neilh

Hi, I have just started painting the hull, superstructure and decks of my Captain Class frigate which will be in Admiralty Scheme C I have the white and B55 for the side panel and I think I can work out the shape and location of the light blue panel from the pamphlet CB3098(R) I obtained from Jamie at Sovereign. I'm confused by the instructions for the deck colour. Some models I have seen of these ships look to have the decks in a dark grey such as shade G10, but the document seems to suggest I use B15 ( Schemes A, B, C, D, E, F, Colour B.15.)? Any advice or confirmation welcomed. Thanks.

We have hired out a couple of tables at our Avon show to members who wanted to sell off chunks of their stash. As pointed out, if you wanted to do the same at Telford you could, but you would effectively become a trader there and unless you have help, you would miss the entire show as a modeller as did our members at our show. Having helped out on the kit swap for a number of years it looks as if much of the work was that done in advance of the show, cataloguing all the kits on sale before the show opened. It was a lot of work up front when there were not many visiting members to help out. On the day , when our club supported with a number of volunteers, its quite straightforward as long as the kit owner labelled their kits as requested. The cash handling is always going to be time consuming as prices are rarely rounded up to the full £ and many of those buying didn't have any change. Biggest issue was the queue to buy, purely because of the number of punters desperate for a bargain and the time it took to find the label on the box, check against the hard copy in the price catalogues and check off the sale. Even working quickly, it's very manual and time consuming. If everything could have been barcoded in advance the checkout could be much quicker, but the work up front to do that possibly even more plus the investment in technology to make it possible. I'm sure there are ways to improve it, but it absolutely needs people to run it, and getting willing volunteers to give up most of their weekend to run it is not going to be easy. It's hard enough getting volunteers for an hourly slot over the entire show weekend, and as a Branch Secretary I am incredibly grateful to any of my members who step up to volunteer each year.

If it's just the serials, why not put a want request out for the letters and colour of them on the " wanted" section of the site? Most of us have loads of unused serial codes in the decal stash. Xtradecal have sheets of codes and serials in several scales and colours.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. I've added the closed etched doors at deck level, and may just open one at bridge level as I have some 1:350 figures to add in due course so I could place a figure near the open door ( if I can ever work out how to remove and paint them - they are so tiny!).

Thanks Mike, that makes sense and confirms my suspicions. There are a couple of doors on an upper deck just beneath the bridge so maybe I can open those and leave all the others as closed. My Grandads service on Rupert was in the North Atlantic, the Western approaches and Murmansk so I suspect they didn't need cooling!

I've finally got my modelling space up together since moving last September, and having hurriedly finished 2 aircraft for my club display at Telford, I've now started the 1/350 Trumpeter USS England which I intend to finish as HMS Rupert, one of the ships which my Grandad served on during WWII. Early stages at the moment, planning the build, especially since my usual fare for many years have been1/48th scale aircraft. I have loads of Blackcat detail parts, plus the WEM etched sheet. I've been building up the various superstructure parts, cleaning up pin marks etc, and one of the decisions I need to make before priming is do I open any of the doors and replace them with the etched ones on the WEM fret. The kit doors look pretty good as moulded when shut. Opening a few would add some visual interest, but would they be opened when the ship was underway, especially if on convoy duty? I would have thought they would be opened and then immediately closed once the rating passed through as they would never know when they would go into action. Sadly, my Grandad passed away when I was only 2 years old so I cannot ask him personally and the photos I have of him and his mates in service don't help for this.

Do plenty of dry test fitting with both the flaps and the U/C. Getting that actuator in place at the end of the process was tricky. I think the location holes needed to be opened out a bit to make it easier. I'm still not entirely sure I fitted the main gear legs properly as there seems to be no positive location. They have however stayed in place even in transit to a model show. Good luck.

Pretty sure that display was by the IPMS club Earley Risers from just outside Reading. Their contact details should be on the IPMS UK web pages under " Branches".

me too. I put some very thin lead sheet under the floor but had to remove a little when I tried to glue the two ( warped) halves together. I added some roofing lead behind the cockpit bulkhead, but a balance test showed that wasn't enough, so I then squeezed lead diving weight shot ( like shotgun pellets) flatter , dipped them in white glue and dropped them through the gap in the IP into the nose with the kit propped vertically nose down until I could almost see them via the cockpit . I wish I had put some lead sheet in the wings forward of the wheels as in the end I had to drill a hole in the drop tank pylons and fill the front of each of those with lead shot, and even then I had to drop a few more through the IP. If the wind doesn't blow, both of mine sit on the nosewheel.

For those of us not using Facebook, any more news on the general release of this one? It's on my Christmas list....😁

I'd agree with that. Part of the fun of creating a display at SMW is to showcase the clubs talent and maybe bring in new members or new people into the hobby. Our club tends to build to a theme for the show - this year it was " Africa" and will either have a printed guide for those who are shy to ask, or always be happy to converse. The Branch and Sig displays are judged each year for an award of best in show and I think one of the criteria used is the engagement of those behind the table with the paying public. Have to say can be hard by 2PM on a Sunday afternoon when we are all starting to doze off 😂 Have to say I thought there were lots of traders selling tools this year, many of which were new to me as well as the huge tables at the bottom of hall 1 filled with traditional tools. True there were not that many airbrushes on sale with hands on demo's since " Little Cars" has ceased to trade at SMW but there were at least two traders selling Sparmax and Iwata brushes that I saw.

Because unfortunately your club nights are on the only night of the week I leave North Somerset and travel back to Bristol. Since I'm finally coming to the end of a year of almost constant decorating and have now retired as well, I may try the Sunday meets at the helicopter museum. I'm also still the Club Sec of Avon.

I moved to North Somerset just over a year ago Mike ( only a short hop from Bristol) but I had no idea Jadlam were near Glastonbury! Now I do....

There were some great new traders, which were apparently actively recruited by Rich the IPMS UK Show Manager. Jadlam was probably the most obvious new trader but I noticed several others.

Perhaps I misheard re the low pressure. I will add though that the guy I spoke to was very enthusiastic about the prospects and gave ne the impression that these will arrive and be fantastic when they do.

In conversation, this kit and the planned Hornet are " low pressure" moulds, the Sea Fury and Tiger are " high pressure" moulds. He told me the Tiger is still at the CAD stage, but the Sea Fury may now be the first out. As mentioned above the Scimitar was going to be moulded in Ukraine, hence the delay, but he hoped it would still be out in 2024. I think he said they have negotiated an alternate production source for the Hornet. Still looking forward to the Scimitar, Tiger and maybe the Sea Fury looking at the images of the likely kit, even though it's not my usual scale.

Yes, I have an interest in the Finnish Air Force in the WW II period, and have already built LG-1 using the South Front kit, but to build the captured LG-3 I need a late series 35 which I don't think has been kitted yet.

Thanks for the suggestions. In the end I dipped the parts in Future and then tried to assemble them with CA glue so worst case I would have something I could use as a pattern for a crash mould vacform. For some reason the fast acting CA didn't want to act fast ( might have been a bit too cold in my hobby room) but the main "spine " canopy cracked anyway at the centre of the rear windscreen. No idea why, It wasn't under any stress and the CA glue was nowhere near it. Since one of the side pieces already had a hairline crack maybe there was one on the main part too I had not spotted. Ah well, back to Airfix for set number three I suppose.

I think there were also significant changes across the various series marks of the LaGG- 3, and the ICM kits do not cover all of the series built. Wonder if these will.

I, m on my second attempt at the Airfix Chipmunk rear canopy. The first ended up glued to the plastic jig provided in the kit. The second was bought from Airfix as a spare, but a) has a very small but noticeable crack in it as received and b) is being a real mare like the first one. I used RC canopy glue on this one but it's not holding firm. I fear using Tamiya extra thin as it will probably run as before. My final nuclear option would be dipping in future and then trying CA glue to fit the three parts together hoping they don't fog! Does anyone know of any vac form alternatives? Much as I hate using vac forms, I think I would find it easier on this particular kit.

I just checked mine - it's the same- there are no painting guides for the interior, only the exterior camouflage.

Looks great. You could try using Post It notes for masking. They stick well long enough to spray but are much less aggressive than tape. I have a collection of various sizes that are available off the shelf, and the larger ones have sufficient width of " stickiness" to cut gentle curves if needed.

I used lacquer colours from MRP for the blue and green scheme. I think they match photos on line well. see here : https://ipmsavon.org.uk/meetings-gallery.php?year=21#1/48 Saab Draken by Neil Howard

Thanks Mike- that looks really useful! Am due a trip into Antics soon.

Thanks for the tips. Fortunately some fellow club members have donated a 3D printed cantilever tool box and 4 jerry cans, and another has moulded some drums and crates. I'll make up a tarp from a glasses wipe or Miliput and that should sort it.