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My first RFI - An Airfix 1/72 Defiant-based journey of discovery


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10 hours ago, stevehnz said:

That is a brilliant job for a rebeginning build, very few nits to pick at all. Maybe a seam under the nose & maybe believing Airfix's colour calls. It looks like you used Humbrol 30 for the green, it's what Airfix usually recommend but it's not the best green you could have used, in Humbrol 116 (matt) or 163 (satin), still as good as any other range for this colour. That apart, it's a cracking effort.

Steve

Thanks Steve, yes, I went with what was in the destructions purely due to not knowing any better.  Still, I'll invest in some 116 for future builds.

10 hours ago, John Laidlaw said:

A great result! Your next will be better still, and will continue... my only warning is that you'll never be satisfied, but that's the way it should be.

 

BTW, great amp and guitar.

Yes, I have found that it seems to continue all by itself, this model building thing.  I'm halfway through an Emil now and have just started a Dakota (which is a real dog of a build, so having learned a few things on the Defiant I'm hoping to be able to beat it into submission somehow.

 

Thanks also for the comment about the music gear - the guitar is a much-modded, abused  and loved old faithful.

9 hours ago, Horatio Gruntfuttock said:

You should be very proud of this model - I think you have done splendid job, looks great from down here in the Antipodes. Nice paintwork and general assembly of what I have seen to be a fairly complex build. If I can offer one suggestion? - just check all your joint lines as the ones under the nose and rear fuselage against a pale paint scheme needed a little bit of filling. Just glue it to a base and no-one will ever know!! ha ha! 

Thanks Horatio, joint lines are definitely something I've paid more attention to on the above builds and am more confident in attacking with filler and abrasives.  I think the Dak is going to need quite a lot of attention in this area.

 

Thanks to everyone who has made suggestions - I very much appreciate you offering your help and knowledge to a newbie.

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I like the look of your Defiant, especially as it's 1/72... makes many jobs harder to achieve. Also setting the thing in front of a camera lens is really putting yourself and the kit in the spotlight... the eye is much more forgiving.

 

I agree with a couple of others that your seam work is an obvious area for experimenting with. I say experiment because there so many words written on how to treat seams, glues, filler etc...  My golden rule is to try to get some melted plastic to 'ooze' out of the joint, that way you should have less filling to do (possibly none).

 

The only other thing I'd say on the subject is don't treat the manufacturer's locating pins as sacrosanct. Many times I've had bad part alignment solved by removing pins, and that's not just on old kits... :)

 

Matt

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14 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

I like the look of your Defiant, especially as it's 1/72... makes many jobs harder to achieve. Also setting the thing in front of a camera lens is really putting yourself and the kit in the spotlight... the eye is much more forgiving.

 

I agree with a couple of others that your seam work is an obvious area for experimenting with. I say experiment because there so many words written on how to treat seams, glues, filler etc...  My golden rule is to try to get some melted plastic to 'ooze' out of the joint, that way you should have less filling to do (possibly none).

 

The only other thing I'd say on the subject is don't treat the manufacturer's locating pins as sacrosanct. Many times I've had bad part alignment solved by removing pins, and that's not just on old kits... :)

 

Matt

 

Thank you, Matt.  I'm at this very moment taking the advice re: seam lines.  I'm grinding seven bells out of the Dak, which doesn't seem to line up properly anywhere, so lots of filling, sanding and re-scribing of panel lines is the order of the day.

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Great finish. Did I see you were using enamels? When I came back to the hobby I switched to acrylic. (Tamiya) paints. They dry a lot quicker but hey it’s your thing. As long as you’re having fun eh. 👍 brilliant stuff. Keep it up.

 

Johnny. 

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44 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

Great finish. Did I see you were using enamels? When I came back to the hobby I switched to acrylic. (Tamiya) paints. They dry a lot quicker but hey it’s your thing. As long as you’re having fun eh. 👍 brilliant stuff. Keep it up.

 

Johnny. 

Yes, I'm using enamels.  I didn't know that anyone used acrylics so I just went with what I knew.  That said, I'm quite happy with them at the moment and until I decide to splash out on an airbrush I'll probably stick with them.  Other than the drying time is there a p[articular advantage to using acrylics?

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38 minutes ago, jackroadkill said:

Yes, I'm using enamels.  I didn't know that anyone used acrylics so I just went with what I knew.  That said, I'm quite happy with them at the moment and until I decide to splash out on an airbrush I'll probably stick with them.  Other than the drying time is there a p[articular advantage to using acrylics?

I find clean up a bit easier but mostly it’s the dry time. Oh and no smell. 😇

 

Johnny

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