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Well here's my latest, the wonderful Tamiya 1/48 Spit Ia. This is actually my first finished build for sometime - new daughter and new job have meant I haven't had much time over the last year or two. Construction was a breeze, paints are all Humbrol enamels, decals were generally well-behaved although some slight silvering on one or two, weathering was a mixture of washes and pastels. Markings are for L1043 of 610(F) Sqn RAF at Biggin Hill in July 1940. Cheers, Tim

Finished this last week and thought I'd share the results, hope you don't mind. The kit is the recent Airfix release OOB finished with Humbrol gull grey and white with a wash of Flory/promodeler weathering wash(great stuff) to highlight the engraved detail I used the kit decals which for the most part worked well, the only issue were that the intake warning markings would not fit the intakes(so just used the 'Danger' center bit and used a matching red for the intake lip). Also the decals on the tops of the wings did not want to snuggle down over the vortex generators and required a little persuasion and touching up when dried. I have weathered the kit with some oil wash and streaking but the effect has been lost due to the bleaching effect of the camera flash. I still have to hang a couple of dumb bombs from the pylons, TER's with a pair of 250 pounders on each I think should look ok. Thanks for looking

Just finished this over the weekend. I did do this along with a WIP thread (sorry, don't know how to do linky things but it's over there if you wish to view) which i quite enjoyed doing. Almost felt a bit more accountable when doing the WIP thread and i think just made me more patient with this build and calmed my "rushing at the end to get it finished" approach that i have always had. The kit? Well, as some people have said already it's not an amazing kit with not much detail, compared with the Revell kits anyway. But i think it does build up into a decent looking model when finished in my opinion. I did try a little rescribing on this one but my "talents" at this i think still do more harm than good. Also had a problem getting the wash to stick in some places but i am reasonably happy with the results. What i'm most satisfied with though is the paint job as for me it's probably the most challenging one i've undertaken and am really happy with the outcome. Even more so as i know i can probably do a better finish on something like this next time with the things i learnt whilst painting this one. For some reason this kit didn't come with any fuel tanks so i just left the wings bare and stuck with just having the bombs on the under side of the fuselage. I know this probably doesn't look right to some. Like i've said over on the WIP thread i did finish this kit about 5 years ago in the RAF scheme and was interested to see if i had improved my modelling at all. I would have to say that i have and i'm slowly paying a bit more attention to detail. Plus, i wouldn't have attempted the Saudi scheme 5 years ago. I put some pictures at the end of the old and the new build side by side to compare, don't really know if you can tell much from the pictuers. Anyway, enough waffle from me so here are the pics. Thanks for looking Stuart

Hi everyone Finished this one the other day. Its Aero clubs fantastic ittle Rapide on 1/144. It is a small plastic sprew kit, a tiny decals sheet and even smaller etch set. It was only £10 from telford, i really did love making this, the smallest thing in my collecting. But i loved it!!!! It was my 1st time using etch and more than likley it will be the last, not very good with it. I screwed up most the pylons... But i really did enjoy it. Heres the photos. Here it is on its own. and a few size comparisons, all on 1/144. DC-3 A319 Concorde Sorry for the bad pictures.... Thanks Bradley

Just finished this one over the weekend litterally for the ACTSMS Blitz Build. It is the old Hasegawa kit build more or less OOB. I only added the LEX fences. Decals are from a PD sheet. The kit decals were useless so I have to add a few more like slime lights, etc. I also found that the PD data stencils were all printed the light grey of the paint scheme so any placed on the lower fuselage disappeared into the paintwork. The scheme is for the 77SQN 50th Anniversary in 1992. Here are the finished pictures

A great ciao from Italy, first time I post a model here on Britmodeler, I hope you enjoy my latest build. It's a 1/48 J35J Draken of the Swedish Air Force with addition of Aires cockpit and flaps. C&C are welcome Simon

Hello, I'm back into modelling after a very very long break (30+ years). I started off with Tamiya M10 Tank Destroyer 1/48. It was quite hard to start again but I enjoyed every moment, from tutorials to building, painting and weathering. I'm going to publish some photos, please let me know what you think and what I could have done better. Thanks. Fabio

Many thanks for the kind words! Hi JM, I used smoke coloured invisible thread which is a piece of cake to use and looks good to scale for my eyes. Hi HL-10,the fin flash is back to front deliberately. L1043 had her fin flash painted incorrectly.

It's under consideration...

