Virginia Matt

Beautiful work of a beautiful aircraft. Nice job on the rigging!

Really like the list, Susanna, in particular the Ju 88, the F4U, and the F2A.

Very sharp! Well done, Geert!

I like Vallejo Primers as well. If you are going to be using acrylic paints, a primer really helps the paint bite. I thin them with Vallejo’s proprietary acrylic thinner and add a drop or two of flow improver. I spray in thin dusting coats until the desired coverage is achieved. The primer is dry to the touch in minutes. It is not cured though as this process (for me at least) takes 24-48 hours relative to humidity (summers where I am in the American South can be brutally humid and thus extend curing times for acrylic paints). Depending on your airbrush setup and spray method you may experience tip dry. When this happens to me, I simply clean the tip of the airbrush with a soft brush moistened with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner, spray the excess off, and return to spraying the model.

I don’t think the Xtrakit Scimitar is that easy to come by these days. Besides tackling the Scimitar I would like to see Airfix new molds for other 60s and 70s FAA types like early mark Sea Kings, the Wasp, a later mark Whirlwind (instead of having to convert the old Airfix mold or the increasingly hard to come by Italeri H-19 series), and the Wessex. While wishing maybe it’s time to update the Belvedere with a modern tool?

I second your comments on 1/76, David! The newly tooled Cromwell (2011) and Königstiger (2012) are really nice and it would have been great if Airfix continued issuing new subjects in this scale, either updating older kits or casting new subjects altogether (ideally both with newly molded figures). I would definitely go in for new German and Allied armor and artillery with the finesse and detail that modern tooling allows for.

Very nice, Ratch! These rugged liaison and utility aircraft always appeal to me.

Great start there, PM! I’ve built this kit and it goes together excellently. Will be following your build!

Very excellent wood grain effect! I surely would’ve chickened out and got some wood grain decals for that. The rigging is impressive, too! Superb build all around. Matt

Matthias, I second Tim’s comments on your excellent build! I read somewhere that after testing a captured example, the British were very impressed with the type. Thanks for sharing!

Tim, It’s a great little kit with some very nice detail out of the box. I really enjoy the new tool Airfix kits as they are simply a pleasure to build. Thanks for looking and commenting! Matt

I use lead fishing sinkers (my other hobby is fishing) secured with PVA glue. The nice thing with lead is that it’s easy to cut up into pieces that fit where you’re trying to put them.

Very nice work, Randall, all the more so that you are doing so many kits at once! If I could work with your enthusiasm perhaps my stash of still to be completed/started kits would not be crowding me out of home.smile

I like Vallejo Washes, Randall but if you’ve never used the stuff before I would recommend watching some videos on YouTube from fantasy figure painters and Vallejo’s own channel. They’re kind of like a combination of a wash and filter depending how you apply them. When I first started using their washes I was frustrated as they do not behave like enamel or oil based washes. They dry very fast so I only work on small sections at a time, adding the wash and then gently cleaning it from areas I don’t want it. If you leave them too long they can cure and you will never get them off. Also don’t forget the highlight part. I’ve never worked them over enamels or lacquers so I can’t comment on that. As a side note, I have used Humbrol’s enamel washes and really liked them but switched to acrylics to get away from the enamel fumes.

Very nice work, Dominic! You captured the look of the original well.

Very outstanding work, Tony!!!

Thank you for your kind comments, Dominic. No eyebrows were painted but what I did do was apply a darker flesh base, then a series of progressively lighter flesh shades to emphasize highlights (bridge of the nose, chin, cheeks, forehead), and finally a flesh colored wash with Vallejo Game Wash to emphasize shadow. It’s an effective and quick method to paint figures that I learned from Dungeons & Dragons miniature painters. Again, thank you for the comments!

A Scimitar in 1/72 would be a great offering considering the Xtrakit model is so hard to come by!

Thanks for sharing the build! Excellent work! I’ve always loved the brute-like curves of the Buccaneer (among British types the Buccaneer and Canberra are my personal favorites). Though not in my preferred scale of 1/72, I really am thankful that Airfix is producing state of the art kits in 1/48 as it showcases the firm’s design talent. I do have their new tool Bucc in 1/72 so I hope to get to that at some point. Again, superb model! Matt

Thank you for the remarks, Paul & Randall. I do like to build aircrew if they come in the kit. This kit is really nice and a bargain. I’d pick up another one, but have to get the stash really thinned down over the remainder of the year. Matt

Not the best photos but just completed the new tool Ju 87 B-1. I’m really a fan of the new tool kits by Airfix and this one didn’t disappoint in fit or detail. I did think the decals while excellent in opacity and register were thick. I finished it with Vallejo Model Air, Vallejo polyurethane varnishes, and weathered with Vallejo weathering products (Acrylic Washes and Pigments). The antenna wire is Uschi’s 0.2mm elastic rigging. Again apologies for the photos’ quality and look forward to any questions or criticisms!

As of now, I enjoy 1/72 military aircraft of all nations and eras, 1/350 Cold War and modern era submarines, 1/35 WWII armor, and 1/35 figures from WWII and the Vietnam War. Kind of all over the map with my interests. I also hope to get off lurking on fora like this one or Britmodeller and start posing some completed builds!

My humble hope: 1/72 New Tools: Junkers Ju 88 Fairey Firefly (any marks) Westland Scout/Wasp Aérospatiale/Westland Gazelle Westland Whirlwind/Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw Gloster Javelin E.E. Canberra B.2 Re-Releases: 54mm Napoleonic Figures

Very sharp!