cowie165

Not to be a bit of a nitpick, but did you ever consider making a hole in the spitfire for the IFF being blown out? I don't have the book with the photo with me but apparently if the risk of capture was certain the pilot was supposed to blow out the IFF, which rested behind the cockpit on the right side.

Hi mate. Nope, never heard of the procedure but it makes a lot of sense. The dio wasn't really planned - after my 2yr old daughter knock the Spitfire off the bench, the undercarriage broke. I scratchbuilt to fix it. When she was 3 she played with it and broke it again. Well, she's 4 now and I decided to make a dio with it rather than toss the model.

In fact, the only research I did was to see if they ever had metal props on Spitfires (cause I bent them around for the crash scene).

Cheers!

Smooth work Berttt. Looks awesome. Mate I am 100% certain I'll be hitting you up for a how-to on those leading edge flaps, cause they look the business!

Love it.

keep up the good work

the forums were sorely missed

+1

Thanks Berttt! My wife liked the pics but hacked on me about having gum trees in a photo of western Europe... rivet counter!

Very nicely done cowie165. It's just sad to see everyone building the prototype version of the Berkut. There's one thing that bugs me about your Spitfire diorama. The sockets of the soldier figures. Cut it off, cut it off !

Ok, three months later and whilst waiting for paint to dry I sorted out those sockets on the figures!

Mark

[attachmentid=42886][attachmentid=42885] [attachmentid=42875] [attachmentid=42883] [attachmentid=42884]

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Thanks man.

Here's a pic.

That looks so cool. Did you use spakfilla for the dirt? What did you use to make the stone sidewalk?

It;s been a while since my last post in this thread so:

Here is a progress shot of my 1/72 Dragon Stug and Hasegawa Kittengrad.

Brett that looks VERY nice mate. Especially so considering the scale. What's the history of the Kittengrad?

Nice weather on the tank. Any more pics dude?

Great work there! Moscato destroids look like tough hombres.

What is the white weathering on the feet? Just pastel?

One of the final steps is to go over the model with a very soft round mop brush loaded with some white pastel chalk. Brings out the highlights and softens things a bit. It's one of the last steps because, for what ever reason, you can't seal white pastel. It just disapears.

Excellent tip, thanks very much

Done!

Kyle that looks flawless. What a great job!

How did you weather the paint? The surface looks a little faded like it has been in service a few years. Did you mist on a coat of white or did the flat coat itself do the trick??

Mark

Before I clicked on this thread I thought someone built a 1/72 Star Trek Enterprise.

Me too.

Only little kiddies play with toys. Real men build models.

Hasegawa > Yamato

You said it LTSO

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I love to battle damge my Kits. Its to me makes them looked used. if you have any questions or if you would like better pictures let me know.

Ranger565

Thanks a lot for your reply Sounds like we're doing the same thing and I just need more practice!

I improved things a little after googling a few images on destroyed armor. Helped with the blast pattern/etc.

Cheers! Once again, excellent result there.

Mark

http://nosutaru.fc2web.com/MACROSS/imai/max-GW/DSCN3757.JPG

Anyone else think the whole nose/canopy profile looks weird? The nose seems kinda long and the canopy too shallow/flat.

Bertt is that the standard NATO Imai front end they've used?

Carl that looks great! Could you share a little on the battle damage please?

I'll chime in with big F, Mars dust is a brilliant touch.

Berttt that is looking very very nice. Hats off for the time and effort you're putting into an older kit!

PS That website is great! Time for a brew and a browse

This is what the palms are for.

F-A-B Scott!

Boy o boy. When I was a kid I used to drag myself out of bed at 6am on a Saturday just to watch International Rescue! But I never did like Penelope...

Your folding palms for Thunderbird 2 look great! Wow, what a cool flashback.

Re: prototype S-37: I was (am) in such a hurry to finish 'practicing' on 1/144 kits the thought of a splinter scheme was just beyond contemplation

Mark

Very nicely done cowie165. It's just sad to see everyone building the prototype version of the Berkut. There's one thing that bugs me about your Spitfire diorama. The sockets of the soldier figures. Cut it off, cut it off !

What do you mean by prototype? I didn't realise there was a production version - didn't think Sukhoi made it that far.

Hey good advice on the soldiers. I'll see about a little Exacto surgery and insert pins into the feet with the pin vise. I'll report back ...

And could you share more detail on what you're working on? I didn't recognise anything there... I need to watch more anime!

lol, fair call gents. The 1/72 Spitfire was for a group build a few years ago that I only recently finished (Brett you remember the Kraplakistan thing?) and the 1/144 is a practice so I do an honest job on the Arii 1/100 Valks on my shelf. Still have to finish a 1/144 MiG 1.44 and maybe that annoying Su-22M.

And then off to Macross bliss!

Cheers for the kind words lads

Here's another one I was messing around with. I finished this dio a few months ago but took my time taking pics. I'm keen to have another go once I reinstall photoshop. The current changes were using MS Photo Manager (or whatever it's called).

I wanted to depict a forced landing due to mechanical fault rather than the more 'glamorous' shoot-down. The aircraft suffered an oil pump failure or some such thing, then threw a piston out through the head. After surviving the crash landing in eastern France the pilot is doing the dash for friendly lines, the Germans are in hot pursuit.

I've taken a lot more with better perspective (ie. taken at ground level) but I am going to photochop in a background first.

Comments, pointers are appreciated.

Mark

Off the bench. Revell 1/144 S-37.

I was whining in the 'flat clear coat' thread about how I stuffed the Tamiya base + Future. Looks like didn't mix it thoroughly and came out like white mist that stayed opaque... Anyway, pics turned out ok in the end.

I've been using methylated spirits for the last five years. Works brilliantly with acrylics. Never tried isopropyl, but it'd probably dry faster than metho but cost a lot more.e

Mineral turpentine for enamels is ok but white spirits (low odour/faster drying) is better than the turps.

Thanks winterdyne, great how-to!

Cheers

The choice of top coat will depend on which finish you are after. Say you are making a 1/24 car: you're looking for a shiny gloss top coat, therefore you'd use Future.

If you're looking for a satin/semi-gloss, maybe for mecha or a small scale gloss finish, you could use Future with Flat Base added.

If you want an aircraft/valk with a matte finish, you could use any of the flat finishes from your local hobby store.

One of the coolest parts of using a sealing/clear coat over your base paint work is that if you bugger up the panel lines or weathering, you can simply wipe it off with your solvent and then start again; all without damaging your base colours.