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Just completed te new tool Airfix FG.1 I used the Aerocraft intake splitter plate set and they worked fine. I also used every stencil on the decal sheet. Took me about 4 to 5 evenings doing about 30 at a time. The 1977 Jubilee flashes on the nose with the unit badge in place of the '77' donated by CTModeller and from a Fujimi kit. To make it a little different I painted the underwing drop tanks in the odd ball fashion I saw in a few photos in my old Ian Allan hardback on British Phantoms. Found them to fit at an odd angle so I trimmed the tabs on the tanks so they would fit more in line of flight. Anyway, hope you like the pics... Still mystified why Airfix did the nose gear doors in clear plastic and total lack of any kind of detail

Hello! This is Revell's re-issue of their Heinkel HE219, with new parts to make it as the earlier A-0. Built virtually out of the box, except for some Eduard etched seat belts. I used Xtracolor enamels for the camouflage. Straight forward kit, no real pitfalls, but it needs a lot of nose weight to keep it off it's tail! Thanks for looking, Angelo

This is a sneak preview of a series of online articles I'll be doing at another site, my Jolly Rogers history collection. I built most of these between the years 2000 and 2008, just completed a second Super Hornet to represent this decade (2010's). As some of these planes don't exist in kit form (i.e. F9F-6 and F9F-7, F8U-2/F-8C) there was a LOT of scratchbuilding modification going on. Add to that the fact that many of these markings did not exist in decal form during the period it was built, and the markings challenge was ALWAYS an issue. I mentioned a decade-relation with the Super Hornet, meaning I wanted one good scheme for the 2000's and for the 2010's, to be repeated in the 2020's. I did the same for the Tomcats. One good F-14A scheme for the 1970's, one for the 1980's and again for the 90's. Same with VF-103's F-14B's, one from the 1990's and again for the 2000's. Additionally I wanted to represent each F6F Hellcat type flown during the war (F6F-3, F6F-5, F6F-5P); I only lack the F6F-5N, as I've never found any decent photos of a VF-17 radar Hellcat although they did have them assigned. Some other types are repeated; for instance, the F6F-5P, F4U-4 and apparently the F8F-1 were flown in different markings under both VF-17 and VF-5B. During the build I amassed a good volume of unpublished photos especially from the 1950's during the VF-61 years. The collection took 2nd place in the Collections category at IPMS Nationals in 2010. Hope you enjoy!

G-BNWA was the first Rolls-Royce powered Boeing 767 to take to the air. She was delivered to British Airways in 1990 and is still going strong at the age of 28 although I believe retirement is due later this year. Sister aircraft G-BNWB actually joined BA first but in terms of first flight date Whisky Alpha is BA’s oldest aircraft. Back in the summer of 2016 she took me from EDI to LHR and the enjoyable short flight reminded me that the current BA livery wasn’t represented in my collection so I dug out an old Revell kit and here is the result. The Revell Boeing 767-300 was the kit that really got me started with airliners about 25 years ago. It isn’t without its flaws (mainly affecting the engines) but it’s still one of my favourite airliner kits and forms the basis of a good model. It’s one of the few airliner kits where the fit is good enough for me to depart from my normal “stick it together and mask it” building and attach the wings after painting. The build is pretty much OOB apart from some correction to the pylons on the Revell RB211s. For absolute accuracy these need total reworking but I contented myself with fixing the more obviously visible errors ahead of the wing. I also added strakes to the engines and a few small fairings to the fuselage. It was necessary to tweak the panel lines in a couple of places to accommodate the eight door layout. Paint is Halfords Appliance White, Fiat Capri Blue and Racking Grey with Tamiya and Revell metallics. Decals are by TwoSix and Authentic Airliners with Scaleliners corroguard. Thanks for looking and as always constructive criticism is welcome. Dave G

Overall incredibly pleased, very good kit, there were a few tricky bits where I had to do some DIY but overall very solid and easy to build. Expensive kit though! I studied a lot of photos of the B-2 and pretty much each of the 21 aircraft is different(Different panels, shapes, shades of grey…) So I didn’t outright copy one plane, I kind of created my own finish on it using lots of inspirations. However I did go for a more ‘patchwork’ finish rather than going for a plain finish. Have a look at these photos of the B-2: http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18410/usafs-controversial-new-plan-to-retire-b-2-and-b-1-bombers-early-is-a-good-one https://wall.alphacoders.com/by_sub_category.php?id=207234&name=Northrop+Grumman+B-2+Spirit+Wallpapers http://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/NEWS-ARTICLES/News-Article-View/Article/1055160/air-force-refuelers-enable-b-2-strike-against-daesh-in-libya/ Let me know what you think. Any feedback would be appreciated. I used normal brushes, a lot of masking tape, Decal Set(Blue), Humbrol filler and Humbrol enamel paints(85/191, 123, 125, 164, 156) I also have photos of different stages of the build if anyone is interested. Also thanks for the tips people gave me on here. If you can't see the photos on here then try this link: http://s1076.photobucket.com/user/EthanG12345/library/?sort=3&page=1 or. https://www.flickr.com/photos/153908328@N02/with/41618131611/

