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Airfix’s latest Phantom release. I used the Xtradecal sheet to make Faith, which had the gray tail, instead of white. Standard fare, OOB except for the AIM-9s, since the kit didn’t come with AIM-9L, only AIM-9J. So I raided my spares. The only issue was the closed canopy. I had made some custom ejection loops, and they would not allow the canopy to sit. So off they came and it still didn’t sit right. So it has those big ugly gaps on the left and shims on the right. Other than that, lovely kit. I’m still developing my scoring system, and this is a relelease anyway, so no scores on this one.

Hot on the heels (do planes have heels?) of my Sea Fury, I present my Seahawk. Built from the HobbyBoss kit, and painted as XE375 of 810 Squadron HMS Albion. The hi-viz yellow and black stripes were provided as a transfer, but I decided to mask and paint them instead. This kit is a tail-sitter so if you're building one, add some weight to the nose. I seem to have developed an interest in the FAA.....

Finally, after being in my mind since 2009 and in build since mid 2013, The Hybrid is *finally* done. I'll try to get some better photos taken soon. Photo by Rob Sullivan IPMS Tyneside. Thread named after a track by Welsh Nu skool Breaks band Hybrid. Finished Symphony was released in 1999 after several years in development. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuWAO9QSG2Y

Having built the Academy Hunter last year, I've been looking forward to getting the Airfix new release so pre-ordered a couple of kits which arrived in January. I'd also picked up the Xtradecal sheet Pt 3 which has some excellent coulourful schemes on, so decided I had to do one of these, in particular the Tactical Weapons Unit based at RAF Brawdy in 1979. Now it turns out that Xtradecal have the serial number on this one wrong. They claim it is XG223 but in fact it is XG225 - there are several photos of it out there in the net in this scheme to prove it. By the way this airframe now resides at the entrance to the museum at RAF Cosford, sadly not not in this colour scheme The kit itself is a lovely example of modern engineering. The only addition I made was to replace the Martin Baker Mk 4 ejector seat with one I'd already painted up for another build but didn't use. As to the photos, I've been experimenting lately with different lighting set ups to try to improve the quality of the photos with different backdrops and camera settings. I have another kit to build sometime in the future - might try the raspberry ripple scheme from the same decal set... Edit: I've replaced the photos as I realised I had the wrong white-balance setting on the camera when taking them, so the colours were all muddy.

I received The Great Coup on Friday, and I'm sorry to say I was pretty disappointed in it -- clearly a rather sensational take on the topic, written in a very novelistic style (which I dislike in history books -- few people remember precisely what they were thinking at a specific instant thirty years on) without a bibliography, though comments in the book clearly indicate archival research was done. It does benefit from the author having either interviewed or listened to interviews with some of the Ju88's crew, however, two of whom had rather understandably chosen to relocate out of West Germany by time of writing. (IMO, throughout West German-penned war memoirs, there's a strong skein of "it's a good thing we lost, I guess", which just goes to show the remarkable fighting spirit of the German soldier from the safety of his armchair twenty or thirty years after he was on his knees, begging for his life.) In happier news, my Manchester conversion set from Blackbird arrived, and I've followed up with an order for their Lancaster VI set, despite this build reminding me that while Airfix makes the best Lancaster, it's certainly not the most fun to build. And in further happy news, I got the decals which @06/24 so kindly got me for this build. I think I'm going to opt to use the nose art with my Xtradecal Bomber Command sheet to make Phantom of the Ruhr as she would have looked during the Battle of Berlin, having recently finished Martin Middlebrook's excellent book on the campaign. If you haven't read it and you have the slightest interest in the Bomber War, you need to pick up a copy without delay. Part of the book, an eyewitness account from Flight Lieutenant Alan Bryett, a bomb aimer on a Halifax of 158 Squadron who would later participate in the Great Escape: Kevin Hornibrook must have had a profound effect upon all who knew him; the aircraft's navigator also named his son after him. I turn 36 this coming week, on the Ides (then fall Caesar, which I reflexively say after my DOB whenever I'm asked for it and which invariably elicits a baffled look), which I suppose in Britmodeller terms isn't old, but it's certainly older than I've ever been, and definitely old enough to know that young people are my mortal enemies, though I think I'm lazy enough to leave it to the inexorable passage of time to settle their hash, as it's so ruthlessly settled mine. In any event, Mrs P and I went out for dinner tonight, her mother being in town to watch the kids, who adore her (they don't know her like I do), at a restaurant of Mrs P's choosing, and at the conclusion of the meal, I learned that it was my birthday dinner. Would have been nice to know beforehand, as I wouldn't have gone there, and indeed, my choice was vetoed! There is no country for old men. I've been sick this week, so haven't been really in the mood for modelling or sneezing out great gouts of ichor onto the model while attempting to model, so today was the first time I've made it downstairs for a while. Lots of fits and starts this time of year -- the February-to-March transition is a rough one for me. I've managed to put the kit interior in almost completely backwards as far as what the instructions suggestion, but hear me out: if you attach the floor to the side Airfix wants you to, you have to then get the infinitely more warped other half to seamlessly fuse to this. My way, it got firmly clamped right off the bat and the exterior fit is going to be a helluva lot better. I promise! Speaking of, the navigator's table (which needs some touch-ups) is now in the fuselage, as are a few windows: I'm a little hazy on how or where the seatbelt went on the Flight Engineer's uncofortable-looking little fold-out seat (some photos I've seen seem to suggest it had a back redolent of those seen on folding beach chairs), and I welcome any useful input anyone has before I close things up. On the other side, the windows are all in: I should also mention the Infini sanding sticks -- I saw them advertised by @Duncan B on his store's FB page, and while I didn't get them from the UK (I picked up some from Sprue Brothers here in the 'states before they sold out), I recommend grabbing some from Black Mike Models while they have them, because they really are a cut above other sticks I've used, and I'm very hard on sanding sticks. I also dipped some other clear parts in Alclad Aqua Gloss: All of this of course looks like it should have taken no time at all, but the better part of ninety minutes was spent thusly.

