Julien

A seasonal take, so what have you bought or been gifted? I have recently got a Meng F-106, Academy 1/35 K-2 Black Panther ROK Army Tank, Julien

That would be great. I have a few of Special Hobby's Zephyrs and the new Model Decal sheet also. Julen

Fouga CM.170 Magister "German, Finnish & Austrian" (72373) 1:72 Special Hobby The Magister is probably Fouga's most well know design even though they had been producing aircraft since 1936. Post war the company was working on sailplanes and the heritage from this can be seen in the Magister design. In 1948 the French Air Force were looking for a jet powered aircraft to replace the then piston engine trainers. Fouga's original design the CM130 was under-powered with two Turbomeca Palas engines. Fouga then re-designed their aircraft to incorporate the more powerful Marbore engines, et voilà the CM170 Magister. The distinctive V tail, and slender wings bear testament to Fouga's sailplane designs. The prototype Magister flew in 1952 with an order for the first 10 being placed in 1953. The Magister was the worlds purpose designed/built jet powered trainer. It is also worthy to note the Magister made it into carrier aviation. With a few changes to the structure and undercarriage, the addition of an arrestor hook, and sliding canopies the CM175 Zephyr was born. Interestingly carrier trials took place on HMS Bulwark and HMS Eagle. The French aircraft industry in parallel with the UK went through many mergers with the aircraft being known as the Fouga Magister, Potez Magister, Sud Aviation Magister; and finally The Aerospatile Magister; though always actually being called The "Fouga" Magister. Development of the aircraft continued right up until the French selected its replacement, the Alpha Jet. Overseas sales proved popular were made to primarily to Germany, Belgium, Finland, and Israel; with Germany, Finland & Israel building them under licence. Of a total of 929 aircraft built, 286 were built under license. The basic jet was very affordable to operate for smaller Air Forces. Other users would include, Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Biafra, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, El Salvador, Gabon, Katanga, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Nicaragua, Rwanda, Senegal, and Uganda. Many counties including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Finland; and Israel would use the aircraft for their National Aerobatic display teams. Even though primarily a trainer many of these smaller nations would use the aircraft for its light strike capacity as well. Israel would use them in combat during the 6 day war, El Salvador saw them used during its civil war, and aircraft used by The Katangese Air Force were used against the UN during the Congo crisis in 1961. The Kit The kit arrives on four sprues of grey plastic, and a clear sprue. The plastic parts are of excellent quality, the panel lines are engraved and deep enough to be seen after painting without being trenches. Care will be needed to take some of the smaller parts of the sprue, and it might have been the case that these would have been better in photo-etch? The clear parts are crisp, clear and thin. Construction starts in the cockpit area. The front and rear instrument panels are fitted (instrument faces are provided as decals), along with the seat supports for the front cockpit. The seats are added along with the engine and flight controls. Once complete the cockpit can be set aside. Attention then moves to the engine pods on each side of the fuselage. Engine fan faces and exhaust need to be placed inside and then the inner side of the engine trunking can be added. At the rear of each side the final exhaust section is added. Once the engines are complete then cockpit can be placed inside the main fuselage, and this then closed up. The radio equipment area to the rear of the cockpit is also added at this time. Various antenna behind the cockpits then need to be added and/or removed depending upon the version being modelled. Once the main fuselage is together work needs doing on both ends. At the rear the tail cone is added along with ventral strake. The 'V' tails are then added, care being taken with the small hinges for these. At the front the first part to me made up is the underside of the nose where the nose gear mounts. This attached inside the nose cone and the appropriate gun/no gun insert is attached to the top of the nose. The prominent nose mounted VOR antenna loops are added and the nose attached to the main fuselage. Construction then moves to the wings. These are of conventional upper & lower construction. The wheel wells are mounted into the wings before they are closed up, along with the wing mounted air-brakes. These can be modelled in with the deployed or retracted positions. The wing end mounted fuel tanks are in two halves, with the bottom being moulded to the upper wing, and then a lower fuel tank part is added. The clear noses can then be added to the front of the fuel tanks. The landing gear is then added to the model. The front single nose wheel is two parts and this is added to the main leg, this is then mounted to the nose of the aircraft. The single front gear door is added. The main wheels though larger than the nose wheel are single parts. These are fitted to the main legs, the legs along with their retraction struts are added into the main gear bays. The three part main gear doors are added. If needed armament can now be added to the model. Bombs and rocket pods are included to be used as wished by the modeller. To finish off the model the canopies can be added in the raised or lowered positions. Markings There are 3 marking options on a sheet printed by Cartograf which guarantees there will be no issues with it. Finnish Air Force - Aircraft licence built in Finland 1968 German Navy 1968 Austrian Air Force Silver Birds Aerobatic Display Team 1966-1968 Conclusion It is great to see more versions of this new tool from Special Hobby becoming available. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Well all attempts to do the walkways with decal strips have failed. i am now resorting to masking them all !! julien

This is my S&M Canberra build, using xtradecals for RAF 10Sqn although I wont be putting the Suez Strips on that the sheet shows.

Hopefully its decals!

