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Showing content with the highest reputation on 29/05/17 in all areas

  1. Well, I managed to screw this one up. I was experimenting with weathering more heavily and got too carried away overcoating with tinted floor wax to tone down the bright colors. I finished it anyway to keep as an object lesson to be more careful in the future. So what we have is a quite old 1/72 Heller Hawk 75 in French livery. The kit decals where useless so I used a set from a Peddinghaus sheet. Otherwise it's box stock. There where some problems with the Peddinghaus decals. Namely they did not give any upper wing roundels, the placement instructions are severely lacking and the orange is pretty lackluster. I assume the latter is due to their being printed on a CMYK dyesub style machine rather than the traditional spot color screen printing method. Otherwise they're thin, pretty opaque and responded well to setting solutions. I used Hataka acrylics for the camouflage. I'll not be using them again. While the colors seemed adequate and they covered well enough it seemed each bottle really needed straining as, even after shaking quite a while, I kept getting clogs from "chunks" of something or other...pigment I assume. Pain in the butt. All in all I'm happy, mainly because I love French Hawk 75s and it was still a fun build. I'll make sure the next one comes out better. And probably use the old Monogram kit instead...
    21 points
  2. Good afternoon everyone,time for the latest finished build. Here we have the Airfix 1/8 JU87 Stuka.Built purely out uf the box,no extras.As usual painted with the hairy stick with standard humbrol enamels. Found it to be a good fitting,enjoyable kit to build with no major issues.Can't help thinking there should be a swastika on the tail or at least something.
    19 points
  3. For no particular reason, I've been attempting a few Vietnam-era SEA camouflage schemes over the last month - these were both cheapy "dirty bag of plastic" kits (costing £1 and £5 respectively) from a model show that needed rescuing and were ideal for some experimentation. I think my light green is a little too vibrant and the tan too light, although it looks better in real life than it does on the camera. They're both old Hasegawa kits, although I believe that the Thunderchief originally came in a FROG box. Decals for the F-105d are from Print Scale (MiG Eaters) and for the F-4, they are as supplied with the kit. F-105D Thunderchief - Memphis Belle II, 357 TFS, 355th TFW, Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, 1970 This is really a very crude kit, although it has commendably sharp edges to its flying surfaces! F-4E Phantom II 469 TFS, 388th TFW, Royal Thai Air Base, Korat Thailand, 1969. This is a better kit although still very basic in detail. Mine came with a full weapons load, which more recent issues do not. FredT
    15 points
  4. Hi, after a long time of little modeling progress I've finished my WNW Fokker E.IV. As usual, a delightful model to build - especially the interior. It is "upgraded" with a Taurus engine, some HGW fabric seatbelts, and Gaspatch (1/48) turnbuckles. It was painted with a combination of Tamiya/Gunze acrylic lacquers, Drooling Bulldog lacquers and Schminke inks. It is supposed to represent E.IV 161/16 (Lt. Muller) of Kest 6 in April 1917 - WNW option D; i.e. it is a late survivor and I have interpreted the paint scheme liberally - using the photograph - to show the accretion of the various camouflage practices from 1915-16/early 1917. For example I've interpreted the pale tone on the starboard wing as lilac: 1. Basic factory unbleached linen for fuselage (except dorsal), ochre varnished/dyed flying surfaces and upper fuselage. 2. Light streaky field application of green and brown on fuselage sides. 3. Overpainting of upper wing crosses (and tailplane) with light brown, light green and lilac, leaving inner part of wings in factory finish. 4. Camouflaging of the aluminium cowl and fuselage decking with dark green and red-brown. I've also tried to represent the various oil staining seen in various photos on both lower fuselage and wings. It is rigged with de-stranded Easyline for main wires, UVR for control lines, the turnbuckles attached flexibly to small copper-wire loops. Thanks for looking. Cheers GrahamB
    15 points
  5. Hello and thanks for your interest, here's my 1/72 Sword Supermarine Spitfire IXe in markings of 26. GIAP, Leningrad, April 1945. Photo etch from Brengun, metal gun barrels from Master, decals from AML ("Lend Lease Spitfires Pt.1", #72018). Painted with acrylics from Sangyo/Gunze. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel, IGM Cars & Bikes. To represent the overpainted British Roundels, I tried a new technique: I painted a Black disc the size of the Roundel before applying the main airframe colors. Now there's only a soft shadow line visible. Best wishes from Vienna! Roman
    14 points
  6. my latest......... and she is done now i enjoy a build...and this has been a fun one.....but the research on this has been just as much fun,the real pane still exists and is flying in canada in a desert scheme. but it's own story is interesting,like all P40n's it was delivered in overall olive drab,buyt it was repainted in foliage green and RAAF dark earth with sky undersides once she arrived here,before being assigned to 78 sqn once the sqn was sent into action in PNG the white leading edges and tail were done,the leading edges were quite probably free handed,so i tried to replicate that including the overspray on the fuselage. apperently the spinner was painted white later in it's career so i went with that option to add a little something to it . the kit is an AMT P40-n converted to an N-1(it's pretty easy,just need to get the correct canopies) the decals are by DK decals. oz rb fan Top
    13 points
  7. As a teenager, I made of of these Revell Fokker Triplane kits in 1:28 scale which I suspect ended up a bit cobbled together. I continue to be fascinated by the men and the aircraft that developed military aviation during WW1 from the tentative, flimsy structures used mainly for reconnaisance during the early war years, until the end of the Great War when technology had advanced in great strides, frequently making new designs outdated within a few months. 1917 was particularly important with Allied efforts being overtaken by the increasing number of German Albatros scouts on the Western Front, with tactical supremacy switching back to the Allies as the new SE 5, Sopwith Camel and Spad fighters became available in increasing numbers. My own fascination during this period was with the young German pilot from Krefeld, Werner Voss who, as a contemporary of Manfred von Richthofen, rivalled his mentor in terms of his victory tally until his death in the early evening of 23rd September 1917 at the hands of a multitude of SE 5s from James McCudden's 56 Squadron. I suspect when I tried this kit 50-odd years ago, I was drawn to it for a number of reasons, not least of which was the absence of rigging wires which made it an easier option than going for the Sopwith Camel that was also produced in this scale, as was the French Spad fighter of the same period. With more patience and some increased modelling competence, I decided I ought to be able to upgrade this old and relatively rudimentary moulding. A Copper State upgrade and decal set sorted out many of the external details but I focussed, perhaps too much, on the internal cockpit structure. I thought that around the cockpit, the absence of a realistic scale reproduction of Fokker/Platz' tubular metal framework would be more apparent. So before joining the fuselage halves, I enjoyed myself sanding the redundant moulded detail, such as it was, and replacing it with styrene rod and various other bits in an effort to make the cabin more realistic. It all looked fine before the fuselage halves were joined, but in reality, none of it is particularly