Peter s

I use sable for very fine detail work mainly because someone taught me a nice trick : put the brush into a pot of VERY hot water and the point magically reforms on the brush. I don't think thats true of synthetic. I've got about a million of the humbrol brushes you get in the starter kits and they're quite adequate for painting tyres etc. Far cheaper too. I've found sable is less common and more expensive than it used to be.

Ps to supplement what Ratch posted I used this page: http://www.lancaster-archive.com/lanc_bomb_loads.htm which shows how they were placed in the bay. If you want to use all 6 500lb bombs "Plumduff plus" with the 500lb bombs front and back and the big 8000lb blast bomb in the centre looks like the load you'd use if you REALLY want to make a big bang.

I've been inside one B17 and that was mostly green inside but where the paint was worn (and it was worn anywhere you'd put your hand) yellow (zinc chromate yellow primer I believe) was showing through.

/media/tinymce_upload/e1207a13a285346d7a97c4a5a5e882d8.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/7aa906f23d2d1969916b4a597cfe214c.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/4410914fbfa292bbe7836f9fce23b31a.jpg The bombs I didn't mount filled the vehicles nicely. You see what I mean about screwing up the incendiary bundles though!

I went with the Cookie/Plumduff load of 3x 1000lb (right at the front) then three incendiary packs then the cookie then a final 3x incendiary. That filled the bay nicely. The only issue I had was mounting the incendiary neatly. When the glue dried I noticed they all had a slight angle to them. I don't recall any issues with the brackets but it may be they fit the 1000lb bomb better than the 500lb. If you haven't fitted them yet perhaps glue brackets to bombs first and use a clip to get them glued down tight. I'll post a couple of pics of mine as a 2nd post - hopefully mods approve it quickly for you.

More than all right! That looks great.

I've been airbrushing for years and actually prefer REALLY cheap double action airbrushes. Something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gravity-Feed-Dual-Action-0-25mm-Airbrush-Kit-Set-For-Model-Making-Nail-Arts/362802140507?_trkparms=aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20200513093106%26meid%3D98fa70e4cf564035af4298f376b84bc8%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26mehot%3Dco%26sd%3D254606243964%26itm%3D362802140507%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV1Filter&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851 Is £12 including shipping and more than good enough for large areas or masked off cammo. I've used VERY expensive brushes in the past (£150 Iwata sort of thing) and found they're so finely manufactured its very easy to clog them up. These Chinese Ebay things are the AK47 of airbrush. If the needle loses its point or the spring starts to soften in the trigger bin it and buy another. I paid about £60 for my compressor about 15 years ago and thats earned its cost many times over. The only time I need a better airbrush is if I try and airbrush German mottle pattern or something along those lines. I like Vallejo model air for performance (some shades are a bit weird though...) and they do need a primer coat first. Something out of a rattle can is good but I normally just spray tamiya XF-1 as a first coat. It sticks to plastic well and the vallejo sticks to the Tamiya. Everyone has their favourite way of doing it though.

Nice job. Also makes a change to see the bomb rather than rocket option. Its only when you put a figure next to them that you realised how HUGE those bombs are. I had exactly the same issues as you with the stripe decals. I've rarely found D-day stripe decals worth the effort. What I tend to do is cut narrow strips across the width of them and use those as a guide for the masking tape.

Thats a critical part to be missing..... Mainly for the fun of it I chopped a Spitfire up at the weekend to make a "crashed Spit" diorama with the 1/76 RAF recovery set (and possibly the fire engine / ambulance combo). It would be possible to use one wing and the engine from your mozzie to do something similar. If you were REALLY ambitious and had the materials maybe even a water diorama of mozzie sinking beneath waves and Walrus coming to the rescue of crew in the water?.... there's always something you can do with "bits" if the mood takes you.

Thanks! As I said 109s have always been a bit of a curse for me. That mottling is so easy to do badly (although ironically I think the real thing was originally just daubs of paint to try and get rid of the blue sides) Learning that I should paint the yellow first, mask off & trust the masking throughout the rest of the build was another bit learning moment. I've tried doing it with RAF leading edges too. You'll see more of these guys when the whole BoB project is complete. I'll line them all up together.

Thats brilliant! I'm hard pressed to think of a clear alternative to the wire..... I've got some strimmer line which is clear but its too thick. The best I can suggest is 1mm perspex rod. And thats not ideal. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clear-Acrylic-Rod-1-1-5-2-3-4-5-6mm-Diameter-x250mm-Long-Round-Perspex-Solid-Bar/223734716320?var=522448343595&hash=item3417a0d7a0:m:mpiulcxXftFXnd33nxlIPfA BTW one of my family claims to fame (and a family warning) is that my great-grandfather invented the method for pre-fabricating the box and stern sections of the liberty ship. In the late 1920s early 30s no-one was that interested (because it was a cheap and nasty technique in an age when ships were made well with rivets not cold rolled and badly welded). He sold the patent to Kaiser for something like £10,000 which at the time was a lot of money but if he'd sold it for 1% of the profits on the Liberty ships...... different story. He was a veteran of 2nd Ypres and the Somme so maybe didn't think long term.

