I may be some time…

Hi viewers, I’m always surprised and get a warm glow when I view the stats for this blog. So thank you for looking and feel free to ask a question or leave a comment.
I owe another apology for not updating, but the last couple of months have been rough, and the outlook for the next few weeks/months isn’t looking any better. I was made redundant and my good wife (I haven’t got a bad one somewhere else, by the way!) will be in the same boat come September. As much as I’d like to, I have even less time to satisfy the styrene fix as my new hobby is job searching. Nowhere near as enjoyable, but necessary. So, the stash remains untouched – at least the tight budgeting now in-force means it can’t grow – the unfinished kits remain unfinished. The Meteor is very nearly there and I may find a moment or two to add the final touches and post some photos. I really hope to get back in the saddle soon.

Be good!

Prepare yourselves – I may finish a model!

I may, or may not have mentioned before that my first plan to re-acquaint myself with the hobby was to have a ‘quick build’ kit. Unfortunately I picked the Airfix Spitfire mkIXc. Mmm, not a bad kit, and I certainly learned a lot from the build, but it’s still unfinished and I’m trying to muster the enthusiasm to continue with it. Of course, in the mean time the stash has grown and a couple more kits have progressed to varying degrees of unfinished-ness. I resolved not to buy another kit until I’d finished one (remember this further down the post). A quick look through my existing kits didn’t throw up any willing subjects; all needed modifying, re-scribing or scratch building skills I have yet to acquire. So, even though I promised not to buy another kit until one was finished  – I bought another kit. But this time I chose wisely and went for the 1/48 Tamiya Gloster Meteor F.1.

I really like some of the early jets, and a Meteor was on the wish list anyway. Acquired through the tried and tested method on Ebay for well under £20, this was just what I was looking for. A kit that would almost fall together, but allow a little bit of tinkering. As it was supposed to be a quick fix I didn’t record the build but I did take a few progress shots today (after experimenting with some camera settings and basic lighting – long exposure on a small aperture to keep it all in focus, by the way), and here they are. A bit of tidying up on the colour and it’s had a coat of Klear since in preparation for a pin wash on the details and then decals. Lots of things that I could be picky about, but that’s not the purpose of this one: Build it, paint it, finish it and ENJOY it! So far I considered those boxes ticked.

Re-organising

Some friends are coming to stay for a few days, which means my man-cave will need to be temporarily converted from my (grown-up) work office with hobby embellishment to a bedroom.
This has resulted in a much needed tidy-up and stock take. So, the stash currently stands at:
(1:48)
Mk IX Spitfire (Airfix) Losing the will to live with this one.
F.2A/6 E.E. Lightning (Airfix) Unstarted.
Canberra PR.9 (Airfix) Unstarted.
PBY-5 Catalina (Revell) Small amount of work to cockpit started.
TBF 1-C Avenger (Accurate Miniatures) Unstarted.
C-47 Skytrain (Revell) Unstarted.
SR-71 Blackbird (Testors) Unstarted.
BAC TSR2 (Airfix) Unstarted.
N/AW A-10A Thunderbolt II (Hobby Boss) Unstarted.
Gloster Meteor F.1 (Tamiya) Almost there!

(1:72)
Concorde (Airfix) 80% complete
KC-135R Stratotanker (AMT) 30% complete

(1:32)
ASK 21 Glider (Revell) Some parts painted, wings made

(1:144)
Boeing 767-300 KLM (Revell) Unstarted.
BAE 146 TNT (Revell) Fuselage together
VC-10 K2 tanker (Airfix) Unstarted.
DC-10 Laker Skytrain (Revell) Unstarted.
DC-10 British Caledonian Airways (Airfix) Unstarted.
L-1011 Tristar TWA (Airfix) Unstarted.
L-1011 Tristar ANA (Otaki) Unstarted, still in shrink wrap.

Damn you, tempation!

