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Hi all, First up, along with many people, I managed to pick up the new Airfix Beaufort early on through Jadlam on preorder. A brilliant kit from Airfix with some superb engineering. Kit is from the box with the exception of Eduard cockpit masks and replacement resin wheels to add a little extra detail. Build went together very well and especially pleased that the included schemes represented examples from St Eval, Cornwall - a location not far from me. Not my best build, I used a new brand of Gloss Varnish for me and ended up going on too thick, resulting in a very high shine and nasty orange peel effect. My own fault, but lessons learnt. In addition, the Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk.1 was finished sometime back in late January, but due to other commitments I have been away from the modelling bench for 2 months. Also a nice kit from Airfix and despite some trouble around the cockpit glazing, a pleasing result - although the Vallejo Model Air colours used are a little over saturated from the bottole. Displayed alongside the Noys Miniatures hangar and diorama base aswell as the Airfix Bomber Resupply set.

Hi guys, I just finished this longer than usual project. Is the fantastic Fw190 A-4 Eduard 1/48th kit with some aftermarket details. Eduard's Advanced Brassin set which includes: resin engine & fuselage guns, resin wingroot gunbays, resin propeller and PE upgrade set. Master Models gun barrels, HGW Models fabric German fighter seatbelts and decals, Quinta Studio 3D decals cockpit set, and Aires resin inspection panel on the vertical stabilizer. For the colour scheme I wanted to do something different to the usual ones that we see in the Fw190 so I've opted for this very attractive North African camouflage. It was flown by Erich Rudorffer in Tunisia in 1943 Considered by many to be the Luftwaffe’s greatest all-round fighter ace of World War Two, Erich Rudorffer served on every major front, flew all of the classic German fighters and was renowned for his ability to shoot down multiple aircraft in succession. Beginning his campaign with JG2 during the Battle of France, Rudorffer then served in the Battle of Britain alongside top aces such as Helmut Wick and Gunther Seeger. Flying the Bf109E, his aerial victories soon mounted, and he continued to joust with the RAF during the ’Non-stop’ offences of 1941. By the time of the ill-fated Dieppe Raid in 1942, Rudorffer scored his 44th and 45th victories, both Spitfires. His Gruppe was then relocated to northern Africa where the war was going badly for the Axis forces. Now flying the heavily-armed Fw190, he began to demonstrate his skill at downing a number of aircraft on a single sortie. On the 9th February 1943 he claimed eight British aircraft and a short time later scored multiple victories over US-flown fighters. By June of the same year, Erich had moved to the brutal Eastern Front, assuming command of II/JG54, the famous ‘Green Hearts’, and continued to display his remarkable ability. On the 6th November 1943, he tangled with a large force of Soviet aircraft and shot down no fewer than thirteen of them, a record for a single mission. By this time Rudorffer had already been awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and in January 1945 ‘Swords’ were awarded to this decoration after achieving his 212th victory. Shortly after, he was given the command of I/JG7, flying the potent Me262 jet fighter in the defence of Germany. Despite the dreadful war situation, lack of fuel, marauding Allied fighters over the jet airfields and heavily outnumbered in the air, he managed to shoot down a further twelve aircraft with the Me262. By the war’s end, Erich Rudorffer had flown more than 1000 sorties, scored 224 victories and was the seventh-highest Ace in the history of aerial combat. He died at the age of 98, on the 8 of April 2016. Fw 190A4 6.JG2 Yellow 1 Erich Rudorffer, Tunisia 1943 cheers and thanks for looking. Jorge

This was a shocker... I was aware this Revell kit had its issues, but it fought me all the way... despite that quite happy with the final look (from a distance).. despite my ineptitude to get the fuel tank fins on the right way round (too late now to do anything about that).. She's been enhanced with a resin cockpit and a few other bits and bobs off the pylons.

When I first went to airshows in the late 70s / early 80s there was a very eye catching bright red Spitfire on show. Spencer Flack’s G-FIRE stood out from the crowd for me & I always wanted to do G-HUNT and G-FIRE in model form. So when Airfix released their Mk.XIV kit with G-FIRE decals I had to have one. Nice enough built too. Great cockpit detail that you can barely see. There is a great thread on here of advice regarding build & colours too. Anyway this is how she looks And this is a picture of her I took at Mildenhall Airfete 82 (I think). Funnily enough I found a better photo from the same show at the same time on Flickr. I think the guy with a better camera was stood behind me when I too this. I was only little at the time! And a few more of the kit Well that is a bit of my childhood recreated. Thanks for looking

Good evening, dears! It's my next model. The model's main error is a very irregular canopy visor. It's absolutely wrong angle. I grinded down the front of the visor at an angle to 0 to correct the situation a little. There are several mistakes in the instructions. Better to look at photographs and drawings. I separated the landing gear and inserted chrome tubes there. Added some details from stocks. Generally, this is a labor-intensive model in the result.

