perdu

Practice is what you need. Cut it over far enough to set the size alongside the edge then use tape to hold it while you set the cut sides out.

On the subject of paint, herewith Hakata beginnings T7 enters the shop for paint Trying thinned coats of supposedly ready to use Red Stripe paint, hmm we'll see. I may have to redo this with an undercoat... But elsewhere the FGA is bustling along I think enough of a shine to do transfers on Now then Red, white and blue or drab old whiteless roundels I must admit I'm feeling an unexpected white bias Although not necessarily 20 sqn...

Acetate needs practice but isnt usually as awkward to use as that It must be drooped over the target area whilst it is still loose and floppy That bit is an absolute, still very hot and let it cool in place Look just did this to illustrate Piece of odd acetate, found on my untidy bench heated over that feeble little tea light and dropped over a screw thread for example I gave it a little push to close the edges and took it off to illustrate how easy it was Taken away it displayed the screw threads. It took me longer to find a stub of tea light with a piece of burnable wick than it took to do the minidemo I have used sellotape as a transparent piece Such as on this Hind but it was hell avoiding damaging it in use It does cover almost invisibly but masking tape pulls it off...

Excellent pre planning Rob, a hint or two if I might. (Incidentally I am about to take hints myself Carr's Metal Black, straight on to my shopping list) Acetate makes very good transparent lamp covers if you use the wing leading edge. Get it floppy over a heat source and drape it forcefully over the leading edge outside the actual lamp location. The thickness of the acetate means that it will need an allowance made for the shape, by using the thinner taper from the outboard section you will find the shape's exterior will fill the hole nicely. Glue for clear parts, use Formula 560 cockpit glue. It dries clear and can be thinned with water and encouraged to fill any gaps with a small paint brush.

That looks close to amazing already G, PPPhuh? Proud of you for attempting to fix anything with it. I do love the detail on this kit, lovely. (No comment on skiing, if I can't sit down in a vehicle I am not going. Strapping two halves of my transport to my feet would kill me.)

Omigod, now what is he doing? Both sides? Looks like somebody showed him a picture... Yes, somebody did thanks As good for a scratchbuild well as a photograph taken under a Lightning at a show some place I surely have enough, so plastic has been cut...

No microscope today, much, much abrading with Needle File and assorted sanding stickery. Also a tad of plasticarding which gives me at the end these offerings Slim fold over door panels instead of the scale six foot thick ones in the kit Also, for effect the little bulges on the wheel doors which house the door latch stuff in service. For me? That'll do, the wing raised details are history too so I can move quietly on. Awaiting delivery of dainty resin intake and exhaust vents, new wheels with correct centres and oh yes. Airwaves Sea Vixen floors and wall units. I dont think there'll be carpets but I dont care, I want to crack on with the fox too. There's to be jet pipes too, yippee. The jet pipes are home brew not after market, although I have been looking at a certain resin Vixen which has engine castings... And there is a place atop the Lightning which has the engine access panel clearly marked.

Ah there you are Alain sit ye down at the bar, I am sure Pete will have had it suitably well stocked. I didn't stay away from the models this afternoon but as it is nearly evening a small update seems fair. More carving of undercarriage slab doors was on today's agenda, suitably mounted of course. These are the inside, actually very sculpted shapes on the real deal see? faceted in many directions the slab just had to go. Time for the trusty 'three square' needle file to get some in. It's an engineering term, dont expect scholarly discussions from me about the name, it's older than me. So there. Some of the facets herein displayed where it will live soon enough maybe. The front of the door at the bottom has been cleared out for the landing lamp to be fitted The one above waits. Done And here is the location ably displayed at Bruntingthorpe. Here endeth today's efforts.

Vixeneers must not fear dimunition of effort, the pause is for effect. Effectively waiting inspiration. And further assistance from The Big H...

I know there is a Lightning in there some place Terry, just helping it to come out and play. Like this Tell Giorgio not to get excited this silver is just a disclosure coat, might as well get all the components into decent shape before we bolt all the bits together and you know as does everyone else that PPP is not an adequate substance to fill ripples and gaps in outer skin/shell work so the discloser shows how bad the surface is. yes, very bad The actual lower wing surface, as shown by Gerard Greissel's photo is smooth and with almost nothing of a real panel line on it, just variations of colour and tone. Link follows https://i.postimg.cc/Kv4DYZ96/P1010202.jpg But taken as a close up there is a huge amount of surface discoloration to play with, we should really get the oil dotters, Giorgio and Steve to work wonders with one. Or two, three or simply many! https://i.postimg.cc/pdQDSyTF/P1010203.jpg The upper surfaces are rather similarly smooth, ouch... No silly, not yet obviously. Tut Decision made, spruegoo™ is the way to go, for these ripples, when dry (if ever) it will sand or take any of the other methods of available torture we've got. Ordinary fillers are not quite, de rigeur, you know. OK I'm off, I've got stuff to do.

Thank you gentlemen, but 'tis but ordinary tool using. You guys are the artists round here, oil dotting for example. Unbelievable skills with paint handling, artistry and accuracy in the finish. That is the art of the modelmaker. I'm just an escapee from the toolroom. But, having enormous fun.

Aythangyow too (You see everybody else, this is how to do it. Find and trust the people who know about these things and be as wise as Cpt Povey was. OK maybe wiser than him... Wren Chasten maybe.) A fabulous photo with every possible addition I could need for a 1/72 scale Lightning surface detail, cheers. Now then, this is an interesting design on the main wheel doors no? It shows a feature that ought to be impressed in the door surface like so. Simple enough to design a tool with the recess in it I'd have thought, this was from a period when Frog and Hasegawa were cooperating with twin releases. This door failure is not what I was lead to expect from a Hasegawa mould but in later times I had other respected manufacturers make as many daft mistakes so nowadays I simply mentally make allowances for aberrations. But that leaves me with 'stuff' to do, on with the motley. The tool set The handy hand vise Add a strip of doubled up tape sticky side out by sticking it atop the vise and stopping it lifting by a strip of tape each end, like so. Here the first of the doors has been begun. The actual doors are quite thick so I am not looking to make the door less bulky but the recess needs removing, here by gentle grinding away with my little Blackspur drill, which was a Christmas prezzy using a carbide/diamondy mineral grit rotating dooberry. Here the tools I like to keep a very careful eye upon the removing process, can't imagine why... Not gone through yet... After the rough turning out with rotary action I then like to finesse (ho ho) the job with one of me lovely chisels Using the chisel lets me get a regular flat-tish playing field inside the recess and round the sloping sides And so now the real test Ecce daylight Well screen-light A little more (not much, it's dodgy doings time if not careful) scraping flattish to the plane surfaces. And do it again, mirrorishly Not long now I'm sticking with this, they'll pass my OCD testing for a thou or two on opposite sides of the aeryplane. Aye that'll do.

https://i.postimg.cc/MGwJBwd5/16783745683373711296239108921108.jpg wouldn't it be wonderful if I could find an 'above' shot this beautiful? But thinking about it that would imply the photo aircraft flying into an inward turning Lighting, not a job for my Brownie. As most panel lines under the model replicate most above on the kit I think I will scribe similar tops and bottom and relaxxxxx

But how about... Nah forget it, as to the Lightning, more has happened. This And this Endless hours of it Port wing bay And Starboard, I decided the single thou discrepancy was 'good enough...' Next task, sand smooth, rescribe Any order This side too I have invited our own @CedBto involve himself with sanding and hence rescribing on his Two Gals build but to be fair I might even manage that simple task myself. NOW WATCH IT ALL GO TO POT! Only kidding Ced I will do it, already begun now. This was once Medium Sea Grey then experiments with various aerosols tinted the Pavla piece in a ghostly silver Time for another run though using Hataka MSG... Yup, that will do it. Busy busy

Can I send you my Hasegawa Lightning to de-seam please Ced, you're working wonders on that one?

But do remember, if you can that Humbrol were there first. They had a man who was on the ball with colours and packed the new paints in sets and called them Authentic Colours. Really great sets of USAF, USN, Israeli and other services all in truly well workable Matt paint. Ah the nostalgia, biting me deeply

Lovely miniscule detail on the JP's undercarriage legs Lookit the height of that leg Well done Airfix, even if you don't want me to start with a fresh new canopy...

Made, in Paint Shop Pro 4 and fitted with Daco Strong And White paint under the filler hole so that the lettering can shine through, made these from clear decal paper so the filler hole can be kept clear. If the Daco isnt strong enough (it happens!) I will probably cut out the hole over the cap.

I do not much like this Hakata paint, it does not like being masked over and pulls away when the masking tape comes off. Bit of a massive major drawback with the way I fumble through modelling, definitely needs a coat of spray varnish before I do anything over it. (Tamiya TS-79 is my go to varnish, quick drying robust but thin coat) Conversely I do like the paint I drew the green stripes with, take a bow Humbrol 163 Acrylic. Semigloss, nice colour and look, dries quickly too and dammit, my Local Model Shop owner has decided he has enough ranges o similar paint and has discontinued his Acrylic line from Humbrol. "I sell Mr paints, Vallejo paints and several ranges of Ratshrinker Purples for wargaming figures as well as Tamiya in Acrylics or polycarbonates. I will still sell Humbrol tinlets because everybody buys them." I can argue but I suspect I will be driven into Town (Brum) to buy stuff from Nigel at Parabellum now. On the right in this shot are the Tip Tank Fuel filler markings I made yesterday, recently given their coat of Liquid Decal Film by Microscale, very invaluable stuff for home printing. Off now to varnish this before the snow sets in... Brrrr

Basically Steve it's beautifully shiny white but there is a certain resilience which stops cocktail sticks pushing the residue away. I am trimming by cutting with my flat chisel edges. Seems to be ok so far. At the mo we are paused while I make the tank AVTUR black outline panels.

That is the plan Ian thanks

Update. The canopy has peed me off big time, a drawback to using Appliance White is that I often let it spray just a tad too thickly, which happened over the canopy so I have been hacking off-ish the thick paint round the framing-ish. Not for the faint hearted but nothing ventured... As a precaution I emailed Airfix/Humbrol offering to buy a set of transparencies (decals for the better set too, but) Dear Sir ,sorry but the model is out of production and we can not therefore... [HUGELY PARAPHRASING, BUT] So I have no choice but to hope for removal without pain, some hopes but we'll see. Out of production huh? And the flat, nose based antenna is positioned too high on the nose, has to come off and be repositioned... Paint lines also need readjusting.

John, seriously I am open to all comments on my threads, it's why we post isn't it? I am also open for mischief any time there's some available, and oh boy wasn't it available huh? Outcome? Say what you like in any thread I start, let's have a giggle and more importantly if there is summat I ought to be doing for gawds-sake tell me. It's most of the fun I get these days And G, old friend we have a bit more brushed Hataka to consider. I plan to brush paint, to get hard cam join lines but I haven't yet decided on whether to use Tamiya dark Green (RAF) or Humbrol's acrylic, using the Wet Palette of course. The Hakata dries with a dusty feeling surface and if either of my boxes included RAF Dark Green I would have used it but the only dark green is the NATO IRR Green which is a worry, would it be the right colour for RAF 70's 80's aircraft? You know what, beggar it I am going to use it, then I can overspray the lot and get the decals down. The Hunter Gate Guardian at RAF Museum Cosford has gone almost brown instead of the green, colours do change.

Are these remarks intended to say a Naughty French Person isn't naughty at all John? Johnny the dart impresses stage by stage, nice one mate. May I just add that a splosh of Daco strong is a normal part of the decalling process every time these days, chez Perdu. I have 'enjoyed?' too many fails if I didn't use such in a build so I don't even bother not to lately.

Phew