nmayhew

the Hellcat looks great, but the plastic is still too soft goo, as is the sharpness of detail and mould quality - I think that's what hurt the release as much as the aircraft and variant in question if it was as good as the new Spit - and let's be brutal, this is only getting them close to where Tamiya were when they released their first 1/32 uber kit the Zero, and that was over 15 years ago - i think it would have done a lot better but i'm pleased the Spit has done well for them; i do think it is stonkingly good value - you can pick it up for less than £85 shipped here in UK if i was Airfix i would go for a Bf109 (prob a G-6 because it's the shape so many people recognise), a P-51 or a P-47. Yes a Hurricane would sell here because it's Airfix and we just love their stuff lol, but globally I can't see it, plus the Trumpy kit really is very good

I have the book and the profile is fine

Great pics Thomasz, thank you!

hey if it's any consolation, i goofed the wheels on my G-2...the last piece of resin from inside the Reskit tyres and i didn't pay attention and sliced the tyre...now ordering more wheels...so frustrating. I hate wheels!!

given all the effort you are going to with the kit so far, I would re-visit the 'non panel line' on the cowl - it's still fairly visible i'm afraid btw i'm saying this not to pick holes for the sake of it - I try to adjust my critiques to the level of the modeller, and you are clearly competent and also quite concerned with things being right (or as close as you can get) rather than being 'good enough' you can fix it at the same time you are filling the panel line mentioned by Antonio Nick

Don't worry, I have the advantage of not gloss coating before decals

yes that was it, and sorry I didn't pick up on the fact that you had already fixed it - my bad. i can imagine it was a right pain in the you know what! yet another very perplexing moulding decision from Revell; lots of good things, and then quite a few really crap ones. for everyone moaning about the price of the Kotare Spitfire, this is what they have saved us from lol

hey Furie, Just catching up on this - lots of good stuff! I am a polisher not a dipper, but you seem to have achieved good results. re your rivetting and panel lines etc, i may have missed the post but the cowlings do not i think have that horizontal panel line running their length which it looks like i can still see on yours? They may have rivets, but i think each cowl side is just one big panel, so no panel line as such running through it.

thank you for all the pics and the vid, much appreciated - can never have too many 109s, esp these colourful Grunherz birds! most of the pics i think i have already on my HD, but one was new to me (by only a few days!) which i saw in an old post on the Luftwaffe Research Group - the one with the light coloured squiggles on the wing - very intriguing! the black men cleaning the wings etc - very interesting and of historical note; from a modelling perspective, to recreate this semi gloss effect complete with what i am certain would still be grubby wing roots and engine / other areas of maintenance is quite complex and challenging. Personally, I would not take this as vindication of all the museum clean builds which many seem to favour, nor would i take it as repudiation of weathering your aircraft, but interpret it as you will. My own take on it is this is a) this is propaganda film, and you are therefore seeing everything going swimmingly, and b) a reflection that at this stage in the war these were well resourced, if hard worked, units; the flip side is we can see plenty of grubby 109s in the Battle of Britain for instance, and plenty of grubby JG54 109s in the same time frame as this vid on the Eastern Front. thanks again for posting all the material - I hope the group finds them of value and inspiration! Kind regards Nick

hi guys, i am approaching the paint stage on Trumpy's early Gustav which I am building as a G-2 from JG54 and would like some thoughts and advice on colours, or at least your best guess / interpretation thereof... i am split between Yellow 3 and Yellow 6 Yellow 3 airframe points to note - def a Gustav and not a Friedrich (location of fuel port, different canopy frame etc) - not a Trop variant (no holders for sunshade) - not a G-4: no small bulges on wings; tyres therefore 150x660 ie dimensions same as Emil, but the spoke design on hub was heavier / lacked lightening holes - absence of ventilation airscoop just under windscreen side panel? colours / markings points to note - non factory standard 2 tone green scheme: my take is RLM70 and a n other light green - rear canopy frame: in same colour as the lighter green, or badly colourised but actually in RLM 75? I have a pic which clearly shows wing walk lines were not overpainted and left in either RLM74 or RLM75, so maybe this was also too fiddly to paint?? - fuselage cross lacks black outline - wing cross - does this have the black outline or not? - spinner: white and black segmentation is clear, but is there a third colour on the front most section? I have seen these in red on other JG54 machines, so this is plausible. unsure if this is colourised as i have seen a few versions knocking around the other photo which i think is the same airframe - the diagonal camo line running back from the cowling is match, and i can see no positive differences and now Yellow 6 airframe points to note - def a Gustav and not a Friedrich (location of fuel port - triangle just visible behind number 6, different canopy frame etc) - not a Trop variant (no holders for sunshade) - likely a G-2: tyre data warning on wing leading edge shows 150x660 (i have seen close ups of different airframes that show this as 669?) - absence of ventilation airscoop just under windscreen side panel? colours / markings points to note - non factory standard 3 tone green scheme: my take is RLM70, a n other light green; it's the third colour that is bugging me... I am torn between something like RLM02 and some sort of tan colour - I am presuming this is Yellow 6 + ~ - spinner: white and black - cowling, just behind spinner: the repaint stops, and shows RLM76 before we get to the RLM04 underneath - RLM04 painted around RLM76 to keep stencil warning above radiator - underwing wing cross lacks black outline - yellow wingtips underneath - white wall on tail wheel - swastika is white outline only (I can't recall whether that is standard for this timeframe) the below image is from Luftwaffe im Focus magazine - this particular grab is from the net, shown only for the purposes of research / discussion hopefully there is enough to peak some interest here, and perhaps @mattlow you could chime in? any thoughts and observations would be most welcome! Nick

this pic is labelled FG 1D - not sure if that is the correct notation, but it does have the underwing racks which i believe is a unique -1D identifier? (the canopies were mixed and matched to some degree so that cannot be relied upon) and another also labelled as VMF 155... 172 clearly has the underwing racks inside of the landing gear and this one look like combat ops to me

Great photos!! Makes you realise how feeble the cockpit of the Trumpy Razorback is…and then in the same breath that it is also the only game in town

I have seen some very experienced and very good 1/32 modellers moan about the A-20 price, but i think whilst obviously not cheap, it is reasonable and also a reflection of the general price level of kits i think expecting this to be sub £150 like the B-25s were for a while (maybe not retail, but bargains could be had) is unrealistic put it another way… - it does look a beautiful kit - no reports of any “d’oh!” accuracy goofs - although not a massive airframe, this would seem to be about ‘twice the fun’ of Kotare Spitfire, or indeed about one tenth the aggro of a Zoukei-mura 109 lol i hope it does well for HK, and if I weren’t on a self-imposed new kit moratorium (no job!) I would definitely be getting one for the stash

Wishing you all the best Nick

wow just read through all this stunningly good!

yes that will be a shame but the easy way they could have avoided this would have been to make better choices of kit, and make the kits better. As much as I have a soft spot for British post war jets… the Vampire? the Helldiver just did not look that great - rear glazing from some other mystery scale was enough to make that a hard no for me; i mean, wtf were they looking at?? if they wanted sales, they should have done the Val first in my view Kotare is supposedly one man and his dog, and yet first kit out of the blocks they have nailed it so it’s not as impossible as some people are making out

Some tips on those belts - and apologies if you actually did all this - give them a crumple in your fingers before assembly - properly mash them up! It will make them more compliant when trying to lay them / bend them - consider a wash in conjunction with the above if you want additional ‘plasticity’ - most of these belts are only painted one side (which is a bit lame from HGW, and i have already flagged this to them), so if you ever want to have one or more sections completely flipped over, which can look kind of cool, paint the backside before construction - far less fiddly! - construction tip: use tamiya tape or similar to hold down the various belt sub sections onto your cutting Matt - it’s like having a third or fourth set of hands! Once i started using this technique, construction was made much easier - it’s still fiddly, but no real voodoo about it looking forward to seeing this one built up! Such a shame these early marks have been a 1/32 desert for so many years (but maybe you are speeding along Z-m’s releases?!) cheers Nick

A lovely looking Dora - as very pleasing combination of colours on this scheme which you have executed wonderfully Those rivets do look very cool for me two nitpicks: you may want to look at the gummed up panel line on the cowl just underneath that small intake on the starboard side the wheels look too clean but those are just tiny things - the overall feel is really really good thanks for sharing Nick

Indeed. get that rivet wheel / rivet tool ready!

Looks good. Interesting that it’s only pre-order directly from them and then (supposedly) that’s it? a lot of people (in Europe, esp UK) will not order direct because of import taxes etc so they are doing themselves out of a fair few sales I reckon i’ll see whether Mike Jolly / Model Kits For Less Facebook group are doing a group purchase… thanks for posting the link and the pics Nick

I love the look of White 22! one question about the construction / breakdown of the kit (or aftermarket) though: should the panel line the runs horizontally on the cowl be there? I thought these cowls hinged along the centre line, and the panel extended all the way to the exhausts?

Welcome back! looks stunning!

I have yet to see anyone from Kotare chime in on Facebook about this until they provide evidence which shows they are right, I’m going with the decals are a bit off having said that, i use masks not decals, so i don’t really see it as a big deal, but i am interested in it from a research point of view

Beautiful work i think it could have been even dustier and dirtier but it looks great as it is; maybe some heavier wing root chipping on the port side? the panel line wash on the undersides looks a bit stark to me but then i am just not a huge fan of that look probably the only part i think doesn't look 'in keeping' is the heavy shading effect on the rudder and tail plane control surfaces but overall i really like the look and feel of it, and one day i must do a Spit in desert camo! thanks for sharing your work with us - very inspiring Nick

ok it's not Tamiya etc, but all in all I see more to like than not, and I'm pretty sure it's the only Val we're going to get in 1/32 until everyone is printing their models at home (and God knows if / when that will ever happen) surface detail looks a mix between Trumpeter and Revell, which I admit is not necessarily a complement, but I think it will work fine. I'll be interested to see it with a coat of primer on - should be more subtle then I think after seeing the horrendous issue on the Helldiver, I admit to being wary about the clear parts; but whilst these look a little 'chunky', they don't look like something from the a different scale entirely which the poor Helldiver's gunner's hood did! thank you for posting! Nick