Although I'm not a fan of the Landor British Airways livery I do quite like their Caledonian Airways scheme . I picked up a copy of the Welsh Models Aerocolours decal from a model show many years ago and have finally got around to building it. Paint is Revell 371 for the Pearl Grey and Tamiya X-3 Royal Blue which I think works well for Landor Blue. Halfords Racking Grey was used for the Boeing Grey and Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium for the wing and engine leading edges. Coroguard and white door outlines from the Flying Colors 757 detail decal. I'm not too impressed with the decals as they have silvered a bit possibly due to their age. Had I known this would happen I would have floated them onto a puddle of Future rather than directly onto the paint surface. Hopefully when the Zvezda 757 kit comes out there will be some new Caledonian decals available and I'll remove these and reapply some new ones. Until then here are some pics. Hope you like it and thanks for looking. Any comments and criticisms gratefully received! Cheers, Ian Ps As a bonus please check out this link https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235091968-pushback-and-start-up-approved-caledonian-2357/

This is the KP MiG-21MF with SyH@rt Czech AF splinter camo decals, nice easy build and then about 3 hours to apply the decals..... Thanks for looking. Steve

This is my build of the Wolfpack/Italeri 1/72 Boeing (formerly McDonnell-Douglas) T-45C Goshawk. It is basically the Italeri kit with some photoetch for the cockpit, canopy mask and very complete and detailed decals added. For an Italeri kit the fit was very decent, but the problem is that Italeri modeled the prototype, not the production aircraft and there are several differenced between them. I basically followed the Paul Boyer October 2009 article to make the corrections which are I square off the wing tips Straighten the leading edge. I did not use his method of pouring super glue on the leading edge to straighten it. Instead I traced the curved kit leading edge onto an .040 styrene strip, cut along the line and glued that to the wing leading edge. I then used super glue to fill any gaps and round it off. I made no attempt to scribe in the slats since I have proved to myself my total inability to scribe a straight line, even with a straight edge. Square off the horizontal stabilizer. Both Paul and I missed that they should also each be lengthened by ~.030 I did thought lengthen the vertical fin by .080 which Paul missed Added a ventral fin. Interestingly Wolfpack shows this fin in their drawing and even included decals for it. All of these were pretty easy to do. The Wolfpack decals were excellent, and they had one for every conceivable stencil. I did the white with the Tamiya Fine white primer and the orange with Humbrol #18. So here it is Continuing my current trainer theme next up will the RVHP TC-12 Huron. This will be my first RVHP complete kit. Enjoy

Here's another old classic which made for a quick and happy build. I chose the European option rather than the desert setting depicted on Roy Cross's excellent box art as it was more suited to how the figures were dressed. Thinking about it now, I suppose I should have put the officer in the back of the Kubelwagen! All the best, Ian

Hi all, I built this for the PZ III STGB but wanted to post it here for some feedback. It’s a nice kit although I would probably replace the track next time. I added some spare Fruli tracks kindly donated by a mate and a Jerry can rack with some Tamiya cans on the rear. I’ll post the build thread at the end so that you can see the process. Build thread: My main work on points are: > Trying to improve my dust work, I think I’ll try a more layered approach next time > Write a check list for complex paint jobs to avoid missing steps in future > Work on figure painting, I need to force myself to do this even if it means painting figures that aren’t going to end up with a kit > Remember that less is more; looking at the GB thread I think my favourite work is actually ‘cleaner’ than mine, I normally restrain myself when it comes to weathering but this time I thought I’d push it further and I’m not sure I’m happy with the result. TIA for any comments or advice

Hi Friends! Good kit Specia Hobby I broke the front of the canopy, I had to do this part again Painted Gunze Enjoy watching!

Hi comrades! Here is my Lightning F.53 in ground attack configuration. RSAF was the only air force to use Lightnings in real combat. The build is here: Used aftermarket is decals (Model Alliance), Reskit MATRA pods, Master pitot, Aires resin ejection seat, wheel wells and exhaust, Eduard brass, New Ware masks. The pilons and other additions was scratch built. Thanks for looking

Here is my new project. This will (hopefully!) be a depiction of N220, the winner of the 1927 Schneider Trophy race. I started this one about a month ago and it has been progressing fairly well. Now that some of the more difficult parts are out of the way I thought it might be safe to show. It's a small aircraft - only about 47mm from nose to tail in this scale, but the shape is quite complex. So there were more than a few nights spent trying to get the outline and cross sections looking right. I started off with the fuselage outline. Marking it out on a sheet of 1.5mm styrene. The drawings date back to 1956 and seem to be the only game in town. Fortunately they compare very well to available photographs, and it looks like the original draughtsman poured his heart and soul into them. This was cut out and "cheeks" of styrene added either side to fill out the plan view. Some evergreen rod was added to form the core of the rear decking. Other strip was added for the upper fuselage fairing ahead of the cockpit and a lot of Mr Surfacer 1500 was brushed on to blend the contours in. It looks like rubbish right now, I know. But I swear... I am going somewhere with this! While the fuselage was drying the floats got a start as well. I used two bits of 3mm styrene sheet to make up the basic block. One side of the high impact styrene sheet has a hard, clear surface. I face these inwards when I laminate the pieces so it gives me a visible centre line and I don't accidentally sand things out of true. The plan view was shaped first. Once the top view was satisfactory the side view was marked out and the lower profile cut to shape and filed to the right contours. The step is made by masking off the rear section with three layers of Scotch tape (810D is best) and painting on several layers of Mr Surfacer to build up some thickness. A couple of days to dry and bit of a sand, then take the tape off. Once the underside is done it is safe to start shaping the top. I find if I start trying to shape things in the round from every angle at once it goes out of control very quickly. Doing the shape one profile at a time seems to be much less difficult. The floats got a final shaping and were scribed and sanded smooth. Extra details like the mooring points and circular inspection panels were added too. With the fuselage, I tried to keep the components separate for as long as possible. The windscreen was mocked up in solid styrene as a guide. I'll use it as a pattern for doing a clear one later. Putting things together for a trial run... Blending things in was tricky. It was made worse by the lack of suitable primer. The hobby stores round here have been picked clean, and due to covid they have not been restocked for the best part of a year. I was operating on the very last of my Tamiya primer, so I had to buy some Mr Surfacer 500 (the only stuff I could get). Unfortunately it is way too coarse for 1//144 and has a very gritty texture. Lots of work was needed to sand it back, as you can see here. I'll leave it at that for now. I hope you will like the progress so far. More later!

