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I did tha Tamiya 1/48 Sea Harrier a few years ago. Not their finest offering…
I just spotted this for 12.95 on Jadlam and was wondering why a Tamiya 1/48 was so cheap. I'm cheap. Is it worth a punt?
The Storch is a thing of beauty.
The Tamiya SHAR gets slated because it has raised panel lines, and the intake shape isn't quite right (they're too fat) it goes together well enough though, and it's cheap. If you're not massively fussed by total accuracy, it builds into an a OK model.
A full evening last night chipping away at the 1/48 Corsair.
It took me the whole evening to dry fit then glue the centre part of the wing that fits under the fuselage. There was a part that took me about 45 mins to work out exactly how / where to fit. Glued and fitted together well once I worked it out the instructions were useless.
Then I took on a job I've been dreading. The tail landing gear. It's fiddly loads of little bits and quite critical placements to do with the landing hook when the fuselage is stuck together. It just kept falling apart when dry fitted. I tried masking tape to temporarily hold it all together but that didn't really work. Then I tried gluing some parts and not others which seemed to work. The critical part that might need a little movement when I bring the fuselage together is still moving, I'll glue that up when I bring the fuselage together. A picture is probably easier than words I'll get a couple tonight.
Jr has decided he'd like the wings 'up' / 'folded'. That makes things even more fiddly as there are some parts of the folding mechanism on view in the wing join. Dry fitted all of that just to see how it looks.
I think at the moment it's the fiddly stuff and he gets a little frustrated with these bits. So I'm trying to press on, get the fuselage joined so he can be a bit more involved again. As the wings are going to be folded my plan is to paint and decal the folded wings (and probably fuselage) before the last act of joining folded wings to fuselage.
I bought some of those Model Craft peg / clamp things. Waaay better than normal pegs. Came in really useful for the undercarriage assembly after gluing. I also got some Tamiya Extra Thin cement for the really fiddly glue bits which seems to prevent a sticky mess (fnarr).
Sorry for long essay. Good to talk out loud, I seem to spend most of my bedtime reading staring at the assembly instructions planning my next steps to see if I can do some things in advance and minimise hold ups when I get to the next stage.
PS @Harry_the_Spider I took another skim through the whole thread yesterday. Your work has really come on since your first ones 4 years ago. Something to aspire to!
liquid superglue is my go to for undercarriage. If you can't get that, then regular superglue applied with a toothpick. You can get delayed setting superglue, that gives you 30 mins to move stuff about if you not super content using the instant bonding stuff, and have some nail-polish remover on hand to remove overspill or glued-fingers!
@Freester. Thanks. My first ones look like I painted them with a catapult.
Given the thread title, would anyone be up for a Christmas group build?
No real theme in mind although maybe keep it to kits under £10 and document the builds on this thread. For an added twist I did have an idea about gifting the completed model to another modeller taking part (recipient drawn at random) in time for Christmas - Incentive to do a good job on the model then!
Happy to organise if there is interest but we will need to start soon.
Why not 🙂
Some progress! Been dreading bringing the fuselage together. Need to wedge in cockpit, engine and VERY FIDDLY rear undercarriage at this point. Penalty for failure. Then a Eureka! moment. Glue the bits in one at a time on one side, dry attach the other half of the fuselage to ensure fit, let it dry then remove fuselage add the next bit etc etc.
Cockpit and rear undercarriage sorted. Just the engine to go... Cracked on doing some easy bits with my son as well - ailerons, wings, stabilisers . As this is what it should be about...
This thread is turning into my Corsair 'work in progress'.
Fuselage bits glued to one half - the engine was the final bit.
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Dry assembled to let the engine dry then I'll glue up the fuselage.
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One last shot before it all gets covered up...
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Wing lifting gubbins that will be on display OMFG that was fiddly.
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Kind of frustrating and enjoyable in a masochistic kind of way. Should be thinking about slapping some paint on tomorrow.
Tail wheel looks like a nightmare!
I’ve had a change of plan - the Storch came with a couple of different Rommel figures and some barrels and Jerry cans, so I’m going to have a go at a bit of a diorama. Done a few (very poor) figures in the past so been genning up on techniques..
