MarkusOZ

I've just finished this kit up recently, just a couple of things to note. 1. I added the top wings after I'd already joined the lower wing to the fuselage, this got a nice joint at the wing root for me, with no filler. 2. Thin the trailing edge of the wing from the inside on both the top and bottom wing halves before joining them, just improves the look of trailing edge. 3. Add a load of nose weight! I didn't put enough in mine initially, then had two add a smidge more in the front wheel well once it was already finished. 4. If you've got double of the same kit it might be worth doubling up on the decals, aka having two layers of the same decal as they are very thin. I can very clearly see the changing camo colours below mine. A double layer would help that I'm sure Mark

Thanks for the info guys. I'd done some reading but was getting very confused!! There's a lot going on on those early spitfires

Hi Guys I'm looking to build the Tamiya spitfire as K9906 I was looking at this picture, and a few things have got to me. So i have some questions. 1. Were the original roundels on the wing and fuselage over painted? I can clearly see repainting on all the aircraft around the fuselage roundel, does this mean the ones on the wings would show similar darkening/ lightening of the paint in these areas? 2. The second aircraft in the formation appears to have under-wing roundels or is this an optical illusion of some type. Would K9906 be likely to have these? 3. Near the gun ports you can see some light areas. Would these be tape coverings, chipping or chipping caused by pulling off tape coverings? Other things in this picture, The 3 aircraft in the back ground all have darker paint under the cowling, are these painted with the black/white under surfaces? Change of camouflage pattern type too. And the second aircraft seems to have a replacement panel on the front wing fairing. Looking forward to your responses. I'm looking forward to building this plane, it appears to have a fair bit of weathering going on for a pre-war spitfire. Mark

That looks great! Good bit of hard work gone into that Could you add some dust and dirt to the tyres perhaps? They stand out against the diorama being so clean.

Video build up...

1/144!! I didn't read the caption before admiring the pictures, i was thinking to myself, "nice 1/48 scale build there." Working on these smaller planes and having them come out looking as good as that really is a higher level of modeling fiddlyness. Great work Mark

I'm sure it'll just be the HK kit with added parts for the bouncing bomb. Then there will be a grand slam version as well.

That looks great!! Nice photography too!

I built the limited addition AMK one with the white metal gear and photo etch. It was a very complete package! It's a massive beast and heavy too, i think the standard plastic legs would struggle with the weight of it. The detail is great but the panel lines are pretty heavy. I didn't put a wash in them and they look plenty visible still. The detail looks more crisp on the AMK bird and the engineering is pretty good, only the tails on mine required some work. From what I've seen though both kits look great when built up! The AMK kit looks like a more enjoyable build, i had great fun with it.

Mate!! That looks great! Good photography too. I really like the subtle exhaust staining and grime around the wing root. Mark

Plenty of nice warm water to get them on.Then where they crinkled over compound curves i'd slice down the crinkle ridge and use a sponge and some hot water to smooth it out. Slice around any details you really know the decal wont conform to then add some decal solvent. Touch up with paint as needed. The Cartograph decals in these new academy kits really are great though they snuggle down nicely and fit fantastically! Mark

Nice job building a hard to come by kit! They seem quite rare these days

Nice looking B-17. I'm looking forward to that Ju-87 being finished too!

Thanks for all the kind comments guys

That's an outstanding finish on that SBD! Great work!

I found it okay. It had good inscribing on most parts and fitted together really well. I wasn't to keen on the weapons as their attachments seem rather large and not being able to open the canopy was a bummer as the internal details are quite nice. I thinned down the intake lip as it was squared off and this greatly improved that area. My only other little thing was the gear doors have a funny way of being attached with large lugs, but when looking at it sitting on its wheels you wouldn't notice anything. I haven't built the hasegawa model so i wouldn't be able to compare. Sorry mate

Hey Guys hope you like my last few finished models. Academy 1/72 F/A-18C OTB I built the old Revel 1/48 one as a kid and thought it looked cool! STILL DOES Hobby Boss 1/72 SH-60F OTB Built this one over two days a stress relief build. There are a few issues here and there and i didn't spend anytime on making the under fuselage seam look pretty as I very rarely display my models up-side down. Academy 1/72 F/A-18E OTB Interesting kit, a snap together kit with nice decals. Academy 1/72 F/A-18C OTB My first CAG bird. It came out a little darker than i wanted but still plenty bright ''

Hey Ray i'm in Australia. I've got some Eaglecal decals which i'm going to be using on my tamiya Mosquito FB and they include the keep off warnings over the radiator. If you want my set of stencils from the base kit let me know as (hopefully) they wont be needed. Message me your address off board if your interested Mark

Those checkers make my eyes sore just looking at them (in a good way ) they must have been time consuming to mask out. Well done on an awesome build with a nice clean finish!

Hi Telboy I built the kit a couple of years ago. I painted the fuselage post assembly. Firstly the instructions show the wrong camouflage, there are only two colours needed FS36270 covers all the lower surfaces, nose area and tail, with FS36118 covering the dark gray upper wings and horizontal stabilizers. taken from - https://www.cybermodeler.com/aircraft/f-16/f-16c_profile02.shtml I only seem to remember masking of the area around the horizontal stabilizers as there is a hard edge there, as the front around the canopy its a soft feathered edge and you can leave the vertical and horizontal stabilizers off until after painting. If you check your spraying angle the rest of the airframe won't need masking. The only thing I would say (if you haven't built this section already) is to paint the grey area around the air intake before you assemble it fully. Getting paint in to that tight area was really tough once it was assembled. I hope this helps, I did mine with an airbrush and plenty of paint cup refills!

I love 50's jets like this, colourful finishes over natural metal! Great work!

Thanks again guys I think this was the first time I've really applied a dust layer to an airplane. I've see pictures of planes taking off from desert strips with clouds of dust streaming behind them, so i figured it needed a good dusting, especially the underside at the rear. I'm quite drawn to the Hurricane myself. My granddad flew in Gladiators, Martlets and Hurricanes out of Libya during his time in the FAA. I never knew what squadron he was in though...

The gun tape is just some left over red decal from a different style of fin flash supplied in the kit for a different decal option

A very smart build of an odd looking aircraft. Nice work!

Thank you for all the kind words everyone. The spitfire defiantly is a pretty aircraft and the Eduard kit really does it justice. I didn't realise quite how small the spitfire was though until i put it on my display shelf next to a hellcat! They almost look like their in two different scales