Nick's Notes

[Nick]

This is really just an occasional series of updates to keep you lot informed on what I'm working on or have in mind. It should help me record any good ideas for models or stories that flit across my mind.

On the table now with the hope of getting them ready for Telford 2013...

Hawker Fury, RAF Battle of Britain. Full camouflage with black and white undersides. This could be in 1937 with the war starting early. Otherwise it's 1940 and the Luftwaffe used the spy reports to flatten all the Spitfire and Hurricane factories leading the RAF to drag anything fast with guns back into service.

Hawker Fury Irish Air Corps, 1934. They bought other Hawker biplanes so why not the Fury? Shiny silver with green and orange roundels.

Hawker Hurricane RAF. At the 1941 Hendon Air Pageant in her shiny silver and full colour squadron markings. Working title "War? What war?"   Either WW2 doesn't kick off or this is a morale booster.

More to follow 

[NARSES2]

Looking forward to No 3 Nick. The Irish markings are in their envelope for Telford, see you there

[Nick]

Ready for finishing touches-

EE Lightning in Singapore low viz greys. Stressing too much over the actual spraying.

Gnat in Singapore silver bright colours. Needs varnish coat and maybe some detailed 'No Step' type markings.

More ideas-

Irish Gnat. Found some IAC Magister decals and the scheme will look gorgeous on the new Airfix kit.

[Thorvic]

Ready for finishing touches-

EE Lightning in Singapore low viz greys. Stressing too much over the actual spraying.

Gnat in Singapore silver bright colours. Needs varnish coat and maybe some detailed No Step type markings.

More ideas

Irish Gnat. Found some IAC Magister decals and the scheme will look gorgeous on the new Airfix kit.

Those should go down a treat on the Gnat 

[Nick]

You know when you have a good What-If idea and then find out it actually happened? 

Just found that the RAF did camouflage their Hawker Furys and in the same style I've done mine without me realising. Apparently they did this during the 1938 Munich Crisis.

Question now is what to do with it? Maybe I'll hang a pair of small bombs on the wings and claim it's attacking the Germans during Operation Sealion.. Or get some swastika kill markings on the nose and see if anyone notices 

[NARSES2]

Nick

Small bombs or not. Have it attacking German columns approaching Calais as the Hector's actually did

[Nick]

SMW Progress..

Irish Fury is done but looks a little bare and basic.
RAF BoB Fury is done but needs that 'something' to make clear it's in action during WW2. Need to find me some swastika kill markings or small bombs.
The pilots need doing too but I'm not happy in doing them in plain green as it looks too modern. Brown leather jackets would work I guess. Might get away with PRU blue for the trousers.

RAF Hurricane is done and looks resplendent in silver and red 1 Sqdn markings. People might mistake her for a postwar Spitfire! Could do with some tailcodes but this is a 'special scheme' for the 1941 Hendon Air Pageant 

Lightning is probably not going to make it as I want to be sure of a few completed good models rather than all of them being unready.

[Captain Canada]

Come on...the people need to see some pics 

[Nick]

Pictures will follow, most likely after SMW this weekend unless I get time between now and departure time on Friday. Still got a day at work, final touches on models, bags to pack, price up the sales for kit swap at SMW and get some sleep in between!


Situation:
RAF and Irish Furys now have pilots who are proud of their uniforms and the aircraft have been varnished. One of the cockpit canopies pinged off into nowhere so the RAF machine doesn't have one, I'll blame P/O Prune for that one.
Xtracrylix PRU Blue is a good match for RAF pilots uniform and Revell acrylic 87 Earth Brown is quite good for leather jackets or light brown flying suits. Revell Aqua 37 Red Brown isn't terrible for a leather flying helmet but is a bit too red, rather like an American Football.

RAF Hurricane is waiting for the red paint to dry. It is Xtracolour enamel so it could be dry for SMW 2014... Then it needs varnish.

Singapore Gnat. I thought it looked a little bare so went back to the Airfix decal sheet and started adding on some of the tiny 'No Step' markings.    It has had the effect I wanted of it not looking like a diecast toy and more like an actual aircraft but I've gone cross eyed in the process    I've had flakes of dandruff bigger than some of those markings!
I've just spotted that Airfix give "Extended thanks to John Adams, Damien Burke and Dave Fleming" at the bottom of the markings instructions. I know those names....
When the decals are dry in the morning I'll varnish the model.

Time for bed!

[PR19_Kit]

RAF Hurricane is waiting for the red paint to dry. It is Xtracolour enamel so it could be dry for SMW 2014... Then it needs varnish.

I've found that a coat of Klear brushed right on top of those darned Xtracolour enamels after 3-4 hours gives you almost INSTANT dryness.

They do the most esoteric airline colours, and there's no alternative other than mixing them yourself and I got SO fed up with waiting for the Aer Lingus greens to dry that I tried the Klear coat and was suitably amazed that it worked, and well too.

[Captain Canada]

Look forward to seeing the Gnat. I still haven't found a kit, but after seeing her in real life ( well, 2, as you know ;-) I am really impressed with that little bird !

[Nick]

I spent an extra two days in Telford exploring Ironbridge. For £24 you get an annual pass to all 10 museums in the area and I got to 5 of them including the Museum of Iron, the China Factory and the Museum of the Gorge.
Best one is the Blist Hill Victorian Village with reconstructions of original buildings on an old coal mine and brick factory, fully fleshed out by the volunteers who explain how it all worked. The old Pharmacy has been seen on tv and the woodworker was busy making rocking horses for Xmas while the iron foundry was being cleaned. A walk along the canal takes you to the Inclined Plane which lifted the barges 500ft up and down the hill between the canals. A great day out!

I had some time in the evening to work on a 1/144 Tomcat which is likely to be British or USAF as those are the only markings I have in that scale. Needs some nose weight so couldn't quite finish it then.
Still unpacking and getting sorted but really need a spice rack to keep the paint pots from cluttering up my table. Would have gone to ikea on Saturday but it was just so crowded.

[NARSES2]

Yup can thoroughly recommend Ironbridge. We used to take our Grad entrants there to show them how and where the industry started (at least in an industrialised manner)

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like a great trip Nick. Next time we're over I'm going to spend a lot more time on historical aspects.

[Nick]

Found something odd this morning. In the last six months I've bought two AlphaJet kits, both are Heller and 1/72 scale. One is the 1986 boxing abd the other is 1996.

So why are the moulds different? Pictures to follow later!