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Hi mates, The model was built for the F-104 Starfighter Single Type Group Build as a tribute to Joe Walker, who was one of the "Right Stuff" test pilots at Edwards during the 50s and 60s. Joe flew just about every rocket powered X-plane there was back then, including several flights in the X-15 that reached altitudes high enough to earn him his astronaut wings. Joe unfortunately lost his life flying this F-104 in a mid-air collision with the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber in 1966. This occurred during, of all things, an unauthorised marketing photo shoot for General Electric. In an effort to maintain a tight formation with the XB-70 immediately to his port side, he encountered severe turbulence from the vortices off the Valkyrie's wingtip (that he couldn't see), which was a little-understood phenomenon at the time. The turbulence was so severe that it flipped the F-104 onto its back, and sent it rolling to port and into one of the vertical fins of the XB-70. Joe was killed instantly. He had radioed in when he first felt the turbulence, saying that he didn't support this mission as it had no scientific value. True words from a true hero. The XB-70 was also lost that day, and only one of its two crew members was able to eject. And all because the marketing guys wanted a nice picture for a shareholder's report. Joe left a wife and four young daughters. Build thread here. Project: Lockheed F-104N Starfighter Joe Walker tribute Kits: Hasegawa F-104G (kit number 52514) Scale: 1:72 Decals: Representing NASA supersonic chase plane 813, using the Rocketeer sheet 72007 and other miscellaneous markings from the Island of Misfit Stickers Photoetch: CMK Detail Set 7214 Resin: CMK Detail Set 7214 Paint: Alclad 101 Aluminum, 111 Magnesium, 103 Dark Aluminum, 112 Steel, 311 Klear Kote Light Sheen; Gunze H317 Dark Gull Gray, H90 Clear Red, H94 Clear Green, H77 Tyre Black, H11 Flat White, H12 Flat Black, H57 Aircraft Gray; Testors 169 Flat Yellow, 2041 Fluorescent Red-Orange FS28913 Improvements/Corrections Resin cockpit and ejection seat, along with some nice photoetch from the CMK set Master turned brass nose probe (although I accidentally used the one for an F-105!) I painted the yellow and fluorescent red-orange areas instead of using the Rocketeer decals - the thin black stripes are decals from a Yellow Wing sheet On with the pictures: In memory of all who have given their lives pursuing the stars, Bill

Because of issues with Village Photo no longer being "secure" I have been moving all my pictures to another server and when I go to this thread I realized that the pictures were out of date. So here is the latest. Here is the whole X-plane display The shorter set of shelves on the left are the real X planes i.e. aircraft built specifically to test aeronautical theories and never intended to go into production. The 2 sets to right are what I refer to as the "also rans"; Aircraft that made it to the prototype stage but for one reason or another did not go into full production. Perhaps a better term is just "Prototypes. This set is not all inclusive but, contains aircraft that I thought, looked interesting, were actually put into production, at least on papaer and then were cancelled, or were significant in some technical aspect. So lets take a closer look at each. In all cases the order is from right to left, top to bottom they are in chronological order of first flight starting with the oldest. Starting with the real X-planes: The top shelf is empty for now but will fill out over time. Starting with the next shelf down there is: Douglass D-558-2, Northron X-4 Bantam, Bell X-5, Bell X-2 Starbuster, Douglas X-3 Stillet, Bell X-1A,. Next shelf: Bell X-14, Ryan X-13 Verijet, North American X-15A-2, the then Dryden Flight Research Center M2-F1, Northrop M2-F2, Northrop HL-10, Martin-Marietta X-24A and Northrop M2-F3. The bottom shelf has: Martin-Marietta X-24B, Grumman X-29, Rockwell-MBB X-31, Boeing Bird of Prey, Boeing X-36, Boeing X-32, Lockheed-Martin X-35, and Northrop Grumman X-47B Now for the first set of Prototypes. Again the top shelf is empty for expansion. Starting with the top row from left to right they are: Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket Vultee XP-54 Swoose, Douglas BTD Destroyer, Bell XP-77, Douglas XB--42 Mixmaster, and Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly. Next row:Consolidated-Vultee XP-81, Curtiss XF15C-1 Stingaree, Douglas XTB2D-1 SkyPirate, Northrop XP-79B, and the Edo XOSE-1. Next row: Curtiss XP-55 Ascender. Row 2: Douglas XA2D-1 Skyshark, Grumman XF10F-1 Jaguar, Convair YF2Y-1 Sea Dart, Bell HSL-1, Convair XFY-1 Pogo, and Lockheed XFV-1. Bottom row: North American XB-70 and Grumman F-111B. Finally the second set of Prototypes Again starting from the top: Curtiss XP-55 Ascender, Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet, Fischer P-75A Eagle, and McDonnell XP-67 Moonbat. Next row: Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair, Vultee XA-41 and Boeing F8B. Next row is the Northrop XB-35 Flying Wing. Row 4: Curtiss XP-87 Black Hawk (trying to take off) , McDonnell XF-85 Goblin, Vought F7U-1 Cutless, Republic XF-91 Thundercepter and Martin XB-51. Row 5: Martin P6M-2 Seamaster. Douglas F5D-1 Skylancer. North American. F-107A Ultra Sabre , and Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III. Row 6: Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne, Sikorsky S-67 Black Hawk (not to be confused with the Sikorsky S-60 Blackhawk) , General Dynamics F-16XL, Northrop F-20 Tigershark, Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II and Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche. As you can see there are a few spaces to be filled so stay tuned for updates.

