SeaVenom

It does give a good satin finish yes but unfortunately as we all know it says matt on the bottle. About time Xtracrylix looked into it I think.

They should rename Xtracrylix matt varnish satin varnish. I'll look into the galeria but isn't it ridiculous some model paint manufacturer can't come up with a decent matt varnish that's easy to use, doesn't yellow, dries properly and........actually looks proper matt.

Getting a decent Matt finish is a total pain. I've tried a few including Xtracrylix and they're all useless. I tried Humbrol mattcote and that just ended up non matt and didn't dry properly. I won't use the normal Humbrol matt varnish as that yellows real bad over time and Xtracrylix Matt goes on nicely but........it's not matt, it's satin and that leaves a milky finish too. I've tried dilluting them and thinning them too with no success.

Thanks for that! Interesting site too!

I've got the Revell 1/32 Hunter F Mk6 and some Black Arrow decals so I'm going to do it as that but I'm not sure which of the 2 provided seats to use. Do I use the Martin Baker 3H or the 2H seat? I can't seem to find any info on it. And if neither of those is accurate to the Black Arrows hunters - which out of the 2 is the closest? (I only want to use one of the kit seats).

I'd like to do a model of these in the future but all the kits have the tank moulded on which is a bit of a pain.

Another nice photo (and very clear too)! Oddly enough that's almost the same angle as XM139 in my photo and I don't remember being able to get that close to either of them when I was there. On my photo's there doesn't appear to be any fence either - as if I could have walked right up to them.

Beat me too it! Thanks for those and it looks like the mystery's been solved! Really interesting to see XM147 taken from a similar angle to my photo's and XM139 next to the hangar. Sheds new light on them.

Thanks all! Unfortunately I've no way at the moment to post the photo's but after using all your info and doing a bit of Googling (didn't have any luck before without your info) I found this - http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org...x.php/t-47.html Lightning XM147 at the top left. The blue on the roundel and tail marking looks a lot lighter than on my photo but it certainly looks like the ones on my photo.

Don't know if anyone can help me with this. I went on holiday to Suffolk around 1985/6 (I think) and outside on the tarmac at one of the airbases near the perimiter fence (possibly Mildenhall) there was 2 camouflaged Lightnings, which were easy to see from outside the base. They might have been operational but they looked more like they were there for display purposes. The strange thing about them was they didn't appear to have any underbelly tanks and the nose ring looked like a faded dark sea grey - not like the chrome ring you see on camouflaged lightnings. I've often wondered what they were. I took 2 photo's but I've no way of putting them up on here at the moment.

I'm not one for aftermarket parts I must admit. I don't like resin, not a huge lover of photoetch (unless it's for grills or seatbelts) and I don't really like vacform. I tend to build only the latest state of the art plastic kits that are usually accurate. If I'm building an older kit I'll check to see if it's of a reasonable quality before I buy it - but I still doubt I would alter it with resin or vacform. And even if they have inaccuracies like the Trumpeter 1/32 Lightning with it's innaccurate canopy - the inaccuracy isn't that bad that I'd swap it for a vacform.

I'd rather have an inaccurate canopy than use a vacform one.

Considering the importance of the Male and Female tanks you'd think manufacturers would have jumped at the chance to do new toolings. Tamiya's done the Char but obviously that's still WW2. I love my German armour but manufacturers seem obsessed with churning out ever more obscure German armour and even tanks that didn't even exist and they completely ignore WW1.

Surface detail appears quite nice but one area that isn't as good as Tamiya's is the wingtip lights - which aren't clear plastic. What a step backwards!

I'll try it but it's enamel isn't it? Acrylic varnishes never seem to be matt and enamels usually seem to yellow in my experience.

I'm amazed when I see some modellers masterpieces and they have a beautiful matt finish as I'm buggered if I can get such a good finish. Matt varnishes either seem to be acrylics that aren't matt or enamels that yellow over time (or they don't dry properly like Humbrol Mattcote - mind you I could never get a decent matt finish with that either).

Anyone else think it's about time that the mainstream manufacturers gave us some WW1 and between the wars tanks and armour? Apart from the less than state of the art Emhar offerings there's virtually nothing. I wish Tamiya, Dragon, AFV Club and Bronco would give us new Male and Females, Renault FT17's with individual track links etc.

I wish someone would invent a good matt varnish that's actually matt and not satin or gloss (Xtracrylix cough, cough).

I'd like to see a newly tooled Halifax B Mk.I/II.

Yes it's time we had some new Vampire toolings in plastic. I'm surprised there's no reviews online yet.

Thought there might be. Still, I think I can handle a few 'small' inaccuracies as long as it looks like a Vampire. I suppose what might make it or break it is the main fuselage and nose area. Who can forget the Hobbycraft ones!

Be nice to see what they go together like!

I agree they should do them as realistic to the aircraft as possible but I'd still rather engraved lines to raised ones, even if they aren't always accurate. Bit annoying there's no vanes in the intakes - though I'll still get one to see what it's like.

If it's a good model I don't mind paying more for it. We have to remember that injection moulding is an expensive business (especially now with the price of everything going up) and we can't all expect this type of model to cost about £7 or £10 anymore.

Are they? That's a new one on me! Although engraved might not always be appropriate as some aircraft skins overlap in places I thought engraved meant you didn't have to go through the hassle of sanding the raised ones off and then rescribing them.