david_hughes2

Collecting equipment and paint is a bit like a hobby within the hobby. The list below tries to list items that I could not do without and some of them you may find in your bathroom or home already. It is not conclusive and others will have widely differeing opinions. Clippers (for removing items from sprue)Sharp cutting knife (children beware)Small scissorsTweezersMasking tapeCotton budsTooth picksNail emery boards for sanding (a few grades). As you progress you buy sanding sticks.A few brushes (various sizes). At least 000 as smallest.Wind screen wash for cleaning brushesThinner for your paint. Not sure if you are using emamels or acrylics. Each thinner is different. I believe humbrol acrylics can be thinned with water. CheckA gloss coat for laying decals on.A matt or silk coat to finishWhile this may seem a large list, most of these will last for ages/ for ever. As you and your family advance: A primer before painting. Some would have this as essential.Filler, for gaps in seams.A range of dedicated sanding sticksSetting solutions for decalsA fast drying, extra thin glue like Tamiya Extra Thin. I would have this as essential but many still use and like traditional gluesPVA for attaching clear bits Some companies do starter tool sets like Humbrol. No idea if they are any good. If I think of anything else I'll let you know. Any questions just ask. Staring me in the face! All my tools are on it - a cheap A3 cutting mat is also useful.

You should probably try and test the method on a spare piece of plastic first. The general rule was L-E-A Lacquer, enamel, acrylic This means that you would not normally put a lacquer over an enamel becuase the solvents used are nuch 'hotter' than enamel solvents. As with everything the answer in not that easy as modern paint formulas are complex. I for example, have sprayed Alclad over Tamiya X1 (as a primer) and had no problems. I let the X1 dry very thoroughly though, and put very thin coats of the Alclad over the top. Hopefully someone here will have tried it, but just as a word of caution, the Humbrol website advises cleaning its own spray acrylic with Humbrol enamel thinners. I would test it!

You are right to be nervous and careful. People can spend a lot of money and not like their airbrush. It will then just be an expensive dust gatherer. A strength of the hobby is the variety of opinions and differing ways of doing things. What works for some will make others see red! Here is my two-pennies' worth: I try not to spray enamels and sprays acrylics as much as possible. They dry faster, are more pleasant to use and the air brush is easier to clean.I haven't come across paint that does not need thinning to work (even those that claim to)As 'staple' paints go I have tried Humbrol, Revell, Tamiya, Xtracrylics and Vallejo. Strengths and weaknesses to them all. I thought that the most convincing colours werer Xtracrylics but I found them hard to spray.I now try to use Tamiya as much as possible thinned 60:40 (Thinners to paint). My thinner of choice is Mr Color Levelling thinner. As the name suggests it 'self levels'. ie reduces the bumps. I measure exactly the ratios and don't guess the consistancy. (My skills just are not good enough to estimate thinned milk).This method will spray from min 12 psi to what you preferI never used to wear a mask when spraying acrylics. My recent cancer treatment has made me a bit more zealous and I always wear one now. H and S advice would always be to wear one. Mr Color thinner is horrible and some of the more exotic metal finishes are very toxic. Some people buy a spray booth with an extractor.And finally... Have you tried speaking to an expert? I was on holiday down South and I drove to a company in Sussex for advice. A longer drive at the time than I realised but like you, I was nervous about parting with a lot of cash for a piece of little metal. The chap spent over an hour advising me (no pressure - pardon the pun) before I purchased an Iwata air brush. Give them a call or check out their website. https://airbrushes.com/index.php Other companies are available.Hope that helps. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Collecting equipment and paint is a bit like a hobby within the hobby. The list below tries to list items that I could not do without and some of them you may find in your bathroom or home already. It is not conclusive and others will have widely differeing opinions. Clippers (for removing items from sprue)Sharp cutting knife (children beware)Small scissorsTweezersMasking tapeCotton budsTooth picksNail emery boards for sanding (a few grades). As you progress you buy sanding sticks.A few brushes (various sizes). At least 000 as smallest.Wind screen wash for cleaning brushesThinner for your paint. Not sure if you are using emamels or acrylics. Each thinner is different. I believe humbrol acrylics can be thinned with water. CheckA gloss coat for laying decals on.A matt or silk coat to finishWhile this may seem a large list, most of these will last for ages/ for ever. As you and your family advance: A primer before painting. Some would have this as essential.Filler, for gaps in seams.A range of dedicated sanding sticksSetting solutions for decalsA fast drying, extra thin glue like Tamiya Extra Thin. I would have this as essential but many still use and like traditional gluesPVA for attaching clear bits Some companies do starter tool sets like Humbrol. No idea if they are any good. If I think of anything else I'll let you know. Any questions just ask.

