Falklands War 40th Anniversary GB

Turned out great Bish!

Bish

Time to get the finalpics up and wrap up this years modelling. The Victor was finished off by fitting al the wheels, tok a bit of fiddiling to get them all to touch down, but they do now,and got the side door fitted.

And then to attach it to the base. I added the ladder and some wheel chocks from Flightpath. The Land Rover is the Airfix 76th offering. I've had that a while, was meant for another build, but i thought it would work nicely here. I recently noticed that a UK company called Air Graphic has a range of 72nd resin Series III Lanny's in different configirations, so i've alreday bought a couple of those.

The tow bar is from Aircraft in Miniature, another UK company that sells through Hannants. I am still waiting for them to re-release their MD 3000 tractor and 60Kv GPU bother of which i will add once i get them. So the Lanny and tow bar are not secured to the base yet as i may need to re-position those. And as you can see, once again figures are the real issue, i can't find any that work for this. But hopefully i can source or modify somthing that will work. But for now, its done. And as you can see, its to big to fit in my photo booth properly, so sorry for the pics.

Just going to spend the week working on a bust, and i'll be starting on the Harrier GR.3 at the weekend.

 

BK

Thanks guys. BK, i'd recomend it, if you have the space for it.

I've been off the bench for about 3 weeks as I have had an extremely rare reaction to the Covid booster. Not a fun experience and it lingers and persits. But, I have gotten back at the rescribe and I will take some shots of it when I get more done.

BK

Good to hear your back at it. Most people i know who have had the booster had worse effects than with the first 2, though usually only lasted a day or so. Sounds like it hit you hard.

That Victor looks so cool Bish!  It is huge too!  Now for a Black Buck Vulcan right? 

I had read somewhere that at least one Nimrod was equipped with sidewinders during the Falklands War, to possibly shoot down an Argentinian B707 ESM aircraft that was snooping around.  Any truth to this?

Thanks G, and yep, hopefully thats coming this year. Airfix will be announcing their new releases on the 10th.

Yes, thats true, they were fitted but never used. The Airfix kit comes with that option. Unfortunatly mine didn't have decals and i could not find AM ones for the Falklands so got some for Op Granby instead.

On to my next way, Harrier GR.3.

I am adding a little AM, including an Eduard PE set and Pavla resin seat. So i got the pit painted and the PE fitted. Even though the resin seat has molded on belts, i fitted the pre coloured PE ones other those.

Thats all for now.

Bish

On to my next way, Harrier GR.3.

I am adding a little AM, including an Eduard PE set and Pavla resin seat. So i got the pit painted and the PE fitted. Even though the resin seat has molded on belts, i fitted the pre coloured PE ones other those.

Thats all for now.

 

BK

Thanks BK. airfix have certainly come along way from what they were producing in the 80's and 90's. I am looking forward to seeing whats in the new releases tomorrow.

Being sacked with COVID has fired up motivation to build stuff, so at long last the Pucara has started rolling.

Box art:

The cockpit is nicely detailed, so I may not use all of the Eduard pre-colored PE, and hand paint instead.

The plane is a tail-sitter, so some fishing weights have been fitted under the cockpit:

Balance test:

I did tape the flaps on when I performed the test, so hopefully there will be no surprises at the end like so many kit build reviews.

I have read comments about the Pucara not being the prettiest of aircraft, but I think it looks quite sleek.  I do however think the Pucara should have been named after a big South American jungle cat rather than "fortress".

That loks like a nicely detailed kit. Somthing Puma or Panther maybe.

I've never built a Pucara, that looks nice. 

Bish, I've just started my Cyberhobby 1/700 HMS Antelope for the 'Ships of the British Flag GB'. Given that I did the Sheffield for your 30th anniversary Falklands GB, and the significance of the Antelope in that conflict, I'd like to cross it over into this GB also please. 

Here's a photo, I started it last night.

Cheers

Tony

Will get it on the roster Tony.

Okay, a quick update. I have the rescribing done. What a pain. The odd shape made it very difficult it not impossible to use templates so some of it is freehand. Not my best work, but it looks better than it did before. I painted the pilot, which was fun. He is little more than a human shaped blob, so details are not good. He fills the cockpit and hides the fact it has no details. I did paint much of the small bits white and the underside of the wings and controls surfaces. I closed the pit last night. Hopefully I will get the priming done and belly painted today.

Honestly, don't ever buy this kit, it sucks. Really bad. I looked at the old Monogram kit and it is a huge improvement over this one. And that is saying alot.

BK

Thats coming on nicely BK.

Real G

Being sacked with COVID has fired up motivation to build stuff, so at long last the Pucara has started rolling.

Box art:

The cockpit is nicely detailed, so I may not use all of the Eduard pre-colored PE, and hand paint instead.

The plane is a tail-sitter, so some fishing weights have been fitted under the cockpit:

Balance test:

I did tape the flaps on when I performed the test, so hopefully there will be no surprises at the end like so many kit build reviews.

I have read comments about the Pucara not being the prettiest of aircraft, but I think it looks quite sleek.  I do however think the Pucara should have been named after a big South American jungle cat rather than "fortress".

 

BK

So today I painted the upper color. This is a mix of xf-24 and x-3 in a 3:1 ratio. I painted it with that, thought it was a bit dark to my liking so I lightened it up and post shaded it to where it is and I like it. However, if you look closely at the pic you will see the RR stablizer is white, which means it got painted upside down. And I forgot to paint the underwing tanks. Not to mention I tossed out my custom mix, both. OH, even better now. I ran out of XF-24. You could say I am somewhat screwed here. 

Dear Lord, I HATE MIXING PAINTS.!!!!!

Now I have to order a paint I don't want in an attempt to make a match for a mix made previoiusly which none remains. Give me strength to not toss this in the bin. Well, guess I'll toss it on the back burner for awhile so I can order some paint. 

BK

Looking good BK. I'm glad i use Xtracolor, it carries most of the wartime and post war British colours so no mixing involved.

The Harrier has come along nicely. Cockpit fitted and fuselage together.

There was one issue, with the forward undercarrage bay. This is in 2 halves with each being fitted to the intakes and then into each side of the fuselage before thats put together. But i have a gap of about 2mm and i can't see where the issue is, everything else has fitted fine. It won't be visible once on the base but still a bit annoying.

Got all the last bits added including PE.

I found out that this aircraft was one of 4 GR.3's fitted with Blue Eric ECM which was fitted into one of the Aden cannon pobs. So a little bit of scratch building was needed for this though i didn't have much in the way of images to go off, i'm pretty happy with it.

Eveything in the box has been left off to paint. Its now had a primer and the grey coat added. So should be able to mask in a day or so.

Bish

The Harrier has come along nicely. Cockpit fitted and fuselage together.

There was one issue, with the forward undercarrage bay. This is in 2 halves with each being fitted to the intakes and then into each side of the fuselage before thats put together. But i have a gap of about 2mm and i can't see where the issue is, everything else has fitted fine. It won't be visible once on the base but still a bit annoying.

Got all the last bits added including PE.

I found out that this aircraft was one of 4 GR.3's fitted with Blue Eric ECM which was fitted into one of the Aden cannon pobs. So a little bit of scratch building was needed for this though i didn't have much in the way of images to go off, i'm pretty happy with it.

Eveything in the box has been left off to paint. Its now had a primer and the grey coat added. So should be able to mask in a day or so.

 

BK

Thanks BK. Not sure about that, got the masking to deal with now.

Ok, I got my replacement paint and I will be getting that rear stabilizer repainted today or tomorrow. I have the decalling done and some light panel line work also. I need to add the missles and fuel tanks, clear it one more time and call it done.

BK

Thats looking real nice BK.

Short update on the Harrier. I got the scheme done at the end of last week. First time doing a wrap around scheme, i found it a bit tricky making sure the masking was right, but i love the result.

Been getting the decals on over the weekend. A few more to do tonight and then i'll gloss coat before some light weathering.

Bish

Short update on the Harrier. I got the scheme done at the end of last week. First time doing a wrap around scheme, i found it a bit tricky making sure the masking was right, but i love the result.

Been getting the decals on over the weekend. A few more to do tonight and then i'll gloss coat before some light weathering.

 

BK

Cheers BK. She is almost done.

I took a week off to insulate and drywall my garage. Now that it is done I have had a migrain for the past 2 days and I can't model with those. All I need to do is paint the stabilzer and drop tanks and shoot the kit with a semi-gloss coat and it'll be done. I'll get there, hopefully by the end of the weekend.

BK

Sounds like your keeping busy, hope the migraine has gone. Look forward to the end result.

Well, I am gonna call this one done. Not a good kit by any means and not my best effort. Kinda like a car with a so so paint job, it looks good 50 ft away. This kit looks good 5 ft away and don't look at it too long. Fit was pretty good, but that's all the nice I have to say about it. Glad to have it done. Funny thing is, there is no AM for this kit, none. Oh well, there are lots of other kits available that are far better. I'll get one of those next time.

This bird was stationed aboard the HMS Hermes, the Flag ship during the campaign. Thanks for hosting this one, Bish. I'll pick a better kit next time around.

BK