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BAC One Eleven 200 British United Airways mid 1960s Airfix 1/144 kit modified to production standard: Nose profile changed using Milliput, wing fences moved inboard, APU exhaust added, antennas replaced. I also rescribed the wing surface detail and reshaped and scribed the engine nacelles. Painting those nose wheel tyres was 'challenging' in this scale, but it came out OK in the end. Metal areas are AK Extreme Metal polished aluminium. White is Halfords Appliance White over Tamiya white primer. Grey is Xtracolour enamel Light Aircraft Grey.

Hi all, this is Eduard’s 1/48 BF109-G2. I chose Mjr. Hans Hahn’s 109 from II./ JG54, Rjelbitzy, Soviet Union, January, 1943. The kit was a pleasure to build and everything was out of box with Tamiya paints. Thanks for looking.

all the bits plus crew

Here is my new build Tamiya F4U-1A Corsair, VMF-111, No. 122, Gilbert Islands, september 1944... Was the fourth plane i made but recently added a bit more weathering. Was a nice machine to build, only had some problems to let the two parts wing fit but was mainly my beginners fault and not the kit... Sorry for the last picture, there was a bit to much sun at that moment 😏🌞

Finished this in the Lichen /NATO greens scheme of 72 Sqn on Op Banner, painted using Hataka paints with the camo pattern airbrushed freehand using a 50/50 mix of Lichen/NATO green as from the bottle the Hataka Lichen is more like interior green, Scale Warships blade fold set used but the kit really needs a metal tail wheel l leg as the kit one has already started to give way. IMG_6991 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6990 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6988 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6987 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6986 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6984 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr IMG_6983 by Tony Osborne, on Flickr

Hello, everybody has a Spitfire so I built one too. The model presents a plane from 308 Polish RAF squadron, pilot Sgt Tadeusz Schiele, October 1941. From additives I used only resin exhaust pipes, the model was riveted. I am very curious what you think about weathering. I can not decide, once I like it, and sometimes it seems too strong. I am waiting for your opinions. Tadeusz Schiele and his plane.

nice kit except i had a bit of problems around cockpit / fuselage area. the landing gear was designed for a tiny person to out together its that finicky. nice big kit and looks well when finished. can also be done in the wing folded version. thanks for looking

Finished towards the end of 2018, this was a kit that I'd had in my stash for close to 10 years. Had held off on building it telling myself "one day, when I get better at this hobby and won't make a mess of it". Finally got tired of waiting and just bit the bullet. As I recall, the build was relatively trouble-free and I really enjoyed seeing it come together. I built the Austrian Air Force scheme because it was the only one available from the box, I did not manage to source alternative decals in time. Since then I've managed to get my hands on the more recent boxing by Hasegawa, this time with Swedish markings - can't wait to build and paint that one! This is a completely OOB build, weathering was kept subtle as I read somewhere that the Austrians kept their jets pretty clean. As always, thanks for looking

So finished my Bronco A34 Comet. Minus 1x canvas mantlet cover. No dramas at all with the kit. Straight out the box build apart from a metal gun barrel. Painted with Vallejo. Used mig and 501 oils and pigments. Figure is from Alpine. Any comments or constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks for looking.

This time the model quite difficult to paint. The model Su-27 Ukrainian Air Force in camouflage "Digi" set is Trumpeter 1:32 model well-known so it doesn't make sense to describe something about this set again. I can write one thing - we are waiting for a new model of this aircraft. Model made straight from the box, I painted this model with the home made mask so they are not a perfect reflection of the camo Su-27. I hope, however, that this model will please you, I like this camouflage very much ..

As this would be my first ship build in over 20 years, I had hoped to pick an easy ship to do. As the type-45 is a fairly clean design, not may aerials etc to get in the way, what could possibly go wrong? Apart from the way Airfix design the kit. Not sure if it was my example or if they all have an interesting fit. Many a happy hour was spent putting bits together and then filling in the gaps. Possibly my inexperience of this type of build meant I did things in the wrong order, who knows. I have added the Atlantic Models etch for a bit of extra detail, and replaced the main gun barrel and turret as those in the kit were lacking in detail just a bit(!). one the 30mm guns I used a length of Albion alloys tubing to replace the kit drainpipes. I've also discovered photographing something this size brings it own challenges. I will do another, if/when the pile of land and air based kits ever dies down. The question is what? Tim

