I think the story on spray on primers - if you use them at all, and some don't (Doog favors Gunze Gloss Black paint for NMS primer: Andy Hobby HQ uses Tamiya NATO Black)- has been pretty well ended with Stynelrez. It's simply outstanding for an acrylic primer and sands much better than Vallejo. You might think of spray on primers - Tamiya makes fine paints and I'm sure theirs will do. They're mild lacquers and hence kind of bond with the paint - they won't come off. If you can stand the smell or if you're able to do it outside the best primer on earth is Duplicolor Automotive Primer: Sandable, Fillable, Black Lacquer. (Duplicolor makes an army of paints - look for product DAP 1698 - Black Primer.) I've use this on all my aircraft. It has a fan cap, which means it will lay down perfectly if you follow instructions. (I'd use a mule for a quick practice.) The coverage is fantastic and it will fill scratches and mistakes of all kinds but leave detail in perfectly good shape. I am nearly 100% solvent free in my modeling. But this stuff is so good that I make an exception. All canned lacquer primers can be decanted and applied with an airbrush - but the fumes are strong and you won't get it on any better than you can with a spray can once you're used to using them. But, as noted, Stynelrez deserves all the praise it gets. It just won't fill scratches etc like Duplicolor and by its nature it could in theory come off. Eric

Mawright: She looks pretty friggin' good to me!

Justin: Have you tried Flightdecs Canada? They have a pile of decals including stuff I've never seen before.

http://www.flightdecs.ca/

 

Justin, look forward to seeing that dio when its done, glad to hear your still plugging away at it.

What scale are you looking for. I checked hannants and they don't have any. I did come across a company caled Max decals who produced sets in 72nd and 48th back in 2011, are those the ones you were looking at. Hannants has some from Max but not those 2.

The best i could find was a company called Colorado. They have Spitefire decals in 72nd and 48th which include Irish. This would give you the national markings, you would just have to source the codes, which look to be pretty basic numbers.

When do you plan on doing this, would be nice to see this in the Commonwealth GB next year.

rocker286

mawright, do you have the Airfix kit in your stash? I haven't run into any big problems with it yet- but the decals have a tendency to silver a little bit. 

 

And speaking of Decals, I spent the weekend putting all of them on. 

 

 

Rocker....that is badass!  

 

I've been checking in from time to time, and there are some awesome build here!  

I am almost finished with my dambuster, but I'm not too thrilled with the nose turret fit.  The piece in the instructions is definitely not the proper piece, and the fit is horrendous.  I definitely did something wrong!  Lol.  The airframe is finished, and I just have to finish the dio base, and that will come after the holidays....

 

Bish, I did have a question for you...its not really related to the RAF, but you seemingly have extensive knowledge...I'm looking to build an Irish Air Corps hurricane, but the only decals I have been able to find are seemingly our of stock everywhere.  Any idea where I could get my grubby hands on a set?

Rocker, Thanks for the support. Callingthis one done even though not as nice as I wanted to make it. Yeah, found out the turrent didn't want to play nice when going in. Couldn't get the barrels to sit right and used artist's discretion to leave them as 'battle damaged'! Also showing it's sister ship P-40 in RCAF markings.

Bish- I've always liked black as an underside color for warbirds, I bet that Ju 88 will turn out great! I'd like to find a Br.20 kit sometime and paint it with black undersides. 

mawright- The turret fit and the weakness of those guns were the only real complaints I had about the new tool Defiant. You'd think those MG barrels would be made of stronger stuff! I'm sorry they broke up on you. Fitting that turret in with the back fairing in place will be a bit of a struggle, in fact you may have to take off the turret glass and then re-attach it to the turret ring once it's in place. But your build looks excellent so far- I really like the way the standard RAF camo looks on it!  

Mawright: Looks good, you're making great progress! 

John: Thanks, I was wondering why his photos were stretched. 

Thanks John, will do. Mike

In the insert image window the "Constrain Proportions" checkbox is checked.  Get rid of that and your photos should be fixed, as this one is.

 

All, I was less than comfortable with the results of the Airfix Dogfight Double Dornier 17 I was working on, so have continued to the paired RAF Defiant. Been behind in submitting the WIP pics, so here are a few. These 1/72 kits are proving difficult with the small parts and VERY weak pieces like landing gear and the turrent gun barrels. Neither of the turrent guns survived even being removed from sprue. Will attempt to mend prior to completion. As always any feedback is appreicated. Mike

Looking forward to seeing your Spitfire build, Mark! 

stikpusher

 

Bish

Will be good to see you underway Mark, its nice to have at least one member of the Boys in Blue on board .

