chrisrope

Heard this kit is nice if not dimensionally perfect. Be interested to see how it compares to my Airfix 1/48 Mosquito I’ve got to finish. Better still it was only a tenner Apart from a canopy mask, this will be OOB unless there is any other essential add-ons that are recommended

I was idly browsing for a 1/72 Jaguar and didn’t find much at a reasonable price Popped into the charity shop for a Quick Look and bagged this for 2 squid’s

Now the weather has turned, I’ve ended the year with a 1/72 Vulcan, 1/48 Mosquito and Hunter built and primed. Painting with the airbrush will now wait until the spring as I tried some cold weather spraying last year on a Lancaster and it failed miserably. This will give me time to paint the bits to stick on after painting them by hand at the dining room table. I’ve got a Shackleton in 1/72 to continue building over the winter to keep me going but will probably start some other kits. My only plan is to start one of my larger kits next year, either the Tornado GR4 or Lockheed Ventura, both Revell 1/48 kits and have a second hopefully crack at the Airfix Lancaster

So a follow up to my Shack woes. Revell couldn’t provide a spare part so had to make do and mend. So from this…. Via this…… Using some Shackleton sprue gate and the D sprue marker was the perfect thickness. Plus some filler and superglue I ended up here……

I’m going to resurrect this with my own little rant. A trip to the Avro heritage museum on their Wings and Wheels day and seeing the dismantled WR960, finally I thought it’s time to start that Revell Shack I’ve had for years. All going well despite the excess flash till I get here Mildly infuriating as this has been hiding in the box waiting for me for a long time. I have asked Revell for a new part and I will have a go at rebuilding this just in case. it’s just various curves and shapes to get right instead of building the actual kit Rant over, my chin is still up for now

I fancied having a go at a Tornado but somehow ended up with 2 Which one first ???

Hi I need to replace the O rings or seals on my cheapo generic AS18 compressor, the ones going into and out the regulator. Can anyone recommend a decent generic seal kit or box of o rings I can get to cure my air leak around the regulator Cheers Chris

Still not got the replacement kit started yet, I’ve been working on the Hellcat seen before. Turns out the paint that went wrong on the Micra is pretty good for a Hellcat. Just a few bits to paint and it’s finished. I’ve actually been doing some Micra painting but something bigger than 1/24 I’ve already done the back bumper so finally got rid of the patchy grey trim on the front now, perfect weather for it. Turned out well I think

Hi Bill I’ll send you a PM shortly but I can sort you some USAF Academy decals from this kit, I’ve got RAF replacements for my kit. I won’t be using the kit decals apart from some of the stencil data 👍

I’ve not posted in here in ages and obviously bought loads of stuff since. This is my latest acquisition This style were the Airfix boxes of my youth, I’ll build the kit but this is one box I’ll actually keep. Dated 1992 so I would have been 11 when this was issued, slap bang when this style of box was on the shelves at the newsagents for pocket money prices. Lots of nostalgia 30 years later

Trusty old Monogram P-47 to the rescue again. It has become my paint test mule so once primed for the second time ( it’s been various colours), I tested the new paint. This was just a quick blast to test the shade. A bit more purpley than planned and not quite like the sticker on the can lid but I like it, definitely suits a Micra I’m not getting ahead of myself this time and will be taking this one step at a time. I’ve got a full set of painted suspension parts so I can take my time on the body and avoid the mistakes I made on the first kit. Cheers Chris

I’ll definitely be picking one of these up, never ordered from Japan so hopefully there will be a U.K. importer stocking them On another note, the second kit has arrived And I picked up yet another colour to try, a solid purpley blue. This time it will undergo testing before it goes anywhere near the shell to make sure it’s suitable Inside the box was this little good luck charm…….well that’s what I’m telling myself At least I have some spare parts if I need them and I can reuse the modified front seats.

I’ve managed to procure a second kit off one of the Micra Facebook groups which should be here next week. I will be going a lot more carefully with that one and probably continue with this one along side. @Neddy I think the shabby or abandoned look is the plan for this one, I can’t make it look worse 😆

So I have an update but it’s not really a good one I repainted the shell which came out just ok. I don’t really like the colour, dark and a bit bland I have carried on a bit but I’ve decided to shelve this for now and focus on other builds. I may revisit it sometime but I’m on the lookout for a replacement kit, learn from the experience and hopefully have a better ending. The kit is now out of stock everywhere so it might be a while. Thanks to everyone who followed and commented on the thread Cheers Chris

Seeing as everything lines up kit to kit, it should be pretty close. I forgot to show the bulkhead cut It still needs some work but I didn’t want to remove too much at this point in the build

Long overdue update. After the oven cleaner failed to shift anything, I tried the brake fluid which turned out to be messy and not something I’ll be doing again in a hurry. It did soften the paint a little but nothing spectacular. Nothing else for it but to just gently sand and remove all the old paint. While I was at it, I chose to modify the bumpers by removing the corner strips for a smoother appearance. I also removed the side repeaters and will add them after with some scrap clear sprue made to shape and painted clear orange. I got a fresh can of primer and got back to square one In the background, you may notice this An Arii Hellcat that I picked up at a good price. Yes it’s an F6F-3 and not an F6F-5 but I wanted to do a glossy all over blue in a restored Warbird look. The blue is a Ford colour called True Blue, solid and a nice shiny dark blue. This is what the Micra will be finished too, well that’s the plan

Certainly a difference between the two. I envisaged having to cross the two, fitting the Academy bulkhead and side consoles to the Airfix bathtub. But when they fitted straight in, I could bypass that idea. Appears it’s just the part where the seat would go that needs to be deepened if you wanted to modify the Academy tub and fit a correctly sized seat.

