king derelict

Very nice. Such a lot of really great detail in that kit. I’m going to have to try another Roden kit. alan

That looks like a great book Craig. Haynes have come a long way since my oily 1972 copy for the Ford Escort alan

The dragon was a FDM 3D printer test piece that I was reluctant to throw away so it’s been used to get a bit more comfortable with the Vallejo Metal acrylics and my air brush. I like the result so it can go and sit with the Welsh dragons scattered around the house alan

Thank you Ken. Having a weatherproof roof helps the morale too and I feel less distracted. The Yak model is quite a struggle. The gear is annoying for a relatively simple set of bits. The nose gear especially so. Yes the set up is very similar to the AV-8B too. Double main and wing tip dollies alan

Great work Jav. You really did an excellent job on the finish . It really shows what a bruiser the Tempest was alan

Thank you very much OC. This kit is going to fight to the end Alan

So. here we are slowly creaking back to life. The roofers were here at last and repaired all the damage to the roof. Thankfully its been mostly dry weather since the tornado came through. The glass company has promised Tuesday to replace the broken windows. I've started picking the Yak up and moving one although it may not be the best model to get back into gear with. I added the various nacelle details which required a lot of clean up. There were two fences for the upper surface of the wings which were shown as optional. They were a mess of flash so I opted not to use them. I gave everything a coat of gloss clear and worked on the decals. They were exceptionally nasty to deal with. They didn't release easily from the backing and were difficult to position. The majority were tiny warning labels which were dutifully applied but are almost invisible. This is probably the biggest. In some cases extra decals were provided and in others not enough. The identifying number 58 is shown as only being applied on the starboard side but photos show them on both sides. A second "58" is thankfully provided. The photos suggested that the heat staining may extend further forward than I have applied. I may try to mask and add a little more. I have tried a panel line wash using a black wash from Mig Ammo. I don't really like it. It seems a bit thick and didn't flow along the panel lines and also took a lot of cleaning from places it shouldn't be. It worked better after I had diluted it but I think I will go back to the homemade brew of very diluted oil paint. The landing gear and the wingtip probes are all that remains. I think I will need to get the brass rod out to make the landing gear struts look better. And here is a NMF dragon which has a lot less stressful to play with Thanks for looking in, the likes and helpful comments Alan

Ahhh, that would explain why all my shipments from Art Girona required signature on delivery. Thanks for that. alan

I was a young test engineer at RAE Boscombe Down in the early seventies and in the summer of 1973 Boscombes long runway was under repair so everything was using the short one. It made quite an impression watching a Lightning do an ab takeoff, clean up the gear just after getting airborne and then almost stick the aircraft on its back and climb. Always loved them after that. Thanks a lot for the link. XP693 was our test aircraft and was F6 standard then but didn’t have the overwing tanks for the work we were doing. it would be great to build that aircraft. Alan

Thanks Ken, that’s a good choice. I think the F2 kits are better than the F6 which I had been contemplating because that was the aircraft I worked on in the early seventies. alan

I must confess I have one had one bad experience buying off eBay and none as a novice seller. I used to be interested in watches and some of the forums have scary stories about sellers selling a watch and the buyer complaining about it, the money being refunded and the buyer returning a substitution leaving the seller empty handed. probably a highly unlikely eventuality with a Trumpeter Queen Elizabeth or similar 😃 I use PayPal quite a bit to limit exposure online. Thanks for all helpful information I need to sort out what is on the sale list. alan

Thank you for the kind thoughts Rob. I consider tornadoes ticked off the life list. But we were lucky, the cats are settling down again we are fine. The repairs will get done soon and hopefully we can enjoy the best season in Florida. Thank you regarding the Yak, hopefully the details will come together, they are a bit of a mess of flash. Thank you also for the recommendation for Mr Surfacer. I have put an order in for a selection and the leveling thinner. I thought the hit and miss results from the Vallejo primers was down to me or my airbrush but I did switch to MiG One Shot and things have improved. Cheers Alan

Thank you, its slowly coming together. The county is supposed to be starting on debris removal next week. There’s actually an outdoor hot tub piled up on the kerb. I suppose the rain and low pressure popped it out. Thank you very much regarding the Yak, I’m shamelessly borrowing from your experience. I think I would like to try a quality kit in NMF, maybe an EE Lightning, my first test aircraft. alan

I hope they are an improvement for your eyes and then ease back into the painting when comfortable alan

Thank you very much Yves. I like the subjects of soldiers away from the battlefield. Art Girona make some very nice subjects. I have another multi figure French napoleonic diorama waiting. Les Bourres. Should be fun. alan