The fifth of 2019 and a swansong to my Airfix Therapy Build thread: Their F-4F-4 done as an early F-4F-3 . Some liberties were taken as usual and the WIP is here: Paints are Alclad and Mr Color lacquer and the chevrons, cowl and fuselage bands were painted so as to match the new spinner Also a test run of my Amazon freebie review flashheads, which seem much better behaved than my el cheapo ebay continuous lights. Thank ye, one and all fer tuning in, have a fab weekend and eat more fruit! Anil

This model marks some firsts for me, it's my first Spitfire, my first properly British aircraft, and my first Pegasus Hobbies kit. Many of you may have read about this brand, which makes snap fit aircraft models. Now, some may consider them as unworthy of building because of their simplicity, but the decals that come with the kits are EXCELLENT: glossy, easy to work with and most importantly, need no setting solutions to conform into the panel lines (fifth photo). However, you should let them dry thoroughly before handling the aircraft, or you may end up distorting them (fourth photo). As always, the model was handpainted with Revell acrylics. Again, no decal softening solutions were needed.

Completed before the house move, this is off to the backseat as it depicts his farewell flight. The Hasegawa kit performed beautifully with an Aires and Eduard cockpit upgrade. Painted with Vallejo.

Hi All, I knew the time would come when I did an Eduard Spitfire. I've had a couple in the stash for a year or so, but all the parts in that huge box scared me off. Eventually I decided that in order to get one done, I needed to decide which airframe to model, then set aside the parts I wouldn't need to use. That way the task would seem more manageable. Whilst I love the Spitfire, I must say that the ubiquitous Mark IX is not top of my list of favourites. The fixed tailwheel detracts from an otherwise sublime shape, so for me the Marks VIII and VII surpass it in the 2-stage Merlin beauty stakes. But there are a couple of Mark IXs that are special. One is MH434 which Ray and Mark Hanna displayed so spectacularly for many years. And the other is the Spitfire used by Douglas Bader to lead the 1945 Battle of Britain Day flypast - RK917. So here is my interpretation of that, using the excellent Freightdog decals. I'm not shy to say that this is the best kit that I've ever built. As it was going together, the thought came to me that I didn't realise modelling could be like this, particularly after the travails of a succession of Sword Spitfires. The cockpit is a bit complex, and the four-part wheels are over-complicated, as are the radiators. But you find that everything slots into place beautifully and before you know it, it's ready to paint. I used xtracrylix with blu-tack sausages to get the soft lines on the camouflage. I also used a falcon canopy centre-section. There is a really interesting article on the paint-scheme of this aircraft at https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/douglasbader-last-spitfire. Initially I wasn't convinced of the conclusions, but after many hours of looking at photos, I decided to go with the two-tone scheme of Medium Sea Grey and Dark Green. Having read somewhere that the cannon stubs may have been painted red, and seeing some hints of that in the Pathe film of the time, I went with that too. The absence of stencils on this freshly repainted aircraft, and the lack of a gunsight, were added bonuses. Anyway, enough chatter, here are the photos: And so it joins the other recent builds on the shelf: Thanks for looking, and bon weekend! Justin

Hello! Here is my Hasegawa 1:72 Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai (Early) which I built back in 2008. It represents 343-45, of the 343 Kokutai, 701 Hikotai, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, flown by First Lt Takashi Oshibuchi, from Kanoya Naval Air Base, Kyushu, Japan, April 1945. The kit was built mostly OOB. I just added some details in the cockpit. It was completely painted and varnished by brush. I had some problems with the decals partially of my own making, in particular the hinomaru which I ended up having to remove and replace with those from another sheet. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Hi, Today I'd like to share with you my first finished model for 2019. This is Airfix recent Kate, built out of the box. The only add-ons were the seat belts from Eduard and the brake wires. It was really an enjoyable kit to assemble. Airfix option to present the canopy open is very nice, though I didn't take the chance to paint the frames that are under "sliding" parts. Paints are from Gunze. The other down side of the kit were the decals. The hinomaru were quite hard to comply with the details on the wings and fuselage surfaces. Hope you'll enjoy it. Cheers, Antoine

