Brad

Good to see another with interest in Chinese aviation. I really like this.

Thanks, that's pretty much what I thought, probably a case of mistaken identity.

I've read conflicting information regarding this. Some say they did, others mention they were LA-11's, but I've been unable to turn up any photographic evidence of the LA-7 in Communist service. Any help?

I picked this up real cheap from my local retro computer games store as he bough it in a lot of diecast models. Fortunately this is better than their 1/48 offering which I attempted to build a few years ago. Detail is ok, the same with the fit of the parts, nothing the average modeller couldn't contend with. The one fault with the kit is the decals, mine were badly out of register so I painted on the yellow ID stripe and sourced spare IAF insignia from the decal stash. AK Interactives RC229 'Army Helo Drab' (FS34031) was used for the base colour and it looks spot on. Weathering was achieved with MiG pigments and washes along with Tamiya pastel kits. i also chose to mount some inert blue Hellfires for a little colour. Thanks for looking.

I've had a look but not turned up anything so wondering if someone knows of a set out there for the old Heller 1/72 kit. TIA.

I must admit that the exhaust was built up with hard chalk pastel and a soft brush.

This is P-51B Mustang registration 43-27460 as she appeared when owned by Colonel Jacqueline Cochran. It was her first Mustang and was registered NX28388 and was used to set 4 air speed world records and appeared at multiple air races in the late 1940s. The combat record, if any is unknown but the serial number both before and after saw combat with the 361st Fighter Group and both were lost in action. Cochran bought the aircraft in August 1946 for 10 points and other considerations. Following her third place in the 1948 Bendix Air Race, she asked her friend and test pilot Sampson Held to ferry NX28388 back to California, however on route it suffered a catastrophic wing spar failure and crashed, killing Held. The model is the duel boxing from Hasegawa in 1/72, you get a second kit and decals for 'Thunderbird', also owned and flown by Cochran at one stage. The model is showing it's age a bit, with very shallow wheel wells and the landing gear seems a bit short. That said, it goes together well and the decals are excellent. For the air racer, they give you some extra sprues for what they call an Aeroproduct's propeller, however looking at pictures I think the Mustang was using an uncuffed Hamilton Standard, which unfortunately you don't get in the kit. I decided to use the kit supplied cuffed Hamilton Standard, because I know at one point it did use this prop and in one race she had propeller issues so it might have been changed after that. It's also worth noting that they do give you both slogans that were painted under the exhaust stacks and this is not mentioned in the instructions. I am unsure of when the motto was changed. Cochran mounted P-38 drop tanks under the wings to ferry the aircraft, but these are not supplied in the kit. Leave off the kit supplied hard points. Apart from this, the guns and ejector ports were filled over and the resin fin fillet was glued in place and sanded down to fit. I painted her overall Gunze gloss bright green straight from the bottle and applied 3 coats of future, 2 before and 1 after decals. I decided to weather her as she appear after a race with big black and white exhaust stains that extended down the fuselage. Now I have to get to building 'Thunderbird' in the blue.

I haven't read the book but I am familiar with the attack. I can't believe they missed the Chicago that was in port at the time. I've also been to the AWM and walked around and under the remains of the midget submarines they recovered. I couldn't imagine trying to fight a war in such a vehicle!

I can see them in my post, I'm unsure what the problem might be.

This is the Fine Molds Kit in 1/72 that I picked up last year. There isn't a huge amount to this model, but it was a little more than a weekend project. Fit is good enough, but you will have to sand through the nicely molded welding seams. I replaced these with a fine brush and Mr Surfacer 500. There are a couple of options in the kit with regard to submarines used in different operations so pay attention to which version you wish to build. I chose to represent one of the boats used to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7th. The ships were overall matt black, with the torpedo being painted in oily steel. The instructions say black, however the torpedo that washed up on the attack on Sydney Harbour appeared to be unpainted. Weathering was kept pretty restrained. I had no problems with the decals and I finished things off with some EZ line and a small base whipped up with some pine and stain.

Oh yeh, there you go, I'm a bit darker than the real thing. Oh well, I could have gone harder on the weathering.

I have zero reference for these aircraft so I went with the olive drab I had on hand. Honestly it's probably not a genre I'd build normally, but it was purchased to support a club I am associated with as there is a little internal competition and the rule was it had to be an Airfix kit bought from the LHS that supports the club.

This is the new Airfix kit straight out of the box, decals and all. It's a pretty good kit, although do pay attention to the fit of the interior, it's very tight and any misalignment here will have you sanding away at the fuselage seam lines. Weathering is pretty heavy as I read these aircraft were worked pretty hard. Colours used were Tamiya Olive Drab over Vallejo Air Neutral Grey.

Not a bad year, one per month was my goal and I just got there, with the last being my Boxing Day 24 hour blitz build. In no particular order; Italeri 1/72 F4U5-N, Guy Bordelon's aircraft in which he scored 5 night kills over Korea. Bronco's 1/350 U boat type IX U-37. One of the most successful U boats of the war with 55 ships sink for 211,000 tonnes. Zvezda's 1/350 Soviet Nuclear Submarine K-19. Revell 1/72 Eurocopter Tiger HAP. Hobbycraft 1/48 I-16. Kinetic 1/48 Kfir C-7 Tamiya 1/48 P-51D Mustang racer 'Maytag' with aftermarket decals. Fujimi 1/72 MiG 21 bis with aftermarket decals. Accurate Miniatures Yak 1B in 1/48 of 34 victory ace and Hero of the Soviet Union Sergey Lugansky. Tamiya 1/72 Mosquito NF XIX with aftermarket decals. Tamiya 1/48 N1K Shiden with Rising Decals. Hasegawa 1/72 Mig 17PF Fresco D, 24 hour blitz build model!