Jon Kunac-Tabinor

HI all, so the first completed kit for 2020 is a bit of a thrown together 1/72nd Airfix S2C Buccaneer. I started it just before Christmas, and it was wheeled over the finish line yesterday. The kit fits well, but one needs to take care cleaning up sprue removal nubs in some areas to ensure a good fit. It is also possible to modify the rear jet nozzle fairings so the exhausts can be added after painting too. The bombs and pylons are meant to go on the inner hard points where the tanks are, but it's easy to snip of the back location pin and use them outboard. Markings are for a 700B squadron machine in 1965, in the early colour scheme (which, I think, is also the nicest!). Back dating involved removing the raised fairings at the fuselage to intake mouth junction and reshaping the wing mounted threat warning antenna to the early pointy circular ones. I decided not to remove the airbrake strengthening plates (because I forgot). Paints used were Tamiya's newish lacquer white and their standard acrylics for a homebrew Extra Dark Sea grey. Most decals are from the kit, but the squadron markings and serials are from a 1980 Modeldecal sheet. The glue had gone lumpy on these so each was soaked off the backing sheet, flipped over onto my finger and a wet brush was used to remove the perished adhesive. Mr Mark Setter was then used as a new adhesive to apply the decals. Final finish is a mix of Mr Colour GX flat and gloss varnish thinned with Mr Colour rapid thinner. All comments are welcome as ever. Happy new year! Jonners

or to put it another way, "The producer hasn't done what I wanted. Therefore they are rubbish" Judging form the other more positive reactions on here, I don't think they will miss your money Cheer up, it could have been another 109! Jonners

Hi all, sorry I've not been on here as much. Have been busy having a change of direction . Here's the output for the year. More scales than just 1/48th for once too! A belated Merry Christmas to you all, and here's to a 2020 that's good for modelling at least. Eduard's 1/48th Tempest V early boxing converted to a series ii and their seriesii converted to a Centaurus engined Tempest MKII (appeared in TMMI mag) Airfix 1/48th Hawker Hunter F6 backdated to an early dogtoothless MK6 AMG 1/48th P-63C Kingcobra Eduard's 1/48th FW190A-4 Airfix 1/48th Spitfire XIV Airfix 1/48th Meteor F MK8 build for SAM article Eduard 1/48th Me109G10 Model Art 1/35 FW Triebflugel build for SAM article ICM 1/32nd scale Polikarpov I-16 Tip 17 build for SAM article Airfix 1/72nd scale Bristol Blenheim build done for Guidelines publications book Modelsvit 1/48th Yak-9T a shelf of doom save- just AMG 1/350 scale Saunders Roe SR45 build for SAM review Special Hobby 1/32nd Kawasaki T-33A build for SAM article AMG 1/144 Bf109C for SAM review Cheers Jonners

Hi all. I'm a little flushed with "Christmas spirit" this evening so will refrain from a reply till I can check stuff, but as I recall we did say with WH384 that the fin might be black or silver- and gave both as options. It does illustrate the problem with trying to give modellers interesting colour schemes though. When we did the research there was one pic of this Meteor and the tail empennage was dark to the point that it could have been shadow or black painted. More stuff tomorrow when I'm not so "tired and emotional" Jonners

My point was that your post implied reviewers fill articles with words purely to make up the word count. As another member has said it's usually a case of trying to cut down the word count for it to fit with magazine articles, as we want to say as much as we can that we hope is of interest! ( but plainly isn't a lot of the time it seems alas ) If I inferred incorrectly my apologies. Jonners

Which reviews do that? Plenty of CA on sale at Telford cheers Jonners

Exactly. Well said. Jonners

Why not do the conversion of the T7/T8 yourself and submit it? Perhaps write an article about working with resin? Maybe do a quick build OOB for a beginner using just the colours on the instruction sheet. Come on - participate - help - do something useful and give something back. The issue of simultaneous builds in different magazines is I admit annoying. Thing is we are all modellers so when a good kit comes out we all want to build it! BTW you assume that when asked to do a build we are asked to do OOB. Given the amount of aftermarket at Telford and the rate it disappeared off the shelves, and given the rate at which Hannants sells out of resin and PE for any new release I'd say most modellers stock up on the stuff like a junky hordes skag. It seems many modellers like aftermarket, so I guess when we use it in articles we reflect that. I didn't notice much balsa, talc or dope on sale at Telford though ... times change perhaps? Cheers, Jonners

I'm very very sorry but we do not fill space to fit a word count. That is actually as offensive as me suggesting you must have been a third rate academic or a clock-watching form filler to do that in your field. If you find the lack of articles about conversions to be an empty point in your periodical life, then do what i did, practice, what you preach. I did a conversion of the Eduard Tempest V into Mk II using the old MDC resin set, and Tamiya mag asked me to write about it. I'm working on that Hunter T8 conversion at the moment, it might be published, it might not. I appreciate the annoyance at the lack of what you want - so do something! Write an article for gods sake! I do appreciate magazines cannot be all things to all people. Is there anything you do like in them? cheers Jonners

Top news John! It was great to see you at Telford again too, and thanks for a tour of the Aerodrome Jonners

