Aussie Jeff

Looking at my shelf I realised I didn't have enough Spitfires so I dragged out the Eduard Royal Class Quattro Combo Spitfire Mk IX kit from my stash. Four planes selected from 14 schemes - lots of choice with PE and resin parts and paint masks. Have the option of building early or late C-type wing, E-type wing and a clipped wing version. Also included are resin beer barrels to recreate a Spitfire flown by Wing Commander J. E. (Johnnie) Johnson reputed to have brought beer to men in Normandy and hence has the D-Day black and white stipes on the wings and fuselage. Hope I can do them justice.

While browsing on eBay i found this: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/airfix-pattern-1316-1-72-spitfire-polly-bag-FIRST-ISSUE-header-card/174316593383?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D00e597566dde4d38bdd1039ac4774931%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26mehot%3Dnone%26sd%3D174316593383%26itm%3D174316593383%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26brand%3DAirfix&_trksid=p2380057.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A68abcc9a-d308-11ea-9afd-74dbd180c657%7Cparentrq%3Aa4008a841730aa6636a73d98ffe3ccec%7Ciid%3A1 AU$400 plus $15 deliver works out to ~£230! Even as a collectors item I think that's a stretch and you sure wouldn't want to build it! Well not me anyway. 😀

It is a great little kit, ideal for beginners I think - it never ceases to amaze me how small the Bf-109 is. I was surprised by the lack of cockpit detail but as you say it doesn't really matter. But how do you explain the inclusion of a jet fighter pilot? Thought that was the strangest bit. The weapons didn't concern me as they weren't needed for the Swiss plane

I think it took four coats!

The day-glo orange decals seemed quite thick. I tried warm water and DecalFix but that just seemed to make it worse as they became brittle and flakey.

While I was waiting for the above post to be approved I was able to complete this model and I am quite pleased with it. The wings were painted up before assembly (as I have found necessary for biplanes) the lower surfaces in Insignia White and the uppers in USN Sea Blue and coated with Long Life Floor Polish (Aus equiv of Klear) as the paint call out wanted the upper blue mixed with satin varnish. Then there was the difficult task of painting the scalloped leading edge all the flying surfaces. I tried various masking attempts but all were failures so I ended up doing it by hand. Not perfect but good enough for me. /media/tinymce_upload/61a9522ba73b6ad8d64b8c49803f5475.jpg You will notice there is some rigging done for the cabane struts as I decided I had to do a full rigging job on this to make the best of it. This took a bit of planning. Fitting the wings was a task in itself as the lower wings are only located with tabs and slots and have some serious dihedral and the upper wing had nine (!) location points to line up with all the struts. I got there in the end. /media/tinymce_upload/34b7d36baedada23a646ced1e1a139e9.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/e48d2e31eec778857ddcb443af3c5605.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/97522fc17de658770ce1c38e5997dfb9.jpg Next up was completing the rigging. It was a tedious and frustrating job at times but I really thing it was worth the effort. /media/tinymce_upload/d31b30a4e545391ac9ef514b7ff73674.jpg Then it was on with the wing floats (also rigged on the inner struts), bombs, and engine/prop assembly and decals. The decals presented a big problem as they were very fragile. The ones for the wings were okay but the fuselage ones tore to bits due to their fagility and the raised rivets. Luckily I was able to find suitable replacements limited spares from other models but even these neary destroyrd themselves. Here is the final result. /media/tinymce_upload/3af6c0476b10071fb89edddac701228f.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/6d29bbd45b13f41e12e279cd0f3b2520.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/1930fd3cdae7048c3dcbc351de1975a5.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/95d504ca6bb75c7ae6d2734c17d4b1c0.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/973ff4e85cc0c45c2f05e98e7d9ef2f5.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/685ad5c0d31224d81ef6d5b8e76d7e46.jpg

