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Dear ladies and gentlemen, Let me present you my first model in this year. Used three sets of etching details from “Eduard” – indoor, outside and flaps. I am sure that the same airplane from “Airfix” much better than Revell. Especially about transparent parts, even though I took this kit when it only came out. Painted: Mr.Color top, bottom - "NATO Black" from Tamiya. Wheels and machine guns are resin.

This is a really great kit. I hope they continue with more aircraft kits!

Before starting on my Phantom, I am tidying up the bench and finishing up some of the builds that are nearly complete. First one of these is the new(ish) Revell B-17G. My son brought me the kit for Fathers Day and I have been working on it on and off since then. I am no expert on B-17s so I went straight from the box on this one. First look is that it is well detailed, with a huge amount of interior details, the bulk of which won't be seen. The kit went together really well, with no fit issues anywhere. As for accuracy, like I said, I am not B-17 expert, so I wouldn't have a clue whether it is right or not, though I'm not fussed as it looks like a B-17 to me. Onto the pictures... Hope you like them. Steve

This is my VMA-214 A-4M Skyhawk from Hasegawa in 1/48th scale. Pretty much OOB except for a resin seat and TwoBobs decals...oh, and a resin 400 gal. c/l tank. And a teaser for another Skyhawk I have just finished... Jens

Evening all - well, Im calling her done ( though she needs a little weathering - I like her clean). The WIP thread is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234991724-hawker-hunter-f2-148th-scale-academy-aeroclub-feat-uncle-tom-cobley/ WT751 "T" of 118 Sqn, RAF Jever late May/early June 1955 - probably around lunchtime after the servicing team had refitted the cannon ejector ports, but not quite attached the sabrinas yet..... A big thank you to the Britmodellers who helped with this build - you prove once again just how helpful and generous this site is. Finished with GSI/Gunze acrylics, Freightdog decals plus serials from the decal bank. There was a lot of work to do on this model to get it looking more like the graceful Hunter than the kit initially delivers, and TBH I rather ran out of steam: But suffice to say I reckon she looks more Hunter like now than from the box! Hope you like her. All comments welcome. Jonners

Hi all,this is one of three vehicles for an upcoming diorama and second posting from the ready for Battle set,it was a joy to build and a great size for 1/48 scale,great fun all roun.Thanks for looking.

Hello Chaps, just finished this 1/48 skyray, my modelling efforts have dropped off since new job takes me away from home, so making the most of january off. A bit glad to see it finished to be honest, was fed up of it by the end!

Hi Folks This is the Monogram Delta Dagger with the C&H resin conversion to turn it into a TF102A Not too difficult a conversion apart from the canopies which are VERY thin and require a lot of TLC,I spent three hours putting all the vortex generators on the canopies not sure if I would do it again. Painted with Xtracolors ADC grey and finished with Repliscale decals.I liked this scheme as the buzz number was painted in the wrong place Just as an aside I saw this actual aircraft along with many more of this type when they staged through Prestwick Airport in the early to mid sixties when they were withdrawn from Spain and Holland [/url ]

Along with the A-4M posted last night I have also finished this Kiwi A-4K Skyhawk. It's the Hasegawa 1/48 A-4E/F converted to an A-4K. The changes are all minor, and they are well described on the Gekko Graphics decal instructions. I used Xtracolor enamels for the SEA scheme and Gekko decals to finish it off. I armed it according to the Gekko instructions using a couple of LAU-10 fra the Hasegawa weapons set. Jens

Always loved the F-111... Hobby Boss kit is simply great! Kit's only weak point are the decals somehow. Some stencil were printed very thin and the longer ones were too delicate.

The trusty old Airfix Hellcat from 1967. I remember my brother making one of these about 40 years ago and always fancied doing one myself, finally after 40 years here it is. I picked this kit up on a whim for a fiver at the last Yeovilton show and then couldn't resist building it. One of the most enjoyable builds I can remember, this kit went together very easily considering it's age, the folding wing joint being the only problem. The Transfers were very dry and yellow but I managed to save everything except the roundels which I replaced with ones from the spares box, I didn't want to spend money out on aftermarket stuff for such a old fashioned kit. Four or five coats of paint were used to reduce the effect of the riveting, the white bits still need a little touching up.

