Natter

I love seeing these older mould Heller (SMER re-pop) kits given proper treatment. Top job.

Back in my youth I made one of these, then binned it because i didn't know how to paint it to make it 'look right'. You succeeded where I failed.

Ray Harryhausen, eat your heart out. That's great.

Mega tribute Oz; Respect, to you and to your inspiration.

Hi Col. - some progress has been made on them both. The next stage is painting the seats and crew for the wheels up option. Fingers crossed I'll get some photos up on the thread this weekend, bearing in mind I am working Friday, Saturday and Monday it may be a small update. While I am here I'd like to say a 'thank you' to Rob G for getting me back on track after an initial stall in proceedings. More soon...

Lovely model, perfect restrained weathering. Getting such nice photos of a chunky model must have been challenging too, great result all round.

Ditto that.

Good evening All, I have decided to join the ranks of Trainers here if you'll have me? I expected a plethora of Hawks, but I was surprised to see only a few. Well I will try and add two. I have no real interest in the Hawk, but I always intended to complete the Airfix 1/27 Spitfire in 19 Sqn colours with the accompanying Hawk in the 2008 anniversary BoB style scheme. Well the Spit is done. I have tried to find a Hawk model I liked, and struggled to find one I liked. I bought a bagged kit, no instructions and no decals as advertised from ebay back in 2011 for £1.20. It has raised panle llines and small strakes rather than the ventral fins adjacent to the air brake - A03086 from the 1975 mould methinks. Then in 2014 came the Revell Red Arrows Hawk from Modelzone in their closing down sale. Nah, soft moulding and indistinct panel lines. This was such a bad kit I couldn't even shift it on ebay at a start price of 99p! Then at the end of 2014 came the Airfix 50 seasons Red Arrows starter set for £6.20, from ebay again. Now we're getting better. The bag has a label of A2005W attached, so this is the 2012 tooling. I have made a small start this week, at this stage so far: The cockpit has been sprayed Alclad Medium Sea Grey. Nope. It's way too 'green' so that will be redone in a more 'grey' grey. So what to do with these random bits of plastic? Well, the Xtradecals Hawk 2008 display Hawks has the BoB anniversary scheme which will adorn the new mould when it is completed. This model will be on its wheels. The older mould will use the 'roundel Hawk' scheme in gloss black with the wheels up, and I plan to use a shaped acrylic rod into the intake to mount it in flight. Being black the raised panel lines won't matter, and all the schemes on the Xtradecals schemes will then be used. The instrument panels of the in-flight Hawk have had a basic representation of the instruments painted on, not great but under the none too clever canopy they should be acceptable. I am modelling for me, not for a competition judge after all. You, dear friends, will be my judges - and you're always kind. The left hand panel is the 'correct' grey for me, the right panel is in the MSG which I feel is too 'green'. A simple fix, but most of the panel as painted will stay as it is; only the rest of the cockpit will be resprayed. Standby for sporadic updates.

Windscreen wiper sweeps on military models never look 'right', but on your tractor they're perfect. The same can be said for the 'just right' mucky floor mat, the seat and cab inner panels, the marks in the mud on the door windows, the wet mud on the tyres around the wheel rims, the washer bottle (?) at the rear of the cab, the dusty mucky outline of the YANMAR logo on the rear of the cab; everything right down to the cat gif in your signature - ace.

Sorry Greg, title and text updated - 1/72 scale.

A big thank you for your kind comments. Ref the shine, I used Xtracrylix satin varnish as the finishing coat. The photos I found both on line and in the Osprey book showed the early pre-war aircraft very clean and with a slight shine. 19 Squadron were subject to plenty of press attention, being the first Spitfire squadron, so they kept their aircraft looking fairly spotless. I may get around to the Tamiya Mk1 at some stage, and that one will be a BoB matt finished model... if I ever get it done!

Good afternoon All. Not my finest hour, lots of faults and not brilliantly made. Airfix's A02010 Spitfiire MkI/MkII kit in 1/72 scale with Xtradecals 2008 Display Hawks decals, which include the 19 Squadron Spitfire to accomopany the 2008 19 Sqn 'SpitHawk' anniversary scheme. As an aside, a chap I used to work with had been part of the arms inspection team who used to host the Russians when they can to carry out arms treaty confirmation checks. Having spent time confirming with the 'guest' he was hosting that all the Hawks were merely trainers and all were unarmed, the hangar door was opened to reveal the camouflaged Hawk with 30mm gun pod and two underwing pylons. He said the guest just turned to him with the biggest grin he has ever seen! Anyway. The stencils are Airfix decals, the roundels, serials and '19's from the Xtradecals set; they are all the Xtradecals set includes. Eduard early RAF seatbelts and Yahu etch instrument panel help the cockpit, the landing light is a 2mm little lenses item and the early style pitot is scratch from some soldered copper wire. One more out of the stash and on to the shelf. I have just realised I haven't painted the wingtip nav lights; to be done later I think. Thank you for stopping by to look.

Most of my better models only look half that good, you're being way too hard on yourself.

Very purposeful.

Perhaps one of the few aircraft prettier than the VC10. Achingly beautifiul model too.