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Just completed this one for the B17 STGB, Revells B17F boxing come with the parts for an "E" model in the box. The kit itself is showing the moulds age, lots of flash to clean up and lots of filler along the fuselage seam but lots of detail inside. That said Revells instruction about interior colours are wrong in a lot of places but I didn't find out until after the fuselage was built. If I do another B17 I would correct the inaccuracies such as the floor in the rear missing, ammo storage box locations, missing air bottles, cockpit and bombardiers station. Tamiya acrylics and some oil paint on underside, kits decals for the stars and serial no made from 2 serial numbers (thanks to Shelliecool) Old Maid done with home made stencil. Build WIP is here. As usaual any comments welcome. IMGA0659 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0660 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0661 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0662 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0663 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0664 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0666 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0667 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0668 by neil Connor, on Flickr IMGA0669 by neil Connor, on Flickr

Hi all, this was the last one finished for 2018 and it's the stately Handley Page HP.54 Harrow II by Valom, built for the January issue of Airfix Model World. Being a Bomber Command type I was really pleased to see that we finally had a decent IM model of this important, though largely unsung type. The Harrow served in several important roles during its tenure, as a bomber, minelayer, (carrying the Long Aerial Mine LAM), crew trainer, (navigation, gunnery and air munitions), spares transport/freight carrier and a paratroop ship. In its final form, as the Sparrow, it performed sterling service as an air ambulance, troop carrier, VIP transport and military freighter, a true multi-role aircraft. Another service performed by the Harrow was that of experimental tanker, with three aircraft loaned to Sir Alan Cobham's company, Flight Refuelling Limited for in-flight refuelling trials with C-Class flying boats. Being of a short-run nature the kit required a bit of extra work, as was to be expected, but nothing out of the ordinary. I decided to add a bit more visual interest by cutting out and dropping the flaps and elevators, opening the side loading door and scratch building the fuselage interior. The forward fuselage was also enhanced with the addition of the nav/radio operators position and equipment and scratch built gun turret interiors. The basic kit guns were replaced with modified items from the Mini Art range. The only areas of concern were the undercarriage support braces which were rather flimsy and so were replaced with lengths of Contrail aerofoil strut into which steel pins were inserted. The locating points were vague and the pins were necessary to ensure proper alignment and provide a more robust structure, especially with those heavy wheel sponsons. The model was painted using MRP lacquers and weathered, as usual, using Abteilung oils and Matt Effect Thinner. Regarding the markings I decided to go with Montex's masks to paint the large white underwing and fuselage codes rather than use the kit decals as they contained a lot of carrier film, this being very easy to use and produced a more realistic result. The only issue with the decals themselves concerned the Type A1 fuselage roundels which are a little too large and so used suitable replacements from Modeldecals sheet MD102. I'm a big fan of Valom kits and can't speak highly enough of Vaclav and his little company. During the build, I managed to wreck one of the Type A1 wing roundels and didn't have an appropriate spare handy so emailed him to see if I could acquire a replacement. Four days later a package arrived with a complete replacement decal sheet, free of charge....great service. I have several more of his kits in the works and can't wait to get stuck in. Now, how about a Virginia, Over/Sidestrand or Hendon! (Special thanks for all the interior reference material supplied by my good friend John Adams, you're a gentleman, sir). Thanks for looking and hope you approve. Melchie

OOB, RK Decals. This tricolor Cat was based on Attu Island in the Aleutians in 1943-44. RoG rebox of the Academy kit. Very nice kit, no major fit issues. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Hello modelers I present my model of a Polish Medium Bomber. Here you will find some information about this plane

The Tupolev Tu-4 (NATO reporting name: Bull) was a piston-engined Soviet strategic bomber that served the Soviet Air Force from the late 1940s to mid-1960s. It was reverse-engineered from the American Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Hi folks, this are my kits built last year, posted as they're coming along... Cheers, Libor 1. D-520 Hasegawa 2. Kittyhawk Mk.III Special Hobby 3. Heinkel He-111H Hasegawa 4. Spitfire Mk.IXE Eduard 5. Zlin Z-226M AZ Model 6. Zlin Z-42 Hobbyboss 7. MiG-21MF Eduard 8. Fiat G.50 SBS 9. Dornier Do-17Z ICM 10+11. Avia B-534. I and II series, Eduard 12. Renard R-31 FRROM 13. KFIC C.7 AMK 14. MiG-21MF Eduard 15. Beaufighter Mk.X Airfix 16. Bf 110 G-4 Eduard 17. Fw 190A-8 Eduard

Hi everybody, this the last model I completed. It's the Kinetic Harrier T4, loaded with Reskit rocket launchers. Figures come from the Eduard range and were slightly modified; everithing else was scratchbuilt...hope you like it...

