Steve, great work with the Stringbag, the paint finish is super. Like many of us, I have the same kit in the stash, do you recommend the PE rigging set? It looks like it a good rendition of the flat strap style rigging.

Dwayne, looks like a good start to the Brewster there

Hogfants, the printing does look cool, good to hear your feedback after the fine nozzle is used. What software do you design the piece with?

Zvezda, I do like the way this is progressing, top work on the figures, especially in 1/72! Like the palm tree work, that is coming along really well. I take it the spine in the leaves is scored to give a bit of lighter colour and depth.

Thanks everyone for the kind words around my build, always fun to share with you.

And what is Future known as in the US now? Thought I might try picking up a bottle while we are over there.

Zvezda: Looks really good!!! 

I've seen some people cut up silk ferns from the flower shop to make fronds. But yours look great as they are. Nice work there on the trunk and coconuts too. 

A brief update for the palm tree attempt:

The trunk was made from wires and tissue paper soaked in thinned PVA glue.

Top and bottom bulges of the trunk were made with Milliput and some pencil wood scraps.

Then the assembly was painted with a brown artist's acrylic

Coconuts were made from Milliput and the leftover was formed into two small limestone rocks, just so as not to throw it away.

The major problem were the palm fronds. After examining various photos (mine and from the net) I realized it was very difficult to replicate these, exactly in 1:72.

After some unsatisfactory experiments with various materials, the best cheap and handy solution I could come up with, was to use the plastic from a document sleeve (stolen from the office ). The numerous lateral fronds cuts were made with the sprue cutter.

When all are assembled, I hope the result will remind something of a coconut palm tree.

Mancityfan nice start on the brewster.

hogfanfs thats very cool 3D parts!!

zvezda very sharp spitfire and those tiny figures nice

Thanks guys.

Jack, Tamiya has you assembling the wings as a subunit before installing them to the fuse, probably since you can pose them folded or extended. I installed them seperatly so I could paint them prior to attachment. The problem was, the PE rigging comes in units which are far easer to attach than cutting them and adding them seperatly. It turns out that painting the wings after they were installed, like Tamiya sugested, would not have been that difficult.

Bruce:  Looking forward to seeing that part done again.  3D printing still kind of blows my mind.

Zvezda:  Plane and figures look great!!

So my engine isn't wired.  The "wires" were molded onto the engine, and I painted them with copper enamel paint using a sharp toothpick.  Actually came out looking good.  Thank goodness for my optivisor (OK, the cheap Harbor Freight version, but it works  ).

Dwayne: That looks good to me. The seatbelts look fine from the photo. 

Bruce: Cool! As much as I lose parts I should look into that. I am going to try to get a cartoony figure printed up for the Egg GB, we'll see how it goes.

Zvevda: Very nice smooth paint on the fighter and the figures look really good! 

Lately job issues keep me busy most of the day and I only manage to get 20-30 minute breaks for the bench.

After all that filling & sanding, the little Spit was sanded up to 2.000 deg to an acceptably smooth finish

Clear parts were masked (canopy put aside).

I made a mix of the following Gunze colors (70% H67 + 30% H15) for the undersides.

Then sprayed it in many - not so thin - layers and left it to dry

I decided to place the kit in a small diorama: the day of departure from it's place of final assembly (Takoradi, Ghana) on to the front in North Africa. I wanted something simple, with a couple of figures (time to try some figure painting for the first time) and a basic scenery. I also wanted to add a coconut palm tree, so as to give the scene a tropical note.

So...

The figures were taken from this kit. I chose 1 x pilot and 1 x ground technician. The tech will be a local recruitment in the RAF technical services.

Assembled and filled/sanded

Painting was done with some Vallejo colors

The results below:

Pilot (his face looks like a mob thug, I'll have to fix that)...

The Ghanaian technician...

Tech's skin was painted with a mix of dark flesh, choko brown and black.

The figures need some highlights, dirtying up, etc, which will be done during the next days.

Next will come the coconut tree attempt...

OK,

I'm almost ready to button up the fuselage of the MiG-21, but, if you remember, I lost a piece to the IP. 

