Natter

Mmmm.... some interesting thoughts on conversion to an 88" there. I'll keep an eye open for how you do the truck cab and tailgate for a pick-up.

Barking mad doesn't quite cover it! Craziness aside, there is some really good modelling there.

Votre modelle-reduit est magnifique. Which I think means that 'that's quite nice' - sort of.

These need to go in the 2019 Yearbook Forum.. coz they're all cracking buids.

Got to love an Islander in any scale; and I do. I followd the WiP and your end result is bang-on.

I really like that, and a great WiP too; thank you.

Absolutely gorgeous. Perfect paint, great detail; just lovely.

Good afternoon All, firstly an erratum. My (much) better half bought me a book on the Land Rover marque, and apparently the gearstick on the six cylinder models wasn't kinked as it is on the fours. Fortunately there is a photo in the book, so I will have to change this before assembling the cabin. The upper 'wing liners' were removed from the floor section, so the chunky mounting lugs had to go from inside the wings. Before: and after: With the roof masked, so I would not be trying to cover bronze green with limestone later, I set about painting the body. Oh dear. The body had been coated with Halfords white Plastic Primer first, then once that was well dry a couple of light coats of Zero Paints followed, then a wet coat of the Zero Paints. I assume Halfords Plastic Primer is acrylic, and I assume the Zero Paints reacted to it; and the top coat wrinkled really badly, particularly on the wing tops and on the left side. I have used the Halfords Plastic Primer and Zero Paints combination before on the Protar Honda 350/6 and had no problems. This time however it was really bad: I decided not to go with a full strip to start with, so tried a gentle rub down and just light coats for the main colour. The process went a bit like this: I can live with the right side, that isn't too bad. There will now follow a few different blacks for the cabin interior. The first was Xtracrylix Night Black for the vinyl of the seats. The chassis is done in Alclad Black Primer which will be knocked back with satin or maybe matt varnish. That's where we're up to now and I shall continue with bits and bobs through the week. As a good mate of mine said, 'half an hour here and there gets models built'. Yep.

Good evening All, a small update; not terribly interesting though. The mouldings are plentifully pocked with ejector pin marks. Most of those on the underside of the body floor are under the chassis rails, so no worries there. The ones on the inside of the roof of the cab probably won;t be seen through the windows anyway, so no worries there. The ones on the underside of the bonnet however... Two minutes aftertaking this photo I spilled a cupful of cellulose thinners all over the bonnet - near disaster. After grabbing the one dry corner and trying desperately to air dry the thinners I think I have mostly got away with what could have been a major problem. I thried perfect plastic putty, Vallejo putty and finally resorted to my old favourite of superglue and talc mix. Levelling off was a challenge, but it isn't too bad. The thinners has softened some of the detail, but the bonnet will be closed most of the time anyway. Because the model can be built as left or right hand drive some of the locating holes are duplicated on both sides. I have filled the left hand drive holes for the rear number plate and the heater intake, as seen below. I am not fitting the roof rack either. I have found a photo of the same type of roof rack as provided in the kit, but on a Series IIa not a Series III. The brackets for the rear mount of the roof rack are moulded on the rear of the body moulding as supplied, so these had to go and the mounting hole filled. Not easy to do, I employed my new mini-chisels and used the superglue-talc mix again. The Series III does not have any upper inner wing liningss, but these are moulded on to the body floor moulding and fix to big, chunky locating 'tubes' on the underside of the main body front wings, which I have yet to sort out. I have removed these upper sections as the floor moulding sits on the chassis and the body sits on the top of the inner wings and the front of the chassis. As supplied you get this: The chassis is also moulded hollow, almost as bad as the two halves that Hobbyboss provide for their chassis rails. The majority of the chassi upper sided is hidden as it mounts to the floor, or you just can't see it. The front section can be seen through the open bonnet though, so this had to be dealt with. This photo also shows the upper wing liners removed. The Italeri 109" 4x4 (a Series III Land Rover) has been mentioned here a couple of times. I have already built this model, and it is really nice as a two door 109" with much better axles, steering and gearbox parts than Revell provide. It is a kerbside, no internal engine detail, but I think that it would be far easier to convert the Italeri to an 88". Slow progress, more soon.

A beautifully made Mirage. A proper 'dart'.

Now that I really like.

What a collection, love 'em. The Panzer IV is my favourite tank as I have always thought the long barrel (Ausf G/H?) just makes it look 'right'. I really look forward to 2020's collection.

Hi All, this year's pressie from my (much) better half. I am a bit of a Land Rover fan so this was top of the Christmas list. I have built the Italeri 109" but this new mould promised (promises?) lots so it had to be added to the stash, and now it needs building. Don't expect a blitzbuild, I expect this will be assembled over a couple of months. There are reviews elsewhere and sprue shots aplenty on t'interweb so none of that detail here. What you get in the box, apart from an instruction booklet and decals, is lots of bagged plastic and a one piece body: There are some chunky sprue gates on some of the parts that need careful work to keep from damaging the parts themselves: The axles are hollow moulded, rather like some of the Tamiya bike swingarms, and the chassis is the same. The hollow part of the chassis is uppermost and will be mosty hidden by the floorpan, but the axles may need filling if you're fussy. I am not going to bother as there is quite a bit on the underside of this that is more toy model than model kit. There are some big mould seams to remove too on quite a lot of parts and those on the axles are typical. I will be removing the big tabs on the axles though. These attach the axles to the chassis and are very much 'toy' additions. They will go and the axles will just attach to the leaf springs as they should: As an example of the naff details underneath this is Revell's idea of a Land Rover LT76 gearbox and transfer box. I won't bother to remodel this as it is underneath, but if you want anything like accuracy this will need to be dealt with, even if only by making it chunkier: I have commented previously that the indicator stalk is on the wrong side. It is on the instructions, which are drawn incorrectly, but the kit part has it on the correct side. It is very chunky though as the real thing is on a skinny stalk. The other lumps as bumps aren't right though. The lump to the right of the steering wheel spigot is just a rounded rubber bung on the real thing, unless the choke was mounted here on the reference Revell used. The next little bump is supposed to represent the ignition switch: As much as I am not bothered doing lots of work underneath, I do want the cabin looking about right as the top will be what everyone sees anyway; so made some adjustments to the steering column cover and indicator stalk: I felt the same way about the gear levers too, Revell's representations are basic and crying out for some TLC. The photo shows my adjusted parts alongside the Revell bits removed. The size and shape of the new parts I made is pretty accurate as I went in to the garage and measured up the real ones in my Series III: On the transmission tunnel they look OK to me: I am toying with the idea of adding an overdrive lever too, we shall see. That's where we are so far. I am knocking together as many of the sub assemblies as I can before cleaning up the seams and gaps and starting the priming for paint. The body will be in Zero Paints Bronze Green with a white roof and Zero Paints Limestone wheels.

If it's in Irish colours I love it, and you have spoiled us this year.

Nice to know I am not alone thinking the VC10 was (is) truly beautiful. Personally I think the longer Super VC10 was even more elegant. Maybe I'll have to get my Roden model built...