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Dear members, Like many other modellers, I admired John's Aero diarama of Stackton Aerodrome. I thought this was a good opportunity to add an old model, when I just started to build in scratch. I did some homework, because it is a long time ago I build this model. Of course in pre- internet days, we had only books and magazines. From a Scale Models Magazine, October 1980 , I used the 3-view drawings as starting point, further I used Profile Nr.144. As times literally flies...😉 To revive the old times, here, I hope you like the photographs, With kind greetings, JohnHaa

Hello, it has been a long time since my last post on this great forum, but life is sometimes just too hectic to build models. But I've managed to finish this one off in under 7 months. Tamiya F-16C block 25/32 kit, with some extras: Aires F-16C/D wheel bays 4439, F-16C cockpit set 4364 and F-16c block 25/32 exhaust nozzle. Wheels are resin ones from wheeliant, armament and bombs are brassin items. I added Master pitot tube and angle of attack probes and HGW RBF tags. Model was painted with MRPaint colors, weathered with ammo products. Enough blabbering, here are the photos.

hi all, Here are some of my many images from the recent 4Aviation tour of Japanese fighter bases, during which we managed sunny days at every site along with lots of flying activity. Hope you like them And yes, i know the first ones aren't fighters.................. Andy

Hi there, This is my Trumpeter 1/48 Mig 3, apparently an early version. I say that because I had no real knowledge of it until I built it. What can I say, this is my first Trumpeter kit and frankly I was impressed. Straightforward build other than a slightly complex nose to handle the side air intakes. I drilled out the various nose scoops and replaced the guns and pitot with hollow tube. Tyres were flatted and then Tamiya and Mr Hobby pointed in its general direction. There is some shading going on and a bit of chipping where appropriate. I know Trumpeter kits get a bad press but I really enjoyed building this and she was a fun painting exercise. Comments welcome, it's how we improve. Rick

Hawker Siddeley Kestrel FGA.1 Tripartite Evaluation Squadron, West Raynham, 1964 This is another one that was finished many years ago but has recently seen the light of day again. It was based on the original Airfix 1/72 Harrier GR.1 kit with parts from a Heritage Resin conversion. I didn’t actually use any resin but the white metal nozzles were needed. The Tripartite decals were also from this source. Canopy and cockpit interior were from scratch – I think the seat was a spare from the Skybirds 86 Scimitar kit given to me by Mike Eacock many years ago. Nowadays I don’t think I would have been quite so out there with the metal finish, but anyway here it is:

Here with my recently finished Italeri 1/32 F-104G - it was finished just in time for display at Telford. The kit went together reasonably well, with the usual Italeri foibles here and there. I found that the airbrakes and the ailerons were both undersize and were enlarged with plastic strips. I pored over numerous pictures regarding the upper surface colours, including some of my own, and asked Giorgio for his opinion. Unfortunately I struggled to spray the suggested Lifecolour paints. After much deliberation and test spraying, I settled on Humbrol Enamel Hu 156 for the grey and a mixture (Gunze H309 x8 plus H65 x1 plus Tamiya XF5 x1) for the green. For the underside I used mixture of Vallejo Metal Colour Aluminium and Tamiya XF-66. Again from photographs many of the AMI Starfighters looked to have a fairly gloss finish but some were not. I settled on a light sheen courtesy of AK varnishes. You may notice that the tanks are a slightly different colour of green - more of an olive green. Again this is from the study of many photographs. In fact, I originally messed up the painting of the tanks and had to start again, trashing the decals at the same time. I borrowed tank decals from another kit so if some kind soul has a spare set of tank stencil decals please let me know. The Orpheus pod is by Videoaviation.com and is excellent. I used mostly the kit decals which were excellent apart from some silvering on some of the minor stencilling. A couple of other problems with the decals. The Starfighter depicted is MM6581 in 1984 - problem is, it appears that this aircraft was written off in a collision in June 1969. Much of the stencilling is readable with magnification but the area of which is easily readable and very prominent is that on the nose cone in the anti dazzle area - unfortunately it reads "HANDDS OFF". Generally very pleased with the result - I hope you like her. Cheers Malcolm

These have been on the bench for a while, mojo lost and regained a few times. I am now calling them finished. First up is an Idea F/A-18B (early Italeri knock off) started for the Asian Arms of the 80s GB, It had some features of the prototype like the LEX slots and dog tooth wing. The kit fuel tanks were a terrible shape and were replaced with Hasegawa items. Decals are a mix of Aussie and Hawkeye Decals. It represents A21-109 early in its service with 2OCU in 1986. Next up is an Esci F-4E, started for the F-4 Phantom STGB. A nice kit where I added some Eduard etch in the cockpit and wheel wells and a couple of Verlinden Ejection seats. Decals from Hawkeye for 82 Wing A68-7207 circa 1971/2 The nose gear door needs to be fitted I just noticed. Finally is an AMT (original Esci mould I believe) F-111A as 6SQN's A8-113, I added a Hasegawa SU-20 practice bomb carrier. It is modelled early in RAAF service prior to being converted to F-111C config. Decals from Aussie Decal which were so so. The tail serials disappeared when applied so I used two sets, I also over painted the 6SQN flash with a different blue as it looked to dark.

