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This is actually from last year – before I joined up here – but I thought it might be nice to share this – so I took some pictures today – in between the showers. I always wanted to build one of these as a kid – but we just didn’t have the money for BIG KITS – so it was always the bagged up 1/72’s from the local newsagents – great days though. Anyway enough of the sob stories – I got a couple of these kits last year and I have to say I was very dismayed with the quality – having paid full price. But you can’t shatter a little boys dreams – so I picked the best bits from both kits to build one good one. Having looked at everyone else’s presentations on the internet (before finding Brit modeller) I knew mine would hardly be a masterpiece – but I wanted to make one – and make it a little different – so I performed some minor surgery on the decals – turning a ‘B’ into ‘P’ and then found some suitable numbers to get the right serial number to re-create this… Last year I hadn’t even considered buying an airbrush – but I had progressed as far as rattle cans – a big step at the time as I remember. Everything is ‘out of the box’, as I found out pretty quickly – no one is interested in making after-market parts for these old kits. It was a horror to build and I even considered a ‘post crash’ version at times – but here she is – ‘pre crash’. …and here she sits on the desk – she makes me smile every time I see her – a childhood dream fulfilled. Please remember if you ‘like’ it – hit the like button – if not ‘other threads are available’. But seriously - as usual all constructive comments are most welcome. Thanks for looking - Steve

Hi guys, As a few of you might know, I did a 1:72 Airfix Vulcan with a full interior a while ago. It was an "interesting" build filled with research and frustration as I delved into my first experience with photo-etch, rescribing and resin; but it produced a half-decent model of a Vulcan B.2: So, with a new-tooled Victor B.2 in my stash (as of yesterday ) I embarked upon this build in the hope that it will be a less stressful build than the Vulcan and with the hope that I can utilise everything I have learned since that build. The Kit As stated previously this a new-tool kit from Airfix in the £50-60 range- there has been much discussion of the cost of this kit but I would state (in my opinion) that for the amount of plastic you're getting and the level of detail, it is entirely worth it. My plans for the build: -Construct the kit in either a conventional bombing or Blue Steel role (I haven't decided yet, what do you guys think?) -The camo paint scheme will be used (I can never get a clear dust-free white paint job on any large kit) -EDIT: This will be a flaps down, crew door open, gear down, airbrake open model -Weather the model moderately with some new AK interactive washes that I would like to test: The Build And so it begins! I started work on the cockpit first and despite the high possibility that barely any of this would be seen, I would like to detail every part of this kit as much as possible That's it for now, thanks for having a look! Kind regards, Sam

Hello, Here is my BAe Hawk T.1 in RAF No. 63(R) Squadron as part of the 2 Tactical Weapons Unit (2 TWU), at Brawdy during late 1979. KIT The model is based on Revell Hawk T.1A in 1/32nd scale. This kit is good in size and shapes. Details are generally good but sometimes are a bit poor especially panel lines. The downside of this kit is the lack of details for the big canopy and canopy. The ventral ADEN gun pod too “skinny” in height and width both. The decals box offers the choice of only relatively "recent" RAF T.1A version. CONSTRUCTION I found a little bit confusing the Revell instruction sheet, but it could be my personal point of you. Because I wanted to build an early T.1 and correct the main issue of thie kit, I had to buy separately aftermarket decals and resin ejection seats, plus a correction resin set for air scoops, separated resin flaps, speed brake and FODs. Eduard’s PE were used for cockpit instrument panels and external details. I added some details such as hydraulic pipes and electric lines into the undercarriage bays, cockpit tube and speed brake vane. The pitot tube is turned metal set from Master. I tried to add some missing details around the fuselage: · lines of rivets in the rear section; · plates at the tail plane’s pivot points; · fuel drain’s points and NACA intakes; · APU’s exhaust; · All the aerial antennas; · ADEN cannon’s barrel. For me the difficult areas of this kit that required cares and a lot of dry-fitting are: . All the wing-fuselage attaching point… it’s a real nightmare to align everything and to restore details and panel lines!!! · Instrument panels, IP’s covers and clear front windshield; · Undercarriage legs and doors. Also, the kit is a real tails-sitter and requires a lot of ballast in the nose and the undercarriage legs are really fragile… COLORS & MARKINGS I love the NATO Dark Grey-Dark Green wraparound scheme of the ‘80s. Paint were from the acrylics lines of Gunze and Tamiya: A semi-gloss black primer was sprayed first all over the model. Squadron markings, serial numbers and stencils are from some Xtradecals sheet for RAF Hawks. Some RBF tags were added to finish the model. I hung a couple of empty SNEB rocket pods under the wings, finished in natural metal with black cap fairing. And now some pictures of the completed model... hope it works!!! CIAO! Piero

Mini mojo reviver - 1/72 builds of an Airfix Hurricane from the BoB 75th anniversary set and an Airfix Hunter from a 90s boxing. Both utterly out of the box, umpteen little things that I could have fixed but didn't. Made over a couple of days for the sheer fun of rattling through without overthinking things. Not microsol yet but wanted to upload pics before I pack them away over the weekend

