Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Next project - harder than I imagined!

I have a Fly kit of an A.W. Whitley c1942. I also have a set of BOAC decals for it.  BOAC (British Overseas Airways Corp.) used to fly these from Leuchars in Scotland out to Sweden. As Sweden was neutral, they would have impounded any military aircraft so we had to send civil registered aircraft with civilian crews. Until we had a decent stock of Lockheed Hudsons and, eventually, D.H. Mosquitos, we used aged Whitleys. They couldn't fly above the flak and couldn't outrun German fighters but, amazingly, none were lost.

The problem arises because the kit had three gun positions. These were faired over on the civilian versions. This is going to be interesting. I'm using DAS clay to make the changes.

Here is where I have got to. The DAS needs to dry and set overnight.




Tomorrow, I will start carving it to shape. No doubt it will need a good dose of filler as well!


71st Highlanders Officer 1854

As mentioned before, this is a Sovereign 2000 bust and costs an amazing £16.50. When I ordered it, Valerie asked me if it was going to be any good because my other Young Miniatures busts all cost around £40.00. Well, I didn't know but i thought it was worth trying. As it happens, it was well worth trying as the bust is beautifully moulded and looks exactly as it did on Historex's web site.

I did tell Geoff Woods that I would try using oil paints for the face and he was kind enough to drop off a book on figure painting when he was lunching at the Aurora restaurant just down the Waterfront from us. I am sorry to say, Geoff , that it didn't work. I bought the paints, mixed them up, got the right shades, etc. but when it came down to doing the shading, everything just kept merging into a single colour because the underlying coats never dried to any sort of hardness. I think I will have to talk to Geoff about this, as I can see the benefit of being able to merge the shades. I just don't know the knack at the moment. Still, I have finished it and I think it ranks alongside my DAK Tank Commander. I don't know what you think but I am very pleased.

Well here goes - let me know what you think.




I did speak to Geoff about the hat band. His comment was that he just drew some lines and did it by hand. I wasn't that confident so I did the following: Firstly, I painted the hat band white. Then, I cut a long strip of masking tape to the width of the vertical stripe. I then put this tape around the hat, butting each piece up to the next. This ensured that the gaps stayed the same and everything was as parallel as I could make it. Having got it fully set, I then removed every other one. I painted the bits that were open with the scarlet paint. Once this was dry, I cut  two further strips and placed them lengthwise around the band leaving the middle line open. This was then painted with a slightly brighter green than the top of the hat. Once, all this was done, off came the masking tape. With a little bit of cleaning up it was "Job Done!"