My Scratchbuilt 1/350 HMS Prince of Wales - R09 This model will be displayed permanently at the Hornby Hobbies Visitor Centre in Margate. If anybody is interested in seeing an Airfix kit of the QE Class aircraft carrier, let them know at [email protected] Dave

This is a bit special for me, the kit is a gift from my 13 year old son for Fathers Day. He dragged his mother off to our LHS and chose and paid for it himself. Mum suggested cheaper kits but he said that "he knew what Dad likes" It is the current Airfix kit with added seat belts and decals from the stash. It represents one of 485 Squadrons non presentation marked machines as I had no tiny letters suitable. Most of the early machines were so marked and were Dark Green/Dark Earth so this is a bit of a compromise on my part. He's never been interested in modelling, unlike his big sister, but recently he's built VW Beetle and has another Tamiya vehicle to build. Thanks for looking

Hi My model finished. A pleasant kit to build with no major problem. A global view And another photos at this address F-15J "Mont Fuji"

This is the Arma Hobby PZL P.11c Expert Set. The Expert title means it comes with photoetch and masks. The basic kit goes together quite well and appears to be accurate. Some of the photoetch is tiny and the masks are a bit too sticky but the concept that you can have varying levels of features works well. Like most people I think @Wojtek Bulhak from Arma is doing a pretty good job with these kits. Having built a Revell kit as a schoolkid, this was my second P.11c and I’m pleased to report it is an advance of the Revell one from 1966, although the 1988 PZW Siedlce one I am building in parallel may not be that much, if any! I used Techmod decals to reperesent #10 of the K.O.P. (Border Protection Force) in 1939, just prior to WW2. Polish colours are not the easiest thing to work out but I have had some help - particularly from @JWM. The consensus seemed to settle near FS30118 and this was my aim. I used a vintage tin of Humbrol Authentic HU18 Field Drab kindly loaned by a fellow club member. I would have preferred a straight-from-the-tin colour but didn’t think it was quite green enough so added 6% HU3 Green A3 to it. The final result looks about right. After building it I have acquired some Model Master #1702 Field Drab which I have used on the PZW kit. Here’s the comparison in artificial light and here it is in daylight. Any comments from members interested in colours like @GrzeM or @KRK4m or @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies may be most interesting. I have a couple more P.11s in ther works, the aforementioned PZW one, a Revell one and maybe I will get an IBG one. Looking at one with @Michael louey at a club meeting I was reasonably impressed. Edit - holding the model (and the FS swatch) up against my screen, the colours are reasonably well depicted but in real (model) life they do have a slightly browner cast.

Hi, Bought this ages ago, started it, fought with it, gave up, started again, fought again and now am calling it done!! Had some real fitting issues, and was gutted to find out i had to paint the propeller ends myself( the airfix one has decals!!) It did however prompt me to build a little diarame/backscene thing! Finished as No.8 Squadrons WL756 as seen by me at the 1988 RAF Chivenor Airshow Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-8 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-6 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-3 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-5 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-1 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Revell 1.72 Shackleton AEW2 WL756-6 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Thanks for looking Jon

Just for the record, here's our final (completed) itinerary… Fri, 1 Nov 2019 BA 1541 arrives 22:40 Sat, 2 Nov 2019 Leisurely breakfast Tour of Bath and Helicopter Museum Aerospace Bristol Visit to the Local Pub Sun, 3 Nov 2019 Boscombe Collection with Crisp and Avereda Army Air Museum with Avereda and Aeronut (thanks Alastair for the tour) Overnight The Kings Arms, Sandy, Beds Mon, 4 Nov 2019 Shuttleworth Collection Old Buckenham Airfield - we'll be posting something later to help Jim, the chap who runs it, put some models in his cases. Premier Inn, Norwich Tue, 5 Nov 2019 Norfolk & Suffolk Hannants Premier Inn, Norwich Wed, 6 Nov 2019 RAF Marham East Kirkby Bomber Command Memorial Premier Inn, Lincoln Thu, 7 Nov 2019 BBMF Newark OYO Dakota, Badington Fri, 8 Nov 2019 Midland Air Museum with Gorby Castle Bromwich Roundabout (don't ask - we had some time to fill!) Navy Bird arrives BHX 16:50 Sat, 9 Nov 2019 Scale Model World! Great to see you all Drink and dinner with BMers Sun, 10 Nov 2019 RAF Museum, Cosford Mon, 11 Nov 2019 RAF Museum Conservation Centre, Cosford IWM Duxford / American Air Museum Overnight Premier Inn Cambridge and visit to The Eagle Tue, 12 Nov 2019 IWM Duxford / American Air Museum Wed, 13 Nov 2019 Fleet Air Arm Museum with terry1954 Frome Model Centre (some things were bought!) Thu, 14 Nov 2019 Runnymede Air Forces Memorial Heathrow! When I get home later we will have travelled over 1,600 miles. A great trip and thanks again to all who helped, or joined us on the visits.