Tail wheel looks like a nightmare!
It was fiddly. But I cracked it in the end. Patience, don't rush, it takes as long as it takes.
Mmmm dioramas... Makes me realise the more you dig into this habit hobby the more you have to learn.
Off into town today. Need some +1 reading glasses 🤣 and gonna have a mooch in my local craft shop.
This is turning into the Corsair thread it seems - Good work @Freester
Decals applied yesterday, gloss coat looks horrible...
Landing gear and aux fuel tanks to finish next then a panel line wash before matt topcoat.
Hey @nostrils you've done a good job there I think that looks really nice. It's a subtly different kit to the one I did (I think mine was an F4U-1A your is a 1B) tho I doubt there's any difference in the kits / detail probably just decals / paint? I know you weren't feeling it a couple of posts up but it looks niiiiiiice. 🙂
Popped into town today to get some essentials
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Went into the local art and craft shop. It's one of those tiny old school shops but an absolute goldmine. Loads of modelling kits packed on a shelf up to the ceiling on one side of the shop. They had cars / tanks / aeroplanes I was just looking at the planes and saw they had Airfix, Tamiya, Italeri, Academy and Humbrol paint. I could have spent some money but resisted. Just a cheap little 1/72 nice easy level to keep Jr engaged.
@Freester - thanks for the kind words, undercarriage fitted and painted and just need some nice weather to spray some matt top coat on. Not 100% happy with it but it is only the 3rd kit that I have finished as an adult and I've learnt loads.
Not sure what to build next. My airbrush runs off canned air and is very basic so I am sticking to single colour paintjobs at the moment.
I bought this from the Hobbycraft sale: https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/revell-f_16d-tigermeet-2014-model-kit-172/656078-1000 but am a bit intimidated by the decals.
I'm following your thread on Britmodeller by the way - nice work!
Lovely looking Corsair there Nostrils.
Regarding the Tiger Meet F-16 - should be a nice kit, don’t forget to give it an all over coat of gloss varnish before doing the decals. For the larger decals e.g. on the tail fin, I’d also use some decal setting solution e.g. Humbrol Decalfix or equivalent. This softens them up and allows them to seat better as it dries. I paint the model first with decalfix, then apply the decal followed by more decalfix, then leave to dry naturally
Thanks John, I did use Humbrol Decalfix on the Corsair but it left a funny residue on the gloss coat (Revell clear gloss spray). I normally use thinned Humbrol Gloss Cote but cleaning the jar on my airbrush is a bit of a chore. Will experiment with micro set/sol next...
Microset and sol are good, but sol in particular seems quite aggressive on clear coats so take it steady. I think leaving the clear coat to really properly harden (a couple of days) can make quite a difference to how it is affected.
I think the residue disappears once you’ve got the final clear coat (Matt or gloss) on, although I could be wrong
Well I have to say I had no idea there was such a subculture devoted to painting oil drums until I started on these for my Storch diorama! 😀
I’m calling these nearly done subject to a matt varnish and a little dry brushing of shiny bits.
Lots of people seem to go for elaborate oil stains and rust finishes, but I’m pretty happy with these for an hour or so’s work.
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Nice !
Great thread, but let’s be honest isn’t it basically just one giant miniature humbrol-brag?
I’ve long been di-curious, but fear that I’d start something that would have no end. For instance - take a trucker. I’d want to do the trucker so it was lifelike. But then a truck. And then a road. And then the litter, etc. Then a small bridge with a river, some Himalayan balsam along the banks, a few oil drums bobbing around. A grass snake. A riverside-pub with a large beer garden. Punters. A few cyclists. A pair of buzzards wheeling about overhead. An e-bike parked by an old Morris 1000 van. In short, I can’t seem to stop imagining, so I’m guessing that it would be dangerous to begin!
(May remain as a lurker. May risk starting out with a small Triumph TR model that has been on the shelf for years)
humbrol-brag
Chapeau sir.
I had my first frustration last night. Trying to assemble the (fiddly) fuselage on the Corsair one tiny bit I dropped. Found it. Was trying to sand it down pinned in the tweezers and it pinged across the room. Lost. It's only cosmetic but IT WON'T BE THERE. I emailed the Hobby Boss UK importers in the hope they have a spare. Arse.
This Corsair has been a bit all consuming. I've put pressure on myself to up my game and been paying a bit too much attention to some of the awesome builds on Britmodeller. It's going to take a little while if I'm going to get to anywhere near that standard and probably some frustration along the way. The whole point of this was quality time with Freester Jr. Which the Corsair isn't.
After my frustrations last night I took a deep breath. We've got a nice easy 1/72 P47 awaiting some glue and paint. I've got a nice easy P51 awaiting a start.
I'll keep chipping away at the Corsair in my own time when Jr is in bed. I'd kidded myself that I could brush paint to a high standard like Owen from Quick Kits can, but I'm beginning to hear the call of an airbrush if I am going to up my game... 🤣
@Freester - Check out a poster called Plastix on Britmodeller who brush paints all his builds, his results look airbrushed.
Freester - interesting you mentioned Owen at Quick Kits - my lad has been getting into modelling and recently discovered his channel.It's great but he's not posted anything for a year or so. Any idea if he changed channel or just got disillusioned by the low effort to reward ratio and gave up? Or, given the timing, got bitten by Covid?
G
@speeder no I don't actually know.
He did an update in Aug 2019
but did a few more videos since then.
Who knows, Covid, stress, got a job?
I think he went to university.
That’s his modelling career over for the next 30 years then!
This came up in my YouTube feed and I thought you STW modellers might like a bit of inspiration from the 2021 IPMS show in Telford. Really incredible amount of people out there modeling to a fantastic standard
Full disclosure. I have never had an Airfix kit. I got one of those Aldo specials for 4.99
I thought Tamiya 1/10 scale was finnicky...
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As daft as it sounds, salad cream can set like concrete once the vinegar evaporates. (I got that from the BBC’s ‘that’s life’, many moons ago).
Maybe mixing it with curry powder is one way to achieve a realistic patina.
I know I'm really double posting my WIP on Britmodeller but finished 5 coats of hand brushed Revell Blue / Anthracite enamel mix, thinned with white sprits. Unmasked the wing tips. Happy with the straight lines and the detail remaining. Not perfect but an improvement on my previous model...
Feeling a bit better about things now gotta keep cracking on. Black for the top fuselage in front of the cockpit now masked and one coat applied. Going to think about gloss varnish where the decals are going to be applied...
That Corsair looks good, the brushwork is very fine.
Great finish on that Corsair! Looks like enamels are the way to go when brush painting.
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Spitfire nearly done. Great, just what I need. Another money time sapping pastime.
Granted this kit cost 4.99 from Aldi so I'm not expecting much but the acrylic paint is very thick and dries very fast.
If you were going to make a good job of it would you use thinners or a different kind of paint?
Great, just what I need. Another money time sapping pastime
yup tell me about it.
f you were going to make a good job of it would you use thinners or a different kind of paint?
I'm no expert. From all the reading I've done. Thinned lacquers with an airbrush seem to be the perfectionists method.
However first things first. I would recommend you thin your paint. I didn't for my first model and it looks not unlike yours (admittedly I use enamels). There's a guy on Britmodeller who gets superb results with a paintbrush and acrylics. You can use water or there are specific acrylic thinners. Better too thin than too thick the first coat may look awful / see through / non existent but keep applying thin coats when the previous has dried...
Having done those Airfix starter kits with a brush, then yeah, the paint does need thinning and mutiple coats - but water works reasonably well with those little pots. I did try thinning them with AK acrylic thinner and they are better again with that, but I was trying to do the kit with just what was in the box as part of the Airfix 'starter kit challenge' so was staying away from the airbrush, etc. Found that the metallics in those kits are awful and are pretty much translucent even when not thinned, so needed a heap of coats to get a uniform finish. The black waters down well to do a wash in wheels wells etc, even if it's a little grainy - but was just seeing how far i could do with the basics.
A dash of water or an alcohol based thinner will sort it out. A wider brush too.
Spitfire nearly done. Great, just what I need. Another money time sapping pastime.
My guest bedroom is home to a Specialized Stumpjumper frame and approx 40+ 1/48 kits awaiting being built.
Granted this kit cost 4.99 from Aldi so I’m not expecting much but the acrylic paint is very thick and dries very fast.
If you were going to make a good job of it would you use thinners or a different kind of paint?
Humbrol / Airfix acrylics are a bit hit and miss. Humbrol do an acrylic thinner, or you can thin with water, but the paints themselves can be lumpy and grainy, personally I wouldn't bother with them.
I am a huge fan of Tamiya acrylics, I find them far easier to work with than Humbrol acrylics. The range of colours isn't as extensive as you get with other brands like Humbrol etc, however the paints mix extremely well, so it's relatively easy to get the shade that you're looking for. For a Battle of Britain Spitfire you'll need XF-21 (sky) for the undersides, XF-81 (RAF dark green) and a blend of XF-52 (flat earth), XF-49 (khaki) and XF-3 (yellow) in a 2:2:1 mixture to get RAF Dark Earth. A tub of X-20 thinner lasts for absolutely ages too, I think that I opened mine in January and seven models later I've used about 20% of it, even with using an airbrush to spray paint thinned to a 1:1 ratio.
I realise that at approx £1.75 per bottle, the potential outlay on paint is quite expensive when compared with a £4.99 kit, but believe me it's well worth it.
I also highly recommend Vallejo acrylics too - Vallejo range here. These are thinned with plain water and are easy to use, but paint can be expensive at approx £2.50 per bottle. Their range of colours is mind boggling though.
If I was brush painting I’d lay down an undercoat from a rattle can, from memory Halfords do a suitable one. Look to britmodeller for advice. I’d then be applying multiple, thin coats of my paint of choice, thinned with their thinner or distilled water. A good quality brush also helps.
My preferred paint is Vallejo. They have painting tips on their website. I only brush paint the small parts as I could never get a finish I was happy with so I bought an airbrush, but that’s an investment.
Tamiya acrylics are hard to paint without leaving brush marks, I add a cheap acrylic retarding fluid (readily available from The Range) and this helps level off the brush marks.
I am in the process of brush painting a Spitfire Vb using the Revell Aqua Color range - when thinned (with tap water) they give a very good finish. Edited to add - wider flat brushes make all the difference and very cheap too.
I'm currently putting together an Airfix 1/48 P-51 Mustang. It'll be my fourth attempt at this kit, I always fall flat on my face trying to get a natural metal finish. All of my attempts thus far have been complete arse.
The key to a convincing metal finish is in preparation, the surface of the model must be blemish free and unsightly seam lines will completely ruin it. The Airfix Mustang is annoying in that the plastic is not exactly finely cast, so the seam lines around the lower fuselage are quite prominent and will need to be neatened up.
So far, I've used brush on superglue to fill the gaps in the fuselage seams and I'm in the process of using fine sanding cloths to smooth the superglue. The plan is to assemble the wings and fuselage, clean the model with a lint free cloth and rubbing alcohol to ensure good adhesion with the primer layer. The primer layer will help me spot any areas that need filling, before that layer too is polished with the fine sanding cloths again.
Wartime P-51ds had aluminium lacquer painted wings and a bare metal fuselage, while elevators, ailerons and flaps were also left in bare metal. I'm using Vallejo Metal Air acrylics, hopefully I won't balls it up but I'd be grateful for any advice from anyone who has successfully completed an NMF build here!
Oh and I'll need to account for the black and white invasion stripes on the underside of the aircraft, decals won't do so I'm going to mask and airbrush these. There's so much that could go hideously wrong...
Rommel…looking for his next fuel delivery perhaps?😀
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Thanks! Full disclosure I cheated by buying a mat and some pre made grasses, but I’m mainly interested in the aircraft so it just adds a bit of context.
When I was searching for ideas it seemed that every Rommel figure I saw was accompanied by Jerry cans or fuel barrels!