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Hello again, As is usual, the black primer on my XP-47B is taking forever to dry, so I'm going to give it a few more days. Meanwhile, as I have been getting bored, I'm going to start another concurrent build, something I seldom ever do. This offering is the excellent LF Models 1/72 rendition of the original Curtiss XP-42. I say excellent, in regards to general appearance and accuracy, but alas that comes with the caveat that there is lots of trimming, sanding and sprue stub nipping before you get to the end. Therefore, I must say upfront that this is NOT a good beginner's kit, although those with a few miles under their belts can probably see it through! The kit is a multi-media kit, with plastic main parts, and resin detail, add to that the vacu-formed canopy and windows and a few photo-etch parts, and it looks like this, a LOT of stuff crammed into a very tiny box: Interestingly, the box includes drawings for two later mods to this aircraft, but no parts to make them. These modded aircraft were very short-lived, perhaps with only a flight or two each. They were designed to try out differing cowl shapes, and are interesting, should some of you wilder modelers out there wish to stray even further afield than this kit... In my old age, I have come to dislike cockpit interiors a lot more than earlier in my life, because they slow me down from my primary mission in life -- to hack and slice plastic! Anyway, I decided to start there, and do the cockpit later on. First step was cleaning up (flash and pouring blocks, mostly) the resin parts for the front end, albeit two front cowl halves and the prop spinner: The center photo, above, shows the prop spinner centered up atop my propeller jig, talked about in some of my other prop type build threads, so not repeated here. Anyway, the part is centered over a bit of two-sided cello tape, to hold it in place while I mark three vertical lines from each three-bladed position, to the tip of the spinner. This is to help align the prop holes (which are NOT provided by the kit). Since the whole top of my prop jig box is covered with plastic shipping tape, the two-sided tape will peel right off later. The far right photo, above, shows the prop spinner having been moved to the side edge of the box (so that the drill bit would reach), with a suitable thickness of scrap plastic (arrow) used to control the distance of the hole from the rear of the prop spinner. Later on, I will drill a hole in the center of the rear of the prop spinner, to make a mounting shaft. (The kit directions show a nice resin prop shaft in the directions, but not is actually provided. That doesn't matter much however, because there is also no hole in the cowling to receive said shaft!), a matter which I will address now. Since gluing the two front cowl halves together with CA results in the large hole as shown, I placed the assembled cowl halves on a bit of scrap 40 thou or so plastic card, and using my trusty #2 lead pencil, traced a circle, inside the cowl's front opening onto the plastic "A". To the back of that part, now labelled "B" I added two bits of square thicker plastic, simply to add depth to support the prop shaft in a hole which I will drill later: Center photo, above, shows the filler and CA that I added to the cowl inside, after positioning the part "B" assembly (square bits to the inside) in the front hole of the cowl. This is needed to re-enforce the join (also, I sanded the part a little too small in circumference!). The powder is just a nail-building powder, used with CA adhesive to build up fingernails with fake tips, etc. It's about the same as baking soda, but a finer grind. I use it because my wife had it laying about, and no longer wears fake nails... Above, far right, part "B" from the front. After the glue fully cures, I'll sand it a bit. I'm doing all this, rather than just gluing the spinner in place, because I don't want to take a chance on sanding the spinner out-of-round, when working on the model later, as most resin models require a lot of sanding! Also, it will be simpler for me to add the propeller blades, using the jig, later on. Lastly, for now, a small chisel is used to remove the injection stubs from the inner wing surfaces; the ones in the center belly pan won't be in the way. At this time, I also glued the kit-provided wheel well roofs over the wheel well openings, on the inside: Well, I'll be back later with some kind of updates for some model or the other! See you then... Ed

