Christmas Airfix!

@garage-dweller I have a cheapo compressor and brush set off eBay, but swapped the brush our for an Iwata Neo which is an order of magnitude better.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132166170957?_skw=airbrush+and+copressor&itmmeta=01JDZEBJ7YZQ8CK3Q7JYCT4953&hash=item1ec5b7b94d:g:q2EAAOSwxehiu6vR&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKnOXRKVsICPfaBMkSta0JDVU8EPNjndbftUMiRDBc1WeSIWwyxHeio7q%2B01UpUsucg1ya%2BEXX%2F2nvzEYzi%2BbkTpFU%2BrP6bpbpvNFmdJUAvKh6lEOXTEXZwNHwYxEnKHbPEXZI0NWNEN5bfFtTd9lRf0aSZedHnOLzUTK%2FszjPP4q4qKdpbxphVIhMg2N%2B7m3mUgHYwNvEgHzB1gbXrYkVP8xYmqtuBeX6ZAr0s1cxDG9ooZ9LpN51U58nOJqlzSeWrMZ8%2BZV%2BpJaScW35a%2FMadElnKC%2BL%2FrB2E%2Fsy1JHtxWYw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR46kru7vZA

@Countzero Thanks. Tempest V. The Lanc fits by about 2mm.

Thanks @Harry_the_Spider

Been catching up on some basics on YouTube

Meanwhile I seem to have acquired three new kits. I only meant to buy one.

I’ve started on the P1127 but the real colour of it is clearly NOT silver all over (per the instructions).  It’s more of a milky grey with odd bits of (I assume) bare aluminium.  This aircraft (XM831) is at the Science Museum but there’s not many pictures online.

For a 1963 mould it dry fits pretty well.  I’m still doing the basic internal painting needed before joining the fuselage but I think it’ll be ready for its exterior paint by the end of the weekend. Then I might put it to one side while I scope air brushes.

The PR XIX is a cracking little kit.

@garage-dweller There is one at Cosford too.

Images

but the real colour of it is clearly NOT silver all over (per the instructions).

Warning: Nerd Content. When it was the Kestrel demonstrator at Airshows it was painted High Speed Sliver overall. Most of the ones in museums are unpainted P1127s (with various wing version fitted)  The evaluation sqn. was made up of RAF, USAF, USN and Luftwaffe pilots.  most of whom were ex-WW2, Colonel Barkhorn a German pilot claimed a kestrel as his 302nd  allied ‘kill’ when he crashed  in 1965 while on a test flight. 

Airbrushes: I bought a Fengda .2 on Amazon as a cheap thing for some fine/close work. Its a bit rough around the edges – threads aren’t super tight and you can tell its made to a budget, but once you get around its quirks, it’s not at all bad for the price.

Much cheapness. 

Thanks @nickc

I’d assumed the Science Museum was as representative of service life as possible and the other quick pictures I found were definitely more grey than silver (although not many of those).

So maybe it is silver after all.

I think there were about a dozen or so Kestrel FGA1/ P1127 made in the end. Most were unpainted evaluation planes of either the TES, and then as the XV6 (US designation) when the were all eventually shipped to the states and used by NASA. I think the Airfix kit orignally came with the Airshow markings in the box, so it’s probs overall silver, but it would be more fun to paint it bare metal fo’shure.

I have a Harder and Steenbeck Ultra airbrush, I think it was about £100.  In true Singletrack forum style I’ve done a couple of mods to it just to make it even easier to clean than in already was.  I also have a couple of no name Chinese ones that came with my compressor.  The expensive one really is no better in how it sprays, it just feels nicer and its way easier to keep clean.  It can also handle a much smaller amount of paint so in that respect its cheaper to run.  Its got a 0.2mm needle and i think a 0.4mm one (which i have never used).

Interestingly Google suggests that the 2024 Ultra only comes with a 0.45 needle which i find a bit odd.

Just to be clear, I didn’t build this! Back in July, my tank obsessed mate said he was putting something together for me for my birthday, but then he said he was having a few issues, so it might be a bit delayed.

I forgot about it, then he brings a cardboard box to the pub last night, apologised for the delay and said the kit was more difficult to work with, because the body was actually close to scale thickness, and very thin and awkward to assemble, and he then decided to rather ‘embellish’ it a bit, as he had some time, and it’s now an additional Christmas present…

I can only dream of building something like this, with the level of detail – the wall the tank is lurking behind was built from individual bricks, and the rubble filling the cavity is actual stones from his garden, which he crushed using a cast iron mortar and pestle, for added realism!
As you might imagine, I’m chuffed to bits with it! Best Christmas present ever!

Wow!

Wow!

Pretty much what I said, with some more colourful additions!
Yeah, he’s pretty good at fine detail work, he used to do incredible things with the original metal AD&D figures, which helped get him a job as a goldsmith, which he’s been doing for over thirty years or so now. He’s actually used silver for detail work on models, because it’s cheaper than copper.

Christmas day Airfix 🙂

Younger son has some new Airfix (the new B-24 kit and a dogfight duo) today as well as a 1:123,000 scale Star Destroyer, which needs a 20g nose weight.  I mostly build natural tail sitters or gear up so…

Today’s question is…

What do you use for nose weighting models?

I thought maybe some fishing weights or car wheel balancing weights but is there something model specific I’m missing?