While I was waiting for the above post to be approved I was able to complete this model and I am quite pleased with it. The wings were painted up before assembly (as I have found necessary for biplanes) the lower surfaces in Insignia White and the uppers in USN Sea Blue and coated with Long Life Floor Polish (Aus equiv of Klear) as the paint call out wanted the upper blue mixed with satin varnish. Then there was the difficult task of painting the scalloped leading edge all the flying surfaces. I tried various masking attempts but all were failures so I ended up doing it by hand. Not perfect but good enough for me. /media/tinymce_upload/61a9522ba73b6ad8d64b8c49803f5475.jpg You will notice there is some rigging done for the cabane struts as I decided I had to do a full rigging job on this to make the best of it. This took a bit of planning. Fitting the wings was a task in itself as the lower wings are only located with tabs and slots and have some serious dihedral and the upper wing had nine (!) location points to line up with all the struts. I got there in the end. /media/tinymce_upload/34b7d36baedada23a646ced1e1a139e9.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/e48d2e31eec778857ddcb443af3c5605.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/97522fc17de658770ce1c38e5997dfb9.jpg Next up was completing the rigging. It was a tedious and frustrating job at times but I really thing it was worth the effort. /media/tinymce_upload/d31b30a4e545391ac9ef514b7ff73674.jpg Then it was on with the wing floats (also rigged on the inner struts), bombs, and engine/prop assembly and decals. The decals presented a big problem as they were very fragile. The ones for the wings were okay but the fuselage ones tore to bits due to their fagility and the raised rivets. Luckily I was able to find suitable replacements limited spares from other models but even these neary destroyrd themselves. Here is the final result. /media/tinymce_upload/3af6c0476b10071fb89edddac701228f.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/6d29bbd45b13f41e12e279cd0f3b2520.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/1930fd3cdae7048c3dcbc351de1975a5.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/95d504ca6bb75c7ae6d2734c17d4b1c0.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/973ff4e85cc0c45c2f05e98e7d9ef2f5.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/685ad5c0d31224d81ef6d5b8e76d7e46.jpg

As an aside I did find this interesting story on Wikipedia about what I assume referes to these Swiss aircraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Swiss_Air_Force): "Night fighter incident In 1944 a Luftwaffe Bf 110G-4 night fighter pursued a British Lancaster heavy bomber into Swiss airspace on the night of April 28–29. Engine trouble forced the German pilot, Wilhelm Johnen, to land at Dübendorf airfield where the pilot was interned. By international law, the Swiss had a right to put the fighter into service, and the Germans were concerned that Allied intelligence would examine its FuG 220 Lichtenstein radar and "Schräge Musik" gun installation. The Nazi government quickly negotiated a deal in which the Swiss burned the Bf 110 under the supervision of German observers in return for a sale to the Swiss of 12 new Bf 109G-6 Gustav to replace combat losses. The new fighters were delivered in batches of six on 20 and 22 May. The new planes had serious manufacturing defects from the poor workmanship and production disruptions caused by Allied bombings, and after complaints the Germans refunded half of the six million Swiss franc purchase price. In 1947, the Swiss Air Force tried to purchase new replacement Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines from Sweden, licence built by Svenska Flygmotor AB (Swedish Aero Engines, Ltd.), but this was ruled out due to the prohibitive quoted price of 191,000 Swiss francs per engine. Such a purchase would have amounted to a total cost of over 2 million francs to re-power all 11 surviving postwar Swiss Gustav aircraft, plus the costs of spare engines, spare parts and any other repairs needed to bring them to an acceptable level of serviceability." Sounds like a deal done with a dodgy used car sales person! 😀

I'm resurrecting this post as I have just completed the same kit and I have nothing major to add to T2B's build description. The difference being I did the other scheme -the Swiss Air Force version. I left the pilot out and did it as a parked plane. It all came together really well and was a quick, easy build. One thing of note was the decals were smaller than as shown in the paint/decal guide so placement was a little more subjective. This was completely airbrushed with Vellajo Air paints and it really came up well in my opinion. The canopy was masked using Tamiya tape and a scalpel. Looks good on my shelf! /media/tinymce_upload/f0b643ba3defcffde9e28bf32e6b7e35.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/6bd4502eda49bcb217891d263589327c.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/c744d098b851ccc422e22b1dd7c48275.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/238162a17342ad0d8497b70008312df8.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/ed4b7da4f059b12c6d884dc582d08414.jpg

I agree wholeheartedly with Ratch's comments. I am yet to make a model without mistakes in construction, decalling or painting. Learning how to deal with and fix these errors on the model (or the next) is part of the fun. And of course there is the '10,000hr theory' that proposes you need to do your chosen activity/hobby for at least 10,000 hours to become proficient. Think of playing a musical instrument, playing a sport or modelling. That's a lot of model building! Add in new techniques like airbrushing, weathering etc and you have a lifetime of learning if you want it. Keep trying.