Hi, Here is my last built for 2018. Sure, it has been finished some time ago but one has to choose between posting and modelling. Guess my choice 🤔... Anyway, this is Airfix model. Not the easiest to build, especially for the cockpit that requires lot of attention. No add-on for this one. I just scratchbuilt the pitot tube with metalic tubes of different section. Paints are Gunze for the top and alclad for the underwing. The Swift has always been an aircraft I wanted in my collection. Now this done thank to Airfix. Hope you'll enjoy. Cheers, Antoine

Cosmic balance is restored brother. All is well. How did you train the seal to use an airbrush btw? If he rings up again Pete ask for his credit card and login details. Sadly they never did a 'Build an Anson' badge in the Scouts back in my day Heather. I did whittle a tent peg once but can't remember what badge they gave me for it. Gullibility probably.... Mad snow flurries all day today - talk about 'darkness at noon'! Nonsense you two. I just happen to be very very obstinate when it comes to refusing to letting the substance of the universe confound my will. In a slightly apologetic English way of course.... 42 Tomo. That's all it keeps outputting, just 42. Is that significant? 😉 I've reported him to the Gnu Liberation Front. He can cycle, but he can't hide.... Flippin' nice of you to say so Rob! 😁 I really don't know what kind of films you've been watching young man, but they sound quite specialist... Adrian & Edward: you're kind of both right in a way - Clarke's description there is certainly accurate but in addition there were also some shoulder and knee pads to help with training the azimuth (though I've yet to discover any pictures of them!): Given the way the gunner practically wore the mounting strapped to their body this seems a particularly impressive piece of early cybernetic design. I'd love to get my hands on a digital copy of A.P.1659D Vol.1 which is apparently the RAF bible for turret details of this period. Sadly it only seems to be in the National Archives so it's a remote possibility I'll get to see one. I'd ask what what would be a good source of something ribbed and rubber to make the flooring from but on this forum only a madman would ask. Filthy beasts... Thank-you H. I've offered to make Mrs. B a matching pair as ear-rings for our wedding anniversary in July but sensed a certain froideur at the suggestion. Is that the condition where someone involuntarily shouts out words like 'ring', 'mounting' and 'ribbed rubber' at innappropriate moments...? The amount of Kit Kat I've eaten this weekend, a visit from the Dietities would surely be in order Bill! I've saved a piece of bacon rind from breakfast to make the leather strap Ian. No Health & Safety nonsense here! Would you do me a vest Simon when you get a chance? 😜 Frisbees to you mate! 😛 😆 Most kind of you Terry. That is incredibly hurtful of you Martian to suggest that I would wear so little make-up. I wouldn't be seen dead in less than a 3mm layer of foundation and rouge dear heart - one has to maintain standards after all, and political turmoil is no excuse. 💄 ✨ Not at all Chris - if it's the AW.38 turrent it's quite possible I'm missing something as there aren't an over-abundance of clear photos showing the internals. Any chance you could throw an image my way to confirm? Delighted you thought it worth the effort Chris and thank-you for your kind words. I did get a few hours in here and there over the weekend but intense and fiddly stuff so not a big dramatic spread to relate. One thing I wanted to get done that had a high pucke-factor associated was to get the IP and console soldered in to the pilot's area. Given the delicacy of the parts from which it was made and the thickness of the metal floor it was being attached to I had considerable problems as either not enough heat in the iron to get solder to melt against the floor, or else too much so that the solder on the floor melted but then the more delicate solder of the IP began to melt too! Oh. And making sure it was all soldered together correctly- regarding height and alignment - to fit accurately inside the fuselage! After a couple of hours activity including various adjustments for fit, there is now an IP attached to the cockpit floor: I wanted to make sure the recent additions for the interior all fit and look to scale so as you can see, also dry-fitted the pilot's seats and turret mounting: The paucity of 'in-progress' shots should indicate that the IP job had as anticipated turned out to be a swine to get right and a relief to have acheived. Behind the radio-op's station on some aircraft was a rack of oxygen bottles and I decided to include those here on the wholly-imaginary ground that Bufton and Mackie might have spent time stooging around at high altitude in order to search for the Knickebein beams. Firstly the rack: 0.4mm rod soldered to form a lattice for: - bottles made from Iron Chicken undercarriage legs! In order to create a level of suspense not often found on the forum I decided to have only five bottles instead of the full complement of six as the ground crew are replenishing the aircraft for the forthcoming night's acitivities. (Actually I lost one of the bottles immediately after making them so the whole suspense thing is just made-up nonsense as I'm too lazy to make a replacement. Besides, @limeypilot would probably want a carriage clock or some other horological frippery strapped to it...) Compact and bijou, it tucks inside quite nicely: Oh. One last thing. I did find a picture of the gunner's seat peeking out through the bulkhead door from an old copy of Flight. They weren't kidding in the manual - it really is a 'saddle' seat! As @AdrianMF has already mentioned, the urge to pedal must have been overwhelming. Sunday night eh? Need to bathe and shave as they release me into the community every Monday morning. Gods bless all here. Tony

