Dad Paul B

The Azure Blue was vallejo and the camouflage Humbrol Middle Stone and Dark Earth - all acrylic. I think I started painting at 10 or 11 having started at 7 and having the wings on my first model (the Matchbox Spitfire) go very squidgy.

This is my son's latest build. He is 10. This is a nice little kit and went together very well. The desert camouflage looks really nice and the decals work well (I did help line up the shark mouth as he wasn't entirely confident). This was the starter set for Neville Duke/112 Squadron. Interestingly the Mustang starter set also features a 112 squadron aircraft which he did a couple of years ago. I also saw the example in the RAF Museum Hendon which is finished in the same overall scheme but different serial and ID letters. /media/tinymce_upload/f19719f4d9e753ca110421077f53fd56.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/b9f25484c1d0af74f99623a1ca1702c7.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/ca60fe1d85b3a101b174909b14c8953f.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/a07a6c2f55c2351639112dea32497286.JPG And an original /media/tinymce_upload/9bd505e3792519a8be5a3b431f80bbd9.JPG

Keep hunting. Model show traders often have the older kits at reasonable prices since the internet trade gets inflated by competitive bidding (TSR2s are pricey online but the show traders often have them for as little as £15). Look for a local one (Modelkraft in Milton Keynes is coming up soon at that is one of the bigger shows so worth a try if you are in the Midlands. Cosford and Bovington have big shows if I remember as well as IPMS in London. Good luck on completing the V-Bomber kits - I have done this myself and it is a great project.

Welcome to the forum m2. First up that Zero you are working on does not look in any way naff. I have passed the model making bug on to my own kids (8 and 9) but they have other things to distract them so stuff gets left in process for a while. I was about 7 when I started and I had a lot of friends into building as well. Local model clubs have been mentioned (a lot have junior sections which will be less intimidating) and you could look for wargames clubs as well as gamers tend also to be modellers (of course vehicles and figures are more common than aircraft). If you have a local model shop (rare these days) it also a good place to meet fellow modellers - have a chat with the proprietor, they will know regular customers. Post some builds, identify problems and you will get a lot of good feedback.

I still desperately need a Wasp (XT788/424 HMS Minerva, photographed alongside HMS Eagle in about 1969) in 1/72 and a HAS2 or HAS5 Sea King. Otherwise 1/72 Cold War Jets and a Carrier (Ark Royal or Eagle with Buccaneers, Sea Vixens, Gannets and Wessex' or the Ark with Phantoms) in 1/600. But mostly I am looking for 1944 vehicles for Gaming.

I built this back in the 1970s, I was probably 11 or 12 at the time and liked it. I also built the Matchbox waterline kit which I think I ended up preferring. I quite liked the ship builds (though Ark Royal III and Fearless were my favourites). I had thought of trying to track down an old Spee but maybe not given your experience. Thanksfor sharing.

Some interesting ideas here. Some more 1/72 Jets would be great (Hunter, Buccaneer, Sea Vixen and a new Vulcan) and some of the neglected WW2 subjects already mentioned (Ju88, Hampden, Battle). Beyond aircraft I would love to see vehicles make a comeback - D-Day 75th Anniversary is in 2019 sonew toolings of the Sherman, Panzer IV, Panther, M3 Half Track, Sdkfz 251 and others would be welcome - maybe in 1/72 rather than 1/76 along with a 'V-Bomber Resupply set' to acompany the Victor and desired new Vulcan. Finally how about taking all that 1/24 experience and putting it into a Tank Model - I suspect it would arouse interest and sell an initial batch of 6,000 (I doubt I could afford one or have the space to display it but it would certainly turn heads). I reckon a Sherman would be good (Tiger 1 is just too obvious a choice but) or maybe a Comet or Cold War era vehicle like a Chieftain, M60 or T55/62. This wold be an interesting new scale for AFV modellers and could catch on.

The Tamiya Fine White primer is very good as well, though the Army Painter cans give an even better opacity (though their cans run out of propellant about half way through).

Joe You must have timed your last renewal just before the change. If you have a club limited voucher then email the club email address and they will provide a new voucher code (you will need to provide your current voucher code and be within its 1 year validity). The £15 pounds on anything has been the standard since very early this year. Paul

Pictures are 2 MB each - typical of past uploads. Paul

Unable to upload pictures at the moment (10th Nov) getting the error message "The uploaded file exceeds the maximum allowed size in your PHP configuration file." Looks to be a site based issue as I get the same response in multiple browsers. Anyone managing OK?

Nice unit Alan. This shows why these have a place in the range - people buy them in quantity which is why the Tiger II was a poor choice from a wargamers perspective since it is the IVs (or IIIs early on) that were there in numbers. So for 1944 you need Shermans, Pz IVs, Cromwells, Fireflys, Halftracks, Carriers and anti-tank guns before moving on to the fancy stuff. What rules do you use? Airfix battles works best at up to Platoon level (base unit is the squad/section or individual vehicle) and has a nice card driven command system.

I am currently building up my German vehicle collection for Airfix Battles (my son is doing the British). Unfortunately Airfix most of the military vehicles are absent from Airfix stocks at the moment so it is a case of picking up what I can. The Panzer IV is one of the later vehicle toolings (1970) and this was nicely rendered in the usual modern grey styrene rather than the green which is common in earlier issues. It has some nicely rendered details for the tools, though purists like them seperate at this scale the integral mouldings are fine. As usual the running gear is a little fiddly (though I have encountered worse) and the vinyl 'rubber band' tracks don't sit all that well (I didn't try painting them as they take paint very badly). The only fit issue I encountered was the undercut sections on the rear of the hull which were quite tight (though I fitted them after putting the hull top sections onto the main hull so it might be easier to assembly the complete top hull before fixing it to the base. Otherwise it went together well and has very little flash. The only addition to the 'out of the box' build was a commander in the cupola (an airfix German Paratrooper with his arm in a sling) and the whip aerial made from stretched sprue. The decals were 21st Panzer Division from The Plastic Soldier Company for unit consistency with my other vehicles. Due to limited availability it operates alongside 1/72 Pz IVs by Armourfast. However the scale difference is not that significant for wargames purposes (mainly height which makes the 1/72 version look more 'chunky'). Given that the Pz. IV was the most significant German Tank of WW2 it ought to be front and centre of the range (along with the Sherman, M3 Half Track, Sdkfz 251 Hanomag, Sdkfz 222 and Puma Armoured Cars and Cromwell, Panther and Tiger 1). The new Cromwell is very nice and ought to be joined with similar new tools of the other major vehicles of WW2 to generate cross sales with the Airfix Battles game. Photos below were taken on the Airfix Battles maps and show the AF 1/72 version side by side to show the scale differences. /media/tinymce_upload/c630a0cfa44673b87fbfe021d825f4d1.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/28e8cbc6dec1da7396f8786c87bb597a.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/97e16a6f4163d324e4f7eb22d311c638.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/bf0a485be4b19d0c98172277cfe993d0.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/d3951eac2b4b4acc9315a9e4f58919fe.JPG

Another factor was the colours. A great relief for khaki, green and grey. I made a few of these and really liked them. Another advantage is that they are easy to display as they don't take up much shelf space. Napoleonics sell well in wargames scales (25/28 and 15/18mm)so there is interest in the period.

Lovely work - the PE looks great. I have been thinking about this as a project for a while. I am getting more tempted. Looking forward to seeing the finished item.

I just picked up the starter set issue of this modern(ish) tooling. Overall impression was very good. The kit is slightly marred by some very large gateways which wrap over the wing and tail leading edges and take some effort to clean up without leaving lumps or dents (I did not managt to completely eliminate a gouge of the tail fillet despite 3 goes with the putty and sandpaper. Still, here's how it went. First of all the cockpit tub is simple but effective with main and side instrument panels represented with decals. Everything goes into the fuselage nicely with space for enough lead in the nose to balance it correctly. /media/tinymce_upload/5d5889a47e329d46f834cce4cc9063a2.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/736c2865e571bc4f1658499ee58dcf42.JPG I had some concerns about getting the fuselage spacing at the bottom right and cut away some of the intage trunking. This turned out to be me being overzealous as I ended up with too little space to fit the tab at the front of the wing undersides. Still, this was remedied by 2 cuts with a scapel blade. The only filling needed was on the top of the nose and behind the cockpit; though very minor. The fit was very good. Once the airframe was assembled I painted everything before adding the pylons, stores, landing gear, leading edge slats and airbrakes.The slats and airbrakes are particularly welcome as they allow for a splash of colour on an essentially grey airframe. I did try to crank the refuelling probe to match a later aircraft but overheated the plastic to unuseability. I just used the root to fill in the mounting slot. Later photo syudy indicated that this was optional as I saw matching aircraft with straight probes. I eschewed the kit schemes to use a Royal Australian Navy A-4G markings on a Modeldecal set. This was finished in Light Gull Grey for which I used Vallejo silver grey. I chose not to use a panel line wash. Weathering was limited to some oil staining and dirtying behind the vortex generators. Decals went on very nicely (though I later concluded one of the underwing roundels was out of place). A lot of softening solution was needed on the upper wing roundels as they were positioned over the vortex generators. The decal for the glare shield was welcome, but surgery was needed to fit it around the pitot probe which is an integral part of the fuselage moulding. Scissors were needed for markings which spread across the airbrakes (making open airbrakes an option not for novices as the cuts were not incorporated in the decals as is the case for more recent toolings. The kit contains the extra pylons for outboard stores but only a modest selection of stores (2 drop tanks, 1 buddy refuelling pod, 1 large and 4 small bombs). Given that A4s can carry up to six bombs on each pylon a series 4 version may be worth consideration (with the hump for later avionics on the A4-F catered for) with extra stores. Still this is a nice kit that builds well with very few issues. For a low series kit it has some nice options. It would also make a terrific 1/48 or 1/24 kit and was so widely used that a multitude of national options could be catered for by the aftermarket suppliers. Completed model below. /media/tinymce_upload/834015414e5e929e21f2afefc7d71b78.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/4d43def5f722366a9e277cd6c37d3b2e.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/6f20272905db0298cb56f1c5fe2e376d.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/2f3be5f1ce95106781e521255af3528a.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/1eea6ddb8dfd1e66f743d1449553d2b6.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/7c5aae3183d15819eea8e661d501c347.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/474d733ebe6b608d5659871b5267fbe9.JPG The spare decals box was raided for the yellow bands for live ordnance and ejector warning triangles for the pylons which are not catered for in the kit, and the Modeldecal versions were oversized for the Airfix pylons (they were designed for the Hasegawa kit so correct scale pylons may well be too small for these. The walkways were painted in vallejo Sky Grey for Dark Gull Grey. This was a nice little build with potential for development into other versions, nations, colour schemes and outloads. They were in use by the USMC into the 90s and other nation for longer so plenty of real combat examples available (also one flown by Senator John McCain and represented at one of the US aircraft museums).

I have been building vehicles lately for Airfix Battles. Managed an Airfix Panther but had to resort to Armourfast for Panzer IVs and StuG IIIs since no airfix options. My son has added a Sherman (Airfix) and a pair of Fireflys (Armourfast) to his British force (mainly 5th RTR of 7th Armoured Division using Plastic Soldier Decals). Some remoulds and new tools of WW2 vehicles would be welcome. I also picked up an Airfix Skyhawk cheap in Hobbycraft (who iften do good promotions) which will get RAAF markings at some point.

Something else you can try is to put a layer of varnish over the underlying colour; Humbrol Clear gloss works well. This helps by producing a smoother surface for the tape to adhere to and does not cause an adhesion problem for acrylics (which some gloss paints do). I have found that most bleeds can be fixed by touching up. I also only mask for the base colours and add shading after completion. Though your method is much more detailed.

A fantastic build - really nice weathering. It would be great to see some more new tools to support Airfix Battles (wargames rules by Modiphius licensing the Airfix name). In the meantime can we have some rereleases of the old WW2 vehicles to tide us over. I always liked the 25 pdr kit but mmy son is collecting the British while I am doing the Germans (I need another Pz IV, Pak 40 and some trucks and Hanomags plus some of the figure sets.

I wouldn't call the light grey weathering overdone. It really looks like a well worn Stirling. Fantastic work and shows what can be done with 'tired' old toolings with a little TLC. Interestingly the Stirling was actually bigger than the Halifax and Lancaster but had a smaller payload and poorer performance so got demoted from the front line quite early to become a transport and Glider tug. Great work.

Try Model Shows, especially the larger ones. I have seen stacks of TSR2s on some stands for normal prices. Valiants can be found in the shops as they move in small numbers.

With a modern fast jet you are looking for a satin or semi-gloss finish, though the low-visibility grey looks almost matt. I would stick to varnish as even thinned PVA is liely to go on unevenly and cloud. Humbrol Clear is good for Gloss Finishes but the Satin and Matt versions are tricky beasts as the matting agent has an annoying habit of coming to the surface and creating a whitish residue. Other threads on the forum have suggested the use of a cotton bud with the approproate thinner. You could try enamel varnish (I haven't used it for years so couldn't say what they are like). Aerosol varnishes can be pretty good but I recently used the Humbrol matt on some figures and got a whitish dusting on them - actually looked effective but not what you would want on an aircraft. The Satin spray is very good. You could try several brands on a scrap piece of plactic to see what works best. A tinlet of Satin Varnish (acrylic or enamel) will set you back no more than the paint but needs tobe well stirred and thinned as the brush painted version can also leave a white residue (at least when I use it). I am sure you will get plenty of recommendations. Best of luck. Paul

Afew 2016 catalogue items have gone (most of the WW2 German vehicles). If it is just out of stock they usually stay until replenished. It could be that there will be some rebranding with new stock to tie in with Airfix Battles (see seperate thread). I guess all we can do is wait and see.

Airfix appear to have licensed the name to Modiphius. I have had a chance to test the armour rules now and they follow a similar (very simple) system. They work well and devising stats for other vehicles will be very simple - I aim to spreadsheet the published cards and work from them. Each nation has slight variations to avoid being too generic. Small scenarios take around an hour to set up and play through and there is a system to build your own forces (as large as you like) for those of us who enjoy seeing lots of models on the table. The key to the game is the order system (card based) which limits freedom of action and does a good job of simulating inertia. I hope Airfix capitalise with their WW2 vehicle range (I notice the Tiger I has disappeared from the website - could be an chance to produce a Michael Wittman scheme from Villers Bocage). I preordered so got a booster pack with British and some limited edition US and German items (Wittman's Tiger, StuG III, M10 Tank Destroyer and Calliope; and for the Brits Squads, Commandos a Sherman Firefly commander, Churchill, Crocodile and Cromwell). I guess these will find their way into future releases. I don't know if Airfix concessions will carry it (it is Airfix branded in red trimmed boxes so I hope it will find a wider audience). All we need now is some nice new toolings to set the games off.

Airfix battles is out and I thought I would share a few thoughts. Firstly the system - it is aimed at Platoon level engagements with the possibility of going up to Company level with the right mix. The basic accounting unit is 1 soldier or vehicle and the manouvre unit is the squad or single vehicle. There are options for Officers, specialist squads and vehicles. I haven't tried the armour rules yet but they are relatively simple. Movement and firing is driven by a card system which restricts options to what is in your hand. This avoids the free for all where everyone moves and shoots and seems to work pretty well with a few nice mechanics - really fast move cards can leave squads exposed. The game uses square based movement which will work fine with models either using the maps supplied with the game or model terrain. My early impressions are positive. The game works fairly well, though the attrition rate is a little high (very common in games but keeps the game fast moving). The basic components are pretty good - nice thick counters, pretty good artwork (though the cards have generic images rather than pictures of the actual vehicle represented which is a disappointment) Now for the manifesto Given the airfix branding this is an excellent opportunity to link it to the model range. A typical base force would be around 2 boxes of Infantry, 3 or 4 tanks and a few Half tracks, trucks and 1 or 2 anti-tank guns. Say around 10 sets for a 3 platoon force with extra options for different battle groups. My suggestion is as follows. 'Airfix Battles' Theatre branding for kits: D-Day to Berlin (Western Front 1944-5), Ostfront (Eastern Front 1941-5), North Africa 1940-3, Early War (1940-1 France, Norway, Balkans), Pacific (1942-5). One key addition to the sets would be to include Force Cards in each kit (1 for vehicles - allows 'famous commander' variants and about 4 for figure sets - 2 regular squads, a specialist squad, 1 or 2 support teams and an officer. Other sets could lean towards more elite units. This would allow forces to grow but a few extra serial numbers in the decals would be recommended here to add a little variety to a single unit. Given the numbers of kits/sets for a force aiming for Series 1 or 2 for most items will be essential with only 1 off items going higher. Initially I would suggest reissuing some of the existing moulds but look to retool them over time. D-Day to Berlin: Reissue StuG III ASAP (there is a card in the set and this is an important vehicle), Sdkfz 234 (and look at a 232). For retools start with the Sherman as it was both ubiquitous and came in a lot of versions so 1 base tool will allow for a number of kit issues (M10, Firefly for starters), same with the Pzkpfw IV and Panther. The look at the M8 armoured car (card in the set) and some US trucks (Studebaker 2.5 ton and Dodge weapons carrier) and the M5 Stuart and the Hanomag. Longer term look for unusual vehicles like the Hetzer, Jagdpanther and Nashorn. Redo the 6 pounder/57 mm AT gun and pair it up with the airborne jeep for para units a new tool Pak 40 should be aimed at. Ostfront: T-34 must be reissue and retooled as soon as possible. Eastern unit options of Pz IV, Panther and Tigers plus the StuG and Hanomag. Add a KV-1 and maybe a T-26 for early on. The Germans need a Panzer III as well.Some of the Pz II/III assault guns like the Marders will be worth thinking about longer term. Western Desert: Desert unit Shermans, Grants, M3 Honeys, Pz II, III and IV, Matilda, New Cruiser Tanks and a 2 pdr AT gun. Think about the Italians and Italian theatre. This is a lower power theatre but with plenty of unique options.Long Range Desert group vehicles and strong point options. Early War: Vickers Lights, Matilda I and II, Valentine plus French Hotchkiss, Somua and Char 1 (Hotchkiss and Somuas were used in the early phases of D-Day so some German marked versions would be saleable as well), Pz I and IIs IIIs and Czech T-38s. Again Italian options plus the Greeks, Yugoslavians and others. Plenty of options here. Finally the Pacific: M3 Lees and Stuarts early on giving way to Shermans, DUKWs and Buffalos. Reissue the Chi-Ha and look at other possibilities. More of an Infantry theatre but a chance for some local colour. In short this is an opportunity to give AFV kits and troop sets a shot in the arm. The Infantry figures need to be revisited - styrene over polyethylene for better paint adhesion and consider multipose tools for the scale modellers. As to scale - New tools could be 1/72 or 1/76. Most gamers wouldn't be fussy and will use both alongside each other. Constant scale modellers seem to favour 1/72. This suggests 1/72 as the long term future but 1/76 has a large base with gamers from the 70s still hunting out the old Matchbox and Airfix kits. This is a Market Research job. So - nice work but will need to be capitalised on quickly if it is to rejuvenate the AFV/Figure ranges. I will definitely be putting together some forces as will my son but any interest will fade quickly if this is not followed up.