GusMac

Looking good Jeroen. How does the Lee Enfield shoot? I vaguely remember my grandfather using one in the mid 70s to shoot vermin on the farm. I think he may have got it when he was in the Home Guard.

Engine looks lovely. Is that an original .303 rifle?

Cockpit looks great Danny, nice and dusty. Thanks also for the info about ordering Mr Paint.

Thanks Dennis. I've made a bit more progress, got the metalwork painted in various shades of the Vallejo Metals - pale burnt metal, magnesium and jet exhaust. Just need to get the turkey feathers done and then these can be weathered. Have ordered some of the Uschi van der Rosten metal powders to try with this. Plan for the weekend is to use the Maketar masks and get the insignia done. Will try and get some pics soon.

Yeah, finding things like that out just after you've done something is always interesting. What to do next? ... Laugh, cry or just throw it at the wall?!?

Thanks Danny, that's good to know. As a matter of interest, did you order them direct from them?

Sounds good. Can't imagine there are too many Manchester 'experts' out there.

Looks good Danny. How were the Mr Paint to work with? The finish certainly looks very good.

Good to see this back in progress, Cees

I'm sure he'd like the taste of Phoenix, he is quite the gourmet! His latest little titbit was the keyfob for my daughter's moped. I haven't tried any of the recent Revell offerings like the Fw190 but the feedback again seems to be that they are good value for money. My only gripe with the Ju88 was the fit of the gondola but that might just have been my construction skills.

Just looked that one up online and it looks interesting. I know a local hotelier who imports a lot of your Belgian beers, so I must ask him if he knows that one. I always find the strengths of your beers amazing. We have enough alcohol related troubles in Scotland with 3 to 4% strengths nevermind 2 or 3 times that! However the problem is that many people here's idea of a good night is maximum consumption in the minimum of time unfortunately.

Too much temptation there. We have a nice little micro brewery in our village and a few others are springing up nearby so it's a good time to be a beer lover. The traditional 'big' beers here in Scotland are horrible fizzy, synthetic rubbish, so having some nice craft beers is great.

Looking forward to this Danny. You have a great selection of references to help you there. Just tried a beer from down the road from you tonight. Pawel Kwak from the brewery in Buggenhout - lovely but you couldn't have too many at 8.4%!

Sorry to hear about the ribs Dennis. Hope it doesn't hurt too much. I laid down the gloss primer tonight so will hopefully get the first of the metallics down tomorrow. The Vallejo paints certainly don't smell badly at all so the mask was barely needed. If you are looking for one I can heartily recommend the 3M masks - very reasonable as well. Working in healthcare has a few perks, one of which is easy access to a ready supply of latex gloves. This is the first big Tamiya kit I've done and it is very nice but I've previously done Revell Ju88 and Ju87 and you do get a lot for your money with those. Thanks for the help with the missile, hopefully the dog stays well away this time.

Hi Dennis, sounds like you have plenty on your plate. How are the Revell F15E kits? The Tamiya is very nice but definitely has a few fit issues, well certainly in my paws. The new uber kits like the F4 Corsair seem to be pretty flawless in comparison. I got a 3M mask which has a full set of organic filters and is comfortable even with glasses and an optivisor on! Have certainly read plenty about how noxious the Alclad is so have avoided it, although the results do look pretty spectacular on some of the NMF builds you see. It's the Mr Levelling Thinner I find grabs the throat without the mask. I am going with the Vallejo Metal Color acrylics for the rear areas so fumes shouldn't be an issue. Plan is to start that tomorrow night. What I don't know is how much to thin these for overcoating the base colours to try and replicate the heat effects. Thanks for the info on the salt. I think l will stick with the acrylics as I know just how far I can push it with thinning them. Wouldn't plan to leave the salt on overnight anyway so hopefully shouldn't cause issues. How do you paint a T Rex? Surely it's all guesswork as no skin pigment survives in the fossils? Have seen some pretty cool looking builds on varioous forums though! Anyway, hopefully have some more progress soon. Cheers, Gus

Ah, the curse of the 'box set' strikes again!

Lovely, the polished wood looks like those gorgeous cruisers you see on Lake Como.

Oops, anyone else spot the c*** up!? Just started masking for the gloss black primer on the metallic areas and realised I've left too much of the upper surface unpainted. The metallics should start at the panel line approximately 1/3 back from the leading edge of the fins rather than at the leading edge as it currently is sitting. Time to crack out the airbrush and fix that before we proceed. Have been following a great build of a 1/48 F-15I over on MSC who made the same error and even that didn't ring any bells that I'd done the same thing! Ah, well, no real harm done.

Ok, here's a bit more progress. Apologies the photos are a bit over-exposed - took them outside to take advantage of some nice Autumnal sunshine but it was a bit too bright. Not often a problem up here in October! The difference between the greys is quite subtle but that seems to be true for the IDF aircraft of this era. Have ordered some Maketar masks for the main insignia as I want to paint them on before the salt fading. On that subject does anyone have any advice as to the best enamels for this? I've used Tamiya and Gunze acrylics since I came back to the hobby but they seem to react 'funny' with the salt according to what I've read. I thought I'd try enamels but the last time I used any was the old Airfix and Humbrol pots ladling it on with a brush 30+ years ago. Any thoughts comments as to the best brand for this and thinning materials would be welcome. Cheers, Gus

Lovely Micha. A very unusual subject, beautifully done.

Nice, the cockpit looks suitably worn and grubby!

Very, very nice. I'm currently building one of these so this is seriously inspiring. Just as a matter of interest did you mask the two tone grey patterns or just freehand it? I'm approaching that stage and thinking of just going freehand but not sure if that's best. Gus

Looks great Wouter. Some serious work involved there, but the end result should be more than worth it.

Looks great Jeroen. Beautifully finished and displayed. A nice bit of inspiration over the bench.

Watching this with interest. No real knowledge of the aircraft but the colour schemes and reviews are very tempting.