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The Northrop F-89 Scorpion is an all weather twin-engined interceptor designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Northrop. It was the first jet powered aircraft to be designed for the Interceptor role from the outset to enter service,as well as the first combat aircraft to be armed with air-to-air nuclear weapons in the form of the unguided Genie rocket. First flew in 1948 and entered service in 1950. For this GB, I plan to build Revell’s 1/72 F-89D/J kit. I will be finishing it as the aircraft shown on the boxart, a F-89D from 61st Fighter Interceptor Squadron from Ernest Harmon AFB, New Foundland, 1957. Why this one? I like the look of the aircraft with the large wingtip rocket pods (containing a 104 ‘mighty mouse’ FFAR rockets) and more importantly it has a big smiley face on it.

After lurking on and off since lockdown, this GB was the final thing that persuaded me to sign up, as I've had a photoreconnaissance Spitfire on my wish list for a while. Hopefully I'm not too late to the party! I don't get a lot of time to do modelling as I've got two pretty busy jobs (one as an Army Reservist), and two young children, as well as trying to get a home office sorted for my other half and finish decorating and upgrading the house from the move two years ago. I do occasionally get some time when working from home and sat in on meetings where I need to listen more than contribute... I've gone for a KP PR Mk.XI; it's my first experience of a KP kit and from first glance, I'm impressed. The mouldings are crisp and the shape looks good, confirmed through a quick comparison with an Airfix Mk.I, though I haven't measured it against a set of drawings - ultimately, it looks like a Spitfire without any major oddities like the slightly-too-fat Academy Mk.XIV. I'll probably be doing the 541 Sqn version with full invasion stripes as on the box art, although I may do the 400 Sqn RCAF version with underside stripes only. First steps are going to be the initial painting of the interior parts, which I might be able to get done today...

First post here, here's my most recent diorama. The base is made from ceramic coasters, styrofoam and air-drying clay. The sunflowers are actually pre-painted photoetch by Eduard, and the large green bushes are pre made. Otherwise it's mostly scratch built. The kubelwagen is made by S-model, and all the figures are from Preiser. Included a couple of work-in-progress shots of them at the end. I made this diorama/vignette base to display several different models, so the vehicles and soldiers not glued in place. The figures have stakes under their feet so they can also be moved around. Here's the whole dio, in my hand! I linked them from my Reddit profile, hope it works!

Hello all. Here’s my latest from the shed, not my usual fare, but a change is as good as a rest they say. The SR.A/1 jet flying boat fighter concept was brought about because of the success of Japanese water borne aircraft during WW2. In 1943 the Air Ministry funded the development of three Saunders Roe designed aircraft which were completed after the war had finished. The first flight being in 1947. After evaluation the aircraft was not deemed capable of matching the performance of land based aircraft and was not ordered. Two of the aircraft crashed during testing and were lost. The pilot of one was rescued by the occupant of a support launch who dived into the water fully clothed after the aircraft suffered a landing accident. He pulled the pilot free from the cockpit of the sinking aircraft saving his life. That pilot was Eric ‘winkle’ Brown who became one of the most famous test pilots of the time. The kit was typical short run, taking a bit of work to get it together. I replaced the supplied flimsy PE nose grill with silver nickel rod, other than that it was built from the box. It was finished in a mixture of Humbrol 27001 and 27002 and sealed using Xtra color varnishes. The base is from coastalkits. A nice change from the norm I enjoyed the challenge of this build. Here are a few pics, hope you like it. Thanks for looking. Pete

Evening all. I'd like to join in with Airfix's recent small-scale Mossie in its bomber guise. I'm going for the airframe on the box art because 1) I don't need any AM decals but mainly 2) Its the subject of a big poster I had on my bedroom wall when I was a model-mad teenager. Of course at the time, I dearly wanted to build a model of it so its great to now have that chance. Thanks Airfix! Here's the usual box & sprue shots. Here's the poster which I bought from the RAF Museum shop in the late '70s. It is, of course, one of Charles E Brown's wonderful wartime air to air photos. At the time, my friends all seemed to have rather different posters on their bedroom walls. Many involved models but were definitely not de Havilland or Airfix products! I'm planning to build this one out of the box but we'll see how that goes when I get to the bomb bay doors/fairing and the tailwheel. Here's hoping this thread gets further than my last one. I posted the same sort of photos for an Airfix 1/48 Chippy in the last DH GB then found out later the same day that we were moving house imminently. That stalled my modelling until now. That move went well so I'm confident I can actually start building this time. All the best, Phil.

