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Just completed a double build of a couple of Tamiya 1/48 P-51's. For Lt. Francis W. Horne's mount, Snoot's Sniper, I used the kit (Cartograph) decals that came with the 'Blue Nose' special edition boxing. For The Millie G, flown by Major Edward Giller, I have used the Barracudacals decals for 44-14985, the first of the two Millie G's to appear in this colour scheme. Construction is OOB, the seat belts are the kit decals on lead foil, the wings have been filled as per the factory and exhausts drilled out. I used Modelmaster Buffable Aluminium applied with a brush for the bare aluminium, a mix of Alclad Aluminium/Dark Aluminium for the painted aluminium and Gunze H309 for the fuselage and empennage on The Millie G to match the nose checks. First here is Snoot's Sniper as she appeared in August 1944 by which time only the under fuselage D-Day stripes remained - previously they had been applied to both lower and upper wings, and also the original canopy had by this time been replaced with a Malcolm Hood. I have found a couple of colour photos on the net...I do not know who the original owner is as they have been copied many times:- all credit to whoever is deserving of it though. I have tried to replicate the same worn but not abused finish as seen in these pictures. And now The Millie G as she appeared in summer 1944 with only the under body invasion stripes remaining and before she had a rear view mirror added. Again, I have managed to find a couple of reference photos on t'interweb, and all credits to whoever is due them. And now onto the pictures, and as with the Snoot's Sniper build I have tried to replicate the worn but not worn out look of an aircraft in the middle of a hectic operational schedule. Two thoroughly enjoyable builds, hope you enjoy the pics.

Straight form the box. 84 Squadron, Akrotiri, Cyprus 1987. XS518 made from old "scrap" decals hence the size is to big.

Hello Got the first one of the year out of the way - albeit one I started mid-December. This is the Italeri Tornado IDS, modified to GR4 standard in Operation Telic markings. I have had this kit kicking around for a while, buying it when Paragon stopped trading and I bought a set of their AM goodies 'for the stash'. I have added a NeoMega cockit; Paragon Flaps/Slats, exhausts, fin correction, weighted tyres; Revell Storm Shadows and Paragon tanks tanks - I got these off a club mate without fins, so these were scratch built. Finally a scratch built sensor pod. Finished in Humbrol enamels and Model Alliance Decals. I enjoyed the build, surprised by how small the airframe actually turned out. Thanks for looking. Ian

Hi Guys let me introduce you to “Escape from Stalingrad” its the Tamiya 1/35 scale 88mm with some alpine figures, and Resin figure Kit Flak Crew. The story is that the gun has jammed and whilst the crew attempt to fix it the 2 Russian tank crew are trying to escape the through the ruins, but have been heard by the SS patrol. Enjoy Mike

She is a big impressive looking beastie, but she's not really a dogfighter. More of an interceptor.

Six feet equals 72 inches, which is why it was never known as the "Three foot scale" Phil

Hi, You'll have to careful, if you don't remove all traces of the rivets at one sitting they will grow back! Colin @ the bottom of Africa

Hi Britmodeller, This is my version, of the Severn Class Lifeboat 'Stornoway"at its base. The ship is moored to the jetty that is able to go up and down with the tide. Taking fresh water and electricity from the pontoon facility. Weather forecast is bright, sunny and windstill. Not much to do for the "Preiser"crew. The landing platform can take the RN/RAF Wessex or Sea King for joint ops. at sea. Wessex 1/72 is under construction. Regards, Dirk, The Netherlands

Hi , this is my first armour model , i normally build aircraft models. This kit was painted with Tamiya acrylics and lightly weathered with oil paint and drybrushing . Sorry about the tracks the paint has started to flake off the vinyl , will not use them in future. Hope you like it .

Hello World. Here is my 1:48 Airfix Sea Vixen I just finished.. quite a bit of fiddling to get it finished, But I think you will agree it stands out well against the Dutch snow in the beck ground.. and there is some out of scale bird poo on the table thanks for looking

