Airfix 1/48 P-51D Mustang. I give in!

I sprayed the model with Vallejo Metal Colour Aluminium and as this stuff is quite thin it can go straight through an airbrush, however the needle tip started clogging fairly quickly so I added a few drops of acrylic retarder to slow the drying time down a bit.
I have to say the finish is really nice and smooth, unfortunately a few days ago some model boxes fell over and caught the Mustang and although I inspected the model before spraying tonight the Vallejo paint showed up a few dings and added with all the other defects in the base coat I've had enough and this model will not progress any further.
Anyway this how it turned out;

As has been pointed out to me and in articles I've read the base coat HAS to be flawless otherwise the aluminium paint will show every defect so I think I've reached my limit painting-wise and will stick to camouflaged subjects in future.
Also USAAF aircraft continue to be my achilles heel as this is number 5 that I've fucked up...weird....

Airfix 1/48 P-51D Mustang

Mainly to stop myself falling asleep in the evenings and the fact this model is bugging me I decided to give it another go. Even though the upper engine cowl had been rubbed down numerous times I could still see where the paints had reacted so using neat IPA (Iso Propyl Alcohol) I cleaned all the paint off down to bare plastic, this area was again rubbed down;

After clean up the entire model was resprayed with Tamiya X-1 gloss black;

The model will be left to cure before applying a coat of rattle can silver, probably Tamiya TS-17 aluminium silver or whatever I have in stock rather than mess about with Alclad, just so I can get the bloody thing finished.
Anyway at the moment I have a shiny black Mustang, if things go wrong again it will either become a test piece or a landfill item depending on my mood.

Heller 1/72 Mirage IV

The model has been rescribed, all fuselage joints filled, sanded, polished, rescribed again to get rid of dust and swarf and liquid glue run around the lines to neaten them up;

Looking at the wings I noticed one side was higher than the other so using hot water I tried to gently bend it into shape, unfortunately this happened;

In all my years of modelling this has NEVER happened to me. Obviously the wing is totally ruined so with this and the recent balls up with the Airfix Mustang I'm taking a break from the hobby for a while as nothing is going right modelling wise so time to do something else. All projects have been put back in the loft and the bench has been tidied;

Be back soon!

Airfix 1/48 P-51D Mustang

After spraying the model with Tamiya X-1 gloss black and letting it cure for a couple of days I masked off the anti glare panel on the nose and sprayed it with AK026 Olive Drab;

The paint went on well but then I noticed it was 'crazing' all over the area;

I can understand getting a reaction if I had used a laquer thinner in the olive drab paint but it was Tamiya X-20 which is basically IPA (Iso Propyl Alcohol) so I can only assume that Tamiya paint doesn't like AK paint.
The reason I sprayed the model with Tamiya gloss black in the first place was to use it as a basecoat for Alclad however I may just spray it with paint from a rattle can (such as Tamiya TS-17) as I'm getting fed up with the arseing about required as Alclad doesn't like masking tape apparently, of course what I'll have to watch now is for any reaction with the black basecoat over the entire model when spraying the aluminium....stupid fucking hobby....
This one will be parked now as it's very close to being sent to landfill and joining the other USAAF subjects I have residing there.

Heller 1/72 Mirage IV

The model features raised panel lines so I decided to start rescribing them using blue electrical tape as a guide for curved surfaces and a straight edge for flat surfaces;

After rescribing the lines excess dust and debris was removed then liquid glue was washed over them to clean out the remaining swarf. I'm undecided as to whether to replace the rivet detail as in 1/72 scale it would be quite tiny.
The lower wing features a recess for the AN22 nuke supplied in the kit but I will be using the CT52 reconnaissance pod so I decided to fill this recess using .30 thou styrene strip and lots of Revell filler;

All very nice and it looks quite good, so much so I rescribed the panel lines across the styrene insert.
It was at this point I wondered how the recon pod would look fitted to the model when I came across a fairly obvious problem;

....there needs to be a recess for the recon pod. F**K SAAAAAAAAKE!!! What a complete idiot!! Soooooooo guess what is being removed very soon? At least if anybody reading this blog is due to make a Mirage IV with a recon pod they won't make the same mistake. also
that will teach me to actually check the fit of parts first although in my defence I thought the pod was mounted on a pylon like the ASMP missile....duh.....

The things you find (pt.2)

I was in the loft earlier looking for 1/72 ejection seats for the Mirage IV when I found this Aeroclub vac-form conversion for a 1/72 Fairey Gannet AEW;

I started to seriously think about putting it together as the Gannet AEW has been another on the modelling bucket list for a long time so I mentally started to cut the fuselage from the backing sheet and then see if the Revell 1/72 Gannet wings would fit (the conversion set was based on the ancient Frog/Novo kit).....until I had a feeling there was something else in the stash that would save an awful lot of work.....

D'OH! I had completely forgotten all about the 1/72 Sword kit I had bought a couple of years ago....idiot! :oD
I'll blame it on having a 'senior moment'

Heller 1/72 Mirage IV

It's a late one for me tonight and with the family asleep I'm unable to do any spraying on the other projects I have on the go so to save falling asleep myself I've decided to make a start on the old Heller 1/72 Mirage IV.
I've had this kit in the stash since 2001 (I keep a book for this type of thing) so feeling the need to revisit the scale where I started this hobby and the fact this kit was staring at me from the pile recently I've dug it out.
I have some resin bits to add such as a BOZ-103 chaff dispenser, a CT52 photo-reconnaissance pod and a ASMP nuclear missile plus a decal sheet from Model Art (no.72057). I got the nuke and recon pod as I couldn't decide which to add although I think I may be leaning towards the recon pod.
At the time of purchasing the kit these resin parts and decals were not available and probably why the kit stayed in the stash for so long. I won't be super-detailing the cockpit as the canopies will be closed and you won't see very much so technically it should be a pretty quick build...LOL!

Edit; Having said that and after a couple of hours I've more or less ended up with a virtually complete model!

Considering the age of the kit the fit of parts has been very good, all I've done so far is sand down the tail cone for the exhausts as the aerofoil section at the top featured some sink marks. Sanding it has also reduced the thickness of this bit too.
The rather basic cockpit has been assembled and glued into place and will be painted later on because as stated above you won't see very much of it as it is entirely black in the real aircraft. What I will do is find some Aeroclub Martin Baker ejection seats I have in stock as these will provide some interest for what you will be able to see through the closed canopies.
When the model is completely set I will rescribe the panel lines as these are raised on the kit, also the oversized rivet detail will be removed and possibly be redone using an RB Productions riveting wheel set although due to the scale of the model I might leave it. I shall decide on this later on as well as think about dropping the elevons, also one thing I do need to add is some weight in the nose as the model is a definite tail sitter.
With the decal sheet I have I may finish the model as the Mirage IV that was on static display during the 1994 International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford as that was the only time I ever saw one of these impressive aircraft;