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Old model Airfix, completed with Valom conopy. The conopy didn't fit at all. Fuselage had to be extended by almost 3 mm. After extended fuselage, I had to make engine a little bigger. You know . Ordinery modeller work ,-) but somehow it worked out.

Very, very happy with how this kit has turned out considering its been sat in the garage swathed in dust and masking tape and at the mercy of the cats the last 5 years, whilst I've been in a modelling funk. The Tamiya kit is absolutely superb, one of the best kits I've ever built, the quality is really obvious when you place it next to the Kinetic and Hasegawa kits. There's 4 or 5 little bits on there I'm not happy with, but I'm happy to move on and call it done after all this time. Onto the pics. F-16C Block 30, 527th Aggressor Squadron, RAF Bentwaters, 1989. I used just a little light weathering with a MiG dark wash, these birds weren't around long enough to get that dirty. I made the intake cover using a piece of cardboard, covered it tissue paper soaked in white glue and painted yellow. Red Star came from the decal sheet. It's also a rare bird in that although it was one of the first Block 30 F-16s, which came equipped with the new GE engine, but the early ones still had the "small mouth" intake, later Block 30s coming equipped with the "big mouth" intake due to their requirement for a larger airflow. The decals are from the now defunct Afterburner Decals. I used the Tamiya metal detailing set for the pitot probes and ejection seat belts. Inspiration for the real thing to finish up with. Alas the 527th was very short lived with F-16s, lasting less than 2 years before the end of the Cold War brought about their disbandment. My collection of F-16s now stands at 5/16..... Thanks for looking

Would I have listened? if you remember, I bought a Fly kit Thanks Ced, thanks Bill Scissor links? Ced is definitely slipping up these days. Must be all that science club, scouting, and general socializing stuff he's been swanning about with - having to be polite and proper all the time and forgetting who he is when he gets back here Never seen Townsend and a Nimrod together now you come to mention it. Hmmnmnnn. Thanks Ian. I had a cunning plan for those. Thankfully I also had a plan B Which (I think) turned out better than Plan A Maybe Five? Three months? That's an afternoon for me. I order them in sets of 50 at a time I've got to be honest. The satisfaction level is not high on this so far. More of a gentle simmer than a rolling boil. Added some fishnets to the legs this afternoon CC Oh goody. Just when I needed some gee-ing up Got bored at work today and didn't have any meetings in the afternoon, so I took a few hours off. I came home fully with the intention to finish off all that sanding and get it behind me. I got side tracked. But not in a bad way. I had searched through my PE remnants but couldn't find anything in brass that fitted the bill for scissor links. I had one actual scissor link and nothing that matched it. As desperation set in I came across these 4 bits from 2 different PE sets. If you stretch the imagination somewhat you could perhaps be persuaded that on a dark night these do resemble scissor links. Being PE, they were wafer thin so I thought I could beef them up by CA'ing them to a piece of plastic sheet, and if luck was with me, even bend them in the middle without the whole thing falling apart. It fell apart! As soon as I started trying to cut the sheet around the PE, the glue gave way and the parts went ping. Plan B then. Now, knowing that I had more brass to solder on these things I thought it best to swap out the soldering head for something that would give me a bit more control. The two tips at the front were running head to head, but in the end I chose the tip at front right. Hopefully the smaller tip will transfer less heat to the surrounding area and with any luck will prevent the whole shebang from falling apart. First order of the day was to add the small bracket at the front of the undercarriage leg. Towing bracket perhaps? Or a tie-down bracket. Anyway, it's the bit with the hole that you can hardly see in this photo. The tip swap out seems to have worked as the other parts stayed together. To answer @limeypilot's question: I fully intended to use lower temp solder but completely forgot. The good news is that the smaller tip seems to have really helped in both minimizing heat transfer, and in allowing me more accurate control of the solder. The next part was a lot more concerning. See the Bracket protruding off the plastic part near the top? That isn't a great shot (forgot my algorithms again) but that is in fact a double bracket. I spent a while figuring out (a) how to make it, and (b) how to fix it in place. My first though was just to cut the plastic bracket off the leg and superglue it onto the brass, but my inner terrier kept worrying me so that idea was put aside as a last resort. Checking in my drawer of all things brass, I chanced across a length of square tube which was about the right size. The question was how to make what was essentially a "U" bracket from a square tube. Pea and ham - from a chicken? The answer was quite simple -using my trusty old hacksaw, I cut into one face of the square which you can just see on the right hand end of the square tube shown here. The hacksaw blade thickness wasn't quite enough to fully remove all the material needed so a few swipes with the three square file and all was sorted. Then I had to file it to shape - see? Maybe this shot is better Success so far, now all I had to do was solder it on the u/c leg. I prepared the leg by filing a flat where the bracket was to be positioned. The parts were tinned then clamped together by tweezers while I touched a drop of solder to each side of the bracket. Again, not a great photo but the bracket is now firmly solder in place with zero chance of ever falling off. Progress was being accomplished and I was happily surprised by how well it was all going. A quick dry fit to fuel up the mojo. I breathed a sigh of relief at this point because in my haste to make the u/c legs, I had completely forgotten to check the fit of the kit part and had blindly used the kit part as a template for my brass version. Now all that was left was the scissor link. Photo's of the Venom undercarriage are like the proverbial hen's teeth but I did eventually find a small handful - though none showing the scissor link. In the end I just blagged it and created a small angled thing that when in place, is going to be well hidden and that no-one is ever going to see. Good enough for me. The ends were shaped with a rat tail file to better fit onto the u/c leg Trying to make two of them was a bit more difficult but perseverance won the day. By this time my satisfaction gauge was nearly at full. The curved ends were tinned and as before, a quick couple of touches with the soldering iron locked them in place. Then just to top it up, I tried it on one of the wheels. That's better. I'll be able to sleep peacefully tonight. The parts still need a good clean up but that won't take long. I'm also considering filing off the bend of the scissor link and soldering in a small piece of rod to replicate the hinge but I haven't fully convinced myself on that yet - we'll see. There's still a little bit more to do on the legs yet if the photo's I have are to be trusted, but the day is at an end, and I need a break after all that concentration.

