The Alternative Nimrod

[Mike]

3 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

@Mike thanks for the tip.

Just make sure you get your swishes and swooshes in the correct order

[jenko]

Trevor the Humbrol Matt coat, satin and gloss in the jars with the modeller proof caps are great just need a little white spirit to thin them. I use them all the time never over more years than I will admit too have I had a problem. AND they do not yellow.

 

Dick

[Max Headroom]

@jenko

 

Just checked. You’re off the hook. I only have Matt varnish! 
 

Trevor

[Albeback52]

Just picked up on this topic. Very nice.

I have similar plans for a more modern ASW type using the Zvezda Airbus A321.

 

Allan.

[Max Headroom]

8 hours ago, Albeback52 said:

Just picked up on this topic. Very nice.

I have similar plans for a more modern ASW type using the Zvezda Airbus A321.

 

Allan.

Thanks! To be honest, this took a back seat whilst I did my Defiant for the BoB group build (done) and another BP product the Sea Balliol which is back at the front of the queue again. I was within touching distance of putting on the stickies too, which makes it all the more infuriating.
 

I need an acrylic Light Aircraft Grey partly for this Nimrod but mostly for my 1/48 Airfix Hunter. The Nimrod was the guinea pig and the Airfix enamel I bought counts as The Worst Paint Ever Made by Airfix and their rattlecan enamel varnish as A Stupidily Useless Thing. I’m either investing in a can of Halford’s Polar Grey as recommended by someone on this thread, or I’ll try Xtracrylix.

 

Oh and the icing on the cake???? I found a bottle of Humbrol’s Gloss Cote varnish that would have done the job splendidly. Once found, I used it on the Defiant before applying transfers and it worked like a charm.

 

 

Time will tell!

 

Trevor

[mackem01]

I've been quietly following this for some time and despite your trials and tribulations your doing a fantastic job - very convincing.

Just hope you'll see it through to the end as it seems to becoming a grudge match.

[Max Headroom]

@mackem01 funny you should post this, because this very afternoon I bought a set of Hataka paints

 

 

and most importantly it has Light Aircraft Grey

 

Game on!

 

Trevor

[mackem01]

[Max Headroom]

Mini sit rep.

 

That varnish was Beelzebub’s  concoction and it will never find its way onto any my models. Ever.

 

Fresh piece of wet n dry and a light rubbing to remove the most egregious traces of the varnish and also act as a key for over painting the also ‘orrible Humbrol enamel Light Aircraft Grey.

 

This is where I am at the moment

 

 

 

 

There were also some ridges and seams and the like which I found on scrutinising the finish, so attacked them too.

 

I’ve experimentally brushed some of the Hataka Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey on a Revell Hunter that I periodically work on and am pleased with the result. To be fair it’s the lighter acrylic colours I find are more translucent, so will now experiment on an area of the Nimrod to see how it goes. If successful, it’ll then be masked up once again for a complete repaint.

 

Cover my six, I’m going in.......

 

Trevor

 

 

 

[Max Headroom]

Starboard tailplane with one coat and it also covered the black leading edge.

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a goer!

 

Thank you Hataka. I may well just buy all of your RAF and FAA sets 

 

Trevor

 

[Max Headroom]

I’m also happy to report that the Anti Flash White is rather good too, but will need more than one coat. However, as this stuff dries in minutes, multiple coats are possible in one session.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Just a quick update for now.

 

Several costs of Anti Flash White have brought me to the point where I can mask off for the Light Aircraft Grey.

 

 

I have a sense of deja vu here.........

 

Trevor

 

 

[Truro Model Builder]

This project is now in the 'I'll finish it if it kills me' category, methinks.

 

Keep at it, you have definitely got it on the ropes.

[Max Headroom]

1 hour ago, Truro Model Builder said:

This project is now in the 'I'll finish it if it kills me' category, methinks.

 

Keep at it, you have definitely got it on the ropes.

I’ve been punching some below belt blows recently and have almost finished the main repaint. No pictures at it’s literally paint drying, but at least I’m now actively contemplating the markings 👍🏻😁

 

Hataka is great stuff btw

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

And a little progress report for now.

 

I’ve pretty much got the main paint job where I want it now. A little light sanding of the inevitable ridge between the grey and white and then a general rubbing down with the polishing pads to smooth out the brush strokes gets me to this....

 

 

Now that’s more like it.

 

Next job will be to mask off the de icing strips. 
 

Again!

 

It’s deja-vu again🙄

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

And now the masking!

 

 

 

Not clear here is that the nose has also been masked off too.

 

I’ve decided (because I can on a whim do this), to also mask off the fronts to the engines. I have seen (somewhere), the fronts of Tyne cowlings done this way. I may also do something with the exhausts at the rear of the nacelles too, again depending on how whimsical I’m feeling at the time.

 

Still thinking about the markings.......

 

Trevor

 

 

 

[Max Headroom]

Hello dear reader. 😁

 

Sunday afternoon saw me push on and accomplish a few more things.

 

I removed the masking and saw the results and I must say it was rather more sloppy than I’d have hoped.

 

 

That Hataka black is good stuff though. One coat is all that’s needed.

 

So then. Some mini masking and touching up to address those smudges led me to this.....

 

 

I know the cockpit framing is looking a bit ropey at the moment but a bit of scraping with a cocktail stick will put that to rights. I’m definitely thinking that this is turning out to be what I term a ‘soft focus’ model. Don’t look too closely as the paint job, whilst looking passable from a distance in fading light, is not something you want to look at too closely! I’ve done my best with it, but short of a complete strip down it was never going to be one of my better results. Ah well.

