RICHARD WILLS

All of the small additions from the prototype have been recorded in the files for cutting the kits . Phill the Kit cutter is grumbling about having to actually make some , but that is entirely normal . Green Graham has been finishing off the drawing so we are very close now . I might do two batches in a series of say two weeks . Ideally those that are actually going to lead the charge and are ready to start , could you please pm me . Those that are happy to watch the other get a couple of weeks head start , sit on your hands . Here are a couple of pictures of the great Guru in action . Its not all work though .

Ive decided I dont like the upper wing roundels . The kit version will have to be altered . I kept looking them thinking , do they look correct ? No . The ratio of red to blue should be 2:5 red /blue for the period around D day . I haven't ordered the decals but am about to , based on what I have . I will mod mine and make sure yours are all correct . I'm a bit fussy about that sort of stuff .

Sell it to Ron , he's colour blind .😁

Anyway , putting her rather inconclusive opinion aside (I suppose the written report on Monday will give more away ) , I thought it would be an opportune moment to bring the two 1944 protagonists together . I think we have achieved what we set out to . ie a pair of quick build , easy to fly warbirds to honour the brave pilots of both sides and give an opportunity to show that a built up model can offer everything that an ARTF can , with the extra bonus of self satisfaction (and an element of smug superiority , if I might be so bold , your Honour)

We've still got some bits to do : Clear canopy paint and fit . Cockpit -add a little detail . Cannon blister Exhaust stacks Yellow leading edge paint . General panel lines and weathering . Its always good to get a second opinion at this stage . Luckily the works inspector was in the building . She's recently given up smoking her pipe and has been advised by the doctor to distract herself by chewing on something else. Nett result was that I could really tell if she liked it or not . Just sounded like grumbling to me .

As you know , we are trying a new decal provider for the 190 and Tempest . I have to say that I'm very impressed . The colours and pre cutting are very good and I particularly like the "sky " coloured squadron codes . I am going to get them to include an extra strip of sky to do the rear fuselage band in your version of the decals . Looks like I'll be painting mine though ... My models get a hard time so in an extra effort to make sure my decals stay on and wrinkle free I have opted to make the surface adhesion as good as I possibly can . These decals are sticky , and if you stuck one on glass , it would not come off . But if you stuck it on your jeans it definitely would . Our matt emulsion is somewhere in between . So Ive rubbed down the area where the decals will locate with very fine wet and dry (used dry ) , then wiped with a damp cloth . Dont worry if it takes some of the paint off , it adds to the overall effect . Next , I brushed on a thin coat of PVA glue but only where the transfers will go . I left it for an hour to dry and go clear , then gave a quick wipe with the fine paper again . It felt glassy at this point , as I had hoped . The Decals went on nicely and they feel rock solid . If I do get any "lift " on a hot day , I can put a sock on my small iron and iron them back down as the PVA will reactivate with heat . The "R B " and fuselage roundel come on a transparent carrier film , which is excellent because if you line up the straight backs of the R and B with the black and white stripes , you cant go wrong . Easy Peasy !

Yes , but what scale is the Orange ?

Yes well, you're both just bitter because unlike me, you're not one of the exclusive members , like what I am . Any way , putting that behind me, here are some quick shots of the Tempest awaiting the next stage . Decals will be the next job . Looks angry doesnt it ? Pity nobody every put a sharks mouth on .

HOLD IT !!! The green looked like it had a bit of blue in it . I didnt like it . There was nose wrinkling . Following by some "tuts" and then , worst of all , teeth sucking . I thought about complaining to the manager at B &Q but I am a club card holder so didnt want to rock the boat . After all , Ive already been banned from Halfords ..... so my paint options are drying up . So I went to a different B&Q and got the nice lady to mix me up some "wood pidgeon " . Bloody marvelous , but also confusing because the wood pidgeons I see are grey . I thought about bringing this up with the lady , but as my mum always said "less said soonest mended ". Anyway , at £4 for a pot that will do three planes it was a result .

Some of the dark grey going on the upper surfaces . I like both the greys , they look about right . Just slapping on the dark grey as the green will overlap it .

OK so the stripes are on and I have to say the green frog tape is excellent . No bleed and no lifting of my brown paper . Still looks very rough and I can see how newbies might be disappointed with how it looks at the moment . However , Ive been here been before and as many have pointed out , disappointment is my middle name . (yes thats right , Richard Disappointing Wills , my Dad was not much of an optimist ) Ive slapped on the light grey underside paint , but not before masking the ends of my lovely invasion stripes with a bit of frog tape cleverly cut down the middle to save some for later .

They dont need to be that brilliant , but please get them straight , otherwise you will hate it . I was a little more careful on the top surface ! The fuselage is masked on the sides first , then across the top and bottom so that the stripes look straight from above . You can see that with a full set of stripes , there isnt that much of the plane left to paint ! The black canopy is only for temporary amusement . This kind of camo is quite straight forward and a useful lesson for the future . The basic premise is that the light paint should be applied first . So its on with the white . If we didnt have decals ( we do ) we would also put white circles where the roundels would be . Yellow rings are also an issue , so we might provide a white base for them too. The big mistake some people do is paint the plane green and grey , then try to paint pale coloured squadron codes on top . Ten coats and three weeks later and they are still cursing .

I've used two simple methods on the stripes so that you can choose what suits you . The first method was to just go over my pencil lines with a black sharpie pen , then simply paint up to the line . Straight forward really . If you are feeling confident in your masking tape (green Frog tape is very good ) , you can try a different approach by masking off the white areas and then brushing black quickly over the lot . Either method works . The first method might suit those of a more nervous disposition .

BTW , that Pool table was the wifes Christmas present . Next year , she's getting a Jet Ski ... I like doing the full invasion striped British paint job , especially after the very fluid style of the mottled German camo , as it makes a nice change . Obviously I have brushed (you can see that !) some white valspar emulsion on . Let it dry then mark on where the stripes will go . They will be on the plan to help you . Its dead easy as they are two inched wide so 5x2" equals a nice simple section 10" long . Main thing is to keep them straight . So mark the centre line of the whole wing then do parallel lines from that . I pencil mark them first . For the fuselage you need a line running along the length parallel to the top of the fuselage sides . Then with a piece of square card you can draw vertical lines every two inches .

I have finished covering the Tempest and would recommend not trying to cover the whole fuselage side in one piece . There are a lot more curves on the Tempest compared to the 190 , so its fine to take the covering in bite-size chunks . I never worry about the brown paper joints. In fact I'm proud to say that you would all be pretty horrified at my brown paper finish on this model ! The point I am making is that this model is a quick build and will earn its keep . Its no Hanger Queen . However, I hope to show you that despite a woeful lack of care and preparation before painting , we can still pull off a bit of a looker . I can see Paul cringing and Graham R wringing his paws . Have a good look at the hastily and scantily applied white . I'm particularly impressed with the all time low Ive achieved . The thing is , we are going to ............. camouflage it . Consequently , from 5 feet away , you wont see it . Good isnt it ?

This is what I like about Foam Board/ depron . You can just try something with very little outlay and if you get bits wrong , just chop them out . I'm very interested to see how this turns out LM .

I liked that Ron , very funny 😁 I think its just that some of the guys dont read all of the threads . Lets face it , we do twitter on a bit . About ten haven't responded . In this case I'm going to make 40 and stock about 20 or so motors and maybe 30 decal sets initially ( It all adds up to quite a bill , as you can imagine ) . If Some have changed their mind , it doesnt matter as I'm confident with this one that others will take the spare kits .

There are quite a few chaps who I'm pretty sure want the Tempest who haven't ticked the "Like box" on the last page . Understandable as they get swamped with different threads and postings. At the moment ive got 17 likes and confirmed and say three in PMs , but from my notes and correspondence Ive got over 35 . Not to worry , I'm fairly confident that the 35 number is pretty accurate .

My wife says I dont finish anything ...... She gets very frustrated .😕

I bet they all got shot in the back . Rearward viz is non existent !

As with the Fw190 , I will probably send a return envelope out to those that showed interest in the Tempest . I realise that some may have changed their mind , and anyway we are not quite ready to press go on the production line , but I need to know rough numbers . I dont want to send letters to those no longer interested so here is a list of those that expressed interest so far . Rather than PM me at this stage , perhaps if you just click like if you still want one , it will come up at the bottom . Dave B1 Ron Gray Martin Collins Leccy Flyer Andrew Exton Jonathan S Grumpy Gnome Glen Philbrick Peter Atkins Ace Chris Walby John Timmis Graham Bowers Murat Alan Hilton Roger Bird Dave Naylor Goose is the Hero Nigel Whitgar Piers Bowlan Nick Cribbs David Holland 2 David Davies Don Fry Bucks Boy Chris meek Concept 2 Flyer Rotten Row Chris Clementson John Britton .

There's always some clever Dickey isnt there ?😁

Just finishing off the covering , which has gone well . I don't muck about too much with the wood finish as the brown paper and then the camo paint hides all sins . I'm going to seal the brown paper with dope before I paint it so that the brown paper doesnt soak up too much paint . The dope dries fast and then mostly evaporates unlike water based emulsion . You can also see a lovely 1;32 static model of the same aircraft . My aim is to get a similar look with just £8 worth of paint and a yard broom ..... Should be a doddle .😕

I've been down to B and Q armed with the three view shown below on the right . Ignore the other one (its just following me around ) . So I'm going to do the famous "RB " They do their own match pots called Good home or some other silly name , but Ive picked three out for the ball park colours . I already have some white and black left from the Focke Wulf build . These match pots only cost about £2.50 each so for roughly £8 I could be sorted . With invasion stripes , I will normally spray them with an aerosol as it goes on dry and doesn't creep underneath the masking tape . However , in this case I am going to follow the cheap and cheerful method employed on the Fw190 and paint the whole plane with a brush (I hope I don't regret this . If I do , its your fault 😬).

Getting back to the tidying up . Obviously I can't have my motor trying to escape , but it is pretty obvious from my previous picture on this page that the motor was only sufficiently supported for a quick test flight , not a series of belly flops . As in the Spitfire kit, I have added a hardwood top rail with a screw in each end and then filled in the space between F1 and F2 with 6mm balsa and gorilla glue . I can happily pick up the whole plane by the motor now and give it a shake without any creaks or cracks . Remember that when the model stops abruptly , the motor wants to shoot out the front , so the force we are dealing with is tension . Keeping that in mind , you can see why the balsa has its grain running "for and aft " and the top dowel with screws makes sure it all stays connected . The balsa fill-in doesn't need to look good as the cowl will cover it all anyway . Should be tough as old boots now .