Welcome to our second

Virtual Meeting of 2021

The Earley Risers have kept busy
during February.

Here's what we've all been doing
 over the last month, in roughly the order the responses arrived...

... Thank you Phil, Jeff, Roger, Mark, Les B, Peter, Tim,
Les V, Andrew, Martin, Hugh, Sean and George.

Click on the images to see most of them larger!

Phil

"This month I have spent most of my time on figure painting of one sort and another. I started out with a 1/9 scale bust representing a Scots Guards officer from the Falklands campaign, where they were involved in the battle of Mount Tumbledown. The main challenge was getting the camouflage right, as the British DPM is a totally random pattern of four colours but very easy to get wrong. I have a DPM smock which was useful to copy and gauge the shapes and sizes of the colour overlays.  

To chill out a bit before the next real project I painted a “flat”, or in this case, a demi-ronde (a flat with more depth to the detail). A nice subject of a Victorian couple dancing, it is the first flat I have ever finished in umpty-mumble years of modelling, so I’m happy with the result."

"Latterly I have been working on a 90mm resin figure by a well-known NZ sculptor – more on that one next time, but suffice to say it has proven to be a bag of worms which tried my patience severely, in fact it nearly went in the bin. It was only the fact it cost me over forty quid that saved it!"

"Stay safe all, and have your vaccination when you are offered it!"

Jeff

“I have been busy over the last few weeks with a couple of kits that I must have started some time ago."

Dragon 6106. Sdkfz 250/9 Neu 2cm Reconnaissance
Basically, something I started probably a couple of years ago, I found this in a pile of boxes and looked at it again it was partly assembled, so I thought I had better get on with it. one of the problems is the turret top mesh being supplied in plastic frames and plastic mesh, ugh, so I bought the Aber etch set to go onto the vehicle, this gives a complete turret in brass and you have to find wire etc. for the handles and other bits. it is very slowly coming together. More progress later.

Takom 2040. Chieftain Mk 2 main battle tank
Something else I had forgotten about, lots of tiny parts but excellent fit this is now progressing towards completion. The only drawback is there are a number of parts on the sprues which do not fit the Mk 2. Needless to say, you do not get a list of these so you can remove them, so as to not get confused with the multiple similar parts. Oh well, keep on gluing as they say.

"I have obtained a new item recently:"

Amusing Hobby 35A035. Centurion mk 5 AVRE.
This is something I have been hoping for ages, the only other option has been from Accurate Armour - at a horrendous price. This is an upgraded Centurion mk5 chassis with a 165 mm demolition howitzer in the turret. Thegood news is one-piece wheels and tyres (injection moulded, not Vinyl as per AFV CLUB). The kit gives 3 marking options; A Desert version, with all the add on armour panels, as well as NATO and BATUS versions. I have only had a look through the parts up till now and can say it all looks really good. I’m looking forward to starting this one.

"Well that’s about all my news for now, hope everyone is keeping well and safe.”

George

He is building a 1/48 (1/50?)
Gazelle in Royal Navy markings.

Roger

"A good start to the New Year as I had my first AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccination in late January, took just three minutes from getting out the car to leaving the surgery.

On the modelling front I have continued building the Dragon's Black Label Saladin Mk.2." 

"Acquired a Browning M2 machine gun to put on the kit, unfortunately I could not find one with the ammunition cradle so had to scratch build, and for a first attempt it is not to bad - No way near what Hugh or Phil would do but I have to start somewhere.

I have also added fittings to the inside of the hatches, as per pictures from off the net, as the ones supplied by Dragon are just a blank piece of plastic."

"Also found a Callsign and two Firestorm figures which I purchased from off the web so I am now in a position to start painting using my new H&S airbrush, which should be fun, after I have added the finishing touches to the model."

