[Closed] Show me your Christmas Airfix...

The Typhoon. There are billions of the buggers!

Will try with a fine brush.

You can wet the model with a brush where the decal is to go then sort of float it in to position useing a wet brush tip . Then remove moisture with a bit of tissue. Or alternatively get a life . 👿
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Me109 minus 25% of supplied decals .

Still working on my Airfix "Dogfight Double" Harrier and Skyhawk that I got for my birthday in October - thanks Mum!

Definitely worth getting a cheaper kit first - these are the first planes I've built for over 25 years, and I'm making a bit of a mess of them 😳 A bigger scale model would help, lots.

Next stop: a Tamiya RC car.

How would I go about weathering the Typhoon with a brush?

I've got various Humbrol paints along with satin clear coat. Do I just mix the clear with a bit of black and streak it on or is there a better method? I don't want it to look like it has crashed in a field, just a bit less like a flat grey painted kit.

Fig 1. Blurred picture of Typhoon in flat grey with 2% of decals.

Also, is there some sort of decal fixer as they are coming off on my fingers ages after they have been appiled?

Fig 1.

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You could seal the paint job with diluted floor polish, then weather with a wash of very diluted black paint. Apply this liberally, and then wipe off before it starts to dry. You want the wash to remain just in the engraved lines. Takes some trial and error.
But make sure you don't remove the original paint! That's why you want to seal it first. You can matt it down again with the satin varnish.

Try dry brushing. Get an old brush cut it to stubbly stiff bristles dip in thick white paint wipe all the paint out onto a cloth . Now brush over the model lightly . The residue in the brush will catch edges and raised detail nicely giving depth and light . I also used thinned to nothing black to run into details. These are techniques from figure painting but transfer to vehicles . Try on something other than your current work first.

Humbrol do something called "Decalfix", but this method works for me:

first of all, mask off the cockpit canopy with either Tamiya masking tape (and a scalpel/craft knife. Do NOT be tempted to use a Stanley knife, if you want to keep your fingertips**...) OR Humbrol Maskol. This is a purple rubber solution - like thinned down rubber glue - but beware, it eats brushes. I use a cotton bud.

Then give it all a thin wash of GLOSS varnish (Revell Acrylic #01) before you do the decals, and allow to dry. apply the decals, then another coat of gloss. Then a coat of matt (Revell Acrylic #02) for military types, not for civil types.

If you don't have access to an airbrush, you can get aerosol cans of the gloss and matt varnishes, but be careful not to mix brands, as some of them have been known to bubble & blister. If you know you're going to be doing a number of modern jets, try get the Tamiya Aerosol colours (TS32 Haze Grey or TS48 Gun Grey); same if you're going to be doing a lot of WWII types, Dark Green, Dark Earth, Slate Grey, "Sky" for British types; Olive Drab or aluminium for US types, and so on...

If you have undercarriage & undercarriage doors, leave them off until the very end. Same with underwing pylons & weapons

** ask me how I know...

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Just found out the hard way that Humbrol clear coat is not particularly clear. 😕

Typhoon looks is looking a bit "filth streaked".

Harry_the_Spider - Member
Urgh. The decals are as tiny and fiddly as ****. I haven't got the eyes or the skill for this.

Get yourself some cheap reading glasses from Boots or wherever

I've got expensive reading glasses from an optician!

Given up on the tiniest of decals as they look like specs of dirt on the paint surface.

Harry, I'd suggest that your brush was not spotlessly clean and that the thinners in the clearcoat picked up some dried paint. I prefer to use the Games Workshop Acrylic varnish as it seems to behave itself a bit better.

New brush. I think it is just a bit rubbish. It has a definite yellow tinge to it.

Whatever, I'm only messing about with the kit and I'm nowhere near as good or dedicated as some of the other posters on here.

Great thread! I must have about 70 kits waiting to be built, when time & space allows. I haven't built anything for about 12 years so no photo's. I've a few things in boxes ready to resume...a Tamiya Mk1 Merkava, a Hasegawa 1/72 P3C Orion, a Monogram 1/48 A1 Skyraider & a Hasegawa 1/72 EF111.
Been to a couple of IPMS shows & the standard of show stuff is just astonishing.

Have a look at this site....

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234952602-italeri-tornado-f3-148/

not quite finished, but...

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Tamiya 1:24 Aston Martin DBS

Well, I had a go....

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Not from this year but it was my airfix project last year.

http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=8590

Really wish I hadn't opened this thread,used to love the old airfix kits when I was younger,this could get expensive.
Just had a quick look for a model making forum and the skills/attention to detail are amazing - someone's getting a bollocking because a haversack on the back of his Polish tank looks American 😆

MORE PICS !!

does anyone know if the taillights should be red on a DBS ? no instructions for that in the Tamiya instructions, but it doesn't look right to me
<edit> never mind, just googled it. Definitely not red

Sure I saw one in a flood on the BBC website last week, taillights were definitely red but that could've been because it was dark-ish

Well, I had a go....

Pictures or it didn't happen.

[url= ]Aston[/url]

yep. def not red
the reflectors next to the exhausts are red, but I haven't put them on yet. Nor the door mirrors or the wheel centre boss things. or number plates

RAF Tornado on it's way 🙂
Now to google how to un-glue my eye lids - forewarned is forearmed and all that

you have all had 3 weeks to get these sorted.

Lets see them!

Still a work in progress. As for some reason the decals aren't very adhesive I have to do a panel at a time then seal them with clear coat.

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looking good Harry

Ta. Unintentional weathering makes it look like it has seen some action. 😀

Will add some scorching round the weapons pylons and general filth near various vents and exhausts.

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[url= http://www.fubiz.net/en/2013/03/29/diy-bike/diy-bike4/ ]I did not get this for Christmas :([/url]

Slogo - Member

you have all had 3 weeks to get these sorted.

Lets see them!

Massive elephant balls!Where in the instructions does it say 'DO NOT DRY PAINT WITH RED HOT BLOW LAMP '

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It was all going so well 😥

you know they have "special instructions" and "general instructions"?

well that bit comes under the "Common sense instructions" section that they generally leave out...

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Avro Lancaster & P38 Lightning also just visible behind the Aston

oh aye, the camouflage pattern does not extend to the undersurface of a Tornado - it's usually just a paler shade of grey

oh aye, the camouflage pattern does not extend to the undersurface of a Tornado

Plenty of Tornadoes wore a wrap around camo of RAF Dark Green and Extra Dark Sea Grey in the GR.1 days. Harry's is correct. Not quite the right shape any more admittedly, but the paint is right.

My mistake, sorry.

goon, as an ex Fleet Air Arm helicopter mechanic, can i just say that Lynx is incredibly well detailed. Right down to the remnants of anti skid paint on the floor of the cab. Love the sheep skins as well. But as your Lynx is far from serviceable the seat ones should be turned over lest the maintainers get them dirty with there overalls!

Harry's is correct.

You could always do this with it.

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😆 that's pretty much what it looked like when it hit the bin.
Had another crack,went waaay too far with the weathering but at least I finished this one

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Ace.

Whoops! Sorry harry.

Nice one Sausagefingers.

Not much progress here.

The first batch of clear coat was a dud. It should have been satin but it came out matt with a yellow tinge. I tried another tin and it was much better. I just need to build up the enthusiasm to do the weapons and attach them to the pylons.

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The next job however is me and the boy doing his quickbuild Spitfire.

Good looking kit there sausagefingers.

Harry,what size is that? If it's 1/72 like my Tornado there is no way I'm going to try hat scale again - ever.
The parts were just too small for my fat fingers and the decals!! I couldn't even see most of them and I wear specs.
Goon - any more pics of your helicopter? That looks like really top work 8)
I stuck the decals on the tank up there ^^ but if you look you can see the shiny backing,it looks a right mess.I was aiming for a slightly weathered look but once I started I couldn't stop even when I knew it was too much I just carried on.
I wanted to do a wash over the top but didn't have a clue how to go about it
The kits are cheap but I've spent a bloody fortune on paints and all the gubbins.It's worth it though as i find it a real stress buster.
Onwards and upwards,I've just started a Tamiya Bradley tank and compared to the 2 Revell kits I've attempted it's far better quality and goes together really well.Pics to follow 😀

1/72. Couldn't be bothered with the decals that I couldn't properly see.

Sausagefingers - This is the finished door gun and spent cartridge basket.
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Sludge wash to bring out the panel lines.
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That looks great,how do you do the wash? is it just thinned down paint then wiped off or do you leave it on?
cheers

I use Flory Models sludge washes. It's like very fine clay in suspension. You let it dry then wipe off with damp kitchen paper, leaving some behind in the recesses. You can do it the way you describe, but I like the Flory stuff as if you don't like it it will all come off without affecting the paint work.

to get the decals to blend in with the paintwork, I give my models a coat of clear gloss before adding the decals; apply the decals when the gloss coat has set; then give another coat of clear - matt if it's military, gloss if it's a car or motorcycle.
then if I remember, I'll do some weathering...

Cheers Goon,something else to add to the shopping list.
Thanks for the tip John,my decals look bloody woeful

At the other end of the spectrum...

Me and the boy have just made a couple of Airfix Quickbuilds. Note that I'm wearing my decorating shirt.

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£15 for the pair of them from Amazon. I have to say that they are very good value.