I figured it was time to start recording this one. This is a kit that was diverted from shop stock after posting the big Bismarck kit and deciding we'd rather not have the hassle of sending 1/200 kits again. Sadly, one of the stunningly good Pontos Model detail sets fell off the shelf one day also. Sad when that happens... Anyway, the model is quite big by everyones' standards except the fleet-scale radio control modellers'. It's going to take this space in our living room eventually, and shall displace the 1/350 version seen here behind it. Whilst it does have the potential to be very nice, it is, afterall, a Trumpeter product and they make bizarre errors for no reason that can be explained. Unlike earlier Trumpeter kits, the parts count of this isn't that high and they have produced some sophisticated toolings to make complex parts in one piece. In the past I have criticised Trumpeter for their 5-piece deck houses. In this case, that might have been better because correcting the daft things wrong with this kit is all the more difficult due to the way things have been manufactured. Prior to starting a thread, I had already hacked out a non-existent bulkhead which Trumpeter moulded in here, which closed off the space behind the conning tower and below the forward Vickers 0.5" quad machine gun platforms. On the real ship this was an open space. I felt that was something I could not live with given the extent of detailing the Pontos set is going to add otherwise. Removing the bulkhead without destroying the kit part was quite difficult, I don't mind admitting. I was also worried about extending the deck before underneath and doing a good enough job of hiding the join. I've spent a good number of manhours on this one piece. There is still more surgery required on this part, e.g. at the aft end where that raised solid "handrail" is to be removed and replaced with PE actual handrail. There are many, many accuracy errors like that in the kit, and the Pontos Model set (unlike all other PE sets for this kit) resolves all which can be resolved with brass. The reason for this is that Pontos Model is the only one which posted images of their design in progress and took active feedback from the HMS Hood Association's Frank Allen and a very fastidious expert modeller from the Netherlands by the name of Evert-Jan Foeth who runs the website http://ontheslipway.com/ which contains many excellent images of hard-to-find details about a number of British warships. On to the hull though. I am reluctant to accumulate a large number of fragile detailed sub assemblies without a hull to store them on, and the hull needs work first. It's moulded in one large piece. The degaussing cables are moulded as rectangular section strips and need to be removed. They take a simplified routing over the hause pipes as shown here. On Hood, these were oddly shaped and looked rather "home made". New plating and cables are provided in the Pontos set. A diagram is shown on the Hood Association website near the top of the page here: http://www.hmshood.com/hoodtoday/models/tamiya/tamiyarvw.htm Another thing that bothered me was the propeller bosses. These could and often are moulded as separate parts to be glued to the hull, but for whatever reason Trumpeter has integrated them in to the hull moulding. I am not sure whether bad research or a desire to simplify the shape to persist with including them on the hull has driven this, but clearly the mould has been designed to withdraw vertically away from the keel, and the shapes of these bosses are not right. As can be seen here of her being built at Clydebank (note that the armour belt has not been fitted yet), these bosses should project at an angle perpendicular to the hull plating. So, I made a start by gluing plasticard inside the bosses to add material I could work down to: This morning I made a start (there is more slimming down to go) with needle files and Infini Model sanding sponge-sticks at reshaping these to something less obviously wrong. Only starboard outer is started here: Both starboard bosses have had a first go here

Hi just thought I'd post my latest build which I finished last night. I think I'm getting a bit better with each build, though am still very much experimenting with weathering. It took me a while to decide on the colour scheme for this, then plumped for the red scheme near the end. This is the kit with the Manfred Von Richtofen figure which I haven't built as yet as I dont think I could do it justice when painting. Had a bit of an issue when fitting the propeller and spinner as my engine was slightly too high so have bodged it a bit. Also made a right pigs ear of rolling the photo etched machine guns. I keep meaning to buy an airbrush but as yet haven't done so but am still learning new things when brush painting. I used spray can primer on the wings and brushed primer on the fuselage and these have given a different finish and texture. I do enjoy messing about with different wood painting techniques, a lot of the time just winging it and experimenting. Overall I am happy with how it turned out but more importantly I really enjoyed it, which is the main thing I think. One day I'll take a good picture. Cheers, Martin.

Hollo to everybody. Lets talk about Falklands 1982... Dear friends, I demonstrate my work which I finished in the 2018th “Humphrey” is one of the most famous object of the Falklands Conflict and was the helicopter stationed aboard the destroyer HMS Antrim. Antrim was one of several ships sent to retake the Islands of South Georgia, as part of Operation Paraquet. The Wessex HAS.3 is recognizable by its “thimble” radome behind the rotor head. Only two HAS.3s were deployed to the Falklands, on HMS Antrim and HMS Glamorgan. This work shows my skills and ability to make further improvement as far as possible for the 1/144. For the “Mark I” kit detailing, I used more than 50 small parts and some items of a handmade material. The main resource-intensive work at the next objects: detailed cockpit with PEP, scratch-build nose E/E compartment with components and an opened hatch, the sonar operator compartment with interior and opened sliding door, the tail beam and main air blades are located in its stowed position. Thank you. Andrii. Enjoy!