Hi, Please find my Italeri 1/32 Tonka in 617 Squadron 70th markings. A massive thank you to Jack Ruskin, without him and his Fuel tanks, I would have had to fitted the larger Italeri tanks, Thanks JR.. Thanks for looking.

Todays grump involves a chewed TV power cable, a chewed Blu ray player power cable, a chewed 30m ethernet cable, a chewed network hub power cable, a chewed power extension cable and a miraculously unharmed escaped pet hamster.....

Gentlemen, we are up and running, please feel free to post your thread but remember to wait until the start date to break plastic. @Col. @Adam Poultney @Corsairfoxfouruncle @dnl42 @zebra @JOCKNEY @Rabbit Leader @helios16v @Erwin @CliffB @Beazer @Romeo Alpha Yankee @Redstaff @Hockeyboy76 @theplasticsurgeon @Jabba @Wez @rafalbert @Robert Stuart @John Masters @robw_uk @Valkyrie @reini @franky boy @klr @Rafwaffe @Marlin @Ted @Foxbat @Marklo @TonyOD @Black Knight @Enzo Matrix @Adrian Hills @Paul821 @TonyW @alancmlaird @JeroenS @wimbledon99 @Ray S @bianfuxia @Richard Tucker @Paul J @alt-92 @Peter W @PeterB @Jasonb13 @Dermo245 @Evil_Toast_RSA @nimrod54 @vppelt68 @DaveyGair @Bonhoff @PattheCat rob Lyttle @rob Lyttle @Thom216 @TimJ @worcesterjohn @stevej60 @Mancunian airman @Beermonster1958 @Rob S @DaveJL @FortyEighter @PhantomBigStu @RJ-WobblyHands @Fifer54 @planecrazee

Hello everyone. Last completed model (s). It was very interesting to make a spotted camouflage. I hope you will enjoy.

Well everyone, I finally decided that I was ready to glue the wings to the fuselage which I did, then things just flowed from there and finally the Beverley is completed, well complete until I spot something else that I overlooked or am not happy with. I used quick-setting super glue gel to fix the wings to the fuselage, this allowed me to hold a wing at the correct angle while the glue set very quickly. I then sanded, filled and sanded the wing joins and then touched up the camouflage paint that had been affected. I was very impressed again at the precision that MikroMir have bestowed on this kit, the main undercarriages fitted perfectly at the correct angles and length. The tiny etched antennas were a real challenge to install, but are worth the effort, however I decided to leave off the paratroop guard rails on the cargo doors as they were not installed all the time anyway. The 30cm ruler gives an indication of the size of the model which is impressive even in 1/144 scale. I used a permanent marker pen to draw the black walkway lines on the wings. I am always a bit reluctant to weather and stain my models but a model of the Beverley really is not complete without the prominent engine exhaust staining and scorching which is so obvious on the real aircraft. The model here is configured in the heavy paradrop configuration. The main undercarriage bogeys pivot. Now shown with the rear cargo doors installed. I have wanted an accurate model of the Beverley for many years and now thanks to MikroMir I am very pleased. I will post more photos on Ready For Inspection when I have prepared them. cheers, adey

Best friends despite the 6 year age difference

Another update on my models,..... I`ve got the decals on; 16 Sqn SAAF, DE111/N,.... ex 47 Sqn RAF, where it was coded V; 22 Sqn RAF, Ceylon,.... DW816/V.; And an update on the High Planes Beaufort IX/ Beaufreighter refurb,.... just for interest; Cheers Tony

Hi all, My last achievement and 1st completed this year. This is the He-112 B1 / U2 coded V3 + 03 of the Royal Hungarian Air Force - Defense of Budapest 1942-43. This is the Classic Airframe 1/48 model. It is painted in RLM 61/62/63 above and RLM 65 below. The paints are Gunze Aqueous H-67 - 303 -308 & 406 and yellow H-419. Hope you like it. JiP.

