Narses2's Blog - or what I'm slowly making progress on

[NARSES2]

Mainly a psr day, hope to get the Ms 420 finished tomorrow or Friday, pics at  the weekend

[Radish]

I'm busy too....

....looking for a suitable pink handbag

[Thorvic]

I'm busy too....

....looking for a suitable pink handbag

Oh no does that mean his switching now from Steampunk to TellyTubby   

[Thorvic]

Back on topic Chris what scheme will the Firebrand have ? I think CMR have replaced their Firebrand with a fresh kit at another eye watering price it sounds like they needed to, just a pity Valom didn't follow up their early Firebrand with the more common Later Firebrand to give us at least a decent injection moulded kit 

[The Wooksta!]

I wouldn't be surprised if MPM/Special Hobby do one in the next few years.

[NARSES2]

Back on topic Chris what scheme will the Firebrand have ? I think CMR have replaced their Firebrand with a fresh kit at another eye watering price it sounds like they needed to, just a pity Valom didn't follow up their early Firebrand with the more common Later Firebrand to give us at least a decent injection moulded kit 

She's going to be EDSG over Sky with the low demarcation line. BPF roundels and unit markings from an Avenger squadron. Part of my British China Seas Fleet scenario during the campaign in Northern Indo China.

And yes I've seen a build article of the new CMR Firebrand, looks superb but at a high price - mind you look what some old Hasegawa kits are sold for ??

[NARSES2]

PSR continues on the Firebrand, I think this will be a longish job and the Meteor has had her first primer coat. Will need more psr but mainly on the undersides.

The Morane has had her canopy frames finished and some paint touch ups. Because I'm using Lifecolour's French colours I've got to Future them and then matt varnish the touch-ups to get them the same shade as the previously painted scheme  Lifecolour's matt paints are very good but vey, very matt. I'm beginning to wonder if I could use Future/Klear to thin them ?

[NARSES2]

The Firebrand has had her first primer coat and surprisingly isn't as bad as I feared. Maybe I'd just been over pessimistic ? Anyway she needs a fair bit more work done on the wing fold join but that's about it, so I'm quite pleased.

The Meteor has had her first bash of psr and been re-primed. Hopefully just a couple of little bits to sort out then paint can start to be applied.

The 2 WWI artillery pieces are going together fairly well. Strange curate's eggs of kits. Some parts are remarkably well moulded (they are resin) and the detail is brilliant and yet some of the larger parts have some mould defects. Still nothing a bit of putty won't fix. The real problem with these is that the instructions are of the hand drawn type and whilst the parts on them are numbered the resin ones aren't. Couple this with the fact that I don't know much about WWI guns then I'm having to use some old drawings and photos from books in my library or from the internet to figure where some things go. Still it's all a learning curve.

[Radish]

Busy times.
Looking forward to seeing the Firebrand!!

One for Airfix???

[NARSES2]

Busy times.
Looking forward to seeing the Firebrand!!

One for Airfix???

It would be nice wouldn't it  

Anyway here's the finished Ms 420 http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,37230.msg602498.html#msg602498

[Radish]

Nice...totally believable too

[NARSES2]

Right the Meteor has now finished the psr stage and can start having her camouflage scheme applied.

PSR continues on the Firebrand. There is a serious issue on one of the wings at the wing fold line which results in the inboard side having less depth then the outer  Putty doesn't want to work and I'm out of Miliput until I can restock (next week) so  think I may try and use some thin plastic sheet to build up the wing thickness and I can then blend this in.  I am not letting this beast beat me 

I've broken out my new tool Airfix Typhoon and Gladiator to give me a bit of light relief. They will both be real world, the Typhoon will be a rocket armed bird with partial D Day stripes, surprisingly I've never built one in this configuration. I've also opened one of the wing gun panels on this kit. The Gladiator will be a 94 Sqd machine in Aden during 1941. They  were used in operations against the Italians in Somalia and I think against the French in Syria prior to being handed over to the South Africans and 94 getting Hurricanes. This may be a little cheat as 94 had Mk II's and I'm not sure about the I's. I've got the markings for her on a DP Casper sheet and she'll be in dark earth/dark green over white/black with plain type B roundels and grey codes.

The innards are built and painted for both kits. You've already seen my opinion on the Typhoon and the Gladiator is as nice, indeed some of the detail may be a little finer, evidence of slide mould technology ? The only problem and it isn't, is that the instrument panel transfer seems to be made for another kit ? In all seriousness it's a tad too large but then most kit's panels are. I spent ages looking for the instrument panel...it's part of the rear cabane strut piece. Interesting parts breakdown.

[kitbasher]

Interesting to see how your new Airfix 'babies' will build, Chris.  I'v one of each in the stach and it's hard not to crack on and start them.  Need to finish the 'works in (slow) progress' first though.

[NARSES2]

Right found some usable Miliput so the wings of the Firebrand have been smeared liberaly with the stuff and it's sitting drying staring at me almost daring to have another crack at it   Only problem with Miliput is the waste. I always mix way to much and have never found a use for the dry stuff 

Meteor has had her undersides painted and masked for the top colour. I've been musing on this and am thinking that if the Trent Meteor had entered service she would have been given a new name ? I'm thinking Meteorite as it shows her lineage.

The Typhoon is together. I was a little to cocky with this as I've already built one, and had a little problem closing the fuselage. Soon fixed my boo boo and she went together well.

Gladiator is together (without the top wing) and is a little cracker. Pays to take your time with assembly and not just assume she will go together well. She does but wants just a modicum of respect. The holes for the bracing wires are already part through and I've drilled these all the way through. I'll fill with PPP after rigging or maybe just use masking tape and use for the inspection panels ? The way the engine and cowling go together you can assemble and fit after painting  

Also made some more of my new favourite tool. £1 Store double sided tape and emery paper + Costa stirrers = cheap and effective sanding sticks. The Costa stirrers are thin anyway but can be  cut to whatever desired width, the double sided tape is very sticky so doesn't budge even when using the sanders wet and dry. Also usefull to have different lengths of stirrer/emery as the stirrers are very flexible and take a lot of poking around. No more expensive sanding sticks for me.......I'm on a pension now  

[NARSES2]

Not much done, but second coat is on the Meteorite. Realised I've masked the wing roots wrongly  and they were a bugger to do wrongly as well  Easier to have done them correctly  ...age I suppose  Still easily sorted.

Prime the Hurricane and Typhoon tomorrow, start sanding the Firebrand