I've found that too. I basically use 6 colours of model air a lot and another 6 less frequently. Colours like RAL71 have suddenly become scarce (even scarcer after I bought up a load... sorry!) There's a very nasty solvent used in a lot of scientific stuff called acetonitrile. It dissolves basically anything but if you swallow it it turns to cyanide in your cells.... You could buy it from a dozen places but then there was a fire in the one factory in the world that made it and all 12 sellers instantly ran out of stock. I wonder if there's a similar problem and one factory makes an ingredient many acrylic paint manufacturers rely on?

Thanks! yes... Zveda plus a Revell soldier with dog. The light caught a bit of a glue mark on him I hadn't seen in the flesh so I need to repaint the trouser leg before any close ups. I'll roll them out again for the Heinkel 111. I'm saving that as my final build as I think it'll be the most complex. The RAF are well advanced. Defiants nearly built, lots of Spits done plus 1 Gladiator. Blenheim 1F has the brown paint on & I started a Whirlwind last night (1977... about ten parts to the kit but 10 crisp well fitting parts). Airfix made a damned good kit in the late 70s. I really enjoyed that old Stuka. I've sourced "another make" of Bf109 F. I hadn't realised they were used in number towards the end of the Battle & they're quite different to the E model (also cheap in 1/72) so for the sake of completion I should do one. Fingers crossed I might be back at work a lot more next week even if its working on my own a lot. Allegedly I might have to baby sit Sky news which will be "different" if nothing else. Among other jobs I do our health and safety and the paperwork for letting random news crews into a building while maintaining 2M distancing is stunning. Once these are all built I'm at a loss what to do with them. I'm genuinely wondering if the Battle of britain Flight at Conningsby might be interested? Failing that East Kirby or the York Air Museum might want them. My storage space is limited and finished models just gather dust.

I've noticed a lot of Vallejo stockists are running out of model Air. I think its made in Spain so god knows what state the factory is in. Simply putting it on a plane may be very difficult. I'd assume Humbrol paints arent made in the UK (I've got a few but I can't see a Made in... on the tub) so I guess similar problems

The coffee filter idea is a VERY good one. Thanks for that. Humbrol do a product called "metalcote" in a can which sprays dull then polishes up like real metal. Its amazing stuff but not for the amateur. It uses an odd solvent and can react badly with other paints. Yeah... I found a long time ago that spray cans don't last long. You can buy a basic but perfectly good double action airbrush for under £10 on eBay (Chinese... they don't last long but at that price so what?) & a compressor for about £50. You don't need to do many models for that to make good financial sense

Odd places like LIDL suddenly get stocks of Airfix in. Often at good prices too. My parents encouraged me to do Airfix, partially to keep me quiet but partially because (I think) they knew I wasn't dumb but I wasn't a Stephen Hawking either and being able to follow instructions carefully plus practising fine detail work might be sensible training for the future. I'm a cancer researcher now and I use the same forceps and scalpels at work as I do modelling. A senior surgeon was complaining that students don't do needlecraft or modelling anymore and junior docs simply don't have the dexterity to stitch neatly. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-46019429 Its a great argument in favour of encouraging kids to do more crafts (I'm 42 BTW)

That's the beauty of the saw I pictured above, it's firmly clamped, it won't buckle and it's easy to keep it in a straight line. It's not quite as thin as PE blades (which can still be useful for some jobs), but it's much thinner than other types. Best bit of kit for the toolbox I've acquired for some time. It looks good. Like a safety razor which takes old fashioned razor blades. A lot of slightly larger razor saws have a heavy back which keeps the blade straight but also makes deep cuts impossible. I've got a fair collection in my tool box and its very much a case of matching the right tool to the job.

Tamiya do some small razor saws which are closer in size to a scalpel. They're useful but like I said a smaller blade can be a flexible blade and that can sometimes mean a straight cut is a little harder. I've seen PE razor saws which don't last long but are cheap and very sharp when fresh. Large tools are often safer and easier because the tool does the work not you. I genuinely use an 18v cordless power drill with a 1-2 mm drill bit to drill out airfix kits. Last year I drilled out all the dive brake holes on an old dauntless kit... about 240 holes. It took about half an hour with the power drill. I'd have spent days doing it by hand. Its "blip" on the trigger and the hole neatly appears That said you're not joking.... I COULD cut down a reasonable sized tree with that saw! I used to do 1/16 120mm models (a King Tiger is over 2 foot long) and a lot of the conversion kits were resin with massive plugs. The big razor saw was essential for that sort of work.

I've done this one plus the SAR Sea King which I converted to an RN job. I don't recall any serious confusion with it..... the Sea Kings share some sprues so not all parts needed but thats typical of most airfix kits. On topic the build looks really good so far. I did mine as a Gulf War 1 version but I was so tempted by the green and white scheme. Your green looks perfect.

Me too. My battle of Britain project means two Blenheims done as fighters. Thats 4x Brit 500lb bombs in the box. I did the old JU88 A4 earlier in lockdown, didn't like the look of the bombs in the kit and re-armed it with 4x 500kg donated by 2 new tool Bf110s. I've seen some incredible 3D printed models on eBay... entire Thor and Bloodhound missiles. General purpose bombs should be childs play for those guys.

For cutting out the gun bays on the 1/72 Typhoon I used my giant Tamiya razor saw: https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/1610085445 You could perform surgery at Trafalgar with this but if you hold it at an angle and just use the teeth at the far end of the blade it goes straight through airfix plastic. Just scratch back and forth along the panel line and when you break through just gently exploit the cut back and forth. Smaller razor saws are easily found but sometimes smaller means more flexible and don't always cut as straight. If I can do 1/72 with that monster 1/48 should be easy. I would SERIOUSLY advise people not to use scalpels for this sort of thing. Stanley knives are a bit more tolerant (even then...... ) but any twisting action on a Scalpel can shatter the blade violently. That sort of high carbon steel takes an amazing edge but is very brittle. Half a swan-morton #22 in the eye is a bad idea.

Here's a real pic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL-Mielec_Lim-6#/media/File:Lim6bis_MLP.jpg The NVAF put a couple of bombs on the MIG17 and attacked a US destroyer (they hit a gun turret too which is pretty amazing work with dumb bombs from a 2nd Gen jet). I'm not sure if they'd have mounted them where the rockets are fitted or in place of the tanks.

/media/tinymce_upload/7d48145cbe1453b048ddf5b69d57982c.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/5334d1cb6ae8a8d840417a9300baf3db.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/f7b0353dbec249b39b205359338024e5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/a07b5fe3a6008f999b3470a17c8b5a28.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/b4613773c30038c63099809ce7c3f098.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/52920a80d379f83510631faf55bbe517.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/91cbf5ccc06673a1c1809a016dab06cc.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/c2c55b7a30296bb602430048a1e33162.jpg Not sure why the original set of finished pics never got approval. I'll repost: The old kit still builds into an excellent Stuka. In some ways I actually enjoyed it more than the new tool although that may be nostalgia for my first ever kit. Where the new tool wins hands down is the extra choices and finer detail especially under the nose and in the cockpit. Things like the rear MG on the old tool are just too fat and the option of having the canopy open on the new tool is a nice touch. Both are fine Stukas though. The battle of Britain project progresses well on both sides. Two defiants nearly finished and the Blenheim IF started. I THINK I can pull off something a little bit rare and clever on the British side... no details yet. If I don't fall flat on my face I'll share that ASAP

/media/tinymce_upload/7d48145cbe1453b048ddf5b69d57982c.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/5334d1cb6ae8a8d840417a9300baf3db.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/f7b0353dbec249b39b205359338024e5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/a07b5fe3a6008f999b3470a17c8b5a28.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/b4613773c30038c63099809ce7c3f098.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/52920a80d379f83510631faf55bbe517.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/91cbf5ccc06673a1c1809a016dab06cc.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/c2c55b7a30296bb602430048a1e33162.jpg Not sure why the original set of finished pics never got approval. I'll repost: The old kit still builds into an excellent Stuka. In some ways I actually enjoyed it more than the new tool although that may be nostalgia for my first ever kit. Where the new tool wins hands down is the extra choices and finer detail especially under the nose and in the cockpit. Things like the rear MG on the old tool are just too fat and the option of having the canopy open on the new tool is a nice touch. Both are fine Stukas though. The battle of Britain project progresses well on both sides. Two defiants nearly finished and the Blenheim IF started. I THINK I can pull off something a little bit rare and clever on the British side... no details yet. If I don't fall flat on my face I'll share that ASAP

This is me very much having the benefit of hindsight.... multiple airfix kits now use or could very easily use the British 1000lb bomb. Buccaneer, Phantom, Hawk, Harrier and I think its the same bomb on the A4 (And someone at Airfix HQ must be wondering about a new tool 1/72 Hunter surely?) If the bombs / matra pods were an individual sprue with only the bombs and matras on them (and airfix do do small sprues) you wouldn't need to include them in the individual kit toolings. I think Paul Brown is right and clearly the sums don't add up. I picked up a "high tech weapons pack Airfix" made in the mid 90s on eBay which even had PE in it. They have made extras in the past but the drawback with that set was the sheer size of it. You had about 4 of every weapon NATO made. Pricey if you just want a few extras. They were well made extras though. Ps Thanks for the David J Parkins link. I used to use his Firing line 120mm stuff a lot 10 years back. He was a nice guy and made good models.