Hepster

I have used Halfords Appliance White over a base of Halfords White Primer for about ten years now. The only problem I had early on was when applying any paint over the Appliance White - it orange-peeled every time. I solved this since by coating it with a barrier application of Klear.

Proper modelling! I built one of these a few years back, and used aftermarket decals with windows, so that I could fill in the kit ones. If I recall, the kit instructions suggest solid decal that you punch out window holes from with the jig provided...erm. Some modellers then fill in the holes with Crystal Clear (random spelling). What's the plan?

Funnily enough, I have the same build planned, after a kind friend gave me the Sword kit 72061 and the Vingtor decal sheet 72-109, which has six variations of the G-VTOL markings. The kit has alternative tails included, so no worries there. I also have some resin replacement drop door intakes - I can't remember who makes them but they are designed to fit the Sword kit and fit like a glove. Hope this gives you some ideas.

My views on some of the paints referred to - I've used Humbrol 166, and found it applies really well just so long as you pay attention to thinners (Humbrol paints seem to start thin and then thicken up a lot before you're more than a quarter through the tin) and apply an undercoat (it's brilliant over Halfords Primer). I've also used Xtracrylix LAG, and it applies very well too although, like most from that source, it is glossy. My main concern, is that they are both totally different interpretations of LAG... Which is the most accurate, I don't know - I end up using Humbrol because it is more easily available. I always put a gloss coat over the paintwork for decaling, followed by a matt coat to finish, so I am not too fussed about whether I start off with matt, satin or gloss.

I see from a quick search that used copies retail for between £47 and £95 - look after it!

Don't you just need to move the fuel filler cap on a Revell 109G-10 to make it a 109K?

A message from Tim theplasticsurgeon, who has busted his computer and gotten locked out of BM trying to update from elsewhere, the tracks have now been completed on both sides - I just knew they made sense... Tim will get some pics posted just as soon as he gets word back on the password reset.

I'm currently building the starter kit you refer to - it is described as an E-3, but it is the new tool E-4 kit. The option provided is an E-3 retrofitted with the armoured canopy of the E-4 - it's featured on page 326 of Jagdwaffe Volume One Section Four 'Attack on the West May 1940'. The earlier rounded canopy is not provided. This means that you can only do other E-3s if they have been retrofitted with the later canopy of the E-4, otherwise you will have to replace the canopy with the earlier rounded type used on most E-3s. This could have problems, as canopies from many other manufacturers 109E kits are much too narrow for the Airfix kit - I've tried it with 109E canopies from my spares box just to see if I could give it a one piece instead of the three-parts provided.

Revell did a Caravelle in 1/100 scale, last available in their 2007 catalog in Swissair livery. Must be available somewhere... I think the Heller Concorde was in 1/125 scale.

Go Tim! About time you started it! This will make a pleasant diversion from Airfix Defiants....

My personal preference, for what its worth. Fill the side windows in by glueing sprues to the inside and then applying filler from the outside. It will take a few applications, as the filler may sink in at first. If its white, then paint it with Halfords Appliance White from a rattlecan. Use aftermarket decals with windows included. Note that the number of windows can vary from one airline to another, with some windows blanked off, so google it to be sure.

Re the BoB 75th anniversary set - the artwork features an He 111H whilst the individual kit release is an He 111P-2. Hope that's intentional....

Wow, variety really is the spice of life! Why is James Bond using a Mauser C/96 Broomhandle? I can only ever remember Grant using one in a Bond movie!

HMS Victorious!!!

You think that it was a tactically bad decision to have many of the many characters in UFO styled to look like puppets? I think this confused the audience over the intended viewing age group and lost a lot of fans. It was shown on British TV around the same era as The Invaders, which has a similar subject matter - yet many people preferred The Invaders in spite of the terrible special effects and massive plot holes.

If it is the Airfix kit, it won't have the wing fences that the box art shows. The Airfix kit has over wing sidewinder missile launchers only.

I have had the same problem trying to brushpaint Humbrol dayglo. In fact, I had the same problem also with Revell and Lifecolor Dayglo, and resorted to rattlecans in the end. Then I found that the Tamiya and Humbrol rattlecan dayglo is orange, whereas I needed red dayglo for RAF types. I realise the RAF colour fades to orange, but you need to 'weather' it with patches of yellow for it to look faded. Then I found a red dayglo rattlecan made by Liquitex and sold at Hobbycraft which was the right shade, so I have used that on RAF and RN types.

It might be worth pointing out that the decal quality of the Revell re-boxes is a lot higher than the Matchbox originals. But I qualify that observation with the fact that Matchbox branded kits produced from the early 1990s to 2000 were of Revell manufacture and also had better decals than the earlier kits made from 1973 onwards.

The points about LIDAR potentially scanning errors into a model are relevant, but are probably known about and planned for - after all, when Tamiya scanned an F-4 in a US museum for their 1/32 kit many years ago, they managed to include Vietnam-era battle damage repairs unique to that plane. My point being, Airfix are not the pioneers here, and it's the pioneers who make all the mistakes. My take on the BoB era releases is that not only does it leave a decent Ju 87 and Ju 88 wanting in the Airfix range, it also leaves a decent metal wing Hurricane I. Whilst some fabric wing Hurricane Is were used in the BoB, most of them must have been metal wing types. Also, the choice of He IIIP makes it easy to offer an equivalent He IIIH at a later date just by including an alternative engine spue, a bit like the Lanc...

I've watched the N**I Megastructures programmes so far, and it has to be said that they are a typical example of dumbed-down waffle for the modern audience. The one about tanks was the worst, with an overreliance on very dodgy CGI. On the other hand, each programme does have some worthwhile gems as well - the tank one shawed a lot of closeups of the Tiger 1 at the German tank museum, as well as closeups of a Tiger 2 under restoration. Wonderful!

Just so long as you avoid the Tamiya Panther D - the kit that is currently on the shelves for about £14.99 is a reissue of the old 1970s era kit, and while it looks good, it needs a lot of work to bring it up to current standards.

Didn't the Belle fly it's last combat mission in May 1943 and return to the states on June 8, 1943? Just do a google on it, that's what different sources say consistently but I appreciate that it is not evidence as such.

Wow, the Dynasoar! It has artwork I my old copy of 'The Eagle Book of Space Travel', what a book.

I had the LS Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum - I was a fan of Dirty Harry movies at the time. I seem to recall the instructions recommended rubbing the finished model down with powdered graphite for a gunmetal finish, potentially very messy!

I'm not totally convinced about Halfords Grey Primer being a good match for MSG, it's a bit on the dark side. But I have used it fir RLM 63 on Luftwaffe pre-war spinter schemes.