tony o

Hello folks, Well the latest update isn`t brilliant but consider the nose art a real `work in progress' and this is the first coat of paint after all! After the paint dries I`ll make parts of the artwork smaller by filling it in using Dark Green and then apply the second coat of white; Ben- I thought that you`d have guessed which unit I was doing by the colour of the spinner and the Vokes filter,.......the operational Polish Hurri`s flew from the UK! No I only need the Techmod sheet for the upper and lower wing roundels but I may do my next PCM Hurri Mk.I in Polish B of B markings? No I`m trying to do Billy Drake`s 128 Sqn Hurri Mk.IIb BD897, WG-M from the time that he was the CO of this West African based unit, the real artwork can be seen in the photo! Cheers for now, Tony

Hiya Folks, Sorry if I`m hogging the forum,.....bu if anybody is interested here is the /32nd scale Hobbycraft Sea Fury which I finished a few months ago, painted in the silver and red scheme worn by the Aerobatics Flight of the Royal Australian Navy`s 805 NAS, circa 1958. Some nice photos of the real aircraft including three in colour appear on pages 70-72 of Tony Butlers Sea Fury book by Dalrymple & Verdun and my original built thread is here on Britmodeller; http://www.britmodel...ings/?p=1433498 Anyway, here is the model, Tamiya silver spray paint, with Humrol enamel gloss red and varnish applied by brush; I`d like to say a very big thank you to Peter who helping me out with the vacuformed canopy and I`m sure you`ve seen his fantastic 1/32nd scale land based Hawker Furymodel which is also based on the Hobbycraft kit, but light years ahead of mine! I believe that the Fury is on this site but it can also be found here; http://forum.largesc...showtopic=40054 Cheers mate!! I`ve got quite a few previously built 1/32nd scale models so without wanting to come across as a big head, I`ll drop them in now and again if that is OK,.....unless there are any objections? All the best Tony O

Thanks folks, Straightforward build,......whats one of those then Ben,....as if you`d know?!! The Aeromaster paints are the last I have,....I bought some in bulk from an E-Bay seller in the States who appears to have found some in bulk in an old lock up or bought an old Hobby Shop with lots of old stock left, plus a very kind person on Britmodeller who noticed that I used them said that he had some that he didn`t use so he sent them to me free of charge,.... so cheers for that Andy,...I`m immensely grateful. Dennis,....you weren`t the only one expecting a series of Hurricane`s from PCM,......maybe they didn`t sell so well,...mind you they are already becoming as rare as rocking horse **** to find so somebody must have bought them all? Not guilty by the way,......I`ve only got four and two of those are already built,.......the remaining two are to be a B of B aircraft and a Sea Hurricane! No update yet as I`m still attempting the nose art! Plus I`m waiting for a Tech Mod decal sheet to arrive from Hannants as I don`t have the correct sized upper and lower wing roundels in my spares box and the kit items are cracked into a million parts, Cheers Tony

Peter this is amazing so far and well up there with your Hawker Fury, keep up the good work, Cheers Tony

Next update,......painting has begun and having decided that the model was going to be a Mk.IIb after all and not a Mk.IIa (some of the options that I was looking at could have been IIa`s!),....the extra gun bay doors were scribed into the outer wings with two new gun ports drilled out. Aeromaster Dark Earth was brushed on using a nice wide brush and some of the detail parts can also be seen here too, including a gun sight from the spares box, left over Rotol blades from the PCM Hurri kit which may replace the resin blades, the vacformed canopy and a dash cover made from plastic card; Having completed the first colour,.....the first coat of Dark Green has been applied for the disruptive camouflage, again using an old bottle of Aeromaster acrylic and a hairy stick; And the 2nd coat,....plus the spinner has been painted white,.....any guesses as to the scheme that I`ve chosen?; The spinner might give it away here, with its first coats of paint applied ....painting is now finished on the main airfrrame with the application of Aeromaster Finnish Light Blue to represent British Sky Blue, as applied to the majority of Hurricane`s sent overseas. The spinner ; Thats everything up to date for now,......I`m going to have a go at hand painting some nose art onto the model but if it is a disaster I have a fall back plan to obliterate it and choose another aircraft from the same unit! Cheers Tony

Hiya Folks, Ben told me that I must post a work in progress so even though I`m more of a bodger compared to other more skillful modellers,....here is the progress on my Revell Hurricane so far; First off, here is the Grey Matter Figures resin conversion set,.....it was to have been a Mk.IId but I decided to build it as a Mk.IIb instead and save the cannons for another day; I set to whittling away one night while watching a film and before I knew it I had sanded all of the rivets away, re scribed the parts, cut the Revell fuselage down fixed it together, attached the upper wing parts and fitted the replacement resin nose section! Pity the break line isn`t along a panel line but with careful cutting, filling and sanding it can be disguised,....hopefully!; The Grey Matter Figures cockpit is excellent and much better than the kit parts, so this was obtained as well. It could be fitted from below, which is why the lower wings were not fitted yet and here is the cockpit before; and after,...ready for fitting, although I still have to do some detail painting, especially the brass firing button on the control column; Here is the cockpit with the main kit parts; Once the cockpit was in place the lower wings were fitted, along with the Vokes filter and the radiator. A section of armour plating was fitted behind the pilots head rest, made from plastic card; I couldn`t afford the Grey Matter Figures wheel well set this time (although it is excellent and I`ve used one before on a previous Hurri!) but the lower wing section still had to be cut to accept the resin nose. Unfortunately I made the cut bigger than it should so the gap was packed with scrap plastic and filler!; Almost time to start painting,...more to follow! Cheers Tony

Brilliant Tom, It just keeps on getting better and better,......those turrets look gorgeous and the bomb bay and wing cells are totally fanastic! Cheers Tony

I`ve been following this one elsewhere before I joined this website and you are doing a fabulous job,....looking forward to seeing it finished, Cheers Tony

Thanks everybody, glad you like it! I don`t own an airbrush and to be honest I look at some of your work and weep because I`d never be capable of such great schemes,....but I`ve got used to brushes, enjoy using them and so continue to dabble away at my table in the kitchen where my lovely other half wouldn`t allow me to use an airbrush anyway, although rattle cans for colours like silver and yellow do come in handy,........applied outside in the back yard when the weather is suitable! Cheers Tony

Thanks everybody, glad you like it, Cheers Tony

Hiya Steve, Probably the latter mate as I struggle to get to the meetings. I hope you enjoyed the Harvard mate,......Alison and Rob bought me a Harvard (well Texan!) flight in Florida for my 40th,.....so I know how good it can be,.....I didn`t dress like a spoon though! Cheers Tony

Hiya Folks, I love building off beat subjects in Commonwealth service and here is another of my comparatively recent builds, this one is the 1/32nd scale Trumpeter kit as KH594/ GN-Y of 249 Sqn. RAF based in Italy in 1944. In the September 2000 issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling (Whose Aircraft in detail featured- Battle of Britain aircraft) there were some photos inside which had been sent in by Geoff Payne from Leeds, whose father flew KH594/GN-Y whilst serving with 249 Sqn. Of interest to me was the fact that this veteran mentioned that the Mustang III`s of this unit were painted Brown and Green just as I`d always suspected they were and also that his personal aircraft wore a sharkmouth! After all many Mustang III`s were delivered in brown and green and this was a popular scheme on Commonwealth close support aircraft based in Italy, many of which were converted from desert colours. I just had to model this aircraft so using the photos which were so kindly sent in by Geoff, I attempted to hand paint the sharkmouth onto the model using Humbrol enamels (I may have replicated it a bit too big?) and the camouflage was also brush painted using Polly Scale Dark Earth and Olive Drab with Testors Light Grey underneath, whilst yellow i/d stripes were added to the wings and tail using Humbrol enamel Gloss Yellow. All decals came from the spares box and the name `Baby' was added because an illegible name similar to this appears in the photo. As for the Trumpeter kit itself, it was nice in some areas but poor in others, especially the exhausts.! I would not buy another one at full cost but until Tamiya get around to the P-51B/C it is the only game in town for now,..... Anyway here is the model; Personally I`m not very happy with the exhausts on this model and might change them if I can find suitable parts, but I hope you like it, Cheers Tony

Thanks chaps,...glad you like it, Cheers Tony

Cheers Fella`s, The thing with PCM kits is that you have to put them back in the box now and again, do something easier and then come back to them,..that`s what I do anyway! ........Steve, like your hat mate! Hope you are keeping well? All the best Tony

I`ve seen photos of the real Marder manned by British infantry (one of the Fusilier regiments I think?) and you`ve `captured' it beautifully,...... great modelling and fantastic subject, Cheers Tony

