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I decided to salvage this Buccaneer S1 that I originally built 30+ years ago - it was based on the Matchbox Buccaneer S2 and used bits of the Airfix NA39 kit to convert it to an S1 - over the years the finish acquired a grimy grey coat and then had an unfortunate handling accident and was stuck away for future repair. The motivation to start the repair came after viewing the excellent Buccaneer S1 & S2 models in 1/48 & 1/72 on BM, in particular the S1 by CT Modeller and the comprehensive build by Navy Bird of the Scale Resin S1 - fortunately I had not lost any of the parts - you can see where I started cleaning the grimy coat on LH side of model. Photos are the best I could do on my iPhone. I decided to retain the scratch built parts, those being the folded nose, cockpit/ejection seats, wing folds, air brakes and various airframe mods - The grime was removed and after fixing the broken bits and reassembling it I repainted the model with Tamiya acrylic white - I always struggle with white finishes but eventually managed to get a white finish I was happy with - I then sprayed the model with Humbrol Clear prior to decaling - this was a bit of a disaster as the whole models finish crazed for some unknown reason and I spent another week rubbing it back and then recoating it using Microscale clear gloss thankfully without any issues. The decal sheet used is from Model Alliance Ark Royal Air Wing selection. I also added a master pitot tube and a Flightpath etched boarding ladder set which I found a nightmare to put together & it almost did not make it on to the model - the jury struts are made from brass wire and fine brass tubing. I have a Scale Resin S1 to do at some stage and will refer to Navy Birds post when I eventually get around to making it - for now I am sizing up the Trumpeter Wyvern in 1/48. In my display case with my Highplanes Sea Vixen I have added references below I have collected over the years on interior surface colour - I acknowledge there has been much discussion on BM on what the colours should be After looking at TC2324's excellent 12 Squadron low level Buccaneer post I decided to give this one a gentle scrub and a couple of coats of gloss clear on the sea - the model is the Tamiya 1/100 scale Buccaneer S2 which is a really nice little kit and as far as I can tell no longer available? thanks for looking CJP

Hi guys here is my Hasegawa F-16 from the Royal Netherlands Airforce as it participated in the NATO Tigermeet held at Fairford in 1991. I have build it for the F-16 STGB here at Britmodeller. Hope you like it. NATO Tigermeet 1991 Fairford UK F-16A Royal Netherlands Airforce 313 squadron Hasegawa 1/48 kit with Quickboost ejection seat, wheel doors, Aires exhaust nozzle, and from Master the pitot tube, AOA probes and static dischargers. Build thread can be found here Erik

So in between the group builds I'm busy with - in particular the F-16 build - I had started making the Revell 1/72 Buccaneer - box art below: Now to say this was a difficult kit that fought me at just about every turn would be an understatement but I enjoyed it all the same. The model is very basic with very little cockpit or fuselage detail and would benefit from the inclusion of some ordnance but once complete I think is a pretty good rendering of a bucc. This particular model is of an Operation Granby bucc and again I think this scheme helps to show off the lines of the aircraft in a pleasing light. The model is built completely out of box with no scratch building as I just wanted to keep this one very simple. At this point in time I have given the aircraft next to no weathering and was debating whether or not to go any further. A quick round up of your thoughts on this would be appreciated. So here she is - by no means a show standard piece - and as always your comments are most welcome:

Recent arthritic finger problems have had an impact on modelling and many other things of late. They sometimes seize up or grip just goes occasionally without warning. Anything that has been attempted of late has ended in disaster. A recent Swordfish which took a while and was ready for rigging fell from my grasp with nasty results. So after laying off any builds I had a go at this one which again took longer than what most people can do. Just a build to keep the mojo going and trying not to let the finger problems get the better of me. Upper surfaces was a bit of my own mix as well as the lowers (FS police won't stop me sleeping at night). Had a bit of a paint reaction on the underside for some reason but hopefully the patch up is hardly noticeable. It also crept onto the upper so the trailing edge of the starboard wing looks a little paler than the rest. Canopy framing looks better in the flesh. I have a spare so may replace this later. (Actually just noticed in the phots I've left some slivers of masking tape in places). Anyway, here it is.

And, as we all know (I hope), British is best. Mrs. P seems much better -- I don't think people on the verge of death from a cold eat half a pint of Ben and Jerry's Carmel Sutra chocolate ice cream, anyway. She is staying home tomorrow and Winston is staying with a friend of her mom's. Since his cold apparently just causes his bloodstream to sythesize crack cocaine, I pity that poor woman. Today he achieved his lifelong dream of falling off of everything he's been (repeatedly) told not to climb: the toilet; the stairs; my chair in the office; the kitchen chairs; the kitchen table; the bed; the other bed; his crib; a chair turned upside down in the vain hope he wouldn't climb it; etc. etc. etc. I love him, but after a week home with him with my health getting worse in inverse proportion to how hale and hearty he feels, I kind of never want to see him again right now. That said, here are some photos from today. This morning, issuing a celebratory tot of ginger ale to the men: 20170315_074152 by Edward IX, on Flickr I particularly like this one, because he looks like an idiot: 20170315_145624 by Edward IX, on Flickr This machine...destroys fascists: 2017-03-15_07-48-25 by Edward IX, on Flickr I'm exhausted. Back to work tomorrow. Then probably at home to watch him again on Friday. If you want a free toddler, show up then. You'll get your wish.