Have you tried Hannants? I'm no expert on the aircraft (nor modelling) but a quick search of Lightning decal and 56 squadron returned this: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X48152?result-token=vGVKr

Thought that it may be you! Great build. I suspect your AEW version and my HAR.5 version are the same plastic with differing instructions and decals. My HAR.5 also came with the un-needed giant searchwater radar. I have the Xtracrylics X1014 (BS537), so I'll start with that and see what it looks like. Not a huge fan of the way Xracrylics spray but the colours look good. Masking canopies is in my top 3 of most hated modelling things, so having heard what you said, I will definitely be sending for a mask set. Having never before tried photo-etch I was thinking of getting an exterior set anyway. I prefer having aircraft flying so I will also try and find a crew. The HAR.3 kit has none and the HAR.5 figures are shocking. Plus there are only two crew and I suspect it should have four? If you are willing some time perhaps you could share how you did the water shot because it looks amazing. Thanks for the advice.

I knocked the majority of the salt (and aluminium coated salt) off with a brush and then cleaned up with a damp cloth. Don't go near the hairspary with more water than you need to, or you may rinse your top paint away completely. This clip from explains it better than I.

Thank you Patrick. I will keep that in mind.

They are separate methods that I tried after reading (I believe) Airfix Model World. The sea salt method initially involves one colour of aluminium sprayed everywhere. Then it is sealed. The model is dampened and cracked sea salt is dropped all over it and allowed to dry. It is then resprayed (over the salty model) with a different shade of aluminium. I did dark aluminium. It is allowed to dry and then the salt is rinsed away. The model is sealed again. AMW then suggested that the process is repeated with a lighter shade. The method is as messy and nerve wracking as it sounds, so I stopped after the second coat of aluminium. The hair spray method involves letting the coats of aluminium and varnish dry thoroughly and then spraying the hairspray over the model before the other colours are applied. So I masked the soon to be red, green and yellow areas off. Applied hairspray to an area eg tail. Waited for it to dry and then sprayed the tail red. After about half an hour I rubbed it with a damp stiff brush. This removes some of the red paint, revealing the sealed aluminium underneath. This process was repeated for the yellow and green areas. I have not yet repeated the sea salt method but I have tried the hair spray again. Geoff Coughlin advised on YouTube to decant the hairspray through a straw into the air brush cup. This worked much better and gave much more control. I used it on a dessert camo Hurricane to show chipping and the effect was much more subtle. More green came off the Mustang than I expected and if you look at the yellow in the photo it does not look too happy. I suspect that I applied too much from the can. Hope that makes sense. David

Wasn't sure if this thread was just for things that we have built during the pandemic, so if I'm being really honest I only built and added the snow-speeder and base during lock-down. Scale 1:144 /media/tinymce_upload/f1b4289d48736015376a241aa954c42b.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/e9bc82e6efd406f067e96db775279124.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/c45b9f568b745345c822e525ed18bd83.JPG

That's really kind. It is the 1:48 scale A05129 kit. Like I mentioned the guide by Geoff Coughlin was excellent. It was a bit like following a receipe and I learned lots of new techniques. For example, I had tried using hairspray directly from the can on a 1:72 Mustang and it came out very chipped. I never thought to spray it from an airbrush. It was only after seeing the colour photo from Doug Banks I decided to deviate slightly from Geoff's instructions. The aircraft looked really tired, so I did not mask the camo, but attempted free hand and I took a scalpel to the decals. I then dry brushed them. I don't have a huge experience of kits but this was a different league to anything that I have built so far. I could find no fault with it and it really made this a pleasant build.

At the risk of pouring fuel on the fire, I suspect that your review was rejected becuase it was emotive and more about Airfix than the product. I have previosly given a one star review on a product and had it posted on the website. It was the Airfix Engineer Jet Engine. The review was scathing. It mentioned what was poor (which was considerable) but also what was good (which was limited). I am finding this hobby to be really rewarding but I also realise that it can very frustrating. Finding a problem mid-build or near the end can cause real anger. My attempt at Airfix's 1:72 TSR2 would be a classic example of that, when I discovered what a poor fit the engine intakes were. It is a good job that the product was no longer listed because the review would have been brutal! If you follow the guidance above, repost and it is still rejected then I would be truly disappointed in Airfix.

