Goodness me, what have I done....

Desert Rat

Desert Rat

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Okay, a few months ago my venerable Intel 6700K rig died, thought it took some HDDs with it including my flight sim stuff. Slowly working on trying to recover stuff from an HDD that is sometimes recognised if I'm lucky. I now have a new rig with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 32gigglebites of DDR5 (OUCH!!) with a RTX4060Ti, so sorted for a while.

So whilst I was waiting for delivery/setting up/reinstalling/trying to rescue files/etc. my eldest daughter bought me an Airfix spitfire for fathers day. A can of worms was hence opened. As an avid kit builder as a child (in the 70s & early 80s) I fully embraced the reincarnated inner child and have instigated all the stuff for this I couldn't afford as a child, Airbrush, fancy glues, decal solutions, nice paints and thinners, etc. have all been ordered along with kits I had as a child. What have I done?!?!

Jamie
 
BTW, the reason my sig is the DH comet is I have a deep lying affinity with it, it was the first airfix kit I built with my father (I mostly watched, but it was enough to matter).
 
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Desert Rat said:
Okay, a few months ago my venerable Intel 6700K rig died, thought it took some HDDs with it including my flight sim stuff. Slowly working on trying to recover stuff from an HDD that is sometimes recognised if I'm lucky. I now have a new rig with a Ryzen 7 7800X3D and 32gigglebites of DDR5 (OUCH!!) with a RTX4060Ti, so sorted for a while.

So whilst I was waiting for delivery/setting up/reinstalling/trying to rescue files/etc. my eldest daughter bought me an Airfix spitfire for fathers day. A can of worms was hence opened. As an avid kit builder as a child (in the 70s & early 80s) I fully embraced the reincarnated inner child and have instigated all the stuff for this I couldn't afford as a child, Airbrush, fancy glues, decal solutions, nice paints and thinners, etc. have all been ordered along with kits I had as a child. What have I done?!?!

Jamie
Click to expand...
Not just me then! šŸ˜…
 
I have that Airfix Comet on my model shelves! I built in plastic from the early seventies into the middle nineties and I have a model room with five levels of wide glass shelves along three walls packed with models. All are 1/72 scale with authentic paint jobs, mostly injected kits but many vacuforms. If I hadn't discovered flight sim I would've run out of shelf space in a few more years.

While I appreciate virtual modeling for its lack of toxic fumes, no need for shelf space, the ability to paint a plane in multiple liveries all on a single model, and no damaging interference by cats I still love all those little airplanes on all those glass shelves with my aviation library on book shelves below the models. Yeah, cats still interfere with my modeling (mostly painting but not entirely) but they can't destroy a work in progress. And when I go into the model room I can see many planes at once, not just one at a time.
 
There's a new 1:72 Comet on the block by Clear Prop, going to have to invest in that one soonish, much better than the Airfix offering (not hard, it's one of the worst kits ever, LOL). Bit pricey at Ā£34ish, considerably more than the airfix offering at Lidl atm.

Was thinking of making an airfix Comet to pop on my fathers grave (it wont last long, but hey ho).
 
A good story Jamie! I think most of us have similar feelings and especially now we can afford the fancy stuff we could only dream of in the past.

However I know my wife's attitude towards my models. (Yes dear, I know they become dusty, but there is really no need to remove all the details when you feel the urge to remove this dust. And no I can not repair this!)

So that is why I stick to virtual models. They only catch virtual dust.....

And go for Clear Prop Comet. I have watch some unboxing videos on YouTube and It looks great!

Cheers,
Huub

And the FS2004 default model of the Comet and Craig Richardson's FSX conversion are absolutely great. And no need for me to repaint them as somebody else already did some lovely repaints. Green is my favourite......

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I have/had an FS9 version of Craigs conversion, if I can rescue it from my failing HDD. Mainly fixes some (not all) of the mapping issues, but also includes a version with a solid nose. Never uploaded it as there was a liitle stooshi at the time regarding the FSX upload and use of MS files.

If I can find it I will upload it, as I feel the drama may have subsided by now. Unless you feel otherwise.
 
No airbrush for me, I live in a efficiency/disability apartment and I like the color of my walls. :LOL:

I got into 1/18th scale die cast cars twenty years ago. No cat could ever damage them, all the stuff that's supposed to open and shut does. I can (and have) tear them apart for some super-detailing and a re-build (pre 3D it was all scratch building), and I can use real auto wax or detailing spray to keep them looking spiffy. :wiggle:

For planes, I've gotten into 1/144th scale. I have some old school Revell B-52s in the pile plus a REALLY nice B-2 from AMK(?) that has decals that belong in a museum. Plastic cars right now are limited to the old Hasegawa 1/24th scale Group C endurance racers. I have some customized Porsche 962's with the later rear wings and chin spoilers that are waiting for some spray paint and a Toyota 88C that's done with mock-up and detail painting. I'm doing a "what if" 88C in Nippon Denso (red and white) colors but set up to run in IMSA (US) contingency sponsors. This isn't that far-fetched of an idea. Dan Gurney (All American Racers) borrowed a Toyota 88C to run at the 24 hours of Daytona while they were building the Prototype that would dominate and later shut down IMSA.

With the no airbrush rule, I've had to rely on getting better with brush painting and this was where the hobby has really taken off.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2841567706...thPSItemDRV2_BP&tu=01M35A2J7Z1WTG4HK6XPFZRHF4

This stuff is scary good. Imagine painting realistic chrome with a brush. Its acrylic, you can thin it with rubbing alcohol and brush clean up needs some dish soap and water. It dries to "finger touch" in less than an hour and it cures hard-as-nails after a day. No need for fancy gloss black undercoating or primers, I've painted it on bare plastic and resin and, to be honest, you don't need an undercoat (it gets in the way). I've used it to hand paint stuff like wheel rims in 1/24th and 1/18th scale with good results (it looks more like real chrome vs "kit chrome") and its a natural for mirrors and headlight buckets. It has OUTSTANDING leveling qualities as it dries, you can use it on "large-ish" areas with good results. I've been playing with it for several years and I still consider it as "experimental paint". The company also makes other shades (copper, old copper, brass, gold, etc.) that aren't as miraculous as the chrome, but still really good.
 
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