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Howdy All, Just taken some pic`s of my latest effort so I hope you don`t mind me sharing them with you My attempt at Heller`s re-boxing of Smer`s 1/48 MiG-17 kit Completed to represent an aircraft of the 923rd Fighter Reg`, `Yen The` ( no, I don`t know what it means 🙂 ) NVAF I`ve had the decals for ages but couldn`t find any pic`s or much info` on the particular airframe so just decided to give it my best shot The camouflage is described in the instruction as `used for missions at the sea` Decals from L Decals Studio LDS 48007, the kit is mostly from the box contents Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Enjoy the sunshine, cheers Russ

Hi everyone, This is a project I did for a very good friend of mines' 50th. Well suffice to see it could also have been for his 51st as it took over a year on and off to complete! It's based on an early configuration F-15E from the 48FW at RAF Lakenheath which we have both visited many times. Happy birthday chap! PS: Build thread can be found here:

1/144 scale Fokker E.III belonging to Leutnant zur See Gotthard Sachsenberg sometime in 1916.

Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin Copper State Models 1/48 It was a pleasant and a rather short build (due to good fit) and I must admit, I really enjoyed it. It depicts the Dolphin C4168 of Major J.C. Callaghan, CO of 87 Sqn, Spring 1918 Painted with Tamiya and Mr.Color, artistic oils. Rigging: EZ Line and fishing line. For any 1/48th scale lovers - highly recommended.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! Let me present you my next model with wonderful quality of plastic from Eduard.

Good morning....Finally, y managed to finish this one, wich has been lurking in my cave for so long....It's actually a present for my friend Felipe, a fellow modeller from Gran Canaria, and an excellent person, who had the whim of a 2/JG71 "Richtofen" Sabre... It was built OOB, except for the modified wings (the kit is a F86F30, with hard, 6-3 wing), wich involved wingtips and extended wing leading slats.... The decals came from the Revell kit, and were a real nightmare to work with...In fact, as you can see, the Tulip decals around the nose went completely wrong. I told Felipe I was going to remake that area, but he said "no, leave it that way, it goes straight to my cabinet", so left the model as it was. It was painted with good old Humbrol enamels. Sorry for the poor pics, in fact, the green looks much greener than it actually is....I've got an old, handy Pentax, no budget for a good camera....Please, feel free to leave any comment.... IMG_20180507_174930[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20180507_174611[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20180507_174833[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20180507_174440[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG_20180507_174706[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr Finally, a pic of La laguna, my hometown. Yes, it's supposed to be summer here..... IMG_20180421_163349[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr

Hi. This is my Aussie-Rhino, based on the quiet good 1:72 Hasegawa kit. I Aires seats and Eduard etched parts for the pit. The pilots are from Modern Hobbies, the only one with the right modern helmets I think. There was also a lot of scratch work as the lowered slats and flaps or the completely air intakes. Hope you like it. Daniel

Here's some pics of my latest completion , the 1/72 Hasegawa Mirage F1C . Apart from an Aeroclub seat & a piece of plasticard blocking off the nosewheel bay , it's built totally OOB . The decals are from Syhart , whose products I recommend most highly . Apart from the majority of the radome & a few touch-ups , the black is entirely decal . John Green Nantwich , Cheshire

Oh, no worries fellas, I'm pretty sure the blame is all mine, as impresario of what passes for this little circus. In any case, the fuselages are now all decalled and clearcoated, and drying in a sophisticated cradle of my own devising (patent pending): 20180625_221650 by Edward IX, on Flickr Work has also begun on painting the fuselage of the third kit, but I may have been over enthusiastic on the filler, and it may need some more sanding to blend it in yet. This doesn't show it well, but the engines are all painted and assembled and also clearcoated (because I only have enamel washes and they were painted with lacquers, I need the acrylic clear coat). 20180625_221705 by Edward IX, on Flickr Additionally, one rudder is masked and painted: 20180625_221713 by Edward IX, on Flickr And the wings are partiallydecalled: 20180625_221734 by Edward IX, on Flickr So, funny story about those underside decals. You know the red paint from the superlatively masked paint job I did on the rudder? I trust it's fresh in your memory. I managed to spill it while pouring the leftovers out of the colour cup of the airbrush and back into the Tamiya jar...and where did I spill it? Of course on the decal sheet. Always put 'em away, kids. So after a small amount of well-ordered panicking, I decided to hell with it and put them on the lower wings. The kit instructions suggest the 1918-style Balkankreuzes should be faded and largely overpainted, but obviously that didn't quite happen here...not sure if I'll do it for the other wing or the uppersurfaces of that wing. We'll see how I feel. Wow, got a lot done! Here's Grant passed out in a swing; it was his first time in one, and it was a little too close to naptime. 20180623_111851 by Edward IX, on Flickr

