Search the Community

My first AFV in this scale is this Humber Mk.II from Matchbox in 1/76. Built mainly OOB with a few added details: Pistol ports added to turret sides. Replaced the kits lifting and towing points with scratch options. PE sand channels by Hauler added. A couple of accessories from Milicast added. Scratch towing cable replaced the kit example. Painted with AK and Vallejo paints, weathered with oil wash and dusted with pastels. Mounted on a simple desert base with a couple of repainted cheap palm trees. WIP here: Thanks for looking. Stuart

Hi guys, I will be building the Matchbox 1/72 F4U-4 Corsair. It is a easy kit to do from my Matchbox stash. I will also place this one in the F4U Corsair GB. Here are some pictures of the box art and content. And I have made a start right away by glueing the first four parts to each other. I already painted the inside green and the engine black, so I can later drybrush it. That is it for now. Cheers,

Hi guys, I will be building the Matchbox 1/72 F4U-4 Corsair. It is a easy kit to do from my Matchbox stash. I will also place this one in the GB what you build as a kid. Here are some pictures of the box art and content. And I have made a start right away by glueing the first four parts to each other. I already painted the inside green and the engine black, so I can later drybrush it. That is it for now. Cheers,

Matchbox 1.72 Dornier Do 28 D Skyservant. Only additions from the box are the handmade pitot tube ad the aerial wire. Decals are mostly the original 1970s ones, only the flags on the tail were replaced as the yellow was out of register. Fit is not great in places but hey its dated 1976, Another one of those great kits only MB seemed to do, Paint is an AK set for German Aircraft from the cold war.

Recently joined thought I’d post my current build - this is the second kit I’ve started from a recent forgotten garage find. Matchbox Mystère IVa which I intend to build as a Patrouille de France 1957 aircraft to add to the theme of my first garage find the Ouragan which is in 1955 colours Rescribing done - minor issue when I discovered the raised lines on the kit bear little resemblance to reality - luckily I’d only done the one fuselage half - had to fill the dodgy lines and start again 😳 Now onto the cockpit - the kit offering is a “tad” rudimentary 🤪 - even though there’s not much visible when it’s closed up I think I need to get the plastic card out

Matchbox 1/72 Supermarine Walrus 23hours 5 minutes. Waterlined and rigged. Spitfire wing section from Matchbox kit. Figures from Matchbox and Airfix. Dinghy Milliput and Plasticard. This was the image that inspired my build

I really like the austere look of the 1980s-vintage Hawker HS-125 CC.3 in RAF service, painted gloss white overall and a roundel blue cheat line, similar to that shown on the Matchbox cover-art of the CC.2. To do justice to the type requires kit-bashing using two different generations of kit: the 1974-vintage Matchbox of the -600, and last year's Sword model of the -800. Sword's kit offers many details that can be cobbled onto the -600 to turn it into a -700 jet, such as the engines, underwing details, and possibly the landing gear. As others on this board have pointed out, the Matchbox kit isn't bad, but it does have a few problems. I wanted to do a partial interior and pose the finished product with the door posed open invitingly for little VIPs. No crew figures on this one, however.

This is my third build of this kit, done for the "A kit I built as a kid" GB. The first one was done when the kit was a fairly new Matchbox release in the late 70s. The second was sometime around 1986/87 and still exists. This one was the current Revell re-release. Pz.II, 5th Light Division, North Africa 1941. On its base, because it wouldn't be a proper Matchbox tank without it Finally, the obligatory 'penny shot' with the 1986 build - I have no idea how it has survived 34 years and 8 house moved, but there it is. Andy

I first built this one back when I could buy Matchbox kits from my local newsagent, and did so every time I'd saved up the 50p or so I remember them costing back then. I had another go some years later towards what must have been the end of Matchbox's original existence. So here we are for round 3. The current incarnation is courtesy of Revell, so one of their end opening boxes. There are two sprues, both the same colour (boo!!) and both with some unexpected flash (very boo!!!) Instructions are the period Revell cheap as chips paper booklet instead of the rather nicer Matchbox fold out originals but the rubber band tracks and decals are still familiar. I always loved that interlock to fasten the tracks together. No messing around with heated screwdrivers like with contemporary Airfix offerings. And finally for now - my last build of this kit. Think this must be my oldest surviving model. I have no idea how, but it has gone through 8 house moves and is still in one piece. A testament to the power of tube glue, if not my painting skills. This what I haveto beat. I'd love to do the grey scheme for a change, but that would mean not using the base and figures. Hmmmm... Andy

