Welcome to our fourth 

month of Lockdown.  

July 2020  

The Earley Risers have kept busy.

Here's what everyone's been up to,
in roughly the order the responses arrived...

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

Click on the images to see most of them larger!

Phil

“This month I have been thinking about models for our SMW display. I’m sure we all hope the event will get the go-ahead and, not wanting to be in a position in October to have to start building my display input, I dug out the first of the three ‘new’ kits to match ‘The ones I did earlier’. So, I’ve started on a T34/76 tank to partner one done 20+ years ago. This is the ICM kit, and I should have realised it wouldn’t be a matter of throwing it together and splashing a bit of dark green on it – no, it has taken over a bit and I’ve got into detailing it and intend to display it on a small base with crew (courtesy Mini Art).  

Alongside this project I have started a bust which I bought at SMW last time – again photo of progress. The medals on this guy will be a real test. Pleased with it so far, but the sculptor should’ve looked at more photos of the bloke it is supposed to depict – not a great likeness. Stay safe all!"

Photos show progress so far... 

                           ...plus ‘earlier’ offering. 

Jeff

"I am still working away on many kits which are now nearly finished but as usual i am having a bit of a mare with some of them firstly on the list is:

Dragon 6803 ISU 152 WW2 SP Howitzer
Now all complete with tracks on and just some markings to finish off. Polish LWP 13th SP artillery regiment Warsaw 1945

Hobbyboss 82405 Danish Leopard 2A5DK
Something else i found in the part built pile and have been working on for the past !?! years. I have done a few mods to one or two bits on the turret and hull, but it is now nearly completed. this is planned to be a NATO green and black Danish vehicle.

Dragon 6254 Tiger 2 Battle of the Bulge.
This is 95% complete with a base coat of Dunkelgelb but as I have yet to decide which unit to depict it in. The remainder will have to wait. I have also found in my stash of track sets a late tiger 2 set so have assembled them for use on this vehicle.

Trumpeter 05568 Soviet SU152 WW2 period
This has been nearly completed but I have to paint the track links and put some markings on the beast. Hopefully finish this and a few others this week coming.

I have also sourced another Crusader 3 tank kit and a 40mm Bofors kit to do the type that went to Europe from D-Day onwards. This version had the 40mm Bofors AA gun mounted on top of the hull, with just the standard gun shields.

I really must find those started kits in the garage too and get them finished."

Martin

"I'm Trying to keep Felix interested so he put together his Quickbuild Apache. "

I completed my Martin Marauder and took delivery of the paint for the Lufthansa VW bus.

Not sure what's next but I do need to urgently build some more 1:1 scale shelving.

Mark

"This month has been largely spent on the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire IXc. Another truly satisfying kit to build. With these larger kits I have learnt about patience, and about “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. They aren’t to be rushed!  Mine is finished using AML decals for 312 Czech squadron in 1945.  

I have also been building an Airfix Sea Hurricane, because I made a goof with the Hasegawa one I built a few months ago. Can anyone spot the error from the picture of the 2 side-by-side? I was building it whilst doing the Spitfire, and for a few days it just didn’t interest me. But once I got the painting finished and decals applied, then as usual it came to life. I found a profile of 7E in an Osprey book of RN aces, and it has a white nose band. Airfix don’t show it in the painting instructions, but as it added interest then I applied it.

With both these kits I used, for the very first time, a diluted Humbrol enamel grey wash. What a difference it made. I shall continue using washes from hereon, diluting them to what I feel is an appropriate extent, because the Humbrol washes straight from the bottle are very “intense”. I still struggle with piston engine exhaust staining such as on these British fighters, so that’s an area for improvement and practice.

Now I have moved on to the 1/32 Trumpeter F105G for my friend. You remember that I had a love affair with XH558, the last flying Vulcan? Well, the chap I went to the US with 2 years ago to visit aviation museums particularly likes the F105 Thunderchief (the “Thud”). As he has shaky hands and poor eyesight, he’s not up to building it himself, so I said I’d do him one. He’s bought the kit, pilot and observer figures, metal undercarriage and PE cockpit details. Then when that’s all built he wants ground crew who will be giving the thumbs-up to the pilot to start taxiing. All mounted on a base. Trumpeter have included the markings of the a/c displayed at the USAF museum, and the display will emulate the vignette at the museum.

I am also going to start my Woodland Scenics windmill water pump vignette. That will be another challenge, as it involves groundwork and trees. Should be fun.

After that, possibly another 1/32 scale aircraft. Or maybe a 1/35 diorama centred around my troops at communion.
Not really sure yet."

Sean

"The big news this month is that I have almost finished two models, hopefully I will have by the time you read this.

The Stuart diorama is almost there, all the bits are coming together. The crewman is painted, the base finished and the water has been poured, looks OK but I learnt a few lessons for next time. The final job is to blend everything together with some washes and pigments. This project has been great fun, well most of the time, and I’ve tried lots of new techniques, some more successful than others.  

The models

The tank is the latest Stuart from Tamiya, it’s a beautiful model and an easy build. I’ve used a detail set from DEF Models and added a few details such as wiring for the lights etc. The figure is as supplied by Tamiya just with a few details cleaned up. The building is an Italeri moulding dating back to the 70s and picked up at Bovington for £2. The building was detailed with plastic card, replacing the door, adding guttering and boarding up the window.

Also, just about there is my Tamiya HE 162 straight out the box. This was going to be a quick build but never quite turns out like that. I ended up playing with weathering using Oilbrushers for the first time. They are very convenient, but the end result is just like using oils. I have a little streaking and fading to add and then she’s done. Might do a few more of these wingy things but I ‘m still rubbish at decals!

So, with these two done what’s next?...............

Back to painting a Takom T-55

This one has been a bit of a shelf queen for a while only coming out as a filler between other models. Think it’s time to get her finished. Build straight out of the box and being finished as a heavy worn vehicle from an old Iraqi unit. The level of detail in this kit is great but there are some challenging photoetch bends to make and you have to concentrate on the instructions. So far, I’ve painted a base coat of green, with a few bits still in primer to add interest. Then a layer of hair spray and a coat of Iraqi Sand. I’ve then heavily chipped the sand colour. The next step is another coat of hair spray and a light green camo pattern before a final chipping of the green.

And finaly, I rather enjoyed doing the small diorama so have started planning the next project….

Germany 1945- Meng Sherman with MinArt church ruin and tank crew. I’m just starting to move the parts around to get a layout that works. And I’ve finished building the tracks for the Sherman, that’s 90% of the parts for the model!"

Hugh

"Not much progress on the Sonofabitch.

Realised that wooden struts a bit too flimsy in this instance so after much whittling decided to opt for squished brass tube....

...currently awaiting delivery of the correct size."

Roger

"It is now four months since I started isolation and I have done very little towards my modelling, though I am still gaining brownie points and ticking items off of my to do list. Anyway with a thanks to Liz for her Lego model at the last meeting which gave me the motivation to get out the best toy ever designed, Meccano of course, and finish off the model of the Eiffel Tower that I started sometime back. 

As you can see from my photograph I do read the instructions it was just a pity my two friends did not listen what I was saying !

I then decided to finish off the French Hussar and the Life Guards by finally adding the stirrups and reins to the three horses. Not a nice job, it was very fiddley but they are now finished - well nearly. I had mislaid the scabbard for one of the Life Guards which I have now found, (it was in the wrong box !) so I will add that over the next few weeks."

"I have also done a little more to my Eduard Fokker E.II by adding some of the photo-etch parts to the engine which I found very difficult as this was my first time with that material. The model is supposed to be my 'And here is ONE I did Later', though I am not too sure if that event will be allowed to proceed, keeping fingers crossed though."

"Finally I finished refurbishing a Dinky Rolls Royce Phantom V. Whilst I used the same colour scheme as the original model I have added a few extra features by painting in the side-lights and using clear resin for the head lights. At least it cannot now be mistaken for an original model. Still have one more Phantom V to complete but need some different paint to the standard model."

Andrew

I am currently working on the 1/72 Aoshima Kawasaki Ki-100. Maybe you can just about see some of my riveting?

George

He's steadily building his Christmas present - the 1/32 HK Lancaster from Nigel and Val. He hopes to have it finished by next Christmas!

Peter

Not much progress this month; hardly any of it on aeroplanes.

Matchbox Monty’s Caravan
Nearly there. The contrast between painted and canvas areas is much greater in the light of the flash than it is in daylight. I think it needs some transfers and a couple of bits and pieces here and there, but otherwise nearly finished.

Matchbox Daimler Scout Car
Just about finished. According to the instructions, there is a large machine gun to add somewhere around the top half of the machine. They aren’t much more informative than that. It’s sitting on a Matchbox base from a tracked vehicle because I wasn’t sure the bombed street scene with tramlines and cobbled road was altogether in keeping with the desert colour scheme.

Revell Lincoln Continental II
It had been half-made by someone else before I bought it. That someone had lost the bonnet and door cards, hence the Milliput lumps visible in the picture, which were stuffed into Siligum moulds taken from a new kit. Yes, I could have just built the new kit, but where would be the fun in that?

The Airfix Sunbeam Rapiers 
A month or two before Lockdown, Les V very kindly gave me his half-made original issue of the Airfix Rapier. This was doubly good: firstly as it mean I could make myself a Rapier, and secondly because I could make moulds of the parts to replace the missing bits from the shabby collection of made (or half-made) and broken Rapiers that was all I had managed to acquire previously. So, Les’s is Rapier 1. Rapier 2 had been painted with cellulose paint so it was rather orange peely, had no front wheels or suspension, Britfix-daubed windscreen and rear window, the dashboard heavily glued in place pointing down at the driver’s knees and all small parts missing. 

Rapier 1

Rapiers 2 & 3

Rapier 3 had all the same problems except that the dashboard was missing altogether and the paint was daubed-on rather than cellulose. It took me a surprising length of time to notice that the wheel arches had also been crudely hacked out (hence the Milliput extensions). Rapier 3 is likely to end up not being a Rapier. I’m thinking Singer Gazelle saloon, but maybe Hillman Minx. 

Rapier 3

Which leaves Rapier 4, which is worse than it looks in the picture. Someone has tried to simulate crash damage with a soldering iron, one front seat came from a different car, the wheels were ex-Airfix E-Type and it’s generally too far gone to be worth bothering with. But then, I like a challenge…

Rapier 4

That’s it, I think. I don’t think dropping my Spartan Cruiser and breaking one wing off, then sticking it back on again really counts as progress.

Les B

After a couple of unsheduled trips to A&E, Les is taking time out to repair a few older kits and to redistribute some of his unwanted plastic stash!