SPA Modeler

Duke Maddog wrote:Wow, this is gonna be a blast to watch! Brilliant idea for this kind of a build. Now you'll be building like I do all the time.

Like everyone else, I'm thrilled to see you posting again!

Hey, that kind of project could easily be finished at a Hobby Day!

Duke! Duke! Duke!

And once more—

Duke! Duke! Duke!

The melatonin is hitting hard, but not hard enough to stop the joyous energies of your words from giving me some energy & encouragement. My apologies for missing your recent manufacturing activities! I will rectify this egregious oversight immediately! I know you have made half a dozen finishes and started as many since I have been hors de combat.

Stuart wrote:Very cool Bruce, it's a nice little kit that goes together well - I can't think of any gotchas. I certainly enjoyed the one I built a few months back, and have just brought another.

As for the mottleing, if you can allow yourself an extra, don't use the brush but instead use a cotton bud - with a sort of drybrushing 'roll on, roll off' action. That's how I did mine...



Cheers!

Stuart,

Thank you for the great tip (Uh oh here’s a pun!) about using a Q-tip! A genius move. I think any common household object is fair game for this type of build, don’t you agree?

Stikpusher wrote:Great idea for the mottling Stuart! I like it!

Agreed! Two thumbs up! Now there is one Airfix kit gaffe I have read about concerning an access panel on the tail fin. There is only one on the port side, not the starboard. So my first official act was to use an Emory board to grind off the engraved unnecessary panel. In other words, this may be an out of box build but it’s going to be fair and square to the original aircraft—even if that means surgical reductions to be performed with a primitive sanding stick.

Sprues before surgeries



A gentle criticism: I know baby blue plastic with a pebbly finish is kind of the Airfix thing, but I really prefer the Hase materials and finish—or Eduard. Call me a snob, okay? I am. But the panel lines are wonderful. Much better than some recent Czech exports I have seen.

It's horses for courses isn't it, having built loads of these kits I'm preferring soft plastic to to the hard stuff these days, even Matchbox and FROG kits seem pretty hard, but yeah, the pebbly texture is a bit odd. Airfix have had a lot of trouble with their moulding sub-contractors in Indian and other places, but apparently no that they've moved the kit production back to the UK, the plastic is a tad harder and has much better surface texture.

Question- why are you removing that panel line on the tail? IIRC, there is an access panel there on the real aircraft type used to maintain control cables and other such interior mechanisms. Are you going to fill in other panel lines?

Carlos! Good question. The tail fin access panel is only on one side, the port side.



Second image is from the IPMS Switzerland A-8 Walkaround.

Stuart wrote:It's horses for courses isn't it, having built loads of these kits I'm preferring soft plastic to to the hard stuff these days, even Matchbox and FROG kits seem pretty hard, but yeah, the pebbly texture is a bit odd. Airfix have had a lot of trouble with their moulding sub-contractors in Indian and other places, but apparently no that they've moved the kit production back to the UK, the plastic is a tad harder and has much better surface texture.

Understood. Great points. My admiration is for any company which supports and furthers plastic model kit building; Hornby/Airfix certainly qualifies a thousand times over. It’s just if I have a Fine Molds kit, a Hase kit or an Airfix kit I would prefer the first two. I’m excited to try painting the Airfix kit, though!

Ok, gotcha… I see that they molded the panel on both sides. Nice catch!

Whooohooo! Brush painted with paper belts!!!