Troy Smith

MLT = Mr Levelling Thinner

try mixing some H 11 silver in, or white. Or both. or add some pale grey or white to silver 11. Pre war period colour. This is what you are aiming for Early Spitfire at Hornchurch 1939. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr Spitfire Mk. I by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr Good. if it works for you, I have an airbrush, but as that's another learning curve, I use brushes. For acrylic I have found a small flat brush works well, no idea about enamel but maybe worth trying. careful thinning and multiple thin coats. Some colours are just hard work to brush, like white and yellow, which you may need a primer for. HTH

pleasure to have helped, it was an interesting bit of digging about as well. Build has turned out superbly. cheers T

I'd suggest you idea of a practicing on a scrapper first is wise, it's what I do to get an idea of how it works. Just to note, I was trying to make the Jeep and truck look like they had a good coating of summer dust that had been rainwashed off at points as well in Normandy, aiming for chalky dust, Normandy is part of the same band of chalk the South Downs is, so I had an idea of what the dust should look like, the soil here in the summer dries out to a light grey with a very subtle brown purple hue... I probably should have just used some real dust! In the case of you Spitfire, I'd go with the less is more approach, photos of the model before and during can help here as give a different perspective to what on the bench. HTH

Chalk pastels will work better over over something with a bit of 'tooth' which is a matt coat. I've mentioned before, I think there is a lot to be said for a variation of sheens on a finished model, chalk pastels are good for exhaust deposits which tend to be very matt and sooty, the exhaust on this is paste chalk, my first go, an dark grey base, and then some lighter grey stippled over, I also use some light grey dust to try to show the lighter fabric areas, which was not as succesful, you can see some chalk over the L1952 if you look. and for dried mud. My method would be to get very fine abrasive and get some pastel dust, mix to a colour you like, and then add some lighter fuel and dab on for exhaust deposit, or with more lighter fuel it goes on as a slurry. You can remove most of it with a brush damped in LF as well, but you won't get the last off. does a good job of dust setting into crevices I find. you can the dust on here, this before the oil wash and pastel chalk HTH

from, and not tried it https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235072750-172-sea-harrier-frs1-x-2-airfix-vs-italeri-comparative-assembly/#elControls_3677016_menu "My "patent" for too wide "trenches" is very easy. I've already use it on the old OEZ Letohrad 1/48 Su-25 model and I think it worked:" First thing I do is deepening (!!!) the lines with engraver. After that I cover the deepened panel lines with Mr. Surfacer 500 (quite thick, dense coat). When Surfacer will be dry I sand it from the lines. They should be much thinner and shallower after that. Soon we will see if this operation was successful... OK, it`s dry, so I could start sanding. I use normal sandpaper on flat surfaces and sanding sticks around the details. When this was done, I started cleaning the lines. I used a toothbrush. The next step was to cover the sanded parts with a layer of primer. As you can see the panel lines on Airfix model look much better now. They are narrower and more delicate. possibly use Tippex, as this may shrink a little. HTH

On this example at least they were doped over, possibly just with paper so spent shell cases would rip through easily, which coukld save you a load of work. RCAF Hurricane XII, c1941. by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr the removable panels, these note this drawing is not very good there are no slots in the gun panel, but behind, and the centre panel is too wide, and the side ammo box hatches are the same size. The gun bays are fitted around the existing wing structure, the drawing shows the centre panel as being wider than the structure lines. see below the outer gun bays were worked around the existing wing structure HTH

How good it would be for 'Fury' i don't know, but as you do 1/48th planes, you maybe interested in the 1/48th Tamiya M4A3E8 kit https://www.scalemates.com/kits/tamiya-32595-m4a3e8-sherman-easy-eight--1138360 the 1/48th Tamiya kits are noted for being easy builds, so as a non-armour builder that may appeal, along with scale compatibility though likely as much as the 1/35th in price, ah, a look at Jadlam shows the £22.50 kit IS the 1/48th model, the 1/35th Tamiya is £34.95 @Kingsman maybe able to add some info on what is in the box, though 1/48th is not his area. HTH

Nah, Rodney was in the SS.. 2nd from left... what am I on about? A very young Nicholas Lyndhurst was in an episode of the 1970's children sci-fi programme, The Tomorrow People "Hitler's Last Secret" as a teenage SS member... And a link to time of great German accent https://youtu.be/2qHUS2ytlMs?t=151 Neat bit of figure work @LankyPanky Do think his mum knitted the matching scarf and gloves? cheers T

Not meantvas a slur against a nation, The actual paint is fine, it's their colour matching I have an issue with. Vallejo, AK and Mig all seem to have serious problems in matching paint standards, hence my comment about Spanish companies. A noted colour researcher supplied samples and advice to AK, had problems and later found out they wre using daylight bulbs to match. You think a large model paint company could afford a spectrometer and obtain the relevant paint samples, but apparently not. Since the OP was using Vallejo i mentioned this. That said, Xtracrylix, a British brand are poor on many of their British matches, and Humbrol are hit and miss. Tamiya are poor in their stated matches. I don't care where the paint comes from as long as it works as paint, and it says it's say, RLM 02, it actually resemble paint chips that I have. If I liked enamel, I'd just buy Colourcoats as their owner @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies is the only paint company I know does proper research and is a regular poster here and not spend time mixing acrylic paint to match.

this would only work of they were re-engined with an A or AM engine. The DB605 AS and D engines HAVE to have the refined cowl on the port side, they have a larger supercharger and this needs a larger engine bearer arm, which is why they came up with the refined cowling, as this then blended in the buele bumps at the same time. The port cowling of the DB605A engine cannot fit over this new engine bearer. You could fit a DB605A into a G-10, and then fit the earlier covers, and on paper it would be a "G-10" but really a G-10 is a late model G with a DB605 D engine, there are various different G-10's, both new builds and rebuilds, as well as factory specific differences, each factory had it's own type of cowling, the WNF and Messerschmitt are very similar, the Erla cowling has various quite different features. Late war 109's are very very complex in detail, and add in post war rebuilds.... HTH

