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Oldgitian

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  1. Oldgitian
    Thanks Terry. All sorts of things emerge from car boots in carparks.
  2. Oldgitian
    Pleased with the colour so continued to the decal stage. Used the kit option of XV869 from 809 NAS in Ark Royal 1976. All went OK but spent a nervous few minutes trying to lay down the engine access stencils, having removed all the carrier film from the centre of each decal. This left a very delicate "picture frame" which wanted to curl up rather than lay flat. Persevered with lashings of Micro Set and eventually got the result I wanted. On now to aerials and undercarriage. Trying to decide the best sequence to avoid damage to fitted items during handling. Definitely intend to leave the wings and air brakes to last.
  3. Oldgitian
    A recent commission build had delayed progress on the Buccaneer but I'm now back on track and things have moved on. Unfortunately I've got dragged into replacing a few more of the kit components than I originally intended. Paragon seats, Airwaves air brakes and Flightpath ladders and FOD guards have added to the cost, which is precisely what I was aiming to avoid. Airwaves air brake detail for rear fuselage. Airwaves etched details for air brakes. Flightpath crew ladders. Flightpath FOD guards. After repeated bouts of applying and sanding filler I've now arrived at the priming and pre-shading stage. The surface detail is rather heavy so I made extra effort to reduce the effect by running "Mr Hobby 500 surfacer" into all of the deepest trenches. Time consuming but I think worth the trouble. Primed with white "Mr Hobby 1500 surfacer" and then pre-shaded with "Tamiya XF-1 black" I've since applied several thin colour coats of "Xtracrylix XA1005 EDSG" and will start to add the decals after a sweep with "Xtracrlix gloss varnish. This is the point when I get nervous. Previous bad experiences with varnish and decals always get me apprehensive, but here goes. Ian
  4. Oldgitian
    Terry, After a three month hiatus away from kit building (there are other things to do during a summer as good as we're currently experiencing) the release of the new Airfix offering has nudged me into returning to the work bench and continuing the assembly of the Buccaneer. Having spent some time detailing the cockpit interior using the Airwaves brass etched set, I moved on to attempt the joining of the fuselage halves. Taking some of Peter's advice I tried clamping the wing sections together but struggled with the alignment so decided on a slightly different three stage approach. Firstly the nose section as far as the air intakes was cemented and clamped, whilst leaving the wing and rear fuselage sections to go their own way. After a twenty four hour break, to ensure the bond was rock solid, I returned to the rear fuselage and cemented that as far as the wing trailing edge. More clamps required. I left that to cure overnight and then cemented and closed the bulging gap between the upper and lower stub wing sections. The end result was far better than I originally expected and the fuselage now looks in good shape. I'm now into the filling and sanding stage before adding air intakes and jet pipes etc.
  5. Oldgitian
    Glad you're free of the dreaded virus Terry and your ever increasing squadron of gliders looks great. Is it time now to put your obvious skills into building something with and engine? Regards Ian
  6. Oldgitian
    Peter, Thanks for your words of wisdom. I must admit that when I tried to match the fuselage halves, I thought for a moment that the upper and lower parts had come form two different kits. They only fit where they touch and they don't touch very much. I'll be building with the wings folded so will substitute parts 38 and 39 for 36 and 37. Otherwise I like the sound of your suggestions. I'll be back with more as things progress. Ian
  7. Oldgitian
    I've been building the Surtees in the background over the last couple of months and have only just seen your thread. Takes me back to my youth when I hurriedly put one together to add to my F1 collection. Always thought I'd remake it one day and then saw a second hand example on a well known auction site. It certainly shows it's age and the chrome parts were a pain. Decals were tricky too. They curled up on application and needed copious quantities of setting solution to get them to lay down. Anyway it's finished now and has cured my reminiscence for old Matchbox kits.
  8. Oldgitian
    Yes, intakes and everything else except wheels are form the box.
  9. Oldgitian
    Having recently finished a Tamiya Wildcat I started to search through my stash (or the NARNIA CUPBOARD as my wife calls it) to find my next project. I spotted the old issue Airfix Buccaneer I've had for some time. I've made no secret elsewhere on this forum of my disappointment at the cost of the soon to be released new version so thought I should put my money where my mouth is and actually build the one I have in stock. I must admit that some of the mouldings look a bit rough around the edges but they certainly give the appearance of what could become a model of one of my favourite aircraft. I hope to carry out most of the build form the box but decided to replace the original wheels with a resin set from ARMORY. Just getting underway now, so will add to this as things progress. Ian
  10. Oldgitian
    Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Been trying to decide on the next build. It will definitely be an FAA aircraft but I need inspiration. I have a large cupboard where I keep my stash. My wife calls it the "Narnia" cupboard because there's a whole secret world inside. Just heading in now.
