Inspired by all the people putting up pics recently I thought I'd throw up some ones of my current build, Airfix's 1-12 Dr. Who 'Welcome Aboard' kit, which I'm doing for my wife. I'll do my best not to put up as many pics as I did of the U-260! :)

This is a 'gift box' set, so apart from all the plastic you also get brushes, glue and paints. Here's the box :



and it has some pretty clear instructions, along with a few pages at the back where they explain techniques like drybrushing / washing / powderbrushing etc. Very handy for newbies like me!



The first work was on the internal contents of the Tardis, basically the control console. They've done their best to use the scale as much as possible to make it seem like it's 'further' away ( as it's a lot smaller than the figures that come with it ). Airfix ( or Physicists for that matter ) haven't yet figured out how to make something that's larger on the inside... :)



I wasn't too worried about making it perfect etc. as firstly this is more of a fun build for me, and secondly it'll be inside the Tardis and not *that* easy to see everything.

Then I had approx. 5 hours of masking to do! Simple enough really, but time consuming. The inside of the windows are painted grey as you won't actually see through them, and the outside frames will be the 'Tardis Blue'.



Speaking of the paint, it's the small Humbrol Acrylics that come with it :



and that's all the Blue you get, for the complete Tardis ( which is about 9 inches tall when built ). You wouldn't even get one coat from it, and believe me, you need more than one coat with this paint. I have the following tips about using Humbrol Acrylics :

1. Don't.
2. If you have to, make sure you stick the number of the paint on the pot, as the number that comes printed on it rubs off very easily.
3. Break the 'hinge' of the lid as soon as you can, 'cos it will break itself anyhow, and at least if you break it deliberately you'll have some control over it.

Thankfully I found a Revell Aqua Colour Blue that's almost a perfect match, so I'll be using that. Unfortunately, some of the paints Humbrol made specifically for this kit, so I'll have no choice but to use them.

The Tardis itself ( especially with the Revell Aqua Colour Blue ) should turn out fine. The two figures are a different story altogether. They're excellently detailed, in Styrene and Vinyl, but I've never painted figures before and I fear for how they'll turn out, especially the faces!

J.

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On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B

Completed builds
Click here

Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview

This meant to be an excellent kit, so looking forward t the build myself

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Filip

Some progress on this...

Got all the Tardis painted and I redid the windows as I was really unhappy with the first masking ( probably went wrong due to my impatience ). Was much happier with the second attempt and that got me this far :





I then put in the background card and console. Even after 'pre-folding' the card its stiffness caused the walls to bend out a bit, and they'd dried for 24 hours. It's all quite snug in there, not a bad thing really...



All the light is from the hole in the roof, so it gets pretty dark once everything's closed up. Airfix really could have included a bulb for inside the Tardis, considering they've got one outside!

After that it was a case of sticking the front wall, door & roof on, and the Tardis is effectively done :



I'll probably touch up the paint a bit and maybe do some weathering, or I might just leave it clean. To show how 'lazy' I've been with this, a close up of the phone shows sinks marks that I decided to leave as I thought they wouldn't be so visible. Now I think I should have filled them ( though part of my reason for leaving them is that I'm not very good at this! ). Anyhow, my wife loves it, and it's for her, so it'll do... :)



The roof isn't glued so you can change the batteries, which also means you can take it off to see inside if you want some more light.

Next is even more out of my comfort zone, the figures. Really not excited by doing them, am half convinced I'll make a mess of them and half wishing I could start on my A-10 instead! The figures have great details, especially the faces :







Next update when I get something done with them...

J.

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On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B

Completed builds
Click here

Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview

Thanks Vincent!

It's a pretty decent kit to be honest, and with a bit more patience ( and enthusiasm on my part, I'm just not as into this as I would be with an aircraft ) it would turn out excellent. That said, even keeping it simple like I have, it really looks the part and that's the main thing!

My only complaint, apart from the crap paints, is that my kit at least had a fair bit of warping. Mainly in the windows ( hence that tamiya tape on the inside of the windows to hold them all down in one of the pics above ) and more annoyingly, in the four thin corner posts that are glued to each wall of the Tardis. That's harder to work with, as you really have to glue the bottom of one of the posts to the bottom of one wall, then when its set, glue it to the top of the same wall, and then repeat the process with the other wall on the other side of the post. It's a bit awkward, and there are places on my Tardis where you can see small gaps due to the warping. Once again though, someone doing a better job than me would have no problems with dealing with it...

J.

Oh, and the last time I was there Mark's Models in Rathcoole still had one of these kits left ( as they're not being made any more ) for around €36 I think. If you pick up the kit, definitely get more blue paint as well while you're at it!

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On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B

Completed builds
Click here

Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview

Some 'progress' on this. Any work I've done on this in the last few days seems to have been about painting handbags and jewelery. I'm not sure exactly how my hobby brought me down that road, but lets just say I'm looking forward to getting back to aircraft!

Anyhow, Martha is now done. It's not great, but it'll do. I didn't bother with the design on her top, or her tattoo ( or the huge overscale ear-rings - now there's a phrase I never thought I'd use )...





Work on The Doctor has started. This is a lot more fiddly, as he's got a shirt, tie, waistcoat & coat, so there are different layers to paint, some before building, some after. And some errors in the Instructions have to be noticed and fixed ( like painting the shirt grey, not blue, and painting the waistcoat collar the shirt colour ).



Hopefully it won't take me too long though, as I'm building a HobbyBoss 1:48 A-10 N/AW for an OOB GroupBuild on Britmodeller and that starts on Sunday week! Back to missiles, eh? :)

J.

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On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B

Completed builds
Click here

Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview

Well, I was off work for a few days so I got a lot done on this. Was happy that I did Martha first as I am personally a lot happier with how the Doctor looks, thanks to what I learned doing Martha. My wife requested that the Converse shoes be Red, and who am I to say no? :)



The pics aren't great quality, sorry. I can't help feeling that Martha should be a little bit bigger, she almost looks like a slightly different scale. Maybe it's just me though...

I also left the roof off in the last picture to show the inside better...





Anyhow, it's all done, and while I enjoyed it, it wouldn't be a favourite of mine, especially the figures. So I'm looking forward to getting back to aircraft, no more painting of eyes!

J.

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On the bench -
Revell 1:72 F-16B

Completed builds
Click here

Coming attractions -
Eduard 1:48 Bf 110 G-4
Academy 1:72 F-22a Raptor
Tamiya 1:35 T-55a
Moebius 1:128 Seaview