Be interesting to see this especially if you do the Bentwaters one.. I know the guys who run the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, they are also members of the model club i belong to. Will be nice to see something from there that doesn't have a jet pipe and Stars and bars.

 

 

 

 

Stars and bars are the fellows who lost that 1860’s disagreement... Stars and Stripes are the guys who prevailed....  

and what’s wrong with jets?

 

Absoulty nothing, especially one like that. Now if only that Eurofighter had a loaded cannon

Bish

Will be good to see you underway Mark, its nice to have at least one member of the Boys in Blue on board .

Be interesting to see this especially if you do the Bentwaters one.. I know the guys who run the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, they are also members of the model club i belong to. Will be nice to see something from there that doesn't have a jet pipe and Stars and bars.

 

Stars and bars are the fellows who lost that 1860’s disagreement... Stars and Stripes are the guys who prevailed....  

and what’s wrong with jets?

Welcome, Mark.

Will be good to see you underway Mark, its nice to have at least one member of the Boys in Blue on board .

Be interesting to see this especially if you do the Bentwaters one.. I know the guys who run the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, they are also members of the model club i belong to. Will be nice to see something from there that doesn't have a jet pipe and Stars and bars.

Hello everyone, 

Well after cleaning up my workbench post the Pride of the Luftwaffe GB, which was fantastic to be part of, I am about to make a start on a GB that is very close to my heart, being ex RAF myself. Thanks Bish for creating!

 

The kit I will be building over the coming month(s) will be the 1/72 Eduard Spitfire Mk XVI, which as you know was basically an upgraded Mk IX, with the super Packard Merlin engine. I am not sure what markings I’m going to do it as yet as I’m torn between one based with 603 Squadron at RAF Turnhouse in Scotland, in 1947, where I was actually stationed some time ago. In fact I used to walk past the gate guard MKXVI on my way to the Mess everyday. Or one based at RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk with 65 Squadron in 1945. Both will be the low back version with the bubble canopy.

 

Anyways here is the kit, purchased a couple of years ago at IPMS SMW Telford. The intention is to build OOB but as with Eduard you get loads of extras, which is nice.

 

So Ill start tomorrow and Ill keep you all posted as we go along.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

I used the first one rocker, thanks again, front opage is looking amazing.

I have been putting a black finish off for years. But i plan on doing a Ju 88 next year with a black underside, so really hoping i can do a decent job.

Bish- feel free to use any photo that you'd like! 

Jack - You and Bish are right, I've seen light washes on dark aircraft and if it's overdone it just looks rather odd. 

I'm sure you're right.

To be completely honest, I tried it once and lines were very crooked and sloppy. But I was excited to confirm what you said, which I've heard before.

Ended up painting the next coat to heavily and lost the lines, haven't tried it since. 

Lol, thanks Greg! 

Funny, I think pre-shading looks better when it's a bit on the sloppy side. I used to try to be somewhat neater, even using a Shapie marker but frankly it looks too perfect. It just looks more natural to me when it's more patchy and random. 

Looking good, Gamera.

Oh, and by the way, bless your heart. Because I thought I was the only person on the planet whose airbrushed panel lines aren't the straightest. 

mawright20

Greg, due to my current working location and time it takes for mail delivery, I’m somewhat limited to what I brought with me. However, I’ll investigate using Tamiya when I get home in a few months. Thanks for the support.  Mike

 

Ah, I understand your situation better now. Thanks, Mike.

I admire those of you who take the hobby on the road with you. Very cool.

Here's where I stand. The ventral side masked and the rest pre-shaded. 

Greg, due to my current working location and time it takes for mail delivery, I’m somewhat limited to what I brought with me. However, I’ll investigate using Tamiya when I get home in a few months. Thanks for the support.  Mike

stikpusher

 

 

Greg

I still worry about using Model Master "primer" for anything that is going to be masked, but you can try. 

 

 

 

 

Agreed. But I can highly recommend Tamiya white primer. Once dry, that stuff has a death grip on plastic. 

 

Absolutely agreed. Tamiya is on my short list of primers that won't peel off, period.

Ironically, Stik helped me learn this primer lesson you're working on now back in '13, Mike. I had an airplane that looked just like yours with peeled MM. My how time flies.

outstanding Rocker ! I better get going on my gloster meteor its been on the back burner.

Great finish on the Defiant Rocker

Greg

I still worry about using Model Master "primer" for anything that is going to be masked, but you can try. 

 

Agreed. But I can highly recommend Tamiya white primer. Once dry, that stuff has a death grip on plastic. 

Rocker, your Defiant looks great. Nice work. 

Mike, you're sure welcome. I still worry about using Model Master "primer" for anything that is going to be masked, but you can try.