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Glad to welcome everyone again! This time I present you the Soviet silver arrow - The Yak-28P from 1 squadron 174 Guard fighter regement (Pechenga's two times Red Banner order named of two times hero of the Soviet Uniun Boris Safonov), Monchegorsk airfield, mid-70s, from the airfield, in the garrison of which I had the happiness to growing up and spending the best years of my childhood as the son of the military aviator. The model is out of the box, painted with AKAN and Revell, tinted with pigments and oil. By the way, this model is a gold medalist (in its nomination) at an exhibition dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory in Kaliningrad https://vk.com/topic-172223917_44340990

Markings and Scheme are for Spitfire lost May 1940 in the Dunkirk area. AZ 1/72nd Spitfire Late Mk I I Liked the Black and White underside colors. Not a Bad kit but certainly not and Eduard Spitfire. Xtradecals used and Vallejo Paints Actually out of box build with only Uschi Antenna added Thanks for Looking Comments Always Welcome Cheers Bill D.

Hello gentlmen, Here's my last complete model, a P-38J 15 LO, from 1st Lt Clark Livingston, 392nd FS, 367th FG, seen at Juvincourt, France Dec. 1944. The Hasegawa kit is a bit of a challenge and has been fighting all the way. Paints used are AK extrem metal over a Gunze lacquer gloss black base, other shades from the Gunze acryl range. Hope you'll like her. As usual comments an critics most welcome. Stef (#6)

This is one that been a loft dweller for a very long time (nearly 50 years possibly). Not the easiest kit I've ever built but there aren't too many parts to deal with. Brushed painted in a mix of Xtracolor, Revell and Humbrol paints. Decals from the spares box as the kit examples were beyond recovery. z20201026_100432 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr z20201026_192430 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr z20201026_192448 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr z20201026_192451 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr z20201026_192513 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr

Thanks CC I can't wait for the paint either! Soon, soon… Certainly am John. I'm afraid babies don't interest me much - helpless little beasts - but your own do warrant a bit more interest I guess. Thanks Johnny Thanks Shalako The kit comes with two wing tanks / bombs and one central one - we'll see what they're like. I had a quick Google but couldn't see many images but they look similar? Back from the weekend with the new arrival: The angle of the camera makes me look like a right 'Tefal head' - perhaps I should audition for the next Coneheads movie! I'm not a great fan of babes but obviously this one is special to us. He's very good too - no brain-splitting wails like our two had, just a gentle 'waah' when he needs attention. Sleeping a lot too. Great stuff. Any worries about how the Pup would take to him were foundless. Tilly is very careful and protective: One of my favourite photos (and there are lots!) Back to the modelling. The instructions would have you glue the airbrake mount in first but the positioning is vague and the fit is tight so I found it better to glue the bits together: …and then sand the assembly to fit. I've also painted the back of the cockpit interior colour after looking at the walk around: Not much will be seen under the back of the canopy anyway.

I'm a long-time Buck Danny fan and despite the vast majority of the books being drawn by Victor Hubinon, I consider the Francis Bergese albums the best ones in the serie. In particular the trilogy he created with the original writer, Jean Michel Charlier, called Nuclear Alert. Over the course of three albums, our hero Buck Danny, with help from his companions Sonny Tuckson and Jerry Tumbler, struggles with a terrorist organization that is planning to conduct a nuclear attack on a world leader summit. They use hijacked atomic bombs and Tomcats to execute their plan. Some years ago I earmarked the Italeri kit, which I bought over 25 years as a teenager from my hard-earned allowance, to represent one of the Tomcats from this storyline, complete with the nuclear weapon they of course never carried in reality. I managed to find two copies of the MicroScale sheets that contained the VF-32 Swordsmen markings. Building the kit was quite straightforward, the Italeri kit is old and doesn't have the nicely recessed panel lines and detail offered by the newer Fujimi and Hasegawa kits, let alone the brand new FineMolds kit. Still, it is reasonably accurate and goes together quite easily. I tried finding an aftermarket atomic bomb but it appears the bomb depicted in the books is not actually based on a real weapon, so I recreated it myself from a 1/48 scale Starfighter tip tank and some card. Decals were the main challenge. The generic items like stencils and insignia came from the box and an Xtradecal sheet. However, the MicroScale decals were in a bad state and I really should have sprayed them with acrylic lacquer before using them. One sheet was completely useless, the other was ok for the colored decals but the ones with just black ink came apart. I decided to add these to the decals I would have to make myself, which included the '204' on the nose and wings and of course the pilot and RIO names to clearly make this Sonny Tuckson's hijacked plane. I found a font that allowed me to easily make the numbers (it's called AmarilloUSAF) and printed them on clear decal paper. So there we have it, my first Tomcat and in quite a unique representation.

