RAF – Håkan Ekberg Music, tarot

11 July, 202211 July, 2022

RAF Battle of Britain Airfield Set – Airfix 1/76

I started building this kit a while ago. A kit that I bought from a friend in UK about 7 years ago. Sometimes it takes a while before a kit ends up on the building table.

This is a kit consisting of old kit and contains a Spitfire Mk1, Fuel truck set and a set of airfield personell. These kits have been around for a while as I remember them from when I was growing up. The set also contains glue, a bunch of small jars with acrylic colours and 2 decent brushes.

I started with the Spitfire by removing parts, cleaning up and test fitting a bit.

The interior got some interior grey green, which was typical for RAF at that time.

Next the pilot got some paint, as I need him to be seated before I can glue the fuselage halves.

Once the pilot was finished and some details painted, I could glue the fuselage, rudders and wings.

I had glued the upper wing parts to the lower wing half, but by the looks of it, I perhaps should have glued the upper halves to the body first, as there was a ridge that had to go under the wing root on the body. Doing it the way I did created a few minor fit problems.

Wings not fitting properly on the underside

After some adjusting and more glueing, I managed to get it look alright. I had to do some scraping and sanding as well.

While putty and stuff was drying I started with the Bedford fuel truck.

There’s no driver or steering wheel on this one. Obviously the driver took it with him when he left the truck! 🙂

The fuel trucks also comes with a few figures that luckily is molded in the same kind of plastic as the kit, which makes things easier. The kit is old so there’s a bit of flash to clean up.

There is also a set of soft figures, but I will use these ones primarily.

I started gluing the undercarriage with suspension parts and rear axles. I also prepared some of the other parts for paint.

All parts prepared for paint.

And then painted RAF blue (Hu96).

Details was added to the rear of the tank.

And then some more painting was done.

Then I did some assembly.

Wheels painted

The whole truck was painted again and the rims on the wheels painted.

I started with the parts to the other trucks.

Then the first truck was assembled.

Next I’ll put a clear cote and add decals.

I want it painted black, and some figure painting.

I needed to check for seams that need more attention, and painted the entire Lightning black.

As can be seen in the pics, there are a few issues, at least on the underside. Everything else looks pretty good. One of the reasons to use black is that the underside should be in silver.
I’ll go over the seams with putty and carefully sand them down to look smooth and nice.
On the topside i think I’ll try some black basin.

The second part of this post will be about the russian soldiers for the M3A1 Scout car.

One thing I really did like about the figures in this kit is those tabs that help the parts to fit properly. Tamiya has done this very well I think.

Two more figures built.

Pretty soon all soldiers were built and some even got a little paint.

I started to paint their faces and hands with different skin tones. Some I painted and some I dry brushed. I think it turned out ok. I also started painting the uniform on one figure, but realized that I had to check if I used the right colour. It seems like I did. So now I only need to paint all the other figures except the driver who is dressed in black.

I also think I need to drill holes in the bottom of their boots and put them on sticks to make painting a bit easier.

15 December, 2019

Tornado cockpit almost done!

The cockpit is more or less done and can be fitted into the fuselage halves.

Cockpit right angle view. — Cockpit right angle rear view.

As the plane is standing on the ground with engine off, I decided to omit the instrument decals and instead have blank screens.

A few decals for the seats still needs to be added. Other than that the cockpit is ready for the next step.

10 December, 2019

Panavia Tornado – build start.

The instructions starts with the seats, which are pretty nice for a kit seat. There seams to be different colours on the different versions, but I’ll stick to the information I found and will paint the main part of the seats and cockpit in Dk gull grey and have black/green anti skid floor.

Cockpit parts ready for paint. — Seats, instrument panels and cockpit parts, ready for paint.

The cockpit parts are assembled and the front gear bay glued to the bottom of the cockpit tub. Next will be some paint.

10 December, 2019

Panavia Tornado GR. Mk.1 RAF – Revell 1/32

I must be a bit crazy to start a new build now, with the intent on finishing it before the end of this month. The reason is that I won’t be able to finish the Eurofighter, due to serious problems with the wings and lack of proper decals.
This kit is a lot newer and have a lot nicer details and decals, but might still be doable. What worries me is painting it and adding all the decals, as there are plenty of stencils to go on both the plane and the weapons.

Anyway here’s a first look at the contents.

If I have the colours I need I’ll do the Desert storm version with sharkmouth.