This is the Monogram A-26C Invader, finished as used by l’Armée de l’Air in Algeria in the late 1950s. Apart from the kit it includes Quickboost engines, True Details wheels, and Albatros decals, and a bugger of a lot of filler. The Buccaneer I posted a little while ago is a notorious filler hound. I may have given the impression that it was unique in that respect. But it’s not, and here's the proof. The Invader is yet again that classic Monogram combination: decent detail, with iffy fit. Every major joint needs filler somewhere. The integral spars locked the wings at almost the perfect angle, but even that had to be backed up with filler and plastic card. By far the worst area is the tail. The assembled tailplane slips into a slot between the fin and the tailcone. It fits quite tightly, but don’t be deceived. While the contours of the tailcone match left to right, the slot on the right is lower than on the left. The effect is to dip the whole tailplane to the right, and also to cant the fin a few degrees that way. My solution was to lift that side with a couple of plies of thin card and fill the resulting gaps. The fin is now upright; I think the right end of the tailplane may now be slightly high, but it barely shows. All of the transparencies need their mating surfaces sanding somewhere to get them to fit, especially the roof panel. The Invader is a notorious tail-sitter, so much so that Monogram provide a clear prop. But as you can see, I did manage to get mine to sit right, even though it has the glass nose. There’s just enough space for lead: under the bomb-aimer’s floor, either side of the nosegear bay; between the cockpit and the nose; and behind the engines. I nipped small slices off a sheet of roofing lead - they’re much easier to mount than little bits of shot. Engines: I’ve posted about this before, so in summary, don’t waste your money on the cowlings. The engines are fine but the integral cooling gills are too small, so I mounted mine on the kit’s parts instead. Then I added 110 little bits of wire for the ignition system and the pushrods. I don’t understand why Quickboost make exquisite engines and then leave them so bare. But they do include holes where you can fit the pushrods. Wheels: like many from True Details, they could use pumping up. The kit was actually the ProModeller version, which has slightly less flattened wheels, but they suffer from the common injection-moulding problem that the tread pattern doesn’t go all the way round. Decals: an odd mixture. Colour density was excellent. Colour accuracy less so, since the blue in the roundels was lighter than the blue on the rudder. This might have been deliberate, as what we call “French blue” seems surprisingly variable. However, the rudder stripes were also far too big and too stiff to conform to the edges, so I threw them out and used paint instead. The blue is Humbrol 47 Sea Blue, the best match I could get in a rush on a Sunday afternoon, moderated with a slight rub of lilac pastel. That stiffness was also a problem when one decal folded over. It wouldn’t unfold and cracked instead. And, oddly, after only a couple of days some of them started to crack in situ, and I’ve not been able to get them flat again. I know I didn’t use enough Klear, but I don’t think that’s the cause. Overall: I’d be careful of this lot. The paintwork is Halfords Appliance White and Halfords Matt Black. Both are excellent, and I found that retouching with Citadel black is almost invisible. Weathering is chalk pastels. Finally, my thanks to our very own Mike, who swapped me the fuselage parts for my solid-nosed ones a terribly long time ago.

Soviet fighter, the Chinese production, the Pakistani Air Force. WIP here: http://forum.largesc...showtopic=70664

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This is the Kinetic kit, straight out of the box. It's a decent kit, but it does has issues. The fit in places is not the best and the instructions could be clearer in terms of colour call outs. They also misnumber numerous parts and decals, so you need to read the instructions carefully. Decals settle down nicely, but the black tulip on the nose has cut outs for the gun ports that don't line up. Thus I had to fill in the gaps with some leftover white decal and black paint. It was meant to be a quicker build, but ended up taking 4 months! I'm pretty please though with how it's turned out. I've also chosen not to weather the machine much at all, just applied a semi gloss coat to it. These aircraft looked pretty clean in service thus I've kept my model that way.

Hi folks, I took a quick exercise on the brand new Eduard kit from "Library" edition. The kit would need few touches here and here, for instance thinning the inlet ring, exhaust nozzle, adding the front altimeter antennas, but the overall fit and level of details is very promising. I will add later the drop tanks once the "overtrees" becomes available. Cheers Libor

Next to last 8th AF aircraft . Still have P-47 on radar Corrected props after review and feedback Xtracrylics PRU with a touch of lighter blue in a few spots Uschi line and Bulb filament for antenna. Just some Pastel dust for weathering Testors Dullcoat (decanted) for final finish Thanks for taking a Look Comments Always welcome Cheers Bill

I don't really take notes on build hours, but I suspect it was 100+. I'm a slow builder... Off the bat, the weathering is wrong. The JP demo/trainer would not be this dirty or neglected, but I figured I would go for an old airframe being used today, or maybe even a museum airframe etc. I had it much glossier, as I polished the gloss coats bother before AND after decals but I, rightly or wrongly, decided it didn't look correct for the scale. Also, I couldn't get the shine as uniform as I'd like, so I went for a more battered look, before flat coating it all in. Overall, I'm happy with the results, and the help of this site, TGOSM facebook group, age/wisdom, YouTube, Money etc. have all helped me to achieve my best build, despite it being 18 years since I last touched a sprue or paint brush before this. Fire away, all criticism is welcomed, as how else will I progress? It looks very rough in the close up photos, but I assure it's less ragged in the flesh. My phone doesn't do good close up shots. https://photos.app.goo.gl/AvrA3ogvQRxh9bjM2

Howdy All, Just finished my attempt at Revell`s ancient ( older than me I believe ! ) 1/48 Chickasaw kit. Finished to represent an S-55 of EHM 11/65, operated by the French during the Indochina conflict around 1955 Built mostly from the box contents but with a few embellishments to try to disguise it`s shot-comings. Cut some extra windows in the cockpit roof, some seat belts, cyclic stick, wiring behind the instrument panel and foot pedals but due to the thick transparencies you cant see much ( luckily ) Added missing windscreen frames, added mesh to most of the cooling vents, replaced the wheels with some from the spares box, extra aerials and d/f fairing, also some brake pipes. Decals came from Berna decals sheet BD 48-119 Probably more than 1 or 2 inaccuracies but it looks like one to me, hope it does to you too. Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy Cheers Russ

I managed to get three props painted today during the fifteen minutes Winston deigned to even pretend to nap. To add insult to injury, once our entire family, wide awake, was assembled before me, Parent B immediately retreated upstairs and went to sleep. Ho ho ho. But there is a higher justice, and it works in mysterious ways. Tonight, Winston broke out of his bedroom and into our room, used his footstool to gain access to the top of his mom's dresser, and then proceeded to dump all of Mrs P's $75/bottle essential oils* into his hair and rub her foot cream(!) into his cheeks. He then strolled downstairs at 9 PM and tried to very casually walk past me into the kitchen to throw away the evidence. When Mrs P saw him, she yelled "no, Winston! You didn't get into my essential oils, did you?" He laughed, the deep, powerful laugh of a full grown man. "HA HA HA HA HA I DID." He smelled like a French brothel. * Yes, I know they do absolutely nothing, but pseudoscience has a powerful hold on the mind of the SUV-driving American mom.

Hi guys. thankyou for all the lovely kind words. Work has been a trial over the last week and we’re getting ready for a kitchen refurb so the Lanc is suffering somewhat. We were away this weekend and yet another gig. My friends band is doing a homecoming gig in Brum over the weekend so we just had to go. It was a late night so my eyes are like belt holes. I felt I was neglecting the build so I did a little this afternoon. first up the silver got re painted on the UC. I’m much happier with the look of that.I decided to stop faffing around and do some gluing so fuselage it is. I was just about to glue when I remembered the pin up girl. (The new window was were she used to be) I nearly forgot to put her back up. So I sorted that out. Luckily I checked the instructions as this bit had to get added before I buttoned her up. It holds the mid turret central. then everything got glued and pegged. I even put the top bit on. thevseams are there along the middle of the fuselage, not too bad but I’ll sort them when dry. the UC got a gloss coat ready for an oil wash this time. aaand that needs to dry. not a lot but progress is progress I guess. I hope you all had a spiffing weekend. Hopefully I can get more time next week. Thanks for dropping by. Happy Modelling chums. Johnny (I’m getting to old for all this going out dancing lark) boy

And now the smallest model I`ve ever made - 1/72 scale Beechcraft T-34C Turbo Mentor, Argentine Navy`s Air Force, Falklands 1982. The kit is quite old short-run, one of the first Sword`s kits (definitely not for beginners). Some self-made additives were used (new canopy, new propeller, antennas etc.). Decals are combination of DP Casper and Xtradecal "Falklands War" sets. It was quite difficult to match the right colors, because on most photos we can see them faded, so it`s only my interpretation. The final result is below my expectations, but it was all that my skills allowed me to do with this tiny and simple kit... On the other hand - I`m quite happy with wire antennas, which are a real challenge in Argentine T-34C in 1/72. Model shows aircraft no. 412, one of T-34s deployed on Pebble Island and destroyed there in SAS attack at night 14./15. May 1982.

A fantastic kit from Tamiya, with the as-expected stellar fit and engineering. I made it more difficult for myself with Tamiya's own etch update set and carbon decals, and lots of coloured wiring. This is one kit where you absolutely DO have to follow the instructions... all of them Paint is Tamiya TS-86 Mica Red over metallic gold. Those silver decals are challenging. Don't use any decal solvent on them and they stay tough as well as thin and flexible. Getting them INTO the scoops on the engine cover rear is no fun at all. You can probably see I also messed up one of the rear tire decals. I think they should give you one spare for newbies to the weird method of laying them down to stuff up before doing the real thing! Still, one of the very best kits I have ever built. Now for something simpler ;-P best, M.

