Hmmm… Interesting.

Just checked the Zero out on Scalemates and it the regular new(ish) tool one.

Will have to look into the Tiger and the Firefly to check their provenance. Is the running gear a single moulded piece?

The current starter kit tanks are simpler versions than the regular kits. For example the starter kit Tiger has 39 parts and the regular (same scale) Tiger kit has 84. They could still be great kits but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re after a particular level of build.

It is the new one with the one piece track and road wheels. Might look OK painted up, or at least better than the rubber tracks.

I made theAirfix 109 a while back, showing it’s age a bit I think

.

I made theAirfix 109 a while back, showing it’s age a bit I think

If that’s the 1/72 you’ve done an amazing job at not snapping and losing those fiddly little bits under the tail. Three of those kits ruined in this house between me and the kids with that issue!

I’m about to drift back into plastic kits and fancied the big tamaiya Mosquito. Luckily commonsense has prevailed. Anyone got any advice on decent Me262 at a reasonable scale?
Thanks for any input.

The Tamiya 1/48th 262 is well regarded I think, and Airfix have a 1/72nd that’s quite new, and is supposed to be quite good.

I did the 1/72 Revell 262 a few years back. Not a brilliant kit (the cockpit is rubbish and the canopy was way too thick), but it turns into a 262 shaped object.

It will need a lot of nose weight.

Eduard P51-K. Wanted to do a 78th FG checkered nose but didn’t want BBD which is what most decals sheets seem to be! Build was a curates egg really, some parts – wheel well, cockpit – for instance are fantastically detailed. Cockpit alone must have 30 parts at least, likewise wheel wheels are 16 parts , and as individual units go together quite well, but then fitting it all together was a bit of a trial, port side fuselage was warped and ended up with a massive step gap on the starboard wing root, nose has no location pins so it’s very unstable, wings had gaps and so forth. They do some interesting planes, but Tamiya they ain’t.

Looking good!

My Birthday today. Got a Sword Gannet AEW and an Airfix HS Dominie.

Hoping to spend a bit of time on the kits next week in “The Dead Zone” before New Year.

Latest additions to The Stash.

Nice! What is the Heller kit?

Not had the time/space/motivation to do any modelling so I enjoy following this thread.

Christmas additions for me and the younger one.

Obi-Wan is mine, the quantity of glass on that worries me as I’ll have to do a decent job of the person at 1:58. Other two are his.

Nice! What is the Heller kit?

it’s a Saab Tunnan (barrel) Saab’s 2nd jet fighter and a good little performer. I was lucky enough to see one fly at Southport a few years ago.

Good to see the Saab theme continue with the Gripen, I’ve got the kitty Hawk one in the stash as I spent an enjoyable few years helping to sell them.

Good to see the Saab theme continue with the Gripen

Got a Viggen already in the stash, so I’ll do all four one after the other at some point I guess. Need a Lansen too I suppose.

Bolton Model Show On 22nd January, anyone going.

Over Christmas I built the Airfix “Kate” 1/72 scale which was £7.50 from The Works about a year ago! I also did the Tamiya T34/85

Riksbar
Full Member
Bolton Model Show On 22nd January, anyone going.

Yep. Will be there for opening time with a shopping list!

Liking the T34. It looks suitably grubby! There’s a running one at The Muckleburgh Collection and it looks like an awful thing to have lived/fought in.

https://www.muckleburgh.co.uk/

Nice !

I completed an Airfix 1:72 Hawker Typhoon but am embarrassed to show it as I lifted the wing roundel decal off with my sleeve and it now looks stupid.

Currently working on a 1: 72 EE Lightning and learning to use an airbrush. #LearningCurve

Oh OK then – here’s the Typhoon.

View post on imgur.com

Yes, I’ve seen a couple of videos about the T34, not a great crew environment and many of them broke down before they even got to the battle. The 85 was a bit better than the 76 as its got a bigger turret so a bit more room. But neither version has a turret basket so there was a real risk of the loader getting hit by the breach when the main gun was fired unless he kept his eyes open and moved round with the turret.

Photograph it from the other side so you can’t see the decal!

Yes, I’ve seen a couple of videos about the T34, not a great crew environment and many of them broke down before they even got to the battle.

I’ve got a 1/16 RC T34/85. In the spirit of accuracy it too is broken :-/

@StirlingCrispin

What is the diameter of the roundels? I’ll have a look in my spares and if I’ve got a set you can have them.

But neither version has a turret basket so there was a real risk of the loader getting hit

it was common practice to remove the basket in the Sherman. I think crews accepted the risk for more elbow room

Oh right, i didn’t know that.

@Harry_the_Spider
Thanks for the offer but the plane now sits in a box.
I initially went for the D-Day invasion stripes but completely messed them up on the wing.

Question:
I am struggling with painting the Lightning as the paint is not sticking to the plastic. What causes this ?

I have washed & rinsed the mouldings twice with washing up liquid (Ecovert). Have now resorted to spraying the sprues with aerosol Tamiya grey primer but I’d rather not do this for every model (it’s expensive and the shed is cold etc).

Lots of people wash their kits, i never have and never had a problem with paint not sticking. Are you brush painting? If the paint isn’t thoroughly mixed or if its airbrush paint then that can cause it. Tamiya acrylics for example don’t brush very well at all but spray beautifully.

StirlingCrispin

Question:
I am struggling with painting the Lightning as the paint is not sticking to the plastic. What causes this ?

I’ve got an old Matchbox kit that was my Dad’s and he never got round to making it, so I nicked it 🙂
I had the same issue with the paint sticking and ended up giving up on it. I thought it might have been a problem with the paint, so tried it on a different model & it went on fine.

I’ve tried washing it a couple of time, but it made no difference.
I put it down to being years & years old and the plastic degrading – perhaps some kind of chemical in the plastic leeching out over time contaminating the surface? It’s like someone’s put a ‘hydrophobic’ coating on the surface. This is with acrylic Tamiya paint. Maybe enamel would work, but I’m not buying all new paints, just to do that one model.

Have now resorted to spraying the sprues with aerosol Tamiya grey primer

I use acrylic car primer. A rattle can of that costs about £6 and is enough to do half a dozen kits. As long as you use it sparingly it doesn’t obliterate any detail on the model. Also I spray the model after it is built rather than when it is on the sprues.

If you gloss coat the kits before you apply the decals they’ll slide about more so that you can position them and ultimately they’ll stick better once dry.

Huge can of worms! Quite a few well respected modellers are adamant that they never prime their kits. I often do but not always. I use a Halfords rattle can of their light grey plastic primer. I find a light colour base coat helps to highlight errors (visible seams etc) so I can correct them (or at least attempt to!!) before the top coat goes on.

For the “Kate” model I posted earlier I used the matching Alclad black primer which i gently sanded to make it nice and smooth before the aluminium top coat went on. For top coats that are yellow or white you get a much better finish with the right colour primer (some people use pink primer I think for a yellow top coat)

Gloss before decals helps to reduce silvering mainly and also a gloss finish makes washes work much better. Washes don’t tend to flow as well on a matt or satin finish.

I am struggling with painting the Lightning as the paint is not sticking to the plastic.

it’s not so common now, but some older kit manufactures  (Matchbox is a good example) used a moulding release agent, if the kit’s been sitting around for years,  the styrene will absorb it over time, and you’ll never get it out totally, so it may need a coat of primer. Most people will tell you to wash kits before you paint them, I never do, and I’ve never had an issue.

Primer: Like Roackhopper, unless I’m black-basing, I don’t generally prime my kits. I’m not competing or publishing on you tube, I build for my own enjoyment, so who cares?

Cheers All.

An Airfix factory tour briefly talks about silicon release agents and how they don’t use them but you should always wash kits (I think – can’t be bothered rewatching all of it).

I will continue to wash and will prime if required.
These paints were Citadel / Warhammer brush paints and also Vallejo airbrush paints. Hopefully priming will solve the problem.
Everyone raves about the quality of the Lightning kit but I am not that impressed by the moulding:
Soft plastic, ejection plugs and flash.

Everyone raves about the quality of the Lightning kit but I am not that impressed by the moulding:
Soft plastic, ejection plugs and flash.

Fuselage doesn’t close up either without shaving a bit off the insides.

These paints were Citadel

oh, right. I’ve had issues with citadel paints on styrene before. They’re not great IMO

I’ll never build one but this certainly looks impressive:

https://uk.airfix.com/community/blog-and-news/workbench/airfix-designers-introduction-to-the-fairey-gannet

Gannets are cool. I’d love a 1/48 but a) It would be out of scale with everything else that I have and b) It would be chuffing massive.

With a bit of luck they’ll cover the development of the new Gannet in the Hornby TV show. With this being a weekly 50 minute long advert I suspect that they will. With even more luck they’ll down scale it to 1/72.

I did a Revell 1/72 one a few years back and messed it up. I’ve got a Sword AEW version (like the regular ASW but even uglier) that I’ll hopefully do a better job of.

The Gannet was a big bird !

Some remarkable footage of the Ark Royal from the 1970s.

Anyone going to Bolton Show tomorrow? I have £50 and a shopping list!

With even more luck they’ll down scale it to 1/72.

Fingers crossed for this!
(unless its another example of coldwar stencil hell like the Ph*cking Phantom I have on the go currently!)

Question:
I am struggling with painting the Lightning as the paint is not sticking to the plastic. What causes this ?

I have washed & rinsed the mouldings twice with washing up liquid (Ecovert).

A quick spritz with isopropanol and wipe over with a microfibre lens cloth might work better than a liquid soap. It’s a pretty benign solvent and shouldn’t damage plastics, although trying first on a scrap sprue might be advisable. I’ve always got some around in a little pump spray bottle, ever since lockdown, and I use it all the time at work for cleaning car bodywork before applying decals. Liquid petrol lighter fuel is very good for that sort of thing as well – back when I used to do artwork for print any sheet of CS10 board was given a wipe over before using a Rapidograph, to clean of any grease from fingers, it’s also very benign.

This popped up earlier on my Flipboard feed, and I thought a few here might be interested…

Building an English Electric Canberra