discus

Very interesting Video. Thanks for sharing. He definitely has valid points. The price tag for a modern kit is now significant mostly due to complexitiy and quantity of parts. We know a big chunk of the cost of a model goes into the engineering and machining of the moulds, not in the production of the plastic itself although cost of raw materials has not decreased either. It is probably better for the manufacturers to have an all in one kit (eg : like the Airfix Sea King he shows in the video) : one set of moulds, one boxing, one reference and a higher retail price. For us it means expensive and complex kit and a ton of plastic remaining at the end that we'ill never use . I'm among those who build pretty much everything closed except the canopy. I hate when a kit is designed to open everything (I like is analogy with the autopsy look) especially when it is poorly designed in such a way that closing the panels requires tons of putty and sanding because the panels do not fit in the opening (Yes KH Mirage 2000 I am looking at you...). For me we should have basic options : landing gear up/down, canopy open/close, maybe flaps up/down (it is important to have the ground configuration when it is the case). The rest should be as mentionned in the vid for an advanced version of the kit or aftermarket. I prefer less details but accuracy and ease of fit above all. If they want to throw in some details they should focus on where it is visible : typically the cockpit : most of the kits, cockpit is beyond basic : no seat belts (or very poorly desgined that we end up removing anyway), rought instrument panels, etc.... I don't want to have every single frame and rib of the wings and fuselage or the fuel tank hidden behind a wall... (Yes ZM this one is for you )

It's indeed a shame there is no decent late corsair version.

Okay, thanks Mike

What are the differences between the B and C variants of the P51 ? Thanks

That and the late variants of the Corsair

Indeed, there is already so much to do with WW2 fighters, I think they can easily stick to this theme for ages and some planes are pretty good money printers. And many have been fairly mistreated by the likes of Trumpeter or other kit manufacteurs. Other are simply not up the nowadays standard. The other day, someone pointed out that we don't have a proper Hawker Typhoon kit in 1/32 (1/24 Airfix may be too big for some of us, me included). Although this may not be a garanteed money printer this was a pretty significant aircraft in the allied forces. Late Corsair variants have been blatently ignored in recent productions, same for the P-51 B/C... I was disappointed to see yet another 109 but I understand the K variant has no decent kit so far. So it's probably a good move from Kotare: people who desperatly wanted a decent 109K will be (hopefully) satisfied and for the others "less knowledgeable people, they'll be happy because it's a modern 109 kit). There is however one risk (hence the hopefully between brackets in the previous sentence) : it's a 109 and there is no room for errors or misunterpretation from Kotare. Every "self appointed Expertens" and rivet counter wil spend the next month disecting any 3D rendering, test shot and picture and will decide that the kit is bull***t because rivet n° 72 somewhere where nobody will see it is not exacly where it should be....

Goodies arrived this morning... Decals from eaglecals, 3D instruments from red fox, metallic guns from master, seat belts from HGW and BF109 underwing guns from Barracuda.

Wow ! Impressive. I love your paint job ! Well done

Very nice indeed. If I may : a subtle weathering on the prop and the engine would be even nicer. but that's just my own personnal taste. You Corsair is already very beautiful like this.

That's one fine looking Mustang. And yes we do want to see your Spitfire there is no such thing as "enough Spitfires"

The post-lady just delivered this... from Domino model (I finally found a retailer in Europe who has both available) I should receive some goodies soon to complement these two bad boys...

Hello Refurbishing of my Heritage Aviation Models Strega is finished. I built it some years ago, looking like this : But it did not aged well : the white became yellowish other time..., also at that time I was brush painting and it was not very good work (lots of brush marks...) So I basically striped all paint, sanded the surfaces, applied a layer of putty, sanded again and applied a layer of Mrsurfacer thenpainted again using Tamyia gloss white and red (X-2 and X-7). Also I changed the air intake from the original kit because it was way too small (see the last pic above and compare to the one below). I also replaced the prop by an eduard one. Painted with green stuff world Chrome. Varnish is VMS gloss and decasl from draw decals. Family photo : I wanted to do another photo with the "grand father" of these 3 aka Red baron, unfortunatly clumsy me broke some parts of Voodoo while arranding for that last pic.... Maybe I'll do it later when Voodoo is repaired.

Quite a nice collection you have here. Well done

The Witch "rejuvenation" is completed. Better photos coming soon...

Some more progress. In the end I decided to try the decals for the white scheme and it turn out fine. The white decals are thick enough to cover well on top of the red. It was not easy to place since the htp is already in place so I had to cut the decal in several pieces to adjust it. I did some touch up of the white paint with a small brush. The propeller is finished. not perfect but I'll leave it as it is since the best is the ennemy of the good. It is the eduard resin part for the revell P-51. Very nicely casted. I sanded the leading edge of the blades to have the specific Strega shape. I used the Green Stuff Worl Chrome. the airbrush variant was not available so I used the handbursh version of the product deluted 50/50 with alcool 90° to spray it. It turned out quite nice. After a failed test with the vallejo metal varnish, I found out that VMS varnishes are also water based. The test was satisfactory. We loose just a bit of the shine of the chrome but not so much (you can see the reflection on the spinner.) So I used it to protect the chrome parts. If unprotected this chrome paint will be subject to finger prints from the slightest touch...