"Welcome Aboard" Dr Who's Tardis

Our grandson Kyran, is Dr Who mad. So a couple of years ago, I brought Airfix's "Welcome Aboard" kit of Dr Who's tardis with the figures of Dr Who and Martha Jones. I started to build it a while back, but due to other things and the house move, it was put on the shelf and forgot about. Anyhow, after a little moan from the wife telling me that it needs to be finished, I got it down and dusted it off.

The truth is, there was not really much left to do on it. Only a little detail painting, gluing the interior in place and the door/front panel, and the telephone and door handles. I gave everything a wash to weather the interior and exterior to finish it off before adding the stickers to the exterior. 

The only problem I got with the tardis is the roof not sitting properly on it. This has the batteries, sound unit and flashing beacon, hence needing to be removable. So I will see if there is anything I can do to help it sit properly and still be able to lift it off to change the batteries. If not, I have see others that have been converted to an external battery pack with the wires running from the roof, down behind the interior and through a hole in the floor. This was the roof can be glued in position and sit properly.

Below is a little video showing the tardis's sound and light function working when you open and close the door.

Now, I am in the middle of building and painting the figures. I am using a mixture of the paints supplied with the kit and ones from my normal stock of paints. The kit paints are mainly the ones for painting Martha, as these seem to be non-general stock Humbrol paints that you normally get in a shop. I have chosen my own colours for painting the Dr's clothes just to make it a little different from the ones I have seen at shows. My biggest challenge will be when I start to paint the faces and other areas of bare skin. This is not my strongest area of modelling!

Southwell Model Show 2015

Last Sunday, I made my first visit to Southwell Show which was put on by the Newark and Lincoln Model Clubs. With the move up to Yorkshire, it gives me the chance to visit new shows that were a bit of a journey to travel from our old home. This was only a hours drive down the A1 from my home, I ended up at the Southwell Racecourse where the show is held in the grandstand. Unlike other shows I visit, entry to get in it was free and that was the start to a very pleasant day.

One thing I like about going to these shows, is catching up with friends from around the country and meeting up with other who I have not, but spoken to on sites like Facebook. At this show, I finally met up with Joe Raymond Olmo who I have know on Facebook for a few years, but never actually met face to face. On top of meeting up with friends, there's the joy of shopping. Kits, paints, detailing items, more kits, books and more kits! A lot of self control is needed, and with Telford coming up in a few weeks time, we can end up in trouble when we get home after a show.

So back to this show. Well, it is the type of show that is not too big, and not too small, just about the right size. There was food and beer available to buy along with a comfortable seating area near the entrance. At the end of it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the day was finished with seeing XH558 flying back to Robin Hood airport at the farewell tour flight. Yes, I spend a little money. Got two more Minions to build, paints, a book and Airfix's Dambuster Lancaster at a bargain price (new tooling to).

So here are some photos I took around the show, starting with one of the Shackleton's which were one the Bridlington & Wolds stand. Yes, I did say one of, there was two of these birds on here.

F-51D & P-51D Dual Build Finished

"Don't you just love it when a project comes together?"

I lift my hat off to Airfix, those new tooling Mustangs are wonderful kits to build. Both started at the same time, one finished in a week (helped with being off work) and the other in two and a half weeks. I can strongly recommend these kits, I already have two more sitting in my stockpile waiting to be started. 

In my last posting, I had just started with the decals on the F-51. This kit came with a lot more then the RAF P-51, mainly because that was a starter set kit so more basic on that building side for beginners. So with the F-51, once all of the larger markings and nose art were laid down, I finished off the decals with all of the stenciling for the aircraft. When the sharks mouth decals dried, there was a little gap between them and the upper surface of the intake was still in silver. So these areas were touched up with some red paint before going over with gloss clear to seal them. Now the detail painting and final assembly could begin, I had set myself a deadline to take this model to the Newark Model Show on the 11th October and time was running out.

Finally, I made the deadline, the F-51 was finished by 8pm on the night before the show. I stayed with my plan and kept it as a preserved aircraft, so absolute minimal weathering was done to the model. A couple of strips of Bare Metal Foil was used on the inside surface of the main undercarriage doors, on some aircraft, this panel was painted and others polished metal. 

Yes, the real aircraft might have most likely been painted silver, but I thought that would have been a little boring. The actual flying preserved example of this aircraft is painted silver and it does not have the same stand out effect as it would in natural metal. But as the saying goes, it's modellers license. And I hope you agree with me that the natural metal does look better then the painted silver finish! Enjoy.

And here are some photos of both Mustangs together that I have just taken. Both were entered into the competitions last Sunday along with several other of my models. The F-51 Mustang came home with commended in the USAF class. My 1/48th scale Spitfire FR Mk.XIVe came second in the RAF/FAA class, just beaten by a 1/24th scale Typhoon. Cannot grumble at that!