Thursday, March 31, 2011

Quietly confident

Well, things seem to be going well at the moment - but there is always time for a stupid mistake!

I am trying a new idea this time. Instead of embedding all of the photos into the blog, I have created a Lightroom slideshow on our home web site. I have done the slide show as a Flash presentation but because I know that iPhone and iPad users can't see Flash, I have also do the show as an HTML presentation so we should have all bases covered.

Today's Slideshows are here

Flash Presentation
HTML Presentation

Airfix Series 2 Bofors Gun and Tractor
This went to the competition last week and got a couple of points!
Here is the finished item

This was a very enjoyable build and I am quite happy with the final result. It has made me think about doing more small scale armour.

Revell Shelby GT500



This is coming along really well. As you will see from the photos, I have finished the chassis. I have given the body its white primer and top coat. I will be giving it two coats of Johnson's Klear today so that I can put the decals on. Still lots of scope for messing up the bodywork but fingers crossed.

Walthers HO - 1/87th - Scale Wooden Caboose
This is for my model railroad but it is here because it is a plastic kit which needed building, as you can see. I have finished the body and done the weathering. All that is left to do is to fit the trucks and couplers and then it will be ready to go. I always make one mistake - I have missed of the decals so I need to add them and then re-do the weathering over them - stupid!

Conclusion
Not a bad run lately. Don't forget to use the links at the top to see the full slide show.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Advancing on two fronts - not always recommended

But this time - OK.

IPMS Ipswich Airfix Series 2 Contender





















Here is my Airfix 1/76th Bofors gun - work in progress but not far off. This is a tiny thing and has lots of little parts. It is not quite as complex as the IBG Chevy truck that we did for the 6 hour build but it is close. I have done the top coat of paint and then misted some Lifecolor White Oxide over to fade it all out. Next step is to add some washes and then it will get a copious amount of MIG Sand pigment.

I have the four figures to paint as well but they shouldn't take long. It will be a squeeze because I am getting really involved in the other modelling project - see below - and I have a one day seminar coming up for my concertina playing so I am practising the music for that as well. Never a dull moment, as they say.


Revell Ford Mustang.



(double click on the pictures to get a larger image in a new window)

This is coming on really well. I love the new Vallejo primers - especially the black one which has worked brilliantly here. I have used it as an undercoat for all the Alclad and also as a finish coat for those bits that need to be black. The wheels have been coated in Alclad chrome so they look great.

As always, with a car, the real issue is the quality of the paint job on the body but that is yet to come so I have plenty of scope more messing this one up!

That's all for now.
David

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Vindicator - gone where all the good planes go

 I got close - so very close to finishing another 1/48th aircraft when the curse of the stupid mistakes hit - yet again :-(

Here is the Vindicator in its current condition - from its good side!















So far so good.

Now let's look at the bad side. As you can see, I didn't protect the decals with a coat of varnish so some of the unit number on the port side has come away. Also, when I was getting it off the shelf where I put it to let the tail aerial fixing point dry, I caught the front aerial and broke it off!















You can just see the tail aerial mounting that I fitted.

















I took it all and threw it in the bin. I then had a thought that I could remake the aerial out of brass wire hammered flat and shaped (similar to how I did the Mosquito aerial) and that I could live with the decal problem. I went out to the bin but, of course, I couldn't find all the canopy transparencies.

So this one will  be finished and put on the shelf as a warning.

Next Two Projects

The club has another Airfix competition in March - series 2, this time. Let's hope that they don't keep going up to series 9 (or wherever it stopped)! I am going for safety and armour so I have chosen the Bofors Gun

It is poorly moulded (ancient tooling) and extremely fiddly so should irritate me enough. I have notcied that there is no transparency for the windscreen so I will have to scratch build that (which is a bit out of the rules but what the heck!.

For my own enjoyment, I am going for yet another Shelby Muscle Car. This time, the current Shelby GT 500. I have already got the Mr. Muscle Oven Cleaner to work on the chrome parts and hopefully will start on this tomorrow.