Seems like the Forum website has been a little slow lately and posters are impatient. Lots of duplicate posts like this one but the record must go to will.s for 7! 😀 I just wish I could get my recent posts approved. Have been able to finish two more models while waiting. Can't remember where I got to to continue the story. Patience grasshopper.

After finishing my Duck I wanted to do something a bit more simple - a Bf109G-6 (A02029A). Rather than the usual Luftwaffe scheme I doing the Swiss Airforce scheme from 1945. Something a bit different for the shelf.

This was supposed be be a quick & dirty build to get me back in the swing of things but I was foiled by the 'day-glo' orange decals again. Has anyone successfully applied these??? This meant I had to change from the FTS1 scheme to the FTS2 scheme. This wasn't so bad as the wings were already the correct colour, just the fuselage needed repainting red on the bottom half and white on the top (along with a few other bits and pieces). This was totally brush painted with Humbrol enamel paints with several coats of clear for a glossy finish once the multitude of decals and stencils were applied. All in all it took ages to complete and is a bit rough and ready but it'll do me. /media/tinymce_upload/2b287f1360500e686a13998f1d41927b.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/4b7f707eaeb95a302b5bd8c26171852c.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/528beb378587f0f752780fc7c07fa170.jpg

I'm using Vallejo Model Air paints for this build and finding them very good for airbrushing and regular brush painting when required. The insides of each fuselage half were airbrushed with Interior Grey Green and the cockpit assembly was easy to fit with positive location assured with slots and pegs to support it. A small instrument panel with a decal also went in. There were two windows that needed to be glued in place from the inside before the halves could be glued together. They were a pretty good fit but needed to be clamped together while the cement cured. Just a small amount of filing was required along the seams before painting. Painting was pretty easy. Wheel wells were done with the Interior Green and then stuffed with tissue paper to mask off while the underside of the 'hull' was airbrushed with Insignia White. Once this was dry the rest of the fuselage was airbrushed with Intermediate Blue without masking except for the cockpit area. Then most of the assembly was masked leaving the top of the fuselage and top of the front section of the 'hull and then airbrushed with USN Sea Blue. This will match the topsides of the wings - but they come later. The clear parts for the canopy were not the best mouldings I've seen with lots of flash that needed removal. The frames of these were first painted (brushed by hand, no masking) with Interior Green and followed up with the USN Sea Blue. A machine gun was installed for the rear gunner position before the canopy parts were fitted using ClearFix. Here's the end product - it is obvious this is from the 'raised rivet' period of Airfix's history. /media/tinymce_upload/638a0019dadcd0fcea34f7fa3708da6a.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/7a5a77d0fc66e0fa59bb8264fbd981e8.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/32b13c71aa2f8c47623f2d6fc60ba812.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/7af437d38b8264e026fb5c45fc511642.jpg Next step will be the wings.

This is another of my recent vintage purchases from eBay. I just had to have this as it was one weird, ungainly looking aircraft /media/tinymce_upload/801c4355106ad331f048ba9188d3fa0a.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/3277e0822c4cdbb974ac033a5ca1bafc.jpg Contents were in a zip lock bag so I was a bit concerned about whether all the parts were there, particularly as a few had separated from the old fish one frames. Thankfully I was able to check everything off. Decals are pretty light on but that's okay too. Assembly instructions run to a single A4 sheet with two b/w paint schemes. I'll be doing the early version. /media/tinymce_upload/401c95b1e87b016513550af7d712b29d.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/d026742801affb7d48ae414997a529fb.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/c0da568379e6040b7b42b602a14835f4.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/3d4ccbe864fdba703c67f648d3eb58cb.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/063676efd5cb09c115d03fe8c0811efa.jpg I assembled the cockpit parts and then airbrushed the entire assembly in interior green and then sat the two crew figures in their respective seats. The poor guy at the back was one of the torso-only ones. I was pretty happy how they painted up. /media/tinymce_upload/88c60bb25ea8a9de697c860d0b543599.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/369fbfb842ea99f6edf66b60f79ac2f4.jpg The next assembly stage was the propeller and engine. There was a bit of flash on the prop but some gentle sanding dealt with that and these parts also painted up well with the airbrush. The cowling will be painted later. /media/tinymce_upload/23ea97821cf85e0d4cf9a386f9fd8f15.jpg Next up will be the fuselage which will be covered in my next post.

