New tool

Still struggling a bit to revive my autumnal mojo. I currently have no less than 9 projects stalled in the paint step. I’ll admit to something of a pathological fear of painting failure, but this is getting ridiculous.

I did indulge myself and purchased a Xuron sprue-cutting tool. The generic one I had was not doing the job, and this should help in cleaning up the sprue spurs for ongoing construction. I also put in an order for books and decals to Hannants. I don’t remember seeing a shipping confirmation; I do hope it left the premises prior to the Telford scramble. There is also an outstanding book order from Sprue Bros. 

Also, I found out recently that scammers have discovered this blog. Some of them are starting to pop up in older blog posts (in the reply section of course). Be aware this is beyond my control and feel free to ignore them completely. So if you see any odd postings for ED medicines, can’t miss stock training, or Asian dating sites (ok, that one might be my fault) then just pass em by. 

Construction: P-47 cockpit

The other kit I started tinkering with was yet another Minicraft P-47 to continue that long-running series. This time it was inspired by a decal sheet I recently picked up from Hannants. The specific sheet is Kits-World 72052, which includes “Eight Nifties” as flown by Clyde Knisely. It too has taken its place in the painting queue for the cockpit.

Right before I posted this, I managed to clean up the seams and mask up the Airfix Lightning for its blue spine. Looks like I'm not going to be able to avoid the paint booth for much longer! 

Like many of you, I prefer musical accompaniment with modelling. Being the Oldest Surviving Metalhead, this generally runs to classic metal bands of the 70s-10s. I recently picked up a deluxe version of a Black Sabbath concert CD (“Past Lives”) which covers a couple of shows in 1970 and 1975 – the second being when I was a newly enrolled college freshman! So that is the soundtrack that has been blasting through my latest modelling sessions.

 

Construction: Lightning F2A major assembly

Though you might not know it from the blog entries, my workbench isn’t all desolation and blowing tumbleweeds.

I do have a number of projects stalled in the painting stage, but that is one of the first casualties of any mojo drought. So I decided to concentrate on some miscellaneous construction.

Not long before vacation, I had put together the cockpit of an Airfix Lightning F2A. This is a wonderful kit, and I wish I had had some when I was on a true Lightning kick back in the late 90s. Those are mostly early Airfix F1s and F3s (since they have the better markings options) and suffer badly in comparison with these new kits. There are at least a few gaudy paint schemes on the F2As and F6s, and I will take full advantage of them.

There is not much to say about the building except you need to pay an average amount of attention. The wings needed a touch of filler (not much) and you might have to do a bit of fiddling to the cockpit assembly to make sure it doesn’t cause the fuselage to splay open. Some minor seam work and it should be ready for the first round of paint.

Revell Blohm & Voss Bv-222

One of the things I need to do to get the blog up to date is catch up with some completed models. I seem to have sort of dropped the ball around the end of April for some reason, so I will be spending some time in the near term getting that squared away.

First up is the Revell Blohm & Voss Bv-222 flying boat. This rather large aircraft was apparently first designed as a Lufthansa mail carrier in 1938, but was quickly snapped up by the prewar Luftwaffe as a large transport. I think at one time the thought at Revell was that they could release the commercial version, which would explain some of the curious engineering (such as the gun turrets all being set in special panels that could be swapped out in a later release) but the sales were presumably not robust enough to justify additional tooling. Somehow I ended up with two copies of this kit, and I am still considering how to do a Lufthansa airliner out of it, even if it would have to qualify as a what-if model.

Though the build took a long time (something like 5 years, though a good portion of that was time on the Shelf of Shame) that was more due to a tapering off of enthusiasm rather than any fault with the kit. The interior has a high level of detail, though not much can be seen once major assembly is complete. The subassemblies are large, which has its own set of challenges, but little an experienced builder will fret over. I did have problems with the canopy, especially the side windows, but can chalk that up to sausage fingers and minimal patience.

As usual, the model was painted in Xtracolour enamels. Though this provides a glossy surface, Revell decals are notorious to me at least for their occasional love of silvering. A couple of instances on this kit, but I did what I could with SuperSol and pressure. Markings are for SAGr 130, based in Norway in 1945.

I was delighted when Revell announced they were doing a Bv-222, and although it took a long time to reach the finish line, I’m happy enough with the finished product. There were still issues in finalizing things: the cockpit and turret masking just did not want to lift, I broke off two prop blades taking it to be photographed, and photos were taken before I filled in some of the fuselage windows with Kristal Kleer. Plus the photos are a little crappy. Blame that on the ditzy official photographer of 72 Land. Not one of my favorites - or best - but I am glad to be done with it. 

This is completed aircraft #463 (#30 for the year), finished in April of 2016.