Latest build. 1/48 ESCI kit with AuroMaster decals. Mark DSCN3923 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3924 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3925 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3926 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3927 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3928 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3929 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3930 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3931 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51105621338_d8a5a1c8ea_k.jpg]DSCN3933 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr .staticflickr.com/65535/51105147677_ca21297ee8_k.jpg[/img][/url]DSCN3932 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr DSCN3934 (2) by mwsfly9, on Flickr

Revell EC145 converted to an EC145T2 with Naval Models resin fenestron tail. I also had to extend the skids and add the flotation bags, aerials and cable cutters. The QinetiQ decals are home made, the full-size helicopter is used to support the various ranges used by QinetiQ hence the registration G-RNGS. With some of the 'family' Thanks for looking. Steve

The End is in Sight... More progress today folks including what I think will be the last of the really sizable, highly-visible changes. From here on we will be adding important details and making minor additions but I think we now have all the large bits of building and painting complete. From here we can can get a pretty good idea of what this will look like when complete. I think the end is in sight. Here's where we were at the end of the previous post. There's still raw wood exposed at the end of the length of the embankment and the frame around the outside of the diorama is still in grey primer. The presentation still looks rough and unfinished. Just brush some black paint onto the end grain of the railway embankment to represent the 'edge of the diorama universe'. Then mask off the entire landscape as shown leaving only the frame exposed. This was actually quite tricky because the contact between the dried-polyfilla landscape and the picture-frame is irregular and the tape really did not want to stick to the plaster. Nevertheless, with a bit of persistence and bad language we overcame the problems. Now Baby Bandsaw sprayed some dark chocolate-brown paint that we bought at Bunnings onto the picture frame. She was being very smart here, carefully choosing which angle to spray from to avoid getting brown paint under the dodgy masking. This is just one of many ways that I've noticed how much she's learned and how she is becoming much more independent in the way she works. We did this painting outside because this paint - whatever it is - smelt terrible. By comparison modelling paint smells like Chanel #5. After removing the masking we found a couple of bits of insufficient coverage on the margin between the frame and the landscape. These were quickly painted out with some Tamiya 'Red Brown' acrylic , which proved to be an almost exact match to the weird-smelling brown stuff. Then it was onto spraying the 'motion' silver and using some Selley's Power-grip to stick in place. BB did all of this without any help from me beyond selecting the glue. She wanted to use araldite 2 part epoxy, which is an equally good choice, but it smells terrible and I didn't want to get driven out of the shed again. 🤢 Selley's Powergrip is proving an excellent, highly versatile, all-round adhesive that I'm using more and more. Here's the result folks! Nice and tidy & almost finished. The dementors can go back on at any time - they just press into some small pre-drilled holes - but at the moment they are all safely stored away to prevent them sucking our souls out of our mouths while we sleep. 😱😱😱 This gives you a pretty good idea of what this thing will look like when it's finished. The end is in sight. There's a few more details to go on the locomotive; a driver to add, some detailed painting and some decals. We are yet to decide whether or not to have smoke / steam coming out of the funnel but given that its going to be a action packed diorama, I think I know where the smart money will fall. I have to say that I'm absolutely stoked with this outcome, (Get it..? Steam locomotive...? Stoked...? Get it? ) but BB is now saying that the loco ‘looks too much like a toy.’ So it seems that regardless of any prior commentary regarding the polishing of steam locomotives, this thing is going to get weathered. I reckon that another four or five updates will see this thread finished. Stay with us till then folks! 👍 The End is in Sight! Best Regards, Bandsaw Steve and Baby Bandsaw.

The chassis with interior joined the body without too many problems, and after the exhaust it's only the wheels left. The track width of the Dauphine is 1222 mm rear and 1250 mm front, giving 38,2 rear and 39,1 front in 1/32 scale. Airfix matched the rear very well, but the front is almost 2 mm narrow; tucking in the front wheels very deep under the wings. I made some spacers and glued them to the front wheels. With the front track corrected it looks much better. As the last thing I'm following my habit of giving some weight to the wheels and touching up some paint on the underside. I'm going to draw a line here and be done. I quite fancy doing a R1093 right now, but that will be from one of the 1/24 resin kits I stashed and have to wait a little.

In order to do what I want to do next, I need to deviate from Tamiya’s build order and get the cockpit finished early, so today working on the assorted radio etc. mundungus behind the pilot. All a bit pristine at present; details and weathering to tone it down still to follow (the platform & rear bulkhead are glued, but the radios not yet).

to all Tomcat fans, here is my take on the F-14D in 1:72, it's a great kit of an epic fighter aircraft. Decals came from Hasegawa, cockpit from Aires, avionics bays from Black Dog: That was fun! Now, where is this Hasegawa kit whose decals I robbed, might as well build it in the toned down version!

Here for your perusal is the Minicraft 1/144 scale DC-8 kit modified to be a -61. I decided to include photos of the finished model from the workbench as well as some that are staged in the bright sunlight. The workbench photos lend to seeing the details a little more clearly, while the sunlight just makes her shine! I’ve long wanted to build a DC-8 and chose for my subject N822E, msn#45907, rolled off the line at Long Beach, California in January 1967, then delivered as the very first -61 to Delta Air Lines. She flew her first revenue flight on 18 April 1967 in the roomy 195 seat two-class configuration, and served faithfully until her conversion to a -71 in 1982. In 1988 she was sold to UPS, re-registered as N707UP, then subsequently modified into a -71F as a freighter. She was stored at Roswell in 2003, and eventually was broken up for scrap. Livery decals are custom made from Vintage Flyer; cockpit and passenger windows are from Authentic Airliners; details are combination from F-DCAL, Vintage Flyers, and from my workbench. Photo Etch parts from ExtraTech. JT3D engines are from Authentic Airliners. I used Tamiya gray surface primer, Tamiya TS-26 white, Alclad black surface prep on the wings, Alclad airframe aluminum on the wings, and Alclad chrome on the under belly of the fuselage. Details of the work in progress may be found here: Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoy……

