Airfix Albion fuel bowser – My Forgotten Hobby V

Welcome back

17 August 202217 August 2022Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

Lest We Forget

Day 175

I always like to go back in time to see what I had written.

My Forgotten Hobby V might never have been written except for my loyal readers adding comments and fuel to my blog.

This is the first post on My Forgotten Hobby V written on April 23, 2022. I was working on Airfix’s Fuel Bowser which is now on my D-Day diorama, still waiting to be picked up by the son of a Canadian paratrooper who was in the first wave of the invasion.

Lest we forget Day 59 This is how I had left my loyal readers on My Forgotten Hobby IV. Progress was made Friday with these two steps. Precision fitting is crucial with assembling the Albion fuel bowser. Some parts are very thin and part D13 was quite fragile. . Fitting the fuel bowser cab needed […]
Welcome back

Airfix Albion fuel bowser – High Expectations and Frustration

29 April 20222 July 2022Pierre Lagacé2 Comments

Lest we forget
Day 65

I had become quite frustrated when I was building Airfix Spitfire Mk Vb and its nemesis the Bf109E in February 2020.

This tells it all…

Large gap!

What was Airfix thinking when they engineered it that way?

This is the link to one of the posts I wrote sharing my frustrations…

Progress report – High expectations

And a few images taken from that post.

As modelers we always want to strive for perfection.

So I had high expectations when I started building these two model kits…

I felt the same frustration after completing the Bedford MWD Light Truck and the Albion fuel bowser.

Too many parts in my own humble opinion.

I still have another Ready for Battle model kit I had bought in 2017…

Ready for Battle

I don’t think I will build this a near foreseeable future, but then maybe I will since I have found these images where the Bedford and the Albion are seen.

I never connected the dots until now!

It will make a nice addition to the diorama I will be building for Gerard Pelletier’s niece.

On another note…

I still have the unbuilt Hawker Hurricane Mk I, lots of tiny paint jars, two tubes of cement and two paintbrushes.

Looking ahead after finishing the D-Day diorama, I wonder what I will be building next. I know I should be finishing what I already have started: painting and glueing tiny aircraft carrier planes on three aircraft carriers…

USS Yorktown

USS Hornet

USS Saratoga

…a BIG PBY Catalina…

…a Hawker Tempest…

…and a F9F Panther…

I should be learning by now to finish what I have started because I get easily overwhelmed by the tasks ahead.

Airfix Albion fuel bowser – Final Lap?

27 April 202227 April 2022Pierre Lagacé1 Comment

Lest we forget

Day 63

Not quite there yet.

I have completed the assembly Tuesday morning by cementing the booms. Again instructions had to be followed carefully and some parts didn’t seem to fit. I should have checked Plane Dave’s rendition of his Albion fuel bowser.

https://planedave.net/2020/04/30/albion-am463/amp/

I am sure I would have understood the instructions for installing the booms.

It’s time to paint and weather it giving the Albion fuel bowser a worn look.

But first it’s primer time with… a paintbrush.

Next time we pay a little visit to Sheperd Paine…

http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/

Airbrush problem

26 April 202226 April 2022Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

Lest we forget

Day 62

Last Saturday afternoon I tried to figure out what went wrong with my airbrush session.

I surfed the Internet where I found great advice.

https://metastatepaint.com/category/airbrushing/

Following the advice I have deep cleaned my airbrush accordingly. While looking for even more information I found this…

Don’t get caught up thinking fine, medium, and large indicate the line an airbrush will produce. This is only a minor nominal effect of the needle/nozzle size difference. The classification of Fine, Medium, and Large apply more to the recommendation of what media can be properly used. Fine for inks, watercolors, dyes – Medium for properly reduced acrylics, lacquers, enamels – Large for more viscous glazes, base coats, industrial coatings

Source

https://sites.google.com/site/donsairbrushtips/badger-350

Maybe that was the problem I had because I was using the fine nozzle size.

My problem started when I had used my airbrush to add a coat of grey primer on the F9F Panther.

The paint was creating splatter but I kept on spraying and spraying, praying I was just imagining things.

It wasn’t a bad dream.

It was either caused by a clogged nozzle, paint that was too thick, etc…

I then decided to stop, finish it off with a paintbrush and took a deep breath.

On Sunday I deep cleaned my airbrush once more even cleaning my spray booth.

I continued on working on the Albion fuel bowser.

Thin parts always present a problem since everything has to be precisely glued which can lead to frustration.

Part D18 was fragile and the instructions to glue it were vague.

Well they were at first.

I was be able to fix this with stretched sprue.

The Albion fuel bowser is now almost finished.

Once completed I will paint it and start the D-Day diorama.

Footnote

Tamiya Quick Setting cement is just what I need to glue thin and fragile parts.

Buying Vallejo paints

24 April 202226 April 2022Pierre LagacéLeave a comment

Lest we forget

Day 60

It’s BIG!

The PBY Catalina is BIG.

My homemade Sky Type S was too bluish. I then found a 20 years-old jar of Tamiya XF-21 which is exactly what I needed and gave it a try using a paintbrush.

I have come to realize that I need to use an airbrush instead because the PBY Catalina is so BIG.

BIG is beautiful.

So I bought these Vallejo paints Saturday morning at my local hobby shop.

Source Vallejo Website

71.053 Dark Sea Gray

71.302 Sky Type S

71.309 Dark Slate Grey

Matt acrylic colors, water-based and especially formulated for airbrushing. The Model Air color range contains the most complete selection of the military colors used in recent history, including the colors of WWI, WWII and up to the present. Each color is based on extensive research by our experts of the existing and previous military references so as to offer the modeler the highest possible historical accuracy. Model Air is used directly or diluted with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner or Flow Improver. It is recommended to first prime the surface, and then apply Model Air in several layers. The colors dry very rapidly and form a homogenous paint film of extraordinary resistance while preserving even the smallest detail of the model. For airbrushing these colors, the compressor air pressure is recommended at 15 – 20 PSI or 0.5 to 1 kg. Model Air can of course also be applied with a brush. For correct airbrush maintenance we recommend using the Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner.

Safety: Model Air is not flammable, and does not contain solvents. Please see also certified safety information of the product on the Safety page.

Packaging: Model Air is presented in bottles of 17 ml./0.57 fl.oz. with eyedropper. This packaging prevents the paint from evaporating and drying in the container, so that It can be used in minimal quantities and preserved for a long time.

Footnote

My figurines have made more progress since.

The fuel tank has been completed and installed.

They are now working on the left door.

There is an option. Door closed or door opened. Having options and noticing them after is what caused me to build the wrong version of the Bedford MWD Light Truck.