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Hiya Folks, I have always wanted to add a Sunderland Mk.5 to my collection and thanks to Special Hobby,..... I have finally got one and I am very happy with it! My model represents PP117, 4X-W of 230 Sqn around the time of the Berlin Airlift, 1948-49,.... while it still wore its basic wartime scheme of White and Exta Dark Sea Grey and before the upper surfaces were re painted in Medium Sea Grey with D Type roundels on the fuselage, as depicted in the kit. For the white I used Rattle Can spray but the rest was brush painted with Pigment Powders and with a fine brush. Here is the aircraft wearing the earlier scheme; And with what looks like the later D Type roundel maybe? Here is the WIP; And here is the finished model; So I`ve finally got a Mk.V/5 and I have another to build, possibly as a Korean War aircraft and I am looking forward to the release of the Mk.III too,...... it is a challenging build in places but the surface detail is much superior to the Italeri kit and where else will you get a decent Mk.V these days? Here is some film of 230 Sqn Sunderland`s flying from the Havel Lake, Berlin during the Berlin Airlift; All the best Tony

Hello my friends; I finished my last model in this weekend. It's is a new simple Airfix mold. I did modifications including a lot of adds: - CMK engine; - Seat, wheels, control surfaces, exhaust by resins Aires and Quickboost; - PE interior and flaps by Brengun; - Master Pl cannons and; - Tail wheel scratched. I built a simple base too. I had doubt about the insignias diameters (upper wing surfaces), but even so I ended up using the Airfix decals. I had no options here. The mark is No. 266 Squadron, 2nd Tactical Air Force, Holland and Germany April/May 1944. Cheers;

Hi all, only me with another build I finished recently, featured in last months issue of Airfix Model World. This time it's the soon to be reissued 1/48th Defiant Mk.1 by Airfix which really only combines the earlier Mk.1 and NF.1 kits with new decals including markings for one of each type, nothing else has changed in the box. Unfortunately the new decals weren't ready in time so I opted to use the earlier NF.1 markings for the sharmouthed N3328 of 151 squadron which, to be honest, looks more interesting than those of the newer offering (264 squadrons N1801, 'Coimbatore II') It's a lovely little kit in its own right but as is often the case with Airfix, a tad basic when it comes to surface detail. I decided to fill most of the overly heavy panel lines, (especially those on the tail planes and fin) and lightly rescribed them to a more respectable level. At the same time I decided to rivet sections of the thing too which was pretty straightforward using SBS's neat 1/72nd rivetting tool. A fair bit of aftermarket was thrown at it, including CMK's resin Merlin III engine (with exhaust stacks and replacement engine covers), their resin cockpit and replacement Mk2D powered turret along with Eduard's PE cockpit interior, landing gear bay and landing flap set. The resin cockpit set was mixed with the pre-painted PE parts to produce a rather decent Defiant cockpit and the same went for the turret. The model was sprayed using MRP lacquer paints and weathered using a combination of AK, AMMO MIG and Wilder washes and pigment products and staining came courtesy of Abteilung 502 oils thinned using their Matt Effect Thinner. All in all, a quick fun build. Airfix did a pretty good job with this one at a very fair price although personally I would have liked to have seen more restrained panel lines and a bit more surface detail. Thanks for looking and hope you like it. Melchie

But not at the same time! 😁 (apologies if you were expecting Spitfires in USAAF service) Some time ago I found an Eduard 1/72 Spitfire Mk IX "The Longest Day" dual combo in a local bookstore that also deals some kits. I snapped it up since I knew these Eduard kits were fantastic and I didn't have any Mk IXs in my collection. I really wanted a D-Day striped Spitfire, but also dreaded the masking and painting. I knew for sure I couldn't stomach two, so I scrounged up some spare decals and built one straight away as a IXe in Soviet service. It's slightly fictitious, in that the number "51" on the side was just what I had lying around, but the rest of the markings are based on known aircraft. After a long time and many detours, my build craving looped back around to Spitfires and I mustered the courage to do the stripes. I picked Mk IXc "ZD-C" from the Eduard decal options in the box. Long story short, these kits really are amazing in every way, definitely more on the wish list (an VIII and a XVI). Now that both are finished, I decided to photograph and upload them together. Two kits from the same box that ended up very different indeed, but I am pretty happy with both. I'm less happy with my photography in this case but I'm still tweaking setup. The amount of white on both of these really wasn't helping! Thanks for looking!

The Junkers F.13 was the first all-metal, passenger-carrying plane... in 1919!!! As I expressed in the building post, we also have to consider that it was a modern cantilevered monoplane, in an era when the standards were clumsy biplanes (and even triplanes) of wood and fabric, with lots and lots of wires. For a discussion of the hits and misses of the Revell kit please visit the step-by-step construction article. Although I am very grateful for this civil kit of an iconic plane, there are some things that Revell missed: That I know of, there only two photos of the intended subject: one from above and behind, and one from the front at ground level. The latter shows compensated "earlobe" ailerons, and a color division at the leading edge. The former shows normal ailerons -but with the correct curved aileron trailing edges- and the black color underneath wrapping around the leading edge and going up to more or less the first quarter of the chord. This photo also shows an erased "D" on the right wing that was part of the former registration, D-183, and yet not repainted. This is a kit that I have seen modeled in a number of occasions, which is a very good thing, more surprisingly so because it's a not a military plane as offered. Revell has released it throughout the years in a number of different civil schemes, not all completely accurate, but hey, at least they released them. This is my second model of it, and have another kit still in the box. It's pleasant in general to build, but it has a few quirks, as most kits do. I substituted the kit's scheme and decals with a sheet from Arctic Decals, and replaced the inaccurate ailerons, the too-thick windshields, the prop for a laminated wood one, the too heavy Venturi and its mast, and added control horns plus a couple more things. The model represents the first of the re-registered planes in Germany, starting a new series as D-1. This plane as explained was former D-183, and there are a number of photos of it in both regs showing of course some differences. The chosen scheme came to be only after lengthy research and discussions, mainly with friend and fellow modeler Sönke Schulz. I must confess I ended up acquiescing to some of his suggestions -given his extended knowledge of the matter- but still harbor some doubts myself. Again, we did the best we could with what was available to us at the time of the build, and with only two photos in that registration, at different times of the plane's life. So here it finally is, in all its beautifully corrugated splendor!

Hi Folks, This is the Trumpeter Fairey Firefly MkI, of 1770 Sqn, HMS Indefatigable, August 1945. I’ll give a rough rundown and provide some more thoughts below the photos. Airbrushed with Colourcoats it has resin wheel wells, wheels, radiator, prop and spinner and seat. Rockets and the fixings are from the Special Hobby Kit as are the decals. This represents the aircraft flown by Sub-Lt Maclaren and his observer W. Richard who carried out strikes over Honshu, in August 1945. On one particular flight they had a dust up with some flak causing large damage to the aircraft but they still made it back. Maclaren earned the DSC from this. The kit quite frankly is not worth the full price that some are charging for it. As I have said, I have replaced a lot with resin but there are still many things to be corrected: The kit comes with incorrect style of rockets, cannons, wheels are terrible, basic cockpit, incorrect rear cockpit, ghastly nose with a lack of intakes on the top. This gives the nose a long look which I sanded back a bit. No pitot, no mirrors, incorrect locstion of aerial mast, horrible riveting, canopy cannot be portrayed open, the elevators are bizarre and a pilot would be unable to use them if they were like that in real life. It needs the elevator horn attached to it as I have done. The rudder is portrayed as metal which is wrong and there is a lack of a trim tab. The addition of flaps is quite nice, however the Firefly has four flap settings and it would have been nice to have the landing flap setting which allows the flap to drop down and backwards providing a much larger wing area. I'm sure that people will know of many other faults in there. The long and the short of it is, go for Special Hobby and get one of their Fireflies. If you can get Trumpeters dirt cheap then give it a go, maybe! As an aside, I’d love to know what people make of the difference in TSS between the two kits. The SH firefly I did in Xtracrylics, compared to the Trumpeter in Colourcoats. Thanks for looking Nick

Hello Britmodellers! Here's one of my lockdown builds, made for the In The Navy groupbuild. It's the Kinetic 1/32 kit (reboxed Academy) and one of the best jet models you can get. This one's mostly out of the box except the cockpit (Avionix), seats (Aires), chaff buckets (F4dable Models) and armament, which is a mix of Wolfpack (GBU-38) and Trumpeter (GBU-12). It's a really attractive two-sided scheme with the flag on the airbrake, excellent decals by Flying Leathernecks. I used Xtracrylix paint for the main scheme and Colourcoats for the wear and tear effects. This aircraft was painted in Kuwait at the end of the deployment in 2007 but my main references were some excellent photos of it at Las Vegas shortly afterwards, so the degree of dirtiness is reasonable for a special scheme! The wings were depicted folded even though that's not normal for land-based Marine examples, because I think it's nice to show off an aircraft's unique features on a model! The two-sided scheme is also very attractive, commemorating all the units making up MAG-2 at the time. The cockpit was a Black Box/Avionix set from way back, but built up really well. The kit canopy was less fun to build...it's the biggest clear part I've seen on any model, and the attachment points were very flimsy to hold such a large cantilevered piece. Epoxy glue was the only solution. Unusually for me, I even painted up the underside (out of sight out of mind is my usual policy 😂) If anyone's still reading this, the build thread is here: All the best, stay safe and thanks for looking, Alan

Hiya Folks,..... Well its is finished! Thanks for all your encouragement along the way and I hope you like the finished model, Cheers and all the best, Tony PS,...Here is the RFI;

Hi all, Just finished having fun with Airfix's Tiger moth in 1.48 scale. Always fancied having a go at rigging and using Uschi 0.05mm thread made it almost effortless, no more monofilament for me. Was going to have two pilots standing next to the frame discussing the next sortie, but could only find one pilot that kinda worked So have gone for a pilot climbing in for his first solo flight being watched over by a member of ground crew. Not sure who is more concerned, pilot for his first trip into the wild blue yonder, or the engineer for the pilots first solo landing!! Hope you like how it has turned out. Matt

That was quite a bump and I know what ya’ll are thinking, and I’m here to tell you it wasn’t the airline’s fault, it wasn’t the pilot’s fault, it wasn’t the flight attendants’ fault…..it was the asphalt! Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt up against the gate. At no time in history has a passenger beaten a plane to the gate. So please don’t even try. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silence, we’ll open the door and you can pick your way t hrough the wreckage to the terminal.As you exit the plane, please make sure to sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses. Also Please be careful opening the overhead bins because shift happens. We’d like to thank you folks for flying with us today. And, the next time you get the insane urge to go blasting through the skies in a pressurized metal tube, we hope you’ll think of us here at Disast Air. Ok now that we've landed from the WIP here we go.... A year ago last June I started on a little project THe is part1 of a 2 part series. HpH 1/48 B-36H. Resin /Fibreglass construction with resin and P/E for detail. I added numerous extra bits mostly in the Bomb bay and gunturrets You can find the build here: [ [ THis is no light weight to be sure. Weighing in at a svelte 4.6 kilos. Clad in a mixture of Bare metal Foils and AlcladII Metal paints. Some of the decals I changed from the kit as this is a representation of the aircraft from the Movie Strategic Air Command. Only difference, its later than the movie and before the Feather weight I,II,II programs commenced. I hope you enjoy my little offering And Thank you for viewing. As always If you have and comments questions or suggestions Don't hesitate to let me know. Right now I'm going to get something cold to drink so I can Cool off my hands. It's 34C outside and in the 15 min that I was out taking pictures. the aluminum Cladding on the model got VERY hot. Didn't expect that to happen. Have an Excellent day, For the Yanks in the bunch Happy 4th of July, or as I like to explain to the younger set, the day we Unfriended Good King George III.

Some may recall me posting in the Discussion section a photo of a Gatsby Mobility Scooter, well as part of the Beyond The Box SIG it sparked anotherr mad idea and resulting fun build. Wallace is from the Airfix Motorbike & Sidecar kit, the wheels are off ebay for RC trucks with the remainder being scratch built. I hope you like it. No WIP I was laughing too much to take photos.

I don't normally build bisplanes as I hate rigging them. I sometimes make an exception and a set of etched rigging from SBS and a fabulous model posted hear earlier by Jenko enabled me to finish this stalled build. I finished it as an aircraft of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy in 1936-38 attached to HMNZS Achilles, using a set of Print Scale decals. Four Walruses( Walrii?) were part of that establishment coded Z! to Z4, though the machine I represented, K5774, was landed back in the UK in mid 1938. Walrus K5774 4 The kit is a joy to build, everything fits nicely and I used very little filler. I did use a set of Eduard Brassin wheels with spoked hubs, Walrus K5774 2 The decals were nice and thin , conformed with very little help and were nicely opaque. Walrus K5774 1 by I'm not sure I will build another, as I have already nailed together a SMER kit of another RNZAF machine, but I would recommend it to anyone. I omitted the radio aeriaL wires as a practicality as this model will hopefully go to a number of shows Covid permitting. Walrus K5447 3 Thank you for looking

All done, on to Saburo Sakai's A6M2 Model 21 V-103 in Bali next.---John

One of the most enjoyable builds I have done. It just fits together so well. I don't know why Tamiya recommend using their Dark Green it's much too dark as you can see. Next time I'll be using Nato Green for camo. I had some problems with the decals, I really must start gloss coating and using microsol. All comments and criticisms welcome. Thanks for looking.

Thanks Stix Weathering has commenced, see below I beg to differ .... Thanks Erwin, much appreciated OK, time for some pin wash. I started with a mid grey tempera panel lines wash, very subtle so subtle that in fact you need to look at the panel lines from the right angle to actually see the wash, like this (here you can see the difference between the belly tank panel lines, for which I used a black marker, and the panels immediately aft, where the grey temepera wash was applied) and this one more Then I went on with a black tempera wash on some selected panel lines ailerons, for instance and various hatches underneath and I hit the missiles too (keeping it subtle, once more) Then to introduce a bit more of variation, I airbrushed Tamiya Smoke under the tank and aft of it, aft of the main wheel wells and along the stabilizers panel lines Same on the lower side hatches In between all of this, I also made some progress on the boarding ladders: I drilled out all the mounting holes for the ladder rungs with a 0.5mm drill bit, then glued on some reinforcing plates inside and outside the uprights (4 plates per upright - quite a fiddly job, I should say, but I've seen a lot worse) I mostly used Gator's Grip here (except for the plain plates where I used CA), so these need to cure overnight before I start mangling them again That's it for the weekend, all comments welcome Ciao

Another Su I just made, this time was in Navy camouflage scheme. And again, lots of time in the exhaust. Each Su i tried different technique to achieve the burning metal result. Enjoy guys.

Airfix 1/72 SH-3D Sea King 'Old 66' in Apollo 11 recovery markings

With my Nautilus sub project mostly done (waiting on the post to deliver decals from Finland, just like this build) I had some time today to take care of various bits and bobs on the Electra. First, the sticky-down things.... Wheels & tires are installed: Pitot tubes under the nose: More sticky-down things under the fuselage. On the actual aircraft, cables ran between the pitot tube mounts and these posts. Counter-balances for the elevators: I also added a couple of sticky-up items. DF antenna just behind the cockpit: And, the HF antenna ahead of the horizontal stab: By my count, I now have only five parts left to add: 2 propellers, 2 engine exhausts, and the cabin entry door. I'll have to add the aforementioned cables and do the position lights on the wingtips and tail.

How do chaps, Fresh from the tank shed we have the excellent Tamiya M3A1 Scout Car. Build thread below for those so inclined to have a look. Apologies for the pics as I need to sort out a decent place to take photos with a suitable neutral backdrop. Regards, Steve

Finish no8 for the year is the Special Hobby AH1G Cobra with M35 Cannon in 1/72 scale. First Special Hobby kit I've done and very impressed, no filler, minimal sanding, fine panel and rivet detail, canopy which fitted even though it was 5 parts, multiple weapon options and nice decals. First helicopter since returning to modelling but I thinks they'll be more to come, Dream Model's AH1Z looks nice. I went for a well used aircraft with a dusty appearance and based the rocket and gun pods on photo of Vietnamese based Cobra's. Built OOB painted with Tamiya acrylics and weathered with MIG Ammo powders. As usual all comment welcome.

Hi All. Here my RaupenSchlepperOst (RSO) from Italeri converted in ambulance. It was an hard job as Italeri kit was nice but terrible to work! The rear compartment was completely built from Evergreen plastic foils. Interior cab was scratched using some kit parts and Eduard pe. Tracks from Friul, side red cross are decals while top red cross was painted with airbrush and stencils. Anyway, I'm happy for results. I'd like to built another RSO using Dragon kit but its cost is absolutely too high (+/- 50 GBpounds)!😟 Hope you like. Ciao Filippo

Hi all, This is a model that has been a long time in the making, not so much the kit but the research. My dad never recorded the full details of any of the Thunderbolts he flew in Burma,(or any others for that matter) which ment making an accurate model a very tricky prospect, but I've now got copys of the ORB's and Sqn records of 79 and 34 Sqn's for the time he was with them. I now have full details of all but one of his T-Bolts, the one missing is the last one he flew out of Burma, all I know is it was coded 'B'. Any way back to this one, I was trying to decide which one to build, so I plumped for this one, as you will see from the log book entry it's the one he was flying when V-J day was declared. It's the Tamiya kit, brush painted which was a bit of a chalang as I wanted to make it look well worn and tatty. Thanks for looking John

This is my second attempt at Eduard´s fantastic Mig-21. One of my favorite kits of all time. I built it with the canopy closed, but I was not satisfied because the really nice cockpit was nearly invisible. Eduard supplies two clear parts, one for the closed, one for the open option. I also decided to give it a try to paint canopy seals. If I messed ony canopy up, there wpuld still be the second one. So I removed the canopy, painted the seals and put it back in open position. I painted both canopies, unfortunately the one that was meant for the closed position came out better. So I decided to use that one. It was a PITA to fix it, it took me two days, but finally it was attached in the right position. Here is the result: The last Foto was taken first. Thanks for looking! Volker

Hawker Hurricane Mk I, AK-E of No. 213 (Ceylon) Squadron, RAF Wittering, 3/9/39-9/6/40. Hawker Hurricane Mk I, P3395 JX-B of No. 1 Squadron flown by A. V. Clowes, RAF Wittering (relief landing ground, Collyweston), 9/9/40-15/12/40.

Good Afternoon Having fancied a tank for a while I got myself a AFV Club Churchill III (The springs! The springs!) while my Dad got me the Tamiya Sherman for my Birthday after many many subtle hints such as "I quite fancy doing a Sherman". Whilst waiting for a delivery of more dark yellow for the Churchill I decided to have a look at the Sherman and one thing led to another and it's now sat on my bookcase as complete as I feel I can get it. Since it was the first Armour I've done other than the Airfix Warrior many years ago I'm quite chuffed with how it turned out. All brush painted with Tamiya Acrylics (glutton for punishment). The weathering is a mix of normal pencil and a metallic one I had in an art set, a dark wash for the water stains which may not be too clear in the photo and then I tried using a selection of oil paints to break the green slabs up first blues and yellows to tone it then a brown/ocre mix to simulate mud. The gear is weathered mainly with Ammo Mig's Metallic Steel which arrived yesterday with the yellow for the Churchill (The Springs! The Springs!). Truth be told though I may just get the Tamiya weathering sets next, I've used the sand stick on the churchill and it's a lot easier and cleaner. "I should have joined the Navy"

One of my bigger lockdown builds. This turned out to be more of a problematic build than I had expected. The starboard hull was short shot on the lower bow which was fun to fill and shape. Used Eduards etch set for it and also the Eduard German ensign. The length of the hull made it a real problem when sanding and painting. Otherwise a surprisingly fun build once the hull was sorted.

Afternoon all. 🤣🤣 The thought. Perish it.... (Bought yonks back when I actually believed I was going to build a Vixen out of kits....) Plus there's the Palouste for those who have trouble getting started..... I hadn't mentioned it thus far G but am intending to go with vacforming (partly as I miss doing it!). 😄 At some point I need to sit down and examine the canopy differences between FAW.1s & 2s in this respect. I think he did the plumbing on our house..... Nein - I bought the jumpsuit there but waited until I got home to Belfast in order to wear it in more peaceful surroundings. Always an experience going through an RUC/Army checkpoint looking like a refugee from Sigue Sigue Sputnik... Thanks Bill. Said millitad applied and that's close enough for my purposes (allowing for differences betwen a flat plan drawing and a photo having perspective) My thoughts too James - having squinted at lots of those side-ons on the AB pics site, I'm going with the above as a reasonable expression. We could bloody do with you back CC! Late June and July so far have been ghastly - occasional blasts of sun but otherwise stratus and wind warnings. It did get a bit dramatic at sunset last night though: It's taken me a lot longer than I anticipated to get the main gear to a satisfactory state as there are some complicated things going on inside of there regarding non-symmetrical parts and angled assemblies. It took a while to puzzle it all through but as always, interpretative drawing from multi-angle photos helped greatly in understanding the visual relationships: Some basic detailing added to the well to form a baseline for the radius arm: I'd also at this stage added that triangular cross section to the main shock absorber strut: The really time-consuming part of this involved getting the various parts of the radius arm aligned and shaped, bridging as it does the well with the gear leg in two places: Bearing in mind the required thickness for printing tolerances I've had to thicken one or two of the arm parts at this scale, though hopefully not by enough to detract from a pleasing expresssion of the region: In addition, I've been having to rationalize not just print scale and orientation issues but also keeping in mind how to assemble the parts robustly enough afterwards, such as the square peg at the top of the leg above that matches an opening in the underside of the wing. Below I've added some male/female locating lugs to the interface between leg and radius arm as well: - along with a similar male/female junction at the radius arm pivot point inside the well: A key constraint I referred to repeatedly during this stage was the frontal view: You can see above that I've left the radius arm bearing open where it meets the gear leg, the intention being to use a brass pin to lock them into place for added bearing strength. Tony

Revell P-39 Airacobra, 1964 John

Airfix Gloster Gladiator, 1956. John

Hi all, I've been super excited about this group build for a while, and even more excited when I saw that the rules were going to allow Bomber Command aircraft on anti-invasion operations! So, inspired by Larry Donnelly's excellent book "The Other Few", my plan for my first entry in this group build is to build an Airfix Blenheim as one from the many Blenheim squadrons that made nightly raids on the "invasion ports" - the ports on the French coast in which large numbers of barges were building as the Germans prepared for Operation Sealion, the invasion of Britain. Here's the kit and a few extras I've bought so far: I've been trawling through Operations Record Books (ORBs) from the National Archives for some time (another hobby of mine) on this subject. Interestingly one of my findings is that one of the aircraft depicted in the kit's decals (R3816 "OM-J" of 107 Squadron) participated in four successful attacks on the invasion ports (Calais three times and Boulogne once), and went on to fly operationally until mid 1941. I may go with this for simplicity, or another aircraft - I'll reveal that in a few days - and I'll add in some bits of history about "The Other Few" and excerpts from the ORBs throughout the build to show one of the perhaps lesser known parts of the Battle of Britain as I go. I'm really looking forward to the start of the group build in a few days! Matt

Old kits are sometimes such a pleasant surprise. Even with their limitations, some of them are well above what it's being produced today by certain brands. Exaggerated flying surfaces' ribbing and inaccurate floats aside, this kit is very nice, has reasonable detail, and even detail again that many contemporary kits lack. And that's why I keep building old kits, together with new ones that offer civil schemes and uses. As explained in the step-by-step posting, I just wanted a pair of floats to adapt for a DH89 conversion project, and somehow ended up building this kit that happened to provide them. I didn't regret that, having learned a bit about the type and enjoying the building process. I sanded the exaggerated rib detail, opened a side door, added an engine and prop, landing and navigation lights, new Pitot, whip and cable antennae, a cabin interior, tailwheel fairing, and other details to perk up the model. I build but finally did not install what looks like a cropdusting bar, unsure about what may have corresponded as associated equipment in the interior (tanks, pump, etc.). You can follow the step-by-step building sequence here: There are so many colorful civil users of this plane out there, that I was surprised that there are no good replacement resin floats for it. My heartfelt thanks to Arctic Decals for producing and selling the set that made this model possible. The chosen subject (a plane of the US Forest Service) is related to my admiration and respect for nature, in a time when obtuse rulers make everything in their power to destroy it, profusely helped by the usual orcs. What next... may be a Beaver?

1 Gruppe/1 Schlachtgeschwader, Orel, Soviet Union, July 1943.

Latest build. Mark DSCN3745 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3746 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3747 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3749 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3750 by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3754 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3757 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3759 by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3761 by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3762 by mwsfly9, on Flickr

Hi everyone This is my 1/72 Merlin HC.3 by Italeri. This was a beautifully detailed kit of a beautiful aircraft. The panel line where nice and it had realistic raised rivets covering most of the model apart from the underside. It had a Very nice fit and required barely any filler. The inside was lacking detail, so I created the texture on the walls out of an old metal takeaway container. I created the texture by running the back of the hobby knife to create small lines. I painted it in RC027 Forest green. The decals conformed well to details and where nice and thin. I decided to buy AK panel liner and odourless thinner to try weathering with oil paints. This attempt went better than last time when my thinner removed the pain. I then sealed it in a matt varnish. Thanks for looking

Thanks John and Giorgio Taxing it is… I thought I was having a break too hendie but 'twas not to be Addiction? I hope not! True Bill, aha ha ha ha… Thanks Simon, really fiddly I know Keith, I'm having to be very careful to point something at the PE once cut so that, when I take my eyes away from it to charge the GG Thin brush, I can find the bloomin' thing again! Thanks Richie I think that's probably wise. I bet none of it will be visible after close up, let alone when it's on the ceiling! I did think about having this one wheels down and in the cabinet, but I've promised Troy the wheels… I can always buy another I suppose. Addiction? What me? Fiddly part 1: Part 2: Now then, have a look at the pedals, bottom left. Where are you supposed to cut the plastic? I decided on here: Hmmm. Too tired for anything else this morning. I stayed up to late binge watching 'Hunters' on Prime. Tense. That was after Mrs B's birthday celebrations yesterday. We'd invited the girls down for lunch. Our garden table had gone rotten so more was ordered. Has to be big enough for 2m distancing!!! All assembled and ready, thumb injuries aside. Was it nice and sunny? No. Average wind speed in the 20s with gusts forecast up to 40mph. Mrs B bought in some food after we cancelled the table we had at a local hotel - not happy with the internal distancing. Do you know how far a plastic container of couscous can blow? How about Strawberries? All I can say is it's impressive… and messy!

This might have been spotted anywhere between Essex and my place via the M40 . . . Happy Birthday to myself!!

Paint applied on the Gamma, Arctic Decals masks lifted, good results. Notice the size comparison between the Gamma and the Dragon, not very different:

What a lovely kit, insanely beautiful engineering. Still a challenge in places but only in so much as the order of things needs a little thought. You will not believe how well the booms, the tail bits and all the gear bits and doors go together! Doesn't need glue.

This build was inspired by a good friend and Army colleague of 25 years + (he is actually serving, still must be in his 36th year!). He posted that PO Crelin Bodie was his childhood hero, turns out he was my mates Bob's mothers cousin. I decide to look into his story, which was quite interesting. He was a Suffolk lad, so has a local connection too. He became an ace and was gazetted for the DFC on 8 Nov 1940. He has a chapter in 10 Fighter Boys by Jimmy Corbin. Apparently he had a habit of belly landings....hence I plan to model Spitfire X4321 Coded LZ-F, 66 Sqn RAF, based at RAF Kenley. He belly landed the Spitfire after being damaged in a dogfight on either the 5th Sept or 7 Sept 1940, anyone who can confirm please do! X4321 Ia 1085 EA MIII FF 29-8-40 8MU 30-8-40 66S ‘LZ-F’ 5-9-40 damaged by Bf109 over Norfolk force-landed P/O Bodie safe C3 7-9-40 Weathering will be minimal as it appears it was only about a week old! Some date the forced landing as 7 Sept 1940. Can't find any actual ref pics (probably as it only lasted a week!) , but anything I do find points to a black spinner rather than the red sometimes seen with 66 Sqn? Any advice welcomed.... So Port LZ - F and Std F-LZ would seem correct from other references? @nimrod54 - been looking at your build as a reference, did you go for the standard Sky underneath, xtradecal seem to show a more Blue sky which I can't read? Bodie in the Battle of Britain On 8th July 1940, he claimed his first kill; a Heinkel HE111. A second Heinkel followed on 19th August and two Messerschmitt ME110 the following day. He rounded off August 1940 with a hit on a Dornier DO17 on 31st. Pilot Officer Bodie was a respected ace in the Battle of Britain, registering the destruction of the following planes. Destroyed HE111 (2nd September) Probable destroyed ME109 (4th September) Damaged two ME109s (6th September) Destroyed HE111 (11th September) Destroyed two DO17s (15th September) Destroyed HE111 (18th September) Probable destroyed ME109 (24th September) Damaged JU88 (5th October) Destroyed ME109 (11th October) Probable destroyed two ME109s (12th October) Probable damaged two ME109s (12th October) Destroyed ME109 (13th October) Destroyed ME109 (25th October) Destroyed ME109 (14th November) Kit: Has anyone used P Masks? Could only get them as others sold out... Also have some B Scheme camo masks and various codes/serial decals to help with my RAF builds. My own quick notes He was promoted and posted a couple of times, sadly he died later in the war at RNAS Eglington (now City of Derry airport) in Northern Ireland. Again, I flew out this airport regularly when posted to Ballykelly camp in the late 90's.... A fatal accident in Northern Ireland At the age of only twenty-one, Bodie was involved in a fatal incident in Northern Ireland. On 24th February 1942, his Spitfire Mk IIA P8077 spun out of control near RNAS Eglinton. By this time, Bodie was Flight Commander of B Flight. He had been practicing aerobatics over RNAS Eglinton when he lost control of the Spitfire. The plane came down near the airfield and Bodie was instantaneously killed and the aircraft was written off. Crelin Arthur Walford Bodie’s grave is in St. Canice’s Church of Ireland Churchyard, Faughanvale, Eglinton, Co. Londonderry. I plan to build this with the pilot inside, but on the ground ready to go. I will mount on some sort of surface (never done before but have the base of an old cat scratching post to use!) with some model grass surface etc.... I will just need to wrap it well and post it safely to Hereford for Bob, who hopefully like it! Any historical/build advice etc be much appreciated!

back to planes ! I am initially an airplane kit builder. When I resumed modeling 4 years ago, it was with this F4 C and i discovered the forums and their members who are not ultimately that big perverts ... (apart from Basket, whom i met then, but I would have the opportunity to come back to it) Anyway, time for pics : the entire montage, wich took me five months (a lot of scratch was done), is here :http://fighters.forumactif.com/t78359-f-4c-phantom-ii-nam-1968-557th-tfs-12th-tfw-cam-rahn-bay-air-base See you! Fabrice

Hi All, My next project is Airfix' 1:72 Wellington GR MkVIII. I've previously successfully (mostly!) built the MkIA, so hopefully the kit won't spring any nasty surprises. Here's the box art: I'll be modelling the aircraft depicted, which is HX379 of 172 Sqn, operating from RAF Chivenor in 1942. Here's the scheme in more detail: Here's a link to a photo of the actual aircraft: https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Wellington/Vickers-Wellington/pages/Vickers-Wellington-GRMkVIII-RAF-172Sqn-WN-A-on-patrol-over-the-Western-Approaches-1942.html Auntie's scheme as presented looks to be pretty representative, so I'll go with that. Having said that the aircraft code looks to be in white rather than red as presented, so I shall see if I can be bothered to fix that... Here's the sprues: So, into the build! First some minor surgery to remove the turreted nose, to be replaced with the glazed version: At the same time all of the holes for the antennae were drilled out. Although Airfix helpfully inform you that much of the interior is invisible I've decided to go for the fully monty anyway - why not?! To replicate the doped fabric interior the fuselage was sprayed with a coat of Tamiya Red Brown, with the geodesic structure carefully brush painted in aluminium. The cockpit area was sprayed in interior green. Here's a work in progress shot: I decided that there was precisely zero chance of the rear fuselage being seen, so gave up on the frame highlights back there! Here's the state of play after a good day's work. I've still yet to add the IP, which will be adorned with the kit decals, and I'll add some belts using Tamiya tape (the build will be OOB otherwise, other than a set of Eduard masks). The wooden areas were brush painted with Mid-Stone and then over-coated with Abteilung Shadow Brown oil paint. I'm not 100% happy with it but it does kind've look like wood! Although it'll never be seen... Actually Airfix should be given credit for a comprehensive and detailed interior - I'm sure that more skilful modellers could make it shine, but I'm relatively happy with the (to be invisible) result! Thanks for looking, Roger

So the latest update on this build and it doesn't seem a lot for a couple of days work. The interior is finished and I tried to add some interest to the seats by adding the silver details a time consuming job but worth it I think. The wheels are done I painted the spokes burnt iron which doesn't show up very well in the pic but actually looks ok in real light. The replacement decals should be here tomorrow so I can move on and get the shell finished. Here are the latest pics of the build So I'm getting there steadily and happy with progress so far. Thanks for looking be back soon 🙂

Thanks a lot Andy, you are most kind. Painting of the body shell was finished off with a wash in the panel shut lines. Decals should be next, usually one of the more enjoyable works. We'll see how it goes this time. The interior is also finished. The roll cage padding is made from heat shrink tubing. When shrunk around a similar diameter rod as the cage I then cut it and move it to the cage, placing the cuts so they aren't visible when assembled. Belts were made from a Modeler's set.

Just finished this one. Very enjoyable kit. Its not at all over complicated and builds into a very good looking model. Fun to paint and the kit decals exceeded my expectations with a little help from micro sol and micro set. Big Tomcat next.....?

My coauthor and I are working on an accident analysis. The F7U’s was worse than average in the beginning relative to jets that had been around longer (there is a learning curve) but it may not have been much worse than experienced with other swept-wing jets during their introduction (Google Cougar College), certainly not than the F8U’s and the Crusader never flew from axial-deck carriers. Another aspect of the accident rate is that it would appear that more than average were caused by maintenance errors, in part because the F7U was more systems intensive than its contemporaries. It was also one of the first with a 3,000 psi hydraulic system (the standard was 1,000, maybe 1,500), which was a big step and the source of some maintenance woes. Akire’s accident on Hancock was immediately and justifiably written off as pilot error (one indication of the lack of accuracy in that regard is the repeated claim of multiple fatalities and serious injuries to deck personnel; there were no fatalities other than the pilot and no serious injuries). Another fatal accident on that cruise was the result of an unfortunate chain of events: one of the Davis barriers was set for the much heavier AJ Savage instead of the F7U; the pilot floated past the arresting gear and then contacted the barrier, which resulted in the nose gear collapsing due to the sudden stop. Something had to break and it was the attach fitting on the top of the nose gear actuator (not the nose gear strut). It went up through the deck behind the pilot and knocked the canopy off, which armed the ejection seat as it should have, but then something also dinged the mechanism to fire the ejection seat by means of a face-curtain pull. The seat fired with the airplane nose down on the deck and took the pilot with it into a parked airplane. Note that while the nose gear strut was mounted under the cockpit, it never went up into the cockpit as some accounts would have it. What broke was either the drag link or as above, the upper attach point for the nose gear actuator, which was actually located behind the armored bulkhead on which the ejection seat was mounted. That said, there is no question that the F7U was ahead of its time and then for various reasons, took so long to reach the fleet that it was outclassed in too many respects by fighters with better engines (thrust to weight and specific fuel consumption) and lift-over-drag configurations (however, the wings were no more swept than the Cougar’s or the Fury’s).

Calling this one finished. The model is remarkably heavy! In summary: Airfix 1956 tool. Parts from Type 3 bagged kit and 2004 90 Years of Fighters collection. Upper camouflage 163 Dark Green, 29 Dark Earth, 86 Light Olive, 84 Mid Stone Underside 33 Matt Black, 34 Matt White Collector and exhausts 171 Antique Bronze Engine 53 Gun Metal Tyres 33 Matt Black Prop 87 Steel Grey Decals - Roundels from Airfix 2008 boxing, serial from Type 3 bag. Top Coat Humbrol Matt Cote John

Alfred Price, 'The Hardest Day' On Sunday 18th August 1940, the Luftwaffe launched three major air assaults against targets in southern England. In the course of these and numerous smaller actions 100 German and 136 British aircraft were damaged in the air or on the ground. On no other day during the Battle of Britain would either side suffer a greater number of aircraft put out of action. This book describes the events of that 24 hour period - Battle of Britain: the Hardest Day.' So begins the preamble to probably my favourite BoB history book. Having participated the 70th and 75th BoB GBs, this 80th GB is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. most especially since there is just one of the Few remaining - and the next time do this (85th Anniversary GB anyone?) this crucial moment in time will have slipped out of living memory, at least for those who flew in it. The Hardest Day has always piqued my interest as a singular day in the whole BoB story, and my contribution to this GB will reflect this. All of the aircraft I intend to build will be planes and pilots that I can pin down to specific actions or kills made on this day. On the build list (1/72, although 1/48 might make an appearance) includes candidates such as Herhard Schopfel's 109 and one of the 501 sqn Hurricanes he shotdown in quick succession - probably as a dogfight double using the Airfix stand; a pair of 234 sqn Spitfires (Doe and Hughes) that I am aiming to do in an Amera vacform E shaped blast pen with CMK figures and Flightpath trolley accs; Gray's 54sqn Spitfire with the Rotol prop, 615 sqn fabric winged Hurricane, Leigh's red prop Spitfire from 66 sqn. I've got my eye on a Blenheim MK1 that apparently made the first kill of the day, but I've still got to confirm that. In short, an ambitious list, and I probably won't make it; it seems that you can have a few builds on the same thread which will keep things tidy - at least from my point of view! If I've got that wrong, let me know! Anyway, mucho looking forward to this GB! Ralph

WIP is here :- Some pics of the finished model........ The contraprops came from an old Contrail vacform Tu-95, the number 21 was painted on using a cutout mask and the eagle emblem was made by a friend who scaled up the Revell 1/144 A-90 kit decal. My 1/72 scale Orlyonok at speed across my lounge carpet... Closeup of the cockpit glazing - note the rear view mirrors and simple 'artificial horizon'. The rough red outline is deliberate! Note the large anti-spray strakes... Scratchbuilt gun turret with 12.7mm barrels from suitable tubing. Rear engine and contraprops - note the APU exhaust and Russian Navy flag. NK-12MK turboprop showing the 'pen nib' exhaust fairing. Sequence showing the nose opening..... Note the cruise engine exhaust nozzle - note that I have got it wrong - it should be narrower to allow it to pivot to direct the thrust under the wings for takeoff and straight back for cruise. Almost fully open - note the front hydroski with its beaching wheel..... Loading ramps extended... The BTR-80 is a crude limited-run injection-moulded kit that I picked up in Moscow many years ago - long before the current crop of decent kits. Closeup of the sideways-opening nose... On display at Scalemodelworld 2014 - next to my Modelsvit An-124 and Flankers - to show scale. Closer view from Telford... The model was made long before I photgraphed the real thing - now on display on Khimki reservoir in Moscow... After being floated upriver on the Volga from Kasspiisk on the Caspian Sea, the A-90 'Orlyonok' ekranoplan - number 26 - is being prepared for display at Khimki reservoir in 2007. Note the cruise ships at the Moscow North River Terminal in the background. I'll post more of my pics later... Ken

And finished

Small update. Due to having to clean, prime and paint this: plus it being the holiday weekend, not much has been done, building wise. I did notice a few areas on the Corsair that needed filling or attention, so proceeded to fill with Tamiya putty, and scrape/sand where needed. There were also a couple of panel lines that had to be reinstated: It will get another coat of primer tomorrow after work. I'm also hoping the the thing that's died in the garage is small, and will cease smelling enough by then for me to find its poor little body and consign it to the woodland behind us. Then I can clear the airbrushing area ready for paint.