maltadefender Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 (edited) Well now. In the spirit of the GB my plan is to get as far through this little pairing as possible in one weekend... three children, one wife, one mother, one father-in-law's 70th birthday and everything else that life can throw at you in 48 hours notwithstanding. I've chosen the El Alamein Dogfight Double set because, well, it's the only thing I've got with the required paints, glue and brushes. But I'm also very glad to have this opportunity to build it because otherwise I would procrastinate and build other stuff and it wouldn't get done. Which, having spent only £7.99 for two new tool Airfix models and all the required paints, would be a sin. And my tools: I'm calling this build A Good Clean Fight. If you happen to chance across my posts usually Derek Robinson isn't far away and my favourite of all his books is the one set in the Western Desert during 1942 when Hornet Squadron flies Tomahawks and Kittyhawks while the SAS traverses the Sahara in Jeeps and blows up the 109s that refuse to go and fight the Desert Air Force. As a result I'm fairly laid-back about the paint and decoration of these aircraft. They represent a moment in time that was captured in my favourite novel, and as such I'm fairly relaxed about the details of the models and the various paints and decals I have at my disposal courtesy of Airfix. On that note, there isn't a cat in hell's chance that the Tomahawk depicted in the set had a white spinner. Looking at the photos, it arrived in North Africa wearing Temperate Land Scheme and was repainted in Mid Stone, Dark Brown and Azure Blue. The spinner - to my eye deciphering the colours - is yellow. So that's how I'm going to paint it. But feel free to join in the debate while I build the Messerschmitt! Edited April 1, 2016 by maltadefender 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specky Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Nice choice and that is a mega price - maybe you should have stocked-up! I have to admit to looking a 'dog-fight doubles' for access to twice as many paints - maybe next time. Best of luck Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 I've got a load of Airfix Albatros D.Vs that cost £1.49 each but only the single Alamein set. Clearances were good for the stash but left a void thereafter. I now have no reason at all to go into the town centre. We had both Antics and Modelzone but both are gone, as is much of the old High Street life. We tend to shop online round these parts which is extremely sad. And now of course everyone who has bought our data now knows what this household buys, when we buy it and what special offer to email us. I get bombarded with special offers on nappies and washing up liquid... makes you wonder what on earth goes on here while I'm at work. Incontinence parties and bubble slides, I think. Or bubble parties and... no, I'll stop there. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I've got a load of Airfix Albatros D.Vs that cost £1.49 each but only the single Alamein set. Clearances were good for the stash but left a void thereafter. I now have no reason at all to go into the town centre. We had both Antics and Modelzone but both are gone, as is much of the old High Street life. We tend to shop online round these parts which is extremely sad. And now of course everyone who has bought our data now knows what this household buys, when we buy it and what special offer to email us. I get bombarded with special offers on nappies and washing up liquid... makes you wonder what on earth goes on here while I'm at work. Incontinence parties and bubble slides, I think. Or bubble parties and... no, I'll stop there. Look on the bright side ol' mate some of us get the funeral expenses and stairlift special offers, typical blooming kids don't know how lucky they are....... Cheers Pat Oh good luck with the build by the way and I might try and find the book you are recommending Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 2, 2016 Share Posted April 2, 2016 Pat I can wholeheartedly recommend All of Derek Robinson books too but I would start at the beginning with war story about hornet squadron in ww1 and then follow it through. The book piece of cake is far far better than itv's dramatisation. Oh and BTW great choice for a build and I'm looking forward to seeing this progress 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 2, 2016 Author Share Posted April 2, 2016 Washed all the sprues twice last night. Washed once and tried painting the prop but there was still a filmy residue on it that dispersed the paint. Another wash later and it now seems to be about right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Weekend update has a little less content than I'd hoped for but father-in-law's 70th birthday takes precedence. Last night I painted the cockpit and assembled it. I didn't take pictures because you've all seen it done more interestingly a million times before. One thing I might add in is painted seatbelts if I can mix a convincing shade for them out of the remaining paints. There was one score for the carpet monster, which was the gunsight. I painted it beautifully, glued it, put it in place and it stuck to my fingertip. Then fell off down a crack between the cooker and the work surface in the kitchen. As a result of this my plan to have the cockpit candy open is now scuppered and it will be closed. Which is fine - very few aircraft were left in the Sahara with their cockpits open for any great length of time. Enough dust got in as it was. With the cockpit done I closed up the fuselage, put the main wing elements together and got on with pre-shading. I have very seldom attempted pre-shading, let alone in 1/72, but I felt that with the quality of paints on offer (not great) and in the case of the 109 such a basic scheme to hang my hat on (buff, buff and more buff) it might be best to give it a whirl. One of the benefits of these paints is that it's quite easy to pre-shade even if you're a bit of a thumbless wonder like me. Whack the black paint on then using a thumbnail clean away the excess. Boom! Here is how it all looked part-way through the 'scratch card technique'. Having got that far before the second round of 70th birthday celebrations today, the wings and fuselage were mated up at tea time. With all the partying now over I'm typing this as the first coat of blue and buff are drying. Pics to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specky Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 That's an interesting looking method for pre-shading - I'll be looking out of your photos Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 3, 2016 Author Share Posted April 3, 2016 Well, as I said... it's not something I do very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Lovely idea that look forward to seeing the results with a cost or two on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 It'll take more than a coat or two! A bad workman blames his tools... so I'll hold my hand up as a bad workman! After painting the spinner I realised that, without primer, the white paint needs three coats plus some touching-up. This meant that, rather than put the white down first, masking it and painting the rest of the fuselage, I thought it best to work in reverse and put the white on last. Great - except that the very watery paint lifts the masking tape left, right and centre. I am still rectifying what was a very runny mess - just need one more crack at the tail stripe and a bit more work on the slightly bizarre blue for the lower surfaces then I'll be done. Quite happy with the pre-shading, although the this white paint takes away from it so will attempt a bit of 'post-production'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
specky Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Well, the pre-shade is still visible, so that's a result! I'm somewhat colour-blind, but even I can see a bit of a discrepancy between your blue and the colour the paint guide might lead you to expect - that's a shame But keep it going, these build into really nice models Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 (edited) Slight change of plan. I'm going to press on with the Messerschmitt but not the Tomahawk as an entry for this GB. Having now done as much research as is necessary, I've come to the conclusion that the paints provided in the set are completely and catastrophically wrong for a 112 Squadron Tomahawk. Those aircraft were operated in Temperate Land Scheme with unapproved red spinners (orders seem to have been for Sky), way past the time that the decals in the set depict. Some of the squadron's Tomahawks were eventually repainted in Desert Scheme but this came right at the end of 1941 with the introduction of the GA- squadron codes as well. The pilot of this aircraft was Neville Bowker, whose daughter remembered him saying that: 'they had to get special permission to repaint on top and under because the colours were wrong for the desert even the colour for the sky looking up at flying aircraft and made them easy to see and it took some time because the ground staff had a fulltime job repairing aircraft. I always laughed about that because the Sharks teeth were enough to attract anything.' Additionally, the 112 Squadron site notes: There was an Amendment No. 3 to the Directorate of Technical Developments Circular No. 144 dated 10 April 1942 ( note the date ) which formalised Middle Eastern camouflage as Dark Earth/ Mid-Stone/ Azure Blue but specifically noted that spinners (on day fighters that is) were to be Dark Earth ie. camouflage. Hope nobody thinks I'm breaking with the spirit of the GB but ultimately I bought this kit years ago to depict a specific pair of aircraft and if the Starter Set of a Spitfire only came with yellow and purple paint you wouldn't try and make it up as a squadron aircraft - you'd either do it as a fantasy racer or buy the correct paint! I am going to build the Tomahawk... but I shall go back to using Xtracolor enamels of the correct shade. As a result only the 109 is going to be part of this GB, sadly. Edited April 4, 2016 by maltadefender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 4, 2016 Author Share Posted April 4, 2016 Well, this is making me feel 12 years old again. And not in a good way! Really frustrating job on the masking but it's close enough. Can't wait to get back to my own paints! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Looks good, the blue isn't too far off rlm 78 funnily enough but the top colour, well that depends on who produced rlm 79. As for the p40 I agree you can only do ne of these every now and again. And as other are finding it can be restrictive. But carry on I like it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) Well everything's together apart from the exhausts. After which will be the recalling and weathering. I'm really not too thrilled by my handiwork. It really is as though my 11-year-old self has popped up and made this one. The paint is really quite manky. Apologies if it offends anyone's eyes venturing here! To cap it all my knife is blunt, resulting in the aerial and pitot breaking on the (fairly hefty) sprues. The replacement aerial is cut out from the decal paper. I'm leaving the ordnance/tank option altogether. In A Good Clean Fight, the Messerschmitts were all parked up on the airfield the whole time. With shortages of fuel and ammunition thanks to Malta-based aircraft cutting the supply lines and no obvious reason to waste aircraft or wear them out, the fighter units were held back in the course of the book - making them easy pickings for the SAS raiding parties. That's how I shall finish this one off. Edited April 7, 2016 by maltadefender 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 8, 2016 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Looking nice that keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 Hmmm... somewhat ironic choice of words there, Daz. I went to pick it up to finish the decals and missed my footing, knocking it off the shelf and knocking the starboard gear, port cannon and tail wheel off. I'll finish the decalling (I hate these microscopic stencils with a vengeance!) and then pop them back on. Anything untoward I'll try and mask with a smidgen of weathering! Carpet monster's tummy is rumbling as I managed to find the parts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Ne-e-early there. Just exhausts and weathering to do. Note to self: choose working areas more wisely in future: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 Looking good that. Nice cat as well but a bit over scale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Thought I'd recreate a scene from The Goodies... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maltadefender Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 Done and going in the Gallery... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 And impressive it is too! Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazdot Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 love that good work 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jean Posted April 18, 2016 Share Posted April 18, 2016 Great desert paint scheme! I am a fan of sand-colored upper surfaces. The finished model looks real nice! Congrats! Is the cat in the same scale? If yes, the real monster does not bear thinking... JR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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