I'm excited - this is my first entry on a Group Build! Please be kind, guys, and forgiving... 😉 I'd like to enter with the Revell rebox of the venerable Matchbox PK 401, Red Line. It's this: I definitely was a kid when building this for the first time, for sure I was younger than 10. We're talking mid-seventies, and it's likely I start listening to some ELO, T-Rex and Abba while building this. 😉 I am not 100% sure if this very Matchbox kit was the first kit I ever build with my dad, but for sure it was among my favourites, along with the Orange Line Swordfish (which I already paid some tribute by building the Trumpeter kit some time ago), the Airfix Westland Scout blistered thing and the Viggen for it's strange wings layout (yes, I have the Special Hobby kit in my stash. With splinter masks). While writing this, I think I remember that the very kit I ever made on my own was the Percival Provost, PK coloured red and white, and was absolutely proud when I finished it. I must have been six or seven then. As you might have guessed, I was a Matchbox kid. For the original of the Matchbox kit, have a look here, and if you enter this site uncautious (and sport the same affections like me - which I know you do, otherwise you wouldn't be here), it might kill some time. I am not 100% sure what I would like to build exactly, most likely option 1 from the Matchbox kit, Küstenfliegergruppe 406, Norway 42, in attractive winter scheme. But - as I build it unpainted way back then - it might be that I depict it unpainted, three-colour Matchbox scheme, as well. Nevertheless I want to make this as good as possible, as it was the most excellent kit for me way back then - and I will try to pay tribute to it. I can't promise for Resin engines or Photo etch parts, as this will depend on availability, but I sure plan some rescribing and already ordered a needle over at Uschi's. What i would of course enjoy most is to have a lot of discussions about building old kits and how to treat them, so I will often ask for contribution. I hope that's ok and allowed. So, for a start, thanks for your time and take your seat.

Hello, everyone! I've got a bit of a conundrum and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I recently bought an old 1/72 Matchbox Handly Page Heyford kit off of Fleabay. The kit itself is in good condition, and it looks like all the parts are there. The main problem, as you might guess, is with the decals. They look like what I would have called potato crisps when I lived in England. I looked for an aftermarket set, but haven't had any luck. Then I thought I would try to buy the Revell rebox, use the decals in there, and build two kits. Well, these seem to be even more rare than the decals! Plenty of Matchbox kits pop up on an internet search, but I haven't been able to find any Revell kits. Any suggestions? My next plan would be to buy generic decals of roundels and code letters, but I'm not too sure which ones to look for. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

While we've been isolating far from the madding crowd, I've had some time to do a bit of scratch building on this one. The basic old Matchbox kit needed it too, whilst it appears a decent shape there wasn't the option for an RAF Wessex in the kit. I added a few bits to the cockpit and some rescue equipment in the cabin, as well as the various aerials, the spotlight on the wincg and an under fuselage cable and hook combo. I chose XS675 as I had no spare 1/72 letter Rs or Ts, so it seemed as good as any! I hope you like it. As always, all comments welcome. I'm thinking of doing either the Sycamore or early Whirlwind next, possibly.

I was asked by my good lady why all my models are dark grey and green or "boring grey". Do I have any nice bright coloured ones to make? So, I found these two old kits lurking in the loft, along with a Sea King and an S&M Models Sycamore, so thought I'd give them a go. They don't come much brighter than bright yellow! I'll start with the Wessex, for which I'd treated myself to a set of aftermarket decals. Luckily there should be enough 'Rescue' markings for the Whirlwind as well. I'll be making the helicopter in 22 Sqn markings, circa mid-1980s. I'd love one in 1/48 too if I can ever find a cheap one on ebay. All silly prices for the Italeri Wessex 'UH5'. Anyway, back onto the little HAR2, which is what this will be. Strangely, there are no serial numbers included in the decal set, so I'll have to raid the spares bags. I splashed out on some paint too! Hopefully enough for all four choppers. Must be a Chinese import Matchbox kit! Luckily the missus is a fluent Mandarin speaker ...

I bought this titchy little kit very cheaply from eBay, I think the postage was more than the kit. It was a good thing it was cheap because when I opened the box and examined the sprues my first reaction was Uurghh and my second reaction was not safe for this forum. I did a bit of research and it showed that this kit was first released by Revell in 1964 and reboxed in 1994 under the Matchbox branding and the age shows. It might have been state of the art in 1964 but it was a bit grim for 1994 and unacceptable for 2020. I decided I quite fancied a quick little challenge and if it was unbuildable then I hadnt lost much. I wanted to build this OOB even though the wheels and undercarriage really should have hit the bin straight off. The fit of the parts was terrible nothing had a straight part to part joint and the wing lower section was warped having a dihedral a Vought Corsair would have been proud of. Perhaps the worst were the three sections of the engine cowling which needed a fair bit of filing to get straight and lots of tiny pieces of sprue and plastikard to make fit. The best fitting parts were the fuselage aft of the cockpit which went together fine and the horizontal tail planes fitted with only a smudge of filler to fill the joints. I had to scratchbuild from Plastikard a wheel well floor and sides as the kit had nothing internally other than a seat and a one piece pilot. The panel detail was very crude with rivets about the scale size of a Melon and panels as thick as a plank but most of it was turned into plastic dust when filing to fit so I didnt get too bothered with it. I didnt have any Grey Blue paint for the undersides so mixed up some Tamiya Blue, White and Grey, it didnt go too well coming out a lot bluer when dry than I expected the photos do make it worse than it actually is but its still more a cornflower blue than the grey with a blue tint I was looking for. Topsides were painted with Vallejo 71.406 Light Slate Grey which I think matches the Soviet Grey/Green very well. The pilot was painted with Citadel paint. Weathering which I am useless at was Flory grime wash with a touch of gloss varnish to high light the stains. The transfers were very old fashioned and looked like they were printed on Fablon. They were very tough didnt want to settle on the surface and seemed to shrug off the first 5 or 6 coats of Humbrol Decalfix. Before going to bed I absolutely drenched them with Decalfix and in the morning they seemed to have setled down. I thought at one point I was going to have to attack them with something stronger than Decalfix like Acetone or neat Acetic Acid. The kit had two alternative slogans for the side of the fuselage and I decided one of each wish I knew what they said. The wing machine gun barrels were replaced with Albion Alloys aluminium tube, I meant to do the same with the engine mounted guns but didnt dare attack the plastic because I was worried about the rather fragile cowling cracking. The Aldis sight is a piece of brass tube I found in my bits box and if the tiny pilot ever tried to use it in combat he would be shooting way off line. The pitot tube is a brass pin. Despite my initial worries it has turned out okay for a quick and dirty build. P1000899 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000898 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000895 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000894 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000892 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000885 by Stuart, on Flickr P1000901 by Stuart, on Flickr

Hi Guys Two new sets now available, the brass undercarriage set is the first set I have done in 1/72 scale, I do have plans for one or two others in the future. There is only a limited quantity of the brass set at the moment as these were delivered yesterday, and the brass casters have closed like most companies. Resin casting is not effected as much as long as we have materials available. see the following links https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/dhc-6-twin-otter https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/dhc-6-twin-otter-alternative-wheels Stay safe and enjoy your modelling, Ali

Hi, The Stranraer (original Matchbox production) was a kit waiting for many years in my stash. It is about 30 years now. The main reason was the complicate riging and some conversion needed to do as the kit is reproducing some post war changes. I decided to do her in RCAF livery (and machine of Canadian build), and I am very grateful to all BM fellows who took part in a topic providing many useful information on those differences. First of all I thanks Chris ( @dogsbody ). This thread is here: So, the list of modificarions are: 1. removing of carago doors on right side and add additional window 2. cut out the place for cockpit window to move back on right side 3. 4 blades props 4. The a bit reshaped cowlings 5. Fairing of the rear gunner position 6. Browning MGs, and doubled in mid upper site. 7. DF loop control rod between wings 8. Bombs bays for 20 lb bombs and bombs racks under the wings More corrections are landing and positioning lights, pitot tube, some rivets on surface (very delicate, almost invisible, unfortunately) and bombs (20 lb stolen from Airfix Swordfish, bomb chargies scratch bulid) and driving mechanism of ailerons on the bottom side of wings. I done riging by EZ. The scheme presents machine from 117 Squadron (BR) RCAF. The story of this particular machine is described here http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RCAF_901_950_detailed.htm as "With No. 117 (BR) Squadron, RCAF Stations Sydney, Dartmouth, Bella Bella, BC, and Jericho Beach, BC August 1941 to March 1944, in camouflage, last date: 8 March 1944 - Struck off". Here she is: An undersides (sorry for wide angle distortion) Comments welcome Regards J-W

