80 Years of Airfix GB

Thanks Bish.  I see Hasegawa has re-released there He 111Z-2 kit, two He 111's in one box.

Thanks Mopar:  Man that bare metal finish and metalic blue looks great, great job on the Lighting.

Thanks Bufflehead: Great job on he Bf-109 and Fw190, really nice look with the snake decal running down both sides.

Fotofrank: The Meteor is lookin' good.  Nice two tone camouflage.

Thanks Jgeratic.

Thanks Johnny.

Thanks Lewbud.  Nice camouflage on the Bf109, I've always liked the nose to be paint yellow.

I photographed the Heinkel with better lighting.

IMG_0067 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_0066 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_0065 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_0063 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_0061 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_0070 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

P-40 and He 111

IMG_0074 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Here are the trouble spots,

IMG_0068-1 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_9356-1 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

The eight small windows opening need to be enlarged, putty was needed around the engine nacelle's, the front nose canopy frame was wider than the fuselage.  The frame where the clear part is under the torpedow needed to be enlarged.  For a list price of around $40.00 USD this is a great kit, the small problems can be over come.  Thanks Bish for hosting this great Airfix group build.

Ernest, those are two superb examples of 1/72 Luftwaffe birds!  The spinner on the 190 came out great!  To answer your question, I used the Vallejo Metal Color line of metallic paints and found them to be super easy to use and clean up. 

Dan and Ernest, those are respectfully each fantastic looking builds - as were all throughout this past year. 

The Airfix kit pilot head armour may as well been thrown out anyways as it is out of scale.  It had 8mm thickness, so @1/72 it would only be 0.1mm - scrap corner section from a PE fret could be used if you ever want to fashion your own.

regards,

Jack

Those are 2 lovely looking builds there Ernest. Is that head armour just typical. You did a greta job on the spinner. I much prefer painting them to decals but no one does masks in that scale that i can find. Going to have to try and make them myself next time.

Thats come out really well Dan, thank you for shareing that.

I do have a couple of Hase He 111's and have built one. It fits really well, but despite the issues with the Airfix kit, i do prefer that. The higher cost of the Hase kit is not justifide when you take in account the extra detail in the Airfix kit.

First, thanks a bunch Chad, Bish and Jack for the info on the head armor!  Strange that Airfix included the part in the kit, but didn't indicate its installation in the instructions.    Too bad it was a exercise in futility (see below!)

Chad, your Lightning came out super nice!  I love the natural metal finish, the vibrant blue on the spine and tail and the colorful markings!  Did you use Alcad for the metal finish or something else?

Dan, fantastic work on the Heinkel 111!  The splinter camo and markings came out perfect! 

So, about the head armor I asked about.....I went ahead and started painting up the part, gave it a wash and then.....it disappeared.   Literally....just vanished.  I looked and looked and looked, but nothing. Who knows, it might turn next year!!  So after all your help, no head armor in the canopy for my little Emil!

And the FW-190 A8 is also complete!  Yay! 

I had a devil of a time with the spiral on the spinner.  I originally painted the spinner black/green thinking the kit decals included the white spiral...NOPE!  Then I tried stealing one from a different kit, but it didn't fit the Airfix spinner.  In the end I spent a couple of hours making my own mask from Tamiya tape and finally got a spiral mask that worked...sort of!  So I sanded off the old paint, repainted the spinner white, masked it off and painted black/green again.  Came out decent but then I noticed I made the spiral in reverse!    Ah well, definitely not perfect, but it will have to do!

Someone mentioned that I should add a pilot since its on the stand, but I totally forgot! Here's the Butcher Bird on the Airfix stand.  I think I'll paint the base a cool color next year!

Bish, thanks for creating and hosting the GB!  This was my first time building Airfix kits and I must say I REALLY like them!  I've already added a few more to the stash and hope to get to them soon!

Looks great Dan!

Glad to know I'm not the only one who couldn't get the side windows to fit.  Looks great Dan! 

Nice work everyone, I'm calling the Heinkel He111 H-6 finished.  Man those little side windows do not fit at all.  I still think this is a great kit, with some problems.    I'll post a few more pictures showing the bottom and the torpedoes.  I wounder how the more expensive Hasegawa He111 goes together?

IMG_9367 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_9370 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

IMG_9379 by Daniel Smith, on Flickr

Love those two birds Ernest!

Hi Ernset, about the head armour, this was introduced as the French Campaign of 1940 was winding down.  It would of been standard for the E-4, and easily retrotfitted to the earlier E-1 and E-3 models.

Happy New Year everyone!

regards,

Jack

Yep, Chad is correct. I believe the E-4 was the first to have it fitted as standard and earlier versions still in service had it retrofitted.

Ernest, the E-4's & E-7's had the armor plate.

Your not wrong frank, the year has flown by. meteor is looking good, can't wait to get that on the front.