Okay, how many finished models are in my gallery? None. (What gallery?)
How many models are “in progress”? Erm, about 6-7
Would it be a good idea to finish one of them and use the lessons and skills from that build on the next model? Oh yes.
Therefore, it wouldn’t make any sense to add to the stash, would it? Not really…

Anyway,
Here’s my new acquisition:

 

I’ve got a bit of a thing for 50s/60s jets at the moment, and the TSR2 just has something about it. Gives me the same feeling as the Handley Page Victor for some reason. Probably wouldn’t make it into my top 10 planes, but I managed to get in an early bid and got it for £20, so not too bad. I tend to have a knack for finding a kit, umm-ing and aah-ing, then deciding that I’ll leave it (I mean, there’s 5 on Ebay, one in that obscure online shop, another there etc.), only to rekindle an interest to discover it would be easier to find hens teeth. So this is one for the stash and I think it will be quite a while before I attempt anything with it. Especially with some of the problems I’ve read about it. But this link has transformed my perception. (Warning: contains images of a “what if?”)

Oh, and this… another £20 one bidder wonder. This would make it into my top 10 planes, and I’m really looking forward to adding this to the collection.
I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like the A-10. It’s so brutal, so functional, and I can find beauty in that. I also love the sound of these things. I can vividly remember being on holiday in Pembrokeshire sometime in the 80s, splashing about in the sea and seeing a pair of A-10s skimming the coastline, and hearing that unmistakable whine of the engines. A sight that was repeated several more times during that holiday. Fantastic.

Having a break

I’ve found it hard recently to spend much time on the plastic. Lots of things wrestling for my time, but now the nights are starting to draw-in I’m hoping to pick-up some of my long term projects to while away the hours. More to follow soon…

Over to the dark side

I’ve had an ebay alert set up for a couple of years now to try and nab a 1/48 SR-71 of some sort. Several close shots, some near misses and a couple of bargains slipping under the radar made me think I would have a long wait before getting my hands on one. I can remember a few years ago contemplating getting one; they were readily available, but we were in the process of moving house and it slipped my mind. Then, when I came to buy one, the supply had dried up and I had to resort to ebay. There were rumours of a Revell re-release, but nothing came of it. A visit to good ‘ol Affinity Models a couple of weeks ago was prompted by a hiatus in a Tamiya Meteor F.1 build (I needed to get some tubing and paints), and there on the shelf was the very kit I’d been looking for:

So I was obliged to buy it.

Just get it!

I didn’t have a decent airbrush set-up, and decided to do something about it. I got fed-up of trawling through modelling forums about what equipment to get – so many posts asking the same damn question.
I wanted a small, quiet compressor with an air tank and a reasonably cheap dual-action airbrush. I found the answers after reading this and this (which is what I’ve essentially ended up with). If you can’t be bothered to look at those links, essentially they give favourable, no nonsense reviews of low cost airbrushes and airbrush set-ups that you can get for around £100. As long as you’re not expecting something of the quality of the Iwata’s, these cheap airbrushes do a perfectly good job. I got the compressor from the nice bloke at Affinity Models in Longton for just a touch over £100. I could have got it cheaper on the net, but I’ve had a good experience at this shop and I’m more than happy to give my support. Also, a big factor was noise, and I wanted to hear it to see if I could use it without waking up the whole house. The compressor is quiet enough to use in the attic room without waking my baby daughter across the landing. Next, I got a BD 130 airbrush from the Absolute Airbrush Ebay shop. Looking through there, they have some fantastic deals on spraying kits. It arrived next day for £18. Yes, £18 for a gravity-feed, dual-action airbrush. It has an adjustable needle stop at the back of the handle, so I can get consistent results until my technique improves (or not).

I connected it all up, filled up with some drawing ink and got stuck in. Fantastic. Thick lines, thin lines, really thin lines – everything I’ll need to get some of those half-finished, waiting-for-paint kits back on the road.

Why didn’t I do this earlier? Dithering, that’s why. Wondering if I could justify spending hundreds of pounds on a top-end airbrush and compressor. Would I be better saving my money and putting it towards some tasty spray set-up? Well, possibly, but now I’m spraying away and getting results I’m more than happy with, without breaking the bank. Hell, last month’s mileage expenses pretty much covered the cost! I was afraid of wasting money on some junk that was unusable, but I was reassured by some of the aforementioned reviews and a bit of time sourcing information on the net.
The way I look at it is that I can learn to use a dual action airbrush without having to spend money I haven’t got. The little amount of time I’ve had to practise has produced results I’m really happy with, and I’m sure it will give good service until my skills and bank balance can justify pro equipment.

Latest arrival

I’ve been trying to find another 1/72 airliner to complement Concorde and there are some fine examples available. But I’m too tight to spend more than £20-30. So my compromise is this KC-135R. Ideally I would have liked a 707 with the JT3D engines, but they were all out of my price range, but I’ll keep looking. I’m not going to go down the route of converting this into a 707/720.
My plan was to have my Concorde as G-BOAC in the original livery and I would like to have another airliner in a contemporary livery alongside it. I thought the contrast between the technologies of the time would be interesting. Saying that, I’m a sucker for those liveries of the 50s & 60s, like BEA and Scandanavian. So perhaps I should be looking for something from a bit earlier…

My first impression on seeing the KC was how big Concorde is beside it. The KC is still a big kit, but I was expecting it to be larger somehow.
The second thing was the quality of the moulding on the KC – crisp and plenty of detail.
Now, why couldn’t Airfix have done that.

I’ve had a bit of a break from the Concorde build and started the KC-135R. Well, I’ve got a few builds on the go, as I’m sure most people have. I find I need a change of scene from time to time, and when I return to a subject I have new enthusiasm for it. Now that I’ve discovered the way to add new sections to the blog I can keep my projects separate.

The progress on this has been swift, mainly due to the ease at which the interior has come together. I purchased the Airwaves photo-etch set from Hannants to perk-up the cockpit and exterior. I haven’t added all the parts suggested as most of the details will not be visible and will be handy as spares for other aircraft. I was quite pleased with the result, considering this is the first detailed model painting I’ve done in over 20 years. Photo etch is a new experience for me, so these completely flat parts were a gentle introduction. The detail really pops out and I couldn’t achieve the same level of detail any other way.

Even though most of the detail will be hidden, I took the opportunity to practice some techniques and effects. The most effective, I felt, was using a coloured pencil for the writing on the compartment doors. I just held a ruler up to the part and drew a line or two. An ordinary graphite pencil was used to outline various other panels.

Couldn’t resist

Last night I made a bit of an effort on the main gear. Just a bit of detailing with foil strips and stretched sprue. I sprayed some primer over and thought I could pop the wheels on to see how it looked…

…then I thought I could dry fit the undercarriage to the body, also to see how that looked……and it looked good.

The nose wasn’t as high as I thought it would be and I may reconsider cutting down the front leg. I purchased a set of resin wheels and tyres from Hannants because I wasn’t happy with the results of using some wet & dry to shape the vinyl tyres supplied. The wheel hubs aren’t too bad, but lack the detail on the inner faces too. The resin set is primed, but I’m not sure what colour to use. I’m not sure about using a metallic silver as it can look unrealistic in this scale. I’ve been thinking about using a light grey instead, but I’ll experiment a bit first. Also the shock absorber will need something to simulate a highly polished surface, perhaps some foil. The best method for some parts of the undercarriage would be telescopic tubing, but I don’t have anything at the correct size, and can’t face paying more for P&P than the contents over the internet. When I get a large order together I’ll add some tubing to it. There’s always something.

The tailfin is back on and now at 90˚ to the wings (and in line along the fuselage!). I’ve used polyweld type liquid glue and filled the gap with stretched sprue. You may notice that I’ve rescribed the panel lines on the fin so that they line up on both sides.
As a side note, I use a fine scribing nib (I think it’s a mapping nib) and holder to apply the liquid. I had a few kicking about from my art school days, but only plastic ones, so this one’s starting to fit the neck of the bottle really well… I’ve found it holds enough glue and is accurate to put it where you need it. You need to dip regularly, but I’ve never had too much running all over the work.
I’ve seen some nice wooden ones on the net, which may replace this one somewhere down the line.

Wings and wells.

I’d already made up the tail light from a piece of clear sprue, drilled a small hole and popped some red paint in there. Then filed, sanded and micromeshed to this: Other jobs done were:
Filled the fuselage seams.
A bit of foil detail to the main gear well.
Fitted the main gear doors adding some plastic tabs for support then filling, sanding etc.

Also fitted the wings without much fuss – quite a good fit actually. A good join to the gear well walls.
Miliput was needed to fill the gap on the underside along the curved outer edge and the outer wing pieces (#22).
The underside, right at the front of the wing root, around the landing lights, was pretty poor, with no attempt for the wings to fill the gap. Another one on the list for filling, along with some minor filling along the top wing root.At the back, I’ve discarded the bump-wheel well and scratched a bulkhead along these lines:
to which I’ll add a scratch built bumper wheel.
As you can see I’ve also re-sprayed the gear wells in Humbrol 93 (desert yellow).