Eduard Big Ed set used although a lot of the external replacement bits were unnecessary I thought, so I left them off. Before anyone has a go at me I think the following are wrong: -incorrect fuselage roundel type -live torpedo should have a yellow nose (according to an FAAM info board) -the kit's PE wing bracing wires are wrong - they had a circular cross-section rather than flat Eduard's pre-coloured wing folds are wrong - in real life they appear to be fabric covered and match the colours of the upper and lower camouflage. Only found all this out after I had finished. Must do better research! Hope you like the photos nevertheless. Regards J A

Just finished my Airfix 1/72 E.E. Canberra PR.9. Built out of the box and painted with Vallejo acrylic silver.

One of my favourite birds of all times - there`s one in front of my primary school in Jarocin, Poland (the first picture below). I`m aware that my model is faulty in many aspects but this is the first time I`ve painted the whole thing using Alclads and Gunze metallic paints, also this is my first jet in more than 25 years... Trumpeter kit + Part PE, Montex masks, Master barrels, Billmodel decals. Under construction thread: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235023588-lim-2-mig-15-bis-trumpeter-148/ Source:http://www.epktspotters.org - For discussion purposes only. Source: Allegro grom 1971 - For discussion purposes only. And for fun`s sake

Heres a few pics of a build I completed last year of the 1/48 Tarangus SAAB JA37 Viggen.

All that palaver using the slower curing red catalyst and vibrating the RTV & mould seems to have had a benefit. Here's a cast from the mould alongside one from the previous, green mould. No troublesome bubbles this time And just to remind myself what the piece is for! By my reckoning I've now used home brew resin casts for the cockpit tubs, bang seats, main undercarriage legs, nose wheel, CBLS and masters for vac forming the cockpit coamings and canopy.....so far....

I don't know...would I get use of the company deep fat fryer?* Thanks for those production notes btw Bill - I'd been mulling something similar given the detailing on the walls. *I panicked and named a random item of kitchen equipment there. If it meant being the Resin-Sorcerer's Apprentice that wouldn't be so bad! This stuff Ced: It's ready-ground ground for percolators/cafetieres etc. As with tea I have become a complete tyrant when it comes to the fluff and gunge that most domestic retailers shove at you. Having tried a lot of the main brands over the years I was astonished to find out how delicious this Woseba Mocca is, and how ridiculously cheap compared to the typical brands in UK & Ireland supermarkets. (Serving suggestion: add a big fat Polish doughnut recently glazed.) Is that a confession son? Cuff him constable! Aaaand none of the local hardware stores in my vicinity stock it. Ridiculous. Nearest place is a Halfords - 50 mins away in the car. I have to put a roast dinner on tomorrow as well: it will be a busy and early start. There is a Polish shop near it that will have fresh doughnuts first thing. Suddenly a plan appears. Thanks Bill. Sorry Alex. I should have been more precise. 'Coffee that has been put in bags in Poland'. As a consolation, can I introduce you to Polish wiśnia (cherry) syrup: Much like Rosehip syrup, mixed in ice-cold milk it is a scrumptious concotion. Acacia honey too has a gorgeous and indefinable taste: it's honey, but almost not (if that makes any sense at all?). Being a Boxcar, this should have plenty of candidate features to help strengthen that join - cheers hendie! Halfords tomorrow then, definitely. Dial M for err, More vacform stuff. Determined to make up for lost time I got back to the bench again this evening. This was going to be a critical session as I needed to finalize the size of the vacform parts in several dimensions and there exists plenty of scope to cock something up with a hasty cut. Previously I'd deliberately made the buck longer that strictly necessary where it meets the fuselage, in order to leave plenty of margin for error: Tentatively I took a few mm. off, scoring along the dymo with a scalpel. this first cut was timid but cautious, as you can see from the next shot there is still a bit more excess to trim so that the vacform meet the top of the aircraft: By this stage though I was feeling more relieved that the vertical dimension of the vacform matched the actual height of the kit ok - I must confess to some skittishness about that aspect! One thing making all this marking and trimming a challenge was the black plastic itself not exactly being an amenable surface to mark out with the usual pencils and pens etc. In the end I simply 'pounced' (pricked) the measurements into the plastic using the compasses set to the required width: Then just join the dots with a slice of slice of Dymo tape, score and snap. Much better now: In fact that's almost completely there: We're into sub-millimetric adjustments now just to get the final fit: That was a tiring session given the mixture of concentration and anxiety about getting the vacform progressively reduced to match the dimensions of the kit: ...on which basis I shall leave it at that now for this evening and come back to it fresh over the weekend to complete the final tidy-up of the fit - it would simply be too easy to push on any further now tonight in a tired condition and screw things up at the last knockings through injudicious haste. Besides, a hardback of Norman Franks' Valiant Wings about Battle and Blenheim squadrons during the Battle of France arrived today and I want to savour leafing through that tonight. Ever since reading Alastair Panton's superbly evocative Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer a few months back I've conceived a strong fascination for this utterly desperate period. If anyone has any references for likely camera gear installed in recon Blenheims of 53 Sqn I'd be most grateful.... Oh. Nearly forgot. I am a bit pleased at how this is shaping up now - i need to keep the momentum going now. Tony

