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Found 9 results

  1. My next build will be a bit of a nostalgia rip, especially for my dad who served in the RAF from 1961 to 1985, with his fondest memories flying as a SAC in the belly of this beast, the Blackburn Beverley C1 under 30 Squadron of Transport Command. The man himself, aged just 20 at the time, and a fine example of the fighting fit airmen of the Royal Air Force.....shame the memo was lost in the post on this particular day at RAF Sharjah, just before the Beverley crew was kicked off the airstrip by the base commander for being a "group of scruffy looking airmen." or so the story goes. _20190707_173651 There are other pictures of the billets and R&R around M.Hurraq and Sharjah and even a few of what the now Bahrain F1 circuit used to look like in 1965 before oil was found and turned into the metropolis it is today, Anyways, to the kit itself.. Not a bad kit, though I wish they could have made it a larger scale..even at 1/144 it is still fairly sizable IMG-20190711-WA0013 Everything comes in one sealed packet IMG-20190711-WA0022 8 sprus in total including 1 for clear parts. IMG-20190711-WA0017 Detailing is pretty good, especially for the internal load bay, but there is A LOT of flashing from the mould. this is probably the worst of the lot, but most parts will need significant cleaning prior to building. The PS is heavy weight and feels pretty solid too. IMG-20190711-WA0014 The windows for both sides of the tail boom are not present and only represented but recessed lines - these will need to be drilled out and Micro Kristal Klear used to formulate windows toward the end of the build. IMG-20190711-WA0015 It's the same for the load bay windows too. IMG-20190711-WA0016 Some photo etch parts for additional detailing for the freight bay doors and aerial sections, also masks for the cockpit windows too. IMG-20190711-WA0018 The decal sheet is pretty decent with several options for Beverley squadrons IMG-20190711-WA0019 I will be opting for the Silver and White paint scheme of 30 Squadron or "Dirty 30" as they were known, and aircraft XM105 as it is highly likely that this is one of the aircraft my dad actually flew in. The problem is, I cannot find and decals or marking to fit the scale. XM105 had a Red diamond squadron marking on the tail boom, and also a large red A on either side of the fuselage. If anyone has any clues as to where I can potentially get these from, or who can be kind enough to provide the registration and markings for this aircraft, I would eternally grateful. These aircraft hold a very special place with my dad's term of service, and I would like to do him proud with an as accurate build as I can. First one the build will be to drill out the windows. As always, thoughts and pointers welcomed.
  2. Last minute entry from me. I'm hoping it shouldn't be too much trouble as the kit is missing decals. But I've gotten from a reliable source that they sometimes went out w/o any markings on them...so we'll go with that. k 1:350 Mikr Mir Sturgeon Class (short hull) Nuclear Attack Sub Now off to get the rental car so I can get to work this week, then I'll see if I can get this one knocked out.
  3. Mikr mir 1/48 provost T1 Very nice kit, but it needs alot of care, every part needs cleaning up, treated the wings like a vacform and sanded flat. Detailed the cockpit, the etched instrument panel and shroud don't fit, needed some 'hacking about' to fit!! painted with xtracrylix and vallajo, had problems with my airbrush so i had to repaint it. Will get another one, will rescribe it, as alot of the panel lines are in the wrong place. thanks for looking
  4. CSS H.L. Hunley Mikr Mir 1:35 The H. L. Hunley was a submarine of the Confederate States of America that played a small part in the American Civil War. The Hunley demonstrated the advantages and the dangers of undersea warfare. She was the first combat submarine to sink a warship, although the Hunley was not completely submerged and, following her successful attack, was lost along with her crew before she could return to base. The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of the Hunley during her short career. She was named for her inventor, Horace Lawson Hunley, shortly after she was taken into government service under the control of the Confederate States Army at Charleston, South Carolina. The Hunley, nearly 40 feet (12 m) long, was built at Mobile, Alabama, and launched in July 1863. She was then shipped by rail on August 12, 1863, to Charleston, South Carolina. The Hunley (then called Fish Boat) sank on August 29, 1863, during a test run, killing five members of her crew. She sank again on October 15, 1863, killing all eight of her second crew, including Horace Hunley himself, who was aboard at the time, even though he was not a member of the Confederate military. Both times the Hunley was raised and returned to service. On February 17, 1864, The Hunley attacked and sank the 1240-short ton (1124 metric tons) screw sloop USS Housatonic, which had been on Union blockade-duty in Charleston's outer harbour. Soon afterwards, the Hunley sank, killing all eight of her third crew. This time, the ship was lost. Finally located in 1995 by the NUMA dive team led by the author Clive Cussler, the wreck of the Hunley was raised in 2000 and is on display in North Charleston, South Carolina, at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center on the Cooper River. Examination, in 2012, of recovered Hunley artefacts suggests that the submarine was as close as 20 feet to her target, the Housatonic, when her deployed torpedo exploded, which eventually caused the sub's own loss. The Model Like the USS Daniel Webster kit, this one has been out for a while now, but we have only just received to for review, so please bear with us. The kit comes in the standard Mikr Mir style box, inside of which there are two hull halves, and one sprue of light grey styrene, one sprue of clear styrene, a sheet of etched brass and a stand. Before assembly can start there are quite a few holes that need to be opened up on both halves of the hull. These holes are filled with clear portholes before the hull halves are joined together. The clear entrance hatches are fitted, one to each of the small towers, followed by the two triangular panels which are fitted in front of each tower. Behind the forward tower there is a box like structure with two tubes attached and at the very bow, near the keel the lower torpedo arm attachment point is fitted. The two hatches are fitted with separate hinges which require a length of stretched sprue to act as the hinge rod. There is a large dive vane attached to either side of the hull adjacent to the foreward tower, whilst a smaller vane is fitted just forward of the larger vane. Right aft, the propeller is attached, followed by the protective ring and rudder, along with their associated support and control rods. Moving forward the long arms of the “torpedo” carrying structure are attached, followed by the four piece “torpedo” and, lastly, the spike that attached the “torpedo” to the targets hull. Conclusion It’s about time a decent sized model of this important craft has been released. Being the first to have sunk an enemy warship it is surprising that it has taken so long, but to have it in 1:35 scale is great, as it’s only a small vessel. The moulding on the kit is nicely done especially for a limited run kit and will make an interesting model in anyone's collection. Review sample courtesy of
  5. HMS M1 Mikr Mir 1:350 HMS M1 was a submarine of the British Royal Navy, one of four vessels of her class ordered towards the end of the First World War. She sank with the loss of her entire crew in 1925. The vessels were originally intended as "submarine monitors", but their purpose had been changed before detailed design began. M1 was fitted with a 12-inch (305mm) gun which was intended for use against surface ships in preference to torpedoes, the argument being that, "No case is known of a ship-of-war being torpedoed when under way at a range outside of 1000 yards". Although the gun had an effective range of 15,000 yards (14 km), it was normally fired using a simple bead sight at periscope depth with only the barrel above the water. It was important for the submarine's gun to sink or disable the target with the first shot, because the gun could only be loaded on the surface. She was 295 feet 9 inches (90.14 m) long, displaced 1,950 long tons (1,980 t) submerged and operated out of Portsmouth. She was launched on 9 July 1917, but was not involved in active service in the First World War. In 1923, water leaking into the barrel of the gun resulted in extensive damage to the muzzle when it was fired. She sank with all 69 hands on 12 November 1925 while on an exercise in the English Channel. A Swedish ship, SS Vidar, struck the submerged M1 and sank her in 70 m of water. The collision tore the gun from the hull and water flooded the interior through the open loading hole. The crew members appear to have tried to escape by flooding the interior and opening the escape hatch, but their bodies were never found. Her wreck was discovered by a diving team led by Innes McCartney in 1999 at a depth of 73 m. Later that year, the wreck was visited again by Richard Larn and a BBC TV documentary crew, and the resulting film was broadcast in March 2000. The wreck is designated as a protected place under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986. The Model Consisting of two hull halves and a single sprue of light grey styrene and quite a large sheet of etched brass, the kit is contained in the standard, colourful Mikr Mir box. As with most submarine kits, there aren’t a lot of parts and shouldn’t take too long to build. The difference with this kit is that there are quite a few PE parts which, whilst adding to the detail, will slow the build down, especially for those not used to working with brass. The build begins with the assembly of the turret from two halves into which the two part gun barrel is fitted. The two control tower halves are then joined together and fitted with the periscope deck, along with two periscopes and three aerials, whilst alongside each side is a faired projection. The two hull halves are joined together and the completed tower assembly glued into the slot in the main deck, which has obviously been made so that HMS M2 can be made from the same hull moulds. The propeller shafts, complete with A frame supports are glued into position, along with the two PE propellers and plastic bosses. The front and rear dive planes are attached and each fitted with two PE support frames. The single 3” gun is fitted to the upper deck aft of the tower, one the PE decking has been glued into place, as well as gun mounting base and two support frames to the front and rear of the pedestal. The tower is then further detailed with PE handrails all round and a strake on the starboard side. Lastly the two PE keel strakes are fitted to the lower hull. Conclusion Whilst HMS M1 has been released before in 1:350 by ROP os, although in resin, it’s nice to have options when choosing a kit and this one will probably be more inclusive, for those modellers who don’t like resin, and it is certainly cheaper. Be aware that this is a limited run kit so won’t throw itself together, but it does build into a nice looking model, one that any submarine or maritime fan will proud to have in their collection. Review sample courtesy of
  6. The Turtle Mikr Mir 1:35 The Turtle (also called the American Turtle) was the world's first submersible with a documented record of use in combat. In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe’s flagship Eagle in New York Harbor. It was the first use of a submarine in warfare. David Bushnell, an American inventor, began building underwater mines while a student at Yale University. Deciding that a submarine would be the best means of delivering his mines in warfare, he built an eight-foot-long wooden submersible that was christened the Turtle for its shape. Large enough to accommodate one operator, the submarine was entirely hand-powered. Lead ballast kept the craft balanced. Donated to the Patriot cause after the outbreak of war with Britain in 1775, Ezra Lee piloted the craft unnoticed out to the 64-gun HMS Eagle in New York Harbor on September 7, 1776. As Lee worked to anchor a time bomb to the hull, he could see British seamen on the deck above, but they failed to notice the strange craft below the surface. Lee had almost secured the bomb when his boring tools failed to penetrate a layer of iron sheathing. He retreated, and the bomb exploded nearby, causing no harm to either the Eagle or the Turtle. During the next week, the Turtle made several more attempts to sink British ships on the Hudson River, but each time it failed, owing to the operator’s lack of skill. Only Bushnell was really able to competently execute the submarine’s complicated functions, but because of his physical frailty he was unable to pilot the Turtle in any of its combat missions. During the Battle of Fort Lee, the Turtle was lost when the American sloop transporting it was sunk by the British. Despite the failures of the Turtle, General George Washington gave Bushnell a commission as an Army engineer, and the drifting mines he constructed destroyed the British frigate Cerberus and wreaked havoc against other British ships. After the war, he became commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stationed at West Point. The Model As with the other kits reviewed recently, this one has been out for short while now and it has to be one of the strangest little kits I’ve come across in quite a while. The standard Mikr Mir box, (although somewhat smaller than most), contains a single sprue of clear styrene and one of light grey, along with a sheet of etched brass. Strangely enough, the main body of the submersible is in clear, which begs the question, “WHY”, when there is nothing to go inside, no interior at all. Still, it will give the scratch builders something to do in the winter months. With the two halves joined together it’s just a matter of fitting the clear hatch ring and hatch into place, and gluing the PE window frames into position. The explosive charge box is made from two halves and glued to what can be called the rear of the oval body, by the fact that the rudder is placed there as well. The normal styrene base is then fitted along with the top mounted air tubes drill upper propeller shaft and the front mounted propeller shaft, each of which are fitted with PE propellers. There is a small guard that goes around the rudder and that’s it, done, just a matter of painting to finish it off. Conclusion What a strange little submersible this si, but it must be remembered that it was the first to actually be used in action, albeit ineffectively. The clear body does give the opportunity to custom build your own interior, and there is quite a bit of information and pictures of this on the internet to help the scratch builder out. Whatever you do with the kit, it will make for a talking point within your collection, just a good job it was done in 1:35 rather than anything smaller. Review sample courtesy of
  7. Blackburn Beverley C.1 Mikr Mir 1:144 Designed and built by General Aircraft as the GAL.60 Universal Freighter, the first aircraft was built, then dismantled at the Feltham, Middlesex factory and transported to Brough in Yorkshire to have its maiden flight on 20 June 1950. This was followed by a second, the GAL.65, which was modified from the original. Clamshell doors replaced a combination of a door and ramp, and the tailplane boom received seating for 36 passengers. The Bristol Hercules engines became Bristol Centaurus with reverse-pitch propellers, a feature that gave it a short landing length and the ability to reverse under its own power. The takeoff run at full load was given as 790 yards, the landing run at full load, 310 yards. The RAF placed an order in 1952 as the Beverley C.1 (Beverley, Cargo Mark 1). All 49 Beverley aircraft would be built at Brough, with the last one being manufactured in 1958, and final retirement from RAF service was in 1967. The aircraft was a high-wing cantilever monoplane with a fixed undercarriage. The large fuselage had a tail boom fitted with a tailplane with twin fins. The tail boom allowed access to the rear of the fuselage through removable clamshell doors. A 36 ft (11 m) main fuselage space was supplemented by passenger accommodation in the tail boom. The main cargo hold could accommodate 94 troops, with another 36 in the tail boom. In operation, it was regarded as "ungainly but highly effective" and was described by Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Freer as "like something out of the Ark, but it was a superb supply dropper”. A device called an Elephant's Foot could be fitted under the centre of the fuselage just forward of the clamshell doors when it was in use. The foot was held in place by pins inserted through a triangular arrangement of attachment points on the fuselage and was fitted during loading to prevent the Beverley from tipping over when heavy items were loaded into the freight bay. The aircraft was designed for carrying large bulk loads and landing on rough or imperfect runways, or mere dirt strips. It could trace its design back to the GAL49 Hamilcar glider of the Second World War. When it entered service it was the largest aircraft in the Royal Air Force (RAF). It had a large interior cargo area split into two levels which amounted to around 6,003 ft³ (170 m³) of space. Paratroopers in the upper passenger area jumped through a hatch in the base of the boom just in front of the leading edge of the tailplane. Paratroopers in the main body exited through side doors. The Beverley was equipped with toilets, which were situated in the tail beyond the paratrooper hatch located on the floor of the tail boom. One fatality was caused by a serviceman who fell twenty feet to the ground when exiting the toilet, unaware that the paratrooper hatch had been opened. Modifications were made to prevent the toilet doors from being opened when the paratroops hatch was open. The Model This is the first injection moulded kit of the Blackburn Beverley, the other releases being either resin or vacform. As such it is very welcome, as whilst the aircraft wasn’t built in any great numbers, it was an important type for the RAF in the tactical transport role. The kit comes in the standard style of box that Mikr Mir use, inside of which there are seven sprues of light grey styrene, one of clear styrene, a small sheet of etched brass and quite a large decal sheet. Whilst there is quite a bit of flash around the sprues, there isn’t that much on the parts themselves, but this is expected due to the short run nature of the moulds. The parts themselves appear to have been moulded very well with no sign of other defects such as sink marks or short shoot parts and the detail is really rather nice at this scale. Construction begins with the cockpit, naturally, and the fitting of the centre console to the cockpit floor, followed by the instrument panel, two seats, the control yokes, and the rear bulkhead. The cockpit assembly is then glued into one half of the fuselage, whilst to air intakes are assembled and put to one side to dry. The cargo floor is then glued into the same half of fuselage, and the two rear doors fitted with PE parachute door cards, on the inner skins. If you wish, the two clamshell doors can be left off and two deflectors fitted in their place, for use in parachute drops. Each engine nacelle is made up from two halves, as are the cowlings, with the engine face fitted between the halves the air intakes are fitted and the propellers, each of three parts glued to the crankcase cover. The upper and lower wing panels are glued together and the engine/nacelle assemblies attached. The wings are then fitted to the fuselage, as is the tail boom lower panel, which incorporates detail within the clam shell door area. The tail assembly is then built up from a single upper section, two lower sections and two, two part vertical tails. The completed assembly is then glued into position. The main undercarriage is assembled with the main faired oleo fitted, to which the horizontal support is attached, with four single piece wheels. The nose wheel is a simple oleo to which two wheels are attached. The clear parts that make up the cockpit canopy and navigators window are now fitted, as are the large air intakes on the fuselage roof and under the tailplane, as well as several aerials and the sighting blister. More aerials are added, this time made of PE, and the instructions show their positioning very clearly. The main and nose undercarriage units are glued into position ensuring that all wheels are touching the ground, and to finish the build off the PE paracord deflector rails are attached to the rear fuselage. Decals The main decal sheet includes all the standard markings required for one aircraft, but individual serials etc for four aircraft. The decals are nicely printed with thin carrier film, good density and opaqueness. There is a smaller secondary sheet which I cannot find a use of as they're not mentioned in the instructions. The aircraft included are:- Blackburn Beverley C.1 of No.47 Sqn, 1962 Blackburn Beverley C.1 of No.30 Sqn, 1967 Blackburn Beverley C.1 of No.84 Sqn , Yemen, June 1967 Blackburn Beverley C.1 of the Royal Aircraft Establishment 1973 Conclusion There’s something about the Beverley that is uniquely British, and it’s always been a plane that I have been keen on, ever since I saw the one that used to be outside the RAF Museum at Hendon. It’s great to have one in injected moulded plastic, and even in this small scale it will look very nice amongst the model collection. Now, who’s going to do one in 1:72 injection moulded? Review sample courtesy of
  8. This is the 1/72 Moskalyev Cam 23 by Mikr Mir. The WIP thread is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234963754-moskalyev-cam-23-finished/. This is a prototype aircraft that was used to develop a very crude type of terrain following system. Some inventive soul that knew nothing about flying decided on a novel way to create a terrain hugging aircraft. Here is a picture of the box art depicting it in the terrain following mode. So, the idea is have the tail wheel do double duty as a tail wheel and as the means to determine the terrain below the plane. The tail wheel would be extended down the length of the aircraft and through a series of levers would automatically control the elevators up and down as the tail wheel rolled on the ground beneath the aircraft. Three immediate concerns should have hit the designer in the face: 1. Hopefully the terrain the plane is to follow does not have any dips or peaks higher or lower than the length of the plane; 2. The assumption is the plane will only fly where there are no obstacles that stick out of the ground, like fences, trees, bushes, buildings; and 3. Having a pilot fly for any length of time about 20 feet off of the ground without crashing seems a bit demanding of the pilot. Luckily for the Russians, this plane never went into production. Perhaps the designer of the plane was a German trying to help the war effort! The kit is a fairly straight forward, short run kit. There is very little flash and the parts fit together semi-okay. I gave up on using the plastic parts to create the tail wheel assembly as it fits to the nose and just used wire instead. The detail on the little engine cylinders was fantastic. But, there was not any reference to an exhaust system or parts. Again, some wire was used to simulate (poorly) the exhaust pipes for each cylinder. It is a very small plane and the parts are delicate. I really didn’t have any problem with this kit and enjoyed it greatly. If you have an interest in very weird aircraft, I would recommend this kit in a heartbeat. And here it is home with some other Russian buddies. As always, all comments welcome.
  9. While searching through my business storage unit I discovered (re-discovered?) this kit. (Yes I know I have a stash at my home, a stash at my business and the secret one that even SWMBO doesn’t know about at my business storage unit. I have a problem.) It is from Mikr Mir, a Russian company. The model is of a prototype from Moskalyev designated Cam-23. There is an absolute dearth of knowledge about this plane on the internet. From the little information I have found, it seems this was a proposed ground attack/support aircraft with a unique twist. The rear wheel was on a long arm running the length of the fuselage. In flight, it was extended down to the ground and the concept was it would be a crude terrain following device. Somehow a secondary arm attached to the main arm was directly linked to the elevator. When the wheel rolling on the ground compressed as the terrain changed upward, it would cause the elevator to automatically adjust the plane’s height to keep it at a constant ground hugging level. Believe it or not, this really didn’t get past the prototype stage; go figure. The first obstacle to this concept working is once the plane begins to climb, what brings it back down to the correct level when the terrain dips back down? Second, since this is a really small aircraft, the arm couldn’t have been longer than 20 feet. This doesn’t give a lot of reaction time to climb out of harm’s way. If the plane had gone into production, I think it would have helped the German war effort immensely. You have to wonder how this ever got further than a drawing board concept as someone, with a bit of sense, should have said no way this is going to work. Anyway, I found this kit staring at me, it looked really simple, and I thought I could work on it as I wait for various things to dry on my Neptune build. The parts count is not high. And the instructions are not exactly rocket science; that, and they are entirely in Russian. Looks like this will be a build strictly based on pictures and diagrams. I started off by painting parts while still on the sprues. Then it is off to build the tiny little cockpit. It looks like it consists of a floor, rear bulkhead, seat, instrument panel, control stick and rudder pedals. I started off with the seat. My initial thought with this kit was to detail it as much as possible as I have been shamed (maybe a bit too harsh there) by some nameless people (Nigel, Hendie, Vanja, Duncan) into being more aggressive in scratchbuilding than OOB. So I started with the seat and began to drill out the lightening holes. I then painted it a dull metal colour. My reasoning was this being a prototype, not a whole lot of effort would go to make sure the interior was protected from use, abuse and the elements. I also added some homemade seat belts from masking tape. Using the premise pilot safety probably not high on the list for this aircraft (look at the concept!!) and Russian, I just did seat belts and not a harness. Here is where I ran into trouble. I cannot even find a picture on the web for this plane, other than this kit’s box art. So my project of detailing the interior went nowhere as I couldn’t find a single reference picture for it. Back to OOB. I assembled all of the cockpit parts and placed them in the starboard fuselage. I buttoned up the fuselage and not a whole lot is visible of the small amount of work I did do. While I waited for the fuselage halves to dry, I started work on the engine cylinders. I thought I should put a bit of effort into them as they are exposed on the kit. I have never built a Mikr Mir kit before, but I must say on their engine parts, the molds are just superb. I am most impressed by the amount of detail they have been able to put in these small parts. For frame of reference as to the cylinder size, here is a photo of one of the cylinders next to the tip of a scalpel blade. Just really is amazing. The wings were built up next, along with the engine housing that goes on top of the fuselage. I then affixed the wings to the fuselage. There was a bit of sanding, scraping on both the wing mating surfaces and the fuselage mating surface to make these two fit together. Once the wings and fuselage were joined the engine housing was placed on top of the fuselage. This really is a very tiny aircraft. It is almost the same as putting a 1/144 kit together. In the next picture, I have borrowed a propeller blade from my Neptune build (also 1/72) to show exactly how small this plane is. The next step is attaching the pylons from the wing to the tail and making sure they are parallel and level. The elevator is then attached with the tail fin waiting its turn. The tail fin is in two pieces; a ¾ piece that fits on top of the elevator and extends down and a second piece comprising the rest of the lower elevator. These two pieces did not match in size at all. So, going by the diagram in the instructions, the lower piece was trimmed to fit the size of the upper piece. And finally, the landing gear struts were attached to the fuselage. This is a good stopping point for this kit. I will let everything set and harden as the kit is extremely fragile due to its size and the delicate rear pylons. In fact, the plastic pieces are so thin I switched from styrene cement to superglue when I started working on the pylons and rear section. I was afraid the plastic was not thick enough to withstand the dissolving qualities of styrene glue. The next step will be to paint the two tone camouflage scheme. If the cylinders are installed prior to this, it will be a nightmare to mask and all of them would be knocked off during the paint process. This will also give me time to try to devise some sort of exhaust system for this plane. All comments always welcome.
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