With the Fokker in its later phase, it's time to look at a second build for this GB. After getting clearance from the group admin, I've opted for doing another float plane (as I have a few), a Savoia-Matchetti S.55 torpedo bomber of the RAI in 1/72 using the Dora Wings kit. In my view, this aircraft fitted nicely into the 'twins' GB nicely, it had twin hulls, twin booms and twin engines, the only question was whether it fitted into the 1935-1945 window but after looking at reference, it looks like these aircraft were in their endgame from 1935 and consigned to reserve by 1939. The stuff... The box Lots of plastic Glazing, decals, PE and resin engines. Glossy instruction booklet Never built anything from this manufacturer before so it will be interesting to see how this goes. I do have a civilian version of this also in the stash , so this'll be a pathfinder. I'll start this as soon as the Fokker is all but done, so shouldn't be too long. Stuart

For this GB I'm going to build a "Sexy American Singles in South American Service" subject, a Bolivian P-51D. Sexy American Singles in South American Service involves building American WWII single-engine aircraft to represent eight South American nations. So far, I've built representatives from Chile (A-24B); Argentina (F4U); Brazil (P-47); and Uruguay (F6F). Bolivia will be the next addition. I had hoped Arma would have their P-51D out by now, but since they don't I'll use this Airfix kit I picked up. One day I want to build the Korean version from it, but for now she'll be Bolivian. I will use decals and the profile from Aztec:

I'm embarking on a project with the goal of representing a Hawker Hurricane in the markings of each Allied country that did not use more-or-less standard UK markings. First stage of this goal will be to represent a Hurricane with markings from every continent. Probably as follows: Africa: Egypt; Asia: Iran; Australia; Europe: Yugoslavia Poland; North America: USA (actually RN plane, but US markings in Operation Torch); South America: Argentina. Second stage will be to complete the rest (mostly other European markings--e.g., Soviet Union, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Turkey, Poland, Ireland). I am excluding the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and even Norway (which seem to have only flown aircraft with RAF markings, but I would love to be corrected). Third stage will be five Axis versions--Romania and Finland as actual operators of the type, plus captured versions from Germany, Italy, and Japan. Along the way, I will be building most marks and many different kit brands, although I have no particular goals in this regard. I will post a photo of all my kits once I get them. Since this is an ambitious goal given the pace at which I build models, they will almost all be OOB and there will be minimal weathering and other detailing. The point will be have fun and produce interesting Hurricanes!

Hi all I thought even though I have a few builds on the go, 2 Beaufighters and a Seafire, I have been drawn to this little cutie. Well I do like a yellow Aircraft. I didn't finish a Biplane last year so thought I would put that right early on. Looks quite a lovely kit. I would like to thank the guys who responded for info requests in the WW2 aircraft section amd uploaded some lovely photos and info. They are @Work In Progress @JWM @dogsbody @marvinneko and @KRK4m Thanks guys I have made a start, the resin engine is together with the cowl panel fettled and dry fitted at the mo. Cockpit sidewalls with added 0.3 mm Brass wire Painted and cockpit floor and seats painted with spares box PE belts and kit supplied resin control columns added Pleased with it so far Thanks for looking. Chris

Hello Britmodellers, Here's my take on the Airfix MiG 17. I wanted to build a slightly different machine than the famous '3020' so I did some decal juggling there. A few grainy pics show '3012' in a heavily weathered condition. It took me two tries before I ̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶f̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶i̶t̶ / got the effect somewhat acceptable. Other modifications were the KK-2 bangseat, reshaped inner wing leading edges and brass gun barrels. Thanks for watching! Luka

My first kit in over 50 years. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Made some mistakes but all part of the fun! For a starter kit I was impressed by the quality of the fit.

Nice kit, new mould from 2016 I believe, went together really nicely, a very enjoyable build, painted with Xtracolor enamels.