That is really nice,.......very believable too apart from the large Squirrel,......only kidding! I`m not really into German armour but I do like this one a lot,...well done, Cheers Tony

That really is very nice indeed,.....a beautiful job and you can never have enough Centurion`s! I`m not an `all in' armour modeller,.....more of a dabbler who mostly builds aeroplanes, so I did wonder if the Guards Armoured `All Seeing Eye' divisional markings was correct for a Korean War Centurion? I would have thought that a Commonwealth Division or Bde marking would be more relevant, but I am by no means an expert on these matters ? Cheers Tony

Hiya Folks, Having already built the Roden 1/35th scale Rolls Royce Armoured Car kit as one which took part in the fighting in Iraq during 1941I was keen to build another which fought in the Western Desert, complete with desert tyres, Boys anti tank rifle and Lewis gun mounted on a Scarff ring taken from an inter war biplane, Here is the result, built as a car from 4 Section, 1 RAF Armoured Car Company RAF. For the Caunter Scheme I used the Lifecolour British Middle East vehicle set and they brush painted brilliant, Hope you like it, Cheers Tony PS- If anybody is interested here is my first Roller;

Hello Folks, Here is my much modified Tamiya Sherman using various different bits and pieces from the spares box to depict a British Mk.III which is based on an amalgamation of two different tanks found in photos and using Bison Decals. For all I know they `COULD' have been the same tank and that was good enough for me, hope you like it anyway, I`m not really an armour modeller, I just dabble in between aeroplanes so please be kind? Cheers Tony

Hiya Folks, Me again,......seeing as Ben asked me to post some other recent builds,.....here is a Tempest which I finished a few weeks ago. This is another model which had been underway on and off for some time but I finally got around to finishing it and it was a very nice kit to build, it just needed a bit of fettling along the way. Markings are mostly from the kit but the roundels and fin flashes are from the spares box as the colours in kit ones were a bit bright, and unfortunately the crown on the 33 Sqn badge on the fin is a current Queens crown rather than the correct Kings crown from the late 1940`s! As I have a soft spot for 33 Sqn (they put me forward for an award while serving with them in Turkey!) the model represents SN213/ 5R-S from this unit when it formed part of the post war British Air Forces of Occupation (BAFO) in Germany, Although the kit includes highly accurate drop tanks with clear fairings I left these off the model as these were not present on my reference photo of the real thing. Anyway here is the model; The main silver paintwork was from a Tamiya rattle can but the rest was brush painted with Xtradecal WW2 Roundel Blue for the spinner and Polly Scale matt varnish to dull down the silver to make it look more like weathered RAF Hugh Speed Silver paint which was applied over the original grey/ green finish on the real aircraft. The only addition to the basic model was the use of Barracuda Cast resin post war Tempest wheels which had the distinctive block tread. Hope you like it, Cheers Tony

Cheers James, Sorry but I didn`t take any construction shots this time! Thanks for the welcome, All the best Tony

Hiya Folks, This is my first post on this site so first of all,.....hello everybody,...and I hope that you like my model! Having recently built the Pacific Coast Models Tempest I decided to resume building a part started PCM Hurricane and here is the result. A Vokes filter from Grey Matter Figures was grafted onto the nose and after the early desert scheme of Middle Stone and Dark Earth wth Sky Blue undersides was brushed on using some old Aeromaster acrylics (cheers again Andy!),...using Finnish Light Blue to represent Sky Blue, the 73 Sqn flash was measured out and masked off on the fuselage sides. Using the a reference photo as a guide and comparing the shades of this flash to those of the dull wartime roundels it appears that this was applied using bright pre war colours so Humbrol gloss yellow and French Blue were also applied by brush. The under wing roundels from the PCM kit are far too large, so these had to be found from the spares box, which was a bit of a bind and the fin flashes had to be cropped short,..however they are still slightly too narrow ! The code `U' came from Xtradecal and the serial came from a very handy set of 32nd scale serials from Ventura. Anyway here is the finished model,...hope you like it; All the best Tony PS- I`ve always wanted to add a desert finished 1/32nd scale Hurricane Mk.I to my collection and I`m really chuffed to be able to do so at last! Another 1/32nd scale Hurricane `must do' is a Malta based Mk.IIa or b or one of those involved in the early battles in the Far East and I`m part way through modifying the old Revell kit using the Grey Matter Figures conversion with the nose already grafted into position..

That is very nice indeed and exactly what I`m planning to do with my kit too,...one day! Cheers Tony