Thanks The old kit comes with blanking panels that I can use on the windows and I will make the radar fit. It is probably irrelaevant if there are other differences because there is no aftermarket conversion set and I have never attempted scratch building. To overcome the decal problem do people mask the area first and spray it white? Cheers

Just glanced my 2012 Airfix catalogue to see what was on offer then. Only four are signposted from the two page spread. BAe Sea Harrier FRS1 1:72 Douglas A-4 Sky Hawk 1:72 Dog Fight Double of the above Avro Vulcan 1:72 There were clearly others that could be attributed but I suspect that 2022 won't be that different, particularly considering the current circumstances. If the new Vulcan gets released on time then they will surely have an operation Black Buck version?

Unfortunately, I was seriously ill last year and as it was my birthday this week I thought that I would treat myself I saw this in Airfix Model World and it looked like fun: /media/tinymce_upload/ba361ad32d4eeb8c3753ecec3d4b2c71.JPG I saw the 1:72 version of this in AMW, and it also looked like it would be interesting. I have never built a Tamiya kit before: /media/tinymce_upload/6919240a20476e054f1e080945c92daf.JPG And finally...This is the 'treat' bit. While undergoing treatment I built the Bandai 1:144 AT-AT and it was super. It was so well engineered that it did not need glue. I underestimated how big this was. The 1:72 Typhoon is there for scale./media/tinymce_upload/7f735de08570c444d8fb84163d8280e5.JPG

Photo, as mentioned: /media/tinymce_upload/60c8d367b492552b52d5be70f515ed59.JPG

Pre lockdown there was a time that we could go to air shows and before that there was a time when the Royal Navy could finance more than one air show per year. Each summer we would begin our annual pilgrimage down to The Lizard with our caravan. I would pretend to the wife that it was for the beach and scenery but really it was for the display at RNAS Culdrose. Sadly, the last one was 2016 and it was a complete wash out. I saw the Italian display team perform in 2015 and they were amazing but a regular highlight was 771 Naval Air Squadron. My young kids and I fell in love with the bold red and grey Ace of Clubs liveried HAR.5s I have now given up emailing Airfix and suggesting that they release a HAR.5 version of the new tool. The squadron was decommisssioned in 2016 and I thought that despite the loss, the stars had aligned and surely Airfix would add parts to their new tooling and release a commemorative HAR.5 version. They did not. I can see with the current world wide problems that it will never happen. My long sought after Sea-Vixen has already vanished off the radar on the web-site but that is another story. Anyway, while posting on another thread about how Airfix had changed, it dawned on me that I may have all the bits I need to do a conversion myself. I have an old tooling HAR.5 A50113 with the Ace of Spades 771 decals and I have new Sea King HAR.3 A55307. Advice: I know that the HAR5 has a bigger radar dome and looking at the instructions it looks like there are less windows. Q1: Are there any other differences? Q2: Does the radar dome from A50113 fit straight onto A55307? Q3: Will the decals be any good after 10 years? Q4: How likely will a white decal cover a signal red body? Peter S has uploaded some brilliant photos of a HAR5 (from a HAR3) on the Airfix website. I am hoping it is the same Peter s on this forum but I do not know how to message directly. Q5: Peter, if it is you, how did you do the water scene? Wow! I will post photos of the kits I am refering to, after this, separately but it will delay this being sent if I do it now. Thanks for any advice. PS I haven't been back to Cornwall since.

Not sure if un-started kits count (because I have far more of these) I beleive that A50113 was originally tooled in 1969, despite me buying this in about 2010. A55307 was tooled in 2015. /media/tinymce_upload/32a25820f4123e09980be40fdebac1da.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/0793322fc5f8522f258aef337e553322.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/c6d1afd4847171ccfc3bba36291dc041.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/1638e338bce894a04c72cf16cf446336.JPG A much better tooling. Far less rivets though.

