Colours is a film with Sean Penn

Colour is also a major debate for me in modelling. I have the Trumpeter kit of the USS England. What colour to paint it? Not the hull, I mean the small bits, like the depth charges, the guns, etc?

Speaking of colours, I decided to recommence work on the Encore (ex.Heller) 1/72 Natter BA 349A and Fieseler Fi 103 (the manned version of the Doodlebug). Nice kit, basic interior, but amazingly, the instruments are there, and there are decals for the seats. Actually, always surprises me that more kit manufacturers don’t include decals for seats. It’s basically free (they are printing a decal sheet anyway), and adds to the kit, as well as saving us punters money! Oh yes, colours, so, the kit says to paint the interiors RLM 02. I’m sure it should be RLM 66, being late war Luftwaffe, but OK, RLM 02 it is. They then say to paint the supports RLM 71, a dark green. Hmm, OK, but it’s not quite right. I mean, would they use identical supports for both aircraft? No, I don’t think so either. Not sure what colour I will use, but maybe a Black Green, Humbrol no.91 (actually, a Perkins, because I want to minimise my use of Humbrol, until they come back into business). The RLM 02 is the Xtracolor paint. Good for spraying, crap for brushing! Final paint fight is over the rockets for the Natter. Just what colour were they? I’ve looked at others models online, and no one seems to know! Still, were they painted at all? The Luftwaffe was running out of paint, and the rockets were expendable. I guess they might have been left as metal? Anyway, that’s my theory!

So, repainted the black areas (Perkins no.33) , which for some daft reason were shiny black and not complete, and re-did the interiors in RLM 02

As for the kits themselves? So far, so easy. Not bad for an old kit. Obviously not in the same league as the Dragon (reissued by Revell), but still the only 1/72 kit I know of, of either model. Just the rockets have seam lines to sand off.
The MiG, the infamous MiG! Well, the 5th coat went on today. After finishing here last night, did a light coat on the MiG, and whilst translucent, seemed to stay, so, on went a full coat today. A few more of those, and the kit will be done! Still some drops forming, but not too bad, and I was able to airbrush them out (I use an Iwata double action HP-C, so set the brush to air only), by spreading the paint around.

Made a first start on the Academy P-40B Tomahawk. Right in the middle of the seat was an ejector tower. Of all the idiotic (and hard to reach) places to have one!

As for the Armourfast M-10, well, I found the main machine gun, and put the other aside for safe keeping. So safe I can’t find it now…

A new coat, hello and goodbyes

In the ongoing battle of my MiG-15, a 4th coat was applied, this time Humbrol 27002, a MetalCote. Well…the earlier sanding wasn’t quite good enough. Little scratch marks from the sanding came through in the MetalCote. Bare Metal Finish (BMF) as it’s known is the worst for showing up errors. However, this last Wednesday, and today it’sSunday…

Friday night spent sanding. I am quite sure that no one has ever sanded one of those MiG kits to such a degree! It’s now glass smooth, and I’m sure that if I can spray right, the final finish will look good. However, I need to apply the coat, and yes, I’m nervous! After all, it has been 4 coats already.

I sold to Hannants a whole load of kits. Mostly stuff that I would never build, for various reasons. Guess what, me, the man who likes lists, forgot to write them down! However, the big stuff included a 1/12 scale Revell Ferrari F2002 and a 1/32 Trumpeter F4U Corsair. The Corsair could have been a nice kit, but way too complex! As for the Ferrari, well, hmm, I just know that as much as I would like to, I would never get around to it. The Ferrari cost me £60, £10 down from normal price. The Trumpeter was £40, so, just these two alone was £100. Other than that, an Airfix DC-9, a SMER (ex-Aurora) Camel, some Airfix figures, some old Hasagawa stuff from the 70’s (with raised panel lines), and, er, some more bits! Anyway, in exchange for those kits, and some money, I purchased the Tamiya 1/350 Enterprise, a huge kit!

Mirror glass and motorways

Driving back last night, had a lovely diversion.  Yep, the M25 was closed from junctions 8 to 10, clockwise.  Did the authorities both giving advance notice?  Of course not!  Thus, I spent 1-2 hours sitting in traffic additional to what should have been.  Ah well, it happens, just so damn frustrating.

Could it get worse?  Yes!  I parked at up at 3am, but at midday when I went to the car, I found that the mirror glass had been stolen.  The mirror glass, just the glass, with no damage to the car.  A professional job, but so annoying.  At least it wasn’t malicious.  If it had been, I think I would have sold the car.

Ironed a week’s shirts, do I lead an exciting life!

Slowly slowly

Well, a third attempt to paint the 1/72 Airfig MiG-15.  This time, using the same mix as a couple of days ago, I first sprayed an unbuilt Matchbox JU-188 (no canopy, pity, nice model, very sharp moulding), and it was fine.  Then the Airfix, and, hmmm, I think I sprayed too much.  There are drop built up at the bottom of wings, etc.  Hopefully I can sand it nice.  There’s also a bit of mess around the base of the fences.  I think I should have cleaned it up more first.

Next, the Italeri fake MiG-37.  I used some Revell 374, which is a grey-blue colour.  I looked at some pictures of Mig-29, and it seems fairly close.  I’m sure there are colours closer, but it’s darn near!  Anyway, it’s a fake aircraft.  I think I could have done with thinning it slightly, but for the next layer I will.  Also did some black work on the engines, and seat, and silver work on the undercarriage.  Glued in the munitions bays, as will have them closed.  Interesting, the two bay covers look the same, but are different, so, if buildng, dry fit first.  Used a minimum of glue, just on the lip.  Very neat, and just a tad to remove!  Finally, assembled the two split wheels.

Finally, and aside from silver fingers, I used some of the black from earlier to paint the two machine guns from the M-10.  The smaller one was fine,  the larger one is now in the room somewhere…!  I have a wooden floor, and still can’t find it!  Ah well, that’s all for today!

Adventures in spraying

There’s a first for everything.  Today I managed to get airbrush cleaner in my eye.  It’s been a bit of a crappy day in some regards, so, to be expected I almost guess!  Anyway, here’s the latest:

Yesterday I zipped off in 30 mins an Armourfast 1/72 M10.  Very simplified kit,  but, it’s 90% of the way to a fully detailed kit, so, not bad!  Trouble is, the kit illustration, and the assembly diagram on the box are, seemingly for another kit!  The assembly and illustration show one MG, not two, they ignore the Jerry cans, the lights are different, and the storage holder (?) in the illustration doesn’t exist!  Still, for 30 mins of fun, can’t be bad!  I’m not going to detail the interior, just have quick kit to experiment with.

My MiG 15, for the Airfix build in Finescale is, hmmm, not as good as it could be.  What makes it much worse is that the paint finish was awful. I use cellulose thinner, maybe that was the problem?  The paint was Humbrol no.11.  So, out with the sanding sticks, and a long time later…it looked nicely weathered!  Seriously, ready for another blast.  This time the paint spluttered out, and orange peeled onto the aircraft.  Am I never going to get this one right (the Armourfast was airbrushed OK).  I also didn’t some splatter hitting my Italeri ‘MiG-37B Ferret E’, including canopy…

Actually, didn’t see much because whilst cleaning my Iwata, the cleaner hit me in the eye…  Later, managed to get most splatter off the canopy of the MiG-37.  I know its not a real aircraft, but will give it a shot next I think.

A day to remember, or forget

When does a day start? At midnight? At sunset? Or even at sunrise? This morning, unfortunately, I saw the sunrise. Why? My finger (middle, right hand), was not allowing me to sleep. A lump on the side was causing me pain, and keeping me up. So, off to the hospital, for a presciption. 05:30, on the way to my local, I see no A&E, OK, so, Barnet General then. Naturally, I don’t wish to pay and pay, so parked a short walk away, and guessed I’d be seen soon. After all, it was 6am, and just a few people waiting to be seen. No such luck! Yep, I’d be seen at 11:30, if I was lucky. Amazing sight, people in pain, groaning, blooded clothes, and they’d been there for hours like that. What a pity the Tories are now saying they will keep the NHS.

Saw the F1 later, from Monza, good race, but oh dear, Alonso, what happened? Nice to see a Pole on the podium (can you imagine the headlines, if Kubica made Pole Position?), but oh dear, the man that Alan Jones described as ‘the arrogant Kraut’ might just win the championship. At least he’ll be gone soon.