I needed a quick and easy build to fit in between a couple of builds in the Non-Injection Group Build and this is what happened! - Bilek MiG-21PFM with Albatross Cuban AF decals. Thanks for looking. Steve

Here's my Matchbox Norseman, finished as VH-GSE of Ansett-MAL, which operated it in Papua New Guinea in the '60s. Built OOB, decals custom printed. This was built for the Australia and New Zealand Group Build, build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

1:48 Eduard Bf109 E-4 Here are some photos of my recently completed Bf109 E-4. As the kit comes with quite a detailed representation of the DB601 engine I thought it would be nice to display it and not fit the cowling panels. As you probably all know the kit is a pleasure to build with no issues I can recall. The only additions being photo etch seat belts, some plumbing to the engine and landing gear and 1.0mm aluminium tubing for the m/c gun barrels. Decals are from the kit and went on without any problems. Paints are Gunze Aqueous and Tamiya acrylics. As an aside, has anybody any experience of the 1:48 ICM Bf109F kits? I would be interested to read any comments. Thanks for looking, Bob.

Hello everyone I'd like to present my latest model, Kit IBG + Master Model+ BitsKrieg painted Hataka a few photos of the finished model: PZL P.11c pilot lt. Stanislaw Skalski enjoy the photos.

For me, another CAC Boomerang, this time a CA-13. It looks pretty much the same as the CA-19 I posted on Aussie Modeller a few months back, the only noticeable difference is the lack of provision for the fuselage camera. Its pretty much built with the same mods as the previous one - Red Roo enhancement set, Yahu instrument panel, Pavla vac canopy (sliding section only) and some odd additions noted in the previous build. For anyone interested in the build updates - refer to this topic on Aussie Modeller: http://forum.aussiemodeller.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=16434&p=122234#p122234 Seeing this is pretty much a mirror of the previous build, the only notes will be on the finish. This is A46-199, the last CAC-13 before production switched to the CAC-19 contract. The plane was flown by Jack Archer and is a 4 Sqdn aircraft. Jack Archer shot down a Ki 43 "Oscar" while flying a Wirraway so would have been entitled to add a "Kill" marking to this plane but he didn't. There are a number of discussions here and on Aussie Modeller about this airframe however most of it is regarding the colour of the panel under the starboard side of the cockpit an nd the burning behind the exhaust. I've decided to finish it as plywood - it's a decal with an oil wash over it to darken it. The aircraft is in standard Foliage Green/Earth Brown/Sky Blue finish with a white tail and leading edge. The starboard tailplane looks like a replacement and isn't as heavily coated in white as the rest of the tail. The main experiment I tried with this finish was to fish out an old can of HB2 Humbrol RAF Dark Green to try it out as Foliage Green (A past member of our club Fred Harris once did a test of a real aircraft piece with Foliage Green and painted some HB2 on it and it was a good match). The Earth Brown was a mix of Humbrol 98 Chocolate with some Humbrol 10 Service Brown. This combined the better paint coverage of Hu 98 with the more accurate colour match of Hu 10. The decals are mainly from the kit however I replaced the Squadron Codes with those from PJ Decals. These are Medium Sea Grey codes and match better than the darker kit ones. The PD decals are quite old and Peter Roberts who was the modeller behind the decals recommends using a decal sealer on them. I ended up having to use Testors decal sealer on it after one of the code letters shattered. All in all, I'm quite happy with the appearance of the colour combination but I haven't got much more HB2 left so I'll have to see if the modern Hu 30 which is meant to be its equivalent is the same colour. Cheers Michael

Nacelles almost completed and assembled to the wing: With a first round of filling and some grey paint to find the booboos, I give you that rarest variant, the Coastal Command Snargasher 1C:

the counterbalance of digital dabbling is NOT sanding Giorgio. Just sayin' The PE set looks great Colin, and it is well detailed. It's just that, well, it's not very useful. I took a closer look at it over the last week and I reckon I'll be lucky if I use 50% of it. only time will tell Fitting is one thing Johnny, but having to carve your own shapes out of bits of the kit because it's so far off is another thing The kit flaps were molded in Pete. Badly. The PE ones will fit in. Eventually. if they gave me just the right amount of plastic, I wouldn't have anything to carve out the correct shapes. In between Wapiti adventuring, well let's be honest, the Wapiti is much more interesting than this so I pretty much concentrated on Wapiti-ing and completely ignored the Vampire over the last few weeks, but it's sitting there on the work bench, leering at me, and I need to clear up space for the final 3D print-a-thon, so there was nothing for it but to pick it up and start more sanding. Trying to ease myself in gently, I put the big sandpaper to the side and went for the small stuff. Now, remembering the faffle I had with the nose undercarriage on the Venom, I took a look at this offering. Yup, same. The resin wheel doesn't fit. Easy fix... glue in a spacer Then glue it together. Then look at it and think: Do I really want to stick that on a kit? So that was put to one side while I think about it - which meant meddling about with some brass though not enough meddling to bother taking a photo just yet. Time to cut something. Out with the razor saw taking particular care to make sure I stay within the stabilizer/rudder lines and... Of course the panel lines don't match up. Why on earth did I ever think they would? Undaunted, he pressed on separating the flying controls, then put those to one side as there's not much else to do with those at this point. Which left only the dreaded intakes. The real mojo killer of this kit, and there's a lot of mojo killers in this kit that's for sure, but those intakes are just a joke. Last time around I had glued on a big chunka styrene on the front end. I did a bit of basic shaping, but in looking at more and more photo's of Vampire intakes it soon became apparent that just about everything that can be wrong is wrong with these, and then some. More bits of styrene were duly glued in place. I can't say for certain that my intakes are going to end up being correct, but they won't be as far off as the kit offerings if I can help it. The port wing intake leading edge has been trimmed back and you can see by the pencil mark on the starboard intake how much has to be removed on the top end. Or at least I think that's how much I need to remove. Have I ever had such fun with a kit? (no, don't mention Fly!) Not only do you get to carve organic like shapes from resin and plastic, but you get to do it twice! Then just to top things off - they have to be symmetrical This means constant comparisons between the two. Do a bit on one intake - get to a place you think is decent, then stop and try to do exactly the same thing to the other intake. So what's actually wrong with these intakes? Let's see... The top edge is too fat and needs to be almost razor like at the leading edge. The bottom edge is is too thin and needs to be beefed up to have a nice bullnose rolling edge. The line of bot the upper and lower edges of the intakes are at the wrong angle as the leave the wing and head to the fuselage. They are too short and completely miss the shark like shape of the front end on the intake. Oh, then the intake itself is the wrong shape - the outer end of the intake should be nicely rounded, and so it goes on. Here's a few hours of my life filing and sanding. On the port intake (on the right), I've thinned down the top edge, and added a piece of thick styrene to give me a chance at shaping the bottom lip at some time in the future. Then more fun comes along when you have to ensure that everything is symmetrical and evenly rounded. Damn DH and their nicely flowing curves. Some days later and a few rounds of filing, sanding, adding filler, sanding filler off, adding more filler etc., the port intake is finally starting to take shape. To alleviate the boredom I drilled a hole as well. It was at this juncture that I happened to refer back to my Sek Kong Vampire photos and not the generic Vampire (is there such a beast?) that I've been using as reference for my sanding has never been such fun sessions, when I came across this shot and saw the bullet nose on this intake. Completely different shape from the one I'm trying to form. I was well aware of this photo - I've had it for a couple of years so why was I using 'standard' Vampire intakes as my reference? A few moments of wild panic ensued while I checked my other references. Ah... saved! This shot was titled simply "Sek Kong Vampire" but that fairing is noticeably different from the shot above (thankfully), and if you chack my first post, the shot with the very nice BOAC lady sitting atop a Vampire shows that aircraft with the "standard" fairing. Lucky save there. After my heart started back up again, it was back to the files and sandpaper. Another few hours and today I feel I am starting to get somewhere. Port intake again. I've concentrated on doing all the hard shaping - getting the overall form right. I'll concentrate on the soft shaping (rounding the edges etc.) when I feel that I'm 95% there. A squirt of primer is needed every now and then to stop the eyes getting confused and mislead by the change in color and textures of the different materials used. So far that is: kit plastic, kit resin, epoxy glue, superglue, and squadron white putty. I think I'm almost there with this one. Sanding and shaping the outer faces of this is difficult enough, but I still have to try and smooth all the internal ridges and scratch marks. Almost there though, at least on one intake. Unfortunately these need to be done before the wings can go on, and without the wings on, the booms can't go on, and so on. Oh, I'm so looking forward to never having to build another Classic Airframes kit!

Hello all. This is just a place holder at the moment as I have a couple of other builds on the go at the moment. Over the last few months (well, lockdown really!), I have got to like building 1/144 scale aircraft. Some time ago, I did a VC10 C.Mk1K (ish) where I selectively modified the Airfix tanker to a different version. I have always liked the VC-10, especially as I had been in one in 1970 on my return from Singapore. I have known for a long time that a then Soviet aircraft was very much like a copy of the VC-10, so when Zvezda issued their IL-62M, I just had to have it. It has been in the stash since it was issued, and this gives me the ideal opportunity to build it. It was boxed very nicely, a sleeve with the artwork and a very sturdy inner box with the goodies: The transfer sheet was too big for the box, thankfully they did not fold it, but it is not far off! I will be doing the one with the orange/blue cheatline rather than the Aeroflot ones. I am looking forward to this one starting in a week's time. Good luck everyone, Ray

I did wonder what I'd let myself in for when this arrived on my doorstep, I really did underestimate how BIG it was going to be. My work bench is just about big enough for 1/32 aeroplanes. But this was fun, and it was nice to be able to see the small parts with my eyes and not rely on a magnifying lamp. It was a first of their size AND a first for me putting little people into a build, I used to be able to paint a half decent figure, but I'm not so good these days. So, please don't look too closely at the crew. Many thanks to all who followed the build and offered advice and wisdom along the way. I have learnt so much from you all and hope I kept you entertained. Jon So..............what's next. I'll give you a clue...............The two boats that changed Naval Warfare. Jon

Recently completed the Eduard Tempest Mk.V series 2. A great kit however the AMS struck so I completed it with some aftermarket; PE flaps from Eduard, wheels, seat, radiator and exhausts from Barracuda studios. The squadron letters and serial are from Dutch Decal to represent the machine of Jan Linzel. This was a "Mayflyer" who managed to escape to the UK and flew with 33 squadron of the RAF. Approved by "Kitty" A fine cockpit OOB but not much can be seen when the fuselage is closed. Full WIP here; https://www.scalemates.com/profiles/mate.php?id=14213&p=albums&album=66781 Thanks for watching Erik

Hello all. Another one completed this weekend, the Hobbyboss 1/72 F-14A Tomcat. A pretty straightforward build OOB. It may be a little oversimplified in places compared to say Hasegawa or GWH but simple suits me fine as it means i can crack on with the next model! 😁 Painted with Xtracrylix and then W&N Galleria Matt varnish to finish. Had a disaster at the final hurdle with the canopy as it cracked right down the centre while trying to clean some paint off, so i replaced it with a Pavla vacform one (i hate cutting vac canopies and can never seem to cut it correctly.....its either too much or not enough) Because this canopy is designed for the Hasegawa kit it then didn't fit if closed up so i had to leave open. It's not quite correct as the rear coaming that it fixed to the inside of the canopy was already fixed down in place and wouldn't budge loose. The cockpit of the HB kit is really very simple so i had to add some tape belts and ejection handles to make it look a little less sparse, plus a little bonus helmet (actually a decapitated Matchbox Hunter pilot! 😁😁) Anyway thanks for looking, comments as always much appreciated. Cheers!

Hi All, My latest completion is Tamiya's lovely Beaufighter. I've completed it as V8447 "Slippery Ship II" of 89 Sqn RAF, based in Bu Amud, Egypt in 1943. This aircraft was flown by Doug Oxby and Mervyn Shiphard, who was an Australian. Theirs is an interesting story - see below: http://aircrewremembered.com/oxby-douglas.html?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=cda5297b5ab3af7af0d69308a3c67c97bebfb20f-1611987096-0-ARvEz6Md5xLIxPz6u1uJ2_4R8x98Gg5YeVwOipdIgK025YlUZYNOZQe2oAfGbMlB6CdyasaNK71HO9Ci98F1HRgmrdqq9ZJ8HIZ3wnT6ea6emOzN_ekFRagONuo8c7wwTw3kRWmEhyiKo_Fcwir01CDEZnGFhK24JmjCnRLCXpm5HXlWDL9Y0cSl1vTLza5sONCyA5gAu5fkgsUnJUchRT1WJvkRiFWbuMUATbHPY74BIgM_WxqrcFSC9m7fY_eLSSU0Fw-8avP_7qBuhj26ypZfudqT7SFRzR7fr8h7JkOWjodWfuKyA8ihrM3-5jI2YO-FTc-e40nY3zOowIfloiNWQYLEAq0JGX2vDdkSpC36xDEpGWK7i2THq2OxrDWLDyCffQzVOmndt3zuRCoJ3tw Here's a photo of Oxby and Shiphard in front of "Slippery Ship II": Here's a couple more images of the men in front of 'Slippery Ship II", very kindly supplied by @AndyL: One taken with Nevil Reeves And finally another Beau from 89 Sqn with Reeves at the controls: The build was mostly OOB, with the exception of a set of Montex masks for the insignia. Here's the WIP if anyone is interested: I made a few minor alterations to the kit, including: - Filling of the forward set of machine gun ejector ports under the wings - Removal of the incorrect raised panels on the upper wings - Moving the elevator balance actuators to the undersurfaces of the tail - Added a set of resin exhausts - Rivetted the whole airframe I had intended to complete this in the desert scheme of Mid-Stone and Dark Earth over Night. However @Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies threw a curved ball just before I started painting, suggesting that the scheme might actually have been Dark Slate Grey and Extra Dark Sea Grey over Night. This very quickly became an irresistible draw, and in the end I completed the build in this scheme. Anyway, on with the pictures! Finally, I couldn't resist a couple of shots with another of Bristol's finest: I've really enjoyed this build and think that this alternative to the desert scheme makes a common subject a little more interesting. Thanks to all who have supported the build along the way, and thanks for looking! Cheers, Roger

I'm not entirely happy. It’s taken a while to get the windscreen to fit the bonnet, and the bonnet to fit the cabin. It’s still not right, because the front mudguard supports now appear to be too low - yet they were fitted into the tiny slots etched for them. The canvas roof support is about the limit of handling. I’ve lost count of how often I’ve had to straighten it. Any handling of the model from now on risks bending something. I am giving some serious thought to abandoning the build. This is because I don’t think I will be happy with the finished model. It’ll be slightly wonky in various directions, and this annoys me. I have just given the assembly so far an ultrasonic bath to clean flux and handling residues off. If I’m still feeling happy with it when it’s dry, I shall attempt some priming and paint before committing to the final assembly. Meanwhile, I shall try and put the rear bodywork together.

Thanks Simon, glad you like it It all has come together now, see below Cheers Erwin, thank you OK lads, I'm calling this completed Here's a summary of the last few steps; I completed the underside by gluing in the bomb trapeze and the radiator flaps actuators Then I scratch built wingtip lights form stretched clear sprue, and glued in place with a dot of CA glue They were then painted with usual Tamiya Clear Red and Clear Blue Top side: here's my setup to glue in the antenna wire (I think I stole nicked was inspired by one of John's @The Spadgent build ) The wire is, as per usual, a woman's hair - with a wife and three daughters around the house, I have an unlimited supply of those.... While I was at it, I fixed the antenna wire on another Cenni's mount I built a while ago, that got undone Tail gun inserted in the rear canopy I actually had to remove the barrel sight to be able to slide it through the canopy hole; I then replaced it with a segment of brass pipe, although this isn't even close to the real thing, but a PE addition would have been very welcomed here.... I also scratch built the rear view mirror from a PE leftover, here's again a third-hand setup to glue it in place (with CA gel) The glass part was painted with Molotow Chrome pen Sliding canopies glued in place with Formula560, and the same for the propeller, and there she is, eventually completed (antenna wire insulators made with blobs of CA+flour): Proper RFI to follow as soon as the sun comes back, probably next WE... All comments welcome, as usual Ciao

Academy Panzer III J, OOB apart from a Jerry can rack on the back and a little master box bloke in the turret.

Hi, Started the Zvezda C-130H kit a week ago and it is a great kit. Used the Eduard PE set for the interior and will be using one for the exterior aswell. Will be using the Dutch Decal decals to make it a Dutch Hercules from 336 Sqn. The kit; The decals; Cockpit done with some PE; A lot of this won't be seen again; Fuselage closed and wings on for the size (huge!)

This GB came around a bit quickly! Good job my entry was sorted and waiting, ready to go. I doubt I'll be able to maintain this level of efficiency throughout, but I'll give it my best shot. Here's the Big Boeing, ready for action. BOAC Decals supplied by Hannants and bought within a day of the kit turning up here. It's a build that's been on my mind for quite a while now. There's also an aftermarket set of Heston Steps for the build. I'll be needing a few passengers to add as I'll be sitting this lot on a hardstanding of some sort. Here's what I'm aiming at... And here's one I did earlier. There's something about those very smart BOAC colours and highly polished metal that keeps drawing me in. Roll on the Kick Off! Tony.

This is Marsh Models’ 1/43 kit of the Wolf-Dallara WD1 Can-Am car. It’s built to represent the WD1 (or WD01/WD-01, depending on your references) as raced at the Watkins Glen round on 10 July 1977. Notably it was driven that day by a young Canadian named Gilles Villeneuve, just a week before his Formula 1 debut with McLaren. And yes, I did forget to paint the mirrors! Done now

The build was filled with enthusiasm from the start. I have a big heart for the Tornado and so many great schemes to choose. Things started to feel heavy though before the paint was applied. Anyone who has built this kit knows the pitfalls. Because of the shape of the aircraft, fuselage in particular, knows the moulding limitations in manufacturing the kit. Pressing on, little things seemed to go wrong for me but I wanted to continue and not leave it for that shelf of you know where. Vallejo Air paint and Eurodecals with India Ink accenting of the panel lines. A slight deviation in painting to show some panel changes as this aircraft morphed to a less pristine look but no less beautiful ride. Antennas to add but otherwise heading to the display case. Thank you for having a look. Craig

Afternoon all! I've had a good week off work and managed to get a bit further with the interior front section of the B-24: Still lots to do but I'm pleased with how this is going. After gloss coating the silver base coat and letting it dry for a day I sprayed a coat of hairspray then went for the the green - this was a mix of mr color zinc chromate green with a drop or two of black and one drop of blue added in roughly 75:20:5 ratio. This is still quite light but I find that my method of weathering with oils on a matt varnish usually darkens the tone down - we shall see! I masked off the walls in the radio operators compartment so they are still aluminium and provide a bit of contrast. Chipping is still a bit hit or miss for me, the worn floor at the back and front have worked better than in the cockpit, though fortunately the seats will hide most of the bits I'm not so sure about. Also the flat coat and more weathering will hopefully tone it all down a bit. I then picked out the main blocks of colour: brown on the tables, khaki for the canvass covering at the back, black and grey for electronic gubbins on the walls and white on the cables for now (I'll add some red and yellow later). Finally I used streaky oil to do wood effects and used spare bits of decal to add some more detail which I couldn't paint. I'm nearly there with the basic colour painting so the next step will be to spray a matt varnish, add the eduard photoetch and do some more weathering: dry brushing to make some highlights pop and brown and black oils to add contrast to the large areas of green. Let me know any thoughts, suggestions or questions, thanks for dropping by! p.s. I've got some nice yellow Oxygen tanks painted up and ready to be added which I think will make a big difference!

Thanks a lot for the kind praise guys, you are most kind. A little more progress this morning. The rear screen is fitted and painted in. It's still a bit compromised in shape and curvature but this is as good as I'm going to make it. A bit more detail work on the door windows. Here is the inside of the rear screen. I also fitted simplified representations of inner handles and cranks to the doors, just to have something there.

I don’t get this “our hobby is in serious decline” view... there are more kits of more subjects from more manufacturers now than I can remember at any time. Sure, there may not be a model shop on every small town high street, and plastic kits in village post offices, but when did you last see a fishing tackle shop, an independent sports shop or a record shop with racks of vinyl? This hobby will see me out, and if the kids are 3D printing hoverboard parts by then, good luck to them, I say... best, M.