LSP_Kevin

So, decals are on and the finish line is in sight! However, you might notice that there is something missing from the engine nacelles: The decals for the yellow "Astraeus" text and cross on the Babibi Model sheet were hopelessly translucent, as were my reprints from a scan of same. Even stacking them didn't help - would probably require at least 5 layers of them to even get close, and that's not gonna work. For the sake of experimentation, in the faint hopes that I might hit upon a solution, I tried spraying some yellow onto one of the spare engines I'd already painted blue, and then printed out some blue squares with the design in either yellow or clear: I just wanted to see if some underlying yellow paint would show through the decal OK. Here's the result: This is the blue square with the design being clear, allowing the yellow paint to show through. That part worked well! But as you can see, the translucent blue layer just turns green when applied over the yellow paint. Here's the same test, this time with the design in yellow, over a weaker layer of yellow paint: Pretty much the same result. At this point, I'm stumped. The only thing I haven't tried is to cut some masks, but those letters are less than 2mm tall, and I don't fancy my chances of the Silhouette Portrait being able to handle that. Still, with few other options at this point, it's worth a shot. I've also put in an enquiry with V1 decals (whose sheet I used on the Minicraft build) to see if I might be able to purchase just these designs from their set, as they seem to be on a separate sheet, suggesting that they're printed differently (ie, useably). We shall see! Kev

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Tim! Kev

Looks great, Mike! Kev

I’m pleased to announce that one of our most popular titles, Building the British Phantoms Volume One, has just been updated to v2.2, and for the next 7 days, has been reduced to just 15 Australian dollars! Thanks to eagle-eyed customer Stuart Wallis, a small number of errors in some of the photo captions has been corrected, along with some refinements in the typography. Due to these corrections, this is considered an important update, and should be downloaded to replace any earlier version at your earliest convenience. This a free update for all existing purchasers, and of course new purchasers will always receive the latest version of any of our books. In order to obtain your free update, simply re-download the book using either the original download link in your Order Confirmation email, or log in to your KLP account and download it from the Downloads section of your profile. If you don’t have either, please contact me and we’ll sort it out. Kev

Engines painted: And installed: The blue on the engines looks a bit neon in the photo, due to a combination of the white background and bright LED lighting. Looks a bit more natural in person, thankfully! Next time I'll try the charcoal background again. The last thing to do before gloss coating is to fix the gaps in the engine pylons: My goal here is to simply make them less obvious, not disappear altogether, as that's more work and potential problems than I care for at this stage of this particular build. They certainly don't fare will in close-up macro photography! Kev

Howdy folks, I've just published this week's What's New update. Enjoy! Kev

At this stage it'll be AS-12 for the silver doped fabric areas, and SMS Super Silver for the metal. I haven't really rigged an aircraft since I was a kid, so that should be interesting! Good practise for the Tiger Moth when I get back to it... Kev

Some progress! Keep in mind that this isn't meant to be some sort of championship build (most of mine are not), but merely a simple tribute to a great modelling inspiration. When we left off I was dealing with the windows, and had decided to polish out the kit parts and use those. Here's why, starting with the tests with the clear UV resin: Doesn't look impressive at all. Next, I tried some Kristal Klear from Microscale: Even worse! The photo is actually a little flattering, as it looks much worse in person. My bottle of Kristal Klear is old and mostly congealed, so that probably doesn't help. Here's the polished kit parts: Not perfect, but much better! In my haste to remove some of the sink marks in them, I did manage to introduce some differential sanding, so they're not all straight and level any more. But I'm happy with that - happy enough to move on to the assembly stage. But first, I painted the inside of the fuselage black, since there's no interior: You see a lot of modellers recommending that you scrape paint off mating surfaces, so that it doesn't interfere with either the fit or the glue bond. I agree with this, but I don't think physical scraping is the way to go. Instead, I take a cotton bud moistened with the appropriate thinner (either metho or Mr. Color Thinner usually), and simply rub the extraneous paint off the mating edges. This obviates any potential physical damage to the mating surfaces by sanding or scraping, and does the job with no risk to the parts. In the photo above, the top piece has been done, while the bottom fuselage awaits treatment. Once the windows were fitted, it didn't take long to get the basic airframe assembled: Obviously some work on the seams will be required next, but I'm really enjoying the simplicity of this kit. I'm sure getting the top wing and undercarriage in place will change that! Kev

I wouldn't bother personally, unless you fear that your application of the AS-12 was less than perfect. In that case, I'd probably refine the paint rather than go with a gloss coat. Kev

Very nicely done, Håkan! Kev

Do you have a link for this product you could share? Kev

I'm pleased to report that all the painting on the main airframe has been done, and I've now attached the landing gear legs: They're pretty wonky, truth be told, and I don't have high hopes (or any at all, really) for the sit of the wheels when they go on. But hey, this build is more of a learning exercise than anything else, so it all goes in the "skills and experience" column, and at this stage I'll be happy just to have made it over the finish line. Speaking of which, next up is a nice gloss coat in preparation for decals - finally! Kev

Excellent work! And now the subject of this week's banner image on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/largescaleplanes Kev

Nicely done, Jay! Note that the grille in the cowl intake shouldn't be there, as that was added to the airframe used as a pattern for this kit post-war to keep birds and other vermin out while it was in storage! Kev

There's always the Silver Wings kit: http://www.silverwings.pl/bristol-bulldog.html Kev