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Just completed this one at the weekend - Eduard's p-51 Mustang. I built the old tamiya kit a couple of years ago and although that is still a great kit, the new Eduard does bring a new level of awesomeness to the table. I really enjoyed this build - it does have plenty of flaws but makes it up for it in terms of detail. Most of the issues can be dealt with easily enough - however the Tamiya kit had a much better approuch to the upper nose section - supplying a one piece component which give you a perfect result - the eduard version has the traditional split fuselage approach which means you need to sand off alot of detail in this area - and it's quite challenging to put the detail back, Other than that, I'd have little to complain about. The cockpit is fantastic oob - surface details are lovely. Another great kit from Eduard. Painted with Alclad and Mr Color paints - Oils for the weathering. Thanks for looking Cheers John

Hi all - been a while since I posted here so I've got a couple of new builds - First is the Zvezda rebox of the Accurate miniatures tooled Yak-1b. The kit isn't too bad considering the cost - and has some nicely engineered components - especially like the one piece upper fuselage which negates the need to deal with the top fuselage seam. It does have fit issues however - on the wing roots and the landing gear assembly was a nightmare. Or at least I found it to be a nightmare - I'd probably do a better job next time but I found it impossible to align the structs correctly this time round. The Zvezda decal set wasn't great - the print was out of register and the colours seemed to be quite off. I'd recommend getting after market decals if you do this kit or check the decal sheet before you buy. I added some Eduard photo etch landing flaps and cockpit detail - both of which were quite good. It was painted with Mr Color lacquers with oils for the weathering effects. Overall, I'm happy enough with the result - I'm not too happy about the wing root chipping which didn't really 'come off' in my opinion. I probably would have gone with a different scheme given the choice now - I found the red nose difficult to do. I really like the Yak and there are plenty of great schemes available for it. Thanks for looking John

Good day, I completed the new tooled Academy B-52H Stratofortess earlier today. Here are the highlights of the kit………. 1. Paint : Model Master Dark Grey FS 36118 - Light Ghost grey FS 36375 - Interior yellow / green, Mission Models White - Tire Black - Olive Drab - Faded Olive Drab, MRP Flat White, Tamiya Chrome Silver - Titanium - Semi Gloss Black 2. Washes : Grey, light grey, black 4. Pastels : black undersurface exhaust streaks This is a very nice kit but I took too long to complete it. I fiddled around far too much and I should have been much more efficient with this kit. I enjoyed it very much and it goes together without any significant issues. My researched indicated that modern B-52`s are not all that weathered much with streaks and paint chipping and I reflected it as such with this one. The biggest problem I had was with the complex black striping found on the horizontal stabilizers of B-52`s. They folded over and I simply could not get it back to it`s proper pattern. Frustrated, I gave up and proceeded without the stripes. The kit supplied decals are a bit thin and are prone to folding over and tearing when placing. Academy provides a much needed windscreen / clear parts mask which aids greatly. I always liked the lines of the mighty “Buff” but I learned that 72nd scale offerings are difficult and tricky to assemble. 1 / 144 scale is much more manageable for larger aircraft types such as the B-52. I highly recommend this kit to all skill levels. I would consider it to be the finest B-52 in any scale. Thank you in advance!!!!!! Mike

Hi, not built anything for a couple of years, but i finally decided to dig this out and give it a bash! It is the Trumpeter 1:72 F-105G, 62-4440, based awith the 17th WWs, 388th TFW at Korat RTAFB, circa early 1970s. It was built OOB, nothing added, and airbrushed using the Vallejo Air War USAF Colors"Vietnam war" scheme sea.... first time using them, and i liked the simplicty of them!! The speedbrakes have not been glued and it was only after doing the photos i noticed the top one is raised!! 🙄 I will probably get a different pitot tube though as that one is a tad chunky!! Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-1 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-7 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-6 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-4 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-5 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-8 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Trumpeter 1.72 F-105G 62-4440-10 by Jonathan Francis, on Flickr Thanks for looking jon

#21/2021 So, my dad has finally finished his mojo killer. The Kitty Hawk kit looks good in the box but is no beginners kit. Many parts don´t fit good, pins don´t fit in their holes....so if you build it, dryfit everything. Well, it didn´t turn out perfect (which kit does?), some glitches, but better than landing on the shelf of doom or in the trash. Kitty Hawk first released the French Jaguar and then the British one. The only thing Kitty Hawk did was changing the nose, the rest of the kits are the same. So my dad had to add the position/formation lights on the "bar" of the vertical stabilizer. Furthermore he reshaped the French pylons to the British form, using the Airfix kit parts as template. The British ones are shorter/smaller and not as pointy as the French ones. Regarding the loadout, if you want to build a Desert Storm version you can only use the two Sidewinders, the single fuel tank, the two BL-755 cluster bombs and the PHIMAT chaff dispenser. The rest of the kit weapons are useless for that. Sadly no AN/ALQ-101 included in the kit, bought a resin piece from Flightpath UK. The kit´s seat is too tall. For closing the canopy you have to remove some plastic of the kit´s bottom. Used lead wire to add some lines to the landing gear legs. Kitty Hawk only provides the earlier two antennas after the cockpit. "Sadman" already had the later style single antenna, did some scratchbuilding there. There was some kind of "adapter" between PHIMAT and pylon, no such thing in the kit, used a piece of plastic. Painted the whole thing with a mix of sand and flesh. Kit decals used, only the little "Q"s on the vertical stabilizers came from Xtradecal. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235093580-operation-granby148-sepecat-jaguar-gr1a-raf/ DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0022 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0024 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0025 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0026 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0027 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0028 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

An enjoyable profipack boxing of Eduard BF110G-2, kit 7085. I went with the option 5./ZG 1, Wells, Austria, Winter, 1943-44. Kit was almost perfect to build, aside from the underwing tanks and werfer-granate rockets - really difficult and fiddly attachment, nearly gave up but eventually I was happy enough with them in the end.

