seadog

Thank you. Yes, though not as much as 'd have liked. When I wasn't steering I was usually to be found staring at the sea... By the Way, the rather poor kerning on the word ILE' was my fault...'sigh'... The sea and everything about it is still my favourite subject for painting as well.

Ah, the joys of modelling. Stripping paint is always a seriously stress inducing pastime. Nonetheless the Barry seems to be coming along despite everything!

Thank you!

Indeed. Spent some time looking at your great build. It is a nice kit, though the wings are a bit of an awkward bit for spraying compared to the other cars I've built, - various early Lotus F1s, a Ford GT and a Ferrari P4 - regular one piece bodies - simple ...ish. I think I am going to seriously consider a small spray booth before I kill myself with fumes - my modelling area is one corner of the garage. Not so important with wooden or resin ships, and other stuff that doesn't need spraying!

Very nice! and welcome. There's also nodoubt thatback in the days - 50s and 60s, at least these unbelievable varnihes weren'taround,carswere shiny, but not mirror finished, unless anowner was a totalpolish monster. I'm now finding that even after a few days, trying to rub down the four coats of Vallejo isno fun as it wears through even with12000 grit... the paint was applied over primer. Fragile stuff...

I still have a couple of models I painted with brushed enamel - patience or wot! I once worked as a carriage driver on the Island of Sark and there was an old bloke on the farm who maintained the carriages - all painted royal blue gloss, by hand. He did the logo as well. Never found out what paints he was using, but he was very, very good.

I have some Halfords clear, which I've used before, but whatever I use is going to have to wait till the rain and mist give it a rest! Seems never ending at the moment!

Funnily enough, I've just been reading Matt's excellent article. 2 pack is out, for health reasons as I don't have a spray booth...yet

Thank you! Think I'd have to order them as I don't think they're available here on the Isle of Wight, sadly.

Not going to bore you all with a total WIP, there are a goodfew and doubtless better than mine! I've been painting and assembling bits in a somewhat disorganised fashion, I should have started with painting the body shell, but wasn't sure what colour I was going to use. BRG is traditional, but an image search shows an amazing spectrum of schemes, so I decided to go with a sort of cobalt blue. When I was young, my Mum had an MG TD in sky blue. So this is sort of touching back, but I flt that I wanted a bit darker blue. So I mixed u a batch of Vallejo Azul Intenso, thnner and flow improver and started spraying, weathe permitting. still needs another coat... So I thought it about time I asked if anyone has suggestins for a gloss varnish. I've sprayed a few bits of scrap plastic with Halfords - from the tin and some W&N clear acrylic varnish. Both seem to work although the W&N seems to be really slow to dry. Of course, the weather is crap for varnishing at present, so I'm holding off for a bit of sun... *sigh*. Thanks for looking and any suggestions will be gratefully received. Fraser

Of course. The colours are the same as I use in a painting involving the North Atlantic - cobalt blue, chrome oxide green, occasional touches of yellow - mixed in, and white, of course. Deep ocean is bluer, coastal greener, The water in the Solent is often a light slightly bluish green. Or is that a greenish blue. cerulean and raw sienna, maybe...+

Really looks it! Fascinating techniques, well done!

Have fun! There's a WIP on the Micro Mer corvette on the forum.

Thanks, my favourite way to do a seascape is carved wood, really satisfying. This one was a combination of wood and 2-part epoxy.

Thank you, Well, have to say that as far as it goes , resin kits have a lot less pieces and even with injection moulding, you'd probably want a reasonable amount of photo etch to bring it alive. Injection molded kits aren't all that much cheaper either. I'm guessing that when you say reasonable scale you mean larger? Revell do a flower class corvette in 1/144th and there's also one in 1/72nd.

The seascape is the only bit I enjoyed on this one. I paint seascapes and doing thisissort of a three dimensional version...

Thanks all! Thinking about doing another car model - I've done a few. An antidote to all those nasty little PE bits!

Thank you!

Finally finished, at least as far as it goes. It's been a difficult buildfor me, for several reasons. First, basically, I'm getting too old (74) for dealing with miniscule PE. For whatever reason, my fingerprints have sort of faded, and the feeling in my finger tips ain't what it was. I also have a feeling that the dose of covd I had in October has affected my concentration, whatever. I'm glad it's done. It has a case because I'm out of space, so it will have to live on an open shelf in my corner of the garage Anyway, Thanks for looking! Fraser

It's done and over on the RFI thread

OK, I think I've come up with a workable method. very narrow pliers and a pair of needle nose tweezers. Hold the step next to the one you want to bend an then use the tweezers to bend it...not perfect but I think it's workable

Thanks Michal, I have a bending tool and several small pliers , razor blade etc. the bit that I find really difficult is the bending of the actual steps - those narrow pliers of yours look useful. I may try grinding one of my needle-nozed pliers to suit...

Thanks for the compliments, chaps...sharpened toothpick, eh? Well, I'll give it a shot, cheers.

Thanks for the compliment! Not just me then, whew! Don't think I can stretch this partikklar budget to 3d steps. just going to have to up my game🙄

I have been distracted from doing enough modelling, but the work continues, albeit very slowly. I've been working on thebase, which has undergone a fair bit of remodelling. I will admit that getting the sea-base to the way I wnt it is something I really enjoy. Still needs a bit more fettling, hey ho. What's holding me up at the moment is those bloody horrible PE steps. Never used to have a problem, but I seem to have lost the knack can anyone re-acqaint me with a good technique? Cringe worthy, no? Thanks for looking. Fraser