Plastic Modelers in the IL-2 Community

[Diggun]

amazing, thanks chaps. Will check out

[KiwiMcG]

Revell 1/32 Polikarpov i-16. Built from kit and featured in IL-2's Battle of Moscow. Painted in Mig In Ammo colour set and Tamiya weathering. I enjoyed building this so much, I got another and an i-153 Chaika as well. 

[csThor]

Got myself yet another box for my already overflowing stash. But I couldn't resist. 

 

[Buglord]

Hello all, Great work everyone.. Some Very nice paint jobs going on... Iv`e not done much over the past week.. I had a Heart Attack & i had to have surgery. ?

[Hoots]

1 hour ago, Buglord said:

Hello all, Great work everyone.. Some Very nice paint jobs going on... Iv`e not done much over the past week.. I had a Heart Attack & i had to have surgery. ?

Get well soon Bug!

[DEDMANcjp]

God speed Buglord

[Buglord]

Thank You , I feel not too bad , im sleeping a lot ...

[voncrapenhauser]

On 8/1/2021 at 5:14 PM, Buglord said:

Hello all, Great work everyone.. Some Very nice paint jobs going on... Iv`e not done much over the past week.. I had a Heart Attack & i had to have surgery. ?

Get well soon.

 

I had 4 heart attacks now 5 stens and a Tripple heart bypass 3 years back so I know It is a long Journey back from that , so heart goes out to you mate, stick in there chin up .

Edited August 2, 2021 by voncrapenhauser

[Feathered_IV]

Best wishes from me too Bug.  Thinking of you and hope you will be well and back into things soon. 

[Hoots]

10 hours ago, voncrapenhauser said:

Get well soon.

 

I had 4 heart attacks now 5 stens and a Tripple heart bypass 3 years back so I know It is a long Journey back from that , so heart goes out to you mate, stick in there chin up .

 

Man alive! How much do you love the NHS

[Cybermat47]

On 8/2/2021 at 2:14 AM, Buglord said:

Hello all, Great work everyone.. Some Very nice paint jobs going on... Iv`e not done much over the past week.. I had a Heart Attack & i had to have surgery. ?

 

Best of luck mate!

48 minutes ago, Hoots said:

 

Man alive! How much do you love the NHS

 

Speaking of the NHS in a plastic modelling thread...

 

[carts]

Hope for a speedy recovery BL,All the best Buddy.

After a spate of SF related kits I thought I had better crack on with some of the Aviation stash and pulled this dusty box from the shelf ,Trumpeters 2003 1/24th G-6 9early)

With legend seated pilot figure and 1/16th Tamiya Luftwaffe Pilot.

[Buglord]

Thanks everyone , i feel ok , bit tired but yeah feel good...

[Lusekofte]

On 8/1/2021 at 6:14 PM, Buglord said:

Hello all, Great work everyone.. Some Very nice paint jobs going on... Iv`e not done much over the past week.. I had a Heart Attack & i had to have surgery. ?

Whoooatt!?

2 hours ago, Buglord said:

Thanks everyone , i feel ok , bit tired but yeah feel good...

Take care, mate

[voncrapenhauser]

10 hours ago, Hoots said:

 

Man alive! How much do you love the NHS

Love them a lot, without them I would not be here today lol.

[HappyHaddock]

On 8/3/2021 at 8:46 AM, Hoots said:

 

Man alive! How much do you love the NHS

 

 

I've had reason to say a big thanks to the NHS myself recently.... To cut a long story short last month I was rushed to  A&E having blacked out (twice) following a head trauma  after being hit with a crowbar that had accidentally become air-born and free flying like a Catherine-Wheel, the claw end of which ripped through my mouth...

 

I was probably within half an inch of losing a lot of teeth and perhaps couple of inches of losing an eye... as it was I was "lucky" and I got away with nothing more than some blood loss, bruising and needing a lot of stitches to control a creepy extra wide smile mother nature never intended.

 

Professionally dealt with in a calm, friendly and efficient manner, all whilst the NHS staff were still having to deal with the inconveniences of covid related procedures.

 

We are very lucky in the UK to take health care for granted as something that's just freely available at point of need/use (albeit paid for with our taxes).

[Diggun]

48 minutes ago, HappyHaddock said:

We are very lucky in the UK

Jesus Happy, that sounds scary as hell. Glad you're ok! I'll be extra careful to avoid airborne crowbars from now on.

 

Ordered me a 1/48 Eduard IXc Late 'profipack' edition, this will be my first model build for well over 15 years...

