Vulcanicity

Hi! I am Phil aka Vulcanicity. I'm an ecological consultant resident in Oxfordshire and have been modelling since I was 8. My other interests include aircraft that are big and not made of plastic, birds and almost all other forms of nature, walking, and playing badminton (badly, but with increasing gusto). I have graduated from being a busy PhD student to a busy professional and still never manage to complete a year with more finished builds than bought kits!

I model almost exclusively in 1:72nd , which is an accident: the first kit I was bought was the Airfix 1:72nd Spitfire, and since I like all my models to be in scale, I've stuck with that. However, I am happy with 72nd-it offers the biggest range of subjects, and ample detailing potential.

I generally build British military aircraft from the 1920s-1980s. This isn't just patriotism, I find it fascinating and inspiring how Britain has produced some marvellously innovative aircraft on a shoestring budget, and often in the face of official disinterest. The milestones British designers made are far out of proportion to the influence the country has today in the aviation world: just think about the first jet airliner, first practical aircraft carrier, ejection seats, supersonic airliners, VTOL technology, etc etc.
More than that, British aircraft are varied in appearance: many are breathtakingly beautiful such as the Vulcan, Victor, Spitfire, Hunter, and Comet. Some ,are wonderfully pugnacious, like the Typhoon, Lightning and Beaufighter, and some are plain ugly, like the Gannet, Barracuda, and Nimrod. However, all have their own unique character, and can be depicted in a huge range of colour schemes. Just imagine a green, brown and sky Spitfire, standing next to an antiflash white Vulcan, yellow-and black striped target tug Battle, silver Meteor, all-black Defiant nightfighter, and desert sand Buccaneer. For these reasons, I think it's hard to beat a shelf-full of British aircraft for historical interest, varied appearance, and general appeal.

I've traditionally brush painted all my models, this dates back to not having enough money or a house of my own to do airbrushing. I am slowly less getting less penniless, have acquired a house and recently got hold of the weird shiny air pencils, thanks to the phenomenal generosity of a fellow Britmodeller. So, I am just starting to dip my toe into this particular hot water, we'll see how it goes. I'll be doing at least some hairy sticking for the forseeable.