With the Jet provost done and the other activities out of the way, it’s time to get back in the saddle and do some more modelling. For a bit of a mojo boost, I watched Top Gun, Top Gun Maverick and The Final Countdown on DVD’s. So tonight, out came the Airfix F-14A Tomcat (blueprint box) and the Revell F-14D Super Tomcat from the stash - both 1/72. I’m going to try to build them both together stage by stage (rather than build one and then the other). The Revell is better in detail as it’s a much later kit, but the Airfix one still has a certain charm to it - even with the raised panel lines which I’ve decided to leave to see how it turns out. So, the first stage was to build the two cockpit tubs. The Airfix one is much longer then the Revell and both have raised detailing in the some consoles in roughly the same depth. The ejection seats are worlds apart in detail, so I might see if I can 3D print something a little more interesting for the Airfix kit. Otherwise the offices are fairly well detailed considering….. Both tubs were painted with Tamiya XF-19 Light Grey (as it’s what I had to hand) and are drying off. They will both receive other colours to highlight the consoles and IP’s. I’ve also bought an extra set of Airfix F-14A decals which offers two options - TopHatters and the Black Aces - to go with the Bounty Hunter and Grim Reaper options for the kits.

This is the Italeri kit (Testors boxing) built as an LC-130F of the United States Navy. It represents 148321 which crashed in 1971 at an ice runway 860 miles (1,380 km) from McMurdo Station as a result of two JATO bottles ejecting improperly and striking one of the aircraft's propellers. In 1987 the aircraft was dug out of the snow and had temporary repairs carried out allowing it to be flown out to McMurdo Station and thence to Christchurch, New Zealand. It re-entered service and spent several more seasons doing antarctic work. The aircraft was retired to Davis-Monthan AFB sometime after 1998 and still resides there as far as I know. I used the Cutting Edge ski conversion as well as some scratch building of antennas and the fairing behind the nose wheel well. The flaps are from Attack Squadron and I replaced the engines with units form Ron's Resin. The decals came from the Max Decal sheet.

Well, the weather here has been up and down like a toilet seat, with 2 inches of snow a couple weeks ago, sunny and 17C yesterday, then torrential rain and 10C for the next couple days. Net result, ….. modelling season has been extended!! To take advantage of this unexpected extension (and corresponding delay in my softball/golf season), I picked up this Master Box 1/72 Mark I and decided to build it out of the box. The fit was pretty good, the rubber band tracks are a bit poorly moulded in spots, and the instructions are positionally a bit vague, especially given the lack of any locating pins, but all in all, a fairly enjoyable build so far. Here’s where I am after paint. Not being that familiar with WWI subjects, I’m a bit suspicious of the accuracy of the paint call outs, but I followed them and the box art religiously. Lots of weathering left to do, and I suspect painting, weathering, and installing the tracks may be problematic. Hopefully completed within the next week or two. Thanks for looking.

With Eduard's newest 1/72 109F releases, a question has resurfaced for me once more regarding the tall pilot's seat. I've only seen this covered by Aires years ago with their 1/32 set, but no real explanation as to when it was used. Fine Molds includes a tall seat in some of their 109 kits, but I do not recall anything in the instructions regarding the using of it. Seems that most 109F and later kits all use the 109G type pilot's seat. I'm looking for information on this tall seat. Which 109Fs was it used in? the early Fs (F-1, F-2)? or was it also found in the later F-4? and if so, was there a serial number "cut off" where it had been stopped being used? Would any of Marseille's 109Fs used the tall seat? Thanks to all in advance for any input.

When Italy joined NATO in 1949 she was still flying sleek and shiny Spitfires. As part of my "Spitfires-by-the-Seas" project, in which I am building a pair of Spitfires in the markings of countries bordering five seas, I will build an Italian Mk IXc as part of my "Ionian Sea" pair for this GB.

It has been in the stash for more than a year (actually, I don’t have a lot of kits in my stash). After deliberating what livery should I use for the twin otter and given the ones that are available in the market, I have finally decided that I shall build it with the “FlyBe” livery and set it in a sandy beach scene. Saw the decal in 26decals but they don’t deliver to Singapore! I was puzzled by this when they can deliver to some places in big Africa but not a modern city at the cross road between Asia and Europe. An email and begging Ray from 26 decals sorted out this shipment. Ray was kind to ship to Singapore citing the reason for not doing so was bad experience of non delivery. So, the decal finally arrived and It got me itching to start another in progress build although I have a few in the midst of building or waiting. The kit details are quite nice but shows a lot of flash. I understand from this forum that the front windscreen and door pillar need some modifications and I am not prepared to pay for a resin replacement part. The plan now is to mod the pillar with good old cut, sand, fill and whatever it takes to make the looks. I want to open the cabin door, so I would need to build the interior too. Hopefully I can find some passenger figures for this. Any recommendations would be helpful. I shall start tonight.

