Christmas Airfix!

That is awesome! My workbench is a pigsty but that might have inspired me to have a tidy up over the Christmas break!

This (on the previous page), I like.

I don’t have a bench. I have to make do with a kitchen worktop and boxes for all my tools.

Thanks.

Ive been working for years out of a dozen plastic boxes and was getting fed up with taking ages to find the right bottle of paint. We had a family crisis yesterday with one of my son’s breaking up with his missus, I got upset and went and hid in the garage and knocked it up out of some 6mm MDF to take my mind off the troubles.
I’ve got loads more paints but they are enamel and I tend to work in acrylics these days, just got to put the Tamiya ones out and that’s all of my acrylic paint easy to hand (and in nerdy numerical order!😂).

I do like Tamiya paints. Even if I didn’t make models I’d still like them. The weight, the colour of the lids, etc. I find them very aesthetically pleasing.

Humbrol look messy and a bit crap in comparison.

I used to use Tamiya all the time but although it sprays really well it was horrible for brushing on, switched to Vallejo and Life colorful (Xtracrylix is good as well) and not looked back.
What I used to find annoying with Tamiya is the mixes required for some colours along with the potential for messing that up, I’d rather just use the correct colour paint.

PSA Airfix in Aldi for £4.99.

Just got another Hurricane.

I’ve just discovered how to post pictures on here, so to celebrate here are a few of my models – but not Airfix I’m afraid. I have a lump of wood on my desk that after some cleaning turns out to be made from a Bristol Fighter propeller hub, so earlier this year I bought a cheap Roden 1:72 Bristol Fighter kit to sit on it, not having built anything since my teens. I wasn’t terribly happy with the result:

So I bought a rather better Eduard 1:48 kit and a lot more paints, which went together a bit better:

Better, but not too happy with the rigging – the person who said fly-tying tube makes a good substitute for rigging anchors was clearly wrong but I’m not going to take it all apart and redo it! So I dragged Mrs R round some aircraft museums, bought yet more paints and an airbrush and moved on to a plane my Grandfather used to fly in in 1918, a Copper State Models 1:48 Armstrong Whitworth FK8:

Bit happier with that, particularly the way the bits actually fitted together (a benefit of CAD in the mould production I expect) so I bought a pre-Christmas present to myself in the Ebay 15%-off sale, which I hope will be good enough to sit on my hub when I pluck up the courage to build it:

That should keep me busy for a few months, particularly as it may require some experiments with home-made etched parts!

Very nice.

I haven’t got the patience to tackle anything with rigging.

Wingnut Wings kits are great kits, they just fall together!

I made their Pfalz and although I went mad adding extras they didn’t really add much to it, the only things I would buy again for it would be some Gaspatch models turnbuckles and some elastic rigging. The Gaspatch turnbuckles are metal but extremely small, and have holes in that you can thread the rigging through. Get a magnifying glass.

I only had one issue with the kit and that was that the parts fit together so well that a layer of paint can put the alignment out, make sure you scrape any paint off the joining surfaces.

One thing that I did that did make a difference was to make a real wood prop, I did this by glueing some strips of veneer together and carving it when it was dry. It looked really nice when I glossed it.

Get a magnifying glass.

When you get to my age the only way to do detailed modelling is with an illuminated head magnifier! Usually followed by a bike ride to get ride of the headache.

PSA Airfix in Aldi for £4.99.

Ya git!
My self imposed “only 1 kit at a time” rule has just got blown to bits. Grabbed a Mustang and an FW190, and I’m only part way through my Martlet. (and I think Santa is bringing me something too). This is the start of a Stash. I can feel it!

…and while I’m here…

Primer – what actually just bloody well works??

I’m having no end of trouble with both Vallejo Primer and Stynlrez just not sticking to the plastic, and peeling off as soon as I come near it with masking tape or just scratches really esily

Halfords Plastic primer in a rattle can is bombproof, but doesn’t leave a nice finish.

I’ve washed and rinsed the sprues before starting anything and I try and keep my hands as clean and greasefree as possible. Driving me proper potty now as I’m doing 1 step forward, 1.5 steps back…

Halfords every time, give it a quick whip over with some worn wet and dry (800 grit works for me) and it’ll be good. Just watch you don’t go through on the edges.

I’ve just started a Hasegawa 1/48 P51D Mustang, I’ve not attempted a natural metal finish for a long while so it could end in tears!
Had this in the stash since god knows when, it came with a couple of resin detail parts.

I’ve just bought the Mustang from Aldi for 4.99.

The decals in the box are for a different model to the supplied paint and instructions.

You’ll need to by some different paint or ignore the historical inaccuracy!

Ha – good point well made!

Looks like it’s the set for This one

I’ve built quite a few WNW kits and found the Bristol one of their more trickier kits. I did an all white Aussie scheme. If you haven’t got an optivisor I’d recommend getting one, although you do look like king of the nerds wearing it.

I enjoy rigging, however it can be daunting first time out so if you need any tips.

If your airbrushing then Alclad white primer works well.

My Brisfit will be one of those shipped out to the ME and painted white over the original PC10. Later ones were silver. So far I’ve degreased the parts and primed them with Plasticote grey primer from a spray can, which I bought for something else but seems to work well on polystyrene for me, the only downside being that it’s exactly the same colour as grey plastic so you need to remember where you’ve sprayed.

Am still trying to figure out how to do an NMF. It’s really bloody hard to rescribe, especially around curves of a narrow radius. I’m working with a Trumpeter 1/48 Mig 15 and even with fine buffing, I can still see a gap in the primer that would be obvious in metal.

Also, I find airbrushing metal type paint really tricky in terms of getting reliable flow and avoiding an orange peel finish.

Oh and this Turmpy Mig-15 has a fuselage in four parts, which means that you need to carefully align for panels and sort out a cavernous circumferencal trench between the front and rear fuselage quarters. The wing fit is abysmal too.

One of my favorite jets deserves much better.

Alclad is the way to go for metal finishes, but your construction skills need to be top quality, and I do mean top, as it massively shows up any imperfections

As above. Various alclad shades on top of a glossy black base. And yes the construction will need to be flawless.

I’ve just had some Vallejo Metal Colour acrylic delivered for the P51 I’ve just started. I watched a few vids of people using it and it looks pretty good, I like the way you can mix it with any of their other paints to change the tone.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

@spursn17 – that Hetzer is lovely! It’s my favourite tank, and I really like your little diorama. I’ll send a link to my mate who’s a bit obsessed with tank kits, he’s always hunting down really obscure tanks and kits thereof.

@CountZero cheers, I went ‘old school’ on it and didn’t use the airbrush at all except for the final Matt clear coat. The base was just a leftover from something I abandoned years ago, gave it a lick of paint (again brushed) and it all came out surprisingly well!

Back to the airbrush again for the P51 🙄

I got a Takom King Tiger with a full interior for Xmas, and a Bronco Stug III. Anyone else get kits?

I got a Revell 1/72 Tornado GR1, not sure when I’ll get time to build it now!

I got another stupid number of kits for Christmas and Birthday. I’ve probably got enough to keep me going for 3 or 4 years now.

Additions so far this week.

Airfix Shackleton MR2
Revell B17
Revell MV22 Osprey
Italeri SU34
Airfix Harrier GR9
Airfix Hurricane Mk1
Airfix Spitfire Mk 1a
Airfix Mosquito
Revell Focke Wulf Ta 152H

Wow, seriously good haul!

I’ve just bought the Mustang from Aldi for 4.99.

rocket jr went in for some crisps and came out with a P-51.

It’s been 10 years or more since we made any models – mainly WW II planes, rally cars and motorbikes – but it seems not much has changed. After meticulously painting all the bits the very first part (instrument panel + sights/crash pad?) didn’t fit so we broke out the needle files/craft knife/pin chuck/blu tac/tape etc which kind of set the tone for the rest of the assembly – lots of cutting and shutting and lots of parts that didn’t *quite* fit. Good luck everyone with the fuselage.

All things considered (see decals above) the finished model looks ok and I’m almost inspired to build something else but I’m not fond of the all the filing and cutting.

Bearing in mind it was Airfix and only cost a fiver are they all the same or are there any brands/kits that fit together properly?

The newer Airfix kits go together very well. The Aldi Spitfires and Hurricanes will be fine. I guess the P51 is an older moulding.

I’m just finishing a Revell FW 152 and the mould is as old as me. The fit has been “interesting” in places, but it is starting to take shape.

Bearing in mind it was Airfix and only cost a fiver are they all the same or are there any brands/kits that fit together properly?

Tamiya.

Except their 1:48 Sea Harrier, i’m sure it’s a reboxed Airfix misfit

Heads up!!!

Bolton Model Show – Sunday Jan 20th.

IPMS Bolton Scale Model Show 2019 flyer

With a nod to the thread about Bladerunner, this might be of some interest to the more obsessed model makers here. Adam Savage and model maker Kayte Sabicer have built a model of the Bladerunner advertising blimp, fully operational lighting, screens and sound, half the scale of the studio original, which was around 4’ long. Superb piece of work, but somewhat… challenging

Model makers Kayte Sabicer and Adam Savage build a jaw-dropping replica of the Blade Runner blimp

Tamiya.

Are they better than they used to be? The cars and motorbikes we did were insanely detailed but didn’t go together very well.

Except their 1:48 Sea Harrier, i’m sure it’s a reboxed Airfix misfit

Is there a kit you’d recommend? I don’t mind as long it’s not a ship or a tank

I started on the Aldi/Airfix Spit last night. The fit is fairly terrible and quite a bit of filler will be needed to make it presentable.
On the flip side I’ve just finished a Tamiya Matilda tank and that was superbly well made. Its a retooling of an old kit. The Tamiya German anti tank gun i built at the same time wasn’t that great – loads of flashing on most of the parts.
So, i guess it depends on how recent the tooling is!

Gents

As someone who hasn’t made a model since childhood and hasnt any intention of doing so now… MAy I ask just one thing?

Please post more pics of your fine work….. Whether complete or not.

Ta … love looking at them and bet Im not the only one.

OK.

Focke Wulf Ta 152H work in progress.

The swastika is on the wrong way round, but I’ve sorted that now.

Did this one for my Dad as he’s into the war-time espionage.

Nice^

What scale?

That Lysander is sweet! I love those planes, such an amazing shape. I love the Feisler Storch as well, similar use, the Storch had very advanced flying surfaces, and astonishing STOL performance.

@spursn17 – My mate Nick is very impressed with your Hetzer, he did tell me the name of the kit he thought it was, but I can’t remember what he said it was… 🤪
He doesn’t use an airbrush, everything he builds is painted using ordinary brushes. He’s actually a goldsmith, so working in fine detail is natural for him; he scratch-built some extra jerrycans strapped to the back of a tank, using thin silver sheet for the straps! It was apparently no more expensive than similar brass or copper, and he had plenty to hand…

Tamiya bikes are great. I recently did their Spitfire MkI in 1:48 scale, that’s a nice kit; their Bf109E in the same scale is nice too.
Their tanks are usually great as well

Don’t get me started on ships. Or biplanes. Anything with rigging is a PITA