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  1. This is US Navy Sea King SH-3D, BuNo 152711, affectionately known as "Old 66"--the helicopter that recovered the crews of Apollos 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13. (Screen capture from Apollo 11 documentary by Todd Douglas Miller.) (Source) I've modelled her as close as I can get to her appearance at about 07:55 GMT on 24 July 1969--as she was being towed across the deck of USS Hornet, with the Apollo 11 astronauts on board, towards the elevator on which she'd descend to the hangar bay: (Screen capture from Apollo 11 documentary by Todd Douglas Miller.) My starting point was the Hasegawa 1/48 SH-3H, combined with an instruction sheet for their rare SH-3D version, which used most of the same sprues. I added CH124 short sponsons from Belcher Bits, carved a chunk off the tailplane, removed various lumps and bumps, filled in a window, and scratch-built various details--the sea-anchor cable, the fore and aft cameras and their mounts and cable runs, the SARAH yagi antennae on the sponson struts and their cable runs, the retainer sling for the main rotor, and a few other minor bits and pieces. The wheels come from an unidentified resin set a friend fished out of his stash. Also present but not particularly visible are a set of QuickBoost seats and Eduard cockpit detail that I found in the Hasegawa box after I bought it on eBay. I used the Starfighter decal sheet specific to this aircraft, combined with some bits and pieces harvested from the Hasegawa decal sheet, and some decals I printed myself to provide the yellow tape on the camera cable runs, and the yellow stripes on the rotor blades. (The Starfighter sheet and instructions are very good, but are wrong in a couple of details when compared to photographs of the aircraft.) Thanks are due to andyf117 and Ex-FAAWAFU for keeping me right on various points, and to JayBee for a very useful reference photograph. Build log is here: And a closer look at the camera and winch detail around the cabin door:
    41 points
  2. Hey all - this is one I finished just after Christmas - I bought this as a present to myself at the NZ IPMS Nationals - and a very nice present it was too Built 100% out of the box - it's a beautiful kit - as good as you've heard - though I would go for after market decals if I was doing it again - As always I really struggled with the Tamiya Decals - so after this I've promised myself that I'll never use Tamiya's kit decals again... lesson is well and truly learned. Thanks for looking Cheers John
    34 points
  3. Hi all - so just finished this up at the weekend - The newish Airfix Hurri Trop in 1/48 - The kit was okay - good in places and quite tricky everywhere else - but for the cost, it's not half bad. It did need alot of filling and sanding but managed to wrangle everything into place in the end. I added an Eduard "Big Ed" PE set which included interior detail for the cockpit, landing flaps and painting masks. I riveted the wings upper side and bottom and used after market decals (DK Decals) as I wasn't confident I could pull off the kit scheme! But I like this one better - it depicts V7544, F/O J. Storrar, No. 73 Sqn RAF, North Africa 1941. I went for a very weathered airframe - so it might look over the top and won't be to everyone's taste - but it was another experiment where I tried a bunch of new techniques, some of which came out okay - All I know is that the vast majority of reference photos I looked at show some very battered examples so I tried my best to replicate it. I had trouble with the forward air scoop which I wasn't able to figure out how to fix but apart from that I'm happy enough. Comments and criticism is welcomed - thanks for looking Cheers John
    27 points
  4. This is the special edition of the Hasegawa kit, which includes some white metal parts for the 20mm cannons, flame damping exhausts and the different antenna for the top of the canopy. As usual the Hasegawa kits go together without much fuss with the decals and detail being just fine for this scale. I did add some seat belts to the kit though. The aircraft depicts one of Nachtschlachgruppe 9 in Italy that carried out night harassment raids against the allies. Camo was done free hand.
    21 points
  5. This was the last Schneider Trophy Race before the start of WW1. Finished this one in time for Telford last year. Cheers All Joe M Stick & String Rule O.K. IMG_20190115_221007 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20190115_220958 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20190115_221015 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20190115_094535 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr
    18 points
  6. Here's my completed Nagato. I used Flyhawk's photoetch set, searchlights and AA guns from Veteran Models, rigging thread from Infini. There's a work in progress here, and a mixture of indoor and outdoor pictures below.
    15 points
  7. 1/72 Airfix C-47, Air America, Bangkok, Thailand 1971 Anything, Anywhere, Anytime, Professionally. Air America was a covert operation run by the CIA which delivered items, goods, people and whatever else was necessary to places that the US Military could not openly go. Built using the Airfix D-Day C47 Skytrain kit. Airbrushed using Tamiya acrylics and lightly weathered using Flory dark wash. Wolfpak decals for the Air America scheme. I am delighted with how this has turned out - better than I imagined. Cheers gang, Phil
    15 points
  8. Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter MkIF, R2069 ZK-A, No 25 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, September 1940 Born of an improvisation by the Bristol design staff, where the Beaufort torpedo bomber design then under development was adapted in short order to provide Fighter Command with a long range heavy fighter, the Beaufighter first flew in July 1939. Of all-metal construction, save for the fabric-covered control surfaces, and with a crew of two, the first production Beaufighters were powered by two Bristol Hercules XI radials, developing 1,500hp when using the new 100 octane fuel. The Beaufighter MkIF was visualised as a night fighter, since the airframe was shown to be capable of carrying the bulky Airborne Interception radar being developed in 1940. Initial deliveries were made to Nos 25 and 29 Squadrons of Fighter Command in September 1940. R2069, the subject of this build, was photographed shortly after delivery to No 25 Squadron, which was flying the rather inadequate Blenheim MkIF at the time. No 29 Squadron, however, was the first to be fully operational on the Beaufighter. As originally supplied, the first production series was only armed with four 20mm cannon under the nose. Later, six Browning 0.303in machine guns were installed in the wings, four in the starboard and two in the port. Nos 219, 600 and 640 Squadrons were also soon equipped with the new planes. No 640 Squadron is on record for the first Beaufighter victory using the AI MkIV radar, when a Junkers Ju88 was shot down on 19 November 1940. Once the concept of Ground Control Interception was added to the on-board radar equipment early in 1941, the early promise of the Beaufighter as a night fighter was fulfilled. The Beaufighter went on to many greater things during the course of the war, of course, but seeing an early version sporting the RAF's temperate land scheme camouflage is a nice change and definitely fits into my 1940 theme. Although I already had a Beau MkIF in my collection, I wasn't happy with it. It was a High Planes short run kit, and presented me with numerous problems which took me a long time to overcome. I was quite pleased when I spotted the Hobby 2000 kit on the market. The kit was vice free, originating as it does in a 1990s Hasegawa boxing. The parts were cleanly moulded and flash-free, and fitted together well. The kit included a sheet of four different sets of markings, printed by Cartograf, covering the Mks IF and IC in a variety of theatres and a set of vinyl cut masks for the transparencies. I made one or two modifications to the model. The cockpit was detailed a little further. I filled the under-wing cartridge chutes as I wanted to show the aircraft as delivered in September 1940, before the wing guns had been fitted. Additional detail was added to the engines, representing the support struts for the exhaust collector ring. The model was painted using Xtracrylix paints, with details painted using Humbrol acrylics and enamels. Final enamel satin varnish was from Phoenix Precision Paints. WIP thread is here:
    15 points
  9. This was the last American biplane airliner and was a direct development of the Curtiss B-2 Condor bomber. The airliner model was completely different, 45 were built in five versions. The first aircraft was delivered to Eastern Air Lines in 1933 and the second to American Airways four months later. It was a good plane and it looked like it had a great future ahead or itself. But, and there always is, it had the misfortune that a revolutionary new aircraft arrived on the scene, the Douglas DC-1 and the rest is history. Production stopped in October 1934. It gained its place in history because of its association with the 1933 Byrd Antarctic Expedition. The aircraft were operated by the Chinese, Peruvian, Colombian and Argentine military services. The kit was originally released in 1954 by the ITC company as a float plane for the 1933 Bryd Antarctic Expedition. When the moulds were rediscovered in 1988 ,Glencoe released a wheeled version with two extra decal options. The second bag contains the Glencoe parts for the rereleased kit. The extra options are for the one on the cover of the box, American Airways 1933 or a 1938 Argentine Navy. I have found one or two reviews on the kit and none of them are very optimistic, with twisted fuselage / tail assembly also the new set of lower wings seemingly don't match up very well with the older upper wings. Looks like another load of filling and sanding, filling and sanding, filling and sanding, filling and sanding. I thought that this one might be a bit easier that the Vickers Veron Commercial, looks like I thought wrong. Some reviews mentioned that the replacement half to the lower wing was not great and was a bit undersized. Also the original kit was designed for floats and not wheels. So basically the 'new' replacement half is (1), too narrow in cord and (2), short in length. This is with both sides of the engine attachment points lined up correctly. You can clearly see how its too narrow and short! I did a mock up of the aircraft, just taped the fuselage together and dry fitted the lower wing. Besides needing a fair bit of filler I was truly amazed when I looked at it. It looks like a very modern for the time monoplane. Its hard to believe that there is another biplane wing to be fitted above the fuselage. Cutting a long story short ( I don't want to bore you all) ended up building a new upper wing. Some photo's of the finished kit. IMG_20190415_142409 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20190415_142400 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20190415_142907 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Cheers Joe M
    15 points
  10. Hello modellers, Today I would like to present you my new Mistercraft 1/72 Shenyang F-6 of the Pakistan Air Force. I bought three of these 4 Euro kits as I wanted a North Vietnamese MiG 19 for my Vietnam collection. But I liked the camo scheme of the Pakistani machine and the combination with western Sidewinder missles. As you can imagine, the kit is quite basic and a lot of scratchbuilding necessary to archieve a good result. I started with the non existant cockpit and added a cockpit floor, instrument panel and side consoles from styrene sheet. Intake trunk and exhausts were extended and new wing pylons for the missles modified from spares box parts. The new ejection seat and pilot came also from the spares box. Several improvements were made as landing and navigation lights, gun barrels from hypodermic needles, pitot tube from brass tubing and silver rod, a brake chute from round plastic sprue. I also modified the tail fin to achive a more realistic appearence. The canopy was very thick, almost old Matchbox style, and seemed a little to narrow, so I vacuformed a new one over the slightly downsanded original part. The model is a bad tail sitter and as I underestimated the amount of nose weight, had to re-open the intake area to add more ballast. This meant the undercarriage had to be strenghtened with metal rod. Except for the roundels and stencils, the decals were self printed. All paints and clear coats used in this build were Humbrol enamels. For the panel lines I tried a Vallejo wash, the rest of the weathering was done with oil paints and pastel chalk as usual. The chipping was applied before the first coat of gloss clear coat with a silver pencil. Glad to have a Shenyang/Mig19 in the collection and hopefully you like it, too. Mario httphttps://imgur.com/h4Cp7CIs://imgur.com/h4Cp7CI
    15 points
  11. Thanks folks, yes, I am pleased with the paint job. Not so much the model. An Osprey? nah... sticking with my 28 Sqn theme Jason, I use Alclad grey primer (I prime everything - always). I tried their black primer on the Wessex but it kept peeling off so I'm back to my tried and trusted grey primer. I've been using it for years and it always does a good job. The colory stuff is all Testors Model Master. I use mainly acrylics but had to switch to enamel for the Grey and the PRU Blue. The dark green is still acrylic though. I like the tone of Model Master RAF Dark Green. Thanks Chris - it's looking a bit better after today's foray into paint land. You're right Massimo. After Fly I really needed a quick win. This is definitely not one of my best but if nothing else, it's got me back into the swing of things now. Never a truer word spoken in jest as they say. Thanks Graham. It was pretty straightforward work though - just some tubes cut to size and a bit of drilling here and there. Coloring in. Yes, that's the fun part, or one of the fun parts at least. However before you can color in, you have to pay your dues to the Gods of Masking. They can be demanding masters they can. Masking this up for the PRU Blue took me well over two hours. Those twin booms were a real pain in the boom. And two of them at that. I decided to chance my arm this afternoon and decided to try masking just where I needed it. That of course meant that I had to try and be in control of, and reasonably accurate with the airbrush. Not one of my forte's. I opted to have the camouflage wrap around the leading edge ever so slightly - mainly because it save a load of hassle trying to figure out how to mask the intakes. Whether it's accurate or not is neither here nor there. Just finding a photo of a 28 Sqn Venom is hard enough - try finding one that you can use to determine paint demarcation lines! HA! Just to be on the safe side I did tape some polythene around the nose area -just look at all that unprotected paintwork! Living on the edge that is. The MM PRU Blue sprayed very nicely. It's not a color I've used before but I do like the color. (I couldn't be bothered masking the wheel wells - I'll hand paint them later - carefully! The masking did it's job. I should have mentioned that I used Aizu tape (1mm) to lay down the edges, then followed that up with Tamiya 6mm or 10mm depending on what I was covering. The Aizu is lovely to use - you can get it to wrap around compound curves quite easily to give a clean edge, and just block in with the heavier duty tapes later. All that hard work with the tail booms paid off in the end. Nice neat lines. I thought they were going to be problematic but weren't too bad at all. There were only a few very minor touch ups required, such as the exhaust and a couple of other small areas. After all that was done I had to mask up again to get the rudders painted black - Black Rudii Since I was on a roll, I decided to keep going and get all the major areas painted today - that meant I had to mask up yet again in order to paint the wing tanks. This time MM Insignia Yellow. These were a pain to paint - the tip kept drying on the airbrush and I'd only get a few light passes before having to clean the tip again. What flow improvers/retarders do you guys use? I currently have Vallejo flow improver but I'm not impressed with it at all. If I put more than a few drops in the paint it seems to separate the pigments so I can only get away with two or three drops and it does not seem to improve the flow one iota. I was looking at Winsor & Newton but there appears to be more than one acrylic flow improver and I wasn't sure which one to get - any suggestions? Anyways, - yellow tips With a nice clean demarcation line. Zoom zoom around the room There's still a few bits to paint, such as the tail boom bump stops, wheel bays, lights to add, stickers to stick, and leading edge slats, u/c doors etc, but I've broken the back of this Venom I think. To keep the mojo topped up I stuck the undercarriage in place to see what it looked like... (need to paint the tires again) Now remember that lead weight that I stuck in the nose before I closed up? That BIG lead weight that I could only just fit in there with no room for anything else? Well, guess what? It's a tail sitter!!!!!! Oh yes, it's a tail sitter. If anyone ever makes one of these and gets it to sit on the undercarriage as God intended - please let me know how you did it, cos there's no way I could get any more weight in there That's about it for this episode folks. I'll leave you with these parting shots just cos I took 'em From the front it looks darned decent. I'll let that paint cure for a day or two then get a gloss coat on it ready for the transfers. toodle pip and all that
    13 points
  12. Another Mini Art 1/35 Cierva C.30 for the cabinet. ‘XR’ was leased to the Gonzalez Byass wine company back in the mid 1930’s for a UK publicity tour. References for this model have been a little thin on the ground to say the least and the model is based solely on the testimony of two rather grainy black and white photographs. The tail and ‘Jerez’ decals were home printed onto white decal film, the rest are from Xtradecal lettering sheets or the spares box. A few problems - spent hours without luck trying to find a suitable font for the lettering so they are a bit of a compromise also I think my home made decals are slightly under scale. I’ve also found the Experts Choice white decal film a little opaque. First time with home made decals so it’s a bit of a learning curve. Having taken pictures of the model I’ve also just realised the wheel hub covers still need to be fitted - useless, can’t get the staff! One last note - I noticed the other day a company in Spain (FC Model Trend) have released a set of replacement weighted wheels for the kit - looking forward to them arriving! Love this kit- hope it’s of interest.
    12 points
  13. Hi all, here's one I finished a few months ago that was published in last months issue of Airfix Model World. I didn't need much persuading to get back into one of my favourite aviation related modelling subjects, namely Cold War Soviet-era jets. This is Eduard's superb 1/72nd ProfiPack Edition of their MiG-21MF Fishbed J finished as a Polish Air Force machine, based at Mierzecice circa 1990. It's an excellent little kit, superbly moulded with crisp surface detail and high-quality Cartograf decals (including an impressively large sheet of stencils). It suffered a few anomalies though, such as a couple of panel lines that just seem to end suddenly, deformed RS-2US 'Iron Pig' missile centre bodies and a somewhat hybrid nose shape (somewhere between an MF and a bis) but these were easily dealt with. The editor wanted the kit built as OOB as possible although a couple of aftermarket parts I had in the stash, did manage to creep in. These were Armory's ARAW72049 resin wheels, which were certainly an improvement over the simple and treadless kit parts and Mini World's A7267A metal pitots (long PVD-7 and the smaller back-up probe) to replace the kit's somewhat chunky and accident-prone parts. Both were beautifully detailed with the PVD-7 having extremely thin blades which saved time trying to fit the tiny individual Eduard PE items. Talking of which Eduards own pre-painted PE set for the cockpit and seat parts speeded things up greatly. A few scratch built parts were also added in the form of replacement canopy supporting strut and additional lead wire main-gear hydraulic lines. The model was finished as usual using a mix of MRP lacquer paints and AK Interactive Xtreme Metals metallics with the limited weathering applied using heavily thinned Abteilung502 and Wilder oil paints, AMMO MIG pastel powders and ground graphite powder. All in all, a relatively simple, quick build, (five days) that was a lot of fun made easier by the excellent fit of the kit parts and some invaluable help from my good friend and MiG expert extraordinaire Gabor Szekers (Ya-Gabor). After finishing this one I'm now looking forward to getting hold of Modelsvit's F-13 variant... Cheers, thanks for looking and hope you like it... Melchie
    12 points
  14. Hi, Just completed the 1/48 Academy F-15 im 32 TFS markings. Fitted with aftermarket ejection seats, exhausts and fod covers. Decals by Daco. Built was ok, but some trouble with the air intakes. Mr color paints and flat coat. Need to get a wider backdrop and a proper camera. Thanks for watching. That's all, back to my Thunderflash again...... Regards
    12 points
  15. Oh, hello? I think it’s finished. The vinyl masks came off without too much drama. My Maskol dabs on the wingtip lights weren’t quite so successful, but will just need a spot of paint retouching when I am in the mood. I decided not to worry about the odd little antenna-type masts on top of and underneath the nose. It meant drilling holes in finished paint, and that rarely ends well. I guess I should have fitted them before painting it! A tiny amount of weathering powder for exhaust stains, a bit of dust around the wheels and undercarriage, and a couple of drops of thinned black to add some depth to wheel well mouldings and stuff, and I think this is ready for RFI. I’ll do a proper photo setup this evening.