Fokker E.V 1:32 Miko Mir with Pheon Decals The parasol winged Fokker D.VIII was the last of this companies aircraft to enter service before the end of the Great War. Originally designated the Fokker E.V. it was an agile little machine with a parasol wing and rotary engine, much like some of the early machines from the start of the Great War. It might have had greater success, had it not suffered from poor manufacturing standards. After barely two weeks service in August 1918, The E.V. had to be withdrawn due to failures causing the wing to disintegrate in flight. Badly made wings and poor materials were found to be the main cause. Examination of several sets revealed such things as incorrect wing spars, and nails that secured the plywood skinning completely missing the ribs it was supposed to attach to. Redesigned wings were manufactured under more stringent quality control, and the aircraft resumed production with the new designation of Fokker D.VIII. Surviving E.V.s were retro fitted with the new wing, and it seems were also then referred to as D.VIII's. Re-entering service in October, it did not much have much time to prove itself before the 11th November armistice brought the conflict to a halt. The Mikro Mir kit is typical short run injection molded, quite buildable but inevitably you need to do a bit of fettling to get things to fit, particularly the tailplane where it sits on the rear fuselage. I didn't much fancy any of the kit colour scheme options, so purchased Pheon Decals set 32061 which gives seven options, including five from Jasta 6 with the attractive striped tail and petaled engine cowling. Not only that, but Pheon supply a superb set of assembly jigs, more of which later. (Mrs Viking, without prompting, was looking over my shoulder while I pondered which colour scheme to apply, and pointed to this one, saying it was really nice. That decided that!) The E.V is a dainty little machine, I persuaded Leutnant Wolff to nip out during his coffee break to stand alongside and lend a sense of scale; There has been a lot of discussion on the wing colours applied to the E.V / D.VIII series, originally it was thought that it was olive green top and bottom. A few years ago Dan-San Abbot researched this, and concluded that it was incorrect. It was very likely that it was treated with woodstain, in Mocha brown and True green on top, with Azure blue and Violet underneath. I decided to go with this, and try to replicate it on my model, following the drawings on the Pheon instruction sheet . I used solid base colours in lighter versions, and then used thinned oil paints over the top to produce a streaky stained affect. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I'm pretty happy with the result. If anything I might try to make it lighter If I do another one. The Pheon decal sheet comes with a brilliant pair of assembly jigs that you need to apply to thick card, and put together. They are printed on sticky back paper, making the job very simple. I can't praise them enough, that are absolutely superb and make the otherwise complex assembly of the undercarriage and wing as easy as it could be. They ensure that everything lines up precisely with the correct spacing. It gets the wing on absolutely square to the fuselage, with the correct incidence. Utterly brilliant and essential to building this kit!. Add to Pheon's superb rapid service, and excellent choice of colour schemes and really can't go wrong. I was fortunate enough to have some airfoil sectioned brass 'Strutz' material (long out of production), to replace the plastic items in the kit. The whole model is very strong. The Undercarriage assembly jig ensures you get it spot on. (note the replacement brass legs). The second jig, where you place the wing in first, and then the fuselage. You can then fashion your own struts, or fit the less substantial kit ones; I used the kit plastic 'V' struts , but had to cut them at the point of the 'V' to fit them accurately to my brass replacements; I used Wingnut Wings aftermarket 4 colour lozenge decal which I had to cut to shape, but there is also the option of Aviattic's 'Cookie Cutter' set which provides for 2 aircraft. It's been a fun project, and I'm pleased to finally have a Fokker E.V to join my line up of Wingnut Wings kits. (But why do you always spot the devil dust on the photos after you've taken them 😠) Thanks for looking, John

This aircraft is built for the 1/32 Eduard kit straight out of the box, only personal addition is the map in the cockpit and a set of Air Masters canons. The Messerschmitt Bf 109E fighter of Franz von Werra, shot down over England, where he was taken prisoner in January 1941. Von Werra was sent with other German prisoners to Canada, where possibly he became the only German airman to make his escape from there, returning to Germany via the still neutral U.S.A. Von Werra was also a skilled fighter pilot, although his results weren’t anywhere near those of the Luftwaffe’s top guns. He most frequently flew as a wingman of Hauptmann Erich von Selle, the commanding officer of his unit. In this role, he scored four victories during the Battle of France – a Hurrricane, two Breguet 693s and a Morane MS.406. Despite this initial success, von Werra’s tally did not advance any further during June, July and larger part of August, despite the fact that operations against the RAF were being flown almost daily. Then suddenly, on 28 August, von Werra returned from a mission claiming 9 aircraft destroyed. According to his report, he first shot down a Spitfire during a general melée, then became detached from his unit, spotted three Hurricanes on a landing circuit and destroyed them one after another. Lastly, he zoomed low over the airfield, setting additional five Hurricanes on fire. Then came the day of 5 September, when von Werra was shot down. On that occasion, II./JG 3 was flying as an escort to a bombing raid on Croydon. On the return leg of the raid the bombers were attacked by a swarm of RAF fighters. Hauptmann Von Selle, leading the thirty escorting Messerschmitts, gave the order to attack. At the exact moment when Selle rolled his aircraft to starboard to initiate a dive, another gaggle of Spitfires jumped them from behind, their guns blazing. Von Selle’s aircraft avoided the bullets. His wingman, Franz von Werra, did not have such luck; a well-placed burst damaged the engine of his Bf 109 and knocked off his radio. Without engine power, the German pilot was unable to shake off the attacker, which followed him in a dive, squirting the Messerschmitt with a series of short bursts. Ultimately, von Werra had no choice but to make a crash-landing. This he did, putting down his aircraft wheels-up but otherwise intact on a field at Loves Farm, Marden, Kent. The identity of the victorious British pilot remains the subject of debate until this day. Some researchers claim that the pilot who was responsible for the shooting was F/Lt John Terence Webster of No. 31 Squadron. Others believe it to be a shared victory by P/O George Bennions of No. 41 Squadron and P/O Basil Gerald Stapleton of No. 603 Squadron. Yet others have attributed the same achievement to F/Lt Paterson Clarence Hughes, an ace of No. 234 Squadron with a victory tally of 14. Officially, the credit originally went to ‘Stapme’ Stapleton, but Hughes final DFC citation in the London Gazette of 22 October 1940 awarded him a half credit for the same. (The spitfire site n.d.)

Shunzo Takashima, 244th Air Group, Chofu airbase, May 1945 If you like decaling this kit is for you goes together perfectly

Just a few images from a proficiency mission in September 1984. Her designation would be changed to NRF-4C to indicate permanent test modifications in 1986. Thanks for looking, Sven

My first RFI here at the forums, Revell's antique P-26A Peashooter in markings worn during a 1925 camo trial. Brush painted with a mix of LifeColor, Tamiya, Model Masters, and Vallejo paints, with decals from the bin and Print Scale Sheets. Soon, a P-12E in the same style of camo, using the Monogram Kit and 2 conversion kits from Starfighter Resin, one for the tail and the other for a new top wing. Eventually, a P-6E in the same camo, using the Monogram Kit and an interior set from Starfighter Resin. My first try with the Olimp kit was scrapped as the kit simply would not seem to go together.

