80 Years of Airfix GB

Love that whitewash Steve!

Well I've made "progress" on my P40. After a major fail at trying to spray the mission models paint white for the insignia I ended up repainting the entire topside OD. After that I used a tip I saw on Youtube where you take a piece of sponge dipped in very thin paint and dap it on the model to give some random weathering effects. I did this with both a dark brown and khaki drab mixture. I like how it came out and it will be reigned in some with another thin coat of OD over it.

You add the badge the same way as the other pics. But you have to go to settings, top right in the box with the quicklinks. Add it into the Signaturebox as you would a pic in your post.

And congrats on your first GB.

Thank you, Bish. This was my first GB, so I’m not sure how to add the badge. How do I do that?

Mark, some more relly nice work on those windows. Its deffinetly paying off. But those wheels do look like a tricky challenge.

Some nice work there John. You seem to be getting to grips with it.

Tales of the Omnibus - Chapter 1  (cont.)

Hey guys, sorry I went AWOL for a couple of weeks.  Been having to deal with life issues, and only got back to the Omnibus on Sunday.  So I'm finally able to show some progress.

Finally managed to get some paint down on most of the lower section parts.

And then started laying in the new windows, using 0.25mm acetate.

Then I glued in the scratch-built interior window sill parts.

I like the fact that when you look in from the outside you can see the inside sills.  That's really the effect I was going for, to replace the god-awful OOB option... just the big slab of clear plastic.  The notches along the top are to accomodate molded cross members in the ceiling.

The left side wall with new interior mocked up with the benches.

Sigh... not looking forward to the work I'll have to do to remove the ejector pin marks on the cast wheels.  Ugh...

I'll try to get caught up on everyone else's builds, and to make more progress on the Omnibus.

Cheers,
Mark

Well, in my first post I said I was going to keep this one simple.  I failed.

After some study I realized after assembling the basic airplane that the cabin window arrangement on the Airfix kit is different from the civil DH-125-1A, in that on the one I flew there were five on each side but the kit has six on the left and four on the right.  The aft windows on both sides were too far aft.  No problem on the left side as I can just paint over that one, but on the right side the aft one had to go and two more needed to be added toward the front.  I made masks for all the windows and the cockpit windows as well and that made it easy to locate where the windows should be.  Rather than try to use clear epoxy I gouged out oversize holes and filled them with clear acrylic cut from an old drafting triangle and superglued them in, leaving them proud of the surface.  Then I filed and sanded them down flush with the surface and polished them.  The landing light transparencies were also installed, which took a while as the fit was not good.  More filing, sanding, and polishing ensued. In general fits were off enough to require work with Epoxyscupt in a lot of places.  The windscreen was a bit shorter that the opening for it on both sides and that was dealt with Epoxysculpt.  The control surfaces were meant to move but the associated fits were not too good and also fragile.

I think I am about ready for paint.  I'm leaving the nacelles off until most of the painting is done, remember all that striping?  It's all over the nacelles.

British cockpit colours, as summarized by the late Edgar Brookes:

Green remained in day (only) fighters up to, and including, the Spitfire 22/24; fighters that were also intended for night use, like the 40-series Seafires, Sea Fury, Meteors and Vampires, went over to black from the start, but nightfighter Mosquitoes did not. Being (basically) a conversion of the Vampire/Venom fuselage, the DeH 108 was likely to have been black.

To confuse matters, slightly (!!!) Typhoons, Tempests and Seafire 17s could be half-and-half (top black,) with late Typhoons all-black, and, for some reason, occasional Spitfire 21s & 19s were black.

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234942383-british-cockpit-colours-history-from-wwii-till-today/

regards,

Jack

Hi Bish,

next up is the Sea Fury. Stick conirme that the interior should be black.

Weekend went to Terminator though.

Steve, your making great time on that 141!

Steve, liking the white wash on that, looking nice.

Nice collection you got going there Svenne. Which aircraft are you asking the cockpit question about. As far as i know it was only the night bombers that had black pits, day fighters had the green interiours.

Cary, lovely job on the Lanc, she has come out really well. Thank you for shareing it with us and feel free to add the Fortress at any time.

Nice work on that Lancaster.

Svenne Duva

Woops sorry forgott my question...

The instructions are asking for Coal Black in the cockpit.

IP, sidewalls, floor, controls, structural elements.

Everything.

That is going to be pretty dark...

Is this correct?

Would appreciate your insight here :)

Svenne

 

Svenne, British cockpits went to black as the primary colors shortly after WWII. That color call out is correct. 

And yes, Mr Camm was an aircraft design genius, superstar, great, whatever term you’d prefer to use. Up there with Kelly Johnson of Lockheed and Ed Heineman (sp?) of Douglas. Decades of successful excellent designs from each one.

Sweet looking Lanc 

I added weathering to the BV and I'm almost done, Just some exhause stains, hand paint the greenhouse and attach the gear.

Cary, that Lanc looks A1.  

regards,

Jack

castelnuovo

Great looking Lancaster . Always like to see it as my grandfather-in-law was flying them in WW2. 

 

Thank you, sir.

Cary

Great looking Lancaster . Always like to see it as my grandfather-in-law was flying them in WW2. 

Well, I'm calling this one done. After a coat of gloss to seal in the decals, I weathered with Mig and Tamiya powders. Once that was done, I applied two coats of Testors Dullkote. (I don't know if it's just me or not, but Testors doesn't seem to provide as flat a coat as it used to.) That muted the effect of the powders, but I still like how it came out.

I did end up beaking a couple fiddly bits right at the end. Flap operator on the right wing and rudder operator on the right rudder. Also the part under the cockpit, maybe an antenna? The end of that broke off. I'm calling it battle damage.

I would like to put it in a diorama eventually. I've got Airfix' bomber re-supply set and now just have to put a field together for everything to sit on. I might also include an Airfix B-17, which I picked up a few weeks ago. We'll see. Anyway, a few pics:

Thanks for loooking.

Cary

Hi Stick,

Thanks!

The Hunter is my next excuse to postphone the BIG BOX :|

Wicky holds Mr. Camm responsible for a total of 52 constructions.

The man must have been an absolute genius, from balsa to jet...wow!!!

Svenne

Woops sorry forgott my question...

The instructions are asking for Coal Black in the cockpit.

IP, sidewalls, floor, controls, structural elements.

Everything.

That is going to be pretty dark...

Is this correct?

Would appreciate your insight here :)

Svenne

Svenne, all you need now to complete Mr Camm’s collection is the new 1/48 Hawker Hunter... or is the old Hawker Fury biplane his work as well? No worries, Airfix makes that in 1/48 also!

Right,

while I am waiting for Airfix to help me with a new decal sheet for my Sea Hurricane I will continue my Sidney Camm quest.

Since I am still slightly intimidated by the BIG BOX (shear fear) so I will now try the Airfix 1/48 Sea Fury from 2018.

Interestingly this is the same sort of soft plastic (and slightly soft mouldings as well) as the 1/72 Typhoon.

Not at all the crisp mouldings as in the 1/48 Sea Hurricane. 

Funny - as I said before it does not even look as if its the same company. Certanly not the same Project Manager / Engineer.

Here is what I am talking about:

1/48 Hawker Sea Fury

1/48 Hawker Sea Hurricane

And the competition

1/48 Hawker Tempest

And finally a blast from the past, Airfix before the shape up, same soft plastic...

1/48 Hawker Harrier

Anyway, the enginering of the Sea Fury looks very good and I am allready looking forward to getting some bench time in the weekend ;)

And finally - sorry for not being more active here - so many ***, so little time...

Keep up all the good work guys!!!

Svenne

I've been lurking for a while. Not contributing much. Just watching the builds as they progress. Theuns, I like your Swordfish. The Operation Torch U.S. markings were an interesting choice. Quite unique. Castelnuovo, I really admire your JU-87. That desert scheme is so tough to do. Very well done.

Meanwhile, I have been building while I've been lurking. I have another "what-if" Boeing Clipper getting near paint. I had the second kit so I thought why not. The wings are attached, the windscreen is masked. As soon as I clean up where the wings join the fuselage, it's primer-time. I think it's going to be early WWII U.S. Navy when it's done.

Theuns and Castel, sorry, I didn't see your builds.

Theuns, the stringbag looks great. I was thinking about getting the Airfix Swordfish, now I know I will, probably the floatplane.

Castel, your Stuka is well done. I love the engine and camo.

A little more work on the BV today. I sprayed some hairspray prior to the white. Tomorrow I'll start the wearing process.

The decals are terrible. They were falling apart and the silvering is dificult to fix.

Cary the new tool airfix swordfish kit is not difficult to build, I had a little trouble with fitting the bottom fuselage but it may have been my own fault.

The kit includes jigs to allign the top centre section, quite nifty. I wanted to pose both wings back but I saw to much of the cockpit will be hidden.

I do like that JU -87, think I need one eswell ;-)

Theuns

Theuns, sweet Swordfish. How was the build? I’ve always wanted to try a bi-plane but was always put off by the thought of attempting the rigging.

Cary

Andy, thats looking good, good luck with those insignia masks.

Sorry Theuns, i caught those final pics in the Bomber GB but missed them here. gain, great job on that, thanks for shareing it with us.

Front page updated guys.