Back in 2016/17 my father built a fully loaded Israeli hotrod too as adversary for the Iraqi Su-7. Like with the Fitter, also took some new pics to pay tribute to my dad´s model. Hasegawa kit (VA-55 A-4E/F), decal sheets for Ayits are no longer available or at least hard to get, therefore had to use different sources, the stencils are from the kit, the roundels from the Hobbycraft A-4E/H kit, the numbers from an Isradecal number sheet and the squadron badges from Isradecal Mystere sheet. Gunze H310/312/313/314 for the camo, Quickboost seat, Snakeeyes, MER and LAU-3 rocket pods from Hasegawa weapon sets. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235009478-yom-kippur-opponents-2nd-edition148-su-7bmk-vs-a-4e/page/2/ The model shows an aircraft of IAF Squadron No.116 "Flying Wing" during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0024 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Thanks Stephen, very kind of you I have some graphic experience so I watched the video and the guy says that you can only convert plain graphics rather than photos, but you got me thinking… I've fiddled with some software before and, although my graphic design skills are limited, I had a go in Inkscape - no conversion there. BUT it (and you) gave me an idea - if I import the image into Silhouette Studio I could mess around with the trace option AND use the cutter to cut out the panel shape - not the dials, I'm not that silly (quiet at the back there!) and maybe make a 'cleaner' image too. More on that later. I've sanded the bucks this morning. Gently. With Micromesh pads. It was all looking good until the last stage when I decided to brush some water over the (now shinyish) buck and that's when the 'filler' came out of some places. Rats. Here's where we are now: Now, as this is an experiment I think I'll try pulling those and see what the effect of the dents and bubbles is - it'll be a learning experience and I can fill (again) and try again. That way I can learn how lazy I can be what quality the buck needs to be with my kit. I also started on the greeblies with 'the thing on the back in front of the tail rotor: Quite satisfying but heck does it do your eyes in. The main problem is keeping everything square, but tiny trimming helped. While I was punching out the round bit (cutting rod this small with a scalpel flattened it and sawing would give me a rough edge) I noticed this: Option B for the i/p? I'm at that stage where I have various techniques to use so I can chop and change to keep the mojo going. Best to make a list so I don't forget (I won't update this here all the time) To do: Greeblies on Stbd front Panels (front, port and top of tail) Internal cockpit i/p seats controls boxes Engine bay Rotor head Folding mechanism Undercarraige Scary!

Hi all, First finished kit of 2020 for me - Trumpeter's big, bad Bearcat! Built OOB apart from Eduard seatbelts and wire brake lines. Used MRP and Hataka lacquer paints throughout with Colourcoats enamel for the details. Here's the (limited!) build thread: Markings were painted using Montex masks - first time I've used these and they were a real revelation for me. Will definitely use again! The other decals (not many thankfully) were the kit's. The kit is pretty nice to build - the usual seam lines everywhere, especially around the wing roots and cooler intake mouths, but the clear parts were excellent both in clarity and fit. The kit gives you a fair bit of open-panel detail but sadly doesn't make the detail fine enough to make it worth opening the panels! A bit hit and miss for a Trumpeter kit, this one manages to really capture the shape and lines of this beast of a fighter. Not a classic kit by any means (it builds, in the words of @gingerbob, like a 1/48 kit blown up to 1/32 without any of the finer details you'd expect in this scale) but it's a 1/32 Bearcat and Trumpy should be applauded for getting the shapes right to enable a good-looking and imposing result. Altogether, the kit is the only game in town if you want a big Bearcat and it's pretty good. For the price (£40-odd) it's very good. Also highly recommend the Montex masks and MRP paint for ease of use vs great results. Hataka Orange Line paint was okay but needs a lot of care and attention to get the paint:thinner ratio right. Thanks for looking in, Alan

Hi All, Here are some shots of a model I finished a while ago. It's Great Wall Hobby's 1/144 Vulcan, shown after it's emergency diversion to Rio at the end of Black Buck 6. I'm sure you'll be aware that the Black Buck missions were flown against Argentinian forces occupying Port Stanley in 1982. The recovery to Rio was an outstanding piece of airmanship, that you can read about HERE. It's posed on a simple base, with Preiser 1/144 NATO figures to represent the crew. There's a full build log in the 'Completed Models' page of my blog - www.latibuliser.com Thanks for looking in, Gareth

WIP here: Thanks for looking Rob

just finished another Airfix Hurricane.... I have to say that I think the Airfix 'new-tool' Mk I looks less like a Hurricane than ever when not in RAF markings. There is something in the shape of this kit that does not quite look 'right' - the canopy and fuselage spine seems to be too high which 'deceives' the eye into thinking the fuselage is too short. Possibly. The only view that looks more or less 'correct' is from above. However the details are nice - cockpit, undercarriage, wheel wells, exhausts - and this is a big improvement on the 'old-tool' of course. I have still to build my Arma Hobby kit. Perhaps soon. New build in Finnish markings from the Xtradecal sheet ..and two previous builds below that..

