Christmas Airfix!

I'm in Hobart, Tasmania & it was $118Au.
I think it was an Ertl kit.

Tasmania eh? Might be a struggle to get to after work.

Tasmania eh? Might be a struggle to get to after work.

That'd be a devil of a commute.

Veal? Anyone?

HtS has lured me into this model making malarkey. I spent £40 on stuff at the weekend.

Tasmania eh? Might be a struggle to get to after work.

Great Paintwork on the 'Sea Flanker' HTS ... is that all done with a brush?

Tamiya Luftwaffe 'Ace Pilot':

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Have any of you tried casting components in candle wax with model filler?

Next on the production line is a rather nice looking Cyber Hobby Sea Vixen FAW2*. The kit looks good but the ejection seats are too small, to the extent that the pilot’s head is below the level of the cockpit sill. A bit of googling indicates that the seats are nearer 1/100 than 1/72 so they are about 5mm too short. I could pack them up, but then they would look like high chairs.

My plan was to take the ejector seats from a Vampire that I’ve got in my stash and make a wax mould of them in a tea light, then cast some new ones in Revell filler.

I will experiment first on a random spare part to make sure that the hot wax doesn’t melt the original component.

Has anyone tried this?

[edit]I’ll try moulding with blu-tac too, but I don’t know how it will distort or how much detail will be lost.[/edit]

*I’ve done a bit of reading about the Sea Vixen. The number of aircraft lost in accidents was appalling.

Many losses were on low level “Glow Worm” night training missions that involved illuminating a target then flying a “race track” pattern for the attack run, where the pilot got disorientated and flew into the sea. Apparently there was a weapon selection switch somewhere behind the pilot’s left elbow that meant he had to twist his head whilst making a 180° turn at 450 kts and 500ft. The second crew member sat in the “Coal Hole” had a very limited external view, so there was no additional set of eyes to warn the pilot that he wasn’t level. 50+ men were lost doing this. Today there would be an outrage, but in the 50s and 60s it was hushed up.

[url= https://www.seavixen.org/seavixen-operational-roles/night-glow-worm-attack ] Glow Worm Attack[/url]

Great Paintwork on the 'Sea Flanker' HTS ... is that all done with a brush?

Thanks.

Yes, all done with a brush. It took forever!

I like your German pilot. He looks very "German".

Loving this model thread...

Once I've caught up with my non-starter hobbies of woodwork & wheel-building I might get a model to build....first model I ever built was a Handley Page Victor & the favourite was a Sea Harrier, that my brother knocked from the ceiling with screwed up bits of paper while he was revising for his A-level geography exam (the git).

Bit of an off-topic, hopefully not stupid or rude suggestion....harry_the_spider does your camera have any exposure compensation? Your models look great, but the images are coming out a bit 'grey' (your camera is under-exposing a bit because of the white background). If you have exposure compensation (+/- button) it might be worth setting it to +0.7 or so for the pics to brighten them up a bit....?

My camera is rubbish and I live in a gloomy 19th century cottage in the north of England, so light levels are always poor. If I use a flash it looks even worse!

Never had much luck with home 'casting' - seems like you need something either under 'pressure' (injection mold) or very hot liquid (lead) in order to pick out the detail.
Ok for diorama stuff like bricks etc but not for small detailed parts. Would be interested to hear though if someone has had more luck!

After my Sherman build I restarted a B26 Marauder, that stalled after a few days as I got bored with it. I decided to start an old kit from the pile, this is a Dragon mid production Hetzer that's going to be an 'out of the box' quick and dirty build. Only the base coat was airbrushed, the green and brown was brush painted and deliberately left rough as it will be heavily weathered.
This is my first attempt at the german 'ambush' colour scheme.

Loads more work to do on this yet so it looks like a 5 year old child has painted it at the moment! 😀

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Never had much luck with home 'casting' - seems like you need something either under 'pressure' (injection mold) or very hot liquid (lead) in order to pick out the detail.

I’ll give it a try tonight with a blu tack mould if they have it in Tesco on the way home. The filler I have isn’t particularly viscous, so I’ll see how it goes.

I shall post some (gloomy) pictures.

I can buy a couple of resin seats for £2.99 but I object to paying £3.50 postage because I’m such a tight wad.

Interesting paint job on the tank. Were they trying to hide it in a sweet shop?

Here’s a weird cammo fact… My lad has partial red/green colourblindness so he gets some, but not all of his reds and greens mixed. On the flip side cammo doesn’t work with him. Specifically he can see female pheasants extremely clearly at some distance whilst the rest of us in the family have no chance even when they are only a few feet away. It is his superpower. How odd.

Harry_the_Spider - Member

I shall post some (gloomy) pictures.

I feel bad now.....

Interesting paint job on the tank. Were they trying to hide it in a sweet shop?

It was supposed to replicate the dappled effect of light shining through trees.

Here’s a weird cammo fact… My lad has partial red/green colourblindness so he gets some, but not all of his reds and greens mixed. On the flip side cammo doesn’t work with him. Specifically he can see female pheasants extremely clearly at some distance whilst the rest of us in the family have no chance even when they are only a few feet away. It is his superpower. How odd.

When my brother-in-law was in the Coldstream guards I asked him how they got on with him being colour blind, he said the army liked it as he could pick out stuff in the tree line that normally sighted people couldn't. Reading your post made me think he was talking sense. I've disbelieved him for 37 years! 😀

Hasegawa used to make some nice model kits when I was modelling 30 odd years ago (bloody hell, just worked that out, jeez I'm old!)

I built a Hasegawa 1/32 Bf 109 in, er, about 1978. Very nearly 40 years ago!

This thread has got my interest going in kit building again and I'm now building the 1/32 Roden Sopwith Triplane. Unfortunately I've also needed to buy paints and a variety of other bits so it's a bit spendy so far.

Will post pics if it comes out ok....

Casting attempt #1 has ended in failure. Arse.

However...

I've just bagged an Airfix Hawk with some parts missing from ebay for £5.99 inc p+p that includes 2 seats and 2 crew.

Result.

Think I'd try lost wax method with some lead.

I bought myself an airbrush a while back and had a crack. What started out as a couple of 1/48 Airfix Spitfires got a little out of hand and now there's approx thirty models under the bed.

IME, Tamiya and Hasegawa kits in this scale are excellent - if expensive. It's well worth considering Eduard Weekend kits - they're extremely well detailed and the Weekend line comes in pretty reasonably at £12 - £20 per kit (often undercutting the perennial Airfix favorites and they're better detailed too).

I bought myself an airbrush a while back and had a crack. What started out as a couple of 1/48 Airfix Spitfires got a little out of hand and now there's approx thirty models under the bed.

Photos please.

Also... this is good if you have an hour to spare.

Oooh thanks for posting that HtS ... I'll look forward to watching it.

I've always had an interest in EE Lightnings as my uncle flew them in the '70s (56 & 226 OCU Squadrons) before he joined the 'Battle of Britain Flight' (now the BBMF)

Massive Lightning fan here - thanks HTS. My old man designed bit of them in the late 50s/early 60s.

I hope it wasn't the refuelling probe (you have to watch it to get the reference).

I watched another one about TSR2, which is an altogether more depressing affair.

The best bit is when TSR2 went to re-heat on one engine and dropped the Lightning chase plane that had them both on. The footage is from the Lightning's on-board camera.

Just watched that 262 video again, amazing attention to detail, some bits make me twitchy just watching, like drilling out the bolt-holes in those open wing access panels!

Agree, Count. Sadly my eyesight precludes a return to modelling, but if anything would tempt me that would. Stunning.

The same guy did a Tiger tank, will see if I can find the video. It's equally as amazing.

Donor seats and crew have arrived for my Sea Vixen. It is a shame not to build the Hawk that they came off, but having looked at the decals the printing is about 3mm off from the base, so it would have looked crap.

If anyone has messed up a 1:72 Hawk and needs some spares I'm your man!

Someone else who couldn't get the Lightning to fit together.

Question for the STW airbrusherists - is there any particular brand of paint you prefer for spraying natural metal effect finishes and any tips and techniques I should try?

I've tried the Humbrol metalcote stuff, sprayed on top of a gloss undercoat, but I can never get the gloss undercoat right without the paint drying too thick - if I thin it down, the resulting undercoat becomes mottled matt. Also, I struggle to get a proper shiny metal finish without chucking multiple coats of varnish on top and if I try to use a Humbrol dark wash, I end up stripping the metallic paint away.

All of my metal finishes have ended up looking quite cack.

Question for the STW airbrusherists

I haven't experimented too much with metal finishes.
Alclad have a good reputation but I've had reasonable success (on the likes of EE lightning (picture posted a few pages ago) & Spitfires etc) with Humbrol's metallic range.

Key points seem to be making sure the airbrush is super clean; thinning the paint and keeping the air pressure as low as possible - ideally <15psi (i try and do metallics at about 9psi - any lower and I splutter)

To get a shiny finish I just use a varnish (on top of the metallic paint) - either acrylic clear or GlossCote. (if using an enamel wash, then this has to go on an acrylic varnish and vica-versa - alternatively make sure your paints & varnish are fully dry (i.e. weeks+) before using a wash to avoid stripping the existing paint layers away.

Alclad seems to be the preference for getting the best finish [url= http://alclad2.com/ ]Alclad website[/url]

I've been impressed with Vallejo Metal Color (bloody merican spelling! 😥 ) lately, not tried spraying it yet though [url= http://www.snmstuff.co.uk/product-category/vallejo-products/vallejo-products-vallejo-metal-color/ ]S n M Stuff website[/url]

The trick is to get an ultra smooth basecoat, usually a gloss black, and then spay as Digby said. Another option is to use car spray paint, Halfords own brand isn't bad.

Has anyone tried a 4B pencil then wiping off the excess to do panel lines? Quick Build Video Bloke (see Lightning thing above) mentions it in one of his videos.

He also glues the canopies down with PVA to avoid fogging. How strong is this? All the models that I have built have been “admired” by a 9 year old, which means they get handled a fair bit. Anything that falls off will be trodden on almost immediately.

lso glues the canopies down with PVA to avoid fogging

As far as I know, the likes of Humbrol ClearFix and Formula '560' Canopy Glue are pretty much PVA.

And I've been using pencils more and more recently. Both a 0.5 HB GraphGear pencil for marking details & panel lines etc and Derwent's Metallic pencils for weathering/detailing etc

Aside; if you order from S n M Stuff, don't get it delivered to your work. I had a double humiliation, first from people who thought it was bondage gear, then secondly when I had to tell them it was a Games Workshop board game. Next time I'll just say yes, it's a gimp suit

Has anyone tried a 4B pencil then wiping off the excess to do panel lines?

It's a very good idea that, although we don't have anything softer than an HB in the house. I have tried that weathering powder stuff and it's quite good at drawing out small detail without stripping your paint away.

The other major discovery of note is that Johnson's floor polish makes for an excellent airbrushable varnish and you can safely coat with enamel paints if that's your thing. You can mix the stuff with acrylic paint to produce a very acceptable window tint (if you look at military aircraft, you'll see that the canopies and front windscreens are often subtly tinted. Likewise, gunsights and HUDs can be tinted a subtle green colour too.

Is that the "Klear" stuff? Well known as a great sealant but I wasn't aware you could get it in the uk

Tamiya do some clear acrylic colours useful for aircraft & cars. "smoke", clear green, red, orange, yellow, blue. Green is good for gunsights and also helicopter overhead transparency bits. Red & orange for car taillights & indicators, yellow for turning "chrome" to "gold".

I haven't figured out what might be clear blue though

Is that the "Klear" stuff?

Yes and no. The old formula Klear is fantastic stuff, but the newer one is slightly different and some people have had problems with it. Have a look at this link, the bottle on the left is the old stuff, the newer one has 'Pledge multi-wax' on the label (avoid)...

[url= http://georgedentmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/klear-ing-things-up.html ]Old Vs new Klear[/url]

I've got a bottle of the old stuff from the early 90's and it's nearly empty, this floor shine from Lakeland is supposed to be nearer the old klear formula and has had some decent reviews, this is what I'm getting to replace the old one...

[url= http://www.lakeland.co.uk/20286/Quick-Shine%C2%AE-Floor-Finish ]Lakeland floor shine[/url]

The big bonus is that it's easily available in the UK

Not a plane, but still an incredibly detailed build.

Thought I'd put up a couple of photos of a Panzer 3 close-support tank that a mate has built.
He scratch-built the tray on the back carrying several jerrycans, the 'strap' holding them in place is actually silver sheet! He's a goldsmith, and he says that silver is much easier to work than brass, and isn't much difference in price to copper...
I particularly like the rusty appearance of the exhaust, and the dirt on the tracks.

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The cream tank on the left is a Skoda 'Hetzer', built up as one of the team tanks from the animé 'Girls Und Panzers',
terrific little tank, adopted by the German army as a light tank killer, probably my favourite tank.

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finally... it's finished (bar the number plates)

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL in 1:24 by Tamiya:
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don't know when I started this but I guess it was some time around February.

next car is a Tamiya 1:24 Ferrari La Ferrari with lots of add-ons.
But before that I have a 1:6 Cylon Centurion, a 1:35 M113 APC and a 1:72 BK117 helicopter. Need to do something easy...

Very nice. It looks real.

I've got a Severn Class Lifeboat to do at some point. I got very close to the real thing today and took a camera with me to get some shots of dirt and weathering patterns. There weren't any, it was immaculate.

As with most Tamiya kits*, it's a great build OOB. Spray painting with rattle cans is just too much, airbrush at 10-15psi allows manny thin coats without drips forming at the bottom of each wheel arch.

* their 1:48 Sea Harrier is an exception 🙁

Very nice indeed john_drummer. Great detail!