Hello, this is a model from two years ago. A nice little kit, no extras needed has its own photo-etched and resin parts. Opened the bomb bay and crew entrance door. Scratch built the interior, all guns, wheel bay and engine details. Any comments are most welcome. Thank you, hope you like it!

Hi Guys Here is my latest completed model, I thought it would be a 'quickish' build and paint, but it took a little longer, I will add some more detail and a few pictures to look out for a few trips and snags, not all kit related there were some of my own. The kit is good but I found a few little niggles that I could have done without, or the manufacturer could have taken a little more care. Would I build another....YES but would certainly do a few things differently. Straight out the box, and painted mainly with Vallejo Acrylic 'Metal Color' cheers Ali The tail plane is not shown very leerily on the instructions as to what is top side and what is bottom side, I eventually with totally smooth elevator on the TOP side, I think it is correct. I think that there should be a few extra lumps and bumps (control horns) but I did not add these. When decals are applied for this scheme, there are two separate decals that fit the side that has the additional detail (on the bottom of my kit) but the one for the top is supplied in full length, when that is applied to the kit it is fractionally too short, so I had to make a quick slit through the decal while it was applied so I could get it to fit correctly. Additional pictures and some guide lines and things to look out for when building the kit. If doing this scheme the black strips for under the wing do not quite fit. The decal gives a cut out for the pylon be placed within, if that is done then the decal will not fit between, the flap and the aileron area, so I positioned the cut out correctly for the pylon, but then had to add small additional black strips just inboard of the aileron, look carefully at the picture, and you will see a faint joint line in the decals. The undercarriage doors on the front wheel bay are not shown clearly on the instructions, in one picture (15) they are shown with the cut out areas at the back, this is correct next stage 16 shown at front, it is just confusing. Also I would try and think of making a small modification to allow for a more positive attachment of the doors, when all painted up it is quite tricky to get the wheel assembly and the doors securely in place. Great care needs to be taken on getting all the decals correct on the fuselage, the black decals and the 'roundels' I found that it quite tricky to get the cockpit to fit correctly and the instrument panel is very week in the narrow areas, and I broke mine a few times. Some of the fit may have been down to me, but I would advise that you take care and possibly have a trial run before it is all painted. I painted most of the parts individually and then tried to assemble and fit, next time I would do more of a dry run fit first. Note the sliding canopy does not have any 'metal frame work' on the front edge Note these are the parts for the intake, well as can be seen above and below the 'turbine face' is JUST too large to go at the end as they would have you assemble so I shortened the pipe as shown. As can be seen there are even small slots there in the tube for the turbine face to clip into, makes you wonder??? I am not 100% sure what this clear lens is to be honest BUT I could not get it to look right by just painting the inside face, so i coloured the small dot in the middle as shown and then added a piece of plastic card with some chrome foil on behind the lens, see picture a few above, I think it worked quite well. The area for the landing lights does not have any backing, so I added a small piece of card to block that in. The exhaust is not great, so I replaced the kit parts with a one piece tube. A few general notes and things to be aware of or to look out for. There are some areas where the rivets, have gone altogether, especially top and bottom of mid to rear fuselage, also some have been stretched, I did some repairs to these but if you really want a much improved model you will need to spend time on these to make these a lot better. The main undercarriage doors should also have some rivet detail added, they are very bare compared to the rest of the kit, and it show's, I will add them next time round. I found the 'coloured' decals quite thick and they needed warm water to remove them from decal paper but once on the model they were quite difficult to move and certainly needed a strong deca solution to bed down onto the detailed rivet surface, I use the DACO strong decal solution. I was tempted to spray the black areas, but then went with the decals, I thought these maybe tricky to apply BUT they are more pliable that the colour decals, but they need to handled with care, and as mentioned earlier the alignment of six black decals and the roundels on the fuselage is tricky. I found a very good sight with amazing pictures that are really good, and inspirational, you can see all the rivet and marking details and panel colour variations. here is the link http://www.jn-photo.se/Browse-my-images/By-Type/SAAB/SAAB-J29F-Tunnan/i-jw8Kt24/X3 Hope all this helps, cheers Ali

I'd been a bit nervous to do this. I've only started airbrushing at the start of this year, and this was the biggest kit (after my SM79) that I've done. I am also incredibly conscious of how expensive/hard it can be to replace this kit if I break parts of screw up the build. Luckily it all went well, and I feel I did the overall build to a good ability. I did forget to finish the wheels (the metal on them) but never mind. I'll get that done for our show on Sunday. If you want to see a bit more in depth description or some more photos please follow the link as fast as the Avro Arrow. As I'm not home right now I can't get the photos I've put in that article here it seems and they've had the horrid background edited to look better.

Done, F9F-2 Panther of the Blue Angels flight demonstration for the 1949 season.---John Blue Angels 4 by jvandeu53, on Flickr Blue Angels 6 by jvandeu53, on Flickr Blue Angels 8 by jvandeu53, on Flickr Blue Angels 3 by jvandeu53, on Flickr

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I've managed to finish two more Spitfires, and it's still not enough. They're both Post-war FR.18's based in Palestine and Cyprus with 208 and 32 Sqns, which were among the last Spitfires to see air-to-air combat. Ironically and tragically it was against other Spitfires, flown by Israel and Egypt. Both Spitfires have roundels and squadron codes painted on using masks from Pmask and Maketar, and Quickboost props made for the Fujimi Mk XIV. The build thread is HERE. The first is a 208 Sqn Spitfire built from the AZ kit, and is meant to resemble the REFERENCE PICTURE FOUND HERE. It's been painted using Colourcoats Light Slate grey, Dark Earth, and Medium Sea grey, which is appropriate since the aircraft depicted was maintained by Jamie Duff's (of Sovereign Hobbies fame) grandfather. Weathering was done with cheap poster paints and chalk pastels. The second FR.18 was built from the new Sword Mk XIV kit and represents a 32 Sqn aircraft, and is based on this REFERENCE PICTURE. It was painted with Lifecolor and Tamiya acrylics, and also weathered with poster paint and pastel chalks. And here they are both together.

The PPP route worked pretty well in the end Keith. Pictures below.... Thanks hendie. I now realize that there was a hole in my life that is the exact shape of a bead lathe. Top-level discussions will commence this weekend with Mrs. B on the matter... That's just too elegant a solution for me Miggers. I've plumped for slathering the blighter in PPP: After trying and discarding various tools, it was easiest just to apply the PPP with your fingers, rubbing it in like you would suntan lotion into Felicity Kendall's back, before adjusting your medallion and lighting a cheroot. Wait. That was out loud, wasn't it? Look into the Boxcar Miggers. The Boxcar has you in it's thrall.... After getting back from work this evening and treating everyone to a guilty kebab supper from the new takeaway that's opened in the village (actually it's the only takeaway in the village, but they make their own flatbreads), a vigorous wet sanding for the Box (oi, behave!): 2500 grit, and about 15 minutes work on each side to reach this stage. Yes it leaves the window openings all mucky and needing tidying up later, but imo is an easier and more controllable process, given that the main concern here is obviously to ensure a regular profile on both sides so that we don't end up with unsightly and variable gaps when we come to start adding the framework. Oh dear. I've started saying 'we'. Is that a sign of pretentiousness or incipient stability issues? Once that had dried off over the stove, a further 10 minutes a side dry sanding this time and we/I end up with this: All birr-gouges now made good, and a squint of scrutiny down the tunnel in oblique light reveals a pleasing regularity has resulted: Clean out those portholes and a snort of primer on that tomorrow I reckon. You might have noted in the news that our Stuffed Shirt of a Taoiseach was sucking-up to the Bilious Tangerine in Washington today on account of it being Paddy's Day tomorrow. As a feckless public servant I therefore have the day off and hope to celebrate through the medium of plastic. Conversing with Navy Bird over on his magnificent Canberra build earlier I was delighted to find a fellow devotee of King Crimson, consequently I am seized now with a sudden desire for complex time signatures and guitar phrasing... 'Cigarettes, ice-creams.Figurines of the Virgin Mary...' Tony

The Mikoyan MiG-29 (Russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: "Fulcrum") is a twin-engine jet fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the larger Sukhoi Su-27, was developed to counter new American fighters such as the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, and the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.[5] The MiG-29 entered service with the Soviet Air Force in 1982. While originally oriented towards combat against any enemy aircraft, many MiG-29s have been furnished as multirole fighters capable of performing a number of different operations, and are commonly outfitted to use a range of air-to-surface armaments and precision munitions. The MiG-29 has been manufactured in several major variants, including the multirole Mikoyan MiG-29M and the navalised Mikoyan MiG-29K; the most advanced member of the family to date is the Mikoyan MiG-35. Later models frequently feature improved engines, glass cockpits with HOTAS-compatible flight controls, modern radar and IRST sensors, and considerably increased fuel capacity; some aircraft have also been equipped for aerial refuelling. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the militaries of a number of former Soviet republics have continued to operate the MiG-29, the largest of which is the Russian Air Force. The Russian Air Force wanted to upgrade its existing fleet to the modernised MiG-29SMT configuration, but financial difficulties have limited deliveries. The MiG-29 has also been a popular export aircraft; more than 30 nations either operate or have operated the aircraft to date, India being one of the largest export operators of the type. As of 2013, the MiG-29 is in production by Mikoyan, a subsidiary of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) since 2006. This is the revel kit which is showing its age, but using the zacto models correction set which consisted of the nosecone, pitot, IRST, Canopy area, full length intakes, closed intake bypass vents, corrected chaff dispensers, stabiliser attachments and corrected and detailed exhausts with new engine trunking to fit them. Also included are instructions on how to correct the size and shape of the stabilisers, vertical stabilizers and wing-tips. And wheels. All were a buger to fit, but got there in the end, I painted this mig using the Hataka paint set, which I have to say were very nice and smooth, the pilot was from Hannant’s and I forget the brand, decals were airdoc decals The cockpit and seat were from cold war studios very nice set. enjoy

thank you chaps great to see some discussion and please forgive me if I post in reply shortly in the meantime, I wanted to add the latest update and a bit more Spitfire mayhem.. the rudder pedals are fixed to big torque tubes that go through a frame (9 I think) which is an open braced structure like this... I started with a brass square section and again some of the PE bits I designed before I started.. ..there is also a control arm that joins both the tubes / pedal sets together under the instrument panel.. ..the heelboards are another structure that starts to link this assembly together, so more square tube assembled on a sheet of tape on perspex.. ..with the heelboards and some of the detail added.. ..and the whole assembly starts to form - its all a bit wonky as its only resting together.. ..theory is this will all then be mounted to the open bottom of the cockpit 'pod'.. we shall see... TTFN Peter

Cheers Rob. I've an old drill sitting out in the shed that stopped working - I'm half inclined to see if the motor and chuck can be salvaged and mounted on a block of wood to make something a little less jury-rigged... Page 4 and as is customary on a Baron build, more is currently coming off the kit than being stuck on... Possibly enough to keep your great-grandchildren entertained as well.... Bridges well and truly burnt - no going back now! Psst! Wanna buy some granulated C-119 ribs? If you don't want them I'll put them up on Weevilbay listed as 'rare'. No less technically accurate than some of the descriptions up there and rather the ultimate in flogging a kit off part-by-part... Gads well and truly ye'd now....BTW, if you ever snap a file James, don't throw the broken blade away - it makes a perfect planing/levelling tool for the inside of a fuselage, as it can lay flat along the surface: Ah. More of this 'help' people keep talking about on the forum! For whom? Objection your honour! <Objection sustained counsel> Thank-you m'lud. May I show the jury a short film m'lud? Here's the site of the muhahaha as of this morning Tomo : Filed down now, followed by a (wet) going-over with wet n' dry and I'm rather please with that so far. A little filler in the deeper gouges and Mr.Surfacer to level, and we should be good for the next stage. 'Youve Been (Internally) Framed'. New on ITV this Spring....

Too kind Si, but thank you Now You know how you're supposed to get nice things at Christmas? Grrr At our club we do a Charity Challenge 'Thing' at the Christmas meeting, some of you may remember seeing me get stitched up with a silly little Japanese navy thing at some ludicrously tiny scale a while back usually one is lucky enough to draw something interesting out of Santa's sack, I have scored the Sea Fury that is into its next colour scheme incarnation and more recently the Puma I quite enjoyed doing as well as the famous Auster and that damned Italian Bomb Boat from last year's competition (2015/16) This time fate laughed on seeing my approach to Santa's Grotty I got a target The 'gifts' had to be completed and comp table ready for this month's meet I suppose this will have to do Throwed together I admit with no love for the subject and even less knowlege about it either Tamiya Panzer IV Aufs D I think Waste of a decent kit I suppose but the rules is the rules "If Ye Doesn't Produce Said Model In March Ye Shall Pay Forfeit" Tomo escapes because he missed the memo about a changed club date, 'tain't not fair Lots of pastels dusted all over, looks like I need to bung some black stuff down that hole I've been working on the main rotor head gear for the Wasp tonight, not taken any pictures but I think I'm getting it ready to be folded up nicely when I finalise the pitch changery rods lengths night all

Afternoon one and all! Phew!...inner bomb racks done and dusted! A week and a bit of cutting of bits of plastic....gluing pieces of wire..... lots of swearing!.....but as usual enjoyed the process! Same as outer racks except longer......here they are.......... The difference between these racks is that I noticed that there were electrical cables running down the back of the rack...so took a bit longer to scratch than the first two! I then spent a couple of days installing them into the bomb bay....not as easy as I thought as there wasn't much room left in there!..what with all the detail longing to break on my fat fingers!! I also had to make the cat walk ropes so that the crew could hold onto something whilst taking the walk of death across the bomb bay ....especially if the bomb bay doors were open So here they are all done.............. Here I have placed the forward section of this project against the bomb bay.,..you can just about see the cockpit through the bomb bay door.......just for fun! ....and here is the nose section up against the bomb bay....

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Hi chaps My first post in the AFV department, I have been for the last 12 years an aircraft modeller only. Last year my model club wanted to have a display of all the British tank that saw service from the first ever to the modern day and needed volunteers to build a few of the kits which they already had, So I offered to have a stab at it and build the AFV Churchill which I really enjoyed. The kit I used was the AFV Club kit, The markings don't represent a real unit as the decals for the kit were for Canadian units so I used some artist licence from spare decals given to me.

Long time no see Britmodeller, but I have not been resting on my laurels. Here's the Academy 1/72 Hornet from the 1986 Libya strike. At least I hope it is. Markings come from one of the Aeromaster Stinging Hornets set and has aircraft 203 from VFA-132 Privateers. I'm not sure if this particular aircraft flew in the strike (I know 200 did) but I will assume that it did. The aircraft is armed with a pair of AGM-88 HARM missiles as in real life, with accompanying AIM-9s and AIM-7s. The aircraft is painted using Gunze colors in the original Hornet colors of Light Ghost Gray (FS 36375) over Light Gray (FS 36495). I'm still not quite convinced about the accuracy of Gunze's LGG. I feel it has a purplish tint that shouldn't be there. Metal surfaces were painted with Citadel metallics (old formula). I used white missile markings as I have seen some pictures where they were still carried around this time. The HARM markings were taken from a Revell F/A-18F decal sheet and the HARMs themselves from a Revell F-16C kit. A Windsor & Newton pigment marker was used for the red edges of the bay doors. I love the Academy legacy Hornet. It has some fit issues (dry fitting strongly recommended) and the nose is a complicated 4-piece setup but it looks gorgeous once built. There was no aftermarket used as none was needed although the cockpit, while detailed, might not be enough for purists. A bit of filling and sanding was needed to remove some of the bumps that are not appropriate for a mid-1980s Hornet. Thanks for looking!

Some paint progress. MMP acrylic with details painted in Vallejo. G

It's very moving topic for me. In the '80s on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain ex-FROG kits produced in Soviet Union were the only quite easily available models of the non-Eastern planes. It still doesn't mean that these were sold in the normal shops - no! We were buing them from people who have been traveling to Soviet Union and bringing the kits half-legally, which then were sold on the big Saturday flea-market on one of the Warsaw sport stadiums. The first I've got was a Hellcat. Then there were many. We loved them. Nowadays it is hard to belive, but Soviet censorship forbad to sell them under the real rotten western names, so the boxes had generic names like "torpedo plane" for Swordfish or "night fighter" for the Black Widow or there were no boxes at all... Sometimes people who were able to recognise the real types were respected and even had some discounts from sellers. I had and built really many, and still have some unbuilt. The most remembered are - that first Hellcat, Swordfish, Tempest, Beaufighter, Blenheim, Lysander, Boston, Venegance, Vampire, Widow, Lockheed Lightning, big and beautiful Lancaster with Tallboy bomb, Spirit of St.Louis, Westland Wallace, that experimental Bristol with single engine and looooong wings... I have built some of them lately, with my son. These are made of solid thick plastic and are good for children. Some I still have.

Hi Eveybody! This is My first Aircraft build on Britmodeller,a conversion of the venerable Revell 1/48 PBY Catalina into a Super Catalina that appeared in the 1989 Steven Spielberg Movie 'Always'. You must remember the opening scene:- I'll be adding some aftermarket to this build,namely the Belcher Bits replacement tail,Eduard Window Masks,Eduard Brassin wheels,Quickboost 48 554 resin engines,SAC white metal undercarriage set and Draw Decals set:- The Super Catalina variant is re-engined from 1,200 hp P&W R1830 Twin Wasps to 1700 hp Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclones,I am taking care of these with the Quickboost set, and using a donor kit for the cowlings, in the shape of an Italeri 2650 B25 Mitchell kit (Accurate Minutures Moulds):- Other changes required will be remove the front gun turret,modify the nose shape,scracthbuild some 'speakers?' for each side of the nose and enlarge the rudder. I have already made a start, and will post a progress report soon. Keep Sticking! Cheers, Pete

Hi all, its been a while since my last R.F.I. so here is my latest completion,the New Tamiya Ki-61 Hien. The kit is superb in every way with perfect fit throughout. Finished with the kit decals as the machine operated by Captain Teruhiko Kobayashi 244th Air Group Chofu Airbase Feb 1945. Finished with Alclad Dull Aluminium and Duraluminium and Tamiya Gloss Red for the tail. Light weathering was applied with a very thin mix of red/brown and black airbrushed on to achieve streaks and exhaust staining. Light chipping was applied to the top cowl to suggest its repeated removal. The yellow leading edges were sprayed instead of using the kit supplied decals and a mix of Gunze RLM04 and a touch of red was mixed by eye to match the yellow used by Tamiya. All in all a very nice project. Thanks for looking Rick G.

A bit of a palette cleanser after the Sea Harrier I started using the weekend edition but ended up selling that so am now using the Profil pack. But I'm not going to use the PE from the profil pack . I've got a barracuda cockpit set (for a MK IX) and some ultracast goodies (Prop and Cowl also for a Mk IX. They'll be are close enough for me. And yes it's actually going to be a RAAF aircraft from the Eduard Aussie 8 decal sheet. Probably CRC in Foliage green/brown/over blue, as it' has IMHO the most interesting scheme Some of the resin installed. To be honest I'm not sure they are that much of an improvement over the kit parts i this scale. I doubt much will be seen once after everything is buttoned up The seat is an improvement but IMHO in this scale it's hard to say the control column and pedals are worth the effort.

Hi Folks This time an aircraft from 610 Squadron finished in Xtracolor HSS and decals as per the title Cheers Ian

Hiya Folks, Here is another one that I have recently added the finishing touches too, the AZ Model Spit Mk.VIII, still wearing the desert camouflage in which it was delivered from the UK to Australia, as per the early MkVIII`s,.....with the later ones wearing Day Fighter Scheme. Most of the desert schemed Spits were repainted before entering service in Australia but a few slipped through the system including this one which joined 54 Sqn RAF up in the Darwin area; As usual it was brush painted, using a mixture of Humbrol enamels and acrylics, Cheers Tony

Yes, right, exactly. Absolutely - I'm a firm believer that any panel line wash was to be a somewhat darker version of the colour that is already there. Sometimes this means that a single panel line may get a different wash in different areas (due to camo demarcation, etc.). Sounds really odd, but it seems to work. Panel lines are basically shadows, and shadows are rarely black. Durer, eh? As in Albrecht? Good man! Great, someone got the reference! I recently got all of the King Crimson 40th Anniversary series DVDs in 5.1 - I have to play them on the Blu-Ray that's hooked up to my TV. They sound amazing. My cousin's husband was John Wetton's manager - he was an incredible talent. Rest in peace, John. Gawd, I hate cancer. I love you guys! I added the satellite navigation pieces to the top of the spine, along with the two blade antennae. I think she's ready for a clear gloss coat! Cheers, Bill

I apologise for the lack of updates, I'm a little busy working at the minute so I'm getting bits in when I can. So... first off this from MFH. ( New velocity stacks ) MFH have been great with sending stuff out. The velocity stacks were not quite as fragile as the last lot, although still extremely fragile to remove from the sprue. Now fitted to the MFH though. And the wiring on the Fujimi transkit is now complete too. To get the top section of the transkit to fit though was a night in the vice and epoxy. For anyone building this transkit in the future, be warned, this top section is not easy to fit at all. It's just slightly too small to go over the top of the air intakes. In other words, its a PITA to fit. Anyway I got it fitted and then it was time to wire in the fuel lines. They still need a tidy here and there , but they're all in. Some detailing on the fan using an oil wash to give it that dirty raced look. ( my first experiment with oil washing really, much nicer effect than acrylic washing I'm thinking ) And fitted ( air intakes still need aligning here ) And a couple more shots of the wired engine And then a test fit of the exhausts. Refreshing after the utter drama with the MFH exhausts that these things literally just drop in no bother at all. And a first real look at the two engines together. For anyone who's interested. Where it says frame in the last pic, it's basically so I don't forget that the Fujimi frame I scratched is all sitting under the cutting mat keeping it flat. I must admit though that halfway though the second engine I was like, so whose stupid idea exactly was it to build two 1/24th 917 engines at the same time? Porsche definitely weren't thinking about modellers when they designed this 12 cylinder beast. that's for sure But, I think it was worth the effort. Just got to build two cars around them now. So yeah, just a few more bits and pieces to complete the Fujimi engine and I'm going to look at dropping the MFH engine into its completed frame and then building up the Fujimi frame ( which is mostly scratched already ) for the transkit engine to fit into. Thanks for looking in.

Had some modelling buddies over for a 'cuppa Jawa' last night - but we didn't get any modelling done though as the evening was spend doing a lot of 'mental building' and generally catching up! It was basic 'hygge'! So this morning I started doing some masking: Cheers Hans J

Evening all! I got the engine mounts finished and attached this morning, then started on the engines. I did (of course) change my plan, when I realised after a dry fit that there is plenty of room between the engines and they could all be mounted at the same time with no worries. That first pic also shows the difference in position between the inner and outer engines. Of course I couldn't resist a dry run with the wings on to make sure it all looked good... Before I finally attached the engines, I added an oily black wash to the crankcases and under the engines to dirty them up just a little. After all that was done to my satisfaction, I made a start on the next step....the push rods! It took over 90 minutes to make and fit them on one engine - hopefully the rest will go a little quicker now I know what is involved.... I will probably add a touch of thin CA to the joints with the cylinder tops just to make sure I don't knock them all off when I attach the rest of the cooling system, Thanks for looking in! Ian

Thanks, Ced. I'm still in a quandary about what to do with the panel lines. Those on the wing could use to be toned down a bit, but those on the fuselage need a little perking up. I've been experimenting with a mix using different ratios of Flory Dark Dirt and Light Dirt. I've painted the wheel wells and flap areas white, and also the ruddy brown on the RWR thingys. Next up is a Future gloss coat, and then I'll test my "Less Than Dark But More Than Light Dirt" wash. I added a drop or two of wash up soap to aid in removing it if I don't like it. Tar wasn't dark enough for you? Geesh, you just can't please some folks! Seriously, it's amazing how many models you see with a black wash in the panel lines. I don't understand that, myself, unless it's on something like EDSG. But I saw it on a white TSR.2 once...ugh! If it looks good to John, then I must be on the right path. There's no better Arbiter of Cranberry-ness than John! Don't we all? Thanks, Roger. (That's my middle name by the way.) Well, I hope it ends! I have other work to do! I just want to make sure that I don't disappoint Ashley. If Rembrandt painted a Canberra, would King Crimson have written a song about it? (apologies to The Night Watch) I thought you guys said loverly... Cheers, Bill

The fiddling with the intake assembly has paid off. Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr The small probe (I think to do with the OR.946 F.3/6 business) on the upper splitter should be removed, as circled Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr Seamless! One huge characteristic of the Lightning is that very shiny intake ring, how this is modelled can make of break the kit for me. The technique I use is to cover it in foil, usually Kitkat wrappers, now thin kitchen foil. I cut out the shape in foil seen below, then smooth it out using a finger nail against the dull side. I then coat the ring in Humbrol 35 polyurethane varnish, let it go tacky for about 10-15 mins. From the top of the ring I apply the foil shiny side out, and smooth down with my nail around the ring edge. Work it down thoroughly, at the very bottom edge, where the pitot probe fits, cut the foil with a very sharp scalpel. The foil can be worked with your nail until you get a perfect finish. If you make a mess of the foil, it's nothing to peel it back off, and start again, apply more varnish if needed. I've turned the foil in at the forward edge to give the inside lip of the intake the same finish, quite difficult in 72nd (unlike 48th), if I decide I don't like that part of it I will simple remove it by running a very sharp scalpel blade around the ring fwd edge. Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr The excess foil aft of the intake ring will be removed by knife after a couple of days, when I know it has all fully set. Airfix 1:72 Lightning F.2A by James Thomas, on Flickr I have had a bash at the instrument panel, this is just a try out and is the F.6 layout. The cockpit has had an initial coat of Dark Sea Grey, and the fuselage halves have their first coat of Dark Green. The wing halves have been joined together, again I spent mush time shaving away plastic where I think it was needed and the joins are very clean and tight - anything to avoid filler!

Another of my military vehicles in 1/48th. This is the Italeri Opel Blitz, which I believe to be a different kit to the Tamiya offering in the same scale. Tamiya have re-boxed some Italeri kits but I don't believe this to be the case. It is a nice kit a bit more fiddly than the Tamiya offerings but he main drawback is the rubber tyres. I've teamed it with a previous built Tamiya 20mm flak gun to represent a Luftwaffe AA unit in Russian in 1941

Hello all! It has taken some time, but I finally finished up my model of the SS Ophir. I added some extra detailing - I added an inverted V of rigging on the front loading boom (as suggested by BM'er Murdo in the build thread) and some tyres to act as anti-rubbing over the sides, along with some rudimentary weathering to make her look a bit grubbier, although I did keep it understated somewhat. The nameplates were printed in 9 point size with the nearest font I could find (Ariel I think) onto white paper with a black surround (a story in itself considering my lack of skill with computers). A black Sharpie took care of the white paper when I cut them out. Next time I will try decal paper. The next issue was how to display her on a watery base. I had build ships and put them in ocean settings, but was a bit fed up with bluey grey water. Ophir sailed out of Liverpool for nearly 50 years, so I googled 'Ships on the Mersey Estuary' for inspiration, and found a photo of a Mersey Ferry, the MV Snowdrop, on an incredibly brown water. http://depositphotos.com/72058885/stock-photo-river-mersey-dazzle-ferry-in.html So that gave me an idea, and I ended up with this: The base was MDF, I epoxy'd the ship to it after finding that in the time since I originally 'finished' it and finally finishing it, that Ophir had bowed a bit, and was slightly curving upwards towards the bow. That is one of the reasons she has such a bow wave and wake. I do not think she would have gone quite so quickly in real life. The 'water' was textured card, with normal polyfiller making up the wake and agitated water, then non-sanding polyfiller to make the froth and foam along the hull sides, and the splashy bit at the bow. Well, that is it, and I am happy with how she turned out. Now I want to build the MV Snowdrop just for that colour scheme in the link! Thanks for looking, Ray

Think this is a first for me putting up two completed builds in 24 hours! I bought this kit purely down to the box art and then built it in a different scheme to that on the box art, not sure how that happened! It's Kinetics Mirage III RS in Swiss markings. Kit went together pretty well and it's built totally out the box to the extent that I was too lazy to scratch some seat belts for the ejection seat. Painted with Mr Hobby Color paints for the camo and AK Xtreme Metal colours for the undercarriage etc. All comments welcome. WIP build can be seen here- http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235009763-148-kinetic-mirage-iiirs-swiss-af-completed/

Another one off the bench for 2017, this time around another 1/48 Anigrand Firefox with a what if of a what if NMF, all done with various mixes of Alclad II. A few issues here and there with the Alclad but no crazing, the coat of Future over the gloss black base has eliminated that issue. Next up will be a lighted 1/48 Fine Molds X-WING but that is for next week, time to catch up with a few jobs elsewhere. :-) Thanks for Looking. Danny

Hi Guys, Here you go the last pictures of my Yakolev Yak-38 Forger or "Harrierski" as it was deployed in Afghanistan in the 80's. You may also look for it in the "Work In Progress" section of the Aviation Forums or clicking at this link http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235013202-yakolev-yak-38-forger-hobbyboss-148/#comment-2565902 Greetings Antonio

Hello ladies and gents! A while back I started a build thread on this project but unfortunately never got around to finishing it as the project stalled over the holiday season (with a full house the workbench has to go into hibernation for the sake of extra space!) and various other delays. Needless to say the mojo was slowly sapped away! However she is now to the point were I am happy to consider her 'finished', just ignore the niggling seam line that decided to stick out like a sore thumb on the rear of the turret AFTER everything had been painted! So- without further ado, here it is: M51 'Isherman'/Super Sherman as depicted during the Six Day War (Southern Sinai Front). Model brush painted using Tamiya paints and finished with Flory Washes plus Vallejo Pigments for weathering. If you have any questions as to how I used those products feel free to comment below and I'll gladly answer them. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this finished product! Cheers, Poacher

Thanks Johnny - the wash arrived today so I'm looking forward (gulp) to splashing it all over Thanks Tony - ah, Sir Les Patterson, cultural attache. I miss him, but I guess that woman gets all the limelight nowadays. Slightly more 'P.C.'. Thanks Benedikt - nice T-shirt! Thanks Christer, Mick and Patrice - I'm building my mojo to attempt the wings soon. I think the underlying plastic isn't too bad, it's just hidden by flash and lumps of 'stuff'. I just need to 'do a Michelangelo' and shave away the bits that 'aren't Hornet'. Hopefully tomorrow. Ah Christian, you've been reading my mind! I read about these in the Internet Modeller review and I've been prodding and poking at them for a while. The kit has outlines but no depth and I've been trying various tools to get the effect I wanted, ending with one of those little screwdrivers: Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr I'd sanded one away and put it back in the wrong place, now 'moved' and the wrong one filled with CA. We'll see what they look like later.

Decals have arrived, now to work out which ones I can use.

Well, I got the drop tanks painted up and fitted, eventually. The pylons were push-fit but I added a little extra-thin after cleaning the paint off - this turned out to be a bad idea as it made the connections a bit wobbly. I ended up fitting them with thin CA which did the trick, but it probably needs a touch-up with matt varnish underneath. The base is a rubberwood (I think) coaster impaled on a bit of black-painted brass tube. The model has a belly panel which plugs the stand hole, so I drilled that out and epoxied it to the top of the tube. That means I can take it off the stand to use the chunky poseable one from the kit if I need to show it from different angles. Hopefully will have time to take proper pix tomorrow. Cheers, Will

Thank you Cookie, I always wear modest trousers. Thanks Ced. The Proctor's prop is part of an Eduard Hellcat drop-tank and cut-down prop blades from a Spitfire. Thank you Jaffa. No photographs but I have given the bottom a first coat of Humbrol 90 but there should be more progress by the weekend, I'll post some then.

What is this . . . an update! Yep, life keeps getting in the way of modeling. But there is hope in sight that regular updates will become the norm rather than the exception. (Of course, it is up to you to determine if this is good news or a terroristic threat of impending doom coming your way.) Anyway, back to the update. There is progress on the modeling room, but not completion. Seems that is a low priority around here. Apparently, horses, cows, dogs, cats, a token rabbit, fence work, and other assorted tasks that need to be done has a higher priority than completing a modeling room. Go figure! Back to this woefully treated 109. I have begun the weathering process on this little kit. I really don’t think it should be too heavily weathered as it is early in the war, the Germans have been winning and maintenance should have been at a pretty high level. So a bit of grime needs to be put on, along with some light wear. Now, I am going a bit old school on this one as I can’t find the box that has all the weathering goodies in it. Somewhere there are some Flory washes and Tamiya pastel powders, along with other tricks of the trade, but for the life of me, I don’t know where they are. So, a wash was done using some heavily diluted black acrylic paint I ripped, I mean, borrowed, from someone’s art supplies. I put it on a bit thick, but the beauty of this wash is that I can remove it with just water in case I mess up. (A very likely occurrence.). So the whole underside is covered in a black, acrylic watery goo. That is left to dry for about 15 minutes and then the fun and games of removal begin. Some people use paper towels, others use make up pads, I have more luck with Q-tips (sorry cotton buds). I never can get the right amount of moisture on either paper towels or make up pads, and end up washing all the wash. Which, is not the effect I am trying to achieve. And, with my new lack of feeling or touch in my hands, it is easier to control using cotton buds as the target area to be messed up is quite small. As primitive as it seems, my method is to take a cotton bud, wet it with my saliva (trying to maintain a high level of description here) and then go to work removing most of the wash until it looks like I have removed too much and should start over. I have found, when I reach this level, the result is acceptable rather than I do just the amount I think I should remove. What happens then is I come back 30 minutes later and hate the way it looks as the model appears to have been dunked in a mud hole and left to dry. I go through a lot of cotton buds, and my tongue and lips very quickly take on the color of whatever wash I am removing; a quite attractive sight most of the times. And, I might add, never too tasty. So after more than a few cotton buds, I removed almost all of the wash and am left with this level of grime. During this wash process, I invariably knock something off. This time it was one of the wing guns. So, at some point in time, they will need to be replaced with tubing. I also have noticed in the pictures, some further refinement needs to be done on a couple of seems and some more sanding needs to be done where some Future has pooled. I next went up top to do the same routine on the sides and upper surfaces. Then most of the wash was removed leaving just a hint of dirt and grime in some of the panel lines. After looking at the pictures some more, I think the hint is just a little bit to heavy of a hint and needs to be more subtle, like when someone asks me if those are my socks on the floor when the real message is I better pick them up right quick Mister! So more removal will be done, but not too much as when looked at from a distance, the weathering is almost there. Has to be a compromise between what looks good up close and what looks good from a normal 3 feet away. After some weathering removal, I then broke out a silver pencil and started doing wear effects. Not too much as I don’t think these planes suffered much abuse. So, that is where she stands right now’ a basic wash with some silver penciling done. I still need to do some exhaust stains, do the wheel wells and some grease markings. Then, attach all the hangy down parts like the undercarriage. As always, all comments are welcome.

My dad was part of the Arrow program and played on the same soccer (football) team as Janusz Żurakowski. My father turns 89 this weekend.

No Bill it's 'there's lovely' or 'lush' if you're in Cardiff.... you know it's just 'by there' and Kieth will be there 'now in a minute' Rob

Finally done! Thanks for the many comments while building this one! Was a pleasure to participate in this STGB! Erik

Another February/March build: a USMC Harrier from the 1991 Gulf War The kit is from Hasegawa, which makes the only decent AV-8B in this scale. I've built this kit a couple of times (mostly the RAF versions) and it has its ups and downs, the main downs being a very sparse cockpit. I chose not to use aftermarket and in retrospect, regret it somewhat. Particularly annoying is that Eduard doesn't make its Zoom set for the AV-8B anymore (only the B+) which would be incorrect for a Desert Storm bird. Also, neither Eduard nor the Aires resin cockpit make a part for the cockpit aft of the seat, which looks quite bare if the canopy is open. Dreammodel makes a PE set but it's a bit expensive (cheaper ordering from China but couldn't bother waiting). It's a bit sad that the aftermarket makers miss the obvious so often... Paint was Gunze Light Gray (FS 36495) and Blue-Gray (FS 36237). In real life the camo for Desert Storm looks more blue but not sure there's an easy match and I couldn't bother mixing until I found out. The Rockeye bombs were taken from a Hase F-15E kit. This is a typical DS loadout that I read from the dstorm.eu site. Decals were from an old Superscale set, which annoyingly did not come with the rectangular nose stencils which I used from the kit decals. Unfortunately these are dark grey, not black. Oh well. Still pretty pleased with the end result! Enjoy

Thank you, Nigel! Main landing gears bays - done:

Following with some comparison, and less of not so funny gag And now Fleet Air Arm family album, I know, the RJ's baby is from MTO, but just for the fun of it. The same difference in between a Corvette and a Triumph TR5 Both are fleet fighter but the Corsair is born as such. Ok Gents, hope that you enjoy my Corsair as I enjoy her ! Paints were once again Xtracrylics, I really like since it's really glossy, I put the decals on it I work with oïl paints and turpenthine. Next one will be heavy, not navy related at all and will be on RFI in a month, depending on the time I'll have. See you later and thanks for your comments. Sincerely. Corsaircorp