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LEMkits is studying the idea of a 1/32nd de Havilland Vampire FB.Mk.5 resin kit. To be followed Source: https://www.facebook.com/andriy.lemkitscom/posts/2231758820417172 V.P.

Hello 🙂 I'd like to make a civilan french Hornet Moth so i'd like to know what could be the interior color ? I can imagine that it was a customer choice but me be one of you know what was the colours proposed by De Havilland ? Light grey as for the Tiger moth (but in this case what was the leather seat color ?), red as we see on restored Moth ? I am perplex 🙂 Thanks a lot for your help Best regards Matt

After doing two consecutive builds ti finish on time before a competition where both models were rushed to the finish line I've had enough of deadlines for a while. From now on, or rather until august atleast I will not bother with time schedules but just doing things whenever I feel like it, in any order and on any kit. But, in order to reduce the stash a little I will off course start another kit, instead of carry on with another one at full focus. Not to worry, the Sea vixen WILL get a little more love before soon. Anyway, what do we have here then? Well, a Tamiya Mossie from the 90:s is not the most difficult of kits, so I need to complicate things a little bit more. Hence, a light load of aftermarket candy: Turned gun barrels, some resin for the cockpit (more about that later) and some rather tasty decals from Aviaeology. Only thing missing is off course some quickboost exhausts, but that will come in due time. 333Sqn seems to have been a rather busy bunch, venturing up and down the Norwegian coast looking for prey for the rest of the Banff Strike Wing to obliterate. I have not yet decided which one to do, but I have in my mind a dirty, beaten up old warhorse in Extra Dark Sea grey over Sky, with suitable amount of repaint here and there. It's oh so clear in my mind, i just need to make that happen in the meatspace... The Tamiya plastic sure is fine though! Ok, where to start then? Digging for references might be a good idea, and then prepare the cockpit for the resin pieces I guess. But for now, I need to head off to the office instead and do work. Too bad 🙂

I will go for my 'oldest' Airfix kit - the DH Comet 4B. It did occur to me that this might be a 'collector's piece' but I have decided I'm a 'builder', although I will keep the box with the finished model. I will be putting in a big effort (for me) by including after-market add-ons and really try for a pristine finish. It could represent the journey that some kits have been on... Raring to go and happy modelling all!

DH.100 Vampire Mk.3 1:72 Special Hobby The distinctive de Havilland DH.100 Vampire was designed to fulfil a wartime requirement for a small, lightweight jet fighter for the Royal Air Force. Although the prototype aircraft first flew in September 1943, the production aircraft arrived too late to see service in the Second World War. In spite of this, well over 3,000 were eventually produced and the aircraft enjoyed a relatively long service life by the standards of the day. Powered by a single De Havilland Goblin turbojet, the Vampire was capable of a maximum speed of 548 mph and had a service ceiling of over 40,000 ft. In common with many other RAF fighters of the day, armament was comprised of four 20mm cannon. 1,202 Mk 3 were produced for the RAF and 20 for Norway. The Kit the top opening box are two sprues of grey plastic and a clear one. There are no resin or photo etched parts in the box though Special Hobby do offer s a PE set through their CMK line. It should be noted that not all of the parts need to be used to build the variants catered for in this edition. The kit looks excellent on the sprue, with lots of crisp, moulded detail and surface structures made up of fine, recessed lines and fasteners (although some of the detail on the underside of the fuselage looks a little heavy). The overall impression is closer to a modern, high pressure injection moulded kit than the older MPM/Special Hobby kits in my collection. Construction starts with the well-detailed cockpit. This area is made up of the floor, rear bulkhead and head rest, the pilot's seat, the control column and the instrument panel. The instrument panel features recessed detail and a decal is provided for the instrument dials themselves, while the gun sight is moulded from clear plastic. The inside of the fuselage halves benefit from some separately moulded sidewall details. Taken together, the overall impression is of a well detailed and suitably busy cockpit. Other internal detail includes the front and rear faces of the De Havilland Ghost turbojet engine. Special Hobby have elected for a bit of a smoke and mirrors effect here, splitting the front face of the engine into two parts so each can be seen through the intake trunking (part of which is cleverly moulded to the lower half of the fuselage pod. There is no separate tail pipe for the jet exhaust, with the pipe and protruding lip being moulded as part of the upper and lower fuselage halves. The nose cone is moulded separately to the rest of the fuselage, and it follows a panel line which should reduce the need to clean up the joint when finished. It will also enable you to fit the nose weight after the main structure of the model has been completed. Once the two halves of the fuselage pod have been joined together, attention turns to the wings and the horizontal stabiliser. The wings are simply moulded in upper and lower halves, with control surfaces moulded in place. Surface details are very nicely represented, although the trailing edges are a little on the thick side (nothing that can't be sorted relatively easily though). The shallow main landing gear bays are moulded as part of the lower wing but are pretty well detailed. The engine air intakes are separately moulded, complete with vanes. Nice as they are, they look quite inaccurate as the openings are too small. The plastic looks too thin to correct the flaw, so hopefully one of the aftermarket manufacturers will have a go an producing some resin replacements. The tail booms look pretty good and, as with the wings and horizontal stabiliser, the control surfaces are moulded in place. There are a couple of nice balance weights for the underside of the horizontal stabiliser though. With the airframe together, attention turns to the undercarriage. The undercarriage itself is quite nicely moulded without being overly complex. A choice of hubs are provided for the main landing gear wheels, so you'll need to choose the right pair for the version you want to build. Ordnance is catered for by the inclusion of a pair of drop tanks.The canopy is nicely moulded and is split into two parts, so it can be finished in the open position if desired. Decals The sheet brings 5 options all in High Speed Silver finish though the instructions call this Aluminium dope & NMF? Options are; VT793 from No.601 (City Of London) Sqn, Royal Aux Air Force, Malta 1952 VV196 from No.32 Sqn RAF Middle East Air Force, Cyprus 1950 VV194 from No.604 (County Of Middlesex) Sqn, Royal Aux Air Force, Malta 1951 VT809 from No.73 Sqn RAF Middle East Air Force, Malta 1949 VG703 from RAF Vampre Trials Unit 1948/49 Tropial Trials & Demo tour Conclusion Despite one of two flaws, this looks like a really appealing kit. The level of detail is very good indeed, and provided there are no surprises in terms of fit and finish, it should build up into a nice model, My only real gripe is the undersized engine air intakes, but hopefully these can be sorted with aftermarket parts. Overall though, this is a nice kit which I am looking forward to building. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Mosquito B.Mk.IX (For HK Model) 1:32 Eduard Three years ago HK Model released their gun-nosed Mossie, and now we have the glass-nosed variant to complete the two basic configurations in which the Wooden Wonder flew. Eduard's new range of sets are here to improve on the kit detail in the usual modular manner. Get what you want for the areas you want to be more of a focal point. As usual with Eduard's Photo-Etch (PE) and Mask sets, they arrive in a flat resealable package, with a white backing card protecting the contents and the instructions that are sandwiched between. Interior (32918) Two frets are included, one nickel plated and pre-painted, the other in bare brass. A complete set of new layered instrument panels, radio boxes and controls such as knobs and levers are the primary parts on the painted set, with new rudder pedals and box; complete throttle quadrant; coaming instrumentation and gunsight details also supplied. Zoom! Set (33182) This set contains a reduced subset of the interior, namely the pre-painted parts that are used to improve on the main aspects of the cockpit, as seen above. Whatever your motivations for wanting this set, it provides a welcome boost to detail, without being concerned with the structural elements. Seatbelts STEEL (33183) In case you don't already know, these belts are Photo-Etch (PE) steel, and because of their strength they can be etched from thinner material, which improves realism and flexibility in one sitting. Coupled with the new painting method that adds perceived extra depth to the buckles and other furniture by shading, they are more realistic looking and will drape better than regular brass PE. As well as the two sets of crew belts, you also get separate furniture. Exterior (32417) This larger double bare brass set contains some important upgrades within the landing gear bays in the engine nacelles, with new PE mudguards, skins for the interior, piano hinges and vents/intake mesh, with the doors also seeing some additional parts. In the engine bays ribbing is applied to the access panels, and logos for the Merlin engines. Bomb Bay (32418) The rear bulkhead is stripped of detail which is replaced by layered PE ribs and webwork; the internal fuel tanks have new detailed straps added, the bay doors are fitted with additional panels, and the bombs are given new fin and stabilisers, plus front and rear spinners. They are then mounted on new transverse palettes, with two new detailed bomb racks on each. If you are using the cookie bombs instead of the standard ones, there are three circular plates with the central one fitted with a spinner, which needs a little bit of 1mm rod from your own stocks to finish off. In addition, some 1.5mm rod will also be needed for the mounting points of the palettes, again in short lengths. Masks (JX208) Supplied on a sheet of yellow kabuki tape, these pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, side windows and nose cone, with compound curved handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or offcuts from the background tape. In addition you get a set of hub masks for the main wheels, allowing you to cut the demarcation perfectly with little effort. Review sample courtesy of

Vampire Mk.1 at Midland Aviation Museum Coventry. This is the only Mk.1 in the UK. Pics Mine;

After several rainy days in a row, the sun thankfully put in an appearance for today's event at The Shuttleworth Collection: The Gathering Of Moths. This is a free event and well worth coming to if vintage aeroplanes are your thing. I took a few pictures while I was there. Ok, I tell a lie: I took over 700 pictures while I was there! The lighting conditions were constantly changing, and proved to be a bit of a challenge at times. Anyway, I have opened a temporary account at Flickr (I can't stand Flickr, but it'll do until I find something better) to host a small selection of the photos. Here's a few of them: (Well, that was an effort! I see that Flickr is just as "user friendly" as it was ten years ago!) The Paddock was opened to the great unwashed for ninety minutes, which I think is mainly a brilliant idea. Mainly, because it's bloomin' difficult to get a good pic while the world and his wife are blissfully unaware of everyone and everything around them, displaying all the situational awareness of a bat wearing ear muffs. My patience was tried many times today, but it was well worth it in the end and I have to thank the Collection for the opportunity to get close to so many lovely, old aeroplanes. Once I have found a suitable replacement for P****bucket, I will gradually get round to re-uploading all my old pictures, plus all the new ones I've taken since, which is probably around a thousand! I'm thinking about giving Smugmug a go, as they seem to offer exactly what I'm after. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of it, or thoughts on alternatives. I tried Village Photos, but it was just awful. Nothing worked properly and it took over a month for support to get back to me! That's deleted now. Cheers, Mark.

Sea Vixen FAW(TT).2 XS587, At Gatwick Aviation Museum, pics mine.

AZ model is to release a new tool family of 1/72nd de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito. Among others the NF.30 variant. Source: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235010228-kpaz-central-discussion-questions-answers/&do=findComment&comment=2686107 First announcement was made with a NF.19 picture V.P.

Having been lucky enough to see the Vampire flying at Wellesbourne last year, I was keen to have a go at recreating the little rocket myself (my son too, as it's one of his favourite planes). I've have begun painting the cockpit of the Airfix Dehavilland vampire T.11, adding some minor details to the sides and weathering to the floor and seats, ejector seat handles painted (using fuse wire), awaiting attachment once the seats are secure. Finished painting the pilot and trainer last night (using the closest colour paints I have in my collection), after beheading the trainer and re-fixing his head so he looks like he is observing his trainee. Updates to follow as I progress.

