Matt_L

Well, the undercoat is now on, (nearly) all seams dealt with and the lovely brass Master barrels in place. The pitot was briefly accompanying them, but pinged into the ether - good job there's two in the pack! There's some rescribing and rivet detail to replace, but i'm quite happy with how the wing roots turned out, given the amount of plasticard shimming and filler involved. And, a better shot of the engine - nicked from an old build of the Hasegawa (1970s) 190. Next is to polish back the Halford's primer and get the metallic coat on. George's were aluminium all over with the dark green laid down directly on top, no primer, so lots of paint flaking. Take care, Matt

Hi, Not been as rapid progress as I thought with this, largely due to the terrible fit of wings to fuselage, which got this build paused. But, after working out the right dihedral, and how to make the front of the cowling at least vaguely the same shape as the fuselage it joins to, and laying in more Milliput, we have this: You can just see (poor focusing for some reason) the old Hasegawa Fw-190 engine standing in for the blob in the kit. I've just received the Master gun barrels and a resin pitot (for a Zero, but hey), so nearing the end of construction. All comments gratefully received, Take care, Matt

Hello all, Been off BM for a little while, lots of life happening at the moment - job change, trying to buy a house... Anyway, some modelling has taken place, including this classic 1/32 kit, that's been boxed by quite a few Japanese manufacturers - Doyusha and Swallow at least. I picked this up under a club table at Bolton for a bargain. It's at least a 1970s moulding (but so am I) but the surface detail is great- all recessed and riveted. There are some snags though - it was meant to be a motorised model (I think Tomy had the moulds first?) so there is a bizarrely shallow cockpit: So, some scratch building and raiding the spares box is needed. Luckily I had a spare pilot from the Hasegawa Tojo who could fill much of the void. So, here's what has been done so far: Skinning the interior with plasticard and strip, and various semi-accurate(ish) spare parts: IP from an ancient paper set of dials I got from somewhere - onto plasticard, with rough go at dial houses and wires... Floor, consoles, seat etc are plasticard and spares. And here's the pilot: Buttoned up - a nice fit overall: And how the IP sits in the cockpit: So, that's taken about a month on and off, hope to pick up speed now! More soon, Take care, Matt

Hey, thanks everyone, very heartening comments, thank you. Thanks Sanfrandragon, may have to post some new ones of the Chiefy when the sun is back. All the weathering on the Panther is brush painted, artists' pastels or Pitt Ink Pens (grey and sepia), with a little garden earth added. The wire round the barrel - well, I've seen some photos of that and it seems to have been used to hold camouflage in place - mostly branches of pine trees. Not yet found anything that convincingly looks like a branch yet, so just the wire... Thank you Badder, agree that the Chieftain is a great kit, a very nice intro back to armour, and rather cheap! Must remember to do the canvas that covers that mantlet gap one day... I think it's those cobbles the Panther's been going over that wobbled those streaks... Take care, Matt

Hi, I'd like to share my Tamiya Panther G, (and the old Chieftain), my second (and first, but can't find most of the pics i took) finished afv builds for many many years. It's been a different and fun experience compared to my more usual aircraft builds, got a bit bored of the latter (temporarily) a while ago so found some cheap second hand deals on 1/35 stuff. Been enjoyable experimenting and learning with different paint techniques and weathering especially. Now a small stash has grown up - nor rivaling the pane stash yet, but you never know. The base, as you can see unfinished, for the Panther is from Miniart. Look forward to all constructive feedback, Take care, Matt

Hi Kent, That's a great build! Actually, i'm planning to do a Danish version too, but can't find either the right blue paint or any decals in 1/32nd - welcome your advice!. Take care, Matt

So so good. Inspiring work Eric, and perfect photography too. Wow. Matt

Very fine build there Graham, really like the engine detail. Wouldn't worry about the stripes - were they really truly straight in real life, given they were applied quite rapidly ?(less so than for D-Day I imagine, but still...) Take care, Matt

Bizarre, but very nicely finished! Les - what's the base made of - is it a tile?? Take care, Matt