Thanks Ced, seems OK but he has referred me for electrical measurements at the Queen Eliz, our brand new medical centre of brilliance We think I'm OK now though As I seem to be concentrating the Palouste here I've a quick progress report on the new moulds to cast from first resin into the tail-cover section and a fresh dose into the recce pack mould, that's the long little one in the foreground This is the complete unit Palouste mould having another go slightly blurry I accede, but... Here it is giving up of its bounty crude as heck but I am not planning competing with Pavla any time soon I am sorry these pictures are blurred but I am using my phone to take them and I find it can lose its way under that 'push the white button ON the screen' thing Well its out now, not bad methinks A little flash to swipe away, sorted Tail cone anyone? The greyish bit is the thickness of Tamiya tape and is designed to cut away once you get the cone on the bench If you try to mould an open hole you get a trapped lump of rubber that distorts the casting process Earlier on in the Buccaneer saga I scrounged some wheels for the Bucc which were shaped like the real things but needed a little alteration round the rims, I was lent/loaned/lended (Brummy patois) Bucc wheels, Gannet wheels and Sea Vixen ones which with a small amount of attention could be pressed into service The reddish mould contains the details for these wheels and when I get a drop or two to spare I pop out another few wheels, probably got enough by now Loan items will be returned home soon lads Here is the tail cone leaving its nest Over flow is sorta the way it is in my cheapskate world, I don't have careful measuring jigs, jugs and contraptions in my garage Anyway up, here is this afternoon's offerings on the bench, so to speak As you can see my main body mould failed due to trying too hard, I was trying to put some resin into the three little holes I left after doing the little wheels Result? Double failure, The little wheel things were too badly planned to get cast this way and because I tried to use the mix whilst casting the fore-body I short filled the main Palouste body Lesson learnt and whilst I type a new fore end is curing 'down there' in the garage Good things to come out of this? The jetpipe bend was perfectly executed and I had been worrying whether the slim recess would let the resin out Looks OK to me So the outcome, I cannot cast the skinny little wheel and flange arrangements using this kind of mould, James might have to make 204 sets, and the nose leg/wheel contraptions too. Still only 102 of them James Oh well back to the garage wish me...

Hi everybody, time for WE progress report Completing the job on the wings: PPP to fill the join around the flare dispensers Then some details added to the aileron housings Copper wire, solder wire and brass pipe used for the task. I used tiny drops of CA to hold the parts in place, then Tamiya Green Cap to soften the plastic and permanently bond them in Following @CedB's advice , I recently acquired this set of masking tapes which promptly found usage in joining the wings to the fuselage Looks OK-ish to me After one night curing, port side wing root looked good as it was while starboard needed some filling with PPP The bottom seams were dealt with, as well, and the rescribing completed More PPP here, but also a small styrene shim (0.1mm) to fill the gap in the middle part of the fuselage (barely visible here) Then it was time for the ventral fins: more work for PPP here, as you can see Here after filling in with PPP and refining using a wet makeup brush So then I thought: let's try a dryfit for the tail planes Not quite right, you see ... I think this is partly self induced, so to correct that awkward angle, I used the aforementioned masking tape to add thickness in the desired spot, to wit: and here's what I got afterwards Much better, but will require some work underneath: here's a shot taken before putting the tape shims in Looking good, right? Not anymore, after correcting the angle - that'll make for some tricky sanding ... I added the two vent covers, typical on this version of the AC I reduced the thickness from inside before gluing this on, because it looked rather chunky. Here's the other one (same treatment) They both need a bit of tidying up, but later for that. Here's the current state, while the tail planes are setting: That's it for the day, comments welcome Ciao

But they're essential oils... essential... they must be important for one's health and wellbeing! Cheers, Stew

A couple of years ago I decided to re-visit an old childhood fave of mine. I was drawn to the Street Demons series and even more drawn to the 56 Ford F-100 offering in that series. I ended up doing a total revamp of that kit when I did sit down to have a "second go" at that kit. Little did I remember just how awful that kit really was (or was it that it didn't really matter at such a young age----I just built it) but I did end up finding out that kit really had its challenges. After completing the revamp kit in 2015 I found out that I'd learned a valuable lesson in my adult modeling in regards to just how far I'm going to go with detailing a kit and more importantly how much money NOT to throw at a build. I detailed it to the point that I dread handling it every time I pick it up to take it to shows or if I have to do a photo shoot like you'll see below. To flash forward to around August of last year, I'd been wanting to build another 56 for a while and then along came the Foose 56 F-100. Man............the body was totally tweaked and the appearance of this truck was so much sleeker than the original F-100's were. So with that I purchased a Revell Foose FD-100 kit. My imagination went into overdrive at the possibilities. I had Thomas over at Speedway Decals go to work on fabricating the slides I'd need to pull this, more refined Demon version, off. I kept the power and drive train and made some modifications to the rear suspension to narrow the rear end and lower it even more while retaining all of the original four link suspension parts. I had to cut the bed and make fender wells for the much wider tires that were to go in the rear. I tried to detail the engine up as much as I could using all of the OOB parts for the engine. I didn't want to have to modify this and modify that to retain the original look of the Roush engine (which is one of the best engines I've built modeling wise-save for that stupid hole in the oil pan for the metal axle to pass throughfacepalm_zpsgaclnqrj.gif ) I turned to Weld Draglites once again for this this newer version. The front wheels are from a Revell Pro Stock Camaro kit and the rears are from Competition Resins with a coat of Molotow Chrome shot through an airbrush and cleared with Spaz Stix Ultimate Clear. After that a coat of Tamiya Smoke was airbrushed onto all wheels to tone down the "toy chrome" look. Paint is Testors Semi Gloss Black as a base color with Testors "Wet Look" clear bringin' up the shine. Both were decanted and shot through an airbrush to get the smoothest results possible. Flame masks from Anarchy Models and Alclad II Polished Aluminum ensured a nice smooth flame job. The "Foose" lettering was removed from the tail gate and F-O-R-D lettering was applied in its place. If I had any words of caution about this kit I would say that the interior tub needs to be installed BEFORE setting the cab down onto the truck frame and to make sure to test fit the hood AFTER installing the radiator core support brace. I test fitted it before installing it and it fit perfect ...........only to find out that it didn't afterwards. Some gentle sanding cleaned it up enough to fit in the end. Also............make SURE then engine is all the way down in the mount slots provided. I had to risk and "all or nothing" attempt at forcing it straight and luckily I got by with it. facepalm_zpsgaclnqrj.gif Overall I was very happy with this kit as it's a solid build that takes to handling well and it just felt like everything "clicked" together unlike a lot of the older kits that I tend to build...........especially with any mods. With all that being said, here's the finishing shots: Once put along side the original "Demon I" (which the front plate on it reads Demon 3 in the series of 6-I didn't know two years ago that I'd be building another one) the differences are painfully obvious in the overall shape of the truck-particularly in the areas of the fenders , grille area and cab height). I took full advantage of these differences to make a more aggressive looking pro street truck this time around. Side by side shot: (Sorry folks, the ol' 429 Boss truck just has to be in the lead )

