jopres57

It could be it may not be shown again in case it upsets anyone who identifies as a Martian. I really wish that was an amusing exaggeration.

Try and get in the habit of giving your model a coat of gloss varnish if the paint isn't gloss. The shiny surface will let your decals stick better. You can add Matt or Satin varnish later if you want a flatter final finish.

I used to think it must have cost a few bob to keep that Cloudbase flying, some of the other Gerry Anderson machines would be a bit heavy on the insurance to. It's good to know that even though we're all skint now, by the time the 2060's come along we'll be awash with cash. The Captain Scarlet programme hasn't been repeated for a while, it would be good to see it again. It would generate a new interest in the Angel Interceptor and hopefully we might see a new model from the series by Airfix.

I still have a tin of ral7001 silbergrau that I bought years ago from Hannants model shop. It is Xtracolor enamel X255 and a quick look on the website shows that it's still available.

The skyraider is definitely overdue a new tooling, if not next year then as soon as possible, or at least a re-release, It was a significant aircraft and I don't think any mainstream manufacturer has produced an up to date kit. Here's hoping.

I thought of maybe reissuing a kit, possibly modified, in a new Korean war guise. A lot of WW2 equipment, air and ground based, soldiered on into the next conflict. A newer Sunderland would be particularly welcome.

In another year it will be the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Korean war, an important but sadly ignored conflict. It would be good to see at least one commemorative kit from Airfix.

As Frederick says there are a number of small scale kits that come with figures, its not that difficult to modify them into tank crew. It could be a good idea to buy after market figure accessories. The various 'Tank rider and crew' sets by the firm of 'Hat' are quite good and currently available on e-bay, they are reasonably priced as well. Hope you find something suitable.

Anyone interested in post war British Army camouflage schemes may like this old photo that was actually on the front cover of the Airfix magazine from October 1970. I can’t believe that I’ve glanced at this many times but never really studied it before. The FV432 personnel carrier is painted in an unusual three or four colour scheme that looks like it includes the red brown mentioned on the Centurion earlier. The magazine blurb goes: “Vehicles in first line service are now frequently camouflaged in the style shown here, with green, grey, dark earth and olive drab as the basic colours.” The wagon belongs the School of Infantry at Warminster and is obviously an experimental scheme because it never became standard as far as I know. It was probably being trialed alongside the usual green and black scheme that was introduced at about the same time. It would be interesting to find out what, if any, vehicles were painted in the same pattern. It always makes the hobby more interesting for me when there are multiple schemes to choose from.

These are three kits that I have enjoyed building over the last few weeks, although only one is Airfix. The Mosquito is the original Airfix issue from the 1950s, the only change on this seventies release was two new crewmen, who I had to replace anyway because they were two big for the cockpit. The underside should be grey but I decided to paint it ‘duck egg green’ as per the instructions. I always like building these old kits, another one was the Macchi Folgore by Frog. This was a model of an aircraft I’ve never built before. A Frog kit I did build back in the day was the dewoitine d.520, but this is the much more recent HobbyBoss offering. I was impressed by the quality of the decals, they adhered to awkward surfaces with no problems, as do Airfix decals usually. I always find it a bit of a downer when I look forward to putting on some colourful decals and then find they don’t settle well (especially if they are fairly expensive after-market ones). These three were all trouble free builds.

This kit has been discussed often over the years and is probably full of errors, but its been re-released so it must still be popular. I found it an enjoyable and uncomplicated build. I added some random markings to depict a tank from the battle for Berlin. Lets hope the Airfix vintage classics keep going strong into next year and beyond.

I had the latest Buccaneer kit delivered yesterday. Had to laugh a bit at the size of the box compared to the original series 3 issue from the sixties. I've heard of inflation but this is on steroids. Still, its a really good kit, as is the old one.

It's surprising how even the oldest kits can look really good with a bit of effort. A decent base also makes a model stand out, I might try one or two myself.

Whenever I see these it always reminds me of the days when we all looked forward to the distant future, the year 2000. It was a time when we would all be flying around in space. Now we can barely get to the next town due to incompetence and congestion. Still, the dream was nice while it lasted.

Some of the older 1/72 aircraft kits are cheap and cheerful so it doesn't matter if things don't go as well as hoped. The older kits are also simpler and less confusing to build. Jets usually have fewer fiddly parts and are often easier to paint. I think I would try something like the 'top gun' f5e mig to begin with.

That's a good build Gilbert, I think your blue shade is probably more accurate than mine. Have you seen any colour pictures of this squadron, I can only find black and white. I know there are decals available of a later version of an A4 from this unit.

I had a Centurion in my stash so I thought I might as well finish it in this unusual scheme. I decided the dark cammo colour was probably black because light stone and black was a standard scheme in the seventies. It appears that light stone and green is used in warmer climes these days but I have no idea when the change from black to green took place, I would guess sometime in the nineties. The idea came from the ‘Look at Life’ short film ‘Char and Wad’, a feature about the work of the NAAFI. The tanks shown had faded paintwork, probably due to a combination of desert conditions and poor quality paint. I decided to finish my example looking ‘as new’ because I suppose it would have been at one stage.

Nice looking finish Tomek22, the sea looks good for a first attempt. I'm surprised that Airfix haven't re-released the 'Falklands Warships' set this year, I'm sure it would have sold well. With reference the deck colours mentioned earlier, I think it may have depended on when or where the ship was built or re-fitted.

Good metal finish on those two, what paint do you use?

Like the black scheme. I just wondered, what scale is the model and are those kit decals?

The 'Look at Life' episode is the one I saw Kenneth. It's an interesting series that includes a variety of Military/Aviation/Naval themes. I didn't know it's available on DVD, I usually catch it on the 'Talking Pictures' cable TV channel.

Look forward to seeing your final result KiwiKev. I recently saw a short documentary about HMS Vanguard's last voyage to the breakers yard. Externally at least the ship seemed to be in very good condition and it seemed ridiculous that she was being cut up for scrap. It would be good if Airfix could do a model of this historically significant vessel.

There's one thing I wondered about with this model Bill. I've never seen cammo demarcation lines like that before on the engines. Was this widespread as far as you know or unique to this squadron?

Nice display of Mustangs. It's interesting how even the early olive drab versions can end up looking colourful.

That's a really good replica, the Meteor is a fine looking aircraft. In these days of combat planes staying in service for decades it seems amazing now that the Meteor entered service as a world beater but became obsolete as a fighter in such a short time. I'm looking forward to the new 1/72 release.