A first go

[Guest]

Following my post about Polish Fighters, I think I'm going to pop down my local model shop at lunchtime and pick up a cheap 1/72 kit to have a practise on. I'll post my progress on here and you can all tell me what I'm doing wrong.

In terms of kit, I reckon I'm going to need:

- a pair of angled tweezers.

- a pair of straight tweezers.

- a craft knife

- some liquid poly

- a tube of squeezy poly cement

I'm also going to pop up to Morrisons and see if they've got any of that Johnson's Klear stuff. Or whatever it's currently being marketed as. Acrylic-based floor wax, right?

Finally, since I've grown up doing rather more Games Workshop than Airfix, I'm much more comfortable with acrylic paints (and indeed still have a lot of Citadel Colours knocking around), so propose to use these to paint the thing, as well as using their "Green Stuff" modelling clay for filling.

[Guest]

Brickie, good to see you on the forum! As far as your shopping list goes, perhaps you might wish to add a roll of Tamiya/Tristar low tack masking tape, pop along to boots and buy yourself some emery boards for filing, or purchase a set of files from the model shop. You will need some form of varnish, perhaps a tin of vallejo spray matt, depending on what you are going to build.

The list of things can grow endless and costly so what you feel comfortable with to get your first build underway. The Klear(for wnat of a better word) is to protect the paint work once completed before weathering and is a cheaper alternative to spray varnish, best of look with your shopping outting, lookforward to seeing what you are going to build and hope that you do not dent your wallet too much :damnit:

[Guest]

I'm thinking about Airfix's bog-standard Hurricane Mk1, which comes with an interesting Irish Air Corps decal set (I'm always a sucker for the odd stuff). We've got some Citadel ultra super-duper high gloss varnish at home, a legacy of my wife's PVC and Suspenders-clad Dark Elf Blood Bowl team (!) but I don't think there's any matt. Will check out the Vallejo

I've got some pretty fine sandpaper at home from a DIY project, but a couple of emery boards shouldn't break the bank.

[Gern]

I've got some pretty fine sandpaper at home from a DIY project, but a couple of emery boards shouldn't break the bank.

Try the cosmetics counter in your local pound shop. If you're too embarrassed - get the missus to go for you! :lol

Gern

PS Welcome aboard.

[Guest]

Nope, I have some matchbook style emery boards and a pair of eyebrow tweezers from Boots. The hardware store up the road had Klear, I've got some liquid poly, an x-acto knife, some Humbrol matt varnish spray and - most importantly - a kit to build.

I'll make a start tonight and upload some photos for you to kibitz...

[Guest]

Hmm. Camera failed.

Anyway, inside of cockpit painted in a mid-green with a brown seat which will get a dark ink-wash once it's fully dried and the fuselage halves glued together.

First schoolboy error - I should have taped the tailfin together, it's sprung apart by a mm or so. I'll see if I can simply drop some glue in and squeeze it together. Now all I need to do is find where I put the Green Stuff in the house move.

[Ian M]

Hi Brickie.

You might of noticed that your thread has moved.

That would be me, as I thought it less prone to getting lost if we had it in the "under construction" section.

Ian M

[Guest]

Fairy snuff. Wondered whether to put it in here to start with, but figured it would count as a Tutorial!

[Guest]

OK, chaps and chapesses, a question:

I've assembled the fuselage as I say, and also the wings now but before I put them together, what shall I do about this?

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The big ugly hole where the undercarriage isn't, because it's down...

Normally I'd just paint it all black in there, but can I do better?

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[Guest]

Hi, for my two-pennith worth, it's probably a bit late to do much about it - I'd slap some interior green ( if thats the correct colour for the gear bays?) in there, move on and concentrate on the bits that get seen most!

I don't pick up and look underneath my models much and the big "DO NOT TOUCH" sign stops anyone else...................

Cheers, Neil

[Guest]

I should point out, the wings and the fuselage are not glued to each other at this point, so I can inlay something. I had wondered about just a piece of black card to blank out the hole, but is there something more interesting to do?

I'm not overly fussed about having a detailed interior to the wheel bay, like yourself, but the point of the exercise is to learn techniques and tricks.

[Guest]

Ah, ok, in which case I'd be tempted to find a couple of good reference pics, grab a bit of plastic sheet and streched sprue and have a go at boxing in the wheel wells and adding a bit of detail. Should be a useful exercise, and the results won't be too obvious if you don't want them to be seen!!

As I'm finding out, it's really just down to practice.

Cheers, Neil

[Guest]

I've actually gone with the card option for the moment - had some mounting card so I've cut a small square, popped it in place and assembled.

I'm just about ready to paint now - the kit is together except for the wheels and the canopy, gaps and cracks filled with Green Stuff (goodness me but that's fiddly work at 1/72 scale - how do you do it and keep it smooth?) and edges sanded down.

A minor crisis when gluing the microscopic undercarriage strut into place, the glue started running down the wing and, in a panic, I grabbed some kitchen roll and tried to dab it off, resulting in a bit of a ragged bit under the starboard wing. I've sanded it down and it doesn't look too bad, hopefully.

I'll pop some pictures up tonight, then start with the painting. Any tips for brush-painting with acrylics that will give me a good even coat? And is there any advantage to starting underneath, or on top?

[Guest]

OK, slightly delayed pictures:

Firstly the card filler for the wheel well. The big gap at the left has since been filled with Green Stuff, but I'm still not entirely convinced. We'll see what it looks like painted. However, I'm planning to attach the model to a base anyway, if I don't just end up binning it.

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Secondly, before and after shots of the main camo scheme going on.

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I think I need more practice working with filler though. That's a particularly ugly seam on that wing - it looked OK unpainted.

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Now, question time. this recess on the wing has a clear part to go in it and I believe they're lights for night-time landings. I assume the trick is to paint the inside of the recess in an appropriate colour, then simply stick in the clear part?

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[Guest]

Also, the macro setting makes the brushwork look ten times worse than it does with the naked eye. It actually looks OK with the Mk1 Eyeball, but I'm sure an airbrush would do a better job...