Having just bought the recent Airfix Meteor F.8, I figured I'd better build this one, which has been in my stash for years, or risk never doing it at all. It's pretty much OOB except for an Eduard PE set for properly sized seat and other cockpit details, and Eduard PE seat belts. Paints are all Model Master enamels. Decals are from the kit except for the starboard codes which I managed to wreck, so I generated them on my computer and a modeling buddy cut masks with his plotter/cutter. Cheers, Pip

Following on from the WIP thread for this model, http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235035905-172-raf-walrus-from-matchboxrevell-kit/&tab=comments#comment-3004200, here are the completed photos;Walrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (38) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (41) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (50) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (56) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (59) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (61) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrWalrus II, Z1768, 281 Sqdn, Ouston, 1942-3 (68) w by Philip Pain, on FlickrJust a comment about the accuracy of the scheme, as it is based on a partial photo of some erks stood in front of the rear fuselage, and obliterating most of the code letters. The 'FA' and the hyphen are correct, and the colours are red, unlike some RAF Rescue squadrons that used yellow. However, the individual code letter 'B' could be a 'D' or even a 'G' as only a bit of a curved letter can be seen. RAF Rescue squadrons only had a few aircraft each, to include the Walrus and Defiants, later replaced by the Anson. The highest letter known for 281 Squadron is an Anson coded 'F'. As the Walrus came first, early alphabet letters are likely, thus choosing 'B' for this model of Z1768. This kit is the Revell re-issue of the Matchbox kit, and to improve the detail of the kit, some 130 individual additions/corrections were made. It is fully rigged using nylon thread and, as shown in the WIP thread, the rigging was first attached to the inside of the parts, before construction, and then pulled through and secured after gluing parts together. Thanks for looking.

Evenin’ all! I'm Back from a week at a conference in Paris, plus a pleasant holiday in farthest Cornwall, which has relatively little aviation heritage (save a couple of gate guards at Culdrose, plus the fire dump at RNAS Predannack, which is another story) but on the flip side looks like this. it was time to crack on with detail painting on the Stranraer! I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. I'm almost done, apart from the dinghy on the starboard side of the aft compartment, which I'm still trying to work out the colours for. Having painted the pilot's, navigator's and wireless operator's seats, I finally stuck them in! The eagle-eyed might notice from the last shot that I've made a start on applying the windows. That's right, I've had to cut some parts of the sprue! I think the last time I did this was several months ago: dust needed shaking off. These have massive flanges around them, which I have been diligently sanding off, at least in the windows which one can see from inside. I'm not used to having to make fuselage windows look good from both sides! The good news is that they aren't very clear, so you will only be able to see detail where I have put it, i.e. where it's visible though holes. No sneaky peering at the blank aft section of the wireless operator's compartment for you! That's all for now, but I'll leave you with the exciting prospect that the Stranraer hull halves aren't far off being ready to stick together. It's only been eight months...

Hi all, I have taken a break from making wreckers from military vehicles, (although another one is nearly finished- a Bedford QL), and wanted to do something else. I have had this Revell Maultier in the stash for some time so I thought I would just do it out of the box. It does go together reasonably well, I think this is not actually a Revell tooling but is "box engineering" as they say. I think it might be a Zvezda offering, correct me if I am wrong. Anyway, there are some small fiddly parts and the carpet monster claimed a few, but I finally got there. Sometimes I think I should cut off all the small parts from the sprue, door handles, grab handles and the like and just throw them all on the carpet, as that is where they seem to end up. What I can then find OK- the rest I will have to make! I normally like to include a load in the back of trucks, as I think it is more interesting. In this case I had a BMW sidecar outfit in the stash, and a Zundapp solo motorcycle. So they went in. It is finished with Tamiya paints and weathered with Humbrol washes and powders. At some point in the future I might make a base for it. My modelling days will need to take a backseat in the next few weeks as the better weather arrives, as I have a 1 to 1 scale Honda CB400 four to get sorted for the summer. Apologies, some of the photos have gone in twice, which demonstrates how I am good at doing things that I do not know how I did! Anyway all for now and thanks for looking.