visible. There's been much speculation over the actual finish to Voss' F103/17 since various eye witness reports talk of finishes that weer different from those that came off the production line after Voss' death. I've tended to follow the line of Paul Leaman's very useful book on the Triplane, where there are abundant b&w pics of the 2 pre-production a/c (F102/17 and F103/17) that were delivered for combat evaluation to von Richthofen and Voss. These show the random, hand-painted olive green streak effect over the lighter pale blue under-coat that I've assumed was the same shade as on the undersurfaces. On Voss' a/c, the olive green looks solid over the cowling and the metal panels in front of the cockpit, and more dense on the fueslage sides between the cowling and the cockpit. The wings and tailplane were streaked with the olive lines running at different angles comoared to the streaks applied on top of the fuselage behind the cockpit. I decided, perhaps controversially, that the cowling with its facial image was the same olive green as the fuselage and wing streaking, rather than the Jasta 10 colour of yellow and that the background colour on the rudder was white rather than yellow. Contemporary b&w pics of Jasta 10 Pfalz a/cwhere the engine areas were yellow look much more dense than contemporary b&w pics of both F102 and F103. The detail work was all a bit fiddly as it always tends to be, even in this large scale. The Spandaus got the Copper State treatment, some turnbuckles were fashioned for the rigging wires, a fuel gauge and windscreen were added, as was the data plate on the right side of the cowling, the cowling itself being modified to reflect the slight design difference between the 2 pre-production machines and those that followed. The cowling retaining wire holding the cowling in place over the Oberursel radial engine was added and the propeller was given the two-tone laminated effect typical of Fokker's a/c. Some oil staining around the engine, forward fuselage and the u/c fairing was added, as well as some burnt castor oil marks on the engine cooling fins. Like with all models, I suspect I could do a better job if I had another go today, but I'm pleased that it's a pretty accurate version of the a/c in which Werner Voss perished in his last epic fight against 56 Squadron SE 5s on the 23rd of September 1917. I wonder who'll spot what I think is a fairly glaring error. I know of one and maybe others may see more. The build served as a great introduction to the Hachette 1:8 scale Triplane I completed for an old friend, which is the subject of a separate post on the Britmodeller Forum.
    12 points
  8. Hi guys I wanted to share my latest build, the Airfix 1/72 Whitley GR.MK.VII in coast command markings. I can't give too much details and the kit could be going into a Magazine in the very near future. Updated that full build details are in this months (June) issue of SAMI Just the one photo I'm afraid peeps
    12 points
  9. Some may have noticed my interest in the 109 that's displayed in the BoB hangar at the IWM in Duxford. More than 10 years ago when my BoB interest led me back into a/c modelling after 50 years or so, I laid my hands on the 109 E then marketed in 1:24 scale by our friends at Airfix. Having re-started modelling with a Tamiya 1:48 E-3 to portray Horst Perez' White 4, which then looked OK to me, I decided that the 1:24 scale version would give me scope to do my fascination justice. I'd seen a couple of builds in this scale on Brett Green's Hyperscale website and thought following some of the ideas from these, I could produce something that might stand the test of time, particularly if I added my own twiddly bits. This was probably my first serious effort to add what I thought would be realistic weathering to the overall finish and, looking back on it, I'm still quite pleased with the finish apart from one fundamental questionable element that has only become apparent to me since I joined the Britmodeller Forum. I'd been aware that there was some confusion over what was the composition of the upper surface colours, although my first 1:48 scale effort followed the standard RLM 71/02 philosophy straight out of the bottle. The renovated Duxford a/c has been painted in an interpretation of the locally-mixed greys that were identified in some of the early CAR reports and even from paint samples taken from the a/c prior to its last restoration. Anyway, I took numerous pics of the a/c in Duxford and decided to mix colours that copied as closely as possible those used in the renovation. I've since concluded that, while JG 26 generally followed closely the RLM guidelines and were also experimenting with darker hues in the autumn of 1940, the colours on the Duxford a/c look too much like the shades adopted in 1941 for my taste today. It's all a matter of personal interpretation, but I prefer to think that Perez' 109 was probably painted in what had become weather-faded standard 71/02 and any traces of other tints were perhaps simply overpainting damaged areas or perhaps the result of earlier renovation attempts. I followed this theory on my 3rd model of this a/c (also posted on the Forum based on Eduard 1:32 scale E-3) The fiddly bits caused endless entertainment. I decided I'd display the DB 601N and add various items of plumbing that are obvious from most engine bays pics but absent from the Airfix kit. Extensive surgery was required to do this, not least thinning the thick plastic engime cover and hacking about various other items on top of the engine bay to allow the engine cover to be replaced in any sort of flush-mounted style. Undoubtedly there are omissions in this area, not least the MG 17 supports and shrouds, as well as endless bits of wiring that pushed me close to the point where I'd lost the will to live. Apologies also to Dave W whose info on the actual engine number I didn't have when the model was put together. The inside areas of the wing undersurfaces, where the oleos would sit with sheels up, were built up with styrene sheet and tubing, suitably attacked surgically and with heat before the upper and lower wing sections were joined - not that that this visible in the pics attached. Fuse wire brake lines and rudder actuating rods were also added. Inside the cockpit, I cobbled together the two instrument lights at the base of the windscreen frome each side, using some plastic tubing, fuse wire and some lead foil, drilled some holes in the top forward edges of the windscreen to take some bent fuse wire for the pilot's grab handles and added a restraining loop to the rear of the opening canopy and the top of the fixed rear section to stabilise the canopy as it opens and shuts. I scrapped the kit's aerial mast and built one from aluminium tubing with fine brass wire running through it to produce the proper hook at the top to accept one end of the aerial wire, with a couple of cms at the bottom bent to fit through the cabin bulkhead and along the spine of the aft fuselage in order to give the aerial some support to tension the aerial itself. This is made of twisted fine copper electrical wire threaded through cunningly-made, if not perhaps exactly to scale, insulators from shaped and drilled square section plastic rod. The decals from the kit were used to some extent, although most of the unique markings of the model are either hand painted (not really happy with the tiger head emblem - see a better one on my 3rd model) or painted then transferred to inkjet decal paper. The weathering, oil and exhaust staining were applied to the finished a/c with flat alumimum acrylic, Tamiya smoke and a mixture of burnt umber and ochre oil paints. I no longer have this model in my collection. Like all the Airfix 1:24 scale kits, it is a BIG model to display and during an Aerojumble some years ago I had a stall selling some of my BoB books and took this and some other smaller models along. Someone made me an offer for it I couldn't refuse and it wasn't Marlon Brando. .
    11 points
  10. Hi All I Started this one a long time ago but have been and am still busy doing a Loft Conversion so don't get on much or get much modelling time unfortunately. I have been gradually getting this one finished though and now I am calling it done. the model is OOB apart from the ignition wires emanating from the harness on the engine and some cables in the cockpit. It is quite a nice kit to build and I have not encountered any real problems. I would like to thank those who have helped me on the reference such as LDS Modeller and others who were able to provide some photos for U/C bays and cockpit seat etc when I asked for help on here. One such conundrum was the undercarriage leg colour being as they are quite prominent. I decided in the end to coat them in the camouflage colour that was directly above them and chip them heavily to give the impression of an in the field hastily applied colour. Thanks to all who have helped and hope you enjoy. Thanks for looking All the best Chris
    11 points
  11. Another one model that I've made the previous years. It is Hobby Boss UH-34D in 1/72. Complitely out of the box, nice kit and I really enjoyed it. Decals for VNAF from the kit. Thanks for looking. Regards, Nontas
    11 points
  12. Hello to all, This is a model that I made in 2009 but I haven't shown it to you. It was made out of the box, with just a few details added to the cockpit and my homemade decals for VAL-4 Black Ponnies as they served in Vietnam in 1971-1972. It was my first attempt to use homemade decals to a model. Thanks for looking. Regards, Nontas
    11 points
  13. ...and whoever else has re-popped this one. An old clunker but a no stress build. Picked it up at Plymouth Model Show last month for the princely sum of £8. I did need to get a replacement engine (slightly more than the kit itself) as the kit one looked like an attempt at 3D printing of ectoplasm. Wheels were from the spares 'bucket.' The fuselage managed to part as I was applying decals. Hopefully it doesn't show too much. Underwing light was hollowed out and replaced by layer upon layer of Klear to give an impression of glass. Some of the decals have silvered probably due to age (got the Kiwi ones spare if anyone wants them). Rather heavy chipping done with a silver pencil which I found out is water soluble when I tried to remove some from the spine aft of the canopy so it looks like a thin veneer of bird honga. Only noticed this when uploading phots. Humbrol enamels throughout which sprayed surprisingly well this time around. Klear prior to decaling then Humbrol Matt varnish to finish. Panel lines done with a battered old micro brush and pastels. Fuel staining done with a dark wash then blown aft and allowed to dry. Not a show stopper but I enjoyed it. Oh and that's the B side of my cutting mat if anybody is questioning it's cleanliness.
    11 points
  14. Hi all. I'd like to show you my latest build. This is the 1/48 Kinetic Mirage 2000B. Not a bad kit but it needs some attention (and filler) to make it into a decent model. I used the Eduard pre colored pe set but l should have used the kit cockpit instead. The seats and exhaust are from Aires and both are beautiful. A pitot tube from Master is a must in my opinion. The liggt grey is the correct color according to the instructions but blue-grey paint is an own mix from Gunze Aqueuos. Kit decals were used and weathering was done with an AK wash and pastel powders. René Thank you for watching.
    10 points
  15. Right up. I did some detail painting – mainly the odd dial here and there, white and red spots to give a semblance of detail, and some dry brushing with silver. Nothing special really, but looks reasonably decent and adds some depth. On with a coat of klear, then I added a wash. No exotic recipes, just Paynes grey oil well diluted with Winsor & Newton Sansodor. I prefer the latter to turps because it isn’t as smelly and it is quite mild and is less likely to react with the paint. Now the black areas. A little more problematic for obvious reasons, being black a dark wash doesn’t really work, cos well it’s black. I added some white to the wash so it was a light grey, or highlighting wash. I find this and dry brushing the only way to bring out any kind of depth or detail with black, especially at this scale. Here is the finished result which I’m quite pleased with. Not absolutely fantastic, but seen through the canopy it should be convincing enough. As you can see I’ve added the handrail, seat, and a harness for the flight engineer, plus the lamp for the navigator, and finished with a coat of Alclad Klear Kote Matte. I think it's a compromise to bring out the detail. Apart from a lamp to see the maps and charts, as per above (many moons ago) I’d knocked up a parallelogram and some earphones and a Morse code clicker for the radio operator. Another blast from the past was the maps that The Baron had provided me links to above: I did use the kit transfer in the end even if it does look a bit too newish and HD Photoshop enhanced for a 1940s map. I tried to dull it with a bit of grey pastel. Anyroad I used one of Tony’s maps, plus my home brew compass and parallelogram (I’m quite impressed with myself, not so the scratch build, but I can now spell “parallelogram” correctly!). So here they are, perhaps a tad overscale but they’ll look all right through the canopy. Okay I know you can see diddly squat detail on the ones folded in the map holder…but dear reader you know – cos I’ve told you – that they are authentic, and we know they are there! Probably the radio operator and navigator’s seats are a little underscale but I’m gona putt that down to rationing and war time resource issues. On the whole though I am quite pleased with the outcome. Now those blinkin’ forward observation windows. I knew they were going to be a bit of a faff, and yep they were a roight proper palaver. I got them glued in but they still weren’t flush with the fuselage and there was an ever so slight gap. So glued in and then I added some perfect plastic putty, which I can understand why folk rave about it. Yikes what a mess! Well I flatted it back, then added some Mr Surfacer. Then more sanding and micromeshing, and here is the finished result: It’s come out quite well, nice and flush, and is reasonably shiny, although you can’t really tell from the piccie. I’ll mask just inside he fill area and probably treat it to a coat of klear once everything else is painted. In other news I’m in receipt of the latest additions to the mancave itinerary: Yes it’s a lathe. What to use it for? Well give me enough time…but I’m excited. Makes a nice whirring sound too. And silicon moulding stuff from an art shop in Brum (yes even in Brummagem we do have those sort of shops you know). Have to say I’m quite impressed with it. Already tried it out on the fuselage windows. Sets fast, easy and not messy to use – my kind of stuff. I’ll finish off the other window, final check on the innards then can finally get it zipped up.
    10 points
  16. My next build is Revell's 2011 re-tool of the Halifax, reviewed by Paul with nice sprue shots here: There's a big gap on the ceiling where an Airfix Stirling used to hang. This one: Wobbly, seams, embarrassing! by Ced Bufton, on Flickr I built it a long time ago when I re-stated modelling and it's now the victim of some 'de-silvering' tests, which are not going well: Rubbed too hard! by Ced Bufton, on Flickr Hopefully the Halifax will take its place soon(Ish). Some research to do and a decision to make on the scheme, but it's probably going to be the OOB box art one.
    9 points
  17. Finally finished another one. Happy with some aspects, bit disappointed with others. This is the Tamiya MkVI Beaufighter in 1:48 scale. The build thread can be found here: So the kit is pretty much OOB - the only aftermarket addition was some Eduard seatbelts to improve the cockpit a bit. Paints were acrylics from AK Interactive, with gloss finish by pledge, final matt finish by Model Master Acryl matt clear cote. I made use of Flory washes for some weathering, with some AK Interactive dust and dirt and pigments for an extra touch.
    9 points
  18. Hi Guys, Here are my Su-7 Fitters from OEZ but reboxings from Smer and Eduard. Not very easy kits but very well build able. Added air scoops and ventilation louvres from Quickboost and resin ejection seats from Eduard. Armament is a mix from the kit and from a Eduard MiG-21. The Iraqi decals are from the Eduard box and the Algerian came of a decalset from Hi-Decal. ] Erik
    9 points
  19. Hi Folks, Here's another of my recent oldie builds from the bottom of the stash. It is a starter pack reissue from a few years back that was the retooling of the original airfix kit from nineteen canteen! Very easy assembled kit with an overall pleasing outline that caputuresvthe look of the real thing (i think). I have mounted it on a Matchbox stand as its wheels up and allows for more dinamic poses rather than the single position stand Airfix provides. Here's the pics... There y'go another Airfix classic from the vaults, thanks for looking, comments welcome, Cheers Greg
    8 points
  20. My first Vac-Form kit I have build.And only for the reason that it is the only Boeing 747SP kit available,except the resin kit from Authentic Airliners. The build was challenging as I had no experience with Vac-Form kits,but I managed to get it eventually together. While working on this kit for almost 1 year,I came up with the idea to make an In-Flight diaorma,which I thought would be a nice way of displaying it. For my first ever Boeing 747SP I wanted a special and nice scheme,I had Air Mauritius,South African Airways and Air Namibia in my mind. Air Mauritius decals I couldn't find and the only South African Airways markings I found where the new ones.But I wanted my -SP to have a cheatline and the Air Namibia scheme is very attractive. The decal set comes from f-dcal and is of the usual good quality,application though showed some size discrepancies,it was a tad too long.Nevertheless I managed to get it on the Jumbo. For the display stand I took another wooden board from my tv-table as I had no use for it anyway.The size was right too. I airbrushed it with different shades of brown and green to simulate sand and trees,and painted on a river with some side arms to give more depth. After that was done and dry,I used cotton balls to create "clouds". As I also wanted to create contrails,I drilled small holes in the cones of the engines hot sections and superglued thin wires in.On those I applied white glue and pasted thin pieces of cotton balls on it.I know,the contrails are appearing behind the wings,but as to hide somehow the wire I already put some thin pieces at the end of the hot sections. The model itself sits on a transparent plastic tube. For being my very first vac-form kit and also the first in-flight display like that,I am quite happy with the outcome,although the model has some flaws. I don't know if I ever will build another Vac-Form kit again,as I am more the plastic-modeller,but it was a nice and interesting experience. The only problem I have now is...where to put this diorama ? Here now the Air Namibia Boeing 747SP on its way to Windhoek.Have a nice flight I hope you like it Note:No cats included, as they are not able to "fly"...
    8 points
  21. In October 1978 the 81st TFW began to receive the first A-10s in to be based in Europe. Over the next two years the twin RAF bases of Woodbridge and Bentwaters were to end up with a grand total of six squadrons comprising of 108 A-10s. The aircraft arrived in a paint scheme that had been finalised after much experimentation with differing versions of grey schemes, this scheme consisting of grey shades referred to as MASK-10A. These colours were not assigned FSN numbers but were identified by the percentage of light that they reflected, with the final, production MASK-10A scheme being 30% and 50% greys with a Gunship Grey false canopy painted on the underside of the forward fuselage. In late 1979 the more familar Lizard camouflage began to phase in after the JAWS trials had shown that the A-10s were very visible to the attending aggressor aircraft. More experiments were carried out with schemes before the Lizard camo was settled upon. All this was discovered after finding a random image on Google that looked different to the any of the camo patterns or colours that I knew so well. I reckoned it looked rather attractive, so have had a pop at it and think it is somewhere near close. The paint was renowned for fading and appearing different shades under different lights and even altitude, so getting a good match wasnt necessarily all that important, the subtle shades of the fading however was something I wanted to capture - I just hope my camera has captured what I attempted! Anyway, thats the whys and what fors, heres the Hawg: Kit: Tamiya 1/48 A-10A (later boxing) Decals: Some from the kit, more from a Caracal sheet of lovely Cartograf printed bits Paints: Humbrol enamels (165 & 166 in several shades for the main colours), Halfords clear coats, some chalk dust for weathering. Extras: Eduard PE for cockpit and a few external bits n bobs, Eduard PE RBF tags, Aires Resin ACES II ejection seat, Kinetic AGM-65 Maverick missiles & rails, Hasegawa ALQ-119 ECM pod, Hasegawa Mk20 Rockeye cluster bombs, Hasegawa Ground Crew Set - Fire Extinguisher, Skunk Models Bomb Trolley, Scratch built FOD covers. (masking tape inlets and tissue paper & PVA glue for exhausts). Tempted to redo the photos in decent daylight as the subtle fading hasnt come across much at all here. But... Its raining and dull outside, so these will have to do for now. Im rather pleased with it, hope you guys like it. Hey.... I finished something!!!!! Just spotted the excited RBF tag, nevermind, it was a bit breezy....
    8 points
  22. It's always easier to have a go at Luftwaffe a/c since crash reports and contemporary pics are relatively abundant. Not so for the many RAF a/c that came to grief throughout the war especially during the BoB, in particular for reasons related to wartime propaganda and public morale after Operation Dynamo left many potentially dispirited despite Churchill's renowned oratory. Despite this, I decided to have a go at depicting one of the Hurricanes that became a casualty during the latter stages of the BoB some 10 miles from where I live. The story of South African P/O Percy Burton's battle with Hauptmann Horst Liesenberger's Messerschmitt Bf 110 C early on the morning of the 27th of September 1940 is well known to many, ending with the 249 Squadron pilot chasing the German aircraft from the Redhill area, ending up running out of ammunition over Hailsham in Sussex, some 10 miles from the Channel coast at Beachy Head. Burton, arguably mortally wounded, either purposely or mistake manoeuvering at low altitude, rammed the twin-engine fighter casuing both a/c to crash, killing himself and the 2 German airmen. Recommendatio for a posthumous VC were rejected by the Air Ministry, much to the anger of the other 249 Squadron pilots, since no RAF witnesses had seen the final moments of this encounter. This was one of my early efforts at model making after I'd reintroduced myself to this insidious but infatuating hobby and the first Hasegawa kit I'd bought. It's pretty much built OOB with only marginal variations . The individual aircraft i/d (D) is a guess but based on some research, helped by the 249 Squadron Association as weel as various references from Tom Neil's many books but I'm quite ready to be proved wrong. I shied away from attempting too much staining or weathering, not really having the confidence to make a credible fist of that dark art. Sadly, I also omitted what I could add as an afterthought now that I think about it - the IFF aerials that would have been present stretching from the outer forward edge of each tailplane to somewhere around the mid-point of the fuselage roundels. I took punt on the choice between A or B for the top surface pattern and opted for Sky as the undersurface finish, even though some squadrons were still using other variations of the undersurface colour due to supply issues with Sky paint. It was quite a satisfying build at the time but, having gained perhaps too much confidence on the weathering and staining issues, I'd probably try to add a bit more of this since 249 Squadron were obviously involved in a pretty hectic round of sorties after its move into the base at North Weald. I guess we all think we learn, but there's always more.
    8 points
  23. Hi all, she´s done, hope you like it You can find more pictures and some information about the real plane in my Blog: Pete´s mancave All the best Pete
    8 points
  24. Hi everyone, i recently saw a photo that reminded me that this aircraft wore BA livery back in the mid nineties,as I had one in the cupboard and some spare BA decals in the spares folder I thought it would be an enjoyable little project and so it proved to be.Had to use a bit of modellers license with some items, the badge on the tail fin comes from an airfix 737 and is a little oversize,also door and emergency exit outlines come from a 707 and should be white but are a good match for size, the red striping comes from an extradecal sheet also lettering for TAT logo. overall it was a very enjoyable build.
    8 points
  25. From my 1/48th scale F-101B to this tiddler was a bit of a step, however delivered on Thursday and finished today must be a record for me. The photo sees things that the naked eye cant but here it is anyway, Thanks for looking
    8 points
  26. It's Memorial Day here, so I visited Private Cyril Evans again. He's buried in Fort Sheridan's cemetery; he died in this country after having been in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Normally they only use American flags for the tombstones, so last year I went and provided a Union Jack for him. I dropped by this morning and put in another one for him. It looked very beautiful fluttering in the wind amidst the sea of American flags surrounding it. 2017-05-29_07-59-32 by Edward IX, on Flickr
    8 points
  27. 7 points
  28. Another kind donation from Phil ( @HP42 ) so this charming little PZW kit has been completed with an ident of HP-42 one - see what I did there? OOB, Stynylrez white primer, Tamiya flat red and W&N gloss varnish with home-made custom transfers. A nice little kit that goes together really well. WiP thread here.
