nheather

My aircraft niche is British WWII (and pre-war) aircraft in 1:72. Looking for recommendations for an RAF Mustang, an earlier Mark preferred. I just build OOB so not interested in anything where I would need to buy after-market parts or decals. Not too uptight about accuracy but would prefer to avoid highly inaccurate classic moulds. Also looking for sensible prices, not these that look great but cost more than a good 1:48 model.

Nice idea but it has a significant flaw ... "When you finish a model ......"

I have a can of that too, and very effective it is too. But when it eventually runs out I’m not convinced I will replace it because based on the smell I’m pretty sure that it is cellulose in a spray can.

I recently watched a YouTube video by an artist that uses airbrushes to paint amazingly realistic portraits. This particular video was his top ten airbrushes for the beginner. Wasn't presently surprised to see he placed the Eclipse CS in first place as a combination of performance, easy of use and price.

Just checking that you realise that the 0.5mm needs a different nozzle cap too - so three parts needed to swap over to 0.5mm, needle, nozzle and nozzle cap. Cheers, Nigel

Welcome to BM - I'm in West Sussex too, Horsham.

From what I have heard the 4 hour version adds Josephine content for the most part - don't expect more battle scenes or a better handling of the history/politics

Loved this film. And strange though it might sound, if you ignore the giant lizard in the room the film is historically more accurate than Napoleon 😀

Nice build, really like the subtle weathering. Question, I’ve got a Tamiya Churchill VII half built, got my eye on the Crocodile too, but much as I quite like the Tamiya Sherman’s it has one (or should I say a pair) of the most labour intensive parts I’ve ever encountered. Its the lower side/suspension pieces, a giant of a piece have include all the suspension springs, with really prominent seams, particularly in every spring. It took me ages trying to clean up the springs, not only are there a lot of them, not only are the seams quite thick, but they are really hard to access with blades and files. I did contemplate leaving them be in the hope that they wouldn’t show once assembled with the wheels on but my ADHD got the better of me. Not sure I could face that again so I’ve been holding off on the Crocodile.

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British WWII in 1:72, these would be nice Fairy Battle Westland Lysander Avro Anson Westland Whirlwind

I tried a pair of these but was disappointed to find that they were too narrow to fit over my prescription glasses. My spectacles are not partilurly large but above average. Shame as they looked promising. Fortunately I purchased from Argos so it was very easy to return them.

I've always liked the figure poses on this kit - showing all of the crew trying their best to be behind the gun shield.

Agreed, but not to an extent that would show at 1:72 scale.

Doesn’t look right to me either. http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/battle.html But, like you, I’m no SME. Cheers, Nigel

I make regular visits to Bovington and one occasion I was hoping to see an example of SCC2. I saw several brown British tanks and asked a curator which one might be SCC2. His advice was not to trust any of the exhibits. He explained that painting exhibits in the 70s, 80s and 90s was typically handed over to cadets and they were equipped with whatever paint was available in the storeroom. He explained that they take a better approach these days but older exhibits can be quite wrong. BTW in recent years, Bovington have repainted some of their exhibits more accurately including the infamous Matilda.

Ukraine has demonstrated the value of drones for ground attack and I think the western military organisation are quickly trying to assess how they go forward. This week we have seen Sweden pulling out of the Tempest programme (after about a year of consideration) and Germany announcing that they want to pull out of the FCAS programme (but not out altogether because they are considering swapping to Tempest). Not read the report but just the title strikes me as strange because the F-35 and A-10 are not remotely the same role. But what do I think would replace the A-10 - swarms of drones. More interesting is the devastation that can be caused by drone speedboats in the anti-shipping role. I believe there is still very much a role for aircraft but those roles and the numbers required is probably the subject of a lot of discussions.

Thanks, I didn’t know about the use of RAL 7033 and since early war is my main interest that is very useful to know. Just checking, would the driver’s compartment have had RAL 1001 walls or was it all RAL 7033 down there?

If anyone is getting a Mars 4 and is thinking of getting a Cure and Wash I have seen a suggestion that a good solution is the Creality UW-01 - it is a single device like the Mercury Plus, but it is bigger but not as huge as the the Mercury X, so a very nice compromise. Also it is priced about the same as the Mercury Plus. If they let me, I'm considering returning my Mercury Plus and buying the Creality UW-01

There is no question about it fitting - the tank is huge, really designed for their biggest printers - even though the Mars 4 has a bigger plate it would be dwarfed in the Mercury X tank.

Good thought - it had crossed my mind too. It all depends on how the impellor engages. There will be a magnetic coupling but the two may be different shapes/sizes.# But to be honest the Mercury X tank is ginormous - not only does it take up so much space on the bench but it takes something like 7 litres of IPA to fill to the plate. Maybe Elegoo or someone else will spot the opportunity and bring out a tank for the Mercury Plus to suit the Mars 4. Not holding my breath though, Chinese companies like Elegoo are not renowned for supporting their products, more focussed to just move onto the next product

That was the initial mistake I made. I concentrated on the basket and saw that the plate didn’t sit neatly on the ledges. But I just thought that unless I’m printing right up to the edge that wouldn’t be a big deal. Then it dawned on me, the basket isn’t the issue, the plate is actually wider than the plastic tank, so there is no way that it’s going in horizontally. It also defeats one of the main selling points of the Mercury Plus, the elaborate attachment that allows you to fit the plate and lower it into the tank without the need of the basket. My hope is that at some point Elegoo, or a third party will wing out a slightly wider plastic tank. Until then, I suspect I will keep it and just put up with popping off the prints for washing in the basket. In fact, if at a later date I move onto water based resin I will probably only use the UV part of it.

I’ve calmed down a bit now and still thinking what to do. I have contacted Elegoo and they will let me return it in exchange for a Mercury X but the response is in second-language English so it is not entirely clear how the exchange would work or whether my postage would be refunded. I’m conscious that as they trade in US dollars every refund I receive and every payment I make will get hit by exchange and admin fees. When I bought the printer, wash and cure and some resin from them I was shocked by how much on top I got charged by the credit card company. I could kick myself for ordering the Mercury Plus and Resin from Elegoo rather than from Amazon. The price saving was quite small, and wiped out by the credit card fees, may have even worked out more expensive. It did cross my mind at the time to just order the wash and cure and resin separately from Amazon, but it seemed simpler to get everything I needed together from Elegoo and I never imagined the fees would be so big. Depends on how they do the exchange, whether I get hit by one set of fees or two, also whether they refund the return postage - none of this is clear in their response. Also I don’t really want the Mercury X, haven’t really got room for two machines, plus you have to use loads more IPA because of the large tank volume - it’s much bigger than you really need for the Mars 4. So maybe best just to put up with popping the prints off the plate and washing them in the basket. But so everyone is clear, the Mars 4 (all Mars 4, not just the Ultra) plates are bigger than the Mercury Plus tank. One of the selling points of the Mercury Plus is that it comes with an elaborate adaptor that you clip the plate onto and can be height adjusted to sit in the tank without the need for the basket - all very neat. You cannot use this with the Mars 4.

I haven’t started using mine yet, need to get my man cave cleared up and organised. But one thing I spotted on the Elegoo website that the rise speed of the Mars 4 Ultra plate is tearing the FEP film through normal use. Think the fix is to program it so the initial lift speed is slower - but I need to read up properly as I may have misread - but thought I’d warn you just in case.

So angry about this. Just gone out to check and you are correct, the Mercury Plus is not compatible with the Mars 4 Ultra. I’m annoyed because I ordered the Mars 4 Ultra and the Mercury Plus V2 at the same time so it should have been pretty plain to any one that they were to be used together. But no mention from Elegoo that they are not really compatible with each other, nor does it say that on the product information. At first I thought it was not ideal but workable, the plate still sits on the basket but not on the ledges so can’t print right up to the edges. But then I realised that this isn’t the issue, it is that the plate is wider than the plastic container so it simply won’t fit. Pretty annoyed that I was sold the two things as a bundle when they are clearly not compatible with each other.