modelmaker

Assemble all the main pieces, tape together as best as possible. Doesn't need to be perfect, for example tail parts can all be taped in place on the rear fuselage in one piece. Next you need something to act like a jig to support it to see how it 'sits'. After lots of temporary jobs I hit upon some Wilko ertsatz Lego, one flat base piece, then just make up some little towers which you can place appropriately under the wings at the place where the u/c legs will eventually locate. Voila! It will probably tip backwards. Now tape your chosen ballast at the front end, and distribute it according to where it will eventually fit (engine nacelles in things like Bè5s, for example, when things are desperate). I use old fashioned lead (with great respect for the dangers therein) so tape works for me. There are lots of ways to balance the model while you 'weigh' it, but I found the Lego type system useful for helping me jig a model when trying to check dihedral and such like, at which I do NOT excel. I eventually superglued a suitable thin metal rod up the middle of the 3 support towers for supporting the roughly assembled model. Works quite well. If necessary you can heartlessly Rob a young child if you have one, real Lego is quite expensive!

At risk of being ridiculed or at least told off I've gone back to good old fashioned Humbrol enamel grey primer, number 01. It dries in a couple of hours, sprays beautifully and feathers perfectly. 'bit old fashioned but it saved my sanity. Thin with ordinary white spirit and it won't continually clog your airbrush. It is quite a matt finish so you would need to just rub gently with a soft cloth to soften this. Worth a try, good luck...

I gave a 200 ml polyurethane primer away as it was utterly useless. Looks nice but impossible to feather out should your preparation be imperfect, like mine often is. It just rips off, as well as taking a dog's age to dry. Hope others have had more luck. 'quite like their Matt varnish however. Sorry, gone off topic as always.....

Salt weathering, see article by Chuck540Z3 within these forums

If I said what I'd do to saboteurs who are generally talentless oafs with no hobbies, interests and most probably no real friends, who have no respect for others I'd be thrown out by the moderators.........I may be wrong, hopefully. Good luck

For many years now I've used the inner core of a piece of Bowden cable, like bicycle gear change cable. Carefully peel the outer stands away and you are left with a straight piece of hardened steel wire, very useful. To drill the respective holes you will need a pin vice and a thin drill bit and A VERY steady hand/eye to drill straight and not snap the bit. Another story there..... When you have cut the tiny length of steel rod you will need to dress the ends as cutting with side cutters deforms the shape of the cross section of the wire-a quick touch up against a stone will do it, using the pin vice to hold it. 5 years engineering apprenticeship early 70s and that's all I remember! Good luck JD

I do have a masochistic enjoyment in making some of those old kits. Mrs D and I went to Malta a few years ago and stumbled on the Valletta model club’s annual show! As soon as I got home I broke out an Airfix SM 79 myself. Looks pleasing to me. I’ll maybe post a picture if I can remember how!

it depends upon luck and what size the bit was; I have a trick which CAN sometimes work, by possibly pushing the bit through, if indeed your broken bit had broken through. if it hadn't then you might be scuppered. drilling a horrible hole alongside it then carving the broken bit out then re-filling the mess, but it'll be horrible to do. so, if the bit HAD broken through you might try a tiny homemade punch; take a piece of Bowden cable (like a bit of bike brake cable, or meter sealing wire if you work in my industry!). carefully peel away all the outer strands and you will be left with a straight length of hardened steel cable. cut off a short length and chuck it in a pin vice so only a tiny bit protrudes, and dress the end you cut to make it clean. if the broken bit broke through you MIGHT be able to push, or punch it through. if nothing else this thin steel 'rod' is great for making splints in broken undercarriage legs and many other things. very best of luck, although I don't think this WILL work, it might, it has for me JD

Unlike me!

YES! I am not alone.....

About 1963 or 4 there was a newsagent at the top of our lane in Purton (not a million miles from Fairford) and they sold Airfix kits in the famous bags for 2/6 if I recall. I can't swear to it but I imagine it would have been a Spit. My dad was ex RAF, as was the head at the school where he taught (Braden Forest) and the pair of them did a display of WWI British aircraft for the anniversary of the start of that war. This must have been what started me on my love of aircraft; I used to do sketches of the artwork in his Profile books (I have the books but sadly not the drawings, not any of the models I made at that time, 'wish I had). He used to organise school trips to Passchendale and wrangled me onto one of them. I haven't thought of any of this for over 50 years, amazing I can still remember any of it! Sorry to go off topic. When I re entered this wonderful hobby, still making them in the same way I did as a kid (imagine!) my first model was ALSO a Spitfire, only this time in 1/48 (I never knew until this point that such HUGE models existed!). It was a model my friend's future ex wife gave me, determined he WASN'T going to have it (he was a naughty boy and got caught). Still got it, and re painted it after the great Strevor Snowden told me about how Klear made transfers work properly. I owe my hobby to him and my dad, thanks to you both.

Slightly off topic, and you might throw me off the forum, but am I the only codger who has trouble with saying the 'd' word? When I was a lad first embarking on what was to become a long, although not necessarily illustrious modelling career kits had waterslide transfers, and I'm sure in one case it has stickers! A lot of the models I make from my childhood still DO have transfers, according to the instructions! When, during my time off from the hobby did they change to 'decals'? It sounds at best like a made up word, and at worst French! (JOKE! I love France and the French and go there every year, and my French pal makes the same sort of jokes in reverse). Just a thought......

I didn't mean to kick a hornet's best when I mentioned that I prefer enamel paint, so I apologise if I have. I have tried all sorts of paint since I tee entered this hobby 25 years ago, having been distracted circa 1970 by motorcycles, girls, wife, kids then divorce. I have, since then, tried various paints (including the odd tin of Airfix paint!) and for a time thought I was the only person in the world who still preferred to use enamel. I'm not trying to get anyone to change their paint stock from one for to another, but merely that I find little trouble with (Humbrol) enamel whereas I constantly struggle to work with these modern paints. I understand they do thin with water, apparently, although isopropyl makes some work better, but not others, causing some types to block airbrushes solidly.I just go to Wilko I and buy a couple of litres (nearly half a gallon) for a couple of quid, which thins all enamel. It never clogs my brush and needs no magic portions to flow more freely. I know and completely understand and respect that others have exactly the opposite view and experience, but I don't. I live in fear of losing my preferred paint as I personally can't get decent results with most acrylic I've tried. Others will be stumped that I can't and they can, but we all have things we get on with that others don't and vice versa. Could be talking about my ex wife... On the subject of Humbrol' s finest, I keep being told by my clubmates that 'the new stuff is rubbish' but I must be doing something Wrong as I seem to manage ok with it. I can also buy it in my art shop in Studley, about a mile away, which is very handy as EVERY model I make needs a new shade of grey. Good hobby, although I am reminded of when I was a motorcyclist; enamel vs acrylic is NOTHING compared to the uproar you'll get if you mention British vs Japanese, 2 stroke vs 4 stroke, the list is endless. Keep on modelling, whatever paint you get on with!

It probably won't work but dipping canopies in Klear (or equivalent) sometimes fixes, or helps, clouding issues, although, for the reasons the assembled wisdom has said it has probably been burned irrevocably by the turps. 'done it myself..... my pal exhibited a BEAUTIFUL dayglo finish on a model recently, using Vallejo, although I haven't tried it myself, being predominantly an enamel user. looked very good though, although not sure if it would brush well. someone here will know. if all else fails please send me a PM and i'll see if I can vac-form one for you; worth a try if nothing else works. good luck

I imagine the extra thin will actually have melted the 2 parts together making them effectively one piece. The pin will presumably be the weakest part and will probably break first so maybe you could make a new pin, clean up the other part etc, normal cock up stuff in my world sadly. Do one job make 2 more.......