Speaking of tankers... http://www.c-130.net/g3/c-130-photos/North-American-C-130-Photos/USN-and-USMC-C-130s/2013_Spotlight_Web_KC130_C_130_Refueling_choppers_1267828237_1289

Hello everyone. Here's my latest, Roden's very nice Heinkel 51B completed pretty much out of the box, but using an old AeroMaster decal sheet bought a long time ago for the Classic Airframes kit that I never got around to building. I think this kit is probably a little easier to put together! The build should appear in a future copy of Model Airplane International. Haris http://harisali.co.uk/

I like when the varnish makes what it wants on the weathering! The Eduard model is one of their first kits (I think!) : it's a good quality "short run". Building is good... good enough? I had to use a lot of surfacer and a few filler. Not so bad. Some détails are quite thick (machine gun) but some holes had to enlarged The box was a week end edition : I only had ejection détails for the cockpit. Overall, there are best offerings : Tamiya and Academy. The latter would be the best. Well, the Eduard's rendering is still good and is must be accurate : it fits with SAMI 1/72 plans. and it looks like the not-to-scale plans of the "Aérojournal hors série" about the Il 2 : And now, the only Il 2 in my stash is a Zvezda-ex Toko one!

Well it was a big year and a half for the production bench last year even though for the first half of the year I was away from home 3 weeks out of 4! I still managed to have my best year of models produced for sometime. There were a number of firsts for me last year as well as finding myself a convert to acrylic paints. Anyway the builds, they were all for GB’s other that one long term project that went way quicker than I had planned! So here we go….I know it’s a bit late but I’ll sneak this in! 1/48th Messerschmitt Bf-110-G4 NightFighter (completed 26th January) This was part of the Bf-110 STGB, which started the previous year. I could have chosen an easier subject as information for this particular aircraft was quite poor to say the least! The base model was an Eduard kit with lots of extras thrown in, thought a problematic build, it was still and enjoyable build! 1/48th CAC CA-13 Boomerang (completed 28th March) This was build as part of the “Lesser Built Air-Force GB” for which of cause I choose Australia and an indigenous designed and build aircraft. The base model was from Special Hobby, which needed lots and lots of work to correct. If it hadn’t been so expensive I would have built the Ally Cat version! Part of the cockpit and wheel wells required replacing and long with the engine. In the end I was really happy with the result and it was to be the start of many more WWII RAAF that I plan to build. 1/72nd Caprica Air Force Jet Viper (completed 28th June) Again part of a GB, this time the “Sci Fi II GB”. This is not a subject matter that I normally build but I had seen this amazing resin model by Fantastic Plastic and I just had to have it. Plus with luck this GB came along as well so I had an excuse to build it. The only issue with the model was that the resin canopy was too small for the cockpit. The only way around was to VacForm a new canopy and while I was at it, completely rebuild the cockpit, plus do a few other mod’s to it as well. I just loved this model, it was such an enjoyable build, I just wish someone would do one in 1/48 or 1/32 scale! 1/48th RAAF F-4-1-LO Recon Lightning (completed 14th July) Well this was for the P-38 Lightning GB and as well my first GB as a host. As usual I wanted to build something different and by chance I found out that the RAAF had three of them in service during the war. So I knew I had to build one of these rare and unique birds. The base model was from Academy with additional AM parts and decals from RedRoo. It was a really enjoyable build but unfortunately I couldn’t complete it in time for the GB. Chomp Bot #5 (completed 30th August) This was built as part of the “Non Injected Moulded GB” which again I was host for. I had planned to bring out something big, resin, and very exotic for this GB but time was an issue for me as I was still working those long shifts away from home. I am a big fan resin and some of the more exotic models to be found in that medium. I found this one on the Industria Mechanika site an new it was what I wanted to build. It was a very straightforward build with the addition of lighting…which was a first for me. 1/72nd Martin B-51G Panther "Tropic Moon III" wt Pave Gat (completed 9th October) This was for a GB I had been waiting for and was really excited about…”What If III”!!! I had now finished my crazy shift patterns and wanted to build something epic! By chance I had come across some amazing graphic work by an artist, Logan Hartke. One of the prints was of a highly modified Martin XB-51 in Vietnam SEA era colour scheme with modifications similar to the Martin B-57G Canberra. After contacting the artist a plan was hatched and the required bits obtained. The base model was an Anigrand XB-51, which was badly warped! I had an old B-57G model lying around which would donate its nose. Just about everything on the original model was either rebuilt or made from new, it was a epic build for sure! The result was more than I could ever hoped for…she looked amazing, so much so I even though about spending large amounts of money and building a 1/48th scale version! 1/48th Arado Ar-234 P5 (completed 8th November) Ok this is the one non-GB build for the year. I had had a plan for this build for sometime and had mentioned it a few times in the WhatIf section. Well I had the chance to start this build when I finish may old shift pattern in the middle of the year…..I sort of got bored and wanted a long term project outside of GB’s (sort of like the He-177Z I did the pervious year). So armed with my drawings I assembled all the parts I would need. Model is from Hasegawa, their Ar-234 C, wings from Antares, and nose and turbo props from Unicraft (the bit from Antares and Unicraft were bought back in 2014..that’s how long this project was in the plans for). What put me off from starting this project much earlier was the condition of the parts from Unicraft, the moulds were quite old so the casts were very poor and warped, mostly unusable as is. So the nose ended up being custom made and the engine pods and intakes completely rebuilt. I have since recast these items and may use them for future projects or sell them. The build was very straightforward and simple in reality and the whole lot came together quite quickly. End result is something very unique but actually looks very believable in the Luft46 would. Oh and the wings were actually tested on V-16 and the engines were running in the Jumo factory and the radar was fitted a few Ju-88 G6’s. 1/48th Meteor NF.13 (completed 21st November) Again this one was for the Meteor GB and as usual I went for something a bit different. The thing with this one was the colour scheme, what I had thought to be a simple one ended up giving me the most issues, first with locating the required decals (I now have 4 rather large sets of Israeli decals!) then with the actual camouflage pattern. I based mine on the example current in the Israeli Air Force museum, but at some stage the pattern on this aircraft changed from the other NF.13’s! But all that aside it was a very nice and VERY quick build. The base model was from Classic Airframes with the only extras being new intakes from Barracuda. 1/48th Northrop F-5A "Skoshi Tiger" (completed 12th December) Ok this is the last build of the year, another GB and one that I’m hosting…still. At the start of this GB and even in the planning stages I wasn’t really excited about the F5 as an aircraft, it just seemed to simple. After completing this model I’ve fallen in love with this aircraft, it has such a clean curving lines, as well as being a very successful aircraft. The base model was from Wolfpack, which was a Kinetic model with some resin extras. While both models are considered to be the most accurate model of the F-5A, both leave a lot to be desired as far as the actual model goes. It did require quite a bit of unnecessary additional work to sort out basic issues. But the end result though is a very lovely model and one I’m very proud of, a quick build, as I had to get it finished before I went on holidays. Well that is it, the production house was very busy last year and I’m very happy all the final products. 2016…….well there are plans for a couple of major builds this year, a 1/32nd scale beast will arrive plus I have two special projects currently under way….and there is always the possibility that the next even bigger He-177Z might make an appearance…or at least get started. Thank you for looking.

I must begin by stating I'm not a Spitfire expert by any stretch of the imagination, so I fully expect to have missed something. I am aware that it's lacking tail codes.. Anyway, I built this for a dear friend of mine who's dad, her hero, flew recce Spitfires over the Mediterranean, earning himself a DFC for his troubles. I converted the Revell/Hasegawa Mk. IX into this aircraft using a Quickboost resin conversion set and Kitsworld decals. All the relevant bits were in the box (tall tail etc.) The aircraft was finished to represent this aircraft, which is being flown by my friend's father in the photograph: The stand was 3D printed and the aircraft was fixed in place with magnets. It was finished in Vallejo PRU blue with very subdued weathering, like the aircraft in the reference, limited to Alclad jet exhaust exhaust staining and a subtle paynes grey panel wash. It was all sealed with Tamiya clear satin. I presented her with the model today and she was extremely touched. Her dad was her hero, and I felt compelled to build this for her ever since I heard he flew recce aircraft.

Fought me all the way Sword's Lightning T.5 Regards Glenn.

1/32 Revell Be a Hawk The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Scampton. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial teams that had been sponsored by RAF commands. The Red Arrows badge shows the aircraft in their trademark diamond nine formation, with the motto Éclat, a French word meaning "brilliance" or "excellence". Initially, they were equipped with seven Folland Gnat trainers inherited from the RAF Yellowjacks display team. This aircraft was chosen because it was less expensive to operate than front-line fighters. In their first season, they flew at 65 shows across Europe. In 1966, the team was increased to nine members, enabling them to develop their Diamond Nine formation. In late 1979, they switched to the BAE Hawk trainer. The Red Arrows have performed over 4,700 displays in 56 countries worldwide. This is Revells 1/32 kit which went together ok, there were a few fit issues, but apart from that nothing out of the ordinary. This particular aircraft has a light chip inside allowing for the strobe lights to work, navigation lights and the main from light, the chip and lighting were supplied by Jennifer Smith @ [email protected], she's a pleasure to work with, the pilot is a PJ productions 1/32 modern day pilot, with resin ejector seats and Eduard seat belts. The red was Halford’s mars red, decanted and airbrushed, enjoy and thanks for looking. https://youtu.be/ZCYdKvY5S1s to see the lights in action Mike

Hello mates! I finished this model a few months ago... i think that Zvesda's kit is a great kit full of details and options for the amount of cash it asks to be yours. With little effort it gives an accurate and impressive replica of one of the most famous aircraft of WW-II. Hope you like it!!!thnx George

It is sad to know they are being (already) retired from Royal Air Force of Oman service. This is 1/72 Hasegawa Jaguar with custom made decals. Best Omer ERKMEN Turkey

I can't remember if the vent pipe was connected to the Andover fuselage tanks we had in the freight bay on the C1K. I suspect not because the fuel manifolding was somewhat 'Heath Robinson' to say the least. When we gave fuel away it came from our 'in use' tanks (via the AUX tanks if memory serves), the Nav controlling the 'give away' on a fuel panel above the Nav station (the Loadie then controlled the pump(s) that pumped fuel from the Andover tanks up to the Main tanks in the wings. Additionally (because the Nav had no periscope (unlike the Victor and VC10 tankers), it was the Loadie that controlled the signalling to the fighters as to when they could join and suck). That being the case then I would assume that the 'normal' fuel vents were used. I do know that the C1K had a distinct and unique fuel dump pipe that lay on the port underside just forward of the door hinge line. Tanker freight bay, looking aft: You can just see the fuel dump pipe in this shot, it's the black dot just to the left of the yellow line just forward of the port tailplane leading edge.