    7 points
  29. I've always admired the graceful design of the Gloster Gladiator. The RAF's last bi-plane fighter has some fascinating stories attached to its brief career as a frontline fighter, cut short in the build up to WW2 by the development both in Germany and the UK of faster monoplane designs powered by the type of inline, liquid-cooled engines that fascinated the public during the Schneider trophy era. Nevertheless, there are some absorbing stories associated with the a/c, not least the hectic struggles of Faith, Hope and Charity over Malta before the beleagured island was reinforced first by Hurricanes and later by Spitfires. As a BoB nut, a few years ago I joined the Battle of Britain Historical Society and went on a few pilgrimages to crash sites with other members. Amongst these, I got to know the son of a family whose name is readily associated with the hilarious TV series following the exploits of Rowan Atkinson and his colleagues - Blackadder. My friend's father, William Francis Blackadder, joined the Auxiliary air Force in 1937 and in mid November 1939 flew with 607 (County of Durham) Squadron to France to support the BEF and the Allies against the German threat after the invasion of Poland and the declaration of war. At the time, 607 Squadron were still equipped with Gladiators, and Francis Blackadder flew to France in a/c registered as K8000 AFoF. Throughout the winter of 1939/40, the squadron operated their Galdiators but were fortunately re-equipped with Hurricanes just before 10 May 1940 when the German advance west started. Gladiator K8000 was lost in March 1940 when the squadron was practising squadron attacks in France. It collided with another of the unit's aircraft when both pilots were killed. Francis Blackadder wasn't involved in this tragedy and after leave back in England in early May 1940, returned to 607 Squadron and eventually returned to England after Operation Dynamo. He flew Hurricanes with 607 Squadron through much of the BoB based at Tangmere near Chichester and was awarded the DSO and promoted to Flying Officer. I decided to reacquaint myself with the frustrations of bi-plane construction and rigging, using Roden's 1:48 scale kit to portray Blackadder's Gladiator, the result of the build being the subject of this post. Not being blessed with particularly nimble fingers or great eyesight, it was a satisfying build but not without its frustrations. This is actually my 2nd effort. I made a fundamental error after completing the first one by spraying it overall with what I can only assume wasn't the right acrylec satin spray which produced an overall effect as if the model had been operating in a Finnish winter scenarion, covered in a white mottling. Impossible to correct, hence my second attempt where I fortunately managed the finish reasonably well. I spent quite a bit of time mixing a shade to replicate something like the texture of the weathered & singed stainless exhaust system of the Galdiator's radial engine after looking at the renovation that was then going on of a similar a/c up at Duxford. It was also one of my early efforts at producing some measure if the scratches. oil and exhaust stains that typified a/c in service generally. The radio antenna required a bit of ingenuity but turned out OK, as did the rigging with careful location of pre-drilled holes and that wonderful elasticated rigging material. I didn't complicate the build by adding too much detail to Roden's OOB offering apart from some etched seat belts, some fuse wire brake lines and the decals from various aftermarket sheets but I was quite pleased with the finished item. Any confidence I've developed in terms of bi-plane building will doubtless be completely eroded once I have a go at one of the WnW 1:32 scale offerings.
    6 points
  30. Afternoon chaps So after making the stand for the front end of this B17G it was back to the bomb bay trying to get it finished. I decided to get the bomb bay skinned with the finished aluminum look ...,before continuing with the rest of the detail...I think this is the best way forward as there is a lot of handling involved in applying the aluminum sheets which might destroy all the detail which I need to build on the wing roots....so it was down to business. The first job was to mark up all the rivet lines where the skin is going to cover....... Next up I made a template out of card and placed it on the fuselage sides in the area I wanted to cover...I then marked that piece of card with the rivet lines and then transferred it onto the alu sheet and cut out the panel.The rivet lines had to be then marked up on the alu sheet ready for punching. This next photo shows me using a handy little tool I made out of a piece of model kit sprue and a sewing pin ....all I did was add a slight bit of pressure into the sheet along the marked out rivet lines....on the reverse side of course! Here is one of the panels completed showing the template and the little punch tool.... The next 3 photos show the panels fitted......... okay.....so this next photo shows the wing root area which I need to detail on both sides ,which will be the next job along with the bomb bay doors....... That's all for now folks! Only a few more posts left and then section 2 of this build will be finished!...only another 2 or 3 sections to go!!! Thanks for looking in Fozzy
    6 points
  31. ...........Aaaaaaand. we are done! I took her outside just for my own gratification. No RFI until I return from my hols. I need to get ready as this subtle hint shows, I'm off to see yet another classic rock act tonight. cant wait. I took a few little shots for you guys though. I hope you like them and don't mind waiting a week or so until I get the RFI sorted. As her name suggest she really has turned out to be. Thanks for tagging along with me and I'll do a proper sign off when I get back from my Holibobs. Keep it going guys, you're all fabulous. As always. Happy Modelling. Johnny Strutter! X
    6 points
  32. The latest completion from the 72 Land small aircraft production facility. It is a kit I am well familiar with, the Academy P-47 razor. No real vices, the kit builds quickly. The painting did, however, take some time. Lots of spraying, masking, then spraying the next progressive color. The silver was Alclad White Aluminum. The markings came from DK Decals sheet 72-040, P-47s in the PTO. The aircraft was flown by Major M J VandeHey of the 78th Fighter Squadron, 15th Fighter Group, while part of the Pineapple Air Force in Hawaii in 1944. I’ve been referring to the snake on the cowl as a rattlesnake, but given that the nickname of the 78th was “The Bushmasters” it probably means that the snake belongs to that species. VandeHey was apparently the squadron commander. I was pretty pleased with this one. As before, I welcome everyone to visit the revitalized 72Land blog at the link shown in my signature below. This is completed aircraft #474 (7 aircraft, 2 ordnance, 4 vehicles for the year 2017), finished in May of 2017.
    5 points
  33. Been a long hiatus from modelling due to a new job getting in the way and loads of house works going on but I finally managed to get something finished. Completely out of the box, no idea if it's accurate and painted entirely to Tamiyas colour call-outs. I'm no expert on US Naval aircraft so I hope it doesn't offend to many. .
    5 points
  34. Hi all, I think I can see light at the end of the tunnel on this little project. I've done some work on the base, just added some Flory Grime wash airbrushed on here and there so it doesn't look as monotonous and also added some small gravel to add lumps and bumps. I've also bent some acrylic rod so I can place the Hurricane at a banked angled: Untitled by Neal, on Flickr Here is a dry fit of the plane on the vignette, I added some chipping to the aircraft too: Untitled by Neal, on Flickr Untitled by Neal, on Flickr And then I decided to glue to prop on: Untitled by Neal, on Flickr I just need to paint the nose cone now and bring it all together. Thanks for looking.
    5 points
  35. My thanks for your kind comments Mr. Tiger. I can't take any credit for the quality of the windscreen results - after the 'leap of faith' involved in the initial surgery, MicroMesh used correctly seems a foolproof and forgiving procedure. I'm finding it unaccountably frightening, but then again, I was asked to leave woodwork O-level after 'that' incident with the lathe. They shouldn't let boys near it if they didn't want them to experiment with ballistics... A classic BM sentiment! I could not have put that better myself. How many of our collective Sunday afternoons were enriched by those urbane tones, just conveying the right undercurrent of still-boyish excitement at some gargantuan funnel of horsepower going vertical over the Home Counties. Remember this classic Baxterian understatement from the BBC Secret War series? Cheers Chris - hope the decorating's going ok? When was it last televised? I've no idea. It's pointless even going into a rant about such matters; I long ago stopped watching broadcast television so forfeit the right. Superglue face mask. Got it. NOOOOOoooooooo........ : . . . .....makes it shiny he said. Lose any ripples he said. Does it look like I'm losing any efffing ripples!
    5 points
  36. Hi everybody, WE progress report airing now Been doing some fiddly job for the wheel bay. The main idea is to paint as many components as I can before assembling the internal structure and before gluing it to the wing, in order to reduce to a minimum the detail painting afterwards. So the modelling activity during the WE went almost all into preparing such components. One pretty visible thing here is the fuel pump, the yellow thing you see in the middle of this picture so I scratch built it from a leftover (it comes from a HASEGAWA 1/48 F-4U Corsair, but I have no idea what it is ... ), shaped it accordingly and added a few other bits to install the various pipes I glued in two segments of welding wire (very flexible), that are going to be cut to size after I dry fit them into the well structure Other pipes: green is for engine cooling fluids After brush painting them and glossing with Future, I did some Light Grey drybrushing on the corrugated part, followed by a Tan wash (all Lifecolor) The supercharger air duct was brush painted with a Silver lacquer I added some structural elements to the fuselage section visible through the wheel bay (thin plastic strip coming from the usual yogurt pot, glued in place with Tamiya Green cap) and after a primer coat (Vallejo Grey), I airbrushed Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey, which looks a good match to Grigio Mimetico, the intended color for the lower surface and wheel wells The fake firewall was airbrushed Tamiya Flat Black, instead while the wing interior was brush painted, simply because I forgot to paint it while I had Dark Gull Grey in my airbrush Some detail painting, drybrush and weathering on the various sections The wheel leg actuators were airbrushed Tamiya Flat Black too, gloss coated and slightly weathered, then glue in place with some CA gel as you can see, there's a pretty evident glue smear (happens some times with CA gel ). I'm hoping this will be hidden by pipes and all the rest, because a touch up here is going to be extremely painful ... Anyway: here's a dryfit of the main parts used to glue the reinforcing aluminium structure to the wing spar, so that I can remove the top and the fake firewall and insert all the other bits A bit of tidying up needed on the alu frame, but I'll let it set properly first. Here's how the other two parts look together (still a dry fit, except for the supercharger air duct, secured with CA) A couple more sessions and I should be able to glue the wings in, me thinks! Comments welcome, as ever Ciao
    5 points
  37. The last steps are detailing. I've got laser cannons for 2 a-wings to finish. Behold the laser cannon assembly line! These are off-white unpainted plastic to begin with. Next - engine detailing. I know A-Wings have yellow engine glow, but want to give this one something slightly different - I love the pink/purple of X-wing engines, so this gets a coat of duraluminum again on the inside of the main engines to provide a shiny base, and then a hot pink pearl application. I'll mix a little white in the center later as well. Finally, here's the whole thing put back together, alongside the rest of my A-wings. I'm not 100% happy with the engine nacelles - I think the white section ended up looking a little goofy. I may paint that in orange and leave them solid orange, or perhaps paint it orange and then paint the rest dark grey. We'll see. And, of course, weathering. I'm going to be pretty subtle on weathering this one. Just a little paint wear here and there and a some oil-staining. I like how this one looks pretty clean. And that's it for the A-wings. Once I'm happy with the final result I'll post a completed gallery of the entire A-Wing squad.
    5 points
  38. Had a lot of fun giving some newly learned armor techniques a try with this one. Tamiya's 1/48 Panzer 38(t) finished with a plethora of AMMO Mig paints, washes, and pigments. First time using Mig paints and am very pleased with the results. Eric
    5 points
  39. As always, or almost, I start from the cockpit: - I prepared the various parts and painted some - I added the colored photoetched and then I masked them - Even Quickboost exhausts are put in place and the bulges - With a Gunze RLM 66, I played a bit with black and an medium gray to create shadows and timid light spots - And finally I painted the details, you do not see well but the oxygen pipes are in olive green. La prossima settimana chiudo la cabina di guida e posizionerò in fusoliera, se tutto sarà buono, chiudo tutto per avere una fusoliera pronta Ettore
    5 points
  40. Hi all Some images from today. The wind had dropped from gusting 26 knots yesterday to less than five knots today, so everything flew, except the Sea Vixen (for obvious reasons) and the MiG-15 (for reasons unknown.) It was wonderful to see the Sopworth Pup's first public display. For Paul J, the script on the horizontal tail of the Bronco reads "1914-18". According to Ben Dunnell, who was commentating, the aircraft is marked in this way because it is based in Flanders. I know there are a few serving and ex Para Reg guys here, so the first ones are for you! The rest are in no particular order. Thanks for looking.
    5 points
  41. Thanks to everyone for the help on the New build, especially @TheBaron nice webs. here's a few pics of the lovely box art and some possible schemes where I might be headed. I love the "last days" reminds me of a zombie film or a Stephen king novel " Alive Inside" also the white number with the curtains. You gotta have curtains with little tie backs in a WW1 Bomber. Any hoo let's be done with that, I seem to have side tracked my own thread so let's get back on topic shall we. Remember the P38? let me begin. The underside lights I scratched are on and painted. The front UC door got added. and all the actuators got positioned. The little bits and bobs got added. I held these on with blu tac while they dried. All this was yesterday afternoon. We took ourselves to a local beer and music festival on the evening, walking there past Wychbury hill. I love this spot. A good time was had by all. not too wooly this morning so more P38. The belts got painted and decals on the canopy. Props got some decal action. Seat assembled. and popped in place. Side canopy on. top canopy on. Aaaaaaaaaaand............
    5 points
  42. I see stuff like that and fully appreciate why the RAF preferred their airfields to stay put I have done as much as I'm going to, to the lashings so its the end of the WIP for this one One or two minor items to stick on before I RFI it though, mainly adding the hook to the hoist and two more, to be unused lashing points to the upper fuselage Made not yet stuck on The Wasp has been secured to its beer mat sized base by two pairs of lashing straps unusually instead of using four separate ringbolts on the deck I have photos of ship's flight Wasp using the two eyes instead of four and from the context of the photos it seems they were taken on a Navy Day somewhere I surmise it may have been done to simply to reduce trip hazards for folks wandering the decks with Pimms's and Horses Necks Lager and rum for the families of the lower deck types mayhap? How would I know, Reeman never described family visits in his books... Anyway, it suits the narrative for a Wasp-on-a-Beer-Mat doesn't it So here's YOUR sneak peek at the Wasp before she gets RFId next week No Crisp, I haven't attempted the one inch lettering on the tail fold PIN OUT warning flag, might (will) be feasible in 48th scale, not here though Admiral, sorry So here we are, journey's end for the Wasp I have enjoyed it and I hope you have I know it needs some warts removing, and possibly some carbuncles adding but this was Wasp Time for some Buccing about next
    5 points
  43. KittyHawk is working on a 1/48th North American FJ-2(?)/3/3M Fury kit - ref. KH80155 Source: https://www.facebook.com/song.wang.5076/posts/1917304511861498?pnref=story V.P.
    4 points
  44. Hello, this is only of my first AFV's so it was a great change from doing aircraft which I have been doing for most of my modelling life. This was a bit of a side project and one that turned into a very enjoyable build, the kits was built out of the box with the exception on the radio mast and the tow rope on the front hull, this was made out of twisted solder wire. As it turned out well (that's my opinion) I thought id do a little diorama for it to sit on and give the overall effect I was after. The paints used on the Nashorn were all Tamiya Acrylic and the 'weathered' white wash effect was done using the hairspray technique (never did it before and liked the overall result) And a couple on the diorama I built I hope you all like this build, it was a nice change and I think I may do a few more :-)
    4 points
  45. I have been wittering on about this so I'd best get on wi' it The Matchbox S2 Buccaneer with the Maintrack resin conversion intakes to make an S1 from it The usual Lucky me got two sets of rather bleagh (unusually for Matchbox back then I always thought) transfers Of course none of them is relevant... In a moment of convivial community modelling I had this with me at club and decided to begin the conversion, hacking away at the front of the intake area and the forward wing roots Here is what I got in my bag from a gent on 'the 'bay' well no, not the Airwaves etch. That came from Big H and may be of use later A hunting the web session got me some drawings that needed careful rescaling One good, others to follow suit if the accuracy bit bites me in the sittupon I think they will be fine to work the rough changes from but when I need 'right' I can cope with a reset Here is the freshly reshaped forward fuselage ready for the intakes to be added and faired in As you see the bulgey bomb bay door is off and the new resin one about to be modified rectified I WAS going to hack out the engines that Matchbox moulded in but I have had a think and decided there will be enough beggaring about with the basics without adding extra angst... I don't think they look too awful anyway A bit of additional pipe details and some additional ducting, you won't even notice... Probably Look at this for instance Airbrakes to detail If I can work out how to separate the two horizontally sliced parts vertically Realistically I'm off now to research the Martin Baker Mk 6s which might be needed if I can make a floor and wheel well roof night all edit to add I hope this build doesn't get too bogged down but I already have a list...
    4 points
  46. Some threads just mentioned the film "Those Magnificent men . . " and I found a trailer on Youtube with the Wright Flyer at the end. So good point to show my last finished stripdown, but not from Eduard as my others. This is the Wright "The Flyer" of the Japanese company Aerobase in 1/72. This biplane was done out of the box, even the base plate was included. Also a thread for rigging was included, but I have used something thinner. The flyer was soldered as usual, but since the parts are thicker, it is much easier to build compared to the Eduard ones. So I can really suggest it as starter into this area. The painting was done with Gunze and oils. The only funny thing was the rigging. According to the manual the task was done, but I found a lot of free rigging points on the model! After a research in internet I found manuals of other kits, e.g. in 1/16, and other sources which enabled me to finish the rigging and control wires completely according to the original Flyer. The pilot Orville was my first painting of a figure, and this in 1/72 Have fun and feel free to ask, if you have questions! Frank Engine and pilot: See the tin solder: The ribs are individual parts:
    4 points
  47. A bit of light reading, my reference material for the next phase of the build. John
    4 points
  48. OK Ced, early this time Where do you hide the sarnies, I'm a tad peckish and I haven't had my brekky (Have fun with that Giemme).
    4 points
  49. For the next step, I cleaned up the panel lines a bit. Some of them had become a bit indistinct with the black coat - I took a hobby knife with a brand new #1 blade and ran it down along every panel line. No pressure, just letting gravity do the work. It didn't actually remove any material, just made the lines much more distinct again. In this picture the panel lines on the upper half (relative to the photo frame) have been done, and the lower half are yet to be done. Following that, I brush-painted a number of contrasting panels, some in XF-18 Medium Blue, some in an 80% gray mix, and some in a 60% gray mix. With the nice clean panel lines on this kit, you can get a perfect hand painted panel by carefully taking advantage of surface tension in the paint. And there's the completed halves of the fuselage, with black, medium blue, and 2 shades of gray panels. The greeblies on the bottom are highlighted in what's become a favorite of mine already - Vallejo Duraluminum, darkened slightly with Model Air Black.
    4 points
  50. Soon after Op Torch RAF Hurricane`s were flown from Gibraltar to French North Africa,.....most notably 43 Sqn. These were camouflaged in Dark Earth and Dark Green with light undersides,.....most likely Sky Blue. They were tropicalised and retained standard RAF markings. Here is one of them, en route across the Med with long range tanks fitted; There do appear to have been some desert coloured ones (sen in the background of pics/films) but the majority wore temperate colours. Cheers Tony
    4 points
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