Used to be sold as MEK PAK. it's one of the main parts of TET, someone posted the safety data sheet, IIRC for the quick drying TET, it was 40% MEK, 40% Ethyl Acetate, 20% acetone. I recently bought a lire off MEK off ebay for £12 shipped, as I know MEK works. It's very volatile, note Pets's comments about good ventilation, and also very thin. Someone on here dissolved clear sprue in it to make their own 'tube cement' I put some into my empty TET jar. Same with TET and other liquid glues, note the ingredients list for TET. easier with a candle. hold say an inch above the flame, rotate between fingers, when the plastic starts to get shiny and sag a bit, remove from flame and pull slowly. the speed of pull and type of plastic will affect how thin or thick the stretch is. there are various videos on youtube eg https://youtu.be/jl9F10fp-go?t=46 its easy as soon as you have the knack. And it's not like you have a shortage of the base material. The build which use stretch sprue and the sprue goo, I'd say for an even gap, try a strip of plastic card, and then trim down. One of the things I wish i'd know when I was younger regarding modelling was taking a holistic view of the process, an example would be test fitting and adjusting an integral canopy early in the build, so it will fit easily later, and seeing if breakable bits can be fitted later, now I search up and see if there are tips and tricks on builds. ]Your two builds are a good compare and contrast, the 70's Airfix will have less accurate fit than a modern took kit like the new Airfix Spitfire. Sounds great, but the new kits can fit so precisely that a missed sprue nib, mould line or even a coat of paint can affect fit, in the new too Spitfire this can mean the seat and instrument panel bulkhead can not recess fully, and the fuselage not close up. Inevitably there are some inattentive modellers, or old ones who don't know this, who then blame the kit. To be fair, the pictographic instructions don't spell out how crucial an early step can be, or the consequences of small cumulative errors. The new tool Airfix Hurricanes require that the wheel parts are very exactly aligned, this can be done by using the upper/lower wing parts taped together as a jig to hold a part in the right place, and very careful use of liquid glue. Get it wrong and 10 steps down the line the wing won't fit the fuselage and it's a mess... There is also the art of minimising filling. Test fit, trim and shim as needed, look for potential problems and how to eliminate or lessen them. I post this thread up frequently as it's really elegant in the analysis and resolution of various problems, that could easily turn the kit into a mess and slog of filling and attempts at restoring lost detail. Common complaint, "the 1/48th Eduard Bf110 kit cowling are a poor fit" And here's a write up of how to avoid this and other problems https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235077259-a-twin-that-did-not-get-away-eduard-148-bf-110c-finished/#elControls_3789423_menu and some of the following posts. This is quite a complex example, but you can see how this careful preparation pays dividends, and how not doing this would lead to "it doesn't fit and it's crap" cheers T

How are you applying it? And is it just liquid poly? as in the Humbrol? Liquid poly is thin, but not as thin as other glues, like Tamiya Extra Thin. Revell Contacta with the metal applicator tube is a good as well, the tube is quite long and good for applying a drop in the right place. There are different liquid glues. Learning what glue to use when is not always obvious. When doing some old Matchbox vehicle kits, I was finding that Tamiya Extra Thin (TET) was not doing it, and some tube glue gave both grab and some wiggle time. But, I also found that some TET to just soften the plastic on a small join, allowed a drop of tube glue to get a better grip. An old fine paint brush is often a much better than the supplied brush. You can mix liquid and tube glue to vary viscosity. Tube glue is basically liquid glue with some added plastic to make it thicker. As mentioned by Mark @2996 Victor you can use tiny drops of superglue/CA, put some on a surface, and pick up a drop with a toothpick or get a sewing needle, break the top of the threading eye, and use that. CA is very strong in traction, so you can stick something down and not pull it up, but it's brittle, eg stick a flat head nail to a surface, you won't be able to pull it up, but a sharp blow to the side will fracture the bond. This property can used as well, I have done this with butt joints, like a tailplane, tack in place, drill though location holes from inside, then you can cleanly snap off the tailplane, and attach later using pins in the predrilled and correctly aligned holes. So you can use tiny drop of CA to align, and if happy, then use the capillary action of liquid glue to finalise the bond, dip small brush in glue, and then just touch onto the joint, capillary actions will draw it in. This can give very neat joins. Go easy on liquid glue, as it can soften too much, and later create ghost seams. I have used those mini tubes of CA in the way you used to use tube glue, running a fine bead and than just joining parts, but you need to be sure that everything is going to fit or it can be a real mess. If you get it right it's like being 9 again, and you can press on in a minute with construction. There is no one size fits all glue, they all have their uses, advantages and disadvantages, just requires a bit of thought about what you are doing. HTH

I note the box art has the fuselage cross and swastika painted out in green, but i don't see any real tonal difference between the 74 gray and the over painted areas. Maybe as the AZ are Czech they know something, and I have no knowledge of the Slovak G-6's apart from the above images, and I'd not seen 6 before either. there maybe more in this, but not i book I own or have even browsed. http://modelingmadness.com/scott/books/osprey/slovakaces.htm

The classic Kleer/Future is reputed to work better applied with a soft flat brush, as it self levels, that's why it worked as a gloss coat on floors, and work for filling imperfections in canopies. No idea about the Pledge, but perhaps worth trying. this is brushed Kleer over brushed Tamiya (as a primer) and then Vallejo, so several brushed coats of acrylic, so not a really smooth base, but the Kleer brushes out really easily. The blue Seafire look great HTH