Gloster Gladiator, 1/72 Matchbox

Built for a Matchbox GB somewhere

3 Squadron, RAF Kenley 1937

dont know why but i always find aircraft hard to do, and biplanes the hardest lol

the one slight glitch was the wheels, supposed to have red covers but after three attempts at painting the black tyres, cocking it up, stripping it all off, respraying red then just to cock it up again i gave up and they just got sprayed matt black lol







and one for scale

Hi Paul,

Well, I think you did a brilliant job, especially for the size...

Andy...

I'll repeat myself as per my build thread comment .....


.... NICE!!!

Small, man that's small. Excellent work it looks good.

Super in a small scale. I remember as a kid doing the biplanes and between trying to get everything lined up with the spars and wings and the variable quality/warpage of the wings, it was always a challenge. The decals seemed to be poor too, with white around the edges and a tendency to crack. Great work.
Here in the U.S. the older planes are nearly forgotten, but in Europe, the former "theatre of war" they are more like living history.

Super job Paul with a nice light weathering too.

A little trick on painting wheels, providing there is a reasonable 'groove' between tyre and wheel: Paint the wheel first. Then thin your tyre paint to something thicker than a wash but thinner than normal brushing consistency. It must be 'runny' without being too thin.

Then 'flow' the paint down the sides of the tyre to the groove, where it will 'pool' but not too much as it will overflow onto the wheel. If the consistency is right it should take two, maybe three coats.

thats how i normally do wheels Al but there just wasnt enough of a groove on these, a bit vague

Very nice job, Paul. Very clean look. Can't see why you don't like painting silver - looks fine.

Maybe you're looking too close at the wheels. I see jagged edges when I paint mine, but they disappear when you see the whole picture.