Typhoon Mk.1b Vs Tiger 1 (1/48 Italeri and Skybow) - 26/09/19 - FINISHED and in the Gallery

[Robert Stuart]

Looking very good Stix.

Ummm ... I have a niggling thought that Typhoon pilots may have needed oxygen all the time - or was that Tempest pilots?

[Grey Beema]

The Typhoon suffered from the same CO leaking into the cockpit as the Tempest.  The pilots wore the mask all the time.

 

@PlaStix can you use brass or steel tube for the support?  Solder one of the wires from the motor to the aircraft end of the tube, solder wire from tube at the other, run the other insulated wire through the tube.  Should look quite tidy..

 

 

[PlaStix]

2 hours ago, giemme said:

Amazing! The pilot looks great, is it supplied with the kit?

 👏

 

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you. No - unfortunately no pilot supplied with the kit so I had to hunt through the spares box and kits I have to find a spare. This is the only one that I had spare in 1/48. It is an Airfix pilot which was just in the spares box.

 

40 minutes ago, Robert Stuart said:

Looking very good Stix.

Ummm ... I have a niggling thought that Typhoon pilots may have needed oxygen all the time - or was that Tempest pilots?

Hi Robert and thank you too. And you are quite correct. The pilots did wear them all the time but, as I mentioned to Giorgio, this is the only 1/48 pilot I had, and, as we’re currently in GB conditions, I didn’t feel I have the time to modify the pilot or that it was worth buying a correct one. I didn’t fancy fiddling around removing the one Airfix provided, tidying up the area and then fabricating a replacement and goggles on his face. I'm just going to imagine he's as tough as old nails!!!

 

17 minutes ago, Grey Beema said:

The Typhoon suffered from the same CO leaking into the cockpit as the Tempest.  The pilots wore the mask all the time.

 

@PlaStix can you use brass or steel tube for the support?  Solder one of the wires from the motor to the aircraft end of the tube, solder wire from tube at the other, run the other insulated wire through the tube.  Should look quite tidy..

Hi GB. You are quite correct as well. See my reply regards the mask above to Robert. As to the support I only have some Aluminium tube - but it's thick enough to get two thin wires through. I've used it before on a couple of flying aircraft scenes.

 

I have been working on the support this morning and I'm hoping to get the fuselage joined together later today.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

I think the pilot looks excellent Stix, a great bit of figure painting.

You can tell you are enjoying this build.

[PlaStix]

On 10/08/2019 at 16:39, modelling minion said:

I think the pilot looks excellent Stix, a great bit of figure painting.

You can tell you are enjoying this build.

Hi Craig. Thank you. I have got back to having fun but progress went a bit backwards this morning!

 

Yesterday and today I got more time on this project and decided to progress to getting the fuselage sides joined. So I needed to get the support fixed onto the the inside of the starboard fuselage. I decided to have the support enter just ahead of the tail wheel. This required me to do a bit of filing to create a suitable sized hole. I also used some H section styrene to add strength to the join:

 

I also glued the cockpit framework to the side:

 

Once the above were fully set I glued the fuselage halves together. Once set they looked like this:

 

 

Hopefully, from the photos below, you can see I managed to introduce a slight angle to the rudder:

 

 

I also made up the tailplanes and introduced an angle to the elevators:

 

I drilled out the ends of the machine guns with a micro-drill:

 

The exhausts were given a couple of thinned coats of Revell’s Anthracite and then dry-brushed with Humbrol’s Gunmetal:

 

Now the fuselage sides had been set for a while I decided to glue the upper wings in place - one at a time. The reason I decided to do this was because when I did a dry fit, with the upper wings taped to the lower wings, the gaps at the upper wing roots seemed huge! This is not a Tamiya kit - in that the fit certainly isn’t perfect - as I was soon to find out! So once both upper wings had set:

 

The joint at the roots wasn't perfect but certainly easier to sort out:

 

It was at this point that the fun stopped for a while. Once the upper wings were fully set I glued on the lower wing section. Now - all the way through I keep testing the motor to check nothing I have done has stopped it working. Up until the lower wings were glued in place it worked fine. With them in place and setting - not so much. When I checked I could see the front seam of the top of the fuselage had pulled apart. The angle of the wings was obviously pulling the fuselage in odd angles and the spindle was fouling on something. So I had to ease the lower wing section off - which was not easy as the glue was already setting. What a mess. But as soon as it was off the motor worked again. I glued the top of the fuselage together again and cleaned up the area. A bit later I tried just taping the lower wing section in place but, as soon as I did, the motor stopped working. This is definitely not a Tamiya kit!!! So I had to modify the area where the spindle passes through the front of the fuselage by removing a thin area of the plastic. When I got around to gluing the lower section on again - the motor kept going!

 

After a lot of cleaning up it looked like this:

 

If all had gone to plan today I think I would have started the painting. As it is - that will have to be next weekend.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited August 11, 2019 by PlaStix

[Ozzy]

Top job Stix, your figure painting is fantastic he looks right at home.

[giemme]

Great job in sorting the bad fit, Stix!  

 

Italeri isn't definitely up to Tamiya level, although this kit doesn't seem that bad for their standards (believe me, it could be much worse....)

 

Ciao

[PlaStix]

4 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Top job Stix, your figure painting is fantastic he looks right at home.

Thank you Ozzy!

 

3 minutes ago, giemme said:

Great job in sorting the bad fit, Stix!  

Italeri isn't definitely up to Tamiya level, although this kit doesn't seem that bad for their standards (believe me, it could be much worse....)

Ciao

Thank you Giorgio. Oddly enough it's not Italeri mouldings but rather Hasegawa. Italeri just re-boxed it. I always thought Hasegawa kits were supposed to be quite good. Ah well........

 

Kind regards,

 

 Stix 

[modelling minion]

That is some excellent progress Stix despite the issues you have had.

You are not the first to have problems with Hasegawa's Typhoon but it looks like you are getting the better of it.

Good idea to attach the upper wings first, it looks like it saved you a fair amount of filling and sanding.

Hope you are able to start the painting soon.

[giemme]

4 minutes ago, PlaStix said:

Oddly enough it's not Italeri mouldings but rather Hasegawa. Italeri just re-boxed it

Ah - see, that's why it's not that bad

 

I had mixed experiences with Hasegawa - so far, none of the kits I built could beat Tamiya's

 

Ciao

 

Edited August 11, 2019 by giemme

[Hewy]

Well built stix, looking good

[PlaStix]

On 11/08/2019 at 21:47, modelling minion said:

That is some excellent progress Stix despite the issues you have had.

You are not the first to have problems with Hasegawa's Typhoon but it looks like you are getting the better of it.

Good idea to attach the upper wings first, it looks like it saved you a fair amount of filling and sanding.

Hope you are able to start the painting soon.

Hi Craig and thank you. Yes the Hasegawa kit is famous for it’s issues but I'm getting there slowly - and yes, I have started some painting!

 

On 14/08/2019 at 11:18, Hewy said:

Well built stix, looking good

Thank you very much Glynn.

 

So I've not had chance to do anything on this during the evenings this week as Mrs PlaStix and I have had a few days away. But, following some final filling, sanding and general cleanup, I started with getting the pre-shading on using some thinned Revell's Anthracite and a very fine small paint brush. Then I used some Tamiya masking tape for curves to mark out the areas for the D-Day stripes. It's the first time I have used any and it seems pretty good for what I needed. These photos show it after I had stippled on the thinned white Humbrol Acrylic matt paint using a stippling brush:

 

 

These photos show it with the masking tape removed:

 

 

 

Then I masked off the sections for the black stripes using normal Tamiya masking tape and then stippled on thinned Revell’s Anthracite. It took several coats but, once the tape had been removed, it looked like this:

 

 

Next week I can start getting the main colours on.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

Edited August 18, 2019 by PlaStix

[giemme]

Those invasion stripes look very effective, Stix!

 

Can I ask you why you decided to paint them with the stippling technique? The result is indeed amazing!

 

Ciao

Edited August 18, 2019 by giemme

[Ozzy]

Top job Stix, your envision stripes look really effective over your very neat pannel lines. hope your break was nice and relaxing.

[modelling minion]

That is great work on the stripes Stix, the stippling effect has worked extremely well and looks better than I can do with an airbrush.

Looking forward to the main camouflage colours going on.

[Lawzer]

that is looking rather splendid! 👍

[Robert Stuart]

Lovely Stix.  The stippling lends texture, especially in the white stripes.

[PlaStix]

On 18/08/2019 at 20:35, giemme said:

Those invasion stripes look very effective, Stix!

Can I ask you why you decided to paint them with the stippling technique? The result is indeed amazing!

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you. I always think two of the hardest colours to weather effectively are matt Anthracite and matt White. When I did the inside of a WW1 tank and then the engine for a tank, with the engine exposed, they were both supposed to be base coloured white. Photos showed the white look kind of mottled with use, wear'n'tear, etc and I was pondering how to weather them. My first thought was to paint the white and then use washes but I was concerned the washes wouldn’t give the sort of mottled effect. It then occurred to me that if I painted the areas Anthracite first and then used very thinned washes built up slowly using a stippling brush, I would be better able to control the build up of the paint to get some mottled effects....and it worked as far as I was concerned. So, knowing D-Day stripes were often hastily applied I decided to try and get a similar effect.

 

On 18/08/2019 at 21:07, Ozzy said:

Top job Stix, your envision stripes look really effective over your very neat pannel lines. hope your break was nice and relaxing.

Hi Ozzy and thank you for your comments. Yes we had a very nice time, thank you.

 

On 18/08/2019 at 21:21, modelling minion said:

That is great work on the stripes Stix, the stippling effect has worked extremely well and looks better than I can do with an airbrush.

Looking forward to the main camouflage colours going on.

Hi Craig and thank you. Still not got to the main camo yet but I have started on the undersides and done the Sky band.

 

On 19/08/2019 at 09:39, Lawzer said:

that is looking rather splendid! 👍

Thank you Lawzer!

Sorry to see about your dog though. Please accept my condolences.

 

On 22/08/2019 at 09:00, Robert Stuart said:

Lovely Stix.  The stippling lends texture, especially in the white stripes.

Hi Robert and thank you very much for your comments.

 

Not a lot to report but I have got the Sky band painted and started work on the underside main colour - for which I used thinned Revell’s Light Grey. To finish these areas off I used a thinned layer which I applied with a stippling brush - to try and get a sort of mottled effect again:

 

It's got a bit too warm now to do any modelling so it will have to wait until this evening or tomorrow.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

2 hours ago, PlaStix said:

It's got a bit too warm now to do any modelling

It's got a bit too warm to do anything!

Great job on the undersides Stix, I think you have successfully achieved the result you were looking for.

[giemme]

Well, your stippling turned out very effective, Stix!  

 

BTW, it's hot in Paris too - in a good way, though 😉

 

Ciao

[Lawzer]

I must shamelessly steal that idea for the stripes - VERY nice!! 👍

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Excellent work as usual Stix, looking forward to the finished & combined project. 

[fatfingers]

Aye up Stix,

 

Fantastic work. Really impressive detail and the stripes are very effective.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[PlaStix]

On 24/08/2019 at 17:11, modelling minion said:

It's got a bit too warm to do anything!

Great job on the undersides Stix, I think you have successfully achieved the result you were looking for.

Hi Craig and thank you. Yes it's been far too warm to do much of anything this weekend but I needed to get more done on this or I'm not going to get it finished in time. You can see what I've managed to get done below.

 

On 24/08/2019 at 20:46, giemme said:

Well, your stippling turned out very effective, Stix!  

BTW, it's hot in Paris too - in a good way, though 😉

Ciao

Hi Giorgio and thank you. I'm glad it’s a good heat in Paris. Hope you had/are having a great time.

 

8 hours ago, Lawzer said:

I must shamelessly steal that idea for the stripes - VERY nice!! 👍

Steal away!! Hope they go well.

 

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Excellent work as usual Stix, looking forward to the finished & combined project. 

Thank you very much Dennis.

 

1 hour ago, fatfingers said:

Aye up Stix,

Fantastic work. Really impressive detail and the stripes are very effective.

Regards

Steve

You are way too kind Steve but thank you.

 

First job on Sunday, which took most of the day, was to get the camo on. I got the Humbrol Ocean Grey on first which I applied thinned with water and applied with a small flat brush. Once on, I decided it looked too flat compared with the effect on the D-Day stripes, so I stippled on a thinned layer with a stippling brush. Then I applied thinned Humbrol US Dark Green in a similar way. Finally, on Saturday, I painted the wing root tread areas by masking off the areas and stippling on thinned Revell’s Anthracite and then I did the yellow leading edges in a similar fashion but using Revell’s  Matt Yellow:

 

 

 

This morning I started work on getting a thinned wash in the panel lines. Revell’s Gunship Grey on the undersides:

applied very thinned with a small, fine pointed brush.

 

Then I did the upper surfaces. I used thinned Gunship Grey on the D-Day stripes areas and Anthracite everywhere else:

 

 

 

Next I need to get some basic weathering on and then I will get a gloss coat on before doing the decals.

 

Comments and suggestions welcome.

 

Kind regards,

 

Stix

[modelling minion]

You have been busy haven't you!

Great job on the upper colours, they look just as good as everything else, the panel line washes are very effective, I use watered down Revell paints for the same thing and think that they get very good results.

It's all looking very promising indeed.