azureglo

I hear you G, all that grief for few pennies , man I feel like an Cantonese iPhone assembly drone...

This, a commission build of a 100 Sqn Hawk: And from the end of September a Zvezda 109F...given that it just needs painting in some wacky desert brown/green camo,decals and throwing on a stand ( something that usually takes me 1-2 days tops), followed by one of my eBay regulars buying it asap , you'd think I'd finish it wouldn't you? Between finally splitting up with ex, beating various guitars insensible etc, blues jams , open mics etc the only modelling related activity in the past three months was to make one of my custom model transport boxes for my friend Nigel Heath to take his helicopter thingy to Telford where he copped a silver medal. Sad thing is I've got over £1K in commission builds but no desire to even touch a plastic model..I wonder If I could sub contract this to someone in China... Anil the the Unmotivated

I think this is a Czech beastie: L-39?

Time to upgrade the Start Strat: While walking back from the Amazon locker in town, spotted these for a £5 for the pair in a charity shop...last one of these I built went for £99 so why not?

Does this help?

Well we have these...

Mine is easy, the next thing I took a deposit for but anytime I'm bored, a spitfire, any spitfire- unlike @Grunhertz the punters snap them them up even if I do this to them... its a good way to use up those £2.99 Home Bargains kits we all bought piles of many moons ago.. I quite fancy doing a black 'n gold JPS whiffer.

A man can only take his buttermilk pancakes and fried eggs being asymmetrical for so long... A souvenir of the excellent exhibition I went to yesterday And as this is a modelling forum, all the bits for my next commision build which may be the the only finish in October as I grapple with Lindsey Buckingham's fingerpicking guitar style for our covers band... Anil

And what are they? I have a couple on order for commission builds and hoping its wheels/UC as I only do wheels up... Anil

Dunno, who's more dangerous the JCAB or HM Customs..One of my charters last year was a charming Russian chap who was stopped at CDG with 20 tins of undeclared Beluga and a few kilos of bullion...I did ask politely what they were going with the caviar to which the French customs chap winked and said " What caviar? This man is a gold smuggler".

Relax, I shipped them surface mail from Tokyo prior to coming back being a cheapskate: the surreptitious bit was declaring them as a gift to avoid Mr Customs. Shoving thirty 10 ml pots of paint into checked luggage would probably have me in the Al Qaeda Suite at Narita as soon it hit the scanners...

Yup, bought a whole load back surreptitiously last year from Tokyo: Found they behave exactly like Mr Color, have the same msds sheets and here's a funny thing, take some of the Tamiya retarding thinner and some of the Mr leveling...you'll be surprised by the identical smell... Anything that is is the same as Mr Color/leveling is a good thing. FYI I usually do my three color camo with either in one day with a quick blast in a 50 degree oven for 30 minutes between colours/masking- no tape lift etc. Hardness (gassing out) is 20-30 minutes but full cure is closer to 2-3 days- if using the same thinner for primer/color/varnish ( i.e Mr Leveling) then curing happens for virtually all layers simultaneously. For those interested this is how 2 and 3 wet works for volume car manufacture by using the same carrier for all coats and applying them while the previous coat is wet- the cure part is the way way the coats chemically bond to each other when baked ( an endothermic reaction if you really, really want to know) Only downside is the limited colour range but hey they have metallic orange, the perfect colour for a racing spitfire WHIF surely?

Already split for your convenience: https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-love-life-yellow-split-peas/034159-17105-17106 Just use some canopy glue to attach to your car and you too can be part of the Spitfire story and/or a mobile bird feeder. Re the step by step for the stands, I did it for 'the other place' back in July and will dig out repost here when I I remember where the pictures are. Just the thing then for the Zvezda 109F that'll be ready for next week. Cheers Anil

Handsome build old chap: Now what about a shiny in flight one in TWA colours?

What! No new completions for nearly 10 days? Tsk, tsk. Acknowledging @Grunhertz and @BlackMike Models love of all things Spitfire, here’s another from the Septembers Fleabay debutantes: The venerable old Airfix IXc (ish) The scheme is OOB but using Eduard’s decals from their horrendously complex profipack boxing. Nothing to write home about, usual early “New Airfix” glitches, thick canopy, no IP or joystick ( not that you’d ever see them), off reg decals and some heavy handed detailing That said fit was pretty good and the shapes look right. Amazingly this same kit was the subject of my first ever RFI/WIP back in 2014 (warning, it’s in the other place). Easy , three to four hour build and it looks pretty spiffing or what ? I’m of the mood to do a Mk XIV using a dubious Academy kit with its hokey radiators I scored for £2.99 - its griffon filled snout calls to me (and probably the punters). I have a small heap of the Fujimis bought in Volks Tokyo last year for even less but have heard some horror stories about the fit and patience is not an abundant commodity at Kumar Towers these days… Lastly did you know that the humble split pea made an important contribution to the Spitfire? And I just liked them in my Irani stews.... Thanks for tuning in. Anil