alpinestar

Good stuff Andy. Loving that Merlin! Chris.

Cheers Doogs, the Lifecolor is pretty strange stuff! I primed with Alclad and the Lifecolor initially went down pretty awful - so awful in fact that I thought I'd junked it. Once it had dried though it was a perfect finish. As you say, strange. The other coats went on great. Weird stuff.

Hey fellas, Well I think I'm way overdue an update, so here goes..... Fuselage halves together and Aries pit installed after putting up a pretty hefty fight..... Got the wings in place and after a fair bit of filler got it primed and pre-shaded. There were a few fit issues with this (as Doogs mentioned in his build). I found the wing/fuselage join and the engine/wing joins needed a fair bit of work. Also around the nose area too, so watch out if you're thinking of doing one of these... Top coats were done with the Lifecolor acrylic Luftwaffe paint set. Nice paint when I finally got the mix right, that took a bit of practice.....I decided on the box art scheme of RLM 81, 82 & 76 as it looks kinda funky.... And that's where I'm at right now. I'm just giving it an initial wash, as you can see on the wings, and then I'll dirty her up a bit. Cheers guys. Chris.

Great start mate! That Mosquito book you have there is the one I used, found it to be a great source of reference. It's great that you got the Paragon ammo chutes, the kit rubber ones are flippin' rubbish..... Chris.

Hey Fellas, Well I've been working on this for a while so it's about time to start a WIP. I've got the Aires 'pit and wheel wells along with the Big Ed set and will be using a mix of both, along with a bit of scratch thrown in. The Aires stuff is superbly detailed but (as always) is a right biatch to fit! The Dremel's seen a lot of action.....Also got some very nice Barracuda Cast wheels. Just got the 'pit finished and painted up. Got to do the seat once the HGW belts arrive. I'm now trying to force the Aires nose undercarriage bay into the fuse...Just about there I think with a little kit modification No idea of a scheme yet, but I'll think about that a bit later on. Cheers Guys, Chris.

MIke, When I did my Spitfire I hand painted the bare metal on after the main paint coats had been applied. I found it easier to control the effect. I used slightly thinned silver, either Vallejo or Citadel - best for hand painting - and a very fine brush. I then went over the silver with a dark wash and powders till I thought it looked ok. Chris.

That bottom one looks familiar too Matt! How's yours coming along?

Picked these up last week at a local show, got a very good deal on all of them . Only dilemma is......what to do next?

Martin, I told the Airfix guy that "I would take 4 NOW! How much do you want....." I did try to smuggle away the sprues pinned to the wall, but I got caught. A few times....

Hi Guys, Some shots of the new AIrfix 1/24th Typhoon! Taken with my phone so apologies for the quality... Chatting to the AIrfix guy, he said it should be under £100 retail, with maybe a 'Car Door' option to follow. The fuselage mouldings allow the car door parts to be fitted, apparently. Oh, and he didn't rule out a bomber variant of the Mosquito either!! Really looking forward to this Tiffie. Around June time for release. Cheers, Chris.

Matt, good points there. I wasn't trying to preach. I did miss a sentence off my post. The last sentence should have been 'Each to their own' Chris.

Sorry, I don't get this thread. I do this hobby because I enjoy doing this hobby. As an engineer I am, and always have been, fascinated by how things are put together and this hobby give me the ability to build stuff and see the engineering that goes into a plastic kit. Important for me too is accuracy and the challenge to achieve this. Personally, I have very little interest in opening the box of a 'perfect' kit and just building it. A good percentage of the enjoyment I get from doing this is fixing things that are wrong and inaccurate. This is the reason I have little interest in these new 'perfect' kits from Tamiya, WNW and the likes. I like a challenge and I like to (attempt) to make things as accurate as possible through detailing/scratchbuilding. I like Trumpeter kits and I like Airfix kits because, invariably, there will be work to do to get them up to a good standard (personally speaking). This, to me, is called Modelling. Not gluing together. In essence, if something is wrong, fix it. It's the challenge. It's Modelling. It's why I do it. Chris.

I also used CA glue on mine and it worked out ok. I also brushed them with water after they were fitted to the seat to make them pliable. They will dry in the position you put them in while they're wet and soggy, just don't pull them about too much when they are wet....

Really nice kits James. And if you want a little extra, Trumpeter do their own PE set, sold separately. Mastercasters also do some funky looking PE panels too: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/TU02415 One thing though, if you plan on displaying the engine then be aware that it is not at all accurate! It's the same engine that's in the Spit kit that I did and that was a pretty poor representation of a Merlin!

The Velvet Underground. One of my very favourite bands. RIP Lou.

I don't normally plan, I usually go on impulse! However, this is the plan for next year: 1/24th Vintage Fighter Series P-40 1/24th Trumpeter A6M2b Zero Both will be long term builds I guess, so that should the year sorted!

Jamme, Really cool build mate! I love that cockpit, looks superb. The inside of the jet pipe is very impressive! Great stuff....

......my pennies worth.... For close-up mottling (is that how you spell that?) I remove the needle cap/close-up cap all together and just use it with a bare needle (Iwata HP-CS). Seems to work better close up with a clear needle. Oh, and Warsteiner. I like Warsteiner. We used to call it Wobbly when I was living in Germany with the RAF. Something to do with the effect after 7 or 8.....!!

Oh, forgot to mention Dave, the chipping was done after paint and decals. Done with a fine brush with the AK711 Chipping Colour. Chris.

Cheers Guys, Dave & Bruce, The paints and most of the weathering products all came from AK Interactive. I've listed below everything I used: 1. AK550: Afrika Korps Color Set 2. AK066: Wash for DAK Vehicles 3. AK065: Afrika Korps Filter 4. AK067: Streaking Grime for DAK Vehicles 5: AK022: Africa Dust Effects 6: AK041: North Africa Dust Pigment 7: AK711: Chipping Color I also used some Desert Sand pigment powder too, fixed with Vallejo matt varnish. The AK Interactive paints and weathering stuff are, frankly, superb! I wish they would do aircraft colours too, it's some of the best paint I've used! All the techniques I learned from watching Youtube videos. I just searched for 'AK Interactive' or 'Tank Weathering'. Theres loads on there, hours of entertainment! Hope this helps, Chris.

Hi Guys, Here's the second of my armour builds, Dragon Panzer III Ausf.G. I didn't do a WIP as it was a fairly quick, OOB build (apart from the tracks which are from Friul). Cheers Guys, hope you like!

Mike, the chipping was just painted on with a fine brush using Vallejo Panzer Grey. Nothing special, just random chips and scratches.

Thanks Guys. Stik, the stain on the lower front hull is present on a number of photos of 121. Not sure about the missing wheels though, this may be a case of 'Artistic License' to give a bit of variety! Chris.

Hi Guys, I finished my first armor build! I have to say, very enjoyable and I see a few more to come! Tamiya Afrika Tiger kit with Voyager Model PE set, stowage bin, metal barrel, Friul tracks. Tiger 121, 1 Co. sPzAbt 501, Tunisia 1942. Thanks Guys, hope you like! Chris.

Hey Guys, This is now finished! I've put some pics in Finished Work. Thanks all for the comments Chris.