Carl Stratford

Aha, HMS Hero, aka mostly the Phoebe..I have the Falklands Ships set, consisting of a Leander, a County Class and a 21, plus an LPD, Fearless...Despite being ex RN I can't say I'm all that horribly keen on ships, but these will get built. The 21, I would imagine, is based on very early impressions as the shape of particularly the 4.5" Mark 8 mount is miles out, and the placement and size of the pennant numbers is..artistic..I served in one for two years in the late 1980s and the kit is provided with a set of Exocet boxes, so at least the kit has some teeth..

I've always found simply tipping the container so that the needle points down, then leaving it for an hour or so to be quite effective. Works for me..

Perhaps it's because of the harsher sentences for Advent Calender thieves that were announced recently... For every calender stolen, you'd get 25 days....Aithankyew! 😉

Those are some great-looking figures, Tomek22! I have found that a mix of PVA glue and water brushed onto warm water and detergent washed figures gives a reasonable base for Airfix figures. As John says, there seems to be no 'perfect' answer, probably 'don't handle them too much' is the best advice..

I love the concept, according to the box, of a 'safe bayonet'...THAT sounds like a health and safety idea if ever there was one!

When I'm building or painting my kits, I'm in the 'spare room' ie 'mostly my room', with the PC, so tend to put a couple of hundred tracks on my iTunes, of many and varied types and just go with that...I do mean 'varied', as I'll listen to most things except heavy metal or anything too modern... well, I AM 50.. 😉