Latest build. 'OLD SHAKY' Mark DSCN3544 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3545 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3546 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3548 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3549 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3550 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3551 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3552 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3553 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3554 by mwsfly9, on Flickr

Greetings all! Ive decided to dig out my collection of various 1:72 kits that I have completed over the last few months. While non are really worthy of their own RFI im quite happy with most to show them off, so here they are! First up is an Esci (later Italeri) Sea Harrier, built straight OOB with the exception of a Quickboost seat. She represents 801 NAS on their way to the Falklands. Paints are from Model Master and kit decals were used. I did attempt to make some blanks for the intakes, not great but will do! I also cut out the intake auxiliary doors and droop the upper ones to look more realistic. A nice kit to build and one of the better versions of a Sea Harrier. Next is another Sea Harrier, this time a T4. The base for this kit is a Heritage resin kit. This is quite nicely molded albeit a little weak, but it became apparent that the main parts like the wing and centre fuselage was very (very!) similar to the Esci/Italeri kit. So much so that I could use them instead of the resin, so below is an 899 NAS anniversary T4. The very front and rear are the original resin and everything else is an Italeri kit. Again I did the auxiliary doors, the Heritage kit does come with some nice metal seats but other than that the cockpit is quite bare and poorly molded. There was a lot of whittling down to get the front and centre to line up nicely which meant losing the intake area so this was also blank off (poorly!). The worse part of the kit is the canopy. Here it is loosely fitted waiting for some enthusiasm to do something better. Its a vac canopy but vac canopies and me don't really mix well! The decals are from the Heritage kit and are slightly out of register (check out the roundals), I not sure if this aircraft ever wore the black scheme with the anniversary tail but I'm calling artistic license on this one! Here we have an Antonov Colt by Trumpeter. I painted it in Model Master Acrylics with kit decals. I saw this kit at a model show for only $9 which a thought was a bargain but in the end it just really annoyed me! It started off well enough, but the canopy to fuselage fitment is poor, the tail planes just would not want to stick to the fuselage, the wing struts were crap and boxy and finally the undercarriage was ropey as hell. Apart from that it was a nice build! Any way I percervered and finally finished it. Definitely not worth rigging it, in fact not even worth putting yellow tips on the props lol! Next we have a Hasegawa Thunderbolt. This was a quick build or would have been a quick build if I didn't lose the prop! I found it six weeks later next to the scrubbing sink and not the floor I spent my hands and knees on looking for it. I also found a nice stand for it so decided to go for a wheels up flyer. The penultimate kit is the new Airfix Defiant. This was a panic buy as I was going to leave my LHS empty handed on Saturday (which we all know is against the law) and nothing was doing it for me so I just plumped for this. I managed to smash it out with in a week which is very quick for me (my quick build Seaking took 3 months!). It just seemed to fall together nicely, very nicely indeed. Straight OOB, again Model Master acrylics Finally we have a Hasegawa Jaguar Trainer. This is a very nice if slightly old kit. Really enjoyed this one but screwed up with the ballast. Its very loose and if im not careful little lead balls get stuck in the canopy! Thanks for looking in! Cheers now Bob

This is the lovely Airfix 1/48 Hurricane which I thoroughly enjoyed building - it went together like a dream and is criminally underrated IMHO.... Part of the BOB film was shot at Sywell and I knew I wanted to do a Hurricane for a display at Sywell Aviation Museum but I wanted the viewer to realise it was 'set' in 1968 not 1940 hence the use of the Kodak van! I had to add 'Suzannah York' too - courtesy of the Revell/ICM set.... ATB TT 12747974_10153326251925976_89420073086534765_o by Ben Brown, on Flickr

Hi all, This is the first time I've ever shared any of my dio's outside Facebook but I thought I'd chuck one up- be gentle! I dont know whether to post several pics of the same dio or multiple of several on the same thread...! Anyway, I build mainly for our Museum at Sywell so they are normally related to our airfield. - I finished this the other year. Airfix C-47 with S&M decals IIRC. 12006557_10153045182290976_1729944269997067717_o by Ben Brown, on Flickr ATB TT

I made a Matchbox ZERO and painted it with Humbrol 129 and AGAMA black satins coated with acrylic satin varnish to withstand the weathering, simple brush strokes. Its glass cockpit is broken and repaired as I could, but the fixing does nt disappeared. The yellow lips are made with yellow tape. And the decals because the model did not exist, are the upper wings from a Japanese RF-4 1/48 and the lower and fuselage made with red tape cut with a diabhete cutter. The color of the glass cockpit needs further corrections but I stuck it out first so I could work it because it divided again in two pieces.

I present my Revell Boeing 747-436 G-BYGC in the retro livery BOAC to commemorate 100 Years of British Airways. I have always had a soft spot for the 744, ever since I went to LHR as a child and watched them fizz over my head on the approach to 27R... she is an awesome piece of engineering to see up close. The kit was OOB, with the decals from Ray at 26Decals and Authentic Airlines for the windows and cockpit decals. The RR engines were kindly given to me by a fellow modeller on this forum, for which I am very grateful for 😃. It was the ‘Iron Maiden’ version of the kit, which I wasn’t ever keen on making. The kit itself is very tired now, and the fit isn’t the best... it required an awful lot of filler particularly around the lower section of the fuselage and where the wing box section meets the fuselage. It’s such a shame as this lovely giant is slowly fading away as Airlines seek to replace her with more modern and eco efficient aircraft. The paints used for this model were Halfords appliance white for the upper fuselage, Halfords Racking Grey for the lower fuselage, wings and stabilisers. The coroguard sections is a lightened version of Revell 374, with various Revell Aqua acrylics making up the metals. The decals are absolutely stunning and really bring this model to life, complimented with the AA Windows. I have a few more projects on the go at the moment, and I just recently brought the Revell 773 kit to make ANA’s Star Wars BB-8 livery. I can only hope that I have done this lovely aircraft justice... as always thank you for looking and any constructive feedback and comments are always welcomed. Regards, Alistair