Humbrol's Clear on and now ready for the stickers Looks a lot better in the light Hint to Bill Always select appropriate lighting settings, flash doesn't always swamp the scene

Latest Build. MarkDSCN3395 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3390 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3396 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3397 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3398 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3399 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3400 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3401 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3402 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3403 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3404 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7849/47260801332_9212fdd706_k.jpg]DSCN3406 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr810707859_k.jpg[/img][/url]DSCN3405 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr

hi here is my fw190 F8 from tamiya kit paints are gunze acrylics

Well it's right by my office (and very close to the tourist zone of the city, so it's an easy trip if for some reason you choose to squander a vacation here. I can't imagine having children now. I was exhausted at 34 with Grant. Mrs P seems to have her heart set on a third, and I hope she and her second husband enjoy it, I'll be thousands of miles away. In any case, some more work done on the interior: I went over the seat with some Future for the decal on the headrest, and then sprayed some of the WEM flat coat on it to soften everything, and I think it worked quite nicely. Takes some of the unnatural sheen off the Eduard bits, too. Hopefully in the not too distant future, we can close up the fuse.

Playtime. I thought I'd have a crack at the engine intakes and engines as the kit options look a bit 'pants'. The original on the left and my effort on the right, so good so far. Taking some guidance from Harry Woodman's book, I scratched four of the eight cylinders required for the Foxes using the smallest gauge wire from lighting flex (0.2mm) and wrapped this around a 1mm plastic former, secured using CA and then cut to length. I'll use the same wire for the pushrods. And a quick pic of what they'll look like That's if for today folks, need to rest the 'Mark 1's' and have a beer or two . Stuart

@Martian Hale I've been giving a lot of thought to your invitation and your support on here and I'm feeling guilty . . . . . So when it comes time for its MOT I'll be only too pleased to assist with the Vasco In the meantime I've been having a go at the steering wheel ( as some of you are insisting the the bridge should be open ) I use Aber etch wheels as the basis for this The base wheel set out I forgot to take some pics but this will give you an idea, 0.2mm spokes laid out and held with tape. Tiny blobs of solder on the joint areas. I usually use solder paint but mine was rock solid. So I used solder paste well thinned with flux. The top wheel placed in position and then the whole zap with a small blow torch, just a second or two. Bit clearer Handles cut to length using 0.75mm card to ensure all the same length Et voila To give you an idea of size and propped in position Thanks for stopping by Kev PS For those that don't know the Vasco is a jet ski 😉

Does this mean you are back 'um then Tomo? Or are you travelling above the clouds in sybaritic luxury sipping champers from the hostie's shoe in your private jet? Anyway, see you soon and thanks for liking the brown thing And as we were its grey time again The Merlin has lots of greeebllish stuff all over its bits, so I have been making the little fairings that make it so not-very-aerodynamic-dad all over The larger ones over the undercart sponsons on both sides are on And And I have added another little pyramid kinda thingy which seems to bear one of those little IR sensors on the end of it I think I could spend the rest of my life adding more and more little invisible bits under there I'm going to stop at the deck grabbing claw device thingy If I can get a decent shot of one stowed but with the cables/hoses? out of the way of my sight line that will do me Also need to get the later Flirry thing mount sorted but I think I might be all right there with the fabulous pictrues we've already had The little fairings have been a pain in the proverbials but they are coming along slowly The pink blobs on the right have been drop formed into a teardrop shaped hole on the desk The big pink blobs need trimming then filing the backs of and ending up like the one highlighted by the needle file on the sketch book Which I have subsequently lost when a faint zephyr wafted it into the air Oh deep joy, time for a nother hands and knees search over the laminated floor yippee...

Under the ship killer category - He 177A-5 with Fritz X guided missiles. In 1943 Fritz X missiles sunk the battleship Roma. I hope to do a couple more in the GB time allowing, but i will see how i get on with this one first. TFL Cheers Greg

This will be my contribution to the Ship Killers section of this GB. I have yet to decide on the colourscheme but it will be carrying two torpedoes.

I have been waiting a while for this build to finally come up as it’s a chance to build something I have been wanting to for a long time. I had previously built 2 Viggens some 30+ years ago (Matchbox & Esci) both in splinter camouflage with varying success, so hopefully 3rdtime lucky. I’ll be building Tarangus’s lovely SH/SF-37 Viggen ….. …..with a swag of Maestro extras thrown in…... …… plus some bits from Phase hanger….. ….finally some teeny bits from Master Model. …and finally to top it all off some masks from Maestro! I have no idea of the painting order for the masks, this should be interesting! The scheme/model will be the SH-37 Maritime Recon/Strike version fitted with Rb04E Anti-Ship missiles. The build should be simple and straight forward, the painting…….hmm!! Luckily Mr. Paint have a range of acrylic lacquers just for this aircraft so that'll be a huge help with the paint job. I have 4 other possibilities for this GB which may make an appearance depending on how this build goes (F3D-2 Skyknight, Hs-129B3, Su-25K, KaJaPo).

Here`s my interpretation of Oscar EW-5894 Fallus Tactical Fighter Bomber, USS Essess, 1991. 😉 I started to build this kit about 6 years ago (A01006 kit without "Hot Shots!" decals). Of course it was supposed to be fast and stressless project... It was not. 😠 I`m not happy with this kit, not happy with a final result, but I`m happy that I finished it and put it on the shelf. Model "out of the box" except decals and canopy (vacu from Pavla)

Hi, Here is my model from tamiya kit, only exhaust pipes are additional resin parts paints are gunze acrylics

Spare oxygen bottles? A likely story! I know a wine rack when I see one, even in 1/72.