Hi all, here my new built Meng F/A-18E Super Hornet in 1:48. Pretty good fit and a lot of fine details. Add the Eduard PE Set and some HGW RBF`s.

Out of the box build Paints used - Tamiya Hi all, I am calling this highly recommended kit done. Yes, if you want to fill your swear box up in record time then this kit will help you achieve it! Poor instructions and some parts that had not a prayer of coming close to fitting made this a frustrating build at times. However, it's my first go at building a biplane and rigging one. I admit I used some wrapping wire with the insulation stripped off it to rig the model, not sure all of it looks in scale, but the kit had parts that also looked a little out of scale. Weirdly I would build another one of these kits, as I have learned a lot about how they go together and I fancy building the Airfix Tiger Moth in the future. In the movie the plane appears brand new, however at this scale; it needed a little weathering to stop the "toy like look". I have to thank the ghosts of Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who I am sure gave me the will power to complete this build. I have included some stills from the movie of the plane flying over the African landscape, I hope you enjoy your flight. Happy modelling.

Hello all I pulled this one from the shelf of doom where it been sitting for over 12 months. It must be the first 1/48 aircraft I've built for over 5 years and a despite a few tricky areas around the nose fitment it was a thoroughly enjoyable build. I tend to favour 1/72 and 1/144 aircraft models but boy do the larger scales have more impact when completed! I just find that handling for painting and storage can be a little tricky at times. Anyway here she is. Built completely OOB, with paints from Tamiya and Vallejo. W&N matt varnish to finish off. Little bit annoyed with the decal film on the underwing serials which despite much microsol failed to disappear! Thanks for looking comments always much appreciated (good or bad... haha!)

Hi everyone. Finished this a few months ago and only just got round to photographing it. It's the fairly new Zvezda release which I was very pleased about when it was announced. Living in the shadows of Marshall Aerospace in Cambridge for the last 50 odd years, I've grown up with the sound of the Allison T56 so have become quite fond of the Herc, particularly the older K's. The kit went together without any issues and is naturally far superior to it's older competitors (much older from Airfix). I added an Eduard photo etch set in the cockpit, a set of resin wheels and the decals came from 26 decals. MRP and Alclad paints were used followed by a light oil wash and finished with an Alclad gloss cote with a matt cote on the walkways. I also added the aerials found on the early models which are not provided in the kit. Thanks for looking gazza l

Good day friends, I completed this Eduard Hellcat back in late August. Here are the highlights of the kit………. 1. Paint : Mission Models USN Dark Sea Blue, USN Intermediate Blue, and White 2. Built entirely out of the box including the decals. Depicted VF-38 which was land based at Henderson Field. 3. Added Eduard USN photo etched seat belts. 4. Replaced gun barrels with brass tubes. 5. Washes : white, black, light rust, brown, and gray 6. Pastel & paint weathering. 7. Uschi bobbin thread for the radio antenna. I enjoy Eduard Hellcats and have plenty more in my “stash” to build. The fit between parts is tight and care needs to be maintained. The wings need to be trimmed down in order to fit properly in the fuselage cavities. I need to correct the wing tip lights as Hellcat`s had clear len`s with colored light bulbs as opposed to what I did by painting the entire section. Highly recommended and thank you in advance!!!! Mike

Hi, here's a build I finished a month or so back, Hobby Boss kit, Pavla seat, El Presidente decals for a Ugandan AF machine. Unfortunately I didn't put anywhere near enough nose weight in.....Hope it's of interest 20210829_170940 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_172642 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_173318 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_173324 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_173340 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_173410 by bryn robinson, on Flickr 20210829_173452 by bryn robinson, on Flickr

No top gun modelller,but surely the bomber is,with 5 Mig´s credited!!! Thanks for visiting!

