Hello all,

After a long absence from modelling and from attending club events, I was very much looking forward to getting back into things at today?s play day but, wouldn?t you know it, I picked up a particularly nasty illness which is doing the rounds and have spent the last three days in bed, all the time hoping I may be able to perk up enough to make an appearance but I?m afraid it?s not going to happen. Lazarus I ain?t!

Hope you all enjoy the day and hope to see you again at the Feb meeting.

Hello all,
apologies for my lengthy absence - I've been through a bit of a difficult time this year and was at one stage going to completely give up modelling however all is now well and I'm a changed man 
I'll see you at the January meeting all being well and maybe even have something to bring to the table.
Have a good holiday and toodle pip for now,
Dave

Hello all,

I fancied summat quick and simple over the festive holiday to try and revitalise my plastic pledge so I picked up the 1/76 Revell (ex Matchbox) kit form our local hardware shop.  Including the little diorama base these old Matchbox kits came with, I had it assembled and painted in just over 3 days.  Then I decided not to be satisfied with the base and the quick build became a long drawn out project...

I've wanted to have a play with snow and frozen water for a while so decided to have a go at a "Battle of the Bulge" style diorama.  Apparently, there were Chaffees there but even if not, remember the old 1965 film where they used Chaffees for Shermans?  And of course it would upset the rivet counters too.  A real added bonus!

Anyway, I started with a block of that dense foam and cut it to a rough profile, chucked a bit of course turf scatter on and some various sprinkles of scatter, static grass (just dropped on, not applied with the magic machine) and decided to make some tall pine trees to go on there too.  To make the trees I started off with a coconut matting hanging basket liner cut into strips, then squares, then with the corners snipped off to make them roughly round, I pulled them apart a bit and stuck them onto a wooden barbecue skewer with spray glue.  A blast of dark brown aerosol was next, then more spray glue and some coarse foliage thrown over finished the tree top.  The trunk is a bit of balsa dowel, tapered off and scrubbed with a wire brush for the bark effect, sprayed brown and dry brushed with light grey then a hole drilled in the top to take the snipped off barbecue skewer.  Some bits of the coconut matting and small twigs were then glued in to holes drilled in the trunk for the dead branches.

The stream was a multi-stage project in itself.  First I blocked off the ends of the stream and poured in some clear cast resin with a touch of green and sand paint to give it a muddy look.  As it was drying I thought to shove some branches into it too.  Once cured, I needed to make the frozen top layer.  I dammed off the centre section with Blu-Tac, shaping the outer edges into hard, straight edges with a bit of acrylic so that when removed the inner edges of the ice would have hard, straight edges too.  I mixed more resin and into this stirred some Krycell snow powder (I'll review this product soon, once I've used it as snow) and a dash of white paint.  This was then poured either side of the Blu Tac dam.  A third slab of the ice for the centre section was poured into a foil tray.  Once this was all cured, the Blu Tac dam was removed and the edges cleaned up.  It worked much better than I thought it would have done!  I then sanded the centre slab down to the same thickness as the two end bits and cut it to profile to fit the hole, gave it a slight dry brush with green paint at the edges, laid it face down on some masking tape and smashed it up!  The plan was to then reassemble it in the gap and flood that with Vallejo still water, suitably tinted to match the water under the ice.  Schoolboy error - to set it in at various angles, some of them would need to be under the level of the set water so I had to chisel this out a bit.  An accidental by-product of this though was that I ended up with lots of bits of clear resin shavings which made perfect crushed ice to throw into the gaps between the slabs. 

The still water took a fair few applications before it filled the stream to the right level as it wasn't quite watertight where I'd chiselled the resin away but it leeched realistically into the tank track ruts on the nearside and slopped onto the ground on the far side where it would have spilled from the tank.  Pity it will be covered with snow soon!!!

I then decided the tank needed wintering up a bit and it was looking a bit on the bare side too.  I ordered a set of tank stowage items from a company called Value Gear.  I normally stay away from places with cheap sounding names like that but thought I'd take a chance and was glad I did.  There was enough for at least 4 tanks and the quality of the stuff is excellent too.  With my Krycell snow powder, I got a little pot of winter white wash cammo which went on very realistically. Once dry, it was scrubbed about a bit to show wear and then sealed in with matt varnish.  The stowage items were selected, primed and painted then glued to the tank.  They've just been given a coat of gloss varnish ready for a dark wash and picking out the details then they'll be matted over, then the antenna to go on and that'll be done - other than some snow in the wheels and over the tracks but that's for another installment, once I get to putting the snow on the ground.  Oh, I also made a canvas cover for the .50 cal on the turret out of a square of blue roll dipped in PVA bond coloured with khaki paint.  Pity to hide that brass ammo belt...but I know it's there.

Still to come are some resin GIs from Millicast which will be trudging behind the tank, then branches, bushes, ground cover, fix the trees in place and finally, the snow.  I really hope to have this done for the Feb meeting...

Back in 2010, I was down in Taunton at DCOS' family's place for Christmas and on 27 Dec, went for a wander into town to have a break from the madness.  A model railway shop was open and I bought this Airfix Kingfisher for no other reason than I could and after gluing the two sets of wing halves together, it had sat unloved in the loft ever since.

I decided it was time to get it done and donated to Holderness Hardware for their window display and so over the last couple of weeks, have been really enoying myself spending as much free time as possible at the bench.

It's an out of the box build with the exception of a bit of stretched sprue rigging between the fuselage float posts (my first ever bit of rigging too!) and the antenna wire (not yet on).

It came together well and I'm quite pleased with it so far - though there's plenty of time to mess that up!  Paints are Vellejo acrylics and are approximate colours only.  I gave it a base coat of white over the Halfords grey primer and then some chipping fluid before the top colours so I could have a go at a battered look.  How realistic it is I neither know nor care.  It's typical old Airfix raised detail and rivets which I left alone other than rubbing down the rivets on the floats slightly.

I nearly made a schoolboy error when putting it together as I was that keen to get the wing floats on, they would have gone on before the underwing marking had I not glanced at the paint intructions purely by chance!

I decided to have a go at masking the canopy rather than paint by hand and tidy up with a cocktail stick as I usually do so that was a peaceful 2 hours last night with some Tamiya tape and a few exacto blades.  Tonight I'll give it a spray and hope the paint doesn't come off with the tape which I'm not looking forward to as I always find the Vallejo paints so very soft and not only do they take a very long time to cure, the chipping didn't work too well on the underside as the white came off as well as the light grey.  That'll be touched up over the next week.  What's left to do on the actual aircraft is sort out the weathering, fix the canopy (open or closed???)  add the MG and antenna, underwing light and then get started on the base.

It will be displayed on water - or rather resin - and so I made a deep picture frame style base to sit it in.  The ply at the bottom was the right width but longer than I needed although I may be able to incorporate the extra bit into the finished display.  If not, I'll cut it off.  I'm still deciding exactly how it will look so will keep you posted as things progress.  Working with water/resin is another first for me and so if this goes wrong, I not only waste the resin but lose the kit too as it will be sitting in the resin not on it - although I suppose if it comes down to it, I could cut it out and start again or make it a "waterline" float!

Hello all,

I've had a few good chats recently with the owner of our local hardware shop.  The Airfix and Revell model kits he's been stocking have sold so well that he's expanded the range significantly and also said he'd like to display some finished kits to draw the eye so I said I'd be glad to help him out.

Some of you may remember a few years ago my 1/72 Airfix Churchill Crocodile - and the cumbersome, unwieldy base it was displayed on?  As I was off on Friday, I decided that this would be a good starter to give him but not without first significantly scaling down and simplifying the base.

The old base was consigned to the bin and a picture frame was dug out of my stash.  Glass was removed, back board taken out and and painted brown and static grass was applied.  The two holes where the rivets for the hangers went through were scalloped out and turned into shell craters.  I puzzled over the best way to get a scorched wood effect in the corner and in the end simply settled for setting the frame on fire!!

The flame jet from the tank is a piece of acetate cut to profile and coated with thick super glue.  Flame red, orange and yellow paint was applied with a cocktail stick which when mixed with the glue, jellifies and sets fairly quickly but with some swift action can be teased into swirls and rolls.  The other flames were created the same way on the glass sheet from the frame and were then peeled off and stuck into place with CA. 

The smoke if a bit of fibre filling from a cushion pulled into shape and given a brief hit with black spray and with flecks of red and orange paint added near the base for sparks. 

That was an hour well spent and the finished article is now on display in his window.

Interestingly, it was the original base that fell onto my Lavochkin and squashed it all those years ago and that Lavochkin was recently used for my crashed aircraft diorama in the "Lavochkin Revisited" post so there's a bit of karma going on there I think.

I've also just realised that the title of this thread has several meanings; one old flame rekindled is that from the Crocodile itself, another is my return to modelling and this website now that I have a reason to build again and hopefully, a third will be more people either returning to the hobby or taking it up for the first time after visiting Holderness Hardware in Withernsea!

Nice to be back anyway and I think I may have something else to post quite soon!

Hello all,

I thought I'd try and put together this strange little thing from Mikr Mir - the Moskalyev SAM 23.  I picked it up a fair while back just because it was summat a bit different and maybe a bit unknown.  Typically, a couple of weeks afterwards and before I'd had chance to make a start, it was reviewed in Scale Aviation Modelling International which made me throw it into the loft in a huff!  Anyway, that was a few years back now and enough time has passed to make you all forget that so this will be my next project.

 It comes in a top opening box.  I really couldn't say why the box style is important but everyone seems to mention it in their review so now you know.  Pretty simple in terms of part count and the detail is more than sufficient with the fit being pretty good.  Another thing people always say is that construction starts with the cockpit, so I'll say that too.  "Construction starts with the cockpit".  There, I said it.  In my case, though, I decided to paint the cockpit components and assemble them afterwards so while they were drying, MY construction started with the engine nacelle and wing!

I have some Albion Alloys aluminium tube of the right looking diameter so thought to add a bit of interest, I would attempt to model the strange little retractable nose wheel in the extended position as shown on the box art so the tubing would make quite a good telescopic arm.  This also meant I would need a pilot so I grabbed an Airfix figure from the spares box and sat him in the seat.  Supposedly in 1/72 scale, the kit appears to be slightly under scale as you can see in one of the pictures - and even taking into account Francis' theory of the cockpit walls in the "a question of scale" thread, the figure was far too long never mind wide.  Luckily, I had a set of OO gauge railway passenger figures with no lower legs which fitted lovely and there was even one looking to the left as in the box art.  I don't suppose railway modellers subscribe to the "I know you can't see it but I know it's there" theory that aircraft modellers use as an excuse before closing the fuselage up and hiding forever five times the cost of the kit in etched brass and resin aftermarket accessories - who are the more foolish modellers one asks.

Anyway, this is where I am so far today.  I hope to update you further tomorrow!

 

Hello all,

Just to let you know, Aldi are stocking 1/72 Airfix starter kits of the Messerschmitt Bf 1093E-3, Focke Wulf FW 190 A8, Hawker Hurricane Mk I and last and most certainly least (waits for a telling off from Bill) the Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia.

They retail on the Airfix site at £9.99 each but Aldi are asking £4.99 for them - worth it just for the glue and paints!

I have no idea if they are new tool but a quick look at the instructions on the site show plenty of parts and detail so go and grab a load.

First of all, being ex-military, I've always known it as IPE - Individual Protective Equipment.  The term PPE makes me cringe - unless it's used at my place of work when it means Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Secondly, those face masks always remind me of the glazed nose of a Dornier 217 - they always have, even when I was about 7 and my Dad bought my the Squadron Luftwaffe Bombers in Action book.  Have a look at the photographs and you'll see what I mean.

And now, for a bonus point, I see these disposable masks are living up to their name, being discarded (and full of germs) along every high street and grass verge, to join the fast food bags casually tossed out of car windows to clutter up the countryside.

Discuss...