TeaWeasel's Workbench - Updated 20th October

[TeaWeasel]

2 hours ago, Tornado 01 said:

A minor point on your Lightning, If your doing an F.3 (It had a flat top fin) of 111 Sqn you will have to amend the serial as XM186 was an F.1A.

 

The joys of growing up with a Lightning base near me.

 

T1

 

I think given the hassle I've had with this kit I'm not particularly fussed on that level of detail. It was a ballsache from the start and redoing it was even worse. All I'm caring about is wherever it looks ok or not. 

[TeaWeasel]

So I've decided to bite the bullet and get the Mustang done. The experience with the Alclads (again!) put me off for a while but I've gone back and was able to:

- Neaten up the yellow/green banding at the front. I wasn't too keen on how it tapered at first. It's come up a little thick so I may go back over with some wet/dry.
- The cockpit has been masked and sprayed. The Eduard mask wasn't too bad but the pieces could be more prominent on the sheet.
- Started applying the decals.

 

The decals were a bit of a letdown. The chequerboard pattern just didn't want to fit and the instructions provided were pretty poor, needing to be swamped with softener a few times before it fell into place, and even then I suspect it was more luck than skill.

Some neatening up with a brush is needed but, in my eyes at least, that's the worst of it done.

 

Also started the prop and spinner. The blue banding was hard to achieve due to the curvature of the spinner, but I used a ring of blu-tack and tried by eye to get it level, and overall it's not a bad attempt at all.

 

 

I've also painted the interior of the TSR-2. This was pretty difficult due to having to recreate that shade of blue by eye. It's slightly different but once it's all put together I doubt it'd ever be noticeable. The ejector pin marks will also be hidden by the cockpit and consoles.

 

 

In the meantime I've started on the bomb bay superstructure and got some nice goodies to go in it:

 

Here we have 2x 300kt WE.177 bombs, each one 15x the power of the Hiroshima bomb. I'll be honest I'm a little disappointed with them; they're a generic bomb part lacking any detail of the real thing. In addition there are some big resin gates and flaws, and no way of mounting them to the model. Might return them and go for the more expensive but more detailed Shapeways set. I really don't want to go down the Shapeways route due to their obscene shipping costs, if anyone knows a UK retailer that still has The Aviation Workshop set I'd be very grateful.

 

Here's where the project is going to get difficult. Next step is to attach the engine intakes which require painting beforehand. Still unsure on the anti-flash white recipe I was thinking of, some recommendations would be helpful.

 

 

Thanks all, comments appreciated. 

[TeaWeasel]

So I bit the bullet and ordered the WE177s from Shapeways. I initially found the Aviation Workshop set on eBay but the seller was refusing to ship from France to UK. To me that seems a bit ridiculous; I made a decent offer and stated I'd cover any additional shipping cost, they still declined for some reason I can't fathom.

 

Anyway, spent a few hours last night with the Mig-17. Once the cockpit tub was assembled it was pretty quick progress, although overall I'm a little disappointed with the kit. There seems to be some considerable warping around the nose, meaning getting the fuselage halves aligned with the lower panel and the nose-ring was exceptionally difficult. Some filler and considerable sanding was required but it's not going to be perfect.

 

I also thought I'd give the Alclads one last try and replicate the classic Mig bare metal finish. On went the gloss black except this time I went against Alclad's advice and barely sanded it. Whereas before I went through all the grains of polishing paper, this time I just used the finest and gave it a very light go-over. Couple of coats of Hi-Shine Aluminium later and the result is pretty decent. 

 

 

Ignore the cotton bud, that was just used to suspend it while drying. 

 

Despite my grief in the past, I'm pretty chuffed at this one. Off to the RAF Museum at the weekend, will stop by Hannants afterwards to return the crappy WE177s and pick up some Alclad gloss varnish, after which the decals will go on and it'll be pretty much finished. 

[TeaWeasel]

Been on a bit of a roll with the MiG-17 this week after the success with the Alclad, and it's pretty much finished.

 

 

 

The black is simply Vallejo black airbrushed on, with the whole thing given a couple coats of Alclad Aqua Gloss. Doesn't look like much but the black really breaks it up well. I now take back everything I said about Alclad in the past, particularly the Aqua Gloss. Brilliant stuff all around. 

 

The kit itself was a nice build, although the fuselage was a bit warped around the nose. While some sanding and putty helped it's not the neatest underneath but overall I'm happy with it. The major markings have gone on, but as for the various technical details I might not bother, mainly as they're so fiddly, but also as they're near-invisible against the silver.

 

So that's one out of my pile done. Next steps would be to just finish off the last details on the Warhawk. Currently looking for a nice white for the TSR-2 but in the meantime I've treated myself to an early birthday present, a brand new Lightning F6. Bit of an impulse buy but I figured it'd contrast nice with the silver F2, painted up in the later grey scheme with the overwing tanks. Will post photos when it arrives.

 

That's all for now, any comments appreciated. 

 

 

[TeaWeasel]

Now that the MiG's finished that's one thing off my list, and onto another.

 

Decided to take a look at the Meteor. Got this as part of the Airfix Mystery Box and upon first look, I really do like the added complexity. The kit allows you a multitude of options such as having the gun bays open or shut, as well as having the engines on show, or even on a maintenance rack, removed from the aircraft. I didn't want to go overboard with the aftermarket parts, in this case I've just gone for a set of Xtradecal transfers to replicate a particular look, WL135

 

 

Something about this design I just love. The schemes included were just silver and I was getting a bit sick of that, wanted the standard camo look. The lightning bolt and blue/yellow chequer just finishes that look so I'll be going for that. 

 

The cockpit was pretty straightforward despite the complexity if that makes sense. Around 5 parts and the tub is ready, just another side panel and the seat and that's done. I decided against the Eduard cockpit out of practicality and budget which I'll explain later.

 

 

Doing off research photos it'll be just a black cockpit, so a quick drybrush with Citadel Grey and I think that'll do it.

 

 

I'm doing this a bit out of sequence and decided to get this sub-assembly finished beforehand. The landing gear bays went together like a charm. Around 5 parts in each one, fits together brilliantly with no issues and the detail is very crisp indeed. 

 

 

I also spent the time putting together one of the engines. It's still a work-in-progress but I took a number of photos at Hendon last weekend, in which the chambers of the engine were this lovely mirror finish. Have tried to replicate this with Alclad, and will go back over with gloss black in other areas to try to match it. Depending on my skills I may try to dirty it up a little.

 

And getting a bit ahead of myself here but I treated myself to an early birthday present, courtesy of Facebook Marketplace

 

 

Managed to get this for £40 online, but was very disappointed when I opened it and a large proportion is missing, namely the entire cockpit and intake/exhaust sections. Pretty wee weed off at this as it was advertised as nearly brand new. I've emailed Airfix seeing if they have spares, which isn't too difficult as the parts in question are interchangeable between all Lightnings. Sounds promising at the moment, but if they can't help it'll be a hefty bill to CMK for the replacements, hence the budget issue I mentioned earlier.

 

Plan is to go for the full F6 variant, with the Red Tops, overwing tanks and the more modern RAF grey livery. Might be a while before I start as it'd be nice to get the TSR a bit more done first but watch this space.

 

That's all for now, all comments and critiques would be appreciated. I'll be honest this blog seems a bit more dead than some of the ones on here so any comments at all would help.

 

Thanks,