The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Wow, that's going to look great !!!!
Now you know why I'm so concerned about my water, compared to that !!

Wow, that is amazing even without the main subject in place yet.

Thanks, chaps! I need to get some little guys (poppy seeds maybe) on the beach, and some "fog of war"... does anyone make black cotton wool? I have an idea for the flak bursts, but I need to experiment... Oh, yes... then there's a couple of b-26s to build and three to paint.

Bestest,
M.

mattbacon wrote:... does anyone make black cotton wool?

Yeah - you do. you take white cotton wool then spray it black

Or you could try what I did with G-for-George and mix ground up black and grey chalk pastels into the cotton wool - a rather messy procedure but worth a try. Can't wait to see the actual aircraft - that base scene looks stunning Matt.

Cheers
Al.

Have you sorted your engine front issues yet?

Well, it's about time I demonstrated some progress...



It's a bit crowded here, but things are now moving along. The eagle-eyed will spot that I'm also building an Airfix Marauder... definitely a CBK, and a fallback in case the Revell one doesn't work out. All four of the beasties are here:



They really are different sizes! Now a couple of comparisons:

Airfix cockpit (L), Revell (R)


Airfix engines (L), Revell (R)

And now some not so great photos of the middle-sized 'un:



The pilots are basically "peg-dolls" made from sprue, but there was no cockpit at all, and now there is...

bestest,
M.

Great figure work Matt. Now get on with the rest of it!

All looking rather good, Matt!

Kudos for the base, which looks - well, awesome actually.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of the Marauders as well.

regards,

Martin

im surprised at the difference tween the two kits

and im jealous of your workbench....nice view...must be great to be modelling and just look up and out into the garden and see whats going on

Echo those comments re your workbench...

Am amazed at the differences between the Airfix and Revell B-26s...just goes to show that many of the older Airfix kits are still head and shoulders above their competition back then...

I was going to ask if that was a Dan Dare ship hanging above your workbench - then I realised that it was the shade for your work light...

Beowulf Shaeffer wrote:im surprised at the difference tween the two kits

I may be wrong, but I believe that the Revell kit is from the '60s and the Airfix is from the '70s. Note restrained raised panel lines and lack of rivets on the Airfix exterior. The interior is really quite detailed. I can't remember where I heard this, but my understanding was that the toolmakers wanted to see how far they could go with interior detail in this kit. In terms of old school Airfix kits in 1/72nd it is, therefore, quite special.

I've got one of these in the stash somewhere. I really must get round to building it - hopefully alongside the Hasegawa kit . . .

regards,

Martin

Thanks, chaps... The Airfix kit is definitely a Gem, and at 7-9 quid, rather a bargain compared to the Hasegawa or Valom kit at a list price of over 35 quid (even if Hannants are doing them for "only" £25 at present!)

I've been making "working" props, using James' graphics. So far, only the middle size one has them installed:



The others are printed out and ready to use, though. Today I have mostly been building turrets. I'd forgotten how much I hate masking things like this. Still, good practice for the canopies... Tape and copydex.




This way, I can just mask the whole thing before installing, and then close up the fuselages.

Finally, the base has now had some "fog of war" added:



The waterspouts are made from fine steel wire (bought for rigging) dipped in superglue and then into glass microbeads a few times, less deeply each time, to build up a random "cone". The smoke and explosions are acrylic felt from the craft shop, teased out a bit.

With luck, I should get the main airframes together tonight...

bestest,
M.

mattbacon wrote:The smoke and explosions are acrylic felt from the craft shop, teased out a bit.

I've just bought a giant roll of cotton wool and am off to experiment with colouring it. I've no idea what acrylic felt is, but it looks the biz.

OK, not yet the airframes entire, but progress anyway...




Not sure how much more I'll get done tonight, but I'm not unhappy about where I am at the end of this weekend...

bestest,
M.

Aye, progress is looking good, Matt.