Trumpeter F-105D Thunderchief

Scale: 1/72
Panel lines: Recessed
Type: Injection Moulded.
Plastic parts: 146
Decal options: 3
Wingspan: 149mm
Length: 287mm








One of the cool Century series aircraft. A modern tooling with a lot of details and parts. Surface detailing is in the form of recessed panel lines and rivets. Cockpit details are represented in the form of decals, a nice ejection seat and a control stick. Some different load alternatives as fuel tanks, Mk 82 bombs and AGM-12 missiles are supplied with the kit. The decals are not top quality like those that come with the recent AIRFIX and Revell kits but otherwise good enough.

Trumpeter Wellington Mk III

Scale: 1/72
Panel lines: Recessed
Type: Injection Moulded.
Plastic parts: 244
Decal options: 2
Wingspan: 229mm
Length: 188mm





This kit is a very fine molding with lots of internal details, but no bombs! this is strange, why they left out such a simple part. Nor is it possible to have the bomb doors open despite a wonderfully detailed bomb compartment. Too bad, it would have been an eye catcher painted, weather and fitted with yellow bombs. Otherwise, it will probably be easily built up to a beautiful model. Color instructions indicate Gunz color (white for Gunze acrylic and black for solvent-based Mr. Color) Both machines are painted in the standard dark green / dark earth upper surface pattern and matte black bottom and sides.

Eagle editon RLM chips. Comparison between Gunze acrylics and Tamiya mixes..

These pictures are taken in daylight and in raw format. Remember that it is useless to judge a color if your monitor is not calibrated correctly. I use a Spyder 3 Express to calibrate my monitor.


RLM 02

Gunze H70 is to light but perfect for 1:72 scale. This will probably look quite right after a wash. A very good starting point.


Tamiya XF22:1+ XF49:1 Is to brown and dark for any scale and useless in this form.


RLM 66

Gunze H416 is to light but perfect for 1:72 scale. This will probably look quite right after a wash or just add som black. A very good starting point.


Tamiya XF69:25 + XF2:1 is to dark but it's easy to lighten up the mix with a little more white.

RLM 74

Gunze's H68 RLM74 lack the green-gray tone and do not match at all.

Tamiya XF61 is a better match but a little too dark for the smaller scales. If you make the XF61 brighter with white it will probably also get a little grayer which is good.

RLM 75

Gunze's H69 RLM75 is a good match for 1:72 scale but needs to be darken for larger scales.

Tamiya mix of: XF54:15 + XF51: 8 + XF1: 3 is also a good match though somewhat too dark.

RLM 76

Eagle edition RLM 76 has a slight green tint entirely absent in Gunze 417. 

Tamiya XF23 mix of: 20 + XF25: 10 + XF3: 1 + XF2: 40 is a better match but slightly to green and dark, maybe it needs a little more white in the mix. The green tone seems a bit strong on the screen but is more subtle in real life. This makes me wonder if the mythical RLM 84 is just a varaition of RLM 76 due to lack of raw material to obtain the correct mixture but we must wait until a real scientist makes a pigment analysis similar to that made ​​to the royal warship Vasa's colours until we know for sure.

My workbench

I have my workbench in the kitchen which is a good place to be when you do not have a dedicated hobby room. I use some furniture from IKEA (called Micke here in Sweden) with plenty of space for paint tinlets and tools. I use my airbrush under the stove range hood and I have the compressor under the sink.

Late 17th and 18th century Swedish uniforms and equipment.

I took these pictures at the Army Museum in Stockholm. The next best museum in Stockholm and a must if you visit the city

Harnesk m/1683

The cavalry armour stopped a musket ball from 20 paces. All armour were actually tested before delivery.

"Kyller"

A thick elk leather coat was worn under the armor

Officers Gorget 1670

Worn by all officers. the king's monogram is missing.

Officer, Upplands regiment late 17th century

Private, Upplands regiment late 17th century

Swedish Field drum , The great northern war 1700 - 1721

Swedish Cavalry , The great northern war 1700 - 1721

Some pictuers of the "Karolin" uniform. Foot soldiers wore the same type of uniform, except for the boots

At the beginning of the Great Northern war the "karpus" cap was still common.

Infantry musket m/1716 and sword m/1711

After the defeat at Poltava it was necessary to equip a new army. this time with less expensive materials.

Uniform m/1756

From left: Shirt and underwear. Vest with arms and pants with flap and buttons. Uniform coat and tricorne. Cape. 

Uniform m/1756

From left: Sword. Belt and holster for the sword and bayonet. Shoes.

Cartridge box m/1756

Small pelt knapsack.

RLM TO NCS

I'm currently translating Eagle Editions RLM paint chips to the NCS-system. These are not 100% matches but as close as possible (certainly closer than some hobby paints). The NCS colour system is available in most of Europe. A full fan deck with 1950 samples cost around 70 Euro and It's available in most well stocked paint stores. The link to PerBang.dk is very useful for those of you who are familiar with colour theory and mix your own colours.

RLM 02 - S 5010-G70Y    (50% Darkness, 10% Saturation, 30% Green, 70% Yellow)

RLM 61 - S 8502Y

RLM 62 - S 6030-G50Y

RLM 63 - S 6010-G50Y

RLM 65 - S 4010-B70G

RLM 66 - S 7502-B

RLM 70 - S 8005-G20Y

RLM 71 - S 8010-G70Y

RLM 72 - S 8005-G50Y

RLM 73 - 8005-B80G

RLM 74 - No match

RLM 75 - S 6502B

RLM 76 - S 3010-B70G

RLM 78 - S 2030-R90B

RLM 79 - No match

RLM 80 - S 8010-G30Y

RLM 81 - No match

RLM 82 - No match

RLM 83 - No match

Sandgelb I - S 3040-Y30R

Blaugrun - S 3010-G10Y

Airfix 1:72 Vickers Valiant

A late Christmas present arrived today from Amazon.com (no fault to Amazon I ordered late) The mighty Vickers Valiant from Airfix. Ay Caramba! this one is as big as my Tamiya Lancaster and it comes with it’s own nuke! How awesome isn't that? In the box you get 142 nicely moulded parts on six sprues and huge decal sheet printed by Cartograf with options for four different markings. Oh did I mention that this is a big bird? Yes I did, but not how big! this one has a wing span of half a meter in 1:72 scale, impressive. (OK I admit not as impressive as Monogram’s B-52). I’m going to build option A, a Valiant Mk.1 in all white from operation Grapple of course, it’s Christmas after all.