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Hello Folks This is my latest off the bench and represents a few firsts for me. - First 1/32 in a long time, - First time using MRP paints, - First time using Montex masks. - First time using a turps based panel line wash. Eduard(Hasegawa) P-40N A29-607 BU-G as flown by Sqn Ldr John Waddy, 80 SQN RAAF . All but the kill tally and tail code are painted on using Montex masks. Kit stencils. I love the MRP paint and will use it again. The Eduard kit gives you resin wheels and exhausts and some etchy goodness. Hope you like my BU-G. Cheers Andrew P.

Hi folks - here are a few hasty RFI pics of my recently completed Seafire III in 1/72. A really enjoyable build, using the excellent Sword kit. Essentially out of the box, with a little bit of tweaking here and there. Pictures: The model represents the aircraft flown by Sub Lt Victor Lowden on the last day of World War Two, 15 August 1945 when, in the Fleet Air Arm's last action of the war, Lowden shot down two A6M5 Zekes and shared a third. Lowden's flight from 887 Squadron FAA was flying top cover for a bombing raid on the Japanese mainland. Lowden was the first to engage the enemy and the last aircraft to land back on HMS Indefatigable. Soon after he did, the ceasefire was announced. I used a print (pictured below) as a reference for his aircraft, LR866, which was an early FIII but which survived to the end of the war. The print can be found at: http://www.aviationartprints.com/aviation_art.php?ProdID=4080 For those interested in the Seafire, I can't recommend highly enough the following Website which as a wealth of info: http://www.armouredcarriers.com/seafire-development/ And if youre interested, here's the WIP I did on the build. I've now finished three this year! Justin

Here is the second in my line of Latin T-birds. I still have two Platz T-33s in the pile! As you can see she is depicted as “3304” of the Fuerza Aerea Dominicana (Dominican Air Force), and was one of four machines acquired in 1956 and operated briefly (until 1958) by that force. The US Mission withdrew them in 1958 and they were supplied to Brasil. The Dominicans went through the same again in 1967 when they acquired two ex-USAF machines and those, too, were withdrawn by the US for similar reasons. With the FAD during the time of my model they were operated by the Escuadron Ramfis from Trujillo Air Base. At the time the force operated a wide variety of types, such as ex-Swedish Mustangs and Vampires, Thunderbolts, Mosquitoes, Invaders and many others. They were generally painted in bright colours but sadly this didn’t extend to the T-33 fleet. Like my earlier Uruguayan build, this is the excellent Platz kit. My model is based on the following image: What did I do/use? Platz T-33 1/72 Kit built out of the box Painted with Humbrol Enamels – 27001 Metalcote Aluminium overall, 33 Black wing tank halves, 153 Insignia red/189 Insignia blue/34 White for the tail flag, 60 Scarlet for the nose, 226 Interior green, 147 Grey and a few sundry others. Finished with Humbrol Glosscote and Mattcote. Nose guns from half-round Plastruct rod Wing pylons from plastic card Decals were a mix of: 1) wing and fuselage roundels from a Colorado P-47D sheet 2) Ramfis unit badge from a Hobbycraft P-51B kit 3) home printed serials 5) Spanish language stencils from a Microscale Latin T-33 sheet. 5) wing way decals and red lining from the kit. Panel lined and dirtied up a little with Flory dirt and then a few swipes of Tamiya Weathering sticks here and there. I hope you like her. Martin

Here's the old and new Hurricane by Airfix. The old one is first and the second one is the new "rag wing" kit. Compare and contrast. Old New Old New Old New

Hi all, Here is the third and last (for now) AT-33A of my current series of Latin T-birds. Like my previous Uruguayan and Dominican builds she is the excellent Platz kit. As I said previously, this kit goes together perfectly with little filling or fit issues. She is built as “TF-808”, an AT-33A and operated by the Escuadron de Combate 2112, Fuerza Aerea Ecuatoriana (Ecuadorian Air Force) based at Taura Air Base near Guayaquil. The Ecuadorians acquired 36 T-33s from 1956 onwards. Eventually the remaining machines were camouflaged and finally retired in 1995. Like all my builds I try to research as best I can but in this case I came against blanks at every turn. In Ecuadorian style of the time the “last three” of the serial was taken from the last three of the US serial. Unfortunately there were a few ‘808s! So, no real history although I know that TF-808 still exists as a preserved airframe in Ecuador. I based the build around this image: What did I do/use? Platz T-33 1/72 Kit built out of the box Painted with Humbrol Enamels – 27001 Metalcote Aluminium overall, 33 Black wing tank halves, 153 Insignia red/154 Insignia yellow/189 Insignia blue for the tail flag, 60 Scarlet for the nose, 226 Interior green, 147 Grey and a few sundry others. Finished with Humbrol Glosscote and Mattcote. Nose guns from half-round Plastruct rod Wing pylons from plastic card Decals were a mix of: 1) wing roundels from a Xtradecal Strikemaster sheet 2) home drawn and printed nose Esc 2112 badge 3) adapted and home printed internet image of the Taura wing badge for rear fuselage 4) home printed serial and wing “FAE” 5) Spanish language stencils from a Microscale Latin T-33 sheet. 5) wing way decals and red lining from the kit. Panel lined and dirtied up a little with Flory dirt and then a few swipes of Tamiya Weathering sticks here and there. I hope you like her. Martin

This model was completed in January this year after a two year build, started just before her 5th birthday. It came from the old Airfix Airfield Diorama set. The full story of the build is shown in the link below, but for those who don't want to read the whole build thread, here's just a few of the completed pictures. Build thread - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235029483-spitfire-prig-diorama-with-a-twist-172-scale/ With nowhere to keep and display it, she said she had enjoyed the built, but agreed we'd try and sell it. The model was framed and sold, with the profits buying several new lego sets.

This is 1/2 of the Eduard "Dual Combo" kit. A gift from my mentor Ken Henderson...a fantastic model maker. I went for the most interesting scheme, and paid dearly as the decal I needed broke into many parts. Getting it back together took almost as long a building the kit. Not perfect, but here is #27 for the year. My first build since September. Built OOB and rigged with .005 Ethicon stainless steel. All paints are MM, and I did use the p/e seatbelts.

Thanks Leon, glad you like it! So we had some snow; last night but then this morning it was already over, just a few centimeters Modelling-wise, I haven't started with decals yet; here's what I did, instead. Base coat for the exhaust stacks, brushing on Model Master Metallizer Titanium (the stacks are taped to the wooden block) These were left to cure, waiting for more painting. Then I fixed the aileron overspray Actually, I did put some decals on, these: The blades were then glued to the spinner plate, and the spinner cover followed right away. Here's a dry fit of the airscrew in place Then I glued in the tailplanes, using CA gel and LEGO blocks to keep them level Then I tackled the main wheels assembly; I drilled out some holes in the scissor link Just like I did on the C202, I removed the wheel mounting pegs, as I want to be able to fit the wheels in after the struts have been assembled and painted. You can see I went a bit heavy-handed with the drill , so I had to do some repairs and set them aside curing Wheel rims filled in with some stretched sprue and glued with Tamiya Green Cap then some Dremel action Tamiya Green Cap to smooth things out, then set aside curing before I can drill a suitable hole in them. The plan is to use brass rod segments to reproduce the wheel axles That's it for the day, comments welcome Ciao

Thanks Johnny - yes, doors will be sorted! Hi Leon - both dog and Mrs B are back to health now thanks. Almost normal No modelling today as I spent the afternoon with a beautiful lady. This one: My first shift on 'Concorde Floor'; other shifts have been split between the front and rear doors. 'Floor' seems to consist of herding cats (as usual) and also making sure visitors are safe. From what you may ask? Well, I fail to understand what the attraction of these are: ... but I had at least five toddlers running behind (or under) the strap barrier and trying to look into the VERY BRIGHT projectors before being herded away, hopefully with their eyesight intact. My suggestion that we replace the barriers with an electric fence was not approved. No, not even a small one. Older children seemed to realise the danger and, instead, find great mirth in standing in front of one of the projectors and blocking off part of the video. Bless their little hearts. It was quite quiet this afternoon. Probably the snow. Gave me a chance to read the stencils though. Fascinating She is gorgeous though eh? Lovely lines. All of them. Bit smelly underneath though (ah, Avgas!) but hey, she's probably at that age...

Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another...

I'm calling this one done. Construction was fine, good detail and value for money and enjoyed the build immensely, especially the painting. Painted with Vallejo Model Air. This is actually the Limited Edition Aces 7516 kit but I just could not get inspired by the decal options so I got some Kits World decals for Salem Representative instead. Obviously the decals with the kit will get used at some point on another P-51B . Flown by Lt Ralph 'Kidd' Hofer who I was not familiar with until I saw the scheme, really interesting character who sadly did not survive the war. You can read about him here (some great photos too): http://www.americanairmuseum.com/person/175786

Working on the Matchbox 1/76 LRDG diorama set. the build nearly didn't happen, as the decals were missing. Thankfully, one of the Britmodeller members donated a set. Finished this Jeep last night, great fun, but going crosseyed working at such a small scale..