Hi and a Happy New Year to one and all. I finished this one last year, again for Airfix Model World magazine and as both the editor and myself are huge Soviet-era Cold War fans this particular build came as no effort at all. Sadly, as happens all too often Trumpeter managed to drop the ball yet again which is a shame as the kit goes together beautifully. Basically, they've captured the look of the aircraft well but there are several issues with accuracy as well as a few omissions. The MR incorporated a new reshaped nose with flush fitted Shtyk (Bayonet) SLAR and two dielectric panels, (components of the BKR-1 reconnaissance suite) incorporated into its sides. However, this is a problem area on the kit as the upper sides of the nose cone are way too square in section and needed a fair bit of carving and sanding to correct. The underside of the cone is also too shallow missing the characteristic droop of the real thing so this needed to be built up using fine Milliput, luckily there's enough plastic to take the reshaping. For some strange reason, they also neglected to include any of the reece parts that make the Su-24MR, well, a reece aircraft! (though strangely the box art shows all the correct MR parts fitted). It was, therefore, necessary to raid a spare Zvezda MR kit and use those, with some modification as they are a little crude. These consisted of the centreline SRS-14 Tangazh ELINT/SIGINT pod, Efir-1M (Ether) radiation radar monitor pod fitted to the outer right wing station, forward centreline fairing housing the AFA (AP-402M) panoramic camera, AIST (M-152.2) TV system, AFA (100) angled camera fairing beneath the left intake and the IR Zima (Winter) sensor to the right. The centreline fairing needed to be faired into the nose wheel doors and extended at the rear to meet the centreline pod fairing. Oddly Trumpeter included all the equipment and weapons of the strike version which whilst totally unnecessary provided useful parts for the spares box. Another strange decision was to have the wing flaps deployable but not the leading edge ones, (the two sets were always deployed at the same time). I was going to scratch-build these but a looming deadline and other projects precluded this. The wheels were replaced with more detailed items from the Armory range and lead wire used to detail the main gear bay and U/C legs. Replacement wing drop-tanks came from the Zvezda kit as they were more accurate than Trumpeters offerings and had finer surface detail, (correctly shaped fins were made up from plastic card). The pylons were a 50/50 mix of Trumpeter and Zvezda parts. The rest of the kit went together very well, Eduard supplied all the PE including the cockpit and replacement K-36DM seats from True Details were used. A PE HUD was also provided via Armory, the metal nose pitot from Master Models and all paints from the superb AKAN range. Decals came from the Authentic Decals 72-21 'Shark Scouts' sheet mixed with a few kit ones that were missed on the AD sheet. The actual shark mouth was a custom decal I printed from images as the decal sheet offerings were all incorrect for this particular aircraft and designed for the Dragon/Zvezda/Revell kit, which has an overly wide nose section. Weathering came courtesy of the AMMO.MIG range (pastels and Oilbrusher), AK Interactive, (kerosene Leaks and Stains and Aircraft Engine Wash) and Abteilung502 Starship Filth and Raw Umber applied with Matt Effect Thinner. All good fun, just a shame there were so many issues, but then we don't want things to be too easy now...do we! Cheers and thanks for looking, Melchie

Possibly the best squadron markings applied to an RAF fighter were those of 56 squadron in the mid 60s. Although shortlived, these represented the unit's 'Firebirds' aerobatic team, which must have been some sight (and sound!) with their Lightning displays! I did my best with this Airfix F.3 kit, using the Modeldecal set and a few little additions I tried; silver foil nose ring and extra airbrake hydraulic arms, and a bit of cockpit detail that you can't really see, plus Firestreaks from a Novo Javelin kit. Hopefully XR719 captures the essence of those halcyon days of the RAF. Old style photo like she's landing at Wattisham: And showing the bright squadron markings ...

OOB plus resin flaps, wheel bays from CMK and Master barrels.

Hi folk's another old school build for the Matchbox GB,on the familier stand like we used to build them,the decals were beyond help so scraped together some to represent a scheme worn toward's the end of their career.

Happy New Year all - My first post for 2018! Started work on this one before Christmas and had time over the festive season to devote more time to the build. Just completed after the Bank Holiday. Mostly built OOB with some help from an after market PE set for seat belts, ignition wiring, perforated MG jackets and a few inspection hatches. Finished with the good old hairy stick with very minimal weathering. For those who have built a Roden kit before knows, they can be a bit on the fiddly side especially when getting the interior in. Lost of dry fitting is the order of the day before commiting to glue. Rigged mostly with 3lb fishing line with elastic thread for aileron cables and stretched sprue for elevator cables. Turnbuckles simulated with heat stretched cotton bud handles. A couple of mistakes in the build which I had to correct so not my best but certainly not my worst build either. Regards Dave

Time for a new project! The TSR.2 needs no introduction to the fine folk here on Britmodeller, and I couldn't do justice to an introduction anyway. I just finished reading Damien Burke's exquisite book "TSR2 - Britain's Lost Bomber" and besides the superb reference photos and drawings, I think it presents a fair and balanced history of the aircraft. As Joe Friday used to say, "Just the facts, ma'am." I also just picked up (at an antique swap of all places!) a copy of Tim McLelland's book "TSR2 - Britain's Lost Cold War Strike Aircraft." Similar titles, same subject matter, and I'm hoping to finish this as I start the build. Let's take a look at the goodies I'll be starting with. First, the kit. I opted for this version of the Airfix offering because first, it was available, and second, the decal sheet is much better than in the first release. I still can't fathom the lady pilots riding jockey-style in the cockpit, though! Of course, I'll be saving the lady pilots for another project. In the meantime, they'll be keeping us safe from meteors. Next, how about some resin? On Damien Burke's lovely website Thunder & Lightnings, the aftermarket sets from CMK are recommended, which I think means a lot coming from a subject matter expert. I procured several sets, which contributed significantly to Hannant's shareholder dividend for 2017: No. 7131 Interior Set includes the usual cockpit pieces, but also a nice vacuform canopy (but only one - oh dear!), an avionics bay, and some nice photoetch. Next is No. 7132 the Exterior Set which includes the engine exhaust along with the intakes and FOD covers. Set No. 7133 features the control surfaces and air brakes: Set No. 7134 is sold by the pound (literally and monetarily), and in my eye significantly improves the detail in the wheel wells, tyres, and gear covers. And lastly, set No. 7135 has some improvements for the weapons bay: While I was in a resin buying frenzy, I also bought two items from CMK's Quick & Easy line, not realising that these were included in the Interior Set. So now I have some spares just in case... I also found an Eduard photoetch set in my stash, which I absolutely remember selling to someone. Either I bought two to begin with (why?) or I never shipped it to the poor bloke. I sincerely hope it's the former! The set consists of several frets as shown here: To be honest, I suspect a lot of this is not necessary especially the wheel well pieces. We'll see if any of it gets used at all - maybe I can still ship it to that chap if he comes forward and identifies himself! Let's see, what else? Oh yeah, the Master turned brass pitot tube and Eduard's masking set: Hmm...now that I look at it, this seems like a rather big project. Suitable for starting the new year, wouldn't you say? What with resolutions, promises, visions of grandeur, and all that stuff? Wish me luck! Cheers, Bill

