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Hello, I propose all my projects made of the brand Wingnut wings since the first, the SE-5, at the last Salmson. SE.5a "Hisso" Roland D.VIa Hannover CL.II Pfalz D.XII Pfalz D.IIIa Sopwith Snipe Late Sopwith Triplane Albatros B.II Early Fokker D.VII (ALB) Hansa-Bradenburg W.12 Early AMC DH.2 Bristol F.2b Fighter (post war) Bristol F.2b ....not finished Roland C.II Albatros D.Va (OAW) Roland D.VIb And the last Salmson 2-A2 Best Regards Michel

Here is another that I have recently completed. This is the Special Hobby 1.72 Firefly 5, i treated this as more of an exercise in painting so despite all the nice resin the internals were basically painted as all the canopies would be closed up and being black, not much would be seen anyway. I put the stripes on to make it more interesting and was quite pleased that the extra effort turned out well. As eversprayed with Model Master Acrylics. The only bit I don't like is where I tried to put an exhaust stain in but messed it up and the clean up didn't work too well. Canopies didn't fit very well either and also were removed a couple of times because no matter how hard I tried I still got dust and bits of plastic shavings stuck to the insides! Still enjoyed this build! Cheers now! Bob

Good day all, It has been quite some time since I last posted a completion here so I thought I would dig out my most recent. The first up is a Gloster Gladiator built straight OOB in the Finnsh scheme. Painting was entertaining because I chose to spray so had very tight masking and also the two tone nature of the body work did provide a bit of head scratching but in the end it came through fine. The paints are my trusted Model Master Acrylics which seem to react nicely to my heathen painting attempts. I also had a good go at rigging this thing, after a few nights of mind boggling, eye straining effort it also came good. I used fine stainless steel wire from my secret stock (Gnome ECU OTG tell tale wire for those in the know) cut to length, rolled straight and then CA'd into place (several times in some instances!) All in all quite happy with this, went together well and apart from a couple of broken struts didn't provide any snags at all. Not sure what happened here, the flash seemed to pick up some speckling that cant be seen normally. And here she is amongst a line up of my collection of Airfixs fine array of newly tooled stringbags Cheers now Bob

ISAF - Task Group "Black Cats" - 51 Stormo Afganistan 2009 Kinetic model with a few resin and PE details. Invite

Not a recent build, but this Trumpeter kit was a good kit with no obvious hang ups. OOB build. Fits nicely and not long after it was finished, an ex RN serviceman who served on Carriers post WWII ended up purchasing it. Paints are from the Gunze range & weathered with artists pastels.

This is the Fine Molds 1/48 X-wing kit painted up as Blue Leader from Rogue One.

DSC_0012-16 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0006-28 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0003-33 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0008-25 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0006-26 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0006_2-4 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0003_2-7 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0002_2-8 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0004-93 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0003-90 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0011-35 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0006-67 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0003-81 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0001-80 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0001_2-5 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0013-23 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0008-42 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0004-60 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0007-39 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0004-50 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0004-29 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0003-28 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0009-13 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0005-22 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0002-24 by jean Barby, sur Flickr DSC_0005-1 by jean Barby, sur Flickr

I built and painted this kit exactly as the instructions indicated. The only extras I did was do some minor scribing on the wings and fuselage. Fun build. Next time will vac-form the clear parts.

Hiya Folks, Smaller than my usual fayr,.... I wanted to see what an all white RCAF Canso would look like before I build a 1/48th scale one,....and I was quite impressed,....although not too keen on my diddy effort,....the glazing framework sent me cross eyed now that I have to wear glasses and this was the reason that I didn`t even attempt scratch building the radar! I also had a strut ping off while carrying it to be photographed,...but having been on the shelf of doom for over a year,....I`m calling it done! It was painted mainly using a white rattle can but with detail work by brush and the decals were from the spares box and generic sets,..... Aviaology will be covering this and other RCAF Catalina/Canso option in some forthcoming sets in 72nd and 48th scales and I already have my pre orders in! And here is the model; My Grandad was based in Iceland with the RAF during WW2 and so I`d like to dedicate this one to him, Cheers Tony

The is the 1/76 Airfix "Assault Gun" from a very old bagged kit. For it's age it is nicely detailed. A few bits were added from the Fujimi kit like mg, v-scope and rear deck wheels.

Built OOB, only added FODs on intakes. Used Agama alcohol based colors.

Hi guys, I never posted this build in the Armour section, only the Dioramas section, so here we are. I built this tank diorama last winter. This is only my second tank build, it's not a bad little kit apart from the rubbish plastic tracks that were a fiddle to build. It was an experiment in modelling ice and snow, I used 5 minute epoxy for the icicles and tried a product called Krycell for the snow from a company called Precision Ice and Snow. Anyway it dragged on far too long and I am glad it's finished, overall I am happy with how it came out. Wear your winter woolies before looking at the pictures, I won't be held responsible for any frostbite claims LOL!You can see my work in progress of this build in the box below. With the recent deluge of snow in the UK, I've taken some new shots of the MiniArt SU-85 diorama I built last winter.

Here is the original Ju88 built mostly out of the box with vac-form clear parts and replacement wheels. I used Model Master paints. Decals from the decal binder.

The old Airfix kit from the 70s, got tougher as it went on, but I finally wrestled it into a Canberra as best as my somewhat limited ability allowed. It looks ok from a distance. Impressive that the decals were perfectly useable after so long too. Satin dark sea grey spray and Tamiya XF-81 green upper, Revell 'light grey' satin spray below. I tried to sand the nose into a more realistic shape after reading a couple of threads on here too. Not sure how accurate it is now but it looks more or less right, I think (!) I do love this era of RAF aircraft, especially ones with massive serials under the wings and bright squadron markings. Critique, praise (unlikely!), ridicule or any other reactions all welcome, it's how we improve. Not too harsh though, I'll never make the IPMS. And yes, it's a tailsitter; I put a bit of blu-tack under the nosewheel!

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

Quick post. As you can see, we're cracking along. The tailplanes are dry fits right now. I'm not keen on the fact that each tailplane is two pieces, top and bottom, but what can one man do against the universe? I'm also rarely, by which I mean never, a fan of wheel well/landing gear combos that have to be installed in the wing versus molded-in wheel wells -- I think it greatly increases the chance of things being off-kilter. One of my fillings fell out this morning, which was about as fun as it sounds, so I have to stay home from work tomorrow and head in to the dentist to get it fixed. Some rather pleasant news from elsewhere in the country, however, more than makes up for the nagging pain in the side of my tooth. Also I owe like five people PMs, but I'm badly behind in all parts of my life.

Well the snow has managed to close my son's school, and my work for two days.....which has given me time to get weathering 😀. I started with my usual dirty pin wash in the panel lines, and once this was dry started adding a little Chipping details. I left this to dry while we went out on the sledge again, and once we were home and warm started with the weathering powders. I brushed some rust into the wheel bays and undercarriage, and black for exhaust fumes and general dirt. Finally I coated some ultra fine fishing line in black and secured it to the mast and tail for aerial wires, and she's done. I have enjoyed this build, and slowly my confidence is growing with my airbrush. It may have been a vintage kit, but it was well made and went together pretty easily. I will post more pics inches topic gallery. Thanks for tagging along, your kind words and advice. Michelle.

Howdy all, Here`s some photo`s of the rest of my French Indochina collection following on from my Goose posting last week, just in case anyone`s interested Eduards 1/48 Spitfire MK IX Hasegawas 1/48 AU-1 Corsair Monogram/Revell 1/48 Invader HobbyBoss 1/48 Bearcat Fonderie Minatures 1/48 Kingcobra Monogram/Revell 1/48 Helldiver modified to a `5 Latest additions: Czech Models Grumman Goose and Revells ancient S-55 Chickasaw kit Latest effort: Special Hobby 1/48 Loire 130 Cl `Colonial` and here`s the latest addition........Eduards 1/48 F6F-5 with Berna Decals Replacing the yellowing F/M kit, AMG`s P-63C kit some pic`s next of a missing subject I thought I`d never try to do... Revell/Monogram 1/48 Ju-52 masquerading as a AAC.1 `Toucan` Latest entry: Tamiya`s 1/48 Storch slightly modified to depict MS-500 Criquet Sanded off fabric effect from wings to represent Aluminium skinned ones next: Special Hobby 1/48 Siebel si.204 as a SNCAN nc-701 Martinet Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

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.

Greetings! Great kit from Jo-Han perhaps 50 years old, but surprisingly well done with recessed panel lines, excellent fit and additional parts to build the A6M2-N floatplane version. No interior cockpit details, so I scratch built a basic cockpit. Kit decals and canopy were missing from my example and replaced with Airfix spares. Compares very well to the more recent Airfix kit as shown in the photos. Colour scheme is based on more current information, the mauve colour shown on the box art is no longer considered accurate by many. Many thanks for having a look, your comments and questions are most welcome. Cheers, Bill

As promised, filler today. The machine gun ports on G-ILDA seem to be on top of the LE: so these had to be corrected: Holes by Ced Bufton, on Flickr with a drill bit: They'll get sanded and tidied when the filler gets sorted out. As usual I used some Vallejo in the small gaps: and to blend in the rear canopy a bit. Humbrol filler on the larger holes: shaped and cleaned up a bit as it went off. The instructions tell you to remove one of the bumps and to fill in the ejector ports: which is a shame, as they're nicely detailed, but has to be done: Not sanded yet, obviously. What do you guys use for this sort of sanding job? I'm tempted to get some Micro-mesh wands. If only I could make sense of the sizes: Hmmm. Senior moment - whilst looking for pads in the shops I remembered I have one of those angled belt sander thingies. Sad old man. Now mostly cleaned of excess I'll give it a detailed sanding, tidy and polish later:

And lo, it came to pass that a man who fell among model makers became bold enough to 'give it a bash' The Airwaves etch set for the AS Gannet interior had been causing him to tremble So many sad tales of Airwaves interiors for other Fairey aircraft had become as dust beneath the chariot wheels of those with the temerity to 'give it the self same bash' as the bits didnt fit So I , (yes dear reader for it was I that trembleth) cut out the innards of the Eastern Express Gannet in order to have a bash at the etch sheet I confess to being worried because I do not get on well with etch Anyway the front cockpit floor was cut out and other bits cut off to join them on the bench Lo The navigator's (all right Mr M, I know my place) observer's cockpit has a sort of ledge all around it that you cut out and stick to the back frame and then glue it to the back of the front frame too It all sat strangely well together using Roket Max thick non runny cyano which gives a few spare seconds to make adjustments I always need extra seconds to adjust I tried a test fit into the fuselage I'll tell you what, it is a far better fit inside the chasm I have cut away than the Pavla resin did I think I can work this one in OK The E E plastic is softer to work on but still has good enough surface detail that I can tell it is the Frog quality moulding I like the stuff, far easier to carve it with my No11 scalpel blade Well I think this is about me for today, Ill settle in for a read now

Enjoy !!!

Hi all, here is another 1/48 scale kit I recently completed. It is a WWII GAZ AAAA truck from Unimodel that was released several years ago. I decided to modify a bit the kit by adding a gas generator. I found some pics and plans on the web of this kind of modification. The various parts of the gas generator assembly were scratchbuild with plastic cards. From left to right: the furnace where the gas (carbon monoxide) is produced, the box to store wood, the hand pump used to start the process, the filter assembly and a cooling system (I think). The kit was painted with Gunze acrylics. I displayed it on a small base. The birch tree is done with Magic Sculpt on a twisted wire frame, the leaves are from Mininatur. The two figures are from ICM. The small river was done with clear acrylic resin. I hope you will like it, Christian.

Hello; Here's my latest built: Eduard's 1/48 Fw190D-13 W.Nr.836017 Stab./ JG 26. It's a great kit, but not perfect. The main colour is Tamiya and the decals are from the kit. I built oob. All comments very welcome. Cheers, Cristian Zarichta

Well this one almost fell off the map, but not the work bench - sidetracked with some other things to do ... ... but I'm close to having the recon Spitfire done: Here is the base coat of Hataka paints Royal Blue over a medium grey primer. On the right is some lightened areas and gloss coat overall. Decals, and further weathering. Testors clear parts cement used to create a window surface over fuselage port side camera location. The two underside cameras, I will have to redo. They are too close to the openings and that caused problems when attempting to create clear film. regards, Jack

If anybody would like to make a banner for this GB, please do - or you can use this one

Found the right size barrels,for the front turrets mounted on HMS Kent,1/700 6in barrels IJN by Sea Master.

I've signed the Hornby non disclosure agreement so if anyone was to show up (or not show up) and measure (or not measure) any aircraft that I may (or may not) have a connection with at any museum I may (or may not have) an association with I will only ever be able to stand around in very dark sunglasses and only use the words "I can neither confirm nor deny"

Been trying to make some more progress on the BV and have now got to the point where I have got her sealed up - this is when the size really hits you - and this is without the wings So here's the progress to date: Also - I did say that I would share some pics of my new modelling man cave - which is still a work in progress - but at least I finally have a space to myself where I can't upset SHMBO lol. This is where I'm up to so far: I also thought I would join in the spirit of showing off my stash like @The Spadgent which now has it's very own space unlike previously. I think I may have one or two more models than I thought.... ooops!! Never mind - it'll give me a goal to aim for in trying to get them all built lol The last pic shows my 'shelf of doom' which isn't too bad to be fair. It currently contains a Revell 1/48 Stuka - almost finished, a Revell Halifax 1/72, Airfix Sea King 1/72, Revell Chaika 1/72, Airfix Supermarine Swift 1/72 and the excellent little Airfix Tiger Moth 1/72....... phew - maybe plenty to be getting on with!!!! However - must crack on with the BV - hope to have an update for you all very soon - happy modelling in the meantime. Kris

There seems to have been a few of these posted up recently, and way better than mine, but heres my interpretation of the kit done in Royal Australian Air Force 3 SQN markings. The tail flash and this particular scheme called the Lizard scheme were both short-lived. The frill neck lizard on the tail dart being replaced with the 3 SQN winged grenade, and the EDSG of the lower surfaces being replaced with Light Gull grey The kit is certainly not my favourite, fit being not so great, and moulding quality poor for a kit released so recently paint is by Xtracolour with decals from caracal. Centre line beam comes from PJ Productions with bombs from a Hasegawa weapons set Resi-art resin wheels replaced the rather poor kit offerings Thanks for looking

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

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.

Hi guys, well I got this bad boy finished, not an easy build but I am happy with how it turned out for my first truck build. I weathered it up a bit to avoid the truck looking like a diecast model, also I scratch built the airlines and the air unit to add some realism and airbrushed over some of the decals to tidy up the lines a little. I've also added a few winter snow shots of the Scania. Finally, you can see my work in progress of this build in the box below.

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Not one to let exuberance get the better of me, I've decided in a calm and objective manner that I need to build two more Starfighters for this GB. The two I've chosen were operated by different operators within a few hundred miles of each other on the western side of the continental US in the mid- to late-'70s. One is a NASA F-104N operated from the Dryden Research Facility at Edwards AFB. The other is a German F-104G flown in USAF markings for the conversion of Luftwaffe pilots to the type at Luke AFB. The reasons for choosing these schemes are simple - they're colourful! The NASA F-104N will either be overall white (with dark blue fuselage cheat line) or white with mid-blue undersides (and dark blue fuselage cheat line), such as jet N812NA and the German jet will be finished in overall natural metal - something like this (or this, carrying a target tow rig, if I feel exuberant)... 1/72 Hasegawa kits will be used - I managed to find a couple more of these lovely models in the stash - and I will embellish them with some resin bits from CMK and Aires, and a couple of Master pitot tubes. Decals will be from Hasegawa boxings of these variants and a Rocketeer sheet for NASA jets. On with the photos - I'm off to practise my non-exuberance and/or have a little lie-down before making a start on these... cheers, Andrew.

I didn't publish a yearbook last year, I wasn't in a good place emotionally, and wasn't really satisfied with any of my models, so I gave it a miss .But I'm back this year. So, in no particular order (basically because one of the snags of using Village.Photos is that the photos appear in a random order on there¬), Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin . . . In 1/72, the AModel Messerschmitt Bf109V-1 first prototype, built for the Bf109 Group Build on this very forum. Also in 1/72, the HobbyBoss MiG-3 made a colourful little model My most recent completion, Airfix's 1/72 BAe Hawk, wearing EuroDecals "DragonHawk" decals to represent the RAF St. Athan Station Flight aircraft. Staying with RAF trainers, here's the 1/72 Airfix Shorts Tucano in a commemorative scheme. The 1/72 FROG Grumman Avenger in not quite the right colours for a BPF kite! Heller's 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf108B in Bulgarian markings Revell's 1/72 F-101 Voodoo was NOT an easy build, she fought me all the way! As did KP's 1/72 MiG-19, seen here in Pakistani markings The Revell 1/144 TF-104G Starfighter is about 4.5" (11cm) long! While the KP 1/72 Avia CS-199 2-seater Messerschmitt Bf109 clone was my first model completed this year. Built for a "War in the Pacific" GB elsewhere, the Eastern Express 1/72 Fairey Firefly, represented "Evelyn Tentions" of the BPF. Revell's 1/72 Dambuster Lancaster was another kit that fought me all the way. Not a kit that's fun to build. Built as a ceiling hanger for my disabled stepson, hence the retracted undercarriage. Also built for that "War in the Pacific" GB, was the Academy 1/72 F4U-1 Corsair, finished as Lt.Cdr Tommy Blackburn's aircraft of VF-17 "Jolly Rogers". The Lindberg 1/48 kit of the Douglas X-3 Stiletto was a fun build, especially as the kit only cost 99p from "Home Bargains" In 1/72 Heller's Messerschmitt Bf109B added another variant to my Bf109 collection,even if the decals were off-register! Also from Heller in 1/72 was the 109's rival for the Luftwaffe contract (!), the Heinkel He112B. And finally (so far!), my only foray into armour this year, the Meng Models "World War Toons" Tiger I. Definitely a fun build! And that's all so far! There's a NOVO Supermarine Attacker on my bench at the moment, which will be finished before Hogmanay, and a FROG A-4 Skyhawk which probably won't! Also on the bench are 2 longer-term projects, a SMER 1/48 DH2 and a Revell 1/24 VW Samba bus, and a Heller 1/72 Fouga Magister at a very early stage, that's destined for Irish Air Corps markings.

Hi folks, Seems my models are like London buses: you get nothing for ages and then two come along at once. Whilst finishing off my Seafire I was also bringing this to a conclusion. I've always liked the yellow & black checkerboard markings of the 353rd Fighter Group, and have long wanted a Mustang in those markings. But in1/72 scale, decals for Slybird P-51s are very hard to find, particularly with the excellent Barracudacals set now discontinued (or so it seems). Still, I found the website of Draw Decals who provide a set for a warbird two-seater which is painted to resemble The little Witch, which was flown by Lt Don Schoen in early 1945. The kit is the 1/72 Airfix, which is an easy build. I filled in the wing panel lines, modified the fin fillet to the earlier Swayback style, and added cockpit rails. Otherwise it's pretty much out of the box. Paint is Alclad Polished Aluminium for the natural metal areas, and plain Aluminium for the wings. Tamiya olive drab on the nose and black on the rudder. Here are some piccies: Ths spinner is Xtracrylics RAF Trainer Yellow, lightened a touch to match the decals as best as possible, with Tamiya black rings. A bit fiddly but it came out OK. I kept weathering to a minimum: a thin pin-wash, a couple of streaks here and there - nothing major. I was originally thinking of displaying the model wheels-up, with radiator door slightly open and flaps partially deployed. Then I changed my mind, but by then the flaps were stuck on. This presented a dilemma: as Mustangs were parked with flaps either up or fully down, how to display an accurate-ish model with flaps only partially lowered whilst on the ground? So I decided to add the pilot, and display the aircraft as though he's got flaps for take-off, with clamshell doors closed. Pity the propeller isn't spinning... Don't read the data panel: there are some inconsistencies... I also realise that I should have blanked off the flare tube for this particular aircraft. Doh! The nose decals behaved very well with a bit of help from the Microscale solutions, though I did have to cut them a couple of squares-worth to make them conform better. The fuselage codes are slightly incorrect in terms of style for the original Little Witch, as they are spot on for the modern recreation. I chose to chop them up and reassemble the pieces make them look slightly closer to the originals, i.e. a narrower font. Doesn't look too bad. The serials are a mixture of Draw Decal and Kits World. Other stencils are from the kit. Here's the slighly reshaped fin fillet, which was a relativley straightforward job. I also scribed the horn balances on the elevators. Photos of the modern Little Witch can be found at the Website below. https://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?90644-Lt-Don-Schoen-(353rd-FG)-to-be-re-united-with-quot-The-Little-Witch-quot Which is where I also found the pictures of the original aircraft: Number four for the year! Hope you like it. Justin

Warning... There is no informative or useful content in this post... I just wanted to have a little rant among people who understand. So I was hoping to get final assembly on my Airfix Blenheim, done up in Coastal Command livery and looking proper 'ard, bristling with lots of .303s and bomblets. Putting the four pieces of the glassware in polace looks like it will be a barrel of laughs. If they line up anywhere close to where they're supposed to I'll buy a Cuban cigar in celebration. When you mask these things off you tend to forget that two days later you'll be trying to get those dinky little pieces of tape off without scratching the perspex... Not sure which is harder, putting it on or taking it off. And, of course, one of the undercarriage legs came slightly adrift while I was manipulating the kite for painting. What kind of sick, twisted demon from the last circle of Dante's Inferno designs the undercarriage for these kits anyway? It's been fixed with approximately 3.7 litres of CA followed by a generous dollop of Bostik... Not actually excessive under the circumstances. (Note to self.... NEVER drink coffee before attempting to assemble undercarriage). Then there are the paint fires to put out. Every time I look at it I see another spot that didn't get covered properly but escaped my notice at the time. Hopefully, one more coat on the black side of the bottom should get it ready for filling a couple of holes I drilled too big then drilling them again in the hope of actually getting the tiny sticky-out bits of antenna and pitot tubes (not to mention the pilot's tea dispenser) to stay on more than five minutes. What other pitfalls await? I'm afraid to go into my workshop! The missus says I'm mad. I think she may be onto something. Why didn't I take up stamp collecting?

On the other hand, Finn, stamps don't have a habit of flying from the tweezers into the great beyond. That's another thing... How can a part the size of a gnat's testicle and weighting the square root of nothing fall 28 inches with no sideways force and bounce eight feet horizontally across a shaggy carpet? What manner of bizarre physics is in play here? Heisenberg must have been a modeller when he came up with the uncertainty principle.

Why stop at an electric fence? A minefield should do it. Maybe they turned you down because you weren’t radical enough? I paid a brief visit to the Yeovilton Concorde last week. Most of my time there was spent contemplating Naval, but the large pointy-nosed airliner is always worth looking at. Like all aircraft of her vintage, I am always struck by the mixture of technology. Even now she looks futuristic as a design - surely one of the most beautiful man-made objects ever - but when you get up close and personal she is (of course) full of 1960s technology, which somehow looks utterly incongruous as a result. I had the same experience at Cosford last year, when looking at the Buccaneer S1 nose they have (just don’t get me started on the bogus colour scheme...); somehow I didn’t expect a (fairly) modern military jet to be full of valves! I must visit Aerospace Bristol some time. If you see a man in his late 50s peering into your projectors, come and say hi!

Or rather something that just didn’t happen in Alabama...

Painting progress... Finished off one side wall. If anyone was wondering my detail painting is done using a tiny pointed brush, a Wargamer psycho detail brush , it's not a super expensive brush but it holds it's shape nicely and has a nice triangular profile grip which I find more comfortable and precise. I avoid brushing Tamiya or Gunze paints which dry too fast and attack previous layers (aside from touchups of course). I know some people can do it but it always seemed far too much effort. I keep a ever expanding set of Vallejo Model Colours on hand now for detail painting. When thinned a bit with water they go down smooth, cover well, self level nicely and don't attack previous layers, just hassle free brushing. I found the easiest way to paint the tiny white dot 'stencil impressions' is by using a finely sharpened toothpick and white oil paint. Acrylic paint tended to dry too quickly on the brush or just blob on uncontrollably. Oil paints can also be easily removed if you make a mistake. Though you have to be very careful with dry brushing. I hope they'll survive a enamel pin wash once relatively dry and protected under a gloss coat. Anyway, on to the other side next.

I'm glad - I felt your pain, and I share your consoling pleasure Wimpy's coming along nicely too. Cheers, Stew

Tidied up the Firefly a little, extending the red stripe down the skirt, and have finished up the Mole. Unless there's anything I've missed?

Watch out for the dust air filter. The instructions are a bit vague about how and where to fit it. You'll see a pin on it. Look on the inside of the part with the wheel wells/belly section and you'll see a hole flashed over, on the belly part. Open that up for the pin on the dust filter. All Typhoons were fitted with the dust filter from and after July 1944 Go by the instructions for what hangs under the wings; some Typhoons were only bomb carriers, others were only rocket carriers, they did not swop about being one or the other. Each armament required different training and different delivery. Edit; 5V-X carried bombs, ZY-Y carried rockets

Finishing up my Mirage bent, this time a mirage depicted late in her career with the RAAF, wearing a by now tatty looking grey scheme, with evidence of many maintainers boot marks and grubby hand prints all over her. Armed with an inert load of two Magic2 missiles and a Matra. One tank still is still painted in the old standard scheme I still have a two seater to do, but Im a bit "mirage out" at the moment Paint is by tamiya, boot prints were done by applying random splurges of oil paint, then stippling them with a dry brush. The 79 SQN decals are by caracal from Mirages over Australia, Part II Again, thanks for looking Cheers Bruce

Thanks Giorgio! A little more micro-welding to follow tonight....and then I want to stop doing that for a bit now....it's getting obsessive! Thanks Jaime. I just hope that Watson's book on Germany arrives before Christmas now. I don't suppose it mentions Herr Dornier by any chance? Painting them without snapping anything off will have to be done as delicate as handling a reactor fuel rod! I seem to keep discovering lots of little jobs along the way Phoenix that always makes the painting stage seem to be 'about a fortnight away'...which seeing as that nearly takes us to the end of the GB is not actually a movable feast any more! That seems about right to me Benedikt! Thanks Ced - 'gunthingies' they shall be from now on. I like the sound of that! Well. It started this evening with me deciding to press on and get the fuselage detailing finished. A quick job methought and to begin with it proceeded quite well, getting some parallel lines addedalong the top of the fuselage, all the way along from front gunthingy to the 'hump' that the aerial loop sits on: There's some kind of curved cover that crowns the fuselage between rear gunthingy and the hump, which I added from metal foil just to raise it slightly proud: Up for'ard, the paralell lines are crossed by another set just behind the cockpit: I know not the function of these, in terms of why they are raised so from the otherwise aerodynamically smooth skin of the aircraft. Due to their small size I made these out of the smallest hair-like Slater's microrod that I had, and once the glue had cured, sandned them down to a squarer profile: Prior to doing this, I'd also added some panel lines and rivetting. Not a whole shed load, only those elements that seemed to stand outr repeatedly in photos, namely a longitudinal panel line that runs down the side of the fuselage on each side from bow to tail: plus a few rivet lines where the viuewer's eye will be drawn to specific features on the fuselage like the cockpit: and portholes: That is as far as I want to go in terms of creating a semi-realistic representation, as opposed to turning the aircraft into a diagram... One set of features that has almost been fetishistically tormenting me (largely due to their visual prominence yet miniscule size) on this aircraft are the sets of cleats on both sponson and bow. There is not rational explanation behind this torment, save that they looked extremely hard to build and...well...you guessed it: I had to have a crack at scratchbuilding cleats in 1/72 didn't I? If anything you can blame @Tomoshenko for these urges - if you haven'tseen the jewellery that he's been adding to his droolsome Fury I urge you to do so with all haste: Right. I've no idea how to build cleats so let's start confidently by cutting up some 0.44 mm rod and tube: The closeups might look a bit bigger tonight as I've devised a poor man's macro by sticking one of the spare magnifiers in from the visor I got at Telford in front of the camera lens. Not optically 'pure' but it does give a handy blowup. The lower set of rod with the flattened ends are intended to form the base onto which the other rod parts are soldered at 90° in order to form a T-shape: the respective parts are each about 2mm long, taped down here in readiness for soldering: As always, not a pretty sight when fresh out from under the hot rod: But a process of gentle filing starts to bring out some essential cleatiness: Why am I reminded of the pickaxes of the seven dwarves from Snow White? 'Hi-Ho. Hi-ho, It's off to the Dornier Flugzeugwerk we go...' The bow set CA'd into place: Looking dapper enough: Same again on the stummel: All four in place: G'night all. Tony

Matchbox Douglas -IV Boston Havoc A-20G. 1:72.

My first armour project inspired by a visit to the Somme in September 2017