Hi all I've finished the new Tamiya kit of the Panzer Mk II and I've almost finished its diorama which i'll be posting up shortly. I enjoyed the build, the tracks were a nice intermediate step between going from rubber banks to the link by link that i'm currently working on my Bronco A13 Mk IV. Unfortunately I've got a lot of silvering on the decals and I'm not sure why. I'd gloss coated and used micro sol/set products as per normal and all seemed fine. I then applied a matt coat and started doing some oil weathering and then all of a sudden the decals started to silver really badly which has spoilt the model. It does look worse in the pictures and I think when the model is sat in the diorama the overall effect looks good and its only when you get up and close that you notice. I was struggling to get the decals on the turret to conform round the hatches and had applied several coats of micro sol but the Tamiya decals seemed very thick. This is also the first time I've tried to muddy up an AFV. I used some MIG pigments and washes with a soil/pva mixture and roughly based the amount of mud on this picture: Anyway, 2nd AFV complete and more lessons learnt to be applied to the A13:

Hello all, Spent the best part of 6 months putting it together and experimenting lol!! Hope you all like!! Sorry for all the pics but there is ALOT of ship!!!!!

Hi All, Recently finished my MENG Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther Ausf. G1 (1/35) with a few extras, metal barrell and fruilmodel tracks. The figures are from Evolution Miniatures. Would definatley recommend them. The thoughts behind this one is the end of war period and they are veterans of many battles so the tank is beaten to bits but still ploughing on with their task. The weathering is a little OTT to try and get that feeling across. To be honest I got a little sick of it near the end but that may be because I have the modelling concentration of a 3 year old and I'm always thinking about the next build. Anyway Enjoy. Simon

woohoo, #2 paint is on!! Masking so far has been a breeze, one tiny mistake which will be covered by the next colour. This pale brown/fawn looks so much better on the green. The next colour will be the darker grey/brown, I was still concerned that it still didn't look right, but I found the colour I needed to add to get it right.......my pale brown/fawn mix!!!! Added a touch or two to it and it now looks perfect. So I just need this current coat to harden more before more masking. Gosh I wish I was using Mr. Paint lacquers!! In the meantime I'll start prepping and priming all the small bits.

Mike Grant? Thanks Guys - I have some of those! Certainly an option It has to be better than my print idea - see: 7, 8 and 9mm wide prints on the Canon. Are they any good? That'll be a no then. In other news I decided that, if I'm going to glue the internals in, I'd better make sure the canopy fits so I've done the scariest bit so far: Phew. Needs a bit more fitting but at least I know the fuselage width is OK so I can glue in the metal and fill around the gaps.

This is AFV Club's Valentine Mk.I. It's one of a number of models that I manged to complete over the last 18 months or so but have just got around to photographing. I enjoyed this build nothing was really added to what came in the kit apart from AFV Clubs workable tracks. Painted with MRP paints and weathered with Mig pigments.

Here's a very interesting film that shows arrested landings by Martlets, Swordfish, Seafires, Albacores, Fulmars, and others. Note the Martlet with the pitot mounted on the upper LH wing, which was characteristic of the early examples. I hope the footage is new to many of you. Mike

Thank you Bill - I'm certainly learning a LOT! Thanks Johnny I was in two minds about the VF machine too but I needed a bit of retail therapy. Good fun but not essential unless you need to mould lots of canopies and bits of plastic. You could put the voucher towards a MARS 3D printer? I've decided to build on the kit internals (rather than skin them) so they've been glued in with 5min epoxy: I took some (very) rough measurements of the internals: …and drew a paper template: I dry fitted this to the bay and adjusted as required. I dithered over making the 'tray' from bits of plastic glued together or brass sheet and decided on the brass as it can be bent to shape and wiggled. What thickness though? Chose the .003, stuck the paper template on and cut it out: Of course it doesn't quite fit. Hmmm. Lunchtime!