The F-14 Tomcat came into my life with "The Final Countdown", and I felt quite sad to see it go a decade ago. Therefore I decided, as a little tribute, to assemble one of the last combat cruise Tomcats. Hasegawa issued the F-14D Last Combat Cruise in 1/72, that includes two conmemorative schemes of VF-213: AJ 213 and AJ201. I decided to represent AJ201 as I wanted to have a Tomcat that was closer to combat scheme, not with the shiny blue all over it. The kit is quite accurate for a D, I used resin seats though as the seats provided lack detail, then you have to sand off some antennae around the wing roots not typical of a D, and the decals had some mistakes on them (as letters missing from some stencils...). I had some issues with the decal sheet as they were quite old, too. But maybe the most demanding part is getting rid of dozens and dozens of ejection pin marks. But well, that said, the kit is very nice. Kit provides only an AN/AAQ14 targeting pod, you have to buy some additional Hasegawa weapons sets if you want the 500pd GBUs typically used in the last missions over Iraq in 2005, or the lonely Sidewinder hanging from the left rail. Most of the assembly is OOB, painted as per instructions excepting the dark area around the cockpit, which was Dark Sea Blue (not insignia blue) and left the canopy frame in Light Ghost Gray. Hope that you like it. Marco

Hello Guys! This is to make Mike a Tiger II That is is the second one from 2004. I changed the odd 20 "5", the mouth and did some detailing. Code was changed from AM to AD hastily. Longnose was a shorter fun to build, because easier OOB (Sorry, i couldn't resist.) Tarmac is the same joke too.... Cheers, Thomas

Dornier Do-18D 2nd staffel Kustenfliegergruppe 106 13 september 1939 Buren, Ameland (NL) Kit: PK 409 Matchbox Scale: 1/72 Extra's Mg's from a Hasegawa kit, some rescribing, rest OOB decals: some from the kit rest from other sheets. Paint: Gunze. Mixed myself. Cheers,

Hi mates, 2017 was an interesting year. Not as much modelling as I would have liked, but at least I finished a few things. Life got in the way again, with the usual assortment of maladies that keep you away from the bench. Every year I promise to do better... So what exactly did I accomplish this past year? 1:72 Hawker Sea Harrier FRS.1 (completed February 2017) Fujimi/Hasegawa You know, for a guy who calls himself Navy Bird it's amazing that I didn't have a Sea Harrier in my collection. However, I had a couple of kits in the stash, so it was time to get to work. As this project progressed, it quickly became a kitbash between the Fujimi and Hasegawa Sea Harrier kits. Fujimi supplied the fuselage and wings, while Hasegawa provided the canopy, nose landing gear strut, tyres, Aden gun pods, Sidewinder missiles, anti-collision light, drop tanks, and miscellaneous sundries. I scratch built the intake blow-in doors, nose gear well, and the canopy detonator box. The aftermarket supplied a resin cockpit, resin outriggers, resin nozzles, turned metal pitot probe and AoA sensor, and a whole bunch of photoetch. Oddly, none of the aftermarket accessories were designed for either of the two kits. Click here for the RFI post with complete details of improvements and modifications. 1:72 English Electric Canberra PR.9 (completed April 2017) Airfix I chose to model XH134, who wore the retirement scheme that truly marked the "End of an Era." Ashley Keates, who designed the stunning scheme, even stopped by the WIP thread for a visit. I decided to use the much-maligned "new tool" Airfix PR.9 kit and correct some of the major deficiencies along the way. I thought at first that I might do a bit of a kitbash with the Xtrakit model, but eventually I decided to save that kit for another day. Building the Airfix kit, and correcting many of its foobars was, shall we say - a bit challenging. Click here for the RFI post with details of improvements and modifications (it's a long list). (Yes, the pilot in the previous photo is indeed reading a copy of Zoo magazine. I think there's a requirement for this at Flight School.) 1:72 Grumman/General Dynamics F-111B (completed November 2017) Hasegawa/Revell/Pete's Hangar This is a conversion of the 1:72 Hasegawa F-111C/G kit, with quite a few modifications necessary to represent F-111B BuNo 151972 as she appeared during Phoenix missile testing at Hughes Aircraft. As I'm sure you're aware, the F-111B was an attempt to develop a version of the USAF F-111 "TFX" to meet the US Navy's fleet defense requirement. Only seven F-111Bs were built, and they differed from each other in many ways. The subject of my model also differed significantly from the Australian F-111C on which I based the conversion. Nevertheless, it was probably the easiest way to do it. The special logos on the tail, depicting the mythical Phoenix, were created in CorelDraw and printed on my inkjet printer, along with the BuNo and many of the stencils. Click here for the RFI post and a complete description of the conversion, the kit modifications and other improvements. 1:72 Curtiss Wright XF15C-1 (completed December 2017) Pro Resin (Olimp) The Curtiss-Wright XF15C-1 mixed-propulsion fighter was developed for the United States Navy at the end of WWII, first flying in February of 1945. Only three prototypes were built, as the US Navy moved their focus to pure jet propulsion. One of the prototypes has survived. Similar to the Ryan FR Fireball, which entered service on a limited basis, the XF15C-1 had both a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine/Curtiss Electric propeller up front and an Alis-Chalmers J36 turbojet (license built de Havilland Goblin) under the tail. The model uses the nicely cast Pro Resin kit from Olimp, and was pretty much built out of the box. I used decals from the Island of Misfit Stickers, as I found those in the kit unusable. You gotta love these aircraft from the 1950s, especially if they're Dark Sea Blue (or Extra Dark Sea Grey of course). This was the last Curtiss aircraft built for the US Navy. Click here for the RFI post. 1:72 Lockheed F-104N Starfighter (completed December 2017) Hasegawa The model was built as a tribute to Joe Walker, who was one of the "Right Stuff" test pilots at Edwards during the 50s and 60s. Joe flew just about every rocket powered X plane there was back then, including several flights in the X-15 that reached altitudes high enough to earn him his astronaut wings. Joe unfortunately lost his life flying this F-104 in a mid-air collision with the XB-70 Valkyrie bomber. This occurred during, of all things, an unauthorised marketing photo shoot for General Electric. In an effort to maintain a tight formation with the XB-70 immediately to his port side, he encountered severe turbulence from the vortices off the Valkyrie's wingtip, which was a little-understood phenomenon at the time. The turbulence was so severe that it flipped the F-104 onto its back, and sent it rolling to port and into one of the vertical fins of the XB-70. Joe was killed instantly. He had radioed in when he first felt the turbulence, saying that he didn't support the mission as it had no scientific value. True words from a true hero. The XB-70 was also lost that day, and only one of its two crew members was able to eject. And all because the marketing guys wanted a nice picture for a shareholder's report. Sad beyond words. Click here for the RFI post for more details. Now, some of you may have noticed a rather big gap between April and November when I did not complete any models. Whilst this is true, I was able to complete something much more important. Back in late 2014, I embarked on Chapter 2 of my fight with cancer. Here I am at infusion number one in November of that year: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! This past summer, after more than two years of treatments, I am once again in remission. For this, I will give up a few model completions! Hopefully, these buggers won't try and come back yet again, and 2018 will see a resumption in my "normal" activities. Today I started immunoglobulin therapy which also requires infusion, but it's not that dreaded chemo and has no real side effects. Other than getting my immune system back to where it should be, of course. Here's to a healthy and happy New Year. Peace, love, & The Beatles, Bill

Cheers Fella`s,......well I`ve finished it! To add a bit more detail I made the antennae masts for the wings and the detail above the cowling (gunsight?) out of piano wire and a tropical filter from the spares box; DSCF2266 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2265 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2292 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2294 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2293 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2313 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2314 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2315 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2318 by Tony OToole, on Flickr So thats it,.....thanks for your encouragement along the way and I hope that you like it, Cheers Tony

This is another project rescued from the shelf of doom. The Halifax BIII is, in my humble opinion, the best looking of the RAF's heavies from WWII. I started this kit when it was first released by Revell, but for various reasons I did not get around to finishing it, until just before Christmas. I used after market parts from Paragon (engines), Aeroclub (propellers) & Quickboost to improve, or correct kit parts. Xtracolour enamels were used for the camouflage colours, and the markings are the kit's. Thanks for looking, Angelo

Hiya Folks, Here is my Matchbox Lysander built as a Mk.II of 28 Sqn. RAF which supported the withdrawl through Burma to India in 1942, often acting as bombers in support of the ground troops. Built mostly from the box, it has 4 x bomb racks from an Airfix Blenheim, a spares box tropical filter and decals from the spares box too,.....the model was brush painted using Polly Scale acrylics. Here is the WIP; And here is the model; DSCF2265 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2293 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2313 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2314 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2318 by Tony OToole, on Flickr Cheers, Tony

Hiya Folks, Another one finished,.....here is the Matchbox Tempest built as a Mk.II from 5 Sqn, RAF, based in India and it wears the markings of the aircraft which is now restored in the RAF Museum at Hendon. This aircraft was coded OQ- G and OQ-H while with 5 Sqn and I chose the former. The model was built from the box with the addition of rocket rails from an Airfix Mosquito and spares box decals,.....again it was brush painted using Polly Scale and Aeromaster acrylics. Here is the WIP; And here is the finished model; DSCF2310 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2278 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2276 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2273 by Tony OToole, on Flickr DSCF2272 by Tony OToole, on Flickr Cheers Tony

Bac Lightning in one of the later schemes.

Yes, several manufacturers have done resin ones, for the terminally fancy. (Yes I have some.) Phew, this MPM Bisley! You know, I honestly don't think I'dve gotten even this far on it a few years back, and even now, it's still gonna look like crap when I'm done. "Love the little trade which thou hast learned, and be content therewith," I suppose. 20180104_182029 by Edward IX, on Flickr As you can see, we got the pilot's seat in there. I also added the front glass, after doing a bit of sanding on the nose and the skylight bit to sort of coax them into the platonic ideals of their shapes. 20180104_183848 by Edward IX, on Flickr As you can see, I've been a busy little beaver with masking, but somehow I forgot to mask the #%@ing top window on the nose! Now I have to go back and do that. Annoyingly, most of the windows are rather complex in shape, and that one is no exception, being shaped rather like a kidney. The two parts that form the cockpit glasshouse, by the way, are respectively fine (the windscreen) and dreadful (whatever the thing that goes behind the windscreen is called). The latter needed an immense amount of sanding down to fit into its alloted space, and at one point I feared I'd run out of framing before I could get it to fit. The windscreen isn't fully masked yet, so I've left these two parts off. For now. Since clear parts were obviously my mandate for the evening, I got to work on the Blenheim I. 20180104_182020 by Edward IX, on Flickr Cosy. With a little squeezing, the Crew Escape Capsule (not really, gentle reader) was pressed together. All of the mating surfaces had thin lines of flash that needed to be shaved off to ensure something like a decent fit. The canopy roof also had some flashing that had to be removed so that it would fit properly. I kind of miss the old new Airfix, where everything was painfully simply, but by god it fit on the first go. 20180104_184958 by Edward IX, on Flickr You can kind of see why so many Blenheims were unfortunately mistaken for Ju88s by Fighter Command with the nose on. Anyway, that about wraps it up for tonight. I have to clean the house before Mrs P lands tomorrow and pick her up from fricking Midway airport (if we must have nuclear war with North Korea, let them drop a low-yield device on Midway so I never have to drive the fifty miles there and back again) at 8:30 AM, which means fighting my way through morning rush hour traffic and leaving by 7:30 AM at the very very latest. So progress is going to be substantially slower and I'll be more addled and dyspeptic from here on out. I had hoped to have more done, but this is a good start, and I'm possibly almost to the painting stage, which would be nice. We'll see!

My first aircraft completed since January last year, and my first model completed since a semi-enforced hiatus since the beginning of October. Went together pretty easily, and the decals were great. The build stalled early in the year (I was having problems getting a good finish with the pale blue undersides). A few fumbles at the end due to lack of practice (managed to get glue on one of the door windows - doh), but looks OK from a distance. Finished in brush painted Italeri and Tamiya acrylics and made grubby with some cheap kids' watercolour paint. Thanks @Ed Russell for the advice way back on Australia Day 2015! Happy New Year to all! And some photos outside in the early morning sun.

i have had a liking for the Bell X-1 since watching The Right Stuff many years ago. It ss the early part of the film with Sam Shepard's extraordinary performance as Chuck Yeager that I most enjoy. A colleague, who knows of my model making habits, was kind enough to send me a portion of the "stash" of a a friend of his who passed away a year of so ago. Within that batch he sent me was Tamiya's 1:72 scale kit of the X-1 and I thought that it would make a good kit to start 2018 with. It was a very quick simple build (i decided against using the transparent fuselage halves). I used Italeri Acryl Acrylic Flat Orange as the main colour, applied by brush. A couple of firsts for me - I used an artists oil wash to highlight the moving surfaces and finished with Tamiya Semi Gloss Clear from a rattle can. Maybe a little grubbier than I intended, but the semi gloss finish is exactly what I wanted. I will be trying the Flat Clear on my next build. Build thread here. Thanks for looking. And some photos taken in the late afternoon sun.

Ok...in between the Matchbox/Hydroplane GeeBees and the upcoming 10th Anniversary shindig, I am filling some time. Here is the Avis/Amodel IP-1 cannon fighter on skis. All but obsolete right out of the barn, so to speak, it was quickly overshadowed by the Polikarpov I-16, which shared some of its characteristics, as one can see. This kit, for me, was more a chance to improve my airbrushing skills and test to new paints and my new spray booth, of which WiP images can be found here: So here are some finished images. The paint is all Vallejo Air (Russian Green; AMT-7 Greyish Blue) except for the white which is regular Vallejo Off-White and is brushed on with a hairy brush. The snow is baking soda on a marble tabletop. I had some fit problems with some parts, but I think it came out ok and looks good on the "Quickly Obsolete" shelf. I do love these funny little Soviet birds... --John

Hi mates, Yesterday went quickly and there wasn't any time for modelling. My Treasure found lots of nice little jobs for me to do as she thought i was getting bored for too much Gannetting.I love testing old crayons to see if they still work!!! On my hand there are two bits I did and then I realized they're fitted to the inside section of the wing. This folding area is much moe complicated thanthe outside one as, in addition tothe folding system,there are many levers, rods and cylinders for the flaps' and ailerons' movement. I then added hinges and some more detail to the middle sections' outside. Some parts were really truicky and I had to make some more , as I lost or broke some.Not much more to be said, just trying to replicate what's in James' pictures. The two sides of the wing's middle section. And finally a view of all the detail added up to now to the wings' folding system. Tonight I'll watch a movie!!! Good night!!! Massimo

Here are some completed images of the Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter converted to a Mk 1c as used by 30 SQN RAAF. PS. yes the tail flash is supposed to be that way around as it was back to front on the real aircraft. The build log is at the link below:

This is a nice kit with the exception of the wheels, which were only one sided and not very well cast at that. I found some in the spares box that were serviceable. The rear deck shield was also rebuilt and the guard added over the muffler in the rear. I set it "somewhere in Northern Ireland" during The Troubles on a modified Matchbox base.

Hi Everyone, Finally got to do some modelling after a 2 week break and managed to put the finishing touched on my latest effort this morning My attempt at building a CH-53D from Revells 1/48 CH-53G kit and finishing it to represent........... A US Marines Sea Stallion at about the time of `Operation Frequent Wind Option IV` 29th April 1975 Which was the evacuation of Saigon, S Vietnam following the N Vietnamese invasion of the city Most of the work consisted of leaving lots of aerials and sensors off and using the earlier type main rotor blades in the kit I did attempt to enhance the interior a bit but you cant see much through the thick transparencies and I refined the tail rotor mechanism a bit. Another of my `Far to big to go anywhere` kits, but, I originally had bought it to chop up to try and make a `Jolly Green Giant` which would have been smaller Decals came from bits and pieces in the stash. Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking. Happy New Year, Russ

I'm posting this picture as a humorous response to Corsairfoxfouruncle, who stated over in SimonL's 1.72 Tamiya Bell X-1 WIP that " id like to see any X-planes as they're a Favorite of mine", something to help his day along. These are all various 1/72 kits, from plastic to resin to vacuform, and represent only a few of mine which happen to be grouped together in the display case. They are also a favorite of mine! Missing from this group is the Douglas D-558 II, which I have yet to build, but hoprfully will accomplish this year. Ed

Bill, no wonder there’s confusion; you appear to be building a Buccaneer from Gannet plans...

Bit of a thin year for me - Very slow start with a flurry of completions in the closing 2 months Started off with a Revell Audi A4 DTM car for a friend - nice kit, builds well with a challenginging finish - nearly beat me! Then a couple of builds for the Car and Motorcycle SIG display at Teford Hasegawa Ferrari 250 Testarossa in the colours of Lucybelle II with Renaissance decals and A/M metal wheels with P/E spokes 3 ICM Ford Model T Firetruck - good fun build- exceelent kit and gave me a chance to try out wood effects with oils etc And finally the Revell 1955 Mercedes 300SLR "Uhlenhaut Coupe" - more or less OOB (just a bit of engine and bay wiring etc) but fought me all the way Curiously large number of cars for a confirmed aircraft builder! Time for a couple of wingy things I reckon! Happy new year! ATB Rick

Hello, hello, hello again. Here's my second and final catchup of 2017 builds, like I said in the previous thread I only built 4 all year. Following on from the NINAK I wanted something simpler to be getting on with.....and seeing as just about anything in the stash would have qualified, I gave my wife the job of doing the stash-dash. She came back with a box of stencils with a model included . So back in 1982, a bunch of erks from 2167 (Tredegar) Sqn ATC bussed down to RAF St Mawgan for their (our) annual camp. Fun times....shooting, Chipmunk flights, local visits (Helston Aeropark ?), transit accomodation, squeeky steel frame beds, fire extinguishers, invading the NAFFI and drinking Top Deck shandy, Da-da-da...........and a walkthrough a Nimrod........XV242. Subject aircraft sorted, and it tied in with some other of my requirements: - I wanted an MR.1, sticky out bits are good but in this instance I wanted to show the clean lines of the aircraft as much as possible. Bomb bay doors would be closed also. - Hemp colours. I'd have preferred grey/white but in the interest of variety in the display it had to be hemp. Luckily there are photos of XV242 as a hemp painted MR.1. Yay, right aircraft, right colours, right modification state, right timeframe. Wins all round. To the model itself; I wanted an OOB easyish build but I already had the MA sets for stencils and markings, and also the Alleycat windscreen replacement. The windscreen was a half-hearted purchase on my behalf but after seeing the massive difference between it and the Airfix offering I was glad I had. Alleycat also supplied photoetch windscreen wipers which are lovely too.......highly recommended. Decaling, days of it, and the instructions are a bit poor. Right, enough waffle, to the pics.........comments good or bad welcome as always. I didn't go nuts on the weathering. Streaks of oil aft of hinges and engines was about all I did. Barley visible. The hemp colour was Aqueous Hobby Colour H336 I picked up from the local when they were getting rid of the range many years ago. My Iwata HP-TH makes painting painting big surfaces like this a breeze; there's a Youtube video by Paul Budzik on the subject somewhere (thanks Paul). Group photo. Smile everyone. Now then, the keen eyed among you will have spotted a common phenomenon. Something was niggling me. As I was about to finish I realised that I'd forgotten to add the 42 to the nose of the aircraft. I duly applied the decals and finished the shoot. They'll get a coat of Kleer next time I fire up the gun. Thanks for tuning in. Cheers Gaz Afterthoughts - I forgot to mention, I also moved the wing lights inboard closer to the engine nacelles, and moved the light on the nose down a little bit. And I drilled out the intake grill between the engine intakes to give the impression of depth, a new grill made from pieces of thin plasticard wedged in. It's all your guys faults - The Alleycat windscreen conversion also includes masks for ALL of the transparencies, and also the framing around the windscreen (It's there but I didn't build up enough paint layers to make it really stand out.

Dornier Do-18D 2nd staffel Kustenfliegergruppe 106 13 september 1939 Buren, Ameland (NL) Kit: Matchbox Scale: 1/72 scale Extra's: Mg's from a hasegawa kit. Rest OOB Paint: Gunze modified Decals: Some from the kit, rest from other sheets. Cheers,

Hello mates! Here is one of my Tiger Twins built 2004. These old pictures were on film and i apologize for the tarmac from the middle of Ural . That early dayglo VT-23 training Tiger 331 is converted with a selfmade short nose, IFR receptacle and no LEX as pictured in Detail and Scale. Don Hinton helped me a lot with great walkarounds shot by himself. Thanks, Don! Decals were custom printed by my Epson (RIP). It is an old kit, not with the resin nose Hasegawa added later on some. This resin nose is wrong (too short), because fuselage is sleeker from front LG on. Cheers, Thomas

There are an impressive number of completed builds in the Gallery. However there could be more. There are a number of builds approaching completion which could maybe do with another couple of days. So, at the request of your host, jrlx, this GB has been extended for a week, until midnight UK time on Sunday 14 January.

DAY TWELVE It seems like only yesterday that I learned of the existence of the Lego Saturn V, and was disappointed to find that it was out of stock on their website. There was no provision for placing an advance order, so I had to keep checking daily to see if it was for sale yet. Finally it became available again and I placed my order. It was delivered on 9 November, which was the fiftieth anniversary of the vehicle's first flight - it seemed appropriate. I could have built it there and then as a tribute but I'd already decided to keep it for Christmas, which I managed to do. So each day since then I've worked on one of the bags of parts, and today completes the project. And I've loved every step of it. I made a couple of mistakes along the way but as I said yesterday with Lego you can go back and do it properly and it doesn't show. As will be seen at some point in today's build... So here are the parts in Bag #12: As before I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves, showing at each stage the progress thus far and the parts required for the next step, I should point out here that the flat disc at bottom right is the wrong part - it should have been a ring, as I discovered later on whilst vainly hunting for this piece. That white cone is NOT the Command Module - it's actually the Boost Protective Cover, which was a shield that fitted over the CM and was jettisoned along with the escape tower. CSM and LES complete! (That gap between the bottom of the Service Module and the engine nozzle is there for a reason...) Parts for the Spacecraft/LM Adapter: And we're done! The beast in all its glory Actually we're not quite finished, because we haven't looked at the LM, or the actual Command Module. These have been built, but I'll post the photos later on.

All right missus, here's one, here's one Freshly filleted Gannet Bottom Top A little light brushwork will make that look about right

A little package on the desk at work... Untitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr

That's about it for the Empire C. There's not much more I can do in the time left. The engine cowling has been left open on one engine, plus various doors and hatches are open as the model will be used in a future diorama setting. These images will be placed into the Gallery later. Thanks for looking in and I appreciate the comments and advice received throughout. I had better get on and finish the two Catalinas in the short time that is left! cheers Mike

Robert, Did you just write down 62 words that essentially say "HUNTER" ???? Cheers.. Dave

Thanks Ced, my optimism will not, I trust, be misplaced (this time!) Thanks John, a Happy New Year to you too. Yep, at the risk of repeating myself, she's a big girl Thanks Jaime, I must admit I am looking forward to getting her finished too Thanks very much Tony, do check out the spray booths, they make for a slightly more civilised existence I don't know if any of you gentlemen ever play 'first-person shooters' as they used to be called back in the day, but if so, you know when you are lacking sufficient cover and someone is machine-gunning you and you watch your health bar incrementally decreasing? Well if I had a 'will to live bar' on my mental screen it would have been reducing in a similar manner as I was adding the transfers for every single stencil that covers the Emily's ample surfaces: Two wings and one fuselage side partially done in two evenings. I assume the Imperial Japanese Navy had a good reason to ask that every single frame on the fuselage be marked and numbered but with the gift of hindsight and the reduction in scale by a factor of seventy-two to me it felt simply like sadism. Tonight I will complete the port fuselage and add the multi-coloured filler cap markings on the wings; tomorrow I hope varnish and Sunday the gallery. Pray for me...* Cheers, Stew * Don't really. I'm an atheist and one way or another it would be a waste of time

Hey guys. Having been more strapped for time or time than usual ... and my Fuherbunker being overtaken with Christmas gifts for everyone else... I've had no ability to do anything. However tonight I managed to get my daughter to bed early and crack on. tracks being set pieces should still be easy to fit in under the skirts. Still lots more little details to go. Hopefully get some more done this weekend :-) cheers

I have been doing a little bit of work mainly fiddling about with bits to get an idea and I've been jumping around the instructions to work out so subassemblies for painting. What I've mainly done is get the gun made and into the turret and the engine deck in with a little bit of the lower chassis done as well. (No pictures yet) Really enjoying this so far can't wait to crack on when work allows me! Regards Joss

Steal away Giorgio! At these price it's a bit of a steal anyway!: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/33Pcs-Soft-Felt-Polishing-Buffing-Wheel-Mixed-Accessory-for-Rotary-Tool-I5J-P3D7/282710534339?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 “The one unforgivable sin is to be boring”. ― Christopher Hitchens Ha! Not just me then! That's what I like to see Jaime - a volunteer from the audience! Didn't think I would. But then I did. Get the antennae on. Small one over radio room: The big blind-flying one and the (somewhat) smaller central one: Is that a lump of salt stuck in that port vent there? Both outer wing ones that link to the smaller central one: I'm really glad I used brass sheet for the various antennae in terms of thin-ness and strength at this scale. Rear (DF?) loop added, plus glazing in front of the rear gun position: Top sliding windows also in over the cockpit now: Plus the side window companions to port and starboard: You can see that I've added the replacement barrel and breech to the front MG 15 now, making it look less chunky. Antennae all went on with epoxy for a strong bond, whilst Gator's Grip did the honours on the glazing. That then , as they say, is that job done for the night: That's it til Saturday now mensch. Awaiting addition then are of course the rigging lines between the various antennae, the open doors on either side of the gondola, plus the collapsible ladder (haven't quite worked out where to perch that yet), with the keel rudders and pitot to go on at the very last instance to avoid knocking them off. At that point I will have run out of parts, paints, brain cells.... Catch thyselves the weekend persons of modelling repute. Tony Prop. The Baron's Nailbar 'Glamour to your fingers'

Kawanishi N1K1 Type 11 Kyofu "Rex". Ohtsu Kaigun Kokutai 1943. Tamiya 1/48 built straight from the box. Tamiya, Vallejo and Games Workshop paint, ink and varnish. Build thread here: Green Kawanishi Pics: Andy

Well it's been 5+ years but it's finally done....hope you like the pics! I'm still finishing the dio base and will update this post when it is done.

A few more b/w pics from the mid 1970's. All taken with my Zenit E SLR. Lakenheath gate guard. Mildenhall visitor. Not sure why when scanning the negs that the left side becomes over exposed. My original prints from these same negs don't suffer this way. Undergoing some work by the look of it. Yugoslav Yak-40 71503 at Northolt. About 1975/76. (in another post I show 71504 parked at about the same place on a different date. Blackbushe. Nice to see a few Fennecs. Plus some Spanish Air Force oldies..... Note the 'Luftwaffe'marked CASA /Ju-52 just beyond. Some of the 'Hanover Street ' B-25 Mitchell. A quick visit to Odiham gave us this.

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.

My last build of 2017, matchbox HE 70. one of my favourite matchbox kits, detail is soft and nothing really fits, and you need loads of filler, but great fun to build. decals are the matchbox ones, which have silvered. The last picture is my williams bros northrop gamma, which i snapped the canopy on, just as i finished it!!!! 2017 was a slow year model wise, 2018 is looking better, my first wingnuts kit, airfix walrus in pre war colours and a bunch of mark 1 hunters. thanks for looking.

Hello all, I’ve built this Wildcat and base as this year saw the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Coral_Sea), and a tribute to the USS Lexington (CV-2) and her crew. Apologies if the post is a bit text– and photo-heavy… there are a few images of modifications/progress at the end of the post. Although there has been subsequent debate on how much the fate of Australia depended upon the outcome of this battle, it stopped the Japanese from trying to take Port Moresby, New Guinea, by sea (they then attempted to take it from an overland route). It is also considered a strategic defeat for Imperial Japan that affected the outcome of the Battle of Midway one month later. During the battle, the USS Lexington (CV-2), A.K.A. Lady Lex, was lost along with 216 of her crewmen. In May this year, my family attended a commemoration on the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea held in Brisbane. We were very lucky to meet, Cecil Wiswell, 92 years of age (and his son), who had served on the ill-fated Lexington. They had travelled to Australia for commemorations held in a number of cities for the battle. For those interested, here is a snippet featuring Mr Wiswell at the Townsville commemoration: http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/honour-for-our-heroes/news-story/fcfc6657b1aeb3725e627227bd77b957 Anyway, I wanted to do a model that in a small way commemorated the battle, particularly those who perished aboard the Lexington. The model represents the aircraft of John Thach (as this was the only option for a Lexington-embarked plane). He did not take part in the Battle of the Coral Sea, but this plane is reported to have been lost with the Lexington in the battle: The decals were from a Wildcat/Martlet aces set from Printscale, with the exception of the wing insignia (pilfered from the Airfix kit as they were a better size. They also behaved much better). Paints: Vallejo Modelair, followed by gloss coat and oil washes. Modifications: Riveting added; Intercooler air intakes inside the cowl were scratch-built from PE; Wiring added to the engine; Scratch-built gunsight and painted decal strips for the canopy framing; Hollowed-out sprue for exhausts to replace the kit’s (left), and drilled out holes in the fuselage for them: The kit tailwheel was pretty ordinary, so I modified one from another kit, and drilled out a hole for it. The navigation and formation lights were coloured, transparent plastic that was glued into place and sanded to shape: The carrier deck was painted with a mix of royal blue and some RLM?? grey to represent USN deck blue 20-B, and Vallejo primer for the light blue-grey flight deck markings. This was the scheme the Lexington received in Hawaii in April 1942, the month before the Battle of the Coral Sea. USN WWII tiedowns were PE from Tom’s Modelworks. Cockpit and landing gear bay details: FWIW, I had tried pre-shading for the first time, but I don’t think it made any difference: And in its new home: There, a third model finished for 2017. Happy New Year to all BMers! Comments and criticism welcome, and thanks for looking. Regards, David

Thanks Bill - you are a STAR and I really appreciate your help. Thanks for posting off the decals and don't worry about the postage; happy to wait I've found the RAF fonts on an old webpage and downloaded the whole set. More later. I'm playing with the BOULTBEE and can get hold of a Bremont logo svg from their website. See? The Boutlbee and Bremont transfers are already on though so hold fire please (unless you're enjoying yourself!) I may rip them off if I can get a better solution ALL: quick update before I get lost in graphics land again... Bill has been very kind and prepared some decals for me. He's sent me some images and (as he said above) posted off some transfer paper. I printed off the images on plain paper to try them out: The transfer sheets arrived from Hannants this morning: Xtradecal 72189 by Ced Bufton, on Flickr You can see there are two Js of the right shape but no Ks or Is. That said the 18" ones look about the right size, or a bit small? 18” by Ced Bufton, on Flickr but the 24" are too big: 24” by Ced Bufton, on Flickr which means the Kitsworld ones will have to go in the stash, if I can get them back in the packet: Yes, I have checked that the image I printed is the right scale:

In the 'being a tad on the aggressive side ' posture with the dial sight attached, you can see in this posed photo the aiming stance rather well hendie (you can imagine the photographer's exhortations: 'Sehr gut Willi! - Gib mir jetzt blauen Stahl! ...whereas with this aircraft going to be in a maintenance pose, the sights are removed and it's poked back further in something akin to the way you sometimes see the un-manned gun left balanced on the Drehkranz mount: Partly - as you've no doubt guessed - because the limited clearance in the loop on my versions of the gun mount didn't let me get that acute an angle to rest the butt of the weapon higher up. Is there no end to to the perversities of this modelling game Ian? I guess for the similar reasons we often find ruins so evocatively attractive, or talk about a face 'having character' Giorgio? As long - as you say - it's historically plausible. Thanks for that. I do acknowledge how hard it must have been for CMK to mould something as fine as that barrel from resin, but for me this is a case where metal gives a sharper scale definition. I did up a replacement for the bow gun earlier using the same method as previously: The LED ring light I use on the bench can be very harsh at exaggerating the contrast between lighter regions and the dark 72/73 designs Benedikt - in the flesh it's not quite as extreme as some of the photos might indicate; nonetheless the effect it still looked too explicit/deliberate so that I spent quite a while earlier trying to achieve what I saw in my mind's eye as an amalgamation of different view of the actual aircraft's appearance. We know that all that manly repartee about Bomber Command and Spitfires is really just a front for a softer and more feminine Procopius... Thanks Jaime. Well, if I can get a good run at it this afternoon I'm hoping to get all the fiddly antennae bits and so forth in place, with a view to rigging on Saturday. Fingers, as they say, are crossed! Ta for that Johnny. We got off lighter than many and are going to try for a run to Dublin tomorrow as the weather looks better over that side of the country. The private life of the average Britmodeller never ceases to amaze me.... As I mentioned above, the bulk of time this morning has been me obsessing over the final look of the paintwork. Something just wasn't quite right - you probably get that sense yourself from time-to-time of something awry in a build that is there in the totality but takes you a while to identify specifically. As is often the case when you're worried and working away to try and seek a particular result I neglected to take any progression photographs. Between the varying regions of Klear and Galeria that I'd sprayed on yesterday, whether there was some kind of reaction or not I'm not competent to judge, but the salt-fade looked too graphic today. Not necessarily too light, but too contrived. Further experiments with varnishes were ghastly, and when I spayed a heavily diluted layer of dark grey to try and tone things down it looked like a total disaster - to the point where I thought I'd really gone and wrecked the thing. Out with the IPA and wipe-off the accumulated muck to at least return the thing to where we started. At such points it's usually a good policy to walk away and avoid doing anything rash isn't it? [Slough of Despond, cups of coffee, squinting at the blighter, walking away again, repeat.] In a flash of clarity I realized that what I was after - a surface for the aircraft that could plausibly resemble painted metal with some accumulated traces of the marine environment in which it travelled back and forth - was not going to be achieved by simply adding paints and varnishes alone. Part of the variation seen in photographs of the Dornier (as on all aircraft) is the result of varying levels of diffusion and specularity i.e., how light spreads around, or else is concentrated by, surfaces with different levels of roughness and smoothness. In other words texture! Shoving the paint and brush away I hooked out the Dremel, added a felt head and began to modulate the airframe physically. Immediately this felt better and more convincing. I was able to work into the salt-fade to produce acceptable depths of variation, as well as alter the lustre across the surfaces. I even remembered to pause and take a shot of the work-in-progress to show you: For some reason I found myself happily humming 'Men of Harlech' as I buffed and squinted my way around until reaching this visual result: As you so frequently find things not always coming across adequately in photographs, to the naked eye that finish produces a plausible illusion now of being a painted metal surface in a way that it failed to previously. With that rather important aspect resolved, it was time to add the exhaust plumes to the upper wings. These aren't a simple triangular stain fanning out toward the trailing edge on either side, but are as you can see here an asymmetric plume that seems to be influenced by vortices in the airflow (from interaction between wing chord and the forward propellor?): Masked and sprayed with Flat Black: Minor panic before I realized I did have the masks round the right way! Overall, that now does look like I hoped it would in terms of the visual surfaces of the aircraft: That was a draining morning's activity. Par the course for this build really... If I get the antennae on I'll stick up some more photos later. Tony

PK-8 Gloster Gladiator. Finished as a Sea Gladiator of 769 Squadron FAA, based at RNAS Donibristle in 1939. Apparently used for deco nading training. Mainly OOB with a new prop and arrestor hook cannibalised from a Pavla boxing. Brush painted with mainly Xtracrylix with Akan Dull Iron for the collector ring and radiator. Transfers from the Model Alliance Wings & Waves Part 1 sheet.