- In my FULCRUM serie after the two-seater this is the 9/12 version in Slovak Tiger meet 2002 -THe kit is G.W.H 1/48 scale, decals from SHYHART;I us the dedicated Quinto 3D product for the first time. the effet is stunning but i add some white glue to the water for a better grip on previously painted plastic part as adviced by the manufacturer's instruction .

Hi guys, Hope you are all well. I just finished my Panzerkampfwagen IV build. It's a Dragon kit No. 6779, quite a nice kit, except horrible DS tracks that I replaced anyway with Fruils and a few minor accuracy issues. Following my Pz IA build belonging to Panzer Reg 5, I decided to to the same with this one. I decided to go with a tank number 812, one of the first vehicles that arrived in Tripoli in March 1941. This is the initial vehicle, not a replacement one. It is interesting that I was not able to find any records about when this vehicle was lost (it seams that it survived Operation Crusader and stayed operational well into 1942, making it a true veteran). I had to do some changes to the original kit, some were made due to the accuracy issues (for example drive sprocket provided in the kit is Pz IV E one), some to match workshop and upgrade changes made on tank 812. It also seams that 812 was a veteran of French campaign and that there were some refitting happening after that: changed position of Notek light, missing aerial deflector, rearranged tools, etc.. I also scratch built rear stowage, which is specific only for initial batch of Pz IVs belonging to Panzer Reg 5 . I also added some additional details, like tool clamps and some small PE work here and there. I used a few AM items: Fruil's early 36cm tracks, Blackdog's stowage, Bronco's canisters, etc. It's painted with Mr.Color RAL 7021, and than with LifeColor Giallo Sabbia Chiaro. Weathering is a combination of Mig's nature effects and pigments. I used VMS metal tracks blackening fluid for the first time... it seams ok. And some isometric on white background. A little bit of details. Model with filter applied simulating Panchromatic film: And the real one... patchy painwork on the model is a little bit less vidible than original because dust reduced contrast a lot. Same tank before it was re-painted. Thanks for looking and thanks for the feedback. Cheers, Nenad

Here she is, at long, long last, my attempt at Hobby Boss's Gustav, depicted in the colours of Gunther Rall's Black 13, as flown on the Russian front in August 1942. There's debate as to the camo pattern, whether Rall flew this airframe much (as Staffelkaptain it's said that he flew Black 1 more frequently) and many other things. For example, HB suggest that the cannon in underwing pods should be installed, but I couldn't find any pictures of the aircraft with them, so I left them. There's a fair amount of creative interpretation involved here, however you look at it. I started out full of enthusiasm before falling into a long period of near-despair with the kit. Lots of things broke (undercarriage, tank brackets and pitot head being the prime examples), I had huge paint issues and the kit had several foibles which did it no favours, such as the unseen fuel tank which prevents the wings being joined to the fuselage. The WIP is here, should you fancy a laugh: Once again, I learned lots. For example: Colourcoats enamels give a much better representation of the RLM paints than Humbrol do. However, they bring their own challenges which took me a while to discover but allowed me to rely less on weathering to hide colour weaknesses; Brush-painting mottling is getting easier but can still give headaches; It's easy to over-weather; That even an uninhabited cockpit can still take up more work than it's worth; That making seatbelts out of masking tape can give reasonable results; Rigging radio aerials using stretched sprue makes the job much easier than fiddling around with thread; That rescribing panel lines can be really hard, even with the proper tools for the job That shonky, stick-thin, knock-kneed undercarriages can be vastly improved by drilling the struts out and fixing them to the wing with steel rod. I said in the WIP that it was going to be an OOB build, and it mainly was apart from a few things such as scratching a radio mast after breaking HB's one getting it off the sprue, making the position lights out of Micro Kristal Kleer (the existing ones being really clumsy and unrefined mouldings that were way out of scale), fixing the airscrew to the cowling using a slightly turned-down .410 shogun cartridge head, stealing the pitot tube from another kit and grafting it in after the kit's own one snapped, using solder wire to make tank brackets.... This one received far less weathering than my last 109 due to increased confidence. I'm beginning to feel that I might be able to do this, given some time and practise. I brush-painted the model, which has its own limitations, but as I don't have an airbrush yet, it's the best I could do. So, the pictures, then. My photographic skills aren't great, but here she is: At times I loved this kit and at others I hated it. Now that it's done I'm happy with it inasmuch that it's not too bad (in my eyes) and that I learned a lot. I'm already putting some of this knowledge into my next build, an Eduard FW190A-3. Any comments, criticisms and observations you have will be gratefully received. Thanks, JRK

