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Gallery
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John
Wilkes
(AKA Tigger!)
wilkes@nildram.co.uk
John
Wilkes works (usually by day...) as a Prison Officer for Her Majesty's Prison
Service - so I guess I'd better say some nice things about him! John is an
ardent fan of 1:32 scale aircraft models, primarily jets and 'copters, although
he's toying with the idea of putting ID models P61 Black Widow together and
adding yet more trophies to his collection! Not afraid to tackle 'difficult'
subjects, he is just as happy sculpting and making parts from scratch as he is
building normal kits. He has some fairly eclectic tastes when it comes to
modelling in general - including cars, ships, figures, sci-fi, AFVs etc.. In
fact, there are not many classes at the IMPS-UK Nationals that he hasn't won at
some time or another. I'm sure you'll collect the whole set sometime in the
future John!
Click
here to see one of Johns latest projects - a superb F15!
Messersmitt
Me 109G-14
  
  
  
Messersmitt
Me 109G-14
  
MJ-1
Weapons Loader - KMC Resin Kit
English
Electric Lightning F Mk6
Echelon
Vacform
BAe
Hawk T Mk1
Based
on ID Models Vacform
This
model was based on the very basic I.D. vac form. The inspiration for the colour
scheme came from a limited edition print by R.Wong. After a visit to the
I.A.T.1997 I managed to photograph the aircraft in all her glory. Only 11 of the
kits original parts were used, all of which needed extensive re-sculpting. Other
than the kit itself only three other commercially available parts were used. 1
Reheat 1/48 instrument decals, 2 Reheat 1/32 seat belt buckles, 3 Model
Technologies 1/32 sidewinder fins. Features include a fully scratch built
cockpit and Martin Baker ejector seats. The engine intakes were made using
milliput smoothed over the foam which I use to fill the model with - they go all
the way back to the engine compressor face.
The
canopy was made by heat forming clear P.V.C. over a male mould, this was
sandwiched between a 10 thou inner plastic card skin and a 10 thou outer skin
made from aluminium printers plate. The mirrors on the canopy frame are real
mirrors which are made from 10 thou mirrored acetate. Once the rest of the
airframe had been re-shaped with milliput all panel lines and rivets were
scribed and drilled out. The rear of the airframe had the raised rivet heads
made by using stretched sprue inserted into individual holes then cut to length.
The undercarriage was scratchbuilt from brass, the wheels cast in resin from
originals turned up in my motor tool. The weapons were made from plastic rod
with MT fins. The markings were scanned into a computer from my original photos,
slightly adjusted, then printed onto clear decal film at 600dpi on a colour
laser copier.
All
tolled, I probably spent four months on this project. Financially I would say I
spent about £20 - most of this was on the printing of the decals.
Lockheed
U2B
Based
on ID Models Vacform
As
a follow on to the Hawk I thought I would build something easy. Once again the
starting point was the ID kit, yet again only the basic shapes were used. After
researching the U2 I decided to build the mount of Francis Gary Powers on that
fateful mission. Although info on the U2 was available I had difficulty in
finding reference on the early ejector seat, after a request on the
rec.models.scale newsgroup I was sent appropriate info. As with all ID models a
complete scratch built cockpit was required.
 
Reheat
figure painted in oils and enamels to represent
the U2 pilot Gary Powers!
The
instruments are Reheat 1/48 decals the seat belt buckles are also Reheat. The
ejector seat was heat formed in 20 thou plastic card over a mould carved in
balsa wood. The intakes caused me the most head scratching, as with the Hawk, I
sculpted the full intake tunnels to the engine compressor face by spreading
Milliput over the foam which I use to give strength to these large vac-forms.
The Q bay behind the cockpit was also detailed, most of which cannot be seen
unless you turn the model over and look through the clear windows. Once the
fuselage was assembled, I got to work on those huge wings. These were assembled
and filled with foam, (I am so confident in this foam that at one of the model
clubs I attend I made a point of purposely standing on the fuselage and jumped
up and down on it several times all without any damage (my15 stone or so I think
makes a point!). All of the panel lines were then scribed and all rivets drilled
out (each upper surface has somewhere in the region of 1500). The undercarriage
was made from brass the wheels were turned up from rubber tyre from a R/C model
shop. The colour scheme seems easy however - weathering the black was not that
easy - various shades of very dark blues and browns were sprayed over the
original black. Decals came from an old F104 sheet. The day was now the
Wednesday before the IPMS-UK nationals and the model was not assembled or
painted. A lot of midnight oil was burnt and by Friday afternoon it was
completed.
Saturday
of the Nationals was the first public showing and to top it all it won its
class!
Go
on, I know you want to build that unusual subject for your collection, one that
no major company is ever going to produce. Why not have a go at an ID, or Combat
kit, persevere you may even enjoy the experience! |
