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As the title says From the abyss of reject/incomplete surprise kits, this is a 1/72 Vacform kit of a Focke-Wulf 58 Weihe navigation/air gunnery trainer. I'm guessing this is from somewhere mid- to late 1970s. Yes, it's partly incomplete, and pre-cut by the previous owner(s). Loose bits include a wing spar half - the other one is still on the styrene sheet. Worse is that one of the engines is missing. It's not all bad news, though. The canopy parts are OK - not even yellowed. Partially eaten (?) destruction sheet: Five Weihe trainers were purchased before WW2 by the Dutch LuchtVaartAfdeeling - so I'll be aiming for this with the assistance of the long-gone Special Hobby/MPM Fw-58 kit instructions that will also come in handy for some scratchbuilt cockpit thingies. Glad to have stocked up on Evergreen bits and bobs lately, I'm going to need them! So, tools out: But first, I need to mentally prepare myself - this looks like it might do the trick

I like to have a couple of builds on the go at the same time so will be doing this alongside the little Grob 120. The Saunders-Roe SR177 was a development of the SR53 for RAF & RN use and used jet and rocket engines. Like a lot of other promising British jet projects it was cancelled in the infamous 1957 Defence White Paper as missiles were thought to be a better option. My plan is to do the first prototype that was under construction at the time of the cancellation and have printed my own serial numbers and RN titles. I won't be using any of the kit decals as they are of the Pressfix type and my previous experience of them is not good. The kit is a typical vacform with some nice surface detail and decent metal parts. Steve

Hello all! I have to say I love these Group Builds, especially ones where I can stretch my capabilities, and this one is going to test me! I am no stranger to vacforms, but this will be the biggest I have attempted. The previous 'big' vacform was a Short Singapore III: One thing I will have to do is find a better way to display it! Anyway, here is the kit as supplied. The lovely, solid box, and a wonderful price tag! I got this at the Gloucester Model Club show a few years ago, and with that price it was a bargain! When I opened the box, I wondered just what I had done... There were two good, solid sheets of heavy gauge plastic with the main components, and on the reverse side of the wings, the glossiest finish I have ever seen with this type of model. The wings had been moulded in a very interesting way. They were angled in the mould, and that was to help with the trailing edges having less to sand away. There was also a very good selection of white metal parts included too: I will have to try my scratchbuild skills with the interior, only the control columns are supplied. There was a good instruction manual, from the days when instructions were in text, along with hints and tips for the preparation of the parts. There was also a transfer sheet, which unfortunately has seen better days - one of the roundels is damaged, but hopefully will be salvageable. There were a number of colour schemes supplied in the guide, but I decided to go for something a little different, and got the Aims transfer sheet for a rather interesting scheme: This sheet has the white swirls as transfers, which will help no end. It was designed for the Roden injection moulded kit, and I hope they fit this vacform one! The instructions gave me no clue as to the colours for the rest of the aircraft, so I trawled through Google trying to find instructions for the Roden kit which does contain this scheme, but it was the only one which did not have instructions online! I put a call for help on this Forum for these, and @Steve86 came through and sent me a scanned copy of instructions for the Roden kit - thank you very much indeed Steve! I have also downloaded the Wingnut Wings instructions for the Felixstowes which will also assist immensely. This will be an 'Early F.2A' with the glazing over the cockpit, that is supplied as a vacform part, and it is incredibly clear, and is not yellowed at all. I am looking forward to starting this soon, but the Hosts said in our 'Chat' section that vacforms can be prepped before March 20th! So that will be the next part... Any advice, hints or tips, will be greatly appreciated, I do have John Adams' vacform guide printed out already. Thanks for dropping in, Ray

Hi there, pulling out some shelf of doom oddities. This one is the Welsh models vacform kit that I begun.... 2014?? I really can't remember anymore 🤔 having a soft spot for Luxair birds (first time I flew in an airplane was 1996 from Luxembourg to Frankfurt in a 737-500) and having also a soft spot for Vacform kits I startet numerous Welsh kits in the past. Non of them made it to the finish line 🙄 So, having what I can only describe as a manic episode concerning my modeling motivation I dug this one out and see how far I can get with it before I lose all my modeling motivation and dive into my other interests (watches, guitar)... Wish me luck http://

I have a few Welsh Models vacforms on the go at the moment, one of them being this HP Hastings. I have opened up the main passenger/cargo doors and added a deck internally; however, that is about as much as I know on this aircraft. I would be grateful if someone could provide advice on types that can be built and what the internal cabin/cargo area would look like. I do know that they were used for passenger, cargo and meteorology taskings but I have some queries: where the passenger variants all passenger, or passenger and cargo mix? Apart from the seating facing rearwards, what would a typical seating/cargo area layout look like? If they did have mix and match that is. cheers, Mike

My first entry to this group build is the direct ancestor of the Spitfire. The Supermarine Type 224 was designed in response to Specification F.7/30 issued towards the end of 1931 for a single seat day and night fighter. Speed was to be no less than 250 mph and an armament of four machine guns. A wide variety of types were tendered of a wide variety of configurations, no design was judged entirely successful and the Gladiator was adopted instead. In the meantime another specification for a fighter was issued (F.5/34) for an eight gun fighter with a top speed of no less than 275mph. Several designs were built to this specification, although all were overshadowed by two designs submitted to the Air Ministry and given their own specification numbers F.37/34 and F36/34, the Spitfire and Hurricane respectively. The Type 224 first flew in February 1934 and soon displayed a number of undesirable flying characteristics. In addition, its speed flew well short of the specification and the there were problems with the engine. This was the Rolls-Royce Goshawk, a steam cooled version of the Kestrel and it was hoped by dispensing with the normal radiators and relying on surface radiators, drag would be reduced. However, numerous problems were encountered and it was realized the whole cooling system was very vulnerable to the effects of gunfire. The 224 ended its flying days in 1937 and was used as a target in firing trials. The Rareplanes kit first appeared in the early 1980s and comes on a single plastic sheet A separate sheet has the clear windscreen plus spare and there are no cast or resin parts. Surface detail is raised, but quite good, and I am tempted to leave well alone. I will have a root around my spares box for a suitable propeller and replace the moulded in wheels with something a bit better. My plan is to halve one wheel and mount it on a ledge of plastic within the wheel spat. Decals will come from some Modedecal sheets for pre-war aircraft. First job will be to cut out the parts and sand them down, tedious, but a bit of proper old-fashioned modelling. Let's see how this one will go.

Hi all and just finished up this one - I've always wanted a Grumman C-2 Greyhound in 1/72 and felt lockdown was the time to build it! Full build thread plastic bodging is here but to recap: Kits: Falcon 4605 C-2A Greyhound Vacform Conversion with Fujimi E-2 Hawkeye donor Build: Conversion! Extras: None - 30G of nose weight in the kit courtesy of 1c coins Decals: Mix of Fujimi stencils and spares. Painted tails for VRC-30 'Providers' Paints: Halfords Primer, Tamiya Acrylics, Kear, Flory Models Wash, W&N Satin Varnish This is the 2nd vacform I've built and I'm very happy how it turned out. Yes, some goofs along the way and some finishing issues I need to get better at but proud of how it looks. Falcon_Fujimi 1_72_C2A_Greyhound_(9) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Falcon_Fujimi 1_72_C2A_Greyhound_(11) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Falcon_Fujimi 1_72_C2A_Greyhound_(3) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Falcon_Fujimi 1_72_C2A_Greyhound_(4) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Falcon_Fujimi 1_72_C2A_Greyhound_(8) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr If I was to sum up the conversion into pros and cons, i'd probably go with... Pros - Hey, it's a 1/72 Greyhound! - Overall dimensions look right - Plenty of space behind the cockpit for that nose weight - Did I say it's a 1/72 Greyhound?! Cons - Very little surface detail - I drew it on with a pencil because I was scared to scribe it - Kit-supplied bulkhead templates just don't fit (too small) - Kit-supplied Vacform canopy nice and clear but fitting was a bear. - Fujimi donor kit is very basic (no u/c gear detail) and tailplane will need correcting But after all that, I still love it and is one of my favourites. In COD we trust! Thanks for looking and happy modelling. Dermot

A while back whilst building the Jura I started a wee Welsh Models, 1/144 Supermarine Scimitar F. Mk. 1. I really should have posted some pics and the WIP by now so here goes: The "Instructions": The "Kit": Some bits done: Stupidly decided to scratch build the ejection seat. It's not very big... Installed. More to follow soon.

Morning all, I was rummaging around in the loft earlier this week and stumbled upon this long-forgotten build from... 2015. Where has 5 years gone? To cut a long story short, I entered this as part of the non-injected group build and as usual ran of steam during the GB and never got it done. However, I've decided to give it some love and have since added the stabilisers and fins, added some resin engines (kindly donated by a fellow BM member years ago,) found some reasonably shaped air intakes for the top of the engines and given it a coat of primer: Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Lots of surface details to reinstate, but not too far off paint which is always good for the motivation. Tom

Gents Just finished this one off the shelf of doom; the ancient MPM 1:48 Avia Av.135 vacform kit. It is actually a nice kit and I really enjoyed the build ; so much so it took me about 5 years to finish it. It was my first ever vacform and I learned a lot. Cockpit is scratch built as the kit parts are shoot ….Anyhows I also managed to lose all the extra rivet detail I put on the wings and made a royal cock-up with the vacumform cockpit forgetting to paint the coaming and putting the seat too far back BUT I did finish it in the colours its supposed to be in Czechoslovakia. Regards Brian

I’ve had this hiding in the stash for a number of years while easier kits have somehow pushed their way past it in the build queue. I suspect this will be an incremental build that will require bursts of patience and enthusiasm to make progress with. As anyone who has seen one of these will probably attest it’s a truly horrible thing that barely qualifies as a kit. Apart from the two sheets of white plastic and a badly moulded vacform canopy it comes with nothing more than a child’s drawing of the assembly process and half a schematic that they ripped off from Aeroplane Monthly. Some years ago when I first got this kit I put a shout out on here for any tips on where I could pick up bits and bobs to supplement it and a couple of members kindly came up with the goods. Special thanks must go to @bentwaters81tfw for his kind donation of long unavailable Aeroclub props and for his effort in sending me a really helpful set of photos from the Newark Varsity. Sorry it’s taken so long to get around to this Frank, I’ll do my best to do it justice. Anyway, progress so far. I’ve separated the fuselage from its sheet and cut the windows out. These have been fitted with bits of CD case which will hopefully be more robust in the long run than flexy sheet. I’ve also cut the cockpit area out and started fitting it with floors, bulkheads, and instrumentation. The bulkhead behind the seat is a bit of a guess on my part and owes more to the Sea Prince than the Varsity but not much will be seen of this area anyway so I’m ok with it. Ditto the props inside the fuselage which are just there to provide rigidity . The whole area will be painted jet black when it’s buttoned up so this won’t be seen. Oh and I made a couple of little seats for the cockpit - the bottoms look a bit scrappy at the moment but will be tidied up when the glue cures. The biggest curse of this kit is the terrible panel lines that festoon the whole thing so they’re slowly disappearing under coats of filler.

Just completed my second vacform model. This is a 1/72 RAREplane Gloster Meteor F.Mk.8 (WH378/N) in the markings of No.54 Squadron, RAF Odiham in the early 1950s. Built 'off the sheet' apart from a Pavla canopy, decals from Xtradecal, and a slightly undersized pilot from my spares box! Many thanks for stopping to look. Stay well, stay safe! Mike

Hello everyone 👋 Some time ago @Mjwomack suggested an ‘Anything but Injection’ group build. This was and is very appealing to me. I love building resin and vac form kits. I haven’t done one for a long time; it was the KPM vac form Lagg-3. A kit that I actually finished, when I returned to the hobby for the second time, around 15 years ago. I didn’t know of any Internet forums, used my supply of 1970’s Airfix and Humbrol enamel paints, paintbrushes from the same, very old, childhood ‘model making’ box. My skills and hand/eye coordination were worse than those I had aged 10 and I bought a selection of very cheap kits. It was simply therapy. Relaxation, a safe place to revisit for reasons mentioned in other of my threads, sadly all unfinished, most with photographs missing. I do hope to rectify both of those issues as health and repatriation of my stash, tools, paints, drawer of doom and so on allows. I feel I owe it to the good people that run this forum, endured my often rather odd burblings and those that followed the builds. Here are some photographs of my chosen subject. More details to follow 😊 👍 Best Regards TonyT

This is a place setter for my stalled build in the last GB, pictures and link to follow. Cheers Pat

A little outside of my usual timeframe of models, the TSR2 is a bit special. I first saw one at Duxford about a year after she arrived and my dad filled me in as to what she was. I took this photo in about 1978 I think and she stuck in my memory. She is XR222, a never completed pre production model. Only XR219 flew, and the only other survivor is XR220at Cosford. So when a 1/48 Contrails vacform came up at a good price I thought I would give it a go. I hadn’t built a vacform before but it would give me some practise in case I wanted to build another vacform in the future So here she is. Not perfect by any means and I left some of the kit inaccuracies, but had a go at fixing others. The intakes, for example, got a complete rebuild. The back end got a rebuild, with new jet pipes built in to shape around There was no cockpit so that was scratch built with resin seats. The vacform canopy was cut to pose the canopies open The jet pipes extend through the body and the main wheel wells and bomb bay are built around them from scratch The undercarriage had a totally rebuild with only the wheels surviving from the kit So so that’s her done. Not perfect but I enjoyed the build. Thanks for looking The build thread is here

Star Wars BTL A-4 Y-Wing (VC03) 1:72 GreenStrawberry It's common knowledge that the new Bandai Star Wars model kits are pretty awesome, especially since they can be made without any paint or glue, but with this being a modelling forum there are likely to be a lot of us considering upgrades, because we just can't resist! GreenStrawberry have a raft of update sets for these kits that should satisfy most tastes, and they have now broadened their range by introducing a new range of vacform canopies, and with more planned and in progress. What does a vacform canopy do to improve your model? It gives you a more scale-accurate window pane to the full-size props, and it allows a greater view into the interior of the ship with less distortion. This is ideal if you're painting and/or detailing the area, or if you just want a more realistic looking canopy. The set arrives in a small box in the usual dark GS theme, with the two canopies inside protected by a ziplok bag, accompanied by an instruction sheet and a set of vinyl masks for good measure. The two canopies are different because one is moulded pre-cut into front and rear halves, while the other is moulded closed, allowing you to choose open or closed, or just build two and be done with it.  There's a lot of folks that are a bit wary of using vacform canopies, but they're actually not too difficult once you know how - if you do, skip to the next paragraph. If you fill the interior void with Blutak before you begin cutting, and use a brand new #11 blade, scoring round the cut mark lightly so that you don't drift away from the line. Once you've cut it out, offer it up to the model, and gently sand any uneven or proud areas with a sanding stick, being careful not to scuff the clear surfaces. When you're happy with the finish, peel off the Blutak and clean both sides, then dip it in your Klear/Future or whatever you use so that it's ready to use on your model. Conclusion A useful set that has been missing from the aftermarket scene until now, and they should hopefully sell well to anyone looking to add a bit more realism to their model. The range is continually expanding, so if your preferred topic isn't yet covered, keep checking back. Review sample courtesy of

My first time posting any model photos here, so I hope this turns out ok. This is my recently completed Macchi C.94 flying boat, which uses the Broplan 1/72 vacform as a starting point. Most of my models are scratchbuilt, or based on vacform underpinnings which have a significant scratchbuilt content, so my completions are somewhat infrequent. Major projects like this typically consume around 1000 hours' work, thinly spread over several years as I usually work on multiple projects in rotation. As is typical with my vacform builds, only major components were used and practically everything else was scratchbuilt, except for the engines, which are Vector resin Bristol Pegasus. Cockpit and cabin are fully detailed throughout. The Macchi C.94 was a product of famed designer Mario Castoldi, but a distinct change of pace from his more familiar Schneider Trophy seaplanes. With an all-plywood structure and hull lines reputedly derived from WW1 Curtiss flying boats, it was a curious blend of ancient and modern. 12 were built: 6 Serie I aircraft with Wright Cyclones and 6 Serie II with Alfa-Romeo Bristol Pegasus engines. All initially served on the Mediterranean routes of Mussolini's airline Ala Littoria, beginning in 1936. But in 1938, the last 3 constructed were transferred to Argentine affiliate Corporacion Sudamericana de Servicios Aereos, where they were named Rio de la Plata, Rio Parana and Rio Uruguay. As their names suggest, they served the River Plate and tributaries and also a coastal route running from Rosario in the south to Montevideo in the north. After around 8 years of reliable service through the war years, all 3 were destroyed in a suspicious hangar fire and replaced by Short Solents. Probably the only 'Golden Age' Argentinian subject I will ever make. Most of my projects are American or British, but occasionally I get the urge to build something exotic !

With my Bentwaters F-16 done I was all set to get in to an F-4G kit, but a Vacform kit I got on eBay a while back was looking at me from the stash. Now I have done some modifying & some scratch building before, but never a vacform. Couldn’t find the right subject at the right price. Then one day on eBay this Contrail 1/48 TSR2 popped up. Now I am sure the Airfix one is a better option, but at the price & as a first vacform kit I thought I would give it a go. I have had a bit of a fascination with TSR2 since seeing the Duxford example with panels missing back in the late 70s. I did wonder if I should have made progress with this before posting, but I figured there might be some useful guidance that people could offer. I am planning to go with anti flash white rather than ‘what if’ camo. And since it was never operational I guess weathering is a bit pointless. This could take a while...

Finally finished a Contrail vac in time to start a project for the Frog GB, so here is a 1/48 Bristol Blenheim prototype. Like all vacs the kit needs a lot of patience and filler but I was lucky enough to have a spare set of nose glazing and resin interior from a Special Hobby kit. K7033 went through a number of changes before being painted in camouflage and delivered to the RAF, the spinners were soon ditched in favour of easier access for maintenance and was fitted with the standard dorsal turret rather than the trial one on the model.

I'll start by wishing all Britmodellers a very happy 2019 So... a new year means a new project. I've had this ID Models' 1/32nd Sunderland MkI/II vacuform in the stash for a few years now, and decided that it was time to give it a go. The inspiration is in fact a multi-engine group-build that's going on over at Large Scale Planes for the duration of this year, and I thought this fitted the bill perfectly. I'm hoping to get this completed by the end 2019 - the fact that there's no landing gear/undercarriage bays or bomb bays to worry about having to scratch-build should mean this is doable providing the motivation remains. I'm planning on a fully-detailed flightdeck as well as opening up the bomb hatches on the sides of the fuselage. This thing is massive - the plans below are laid out on our kitchen table. The cutting mat is in fact A3 sized! IMG_0639 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I'm busily rubbing down fuselage halves and opening various portholes etc. at the moment, so a pictorial update will be coming in the next couple of days. Until then, happy modelling! Tom

Hello All, A bit late to the party but here is my project, two Bristol Scouts, one injection moulded by MAC and a vacform by Libra. Some spare parts from the MAC one including decals will be used in the vac build. Not decided schemes yet but the Libra will be a 'D' and the MAC a 'C' Just noticed the Libra kit is issue 001, would have been a collectors item if I hadn't already started chopping it up!

Hmm, this may be a tad ambitious ... The kit ... Not shown are two round contrail rods, and a small, really small, sheet of clear plastic. No decals, and no guns or bombs - none of these were in the kit. And the instructions ... Looking at the photo of the instructions, I've just realised that something I thought was an alternative tail skid is really the break. Planned changes: I'll see about replacing the engine, either scavaging from another kit, or scratch-building the thing. The fin/rudder and tailplane/elevators will probably be replaced with plasticard, which is easier to work than smoothing a flat-plate vacform cut out p.s. I'll have to work out a solution for the wing root spars - plastic studs just will not be strong enough.

Finally completed my Botha, or rather I can't look at it any longer! This is my fourth vacform, what usually happens is I choose a subject, Bombay for instance and then Valom produce a kit or Sparrow and...you guessed it. There is not much chance with the Botha. Out of my vacs so far this has been the most difficult, even the Iris for the Floatplane GB was easier. Not sure why this one has been so problematic but the main additions/changes are; -total rescribing -replaced cowlings with Halifax ones plus gills of plastic strip -cockpit interior -scratched landing gear -I overcut the front glazing and replaced it with a plunge moulded one -scratched gun turret detail etc Some pictures Hope you like it, very glad to move onto something else, a nice simple OOB Bristol Bulldog in the Airfix GB for instance, it will certainly be less Botha.

So having tested the water with a couple of RFI's here, I thought I'd take the plunge and start my first WIP. Its a Vacform 1/72 T21 by Phoenix models. Like my T31 I posted in RFI a few weeks back, this is another aircraft that I spent some happy years experiencing the joys of flight as a teenager, with 615 Gliding school at RAF Kenley. As you can see, although basic, they are probably all that could be offered for such a kit. Thanks to some very helpful information from Chris @stringbag I also have some plans from an old edition of the Aeroplane. The plans appear very accurate and are ideal for working on this model in this scale. Thanks again Chris! So a start has been made on separating (almost) all the parts from the main sheet..... The first thing I plan to tackle is the wing which I think will be the biggest challenge. As Chris pointed out and the plans confirm, there are two stages of dihedral on the undersurface, but the top surface of each wing out from the centre is perfectly flat, with just a small amount of dihedral at the centre point. I decided to use some brass strip to help form this, which enabled me to produce a plastic spar (both seen below). The brass is very rigid and was bent in a small vice at the three points along the wing. The plastic spar was then assembled against the brass with superglue joins. The next stage will be to modify the plastic spar such that the outer two sections are flat across the top, but retain the anhedral underneath. At the moment this is a trail and error idea. I may end up having to produce some internal wing ribs as there appears to be some under camber on the lower wing. I cant promise this WIP will be quick, but it might be interesting watching me grapple with this thing and my ideas! Stay tuned if you are interested! Cheers Terry

Back in the days before the internet , when we had to look at books for refferences , after market was virtually nil , an amazing man produced a quite limited kit of the Lightning in 1/32 scale. OK Yes it was Vacform , but it was superb. I was a teenager and was looking through scale aircraft modelling magazine and saw an ad for said kit. I had to have one. My Dad drove me from Essex to Maidenhead to get one from the Man himself , Frank Brown. He was a very friendly man. He showed me some built up ones and also the most gobsmackingly good solid resin fuselage with white metal inserts. I believe it was a master for the kit. No idea what resin it was but it was glass smooth and dark blue.Fantastic. The kit was built and displayed in my room before finally getting destroyed years later somehow. I have built a few over the years , i even started one using the Aires bits for the Trumpeter kit , but sold it on to a friend before finishing it. I now want to build another one. One came up on the web for a good price and it arrived today. All is good and the kit it as beautiful as the first time i saw it. Unfortunately the canopy is very yellow. Not to worry i will attempt to make a vac form machine and make a new one. I will post photos of the kit this evening.