Some years ago, I completed a Combrig HMS Monmouth kit and was intending to follow this up with the also unfortunate HMS Good Hope. A change of plan happened when I saw the image of HMS King Alfred in 1917-18 dazzle camouflage when she was used as an Atlantic convoy escort. I contacted the IWM Collections and purchased the photography/digitising of the Admiralty’s camouflage Order HMS 32 for this ship (then not available on-line). My local photoshop did a fantastic job of combining the port and starboard images and printed them at extremely high resolution on top-quality paper. All the tiny blue-ink stamps indicating the colour for the scheme (White, Black, No.1 Blue Grey, No.2 Grey) are there. The framed print is a great addition to the art on my living room wall. The kit is built more or less from the box but with some modifications that several of the Leviathan Class received during WW1, including the moving of the lower casement 6” guns to the main deck – these turrets are from AJM – and a reduction of the boat complement. A large element of the modifications can be seen in the profile of HMS Drake in Norman Friedman’s British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. The Perkins Identification Album British Warship Recognition Vol.III: Cruisers 1865-1939, part 1 is also a good source as are the images of the builders’ model of HMS Leviathan in David Hobbs’ Warships of the Great War Era – a history in ship models. Unfortunately, the only image of HMS King Alfred is small and not of good quality. I excluded the foremast derrick (as per HMS Drake) but replaced them with what appear to be two smaller derricks (for coaling/ammunitioning?) – only a guess at the correct placement. I left the aft-bridge wings as they were as the photo appears to show them – in HMS Drake they were removed. The fore-bridge on HMS King Alfred also appears to have been enlarged at the rear but I could not really see what needed doing. Two large rafts are added to the rear of the aft superstructure. I made some attempt at the cage aerials, but only in using three lengths of the thinnest Uschi thread. Painting was done with a variety of media but two of the dazzle colours were from the WEM range, namely GW02 #2 Grey and GW13 #1 Blue/Grey. I am not convinced these are correct if the Order’s colours are anything like prototypical – the No.2 Grey is darker and more bluish (GW02 #2 Grey is a medium grey, possibly slight greenish) and the No.1 Blue Grey is a more saturated blue (GW13 #1 Blue/Grey is hardly tinted blue at all). I chickened out of following the Order but added some NARN B5 blue to the blue grey – but not enough, I think. All in all, a great model from Combrig and I’ve got my eyes on their new Cressy/Aboukir/Hogue next. Cheers, GrahamB

I'm sure many reading this may remember the articles in Airfix Magazine by John Sanders in the 70's regarding the history and construction of his 1/76th mainly scratch built 8th Army models. I attempted over the years to have a go at doing a similar thing but never got round to it, but have kept the articles all these years, nostalgia and all that! One photo which always intrigued me was of a Scratch-built model of the Dodge WK 60 Gantry truck towing a CMP 3 tonner towing a Bofors AA gun by Barry Sharman, a name I remember from Military Modelling magazine. I even got drawings to do one but of course never got round to that either! So, after having a clear-out of kits this year and deciding that getting back into 1/35th vehicles wasn't for me (I have 3 on the SOD!) I thought I would try 1/76th scale, possibly getting away from having to add so much detail. Milicast models are very well detailed and this kit has a lot of parts so maybe not so good an idea! So, here we have Milicast's WK 60 Gantry in resin, complete with a Cranes 7.5 ton recovery trailer, and a Vickers Light AA Mk 1 to go on the back. A bit of a rarity, the Light AA was an attempt to use obsolete tank chassis for another use and a few were used in N.Africa later in the campaign. The Truck and Trailer are from the (expensive) Premiere range and are broken down into lots of parts and superbly detailed. The Vickers is from the 'Battle ready' range and has a complete chassis with running gear moulded on and turret, with a few detail parts to add. No drawing to show where these go though, some research will be needed! Unfortunately the Breda gun barrels have broken off in transit but that's the only broken pieces of the 3 kits. I also have an SHQ cast metal kit of the German SDKFZ 254, or Saurer RR-7, an Austrian company which developed wheel cum tracked light vehicles for agricultural and military use, this one equipped as an artillery observation vehicle with the prominent rail type aerial seen on a lot of German vehicles. It must have been unbearable in the cabin, more than most vehicles in the desert, as the engine was right next to the driver, not boxed in or anything! There is a great photo on the net of a WK 60 in the desert with 3 or 4 vehicles linked up to tow, must have been a good at it's job! What have I let myself in for! Davey.