I'd like to enter with this please; Bought a few years ago, along with the Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk, each costing me the princely sum of £2.49! The Mustang is my all time favourite aircraft, and many moons ago I built the Matchbox and Academy 1/72 P-51Ds, so it will be interesting to see what this much newer kit is like. It certainly looks nice upon initial inspection; Mine actually came with two sets of decals; This RAF scheme is nice, but its not how this one will be finished. Back in 1995, when I built the previous two Mustang kits, I had just started to get interested in the Eighth Air Force, and, whilst on holiday in Suffolk, had recently visited my first old airfield, which happened to be Leiston. Ever since then, Leiston has been a bit of a special place for me. Ended up visiting Hannants, and buying some Repli-Scale "Yoxford Boys" decals. The Matchbox kit was finished as "Old Crow", and the Academy as "Glamorous Glen III", which leaves me with these options: I'm thinking of going for "Missouri Armada". The decal instructions show this as an early model D, but I consulted this; There is a photo of Missouri Armada showing it with the fin fillet. The serial number given on the decal sheet (414709) is not amongst those listed at the rear of the book, however 414789 is, which is only 1 digit different. Using other numbers on the sheet, I can cobble together the right number for the model. Time to saddle up and get started!

I'd built the Airfix Valiant quite a while ago and it was interesting to note the advances made by the company in the 5 years or so between the two kits being released (2011 - 2016 according to Scalemates): a clear step up in refinement and build quality, which they've continued pretty much ever since. Next on the production line is the Vulcan so I'm looking forward to see how it stacks up against their much more recent releases. The size & shape of the Victor makes it hard to photograph, let alone display but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Thanks for looking, J.A.

Another more recent completion of an old kit--this Airfix kit was from 1970 and I finished it in July of 2023. This may be the oldest kit I've built and there were no issues in the build quality. Unfortunately, one small piece was missing from the bag it came in (see if you can tell which one). I painted this in the pre-war Splittertarnmuster scheme using AK Real Colors' line (RLMs 61, 62 and 63 with 65 (1938) underside) The lines came out extremely smooth and better than I expected. No issues with the decals either, though this kit did not contain any swastikas for the tail. I don't have a place near me that sells these either (and shipping to Canada for anything is outrageously expensive), so I've left the space empty right now. Maybe one day I'll pick up a sheet of swastikas (there's a fun sentence) and throw a nice red banner on the tail. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- he Hs 123, designed by the transportation company Henschel, was a German dive bomber and close air support biplane, used during the Spanish Civil War and much of the Second World War. Though originally intended as a dive bomber, the Hs 123 was overtaken quite early in this role by the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka, the latter having much better range, and larger bomb capacity. Due to this, the Hs 123 was transitioned into a close air support role, where it did quite well. Production was short-lived however in favour of the Stuka. The Hs 123 was used during the initial invasion of Poland where it could drop bombs very accurately, and the sound of its engine was apparently quite terrifying to hear (if the threat of being bombed wasn't enough, I suppose). It was considered a very effective aircraft and would be used by the Luftwaffe during the Blitzkrieg and later on the Eastern Front. Apparently Colonel-General Wolfram von Richthofen requested they be put back into production as late as 1943 due to their reliability in poor weather conditions which could ground more advanced aircraft.

I hadn't put my name down on the list, but hoping I can sneak in with this project I've been meaning to do for a while. Trumpeter Wellington III in 1/72. I'm planning to build it in markings of an aircraft flying out of No.12 Operational Training Unit, Chipping Warden: Z1732, FQ-S. My late father was stationed there as groundcrew during the last couple of years of WWII, and this is as close as I've been able to get to an actual aircraft that he might well have known and even worked on.

