rainstel109

Ok, first main problem has reared it's ugly head, I've made a total balls up of the fuselage roundels! I couldn't figure out the best way to mask and spray. The wings were easy as theres only two colors, but the theres four on the fuselage ones and so four sets of masking which I proceeded to make a mess of big time...so....I've reverted to the kit decals. Now, I'd already applied the lower wing roundels and on checking'em, they've gone down really well, all the rivets/ panel lines show through as they should, so I've applied all the main decals this evening which I'm gonna see how they turn out tomorrow morning after which I'll post up some pics hopefully. Going back to the masking, one of the problems I had was poor eyesight, I had real probs getting the buggers to focus even with glasses and a magnifier, must be age creeping up on me.

Quick update here, got both of the upper wing roundels sprayed on. I used some stuff called "Frisket" film (which I seem to remember using yonks ago) and the Olfa compass cutter to cut out the circles. Dead easy to do, just cut out the overall circumference, 52mm, place film over wing, spray the red color, cut out a disc 20mm diameter, stick in the centre of the red disc on the wing, measure to make sure its centralized, spray the blue, wait a bit then remove the frisket film, job done. Now I reckon I've got the red not quite red enough, to me it seems to need a touch more red, but its going to be faded with pigment powders, as well as the blue, so the colors will change a bit. Just got to work out how to do the fuselage roundels now,

As one does, lol

Got a good bit today, got the invasion stripes painted on though I decided to do an even finish rather than trying to depict a hand painted one as i want to try a new weathering process on them and I'm going to be "roughing" them up a bit anyway. I've also applied the lower wing roundels to see how they fix down onto the surface although I've just had me new Olfa circle cutter delivered this morning, so all the other markings are going to be masked and sprayed, lettering included as all the characters have straight lines, no curves. I'll also be mixing up my own colors for these marking using the decal sheet as a color guide. I've also whipped the engine mask off to see how it looks and its come out rather well I reckon. Just waiting now for the decals to dry and harden to see how well they've settled onto the surface.

Thanks for the kind comments guys, its appreciated.

Finally got the paint to look something approaching what I'm after. Its taken umpteen blow overs of the two base colors both lightened and darkened, to get to this point. Obviously what I do in 1/48 scale has to be adjusted to suit 1/24 scale. I will say that if anyone is gonna be washing this model with something like Phil Flory's wash, be prepared for an assault on the eyeballs of rivets, I found they stuck out like a sore thumb (take a look at the pic of the underside to see what I mean). They can be "subdued" somewhat by blowing over in the base color but that'll be up to the builder. The next bit is to wash the model again, then attack it with the pigment powders to add a bit more contrast here and there. Then its on with the invasion stripes. Still not quite sure how to tackle these. The markings, roundels, letters, etc I'll be painting using home made masks, just waiting for the Frisket film and compass to arrive and I'm good to go

Excellent advice there mate, especially about the engine position, and I forgot to dip the clear parts as well, so there you go.

Right ho then boys and girls, got the first part of the camo laid down. Theres going to be a process of weathering carried out on this prior to the invasion stripes being added as I'm looking at painting these stripes on by hand (still not sure at this stage) or maybe a combo of hand and spray paint. If anyones interested I custom mixed the "ocean grey" using darkened medium sea grey with a touch of "blue" added, I used the Xtracrylic ocean grey as a guide which I was going to use but I kept hearing horror stories as to the difficulty some people had when they tried to spray this stuff so I though I'd mix my own using Mr color (gunze sangyo). I'll take the masking tape off this afternoon and carry out any correctiions that need to be done.

Making nice progress there George, don't half take a long time though to get anywhere with it.

If things go according to plan I'm hoping to have the yellow applied first (makes masking it up a doddle), then have the medium sea grey applied this evening then masked up again for the upper camo to be sprayed. I'm wondering how me weathering technique I use is gonna come out on a model of this scale, so I'm looking forwards to getting to that stage.

Ok, starting to get to the good bit now, got the entire model masked in preparation for painting. I fitted the cannon shrouds and found that it was easier to remove the locating lugs at the rear of shrouds which tended to hold them in a very downwards angle. This allowed a lot of adjustment to get them lined up correctly. Now just gotta start the painting process in the next coupla days.

Can you post up a few pics showing the problem? If not too much is glued in place maybe we can offer some help/ guidance as to what you can do. Is the problem purely with the upper cowlings or is the radiator cowling assembly also causing a prob? Heres an option, maybe you can move the engine backwards if its not fixed in position providing you've got a bit of clearance at between it and the engine bulkhead.

Hi mate, that windshield (and canopy) is from Alley cat and the its masked up using the Montex paint masks (internal and external). Theres only a very small amount of trimming on one section required. The Alley cat parts are well worth the extra costs as the deformities on the Airfix parts are very noticeable (although it is pot luck if you get a really bad one or one thats acceptable). The fit to the fuselage is fairly good too, being nearly flush all round and only a small amount of filler is going to be needed to be used.

Ok, how many people here thought the paint masks from Montex for this kit thought it was gonna have all the roundel masks in it for the wings and fuselage markings? Well turns out it only has masks for the canopy and windshield and main wheels and tailwheel, thats it, nowt else. That being so, they are very nice to use and go down a treat with nice sharp edges, and they can, to a degree, be re-positioned if needed.

