peebeep

It all depends. If they sell lots of Hampdens but the tooling is no longer viable for further production runs then a new tool could be on the cards. Bear in mind it would probably be 2-3 years in development. Not released as a Vintage Classic, the old Heinkel IIIH-20 kit was released in 2011, then the new tool He IIIP arrived in 2015. The old 1/76 Sherman and Tiger I kits were available close to the release of the new 1/72 kits, although you might argue it's a spurious comparison in relation to the different scales.

Enamels were considered nasty because frequently they contained MEK as an additive, used as a drying agent. MEK is flagged up as a carcinogen and its use is mostly discontinued in enamel paints, so you should be able to happily use enamel. There is a huge amount of misunderstanding about the different paint media we use in modelling, you could write an essay to explain it (I won't), but it's helpful to throw away the word acrylic and refer to the different media as water, oil or lacquer based. You might find it helpful to use acrylic primer out of an aerosol, it sticks much better than acrylic out of the jar because, wait for it, the propellant will contain a hot solvent. Games Workshop used to do excellent aerosol primers, they probably still do. Halford's spray primer is an old standby, although it can come up grainy, but a brief polish with some old denim will fix the problem.

AFAIK Humbrol acrylics are aqueous, although it's possible to thin them with fluids other than water. I've used Klear for thinning in order to improve their adhesion. There's a number of paint ranges (not Humbrol) that are identified as acrylic, but not aqueous, for instance Tamiya, Mr Hobby. They are spirit based but miscible with water. Then there's lacquers, but these are not miscible with water. I'm not discussing the chemistry because I'm not a chemist and I don't intend to do any copying and pasting from elsewhere.

I would suggest you look beyond Airfix, there are a lot of Gerry Anderson vehicles that have been issued by Oriental, mostly Japanese manufacturers, including Stingray.

Except when your acrylic media is spirit or lacquer based. There still seems to be an automatic assumption that by definition acrylic paints are aqueous, this is not so.

The Airfix kit does not have raised RAM panels, they are depicted with engraved lines, you can see them in a review on the Key Model World pages: https://www.keymodelworld.com/article/airfix-new-tool-172-f-35b-lightning-ii-full-build#:~:text=This%20starter%20set%20was%20a,hardly%20any%20need%20for%20filler. This actually makes it fairly unique, because everybody else seems to be doing it with raised panels. You really need to use reference photos to check any particular airframe in real life, some have it, some don't.

Fair enough, but it wasn't a great look.

This forum is pretty much dying on its feet, I don't think it's particularly helpful to castigate anybody using the largest type text (akin to shouting), because they don't conform to your own personal perception of how a forum should operate.

Ordered before Christmas, arrived before Christmas as a treat to self. Hideously expensive but I'm in the fortunate position of being able to push the boat out if I want to.

Paint/varnish blooming is caused by moisture condensing on, and being trapped in the wet film. This may be due to: · Painting during cold, wet or humid conditions. · Draughty workspace, or inadequate heating and/or air movement.

Essentially it's a de-rivetted with added engraved panel lines version of the original tool 109G kit. I would say irrespective of any perceived shortcomings it's still a hoot to build and if you have any KP or Eduard S199 kits then you will have spares available that can be used on this, eg, props, spinner, wheels, intakes etc. If you remove the awful gun bulges you can call it an early G, or at a pinch F. The kits are worth a punt on the strength of the decal sheets that come with them and I have some left overs that are a perfect fit to go with an AZ three kit joy pack.

Personally I would prefer that Airfix focus on new tooling and not try to replicate kits from the dim and distant past. Kits such as the Buffalo have a certain charm, can be great fun to build and I've invested in some Vintage Classics myself, but I'd take a new tool Buffalo over a replica of an old kit every time. YMMV. There seems to be an assumption that doing a laser scan is some sort of panacea that gives you usable data to replicate an object suitable for injection moulding with a couple of mouse clicks. I don't think it's that straightforward. I've seen laser scans in my day job, they're impressive, but they generate lots of 'noise'. In the context of creating tooling for plastic models this noise has to be cleaned up and could potentially take up hundreds of hours of a CAD operators time. From the stuff that Airfix have published on their blog it seems that for new tool kits their m.o. is to compare scans with models that have been worked up from first principles, i.e. using physically measured data and authentic blueprints. So I doubt they would scan an old kit then try and turn the scan into data to cut a new tool. In the case of the transparencies and again referring to the blog I believe they used the method as described above. I would think it's cost effective to work up a small transparency model from first principles because apart from the framing, there's not usually a lot of other detail to worry about, just basic shapes. The model can then be compared with the scan to make sure that the new parts are a good fit with the old tool components. I can see that working up a relatively small frame with transparency components is doable in terms of replacing a lost transparency tool, but for a complete kit? I'm not so sure. You might as well think in terms of doing a new tool, which has been the policy since the Hornby takeover.

You're welcome. slightly_smiling_face

I've heard spray-on oven cleaner will do the trick.

Vallejo Model Colour is aqueous, so there should be no compatibility issues using it with Humbrol acrylic. However, Tamiya acrylic is spirit based and you might get a reaction with water based paints. They can all be thinned with water. Tamiya acrylic is miscible with water but is probably best thinned with their own brand thinner, I'm not sure if this contains retarder, but again it's probably best to use their own brand retarder. Vallejo and Humbrol should work OK with the Galleria stuff. Optimum temperature for painting is 10+°, below that I think I'd be in a heated space regardless. wink

You need to shop for 'Pledge Floor Cleaner, Expert Care Tile & Stone Wax', it comes in bottles and is apparently the same formula as the original Klear.

I saw a completed 410 at Scale Model World set up, it looks rather good. You can find the decal options on the Airfix web pages.

A rule of thumb is not to mix media/brands unless you know a particular combination will work without any issues.

Initial finish would probably be gloss, but in the real world it flattens down rapidly unless given regular polishing. https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/gannet/survivor.php?id=147

Not an exact match, but the closest Humbrol colour is probably 15 Midnight Blue. The colour reference is BS381C:106 Royal Blue

As Randall it references Sky and a Fairey Gannet would have Sky undersurfaces. Go with Ratch's suggestion.

Use masking tape, personally I prefer the yellow Kabuki type. Cut a thinnish strip to make it easier to conform to the curved surfaces and burnish it at the edges. Spray the colour being masked to seal the edge, then the top colour.

I got the one above from the Modelling Tools company, but Paul Fitzmaurice the proprietor has now retired and wound it up. Do a Google search for model biplane assembly jig.

Use a jig?

Seconded.