In an attempt to improve my canopy and wheel/tyre assembly painting I purchased these mask kits (Zero, Sabre, MiG-17) along with a photo-etch kit for the MiG-17. As I have an Eduard MiG-15 Profi-pack kit it could be interesting to build together sometime soon./media/tinymce_upload/17ada40bbd27c6e7192911454624b0ba.jpg

My kit had the same date moulding and, yes, the interior was very sparse, non-existent but that didn't bother me. Your build looks so much better than mine 98. I hope to do a better job when I get around to building my Special Hobby kit of a later model Buffalo. It has resin and photo-etch parts and will be looking to model it in RAAF colours. I thought the Boomerang was a dumpy looking aircraft but the Buffalo takes it up a level - certainly no Spitfire!

After seeing Ratch's pic of the kit contents I think I'll give this one a wide berth. That number of decals/stensils would have me in a mental facility for sure!!! 😀

Well, I finally completed something! After a long hiatus due to a number of unfortunate events I decided to knock up a old kit I picked up on eBay to try and get my mojo back. This Brewster Buffalo F2A-2 from 1980. The kit wasn't in the best condition and the broken prop forced my decision to build it 'in-flight' sans propeller. /media/tinymce_upload/879f2e6e02b4c65f833efc39447cb40d.jpg The instruction sheet is a very simple affair with an even simpler paint scheme with colour call-outs with different paint codes than current kits. Things have certainly improved since 1980! /media/tinymce_upload/994a2505fc5bb51f0aed6e87ffb6760e.jpg I didn't bother with construction progress pics but suffice to say it was a relatively simple build with no issues except for fixing the radial engine into the cowling (nothing a file couldn't fix). The pilot figure was actually one of the best I've come across - very crisp detailing. The model was painted with brushes using Humbrol enamel paints - no airbrushing. It's a bit rough in places but I think it turned out okay. The original decals looked a bit dodgy and was expected them to fall apart on application but the actually laid down very well and conformed over the raised rivet detail with no issues. Here's the finished model. /media/tinymce_upload/f73ff7d3b87983ff22286fda726d292a.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/e1cb067f9dcd14025b78d9294b49986f.jpg /media/tinymce_upload/587bb1419b5f6c7363f8a75462e8f0a8.jpg

I've been trying to get enthusiastic about building models again after some recent setbacks that sort of got in the way. I made a bit of a mess of a Hunting Percival Jet Provost T3 that's still sitting on my workbench (along with my unfinished Swordfish that I don't want to stuff up). Although I have plenty of kits in my stash I bought these three on that on-line auction site. Interestingly, they represent a span of 30 years of Airfix (although the tooling is probably much more than that. Brewster Buffalo F2A-2 (#02050-1) 1980 /media/tinymce_upload/9ecc08245f654e20111364269e683a4c.jpg Grumman J2F-6 Duck (#03031) 1995 /media/tinymce_upload/4ee8a32bf2c75e39b8019f47a4d9eb30.jpg North American F-86F/E(M) Sabre (#A03082) 2010 /media/tinymce_upload/4d97a9e8e376e8671219058ac08b5e82.jpg Now let's see if I can finish something.

Great job Ratch! I'm so tempted with this kit to try a 1/48 scale model but that just might open too big a can of worms! Might stick to 1/72 for a while longer.

Was that this one? Ah yes, that's it. Page 4 shows the decal issue.

Only a small bit of progress as other household tasks take precedent in lockdown - mainly building a deck! I decaled the fuselage and also began adding some of the rigging - tailplane rigging shown below, still need to add rudder and upper & lower elevator control cables. /media/tinymce_upload/79c6616f2ccbe078494ab5cf8b4f5240.jpg Also finished off the engine/prop assembly. /media/tinymce_upload/5ceb234a32e87af27448a663db051062.jpg And, as mentioned earlier the decals have been applied to the lower half of the upper wing as the support struts go tight through the middle of them. As T2B discovered I'm going to try and rig the wings before gluing the top part to the upper wing and bottom of the lower wing so the ends of the rigging can be hidden. Takes a bit of planning but I think it will be worth it. /media/tinymce_upload/78c1c03681b3ce2a493c74a9ad17e478.jpg

Ahhh, that must have been the comprehensive review build on the ATF! So much good info available.

Yep, that'd be the most useful one, so thanks T2B. I even took your hint to lay down the big 'G5K' decals on the lower halves of the upper wing as the struts go through them. Hope to update the post with progress pics this weekend.