GrahamF@Iconicair

last year I worked on a new Wes Anderson stop motion animation film 'Isle of Dogs' and I was one of the large team of scale modellers here in England and my part was creating the 3D CAD and CNC/printing parts. One of the more complete things I worked on was the drone that features in the movie trailer,The link for the trailer is below, the movie comes out in the USA 23rd March.

Excellent, I'm looking forward to this! A perspex case containing the parts would look good, maybe behind a baseboard mounted vertically? Oh and here's one I made earlier! P.S. if you need the 'P' decal I have them. Also I now have a superb ALPS printer and can do any decal. Kind Regards Graham

http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/museum/the-brian-nicholls-hampden-restoration-project.htm The other Hampden restoration a few miles from my home. Graham.

Hi Cees, Yes but after the Attacker, Its the David Brown airfield tractor next then then Attacker. Oh and I might squeeze in the 12000lb Cookie as its quite big and suits the E type trolley and again they have one at East Keal. Graham

Here it is. Graham.

I decided to leave them plain, It is possible to engrave the treads. Graham

The trolley with the 4000lb cookie will be available tomorrow. Graham

The finished article, The kit will be available on our website this weekend. Graham.

Yes spot on, I've got this on my desk (the Airfix 1:72 dambuster kit ) having measured the real trolley its interesting to see all the shortcuts they had to make to produce an injection mould tool at that scale.

Just thought I would show the progress of my forthcoming RAF bomb trolley kit prototype parts machining as it is now coming together, luckily when I visited East Keal they had an unrestored example of the very trolley I am producing which I guess they are going to restore and mount the Upkeep mine they have in the museum. This is the side of the mine being 3D machined with a flat end 1mm diameter milling cutter with a 0.1mm overlap which results in a very smooth finish which is paint ready. The major components next to a pound coin! The relatively complex rear axle housing, I was scratching my head trying to understand this measuring the real thing. The wheels, I went to town on the internal hub details both front and back. Graham

I thought I would share these images of a completed project for a near neighbour of mine, He was one of my first customers and while not an avid aircraft modeller he bought a kit as a momento. I returned the favour by building him a completed aircraft from the reject castings that either had a bubble in or had cracked on removal from the mould, fortunately I get a lot less of those now! I decided the plane needed a base so did a concrete hard standing with a bit of grass showing, the grass flock material I used is a bit too bright for my liking but is all that was available in my local modelshop, having chucked out all my realistic Architectural scatter earlier in the year! [ Doh] BTW the size of the concrete square's behind where I live that used to have Lancasters on them are 10ft x 10ft. The aircraft depicted is the first true Spiteful as against the previous MK14 Spitfire fitted with the new wings. It is in its later guise with the larger and more familiar tail, the black anti dazzle strip is prototypical and I was going to leave this off but glad I didn't as it gives it a sort of racing look. The cockpit interior and wheel wells are interior green which I'm sure weren't but adds a nice to contrast to the silver. Graham.

That's a good article if you want to do the etchings yourself but its a bit 'old tech' now. The best way is to CAD up the artwork and email it to an etching company. I do etching artwork all the time and use a company in Scotland ( PPD ltd ) who have a good description on their website. All the professional modelmakers in London use them. It doesn't matter while you're drawing up in CAD whether its full size or model size the only thing to do is print it out at scale on a printer to check whether what you've drawn is visible. There are some important rules regarding line thickness relative to metal thickness which is explained on their website. Graham

Here is a picture of the parts:-

Ok Cees, The wings have a break in them, there are now camera ports [ optional depending on aircaft modelled] 4 in total with two vertical and one each side, the tail now has an arrestor hook, a set of contra rotating propellors and also complete new set of decals, I'll post a picture of the parts maybe tomorrow. P.S. I've given up the day job [ Architectural models ] so I am now into this full time. Regards Graham

Hi Guys, Just to keep you updated the Supermarine Seafang is available on my website now. http://www.iconicair.com/Seafang/ Regards Graham

I've had this before, did you copy and paste and no preview showed up? this is a new problem with using Internet explorer 7,something has changed recently and It doesn't always work. If you use Google chrome it works OK. You don't have to default to this search engine, just when you post images. Graham

Hi James, Yes, I'm casting them up tomorrow, the transfers are being made and I'm aiming to have 30 at least, with one fully made up, possibly painted if there's time and I get the parts to my friend [ who is also another Industrial modelmaker] in the next few days. Graham

Some images of the parts about to go into rubber, there is more detailed cockpit framing etc which is being machined now. Graham

Hi Ian, I ordered the decals from this company:- http://www.gdkits.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=cs-92&categories_id=&manufacturers_id= mind you it could take a month as I think they are out of stock but will print more. Graham.

Thanks Rick, Yes that colour certainly looks right to me, I plan to do the 262 alongside as well, I have ordered some matching Czech decals, though I have lost track of where we are with 262 kits in 1:32 scale, there's been quite a few new ones [i think] in recent years. Graham.

Hi All, I've bought a 1:32 scale conversion kit for the Avia S-199 from werner wings http://www.wernerswings.com/avia-199.html Its a little project for myself as at one point I planned to do a Hispano Buchon conversion kit, but I still have the donor Hasegawa kit I was measuring up so rather than waste it! Trouble is I can't find the colour reference for the particular green that was used for the Czech planes, I prefer to have a RAL or Pantone reference and then match from them. I have a couple of links below to give an idea. http://blog.sme.sk/blog/11198/182714/cs-92_kbely.jpg http://www.modelaircraftmagazine.com/images/Shows/eDay%202006/kebly_avia_s199.jpg Any ideas would be most welcome. Graham.

Hi Gus, I would check before you buy whether you prefer a single or double action spraying trigger, I bought a double action one which is where you press down for air and then pull back for paint and I can't get on with it at all! Graham.