BarryWilliams

I have just heard that a new tool A4E/F Skyhawk is being released by Hassy in 1/32 April 2020. Can anyone corroborate this?

That is pretty much what I do, even down to using Mr Mark Setter. I then often follow up with Mr Softer when I think it needs it. Thanks for your input on this. One question. I usually use warm water kept warm by a coffee cup warmer. Does the temperature make decals more brittle? I have always assumed that is was important not to have the water too hot (or too cold come to that) for that reason?

No, when you are positioning them on the model, mostly when over/around detail. I use a flat brush to gently adjust position, a drop of water helps and, as I said, some companies are fine and take a lot of this treatment but some just fall apart....

MRP 099 US Navy White is a good off white colour for this.

I have mostly built WW2 1/32 aircraft and I soon learnt how poor decals are to use in this scale. Even Tamiya, who make the best kits you can get cannot produce decent decals. They may be accurate and well printed, but that is no good in you cannot rely on them. The smaller ones are manageable but the larger ones are guaranteed to splinter and in the odd times they don’t splinter resist conforming to details even with the strongest solutions. At least though there are plenty of AM sets and better still masks. But then I decided to build some modern jets. The first two being Revell Tornado and the Kitty Hawk F-5E, both are pretty crap manufacturers but one thing they both do better than Tamiya is produce decals that don’t splinter, or at least not from just looking at them. OK, not as nicely printed as Tamiya and Kitty Hawk’s trade mark shoddiness is evident, but they did not splinter and laid down rather well. Next up the superb Tamiya F16CJ. Naturally I looked up alternative markings as you can never trust Tamiya’s. Not a lot around but I did find some beautifully printed Two Bobs decals for the 50th anniversary of the Wild Weasel mission. But it is not much use having these beautiful decals if they are unusable. They splinter worse than Tamiya and Trumpeter, they seem thin enough but they just did not conform whatever masking solutions I tried. So I have abandoned them, I have just used masking tape to pull off the remnants and resprayed. So what now? I am not going to repaint the model to do one of the Tamiya schemes as those decals are likely to splinter as well so that a fools errand. I am thinking of not trying to represent a real aircraft at all but to try cobbling together a fictional scheme from what decals I have. I cannot see another option. Right now I am pretty peed off. Why on earth cannot Tamiya learn from Revell (or Kitty Hawk, or Zoukei Mura come to that) and produce decals that actually work? Next is the Trumpeter F14B and their decals fail on every front with not a lot of AM around and there is no way I will buy ‘Two Bobs’ again..... as for masks, nothing.

Or a Halifax. To get the four main heavies in 1/48 as new tools would be great. Then perhaps the other two, a Sterling and B29..... then maybe a Sunderland.. I am getting carried way now. Seriously I would love all these on 1/32 Really and I am sorely tempted by those available, but it is the practicalities that have held me back. For that reason I am willing to compromise with 1/48 for these.

Top for me the Dauntless closely followed by the Avenger, Swordfish, Mig3, and me262. I have not built any of their modern jets but I do have their F/A 18E in the stash and my next build will be their F14B.

Best to get masks for the main markings rather than decals. I find Trumpeter decals awful, not just colour and thickness but the tendancy for them to splinter and fall apart. You can see some sets for Trumpy 1/32's here: http://www.montex-mask.com/en/ofertaShow.php?skala=1/32&maska=MAXI MASK&current=maxi_mask_1_32 Avenger, Dauntless and Wildcat in particular. Look at both the Super Mask and Maxi Mask sets. Here there are quite a few generic packs as well as packs for specific kits, not many 1/32 Trumpy though https://shop.maketar.com/?product_cat=132-aircraft&post_type=product

For me it has to be the following in this order: HP Halifax Vickers Wellington B26 Marauder Short Sunderland Short Sterling Catalina. but before all of those a decent mainstream (Tamiya pleaseeeee) 1/32 Hawker Hurricane.

An excellent build, superb weathering. Absolutely right that this aircraft carried the firewall camo scheme, not the standard RAF pattern (as some depict it), one tip, aircraft with the firewall camo had a small crocodile motife on the fin, left side, above the flash. You can scroll down to see this 112 squadron aircraft, only the starboard side is shown but the croc motife is clear on some of the other pics. https://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Mustangs/3 Sqn P-51K P4.htm

The 1/32s Trumpeter and Hobbyboss kits that are very good in my experience are: Me162 Dauntless Avenger Swordfish Mig 3 Sturmovik P61

HP Halifax Vikers Wellington Short Sterling We can but hope...

My missus just does not get it. In her mind the only worthwhile pastimes are out in the open air, perhaps running or walking. She can’t sit still for more than half an hour reading and thinks under two hours in front of a tv is too long of an evening. It’s not as if I can get her out to a pub instead!! She is driven up the wall if stuck inside in bad weather and moans because we have a new home that does not need any jobs done. Models are not allowed out of our garage in which I get to use a limited space at one end and she complained because my modest stash of 7 encroached onto some garage shelving. She cannot understand how I am not bored after an hour at the bench and thinks a hobby is something you might do only for an hour once a week. ‘I have never heard of anyone wanting to do a hobby for an hour nearly every day, you are weird’ she says. I just wish that she could find something to engage with in doors, but being inside and sitting down to her is just ‘waiting to die’.

It is easy enough to get some BB to add. Vallejo, Mig and MRP all supply them. I like the new bottles myself.

I did a calculation that MRP are cheaper than Mr Color, allowing for the 30ml bottles instead of 10ml even taking into account 50% thinning of Mr Color with MLT. It was some time ago now. A lot of people just look at the price and think they are expensive without realising the bigger bottles.