Mike W's workbench thread

[jssel]

Nice work Mike. Really like the Gnat.

[AndrewR]

Lovely work Mike. That looks terrific.

[giulio_gobbi]

Gnat it's superb!

[Stuart]

Lovely Gnat.

[ShaunW]

Fantastic Mike, a beautiful finish. What was this kit like to build as it is currently on my wish list.

[Mikeew]

Thanks everyone.
ShaunW ; it was a dream to build. Only advice I would give is make sure every joining surface is cleaned up of any sprue gate burrs. Such is the finesse of the mouldings they will not take much to throw them out of alignment. Basically, take care on every mating surface and it falls together.

[Mikeew]

My first for 2015. Airfix Harrier GR.1 in 1/72 which I converted to AV-8A standard with decals from Caracal.
Should be appearing in MAI in the near future.

[PaulBradley]

Nice!

[ShaunW]

That AV-8 is a lovely piece of work and many thanks for the heads up on the Gnat.

[Mikeew]

Thanks guys.

Next!

New year, new commission build, from the same customer whom I built the Vulcan for last year.
This is on a whole different level compared to the Vulcan, I am actually really enjoying this one.
I have added the Alleycat resin wheel bays and intakes as you can see. Not the best pics as they were on my phone, but you get the idea.
The wheel bays are a fantastic addition, the nose gear bay corrects the width of the nose gear bay too and they all fit with relatively small modifications and not huge amounts of sanding either. The wings to fuselage were an extremely tight fit, but that is no real problem, just makes things easier if anything. Should be ready fro painting by the weekend I hope. The intakes were a little tricksy , knowing exactly where to cut as the instructions are not very good clear, but they are so much easier to work with compared to the kits parts and those damn seams that are nigh on impossible to clean up. Moulded in white resin is a god send also.

More soon! B)

[Mikeew]

Got this superb kit underway too, Hasegawa 1/48 Saab Draken. Its pretty much straight from the box but I added brass AOA and pitot from Master. Its a fantastic kit and is really enjoyable .









I got everything fixed up and ready for some paint and used Gunze acrylics (H338 Light Gray FS36495 undersides with H307 Gray FS36320 topsides) and various Alclad for the underside panels which look different at differing angles. I used Aluminium/Duraluminium and shaded with Magnesium and Semi Matt Aluminium and some of their Hot Metal shades, keeping it all quite subtle.

The paint really bought this to life, it looked really uninspiring until I started spraying, the panel line detail and rivets etc just 'popped' under some paint.











The seat was painted up and finished with some belts made from painted masking tape and sealed in with matt varnish before being fitted and the canopy was tacked in place with blu tac. The windscreen fitted like a glove as you can see.



Then it got a generous coat of my new fave gloss from Alclad ready for decals and weathering.

[iggie]

That Gnat is magic, and the AV8 likewise!
Look forward to seeing the Draken completed

[malepo]

That Harrier looks great!

[Mikeew]

Thanks guys.
Got the decals on the Draken, bit of fun n' games being thick Hasegawa decals, settled down with some Klear though. Sorry for the messy workbench pic. Could not move her into the light tent as some decals still wet here.

[PaulBradley]

Nice one, Mike!

Any updates on the Valiant?