Ok time for an up date, I've been mucking about with different materials to try and convey the bow wave/spray I'm thinking this might do the job In the raw and with a flash coat of off white to show the detail It obviously needs more work in the colour department but what do you think of the basic wave/spray? Thanks for looking in Kev

Hey All, The build has slowed down somewhat the last two weeks. My wife has been home from work the past week and I can't get a thing done. I sort of had a builders block for a few days there last week, I pulled myself out of it by buying some new models. The amount of detail has been somewhat overwhelming lately. The build is moving along at a fair pace, just gobs of details. And of course the first one is always the slowest to build. Now that I have the routine down, things will pick up speed. So this is where things are. Building all the tiny parts for the details involves mostly cutting and not building. The built parts do have a good number of parts tho. I first had to build the Belt tighteners, and Idler Support Rollers. Parts for the Belt Tighteners and Idler Support Rollers Here they are finished The various parts for the details, that are all over this thing. In this photo I am adding the nuts and bolts to detail the visible surfaces. Still a lot to do, but all is being done. The next seven faces of the Trucks should proceed a bit faster now that I know what's happinin'. Be back soon gang! Thanks.

025 by aaron hughes1, on Flickr 026 by aaron hughes1, on Flickr 028 by aaron hughes1, on Flickr 027 by aaron hughes1, on Flickr 030 by aaron hughes1, on Flickr A massive thanks to our own Chrisrope for the decals, hope you enjoy

I have thought long and hard before deciding what to build for this GB ! Being a "made in Britain" GB of course meant that the subject had be built in Britain but I liked the idea of building a British kit too. No problem here as I have plenty in the stash, however the original suggestion for this GB was named "Best of British" and I also liked the idea of building a good kit of a good subject. For a while I wanted to build something simple, but then realised that the best kits I had in the stash were not necessarily what I felt I wanted to build. No problem in terms of subject: what's better than a Spitfire ? But with a Spitfire STGB coming soon I had to decide which ones I wanted to build here and which ones in that STGB.. then there's also an MTO GB coming and a couple of Spitfires may fit in there too... So it was that I pulled from the stash two "British" kits of one of the best variants of Supermarine's finest: the Mk.XIX. British is in brackets because while both were sold under a British label, none was actually made in Britain, let's see what they are and everything will be explained ! On the right is the well known Airfix PR.XIX kit. This was one of the first kits made under the then new Hornby ownership of the legendary British brand. This kit suffers from very heavy panel lines and is quite simplified. And we all know these kits are made outside the UK (mine has a Made in China label). Accuracy is not the best but more of this will be discussed during the build.. It's a kit many here know so I'm pretty sure that these sprue shots will be familiar. Several parts have been removed from the sprues a while ago for a number of reasons. The red marks indicate features typical of pressurised aircrafts.. again more of this later ! One the left in the first picture is a bag containing the AiM BBMF special Spitfire XIX. This was purchased on this forum and arrived here with no box (actually I like bagged kits, they take less shelf space). Again this is not really a British made kit as in reality this is an MPM kit, the second mould of this aircraft made by the well known Czech group. This is a short run injected kit with some parts in resin. Accuracy seem to be better than the Airfix kit but of course the mould is what we can expect from an early Czech short tun... Now the plan is to build models of the two different subvariants of the Spit XIX: the non pressurised Type 389 and the definitive pressurised Type 390. All the differences will be shown in the build but let's say that the most important are the different canopies and the lack on the 389 of the cabin pressurisation intake and a couple of bulges.. and these are the parts marked in the red in the Airfix kit sprue shot However there's been a change of plan since I checked these parts on the Airfix kit and I'll build this as a Type 390 while the AiM/MPM kit will be built as a Type 389. Both kits will receive some extra detailing as what's in the boxes is IMHO pretty poor. Detail will include something in the cockpit and new wheel wells (that have no detail in these kits). Markings for the Type 389 will come from an old Almark sheet dedicated to WW2 RAF Recce types. The XIX included is RM645 of 682 Sqn. based in Southern Italy in early 1945. This fits well with my ongoing builds of aircrafts operating over Italy in WW2. Markings for the Type 390 are yet to be decided.. I may build an overall PRU Blue aircrafts of 2 Sqn. based in Germany in the immediate pot war years or a natural metal aircraft of 81 Sqn. in the Far East

SU-33 Flanker D 1:48 Kinetic Models The SU-33 is a carrier based development of the SU-27 that has suffered from the dearth of finances following the break-up of the Soviet Union at the end of the last millennium. Soon after it was taken into service by the Soviet Navy, funding was reduced to the military as a whole, and as a result only 24 airframes were ever built. Overseas sales were attempted, but none came to fruition for various reasons, and further sales to the Russian Navy weren't an option, as in 2009 they decided on the navalised Mig-29K going forward. Beginning with the basic SU-27 airframe, the internal structure and landing gear were beefed up to cope with the additional stresses of hard carrier landings, the wings were enlarged to provide additional lift, and both the wings and stabs were fitted with folding mechanisms for storage below decks. The first aircraft embarked on the Admiral Kuznetsov in 1995 after substantial testing, but the cancellation of other carriers led to the projected buy of 72 airframes being cut back to the aforementioned 24. They are being drawn down in favour of the Mig-29K, and will be refurbished to replace their outdated avionics for future use elsewhere. Below is a video showing why carrier landing practice is a good thing. The airframe was lost when an arrestor wire snapped, resulting in a trip to Davy Jones's locker for the aircraft. The Kit This is a complete new tooling of this large twin-engined fighter, and it received much praise when the test shots were on view at Telford in late 2015, filling a hole in the Soviet/Russian fast jet line-up in this scale. It would appear that Kinetic have really pushed the boat out for this release, as not only is the part count high, but the detail is also exceptional, with lots of slide-moulding used to create complex detail on multiple facets of parts that would have been impossible using non sliding moulds. The box is fairly standard for Kinetic, in their familiar blue scheme with a painting of an airborne D on the front, but inside there are some rather nice packaging touches, including separate boxes for the delicate exhaust parts and the missiles. Each box has a custom tray inside that holds the parts safe from harm until needed. There are sixteen sprues of various sizes and ten spruelets in mid grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet, and an instruction booklet. The instructions are in A4 portrait format and follow a new greyscale 3D drawing style, rather than the traditional line drawing seen on older kits. First impressions are excellent, with lots of detail, parts and clever moulding, as well as the size of the aircraft, as evidenced by the large upper and lower fuselage parts on the top of the box. Construction starts predictably enough with the cockpit, which has separate rear bulkhead and four side console panels added to improve the detail, plus the control column and a separate set of rudder pedals made up of PE and styrene parts. The K-36DM zero-zero ejection seat built up from a substantial number of parts, with PE used for the leg restraints, although sadly there aren't any seatbelts included in the kit, which is a bit of a shame. The instrument panel fits to the front of the cockpit with plenty of raised and engraved details, but no decals for the dials, which is again a bit of a shame, leaving it up to the modeller to furnish them. Attention then shifts to the nose gear bay, which sits under the cockpit in the finished article. It is a deep bay, and has additional height added in the shape of detailed sidewalls, with a pair of bulkheads at the ends, and a rib/support around the halfway point. The main bays are relatively shallow, and are built up from individual panels into a rough square shape, to be added to the lower fuselage. The bay roof is moulded into the upper fuselage, and has hoses and wiring moulded-in to improve the detail. The cockpit and wheel bays can then be added to the lower portion, while the instructions tell you to add some of the bay doors at this stage, along with the recess that projects into the engine nacelle. The trunking is built up in pairs for obvious reasons, with the upper half attached to the fuselage bottom along with a pair of fan-faces, before being covered over by the big lower parts after adding some additional PE parts including the built-in FOD guards, and either open or closed auxiliary inlet louvers underneath. These complex slide-moulded cowlings have the upper half of the trunking moulded in, and it is unlikely that any resulting seam will be visible once the assembly is completed, although whether you fill them is entirely up to you. A number of small detail parts are then added to the now completed main gear bays, which couldn't be added earlier. The nose gear is shown next, which is an odd choice considering the fuselage halves aren't even joined yet, but the reinforced unit is built up around a thick central strut, with twin wheels, landing lights, four PE slats for the mudguard, and lots of bracing/retraction struts for good measure. This could easily be left of until later, as could the main legs, which are similar in construction, but with only one wheel each, which has a little weighting moulded-in. The Arrestor hook and inner wing pylons are then added, and here you will notice how much effort has been put into detailing the pylons, both on the visible sides, as well as the mating surfaces, in case you want to show them off without weapons installed. Bay doors and their retraction jacks are also added, and again these could be left off until later, while the large ventral strakes are installed under the exhaust area. The exhaust trunking is then built up from some highly detailed and delicate parts that are amongst the best styrene exhausts I have seen. A rear engine face and a very detailed afterburner ring in PE is also included for those minded to look into the tail pipes, but this area should look very good with some sympathetic paintwork. A pair of cockpit sidewalls are added to the upper fuselage as well