Heller No 380 1/72nd Junkers Ju52/3m. This boxing is from Kovozády Prostějov, but is Heller moulded plastic. Junkers Ju52/3m, 3U+MT, 9./ZG 26, France, 1940. The Junkers Ju52 was the main Luftwaffe transport aircraft. 4,845 planes were built, most by Junkers themselves, but also licence-built in Spain and France. Production began in 1931 and ended in 1952. Until fairly recently, "Tante Ju"s (Aunt Ju), or "Iron Annies", were still giving pleasure flights. Sadly, due to the discovery of corrosion in a crashed aircraft in Switzerland in 2018, the remaining aircraft have been grounded. Eric "Winkle" Brown flew a captured Ju52 at the end of the Second World War. In an article written for AIR International magazine he described starting up the three-motored aircraft as akin to playing a Wurlitzer organ. He also explained the rather interesting braking system when manoeuvring the aircraft on the ground: I always got a kick from taxying the Ju52/3m because of its unique braking system. To operate the left brake the port throttle had to be pulled fully back and, similarly, the starboard throttle for the right brake. Application of both brakes demanded that only the centre throttle lever be pulled fully back. It goes without saying that this Heath Robinsonish system took some getting used to - on first acquaintance one tended to pirouette around the perimeter track like an aged ballerina. The Ju52 was originally conceived as a single-engined 17-seater airliner or cargo plane, but it was soon decided three motors would be safer overall. This led to the 3m moniker - 3 motoren - and a rather Byzantine sequence of further letters were tacked on to denote which particular variant of the type you may be looking at. Probably the most numerous variant was the Ju52/3mg8e, with improved direction-finding and radio installations and strengthened undercarriage. The type was used as a bomber, paratroop transport, VIP transport, general dogsbody, and became much loved by those who flew them, and flew in them. They weren't quick, but they were very reliable, and had a short take-off and landing characteristic and capable of operating from very poor surface conditions. If you want the complete low-down on Auntie, head to Wikipedia. The subject of the model was assigned to Zerstörergeschwader 26 "Horst Wessel" in late 1939. We often forget that the pace of Blitzkrieg and the Battle of France meant keeping maintenance and non-flying personnel and all the equipment required to keep a Messerschmitt Bf110 squadron in the air needed a reasonably fast transport method. The Ju52 was ideal for this purpose. This model is built pretty much straight from the box, with the only addition being masking tape seatbelts in the cockpit and a spare PE gunsight for the upper machine gun. I made a replacement pitot tube from brass wire as the plastic one wouldn't have lasted ten seconds in my world. The Heller moulds were created in 1979, and you can still buy a new boxed kit from the original manufacturer today. A while ago, seeking an Iron Annie for my 1940 collection, I asked on this very forum as to which kit of the type was considered the best. Italeri came up, but Heller was deemed to be more accurate overall. At the time, I couldn't find a Heller box anywhere sensible, but the KP boxing appeared, proudly announcing it contained "Heller Plastic". It also had suitable transfers for my interests, so I duly acquired one. The Heller kit includes parts to make the French licence-built Ju52 variant Avions Amiot 1 Toucan, and for its age is a remarkably fine mould. For more information on the box contents and how it went together see the WIP thread linked later. I bought in a masking set from Montex for the transparencies (which didn't fit the Heller kit as they were intended for the Italeri one) and had the national and unit markings. Sadly, no instructions on how to deploy the masks meant I ended up only using the snake mask - and even that was a bit hit and miss. The model was airbrushed with ColourCoats enamels, and Humbrol enamels and acrylics for detail painting. Build thread here:

Hi All, I've just completed this build for the Heller GB and thought I'd pop her in the RFI as usual. As stated in the WIP, I've waited about 40 years to build this one. Hope you like her Cheers Nigel

And we're done. I will make up a gallery post shortly, once I’ve done a bit more background research. The unit markings (3U) are for ZG 26, a Bf110 squadron. We often don’t realise that during Blitzkrieg the need to move personnel and equipment forward to keep up with the fighters was intense. There may have been several Ju52s on each fighter and bomber squadron's strength throughout the spring and summer of 1940

Cowl/engine/prop on. Wheel covers, all lights, aft canopy, directional finder, Pitot and Venturi are added:

Well Im not about to do that again! Multiple builds Im talking about! Anyway here is the third and final of my Revell 1/48 Tornado builds. This one as an Op Telic jet "Danger Mouse" one of my favourite cartoon characters growing up The standard kit is enhanced with @Shaun wing seals, eduard PE cockpit, wheel wells, wheels, TIALD, Sky shadow and BOZ pods, plus res-kit Paveway IIs. I have to say the Brassin weapons are lovely, as were the res-kit bombs. Excellent detail and easy to assemble, a plus for me! Finished using SMS paints - an Australian brand of lacquer paint, and decals from Model Alliance It has a few flaws as you can probably see if you look at the photos, but its done. I have a bad habit of rushing a build in the final stages, and taking a few shortcuts, if its not turning out as I envisaged. A habit I really need to stop Anyway, heres my fourth completed build for the year. Any comments, or constructive feedback welcome (apart from the backward sloping front leg, I can see that one already, oh, and the chunk missing from the port wing glove😀) The pictured base is from Mario 3D Bases. Expensive, but a quality item. Thanks for looking Bruce

Thanks Ben, Giorgio, Roger, Bill, Dennis, Bill, Shalako, CC, PC (too young? Yeah, right!), Mark, Terry and John for the kind comments. Proud, yes, but I'll be prouder when he's modelling! Speaking of which, closing up the bottom (fnaar!). Nose doors fine: Rear doors not so much: I'll fill the gaps, sand it all smooth then re-scribe. There's a problem with the wing wheels (whatever they're called). This: Looks like this: I think they've reversed the part numbers. Can you see the slope on the wing and on the 'leg'? Wrong! There's also a mold problem here: It's not flat. There's also an ejector pin mark on the end of the wings: With those cleaned off we get this: Much better.

Here's my Potez 25, circa April or May 1941, Greece...against the Italians I imagine. And just in time for the 60th anniversary of 'Oxi (O-hee) Day', which is tomorrow! No parades this year...and it is supposed to rain all over the country...Oh well. I good day to stay inside and build models! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohi_Day The WiP is here. Very nice kit. Well designed, well-moulded. No flash I could find. Nice PE although it wasn't necessary to use it. There are plastic counterparts on the sprue. The decals are thin but manageable. Do be careful with the solvent! All the paints are Vallejo Air or Vallejo. Rigging is my usual mix of monofilament and stretched sprue. I hope to come back to this GB before December for another build or two. Some of the work being done and already built is lovely stuff. For now I will focus on the Vietnam and Heller GeeBees. 👍😁 --John

Hi There, This one was built for the wee fellas roof. No nose weight and undercarriage to deal with.... Yeehah. I haven't strung the aerials yet and not sure if I will as their absence will make hanging a lot simpler. Primed with UMP Grey Painted with Vallejo Chromate Green, USN Blue, Tamiya Flat Aluminium, Nato and Rubber Black Chipping by Sivikrin Finished with Windsor & Newton Galeria Satin Varnish. Some Pics of it's new home. Not the wee fellas wallpaper just his play room before the final decorating. As always, Thanks for looking and all comments and criticism welcome. Cheers, Alistair

Here's my contribution; Bentley Blower (Humbrol 1:24) Cheers Nigel

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Revell Panther G, with metal towing cables and turret MG added. I painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics (H404/H47/H80) and weathered with pastel chalks and artist oils. The mud on the lower body is a mix of white glue and earth. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Thank you for your interest! Greetings from Vienna, Roman

Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is the brand-new 1/72 Vespid Models A34 Comet tank, in markings of 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 29th Armoured Brigade, 11th Armoured Division (from the box). I added a towing cable from my spares box and antenna on the turret. The model was painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics, weathering with artist's oils and pastel chalks. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. For the first time, the A34 is available as an injection-moulded kit in 1/72. I had never heard of Vespid Models before, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and fit of parts. Even the link & length tracks, which often cause me troubles, were relatively easy to assemble. My boxing contained a metal gun barrel and photo-etch parts. Thank you for your interest, best greetings from Vienna! Roman .

Hello Folks! My first completed model for a while, and it took a lot more effort than I thought it would. Loads of flash on the mouldings which was really surprising, and fit of parts that needed a bit more work than I anticipated. Built completely OOB to portray a No. 3 Squadron airframe using the excellent decal sheet, which is worth the price of the kit alone! It contains markings for 4 RAF examples, plus Italian, Spanish, Luftwaffe and Austrian. I experimented with some pre shading to try and break up the monotone grey scheme plus a little panel wash to finish. Paints were Mr Hobby Aqueous... but instead of their own version of Barley/Camouflage Grey I used H325 (FS26440) which seemed like a better match. Not one of my best efforts but it will do. Comments much appreciated. Cheers 👍 And next to 1950s machines from No. 3 Squadron ....

Hi folk's,just finished my second and last entry for the Battle of Britain GB is Airfix's rag wing Hurricane,been nice to build a more up to date kit after the mountain of oldies over the last couple of year's.big thank's to Chris for sending the decals over from Canada to enable this scheme to be done.

The snakes have eyes and tongues. The WT operator has an antenna wire. The mid-upper gunner has a gun and windshield. I don’t think there any other parts left to fit, I’ve done all I can to eliminate transfer silvering, and I just need to add a bit of exhaust staining and general dust around the nether regions. I'm disappointed I couldn’t get the centre engine's exhaust system to fit properly. It’s on the squiff, and means various components don’t sit quite correctly compared to the real thing. Some gentle tweaking of the plastic has bent things to sort of fit, but I reckon the fitter responsible might be up before the squadron commander to explain himself later. I will just do the weathering, then clear the bench for a photo session.

Collectors of rare kits should look away as I unveil another "build and weep" kit. My take on the Airfix 1/32 Renault Dauphine (M3C) A simple little kit which tested me at times. Not my finest ever build but I got there in the end. Unfortunately, it had the final word as the rear seat came loose during the photo session. I could lever the unglued chassis and refit the seats but that may just open a can of worms so it will stay as it is! Dave

VPAF Shengyang J-6 (MiG-19S 'Farmer-C'), '6066', 925st FR, Noi Bai, 1974 Shengyang J-6 was the Chinese license built version of the MiG-19S 'Farmer-C'. Even if MiG-19 was the first supersonic fighter to go into mass production - it is overshadowed by it's predecessor and replacement. One reason is because it had quite short life span, just filling the gap between MiG-17 to MiG-21. Even if it had better performance than it's US counterparts - for example MiG-19 had superior rate of climb when compared to F-100 Super Sabre - the type was plagued with all kinds of technical problems, engine issues and design 'features' that made it somewhat dangerous to fly in inexperienced hands. Many of those flaws being caused by the hurry to get the plane type into production. '6066' is one of the 24 Shenyang J-6's that the Chinese provided as combat attrition replacement in 1974. - - - - - - Kit: KP Shenyang F-6C 'Farmer-C' "late" (#KPM0160) Scale: 1/72 Aftermarket: Master pitot tubes & guns, Pavla resin seat and Print Scale decals Paints: Vallejo acrylics Weathering: Flory Models Wash, Mig & Tamiya weathering products Newly tooled MiG-19 from KP is good all-around kit and probably the best kit choice for this subject in this scale. Built for Vietnam GB. Build thread:

Here are some extra photos, not from the gallery. This was a large aircraft. In comparison, similar size as the Mosquito. That is Bab-el-Ehr's Mosquito, by the way, from 'The Red Sea Sharks.' 😉 The nose knows... The rest are in the gallery! --John

Revell (ex Hasegawa) Crusdaer Mk III in 1:72. Built OOB and brush painted with Xtracrylix Light Stone. Completed as a vehicle from the 9th Queens Lancers in the 1st Armoured Division in the Western Desert in 1941.

Airfix (former JB Models) Vickers Light Tank Mk VIc in 1:76. Finished with Xtracrylix Light Stone as a vehicle from the 1st Armoured Division in the Western Desert in 1940/41.

Lets try again ...........

"You come near my new little brother mister, and I'll 'ave you....!!" Love the look on her face, protective indeed! Lovely pic Ced! And yes, Shar is coming on well too, had almost forgotten about it...!! (& the Scooter!) K

Hull track hangers done ...on the left side you will notice two things...(1) the front most part of the hanger is bent out...this was a result of the impact from the M10's shot ...(2) the 2nd to last hanger is crushed...this was done to facilitate the last hanger being used as a point to hang the spare wheel and then you can see the tow cable hanger was relocated to the upper rear engine deck from the side..... i still have the two small dimples to fill for the original kit part.

I've seen many propeller blades from Focke- Wulf D-9s and a few wooden VDM 9-12176 A blades from late A-8s and A-9s. They are all RLM 70 Black-Green. Cheers, Jerry

Some silvering on the fuselage markings, which I will deal with after the initial coat of matt varnish has dried. Final details mostly done, save the upper gunner's position, and a little final paint detailing and a mild dose of weathering. Nearly there, but mustn’t try to rush it. Which sounds like a good time for our evening meal!

Sopwith Pup "Gnome" Wingnut Wings 1/32 This is WnW's Gnome engined version of the Sopwith Pup, and it's the first kit of theirs that I've built and way out of my comfort zone, being an AFV and Sci-Fi modeller generally. The kit went together without any real issues, although handling it become more difficult as the build went on and a few repairs were needed along the way. The single biggest job was the masking for the stripes, although I simplified it as much as possible by breaking the painting down into stages, rather than trying to mask and spray the whole thing in one go. I wasn't looking forward to the rigging due to my zero experience with it, but it went reasonably well once I got the hang of it. Thanks for looking Andy

Hi everybody ! back to an autumn cat,more precisely a winter one with this Jagdpanther along with three GIs searching for trophy Build is here : https://warpaints.net/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=13444&sid=592e930077ca7c8d2f038bcc074325e0 See you ! Fabrice

finally finished, RVHP resin 1/72 Beechcraft 200 with Arctic Decals; Thanks for looking

This is my old Revell 1/72 P-47. The build is almost OOB with minor improvement with the guns (scratchbuilt). Trying the red background for fun.

A Wingnut Wings WWI aircraft build is always a cosmic nirvana modeling experience. This is my fourth WNW build, the excellent two seater Roland C.IIa "late", also known as the "Whale". My wife gave me this gift about six years ago for Xmas so she was especially enthusiastic and supportive during this build. She picked the kit out for me because she thought it was "cute", lucky for me her "cute" = my "awesome"! Other than EZ line and Bob's Buckles for rigging, it's pretty much OOB. Tamiya acrylic paints were used per the instructions except for a slight amount of Alclad aluminum and brass in the engine area. I built version 'A' of the kit's five options, ("Kasta 2/ Kogohl 1, 1917) in which WNW guessed at some color and feature aspects so I deviated a little here and there. As always with WNW, everything fit perfectly and the finished product comes out much better than my skills should allow. Too bad WNW shut down. Despite the crazy price escalation of these kits on eBay, I refuse to not build the remaining WNW kits in my stash. Life is too short and I'd rather have a bunch of dusty built models than unbuilt $$$ kits when I'm too blind and feeble to even separate the parts from the runners or spend the money on other things that wouldn't be as fun (other than good Irish Whiskey 😁). Cheers, John

This is the classic Italeri GR.3. Most of the correction is done by scratch building to improve details on this kit. No aftermarket parts used in this build.

Paintwork! Dark Earth on top - slightly uneven/modulated with a drop of old DE mixed in. Probably won't do it before the finishline of the GB, but after the weekend will add some filters with oilpaints (just arrived). Noticed I haven't added the forward firing gun yet - oops. Things you spot when looking at your pictures, eh? Underside, same tactic. Very thin buildup of black, to be followed by Tamiya's tire black for a bit of blueish tone. Probably mask up tonight and the first Dark Greens while working on the smaller details of the engine cowlings.

I’ve been suffering from terrible modellers block since July and haven’t done anything since. Before I sank into the abyss I took a few photos which I have only just got around to posting. I painted P.O. Duke and created a screen to protect him from the enemy and a reflector gunsight with which to point his guns at them. It’s all bit crude and inaccurate but I just wanted to give the impression of something going on behind that rather thick Airfix canopy. This is the screen attached to the windscreen. Here it is from the outside. A bit ropey, but good enough for a three-footer. I’ve popped P.O. Duke in his seat and given him a bit of masking tape to hold him in place when he does a victory roll. And here’s where I left things three months ago. I think it’s the prospect of masking the canopy that’s stopping me progressing so I’m hoping this post will inspire me to continue with the build. All the best, Keith.

Hi All, Thanks for the feedback on the tyres - Much appreciated Pat, looks like you and I are in the minority here. Decals removed and now finished.

Todays marking are bought to you by the Silhouette Cameo 4. (said with a Sesame Street tune in my mind). I've ummed and aahhed about getting one of these and I recently bit the bullet and what a great decision. I'm a convert. My first effort with it has been the upper wing roundels on the Tempest. Tamiya paint brews are the blue and red. The most work is drawing up the artwork but once done it can be resized as necessary depending on the scale and it's 1:1 size. I can see myself making lots of roundels and codes for subjects. Cheers, Mick

Autoblinda AB41 from Italeri in 1:72. Built OOB and brush painted with Hu237 Desert Sand. Finished as a vehicle from the Polizia Africana Italiana in Tunisia in 1943.

Bishop Mk I, built OOB from Italeri boxing of an Esci kit in 1:72. Brush painted with Xtracrylix Light Stone. Finished as an example from the 8th Army's 7th Armoured Division in the El Alamein sector in October 1942.

Italeri's 90/53 AA Cannone with servants. Gun brush painted with Hu237 Desert Sand while the crew painted with a variety of sand colours and muted green for the webbing. All brush painted. 1:72 kit. Finished as used in Libya/Tunisia 1941-43

Camionetta AS42 Sahariana in 1:72. Italeri kit OOB. Brush painted with Hu237 Desert Sand and Akan Tyre Black. Vehicle from the Raggruppamento Sahariano in Tunisia in early 1943.

My sojourn into the Western Desert with a bundle of 1:72/76 AFVs is complete and they will be posted in the gallery soon. Thanks for hosting this GB guys, I've enjoyed building these. Time to complete the Sea Gladiator and start the Albacore.

Good day all! Hope all is good where you all are and that everyone is staying safe from this virus!...2020 has been a terrible year for us all and the sooner it's all over with... the better! Lets hope and pray for a better 2021! So on with the next part of this project!.....the tail wheel section!.....I have been kind of dreading this next part as there is lack of information and photos of this area of the B17. If you look for photos in books or the internet it's always the same.The whole area is covered with tarpaulin blocking out all the parts you want to see! Enthusiasts go for visits to see the B17 armed with their cameras and they can crawl all over the fuselage snapping away but the tail wheel well area is nearly always out of bounds! I believe this is because the area is so confined that visitors would have to get on there belly's to crawl through and for health and safety issues. Well of course this doesn't help us modellers! How ever I did managed to find a few photos of said area after hours of searching...(although only seeing certain angles on most of the photos) which meant I had to use my imagination for the areas that I just cant see!....the usual artistic license had to be got out of the draw! So as you know I am building this fuselage in two halves....top and bottom ...so I have started with the bottom half. I had to make the tail wheel tub that the wheel retracts to and this was molded from plastic food packaging. Here is the balsa wood plug that I made.... After heating up the plastic and using the plug (plug and mold procedure) and ended up with this. You can see that I have added some detail with strips of plastic The wheel well floor was then made from plastic card..... ...and from the underside... The wheel tub was then glued into position... Now for the wheel. I hate making wheels!...I find it difficult!...I usually make them out of balsa wood and this time it was no exception!...it's my own fault as I haven't invested in a mini lathe....but that is all going to change soon....going to look for one!....meanwhile this wheel was whittled to shape by eye! Time to paint the wheel tub area.... Here is the tail wheel strut... Here is the tail wheel assembly fork head attached to the wheel.... The rest of the frame was then made from metal and electrical cables were added from wire... Here you can see that I have placed the tail wheel onto the tail frame..... I then glued the painted tail wheel strut onto the frame..... The tail wheel area was in fact covered with a fitted tarpaulin and I thought about leaving it off because it would cover all the detail and at the end of the day this project is all about showing the workings of the B17G ....so I then I had an idea of making a cover and having it pulled back so a mechanic could get at it to inspect! The tarpaulin was made from a painted sheet of tissue paper....the eyelets made from small cuts from a piece of wire insulation and the tie cord was made from thread from the wife's sewing box and threaded by one of her needles....that took some doing I'll tell you!...I broke off the Wheel strut in the process and had to re set it! Here is the cover...... So that is the lower half of the tail wheel area complete. I have started the upper half of this area and it involves the re tractor motor and gears to bring up the tail wheel....and if I thought that this lower half was difficult I thought wrong!.....but we will leave that till the next post! So until then ...Thanks a lot for looking and following this non stop build! Cheers Fozzy