cockpit coming together

The start of what can only be described as a battle, me versus photoetch. Honours even in round 1.

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Corsair started

I've made a start in the A7 corsair this morning but, I've been slightly hampered by my first modelling injury for a good few years. I've somehow managed to put a pin vise through the top of my finger.

Anyway back to this kit, I don't often use photoetch but it came with this kit so I'm going to try and use as much as possible before the rest falls into the carpet monster.

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Saab finished

All finished with some home made remove before flight tags. I made these from some kitchen foil. I'm very pleased with it, I know the sink mark just below the canopy is annoying but I'll just have to put that down to my impatience and not letting the filler dry completely.

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oh bugger !

I did put some weight in when it was put together but, not enough obviously.

I have stuck some .22 pellets down the nose intake and now it stands properly.

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Decals on

I can't believe how well the decals have settled on this kit. I'm not going to weather this plane other than run a pencil through the flap area. I start my late shift today for a week, so the production has to slow down a bit.

Next up should be the A7 corsair.

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Saab Tunnan

This is the airfix/heller 1/72 tunnan. Just waiting for a coat of Johnsons klear then the Decals.

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I think it's time

I have no American jets in my collection. So this going to be my next project. I enjoy collecting the reference stuff together sometimes as much as putting the model together. I normally start of with a quick look on Wikipedia and airliners.net then It's time to trawl through my magazines.

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A few pics

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Feels like Christmas

Well at least it did last Thursday. I managed to acquire some 1/72 kits from a friend at work for a very reasonable sum. Nine kits in total.

1. Airfix Saab tunnan
2. Heller me108
3. Heller Vampire
4. Italeri A7 Corsair + photoetch
5. Italeri F8 crusader (2 kits in the same box)
6. Revell 2 seat me262
7. Academy P47 Razor back
8. Heller super Etendard

I've already started the Tunnan today, it will be finished in Austrian markings that are supplied in the box. All over silver with day-glo orange wing tips and tail surfaces, so it should stand out when completed. So far I've used half a tube of filler just to get the nose section to fit but it's starting to look good now.

The Lightning restoration is going OK, I've got the main markings on it, just got the stencils to do. The decals i was going to use all broke up when i removed them from the water so i had to use the decals from an F.6 of 5 SQN, I've even added the sharks mouth .

The Phantom has a few more bits to go on, but it's already on the shelf looking rather hansom next to a Lightning F2A and a Norwegian F-16.

Restoration Photos

The lightning being restored and the phantom still needing some tidying up and the sticky out bits put on.

Restoration project

I have had a lightning on top of my shelves for some time now, it's marked in 23 sqn colours with a white tail. It was the first model i made after a break of 16 years. There were a few wonky bits and the white spine and tail were almost see through.

I have a bit of a soft spot for all things lightning so i thought i would try and bring it up to date with my (hopefully) improved skills of the last few years. I was going to use the Mr muscle route to clean it up but i hadn't bothered to varnish it when it was made, so i just pulled the decals off with some sticky masking tape. Then i filled some big gaps all over the plane and then sanded it back. After a coat of grey Vallejo primer, i sprayed the bottom and under surface of the wings with some humbrol acrylic 56 aluminium and then masked it all up for a coat of 156 camouflage grey mixed with some 166 light aircraft grey to try and get the right colour for the photos i have. As i write this the painted model is in the airing cupboard drying.

I'm now going to paint the ejector seat and get new straps put on it. At the moment it's painted silver with black cushions ( where did i get my references from ).

Magazines !

I have recently stopped buying the magazines as a matter of course. Every month without fail i would take myself off to WH smiths during one of my breaks and part with the best part of £15.

Recently though the magazines have changed, Well the only one that has really changed is the military aircraft monthly international. This is now a reference magazine that seems to tag along behind it's sister magazine of scale aviation modeller, which is a shame because it was the magazine i would always pick up first and enjoy reading the most.

Some good news on the magazine horizon is that Airfix have announced a magazine coming out very shortly.

Some more pics

The current project, showing the resin airwaves seats i thought i would try out. The lightning is the airfix 1/48 kit made into a 19 sqn F2.A, this kit i started about 2 years ago so i thought i would try and bring it more up to date. I also have a 1/48 F3 in 23 sqn colours that was the first kit i made when i got back into it about 5 years ago. My plan for that kit is to use some Mr muscle on it to try and remove the paint and I'm going to have another go at it. The last picture is my 1/48 kinetic NATO viper F-16 in Norwegian markings, i know the tail number is wrong but i kept it because the kit was taking too long to complete.

Some Pics

1/72 fujimi phantom FG.1 and 1/72 xtrakit swift.

1/72 acadamy p51b mustang

1/48 tamiya spitfire mk V

1/72 revell tornado F.3

Just noticed all these pictures are missing their canopies.

Toy box

I have managed to finish a few models since my last post back in April so later on today i will post some photos of them.

The silver MiG that is pictured on here has met it's end at the hands of my 2 year old. I really didn't like it so i put it in the bin and the next time i saw it, it was flying around the toy box.

It's been a while '

I'm back and I'm going to try and keep this updated as much as possible. My models still seem to be improving(well i think so anyway !), and I'm still having fun doing them. Since moving my modelling room back indoors i seem to have more time.

At the moment i have the Revell boxing of the Hasegawa Phantom FGR.2 on the desk, i have used some aftermarket decals from Almark to mark it up as XV490 from 92 Sqn, the reason i chose this particular aircraft was the fact it had a light grey radome instead of the usual black and it also has both sets of yellow and red checks on it. I'm led to belive that this aircraft was one of the first to start receiving the air defence grey scheme, even the tanks were painted grey. There was something about the green/grey camouflaged phantom's and this one now stands out against my other aircraft on the shelf.