Dornier Do 27 "German, Spanish and Belgian Service" (72327) 1:72 Special Hobby The Dornier 27 was a classic high winged Short Take off/Landing aircraft fitted with fixed landing gear. Surprisingly enough this aircraft was actually designed in Spain by the Dornier operation there to a Spanish Air Force requirement for a light untility aircraft. The Do 25 though was not selected for production. The Do 27 design would later be manufactured in Spain by CASA as the CASA-127. The excellent STOL performance ensured a lot of interest and order from many armed forces. The aircraft also has its place in history as the first mass produced aircraft in Germany post WWII. The new Luftwaffe & Heer ordered a total of 428 aircraft. The Kit This is a new tool from special Hobby, Looking at the sprues and parts not used it looks like a later Do 27Q-5 will be boxed at some point as well. Construction starts with the main cabin. The modeller will have to slect the version they are doing early as the cabin layout varies. The rear seats and bulkhead are added to the cabin floor along with the front seats, instrument panel and flying controls. The instruments being provided as a decal. Once the main floor is done it can be added into the main fuselage halves. Next up the engine cowling and engine front are built up for the front of the airframe. This can then be added to the complete fuselage. The tail wheel appropriate to the version being modelled can then be added. Next up the main wing is completed, this is of traditional upper/lower style. The main wing, tailplanes and rudder can then be added to the main fuselage. Next up the fixed landing gear is made up and added to the fuselage along with the engine exhaust. Last up the main cabin doors and cabin glazing along with various antenna are added. The antenna vary between the versions being modelled so care will be needed to study the instructions. Markings There are are three marking options in the kit, decals are y Cartograft so that all but guarantees there will be no problems with them Do 27A-1, 55+84 Luftwaffe, Penzig AB, 1977 Do 27J-1, OL-D11 Belgian Army Light Aviation, 1970s CASA C-127, 408-1, Spanish Air Force, Spanish Sahara 197- Conclusion It is great this new tool from Special Hobby of an important aircraft for Dornier used all over the world. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I see they already have another boxing planned.

P-40 Mainwheels 1:72 CMK for Special Hobby Kit Here there are three different types of main wheel provided, Block tread, Cross tread & Diamond tread; These are just a drop in replacement for the kit wheels. The resin allows much greater detail including the tread. Conclusion These will enhance the already great little model from Special Hobby. Recommended. Block Tread Diamond Tread Cross Tread Review sample courtesy of

Review now in for this kit; http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235036975-fouga-cm170-magister-german-finnish-austrian-172-special-hobby/

Review up now on the forum; Julien

Myself and @bentwaters81tfw should be there on the Ipswich stand. Julien

The F-27 was always fun, as was the Sweedish Herc

Looks like the USN is buying an RAF C-130J to Support the Blue Angels as Fat Albert is still grounded. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/19570/blue-angels-getting-c-130j-from-royal-air-force-to-replace-kc-130t-fat-albert-transport Julien

Building Race #80 in 1/18 Scale Conversion of the Hph 1/18 Seafire KLP Publishing Online publishing is now starting to find its way into the modelling community. KLP Publishing is one of the new online publishers, specialising in eBooks for the scale aircraft modelling community. Their debut title Building Brick’s Sabre in 1/32 Scale: A Scale Tribute to K.J. "Brick" Bricknell reviewed here has proved to be a success. This This 565-page eBook details Peter Castle‘s award-winning conversion of the HpH Models 1/18 Seafire 47 to represent a Spitfire XIVe—specifically, Race #80, as flown by James McArthur in the Tinnerman Air Races at Cleveland, Ohio, on September 4th 1949 One of the great aspects of digital publishing is the inclusion of a huge amount of pictures. Peter took this model to Scale Model World 2017 where he walked away with the top honour of Best In Show. Those of us who saw the model would have to agree with this. Conclusion This is the type of publication that the new digital format will embrace. The subject is not main stream enough for a traditional publication. This is clearly a book written by modellers for modellers. The text is clear and concise and the great selection of crisp pictures is welcome. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

We can only at his time take these steps as positive for Revell at least in Germany and Europe. A German company buying Revell will look good on the domestic front. Not so hot for those employed in the US, though we will have to see what happens over there. Julien

All the ones I have ever been in also had tinted windows on the body, so it is something I will do. i am intending to put this and the 432 together as a representation of vehicles from 1 ADFA which my dad was in for many years after 28 & 29 Field Ambulances were merged. Julien (Hohne brat)

Just noticed today that KFS now have this not so little beauty ready and available to order, and yes I took the plunge. Not cheap but well worth it I think. Photes from KFS's web site. BTW great customer service from then when ordering. Julien

Its arrived, and it looks great to me. As mentioned they are supergood on the phone, told me when it would be posted and delivered when I made the order. I have 3 KFS kits now and while not cheap you do get what you pay for. Julien

Just got KFS 1:24 Land Rover Ambulance.

Messerschmitt Me 209 Mainwheels 1:72 CMK for Special Hobby Kit These are just a drop in replacement for the kit wheels. The resin allows much greater detail including the tread. Conclusion These will enhance the already great little model from Special Hobby. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Thankfully they have replaced the Vac Form canopy with an injection one now. Julien

It did exist, it never went into service but it was built and was sunk twice!

Thx for the explanation Murph. Always good to know. Julien

Wing stencils now. No one does the right spaced dashes for this scheme so putting them on one at a time. only 30 on each side thanks (I think) to @canberra kid for another great factory drawing.