Just shortly before the end of WW I, a large black hole approaches the Earth causing gravitational space-time distortion, strong enough to form a local parallel universe full of wormholes. One such gravitational field equation is used by the gigantic rescue vessel ISS Eternity from planet Mexi in order to reach the Earth. She carries 3.258 souls called Olavis, the last survivors of the Olavia tribe who desperately search for a safe refuge from their hunters, the Tulgars that follow closely just a few light years behind. The subsequent global unrest forces the immediate cease of hostilities and an international rallying along with the decimated aliens in order to stand up against the vicious exterminators. The Olavis bring along a large part of their science & technology heritage such as Tritio X-14 heavy memory metal (from the very structure of the rescue vessel) – the electropulsive plasmatic prop-ramjet engine - the nucleonic fusion ion engine – the high energy positronic laser gun – the yellowish stealth coating etc. The humans manage to successfully implement the new technology to several of both existing and future war machine designs in order to rapidly build spacecrafts capable enough to intercept the invaders under the Global Federation Army high command, bearing the red/black triangle neutrality emblem. Hundreds of pocket-fighters are produced in the shortest amount of time and thrown into battle for destroying the Tulgar base on the dark side of the Moon before they manage to unleash their final attack. The battle for saving Parallel Earth has just begun and the unknown enemy foreshadows an uncertain (parallel?) future for mankind…

Well, as promised over on the YRF-84F Build Thread here are the finished pics: Again, thanks to fellow modeler Bill Dye, who inspired this build. As usual, it's not perfect, but it's better than the one I had before... Ed

Airspeed Oxford MkI, V3354, No 14 Service Flying Training School, RAF Cranfield, 1940 A 1/72nd scale kit from Pavla, which threw up its fair share of problems over and above its limited run origins. I decided from the off to replace some of the resin parts, such as the undercarriage, and added some interior detail and a better rendition of the turret gun mounting. I also replaced the kit gun with a better version from the spares box. The kit was bought second hand, and the decal sheet was cracking. I chose a suitable aircraft from an internet search which had a fairly simple camouflage and markings scheme that could be replicated from my decal stocks and fitted my interest bubble of 1940. The rather protracted build meant this was the only entry I managed for this Group Build, abetted by real life throwing spanners all over the place! WIP is here:

Hello guys! This is my last work, a Takom M9 Armored Combat Earthmover in desert camouflage. I added PE set and lenses from Voyager, additional side armour, anti-skid coating and metal winch cable. Painted with Tamiya and Hobby Color, weathering with oils and AK products. As always, comments and suggestions for the future are welcome! Cheers

Hello all, I figure that the best way to re-mojolise (is there such a word?) myself modelling wise is to actually buckle down and build summat. Well, in this instance: complete a build. This is the Airfix 1/72 Lightning F6. I built it simultaneously with the Sword Lightning T4 and T5. Shudder, never again. Three models of almost the same aircraft on the go at the same time. Overall, not a bad little model. A couple of fit issues around the cover for the arrestor hook. I think I might have had fun and games with the inserts for the nose cannons. Otherwise, any glaring build problems were down to my incompetence. I went for the simplest scheme. I did toy with the more brightly coloured options, but I already have a brightly coloured Lightning, and so decided on a more mute bird. What I particularly liked about this kit was the tail pipes can be painted separately, and then simply inserted onto the airframe. Certainly made for easier painting. If, that is, one didn't reach for the aged can of Halfords Chrome. I think they stopped selling this about 15 or 20 years ago. Instead of drying to a nice smooth finish, it went all lumpy on me. Then I didn't wait at least a week for it to cure, instead electing to slap on some masking tape after one day. On peeling said masking tape, the Halfords chrome paint parted company with the airframe. I think I hand painted some chrome on in the end - particularly the nose ring. One item stopping me from completing this bird was the nose probe - a pitot tube? I think I lost it to the carpet monster. Finally fed up with looking for the thing, and wanting to get on with my Sherman Firefly, I made one out of a spare refuelling pipe. About ten minutes of scraping with a 9mm Stanley knife, a bit of hacking and then sanding, yielded one passable tube thingy. I stuck it on with super glue. I had thought this to be a two foot model i.e. good when viewed from a distance of not less than two feet. On reflection, it isn't too bad. I wouldn't get too close, though. No more than about a foot or, better still, a foot and a half. Angus

