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Modellings tips and answers - Paint sets - Videos

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Don't forget to read our latest modelling tips and unboxing videos located at the bottom of the newsletter.

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This week in history

On Tuesday 18th September 1928, Spanish aviation pioneer Don Juan de la Cierva completed the first crossing of the English Channel in a rotary winged craft. The flight from Croydon Aerodrome to Le Bourget was completed successfully in his C.8 Autogyro. The crossing of the Channel itself took 18 minutes and was conducted at an altitude of approximately 4,000 feet. The previous year, de la Cierva had completed the first cross-country flight of a rotary winged aircraft in the UK. The aircraft would also enter the 1928 Kings Cup Air Race and complete a 3,000 mile flight around the UK. This helped to develop International interest in rotary winged flight and helped lay the foundations of the modern helicopter as we know it. For his pioneering work in this field, Don Juan de la Cierva was inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame in 1966.

Tool for thought

This week's tool for thought is the Expotools Side-cutter micro plier. These stainless steel side cutters are spring-loaded and have insulated handles for extra versatility. The dual-cutting edges are 10 mm in length and the jaws open to a maximum of 7mm. The length of the handles ensures that these pliers have very good torque for their size. Both cutting edges meet smoothly to give a clean cut and the small size of the pliers means that they can work very effectively, even in the tightest of locations. Ideally configured for cutting wires or removing insulation, these cutters are also equally at home cutting parts cleanly from plastic sprues with minimal damage and burrs.

AK Interactive paint sets with many uses

Many of AK Interactive's paint sets are designed with a specific purpose in mind. That purpose may be anything from bogie grime on a freight train to weathering for a particular WWII tank. But they also produce many sets with a more generic use in mind.

AK Interactive's 'Human Flesh Tones' set is a good example and includes a selection of flesh shades to help bring your figures to life. Their 'Non-Metallic Metal' set may have a Roman Centurion on the box cover, but the paint selected for this set doesn't discriminate and gives a flat 'steel' appearance to any worthy model part. If naval ships are your thing, AK's 'Naval 2' set includes a dark wash for wood decks, a streaking grime for light grey ships and salt streaks for any vessel.

Engines, whether in a train, automobile, aircraft or boat can be given a 'hard worked' appearance using AK Interactive's 'Engine and Metal Weathering Set' while a 'Basic Dirt' set or metal burnishing fluid will give model exteriors and metal parts a matching look.

If you like the thought of an aged or well-used appearance for your models, the list goes on with a special wash to make wood look old, a bottle containing fuel stains and a kit to produce crusted rust deposits. For a streaky effect, you have a choice of rust or grime, and for a look of total abandonment, their 'Decay and Abandoned Weathering' set leaves nothing to the imagination.

AK Interactive paint sets will not do the work for you, and you will need a few painting skills to pull off any effects. But what they do well is supply you with the best possible mix of colours and products to get the job done right.

Modelling tips

We keep on adding modelling tips to our website. Here are the latest ones:

Or (re-)discover these slightly older ones:

You can read all the articles sorted by categories or from the most recent published one on our website.

Unboxing videos

You want to know what is inside the boxes of modelling products? We open them for you! Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified before everyone else or simply click on this selection. Please note that videos are at the bottom of each page.

You can access all the unboxing videos by visiting this page or simply click on the link called "videos" on our websit e.

Events and exhibitions

Find all the latest events and exhibitions for the model railway world, on the UK Model Shop Events directory. Hopefully, 2022 will give us plenty of opportunities to attend events all over the country.

Do you need to order?

Send us an email or give us a call to check availability or to reserve anything, whatever scale you model in. As usual, if we do not have in stock what you are looking for, we will order it for you and you will get it fast (usually within a week if the manufacturer has it in stock). We place weekly orders with most suppliers.

Remember, you can park for free for one hour on the High Street. So no excuse not to come and visit us!

Upstairs Downstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am till 4.30pm. Obviously, our website is open 24h a day and we can post to most locations, including Europe, USA and Australia.

Upstairs Downstairs
3 Pier Street
Sandown, PO36 8JR
Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 406 616
http://www.trainshop.co.uk or find us on Facebook

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