Revell Eurofighter T1

I have to apologize for the lack of activity on this blog for the last couple of weeks. I went through a period of post-show burnout coupled with the advent of actual Spring here in the Northwest. Almost a week of no clouds, and at least one day over 70! Hey, you take what you can get here in the Rain City.

I did do some construction on the Trumpeter J-10 and Italeri F-22. But as usual my main hangup was the paint shop. I don’t know what deep psychological scars the painting of models stirs up with me. Well, yes I do – it’s where I usually screw the model up. In any case, it can keep me out of that phase of model production for long stretches. I have something like 7 or 8 models in queue right now for some sort of paint work.

But I forced myself in there tonight to paint the surface coat on the Hasegawa Ju-88 undersides, the detail Gelb patches on the Airfix Bf-110E, the prop on a Hasegawa Ki-44 (which apparently inspired Sword to announce a new-tool Ki-44 since I’ve nearly completed the ancient Hase one), and the cockpit on the Zvezda T-50. Small jobs all, but you still need to clean the airbrush out between colors, so it is significant work.

Right before I dropped from sight, I had finished another Revell Eurofighter single seater. This is part of a long term project to do all the RAF squadrons that are flying the type. The 3, 17, and 29 Squadron models are complete (in that order). 6 Squadron decals are on the way from Hannants along with another single seater. 11 Squadron will finish the series, at least until they move another group into active service. There is a standalone flight (1435?) also, but since they don’t use squadron bars they are low on my priority ladder. Here is a group photo. Somewhere I have an elderly Airfix model in prototype colors done as well, but I didn’t bother to pull it out for these shots.

I’ve built enough of these Revell Eurofighters at this point that I can move pretty quickly through the construction process. Other than having a lot of parts for a jet this size, there aren’t any big traps awaiting the unwary. Both the RAF site and Airliners.net have plenty of photos. And then it is just the painting sequence. My main bonehead move in this was reversing the colors on the main gear doors. D’oh! See why I love painting (and in this case repainting) so much?

This is completed model #351, finished in March of 2011.

More photos from the Seattle Spring Show

I don't believe that the judging/awards list has made it to the website yet, but a whole raft of photos has been uploaded from the 4-9-11 show. If you must look at something other than 1:72, you now have the opportunity! Of course, if you're new to this blog and are a confirmed 72ophile, you can find the earlier post that has the link to my Photobucket album with just the 1:72 entries.

Here is the IPMS-Seattle link (most photos by Norm Filer, though I know others contributed too).

http://www.ipms-seattle.org/Springshow/2010SpringShow/2011%20Seattle%20Spring%20Show/index.html

2011 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show

There hasn’t been much going on in the modelling dungeon lately, since the evil wild raspberry vines in the back yard have awoken from their winter hibernation and I’ve again embarked on the Never-ending Battle to keep the backyard from resembling the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

However, this was one of the red-letter days in the great Northwest. The largest local model show, IPMS-Seattle’s Spring Show, is normally held in the first half of April. We’ve had everything from snow to 80 degrees for one year or another (and to be honest, neither extreme is very good for model show attendance). But today was dry, partly cloudy, and the mid-50s.

The show is held in the Renton community center, in their two-basketball court gymnasium. They put a thick rug over the wood surface. The competition tables are in two rows down the center, and the vendors are arranged against the walls. I don’t yet have the “official” numbers, but it certainly seemed that the numbers of entered models and walk-ins was up over our last couple of years. That’s always a good sign.

If I had to spot a weakness in my scale, it might have been single prop. Just in terms of numbers, not model quality. I mean, it wasn’t empty, but it wasn’t what you’d expect at a large show. But multi-prop was in full flower, with a very nice Pe-8, Piaggio P-108, and B-25. Biplanes were also outstanding. Not much in helicopters or collections.

In other scales, 1:32 was full, as you would expect after all the releases in the last 3 years. Mostly Trumpeter and Revell. Armor wasn’t overwhelming, but again, a lot of recent releases were on the table.

Besides local vendors like Skyway, and many people selling off second-hand kits, we had a nice group of internet sellers. Draw Decals was there, as was KCC, the new Anigrand importers. They’re probably still wiping my drool off the Anigrand box for the Boeing Clipper, but at $180 I just couldn’t justify the expense at my current income (ie, none). Besides, had I bought it I would just have to sell it again to afford the divorce lawyer. The molding on the Clipper looked rather better than many of the Anigrand kits I have in my stash. Hopefully that means that they have improved the process that gave us so many short-shots and warped bits in earlier iterations of their kits. They also had the C-5 and VC-10 in kit form to marvel at.

