Simon G

Pete, Think it's looking good so far. If you are going to airbrush the model, clear parts can be attached first and painted along with everything else. The trick is to use a quality tape (Tamiya masking tape works well) place a piece over a clear panel on the canopy and burnish down (wooden cocktail stick is what I use) making sure you get the edges tight against the frame lines. The raised edges of the frames should become quite apparant through the tape, run a knife (with a new blade) up against the frame lines and peel away the excess tape leaving just the clear part masked. Repeat panel by panel. Tamiya tape will cope with some curves but for difficult areas the clear section may be sdged with thin strips (1mm wide) cut from your tape, the middle being filled with Maskol or similar. When spraying undercoat with the interior colour (which will show through to the inside), the final colour can be applied while spraying the rest of the airframe. A couple of advantages are that the canopy in place will protect your interior detail during painting and any filling can be done if needed to make the canopy blend in before painting. One word of warning . . . plug all the holes in the fus, if spray can get inside (even a very small amount) it can find it's way to the inside of the canopy and 'mist' it. Hope this makes sence, would be better illustrated with some pictures but regret that none of my projects are at the painting stage yet! Si.

Very nice indeed, how did you vary the tone of the upper surface colours? Si.

Glenn, That's very nice indeed. Like you, I think it's such a pitty Trumpeter don't make provision to display more of the supplied interior detail. Si.

Very nice, like that a lot.

Very nice work.

Thanks everybody. Steve, I used some of my remaining stock of Aeromaster Acrylic, followed by a couple of coats of klear prior to decals. Final coat of matt varnish had a few drops of Lt grey added to fade everything down a little. Si.

Seems to be progressing nicely, I built this kit some years ago and was very pleased with the result. For 'simple' seat belts you might try cutting masking tape into strips of the right width, stick to the seats and paint once on. I use very thin lead sheet cut into strips (used to be able to get it from the top of wine bottles but they all seem to be plastic now!), this bends unlike etched brass and looks more natural. Will be following your build with interest. Si.

Thanks for the info, I've tied Alclad once on a 1/48 P-51 and liked the result (and the fact I could mask on it without it lifting). I do like the result you have achieved with Humbrol and cellulose, might have to try this on my next. Si.

Hi all, Thought I'd have a first go at posting pictures. This is my Hasegawa 1/48 P-40, finished recently and built straight out of the box. I had a couple of unexpected problems, the first was a significant gap between the wings and fus, I tried to pull the wings up to close this while the glue dried but that gave an extreem dihedral angle, so I ended up filling the gap with strips of scrap plastic. Second problem was the decals which reacted to setting solution by wrinkling (in the normal way) but then refusing to pull flat, fixed with some sanding and touching up! Hope you like the result. Si.

Very very nice. Did you find the Humbrol dried hard enough enough to allow handling of the model?

Great Phantom, well done.

Martin, Nice work so far. So many choices in 1/48!! have you considered making your selections based on your favorite kit manufacturer? For WW2 1/48 Tamiya would be a good choice, excellent quality kits, reasonable value, plenty of accessories available and enough of a range that it will be a while until you run out of options. Si.