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

[NARSES2]

Well the Defiant is now ready for paint  Has been an absolute delight to build 

Hurricane is now assembled. Had to raid the spares box when I lost the carb. intake to the carpet monster. Luckily I had a Revell one (I think) from a Hurri built with a tropical filter. She will need a gentle touch of filler before paint.

The Airfix Hurricane Mk I has one piece which is an absolute pig to fit    You have to insert a reservoir/pipe combo into the wheel well. Now try as I might I've always struggled with this on all my kits. Indeed it probably took longer getting the thing in today than putting the entire airframe together did  Guy who designed the instruction sheet must be a sadist. Now I've no excuse as I've built a fair few and keep meaning to fit it at an earlier stage. Do I remember....do I heck 

[PR19_Kit]

The Airfix Hurricane Mk I has one piece which is an absolute pig to fit    You have to insert a reservoir/pipe
combo into the wheel well. Now try as I might I've always struggled with this on all my kits.

Yes, that bit is a real swine to get in place. As I've got to build another Cyclone, the first one STILL not having turned up, I'll learn from last time and not even bother with it as the wheel wells are blanked off anyway.

[NARSES2]

A little progress yesterday evening with a small amount of filler added to the Hurricane.

Also got the first of a couple of models that fit into my "Year of the Twin" theme from the stash. One is a long planned wif. The other ? Not sure, may wif her, may be real world

[NARSES2]

Both the Defiant and Hurricane have had their undersides painted. Defiant can now be masked but the Hurricane needs at least one more coat. I'm using White Ensign enamel on this and there's been a slight problem covering the overspray from the wheel wells. Humbrol 56 spray can. Not sure if that is because of enamel over acrylic ? Going to get another Defiant next time I see one. This will be for my Coastal Patrol aircraft out of Aden.

Also a little fiddly work on the P-72. Drilled some tiny holes for the wing mg's to be fitted into. Current plan is that all 3 will hit the photo shop at the same time.

Washed my A-26 sprues so can start her now. This is the Italieri boxing of the glass nosed version so will be an RAF B-26. I also have the Revell boxing of the solid nosed A-26 in the stash.

The other twin will be the new tool Airfix Do.17 which will be a real world BoB build.

[Captain Canada]

Lots on the go ! The year of the twin sounds interesting !

[NARSES2]

Well its freezing in the model room so I've been doing some prep work and basic assembly on a couple of projects using my Humbrol Work Station and a picnic table.  Get back to painting when it warms up.

Anyway as said some work done on the Italeri A-26. Plastic is a bit hard and the sprue gates are a bit of a  , Some are fine but you do wonder why others are where they are ? There's some flash on this moulding which considering I got it when it was a new tool is a little disappointing. I think I will just spray the interior with a can of Humbrol dark green that I got for the two WWI guns I did for my mates 70th. I learned long ago that USAAF aircraft in particular tended to have a rather large diversity when it came to Interior green. There's lots of moulded detail on the interior parts which should repay some time spent as I think it will be fairly visible.

Also got some initial painting done of the new tool Airfix Do 17 which will be real world.

Finally I got the sprues washed on an Italeri Ca 313/314. I've been wondering what to do this as for a while. I'd initially thought French as they did get 2 but I've now decided she will be RAF. I'm just going to say that the first 50 of the real world order were delivered before Italy invaded France. It was the scenario in which to put it that was throwing me. Anyway I've now worked it out ad I have the transfers to boot  She will be an RAF training aircraft caught up in the revolt at Habbaniya. The markings will come from the DP Casper Forgotten Operations sheet

[PR19_Kit]

She will be an RAF training aircraft caught up in the revolt at Habbaniya. The markings will come from the DP Casper Forgotten Operations sheet

Oooooh, do they do a sheet just on the Habbaniya Siege then? I didn't know that..... 

[Librarian]

Finally I got the sprues washed on an Italeri Ca 313/314. I've been wondering what to do this as for a while.

Brave, brave man. That kit's a nightmare if I recall the distant past. When Caproni designed it he knew people would be making models in the future, he was in a bad mood and wanted to ruin their Saturdays....he succeeded

[NARSES2]

She will be an RAF training aircraft caught up in the revolt at Habbaniya. The markings will come from the DP Casper Forgotten Operations sheet

Oooooh, do they do a sheet just on the Habbaniya Siege then? I didn't know that..... 

Its on the Iraq revolution Kit. Got mine from the Big H but it's not in stock now. Like all their sheets it's stuffed to the rafters with options

Finally I got the sprues washed on an Italeri Ca 313/314. I've been wondering what to do this as for a while.

Brave, brave man. That kit's a nightmare if I recall the distant past. When Caproni designed it he knew people would be making models in the future, he was in a bad mood and wanted to ruin their Saturdays....he succeeded

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Thanks 

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like an interesting scenario Chris. Again, something I'm not familiar with....but I have a feeling I'm about to learn somat !

[zenrat]

Similar to this then (which is a 311)?

https://www.scalemates.com/products/product.php?id=441549

[NARSES2]

Very much so Zenrat, but with earlier roundels

Got some more work done on the Invader. The Italieri hard plastic is at least easy to work. Fit is not as positive as one would like considering its a relatively new tool and as mentioned there's some flash. It will also need the attention of some filler. Some down to me but some definitely isn't. On the upside it's amazing how much you can get done in the way of sub-assemblies. Need some warmer weather now to get some painting done.

Building this has also made me realise how "small" the real thing was. I was expecting an aircraft probably 20%-30% bigger ? Strange how you sometimes visualise things in your minds eye. It's also quite a dainty looking aircraft in my opinion.

[NARSES2]

Weather improved enough to get some work done in the model room without the extremities freezing off 

So started the upper camouflage on both the Hurricane and Defiant and got some internal painting on the Invader done although it needs a fair bit more as I think it may well be quite visible. As stated it's a bit of curates egg of a kit. Some nice detail and then some that's soft. The main wheels in particular are a bit odd. The tyres are split and then one side has the hub whilst the other (outer side) has a separate hub ? The hub detail on the inner side is not consistent around its diameter particularly regarding depth, mind you a couple of recent Airfix tools suffer from that, so whilst 3/4 of the hub is easy to paint and define the tyre the rest is a little more awkward.

There's some trimming needed to get the wings fitting snugly to the fuselage and the engine nacelles are not a great fit. Although once the nacelles are sorted they fit quite nicely to the wing.

I'm almost certainly being over critical of the Italeri kit as lately I've mainly been building new Airfix stuff which fits superbly or limited run kits where I expect to have fettle.

[NARSES2]

Well the Hurricane and Defiant have their topsides painted although I think they may both need another coat. The Invader has had her insides painted and needs varnishing now and then I can start putting all the sub assemblies I've constructed together.

On a different track I've recently been using some good old Humbrol enamel for brush painting. Haven't used this for ages and forgot just how well it covers. Drying time doesn't bother me so I suppose it's just the smell and cleaning that stops me using it more. However I will start thinking about using it more now.

[Radish]

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