Spitfire

This is what is happening on my bench, first up I cleared it of anything that was getting in my way, so the plastic drawers with my paint in had to go, all eight of them. These were relegated to shelving units behind my chair, so a quick swivel in my chair and I can access them. Then I bought what looked like a more compact set of modelling drawers from a UK based company called EBMA Hobby and Craft, these arrive in kit form, see below. Out with the wood glue and this emerged after one hour, probably the fastest build that my desk has ever seen. It is szed for Humbrol tinlets, so my Humbrol, Xtracolor, Revell and Sovereign Colour coats can live in them. The company also does shelves and storage for other makes of paint and makes other useful model related items. Cheer Dennis

Beautifully done John, another great build. Cheers Dennis

Impressive build as usual John, I will use it as inspiration when I get around to building mine, but I doubt it will be built as fast. Cheer Dennis

Nice one John, many years ago I built the Hasegawa 109G after a long string of ancient Revell kits and I could not believe what an enjoyable build it was, I must get around to build another some time, I have a few in the stash. Cheers Dennis

Gosh that sounds really scary, it would frighten me to death, glad to hear that you know what it is and you are getting treatment. Cheers Dennis

That is looking great, I really must get back into military modelling one day, I always used to find it more relaxing than aircraft. Cheers Dennis

Amazing work, way beyond me nowadays but its great to watch your progress. Cheers Dennis

For a future build of a Hobbycraft P51A, from Aerocraft Models, spinner and blades. Cheers Dennis

Thank you guys, slowly, slowly, is the way forward. Cheers Dennis

Nice one John the 109F is probably (in my view) the best looking 109 there was and looks really well in desert finish, that well in fact that I have one in the stash. Cheers Dennis

Thank you for that Peter, it is more tempting to do too much with the right hand than it was with the left, but my ever vigilant better half very quickly shuts me down if I get too adventurous. Cheers Dennis

Well the left hand is healing nicely and the right is coming along well so some bench time was due. I'm still working on the PCM Macchi C200, the airframe is all together, the one job that was worrying me was getting the engine and cowling to mate up to the fuselage so I set about it. First up was getting the positioning of the engine and the cowling right, this required spacers on the nose of the fuselage and also some "stops" inside the cowling to ensure that the engine did not protrude too far out of the cowling. Then the bridge between the fuselage and cowling needed to be fettled to make it fit. All this required some head scratching which was putting me off working on it but eventually I got there. Nose spacers Engine stops And the engine fitted And the result, a tad blurred but it looks about right, nothing is glued yet as I want to get the cowling (Yellow) and airframe (camo) painted first. Cheers Dennis

Guilty as charged I also have boxes of left over parts and parts from scrapped models, I do dip into them from time to time as well, they do come in handy. Cheers Dennis

Now that looks really good. Cheers Dennis

I have 2 of these in the stash so it will be interesting to follow this build, lead on. Cheers Dennis

Thats pretty shocking to see such a historic aircraft rotting away, what a shame. Cheers Dennis

Superb, just superb Dennis

Neat piece of problem solving, proper modelling. Cheers Dennis

I am not a great fan of "modern" subjects but the Hustler is such an amazing looking aircraft that it does capture my imagination, and I have always like that camouflage scheme, great work, can't wait to see the finished result. Cheers Dennis

Nice one Peter, that looks great. Cheers Dennis

Absolutely bonkers, but also a magnificent build, what an awesome sight the real thing must have been looking at the WW2 photos. The RAF's first heavy, such a significant subject, for us mortals a 1/48 scale kit would do. Cheers Dennis

No problem, it's nice to share the knowledge that Edgar gathered over the years. Cheers Dennis

The 1 man army masks have been rated highly by people who have used them especially the smaller stencil masks, I have a set for a future Revell Hurricane build. Cheers Dennis

No problem Peter, there is a PDF which contains a lot of Edgar's not just about Spitfires as well. https://jonbius.com/edgar-brooks-spitfire-notes/ Cheers Dennis

Spitfire walkway lines never go over the national markings, here's a thread from Britmodeller with words of wisdom from the late Spitfire expert Edgar. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234920715-spitfire-wing-walk-markings/ Official instructions were that nothing should encroach onto the roundels. Remember that the line ran along the line of the mainspar, so you're probably seeing that panel line showing through, not the paint. Edgar Potato Pete, on Jun 20 2012, 07:37 PM, said: - do you know if the layout for the wing walk markings changed over time? I've just been comparing the Airfix Spit Mk 1 pattern with the Tamiya Mk IX and they're quite different. Or is that just poor research on their part? I can imagine them varying after repaints in the field. On early aircraft, the emphasis was on keeping the erks' boots (rubber-soled, by the way) off the area of the radiator, since a dished top surface, in that area, meant a replacement wing. This meant that the port wing lines ran like a backward "Z" up alongside the cockpit, then left along the mainspar, then right out to the leading edge at the wingtip joint. The starboard wing's line went straight from wingroot out to wingtip. When the set-up went to two radiators, the wings' top surfaces were strengthened, so that erks could walk either side of the cockpit, but still had to keep off the radiators' area. You then had two sets of lines which were identical, but mirror images of each other, i.e. the original backward Z to port and Z to starboard. Hope this helps Cheers Dennis