Railfan87

While I haven't seen one in person, I do have a Brengun Mustang in my wish list. Has anyone had any hands-on experience with one? Hannants lists four variants of early Mustang/Apache by Brengun. I have it my mind to one as an RCAF version down the road. Chris

Perfect! Thanks Dave et al. I have what I need to carry on. This was meant to be a straight OOB build, but no, I had to start researching ... LOL Cheers! Chris

Thanks Philippe, I did find another thread here, "Ship Killer! 1/32 Mosquito FB.Mk.VI, 404 Sqn RCAF, Banff Strike Wing 1945", that shows the two outboard carriers with two rockets stacked on each. I mulled that over and didn't come up with a stable way of recreating that from kit parts and styrene or brass strip. I don't have the Aviaeology instructions or any photos of a 404 Sqn mozzie from a good angle. I found the pre-drilled holes, and decided to exercise modeller's license and move the drop tanks inboard of the four rockets. "Re-calculating..." ☺️ Thanks Dave, Wings are on and painted MSG. LOL. I can fill the two inboard sets of hole for the rocket rail mounts, and put the drop tanks in the right place now, but I'm not clear what you mean by "The 1st & 2nd rocket mounts from inboard are either side of the drop tank mount,..." From wingtip in, I'm interpreting: rocket, rocket, drop tank ... then it gets fuzzy. I haven't ruled out putting the four rockets in their default position with the drop tanks inboard of that, although, knowing me, I'll regret that later if I do. 😂 Chris

In addition to the instructions with the Xtradecal set, there is an incident report online describing this aircraft returning to base due to "drop tank trouble." I'll extrapolate the location of the tanks from the Xtradecal drawing. I just stumbled onto a decal set by Aviaeology that shows them outboard of the landing lights. Time to get the ruler, a vernier and a pin vise!

It looks to me like the tank mounting holes are among the rockets in the Tamiya wing. I'll have to move them toward the engine nacelles.

Yes, I found that, too. From the placement on that, it looks as if they would be further inboard on the FB Mk.VI Chris

Hello Mosquito mavens, I'm building the Tamiya FB Mk. 6/ NF Mk. 2 in 1:72 as RF838 of 404 RCAF squadron. The Xtradecal instructions show this bird with slipper tanks. I see that Tamiya has included them on the sprues (A20-A23) but I'm not sure of the location, i.e. distance from the wing root. This mossie had rockets, if that factors in. Worst case I'll estimate from the Xtradecal page. When I found a photo of RF838 and saw the slipper tanks, I went looking for them in 1:72. I couldn't find any, so I was going to build it without them. Then, with some parts off the sprues, I noticed these parts. There's no reference to them in the instructions, so I assume sprue A is used in another mossie version kit. Had to have a bit of a laugh at myself for not seeing them. Thanks in advance, Chris

Does no-one use Vallejo? I've been using Model Air 71.126 IDF/IAF Green and 71.305 Interior Grey Green. Toying with trying their 71.095 Pale Green as it seems a better match to the colour on the Eduard photo-etch set I have for a Spit Vb. Also Chris

Greetings all, My cousin came across this framed photo at a garage sale. Can someone identify the aircraft, please? My cousin thinks it might be Princess Margaret in the photo. Can someone confirm or deny, or provide any information about the photograph? Thanks in advance, Chris

Same here.

Heinkel He 111 Zwilling? Five engines! Basically two He 111s joined together with an extra engine to make a heavy glider tug.

I noticed that in the photos. I'm not sure how it ended up like that, since I sprayed it with the canopy on and masked. I did dislodge the front section while removing the masking. Maybe I rubbed the green off handling it.

Thanks Chris, I had intended to use black and burnt umber oil paints to make a PLW, but there were bottles of Tamiya black, dark brown and dark grey PLW calling to me. Laziness has it's own reward, I guess 🤣

You fellas were so encouraging and helpful when I posted my first build, that I feel happy sharing my next effort. I managed to incorporate (most of) the lessons learned earlier, and am overall happy with the result of this one. Lessons from this one: - warming up the distilled water for decalling makes a huge difference, - small parts get smaller every year! - test fit EVERY part. A couple of you had pointed out the most serious pitfall with this kit, the oversized mounting pins on the landing bay walls, so I was able to circumvent that. I used a black panel line wash and I think it's a bit too stark. I started with dark grey, but thought it didn't add enough definition. If you look closely, the antenna mast has a list to starboard! Without further ado, here's my go at an Arma Mk.1 Hurribox:

Thanks for your input Dennis. I agree weathering might be too much for a beginner class. If everyone is done the last session, I might introduce the topic, but otherwise, your probably right to leave it out in this one. Chris