Here is the piece I lost:

This is what I designed last night:

And this is what a guy at work 3D printed today:

They are not the best quality, but he is going to put on a smaller nozzle to get better layering and hopefully a more detailed 3D print. Granted this is being printed on a very inexpensive 3D printer. And I thought it would be cool to test something like this out.

Once I have this piece sorted out, I'll be moving on and get this one done before the deadline! 

D,

The office looks really good, and I see nothing wrong with the seat belts. You wired the engine very nicely too. Great job!

Hello Gentlemen,

Been a long time since I posted, but have been following the GB.  Lots of amazing work here.  What I thought would be a short break from the bench turned into a multi-month funk that I just recently broke out of.  But enough whining from me.  My apologies for not commenting on your excellent work.

Griffin, Steve, LA, Crown, you all have done magnificent work.  Thank you for posting!

I will post one pic to show that I actually have opened the Brewster Buffalo kit, and started it.  This was my first shot at PE seat belts.  Came out OK, but I think I will get better with practice.

IMG_0950 by Dwayne Munk, on Flickr

Steve, excellent looking Swordfish and great job with the rigging.

I recall you had a progress shot of applying the rigging between wings before  they were attached to the fuselage.  Was this your method of approach or Tamiya's instructions?

regards,

Jack

way to go there Steve just stunning ... 

Guys, those are 2 awsome looking builds there. Thank you both for taking part and shareing those with us. I'll get the front page updated at the weekend, got a bit of catching up to do.

And no worries Steve, so many GB's so little time.

Piers, hope you have a great time over there, i am sure you will come back fresh and rearing to go.

Yeah, outstanding job there Steve!!! 

Steve, wow! Outstanding job! 

Nice job on the heli Lost. That paint job had to be a little challenging.

I finally completed the Swordfish. It was a super nice kit. the pieces fit like a glove. One peice of advice though. If you are using the Tamaya PE set, put the wings together in sequence of the instructions. I can remember why I didn't but the rigging was a nightmare afterward. Following the instructions would have been far easer.

Thank you Bish for running another awesome GB. I'm just sorry I don't have the time to tackle another one for it like I usually do for your GB's. You can use whichever pic you like mate.

Lost,

The Wessex looks amazing! Great job!

Nick & Piers: Wow, those look awesome guys!!!

Lost, that there is a terrific end result to your build - brilliant!

regards,

Jack

many thanks my friend. your chopper is stunning nice glossy finish to a beautiful build. I to will see you in the airfix gb.

Nick, that is a super looking Hunter there. Subtle variation in the painting and a light touch on the weathering has got it looking great.

Thanks Lewbud, had to look up Riptide to see what you meant - that chopper looks scary!

Cliff, keep at it, a tricky bit of work there. Like Jack I am impressed with your cutting. The second I cut decals, it seems to lead to them disintegrating.

Steve, good to see the markings on the Stringbag, looking forward to it all being together.

Calling the Wessex done. There were a few issues with the kit, especially the nose fit and the appearance of the exhausts. Apart from that it went together well.

This is a Royal Australian Navy Wessex 31B based at Jervis Bay on the NSW south coast.

Bish, once again, thanks for running a great GB with a well chosen subject. Great to see everyones' builds coming along so well, always something to learn.

See you at the Airfix build when I am back from holidays in the US and Canada.

John thankyou it was a lot of fun and diffirent using ak paints.

Griffin thank you.

I saw those markings in one of my books I thought it would be diffirent.

Bruce many thanks I got through some stuff spots with the paint.

Steve I appreicate your comments. that swordfish is looking real good

Love the Hunter.

I just have a few more things to do to the Stringbag then it will be complete.

Nick, 

The Hunter turned out great. I love the weathering.

Wow awesome job on that Hunter Nick.. Love the markings! Beautiful 

Very well done, cr7, it's a beauty.

Bish and Jack I appreciate your comments . Thanks to tamiya thin cement for all those tiny actuators on the landing gear and doors.

Hi Nick, outstanding work, and a fine example of the Hawker Hunter. 

regards,

Jack