If you want a review to mention whether tight tolerances of today's CAD assisted models will fit, then "how" you paint the model is pretty important. For example, if you brush paint you will add more paint into grooves etc and fit will be fouled. If you airbrush that will not "necessarily" be the case. If you mask surfaces to be glued first (as i know some WNW modeller do to try and reduce these tolerance bases fit problems) then that is a painting technique and is relevant. Also in terms of painting, how many times have we heard something along the lines of, "the panels lines are a little deep but will look OK under a coat of paint" in a review. Well you have to test that theory if you state it don't you? so again how you paint it will determine how true that assertion is. I would also point out that the old 80's / 90's style of review isn't as prevalent as it used ot be. They are either "in box looks" or builds, the latter tend to be both a review and an, erm ... personal build. I've done some pretty complex WIP threads on here over the years and they are not the same as writing 2500 or 3000 or 200 or 600 words for a magazine with a deadline and a subject you are perhaps not totally "in love" with. I like your trains too, and I hope that Dornier comes good. cheers Jonners

Believe me, we do try and do that as much as possible. When you have a set word count for an article you have to be selective what goes in. For every person like you who gives not a rat's reverse for painting there is someone who will be interested. Forgive me here, but to play devil's advocate, you seem to be asking for a build only review, but you want the decals on too. Well to apply decals one really must paint the model, and if you are going to do that in a review you are kind of honour bound to say what you did. There is another issue with build type reviews, in that many modern kits are very much fall together things, so for many models one could very easily have a review thats says "I followed the instructions, and the kit went together easily with minimal fuss." I mean you could drag it out a bit, but essentially that's what you'd say. So what do you do next? well maybe you describe the only thing that differentiates your building of the kit from someone else's- the painting? See what I mean?. It's tricky to strike a balance, and while I firmly agree that there was a trend a few years ago to be very, very focussed on painting and paint techniques, I would suggest that the magazines are a little more balanced nowadays. If you want a nice gritty build review then pick up the next SAM where with luck you'll see me wade into the Special Hobby 1/32nd scale T-33A, a model that needs a muzzle and a leash As you state you "haven't bought a modelling magazine for several years now". Perhaps its time to try one again? Hell I'll even buy you a copy - just PM me your address. cheers Jonners Sorry you are having problems, contact the editor of the magazines in question. Also, and forgive me for asking, but as you state you are having issues with multiple digital issues and assuming you mean different titles, have you checked your software and OS are up to date? It's amazing how quickly apps will go out of date and stop being supported, or dont support newer features. I'm not trying to turn the blame on you, but its always worth asking first. Cheers Jonners

Thanks for clarifying this. I'll leave my original post intact but add an edit below. Cheers Jonners

Nimrod was released 2008. Over a decade old! Times really does fly. Jonners

with slats and flaps as both dropped and raised options Jonners

I guess Valiant, Victor and V.... would make sense. So a Vultee Vengeance it is then LOL Experience however shows that trying to second guess Aunty is never successful. Jonners, pondering.

I haven't got the November issue yet, so I will wait and see before I reply fully. I am though a little surprised because what you are describing sounds like, to be honest, modelling. OK, model painting. But that is part of modelling. So was the fad the fact that the article is done in the way that it is? Anyhoo - let me get my copy and check it out. I'm glad you liked the I-16 though Cheers Jonners

Thanks for reminding me, those cockpits were such a source of inspiration! He did cram them full of stuff. "scrap" was such a great portmanteau thing in the 80's! I still have a box of scrap plasticard that I recycle bits into. I just rebuilt a Vickers K gun in 1/72 and sliced a piece of round sprue to use as a magazine. Terrence has died I believe ( in the late 80's early 90's??) and there was a trophy on his honour that the IPMS had for a while. I think his daughter, or son, used to present it. And If I got any of that wrong then my sincere apologies to his relatives. cheers Jonners

I loved those builds. I do suspect that Terrence Marriot had shares in a pencil company though- as the amount of sanded down graphite he used to weather things could only have been some sort of proto-ponzi scheme! It remains one of my favourite things to use (in moderation)! They were both huge inspirations for me. Jim Howard's articles were the best mix, I always felt, of building and finishing. His finishing wasn't what one would expect today but it was clean and neat and looked good. I can't pretend that I have these guys in my mind when I do my articles, but they are there in the background adding roundness I'm sure. Well, to be more honest, I hope! cheers Jonners

£29.95 from Hannants. Seems a bargain when you consider the Airfix Blenheim is £36.99. The Airfix Sea Fury is £25.99 to give an example of a large-ish single piston engine kit. If you are on a budget then all will be pricey of course. If not then Eduard's price seems very good considering it will have PE and canopy mask. Why would Airfix do one at 2/3rds the price? Especially given you'd pass on it regardless it seems. cheers Jonners

But theres a very good Eduard one? Jonners, being contrary

What sort of faddish stuff do you mean? I'm always intrigued as to how things come across. Cheers Jonners

Hi Jon, thanks for those kind words. I do try and make my ramblings interesting! I think you have hit the nail squarely on the head with your perspicacious insight above. Im off to see your website now - it's while since I visited, so I expect to be kept busy for a while. Your stuff always has the gleam of class. Cheers Jonners

Exactly- correct in a helpful way, so the modelling world shares. Jonners

Hi John, I appreciate what Jonny was saying, but could one not simply just email the editor and tell him in a polite informative way? I know him, he's a decent sort. It seems sometimes being sarky on here is perhaps more important, especially when there's a bandwagon to jump on... ah whatever. Its bits of plastic. Far more important things to worry about in this country and world at present. cheers Jonners