I don't often do WIP threads, mostly because I'm quite slow at building but also never quite sure how the finished thing will turn out! Decided to take a chance and start one now. This'll be the third Sword twin-seat Harrier that I'll have built, and I've decided to do the raspberry ripple scheme of the DERA (later Qinetic) Active Control Technology airframe. I've always thought it looked spectacular, if a fiddly masking challenge in 1/72 scale. Then I saw @Navy Bird's stunning version, which decided me. The Sword kits can sometimes be a little frustrating but they end up as great-looking models, despite my best efforts to the contrary!! (Here are my T10 and T4 versions, so hopefully with some decent background photography at the end, the new one will look suitably tidy): So here we go. The kit comes with a little etch for the cockpit; extras already purchased are the mandatory dropped door intakes by Freightdog, a set of nozzles by Pavla (may or may not use these as they look a little small) and the fancy nose probe for the test aircraft. Decals will be the Combat Decals set, unfortunately not the Vingtor set with the Qinetiq markings, but I can at least do the older DERA version - plus there are at least two other options for other type builds I'm aiming for in future. First step, as with all end-opening kit boxes now, is to tape up the edges and ends, then hack the top open to create a top-opener. Doesn't have to be tidy but at least it's easier to get stuff in and out, and protect the build as it goes on: Thanks for reading so far, hopefully it won't turn into a 6-month thread!

In the spirit of the era of pushing boundaries, I'll push my boundaries in this GB by building by far the largest model I've yet attempted - Airfix's 1/72 Handley Page Victor. Inside the box there is a LOT of plastic! Bottle of Mr Color for scale. Will really need to clear the bench to build this, both figuratively and literally. Plan is to build it out of the box, using the box art scheme - B.2 XL512 of 129 Squadron at RAF Wittering in the anti-flash white scheme circa 1963-64. So a late Boomer, but one that to me really encapsulates the bigger, faster further spirit of the early jet age. This kit would have been built dozens of times by Britmodellers, so all tips and pointers welcome. I've always loved the Victor's evocative shape and form, it really must have looked like the future when it first emerged in 1952. Hopefully I can build a decent representation of it, plus find a place to display it! Thanks for having this baby of baby boomers in this GB! Cheers, Gerard

Back in 1964 Frog issued a kit of Alcock and Brown's record breaking civilian Vimy as part of their "Trailblazers" series. For some reason, in 1974 just prior to their collapse, they reissued a slightly modified RAF version, still as F.163 and that is the one I bought secondhand. Perhaps they were desperate enough to try wringing a bit more income out of the old mould? The plastic is a bit strange - quite thick but in some cases almost see-through so I hope it takes normal plastic cement! It seems remarkably free from flash though it may be that the previous owner had cleaned it up - certainly some parts were off the sprue and he sensibly put them in a separate bag.. I still need to check all the parts are there - I can probably cope with missing struts if needed but If anything too vital is not there when I check it will probably not get built - I will know by the time the GB starts. Like the DH 10 the Vimy did not quite enter service before WWI ended so orders were drastically reduced. A relatively small number served at home - most went to the Middle East, particularly Egypt. The first few were finished in the then standard PC 10 over natural linen or maybe overall NIVO, but from then on they were finished in one of two types of aluminium dope, the Middle East ones having a different more heat resistant variety according to Bruce's Windsock book. Frog provide both a PC 10 version used for experimental work at RAE Farnborough and a "silver" one from 70 Squadron based at Heliopolis in Egypt. The box describes the aircraft as a Vimy Mk IV though there is some debate about the nomenclature. Some sources say that planes fitted with Hispano Suiza engines were Mk I, with Sunbeam Maori engines Mk II, with Fiat engines Mk III and with R-R Eagles Mk IV, though other sources suggest this was not official and that this Eagle powered plane was a Mk II to the RAF. When Frog modified the moulding they added the front and rear guns, and the nose skid but left the large long range tank bulge behind the cockpit which service versions did not have. A conversion article I have also mentions that both the upper rear gun position opening and the fuselage side windows are in the wrong place and that various other modifications will be needed. This will in all probability be the most complicated of the 4 Frog biplane kits I have so if I do build it I will make a start on it early. Pete Later. Amazingly all the parts are in fact there as far as I can see though one or two will need replacing, particularly the "seats" and control wheel.