Hi, After picking up the hobby again in 2017, this felt like a much needed rite of passage: building the one kit I drooled upon as a kid. I'm happy with the result of this first try, even though I could have worked better on the front joint and tried some oil weathering before I decided to wrap it up. I managed to snag a few of the 90s boxings since, so this won't be the last cat on my shelves, I just had to leave myself some room for improvement 😅. Hasegawa Atlantic fleet boxing with quickboost seats. Painted with Mr Color. Decals are a mix of the box and a chinese Hobby Boss knockoff sheet (red hues are all over the place, although it's mostly hidden by my mediocre photography). Thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching.

Avro Anson Mk.1 (Airbourne Interception Trainer) by Philip Pain, on Flickr Finished it today, and some decent photos will follow, if we ever get any bright daylight again!

Hallo mates! This morning, before leaving , I did some decalling. After so long it looks like a dream!!! Now she starts looking like the real thing! Some minor stencils are still missing, but Ididn't want to rush! TEverything is dry fitted now and the gear legs haven't been painted yet, but she can rest until I'll be back. Now I'm at the airport...but I'm not alone...I brought another mate with me!!! More to come. Thanks for watching! Massimo

I know, Jason. I'm scared too. Wings are on. The closest to tragedy so far is that one Hurri's cockpit is a little sparse owing to escaping PE and the little V-shaped framing part (visible at the bottom of the photo) being uncooperative and falling out. They don't precisely click into place (well, the tailfin does), but fit is still quite impressive. The plastic, I should mention, behaves really well with Tamiya Extra Thin cement, it's been a joy to glue, very well-behaved. Well, I probably won't wear shorts, as I have a birth defect which, though largely corrected by a decade's worth of expensive (and very, very painful) outpatient surgery, has left me with an immense portwine birthmark along one leg. Also I believe it indecent to flaunt one's knees brazenly in a public setting. Yes! I mean, I'm quite disappointing in person, but Cookie and Bill and Buffers are all absolute delights, and how many other things in life are even 75% good right off the bat?

Good morning, last night I did some maskinf and painting. First I masked the areas around the landing gears' and avionic bays and sprayed them light grey. Then I masked the areas around the air intakes and wings leading edges , to spray them silver. This is where I am now, with a few touches done here and there and ready for decalling. Ciao Massimo

I agree to a model enthusiast surrounded by a myriad of new kits and releases it seems somewhat anachronistic for Airfix to be releasing kits that were first tooled in the 60’s or 70’s. What you absolutely need to understand is that Airfix is unlike any other model brand anywhere in the world. While each brand has it’s brand defined by often physical aspects. (Tamiya it’s legendary fit WNW it’s fit and ease of assembly Trumpeter its prolific release schedule and general lack of research.. etc) Airfix’s brand is underpinned by a huge loyalty that’s derived from Nostalgia. It has this because it’s been in the market for a long long time and the brands devotees have literally grown up and old with it. A deep part of the British psyche is a love of nostalgia. That’s not a slur on the British just an observed fact. So Airfix as a brand has this value or quality which makes it gold in terms of marketing a hugely loyal following in its home country coupled with an imbued love of nostalgic things. Its possible for Airfix to capitalise on this. So what we have seen is an unabashed move to market these old kits on a purely nostalgic basis. Classic old box art. It taps directly into those things that’s connects us now as adults back to our childhood or younger years where we can buy and build the exact same kit as we did when we were kids. It’s a very very clever marketing strategy and one derived from a real understanding of the consumer base and the brand values and worth you have. Airfix are not alone even Tamiya is re-releasing old ‘classic’ 1/35 armour kits. It’s also cost effective as you get to fill the range with kits where the tooling costs are long paid off so you derive more margin out of the sale. Any business that could get away with selling a product in the market today that’s fully amortised all of its development costs several times over and have a keen and loyal consumer base generally delighted it’s selling you those products is going to do so as it’s bankable. So it’s easy not to understand why they do stuff. Especially if you didn’t grow up waiting for Saturday to come round so you could head down to ‘Leadbetters’ the news agents and spend your pocket money on an Airfix kit Build it by Saturday Tea time before ‘Buck Rodgers in the 25th century’ came on and Paint in by Sunday Lunch and stick the decals on while mum is Watching Antiques Roadshow or Harry Seacombe ‘Highway’ on Sunday PM. Its easy to say they should release this or that and why no 1/48 B-17… Airfix is a great many things to a great many people. The one thing for sure is Airfix is embedded in British culture. So rather than bemoan what isn’t and compare them to brands that simply don’t have the history or loyal fan base. Or look at it clinically and say Airfix’s isn’t as good as XXYY. You need to accept you’re dealing with a British Cultural institution.. Accept that and it all makes sense.. I hope this helps..

Hi guys... here are some photos of my recent realization ... Hawk T1 Italeri 1/72 A tribute of the 100 Sqn 95th Anniversary ciao Silvano Dedicate @Fritag my Ispiration Modeller ...

Well calling this one done Trumpeter 1/350 HMS Eskimo with few extras added A few firsts for me on this build using Enamel paints from ColourCoats @ Sovereign Hobbies Thanks to Jamie and his great work with these I am a convert 👍 Also adding so many aftermarket bits from Atlantic Models and Peter Hall thanks for the advice and information. And first try at a big north sea bow wave using silicone Any comments and critics welcome hope you enjoy I certainly did beefy

Hi everyone and happy new Year ! My latest completion . I used the Eduard set for the cockpit and some Montex Masks for the decals . The 'net' is freehand airbrushed and the rest just simple masking . Hope you like it !

Here’s my entry, the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 Grumman F3F-2 in the colours of VF-6. This is my first biplane build since childhood but couldn’t have been easier due to the fantastic engineering by AM (Academy are releasing this kit in 2019 I highly recommend it). Painted using AK Interactive Xtreme Metal for the silver and Colourcoats enamels for all the other main colours. It’s completely OOB with the exception of the EZLine aerial. Duncan B

Nobody could ever accuse you of choosing easy subjects Mr B. I don't have an practical suggestions about the windscreen, but " Whistle a happy tune " comes to mind. Sorry, I'll get my Bon courage. John. PS my desk is very tidy at the moment because I'm not using it, the kitchen table is cluttered though.

I'll prepare some BM badges for 'the team' - I already have mine You're going to wear a T-shirt and shorts? In November? In Telford? Won't it be hidden under the coat and sweater*? Oh wait, you're used to Chicago temperatures… carry on. Perhaps just one day and Saturday is preferred for perdu's usual BM gathering. I know there's a lot to see at the show but we currently have forty-three (yes, forty-three!) places on the list of 'things to visit' and the guys are only here for a relatively short time. We've yet to confirm the final list but the RAF Museum at Cosford is just down the road so we'll be staying over and fitting that in. PC posted a request for suggested places to visit and I think we have most things covered! We just need to firm up on dates and book an hotel somewhere near Telford. Oh, and plan a route. We'll post the itinerary nearer the time so that people can join us if they so wish - it'll be great to put names to the faces Currently it looks like this: on Flickr (Ooh, just found out by accident that you can drag photos from the OSX photo app straight to a Flickr window - cool! That'll be handy) * Of course I mean pullover or jumper but I translated that to save confusion. Did it work?

Good man Ced! Regarding serving - I personally favour two slices of white bread thickly buttered and a strong mug of tea as accompaniements. How do you like yours? Benedikt: that had me laughing uproariously at the vehemence with which you said that! I understand your loathing of over-definition; where I live it is frequently the opposite problem - a verbose lack of clarity in order to permit Jesutical evasion further down the line. How does texting by smartphone work out in Germany given what you've said Benedikt? Do German teenagers cut down language to a bare minimum like their Anglo-American counterparts? What id the German word for this concept I wonder? 'There are holes in the sky Where the rain gets in, But they're ever so small That's why rain is thin.' - Spike Milligan Heather - I'm most grateful for that reccomendation and propose to buy some to see how it works out. (Now you just know that I'm going to have to look up what 'resistance soldering' is too! ) Pootering around before work this morning I had a few minutes to spare so decided to bung the rear section of the tube-work into the fuselage for a test fit: General fit was not bad considering that the floor and ceiling of the palstic haven't really been thinned-down yet. Except for - as you know doubt latched-on to with your beady minces immediately: Cue thoughts of 'What the deuce! How did I get those measurements so wrong?' and Mrs. Hudson rushing in with the laudanum. Presently rallying for a quick check against the plans from the maintenance manual revealed no such discrepancy, but look at where the window is marked here: No conundrum Watson. See how the rear of the window is inline with the datum for 'Cabin rear bulkhead in the drawing above, and then at the gap between that bulkhead and the lip of the gun turret. Now have thyself a butcher's at the comparison shots below: It is my contention m'lud that (as no doubt has been mentioned on many a build before but I've been too lazy to go looking) that the window on the kit is too far forward by several mill., meaning that the side windows of the cockpit don't extend back far enough eitheras a result. I nailed this differential down more precisely during lunchbreak with an overlay: The match between framing and fuselage is pretty good - indeed would not pose any problems, save for the erroneous placement of those windows. And by extension, all that trouble I went to with the door on t'other side.... The offending apertures have now been plugged with scrap plastic and lie in want of some filler in the remaining gaps: Feeling like I needed something more productive as a result I cut out the air-gunner's platform and added that to the rear framework: Rear and starboard side then got joined together: Still plenty of 'v' braces and stuff to add yet: Just blocking in the main outlines a tthis stage to get overall shape correct to fit into the fueslage: Fits over the spars ok, need to lose some plastic around the rather generous moulding for the gun turret and a bit off roof and floor later and we should be ok. Apart from cutting new windows and doors.... Oh well. Hope you're all having a decent week so far. Tony

Ah, thanks Ian Answer? Probably not, just: on Flickr So as Bill suggested I can probably fill with something and sand back. Once I work out how to hold the sides in while I'm glueing it. I got some 'for goodness sake get on with something' mojo so decided to stick in the internals: The raised cockpit floor means that the crew now look nicely through the windows: One final shot before they disappear: The front gear bay has a 'nicely open door' effect that I originally thought was a bad fit, but isn't (I hope): Now for the front resin bulkhead fit. Doesn't. How about the kit part? Fits. So I just need to use that as a template to sand this bit off the resin: This is all getting a bit messy as you can tell by the state of the bench: Untidy for me. I like tidy. A lot.

This is my build of Trumpeters type 45 kit 1:350 scale. Having built the Airfix kit, which in my opinion is a bit of a dog due to how they designed the parts to fit together, or not, I was looking forward to building the more complex Trumpeter offering. As Trumpeter kits go I have seen them do better, there is more sink then usual and some issues so far with positive fit too but on the whole ok. the kit comes with a fair amount of etch much of it for surface detail such as grills and doors. I will be adding to that with the Atlantic Models etch and a gras barrel for the main gun. There is quite a bit of research material about on the net including a walk around video of HMS Duncan. there was a resent documentary on the ship and that inspired this build. HMS Duncan is the last of the Type 45s built and on leaving the hanger you will se painted on the internal door 'HMS Duncan Last and Best' So on with the build which starts with fitting the deck, which is a nice snug fit. The bulge at the bow is two parts that don't fit particularly well some filler needed on the joint and the joint with the hull. The other lower hull fittings were aded with the exception of the screws with will be added after hull painting. Just for comparison this is the difference in size net to my Type 42 destroyer The upper hull then receives some etch, all kit supplied for the hull. there is a very prominent raised line around the hull, I can find no evidence of this on any of the ships in this class so have sanded it away. My first modification is the bollards on the rear deck. They have been cast at the incorrect angle and should actually lean inward. I carefully removed them with a chisel blade and fabricated a new base for them. At this point I would normally stop and prime, fill, prime again and paint before further construction. Thats not possible with this build as the superstructure is a continuation of the hull sides. From dry fitting I can see the join is less than positive so I need to fix the superstructure in place and fill the gap first. in tern this means building as much as I can prior to first prime that will be painted the base grey without obstructing painting any deck areas, more about that in the next post Jase

Just a very quick one to do over the holidays. Tamiya 1/48 Sturmtiger straight from the box with only a few wire handles, Voyager Grills and the MP paper zimmerit. Building took a few hours over two days. I did leave each track section seperate to make painting easier. I then primered in purple to get a nice contrast going. Then quickly on to the yellow, gloss and starting the weathering with pin washes. Today was camo and more weathering. I have just about got the hull top finished to where I like it, maybe some chalks? I just need to get the rest of the kit to this finish before Sunday as I'm back to work on Monday. So far I'm pretty pleased wth the quick progress. Every chance I'll get this done before I go back to work. This is a great Tamiya kit to build, perfect fit and builds so smoothly. Thanks for looking in.

Hi, I am posting here few pictures and build video of my Mig 29. I have made some scratchbuild improvements like new antena, position lights or air intake covers. I have also done some improvements in cockpit. Have a nice day 🙂 Step by step video build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcOHKMxzfNQ

The post I was making to you damn-well got lost when Chrome crashed just now + I'm afraid I'm too tired to redo it tonight chaps - I'll reply at length next time. Did get some time in thinning down the floors and ceilings of the fuselage and can report that the framework fits inside it rather admirably now when both halves are closed-up together. Not a particularly enthralling process to watch so I haven't wasted any pixels on it, but it is an important step in moving the build forward, and one that I was worried about.. Now it just remains to continue with adding all the bracing and remaining stations to the structure over the following days! TTFN.

Hiya Folks,, A bit more progress,...... I`ve added the dry decals from the Luftwaffe sheet for the codes; I`ve cut out the serial tonight from generic Modeldecal letters/numbers and will get that applied asap, Cheers Tony

Where is the devil? The beginning... Spark plugs caps... Dan.

Another full set as the 92nd Regiment of Foot (Gordon Highlanders)

That is an offaly scathing position to take Keith May I be the first to say "If he don't like it miss, I'll have his." All the more for me, yum yum. 🍮

I already told it Dear General !! Speckled Jim is a turn coat, I met him in London last year !! His real name is Mötled Otto !! See, after a good rain his camo has faded away, revealing his real Luftwaffe colors !! He was talking with some of his mates or moles who knows ?? About a certain party at Melchett's manor…. Hum ! There was some words about misusing some Marmite… Now be carefull about this obsessed Parrot too !! The revealing by SJ of these parties induce this little Parrot to trying to have a close Relationship with a tennis ball !! Remember Dear General !! never trust a pigeon !! Oh Dear Martian ! Now you turn this build into an italian Cabriolet ?? So Don't you forget the pilot with an elbow out from the side widow !! The little red horn hanging on the interior rear view mirror, the false fox tail on the aerial…. Optionnally the fox tail can be replaced by a nice feminine underwear !! Oh and a bottle of fragrance on the Dashboard !! That way !! it will be complete and original !! Sincerely. CC

Here is a Chieftain MK 5 in NATO colors. Some dusty but not really dirty. Then my Chieftain collection. A MK 5 in NATO scheme and a MK 11 and a MK 10 both in the BATUS schemes. That's about enough of these. The old Chieftains look like a real tank, just a real "tankish" look to them.

Keep building. Mark DSCN3017 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3032 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3046 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3060 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3095 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3122 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3146 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3185 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3212 (3) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3236 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3288 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3306 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3326 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr

Take care CC, (Our man, south of Belgium), looks like your cover's been blown, bolt all the doors, hammer large crooked pieces of wood against all the windows etc... Sounds like the makings of a romantic weekend to me... I've stayed in some pretty dodgy bordellos over the years but have absolutely no recollection of kipping in any Parisian pigeon lofts, but then again I may well have been very, very drunk. Incidentally, I had heard a malicious rumour that there was an Italian tri-motor thingy knocking around here somewhere...anybody seen it?

OK, Interior is pretty much done except for a bit of tidying up paintwork. I realise that most of it won't be really visible once the fuselage is together but just wanted to give the impression of a busy (and usually untidy!) space inside. Next up is working up courage to cut holes in the fuselage sides for the extra rear windows. Anyone got any tips?

Hi All, Working from home again and managed to get an early morning spray in. Gave it my first attempt at this shading on the black base. Sprayed Tamiya Flat White (30 paint: 70 thinners) at about 20psi. Tried to let the paint out slowly and concentrate it in the middle of what panels were visible. Where panels aren't visible I have attempted a bit of random marbling for some tonal variation in the top coat. Apart from a couple of splodges where the airbrush 'sneezed' I'm quite pleased with the result. As we're aiming for a dull silver paint look I decided to use Tamiya Flat Aluminium for the underside. This was sprayed on at 50:50 paint to thinners. It doesn't look like much variation in tone is visible in these pictures but to the naked eye there is a subtle effect, you'll just have to trust me on that one 😉 I really wish I had tended to those gaping holes in the landing gear bay/fuselage. When it comes to the topside I may use a thinner mixture and layer it up more slowly so not to completely undo the blackbasing effect. I also think better lighting would help, it is not immediately apparent how much paint I am laying down sometimes in yellowish artificial light. Ben

