Pretty Mediocre Modeller

I've been bidding on a well know auction site and scored a Matchbox Wellesley, which is now almost finished, Oh the nostalgia! Also got a 1/72 Hasegawa A-1H Skyraider for a good price, which as a bonus contained a full Aeroclub conversion kit for a Skyraider AEW 1. I was sent a voucher for Amazon for filling in an online survey, and used it to get a Revell 1/72 Tornado GR1, which will be used with some old Gulf War Modeldecals I've been saving.

Thanks Dominic, Don't worry, there are plenty of mistakes and imperfections close up! But that's all part of modelling and getting better, if we got it perfect every time what would be the point?

Last two photos

After a coat of Klear the decaling went ahead. As expected there was no problem with the Cartograf decals, but some were tiny. For example do we really need 6 decals on each CO2 bottle on the undercarriage, which are about 3mm across! The main rotor has a total of 30 decals (6 on each blade), and the tail rotor has 18 (3 for each blade). I used the tip markings, but in hindsight it would have probably been easier to mask and paint the, as they need touching up afterwards anyway. This was then all sealed with a couple of coats of vallejo matt varnish, detail painting, and touchups completed, and final assembly finished. The folded rotor head needed supported while the solve cured. Final touches were a little weathering around exhausts, refueling points and wheels, then adding the aerial wire, and it was finished. Overall I enjoyed this build, most of the fit was good, with a few exceptions, and good detail is provided from the box. I ay get another to do the RAF yellow rescue bird next, but I would like to see the earlier type rotors added so 70's to Falkland's War Sea Kings can be built.

A lot of the smaller parts are now fitted, and the main colour painting has been started. The folded tail rotor and pilot canopy are only push fitted at the moment. The only extra I've done is to drill some lightening holes on the frames that hold the sensors either side of the upper cockpit. In the final pictures painting is done and it's ready for decals. When finally fitting the canopy I had some issues, and had to prise the nose panel off to get a good fit. I would suggest not fitting the panel until you are ready to fit the clear parts, and do it all in one action.

So now the undercarriage sponsons have been added and all joints filled if needed, and sanded down. as can been seen from the second photo, quite a bit of filler was needed for the underside plate. One issue with the undercarriage cross piece is that Airfix tell you to apply the walkway decal before adding the cross strut. But I left it off.

Before the fuselage was closed up the ports (windows) needed to be inserted from the inside, including the blank for the rear starboard opening. The clear parts seemed a little to large for the openings and some adjustment around the sides of the openings needed to take place. The blank fitted okay, but some filler and a lot of sanding took place to make the join invisible. Another task before closing up was to drill out all the holes for the ECM fit and aerials. The two sides went together with a good fit. Then the underside panel went on. The fit here was not so good, with quite large gaps along the edges. Looks like I'll have some filling to do here!

There has been some more progress on the Sea King. The interior has been assembled, and inserted into the starboard side of the fuselage. I've had no issues with fit so far, and was especially impressed with the fit of the deckhead (roof) piece. Detail is generally good inside, the only obvious place where more could be done in structural detail on the fuselage sides. Because of the limitations of this site I've had to split this post in two, but more's following shortly.

I tried to reply to this post with some positive comments on your build, but it was rejected for using the nose art name, as it was a banned word ie 'L***y Lindy'

With the way Airfix work at the moment, there may well be a later release with normal doors. They may already be on the sprues as unused parts. By the way I too am awaiting the new Mosquito, I've already got a couple built up in my collection, but no long engine ones. I've even got a bull fighter nose and canopy in the spares box from an old matchbox Mossie for a conversion if I want.

Hi Paul, Thanks, that is a useful photo, it will help with the undercart and the tiedown points.

I've had this kit in the stash since it was first issued several years ago, just as the Sea King fleet were facing retirement. on first inspection the detail looks good on the external surfaces, with indented panel lines that aren't to deep, and all the countermeasure sensors that a modern military helicopter carries supplied as separate parts. Two schemes are supplied both around 2010, one with a temporary winter whitewash applied, which is far the most interesting. I wanted to backdate it to a Falklands War machine, until I noticed it only had the postwar composite blades supplied, so I've gone for the plain green kit option, as I couldn't face the masking for the green and white one! Talking of rotor blades, two sets are included, one normal spread set, and the other fully folded, to go with the option of a folded tail. Other options are open or closed main cabin and pilot doors, and early or later intake dust filters (only later one needed for this kit). The instructions are the usual Airfix style, but, apart from internal callouts, paint references are few and far between. For example there are no specific callouts for the door gun, or undercarriage legs. Decals, as usual, are good by Cartograf, and include stencil and window frames, as well as rotor tip markings. I've already cut out the instrument panel ones. Before any major assembly all the internal parts need painting. I heavily weathered the deck and bulkheads, as being a troop transport helicopter, it would see a lot of dirty Royal Marine boots! simple belts were added with sliced Tamiya tape. As can be seen full troop seating is supplied, as well as crew seats. The instructions call for everything in the cockpit to be black, but I added orange pilot cushions as that is what I saw on the internet for this type. That's it for now, more to follow soon.

Yes, I would go for this. Eduard did release a Coastal Command Liberator a year or so ago, based on the Hasegawa kit, but this was a deluxe boxing, and cost over £100 for a 1/72 4 engine bomber! I think this would fit in perfectly with Airfix's current release policy, a kit that could be released initially as an USAAF bomber, then later as an RAF machine, just like the B-17 was. At around the same price point as the B-17 or Lancaster would be great!

Great build T2B, and I love your diorama! her is my take on the kit, I went for the second decal option.

I agree with all Heather's choices, especially the Avro Manchester, which has never had a mainstream tooling. Could I also request an Avro Lincoln, and York, which have also never been tooled?

Hi T2B, I've also been making this kit, and am at the stage of being ready to apply decals. The only issues I've had have been removing the small turret fairing for the larger fairing, I took a bit to much off, and had to use filler to repair. Did you notice that the exhaust outlet on each engine was at a different position, one higher than the other? I wonder if that's prototypical, or if it's just me getting it wrong?

Hi Gazdadude, Welcome to the forum. In answer to your question, it's hard to say, there are several variables! For example the size of the kit, is it a Spitfire or a B-52? Next are you painting by brush or airbrushing? Is the aircraft all one colour, or is the colour for just details, or a small part of the camouflage? Anyway, I use acrylic paints on mainly 1/72 aircraft and mainly brush paint. I find the paints last for many models, some tins I've had for decades! The ones that run out most are black, medium grey and standard RAF camo colours, as this is the area where I model most, but they still last several years and many kits.

No, you have to choose one or the other, they don't go in for those gimmicky moving parts anymore.

Spring still has 3 months to go, and they can't be precise with their dates as the sprues are probably in a contained on their way from India or China where they were produced. (It is a good kit by the way and well worth the wait)

I've also just got my Beaufort, can't wait to start.

Got mine this morning, and I agreed with the comments above, very detailed, but missing 3/4 of the crew! The plastic parts look great, the instructions for the bomb doors do seem a little confused, and will need some careful study before attempting. There are extra parts included for a different style gun turret, which isn't in the instructions, so looks like we can expect at least one other version to come out. There are also alternate parts for the flaps as well, with or without strengthening plates, but they go with the two options in the box. Looking forward to starting this one, then I will have the full set of Bristols from Airfix (Blenheim, Beaufort and Beaufighter).

For anyone waiting, the Beaufort is now available on the Airfix site.