Hi Folks Another MustHave F86K this time from the Royal Norwegian Air Force's 337 squadron based at Gardermoen in 1957. Paint is the usual mix of Xtracolor,decals from the kit which really are very good and sit down well. Ian

Minor update The latest seat (on the right) after debubbling Interior grey, looks OK to me The Airwaves back seat instrument panel is in place but is a work in decline Ill be having a different go at this one later The intake body seen in pic#1 has been reshaped and fitted on the fuselage The front edge needs to be vertical, a little six inch action tomorrow, but on the whole I am enjoying this conversion Levelled off for comparison, looks quite reasonable to me ciao

(Apologies if this in the wrong place, but I didn't know where else to put it.) I don't like the word 'workspace', partly because it includes an offensive four letter word. But mainly because it doesn't feel like work that I do in this space, so it's more of a Gorby sanctuary. Mrs. Gorby has issued threats about decorating “that doss-hole”, so I thought I would record my current haven for posterity. On Scalemates it seems to be quite popular showing of their often huge workspace, so I thought a bit of 'show and tell' may be nice on BM. Although I won't be bragging about size here. My man cave is a small box-room, 7' x 8', but there is a large built-in wardrobe which reduces the usable area to 7' x 6'. It's small, but has pretty much everything I need, and I like it because the one advantage is that EVERYTHING is within easy reach. It normally doesn't look this organised, and the Guinness isn't a permanent fixture (it's often a bitter, or whisky or rum or wine…..). This is my 'build area' – an A3 cutting mat, it's on drawer runners and can be pushed under the desk when not in use (but it normally is in use). The tool tray at the back under the shelf, hinges up when not in use (but it's also usually in use). My spray area, is directly behind the build-area – just swivel the chair and I'm in paint mode (after untangling my headphones). As before, it isn't normally this tidy. Other than the rare occasions I use a little Alclad (I don't like the smell), I only use Tamiya acrylic. The shelving on the left stores the full 'XF' range, and about 2/3 of the 'X' range, the bottom shelf is my own mixes. As you can see, entertainment is within easy reach. With either black velvet or a large sheet of card, the spray area also doubles as a photo area. My models are stored in large drawers in the built-in wardrobe I mentioned earlier – not ideal, but it protects them from dust (mostly). Currently there are three drawers, but I've run out of space so I've just bought the stuff to build three more drawers. It has taken me two and a half years to fill the first three, but my build rate has reduced from one model every two weeks to about one per month. That's partly because of the extra detail I do now, and partly because of the time I spend on Britmodeller. So the three new drawers should give me some breathing space for a while. My stash…. Sorry that's the consumables. The wardrobe also stores my vast stash – all ten kits of it. Four of them (the Swordfish, Me 410, Pe-2 and the Sea Vixen) are waiting for when I'm better at this modelling lark. That leaves six models to choose from for my next project. I have difficulty choosing when there are only six kits, how on earth do you choose the next build, from a stash that is a few hundred, or in some cases thousands? Incidentally, Mrs Gorby thinks that my stash is excessive! Thanks for looking – comments welcome. I completely rebuilt the Gorby Sanctuary in 2019 and the new and improved can be seen here. You've seen mine, now show me yours.

Hi Avro Anson - for many years the only kit in 1/72 was the very old (1960?) Airfix one. Now there is much better, the Special Hobby one. However, models which I would like to show today were made in 2005. So there was no choice - the base must be Airfix kit. Please enjoy - the Anson family photos: They are Mk I of Royal Greek Airforces, 1941, Mk V of RCAF during WWII and Mk XII of RAF, early 1945. Mk I - i did some work with cabin and added some details. The Mk V of RCAF has deeply reshaped fuselage (playwood in original machine), different engines etc. It is a sctrach conversion: Mk XII has taller fuselage and also different engines. This is again scratch work: Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi guys, this is my first ever kitbash and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'll now be building a 1/35 Dragon UH-1N Gunship that Rambo flew in the movie, as this build is going to be part of a diorama which I mentioned in the work in progress. I've also added some screen captures of the actual Puma that was in the movie for comparison, which was converted to look like a Russian Hind helicopter.

