Timbog – tracks were primed in black and then I brushed the exposed surfaces with Tamiya gun metal paint diluted with drops of water, poorly mixed. The uneven spread has worked well to my eye.

Left the front track-protector bins off too. Could not get them to sit straight, which must have been a problem in the field too as they are missing in the majority of source photos I looked at.

Very bad atmosphere at work yesterday so went to the model shop down the road to escape. Ended up with these…

The Chieftain was only £13, dates from the 70s I believe but looks decent enough – certainly enough for me and my skill level.

New Airfix Tempest looks nice – some clever features designed into it. The tyres even have Dunlop moulded into their sidewalls!

Good stuff. I want a new Tempest V myself. I did the old Smer version myself a couple of years back.

This book is a brilliant BTW if you like to read up about your aircraft as you make the model.

The Big Show

Wow lovely looking Tempest Harry. Read that a couple of years back – quite a harrowing read.

That Tempest is excellent.

Thanks, a really basic kit flattered by favourable light conditions.

@nostrils – take a look at those tyres again – i think they may say Donlup instead of Dunlop LOL – pretty certain they do on the Airfix 1:72 Typhoon loitering at the back of my bench.. or maybe its the Eduard Spitfire in the stash. Either way – amused me for a minute!

Talking of Eduard.
This turned up yesterday – a Eduard Sopwith Camel.
Bonkers level of detail. This will probably kill the hobby as fun.

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Built an Airfix Tempest as a kid – one of my better efforts. Probably in landfill now.

I wonder if it says Donlup due to some sort of copyright issue?

Stirling – that Camel looks insane – good luck with it. I’ve only done one biplane. I tracked down some stuff called (I think) EZ line. It took a lot of finding but is far easier to use because it has some elasticity to it.

I’m making decent progress on the Thunderbolt but the Trumpeter decals are as thick as lino! I’ve tried all sorts of decal solutions, Microsol, mark fit super strong, even tried meths but I can’t get them to settle properly and without silvering. Soooo…I’ve bought the same decals as an aftermarket set. I’m going to strip the old ones off and try again – aaaargh!

I don’t think it helped that the paint I’ve used was very matt, and the gloss coat not as shiny as I’d like it – so I will also try polishing it up a bit with a buffer…

@cx_monkey how funny! I can confirm that the tyres on the new Tempest kit say “Dunlop”.

I’ve just noticed that drop tanks are included but are transparent?! The instructions don’t make reference to these either, very odd.

We’re gonna need a bigger house…

That Lanc is quite astonishing isn’t it. £600ish? HK have also released a 1/32 Lanc which isn’t as detailed and doesn’t seem to have been so well received (some accuracy issues) at just over half that price, but who would ever have believed we’d have not one but 2 huge Lancs to choose from!

And the price isnt much worse than some of the bigger Lego kits…

Holy thread revival Batman!

I’ve finally finished one! HobbyBoss 1/48 Me262A1b. Same as the standard A1 but with BMW engines instead of the usual Junkers.

Built OOB but with an Eduard cockpit detail set. Took me ages. I think one of the cats sat on it as the starboard port main gear had collapsed, so I drilled out the leg, added some brass rod, then refitted it. Looks ok to me

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Btw there’ll be another one along shortly – Eduard Weekend Edition (that’s a joke, right?) P51D Mustang. Just need to finish the yellow tips to the prop…

Looks good!

The only thing that’s tickling my pedant gland is that it appears to only have the lower two gun ports open, but 4 cannon installed.

Yes, I did wonder about that, but that’s how the kit comes… I didn’t do any research, just built OOB.

Fair enough:-) I know from my flight simming that removing two of the 30mms and blanking the ports off was a field mod, shame the instructions don’t tell you.

Crikey, it’s like London buses in here! Here’s another finished kit, Eduard’s 1/48 P51-D weekend edition.

Built OOB with a bit of aftermarket cockpit detail. Hope the exhaust stain isn’t too OTT

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Flown by Major Leonard ‘Kit’ Carson of the 357th FG, 8th USAAF, around June 1944.

Finished this – sort of.
Eduard 1/72 fokker e.iii

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Complete fiddlefest. Superglued my thumb to the wing while fitting the rigging and then bits started falling off so decided it was as complete as I could get it.
Also notice that one of the rigging lines pinged before I could get the photo.

Airfix do the same kit but in a far less-fiddly form. Currently giving that a go and will drill holes for the rigging.

At the opposite end size wise I finished the big jug a few weeks back. Biggest problem was the very thick decals which were prone to silvering. Comparison with FW190 in same scale – this thing was huuuge…!

Great to see this thread back. 🙂🙂🙂

Anyone able to offer me a top tip or two for not smudging clear parts and specifically canopies? I tend to fix with super glue applied with a cocktail stick to the fuselage.

Hoping to get an airbrush ordered this week I’ve been fighting the urge for a while but on the verge of caving.

Generally I find super glue and canopies to be bad news, as they usually fog due to the fumes. I used to use Johnson’s Klear to fix them in place but it’s hard to get now.

Good old PVA is used by a lot of people, but I’ve recently discovered a clear drying glue called mig ultra – good results so far – it’s strong, dries clear and if you use too much can easily be cleaned up with water.

As for the airbrush, well if you can afford it, it will be the single biggest thing you can do to improve your results, but it does take a bit of practice, mainly knowing how to get different types of paint to the right consistency. Also budget for a decent compressor though!

Thanks Timbog.

My LMS stocks Mig stuff so I’ll drop in there this week. Today I mostly spilled half a pot of Tamiya Extra Thin. That was an eye watering moment.

On the airbrush we have a lot of potential paint pigs – models I built badly as a child/teen that were languishing in my parents’ loft and which the kids “rescued” on a recent trip to their grandparents along with the horrible Airfix Blenheim MK1 where no two bits seemed to fit together correctly that’s been my test bed for rattle can camo and panel washes.

I’m more worried about the masking than the spraying and finding a technique and tape that doesn’t strip the previously applied paint.

anyone gambled on the Airfix mystery bundles? Just wondering what people have received in them, specifically the aircraft bundle…

Can I have some recommendations for an airbrush?

Mine’s pretty much come the end of its life I think (it’s done 20 years or so, and is worn out). Are Iwata still the go-to brand?

Any recommendations for a decent desk lamp for model making? Old age catching up with me and I need good lighting. Cheers.

@nickc – Iwata are still good, I have a Neo CN which is really good & not too expensive. It had been splattering a lot so I think it had come to the end of its life, so I’m now using a Sparmax Max-3, which is nice. Only downside to this one is that the cup is moulded as part of the body rather than being separate, but doesn’t seem to be a major problem so far

I got an Iwata Neo on JD’s advise last year. Way better than the £15 ebay jobbies that I had been using prior, not that they were terrible.

For a lamp/magnifier I have something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/384846725692?hash=item599aa7023c:g:56YAAOSwhzNhwxwH which is way better than you would expect for £15.

I’m still making kits BTW, it is just that during spring/summer there is always something else to do, so my half built Phantom is sealed in a box where it can’t get dusty waiting for Autumn.

I use this lamp for building kits and painting miniatures.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEBI-Magnifying-Flexible-Magnifier-Reading/dp/B08GCGLS5T

The mystery bundles are not very mysterious as everyone gets the same selection. Can’t recall which one I bought but it had the 1/24 Hurricane, a 1/72 Storch and a 1/72 Sherman Calliope. The Storch was junk but the Hurricane came out rather well.

Thanks Chris and Harry, will check those out.

Oh wow!
New Airfix “Superkit” 1:24 Spitfire.

https://uk.airfix.com/community/blog-and-news/workbench/new-spitfire-test-frame-exclusive?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NEW+SUPER+KIT%3A+An+exclusive+first+look&utm_campaign=Airfix-+workbench-+week++60+2022&vgo_ee=GBsirZLGg68TVmC3Y2kvSKyPUFd7JHyq9acdSgULWaM%3D

Haven’t made one in years, and these were the only photos I coukd find of some of my collection. All 1/72 scale brush painted

Looking good.

Going to build any more?

Thank you.

I have several in the stash, but will need to buy paint, glue etc as it’s all a bit old and dried up now. Have an incomplete Italeri SR71 in the cabinet that basically just needs decals finishing and then some weathering.

Once winter kicks in again, which won’t be long haha, I will see about getting that complete to see if I get the bug back

Done a bit today.

Progress.

More FAA stuff for inspiration.

Ta-da!

https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/kids-toys/airfix-model-kit/p53340