Mark
"The Tamiya Corsair was another beautiful kit. I would happily sell (most of) my stash to buy more Tamiya kits of this scale and standard, but alas there aren’t very many to buy! I took my time with it – you can’t rush these kits, even if you tried. The only aftermarket items are the decals, plus a back-dating set for the engine’s ignition system. I added some wire to the ignition harness and cylinders. But (fortunately) these are not very visible. I wasn’t able to remove all the seam from the rubber tyres; I suppose I should have bought some resin replacements, but I think the rubber looks Ok when pigments are rubbed in. The Marines blue was a mix; I used the recipe in the kit’s instructions. The base colour was 'marble patterned' black, then a lighter mix of the blue was sprayed on the fabric parts of the wings and flaps. Fading was added by lightening the base colour and applying it as random as the human brain can think 'randomly'. I also used a technique I picked up off a YouTube video; delaminate a washing-up scouring pad and spray a weakened lighter mix through the pad – it creates a barely noticeable irregular covering. Washes were used for the panel lines, and dry pigments for the dirty scuffs etc. 

I mentioned last month that I had used the salt method to create the worn areas on the wing roots.  I also used shaved watercolour paint pencils to finish off the faded vertical patters on the fuselage sides, these having been started with the lighter paint mix and applied with a fine needled airbrush. These aircraft weathered so differently; pictures from the web show no standard patterns or stains."

"My current project is stalled as I am thinking about how to arrange my vignette of US troops taking Holy Communion in the field. Accuracy is not top of the list with this project; I feel pretty sure the Jeep’s markings are not appropriate to a chaplain!  t is the overall effect I am interested in. The figures are Bronco, a set that Sean alerted me to a couple of years back. I am not an experienced figure painter, so I suspect some of you will think “ugh”. In fact, my son saw an early version of the chaplain and he thought the face looked creepy! 

I have tried to better it since, but I am not certain I was very successful. Anyway, I need to pluck up courage and work on the base; I have a rough idea about how to set it out, but it’s not yet fixed in my mind. I want to try and bring some fall and rise to the ground levels and to create a foxhole of some depth. All being well I shall have it completed for our March round-up."

Les B

"I did promise myself wouldn't buy any more kits in 21. But after seeing the all red XIV Spit in the IPMS mag , I just had to get one. This is my build so far. Barring a few issues caused by not paying enough attention to the instructions."

Peter

"Just by way of a change, I thought I’d send an update now, rather than waiting until I had more updates and forgetting to send it until it’s too late. So here goes…"

Amodel Taylor Titch
"A very small model of a very small aeroplane. It’s about the same size in 1/72 as a Jet Provost in 1/144. This one is finished."

Miniwings Jet Provost
"Also finished, quite a nice little kit and also quite tiny as it’s in 1/144 scale."

Airfix Sunbeam Rapier
"Making slow progress. It now has its door cards in place (including piping made from stainless steel wire) and the folded roof left over from the ex-Les model that I completed as a hardtop. Wheels next, using moulds taken from the Les kit, so I’ll get there eventually."

Airfix VW Beetle
"For reasons that are too complicated to go into now, I found myself with an Airfix Beetle that was missing its wheels and front seats. Fortunately I had some spare items of the sort one might find on a modern customised Beetle. So I’m making myself a modern slightly-customised beetle. Sadly, the wheels are so fat that I can’t drop the nose as far as I’d like to, but it’s getting there."

Revell VW Beetle
"This is the fairly recent cheapo Revell Beetle in 1/32 scale. It’s a 1970ish model with black stripes down the centre of the bumpers. Strangely, it also has narrow seats with tall headrests and fat 5-spoke alloy wheels, not seen on my brother’s 1970 beetle (as far as I remember it, which was 40-odd years ago). As a result, I needed to pinch the front seats and wheels from the Airfix kit. This one is complete."

Lindberg 1934 Ford 3-window Coupé
"This one is another kit that I bought half-made. In fact, I have two of them, one of which is missing several parts. You can see how the body is coming along; the other one will probably end up as an open-top roadster. So far I’ve had to scratch-build the floor and seats for the roadster, copying the parts in the coupé kit. The second kit is also lacking bumpers, suspension and most of the other small parts from the kit."

Tim

"I’ve actually finished something! And flushed with the success of finishing the 1/35 scale IBG CMP C30A truck for the Mulberry Harbours SIG, I’ve been inspired to finish off a ‘shelf queen’ - Tamiya’s 1/35 scale ‘Deuce and a half’ CCKW. I’d got a bit stuck in terms of how to display it - whether to try to build a tilt to cover the load area or leave it uncovered and fill the load area with stores.

Eventually I decided to do the latter and used some Resin loads designed specifically for this model. I also had some Tamiya Fuel Drums but these aren’t very well detailed and have a conspicuous seam so I decided to cover them with a ‘tarp’ using paper and VMS Paper Shaper.
I just need to weather the model so that I can remove the masking from the windscreen!"

Les V

Les is in the process of salvaging about 20 or so Starfighters!
Many years ago, Les put on a display of F-104 profiles (kits cut in half!), for the IPMS, at one of the Greenham Air Shows. He recently found them out and decided to put them together as ‘proper models’. Fortunately, he has a number of spare canopies and ejection seats, as the Heller kit came with both single, and 2-seat versions.

I wonder when we’ll see them all displayed on a bit of tarmac!

Andrew

"Have decided to give my eyes a workout (actually bought some new glasses for this) with 1/700. Here I am returning to the Flyhawk 1/700 HMS Hermes. Last worked on this back in 2018. Been building up the bridge, or island in aircraft carrier speak."

"I wonder if I can face building the Swordfish squadron with photo etch though?"

Martin

Ju-52 nearly finished but having a nightmare with the Techmod decals. Will be glad to move onto something else, probably a tank.

Hugh

"My current project, the Life Like (nee Impact) 1:48 Bristol Bulldog. Not bad for a kit from the mid to late 60's. Accurate in outline but a bit confused on what Mk it is; I need a lla (early) so will be reshaping the fin, replacing the conformal oil cooler with a Potts and replacing the tailwheel with a skid.

Interior lacks a bit of detail so a lot of effort on the cockpit at the moment."

"Safe modelling & may all your arms be vaccinated."

Sean

"Focused on two projects this month and they are two extremes."

Gun Ship from the Valley of the Wind 1:72
"This is a sci-fi model from the Studio Ghibli film Nausicaa of the valley of the wind and is produced by Ban Dai. It’s a very simple snap fit model. It makes Tamiya look like MiniArt. The fit was good and the level of detail not too bad. Most importantly she looks right. In the film the gunship is a leftover from a war long ago so I’ve had great fun doing a very worn paint effect. There were no markings so everything is painted and worn with hairspray and paint thinner."

Tamiya M8 Greyhound 1:35  
"I’m trying to use lockdown to finish some of the shelf queens and this one has been up there for a while. It’s a major detailing project with lots of upgrade work.  I’ve started with an ABER photoetch set which is just mad including working hinges. The project stopped when I got stuck on the photoetch but have now got better at soldering so its back on. The main focus so far has been on the interior. The Tamiya kit is good but there is not much detail inside. I’ve added wiring, ammo storage, maps and scratch-built headphones. For the ammo I had to take brass 40mm Bofors rounds, which were close enough to the 37mm gun carried by an M8, but were 2mm, real not scale, too long so I’ve had to turn each round down on a watch makers lathe, it took me back to my apprenticeship (as an instrument maker) very many years ago.

The drivers and co-drivers hatches were replaced to be closer to scale thinness. There are more parts in the two front hatches that on the whole of the gun ship. As always with these things most of it will never be noticed or seen but it is fun."

"I’ve started on the exterior now. Nut/bolts and welds have been added. The Greyhound was small so like many US vehicles they are normally seen with lots of stowage. I’ve started adding a Blast models resin stowage set and then added more items before blending it all together with A&B putty. Lots more to do."

"Hopefully see you in the next few months,
even if it just for a get together outside!"

Geoff

"Hope it’s not too late…

For this month, another step forwards for two models with an image of each.

Have completed nearly all of the build of 1/35 Churchill Mk IV AVRE, at least to the point where next step was to progress painting it – so now primed. Tracks also painted a track brown but pondering which make and which shade of green to use on it."

"...and while primer was to hand, so too was the toon tanks Churchill."