Thanks Håkan Thanks Giorgio You've made me think and, as Keith says (thanks Keith) you're certainly not dumb! Thanks Stuart Yes, saving paint... Why am I doing that? How much am I saving exactly... ... and why am I worried? I can always buy more and boost Jamie's sales (a good thing). Apologies for the dirty tin... I am ashamed and will clean it, honestly, later. I know why I'm worried; it's the 'six tin minimum' order... I can see why Jamie's done it but I just need to get a grip (fnaar!) Anyhoo, masks are off: I've decided I'll do 'all over then mask' on the top and damn the expense... what's £2.50 between friends eh?

Done but still drying: Still some DG left in its cleaned tin, phew. Need more soon though. I've checked the stash and I need some EDSG and Slate Grey for the Barracuda and Fulmar. The EDSG is 'coming soon' so I'm hoping Stew filled some tins of that over the weekend so I've requested a 'notify me' for stock, then I can put an order in and stop worrying

Of MUCH interest of many hereabouts... During my stay on the campsite at Le Mans I wondered how my buddies were keeping so well in touch "Yes Bob is at SuperU and bringing more cidre" kind of stuff when they hadn't had phone calls Turns out there is a device called a smartphone which can be loaded with 'apps' (Shorthand for applications I believe) Further turns out that my J3 (2017) is such a device, I bought it because I needed a camera that is a: cleverer than me with fabulous optics and b: because I saw two young ladies checking whether the bus was on time with one and as a bus pass user this is top jolly stuff to own Anyway, this gentle digression proceeds thusly Bob and the others were all using a APP called whatsapp which they used to create a user group so they could keep the hive mind informed as to state of play round the course and campsite They realised that the dinosaur could usefully be installed within this group and hence I installed the application into J3 Got synchronised within the hive and set out trackside for the pitwalk Very nice it was, including knowing where we all were simply by saying "Im watching them fitting tear off windscreens to a car, see you by the Porsche Piggy garage in five minutes" All very boring no doubt to most of you but this amazing system has other consequences It appears to delve into my telephone and other contacts and shove them into the hive mind too Mine took a day or so to suddenly go 'ping' and announce a Mr Fritag was a watsapper too So naturally I passed on a quavering quivery voiced message to the said chap Are you Steve? Are YOU OK? Had a response recently, it appears our Brother In The Law has got on his bike and is at present riding vertiginious trackways all over the Azores, those lumps of volcanic tyre shredding islands in mid-Atlantic And from the photo having the time of his 'recent' life, I cannot for the life of me consider he'd ever compare that to flying the MightyJaguar to bouncing his buttocks around on a skinny gel filled cycle saddle Panic if not over, somewhat happily reduced b

In spite of searching in this forum (I did honest)! I can't find any mention of Sword bringing out 2 boxings of the RF-84F Thunderflash in 1/72nd, but the BigH are showing the two options: Italy, Belgium, USAF and Netherlands Germany, France, USAF and Norway All I can say is YEEHAH! I'll have to give these a try, hopefully they'll follow them up with the F-84F Thunderstreak, fingers crossed!

Finally got this done just before my hols. With huge thanks to Camper1 for supplying me decals 👍!!! The kit is the Academy one that was a freebie at the club a couple or so months ago. It had been started with badly applied 'baco foil' at the rear fuselage half and where it had been cut in half to display the engine! My task was to reunite the fuselage halves, get rid of the foil and put it all together! Then some begging for the decals... Anyway, here we have the end product and hope you all enjoy. That little white protrusion on port side near jet pipe is the replacement fuel dump pipe having lost the kit part and needs to be painted red. It can be seen in red in pics above thats because the photos here are not in strict sequence. The above two pics show a touch of my own is used here by way of decorating the intake and jet pipe covers with spare roundels applied to blue painted covers. The roundel decals came from a 1/72 Hobbycraft Otter as they have the correct 'silver leaf style MAole leaf, though not brilliant but does the job. It was an inspiration! The fin markings represent those specially applied for a NATO gunnery meet at which the RCAF Sabre units came out tops! The one I have modelled is 23381 of 413 'Elephant' Squadron of 3 Day Fighter Wing Zweibrucken, West Germany. ( At the time!!!???) (Actually, I note that 23381 was actually a Mk. 6 and I had really planned to do a Mk.5 due to having a hard wing with fence. I know this will offend some but a bit of artistic licence is claimed here)

Good evening all......Just wanted to do a brief update about this kit. We've been working hard during the last two weeks, and to be fair, I hope to get this kit ready before month's end, as expected. These pics show the first master parts for the fuselage and tail section, and the first test parts for the wings....Please, note that the fuselage parts haven't been paneled and riveted yet, just the basic shapes there, to check fiting and allignment.......Hope you'll like our work so far.... IMG-20180625-WA0041[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG-20180625-WA0042[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr IMG-20180625-WA0039[1] by Arturo Navarro, en Flickr Best regards from Tenerife.....

This is my Welsh Models mixed media (Resin and White metal) Jetstream T2. This was actually my first aircraft build after a very long break (maybe 35 plus years), and I completed it around 4 years ago. The kit provides all the parts you need, although I scratch built the engine pods from aluminium tubing and the undercarriage from brass and plastic rod. Underneath I added much missing detail, especially under the centre fuselage and the underwing flap actuating jack covers. I used Valejo paints with my then newly acquired Iwata airbrush. I had to use extensive masking. The cheat-line, all the wing L/E de-icing areas and the main cockpit windows were masked and airbrushed. Decals are from the kit and Modeldecal standard Royal Navy lettering and serials. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that there should be a small 4 alphanumeric code reading CU68 (for this aircraft) at the top of the fin on each side .................... I still can't find decals small enough, so I will probably print my own someday! I was reasonably pleased with the outcome, but felt the model lacked the correct shape around the cockpit itself. You may notice that from some of the views. The pictures reveal warts and all, but please remember it is VERY small! This one gives an indication of size - standard Valejo paint: And this one outlines my comments regarding the shape of the cockpit around the upper areas. I'll do an RFI soon for the 1/144 BUA DC3 you can see behind, and also the 1/144 BEA DC3 you cant see! Thanks Terry

I received a further update from him this sunny morning They (who they? Mrs F?) Have been hill climbing 3000ft in two days On blooming bikes I ask you Anyway I have entreated him to keep us in his life-bubble as part of Our Hive Mind He promised to do so All's well...

Hi all, Having just joined this forum, I thought I'd share 3 builds from my youth, and the lessons learned for each of them before I start sharing current builds. Many many years ago I build the old 1/72 Airfix Albatros DV. The kit is from the 50s, originally, and has been re-boxed multiple times. I got it in this box, many of you might remember it: The plane I chose to build was a Jasta 5 crate, shown in this picture, as it looked so beautifully elegant: Things I wanted to try with this kit This was my first WWI kit I decided to: Rig - I got transparent fishing line and pulled it over a black permanent marker. Paint using masking tape - I cut the star out of tape and painted the green fuselage band around it Angle the control surfaces The model was painted without an airbrush. The completed model The lessons learned whilst building this particular kit Rigging is much less daunting than it seems and adds nicely to the finished model Masking tape works, even with brushes Angling control surfaces is a nice touch and worth the effort in 1/72 A windscreen and propeller decals for the manufacturer logo are also quick wins in terms of added realism A semi-gloss finish looks nice, especially on varnished plywood, but reveals every unevenness of the paint job 😮 A great finish using brushed enamel paint is very difficult to achieve - airbrushing might be unavoidable Best regards, Rob

After you've done the grey you will realise that it now sits 0.000003" higher than the green so you will have to mask it off and fill in the green to that depth. (we really need a 'wind up' emojithingy) Or you can just laugh! Does anyone on here know how they painted the real aircraft ?

during a recent house clearance of an uncle which passed on I found his pipe in his bureau. I salvaged it and as a smoker ( don't condone ,I know its bad for me) thought id give it a go. As the flame hit the bowl I got whiff and George (uncle) was with me. I was hard work though, the condor as previously mentioned was hard work to get a hold of, I had to search several large aviaries....

This was done as a quick build, mainly as I was curious to see what Trumpeter's braille scale armour kits were like. The answer is pretty good for the most part, as long as you don't pay any attention to the photo on the box top, which is actually the 1/35 version. The detail is relatively basic, but it's sharply moulded and looks in scale. I was expecting the vinyl tyres to be a weak point, but they were actually very good with nicely moulded tread detail. The kit was finished OOB, apart from modifying the front wheel hubs to add some turn to the wheels. And finally, a couple with it's bigger, older brother, the BTR-60 PB in 1/35, also from Trumpeter Thanks for looking Andy

It's difficult to recognize the future when it is in the present. As with other many cases in aviation history (and History at large), the American (Shelton) AG-4 Gyro Crusader arrived too soon. Eight years ago, attracted by its aspect, between futuristic and comic book, I made a scratch-built model of the AG-4 Gyro, thinking that there was no chance that any manufacturer would ever issue a kit of it. I am glad I was proven wrong, so others can enjoy the incredibly modern looks of this remarkable plane, created in 1933 and flown in 1935. My scratch of 10 years ago: Here a clip of its test flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xifECLKFc I will quote myself from that build of long ago -since this house policies preclude me from posting a link to my scratch-build, located somewhere else-: "The retro-futuristic look and curvaceous, graceful lines of the Shelton American Gyro Crusader whisper in your ear “streamlining” and “teardrop”. To anyone familiar with the Bauhaus school of design it wouldn’t be a surprise if this one would have come up from their workshops, but it didn’t. It is actually an American design –many of you already knew it, since the answer is in the question- that had the misfortune of seeing the light of day in the hard post-depression years. Nevertheless the one and only machine built attracted a lot of publicity, the attention of the general public and some remarkable personalities, Amelia Earhart among them. During its life the Crusader had some changes in its landing gear and props and also in the variety of images applied mainly to its nose. In some images its surfaces seem to appear without any inscriptions or images, though. A good reference is: "Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing" by Alexander Roca." So we have now the Avis kit in what it came to be known as short run technology. It has, as we all know, its pros and cons. We get those models unlikely to be cater for by the industry giants at an -in general- reasonable price, and we have to deal with something that occupies our modeling skills in a perhaps more demanding and certainly less complacent manner, cleaning flash, refining parts, dealing with the lack of locating devices and some vague fit. So be it. Resealable bag, I like that: Parts' array: Masks included: Decals (will talk about them later): Transparencies. Fair, if not precisely crystalline: The limitations of the media, but nothing a modeller can't deal with...with some skill and patience: Some cleanup is ahead... Instructions, well printed, in good paper, with a few vague points: Transparencies cleaned, washed, given some floor polish: The coffee mesh in which all those parts, especially the very small ones, are washed after the cleanup. Do not lose them!: Parts cleaned up. And man do they need cleanup: Not the sharpest of molds: Again, the fixes seem easy enough: The engine fronts also need a serious cleanup. Not sure if they attempted here to represent the things behind the openings, or these are just plastic blobs. In any case I will open those up and simulate the engine inside:

No.2(Army Cooperation) Squadron, KO•I, s/n N1572. Only one was trialled and rejected. A very nice kit though I had a few problems due to the very tight fit of some of the parts. I used the AML Camouflage Masks for the sole reason that I've seen them around but have never seen them in use. They sat very well on the flat surfaces but I had a bear of a time to get the multi-piece masks to fit around the fuselage. They also wouldn't settle into panel lines or around protrusions. To avoid bleed under, I mixed the paints 50/50, turned the air pressure down to about 15psi and shot away from the mask edges and then filled in the centers. I also used Eduards mask for the canopy and turret, well worth the money spent. There was an oddity here, all the masks were 2-3 piece affairs. Colors used were Vallejo Model Color for the Sky undersurface, Tamiya RAF Green and Gunze for the Dark Earth.

Rafale must be one of the most elegant fighter of the world, may be due to this fact, it's rarely to see a dirty looking work. As far as I am concerned, there is no clean marine plane on the earth, so this is what happened...... Rafale can carry two MBDA apache like this, however it seems that uncommon showed on any loadout chart....... By the way I'm not sure whether the fuel tanks can carry like this...... I didn't glued the fuel tanks thus the pattern can be changed, but it's not very stable though="= Thanks for your watching!

- At last my last Flogger from Trumpeter Boxart excepted no change with the previous 27 boxes mostly around the wing pylons amongst others...... https://imageshack.com/a/img923/705/ajnTGE.jpg https://imageshack.com/a/img923/8910/JgPYmT.jpg

I put-off building a Malta Spitfire for a long time, wary of the disagreement about the colours, markings and weathering related to the siege - as you are probably aware, apart from a few well known photos, hard evidence is hard to come by, and eye witness accounts can sometimes seem contradictory with the passage of time. However, having picked up a Hobby Boss kit on the cheap, i decided to go ahead and build a Mk.V in the markings attributed to George Beurling in the Osprey Malta Aces book. The plane used replacement panels in places from donor aircraft in desert camo to replace damage, and after time it has been noted that the blue paint applied at some point in transit began to fade, giving glimpses if the desert camo underneath. The model is OOB except for some Barracuda resin wheels to replace the rubber ones in the kit. Insignia and markings were applied using home made masks. Weathering is by oils, some sanding with micro mesh and pastels.

Thanks Håkan Nice wind up Scimitar From the looks of the images I've seen the paint finish isn't perfectly even and, ahem, that's the effect I'm going for... Thanks Giorgio (Rats, he's spotted the spots.) I have no idea what they were caused by but it's almost certainly down to me being lazy. Thanks John Yes, fingers crossed! I'll have to do some touching up (fnaar!) anyway... probably. Masks have been cut for the top wings and fin so I'll stick those on tomorrow, join them up with Panzer Putty and blast on some grey.

It is mentioned on the Sword website http://swordmodels.cz/en/6-coming-soon along with a new boxing of the T4/5 Lightning and That's another Cold War aircraft of the tick list and yes Wez a F-84F would be nice next, please. Robert

Hi, Another little update, just to pique your continued interest. Had a few hours to kill last night so did some more wood decals on the fuselage. The time consuming part, is making the template out of masking tape, then reducing the stickiness of the masking tape. I think I will ask the local model shop if they have any low tack masking tape, this will increase the work flow and stop the decal coming away from the backing sheet when the masking tape template is removed. Any how, here is what I managed last night: Coming along beautifully, if I say so myself. 🙄 Just got two more weekends before I head off for summer hols to Malta, to hopefully get the whole fuselage covered. Then its 10 days in the sun, have my eye on a model shop to visit while I'm there, credit card at the ready, wife primed as to what we will be doing on one of the days. 😉 More of the same to follow. Cheers Richard

So, have got a little more progress today.....which has now ground to a halt subject to a run to the local HS to grab some more Insignia White and primer. Have got the "wing sub assembly" finished and mated to the fuselage. All went together amazingly well and only required a tiny bit of perfect plastic putty on the wing roots. Got the left side of the undercarriage done but not fitted. To those that have gone before me on this model....question....am I better of spraying up the top coat colours on what I have so far and then attach the rest of the wing assys when done....or get it all together and do it when all assy is done? Looks to be lots of little gaps (intakes etc) that will need temporarily filling prior to spraying. Colours I am using are Tamiya rattle can but I don't think I will get much in the way of good demarcation. Is it easy to decant rattle can paint to then be able to spray with airbrush where I feel I will have a lot more control? Anyways, this is where I am now:

Thank you gentlemen. I've braved the heat in the loft and retrieved some plasticard to make the little undercarriage doors. Thanks for looking.

My next build, ModelCollect's 1/72 B-2A Spirit stealth bomber. This will be an OOB build, with the exception of an Eduard canopy mask. Initial look at the contents shows some good details, and there is a fret of PE for the instrument panels. Starting with cockpit, which was grey primed, and then painted with Light Ghost Grey. The seats I've left in the primer grey, with padding in black. I've added some belts, using some 0.75mm tape. I've also painted Light Ghost Grey on the instrument panels, as the panels grey is a different shade. I brushed this with Hataka Blue Line. As you won't see the inside very well, I am only going to dry the cockpit. image by ian gaskell, on Flickr image by ian gaskell, on Flickr image by ian gaskell, on Flickr image by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1040 by ian gaskell, on Flickr

The Me 163 doesn't need much introduction: it was aerodynamically far ahead its type, the only purely rocket-powered fighter to enter regular service and actually go into combat, and a death-trap to users due to the horrendously dangerous fuels it used. The premise of course was an aircraft that could get to operating height at unheard-of speeds, then make a couple of unpowered attack passes before gliding back to earth. At this point it was highly vulnerable, unable to go around for a second try if the approach was wrong, and prone to explode if residual fuel was mixed on impact. The type scored a number of successes against enemy aircraft (16 kills), but 6 were lost to enemy action and 9 to other causes. Arguably these loss numbers are extremely low considering the novelty of almost all of the systems involved, but the impact the type had certainly didn't justify the effort made. The main beneficiaries of the design were the post-war air forces who built and operated tailless types that to a greater or lesser extent derived from the Me 163. The legendary Eric Brown flew one under power (only after signing a disclaimer stating the German ground crew acted under his orders!), reaching 32000 feet in under three minutes, an experience he described as "like being in charge of a runaway train". He found that the aircraft handled well, with "good flight characteristics", in contrast to the other tailless designs he flew, all of which were in his opinion "killers". The kit is Hobby Boss's easy-build effort, with some scratchbuilding in the cockpit plus some refinement to the trailing edges and supports of the landing skid, but otherwise out of the box. No weathering, as none of these aircraft were in service long enough to become weathered! This makes me wonder whether it's worth scratchbuilding cockpits! Underside, for reference. Rear quarter view Front view shows the wing root mounted MK108 cannons: devastatingly destructive, the short range of the cannons combined with the high speed of the Me 163 made aiming and hitting extremely difficult, From above

Fill yer boots Paul,...... glad you like it so far mate! Well after some sanding the canopy and nose glazing was added, the turret test fitted again and ready for some paint; Cheers, Tony

I've given the cockpit a light wash, rather a drybrush. Finished off the seats, and fitted them in place. All the PE instrument panels glued in position, and the main panel fitted. DSC_1053 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1053 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1053 by ian gaskell, on Flickr DSC_1053 by ian gaskell, on Flickr

They in Norfolk then? If they want some serious hill trails then ask them to get in touch as we have a great club here.

Just received a call from my daughter telling me she got a first for her degree dissertation, needless to say she is very pleased and relieved given the effort and stress that went into it. I for one am a very proud Dad!

Ready for inspection is my 1:72 Mitsubishi A6M2b 'Zero' by Airfix. This has to be one of the easiest and straightforward kits I have built, no flash on the sprues, fits nicely, and just enough detail. Paint was a slight issue, Humbrol being famously terrible to airbrush, but I overcame this by mixing my own off white/green for the top coat of the aircraft. All in all a nice little kit, I hope it does the aircraft which was declared the best carrier fighter aircraft in the world when it first flew justice. Thanks for looking.

I told you to build a white one.

Planet Earth calling Mr. Fritag, Earth calling Mr.Fritag, please break radio silence & let us know how you're doing..... 😕 Keith

The kit doesn't depict the 3 formers that run laterally across the top of the fuselage. I thought a few ways to simulate this. Probably the most accurate would be scribe a line then glue in pieces of round material, either stretched sprue, wire or plastic rod of the correct dimension. I was to lazy to do this so I used thin (0.2mm) strips of tape. I think this will look OK under some paint. The front part around the cockpit is shown in the instructions as gloss version of the PC10.. I made it a slightly different shade by adding some black and green. I will tone it down a little as I don't like the contrast by overspraying with some light coats of PC10 Lots of masking and painting. The undersides are Tamiya XF 55 , as per the instructions. The upper surfaces are Mr Paint PC10 late. I lightened each of the main colours for the tapes.