geedubelyer

Nope..........I love it Great job Max. These photos in natural light are sublime and show your model off to perfection. Thanks for sharing her.

Magnificent model Gilles. Thank you for sharing your process and the photos.

Superb!

Hi Max. I used a blob of blue tack stuck to the canopy to hold it while I painted it.

Bah! Arnold wouldn't need a tripod. He'd pick those suckers up and shoot from the hip! I can't lie, firing one of those must be so cool

That oozes dynamism Max. Great job I'm looking forward to the RFI images. Hope the weather is fine.

Whilst waiting for the paint to dry I put the time to good use and added a few bits and bobs to the canopy. Not neat but I was using my sense of smell to add these as they are way to small for me to see

Ocean grey applied. This is Mission models (MMP-093 Ocean grey RAF WWII Mid/Late) paint straight out of the bottle. It went on well and has settled to a smooth, matt finish. I bought myself some white tack in readiness for the dark green cammo but I'll need to let this harden for a while before I begin masking.

In other news, I received a huge amount of help with regards to a couple of queries i had relating to the undercarriage recently. Thanks to everyone who contributed to my research thread. The answers enabled me to add a little detail to the gear legs. I modified the uplock by thinning it and adding a curved stop. There is a rod running down each leg and a valve right at the top. Hopefully they'll look ok under a coat of paint.

Great job Max. She's a beauty

Jay, how is the hood orientated during printing? Is it effectively horizontal? Is it worth attempting a print at an angle? I know nothing about 3D printing but intuition suggests there is some minute collapsing or shrinking occuring between layers

After spending some (a lot of) time masking the underside I applied some Tamiya whizz can silver to the forward fuselage and upper wing surfaces, let that dry then gave it a lick of hair spray. I'm hoping to be able to chip the top coats in selected areas like the wing root etc. Ocean grey tomorrow if all goes to plan

I think the word I'm looking for is phwoar!! Simply spectacular

She's taking shape nicely now Michael. Glad to see you got everything fixed up neatly. Great stuff.

Awesome reference photos. So when do we get to see you and Timmy! collaborate on a 1/16th version of your ride? (For the company reception area obviously )

Hi Troy. Perhaps you could use neodymium magnets for your spinner in the same way Tamiya do for removable components?

I think one or more of the companies does a four slot wheel John. The Armoury version is AR AW24403 and comes with block pattern tyres. I finished the underside painting. (Except for that tiny electrical stencil which I'll catch when I do the upper stencils) The roundel colours looked odd in the bottle but they've come out ok I think. This is the first timd I've used these paints and unfortunately the roundels are a bit thick. Miraculously I've managed to make the masked roundels look like decals Thankfully they're on the underside. I must try harder on the rest. So next up is the enjoyable task of masking for the upper cammo. Yay!

That last image is a splendid reference for propeller blade weathering @19squadron, thank you but we are perhaps in danger of straying off topic a little and clouding the chat about undercarriage. What surprises me is just how much paint has chipped off the front lip of the oil cooler intake given that this aircraft can't have been in service for many months. After all of the help and terrific imagery of the undercarriage I think I am going to select the straight relief pipe for my model. The gear wells are already underside colour but I shall go with silver for the door inners and gear legs on this occasion. I have the Kotare Mk1a Mid edition to build in due course and for that one I'm more likely to go with the curved relief pipe and underside colour for the gear legs and wheels.

Life's too short. If you can afford it and it's not harming others do what makes you happy

Hello Troy and welcome aboard. What a fantastic project. You're doing a fine job. I'll confess I've never heard of this aircraft before today. I'm eager to see how this one progresses. Keep it up.

Third time's the charm Pete

Peter, your updates routinely have me grinning and shaking my head in pure disbelief. Magical stuff. Roll on Scale Model World 2024 so we can see this next beauty in the flesh.

@MikeC and @19squadron, superb images, many thanks. I am grateful for the explanation of the components. It helps tremendously and is just the ticket. Much appreciated.

Many thanks for all of the help Sven, much appreciated. When I'm building a model in future I will definitely be using your products if there is a set available. Whilst I'm waiting for the various colours of the roundels to dry I thought I might share a quick look here of the Eduard Brassin resin wheel set that's available for this model. The set comes with separate wheels and tyres plus a one piece replacement tail wheel. There are masks and a small piece of etch for the hub covers. The tyres all have a weighted appearance with neat and crisp sidewall markings. The detail of the hubs looks sharp and crisp too. Rudimentary instructions are included although much of it is self explanatory for this simple set. I haven't worked out why masks are included for both sides of the wheel since the outer hub is separate? No matter, at least I have spares if I fluff any up. The kit wheels are pretty good to be honest but because of the molding process Airfix are forced to offer the tyres in two halves. These fit well but even so there is a slight seam that needs attention. This remedial work could possibly result in a flattened section of the centre of the tyre (or a whole lot of work to fill and keep the crown). The Eduard Brassin set was relatively inexpensive so seemed like a sensible alternative. I believe both Barracuda Studios and Armoury also have several sets available offering different tyre and hub combinations. If anyone has any of those sets and wishes to add any photos here please do as it might make for a neat comparison. Cheers.

Thanks Mike. Great photo. What it does show is the curved pipe wrapping around the leg from inside the gear door and apparently stopping at a height just above the tyre. It doesn't appear to be connected to anything? Also, there appears to be another flexible line running from behind the leg to the hub of the wheel? Very interestink.......The plot thickens.