Thanks for the kind words chaps! Slowly getting there, I've missed my aim of paint last? weekend by some margin but soon hopefully. Oddly different from my previous Hasegawa F-104 builds, I found the fit not so great for a lot of the fuselage parts on this one. It is a pretty simple kit so I'm not sure why but I found I needed to fill and sand pretty much every join with super glue and quite a few panel line needed cleaning up, maybe this Eduard rebox of the Hasegawa plastic is showing the actual age of this tooling, who knows, anyways most of the boring stuff is now done. I added the other major airframe mod for this particular RF-104G version, the under fuselage camera housing. This Marineflieger variant had a larger bulge than normal RF-104Gs and was provided by the Daco update set, it looks bang on compared to the real thing. Below you can see the small aerodynamic fairings for the bulge attached to the nose gear bay doors, still need a little blending in. I also stripped the paint off my older fuel tanks (a very easy job with Mr.Color thinner) and then added some raised weld seams (or strength rings?) with stretched sprue and a few other things for a more 3D appearance, I might lightly sand the seams but will decide after some primer. Unlike the fuselage fit, the wings were perfect, no filler needed I think. I've pretty much filled most of the rivets on all the wing parts and added a few fine ones here and there, not that the picture really shows it tbh. Another little fit problem was the rudder was noticeable thinner than the vertical stab, I should have sanded the fuselage pieces a bit more to make a thinner join a guess. Anyhow to make less of a step I glued a thin bit of plasticard to one side to build up the thickness then offset the rudder slightly according to pictures, I might fill the join and scribe a new hinge for a cleaner look. That is one of the Daco chaff/flare dispensers also mounted on these late Marine F-104s, just test fitting, fits pretty well to the contours of the fuselage but I think I might make them a bit sharper. We are looking like this now. I think I'll paint all the control surfaces separately and attach them later which IIRC will make masking much easier than last time. Hmm what left to do, glue/fill canopies, master pitot probe and some small antennae mounts to make, so the next update hopefully I'll have it painted. I've began to scratch some German specific intake covers but I'll show them later. I think I'm just going to load wing tanks for a clean look. Thanks for looking, David.

OK i messed up on the instrument panel. I put the beautiful airscale decal on and didnt notice it was off to one side , so when i put the face on , the dials were not lined up. I have resorted to fitting the kit ones instead. They are still really good but the Airscale ones were a bit better. Nevermind. Still need to tidy it up a bit.

I bought another Eduard F6F-5 from @Duncan B a while ago. I didn't bother with any PE this time, so just used an Ultracast seat in the cockpit and tried to do a passable paint job. Due to lack of skill in painting instruments, I did buy @airscale's 1/48 US Navy instrument decals As with the last Eduard F6F I built, I sawed out and thinned down the cowl flaps for what is, in my opinion, a much enhanced appearance for very little effort and no cost. The kit parts have the cowl flaps the full thickness of the cowl piece so even closed they don't look like cowl flaps. It was bought with the intention of making a very ubiquitous ANA623 Glossy Sea Blue US Navy example as seen pretty much everywhere in the Pacific from 1944 to 1945. The trouble is that ANA623 was pretty good paint and therefore most of the stuff modellers do to models such as pre or post shading, panel line washes etc is wholly inappropriate for such an aircraft. Then again, we can't be having a solid, featureless finish because the real aircraft didn't look like that either. I decided to try mimicking the stressed skin appearance of a real aircraft to try to get similar light reflections from a glossy finish. Out with the paint mule! I cut narrow strips of masking tape. The Infini cutting mats made short work of that and got all strips consistent. I gave it two light coats with Halfords grey aerosol primer The tape was removed and I gave it a go over with an Infini 1500grit sanding sponge, the aim being to knock all the corners off and smooth the humps a bit. I then gave it a fairly heavy coat (in many very thin passes) of Colourcoats ACUS34 ANA623 Glossy Sea Blue this morning. This has had a polish with Infini 2500 and 4000 grit sponges and looks like this: Overall, and with more work with the 1500 grit prior to top coat, I feel somewhat positive about it and have decided to go for it. This may take some time! All comments / feedback welcome!

And I'm calling this one done. I'm off work poorly sick so managed to get this over the line at last. I hope you like it, I had fun. But before the pictures, I give huge thanks to @Marco F. over in Germany for his donation of the bodyshell. It saved so much time! As is often the way with these builds, the steering wheel touches the drivers seat. Ahem. So I'll call your attention to the door mirror instead. That front end again. Note the delete wipers option was ticked. SoCal Baby! The windows could do with a clean though. Yes, there is a small glue blemish on the drivers window. I'll call it delamination from a stone chip. Yet I managed not to do that on the headlights! I did think about having the word DUB! across the front just under the screen? BTW, SoCal is a Custom 'look' dating back probably forty odd years. Hang on, SoCal? but what is that in the loadbed? Oh, a snowmobile. Obviously. I've had this for about twenty years, (it came with a pick up truck) at last it finds a use. Here they are posing together. Now the wagon isn't perfect, I'll be the first to admit, but it's come out pretty much according to plan and I'm happy with that. And you do need a big silencer on the back as they sleep late in SoCal. No bumpers and big tail lights. I meant to put a California number plate on it but forgot and took the pictures first, doh! And here's a last look before stardom on a shelf in the mancave. Thanks for looking and as always, sticks and stones or donations are welcome. Thanks for looking. Pete

Hi guys my latest build started out as a Maco ostwind A A tank kit but as I like to add a addition to the main subject I decided to add a downed aircraft. I wanted the fuselage shot up so ,using metal foil made rips in sides (see pics) also made a new rudder where fabric was torn off and cut off various parts of plane, the rest of dio including stonework was scratch built, it was a long build but the aircraft was something new for me and I enjoyed it . Hope you like. have added a few pics of making ripped parts of fuselage. P S don't know if it should be posted in the aircraft section but it did start as a military piece . P P S the pilot survived....

Sword's EE Lightning T4 and T5. Took me roughly 18 months to complete. I did simultaneously build the T4 and T5 along with Airfix's new F6. It took so long due to a lose of modelling mojo, work getting in the way, plus my painting and nature conservation work. I did not use the etch set, as I can't stand the things. Overall, the build went fairly well. The resin pieces weren't the best either in quality or fit. The three kits were almost turned into airgun fodder when, after a nifty bit of masking and spraying of the upper surfaces, I decided to use an ancient can of Halfords Chrome spray. Firstly it made a mottled mess, partly due to deteriorating in the can for 20 years. Secondly, yours truly didn't wait until the paint had cured. I masked off the chrome paint, sprayed silver, then pulled off the masking tape and most of the chrome paint as well. I persevered and finished the blighters - though I notice I haven't attached one inflight refuelling probe (either lost in the bomb site I call a modelling table or eaten by the carpet monster) or a couple of my scratch built aerials. Sigh. I did end up with a couple of 2 foot models of these stunning aircraft i.e. good when viewed from at least 2 feet away. They're one of the few aircraft I feel actually look good as a trainer version. I'll post photos of my 1/72 Airfix F6. Once I can wrestle the nose probe from the maws of the carpet monster. I notice that despite my best efforts, the two, rather prominent, white aerials on the T5 are not parallel or vertical. Angus

Gave @Col.a sneak peek last night as this build was originally featured in the '70s NATO/Warsaw GB. It looks a bit better than I had feared. Still have a couple areas I want to try to fix before I mask and paint the grey. Still hope to have it in color this weekend. We shall see, but the odds are good as it's a holiday weekend and I really don't care for large crowds of people.

Not had much time on the bench lately due to other commitments, managed to get the tail rotor blades thinned and reprofiled, added the PE centre. Slowly getting the detail to where it needs to be on this build, a couple of items that require work on the interior and then a monster painting session. Regards Dan

I decided to use the metal undercarriage legs, the kit's plastic ones actually looked like they would be up to the job anyway, but since HobbyBoss had gone to the trouble of providing metal ones it seemed rude not to: So that is pretty much all the remaining bits ready to be primed now, hopefully I'll get that done before the weekend... Cheers, Stew

It's update time, Hover tank fans! I plated over that big hole on the top at the weekend so it should be dry by now. In the foreground are the axle plates from one of those tigers, and just behind them I've joined the front top parts of the tiger to a bit of a 1/35th tank. Not quite in focus but this should make things slightly more obvious. Apply TET and this is what you get. Figured out what I'm doing yet? (Besides saving money. Those Tigers cost a quid each!) TA Da! This should give a rough idea. I need to plate over the gap at the back to match up with the peak and apply Milliput here and there. The turret on top is from a box of stuff I bought from the bay. No idea what it was from, but it will end up on here, eventually. (Probably). I'll be back when I've got more done worth looking at. Thanks for looking, and your comments are always welcome. Cheers, Pete

Right, I've been away but I've not been idle. I had a minor disaster with the command module, as I'd just put the last wet gloss coat on it when I dropped it, only for it to roll beneath my workbench and pick up every bit of dust and fluff in the multiverse. I think I invented three new swearwords that evening. Anyway, after a good sanding and repaint, it's looking good again: The decalling process began using the weathering decal sheet, which has three and a half million small squares and rectangles in different shades to add life to an otherwise white model. I spent a while trying them out on the passenger pod: It's just slow going, that's all. I next turned my attention to the undercarriage pods...each one has over 30 decals and took an hour and a half: And I've done all four now: The command module is half decalled, so I'll post up pics of that when it's done. I've counted 286 decals on this so far! More when it happens, Dean

Don't know if i should post this now, i think the moment and maybe the topic have moved on but... Fingers Crossed images below.

Unexpectedly got a bit of modelling time over the last couple of days so pressed on with the Voodoo. All fairly straightforward, a few bits didn't fit quite as well as they could have but nothing serious. Not far off painting now - need to do a little cleaning up, also need to scratch build a couple of radar warning antennae that were omitted from the nose, then it's masking and painting. Here's how it looks - tailplanes aren't glued on, I'll paint them separately. I'm enjoying this one a lot more than I expected. So much so that I'm neglecting the Hunter (which I'm enjoying slightly less than I expected to be honest). thanks for looking Julian

Here she is, ready for a special ship killing mission. Love a Fw 190 and maritime aircraft so had been waiting a long time to attempt it. Thanks for all the tips and encouragement and our gracious hosts, another great job.

Hi Guys Su-27UB 1/72 Heller Kit, fit is very poor and need a lot of sanding and filling, the digital camo is done using masking tapes, and roundel is painted as the kit decals were oversize, few more decals left but have to pause as I have none, maybe if I get lucky next year will put the remaining decals, till then here is my last built of the year, Happy New Year everyone. Cheers,

Here is my one shot ship killer a mix of Airfix/Revell 1/72 Fw 190 R-14 Torpedo Bomber. Tamiya rattle can RLM 74 and 76, AS-3 and AS-5 respectively. Hand painted lifecolor RLM 75 and all other colours. Mottling by hand dots on top of thinners method. Revell decals.

I finally have some pictures to show of the latest progress. The top coat is on and polished and I've added a few bits here and there. A face only a Mother could love? I wanted something other than the standard VW face and I think I got it. The grill between the headlights is cut down from a larger one and I think it stops the headlights being so bug eyed. The indicators are now down near the ground instead of being in the top side position of the original. And the windows got fitted. The Ferrari red seats in position. And the ex American car dashboard got the red treatment too. I just like the contrast between the red and the dull grey. I need to fit a column change lever as I decided this will have an autobox. I've used Panzer grey instead of black on the Fuchs wheels. I hope to wrap this one up soon. Thanks for looking as always. Pete

Hi, here's my Tamiya Hayabusa. It was painted using decanted Tamiya spray cans. Hope u like :) Best regards Rune Haugen Norway

Hi All, after much deliberation I decided to build a jagdtiger for my first GB project and out of curiosity ordered the 1/72 Dragon Henschel JT from Kingkit. I laughed when I opened the box as it is so tiny, although I fell in love with it immediately and decided that this was the one to build. For such a small kit the detail is impressive; a long way from the 1/72 kits I remember from my childhood. I’ve bought some PE for it and a metal barrel simply because I like working with PE. Some of the PE parts are almost certainly going to get lost, but I guess that just adds to the fun!? The kit and the PE Dragon 1/72 vs Dragon 1/35 Jagdtiger - an interesting comparison, at least for me. I’ll be basing the JT on sPzJgAbt 512 numbered X7. I found a good set of images of this vehicle online, although not yet sure of the camouflage scheme on this particular example. thanks for looking, Andrew

Hello Dears, It's me again… Putting a bit of pressure on my friend @Christer A 2 finished in 2 days…. Well almost !! Arctic cock yes but bathed in the sun of Nevada for instance !! I Always loved Arctic markings !! And I will have a NORAD serie, here's the first attendant !! Lockheed F-94C Starfire #13548 from the 29th Fighter interception Squadron based at Malmstrom ( Great falls) To say that the kit is a pig is an understatement !! When I first opened the box, I say Oooooh Shiny !! then at the second look, I've been a bit less enthusiast !! Painted here with Tamiya red and alclad ! Flory and oïl paint for the light weathering first thing to complain about is the orange skin plastic !! prepare yourself for A LOT OF sanding and micromeshing !! Then the adjustments are at least a complete nightmare !! The instruction booklet lead you into some mistakes… 🤬

Dear fellow Britmodeller, here's my 1/72 Hasegawa Ju-188E in markings of KG 66, in 1945. Built with the addition of Eduard photo etch and Kora resin wheels. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thank you for your interest, best greetings from Vienna. Roman

Finished this little British lorry. BRS Liverpool based, not copying a real truck but a few different ones to give the look. all built from resin parts from Modellers Resource Linky A great company to deal with, and some nice British lorry’s!

Mixing some plastic parts...

Be glad you didn't have to mask and paint the coloured panels Looking good so far...

Hi All, I have never attempted 3 models in a Group build before but these Hawks are relatively small and even with a bit of resin they go together quite well. My last entry here is the1/48 Kinetic T45C Goshawk in US Navy standard scheme. A lovely kit with a good standard of detail. I replaced the canopy with a vacform as mine was cracked. I also replaced the upper rear fuselage with resin and made a new nose probe. I extended the flaps, slats and air brakes to emphasise the difference to the RAF machines. Here are my 3 entries to the group build together with 2 other hawks made previously. More pictures in the build thread. Thanks for the comments along the way. Build thread here Colin

It's getting a bit swampy, but I think all you can catch is a little insanity, the harmless kind

Me too really, but @MrsSovereignHobbies remains unconvinced.

It depends on the structure itself and how it is stressed. I too have seen the effect you describe, but it's usually on parts of the airframe which have been walked on and get dented a bit. This one is good - it shows the wing roots like you describe - but the fuselage skins are buckled outwards slightly: The leading edges show the skins dented inwards where they are riveted to the ribs to form the D-section with the main spar, and they are slightly buckled outwards in between the internal structural members. This Hellcat fuselage skin appears to be buckled outwards away from the fuselage frames and stringers but the unsupported areas are rippled. There are also some like the B52 which buckle the skins in shear in localised places like here: What is obvious though is that for a Hellcat wing, my test piece is too heavy and prominent. I need to make it more subtle for a convincing model.

Tomy's brief interest in 1.32nd scale produced a handful of amazing kits and this was one of them. It came with PE and wire parts and the window frames were beautifully chrome plated, something I've never seen elsewhere. I've added minimal detail to the engine bay but otherwise it's box stock.

HG Geara Doga sheild finished.

A little color. It will be interesting once I get the masking off. I may have bungled this up. Oh well, you never get better if you don't try to experiment here and there.

THE TURRET I'm going to open up the commander's and gunner's hatches, but I'm also thinking of opening up one or both of the hatches in the rear storage bin. If I do do that (do, do, do, dah, dah, dah) I may use the hatches from my old Tiger. Until I'd decided one way or the other I was happy to stick the bin in place..... SPOT THE 'OVERSIGHT': Yes, silly me. Why use the kit's inferior spare track links when I have Friuls? So, off came the spare tracks! And on went the Friuls. And that's when I hit my first problem. Not a major one, but a problem none the less. I'm currently sorting that problem out, but I shall leave you all in suspense as to what that problem is until tomorrow. TFL Badder

Well, I reckon most of the painting is done now that I've finished the engines and put the red flashes on the ends of the wings thus: To paint the engines I used Mr Metal Color "Dark Iron", which goes on black but can then be buffed to get a metallic lustre. However, with hindsight that was a mistake. Buffing the paint creates a microscopic paint dust that gets absolutely everywhere and seemed to become ingrained into the white paint of the model. It didn't wipe off either, even when using alcohol of airbrush cleaner. Handling the model only made it spread further. Eventually I ended up with dark smudges and finger prints all over the place. I found the only way of removing the marks was by using a very fine sander and polisher, after having first sealed the engine paint with Klear. It took absolutely ages to sand and polish away the dark marks and even now I can still see a few, however I'm going to call that weathering! I'll certainly think twice before using Mr Metal Color in such a way again. Anyway......decaling has now commenced! ...and yes, I did break the end off the pitot tube....I knew I would at some point!

Calling this one done. More pictures in the gallery and RFI here Thanks to all who commented/followed. Dave