Nik W

These do look rather nice! Any ideas where they'll be available from? Nik

A few years ago I was eyeing up one of these kits going cheap at an airshow, and looking at this I really regret not buying it when I had the chance! Really like that approach to pre-shading, doing it like that is something I've never even thought of before, but the subtle changes in tone it creates look really good! Think I might have to give that a go next time! Looking forward to seeing more of this! Regards, Nik

It's about time we saw a decent specially marked Typhoon - with that spine and fin it's an aircraft that would really lend itself to some nice colourful markings. If only we could see a return to the Lightning style special markings with the coloured spines and fins! Now that would be an impressive sight!

I'm with Erik (just above) in wanting to know how you got that chipping effect to look so realistic? This is super work, the fading on the paintwork is absolutely spot on, is that a combination of Post Shading as well as Pre Shading? Looking really good! Can't wait to see more! Regards, Nik

Fantastic looking model! Hard to believe this is 1/72 scale! A really superb job! Nik

Superb model and diorama there! Nice to see something as out of the ordinary as this! Regards, Nik

Simply stunning, the weathering and finish on this is absolutely superb. Regards, Nik

Awesome looking Sea Vixen! Great job Nik

Great looking Phantom! Michigan ANG were some of the best painted Phantoms around without a shadow of a doubt! Seeing this has given me a strange hankering to make a Michigan ANG Phantom in this scale! Great work! Nik

This is absolutely super and I'm glad to see it finished having followed the build! Seeing how easy you've made vac-form building look inspired me to get hold of a Dynavector Scimitar to cut my teeth on before I attempt something as big as this! Regards, Nik

Hi Dave, I would definitely recommend Alclad, I was intimidated by it at first, but it really is one of the easiest things to use. The best guides I've seen so far are this one at Swanny's Models: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Alclad.html And also on the Alclad website itself: http://alclad2.com/how-to/ The biggest thing about Alclad is surface prep - the better the surface you spray onto the better the results, so if you haven't already done so, I'd suggest investing in some good polishing/finishing material like Micromesh. With the high shine shades of Alclad a good, even gloss black base coat followed by a couple of coats of Klear works best I've found. One other important thing I learned the hard way was to build it up in a couple of thin layers rather than all at once. I made a real hash of a NMF Super Sabre before I realised this! Hope this helps! Nik

That is some stunning work on the interior you've done there! Looking forward to seeing more of this! Keep up the good work! Nik

Loving that Danish Starfighter! Nice job on the faded paint there in particular. I know they looked horrible and grubby up close when they got to that stage (well through looking at my Dad's slide collection anyway) but the fading and different shades of green on view with any Danish F104 make this such an appealing challenge to try and get right! One of these along with a single seater is well up my priority list for building! Keep up the good work though! Regards, Nik

A replacement seat is perhaps a good idea as with that big fishbowl of a canopy you'll be able to see plenty of seat. The only thing about the seat is that as far as I've been able to find, none of the aftermarket seats are totally accurate as they all seem to have the wrong style head box. The closest match I was able to find was Pavla's Martin Baker 2CA, which while it isn't 100% accurate is a fairly passable representation of the Canberra seat once it's under the canopy. Hope that helps bud! Nik

Hi Simon, The biggest fit issue I had with my Canberra was the fit of the intakes and exhaust sections to the wing. The parts come in upper and lower halves and when they are joined together seemed to be somewhat thicker than the wing itself. One option which might work for fixing the exhaust end would be to thin the mating edges of the two parts down a bit. Not sure what can be done to improve the front end though due to the engine face part having to fit in there. I'm not 100% this has been the case with all Canberra kits, but it popped up on my B2 (which I converted to a T17A using Ali from A2Zee's conversion kit) so its maybe worth keeping an eye out for. In terms of aftermarket bits the one thing I would definitely recommend getting is the replacement glazing set from A2Zee, which sorts out the issue of Airfix's flattened canopy. Hope this helps a bit! Regards, Nik

This really is great work, the more I see of it, the more I convince myself that I need to have a go at one of these big Sanger vacforms. All that scratch-building is really damn impressive! Keep up the great work! Regards, Nik

Hi Andrew, I've just recently finished building my 1/48 TSR2, and unfortunately the pilots supplied in the kit are way under-scale. I think to be honest they are closer to 1/72 than 1/48. But to be honest, unless you are planning to open up the canopy, as Ashley said above once the canopy is gold tinted and closed you won't be able to see an awful lot of the pilots anyway. Regards, Nik

Thanks chief! That one worked that time! Now if only i could get down to the show to pick them up! Oh well no matter! Nik

Hi Julien, Tried clicking the link you left, but it keeps bringing up an error message saying the link is broken or out of date... Probably just my laptop playing silly b*ggers as usual. Where about on the site is that link that you posted and I'll go hunting for it? Cheers! Nik

Yeah well aware indeed. Flightpath set isn't it? Haha! What can I say I like a challenge! Nik

Yeah a re-issue would be pretty handy - let me complete my Anti-flash white V-Bomber trio!

Cheers General, I had a look at his site, and it looked as though they were out of production. But I suppose an email to him couldn't do any harm though! Nik

This really is coming on! A vacform kit is something I've never tried before, but looking at this, the amount of scratch-building involved looks awesome and like a really good challenge! Keep up the good work though, this is looking really good! Nik

Cheers bud! Just whenever you get a chance a PM about it would be great, no rush though - after all you're doing me a favour! Regards, Nik

Thanks Robbo! That really is quite an interesting one! I think I may have to look into that further! Cheers! That would be awesome if you don't mind! Just anything at all that you might have spare would be awesome, and I'm sure we could sort something out for them. Is the Revell boxing one that is still currently in production? If so, do you think it would be worth a cheeky email to Revell chancing it to see if I could get a 'replacement' decal sheet? Cheers guys, I really do appreciate the help! Nik