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New Airfix He-111 was worth waiting for all these years. Great kit, straightforward build, OOB except for the Eduard canopy mask and seatbelts. Gunze colors were used. Weathering was done with Mig fluids and artist oils. As my several latest kits, this one was also started in the Group build but finished well after deadline.

Like so many of you, the Mosquito in all it's various iterations of color and equipment has been THE favorite since my early childhood. With all the excitement about the new Airfix Mosquito, I thought it would be fun to show what our new Airfix build will be joining on the shelf. I hope everyone follows on and posts their Mosquito collection as there are so many of you that are as passionate about this aircraft as I am and we'd love to see your builds. My son's build of the old Monogram 1/48. Conversion I did for my Dad years ago, Monogram 1/48. Airfix conversion for my "Holly Wood Air Force", "633 Squadron" 1/48. FROG 1/72. Matchbox 1/72. Old Airfix 1/72. Airfix Lancengine 1/72. Tamiya conversion 1/72. I wonder how many different Mossies we can get on one thread........

Tamiya 190 is excellent kit, I enjoy this stress-free builds. Gunze paints, did not experiment a lot with the weathering.

A quick public service announcement to commence with today. Finding myself too knackered in the evenings at present to do much in the manner of meaningful reading, I stumbled across Drachinifel's naval history channel and am finding it absolutely addictive. To somebody such as myself who's fascination with matters naval/maritime is engulfed by my ignorance of this vast area it makes for a fascinating set of insights: just thought I'd pass it on (though if you know your onions you'll doubtless be aware of him already). Some quick responses first before today's episode: Gracious of you Ian, especially given your bravura skills at wood effects - and now 3d printing cars! Thanks G. Final few parts added earlier today - possibly the most nervous part of the build as you're trying not to knock anything of at this stage! Given the cost of MoD projects James aren't Fabergé already a military contractor? Quite a memorable bit of design weren't they Chris? It always seemed to be somebody's flush aunt or uncle would have one, along with a heavy onyx lighter on the coffee table that nobody ever used..... Too kind Adrian. I bumble slowly around in a semi-meaningful manner until Dame Fortune fetches me a kick in the ribs with something that works! Them's dem fine words sir and much appreciated by this ciotóg. Thank you as always Simon. Right. Into it then. This week saw the last few jobs finally crossed off the snag list for XJ481. I decided in the end that I couldn't live without the demisting channel that sits on the centre frame of the windscreen, so having lost both of my PE versions I cranked out a one by hammering some brass rod flat on the anvil, and in fact improving on the PE by hand-shaping the curved section that runs back over the windshield and onto the canopy: An absolute swine to fit as you're basically balancing a thin strip of brass onto a curved transparency and holding it in place until the Gator's Grip starts, well, gripping: After a coat of Mr.Metal primer followed by some Vallejo rubber black to blend it in to the existing framework, that part is nicely invisible and you wonder why you obsess so terribly about such things in the first place.... Other detailing completed on the other side of the nose were the dashed-line yellow maintenance markings around the observer's window (hand-painted with tempera as per previous such markings), followed by adding glasswork to that window and the one in his door above using Kristal Klear: Also tidied up was the damage to the white decal directly in front of the obs. window. I then carried on with remaining bits of glassware, adding both the optical flat to the front of the nose: - then moving onto the stores and ('finally!' says @Terry1954) trimming the plunge mould down to fit over the nose camera in the Martel: Paradoxically I often find that using a big tool (here a Stanley instead of a scalpel) gives more direct control over cuts of this nature than a smaller one would. A couple of swipes with a sanding stick and then stuck on with GG: Hope it was worth the wait Terry.... 😁 Then on to the kind of job that - along with working with transparencies - I hate the most, sticking on the stores. If ever there was a combination of having to get a thing positioned correctly in three axes on top of another thing so thin that you're terrified of breaking it at the merest touch, this would be it. Eventually the things went on the things and Jesus held them in place whilst the glue dried and no thing was broken: To fix the Martel and drop tanks I used some Rocket Max on the brass locating lugs and holes drilled in the pylons, along with a liberal buttering of GG along the mating surface of the pylon surfaces themselves - the idea being that the CA would cook off quickly and hold the stores in places whilst the GG took a little longer. Once that had all dried I went wicking around the seams with some diluted GG. I'll tidy up the studio tomorrow morning and do a proper RFI as - much to my consternation - I've run out of bits to stick on and colour-in. Weirdly anti-climactic sometimes this game isn't it? A quick snapshot of Subject & Muse to finish today off: Being a late convert to the idea of remote shooting for stills I'm looking forward to sticking the DSLR on a tripod and controlling the exposures from the laptop - having a bigger preview image of the photo that you're about to take will hopefully improve my eye for things like lighting and depth-of-field when photographing at 1/72 - we'll see. Maybe it'll just make all the flaws more evident and depress me.... 🤦‍♂️😁 Catch you tomorrow, Tony

