The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Sorry Ratch, going to have to bite my tongue over the Beutepanzer! Notwithstanding the totally incorrect rendition Airfix have offered of a Mk1(ish) tank, the Imperial German Army only fielded captured MkIVs late in 1917, by which time the Mk1 was obselete on the Western Front. Oops, sorry Ratch! Tongue now firmly bitten again.

It was never intended as an accurate replica Tony
Here's my next set of restorations, 4 Esci (for the flank companies) and 13 Airfix (for the centre companies) to form the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot, the "Black Watch"


Not lots of painting per se but plenty of cleaning up and retouching

Here's how I repainted the tartan for the 73rd Regiment of Foot
First blue Hu:25


Then green checks Hu:80


Hu:33 black outlines to the checks


Finally yellow Hu:24 stripes through the checks

Good Lord! Tartan paint no less

Cheers buddy
All but finished now



Hope to finish these tomorrow

Great work Ratch. I can imagine painting tartan must be a fair old challenge in any scale but especially in braille scale!

Cheers Shaun, I could do with a finer point on my brush

Ratch, it really amazes me how you crack on with these figures. Great work.

Really nice work here, Ratch!

Cheers guys, I'm now working on the 79th Regiment of Foot (Cameron Highlanders) - pix to follow soon

Finished the 79th this morning
Mostly Airfix 01735 with 4 Esci 215 figures for the Grenadier and Light Companies

More great work with these tiny troopers, Ratch. You must have quite a collection by now!

You mean there's more than one kind of Tartan paint?

Smart work yet again

Yes Iggie, all Military tartans are based on the Black Watch Military Sett, but with slight variations
Straight onto the 92nd Gordon Highlanders, using the last of my pre-painted 01735 Airfix Highlanders, this time supplemented with a few more Esci 215 British Infantry. Starting with a conversion...

The figure on the left (as you can see) has been made into a standard bearer. I wanted the flag to hang more naturally, but using a heated soldering iron I attempted to soften the thin plastic just enough to fold it - but I over-did it and the flag is now torn


I have persisted with the painting, though I may replace it if it's not convincing

I came across one of my old Bellona vac-formed diorama bases. After thirty-odd years it had become rather tatty and in need of some renovation to make it useable. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures when I started, so let me explain; one corner was totally missing and there were a couple of raised areas. I cut a piece of hardboard to size and I decided to pack these from below with expanded polystyrene all stuck down with PVA. The exposed pieces were coated with plaster of paris.

The existing vac form had been painted with enamels - no need to alter this as it will act as a base colour. When everything had dried and was set the plaster of paris was painted with burnt umber poster paint using the leopard spotting method.


I then brushed PVA over the base.

The thick coat was then ready for various ground scatters:

• Grey stone
  Ballast
  Sand
  Cork granules
  Dried tea leaves
  Mid-green scatter
  Summer mix

A few sprigs of lichen were also added


This will be allowed to dry overnight before I shake off any loose scatter (and recycle it)