 

For a little change I decided to look at some of the other bits. I had decided to give my Nimrod an external Leigh Light type contraption as worn by the P-3A (and B?). Rummaging around the spares box I found a SNEB rocket pod of unknown provenance and I attached it to a pylon, which if the colour of the plastic is anything to go by, from a Red Arrows Hawk......thing is, I don’t ever remember having a Hawk in red plastic! Doesn’t matter, as the pod and pylon are a perfect fit. Of course I needed glazing for the lamp in the front. As luck would have it, I had spare lenses from the lovely new Airfix 1/48 Hunter. On the clear sprue there are lenses for what I assume in the long term will be for an FR.10 and PR.11. 
 

 

Guess what. The larger lens was a perfect fit without fettling. I painted the back of the lens with Hataka’s silver (not so dense in its coverage btw).

 

 

Next were the bomb bay doors. I decided that I needed for the insides to look busy. Here you see both doors, one which has has bits and bobs of plastic card added and the other before it received my attentions.

 

 

And before you ask, no I don’t know what the box thing does either!

 

Phew. That for me was a bit of a session.

 

So, as a bit of light relief I made soda bread for the first time.

 

 

1/1 scale. No idea what it looks like inside, or more importantly, what it tastes like.

 

That’s all for now. Thanks for looking.

 

Trevor

 

NEWSFLASH - it tastes rather good👍🏻

[Max Headroom]

The Great Day has arrived! Last couple of nights I applied the gloss varnish - hand brushed Humbrol Gloscote this time, thankfully without problems.

 

So I thought......why not? 
 

 

I know, spectacular eh 🤣

 

Symbolic more than anything else, but this means that I have now gone beyond where I got up to before the varnishing disaster. Rummaging through the spares box, I found a transfer sheet from the Heller F-86. The red warning stripe fitted almost perfectly and just needed a couple of mm trimming at one end. Since the photo was taken I also added black wing root emergency exit walkways from a Fujimi A-7 sheet. I thought there were walkways with the airliner stickies, but apparently not and since I had decided I wanted them, the spares box came to the rescue.

 

I have Kemco stripes for the wing walkway areas. After that, I will place the transfers for the doors, as this will determine the position of the ones for the windows. I’m trying to do this so that what I do has its own internal logic. I know, sad isn’t it!

Finally for now and as is traditional with many of my builds, I am including a photo of my audience.

 

 

Allie is silently judging me and also waiting for me to look away so that she can run off with one of my brushes!

 

More soon.

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Determined to push on, I spent time this afternoon giving it an identity. From the outset I had always thought that it would be XV242, not only because it was an actual Nimrod serial, but being a Douglas Adams fan I fancied having the ‘last two’ displayed on the nose and tail as a subtle hint.

 

Back in the early-ish 80’s, I bought a few sheets of something called Kemco striping in various colours. Originally designed with the railway modeller in mind (think of the tenders on steam locos), they were bought following a long-forgotten recommendation in a Scale Aircraft Modelling article. Excellent for such things as walkways, they are what what was termed Presfix type transfers.
 

 

You cut out the length you want and then pick of the backing sheet. The already exposed side is then placed face-down on the surface of the model - it’s slightly tacky. Run a wet brush over the backing and then wait about 30 seconds. The backing sheet can then be slid off, leaving the transfer underneath in place. Brilliant for long, thin stripes, it eliminates the curling up of the sticky on the back of itself. If you see any, buy them as they make a good spares marking staple.

 

Now under the Modelmaster range.

 

https://modelmaster.uk/3-waterslide-rub-down-transfers

 

Delving into the spares box for markings has now resulted in this.......

 

 

 

No fuselage roundel yet, because I need to place the door and window markings first. But that’s for another session.

 

But well happy with today’s session!

 

More soon.

 

Trevor

 

[Max Headroom]

Just the one photo for this session.

 

 

I’m rather pleased with that 🙂

 

I’ll do the other side another time.

 

As an aside, the choice of windows was random other than I knew I needed one overwing for the escape hatch. Just to see what would happen, I lined up a completed row of windows that was still on the sheet against the ones I placed on the fuselage and purely by guess they lined up!

 

Thats all for now

 

Trevor

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Good to see this one rounding a corner, happy to see the paint and decals are cooperating. 

[Max Headroom]

3 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Good to see this one rounding a corner, happy to see the paint and decals are cooperating. 

Thanks for the thumbs up. The 26 Decals are very thin and I had to junk a couple of the makings. Just as well I’m not using all of them🤣

 

Trevor

[Max Headroom]

Had another session this afternoon. No painting or constructing, just adding stickies. I majored on the starboard side abs that was a blank. I more or less mirrored the pattern on the other side, but for ‘reasons’ I decided to have two overwing windows. I also kept the position of the rear starboard side door as well. Finally I put the ‘last two’ on the nose as well.

 

This is where I am at the moment....

 

 

The more I look at it, the ropier I realise is the paint job happens to be🤭

 

Just as well no one will see it close up. Some of the really bad bits I I’ve disguised by putting markings on top!

 

Trevor

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Still looks good from the distance of the photo’s. 

[Max Headroom]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Still looks good from the distance of the photo’s. 

Thanks for the kind words. 
 

I can see the finish line!

 

Just 🤣

 

Trevor