Val

Stunning model!

Amazing work!

Beautiful work. I'm in love with those exhausts!

Lovely work!

Beautiful work!

Terribly sorry to hear about your Dad, Bill. Sending you my condolences and best wishes.

Thanks mate, really kind of you to say so! Honestly, I'm no expert on airbrushing. I just made the paint quite thin and, went over it a few times when I made mistakes!

Thank you, everyone! Thank you I used the new Vallejo Model Air colours on all three camo colours, and they went down great. I've not been convinced by some Model Air colours in the past but I thought these three looked good, and I'm glad you agree Thanks! Builds up nicely, only places I found to watch is the modular nose (I didn't have too much of a problem, just the usual dry fitting and sanding you expect with Airfix) and the cones on the front of the landing gear pods; I could have (and probably should have) spent a bit more time on them.

Cool, I’ll try that, thanks!

Wonderful work!

Thanks Anil, yes it’s a fun little kit which I enjoyed making. And yes, I’ve got to say the Alclad HSS went down really well. First time I’d used Alclad beyond their clears and I was worried after hearing stories, but this colour at least seemed to work great. Love yours as well mate, looks great on the pole! Thanks! The Alclad HSS worked great. I used it over Alclad white primer, and didn’t even bother polishing the plastic. I probably should have done as the airfix stuff is textured, but I can recommend the paint!

Thanks Adam, it’s a great fun scheme, and the specific reason I bought this kit. Cheers Greg. Yes, you’re probably right in hindsight. Photography is far from my strong point! Thanks mate! Yeah, I think with Model Air it dries a bit quick and spits a lot when that happens. Guess I’m just a bit more confident with Tamiya!

Oh cool, thanks for that mate, glad it isn’t too over the top! I got trapped in the spitfire mindset where they seem to spew oil and smoke out of everywhere!

Hi mate, thanks for your kind words, and also your information. I don’t mind at all, I’m always happy to learn. To be honest, the instructions were a little ambiguous about the missiles! I know for next time :)

Airfix Scale: 1/48 Type: Messerschmitt BF 109E-4/N Trop Extras used: None Paints and colours used: Tamiya paints (please see build thread), Flory Dark Dirt, Flory Sand Pigment, Alcald II Aqua Gloss, Tamiya Matt Ok this is the last one for today! Again, another I finished a little while ago but have only just got around to photographing. This was actually for last years Mediterranean theatre group build, which was great fun, and I did actually finish her just in time but failed to get her photographed... The lovely Airfix BF 109E-4/N Trop. In terms of detail it isn't a patch on the Eduard 109s, but still nicely detailed with reasonably restrained panel lines, reasonably well detailed cockpit, lovely decals and a simple, well fitting construction. The Eduard 109s are better, but at a reasonable price, this is a quick and fun, generally hassle free build. I chose to use Tamiya paints throughout even though they probably aren't quite as accurate colour wise as the Vallejos I have, as I am more confident to get the fine control needed for some areas of the camo patterns. A great fun build, and a recommended little kit. Many thanks, Val

Airfix Scale: 1/72 Type: Spitfire F Mk.22 Extras used: None Paints and colours used: Alclad II High Speed Silver, various Tamiya paints, Flory Grime Wash, please see build thread for the clears Hi All, I finished this sometime ago, but it's taken me a while to get around to photographing here. This is the Airfix kit. It's pretty decent. Nicely recessed details which are a little soft in places. Fit is generally good, but not very positive in places. Minimal filler needed (just Mr surfacer really). Over all a good fun build if you take your time with the fit. I actually made this for a group build on another forum, but missed the deadline in typical Val fashion! On with the pics. The canopy is quite thick, but the cockpit details aren't brilliant either so not really worth worrying about. It's only 1/72 after all. The decals were brilliant, btw. Thanks for looking! Val

Revell Scale: 1/48 Type: Dassault Rafale M Extras used: Eduard GBU-12 bombs, Renaissance MICA EM missiles. Paints and colours used: Mainly Vallejo with AK Xtreme metals where appropriate. Flory Dark Dirt Wash, various oils, Alclad II Aqua Gloss, Tamiya Matt varnish and Flory weathering sponge. Hi again! I'm spamming today, got a few finished off and photographed... So, this is another one I finished a little while ago but only just had a chance to photograph. A lovely kit, only issue is really is around the air intakes. Also the missiles aren't great due to an awkward to clean join, which is why I used resin. Other than that, nicely detailed and relatively straight forward build. If I was to build another one, I'd probably got for an after market seat too. Decals were nice as well/ So here she is: That's it! Thanks for looking! Val

Airfix Scale: 1/48 Type: Curtiss P-40B Extras used: Eduard exhausts and wheels, and Montex masks Paints and colours used: Vallejo model air Curtiss Brown, Green and Grey (AV71125, AV71294 and AV71296), Vallejo metal colours on exhaust, Vallejo Interior Green, various Tamiya where applicable, Flory Dark Dart, Flory Mug pigments, Aqua Gloss and Tamiya Matt Clear. Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. I'm hoping to be back here a bit more regularly. Well, what can I say? What a kit! This is what Airfix can do when they put their mind to it! Well detailed, restrained panel lines, lovely cockpit construction and detail, and a near perfect fit, aided by the darker grey, stiffer plastic. This is, in my honest opinion, as good as an equivalent Tamiya kit (the new Spitfire Mk.I excepted as that is the next level). Painted with the newer Vallejo colours which went down flawlessly. Here's the pics. After watching Phil Flory's build of the Hasegawa/Eduard kit, I did a bit of research and found I'd over-done the exhaust staining a bit. However, I used a bit of Tamiya Buff, well thinned, and I think they look ok. The instrument panel is just the raised kit details with the perfectly-fitting decal. I think it's as good as photo-etch in this scale; nice work, Airfix. I used Montex masks throughout and that includes the markings (except the tiger and the lady). They worked well. but a lot of work on the roundels, which could have probably been ok with the excellent-performing kit decals. The lights on the wings are the only things that aren't great, just a moulded lump. I painted them first silver, then a mixture of clear red or green mixed with Krystal Klear glue. Chipping work was done with Vallejo Metal Color Steel and a torn sponge. The staining work was all done with oils. That's it folks! A fantastic kit, highly recommended. The wheels are probably of from the kit, but the Eduard exhaust stacks are nice. Thanks for looking, Val

Thanks mate! Yeah I'm with you with Vallejo and Xtracrylics. The problem I find with those paints is that they seem to work fine to begin with, but after a few mins they start spitting and it's a nightmare! I've not tried fine details with MRP yet, although I do like those paints in my limited experience. This is why I chose to do this paintwork (the green bits anyway) with Tamiya as opposed to Vallejo, I find them the most controllable and still cover well even when very thin. I sacrificed a little colour accuracy for control, although the colours look pretty good to my eye anyway. I think the difference is they don't dry as much on the needle. However, the plenty out there do wonders with Vallejo and Xtracrylics, so maybe it's just me!

Thank you! I thought I'd missed the deadline, but it turns out it's Sunday... I might might just do this! So let's keep you all updated. First of all the decals: As you'd expect with Airfix, they were flawless! Brilliant work, Cartograf! After a gloss layer, Flory Dark Dirt was applied to give a panel line wash. Then a layer of Tamiya Semi-gloss clear was applied, followed by Flory Sand wash. The idea is to sand it off and give a smooth, metally but sandy look. I've started sanding it off but not pictured it yet. When that's done, I need to finish the tail, the landing gear and the small bits and she's done. It's probably 60/40 I won't get this done in time, but there's a chance!! More soon! Val

Thanks mate, yes a shame about photobucket, it really knocked my enthusiasm for build threads, although I’m back into it now! The exhaust stains I did with a dark grey, either rubber black or nato black, and super diluted it. I had half a colourcup of airbrush thinners and then a small brush full of the dark grey so it’s basically dirty thinners, and then kept going over the exhaust stain areas, drying it, going over etc until the stain is about right. Then, I repeated with a medium grey in exactly the same way! The paint was so diluted that you could hardly see it when you started painting it on, so takes a while!

Thank you all, I really appreciate your kind words! And yes, I’ll knock back the spinners and props when I’ve next got some Matt/satin in the airbrush!

Ok, Major update time! Painting is all but finished! First thing was to black out the glass after all the rescribing was finsihed. I then primed her with Stynylrez and then pre shaded her. A couple of tiny areas were made good as you will spot. I then painted the white band before then adding some more pre-shading while I had white in my brush. After repriming the areas which were worked on, I then got the blue down (Vallejo RLM 66). Next step was the RLM 02 (Tamiya XF-22) This took a while as it was about 20% paint 80% thinners and a low air pressure, I'd guess less than 10psi. I then did a bit of post shading, although more will be done when the decals are down. And then RLM 71 which I used Tamiya XF-61. The colour is good but not perfect. However, I wanted to use Tamiya over Vallejo as I felt I could control it easier. And that's where I'm up to. Next step is gloss and then decals! Many thanks, Val

So, she's together. No dramas here really, generally fell together. No real dramas. Just a bit of Mr Surfacer on the front joint and around the gun panels on the leading edge. They were an ok fit but just wanted to calm the panel lines down. Only genuine gap was at the rear of the wing where it joined to the underside of the fuselage. I painted up the inside of the air intakes and area on the wings where they attach. Again, a good fit but a touch of filler was needed. I've got the glassing on, again a good fit but not perfect. The middle canopy is purely for masking purposes! Here's the middle canopy which will be used. I'm going leave the canopy open now I've decided. I've also rescribed where required. An easy job on this kit as the panel lines are deep. I also rescribed the panels down the belly and spine. It's weird, I've spend years trying and often failing to get perfect seams on the fuselage join, and on this kit, my first ever 109, I'm putting them back in! Just need to sand in the air intake filler areas and then she's ready for priming. More soon!

She's looking great!