Working on the last MPM and Xtrakit models gave me the courage to tackle the Boomerang kit which has been in the stash for a while. Made by Tasman, from New Zealand (one for Francis there), it's a multimedia kit of thin, almost see-through, plastic with white metal parts for the engine, propeller, cannons and various other parts. On top of this you have to do some scatch building and thinning. Decals are for just the one aircraft and luckily there are two vacform canopies. The instructions don't follow the norm as they are written notes on the back of the sheet, which gives a history of the aircraft and it's use, and refer you to the photos enclosed for part placement as well. The black lines on the plastic parts are to illustrate some of the pour lines you have to remove.
That should keep you busy Chris. Another different subject.
This will be interesting......
You don't half like the more challenging types of models. Hats off to you Sir!
I bought this kit as the Airfix one has various problems but it could be a case of 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire',lol!!! That aside even though it's a kit that can't be rushed I'm enjoying working on it. After priming parts have been painted as required. The engine has been drilled to take the propeller boss, the shaft of which had to be thinned. A resin block has been mounted in the nose onto which the engine will be mounted.
Interesting work.
Plenty of work there.
Inside the cowling was scraped to get the engine to fit, as per the instructions, followed by closing the fuselage halves. The rear cockpit bulkhead took a couple of attempts after copying from the instructions and in the end I got it as near as and then tidied it up once glued in place. This and the instrument panel were fitted through the bottom of the fuselage. The pilot's seat had a large sprue connection so this had to be removed and the seat rear cut and filed to shape. Seat belts were cur from Tamiya tape.
It's got a pretty short fuselage.
With the white metal gunsight, cannons and undercarriage fitted it was time for priming after working on the wings to get a better fit.
Humbrol Black was sprayed along various panel lines as pre-shading then a coat of Vallejo Light Sky has been sprayed on the undersurfaces. This didn't go as planned, see the photo, plus I missed the areas under the elevators so things were rectified using a brush. I'm giving this at least 24hrs to fully cure before masking off for the upper colours.
That's what's great about reading everybody else's model experiences, we all have those moments when you wonder 'how did I miss that'
Looking great, despite the boob in the paint shop......
Following on from a discussion at the Wakefield Show Francis kindly lent me a book with an article about Boomerangs and Foliage Green plus a bottle of the same. Having trawled the internet for articles on the colour and alternatives plus the discussion with Francis it became apparent that there are variations in said colour. As to the one Francis lent me, whilst it is a 'definitive' colour, it is a lacquer and not having any lacquer thinners or cleaner I decided to copy the shade by mixing my own. I started with Tamiya IJA Green and added to this Vallejo Blue Green followed by some Yellow and reached a TLAR moment so it was sprayed over a couple of previous colours which at first sight appeared correct but once on proved different.
Shades of green. They're as bad as shades of grey.
I know you want the 'correct 'green, but as colour is so subjective, you could settle on any green near enough to your taste, and who could tell you it's incorrect, unless they were there at the time..........which is probably almost impossible now.
Quote from: Bigkev on March 20, 2026, 03:13:06 PMI know you want the 'correct 'green, but as colour is so subjective, you could settle on any green near enough to your taste, and who could tell you it's incorrect, unless they were there at the time..........which is probably almost impossible now.
It looks fine to me, but I am slightly red/green colourblind!!!
It was an interesting exercise in creating a colour.
The Green was masked using Blue Tack and Tamiya Dark Earth was applied. Once dry the masking was removed and Vallejo Tan applied over the Dark Brown as Francis' book said the Brown didn't weather well. Touch-ups to the undersurfaces were also done along with painting other details before a coat Klear was applied ready for the decals, apart from the area behind the cockpit which would impossible to Satin Varnish later once the one piece canopy is fitted. The prominent exhaust andthe plate behind had been painted Vallejo Steel and then given a light coat/wash of Vallejo Smoke.
Now coming along very nicely. An interesting way to portray the weathered brown colour, looking forward to seeing it up close.
Decals applied. They went on well the only downside being a lack of serial numbers, which would explain why they're shown faintly in the instructions. Once on they were coated in Klear to protect them, along with tape, whilst the vacform canopy was cut to size and fitted. This wasn't easy and meant use of filler, canopy masking was done with Maskol. After any paint touch ups and Satin varnish the masking was removed and tidyed up.
I'm treating this build as a 'learning project' due to not being totally happy with the overall outcome but I've learned a lot about building multi-media kits. If I'd waited I could have bought the new Special Hobby release of the CAC CA-13 which has an injection canopy, full decals and all the other bits missing from my kit. But then it would just be 'shake and make' so nothing gained.
Looks okay to me. A learning curve taken and accomplished. Nice work.
It is all about a challenge and learning new skills, or in my case remembering forgotten ones!
Looks good Chris.