Hey guys, I need a bit of help with the BF-109 canopy.  I was checking the internet for pics of the proper position of the open canopy and saw that most 109s have an armored plate in the canopy behind the pilot's head.  Is the E4 version supposed to have this armored plate?

The kit DOES have the part, but it wasn't included in the instructions so I kind of ignored it! Looking now at all the pics on the internet makes me think it should be installed.....??

Other than that the Emil is done.  The FW-190 needs a little bit of detail work which should be done tonight.

Man! I can't believe a year has gone by already. It's been a whirlwind to be sure. Today dawned to clear skies, cool temperatures and low humidity. A good day to be on the patio painting, so I shot clear coat on the Meteor -- finally. I use Tamiya Gloss Clear thinned 1/1 and mist it on. We're going out of town for a couple of days so the clear coat will have plenty of time to cure. When we get back I'll paint the yellow leading edges and then do the decaling. Yep. The Meteor is my last build for 2019 and my first build finished in 2020.

Chad,

You did a beautiful job on the Lightning!

Ernest,

The Emil and 190 are looking good! I really need to expand my horizons and learn washes and weathering. There are a couple of interesting 109's on the Xtra Decals German BoB set. Two that I intend to do eventually are similar to the one you did. One has a totally white nose and white wingtips, the other is a yellow nose with yellow wingtips. After that, I have no desire to build another.

Sitrep on my 109. Whilst painting the landing gear and wheels for the 109 and 110, my can of air ran out. I will be at the LHS as soon as they open to get a new can so I can get them glossed and decalled. Just remembered I forgot to paint the scoop on the left side of the nose, so I'll have to mix up some 65. Hopefully I'll have pics of a finished model tomorrow.

Just a quick reminder guys, the GB officially ends as the clock strikes midnight GMT tomorrow. But of course, if your on the list, please keep posting your builds.

Those both look stunning Ernest, can't wait to see them wrapped up.

Done that more than once Chad. Its been a real pleasure seeing all your Airfix kits, some really nice subjects, great variety and lovely builds. And that Lightning is really up there. Thanks for being such a big part of the GB. I will update the roster tomorrow.

I have a few GB's planned for the coming few years, so i am thinking i migt go for 2024/25 for another one. Hoefully we will still all be here. I will sure you will have re-built your Airfix stash by then.

Bish, I made a rookie mistake by throwing away the clear parts when I was cleaning off my workstation! So the navigation lights on the wingtips are void. Normally I would commit one build for each group build I participate in but this is my favorite manufacturer so I had to represent my interest accordingly!  Thank you for hosting this group build. The first picture would be most appropriate for the front page.

I love those Ernest!

Chad/Mopar Madness - Yeah, metallics can be a PITA, especially if you don't prep everything properly!  What metallic paint did you use for the Lightning?  Whatever it was it came out great! I love the black/blue combo on the top!  Looking forward to seeing it all done!

Theuns - Super looking Kate!  I especially like the chipping you did, totally gives it a weathered/worn look.  Pre-shading on the metal finish looks good!  I tried that once and the metal paint just covered it all up!!

lewbud - The Emil is coming along nicely!  Gotta luv those yellow nosed Me-109s!!  Sweet job on the camo, trying to airbrush that on 1/72 is krazy, but like you said, not impossible.

Speaking of Emils, my Me-109E is almost done.  Gave it a wash of Flory Dark Dirt, then matt finish applied and landing gear installed.  Just have to finish up the prop assembly, add the MGs and paint up the replacement antenna.  No aerial wire for this guy....the new antenna is fragile and I'll probably break it off again if I try to add the wire!

And I think I'll finish up the Butcher Bird in time.  Here she is all decaled up and nowhere to go! 

The P-51 is getting closer to completion, but I don't think I'll finish it in time.  More likely I'll finish by next weekend.

Nice Buddy!

Thanks Bish. I forget who makes them, but I have seen some photoetch stencils to make airbrushing easier. It would be easier to airbrush freehand in 1/48, but not impossible in 1/72.

Thats looking very nice lewbud. They BoB mottling looks though it would be tricky to do with an airbrush, good soloution.

Theuns,

That is a good looking Kate! I really like your natural metal finish.

I was wondering where I left off with my 109, turns out that I had retired for the evening with something that looked like an airplane in primer gray. I was going to do one of the 109E-4s from the Xtra Decals German Battle of Britain set, but decided to use the kit decals instead (I have enough BoB 109 decals to last several lifetimes). I thought about how to replicate the mottling as shown in the painting guide for the model, but it looked like it would have been a couple of hours dotting the model with a piece of .5mm brass wire. I found some microbrushes (actually they are small sponges on sticks for cleaning airbrushes) and proceded to dot away. Not accurate according to the instructions, but suitable for my tastes. All she needs now is a coat of gloss and then the decals.

All I have left to paint is the prop and the landing gear. I might actually get this done in time!

Well done, Theuns.

Nice subtle weathering!