as a bay for the refuelling probe, and at last the top and bottom halves are mated, leaving you with a lot less room on your desk suddenly. The nose is detailed with a suite of sensors, probes, the large IRST fairing with clear lens, plus a PE HUD frame with clear glass and projector lens. The refuelling probe and some of the more prominent and delicate sensors are probably safer left off until later. The windscreen is fitted to the large mating point around the coaming, but the canopy has a separate frame and additional details such as the demisting hoses and PE rear-view mirrors added, before adding the glazing. This and the windscreen have a bulbous front profile, which requires a three-part mould to de-mould them, so they have a very fine seam on the outer surface. This can be sanded away and then polished back to clarity, but if that thought turns you to jelly, it is very fine so might go unnoticed if you're lucky. The large air-brake is mounted behind the cockpit, and is double-skinned for extra detail, with a large ram to push it up into the airflow when needed. The outer wing panels are able to be posed folded if you want to save space or like the way they look, so a pair of joint pieces are included to blank off the hollow space at the roots. There are also leading-edge slats and trailing edge flaps to add, but check them for sink-marks as you go, because the review sample had a few easily remedied sink-marks particularly in the slats. A smear of Tamiya Basic Putty and a little bit of sanding will soon see them gone, as they aren't near any major details. Just as you think you're going to fit the wings, the instructions divert you sneakily to putting on the twin tail fins, with poseable rudders and sensor suite that are made up from separate parts, so that they can be left off to save damage. The parapack fairing can also be posed open with a couple of small detail parts and a strut included, but as there is no parachute in there, it's of limited value. At the other end, the big nose cone is a one-piece moulding, and has ample space for nose weight, although none is specified. A number of small antennae are added underneath, and a choice of two pitot probes for wings folded and unfolded are also in the box. Back to the wings. If you are folding the wings the outer wing panels will need a bulkhead installing at the break, and don't forget to drill out the mounting points for the wing pylons before you close up the halves. There are full-width slats at the front, and a choice of closed up or deployed two-section flaperons at the trailing edge. Again, check these for sink-marks well before you need them. The canards are single parts that slide into holes in the leading edge of the fuselage/wing blend, and the elevators have small pins that fit to corresponding slots in the stub, with PE covers. If you are folding the wings, an L-shaped brace fits in the root along with a pair of smaller supports, while the assembly process for the elevators seems to have been missed entirely. From looking at pictures on the web however, the pins fit vertically in the slot, with the covers retained on the pin, spacing the raised section from the stub. The last task is to choose and install the weapons, which are all slide-moulded as one main part, the two R-73s (incorrectly labelled as R-27s in the instructions) having additional vanes at the front added from PE for a more realistic look. They also have separate exhausts on their spruelet. The wingtip fairings have an optional pod on the port wing, while all the weapons use their own specific adaptor rail. The R-27s are provided with two of each of the Alamo D and C variants, all of which are slide-moulded as one part each. Here is where I'm a little torn about the weapons using slide-moulding, as yes they give great detail, but if there is the smallest element of mould slip, you have four seams to clean up, all of which run over highly detailed areas. A little mould-slip is almost inevitable with five-part moulds like these (four sides, and one part for the hollow exhaust), so a lot of careful scraping of the seams will be needed before you can paint them. This isn't a criticism of Kinetic, as I have seen this on other kits from different manufacturers. That said, they will look great if you put the effort in with the seams. The load-out diagram shows the R-27s on the centre wing pylon and the R-72s on the outer pylons, but as always check your references and find a real-world warload that suits your needs. Markings The decal sheet allows you to portray any of the aircraft of the 279th Fighter Aviation Regiment aboard Admiral Kuznetsov, because it covers all the code numbers, plus the tail art of 1st Eagle Squadron and 2nd Tiger squadron. Variations are noted in scrap diagrams, and the stencils are called out on the main drawings. The dielectric panels are painted white, and decals are included for the majority, but you will have to paint the radome, tail tips and inboard panels on the fins yourself. The camouflage scheme is the same throughout, consisting of pale blue/blue/blue grey, all called out in Gunze colours, although there is a conversion chart at the beginning of the booklet for Vallejo, AMMO, Italeri, Humbrol, Tamiya and AKAN. AKAN do a paint set specifically for the SU-33, which contains the correct blue shades in a set of six under the code 47326. Having recently used AKAN for the first time on my Mig-31 Foxhound, I'll be seeking these out when it comes time for the build. Martin @ Coastal Craft will be getting a call. Conclusion This has to be Kinetic's best model to date, both in terms of detail and the technology used in creating it. There are a few mistakes in the instructions, and the PE sheet is unprotected in the box despite being very thin and flimsy, so could really do with a card protector. Other than that, there's not much to gripe about, and an awful lot to like. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I did something. Should be similar to MIG 23. Old Academy 1:72 used. Thats all. Dirt is my interpretation

Ultra newest kit on market ... satring soon !!

Hi all, here my latest build: Eduards amaizing Spitfire Mk VIII in 1:48. Apart from the decals I built it OOB. Decals are out of the Kagero book "Top Colors No 18 - Spitfire Mk VIII", showing off an 31st FG version. All in all one of the best kits I ever had in my hands - maby the best!! Hope you like my walkaround.

Hi everyone, I wanted to do a project which required a lot of scratch build to compare to the other offerings (Hasegawa etc.). The Airfix kit was perfect for this since it was, 1. bare basic and, 2, extremely inaccurate. I've attempted to fix some of these inaccuracies (not all) to produce a result that is comparable to the better B-25 kits out there. In the end, I don't think I achieved this result. I did however enjoy it, and did end up with a result that an OOB Airfix B-25 cannot compare to. I also learned a lot of new skills and have already started applying what I have learned on my latest build. Please visit the WIP thread if you are interested in the build details. This is a B-25H Mitchell of the 12th BG, 82nd BS based in India 1944. This is surely a Mitchell that has not been built a lot. I did end up finding proof that this B-25 existed, though no proof of what it looked like (which also means no proof that this is NOT what it looked like ) I hope you enjoy looking at these.

CH-135 Twin Huey 403 Squadron - 135140 As seen in 1994 in a display at Middle Wallop UK for the 50th anniversary of the D-Day landings. From the Italeri 1/72 kit Built mainly out of the box with a few scratch built add ons/changes 1) Grab handles added from brass wire/rod 2) Replaced the out of scale rear antenna with one brass rod that wasn't so out of scale 3) Bracing wires for the cutters (both on top and on the belly of the bird) 4) Clear red "top landing light" added via CMK Resin 5) Added starboard side "light" just aft of cabin sliding door - used clear styrene discs punched via a punch set Overall, a decent kit that was fun to build as my first helicopter Markings are a mix of logos/flags from Belcher Bits, letters from Colorado, roundels/fin flash from Xtradecal, and numbers from Leading Edge. Tried my best to create the 403 sqn wolf's head in this scale but damn difficult to get it to show up decently. https://www.flickr.com/photos/n48284/14233783866/ Cheers, Dave

This is the 1:48th scale Monogram DH-98 Mosquito. I first built this back in 1968 or 69 (memory fails), and have kept the model over the years hoping to reconstruct it. Now she's back and restored on the 50th anniversary of this particular kit (1966). So, here's a few shots of her “restoration”. I've kept the weathering to a minimum to fit the idea of a restored warbird. (Note: If you want to read a bit about what I did to restore her back into some form of shape, skip down to the second post). Gary

MIG-21 BIS HUNAF 1/72 R.V.Aircraft

The Hasegawa kit of the MiG-27D Flogger J built as a Soviet aircraft returning back to Russia once the Soviet Union had collapsed and aircraft stationed in East Germany etc were flown back to Russia. An old kit but fun to build. Colours used were Humbrol 98 Brown and Model Master 1710 green on the upper side and Model Master 2038 light grey on the underside. Decals are a combination of kit decals and decals from the spares file. The stars are from the spares file as I thought the kit ones looked a bit small. The numbers are kit decals. Build Photos MiG-27D-46 by Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr MiG-27D-47 by Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr MiG-27D-48 by Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr MiG-27D-49 by Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr MiG-27D-50 by Ryan Hothersall, on Flickr

Psalm 139:18.

Good evening, well, few weeks ago I finished the Tiger Moth group build, but still didn't got any proper pics. Today, I finally did it. I took the pics in one of the fancy foto cubes, I'm still trying to get used to, but it already helps a lot! Not much to say about the kit, it's a really nice one, almost perfect fitting, excellent decal sheet, and a pure pleasure to build! I think I forgot the washing, maybe I should add some dark shadows in the engine cowling where there are supposed to be some holes . Paint was Modelmaster Enamels (RAF Trainer yellow, dark earth and dark green). Rigging is stretched sprue, painted with edding. Hope you like the result! Thanks for attention, and for hosting the GB! Alex

Decided to finish the French aircraft first so here it is glossed and the decal/s going on.I,ll post a post weathering photo which I have just started to do. And the begining of the weathering I,m trying to give the stripes a worn look as I usually paint such thing's. That,s one wing done so now on with the removal of the roughly applied wash.Thanks for looking in.

