Christmas Airfix!

I also like the bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin that appears in these pictures to give scale. Is this an SI unit?

Where do you keep them all? I’m going to have to have a cull.

Funny you should say, there’s currently nowhere (apart from the workbench) where this can live…May have to have a cull. Detail on the tank looks super cool, can’t wait to see it finished.

Is this an SI unit?

😃 I think it needs to be.

Detail on the tank looks super cool, can’t wait to see it finished.

Covered in tiny little hooks. I was putting them on “blind” as I couldn’t really see what I was doing, then nudging them into position.

I’ve put enough on so that I can get to a point where it can be masked. All the “sticky out bits”, the machine gun, smoke launchers, aerials etc can go on later after the camo has been painted.

There were more pieces on the crew hatches than on the entire upper hull of the Chieftain.

Another question – do people use Tamiya Extra Thin cement for all of their joining needs?
I find that it dries so fast, on larger parts I can’t get a bead all the way around the edge before the start bit has dried. I find myself either having to rush to get the whole edge perimeter covered before slapping the parts together, or putting the parts together & then dabbing the cement along the seam to allow it to wick into the gap. This seems less than idea though, as it spoils the edges being joined.

I feel like I need an in-between glue that is not quite as volatile as the extra thin stuff, but less goopy than the cheap tubes of polystyrene cement you get in the starter kits.

Harrier progress is still going slowly. I’ve been doing quite a bit of on sprue painting for things like weapon pylons, undercarriage, air-brake & undercarriage flaps etc.
Once cut off the sprue they will obviously need tidying & finishing up with some dabs of paint to finish them off, but couldn’t work out a better way to paint them & hold them.

White paint still proving a pain in the arse, but maybe getting a bit better at it. I primed all of the on-sprue bits before painting and the paint has maybe gone on a little bit better. I’ve decided I will prime the fuselage before painting.

I realised that I can’t fit the drop tanks & the bombs that I spent ages painting, as they use the same rack on the wing. So, that is good as it allows me to use the bombs to practice different painting methods etc.

I filled the terrible gaps in the engine nozzles, but have not yet got round to smoothing & sanding the filler to finish them off before painting.

Slow progress when you can only do an hour or so on the occasional evening.

Like most folks I suspect, I use Revell Contacta for larger bits (wings fuselage etc etc)

It’s pretty nice to use in large areas, you can go much more evenly and not rush things, the long metal errr, spout? makes it easy to be super accurate about where it goes, and it dries much more slowly that Tam, super-thin, it’s also way less aggressive

I use Contacta too for “welding”.

Extra thin is great for the fiddly stuff as capillary action pulls it into the joints.

Tamiya do actually go a standard thickness glue in addition to extra thin. It comes in the same size bottle but has a larger brush. I find it useful for larger joins.

Ah right. Looks like I need to look for something else to use then, alongside the thin stuff. Cheers chaps!

Contacta is really good. Much more controllable than a tube. Not used the Tamiya Not so Thin though, so don’t know how it compares.

Aifix starter kit Hurricane, from the middle of Lidl. I think I need to thin the paint a bit more on the next one.

Tamiya extra thin – you are not supposed to paint the parts with it then press them together, you fit the parts together then the glue is so thin that you just brush it over the joint and it flows in between the parts by itself.

Another Aifix starter kit from Lidl, Willys Jeep, found it quite fiddly……

I bet that is tiny!

I tried to start on the Tamiya version of that Jeep, and I couldn’t finish it.

I should have added a bottle of Tamiya extra thin for scale 🙂

It would have hidden it.

Another starter kit from Lidl, this time a Sherman Firefly, fresh from the factory…

Adventures in painting…I’m going for a “bleached in the SEA sun and washed with liberal amounts of salty water while sat on the arse end of the Intrepid”…Yes. Obviously it’s going to be  VA176, yes obviously the MiG killer, and yes Obviously with the toilet bomb…Who do you think I am? I hoping that while it does look a bit OOT right now, after a couple of coats of varnish, some weathering and the decals on, it’ll tone down a bit. If not; I’ll know for next time, right?

Is that the Hobby 2000 kit? I’ve got one in The Stash.

It is, the ex-Hasegawa 1/72 scale. It’s showing its age a bit, a few bits of flash, some fit issues around the fuselage and wings, and that hard unforgiving Hasegawa plastic all present. But the decals are nice, there’s masks included and the shape is about right (if you don’t look too closely) Easy build as well – apart from endless amounts of munitions

Sounds like the same one. Will have to check if I’ve got the toilet included in my kit.

I do like Hobby 2000. A proper top opening box is always appreciated!

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hobby-2000-72062-a-1h-skyraider–1439117

Cromwell tank (again from Lidl)

You are battering through these!

Yes, I’ve got a Tiger tank on the go at the moment.

I’m also building a Tiger 1, well I’ve opened the box anyhow.  Its the Tamiya mid production version and I’m going to give it the full Zimmerit and battle damage treatment!

natrixFree Member
Yes, I’ve got a Tiger tank on the go at the moment.

If you fancy something bigger for not much more you can pick up 1/35 Tamiyas starting at about £15 off Jadlam.

If you fancy something bigger for not much more you can pick up 1/35 Tamiyas starting at about £15 off Jadlam

Sounds good.

battle damage treatment!

Be interested to see how you do this

Oops.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/196257152296?itmmeta=01HS6C41BA9HWM6VPHW1302RKY&hash=item2db1d67d28:g:PxsAAOSwqOFl1inY&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA4DdjBSEfwMgyFtU%2Br%2F0%2B6u57Zj9RtKCaCRWEKVO%2FoBEiTeLWb5SHXT11wKEsM18vS6XSwKvSMB7KRMvMOwiZfh0OJVqZUDcPZLaTWfIqd2RV4GYUPE5cswkHAfFj7p%2FItnhU3%2Bm0JrE5RM5CqO1aeMHfUEPJ4kRMZ2ydanZ4dmpxHYzVRzOyp8LsS6bXMUkanDE0d%2FsvK4FIYJZfNGlXJtYylk4heeXKQOXQyu1eciik%2BJcBOXPjoxVcHGtCxglgf8IaSrcEZSIdLjAkZijJSbW8WX46Er4R%2FkarWbMK0P0g%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-aVkMzJYw

Oooh, an AS90. BITD that seemed so modern “Artillery System for the 90s”  seems rather dated now though………….

Any German armour experts in the house?  Mid production Tiger 1 specifically.  And it’ll be overall Dunkelgleb with field applied Olivegrun and Rotbraun camouflage.

Would they have been red oxide primered then Zimmerit then Dunkelgelb or would the have done topcoat then the paste?  I understand the Zimmerit was applied in the factory.  If the Zimmerit was chipped off what colour would you see underneath do you think?

That’s a question for the Britmodeller forum! They like that sort of thing.

A1-H NE572 Paper Tiger II of VA-25 USS Midway 1965 Yankee Station. The “Toilet Bomber”. There are two stories about the choice of munition. Once goes that it was a protest about weapons shortages, the other that commemorates a bombing milestone. It’s a big kit for single seater, in 1/72 scale its more the 4.5 Thin glues long and has an over 5 thin glues wing span. I’ve totally no room for this thing anywhere.

Took me a while to spot the toilet…….

Any German armour experts in the house?

What I know about German WWII armour can be written on a very small post-it-note labelled Nick knows shit all about German Armour, sorry

My research tells me that most of the war they were red oxide followed by overall dark grey (Dunkelgrau) which changed to tan (Dunkelgelb) in 1943.  They were sent out with two tins of pigment, red brown (Rotbraun) and dark olive green (Olivgruen) that the crews could mix up in the field and apply their own camouflage pattern so you’ll never see two Tiger 1’s that look alike!

The only thing i haven’t been able to find is if the Zimmerit was applied before or after the main colour.

Hope that helps 🙂

Bit of progress on the S Tank.

Got to weather the wheels before joining the hull halves and adding all of the stuff on the sides.

That’s a crazy looking thing!

like the tracks and wheels though 👍

I think I did say I wasn’t going to do any more PE in 1/72 kits…Yeah, about that.

It’s ‘sort of’ fun in a slightly masochistic way.

like the tracks and wheels though

Thanks. Looks a lot better now it has dried.

A lot of it will be hidden behind Jerry Cans that also contributed to the armour. The logic being that if they caught fire the fuel would leak and set light to the ground, not the tank.

Not a big fan of tanks that are caked in shite. In a lot of cases it doesn’t scale very well. Not that I’m an expert I hasten to add.

I’m much more of a slightly dusty sort of chap.