Just as well I haven't got on to the wing extension area yet or there would have been a lot of profiles to undo.... 😁 Once seen &etc. - how often is there some fugitive feature of an aircraft that we can never unsee again? Thinking of renaming this thread the Borough of Camberwell... A Belgian chocolate Sea Vixen with fuel tanks full of Chimay - the perfect Christmas gift CC! Time for what has become of late the weekly update. This more ore measured pace since Christmas due to having the hand forced by work has turned into a good discipline for focussing on understanding the aircraft in greater depth, though not sure if this could be graced with the name of a 'build' at present but rather a piece of ongoing research in shape and form. Out for a walk yesterday with Mrs. B in what promptly got dubbed Man o' War woods, for obvious reasons: Sun writing pictograms on moss with shadow: The extraterrestrials have been here for millions of years in truth and still they watch us from their tiny spaceships in the woods: Rivers swollen and much flooding in places around us - when in doubt always send the missus on ahead to check for alligators... Some more preparatory work was undertaken in respect of arriving at a stronger mental map of contours in the current section of the aircraft: Nothing like observations of this kind to make you realize that an aircraft with as many blended contours as the Sea Vixen is never going to render down to simple linear outlines due to the changing morphology! Another issue requiring attention due to interface of wing with airframe is the wing chord itself: Image credits: I've amassed so many images without remembered attributions at this stage that if one of these above and below is yours and you wish it removed, am happy to do so. One of the things slowing me down in this phase has been reconciling wing chord and incidence with the aircraft itself. Allowing for differences in viewing angle in the photographs above (both vertically and horizontally), my understanding thus far is that the wing chord should match the centreline extending from tip of the nose to mid-section of engine exhausts show here: If I'm clear about this then there's something awry with Special Hobby's interpretation of this alignment - the trailing edge of their wing root arrives at the exhausts much higher than this: Subject to correction then, this would be my current interpretation of chord line with centreline: In previous attempts I'd place the rib profiles higher and at a more acute nose-downward angle. The same arrangement viewed from the front reveals that I may need to revisit the height of rib 2 in relation to the extent of lower dihedral being formed with rib 4 outboard of it: Horizontal placement (in relation to chord length) I'm confident about with those ribs but vertically I want to be certain about height and angle of the chord line before begin to draw profiles out from the fuselage to join rib 2. Any criticisms/suggested revisions therefore welcome. Goodness but I do admire this aircraft! Tony

thanks.........I'm going to tease with the photos and only show each stage with the masks still on!!! I've now done the third colour and I'm wrapped!! My blend looks almost perfect to some of the photos. Though the masking is getting more complex, this one took over an hour, I still have the final one to do, it'll probably take longer, but so far the results are almost perfect, no touch ups required yet! I'm deliberately keeping the finish a wee bit patchy as I've now worked out the boats with the 800 series numbers are the earlier models, the 900 series number boats seem to be updated with different machine guns/ bridge window surrounds and a few other minor details. So this will give her a bit of age, another thing I've now noticed is that some of these boats have had partial re-paints!!! On that reference photo I posted of #911 you can see the front section of the bridge structure and radar are a completely aren't to the rest of the boat or the hand rails! Plus you can see the pale blue around the windows. This is a more resent version, plus it now has Nav lights on the side below the second bridge window, these are not present on the #800 series boats. Also notice the reflective shades drawn in the side windows. Anyway, here are the latest tease photos......you can see the colour match is actually pretty close.....looks much better in real life. Fingers crossed I'll have finished all the painting on the hull by tomorrows update!

If you think I will be drilling dozens of holes down the stems of hypothetical ladders, miladdo you have earned the right to have another think 😀 They look about one inch across in real life, one seventy secondth of an inch here in scale is not going to happen But very funny, have a banana

Goodmorning everyone I continue the construction of this kit, anticipating that unfortunately it needs a lot of putty in areas that are difficult to sand, more or less I solved the problem by using different types of Mr Surfacer in several passes; I begin to show the two main parts of the fuselage and the correct exhaust drain after the suggestion of Christer A. The delta wing is very beautiful and already from an idea of how massive this plane was Joined the wing to the fuselage and added the drift, the appearance now looks more like an airplane, the piece on the left is the 30mm Oerlikon KCA gun. Look in this photo for the many small fills I was talking about, it's always a short run! Good quality, but always a short run At next....... Ettore

I was up late and bored so I descried to take care of the little bits...undercarriage, glass, exhaust, darker panels...and I have a funny story too! That's shadow on those flaps, not a darker tone NMF, although there is a darker NMF there. It's not that dark! So...the story goes like this: I am inserting the starboard exhaust set-up and it is pretty tight. I have the piece gripped in the off-set tweezers and suddenly...sproing! Off it goes into the night! Well, I will tell you, I searched high and wide for that damn thing. I emptied the work bench trash and sorted through it. I checked beneath the bed (small flat); I crawled along the carpets for 30 minutes. No luck. I resigned myself to making one from scratch--can't be too difficult, right? And I put my hand to my chest and...there it was! The little bit of glue on the piece had made it stick to my t-shirt while all the time I was on hands and knees and in the rubbish. The gods of modelling had a good laugh at that one I am sure! Well, all's well here and the exhaust was fitted properly. Phew! Time for some decals I think! --John

Giddey This Heller kit is the best tanker/oiler model ever produced. I bought it at ebay 15 years ago for 100€! It is sold now as package with a aircraft carrier and an escort vessel. i bought this one too - to build the civil version. regards Andreas

My second and final build for this fun GB. Many thanks to the Mods for a fine job and everyone for their fine modelling. It has been inspiring, to say the least, to be included among you! So, here is Airfix' new P-51D kit in Uruguayan markings. Aside from the primary decals, it is OOB except for the scratch-built radar teardrop. Vallejo and Vallejo Air...Lots of fun. Now I must bow out. I hear a couple of Spitfires revving their motors across the pond in Scandinavia! 😉 --John

Morning all, More fettling required just to get the canopy/windscreen to sit correctly: The windscreen sat too low so some plastic strips were added to lift it up and also provide a far more effective attachment point. Everything aligns better. The canopy masked and nose blended in roughly, a few bits and bobs to add around the airframe and it'll be primer time and see where remedial filling and sanding is required. Getting close to the make or break with this one......the splinter camouflage!! Cheers, Mark.

An important part of the process is to ensure the two mating surfaces have been mechanically cleaned. A quick swipe with a fine file, or scrape with a scalpel blade, should suffice. Apply the flux, pick up a drop of solder on the tip of the iron and apply to the parts. Most of the etched metal kits I build have been assembled in just that way. Mind you, as the others say, there is no one correct method. In electronics, the iron is touched to the component where the joint is to be made, then the solder brought to the work. That doesn’t always work in the modelling world. Another factor is that modern solders have much lower lead content, and don’t "flow" as nicely as the old stuff. That’s fine for electronics and industrial use, but hopeless for hobby work. I’ve managed to stock up on the old leaded electrical cored solder, and now have enough to see my modelling days out.

Good morning Glynn, Craig and Robert. Thank you very much for your interest. As I mentioned; this project may have a bit of a slow start but I made sure I got the sprues out this morning to give them a wash in warm, soapy water. And while they were drying I took a some photos of the contents of the box. The box lid of the kit I'm going to build: All the content of the box except the instructions: A few closer views: I noticed this though: Annoying but not a big problem. I will try and glue it but if that doesn’t give a good result I will replace the column with some wire. Clear parts: Decals: And finally a sample of the instructions: My intention at the moment it to try and make a bit of a start on this, this afternoon. I'm currently doing some weathering on my 1/48 Abrams. Kind regards, Stix

Thanks Adrian. The gap is not blocked off at the back off the desk, except for the end piece of the computer desk. So it's easily accessible and I can smack the tile monster when needed! Cheers Terry! Thanks Alan, it is a little similar but also very different! The gun mount has been fun....see below. As alluded to above, I decided to attack the gun mount today. The rotating drum part was first glued in with Gator Grip, the I dug out the Miniworld gun and associated bits to see how they would fit. The first thing that struck me was that the mounting is not a straight run from top to bottom. Having sat and pondered that for a while I decided to solder a T-piece onto a length of .04mm (16 thou) brass rod then solder that to the mounting supplied with the Miniworld part. It would be a lot easier to explain with pics, but guess what? My phone was hungry! All went well until I tried to separate the new assembly from the original lower part of the mount. I clipped off the old mounting while holding the new lower mount and was greeting by the all-too-familiar "click...tick, tick, tick..." as it disappeared off somewhere. I had apparently soldered the lower part of the replacement mount to the old one as well as just attaching it at the T-piece, so when I snipped the old mount off, the solder sheared, and off it went! Amazingly I found it very quickly and decided to give the clipped part a quick file to smooth the end. Off it went again, this time into oblivion! I then spent at least 1/2 hour either searching for it, or just sitting thinking about what I was going to do next. Leave it and go for a beer was top of the list for a while. Then I looked at one of my file pics and realised that the bracket supplied by Miniworld wasn't right anyway, so I might as well start again. So I did. One piece of .04mm rod with a small bend at the end. Another piece soldered to the small bend. Ha! Caught the phone off guard this time! Then a cross piece added at the bottom as the swivel mount.. (that pic shows it later on with the chain guard added - a piece of 10 thou by 30 thou strip). That also ended up being done twice because the first time I soldered it as a butt joint on top of the cross piece. When I realised that it should be in front of the cross piece, I touched the iron to it to melt the one joint and everything fell apart, so I had to start again, again! Here's how it looks dry fitted It won't lean that far forward when finally fitted, there will be a small gap between it and the front of the rotating drum mount. Then I had to make up the mounting for the gun. I decided on a piece of brass bar and cut a notch into it with a razor saw. The edge was then filed down to make it as thin as I dared. After clipping it off the bar I filed down the other edge to give me this That was then CAd to the bottom of the gun. I used CA as I didn't think I'd be able to solder it on (I still don't!) Anyway, here's what I have now The top of the mounting in the previous pics will be CAd into the slot in that part to mount the gun. Hopefully it will be strong enough as there shouldn't be any pressure on it. That little lot represents about 4 hours of my life that I won't get back. Oh well, at least it's done! Onwards and upwards! Thanks for looking in! Ian

This will be my entry for the group build: Specfically this aircraft: 'White 11' which flew with the 72nd Mixed Regiment, Northern Fleet Aviation, Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR (VMF) in the summer of 1941, this regiment was tasked with protecting shipping and particularly the supply convoys coming from the Western Allies to the ice-free port of Murmansk, There are a couple of famous photographs of this aircraft with the Russian ace Boris Safanov standing in front of it, but it was in fact the aircraft of Senior Lieutenant Alexander Kovalenko - it's just a hunch, but I feel that Kovalenko's aircraft may have been chosen by the propaganda photographer as a backdrop for Safanov because of the "For Stalin!" slogan on the side which might have seemed politically expedient at a time where there wasn't that much in the way of good news for Uncle Joe. Here's what you get in the box: Only four sprues, including a small clear one. These cover the fuselage parts: ... wings: ... engine and interior parts: ... and the clear parts, including a clear instrument panel: ... and the transfers, which look very nice indeed: Incidentally the slogan for the starboard fuselage side (which I think reads "Death to the fascists" or something of that nature) is presented here horizontally, whereas in the Eduard 1/48 kit the same aircraft is shown with the same slogan on the starboard side but with the first word above the second, rather than to the left of it. I mention this only out of interest, as I haven't been able to find a photo of the starboard side and if Eduard are correct there is little I can do about it, In the year or so since I bought this kit I have also accumulated a bit of aftermarket; Aires resin wheel set: ... the Aerocraft brass undercarriage legs (not so much because of the weight of the model, which I expect to be negligible, but for the fact that they come as one part so require no assembly and are all set at the right angles): The HGW Seatbelt set: ... and somehow, two mask sets, although the Russian set does include masks for the instrument panel dials too: Finally, I sorted out my paints - the Soviet Warplanes website was as usual invaluable; I will be using these colours: AII Green for the topsides, AII Blue for the undersides and A14 Grey for the interior parts. Apparently the underside blue was also a permitted colour for the interior in the case of repaints, and I think that is the cockpit scheme for one of those New Zealand I-16s which looks very fetching but I shall go with the grey anyway. So I think that's about me ready to go, sorry for the long preamble and thanks if you made it this far Cheers, Stew

My first of hopefully several builds in this GB is a 1/48 Hunter T.8 using the Airfix F.6 kit and Aerocraft conversion. It'll be a Royal Navy aircraft (obviously!) using one of the four schemes that come with the Aerocraft conversion - there are 3 in high speed silver and dayglo orange, and one FRADU aircraft in light aircraft grey and dayglo. I'm leaning towards the FRADU scheme. Here's what you get in the Aerocraft box - a pretty comprehensive set of resin parts, with a bit of PE: First job is to cut the fuselage and top wing parts to fit the resin parts. The cuts aren't on panel lines so careful measuring (measure twice, cut once!) was called for. Here it is with everything test-fitted together: All quite a good fit except for the panel in front of the fin which was splayed out a bit - hot water and careful bending sorted that out. I've decided to get the airframe done before tackling the cockpit - there's inevitably going to be some filling and sanding to be done so best to get that out of the way first. So I've started by assembling the fuselage and top wing and adding the forward fuselage, tail pipe and upper panel: All fairly straightforward so far. More tomorrow. cheers Julian

Johnny Horton, you don't know what you've started! I bought this set back in 2011, cost 28 Euro. It seems like only yesterday. Actually, it seems like only yesterday when I first "built" the Bismarck, circa 1978. I built it again in 1984, but I've never built any of the other kits. It's a pity Airfix never added more ships to the original "Naval History" range. Surely a KGV/PoW kit, and another of Rodney, would both have been sure-fire winners? Almost all the parts (nearly 300) seem in good condition. These kits are going to be built mostly out of the box. Some parts may have to be thinned (masts, some guns). The first task will be to cut the Bismarck hull down to size, which could take a while. Basically, I'll have to remove the base, and maybe a small bit more. I prevaricated over what to build, but I didn't want to renege on my original commitment to build something "floaty". I thought about the Airfix Belfast, but as someone else is doing that, I came back to this set. Other candidates included the Revell 1/700 Tirpitz, and even the ancient 1959 Revell HMS Victory. In the case of the latter, sanity eventually prevailed, and I put it back into storage. I also thought briefly about the Heller 1/400 KGV, and even the Trumpeter 1/700 Hood (1941), which is actually a considerably more complex and detailed kit. The Heller 1/400 Jean Bart and Richelieu were both briefly considered, but they are going to be kept for the proverbial rainy day, or more likely retirement. Ditto for the Revell (ex-Otaki) 1/350 Missouri. I'm not committed to any other Group Builds for the next few months, but I do have plenty of other "in progress" kits (and then some) that need to be completed. Between that and the fact that I rarely build ship kits nowadays, this set seemed the sensible, if somewhat conservative choice. If time allows, I may add another kit to the build.

Hello, here is the German destroyer Z14, I used several kits for: resin superstructure from Iron Shipwrights 1934a destroyer, Zvezdas Z17 hull, armament from trumpeter kits, White Ensign PE sets. It took 5 years to build it! Thank You for looking Cheers Andreas

Here is another pair of Sweet 1:144 General Motors FM-2 Wildcat VIs I built back in 2007. Builds were OOB with just the wing probe being added from wire. They were both painted by brush with the final varnish being airbrushed. First: Wildcat VI JV640/"O", of 881 Sqn, HMS Pursuer, Fleet Air Arm, in Southern France, August 1944 during Operation Dragoon, the first combat use of the Wildcat VI. Secondly: Wildcat VI JV851/"J3-V", of No 794 NAS, Fleet Air Arm, Eglinton, October-November 1945. As always, thanks for looking Miguel

We've already got it. It's finally been announced after years of wrangling over scale and marking options. In fact, many people argued passionately that there was no need for the kit at all. But an equal number of people were thrilled to see it finally cleared for production. So far all we've seen are low quality test shots, but already it looks like it won't live up to all the hype. In fact the new Brexit may well prove to be a lot harder to put together than previously thought. I've seen a leaked copy of the instructions - they're incomplete and rather baffling. And I think the makers have taken huge liberties over accuracy. But if you're the sort of person who likes a challenge, you'll love it. The finished version is supposed to be on the shelves at your local stockist at the end of December, but frankly I'd take that with a pinch of salt. And when you do finally get to open the box, don't be shocked at how far removed the finished product is from the artist's impressions in the catalogue all those years ago.

You've offered more than enough in advice and insight by this stage of my modelling forays that I'm just grateful not to be paying consultant's rates Alan! Thanks James. Amended now: Clumsily-worded on my part - I should have been clear in saying ' extending the chord line of wing out along the longitudinal axis of the aircraft to show angle of incidence' (in this case 0).... Understood - dihedral of 2.2 degrees starting from centreline of rib 2: No possible way I could sell any finished result here James as it embodies the work and insight of so many others - not least of all yourself! Whilst tidying-up this evening it occurred to me that I actually need to double check my figures with the regard to the ribs I've been adding. I started this version of the design with the main length and wingspan of the aircraft mapped onto the plan in order to provide overall contraints but need to keep a close eye on the components as they're added. Luckily the maintenance documentation gives explicit dimensions for rib 4 at the wingfold as 1'6" in height. Converted into mm at 1/72 and mine's pretty much bang-on. Phew! More heavy weather tomorrow so let's see if the power stays on... Tony

Thanks for the kind comments. Cheers Joel, the techniques are almost all stuff I've picked up here or on other forum's. I barely stretch the Uschi line; it only has to be just tight enough to not sag so that it looks tight if that makes sense Bit more progress; Bow waves installed - if that's the right word? Cotton wool encased in clear acrylic gel (thanks Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies for the advice). They'll be blended into the sea with white at the next stage; Clear Acrylic Gel applied to the sea; Rigged the boat boom which I keep forgetting to do; Admirals flag fitted; Cheers Nick

I keep forgetting to photograph this one. Since my last post I've completed the airframe and got some paint on. The silver is Tamiya AS-12 and the dayglo orange is Lifecolor - horrible stuff which clogged up my airbrush! On to the decals tomorrow. thanks for looking Julian

Just finished - the excellent 1/72nd injection moulded kit of the Russian Myasischev M-55 'Geophysica' from the Ukrainian firm of Modelsvit..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myasishchev_M-55 http://www.geophysica-eeig.eu/10ym55/khattatov.pdf It isn't the best model I've ever done - due to my clumsy errors - no blame on Modelsvit.... Modelsvit is to be applauded for producing such an unusual subject ... may they long continue. The kit is superb - I just wish I could have done it better (don't look too closely!) Here it is on the carpet - next to its predecessor - the single engined M-17 'Stratosphera' also by Modelsvit...... My thanks to Modelsvit for providing the kit The WIP discussion is here- https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235062294-m-55-geophysica-from-modelsvit/&tab=comments#comment-3474147 Ken

Giddey to all! The Lancia 037 is the best RWD rally car ever built! Lancia was one of the most innovative car companies. I am a Lancia fan, and it is really a sad story what happened to them. Chrysler and Fiat smashed the label. Here some pic`s of my second build Lancia 037, the late "evoluzione" version. More Info about this car? look: https://www.girardo.com/car/1984-lancia-037-rally-evo-2-group-b-2/ Want to see them all together in action? Klick here: https://youtu.be/mXgWWNJVdYA thanks for looking! Regards Andreas

Tamiyas kit, built (more or less) right from the box - I did swap the tyres from the RoG La Ferrari which are the same size but a lower profile. Paint is all Tamiya and all from rattle-cans - Grey Primer, then White Primer then Pure White and finally two light coats of Pearl White, all sealed in with two coats of TS-13 Clear. I used Tamiya three-part polish to bring-up the shine but due to my questionable photographic skills that doesn't show in the pics (d*mn*t). Interior is very dark grey and 'wine red' - my own mixes and I'm really pleased with the final look. Realised immediately after taking the photo's that I'd forgotten to put the exhaust tips on, so please don't mention my 'deliberate error' - as I type this they are now in-place ! Last word is the badges - self adhesive enamel that were sent to me by BNA Model World in an order from a couple of years ago 'just to try' - they're superb and I've no idea who the manufacturer is so when they're used-up that's probably it. Thanks for taking the time to look and / or comment, have the rest of a great weekend all, best from NZ. Ian.

In 1984 pilot Lieutenant Pete Mitchell and RIO Lieutenant junior grade Nick Bradshaw set out on a BARCAP mission from the USS Enterprise somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. Short after takeoff they got radar interference from what appeared to be a single unidentified aircraft vectoring the CAG. Mitchell and Bradshaw radioed their wingman Bill Cortell, callsign "Cougar" to approach the incoming aircraft for a visual ID. The fighters approached head to head and by the time Mitchell and Bradshaw, also known for their callsigns “Maverick” and “Goose”, could visually identify the aircraft it became apparent that what had appeared as a single aircraft was actually two MIG-28’s – a brand new aircraft type at the time that had never before been seen that close to a US carrier group. Just after the intercept Maverick piloted his F-14A Tomcat in a hard left turn and got behind one of the MIG 28’s. Shortly after turning in behind the MIG he got a missile lock on it that resulted in the MIG bugging out of the fight, turning home to North Korea/Russia. The second MIG had by the time managed to take advantage of the sun to sneak in behind Cougar and his RIO Sam Wells, callsign “Merlin” to get a missile lock on their F-14A Tomcat. Desperately calling Maverick and Goose for help, they tried to shake of the hostile MIG 28 with short turns to left and right, seemingly without any positive results. Maverick and Goose who then turned up trailing behind the MIG was unable to get a tone on the highly agile F5 E Tiger. Confident that the MIG would have already fired on Cougar and Merlin and that the Russian/North Korean communist pilot was just messing around, Maverick and Goose decided to “have some fun”. They then turned in with the MIG inverted in a four G negative turn to end up about six feet cockpit to cockpit with it. Goose managed to snap a picture with his polaroid camera while Maverick who had one hand on the stick used his other hand to give the MIG pilot “the finger” causing the him or her to bugg out of the fight and return to North Kore/Russia. After the events described above Cougar went into a shock state of mind and was unable to communicate with his RIO, wingman or anyone else. This led Maverick to boulter with two wheels on the carrier deck, causing a flood of grins on CAG commander Tom “Stinger” Jordans face followed by a cascade of expletives over the radio. After skidding across the carrier deck with, full afterburner, despite Gooses nagging about not having enough fuel to come back, Maverick went up side to side with Cougar to calm him down and talk to him. Maverick then direct Cougar to land his bird successfully on the carrier in pitch-black darkness. After their own landing Maverick and Goose was ordered to step into Stingers office, just to receive a truckload of expletives. Despite the truckload Stinger could not hide the fact that Maverick and Goose had been picked out for a prestigious school in Miramar, CA, called “Top Gun”. On march three, 1969 the US Navy established an elite school for the top one percent of its pilots. Its purpose was to teach the, at the time, lost art of aerial combat and to insure that the handful of men and women who graduated where the best fighter pilots in the world. Today, the Navy calls it Fighter Fighter Weapons School. The school is more commonly known as Top Gun. This is a work in progress of what is going to become a Top Gun movie theme diorama with aircrafts. First out is the almost ready #114 F-14A out of VF-51, made available for the filming of Top Gun. The aircraft was severely beat up before filming and had a lot of touch up paintwork over several panels. The model I used is Tamiya F-14 A Tomcat with some photo etched parts and Fightertown decals. What could be further improved? And what should I build next? I'm looking for the best available F-5 E Tiger II in 1/48 scale - got any tips? And also A-4 E in 1/48 - which one to go for? /Fredrik

Hi, everyone. It's my second model from "Wingsy kits".

Here is my finished Revell 1/32 Bf109G-6 converted to a G-14 as Blue 62 as is shown on Barracuda decal sheet The complete build can be found here: As you can see i have added the drainage of the MW50 glycol tank Here among my other beauties... Hope you like it, please feel free to comment anything you want!! John

Well! That was fun! I had never built a Mustang before this GB and now I have built two and interesting markings to boot! The Uruguayan Pony is finished. I have not weathered it and I think it looks very nice as a clean build. I don't think it saw huge amounts of combat anyway. I could be wrong. The decals are a mix of the LF sheet (rudder and roundels) and registration numbers supplied by Ridgerunner. The LF set were too small for the space. I also ;ft off the logo, seeing as I built #265 and not #252. So this is not Lt. Jorge's aircraft, but rather another mount from Grupo de Aviación No. 2 Caza. I'm not upset about this. Paints are all Vallejo and Vallejo Air. Nice Airfix kit with good detail and few complaints. Next to the Swiss P-51B... The rest are in the gallery! --John

As wind stopped play (no tittering please). I got the hairy stick out. Main U/C bay. Paints. Outcome. A was will bring this lot out. And this view. A few bits to add before decals and varnish. All comments welcome. Simon.

I finished this model some time ago and only now got around to taking pictures. It’s the Airfix 1/72 rag-wing Hurricane in markings of 73 Sqn in France, May 1940 from the Xtradecal sheet.

Some more progress to report. The painting's finished and I've started on the decals. I printed off some red stars to replicate the over-painting of the US markings. Quite by chance they don't fit perfectly and this gives them a bit of a hand-painted appearance - so a result! Cheers

Masks off. Just a few touches needed:

Ah, good point Andy on this tiny thing I've mixed up some more plaster stuff and splurged it on the bucks - I'll sand it tomorrow and show photos then. Meanwhile, next steps are probably either the cockpit or the engine bay: I'm more familiar with scratching cockpits so let's see what's needed. Here's The Generals version (scroll down a bit). He's drilled out a piece of card and put some rod in the back where the instruments poke through with the intention of using decal dials later. Hmmm. I might try to cheat and print out a photo of the panel: Right, do you see those two shapes in the top left hand corner? They're sized versions of the drawing and photo. I reckon they're about 7mm wide. Here's the kit part: Not sure where that should fit but it's not the right shape or layout. Here's the scaled photo: OK, I need to fire up the Canon hi-res printer but you see the problem - it's tiny! How Melchie made his I'll never know. I think I need to sleep on it…

Little bit more done and thats it for a few days, back on duty all weekend, tried to replicate the stowage from the B&W photo, not bad at all, cheers Mark