Matt

With a wet weekend I got a chance to get a bit more work done and get some pictures taken. I didn't like the way the miniguns were coming out, so I've decided to ditch those and go with just 19 shot rockets pods. This looks like a common fit for 135th AHC aircraft based on the pictures available. That also opens the door to doing 'American Woman', assuming I can figure out how to pull the markings together. Progress right now is gated around getting the figures squared away. The door gunner and crew chief have been finalized, the final step was to convert the heads to represent the face s

Coming back to modeling after about a 6 year layoff and a bad case of AMS. This happened to be one of the few unstarted kits left in the stash. The plan was totally OOB, just something I could get through start to finish. I've built one before, and I was never very happy about the static stance just sitting there, but I didn't want to go build an entire revetment diorama either. So I'm going for an inflight build. I'm not going to sweat trying to make the rotors look like they are spinning, just something more 'action' than sitting on the shelf. This means spending some time making the f

I started a UH-1C mid-August. I haven't done much other that a lot of dry fit, some work to pose it in-flight and general hackery of the figures. If its eligible , I'll be happy to join. Cheers, Matt

Ahh, that is better. Looking at those sets, then as a rough rule of thumb, the aircraft with the large pointy rudders are 'late' and the aircraft with the smaller rounded rudders are 'early'. Cheers, Matt

I'm sorry, I don't see any other examples in that link, no matter how far down I scroll. I only see MK483 and ML171 Assuming you are referring to 'late' MkIX details vs 'early' MkIX details, then the basic masks for the National markings (the roundels and fin flashes) should be the same, however, see Edgars point on the changes in January 1945. You would have to be more specific on which exact Spitfire (Serial) you are proposing on building and in what timeframe (as many aircraft ended up moving between different squadrons, or had different personal markings through their life, then the parti

I'm not sure what you mean by 'early or late'. The link is to a set of masks for 2 specific MkIXc Spitfires. According to the notes, there are masks for the national markings and code letters, and decals for everything else. So, the masks themselves could be used on any Spitfire of that period. The code letters would limit you to those squadrons or any squadrons with that combination. So, I don't see anything that precludes you using them on early or late build MkIXs , or any other Sptifire in service at that period. If you are asking if these would work for a MkI, or an early MkV then no,

If you just need the replacement kit decals I probably have a bunch of those you are welcome to. Matt.

I pretty much agree with the linked review. The biggest issue I had with them was the poses. I couldn't see any way to pose the pilot / mechanics on an actual model (Tamiya 1/48th Spitfire) without major corrective surgery. In the end I gave up. Fit is ok for multipart plastic figures. More like the old Tamiya figures than say the really nice Gen 2 Dragon figures. Matt

Thanks. It isn't as time consuming as it might appear. Here's how I tackle it. I work with Acrylics, mostly Tamiya, but PollyScale or Xtracrylics as well. I mix up the basic colour (dark earth in the picture above) in a small disposable plastic cup. I thin it, add some retarder and some gloss until its ready to spray. I mix up more than I will need. I lay down the base colour until I get a nice even consistent shade. It doesn't have to be flawless bu you want good coverage. Then I'll pour a small amount of the left over base colour into a new cup and mix it into a darker shade (maybe with

Caveat, this is my personal opinion, others may vary. With either technique I don't think we have to be that dogmatic that the shading must be in panel lines, or the highlights must be in panel centers. Pre and post shading are just artistic techniques that allow us to introduce tonal variation in the final colour. Why we do that is varied. For sure, we might be trying to replicate the weathering of dirt in panel lines or the affects of sun bleaching. Also we are trying to introduce tonal variation to just break up the 'toylike' look of a solid colour, making it seem more 'realistic'. Other

You could, but that would require even finer control of the technique. Don't forget that unlike pre-shading, with post shading there really isn't such a thing as going too far. If you end up with a post shading result for a colour that has too much contrast, (the dark shade is too dark and the light shades are too light) then all you have to do is go over it again with a thin mist of the base colour , just like you would with a pre-shade, to tone this down and even it out. Cheers, Matt

The key here is that you put flat Tamiya on top of flat Tamiya and then used an aggressive agent (alcohol) to remove the wash which removed all the paint. What you want to try to do is apply a wash in such as way that the amount of effort and agents needed to remove that wash are as easy and least harmful as possible. A gloss coat (Future or Tamiya Gloss, or any appropriate Acrylic gloss) can help in 3 ways. 1: A nice smooth coat makes it easier to remove the wash, so less scrubbing and less need for aggressive agents. 2: It provides a bit more protection for the underlying coats. 3: It h

No worries. PM me an address and I'll hunt up what I have and get them out in the mail this Saturday. Matt

I have a bunch of the B's in different sizes. I have a couple of sheets of either C or C1, I forget. So, the next thing is to figure out the correct sizes. I'll look to see when I get home if any of the sheets specifically mention the Fort III to say what size the markings were on it, but it could be a pretty obscure aircraft to be on the list. The roundel size varied from aircraft to aircraft. I found a couple of plans, but the pictures are too small to read the measurements for the markings http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_nxN_vjldtng/Sdio...ress_Camo_1.jpg http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nxN_vjld

