Sunday, December 09, 2012

A bit of a cop-out with colours

I have been messing around trying to decide what colour to paint the body shell of the Mustang. Remember that this is going to be VERY shiny. I tried a mid blue but couldn't get that to be consistent across the body - I am doing all of this on the bonnet so that I can quickly clean anything off and not harm the overall shell. I wiped that off and went for a LifeColor matt blue but again, problems with shading across the area. I then hit on using Xtracrylix Gloss Dark Sea Blue - that went on really  well but I only have 1/2 a bottle and that won't do the whole car - and as Hannants won't send paint on its own........ Valerie suggested that I think of a black body shell.Now that was a blinder because I am in love with Vallejo Black Polyurethane Primer - it goes on well, sprays directly out of the bottle, sticks like the proverbial, dries quickly, has a very even finish and can be touched up without showing any edges.

Here is the result. This should look fantastic when it has a few coats of Johnsons Klear on it.


Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Hobby Boss Sea Hawk

I am back on my Fleet Air Arm journey, at least while I think about painting the body of the Mustang.

I have just started to build the Hobby Boss Hawker Sea Hawk FGA.6 in 1/72nd scale. These Hobby Boss kits are very nice. Well moulded, no flash, great fit and very clear instructions. This one will be done is Operation Musketeer markings; i.e. The Suez Crisis when all the aircraft involved wore black and yellow stripes in the hope that our gunners wouldn't fire on them - some hope! Normally, I would have done the other scheme but a) I don't much go for the Dark Sea Grey and White, I much prefer the Duck Egg Green underside and b) the black and yellow strupes come as decals so I don't have to worry about painting them!

This is the box art so you know what I am talking about.






I have started work on the cockpit. One of the interesting things I have found since being retired is that I can now think about doing things slowly and carefully - viz: the care I took over all the small decals on the Mustang. This is something that I didn't do before - I always wanted to get on with things. However, now I have the modelling table in the living room and can model at any time of the day or night that I fancy, I am finding that I sit down little and often and do all the fiddly bits - then let them dry before touching them further.

Anyway, here are some shots of the cockpit. the eat belts are my usual Tamiya masking tape. I even used Gator's Grip acrylic glue to glue on the transparent part of the gun sight. I would have just used Plastic Weld and hoped in the past! I also filed off the moulded on bits on the cockpit tub which represent the various controls on the side and the control panel. Filing them off gave a much better base to the decals which now sit flat. Didn't used to do that :-(





Saturday, December 01, 2012

More Action on the Mustang

I am working on getting a fully completed rolling chassis ready for the Clacton Club next Thursday 6th December. I am getting very close to that point. Here are photos of the current state of progress. I am very pleased with how this is coming together - just for once. 

This first shot is of the overall model. The bright blue item in the engine compartment is painted according to instructions but I hate it. I am going to paint it black along with the rest of the compartment.


This shot is of the seats. The white stripes are actually decals. These were given lots of MicroSet and they have settled into the seat moulding very nicely.


I normally hate placing decals but since working on the corporate identity of my model railroad freight cars, I have quite taken to the task. Mind you, being retired with lots of time to do things probably helps. The decal sheet that comes with the Mustang is very comprehensive. As you can see here, there is a decal on the window switch with little up and down arrows. These needed a lot of MicroSet to get them to settle correctly.


Here is a shot of the dashboard. Now tell me that this isn't the real car!


This is a close up of the centre console. The climate control panel is a decal as are the Shelby labels. The three little switches on the console sat nicely - I like the hazard warning light switch. There is a Shelby decal on the gear shift including the gear layout, but you can't see that!


This highlights the steering wheel. As you can see, all of the switches on the spokes are there.

I am REALLY enjoying this build. Mind you I still have the body to do and that is where it all went pear-shaped with the 1/24th version - so fingers crossed!

For the picky amongst you, there is a breather to be fitted to the engine and also the battery is still to be installed!