John Symmons

Him Ratch Yes they do. I see you saidimages, well one does appear. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Jimbo. Your question came up recently ,and if you look in the Humbrol Techniques Forum about half way down you'll find a posting called "What is the best airbrush to start with". It was posted about 3 months ago and has 3 pages of 28 replies that I'm sure would be of help. Also if you check through the other forums I'm sure you'll find more on the subject. Good luck and looking forward to seeing some of your results. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

More Vallejo paints to add to the collection, but have to go back as some of the RLM collours I need were out-of-stock, shipment only due in ext Tuesday. Remember wedo this for fun John the Pom

Today finally found the Airfix Fw 190A-8 in "Gift Pack" form. Not really interestee in the paints & brush but no-doubt they'll come in useful sometime. It seems the Fw 190 is now only available in this gift pack form. Also brought the RAF Air Sea Rescue Launch (A05281). Should go well with the E-Boat also from Airfix. Also got some more Tamiya surface primer, Acrylic retarder, (Paint in SA dries tooo quickly in summer time, especially when airbrushing) and some Decal Glue. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Paul Lucky find, hope you enjoy them. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Heather. I have the BR 20 in my stash and it dates from the late 60's, good luck with it and it's many windows and some-what sparce interior. and hard plastic. Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom

As Airfix have already done the Leander class cruisers with the HMS Ajax, and also the Gref Spee both in 600 scale I've always hoped they would get arround to the HMS Exeter, and I'm still waiting. Only Eagle Wall did all three ships wat back in the early 60's as their first campain series then they issued the Altmark and HMS Cossack, all in 1200 scale and what superb little models they were. I often reckoned their Ajax and Graf Spee were better than the Airfix versions at twice the scale. Personally I'd love to see HMS Exeter in 600 scale but doubt it'll ever happen but a 350 scale one I would buy it then maybe, just maybe Airfixcould do the Ajax as well. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Richard. Very nice what-if models. It always amazes me the ingenuity of builder when modelling these old Airfix kit. They’re certainly something different and an inspiration. I have the Belfast in my stash together with the WEM PE set, as one of a few 600 scale models, and to be honest it scares me. Love to see and read a build on the model then maybe I can pluck up the courage to try it. My preferred scale these days being 350. Thanks again for showing your builds and keep them coming, and maybe I’ll get around to trying my hand at the Belfast. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Junkers Ju 87B-1 A 03087 the new tool. Brought an Airfix Ju 87 last year only to discover it was the previous tooling ( A03030A), but decided to keep it as the decals were superb, and the kit wasn't bad, actually it looked very good and made me wonder why Airfix decided to redo it. Now having seen the latest tooling it looks to be almost the ultimate tooling, with well over a 100 parts. About the only thing missing that could have been easily been included is an engine instead of those wierd things on the exhaust stubs, & seperate undercarage legs so it could be modelled without the spats, as these were often removed in winter. The way the kit seems to be engineered it looks like other marks could be appearing in the near future, as long-range fuel tanks are included but not called for, so maybe and "R" version is on the cards; and the way the engine and cockpit is done maybe a "D" and or a "G" version with the twin cockpit machine guns as used in Russia. Wondering if Arfix is teasing us. The decal sheet is again superb, and nice to see a Condor Legion version. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom PS I really like the crew with the pose-able arms, more of the same in future kits please. JtP

Hi Ossian Have you tried simple boiling water, as I had something simular a few months back with a Taniya bottle and found boiling carefully poured over the top, so ar not to crack the glass, did the trick. When you do finally get the lid off be sure to clean the top and jar threads of any redidual paint, and put some Vasaline on the threads before you replace the lid. That should ensure that the next time the top should unscrew easily. If you haven't any Vasaline you could try plumber's PTF tape. Hope this helps. Remember wse do this for fun John the Pom

A07007 Heinkle He 111-H-6, the box is huge, very nice decals. Just hope I can get around to build it. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Timmas If you've got a program ;like Corel Draw it's better to re-draw them in that program as it's not resolution dependent. You can also add all the stencils you might need ( I find Arial font covers most cases.). type them out in 10pt then shrink them down to the size you want. I've done that and shrunk them down to +/- 1pt and they're still readable with a magnifing glass just remember to convert the final CDR file to curves before printing. If you're using a bit-map editor like photo-shop then use 600dpi or higher to avoid jagged edges. Hope this helps. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Timmas. How about scanning those dodgy decals and getting them lazer printed onto some decent decal paper. Only problem is you can't print white, but you could use white decal paper, but then you have to be really accurate when you cut them out. If you do decide to reprint them add some extras just in case. Another dodge is to coat the deals with liquid decal solution or you could try a matt acrylic varnish like Vallejo; that works because I've done it. Good luck it's a pity you can't post a picture of the outcome ( not an Airfix kit )but maybe you could write about it in the techniques section. something like Saving Dodgy Decals or simular. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Daaah! Whooops! I was forgetting you said Roc was a special hobby kit. My apologises. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Ohhh! Yes Please & ano3r super build & write-up. Looking forwards to your research. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Guillaume. I had a simular proben with Gloster Galdiator kit, the decal sheet wasn't printed with all the colours ( Black missing). Contacted Airfix only to be told it was unavailabe even though it was still in their online catalogue, It was taken off their catalogue about 4 days later. I do find that Airfix E-Mail replies are very terse at the best of times; even asking if they knew when it would be available still illicited the standard "Sorry. Out of stock." reply. I couldn't even make my own as there wasn't a high res picture available. 6 months later it was still unavailabe, eventually I brought another kit but checked in the shop that it was all correct; something I now always do. Had a problem with a Roden kit; they'd put the wrong sprue in the box. Cotacted Roden via E-Mail and a replacement was in the post the following day. I do hope you come right, maybe someone on this forum has a spare. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Stress damage from diving too steaply or too fast could cause lower wing warping. Araldite was not the fauilt just a reckless pilot. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

And the English sun came out just for your photo-shoot.. Well done that's really a magnium opus, enjoyed reading your build and watching the model come together. All you need now is a 1/24 working pilot and I'm sure she'd fly. Just wondering where you're going to put it. A few years back I finally finished the Tamiya USS Missouri but had no where to keep it so I donated it to the model shop in Plumstead, (That's Plumstead in Cape Town.) a she now sits on display next to a model of the USS Enterprise. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi T2b. You're going to have fuuuuuuuun. Good luck. Glad to see you're now using some proper paints. Keep your brushes handy as an airbrush is not really suitable for all painting, I'm thinking of the wood-grain finish on many WW1 aircraft and the blotchy silver/green finish on Japanese WW2 aircraft, not to mention some of those Italian finishes. Oh to be a fly on the wall. Looking forwards to seeig the results. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

2 sheets of 0.25mm clear platic sheets. Windows for a walrus? Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi Dad Paul B. Very nice build of your A4, well done, and a nice write-up, thanks. Remember building the original release of this kit way back when; your's is far supiour than my effort, then and it wouldn't sit on it's nose wheel even though it was oacked with lead and plastercine. One thing I always do with a new model is first thing is scan in any decal sheet at 600dpi, I then have a patten to make my own decals if things go wrong. Recently did this for some WW1 decals for a very old pair of Fokker Dr.1 triplanes by Airfix & Revell. I used the Airfix, Revell & Roden decals as templates to copy them into Coral Draw and re-draw them. I then took the digital art-work to a local printer to laser print. A4 sheet of decals cost R5 ( about 40P ) + the cost of the decal paper. Unfortunately I printed the the first sheet on white decal paper so most were unusable, but managed to salvage some of the crosses by cutting leaving a white edging. The second sheet was printed on proper transparent decal paper after some corrections. I'd not left enough room to cut some of the fine lettering out. If you ever try this leave at least 2mm between the decals. It might be an idea to make up a sheet of common stencils and warning signs in various sizes, then you always have decals to fit most subjects. Just coat the decals with liquid deacal film or matt or gloss acrylic vanish first as the laser print is very fragile. I'll do a proper post soon when I've finished the old Airfix Brifit. As you say many possiblities with this model may-be a DFD with a Argatinian A4 and a Royal Navy Harrier, or haven't Airfix already done that. Any way thanks for showing the pretty A4 nice to see it again, and keep them coming. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

Hi James I'm at present working my way through some old WW1 aircract including the old Airfix Focker Dr 1 triplane. The top wing is slightly bigger than one of you Typhone's propeller blades at 98mm (7.75inches) . Sort of gives me some idea of the size of you build. God luck it seems to be coming along fine, it's sure to be quite something when finished; hope you have a big enough shelf to show it off. Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom

Hi James. Luckily your not modelling the three bladed prop, it was supposted to have been the 17 feet in diameter ( That's 8.5 inches at 1/24 scale.) and was the largest diameter prop ever fitted to a single engined fighter at the time. I believe there was so little groud clearence that it caused severl accidends then the smaller prop was introduced but with more blades to handle the power. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

A01726 German WW1 Infantry, to go with my WW1 aircraft in building at present as an exercise in rigging. Now all I have to look-out for is the British counter-part. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom

What a great what-if, well done, and I admire your modelling skills to say nothing about your imagination. Super job and one to be proud of. Remember we do this for fum John the Pom