Subscribers’ Gallery – Aircraft ‘H’

With the dust now settling following Scale Model World 2016, here’s a little showcase of my 1:24 Harrier T.2 conversion that I’ve been working on over the last six months. Easily the most difficult, demanding and technically involved project I’ve ever undertaken, this Harrier is the culmination of thirty years of wanting this model in my collection and developing the skills to finally bring the project to fruition.

As many will know, the conversion is 99% scratchbuilt, created in collaboration with David Haggas, Nick Greenall and Dave Fleming who all provided technical information on every aspect of the conversion, Mal Mayfield who created the masks that allowed almost all of the markings to be airbrushed on, Tim Perry who created the patterns and vac-formed parts for the amazing ferry tanks that are fitted under the wings and finally, Haris Ali who vac-formed the canopies and laser-cut the wonderful base that the model sits on. Thank you all so much!

I hope that you like it! :)
Spencer P.

Revell 1:32 scaleThe greatest “must-have” kit since, well, I suppose the Airfix Sea Vixen. I guess we’ve never had it so good? Bring on those Airfix Lynxes!

First impressions on opening the box were very favourable, once I got past “Gosh, It’s Red!”. It is an experience that can only be likened to opening the box of the Hasegawa RAF Rescue Sea King. It’s rare for me to start a kit the day I bring it home. Most of them sit in the stash for a while. But this one went straight onto the production line. Two more boxes went straight into the stash, along with a selection of Xtradecal recent releases.

The build was pretty straightforward, but I did need a little filler at the wing roots especially underneath between the wheel wells and the intakes.

Since I was aiming for an out of the box Red Arrow, I decided to capitalise on that bright red plastic. As has been described in the review, the plastic surface is slightly textured, so I went over it lightly with fine glass paper first. After a good soapy wash and thorough drying, I sprayed thinned Revell no. 31 enamel direct onto the plastic. The result was a beautifully smooth satin finish. The rear portion of the tail fin was finished with Revell’s no. 51 enamel.

The decals are beautifully thin and conform very well to surface curves and details. Micro Sol was barely necessary. If there is a price to pay for the thinness of the decals, it is in a slight lack of opacity in the whites, but I think that they got the balance right.

There were a few near disasters along the way though…

Disaster number one was realising that in my eagerness to progress the build, I had forgotten to add any weight to the nose. What to do? Open the airbrake wide enough to take the weight? Maybe.

Next up, imagine my horror when I peered into the cockpit one day to see the front instrument panel had taken on the appearance of a badly corroded battery terminal! I think I must have been a little more liberal than intended with the cyano that held the front fairing in place. So out came the decal sheet from one of the two other Revell Hawks in my stash, the scanner and inkjet decal paper. Every cloud has a silver lining though, when I took the fairing off, it revealed a space big enough to conceal a lead fishing weight!

Disaster number three was mistaking part of the front undercarriage for a sprue entry gate and leaving it behind when removing the parts!

The final horror. I never quite got to the bottom of how this happened, but when the end was nearly in sight, I came home to find one of the main undercarriages broken. I think the moral of that tale was not to leave your pride and joy on the kitchen worktop beneath an over filled biscuit cupboard. This had to be drilled out and strengthened with wire.

Here’s my Hawker Hunter made from the 1:48 scale Academy kit. Pretty much hand-painted and Xtradecals for the markings of No.74 Squadron RAF. I made up some FOD guards for the engine intakes and jet pipe.
I just use a pencil to add some highlights to the panel lines and work this subtly in and around the airframe with a cotton-bud.
Hope you like it… Graham M.

Revell 1:144 scale
Here’s my most recent Revell 1:144th Hunter from the Abu Dhabi Air Force, sprayed with cellulose paint, gloss varnish, decals, matt varnish and pastel weathering.

Airfix 1:48 scale Hawker Hurricane

This kit was built straight from the box as this was a commission build. Like all my models lately, this one received a first layer of Alclad black primer.

Paint used is Gunze Aqueous which I spray in very thin, almost translucent layers. This way you can create several shades of colour without mixing paint. Some shading with lighter shades of the basic colours was done.

Kit decals were used over a coat of Future, followed by a wash of Mig Productions dark wash.

Final coat is Alclad matte coat.
René van der Hart

This is the PCM model OOB except for Eduard Sutton harnesses; painted with Tamiya and Lifecolor paints.
This kit fought me all the way but was worth the effort I think. She really captures the look of the Hurricane.
Regards, Gerry D.

This Typhoon is the venerable Hasegawa 1:48 Typhoon 1B, with Barracuda resin radiator and exhausts, True Details resin wheels, and Quickboost resin seat (which you can’t see in the pics!). Decals are Techmod.
It does tend to get a bit forgotten by the bubble canopy version, which is a shame. The fuselage insert that Hasegawa supply to make either the car-door or the bubble top; lots of people criticise it, but I found that it fits very well with no filler needed. With some minor sanding and re-scribing, it blends into the fuselage well. Also, the Richard A Franks Typhoon book is a great modelling resource.
Andy W.

Finally finished the Airfix 1:72 kit, a bit later than expected, it has worth. Highly recommended for its good quality, fine details and a nice fit, the kit also includes decals from Cartograf. It’s really small, but it looks good in the showcase.

She’s painted with Gunze and finished with a mixture of satin and matte varnishes. I only added harnesses and the ejection seat handles, as well as the modification of the Sidewinder.

It depicts an aircraft from Rota Air Base circa 1982. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Thought I’d send you a few snaps of the Hasegawa 1:48th scale Harrier AV-8B I finished the other week. The kit received an Aires resin cockpit, aftermarket decals, deck was made from plastic card with the tie downs & chains from White Ensign, figs and deck equipment from Verlinden.
Quite chuffed with it as the kit is a sod to fit (nose and engine intact area).

MDC 1:32 scale
I used as reference a very beat up aircraft pictured in Normandy. In fact it was much more “used” than the one depicted here. I love the Typhoon – a short life but an extremely effective one!

The MDC kit as I recall had a slightly twisted fuselage and had to be heated to straighten it out. It was pretty ruggedly built and I think the kit reflects this in that there is not much superfluous detail. Even so it was not exactly a quickie as parts had to be cleaned and carefully lined up before cementing. I used a Revell canopy – it was just more convincing than the MDC one.

I mostly used armour techniques for this project in the painting. No pre shading though. I put a clean coat of each colour then broke it down with oil washes and specific weathering (leading edges of wings for example). It was more like painting a canvas with a lot of blending of colour.

This was built ‘OOB’ with the exception of a set of Radu Brinzan seatbelts. The 1:32 MDC kit is impressive and doesn’t need very much added to it!
Jim H.

Here’s a model I finished from the old Monogram 1:48 kit, heavily modified by re-scribing panel lines, adding a resin cockpit, wheels, prop blades and correcting the tail.

I like the scheme from an aftermarket decal sheet (pretty sure it was an old Aeromaster decal sheet, sadly not now readily available).

Hope you like it?
Geoff

This is the Cammett 1:32nd Scale Resin kit that includes the Mistel ‘flying-bomb’, take-off trolley and attachment points for the parent aircraft the Revel He-162. The additions I made include an Eduard cockpit set for the He-162 as well as detailing the kit supplied engine using wire card and scrap brass. The engine for the Mistel comes from a Trumpeter Me-262 and after cutting off the resin engine nacelle I built the engine bearers and detailed the engine in the same way as the He-162. Finally the Mistel never flew so this is how I interpreted a late war development aircraft to look. The He-162 colour scheme is genuine and a well documented photo is in many references.

This is one half of Eduard’s Dual Combo Hellcat Mk I / II in 1:48 scale. Assembly was about as easy as it comes, with the parts being practically perfect in terms of fit and surface detailing. Plenty of PE is supplied for the cockpit and this looks really nice when done, as you would expect from Eduard.
Vallejo Model Air acrylics were used to portray JV131 “E o L” as she appeared in June 1944, flying from HMS Emperor in support of D-Day operations. I sprayed the invasion stripes over the camouflage to try and reflect the real machine, but I think they turned out a little too perfect. Next time I’ll make them a bit rougher. The decals were a real treat to use, being of the usual Cartograph quality.

Weathering consisted of post-shading with a lighter hue of the base colours, followed by a water-based “sludge” wash. This was a fairly thick mix of washing-up liquid, Paynes Grey watercolour and a bit of water to help it flow which was then slapped onto the model. This was left to dry for half an hour or so and then wiped off to emphasise the surface detail. Exhaust staining was airbrushed with a highly thinned Black/Brown acrylic mix, with a bit of grey thrown into the mix too.
This was a highly enjoyable kit to build and finish and I hope you enjoy the finished model as much as I enjoyed making it.
Andy G.