  11. Oldgitian
    Although having been building models for many years this is my first since joining the BM forum so I hope this overview is of interest to like minded Fleet Air Arm enthusiasts. The kit is the vintage Tamiya GRUMMAN F4F-4 WILDCAT from the early 1990s. To my mind it still stands up well to more modern versions even though the rear fuselage rivet detail is rather heavy. I had no problem putting it together and only complicated things for myself by deciding to include the AIRES wing fold conversion. This is cast resin and very finely detailed but extremely delicate and I managed to damage some of the components whilst cleaning up the castings. Thinning down the wing sections to accept the cast parts was a chore but I think worth the effort. The only other issue was that I like to have canopies open, particularly when we spend so much time and effort on the cockpit interiors. The kit transparency is too thick to slide aft of the cockpit so I reduced the fuselage spine a little to allow it to sit down in a more realistic fashion. This butchery can't be seen once the canopy is in place. So there it is, my first BM post. I'm now rummaging in the stash to decide on the next project. Thanks for looking. Ian
  12. Oldgitian
    Finished. I'll add more photos and details into the "Ready for Inspection" section but this is the completed model with wings attached and braced. Thanks for looking and all your kind words during my first BM post. I'll see you in Ready for Inspection. Ian
  13. Oldgitian
    All colours are from Xtracrylix. Having previously used Tamiya, Vallejo, AK and others I'm really pleased with the way they cover and the surface texture. Think maybe my limited experience with the airbrush suits the water based product. Ian
  14. Oldgitian
    Just been reading through all the comments. All sounds very exciting. Buccaneer has always been a favourite of mine. FAA aircraft in particular so great to see Airfix doing a fine job. But really......even with the cost of raw materials.......over £70.00 for a box of plastic? I'll be building the previous offering from the stash.
  15. Oldgitian
    Thanks for your words of encouragement. I very carefully applied what was left of the decals and managed to piece back together the codes. The roundels came from the spares box as the Eagle Strike examples were beyond repair. All now sealed with Xtracrylix matt varnish and so on to the really tricky stage of trying to attach the wings in the folded position with very little to locate them. Will make some support struts from sprue which I hope will help hold them rigid. Ian
  16. Oldgitian
    You old smooth talker Terry. The cheque's in the post. Ian.
  17. Oldgitian
    Had some bad luck with the decals. Showed water to the Eagle Strike decals and they promptly disintegrated as you can see. Have since given the remainder of the sheet a coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film and they seem to have survived. Will very carefully try to complete the application and hopefully the results will be acceptable. Very disappointed that a new sheet of specialist decals should react in such a bad way. Ian.
  18. Oldgitian
    Made some progress on the painting. Primed and pre-shaded. Now masked up ready for EDSG and DSG camouflage Primed with Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 and pre-shaded with Tamiya XF1.
  19. Oldgitian
    So this is my first attempt at putting some words and pictures together regarding my latest build. The model is the TAMIYA 1/48 scale Grumman F4F-4. I decided to build a Royal Navy WILDCAT V and chose JV394 of 842 sqn using decals from Eagle Strike. I like to have folded wings on my carrier borne aircraft and so also have a resin conversion kit from AIRES. Main components laid out ready for next stage.
  20. Oldgitian
    Thanks gents for your words of welcome. As I said initially, all this is very new to me so I'm sure I'll be stumbling around the BM site until I get the hang of things. Terry's been helping me set up a FLICKR account so that I can download some photos of my recent projects. I'm currently building a Tamiya Wildcat and hope to share my experiences with you when I work out how to get the ball rolling. Ian
  21. Oldgitian
    Hello Terry, Thanks for your help.
  22. Oldgitian
    Hello, I'm Ian and finally decided to join BM after viewing reviews etc for many years. I got back into building models about 25 years ago after a long break since making pocket money kits as a kid. My preference is military aircraft. In particular 1/48 scale Fleet Air Arm although I occasionally dip into larger scales. Looking forward to getting involved.
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