Just wonderful progress Monsieur Le Baron The old vacform pull is mating up beautifully to Italeri's injection moulded masterpiece. It's a gorgeous kit isn't it? Slowly is good, there's a fair old journey from here, involving wings, booms, engines and metal finishes, but this is certainly the hardest stage of the whole build. I'm pretty sure that you've won, solved it, got that BT just right . Now, there were requests for Australian War Memorial pictorial goodness. I'm afraid that I have no 'real' digital camera, and I was also learning how to use the iPhone camera. @AlexN had mentioned an Me 262 in the basement. What a wonderful thing to have in one's basement. I think this is the one, lurking behind G' for George' the Lancaster: Next to it is an Me 163 Rocket aircraft: As with most exhibits at AWM, they have not been 'faffed' and are very genuine. One of my personal favourites is a completely unrestored Bf-109 G6 with Erla hood and some noticeable wartime repairs: Want to know what RLM02 really looks like? Just look up, there are untouched patches of it: For all the bad press they get, I feel Humbrol's shade is far closer than eg Gunze. I love both paint manufacturers, it's just an observation. There's also a nice Sea Fury: The Lancaster has its own multimedia event every few hours. It's not naff. I had to hold back tears. Many screens, lights, sounds. With the real thing right there. Indescribably touching. The WWI fighter aircraft have a similar event every two hours or so. It's absolutely breathtaking. I filmed parts, but I don't think I can share them on the internet. I have many more photos; Sopwith Camel, Avro 504 etc. Here is a rather gorgeous, very original Albatross: Finally (there is so very much more), a personal favourite, I love them so much ; an RAAF P40E. I have full walk around photos of this if anyone needs them. Just drop me a PM. Mrs. T liked the Me 262 best. I have to say, it's a menacing stunner: Best regards TonyT

Cheers Simon. If feels like a very asymptotic process at the moment, slowing as we get closer.... Thanks James. Black. Yes, just standard coloured styrene sheets. Chosen primarily as being a darker surface it would easily show up any surface imperfections in the vacforming process without the tiresome need to keep spraying with primer, as would have been the case with white. Also, I get a bit sick of white sometimes; galleries get me that way too, and I'm not good with glaciers.... Ta Bill. Couldn't have got this far without ye! I am blessed with an abundance of items locally with which to husband various ovine/bovine lifeforms or construct a barn, yet bereft of the means to construct even the meanest of aircraft. Truly these are dark regions.... Bless you Ced. Your patience encouragement has been a continual pleasure. A quick one at Saturday lunchtime for you then. After a run over to town first thing this morning to collect some Araldite from ValHalfords (they've a deal on bike racks at the moment, those high-mount ones that will actually fit an estate car properly without tapping out in Morse 'I'm bolloxing your paintwork' due to the rather free-jazz approach to road construction in this neck of the woods). Thence back home. My aged mater is popping over for a roast dinner late this afternoon so I'm on kitchen duty, but I did manage to get some bench time in just now prettying-up the fit from the stage we left it at last night. Sides fettled and 'scallop' for lower wing root added: Starboard as well: The top fit is also pretty much done now as well: You can see below however that there is a slight 'lack' at the top on the starboard side: This caused me a bit of consternation at first but I reckon the plastic can be flexed and glued into place over that regions so as to only require a minor application of filler along the seam. The 'boxiness' of the underside seems to carry on from the kit to the vacform in a convincing enough manner - I'll need to go in >gently< with the file on the curve of the bottom corners, but nothing major: Nest stage: mark and punch out portholes and cut out side and lower door openings, then separate BT and vacform rear fuselage in order to Araldite the latter onto the kit fuselage. Sounds simple, so I expect it to be quite time-consuming. Thanks Martian. You can probably sense how I'm forcing myself to slow-down and tiptoe around this part of the process? With so much invested in the manufacture of the vacform, I most certainly don't want the grief of wrecking it with a slip of the scalpel. Oddly enough, with the vacform taped on to the kit as you see it in the last photograph above, it doesn't seem to need as much remedial work down the centre (to widen it due to wastage in the cut) as I initially thought. I'll withhold final judgement on that until we get nearer the gluing stage however as it wouldn't be the first time getting caught out by something like that. Thanks for reading! Tony

I got this a couple of weeks ago and rashly dived straight in. I do like Fulmar's and have quite a few done and more than a few in the stash. Although criticised as being a bit slow and not terribly aerobatic, it was a very effective fleet defence fighter. Remember, it was never designed to dog fight against fighters but defend the fleet against long range bombers and reconnaissance aircraft as well as acting as a spotter for gunnery. It did had a long range and could stay in the air for a long time, as well as being a stable and effective gun platform. Fulmars shot down more enemy aircraft than any other FAA fighter so it wasn't a failure and certainly was a major factor in the success of the Malta convoys. A nice set of well moulded sprues, although there is a little flash. Good cockpit and wheel well detail. There is a bit of paint on them already. I did say that I had dived straight in. Nice nice instructions but in traditional SH manner some locations are a bit vague. Clear sprue, a little bit of resin and some etch. Good transfer sheet from Cartograf for four versions I am going to do this version as it's a bit different. Happy modelling to come hopefully. I have also got a masking set. I recall the time it took to mask my previous attempts.

