Dave,
Your Tigercat looks great! Strange lines for a warplane, but an eye catcher for sure.

Damian,
Thanks!

Michael,
I wouldn't mind seeing a Javelin either. The Brits built some pretty rad looking jet aircraft!

Gary

Complete:

Well, THAT was fast! Nice work Dave! That's two for you already, isn't it?

Michael

I'm on leave from work at the moment, so plenty of time to spend on modelling. That and the fast drying times of acrylic paints and modern glues. Already started on the 1/32 Lynx for the Rotors RPM campaign.

Great looking job, Dave! Love the clean, gloss finish! Where's the armament on that thing?

Thanks for the compliment - it's Tamiya gloss straight out of the jar and brush painted!
Armament is 4x20mm in the underside of the wing roots

@Dave - love both the tigercat and the lightning, they look great, but, holy cow!! You really do work fast! There was me thinking that I have been burning through entries for the fighter-bomber campaign at a rate of knots, but as far as speed goes, you are truly impressive!

@Michael - I'm going to have to agree with the others who have already answered you for this one - I would love to see that Javelin, partly because I love the way it looks, and also partly because I am seriously considering adding one to the stash myself

any way, here is an update on the Widow....finally.....

some of the interior bits all painted up and dry-brushed


Radar operator's station


one of the fuselage halves painted and weathered where needed


the very same fuselage half with interior detailing added and the cannon bay fully kitted out with two of the 4 20mm lead slingers. If anyone is interested, I have recently had to move one of those buggers, and not only are they really heavy - they are unbelievably awkward to carry as well!

Anyway, that is all from me so far - more to follow!

Cheers, Simon

Nice job Simon!

I'm starting to sense a ground swell in favor of the Flatiron!

Michael

Hello Campaigners!
Flatiron? Nickname for the Javelin? I have to admit I'm pretty weak when it comes to Cold War aircraft.
A slow week for model building. Waiting for paint to cure, experimenting with home-made decals, and enlisting my daughter's help. Is that cheating for a campaign?
Here is the painting as I have read she would be delivered to the airfield. RLM 75 top over RLM 76 undersides.

The paint colors I mixed myself from a mixture of Tamiya and Testors MM enamels.

According to what I read they got oversprayed at the unit level...so, I went gray first.
Here's where I enlisted my daughter's help. I feel that when I try to paint randomly, I always dislike what I see afterwards because patterns show. So, I asked my daughter Haylee to let her artistic expressions flow with liquid mask and a silicon paint brush. BTW, for those of you who seek a silicon tipped brush and are having difficulty finding one at your LHS or art supply store, try the chemist or any place that sells make-up and accessories for women. What you're looking for is an eye-liner pencil with a silicon tip. Pencil-point accuracy without little bristles sticking out.

Then I turned her loose with my airbrush. I have little skill or experience with an air brush and she had none. The goal was faint borders around the mask.


That didn't quite work out and I have more gray showing than I want...so I'll have to try more. But, I do like the patterns she made.

Thanks for reading,

Gary

Interesting process Gary! I'm not having a problem with your daughter helping out, it's nice to see the collaboration.

And yes, Flatiron was a nickname for the Javelin due (of course) to its shape.

Michael

I hate it when my scratch-built part looks worse than the kit part I meant to replace. When I get a fret of white metal photo- etched parts, what is the metal?

Thanks for reading and responding.

Gary

Hello Everyone!
Only small things getting done while I wait for stuff to cure or tackle life's issues.

Dry fitted the props to see if I wanted to add any detail to the forward engine nacelles. Milled out definitely looks better than I could do with paint and brush.

I went around each gray area with an airbrush at low pressure with very thin RLM76. I'm hoping after gloss kote, pin wash, and dull cote, that they blend in further.

I also applied my first home-made decals. These are a bit thicker and rubbery than most decals I've found, and the decal softener takes quite a while to dry.

The upper wing kreuz are mine, whilst the swastikas are aftermarket.

I used MS Paint to make my decals and a Canon inkjet printer. Straight lines, letters, and numbers are pretty easy. I've got some older Japanese planes and I'm wondering if I'll be able to master the meatballs.


Thanks for looking.

Gary

I have finally been able to work on my F104:

So.... more progress on the Black Widow

all has been going pretty smoothly I have to admit

Painting and weathering inside the undercarriage wells is all done


Tail booms and undercarriage fitted. No problems with this one, but the other was pretty warped, nothing I can really do to correct that, I will just use the elevator/stabiliser to pull it straight



fuselage halves together and .50cal turret fitted


Radar gubbins, the cavity between the back plate of the radar assembly and the instrument panel is packed full of ballast in an attempt to prevent this thing from sitting on its tails.


so what does it do? ughhh......dammit.


In other news...I have started cutting out the areas in between the cooling flaps on the cowling where they are shown open

That's all for now, more will follow, I am planning to put a support leg into the rear of the fuselage to force the model to stand on it's wheels

Cheers, Simon

Simon,

Try sticking some ballast behind the engines if you can. As long as it's in front of the main gear, it will help.

Michael

Simon,
Your detail work looks great!

On to my heap. I'm entering the final stages. To my disgust, the wingtip lights for this plane are too large to fit, and too small for me to make smaller.

If filling with white glue repeatedly then sanding doesn't work, I'll build them with Bondic.

She's finally standing on all three feet.

Behind the landing light in the left wing I put a small piece of aluminum foil to give a reflective effect. NOt satisfied there, I used aluminum foil on the Oleos to make them stand out a little bit.

See, no prop at the back. The clear piece of plastic on the very tail is supposed to be painted silver. I think I'll foil it, too.


The decals, excluding the hakenkreuz are home made. Anything with the color white, or dark backgrounds provide extra challenges.

I've chosen the decals that portray Manfred Meurer's machine in 1944.

The wheels are quite donut-like on this kit. I tried to make them look used, but it hasn't come out right. I sanded the bottoms flat. Other than that, I only have to add more small parts externally(like the radar which I dread), spray with dullcoat, slap on the canopy, add aerials, and I'll be able to call this puppy done.

Thank you for reading!

Gary

@Michael - thanks for the advise, I am planning to do just that but I dunno if there is enough room to stuff enough ballast in, this widow is VERY tail heavy, but I will definitely give it a shot

@Gary - I'm glad you like it! Gotta say, your He 219 looks great too!

@Gary: Nice job on your camo and printing of the markings.

@Dave: you are really nocking the builds out and I am just getting started.

@Simon.L the Widow is coming along and I am interested in the paint brush. It looks easy to hold.

@Michael: are you having fun yet with your build?

Bob

Hi Everyone,
I've struggled and struggled with the radar aerials of this beast, and now I'm tired!

This model is done!
Anyway, I struggled to fit the kit set, and either broke em or couldn't get them to align properly. Then I tried a mixture of brass rod and copper wire. The wire was very fine, but too flexible. It bent and some bends I just couldn't get out. So, I settled on a mix of brass rod and stretched sprue. The PE in the kit was stainless steel. Some pieces had to be bent and twisted and I just couldn't do it without destroying them. Enough apologies, here is the final result.







Thank you for looking! Comments/questions/critique always welcome.

Gary

Ugly, but very nicely done!

I've got the D.VII on its gear and decals and semi-gloss coat on, so almost done with it. Hoping to get started on the Jav next weekend.

Michael

Thanks Michael.

@Gary - that is a very nice looking build you have there! Congrats

@Bob - since you are interested, the paintbrush in the picture is an Italeri sable tip brush, size 000, I also have sizes 00 and 0 as I bought them as a set, they are by far the most comfortable detail brushes I have, and I highly recommend them if you are doing fine detail painting,they are also surprisingly useful in jet engine restoration, as I found out yesterday

I started with this in the morning


and got it looking like this by lunch time


the photo is a tad blurry but you get the idea, I don't have a picture of the finished warning notice, but it is not mu different from the second shot, just a tiny bit neater!
You do some pretty odd stuff when volunteering at the DeHavilland museum!

Would an FW190 be applicable for this campaign? If so, I'm in with this kit!

Wonderful builds going on. I'm undecided about my entry.

Absolutely I'd say the D-9 was an interceptor Logan!

Michael