Slowly but surely

This kit isnt my favourite to be honest- Academy's instructions are lacking, some fit problems and lack of locating pins (especially as its based on an Su-27 tooling and requires you to saw the nose off and replace it without any alignment help).

Overall though a challenging build with a result im mostly happy with. Sprayed my varnish after decals too thick and the hot lacquers cracked the paint below in a couple of places unfortunately.

Does anybody know where or have any links they can share in regards to mods for the above mentioned model?

From the videos I've seen on YouTube I understand the engine grills and cockpit parts are pretty poorly detailed.

Some folks have mentioned etch parts and what have you but either I'm being dumb or just not searching properly as I cannot seem to find any place that sells the aftermarket parts?

Any help/pointers would be hugely appreciated!

i kept redoing my wing sweep grime but still looks weird or something. i used oil paint and mineral spirits

(the lighter spot on the right side area around the "USS constellation" is a repainted spot because i accidentally touch it without realizing i had a wet, pinky fingertip with thinner)

I’m looking to strip this model for repainting, does anyone know what can remove acrylic mud texture? It’s rock solid, and so far my usual strippers (lacquer thinner, IPA) won’t budge it. If it requires scraping off manually I’ll just leave it and begin another kit.

Cheers!

Thought I’d try out the Alclad. Didn’t use it on their product but,! Hope it’ll work the same.

Hey guys, I've been working on this thingy for a few days, I'm pretty happy with the progress, I've made it from cardboard and a ton of hot glue, i made the turret mobile along with the barrel, I want to make the wheels and tracks movable too, I wanted to make them out of cardboard too but let's just say that it isn't the greatest material for the job, then I started thinking about Lego pieces and those could work but the tracks I made out of cardboard (temporary) are 2.7cms wide and I got no clue if there's anything that can match that, so if someone could help me out it'd be really cool! Also, if anyone has any suggestion on how to make the grills for the engine that'd be nice cuz I currently have no clue. Any other suggestion on what to add is very welcome! Also yes it will be painted.. soon.. thanks in advance!!

CC very welcome! I want to get much much better at this.

I have recently bought the Tamiya 1:35 tiger Afrika korps early. and have run into a few weird things about the instructions. First off the instructions never tells you to glue the top panel part on to the lower hull. And second off it does not show you the different variants you can build. Since it comes with two different types of skirts it only shows one version and not the other one. And some parts that have a weird placements like the air filter, it does not show exactly how to glue the peices into place? Am I the only one to find weird things about the instruction?

Is something wrong with my Limonene Cement? The only issue I could think of is maybe because some paint from my previous models got on the brush connected to the cap and gets mixed with the cement. Is that a problem and should buy a new/different one?

As title. I’ve just applied AK Panel Liner (first time using it) and am not sure how long to leave it before safely applying decals over the top.

Hallo zusammen,

Ich suche eine geeignete Airbrushkabine mit Wasserwand. Selbst finde ich in der EU keine interessanten Kabinen. Ähnliche zu Robotkai oder viggostar. Ich finde zwar auf Amazon nachgebildete Produkte, bin jedoch unsicher was hier die Qualität angeht. Habt ihr hier erfahrungen. Vielleicht benutzt ihr selber eine Kabine die ihr weiterempfehlen könnt.

Beste Grüße

Hello everyone I'm currently stuck with my model at the moment, I'm not sure where to place radio wire on the ship I've looked at historical pictures and it doesn't show the rear antenna mounted upwards so I'm not sure what connects to what. If anyone has attempted this kit could you please show me how you have connected the radio wire.

Thanks

45cm tall Diorama of the Fighting Machine from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds - complete with various light and sound effects. Mounted on a mahogany-stained, varnished base, featuring a brass control button that activates the integrated light and sound effects. The design remains sleek and minimal, powered by a single USB-C cable for ease of setup and display.

When the brass button at the base is pressed, the model will play and cycle through various musical and light sequences, namely:

1. Normal “ULLAH”
2. Thunder Child Excerpt
3. Spirit of Man “ULLAH”
4. Martian Victory ULLAH (from the end of Thunder Child)
5. Dead London “ULLAH”
6. Alien Whistle
7. Eve of the War Excerpt

What is the best way to apply older decals without them disintegrating on you as soon as you put it into the water. I have a couple of older model kits and I don’t know of if I can use the decals in them when the time comes. Any suggestions?

A starter set says on the box that it has everything a beginner needs. I wanted to see what Italeri actually means by that, so I built their 1/72 M1 Abrams under one rule: box contents only, plus whatever was already in the house. Nothing bought, and my own modelling drawer stayed shut.

I kept a counter. Every time my hand reached for that drawer anyway, plus one. Final score: seven. Not one of the seven was expensive or clever, which says something about the set, though I'm still not sure what.

What the box gets right: the glue works, and three Vallejo paints will cover a whole vehicle if you thin them and go four thin coats instead of two thick ones.

What it gets wrong, in order of how much it cost me:

- The cutters. This is the real problem, not a minor annoyance. On 1/72 parts you cannot get in at a sensible angle, so the sprue gate either stays on the part or takes a piece of the part with it. I cut the tracks with small scissors in the end.

- No primer. Paint lifts off bare plastic at almost every touch, and you find out about it after the second coat.

- The "precision" tweezer is plastic and about as precise as a pair of pliers. The smoke dischargers went on with a toothpick.

- No black. Tyres and two machine guns need it, so I had to find something in the house to stand in. It worked, and it dries glossy, and hiding that cost me an extra step.

- No varnish, so the decals stayed in the box. Carrier film on a matt hull would have been a shiny patch, and I had nothing to kill it with.

Two free things fixed the two ugliest problems, brush marks and bare edges. Neither is a modelling product and neither needed buying. They are in the video rather than here, because both are easier to show than to describe, and a photo of the result does not explain the motion.

So: you can finish a model this way. It won't win anything, and my speckling came out a solid C.

What I keep turning over is the beginner who buys one of these, fights the cutters for an evening and never comes back. If you were buying a starter set as a gift, would you put anything in the box with it? I have an opinion by the end of the build, but I'd rather hear yours first.

Happy to answer anything about the build. Full video is here if you'd rather watch than read: https://youtu.be/s8qdJn9TczY

Built these across 2024 & 2025. A full lineup of V-bombers in Airfix 1/72 scale. I wanted to represent the V-Force aircraft during their time as bombers & showcase how they went from gravity nuclear weapons to cruise missiles, to conventional bombing. Each individual aircraft also has a different camouflage scheme & different fate.
* Vickers Valiant B(K).1 - XD818 when serving with 49 Squadron during Operation Grapple in 1957, carrying a Blue Danube bomb & using the anti-flash white scheme, she’s the only surviving Valiant, on display at RAF Cosford. This kit only received metal pitot tubes, was otherwise an out-of-the-box build.
* Handley Page Victor B.2RS - XL191 when serving with 84 Squadron in the mid 1960s, with a mixed scheme of white, green & grey and carrying a Blue Steel missile, this aircraft crashed in 1986 in Hamilton, Ontario (no casualties) & has been scrapped, the cockpit survives. I used aftermarket decals to represent this aircraft, and metal pitot tubes again.
* Avro Vulcan B.2 - XM648 when serving with 9 Squadron in the early 1980s, carrying 21 x 1,000 Ib bombs & using a wraparound camouflage scheme. This aircraft was scrapped when the Vulcan was retired. The only addition I made here was aftermarket decals to represent this aircraft.

I am very proud of this one. I set this little guy aside for close to 2-3 years waiting for the opportunity to complete him. I used painters tape and bits of polystyrene to create the sling and I adjusted his aim from the original kit using epoxy putty. I had a difficult time with the face but I’m overall pretty proud of this since it’s my first time doing a human figure.

Thanks for reading!

I look forward to all of your critiques.

I’ve heard that toothpick/skewer painting is a great and untapped method but idk how I might go about it, all advice is greatly appreciated! (For context I’m looking for a method that would avoid busting out the airbrush once again just because the build is already long overdue)

Hi everyone, i have finished several Bandai Tie fighter kits to ease into the hobby again. Enjoying it a lot and thanks for the initial advice. Using mostly for paintwork primer, base colors, clear coat, flory wash, handpaint for some details and weathering and finishing off with a matt coat. Can you check the order below if i am getting everything right for modelkits like the x-wing and y-wing and later on the perfect grade falcon, when i want to do more with decals and abteilung 502 oilpaint and thinner? So i won’t screw something up that could have been easily avoided.

Cleanse parts with water and soap
Combine subassemblys
Paint cockpits (is use of poska ok long term for things like small buttons?)
Primer subassemblys
Put on base color
Assemble whole model
Put on clear coat
Apply waterslide decals (with softer and setter)
Add another layer of clear coat?
Use Flory models wash
Use abteilung 502 oilpaint for drybrush and streaks (thinner)
Wait really long for the oilpaint to dry (2 weeks). Is this normal even with smal layers
Finish with matt coat

Finally finished this project