In truth I love helos and have a fair few kits in the stash; I'm hoping to find some decals to do my newly-bought Sycamore as a Suez Crisis one, as Suez, Malayan Emergency, and Confrontation helos are all areas of interest for me. Though seeing the Merlins at Yeovilton...phwoar! No, but they probably need an extra big pocket to hold all the money they extracted from me for the second checked bag, the so-and-sos. Total weight of checked baggage was 37 kilogrammes, and then there were the two (flagrantly out of limits) pieces of carry on luggage I brought aboard. Happily, this aircraft is very lightly loaded, and JD and I once again have a three seat row split between the two of us, so I have plenty of legroom by the standards of a coach-flying peasant. Incidentally, the pilot lead off with an announcement telling us specifically only to use the lavatories for our class, which just goes to show how little having a republic actually solves in that line.

The Bristol M.1 monoplane was an advanced concept for its time, perhaps not appreciated as it should have been (suffering the curse of the monoplane fear of early times). Once its bang-bing-poom-paff role was over, Bristol sought to re-introduce it as a sports machine. Part of their strategy was having it compete as a racer, a role in which it was quite successful. Very happy to see that Avis released this spunky racer as an alternate boxing to their Bristol M.1 monoplane variants. Another civil, privately owned machine (Spanish M-AFAA) is also an alternative scheme in their boxing of Red Devil (but the Spanish version needs a couple of small tweaks to be accurate). Adventurous modelers and after-market decal-makers may like to have a look at other civil possibilities for this nice little kit: G-EASR (A company demonstrator that can be seen in photos with two schemes, a light and a dark one) G-EAVO (That used both engines, the Lucifer and a rotary Le Rhone-, no wing cut-outs) G-EAER (#12 racer on the 1919 Aerial Derby, piloted by Smith, with wing cut-outs, small faired headrest) VH-UQI (De Havilland Gipsy four-inline engine conversion, fuselage re-worked) This kit of G-EAVP can be finished with and without the race number 2 or a G (as per decals supplied by the kit), but also as number 4 (if you scrounge those decals from somewhere), of which I found only a few images. If you are building this kit you will find a number of comments and what I hope are useful tips in the step-by-step construction article: Things you may like to adjust if building G-EAVP (the kit's provided version): 1) There were no carb air intake holes on the fuselage sides, nor its associated part inside the cockpit (those are for the rotary engine version). 2) The tail feathers need rigging, missing in the instructions, look at photos of the plane. 3) The long exhausts that go under the nose meet at a heat-exchanging sleeve that surround the new carburetor air intake (that comes downwards from the nose) and continue as a single pipe for a little while. Again, find photos on the Net that show that. 4) The fuel cap behind the pilot is somewhat present in the mold, but better make a good one, and since you are at it, also add the oil cap, ahead of the pilot 5) Add the Pitot to the left wing leading edge 6) Add the wind-driven fuel pump to the right landing gear strut as per photos on the Net 7) Make the windscreen smaller and the correct shape Be sure to install the double flying wires, as correctly depicted and even marked on the undersurfaces of the wings. Of these last new four Avis civil delightful little kits, this is the only one that gave me some little trouble. The plastic was a tad different and harder, the fit wasn't comfortable in some instances, and, in spite of having been carefully washed, dried, primed and handled properly, when I masked the red to paint the tail, as I removed the masks, huge chunks of paint and primer were lifted leaving the bare plastic. This has not happen to me in a long, long time, being always very careful about cleaning and avoiding contaminants. I can assure you that my day was utterly ruined. So you are warned: really, really wash the plastic. I am not sure why this last Avis kit was different, may be it was just my sample. But if something got changed, please change it back. I am looking forward to -and indeed I pre-ordered - their soon to be released -as I write this- Lee-Richards Annular Wing. I have scratched the monster long ago when my skills were far from good, and this time I may end up with a better replica. And, since we are at it, what were, you may have thought, the chances that ANY manufacturer would release that?

Here a first post from one I made a while back. A Neptune P2V-7B with resin nose and aftermarket flaps. Just checking if my first post is displaying correctly. Hope you like it.

Hello guys... Here is my work, done for my great friend, Renzo Bortolotto, dedicated to my favorite airplane... UK obviously I used a Fujimi 1/72 box and OOB builds Cheers for looking ciao Silvano

