Nick's Notes

[Pellson]

Spray-on clear acrylic varnish works pretty well to keep decals in one piece.

I use it on my home printed decals and it works a treat.

Acrylic varnish, eh? We'll, that ought to be available here in the outskirts too.. 

[PR19_Kit]

The stuff I use is called 'Keen Crystal Clear' and it's made in Italy, but seems easily available in the UK, albeit from only one distributor.

[Dizzyfugu]

Second that. I use (glossy) acrylic varnish from the rattle can for both self-printed decal and brittle cases. I found that a rather thin layer is already enough to stabilze them, even though handling is fiddly. But it works quite well.

[zenrat]

For my homemade transfers I use Testors Decal Bonder spray from a rattle can to seal them.  I haven't tried using my acrylic clear.

[Nick]

The tiny Tonka is complete. It's so small the whiffery doesn't exactly stand out. Thankfully the decals survived the coat of Klear I did on Saturday night.
If I did it again in 1/72 I would use a different camo like two-tone greys and look for larger Aussie roundels.

The AH-1G (1/72 Matchbox) is now wearing the Aussie Vietnam green and tan that the UH-1s wore. I was going to take it to Brampton but the landing skids came off with the masking tape on Friday  so I had to re-glue them and that meant no further work.
The markings are small, I hope they aren't too subtle.
If all goes well I will do a modern AH-1W in the current Aussie 3-tone scheme as an update.

The Phantoms are waiting for a respray tomorrow night. These masks are awkward but hopefully worth it.

[Nick]

The Phantoms are ready for their second coat. This 3 tone is tricky but it shall be worth it.

The Cobra is getting there. I'm not happy with how I brush painted the rotor and weapons pods so they shall go in a bag of oven cleaner overnight. On Wednesday I can prime them again and Thursday spray them properly.
The canopy is a poor fit but it can't be helped.
I found the pilots so I may paint them up and put them in.
Think I shall Klear varnish it and then do the decals. I want to avoid making it too glossy.

I have to think about what I take to Telford as I need Whiffs for us and at least one normal for the club table which will otherwise be dominated by ships.

In other news:
I am getting this years flu jab for free from work.
My injured leg has healed and I'm back walking properly again.
I am taking Mum to the Isle of Wight in early November to spend a few days with family so that will be a nice getaway on the cheap.

[NARSES2]

In other news:
I am getting this years flu jab for free from work.

I get mine free from the NHS because I'm old 

[PR19_Kit]

I get mine free from the NHS because I'm old 

Ditto........... 

[Rheged]

I get mine free from the NHS because I'm old 

Ditto........... 

and me too.

[Nick]

We've got just 5 weeks until Telford is upon us. I've got 8 days off in that time. With that in mind I'm working solely on models for display there.

Ready for display are:
1/144 RAAF Tornado (really needs fuel tanks to finish off)
Texas Police Ford GT90
Spaceplane
SR.53

In rough order of likeliness to get completed I have;

AH-1G Australian Army
RF-4E RAAF
F-4 RNZAF
D.520 - Romania?
Class 9F loco - BR blue and yellow.
F-16 - unknown, possibly RNZAF.

[NARSES2]

D.520 - Romania?

Romania used them Nick so as stands it would be for your club stand. I'm not sure however if they used them post-Armistice so one in Romanian roundels might well be a whiff ?

[McColm]

Hi Nick, I have posted my latest builds on Facebook. I just thought that you would be interested in taking a look.

[Nick]

I went cross eyed last night putting the decals on the Cobra. 

The bloody designer at Southern Sky Models decided to save a few pennies and print everything very close together - so close I can hardly get a blade between the letters. 
The decal sheet is a single piece of clear transfer with black print. It's very glossy and measures 8cm square. They may have got 8 out of a sheet of A4 but it would have been better to make the print a little wider and get 6 easier to use sets out of one sheet.

The ARMY and Kangaroo bits went on OK. The serial numbers (A16-105) are 6 separate and tiny pieces but thankfully they lined up quite well. Took me 2 hours to get right. I will finish off the rest of the small markings tonight.
The canopy doesn't sit right so may have some more sanding to do. Don't want to do too much as it's a poor kit and the canopy is already cracked.

************

We had a good laugh on our Club Zoom chat last night. Our organiser Simon, who is from Australia, was talking about the REME Museum Model Show this Sunday. He was trying to describe where Lyneham is so I told him, and other members agreed with me, that Lyneham is near New Zealand. 

He thought we were taking the piss. We then watched him get his phone out and check Google Maps  https://goo.gl/maps/KvG9TYnT5SLFueJV8
My word, those Australians really do swear a lot 

[PR19_Kit]

We had a good laugh on our Club Zoom chat last night. Our organiser Simon, who is from Australia, was talking about the REME Museum Model Show this Sunday. He was trying to describe where Lyneham is so I told him, and other members agreed with me, that Lyneham is near New Zealand. 

He thought we were taking the piss. We then watched him get his phone out and check Google Maps  https://goo.gl/maps/KvG9TYnT5SLFueJV8
My word, those Australians really do swear a lot 

IIRC at one stage, before they stopped using it, they called landings on that runway an 'NZ approach'. 

[Nick]

The Cobra is finished and on display here: https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=49822.0