Hi All I’m putting this up to share my findings regarding cross kitting these parts. I got the Academy Hunter in a trade so spending more on an aftermarket cockpit than I’d ‘acquired’ the kit for was going to be my last resort. I can overlook the kits other foibles but the tiny seat looking lost inside the cockpit just wasn’t going to fly. A wanted ad for any aftermarket cockpit parts or some unused Airfix Hunter parts resulted in @Tiger331 kindly sending me an Airfix cockpit and a correctly sized seat. I was expecting a bit of chopping to alter the Academy tub……… But by just removing the location tabs for the kit tub, the Airfix parts dropped straight in I have done some cursory cuts on the kits rear bulkhead to allow the Airfix tub to go back just enough to sit flush A quick mock up with the canopy on shows it sits pretty much perfect. The front of the tub and back of the nose wheel bay ever so slightly touch so a mm or so off each will move the nose bay section back flush. Im not sure if the seat is in the right place but I’m a lot happier with this than the useless kit parts. Hopefully this will be of some help, I’ll be getting on with this kit if I can get my Hellcat painted today Cheers Chris

So the oven cleaner bath was a big fat fail. Didn’t budge an inch of paint Never had any bother before but that was usually with enamels or acrylics. Any advice on my next step? I’ve seen dettol used and heard mention of brake fluid but will it cut through car paint and not the plastic? My other option is to wet sand and cut back the current paint as much as I can without losing detail and lightly prime and repaint. Ta Chris

I’ve drunk my beer now and have the Micra sat in oven cleaner I couldn’t carry on throwing more paint on bad paint. I will look out for a more suitable paint and restart the process.

I really don’t like this paint that I chose. Never had any problems previously with the Hycote colour cans but I’m not getting on with this one. Heating the can and applying mist coats to the smooth, wet sanded shell, it still won’t go on smoothly at all. I’m having to cut back every bit of paint. The pictures make it look worse as usual but it’s just getting annoying now. This is after the last round of wet sanding. It looks good when wet so it should improve with a clear coat. My last resort is to strip it off and go with a non-metallic paint as I’m also not taken with the 1:1 sized metallic flecks In contrast, I sprayed this Fujimi Mini shell today in some old Holts blue. Pretty much went on in one and has settled perfectly. I’ll still be cutting it back and applying another coat but showed all is not well with the Micra paint I thought my Micra was small, forget how small a Mini is, especially nowadays when every car is massive 😆 Off to decide whether to persevere or do a reset (with a beer) Cheers Chris

Hi This will probably be my only post ✉️ in the maritime section. I picked this up in a charity shop as it looked interesting but is definitely not my area of interest and would be beyond my expertise. Therefore, if allowed, I’m looking for a rough value so I can put it up for sale or a swap for plastic kits. It is an Aeropiccola HMS Victory in 1/170 scale. The Basic hill has been built by the previous owner to a good standard and all straight. The rest of the kit looks complete looking at the plans, has the fabric sails and flags, bundle of wood strips, decks, the compressed wood parts and a bag of white metal cannons/anchors etc It also has a receipt from 1999 for £89 Obviously it’s not worth that but would it be worth a 1/72 Airfix Spitfire or a little more?? Any help is greatly appreciated If this post contravenes any rules, it can be freely flagged up and deleted Cheers Chris

Be nice if we got staff discount but apparently it’s cheap enough……….well it used to be. The shell has had its first coat of blue. It’s already started to orange peel so I will need to cut this base coat back first before putting down another. Either the primer wasn’t hard enough or I didn’t warm the blue up enough, live and learn I guess So setback number 2, hopefully number 3 won’t be as problematic

I decided to join the bumpers to the shell to get a satisfactory fit. Once fitted, the join’s were cleaned. I can still fit the ‘chassis’ after with not much bother. I removed the moulded on front badge and I’ll just use the decal provided, I didn’t want any bother fitting the decal on to the moulded badge later in the build. Then I reprinted the whole shell again and I’ll let it properly harden before the top coats start. I’m undecided on fitting the rear spoiler It doesn’t fit great and has to be fitted after painting the window seal. I may leave it off or remove the ill fitting side bits and fashion a roof spoiler. If my actual Micra had a spoiler it would be going on but it sadly doesn’t so I’m leaning towards leaving it off completely Everyting else on the chassis is basically satin black with a few highlights so they have all been rattle canned with automotive satin black. Not much to this kit so I might actually finish it this year

Today I finally got some primer on the Micra. All went well showing no major defects or mould lines. However both bumpers don’t quite fit right where they meet the arches so will need a bit of fettling first. I primed the rest of the sprues and the modified front seats at the same time. The filled seat backs have come out ok I think and much better than they started. They have sunk in a bit but as they’re imitating fabric I guess I can get away with them A primer coat on the Charger repair shows it will be fine to carry on This should be the last time the Charger appears here. It should really have its own topic but will probably go straight to RFI as I just need to finish the bodyshell and wheels.