MikeMoore

If you are looking for pre-mixed colors, you might want to try the Mr Kit line. They are a small specialty Italian line aimed at WWI aviation. I've never used the paint, but I've also never heard of anyone saying the colors are wildly innaccurate. Here's a link to their US distributor. http://www.misterkitusa.com/Page2.html Generally though, if you don't want to go the Mr Kit line, I'd go ahead an mix what you want. As Gil stated, there were no standards, and colors varied pretty widely. Mike Moore

Yowza...is it just the lighting, or is that tail really red! Looks great Gil. Sounds like you had a tougher time with it than I did with mine, but the end result looks great! Mike

Darn....forgot to mention those. But I do (GASP :o ) agree with you Dennis. They are stunning works just as parts in the boxes! Mike

Wow, that really comes down to pretty much everything in my stash! I've been going through it quite a bit lately, and I'd have to say the kits that bring the biggest smiles these days are the British aircraft from WWII and just after, and the Shermans in it's many guises. I was just perusing stuff like the Tempest II, Sea Fury, Hornet and Brigand as well as the Dragon M4 DV, the Tasca Firefly Mk I C, the Dragon Sherman MK II............... So many kits ....so little time! Mike Moore

Best kit? Easy, hands down the AKI 1/72 Blackburn Firebrand. Resin casting at it's absolute finest. Open the box and you think you have pale cream colored styrene. And it fit as well as any Tamyia kit I've ever built. Expensive, but worth every penny. Worst kit? Not so easy. A couple of contenders though. Classic Airframes Wyvern is in there. I didn't hate it while working on it, but guys in the club were amazed at the filler and sanding they saw prior to paint. The other strong contender is the CMR 1/72 Supermarine Attacker. One fuselage half was about 2mm short. Had to cut it at a panel line and superglue in a styrene plug to get the two halves to match up lengthwise. I then gave up trying to rescribe the belly and took the easy out...I added that pregnant guppy belly tank! Interesting my best and worst all end up being FAA EDSG over Sky builds. Mike Moore

Really nice Tim. I've got that planned in 1/72 (almost did it instead of the Spliced Kiwi Corsair I did earlier this year). I also like how your finish came out. I'd always imagined it in a fresher paint finish, but I really like the more weathered appearance. Mike

Lookin' good Gil! Mike

Now, if only I were any good at either or both sculpting and painting figures! Mike And by the way, the pictures are very cool Tim. Thanks for sharing!

You might try checking the Two Bobs web site. They did decals for those birds, and thier instructions should have the color callout on them. I'm pretty sure you can get a good enough look at the instructions on the web site to pick up the color names and FS numbers. Mike Moore

Nice start Gil. Mine went together pretty well, but the trailing deges are pretty thick! It'll be interesting to see yours done. Mike

Very Nice Gil. I doubt your Dad will notice the discrepancies, and I stand in awe of anyone who can get a good gloss finish! Mike Moore

They look great Mark. And to think someone actually suggested I might catch up to your production! And a Macquette kit to boot!!! Mike

Always loved the Sea Fury...yours looks great James. Quick question about the Model Air paints. How's the adhesion? I remember trying some paints several years ago that I think were called Aircraft Colors and they came in the same eye dropper bottles the Vallejo stuff comes in. They sprayed fine, but were REAL delicate. Mike

All righty then, in that case, how'd you do it? I've had Tamiya acrylics get a little gritty when they start drying before they hit the model, but I don't think I've ever seen paint THAT gritty! Mike

Really nice overall, but I'd have to agree with Dick...nice job with the pigments, especially the fade from wet mud to dry dust. Mike Moore

Damn! Vac's to boot! Double Damn! Mike

Thanks guys.... Mark, I don't believe I'll be catching up to the Duke! That's probably the last completion I'll see off my bench for a couple of months! Gil, the camo is a bit of both masked and freehand. The first pass at the medium grey (well, ok, blue) I did a boat load of silly putty and tape masking. Then pulled off all the masking and realized that I missed on the color big time. I was just about to remask and shoot and then decided to see what would happen if I tried to work the right color in. I also realized I'd missed on the camo pattern as well, so as I resprayed the color, I also worked the edges out to where they should be. Proved to me once again that while it was expensive, the Harder and Steenbeck Evolution I bought in Virgina Beach was worth every cent, and the best modeling tool I own! Mike

Here is my take on Hasegawa's 1/72 Harrier. Mix of kit decals and Superscale stencils. Lots of Eduard etch, and a Quickboost Airbrake. My own mixes with Tamiya paints, thinned with 70% iso. Biggest tip I'd have for anyone about to start one of these is to glue the whole wing together before you attach it to the fuselage. I was able to get a pretty good fit between the LEX and the wing, and only had to do a little filling and re-scribing to get rid of that join line, which doesn't fall on a panel line.... Thanks for looking, any comments are welcome, and if anyone has a good, workable tip for doing the canopy det cord in 1/72, I'm all ears!

Nicely done Dennis! Mike Moore

Well, bonehead mistake or not, it looks real good from here! As for the mistake, it's visible in both pics, but I'm going with the interior color behind the quarter windows. Shouldn't that area be the camo colors? Mike

Nicely done. Some of you guys really get great looking builds out of those older kits! Mike Moore

Tim, Have you had any trouble lately with the Polly Scale "frosting"? I too used to rely on it for a dead flat acrylic flat coat, but since they monkeyed with the formula I've found it to one, not be as flat as it formerly was, and two, it has a nasty tendancy to get frosty. And to continue a conversation David and I had going elsewhere, has anyone here got much experience mixing Future and Tamiya Flat Base? I've heard good things about it, but haven't seen any reliable mixing ratio's. David posted that he got a satin finish from a 50/50 mix, and someone else was surprised that ratio only got to satin and not dead flat. Mike "still searching for a good acrylic flat coat" Moore

Very nice Rob. That camera really shows up well! But I bet it's Kodak! Mike Moore

Thanks for the heads up on that Mark! I tend to tiptoe into new stuff like a flat coat since it comes so late in the process! Ideas and tips like that are great. Mike

Well, if you're going for a dead flat finish on that P-40, and get there with the future/flat base combo, let me know what you're ratio is. I promise I won't hurt you much if I try it and it frosts my model! Mike