The Process
So, what normally happens is that a prospective client contacts me with a view to building a specific model for them.
They may be regular clients, usually collectors, or someone wanting a one off model of a specific item that means something special to them.
I would normally use a commercial kit as a starting point. Which one depends on the client, the scale they want, its availability, their budget etc.
After we've determined that we can move on to the level of detail they'd like and the finished appearance of the model, that is, factory fresh, well battle worn or somewhere in between.
After all that we can hopefully agree on a price and the model can be listed for building.
What this process will give is a guarantee that you will not get an out of the box model, unless that is what you want of course. It will be the model you ask for, produced as closely to your specifications as I can possibly make it.
So now the serious work begins. Research and change to get it right.
The scale modelling world has advanced in leaps and bounds since the early years when I would throw together the latest Airfix offering and hang it from the ceiling(I had a full Battle of Britain contingent).
Whilst many will lament the demise of this market, it has now changed insofar as the latest kits are spectacularly detailed and accurate (generally!) and aimed at serious modellers who demand the highest quality parts and materials with which to work.
There is now a veritable army of "after market" producers, producing products to complement these kits.
Some add extra fine detail (the panel on the left is an Airscale AM Flight Engineers panel form a 1:32 Lancaster. It's of the order of 2cm along each side and the painting is not included!😎😂), or correct identified inaccuracies in the base kit, and some offer conversions to different marks than are available in kit form.
And not to mention the endless supply of third party decals and markings to support the creation of pretty much any plane ever made (and many that never were!).
The latest step are tiny, tiny stencil masks which do away with the need for decals almost completely and are totally realistic as they are painted on, just as the original would have been.
To give you some sort of idea of what's often required to correct inaccuracies and ensure authenticity, I've put a link to a couple of my build documents below.
They are a bit techie based at times but give a good idea of what's going on during a build.
Airfix 1/24 F6F-5 Hellcat "Number 32"
One of Airfix's greatest ever kits. The detail is superb and I enhanced it with a photo etched cockpit upgrade from Airscale.
Some of the trials and tribulations are detailed in the build blog...it was fun!
HK Models 1/32 Lancaster Mk. III built as the aircraft of Guy Gibson just prior to take off on "Operation Chastise" May 16th 1943
There was so much wrong with this kit it was pleasure and pain to put it all right. It's got a one metre wingspan and my client had an extension built onto his house to take it and his large collection of other models.
So if, after reading all the scary stuff, you're interested in letting me build the model of your dreams, then head over to the PRICING GUIDE to get an idea of what we can do or just CONTACT ME with any questions at all