Welcome to our sixth 

month of Lockdown.  

September 2020  

The Earley Risers have kept busy.

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

... Thank you Les V, Liz, Phil, Geof, Hugh, Les B, Roger and Peter.

Click on the images to see most of them larger!

Les V

This month, while isolating at home, Les has been continuing with
his 1/72 Meteor storm. He’s also building a bunch of Starfighters
(mainly Heller 1/72 ½ seat). His latest venture is to go Italian with
CR25, Ro57, early SM79 and Fiat BR20

Liz Hasn't done any modelling...
...too busy making masks and stuff!

Phil May

"With the not unexpected news that SMW is off for 2020, I have shifted focus from stuff I had in process for the display and the competitions, to cobweb encrusted stuff from the loft. I had started a 1/48 OEZ Su-25K ex Mark’s stash, but it is such a nice kit for its age, I decided I’d gather some aftermarket bits and reference material  for it before knuckling down to it later in the year (it will be a good exercise before I attempt the Trumpeter 1/32 version ex Steve’s stash!!)

Instead I fished out a 1/72 Airfix Douglas F4D-1 Skyray and have been getting on with that. I was going to source some aftermarket bits for the cockpit but in the end found a better seat in the spares box so settled for that. Might write it up for IPMS ‘Golden Oldies’ as it is 45 years young. Photos of progress.

Also this session I completed another figure commission, photographed before packaging and posting off to Wales. Having last month finished my first bust for years (and written it up for the BMSS Bulletin) I have acquired two more plus another 54mm figure; the busts this time are much more dynamic and far more challenging. They will certainly appeal to Big Mick but more on them next time.

Finally (and this one’s for Hugh) – a shooting friend of mine who has rediscovered modelling during lockdown, has 'given' me a 1/48 Karaya Vickers C.O.W. Gun Fighter which he bought because the box art appealed to him (we’ve all done it!) – he freely admits the kit is far beyond his present capabilities (and mine too, if I’m honest)). It is certainly in the same category as Hugh’s 'Sonofabitch'!"

Geof

Progress with the Churchill is about equivalent to its speed in service – somewhere between very slow and slow.

But it’s finally made it into primer! And trying a different approach for painting the tracks.

Hugh

Not much to show this month:
Broken several drill while drilling rigging holes all over the Sonofabitch, with more to come. Had hair cut courtesy of no. 2 daughter and repaired some garden tools!

Les B

"Hi folks. I’m working on two Mk111 Halifax models. One is the infamous 1/48 Fonderie kit, the other is the less infamous Revell 1/72 kit.

At the moment I‘m working on the Revell one, and trying to turn it into a Transport version that has an added pouch attached to the bomb bay. This particular one was used by the Polish RAF squadron and used for the Berlin Airlift. So far I have the fuselage, wings, and engine nacelles built. with the pouch roughly made.

I have also added and filled in some portholes. Eventually, I hope to paint it in a shiny metalic finish with Polish RAF markings."

Roger

Well another busy month, but no modelling, instead I have been hard at work redecorating my office/work place. 

Hopefully with the new floor I should have covered up the ‘Black Hole’ into which any dropped piece of plastic seemed to vanish. Now they will just bounce off the floor !!

Peter

Aeropoxy Spartan Cruiser II
I think this one is finally finished. Windscreen and exhausts are now properly attached, and the tailplane struts and wires are now the right way round.

Airfix Mauretania

Another model I made as a teenager (and a fan of the ‘golden age’ transatlantic liners) the original would be a candidate for ‘one I made earlier’ if I knew where all the various bits of it were these days. This was a kit that I bought in Hornby’s Black Friday sale in 2016, so I’ve been relatively prompt in getting on with this one.

KP EoN Primary

Now has all its bracing wires and some control wires in place.

Mraz M-1c Sokol

Recently started. I did a Google image search for the registration G-AIXN (the example I’m making) and found a link to a photo of my home-made decal sheet in the ER July virtual meeting.

Welsh Models Vulcan

Having finished the Argosy, I needed a 1/144 RAF 4-engined post-war aircraft to build, so I went for this kit, which had been slightly-started by a previous owner. Just to make life difficult for myself I’m going for a B1A, as you might guess from the photo. Currently working on the starboard wing.

BAC 1-11

Back in the days when Top Toys in Andover were selling their BAC 1-11 kits for 69p each, I bought four of them, and sawed one up to provide a fuselage stretch for one of the others. For 40-ish years the remaining bits have been sitting in a spares box. The acquisition of a set of second-hand S&M decals for a BAC 1-11-200 with printed windows started me thinking… so patched up with plasticard and filler it is now as seen in the photo. Still a lot to do.

Airfix Sunbeam Rapiers

Having completed the one that Les V gave me, I’ve turned my attention to a couple of the old badly-made, badly-painted broken and incomplete ones that I had picked up in the past, armed with moulds taken from the Les kit before assembly. The bit in the middle shows the state of the rest of the parts of both, although the second one also has a layer of grime. The right-hand one has had its wheel arches hacked out for some reason.