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Tamiya's Mk.VIII kit with BarracudaCast BR32001 seat, BR3202 cockpit door with crowbar, BR32003 cockpit upgrade set, and BR32010 Z-block 4 slot mainwheels; Quickboost QB32143 Mk.VIII fishtail exhausts; and Master AM32016 Hispano cannons. Markings, shark mouth and "Grey Nurse" were painted on using masks provided by Mal Mayfiled at Miracle Paint Masks. Weathered using oil and enamel washes. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph. WIP post http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/1165-132-tamiya-spitfire-mkviii-raaf-grey-nurse/

Hello Benjamin. A long road travelled and a well-deserved result. Great to see her finished and looking the part. Congrats. Cheers, Ralph.

Hello Edgar. Many thanks for the information - very much appreciated. Thankfully Tamiya supplies the underwing bar aerial that you describe. Benjamin: many thatnks for helping out. Cheers, Ralph.

Getting closer to the end. Airframe washed with MIG 502 Abteilung Abt125 Light Mud on the green bits and AK Interactive AK045 Dark Brown for Green Vehicles around the engine and on the grey bits. Kept the overall weathering on the lighter side for this one... ... Roy's Spitfire Z-Block 4 Slot Mainwheels BR32010... ... teeth... ... teeth... ... and Quickboost's Spitifire Mk.VIII Exhaust-Fishtal QB32143. Painted with Model Master Burnt Iron Buffing Metalizer; washed with Vallejo Model Colour 70826 German Cam. Medium Brown; and dry-brushed with 70990 Light Grey. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Getting closer to finishing Tamiya's Royal Australian Air Force Spitfire MK.VIII. Might anyone know what aerial (? antenna) configuration was used on these aircraft? Any advice very much appreciated. Cheers, Ralph.

Hello Jeroen. Enjoyed watching and learning from your build thread. Your finished model looks suitably forlorn. Lovely stuff. Cheers, Ralph.

What a great-looking aeroplane. Lovely finish Dave. I particularly like the red-brown colour and the way that you've varied the tones fore and aft of the exposed engine. Adds a nice dimension. Can I ask what colour(s) you used for the red-brown? Cheers, Ralph.

Hello Jonathan: the end of the clear sprue offcut was heated in the candle and then pushed into the hole. For some reason it forms a nice rounded end. Cheers, Ralph. Hello Jamme: when I saw the Montex mask set, I thought the scheme was too hard to pass up. Then when Wumm posted the picture of the aircraft, it was one of those "have to have a go at it" things. Cheers, Ralph.

Great to see that classic kit built and finished so nicely. Cheers, Ralph.

Hello Bertyl. Very skillful - and very generous. Many thanks. Ralph.

Hello Bertl. Many thanks for the lessons in how to achieve such a high level of scale model aeroplane replication. Your photos make it very pleasing to study. Appreciate your generosity when it comes to sharing your modelling interest. Cheers. Ralph.

Hello Dave. Good to see another of the Revell kits finished. Like your choice of scheme too. Great stuff. Cheers, Ralph.

Hey Jeroen: great to see your progress. Watching with interest to see how she all comes together. Cheers, Ralph.

Cheers Gents - apreciate your time and comments. Matt: yes - BarracudaCast wheels - BR32071. Cheers, Ralph.

Hasegawa's G-6... The tail light was made by pushing clear sprue heated in a candle flame through the 0.048 hole in the Waldron Model Products Sub-miniature punch & die set. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph. WIP link: http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/1644-132-hasegawa-bf-109-g-6r6-yellow-4-3jg300/

Woodshedwings: glad to hear it - hope you get some fun out of trying. Paulster: gets rather ugly if you get too close! mikester: I can't build Revell to save my life - still haunted by their He111. Model's done - pics over in "Finsihed Work"...

Tried for some inboard wing grime and wear... Silver chips were painted first using a 50:50 mix of Citadel Chainmail and Boltgun Metal, followed by some Vallejo 70826 German Cam. Medium Brown chips applied with a dry sponge. Successive layers of watery 70826 were then daubed on using a wet sponge to try to give a patchy filter effect, and to tone down the Citadel silvers. Hard-edged "things" were added using black, warm grey and yellow ochre Faber-Castell watercolour pencil marks moved around with a small damp paintbrush. 2B graphite pencil was used for some bright highlights. Watery Vallejo 70950 Black was daubed onto the prop blades using a wet sponge. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Hello Jeroen: very interest work - great to see the model up close. The additional plans/museum pics are also very helpful and useful. Many thanks for sharing. Cheers, Ralph.

Cheers Gents. Basic paint work, kid's watercolour panel line washes, and Testors Dullcote on - now ready to start the airframe weathering. Roy Sutherland's "Bf 109G RIBBED HUB-SMOOTH TYRE" (BR32071). Tyre painted XF-63 German Grey, washed with Vallejo 70822 German Cam. Black Brown, and lightly sponged with some Vallejo Panzer Aces 321 Highlight British Tanker. Went very slowly with the drill - still some kit part trimming needed. Jerry Crandall's "Bf 109 Spinner" (EP#20-32) instead of the kit spinner. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Cheers Gents. Hey Jeroen: good to hear. We might yet finish the Grey Nurses then! Markings on using a combination of Montex and Miracle Paint Mask masks. Balkencreuz black infill done with a 50:50 mix of XF-1 and XF-69; waves with XF-85. Yellow was a 50:50 mix of XF-3 and H413. Was surprised at how the blacks sucked the life out of the yellow. Doesn't pay to get any closer - even after careful wet-sanding with 6000 grade Micromesh. Thanks again for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Thanks Gents. Mike: I use Tamiya and Gunze acryilics thinned with Tamiya lacquer thinner - usually starting with about 70% thinner, and adding more for the in-close stuff. The paints are applied using an Aztek A470 airbrush fitted with their 0.3mm tan tip. Pressures are around 20-25psi, plus or minus the regulator gauge accuracy. Most of the application is done at about 5-10mm from the surface, with a jittery/shaky motion so that the density of the paint, and the shapes of the mottles look random. Most of the pre-shading is just mucking around to see what influence colours and shapes have on the topcoat colours. It could all be done just by post-shading I guess. Jerry: I do use Dullcote tinted with Tamiya acrylic colours as a way of adding dirt/grime. I've not tried it with an acrylic flat clear - must give it a go some time. Steve: had a go at following Frank's lead by overspraying the fuselage with a bit more light blue. This was applied with Tamiya's 0.2mm Superfine airbrush after losing it bigtime trying to emulate the results of local friends whose talent with this weapon far surpass mine (thanks Doorgunnars). Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Cheers Steve - very much appreciated. Man am I a mile off..

Thanks Steve - was beaten by a flickr door gunner who wouldn't let me pass. More mucking about. RLM74/74 colours were based on a mix approach used by Marty Sandford on Hyperscale a long time ago. RLM75 areas loosely infilled with XF-77, then topcoated with a 3:2 mix of H69 and XF-50 (Marty used a 5:1 mix of XF-24 and XF-50). RLM74 areas were infilled with XF-74... ... and topcoated with a 4:1 mix of H68 and XF-27 (Marty used a 3:2 mix of XF-24 and XF-27). RLM76 was a 3:1 mix of XF-2 and XF-23, tightened up around the edges with some H57, and then some XF-19 (Marty used a 7:2:1 mix of XF-2, XF-66 and XF-23). Thanks again for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Hasegawa's G-6 kit with ideas of modelling Lt Manfred Dieterle's "Yellow 4", based on the Montex Super Mask set K32024... ... some left-over Eduard bits and lead foil... ... it does say "Fills fine gaps. Creates invisible seams." Tried it for some larger areas but wasn't keen on the results. Too grainy and soft so went back to Mr Surfacer. Another go at some "black" using a base coat of X-18 Satin Black followed by random mucking about with a 50:50 mix of XF-68 NATO and XF-69 NATO Black; some XF-85 Rubber Black; and finally XF-69 NATO Black... XF-68, 69 and 85 were also used to start preshading the topside and exhaust stain areas. Not managed to find any pics of Dieterle's Yellow 4. Any assistance would be much appreciated. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Ralph.

Lovely work indeed. Nice pics to show it off with too. Beaut stuff. Cheers, Ralph.