Hi All Well, I started removing the parts for the nose wheel, some of them are quite small, thin, many gated and D'Oh I think I can get away with it as it's flush against the roof But there again, looking at what's there and what's meant to be there, I might as well scratch it. And I'll even put some wiring in there and the main wells. Brake pipes on And a quick blast with this new fangled airbrush Not entirely at ease with it, so will have a quick parallel experiment on something less involved. Coimments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve

It's not too bad a kit, the 1/350 that is. It does have a lot of bits but accuracy-wise it's probably better than the bigger, newer one, ironically!

Are you ready Steve? Uh-huh Andy? Yeah Mick? Okay Alright fellas, let's go! dah dah DAH dum dum, dah dah DAH dum dum (sorry, dunno how to make the drum sounds too) Anyhoos, a quick dry fit to get my bearings... Was a complete waste of time as after I had delved into the researching stuff, I found that 28 Sqn cabs carried both types of winch over the years, and photo's which appeared to be in my time frame also showed both types, though I don't remember seeing two types in service. I don't even remember which one was in play as we rarely touched it. However, since this is my build, my ball, my rules, I have made an executive decision and decided to go with the chunky knobbly one as it is (to me at least) visually more appealing. So I can scrap this one. In the meantime, I had removed the rear brace from the frame as I wasn't happy with it and started over again. I also soldered wire pegs onto the bottom of the legs to allow me to pin the frame to the fuselage. After I had figured out the relative positions, the holes were drilled, and the small resin brackets were also drilled, and attached to the legs. I did start by trying to attach the brackets directly to the fuselage but it was a non starter. Both resin brackets fixed, and the new brace in place With that completed, it allowed me to begin work on the winch. My first thought was to use telescoping brass tube as there is a distinct lip on the housing, however, even with the thinnest wall tubing that lip was far too large. Idea scrapped. I did retain the idea of using brass tubing though. It always seems to have a sharper definition than plastic somehow. The tube has a small section of sheet soldered on one end and that was then filed to the diameter of the tube. Winch started! Next step was to make that irregular shape on the side of the housing. Brass was my first choice but I did not have any of the correct thickness so resorted to using plastic. Let's see how it plays out... More strips added - in instances like this I find it easier to add over sized pieces then file down to size rather than attempt to cut small pieces to the tolerance of a gnats hair. another quick dry fit just to see how it's looking. I can live with that. (maybe) I realized by this point that I had made that front strip too high - it should only be about half that height I carried on though. The tube was blanked off by another piece of styrene then filed to shape Then the greeblies started appearing and propagating I also added a small strip on the underside as I felt the winch was just a tad too low in height (is that scale-suck?) and this is where I have ended up at the end of today playtime. The big sticky out bits are just dry fitted at this point From the rear.... and from the front 'ish... Valves n wires n stuff to be added at the next session. Trying to interpret a bunch of photo's that never seem to be pointing directly at the area of interest is rather confusing at times. I may even have a go at 3D printing this one, now that I have sizes to work with. and now dear gents and ladies, I am orf to the yacht club for oysters and beer!

Have recently kicked this scratchbuild off - after thinking about doing it for a decade or two, and waiting for it to be kitted in 1:48. RELIABLE PREDICAITON: a 1:48 kit will be released just after I finish this..... At this stage I have largely completed the plug for moulding the fuselage. And the basic flying surfaces have been formed up (main wings will be 'gulled' at a later step). The NACA23017 profile is one thick wing!! The Aviation News drawings are a bit average - but have been able to crawl all over a real P166 and have 4 other sets of plans of varying degrees of average to help arrive at my own conclusions.

Hi dear colleagues! After long break i still in the case! This time i wanna show you a 1\48 Zvezda kit Yak-130 Algerian AF. Ixcellent mouldet and detaled kit! Grean fited designed parts! Please wellcome!

Got this one as soon as it cameout back in 2012 . As the new Zoukei Mura 129 is or has just hit the shelves it seems a now or never time to get this one stuck to gether . P1020918 by Alistair Pearce, on Flickr I hope someone does the Zoukei Mura 129 kit here on the G/B so a build comparison can be made as the kits probably are worlds apart . The instructions are little more than a series of notes which i suspect were made in 5 minutes as an after thought . P1020919 by Alistair Pearce, on Flickr P1020920 by Alistair Pearce, on Flickr that is it for the instructions Apart from that im looking forward to getting started . Cheers Alistair

This was a build for the "Eleventh Hour" Group Build and although I got it finished it wasn't fully weathered, I was particularly unhappy with the tracks. Build thread here 11th Hour GB - Whippet Build So, I have muckied it some more and it is now properly finished The "White/Red/White" identification markings were painted on rather than use the kit decals and this side came out a little wonky. On consideration I thought these were probably painted by hand so just left it rather than re-paint the whole side. I still don't like the tracks as you can see where the individual track plates are curved here rather than like the sides of a polyhedron. Figures are from "Master Box - Tankmen of WW1 era" set "One for the readers at home lads, please!" (Arty age-ified version. A little self indulgence) And the "set" looks like this: Something to photograph stuff on that isn't a plain white background or a cutting mat! The base is a bit of hardboard from a box of "posh" satsumas bought for Christmas. The road surface is a little oversize (but not usually seen from this angle), the "misty trees" background was just found on the web and printed out twice on A4 (once as a mirror image) and stuck together to give a long background and simply propped up behind the base with assorted modelling gubbins. A little photoshopping was carried out if the cutting mat showed on the images above, but other than the arty "age-ified" image of the two figures no digital wizardry was attempted.

Hiya Folks,........ Something a little different, here is the Airfix 1/72nd Dakota built as the aircraft gifted to British Airborne Forces which resided in Aldershot for so long before it was moved with the Parachute Regiment to Colchester where it has recently been refurbished. During its RAF service this aircraft was a VIP transport and amongst the units which operated it was the RAF Coastal Command Communications Flight at RAF Bovingdon, Herts from 1958 until the 1960`s. I built it for the Patrol and Coastal Command GB and here is the WIP including photos of the real aircraft with one from my own collection showing it wearing its Coastal Command colours; And here is the model; Here is the real aircraft,......in 1958 wearing its Coastal Colours (from my own photo collection); And now as seen outside Merville Barracks in Colchester,.....home of 16 Air Assault Bde; Cheers, Tony

Hi everyone, I'm not the first, and I'm sure I won't be the last, to turn-up with an '88' for this GB! It'll be the Zvezda G6, which will benefit immensely from some assistance by the Revell C6 lurking in the background!

< My normal compromise between accuracy, realism, and getting it done this side of eternity... I used satin varnish to obtain a semi-gloss appearance as if the paintwork is damp from having just emerged from cloud, which the grey-green scheme suits — the ‘Indian summer’ of the Battle of Britain being a year in the past by the time of this aircraft. More: https://everardcunion.com/plastic-models-2/more-plastic-models-korea-and-wwii/#EnglishChannel

Hi, here is my last completed build. Originally I wanted to rebuild the small vignette below: which fell from its shelf. Being unable to found the windscreen on the floor, I decided to buy another kit on Ebay and to simply do a bit of repair on the vignette. However after finding this picture on the web I had to do better. Below are some pictures on the finished diorama: To keep the display size small, I decided to reduce the depth of the bunker by blanking of the back with balsa sheet painted black. The old Ohka kit was cut off at the nose and inserted inside the bunker. The base was done with insulation foam board, as the bunker structure. Everything was covered with a mix of brown acrylic paint, fine sand, earth and tile grout. The planking is done with coffee stirrers. The vegetation is done with a mix of hemp fibers, commercial fibers, and various plants that I find during our hiking with my wife, like small moss etc. They are kept in glycerin for a few days, then dried and glued to the base with PVA glue, then painted with an airbrush. The pine trees were done with a wood dowel covered with sawdust, then painted with oil paints. The branches are done with asparagus leaves, bought in a florist shop. I hope you will like it, have a nice weekend, Christian.

Hi here is my last diorama spitfire mk 1 from airfix (oldest mold) albion refueller and figures from airfix (BoB kit)

Hey! Hope you’re all having a great weekend. Most of this weekends minimal bench time was spent on the Torino but I did get a the Helix nearly done. I had to make the most hoaky jig to get the props glued. More of a pain than I first thought. Eventually it dried in place. 😅 The little bits needed adding. wipers first. a real pain but a bit of gators grip and some Tamiya tape and we’re there. No for that probe. Now we’ll talking about that. It’s gone! 😥 I painted it, flory washed it, top coated it then lost it. 😫 so I made a new one. There it is next to that tooth pick. Plastic rod and lead wire. While that dried I popped the rotors on and removed the wiper tape. she’s pretty much done. Just need to add the rogue probe and some wires . The probe got a paint, a wash and a top coat. Then glued with another expensive Jig. That got left to dry before I got called away to make dinner. one more post I think. 😃 Hope you’re all having a splendid weekend. Take care chums. Johnny wocca. 🚁

Looking like some kind of Good evening everyone. Thank you for all the kind words. Not a lot done st the bench over this weekend unfortunately but here’s what did get accomplished. I decided to attach the cables spark plug end. infortunatly the strength wasn’t there to wangle them around and pop them into the distributor and they fell off one by one. 😣 so not deterred I drilled out the distributor and added the wires that end instead. Looking like a sprouting alien this ended up being a stronger bond. 😄 the wires then got bent into place and the silver bits got glued on. The underside got sprayed. As did the internals. The seats. Door panels. Dash. Radiator. hell everything got a bit of a blast. as these bits are mostly black it’s always going to be a struggle to add variation so I sprayed with a base coat of Tamiya rubber black and dark grey at 2:1 ratio. The pre-shade just about showed through. 😊 I had planned to paint the main body but noticed these dirty little pin marks so decided to leave it till next time at the bench. The parts got a gloss coat and dried before trying out some Tamiya wash that I have never used. Might work? After the success of the AK wash I figured that the Tamiya stuff would be good. As you can see here. it’s not bad but I’m not 100% happy. I think I might do a flory black wash. these bits got washed too. There is something I like about the initial wash. I used white spirit to buff off even though it says to use Tamiya thinner. I did use thinner but for fear of it wrecking the gloss I resorted to Spirit.does anyone have any experience with black Tamiya enamel wash? I’ll leave it dry and see what it looks like in the daylight. I think adding highlights will bring everything to life. We shall see. 🤔 Hope you’re all having a fab weekend. Take care and as always. Happy modeling. John. 🙌

Hello! Here is my Douglas XB-42 Mixmaster prototype bomber resin kit in 1:144 by Anigrand Craftswork which I built after the XB-43 (posted last week) back in 2017. It represents 43-50224, the first prototype which had it's first flight on 6 May 1944. Some minor corrections had to be made and due to damage of the parts, One of the canopies was missing so i had to source one from my spares box and sand it to shape. The kits was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

EZ Line rigging completed, with the exception of the aileron control horns and lines, and sanity (almost) restored: Other than the aileron lines, it needs a few paint touch-ups here and there and a windscreen and gunsight adding: It definitely won't win any prizes, but as a first vacform I have to say I'm quite pleased with how it's looking. Just for fun, here it is with last year's 1:144 scratchbuilds: Jon

Nothing exciting here, but another trial fit of the ship to see how it's looking. The flat matt finish and total absence of any tonal variation on the ship itself doesn't look good at the moment, but will be addressed before it's stuck in to the base:

I've modified the wheel to better match the photo above. Here's my starting point. HB made the outer rim, spokes, and hub all uniform thickness. Here's my wheel, which has a larger diameter, but the same construction as the LCM wheel above. I expect that the handles are the same size. You'll notice the wheel's rim is thinner than the hub and the bosses into which the handles are mounted. Here's a handle I used my smallest crochet needle file to notch both sides of the rim next to each handle. I then used a new #11 blade to shave away both sides of the rim between the notches. I then cut some "washers" from Evergreen 0.093 tubing, which was a good match for the wheel's hub. I painted the metal parts brass (actually Warhammer "Greedy Gold") and the handles brown (Warhammer "Oak Brown"). Per the prototype, I left the tips of the handles brass colored. I'm pretty happy with this even though the spokes are too thick.

To compare the cockpit is difficult just with parts, but I will compare some of the major components as there are some differences between the two kits. It is also important to be aware that there are many changes introduced into early Spitfire production as the early Mk.Is where constantly updated. The information for this constant changes are well documented in two sources: An extensive article by Ted Hooton on early Spitfire camouflage and markings plus airframe modifications published in Scale Aircraft Modelling Volume 5 Number 2 November 1982 and various forum posts by the late Edgar Brooks here at Britmodeller. Unfortunately the two sources are not always agreeing. If this is the case I will mention both. One of this update is the fuel tank armor addition in front of the cockpit. According to Ted, it was introduced into production after September 1939 together with the external bullet proof windscreen. According to Edgar, it wasn't seen before early July 1940. Airfix offers both, with or without fuel tank armor, but Tamiya has the fuel tank armor as part of the fuselage casting. Strangely, Tamiya has the crash bar moulded on the inside of the cockpit entry hatch in the closed version. But not on the part for the open version. Airfix got this right as the crash bar was introduced much later. The Tamiya cockpit bulkheads look a bit more detailed than Airfix, but have the head armor mounting points casted in place, even though no head or seat armor is provided. Airfix has head or seat armor as an option. Tamiya's front bulkhead has no pluming in place which is a very noticeable feature. Also the Ruder pedal mechanism is tampered towards the rear. Airfix has the pluming in place and the Ruder pedal mechanism is parallel. Here a picture of the restored cockpit from P9374. Also note the copper pluming mentioned above. Airfix's provides the Watts type propeller do give you more choices to make an early Spitfire Mk.I. I built the Airfix kit a while back and know of the challenges in fitting the tank in front of the cockpit and the undercarriage and it does need a fair bit of work to make a nice looking Spitfire. I expect the Tamiya kit to be an easier build with some intuitive engineering so I better get started. If you still reading, you are definitely a Spitfire nut. Cheers, Peter

I've had this built, painted, gloss coated and waiting for decals on a shelf for many, many months. It's about time that I finished the bu88er off.....!! As far as I can remember it went together well enough, swapped the vertical tails for the correct ones from a spare Su-27. Modified the kit LGB to KAB-500S GPS version by re-shaping the nose. Pinched a couple of R-27 and R-73 for under the wings too. Airbrushed using Vallejo and weathered with Flory. Authentic Decals for some of the markings. A massive aircraft and looks as mean as hell. Nothing particularly special, just glad that its now finished. Cheers all, Phil

Here is one of several Sweet 1:144 Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4 kits which I built back in 2008. It represents "<<--", of Stab/JG54, Luftwaffe, flown by Geschwaderkommodore Major Hannes Trautloft, from Relbitsy, Russia, in March 1942. The kit was painted and varnished by brush. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel