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Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is RS Models 1/72 F-5A Lightning, the recce version of the P-38G. I added Brengun photo-etch and painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, weathering with artists oils. I found this kit pretty challenging, with fit issues galore. It can only be recommended to experienced modelers. According to the kit instructions, this particular aircraft belonged to 12th PRS, based in Florennes, Belgium in October 1944. This information cannot be confirmed, as the 12th PRS flew F-6 Mustangs at that time (not Lightnings) and was never based in Belgium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Reconnaissance_Squadron If anyone can provide further details about this aircraft, infos are most welcome. All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thanks for your interest, best greetings from Vienna! Roman

Hi, I built this for the 'Carrier' GB so thought I'd post it here too. Build is here if you are interested Cheers

Another model from the past which I built in the 1990s. It was moulded in a dark green coloured plastic and included a very comprehensive selection of external weapons and rockets and decoy missile on a seperate white moulded sprue. I decided to add detail to the cockpit and crew compartment and as I had made the decision to model it in flying mode I also made two small pilot figures. It was probably one of the only models that I decided from the start to build in flying mode. The wings were moulded with the downwards droop of an aircraft on the ground so I spent a few happy minutes bending the wings upwards in a bowl of boiling water while wearing rubber gloves. Here we have the model build well advanced with all the major components waiting to be attached. I have also built a card cradle for supporting the model during construction and then for storing and transporting. I decided to model a silver and white aircraft instead of the camouflaged one which was included in the kit ( I don't know why I always have to make things difficult for myself ). Here is a younger me trying to mask the model with Tamiya tape after it has already been sprayed white in preparation for applying the silver. I had forgotten about that German Lozenge Camouflage carpet ............... my Monogram RB-36 lurks above my workbench. The completed model mounted on a home made stand from MDF with a brass rod. I had to paint the U.S. AIR FORCE by hand. The Hound Dog missiles came in the kit. I just did not know where to put the Quail decoy missile though. In this view can be seen a number of underfuselage aerials which is the reason why I made a cradle for it. I wish I still had this model as it would go nicely with my two 1/144 Corgi B-52Es today.................................... I also wish I still had that hair Hope you liked it. regards, adey

This is Miniart's new FL 282 V-6 Kolibri (Hummingbird). A very nice, albeit extremely fiddly kit to put together. It's also an incurable tailsitter, with nowhere much to add any weight up front, which is why it's on a base (pinned via the nose wheel). The kit's very well detailed and, as far as I can tell, pretty accurate. It's a straight OOB build apart from the seat harness, where the PE belts supplied with the kit were substituted for some HGW fabric ones. Thanks for looking Andy

G'day all, This the latest off the bench, my quick down and dirty Tamiya Spitfire Mk1a OOB, brush painted with Humbrol and Tamiya enamel paints. Another one to hang from the ceiling. Cheers, Devo

Good evening everyone please find below the latest offering. Here we have the 1/48 canberra from classic airframes.All i can say is it was 'challenging' biggest issues being bad fitting canopy,wings and fuselage.Another major problem was that i boughtthe kit from ebay only to find when constructing the wings i find the wing tip tanks are missing so i decided rather than going without i would try and make some,its amazing what you can do with paint brush handles,see photo's. The other known problem with thiskit is the whole thing is majorly tail heavy.I filled the nose with fishing weights with a bit more behind the cockpit and it stil tips up. The build is brush painted as usual with revell and humbrol enamels.

Giorgio & hendie: thank you both for the moral support gentleman. Nowt better a feeling that being down in the dumps and having good friends rally round. Speaking of dumps I note that Clive King died during the week: A book that lives vividly in the memory and one that my own children were equally enchanted by growing up. I thank you for your optimism Johnny but whilst the bench is currently spick and span, the floor around it resembles the beaches at Dunkirk and from which nothing returns.... D'you reckon if I bunged a UV bulb it it I could get a nice tan whilst working at the bench? 🍊 Let us learn to fly and free ourselves of earthly pain Bill: Best hurry the process along by getting cracking hadn't I? Won't detain you guys with further pictures of something you've seen once already but suffice it to say that the new door has not so far drawn forth the old... After yesterday's weird and frustrating mindset (which I'm putting down to a delayed reaction to having been pumped full of chemicals and having bits of stainless steel probing the innards), upon waking early I plunged downstairs radiant with positivity and got to work, intent on working my way through as much of the snag list as possible. First up was to deal with the slight 'lip'along the apex of the BT. From oblique shots of this region I'd persuaded myself that this ran the whole width of the door rear, but closer inspection from shots taken square-on revealed these elements to be more in the line of fairings to protect the sharp corners: Tucked away underneath also are a slot on either side into which the rearmost set of hinges on which the operable floor of the BT pivots upwards into the ceiling: The hinges themselves were a reprise of the method used to make those for the flaps previously, though in this instance the slightly larger size necessitated using 0.6mm inside 0.8mm tubing to give the desired effect: After also excising a sliver from the rear corners of the door as well, a dry fit with all three elements in place: As with the flap hinges, these will onlybe glued on once all the painting is complete: With these items now completing the list of brass items needed, these were added to the Iron Chicken's ever-growing nest: Those antennae have been separated-out for painting as they need to be a pale grey to match the roof colour, whereas the other brass parts will match the overall metal finish of the aircraft: The big DF 'trees'still requite a tidy before priming - the blobs on top being plastic road GG'd on to be filed down to give the conical tips of the actual antennae. If I get any more done today I'll post later. One last thing I forget to post in all the chagrin yesterday is that if you have one of those dandy hole punch sets and now too skint to spring any moolah on a tray to fit underneath to catch your disks: -an old smartphone cover performs quite usefully. Tony