Many thanks for the kind words everyone, I enjoyed this build and i'm glad you have too. Thanks Polo1112, I'd love to see your Yellow Wings era build here some day. From what I've read from many sources, you are correct that the French version had a different dive bombing kit, with no telescopic site in the windscreen and very unique dive brakes. It also had French cockpit instrumentation, and reversed throttle controls, and a different rear MG - a Darne(?) rather than a Browning. There may well be more differeces. Sadly for those flying it, one commonality with the USN version was that it was terribly vulnerable to modern fighters and operated against huge odds. Much appreciated Andy Not here for the likes, but I always appreciate people's feedback. Thank you Occa Steve, you are very kind, quite pleased that I mastered the airbrush for a long enough period to get a result near to I imagined it should be. Must buy a compressor one day. Thanks Batcode Thanks Rick, I get drawn to the obscure now and again! I can't tell you how much fun the etch for those dive brakes was... Same here Bob, many thanks. It is a lovely kit with no real problems, but that complexity did see it get put to one side a few times.

Hello, I'm happy to share my completed Azur Vindicator. It's a lovely kit to build, matching original Accurate Miniatures parts with new Azur wings, resin and etch to create a French naval version. It took a little while, with breaks for holidays etc, and the full WIP is here. Hope you enjoy it, and welcome all constructive comments as ever. The last image is also in the WIP, but shows the amount of interior detail on offer, and much stays visible. Take care, Matt

Hello, Been a while since my last post, summertime took over, lots of trips and family visits. So, now it's raining and grey again I've found the time to finish up this build. Here's one pic for those that have followed and encouraged me so far here, and the rest are in the RFI. Take care, Matt

Hello, thanks for everyone's kind and encouraging comments. Thanks batcode, hopefully it will stay that way as the last bits are done - quite happy with it so far! Thank you Garry, I'm always learning too, from the many great modelers on BM. Cheers Pete! Nearly there now... Thanks for commenting Bob! Thanks flarpen, it is a bit obscure, but then over 30 years or so I've built most of the 'main' catalogue! I hear that the first Accurate Miniatures Vindicators had great big sink marks on the fuselage, well, that may have put people off, but this boxing is pristine. So, what's new? Fiddly stuff. The undercarriage is on - semi fiddly; the extended PE upper airbrakes are on - major fiddly; and the resin and PE rear gun is on (bar the tiny fore sights yet) - mega fiddly and doesn't quite fit in a raised position, so I've stowed it. I've also started on the glazing, with the excellent and cheap Montex mask set. Is it just me or does that windscreen look a bit Imperial Star Wars-y? Think one more coat of red is needed on those brakes - one of the advantages of taking pics as you go - shows little things you miss with the naked eye. And dust. Wheels received a little pastel dust, which doesn't show as well here as I'd like - anyway, it's there! Nearly done I think, except the canopies, under-wing dive brakes and a few tiny bits - aerial, pitot etc. Not sure I'll get all that done this weekend, but let's see! Take care, Matt

Hello, Quite a lot done in the last few days, good warm weather in the evenings helps with the painting process, and I've repaired my airbrush at last (dropped it while cleaning, tip down - bad). So, first coat of blue-grey: I don't know what the exact colour should be, but I felt this was a little too blue, so lots of different shades went on in random manner, all mixed from various Revell and Xtracrylix, leading to something, that, to me, looks 'right'. A Klear coat gave just the slight sheen I wanted. Some decals also on and some weathering with line washes, chips with a mid-grey paint and dust and exhaust from pastels. Nothing too much as these planes sadly didn't last long in service. The decals are ultra-thin, so need to be slid off the backing onto lots of water or they fold up, but they bed down fantastically. So, fiddly bits next - Undercarriage, and that multi-part canopy with tonnes of framing. Ordered a Montex mask set for that one! There's also an incredibly fine resin rear gun, let's see if that survives being built. More soon, welcome any constructive comments. Take care, Matt

Hi, Been a little pause as summer activities take over, but here's the airframe as is, primed, blemishes tackled and ready for paint. I've used the closed one-piece canopy as a mask for the cockpit, will be using the open sections to show what's inside (given that's where about 80% of the kit parts are! Hope to have some more done soon, Take care, Matt