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I finished the Roden C-123 today. While it is rewarding to have it done and ready for the display case, it made me work for it, because of all the little details and the decals. The only way I could get the decals to settle down was to use a Top Flight heat gun that I normally use to shrink mylar film on my R/C models, but they still did not adhere well so I applied a clear coat of Alclad Matt. It gives the airplane the look of an older oxidized skin, and I think I like it. Not going to trap myself with Roden decals again anytime soon. I am pretty sure I used the kit decals on my Roden Sea Gladiator, maybe they had a different maker then. The fiddley bits have been added, on to the pictures. If you look close you may be able to see that I painted the rubber surrounds on the windows that had them, that's what I remember most about the first time I saw a C-123, windows held in like the back window on a 53 Ford Pickup. And next to a C-46. Both had Pratt and Whitney R-2800's, but the C-123 had 300 more horsepower per side. Cruise speeds are about the same according to the usual sources.

Here's my rendition of Tamiya's recent iteration of the iconic P-38 Lightning. I dressed mine up to represent "Miss Virginia" which was involved in Operation Vengeance; the aerial assassination of Admiral Yamamoto who was the mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The kit fell together really well with minimal filler used for seam lines. However, the kit decals were a tad thick. For aftermarket, I used PE seatbelts by Eduard and metal gun barrels by Master Models. The wire antenna was done using 0.1mm copper wire, brass tubing and rigging fibre by Infini. The kit was painted with Mr Color lacquers and weathered with oils, enamels and pencils. All in all, the kit was a pleasure to build. Looking forward to Tamiya releasing other variants! Mark

Here is my latest project in 1/72 Basic details regarding what the build represents have been added to the name plate: This particular aircraft did not survive the month and thus that is why it has an almost pristine look Total time spent on this work was 1 month here are some pictures: The Aircraft is an Italeri kit in 1/72 The aircraft was first painted in desert scheme and the lighter parts of it was painted in blue, in order to get out the base colors, salt technique weathering was used, thus it gives that bit of usage to the buld. Some of the ground crew had to be converted, basically here some heads were chopped of from 1/76s Airfix RAF Ground Crew and added to bodies belonging to Airfix 1/76 8th. Infantry soldiers. The Austin Tilly and the Motorcycle are part of an Airfix Bomber set in 1/72, they were painted in Malta Camo (this is not probable, as there are still some examples around, see later pictures) BR 323 decals where printed at home while the blast pen was constructed out of foam cardboard for the stone walls and clay for the sand bags, In Malta during the war you had three types of blast pens; in sand bags or in used petrol cans (since in '42 petrol was given by hand) or in stone walls, at times a mix of the above mentioned materials was used, like in my diorama. Some scratch building also went into the cockpit area. Stone walls, sand bags, soldiers, dio base and vehicles were then oil dot weathered In the second picture of the aircraft, one can still see the salt attached before it was removed, near the cockpit area. Inspirational photos: Hope you enjoy

Hello fellow modellers, this is my recently finished Clear Prop kit. In past years I somehow ignored the Japanese subjects, except excellent Tamiya or Model Graphic A6M's, but this year this my third Japanese kit so obviously something has changed:-) Yes, that was the entry of the Clear Prop kits on the market, which quickly jumped in my personal ranking on the top amongst 1/72 manufacturers. The level of details and moulding quality is simply amazing. This Ki-51 builds nicely and perhaps some of the smallest etched details are redundant, even in the plastic they look sufficient. I tried to model one of the machines operated in China with 6th Hikosentai. Built out of the box except the canopy masks which I replaced for Dead Design product as those in the kit are rather thick and not very precise - at least something what could be improved. Looking forward now for their next WWII fighter kit! P.S. A big thanks to Valerij! Cheers, Libor

This is the Pearl Harbor version of Hasegawa's Kate, but since they don't include the right torpedo fins, I went looking for another colour scheme. I stumbled upon pictures of this surrendered Kate in green cross markings and well, why not? I left out the rear gun but apart from that it's OOB. It's a very nice fitting model. I did paint the camouflage under the white, which is applied patchy intentionally. It also looked as though they had really roughly painted the spinner and prop with a brush, so I tried to recreate that look as well. I'm not sure the aircraft ever flew, but it did look scruffy around the engine cowlings with the rest of the aircraft fairly clean. Green crosses were painted on and the '2' on the tail was from the spares box.

I’ve an oldish Canon digital SLR somewhere in the house and we have at least 2 other digital cameras, which may or may not have aperture priority; and you know what, we haven’t used any of them for probably a couple of years. Too much fondness for iPhone convenience and not enough commitment to photography Yes. Canopies open for both. Spoils the pretty lines somewhat (and I’ve always thought the Hawk was a very pretty aircraft) but there you go.... Girorgio! It’s not just like the other one It has weapons control panels and gun sights. Why, it’s really rather nerdishly importantly different....... Cos the cockpit tub and coaming are all home-brew there are no locating pins etc. and so to get the coaming in the right place I took measurements off photo’s. I did this yonks ago: And thankfully the prints have survived the hiatus in the build and Mrs F’s tidying up..... I confess that when I dug them out, my immediate thought was to feel immensely old fashioned and analogue compared with Tony’s superb digital representations of the Sea Vixen. I nearly went and scanned the prints into....into...into some piece of software that I don’t as yet know how to use and my second thought was - “s*d it’. - I’ll learn to do that tomorrow; or maybe the next day......but definitely in any event soon......... (did I mention that I’ve managed to go ‘paperless’ at work - I think that drained my ‘new software’ capacity for a while.....) Transferred the measurements to the Hawks: There’s a girder like structure just in front of the rear coaming that I need to build now. This photo’s from the BM walk around: And with the relative coaming/seat positions fixed I can get on with that now. It needs to go where the 1mm tape is in this photo. I’ll probably make it from 0.3mm plastic card, drilled, scored and bent into an ‘L’ shape; although brass is an option to consider as well.

Here is my latest completion, about 6 months' worth of effort in total. Tamiya 1/32 kit with some 1/35 figures, mostly from the Tamiya reboxing of the Italieri german field maintenance set. I've made a little vignette with a couple of figures before, but I would consider this project to be my first proper diorama. I maintained my work in progress thread over on LSP. I'm not sure of the rules here for linking to other forums, so I'll leave it off. Thanks for looking, comments and criticisms welcome!

I thought I would post this again- Not sure if this is the most appropriate forum, but it seems most of you hang out in WW2- Mike or Julien, if this is not appropriate, feel free to move it as you see fit. I want to wish all of my new friends and fellow styrene surgeons on Britmodeller a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season. Hoping your filler never shrinks and your decals never silver in the new year! Thank you so much for all of the knowledge, references, and modeling techniques you have so generously shared all year long. Mike A Modeler's Night Before Christmas T'was the night before Christmas, and all through the pad, I was sneaking new kits in so the Missus wouldn't get mad. The stockings were all hung on the mantle in a row- Hoping for goodies from Airfix or John Aero! The children were all nestled all snug in their beds While visions of Airfix starter sets danced in their heads. When up on the rooftop there arose such a clatter That I sprang up from my workbench to see what was the matter. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear But a Short Skyvan pulled by eight tiny reindeer! With a little old driver dressed up in red velvet, I knew in an instant it must be General Melchett! More rapid than a Hunter, his coursers they came, And he whistled and shouted and called them by name. "Now ToT; now Sabrejet; now Moa and Ridgerunner; Now Giorgio; now Replicant!" (Whose builds are all stunners!) As I drew back my head and was turning around, Down the chimney came General Melchett with a bound. He was dressed in an old flight suit from his head to his toes, And each panel was inked in. (You know how THAT goes!) He spoke not a word, but to my surprise, He filled all the stockings with kits and supplies! And, laying an airbrush aside of his nose, He gave me a smile and up the chimney he rose! He boarded the Skyvan and gave his team a shrill tweet, And away they all flew like a Lightning F6 in reheat! And I heard him exclaim as they chandelled out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all- how about finishing a model tonight?"

This is the Battle of Britain Buchon I have made for the Film, Fictional and Speculative GB. This is a model of the Hispano HA-1112 “Buchon” which was used as a stand in for the Bf 109 in the Battle of Britain movie. The plane number “5” is more than likely in the movie, but not featured like the others. However, it is featured in a documentary that uses a lot of shots made for the film. The model is weathered to look as if it had done a lot of flights for the camera. The last photo I took the other day shows it with the real Bf 109 for comparison. It is an old Hobbycraft kit re-issued by Academy. The kit has the usual fit issues and needed some filling here and there. The worst area was the back of the cockpit. The canopy was about half a mill to small on both sides, which is why the canopy area on my model isn’t as good as I would like. I added detail to the wheel wells and drilled out the exhausts and the spinner. There is no aerial because I couldn’t see one in any of the photos taken during the filming. I used the Tamiya weathering master set to do the weathering. I may have over done it a bit on the fuselage joints, but this was an experiment so I’m not concerned about it. The dark green is my own mix because the film planes used a darker green than the normal Bf 109E-3. The decals come from two sources. The Main decals are from a Bf109 set and the badge is from a paint on mask marking set that wasn’t in good order when I got it. All in all it wasn’t a bad build.

Definitely! We were at Yeovilton a few years back when XP924 landed after her demonstration and taxied along right in front of the barrier where I was standing with my youngest - when those mighty wings folded up he was definitely impressed! Timely reminder Bill as I'm touring the airframe this morning looking for issues! 👍 These are the resin replacements I'd mentioned at the start of the thread: at the rear junction of boom to base of fin they're about 0.5mm thinner than the Frog parts - at the forward end of that boom section they're a whole 1mm thinner. Does that sound corrected enough or do you reckon my shiny new sihrsc will have to be unleashed upon it? Nothing's too good for this audience Bill. 'sides, I'm a plodder who needs to work stuff out.... It'll have floats? Thanks for confirming that Neil. If only that Butler book wasn't such a collector's item now - the 2nd hand prices are crazy so don't see me catching a bargain on it. There is a drawing in the maintenance manual showing the profile of of that bulkhead that the radar's mounted to: - the oblateness is quite clear. Less evident in this view however but some interesting structural detail: I wonder if that area outlined in black is the 'masking strip' that the reference data indicates as forming part of the radome's length? I do in fact have a great shot looking forwards at the opened radome itself that @CedB passed on some time back - this demonstrates even more distinctly the flattened nature of the profile. Between those two sources and @71challys excellent side-profile photo of the radome I should be able to CAD up something close enough to the actuality to run through the 3D printer later on. That's all good information Neil. Kind of you Neil: I do hope we get to see more of your own work on here! Uh-oh. That isn't a shot of you've posted elsewhere that I've plagiarized is it James? Apologies if so - I've accumulated so many images at this stage that I've no clear recollection where many of them originated. It's all owned by the Duke of Westminster and Church of England anyway... With the CedB National Sea Vixen Radar photographic archive at my disposal I am indeed left without any excuse for not getting these regions correct! 😁 More progress this morning and also a potential breakthrough in keeping some semblance of control over adjustments to sizes of various regions of the two aircraft. I'd been looking through all the photos I've acquired over the last couple of months without finding a good clear one showing the tail/rear boom profile. Leafing through the original research thread for this in the Cold War section I realized that I'd forgotten some excellent shots that @canberra kid had posted- including one showing exactly the view I was after (John I hope you don't mind me reproducing a detail of it here?): This gave me enough to be able to take an outline in Illustrator and then test it against the tail of the WP drawings (reduced in scale & resolution here to avoid copyright issues): Absolutely bang on, so more confident than ever in these drawings. Now. the breakthrough I mentioned. All very well things looking ok on paper but I need to reliable and relatively accurate way of checking the various lengths and widths of the two kits in order to cut, replace, reshape the various parts of the overall structure on an ongoing basis. I've had this bit of kit tucked away in the studio for the last year or so, salvaged from when they were clearling out the old photographic darkrooms at work: The easel mask of a photographic enlarger. Marked in millimetres in both axes this gives an excellent means of measuring in two dimensions simultaneously: As importantly, it means that I can mount the aircraft on a blob of Blutak in order to ensure that the model is parallel to the base in both axes, thus avoiding any distortions to measurement from it sitting at an angle. Another example of of holding onto something long enough for it to find another repurposed use. This discovery has put me in good heart now with regard to keeping control over the measurement process over the following weeks and months, especially in getting things like boom lengths adjusted and so forth. Tony

Wingnut Wings Fokker E.II Eindecker. This particular machine was flown by Ernst Udet, and belonged to KeK Habsheim in 1916. The model is painted using Tamiya and Vallejo colors. Best regards Rune, Norway

Right, I'm a novice builder slowly getting back into the hobby, so all my models are learning experiences. I tried a few new things on this build, with varying success. First time making a mask for the cockpit. I was happy with how this went. Very fiddly in 1/72, but I pinched a template online, printed it out at the correct scale and cut through it to some masking tape underneath on glass. Preshading - yet again this all got lost under the top colour! While I'm practicing new skills I am using the little Airfix kit acrylic pots, so not ideal obviously. (I've got some Tamiya paints on my Christmas list) I thin the Airfix stuff down with Ultimate thinner, and homemade flow improver. It's OK ... Thinned oil paint wash on top of a gloss coat (Galeria acrylic) to bring out the panel details - this was rubbish. I couldn't remove the oil wash properly with turps, and it even started going through the varnish and into the paint below. I'm guessing using turps instead of thinner isn't a good idea. All advice gratefully received! This was a Lidl £5 special, so a good base for me to practice on. I've got a couple of 1/48 kits in the pipeline, but I want to build up some skills first before I tackle them. I'm using my ancient Aerograph Super 63 currently. Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr First time masking a canopy, couldn't wait to remove it to see if it actually worked ... Airfix Mitsubishi Zero by Mike, on Flickr Mask, and clunky preshading, that got lost under the paint anyway.

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my latest, the 1/72 KORA Fw-190 F9 Panzerblitz. This version was the last variant of the famous "Butcher Bird", armed with unguided anti-tank aerial rockets. These rockets were similar to the R4M Orkan air-to-air rocket used by the Messerschmitt Me 262. The kit contains the well-known Eduard sprues (for the A-8 version), some resin and photo-etch add-ons plus a decal sheet for 4 marking options. I painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, according to instructions, as I could not find an original photograph of this particular aircraft. The pitot tube is a metal item from Master. All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thank you for your interest and comments, best greetings from Vienna Roman

Morning all! Here is my latest roll out. She is the third (of ten, currently) in the line of F-51s that I have either partially built, painted or planned. Apparent to everyone is that she is not a regular operational machine. She formed part of the “Los Cofres” display and demonstration team of the Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca (Guatemalan Air Force) that flew from La Aurora Airfield in the mid-1950s. She was acquired in 1954 and history seems to record that she was lost at some point in Costa Rica. The build is based around the Tamiya kit, offering me relatively easy builds so that I can get the volume through the paint shop. It is, though, a great kit and although it has some errors it is a pleasure to build. Like the previous Bolivian I dropped the flaps by using spare Airfix flaps. The challenge here was really the masking of the nose area. The contours clearly demand more than simple straight strips of tape. My method was to cut and apply each “square” separately. The colours are probably not entirely accurate. I have, however, researched as best as I can, including support from a couple of the South American/Central American aviation and modelling forums and produced what is probably a compromise. There are some things that I know to be correct – the overall natural metal (rather than the white shown in a couple of retouched photos), the lack of "dark" underside to the rear fuselage (applies the "306" at least _ have a photo, the larger version of the “FAG” lettering (see below) and the layout of the red striping and chevrons (also see below). The recent ArmyCast release for a “Los Cofres” machine (number “342”) shows differences. However, Youtube clips and various images show a different layout from theirs. I’m happy with my decision, right or wrong. See that she also had white prop tips – or at least it looks like that in the YouTube clip. You can see the larger “FAG, and the red chevrons in these shots: What did I use? Kit – Tamiya F-51D (54) Decals – Home printed serial, “FAG” and unit/team badge (thanks @timmas for drawing this). ArmyCast set for the mainwheel door lightning bolts and “squiggles”. Paints – Humbrol Hetalcote Polished Aluminium (27002), Matt blue (25), Insignia Red (153), Matt White (34), Matt Black (33), Blue (89)+(104) mix for the rudder stripes, Interior Green (226) and others. The final coat is Humbrol Satincote. Eduard canopy paint mask. Weathering/Panels – Flory Dirt, Tamiya Weathering Powders and Prismacolor Silver pencil. Here she is: I hope you like her. Martin

Thanks everyone! I don't know if you noticed, but I keep a first aid kit handy in case things get out of hand. John

methinks folks are over thinking this. It's relatively simple geometry. Measure the model. See what dimensions you need to make it. Shape as required. Cut, glue and assemble. Job done

Thanks Simon - me too. Sad really Well Giorgio, see the thing is about heavy weathering… a) I don't like bashing up a model I've spent ages on b) I should have thought about it earlier and c) I'm lazy I shall be gloss coating soon though to 'protect' the finish (after a bit more touching up and Micromeshing) - see, I do listen! Thanks Bill - timely reminders I know Ben, I'm usually with you on 'cleaner' finishes but this one… er, got messed up with the aged white so something needed to be done Thanks Stew, good to hear Thanks Tomo - No danger of 'the dance' - too cold! Quite right Bill, leave it the young 'uns! Thanks Cookie and Bill I'm thinking some kind of light grey wash and then sponged algae. Not real algae, just paint… oh, you know what I mean. Thanks Tony - great pics! They certainly took a beating eh? Wait until the Summer Solstice? Hmmm. I could do with some healing crystals hung from some bits though …and a bigger boat wire brush. Now there's an idea… This morning I didn't feel like more sanding so I thought 'How about 'dry brushing' some matt white'? Actually I just wiped the brush on the side of the pot and then dragged it out a lot until it seemed thinned enough. Far easier than sanding around the rigging. Getting there:

If they come out alright, I'll run a few more copies off. I've filled the former now so next step is some high build primer to allow me to polish out any imperfections. Before I do that. I'm thinking of drilling a hole where the dome goes, partly for vacuum and partly to act as a centre for when I cut the hole out

It’s been a very arid year for model making, not really had a chance to get time at the bench since July. So I have a couple of kits unfinished, but I’ve been eyeing this kit for awhile and decided it might be what I need to get me going again. First thoughts - that’s a lot of plastic, somewhat harder than the usual Airfix fare. Busy decal sheet. I’ll be building this one: I was itching to get on with it - but then a delay. Nasty little heat wave here in Perth, WA - 4 days of 40 degrees. Managed to get to cutting plastic yesterday morning. Straight to work on the cockpit, and here is where I am at after 24 hours. Shame it’s going to be pretty much invisible, rather pleased with how that has come out.

Could you pop over to Salisbury and explain this to Mrs FAAWAFU? For some unaccountable reason she thinks I just keep lots of junk in case.

Another off the bench. This P-51 is in the markings of Lt. Donald F.Jones, 360th. FS. 356th. FG. late 1944. This is a totally OOB build using Tamiya's own decals which I was surprised how well they settled down. I did this at the same time I did an Airfix one so as to do a comparison. To be honest the Tamiya build was a nicer experience. Any way enough of me going on..... on to the pic's. Please feel free to comment etc Thanks for looking Dick Oh... I got the landing gear doors the right way around this time.

Hi. Since I can't decide what to build, so I'll do a double build of SAAB J21 and J29 for this GB. 156 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr 097 by Bosse Persson, on Flickr Both in 1/48 and from Pilot Replicas /Bosse

The sea and elements definitely took their toll on materials Ced so some visual abuse is certainly not out of character... As to the whole Stonehenge/nudity project, if you wait until the summer solstice it will be: a) warmer and b), you're likely to have a large and appreciative crowd of Druids and New Age revellers all looking for something to hang their healing crystals from...

Twins, and especially twin-tail twins, are delightful machines that usually captivate modelers. I have built, as examples of the type, Amelia's Lockheed Electra: The Mitsubishi L3M1: And the Fiat BR20: What occupies us today is a smallish, yet equally handsome Beechcraft 18, that was born in the late 30's but saw ample use, service and production for many long years, on wheels, skis and floats. (Link to SDASM Flickr photostream): https://live.staticflickr.com/7185/7096827309_7b1e301e70_b.jpg That I am aware of, three kits exist of it in the only sensible scale: An old inject kit, in two versions, by Hobby Craft with a number of issues, a very nice (and venerable old) vacuform by RarePlanes; and old substandard injected kit by PM, and a more recent re-pop of the latter by Encore, with the meritory addition of resin and vacuformed parts that do their best to freshen up what looks like a potential dead parrot. I have built in the past some of Gordon Steven's kits, and I had lots of fun doing it. The builds lead to correspondence, and that to pen friendship. I miss him, the same way I miss friend and mentor Jim Schubert (with whom I had a much longer and closer friendship), because both were not only extraordinary modelers, but also, and more importantly, because both were extraordinary gentlemen, a scarce commodity nowadays. Examples of models I made from Gordon's kits or conversions: And even if I build military planes no longer -but for the purpose of illustration- here are two of the models I built from Gordon's kits: I didn't buy either of the two Hobby Craft kits, but I have all the others. I will -hopefully- build Gordon's and Encore's kits to compare them, and in the process, as usual, surely learn a thing or two (or three, or four) about the type. The first thing to be aware of with this design is, that as many others, it evolved and changed with time, and was also greatly modified by users all over the world. The type flies even today, which says something about its merits. I hardly ever go for the kit's decals, because I find boring that you have to see the model built again and again in the same way with the same finish, which to me is sad déjà vu. Therefore upon acquiring a kit I start looking for candidates, while I submerge myself in the research stage. RarePlane's kit is actually for the military version (which of course I will redeem into a civil one) and does not provide decals, but the strange thing is that the Encore kit provides both, military and civil, although the civil option, even if interesting and with what looks like nice decals, applies to a different model of the Beechcraft than the one provided in the kit, that has in real life longer engine nacelles on the top wing. This precludes its use or forces you to perform kit surgery to correct this very clumsy mistake and research overlook by the manufacturer. Furthermore, the target plane had three-blade props (NOT provided) and spinners (guess what: NOT provided), and the wrong landing gear doors. Oy vei, sometimes it seems that computers would bite, such is the reluctance to perform Internet searches by manufacturers. So I finally decanted for another plane that corresponds to the version provided with the two kits (short top engine nacelles) for which of course I will have to commission decals. I will decide later on what civil scheme will I do with the second. One of the Hobby Craft kits provides this longer nacelle version, so if you are willing to, you can interbreed all these to get what you want. However, this is not just a matter of (nacelle) size, as many other changes can be seen out there, regarding power plant, cowls, wing tips, nose, props, landing gear doors, interior, vertical stabilizers, antennas and so on and so forth. Therefore, as you can see, if you want to venture beyond drab and dull, some delicious research is in order. I used not to like research a bit in my younger years, considering it a waste of time, and (stupidly and blindly) trusting that of course manufacturers have done their homework. Ah, the naïveté of youth! Here some images of the RarePlane vac kit: As you can see, very unusual surface detail for a vac, due to the use of female molds: Look at those wheels, much better than many later and even a few contemporary injected "buttons": You can even see the pushrods on the engine: The transparencies have yellowed a bit, a common occurrence that is partially remedied with some polishing:

Thanks Ben I don't have RAL 9001 in my stash, sadly, but glad you like the new effect. What's this? A dead one of these: Has to be done once per build The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed: I've painted the anti-ice boots. They're shown on the scheme even though I can't see any reference shots of them. Hmmm. The collector rings have had their base coat of steel ready for 'heat treatment' later The exhausts have had a coat of my favourite Mr Color Iron. Note that I've also changed to the large biplane rig/stand with the rear support removed; she's better in that upside down. A quick go over with Micromesh and I think she's ready for a gloss coat prior to transfers. Then it's weathering. Or should I paint the roundels? Can I be bothered? I'll see how I feel in the morning.

There is a drawing in the maintenance manual showing the profile of of that bulkhead that the radar's mounted to: - the oblateness is quite clear. Tony Just to clarify Tony, that isn't the radome join 'bulkhead', but the pressure bulkhead (those two boxes to the right cover the rudder pedals) which is right at the base of the windscreen, so ablateness is more pronounced there. This is where my cockpit section actually starts. Sea Vixen sim by James Thomas, on Flickr I'm not proud of this shot, however it is x'actly side on and taken over a distance with a telephoto lens, so flattens things out nicely de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 XP924 by James Thomas, on Flickr

Cheers AW, I had a ball painting it up. G'day people, Today was spent on the wing. After several session of applying filler and wet sanding, I was happy with the state of the panel lines. Some of these panel lines may just be visible which I am okay with as in reality, the panel lines were not all completely invisible, especially after some time in the field, but they are mostly eliminated. The clear insert for the ID lights was installed and the various lights picked out in clear colours Now for the main wheel bay It seems that this is a very contentious area and as I do not have definitive proof of how my particular airframe was finished this is purely my interpretation based on established finishing practices and best guess - plus a little artistic license This is even before the issue of field repairs /local repainting practices is considered. It seems that NAA Mustangs had variations in their wheel well colours (if they were painted at all) based on whether the airframe was produced at its main plant in Inglewood or the second production line in Dallas. The situation is further complicated because some of the sub-components e.g. the stringers could be pre-painted so appear as a different colour to other components as that was in the parts bin on a particular day. I opted for a largely unpainted aluminium (natural metal finish -NMF) wheel bay with a Zinc Chromate Yellow (ZCY) main spar/ribs and interior green stringers. The main gear well correctly depicts the main spar as a straight item that is parallel with the lateral axis. Earlier kits, Tamiya for example incorrectly have the main spar aligned with the aft edge of the wheel well which is incorrect. This was given a coat of NMF and masked off for the application of the various other colours. Finally the unmasking! Yecccch! Even though the stringers were masked the result was just horrible. I stripped the part by letting it soak in some oven cleaner for a couple if hours. I decided not to paint the stringers a different colour on the second attempt, just the main spar and ribs in ZCY. Result! Now that the cockpit assembly and main wheel bay were painted up, it was time for the fuselage and wing halves to be joined Some of the additional parts of the fuselage like the engine cowling, nose air intake and belly intake items were also added now despite the instruction sequence indicating their addition at a later stage as it would be easier to avoid steps when sanding the fuselage seams with these items fitted, cheers, Pappy

Any good? The AP for the Firebrand is not the greatest from the point of illustrations but I did choose these as being the most useful from a modelling point of view. Martian 👽

The nose job was completed with minimal fuss. A little sanding to square up the mating surfaces and just a couple of small spots to fill. Then it was time for her overall coat of RLM63. Hopefully, decals will go on tomorrow. Cheers, Rich

The transparency is given a bath in acrylic floor polish, and minor parts of the cockpit/cabin (fire extinguisher, anchor, pedals) are readied to be glued in:

Does your Mrs know my Mrs? Ciao

Thanks Keith! The framing needs refining along the bottom edges, but I'll make sure Gator's Grip has fully cured before attempting any. Thanks CC Stencils on a Phantom are part of deal - you can't just pass on them ... Are those points in (reverse) order of importance? Seriously (maybe...) , following your line of thoughts: 1) true, many of them are, by the bare eye. However, using magnifier to pose them shows some perfectly legible stuff. Nerdy, right? 2) that is actually true to scale in this case: you can't really see many of them unless getting very up close, just like on the real thing... 3) in this case, since this model is a rhapsody of greys, I think they add some nice variations 4) me too, but I'm trying to quit that ... Ciao

Well she's not pretty, but she looks the part. After a lot of filing, sanding, puttying, filing, sanding, puttying, ... (you get the picture), I finally finished the outside shell of Brave Borderer's main superstructure, using the two repurposed Perkasa model parts and various thicknesses of Evergreen white plastic sheets. The many curves & angles offered quite a challenge. As it turned out, reworking the Perkasa model's plastic parts took the most time. In addition to having no chart/wheel house, I found BB's superstructure very different to Perkasa's, e.g the size & overall shape including the front door covers' curved profile and narrower width. I ran into a problem when filing and sanding to obtain the new curve profile for the front door covers. I needed to remove so much plastic material that the wall thickness ended up too thin to hold its shape. To fix this problem, I reinforced the underside of the curved portion with a layer of putty, let it dry, then drilled small holes in the thin area, filled the holes with CA glue, let them dry, and then sanded the areas smooth. The combination of the putty & CA glue added the strength needed for the plastic to hold its shape. The superstructure also includes two semicircular bumps, one on either side of the bridge. I found a string of 15mm diameter wooden beads at the local Michaels store. These were relatively easy to cut to the required shape (Bandsaw Steve would be pleased ). The next two photos show the build status to date. The plan is to build the bridge separately & glue it in the superstructure shell, in the hole provided. Before building the bridge & adding the finish detail to the main structure's shell, I plan on building the aft turbine air intake structure next. I'm not sure how much time I'll have to work on it over Christmas, but hopefully I can finish it early in the new year. Thanks for looking in. John

An earlier build (early 1990s) and only photographed fairly recently at the Cameron Airport, the Testors 1/48 F-104A Starfighter is a very basic, simple old model. Originally, it was a Hawk release from 1957. I love these birds and really, how can one go wrong with a type named "Starfighter"? Is that not just the coolest name ever for a jet? 😀 The rudimentary landing gear was given some much-needed detail and I used the pilot figure to add a bit of interest to an otherwise bare cockpit. The horizontal stabilizer and brake doors were covered with Baremetal foil. The kit decals were used. Several different NMF paints were used but it's been so long since I built the plane I really don't remember. Here's another look at scale models from the really distant past. A quick comparison of this kit with today's great new offerings reveals how far plastic scale model kits have come. Thanks for your interest in this old warbird!

There was no WIP for this as I was building it for my brothers christmas present. I have however chronicled the majority of the build photos in the Google album here. The kit was a simple kit, with the only engine detail being moulded as part of the Chassis. The interior is fairly simple but it is also simple on the 1:1. Both myself and my brother owned various MR2's through our younger years and continue a shared interest inJapanesecars. I asked him how he would have his ideal MR2 earlier in the year (Much earlier) and have built this OOB but to his specifications: i.e Flocked dash and colour choices. The registration is the registration on his last owned MR2 and the TB Developments logo is taken from the club we used to be members of. Its also a company logo ( i do not own the copyright but do know the owner and am attending his wedding next year....so don't see he will have an issue in its use) I am pleased with the ease of this build and the end result ispleasing for a kit that only cost me £20. Here are the photos before it was closed up and the end result. Feel free to comment and criticise, I feel the front ride height is a touch high but not worh dying in a ditch over. Thanks for looking and there are more photos in the shared album linked in the first line of this post. Coops

I was away all summer and got home at the end of October. This is my first completion since. It's the old 1/72 Airfix GR1 kit with Modeldecals. The bombs are from the Mbox Phantom. Not the most accurate kit of a Tornado but really looks the part to my eyes. ZA586 was the first Tornado delivered to an operational squadron. She was delivered on 6 January 1982. Sadly she experienced total electrical failure and crashed on Wolferton Marsh in Norfolk during a night training sortie on 27 September 1983. Navigator Flt.Lt. N. Nickles ejected safely but pilot Sqn.Ldr. Michael Stephens was killed. I don't know if ZA586 ever carried this loadout of 8 x 1000lb bombs for a 'bomb toss' or 'loft' delivery but IX Squadron did while based in Germany a couple of years later. To me, it just emphasizes what a total bruiser the Tonka was for ground attacks. Comments and criticisms welcomed. David

Ahhh done. No complaints with a kit I purchased for under $10. It's about my skill level. I'm working on my 3rd Hellcat from Eduard, and it's going to take some time! All paints are MRP except for Tamiya clear coat. OOB 'wif' based on about 5 different Hellcat pictures I printed for guidance

Don't. Say that Steve! This: - is more character-full and individual than that digital stuff I knock up. Sure, those methods let me pull ideas around in virtual space - but it don't have this 'signature' feel of your working out here, which I love. I must agree with Kirk however that you can't beat a good jiggle sometimes.

I rest my case M'lud

More detail bits going into the hull now, radio fitted, spare .50 cal barrel. flash light. some rubbed off rubber from the drives boot soles added. It's getting busy in there now, with a spare M47 reload and a few MRE boxes with the ALICE packs it should look a bit more like home for some troops on a Reforger Exercise. Cheers for looking in all Dan

OK folks, I have been multi tasking since brunch. Leaving the tail hook to one side for now I resprayed the bottom of the beast Fnar. That looks a lot better , no marks. That is going up into its box to dry while I tackle the next job... (the Raptor) All comments welcome. Simon.

Thanks for posting the link. Their service was excellent. There is no post delivery in the UAE, I rely on my mail being collected from my company's PO Box and them giving me the notification that I have a parcel to collect. The post office only keeps them 30 days then returns them. Needless to say, the company mail wasn't checked for nearly 3 months and they got returned! I emailed Interdecal and they sent them back again immediately at no extra cost. I was very impressed! A little more to add to this one today as I had an early finish at work. I got the steering wheel and instrument panel finished off, although I managed to get a blob of aluminium paint on it while painting the part I added yesterday. It came off but left a faint mark. C'est la vie..... My thoughts then turned to another part I'd not wanted to face. The radiator stoneguard. I have some fine mesh in the stash so that was dug out, and after spending quite some time trying to decide what to use for the frame, I decided on .4mm aluminium tube. I know it should be square section, but I have nothing suitable so went for the tube. This also made joining it a little easier, as after I had bent it to shape I simply pinned the bottom ends together with a small piece of .2mm rod inserted in the ends. Here are the main parts The mesh was CA'd to the frame, then I had to try to make the circular section around the badge. I rolled it around a 2mm punch and trimmed it, the hard part was bending it in a "V" to fit the mesh and frame. After about 4 disasters I had one that was usable so that was stuck on. The last bit, the centre part, was simply a piece of the same .4mm rod squashed in my pliers and CA'd in place. I must admit, I'm very happy with the result! Another dreaded job done! (I know, the wheels are still awaiting more attention....) Needless to say, handling the radiator destroyed the chrome finish so I touched up the front parts (after removing the moulded badge to add a decal) and the lower end, and I'll leave the sides and top until after it's fitted. That's it for now, thanks for looking in! Ian

Radio being painted up, again a touch of matt varnish required. Enjoy Dan

A man after my own heart I know how you feel Steve - it's not just the software but also the entirely new terminology that deters me from finding some space in my brain… It's like the 3D printer thing isn't it. My first thought when you mentioned the girder, but then… How do you scan that and design a 3D version? No idea. I bet it's one of those 'dark arts' that requires some aptitude (that I don't have) and some knowledge of things I can't grasp. Plastic works for me. If it ain't broke…

Cockpit assembled and painted. The interior appears to be a light grey colour so I used something generic and gave it a light wash to highlight the detail. Not my best work - my first attempt at painting was with a colour that was too dark, and in my efforts to cover it up I used too many coats so I lost some of the crispness in the detail. But when it's closed up it looks OK. Behind the front seat there is a transverse bar across the fuselage which also serves as a mount for the front seat, replacing the armour plate on the normal P-51D. Here's the fuselage closed up and my plasticard template for the fin extension mounted. A bit flimsy but looks the part. Now to build up the aerofoil section with more card and filler, and sand to the final shape. Justin

Hi Apex. As a partner has indicated, the Spanish F.1CE carried the Mk4 seats and the MK 6 were used by the F.1M (F.1CE modernized and painted with low visibility camouflage). Either way I understand that the MK 6 is basically an MK 4 to which the rocket ejection system was changed. Regards. Hi eclipse. I do not know if carrying it on the left side alone was on French planes or if placing it on the right side was an addition when it was modernized to M. O as it happened with the flare dispensers that some carried and others did not. Perhaps this small detail depends on the airplane and specific period of time. In the photographs that are seen in the link that has kindly provided alt-92 you can see that there is F.1M that has it on the right side and another F.1M does not have it. Unfortunately there are no photos of all the planes at all the time they were in service. Regards. Hi alt-92. Thank you for the input of information. Regards. Hi miraveiv. Well, all or almost everything is achieved with patience and delicacy. Thanks for your kind words. Regards. Hi Antonio. Thank you. Regards. And since I am here I show the small advances that I have made today. I forgot to add to the ventral tank fins some small reinforcements in the joint, which I have made with small triangles of plasticard and small circular portions obtained with a punch and die. On the sides of the cockpit I have had to seal a couple of ejection marks. I have used a 0.12 mm plasticard circle obtained with a punch and die and covered with Tamiya putty diluted in acetone that I have sanded later. On the front of the fuselage I have sealed some panel lines as well as some holes that would be for the ladder using black cyanoacrylate. In the left part afterwards I had to redo them so that the corresponding part of the ladder in photo etched fits correctly. Regards.

The frame is finished now so I'll fill it with P38 tomorrow then sand it back until the frames show through.

Gonna throw this one in too Modelsvit's new P-51H kit. Light years ahead of the old H kits but still basically a short run style kit so not expecting Tamiya/Eduard fit. To be honest i'm not really feeling any of the 4 schemes in the box..so if it get done it'll be in markings for Arizona ANG..the Copperheads... I think piecing together the markings will be the easy part on this one...lol Look for updates soon.

Hi folks, Finished this one a week or so ago, have been waiting for decent weather to get some outdoor shots, but it's hammered down everyday! I've had to photograph with the lamp so photos aren't great I'm afraid. But wanted to share and will get better photos once the weather improves. Not a bad kit overall, and was quite enjoyable throughout. I usually build gear down and bought aftermarket belts and wheels but fancied something different. The plane is painted with Mr Hobby aqueuous (which I love) and tamiya acrylics. Weathered using the salt technique top and bottom, flory models dark dirt and a touch of oils but not too much. The decals went down really well and there were no issues there at all. The only problem I had was the fact that the instructions don't match the plane in terms of panel lines etc. Bit annoying. The base I made myself. Hope the pictures show the subtle patchiness i was going for on the top. I'd appreciate tips where I can improve. Cheers

And here is the Encore (boosted PM) kit. In spite of my nitpicking I applaud the efforts behind the release of this "enhanced" kit, a way to give new life to an old kit, and, to my joy, including a civil version: Newly-printed instructions in good paper, and what looks like excellent decals: The dreaded, unfathomable, Mariana Trenches A bit less daunting on the wings. Notice that the wings have LERX (leading Edge Root Extensions) altering the geometry in plan view, so, once again, be sure the plane you are modeling had those: The added bits, vac windshield and resin substitute parts, all look good: Care was obviously put into this: The engine block has the location for the cylinders keyed, the problem is that somebody forgot to tell that to the person that cast the cylinders, which have no corresponding pegs. Sigh.... New props and exhausts, one came nicked: Plenty of enhancing resin parts shown in the instructions: