Airfix 1/72 therapy build thread: Wildcat done!

[06/24]

Beautiful!

[Nigel Heath]

Quote

 BTW have you tried mottling with with 0.15mm needle yet?

 

Not yet, what with my computer problems and Telford last weekend I've only got a token bit of modelling time in recently (I managed to stick two pieces of PE on my Chickasaw tonight which was hardly worthy of posting). Maybe this side of Christmas I will have a go with it.

[azureglo]

1 hour ago, 06/24 said:

Beautiful!

Hey @06/24/Jon, many thanks. now that Mrs 06/24 should be on the mend, time for some non tank styrene action?

 

Anil

[CedB]

Very nice Gnat Anil - Good to meet you at Telford too  

[azureglo]

And the RFI is done

 

 

Now to to get on with the next build, I feel a Spitfire coming on...

[azureglo]

So from this Monday, the next kit:

 

 

 

Fancy doing the all silver one box art subject with Alclad HSS and trying out my new primer: Mr Surfacer 1500/Leveling thinner. I forgot that I'd started one of these way back in 2016 before my health issues:

Fascinating story of the plane I used to look after here,

 

http://www.rafseletar.co.uk/flying-squadrons/supermarine-spitfire/schoolboys-spitfire/

 

Turns out I can do my previous charge in silver if I so felt or even as a Battle of Britain plane:

 

 

 

So I retrieved the bulkhead with belt mounting and painted the cockpit yesterday. Mr Surfacer 1500 was a dream, went on effortlessly, self leveled and ready for paint in 20 minutes. Interior green was slapped on. Today, I added steel Eduard belts and assembled the pit  & detail painted. Note the masked no painted area, advisable if you want anything to fit on these new  tool Airfix kits

 

 

 

 

Note new tool: @CedB gifted me this stand base at Telford and I attached my previous clamp assembly to create the miraculous AzureCed Clamp, 

 

 

Balance test, sir she's gonna fly!

 

 

And winner of the 2018 Giant Runner Gate is!!!

 

Wrapped up the fuselage & wings today, seams tomorrow and a gentle easy finish next week as I hang my head in shame over my failed P-63 STBG entry, soon to be part of KUTA 2018 GB...

 

 

Adios Muchachos

 

Anil

[CedB]

Nice choice Anil  

Glad the bendy stand thingie is getting some usage - nice rig!

[azureglo]

Like @06/24, I got a bit bogged down with life etc and let this languish: It turned out what I needed to restart my flagging mojo was a homemade 4 cheese gnocchi, homemade Parmesan & chive roll and a zingy citrus dressed salad as lovingly handcrafted by @Nigel Heath . His recipes and his models are best experienced in real life, big thanks Nigel!

 

 

So back to the Spit: Made a pigs ear of drilling port cannon mounts for resin replacements so resorted to melted sprue glop to fill and re-drill- I find drilling fillers, even milliput and especially CA, rather a challenge  compared to styrene.

 

 

A quick blast of Mr Surfacer 1500 showed a few greebles that were quickly dealt with.The many gaps, especially around the carb intake and wings were dealt with with Mr Surfacer 500 wiped off with acetone for a change and a new way to get high. Also reamed out the top filler holes with my desktop grinder to receive punched filler caps later. The kit rendition was two ovals with  an impossible to remove seam.

 

 

While I was prepping the other small parts, drilled out the exhausts.

 

 

So priming day awaits tomorrow.

 

Cheers

 

Anil

 

 

[06/24]

Lovely 

[azureglo]

I fear  @06/24's recent succumbing to beer & whisky has spread to me: Unlike his work related stress, mine was caused by a lack of beer and whisky that I urgently needed to address...Allons y mes braves. First the gun sight as Airfix have interpreted it. It would take a pixie with a surgical laser to carve a gun sight out of this random blob.

 

[

 

Fortunately I have three AZ spits that will be done as civilians, so will have no need for gun sights. One was duly appropriated, some UV resin, a sliver of blue acetate and voila l

 

 

Airfix canopies: Some where there is one that isn't full of flaws and actually fits. This one is halfway there, no flaws but as for the fit...Nothing some canopy PVA can't deal with but would have been nice to have a properly fitting one piece closed one for those of who are in flight people.

 

 

Incidentally if you're using the eduard mask, they forgot the bit at the top of the windscreen which Pmask do include and to my amazement conformed and stuck down:

 

 

 

Tomorrow sees the test with Mr Surfacer 1500 which, judging by the bit behind the canopy, may turn out very well indeed. I feel a strong whisky depletion in my blood stream which I must now attend to, forthwith. BTW you stumble onto some interesting things at BM: intrigued by @Procopius's signature, I acquired a copy of "No weed death", a slim but beautiful anthology of poetry from Gervase Stewart which I would strongly recommend to those of you interested in modern poets, few of whom expired in a Supermarine Walrus...it turned out like PC's sig, he truly did burn for England. A pity as his urban poetry seemed on the verge of great things.

 

G'night wallabies 'n roos,

 

Anil 

 

[clive_t]

Wow, this is some thread - modelling at the speed of light! Brilliant results too, I am compelled to fall in line behind everyone else and see where this goes next! 

[06/24]

@clive_tI would suggest a decent sized glass of uisge beatha is essential for following @azureglo. He produces work of such precision and detail at such speed it renders a dram necessary to regain equilibrium. 

 

My beer and whisky fuelled delay parlayed in a seasonal company meal last night which feature the aforementioned culprits followed by a bottle of Merlot, which meant progress in my world was “limited” today. Anil I do not suggest you follow this prescription, stick to the whisky!

 

Also, since @Procopiusgot a name check too, I can confirm that Edward is a gentleman of taste and discernment and it comes as no surprise he has found us an obscure but brilliant poet. I go to acquire said tome forthwith.

 

I only bring bandes dessines of avions and femmes fatales, but we each have our strengths...

[azureglo]

23 hours ago, clive_t said:

Wow, this is some thread - modelling at the speed of light! Brilliant results too, I am compelled to fall in line behind everyone else and see where this goes next! 

Cheers Clive, a fellow Pompey lad I see, alas I am exiled to Basingstoke from my beloved Southsea hence making models to pass the time...I've following your microscopic Spad build and its a hoot!

 

22 hours ago, 06/24 said:

@clive_tI would suggest a decent sized glass of uisge beatha is essential for following @azureglo. He produces work of such precision and detail at such speed it renders a dram necessary to regain equilibrium. 

 

My beer and whisky fuelled delay parlayed in a seasonal company meal last night which feature the aforementioned culprits followed by a bottle of Merlot, which meant progress in my world was “limited” today. Anil I do not suggest you follow this prescription, stick to the whisky!

 

Also, since @Procopiusgot a name check too, I can confirm that Edward is a gentleman of taste and discernment and it comes as no surprise he has found us an obscure but brilliant poet. I go to acquire said tome forthwith.

 

I only bring bandes dessines of avions and femmes fatales, but we each have our strengths...

Precision and detail, yes, thats um,  what I aim for. Definitely not frantically bodging bits of plastic together and jamming them in the display cabinet as some would suggest... Tell me more of these comic books..

 

[azureglo]

An update on priming day: This Mr Surfacer 1500 /Mr Leveling combo is primer heaven. Man it is smooooooth, ya dig? 

 

 

 

 

Its sandable and rock hard in 30 mins like Stylnylres too and the best bit is gun wash clean up in 5 mins! Its already smooth enough but I'm going to give it a once over with 8000 micromesh prior to the Alclad HSS going one. Another victory in my modelling quest and it uses the Nectar of The Gods, Mr Leveling Thinner, praise be.

 

Have a fab week, y'all

 

Anil

[06/24]

Born and brought up in Basingstoke, I escaped at age 19 and haven’t been back...

[azureglo]

3 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Born and brought up in Basingstoke, I escaped at age 19 and haven’t been back...

If you miss it I can post pictures of the many, many roundabouts...truly the phrase "dismal hole" has never been so apt.

[06/24]

So about those comic books. There's a long and esteemed tradition of decent comic strips in Europe, of which Tintin is probably the most famous, but many take a more "grown up" approach.

 

My current favourite is Angel Wings, a six part series (volume five has just recently come out) featuring the adventures of WW2 WASP pilot and some time OSS operative Angela McCloud. The series features the brilliant aviation art of Romain Hugault:

 

Tome 4 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

Research... by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

Tome 4 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

Untitled by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

Angel Wings Tome 5 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

I've also just ordered a two parter (so far) named "Little England" which plainly doesn't sound as odd to its Belgain creator:

 

[06/24]

Both series, coincidentally or not, start off in Burma. (I should call it Myanmar, but it was Burma when the action took place.)

[06/24]

Ps I now realise, somewhat belatedly, that Anil may not have meant his comment literally. So apologies for the thread hijack!

[azureglo]

1 hour ago, 06/24 said:

So about those comic books. There's a long and esteemed tradition of decent comic strips in Europe, of which Tintin is probably the most famous, but many take a more "grown up" approach.

 

My current favourite is Angel Wings, a six part series (volume five has just recently come out) featuring the adventures of WW2 WASP pilot and some time OSS operative Angela McCloud. The series features the brilliant aviation art of Romain Hugault:

 

Tome 4 by Jon Gwinnett, on Flickr

 

 

Now this Jon has tickled my fancy and sent me scurrying to the interweb, Many decades ago I was big fan of Moebius (jean Giraud) and Jodorowsky, who I actually got to meet and listen to his slightly crazy idea for making a 10 + hour film of Dune over a very wine filled evening in Barcelona..I take it you're aware on the L'Incal series of graphic novels?

 

Mind you these have lanes in them woohoo! And pretty ladies, the death of all model building when Azureglo turns his addled mind to them....😍

24 minutes ago, 06/24 said:

Ps I now realise, somewhat belatedly, that Anil may not have meant his comment literally. So apologies for the thread hijack!

Hijack away, this is fun!

 

[clive_t]

3 hours ago, azureglo said:

Cheers Clive, a fellow Pompey lad I see, alas I am exiled to Basingstoke from my beloved Southsea hence making models to pass the time...I've following your microscopic Spad build and its a hoot!

Lol lucky you, I had the dubious honour and doubtful privilege of working a contract with Balfour Beatty some years ago at their Basingstoke offices... Best thing about that place was the road out of it!

 

For the avoidance of confusion I should say I am a resident of Portsmouth (albeit for the past 30 years) rather than a true product, although my better half (her words, not mine) does hail from Southsea!

[azureglo]

And today's small update: A shiny High Speed Silver Spitfire: Absolutely loving the Mr Surfacer 1500, decided not to micromesh as I wanted to see how it came out onto the straight primer. Interestingly I tried a new technique I saw one of our car sprayers use on a 1:1 Jensen. he made several continuous passes and built up a wet coat that truly shimmered as it went on. Pretty easy to do with Alclad but be slow and patient! Its the exact opposite of thin multiple coats but everything seems to have self leveled and ended up with a high shine:

 

 

 

 

No modelling for a few days as its off to the Auction House for vintage guitars and amps, makes kit collecting look inexpensive...there's a lovely 1961 Les Paul Custom, a snip  at £14000.

 

Cheers

 

Anil

[06/24]

Oooooh shiny!

[clive_t]

Very nice looking paint job there. Can I show my ignorance and ask what is 'micromesh'?

[azureglo]

1 hour ago, clive_t said:

Very nice looking paint job there. Can I show my ignorance and ask what is 'micromesh'?

Hey Clive apparently its ultrafine (reusable) polishing abrasive sheet developed for restoring fighter canopies if you believe the blurb. In reality its a wet/dry abrasive sheet that goes from 3600 to 12,000 grit (8K & 12K work best dry). the deal is you step up through the grades to restore clear parts or buff primers (6-12K) So in canopy restoration you would use 600-2000 grit to do the major removal then in my case I use 4k (wet), 6K (wet), 8k (dry) and then 12K (dry) . You can pay ludicrous amounts for tiny sheets but I get mine from:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-Mesh-Polishing-Cloth-Sheets-9-Grades-7-Sizes-from-3-to-1-metre/232175913673?hash=item360ec34ac9:m:mIB7O6RGV9MgJDY_WyA49zw:rk:2:pf:1&frcectupt=true

 

I use it all the time for landing lights etc. like the build below: I use it also remove blemishes from guitars , french polished furniture etc. Apparently if you use the 8-12K on primer to get a mirror finish then use metallics you get a ludicrously shiny result but thats for the next build I guess.

 

 

if you want to try it it PM your address and I'll make up a test pack of 2 inch squares (4,6,8 &12K) for you to play with gratis before you buy more crap you may never need! 

cheers

 

Anil