Peter s

Short answer is that it usually needs the kit maker to provide extra parts which drive the cost up. As T2B says the Airfix new tool sea kings DO provide that option but you need 8 or 9 blades not 5 and some extra tail parts, all of which add to the development cost and ultimately to the kit price. This may be why there are relatively few helicopter kits equal to those Sea Kings. Its a shame because I like helicopters too.

Considering the two photos above are the same plane it just shows how lighting and different pics can make colours look quite different. The upper photo looks a much darker grey than the lower one.

It doesn't look quite so obvious "in the flesh"... I think its a lighting thing at this stage, I'm just taking phone snaps under the lounge light. Mind you I was interested by the pics of the JU88 at Cosford Airfix showed a couple of weeks ago. There was some heavy staining on the edges of the underneath panels. Not as extreme as my model but considering that plane would have never flown in that coat of plate it was surprising. See link: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/aerodrome/defecting-junkers-a-fascinating-wartime-story /media/gene-bluefoot/d/_/d_the_story_of_the_wartime_defection_of_a_luftwaffe_junkers_ju88_nightfighter_on_the_airfix_and_corgi_aerodrome_blog.jpg

/media/tinymce_upload/f9ae36063e1540b0b0f95e5ad805dabf.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/0e9d7b0b4ecdd9b3c7f063097fdffbe4.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/692309df8d56da117b98a4f526527ae7.jpg Progress.... decals are on, props fitted (And both spin perfectly... normally I don't care but this kit is designed to make it easy). I've used the B option from the kit but ditched some "art" which looks like a chalk drawing from the rudder and added Xtradecal formation markers (the big pink bar on the starboard wing and rudder). Cockpit is painted. Pilots are both Airfix stuka crew from the new tool. Their arms come as separate parts so actually hold the controls. The rear gun position is big and exposed so I've a czech master resin guy going in there as its highly visible. Adding the bombs probably isn't worth the time or cost but its the little details that matter. Whats left to do is mostly clear parts. Normally with those I glue them with Klearfix, hand paint the lines initially with a Tamiya paint (often silver or black) then do a second coat with the vallejo base coats. A sharpened cocktail stick dragged along the lines shortly after tidies everything nicely. Acrylic can be removed from clear very easily this way & its quicker than masking off a million tiny panels

Nice builds both of you! I did the matchbox a few years ago... not a great kit whereas many matchbox planes still hold up today quite well. The old airfix looks a bit more detailed. History seems to be very cruel to the Buffalo. The Finns kicked Russian backside with them with Soviet Hurricanes going down to Finnish Buffalos so as with a few other maligned aircraft (I'm a defender of the Defiant) it probably wasn't the plane at fault so much as the tactics etc

That is VERY nice!

I'm a vallejo model air fan but their BS green is OK-ish with dark earth but badly off when used with grey. Its too green and not olive enough. I use a custom mix of 50% BS Dark Green (71.324) and 50% Dk olive drab (71.316) I'd use 71.307 Med Ocean Grey (the WW2 underside colour) mixed with a little 71.273 Ocean Grey if it looks a little too light for the grey. I did a mosquito fighter version in that scheme and it looked identical to the one currently at the East Kirby museum in Lincs. To me eye Vulcans always seem a fairly light grey and a very olive green so I think that mix will be good. My custom green is identical to Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) XF-82 Tamiya RAF Ocean Gray is just a bit dark and a bit blue compared to what my eye sees on a Vulcan but its not a bad colour.

They're great builds! I'm hoping to have my entire battle of britain line up finished very soon. I found a relative who died flying a hurricane towards the end of the battle when doing a bit of reading. http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/Forrester.htm He was my grans brother in law so not a close relative but it was a strange feeling finding the name and putting a photo to it. Generally our family were VERY lucky. Lots of close run things but very few killed in action. Cliverdee is right! I don't want to know how much I've spent just on airfix spits and hurricanes 😛

Thats a nice idea... Airfix did a Stuka-B in Spanish civil war markings but it was basically the same RLM70/71 scheme as WW2. The A- stuka with the "trousers" fought in a more complex (4??) colour splinter scheme. You don't get a lot of opportunity to model these pre-WW2 versions. The He111 is well along now so I'll try and get some more photos taken tomorrow.

For a first model thats bl**dy good! Well done. There's an infinite number of tips and tricks to make them look better. The forum is full of good advice but a lot of it is "personal choice". I tend to like my planes matt so I spray them with matt varnish. I also exaggerate panel lines so use either washes or watercolour pencils. I recently found Micro Kristal Klear which is basically PVA glue for fitting clear parts. It looks white but dries clear. I'd carefully use some of that (with a fine brush) to fill the joins between canopy and fuselage (I've got Spitfires which are my 200th model where the glass isn't a perfect fit) then paint the canopy frame in the same shades you used on the rest of the model. In the photos you seem to have used a more olive green. It'll take ten mins to sort. Again... well done though. Whats number 2 going to be? PS Don't just grab a can of matt varnish! It can kill clear parts. If you choose to dull the finish down mask the canopy with some masking tape first.

I did get the book... you're not missing much. Just a big list of kits that were once made (some weird stuff too). The Kate is pretty good. I'm not that keen on the two club schemes but you get markings for two proper Japanese ones and it worked out about £10 or so for a decent kit on top of the standard package. No club card yet so I can't start redeeming the coffee mug full of tokens I've been building up quite yet!

My "build at least one of every aircraft flown in the battle of Britain according to the Wikipedia list" project nears completion. I've saved some of the biggest until the last not least because I wanted to work out a few things on some cheaper models first. The colours I used on the "old v new Stukas" really worked for me so I've repeated them again on an Heinkel 111 P2. The P2 was the definitve version of the He111 at the start of the war (especially Poland) but by the battle of Britain most were H1 and H2 versions - similar but with slightly larger engines. Airfix have recently released the P2 and H6 versions. In retrospect I should have maybe gone for the H6 and backdated but scheme B for the P2 is "France 1940" so that'll do just fine. This is a lovely kit with the single gripe that the fuselage windows do not fit well and need some serious sanding and dry fitting. Most of the glass can be fitted towards the end of the build so there was no reason to paint the cockpit at an early stage and seal it behind perspex. For a big box its a relatively simple build. To get to this stage took just 2 hours (I am a fast builder though) /media/tinymce_upload/244cbeb02d10194feac0795e1623dfbd.jpg Whole aircraft primed in tamiya NATO black then painted with Vallejo RLM 70 /media/tinymce_upload/d3eeaa432ae6905b590a79ed8069e61e.jpg Counter colour of RLM 71 plus about 1 part to 5 Grau-violet applied. The Vallejo RLM71 is a bit too olive brown and has a bit too much contrast with the darker green. The grauviolet fixes that. /media/tinymce_upload/2f39dc96eeef4c737b7ee3fd3786f806.jpgI've rather exaggerated the panel line shading at this stage but after a bit of filter is applied its less extreme than it looks. As the P2 was past its best by the battle of Britain I can justify a more faded dirty look which suits my style nicely. /media/tinymce_upload/e72ff736ad83474b46b8d1a1240ec5c1.jpgSimilar deal underneath. The main cuppola is mostly clear but will end up mostly blue. Thats being done as a bench job and will be fitted at the end. There's no bombs provided for the vertical bomb cells. In theory it could take 250kg bombs but the surplus bombs from Airfix kits such as the new Me 262 are too fat for the cells so I've got some resin SC50 bombs. These have been fitted to plastic tube to ensure they hang at the right height. 6 are going in the plane with 2 reserved for diorama purposes. /media/tinymce_upload/987c369d169c02d0857c6f7058104ab6.jpgThere's a crazy amount of detail on these bombs - including the silver screw in fuses. More to follow soon

Airfix's excellent Lancaster BIII sells out almost as quickly as they get stock in. A new tool Halifax would be a very popular kit. As others have said the "current" version is nearly 20 years older than me and the moulds are plain worn out. The JU-88 is in the same boat.... I built one earlier this year and was on the verge of being unbuildable. That one also desperately needs the new tool treatment. That was another kit where in theory the landing gear could rotate and then retract (like a P40). Very sophisticated back in the day.

Thats the version I got. I'll get some xtradecals for it. I'm really enjoying the P2 version (built using the kit B option as a France 1940 aircraft) but want to do something a bit different with the H6. It can go in the stash for the time being while I ponder. I've got a V1 in 1/72 so may even mount that under the port wing.

My tame fast jet pilot told me that he was fortunate to be selected for fast jet training on account of his (tall) height, because tall guys are less G tolerant than shorties. Thats true. The other reason is a bit grimmer. Above a certain height if you need to eject you risk losing your knees. I'm about 5" 11' and can't get my knees straight in front on a bus seat so I believe it. The other problem is that we all have the same number of bones in our spine but tall people have proportionally narrow spines so are more at risk of spinal injury. You don't get many Paras taller than me & I'm hardly that tall.

The covid pandemic has really affected a lot of airfix's stock. Now the club has restarted I counted my tokens (over 130!!!!!!! ) but couldn't find much in the way of 1/72 aircraft that I'd want. I might be sitting on them for a while longer. I expect as India opens up more stock will be available soon.

I got one on eBay at the weekend for £27 (although £60-70 is more like it). I've almost finished the P2 version and from the Airfix website it looks like the H6 may not be coming back. I've enjoyed the P2 so much I want this for my stash. Sorry Lemmy... much as I like Ace of Spades this one will ultimately be in Luftwaffe colours too.

Me too. When I first encountered this new tool "feature" I also thought it was a bit mad but it really works well. Its far easier to mask windows off on a large clear panel than to fit small windows into a styrene frame. Trying to fit a scale light lens to the wheel door would be very tricky. As for pilots I'm built more for flying Hercules than fast jets (although I did manage to fit in a Tiger Moth cockpit fairly comfortably) but having looked at the cockpit of the F4 at Hendon it is TINY. Tom Cruise is the right size to be a fighter pilot!

Like Ratch says you won't mistake one for another. The B29 is significantly bigger too. HUGE 4 blade props whereas the B17 has smaller 3 blades. B29s had remote control turrets in most locations so won't have the obvious glass turret parts. The B29 has a nose wheel and two wheels on each undercarriage leg... the B17 has a fixed tail wheel and one wheel on each main leg. B29 has two bomb bays, B17 1 bay..... Both are cool aircraft to model but I hope you get the one you want.

If you're really stuck you could always do it wheels up and mount the model on a stand? With the wheels retracted a cra**y set of undercarriage legs is less of an issue.

Yup, to second T2B not all acrylic paints are the same. I assume you're airbrushing? Tamiya acrylic are alcohol based. Technically iso-propyl alcohol (surgical spirit) but ethanol thins them nicely. At a pinch you can use Vodka. Vallejo Model COLOUR also thins nicely with alcohol but Vallejo model air curdles horribly with alcohol and becomes unusable. Gunze "Mr Colour" is the same. For model air I'd bite the bullet and use the Vallejo thinner. Water is OK but if its too watery the dry time can take ages. I've never sprayed Humbrol acrylic so can't comment. I've brush painted with it and it seems a decent paint. I've had issues diluting Xtracylic though. Alcohol is OK but I have found it very inclined to jam up my airbrush and a dirty clogged brush can spit lumps of paint. Making sure your brush is clear is important. I know a lot of people use neat car screenwash as a thinner. Its got some alcohol and the detergent can reduce the surface tension of the paint. Its worth a try. BTW generally I find you should use a primer with acrylic. Its not always needed but it helps. Tamiya sticks quite well to untreated kit plastic but other makes of paint are less reliable. Coincidentally I finished a Bf 109 F-2 (1/72.... made by "R..... ") at the weekend. I could NOT get the colours right on it and in the end used some acrylic paint remover (an Xtracrylic product sold by Hannants). It stripped the paint back to bare plastic in mins, did no damage and I eventually got it the shade I wanted. It was practically a Lego kit it was so simple to build but the paint job has ultimately made it one of my very best. Don't despair yet.

I recently found some in 1/72 from Hannants. They DO make life easier but you still need a light touch with a very clean airbrush. I previously used cotton buds (almost a dry brush method) to apply the mottle and usually got a decent finish.

The airfix parts and spares is a courtesy service. You may or may not get lucky if they have the part. If its not a current kit the odds are against you. Plan B is a vacform canopy (try eBay). I bought a Matchbox 1/72 Walrus (probably as old as me) still in its outer cellophane wrap... but no canopy. I got a Pavla vacform on eBay for a few quid. Vacform canopies aren't the easiest thing to deal with but much better than no canopy.

That suddenly went together and made a really nice little model! Great job. I saw a real one in Newcastle when I was a student. Some Russian sailor had fallen off his mast and smashed his legs up and the Russian Navy asked if they could transfer him to a British hospital. This huge twin rotor helicopter with red stars all over it was NOT what I expected to see land next to the medical school! That was Yeltsin era when we were clearly being nicer to each other.

The 50th Anniversary set kit was actually the old Heller Hurricane Mk.IIc that Airfix reboxed in 1990 (91?). I was released as part of the 50th Anniversary set with the Lancaster and Mk.I Spitfire (masquerading as a IIa XT-D). I assume they used the Heller kit as the BBMF Hurricanes are both the Mk.IIc variant. The BBMF remove the 20mm cannon barrels from the wings when painting them to represent MkIs and adds the red doped patch to the leading edge to represent the 0.303s. This edition of the kit allows you to build PZ865 as it was displayed by the BBMF in 1990 - painted as a Mk.I RF-U but in reality a Mk.IIc without the cannon. That makes a lot of sense & I sort of assumed the same. Mk IIa's served in the Battle of Britain (at least if you use the German time span rather than the RAF) so it suited me to have a Ia and IIa for my "the entire battle of Britain" project. I hadn't realised it was a Heller though.