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Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Hasegawa B-25J in colors of the Soviet Air Force (VVS) in 1945. Built with addition of PART photo-etch and CMK resin parts. Painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thank you for your interest in this topic. Best greetings from Vienna, Roman

The NA Vigilante is a sleek looking machine. To the Trumpeter kit I added a resin cockpit from Aires and some seamless intakes. The decals are from the kit. Painted with Xtracolor enamels. No major problems encountered with assembly. Thanks for looking, Angelo

Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is my 1/72 Tamiya P-51D converted to F-6D, using Quickboost resin lenses (QB 72234). Painted with Gunze acrylics and Alclad II lacquers. Markings from Aeromaster, with special thanks to @Sky Keg who provided the decal sheet. Represents an aircraft of 10th TRG, 12th TRS, based in Italy in 1944/45. Wheels from CMK. All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thank you very much for your interest. Greetings from Vienna! Roman

Thanks Keith - loafers of the world unite! Mols went to the vet yesterday and 'her problem' seems to be clearing up on the new antibiotics I totally agree Mark - personal responsibility it is! I think crazy stirring is part of my problem at the moment too… Thanks Steve - taking great care here and hoping our daughter giving birth (in about two weeks) doesn't coincide with another lock down Same here Heather although we're lucky to get food deliveries. Give the cat a stroke for me Wise people indeed. Sorry to hear about the attacks John - what is wrong with some people! I hope they catch them soon. Thanks Johnny - I first read that as 'nice décolletage' and adjusted my clothing accordingly I've had a couple of semi-official Zooms recently mostly interviewing new Scout volunteers. Makes you realise how easy it is to get sloppy when no-one sees you… I had a shave and everything. This morning I've attacked the hair with the trimmer again - No. 4 all over. Do not try to do the back of your head using a mirror held up to the mirror. It'll make you dizzy. I also got a small amount of mojo: One nearly done. I've decided to finish one so that I have it ready in case I get some glueing mojo. Pathetic progress for me - I mean, hendie's almost finished his… I need to get a grip (fnaar!)

Here is my Revell MBB/Kawasaki BK117 "Space Design" built for the Helicopter / Autogyro / STOVL GB. Apparently this one, D-HBKS, features a colour scheme designed by Italian Luigi Colani, who is perhaps best known for the classic Canon T-90 camera. It was built strictly OOB, painted mainly with Vallejo paints, but Tamiya clear blue was also used to create the metallic midnight blue colour (over the top of a mix of Vallejo gunmetal and black). I really enjoyed this build, even though the decals were a bugger, because I just love the scheme. It was the reason I impulse bought it while browsing Ebay. WiP thread Short and sweet on the pictures, as any more seemed repetitive. Thanks for looking.

This one has been sittting on my Shelf of Doom for a long time so went to task of completing the special scheme it has. It is used for dis-similar air training. The decals were printed by myself and the converted nose and humpback came from Freightdog Models. The kit is from Airfix. Paints were Xtracrlix for the grey and Revell Anthracite for the black. Thanks for looking. Regards Robert

Hi all One of the positive outcomes of Covid-19 for me was to have the most incredible experience of being one of the first fare-paying passengers in the world's only two-seat Hurricane! How come, you might ask? Well, due to the need to work from home, I agreed to clear out the "man-cave" and make it into a home-office. I had many, many kits and my enthusiasm for the hobby had diminished in recent years, so I made the big decision to sell my entire collection, bar a few "special" kits! I contacted three well-known dealers in second-hand kits for quotes and accepted an offer from King Kit. The company was very easy to deal with and even collected the kits, saving me the trouble of boxing them and dispatching them by courier. I was paid on the day and felt surprisingly relieved at the amount of space recovered from the study, loft, wardrobe and garage! I am pleased to say that I have had no seller's remorse. My wonderful wife suggested that I should do something aviation-related with the proceeds. I had seen a magazine article about BE505 being converted to a two-seater so I visited flyaspitfire.com to register my interest for one of the first flights that had been postponed due to Covid-19. As soon as I received the email to say that the Hurricane was available for booking, I booked my flight! My wife, Mum and two friends chartered the company's GippsAero GA8 Airvan 8 and my wife did an amazing job of using my Panasonic Lumix bridge camera for the first time even though the flight was quite bumpy and she was shooting into the sun. After the Hurricane broke away from the Airvan, I took control and on the way back to Biggin Hill, the pilot performed a beautifully graceful victory roll. This was, without doubt, one of the most amazing days of my life which was directly attributable to the pandemic. I will start with a few photos from my collection of Peter Teichman flying the aircraft at Duxford and Old Warden in 2010. I never dreamed that 10 years later, I would fly in and even take control of this wonderful machine! The former RAF Biggin Hill Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar Thanks for looking. (I'm still pinching myself....)

OOoyah! This build appears to have sparked a bit of interest. Still no Librarian though. The kit continues to impress, indeed it continues to revelate, a real mojo builder. That brings a small issue along though - A few of you commented how I appear to be at Ced-speed with this, but that's because I get so wrapped up in the build that I tend to forget to take in progress photos. Pigeon post time. (I don't think I've ever had to use so many pigeons) It's hitting the spot for me. Osprey? Not that I saw, but they do a few different Sea Fury's. Not sure about the difference between the Audax and the Hardy - maybe Hawker were resting on their Laurels? I find it kind of strange that for years you see people saying "oh if only we had a [insert aircraft of choice here]" and when the unicorn gets released, everything goes quiet and you never see a build thread anywhere. It was the same for the Hart - I saw lots of commentary leading up to it's release, but I haven't come across another build thread yet. Thanks Giorgio. Prince? easy... file under B1N (never really liked his stuff) Take your pick was a real crowd puller back in the day, though for pure edge of the seat excitement there was nothing to beat uncle Bob's "The Golden Shot" - Bernie, the bolt please...... Left a bit, left, left, left, down a bit, right a bit, down, up, right a bit, steady... Fire! So high-tech! only seems that way because I keep forgetting to take photos Despite my own misgivings, I am actually looking forward to rigging something, and dare I say it - the challenges that come with the F2B are rather enticing Yep, Mr Adams is credited on the instruction sheet so I am assuming shape wise, there are no problems. I was on the lookout for the Aeroclub Audax, but gave up and just bit the bullet for this - and glad I did And so I thought also Steve, but on delving further, are you (and me) perhaps thinking of the Addax? Could it have been named after the wedge-tailed eagle (Aquila audax) - the largest bird of prey in Australia? or my personal favorite, the Phidippus audax, a.k.a. the Bold Jumper? This one appears to be focused on marshalling in an aircraft Quite a woolly jumper by the looks of things Thanks Bill. I think Prince was too busy with Sheena Easton to worry about his appendix. The Patrician will have plenty to say on that I'm sure. 'ook! at the risk of repeating myself - it's a revelation, it really is. The term precision can be bandied about as often as you like and it's not out of place where this kit is concerned Go for it - you won't regret it More wings Marklo? - indeedy - aren't helicopters just the best? No film in this camera Tony. Just a small imp who can draw very fast and is fed on wedge tailed eagles. (apologies since I know you're not a Pratchett fan, but I couldn't resist it) Dammit Adrian my good man! It's too late. To be honest my first consideration was to draw in the stringers, ribs, and longerons with a colored pencil, but cast that idea aside as soon as I realized I did not own any of aforementioned colored pencils. That is, apart from the usual black pencils, but black isn't a color or so I'm told - so I still don't own any colored pencils, just a few absence of color pencils. Come to think of it, it's more charcoal grey innit? Are they then nearly absence of color pencils? Things are never black and white these days are they? I had already started adding framework from very, very thin strips of .25mm sheet painted a brownish shade of brown. If I'd actually had a colored pencil, it would have been an awful lot easier. As is usually the case though, I got there in the end, though it's a lot harder than it looks. Trying to cut thin slices of thin sheet styrene is not enjoyable - the strips tend to curl as you cut them, and it's a struggle to get anything near straight again. Job done - don't look too hard though. It may bear no relation whatsoever to reality but this is as much as you'll ever see of all that handiwork... even less when the wings go on. Oh look... the fabric structure shows up nicely in this shot. It is starting to look nice and busy in there, and the tubular framework hides my bodged stringers. Success! For anyone contemplating a similar misadventure - such is the precise fitting nature of this kit, I found that the bottom of my .25 mm thick stringers interfered with the fit of tubular framework at floor level - so I sliced the stringers back a tad where they can't be seen which then allows the framework to fit. The oxygen bottles (remember them?) got some pipework just for gits and shiggles. These things are like mountains to us modelers aren't they? You just gotta climb them I did come across the first part of the kit that didn't quite fit together though. Shock Horror. Hold the front page! It was, (and still is,) the radiator that fits under the fuselage at the pointy end. (That's in front of the abaft bit in Naval speak). The radiator is made up from two plastic pins over which fits a number of PE parts. I couldn't get the pins through the holes in the PE. Impossible to tell if the pins were just a bit too large, or the holes in the PE just a bit too small, or a bit of both. - Rather then wrestle with it, I went to my old fall back - brass rivets. I found a couple of rivets in my rivet nest that fitted nicely. Note those minuscule discs on the PE fret: The very first, yes, first one I cut pinged it's way to the great Gods of Disappearing PE screaming Sanctuary, sanctuary.... Luckily there were two spare donuts, otherwise I would have been in trouble. Vague instructions time. Did I mention the instructions could be a bit vague at times? Nothing worse than vague instructions is there - cos we always read those darned instructions don't we? Well, I sort of have to as I am so unfamiliar with this aircraft, and it seems nobody else was brave enough to attempt building one before me. Searches have proved fruitless so I had to resort to RTFM Now, see section 13 below: Fitting the rudder pedal assembly - with me so far? Good. So am I. Now those instructions definitely appear to show the assembly fitting down onto that square hole in the floor. Agree? I even highlighted the arrows for you Well, don't ask me how long I spent trying various ways to get that assembly into place on the floor - all to no avail because there's a whopping great silver colored box sitting in the way. I almost cursed I did. One look at the photo below should tell anyone with a grain of sense that the pedal assembly is never, never, never going to fit into that hole. Of course, I being me, kept trying... Then I stumbled across a later diagram in the instructions which clearly shows it NOT ON THE STUPID FLIPPIN' FLOPPIN' FLOOR !!!!! Nowhere near the floor in fact. Apparently this particular assembly sits above the silver box, and attaches to the tubular framework on both sides. Sorry for the sideways shot but the glue is still drying. If I had just looked at the framework closer I would have clearly seen the location features easily enough, but oh no, I had to go reading the darned instructions. Fool! While that was setting up I turned my attention to the instrument panel - one of the last things that needs done before I can close this Antelope/Eagle/Spider up. My detail painting is nothing short of atrocious. If only I could synchronize the shaky hand that's holding the part with the shaky hand that's holding the brush. Would they cancel? Or just increasingly resonate? This is the usual affair - PE instrument panel with a film sandwiched between it and the backing panel - or will be when it's stuck to the backing panel. and lo and behold, another little fit issue! The PE panel is slightly larger than the space it fits into. Easily remedied with a few swipes of the file though as to be expected, that caused some damage to the paintwork at the edge of the panel. Again, that can easily be touched up. Honestly though - I call those fit issues - but in reality, it's hardly worth mentioning. Those are things that you would expect to come across in every other build as par for the course. There's still a few greeblies to fit inside that tubular framework before shutting time, but those are all sitting, waiting patiently. The instrument panel had to go in before the port framework which has to go in before the unknown bracketry which has to go in before the shelf which is connected to the thighbone and then it's closing time. It is going together amazingly fast, but it has to be said that is down to the engineering that AMG put into the design and the quality of the molding. Other kit makers should aspire to be this good. A question remains though - what scheme am I going to choose for this? 28 Sqn operated the Audax in both camo and in shiny shiny silver. At present, I do not have a silver aircraft in my paltry collection so that is quite tempting though to be honest I'm not that keen on silver finishes on models as I think it tends to make them look a bit toy like. On the other hand, I'm not sure a camo pattern suits the sleek lines of the Audax. It's so pointy it looks like it should be silver and shiny to make it go faster the weekend now looms upon us. Shall we reach closure? Shall paint turn up and divert me from this wondrous grey plastic?

Howdy Everyone Finished this one on my last day off work last week so thought you wouldn`t mind me sharing a few pic`s My attempt at ICM`s 1/48 Skymaster kit Built completely from the box with just seat belts and whip aerial added Trouble free build, used the kit decals which are a but thin and fiddley to move around and I`ve got the feeling are of a warbird as opposed to a `nam bird Not much else to say Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

As some very supportive people on the Cold War forum know already, I have started building an Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer while converting it to S.1 standard using the Whirleybird (neé Maintrack) resin intakes. Here are a selection of images showing the latest build state. The fuselage of this kit is known to suffer from warping and this was no exception. Furthermore, removal of the S.2 intakes meant that the lower fuselage in particular was lacking rigidity. Therefore I added the rotating bomb bay door to provide strength and then, as can be seen, I added a pretty extensive internal structure both to support the not-insubstantial intakes and also to straighten-out the lower half's warp. I used drawing pins (thumb tacks) both to retain some of the bracing and to act as attachment points for the undercarriage. As I wanted to model an early S.1 I had to bite the bullet and remove the MDC cord moulded into the canopy. The final effect benefitted from Johnson's Kleer. Just for a change, I decided to build the undercarriage early-on, rather than as an afterthought near the end, as usually happens. The whitemetal legs were by Scale Aircraft Conversions, and the resin wheels by ResKit. The undercarriage colour is Light Admiralty Grey from Mr. Color. Steel rods were used to align the resin intakes and provide further support. For the past week I have been in a continuous loop of filling, priming, rubbing-down and repeating. Here are a couple of shots taken last night. I hope this is of interest. Kind regards, Neil

Hiya Folks, Many of you will know that I have a soft spot for the P-40 and especially the Merlin engined variants,...... and here is my latest,.... a P-40L-5-CU named `Lighthouse Lou' of the 325th FG in Tunisia during 1943. The name came from the pilot, Capt. Joseph A. Bloomer apparently having a liking for strafing lighthouses in enemy territory!I had originally built this model with standard blue and white stars as per most photos that I could find of the unit,..... as the single reference photo I had only showed the nose,.....BUT,..... just as I thought that I had finished I found another photo showing the fuselage roundels to have a yellow surround and as others from the same time period had the red borders and bars added to the wing stars,... I added these too! The photo which just shows the yellow outline to the star; And another general pic showing similar aircraft with yellow surrounds to the markings,... the Dark Green and Dark Earth machine that is nearest is interesting too; The model was an experiment with newer paints than my preferred Aeromaster/Polly Scale paints which are now running out,..... so the finish isn`t brilliant as it was sanded and painted again a number of times,..... the eventual mixture was from Hataka with Humbrol enamel Dark Earth. Due to this it has been on and off the shelf of doom a number of times and almost didn`t get finished. I`ve just noticed that the masking tape used for some last minute rectification has lifted one of the frame lines from the rear glazing,.....ah well! This glazing was missing from the kit and I made some replacements from clear food packaging! I also used a set of wheels from the spares box,...... it was one of those models that I ws just glad to get over the finish line and it probably should have a set of resin wheels with suitable tread on them,..... aha well! How it looked with the blue and white stars; And the finished model; Cheers Tony

Not my first post but it is my first completed build, and to this confirmed if only occasional aero-modeller's chagrin, it's not even an aeroplane ! It's also not quite finished, but I've been here ten years (I think) and not posted a build yet so I thought I'd better get on with it. This is Modelcollect's GLCM with MAN M1014 tractor. Stationed in the UK from 1982, at RAF Greenham Common and later RAF Molesworth, each TEL carried 4 missiles, each carrying a nuclear warhead. 96 warheads were deployed at Greenham Common and a further 64 at Molesworth. They were withdrawn in 1991 following the signing of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, having either massively raised the MAD stakes by giving NATO a first strike capability or forced the Soviets back to the negotiating table, depending on your point of view. The W84 warheads were stored and the missiles and TELs destroyed in accordance with the treaty terms, 8 de-activated missiles and a couple of TELs survive in museums including Duxford. This nominally represents a vehicle from 11th Tactical Missile Squadron / 501st Tactical Missile Wing at RAF Greenham Common, but as the vehicles carried no unit or tactical marking that I could see (certainly none big enough that I could actually paint), it could represent anything from Berkshire to Sicily ! However, most of the prototype photos for the build came from browsing the 501st TMW's Facebook Group to whom I offer my sincere thanks, so they get the honours 🙂. There is no 'in progress' thread but it was a straightforward build from the kit. The only issues I found were: - the spare wheel carried on the load deck is supplied for the MAN tractor but should in fact be for the trailer. The tarpaulin ratchet strapped down is masking the fact that my styrene replacement isn't quite round enough for closer inspection ! - the missile carriage arrangements in the TEL are hugely simplified. Of course after I'd buttoned up one side I found a load of pictures of missile canisters being loaded so I decided to replicate that with the result that one side doesn't quite match the other ! - the painting instructions are beautifully presented as full colour drawings of all elevations but no plan , but it didn't matter because they are nonsense. 501st TMW Facebook pics and Google to the rescue ! I won't be falling over myself to paint MERDC camouflage again in a hurry. Problems of my own making largely revolved around the fact that the TEL is designed to be built in the lowered (transport) position or the raised firing position, I decided to hinge it so it could be posed either way. That was easy. Making the butterfly doors at the rear poseable was a little harder, and making the TEL side doors poseable was extremely fiddly ! It is loaded with inert training rounds for two reasons. Firstly, it may well end up on a 'hide - shoot - move' exercise diorama and, although the MOD neither confirms nor denies anything of this nature, I have found no evidence that they trained off base with live nukes and a bit of circumstantial evidence that they didn't. I haven't asked anyone who was there at the time and would be very happy to be corrected on this, but some of the 'GLCM Rangers having fun in the mud on Salisbury Plain' photos on Facebook and elsewhere suggest that the trailers used on exercise were completely empty on occasions and there are a lot of yellow muzzle guards visible on the M16s suggesting a less than lethal guard capability. Secondly, the only photo I have found of a live canister shows it to be painted a fairly dull and boring overall grey with no sign of the yellow/red stripes you would expect to find on a live WE177 or similar, while the blue and gloss white inert rounds look quite smart and make a nice contrast with the camo. They both need "INERT TRAINER" lettering applied along the sides, that's the bit I've yet to finish but it will have to wait until I find some 2mm decals or a working printer. The figures are from the Hasegawa USAF Groundrew set and a modified Airfix RAF driver, the driver and his mate need baseball caps so some head transplanting may take place when I find some suitable. The SP cop needs an M16 too. "BGM109 - Rocking Moscow hit after hit !" Thanks for looking 🙂

Hiya Folks, Another tribute to a very important operation which is very close to my heart,........ remembering the heroes who fought at Arnhem; Italeri 1/72nd Short Stirling Mk.V; Esci 1/72nd- C-47 Skytrain Valom 1/72nd- AW. Albemarle Matchbox 1/72nd- Halifax A.Mk.V Italeri 1/72nd- Airspeed Horsa Planet Hobby 1/72nd- Hamilcar (OK,....it has a Tetrarch tank, which was not used at Arnhem!) Cheers, Tony

Q: What's a week any more? A: Gregory Benford's Me/Days, an Egypt lofted free of the Earth's surface.... The Vixen makes for a good focus however, a meditative activity to gather your thoughts around until in the end, the engine bays have in some surprise, been suddenly finished. Aside from some of the remaining pipework along rib 0 and that which snakes from the firewall and burrows into Rib 1, there were also some decisions to be made during the week about raised surface detailing along these two ribs: some of the side walls are exposed enough around the Avons that they need some expression in these areas but the limiting factors in this matter was always going to be the 0.8mm wall thickness of the fuselage and the manner in which it intrudes into the negative space of the engine bay, cutting down - as it does - the space between engine and bay wall in terms of what can be fitted to the sides. By judicious use of offsets and the recently-introduced 'emboss' function in Fusion, I was able to create a scheme that didn't weaken the wall structures, whilst avoiding causing any obstructions to fitting the engines into the bays. but these are close enough, albeit still only in the form of images themselves: James can of course tell you what's going on here - in fact he may have done so already and I'm too brain-dead this evening to recollect - but I think these at least some of these are related to air conditioning. Mounting/orienting these reliably (as parts printed separately from the engine) in the bays around the engine was also a concern, but I eventually managed to work out a set of mounting points that didn't mess with visual authenticity too much. 'Snakey' one: The corrugated one along rib 0: You can see the bay wall detailing has been added at this stage also: This was the combination of offset and emboss I mentioned earlier. With a little filleting added along the sides of thosee verticals I'm hopeful it won't complicate the support structures later at the print stage: The one thing I needed to avoid as it is the longitudinal central 'spine' of the aircraft was to avoid anything thinning out this rib and thus weakening the airframe, In the end I was able to offset inward by 0.1mm and emboss out by the same to give those vertical stations (wrong term perhaps but you know what I mean) a 0.2mm raised appearance which should print successfully to define these details. If one were intent on displaying one's h'aircraft with an engine removed and bay exposed then this also gives a good base structure for them to add further detailing themselves in the traditional way. With the engine bunged-in, well...judge for yourselves: Physically there's nowt more resin-printing wise that could really be added into there, though it might be possible to use some fuse wire to add a few more bits of thin pipe runs in places - we can play around with that in due course. Been a while since I did any mirroring to see what both side of the aircraft will look like in the end so: Yus. I can live with that. 'Course, you won't see this easily down the intake once the wing's in place, but you'll know this is there: The 'bits that leave the aircraft carrier last' also don't look to shabby now in ensemble form: And a higher view looking forwards: Lastly then, a couple of high quality renders for visual effect: Pulling back for an overview: Withe the rear section now finished, attention can turn to the front section of the aircraft: what do you reckon? Have a look at the cockpit next? 😁 No work on that tomorrow though as I have to drive Mrs. B up to Dublin to collect some of her work from a gallery - as the city is now going into a stricter lockdown from midnight tonight I expect it to be a quite sobering flying visit. Thanks for dropping by and as always, hope you and yours are safe. More soon. Tony

Hey guys. sorry for the radio silence over the past week or two. I don’t know what’s going on but I just don’t seem to find the time to get to the bench. I had a few days away camping with my son. ‘twas Lovely. That on top of work commitments has made the grotto a tough place to find time for. But I need to so I have done a small update to the threads hoping for more this weekend. There was a few bits more done to the PE. And I decided not to use this part as the bending made it seem sloppy so I made my own. And put it in place. this lot needs some paint so the other builds need to be bought up so I can do them at the same time. While thinking about masking the canopy I got this email. “ Dear Sir Thank you for your inquiry, we will endeavour to resolve as soon as possible. Our spares colleague will contact you when we can confirm the replacement parts have been dispatched. Thank you for your patience. Kind regards Hornby Spares Team “ Now I’m not sure if that’s progress or more fob off? We shall see. I’m going to run with what I have for now. Keep everything crossed for more bench time over the weekend. Thanks for being patient. Johnny.

Hallo This is my MIG-21R. This a/c I painted with the Gunze SM 201 Super Fine Silver 2. My first MIG I painted with Gunze C8, my second one with Alclad II. My personal feeling is, that this color is the best metallic paint I ever used for a all over total paint of a model. Well, the kit is very often praised, generally good, some shortcomings are present. If you learn them, you can act with countermeasures. So far. Happy modelling and my MF will be next!

OK, finally I have decided what to build: The Draken will be a Danish TF-35 two-seater and the Tunnan a S 29C recce version in UN Congo markings. Here we go!

Definitely entering this one at some point over this GB

The Asouka/Tasca 1/35th scale Sherman II DV builds into an impressive model. The figures are from Dragon, they are sold as Italian Campaign, but switch the No4 Lee Enfield's to the earlier SMLE and they are North African campaign. The bridge is scratch built from foam board covered in filler paste. Thanks for looking. Angelo

Greetings All, Here is my 1/35 scratchbuilt Wolseley armoured car. I chose to model this as it seemed to be a fairly easy shape (albeit using pretty scant reference material given it's rarity) and I'd found an excellent card model template on the Landships II website - a wonderful source for this sort of thing. It's all plastic card and scraps - see the WIP if you're interested in reading further... The scene is Ashtead in Surrey, just after the great war. Our intrepid armoured car crew have been on manouvres, but their not-so-trusty conveance has let them down, overheating and dropping oil on this warm summer's day. They requisition a brace of horses and use them to tow the car back to base. The AA have just set up their network of roadside assistance boxes, but this one is unfortunately unmanned, and the officer has foolishly allowed his membership to lapse..... Thanks to everyone who commented on the WIP - it's been a wonderful journey!

Chris, you will not out-spare-bin me, sir! By the way, talking about spare bins, that's where my wife claims she found me.

All, Without doubt one of the best kits regarding assembly that I have experienced for a long time. Totally enjoyable (and straightforward) build as result uncomplicated assembly and great fit throughout. The instructions also featured one of the best, easy to follow rigging diagram that should be the standard for all biplane models. Pretty much built OOB with just some minor detailing here and there. This is my take on the kit for the marking option of No 72 (F) Squadron 1938. Highly recommended kit Regards Dave

Hey. Sorry for the Lack of updates. I went camping. Boys in the wild!!! 🤪 Work has been keeping me away from the bench also but I managed to get some time today. I must say with four builds on the go I’m finding it hard fo focus but it’s fun none the less. any hoo here’s the tank with re instated mid rim and a spot of primer. I need to build the struts for this to sit on as it’s not part of this kit. Here is a paper template. With a little cutting and some punch action. We are here. Seems about right. poping it together you get the shape. And the rear brackets got made. A quick dry fit. 🤩 I need to make the panels for the name and the stars and bars too. I can then get this into the booth with everything else. 🤩 The pipe got cleaned up and drilled. Blades got a tidy. And the main rotor head got assembled. Yay. It’s great to be back in the cave. 🤩🤩🤩 more over the weekend. Take care guys. Johnny

I used to do that all the time. Until I was saved by the light, of course. ✝️ For committing such a crime against humanity, your penance is to post often in every thread started by @Martian without ever mentioning modelling of any kind. Extra points for posts that are sarcastic, or otherwise smacking of British humour. For some reason, Macbeth seems a popular subject. Oh, and Scotch (single malt). Cheers, Bill

Bristol Beaufighter TF.X flown by Flying Officer Maurice Exton DFC, 144 Sq., Royal Air Force Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, October 9th, 1944 The story of what happened that day could be found here - https://issuu.com/spinkandson/docs/12044/81 (I couldn't figure out how to copy-paste from there) Compared to Airfix's Blenheim this model was an absolute pleasure to work with. No fit issues at all. Used Tamiya acrylic. Weathering is done with Prismacolor pencil and pigments made out of polychromos pastels.

Thanks for the very generous comments! I’m currently working on a sequel...(Grant Mk. II) Ready to install the tracks and sand shields before I move on to the rest (only the lower hull and running gear are complete so far). This one will get a charcoal/black disruptive scheme over Desert Pink. DP is very difficult to photograph. This is actually a warmer, rosier (slightly) finish, but looks more yellow/orange in pics than it actually is.

303 Squadron, Hurricane Mk.I, RF-F, V6684, September Kit: Airfix A05129, 1:48 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Tropical Finish: Mr Color Dark Green (C-23), Dark Earth (C-369), and Sky (C-368). Vallejo Model Wash 75.516 Grey. MSI Micro Flat. Decals: Techmod 48025 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I The build log:

Here is my next summer build. Airfix's new Hunter boxing, a great kit apart from one thing... ...and the only shortcoming is of course Airfix's somewhat lazy solution not to include a new wing. As many of you know, you have to cut away the dogtooth and replace it with new parts (incluced in the kit). To get a seam-free wing, took about the same time as the rest of the build. Another problem with this solution, is that the small air intakes and outlets on the body (all on the wing part), are perfect for a F.6, but not for a F.4 that had another engine. Differences are small, and I didn't bother to fix it, but it is a bit annoying - especially when you know that a new wing would have solved both these problems. But apart from that, this is a brilliant kit. Fit is perfect and even the Swedish decals are great and useful - for the first time ever in an Airfix kit! I only replaced the letter on the fin, but that is only because I thougt that a red letter was more attractive than the yellow one on the decal sheet, My only addition was Eduard seatbelts: I wanted to do an early SwAF Hunter, so I avoided too much weathering this time. A really nice model of one of the most beautiful aircraft ever! Well done, Airfix! Apart from... you know...

As my Spitfire Story kit just arrived I have decided to do one more for the home team. I was going to do Alan Deere's Spitfire, but that was crashed in the battle of Dunkirk. Instead I have decided to do Des Sheen's Spitfire. This will also keep my Aussie daughters happy. Des Sheen was a Australian pilot. The other reason for doing his one is he few against the 15th of August northern raids with 72 sqn. I have decals on the way from Hannants, so it will be touch and go whether I get it done in time. I'm afraid the image is a rather distorted, but it was the only one I could find. As well as this I will be doing a Bf 109E-4. This is a project I was going to do for the BOB display at Telford which has been delayed till next year because of Covir19. As it turns out the new Eduard Bf 109 special kit set has the decals for the plane. The plane was flown by Wilhelm Meyerweissflog on 5 September 1940. He saw a lot of the boys going off and thought he would like a flip too so he jumped into his Messerschmitt, flew vaguely in the direction of England and was neatly shot through the fuel tank by a British fighter and made a forced landing. Wingleader gave me this image to use on the Telford display which unfortunately won't happen. It is in their Luftwaffe crash Archive 3.

Hiya Folks, An old one from the cabinet which I don`t think I have ever shared,.....a 1/48th Classic Airframes Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV of 82 Sqn,.... representing the men of Bomber Command who continued to support The Few of Fighter Command by keeping the pressure on the German`s. While the heavies concentrated on more strategic targets,.... the Blenheim Boy`s were kept busy throughout the Battle of Britain in daylight raids against Luftwaffe airfields in France and the Low Countries, Channel Ports where invasion barges were being prepared and other targets,...... often with heavy casualties. Diaries of Luftwaffe pilots have mentioned how tired they were due to being on standby against these Blenheim raids and how they were often attacking them time afte time. The aircraft that I chose to replicate was P6915, UX-A of 82 Sqn based at RAF Watton which was unfortunately shot down on the 7th June 1940 during the Battle of France, before the Battle of Britain started. The Classic Airframes kit is by no means state of the art,..... but it was the only way to build a Blenheim in injection moulded plastic for many years until the superb Airfix Mk.I kit turned up. The main problem with the kit for me was the over small main wheels,...... which are very evident on the model, plus only an early aircraft could be built as there were no bubble side windows provided. Please bear in mind that I built this model well over 15 years ago,..... so it is no spring chicken and there are things on it that I would do differently today,.... but as usual it was brush painted; Cheers Tony

Hello all, This is my latest finished model, AMP's HUK-1 Huskie in 1/48. It's the most fun I've had building a model in a long time. There's no aftermarket and I only made some small changes to better reflect this particular airframe. Paint is Mr Color 365 and the decals are from the kit (although I replaced the national insignia). It's a tiny model (excluding the rotors, about the size of a 1/72 WWII fighter) with lots and lots of parts. The close-ups show a much rougher finish than I would like, although in real life it looks pretty smooth. Comments welcome and a full build article is at https://jonbryon.com/amp-1-48-kaman-huk-1-huskie/ Jon

Hello all, Spent a few hours this morning at my local airfield, having the privilege of the Aircraft Restoration Company NHS Spitfire in for a visit. Pictures aren't great as they were taken on my iphone. A wonderful machine and thank you NHS. Dave

I received the Azur Baltimore in the post this morning: Initial impression is that it is excellent. I will compare it to a variety of plans and the FROG one at the weekend.

The packaging. Source: https://www.facebook.com/finemolds.co.jp/posts/3290533217727659 V.P.

I was led to believe that the little furry yappy dogs some ladies carry in their purses might have been what we today call "service dogs". Not sure it those services extended to... well... brushing. (TM?)

You mean you don't have a toilet brush? (I'm only saying it before @corsaircorp beats me to it!) Mike the ashamed

The old chestnut - harness straps through the hole or over the seat? Eduard show the harness going over the top of the seat. Time to re-visit the old threads. Typically, I prefer to portray the harness through the seat hole. I can then understand how a pilot can lean forward by releasing the retractable top straps using the catch on the starboard sill and pivoting at the waist. Over the seat seems to defeat the purpose. I know Edgar's famous drawing shows the over the seat install. More research before I commit. Here are some cockpit status photos to pass the time while I've hit the research trail. I still have to add the throttle operation cables. I could not be bothered with the note pad holder under the throttle quadrant. Also, in this build, I did not add the pneumatic piping and valves installed at the bottom of the air cylinders. I must be getting lazy or pragmatic. On the next build I might add some of the piping visible through the bulkhead at the rudder pedals - just for fun! Eduard PE Instrument Panel done my usual way with some Tamiya Black Panel Liner used to tone down the vinyl between the dials. I added the Landing Lamp Controls (thanks Charlie @Johnson) and Fuel Cock Levers. Other additions per earlier posts. Whether the hydraulic lines from the U/C operation are steel, aluminium or copper/brass I am not too sure. Safest way is to paint in IG. I like the copper to jazz it up a little. I did not add the hand computer storage under the Remote Contactor. Not enough room as the supplied Remote Contactor may be a little oversize (like the Indicator Light Morse Key). Here is the stalled seat waiting for harnesses. I used the kit's plastic rudder pedals. They're not too bad. Scribed some grooves. I'll save the PE version for a more needy kit. Tamiya tape straps suitably stained. Added the hoses and retaining clips to the joy stick. So on to other things and make a decision on that harness. Ray

This is my first civilian model for a while so @Moa will be pleased…. Or maybe not? More details about the Hutt River Province can be found here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River and its web site here http://www.principality-hutt-river.com/ Suffice it to say that it started as an unsuccessful tax evasion idea and morphed into a tourist attraction until it closed down this year. For some time the late owner, Leonard Casley, operated an Aero Subaru Fuji FA200 which was painted up in Royal Hutt River Province Air Force livery as Air Force One. Aircraft ownership is not unusual on the very large Western Australian cattle runs. Note that Hutt River is larger than Bermuda and about the size of Guernsey. The Subaru was strictly a civil aircraft and registered as VH-FJI. Searching that registration will bring up what are seemingly the only two pictures of it RHRPAF guise. As a result of a discussion here…. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/72nd_aircraft/what-is-the-most-obscure-air-force-you-ve-model-an-t11296.html#p110683 ….. I couldn’t resist building this one. The kit is by Arii and is not easy to find. It was built pretty much out-of-the-box. I added flap hinges and an aerial. The decals were drawn originally in 1/48 but my graphic designer son re-drew them in 1/72 with some additions and corrections and they were printed on an Alps printer. Comments welcome.... even silly ones as befits the model! Now I need to find a Bleriot Monoplane for a model of it in Liverpool Air Force service.

Another golden oldie that some of you may be familiar with... Heller's classic 1/72 Lioré et Olivier 451 French WW2 bomber. A good level of detail for a 50 year old kit, but suffering from badly aligned parts, particularly wing and fuselage halves. She needed quite a bit of teasing into her original shape, and I think she deserved a rescribe and rivet. There's a fairly accurate scratchbuilt cockpit and wheel wells in there, but no photo etch additions, simply because not much exists for this old kit when it comes to aftermarket detailing! Anyway - as always, any feedback and your positive constructive criticism is much appreciated. Cheers, Andy

Shenyang J-5 (MiG-17 'Fresco-A'), '2310', pilot Pham Ngoc Lan, 921st 'Sao Do' FR, Noi Bai, 3. April 1965 'First Kill' This early Shenyang J-5 (license built MiG-17 'Fresco-A' by the chinese), number 2310, was flown by Pham Ngoc Lan on the 3rd of April 1965 when the first recorded VPAF kill was achieved. This happened over Thanh Hoa province and Pham Ngoc Lan claimed to shot down a F-8E of VF-211 flown by Lt Cdr Spence. But in fact, Crusader was only badly damaged in this incident and Spence made an emergency landing at Da Nang. - - - - - - Kit: Zvezda Soviet Fighter MiG-17 "Fresco" (#7318) Scale: 1/72 Aftermarket: Master pitot tubes & guns, Eduard brassin main wheels, Eduard PE Paints: Vallejo Model Color, Model Air & Metal Color, Tamiya Lacquer Weathering: Flory Models Wash, Mig streaking effects Decent all-around good kit from Zvezda (originally from Dragon). I did enjoy the build, no big issues. Built for Vietnam GB Build thread: Airfix MiG-17F in the background David and Goliath.

Oh go on then. ”Hot potato orchestra stalls puck must make amends” Tweak👃🗣ouch. 😉

Got the plug lead ends and cables fitted...even managed to label them in their firing order (as per ref pics)...very fiddly...but worth it IMHO Next up for some fun...decided to add a metal strap + 0.6 mm nut and bolt to hold it...again...as per ref pics...then added a fitting to replace the kit pin... Back to cleaning and prepping/priming for a few day's now... Ron

She's been a bit neglected with work on my Mojave, but almost there now. Just pitots, hoist hook and a few final details to add And a comparison shot

slowly looking like a race car DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

A few pictures of the finished cockpit with some comments. In the end, I decided to stay with my usual harness through the seat option. I went back over the old threads and the often passionate views and still came away with no definite decision. The clincher for me, was the recent thread where Peter @Basilisk posted the seat drawing. It's a 300 series drawing, so it is for the Mk I and the metal seat if I am not mistaken. The seat hole is titled "for safety belt". It is a drawing for the cartridge rack so I put that back on. Sadly the list of amendments and dates are not clear. I would have liked to be able to read these. Some pilot's may of preferred the over the seat option, but, I'll stick with my original view that if you go over the seat you cannot lean forward using the release lever unless the belts attached to the rear of seat slip either side of the seat (maybe this is what they did). I'll correct this with the metal seat early version build that is coming up next if the evidence is strong. For this build it's through the seat. Here's the link to Peter's post: The final result: Another peculiarity is the recess in the bottom of the seat. The later lozenge pattern is provided in the kit (in hindsight, easier to use the metal seat and alter for the paper/resin composite seat and paint in the appropriate colour), I decided to hide the triangular ends as best I could rather than fill, file and reshape. I put in the leather protective strap as fixed to the left hand side of the seat (painted Tamiya tape) and then laid the belts as best as I could, to hide those ends of the recess. I think it's OK for 1/48. I'm sure my family are not going to say " Dad, you have the wrong seat installed! It's totally ruined!" or these days probably a suitable list of emoji's showing shock then crying. The Eduard IP comes up real nice. Note that I let the black wash tone down the brightness of the white and yellow features. Careful though not to get it in the dials. @Greg Law Greg, Well spotted! The seat is painted with acrylics. I get a little Tamiya Yellow XF-4 and Mr Hobby Aqueous Hobby Color Red Brown H47 (I don't think the brands matter) and mix and adjust on a palette. Get a base colour I like and then start painting with some adjusted more yellow and more red brown tones. I use Mr Color Levelling Thinners to keep the brush, paint and application area dilute and workable. Once dry, I do dry brush slightly with a flat yellow brown (Tamiya Yellow Brown XF-60) on the wearing edges - this effect seems to have disappeared in the photos. Before jumping into joining the fuselage halves, I removed the leading edge rivetting with Mr Surfacer 500. Chemical mask mandatory - my this stuff is on the nose. Sorry Eduard, I like the rivetting just feel it is a tad overstated on that leading edge. I decided to give my Spitfire an extra 15 knots. I kept most of the underside detail. I'll now give this at least 24 hours to dry before some gentle wet sanding. Ray

Weld beads done on rear doors, front mudguard finished and the tow rope hangers finished....still have to start the tracks and still have to do the pioneer tool holders ..... then it's on to paint

Nice progress. A quick question, are you planning to fit the refuelling probe? If you are do not forget to drill 3 holes that are on the inside of the R/H fwd fuselage half, I almost did not as they were not indicated on my Eduard instructions.

ships boats finally in , could not get the top PE stands to sit right , so I made some wedges out of styrene .

Morning chaps It will be more pleasant once the steering wheel is in place. Quick dry fit to show you the future assembly Let you imagine how this will look once installed in the cabin ! Stay tuned for the next steps 🤔

Airfix 75th Anniversary Battle of Britain set. All models built OOB. Vallejo ModelAir paint used throughout. Kit decals with Xtradecal Swastika's for the Luftwaffe aircraft.