Anthony in NZ

Oh my, the gorgeous FA-2!!! That would look great with my FG-1 conversion Well done Alan, you’re a clever man as is Kitsworld for those extra parts! Cheers Anthony

Just wonderful Derek! I’ve just had a thorough read through and am enjoying your progress. Beautiful mate cheers Anthony

Ummmmm

Bravo John! I have to say that I was worried for you with this approach (but quietly confident). It really has come up brilliantly! Shane I cant use all the screw holes in my kit due to all the fuse mods, but nice to know it wasnt overly difficult. Thats where the hard work is in all your prep. Well done! Really looking nice

Thanks...but I still hate cockpits LOL Thanks buddy! Yup people are cruel LOL ready to print....thank you Kerry! Just off to put a clear coat on to seal everything up so far Cheers and thanks for your encouragement guys! Anthony

Seriously! That's insane...but Brilliant!! Absolute madness in the best possible way

Great progress John! The weathering on the belly is coming along nicely as are the horizontal stabs. I am nervous for you about maybe ruining the lovely paint work you have done so far by not gluing the wings, but I totally trust your approach and I know I will have nothing to worry about! Cheers Anthony Oh and I ment to congratulate you on that nosewheel well, looks superb mate, wish I could have got mine looking that busy, just looks right

Thanks Don....getting there mate! Sounds like nice progress on the 1/72 kit, I am sure it is a masterpiece after seeing your handi-work on here! Yup I still hate cockpits LOL Well progress has been slow with lots of ''stuff' getting in the way. Rear tub is almost done, lots of decals and washes added And because I cant seem to make a decent panel for the left side...Kerry is helping me out, what a guy! Not much I'm afraid, but I thought I better post something or you would think it was on the SOD Cheers Anthony

Thanks very much...I only have a little to show soon. been sidetracked with life

Beautiful conversion work Matt, I am loving what you are doing here. very innovative and beautifully done! My dream kit to do one day would be a 1/32 Bell 412 from the Revell kit. Probably end up being mostly printed considering how many faults the Revell kit has. Great work here and such a cool version Cheers Anthony

Thanks...getting there! Thanks Derek, I will go back and fix that up with a dark grey paint. Thanks for pointing this out and the pics! Oh thanks Jeroen! Do those decals have any white stencils? I am not sure how I am going to tackle that part yet. I might be interested if you decide to sell them. yes I love the 'S' version too. Always it seems there is more than we first think isnt it LOL Thank you I am not sure yet mate. I have a pile of seats from different manufacturers and havent even started thinking about them. The cockpit structure and differences alone are daunting me. I cant shift my focus to seats just yet. I am dreading it quite frankly Well as long as I am on here, I got some progress made last night. Kerry's printed part arrived yesterday and I trimmed, painted and installed it. Even the toggle switches printed! Even more impressive is that I managed not to snap them off! Painted and glued in This sidewall has already been modified and extra cable added The junction box on the right side was scratchbuilt, painted, yellow markings applied, weathered lightly and glued in. Also of note is that the BB shelf it sits on was lowered too. Ugh terrible photo's And everything is waiting patiently to fit in the fuse.... Bit of a rush unexpected update, scuse the terrible photos Cheers Anthony

Go on, you know you really want too!

Oh man I’m so enjoying this build! There’s quite a chunk of that HK kit gone now. Just amazing work with the skinning etc

Thanks buddy, I am struggling though Cant believe the hours just gone into this today...talk about 50 shades of grey Still a lot to go in the rear pit, including some placards and a couple of stencils......tough to photograph at night. Anyhoo, I am conquering my fears! As you can see in this last photo there is still a lot to do with some more wear with the silver pencil/paint and washes. I have just got to try not to overdo it Thanks for looking in guys Cheers Anthony

LOL, ok I was wrong. I thought because it was dragging on so long people would be bored I better post something whilst I am here I have sprayed the sills black, silver, black/grey and slowly with a micromesh 6000 cloth buffed it back. A little more on the left where the crew ingress and egress and where the ladders hook on. I might later use my prisma silver pencil to put a few scratches where appropiate. Back to working on the rear tub this weekend Cheers Anthony

Hahaha.... well I never! The Auster has slowed a little. I have an ace upholsterer I am now waiting on to put the military green interior in and then its time to cover. Nice to hear from you buddy. Hows yours?

Heya mate Not at the moment, still frantically working on drag chutes, engine and tailpipe sets etc. There is a lot going on at the moment. I am only seeing CAD files and advising measurements, tweaks etc where needed. Test prints are looking really nice but all prototype stuff and a few more bits added you wont be expecting! I am sure you wont be disappointed. The work gone into these has been uncountable Sorry I am not much help, I am seeing Skyhawks in my sleep at the moment LOL

Thanks Greg! I see what you mean about the intakes. Yeah they look alright dont they? Still happy with how they came out considering how much I modified them Thank you! Well at least it is a start, lets hope you still say that at the end LOL Thanks my friend, I appreciate your encouragement as always Been quite sidetracked this week with 1/32 RNZAF Skyhawk stuff so been a little slow this week An interesting fact whilst I was doing the paint wear on the cockpit sills is that there is Yellow Zinc Chromate paint under the US airframes as in the J(UK) and silver wear under the Spey ones (later on in their service life at least,that is). They were probably yellow when delivered. though. So mine will have silver showing under the wear and not yellow, just an FYI on my observation Cheers Anthony

Great to see another update and I like the mods you have made on the spinner, even that has made a really nice difference! I shall take on board your notes as I was planning on doing exactly what you have done with your Bara nose. Food for thought for me doing mine. Beautiful cockpit work too, you are very talented! Cheers Anthony (Pleased to see you back on this)

Wow Iain, just wow....

Absolutely sensational, and I LOVED every update you shared with us. What a stunning result...only 6 months? I think that's impressive for such a masterpiece.

John I am really loving this! Your cockpit work is helping me press on. As for what you are doing, it's very cool. You know what I really like about this is that you are challenging us to see just how scruffy these jets got over there. Instead of just weathering, streaking (errr the oil type), and chipping the paint you are going one step further and showing all the paint touch ups and mismatches. That really adds another layer to your model. Cant wait to your next update....and getting that lower wing on! Mostly because when I get this cockpit of mine done I wont be far off the same process Cheers Anthony

Nice having you around my friend. Thank you as always for your encouragement! Thanks Iain, I guess if I stuff it up can close the canopy and paint the perspex light blue?? Thanks again chaps, hopefully the next update will have more to show Anthony

Thanks buddy! Well I thought I should update Ya'all as I have been a bit quiet with updates. The truth is I havent done a lot as I have mostly been studying the rear cockpit of a late mod RAF FG.1. As you can imagine these gals got lots of mods and upgrades over their service life. And I want her to be as correct as practical now I have gone this deep into getting it accurate. So with some bits of the B Box cockpit removed from the 'tub' and sidewall, I needed to replace some missing wires. I have also test fitted and trimmed it to fit the fuselage and added a couple of details on the rear fairing face. probably the best thing to show at this point is the paint going on the resin. Now...as you know I hate doing cockpits and this aint going to be any Michelangelo that's for sure. I am going to try some new things and base it on some of my old methods. lets see what happens I guess! I like black basing as it gives me a variation in tone that to me looks pleasing to the eye. Much like I did on my wheel wells I guess. So I laid the black down with Mr Color semi-gloss black and now I am building up the grey tones with Mr Color #11 'Light Gull grey' As you can see it still looks quite dark, but I am far from finished. I have a few things to glue in now, then can continue building the grey tones. I have been reading loads of articles and studying what you guys have been doing here. Anyway, here are some pics, remember it's still a bit dark at this stage as the accents etc aren't added yet. You cant really see the tonal variations under artificial light but it's there, remembering this is the base Still a looooong way to go yet, but I thought I should prove I am actually doing something....

Jeroen that is some super delicate work you have done there, you should have been a jeweler! Might have to try some of that CA, I am always up for experimenting etc. Great update you didn't disappoint...apart from the spelling ...just kidding