Airfix Group Build 2011-2012

Wow Red, looking good!

Here's the latest on the Widgeon.  The topside has been filled/sanded yet again, and yet again, and yet again, and...  Well, you get the picture, seems to be OK now.

The tailplanes have been added in, and the struts added.  The first coat of Humbrol 90 has been sprayed on.  As for the floats, well, yes, hmmm, they're garbage, as you can see.  Oh well, Tally Ho as British fighter pilots once said...

Good comeback, RRB!

Centhot: nice going so far.  Are those gaps in the floats that you'll have to fill?  They are huge.  Putty stock is going to soar.

checkmateking02

Centhot: nice going so far.  Are those gaps in the floats that you'll have to fill?  They are huge.  Putty stock is going to soar.

Centhot

 

checkmateking02:

Centhot: nice going so far.  Are those gaps in the floats that you'll have to fill?  They are huge.  Putty stock is going to soar.

Well, the parts weren't glued yet, but, even once compressed with CA, the gaps are still huge.  Yep, out with the putty...

 

milliput is the way in this cases, nice at all the widgeon. I'm waiting my vendor get down prices on more airfix kits like it

RRB nice to see you on the great scratchbild way

Centhot  after all you have filled and sanded, so far, the ugly little floats, wil be childs play------- now if you can just get a child to do that work yur in business

Well i finally found time too paint the hurricane! this the second time ive ever used and airbrush, so bear that in mind. Normally i use expensive tamiya thinner to thin out my paints, but this time i used water. I also usually use the compressor on 15psi and i painted the belly on 15 as well, but i then turned it up to 20psi and that improved the finish by a mile! Before i painted the plane i made gun holes, i was going to use a drill bit but decided i work use my #11 knife. The hardest part was making the masks for the green!!! i used blue masking tape and cut out each indvidual curve into each piece and layed it in place.

What i learnt this airbrushing session was to always make sure the masks seal properly, because i had a lot of leakage when i sprayed the green on.

The paints i used were all humbrol acrylics, belly - 90, camo scheme - 29 dark earth, 163 - dark green.

next up is - prop, landing gear, canopy and painting the wheel wells.

Here are the pics, still a little cleaning up to do around the edges with the hand brush, enjoy!

Looking good RBR. What did you use to mask? For something that complex i would use silly putty or poster tac, something like that.

Blue painters masking tape

Nice job, RRB.  You managed an excellent-looking camouflage scheme. 

Okay, my old tool Spitfire Mk I is complete!  R6595, DW-O, 610 County of Chester Squadron, RAF, Biggin Hill, August 1940.

Humbrol enamels brush painted (Dark Earth - 29, Dark Green - 116, Sky - 90), Future clear coat, decals by Aeromaster (sheet 72-028), another clear coat, artist oil wash, 50/50 sealer coat of Future & Acryl Clear Flat.

Tim

It looks good.

For some reason on those early spits the markings always seemed too big.

So against my better jusdgement i put on a solid coat of 74 on all top and fuselage surffaces. That 75 is going to make for some dark ass splinter. Looks like ill be raiding the Ju87 and Me110 decal sheets for until marksing to stand out on this bird. I gotta say, if this turns out like it looks in my mind, It would be the #1 stick to want on the line....

Any figures of what HS129's took out with the 7.5cm cannon?

RRB, your Hurricane looks great, and yes, airbrushing takes a lot of time, and patience.  if I may offer a word of advice, I see you have 'shoulders' where the masking tape was.  This is caused by excess paint building up next to the tape.  As you airbrush, change the angle so you spray over the tape, and onto the area that you wish to paint, and not towards the mask.  Also, use thinner coats, but many of them.  Even airbrushed paint can collect and run, and cause runs and shoulders.  Seepage, under the mask, is a problem for me too, especially panel lines, which act as conduits under the mask.  The answer is to push down, get the mask into every crevice.

Greenshirt, love the Spit!

Done some work on the Widgeon, filled/sanded the floats, and primed them, but, a tad more work needed yet.

RRB more good progres on the hurricane and on your skill

Greenshirt nice looking spit like you used handbrush 

ScorpionMikey, to ensure a finished model for the GB ,if the scout fails on the canopy,  i starter last tonight the mig-23:

the sprues

houston we have a cockpit!!!!

but i'm sure i'll use only the ip (if the instruments location are corrects)

test fittings

this time the clear canopy fit decently! only the frames are too weak printed, i'll cut in two after.

not too bad the gears but not comparable to the hasegawa/academy flogger kit

raised panels naturally, but this thime i'll rescribe all.

First work on the exhaust

after i'll scratch the afterburner chamber, i did theses works watching the TV in the kitchen, then i used only cutters and glue.

opened the air intakes below part

also the 80% of panel lines was rescribbed and the front gear well was opened (two millimeters of dept don't seems so real )

At first looking when brought this kit i don't like too much (paid 4 € with the same stock of scout ,viggen and super etendard) but it take more intresting with the mods opportunity , plus the plastic is really good despite the orrible silver color (why used this color on kits??) 

that's all for the kitchen session

Good luck on the MiG-23, I've heard it's not a great kit.  I'm really interested to see what you can make of it.

bsyamato - a Mig23 next - you just can't stop yourself can you!? Looking forward to it,

to me don't seems to bad Centhot, the general fitting seems not too bad.

Vance need to recover about 15 years of modelling inactivity

Excellent rendition of the Spitfire Mk I, Tim.  The paints you chose make the camouflage very appealing. 

On a side note, I read somewhere that on this particular aircraft, the tail insignia was painted on backward (blue white red), and you captured that detail in your model.  Nice job.

Well my hurricane is finished!

all i can say is that this is my best model yet, its seems that each model i make is better than the previous. Next model is Academy 1:72 P-40b tigershark in flying tigers markings.

And i have noticed my airbrush skills are improving.

Here are the pics i cant keep anyone waiting too long!

Oh wow, you added in brass brake lines, very cool!  That is one nice looking Hurricane!

Yep, airbrushing is a skill that takes time to develop.  Yet, funnily enough, the best thing to learn about airbrushing is how to clean the airbrush!  My best investment was around $10, a set of cleaning brushes (you can find them on ebay easily enough).  Splatter, uneven coating, pulsing, etc these are normally caused by dirt in the airbrush, and trust me, I've had them all! 

A very useful technique is this: put cleaner in the bowl, and open the head.  Now spray!  The open head will cause bubbling in the bowl, which, combined with the cleaner, does a great job of cleaning the bowl.  Now tighten the head to normal, and spray again.  The cleaner comes out, along the paint.  It's not perfect, but it is quick, and it's good enough for quite a few sessions, before the dirt builds up.

My compliments RRB your skill is up, but after this best way is even to notice the error to avoid on the next.

You don't use clear coat before decals application? this give a better surface for decals adhesion . Also the frames painting is missing, as rule you need to paint ta first layer with the inner color ,then just follow the camouflage with second layer also a washing of control surface (even this is again possible as the frame painting) will improve the finished kit. Keep on workin 

First coat of underside gray is on the Mirage F1 as of last night. The first time in years I've airbrushed with enamels. Some ModelMaster aircraft gray was the best match I had on hand without mixing. (All of my "mixing" cups are being used right now!) I've been using Tamiya acrylics for so long now that this was actually kind of difficult! Another coat tonight should finish it up.

Enamels do produce beautiful results, but do require more care when mixing.   Looking forward to the pictures!

@ Vance.

Are you going with the SAAF sceeme?

If so, here is something I have seen some kits not giving the correct info re the decals for the SAAF. (May sound stupid I know, but not always clear if you don't have all the info)

The springbucks in the castles on the wings "jump" towards the fuselarge horns to the nose and on the fuselarge they jump forwards to the nose ,horns up.

The orange on the finflash is to the front.

Theuns

Thanks for the heads-up Theuns, I will be going with the SAAF scheme, a very nice look on this machine. (I'll try to use the kit decals if possible, but may have to go aftermarket if they don't work out.)

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

I can clean my airbrush but one time, after the brown, it got stuck so I had to clean it, put really well. That time.

What colours did the flying tigers use? If you want to be specific it's a p40b number 68 of the hells angels division.

Nice finish, RRB.  You're skills are developing well.

the real red baron

What colours did the flying tigers use? If you want to be specific it's a p40b number 68 of the hells angels division.

Here's a link to a discussion on the Airfix Tribute Forum.

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/archive/tomahawk-p-40b-flying-tigers-paint-scheme__o_t__t_13923.html

Everyone seems to agree they were painted in dark earth/dark green, to British specifications.  More problematic is the undersurfaces. 

You can read what the opinions are, then make your best selection.  You are as likely to be right as anybody else.

From what i can see (coloured photos from ww2, recoloured photos etc) they appear to be standard RAF camouflage done with USAAF standard colours.

I would go with the following.

M-495 light grey. (FS-36440)

42 Medium Green (FS-34092)

ANA-616 Sand (FS-30279)

Of course thats just my opinion. Someone feel free to tell me im wrong lol.

Got the colours from here.

http://www.ipmsstockholm.org/colorcharts/stuff_eng_colorcharts_us.htm 

Although, after another look (and thinking of timeframe) This might be more accurate.

Silver Grey. (FS-36622)

Forest Green. (FS-34102)

Olive Drab. (FS-30227)

Those are pre 1939 colours so its more likely they were painted as such.