Only an hour at the bench today, I started to detail up the most important bit of kit on the Det, the "BV" or boiling vessel, its basically a large kettle with a big lid, you can cook food or boil water froe a brew. Takom have provided the BV's but they missed a few bits off of them, the lids should have a carry handle and a small vent which is missing on the kit part. The mounting tray is also very basic and missing most of the details so I scratch built the tray, It still needs a few more parts adding but the basic's are done. I've used the Accurate Armour BV set as they are better than the kit part, they have the handles and the mushroom vent on the top lid, I'll have one BV open on my build. I'll also add the strap that secures them in place later, probably after painting the BV's. Cheers Chaps Dan

Getting my Botha project going again after a bit of a gap. Completely re-panelled it and it is now undercoated, will do pre-shade next and then get the glazing attached. Still can't decide on a scheme, not keen on the yellow trainer scheme would prefer an 'in service' finish, any suggestions?

No no no... You have to remove ALL traces of the oil, leaving just the molecular memory of it in the now powerfully energised water! This is the strongest Homoeopathic concentration that exists! It will enrich your existence and prepare you for an auspicious reincarnation into the next! Increase your spirituality by alleviating you of surplus material wealth! Win new friends! Lead to great positive Karma! Help you become one with the Universe! Promote inner peace! A life changing experience in every precious drop contained in each perfectly formed sacred bottle, crafted by holy mystic Tibetan artisans in their workshop in an isolated monastery in the ancient and mysterious Cotswolds! I could go on, but I'm bored now.

Awww, bless him, using tools! I hope you got some photos? That's the sort of story he'll regret at his 18th birthday party and wedding. Revenge is a dish... But wait, I have an idea! You'll need a couple of buckets and a pipette. Fill the buckets with water. Retrieve the oil bottle from the trash. Very carefully drop one drop (just one mind) of oil into the water in one bucket and stir for five minutes. Using the pipette, take one drop of the mixture and put it in the other bucket. Repeat this until you can just still smell the oil and voila! Homeopathic essential oil! MUCH more powerful!! You could print up some 'Winnie's Oil, Inspired by Our Son' labels with a cute photo of him on the front and probably sell them from the back of the SUV to other SUV driving Moms for, ooh I don't know, $30 a bottle? College fund sorted.

More bits are added. Ladder, engine and cowls, mooring cleats and floats' rudders: Decals under the wings and the fairings for the scissor linkages: Props, more decals, wire antenna, boomerang antenna, floats' rudders rigging: Adapting parts to make the beaching gear:

My Tamiya 1/48 A6M2 of the 261st Kokutai, created in Kagoshima in June 1943 and "dissolved" in Saipan, after the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in July 1944. Click picture for action.

Hey All, This is about as much as I'm going to do on this build. However you know that everybody that builds a Dio base is never really done. I'll just keep adding junk to this until the Maz is really junk. That's it guys! I'm off to other builds, later all, Rich

We go down to see "my airpanes" about every other day. He's been following the progress on the Blenheims closely, since he figures I'm building one specifically for him. Also the door locks. There's a lot you don't know about me, Rob. He figured out how to turn the light on a while ago, so Mrs P just unscrews the bulb now when she puts him down for the night.

They may not do absolutely nothing, they may do absolutely something, if Winston doesn't give up the essential oil thing, he may become the daughter that Mrs P yearns for. albeit with extras. Steve.

Well - despite everything - I've got them done. Just a couple of pictures for now as I'm hoping to get my others back. a quick shot of the backs - as there is quite a lot going on inside that doesn't come with the kits. ...and one from the front for now - with my lucky penny... ...thanks again for all the support and on behalf of the team here - 'thanks for following this painful trek' - the Sarge appreciates it Steve

Thanks for all the comments! The last two weeks I've been able to close the fuselage and finish assembly. This weekend I got a lot of painting done. One of the things that was still left was the gun sight: What I actually started the whole build with was the wheel wells. I added some additional wiring to the Airfix parts: Assembled. I'm not a huge fan of the surface detail and besides, the wings of the Mustang were pretty smooth so I spent quite a lot of time filling and sanding the wings smooth. Lost the rear edges of the wing tips in the process, but replaced them by sculpting some Evergreen styrene into shape. Primed black: Painted with various shades of AK Interactive: Vroooooom Thanks for looking Comments and feedback is always appreciated. - Elger

I am back. This time it be German tank. Some resin additions from Panzer Art And maybe some figures - depend how I paint them. Ok, some building progress. Lots of wheels: I've Corrected the name of manufacturer - right one:

Here is my fifth completion of the year, the Dragon Models 1/700 U.S.S. Pennsylvania in her 1944 configuration: I built this for the upcoming Scottish National Model Show in Perth at the end of the month to take part in the Sovereign Hobbies giant 3D all-singing all-dancing all-time Battleships game* - Jamie has done the rest of the US fleet and Gill has done the Imperial Japanese Navy ships and I imagine it will end in scenes of bloody violence not seen since the actual Pacific War. Building it was quite a strange experience as I rarely deviate (and I use the word after careful consideration) from 1/72 aircraft kits. The kit was a collection of mostly tiny, tiny parts, about half of which were marked on the instructions as 'not for use' but this fortunately meant there was a fair supply of spares for when the less co-operative tiny parts pinged out of my tweezers never to be seen again. Anyway in keeping with my policy of posting every kit I finish regardless of quality, there she is and I am happy enough with how she turned out. The kit is finished in Colourcoats US10 - 1942 Revised Deck Blue 20-B for the decks and US08 - 5-N Navy Blue for just about everything else. I did paint the little Vought Kingfisher in Non-specular Sea Blue, Intermediate Blue and White, because I am a bit funny like that sometimes. Anyway thanks for looking, thanks to Jamie for the model and the paints and if you are passing the Sovereign Hobbies stand at the model show, please feel free to drop by and watch the mayhem - I shall be keeping as far out of the way as is practicable because I suspect Gill has a ruthless desire to win that will not scruple at using violence to achieve that end Cheers, Stew * Actual game may not include singing, dancing or time and may not be giant according to most accepted definitions.

Thanks Giorgio, I might have to invest in some of that thin tape in the future! Plenty done over the weekend. Airframe painted and glossed, ready for decals. I added some random 'blobs' of lighter and darker paint to areas of the airframe. This will be the start of the weathering - these jets had a very heavily weathered appearance during the cruise. Colours are the usual Light Ghost Grey for the sides and lower surfaces, with Dark Ghost Grey for the uppers, both from Model Master. Will get the decals on in the morning. Dave

Yes, of course. The engines in the Space Shuttle kit represent the Pratt and Whitneys used by Pan Am. There are lots of airliner experts on Britmodeller and as a member of both sites I find Britmodeller much friendlier than Airliner Cafe.

Thank you very much gentlemen! Yes larchiefeng (Sam?) I'm a lucky man. My workshop, my kingdom, is really just perfect... for me and my work, usually about five or six hours per day! Well, after the first paint coat the chassis is drying. It's now time to deal with the front axle and his reinforcements: On the background, the real car... Of course some machining! Dan.

Hello Britmodellers, this April Manfred von Richthofen died 100 years ago, German Modelling Magazine ModellFan presented various planes dedicated to him ranging from WWI to present with todays JG 71 "Richthofen". This Spook is one of these... It is a Revell F with a lot of changes to look like a real spook... This Luftwaffen-Diesel greeted the crowd in Fairford 2004 Cheers, Thomas

Thanks Nigel: I think the trick was to do them all in one long session in order to keep a uniformity of finish across the lot. Glad to hear it Bill. It's something I've ummed and ahhed about for a while, though as you say: We'll know they're there though won't we? Merci beaucoup mon grande tentacliste! If only parental authority worked that way...<sigh>. My youngest crew members are now both almost taller than me.... Tsk tsk: You know the thread rules hendie: Is Pished Skateball a problem in the US as well? Welcome to The Very Tiny Island of Dr. Moreau.... You stick by me if things get iffy up the rough end of the hall at Telford this year Tomo. Thanks for those kind words on both counts Adrian. Spoken like a true Italian Giorgio. Make sure it's a permanent acrylic ink Ced (and not the semi-permanent fountain pen stuff which dissolves in subsequent the wash coats). Otherwise your figures will end up with that 'surprised by a squid' finish...

Hi guys, worked on the external load last weekend. I choose a full training load, typical for a deployment at Decimomannu test range or for a TLP session: AGM Maverick drill and rail are resin set from North Star Models Litening targeting pod is a resin part from Isradecal External fuel tanks came from Hasegawa's A-4 kit ACMI e RAID pods are modified AIM-9 missiles ALQ-164 ECM pod is from scratch I heavily modified all the pylons adding details as the sway braces and stencils. This is the result. CIAO! Piero

It has taken some time between the latest update and today, got stuck on the build, partly due to problems with the model and part due to other stuff. Let's focus on the problems with the kit... I had planned to add the pilots helmets before closing the fuselage, however I have struggled with modifying the helmets. So I've just decided to take some more time to sort these and to start moving with the build regardless. After adding some more drybrushing on the pilots (thanks giemme!), I glued the piltos in place and added the straps that tie them to the seat. With this done, I closed the front fuselage halves, trapping the cockpit and the front wheel well in between. Fit wasn't too bad but some work was required on the lower front, where one fuselage halves was protruding slightly from the other. This has happened on pretty much all my previous Hasegawa Tomcats so must be a feature of this kit. What didn't happen in the past was that some panel lines were very faint and needed some work to make them deeper. Guess that almost 30 years in continuous production are taking their toll on the moulds here. It was then time to address one area where the age of the moulds is quite visible, the intakes. Intakes on the real Tomcat are quite complicated and this is reflected in the kit. Hasegawa IMHO did quite a good job on them but the main parts are very flimsy. They have always been but I've never witnessed such warpage in my previous builds of the same kit.In any case, adding the rear trunking and the upper plates helps keeping the plastic in shape Tomcat enthusiasts will notice that I have not drilled the holes needed to glue the tanks in place. They are right and I have a reason for this: the attachment points proposed by Hasegawa are wrong, being too far out from the intake centerline. The tanks on the Tomcat are indeed attached outside of the centerlines, however not as far as Hasegawa suggests and mounting the tanks in the kit's location would result in interference with the landing gear (apart from being wrong...). This also explains the presence of tape and red marks on one of the intakes, I'm trying to decide where the drill the new holes

Hi guys, back home now. Last night I couldn't sleep so I decided to do some work on the tail session. Last week I cut from stabilizer's the elevators and glued the top and bottom side as the resin one by Alleycat is a bit too thin.At the end, I've decided to use the kit part, corrected. Here's a comparaison between the two. Comparing the tail shape with the picture in the back ground. I've just realized the front edge was a little more round than on the kit on the real aircraft. I'll file it a little bit later. Last night I cut the kit intake and the to pof the vertical fin. Glued a styrene strip to the top of the tail and drilled the intale housing on the tail front edge. I added some CA glue to the junction and then... flour sweet flour!!!!!! And again I can tell you flour is great!!! I filed the material in excess and then I glued an angled srtip of styrene to the fin's front. I also glued a piece of styrene tube to the airtake recess. I added CA gue and flour and filed it down to improvethe junction. I added some CA glue into the recess and shaped it This morning I cut the eccess off and drilled a line of holes to the bottom of the orizontal stabilizer. Then I cut and shaped the fin's top to match the stabilizer. Dry fit test tosee what it looks like wirh the open airbrakes too. I'll represent the stabilizer nose down and elevators bent up as in the last picture found on www.alamy.com.The vertical part over the stabilizer will have to be rebuilt, but I'll keep this for another time!!! Ciao Massimo

A last minute decision to use the kit decals after the Model Alliance set on eBay crept beyond £12! The kit decals were slightly cracked through age, but fortunately didn't break up in the water. After serving with 25 sqn, XH905 flew in 33 sqn markings until November 1962 when the unit was renumbered 5 sqn and moved to Geilenkirchen in Germany. It was based here until 1966 when the Javelin wing disbanded. It's remarkable how short the service lives of some front line fighters were in those days! I built this one OOB apart from adding the tiny aerial on the tailplane, and painting the control panels as the decals didn't include any. Colours are satin DSG spray, Tamiya XF-81 green and silver spray from Halfords (!). The kit was generally good apart from excessive flash on some sprues, but fitted together reasonably well for the most part, I just needed a lot of filler for the wing roots. So here she is, Javelin FAW.9 XH905 of 5 squadron ... I'd love to get better at this (more realistic looking models), so all comments and ideas for improvement welcome!

The weapons carriers are now drying - EMRUs in position and painted on all 4; next to add the various PE appendages. While they're drying, I've turned my attention to a couple of areas that have given me a lot of trouble. The tail wheel must have been knocked off half a dozen times, so this time I've drilled it and inserted a fairly large brass rod to see if I can keep it on the aircraft for longer than 5 minutes (which should - at least in theory - be made easier by the fact that she's sitting on the wonderful JHmodels frame gizmo rather than her own wheels...). The other is the tail strake (the only example I know of a deliberately anti-aerodynamic device on an aircraft - its purpose is to break up the downwash on the port side of the tail, so that the entire tail pylon acts as an aerofoil section, thus unloading the tail rotor). Because of the whole Rivet-Fest thing, I couldn't fit it early on (it wasn't on the earliest Seakings, so the rivet patterns run under it rather than round it), and no matter what I have tried to fix it safely post-paint & rivet, it has always been really fragile; it keeps on falling off without my even touching it. Worse yet, the Hasegawa plastic strake - even after some pretty drastic filing - is too thick to be convincing. Since I can't get it to stay in place, I've decided to bite the bullet properly and make a brass strake instead; if I’m going to have to do more drastic things to fix it in place, I may as well make it a good piece. The FlightPath set includes a PE strake, but in a rare departure from near-perfection for them, the forward half of it is useless. The rear section is straight, and I'll be using David's offering - but the forward section has to fit around a very curved part of the fuselage, and the FlightPath version doesn't work. (I actually think that coping with the curve is part of the problem with Hasegawa’s plastic version, too). So today has seen the first major action for the Old Faithful SIHRSC, namely fettling some brass sheet into the requisite shape. It's not finished yet, but getting there (and Old Faithful is superb - subtle but effective; thanks Bill!). Not a lot to show you for a couple of hours' work, but all important stuff. [You don't need another picture of a Seaking tail wheel; it looks exactly the same as the previous three times it's been "fixed" in position!] More soon Crisp

Painting of the 'Sky' undersides generally complete and again needed several coats to cover the kit colour (which approximates to ESDG). Still to touch up around the 'gills'. Wing tanks are now fitted. Black stripes are on - a bit of bleed through to touch up - should have touched on some more white to seal the edges of the masking tape but thought that white was pretty thick already. Extra Dark Sea Grey on the upper surfaces comes next. Construction-wise, still to finally sort out a solution for the 9 per side exhaust outlets, fit the tiny brass pitot tube, fit rocket rails and rockets and mask and fit the canopy.