Just in case anyones interested, heres a coupla pics of the aftermarket clear parts from AtoZee models, windscreen in this case, literally just plonked onto the fuselage as a test fit, no glue at this point. Clarity is nice though not quite as good as a plastic item, this is a resin part, easy to remove from the base with a scalpel bade and has a nice amount of flexibility so it looks like it could withstand a little bit of hamfisted handling by me, without cracking or fracturing. The canopy is a very part too and of identical quality. Highly recommended if you've got a cracked/ deformed airfix canopy/ windshield. [/url]

I'm going to be leaving all the upper engine cowlings off with just the radiator fully cowled up.

Ok, update time. making good progress so far. I've got the complete tail assembly, fitted, rubbed down, scribed and finished, tidied up the area under the flaps (ejector pin marks, etc), got the right hand side of the upper cockpit sidewall fitted though it does require a bit of rubbing down and redoing of the rivets. I did find funnily enough that it was easier to fit the sidewall panel "without" the framing detailing fitted on the inside as it tended to foul on god knows what in there. Still it was a doddle to fit afterwards as theres plenty of room to manouver in there. The left hand side panel fits fine without any problems so thats going on shortly. Now, I've had a good look at the area where the gunsight fits and I've come to the conclusion thats gonna be easier to fit when both upper sidewall panels are fitted first. I just get the impression its all too easy to get gunsight skewed slightly as you've only got one side to support it along with the part over the instrument panel. Doesn't seem to to offer too many probs, so I'm doing it that way. I've also managed to get the nav lights completed and fitted, I used a small piece of cleat rod to replicate the bulb and glued it in place, followed by the light cover, job done. Anyways, all I've been doing over the past few days is rubbing down, re-scribing, then doing it again and I'm getting a bit bored with this tedium but its approaching paint time so I reckon only a bit more to do. Nothing to report with impending nasties, everything so far has gone together reasonably well but, again, a lot of fitting of the parts has to be done before they can be glued into place.

My only advice is to test fit the parts all the time before gluing and read the in instructions carefully, its very easy to miss stuff or misinterpret what they're telling you to do.

Totally agree with the comments regarding the circular (oval) bulkhead fouling on the inside of the fuselage, and that the correct procedure is to assemble the fuselage parts as per the instructions. On the other hand, I wanted to make up the fuselage as a complete sub assembly as much as possible to ensure correct alignment of the parts and so stop any twisting/ bending of the bits that might occur. This also made it real easy to just "slide" the fuselage into position with a minimum amount of trimming of plastic to get a nice close fit, especially on the wing roots/ wing join area which , I must admit, went very well and required only the absolute minimum of filler. What I think is happening with me is I made an error someways back earlier in the build and I'm paying the price for that error now as the , though saying that, the main airframe is rapidly approaching the point where I can get a layer of paint down to check for cosmetic condition. I'm just waiting to finish of the nav lights, then I'll make a start on the upper cockpit sidewalls, which when done, means I can give the plastic a good clean in warm soapy water, rinse, and leave to dry for a while. totally agree with you there George, it happened to me some where earlier in the build, obviously something I did incorrectly, and its impacting on the subsequent build now.

I've got a question for any typhoon experts out there. I'm starting to assemble the ailerons and I reckon that that the "dome head" rivets that airfix have replicated on these parts are a bit heavy. Also, did hawkers use flush rivets on their ailerons instead of dome ones? I'm tempted to rub these rivets down a bit using very fine emery paper as they seem a bit heavy to me. Any opinions on these guys?

Its not actually that bad getting the wings and fuselage on, just requires a bit of fettling and test fitting really. I will say that it does help to get rid of the cockpit framing to the rear of the seat as I reckon it just gets in the way. Its not as if you're gonna miss it as its not seen at all when the fuselage is buttoned up.

Fuselage is now fitted. Not much to say except that it required a fair amount of adjustment, quite a lot of plastic was removed from the inside of the parts, the entire cockpit framework rear of the seat was removed also as I found the the circular part of it was fouling somewhere inside. Saying all that, the fit, once the fuselage is in the correct position relative to the wing roots isn't too bad, just a little bit of filling, rubbing down and rescribing to do. I've taken a pic of the cockpit opening to illustrate that an awful lot of the detail that you can build into this kit, disappears when its closed up which is a real pity as its quite time consuming to do it, so I reckon if theres others like me who are quite happy to omit parts that aren't seen, you'll save a fair amount of time I reckon. [/url I can envisage a helluva load of rubbing down tomorrow, lol.

Very nice mate, and I'll echo what everyone says about the invasion stripes, very well executed there.

Great progress mate, that engine looks real nice. Funnily enough my Wife passed comment on my Tiffie now the wings are on, (total wing span of 21" if anyones interested) with "And where do you think you're put that thing when its finished?" I still having thought of a witty reply yet and I'm hoping the less I say, the more she'll forget about it till its finished.

Right, having got the wings on, I'd thought I'd make a start on the fuselage. The wings still need a fair bit of work, mainly rubbing down, rescribing, redoing the rivets, etc, but I want to get the fuselage on so I've got a good hand hold on the kit and to protect the rear cockpit from mishandling. Anyways, I've got the fuselage halves together as a single assembly but I'll fit the lower part when the two halves are glued in position and mate up with the wing roots. I've had to remove a fair bit of plastic from the rear most part of the lower fuselage halves (see pic) and "square" the mating face off as it was slightly rounded and didn't allow the lower fuselage panel to slide rearwards far enough, there was a gap of about a millimeter. I got rid of this gap by cutting away some of the locating lugs (see another pic) which the allowed the lower fuselage part to slide further to the rear and close this gap up. I'm just in the process of letting the glue harden before I fit everything. I've also painted the fuselage interior aluminium, and the area that surrounds the instrument panel will be matt black as per pics I've seen on the interweb.