Miguelito's shiny work bench

[Dirkpitt289]

There are some really cool builds going on here. Fun to watch. KUTGW

[mjatx]

That 410 looks really good - it's a very nice looking aircraft actually - what kit is it?

The 109 is cracking kit. You'll enjoy it.

Thanks, Stuart. The Me-410 is actually the Lindberg kit, not very accurate and the canopy is split down the middle into two pieces. Really strange. I picked up a Squadron canopy, but it's for the Matchbox kit (I think), so the fit is a bit wonky. Still it went together easy enough.

I started the 109 this evening and it is a very nice kit.

There are some really cool builds going on here. Fun to watch. KUTGW

Thanks! Most of the time, they've been fun to build too.

[mjatx]

Got a little work on the Bf-109 cockpit this evening. It went together smooth enough, and while it was drying, I managed to get the wings together as well. So far, a very nice kit. Great detailing, very little flash, and a nice fit.

[mjatx]

Today, I'm hoping to finish up this kit as part of my Blitzbau GB project.





It's not going as smoothly as I would have hoped...do they ever?

[mjatx]

Well, my first Blitzbau GB project failed to get completed...after only 23 and a half hours.

Basically, the 1/144 kit had 1/48 seams and needed lot more work than was expected, but in the end, it was my own hand that doomed the kit. Here's the last picture of the attempt.



At the time, I thought the paint job was alright, but the area that was supposed to be a light blue, was too grey, and the areas that needed to be a darker green were too grey. After the fact, I realized that I had in fact sprayed grey instead of dark green, and dark sea grey instead of blue grey.

Here it is as of last night. I've got the main painting completed and it's ready for a clear coat, then the fiddly bits, decals, etc.







I hope to have this finished before the weekend depending on work/life commitments.

[mjatx]

I got the decals onto the Tempest. They're Cartograph decals, so they go on and look great...especially at this scale.





Hawker Tempest from 222 Squadron, probably late Spring 1945.

[ShaunW]

Excellent work with this tiny Tempest and I've never seen one sporting rockets before, which make it look very Typhoon like. The Blitz is a tough mistress, I've done it twice, failed the first time and finished on the second attempt with about 10 minutes to go. Some members make it look easy but I found it to be totally tough although I did enjoy the experience, mostly

[mjatx]

Excellent work with this tiny Tempest and I've never seen one sporting rockets before, which make it look very Typhoon like. The Blitz is a tough mistress, I've done it twice, failed the first time and finished on the second attempt with about 10 minutes to go. Some members make it look easy but I found it to be totally tough although I did enjoy the experience, mostly

I agree. I've had a tough time finding any reference photos for Tempests with rockets...although there are loads of Typhoon photos. Still, based on it's use towards the end of the war, which included the fighter/bomber role, I imagine they carried rockets on occasion.

I'm giving a Blitzbau a second try this evening...hope the second time is the "charm" for me too!

[mjatx]

As if the humiliation of not finishing my first attempt at the Blitzbau GB wasn't enough, I've started a second attempt. This time a Hasegawa F-86F kit (possibly a FROG repackaging). This is a real dog (a Sabre Dog?) of a kit...lots of fit issues, and poor details...should be fun!

[mjatx]

Well, it's done. After only 22.5 hours, my second attempt at completing the Blitzbau GB is completed.

From here...



...to here...

[Blueberryruby]

very nice work indeed! This looks better than something that i would spend 22 and a half DAYs working on!

[mjatx]

The Tempest has been completed. This is the Revell of Germany 1/144 Hawker Tempest Mk. V. This started out as a Blitzbau GB attempt; however, after enough self-induced errors, I failed to get it completed within the time frame...it was started last Friday, so instead of 24 hours, I spent closer to 250 (total elapsed) hours on this one.

For scale, I took a picture next to an American quarter, a Canadian quarter, and an Australian penny (not sure if that is what it's called, but that's what it looks like to an American).







The kit wasn't spectacular. It had quite a bit of flash, and a few terrible seams, but I actually kind of enjoyed working with the 1/144 scale kit.

[ShaunW]

Great to see that you had success on the second go of the Blitz and that Sabre turned out very nicely as, indeed, has the Tempest. That Australian coin looks very similar to a British penny coin at the rear with the Queen's head. However, as the Aussies use dollars it's possibly referred to as a cent coin rather than a penny.

[mjatx]

That's it...from now on I'm getting vinyl masks for all of the canopies on ALL future builds.

I just spent the better part of the last 2 hours staring through the magnifier attempting to get the canopy on the Bf-109 taped and masked...here's what that looks like.



My eyes/head are killing me. I've tried white glue, painting the canopy in strips, painting the canopy and using a toothpick to get rid of the excess paint, and I've had the best results with the basic tape and mask that I've spent the last 2 hours doing. Yet, my canopies look bad. From now on, it's canopy masks for me!

Here was the end result, and I still see places it needs to be improved...



...if this doesn't make me go blind...nothing will.

[Clashcityrocker]

The Tempest has come out looking nice. As for your Australian coin, it's either a 1 or 2 cent coin, check for the number on the reverse. Neither of these coins are in general circulation, the smallest denomination is the 5 cent piece and that's a silver coin. Both of the copper coins were withdrawn from service some time ago, yet you will still see prices that end in odd numbers. If the price of an item ends in 3 or 4, the price gets rounded up to 5. 8 or 9, they go up to the full dollar. 1 and 2 go down to the dollar also, 6 and 7, they get rounded down to the 5.
Just read all that, and I think I've gone about it the long way, but I'll leave it. Any questions, just ask

Nigel