Christmas Airfix!

Fantastic!

Heads up!

New tool 1:72 / 14″ MPC Eagle Transporter going cheap(ish) due to a ding on the corner of the box. No good if you are collector, very good if you are a builder!

I’ve just bought one, but there is another.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MPC-1-72-Space-1999-14inch-Eagle-Transporter-Damaged-Box/154096906946?hash=item23e0e432c2:g:QYAAAOSw-4BfaHMA

@spursn17 track bashing on the Steppes – very evocative!!

Nice little diorama with that StuG

Thanks chaps, I was quite happy with the way the Stug turned out.

@timbog160 ‘track bashing’ 😂
He’s supposed to be puking up after a tough day!

I bought an Eduard 1/48 Me109 G-4 profi pack last Saturday and got straight into it, I’m halfway through painting it at the moment. This has got to be some sort of a record for me as a quick build is usually 6 months! It’s a great kit as it just falls together, this would be really good for someone who is getting back to modelling as it has no vices whatsoever.

Earlier today I put a coat of rlm78 blue over some preshading, I feel like I’m actually getting somewhere with this technique now. I tried using some Mr Hobby acrylic thinned with their Levelling Thinner, I thinned it much more than I usually thin paint and it went on really well, I’m going to use this a lot more from now on.

I still haven’t figured out how to do that pre-shading thing. Think I’m giving it too much of the top coat

I did the same with the upper sand colour, totally obliterated the shading. The lower blue colour turned out really well but its not that clear in the pic.
Next time I’m going to try it with a darkened version of the topcoat instead of the rlm66 (black grey) I used this time.

For spraying over preshade I’m generally diluting the paint 50/50 for the first few coats, then even thinner for the final ones. Very easy to go too far. I’ve mostly learnt to stop and leave it overnight when I’m thinking “one more coat…?”, then look at in daylight with fresh eyes.

I also usually do a “highlights” preshade in white, as well as the usual “shadow” one in black/grey/brown. Seems to give a bigger margin for error!

I’ve been doing a lot of armour lately, Andy’s Hobby Store YouTube channel has a number of ‘how to’ videos. He tends to paint the tank overall in NATO Black, then the panels in white before a top coat. I’ve tried that too but I don’t think it really works as soon as you spray Tamiya XF61 Dark Green all over it. Time for some desert colour tanks I think…

Or some aircraft that are not RAF WWII bombers.
Hasegawa A-7D Corsair II in 1/48 in progress

I quite fancy having a go at this beast…
https://www.emodels.co.uk/meng-model-1-35-russian-9k37-m1-buk-missile-system-014.html

Preshading can be very difficult to get the right balance with. What I have found is that by the time you’ve added paint, clear coat, washes and filters it is surprising how much it will tone down the underlying shading. For this reason I always thin my first couple of coats more than I think is necessary, and leave more of the shading visible than I think I should. This seems to be the easiest way to get a good result.

The advice above about walk away for a while then come back to it is really good! I find this works well with Luftwaffe mottling too..

When everything works well, pre-shading can be quite effective, but as soon as you need to build multiple layers of contrasting colour (like Luftwaffe mottling for example) then you lose the bleed through. One answer is to post-shade using very thin paint at a very low pressure, which is probably what you’re going to be doing anyway if you’re painting a mottled luftwaffe scheme.

My Eduard FW190d has been WIP for a couple of months and I’m almost finished. The colour scheme was enough to induce dread – the underside of the wings were painted in contrasting colours of RLM 76 and RLM 66 with some panels in NMF. The fuselage mottling obliterated the preshading, so I post shaded the panel lines over the mottled areas with a darker tone thinned to something like a 30/70 paint/thinner ratio and sprayed at a very low pressure. After that I post shaded with a lighter tone, again at low pressure and with a 30/70 mix, to add some tonal variation. The results are okay, not amazing but far better than any luftwaffe subject that I’ve painted in the past.

Has anyone got any experience with lighting for kits?

I think I’m going to do my Eagle Transporter on a landing pad with a crew access gantry. Lighting that will be easy as I’ll use battery powered LED fairly lights through holes drilled in the base. Lighting the kit however will be different as I don’t want it wired to the ground. I want some lights in the cockpit and a couple of navigation lamps on the external frame.

Is there a kit available with a small battery pack and switch that I can use to power up to a dozen LEDs? For different colours I’ll use gels (sweet wrappers).

There are a small number of lighting kits available from a company called Tyridium Models, iirc. Let me do a search…

Here we go: https://www.tirydiummodels.co.uk/

Thanks. Found an eBay site that does them for boats. I may get a set or two of those.

Something like this?

https://www.smallscalelights.co.uk/

Led’s aren’t difficult to use from scratch and are cheap components. You’ll need a battery holder (2032 battery?) wire, led’s, and resistors.
The only issue with making it yourself is the resistor value, but there’s plenty of info on the net.

Years ago before led lights on vehicles were a thing I made a LED rear light for a lambretta, a Maplins (I miss Maplins) boffin worked out the resistor value for me and I bodged the rest. If you can solder a wire it should be fairly simple.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-Navigation-Light-Kits-For-RC-Model-Boats-Planes-Helicopters/143245365443?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225114%26meid%3Deb17f8aeeca24fb699f2fef54ef81735%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D223959578313%26itm%3D143245365443%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3Af46b1027-030c-11eb-8d96-7e768cf40bec%7Cparentrq%3Adeb0f84d1740a77d733acc5bfff10e8a%7Ciid%3A1

I am enjoying this thread, even if it does make me slightly melancholy that I’ve never produced anything to the standards of some of the models shown.

I need to get rid of accumulated stash though, and the thought of individually listing them all on Ebay isn’t appealing. Is there a plastic model-trackworld equivalent with a classifieds section anyone knows of?

What have you got? Someone shifted a load on here that they inherited from a relative a while ago. Put a list up.

Here’s my latest effort – a Fujimi VW Golf GTI Mk2 kit that I modified slightly to become my mum’s old 1988 Golf CL. It’s a pretty basic kit – I built it as a rainy day amusement while I was on holiday, having put the hard work in painting it at home.

I prefer painting stuff on the sprue, I find I can do a much neater job.

I don’t have an airbrush and am unlikely to make the investment any time soon (despite really being a railway modeller) so a spray can from Halfords sufficed. My last project I hand painted to a reasonably high standard but it’s still not as good as spray.

The build was pretty straightforward, if a little flashy-

I like the wheels, but the anti-roll bar is one of my favourite bits-

The interior was very satisfying to build-

Prying the body onto the chassis was pretty nerve-racking, it was a very tight fit-

It looked alright when it was together though-

Adding the finishing touches-

And it’s done!

Well, almost – once I got home I made my mum’s old number plates and added them-

I like that a lot ^

I am enjoying this thread, even if it does make me slightly melancholy that I’ve never produced anything to the standards of some of the models shown.

I need to get rid of accumulated stash though, and the thought of individually listing them all on Ebay isn’t appealing. Is there a plastic model-trackworld equivalent with a classifieds section anyone knows of?

You need to have made 100 posts before you can get on the Britmodeller one.

Stick it up here in this thread (if you are allowed). You may get a few takers.

I might do that then, unless anyone would frown upon it. It’ll take me a while to go through the kits and sort the wheat from the chaff, but I’ve got 32 aftermarket decal sets and some conversion kits nearly ready.

@munrobiker really nice job on the Golf, cars are one thing that I’ve never been able to do.

Golf is looking great although it could do with the red detailing around the grill to get away from the Driver look. That would be a bitch to paint though…

That Golf is really nice, great work

Golf is looking great although it could do with the red detailing around the grill to get away from the Driver look. That would be a bitch to paint though…

@munrobiker – hadn’t read your post about modding it to look like you mum’s CL. Spot on in that case!

Yep, it’s meant to look dull! Just couldn’t resist the tartan seat decals.

Really nice Golf there. I had a MK1 Scirocco GTi in Arctic Gold. Must see if they do one of those.

Not looked at this thread for ages, I have to say there are some superb builds, and it seems churlish to pick out one, but JohnEdwards Wellington is just astonishing! Not only is the detail of the interior superb, but the subtlety of the exterior is unlike anything I’ve seen before, the geodesic wing structure actually showing through the ‘canvas’ surface! Really lovely build, I’m very, very impressed.

Just double, I wish! I’ve had a 1/48 B26 Marauder on the go for a few years and I dread to think how much I’ve spent on the extras, decals/resin wheels/photoetch/resin .50 cals/more decals it goes on and on.

Sometimes you get lucky, my goldsmith mate spotted a tank kit in a local charity shop, (can’t remember for the life of me what it was), and it had a whole load of etched brass parts in the box, which he was pretty chuffed about, and it was quite a bit cheaper than the basic kit, too. I’ll try to remember to ask him what it was over the pub tonight.

Carried on to the end of the thread, some more amazing builds, but that T-54 is
mind-buggering! 😳 I’ll be asking my mate about that kit, because he’s an obsessive tank kit builder – he might balk at that one!
The Golf is neat, but one detail bothers me, it’s LHD…

but that T-54 is
mind-buggering!

It was hard work, but I’m really pleased with the result.
There’s an M3 Lee from the same company, again with full interior, in the stash too.
And a monster coming in the post very soon, a Soviet 4x missile mobile SAM vehicle

I think I have too many hobbies now. Two bands, taking up Monday & Friday evenings. Guitar lessons Saturday lunchtime so I need to practice as much as I can during the rest of the week. Doesn’t leave much time for the model making. Let alone riding my bike!
But then I’ve got to a stage where I have several models built, or at least as much as I can before I need to paint them. For example:
Tamiya 1/35 M48 -painted, needs gloss coat so I can do the decals
Tamiya 1/48 Crusader III -ditto
Tamiya 1/48 T-55 – ready for paint
Hasegawa 1/48 A-7D Corsair II -ditto
Tamiya 1/35 6×6 truck – finished, ready for diorama. Might get some photos of that tomorrow
Italeri 1/24 Renault 5 – similar idea to the Golf above, painted it up to match my first car. Needs door mirrors, but now the driver’s seat has come loose 🙁
Bandai 1/72 X-wing fighter – primed but two of the laser cannons have broken off 🙁 I blame the cats
MiniArt 1/35 diorama – stalled as it’s not particularly interesting to build

Here’s another one I’m calling finished. I may have overdone the mucky windscreen…

Tamiya 1/35 WWII US 6×6 2.5t truck

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built pretty much OOB but with additional oil drums & Jerry cans and plenty of ‘mud’

And another one…
Airfix 1/35 T-34/85 pictured as captured from the Hungarian army by the rebels during the uprising of Oct-Nov 1956. I think the turret needs a bit more weathering

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Should have cleaned up the seams on the external fuel tanks too

@johndrummer that truck is great, I really like the weathering on it! The T34 looks like you lost interest in it and rushed the weathering stage? When I do that I leave it and go back to it after a couple of months doing other kits, I go back to it with fresh eyes.

I finished my Me109 G-4 in two weeks, I don’t think I’ve completed one that quick since I was a kid. I’m quite happy with it apart from one thing that went wrong, if nobody notices it then I’ll have gotten away with it! 🤔

The T34 looks like you lost interest in it and rushed the weathering stage?

yeah, pretty much. Turret needs work, fuel tanks need work too

Lovely 109, can’t see any problems with that

yeah, pretty much. Turret needs work, fuel tanks need work too

Friday afternoon job? 😂

Lovely 109, can’t see any problems with that

Keep looking

Is it supposed to have the machine gun barrels poking through the cowls?

I’ve never seen one without them poking through, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a variant like it.

Is it supposed to have the machine gun barrels poking through the cowls?

No, the guns are there but very small. The left one sticks out slightly but the right one is just inside the hole, the gun mountings are staggered to enable them to fit under the cowling.

Undercarriage fairings on the wrong legs? Could be just the photo angle. But I’m clutching at straws as it looks great.