Christmas Airfix!

I don’t have the eyesight or fine motor skills for PE ☹️

https://ibb.co/g4jJPCY

No idea if that link will work, so may need a quick edit.

Some amazing paint work on this thread, and that’s just looking at the last few pages.

My 9-year old has just got into airfix/revell, quick learning curve about the need for tweezers, sandpaper etc but I’ve been really impressed with his skills. He’s got a few paints from war hammer figures and I think he’s done an excellent job on this Comet Mk1 (although I’m taking credit for getting the transfers on!)

Thats some great cockpit detail Nick.

Good work by your son on the Comet, Jim.

My latest. Bf109 F Trop-R5 of 3-JG27 Murtuba, Libya Feb ’42. Obviously if you choose your theme to be “desert Luftwaffe”, you pretty much end up looking at pictures of Hans Joachim Marseille’s various 109Fs. There’s any number of variants of the basic scheme you can end up doing, there’s endless reference photos, some showing a red (probably primer) tail, some with white wing tips, some without…You can pretty much choose whatever. Marseille was one of the few Luftwaffe 150+ aces whose kills came almost entirely fighting Western allied pilots from the RAF, Empire, and USAAF air forces. Some of his kills are disputed now though, but shouldn’t distract from the fact that he was an amazingly skilled fighter pilot. Interesting fact; He was shot down twice by the same Frenchman; Sous-Lieutenant James Denis who was flying with the RAF.

It’s the Eduard 1/72 kit, which comes with a couple of sprues of PE, most of which was used…Can you tell? No, no you can’t. I shouldn’t bother with it really haha. Nice kit, a bit ‘over’ engineered if I’m honest, but also I didn’t have to use filler anywhere. so you pays yer money…

Lovely build.

Hans Joachim Marseille is in a few of James Holland’s books and sound’s like an “interesting” character. I won’t give any spoilers!

Incredible detail on the cockpit Nick.

Just finished a Tiger. (can’t find the insert image button)

https://i.postimg.cc/pT1g7nTW/IMG-20240316-091421993-2.jpg

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

Give the Tank Museum a bell? They have a good Tiger collection: archive@tankmuseum.org

Nice little Tiger. Even teeny tiny it’s a menacing shape.

Agreed, must have been terrifying in real life. I once had to direct a chieftan tank over a bridge and had to fight the urge just to run away, it had a very scary looming presence.

Tracks and wheels masked. Primer on.

Let’s see how we do with a splinter camo job!

First mask on. Was as much fun as it looks.

Extra Thin for scale.

Fw190D-9 StabII/JG 6, Furth, April/May 1945. By this point Nazi Germany’s aircraft production was almost exclusively fighters (defence) , so lots of different manufacturers were making bits of airplane, the sub-assemblies (wings and engines made at the Junkers plant) were then bought together at the Focke Wulf factory at Marienburg. Surprisingly, they were still able to make 1500 of these planes from August 1944 to the end of the war, although the didn’t really have the pilots to fly them, so it was a waste of time, and planes that did take to the sky were almost invariably shot down immediately. This particular plane was one of a handful found intact at the very end of the war.

There ain’t no party like an S Tank party! Apparently.

That looks really cool. Are you pleased with it?

Yeah. Not sure the wife is though as there is now an ugly dirty vehicle in the house.

Agreed, must have been terrifying in real life. I once had to direct a chieftan tank over a bridge and had to fight the urge just to run away, it had a very scary looming presence.

Agreed! Bloody big lumps of metal.

If you’ve never been, the Tiger display at the Tank Museum is brilliant.

Been to the live show down at Bovington, and even just in their arena; the clanking and squeaking and noise of a tank is enough to give you the willies, I can’t imagine what it must have been like to see one of those things coming around a corner in Normandy 80 years ago.

Wet bank holiday progress on Trumpeter AS90.

Tamiya extra thin for scale.

Picked these up from a local auction. The frames are metal, but the wheels are moulded, so need to figure out a way to make 1/9 scale spoked wheels.

Will be a retirement project.

^Interesting…

What do the kit supplied wheels look like?

so need to figure out a way to make 1/9 scale spoked wheels.

very thin gauge lead wire would be my first thought

Another option would be fine nickel silver  or nickel chrome wire which would have more tensile strength than lead. Scale would be 38swg?

Wheels in the kit are moulded, I guess each spoke is about 3mm diameter if scaled up.

Yes, some thin wire will do, but I need to make the hub and rim with equally spaced holes.

I need a watchmakers dividing head for that, which I don’t currently have. This will be a winter retirement project so a few months to think about it.

The aerials on my tanks are 0.024 gauge guitar strings.

Done.

Trumpeter AS90 1/35 scale.

Scratch built interior and cam netting. Stowage from a Tamiya US Infantry accessories set.

My, what a big gun you have.

That looks ace, well done.

That fire extinguisher really sets it off, fantastic job.

Corsair F4U-7 of Flotille 15, La Fayette, Operation Musketeer (The Suez/Sinai War) 1956. The -7 was the only Corsair built specifically for another nation, It was custom made for the French Navy and was essentially a US Marines spec AU-1 with the engine from an F4U-4. The La Fayette, was the Ex US Navy carrier; The USS Langley. These aircraft went on to fly in the French Indo-China war and flew combat in Vietnam and Algeria up to the early 60’s. It’s the Italeri kit with some additions (PE cockpit, resin flaps) went together OK, but it’s showing its age now. Still got some rigging to do

Very tidy.

Think I built the same kit years ago. Can the remember the tail wheel assembly being very fragile.

Incredible builds, that tank looks amazing. I have to say I find the world of adult model making very intimidating, with 2 young kids around I’ll never have the time, space, or concentration to do much. I used to love it as a kid and did pretty well with what I had, but the levels it goes to with PE, weathering, airbrushing, and everything else – is totally beyond me. A colleague at work shares photos of his waterline ship models, with full PE and they look amazing, but they mentally set a standard i’ll never get near.

I’ve an old matchbox Handley Page Victor kit from when I was a teenager, gathering dust under the bed as I don’t think I can do it justice…

I try to do something new each time, sometimes it works, sometimes not. (mostly not if I’m honest) With things like PE (especially in 1/72 scale) unless you’re doing competition, it’s really not necessary at all. For instance the cockpit of the Corsair has side consoles, seat belts, levers, instrument panel, but then I realised I wanted the cockpit closed, so it was never going to be seen, but I learned  a huge amount about painting and using it. I’m just pleasing myself really. Plus its amazing what a good pair of magnifying glasses will let you achieve…  🙂

Stupidity it mostly turns out…

I can’t be bothered with PE, because I can’t see it!

I’ve got a 1/72 Gulf War Tornado (Eduard enhanced re-box of the Revell) that has a PE cockpit. One day I’ll give it a go.

The biggest change for me was using Tamiya acrylics and an airbrush. Then spraying it with a matt varnish. Elimination of brush marks and not clogging up detail makes a big difference.

The AS90 above was sprayed green, then the black was brushed on followed by a really rough pass with a dry brush and home made wash.

Yeah, I’d agree, learning to use an airbrush was a game-changer for me.

Also, especially with the tanks, taking photos outside (on my shed roof, so they are all on a 30° slope) with a real background and natural light, with the camera at scale eye level, makes a big difference.

Neighbours must wonder what the hell I’m up to.

JU 87-G2 of 10.(PZ)/SG 2 Immelmann; Slovakia May 1945. The JU87 was pretty much obsolete by early forties and Battle of Britain revealed that it couldn’t operate anywhere the Luftwaffe didn’t have total air superiority, The Nazis continued to use it for lack of replacement – until the GA role was largely taken over by the F190F. Eventually they stuck ridiculous 37mm cannons under the wings to try to slow up the advance of Russian armour. The cannons were massive; weighing in at over 300kg each and could only carry clips of just 6 rounds per gun.

Fabulous result!

Cheers Harry

Tamiya Tiger 1 – I was going for the just out of combat, ran out of fuel and abandoned by the crew look!