Le dernier F-16 II Made F-16 Tamiya & F2 Mitshubishi

I'm finally back to flanker... Wheels are ready for first coat of paint and so are the pods and launchers

So ladies and gents, a little more progress Exhaust inserts went on, I'm happy with the results, fit was quite good as well. Also wanted to give a quick snapshot of the two together again I promise some photos of both together when finished

Thanks everyone - supportive as always and you're all very kind Rob and John it's nice to know I wasn't the only one with fit problems and Rob, like the pilot, this is my first time on this 'mark'. I can see why people build more than one of the same kit, seeking 'perfection' and learning from previous, er, issues. Maybe I'll buy another and do the second scheme... or check my Hurricane Xtradecal sheet and see if I can find a rag wing... Just for you here are some close-ups of the joins post Micromeshing, and the wheels up parts, third time lucky. Rob you can see the remnants of the chin join, most of which has been swiped away: Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr Happy with it now, although the primer will no doubt show up some problems. I have to say that the new tools and my Micromesh sticks are making sanding a LOT more pleasant... or perhaps it's just me getting more patient. Nah, it's the Micromesh I think.

thanks Mark Greetings all Well, the wife and boy are home and everything is back to normal. Things have been progressing slowly on and I don't think I'm too far away from the finish line I've tried to ensure everything fitted as it was meant too, but even then, there are some small alignment issues. You'll notice in some of the whole body pictures that the cab looks a little off - that's because they aren't on their hinges, but here's the thing, they look better resting than they do sitting on the hinges. It's like the pegs that hold the pincers are too long. Oh well, it'll be nothing some glue won't fix. I'm not the type of person who takes off panels at any time so they'll just sit there. Here, I have started to put in the plumbing and so on. I almost wasn't going to, but I decided I may as well, if only to add interest to that area I still need to try and tidy up those wonky lines - they had only just been glued in not long before taking the pictures, so once they're dry I can fix them up That's enough pictures for now. I'll be back again with another update later (not today though) Any and all critique is welcomed Thanks for looking MH

No doubt pride at being part of this great endeavour causes him to sit a little straighter.

Thanks Simon - worked out OK in the end (see below). Hey Stew. I think you might be right (of course!) On the dry fit the parts went together really well. With the seat and IP glued in and then the wing it was bulgy, a bit. It's either that or something to do with the wings; I had to use a bit of filler on the leading edge and tonight I had trouble with the wheels up parts - they didn't want to settle and kept twisting / dipping at the back. All's well(ish) now. Thanks Col. All together and waiting for the canopy fit / masking. I'll get one of the others going and go back to this when my masking mojo returns! Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr Stew do you think that pilot's sitting a bit high, indicative of a problem with the seat assembly?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Chance XF5U - Morning Round I'll get my

Hi Pals, I started assembling this model, Sturmtiger, the brand Italeri 1/35 (ref. 299). This is another oldie, because I know has at least 13 years (which I had kept in a closet ... lol), hence backwards in time. Anyway, look good enough to get a good model. We see that this is difficult to assemble. A greeting and thanks for your interest and comments Here is the link to ready for inspection/model finished http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234996856-juggernaut-has-come/ Cheers...

Another superhero project i did last year Basically my best mate gave me a toybiz spiderman kit that he had made a small start on, bits removed from sprue and some glueing. He asked me to do something interesting with it, so I had the idea of putting him on a water tower and then developed into having a webbed up JJ on it as I had his head and shoulders left over from a toy biz rhino kit that never got completed years ago. Then I had the idea of adding the camera in a web taking a photo of himself in classic peter parker style. Everything other than JJ's head and shoulders and spidey were scratch built, here are the pics Link to the WIP - http://fichtenfoo.net/forum/index.php?topic=7039.0 Thanks for looking

Well I hope you're doing the pre-shading for them at least!

I tried your advice mick and it got me 5 extra kits, it could have been the rousing speech I gave or the day now dread (birthday) lol. So on with the car and given it was my birthday on Saturday I have spent a lot of time recovering from what was a very blurry day by the end, let's just say there's more bottles in the recycling this week than I want to admit to, but I did get around to putting a few touches on this today and getting the last few bits painted. So this is it. I got the windscreen glued into place, which for how difficult it looks to do in the instructions wasn't hard if anything I just slid in and rather miraculously for me there are no fingerprints to speak of. And I got it sitting on its wheels to check the ride height, it is a little tall but the wheels are a most rubbing the arches so I don't think there would have been much I could have done about it anyway. As you can probably tell from the last picture there are 2 big bits of body work missing, the doors have been done on the outside bits but I did neglect to paint the inner parts until today so maybe tomorrow or Wednesday I can have some doors on the car and some endplate for the rear wing, then it will just be adding all the little bits and bobs like antennas and a few more wires. I can't decide weather to have the car up in its jacks with a wheels or 2 off or just have it sitting on its wheels Shaun

Thank you all Not much been going on , only my day job here lately . i just want to update some photo's . I have a the front nose attached . Was not a great fit , but it works . I also have extra photo etch installed Enjoy Rick Lucy says its cold