Uber-kapitalist! Sounds decent enough to me Jaime. You know you need it Simon. Maybe not immediately, but better safe than sorry eh?.... Thanks Ian. I know what you mean about the adhesive qualities of freshly-kneaded Milliput! I usually end up with the glutinous marzipan of it all over my hands...every time! Thanks for that Ced. A PE bender seems just a sensible precaution really... Giorgio: as taught to me by the redoubtable Miggers, late of this forum: grab brass part in pliers or tweezers and hold it over a gas flame until cherry red, as required. immediately quench the part in cold water. that's it. you're ready to shape. This happens very quickly for the kind of small rod I was using Giorgio so be ready to whip it away very very quickly, lest it melt on you... HTH! It's a kind of geometric equivalent to sketching, isn't it? If you can establish the broad outlines in three-dimensions, you can home in on the final shape gradually. I also don't think that you can under-estimate the importance of the kind of shape-information that comes from the tactile feel of it in your fingertips, as well as gauging such matters visually... I hope it helps Johnny. You may need to buy it immediately - I mean what are the chances that Lightning will need something metallic and bent in the innards somewhere....? BTW: I ordered mine on Nov 12th, so it took about a month to get here with free postage. Did somebody say snow? Radio silence yesterday was due to (no doubt like many of you) waking up to a Winter Wonderland yesterday morning: About 4 inches of snow fell during the early hours of Sunday, taking out power as well for the whole day. Natch there was little to do save feed the birds: (rooks and starlings as as like familiars round here as the cats) Or throw snow at each other: What on earth though could have made these tracks in the snow?: These were semi-regular and periodic about 100 yds down the lane from the house. I might have to send that in to the back page of New Scientist as it beats me. In between getting soaked and frozen, and lacking sufficient light in the work room, I dragged a few toolsout to the kitchen table: Final shaping on the nose done now: But then having polished that hooter to semi-perfection, it was necessary to carve back into it to form the recess that the gearing mechanism for the gun ring sits into - starting with the rounded corners: Whether it's the scale or just the range of jobs I'm doing on this aircraft at the moment but I find that more and more I'm just holding tools like this in my fingers and using them. Used in this way, these drill bits give exceptional control and responsiveness for working hardened Milliput. Job done, but the base of that needs levelling out a little: Ooh. Who got clumsy with the scalpel blade and managed to slice off a bit of the rear of the gun mounting also? Should have held that blade in my fingers also! This front part is now an unintentional lesson in the complementary use of fillers - first Milliput, then PPP to remedy the hacking at the rear of the ring, then Mr.S to level the recess: Same treatment for the rear recess, which I enlarged more carefully by taking the scalpel blade off the handle and just using it in my fingers this time (thereby creating less mayhem...): Constant checking of thist stage is required in order ensure that the Drehkranz sits at the correct level in relation to the gearing recesses: Almost there now: Final order of the day was an all-over primer to check seams and fillings: A little bit of roughness there on the keel behind the step, and on the top, just some smoothing left to do up near the tail: Remedial work on the bow-shape has exceeded my expectations: Not prefect, but I'm at that stage of having to ration time to different tasks now that we're in the endgame: I won't be leaving the very front that asymmetric, plus there's a mooring ring to try and fix to the prow lower down as well.Drilling into an acute angle - that should be fun! Hmmm: Time constraints or no, I'm going to add a little more Milliput to the keel thre at the very front - it doesn't curve enough and is too linear at present in those last couple of centimetres where it angles upward. A bit more 'chin' in other words... The bow topsides looks ok now though: The Nordic light yesterday afternoon seemed oddly appropriate for this bird of the Northern Seas (here drying a last coat of primerover the stove: With the light failing at this point it was getting too dark for work or photos, and with no power, it was back to the glim of candlelight: Fabulous Benedikt! Those are completely beguiling.

I've never yet encountered a kit, no matter how well engineered, where I didn't have to shlop (technical term) large amounts of filler along the center seam. The bombardier's window in the nose is just a dry fit, but it's quite snug, though it seems a tad wide. Up top I'm using Mr Surfacer to try and be subtle about things (and also in the vain hope that it would reveal no gap once applied and dried): The landing gear bays are now assembled, and they're stooging around in the box like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and likely to meet an end equally awful, sticking out like they will for most of the rest of the build once the wings are closed up. Worried that the landing gear might miraculously make it to the end of the build without getting sheared off, Trumpeter settled upon exceptionally elaborate ailerons, involving seven pieces per, not counting the wing halves: Yeesh. There is of course also the issue of the overemphasized fabric effect on the wings; at present my plan is "hope Airfix does it better". I forgot to answer this earlier, and my secret is...I do! Tons! I'll probably snap all the gun barrels off within the next seventy-two hours. Tonight Mrs P made a truly incredible amount of chili to feed my mom (my dad, a notoriously finicky eater, doesn't eat chili), my sister, and my stepgrandfather, in one of those untelegraphed moments of genuine human sentiment she sometimes has. Her maternity leave ends tomorrow and she's back to work. My mother-in-law is in town to watch the kids for us. Gonna be a long week.

To start I want to give Devcon 1 credit for the idea on this and for telling me how he did his Takom KT cutaway. I bought the RMF Tiger I Mid Production a while back while in DC from a model shop, and when I saw Devcon's forum I figured what better model than the Tiger I with interior. Heres the progress.. I still have much to do, including some LED lights, tools, tracks, wheels, etc. Although right now the tracks will be the most tedious and time-consuming on my list of things that need to get done. Mark

Greetings, Heavily modified Revell kit from 1975 of U-47, a type VIIB U-Boat, depicted as U-251 a Type VIIC boat. Finished in a wood & acrylic display case with battery powered LED lighting. Insignia and colours are for U-251, a type VIIC. The hull and deck parts are from the u-47 kit along with some interior parts. The tower and deck railing are spares from the more recent Revell 1/144th Type VIIC kit. Most of everything else was scratch built or came from the spares bin. Model is bolted to the back panel of the case with interior LED wiring passing through the hull and back panel to a separate battery pack and switch. Out of the box, the interior configuration of the kit is glaringly wrong, but has potential. I enjoy scratch building and the challenge of improving these old kits, so this project was very satisfying. Many thanks for having a look, your questions and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Bill

Hello modellers! I´m glad to be able to present another finished model after a long time. Is a Lockheed AH-56 A Cheyenne in 1/72 made from the 1967 Aurora kit. Have always been interested in this helicopter since I had a quartet card game as a child with the Cheyenne being the ultimate joker, outperforming all the other copters by lenght. Wondered why it was never went into mass production until later learned about the mix of technical problems, interservice rivalary with the Air Force and a shift of requirements that not oly ended the AH-56 project but Lockheed´s rotary aircraft ambitions. I managed to get the kit in June- not a real bargain, but the first affordable kit since I started my search and it was mint in box. References were easy to find and even so only ten prototypes were build, many airframes survived and there are a lot of pics available in the internet. Nevertheless I bought the Warbird Tech book Volume 27 by Tony Landis and Dennis Jenkins for further information. Right from the start it was clear that I wanted a later prototype use in the weapons test program and I opted for the No 7 prototype. Unlike the Legato resin version, the Aurora kit depicts a very early prototype with narrow wings and except for the nose turret, no weapons or pylons. I started with detailing the fuselage halves and vacuformed a thinner canopy. A rotor axle with brass bearings from an old PicooZ remote controlled helicopter was glued to the inside, allowing the main rotor assembly added later and spin freely. The wings were extended with styrene sheet, the nose extended and the cockpit, except for the seats and pilot´s instrument panel, completely scratchbuild. The 30mm belly turret was made from a F-14 reccee pod, whereas the nose turret is from a slice of an F-16 drop tank. Both turrets are movable. From the main rotor only the blades were used, extended with plastic sheet and sanded thinner. The blades were pinned with small nails to a piece of sprue, serving as rotor axle. The gyro needed several attempts until I was happy with the mix of needles, wire insulation material and shrink tubing. The pusher prop and antitorque rotor are completely scratchbuild from plastic sheet, nails, needles and sprue. It took nine small holes to drill into the center of the antitorque rotor to fix the blades, detail it and allow it to spin! The underwing pylons were crafted from leftover F-4 Phantom pylons, rocket pods from the Hasegawa weapons set. For the TOW launchers three pieces of Q-tips were glued on styrene sheet and brought in shape with epoxy glue and putty. Other material used were nail-art rhinestones for the beacons, hairs from a broom for the rigging on the gyro and hypodermic needles as gun barrels. As a gimmick, the gunner seat and gunsight were glued on top of the sensor pod allowing to turn the seat from the outside to depict this unique detail from the real thing. Painting wasn´t too complicated with olive drab over all with only a little weathering. Started with a preshading first but found out that this effect seemed too exaggerated for a prototype aircraft. Decals came from kit, sparesbox, and my printer. Except for a little yellowing, the kit decals performed extraordinary well considering it´s age of 50 years! I´m really happy to have this bird in my collection and will relax now with building an old Hasegawa T-33. Mario

The first is the old Airfix kit, a real favorite of mine from way long ago. I combined it with some parts from the Frog kit, some scratch building and some PE parts. The second is the new Airfix kit OOTB. It looks "beefier" that the old one if nothing else.

Good evening. Allow me to present 'Christl', a Fw 190D-9 flown by one Major Gerhard Barkhorn of JG 6. This is Tamiya's JV 44 boxing of their Fw 190D-9 in 1/72. Paints were Gunze Sangyo Aqueous and varnished with Winsor & Newton Artists' Acrylic Gloss and Matt varnish. I did give up on the spinner spiral as the decal wouldn't fit then broke up, then I forgot to paint it on. Extras include: Eaglecals decals Eduard SUPER FABRIC seat belts SAC metal undercarriage parts (as I lost one of the retraction struts) Scratch-built cannon barrels, antenna and pitot tube from brass rod Underside hoop from spares Cockpit seat cushion moulded from Magic Sculpt (though the seat belts are obscuring it) A few bits and pieces in the cockpit scratch-built from plastic Wiring from EZ line Weathering procedures include: Chipping with acrylic paint applied with a sponge and brush, and with a silver pencil Filters with Mig Ammo filter and thinned oil paint Mottling on the propeller with thinned oils Mud splashes with Mig Ammo Nature Effects and Splashes Oil dot fading Shadowy areas highlighted with thinned black oil paint Panel lines with Mig Ammo Panel Line Washes Streaking with AK Interactive Streaking Grime and thinned black oil paint Exhaust marks with a home made stain mix and Tamiya Smoke Dirt accumulation on the wheels with Mig Ammo Pigments

Even with my poor lingusitic skills Benedikt I was still able to appreciate the humour! Yep. Really. The power company repair crews are great and brave men and women but it doesn't take much with the shaky infrastructure here Giorgio to knock things over. One Christmas day we were out of power for 36 hours because a swan flew into a power transformer! Climate and sex. Only one has a reliable forecast sometimes! Some intense but undramatic work this evening. In preparation for scribing I've been sanding and polishing: I think that's all the imperfections gone now from the fuselage; any slight dents and dings I've left in as I noticed that some these hulls always seemed have that 'pressed-in' look in a few places that betray the pounding of the seas. This is essentially ready for scribing now, or rather for some scribing. I've seen a few build of this aircraft that either have a lot, or no structural patterning on the fuselage. Neither please me entirely in relation to photographic evidence so I've been combing through images to work out a plausible level of detail for the fuselage at this scale - expect one or two longitudinal panel lines and a few vertical rivet lines, but not much more. You can see also I deepened the 'chin' right up at the very front. That looks more convincing now: It also cured the slight asymmetry to the front of the bow that I pointed out previously. Finally tonight, I soldered-up the seat framing for the forward gun position as well: Having got the rear one of these completed on Saturday was a lot easier to do that the second time around - about 20 mins from initial bend to fixing in place. The finer tips I got for the soldering iron are a definite necessity for detail this small - I can't believe I lived without brass rod for so long! If you're getting clear skies at night, don't forget the Geminids!: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/meteor-showers-in-2017/ Tony

Giorgio, Did you ever finish the pilot? Seriously, since you are an accomplished figure painter, will you be adding a pilot? Or make a diorama featuring both Macchi models and a ground crew (would the two have appeared together)? New airbrush working? Gene P.S. I echo the plaudits on the masking.

Ah, the sound of the Starfighter... great stuff, it was unmistakeably recognizable from miles away ! When I was a kid I used to go on holiday with my parents in a house they bought on the Adriatic Sea, just 90 km north of Rimini. Even in summer there was plenty of activity and we got F-104s from Rimini and Istrana, F-104s and Tornados from Piacenza and Ghedi, G.91s from Cervia (that is even closer than Rimini), plus whatever NATO aircrafts was on exchange (I remember Phantoms, F-16s and even a couple of Canberra T.17s). The jet noise was music for this young boy ! Thanks David ! I do have more time and a few more Starfighters in the stash... I may be tempted to build another one for the GB, however I'm not sure I could complete it in time. At worst there's a NATO '60s GB, the Dutch grey one may be built there. Thanks, those markings really show very well ! And now the model has received some more colour, plus she has been given an identity ! In the end I've chosen FN-T. The reasons are that this aircraft had a dark grey tailplane, something I quite like (very unusual on a NM Starfighter) and also has a small nose art. The problem is that I've followed the Vingtor instruction sheet and this seems to show the code a bit higher than usual on the fuselage... pictures however proved this is wrong, unfortunately I checked these too late. The thing is not really that noticeable but I'm a bit annoyed by my mistake. Other additions have been some more decals and the dark green antiglare panel. This is supposed to be in FS 34079, however most pictures show a darker green and for this I used Lifecolor's UA106 Airmacchi Green... now there is no Airmacchi green in reality, this really is the green used on Italian Air Force aircrafts from the early '70s til the introduction of the overall grey scheme. It's a dark olive green and IMHO replicates pretty well the green seen on Starfighters' antiglare panels. Actually I'm using this a lot for olive drab antiglare panels in general... One small detail that can be discerned from the picture is that she now is standing on her legs ! I've glued the main gear legs, it took a while to align these properly and I feel that the fit of this part is not the best. I'd like a sturdier way to attach the legs to avoid having a wobbly model... One other thing that can be seen in the picture is how messy wy workbench is ! I promise, I'll try to tidy this up during Christmas holidays !!! Here she is

A small amount more work done, but a small update is probably better than no update! The firefly is almost finished, just needs some varnish and a couple of touch ups. I only realised when uploading the photos that the red stripe is meant to extend all the way down the sides. For some reason I thought the tracks covered it and thats why the panel lines didn't go all the way down.

After a trip out to test our sledge on the snow......... I got back to work on the Havoc, firstly attaching the undercarriage doors (which was rather tricky), then the guns on the nose, and turret. Once all this was secured I gave her a coat of Windsor and Newton matt varnish, and will begin weathering, I'm almost done.

Here is my model at 1:700 scale of HMS Hardy, a Type 14 Anti-Submarine Frigate. I built this model for my father who served on HMS Hardy when he did National Service with the Royal Navy in the late 1950s. The model portrays HMS Hardy as she appeared at that time with 3 guns. The Bofors gun on the quarter deck was removed in the 1960s because of its exposed position and most pictures of the Type 14 frigates show the gun having been removed. The model is basically a rework of the MT miniatures 1:700 kit which is very basic to say the least. There is a build log showing the extent of the conversion I undertook here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235025645-1700-scale-type-14-frigate-hms-hardy/ Apart from the MT Miniatures kit I used: The Pitroad NATO weapons set for the Limbo Anti-Submarine Mortars. White Ensign 1:700 Photo Etch - General Post War Royal Navy fittings. White Ensign 1:700 Photo Etch – RN Doors and Hatches. White Ensign 1:700 Photo Etch – Ladders and Walkways. Starling Models 1:700 Photo Etch – RN WWII Boat Davits. Lion Roar 1:700 Photo Etch – USN WWII Fairleads Flyhawk 1:700 – Modern RN liferafts And Niko 1:700 – 40mm single mount Bofors Guns. This may seem an awful lot to buy to improve one model but the transformation from the original MT Miniatures kit speaks for itself. There are some things I think I could have done better but on the whole I think the model has turned out quite nicely and definitely an improvement on the original. Enjoy and thanks for looking.

I'm finally going to start a project that I've been planning for a long time. Hopefully posting the progress of the build here will give me a push to finish it... This is the background story. I work at the local museum at former Swedish Air Force base F 10 at Ängelholm, Sweden. I love to just sit and browse through the extensive photoarchive now and then. It is absolutely huge and full of interesting photos from 1940 up to 2002 when the base was shut down. Sometimes I happen to stumble over something that I haven't seen before. A couple of years ago I found some pictures of a different looking Spitfire at a different airbase. I discovered that these pics were taken at the F 14 base at Halmstad, Sweden. It turns out that no other than Jeffrey Quill made a sales tour to Sweden in this Spitfire 22 in June 1946 with the mission to sell airplanes to the Swedish Air Force. As you can see it was a slightly different looking Spitfire, it was equipped with a contrarotating propeller like the Seafire 47. Unfortunatly the timing was awful since the same day Jeffrey Quill landed his Spitfire in Stockholm the first of the new DH Vampires for the Swedish Air Force was delivered! The Spitfire was by 1946 old news when compared to the Vampire jets... However, the Swedish Air Force did eventually bought the Spitfire XIX and used them as S 31 for a couple of years. I'm very thankful to the photographer for this pic. Note that there is no gunsight. Jeffrey Quill and some beautiful details... :-) I actually did a quick build of the Airfix Spitfire 22 in 1:72 scale two years ago. I stole the propeller from the Special Hobby Seafire 47. I'm sorry for the lousy quality of this photo... Now I want to build me a bigger version of this rather sexy looking aircraft. I'm going to use this Seafire 47 in 1:48 from Airfix. Most parts including the propeller is already in the box. I think that the only thing missing compared to the Spitfire 22-kit is the lower portion of the tail rudder. I've collected quite a lot of aftermarket "candy" that will be used on this build. What do you think? Anything I need to think about before starting? I'm mostly interested in Swedish aircraft so this will be something new for me. To be continued... Andreas

Having very recently felt flushed with success at painting up 2 figures for my husband without making them look like googly eyed monsters, I suddenly went crazy and agreed to paint 14 (yes 14!) figures for our next model making project. We're building the MiniArt tram and we're making a nice non-military diorama to go with it. I bought the MiniArt german sitting civilians, tram crew with passengers, the 1930's-40's German civilians and Frau Muller with her bicycle from Master Box. So far i've discovered that 1:35th figures are terribly tricky and photographing them is even harder! I'm doing my best to replicate the images on the box art (I will for ever more despair that MiniArt decided that one particular lady would look lovely in a tartan coat!). I'm just less than half way through, here's the line up so far:- First we have the old lady from the 30's to 40's set, now in the images she's supposed to be looking shocked looking at bombed out stuff, but as trams aren't really all that shocking I turned her into a smoker with the addition of a little brass rod. First she looked like a scary gremlin, but I fixed that eventually. She's standing with her one armed friend, who was actually the first to get painted, he actually has an arm and a suitcase now. I actually enjoyed giving him pinstripe trousers, which are surprisingly effective. I'll have to include a completed picture of him at some point when I can be bothered to faff with the camera again. Next I painted the man I call the grumpy gentleman with the mustache. The next one is my favorite so far, I added a little pattern to her headscarf which was fun. Finally my latest completed figure was the trickiest, yes it's the lady in the tartan coat, this was horribly tricky to achieve but I think I just about pulled it off. Irritatingly cameras have far better vision than we do! I'm working on another couple of figures at the moment, another lady and an old gentleman. I'm hoping by this evening i'll be another figure down!

And I am off...first I cleaned off the bench. I've not done that properly since my first GB back in...I don't know...I've forgotten... Greece can be a dusty place and my flat is no exception, hence the glass-doored cabinets I have for the built kits. This is kit PK-8, Gladiator Mk.1 and I will make it in French livery for a nice, silvery change. This is my second build for this GB and I am eagerly awaiting the outcome of the 2018 voting! Oh boy, am I excited! All I ask is a clean bench and a kit to steer her by... Except for the decals from the excellent Extradecal Gladiator set, this will be OOB as much as possible. And my second Gladiator from that decal collection. I built the Greek bird last year from the new Airfix kit. Why do I think this will be more fun? --John

These Corsairs are part of an ongoing build regarding joint British Pacific Fleet (BPF) and USN operations in the last few months of World War II, beginning with Operation Iceberg and ending with carrier raids on the Japanese mainland itself. Both are from the 1/72 Tamiya kit. The BPF Corsair IV (Goodyear FG-1A) had to have the wingtips clipped and I added tiny fuselage vents - kudos to your eyesight if you can pick them out. Here's my traditional attempt at matching one of the reference pics. The 'X' on the tail denotes that this Corsair was based on (edit - thanks @Grey Beema!) Formidable, but I think the reference pic was taken on the USS Intrepid (the US carrier with the most British sounding name). The paint is Colourcoats Glossy Sea blue (WWII version), post-shaded with a little light grey added to the airbrush cup. The USN half of the pair is an F4U-1D with the 'diamond butterfly wings' Geometric markings belonging to the USS Essex. The over spray on the markings was on purpose, believe it or not, and was quite a challenge to reproduce. I couldn't find a reference pic for '185' so I based the markings and weathering on these two pics of Essex Corsairs. Paint is Colourcoats again, but post-shaded with Lifecolor acrylics. Here they are alongside the first completion of the project, a 1/72 Academy Helldiver. The Helldiver RFI can be found here. Off to start on the next triple, two BPF Hellcats and a Seafire.

Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is an aircraft modeller's attempt on "Heavy Metal" - Dragon's 1/72 T-34/85 Mod.1944. Built from the box with the addition of metal towing cable from the spares box. Earlier Dragon kits did include this, as well as photo-etch pieces, but their new (orange) boxings contain plastic parts only. It still builds into a very nice model kit, probably the best in 72 scale. I still need to improve my skills on tank painting and weathering, but I hope you like the outcome. Painted with Gunze acrylics (Olive Drab H80), photographed by Wolfgang Rabel. With kind regards from Vienna.

Hi all, Here are a few pictures of my build of the Tamiya Steyr 1500 in 1/48 cale. I added a resin conversion (I do not remember where I got it), to make a version with a closed cabin and cargo bet. The figure is from the Tamiya Marder III kit. I made a small base with artificial snow, a muddy road and vegetation made with hemp fiber. The whitewash is done with the hairspray technique. best, Christian.

hi all, Here's one i started today and finished three hours later! It is a 1/144 Tomytec pre-painted kit that i bought on a recent trip to Japan after reading in a magazine, SAM i think, about how good they were to build. All i can say is, that if you get a chance to build a modern Tomytec kit, go for it. They are unbelieveable. Bear in mind that the tail is only 30mm long, so that gives you an idea of the print quality. Everything fitted perfectly except for some minor water-base filling and wiping on the fuel tanks. It even has a metal pitot tube!!! Comments welcome Andy

Smug mode engaged

Hi Chaps, I'm going to carry on with the Space:1999 theme; and for my next build I'm going to scratch build a Mk.IX Hawk in 1/48 scale to compliment my Eagle model. The Mk.IX Hawk is probably one of the most recognisable 'guest' space craft seen in Space:1999 and appeared in only one episode titled "War Games" where Moon Base Alpha comes under surprise attack from a flight of Hawk's; these cause much damage to the base. In the episode it turns out that the attack and the Hawks were an Alien illusion. The Mk.IX Hawks were identified as such by Professor Victor Bergman suggesting that they are or were a known craft of Human/Earth Origin and are probably some kind of dedicated fighter craft designed solely for combat. There isn't much out there defining a definite scale compared to the Eagle; the Hawk is apparently smaller than the Eagle and other builders have gone for a length of about 20 inches for a 1/48 model and I'm going to do the same making it about 4 inches smaller then my Eagle. I've scaled up some plans to match the dimensions I want and will follow these. I'll do my best to keep it accurate but I know I'll have to ad-lib some parts that I can't replicate completely. First, I'm starting with the command module or beak. I've started out with a flat 'keel' and will build around this. I've components have been cut out of various thicknesses of sheet styrene. This is very similar to how I originally made the Eagle cockpit. Wish me luck! Karl

Hot on the heels of her Spitfire PR.1G diorama, completed in January 2017, my daughter started her new project in early February. This was going to be her third build, but having done such a good job of her Spitfire and her first model, a Red Arrows Hawk, I had confidence she would manage. This project was going to be a wall hanging picture / diorama of "Snoopy verses the Red Baron" using a 1/72 Revell kit and a scratch built Snoopy and kennel. Framing the picture allows it to be hung on the wall where it won't be damaged and also it will keep the dust off the models.

Its been a difficult year, with various elements of "Real Life" in the form of work, family and health interfering badly with modelling. But here we are at the end of the year, all is well in "Real Life" and although I don't think it has been my best modelling year by far, under the circumstances I am quite pleased with my output: The year started ambitiously as I scratch converted a 1/72 James Bond Italeri AW-1010 into a Royal Navy HC3A: Then the somewhat smaller 1/72 Italeri Bell Sioux appeared in Royal Marines markings: Having flown for years on the same old Airbuses and Boeings, a trip to Marseilles last year introduced me to a new and rather racy looking airliner which i just had to build, the Embraer E series, in this case the 1:144 Revell issue. And as a quick build, the Airfix 1/72 Tornado F-3 in its easy build incarnation scrubbed up nicely: The airliner bug had bitten though, so a 1:144 Airfix Trident joined the pack: Followed by the a somewhat modified Hobbyboss Lynx to reflect the retirement of the HMA.8 from RN service this year: June saw an ancient FROG Hasegawa Thunderchief emerge in Vietnam colours: Quickly followed by a Hasegawa Phantom, also from the Vietnam era: July saw my main building project move a big step forward (of which more later), celebrated by my first F-35 Kit (Fujimi 1/72) in RN markings: Then the airliner bug hit again with an Airfix 1:144 BAC 1-11: August and September were manic months, with little time for anything other than work, but with my main buillding project in Scapa Flow, marking 100 yrs since Sqn Lt Cdr Dunning made the world's first first landing on a ship, I squeezed out an Airfix 1/72 Camel to mark the occasion. Always a refuge when things are busy, the 1/72 Trumpeter LAV-25 gave me a quick AFV build, my first for many years: And because building something new in the time I had to spare was out of the question, I resorted to a repaint of an older model, a Royal Navy FOST Dauphin using the 1/72 Matchbox/Revell kit: And then an old 1/72 KP Su-7 FITTER, with an ICM Zil 157 truck to refuel it Followed by a rather difficult 1/72 FROG (Hasegawa) A-4K Skyhawk which had some critical parts missing: ...and finally, on the 7th December 2017 my main building project, the one that has dominated my life for the last 6 years, was handed over to its new owners. Maybe next year there will now be a little more time for modelling - or maybe not - we do have a second one to build! QUEEN ELIZABETH departs Portsmouth for sea trials - Crown copyright by https://www.flickr.com/photos/qeclasscarriers/]QEClassCarriers, on Flickr

Hi everyone. Soviet car Moskvich-403. Best regards Martin

It was a long fight... Its SF as far as I can tell. Funny thing is that I found an inspiration for this here at this very forum:) few pics from workbench :

I'd absolutely love a 1/48 Fordson. For the 820 Sea King I am going to use a bog standard Pusser's deck tractor, 1980s vintage. For a future 819 SAR build I have a Houchin! Anyway, here's our diddy tractor again, only this time primed. More soon Crisp

Yep - right after a 1/72 Javelin and Sea Vixen.

Thank you very much Mark....most kind! I didn't get as much time on this over the weekend as I would have liked but I managed to get some stuff done: First off I managed to clean up the seam lines, etc. during the week, on all the smaller parts I found and cut off the sprues (last photo above): Then I got them painted - Revell Anthracite for a base coat on anything with bare metallic areas (right) and Revell's Panzer Grey for the rest (Left): Then any areas that are going to be bare metal later were given a dry-brushing with Humbrol's Gunmetal: There's a lot more work needed on all these smaller parts but at least I'm not leaving them right to the end! This weekend I also decided to get the additional spaced armour that was mounted on the main gun mantlet added. This looked like this to start with: A test fit of the top and sides looked like this: From looking at the above it was obvious that the mantlet would still be visible inside the spaced armour so I decided to add a bit of weathering to the mantlet: It is very subtle but at least it adds some interest - again it looks more noticeable in real life: Upper, sides and lower sections glued in place: And then the front on: A quick test fitting on the upper hull section it will be mounted on: ....and of course on the lower hull: You can also see some of the base weathering I did on the upper hull sections (not the turret yet - that's next week). Finally this week I got the exhaust units fitted: plus I did a bit of weathering behind them. But of course all that work on the exhaust units disappears behind the deflector unit!: Ah well.......... More next weekend. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Any help?

I'll have another look for pod drawings but as the 4+ drawings are only of the AS versions I don't think I'll find them Not a worry really I can make them from the info you guys have already given me I can't look at the mo' the guided tours have just started and we aren't allwed into the public areas after eight or before five OK OK I don't live in a stately home, but the drawings are upstairs and out of bounds til this afternoon HER computer room in the mornings... 😉 Ta That 72 scale door slot cutter, I have doubts about the slot width it gives

‘Bomb Aimer”, Edward - “Bombardiers” are US(A)AF (or Army of course). If you’re going to pass as a Brit.... I’ve seen the Airfix Wimpey in the flesh (at Telford), and it looks amazing. Good job I don’t do 1/72, really!

@dragonlanceHR the first kobayashi prints are now available through Aviation Graphic. I will try and have cn/ 5262 added soon too. Also, Nick Millman has posted a very kind review on his blog: http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2017/12/aviation-prints-by-ronnie-olsthoorn.html

Hi folk's,a meagre hour's modelling over the weekend but this spent on the Bucc,next I'll prime her and see how much needs filling!

Managed to grab some time to do a bit more work this afternoon, so I have completed the clean up on the floats and made a start on assembling those. I hope to get some paint on this assembly and the remaining struts over the coming week. by John L, on Flickr I also cleaned up the cabane struts and they have been fixed in place. These need some paint touch up around the sprue attachment points and then I can feed the exhaust through and fix the canopy in place. The canopy will require a couple of holes in the centre portion to accept the rear cabane wires, which I am sure is going to be a lot of fun to do. by John L, on Flickr

Canopy today. Followed by the green camo pattern. Oh, and Hepster came up trumps with some decent decals.

Cats and plastic bags She’s been in there a good half hour at least. Why?! Trevor