Having been abroad for some time, without time, space, or the usual array of materials to make any models - I was raring to go when I got home. I had bought a few kits online while away, and they were all waiting for me. I wanted to get back on it with a few straightforward OOB builds, but was also hoping to avoid re-doing any schemes I had attempted before. The two kits I decided to crack on with were the new tool Airfix Hurricane (trop) and one of the two Hellcats in Eduard's combo boxing. Both in 1/48. First up the Hurricane. This is a lovely kit, a real joy to put together. There was nothing all to report as far as issues go, aside maybe from the main landing gear's attachment to the gear bays being surprisingly shallow... But that was nothing a night of drying didn't fix. I usually just like rock-solid, deep wheel attachments. I opted for the box's suggested 2nd scheme - the Rhodesian training markings. This would avoid repeating a BoB or similar scheme - which I am a little bored of. This was painted using rattle cans : Tamiya's TS-80 + AS-12, and a Humbrol rattle can of chrome like paint - used for the most shiny panels on the nose. Decals were from the Airfix kit and went down very nicely, and responded wonderfully to some Micro Sol. The only non-OOB part here is the red gun patching, which was excess from the extras box. Weathering was an oil pin-wash of black and brown, some Tamiya weathering pigment brushed for exhaust stains, and a little Humbrol dry pigment for dust on wheels, walk areas and so on... The second kit I decided to go for something altogether more exotic. I had seen a while ago a photo of some very lurid looking Hellcats, which appeared to be bright orange. I did a tiny bit of looking around and found that these were in fact drones used in post-war a-bomb testing... Some photos make them appear alternatively red, orange, or pink. Either due to different paint schemes, fading, or bad photos... I decided to go for a dark orange to hedge my bets. I am aware that this is an early mark Hellcat, and most likely those used post-war would be late, but as above - I just wanted a fun, quick build, using what was in the box... Further to that - the decals are not aftermarket made for the drones, though these do exist. They are extras from previous Corsair and Hellcat builds. But they seemed pretty close on to the photos I saw of drones. To paint the Hellcat I used MOLOTOW rattle cans. These are made for graffiti - and as a result come in myriad colours and shades. Helpful for someone like me without an airbrush or the ability to mix spray paints. The two tones of orange here are Vermillion (darker) and Lobster (lighter). With the tail painted using MOLOTOW Avocado. Weathering was an oil pin wash. The chipping was done by brush painting patches of Valejo paint onto the sprayed primer and dabbing masking fluid on that before the main colours went down. Annoyingly I just noticed that I took these photos before doing the wing-tip lights. They were done (I promise) using wood glue. Thanks for looking - and as ever - any tips, notes, or criticisms most welcome. Bruce

Thanks Simon I'm keeping the kitchen towel I'm afraid. I did read the veiled threat re bailiffs in your PM but I've just had a word with the scaffolders and they've agreed to fit the armour plate for a small extra charge. And crenelations, of course, one must maintain proper standards Thanks Giorgio. Pity. I could have done with some patience for my next task (see below) Thanks Alex - stay alert; Britain needs lerts! BEHOLD: I have to say that's one of the best seams I've ever done. Beautiful. Not a join in sight. Ho hum, it's got to go... Right, scoring with the scalpel, gently, gently... look, it's making dents. Only another 2 hours and we'll be... oh come ON! Haven't you learnt by now? Out with the 'special' JLC saw: NOW you can gently use the scalpel to separate the last bits: Crikey, now I know why they call it plastic WELD - I was expecting it to give in but it fought all the way. And of course the locating lugs were left inside the fuselage, along with a lot of dust: Sorry Nav. A quick brush out and dry fit the nose: Locating lugs left inside. Right, Carefully remove those then and try again: Very nice. I'll sort out that pout, see if I don't. Just a minute though, doesn't that nose remind you of someone? You know, that robot in Star Wars that was running the workshop where... oh all right, suit yourself.

This was a sideproject that I had built on and off between other builds for over a year. The Hasegawa LL200 airliner series contained many popular airliners such as the Boeing 747 in almost every version,DC-10,MD-11,DC-9 and among many others,the Boeing 767. Sadly,most of these airliners from this famous series are no longer produced by Hasegawa and also the 767-200 is unlikely to appear again as Hasegawa modified the molds for the 767-300 which is still available. These models are very accurate and easy to build and in their 1/200 scale also not too big and vitrine friendly. My Hasegawa 767-200 kit was actually the Japan Airlines issue,but I once bought a larger number of decal sets for Hasegawa airliners on ebay,among them this nice Delta Airlines set. It was in pretty good condition despite its age,research showed that the original Delta 767-200 kit was released back in 1982. Some small details such as the cockpit windows come from a newer Boeing 777 Hasegawa set and the coroguard panels are from a detail set.Apart from that its completely OOB built. Paints are the usual Revell and Testors enamels,the whole model was then sealed with MicroScale Gloss clear. The Boeing 767-200 in the depicted "Spirit of Delta" scheme can be seen at the Delta heritage museum in Atlanta where it is preserved. Enjoy

