Aircraft Content

Wonderful work, it looks fantastic.

What a wonderful Sea Fury!!!

Herr Barett, Your photo was probably Bf 109G-6/trop WNr.16603, Stammkennzeichen: “KV+GY” It was lost 21.May 1943 at Decimomanu, Sardinia with Uffz. Wilhelm Flug of the 5./JG 51, who was killed in a crash due to altitude sickness. GRM "Ich bin kein ‘Experte,' nur Historiker.”

Great build and fascinating markings, I love it.

Very nicely done, it looks fantastic!

Is the only external difference on the P-47C and the early D's the number of flaps that the cowling has and the shape of the external antenna atop the fuselage ? Robert

Super job. Chris.

Thanks, but he's closed to commissions until the summer. Appreciate the tip, although I'm not on Facebook Thanks Tim, getting closer! Nothing in 1/72, but not far off for 1/144. Cheers for that.

Gosh, bad times! Hope everyone gets better. Hang on in there. Regards, Adrian

Yes, some sturmbock 190s had the 131 MGs removed and the gun troughs covered. A weight saving measure it seems, focusing only the heavier wing cannons wich had devastating effects on close range shooting

I went back and reread the pilot notes and of course you are absolutely correct. Thanks for the correction!

Underwing blue/red roundels confirmed under the wings on XZ451/006. Source reference: the late R L “Dick” Ward on the carrier’s return in 1982.

Hi all, The fuselage is close to being closed up now. The engine is complete apart from some weathering and controls that will be fitted. The fuselage still needs the pilots machine gun to be fitted. Mike

Junglierating - I didn't forget the clipboard, The Wildcat actually has a special cubby hole for it and Maps etc at the back end of the centre instrument console (Handy studying photos of the real thing) So here it is, complete with scratch built tiny bulldog clip. DSCF4458 by Mark Stevens, on Flickr Mark

Thank you @mackem01 very kind. Thanks @mullac2001. The main issues are with the seams around the intakes.......and the kit would really benefit from a bulkhead behind the front seats. Plenty other (more competent) builds on BM. I've enjoyed making this if I'm honest, as I really wanted a Granby Tonka. When Airfix release their 1/48 Buccaneer S.2B I'll be first in line (pink of course!) If you have the Eduard Desert Babe boxing then the plastic will be near-identical, but probably with better transfers. Regards. Q

Looks great!

We called it the Mattel Messerschmidt. Or, the Orange with a pencil stuck in it. But when it was time to solo, it suddenly got huge! Everything was direct linkage so it could be a handful to fly.

I just love your collection! I wish I had more of my old models on my shelves. Cheers, Antti

Great progress Brian , the modifications are looking good as are the Vacform turretry. Chris

Beautiful amphibious plane and good start. I seem to remember that the first time I saw him was at the movie Tobruk (1967). Andrés.

If by 'lighthouse' you mean the thing that looks like the canopy (strange to say that of an unmanned aircraft), I don't see any transparancy in the few photos that I found. In the photo above I see 'something', but it could also be a reflection (radio telescope ?). I don't see that shape in any other photo. And now that we're discussing that 'canopy', maybe they flew a manned version first? Or at least considered it? I don't understand the extremely limited amount of information about this aircraft. It suggests to me it was a big failure.. Still want to model it though Rob

Yes, I found that, too. From the placement on that, it looks as if they would be further inboard on the FB Mk.VI Chris

I've started a 'work in progress' for the Goose build ... RCAF Goose build

Good evening mates, As I said , these built were started some time ago, so I’ll try to remember as much as I can how things went. The original plan was to proceed in parallel with all builds, so to compare step by step the progress on the each kit, but unfortunately the Marcel Bloch 152 wasn’t available at the same time, thus I started the other three and later I took care of it. I started with the Hawk. The interior is quite detailed, but a bit rough. Even those parts as the bulkhead and the floor are a bit…distorted and to get a good fit some filing is needed . Here I've cut the rudder off. I'll re-position it slightly angled to one side. Marabu design PE fret provides some nice additions to the cockpit, like a bulkhead with relevant…headrest, the side electrical boxes, a nice seat , throttle box and levers. I won’t use the instrument panel as I’ve got the pre-painted one by Yahuu. Once the fuselage halves are glued together, not much will be seen, thus to me it’s more than enough and next step will be painting. The landing gears’ wells are really poor representation, some sort of….cups. In the picture below I’ve also cut the ailerons and glued them slightly offset. Marabu Design PE fret provides main wheel-wells. The wings top halves are quite thick and two square recesses must be grinded on the interior, to house the photoetched wells. Interior detail for the bulges housing the landing gears’ legs. Once painted they’ll look great…and will never be seen again!!! Elevators were cut off the the tail planes. I’ll re-position them angled down (…or up!) Due to the angled shape of the dividing line, in order to create the recesses for the hinges, I sacrificed the hinges and glued some plastic bits which I’ll shape to pair the recesses on the tail planes. Next is the Morane Saulnier 406. I’ll deal with it in my next post. Ciao Massimo

Hopefully a very simple question: are there any obvious differences between the cockpit and instrument panels of an early Tornado F3 and a late model aircraft ?