near Durham. The kit only has one scheme is yellow with red and blue. I'm not sure that the wheels in this drawing are right though

I got this on offer from Special Hobby direct last year and thought it was perfect for this GB. I think I'll do the one with the full canopy. It looks a little less like an ugly duckling. The Canadian Car & Foundry Company acquired a manufacturing license for the Grumman G-23, and improved FF-1, of which it completed a total of 52, some of which were assembled from US-built components. Although initially rejected as a fighter by the RCAF as outdated and too slow, with the advent of war, the last 15 of the CC&F production batch were taken on strength as the Goblin I. The aircraft type served with the RCAF from 17 September 1940 until 21 April 1942. "A" Flight of No. 118 RCAF Squadron was equipped with Goblins at Rockcliffe in Ottawa, and subsequently became No. 118 (Fighter) Squadron, later stationed at Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where the Goblins for a time constituted the sole fighter force on the east coast.

This one!

I've been a bit lax with the updates as I've been away to Prague and then been busy on other kits. I managed to call in to a model shop in Prague and buy a couple of kits - I left space in my case specifically for this I'm now the proud owner of a Dewoitine D510 and Cessna Bobcat - both new aircraft aircraft to me. Before I went away, I sprayed the Black Green. Once I came back, I had some time to spray the clear coat and stick the decals on it. They went on surprisingly well. The white sighting lines on the tail were one piece and went on surprisingly easy! That left me with no excuse - time for the rigging. The wings were done without the top wing on. The floats were done the same way. The came the moment of truth. The struts in the centre were too long so some trimming was needed. Even after that, they aren't the best. The end result though looks like Dave. It is nearly done. It needs the prop completing.

I have a really stupid plan next. I've got a C47, JU52 and a SM81 in my stash. I thought I'd build the 3 transport planes together in one go. I don't think I have a Japanese transport aircraft. Not sure what they used.