I am posting this relatively old (2015) build, as I see that fellow BMers are starting or thinking of starting one of these. I will present here the WiP and then post the completed model. Regarding details and colors (interior color, mostly) there is much discussed, and I am far from being an expert on the type, so my choices are just that, my choices. It's just to provide a glimpse on the process, a look at the quality, and some kind of view of the particularities of the kit and build, not more. When beauty flows like the wind A handful of iconic planes in the history of aviation can be categorized as design classics, and surely the De Havilland D.H.88 racers belong to that group. I have built three of them in my life so far -the first when I was a little fellow- all from the truly despicable, outmoded, outdated (thus slightly venerable) old Airfix rendition. It was time, dear airplane manufacturers, to make available to hordes of avid modelers a better version of it. But behold, no mainstream manufacturer will stain their hands with a civil, brilliant plane (with no bombs! no machine guns! mind you!) so a small resin manufacturer from Hungary had to produce one. Like any other modeler with decades of experience, I have seen and built my share of kits, and so far I hold high up three things: the resin 1/72 kits released by Matias Hagen of Argentina, the unbelievable 1/72 aero engines of Small Stuff, and SBS' kits. It is worth noting that the kit has a system of peg/slot assembly throughout, and -fortunately!- not the usual resin and short run method of butt-gluing, which can be a curse some times. So once again, well done, SBS! They offer several boxings of the D.H.88, according to the specific version of the racers you want to build. The package is comprehensive: you get beautifully cast and blemish-free parts with lots and lots of good detail, well printed decals, photoetched parts, clear (indeed!) resin parts, separated resealable bags for groups of the parts, a sturdy box that is not threatening to collapse at the least provocation -thus preserving the integrity of its contents (what a concept, kit manufacturers!), and color leaflets and comprehensive instructions. All that for a price that is reasonable, not the stack of bills asked by some other resin manufacturers offering much less than this and dubious quality, and let's not even mention despicable short run injected kits that cost a lot, and then another lot...of work! Well, enough said. I wrote a bit about the D.H.88s -in case you are curious- in my post about the KP injected 1/72 kit: And so without further ado: General view of the contents: The white metal parts are finely cast, and need only some cleaning to remove the mold lines and very little flash: Great care has been put into the making of these parts: Even the smallest parts have good detail: The surfaces come in the kit polished to a shine: The clear parts are...well...clear, as it should be: The trailing edges are super-thin, almost unbelievable thin: The parts are dutifully (and very carefully!) washed and let to dry: A couple of parts have very small dent/nics, due to their finesse (and perhaps some postal knocking around). In this case it will be very easy to fix since that flange butts against a panel, making filling and sanding a snap: The resin pouring blocks are CAREFULLY removed. The material used is superb, and I mean it. It is rigid enough, but has some flexibility. It is not brittle and does not crumble. The rigidity is ideal and it is not too hard, making the task of removing the casting blocks much easier (to the right of the photo the discarded pouring blocks). I keep the smallest parts still in their blocks until the very end, to protect them and to avoid losing them. The saw (JLC) was a courtesy of Steve Kallan, whom I remember with gratitude every time I use it:

Hi mates, Let's see, this year I've built one resin model and I'm soon to finish another. So why not grab a third resin kit from the stash and stick to my theme? After all, 2020 is a goofy year no matter how you slice it, so I might as well swear off injection moulded styrene - resin rules! And maybe, just maybe, all that resin dust will nuke the bioaerosols floating around from that coronavirus thing. So here is what I found lurking in one of my cabinets: the S.B.S Model kit of the de Havilland DH.88 Comet in glorious teeny tiny scale (1:72). I don't know much about this aircraft, but I'm sure you folks will educate me. Now, way back when this kit came out, @general melchett mentioned that it had some of the finest resin castings he had seen, and darn if he's not right. This is a sweet little kit. As can be seen on the box, you have two choices for the paint and marking scheme - red (G-ACSS) or green (G-ACSR). Both of these flew in the 1934 MacRobertson UK to Australia Race, and I seem to recall there was a black one as well. I rather fancy the red one myself, it being the winner of the race and all. Although the green one reminds me of a Lotus, and it has the Union Jack on the tail... The parts breakdown is conventional, and the detail is exquisite. This is 1:72, so the fuselage is a mere 4.5 inches long or so. The engine nacelles and wings are one piece castings. The fuselage-wing fairing is a separate piece, which is a feature that I really like. The Aki Products Sea Fury that I built last year is engineered this same way. The remainder of the parts are all nicely cast and detailed, although there aren't a lot of them. In addition, S.B.S provide a small photoetch fret with the usual seat harnesses and instrument panel (with film instruments) and white metal landing gear struts. The canopy is cast in clear resin, and the model has provision for mounting it open (it's hinged on the starboard side in real life). The other clear resin part in the photo is the tip of the nose. I'm guessing this was a light? Well, that's all there is to it. At my current rate of completion it should only take me about a year to build it! Luckily, this aircraft still exists so there are lots of photos out on the Interweb thing. The last I read it was part of the Shuttleworth Collection, and I think that's reason enough for me to return to Old Blighty for additional research. I'll need @CedB as my chauffeur again, otherwise I may not be able to find which pubs have Doom Bar on draught. I think he has them all committed to memory. Cheers, Bill PS. I wonder if I can find a 1:72 scale typewriter somewhere...

Here is my Anigrand Craftswork 1:144 resin Republic XF-103 Thunderwarrior which I completed back in 2010. This was one of the more unusual designs of the century series and, unsurprisingly, it didn't get beyond a full-scale mock-up. My kit represents the prototype of the XF-103 as it could have been had it been built. The kit was built OOB. Fit of parts was poor. I thinned the nose probe and the doors as much as possible. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. I weathered it a little to represent it after various trial flights. Thanks for looking Miguel

Originally designed as a half scale model of a planned jet airliner it became apparent during the design phase that the layout was unsuitable and but it continued as research a/c for investigating the characteristics of swept wings. Three were built. The first used a Vampire front fuselage and was used for low speed research. It crashed after spinning at low altitude. The second was used for high speed work but crashed whist practising for an attempt on the world speed record. The third, modelled here, had a modified fuselage having a more pointed nose and a lowered, more streamlined, canopy. It first flew in July 1947 and in September 1948 became the first British a/c to exceed the speed of sound, although completely out of control at the time! It was passed to the RAE in November 1949 for further research but crashed in September 1950 for reasons unknown but believed to be pilot incapacitation due to lack of oxygen. I once heard Eric Brown describe it as the most dangerous aircraft that he had flown. This resin kit was produced by Planet models and went together fairly easily. There are three basic components, the upper and lower halves of the wing/fuselage and the rudder, all nicely moulded and free from pinholes. The most notable problem being the fit of the upper front fuselage – it doesn’t and requires filler to correct a large gap between the front portions ahead of the canopy. I realised later that I should have spent some time thinning the rear sections of the wing to produce a sharper trailing edge. The kit is supplied with two vacform canopies. Unfortunately there is a flaw in that the frame which runs down the centre of the forward section is not quite in the centre. I had to trim the top of the pilot's seat to stop it fouling the canopy.. Not a big deal as it is hardly visible. One final problem appeared whilst fitting the u/c. The a/c sits slightly nose up and the model does not. It is partly due to the mainwheels being oversize, compared to Barrie Hygates drawing, and something else which I could not work out. I ended up shortening the legs to get it to look right. In fact the original legs looked far too long to retract into the wells whereas the shorter legs look to be about the right length. The finish is Alclad Airframe Aluminium over gloss black enamel followed by a light coat of Alclad Aluminium to reduce the shine. John Whilst putting it in the display cabinet I was reminded that I had seen that wing planform before... I had always thought of the 108 as being small but, as a half-scale model of the proposed DH 106 it had a span of 39ft (about 12m) Compare it with its American equivalent the Northrop X-4

Wright Cyclone R-1820 late (MDR4853) 1:48 Metallic Details Development of the R-1820 Cyclone 9 engine led from an earlier engine in the Wright catalogue, one that didn’t reach production due to the unexpected departure of many of their staff to set up Pratt & Whitney. The Cyclone series grew in size and power by increasing the displacement to almost 30L and adding a GE-sourced supercharger that was eventually replaced by one of their own design to achieve 1,200hp at 2,500rpm from a 9-cylinder radial. That power made it attractive to aircraft manufacturers, and it was used in many aircraft before WWII, it flew in almost every B-17, and even remained in use after WWII with aircraft like the T-28 Trojan and S-2 Tracker. This set is designed as a super-accurate generic unit, although it will definitely fit in a B-17 in this scale, as I have seen the same resin in their B-17 set, a review of which will follow soon. It arrives in a small card box with a picture of the finished article on the front, and lots of resin parts inside, plus a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass and instruction sheet. Construction begins with adding small arrow-shaped brass inserts that fit between the cylinders, then adding the intake piping to the centre, aligning each tube to the right of the head. Small parts and harnesses are fitted to the outer surface of the cylinder banks, then the push-rods and wiring harnesses in resin and PE respectively are glued in place to complete construction. There aren’t any painting guides provided other than the picture on the front of the box, but there are ample resources online should you need them. Conclusion A highly detailed engine set that will enliven any appropriate model when installed and sympathetically painted. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This is the 1/72 Sharkit resin-and-vacuform kit of the Edgley Optica. It's a pretty basic kit, and even to build the yellow G-BGMW prototype (which is what the kit is intended for) it would benefit from some detailing inside the cockpit and at the rear of the ducted fan nacelle. But I wanted to reproduce the Optica that flew in the cult-but-dire movie Slipstream (1989). This needed some modification of the prototype version: an extension to the upper nacelle and elevator trim tab, shrouds on the undercarriage, an overhead control box and wider instrument panel in the cockpit, flow directors on the upper wing surfaces ... in addition to the necessary pitot tube, sundry aerials, landing lights, a stone guard on the front wheel, control columns and rudder pedals, and rear support struts for the engine. And some other bits and bobs. In addition, I printed up decal sheets to reproduce, as best as I could, the feathered patterns on wings and nacelle, and the odd symbol on the tail. Build log is here: It's a resolute tail-sitter, with no room for added weight in the very open and thin-floored cockpit. I've made no effort to photographically conceal the short transparent rod that props up the back of the nacelle. Edited to add: here are a few views on the Coastal Kits "Abandoned Airfield" display base, which arrived in the post today.

Racers in general are well-liked by the modeling and aviation community and Schneider participants constitute a chapter of special interest for many. I am very glad that some manufacturers (KP, Karaya, Avis, SBS, among others) started to pay attention to this not really well covered area of the hobby, releasing very interesting types with greater level of detail and better accuracy than earlier industry attempts of times past. Karaya must be thanked for bringing these charming and significant types to light. Some of you may know that I recently built the manufacturer's Savoia S.65, a very nice kit, but unfortunately riddled with inaccuracies and impaired by some questionable engineering. This offer by Karaya is much, much better, and certainly deserves praise, if requiring some little revisions and the addition of missing decals. To be fair, not much is around regarding this specific machine, so sources are limited. Still, some little inaccuracies, and photos showing additional marks were easily found on the Net after a brief search. I enjoyed building this kit, and the couple of challenges it presented were overcome with just a bit of effort and the experience of many years, something we older modelers are blessed with (together with failing eyesight and shakier hands). The build of this kit erased the bad taste left by the previous S.65 (even if the results after much time and energy spent were worth it) and I would gladly build another Karaya kit - but doing some research on the type to complement the build. Karaya offers a nice array of civil types and many racers among them, some are superbly attractive. You can tell that the kit displays a high degree of finesse in details and surfaces, care has been poured into the making of the masters, yet I still have my nitpickings with certain aspects of the engineering, an area where Karaya could certainly improve and that has been pointed out in builds by other modelers of their Schneider types. My deepest thanks to Arctic Decals from whom I commissioned and acquired the corrective set. For some additional notes and a step-by-step account of the building process, please check here:

Thanks to 6thCCU for pointing this out to me under the Roden B-36B topic. Anigrand is to release a new 1/144 XC-99, though the release date has not been released. Hannants shows the forthcoming kit on their site but a search of the internet unearthed no additional information. Nor did I see anything on the Anigrand website confirming this release. Given that Hannants has it listed, this doesn't appear to be a rumored release but the lack of further information makes the status of this project hard to determine. I'm not familiar with Anigrand's practices regarding information on new releases so I'm definitely open to education from more experienced Britmodelers.

Here's an entry I did in the 'They also serve 2020' GB, which was what I would be building in the 'What you wouldn't want to go to war in' GB. Briefly, the Botha was built to the same specification as the Beaufort, a combined spec of a shore based torpedo bomber and land based general reconnaissance bomber. Despite passing Torpedo and mine-laying trials the Botha was a very difficult aircraft to fly and like most early war RAF types, underpowered. Despite this nearly 600 were built, most ending up in training units where losses mounted, due mainly to the poor all round vision it seems. I wanted to build one of these as I'm often attracted to lesser known types and obtained this PH resin kit from Hannants, it is currently still available. The build thread is shown on the link but generally it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Not for the beginner of course, and there is a lot of fettling to the parts required but the only things I added were carb intakes modified from an Airfix Beaufighter (the kit included two pairs of Volkes filters, used by some units near beaches), a lorenz beam antenna from the spares box and scratch built most of the cockpit. The undercarriage legs were moulded with steel rod inserts so are quite strong. You have to scratch build everything else and there is no positive location for them, they are made too long though. I don't know what the layout is like in the wheel bays so my twin hydraulic ram set-up is entirely fictitcious! The markings are for an aircraft based up the road from me at Tranwell airfield, RAF Morpeth. Used by 4 AGS training mainly Poles, they were soon exchanged for Avro Anson's due to the mentioned often fatal accidents. They were just knocked up and modified from the decal stash so aren't entirely spot-on, but when looking at photo's of Botha's they varied a lot in the style of roundels and codes. Critique and comment welcome. Davey.

Probably my final contribution but a spate of bad weather may change that is this Seafire F45, the third but last Seafire Mark. It didn't have folding wings and was used as an interim airframe between the lower powered Mk XVs and XVIIs and the penultimate and ultimate Mks 46 and 47. I thought this was the only way to make an F45 without converting a Mk46 but I have subsequently found an F45 from Admiral in the stash. But it's a while since I've done a whole aircraft in resin, and CMR kits are pretty good, although I suspect this is a fairly early kit of theirs. There's not too many parts. Three big bits, the fuselage halves and a one piece wing. And the rest as smaller parts. The F45 had a 5 blade prop rather than the contra rotating props of the next two Marks. Vac form canopy, comprehensive instructions and colour call outs and transfers for two options, both In the late high demarcation Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky. There's also a bundle of stencils. Sorry about the background, Mrs 825 isn't always sympathetic in her choice of table covers when it comes to photography. Anyway now on to cleaning the resin up with a dip in the ultrasonic bath.

Here is my latest kit finished during this week. It's Miniwing's 1:144 Dornier Do 18G-1. It represents K6+CL of 3./Kü.Fl.Gr. (Küstenfliegergruppe) 406, Luftwaffe, in 1940. This resin kit with vacform transparencies gave quite a bit of work. Some corrections had to be made like the top of the nose section as it is too high and curves up to the cockpit in profile when it should be lower and flat. The kit only came with one water rudder when the plane had two so I made a couple from plastic card. All masts, antennae, wires and rigging was made from stretched sprue. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. I had to overpaint some of the decals as the printing and or colour was poor. I scratchbuilt a beaching trolley using various builds of the Matchbox 1:72 kit with the Kora resin trolley kit as a guide. It was loosely based on this and although I made a mistake and it came out longer than it should be, I'm very pleased with it. It was fun!! As the kit was tail-heavy, I had to glue the trolley to a home-made base and the plane to the trolley. Despite some frustrations (and procrastinating) it all paid off and I'm very pleased with the result. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Hello, Has anyone got any thoughts / knowledge they might share on paint primers that bond well to PU resin. I've tried over a dozen and I'm familiar with prep, degreasing sanding etc. I will more than likely be using enamel paint over the top. Thanks.

I may have an opportunity to acquire a couple of 1/350 Iron Shipwright, Cold War, US Navy ships. I have read one or two reviews which were not entirely favourable given the price these can retail at. Does anyone have any view or information on the quality of these models generally? Thanks Terry

As I have finished my other four builds for this GB, when I was doing a stash tidy, (Oh the delights of lockdown) I found a small bundle of resin flight deck tractors and thought, 'well these are Naval aren't they? so let's build one'. I thought I'd go for the most modern in the bundle and here it is. You might question my sanity, and I do myself frequently, but it hasn't got many parts, it's basically all the same colour apart from the tyres and superglue dries really quickly. And the mould gates are not that big so should be reasonably straightforward to saw off. And there's no canopy to mask and fit. The contents of the box. 23 pieces of resin, including 5 for the tow bar, and they're all nicely moulded and little or no tidying up will be necessary once removed from the pour blocks and they're sanded clean. And a small piece of etch, with a manageable number of pieces. And a diminutive transfer sheet. The instructions are simple and small. But very comprehensive. So lets get started.

This is one I started back in 2010. It's by Airtrax, and is moulded in resin. Tyres, suspension or glass are not included, although wheel covers of the correct design are provided. Photos of the kit parts themselves are here (not my pics - I had already made a start before it occurred to me to photograph them I'm using an Airfix (ex Aoshima) 1:24 MGB as the parts donor since the MG's 14" wheels at 1:24 are close enough to 15" at 1:25. The track is also the same, so most of the suspension parts etc can also be used. No doubt, the headlights and other small detail parts will also end up being used too. Headlights (both bowls / surrounds and lenses) are included in the kit, however I don't use alclad, just BMF or a Molotow Chrome pen & so will use the spare MG ones, with Molotow & BMF for other parts and detailing. My overall impressions of the kit are very positive - yes, some cleanup of the parts is required, and there are a few air bubbles that need filling, but no more than expected based on the description from Airtrax. The parts are all well moulded, with lots of detail with all badging on the body, and the dash is especially detailed. Now for the donor parts - the MG kit front suspension is close enough to the Volvo setup, so is being used pretty much as is but will have a few cosmetic tweaks to better represent the design of the Volvo crossmember. However, at the rear the MG is cart springs, whereas the Volvo is upper and lower trailing arms with coil springs and a panhard rod. The MG axle and hubs will still be used, but I will need to fabricate the rest of the suspension components. Wire wheels were a period optional fitment for P1800s, so I may keep those. If not, they may be hollowed out to accept the standard wheel covers as supplied in the kit unless I decide to turn something up on the centre lathe at work. Anyhow, enough talk – here’s the pics... An early shot, whilst still cleaning up the shell, and tweaking the fit of the chassis. Also in process of finalising the position of the wheels: Pretty much sorted - also added a section at the bulkhead to represent a box section that is there on the real car, and also to overhang & thus hide the join between body & chassis: (Also in the middle of cutting away the back of the finely moulded grille) Underside is well moulded too: Grille surround in place - this and the immediately following pics show the grille aperture cut away (compare to the very first pic - the original molding was solid all the way back to level with the front of the radiator): The front of the radiator (part of the chassis) has the appropriate detail moulded into it, so combined with the opened up grille, it seemed a pity not to show it. Front suspension - springs have been added, and there are now metal rod pins to locate & set the alignment of the crossmember (it needs to be removable, for a lot of further detailing to better represent the Volvo unit & then painting): The steering is incorrect too, as it still has the MG's rack & pinion, whereas the Volvo used a steering box with idler & linkages, which also need to be fabricated Crossmember as visible from the engine bay - the hollow top will be blanked off, and engine mountings then added. ON the real car, the top wishbone mounts are highly visible in the engine bay (those bushes are actually changed from under the bonnet!) so that needs detailing too. Rear suspension - the rear remainder of the leaf springs will be removed once the axle location is fixed, and has further location. The front part of the leaf springs will be remodelled into the lower trailing arm. Started fabricating the rear shocks (location point on the body was marked in the moulding) & just need to sort out the axle bracket now before the rear brake / hub assemblies can be glued in place properly: Front and side glass is in place - just need to sort out the rear window, but in the meantime, here's a view of the very nicely moulded dashboard: I must confess that I have done little since this stage except buy more Airtrax kits... In the to build pile I also have their Volvo Amazon saloon, Volvo Amazon estate (I provided them with reference data & also feedback on the masters for that one, and will be building it as a replica of my 1:1 Amazon estate), Jaguar Mk10, Volvo 142 and Triumph TR6. My excuse is that I am taking my time to build up my skills in order to build it to the standard and detail that I want. I would say this that this is also because it is my first resin kit, but that isn't strictly true as I built a 1:43 Alpine A110 by Starter when I was about 17 (Christmas present from my father, along with a custom mixed spray can of the correct Alpine blue 😎), but that was like painting and assembling a diecast model compared to this. Anyhow, now that I have posted about the P1800, hopefully it will guilt trip me into actually making further progress.

Hi Folks, 2nd build in this GB. While I wait for seat belts to arrive for the prototype (I have some here somewhere , but damned if I know where!) I'll make a start on this 1/72 Czech Master Resin F Mk 22/24. I'm going to model F Mk 24 VN318 when it was with the Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force at Kai Tak, as it appeared for the HKAAF's final Spitfire flypast in April 1955; Alfred Price's 'The Spitfire Story' says that 'the Mark 24, was in its initial form externally no different from the Mark 22... Late production Spitfire 24s were distinguished by the fitting of the shorter-barrel Mk V Hispano cannon. Fifty-four Spitfire 24s were built by Supermarine, and a further 27 were converted from Mark 22s...' As you can see, VN318 had the long-barrel cannons. AFAIK the Mk.24 had a re-positioned access hatch behind the cockpit on the starboard side. The hatch on the CMR kit is further back where the Mk.22's hatch was (according to the Mk.1 profile). So I'm going to have to fill and re-scribe the hatch. No problem unless the the hatch really was back there on VN318, being an early Mk.24? Any Spitfire experts out there who can help? Possibly Graham, Troy, or Peter M? @Troy Smith @Graham Boak @Magpie22. Apologies in advance chaps for asking if this isn't your thing, but I would hate to re-scribe it now and then get told later when its painted that I got it wrong - and apologies to any other Spitfire experts I've overlooked! Anyway, back to the kit... Looks really nice. Lots of fine detail and the decals look really nice. I made a start on this kit many years ago but lost interest when I came up against the bright yellow canopy and the fuselage to wing fit problems. I've now got a Falcon vacform canopy and I'll see if I can fix the fit. Any thoughts, suggestions or tips gratefully received! Cheers,

Had no intentions on doing this little kit just yet. Knocked my coffee over and made a mess all over the bits and bobs. Thought I had better start it then. Looks like it will be an easy kit to build Decals and masks Thanks for stopping by for a look. Stephen

Time to start something new and different. This is to help me cope with corona virus, corvid-19, wuhan, china virus or whatever you want to call it. Frankly I am quite angry about the whole thing and I will keep my angry thoughts for my wife and kids who have had a gut full me wanting to push the big red button. It is even illegal for me to go and take star pictures even at this location https://www.google.com/maps/@-28.8704918,152.7450645,479m/data=!3m1!1e3 (right click - open link in new tab). There is a cattle yard along Richmond Range Road at the center of the map. Only one car has previously passed me at this site and the only other critters that would know I am there are the wild dogs and some cows. There is no TV here either. Every time the idiot box is on you here about corona virus. GROWL Why would I want to build this, well it is going to be a Moa build with toilet, toilet roll, hand basin, passenger seating and anything Moa would add to a model, you get the idea. Am I biting off more than I can chew? YES, if I don't put myself out I won't learn. ENOUGH grizzling here are some of the bits in the kit. The kit is made up of Resin and white metal parts Thanks for stopping by and having a peek. Stephen, trying to cope. Wife NOT coping with Stephen ( wife wrote this) I know the rest of the world has got a very bad dose of this and my heart goes out to you all. Australia has so far gotten away very lightly with only 70 deaths. My Protest.... I will NOT buy anything made in china

Here is my latest kit, finished this week. It's Kami de Korokoro's resin 1:144 Fokker D.XXI. It represents FR-106, LLv 32, Finnish Air Force, Siikakangas, summer 1940. Finland's top ace, Ilmari Juutilainen had scored a kill with this machine during the winter war (1939-40). As with my previous kit (also of Kami de Korokoro) despite the low part count it gave plenty of work but for different reasons. This one had less moulding flaws and flash in general though the propeller was very tricky to clean up. Unfortunately, the kit is a bit off in shape being somewhat compressed in length and with the tailfin too wide and the canopy top too curved. I managed to fix the latter two and lengthened the engine part as it was a bit short too. This meant making new blisters (which were oversized anyhow) and replacing the exhaust and the two underside intakes, all made from parts from my spares box. Apart from the tail struts and radio mast which were made from the thin metal rods supplied in the bagged kit, I added several details from stretched sprue: the guns, wing pitot (simplified), the gunsight and the tail mast. The scheme was based on a profile I found on internet. The colours aren't 100% authentic but come sufficiently close to those seen on photos of the replica on display in the Finnish Air Force museum. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. I replaced the insignia decals with those from a Mark I sheet and only used the serial and tactical numbers from the kit's sheet. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Morning people. With the Challenger and Humber at home awaiting painting and accessories, I need another build for the lunchtimes while at work. I purchased this and loads of other afv's from a club member who wants to see this Matador built, so here goes. Nice sturdy box and a pic of what it should look like. What the heck am I supposed to do with this? It's got an inventory list if you know what things are. The pictures are very dark and not useful at all but I suppose I'll muddle through. The resin but whether it's all there... I'll only know when i check it against the inventory and/ or during build. I have started cleaning things up, a long, tedious and careful job indeed. Already thinking ahead with this as I want it presented slightly different. The idea is to have the tail gate open with the rear cargo tarp removed, so exposing the cargo within a loading/ unloading scene. Stuart

I'm often attracted to the 'unusual' and 'often maligned' subjects, and into this falls Blackburn's Botha. Along with the Beaufort, it was designed to a specification issued in 1935 for a torpedo bomber and general reconnaissance, twin engine, shore based machine of high performance. The result was the Beaufort remained in service as a front line aircraft. That the RAF received nearly 600 Botha's and employed them for 4 years as an advanced trainer beggars belief, a handling report from 1939 having comments such as ; "deficient in longitudinal stability and there is barely sufficient elevator control", The view forward is excellent, but the aeroplane is completely blind from either beam to the rear, the side view being restricted by the engines", "underpowered", "uncomfortable to fly : bad in pitch and yaw", and "poor view from the cockpit makes it useless as a GR aircraft". The Botha was operational with one RAF squadron for 4 months and never dropped a torpedo in anger. Its shortcomings made the Botha unsuitable for pilot training so was pressed into service as a navigation and bombing trainer. After reading the excellent 'Database' article in 'Aeroplane' magazine, I almost felt sorry for the thing! So I had to build one. This is the only kit I am aware of at present of the aircraft, by PH models, I think from the Czech Rep.(?) Very nicely cast in resin, has enough detail for me to be satisfied in this scale, very fine panel lines, the props are cast all in one piece which I am pleased about! A spare cockpit canopy and nose glazing is supplied but only one turret and one set of side blisters. There are no decals supplied. The aircraft I will try to represent is one which was stationed just up the road from where I live at RAF Morpeth. I will have to try to cobble together the markings from spares I have. No 4 Air Gunners School was formed in 1942, training mostly Polish air gunners. The type proved unpopular and was eventually replaced by Anson's. Accidents that occurred included 16th November 1942 a Botha took off from the wrong runway and collided with another, killing one and injuring another. 1943, in March alone they lost 4 more. The reason discovered was the poor view from the cockpit apart from ahead, led to collisions with 'attacking' fighters and target drogues. Enough history, here's the bits. Not starting yet, there's plenty of time.... isn't there? Davey. Here's the link to the aircraft I will be representing. http://www.neaa.co.uk/botha.html

Here is my latest kit finished just yesterday. It's Kami de Korokoro's all resin 1:144 Caproni-Campini N.1. It represents the first prototype (MM487) at the Caproni facility in Taliedo, near Milan, Italy, on 27 August 1940. Although low in part count, it still took quite a bit of work to clean up the parts, fix malformations and improve the mating of parts. I added the main undercarriage retraction arms and the wing pitot from stretched sprue. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. The kit decals were poorly printed so, apart from the tail crosses, the remaining markings came from other sheets. Although I didn't completely iron out all the flaws, I'm pleased with the end result. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel