Fifer54

, diamonds, spades and clubs

My images from PostImage are still showing (he said without checking!) but others have posted otherwise . . .

I've always used it, and never had a problem until recently, and it works for HobbyPhotoHosting. Maybe the most recent update has broken it, and if HPH was set up after the update, it works . . .

I've just signed up to SteveR's HobbyPhotoHosting site, and it's so easy to use! I've had to resize my images before uploading, but my IrfanView photo editing app made short work of that! I can certainly live with the discreet little watermark in the bottom right corner of the images, and I'll definitely carry on using it to host my piccies. Might even sign up for a paid account sometime . . .

Thank you, Col., for your kind comments. You are a little optimistic about the construction timescale. It was Saturday night before I got an opportunity to work on the beast! All I've done so far is a bit of interior and detail painting. Apparently Regia Aeronautica aicraft interiors were painted in Verde Anticorrozionale, and a suggested mix to create this was 1 part Humbrol 78 Cockpit Green plus 1 part Humbrol34 matt White, so that's what I did, and sure enough I got a pale version of Interior Grey-Green! I knew this was an old moulding, and I was prepared for primitive detail, a sparse interior and a bit of flash. Here is what I found: Those two little "loops" on the sprue branch opposite the venturi and what I believe to be the exhausts are actually supposed to be the scissor links for the undercarriage oleos! The shapeless blob opposite the flash-enclosed and ejector-pin-blighted tailwheel, I think is intended to be the engine air intake, which goes below the cowling between the exhaust pipes. So there's quite a bit of flash. I have healed the pilot's abdominal wound with a bit of filler(!) and assisted him to use the scalpel and sandingstick diet to lose weight and bulk and gain a bit of definition! I don't usually put staff in the office but with an open 'pit and such a sparse interior, I thought I'd better! While reseaching Italian WW2 flying clothing, I found a superb picture (on Pinterest, but I didn't save the link, and as I don't know whose copyright it is, I won't post it!) showing an Italian military pilot doing up his parachute harness, with an erk assisting him, in front of a MC202. It's given me lots of info regarding the pilot's flight suit, helmet, etc, but for me the most interesting thing about the pic is that the pilot is wearing sandals! And apparently without socks!

I'm having a problem here. I've been using PostImages.org, but as of today, that seems to have gone belly up, so I went went back to my old photo host at Village.Photos, but the same problem that made me abandon them before is still evident- when I "paste" the image URL into the BM "insert image from URL" box and click "insert into post", nothing happens except the insert image box turns pink. So I have tried Microsoft OneDrive, but there is no "Embed" option in my version, and it's not hiding in the " . . ." menu either. I'll have to try somewhere else before I can start my WIP posts in the Interceptors GB. Maybe I'll give SteveR's site a go . . .

of the bushes around

Ooh err, missus. Meanwhile

so the lager flowed

"Why me? Why me?"

Fettling? That's a real understatement! This MPM/Revell Hudson is, how can I put it, challenging. I'll persevere with it. I have to say, I didn't expect to find MPM plastic in a Revell box. I should have known better- I bought a Revell Heinkel He70 last year, expecting to find Matchbox plastic inside (I enjoyed building Matchbox's He70!) but it too was MPM and a rather more challenging build than the Matchbox . . .

Yes, it's good stuff, but I do find it suffers from excessive shrinkage

I fancy having a go at this with an Italian beauty! I will be building the SMER 1/48 Macchi MC200 Saetta. There are two finishing options provided on the decal sheet. One is a machine in a green and sand "mottle" with grey undersides, the other in green uppersurface with grey underneath, captioned as "Greece 1942". I shall be following many (if not all) of the entries for this GB. Looking forward to Saturday when it'll be "Tally Ho, chaps/Horrido/Banzai/insert appropriate fighter jock slang here"!

Hi, Andy! I'm just wondering whether you have any plans to develop a biplane alignment jig? The jig that's the subject of this thread looks an awesome piece of kit, I may well get one when I have the funds spare, but a biplane jig would be a real boon for me.

some vital components of

Count me in for this GB, with a Smer 1/48 Macchi MC200 Saetta!

I was sure that I'd seen somewhere that Belgian Hurricanes carried only 4 guns, but in "Famous Fighters ofthe Second World War", William Green states that the Belgian machines "carried one 0.5in machine-gun in each wing". But then, we've learned a lot more since that book was written. But have we learned a lot more about Belgian Hurricanes? . . .

Both of my Grandads were just too young for the great War, and were in reserved occupations during WW2, a coal miner and a papermaker.Great-Uncle Jimmy was a telegrapher on a Naval Vessel, and went down with his ship in 1915. Dad was too young for WW2, did his National Service with Royal Signals (yes, a Ballerina!) 1948-50, was stationed in Gibraltar for most of it.

Well, that's explained things satisfactorily, the reasons for not having polls all seem quite reasonable. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussion.

Since my retirement, I'm on here several times a day. It doesn't really take up modelling time, I've been struggling with my mojo for a while now, so when I feel like modelling, I just model! The great thing about retirement is that the only time pressure on one is what one puts on one's self . . .

Thank you, Seahawk. I was thinking along those lines myself, but I don't fancy all the faffing about resizing all the windows and trying to glue them in to look good. I think I'll have a go with KK before I assemble any more, just to try it out and see what the results look like. If it works to my satisfaction, I'll go with it. If not, then I'll think again. There's a crazy idea floating around in my head about gluing the windows behind the apertures and filling them out to be flush with the surface using KK. Sounds crazy, but you never know . . . The nose windows actually won't be an issue, Revell/MPM provide the entire nose section in transparent plastic, so the nose windows are a matter of masking.

It's been a long-standing tradition in Britmodeller GBs that there is a poll at the end of a GB, where the BM massive can vote for the model they like best. Perhaps it's me, maybe I'm not looking at the right time, but recently the polls seem to have not been happening when a GB finishes. Is it an oversight? I've always enjoyed the polls, they let me express my appreciation for a good model (never ever got many votes for my models!). If setting up a poll takes a lot of work, or is difficult (I honestly don't know), then that's fair enough, I wouldn't want to take that on. Who is responsible for polls? is it the GB hosts? Is it our already hard-working GB admin/mod EnzoMatrix? Maybe whoever it is, needs prompting at the end of a GB to set up the poll? ***Please note that I'm not trying to apportion blame, just trying to get the polls going again***

I'm currently wrestling with the Revell boxing of this kit at the moment, and I'm approaching the fuselage windows with some trepidation. As I'm a careless and lazy kit assembler(!), I don't fancy all the shenanigans described above to get a satisfactory result. I've been considering leaving the glazing out until after completing the build and then using KristallKlear to glaze the windows. I've used KristallKlear to glaze aircraft before, but these windows are a bit bigger than any I've done before using this method. Has anyone tried this on this kit? If so, was it successful? Were the results satisfactory? (bearing in mind I have low standards, and I'm easily pleased!!) I found a photo in my copy of Aircraft of the Fighting Powers (vol.1) showing an in-flight view of a turretless Hudson with the turret position faired over, finished in what appears (B & W photo!) to be standard DG+DE camo, but I can't make out the underside colour. It should be aluminium/silver, but some of these were delivered with Night undersides. The machine in the photo carries A1 roundels in the usual six positions, and no fin flashes. RAF aircraft with Night undersides shouldn't have had roundels under the wings, but I believe (can't remember where I read it!) that some Hudsons were delivered with undersides in Night with A1 roundels under the wings. If I can determine the finish of the aircraft in that photo, I'll model that machine with no squadron codes, no legible serial etc.

^^^ Wot 'e sed, except 1/48 for armour and military vehicles . . .

Yes, I'd star at about 50/50 paint to thinner and adjust from there,