 

UK people, is there an online store you'd recommend for paints, model equipment, clippers, files etc? There isn't a model shop in Cambridge and Hobbycraft is, frankly, rubbish...

[voncrapenhauser]

15 minutes ago, Diggun said:

Jesus Happy, that sounds scary as hell. Glad you're ok! I'll be extra careful to avoid airborne crowbars from now on.

 

Ordered me a 1/48 Eduard IXc Late 'profipack' edition, this will be my first model build for well over 15 years...

 

UK people, is there an online store you'd recommend for paints, model equipment, clippers, files etc? There isn't a model shop in Cambridge and Hobbycraft is, frankly, rubbish...

Jeez Happy low flying crowbar OMG Looks like we all have had some bad luck recently, get well soon.

I found E models a great source when I cannot get to my local Model shop Diggun.

Edited August 4, 2021 by voncrapenhauser

[Feathered_IV]

HH, that sounds frightening.  I really hope you heal up okay.  ?

 

Diggun, I think Hannants is the big one in the UK that most people tend to use.  They seem to have just about everything.

[HappyHaddock]

Thanks for the kind words ... in terms of being frightening ... well oddly it was one of those circumstances where shock took over and I didn't really appreciate what had happened to me ... my wife was the one who was frightened and in that way that wives are she was "emphatic" that all was not well and I REALLY REALLY did need to go to the hospital IMMEDIATELY! where upon I apparently blacked out for the first time.  As for healing up it would seam the scars are going to be all but invisible concealed within my beard.

 

As for model shops on-line I now tend to view e-bay as my go to source for all my day to day paints tools and bits'n'pieces, but being a professional model maker employed to scratch build obscure stuff  it's been ages since I last bought a model kit so couldn't advise there.

 

 

[Lusekofte]

Excuse my bad English , but are you refering to a tool getting levitate and hit you.

I once got hit by a steel bar on top of a crane boom sending me some meters down in stones just walking distance from emergency unit. So they carried me there.

3 weeks later I got a heavy wood underlay originally tended to be under railway. Thrown on my head from a floor over 

Just 100 meters above. And yet again got to meet the same people at the emergency reception. We also got free health healthcare.  And I have needed it.

Main thing is to survive. I have apparently problems with the learning part. Repeatedly concussion tend to do that

 

[Feathered_IV]

Well hopefully your Gordon Freeman moment won't be leaving a permanent scar.  Though if it does remain, I only hope it makes you appear roguishly and villainously handsome   

 

Here's a bit more work on the Fee.  The wings are on and the last cabane struts added.  I couldn't find any suitable letters to make up the B'1 codes for the undersides of the wings so ended up printing my own.

 

 

They are just black ink on a clear decal sheet, so it was necessary to add a disk of white underneath first.  Worked out quite well though.

 

 

Soldering up the tail booms now.  So far everything seems to line up ok.  Mitutoyo digital calipers FTW!

 

[HappyHaddock]

@Feathered_IV  immaculately neat and tidy as ever.

 

Just recently I noticed how the price of digital USB microscopes has collapsed to pocket money prices.  (effectively a smart phone camera with a powerful lens).

 

Not sure how much uses they may be, but for less than many would spend on a new kit I'm inclined to try one out to see how helpful they may be for the size of work we both favour, even if just for photographing miniatures rather than working through one.

20 minutes ago, LuseKofte said:

Excuse my bad English , but are you refering to a tool getting levitate and hit you.

I once got hit by a steel bar on top of a crane boom sending me some meters down in stones just walking distance from emergency unit. So they carried me there.

3 weeks later I got a heavy wood underlay originally tended to be under railway. Thrown on my head from a floor over 

Just 100 meters above. And yet again got to meet the same people at the emergency reception. We also got free health healthcare.  And I have needed it.

Main thing is to survive. I have apparently problems with the learning part. Repeatedly concussion tend to do that

 

 

Yes,  a crowbar, or some call them a jemmy, is an approx. 1m  long, heavy, steel hook ended  lever. If you apply a large force to one end, have a fulcrum or pivot point  in the middle it will magnify the force at the other.  In this instance the object we were trying to move finally gave way. This  removed all resistance causing the crowbar to spin backwards around the fulcrum point and cartwheel through the air, its flight being brought to a halt by my face.

 

Sounds like you are no stranger to such accidents, but as you say the first priority is to survive, the second more difficult part is to learn from such accidents.

[Lusekofte]

30 minutes ago, Feathered_IV said:

Well hopefully your Gordon Freeman moment won't be leaving a permanent scar.  Though if it does remain, I only hope it makes you appear roguishly and villainously handsome   

 

Here's a bit more work on the Fee.  The wings are on and the last cabane struts added.  I couldn't find any suitable letters to make up the B'1 codes for the undersides of the wings so ended up printing my own.

 

 

They are just black ink on a clear decal sheet, so it was necessary to add a disk of white underneath first.  Worked out quite well though.

 

 

Soldering up the tail booms now.  So far everything seems to line up ok.  Mitutoyo digital calipers FTW!

 

My hands start shaken even thinking about what you do

[ZachariasX]

1 hour ago, Feathered_IV said:

Here's a bit more work on the Fee.

You do have a good printer… 

 

Amazing work, as always. You made me look out for ever sharper tools when at a store. And then the kids take them when working on their current projects, the Revell 1/72 P47 and the Me262 and I try to not constantly reminding them „Watch out FFS, that SHARP!!“.

 

But most of the time I‘m cleaning the airbrush and try to flush the nozzle as the Revell Aqua Colors age poory with regards to airbrush use.

[Diggun]

Goodness me, getting prepped to do this model making malarkey is almost as much faff as getting your keybinds set up in il2.

 

So far I've acquired:

 

Model kit - 1 - Eduard Spit IXc Late. (I'm hoping I can build it as close as possible to the IXe we have in game - should be simple enough to just put the cannon barrel on the outside bay rather than the inside...)

 

Toolkit - 1 - Snips, knife, files, tweezers, scissors, straight edge, sanding bits.

 

Glue - 1 -  Tamiya Extra Thin cement

 

Tamiya - 6mm Masking Tape

 

Vallejo Modelling Plastic Putty

 

Xtradecal X48023 1/48 Sky RAF 24" and 30" Code Letters - for custom markings.

 

Now, for paint. I don't own an airbrush, and tbh I don't really have room for one, so I've gone for the Tamiya AS colour spray paints in Dark Green 2, Medium Sea Grey and Ocean Grey 2. I've also gotten a can of Flat Clear (which I understand is a matt vanish for finishing the model?). 

 

The Tamiya description of these paints say that they are 'not affected by enamel or acrylic paints', so I should be able to grab a few extra colours (a black, a white, a red and possibly sky) for invasion stripes, prop hub etc. If I was planning to apply these kinds of detail by hand, is there a particular line of paints that the hivemind would recommend? Minimum mess, faff & fuss is preferred, space is at a premium!

 

However, it's my understanding through the YouTube hole I've vanished into in recent days, that it's advisable to use a gloss coat of varnish between painting and weathering? When people talk about 'Pledge' they literally mean Pledge Floor Gloss? Is it possible to paint this on and get good results rather than airbrushing  (as stated above, I don't have an airbrush)?

 

Mucking about with oils and thinners seems excessive for this first attempt.  Some on youtube seem to get good results with water based washes such as Florey Models Dark Dirt wash; have any of you used this and found it works well??

 

Sorry for the noob questions

[Feathered_IV]

That's quite a shopping list.  I was just popping in to recommend Tamiya extra thin and was greatly relieved to see you had already got it.  You could ditch the floor varnish and get a spray can of some tamiya clear instead.  It would give a better result than brushing the other stuff.  Honestly though, you could just tuck in with what you've got though and worry about the painting phase a bit later.  There's plenty of fun to be had there in the meantime

[ZachariasX]

I would agree on going with the Tamyia clear. But as said above, you can make that a worry when the time comes. In my last builds, I try to keep work as simple as possible, else my kids won‘t have the nerve for it all.

 

Regarding wheathering and such, in principle you can just go directly from undercoat -> color1 -> color2 -> […] -> stickers -> weathering -> clear coat, without putting clear a coat in between. In my experience, it just will make it harder to get details right in weathering, as washes will not flow in the same way as on the rougher color surface. It is like a 2K skin instead of a 4K skin. 

 

As I am more of a 1K designer, I don‘t profit that much from the added steps, but I profit from making visible progress fast.

