desmojen

Now I'm confused Just read that little excerpt at the top, it says the Spitfire was painted in Luftwaffe satandard dark green over pale blue with yellow tail control surfaces. After the engine transplant the cowls were painted yellow and then it flew back to the test airfiled. So where does the yellow underside come in? And how exactly does RLM 74/75 camo relate to 'standard Luftwaffe dark green' ? Jen.

Oh well..................... Maybe I should start mine tonight and beat you to the finish! Jen.

I'm a little bemused by all the tales of woe with Alclad as I've had no trouble with it at all (apart from fingerprints causing oxidisation of the finish on my K5054) If I need black gloss undercoat I use H21 and have had no drying issues at all. If I need to mask I've always done it within minutes of application, and removed straight after. I think some of the trouble some people may be having is caused by over application, be it primer or the Alclad itself. Any gloss paint is going to take a while to through dry, and Alclad being laquer based will serve to reactivate any finish which isn't thoroughly dry, especially if applied too heavily. The Alclad itself will then dry very fast (which it does) and serve to seal the solvents into the basecoat, preventing it from drying. So, my recipe for success, Humbrol H21 gloss black, thinned with cellulose thinners and applied in thin coats. If you can see orange peel in your finish the chances are you've put too much on. Left to dry thoroughly which doesn't actually take that long, overnight at worst. Apply your Alclad in light coats until you have the finish you desire, dry in ten, job done. Jen.

Thats why you're poorly, not enough tea! If you've not chopped the kit about yet to accept said resin, there's nothing to stop you not using it in the kit. You'll be waiting a while for a replacement, so keep it for your next Spitfire project instead, you could even stick it in akit that needs a replacement cockpit, like an Airfix one! Jen

Don't bother with the resin cockpit Mike, the Tamiya one is adequate, and you could use the resin parts as a guide for adding wiring and such. Send the defective resin set back and spend the money on herbal tea instead! Jen. (Impatient to see messyspit done)

The main man at Trumpeter was talking to Phillip Brook (Pocketbond man) in the car when I was there, telling him that the British subjects are the bestsellers, far outstripping expectations. Based on that alone you can expect the trend to continue. I personally saw the Jaguar masters (single and two seat) so I know for a fact that that one is on the way, and the multi scaling thing is something we've seen them do throughout anyway. Long may it continue I say Jen

Smart money would have to be on the Sea Fury I reckon. It's due out in 1/72 and you know how fond trumpeter are of multi scaling! On the other side of the coin, what are the odds of the sea Hawk coming along in 1/72? Jen.

That first Spitfire is just glorious! But why has noone taken phtos of 881???? Jen.

Ooooh, that looks nice Mike Jen.

My take on things is that I usually look at the real thing, and try and copy it. Ergo, hard edges camo is just that! In reality though, it is rarely pin sharp on anything other than display aircraft. I do the same with weathering. I think about how the real thing gets dirty, where it starts and what goes on it. Then I replicate it as best I can. To my way of thinking, that's a good way of making a model look like a replica rather than a caricature. Jen.

I'm not a big fan of whiffs, but that actually looks quite cool - believable too. Nice one John! Jen.

Nice camo, like that a lot I seem to get the wettest spring on record every time I've been there, so I'm happy to believe the grass thing! Jen.

Everyone I know who's worked on them calls em TONKAS, what's all this fin man-vegetables? Must be an armourer thing Jen.

Wow, that is one nice bit of figure painting Nev! It looks proper smart even without any shading! Jen.

I use a product called Moto Xtreem to clean my motorbike. Whilst I can't vouch for it's airbrush cleaning abilities, it cleans the motorbike better than Muc Off does. In fact, it's the first cleaner I've used that actually removes chain lube! It's also a lot cheaper, 5 litres costs £17 and it's available from motorbike shops. They do a product which is similar to Bikespray as well for £16 per gallon. Jen.

Might be worth contacting Alclad. Apparently there was a dodgy batch doing the rounds..... I've never had any problems with it but loads of people do, er, do. Try using post it notes for masking panels, they're less sticky but still leave a nice edge. Jen.

I read an extensive, and mainly derogatory review on this kit. Helpfully, I can't remember where, but I do have a printout of it somewhere which I will look for. There was much talk of dimensional innacuracy etc. Now, I have the Falcon Seafang as well and I spent some time comparing the parts from the Silver Cloud kit with that. In my humble, there is very little difference between the two . The Silver Cloud kit certainly has some plus points too, but I wouldn't have said cheapness was one of them, you must have got lucky! Jen.

Those are some fantastic shots! I love the big blue 747 coming straight for you! Jen.

They beeyooodiful I can hardly choose my favourite, I think it's between the Merlin engined one and the green one but................. Jen.

That looks proper Karl, well done! Jen.

Nice bird Phil! A naughty bird by the sounds of it! Jen.

Ten bananas eh, that is a lot! Thanks Bob Thanks for the tips guys. It is probably more dirty than it looks in the photos, it's subtle dirty! I used a nice photo I found on the internet which beautifully showed the underside off, to gauge how far to go with it. The first thing Rik (who's having the model) said when I showed him the underside was 'Oooh, nice and dirty, just how it should be!' I don't very often use pastels for weathering to be honest, I find them a bit hard to control. I prefer to use oil wash and sprayed effects generally. If you splodge the oil wash mix where you want it to be dirty and then rub it in with your fingers, it gives a nice effect without being too in your face. I also use it for streaking, by painting on with a fine signwriters brush. The Toom has both engine and hydraulic oil streaks on it, but they don't show up in the photo. Maybe I should take another! Jen.

Thanks everyone! Thanks very much A few of you are asking about the tail end. well, it is Aclad, seven different shades if I remember right, but that was just the start! I used a wash of black oil over the multi hued Aclad, leaving it fairly thick along the bottom immediately behind the jet nozzles. When that was wiped off it kind of looked like an armadillo! Once all that was dry, I used a highly thinned mix of Gunze flat black to add exhaust staining over the wash and the Alclad. I then rubbed that with my fingers which made some of it come back off, especially on the hook. Then I sprayed it again, this time with Gunze tyre black, and that's how I got it to look like that. Not much work at all My sergeant at work has graciously offered the mighty Tooom a home so that saves me having to invest in yet more shelves just now! Thanks again all

It's Phinished!! I spent last night and today polishing it off. The only thing left is to fabricate some FOD guards. Phwoar! Aint she purdy? There are a few more pics at my pictrail site - http://www.picturetrail.com/desmojen Hope you like! Jen.

I was an almost exclusive enamel user two years ago (Humbrol of course) I now hardly use them at all. Last week I was forced to used Xtracolour on a model and pretty much hated it, it's smelly, takes ages to dry, isn't easy to build up in layers and isn't easy to rectify when you make mistakes. Acrylics are the exact opposite. They don't really smell much, if at all, dry almost instantly, are easy peasy to build up in layers to exactly what you want - and best of all - when you cock it all up, it just wipes off and you start again. I use Vallejo model colour and Gunze Sangyo mostly, but I also have some Xtracrylix and Tamiya acrylics. I have not yet sprayed anything with the Xtracrylix so I can't comment on those really, but they do brush ok. Vallejo is probably the least easy to spray with until you get used to it, but is by far the best for brush painting. Tamiya and Gunze are similar for spraying, Tamiya maybe very slightly better, but they are both useless for brush work, and Tamiyas colour range leaves a little to be desired. So that's why I ended up with all three then! Jen.