Beautiful, great job there Piers! Always loved the white tail on Aussie birds, attractive and I'm sure it made for good aircraft ID for the AA gunners.

I hadn't noticed that's she's a FROG kit until now, always heard about them but never built one.

Thanks Cliff, the Frog kits are basic, but can be made up pretty well. I have seen a fantastic Do17 done up.

I do still have a Beaufort, a Do335 and another Vengeance from Frog.

So here is my next offering - a High Planes Model 1/48 Hawk 127 Lead in trainer.

A short run kit, so plenty of sand, test, sand, test. Fortunately came with a good online review explaining how to get it all to fit well.

A kind gift from ManCityFan when I saw him at NorEast Con in 2019, hopefully I can do it justice.

Piers: Ohhhhhhh, cool! And short-run kits are... always interesting...

Finished up the camo on the Spit. And sorry about the glare, forgot to take photos before the gloss coat. It came out a bit rough, I normally get some orange peel with glosses but this one was really bad. Hopefully it will tone down with the final matte coat (crossing my fingers). 

lostagain

So here is my next offering - a High Planes Model 1/48 Hawk 127 Lead in trainer.

A short run kit, so plenty of sand, test, sand, test. Fortunately came with a good online review explaining how to get it all to fit well.

A kind gift from ManCityFan when I saw him at NorEast Con in 2019, hopefully I can do it justice.

 

Should be fun. I haven't seen ManCity on here in a while

Cliff the Spit is looking good there - good colours, and really sharp leading edges.

Yes, the Hawk is going to be challenge. Starting off by cleaning up the mating surfaces on the fuselage.

With a lot of back and forth on the sanding sheet, the initial step is done. The fuselage is at the right width for both the spine and the lower wing section.

Next, let's see how the cast metal cockpit tubs fit in:

Okay, it doesn't.... looks like there is a lot of work to do on this one.
To quote from a FSM build review of this kit from 2004: 'The cast white-metal cockpit tub was crude and required lots of filing for a good fit.'

Made a start on the Beaufighter on Thurs.

I am adding some Eduard PE and Quickboost resin parts and Aires wheels. For markings i am useing a set of DK decals for an aircraft of 455 Sqn RAAF based at Langham in Norfolk. I also have some Plus Model 6 inch rockets on route.

Not to much work before its ready for priming, most of the interiour PE is pre coloured. These are the pit parts along with the tail wheel ready for priming.

The fuselage has not had anything added yet, but does have ribbing detail all the way along.

The wheel wells and doors are interiour green so that have been made ready for priming as well.

This all got primed tonight and i'll get the green on in the morning.

Not seen a caste metal pit before, looks like you have some work to do there LA.

Off to a good start there Bish, I am watching keenly as I have one of my own to put together. The PE looks good.

One thing, the cast pits will make sure it isn't going to sit on the tail!

Thanks LA. Its usual Eduard standard.

Piers: Yow! I've added some aftermarket cockpits that required some sanding to fit but I think that one is going to take a metal grinder! Best o' luck!

Bish: Ohhhhh, love the Beaufighter! That's one aircraft I've never built though I do have a 1/48th Tamiya kit. Love the interior detail and the ribbing!

I'd agree with both of those - I've never seen a metal cockpit tub before. You're a brave man taking that on, but I guess it solves the hunting around for nose weight.

And Beaufighters do have a certain something about them, or perhaps that's just me having a thing for twin-engined multi-role aircraft. Perhaps if I break my Mosquito obsession, I might look at one of them in the future.

Minor progress update - I've been wiring up the rear of the control panel instruments, hopefully have some pics up soon-ish (mainly when I've unglued myself from the parts - that Roket Thin is a lively old substance!)

Cheers guys.

There was a bit of work, but got through it.

Used a sanding bit in the Dremel and that didn't do much, just melted the white metal. The cutter bit was pretty useless too taking tiny chips out.  The metal file was the best and quickest.
I'm going to leave it like this and dry fitting wings, canopy, intakes etc before taking it apart to paint etc.

Looks great Piers! 

Thanks Cliff, got the main components taped together and trimmed to fit as a test.
Happy with this, even got through the traumatic moments of cutting through the vacform canopy! (no spare in the kit)
It will all have to come back undone again for the next steps

Again, she's coming along just fine!

I agree with you, cutting though any canopy gets the pucker factor going but vacuform is esp. horrible. When even the slightest pressure of a razor saw causes it to smoosh and deform it gives me the willies.

Well, I'm at a bit of a roadblock. First time I've used Ventura decals. And the sheet is a little old. They came off the sheet without problems and applied without any issues. But I got these weird black marks on the white areas. They look almost like fingerprints. I at first assumed I had some black paint or ink on my fingers and it had transfered my fingerprints over to the decals. So the next set I washed my hands very well and I still got the marks. Then I used a paint brush and didn't touch the decals at all- still marks.

Just very weird, I'm not sure what's going on. I picked up a sheet of white trim from Microscale and I'm going to seal the model with a coat of gloss and then cut and apply pieces of trim decal over the white areas with the black marks. Cross your fingers- this SHOULD take care of the problem.

That really is wierd Cliff, some of them seem to be smudged like you say, but the fuselage roundels and codes look like they are splitting in the white areas.

Better go check if I have ventura decals...

Hi Piers. If its acceptable I would like to change my entry to an old Otaki MkVIII Spit. The Boomer is complex and I doubt that I will finish it in time. I intend to keep on with the Boomer, but to support this GB I think the Spit is a more practical option. I have attached photo and will need to obtain some decals. If this is not okay, thats fine, I will withdraw.

Progress has ben slowed a tad by my Wellington build, but i finaly have something to report. I got the pit installed, completed with the coloured PE. The floor alon with the seat, goes in after from underneath.

The floor went in well, certainly easier than the Airfix stuka.

After that the wings and tail were fitted. Some filling was needed at the join of wings and fuselage, more so at the front. Hutch had the same problem with his kit.

And the eduard PE flaps were fitted.

I'm now working on the engines so i can get them painted and fitted and get the rest ready for painting.

Hi Dodgy, no problems mate, go with the Otaki Spit - it is a classic. I do have a prop and spinner from that kit in my spares box from a few decades ago.

Bish, that is coming together well, following with interest for when I get to mine. The PE is showing up well in the cockpit - are the seat belts PE too?

Dodgy: Great choice! I built the same kit years ago. Funny enough it was as an Aussie Spit too.

Bish: Really liking the looks of the Beaufighter-same purposeful look as the Mosquito and the Me-410.

Piers: Yeah, some of the decals did split. Which I'd kinda expected so it's not that big an issue. I've got the fighter sprayed with a second coat of gloss and I'm going to try to layer the decals this week. Cross your fingers!!!

Bish, your Beau is looking good. Its always been a favourite of mine. How did you go with the PE flaps?

Piers, that Hawk looks like it's comming together very well. I've not run across a metal cockpit tub before, but the Boomer has the engine and various other parts produced in resin and then duplicated in white metal. I have decided to go with the resin, particularly in regard to the engine because of weight issues. So now that you're this far into the Hawk, how does your experience compare with the review?

Cliff, your Spit is looking great. It's a bugger about the decals though. Good luck with that. I've got another couple of old Otaki kits in the stash. I plan on using them to get my skills back up before going onto better things with wings. Had the Zero ready for painting and then ruined the canopy. Ah well. It wont hurt to have another practice model for brushing up my airbrushing skills.

Thanks Dodgy,
The Hawk is coming together slowly - plenty of test fitting. I have been following the comments in the review, and the High Planes models instructions are pretty honest as well. Today I finished glueing the fuselage up - did it over two days as I worked my way around. At the end I had to use super glue to hold the bottom seam closed. And there is a big strip of filler on the lower fuselage that has to be sanded down.

There is a sizable gap between the back wall of the cockpit and the back of the rear cockpit - needs to be covered over - and there is a shelf here in the real plane. so a little piece to be scratched there.

Thanks guys.

gamera, ye, i know what you mean, it has a similar look to it.

Dodgy, these flaps were quite easy. Each section was one piece. The one on my Wimpy had seperate ribs and took a lot more work. Eduard do tend to keep it simple.

Piers: Looks good! And I know what you mean, some of those seams make you want to scream. Had a few I had to go for epoxy or superglue myself. 

Yep there is a lot of ifller in the bottom seam as well. There is still more to do when the wing goes on.

Followed the kit instructions and got the wings top and bottom dry fitted. Then glued the bottom wing on. With glue holding it also added superglue in case there was not enough contact area. And needed plenty of milliput to fill in the canyon gap front and back of the wing. Also needed to take a fair bit of plastic off to even it up despite all the dry fitting.

Next the top wings and more filling and sanding...