GusMac

Thanks Peter, that's exactly the info I was needing. I tend to paint at about 18 psi so I'll drop it down a bit for this. Think I'll have a few trials on an old paint mule first rather than bugger up this lovely kit.

As everyone has said the Merlin has such a distinctive, beautiful sound. Nothing else sounds quite like it.

Thanks Phil. I think I'm still at the learner stage as a resin builder but I think a big part of it is the anticipation/dread you build up in your head. If you just take it steadily and methodically it's actually pretty straightforward and really enjoyable. To be honest, I think the 3D printed stuff here is harder to work with as it's so brittle and the print lines are quite prominent on some pieces due to the print orientation. The Iconicair Attacker that I won in the Xmas raffle looks like another beast altogether, resin detail but without the big pour stubs, etc.

Ha ha, yes they do produce an awful lot of 'stuff' which can be achieved by other means and the panel line washes and oilbrushers and things do tend to go off very quickly. I've got tubes of oils which are older than my kids and still going strong! The paints are finicky and a bugger to get to spray nicely. I've done a couple of builds exclusively using Ammo but they aren't very robust although the colour range is decent.

Just got the Mr Paint colours for this today. As a question to those who're experienced with them, what's the best pressure to spray them at?

Glayva or Drambuie are nice in a trifle, the sweetness takes the edge off them so it goes down nicely. My wife's special trifle has Amaretto biscuits and Drambuie which is really nice as a combination

I think that the metal lacquers sold by Ammo, Mig Jiminez's company, are rebranded Alcald paints. I could be wrong but the bottles look very similar.

I can sympathise Guy. I ended up buying the Swedish colours for the Viggen from Super Hobby in Poland. None of the UK or French stockists had much of anything useful in stock.

Further evidence of Ernie's generosity. Here's my Christmas Raffle prize sent direct from Graham at Iconicair. Looks like a great kit. Ernie seems determined to turn me into a resin builder but if they're all of this quality he might well succeed!

Bit more progress made. Intakes on and all gaps filled and sanded after a few iterations. Used Bondo Glazing Putty for the donkey work and then any smaller imperfections filled with Tamiya putty. Using 3M 320 grit sanding sheets cut to size for the worst of the sanding and then various grits of Micromesh to finish. All the rescribing has been done as well. That's usually a job I dread but on the evidence so far the resin actually seems to be easier to scribe than the usual injection plastics, I think because it's harder. The Mr Paint order should arrive tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll be able to make a bit more progress on the cockpit.

Nice collection Carl. The Macallan seems to be popular in Canada, well I know it was Neil Peart's favourite. We were in Orkney last August and went to the Highland Park distillery which did a really good tour and tasting.

Thanks all. I've got the intakes on with the BSI 5 minute epoxy and filler in all the gaps, so now on to the tedious sanding, priming, checking, refilling, etc cycle. I'll post pics once I have something I'm happy with.

The F4s that replaced them just didn't have the same roar.

That's a nice Balvenie you've got in the cabinet there Ernie. Those Speyside malts are nice and mellow. I do like a good Islay one occasionally such as Bunnahabhain if I want something to chew on.

Sorry to hear that Bill, hope you make a full recovery.

Great kit Peter, it's a joy to build. Have fun.

Looking forward to this one Guy. Remember seeing the 111 Squadron birds at Leuchars in the early 70s. My uncle was an AC2 there, so we visited regularly, and I can still remember the noise they made. My uncle eventually ended up at Lyneham working on the AC-130s, so a bit of a change of pace.

Nice tribute to Dale. 👍

Got the front wheel well done. Pictures with flash make the weathering look a bit heavier than it does to the naked eye. The package from Poland with the Mr Paint should arrive tomorrow so hopefully can get on with the cockpit painting again.

And another one courtesy pf the ever generous Ernie. Not only the kit but also the full accessory pack. Really looking forward to this but might be a while given how long I think the Viggen might take me.

That's some seriously smooth cutting not to snap or bend that super thin part at the edge of the wheelbay!

Around our area the Caterham is known as the 'Twat Killer' as so many mid-life crisis victims have wrapped themselves around trees or other immovable objects in them on the back roads in the Cairngorms. They look lovely but I'm not sure that a lot of those who buy them actually have the skillset to drive them safely on anything but straight main roads sadly.

Superb finish as always. I just love the modulation of the paint and the absolute 'flatness' of the flat coat (if that makes sense)

Lovely build of a rarely seen kit Dennis. The Italians did build some nice looking aircraft (and a few munters, I'm looking at you Freccia!). Lovely smooth paint job.

It's certainly different to anything I've done before but I'm enjoying it at the moment.