Since the recent - new - restoration of the RR PS853 ( thanks Rolls Royce !! ) and the forthcoming Airfix kit ( Thanks Aifix !!), I am happy to share with you some close ups of these two specimens. With and without cabin blower intake............ ( These views are extracted from original argentic vintage MoaP prints I have in my collection / copyright related ) FULL sets are visible at :http://s1025.photobucket.com/albums/y317/joanblaue/SPITFIRE/ cheers Olivier

Hi everyone This is my Revell Concorde It has to be said it is one of the worst kits i have ever built. The Airfix Concorde is more enjoyable!!!!!!1 But im pleased with the result. Its a nice little 1/144 kit. I hand painted it for one, ran out of paint in august and havent got any since......... The windows are from RichW. Thanks Everyone

I built Tamiya's awesome 88 a few years ago. I added Eduard's etch set that includes a shield, ground spikes and load of other refinements. A Jordi turned barrel was also added. The figure are a mixture of Dragon, Tamiya and Verlinden parts. The base is a piece of foam board with model railway grass mat added. The long grass is from an old wall paper paste brush and the stream was made from layers of gloss varnish and Klear floor polish. Verlinden's German uniform badges decals were used and the figures, and gun were painted with Humbrol enamels. Thanks for looking.

My second post - the Italeri 1/35th Schnellboot in Black Sea colour scheme hence the green deck and air-recognition stripes, based on research there is a plausible case for 2 boats in this scheme. Hope it passes muster , C&C always welcome

Hello all, Here is my recently finished 1/48 F-14 Tomcat built as a Tomcat F.1 for the 'What-if 2' group build. The build thread is here Parts used included Quickboost seats, Dr Pepper resin exhausts, Quickboost FOD inserts and aMaster brass Pitot tube. Decals are a mix of Hobbyboss, Model Alliance, Revell and others from the spares. Here is the background to the Tomcat F.1: Based on the D model Tomcat, the RAF ordered 46 new build jets from Grumman in 1993 for delivery from 1996 onwards. The jets were to supplement/replace the Tornado F.3 fleet and provide the RAF with the best interceptor available at the time. The F.1's were modified with a new communications suite, defensive aides and the ability to carry the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. BAE systems wanted a monopoly on the jets to include installing new ejection seats, fire control system and radar warning receivers, but the MoD said no, and only allowed the minor modifications mentioned above to be added to the finished Grumman product. 56 Sqn was the first to receive the new jets and had its full compliment of 12 by early 1996. The squadron was deployed on Operation Northern Watch, Southern Watch and policed the skies over Kosovo along with her sister squadrons. In November 1999, one 56 Sqn jet successfully engaged and destroyed three Iraqi Air Force MIG-23's that had violated the Northern 'No Fly Zone' in Iraq with the potent AIM-54C+ Phoenix missile. Two were direct hits at a range of 85 miles, while it was believed the 3rd MIG crashed into the ground while trying the evade the Phoenix. Deliveries of the Tomcat F.1 were completed by 1998 and eventually equipped 3 frontline squadrons, two for QRA and one for operational deployment (although the jets were pooled for the latter). A single training/OCU was also established, with the crews regularly deploying to both 'Red Flag' at Nellis AFB and 'Top Gun' at NAS Fallon, both in Nevada USA. One aircaft was lost in a 'bird strike' flying out of RAF Coningsby. The crew ejected safely. 4 jets were rotated through 1345 Flight at RAF Mount Pleasant on a yearly basis. The QRA jets regularly intercepted Russian TU-95 Bears and TU-160 Blackjacks off the UK coast. And beside my RAF FGR.1 Tomcat I built for the Tomcat GB earlier this year: Comments welcome, thanks for looking. Dave

I’ve been trying to make space for my latest project so am tidying up a few loose ends, this being one of them. Its Tamiya’s 1/48 scale M8 Greyhound built OOB apart from Hauler’s .50 update set. Really need to add some antenna's...! Enjoy…

Here it is the long awaited Airfix 1/48 Spitfire XIVc, but no , I jest , it is in fact a conversion from the Mk XII. I've lengthened the nose ,added full span wing tips, enlarged fin and rudder and Griffon radiators, the rest is just Airfix. I've also reduced the depth of the rear fuselage by about 1-1.5 mm, but you honestly can't see any difference from the original. Prop is from Quickboost. Decals are from a Tally-Ho sheet and I've attempted to simulate the effect of recently removed invasion stripes by masking and applying weathering powders, [not sure if this works or not ]. Hope you like it Andrew

G'day everyone Here is Trumpeter's 1/35 Aussie Aslav-25 (Phase three) that I built straight OOB. I know the kit is not without a couple of accuracy issues but I decided to build it OOB nonetheless. It was only after I finished it that I realised the decal instructions for the Chevron positioning in the kit are wrong... "Bullryder" is from B Squadron, in which case the chevrons should be facing upwards! Oh well :shithappens: Cheers Greg

Wow, that looks fantastic. Love the weathering and detail

Welsh Models ; £40 compared to Authentic Airliners ; £39 at todays exchange rate makes the latter item great value for money. In my opinion, The Welsh kit is the rip off, but that's only my opinion. The decals are great but wasted on the kit. I'd rather spend a couple of extra quid for shipping and get another resin masterpiece. Chris.

Super looking build, well done

You can be well satisfied with that! Fantastic stuff. I started building at about 16 myself, back when anything over ten quid was a no-go. Revell was always a good ally. The 1/72 F-105D was my personal favorite, and it's the only one of my early models to survive into adulthood without re-build. It was my first camo-job--SEA three-tone with tape & rattle-cans! No matter how tempted you are to scrap and re-build, you've always got to keep one for memory's sake... Cheers to good memories, & happy building! A. C.

Here's a photo of the various parts that are currently undergoing bits of work while I build the landing gear. The gear looks like it's going to have to be installed as I go along, but I'm still not quite 100% yet. The engines have been sprayed black inside after their exhaust ends being cleaned out, and the two supplied fans were given a coat of Alclad Polished Aluminium over a coat of gloss black make them shine, then the blades were picked out with some Mig Dark Wash. After installing two in each "tube", I closed them up with some liquid glue, taking care to get the outer seams the best, as the inner seams won't be seen at all because they press up against the bisecting firewall. The exhaust petals were quite easy to fold, simply requiring rolling on a four-ply bed of kitchen towel using a AAA battery, then the tab was CAd to the other end, and the inner petals (the ones without the central ridge) folded in, and the outer ones folded on top of them. To get them central I popped them on a handy conical paint bottle lid, and ran some thin CA between the blades to attach them together. A quick fit inside the outer sheath, and they were all blasted with Alclad black primer, then Alclad Jet Exhaust, with a bit sprayed inside the outer casing, as part of that can be seen. The burner ring was dropped into the rear onto a bed of pre-applied CA, and the stator vanes lined up vertically, just so they look tidy. The erroneous twin APU installation in the air-brake bay has been made good with a few scraps of styrene rod and wiring, which was painted something like the real thing. Of course I wasn't going to get EVERY bit in there, but it's hopefully busy enough to satisfy most viewers I spotted some nice flouro orange covers inside the bays of one Jag, and even though they're possibly not typical, I've put them in there for a bit of brightness. Here it all is with the closed up gun-bay in the background:

Hi, the V1 for me the father of the breed...of build em all...... Andy.

Ok been working on the under side had to remove section from the rear as antenna is fitted at the front on early cabs. Top panels will need a bit of filling to make them look nice. Front cowling opened up front intake vent. Opened rear cowling too

My experience in this cases dictates that you go for the "all in" option.

Sure looks nice from here! You don't half do neat work using spray cans. Maybe I should take a better look at that as an option in 1/32, I tend to soldier on doing large areas with a 0.2mm airbrush Al

wise words there Brad....people occasionally are very nice to me about some of my stuff - it didnt happen very quickly It's taken me a VERY long time to get to the point where I actually won a bronze at SMW so I'm dead chufed about getting it But I'm a long long way from a coveted gold. You met Bill Matthews at SMW, I introduced you and described Bill as walking History - he's a great guy and like most modellers a fountain of knowledge. Yet it took him years and years to get to being a medal winner in competitions...he's 80 now...! Some people pick up things quicker than others, tho' not me coz I'm dim...a very slow learner. Your modelling Brad has improved hugely since you first cam on BM so your doing just fine. Actually I think your doing better than me in the improvement scale.... etch....vacforms....scratchbuilding...just keep doing what your doing mate.

Go for Tamiya over Hasegawa. I've built the Airfix kit though (got them for nothing) and enjoyed building it regardless of faults and it still looks nice! If I was buying however, I would go for the Eduard kit(s). They are great looking kits, plus they come with mask and etch for the same sort of price as you would get the Tamiya kit for. I couldn't careless if they are 2mm too long or short, no one is going to know and as I've said before, I've exhibited at a few shows and no one comes round with a tape measure saying 'your model is 2mm out!'. thanks Mike

Aha!! gosh it seems a while back since the HB Tornado!! All I can say in retrospect is that I've seen built HB models with no mods and they look "OK" The lovely surface detail compensates for the shape a long way, but if you know what to look for you can see all the shape problems on the kits. It amazes me no one has done any resin corrections for the HB kit - even some properly angled intakes with some vestigial trunking would help. The nose would need a big old chunk of resin though to make it look OK, and actually what I did isnt too hard - its just very severe looking!!! Did we mention the wing gloves being too thick on the HB kit too? cheers Jonners who knows - perhaps Kinetic might step in......

Very nice! It even comes with B&Q access ladder, lol

Very impressive work, looks very natural and I think realistic in the detailling. How many times in models do you see the individual weapons just dropped on the ground? Well not in this one, real soldiers have to clean them and the Sergeant would not be pleased if they weren't to hand. Top work.

Some more pix from last nights session, Flaps are now and weathered. The end is getting near. Dan

Here is the first model I made after moving to Western Australia almost 7 years ago, built from box as a RAAF machine. Brush painted acrylics and some water colour to make it a little dirty. Took it down from the shelf to clean and managed to break a few parts off that needed re-glueing so you could argue I completed a model this weekend.......

Looks like our friend's used the Eduard set but with a little "creative" painting the cockpit would be equally beautiful! Duncan...start building one of these little gems and you'll resist the urge to use just about any AM goody....the kit comes with a few small issues but thay can easily enough get solved with the detailing/correction sets by Vector! Cheers Luigi Emanuele

Little bit of an update.I managed to get it on its stand. The way the stand is designed means the models lean in to each other. The decal for the base arrived from the US too.

Thanks chaps, glad you like her. The air brakes and landing flaps are extended, honestly it is the easiest way to fit them on:-) Also, the details in the flap bays are excellent and pity to be hidden. The NF.3 is planned for the next year, the master patterns are done, so it'll obviously take some time until the kit hit the shelves, Cheers Libor

nice work. as well as the other models you built. keep it up

Yes, what is it with Hasegawa and the wing to fuselage fit? Not to get off on a tangent but for what they charge for their kits, this problem which seems to be endemic i.e. Spitfires, Thunderbolts just to mention a few, is a bit ridiculous. Overall I will take Tamiya for the vast majority of the kits available. I do have the Hasegawa/Revell Germany 109E and it is definitely Tamiya's inferior. I think in the case of Hasegawa there is a philosophy among modelers that because it is Japanese it must be superior. Like the old song goes, "it ain't necessarily so." Cheers

Bill, post edited sccessfully. Al; HL-10; thanks for your help Stew

Here you go Mike, got the pod fitted tonight, weathered and the last few bits of detail painted. Regards Dan

Or visit the WHS reading library....

1:48 Farman HF 20 - building a master for resin kit: http://scalemodels.ru/modules/forum/viewtopic_t_40569_start_320.html

Found he did a fly past at Murrayfield before the Armed Forces Charity game Scotland v South Africa No need to guess who won !! Hope they raised lotsa cash and well done 6 Squadron

Have you used up your computer's quota of certain characters? Are you limited to using only a few keys on your keyboard? I have plenty of useful characters to spare, so here are some for you. Feel free to use them when you post here. ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ppppppppppppllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeee

Plodding on.All of the large assembly work has now been done. Next up is a marathon sanding/filling task , although i have assembled it carefully so theres not alot of huge gaps. Everything will then be in grey primer before painting starts. Luckily mostly aerosol cans. Heres the external tank and boosters. The boosters are not attached yet. That aerosol can is a LARGE Halfords can. Heres the orbiter. It needs filling and sanding. It also needs the cockpit fitting and cargo doors adding.

That kit is going to be assimilated.... by my stash!

Olá Vitor, Muito impressionante seu projeto. Eu estou lutando com um SHAR FA.2 1/48. Eu adoro Harriers! (sou brasileiro) Hello Vitor, Very impressive work! I'm struggling right now with a SHAR FA.2 1/48. I love Harriers!

Lovely build Vitor.

Hello phildagreek, thank you. Im glad you like it ;-) Hello goose, thank you :-) Well i have some but i dont have them all, some where lost in a house changing :-( fortunately some of the oldest escaped to the tragedy. But is really funny to look at them now. Thank you Simon :-) Well not always is possible to keep all of our stuff since we was born... there is lots of things that i already lost... from my toys i only kept the kits (well i think my toys where kits :-) :-) ;-) Hello jimbuna, thank you ;-) Hello Sean, thank you. Im glad you like it :-) Hello Spikelhund, thank you. You are right, a wonderful aircraft, the most beautiful british one. The light box works and it was very very cheap. Thank you all for you nice comments. Best regards Vitor Costa

Thank you all for your feedback. I built this model for one year. A few more shots: