Review Of The Years Builds 2016

It is not until you get to this time of year and look back at what projects you have completed, that you realise how much you have got done despite having plenty of other interruptions. Mind you, a couple of the finished projects this year are ones which have been sitting, waiting to be finished. But the rest are all new projects for this year. So let me run through what has been done during 2016.

Messerschmitt Bf110 D-1/R1

Dragon kit in 1/48th scale built out of box.

This was the very first project finished this year back in January. My plan was to get it finished before the end of 2015, but missed out by several days. The project was originally started back in 2013, then put on hold before we decided to move house in 2014. In late 2015, I decided it was time to clear some of the backlog of "On-hold" projects and this was the first one dug out and dusted off. I was glad to get this one out and finished off, it is a very nice kit to build and the end result helped to spur me on for the new year of modelling.

Grumman F4 Corsair Diorama

Tamiya 1/49th scale kits built out of box.

The Corsair diorama was another project originally started around the same time as the Messerschmitt which was put on hold for the same reason. Once the Bf110 was completed, I decided it was time to finish this project off to and the boxes containing these models were unpacked from the boxes used during the house move. Now I was able to work out how to connect the motorised Corsair to the power supply and locate a carrier deck base which was large enough to carry both aircraft and the tug. The whole thing looks great when on display, which is impossible in my hobby room. So it spends its time stored in its transport box whilst at home. 

Land Rover Ambulance
Tamiya 1/35th scale kit built out of box

I just do not know how old this kit was, but I think it might have been one of the first issues of this kit. This was the first all new project this year and as I started it, the thought going through my mind was if the decals had survived the years of storage or would they crack up as they hit the water. In the end, this was not any concern as the decals had survived and were in excellent condition. I had scratch-built the base to display the Land Rover on using MDF, car body filler and some local stone. The figures came from the kit, but are not up to today's standard of figures available.

Nissan R32 GT-R
Aoshima 1/24th scale kit modified

Another blast from the past. In all, the main construction and painting had been done on this model. The only this that I had not finished was installing the cast resin engine and exhaust system. But after a wait of seven years, I took the GT-R out of the display cabinet and set to work installing the engine and exhaust. During this, I noticed that the bonnet had some marks on the finish. The problem was, I had none of this colour left so to overcome this, I decided to add some carbon fibre decal on the bonnet and a couple of other areas on the model. So another one on the "to finish" list crossed off. 

English Electric Lightning F1
Airfix 1/48th scale kit basically built out of box.

The next new project of the year, Airfix's 48th scale Lightning. These are one of my favourite aircraft and I was lucky enough to see them flying in RAF service as a kid. I have a few 1/72nd scale Lightning in my stash, plus two built, but always fancied trying a 1/48th scale one. This model was finished in a natural metal finish using Alclad paints and slightly weathered. The ejector seat was replaced with a resin one from Quickboost and I scratch-built a new pitot tube as the kits plastic one was, lets say, not round. I did say this would be the only Lightning that I would make in this scale, how I am wrong to say this with another one on the workbench now. There will be some changes done to this model soon with the pitot tube replaced with an aftermarket one and the addition of etched ladders for the cockpit.

Vulcan "QRA"

Dragon 1/200th scale kit built out of box.

I had always wanted to build a display of a Vulcan either taking off or landing, but the Airfix 1/72nd scale Vulcan's are a little too big for this. So it came down to locating a smaller scale Vulcan for this project and Dragon's 1/200th scale kit was ideal for it. The model was built straight from the box, without adding any nose weight to it. I chose the "anti-flash" white scheme as it just happened to also be in 617 Squadron markings to. The base was MDF cut to simulate the shape of the Vulcan. This was painted and had scenic scatter added before mounting the Vulcan on a length of clear acrylic rod stuck into the base.

  

Higgins LCVP

Airfix 1/72nd scale kit built out of box.

Not my normal modelling area, but when you pick up the kit for £3, you just have to get it. This was just a quick build to do whilst waiting to see which main project to start. Once it was painted, I thought this looked too clean. So I used it as an opportunity to try out some new weathering products that I had recently purchased. I was very happy with the end result, especially using these new products. At the models first outing at a show, someone commented that this was probably the best landing craft model he had seen.  

D.H. Vampire T.11

Airfix 1/72nd scale kit built out of box

Another quick build for me, but this planned to be part of a larger project consisting of three more aircraft. Airfix had produced a lovely kit here, as can be found in all of their new toolings of aircraft. I have aquired a few of these Vampire kits now, so others will be appearing at some point in the future. This is in the marking of the flying preserved example, but it is also meant to be the markings of the aircraft from RAF 239OCU from the 1950's. On this model, I left off the preservation societies marking when adding the decals to the aircraft.

Minions

Since the three I built last year, my collection of Minion figures has grown with six more built this year. The ones built this year are themed on the following. Fifty Shades of Banana, Spock, First Banana, Breaking Bad, Cave Banana and R2D2 Banana.

Honda CB750F

Tamiya 1/12th scale kit built out of box.

This was the final completed project of the year. Also an experiment in using Alclad's candy paints which ended up being a great success. These Tamiya bike kits do build up very nice and I was very happy with what I ended up with. This model was a great one to finish this year and give me inspiration for the year ahead.

Honda CB750-F Finished

Sorry for the delay in updating on this project, even though it was finished at the beginning of the month, but bathroom refit has taken priority over updating my blog and other things. 

Well, the response I have had over the colour that I did the Honda in has been amazing. So I was glad that I did not go with doing it in a factory colour and trod the path of the candy paint instead. This Alclad candy paint was so much easier to use than the other candy paints I have in my stock of paints. I will definitely be using it on my McLaren F1 when I start to paint it, possibly with a little twist to it to! Anyhow, back to the Honda.

In the last post of this project, I was in the stages of final assembly and detail painting. The front mudguard was stripped and resprayed without any trouble matching the shade of the candy (sigh of relief). Once the final painting was finished, final assembly continued to complete the model. Mounting the exhaust system caused a few little alignment issues, but these were overcome with a little playing around with their positions. Apart from that, the final construction stage passed like a dream. I was initially thinking about adding heat stains to the exhaust down pipes, but I passed on this idea opting to have the Honda as a showroom example that had never been ridden.

In all, this is a great kit from Tamiya, the first of the motorbike kits I have built from them. I am not into the modern style of bikes, my era is the 1970's through to 1990's, but I also like bikes from the 50's and 60's to. There are a few more motorbike kits in my stash, including a couple of Vincent Black Shadows. So the is still scope to try a couple more of the Tamiya bike kits yet. It is strange. In all my years of model building, I have only ever built four motorbikes. This Honda, the Harley Davidson Heritage Soft-tail and in my teenage years, the large scale Honda CB750 that Airfix used to produce and Barry Sheene's Suzuki RGA500 Grand Prix bike from the 1970's. This will need to be expanded.

So, below are some photographs of the finished Honda before I added the number plate to it. After the photos is a short video taken on my phone of the model spinning on my turntable.

Honda CB750-F WIP #2

I do not know if it is the same with other people out there, but November always seems to be a busy month for me. It is filled with several family birthdays, including my own plus our wedding anniversary. I also have the IPMS(UK) Nationals in Telford falling on the second weekend. But in addition to all of this, I am in the middle of refitting the bathroom to, so work on the Honda has been a little slow.

So a run down on the progress since the first post at the beginning of the month. 

Construction continued with assembling the fuel tank, front mudguard, forks and rear suspension. Re-chroming of the plated parts has continued over two more sessions, with the final parts being done last week.The first photos below are of the bike with the main components assembled to the frame after they had been painted. The mudguard, fuek tank and rear panel are in primer state waiting for me to decide which colour I was going to paint them. At this point I was still thinking about painting the model in the stock red that Honda used on this bike back in the day.

After a few days of changing my mind several times on the paint for this project, I decided to try out the Alclad candy paints that I have in the draw. This consists of a silver base coat, with Alclad say you can spray direct onto bare plastic. After leaving it to cure, you then build up the candy colour in several coats until you get the shade you require. The images below are just the candy coat, there has not been any clear coats added to the parts yet. For this model I used the Ruby Red Candy, mainly to give the bike a more modern feel to it.

Now that I was happy with the colour of the model, it was time to choose which decals to use on the bike. I wanted to keep with the original decals which came with the kit, but which colour stripes was I to use? After some chatting with some fellow modellers and to their agreement, I went with the black and silver stripes that Honda used on the black finished bike. Everyone has said it was the right choice out of the three stripe colours available.

Now to bring everything up to today. The lights, instrument cluster and vinyl hoses have all been added to the model. There is still some detail painting to be done on the fuel tank and rear panel before gluing them in place. The front mudguard had a little accident when something got spilt onto it and reacted with the clear coat. So this has to be re-sprayed, but also sort out the bad fitting of it when the front wheel is in position on the forks. So I need to see what has to be altered to make the fit better. Otherwise, work can continue on the rest of the model with the fitting of the exhaust system and other remaining parts to finish the main construction off.

Before I finish off this post. When I fitted the decals for the dial faces, instead of putting them direct onto the face of the cluster, I stuck them onto some clear acetate sheet. There was two reasons for this. First, the faces on the cluster had ejection pin marks on them, the second was to give the effect of the plastic glass covering the dials. A simple little job to give a better look to the finished model.

So, that is all for now. I will update you on this project soon now that the major work in the bathroom is done. That like the Honda project is down to cosmetic work mainly. So until next time.

Honda CB750-F WIP #1

Whilst the bathroom refit is taking priority at the moment, I still needed something to fill the time when it is too late to do anything on the bathroom in the evenings. So I decided to have a change from the normal projects and dug out this Tamiya 1/12th scale Honda CB750-F kit. This also happened to be a motorbike that a couple of my old friends from back in the early 80's use to ride, so it was a little nostalgia trip for me to.

  

The first job for me was to strip all of the kits chrome plating off it plastic. I will replace it will Alclad, just like I did on my Harley Davidson Heritage Soft-tail model I did about ten years ago. But at least the Honda does not have as much chrome as the Harley did. The other main advantage to doing this is being able to assemble the two exhaust silencers together before painting the Alclad. Hence remove the joint lines visible if I had used the kits plating instead.

Below are the first batch of parts to be redone with the Alclad. These consist of the whole exhaust system and various parts of the engine which happen to be chromed. My usual technique is followed, starting with the primer, then gloss black base, then the honey clear followed by the chrome paint after which was protected by the Alclad gloss clear
.

The assembled engine was painted with Alclad aluminium before adding the chromed panels and covers. here it is seen test fitted in the frame along with the forks and mudguard, rear mudguard and part of the seat assembly.

Jump to tonight and to where the project is now. The frame halves are now painted along with the rear swing arms, wheels, rear mudguard and the rear exhaust/footrest brackets. The forks and all three disc brakes have been re-chromed and are curing as this is being typed. They just need some detail painting to be done before being assembled for fitting to the frame. The completed engine has now been secured inside the frame halves and is waiting for the forks and rear swing arm to be added once they are finished. The next batch of parts are sitting ready to be re-chromed, they will be started on in the next couple of days. But as for this weekend, I will finishing the tiling in the bathroom and start painting the woodwork as the following weekend I will be off to the IPMS(UK) Nationals at Telford for three days. So that it for this installment.