I left while the judging was going on, but the results should be posted on IPMS-Seattle’s home page before too long. Here is the URL: http://www.ipms-seattle.org/

And here is a link to the Photobucket album with pictures of the 1:72 models from the show: http://s958.photobucket.com/albums/ae67/a172ndguy/IPMS%20Seattle%20Spring%20Show%202011/

As a taster, I’ll leave you with shots of the Pe-8 and Piaggio P-108.

Roden Sopwith Snipe

Now this little beastie was something of a struggle. Not that the kit is bad, though Roden is well known for having some of the tiniest parts in all of the modelling kingdom. But I seem to have been abnormally ham-fisted in handling it. While trying to straighten a slight misalignment in the two wings, I gave it a bit too much pressure and managed to snap some of the struts. The repairs were done on the upper end of the struts, so they are hidden a bit by being on the underside of the top wing.

Being a two bay biplane, there were a lot of rigging lines to be laid. That’s always a bit of a crapshoot, and I can certainly understand why modelers who are not committed to biplanes would shiver a bit when confronted with the process. The system I have works pretty well, for me at least, though I'm not sure the product I’m using is being made anymore. It is called Wonder Wire, and is a ceramic wire that had been ordered from (I believe) Roseplane aka Rosemont Hobbies in the late 90s. Being ceramic, it does not bend happily, so there is no problem with sagging or losing tautness between attachment points. Being a wire, it is wonderfully thin.

The process is easy: use a set of calipers to measure the distance to be spanned, break the wire with a sharp scalpel (while keeping the wire taped to a back board so that it won’t disappear into the carpet monster when it breaks), dip both ends into white glue or Kristal Kleer, and carefully apply it to the model. I don’t deal with turnbuckles in 1:72 scale (good lord, I can barely remain sane doing it the way I do), and at an appropriate standoff distance it looks just fine. Alas, Roseplane Hobbies is no more, and I don’t know of any other manufacturer who has picked up the product. I have one bag left of the stuff, and once I run out I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I can’t see myself using monofilament, which needs superglue to work. I can hardly get that stuff to do what I want it to when I’m dealing with large resin pieces, let alone a microscopic attachment point like would be needed in this case. Maybe I’d better do all the biplanes I want to do now.

Here is some supplemental information I just found on a Google-hunt. I found an old forum posting from Hawkeye Hobbies from early 2010 saying that Wonder Wire was still available from Precision Enterprises, PO Box 97, Springfield VT 05156. $7.95 for a 10-foot length, postage $2.50 for up to five packages. I think I’ll send a note over there and see what happens.

The decals are another option off of the Model Alliance Wings of Silver sheets, in this case 72156: Wings of Silver Part 1. The Snipe is from 19 Squadron RAF, based at Duxford in 1924. No squadron bands on the upper wing, but an interesting diagonal blue-line marking along both fuselage sides. As always these decals performed flawlessly. I’ve mined these sheets pretty regularly; 4 completed models from them, 1 awaiting decals, and another waiting to start construction.

This is completed model #350, finished in March of 2011.

Catching up

I need to catch up with the model progress for the last couple of weeks. There has been some progress, though less than you might expect. We’re starting to see the early wedge of spring break through in the Great Northwest. The temps are consistently getting into the 50s, though we are living up to our reputation for rain. I’ve been spending some time on a few house projects (painting the living room areas, beginning some tentative yardwork when it isn’t pouring). Concurrently, I hit a bit of a modelling slow patch. Just a little bit of work here and there.

The Eurofighter T1 and Sopwith Snipe are both finished, and will be making their debuts on the blog shortly. The Airfix Bf-110 is closing in on its paintwork cycle, just needing the RLM04 Gelb patches on the tail and the lower engine nacelles. Both the Hasegawa Ki-44 and AZ Gloster Gauntlet are patiently waiting for their decals. Painting progress has been made on the Hasegawa F-111 and Ju-88, along with the Airfix Bulldog. I’ve started a mini project of three next gen fighters, the Italeri F-22, Trumpeter J-10, and Zvezda T-50, but I’ve really only gotten the cockpits together and painted so far.

I believe I have conquered the dust problem on my Nikon D40’s sensor, but will have to confirm that when I take the shots of the Eurofighter and Snipe. That was a bit nervewracking – but interesting – to have the mirror up and the sensor exposed while cleaning it. For the first go-round I only used air rather than cleaning fluid.

My records show that I’ve completed 15 models in 2011 so far, about half of which have featured on this blog. I’m on pace to blow away last year’s record of 27. Well, like I’ve always said, all you have to do to increase your production pace is get unemployed and abandon all pretense of quality standards!

Coming up in less than 2 weeks is the annual IPMS-Seattle Spring Show, the largest modelling contest in the northwest. It will be held this year on 4-9-11 at the Renton Community Center in Renton WA. I’ve heard that vendor participation will be good this year, with Draw Decals and the American distributor of Anigrand expected to be here, along with the usual mix of professional vendors and people clearing out some of their stash. That Anigrand Boeing Clipper is tempting the heck out of me, but at $173 it may have to wait until my income returns to normal.

Here are a couple of random shots from the workbench, showing models in progress.

Xtrakit BAC Canberra PR9

Before Airfix produced their new set of 1:72 Canberras, Xtrakit was the first out of the gate with a newly tooled version of this classic British Cold War jet bomber. Actually, this is the reconnaissance version with the modified wings and the camera inserts in the lower fuselage. I have built the Airfix bomber version as well, and can say that it is a much easier construction job. The Xtrakit version isn’t bad, exactly, but it does exhibit all the issues that embody the phrase “short run kit”. Now, I say this having been in the hobby for a number of years, so I readily acknowledge that short run kits have improved exponentially over the last two decades. (I’m working on a first generation MPM McDonnell FH-1, so I know whereof I speak). But as long as you know what you’re getting into, the Xtrakit Canberra PR9 is a decent enough molding job. It was done, I believe, by Sword, after Hannants’ recent falling out with MPM over the Meteor F8.

The biggest problem I had was on the wing/fuselage joint. I just couldn’t seem to eliminate the gap during construction, so I had to do a bit of putty work to seal things up. The canopy was fine and clear (and not a vacuform, thankfully). The wheel wells were a challenge, with a huge ejector mark right in the middle of the raised structure.

The markings are from Model Alliance. This was a special commemorative marking when the PR9 was being retired from active duty. Colors are Hemp over Light Aircraft Grey, with an MSG tail. The MA sheet does not provide any stenciling, so that has to come from the Xtrakit decals. I’m a diehard sucker for special schemes, especially on a type (the PR9) that isn’t really known for interesting markings.

Even though I added fishing weights into the nose, I clearly didn’t add enough as the model is a tail-sitter. So ignore the scale 200-gallon industrial tub of Xtracolor paint that mysteriously appears in the photos below.

Incidentally, also ignore that nasty question-mark shaped thing that has snuck into the photo. It appears to be something on the camera’s sensor, since it does not appear in any picture that isn’t taken at a high f-stop (thereby increasing the depth of field enough to pick it up within the focus field). I’ve got a new cleaning kit on the way from Amazon, but wanted to get this article posted. I told you I was impatient.

This is completed model #349, finished in March of 2011.

Airfix BAe Hawk T1

Another to add to the completed column tonight. This is the new-tool Airfix Hawk T1, and I really enjoyed making this kit. I thought the engineering was very competent, and there were lots of little gifts to the model maker included. The nose gear doors are slightly curved to match the fuselage, ensuring a tight attachment. The flap fairings are very tight as well, meaning that they stay in the right place, something that was hit and miss on the Italeri kit. Their T2 / Mk 128 looks good too, though I haven’t built one yet. Too bad that Matchbox is still the only 200 on the block (and I have built one of those).

This Hawk was the one that threw me into a quandary over markings. I had originally planned to use decals from Xtradecal sheet 72085 for 208 Squadron RAF, with the giant roundel on the tail and underside. But I discovered that the new tool Airfix kit was somewhat different in the placement of the wheel wells and flap tracks than the Italeri kit which the sheet was apparently designed for. So off I went to the decal vault to see what I could use instead. I finally decided to go with a black trainer T1 from 100 Squadron. At least it had squadron bars.

I’ve mentioned before that I like the new tool Airfix Hawk. The engineering is excellent for building, even if the panel lines could be a bit less prominent. And having a one-color exterior is always a plus. BAe Hawks are one of those types that I’ve built in double digits due to the wide availability of colorful markings. As always, the Xtradecals went on perfectly, with good color, density, and adhesion.

This is completed model #345, finished in February of 2011.