'Jolly Rogers' F-4J Phantom (Revell 1:72) Build is here if you are interested. Thanks to Rich for a great GB Cheers

Hello, Please find here my latest model. This is Airfix’s Hawker Hurricane Mk.I in 1/72. This is an amazing kit that builds very easily. The assembly is lovely (I used a very limited amount of filler) and the level of details in the cockpit and in the gear bays is amazing. I must say I was very positively impressed by the quality of the landing gear fit. Well done Mr. Airfix! It is as close a OOB built that I can do … the only modifications are: seat belts from Airwaves a gunsight from Quickboost – strangely, there is none in the box the canopy from Rob Taurus – that is only because I messed up with the one of the box; the windshield is from the box and all clear parts from Airfix are very fine, so no need for replacement for anybody more cautious than I was the exhaust pipes from SBS model - this is a must imho: Airfix pipes are way too thin the wings position lights that were built out of sprue (I used the same technic as for my Ta-183 – see WIP section) instrument panel from Yahu which is wasted as you can’t see it once the model is finished: it is hidden by the control column and the gunsight; so don’t bother canopy masks from Peewit which are fine for the kit’s windscreen but useless for Rob Taurus canopy – that make sense in a way… painting masks from AML which I hope to re-use for another Hurricane. handle on the canopy was made out of copper wire I followed the paint instruction to the letter, so it should be one mount of 85 Squadron in Northern France in May 1940. Gunze paints (H72 + H73) were used for top and Tamiya's white and black for the underside. Highly recommended to everybody. Cheers, Antoine

Hi folks, this is latest addition to my IAF collection. Started a couple of years ago and then put aside, but with the great GWH kit being now available I thought I had to quickly finish it, otherwise I will never find motivation to do so... I used partly the Eduard etched for the F-15E, Skunkmodels IDF weapon set (4 x RAFEAL SPICE bombs), Eduard's AIM-9L and HGW Hebrew RBF set. The inlet FOD's were scratch built from Milliput. Painted with Gunze Aqueous freehand trying to make as tight demarcations as my Iwata was able to work out. I kept the airframe dirty as visible on some pictures in the IsraDecals book, e.g. page 22 or 36. Cheers Libor

for my first post , my last built enjoy :

Thanks Martian. With the steady amount of brass I seem to be getting through these days I'm beginning to regret not trolling over your direction and stopping in at Albion Alloys in Bournemouth to do a supermarket sweepstake.... Thanks Giorgio. I must confess that it's a relief to be moving forward in the water again... Ta Bill. It is - as I believe Confucius once said - nice to be nice ....or was it the Crankies? I'm not good on philosophy... Those Edward Ardizzone illustrations were just perfectly suggestive weren't they? Leaving enough room for your own imagination to generate the required detail. As it stopped raining earlier I took the chicken and nest outside to run a surface integrity check with some primer: Some messy bits still to tidy up as expected around the added brasswork but nothing serious: The flaps will need a little scrape in places to remove any remaining traces of overfill at you can see on the topmost parts of the middle one: DF gear, pitots and hinges: Predictably the plastic I'd glued to the tips of those DF antennae earlier dropped off when handling so I simply melted some 70° solder onto the tip of the iron and dabbed that on to form the pointed ends. I can see though from the above shot that I need to go back and add some more solder to make the ends more conic. These bits look ok too, though that hole in the top of the 'winged' antenna will need a fill - dab of solder whilst it's out doing the DF ones will do for that I reckon: Now to the Iron Chicken itself: I have to say that I'm very pleased with the way that the added foil panels and fairings are now performing visually (though pretend you can't see where I forgot to tidy up the PPP on the lower part of the tail fin above). A closer look round the other side: The tailplane too now looks acceptable with a unfying colour applied: Still some residual messiness to get rid of around those nosewheel doors however: The canopy frame-working has come up nicely as well: Who forgot to mask the transparency in the centre of the nose then? Never mind - a cotton bud and some solvent will sort that out. The ducted-in wing intakes have actually worked-out better than I'd hoped they might (I think the uber-shininess of the foil in the raw state always makes me dubious when seen against the surrounding plastic), plus I'm optimistic that those circular masks for the engines will keep out any zealous overspray in the coming weeks: Some tidying-up then - which I'll take my time over during the week - but not as much as I'd feared on a beast of this size. Certainly the use of epoxy as an adhesive/filler combination on wing joins has resulted in a practically invisible result. On the visual evidence here I can recommend as well the use of adhesive foil at 1/72 for those areas of raised detail; the one and only drawback of course having to be soooo careful to avoid rough handling as the paint will come off more easily than from the surrounding plastic. A small price to pay though imho. That's as much as I feel can be usefully achieved today but honour restored a little I feel. Not sure at what pace the painting will proceed as the coming weeks will get progressively busier - I've been given a lot more leeway to develop ideas that interest me at work, however, the corollary to this is the need to carry out intensive writing and research. Bit like a day on Britmodeller in fact! Eh what? I hope you enjoy the remainder of your weekends and thanks for looking in - as always much appreciated. Tony

Things going right! Have a look at the photo directly below and you will see that the rebate that I've cut for the wing to sit in is now a nice clean rectangular cut . It's actually a fairly good bit of woodwork, at least compared to most of my rough-as-guts work. The only problem now is that the rebate bears no relationship whatsoever to the top of the wing that must fit into it. So, short of bodging this gap with a tonne of filler, and in doing so risking a very weak connection between wing and fuselage, let's make a block that will both span the gap and fix the wing at the correct angle of incidence. 'Angle of incidence' 🙂 technical talk that! Did you notice??? Here is a nice looking bit of wood that just so happens be the right thickness to fill the gap. The wood is bass-wood and I bought it at a local hobby shop. It's expensive but it also has the reputation of being some of the very best carving wood in the world. So lets give it a try. Cut it to fit into the rebate. Mark up the top surface of the aerofoil. Start carving. Wow! Go Basswood! Fantastic stuff. I believe that this is a favourite of American woodworkers and I can see why - it's just beautiful to carve. I have to admit that this just might be the best species of wood I've ever carved although - for patriotic reasons - I might have to claim that New Zealand white pine is its equal. Getting there. Note how the front (left of picture) of the basswood is now thinner than the rear. This change in thickness will set the wing at the correct angle of incidence. (Note the technical stuff again!) 🤓 After a bit of smoothing and sanding I ended up with this. Which makes for a pretty tidy bit of gap filling I reckon. Glue it onto the top of the wing with a bit of PVA. Clamp it down and let it sit for 24 hours. And look! There it goes - gap gone, wing set at the correct angle and I'm as happy as Larry with this - assuming Larry is happy. Somehow, just for once in my life this project is actually tracking along really smoothly. Things just seem to have been working out OK ever since the dihedral was sorted. Something must be about to go wrong, but I'm not complaining. It's unusual to have things going right so I might as well enjoy it while I can. Thanks for following along. Bandsaw Steve.

Sneak peek. Just popping out, I’ll get the rest off laterzzzzz. shiny not shiny. But looking great! 😃

On to masking for the codes: First side: Not a fluke! And some decals. Xtradecal for fuselage and under wing, kit ones on top (Xtradecal did not have the right size). The kit roundels need a touch up to lose the white edge. Tomorrow I need to do fin flash, serials and small bits. I will leave weathering until I am back in a fortnight. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Finishing this was delayed a bit since I wanted to add figures and I never quite got round to finishing them until yesterday. Build thread here: On to the photos! As always, thanks for looking & comments and feedback is welcome. - Elger

I always think of Monty Python's "It's the Bishop!" skits where this particular AFV is concerned. This is the old Esci/Italeri Bishop 1/72 scale kit (based on their Valentine tank kit), along with the limber and some figures I stole from my Esci/Italeri 25 Pounder & Quad kit. It proved to be an enjoyable 10-day build, and represents a Royal Devon Yeomanry vehicle in Sicily, 1943. I did a lot of scratch-building, including the interior, fighting compartment doors, driver's hatches, tow-hitch, tarpaulins, stowage boxes, roof hatch, limber draw-bar details etc. I also added wire handles, rivets, and opened up the sighting aperture. I used OKB Grigorov resin tracks. Aside from the figure with the binoculars, all the others have been hacked and/or mixed and matched to get the poses I wanted. I replaced the ends of the tack-guards with scratch-built examples from brass sheet so I could mangle and dent them, likewise the exhaust guard on the left-side of the fighting compartment. I Dremeled out the insides of the Limber's mudguards for added realism and gave them a good denting as well. My build log can be found over on Missing Lynx's Braille Scale forum... https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/it-s-the-bishop-t315713.html

This kit is the 11-12-2013 issue of the iconic English Electric Lightning F.2A. The F Mk 2/2A was not designed as a replacement for the F Mk 1/1A, but for a different scenario from the outset. The final F Mk 2A standard was first reached on XN726 (c/n 95098). It retained the AI.23 radar, Firestreak armament and nose guns of the F Mk 2, while in every other way it looked like an F Mk 6. It was flown in this form for the first time by J.L. Dell on 28-3-68 and was passed on to No. 19 Squadron on 7-6-68. Of all the Lightning versions, the F Mk 2A was to become the best all-round performer. Its engine was optimised to the aircraft’s air intake, and although some 2,000lb (910kg) heavier than the F Mk 1A it could carry an extra 3,100lb (1405kg) of fuel. It still weighed some 500lb (230kg) lighter than the F Mk 6, and it was claimed to fly up to two hours at high level on internal fuel alone. Both Nos. 19 and 92 Squadrons soldiered on with the F Mk 2A until they were eventually replaced by the Phantom in the early months of 1977. Some F Mk 2/2As were delivered to BAC for its Saudi Arabian contract. XN793 was flown by Wing Commander J. B. Mitchell, Commanding Officer No. 92 Squadron, R.A.F. Gutersloh, August 1972.

FROG 1/72 Barracuda Mk.II 829 Squadron , Fleet Air Arm, HMS Victorious Flew on the mission to Attack the German Battleship Tirpitz, 1944 This was an ancient kit, that's been in the stash longer than I can remember. Thanks for all the encouragement to get this one finished, photos below cheers Pat

Mornin’ chaps. Just before we set off to see “Matilda” it was very good by the way. I started blu-tac masking and filling with Tamiya islands. This morning saw the task done. Was singing the praises of Mr Colour but to be fair the Tamiya RAF Green was going down well too. First light coat going well. I was tempted to leave it like this but it was too much sooooo. Coat two. not as much as the brown as it’s a darker colour but I’m happy with the look. and in natural light is lovely. I’ll leave it there and de mask later on. Thanks for popping in. Hopefully more later. I can see a lot of masking in my future. I can see why these birds rarely get gompleted or stall. They are beasts. This part however is a real joy. Hope you’re all having a sunny funny weekend. Johnny colour match .

Hawker Osprey, 803 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Eagle, 1933. 1:72 Amodel kit which did present some challenges, some created by me. Out of the box apart from seat belts, brush painted with Tamiya Aluminium and Xtracrylix Light Aircraft Grey for the Cerrux grey.

As well as the Hellcat I, I also attempted a Sea Hurricane Ia in this group build. Hawker Sea Hurricane Ia Z4550/G 800 NAS HMS Indomitable, Operation Pedestal Aug 1942 12.08.42 Ju88 & S79 Destroyed, Ju88 Probably Destroyed, S84 Shared Destroyed (LtCdr JM Bruen) 12.08.42 Ju88 Destroyed, Ju88 Damaged (Lt WH Martyn) Lt Cdr JM Bruen The model is the Airfix 1/48 Sea Hurricane Ia. It really is a terrific kit which rewards taking your time over building it up. There are a few things however which are missing, namely the headrest, the oil collector ring and the rear view mirror which have all been added. I have previously built a pair of Airfix 1/48 Hurricanes which I did as RAF Hurricanes flown by RN pilots during the battle, so I was reasonably familiar with the kit. @Beard has inspired me to build another the represent Lt DM Jerams middle east Trop. Hurricane but that is for another day. The markings come from spares I had from the Italeri Sea Hurricane kit that I have built in the past (its lingering around in the background in some of the photos) a special mention goes out to @Graham Boak for help he gave me in confirming the markings for Lt Cdr JM Bruens aircraft. The Saint stickman was home made.. Lt Cdr JM Bruen was Irish born and in action from 1940 with a record of 4 Aircraft destroyed, 4 shared destroyed, 2 damaged, 2 shared damaged, 1 shared damaged on the ground, flying Skuas, Fulmars and Hurricanes, commanding 803 NAS & 800 NAS. JM Bruen survived the war.. Again a big thank you @trickyrich for running the group build and for everyone's support and encouragement throughout.

Well I have done it, completed my first Group Build. First off thank you everyone for your help and support, I have really enjoyed the experience and think I'll have a go at another. Roll on Pacific War... Grumman Hellcat I JV132/EoF 800 NAS HMS Emperor Operation Tungsten & Operations off Norway May 1944 08.05.44 FW190 Destroyed 15.05.44 He115 Destroyed, He115 Shared Destroyed. Lt B Ritchie RNVR The model is the 1/48 Eduard Weekend Edition Grumman Hellcat I, which I must say is an excellent model and builds up well (even I can make it look half decent). It is pretty much built OOB but I have previously built the version with full PE, so I did things like do my own engine wiring, detailed the cockpit with wire etc, built new throttles, opened up the cooling flaps and added a mesh behind the chin intake.. I also cut away the external tank supports and made new ones from aluminium food containers. Having built the Hellcat before I had spare markings left over which I used to make Lt Ritchie's Hellcat . Ritchie had 5 confirmed aerial victories and had previously fought during operation Pedestal and Operation Torch in Sea Hurricanes. Unfortunately Lt Ritchie did not survive WWII and died 12.07.1944. Thanks to @trickyrich for running the group build and for everyones support and encouragement throughout. Looking forward to Pacific War GB now...

The decisive battle of Mary Queen of Scots personal reign took place on 13 May 1568 at the village of Langside, two miles south of Glasgow. The Queen’s army was destroyed in less than an hour. This diorama depicts the closing stages of the battle. Royalist forces have been pushed back to a large stream called the White Cart Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. With the remnants of Mary’s army on the point of a full-scale route, Lords Claud Hamilton and Maxwell Herries report that all is lost and counsel the Queen to return to France and await better times. Mary Stuart, who was still only twenty-six, chose to ignore the advice of her loyal Lords. The figures include several converted white metal castings from FL & KP, plus white metal kits from Art Girona and Masterclass. The animals are either from the toy shop round the corner, or were picked up at duty free in Hong Kong airport -- can't remember which it was. Flags and nameplate were done in Microsoft Excel. The base is a miniature display table and groundwork is instant papier mâché with added static grass and various other details. The stream is a one-part clear resin product from Deluxe Materials. The bridge is a resin kit by Reality in Scale, and I've no idea where the trees came from. The mounted Mary Stuart figure was cobbled together from various bits and pieces. For details, please refer to my "Mary Queen of Scots" thread in the Figures WIP Section. TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST....

Hu Guys this is straight out the box, apart from some Eduard cockpit plaques enjoy Mike

Greetings, Never published anything about modelling before so here goes: Thought I'd share my Ansaldo ISVA in 1/72, mainly cos I'm not aware of such a kit new or old......... Recently completed this started out as a Pegasus SVA, with pretty much only the wings and fuselage used. Tail surfaces are plasticard. The floats, hydroplanes, struts and launching dolly parts were all scratch modelled and replicated in polyurethane. Prop, seat and other small parts cloned in polyurethane from various Roden kits etc.

Hi Some of my favourite images from a very changeable day at Fairford that resulted in the RAF100 flypast being cancelled due to thunderstorms in the area. Thanks for looking. More to follow.

Hi, everyone! It's my next model. It was the famous soviet long-range bomber from 1930.

(Caveat: this is not a new build, it is actually ten years old, a time when my scratching was quite less developed. I am posting here this as an illustrative aside on a conversation we are having on another thread I posted, in order not to clutter things there, and hoping that perhaps somebody may have a glimpse and smile) Original text as it was published ten years ago -somewhere else- follows: The quest for Speed has originated a plethora of beautiful shapes, dazzling prototypes, unique machines with the single purpose of combining lots of power with a polished, streamlined, efficient, lean airframe. The object of this article was just a study, a proposal on the subject by W.G. Carter published in the “Aircraft Engineer” supplement of Flight Magazine of September 1930. This racer was supposed to use two Napier Lions in a tandem configuration, thus canceling the dreaded torque effects that made these super-powered machines hard to control especially during take-off runs. Of course the tremendous heat delivered by the power plants needed a huge radiating surface – these were water-cooled engines – that had to be spread over almost every surface. The oil radiators were placed on the model in the lower surfaces of the engine gondola, while the water radiators were represented by colored decals in several areas, depicting the aluminum “skin” type radiator also used, for example, in the Supermarine S.6. Construction The model is based on the 3–view given in the second page of the above-mentioned article. With extremely attractive lines this proposed machine was conceived to embody the state of the art of the trade for the time. Since this design was just a study, there is no really detail to talk about, so for example radiators surfaces location, cockpit interior and colors are speculative. A trolley was also devised to help exhibit the model. The tiny canopy was vacuformed in my psychedelic Mattel contraption. In-progress images will tell the story of the building development, while shots of the finished model will give an idea of the refined concept and gleaming beauty of this 1930 study on marrying horsepower with elegance and efficiency. Ingredients: One float – modified – from the Aeroclub generic floats vacformed sheet. One seat from a long ago forgotten kit, reversed and modified. A Napier Lion metal casting also from Aeroclub. Several aluminum tubes, wires and liberal use of styrene sheet and rod. Home made decals. Completing the ingredients list are Argentinian Yerba Mate, putty, a modicum of predisposition towards sanding, and a couple of Fellini’s DVDs for the breaks.

1/72 Airfix Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero, Carrier Div. 1, IJN Carrier Akagi Lt. Saburo Shindo Build thread: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235035415-172-airfix-mitsubishi-zero-ijn-carrier-akagi/

Humidity is at 95% here today, which makes it feel roughly like walking around on the bottom of a standard Olympic-sized pool filled with hot soup, and I hate soup. Minimal chance of rain until Monday, when I expect the heavens will open halfway between work and the train station. In other news, possibly my only remaining chance in life to actually meet or even just see a RAF flying ace (Allan Scott DFM, 6 victories) in person will be 150 miles from my home at Airventure in Oshkosh on 23 July, which is a Monday night. I am seriously considering making a three-hour drive out to see him and then turning around and heading right back at 10 PM (there's effectively no room at the inn at Oshkosh during the airshow if you look for a hotel this late in the game -- even airbnb lists a room for one person as $300 minimum then), virtually ensuring I'll die in a fiery car crash. Weighed against this is that soon he and everyone like him will be all gone, and the urge to brush the hem, as it were... Decisions, decisions... In any case, I got down into the grotto and did some more work tonight. I added the decals on the other side of one of the iterations of "001", and finished painting the fuselage of the aircraft from 1925. 20180714_220545 by Edward IX, on Flickr I also assembled the ingenious jigs that will make putting on the landing gear (hopefully) not the exercise in hear-tearing, screaming frustration that WWI-era aircraft landing gear usually is. 20180714_224523 by Edward IX, on Flickr And started decalling the vertical stab. 20180714_224541 by Edward IX, on Flickr I'm puttering along on these -- I'd hoped for a faster pace, but the fact of the matter is that most days I'm exhausted by the time the kids are in bed, and reading political and legal tweets all day can be remarkably draining. I know many people are encouraged by, say, reading a book that's utter crap, because it means that they themselves could be published someday, but I find it deeply discouraging, because clearly these ingrates are more tenacious than me and have more of whatever indefinable quality one needs to ascend in the world. But I guess David Bowie would have been a nobody if there weren't all those nobodies buying his records, so perhaps the world needs me in a way as well. To close on a happy note, Winston wanted a "black Spitfire" from the grotto, which was weird, because I haven't built any, and ultimately he settled for me playing a song that had a black Spitfire in it...you see where I'm going with this, right? Anyway it did my heart good to hear him try to tunelessly warble along with Kate Bush singing "dropped from my black Spitfire..."

Hey Guys, Just a quick posting. I thought I would post some photos of the rusting frame as I go along. This is all going to get covered up and wont be seen again. After I painted the frame the green color, I started the rusting process. This will be somewhat modest compared to the Maz build. I start my rusting by building layers of color. Like one of my gallery paintings, I start with a light wash of the various colors and let everything dry. Then I start to add the layers of rust and texture...These are drying on an open window sill. You can see below on the section of frame, on the left, I have rusted the corners, and on the right, not yet, just my original stain. The rust is gettin' there... This is just about as much as I will do for this part of the frame. When this all sets I will install the X-beams and then do the final weathering for this part of the frame. Once I get the X-beams installed I will tighten up the rusting in the corners and then I want to add a light layer of dull coat to seal all this together. Then a greasy pin wash layer of Black or maybe Raw Umber. I'll be back with more frog romance later........Thanks All.

20+ Inches of chestbursting,Head smashing Monster fun! Neca mega figure repaint. Cheers Andy build thread here

Built almost OOB, except of the modified front gear leg (which is moulded with an integral wheel and mudguard) and the custom 92nd FBS markings. Hope you enjoy. Cheers from Czech Rep. Andrew

F-4Cs from the 184th Tac Fighter Squadron, Arkansas Air National Guard, at Nellis AFB in 1981 and 1983. At Green Flag 81-3, April 1981: 64-0919 64-0784 63-7629 64-0725 63-7455 At Gunsmoke air-to-ground competition, October 1983, chromed noses on the external fuel tanks: 64-0761 64-0748 63-7629 Thanks for looking, Sven

Miniart street scene, Tamiya tank, and Stalingrad figures. Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on Flickr by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Hosted on FLICKR by billybookcase Cheers BB

Well a bit more painting; Got another tin of Humbrol 33 and applied another coat,...... more of a scuffed on coat as otherwise it would have been far too thick; The model is now painted and ready for a gloss coat prior to decals; I`ve applied the gloss tonight and left the model to dry, Cheers Tony

Hi All After a brief flirtation with Real Life, I returned to find the cleaning fluid hadn't done as much damage as I'd feared, and I was able to get the Tamiya XF-81 Dark Green 2 (RAF) onto the Hawk. However, it seemed quite a brownish green, almost an Olive Drab type of shade Must admit I was expecting a more greeny green, but meh, the least of the deviations from the actual norm of this build. Canopy masking turned out ok though So, on with the decals. Nice and smooth on the Mk.22 Micro Sol took care of the carrier. And even the rivets on the Hawk (scale size of espresso cups?) succumbed to chemical softening Still a couple of bubbles in there, I'll get a pin and more solution on them. However, the PRXIX was having none of it The decals had refused to come free of the backing paper, even after three hours soaking. Eventually I had to carefully peel them from it, and so far they are steadfastly resisting any form of conforming. I'll give them all a couple more days of sporadic applications of 'Sol, then see how they bed in. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve

"TAKE OFF" EA-18G GROWLER on CVN Deck Dragon 1/144 This small diorama is my last entry for this group build. Whilst the title says that this aircraft is a -18G, research shows the BuNo 165166 to be an F/A-18F and in this scheme represents one of the Growler development airframes. From the few photos that I have found of the aircraft the -18G specific wingtip pods were not carried and so I have chosen not to fit those. Further study of -18 carrier launch videos showed that pre-launch the control surfaces were at all angles, and so I dropped the flaps and wing leading edges, angled the rudders inwards and the tailplanes were deflected to represent this. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr

I made up some radiator fronts from plastic scraps to fill the ducts: The test fit went well, so well in fact that I can’t get them out again! Matt varnish will be my friend here. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Old macros kit hand used after some cutting.

After hanging the spitfire to dry after some primer (I've run out of halfords and totally brassic this month so used some Plasticoat I had - used it before with great success but the white kind took an AGE to dry): On with some of the humbrol tinlets (and I found a set of vb cannon barrels I didn't even know I had!): Today's modelling lesson. Humbrol tinlets DO NOT airbrush if mixed with water (at least for me!). Had to quickly wipe it all off before it dried in the (almost unheard of!) heat in aberdeenshire today. The azure blue I'm not too sure about - looks grey to my colour blind eyes: But I do rather like the top colour: You can't really see it in the photo but there's a fair bit of variation in the well I suppose tone (3 coats but not done all over) so this might help to lend it a bit of a bleached kinda look... In fact I've just watered down the azure some more and did another coat in the direction of the airflow so who knows - this may be my master piece! 😁 Must do something about the oil filler though.....

Well, just to show that I really do build bits and pieces, here is a gathering of recent builds (easier than starting separate threads for each). Mainly Out of The Box. The main aftermarket stuff is added bang-seats, paint and tamiya tape! The MPM X15-A2. (pocket money scale). Not my preferred scale but this is a lovely little kit. First attempt at foiling on the tanks. 20161102_113443-1 20161102_113943-1 20161102_114118-1 Hasegawa He-162. (1:48) This was a lovely little build which added to my interest in German WW2 jets. 20161103_201838-1 20161103_201921-1 The old Tamiya SHAR FRS1. (1:48). Nothing like XDSG! A small wrestling match was entered into here, but overall the kit goes together well. Not the nicest cockpit, so a bang seat was added. 20161018_092424-1 20161017_221613-1 20161017_221424 Revell SEPECAT Jag. (1:48). Inspiration for this came from the old Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (80's) and the loadout reflects this. 20160714_172044 20160714_172006 Another old Tamiya kit, the A-10! (1:48). After reading about the activities out of "Cajun West" in GW1, the AC were massively loaded for the journey out to the op area, and on the way they'd drop dumb bombs on "Home Depot" before carrying on with the rest of the ord. I was tempted to do the RFOA-10G variant, which is still tempting... The lizard scheme was too tempting though. 20161103_201548-1 20161103_201629-1 20161103_201709-1 Tamiya F-117. (1:48) 20161103_203344-1 Airfix Hawk. (1:48) As a re-introduction to the new AFX kits, these have come as a pleasant surprise! Followed by the Spit, Bf-109 & Hurricane. 20161103_202254 20161103_202308-1 20161103_202413-1 20161103_202447-1 20161103_202843-1 20161103_202920-1 The FW-190 is the Italeri boxing and had some shocking issues between fuselage/front of wing. 20161103_202123-1 20161103_202101-1 Righto! Added another. The Italeri Sled in 1:72nd. 20161104_141117-1 20161104_141125-1 20161104_141155-1 A more recent P-61 build. 20170219_113443-1 20170219_113157-1 20170701_190635-1 20170701_190723-1 Gnat-1b Gnat-1c 20171115_184558-1 20171115_184638 20171115_184800-1-1 "And now for something completely different" 20171122_220918-1 20171128_142408-1 20171129_094711-1 A mojo restorer! Hope you have enjoyed this little journey through part of the display case.

So it's back to the desert for me with a simple little diorama to show off the Merit 1/35th M19 Diamond T Tank Transporter. The tank for transport is Monty's M3 Grant from the Tamiya 1/35 kit. As it's dificult to see the driver in the cab, i'm adding a local inhabitant utilising the transport of the time! So the basic layout is: With the componants as mentioned above!

Well, what can I say? Venerable old Matchbox - the kits of my childhood (yes, that old) I love Meteors so much that I decided to re-scribe this one, not something I usually do... The rest is OOB, except seat belts from tape and wingtip lights made from clear plastic. Used only slight pre-shading as most photos show them quite clean. Wheel wells were left untouched though, didn't have the nerves.

Hi everyone I have a little progress to show on my Spit - As I'm sure your all aware the weather here in the UK has been a little on the hot side so I haven't made as much progress as I'd have liked, however what I have manged I more than happy with. The IP turned out ok, the dials are much deeper than I would like but I didn't want to thin the IP panel down too much - it was becoming quite flimsy as it was... The Barracuda bits n pieces are easy to add to the model and they really bring the cockpit to life. The cockpit is no where near finished as I still need to add the rudder pedals, control stick, O2 tank, the pipework from the under carriage selector, the O2 tube on the starboard cockpit wall, the seat belts, the gun sight, some stencilling and general weathering... ..Well that folks is that. The weather is set to change here over the next few days so hopefully I'll be able to make some more progress. Cheers all Iain.

Next step in the build was making the diorama. I bought a picture frame that gave me the general size of the size of the ground to be built. The ground was made from some grout I had on the shelf and that was sprayed with water to give it an uneven surfaceand painted brown after it had dried. I made a sewer from a piece of pipe and started to give the bottom of the drain a poisonous look. Some green color was added to give the impression of algea and such. I added some brown color to resin and poured it ...and there all work was lost. The resin covered it all... well you live and learn they say. To give the diorama some direction of motion I had made the road go diagonally across. The road was made from dark pebbles from the local model train shop. (an ok product I guess, but next time I’d use plain sand and paint it black. ) Then I painted the road in different shades of black and dark grey to give the impression of an old road. I took different dried herbs from the kitchen, made smaller pieces of it and glued it with diluted PVA along the road. The grass was made from ordinary model grass. I made some deathcaps from needles + PVA and paint, I thought they suited the theme And some more detail was made on the poisonous drain water. I took. Some more herbs and put it randomly to make the grass look less even. A small bridge was made from matches glued together and weathered with different shades of grey color. And a bone from something was buried beneath it.

Thanks for the kind words and "likes", chaps. The weather was much better today, with some interesting displays and a single high pass of a B-2 Spirit. Thanks for looking. More to come....

Only because Tbolt put me right earlier on in my thread!! It's a good job he doesn't mind sharing his knowledge! Today I got some bits and pieces done on this project. Fuselage sides glued together: Wings on: Wheel wells look okay: A little bit of filler was required here and there. I got the wiring sorted for the engine but in my enthusiasm I forgot to take any photos before fitting it inside the cowl - you can just about see them: Seeing as how this aircraft is basically only two colours I think I will do some pre-shading next to get a bit of variation. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Sikorsky SH-3D Sea King of Helicopter Squadron 4, USS Hornet, July 1969, Apollo Recovery Flight. The build thread is here but to recap: Kit: Cyber Hobby SH-3D Sea King Decals: Kit for stencils, markings from Apollo Decals Paint: White from a rattle can, all others Revell Acrylics by brush. Future and Flory Models Wash Extras: Scratchbuilt camera mount, Yagi antennae Other: Lovely moulded details & build sequence; odd, wrong or missing details; confusing instructions! Cyber Hobby SH-3D Helo 66 (1) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cyber Hobby SH-3D Helo 66 (2) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cyber Hobby SH-3D Helo 66 (4) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cyber Hobby SH-3D Helo 66 (7) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cyber Hobby SH-3D Helo 66 (14) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Cheers, Dermot