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Greetings folks, It a took a while longer than planned due to five months off whilst I did some 1:1 scale filling and sanding on my kitchen, creating dust like I've never seen! All the modelling gear was packed away and only retrieved two weeks ago. Anyway, without further a do, here are yet more Suez stripes! I added a Pavla ejector seat, though in retrospect, not much can be seen with the wings folded. I also added the Pavla resin exhausts, replacing the pathetic attempt Trumpeter made of them. Oh, and having learnt my lesson from the Seahawk, I used Xtradecal roundels, backed with white discs (that come on the same Xtradecal roundel sheet). At times Trumpeter seem to needlessly over engineer things, then do dumb things like mould the wing fold ends with the wing top and bottom halves creating four awful horizontal seams to deal with. I'd originally planned to do this bombed up, but the instructions indicate wing bombs are mounted outboard of the wing fold. I doubted that wings would be folded with bombs mounted so backtracked. However, I'd already stolen half of Mr Wyvern's continent of rockets to arm up Mr Sea Venom! Scratching around I got some Pavla rockets, which required much cleaning up followed by scratch building the pylons for the Wyvern. Lesson learnt, plan ahead before stealing weapons from a kit! Paints, Xtracrylic Sky and EDSG, Tamiya 60/40 Lemon Yellow/White for the stripes, Vallejo for hand painting the seat, Alcad Stainless Steel, Pale Burnt Metal & Jet Exhaust for the exhausts. Dr Darren

Hello again . This is my latest build . The kit comes from Eduard , i used Gunze paintings , and for the weathering , oil paintings and Flory models washes Hope you like it ....

3rd build after returning to hobby. Custom printed decals for hong kong based aircraft. (only to find out the special hobby kit comes with) Some scratchbuilt stuff in cockpit, gunsight, seatbelts, headrest

Both Look to Windward and Consider Phlebas take their titles from the same couplet of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot: IV. DEATH BY WATER Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell And the profit and loss. A current under sea Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell He passed the stages of his age and youth Entering the whirlpool. Gentile or Jew O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

At last my Harrier on it's deck. While taking part in IPMS Athens 2013. Great show by the way.

Here’s my latest completion, finished last night. It’s 1/48 Special Hobby Sopwith Tabloid built and decaled almost entirely OOB in the markings of No 1 Squadron RNAS in April 1915 Box top: Nice and simple interior Finished today And my first real attempt a figure, Eduard this time…

Post final build update. After a bit more trimming with a scalpel here is the finished mesh: I used a plastic bag to protect the circuit board from overspray: I asked Attitude Adjustor if he would like me to make him little cushion or at least throw in some foam to where he would be living but this was met with a scornful rebuff; he tells me he would be prefer it to be as scratchy and uncomfortable as possible. Apparently this helps to keep Daleks in the right permanent grumpy mood required for universal domination: We now had a final look at the skirt section, AA thinks it looks very good: I am pleased that the little nutter is now snoozing quietly in happy anticipation of his new home. Good night, sleep well, Nigel

I must confess I tend to keep my weathering on civil stuff reasonably restrained. However, I found this album on Airliners.net and it has certainly got me thinking... http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?album=31542&thumbnails=noinfo&page_limit=120&photos_in_album=65&album_name=Dirty+Airplanes&album_creator=LesageCyprien&disp_order=desc Some great ideas for 'dirtying up' your next civil build Kev1n.... control yourself Tom

Hello guys. Hope I put this little fella, in correct topic. I´ve seen such bird nest in modelling magazine, and I´ve decided to build one myself. I would say it´s cca 1/35 sparow´s nest Hope you´ll like it.

Hi all Here is my completed build for the Obsolete Kits GB. It is the 45-year old Monogram Ju-87G. The box lid says it's a G-1 but it has the long-span wings, so I'm calling it a G-2. What a great kit for its age - I added the Airwaves etch for the cockpit and bought some beautiful Master barrels for the Flak 18 cannons. The fit was exemplary, the decals are the kits - although they are shot. This was one of the reasons I went for the winter finish as I wouldn't need to use most of them! Underneath that white distemper is a full splinter RLM 70/71 camouflage - I wanted to 'weather' the white a bit more than I did to show it through but I got scared of rubbing all the coats off! I added some minimal plumbing for the cannon to replace the moulded on detail and added the armour plating to the cockpit. The 65/70/71 and 04 theatre markings are Xtracrylix, the White is Tamiya and the spinner has Humbrol 47 brushed on. For anyone interested the build thread is here - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946391-148-monogram-ju-87g-update-0111/ Finished as an unknown Werk Nummer of Geschwader Stab, III/St.G 2, early 1943, Russia Many thanks for looking and all comments welcomed!

From the A-4 GB, the Fujimi 1/72 E/F kit built as an A-4G in the hybrid scheme that appeared when the RAN Skyhawks crossed the ditch and entered RNZAF service in mid 1984. There were a few variations on this but this is what 877/NZ6218 looked like for it's ferry flight and the immediate period afterward before the full complement of RNZAF markings were applied. Apart from the roundels the scheme is RAN, with an RNZAF SEA schemed tank on the centreline station. The roundels and rescue markings are slightly oversize, but they are the closest ones I had in my stash. The rest of the markings are from an Aussie Decal set included with some boxings of the A-4E/F sold in Australia. The pale colour is Tamiya AS-5 light blue, but it changes hue slightly depending on the lighting conditions, much like the full size aircraft did. Weathering was kept to a minimum (none in fact) as you see little if any on the real things in contemporary photos - they were very clean and tidy looking in general. Thanks for looking!

No long backstory for this one so clear your mind and lets imagine `What If` the Sea Vixen had gone into service on time with the USN showing an interest and purchasing it as a stop gap prior to the F-4 Phantom. VF-112 took the Vixen into combat in the last few months of the Korean War. Ok.., a bit of a long shot, but perhaps she may have looked like this? Straight out the box build, just shortened the booms at the leading edges.

Here are the results from my latest project. It's an OOB build of the latest release and couldn't resist finishing it as an Auxiliary Air Force machine. Went together quicker than I expected and it's finished with Gunze Aqueous paints apart from the green which is from Tamiya: Look forward to your comments, Best regards Howard

Hiya Folks, Here is my 1/32nd scale Hobbycraft Sea Fury finished in the silver and red scheme worn by the Aerobatics Flight of the Royal Australian Navy`s 805 NAS, circa 1958. Some nice photos of the real aircraft including three in colour appear on pages 70-72 of Tony Butlers Sea Fury book by Dalrymple & Verdun and my built thread is here; http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948523-silver-sea-fury-132nd-hobbycraft-kit-in-aussie-markings/?p=1433498 Anyway, here is the model, Tamiya silver spray paint, with Humrol enamel gloss red and varnish applied by brush; I`d like to say a very big thank you to Peter for helping me out with the vacuformed canopy and his fantastic 1/32nd scale land based Hawker Fury model, based on the Hobbycraft kit can be found here; http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=40054 Cheers mate!! All the best Tony O

My second 109, and probably not my last. Academy is not up to the Hasegawa quality for sure, its a very simple kit, not much detail on the surfaces or cockpit. Build direct off the box, just a couple of things modified such as guns, made out of brass tubing, pitot tube out of hypodermic needles and the tail wheel which was cutted and a shaft installed. Finished with Model Master enamels and Alclad lacquers.

Hello people, Today I want to show you my latest model. Trumpeter DH FB9 Vampire. The model has tried some of the problems I have to make the best of it. More to see 2014 in the German Modellfan Magazine. All the best Hans

Hi Chaps Many moons ago, I started this and its more or less there........Paints are Gunze .....wanted the used and neglected look............. Some minor fine tuning to go.....the whip antenna needs to be glued back straight......and some minor pesky clear lenses for the nav and top side lights............ Overall the kit fought me most of the way but the end result and the size is impressive......Maybe it was also due to the fact that when I started this I had many other things on my mind as well.............. Thanks for looking Mr B As always pardon the photos I am not a good photographer and the weather is very iffy these few days in my part of the world...........

There is some rubbish spouted on here about shops. Back in the seventies in Colchester, I used to buy Matchbox around the corner at a Sweetshop or a sweetshop on the way to my mums workplace, Esci from a garage with a small toy section, Woolworths & Smiths knocked out Airfix and a department store called Williams & Griffins sold a bit of everything from down in the basement. They got me into the hobby, I was more interested in being able to afford the kit, and why I could never find a Spitfire than being given specialist advice. I even remember finding Hannants for the first time @1977...that was upstairs in a Toyshop in the centre of Lowestoft. nothing particular specialist about that. Other than Hobbycraft, nowadays kids will not see models in shops, with the demise of Hobbyzone, Smiths may just be giving the hobby the exposure that will attract the people who will be keeping the hobby going in a few years.

"So AA will definately have a home somewhere at the show. He is getting very excited about it all, he has never been to a show and is now talking about little else. He is especially excited about meeting the full size Daleks and catching up on events in the wider Dalek universe." Did you ever see that Anthony Hopkins film "Magic" about a ventriloquist and his dummy ? . Does this scenario worry you at all Nigel

There's an awful lot of snobbery rearing it's head on here with comments about staff on minimum wage etc. I happen to know several people who work in retail who, despite their relatively low wages, will go the extra mile to help customers. Also don't get it in your head about the so-called 'serious modellers' somehow being disadvantaged by retailers only offering Airfix/Revell...retailers are only interested in what sells purely because of operating costs and if there is a demand for it. In an average sized town how many people on any given day are looking to buy an 'Eduard kit with all the bells and whistles'? If kits of that quality and price were in such high demand then there'd be a model shop on every high street. A retail outlet would be insane to hold stock like that unless it had a mail order service too. Modelzone may well have been scuppered by overstocking on RC and diecasts but they would have been in deeper trouble had they stocked shelves full of high end resin and brass...the reason these items make money is because they are largely stocked by online retailers who aren't paying thousands of pounds out simply for shelf space. MZ did well on kit sales but I'm willing to bet that most of those sales were Airfix/Revell/Tamiya....I think the management at WHS may have checked out unit sales of each brand before deciding what to stock.

Hi all! I want to show the new work. Prototype CT-133 from acrobatic group Heavy Metal Jet Team. http://www.airliners.net/photo/Canadair-CT-133-Silver/1810895/L/&sid=0297b8a65666abc7f5e8793c6cdd86e0 http://www.airliners.net/photo/Canadair-CT-133-Silver/1938239/L/&sid=0297b8a65666abc7f5e8793c6cdd86e0 http://www.airliners.net/photo/Canadair-CT-133-Silver/2275843/L/&sid=b6184bc031f55c09ded5c779c6696d40 And the kit.

I should've seen that coming shouldn't i? Love - hate Gary - or more like hate then affection. Hated the JP3 at the time - cos it was the source of considerable misery and not much pleasure. Quite liked the JP5 cos I was getting a bit more confident by then - that is until I spent many miserable minutes (felt like hours) lost during low level navigation training. Now I feel the nostalgia and affection that creeps on with advancing age and the blunting of traumatic memories Now the Hawk - I did love the Hawk. Even though it was still training and no-one was guaranteed to pass the course. Surely everyone that's ever sat in the Hawk loves it. Get that FOI request in Tim; they'll be hanging around in an MOD file somewhere....... Yep. Some memories are exempt from my comment about the blunting of traumatic memories. Gonna share one or two? I did have a look at it after I'd got the Pavla Strikemaster. I wouldn't have used the instrument panel from either set and so that wasn't an advantage of the Obscuro set for me. Also the Obscuro set doesn't have a vac canopy. I decided to stick with the Pavla set as the mouldings were so nice and the mods on the sidewalls etc needed to turn it into a JP cockpit were only minor. Now - I know you'll all be as sick of the Ejections seats in this build as I am. But.... I've finally finished one It's taken me two sessions to get the CMR PE belts finished on one seat and half finished on another - and I've still got two to go! Anyway - I promise not to bore you with any more photos of ejection seats other than when they're sat in the cockpits. After this that is... It took an age not withstanding there are no negative G straps or leg restraints (and neither will there be in this build!). I'm not convinced that they're as good as moulded in belts. I guess both styles will have their advocates. TTFN Steve PS. I've left the PE top handle off deliberately so that it doesn't get knocked off. I'll stick it on just before the canopy goes on.

Weapons are the same, so plenty of spares. I picked one of these up on Hobbyeasy for £25 including shipping and was impressed. Expensive for a 1/72 kit, but a big saving over the UK retail price. There are some niggling and annoying inaccuracies in Hasegawa's kit (what were they thinking with those seats?) but the detail is excellent. To be the choice is between this and Revell is a difficult one, because the advantages Hasegawa has over Revell are cancelled out by it's deficiencies, not least the price, and the same is true the other way around. A couple of additional points to note. Hasegawa have tooled two different fuselages for the single and twin-seat aircraft to reflect the difference in the location of the avionics bay, which means they are the only manufacturer to do it right. They've also done the 29 Sqn markings correctly and included the walkway markings for the wings.

And don't I feel like a twerp, talking about something that only happened eight months after I was born!

The US had been conducting psychological warfare (which I'm sure the Soviets called provocations) for some time prior to ABLE ARCHER 83, including FLEETEX 83 in the Pacific, SAC flights almost into Soviet airspace, and announcing the SDI. Andropov was obsessed with the idea of a US first strike, and had initiated Operation RYAN, an overall plan to focus the KGB on warning of a NATO first strike prior to launch in 1981; by the time of ARCHER, many unrelated incidents had started to look like a pattern, because if you look for a pattern long enough, you'll find one.

Or worst-case scenario, a harbinger of very serious shape issues with the new Beaufighter.

Needs a voice synthesizer. How much fun would it be to have a remote microphone and the first inquiring mind that attempts to put his hands on AA is told not to touch or be exterminated. Great fun. Have a pirate figure 6 feet tall (or 18 hands high thought you would like a new measurement scale Nigel) with a built in voice box I use at Halloween to scare off teenagers much too old to be trick or treating. AA needs a voice!!!

Plodding along with Canberra and she's getting close but looking very monotone The catapault and crane are just blu-tacked down to get an idea how they look. I still have to finish the crane off yet and the cat I'll attach after rigging is finished. Still have to do the support lines for the aft mast, just have to figure out where to attach at the bottom without interrfering with the arc of the main guns or crane. More to come soon thanks for looking Cheers Callum

Didn't the Skua get the first British a-a kill of WW2 (Dornier flying boat or something)? Anyway: Flatted the filler now, and given it a guide coat, which revealed a few pores. After a bit more fettling and shaping, and a final guide coat, I've dotted some Mr. Surfacar 1200 (basically a filler primmer that I tend to use purely as a filler) into the flaws. When that's set I'll flat it again and start rescribing the panel lines.

Not been taking many pics this week but have managed to get all the big bits together and the fuselages re-scribed. What a chore that was ! The tail feathers on the AF kit have benefitted from some solar trim strips and in the progress of having the lights fitted on the rudder. I left the Frog feathers as they are apart from some scribing, whist different, I do want to finish this side of my funeral ! The cockpits need a bit of tidying up and there's some other touches of filler still needed, but happy with the progress. Close up of the Frog kit - the wing roots have been faired with Miliput. The cooling gills haven't been made yet. And the AF kit Cheers, Neil

Flatulence - a source for female embarassment and male bonding.

As an aside to my "Aircraft my Father fixed" project, I've decided to build examples of other 5 Sqn aircraft from periods when he wasn't ground crew. So to begin with, here is an EE Lightning, the 1:48 Airfix kit. This is pretty much OOB with just the addition of a resin seat and decals sourced from numerous places to represent a 5 Sqn aircraft. I opened up a couple of ports and intakes in the fuselage. I can't honestly say this is one of my best builds - I made a number of mistakes during the build which caused me a certain degree of grief. The paint is Tamiya Acrylics for the camo and details and Alcad Aluminium for the undersides. Its the first time I've used Alcard for large areas, prior to this I'd just used the chrome on the Routemaster handrails. I didn't have too many problems with it. So here are the photos with my new camera!

At last...it's finished - 69cm of resin goodness Hope you like it

Actually I do think a Model of the Mallard in 1/24 would be a good idea...The one with the link is awesome in 1 Gauge but that is I would hasten to guess made from brass and other metal. But a plastic kit would I think be a better bet than the dirty great rail gun that was released several years back.

IIRC, didn't NATO and the Warsaw Pact generally indicate to each other in advance when they had large exercises? Similar principles to the various cross-Curtain military missions. The Soviets I presume thought this was the dreaded "straight from exercise into war" attack that we always assumed they might do to us.

Let's pore through our stashes and see what we can mould into a model?

Eggsellent work...!!

OK, I'm back, worked till midnight last night, nice and snug in the workshop though with an oil filled radiator. Winter was definatley here last night.............. Out comes the carving knife again, I wasn't sure how to tackle this side of the paving so left it proud so I could carve it if I wanted. In the end, I had a different plan. So the raised lond bit has to go....... After some lengthy printing with another wooden die I printed some long retaining setts along the edge....... Then I turned my attention to the other side adjacent to the wall, I wanted more of the same really along the walls base.......... You can see where I have cut out the old scruffy paving showing the foam. I always knew that I would be making these changes for the better. You can see the new paving in a couple of pictures but now I started to mark out the masonry blockwork for the canal wall. This bond is called ashlar and is very common....... In this pictures below, I have started to incise the joints between the stone blocks and carved them so they have slighlty different inclinations. Also I have changed the bulk of each stone to give it individually. (every stone has it's own life and story)

Have some initial steps done on the weathering, concentrating mostly on the turret - I was switching back and forth with that and the hull while dealing with the clear decals that have the vehicle's number and nick name. Didn't keep count, but did well over half dozen layers of future and sanding, repeating the procedure to get rid of the decal edge. The upper hull sides have nothing added since last post, just some flat spray. After the initial detail wash using Florys dark dirt and mud brown, I lightly dry brushed the original vehicle colour to clean up excess wash. I then mixed up a shadow colour with red and ultramarine blue for deeper details, like the hull deck grill located behind the turret. Colour modulation consisted of a MiG filter ochre wash on the turret top, and their brown product over other areas. For further highlighting, instead of oils, I just relied on my Tamiya paints, thinning them with their dedicated product, and building up just a couple thin layers of lightened olive (SCC15). regards, Jack

Good stuff lurcher, will take that advice when I finally get back I the bunker, Jk

So, where were we? We were musing about the lack of a floor for the poor waist gunners, so let's see if we can do something about that. From the photos I've seen, it appears the floor was partially a grate of some kind, perhaps to allow things to fall through so the gunners wouldn't trip. Or for water to drain - heck, I don't know it just looks like a grate in the pictures! I first made a solid floor from sheet styrene, making sure it was the right shape to get captured between the fuselages without interference. Then I used some thinner sheet to make a central floor, and some small diameter styrene rod to make the rods in the "grate." Like so: Amazingly enough, the size and shape of the floor is almost identical to the piece from my Academy B-24J kit (indeed, that's what I used for reference!). Going back to the photos, there is a step up to a higher level that covers the ball turret, or in my case, the antisubmarine radar. This area will just barely be seen through the waist windows, and even then you're going to sprain your neck. So I decided not to do any crazy detailing here - like for instance the retraction mechanism which protrudes through this higher floor on planes fitted with the ball turret. I have no idea what was used for the radar, maybe they used the same mechanism, maybe not. I also scratch built the gun supports from thin styrene rod and attached them to the proper location on the floor so the guns will be in the center of the window. Eduard has some cute little PE brackets to hold the guns onto the supports - I'll add those later after I fit them to the guns. So here is what I came up with for the floor: Eduard provides a large piece of ribbed PE to go over the floor above the ball turret, so I figured I'd use it. I have no idea whatsoever if it's accurate or not, but you really won't see it. I decided to leave that piece unpainted (other than a flat varnish to come at the end) to add some contrast. Everything else got painted with my favorite Chromate Yellow: Note the PE brackets for the ammo boxes. Incredibly fiddly, these will be mounted on the fuselage wall forward of the waist windows, and the ammo boxes will set on top of them. Speaking of ammo boxes, Eduard supplies those, and these were much easier to fold up. The other pieces shown here go beneath the waist windows and appear a dark red-brown in photos (as do the ammo boxes). I suspect these are wooden pieces on the actual aircraft. There are additional brackets that are added to the long pieces; these lock the gun in position when it is swung over to the window. I'll be painting all of these parts today. The postman was so kind as to deliver some more resin yesterday, including a gaggle of oxygen bottles (I'll only use these in places where you can see them) and - drum roll - the antisubmarine radar. Now I won't have to scratch build it! Good old Quickboost, you never know what they have up their sleeve. Well, you would if you actually looked at their catalog once in a while! Since my model will be depicted on the ground, the radar will be retracted (like you see in the picture). Quickboost designed it so you can also show it extended. Today I'll try to get the floor weathered and mounted onto the fuselage and start putting the PE details in place. I also ordered a set of .50 cal Browning machine guns (in resin) which I'll use instead of what is supplied in the kit (which only resemble machine guns in the academic sense). Well, maybe I'll try to get that done - it appears the missus has just arrived with a honey-do list. Drat! Cheers, Bill

Nice build of an ugly duckling! That BA scheme makes it look almost nice. (But I've bought that kit as well, maybe one day I'll be able to see it as a beautiful swan). Cheers John

Beautiful finish on that, very nice job

Ok, got the lower wing section glued in. and have taped the upper sections into place. there is a very small gap at the back of the wing section. but most of that is down to the way i cleaned up the mating face. but compared to the Dora this is far far better

Left side of the engine done now. I'm going to spray a flat coat, then add some fuel stains. I'll start the mount tonight

The pilot's office is done:

I've learned with someone so I think it is fair if I teach what I know! Sometimes it's nice to try some "scratch" but only "sometimes"... Thanks mate! 1/144??? You are crazy... Guys, Stay tuned updates soon...

Olivier, Thanks mate! Few updates: I'm pretty happy with the results!!!