Ray S

Hello all. We had our grandchildren around today. One is 12, the other 7. A little voice called out 'Oh no, I forgot our board games!' - last time we had played Snakes and Ladders. I had a bit of a think, then remembered a board game that I was given for Christmas 1972: 'Do you fancy playing something different?' I asked. 'Yes please!' was the chorus. So I went and got it down, and frantically looked for the instructions. There was no booklet to remind me how to play! Then I turned the lid upside down and found the instructions were printed on the underside of that. Phew. I had a quick read, then passed on my newly-remembered knowledge, and we had a cracking two hours of fun. Considering they are on their electronic devices a lot, they really had fun and took to it like ducks to water. In fact, afterwards the 12-year-old said he wanted to deal in stocks and shares when he gets older. We needed a big free space, so the table was cleared: The end result was that the 7-y-o won, the 12-y-o came second then confessed that they had cheated when I was helping the other count their money out, and this narrator came last but probably really second. The upshot of this was to wonder if any of you still play these older games and banish the screens for a while? Personally I was really surprised and very happy with the result of this. Ray PS 'Flutter' was introduced in 1971

I have had a good couple of days with the Stringbag. Yesterday I brush-painted the Cerrux Grey areas on the fuselage and wings, with ColourCoats paint. It brushed beautifully and only needed one coat. Except where I missed, of course. There are one or two spots of silver showing through where my eyesight did not get to, but will be easily solved. Today, the task was the transfers. I have chosen to do the silver/grey scheme, and it has coloured bands on the fuselage, and a large 'flag' on the upper wing centre section. All markings are in transfer form, and with the side bands that also includes the aircraft number. It would have been a good idea if Airfix supplied the number as an optional 'add-on' as they do in some other kits because there is some major sticky-out surface detailing where the side bands and the upper wing 'flag' go. I would have preferred to mask and paint the bands: In the best 'Swallows and Amazons' fashion, there was plenty of water and lashings of micro Set and Sol used, and at first things did not look too good. However, I have seen the Set and Sol do absolute magic with transfers, and after a little slicing with a new scalpel and teasing with a cotton bud, things started to settle down quite well. Here is a dry-fitted combo of what I have managed today, before the grandchildren arrived: The blue even folded down over the cockpit sill! As you may see, I was able to remove the sacrificial Kristal Klear mask in the fuselage side windows - that will be replaced by Humbrol Clearfix soon, before I add the fuselage/lower wing support struts. I also thought it was a good idea to add the markings on the lower wing stubs before adding those struts. You can probably see where I had to trim around the raised detail in the upper wing centre section, but I will re-touch that with some paint when I find out which shade will be closest - I already have some pre-painted swatches handy for that. I have only done the one side so far, that side panel was way too in the way to attempt the other side! That is it for now, thanks for looking, Ray PS I must unmask the cockpit glazing, I must unmask the cockpit glazing

'The Railway Children' by E Nesbit It is rather fun compared to some of my other recent reads (like 'The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle' by Stuart Turton) Ray

Thanks for that comment! A 1/48th version would be a cracker, and I expect it would give the Tamiya one a run for its money Today has been a mask and spray, mask and spray day. I ended up using sponge for the cockpit openings, then sprayed the whole thing Tamiya Grey Primer, then masked the areas (mostly) which would remain grey and then sprayed Tamiys Silver Leaf over the rest. I left the undercarriage legs and the wing struts unmasked so they have ended up silver now, but I will re-mask the silver and brush paint the Cerrux Grey where needed, and onto the u/c and struts. It made sense to me at the time... The top wing is still only dry-fitted. I am quite happy with the results from the rattle cans. That is it for now, thanks for looking, Ray

@Enzo the Magnificent I would have thought that you of all people could 'Vote for them all!' Ray

Today has been a day of doing the bits that I have 'put off', but could do so no longer if I wanted any progress. First was masking the cockpit glazing. There are three panels, all were quite small. I found the perennial problem (for me, at least) of the tape being pulled by the scalpel blade (new) when I tried to trim all three sections. I do prefer larger glazed areas where I can put my big mitts onto the tape to keep it in place. Being made of stern stuff though, I kept a stiff upper lip and won though in the end. There was another valiant fight with the front cabane struts which were fragile and had large runner attachment points. A bit of sawing, use of a razor blade and some judicious filing, followed by some knife-work soon had them cleaned up and attached: The cabane struts were a delight to fit, they had good location pins and were just right. The glazing incorporated a section of the upper fuselage, and after some clean-up of the cockpit rim, it fitted well. There was also a small insert required to fit into the trailing edge of the centre of the upper wing, and this had the rear cabanes moulded in: The main question for me after this little lot was - 'will it still fit?' Well, there was only one way to find out: That is a provisional yes then. It looks like I may need to trim the block that fits under the top wing where the front cabanes fit, but otherwise all is good. Kudos Airfix! The more I look at the photographs, the more little smears of filler I need to add (upper wing centre leading edge and port lower wing root, for examples). I am so impressed with this kit, with luck it will continue to go well. I have started masking the cockpit openings, but may alter what I have done, especially the way I have done it (I have used foam but may use tape instead). I will be spraying this and I am thinking of spraying light grey primer, then silver, then mask the silver then respray the light grey, then over-coating the light grey with ColourCoats Cerrux Grey (brush-painted). That is it for today, thanks for looking, Ray

The first thing I noticed when I got to the bench this morning was that one strut was not located properly - it is the front port one (front left on the full-span wing part) on the upper wing and is plainly visible in that last photo on the post above! I said 'oops' or something similar, and manfully sorted it out but it took some doing. One aspect of this kit where I am having to take particular notice is on the runner attachment points. I may have mentioned this previously but some of the location points 'wrap' around the part, and sometimes are in very awkward places. For example: That one in the middle of the aileron cut-out is a prime example as it projects into the cut-out and I found it awkward to trim out. There was also another one along the flange that fits onto the strut assemblies. Not a huge issue but one that needs care and the ability to remember... The underside of the upper wing fitted well and only needed a little tape to keep them secure: Oh, and I did remember to fill the faint seams along the strut bars. The undercarriage fitted pretty well, but I could have done with having a third hand. However, I worked out a way to keep the 'V' strut in place while I added the third brace, and made sure I used sufficient glue to keep them in place: The inner child came to the fore again and I just had to see how the top wing would look like upon this when dry-fitted: It all aligns very well so far, a good testament to the manufacturer, rather than this modeller. I have had another good day with this. The next task is to pull up my socks and get on with masking the glazing - once that is done and fitted, I can mask the cockpit and engine then start adding some paint. Thanks for looking, Ray

I had the pleasure of building the Tamiya Swordfish many years ago. My only problem was that it was just after I got back into the hobby. I know I finished it, but it could have been so much better as I think it was a step too far, too soon. Maybe I will have another go with one now I have more skill. I would love to see what you do with your kit. I have had a really good day with this aircraft of stick and string. I had to add a little filler along the top of the forward fuselage where my masking tape had not held quite as well as I had hoped, and also along the port side of the top fuselage insert for the rear gunner. Perfect Plastic Putty made short work of that. I have added the horizontal tail surfaces, and deflected the movable sections a little for interest. I have to work out how best to mask those openings (the engine opening will be easy enough though). After finishing that lot, it was time to start on the wings. Now, I don't know about you, but I always have a fear of adding top wings to biplanes. I have built hundreds over the years, but I still get concerned. Airfix however, have had a bit of a think about this, and I believe they have made great strides in easing the process for us mere mortals. First, the centre section. It has a spar that need fitting, and dihedral is built into both the outer parts and the spar. They also key the parts so you cannot get it wrong - Some liquid glue and a couple of pegs soon sorted that part out, and then the other half of the centre section fitted like a glove. Two shakes of a lamb's tail and I had: A little filler will be needed along the lines where the struts dropped in, but it is so much better than when Airfix did the strut bars on aircraft like the Sopwith Pup. It should clean up quite quickly (he hopes). Thankfully, I looked at the instructions before gluing the outer wing half on, because: The inner interplane struts go in next. They were a very snug fit, and I was able to press them in and not need glue. One thing of note though - they are very fragile, and the runner attachment points were a little thick. I was very careful trimming them off, as the struts are very thin where they meet the location bars. They also had some runner between the struts, but the attachments were nice and thin and cleaned up well. The upper wing upper half fitted well, aided by my trusty pegs: And shortly afterwards, this lot was ready: The joins along the upper surface are brilliant and I do not think I will need putty for that. A test fit of the lower halves show they should be fine too, but I will add those tomorrow My plan is to spray this assembly, the lower wings, and the fuselage separately, and only bring them together when the paint is done and any transfers have been added. I have thoroughly enjoyed today, but the proof of Airfix's thoughts are still to be discovered. At the moment, it looks like a winner of an idea to me. Thanks for looking and for the comments, Ray

Ooops. I forgot, so it will have to wait for another build. Sorry. Thanks James. I have wanted to do this one for quite some time, and I find a Group Build always provides the inspiration. I hopefully I will do it justice John. I have had to take a bit of a break over the last few days due to circumstances outside my control, but today I was able to get some stuff done to the Stringbag. I had unmasked the framework on the interior fuselage sides and found that the paintwork was pretty sharp. I had wondered how to do the windows in the fuselage sides. I was hesitant about masking the kit parts, especially the 'B' shaped one on the starboard side - trimming tape has never been my strong point. I eventually decided to fill them with Krystal Kleer as a sacrificial mask. It will leave off the short struts/supports that go down to the wing stubs, and when I have sprayed the fuselage, I will trim out the KK and re-do them with Clearfix instead, and then fit the braces. I had a play with the still-not-quite-finished interior assembly and saw if it fitted: The answer was yes, it doth fit. Even better, the port side fitted too with a little help. I needed to adjust the upper wing stub parts for the spread-wing alternative. I had to trim out the edging of the part so a tab on a strut pair would fit: The cocktail stick is pointing to that section. It was an easy job, and I even remembered to place the open end to the stub on the strut to ensure that I had trimmed enough. The parts nestled in place well on the fuselage underside/wing stub part after a little cleaning up. I was then a little more methodical with the cockpit/fuselage dry-fitting, and taped everything up properly this time. I found I had to make a few small adjustments (ie sanding) the framework and floor, and then committed glue to the interior: I lightly clamped the front of the interior to the fuselage side for an hour to ensure a good bond. Oh, I had fitted the fuselage machine gun prior to this on the starboard side which pokes through a hole and fits into a channel. I did not cut off the barrel on this one, as a few years ago I did that with a Gloster Gladiator and then had a devil's job getting it re-fitted properly. I will just be careful with the paintwork. Then it was time to add the port fuselage half. I used Revell Contacta for this as there may just possibly be some extra force required when I fit the underside: There are a few areas where some filler and/or sanding will be needed, but the result was not too bad at all. A test fit an hour or so later showed that the underside should fit with minimal issues. I hope I have not banjaxed it now. That is it for today, it has been good to be able to get some work done on this on. Thanks for looking, Ray

Very nice work! I like the door and steps you have done too, that will be a great addition. Ray

A lovely job Dave, and I kit I remember fondly from the 1960's! Ray

We are in the Bunflight! All we need to do now is get through... Ray PS since I added my name to the list, another 'project cancelled' has been added to my stash. That will please @Enzo the Magnificent

@AdrianMF, thanks for suggesting this Group Build. It has been fabulous seeing what we could produce out of it, and they are all brilliant. We had a good number of completions, and top marks to those who did not quite make it to the finishing line. It takes quite a bit to push ourselves that much, and for me at least, it takes a Group Build like this to give me that final push to do something that would probably only stayed in the stash. The amount of help, advice and encouragement really helps in situations like this. Great builds all, whether finished or no Ray

I had some great fun today building up the interior for the Stringbag. I tried to scrape all seam lines, remove all paint on glue surfaces, and repainted most blemishes after this module was built: The photo shows me some areas which I completely missed when I was using my magnifiers, one of the great benefits of Britmodeller - never would have noticed if I was not posting this online. One odd thought occurred to me earlier when I saw the cockpit-on-peg from the side - if I boxed it in, I could be half way towards a Blackburn Blackburn! If I remember, I will take a pic and you can see what I mean... Thanks for looking, Ray, (who is off to have a lie down, he must be over-wrought)

Righty-ho, it is about time I got this started! Yesterday I started to paint the interior fittings while they are still on the runners. Most of the Interior Grey/Green was done, and the 'Flesh' callout for the interior fabric was done with Revell Flesh Acrylic. Today's job was to mask the 'Flesh' so the framework was ready for the Interior Grey/Green it needed: I found that the gap between the framework was 2mm for two of the runs, a small shim of tape needed to be trimmed for the third, and 2mm was okay for the 4th. That made things easier. Thinned ColourCoats IGG was then paint-brushed on to what was left: All of the IGG will get a second coat tomorrow. I will remember to scrape away any paint from the gluing surfaces. When I was painting the cockpit cage parts, I found that one of the side panels was warped, so I sincerely hope it will go together okay. Anyway, I know this is a short post, but at least I am now on the flight deck! Ray

That is one great scratch-build @Jonners. I will have to have a look in my 'Bristol Aerospace since 1910' book and see if it is in there, I don't remember it if it was. Cheers, Ray

Impressive @AdrianMF etch-work, and it aligned too, bonus! Ray

@Ali62, the Twin Otter parts arrived yesterday all safe and sound. Thanks for the very rapid service, Ray

Progress is very good @Procopius despite all of your trials and tribulations. I know once you have done this one, you will want to do some more, especially as the Sword kits are once more available and you do not have to use wormholes and temporal grabbers to steal them bit by bit from other modellers who are blaming the carpet monster for the unusual losses they suffer. I have just received an F.1/2, an F.3, and a T.4/5 from Hannants. Keep up the good work, both on the Lightning and at Home, All the best, Ray

Thank you all for the comments, 'likes' and for just dropping in for a view, they are all very much appreciated. Ray

Three Sword 1/72 EE Lightnings (F.1/2, F.3 and T.4/5), Xtradecal T.4/5 transfer sheet and an Airfix Commonwealth Boomerang, Oh and also 'The Railway Children' by E Nesbit All for a day which arrives but once a year... Ray

I have read about this issue so often! Well done on managing to get them in after all that work Tom. It is a beaut of a kit though, isn't it?

I like the way you solved the windscreen issue @Cklasse. The whole build is going rather well so far, all the best with the rest of the build. Ray

Ditto! Ray

This one is going to have to wait a while, I am afraid. I damaged my dominant hand the other day (well, last Wednesday) and it is not healing well and cannot put pressure on it, so sanding out a vacform is a no-no at the moment. Hopefully I will get to this before the GB ends. I will be starting the other option (the Fairey Swordfish) tomorrow or Friday now that I have another build out of the way, I can still deal with injection-moulded kits, albeit with care. All the best, Ray