 

Looks will mostly be determined how you get the colors and the clear coat on, so I would practise on some other materials first to get the feel how to spray to make for a good finish. Personally, as a final layer, I often prefer satin cote over clear as finish for flat colors, as the clear varnish tends to make the object rather glossy, especially when applied by my modest talents like mine. I usually try first on an object what kind of varnish fits most and sometimes I dilute the Humbrol satin cote with the clear cote to get some in between. But it is really somthing to try on a piece of plastic separate from the model and only once you have a feeling for what you are doing, I then work the model. Things don‘t always work in my hands as they do on YouTube, hence I like to have some color victim before doing damage to my build.

 

Also you will need Decal Fix. You just do, trust me. Once the sticker sets, youse it generously and the sticker dissolves and becomes like paint. A very, very easy thing to drastically improve results.

[Hoots]

3 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

Also you will need Decal Fix. You just do, trust me. Once the sticker sets, youse it generously and the sticker dissolves and becomes like paint. A very, very easy thing to drastically improve results.

 

This sounds amazing. The thing that annoyed me most on the kit I built was the decals looked rubbish.

[HappyHaddock]

big thumbs up to some sort of decal fix and decal softener , both make getting difficult transfers to lie flush over curved textured surfaces much easier and can go some way to removing the "halo" around the edge of poorer decals.  However if new to using these chemicals read the instructions and practice on a scrap bit of off cut decal paper applied on an irregular surface to see how much they can weaken decals until dried and set.  Very easy to dissolve the decal altogether and just end up with a messy gummy paste if you try moving/repositioning  it too much once softened.

[Heliopause]

Looking for a gift in a shop the other day I stumbled on a row of modelkits. This one for only €8 euro's.

Couldn't resist ? "Problem" is that I haven't done this for 30 years ??

[Feathered_IV]

What a bargain!

[voncrapenhauser]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:28 PM, Heliopause said:

Looking for a gift in a shop the other day I stumbled on a row of modelkits. This one for only €8 euro's.

Couldn't resist ? "Problem" is that I haven't done this for 30 years ??

8 Euro's? an absolute bargain.

Same kit here in UK ,If you can find it is around £40.

 

It is a great kit, I made a few years back, hope you enjoy.

[Diggun]

On 8/7/2021 at 12:28 PM, Heliopause said:

"Problem" is that I haven't done this for 30 years

Glad I'm not the only lapsed modeler

making an attempt atm!

[ZachariasX]

1 hour ago, Diggun said:

Glad I'm not the only lapsed modeler

making an attempt atm!

I was surprised how much easier things get with just that extra patience you get when not being a teenager anymore.

[Heliopause]

3 hours ago, voncrapenhauser said:

8 Euro's? an absolute bargain.

Same kit here in UK ,If you can find it is around £40.

 

It is a great kit, I made a few years back, hope you enjoy.

Thanks. Yeah the box said € 19,99 but scanning showed € 8. Stumbled on it .....

Edited August 11, 2021 by Heliopause

[Heliopause]

2 hours ago, Diggun said:

Glad I'm not the only lapsed modeler

making an attempt atm!

Bought the first paint colors and tape...

I never did spraying. Maybe I just try brush again like I used too.

[HappyHaddock]

3 hours ago, ZachariasX said:

I was surprised how much easier things get with just that extra patience you get when not being a teenager anymore.

 

Perhaps I was never a typical teenager but I spent longer on projects then than I do now... though I suppose as a professional I'm now up against the clock to meet deadlines and remain profitable so I can't afford to do the sort of detailed work I used to as a kid.

 

The image below is a detail from  one such project entirely scratch built at 1/48th scale when I was around the age of 15-16...  I spent ages replicating the weathering on this architectural model, hand painting bricks one at a time, hand cutting the decoratively shaped roof tiles to apply one at a time and fully replicating all the interior furnishings.

 

[Hoots]

35 minutes ago, HappyHaddock said:

 

Perhaps I was never a typical teenager but I spent longer on projects then than I do now... though I suppose as a professional I'm now up against the clock to meet deadlines and remain profitable so I can't afford to do the sort of detailed work I used to as a kid.

 

The image below is a detail from  one such project entirely scratch built at 1/48th scale when I was around the age of 15-16...  I spent ages replicating the weathering on this architectural model, hand painting bricks one at a time, hand cutting the decoratively shaped roof tiles to apply one at a time and fully replicating all the interior furnishings.

 

 

Yeah. you were not a typical teenager. One with amazing skills though!

[Lusekofte]

I want you guys to consider this

https://hayden.fit/products/large-scale-of-the-uss-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier?fbclid=IwAR1ZCvYlfsFG-cQYHmfi74CZ0bbRMVZB_ubLDcynQXP2VJgkPZgPm5zUzIo