The Airfix Welcome Back GB from Jan 07 to Dec 07

Thanks Bondoman! I am in the process of building the underwing stores now. The ESCI Harrier I was building along with this one had the AA Sidewinders on it. This one will have only bombs and rockets since I haven't gotten the pylon adapters needed to mount the Sidewinders on this one.

Thanks again for your compliment. I can try to re-shoot this on my wife's silver car when the wife gets home but onbly if I remember. 

Nicely done Duke!!!

I finally got started on my Spitfire MkI (1/72) which I am also entering in the spitfire build.  Pretty straight forward build though I did forget to put in the cockpit the first time around

Duke - Great job on the Harrier.  You really made the old kit come out nice.

Razordws - Nice start on the Spitfire.  I've been wanting to find a nice, inexpensive Spit for my kid to build and I've had my eye on the Airfix one. Look forward to seeing it turn out.

Gentlemen, thank you for the compliments! I really appreciate them.

I picked up a bunch more Airfix kits at the San Diego show a couple of weekends ago. I already got one of them ready for decals and the other is about half done. Thye are the 1/72 scale MBB Bo-105 helicopter (ready for decals) and the Hawker Hunter(half done). 

The Hunter:

The MBB Bo-105:

And I even painted the pilot:

That's what I got done so far on these. I'm making the Hunter into a Kuwaiti Hunter. Now if I can get the decals to work. These kits are so old, I don't know if they are still good enough to use even WITH a decal film! 

Hi,

I am going to have to change my kit. The dog didn't eat it, the cat did. I was having a lot of problems with the kit anyways, but the final straw arrived when I found the blades had been chewed and some broken by the furry monster. Luckily I have a couple more Airfix kits. Would it be ok for me to change to a Hurricane Mk IIc? 

Paul

Here's the Trimotor.

It was a bit of a knutbuster, but I'm happy with the results.

Bondoman

On the bench: Airfix 1/72 Canberra B1 0% for this GB

Really nice helicopter, and the Hunter has such nice lines. I assume it's a desert camouflage? I think I can see you in the helo canopy!

We're having a string of 90 deg days here- time to paint!

Thanks for the comments on the Ford- I'm going to take some outside too.

Bondoman

My daughter, Katherine, art directed the shoot. Kudos to a future designer.

Bondoman

bondoman wrote:

Really nice helicopter, and the Hunter has such nice lines. I assume it's a desert camouflage? I think I can see you in the helo canopy! Bondoman

Thanks Bondoman! Yeah,the Hunter will be in desert camo. It should be cooming along fast.

No, that's not me in the helo, it's my sister. That figure, although not evident from the distortion through the canopy, looked more like a woman than a guy when I was painting it. Thus my sister got in and is piloting this!  LOL!

Duke, NIce work as always.  That Hunter looks pretty cool, nice lines to that one.

Bondoman, nicely done   Difficult build but you pulled it off.

Got the decals on my spitfire last night.  Sorry for the poor quality pic but I'm using my web cam until my wife gets back from her trip.  I used some Aeromaster AM decals for Johnie Johnson's Mk I.

Well that helo is a doozy. I think you did a great job. It points up what is fun abt this GB- the kits are so old school that stuff like those 2" half dome rivets take you back to an earlier and innocent age.

Bondoman

I recently bought Airfix "100 years of flight" so I thought I'd join with anyone (or all) in this celebration of Airfix return. Airfix was one of my first building experiences along with some monsters from Aurora If it's ok to join I'll start with the Sopwith Camel.

Azgaron

Great job on the Bo-105.  It captures the feel of the old days, even though it looks like you cheated and used an airbrush instead of a 1/4 inch paint brush.  That has to be the way to do these older Airfix kits, go fast and have fun.  Well, in my case "go fast" is a relative term.  Just slightly ahead of a glacial pace!

The Spitfire looks good too.

Hi,

here's a quick update photo of the progress on the Hurricane this weekend. It's a pretty straightforward kit so far. No detail in the cockpit though, hence the quick progress. The 2 wing tops don't quite match up with the one piece bottom, so I have changed the build sequence slightly. A fair bit of flash to deal with, especially on the small items.

Paul

Try gluing the wing tops to the fuselage, and then joining the bottom. Sometimes its easier to sand all around the wings as opposed to filling the fuselage/wing joint.

Bondoman

on the bench 1/72 Canberra B.1 0%

Ford Trimotor- finished

Looking good Paul!  I've been trying to find one of those Hurricane kits myself so I look forward to seeing your build progress. 

I finished building my 1/72 sptifire Mk I but must wait until thursday for my wife to return with the camera before I can post some pics.

Thanks for the comments.

Bondoman: I've glued the bottom of the wings to the fuselage as I first checked to make sure there would be no gaps at the wing root. The allignment problems seem to be at the wing tips, rather than elsewhere on the wings. If I aligned the wingtips, then everything is out (panel lines etc) and there's a huge gap at the wing roots. Your way would work just as well. I just put the bottom on first to easily get the right dihedral.

razordws: So far it's pretty straightforward. No cockpit detail makes for a quick start. Masking the canopy will be a strain on the eyes I think. As I mentioned, some flash especially on the smaller parts requiring some delicate clean up, and the wings could be better.

Paul 

 Here are the  finished pics of my 1/72 scale Mk I.  Decals are from an Aeromaster Battle of Britain set and the only other thing I added are the aerials (invisible thread).

Comments welcome. 

Really nice looking Spitfire!

I tried a different approach on my Sopwith, painting before assembling. I seems like it's a technique used by many ww1 plane builders. I haven't done much yet, but here's a pic.

Next I'll try to make the wood around the cockpit and some shade and highlights, and of course finish the pilot. Hopefully I can borrow my dads camera again.

Azgaron

Another progress photo - not much further on from last weekend. The top of the wings are on a a few small bits of filler applied around the wing joins. Got to smooth out the wing tips and mask the tiny canopy next.

Paul

Thanks Bondoman! Yeah this kit brought back memories! What a blast to be able to have built it!

jeaton01 wrote:

Great job on the Bo-105.  It captures the feel of the old days, even though it looks like you cheated and used an airbrush instead of a 1/4 inch paint brush.  That has to be the way to do these older Airfix kits, go fast and have fun.  Well, in my case "go fast" is a relative term.  Just slightly ahead of a glacial pace! The Spitfire looks good too.

Thanks Jeaton! And even though it looks like I did, I didn't cheat. I painted this little guy with the old standby brushes. Fortunately the paint was much more thinned than expected so I was able to get a smooth coat.

Now to find another Airfix kit I may be able to finish.....  

Amen to that! I usually just put enough on to make it look busy. I don't like putting on so many small ones; one invariably gets lost/stuck to a finger during handling!

Lookinjg forward to seeing this Tornado!