Portman Productions Inc.

[Stuart]

Hey Stik and Duke - thanks guys. Actually now that I have them pretty much finished they aren't too bad. They have certainly been a good learning curve and I'm starting to get my head around what's needed with building a bipe - so I might actualy do another one at some point.

(Mark that Stranrear is excellent sir - nice work. I've heard its not an easy kit to build so kudos to you for getting it finished. That's one of the kits I'd love to do - one day!)

Anyway, thanks to a day off yesterday, I'm calling these done for now. When I'm feeling up to it I shall attempt some rigging on them.

Hawker Fury.





Gloster Gladiator





I've also finished this (well as much as I'm going to do to it) - this is without doubt the worst 1/72 Spitfire kit I've built, but at least it's done...







I've also progressed the Phantom a bit - all of the exterior bits have been added ready for paint and I've started to assemble the gear and U/C bays. I'm trying a bit of an experiment on this build after a conversation I had with a chap on youtube and building the gear up before I start the main painting - another one of the advantages of brush painting is that you can do this easily, and it'll allow me to stand the model when the paint is drying etc. (it's also one less job to do after the airframe is finished painting and decalling).





I think it's starting to look like an F-4. I might go with the Green/Grey camo after all, if only because I don't have the right paints for the all over grey scheme.

Having cleared off a few other builds, and during a stop in the Phantom and Typhoon, I started another little jet kit - Airfix's 1/72 Folland Gnat.

This fits quite nicely into my RAF 100 Years theme that I'm building this year, and having been given a Red Arrows book for my birthday - I really wanted to build a Red Arrow! As I don't have a Hawk in the stash this was the next best thing.





I've built one of these before, so I'm aware of the issues with it. It's actually a really nice kit.

So far I've built up the cockpit ready for painting (black - I love early jets! ). I've added in the end of a toothpick so you can see how small this thing is. I've also painted the intakes silver before assembly.





Well just in case you're still awake - that's all folks (for now)

Cheers!

[speedgraflex]

I am still awake—there are approximately 20 minutes left to my Thursday so I wanted to make the most of them by reading your thread. Congratulations! Again, happy birthday, Stuart. Lovely photos of well-built planes—including the Spitfire. As it is natural for us to see only the flaws in our projects, I think we should gratefully and gracefully put into context the great work you have been doing and the many improvements you have made. I see a renaissance here over the past few months—your blog looks great, your posts are picking up (and yes, please do not entertain leaving Scale Plastic Aircraf Modeler, thank you very much!) I am planning to marathon Red Dwarf with my girlfriend soon. Perhaps after we see "Solo" this weekend and depending on whether the weather being served up by Southern California is any good. We might just go to the beach and light a bonfire; there is still one beach here where that is permitted. The last time I went was to burn some pieces of the past that I felt were best consigned to the flames...

[Stuart]

Thanks Bruce! (Friday Morning here, just had breakfast and about to have my first coffee before heading out to work).

lol - No I won't be leaving SPAM. I'm pulling back on my posting on all the other forums I'm on though, I'm just spending too much time keeping up with them and not enough time at the bench. I've just got to finish up an RAF GB I'm hosting on one other and then that's it.

Thanks for the comments on the blog... ah the blog. I'm not sure it much more that a collection of random posting at the moment. There's so much more I'd like to do with it but I'm just not getting the time (I actually started a post last night). I think I need to set myself the target of one decent post a week - I think that should be attainable.

Cheers Dude - now go to bed!

[Duke Maddog]

Stuart, your completed models are remarkable! I am most impressed with how you got all the decal to lay down over all that detail. Nice work, everything looks painted on. Excellent progress on your F-4. Yeah, when it comes to brush painting; having the landing gear installed works great. Otherwise, it just gets in the way when airbrushing. I also like the Folland Gnat, if you don't plan on using that tiny tube of glue, feel free to send it my way. It actually works quite well!

Looking forward to seeing more.

[KennyX]

I’ll tell ya pal, all those planes are great. And I like this one in particular:



That’s great work!!!

[Stuart]

Thanks Gents you're really too kind - it makes me think I must be a better photographer that I thought I was - to hide all the errors!

[Stikpusher]

Those between the wars RAF biplanes are beautiful Stuart. Nice work. I don’t know if I’d have the gumption to rig a 1/72 biplane. That’s just such a tight area to work in.
And that Spit? Worst 1/72 Spit kit you’ve ever worked on? Well you sure whipped that baby into shape. Very well done there!
I’m looking forward to seeing that Phantom of yours all done.

[jkim]

Very nice assortment of models! And I agree with the others about the Spit... it came out very nicely. Since the RAF camo tended to be very hard-edged, brush-painting of the camo looks great.

[Stuart]

thanks very much Gents - I have to say I'm surprised everyone liked that old Matchbox Spitfire I hated it lol! (changing my mind now!). I did however prove (to myself) that you can brush paint a model with Tamiya acrylics if you REALLY want to (but why would you want too lol!?! )

I've had a bit of time over the weekend, in the middle of looking after the kids etc. while my wife was away and made a bit of progress on a few builds.

There be paint on the F-4. I went with the green/grey camo in the end, purely because I had the paints to hand and therefore didn't have to order any (especially as I spent £900 quid on my car last week ) - besides I want to get this finished ASAP. It looks a bit rough at the moment but it needs more coats.

(don't worry about the canopy framing - I'm in the process of tidying it up)



I DO think it would have looked better in the all over grey scheme, but I do have the Italeri F-4J kit now and I could do that as an F-4J (UK)

I've also made some progress on the Gnat. I've just done a basic job on the cockpit and the belts are AM decals, but it'll look good enough through the rather thick canopy.





I've also been cracking on with the AZ-Models SR-53 'what if' kit I started at the end of last year. I'm just in the process of painting it up. I'm going for Green/Grey over PRU blue just like the RAF Sabres (Sabers?? You know -F-86s!) wore in Germany. I think I need to re-visit the canopy again as the fit wasn't the best and it needs a bit more fettling and filling. I'm REALLY bloody annoyed however as I can down stairs this morning to find it had bloody well fogged!



I also started having a play with this....



not sure what I'm going to do with it yet - Navy, USAF or RAF

It's nice to have a decent kit of an F-4 though - much much better than the Matchbox one. The detail is really nice. Plenty of flash though (in fact MORE than the MB kit!)





Well that's all from me - I've got to get my son to school now!

Cheers!

[KSaarni]

Great stuff Stuart!

Will you start with the Italeri F-4 soon ?

- Kari