Pretty Mediocre Modeller

You wouldn't believe how pretty I am (or not)!

Hello everyone, Sorry about the delay with this build, it's been slow going because of a house move and other priorities. Anyway, here is the airframe, ready for painting. The light grey paint is to check out the seams, note the clear plastic wingtips for the navigation lights. /media/tinymce_upload/2b51d8fe446a845e7eb657d710558318.jpg. First on was three hand painted coats of Extra Dark Sea Grey Acrylic, followed by some careful masking of the silver leading edges, which were first undercoated in gloss black. /media/tinymce_upload/95d00c96f26181ed1868add1d79490ed.jpg Undercarriage was also painted and assembled at the same time. The instructions had some confusion here, with construction guide stating one shade of Humbrol grey and the painting guide another shade. The same happened with the inside of the airbrake. /media/tinymce_upload/7b8733bbee60290109bc11001ec021bb.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/c3821ef5895c195ee4c90f7329a180d4.jpg After a couple of coats of Klear, it was time for decals. Although I'm using one of the kit options for 809 Sqn on Ark Royal, I wanted an aircraft with the tactical red/blue roundels, rather than the kit red/white/blue ones. So I have used some artistic licence and completed the Bucc as she would have appeared in 1977/78 if she had still been with the squadron rather than 1972 (which she might well have been). To do this I robbed the tactical roundels from the unused sheet from the previous Airfix Buccaneer. /media/tinymce_upload/ba068fe6c73a84343dce312b1f8b9483.jpg I might get another Buccaneer just to use those South African markings! The decals went on without issue as usual, although I did slice the underwing serials and flood them with Decalfix where they went over panel lines as some silvering was evident. Some of the stencils are tiny, and I must admit not all of them were applied. /media/tinymce_upload/0f6256ca573b04d24fea079ee7100235.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/35ed452f1985851cbcaed60e75199adc.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/243fbe5dee908e4a18afe592cc05188b.jpg Sub-assemblies (shown) and small parts to go on next, then a coat of semi-matt varnish and a little weathering and it will be done. And here is the finished kit. Weathering consisted of a smoke wash in the bomb bay and wheel wells, and smoke weathering powder streaked back from the exhausts. /media/tinymce_upload/c19cce33f4bc0c6e0c7399441a8f246a.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/3f664541f4cb11f22f3783ca36de5c14.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/b5f6ff88b338d4cda82444fc6e7a9a4c.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/ac67527312eaaf04a1791c3fd0b1a6bf.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/61d8ae9b7fc920152c2f80da5423c026.jpg I really loved building this kit, it's great that at last we have a decent injection moulded Buccaneer, and I'm pretty sure I will be building at least one more, can't wait for the RAF boxing! One issue I had was that the main wheels toed in slightly, but I think that's probably my doing rather than any fault with the kit. Don't know what you think but I really like the look the different roundels give. An constructive comments welcome.

Very Carefully!! But on a serious note, I am also moving house soon, and I have packed my collection in boxes that are bigger than the model, filled the bottom of the box with shredded newspaper, put the model in, then packed the rest of the box with more shredded newsprint. The box has then been covered in 'Fragile' stickers, and it will be travelling in the boot of my car, not in the removal van.

btw what's the story with an all grey RAF rescue version? The grey was painted onto RAF Sea Kings over the usual yellow when they were sent to the Falkland Islands after the 1982 war. As it was still officially a war zone they couldn't have bright yellow helicopters buzzing around.At the time I lived near RAF Manston which had a flight of two 202 sqn Sea Kings, and quite often they would have one yellow and one ex Falklands grey machine.

Not Really, all you would need would be the decals for the SAAF, the larger slipper wing tanks and specific South African weapons. The SAAF did have RATO in the aft of the aircraft (Rocket Assisted Take Off), but this was soon deleted, and would only need the location scribed in if you were really bothered. By the way good quality decals and the larger slipper tanks are available in the old tool Buccaneer boxing, which should be available pretty cheaply ( the red box with Desert Storm Aircraft on the top).

Just found and repaired this one from the loft. It was originally built from the first release of the old tool Bucc S.2 soon after the first Gulf war using decals from Modeldecal. If I remember correctly many modifications had to be carried out, including re-shaping the fin top and wing tips, modifying the wing pylons and adding the correct weapons from the Airfix British weapons set and making chaff and flare dispensers from plastic card. The ejection seats were after market resin, and the intake blanks were from plastic card and tape then hand painted. /media/tinymce_upload/2d260a437ef47b22a94e0ae1ed6cdf84.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/f7ae42770d72614b01d3b39455019940.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/75f14583a5bd1ee5037fcaf6699f243a.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/bac0aecb96ea353bc2b80259f1cf65d4.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/ccdb79d2ac0d1251193e1e8c0ddb0275.jpg

This is another kit that was built several years (decades) ago, and has recently come down from the loft for a bit of a refurb. A lot of extra detail was added using various bits and pieces of plastic. Unfortunately the rotor head has taken a bit of a bashing and the blades are drooping a bit to much! /media/tinymce_upload/d567c3f0ff4dcd9dfbe05925ca1a58ee.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/b9682c5101197b189c42e19b3dc5f7c0.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/2dc1438b1dcfa28a90c039994c6abd24.jpg

I think that you are much more likely to see those from the Hornby and Corgi sides of the business. Airfix not so much.

Heather your build is much better than mine, but here was my attempt at the Whirlwind, built from the box except for the fin top pitot tube made from HSS. You may notice one cannon barrel has gone missing over time. /media/tinymce_upload/ccb5a778b149b9cf30a5c6e81b8012ea.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/0951d18aaf14631e9a07f8b7f8859aa7.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/ebd27ca314f0ce9f469b5ed299460a20.jpg

Hi John, Hope you don't mind if I post a few pics of my Airfix Fw 189, built many years ago out of the box, but with decals from the spares box based on a side profile in the old 'Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'. As you have said a good kit with no issues. Worth a re-release I think. /media/tinymce_upload/72676df6ff1c7bb72e2fdbb886f5fa5b.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/1208ed3d83f6182ff0bb43cf1d21d7f5.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/e8e81cd50ffada3733a59959b2ac46de.jpg

Sorry, no wing fold option on this one, Only options were for the undercarriage, airbrakes and canopy to be open or closed if I remember correctly.

Hope you don't mine Ratch, but this is my take on the kit using decals cobbled together from the spares box. /media/tinymce_upload/a8c158e88bf60e5894198a2b98f23331.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/785a6fe47079542d91739b692d291dea.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/8017d268868485cf46dd5cc9a0b903e6.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/ec80c75de46bee028730ef4f04a81005.jpg

This was originally a Heller tooling I believe, but I brought it in an Airfix Box, so can show it here. I built it years ago, but I think it went together okay, the decals were good and by Cartograph, and were for the Argentine Navy aircraft built here and a French Navy machine. Detail is fine raised lines, and some engraved panels, talking of which this was the first model I used a panel line wash on. /media/tinymce_upload/817021d9bf9268ed36f361385c5e9414.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/199792152d2e374c395bca16f8983bec.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/2c04b4727a53ec7f228911e27cacb3fc.jpg

After the nose section had been completed, next up was the centre section and wings. Ratch was correct, I am building with the wings extended. I did contemplate folding the wings, as I already have two Buccs, but the 'plane just looks better with the wings spread. Maybe the next one? Anyway, on with the build. Before the top and bottom centre section can be joined the intakes, including undercarriage bays and jetpipes need to be constructed, painting as we go. By the way the fit of all the parts so far has been fine, with everything clicking into place. /media/tinymce_upload/5eafb805595d66b1709125183ac67d01.jpg In keeping with the real machine the construction of the internals includes some substantial bulkheads to keep things true. Unfortunately one of the lower wings was quite badly warped. This was only partly fixed by the triangular wing spar seen above. /media/tinymce_upload/f0cbfed7e3f20f5f98e281264fd7f66b.jpg In this view the very nicely detailed bomb-bay can be seen as well as the intake trunking running through the main bays. /media/tinymce_upload/8b2ba4b2e8fc727f1395b61ba056dfb0.jpg Once all the internals are in place the upper and lower parts can be joined. The fit was good with only slight seams to be dealt with. After this the upper, outer wing sections are added, and clamped. Due to the top overlapping the lower wing section, there are no seams to sort out here. The clamping also fixed the warped lower wing. The join between the inner and outer section of the top wing left what I feel to be to greater gap, which will need sorting out later. In the picture above the nose section is only test fitted. /media/tinymce_upload/82426a968ba30017617ce24da2a77584.jpg Now things started to proceed fairly rapidly. The nose was attached, but even with careful alignment I had iffy joins top and bottom. The tail section was then put together, with a separate rudder, end bullets to the tail-planes and top cap to the fin. There was some gaps around the top, especially around the bullets. The jet exhausts and intake fairings didn't fit to well either and some fettering was need to one of the intakes to get a good fit. At least I'm beginning to get something resembling a Buccaneer. /media/tinymce_upload/5f113882f46f5a0c8aad1b5f3f29c483.jpg Here the prominent join between the centre and tail sections can be seen, as well as the jet exhaust fitting. /media/tinymce_upload/e3f4f69c4e8e30ac32114cda10108d30.jpg However it didn't take long to sort out the gaps with some Perfect Plastic Putty and wet and dry paper. /media/tinymce_upload/e46ef2c3b342fe5180d979ebe8d84623.jpg In the second picture the open air-brake is also fitted. Talking of which, here are the parts laid out for said air-brake. /media/tinymce_upload/053a1d09d2595b4759c82db8a0da6726.jpg Although fiddly it went together and fitted well, just so long as the instructions are followed. /media/tinymce_upload/aa012da42a73f73b48b2d87015038b96.jpg All the seams are now sorted, and the gaps along the upper wings were lessened by running some white glue into the join. Now to add some of the smaller parts and it will be ready for painting.

I used as many small nuts and bolts as I could cram in embedded in white tack. Hopefully it will be enough or else it will be modelled with the tail hook down!

Hi All, A new red box dropped through my letterbox a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't long until I just had to start it. I know a couple of other contributors have already posted their completed builds ( and very nice they are too!), but I thought I would do a blow by blow account. /media/tinymce_upload/74793894ce685c329fa72f368d4beb86.jpg A quick check of the contents revealed fine engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit and other areas, and Cartograf markings for two Royal Navy Birds from 800 NAS on Eagle and 809 NAS on Ark Royal. /media/tinymce_upload/3551fd07af59792d862eccdc31c89a83.jpg The instructions are in Airfix's usual style, with red for sections just completed, and grenn for areas to be removed. /media/tinymce_upload/a8bb64ff0f24751ab8773248626c0de8.jpg There are plenty of stencils as shown on the placement guide. /media/tinymce_upload/064b53f53cd45aec2b8424cc293445ed.jpg Full colour painting and marking guides for both options are included. /media/tinymce_upload/b034462d26256e07bbe27749b0472939.jpg The kit decals are top centre, while from the spares box came the decals from the original Airfix Buccaneer S.2 are on lower right, and from the later release lower left. I was tempted to use the South African Air Force markings, but in the end I think I will use the kit markings for 809 NAS, but with the later red/blue tactical roundels as I already have a 800 sqn kit with the red, white and blue ones. /media/tinymce_upload/0802b5e8390aacb86176e90fed296fb1.jpg Before starting the kit some research and reading to get into the mood took place. Phoenix Squadron tells the story of the Buccaneer overflight of Belize to prevent an invasion ( the 809 sqn machine in the kit is one of the two aircraft involved, and there are photos of her in the book). Buccaneer Boys has lots of personal stories from Bucc air and ground crew, while the Haynes Manual has lots of detail about the airframe. The actual build starts with the cockpit and bang seats. each seat is in three parts, and while not what would be called highly details, there is some detail present, including some moulded on belts. The paint instructions all refer to Humbrol numbers, but is pretty accurate from what I can tell. /media/tinymce_upload/42ff8438e7aa656236467209da275b45.jpg The cockpit was soon painted up and decalled (17 decals in the cockpit!), and ready to be put together. as can be seen there is also moulded on detail on the inner walls. /media/tinymce_upload/8a90d4e9e163e73c9805ea6153ebd7b0.jpg The inside was dry brushed with a darker grey to show some wear and tear. The forward fuselage was then joined after adding some nose weight to prevent tail sitting. /media/tinymce_upload/c24e01b45592d2ceaaefe0b8baf5b5b1.jpg Next will be the centre section and wings.

I would also like a new tool Manchester and Lincoln, as well as a BoB Junkers Ju-88A-5, oh yes and a new accurate Tornado F3, all in 1/72. While I'm at it how about a 1950's/60's RAF support set and a modern day one as well.

This was delivered today 😆 /media/tinymce_upload/158facfe8ec18323c80f0bc570470ff0.jpg Might have to re-read this before building the 809 NAS bird. There are a couple of photos of 021 launching and recovering from the Belize mission inside, and it's a good read as well! /media/tinymce_upload/900e7f059596640d007df50aec84f350.jpg Anyway, looks like a great kit, complicated jetpipe detail running through the main undercarriage bays, and optional open/ closed bomb bay and folded/ spread wings. Also has separate flaps and deployed airbrake, not as many options as the Phantom though. Stores consist of two underwing tanks, two rocket pods and two 1000 lb bombs, but no bombs or shackles for the bomb bay. For those who worry about these things, two crew are included.

My dive brakes were drilled out but not opened. /media/tinymce_upload/4acb8c1b99c5235562c0f15e26e37b4f.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/a2ee350c913810a59d6d87376092dd45.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/a7f707e40a8ee8de4b8a8b22319a188d.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/37bb5092fdd7f418e603503f30bf0712.jpg Made a few other mods as well.

Finally finished my Spitfire. After the camo was done the exhausts were added, then a couple of coats of Klear before the decals went on. Some paint chips were added with aluminium paint and a fine brush. That Ocean Grey still looks to dark! /media/tinymce_upload/438a9802273349cded575dddbd2e0caa.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/80f18d563def2b0941704250d8621d61.jpg All colours were hand painted. /media/tinymce_upload/82daeaefa86333bc04024d2c76d20d06.jpg The decals as usual are by Cartograph and were fine with the use of Decalfix, except for the red patches over the gun ports, which wouldn't conform to the leading edge, so were painted on instead. The roundels were also sliced a bit so they would sit over some lumps on the wings. After the decals had dried it was on with a couple of coats of matt varnish, then painting on the nav lights, and finishing off with some light weathering. /media/tinymce_upload/25334b87a5c618c279f3c2c110e8ea0b.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/009f55c611726e2651ec9278613ea821.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/8bf3d3ffd027f0fc0b4ab412ec31fedf.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/131cd9e5fdfedb91267a472dae001d65.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/85f0f0ac3eacd7da42e194b0b6508f9f.jpg Altogether a nice easy build, recommended for someone of any ability who wants a good solid representation of an early, if rare Spitfire in their collection.

Thanks for the comments guys. Painting has now begun with the underside medium grey ( Humbrol Hu 64 acrylic), which was then masked and the topside ocean grey (Humbrol Hu 106 acrylic) then applied. This colour dried darker than I would have liked, appearing more like dark sea grey. The undercarriage was also added, but the exhausts have been left off until all other painting is done, when they will be added pre-painted. /media/tinymce_upload/30d8abefd54c668a0df90a8f2e1ba5a8.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/34417751aaf6a8efa887cabfc358067e.jpg Next I will be pencilling in the camouflage pattern and adding the dark green.

Things went on apace and next I was painting the inside of the wing sections green and black, to make sure no bare plastic shows through. /media/tinymce_upload/396841bca0fcc14298c514c5a68fe7d1.jpg The wings were put together without problem, with the aid of a couple of clamps, and the fuselage painted and weathered and the cockpit added. /media/tinymce_upload/327ab063cdb767ae205a4b7a3c5342d4.jpg Almost before I knew it I had an almost complete Spitfire sitting in front of me. The only filler needed was at the front and rear join between the wing underside and fuselage bottom, but not to much as these fall on panel lines anyway. Wing root join was fine and needed no work. /media/tinymce_upload/f4651eac82d6a2e513230478bc8972af.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/fd89c88fc7dd3b58ad8f53d42c0bffba.jpg Seam cleanup was quick and easy, and now it's nearly time for some paint. Overall I think this kit has pretty good shape and detail, the only possible minus point for it is that the panel lines are fairly deep, this being one of Airfix's earlier new tools.

Hi All, I haven't posted any build threads lately as I have been building other makers products. That's about to change as I was in the Hornby Visitors Centre recently and saw this at a reduced price. I picked it up even though I have over 30 built up Spitfires in my collection, and 3 of those are Mk V's, I don't have a Va! /media/tinymce_upload/99579e22591aefe8d8f173b9cb2c7e0d.jpg The plastic is the same as the bog standard Mk Ia, with the extra small sprue included from the Mk1 (early)/Mk IIa kit, which we all know and love. I've actually built this one 4 times already (I (early), Ia (Battle of Britain), IIa and IIa(LR)), so do not foresee any problems. With this boxing you get new decals from Cartograf for a famous Mk IIa in brown and green and a Va in Grey and green. There are 3 different props, 2 aerials, 2 canopies and 2 oil coolers. /media/tinymce_upload/06d005527a3796c273312080462ff2c1.jpg There are 1 or 2 issues with the instructions however. Firstly in stage 2 you are told to paint the spinner black for both versions, it should be Sky Blue for the IIa and Sky for the Va. Next in stage 4 both versions are shown with earlier straight exhausts, but wouldn't the Mk V use the flared ones which are included? Finally in stage 5 both versions use the larger two part oil cooler, but I think that the Mk II would use the small 1 piece part. /media/tinymce_upload/d1b3f536475db6fc160d1faf81d6cb16.jpg The plastic. The additional sprue is shown on the right. Construction starts with the cockpit, which is nicely detailed for this scale, but unfortunately not much will be seen as the canopy is moulded closed, and is quite think. /media/tinymce_upload/4d4f55fb6aaa98e622f39a4e488ca6f8.jpg The parts went together easily, using a fuselage side as a jig. /media/tinymce_upload/d5b97c647fd1b09373ccb5b629a694f7.jpg Next up will be slapping some cockpit grey/green over the insides and some detail painting.

Got myself a reduced Airfix Spitfire Va, which I am building at the moment, a Hasagawa EA-18G, which I have already build, and arrived from Hannants this morning a Sword Skyraider AEW 1 and a Hobbyboss P-61B Black Widow (yes I know the Airfix one is being re-released soon, and it allegedly has better overall shape, but the Hobbyboss is available now and is a modern tooling!). All are to 1/72, and a build thread of the Spitfire will appear shortly.

The Hurricane in the Science Museum in London is a fabric winged Battle of Britain veteran, which has the 3 bladed two speed prop.