Sailorman

Copy and paste this to your browser: https://support.airfix.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360017083939-Airfix-Club-Flying-Hours Or else: Click on SUPPORT at the top of this page Then click on PRODUCT SUPPORT Then click on AIRFIX FLYING HOURS Then click again on the small text FLYING HOURS There is a full explanation.

Yes, I noticed that too ..... but since he mentioned Airfix specifically, I approved it and whipped off an email to the powers that be. We'll see what they say.

Surely it must be possible to find a Hellcat kit somewhere ....out there

I think it is unrealistic to expect any manufacturer to include all the colours a model maker might opt to use to build a kit. They provide enough for an average model maker to produce a reasonable likeness then if one wants to go into more detail one has to invest in more paints. I remember building a 1:72 first world war aircraft - can't remember which one as it was aeons ago - and I decided to paint the pilot's scarf in red. One can hardly expect the manufacturer to provide a pot of paint so that I could paint the tiny scarf in red! However, I had plenty of red paint from building ships. You'll find that you'll rapidly build up a stock of paints as you build more and more kits. I still have and use tinlets of paint I bought tens of years ago.

Maybe nothing new RN but there are a couple of RN vintage classics. With a bit of effort they can be made up to look quite good or converted into other ships of the class. Take a look at the Ships thread to see what is possible. In the meantime we continue to wait and hope!

Yes please!! more liners and ships to 1:600!

While it is true you can built a kit of almost anything these days, you'd be surprised how many of us find they are unable to find kits of the subject they want in the scale that they want. My own preference is 1:600 ships. I started with the Airfix range when I was young then proceeded to the liners. Having all these ships to 1:600 I would now like to add more liners. There are only two more 1:600 liners that I know of from Revell. The chances are I won't be seeing any new liners released in this scale ..... but I live in hope. As a result of this I am having to scratchbuild, more as a result of necessity rather than choice.

Lovely

Re your questions: When fixing parts together with superglue you need to be very careful. They tend to immediately stick together giving you no time to align the parts. What I do is stick the parts together with a tiny spot of PVA glue. This takes time to dry and allows you to move the parts around till they align perfectly. Let this glue dry and once the parts are stuck together run a bit of superglue around the edges using a sharpened toothpick. Capillary action will "suck" the glue between the parts giving you a permanent joint. I would not use superglue near film. In this case go with PVA again, applied with a sharpened toothpick. You could also use superglue as described in 1 above but be very careful.

The Airfix Bismark is one of their early ship models and not as accurate as it could have been. However, it can still make a pleasing model being somewhat larger than the more common 1:700 models. It will all depend on your skills. The end product will be whatever you make of it. Look for plans and study as many photos as you can to help improve the kit. Scroll down the Ships & Boats Forum and look for "Bismark Redemption." KiwiKev tackled it and addressed the main faults. However, as I said, a first timer can make a reasonable model of it with just a few additions. The model below is out of the box other than having cut off the hull below the waterline and made a waterline model of it. Ask us anything if you get stuck as you build it.

Well, I suppose very few people would want an electric motor. This would push the cost up for the majority of customers. There was a time Airfix sold them separately. There were also Spin-a-Prop motors but I don't have an example. That makes more sense as you wouldn't have raised the cost of the kit for nothng. I suppose it was not proving worthwhile. After all, small electric motors are a dime-a-dozen. I don't remember whether this came with my 1:24 Mustang (1st Release) or whether I bought it separately. I know I had planned to use it for the Mustang.

That's a great improvement.

The Southern Cross model is not really worth re-issuing. It is to an odd scale and far from accurate.

I made a sort of jig for my model ship builds. Two bolts in the wooden base fit into two nuts built into the ship's hull. Once the ship is ready for painting it goes onto the jig and never comes off again until it is 100% complete. It allows me to "handle" the model without actually touching it.

Interesting idea ........ who knows, we might see more of the older kits released. We have already had quite a few. Now it seems the Bloodhound missile is out too.

It all depends on what you want out of model making. If things continue as they are going manufacturers will soon be putting completed builds into the boxes....The whole fun of building a model is building something that is "personal." I still get a kick out of building the vintage classics where you have to scratchbuild all the details......... but that's me!

David, I've passed your message on to Airfix. They send their apologies and say they will sort this out. Let me know how it goes.

Noted! Will see what can be done.

I never managed to find Klear Floor Polish on sale here in Malta but I used to use a similar product called GLANZER, another similar floor polish. Nowadays I prefer going for clear lacquers - Gloss / Satin or Matt though I still use Glanzer sometimes.

I've been using clear decal sheet for some time and have just ordered a fresh pack together with a pack of white decal sheet, (which I have never used before). These decals tend to be really thin and difficult to transfer from the backing sheet to the model. What you need to do is spray on a couple of coats of clear gloss lacquer. This gives them a bit of body ...enough for them not to curl up or break apart when you apply them. For small decals ....eg: doors on my 1:600 liners / ships' names etc I simply brush the lacquer on rather than messing about with my airbrush. When they dry you just apply whatever final lacquer coat you want to finish the whole of the model in .....Gloss / Satin or Matt.

Gosh! Get well soon and get back on this site ASAP!

What colour scheme are you going for? I did mine in the 3-tone wavy colours. You're making a better job of building it than I did! I basically built it out of the box and patched up some old photo etch I had in the spares box. The dedicated WEM etch didn't exist at the time. I did attempt to rig the walrus though!grinning We really are nuts aren't we?

Lucky you ....Lidl in Malta never seems to have any kits!

That looks like a great kit ...Can't wait to see it ready!

Oh dear KiwiKev ........in the final picture it looks as though she's been sunk!