Hope you're all well. One of the great things about our hobby is that it is the perfect past time when you're forced to stay indoors. I even manage to get some kits finished that were long overdue. Here's my Xtrakit (Matchbox) A.W. Meteor NF.11 in the markings of the Belgian Air Force, as it appeared in 1956. I also used the Airwaves set for the interior, although in hindsight I might have left it out. Decals are from Kits at War, from their long OOP Belgian Air Force sheet. Hope you like it. Peter

These three guys have moved between the workbench, the shelf of doom and back again for many, many years. I recently decided that I'd get them back to the bench and make an effort to get them finished. One each from Airfix, Academy and Matchbox. I'd decided years ago to finish the three of them using an Almark decal set for three Battle of Britain aircraft, each displaying variations in finish. The Airfix kit is not the current kit but one from a few years ago with the trademark rivets. If I'd started this more recently I would have taken down the rivets but as these were started years ago I'm just going to press on. Here are the first few photos.

1/72 AFV seem to be a little thin on the ground, so I thought I'd change it. With a stash reshuffle, I have moved my 1/72-1/76 afv's to my work workbench where I can have a little lunchtime activity, until they need painting that is. Having already having a Challenger I on the go at home, I thought I'd start a little armoured car. In this case it's Matchbox's offering of the Humber Mk II. Albeit that the box is battered, everything seems intack except that the base and decals are missing. Nothing major but I'll obviously will need to find decals fir this. I've made a start by making up the hull, wheels and part of the turret. The fit of parts is surprisingly good and little filler will be needed. Being quite an old kit, it lacks some details that I want to add like towing and lifting points, handles, etc. The hull has molded tools which will stay as I have such spares at this stage, a towing chain that as far as I can tell 'never was' and should be a cable, so I'll scratch that (or add a chain if one can be fitted). Stuart

Having failed to complete a Felixstowe for the Floatplane GB I decided on a little break from it and tackled a Siskin instead. These Matchbox kits go together really well and is completed pretty muck OOB. Rigging is stretched sprue, I usually use fishing line but sprue has worked out easier in this case as little of the rigging goes through the bottom wing and is therefore difficult to tension.Extra points for anyone who can spot the howling mistake!

Most modellers will have one or two kits lying around that never made it to completion. The majority of those kits languish on shelves or in boxes, unloved and forgotten. However, a select few end up in a worse state: They become experimental subjects, exposed to all sorts of toxic substances and chemicals. Enter my Matchbox Tempest II. This kit started life happily enough on the shelf of a toy store in the early 90s and was picked up for a few quid by my dad and early-teens me. She was destined for, lord knows what really. We only built planes that had seen service with the Dutch forces at that time. It was probably the similarities to the Seafury that did it, because a few years later I set out to turn it into exactly that. A valiant effort was made, unassisted at the time of course by internet references and just a few Seafury photographs in a book. It was quite a modification I recall: I moved the oil cooler from the starboard to the port wing, set out to add a propeller blade, changed the shape of the gear doors... The kit made it to the painting stage, and that is where it stalled. It sat on a shelf in its Dark Sea Gray / Sky livery for years. I went to college, started working and for about ten years didn't do much in the way of model building. In 2009 I picked up the hobby again and I completed many of the old kits that had been left in various stages of completion. However, a few years older and wiser and with the help of the internet I realized that my Tempest-to-Seafury conversion had been somewhat misguided. I'd missed some obvious differences which are hard to correct, like the mid-wing section and resulting changes in the gear well positions, elevated cockpit as well as a few other things. Rather than dump the kit, it ended up as an airbrush test model and over the next ten years it accumulated layer after layer of paint. Still, the Tempest II remained an attractive plane to me and I found myself looking forward to actually building one, so I set out to buy another kit. However, like some other Matchbox kits, this one actually commands a rather hefty price tag. I didn't want to spend 15-20 pounds on it so I started considering renovating it. I'd never tried paint stripping with oven cleaner before but it went very well and within a day or so my poor Tempestfury was clean. Only after doing the cleaning did I realize I had done quite a lot of work on the tail as well, Changing it back into a proper Tempest II would prove to be more work than my original conversion to a Seafury. I'd also lost most of the parts apart from the main airframe, so they would have to be sourced elsewhere. Not wanting to spend the money on another Matchbox kit, I got the cheapest Tempest 72nd scale I could get my hands on in Telford last November. The kit would serve as donor for the prop, landing gear, doors, wheels and canopy. I got hold of the ancient Revell tooling, but this turned out to be a bit of a mistake. The prop and spinner are a single molding and after removing the flash it does look rather anemic. The main gear and doors are single piece moldings as well but look ok once the ejector towers (I didn't know they could squeeze two in on such a small part!) were removed from them. The canopy only looks vaguely Tempest-like and is a lousy fit on the Matchbox kit, but hey, I wasn't building a show winner here and with some plastic card and putty I faired it in. I used the rudder from the Revell kit (despite it being short shot, needing more card) as the original had so much material removed to make it more Seafury-like. More plastic card was employed to restore the tail fillet and move the oil cooler back to the port wing. The gun ports were filled, redrilled and Albion Alloy tubing inserted to clean them up a bit. The only completely unusable parts from the Revell kit were the main wheels. They have a sort of non-descript hub cap, rather than the spoked hub design of the original. There are resin aftermarket wheels for the Tempest but I stole a set from an Academy Typhoon. At some point I will have to fork out the dough for a new set. Or maybe use the Revell wheels on the Typhoon I couldn't find the decals anymore but then I didn't look too hard for them; the original kit only offered Indian marking for the Mk II which I wasn't interested in building and they'd in poor shape anyway, so I invested in an Xtradecal sheet with Tempests and selected the most colorful option, MW800/HF-V from No.54 Squadron, flown by Squadron Leader Frank Jensen during the Victory Day Flypast on June 8th 1946. So there she is, almost 20 years in the making: Matchbox's Tempest Mk II. Not the quickest, neatest or most efficient build I have ever done, but I feel really good when I look at her and see her all cleaned up and finally reaching her intended purpose.

Build completed as part of the Film, Fictional and Speculative GB: Here we have the old Matchbox Skyraider built as an aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm during the Suez crisis. I rescribed the whole thing and brush painted it with Xtracrylix. Decals used were the Berna Decals set for a Westland Wyvern. Markings are from an aircraft of 827 NAS based aboard HMS Eagle. Please see WIP for more back story and build details: Cheers, Ash

Afternoon all, Here is a build from a few months back. Knowing the importance of recycling, particularly of hens teeth old Matchbox kits, I had a lot of fun dismantling and renovating this HS 125. I thought this was a funky scheme, and I liked the idea of 1970s JCB execs flying off to Schipol in the morning, selling a few diggers, and celebrating with G&Ts on the flight home... This started with a £3 ebay purchase and arrived covered in lashings of Humbrol with no discernable undercarriage, looking something like this: I've yet to master the art of the perfect finish following heavy duty sandpapering, but I learnt a lot along the way, and it did help tone down those Matchbox trenches. Apologies to the ebay seller if I desecrated a family heirloom! All best, Harry

Stalled when my mojo was defeated by this kit. My dad, if not the kit deserves better, so off the shelf it comes; though I make no promises

Sea Harriers FRS.1 - Falklands War period - May to July 1982 Back in the 1980s we had only the Matchbox Sea Harrier kit to work with, and both these builds used that kit as a basis as they were finished sometime in the mid Eighties. I well remember the 1982 Yeovilton Air Day where many Sea Harriers were on display, both those just returned from the South Atlantic and those being prepared for the next deployment down south aboard HMS Illustrious. I based my upgrades of these kits on those superb drawings by the late Mike Keep which appeared in Scale Aircraft Modelling magazine, as well as my own photos. Mike was relentlessly in search of accuracy, and I know that he drafted these drawings in front of a real Sea Harrier at Yeovilton. My chosen subjects were XZ457 coded 14 as part of the HMS Hermes Air Group, and ZA193 coded 254 of the reformed 809 NAS. XZ457 was finished in the overall Extra Dark Sea Grey scheme and scored three kills during the conflict, these being marked under the port cockpit as two Skyhawks and one Mirage. It is modelled in the static configuration with upper auxiliary intakes open, undercarriage doors open and tailplane in the 'at rest' state. ZA193 was finished in the Medium Sea Grey / Barley Grey scheme and joined HMS Illustrious for its post-conflict mid 1982 deployment to the Falklands area. The model is finished in the taxi-ing configuration with pilot in the cockpit, all the auxiliary intakes open, undercarriage doors closed and tailplane in the neutral position. It also has the larger drop tanks fitted at this time, which were made from cut down and reshaped Airfix Hunter tanks: Both models were fairly heavily modified, including filling in the famous Matchbox trenchlines, new crash-moulded canopies, opened intake doors, airbrakes extended, antennas and lights added, stores added from other kits, replacement pitot tubes, and probably some other things that I can't remember after all these years. They both survived a few house moves and storage in the attic for years and years and it was good to see them again recently for a photo session: