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Wow, great looking beastie, I love the sheen you get on these cars. Shame about the canard but maybe it's "battle damage".

Here is my take on the Trumpeter 1/144 maritime strike version of the Badger bomber - the Tu-16K-10 Badger C. This one resided a long time on the shelf of doom after an equally long time lying in the stash. I moved it along then mucked up the spray painting and it was only recently I realized I could get it across the line without too much more effort. The kit is not bad - you can see it here on Scalemates - and it seems to include the parts you'd need to make the straight bomber version. This one of course is the anti-shipping version, with the glazed nose replaced by a big radar and the bombs switched out for huge missiles. The kit includes a single AS-2 Kipper as seen here, as well as two AS-6 Kingfish which can go on underwing pylons. Theoretically it could supposedly carry all three but I wonder if it could even make the 12 mile limit with such a heavy load. Other reviews of this kit state that the AS-2 would have been carried semi-recessed in the fuselage. I found this video, though, which clearly shows the missile mounted on a pylon like you see here, with just the tail hidden away. So that's how I did it. The Badger in its original form was a contemporary of the USAF B-4 Stratojet - the Tu-16 was introduced in 1954 after the B-47 arrived in 1951. They were basically the same size and had essentially the same mission - drop a nuke on the other guy. The B-47 didn't last long in US service mainly because the even better B-52 came along, although B-47s were used in bomber and recon roles into the 1960s. The B-47 never flew for anyone else, despite being offered to the RAAF as a temporary fix for the delayed F-111Cs (the RAAF took F-4Es instead). The Tu-16 on the other hand is still in service - with the PRC military in its licence-built (and modified) H-6 guise - and was exported to several countries. No-one other than China uses it today. So for fun, here it is next to my RB-47 - they really are almost exactly the same size: And here it is with the aircraft that would at least partly replace it in the maritime strike role - the Tu-22M Backfire. This model is one of the oldest in my collection, built in maybe 1992. It's the old and not-really-ever-used Backfire A development version. In the last shot you can see the size difference between the AS-2 on the Badger and the later AS-6 (or is it an AS-4?) on the Tu-22M. This was a fun kit to build despite the long time it spent on the shelf of doom. It fits well, seems at least superficially accurate to me, and the only tricky bit was the way the front and rear fuselage are split so you have a join just behind the wings. Even in Autumn, the harsh Aussie sun does my models no favours, but I think this one turned out ok. Thanks for looking!

When I was younger I was definitely more of an early mark fan, but I've gained a wisdom in my early 30's that says "that low backed griffon looks FIERCE!". And in all honesty, if I had the money (or they made model kits free!) I'd have one Spit in every mark, plus a few extras for multiple schemes, of course..

Forgive me if you've shared your thoughts on this kit earlier, but I'm looking to make one as a target tug (the bumble bee look, of course!). Would you recommend this kit? My experience level is high enough to know how everything in an aircraft of 1939-1945 should fit and work, but not quite high enough to do extensive surgery on the kit if it doesn't. My usual catchphrase while building is, "good enough"!

What a beautiful aircraft, I'll enjoy the factory fresh look while it lasts but can't wait to see what a few ops will do to her!

The T-6 Harvard would fit well within the Airfix range to trainers in 1/72 & 1/48. Airfix own 1/72 tooling is old and needs replacing, the Heller tooling has been released by Revell - but they could also make a new kit. + Used by many airforces including RAF, RCAF, USAAF, USN, RNoAF and Luftwaffe. + Multiple variants and markings options possible. + Aircraft for scanning / documentation easily available. - Difficult to keep variants apart. - Not in the current news. - Not a fighter or bomber - unless counting the COIN work.

Lovely model of an unfamiliar type. Great photos too!

Thanks Johnny, I need to get some brass paint to finish up the gun bays. I come off night shift Tuesday morning, and will have a couple days off. Think I've got a plan for the kits. The mark 1 Spit should go together fairly easy, and seems to have plenty of space to try some scratch building. The mark IV kit should provide pieces to trace out patterns and make some parts. The mark 1 kit is nowhere near the quality of other kits, but will still make a decent build. The weather is getting nice here as well. Yard projects are on the top of priorities to get going. The Haunted Hurricane, could make a good story.

Controlled chaos... (barely) A quick post for those who said my workspace was too tidy... Oh, I finally did get one of the cats removed from the ceiling, took a sawzall and lots of catnip... And yes, Chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookies taste better with a little bit of sovlent, glue and paint on them. Seat belts... lotsa parts. (Glare area of the blue mat is hiding them all nicely) And yes, there is a Hula girl in the picture who is in dire need of refurbishing before she goes into my new car. Had to buy it, the Xterra died a slow painful and (too expensive for me to continue fixing it for the umpteenth time) death...

Hope the build works out for you and you enjoy the process. I had a build started before my dad's death and haven't returned to it. As an irrelevant aside, whoever did that boxart had a little too much sake during working hours.

Wow! Sensational detailing and awesome finish! Thanks for sharing!

I think that is the whole of it. We learn, we grow, we get better with each build. And hopefully, through it all, we enjoy.

I recently picked this kit up on eBay for about half its retail price (because nobody else bid on it!): Quite a nice looking little resin kit. There are two schemes in the box - the USAF one isn't suitable as it's a later ANG scheme, but the other (with a grand total of 6 decals) is an Air America aircraft that did secret stuff for the CIA in Vietnam and Laos. An alternative option would be to scrape together the decals for a camouflaged USAF special ops aircraft, but I think it's going to be the natural metal Air America option. I've made a start - not got far, just added the door, cabin floor and bulkhead, and the inserts for the rear windows, one of which turned out to be way too fragile to withstand my efforts to blend it in (but I have a fix for that planned): Next step will be to add the side windows using clear UV resin - just waiting for the sun to come out (tomorrow's forecast is good) and give me a good UV source to cure it. more soon Julian

What a beast! Awesome finish and great photography!

Thanks, Wlad, much appreciated! Last year, a clerk at the hobby shop said, "We all have a Matchbox Norseman we don't want to build"... but the old Matchbox kit has plenty of potential . I learned a lot (I hope!). I may do the underwing #s if I can collect up another bunch of masks to cut for other builds. Otherwise it's not worth the trip to the library fabrication studio.

Ok lets get going with build #2 and like the other one I was able to get heaps done on her. I haven’t built an Academy Phantom before but have heard good things about these models and so far I have to agree. Again the night before the build I went through this model and removed all the extra bits not required for the build, and there is a lot of extra bits!!! As with the Tamiya model, first was the cockpit. This again is a Quinta Studio set, but this one came with replacement 3D bits as well. It turned out quite nice too, though the rear cockpit is a bit different to the Tamiya one, but all closed up it’s a vast improvement to the kit one. The Mk. H5 seats before painting, they are really nicely printed.... ... and after along with the later Mk. H7 seats. Wings altogether.... ...along with other bits. The only stores will be the BRU’s (with 6 bombs ea) on the outer pylons, a centre drop tank and for Sparrows, which is per the photos of these aircraft. New exhausts paints and intakes fitted, added some packing on the ends of the intakes for more support....... ......then closed up the fuselage. Really impressed with the overall fit of the parts, little if any filler will be needed. I gave the fuselage a going over with panel wash before I started, just to help with the surface detail as it was quite faint in quite a few places. I’ll do some pre-painting of the fuselage before I fit the intakes, so as to get a better finish. So far this model is living up to everything I have read about it. A way better model than the Hasegawa Phantom, and really not that far behind the Tamiya model fit wise, which is a great compliment. As mentioned with the other build, I’ll be away with work until next weekend so the Dust Bunnies will probably make a nest in her!

Fantastic build! Glad you placed the Me-109 next to it as it gives you a sense of just how big it is. Well done.

This might be my favourite 80s song: and then there's Furniture, who might have been Joy Division fans: which takes me back to this, which just makes the cut (March 1980): and then, of course, to this:

I hadn't signed up for this one because I didn't think there was anything in the stash that counted, but of course there is. There are a few pretty ancient vacforms - a few Maintrack Project-X kits, an Airmodel R4D-8/C-117D Super Dakota, and an Aeroclub Vickers Varsity - plus an Otaki Super Guppy that I recently came across. All of which will 'require some modelling skills' to varying degrees, so it will very much depend on my frame of mind when the GB starts!

Here is my Platz/Nunu 1/24 BMW M6 GT3, finished sometime last year. It's built to represent the car driven by Matias Henkola, Kazunori Yamauchi, Max Sandritter, and George Richardson at the 2016 Nürburgring 24 Hours. I used the Platz/Nunu detail-up parts set, painted the body with Zero Paints, and used S.K. Decals for the livery. The decals performed flawlessly except for the metallic stripes, which didn't want to settle down no matter what setting solutions I threw at them. As I always do with these GT3 cars, I sprayed several coats of Tamiya LP-9 gloss clear over the decals, then sanded that back until the carrier film wasn't visible. After that, I gave it a final coat of Tamiya LP-23 flat clear, which isn't really flat, but produces more of a satin finish that looks just right for these cars in my opinion. After looking at the photos, I noticed that one of the photo-etched canards had broken off. I have no idea when this happened or where it went, unfortunately. It's probably been long since vacuumed up! Questions, comments, and especially critiques are most welcome. -Justin

That will be very handy! Roundels/Insignia mostly easy though some squadrons, well, did what they wanted regs be damned, there just wasn't enough paint. Color schemes to say the least are a major pain in the keister even on a good day. Toss into this as you aptly pointed out are the "faded" variants to add to the fun.

Thanks Chris... For that beverage, trust me.... A fine White triple Chimay Thanks John !! Me too !! Be a nice guy... Don't be a CC.... Don't run to your LHS to buy this fine Royal box.... Thanks Alistair, Very kind from you... I wish to thank you all Guys, even if I didn't show it too much, these last weeks were very difficult for me.... BM and my kits were really helpful in stoping me to think about this damn analysis... Well, You know too well what could have happened in CC castle.... I was wondering about the other P-40 in the stash.... I get in the attic aaaand.... Tatzaaaam.... When I opened the boxes, I saw that I already dtarted these 2 long time ago... Wings... Just fine On the left, the Arii ones, A bit of detailing is necessary.... Size is fine too and I will cheat a bit for the cockpit of the Arii one, ( the above one) Eduard fuselage over the Arii one.... The bump on the engine cowling is a bit too high but that will be easily corrected... Yep Hasegawa San, you got me once with your cut out fuselage, but Mr Kitty Hawk did far worst, I must admit... So, I glued it right now... To make a long story short... There are now 8 Warhawks on trhis thread.... Don't tempt, I can do more... NOW, I'm a it @Pete in Lincs Sincerely. CC

Who watches the idiot box these days anyhow?

Do you have a laundry with a clothes dryer. If so put the intake in a plastic bag to protect from lint and dust. Then place the bag near the clothes dryer

Looks great Neil, cracking paint and weathering, great work Chris