AIRCRAFT - Battle of Britain Group Build (Jan 1st 2005 - May 31st 2005)

Well after that night in that bar in the Phillipines I think Darren has a bit of respect for him... that Sock Puppet has a mean right hook!!!!

Tanky - I must ask you to cease and desist with any mention of Monty Python... you see I get uncontrollable when I begin rattling off lines and will end up getting banned from future GB's...

BTW: it IS dead, that is a dead parrot... it has ceased to be, it is no more, he has gone to his maker, it is an Ex-parrot.. if his feet weren't nailed to the perch he'd be pushing up daisies about now!

Karl thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it. Whether you call it an accident or a method, the results look great.

jboutin Great to hear that you are happy with the results of the camo on your Hurricane. Pictures please Oh and if you want to take advice from the King of Future (not), I always apply it to the sub-assemblies fuselage, wings, spinner and undercarriage before applying decals and again afterwards (to the decaled areas). I leave the prop spinner and blades separate until I have applied a wash then a flat coat as I tend to use semi gloss black for the prop blades.

Osher I was wondering where you had got too. I agree with what you said on interiors, which are almost completely obscured once the fuselage is closed up, oh well at least I know it's there. Nice progress BTW.

Tom & Tanky all right you two, be nice to Charlie, oh and Tom can I have him back now PLEASE

Cheers
Darren

Tom: He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy...!

Thanks everyone for he kind words! I don't suppose anyone could recommend a colour to paint the floor of a bf-110? The kit says black, I suppose I could run with this, maybe a black with a smearing of a dust powder?

QUOTE: Originally posted by tho9900 Darren - I noticed on the first page where you have our builds and whether we have completed them or not, that Tweety and Jules' smiley faces appear to be a bit larger and more yellow than mine... is there something you can do about that?

Tom have a sook mate!!!
Me and Jules are special!!!
Our mothers say so, and that means it's true!!

Darren, here are the progress pics of the camo. I am almost ready for decals, need to future it up! I had to run out and get some custom decal film (testors) to do the correct codes as I couldn't find any decent RAF codes (lots of spitfire codes but no Hurricane) at the local hobby shops and the serial also has be custom too. The only thing I am worried about is the grey colour from my printer, it may look too pixalated on the film. Oh well, live and learn eh?

Well without further adoo. here is the camo!



you can see the spinner and props for the hurricane and typhoon to the left, also salt chipped.



Osher, you may be slow but at the rate I have been going lately you may catch up and pass me! Lookin good though!

Looking good Jay, the salt chipping looks great. You've convinced me that I'mgoing to have to give it a try one of these days. Carry on... lets see that thing with some decals.

Osher, for the BOB time frame the interior would be RLM 02, although some floors may have been in RLM66. Definitely not black.

Regards, Rick

Jay, the Hurricane is looking good. I'm not a fan of the extreme chipping you get with the salt technique, but if you like it that's all that matters. Looking forward to the completed build.

Regards, Rick

QUOTE: Originally posted by rjkplasticmod Osher, for the BOB time frame the interior would be RLM 02, although some floors may have been in RLM66. Definitely not black. Regards, Rick

Oh! That's fantastic! Thank-you very much. Right, now to sand and repaint the floor again (3rd time lucky?), this time in RLM02, add a matt coat, and then some 'dust' to stop it being so mono-colour! Pictures soon I hope.

1/72 Fujimi bf-110 (with Airwaves PE set) Update: I've sanded down all (or as much as I can) of the black, and added my first layer of Xtracolor RLM02. As it's quite thin, I'll quite a few layers, so a few days before the cockpit.

I'm also adding in details of my 'reborn' Spitfire. Actually, I'm quite surprised how much I need to strip back before I can build it. The top of the engine/oil tank is badly assembled, and needs to be filled and sanded (hence the filler on the body), the top of the fuselage also needs to be worked on. Underneath, the paint job was too thick, and is peeling already. This is going to be stripped back, and some filler used where the mainplanes meet the body. Enough to do? Not quite, the cockpit tub is not straight, but most of all, the canopy is broken, and the vacuformed replacement is badly cut to size.

Phew! I like a challange. Oh yes, it's a Tamiya 1/48. Actually, I'm tempted to just buy another, which I think might be easier, but hey, I hate binning models...

Osher, never bin a kit. Keep wrestling it until you prevail .

Regards, Rick

Jay - looking good!!!! Can't wait to see how your decals turn out, I am doing a Martlet Mk.III "Black K" for the NA GB and will need to print out some "special decals" for it... The Black K was flown by Kremps out of Egypt. I'll be interested to see how they turn out...

Osher - actually I like "The Life of Brian" more than the Holy Grail... surprised me to see you emention it... keep plugging at that Spit ... it'll look all the better when you are done because you will know how much work went into it... I am redoing some things for a Typhoon for the Aussie build and I am feeling better about it already! (some decent sized structural problems when I glued it together)

Tom, in a pinch for me it would have to be Life of Brian over Holy Grail.

Osher keep going, keep going, don't give up. I'm with you I hate to bin a model, it's such a waste.
Oh and don't you love to find out details like paint color AFTER you've painted . I must be weird because if I find I've used a wrong color I have to correct it otherwise the model cannot proceed.

JB your salt chipped paint scheme looks excellent, lovely job!!

Cheers
Darren

Jay Your Hurri is looking great The salt chipping works quite well doesn't it......I have noticed that with all the clear coats and then a wash tones it down dramaticaly...........

Osher keep plugging away at it

Thanks all! Well, in my view Life of Brian beats the Holy Grail! Of course, there is always Time Bandits, which can be just about considered a Python film, but without the great lines...

The 'individual's' scene (leading on 'naughty boy') is a real classic! Oh dear, have we gone off topic?

Still, slipping Python back to topic, is it good to watch Python whilst modelling? Last night I was filing away, watching 'Rocky'

Darson, no you're not weird, I'm the same way. I just can't carry on if I know a part is significantly off colour. Of course, I like it when the prototype has the 'wrong' colour!

Osher and Darren, if I do a wrong colour and I don't find out about it until much. much much later (like my Typhoon), I just sigh and leave it. I found out well after tthe fact that I had the wrong colour for the interior. way back when I did that part 8 years ago or so now, I didn't have british interior green, I had the zinc chromate/american interior green, and the wheel wells are wrong, but oh well!

Anyway, Happy 200th post for me! It also happens to be my wife's Birthday!

Tom about the custom decals... they totally rock dude! (enter some heavey metal like AC-DC's 'Thunderstruck' here!) I played around with the settings a bit as depending on the paper type and print quality setting, you can get a fairly even colour with minimal pixilation. Yes if you hold it up close you can see the dots but at arms length you can't tell. I also thought I had the colour pretty well matched but of course colours change on different papers, so I guess I can live with a slightly darker greyish. The serial codes worked great too! now I have to get the future on the bird!

If you need RAF fonts I have a link with several font types.
http://www.balsadust.net/thomas.vogel/Tips_and_Tools/Fonts/

Thanks for the kind words guys, this has been my first serious attempt at any kind of modelling for about 10 years and I am so loving it (it helps when you've got a great bunch helping out!)

QUOTE: Originally posted by jboutin Osher and Darren, if I do a wrong colour and I don't find out about it until much. much much later (like my Typhoon), I just sigh and leave it. I found out well after tthe fact that I had the wrong colour for the interior. way back when I did that part 8 years ago or so now, I didn't have british interior green, I had the zinc chromate/american interior green, and the wheel wells are wrong, but oh well! Anyway, Happy 200th post for me! It also happens to be my wife's Birthday!

Hi Jay, well, it really depends when the error is noticed, and if it can be rectified without resorting to surgery on the model (or fingers that resemble pipecleaners, mine are more like sausages!)

Anyway, HAPPY 200th post (and happy birthday to your other half)! Enjoy!

Here is the Spitfire in rather unique colour scheme. Could this be a famous lost camo scheme? An attempt to fool the Germans? Or is it just the Spitfire covered in modelstrip, just before placing in a plastic bag, to remove the old (awful) paint job? Well, let's see how it looks tomorrow after the paint has been removed. The top of the fuselage has been filled and sanded down, and is now as smooth as a baby's behind!

As for bf-110, it's had another coat of Xtracolor RLM02, and is gradually looking better.

Osher, I thought maybe that was cake frosting! I was gonna say, that's one way of really getting into your models!! LOL - Calvin

Jay, happy 200th buddy ... I'll be making a quick pit stop in Calgary Friday night on my way out to Vernon. I hope convince my friend to check out a couple of LHS' before I leave Saturday.

Osher: That spit looks like its all lathered up and ready for a shave. I hate binning models too. I think the only one I ever gave up on was airfix's He 111. The canopy consisted of two halves and they were not even close to being the same size when matched up. Given the prominence of the canopy it just wasn't worth saving. Didn't know about vacuform back then.

Osher, glad to see you didn't give up. Hope the paint stripping works well.

Regards, Rick

Osher - the foam looks a little bit like whipped cream to me... would be an interesting birthday cake for a modeler!!!

Jay - thanks for letting me know about the decals and the fonts!! I'll play a bit and try to get the correct size font... I plan on not using the decal sheet BuNo code on the side fuselage and having KREMPS in noticable black letters as the BuNo. Of course being the REAL aircraft also had a prominent black K on the side helps the distinction. Then I need to find a Heart graphic of appropriate size for nose art and put a cursive style "Tweety II" under it for the plane name...

A long story but we've gone quite mad in the North Africa build as well now...

I know this is a bit off-topic (what, here, off-topic, never!), but I had an idea for a GB, which could be fun. Namely, it's a Copycat GB. The idea is that designers often inspired by the designs of an enemy, or even just steal it. For example, the Mosquito and the Ta-154 Moskito; the B-29 and the Tu-4 (and even the later Tupolevs); the Mirage III and the Nesher/Dagger/Kfir; the Sopwith Tri-plane, and the Fokker Dr.1; the FW-190 and the Fury/Sea Fury. There must be many others too!

Mirage/Nesher would count as the two competed against each other in battle, both in the air and in the market place (and was caused by a spat between France and Israel); whilst the B-29 and the Tu-4 were in the Cold War.

Anyway, just wondering what others think? Right, back to being on-topic!

OK, here is the Spitfire after paint removal:


Unfortantely, the fuselage is now splitting, the sanding and filling I did the other day is wasted, and the mainplanes are seperating from the fuselage. Other than that, it's fine... Oh well, it's a challange!

Osher, Looks like two steps forward, then one back . Keep on fighting, you'll get there eventually.

Regards, Rick

or in my case at times one step forward, two back and a jump to the side.. sometimes I get myself in interesting situation on a kit... I guess it keeps it interesting...

Well, my Iwata is being 'interesting' now (see my thread on Iwata Gremlins). Still, Iwata's customer service is top notch, and I should be up and running again soon. The only problem is that due to the airbush hassles I now have my Spitfire again with a poor paint finish!

So, I'm copying Tom: 1 step forward, 2 steps back!

Osher... even at that rate you'll still get to the end with it... you'll still be making way on the kit... just taking the long way around to get there.. (backwards )

You'll end up with all the idnivdual pieces and you can start with a clean slate!!

Tanky - I have the feeling I sent you the decals from my Bf110 when I sent you those swastikas... did they have like big bees eyes on the sheet with them?