Okay, here is the official list of GB and STGB dates for 2020. Note that there could be an extra GB at some point, if we get a tie for seventh place in the bunfight. Goodness knows how I'm going to fit it in, but I'll find a way. 2020 1 Sat, 18 Jan 20 Sun, 10 May 20 Ju87 Stuka STGB Sat, 11 Jan 20 Sun, 12 Apr 20 2020 2 Sat, 15 Feb 20 Sun, 7 Jun 20 Lancaster STGB II Sat, 29 Feb 20 Sun, 31 May 20 2020 3 Sat, 21 Mar 20 Sun, 12 Jul 20 Spitfire / Seafire STGB Sat, 11 Apr 20 Sun, 12 Jul 20 2020 4 Sat, 25 Apr 20 Sun, 16 Aug 20 Buccaneer STGB Sat, 2 May 20 Sun, 2 Aug 20 Journey's End GB Fri, 8 May 20 Sat, 15 Aug 20 Corsair STGB Fri, 29 May 20 Sun, 30 Aug 20 Blitzbuild 2020a Sat, 23 May 20 Mon, 25 May 20 2020 5 Sat, 27 Jun 20 Sun, 18 Oct 20 T-34 STGB Sat, 13 Jun 20 Sun, 13 Sep 20 Battle of Britain GB Fri, 10 Jul 20 Sat, 31 Oct 20 Heinkel He111 STGB Sat, 25 Jul 20 Sun, 25 Oct 20 2020 6 Sat, 22 Aug 20 Sun, 13 Dec 20 Tornado Warning STGB Sat, 5 Sep 20 Sun, 6 Dec 20 Blitzbuild 2020b Sat, 29 Aug 20 Mon, 31 Aug 20 Heller: Classic GB Sat, 3 Oct 20 Sun, 24 Jan 21 Panther STGB Sat, 10 Oct 20 Sun, 10 Jan 21 KUTA XIII GB Sat, 7 Nov 20 Sun, 7 Feb 21 2020 7 Sat, 14 Nov 20 Sun, 7 Mar 21 Most of the GBs start on a Saturday. Some start on other days. There is a reason for that...

Praise indeed from someone working at the other end of the spectrum and doing some serious modelling extremely well When the Telford Season is over Only 359 days until the next one It was good to catch up with you all and see your masterpieces in the flesh. . . . I left for Telford not happy with the display of my 'Bare Bones'RM So I've been playing with ideas Was going to be cleaned up and painted wood The idea was to continue and make it rock like But it wasn't floating my boat/sinking my wreck ............. I needed to gain more space for something to come ...... Height just made it bulky so Still a work in progress but much happier now Thanks for stopping by Kev

The last four models from Avis' kits -to whom I have no relation whatsoever (other than being a happy customer for their recent civil releases)

I've got to be quick with this build as its going to be a christmas gift for the brother in laws garden bar, I was just going to build it all closed up paint it, decal it , and job done, but I've got carried away, I should still make the christmas morning deadline if i don't do too much more faffing about ,i started it monday after finally getting the decals for it from @mbdesignart at telford on sunday,(last sheet) I've had the kit for a while,actually since mark built his fourgon van in the Guinness livery a couple of years ago, and wanted one for myself, but just building it for someone else will do for now, Alterations are going to be - a wood look floor scribed , open side seving hatch cut out , side door converted from sliding to hinged and some shelving and interior bits and bobs, I'm going to build it from no particular version , just the parts that take my fancy,i started painting the interior before deciding to butcher the kit ,so some parts will need repainting so far The kit Decals A bit of constuction ,and the floor and shelving done, a tidy up when the glue has set, and smidgion of filler, the floor before scribing the planks The other side cut out and a shelf for the paying customer Cheers

Hi All, As I havent been thrown off yet for sharing my dios for the first time here's another.... Airfix Tiger, scratched oil cart. I love the fact that the Air Ministry commanded EFTS aircraft to be camouflaged but the then CAA commanded they must still wear their registration, completely defeating the object... In a new technique for me I copied the original photo onto decal paper (from Mr Decal Paper off ebay) to add to the base. 48046794_10155949520090976_7126370880401178624_n by Ben Brown, on Flickr ATB TT

ok guys, it's my pleasure to show you my last job. it's the Jaguar E-Type 1 series for me one of the most beautiful cars of all time ... link w.ip: http://www.modellismo.net/forum/statico-work-progress/129432-jaguar-e-type-1963-1-8-scale-dea.html

This is the Italeri F-5N as an ex-Swiss Air Force Tiger now serving as a USN Adversary. To be honest, there’s not too much to say about this nice little kit: it goes together really quickly and, other than the addition of an Eduard Zoom set, a Pavla ejection seat and a bit of work to give some sort of representation of the complex canopy opening mechanism, it is pretty much from the box including the decals, which also include some nice Swiss and Austrian markings.

.....dear god there goes my life for next year!!!!! ok back to the important and the end of the week drinking bun fight chart not a lot of movement for the past couple of days, just 3 members I think voted. Interestingly we had 2 votes moved or removed overnight and 1 member voted? So some of the votes must have cancelled each other out....interesting. we're no at the 1/2 way stage and I reckon the top 4 GB's are in and we're down to 6 fighting for the last 3 spots. The member vote is a bit down at the moment, so maybe it's time to bring out the entertainment?? Arr @Enzo Matrix, @JOCKNEY time for your little number/routine to draw in the members and voters! The little pink outfits should look fine!!!

Duxford Battle of Britain Airshow, 2025. Put it in your date book, fellas.

In my absence she bought a new house on contingency that costs nearly three times what our current one did, so she doesn't have a lot of searoom on this one.

Ced I think I am thanking you for all of us for looking after our friends so well Sir Ced, hero host to intrepid hero visitors What a hell of an itinerary, proper job Ced Proper job mate

@Kirk, not actually pictured on the shelf of doom itself, but this is pretty much where Ark 5 is now: I am particularly proud of the masking; only the numbers (10 spots plus the distance to run marks on the runway) are transfer - all the lines are painted. Currently sitting in a box at home carefully wrapped in tissue paper.

A few years back my Dad had a flight experience to fly alongside a Spitfire at Duxford. The aircraft he flew alongside was Spitfire HF Mk.lXe TA805 'Spirit of Kent'. During the briefing I had the opportunity to take a load of up close pictures of the aircraft with the intention of building him a kit of it as a gift. I ended up using the Revell 1:48 Spitfire lXc/XVl (4554) kit. This was in the days before I realised that Eduards kits were far superior and included PE but it's a decent enough kit. The only changes I had to make were to swop the gun covers around to convert the kit to an e wing. I purchased aftermarket sets of stencils, codes, letters and rounds to give me the correct scheme and brought decal paper to make my own 'Spitit of Kent' decals and squadron badge carried under the canopy. The thing I couldn't get right was the legend in white lettering so the only thing that isn't as accurate as it could be is these are black. Once completed, it was given to him in a presentation box. The kit was brush painted and finished in a gloss varnish

Airfix 1:72 Grumman Duck J2F6 (1968 Release)

Well calling this done my take on the old kit from FROG / NOVO 1/ 325 scale with the addition of Atlantic Models PE and replacement forward guns and torpedo tubes from Shapeways. this is not completely accurate I know there are mistakes the torpedo tubes should be the quadruple launchers and the main range finder is wrong may replace that later but when you think of the age of the original kit the PE and guns do raise the detail levels to a more acceptable level and I have another kit to try and make a better attempt in the future I hope. So here she is my version of HMS Trafalgar and link to WIP. And here is a Plug for Name It thanks for putting me onto these @robgizlu Great service and so much better than the kit one. Beefy

Hallo again Now I finished my Stahltaube from WNW. Actually it was not an easy kit. My first small fault was a front bulkhead, which was misaligned. Here I had to do some restoration work at the front part of the fuselage. Well, after this my next challenge was the filling process. I usually worked with Surfacer. Here, it did not work at all. So I went on with super glue, as my husband told me to try. This worked perfect. So, after all this, the paint job was next. Here I was in the wonderful situation, to have close examined a replica of the Etrich Taube, some years ago. So I could adapt some ideas for coloring the wings. Well, after a long nerving battle, the Taube I finished yesterday. Happy modelling

Thankyou, Ced, for hosting / looking after our North American friends. I had hoped to meet you all at Duxford on Tuesday. Unfortunately, life matters got in the way and I couldn’t get there. I hope PC pens one of his very well written accounts of the trip. I really wanted to meet him in person to thank him for his always beautifully crafted accounts of progress with his current model(s) with the occasional snippet of family / everyday news. OK, perhaps not this year but possibly another. Thanks again, best wishes to PC, NavyBird, & Cookie, and a safe arrival home in the USA. Jonny

I think I speak for many when I say that I await the epic diorama build of Castle Bromwich roundabout with scarcely ‘bated breath. A great trip; you’ve seen a couple of Museums that I have yet to visit, and I’ve lived here on & off for almost 60 years. Loud and prolonged applause to @CedB, who has contributed well beyond the call of duty. Twas a real pleasure to meet you, chaps. Come again!

All packed: Small trunk my bottom T-Roc. They all went in except PC’s third bag of kits and books: Quick visit to Runnymede Memorial: Then off to Heathrow. Safe flight guys! And yes, this time I got out of the airport in one go

Again, my thanks gentlemen! Clearly someone first discovered the advantages white aircraft had when used against the U-Boat. Somewhere in the record, a first report must exist - "Sirs, our squadron recently discovered...." While I don't need the info for my own project, I'd be fascinated to know where the credit belongs. I appreciate the votes of confidence on my RAF colours book, but I afraid I'll never be the one to write it. A book like this needs years of primary research, and the commute from Arlington, Virginia, to London is a bit more than I can handle. There are several British writer/researchers (some of whom have posted here) who've probably assembled most of what's needed for such a book, and I hope at least one of them will find the publisher who can take on such a project. In the meantime, I'll have to stick with American subjects. Next up for me is a re-examination of the camouflages used by US Navy aircraft during World War II. Cheers, Dana

Thanks Marklo,Skyraider looks on course to be the first finished I was lucky that @Pete in Lincs and @Alex Gordon both send sets as I had to use bits of each to get this far so thanks again guys,I placed the NK a touch too low so couldn't get the serial right under but I'm sure I did some blunders back the first time I built it which incidentally I remember well,summer of 1976 built on the coffee table while the Olympic games were on and we had the then unknown Phenomenon of late night telly!

Ed, very nice build of P11C in scheme of Polish Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza (KOP - the border protection forces in free translation). They stund up against Soviet invasion after 17 September 1939. Regarding colours (as I also wrote you in PM previousely) among Polish aviation history fans and profesionalists the option of brown interpretation of Polish Kaki colour, however it is nit so clear since likely different series of P11 (and earlier P7) could be painted with different shades of olive green or brown. What can be interesting to all after recent strong repair of Krakow museum P11c it is now painted in a colour of almost milk chocolate brown. In Net you can find an interesting movie of this restored P11c while taxing . Cheers J-W

Going by the photos, I suspect the airline that they fly back with will need to attach a trailer, for all the extra baggage!😃

Never thought of that, do have a few of those kicking around thanks and thanks for looking in Been planking the cabin each plank is tapered Last plank to go in and then a light sanding Now onto the cabin skylight, started with this but made the angle wrong So made a slight change Then looking at a picture of the Bluenose cabin, date not to sure I see the glass goes on top and bars are underneath, so made a step on each side to hold window Then made a 1/32" thk piece of boxwood cut into four parts, drilled 14 .020" holes 1mm apart in each piece and then glued together Now this looks like the skylight on the right of the picture, will add hinges on top as these side both could be raised Next up will be the companionway Regards Richard

Had to paint the background disc for the toned down national markings on my subject. The kit only has the white discs. Also added the main gear, brass wing guns and brass/resin pitot tube. Had to scratch one of the small doors on the main gear. While thinning them to get a proper fit, one launched itself into the ether. I still haven't heard it land. Next up is a gloss coat before putting on the few decals. Cheers, Rich

So I can't get Flickr to load on this cruddy airplane wifi -- you can well imagine my dismay that a technology of which I understand so little that it might as well be magic fails to cater to my every whim as I I fly home at twice the ceiling and three times the cruising speed of a Lancaster in pressurized comfort -- but I'll try to summarize the rest of the trip as best I can for you all right now, because I'm probably not gonna have a ton of spare time once I get home and we have to make our house look like somewhere a person might want to live in. Also I paid for this wifi and if I don't do this I'll browse Hannants, and therein lies deadly danger. No photos for now, but think, when we talk of horses, that you see their proud hooves etc. So where was I? Oh right. Sunday. On Sunday we made our way to Cosford, where University Air Squadron (I presume) Tutors lazily did circuits and bumps and caused me to google "1/72 Grob Tutor" about six times before I realized the results were always going to be the same. (It turns out there is a 1/72 Jetstream T.1 though, oh dear oh dear.) We were joined once again by Stew, Jamie, and JasonC, who kindly but foolishly mentioned that he could drive home with some of my Telford haul to Bath, as he lives reasonably close to Ced. Boys throw stones in jest, but the frogs die in earnest, and thus in this innocent, well-meaning comment did we find a solution to the T-Roc's totally adequate storage situation. Possibly Cosford's entire existence could be justified by the following exchange: Me: An Me 262! It's much bigger than I expected. Stew: And the [30mm] cannon ports are much smaller than I imagined. But it's very cold at high altitude. After Cosford, we retired to the stately fastness of our inn, which was recommended to us by 06/24. Ced quite liked it, feeling it had a traditional English charm, and that may be so. I was unimpressed, however. The Premier Inn may not exactly offer all of the comforts of home, but it offers that certain level of ruthless, unsentimental efficiency that means that the toilet works (Cookie's didn't) or that, with a modicum of patience, one might enjoy a hot shower or reasonable facsimile thereof. (Incidentally, though I'm not unprepared for it after three visits to the country, the single pane of glass covering only half the length of the shower leaves me feeling hideously exposed; I keep expecting a frigate to appear out of the steam broadside on and cross my T, a very vulnerable feeling whilst trying to wash one's hair.) I also note that in the Premier Inn, they don't typically "run out" of beefburgers, nor do they take an hour to even give you a menu before requiring a further hour to prepare one's food. Lastly, the room numbering scheme was unencumbered by any traditional system of numeration I was aware of, so that Cookie's room (18) was adjacent to mine (24), and Bill's (26) was an entire floor up, with the sign indicating its direction pointing in the wrong way. Oh what fun we had trying to find it! I'll grant that it was very beautiful, however, but since I can't load Flickr at 40,000 feet, you'll have to take my word for it. Anyway, that evening, we met up with Heather and her partner (who's a fascinating guy in his own right) that night for a pleasant little dinner, and then it was off to bed. The next day, we were back at Cosford to see the aircraft being restored (Ced had graciously purchased tickets for us in advance), and we had a gander at a Wellington in her underthings, the beautifully restored fuselage of a Hampden (and I learned the "p" is silent, after enunciating it like a simpleton for days), a Lysander III(SD) up on her pins, the ruins of the Dornier 17 they fished out of the water a few years back (which I can't believe will ever be much further restored, given the intense-looking level of deterioration), and an Me410, but as there was a large queue to see inside the cockpit, I more or less gave it a miss. Then we were off again, to Duxford, which we reached just before closing. Bill and Ced went off on their doomed quest to gain good photos of the inside of a Javelin's cockpit, and JD and I opted to fork over ten quid each to listen to a talk about the Lancaster with the promise of a tour of it immediately following. I will stop right here and say I'm not overly a fan of "that guy", the one who interrupts a talk to add a bit of minor minutia, but during the talk, I discovered that I am, to my horror, in fact that guy. The speaker (who was clearly well-informed and passionate about the Lancaster, to his credit) first said the Zeppelin raids on England were the first time that British civilians had directly been attacked on English soil since the English Civil War (in fact, the 1915 German naval bombardments of coastal towns hold that dubious distinction), and then latterly that the Lancaster had never possessed a ventral turret (it did initially, even in squadron service, but the FN64 was not a success). I felt like a total heel, but Duxford had its revenge. Our "tour" of the Lancaster consisted of getting to stand just inside the crew entryway on a little metal platform placed their specially for our presence, but we were permitted to go no further. Thus ended my dream of wriggling into as many bomb-aimers' positions as possible during my time in England. By the time the talk had ended, Duxford was closing for the day, so we retired to the comforting sameness of the local Premiere Inn to deposit our bags, and from thence we headed out to The Eagle, where we had a very serviceable dinner (the absence of bangers and mash from American menus is one of many currently ongoing national scandals) and Cookie fell in love at first sight with a woman eating outside in the smoking area whom he glimpsed through the window. (All women who are not Mrs P look like rotting meat to me, which can make the supermarket tricky, so I can't vouch for or against JD's evaluation.) Alas, she was with a man who appeared to be her partner, and they seemed pretty happy, but rest assured that if that blaggard had left her sobbing, alone at the table, a ruggedly handsome American engineer stood ready to drop seamlessly into her life. She'll never know what she missed out on, and perhaps that's just as well, less she cast herself into the nearest river, mad with grief at what could, nay should, have been. After dinner, we headed into The Eagle section of the pub proper, adorned with countless unit zaps along the walls, and more importantly, on the ceiling, graffiti left by Allied aircrew during the second world war, burnt into it with lighters or matches or candles, or crudely drawn with lipstick or whatever else was at hand. It being Remembrance Day proper, we drank a toast to the actors waiting in the wings of Europe. Burning the ceiling with a match is the sort of foolish thing a twenty-year-old boy with no time left in which to become a man might well do before heading back to one of the bomber stations to face the fear of death along with six other young men in a metal container at eighteen thousand feet during the years in which he was supposed to feel invincible. It's a very human thing, to be juvenile, and a reminder of really, how horribly young and immature so many of them were. And yet they poured their lives out like so many glasses of water to save the world. We went back to Duxford the next day to give it the full twice-over, meandering from hangar to hangar and discovering, almost entirely by chance, a rather nice used bookshop that supports the preservation of the airliners hosted on the site. It had an incredible selection, but my now intensely limited storage space meant that I only bought one wafer-thin volume (and dropped a few pound coins in the donation box to support their efforts), and then we were off home, as it were, to Bath. Back in Bath, I was introduced to the wonders of toad in the hole at Ced's local, and thus encumbered, we staggered back and lapsed into blissful slumber. The following day, it was off to meet up with Terry1954 and another fellow modeller at Yeovilton, where we were treated to the sight of both Wildcats and Merlins warming up on the tarmac and flying about. The EH101 is a magnificent beast of a helicopter, and I'm glad I have a couple in the stash. As if that weren't enough, a lone Sea Fury tooled by overhead as well. Inside the museum, I managed to get trapped in the Ark Royal tour they have and had to go through the whole thing while everyone else was off looking at airplanes, and I'm here to tell you, the Royal Navy has managed to produce an incredible commercial for a ship that left service in 1978. The aircraft on display, however, were excellent, as well as largely not roped off, meaning one could look at most from all angles, including directly underneath, which I've decided is something I highly value in a museum. After the museum we opted to head to the Frome(?) model shop that was nearish by, and discovered the plastic model section was closed off until the 16th as they recuperated from Telford. When asked if we'd come far to see the shop, we somewhat disingenuously replied, with our broadest American accents, that we'd come 4,000 miles. They duly opened up the area, and it was a win for everyone, since we all felt obligated to buy something. Ced got a Valom Buckmaster (he can't help himself when Bristols are about), Navy Bird got a Fine Molds A7M Reppu, Cookie got an Azur Mystere, having seen what felt like an endless procession of them over the past two weeks, Terry got a Fine Molds F-14A, and I bought the Fine Molds F-14 missile set, plus a few more presents for my boys, who I've been away from for long enough to have forgotten how poorly behaved they are. Then it was back to Bath, where like any young, vigorous man with his entire life before him, I immediately fell asleep for a two-hour nap. Then we met up with JasonC to retrieve my kits that he'd been very kindly holding for me, and then he joined us at the pub for dinner, where he proved a delightful dinner companion before he was finally able to make his escape. During dinner I learned that Mrs P had bought a house, sort of, depending on whether or not we can sell ours in the next thirty days, which should be interesting. Then it was today, and time to leave. I woke up this morning to a strange rustling emanating from the bathroom, but didn't realize that Ced was in the crawlspace until he suddenly emerged from it with a carryon bag for me to use, moments before I was about to disrobe for the shower. A lucky escape for Ced! After some last-minute packing, everything was squeeeeeeeezed into my four(!) bags, including two carry-ons, we enjoyed one last delicious breakfast made by Ced's very patient wife, and then it was off to Heathrow. On the way, we stopped at the RAF Memorial at Runnymede, which was deeply moving, but also deeply upsetting. A team of people from the CWGC were there adjusting signage, but they were joking and laughing loudly among themselves in a manner that I found very disruptive. I don't begrudge anyone a little camaraderie or fun on the job, even gravediggers have to laugh sometimes, but the Memorial is in effect a sepulcher for 20,000 men who'll never have one of their own. Heaven forbid someone visiting to see the name of a parent, or a sibling, or a relative they'd never meet would have that solemn moment interrupted by loud shrieks of laughter. Most unfortunate. The monument itself, at least, was beautiful and I felt fitting, overlooking as it does Heathrow. Then it was time to say our goodbyes. Ced, who planned and organized two weeks beyond compare or imagination with aplomb, and who'd tirelessly ferried us all well over a thousand miles, dropped us off at the airport. Navy Bird headed off to the Virgin terminal. Cookie and I to American's. By the time the jet took off, it was dark out, and as it turned to head towards the country I live in for the foreseeable future, ten thousand feet below us, the lights of London were spread out underneath the aircraft, a glittering tapestry seemingly without end. See you all again soon, I hope.

The upper surfaces are now masked and painted, I used paper paint masks off the web and am quite happy with the result. There's a little refinement to be done, but overall the results seem quite good. Hope you like so far ...