neilh

Thanks- Dayglo was sprayed in very thin coats over a white undercoat. Need t obe careful as its a thick enamel and can lead to a ridge of paint at the edge where masked. I tend to spray awat from the masked edge at an angle, and then rub back gently once dry with very fine abrasive. The silver is Alclad aluminium ( just one shade) sprayed in very thin bands in different directions across panels and then washed with oil paint and finished with Alcads semi matte.

It should come out well in the end. It is a lovely kit. One of the things that impressed me the most ( and has again on the Airfix Hurricane) is the way the instrument decals fit the panel and snuggle into the raised dial detail perfectly. Here is mine done:

I recall my build involved some fettling- it was not a " perfect drop fit" kit for me ( very few are). I think the intakes were perhaps forcing the fuselage halves apart a bit a the " open" top. If I remember I thinned down the under side of the wings a little where they sit down on the intakes and again at the rear where they sit down on the fuselage. I sanded gently a tiny bit at a time until they sat flush.

Afraid nothing is listed on Scalemates for the original Airfix Hurricane. Still not easy for someone with Parkinsons, but the way the frames are on the Hurricane, he could try masking the horizontal frames with Tamiya tape, spray them, then remove the tape and mask the vertical frames. No cutting needed if the tape is thin enough ( cut normal width Tamiya tape with a scalpel and steel ruler).

Would prefer Finnish decals though - the Irish ones are still available on the second Max Decals sheet.

OK, no doubt there is still room for me to completely stuff something up building this once its released but its got to be easier than the CA one? Especially with the Airfix designers skill with clever engineering kits nowadays. Absolutely the case with the Airfix vs CA Hurricane ( don't ask me how I know- I'll swear in a public forum).

For spraying Gunze Mr Color 364 also gets my vote. Now quite easily available in the box sets in the UK. Dries in seconds. Second choice is Colourcoats enamel ( available from Sovereign hobbies in UK), for brush painting Xtracrylics.

Thanks for the accessible link. I would love some decent Firestreaks and Red Tops of this quality to be available .

Hmm - link goes to facebook, but need to log in- no access if not " on " FB....

Looking at the post by Tommy ( link to his blog) as the most expert person I have heard on this aircraft it seems to be pretty decent effort , with a few minor tweaks needed? Nothing like the glaring errors seen in kits like Trumpeters Vampire. Have heard the decals are poor which is a shame given the price.

Quite a few walkarounds here with some useful shots: http://www.tarangus.se/ta7201-saab-j-29ab-tunnan/reference-gallery-saab-j-29-tunnan/ Sorry - can't help with the UN paint scheme.

1/48th - look closely at the image of the decal sheet - it states the scale at the top.

Ooh - which to get, the recon one in grey or the grey and red fighter version? Or both - oh my aching wallet and growing stash. That's a T33, Fine Molds Claude already in a month, then this/these Banshee(s), with maybe the IAR 80 still to get, then Airfix P40, Airfix Stuka and ( I hope) Gas Patch Hs-123 all due within a month or so.....

Yes you do like the old cutting and make a good job of it. If you do fix this one- what about marketing a resin correction for the wing undersides or even better maybe seeing if John Adams will work with you for an injected replacement part? Someone's bound to do a cockpit in due course. Given the choice of trying to make a nice job of the LTD kit, finding , forking out for and then building the resin 81C ( and not screwing up with he CA glue in the process), I'd rather benefit from your efforts and pay you for the privilege. Time poor , cash not so poor!

bit of a google search on images might help - here is an example of what will pop up. Might take a bit of a trawl but I suspect you will find the answer. My Dad served there briefly as a Royal Marine and he said it was very hot and very humid so my guess would be late WWII or post war tropical kit. http://www.air-despatch.co.uk/pages/opendoor/03/malaya/01.htm

Brigade have contact details on the web site and speaking to them at our Avon show are very approachable. Maybe call them and ask how this project is progressing.

I've built the old Tamiya A6M5 kit and it really is a nice kit despite its age. Fit is excellent and detail is pretty good in the cockpit and wheel wells. Add some brake lines from lead wire and add some seat belts and it's pretty good. There are canopy masks available to make painting the multi paned canopy easier. Decals might be a bit iffy on older boxings but Hinomaru and wing stripes are easy to paint, leaving just the tail codes to use decal for. The newer Tamiya kit is much more detailed for your money, but if price is an issue the older tooling is still nice to build.

Some have been superceded such as some Meteors, and the the Defiant. Hopefully this won't stop Pilot replicas producing their Vampires and Venoms. Early CA Bf109s will be welcome, as will the Gannet if they appear at prices below current E bay. Having said that when the Blenheims were re released recently via Hannants they retailed at £50. Still on sale with 10 in stock. https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CF4155 Think some of us are hoping Airfix upscale theirs.

There was a previous discussion here - some suggestions re MDC set or parts from the Tamiya Swordfish. I feel sure that someone did eventually produce etched brass bomb carriers. I thought it was Bren Gun but looking at their web site it's not them.http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234907986-does-anyone-make-a-148-light-series-carrier-and-40lb-bombs/ Found these http://www.marabudesign.com/lepty-148-c-40.html?osCsid=jrn81js0ndoeosi8ug4278thq4- mentioned on Britmodeller here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234914151-small-bomb-carriers/

I've bought and built 3 of these in total. The first was so well cast that the tail booms fitted in place and held without glue. All have had the issue where the front fuselage pod needs a 2mm or so tapered shim on the underside to get a perfect fit to the rear and the engine intakes. The third example was not as well cast, with flash and bubbles. The stbd boom fitted so badly I thought I had been supplied 2 port booms, so QC definitely seemed to suffer towards the end ( or beginning) of the changeover of owners. That one fought me a bit but eventually came out nicely I think ( and was still a better option than trying to change the shape of the Hobbycraft or Trumpeter kits, or fight the CA one into submission). https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5832/20731383005_1819367762_b.jpg. Have to say though that based upon the Tunnan I am hoping for great things from Pilot Models.

Also SBS Model has released a decal sheet for Finnish Hurricanes that include fabric wings. There was a Classic Airframe boxing " Foreign Hurricanes" that has several decal options for Foreign users. They appear from time to time on E Bay. If anyone really wants the non Finnish decals, PM me.

The Trumpeter kit is truly an awful model of the Vampire. It's probably OK as long as you don't sit it next to another Vampire kit or a photo! The AlleyCat , whilst expensive, is not that hard to build as there are very few resin pour blocks at all, the entire rear fuselage behind the cockpit is one piece including the wings. You add the tailbooms ( almost a non glue fit on one I built) and the horizontal tailplane. The only tricky bit is the cockpit clamshell which in all 3 I have built needs a plastic card shim between the halves to help it fit between the engine nacelles properly. Not too hard once forewarned. If you really want a decent injected Vampire in 1/48th, maybe wait for the Pilot Replicas kit ( see Rumourmonger sections here on BM). I suspect it will probably be a similar price to the resin Alleycat kit but of their Tunnan is a benchmark , their Vampire will be superb. My Alleycat Vampire features in IPMS Avons show flyer - http://www.ipmsavon.org.uk/img/2016Flyer.jpg. If you Google " Britmodeller, Trumpeter Vampire" you will see plenty of discussion pointing out the real shape errors, and also Jon Kunac Tabinors sterling effort to fix them.

Google up Spencer Pollards blog. He has built one already, and used it to demo NMF finish using decanted Tamiya spray paint. https://thekitbox.wordpress.com/

Jerry - click on the picture on the Hannants site and find picture 2. In the small print it says "designed to be used with Airfix kits". My guess would be that it probably means for the 1/72 version of these masks, but I would also not be surprised to see Airfix scale up their Blenheims. If they have or are planning it for this years SMW surprise, I doubt they would share with producers of masks and decals quite yet. But who am I to know....

One on E Bay right now ( I have no connection with the seller) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Monogram-1-48th-Heinkel-He-111-5509-/301983643647?hash=item464fa0b7ff:g:4IsAAOSwuhhXXcIf £22.95 no bids yet.