Which style of Roundel ? The A/A1 are the red/white/blue and red/white/blue/yellow with the wider white ring (same width as the blue) The B type is the normal upper wing red/blue The C/C1 are the later war red/white/blue and red/white/blue/yellow with the very narrow white ring RAF Roundel styles Cheers, Matt

Do you know which types you need and what size (the original 1-1 size) ? I have some sheets with various roundel types in various styles and sizes. I tend to use all the fighter sized ones, but i don't use the bomber ones, so I probably have some spares I could send along. Otherwise, for a 1/48th bomber you could could easily cut them out of tape with a circle cutter and paint them. Matt

I've recently switched to using a mix of Tamiya Clear Gloss and Flat Base. Depending on the ratios, you can go anywhere from a full gloss, down through semi gloss, satin, all the way to a flat. I found ~80/20 gloss to base for a satin finish. Its the sort of thing you'll have to experiment with to find out what ratios give the result you are looking for. I've tended to stay away from pushing too far towards the dead /dead flat as I don't know at what point the Flat base will take over and you'll start getting the flaky white finish that straight Flat Base is so infamous for. Cheers, Mat

I don't think I can add much that hasn't already been said about this kit, but it is definitely the best kit I've ever worked on by a mile. There's some extra detailing in the cockpit and engine bay, Tamiya neglected a lot of the hydraulic , pneumatic and electrical lines in both areas. Major colours are all Tamiya. The finish was a Tamiya Gloss / Flat base mix around 80/20. Not dead flat. Other colours are a mix of PS, Citadel , Tamiya and MM acrylics. The major national and squadron markings were masked and painted rather than using the kit decals. The code # and stencils are decaled tho

Hi Stefan, Thanks for the kind words. Those are the storage tanks for the Spitfires various pneumatic controls. The undercarriage, brakes , gun cocking and firing mechanisms were all pneumatically controlled, pressure coming from a pump on the engine , stored in these tanks. I've seen modern restored Spitfires that have these in a similar colour to the interior green, but I've read elsewhere that wartime examples were often silver. Not having been around in the '40s with a colour camera, I went with the silver as it add a visual contrast. The pilots oxygen was in a separate bottle that wen

Looking really good. Attaching the upper wings to the fuselage before attaching the lowers is definitely the way to go. Once the upper wings are firmly attached, just run sanding stick across the underside of the wing/fuselage joint to get them level and square before attaching the lower wing , then the worst gap you'll have (if any) will be on the leading edges joint which is much easier to deal with than the wing root itself. Cheers, Matt

A quick update. The Ocean Gray is done on the upper sides. The same as the underside, the monotone is broken up with lighter and darker shades in a more random pattern than just following the panel lines. I start with darker streaks either in the airflow direction on the horizontal surfaces, or vertical on the vertical surfaces followed by random patterns and finally a very thin coat of the base colour to tie it all together. I'm still working how subtle I can be without losing it all in the gloss and flat coats later on. Tamiya provide 2 side doors, one to pose open, and one to pose clo

Putting the engine aside, its time to move onto the paintwork. First up was the Sky Fuselage stripe. Tamiya provide a decal, but why use a decal when you can just paint it. Various shades of Tamiya Sky. Once that had dried and was masked off, its time for the undersides. Various shades of the new Tamiya MSG with about 25% of their clear gloss added. This makes for a smoother finish which will hopefully make for an easier time getting a nice smooth gloss coat for the decals. I decided to keep working with something that I did for the BoB GB recently. Rather than pre or post shade to

Another quick update. Engine , bearers and firewall are all together. I also added some of the more obvious missing pipework for the crank case breather and the intercooler coolant pump. I still have to finish off the lines to the hydraulic pump and add a last line for the intercooler and then I'll call it a day other than touching up some paint here and there. All the additional lines are silver solder, attached with small copper wire pins for strength. The solder is fast becoming a favourite. It comes in different diameters and its easy to bend into any shape but it holds that shape nice

Quick update as the engine bay parts are now painted. Same as the cockpit, PollyScale British Interior Green, a gloss coat, a brown oil wash and finally a dry brush of 50/50 Interior Green and Sky to pick out the details. The large silver lines will eventually be attached to the hydraulic pump on the end of the engine. They are attached to the fittings here with small 24 gauge copper wire pins to provide some strength to the join for when I have to bend them to fit. The kit supplied pipe work is just held in place with tape for now. I wasn't sure if it would be place-able after the engine

Thanks for the comments. I'll try and post more frequently now I'm back online here. Looking at the way Tamiya broke down the sprue layouts I'm pretty sure there could be a single stage version to come. All the supercharger parts are off on their own sprue, and other parts had to be drilled out to accept bits that you wouldn't find on an earlier Spitfire. Cheers, Matt