Good evening all. Got mentally swamped at work last week so took a day out today to recuperate, letting the mind settle and appreciate the beautiful misty sunlight: The vital skill of modern life seems to be remembering periodically to switch off the noise and pay attention to the signals. I also had the Vixen out on the windowsill drying and checking it in daylight when our postman Robbie wandered up the drive, resulting in a ten minute chat through the window about Vixens and 3d printing when he caught sight of it: He's an arch bird Robbie so I don't know was he genuinely interested or simply humouring the afflicted but he does have a brother who used to make models, so I might get a sale out of it yet..... We also had an unexpectedly rousing afternoon yesterday when our son's team won the North of the County Under-17s final: I haven't been to a stadium in I can't remember when so between the glorious weather and them coming back from nine points behind to win, a top fixture. Incredible to see how the lads just never gave up - they've been playing together since they were eight years old and now these bass-voiced giants who tower over myself and Mrs. B when you're stood next to them. Generations.... Betwixt and between the continuing busy-ness there has been substantial progress on the visual front over the last few days in a number of key respects; the painting stage is now complete on XJ481 and it's in to decal and visual detailing. With all the compound curves around the engine bays you'd expect there to have been problems getting all the panel markings correctly oriented and rectified to one another and sure enough, I got through two sets of decals for those panels before finally arriving at a working method. Initially I went the long way round and cut out every panel individually, which was not a fun job at this scale, particularly when it came to juggling them all into position down the length of the airframe and then clumsily wrecking three of them by catching my thumb on them whilst they were wrinkling in Micro Sol. The final try resulted from me remembering that I'd actually designed the rear two rows in Illustrator specifically so that the were correctly positioned to one another, so I simply err.... applied them in rows of four and it worked fine: The decalling process took a few hours over the week, partially from having to print and cure a second set and partially from from limiting myself to short periods of work as I was quite tired a lot of the time and didn't want to make foolish mistakes, or at least more foolish than my usual schtick. I also realized at some point by 1970, as well as an EDSG aileron, the aircraft also had also acquired an EDSG observer's door. Not having a mask design to hand I stuck some tape onto a print of the door (necessary to incorporate the curvature of the fuselage, which my original profile drawing in Fusion that I used to cut the door out as a shape wouldn't give), cut round it and scanned the outline in to Illustrator, and then fired the scaled outline across to the Portrait cutter: Oramask is such an incredible material that it just makes quick resprays of this nature a doddle: You can see that despite its magic properties however I managed to pull a flake of black off the fuselage immediately behind the door there, but I'm becoming a dab hand at paintwork repairs at this stage.... Once that was done and the rest of the decals were one, I took a deep breath and removed the canopy masking as well and was relieved to see that there was only minor damage needing touchups in one or two places around the frames: To try as much as poss to get the decal shine and airframe to blend together visually, the whole aircraft has three coats of Alclad Aqua Gloss and the final result was not at all bad - not perfect from extreme lighting angles on the black side of the upperworks in respect of the engine panels - , but something I can live with here: Stupidly pleased that the 'Danger High Voltage' sign is actually readable: The maintenance markings on the white pylons did work, but the ones on the dark side of the moon aircraft are invisible. I'll decide later how to give expression to that with some brush work. Same deal for the yellow markings around the observer's th window and along the port sill of the canopy, the black is just too overpowering for any light hues on clear decal film. Some more general views: Pencil detailing on the RAT door and exhaust cones below, as well as the stbd wingfold above: Rear prospects: The stores had a similar pencil/water/scrubbing treatment for panel markings and I was particularly pleased with how the technique performed here: Badged: The markings on the Martel simulator I had to interpret from the only clear colour photo (and that's not very sharp) in Balch's 'Testing Colours'. For the the olive strip around the nose I simply put the Martel into the De Walt and spun it slowly against a steady brush: Posed here for the camera in a dramatic reconstruction. Based on true events! 😁 Still the nose glass to go on that. I can't recall exactly when but sometime over the weekend as well I started building a stand to support the aircraft in midflight: I'll be honest that I've no great inspiration in the matter of stands and think that the simpler they are , the better. This should work anyway once I figure out what to mount the upright into: Still as I say detailing like fences and so forth to add, lights to build into front U/c door and tail. but nearing the end... Thanks for looking in. Tony

Hi all. My latest aircraft build is Kinetic's 1/48 Starfighter, more specific: the F-104s ASA-M from the Italian airforce. A few aftermarket parts were used like an Eduard seat and instrument panel and a Reskit exhaust. The kit itself is excellent, the decals not so. The few general decals on the sheet are too small and no stencils are present. So, I ordered a declaset from Armycast and stencils from Tauro. I used several photos from the internet to determine the color and eventually decided on MrHobby 325 as the final colour over a black base and several darker colours underneath. Weathering was done with Abteilung 502 oilpaint. Thank you for watching. René

Hi all, Started this build sometime ago, it's the Mk A 'Whippet' Tank of WW1 in 1/72 from Emhar. It was my first with an Emhar kit so didn't know what to expect but it what ever problems I had, I seem to have got round them with no problems. Like most of my AFV builds, I like to do something different with the subject and this was no different, so I decided to open the rear door. I put ammunition storage racks and a driver's position and short of you putting a small camera in there, you can't see bug*er all...why do I do it. It built up alright up alright, painted in 'dark earth', kit decals and weathered with a pin wash to bring out the rivets, a bit of pastel dust and some 'slop' in the mud shoots(?). Many whippets were fitted with 'canvas' track guards, so I made a pair from paper and added at the end. Knocked up a simple base and added some Emhar figures for scale. Thanks for looking Stuart

Hi folks, I am calling this Algerian SU24 done. They seem to prefer in-flight refuelling, rather than strap the huge fuel tanks under these birds, so I just went with a light load out that my reference book showed. Also, stencil dated seemed to be rather sparse around the fuselage compared to the Russian flown versions. Overall, it was a great build, the Aires cockpit was slow going, but after that it went together pretty well. The nose cone was left open to display the radar equipment and I scratched built a few extras to fill the void in the nose, I call it recalibration test equipment, just some detailing to give a bit of visual interest to that area. The kit is known to have some inaccuracies, especially the rear engine exhausts are too wide apart, and hence the FOD covers mask this issue. Thanks in advance for all your comments and interest.

I should have thought about this build a bit more before taking it on as it was a bit of a nightmare trying to weather the 4BO green, but leave the 6K brown looking like it had just been applied. In hindsight I should have weathered the whole vehicle before doing the 6K brown. Also, it would have been a lot easier if I had extended the base terrain the full width of the wood. Oh well, we live and learn. Thanks for looking George

Well after a little messing about I have finally worked out how to post one of my first builds in almost 40 years. Thanks to a few suggestions for members on here I have gone with this way of posting my photographs so here goes. Loads of mistakes and the biggest disaster was the total loss of the wheel flaps. I tried to get them glued in place but the kit was not having it. Eventually I gave up and had to go with no flaps. Painted in enamels as I had some paint left over from some other work, so just went with what I had. Did a little chipping on the wing and probably over killed on the weathering so as to cover up the mistakes. First time i have painted cockpit supports. These where hand painted and was pretty chuffed with how they turned out. I have since got some masking tape and intend to use that next time. Yes I used saw dust for the sand and a back drop from the South Pacific show. Not great for the first time but hope to improve. Loved working on the kit. Loved painting it, hated putting on the very small decals. I have since bought another of these kits from Airfix and one from Academy and hope to have a go at building it again; when Ive improved, hopefully.

More progress has been made over the last few days, mostly in the area of riveting, which should at least keep Messers @Brandy and @LorenSharp happy for a bit. If not I will make them count every rivet on the model and then demand a recount just to be sure they have the right number! I still have the underside of the bow and stern to finish but right now my brain feels like cabbage. At the moment, @general melchett after a night on Baldrick's Old Jockstrap would make more sense than me. Aside from the rivets, I have managed to get the conning tower hatches and their hinge mechanisms sorted out. Whilst the etched parts for the hatches supplied in the kit are OK, the portions that are supposed to fit onto the towers are way off. It was easier to dump them and scratch build the rest of the mechanisms. Once the rest of the rivets are done, I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel as regards construction and I think that there is a good chance that she will be ready in time for Telford. Thanks for looking. Martian 👽

Another one of my "box of rivets" builds, this time the Airfix 1/72 Douglas Boston III (04033) Apart from two-ton of depleted uranium in the bomb bay to keep the nose down, it is an OOB build painted with a hairy stick. Dave

This is my Decarli Models 1/72 Diamond T-52A, AKA Diamond DA40. This was, until recently when it was replaced by the Cirrus T-53A, the US Air Force Academy Primary trainer. The Decarli resin was virtually free of pin holes with the exception of what I would call more bubbles in the wing leading edge which were easily fixed. However the resin surface was a bit rough and needed smoothing. I can't complain about the assembly instructions since there were none. No exploded view, no part list, nothing. There were detailed decal instructions. There were parts and markings for an Academy T-52A, and a Bangladeshi Army DA40 NG, but only the decal drawings gave any indication of which was which. I had to contact Mr Decarli for info on some of the parts and he was very swift and helpful in replying. The only issue I had was with the vertical tail. As can be seen in this picture* The tail is the same width as the tail boom, while the part supplied was a 2 dimensional slab. It took a bit of filling and sanding to get it to blend in, but I think it came out well. It is also a tail sitter. I hollowed out the nose as much as possible and filled it with #10 shot. I even drilled out the spinner and added shot, but it still sits on its tail. The decals were printed by an ALPS printer on a somewhat thick single film. The instructions say to give them a coat of Microscale decal film to keep them from cracking, but I found this to be not needed. In all a quick (8 days) and pleasant build. And here it is. Next up is the Hasegawa EA-6B Enjoy *This phot is a publicity shot from the Academy from when the plane was first introduced. The older gentleman is 3 star general and the superintendent of the Academy. the younger guy is a Cadet 1 at the Academy. I can't imagine what is going though his head, 😱

Three posts in a weekend! Here I've sprayed another coat then removed the tape to reveal the panel variations. These are just a little too stark at the moment but one more pass over the whole wing should do it. Then I can start to think about a gloss coat and some decals!

Didn't get as much done this weekend as I would've liked because we had a lot going on. Thursday night I started on my wacky adventure of painting all the national markings and stripes. I started off by adding a base of black Mr. Surfacer 1500 where my hinamaru and the yellow stripes on the wings will go. Black is not a good base for yellow, but I put it on for the RLM81 that the plane will be painted... you'll see where I'm going with this. Friday night I had just enough time to paint the red for the Hinamaru. Unlike my dual build I just finished where I used Testors insignia red enamel, this time I used Tamiya acrylic red. I was just careful to not get it too bright by comparing it to the decals while I was airbrushing. I used this mainly so I wouldn't run the risk of damaging the paint with masking, which has happened in the past with the Testor's enamel, which seems to take an awfully long time to cure. Saturday night I had just enough time to paint the RLM 81 on the area over the flaps. I'm trying a different masking technique this time. I'll do the insides of the rectangles (don't walk areas and ammo cover doors) the RLM81, mask those and paint the yellow-orange, and then mask those to do the final coat. It some how seemed easier to do than painting the yellow and cutting super thin masks to cover the lines before the final coat. the alternative is to mask for the yellow after the final RLM 81 coat is done, which I've done too. We'll see how this goes. Anyway, here's the RLM 81: Today I masked preparing for the yellow-orange on the wings and the white ring around the fuselage Hinamaru. Painted those colors... and removed the masking for the next step: I hate leaving this half painted because I'm anxious to see if it's going to work the way I want, but before I put on the final topside green and underside silver coats on, I need to mask the canopy and install it and I need to put the front of the cowl on. I masked about half of the canopy this evening before the tedium overtook me. Hopefully I can complete it tomorrow evening. The front of the cowl might need a little sanding, so maybe that can happen tuesday night. Hopefully I can paint the green and silver on Wednesday night.

my last built, enjoy :

This is the old tool Airfix Vulcan. Glad they put it out to pass as the moulds were getting really bad. Thanks to @bentwaters81tfw for a set of intakes from an original tooling, the ones in this were really bad. Decals from before Airfix started using Cartograf and were not great. Still its finished and of the Shelf O' Doom. Even in 1/72 it fills my large photo tent!

One I built quite a few years back in December 2015, before I was posting here. I thought I'd post a few throwbacks. It's painted in Porsche Peridot Green - a correct colour for the actual car (for once!!) - from a rattle can from when Halfords used to offer any colour from their paint mixing system. I was less adept at clearcoat and the polishing of it, back then - and a few other things too. But otherwise it turned out tidy. The ride height is too high but I wasn't into correcting things like that back then.

Another one from the archives, this time those of 2012. So far the first and only NASCAR I've built. I'd quite like to have a go at another, or one of those NASCAR Pickups from the Craftsman series, should I ever find one I like/ever find one at all. I recall this one has better fitment and more detail than I'd imagined from AMT/ERTL.

Another mash up. Bought this kit with more missing than the previous one (still can't find a whole one) No Running Boards/Fenders, Radiator grill and chrome Stingray bike. At least the 'Dude' is in one piece. Added front grill, flip flops and tattoo for the 'Dude'. Also wheels/tyres from spares box and roof rack. Oh and the rear door drops down.

This was a nice, quick fun build. Nothing too stressful and the fit was mostly really good. A few issues that I found out right at the end was the ride height. Even after taking out the rear suspension springs the car sits too high on the back axle. The windscreen doesn't fit flush with the side windows but this can only be fixed if you take off the location pins but then you are left with two large holes on the bonnet. Basically I have left it as it is but it needs to be fixed before painting. A nice engine is included but the bonnet is either on or off. Some aftermarket bonnet hinges would have come in handy but in the end I just glued the bonnet on. I got complacent on my first coat and made a bit of a mess of it, very grainy. After sanding and repainting it came out much better,although not perfect, it doesn't now look like red sandpaper. It was a good lesson to treat my airbrush and paint with a bit of respect. Paints used. Tamiya LP21 and Mr Color 158. Both Italian Red and exactly the same shade. Interior Tamiya Rubber black with a coat of satin, which gives a nice leather look. All metallics Tamiya/Mr Hobby lacquers. Anyway, thanks for looking. I would recommend this kit. It builds into a nice model and there is plenty of scope for super detailing. Just keep your eyes on the back axle and windscreen. All the best.

Hi Loren, I made the Wendover in the 1990s whilst living in Canada by scratchbuilding the back end. I made the fuselage much as yourself and pull moulded two halves over a turret shape I made in Milliput. The early Profile publication says that guns were not fitted. This isn't necessarily true as there are various publications, such as "British Experimental Combat Aircraft of WWII" by Tony Buttler which clearly shows things like guns fitted. Below are some pictures of my 1/48 model using the Testors kit. Please note that the back end is far too short. I copied a general arrangement drawing - don't make the same mistake. GOOD LUCK with your build. I will be following your progress 🙂

Just arrived: It was quite dear for a kit, but it was about half the retail price thanks to a cheeky bid on ebay Cheers, Stew

I'm offering the following not because it will help anyone build a better model, but because it can help us understand what actually was going on with these ex-Belgian aircraft - and a lot of others - in the autumn of 1940. It is part of a report by a US Navy Ensign assigned to liaison duties in the UK, and was attached to an extensive report by Squadron Leader Churchill about the various faults and imperfections of the Brewster fighters that landed on his doorstep. The Ensign's report sought to explain British practices that might not have been familiar to Americans (like a disinclination, at the time, to pressurize fuel tanks). The excerpt that follows is a more general observation; there is some cultural chauvinism evident, but also insight into the position the UK found itself in at the time. Report of Ensign George Gibson, USNR to Commander Doyle, Reserve Section, BuAer 6 November 1940 Subject: Sq/L Churchill's Report to the Air Ministry re Brewsters, with Explanatory and Auxiliary Remarks [Section from Page 7-8] Situation at Speke Aerodrome - Mr. H. H. Ogden, Lockheed representative, has taken over most of the hangers at this airport, where he is assembling the majority of the American planes. Crew of about 25 picked Americans. Has the only stock of chrome-moly steel tubing, dural and alclad sheeting of American gauges, stock on AN bolts, nuts, etc. and welding equipment for almost any job. The English do not have any welding equipment for aircraft work. There is a total lack of blueprints for any American planes in the United Kingdom. With his crew he has put together practically all the American production sent here, whereas a group of about 200 Englishmen in a nearby factory are still struggling, since 15 May, to put together the first of 5 Douglasses. He normally gets very good service on orders being sent from America. If that supply stops, we are completely stuck. The Admiralty is still in a very dense fog regarding why American planes fly, and the Air Ministry is just beginning to find out. It might not be a bad idea if the Army and Navy sent a group of good mechanics over here to help out in the various places where work is being done on American aircraft. Frankly these people don't know what the hell the score is, and they are too hard up to pay for anyone coming. Nobody except Ogdam can do anything about assembly and repair (he does not get much in line of repair) without blueprints. If the services are at all interested in getting these planes in the air, and finding out how much or little good they are, it would pay you to send some mechs, armament chiefs, VF manuals, handbooks on the guns, and make the manufacturers send over about a dozen copies of each blueprint as soon as possible. I have been through the Air Ministry, the armaments experts in the Admiralty (here is one handbook on the MG335 or some such number), through most of the key points from Scotland to the south, and there is no one who knows anything about these guns or synchronizing gears, and there is no literature on the subject. Until they find out what makes the guns work they will be loathe to put the planes in combat. Maybe they are kidding me, but I don't think so, and it would be very good experience for the men you might send over, to find out how primitive one becomes about repairs in such a crisis. Burtonwood Repair Depot - Situation At The following history is hearsay. Station started about three months ago with five new Martins in crates, about 200 wrecked American planes from everywhere, the bosses were the cast-offs of factories already operating (and you have to be pretty sad to be a cast-off now) and a mixture of refugee Slavs, Belgians, French and Poles, local farm boys and garage hands. There were no tools, no blueprints, nothing but wrecks. After a couple of weeks of everyone cooling their heels around the place, five Belgians ventures to break into one of the Martins and put it in flying condition. It actually flew. That started operations. The factory force was then divided into those who could speak understandable French, and those who spoke understandable English. The gang working on Brewsters, four men, spoke French, I guess, and the boss of the shop spoke about 20 words in English. Their clothes were clean, but an American hobo would turn his nose up otherwise. It was cold, muddy and drizzly, and those men were cold. They hadn't eaten for a couple of days because the cops could not figure out whether they were aliens and thus did or did not deserve ration cards (I picked this up from a telephone conversion between their sort of factory manager and the local police). Anyway, they were working on a plane that had come in wheels up. Their tools consisted of one block of wood about 3" by 4" by 8" and a piece of broom handle about 12 inches long (this was the rivet buckers equipment), a ball-peen hammer with a 14" handle (this was the riveters equipment), ad hack-saw made evidently by borrowing someone else's hack-saw and cutting out a piece of 3/16 sheet to roughly the correct shape, then adding gadgets to hold the blade, and a rasp (this was the sheet metal workers equipment), and another hammer for the other sheet metal worker who must have been the forming and bending department. The tail of the plane was supported off the deck by a couple of 2' x 3' x 4' boxes, upon which there was a pyramid of three 2-bladed prop boxes, and on that five or six 1" x 8" planks. They were having a little trouble because they didn't have any blueprints and had to get all the dimensions by trial and error. I don't know how they drilled the holes. There was not a forge in the whole place. Yet they were doing a very neat smooth job, and every few days they turn out a plane that flies.

Wow, sorry guys, it's been a month since my last post!! Mojo is still non-existent and life is getting in the way. Time for an update on the life bit… I have tried posting several times but, with low mojo, the 500 error I inevitably faced knocked the wind out of me. I persevered this time and waited. Thanks all for your concern but no need - the COVID test was negative of course so no worries there. I've also done a first aid course, required for the Scout shooting thing. All socially distanced where possible. Good course. When we got to 'choking' we lined up and the person behind us then practiced. After the 'cough five times' and five slaps between the shoulder blades the last resort - the 'abdominal thrust', or Heimlich manoeuvre for us oldies. Instructions? Stand behind the patient and wrap your arms around them, make a fist and place it in the soft part of the stomach. Anyone see a problem? Yep. Big stomach, short arms! I has warned her that finding the RIGHT soft part of my stomach was going to be hard too. For the sake of readers' safety the answer is to put them against a wall and 'punch them in the stomach': Trust. It's all about trust. I also discovered Happy-plast, an amazing bandage that sticks to itself but NOT to anything else! Stretchy too. Must be useful for something, like joining fuselages? Oh, and for dressing wounds too, apparently. We've had our Flu jabs. As usual that, for me, was a couple of days of low-energy snuffling. Last week Dinner at a friend's club in Henley. Petrol crisis, what crisis? Nothing in Bath and then a friend said 'they always have fuel on the motorways to prevent them clogging up with cars that have run out'. He was right of course. Filled up at the first service station. £1.54 per litre! Gulp. Black tie, food and wine. We closed the bar. Of course I had a hangover - for a couple of days!! As my mate said "I remember when we used to do that all week at conferences". Getting old, that's what it is. (Oi, who said 'getting?') Girls have been down too, one each weekend so lots of family stuff going on. Away next weekend for Otto AND Sophie's birthdays. Hectic. Off to Italy for the wedding at the end of the month. Flying from London City on the 21st, two nights in Florence, two nights in Sienna and then three days celebration near Assisi. Should be good. What's that? I have to do a speech? Oh good grief…

Hi Pals, Now the turn for another old acquaintance, the Panther Ausf D, from the Zvezda brand. I bought it a long time ago on balance, and although there are now better alternatives (and more expensive ... lol), it is a fairly complete kit. It includes parts of the barrel, turret basket, accessories on the roof and internal sides of the turret, but really basic, so in the end it did not convince me, because it would have to be completed, and for what in the end it would look ... I gave up, and focused on the outside. It has transparent parts for the periscopes, although the motor grilles are "mosquito net", and the tow cable is not metallic. The tracks were somewhat complicated, since the internal "teeth" had to be included, and the resulting structure was really fragile and flimsy, so after early breaks, I decided to use vinyl ones from an old Tamiya kit ... I saw the camos schemes they suggested, but I didn't like any of them, so I assigned a tritone to it, as I had already done another (Kingtiger Zvezda). The intended appearance is that of a used but not "defeated" vehicle, with scratches and chips, dry vegetation on the underside and dry mud on the belly ... I added some spare parts helmets and an ABER metal antenna. I hope you like it, and thanks as always for watch and comment. Cheers and TC Francis.👍 UPDATE: Pals, here I include a suggested painting scheme on a Dragon kit of a Panther D, from a historical unit. When I painted mine, I admit that I cared less about historical accuracy than about the final result. Reading the comments about the model, the main criticism (constructive, I hope ... lol), was not the final result, it is that this scheme does not correspond to an Ausf.D, and based on that, I considered changing its painting on the other hand, if it respected the historical period, although I don't know when, with so much material in the stash ... lol. Now, coincidentally, looking for new kits, I have seen this camo, and based on that, I will no longer change the model in the future, as it is perfectly plausible with reality. Thank everyone who has commented on that point, because "it itched me", until I found "the scraper" ... lol.

I know what you're going to say, black wire is on order! I was asked for a comparison shot with the airfix item so here it is Thanks for looking, Nick

Yak-3 | Hasegawa | 1/72 303IAP, Major General G. N. Zakharov, April 1944 Finished this on 10/4/2021. This was a bit of a stash-clearing exercise -- Small plane, big box, quick build. It was the 1991 boxing of this kit and the mold is older, so there was no detail in the wheel wells or cockpit, so I had to scratch build both. Even though I spent 2 nights on the scratchbuilding, it was still finished in a week. Despite being a stash-clearing build, I discovered I really like this aircraft as I researched it and its stable mates (the Yak 1/7/9 series). I also found that the Yak-3 is an unsung hero -- one of the best fighters of WWII. I also found that there aren't many finished Yaks on Britmodeller! This really got me into VVS aircraft and I'm thinking a lot about that Mig-3 I have in the stash... It seems that matching VVS colors to hobby paints are mysterious and contentious to some out there. I see Yaks finished in all shades of dark and light gray -- I just went with the instructions. I don't think the blue on the bottom is as accurate -- I used RLM 65, which was what the instructions called for, but I think the light blue they used was brighter, and perhaps a touch more green. Finishing: Gaps filled with CA, scratch built cockpit and wheel well details. Paint: Mr. Color 11 & 52 top, Hataka RLM 65 bottom Had to make a rear bulkhead since you could see through the canopy into the back. It didn't need to reach all the way to the top. Hope you like it! Questions, comments and constructive criticism always welcome.

A little more advances today, additions and scratchbuild parts on the engine compartment firewall and I build the side ventilation grilles too.

Cheers Alan, much appreciated! Thanks Keith, glad you like them I'll soon own three too, 'cause a J and a D are on their way from Japan - must be some kind of disease... Glad if this can be of any help when you build yours Which ones did you get? Thanks Simon! Alright, apologies for the lack of updates but last WE I was busy with refurbishing some furniture at home, and I managed very little throughout the week too. Plus this WE I was at a nearby Model show and contest, so not much time for modelling (I did get a bronze for my Lightning T4 and a Special Prize for the Italian Stuka, BTW). Some progress on the Hasegawa cockpit happened, anyway, so here we go: I mentioned earlier in the build that I was going to use the spare WSO IP from the Finemolds kit for the Hasegawa model. It is slightly different in shape though (Hase left, FM right) I'm not referring to the top part, Hasegawa instructions would have you to reshape it just like the FM one; it's the bottom part, that would not fit properly inside the tub and would not conform to the PE parts, which are designed for Hasegawa. The bonus feature on the FM IP is on the back side: A lot easier to add cables and wires there. So I went for surgery once more: FM top IP glued onto Hasegawa bottom IP I then brush painted white on the back of the pre-printed acetate sheet with the IP bezels so that they'd show up like this and while still on their fret, I brush painted the PE IP parts with Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey, in lieu of the pre-painted nonsense grey supplied by Eduard If you squint, you should see the difference between part 15 (original Eduard's offering) with the other brush painted grey bits on the left of the fret ( a protective gloss coat was also brushed on) I then glued the relevant PE parts directly on top of the acetate bits, using Tamiya Gloss Clear as glue and Gator's Grip along the edges, to secure the bond While those were curing, I airbrushed the tub with Tamiya Flat Black first, followed by Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey and a very thin layer of the same mixed with a bit of Lifecolor Light Gull Grey Same for the side walls and the IPs All sealed with a gloss clear coat, obviously. I then started gluing the PE bits on the IP They need some refining, but they should look the part once inside the tub. That's it for the day, all comments welcome Ciao

It's up in the gallery now, but I guess the done thing is to put a finished photo in here too. Once again, thanks to everyone who encouraged me on this build and all who watched it come together.

So in the middle of July I decided to down tools and build myself a new modelling room. This turned out to be a good idea i think as my old space had become simply too small and cramped for me to build effectively. With only one existing wall I set about the task of creating the new room and I have to say I've enjoyed every minute of the project although not building any kits for 3 months has been torture. Currently the room lacks character but that will change I'm sure over time and although I'm now in a position to build again i still have more organising and fettling to do in the future. The only negative event during the build was that the new spray booth i ordered from Benchvent arrived damaged and had to be returned so for the time being I'll have to use the old Sparmax booth until the replacement arrives. Here's a few pic's of the new room as of today but I'm still awaiting delivery of some paint racks and various pieces of wall art to hopefully bring it all together. So there we go hopefully I can start a wip on here sometime next week and actually use this room for what it was designed for. Thanks for looking back soon 🙂👍

A further update,..... decals going on!! The markings for the SEAC PR.XVI came from the spares box,...... although I wasn`t veryhappy with the upper wing roundels as seen,...... so it was time to find some which looked better and they ca be seen here with the other models; Here are the two silver Airfix kits; And the Hasegawa kit,...... I have changed the canopy on this one and used a Falcon vacuformed canopy, to which I will add a bubble later on,..... a pair of resin wing tanks have been fitted care of my mate Lee who gave me the kit,....... I have added a set of Aeroclub white metal exhausts and have also added the rear set of wing tip lights, then filled and sanded them before painting the wing tip PRU Blue along with the resin wing tanks. Also,.... thanks to my friend Franta at DK Decal I also had a reference photo of the real aeroplane to hand which helped place the decals; So they have been varnished again and left for the the night now, Cheers Tony

Thanks very much Bo 👍 I used the inaccurate undersized kit jetpipes - I thought this kit was overpriced when I bought it and I'm loath to spend even more on corrections for it. PE enhancements is one thing, but replacing entire sections of plastic isn't worth the bother in my opinion. This was a lot of cutting, filing and folding, but that's what modelling is, right? Primer on. I used Tamiya Fine Surface Primer and those panel lines really pop out. The seams look okay...not perfect but okay! The one along the top of the nose is a real pain to get rid of. Stupid clear plastic, what were they thinking Can't help wondering what a Revell/Tamiya kitbash would be like, but I'm not spending out on another Tamiya kit to find out... Anyway - paint next! Alan

Afternoon chums. 😀 Positive PCR result this morning so kicking and screaming (really) work has told me to book the week off. I did a bit of tidy up this morning but that’s me done for a few days.( I have worked from home since LD one) This virus is so weird, my head felt about fifty percent bigger yesterday and full of snot now that’s gone and I feel like I’m made of glass and my eyeball hurt? Go figure. Any hoo if my body lets me I can do bits of this. yesterday had some fun moments. Looking at the max file I could see why the main section was bent.🤪 because I told it to be. Such a plonker. You can also see how thick the resin will be on the top section. I’ll re build the internals for the next droid. So after reading the info about ribs etc I decided to hit the vents next. Instead of having a solid slab of resin for the base I figured I’d test out the technique. I put a lot less support on this one and at my exposure lower too 45 base 2.5 main. A little wobble on the edge but the structure is a lot better. tilted on two angles too to help drainage and to lessen the print lines of the flat bits. seems to work well. And tother side. you can see by adding a few more supports that wobble will vanish. The vents were exactly as I’d built them in max which was good and bad in equal measure. good, they look spot on. bad, it doesn’t quite fit the hole! 😩 The reason being I totally miss judged the tolerances. Also the inner void angles down at the top . My vent model didn’t. In max my model parts effortlessly slide into each other in reality not so much. A little bit of sanding and a bit of gentle persuasion and it fits. Here we are in place. I have now fixed the size of the Digital part so for the other droids I’ll be fine. 😇 Next up was the back of Dewey , not the most detail but I can test out my ideas. The same ones @hendie was having. as you can see I have made holes where panels will fit over. I can also dig holes in the front part too to make it less “bucket” next time around. inside I did ribs and side buttresses. With these adjustments and the lower exposure times this one was set to run for three hours. Fifty percent less than the front. Nice! 😎 Heres what the slice looks like so as I said you really don’t need to worry about smoothing groups. Manual supports again but more refined as I’m getting the hang of what I’m doing. No warping and very little wobble. And even so it’ll all be hidden. The detail came out well what little there is. A nice solid structure on the inside. And another shot of the detail with my sweaty covid hand just for scale. A quick dry fit and the front and back are there. And the front. As mentioned I’m not going to re print the front as the bits I need are fine but I’ll re build the digital portion for when I make the other two. Thank you all for tagging along and helping me with print probs. I haven’t had this much fun in yonks. Johnny Covids

Painting time! First pre-shading, both for effect, and to practice my airbrushing skills. Next step was the camouflage. I used Mr Paint and decided to go for the British Dark Sea Grey and Dark Green. Maybe not perfect, but close enough for me.

My other projects have taken centre stage recently, so it’s been a while since this one got any attention, but I found a bit of time to get some work done on the undercarriage. I finished off the rear springs and got them fitted, with the start of some round notches to hold the rear axle. I measured some ABS tube the correct length and glued the wheels to each end…. …which was a mistake, as this thing is chain driven, so a large cog needs fitting to the axle – damn! Nevermind. I cut a circle out of 0.5mm card and cut teeth into half of it. I drilled a hole in the middle and then sliced it on the plain half to allow it to clip onto the axle without having to remove a wheel. Once this was fixed, I twisted some fine silver wire to make a rudimentary chain and superglued it in place. It’s not great, but I’m not sure how visible it will be in the end, so it may get upgraded in due course. And to the front… The beefy axle looks like this; and here’s the wheel I need to fix to it – concentric plastic tubes and sturdy metal wire are the answer I think. My massive I beam axle is possibly a little low, and I eyeballed the centre of the wheels as being level with the top surface of it, so to mount them, I superglued a length of iron wire across the top of it. A bit crude, but hopefully it’ll look ok. I mocked it up with the body and wheels in place to check the overall sit. For me on this model, this is more important than the finesse of the details (which as you have just seen are pretty basic!). Of the photos I have of this vehicle, my favourite shows it with a pretty aggressive stance, so I fettled the rear axle notches until it appeared to be about right. Quite a hot rod! I had a quick look at the lights. These are old fashioned brass carriage lamps. As I did with the big bun barrel, these will be much better if I can make them from actual brass rather than plastic – could be a challenge!. I ordered some 2,3,4,5 &6mm brass tube online, and while I wait for them to arrive, thought I’d have a cack at shaping some scrap pieces of brass and plastic to see if I think I can make it work. The front lenses have a flared brass horn, so I tried chucking a piece of scrap brass tube in my electric drill as a basic lathe, and used a file to taper the end. A razor saw and then a scalpel were pushed onto it to cut off the very end. Not too bad. I also had a go with some plastic pieces in the same way, and the brass was no more difficult than the plastic to be honest.

Sunday was spent adding windscreens to my builds. My preferred clear plastic, the overhead projector stuff, wouldn't co-operate. I used some quite soft plastic in the end as it was the only material I could get to stretch enough to be able to cut out the required areas. It's not ideal but it will work. Fitting it is very frustrating as it marks easily. Cotton gloves help a lot but the failure rate is a bit on the high side. Superglue seems to be the only one that will hold the plastic and using that brings its own problems. Fogging and cotton gloves sticking to any stray residue being the main annoyances. Gluing tiny areas at a time seems to work best and as each part is glued I move onto another build. It's more than a bit annoying for something to go wrong right at the last bit, but it happened more than once. Here's how the car bodies look this morning. There are still area that need gluing in place on a couple of them and I need to mould up yet more replacements for the failures. The rear screens of the Monogram/Revell kits are especially difficult to get right. The Boss 302 and the GT350 are closest to being fully glazed at the moment so I'll concentrate on those two for now. In the picture below, the upper corners on the yellow cars screen still need fixing in place. The Shelby in the background is done. The glass fits nice and tight, which is what I'm aiming at. Easy enough to say, a bit more problematic to do, as I'm finding out the hard way.

Work on the fixed rigging continues. I'm progressing slowly because I don't have much time ...

I need to stop buying and get on with building but this was another kit I've wanted for a while. The vision for this (at the moment) is to go for the 1973-style grille and Rostyle wheels. I'm not sure what colour yet, but there's plenty of time to decide.

Before I start my Sturmtiger I think it's about time to finish off this little project. The old Ferdi has had it dust blown off, decals added and tools etc had a their base colours painted. A little sealing in tomorrow and then I can get on with weathering.