Greetings: I hope this is the appropriate forum to share this. If there's a better place for it, please let me know. I'm in the planning and budgeting stage of putting on a workshop through our local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, to introduce seniors to the modelling hobby. If any of you have done this, I'd be glad of your input. The event will take place over four Saturday mornings at the Legion in November and December. We are applying for a government grant in hopes of offering the clinic at no cost for up to ten attendees. Coffee, tea and snacks will also be provided at the beginning of each session and at a mid-session interval. We will be providing for each participant to keep: - a kit, either from the Airfix starter set series or something similar; - a cutting mat; - a hobby knife and extra blades; - a bottle of Tamiya Extra-Thin Quick-Setting plastic cement; - a pair of flush cutters; - curved, pointed tweezers; - sanding sticks. We'll use rattle can gloss and satin varnish as appropriate, nitrile gloves, paper towels, cotton buds et cetera. The scope is to complete a basic kit, with 'advanced' tips from yours truly on how to take it to the next step. I'm very open to suggestions on both the items we'll be providing and the content/flow of the clinics to keep them at a level to keep the interest up while sharing methods and materials to build on their skills and results. (e.g. I'll be showing them decaling in some detail and demonstrate the MicroSet/MicroSol/Solvaset products and introduce basic weathering). Thank you in advance for your input!

What about an articulated steam locomotive? Mallets, the Beyer-Garratts and a wealth of locomotives were made with four engines.

Thanks for the pointers to Aviaeology. I have a couple of their sets in the stash, including for a Typhoon at some point in the NTDF. They seem a little hit and miss, but they're local enough to call. Chris

Hi everyone, I'm looking to build a Mosquito appropriate to an RCAF squadron. Not overly fussy about every rivet being in the right place. I'm thinking of the Tamiya FB Mk. VI/NF Mk. II with the Xtradecal set X72232 which includes markings for a Canadian FB Mk. VI. as well as a couple of B Mk.XXs Anyone have any feedback on whether or not this seems a reasonable approach? Any caveats to watch out for? Suggestions for other models/markings. Cheers, everyone! I'm off to fire up the tractor and blow snow... again. Chris

Thanks for the kind words. The underside seam was a (bad) decision, based on the belly not being visible. It's what prompted my "Good enough isn't" comment in the OP. I appreciate the tips, too! I did post a couple of railway pics in an earlier post. I'm back to working on it now, so I'll hopefully be posting a few more soon. Chris

Funny you should say that. I have the Mk. Vb in my stash with a few PE parts to try out. I might do an OOB build on the Arma Hurricane Mk.I first, though. I see it has a fit problem with the landing gear bay, but nothing I can't deal with. I've learned quite a bit from this one, and am looking forward to the next. Thank you for the encouragement! Chris

Hi Rodders, I assume your gloss coat over the decal is because you want an overall gloss finish on the model. I typically put a satin varnish over decals, but then my next step is usually some sort of weathering, which I suspect you're not doing on a car model. I'd absolutely go with satin in some areas and matt in others as appropriate for the materials you're trying to represent in the interior. You can also adjust the finish by mixing varnishes together. e.g. if your flat varnish is 'too flat,' add a little satin or gloss. Back in the pre-acrylic days, I'd mix Testors Dullcote and Glosscote 50:50 to create satin. Hope this helps! Chris

Thanks, Jack, both for the kind words and the link to the thread about KP. I chose this one as a starting point based on it being the simplest of the kits in my stash. In hindsight, that should have been a clue! I have an Arma Hurricane Mk.1, a Tamiya Spit Mk.Vb, an Eduard Spit Mk. 9 and an Academy Typhoon in the queue. For the next little while, I'll be working on the railroad. Cheers! Chris

I've had a couple of comments about being brave to do yellow. Yes, it's a bit of a pain. I started with white primer, which helped a lot. Thanks for the kind words!

Greetings from snowy Southern Ontario, Canada! I just finished my first complete model aeroplane, and thought I'd share it and some lessons learned, maybe to help other inexperienced modellers. Browsing this sub forum can be both inspiring and intimidating for those of us with developing skills and aging hands and eyes. 😁 While this is my first aircraft build, I'm not new to modelling in general. My primary interest is in HO scale trains, specifically, Canadian National Railway in Southwestern Ontario in 1956, To that end, I'm building a model train layout in my basement. A couple of months ago, I was lacking motivation and after several evenings of watching YouTube videos and browsing this forum, I thought building something different might kick start my 'mojo,' as well as give me an opportunity to learn some new skills, techniques and materials. Before you scroll down into the photos, be warned that you will not find a beautifully finished model with umpteen after market details. (I have a couple in my stash for later). This build was a 'practice build' and in that context I'm satisfied with it. There have been a few lessons learned, including some areas where I need to practice. I think the most important lesson I learned was, "Good enough isn't!" I have to say, despite my own shortcomings, that I am a smidgen disappointed in the kit itself. I don't know where KP fits on the spectrum from awesome kits to crap kits, but I suspect they are nowhere near the top half of the scale. I do understand that I could have done better overcoming most, if not all, of the issues with it, and if I were to build it again, I'm confident the outcome would be quite a bit better. Baby steps! Enough prattling on. Here is my rendition of the Kovozávody Prostějov Cessna Crane Mk. 1