Frankhenrylee

Does this guys question bother you that much? I did a search titled "how to make decals" and it didn't help a bit. That is unless you consider pulling up every thread with the word decal in it, help. The whole reason for posting a question is to get help with a subject. I can't stand it when some smart ess makes this suggestion as if your ruining his day by asking a question that for some reason he feels compelled to answer. The search on here is not that helpful. So there, do a search on that.

I think you can thin it down with water. I find Micro sol is not as hot as I'd like. Usually takes quite a few applications.

The Tamiya single engine props are all pretty easy builds. I went back to doing single engine props to try and work on my skills. Less parts means less detail and less planning. I've had good luck with there decals as well, but some don't like them. The panel lines are usually engraved and a good size to where you won't sand them off to easily. Try Lucky Model for good prices on Tamiya stuff.

Don't they refer to the Osprey's as Thunderchickens? Or maybe it was just what they called there unit.

I just grew my finger nails really long and then ground them down into the shape of tweezers. If the piece is small enough I simply levitate it into place using my powers of telekenisis. This is by far the cheapest way to do it, didn't cost me anything, so there!

I've been wondering what I was doing wrong and come to find out those decals were crap. The last 3 kits I've built were Academy and have had trouble with the decs on each one. I recently ordered some Champs decal solvent and its supposed to be the hottest from what I've heard. Should be here in a couple of days. I'll let you know how it works on those "awesome academy decs"

I've been using Mr. Surfacer 500 for awhile with mixed results. One thing you have to watch out for is getting too much alcohol/thinner on your q-tip because the excess will lay in the seams and eat away at it leaving pits in the filler. Also you might want to mask off anything around it because you don't want the thinned out Mr. 500 getting all over the place because it does not come off easily. Its a little tricky to work with and I find that I usually sand most of it back off. Try to use as little as possible.

I've read somewhere its the old Airfix kit with Eduard extra's.

Just wondering what the consensus is on the most accurate spitfire kits in 1/48, 1/32, and 1/24? Any Mk.

I have to second the notion that 1/48 props are awfully small and don't really make an impressive display as 1/32 does. Also, 1/48 probably has 5 times as many kits as 1/32 has available. Why not just go the other direction and start building 1/72. The canopies are much easier in 1/32, especially painting the inside. Understand that your a diehard 1/48 guy, no problems there, plenty of kits to choose from, and more coming out all the time. I for one am happy to see more 1/32, just wish the prices weren't so ridiculous. Plane is only slightly bigger but cost 4 times as much, how did they get aw

You know, the stage at which you tell yourself that your not doing anything else to it even though you know there's still stuff missing.

What, no aluminium foil and riveting? I'm impressed and dissappointed at the same time.

Around here they give you a 40% coupon with each purchase. I think they have pretty much a standard inventory as both stores here have the same thing. I chose the P-61 because its the only P-61 you can get anyway. It went together just fine with a little filler here and there, and the cockpit glass needed some work, and I cut out the intakes and scratch built some proper ones. It is a raised panel line kit also, but its black so that doesn't matter. I believe the best kit they carry is the F-15e. I chose to go with the Accurate Miniatures B-25.

No doubt, I'm just a kit builder right now, so I use what comes with the kit. More bad decals than good by far. What do you mean by stable? Also, how do keep it from getting tacky too quickly? I usually need a little while to place some decals, especially the ones that break apart.

What I'm looking for is the best method for finishing a model after enamel paint. I've been using future-decals-weathering, but my decals look like crap. I believe the future is to blame. What do you guys prefer?

Disclaimer: I'm no expert. Here's what I would do. I've recently started preshading and swear by it. I simply take blu-tac or equivalant and mask off each seperate area. Your right about lines being darker on the edges, be sure when your doing your second and third colors that you mask carefully and hit those edges a little heavier. Thinned light coats and excellent lighting are the key to getting it just the level you want. You are probably a lot better than me if you're considering freehanding your camo and post shading only. I find both of those difficult to produce the exact results I want

Hey guys, I've been having a problem with using future and need some advice. I use MM enamels and have gotten to where I can get all the way through a model with good results, except for the gloss and decals. I've been using Future as my gloss coat. Yesterday, I tried to apply some kit decals to an Academy spit and didn't like the way they turned out so I took them back off and it left a white residue on the model. I had to remove the future to get rid of the residue. What is a more consistant and durable alternative for future as a gloss coat? What dull coat should I use over Future? How long

Hey guys, just wondering about what cleaner ya'll like to use? I've been using Ajax dish soap, but I would prefer something a little stronger. I scrub the crap out of em with a toothbrush, but I still end up with some paint not wanting to stick sometimes. What is the strongest stuff I can use?

Thanks for the help Lucien. I picked up some ladders and some k-frame trusses from Plastruct that should work nicely for the bay with a little cutting. Not quite correct because they're square instead of round but I may throw a sanding stick on em and round em out. Ladders aren't right scale at 1/100 but thats OK. Should be pretty decent representation for 1/144. Thanks again.

Windex and toothbrush, probably have to dip it and brush it 4 or 5 times.

Hey man, I promise this is the last thing I'll bother you with. Is there any way you can post some pics of of this bomb bay door configuration. The kit just shows 2 seperate bomb bays with 2 doors each arranged in the typical fashion. I've decided the inside of the bomb bay would be extremely time consuming to create a good replica so I'm gonna come up with something simpler. The bombs are going to take up a lot of the visible space anyway. Thanks for all the help.

I got this kit for $15 so I'm not mad about it, but it really makes me wonder how they'd expect to get $40 for it after opening it up. Why in the heck not make the bomb bay door the correct length and then let the FICON guys cut it? Oh well, guess they could have put the ventral turrets in there too, but I guess thats too much to ask from Hobbycrap. I may go get another if he's still got one, seems like about the only way to build it properly. May need an extra wing after I get done with it anyway.

Hey thanks for the detailed info. I just opened it up last night and noticed that the wing looked wrong. Don't know how I missed your post yesterday. I did most of what you recommended, but the wing fix is definitely going to test my skills. I haven't tried scratchbuilding on this level before, but I'm looking forward to it. I picked up Micro Marks photo etch machine today so if I come up with some good stuff I'll be sure and post it. Lengthening that bomb bay door is going to be a beyatch. Once again, a project goes way overboard.

Thanks for the info on the doors, that makes them quite a bit easier. I tore into the kit last night removing the molded in intakes on the wings and removing the wing spar that was way to deep to make room for the bomb bay. By removing the middle of the bottom half of the wing it should make it alot easier to correct the wing droop as well. There's going to be a lot of stretched sprue in this one. In this scale its going to be rather difficult to produce hardly any of it very exact. Are the bomb bay doors divided up quarterly in your pics, with 2 and 3 as one piece? Maybe I should just get the

I picked one of these up on ebay today, so I edited this post as well. Has anyone here tried this out? If so, let me know what you can about it.