Hiya Folks, For those who have been following the contents of my (very large) cabinet, here are some Second Line Fleet Air Arm types; Skua TT- 48th scale Special Hobby kit; Roc- 48th scale Special Hobby kit; Hurricane Mk.I & Sea Hurricane Mk.Ib- 48th scale Italeri kit; Maryland, 771 NAS`s famous Bismark Hunter- 48th scale Fonderie Miniatures kit; Fulmar NF.II- 48th Warrior Models kit; Chesapeake- Acc Min 48th scale kit; Seafire Mk.Ib- 72nd CMR kit; Harvard, Academy 72nd scale kit; Defiant TT.I- Pavla 72nd scale kit; Spitfire FR.XIII- Tamiya 48th scale conv; Corsair; 72nd Tamiya kit; 48th scale Tamiya motorised kit; Traveller- 48th scale AMT kit (heavily!) converted; Barracuda- 48th scale Sierra vacuform; Beaufighter Mk.II- High Planes 72nd scale kit; Seamew- 72nd scale Sword kit; Wildcat Mk.VI- Sword 48th scale kit; Vengeance TT.IV- 48th scale AZ Model kit; Martinet; 72nd scale Pavla kit; 48th scale Magna resin kit; Mosquito B.25- Revell 48th scale kit; Baltimore- 48th scale Classic Airframes kit; Expeditor- 48th scale Battle Axe kit; Dragon Rapide- Aeroclub 48th scale vacuform; Spitfire F.XVII- CMR 72nd scale kit; Gannet T.5- Trumpeter 72nd scale kit with A2Zee wing fold; Chipmunk T.10- Aeroclub 48th scale kit; Jets; Sea Vampire T.22- Aeroclub 48th scale vacform; Meteor T.7 & TT.11- Both Aeroclub vacuforms; Phantom- 48th scale Hasegawa kit; Hunter GA.11- Revell 72nd scale kit conv; Helicopters; Hoverfly, MPM 72nd kit; Whirlwind HAS.22- Italeri 72nd scale; Wasp- Airfix 72nd scale kit converted and Modelart decals; Whirlwind HAR.9, 72nd scale Italeri with ED Models resin nose & Modelart decals; Wessex HU.5- Italeri 72nd scale; Sea King HU.5- 72nd Revell kit; Dauphan- 72nd scale Matchbox kit; Hope you like em, All the best Tony O ps- Sorry but here are a few that I forgot to post; Magna 72nd Reliant; Magna 72nd Flamingo;

- Kit-bashing that left me with a lot of unused Sukhoi parts I had no choice but to represent a graveyard........

With the snow last weekend putting paid to my travel plans, I had time to make a start on my second mosquito. The Paragon Design conversion gives the choice of two machines, a UK based machine or an Australia based machine. I have decided to model the Australian version, this requires replacement lower nacelle intakes and the four bladed propeller. Assemble fuselage with replacement bomb bay.

Absolutely stunning work. Monty

I believe the Mig 25 was developed by the USSR as a response to the proposed B-70 Valkirie hypersonic bomber. By the time the Fox Bat was opperational the B-70 had been cancelled. It could fly fast, in straight lines but as has already been said, it was no dog fighter. Its turning circle was about the same as an oil tanker's!

Neil, I was thinking about this after I posted. I **think** the Lanc had a circular hole for the turret, but the fairing around it (which carried the 'taboo' ring) might have been rivetted round it. In other words, there would be a circular plate over the turret aperture, and the area where the fairing went might have had the red dope paint. All this is conjecture and I don't KNOW. I don't want to mislead you. I like your glass-half-full analogy! The front turret looks fantastic, by the way. No it doesn't ... it's awesome! A brilliant piece of work.

Very nice work! Can you imagine flying this 'big bird'?! The cockpit's windscreen and canopy look so small. Any info about it's maneuverability? Was it as difficult as the Phantom was? Cheers Sernak

A super build.

Very nice looking Foxbat. I've got the same one on the go as well. As you say, it's not a straight forward build, but I have to say I've thoroughly enjoyed it so far. The trickiest bit to me is that rear end, especially around the exhausts. I actually ordered the Click 2 detail burners and they are a big improvement over the kit pieces. I think you've done a very respectable job there and as regard to the missles, well just because the a/c didn't have any hanging of it when it landed in Japan, doesn't mean it was never loaded with missles at any other point during it's flying career.

Great looking Fox Bat!

I love this model------takes me back to my Wattisham days 1989-1990 (& Waddington 1999-2002, when there was an F4J was sat in our Movements Hangar, sadly it was eventually scrapped )

Nice!

That's a cracking model. Really well done.

Thanks a lot guys! I am working now on really big Russian...

We are preparing two versions of the missile, in the SA72003 you´ll find camouflaged V-2, while in the SA72014 kit will be black&white prototypes. I am sure none of them you´ll find boring, pay attention to special posters that the prototypes carried between the tailfins.

My thoughts on this are that any delay can only be a good thing. Cyberhobby set the mark pretty high with their 1/72 Meteors, but then squandered it with the Sea Vixen, Venom and Kings. I hope that they have taken on board some of the criticism recieved for these kits and are going over their Bucc with a fine tooth comb to produce an outstanding kit! Fingers crossed..... Mark.

