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A quick and dirty Maiden (what more could you want?)....


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There goes the siren that warns of the air raid
There comes the sound of the guns sending flak
Out for the scramble, we've got to get airborne
Got to get up for the coming attack

 

 

Well the mojo has taken a godawful battering this year, I've now got projects queueing up to get onto the SoD, (sorry you can't come in in those - they're trainers!), and builds queueing up for stickering on the markings production line that was formerly known as my kitchen.

 

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I hoped to relight the fire with an undocumented build as my last two WiP's have stalled, so I quietly sat down in the corner and got on with an Airfix 48th Lightning, which although substantially well on its way also has hit the buffers.

 

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How to cure this malaise I ask? (and it is a genuine but not rediculously serious malaise in the scheme of things; I'd been whingeing about shingles and feeling run down in my previous WIPs and blood tests have confirmed virtually a lack, as opposed to a deficiency, in my Vitamin D levels so I've been put on a horse-tablet dose of that for the next 6 months to see if it can lift my mood and stop me feeling so unwell all the time.  Oh and because I'm self-employed and work virtually every waking hour, I also got prescribed some regular breaks and holidays so lets start taking them regularly too!)

 

The news that Revell were releasing an Iron Maiden themed boxing of their 1/32 Spitfire II made my eyes light up with joy though.  Having been about 5 years too young to see them in their infancy at one of my regular goto teenage pubs, The Ruskin Arms in East Ham, I jumped onto their rollercoaster ride in the early 80's, seeing them at Hammersmith Odeon and Wembley with regularity plus a trip up to Donnington for Monsters of Rock shortly after passing my driving test. OK now I have to see them at the O2, which to me has as much soul and life as Sainsbury's bacon, but it's still Maiden!

 

Now on their last tour the opening song Aces High was accompanied by a 90% scale model of a Spitfire; OK a bit of an ambiguous mark of Spitfire and one that would keep rivet-counters awake all night sweating, but it was a Spitfire.  As the on-stage version was what I wanted to model I hatched a plan to use the decals and the Eddie pilot figure (Eddie is the Iron Maiden mascot) from the Revell boxing with the Hobby Boss Spitfire Vb I had in the stash and that had been panned for it's rear fuselage shape issues amongst many others.

 

Now the stage Spit has a 4 blade prop, two early style oil coolers but no radiators, 20mm wing cannon and a frickin' monster as a pilot so I couldn't see how HB's facsimile would detract from the Spittiness of this build, but once I had started building the kit up I looked at Revell's painting instructions and found that the stage Spits didn't have a genuine camo pattern applied (despite well-researched serials and codes), and that has proved too much for me; so I am now decorating this as the Mk 1 from the Aces High single cover.  OK I know it's a Vb (sort of) and it's going to be painted as a Mk.I but from this day hence we're not going to speak of this again - got it!

 

 

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http://warbirdsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/single12_aceshigh_b.jpg

 

Another piece of the jigsaw as to why this is just a fun build with no hang ups is that I am building this as a gift for a friend who I am seeing on 18 December, so timings are tight.  Also my buddy is not that much of a plane geek as to notice, despite one of his other besties being an airline pilot (hopefully he doesn't show it to him!).

 

I hadn't planned to run a WIP for this but now that I'm ahead of my schedule I think I can do some mini-updates to show what I've done so far.

 

The boxes and stickers just because we should........

 

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Now I never ever ever ever ever put pilots in my kits, well not since years back, before I discovered Brett Green, then BM and hopefully proper and better modelling, so figure painting is not my forte.

 

I started the construction/painting with the cockpit and with Eddie himself.

 

I am well chuffed with how Eddie came out btw, even if self-praise is feint praise.

 

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Although not getting quite the attention my normal 'pits get I'm happy with this for a quick and dirty build.

 

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All painted with Tamiya Acrylics and given a Future wash.

 

OK as we're in a rush here's where we're at now.  Fuselage is buttoned up, wings attached with "special aeroplane glue" (thank you Taaj), seams sorted, Halfords rattle cans rattled, some black lines to infuriate folk and the first coat of Tamiya Sky for good measure.

 

 

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Anyways 8 days to go and I think we're on track.

 

Anyways it's time to Run to the Hills (or more like climb the carpet hill to Bedfordshire) so until the next one, be good......

 

Chris

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Just a quick update as I'm spending more time building this than recording it.  Will be presenting this to my buddy in exactly one week now.

 

The undersides got more coats of sky and got masked up.

 

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The first coats of Tamiya Flat Earth went down over the pre-shading.....

 

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A couple more coats and then some FE lightened with various amounts of Sky Grey for variation later...........

 

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Let that dry and it's blu tac wiggly worms time - hurrah!!!

 

Right it's almost time for the first exit poll so I'm going to see what Jezza Vine's got to say for himself.  It doesn't actually matter which party wins though - the Government always gets in!!

 

Have a good one and I'll catch up when there's some non-political greens in my future!

 

Chris

 

 

 

Edited by Fatcawthorne
Spling
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One wiggly worm session later and we have this....

 

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First coat of Tamiya RAF Green......

 

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More Green, and some Green and Sky Grey for modulation......

 

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.... and the big reveal......

 

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OK so there's a few touch ups needed but for me this is a Blitzbuild so I'll do those once the stickers are on.

 

To prepare for stickers we had a couple of coats of Pledge floor wax (and for the clear parts too) to get us all shiny shiny. 

 

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Well I got the stickers on in record time earlier this evening but we're in the MicroSol crinkly decals phase as I type so will get some snaps of that progress once they've dried properly.

 

OK 3 days and counting, pretty sure we're going to make the deadline OK now.

 

Until the next update, stay classy BM Land!

 

Chris

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Got me thinking if my 12” of Aces High is upstairs in the record box.  Remember going round the record shops trying to get an original Women in Uniform 12” back in the mid 80s.  Met the band after a show at Newcastle city hall years ago & even have a Nico McBrain drum stick somewhere.

Nice spit & Eddie looks the part.  Keep up the good work.  And hope this one gives you the desire to get back to that Lightning

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On 12/16/2019 at 10:38 PM, bar side said:

Found the 12”

 

 

And quite a few others, including the afore mentioned 

 

 

 

Think that cover was banned when it was first released....

Well jealous there.  Defo have the albums on Vinyl but was never much into singles at the time!!!

 

You off up to Old Trafford tonight?  I'm playing Fat Football at the stadium tonight and by all accounts the car park's pretty full from all those who went up on the coaches earlier.

 

Anyways, the Microsol dis it's job...

 

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 We got a coat of Future to seal in all that lovely goodness and lots of little extremeties got CA'd on.....

 

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And then just when you think you've got it looking as good as it can get, we do this...............

 

Flory Grime, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

 

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Well, that'll get wiped back when dry in a couple of hours, we'll add some gun and exhaust stains and then some oily bits whilst tickling his belly, stick on a few glass bits, a matt varinsh and voila bish bash bosh I think I'll be calling it done.

 

Well, the deadline's tomorrow night at the pub, so 1) I've got to get it to the pub in one piece and 2) hope my bud keeps it in one piece 'til he gets home.  A tall order!

 

Come on the U's...............

 

Chris

 

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Looking good Chris.  Found a few others while I was in the record box.  Used to frequent Andys Records quite a bit.

Bet Old Trafford is rocking tonight.  Couldn’t go but will be watching out for the boys.  Up the Us

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What a great result.  I've been listening to Maiden since '88, going from strength to strength these days.  Good to see one of these being built, mine will be in the stash for a while longer I think.  Your Eddie is superb, captured the look of him perfectly.  Really looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

Top work buddy, Up The Irons...!!!   \m/   \m/

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On 16/12/2019 at 22:38, bar side said:

Found the 12”

fy6XYiaylSzERiRaohe3TGmDGDTcM6ahAoDcWuMo

 

And quite a few others, including the afore mentioned 

 

7Dqzh9B39Tfu_HelreEU77J-IUgVklQ7wxKEWOKC

 

Think that cover was banned when it was first released....

I think it was, and I'm pretty sure it's also the cover of the 7" single that I have.

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On 12/16/2019 at 11:38 PM, bar side said:

Found the 12”

fy6XYiaylSzERiRaohe3TGmDGDTcM6ahAoDcWuMo

 

And quite a few others, including the afore mentioned 

 

7Dqzh9B39Tfu_HelreEU77J-IUgVklQ7wxKEWOKC

 

Think that cover was banned when it was first released....

Oh Really ? That's surprising.... CC 

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A. Nice to see some great Iron Maiden covers and appreciation, can see why they banned that one, maybe a bit close to home at the time.

 

B. What a great build! Looking forward to seeing it after that wash, very impressive shine you got on it before!

 

Rob

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On 12/18/2019 at 7:19 PM, bar side said:

Looking good Chris.  Found a few others while I was in the record box.  Used to frequent Andys Records quite a bit.

Bet Old Trafford is rocking tonight.  Couldn’t go but will be watching out for the boys.  Up the Us

I grew up in Chingford for most of my musically formative years so missed out on the Colly scene, my goto was Turntable in Chingford Mount Road.  What was Andy's like?  My Brother in Law grew up in Sheffield and frequented Branson's (First Clang of the night!) first shop and doesn't he rub my nose in it.

 

I was in the Legends Bar being weighed-in for my game in my underpants when Rashford scored, so I thought the groans were for my physique!!

 

On 12/18/2019 at 8:23 PM, Booty003 said:

What a great result.  I've been listening to Maiden since '88, going from strength to strength these days.  Good to see one of these being built, mine will be in the stash for a while longer I think.  Your Eddie is superb, captured the look of him perfectly.  Really looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

Top work buddy, Up The Irons...!!!   \m/   \m/

I love Eddie, just about caught the Beast tours but remember the Powerslave and Somewhere in Time Eddies that bit better.  (Beer and the 12/13 year old mind didn't quite mix as well as I thought it might, must've added some tolerance to it by 14/15!).

 

Have you seen the latest Maiden/West Ham kits releases?

 

iron-maiden-x-west-ham-home-shirt?u=aHR0

https://musicglue-images-prod.global.ssl.fastly.net/iron-maiden-global-merchandise-uk/product/iron-maiden-x-west-ham-home-shirt?u=aHR0cHM6Ly9tdXNpY2dsdWUtdXNlci1hcHAtcC0zLXAuczMuYW1hem9uYXdzLmNvbS9vcmlnaW5hbHMvNzlhNTIwMDUtYWMyZi00ZmU4LTgwMWYtNTY1NTJmODAzZWVj&mode=contain&width=700&v=2

 

On 12/18/2019 at 9:01 PM, Whofan said:

I think it was, and I'm pretty sure it's also the cover of the 7" single that I have.

I wish I'd collected the singles, picked up a box set of Irom Maiden singles and oddities (including the inimitable "Listen with Nicko" tracks) on CD which get the odd outing every now and then.

 

On 12/18/2019 at 9:03 PM, corsaircorp said:

Oh Really ? That's surprising.... CC 

 

On 12/18/2019 at 9:16 PM, bar side said:

Got the Sanctuary cover somewhere too.  They weren’t keen on Mrs T

 

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Well we almost all loved Mrs T at the time (Unless you had a cycle lamp riveted to your hat that is), it's only now we see the folly of selling the family silver.  They were ahead of their time as usual!

 

17 hours ago, rob85 said:

A. Nice to see some great Iron Maiden covers and appreciation, can see why they banned that one, maybe a bit close to home at the time.

 

B. What a great build! Looking forward to seeing it after that wash, very impressive shine you got on it before!

 

Rob

 

Anyways, this morning I called this one done so you can have your wish Rob.

 

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The sharp-eyed might note that I managed to crack the canopy, which if it was my own build I'd send this to the SoD until I'd got a replacement, but for this one needs must.....

 

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And then I took her to work, mounted her on a base and added some engraving...............

 

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It does help being an engraver as that'd have cost a frickin' fortune from Timpsons!!!!

 

And Lastly I had to give it away boo hoo..................  Well not really....

 

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Steve is a very good friend of a good friend of mine (Mark on the right below), but I took him to Merville to meet 2 Para a couple of years back but as the Army is on leave at the moment, (apart from the Spearhead lads from 2 out in Afghan), I couldn't find anyone available to host him this time so had to go for another approach, hence this build....,.

 

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For those that have done their time in green skin in Colly recently yes that was Yates's, and with the Garrison being on leave it was the emptiest pub in the town!!

 

Anyways have a few more shots that I can post up for an RFI thread which as I've just got in from seeing British Lion give a cracking performance at the local Arts Centre might just appear in a couple of days now.

 

Happy as a dog with two....

 

Catch you all laters,

 

Chris

 

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Nice one. Can’t believe you got Steve Harris done at Yates!  Miss going out on the town and going to the arts centre.  Used to have all of our sixth form discos there - lots of Joy Division and Sister of Mercy back in the late 80s and loads of goths in the grave yard.  Glad the spit went to a good home - nice result.  Unlike Col U at Man U, but they had a great run & a good night out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wow Chris, what an epic WIP thread - was the build actually for Steve Harris or your mate Mark?  The airline pilot you mentioned doesn't happen to be Bruce does it?

 

Superb photos bud, very jealous indeed.

 

As a former Bootneck I wouldn't fit in around Colly....!!!

 

Phil

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On 12/21/2019 at 1:50 PM, rob85 said:

Lovely finish! Looks great and so do the pictures!

 

Rob

 

3 hours ago, woody37 said:

Wow, great build thread. Lovely build and jealous of your acquaintances! 

Thanks fellas, it was fun too which does help the old mojo along a bit!

 

On 12/21/2019 at 10:14 PM, bar side said:

Nice one. Can’t believe you got Steve Harris done at Yates!  Miss going out on the town and going to the arts centre.  Used to have all of our sixth form discos there - lots of Joy Division and Sister of Mercy back in the late 80s and loads of goths in the grave yard.  Glad the spit went to a good home - nice result.  Unlike Col U at Man U, but they had a great run & a good night out.

When we phoned him and he said he was at Yates I was expecting to fight through a crowd but we were the only ones there for most of the early bar session.

 

I do enjoy the Arts Centre too.  Have done music, comedy and a beer festival there lately and there's another festival coming up this month.  We used to host overseas students for the Colchester English Study Centre when my boys were young, and I took two Spanish lads to the beer festival there.  It was after 3 or 4 good ales that they started getting very nervous of drinking in a converted church with much crossing themselves and "Madre de Dias"ing!!!

 

3 hours ago, Booty003 said:

Wow Chris, what an epic WIP thread - was the build actually for Steve Harris or your mate Mark?  The airline pilot you mentioned doesn't happen to be Bruce does it?

 

Superb photos bud, very jealous indeed.

 

As a former Bootneck I wouldn't fit in around Colly....!!!

 

Phil

Thank you Phil, yes the build was for Steve.  He disappeared off on his own with it without his minders for the trip back from the pub to the venue; wonder if anyone recognised him on the way.  Yes the airline pilot was Bruce.  I have meet him fleetingly at a couple of aftershows but another good friend's mum used to child-mind him as a youngster so my mate has asked to go on the next Maiden meet to catch up with him.  It's a very small and strange world.

 

I had a couple of beers with your lot back in the summer when they were up here for the Trafalgar Cup Rugby League game.  Despite being a Rifleman my business sees me at a lot of Airborne Brigade sporting events, and if I hear "if you can't hack it, be a Jacket" one more time........

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Trying to imagine what my reaction might have been...”hey that guy wandering down the high street don’t half look like ‘Arry...oh and he’s clutching a 1/32 Aces High Spitfire...must lay off the cheese before bedtime...”

 

still wrestling with a kit which bears a passing resemblance to a 747 Ed Force One myself...”so anyway ‘Arry, did you know when you signed off on the licensing deal just how poor that Revell mould is....?”

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Cheers Chris,  sitting here feeling incredibly jealous.  What a great thing to be able to do - build an Aces High Spitfire for the Legend who actually wrote it...!!!  Fantastic mate.

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