Hawker Hurricane Mk.1. No. 274 Squadron RAF, Sidi Barrani, Egypt 1941 Humbrol have produced a step by step guide to this build by Geoff Coughlin and loaded it onto YouTube. Frustratingly Airfix seem to have no knowledge of this as it is not linked from their website. As a relative newcomer to the hobby the videos were great and really helped me. Surely an opportunity to sell more of this kit and its associated Humbrol paints and accessories is being missed here? I wasn't sure if the camo (if that is what it is) at the front was mottling or 'sausages'. The reference photos below were inconclusive. /media/tinymce_upload/5b5c1c7b2e83460530e276af1410c134.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/19e9bfd064b73e5636248780925c7546.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/688a0f2f6c2f38fac9010b5fba963f12.jpg I went for mottling, as I did not have a clue how to do the sausages without serious masking. I found a great photo from Doug Banks which showed a coloured flash, so I went for a yellow flash with a blue outline. Not sure if he has copyrighted the colour element so here is a link: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/417145984214114218/ The decals worried me but were a dream, as was the whole kit. /media/tinymce_upload/03fcfa2dae94677a5e883300a3ba3ccb.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/3a2e39f0e87c46b154b592b1f26e5136.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/996cb02beff14fc80177876c4654e277.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/90fec367e0e190423db0369b4fc83659.JPG Here is the flash: /media/tinymce_upload/deaaf9bc3a163e6890806040a9dbc7d6.JPG My next project is the Revell Battstar Galactica. (Yes I know, big mistake but I was literally on (prescribed) drugs when I purchaed it.)

I realise this thread was ages ago but I finally got around to attemping a BMF on the Mustangs and used a sunny day to take some pictures. First of all, what a great kit. Gloss blacked both kits to begin with./media/tinymce_upload/66be8d978e786b75c5ffa36b9f800e64.JPG Then I used two well known metalisers. /media/tinymce_upload/bae03507a2b4bbe8634c2e3e4227847e.JPG Decided to attempt hairspray and sea salt on one and go for a really battered look, while keeping the other one as 'factory fresh'. /media/tinymce_upload/2f13beb853e8a30c6a9fe0c0a71059d5.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/19bc02ef1adf5c56efcfed19ef599930.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/bdd2f992b34cc4d4636d02eb4d25d444.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/9b1d6865611d4a30d225bbc350ee55ab.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/29f942519a6d0e15acc19f7f5e2e420f.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/30eb86db77c3b77fadd5aabecf540676.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/a054b0d11c295b329207f1f4af52c95c.JPG Having never before used hairspray (on models nor myself) or sea salt, I found it really difficult to manage, hence the very chipped paint!

They are the manuafacturer. Try Hannants, as a UK stockist. https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/?product_category_id=0&product_division_id=0&scale_id=956&product_type_id=2724&manufacturer_id=0&sort=0&search_direction=asc&search=&keyword_search=B-17G&stock=0

As you can see from the posts here there are always plenty of people in the hobby willing to help, which is great. The choice of kits, paints, glues, brushes etc.etc. is even more endless and can be very confusing. As mentioned Airfix do lots of kits with paints and glue which is great for the beginner. Even here the choice is huge. You could narrow it further by picking a subject that he is interested in. WW1, WW2, jets, modern jets? This is important because he is likely to enjoy building something more that he is interested in. A modern tooling (something made in the last 15ish years) will be easier to put together. If you can find out his interests, I‘m sure you will get lots of further advice from this forum.

Sarge100 I got back into the hobby after a similar length of time. I am about eight models in now and follwing cancer treatment last year I have been told to shield by the government. Bad news on one hand but it has at least increased my model production rate! I finished this one about 2 weeks ago and found a guide for this kit produced by Humbrol on Youtube. It is useful and will give you lots of tips and techniques, though you may not wish to use them all so early on. The link is Good luck DH

Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 (Japanese Evaluation) and Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3 (RAF A,A,E andE) /media/tinymce_upload/fda5a887fccec4e9f095b662aec58d56.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/4c168a08cc84984687ce6d1c3558e7e5.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/35d6c45b39dc4912c1d3d5594f5c2461.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/8e1c1e8d047688b7135dfa613e2076e0.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/eaa214c808ca32a036edcda23b523ac2.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/5ed9c147fcfd60c68b44da12a661ab01.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/2e050b55b0cf19837b14d6a754259114.JPG

I also purchased the red nose (A68208) version from Aldi and it had the wrong decals. Airfix were great and got me the correct ones within 2 days. It made me wonder how much buying power they must have because I purchased the blue nose version (A01004A) last year from a 'proper' model shop for £6.59. The Aldi 'special' was £4/£5 and came with glue, brush and paints. Anyway...the finished model above looks great. The reason I keep buying little Mustangs is to eventually have a go at a BMF. I was wondering: Which paints did you use?How you masked for the nose without the BMF coming off?Did you use decal solution for the decals?I ask because on my 'spoons' the metalisers are variable, come off with masking tape and react to MicroSol.Any advice would be appreciated.David