Mosquito FB.VI Engines (632090 for Tamiya) 1:32 Eduard Big Sin Tamiya's big Mossie is an awesome kit, and these new resin engines should take that awesomeness up a notch, as Eduard's use of 3D printing technology is by now legendary, as is their casting skill which IMHO is second to none. This set arrives in a large flat box due to scale and contents, and has a weighty feel that gives a clue to what's inside. Underneath the large instruction booklet and a layer of bubble wrap are nine bags of resin parts, and one containing two frets of Photo-Etch (PE), with a grand total of 180 resin parts!!!! Some of them are tiny, but there are a substantial number of large parts, and the work that has gone into the design and casting must have been phenomenal. Before you start you will need some lengths of wire of 0.3mm, 0.4mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm and 1mm diameters to be able to do this set justice, so pick up either some lead fly-tying wire from an angling shop, or florist's wire and follow the instructions carefully. There are 21 steps in all, beginning with the cylinder heads and blocks with their electrical connections to the spark plugs, followed by the supercharger and ancillary equipment that sits on one end of the engines. The engine's crankcase is then built up with its own ancillary equipment, and the piston banks are added into keyed recesses, as are the supercharger to the rear and the reduction gear housing at the front. Between the two banks of 6 pistons form a V-shape at the top of the engine, and the supercharger feed-tubes run along the space between them feeding the engine with lots of compressed air, along with another bank of spark-plugs (2 per cylinder in total), which are fed by PE wires. With main engine construction completed, attention turns toward mountings and connections to the rest of the airframe. This begins with the engine bearings being constructed along with some additional equipment that is attached now for ease. The cowlings need a little preparation to remove the casting flash across the exhaust ports on the engine sides, which are simple to cut free and are marked in red on the instructions. These are added to the sides of the engine, a bulkhead is built up from a number of parts, additional wiring, hoses and equipment are added all around, including a curved reservoir around the reduction housing, and the propeller shaft is installed at the business end of the engine with a couple of PE parts and another resin part finishing off that area. The lower cowling is then constructed with the chin intake and a PE mesh preventing FOD ingress. The corresponding intake is attached to the underside of the engine, and various additional coolant hoses, actuator rods, wires and the automatic fire extinguisher are glued in place while the engine is inverted. The exhausts are supplied as two types, with the two rear stubs conjoined on the inboard bank of pistons, and an optional surround that slips over the stubs before they are attached to the block. More wire is added, as is the disc in front of the reduction gear, additional struts forming part of the engine bearers, more hoses etc. Then you get to do it all again with the other engine, with some of the parts mirrored, but many identical to the opposite side, as the basic engines were the same. Conclusion Wow! It's not often that I'm blown away by an aftermarket set, but the attention to detail, the sheer clarity and amount of said detail as well as the quantity of parts is breathtaking. Sure it's an expensive set, and it will keep you busy with the glue and paint for a LOOONG time, but the results have the potential for perfection, if only there was a perfect modeller! Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I have a Revell DH-2 in stash and this GB gives me an excuse to finally start it. Greg in Oklahoma

I'm not sure I should be starting a 2nd WIP thread with one still outstanding and a RFI still to post but hey ho I've made a start on a pair of de Havilland jets - the Airfix Vampire T11 and Revell Sea Vixen. No aftermarket toys - I'm aiming for a relaxed and easy life I hadn't quite realized how big the difference in sizes between these planes was. With the family resemblance I thought they'd be similar(ish) but the Vixen is a behemoth The most minor of mods for the Sea Vixen - reshaped seat based on the kit seat with added stretched sprue and scrap polystyrene sheet to make something that if you squint could look almost right and a couple of shims of sheet added to stretch and slim the nose a bit (which handily gives me a neat compartment for hiding some fishing weights) Other than that it has been mundane cobbling together with the odd dash of regret (I wish I'd made more effort on the Vixen cockpit now that it is sealed up). a lot of filling and sanding is in the offing

Post your completed builds here. No more than five photos per entry. Please do not post comments in this thread. All comments should go in the subject's build thread

Hello fellow modellers, I would like to share my latest build with you. Since the Mosquito is a British plane, I think here is where 'she' belongs... Mosquito B Mk. IV Series II (Film Production Unit - FPU 1944) Serial No. DZ414, Callsign 'O' Orange with 'camera' mission markings... DZ414 was handpicked out at Hatfield Aerodrome (The De Havilland Factory) on 22. December 1942 by Flt Lt C.E.S. Patterson for service with the FPU ( RAF Film Production Unit). He subsequently flew DZ414 for 20.000 of its 24.000 miles, including its debut operation to L’Orient on 14. February 1943 in the wake of the 466-bomber raid staged the night before, the night bombing attack on Berlin on 20/21 April 1943 (performed to coincide with Hitler’s birthday), when DZ414 was badly damaged by flak, the raids on Turin and Nürnburg, and on the long-range operation to Jena on 27. May. The second ‘B’ on the nose is for the Berlin operation on 13/14 May 1943. Whilst part of the 2nd TAF, DZ414 took part in many notable operations, including 14 anti-Diver sorties (V-1 Flying Bombs) flown by Flt Lt Vic Hester of No 613 Sqn. along with cameraman, Flg Off Oakley, between 19-25. June 1944. The aircraft also participated in the Amiens prison raid on 18 February 1944, its pilot Flt Lt Tony Wickham, making three passes over the burning prison so as to allow Plt Off Leigh Howard to film the flight of 255 of the 700 prisoners released through the breached walls. On 31. of October DZ414 participated in the attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Aarhus, Denmark, filming the attack on the buildings of Aarhus University. Finally, on 21. March 1945 DZ414 was flown by Fit Lt K L Greenwood of No 487 Sqn. RNZAF, as part of the force sent on the Shellhouse raid, Flg Off E Moore of the FPU filming the first wave attack on the building. Despite its wartime contribution, this veteran machine was SoC in October 1946 and unceremoniously scrapped. The kit is HK Models 1/32 Mosquito B Mk. IV Series II. Aftermarket photoetch parts from Eduard & Profimodeller + a lot of scratchbuilding. HGW seatbelts. The RAF Accumulator Trolley is a resin kit from Iconicair with a scratch built JAP Engine Generator on top. None of the kit glass was used, instead the vac-formed canopy/nose glass from Tasman was used. And finally, some detail photos of the build... The cockpit, a mix of Eduard and Profimodeller photoetch together wit a lot of scratch built details... Rolls-Royce engine with cooper and lead wire/piping, scratchbuild exhaust shrouds, header tank, air compressor etc... Bomb bay interior with 'scratched' bomb attachment crates... Paintwork is done with AK Interactive RAF Daylight Fighters set, Ammo of MIG British Cockpit Colors, washes and oil weathering... Kit decals were used together with stencils from Profimodeller and some homemade markings printed on decal paper. Thanks for watching! Regards: Kent

It seems that around 1927 De Havilland introduced the scheme commonly seen on DH 60 Moths (eg G-AAAA): colour curves around the nose and extends back along the top combing to the tail. Such as here: http://aviationancestry.co.uk/?advert/&advertId=7716 And here: This scheme pattern was also used on a number of other DH civil aircraft of the time: eg DH 61 Giant Moth (G-CAJT and G-AAAN) and the DH 71 G-EBQU...a perusal of the pages of Flight around this time to see Type Reports on DH aircraft with this scheme. Can anyone tell me if De Havilland had particular colour/s they used on their aircraft? Juanita

Trumpeter is to release in 2017-2018 a new tool 1/48th de Havilland DH.110 Sea Vixen FAW.2 - ref. 05808 Source: https://www.facebook.com/TrumpeterModel/photos/pcb.718760784949184/718760511615878/?type=3&theater V.P.

I am planning a quick build [read: less than a month!] of the Amodel kit, and the only option is G-EBLV as preserved by the Shuttleworth Trust. According to the Wikipedia it had the Lancashire Aero Club as first owner. I wonder if in the same blue and silver livery? And the interior, light grey and wood, as suggested by the instructions? Another option (may be not so colourful, but more interesting historically) is Lady Bailys's G-EBTG, but this poses the problem (for a quick build!) of the exposed engine. Anyway, is it all silver with black registration? https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/the-honorable-dame-mary-bailey-cbe/ Any help on the above, or suggestions of other historical and colourful options that I can do with my printer (that excludes white registrations...) or with available decals very appreciated! I have all the Amodel boxes with extra parts (different fuselages, slatted wings, different props, etc) so I'm not confined to a Cirrus Moth. Carlos

The de Havilland Aircraft Museum, which is sometimes know as the Mosquito Museum. This is just inside the M25 north of London and in an ideal location for a double visit with RAF Hendon. Dedicated to de Havilland aircraft, where else can you see three mosquito aircraft in the same location? They have the Prototype Aircraft, with a Bomber type aircraft, and a gun nosed fighter one as well.

de Havilland DH.51, pics thanks to Mark Mills, aircraft at Shuttleworth.

Hi all! After slowly getting back into modelling again last year I think I'm ready to to go public with a build. I hope I don't scare the horses!! For my debutante moment I've chosen to do a Frog 1/72 de Havilland DH.60G Gypsy Moth as flown by Amy Johnson on her record 1930 flight to Australia. The kit is rather old, it is numbered F227F and is bagged with a cardboard header card. The decals look slightly yellowed but in surprisingly good condition. Frog 1/72 DH 60G by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr Frog 1/72 DH 60G Header Card back by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr The parts have some flash , but cleaning them up should be relatively easy. Frog 1/72 DH 60G parts by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr Frog 1/72 DH 60G decals by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr As I'm a pretty basic builder, and not really hankering after the latest and greatest aftermarket or tools I use pretty simple tools and the basic (usually Humbrol) paints, with rattle cans but mostly with a hairy stick. Frog 1/72 DH 60G build tools by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr Frog 1/72 DH 60G paint and stuff by Dennis Mulhall, on Flickr I use tube cement and plain old tweezers, although I do have a little hand held manual drill bit and a few drills. Sorry for the quality of the photos, but I used my phone because I couldn't be bothered getting out my professional cameras, lenses, flash units, and tripod. That is my OTHER hobby. This will be a rather slow build as I've just gone back to university to pursue another degree and feeling the pressure at the moment. But this is what keeps me sane (along with the wonderful MrsTheBear and DaughterTheBear.) Although I'm pretty much an OOB builder I will be creating a blank for the front cockpit opening, and using the propeller from another one of these done by a company I've never heard of, ABC Argelfarb or some such, to mount on the side of the fuselage as seen on the photos of this machine just after it landed in Darwin. Until the first update, Happy Modelling!!

I'm going to record here my progress on a long-term triple build. It's quite likely that I'll deviate away from time to time to build something else (and I have a Sherman to build for the Great Patriotic War GB), so this may take a while to finish. I have always found De Havilland aircraft to be rather attractive designs, and their distinctive twin-boom jet designs also grabbed my attention when I was a kid. One of the first kits I bought as an adult was the Airfix 1/48 Sea Vixen. I realised when I got home just how big the finished article would be, and it entered the stash as "one for the future". Move on a few years and Airfix released their new tool 1/72 Vampire trainer. I resisted the kit as I didn't particularly like the included schemes and didn't find an aftermarket decal sheet justifiable, but Home Bargains' recent cheap sale of what I assume were Airfix overstocks meant that two kits entered my stash. Crisp's terrific and very educational Sea Vixen FAW.1 build (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973210-de-havilland-sea-vixen-faw1-890nas-hms-ark-royal-1963-4/) was the final straw catalyst. No more excuses! But first, let's build something a bit smaller. You know, for twin boom practice... None of these are going to be completely OOB, but neither am I exactly going to town on the aftermarket. I'll be doing both Vampires in schemes from the Xtradecal overseas operators sheet #2. One will definitely be in the sand/brown Chilean camo scheme: The other I think will probably be in the Lebanese scheme, though I could easily be tempted by the Swiss and Aussie options on the sheet (or I may just wimp out at the prospect of the red and yellow bands required). I've picked up a couple of the Pavla ejection seats to go in that one; I suspect anything else in the cockpit will be invisible at this scale. Of course, they'll both be dwarfed by their big FAA sister. Again, she won't be OOB as I have some Eduard etch for the interior, and I've invested in a nice new pot of EDSG. Can't wait to brush paint all of that

'...and every where the blue sky belongs to them' Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Gloss to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 'Invert the aircraft, release harnesses and fall out' Emergency handling procedure from Sea Venom Pilot's Notes. Hello again all, The madness is upon me again! It's been a while since I posted anything visual, largely as I've had no real bench time at all of late, but after faffing around I've decided to do a sequence of related builds for the next year or so of various Fleet Air Arm aircraft from the 50s and 60s. Some classic jets and choppers from that era, that a recent visit to Yeovilton has rekindled my affection for. Here's some bench shots of the Frog 1:72 Sea Venom FAW.21 that will be the first in the series. Let's start with the good news: the decals seems usable and in good condition. Aaaaaaaand that's it for the good news... This splendid-looking aircraft has been subject of a number of builds already on BM, and whilst I love these older kits like Frog, can you see all that blasted flash? It looks more like a Frank Auerbach painting of a kit with all that baroque plasticity. Have a closer look and you'll see what I mean: As to the glazing I'm thinking this was originally intended as an insect eye rather than a canopy. Have I been given part of the old Airfix Praying Mantis kit in error? Pity the poor crew of this thing though; the moulding guys really went for a lovely 'Facehugger from Alien' approach - I'll have to call this crate 'Nostromo' now: Seriously. Did this kit partially melt in the post on the way over due to the recent heatwave or something??? Actually, I have my suspicions that as this was bought unboxed (and hence dirt cheap), it may not be an original Frog moulding as advertised but a later iteration - was the original mould of this kit ever this flashy BITD? S-oo..after having foresworn kits that need lots of correction (after my previous Dark Night of the Matchbox Meteor Night Fighter) here I am back with another kit needing as much attention probably. Of course I'm moaning too much. It's my own fault for buying it and I could always throw it away and buy a decent version. But you know I won't. I've got etch. 1/72 etch.... That will make it all better, won't it? I've some yet to do on colour and airframe details, but the notion at this stage is to to just go the whole hog, wingfolds and all, and see how we get on. BTW I noticed that Falcon do a really nice FAA vacform canopy set that included most of the aircraft I hope to do in this series, as well as that snazzy Model Alliance decal set for the Ark Royal air wing that also covers many of them, so I may have to break my embargo on any more purchases this month. bank manager... It's going to be a busy summer work-wise; I'll have to grab time at the bench as and when I can get it so my updates may not be as regular as I would hope. The main thing is that I hope you get to enjoy the journey and please pitch in as often as you want with any criticism and advice of my attempts to subdue this monster Tony

Hello and welcome to my Honey I shrunk the De Havilland Vampire T.11, 1/72 The Gentleman's scale,RFI. I fell in love with this little fella while watching Phil’s build a few moths Months back , I simply had to build one, it had everything I wanted, a nice easy looking build with Silver and fluorescent paint. This would be my first time with both. The kit went together really well and The only additions were some Eduard belts and some scratch handles for the ejector seats, oh and a few little aerials here and there. It was a blast to build and I can highly recommend if you're looking for a fun little stop gap in between larger projects this is it. Thanks to everyone who helped and watched the WIP along the way. (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235004740-honey-i-shrunk-the-de-havilland-vampire-t11-172-the-gentlemans-scale/) I couldn’t have done it without you. , Most of the photos were taken this weekend as the sun was glorious giving a really nice light through our little sky light. I must have been having fun as I too nearly ninety pictures. I have whittled em down but there are still quite a few, I was playing with filters and the like. I hope you enjoy this RFI and if you're interested I have started a long haul project here. (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235005731-massive-and-old-its-only-a-ruddy-grumman-ea-6b-prowler-148-by-airfix/) An old school Airfix prowler, It's a doosie. Any hoo enough of my jibber jabber here are the pics. Enjoy. There you go then. Onece again thank you for indulging me on this one. Have a lovely day and hopefully I'll share some chit chat on my next build. All the best, thanks for your time and as always. Happy Modelling. Johnny boy.