Albertz, I use a combination of dry brushing to bring out the highlights in my cockpits followed by a wash using Games Workshop water based washes. Careful application of these into the shadow areas works quite nicely and liberal application over a wide area can give it a quite dirty appearance. Mark.

Coming along,really happy how it,s turning out

Lovely looking plane. MB9T9016 by Rainbow 1984, on Flickr

Try storing 1/32 nd scale models. I think I need a new house just to accomodate them and the train set which occupies a 10x10 foot L shape signature. Monty

Last night I managed to mask and paint the green strips atop the fins Tonight I've applied the small star decals on those stripes So this is how she looks My student has finished his exams - so I should get better access to my model room

Nice work so far..

Sorry for the late answer but there is some troubles with my account, Mike is sorting them. So, French Jags ordnance 92-94: At first, I think that 94 is maybe the year we introduced the GBU 12 in our ordnance (or maybe 95-96, I am not sure) Air to Air (the easy bit!): MAGIC II, generally a single one at the extreme right (because the jag weapon systems fires the missile from the right pylon first, it is the opther side for the bombs, don't ask why, I just remind you that we build this aicraft in a joint venture with the Brits... ). And that's all. Air to ground: French dumb bombs Low drag: 125 kg DFR, SAMP 250 kg and 400kg (Qualified for Mk82, M117, never saw them loaded) High drag: 250 kg BL EU2 Clusters: BLG 66 Belouga (Mk 20 Rockeye qualified but I never saw them loaded) Antirunway: BAP 100 (parachute+rocket to penetrate concrete, loaded by 18 rounds, centerline or inboard underwing) Tactical support bomb (a french speciality, similar to BAP 100, loaded by 18 rounds, centerline or inboard underwing), used again vehicles columns... AN52 nuke (up to 93, 7th wing only) Laser guide bombs: Matra BGL 400 kg Matra BGL 1000 kg A single bomb under inboard leftt wing GBU 12 is usually loaded by pair under centerline (but around 95 only) Rockets: LRF1 (36 rounds of 68mm), up to 4 pods (144 rockets!!!) LRF2 (6x68 mm, mainly for training) LRF3 (4 rounds of 100mm, usually inboard pylons but fitted outboard for training purpose as they tend to burn the horizontal tail plans...) Some US rocket launchers (mainly used for training purpose) LAU 3/A LAU 10/A LAU 32B/A LAU 51/A Missiles: AS30L (laser), single missile under inboard right, specific pylon with nose clipped (can be scratched from the pointy pylon of the box) AS37 Martel (antiradar): single missile, centerline, mainly used by 2/11 "Vosges" squadron in 92-94 ECM Self protection: LLP5020 Alkan (chaff and flare dispenser, under wing roots) from 90 (before we had Lacroix in place of the drag chute, only 18 flares) BARAX and BARRACUDA jammers, extreme left PHIMAT, chaff dispenser, extreme right, often replce by a MAGIC II when LLP5020 were loaded Offensive ECM, specific load of 2/11 "Vosges" fighter squadron BOZ 103 jammer (inboard pylons) CT51 Calamar (inboard pylons) Recce pod: RP36P made from a regular RP36 gas bag with fins deleted, centerline Laser pod: ATLIS II, centerline, aircraft's serial number from 130 to 160 I checked the types of ordnance in the excellent book (in French) by a former french Jaguar pilot: Le felin franco-anglais en action by Alain Vezin The squadrons were assigned a primary and a secondary role: 7th wing squadrons: 1/7: nuke/BAI/strike (no laser before 96) 2/7: OCU/assault 3/7: nuke/BAI/strike (no laser before 96) 4/7: nuke/BAI/strike (no laser, disbanded in 1988, became 3/4, Mirage 2000N) 11th wing squadrons 1/11: BAI/Strike/rapid deploiement, all type of weapons 2/11: electronic warfare/strike 3/11: BAI/Strike/rapid deploiement, all type of weapons 4/11: BAI/Strike/rapid deploiement, all type of weapons (disbanded 92) I should fill an excel form... These are only the more common weapons, the jag was qualified to carry some other from the US and also "bidons speciaux" (spacial tanks aka napalm) You can google the designation, you'll find a picture of most of these items. The best way to proceed is to tell me which load you are intersted in and I'll tell you if it is OK

going to beat mine into submission this week

Major decals now applied. Detail decals later tonight

And another photo. Moved all the decalling kit out of the model room - so son can work, whiIe I give this an identity.

Here are my Eagles again. First an Airfix F-15A from about 1978. Next the Hasegawa F-15B Strike Eagle prototype in Lizard One Scheme. Same aircraft another Hasegawa F-15B which I built in 2000.

And here it is in a neighbours carport The only daylight place out of the snow.

Very impressive!

Trouble is, how would the pilot know what the 'normal operating radius' of the crane boom was? NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) would show temporary obstacles and their location with the relevant heights above mean sea level. Here's an example: Q) EGTT/QOBCE/IV/M/A/000/999/5227N00145W005 FROM: 13/01/03 07:00C) TO: 13/04/03 18:00 E) LIT MOBILE CRANE OPR 314 DEG MAG/2650M FM ARP. MAX HEIGHT 481FT AMSL.LOWERED TO 450FT AMSL IN LVP. This shows that a mobile crane, with warning light, is situated 2650m in the direction of 314 degrees from the airport reference point the NOTAM refers to; in this case it was Birmingham. I stand to be corrected, but I have never seen reference to the operating radius of the crane's boom. But as always, whenever an aircraft accident occurs, it is big news and invariably the facts are obscured by the sensationalistic reporting styles adopted by 99% of news agencies. It's really good to see that the above BM comments do not speculate and just refer to the facts or reports that are available, as bad as they are. Any number of factors could have been at play here and it is exceptionally sad that the accident and fatalities occurred at all.

As has been mentioned by one or two others, a dual drive (three axle rigid) is considered normal throughout majority of the world. single drive with twin steer is more of a european thing due to tighter turning circles etc (someone please correct me if i'm wrong with that). In the US, New Zealand and here in Australia we get upto 5 axle trucks, twin steer at the front with tri-drive at the rear, this is often used for heavy construction vehicles such as large tippers and cement mixers as well as occasionally for prime movers that specialise in heavy haulage and need to distribute the weight over a larger area. Here in Australia, it is common to see the Road Trains travelling through central Australia with single steer but tri-drive (and 3-4 trailers behind them). Anyway, back to the bus. Mate, i have to congratulate you on what is by far the most impressive model of a bus (even if it is a 'what if') that i've ever seen. I had been impatiently awaiting Revells release of the RM as i desperately wanted to build one for my grandfather as he used to drive them before our family migrated over here to Australia. Unfortunately he sadly passed away a few weeks before the kit was released so i never bothered getting one but seeing builds like yours and a few that've been made on other forums, it really does spark the imagination.

I love Beaufighters and you have done a lovely job - worth the wait!

Managed to get into the model room long enough to primer my Eagle with Humbrol 65. Artificial light photo - but looks a bit tooo green to me I'll try to get daylight photos sometime tomorrow. Oh and I mixed some blue into a tin of Humbrol 127 to blend my Air Superiority Blue.

Just got the wings and fins fitted - starting to look the biz now

A new way to check 6. But now he's looking where he's going again. As I build the plane around him.

Scramble all Eagles - immediate launch! Here's the pilot strapped into his seat and the cockpit in the upper fuselage This might be an interrupted build, my son is using the model room to revise for exams

While we're waiting, here are my earlier 72nd Eagles. FIrst an Airfix F-15A from about 1978 - may well update the decals on this one. Next the Hasegawa F-15B Strike Eagle prototype in Lizard One Scheme. I saw this aircraft at Farnborough in 1980. All bombed up in the static park during the morning, they unloaded it to fly during the afternoon. Real Viking launch with lots of fire and noise - it suffered a birdstrike on liftoff. A very tame circuit, it landed immediately, and that was the end of that display. Same aircraft another Hasegawa F-15B which I built in 2000. I saw this one at Farnborough in 1976 Bicentennial year.

I stlll think my suggestion was better ! detail, schmeetail Jonners

I'm very envious of all your attic spaces and sheds! I haven't got a picture of my modelling bench proper, but here's my "forward operating base" in Oxfordshire, where I sit now. This is also the place where I engage in artful, scientifically pioneering, beautifully constructed procrastination essay writing as befits a finalist in Biological Sciences at Britain's best university... Seriously though, I don't get much modelling done while here: I really do have quite a lot of work! Oh, and can you spot the artfully converted spray booth? Now I've finished spraying Appliance White and primer haphazardly in the direction of my latest Spitfire, it'll go back to being a place to put walking boots. At least I have a ready supply of free newspaper in the form of "The Cherwell", Britain's most vapid student publication.