Painting Tray

A variety of toys on table (see below):

• Fairey Battle (mostly made and with it's base coat of paint)
• Renaissance Crossbowmen (Painted and Based)
• Mounted Renaissance Harquebusiers (slight bit of basing work to be done)
• Chaos Space Marines (Primes, Washed and in the throes of an experimental Gold and Red colour scheme)
• Five Mini Plaster Cast Lego Star Wars Figures (say no more)

They are cluttering up the bathroom shelf at the moment so I need to get a move on ;)

Fairey Battle Progress

Canopy and radio aerial added to the Fairey Battle  (bar the rear gunner's bit) and the brown earth (Airfix 29 and Tamiya 52) given a Satain Gloss Varnish coat to make it look the same as the satin green (Airfix 163). The Humbrol Clearfix worked well getting the see through canopy in place without the annoying smudges associated with plastic cement disasters of the past. Next, I took a deep breath and with a steady hand painted the canopy lines with a strong dark black (Vallejo Game Colour Black). I also stained the exhausts with a Vallejo Burnt Umber Wash (see below):

Quite pleased with how she is coming along. I usually try and shade, base and highlight the colour scheme but I will probably just leave this one basic, get the decals on, then think about weathering ;)

Fairey Battle's Topside

Time to try out the new Airfix Satin Dark Green paint (163) out. It looks much thicker than the normal acrylic mixtures, more paste than paint, even after what I considered a good stir. It was hard work even getting it slightly wetter by mixing in additional water. With some trepidation I tried my first application. The Earth Brown Airfix (29) was more standard paint, in fact I used Tamiya 52 Earth Brown as per the equivalent charts (see below for results):

Mixed feelings as to how good it looks. The Matte Brown means that I will either have to varnish it up to Satin or the green down to Matte (which seems pointless).

To be continued ...

The Fairey Battle's Bottom

Slipping away from my Sci-Fi interlude I picked up the infamous Fairey Battle from its hibernation cave near the Painting Tray. Just a little touch up on the "yellow bombs" and paint the remaining areas of the underside matte black (see below):

I suppose it is the same view the German flak gunners along the Meuse saw when the six Battles of the 'Dirty Dozen' (No. 12 Squadton AASF) attacked those vital Meuse bridges. 

Next step is to see how the interesting NEW "satin green paint" (Airfix 163) comes out on the model.

Returning after a "successful sortie" ... but with a little damage

The propellers have been shot away, the radio aerial is down (but with the rear landing wheel is still intact which really surprised me), one 20mm wing cannon missing, the pilot canopy has been detached and the little thing from under one wing "which I never knew what it did" is now long gone .. the Spitfire VB (1/48 scale) makes a 'crash landing' back at its home aerodrome (see below) ... but any landing you can walk away from is classed as a good landing in my book. All the above is reparable from the 'spares box', so Year 3/4 (combined) gave this Airfix Spitfire a true "combat test". Twenty four seven to eight year old boys and girls have had a good "look and touch" at the iconic Spitfire.Mission accomplished :)

The Luftwaffe Dornier Do.17E/F suffered more, being the bigger plane in a smaller scale (1/72) means it has a certain fragility. The "Spitfire" can register a "confirmed kill" as the Dornier's front perspex canopies.were all detached and the propellers shredded (although the blame for this lies with my youngest son not Year 3/4, he is just under three and "threw it from one side of the room to another").I think this one didn't make it back home to a French airfield.  

Post repair I am thinking of dangling said planes ("out of the reach of the three year old") from my sons bedroom ceilings, a job for the Xmas holidays. 

Airfix Mosquito Assembly/Painting WIP (Part II)

The Mosquito gets an "anti-shipping" (aka Mk VI version) camouflage pattern, grey irregular waves using Tamiya XF-82 (Ocean Gray 2 [RAF]) that gives a nice deep gray though slightly shiny no matter how much I stir the pot (satin perhaps, see below?):

I still need to work on the perspex (see below), I may have to go out and get myself a Games Workshop Chaos Black as despite my previous protestations, it does cover bare plastic very well and I need some sharp black strands to mark the strips of metal:

The second part of the camouflage "wave" scheme is a more standard Tamiya XF-61 Dark Green (see below):

I'm in two minds how to go next, as to whether I leave it with a standard one coat paint job (as per the 1/48 scale Spitfire I made) or lighten parts of it up (as per my usual 1/72 scale small to medium sized kits)

Decisions, decisions ... 

Return of the Painting Tray: Lysander IV

Just a final touch up with the paint brush for silver wing tip navigation lights and a nice (smelly) Humbrol matt all-over varnish, done the old fashion way with a brush (see below):

She stands ready for her first flight in support of the BEF somewhere near Calais:

That will do for now but two little modifications are on a future action list. The first is to drill two small holes, one above each landing light, to represent the fixed machine gun positions (yes thing was actually armed). Second, to fix some small bomb-lets underneath the mini-wings that stick out of fixed landing gear (once I make the Airfix Me109E as the Battle of Britain variant, I can use its spare bombs from the tropical variant). Yes the Lysander thing could actually (well perhaps theoretically in the operating manual) drop bombs too. 

Return of the painting Tray: Lysander III - the Decals

Time to put the RAF markings on.

To my dismay the Airfix decals are as fragile as ever, it is probably why I hate this bit (did I have this plane kit in the store for such a long time?). The side marking "Y" caused me so much grief as it split!

The upper roundels chipped and split so I had to paint over the RAF Blue from a mixture of Tamiya Gloss Black, Gloss Blue and Matt Blue. Not too sure of the result but I hope it evens out after I put the matt varnish on later.

The underside gets the decal treatment. Boy did I have fun and games with one side of those big letters, it was like a jigsaw putting them back together again. Thank goodness for miracle MicroSol (surface treatment) and MicroSet (it helps the decal literally melt into the plastic surface).

In the end, not so bad an experience (I can say that now it is over - I should ask the new Airfix website for some spare decals as I just know I'll need them later), now to figure out how to use it in a wargame. There is still a little painting tidy up (the spinner should be yellow and some silver wingtip navigation lights) and then varnish to go. I better start thinking about painting my 20mm SHQ 1940 BEF infantry and Pegasus 1939 German Infantry for a France 1940 bash.

It is always good when finishing one project serves to spawn several more hiding away in the cupboard.

:)

Return of the Painting Tray : Lysander II

Topside done, the Lysander needs a shiny silver highlight to its Games Workshop Boltgun Metal underside. Nice and shiny in contrast to the other RAF 1940 half black, half blue undersides.

Then time to make the engine cowling have a bronze tinge to it. Pretty much there now painting wise, just a touch up and trim post-decals. All the time I spent on my RAF blue crew uniforms seemed to have been a tad wasted when seen from a wargaming distance :(

Next: The decals beckon (always my least favourite part but essential on a plane)  I hope they don't disintegrate on me again! To be fair Airfix have always sent me replacements when they do.

Another few Spitfire Mk1a Pictures

No real excuse other that I painted the exhausts from black to rust, as per the Hurricane and the Defiant

Here she is:

Rounds she goes:

Isn't she a beaut, although the underside is all Tamiya sky and not the dark/light markings of the Buffalo and the Hurricane.

Farewell
It does it for me ;)

Running Repairs to the RAAF Brewster Buffalo

A little accident with the Brewster Buffalo's long aerial and a red dot in the middle of a roundel disappearing gives me the opportunity to show him off again. I am also grateful that Airfix sent me some replacement decals to cater for such circumstances.

Here he is trundling along watching out for Japanese Zero fighters and other Pacific perils.

Showing his belly (see below) to the world climbing away (also note the Blue Tack sticking the plane to the stand).

It also shows the most curious feature of this stubby little aircraft to my mind at least. Underneath the pilot there is a strange viewing canopy. To observe or spot danger coming from below? It seems rather a strange ask of a pilot to keep looking at his feet, as well as behind, front, left and right!

The Hurricane Mk I

Under-rated by the Luftwaffe but in the Battle of Britain the Hurricane shot down more German planes than the Spitfire. Rugged, durable and a good gun platform. Again this model was rescued from a long, long wait (since June) in a box next to my painting table.

I just have to get into the mood.

This one is flying in the markings of Squadron Leader Stanford Tuck, 257 Squadron, RAF 1940, as per the Airfix instruction manual.

Decals not as tricky as the Defiant, with only a few small tears along the way.

The Matt Cote came in really handy to give a seal over the model and blending the colours together. Showing the pretty but ineffectual black(dark)/sky(light) British identification scheme (see below). Tally Ho!

A nice model to make :)

Every little boy needs a Spitfire

That's my story and I'm sticking with it, so I made this one for the little boy inside me.


See above my Airfix Spitfire Mk1a. Actually made sometime earlier this year (January/Frebruary), but recently (when I was making the Brewster Buffalo) I repainted its underside (from the horrible varying shades of Games Workshop medium and light blues, "ack" I know but I was experimenting with shading) to the recommended Tamiya Sky (XF-21), or Matt Beige Green according to the Humbrol painting scheme. Of course this is totally hidden in the photographs above and below!


It was a pure joy to make and a glorious trip down memory lane to boot, as I believe this (or rather the equivalent Spitfire Mk1a Airfix kit then) was the first model I ever made some thirty five years ago. Botched together, glue everywhere, radio mast soon detached and even if painted a hideous bright bronze green gloss all over, it was simply brilliant. I was even worried about decals then and needed some help from my dad and big brothers to finish it off properly. The tail planes were definitely wonky and the propeller blades too were gone before the day was out, but it stayed in the toy box for a long, long time!

Hence what follows will be referred to as the Airfix single engine "Battle of Britain" Airfix fighter project!

PS: If I remember rightly, using the cushion seat of an armchair as a "making and painting" surface (including cutting things with a model knife), despite yesterday's newspaper being used a padding underneath, did not go down too well with the woman of the house (and still doesn't).

Over the Skies of the Reich

While searching through some IKEA storage boxes I came across these boys I had painted earlier this year or last (I think). They have a feel of my recent painting schemes anyway. A base shade then a highlight :)


The early version of the Mustang, the P51B (form the Airfix "Texas Hun Hunter"kit). Painted with Tamiya and Games Workshop "Citadel" paints.


Versus the up-gunned Me109-G (again the kit is from Airfix) with 20mm cannon in under-wing pods. Not sure about the Me109 paint scheme, it seems too Matt in retrospect, maybe a satin varnish is required. This could be partly from the Humbrol acrylics I used for the grays, they seemed a little chalky and fast drying on the brush for my liking.


Not really air combat wargaming scale, unless you have a very big table, but a nice bit of eye candy representing air assets in 20mm tabletop battle IMHO. The stands came from Games Workshop marked for "Big Flyers". I had not the heart to tell the assistant what kits they were really for so I left him with the impression it was something Elvish. He took my money anyway.

Top cover for Singapore: Force Z needs you!

Despite already having passed through my inglorious painting tray a couple of weeks a go, here is a retrospective look at my 1/72 Airfix Brewster Buffalo. I enjoyed putting it together immensely and it has painted up rather nicely. Not shown from this angle is the wacky "glass bottom" window beneath the pilot's feet.

My only criticism with the kit being the decals. They had a tendency to disintegrate on (perhaps my excessive) handling. By strange coincidence today, three sheets of replacement decals arrived from Airfix (free of charge). Thank you! I had used their web-site to explain my plight and ask for a replacement. True to their word they arrived (albeit a few weeks later, but heck I'm not complaining). I am now debating whether my touch-up paint job will do or a new decal juggling act is called for.

On the subject of decals I now swear by "Microscale Industries Inc." "Micro Set" and "Micro Sol" combination. The first one (Set) softens and fixes, the second (Sol) melts the decal onto the plastic to achieve a "painted on" look. This has revolutionized a previously very tricky task for my thumbs.

Though a nice kit to make the Buffalo is rather weak top cover for Singapore, out-classed by the Zero for pace, turning ability and armament. You have to admire the guts of the pilots who flew them as the odds were stacked high against them. It's a pity the RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes, post Battle of Britain, were busy flying costly "rhubarb" missions across the English Channel instead of being where they were needed most in 1941.

Oh that this Buffalo be on its way to rendezvous with Force Z? The (BB) HMS Prince of Wales and the old but fast (BC) HMS Repulse would sorely like to have seen it?