azureglo

Indeed it is, being unflyable (un-sailable?) the rapacious Mr Weeks had no interest in it unlike its fellow exhibit the Tempest, its now safely indoors and getting dustier since my departure from Sunny Southampton many moons ago...You and I have different opinions on its looks though, every time I gazed upon it in the real, it struck me as distinctly fugly from all angles.

And the other one is sat nearby in Solent Sky where for many years she caused me many injuries when I had the unenviable job of getting the dust and cobwebs off her every week, there is even one of her "Beryl" engines on display- a true ankle biter for the unwary visitor with poor eyesight. Anil

AKA Stylnylres, Ultimate Primer et al https://tinyurl.com/yg8gw9gc Absolute pig to get out of an airbrush, even using UMP cleaner, IPA, acetone , sacrificing goats etc...but then it depends on your definition of " clean" and how often you enjoy starting those endless threads titled " Why has my airbrush stopped working?" Not a patch on Mr Surfacer 1500 but less toxic- shop around though as Senor Jimenez is fond of the old markup- I found the UMP rebadged ones the cheapest in the UK except when Barwell are doing a special on the Badger branded version. Different stuff, for different jobs: Vallejo is water soluble and does not chemically bond or fuse ( solvent) bond, like perfect plastic putty- great for fairing in canopies and wiping excess off with a damp cotton bud. Tamiya, Mr hobby etc are solvent based and attempt to chemically bond/fuse with styrene hence better for gaps, wing joins FWIW I use Milliput White or if in a hurry Dolphin glaze- a 2 part car repair product that also chemically bonds, dries diamond hard in 20 minutes and is probably more toxic than plutonium: A

You could have spared one at least for us Confectionery Challenged Folk down South...re the brush painting, this was aimed @dixieflyer asking about spraying Future/Klear so I decided to restrict my answer to just that. And seeing as he's committed to an AB I think the notion that you get good at spraying by reading posts on forums is about as valid as learning to be a brain surgeon by watching Youtube videos...but hey why not?😂 Like many I have brushed future/Alclad aqua gloss et al but the results don't even come close to a well applied sprayed wet coat...may one reason they don't paint real cars with paint brushes. I have zero interest in over weathered competition caricatures but when I do build they're for sale so brushpainted is not an option , that said the hairy stick does give me endless amusement when I browse " pro built" and " highly detailed" models on Ebay like this gem... Getting back to your original dilemma, I've got near two decade old original bottles ( from a batch of 48 retrieved from an uncles corner shop when we finally converted to flats back in 2014) as seen in here, Dries just glossy as the 6 month old ones and as you're not spraying thence possibly getting "dusting", then I can only venture it's a faulty bottle, got contaminated, reacting to some contamination/residue in your brush or most likely the God Of Too Many Walnut Whips punishing you for your immoderation... A

My 10 cents worth, stuff like sprayingFuture/Klaer has been discussed many, many times on many, many forums for years now: Here's my last few thoughts from another place complete with voodoo mixes, pictures of results etc as I tend not believe anything without some evidence, especially on 'Net. As you can see I have plenty of the old Future as well as its newers counterpart and both behave identically https://tinyurl.com/yf5xjej5 https://tinyurl.com/ydwjlv2n The summary is Future/Pledge?Klear worked absolutely fine through an H&S Evo/0.4MM or Iwata HP-TH/0.6mm at 15 PSI in less than 40% 20% humidity and about 19-20 Centigrade which is what I keep my spraying room at. Humidity and cold are disasters for any spraying but that should be obvious. The other voodoo was to glycerin or liquitex flow improvers. Cleaning is ordinary 99.9% IPA in an ultrasonic bath ( put the parts in a clean glass jam jar first!). I could get perfectly glossy finishes but as I have a paint system based on using Mr Leveling as a solvent, I stick to Mr Color Super UV Cut gloss that can do this in one pass and is ready for decalling in one hour. The only thing I'd say is try acquire some airbrush/spraying skills, I can do a single pass wet coat or 1mm mottling on a 1/72 109 in less that 20 minutes including tearing down and clean up of the airbrush. That took me a lot of models over 6 months to learn and pretty much ignoring all the conflicting info I read on the forums then asking a professional car sprayer how to do what i wanted...YMMV Anil

Try it, they're just like tanks or cars, but more interesting🤣

Got Dan? Than get this,

A nimble fingered Chinese modeller who'll build my three 1/72 commissioned Nicholson VC Eurofighters for iPhone assembly money...

Will the pain never end? Why do you torment me so?

Didn't happen: Nice man at local Morrisons informed me that they don't carry the six pack which is an Xmas only promo but any local corner shop will have singles...my local corner shop is run by a belligerent ex-Gurkha who I once saw settling a customer argument by producing his Kukri...I settled for this Loopers, wonderful things for learning songs/tricky progressions hence this purchase, also totally baffling for the uninitiated or hobby player

This as an Xmas pressie to myself as I can no longer take the pain of rehearsing with the house bands drummer whose concept of time is that it is elastic and the bass player who refuses to acknowledge any other chords than G, C and D... This came in as a commission despite being quoted a ludicrous amount to get rid of the requester...A bit peeved as HG, like Tamiya, aren't too keen on the wheels up option, still they'll soon be up a magnetised pole in no time and proceeds used to fund an upcoming debauched weekend in Barcelona with any luck. Now its time to be off to the local supermarket as I have developed an inexplicable craving for a walnut whip... Anil

I have my eye on a mint '64 replete with factory case, ashtray cover,, original tags etc, mine for a mere £19,995...and there's a 1954 in"reasonable" condition in Sunny Hong Kong, but I'd have to make one of my tenants homeless for that one. TBH, collecting vintage guitars is actually a very viable investment if you buy sensibly as vintage guitars are getting more fragile with every passing year and in the case of some Strats and Teles, have bakelite fittings that are literally crumbling so good pieces only go up in value and desirability. I'd rather put my money in vintage Strats and than houses based on the returns , plus I can pretend to be Stevie Ray Vaughan occasionally and not have to worry about non paying tenants, belligerent future Labour chancellors, errant plumbing , stamp duty and the greatest single blight on my life, the Estate Agent. For a little while I considered collecting vintage Airfix but its serious work tracking down rarities like the Southern Cross and decent early issues to build a good collection- lots of fakes and dubious re-stapled red stripe bags. "Collecting" is fun, there's a real sense of achievement in building a complete or unique collection plus a lot of visual and tactile pleasure as well so I can definitely see why we like it. One of my oldest friends for instance has every year of E-type FHC & DHC lovingly cosseted in a large barn in Lelystad and I can literally spend days poking around them, lifting bonnets and oohing and aahing over assorted body curves. Mind you my fave is an automatic 1972 V-12 S3 DHC in nacreous primrose yellow so perhaps my E-Type application needs some work... To return vaguely to the subject, I quite admire our mutual friend, Nigel Heath's approach, last time I saw his stash it was but 7 (if you include the RS Kikka I gave him). I wonder if some part of "mojo loss" is the burden of knowing you have all these kits you could never make and then get stuck for two weeks trying to fix a wing to fuselage seam that overwhelms one by suggesting you might never finish one model let alone four hundred... I often wondered why in my case I thought that buying random kits like the Revell F-89 or the hideous A Model 1112 was in any way "collecting". To my amazement I even received an offer via scalemates for an Italeri 72 F-4G a panel raised line abomination in a strangely translucent white styrene, what on earth was I thinking when I acquired this? Since Astons disposed of my first batch, I suddenly found the energy to begin finishing some straggler kits this week, almost as if a weight had lifted. Maybe a little surgical stash reduction may benefit others as well? Anyhoo Xmas beckons,some hapless fowl needs incinerating and its time to swig ethanol and be nice to every living soul , Merry Xmas to ye all and see you shortly Anil

There's hint of hoarding about most of our stashes, but this chap and the deceased Canadian one with multiples of single type 1/48 hasegawa XYZ on the other place, I think had definitely crossed over into disorder territory as well as creating a logistical nightmare for their families! It's interesting that many collectors will get to a certain point and then move their collection on or break it up: https://www.vectis.co.uk/news/ricardo-cortes-monroy-iv-collection-part-1-wednesday-11th-december-2019-1000am https://www.vectis.co.uk/auction/matchbox-models-of-yesteryear-the-ricardo-cortes-monroy-iv-collection-part-1-778-1 I counted my stash in July 2019 and put it all into Kitbase with some alarming results: 478 assorted kits a retail/purchase total of just under £6000. In 2019 I built 31 kits but that would hardly make a dent in this pile. I did buy 50 more in 2019 but they are all either commissons or the various 1/72 Spits/109s/FW190s that take me 3-4 days to build then promptly sell so I know they'll all be gone by next autumn and put at least £1500 into the single malt fund as well as keeping my airbrushing/craft skills up. My solution was to start getting rid of them asap while they're still in dry storage and good condition. After checking with Hattons, Kits for cash, Kingkit et al, I got a tip from Colin at the Magic Toybox in Drayton: He got rid of his huge shop stock via a specialist auctioneer, in his case: https://bid.astonsauctioneers.co.uk/past-auctions/astons10148?items=Model&saleSection=Model Kits So here's the my next batch off up north: I extract the high value items like the shrink wrapped Matchbox Black Shadow for individual listings but on average I'm recouping 75% of the price I paid with zero grief, no packing,,waiting for buyers to pay etc. So far I've halved my hoard and boy, is it liberating. Granted I'll keep things like the Keil Kraft Hurricane, the Revell Skycrane and Airfix 1/24 109E first issues as I have fond memories of building these as a pre-teen, but those along 1955 1st issue Ferguson and mint BTK plus its Aurora forebear can sit in my " treasures" pile to be fondly gazed at on rainy winter days and my heirs can profitably dispose of them without needing a forklift. There nothing wrong with collecting, I think of all the museums that would be barren without donated collections, but hoarding miscellaneous plastic kits that you'll never make isnt even vaguely the same! FWIW I have started my first proper collection that I pretty much know will be worth more if I live at least 15 more years: I'm getting every every single model year of the Stratocaster from its release in 1954 to 1980 when I bought my first one...trust me thats going to cost a lot more than paltry £6K I dropped on the styrene pile... Anil

Is that some kind of German Spitfire then?

Cheers, it was your post about mojo loss that made me pull my finger out! A