PlasticUtopia

Ha Ha. Blackadder

Lovely clear build. Nice save on the decal. i hope it turns out well as I am sure it will

Today's progress I had forgot to show the fitted cockpit detail last post. I painstakingly applied the Eduard masking. My first time using supplied masking It was needed I think rather than using my goto masking with the ammo liquid. The canopy has a lot of framing compared to the past models I have built Next to do is building up the radiators on the wings, mask and a coat of surface primer to see if (and I am sure there will be) there are any seams that need further filled.... Thanks for dropping by.......

Dave, Great perseverance on correcting "Interns" mistakes. You have done a lot of work to renovate their inaptness I love the Sea harrier and acquired the Tamiya model at the Scottish model show in Perth Reading up on the kit I heard it had a bit of flaws too. Ill tag along for the build mate if that's ok

Thanks Chuuurles

Thanks Jack

Hello All, So, after buying a considerable amount of kits at the Scottish National Scale Model Show, I decided to try and deplete my wee stash of existing kits starting with the Eduard 1:48 Me BF 109 G2 ProfiPACK one. Started off by doing the cockpit and fuselage as normal... So far the kit is a delight with good mould quality as you would expect from Eduard. I warmed to the clear and concise instruction booklet that was supplied. Assembly of the cockpit along with the etchings, was tedious but yet rewarding. The foot stirrups were particularly arduous to bend into shape and lace the straps through the micro buckles. Preparation for the etching extras in the cockpit. After numerous dry fits of the wings and fuselage, it was ready for gluing together... I taped off the tail landing wheel area after building together as I just knew i would trash it along the way till being ready for paint Dropped the back ailerons for a bit of aesthetics Then assembled the wings, glued to fuselage Thanks for looking

Thanks Panther

Thanks Joachim for noticing that. Its gone already 👍

Thanks Chris. Well the latter part went fine albeit trashing another canopy hood!!! This time, an accidental overspray with cyo accelerator landed on the canopy hood and kinda clouded the item up foggy style. Luckily Tamiya supplied 2 sliding hoods, so the one in the photos is for an other version of the model. The decals were a real breeze this time. (after market set I bought) I did use the floor polish kleer before I applied and had no problem (except spilling the micro set bottle 😒) I liked the wear effect that I used by applying the liquid mask in certain areas. I'm going to start an Me BF109 G2 Eduard profipack 1:48

Hi Folks, Well, finally finished the Spitfire and had a lovely time doing so. See pictures below. Thanks to all involved in giving sound instruction and advice, particularly, @Troy Smith with all his accurate information and @Ngantek with his marvellous encouragement, a true wordsmith 👍

Thanks Andy. No issues taking off the Liquid mask.... I have never used any other brand, but this one ticks all the boxes. It spreads evenly and dries reasonably quick. If you set about doing a cockpit mask, it will give you time to apply without going stringy. Blue tack was used for the mask on the camo. fairley easy to apply but some times did loosen when placing down. Anther firm press down sorted that. Again, my first time usiing kleer or in UK called multi surface polish... It did give off a high gloss and gave the application to applying the decals, a wonderful experience compared to my last build. Used it as it came out the bottle with no thinning. It never blocked up my .15 nozzle. XF 86 is good in my experience, when sealing the decals. I used a 70/30 ratio for that and came out good

I love the clean look of it, marvellous detail! The mottling is second to none! The grand way you built this deserves a applause

Lovely to see the marvellous models and traders at the Scottish National Scale model show.... After my return on Sunday, I got back to the build.... Started by cutting the cam template out that tamiya provided (thank goodness as I might have not succeeded at this stage of doing it free hand) and placing on the build.... I lacked photos here of the progress to the next stage which was spraying with XF 81. After I sprayed, I glossed it with 2 coats of Kleer and applied the decals (after market ones from Xtradecal) I then gave it 2 coats of XF86 flat clear.... I applied a little enamel panel wash to the underside. Im so nervous with this procedure as I nearly knackered my last build. So next thing will be placing on the last parts, a bit more weathering and finalising the Spity ready for final inspection... thanks for looking

Welcome Andrei

LOL, yes it never survived a bit. As you said, maybe too heavy on the paint. Thin layers is the way. Thanks for the positive remarks, it is always uplifting. Bristol Beaufighter was a great plan. My pals when I was a child used to rant about the airfix kit of it. At that time, I was not into building models its only recently I have fallen for it. The man has a plethora of advice and information that he readily shares. Amazing references of the proper way a plane should look like. I gave it a dry fit yesterday. A lot of gaps and misfits. But for £3.50, I'll just potter with it in between builds Thanks again

That is so smart looking. Particularly the matt effect paintwork. Much better than a gloss for this type of era. Wonderfull 👍

Will the colour of the spinner be the XF 83 as well I take it then? I have looked at the reference pictures but all the colours look the same to me, you see, I am colour blind. Which is a bit unfortunate in this lovely pastime

Utter realism...a marvel to look at👍

OK, Duly noted I will give it a lick again and spray it the correct way. Thanks for pointing that out I am afraid I did....I will also correct. Marvellous reference pictures you posted

Today I managed to have a reasonable time on the build..... After the primer had dried, I decided to have a go at the shading effect that I had seen on you tube... It looked good and the idea was reasonable, I thought... But after completing the effect, the outcome was not as good as the effort submitted. Maybe I put to many layers on after the stippling ..... Another effect I wanted to try was by spraying with silver at areas that would have been worn away by the pilot and maintenance crew along with numerous chipping that occurred whilst in active duty. I applied liquid mask at areas that this wear could have happened I then sprayed with Ocean grey.... And did a little on the underside also... I finished the night by adding effect to the prop.... Next is an attempt at the camouflage, but not tonight, eyes are beady and tired. Thanks for looking 👍

Thanks Ngantek, Yes, its a curious thing the human nature of "just to see what happens" 😬 Marvellous little scale 1:144. What model was that you had the issue with? I recently came across this today at my local shop and had to buy it at only £3.50!! Ill have a build at it at some point.....

Thanks Dunny Thanks Chris

Your build is coming along great Dunny. I love the attention to the detail especially in that scale. The sharpness and cleanliness of it is superb. If you don't mind, I will follow this build. I only spotted it during your last post....

Back to the build again..... Eventually I was happy with the fuselage and cockpit and decided to join the wings and centre the fuselage... The fit was superb. As the dry run paid off, it married up marvellously The seam before the cockpit looks like it has a slight gap but there is nothing there on closer inspection, maybe some rouge paint got on the join area and gave it a "tattoo" effect I decided to try my bottle of Pledge Kleer with the cockpit canopy's. Having read that it enhances the appearance, gives clarity like glass and makes a mirror like finish. I dipped it in the solution and let it dry for 2 hours whilst I got on with other things. I came back to it and it all looked amazing. So clear and glass like! Offering up the back canopy to the build, I squeezed the clear plastic just to see (bad timing to have a "cat curiosity" urge) the type of flex I would get....🙄 Snap!!! It halved in two, pinged away to the behemoth vastness of the kitchen and was promptly placed on the "AWOL" list of parts. Heart sinking, determination flooded over me to send the rescue team out for this part, and for the next hour or so I was squinting all over the floor, shelves, tool trays etc, for this little part. Elation! It was found under behind the fridge......miles away from the tragic event that occurred 🤔 I offered the now "two parts" of the canopy together and thankfully, there was no other shards that had decided to leave its once composed wholeness.... I very carefully applied a bit of UPVA glue to it..... It had a very visible line of where the snap happened. What was I thinking or wishing? I was hoping it would join like a repaired chip on a car windscreen. As you can see my dreams of such a mitre were thoroughly dashed. I dipped it in the kleer again hoping that that would give it a bit more strength. And it did so (So far he speaks) Never the less, the retracted main canopy would hopefully disguise the extra seam now on it! You can see the thin line inder the liquid mask. Lessoned learned clear plastic is as brittle as, well, a brittle thing.... Joined the wings to the fuselage..... And the only thing i needed to slightly fill, was the wing part at the engine housing centre I then gave it a wee lick of surface primer and will wait to dry for 24hrs at least... Thats it for today. Oooo, waiting for DPD to deliver my new airbrush!! H and S infinity CR plus with a .15 needle and nozzy 😋