Brad

A couple of mine; Airfix 1/76 Bloodhound missile. Bronco 1/350 Type IX U boat.

This is a timeless cracker from Above and Beyond.

That's a great job on a challenging kit mate.

You remember 1985 right? Well it's now as far away from 1985 as the end of WW2 was from 1985. Did I make anyone feel old?

I've had this model kicking around the stash for many years and thought while I'm a bit crook with some head cold and currently high on cough medicine, it might be time to start a WW1 aircraft. I don't usually build WW1 so fitting the struts was interesting, I think I managed to get them mostly lined up. I also in my haze, decided rigging would be a good idea. I drilled small holes and threaded some stretchy line through them. It took me a day but it does look nice. A simple little base was made from a wooden thing i found at a good will shop, grout, some spares box stuff, CMK resin pilot and Mini Natur grass tufts. I left the aircraft pretty clean and glossy, I've read that WW1 paints were high gloss and then faded off, but as this aircraft was not in use long I figured a dead flat finish wouldn't be realistic. The aircraft is apparently one flown by Olivier Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay in probably Jagdstaffel 18, some time in late 1917 or early 1918. He would score 25 victories flying mostly the Fokker DVII between March and October 1918. On October 18th he was hit in the leg, probably by friendly fire. He managed to get back to base but was not expected to survive his wounds. His recommendation for the Blue Max was rushed through, but he would not live to know he'd become the youngest recipient of the award at just 20, dying in hospital 10 days later, only a few hours before confirmation of the award arrived.

Looks great, I have an interest in this area as well. Unfortunately I hate to be a bit of a buzz kill, but the only known picture of a Red Army of China (Communist) Ki-84 is a confirmed fake.

Building an Albatros DV at the moment and instructions call for pink tires. Was this some kind of synthetic rubber, or a typo in the instructions? Just curious. TIA.

A nice little kit from Hobby Boss, literally no filler required and most of the kit fits together with minimal glue. I really like how they molded the missle, using slide molds I'd say as it comes in only two pieces and glues together where the missile itself parts after launch, so no nasty seams down the length to fill and sand. I painted this up as a missile in Egypt I think, that's what the caption said anyway. It looks as though the missile itself had been camouflaged on the launcher itself, with the lower surface left in the original blue grey paint. If you like missiles this makes a good weekend build.

This is the reasonably new Miniart kit with crew figures in 1/35. If it's detail and parts you want, this is the kit for you. There's multiple decal options which require many different parts for different configurations of tank. There is also an extensive photo etch fret. I have deviated a little from the instructions; I changed the road wheels to the open kind and included the heavy machine gun on the cupola for this version as I liked the look. I also played around with the tools and stores on the tank. The kit includes 4 figures. I didn't use the bloke squatting down as I thought it looked like he was taking a dump. I did however cut off his hands and put them on the figure sitting in the turret as I liked them better than the closed fisted hands supplied. AK-47s come from the spares box. I decided to use a brush for this model as I figure it probably wasn't all nicely spray painted with and air gun, more likely being painted with a brush, or mop. I like the hard edge to the camo pattern this gives. Weathering was done with various washes and sandy pigments worked into the surface. These Miniart armour kits are very nice, but require a lot of work due to the high parts count and complexity of the build. I also found the plastic very soft and broke several smaller pieces trying to get them off the sprue. It's also worth noting these don't have anything like the Dragon Magic tracks, so every track link has 4 sprue attachment points to cut and clean, times by about 150 links. That said, patience will result in a nice looking model. I do have their T-55 and Panzer IV in the stash to build as well.

I've seen the home made ones too, but that would require me also getting a soldering iron as well so I'd rather just buy one if I can.

I've been looking around at one that have a battery for static electricity to get the fibres standing up. They range from cheap, to damn expensive, however I've never really seen any in use. I'd hate to drop a couple hundred on something to find out it's no good. Do any of you use one and if so, what type? Thanks.

Not a bad idea, I've found going to the local trophy shops and asking if they have any odds or leftover bases and plaques going cheap. They almost always have something.

Thanks mate. It's about 3inches/9cm.

Just a little something I picked up cheap second hand and was building in between other models. For 1/700 is pretty nicely molded with the rails for the hull and conning tower molded to their respective sections. Painted with WEM enamel in Hellgrau 50 and PSBF III, the standard for early war subs. Deck is black. The base even has the nice writing on it already printed. I think I went cross-eyed trying to paint and weather it though!

This is the oldish Hasegawa 1/72 kit. Despite being nearly 50 years old, the kit is surprisingly decent, with fine engraved lines and good decals, this boxing I think is 1992. It does lack cockpit detail and the decals are incorrect in this boxing for Scott's P-40E. Supplied is a serial number for the tail, which despite being incorrect, this aircraft had no serial painted on it and it lacks the white 7 for the rear fuselage (this came from the spares box). The 2014 dual boxing of the kit corrects these errors. A quick look online sees not very many 1/72 P-40E's available so for it's simple buildability and being fairly easy to come across, it's still up there with the best in scale for it's type. I rather hope Airfix might continue their P-40 line.

Nice, this is one on my to build list. They just look cool with the nose art.

@Ingo Ritz Thank you.

I'm building the Hasegawa 1/72 kit at the moment and a google search seems to indicate that his P-40E was serial number 11496 with a White 7 on the rear fuselage. Hasegawa have given me the serial number 245914 with no white 7 for the fuselage. Googling has turned up profiles of 245914 as both P-40E and K. So is the Hasegawa kit incorrect or did Scott have two P-40E's while with the 23rd Fighter Squadron out of China?

Just curious as I tend to be a fixer; if something breaks, look to fix it rather than just go and buy a new one. Had a conversation with a friend of mine who said I should just go and buy a new washing machine because ours has a leak. I asked what if it's just a minor cracked pipe, he said it didn't matter, it would cost more to repair and he'd just buy a new one. On inspection I found the leak; the water inlet valve has failed. A quick google search and $81 dollars later has the part on a plane to me. I mentioned this to him and he called me "tight". Any fellow tightwads out there like me? lol Also this week, my dads doctor needed new brake pads in his mercedes....he didn't bother, traded the car in on the spot and drove out with a new car. I guess he doesn't like fixing things either.

Nah mate she deserved it and besides, you were far better than me. If she'd slapped me in the head I'd probably have turned around and given her one back. I've been attacked by a wild Karen a time or two in the past for parking in disabled priority parking when taking my dad to his doctors appointments, I always give it back 10 fold. Don't start none, won't be none is the old saying.

Oldie but a goldie.

One for us Aussies

Cool I didn't know about that one.

This is the older Hasegawa Mk Vb in 1/48 that was issued with Russian markings. The fit is pretty decent as you might expect from Hasegawa, the only issue being some warp in the wing to fuselage fit on one side, requiring me to put some spacers in. Once this is done the fit is almost perfect. Decals however were a little difficult to work with, they silvered on me despite being almost melted into the gloss surface. If I were to build this again I'd go for aftermarket. I did use some colour etch seatbelts from Eduard that really make the cockpit look nice. I knocked up a little base for it to sit on using tile grout for the soil and various grass tufts put into some longer grass mat that was pulled apart a little and then glued onto the surface with white glue. Some accessories were added to the base from the spares box and although I don't have any Russian pilots or ground crew, I will rectify that this week and put them on the base too.