The inspiration: Finished! Getting some sun! On display! Ken

Hi, To complete my short story (or show) on Bulgarian AF during WWII the third and the last (as yet) of mine collections made in markings of Bulgarian AF. This is Avia B 135 - a Czech build fighter, produced already under German occupation. At present there is a nice model of this machine by RS....However, I made it several years ago, so I made as scratch conversion of Kovozavody Prostejov Avia B-35. The differences are in u/c, rear part of canopy and fuselage (wider in B 135), stright leading edge of wing in B135 (eliptic in B 35) and some small details. Regrads Jerzy-Wojtek

Back home now, and even managed a little time at the bench today (unlikely to be much tomorrow). The Skunkworks flight deck tractor(s) have arrived, so I started on building one: OOB, apart from removing the firefighting tank from the left hand front wheel arch - hence the piece of white styrene sheet to fill the gap (the underside of the tank was moulded in place in the kit, with the upper side a separate part - though I still had to sand off the locating lugs that would hold it in place). A comparison shot with the resin one that I didn't want to hack about shows that this is a nice little kit - pretty pleased with it. More during the week Crisp

This is incorrect. The fishplates were present on production Tempest at least up to JN862; they had gone by JN875. This is based on close examination of original photos. The plates are difficult to see because the larger Tempest tailplane pushed the 'Sky band' further forward than on the original Typhoons, which makes the plates more difficult to see on Tempests. On the Tempest the only the front tip of the plates just overlap the rear of the band. it is correct however that there was no direct relationship between the fishplates and the longer-barrelled cannon. The difference between Series 1 and Series 2 Tempest Vs are more complex than usually presented. I will post a summary of what I know when I have more time, soon after the weekend. Chris

Another one that I wanted to have a go and despite my big fingers I think its not to bad

Correct, it's the Revell kit and has languished on the corner of despair for a while (I say corner because the rest of the shelf is for active projects that are up to the decaling stage mainly. I can't comment on the union jack or the fin flashes as I haven't added any of either yet! You might also note the Airfix Meteor and Revell A400m on the shelf too- they're in need of some Alclad (the thinners for which tend to flare up some kind of skin condition (possibly eczema) so I need to get some disposable gloves before I continue with those. As for the weapons, I have kept the Blue Danube from the Valiant kit (which is a kit that was great- until I tried spraying it with a rattle can of white.... big mistake... let's just say that I salvaged the nose and my intention is to model it as a preserved cockpit section). (I still hate myself for having messed that one up so catastrophically) Anyway, I'll put my violin back in its case.... I recall now that I actually did a fair bit of research into the Blue Steel missile (so much so that I remember going to the Coventry archives to have a look at some photographs of test articles and operational missiles both on the aircraft and in their storage "hangars"- not what you might expect from the average 16 year old, perhaps). Here are a few reference pictures taken during that period of research, but not from Coventry (Edit: it was from 2 years ago at Cosford on the Armed Forces Day when XH558 did a series of flypasts) Edit: And one of '558 for everyone else who wants to join me in a collective round of violin playing (Co-incidence or what, this file is "IMG_8558_JPG" !) Kind regards, Sam

Well back to regular schedule programing Have been doing a bit here and there on the Typhoon changed the ammo boxes, first ones I glued with CA and they keep falling apart so I had another set and this time I soldered, these came out way better. Then glued the wings together. Then painted the shells Then started to put some detail into the engine area because I will be showing it with the engine being hoisted from the frame. Then I drilled out the pipes on the radiator Until next time, Regards Richard

I don't have a swimming pool in my garden like some folk on BM That was the theory.....but how often do you think one can be bothered in practice to tidy away...... That's what I mean...... Cedit (sic) is now my new word. Ced gets Cedit (sic) for a fair few of my more recent modelling tool acquisitions. What would we do without that man? Erudite chaps as all the aforementioned are I find my self lacking any cogent evidence that they are sufficiently housetrained...... Anyways - with a slight interregnum caused by being otherwise engaged during allocated modelling time I pretended to work at home this afternoon and sneakily didn't. Continuing the resin casting theme that's happening in parallel here and over there (Bill's Bucc build) - I popped the first cast out of my green catalyst RTV - toothbrush vibrated - mould and: Just one annoying bubble between the piston housings on the right hand side.....Bu**er. I was able to dislodge it with a needle and so it's sort of ok. But by now I've got some of my preferred slower curing red catalyst so I'm gonna make another mould anyways..... PS Dunno why they call it fast set.......I don't call 6-8 hours fast........ I also mounted the master in the mould differently. I don't know why I didn't think of this before; but if I mount it so that the fiddly detail that is likely to trap air bubbles is facing upwards when I pour in the RTV - then there's more chance that no air bubbles will form when I pour the RTV onto it - and more chance that any bubbles will be dislodged during the vibration and float upwards and away....Sometimes I'm just dim. As the red catalyst gives more working time I vibrated it for several minutes to get rid of bubbles before pouring it: I then poured it to a level just above the master and let it sit vibrating for a short while: And then filled it to the top: Whether this make any difference of course remains to be seen..... The eagle eyed will have spotted that the work surface is different in these last few piccies. That was cos I was sneaking in the study at home modelling instead of working..... Here's my study temporary modelling cave: I'm allowed aircraft piccie's in here Your's truly: And a Mike Rondot painting that Mrs F had painted for me for my 50th: If you closely on the full size original it's got my name painted underneath the cockpit - in the position we used to have em painted on the Jags on the squadron. Weren't that nice of her....