Revell 1:72 Horten Go 229 Flying Wing

• I built this model from the box, with just the addition of 1mm brass tube for the Cannon barrels
• Construction is straightforward but some care must be taken when attaching the wings to the fuselage
• I decided on the camo scheme after looking on the internet where there are some good images of proposed schemes for this aircraft
• The model was first sprayed overall RLM76. (Xtracolor)RLM 76 was then mixed with RLM 75 and sprayed over the outer wing panels and RLM 75 then sprayed in a mottle pattern
• The aircraft was then masked off and the area behind the jet engines sprayed Xtracolor Oily Steel
• The kit decals were used
• A coat of Humbrol Matt Cote sealed it all off.

Cheers for now, Roger

1:32 scale
Really interesting scheme chosen by Dave here. His model is the excellent Revell kit that can usually be picked up for an incredibly reasonable price. Accurate masking and a flawless airbrush finish make his model stand out. Note Dave’s nice touch in adding the pilot’s ‘bone-dome’ to the cockpit sill. Presenting his scale models in an interesting, varied way is a true hallmark of the builder – nice work!

Revell 1:72nd
1/72nd scale kits are not normally “my bag” as Austin Powers might say, but in desperate need of a submission for the quarterly round of my local club’s competition and with insufficient time to complete a 1/48th scale kit, I picked this model up from Newark Air Museum’s shop. The kit is an absolute beauty and looks every bit a Hunter when complete, capturing the elegant curves and slender features that characterise Sir Sydney Camm’s finest creation. The kit is particularly well moulded and the panel line are crisp, consistent and perfect for holding onto the oil wash that I use to accentuate the lines during the weathering stage of the model’s construction. I enjoyed building this kit so much that I built another straight after it using the Royal Netherlands markings provided on the kit’s decal sheet and you can see that model elsewhere in the Gallery. The kit took me a week of evenings to complete and had no major flaws worthy of mention; any potential difficulties can be avoided by patient dry fitting of parts before they are eventually glued into place.The parts were stuck together using Ambroid Proweld, the best capillary adhesive bar none in my opinion and after preparing the surface for painting with Alclad’s grey primer, the model was finished with Hannants Xtracrylics XA1001 RAF Dark Green and XA1004 RAF Extra Dark Sea Grey. The wraparound scheme that I chose to adorn the kit was quite challenging as I use the ‘blue tack sausage’ method to obtain the demarcation between colours and for those of you unfamiliar with that technique, let me provide you with a brief explanation. After priming, the whole aircraft was sprayed with the camouflage grey colour and then with long thin ‘sausages’ of blue tack rolled out much like a child might roll out a plasticine snake, the demarcation lines of the camouflage green area were laid out on the model. The grey areas that were not to be sprayed were then protected with a heavy coat of liquid masking agent applied between the ‘sausage boundaries’ and once that had dried, the green was airbrushed on. Within a few minutes of the green drying to the touch (and using hands protected with surgical gloves), the blue tack and liquid mask are carefully removed and hey presto a lovely tight, but soft edge is revealed!This kit was finished using the stencil data provided on its own decal sheet in conjunction with the 12 Sqn markings and national insignia taken from Xtradecal sheet 72-046. All-in-all a thoroughly enjoyable, quick and satisfying build and a kit that can be used to produce a most attractive model in very short order.

Revell 1:72 scale
This kit was built straight from the box and with the exception of the mediocre ejection seat, the kit is a joy to build and paint. The painting process used to finish the kit is described in my other Hunter article elsewhere in the Gallery and as with the other kit, Hannants Xtracrylics paints were used (XA1001 and XA1004) and the underside was sprayed with a tin of Halfords Aluminium Primer. A simlpe wash of Raw Umber oil paint was used to weather the model, applied over a protective coating of Johnsons Klear and the flat finish was achived using Hannants Xtraflat varnish. The touches of detail that I employed to bring the model to life consisted of the streched sprue whip aerials, visible sticking out of the upper surface of the wing tips and the aircraft’s spine. The pitot tube is also stretches sprue but using the tappered section of the ‘stretch’ to better represent the pitot found on the real aircraft. The polished metalic effect on the pitot tube was achieved by rubbing SnJ Polishing Powder onto the bear plastic, which although not a very durable finish, is arguably the best metalic effect that can be achiveved on a model, especially for part that will not be touched once the model is complete.