    12 points
  16. ...Well now.... ...after loosing our last cat - Lucky - in a trafficaccident - we swore, we would never get a new cat. We've kept that promise.....until now..... Who could stand for this... Let me introduce to you - Money Penny - Mis(S) Money Penny! She's 7 years old and we got her off one of my wife's colleagues. We've decided to keep the name - just because it's cool to be able to introduce her as: Money Penny - Mis(S) Money Penny! Cheers Hans J PS Mis in danish means cat
    12 points
  17. Afternoon, Finished the Arma Hobby 1/72 Hurricane Mk.1 (mini build thread on here). Thoughts - excellent kit, great fit, nice surface detail, Masks & PE included, no real drawbacks! I’m told the scheme was probably only a planned option, but I went with it anyway as I’d had the masks cut for the insignia. I can’t seem to settle on scale at the moment, I’ve recently re found 1/72 and these are the only ones I’m likely to keep as a collection as others are generally too big to have hanging round, but I’m generally disappointed with the end photos as this scale never really pings in close up shots. That said, I do like them in the flesh! I’ve bought a pile of 1/72 kits but now I’m not sure! 😂 Anyway, here she is... Happy Sunday! Guy
    9 points
  18. Done!!! Would like to add a few notes; 1) Chin grills are decals. I sanded down some of the detail while contouring the nose so decide to fill in the grill and make a decal. 2) "01" is a cut stencil from my silhouette cutter. Once again the colours of the pictures are a bit off. All the colours are not that dark on the model.
    9 points
  19. Despite unfinished builds all around me, I could not resist the temptation to join this GB, with this long time stash resident ! This is a placeholder until later on in the week, when I can post pictures of the contents Good luck everyone Cheers Pat
    8 points
  20. This is my first RFI in over a year, in fact it's my first model in over a year. I thought it would be an easy build to help me get my modelling mojo back. Couldn't have been more wrong, what with warped wings and fuselage sections to disintegrating decals. I think the kit goes back to the 1980's and the tooling to the 1970's so hardly surprising. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the colour call in the instructions, dark olive over light blue or the positioning of the Soviet stars on the upper wing surfaces rather than the lower, but I'm certainly no expert so I trusted the box art.
    8 points
  21. Hi all This is the lovely Airfix 72nd scale kit. Built almost OOB apart from some sealtbelts and I added brass rod on the Pitot tubes to replace the moulded Kit part. I have realised that I forgot to add the Gun site post on the top of the front fuselage and add a small amount of chipping on the spinner. The wingtip lights are from the spares in the Arma Hobby kit as I am building a Mk1 in Royal Navy colours which is a lovely kit too. Weathering has been kept light as modelled in a fairly new condition. The model was brush painted as usual in Humbrol enamels. I apologise for the quality of the photos, I used my phone as my camera is broken. An enjoyable Kit Thanks for looking in All the best Chris
    8 points
  22. Hi There, Just a couple of quick pics of The Angel Interceptor. There is a little remedial work to be done as The Halfords Appliance White has set like concrete and I will have to sand some lumps down where some of the masking was. It's gone with my nephew to his display cabinet as he fell in love with it. I'll work on the stuff I need to do later. Many thanks to @PhoenixII who kindly supplied the decals from the newer issue as the ones in my kit were completely shot. Cheers, Alistair
    8 points
  23. Junkers Ju 87D-8 Nachtschlachtgruppe 9, Italy 1944 Hasegawa kit in 1/48
    8 points
  24. Right fine OK No sorry not you lot just a carry over in my head (dodgy place to lurk by the way) about stuff Anyway, time for interior additions Look please The fixtures above the seats, does anyone believe there is even the slightest chance they would have diagonal shoulder straps fitted to some of them? I cannot convince myself so unless the jury delivers a response tonight it is going to be lap belts only for the brown jobs I have been racking my memories for colours of seat belts in the sixties, my first flight was courtesy of 8AEF at Shawbury in '62 This was not a difficult thing to remember, whitey grey for the chute with a 'twist before hitting it' latch and blue with a simple twist latch for the seat belt This is understood but in August '62 my ATC sqn were at RAF Colerne for summer camp and very long duration flights in HP Hastingses I have a vague memory of odd lap belts in grey fabric with square lift to release latches, does this jibe with anyone else's knowledge of the times I am not sure whether the helicopter pax would get 'twist to release' blue belts or something less exotic [WILL THE COLLECTIVE VOTE NOW] Grey almost airliney or blue definitely RAF crew belts? [ ] [ ] I was not going to but now am, fit the upper channel up in the ceiling but no way am I fitting ninety five ribs across the roof The channel will fill the eye enough me reckons One or two seats to adjust and a few more bits to hang on the walls but this is basically awaiting YOUR input please Will the loadie have belts? Must do mustn't he?
    8 points
  25. Well, I was originally going to do the model with red intake covers. Right up until some little oik suggested I try making the intakes. This of course nagged at the Martian brain until I at least had to have a bash at it. I has taken me all day, that's right, al £*%$("g day to make just one side! I did adapt the idea suggested here in that I have fettled the mesh so that it is detachable to allow for painting the intakes. It goes without saying that there is a blurglecruncheoning awaiting said oik, once I have remembered who he is, for putting the idea in my very suggestable mind. First technical question; what colour was the intake mesh on Lynx? Anyway, I hope you like the result of today's efforts, guess what awaits me on the morrow? Thanks for looking Martian 👽
    8 points
  26. Hi All, This year I took part in the Christmas KUTA held by the Irish Branch of IPMS. I had not taken part in one of these before but it was a good excuse to take something off the "shelf of shame". The catalyst for this was a set of Artic decals I purchased a few years ago at SMW Telford. I decided to use the old 1963 Revell kit of the Fokker D.VII. Its not a bad kit considering its age. It equally could have been a Revell Nieuport 28, Airfix Hannover CL.IIIA or the Airfix Roland CII, all of which were started many moons ago and are on the shelf of shame. After the war a number of these were converted to two seaters. The decals supplied were for one that was used by Texaco with what I thought was an eye catching colour scheme. Initially I had begun to modify the fuselage to take the second cockpit and there I stalled until the KUTA. This was the starting point. IMG_20191216_210311 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr The Kit. IMG_20191216_210126 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Artic Decals. IMG_20191216_211330 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr An old Roseparts interior designed for the Revell kit. IMG_20191216_210558 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr The engine and exhaust just had to be replaced. Luckily I had an aero club one in the spares box. IMG_20200119_122649 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr The interior with the Roseparts cockpit fitted for the pilot and a front cockpit scratch built from bits and pieces. IMG_20200122_164817 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20200122_165351 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr The main 'N' struts were sanded down to a more acceptable size but at this stage I decided that the rest of the struts would have to be replaced with different sizes of plastic rod. IMG_20200127_172602 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Engine ready to be fitted. IMG_20200129_103440 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr in place after modifying the fuselage. IMG_20200129_104841 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Beginning to take shape. IMG_20200203_165351 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Replacement undercarriage struts along side the original. IMG_20200205_001102 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Replacement struts. IMG_20200205_001301 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Up on her tootsies, IMG_20200206_093624 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Prop ready. IMG_20200206_154546 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr The finished product. IMG_20200209_235737 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20200209_235749 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20200210_000631 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20200210_000613 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr IMG_20200209_235835 by Joseph Moran, on Flickr Thanks for looking. Cheers Joe M Stick & String Rule O.K.
    7 points
  27. Hi all, Finished this last night but still working in the base. It's a great kit of my favourite WW2 tank. Happy with most of it apart from the sandbags which started off a really nice dusty sand Matt but after weathering and highlights, went glossy 🙁 Tried several Matt varnishes including micro and Tamiya. Neither worked. Will try some others later. Will work in the poor photography and display.
    7 points
  28. This model started life as a venerable RarePlane* vacuum-formed kit, and was converted, with some modifications, into an air show stylized machine. New engines and props, full interior -with restroom, and many other details like diverse antennas and lights were added to bring the standard just a tad higher, redeeming its destiny from tired out-of-the-war-mill, to splendorous crowd-awing aerobatic apparatus. The step-by-step account of the transformation can be seen here: The necessary masks and decals were commissioned from Arctic Decals and were to their usual high standards. This model was built in parallel with another civil conversion of the same type using the Encore half-hearted re-pop of the original PM kit to make an American Airlines plane, and it was an interesting experience comparing the quality, engineering, behavior, and potential of both. I must say that both kits have their uses, but my heart inclines towards the vac, that although being a much earlier effort, has much more to it than the not very well rendered iteration of the injected-cum-so-so-resin-bits sister kit. Still, a great pleasure is found in playing with these old kits and honing those skills with a frill or two, and much is learned, and much is enjoyed, plus the endeavor resulting in not so common renditions with a bit of extra pizzazz. The model represents a present time aerobatic machine used on air shows.Not all kits can be used to portray this particular airframe, only the ones with the shorter nacelles and without the kink (LERX) at the wing roots. *Before his passing, I sustained a very lovely exchange with Gordon Stevens, talking much about kit-making, aviation and life. Wherever he is, I hope I made him proud with this, his creation.
    7 points
  29. Junkers Ju 87D-5 Stuka Kit: Hasegawa Junkers Ju 87 D-5 Stuka (09053 / JT53) Scale: 1/48 Paints: Vallejo Model & Air Weathering: Flory Models Wash, MIG weathering products, oil paints Good solid kit, had a lot of fun with the weathering and making this thing worn. WIP thread:
    7 points
  30. Some more progress. I wasn't crazy about the plating on the BBS wheels, so I stripped it off in some bleach and then primed: Then painted gloss black and then Alclad Chrome: The rim still isn't as smooth as I'd like but it feels a bit less like toy chrome now. I've painted the centrelock gold and added a black wash to give it some more depth as well. I've also finished the clearcoat and sanding and polishing of the body and am pretty happy with the result: I've been sticking with the Mr Color GX100 Super Clear lacquer and I like how it has what feels like a scale thickness. I've been working on the interior as well and still have the detail painting to do on the body trim and door handles but it's coming along. Martin.
    7 points
  31. You may be right about the re-arming - but it’s not relevant to the model, since that process is in the past at the point I am depicting, regardless of where the torpedoes were loaded. I’m less convinced by this “forward range” theory, however. I’ve read every account I can find, including Jock Moffat’s - a couple of them are quoted at some length in the early pages of this thread - and no-one mentions the strike being ranged anywhere other than in the usual position; Woods in particular describes in detail how the FDO times the take off runs with the pitching of the ship and that it was something of an act of faith on the pilot’s part because he starts the roll pointing down at the sea. With 15 aircraft - every airframe that was airworthy from 3 Squadrons - on deck the first aircraft are not far from the island as it is; if you range them midships then the strike leader is going to be well forward. One thing you emphatically don’t do in extreme weather is completely change your SOP. Edit: whichever account you’re remembering, it certainly wasn’t Jock Moffat’s. At the end of a long discussion about whether they should launch the second (i.e. post-Sheffield) attack with contact or influence pistols, he starts “The Swordfish were brought up from the hangar [which strongly suggests they’d been armed down there] and I went out via the ladder on the starboard side. The weather was atrocious. On the flight deck, out of any shelter from the side gallery, or by the bridge, the wind hit you like a hammer, threatening to knock you down. The flight deck was still heaving and the visibility was very bad. The deck crews were really struggling with the aircraft, spray was coming over the side and waves were breaking over the front of the flight deck.... The rigger was not quite as boisterous as he normally was. A lot of stokers and other deck hands had been gathered round the aircraft to make sure they didn’t slide about, particularly as the ship turned into the wind. As the ship turned broadside on to the sea, there was a real danger that she would roll so heavily that the Swordfish would slide sideways. Standing close to the propeller and turning that heavy starting handle was going to be a tough job on a day like this. The FDO, Commander Pat Stringer, had a rope round his waist and was lashed down to the flight deck so that he wouldn’t get blown overboard. He was 6’4” tall and in a very exposed position. A lot of the deck crew had the same trouble with the wind and the pitching deck but had to be able to move about. Stringer was a life-saver that day. He would signal to start the take-off roll when he sensed that the ship was at the bottom of a big wave, so that even if I thought I was taking off downhill, the bows would swing up at the last moment and we would be flying above the big Atlantic swell rather than into it. I felt that I was thrown into the air, rather than lifting off, and I was struggling to control the aircraft while the wheels were still on the deck, watching for a sideways gust that might push me into the bridge... [since Moffat’s was one of the first flight of 3 to launch, that means he can’t have been starting his take-off run ahead of the island]. There is an old aviators’ mantra: “there is nothing so useless as runway that’s behind you”. I’m sticking to my original plan.
    7 points
  32. Hi everyone - some more minor updates - the nose has had some more sanding and smoothing, and some details have now been added to the forward fuselage. The fairings behind the cylinders were hollowed out, the under-nose radiator was made with a couple of layers of fine mesh, lacing is etch, and the rest of the bits and bobs were made from plastic. Still some tiding up to do around the gun vents before I mount the lower wing, but getting there slowly. Cheers, BC
    7 points
  33. Great pic James, thanks! Hi everybody, here's a propre update. I modified the IP to somewhat resemble the T4 version, so I drilled some additional holes in the top PE part and used it as a template to mark where to put gauge decals on the bottom PE part Then I realized I forgot to modify the top part of the IP, so I went back to it and added two more holes Then I posed the decals, raided from the spares box And here's the final outcome, glued to the backing plastic plate and suitably painted (it also received a dark grey drybrush and a W&N matt coat by brush - BTW @CedB I'm sold on this stuff, it's just great!! Thanks for pointing me there Time for some prepping on the tub: first off, using a razor blade I removed the instructor's throttle panel, because the kit shows the T5 configuration then I re-located it in the middle of the tub, in between the two control sticks To set it at the right-ish height, I placed it over a 4 layers 0.5mm styrene sheet support I then added the back plate and once cured, I added some solder and copper wire to make it look busy - I had no actual ref pic to go along, so it's kind of an artistic license here ... Time for some black paint: Tamiya Flat Black, thinned with cellulose and airbrushed at around 1 bar same for the seats and the inner side of the fuselage halves BTW: does anybody know what the color of the intake inside should be? Speaking of intake, I also started working on the pointy thing protruding from it, actually the back part which also contains the front wheel well: there should have been a locating support for the front wheel strut, according to the instructions, but there actually was none. Here is my attempt at rebuilding it, plus some ribbing re-instating after clean up Once the two halves were glued, I added a 0.5mm small styrene plate, with a suitable hole drilled in it I think you can spot some blue tack holding it in place while the glue is setting. The radar cone also received some attention: it didn't look pointy enough to me, so I added some CA+flour to the tip and filed to shape Better, but I think it still needs a bit of TLC. Last thing for the day, I glued the wing halves The fit wasn't bad, but there's gonna be some work to tidy up the seams - oh well, it's all good fun All comments welcome Ciao
    7 points
  34. This is my first 72nd scale ship build and the most detailed ship to date. As i am not to familiar with building ships, i am taking my time with this and i am intending follow the instruction sequence rather than jump around as i might do with armour or aircraft. I don't usually get referance boks for subjects i only have one kit of, but i have made an exception with my larger ship kits. The kit itself cost me nothing, being a gift from a good friend a few years back. But i made up for that with the AM. The Griffon premium set contains 14 PE frets, resin parts, metal barrels and torpedo's and a few other things. I got 2 Peddinghaus decal set as the boat i want to do, S-205, is not covered by one of them. Also an Artwox wood deck and some sea mines from CMK. I started out with the mounts for the railings on the main deck piece. I didn't have much spare time Thurs night so didn't want to get into anything to intricate. Then over the weekend i made a start on the bridge. Main piece i needed to work on was the RZA 5 torpedo sight. The kit piece lack detail and is totally wrong, and the PE only added a couple of bits. This is what it should look like, from the Squadron book. And this is the kit part, this being the upper portion. Notice how it narrows at the top. And the lower portion is part of the front of the bridge. On the real thing, it would extend lower down below the bridge floor. That whole piece is replaced by PE. So i cut out the bit i needed and attached it to the upper portion. I also filled out the side with some styrene sheet and added a bit of PE. I then finished it off with some PE and scratched some detail with styrene and PE scrap. The hand wheel on the rear is from the PE set, the one of the right is made from 2 spare wheels from one of my Luftwaffe ladder sets. I put 2 together to give it some thickness. I finished off with some wireing. This was one of those things when you have to know when enough is enough. I could have spent a whole day adding tiny details and it still would not have matched the real thing. I think this looks enough without going OTT. It was then fitted to the bridge floor. I then got the front and sides of the bridge fitted out. And then the armoured front to the bridge/wheel house. So the bridge is now ready to be primed and painted on the inside. I'll do that and then put it all tofgether. There is some slight cleanup and a few parts to be added to the outside, but they can be done later. Enjoying this so far, still a long way to go.
    6 points
  35. The Mighty "JUG" P-47 Thunderbolt by Academy 1/48 Hello and welcome to a build I have always wanted to build. I have loved the P-47 ever since I played this. back in the day at the arcade in Cradely heath. ( part of the royal cinema )😀 I have never had a P-47 in the stash or known much about it but I picked up a dank old kit last time I visited "Parabellum" in Birmingham's Jewelry quarter. the box looked a bit war torn but the picture on the cover had me smitten. 🥰 what a picture!!!!!!. 😇 I have been gathering info all day and have started some work that I will post up later as I gotta walk the hound right now. I do hope that you will join me on a Jugtastic adventure that will definitely involve some photo etch, some scratch building and a whole lotta fun. 🤩 Take care and See ya'll later on for some update action. All the best and as always. Happy modeling. Johnny
    6 points
  36. Hi Guys, She sure look like a Jaguar. I really like this Japanese aircraft. Building the model was fairly easy, the kit is bit dated and the decal yellowish but it was simple kit and fun to build, there weren't many issues, the air intake part was little difficult to joint so dry fitting before is a good Idea. Hasegawa has come out with few version of it, mine was the dual kit and came with some nice markings. I choose this grey one, and painting I used Tamiya, white and black mix and match the gray tones. I will keep it short and end here. Thank for watching Cheers.
    6 points
  37. Good evening everyone, I trust you're all having a rather splendid Monday and that the weekend went as well as can be expected. The 262 is complete. 😃 She was a great little build that has kicked off this year rather nicely. ( I must finish that bloody robot thing too ) Any hoo here are a couple of shots with the canopy masks off. Thanks to every one for tagging along. It's been a real pleasure. Shes only ickle so getting the RFI done shouldn't be too much of a struggle. Probs next weekend. here's a parting shot just for you guys. I'll post up here when the RFI is done. Well done to @Spookytooth and @giemme for guessing my next build. It is indeed a P-47. I have started a WIP which should be found "here" depending on how quick I am to get the thread up and running. 😇 Thanks again for making this build so enjoyable, I hope you had as much fun as I did. See you on the other side. Johnny. 😃
    6 points
  38. More.... MikroMir provide an etched handrail to go around the sail/bridge/conning tower - but the part is tiny and there are no locating holes. Far beyond my capabilities to fit - and anyway, the etched part pinged off into the ether when I attempted for use it.... - so I used a thin piece of plastic rod instead... Note the small step cut into the bottom of the sail - this is to get a better fit into the recess in the deck. The missile launch rail is made up from nine parts (two not yet fitted). The Regulus I Cruise Missile comprises five parts - with a mould mis-match on the rocket boosters that needs to be cleaned up.... (they're 7mm long) The fuselage is just 27mm long - more Micro-surgery than scale modelling !!!! - those wings are wafer-thin and trying to clean up that vertical fin...... (with my fat fingers and failing eyesight) Ken
    6 points
  39. We are into the final detail painting stage. Main wheels, after my preferred Humbrol 32 dark grey, have been given a coat of matt varnish. The props and spinners have been assembled, retouched and then satin varnished. Now the engine cowlings are painted camo colours (they were temporarily placed on the airframe for painting so it all matched up, hopefully) I’ve matched the exhaust shrouds to the collector rings colour. Yesterday I fitted the undercarriage doors, and painted the wheel wells interior green, so they’d all get a dose of the satin varnish top coat. It’s a shame, really, because the original Xtracrylix eggshell finish would have been just perfect for the finish I would have liked. Never mind, eh. I must exercise patience. I must let the varnish dry properly. I must not get carried away and attempt unmasking the transparencies, even though I am itching to see how it’s turned out! Patience. Equally, the tail wheel needs a touch or two of paint to finish things off, as does the fin flash. The latter I ought to have done before varnishing, but impatience and forgetfulness got the better of me. R2069 will be ready for the official photographer very soon.
    6 points
  40. RV band demasked DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr prop and spinner painted DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr
    6 points
  41. I did apply the word 'fossil' (to myself) in the Chat.... Thinking back, I'm sure I started collecting these old kits for 'nostalgia' builds before the current series of new tool kits came out from Airfix. I have got the latest 1/72 kit on order now so I will burst into the 21st Century sometime soon. Cracking on with the ancient kit, I really had some great fun creating some of the missing detail: There is a hole for the tailwheel but no well for the doors. The tailwheel will be up so I cut out the space for the kit doors and glued them in each fuselage half. Will save me making a mess of scribing. For the airscoop, I thinned out the intake mouth and cut in a bit under the fuselage to create the idea of separation from the fuselage underside. For the exit from the airscoop, the aircraft will be in flight, with the moveable exit door 'closed' (so I'll scribe in) but there is still an exit hole which does not fully close up - all part of the 'jet' exit assisting speed, I think. Internal surfaces / rad etc. made up from plastic card. There is also an oil cooler exit underneath 'the doghouse' so I cut a hole in (from looking at the details on some of the excellent build threads in this GB) and put some internal surfaces in using plastic card. Once the fuselage is together, there is a bit of surface shaping detail to go on. Empty coaming area at the front of the cockpit formed from thin plastic card. Floor, seat with cushion and IP made up from plastic card - In a moment of inspiration, after cutting the provided seat pegs off the fuselage interior, I trimmed one of them to act as the seat headrest. Assorted gizmos attached to the sides of the cockpit, hoping some of them look like throttle and flap controls. Radio deck behind the seat made up from plastic card and block. Fuel tank filler (?) is courtesy of a q-tip shaft - looks massive. I think the IP may need to come forward a bit so the pilot can see the dials but hopefully some paint will lend a bit of credibility to this lot. Stick and gunsight will be added later.
    6 points
  42. The discussion on the day of the torpedo fighter and anti shipping torpedo attacks is interesting. A couple of things to add to the debate are that we mustn't forget the role of Beaufort, Wellington, Swordfish and Albacore torpedo strikes in the Med which effectively cut off Rommel's supply line and was a significant factor in victory in the Western Desert. The other is that probably the idea of a torpedo fighter was obsolete by the end of the 40s/beginning of the 50s the principle of a strike fighter has lived on until today where most strike aircraft are fighter bombers capable of defending themselves and carrying out interceptions as well as carrying a significant ordnance load with the capability to deliver it accurately. Anyways back to the Firebrand. I've spent some time getting some paint in as well as priming the etch. The injection moulding is not too bad, could be better in places, it lacks a bit of finesse, but overall OK. However, the resin is exquisite, for example the roof of the undercarriage bay is wafer thin but with loads of detail.
    6 points
  43. Some work done over the weekend. Did up the cockpit. The consoles were decaled but the IPs were painted. The provided IP decals weren’t sized correctly so out came the hairy stick. Mark
    6 points
  44. Hi everyone - it's been relatively slow but steady progress. The next step was the engine. The kit engine is a bit blobby. I had the Karaya Jupiter VII resin engine, which is very nice, but the main body of the engine wouldn't fit under the kit exhaust ring. Likewise, the kit exhaust ring pipes wouldn't reach the cylinders. So I ended up kit-bashing the crankcase and exhaust ring from the kit with the cylinders and exhaust pipes from the Karaya engine. I also used some brass tube for the centre of the spinner. It looks something like this: It's yet to be painted; i'll do so when I have finished fitting all of the bits and bobs that will sit around the engine. After that I was done, I closed the fuselage. Luckily it went together relatively easy with the cockpit structure inserted. The seam on top of the fuselage thankfully didn't prove too troublesome. The front nose piece (which the engine slots into) didn't fit quite as well, so it needed a little filler and re-scribing. The next challenge was the underside of the nose; in short, the kit has it very wrong. The kit nose has a round underside (which can be seen on the box top), with the same fairings behind the cylinders as you see around the rest of the nose. The actual aircraft has broadly flat-sided panels under the nose, with a scoop-like intake behind the lower two cylinders. On the RAAF machines, a conformal radiator was also fitted under the nose; this is represented in the kit, but as lengthwise lines around the round fuselage. I deliberated over whether or not to fix this problem, and decided in the end that I couldn't live with it. So I scratch built a new underside for the nose from sheet styrene: I then glued it to the fuselage: I then went about blending it into the fuselage, which took a little bit of sanding and re-filling. The result was alot better, and more accurate: The kit also omits the round fairing under the rear lower wing; this is fairly prominent and needs to be added. The tricky bit here was getting the right shape for the fairing to blend into the fuselage sides above the wing. I got there in the end, but it'll need a little filling once the lower wing is actually mounted. Here's where things are at (engine and wing aren't glued yet, but you get the idea). Cheers, BC
    6 points
  45. Over the last few months I’ve managed to get three shelf sitters over the finish line so thought I’d continue my efforts into 2020. I started building this one when my son was 2, he’s about to turn 10. It’s the AFV Club RF-5E which I’m painting up to represent a TUDM (Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia or Royal Malaysian Air Force) aircraft. I’ve taken the FS numbers supplied in the instructions and pulled them out of my gunze paint stocks. Compared to some reference photos that I have they are a pretty close match. It’s also the first time I’ve tried by hand at a freehand camouflage scheme. However, beforehand I did pencil in the line-work with some water colour pencils that you can see in some of the photos. The FOD covers are from Royale resin and hide the ‘gutless’ interior. (Never thought I’d use that phrase in model building). I’ve progressed the painting a bit further than what you see here, but the underside shows the colour combination well. Cheers, Mick
    5 points
  46. Ok back from ze walk with the Schnauzer. 🐺. Here’s what we have in the box. Wingy things. 🤩 Bangy things and the jug! faded instructions and the decals look good. This is quite an old kit. 95, there is a great foreword that I was going to type out but I figured you could zoom in on the pic. 🤣 it had an auto pilot. 😳 Everything looks pretty straight forward. First things first is the office. I did a bit of a dry fit. The details look rather good. my initial thought were OOB. And to be fair it still will be but I got to the IP. It’s ok but there are no decals for it and I only have these spares. So for about a fiver I have ordered the Eduard cockpit PE set. I think with a bit of love and that photo etch this is going to look great. 🤗 I have been looking at a few builds on here. Not that many WIPs really but the ones I have seen look amazing and one thing that seems to be an ongoing fix is additions to the wasp engine. I think I’m bound to update this with whatever I have to hand. looks like it’s going to be fun. 😇 the PE got posted today so it should be here soon. Thanks for tagging along if you indeed are. more soon. Take care Y’all. Johnny. 🙌
    5 points
  47. Is somebody still there? I hear the sounds of silence... But the work on bodywork continue! Slowly indeed, some holes are needed, and some rivets too. The trunk is done, it will be not functional! Hurry up guys, its time! Cheers, Dan.
    5 points
  48. It depends entirely on how the aeroplane has been flown recently. If you've yelled off the deck defensively and burned round the sky for 25 mins in full rich and max power downing attacking dive bombers, then mucky black, because most of what you're depositing is soot. If you've just done an uneventful two hour CAP at economy cruise, with the mixture leaned right out, then light grey, because most of what you're depositing is lead compounds. If you've done the second after doing the first, without wiping the aeroplane off in between, then grey deposits over the wider black mess.
    5 points
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