This can easily be explained my dear Watson, see CCs post re Mötled Otto, our undercover man in Berlin, a stool-pigeon if ever I met one. Darling deliberately fed him tidbits of misinformation and the details of the alleged party proves it... it wasn't a watermelon, it was a cumquat. (Colin now resides in the drawing room, he makes a handy doorstop). Apart from my beloved Speckled Jim, I don't!...and the bit about the misuse of Marmite is a barefaced lie! BTW, that parrot should be put on a charge...

What's wrong with it? You are modelling there. Btw: Taking a look at mine at the moment you would become frantic and run away screaming. (Maybe a therapy is following then).

I'm getting a little worried here, PC. This is going far too easily for you. Usually your builds have something of a Greek tragedyesque quality to them, as the doomed hero fights vainly against the cruel (modelling) fates. But unlike Greek tragedies, happily, your builds always seem to turn out quite well in the end. Indeed, your build has me looking forward to my kit. I feel a little ashamed now only buying one, but as I can't build this as a Soviet version (not easily), I can't justify buying two. After all, I don't have a model of every Soviet-built WWII fighter. Yet. Regards, Jason

Marvellous manipulating with the windows Tony - found the problem better late than, er, later eh? Steak and Kidney pudding, new potatoes and butter. Cut the potatoes and smear in (slurp) butter with some meaty bits. Towards the end, rough mash the (dribble) spuds and mop up the gravy. Nom nom nom. There's even a video here showing the rubbery pastry*, even though the bloke who made the video obviously is no gourmet gourmand * Cue old Jim Davidson Chinese restaurant joke; "Oi, waiter, this chicken's rubbery" "Ah, sank you velly much"** ** Cue rant from politically correct humourless individuals. Chill out guys, it's a joke. Some of my best friends are Chinese. One in five of them, statistically. It could be Alan, or Bill, Ian, Wan Che Lan or Peter. I reckon it's Alan. (Thanks to Tommy Cooper)

A little bit of progress on this tonight. Have fitted the exhaust, brackets and the auxiliary generator exhaust (forgot to drill the holes for this before I stuck the hull together!). At the front I've fitted the towing eyes, spare track crew hatches and used the first part from the eduard etch set for the retaining bar on the spare track. I then fitted the rather more to scale thickness spare wheel holder from the Eduard set And that's it for tonight - more soon. All the best Ben

Hey everyone ... I was able to spray the colors finally. I chose to blend two of @Gekko_1‘s camouflage schemes #’s 7 & 9. I worked over two sessions, two days, & four colors. The colors were a Tamiya deck tan as a base. Followed by Ammo by Mig APC Interior grey/green(sickly looking color) striping, looks like a grey with my lighting ? Then a Vallejo medium green mix & Vallejo German Black/Brown for stripes and blobs. I will need to trim down the ladder and paint the connecting bubble/spine. You can see i decided to add a commanders seat when i did the steps/ladder. Just visible through the upper hatch. It also still needs to be painted. I will need to do some detail painting like the grills and such. I also need to add a few minor things, like some of the hoses under the head. Hope it looks ok, questions, comments, or jokes ? Dennis

The PE rigging was interesting. I remembered some long forgotten swear words and invented some new ones too (next time I’m going to use EZLine like a sensible chap would). Once done though the effect is quite pleasing. I have hashed on and have it all but finished. Just the bomb racks and pitot tube to add in the morning and that’ll be it. It’s not perfect by any means but I’m quite pleased with it. I will have another go at one when Academy release it later this year. I’ll get this one finished in the morning and will get photos up soon. Thanks for the encouragement along the way. Duncan B

Afternoon all Some more progress on the Sunderland to update you on... One of the main problems when building big vacs like this the fact that due to the nature of the plastic and the fact there's no interior provided, the fuselage lacks structural integrity - especially when it comes to adding the wings and tail, etc. Therefore, lots of internal reinforcement is needed to provide enough strength for the model to be able to support itself. So it was out with the profile gauge and thick plastic card, and slowly bulkheads began to emerge... DSC_0039 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr For anyone familiar with the internal layout of the Sunderland, you will quickly see these bulkheads and floors are far from resembling reality, but considering next to nothing of the interior will be visible I went for strength over accuracy. The centre-section 'bomb room' as well as the nose section and cockpit are more in keeping with the real thing, however: DSC_0035 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The other fuselage half... DSC_0037 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr ..now slides nicely over the other... DSC_0041 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr ...apart from the fact that the starboard fuselage is approx. 4-5mm deeper than the port - a bridge I'll have to cross at a later date! The sheer bulk of the fuselage and the size of the real aircraft is quickly becoming apparent: DSC_0043 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr A few more bulkheads to fabricate, and then it'll be on with making the finer details of the interior areas that will be visible. Until next time, Tom

I was planning on wearing a t-shirt with a hedgehog on it. Alternately should I go classic American abroad and wear a Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and one of those fishing caps while marvelling at all the things that aren't like back home?

A typical Fujimi model: not many parts, scarce interior details, very simple build and gentle panel lines. Build process went okay, some effort and several styrene strips are needed for the alignment of rear upper fuselage and the upper wing/fuselage joint. MLG interior could use some details, due to its size. Gunze colours were used over Alclad aluminium base. Upper colour is Gunze Nakajima IJN Green, lower surfaces Gunze IJN Gray. National insignia and yellow ID stripes airbrushed. AK weathering oils were used and chipping was done with various colored pencils.

TIEpanzerkampfwagen IV has the major bits All together now. Just as I suspected, the hull halves needed a good dose of CA and clamping to come together. They're fine now, but there must have been some slight warpage. Time for the little bits now. I'll probably start in back and work my way forwards.

That's better! I did appreciate all of the 'likes' my mud received previously, but ultimately I wasn't happy with it. I hope you lot find my new mud an improvement. I say 'new'. It's exactly the same mud with some extra effects on top - another of my 'evolutions.' With regards to the mud on the hull, I reckon I need only apply mid-tonal washes for the most part and limit the darker washes to the areas between the suspension units. But it's a case of doing them in small increments and judging the results. With regards to the tracks, I'm going to remove one link. That will give me the amount of sag shown in the first photo of this post. Yes, I know. You needn't say it..... I've removed the one link from each track length and am now adding the Ice Spugs. The tracks will be painted up to look 'clean'. I won't be dirtying them up until the end of the project- and then only slightly. I will be saving the 'full monty' for when it gets to sit in a diorama. TFL Badder

A few facts....... 1. At the time, the Soviets were our allies. 2 They had a non-agression pact with the Japanese - which meant that more Soviet troops could be sent to the Europeam theatre - thus helping the western allies. 3. Under the terms of the non-aggression pact, the Soviets were obliged to intern any aircraft and crews that landed in the Soviet Union from raids on Japan. 4. The Soviets secretely allowed the B-29 bomber crews to 'escape' via Iran. 5 They kept 3 B-29's and reverse-engineered one of them - converting all the parts (skin panels etc) to metric units - thus the Tu-4 was slightly heavier than a B-29. 6 The engines were replaced with Soviet ASh-73TK piston engines and the .50 cal guns with 23mm cannons. So the Tu-4 wasn't an exact copy of a B-29 - despite the stories about the dumb Soviets even copying the bullet holes. Ken PS - Didn't the US reverse-engineer a 'stolen' V2 rocket??

You need to place a Airfix in the context of it’s primary market. The UK and also who is buying its products and where they are sold. Any product range has to reflect the entire market not just a segment of it. So what Airfix’s 2019 offering is about is giving something for all of the market. With a healthy nod towards us as enthusiasts ( who are probably the minority and the most vocal segment of the customer base). As such I personally don’t bregrudge Airfix partnering with Academy to deliver ‘toy shop’ quality 1/35 AFV kits to its customer base. Nor it rereleasing old toolings if it feels it had a market for them. The range offer seems well balanced for all segments of the market not just us curmudgeons who make up a bit of the market but not all of it.. The reality is we could all come up with best seller ideas for models that absolutely every one would want such as a 1/48 Lancaster but the other reality is the vast majority of us don’t own or work for a model manufacturer. So our view is somewhat narrow and without any basis and almost definitely without any financial risk. I think your view of what a good idea and what is essential for modellers would rapidly change if you were relying on us to pay the bills or put food on the table. Effectivley forums give us the ability to discuss and critique decisions made by manufacturers and that’s healthy and reasonable. But in the end it’s just talk.