John Wells tells us about his nicely painted Twinjet, and gets Bumpy Green Model of the Month..

I am just returning to the sport after about a 20 year lay off, it was helicopters last time around and lured back after reading about the Kyosho F16 EDF. It looked so neat when it was finished that I thought that I had better get some flying skills back by trying something a bit more 'crash resistant' before risking the F16

After reading a few reviews extolling the virtues of the Multiplex Twin Jet, I bought one on impulse at the local model shop. When I opened the box I must admit I was less than impressed at finding the model was made of some blue bubbles of foam flying in less than close proximity to each other. I decided that I would attempt to paint the structure to make it a bit more presentable and to make it a bit different from the others as it seems to be a very popular choice of model. This was late on a Saturday afternoon and with no model shop handy, I wandered down to the town to see if I could find some filler and paint. I found some decorators filler and bought that, but the weight of the tub made me try a DIY shop for something better and LIGHTER. I picked up some Ever Build 'One Strike' and knew that would be more suitable, as the tub felt empty and proved very lightweight.

The model was rubbed down with some aluminium oxide paper to remove the hundreds of tiny moulding bubbles. A coat of the filler was then applied, I found the best method of application was with a damp cloth. It filled quickly and was left overnight to dry. A coat of Hycote acrylic white primer was applied to the surface after rubbing down with some fine abrasive. Another rubdown followed the next day to get a reasonably smooth surface ready for the topcoat. I used Hycote acrylic (car) colours and loosely based the scheme on the fullsize Hawker Hunter F58 currently being displayed by Jonathan 'Flapjack' Whaley.

The final result is quite pleasing but still has that interesting 'snakeskin' effect! I think that getting a perfectly smooth surface to eliminate this would be too time consuming and not really worth the effort involved, after all the Twin Jet was originally bought to get some flying time under my belt

John Wells Twinjet, very nicely done John...

Oh yes - that F16 - well I couldn't wait and now I've got another rebuild to keep me occupied..... happy days. - John Wells..

Article by John Wells
8th August 2001