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I thought it best not to incur the wrath of Julien or Mike, so I will post this as a new forum discussion topic instead of taking the original topic on 1930's biplane finishes further off course. Pulled several kits out of storage after reading the comments on the 1/72 Airfix Bulldog prop. For what it's worth, here goes! The Airfix prop is indeed bass ackwards, with the flat side to the front and the airfoil side to the rear- very, very difficult to correct, especially as the prop blades are molded to the spinner and Hucks starter dog. The prop and spinner from the Matchbox Siskin is a very good match- correct length, blade profile, spinner, and rotation. The prop and spinner from a Matchbox, Heller, or Frog Gladiator are very good matches as far as the prop blades are concerned, but the spinners are not the same as the ones on the Bulldog- again, very hard to correct as the blades and spinner are molded as one. The spinner from the Matchbox Fury is a match, but the direction of rotation is the opposite of the radial-engined Siskin and Gauntlet/Gladiator/Bulldog. (I don't have any of the Gauntlet kits- Aeroclub or AZ, but I would think they would work as well. I know Airfix is about to re-release their Bulldog, and while I am betting it will have new, much nicer decals, I wish (and it's a dream, I know!) they would consider adding a new sprue with a correct prop, and cockpit parts- they could do the same for the Demon, and I sure wouldn't mind paying more for a "revised" tooling! Mike

OK. ive decide to get this kit but what size prop do i need? any help would be apreaciated MT in advance

What the title asks. I am trying to finish up a project and was wondering if the G10 props were metal or wood.

P-40B Resin Prop & Exhaust Upgrades (for Airfix) 1:48 Ultracast Ultracast have a reputation for exceptional quality parts, and a penchant for WWII aircraft, so when the new Airfix P-40B was released, some new stuff was to be expected. Well, here it is! Their products are high quality resin, finely cast and with sensible casting blocks. The sets arrive in a ziplok bag with a predominantly white header card that extends down the back to provide a little extra support for the parts. There are three sets in this batch, two types of props, and a set of highly detailed exhaust stacks, as follows: P-40B/C Tubular Exhausts (48266) Two sets of exhaust stacks with high detail and delicate hollow tips, and prominent welding lines as per the real things. The casting block is simplicity itself to remove, and you are left with a pair of tabs on the rear of the parts that fit into the fuselage sides, in the same manner as the original kit parts. P-40B Hollow Steel Prop & Spinner Curtiss 11' Blade 614-1C1.5-12 (48267) The hollow props that were fitted to the early P-40s were made of steel for strength, and had sharp "needle" tips. This set includes a 2-part spinner with a back-plate onto which three blades attach via a flat section at the root of the blade. There is a little wiggle-room here when fitting, so ensure you have them correctly aligned on the base before the glue cures. With the three blades in place, the spinner cap is installed, and you can admire the superb raised detail around the spinner. P-40B Aluiminium Prop & Spinner Curtiss 11' Blade 89201-3 (48267) Lighter aluminium blades were also fitted later to the P-40, with a slightly broader tip to the blades, and some minor differences to the spinner's back-plate in the shape of the blade exit points, and were usually seen on the AVG airframes. Construction is identical to the hollow steel set above, and the same cautionary note applies. Conclusion Great sets, and when I get around to re-starting my stalled build (I seem to have a growing number), I'll be sure to use them. As usual with resin, take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding resin, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all, I finally took some pictures of this thing, it's not straightforward as it's too big for my piece of paper and is very reflective. Instead of trying to document it like a model I've opted to make it look silly/pretty/instagrammy, with soft focus etc. It's Riff Raff's laser from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, as a full-size prop. I doubt very much that it's made the same way as the original but the shape and size feel about right. I put it together over a week of lunchtimes before we went to a screening last year. The main ingredient is two sets of 15mm knitting needles. I channelled our very own Nigel Heath and bent these using a heat gun and a bending spring. I don't have any bending springs so I made one by winding wire around a pen. It took a fair while, but not nearly as long as it would've done to go to the hardware shop and discover they didn't have the spring I wanted I used a pan to guide the curve and then cut the ends off square. The needles go into holes drilled in a broken turned boss salvaged from our sofa. Lots of epoxy keeps it all together, and I drilled all the way through the boss and each tube to pin it with more wire so there'd be some sort of mechanical joint. The not-authentic ribbed bit is part of a hose coupler, which hides a step between the boss and the rear part. That and the grip are made from pine dowel wrapped in thin styrene sheet. I cut the sheet slightly too long to leave recesses at the ends of the tube and expoxied ping-pong balls into them. The small ball is from a craft shop and has a plastic lightning bolt glued into a saw cut. I painted it all with some awesome shiny rattle can paint from the hardware store. I wouldn't recommend it for models though as it rubs off - maybe the pigment is graphite powder? It was great for this as it took no time and looked just fine on the night. It's probably obvious that I had a great time making the LASER. It's sometimes liberating to just get it done rather than fret about the finish or the details. Plus it helped us win the Best Couples' Costume prize at the screening which was awesesome. Not often that the Mrs. and I get to stand on stage while seven or eight hundred baying twenty-somethings raise the roof with applause! Cheers, Will

Evening, Have had this lurking on the shelf for a while with the aircraft pretty much complete but struggling to get the base finished off, well today gave me an opportunity to get it wrapped up. The kit is beautiful and I had no trouble whatsoever with this one, the rockets were a bit fiddly for my fat fingers but the rest of it was spot on. I wanted to try something a bit different and had an idea to portray the aircraft just airborne off a strip somewhere in SE Asia, with the main gear almost fully in the wheel wells. This bit was quite straight forward, but something was niggling away at me about the whole thing, the stationary prop just didn't sit well with me. I just happened to have a cheap old mobile that had died stashed away, it's amazing the things you keep, anyway pulling this apart revealed a tiny motor for the vibrate function....could I motorise the prop? A plasticard support structure in the nose, some carefully routed wiring and a battery holder and switch on the base and......I'll let the pics do the talking. All comments and criticism welcome, hope you like it. Eng

Having waxed lyrical about how to spin a prop, I thought I'd put my money where my mouth is. So here is original Seafire photo from Duxford in 2010:- A small photoshop smart-fill later, no seafire. Cue ropey, lashed up, OOB airfix Seafire, this is with zero photoshop-age, hence shadows. I printed the background, built the model with a steel rod in the wingtip (which you can see) made a hole in the photo for the rod, clamped up using live view on the camera to get the angle about right and spun the prop very slowly with my airbrush and a shutter speed of about or second or so. The only mod was a brass shaft for the prop and and a brass tube epoxied into the fuse to accept it. Good fun actually. by cannibilising the kit decals I was able to get enough for the photo, eg pinching both '3's, cutting an 8 into a six, making the 'VL' from scratch, etc. Pilots crap and I haven't properly detailed anything yet, but quite pleased with the result. Also added about 33% to my annual build total in one go! Nick