From the 26 Decals package, the RODEN 1/144th Bristol Britannia G_AOVJ of Caledonian Airways 196 60's. Decals by 26 Decals.

Hi All Got those cockpit sides on. That oil paint sure takes a long time to dry! Even with a coat of orange and another one of Pledge to try to seal it in, it still felt slightly greasy. Very fiddly getting the wires to stick to it, and not to the pin I was using to drop contact adhesive. Can't see that much of it once the sides are closed up but that's probably due to inept photography. Anyhoo, completed the Lewis Not quite, but close enough, and should be ok with a coat of paint, from a distance, poking out through the top wing My First Scratch Build! Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve

Hello, here is my completed build: H17 HMS Escapade 1/700 Tamiya E-Class Destroyer with White Ensign Photo-etch, Colourcoats paint in the main, with a sprinkling of Humbrol and Revell too. Ray

One that's been on the shelf for a while, a car that we don't see here in the UK. Quite a few parts, interesting and satisfying build. I couldn't find any Hoosier tyre decals in the UK, so did a search on Google for the real sprint car and found that they also used Yellow Goodyear Eagles. Searched my decal box of spares and found two for the rears. One thing I couldn't quite understand was that all the large major parts were chromed, that had to be painted, so out with the oven cleaner and hey presto!

Just finished this Tamiya KGV with Pontos photo etch accessories. Subtle weathering used, maybe a little artistic license with the colours chosen?

Having been lucky enough to see the Norwegian AW101s training in Cornwall during the last 3 weeks I was delighted to see the contents of the impending Xtradecal set https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72279 Here are a few of the Helicopters featured in the sheet that I've been able to catch in Cornwall in recent years: ZZ102 ZZ101 ZR342 Xtradecal have ZR337 as the UK serial for the Nigerian, but only ZR344 and ZR345 wore these colours. ZR344 (NAF280) ZR345 (NAF281) ZR343 ZR331 ZJ125

Hi everyone, I'm posting my first inspection post today so I hope you enjoy! Today I'll present to you my 1st build, my KLM 777-200 ER in 1:144 scale! The kit was a Minicraft kit which was fairly easy to build. I know that there is the better option of the Revell/Zvezda 777-300 but I had built this over a year ago. Hopefully, you enjoy the model, as well as the youtube video I made of this build! If you would like to see the video the link is below. I plan on to post another airliner in the future, a British Airways 787-8. If you want a sneak peak you can watch the video already posted on my channel! Have a great day!

Hello As many of us I have built the 1/72 Airfix Hawker Typhoon Mk Ib in the markings of Squadron Leader Stapleton, No.247 Sqn, Eindhoven 1944. Patrick

I am really getting addicted to these 1:48 military vehicles. This was just a weekend build. Finished in brush painted Tamiya acrylics. I was going to wait to take some photos outside, but winter weather has really set in. Build thread here. Thanks for looking.

Hi all, It’s been awhile since I last posted a completed model, so here's my latest 1:32 scale model, the Roden kit of the Fokker DR.1 Triplane. PDF downloadable build log can be accessed here: http://igavh2.xara.hosting/index.htm Manufacturer: Roden. Scale: 1/32 Type: Fokker DR.1 Triplane. Paints/Weathering: Tamiya (by brush and Airbrushed), Flory clay washes and AK weathering washes. Aftermarket: HGW seat belts, Master guns, figure from Black Dog models, ground cover from Scenic grass mats. Rigging: Gaspatch 1:48 scale turnbuckles and Albion Alloys micro nickel/silver tube, monofilament for the wires (Steelon 0.12 mm diameter). Scratch built: Various cockpit details/instruments, undercarriage bracing (Jasta 2 only). Display case and plaque made by on-line specialists.

style... hmm Tommo, I hope you don't mind but I told the neighbours you'd be happy to feed and walk their pair of mandrills The male is a bit of a wuss but she is more of a handful You'll be OK if you remember to wear the chainmail gloves when you take the lead off her If you could finish the spare bedroom that would be nice too, the space 1999 theme went down well with the grandson ta Beer in the fridge of course and more in the storm cellar Don't open the green box down there Or ensure the doors to the outside are open, speed can be important...

Thanks phil, been a bit of progress on the tractor ,first off i gave the chassis a spray of halfords silver from a tin ,( I've ran low on alclad)then a coat of hairspray ,then grey ,a bit more hair spray and then xf 49 tamiya khaki,and did a bit of chipping,when this drys I'll give it a targeted wash, and highlight some bits of detail and see what else is needed, also I've painted the tyres, And undercoated the wood on the back and the floor of the cab and I'll have a go at the heavy foot wear of the timber floors with ,vallejo old and new wood effects,also painted the dented fuel tank I removed two rods i added on the engine, I'll redo these when i can dry fit, i can do a better job than those,there's some more to be painted on this its just a basic wash so far ,the same painting method as the chassis but light blue grey instead of khaki Cheers for looking tips and pointers most welcome Glynn

Meng 1/35 T-90 with 2 Evolution resin figures. Scratbuilt diorama base.

Hi, thanks for visit and sorry for delay. But as this is new stuff for me I have to think twice before I will do something. Ok, the banana hull has been joined together. Not perfectly and need some filling and sanding, but not a major issue. The upper deck is slightly to short if is fitted in the right position... ... but I think it have to be like that, as in the other way it away of position on the back, and it make it worse to sort out ... and after fit the deck it dosn't looks so bad. Dry fit of the decks. Unlucky the main deck has to be trimmed, as it goes under the upper part and cannot be fit in this way later.

It's great that it's 1/72 scale!

Hi All Just a quick Helloo! I've not stalled this, just kept being squeezed out by other life stuff. I got the seat and the floor boards stickied in And I've managed to get the sides together Hoping to get the lower wing on and the filled sometime next week... Comments, suggestions, and a 6th day between Monday and Friday would be just great, thanks. Cheers Steve

Messerschmitt Bf 110C–4 2177 5F+CM AX772 Originally of 4.(F)/14 intercepted by RAF fighters while on a reconnaissance mission on 21 July 1940. Forced down near Goodwood Racecourse, Sussex. The Royal Aircraft Establishment repaired this aircraft and after handling trials, was flown to the Air Fighting Development Unit at Duxford in October 1941. In March 1942 AX772 was transferred to No. 1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight at Collyweston until moving to the Enemy Aircraft Flight of the Central Flying School at Tangmere in January 1945. It was stored at No. 47 Maintenance Unit (MU) Sealand in November 1945. Scrapped in 1947. OOB except for added seatbelts, Vallejo and Humbrol acrylics, markings from spare decals

Quite right Bill. My knowledge of Torquay began and ended with Fawlty Towers I'm afraid - that and the fact that Peter Cook was born there. Comedy seems to be in the air in that neck of the woods - it's not safe to go alone, take one of these: Now. This thread has had so much drift of late that its become a positive Gulf Stream bringing up odd turtles from the mental equator (boy, but this new Polish coffee seems to be kicking-in a treat), natch, it's now time to get some aircrafting back in play. I shaved down the plastic with a Stanley blade to the seam line and evened them up roughly with the now indispensable 6" 1/2 round 2nd cut reduction-wand and a carpenter's square: Still rough at this stage, but just getting a better sense of volume in relation to the kit by this stage. I don't know if you can see it too clearly from that shot above but the total width of the vacform is 46.5mm. This compares with a shade under 47.5mm for the actual width of the kit fuselage: The missing mill. or so is accounted for by material lost in splitting the buck (although the knife was sharp and comparatively thin, I think the balsa got compressed slightly as well at the cutting-line) - I'd anticipated this and intend using some plastic strip at the seam to return it to the correct dimension. Depending upon the region, the actual thickness of the vacform walls vary from approx. 0.9 to about 0.6mm around the shape. The interior's had a bit of a tussle with the filler from the buck but the gunk visible here seems to rub-off easily enough with fine sandpaper: As @Fritag suggested there are a number of ways to deal with the retractable door in this underside: Whilst pondering this issue, my minces happened upon the initial test-pull done when the buck was still in one piece: Pondering became wondering at this stage.... Let's see: Close enough! You can't quite see it in the above photograph but I'll need to add a small angled section of about 2mm to the starboard side of that door part of the way up (as that pull was across the entire width of the pre-split buck and didn't accurately reach all the way to the edge), but that should prove a far less intrusive procedure than a seam down t'middle. There are two additional issues I need to resolve: Best glue to use for attaching the new rear section of the fuselage to the kit. That join will will need to be a strong 'un with the BT and poles etc. hanging off of it. How to deal cosmetically with the difference in thickness between kit and vacform where they join, the kit fuselage walls being 1.2mm thick. The next step it to test fit this to the aircraft as I'm especially nervous that the vacform is tall enough to meet bottom of aircraft and top of wing. That'll require some more coffee.

Thanks Matteo Forgot to post this comparison of the upper intakes: Untitled by Ced Bufton, on Flickr More resin removal action this morning. Nano-saw down the underside of all these: Broke off the protection bars and then down the row of prop blades: Nice shape these after cleaning up the flash on the tips, carefully: All done. Count 'em. I didn't and there was one hiding behind the water dish: Some glueing action later methinks.

Tim's Airfix Typhoon. Quote this

Airfix Javelin FAW9 64Sqn RAF Binbook 1963 WIP thread with a lack of pictures