Saturday, January 25, 2014

Progress on the Luftwaffe Afrika Korps Pilot and other things

Firstly, I am not getting on too well with the Whitley. I am currently working on tidying up the camouflage before I put the decals on. The dividing line between the upper side and the aluminium underneath is proving a bit tricky around the engine nacelles.

I am getting on quite well with the Luftwaffe pilot but have reached the point where I always have difficulty - the face. Anyway, this is where I am with it.


The body is pretty much finished. The forage cap is nearly done - just a little more touching up. I have the goggles to complete and then... the face! The face has had some pre-shading and now has its first overcoat. Some way to go though!

My other little project is following on from recent completions. I seem to have got it in my head to have a go at some 1/144th aircraft. I have done a few before and I quite like the fact that they can be competed quite quickly. The current project is a Revell Miniwings 1/144th Hawker Typhoon Mk1. I know that I have just finished the Airfix 1/72nd scale version but I have had this since before Modelzone shut down (one of my few purchases from that store).


You can see how small it is up against the pencil.

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Whitley camo finished

Well, here is the Whitley with its dual colour camouflage finished. I now need to give it a coat of Johnson's Klear to fix the paint and then I can mask it up to spray the underside in Alclad natural aluminium. That will need a coat of matt black first as that always makes Alclad shine better.


Monday, January 13, 2014

Back to the Whitley

I have been getting on with the Whitley. Having given the upper side a overall coat of RAF Dark Green, I have now masked off the green so that I can spray the RAF Dark Earth.

Wow, I might even get this finished before the next Clacton meeting in February!


Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Luftwaffe Afrika Korps Pilot progress

I am working on the Young Miniatures bust of the Luftwaffe Pilot. I have given the body and the head a full base coat and have started work on the body detailing. The base colour for the shirt is Andrea Beige whilst the life jacket is Vallejo Model Color Buff. The slight differences bring out the detail on both of these items nicely. I have given it a first pass at shading and detailing. Now that I know what it really looks like - I always have difficulty seeing the detail in an undercoat - I will get on with smoothing out the shading and adding some highlights.

The shading, by the way, is Vallejo Umber Transparent Wash. This fills the dips nicely and can be blended using clean water. I am tackling the head over the next few days - gulp!


There is a compass hanging on the life jacket. In the photo on the box, this is nicely detailed. One would have hoped to get a decal for this - but no such luck. I have put one together using iDraw on my iMac. I have had to draw it very large and then reduce it for use. It is actually only 7/32" - 7mm - across on the model so I have had to simplify it.
Cutting it out and glueing it on will be a bit of a challenge!

Friday, January 03, 2014

Airfix 1/72nd Hawker Typhoon Mk 1B

Another one bites the dust. I really enjoyed making this one. These new airfix kits are really good. The instructions are clear, the painting instructions are superb and the fit is top notch.

The aircraft modelled is that flown by Squadron Leader Basil Gerald "Stapme" Stapleton DFC, No. 247 (China-British) Squadron, No. 124 Wing, 2nd Tactical Airforce, Royal Air Force, Eindhoven, Netherlands, December 1944. (Pheww, what a mouthful). It seems that this model has the updated tail planes that were not fitted until after D-Day (at least that's what Colin Ovens tells me).



 

Here is a close up of the opened weapons bay.



A funny thing occurred to me at the Clacton club last night when I was talking about the paint used. To say that I have a "catholic" taste in paint is pretty accurate as I use whatever make I have that fits. Hence, the Ocean Grey is Xtracrylix, the RAF Dark Green is Lifecolor and the Medium Sea Grey underneath is Vallejo Model Air!

I have always said that the one thing I didn't enjoy was the decalling but it seems that, since retiring, I have got over this. The decal sheet is pretty impressive. It even includes the D-Day stripes and the yellow leading edges of the wings! 

Well onwards and up, as Tony Little used to say.

I am currently trying to get the Whitley painted. Now I have refurbished my Iwata TR0 with a new needle etc., I should be able to finish that. I have started on the Luftwaffe/Afrika Korps pilot, have cut all the resin moulding blocks off and given him a coat of Vallejo grey primer. 


The next aircraft I am planning on starting is the great little 1/144th Westland Wessex HAS 1.


I have checked and I have the required Oxford Blue and Red so it should be an easy build.

More soon.