Dear all, Posting pictures of the remaining two of Valom's 'Duel in the skies' kits of the Camel and Dr1 Triplane. Great little (tiny!) kits from Valom - built OOB. Regards Dave

F4U-1 “Bubbles” After grinding away on one particularly difficult short-run model I decided to pull an “easy” kit out of the stash. I selected Tamiya’s 1/72 scale F4U-1 “birdcage” Corsair. Of course, the subject I chose to model ended up being a challenge in itself. “Bubbles” was a particularly well photographed Corsair based at Guadalcanal in 1943. Sources disagree on whether she was assigned to the USMC’s VMF-124 or VMF-213 but I am inclined to believe the later. Regardless, her very well used appearance and distinctive weathering pattern (apparently she was a leaker) drew me to attempt to duplicate her as closely as I dared in a model less than 6 inches long. Built out of the box with addition of Eduard seatbelts and some scratchbuilt details such as the engine spark plug harness out of fine wire. Antenna wire is EZ-Line. Paints are mostly Vallejo Air Acrylics, with some AK and Tamiya colors here and there. Weathering was a combination of acrylic washes, AK chipping mediums, salt, and Tamiya weathering powders.

Hi All My latest completion is off the bench after a 6 month project build. It is the Trumpeter 1/32 F-14D Tomcat done in the markings of VF-101 Grim Reapers. The model includes resin ejection seats, resin wheels and resin wing seal bladders. The decals came from DXM and are printed by Cartograph, they performed flawlessly. Paints are all lacquers from MRP and SMS ranges and the weathering was completed using Tamiya panel line wash, Tamiya pastels and AK colour pencils. There are some known inaccuracies with the Trumpy kit but fixing those was outside the scope of this project so I picked my battles. Anyhoo - enjoy some pics. I hope that looks ok, I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Cheers Andrew P.

Very true Keith, very true! Thanks Adrian. There will no doubt be more canopy wrestling when I come to first mould, then fit the vacform canopy on the Grob Viking! Thanks John! Wow, a whole 20 days elapsed since I posted any progress, so I'll attempt to fix that this afternoon. It's been a busy few weeks down here in Dorset, with a few more garden projects getting sorted, and then some more pleasurable stuff involving this little beauty: I get to go flying now and then with my old school chum Malcolm. We fly out of Bournemouth Airport where he has a share in this Robin and although its close to 40 years old, it is a delight to fly. We managed a very enjoyable hour over many Dorset beauty spots including Poole Harbour, Swanage (including my house), Weymouth bay, Portland, Abbotsbury, Dorchester and Tarrant Rushton. Weather was superb and also got to take a reasonably close look at a couple of cruise liners, still "resting" in Weymouth bay. I think Dujin do a 1/72 version of this, so might have a go at building one sometime.......... 🤔 Yesterday was also a beautiful day and Mrs T and I headed up to Wimborne (by road sadly) for a pleasant lunch and walk about. Couldn't resist this colourful shot which reflected the day perfectly. That's Mrs T not posing on the left! So onto the Astir. After several coats of white microfiller primer and some rubbing back, several top coats of white were applied. For this I used Tamiya (acrylic) gloss white, heavily thinned with Mr Levelling thinner. I let that dry off for a few days and then started to mask for the red trim. On the nose, I needed the trim to have a small white gap between it and the canopy, so I used very narrow tape to get that line "parallel" with the curved canopy bottom front. Then I applied wider pieces of masking tape to seal off that part completely, then did similar to the wing tips and tail areas. Although I was planning to use a fine spray airbrush, being red on white I wanted no scope for stray overspray, so then set about masking off the whole of the rest of the airframe. Call me paranoid! Then it was time for the red trim itself. This time I used one of my new Tamiya Lacquer reds (Bright Red), also thinned with Mr Levelling thinner. I continue to be amazed by Mr Levelling thinner being able to be used to thin both water based paints and lacquer based paints. One of those wonder products available to us in this amazing hobby. Here you see the Astir after several lightly dusted coats of the red, which went on superbly. The two other "aircraft" you see are the 1/72 Firebee drones also occupying production space. They had just recently had some top surface white, ready for their own masking processes. I just noticed in that last picture, my evening refreshment sitting next to my reading glasses. I wonder Tony @TheBaron, perhaps that is my "signature" calling card, similar to Steve @Fritag's sinister glove and glasses? 🤪 I'll leave the Astir for a bit before checking if any further red is needed prior to lifting the masking tape for the great reveal. Apart from a number of 1/72 gliders, a 1/72 QF-86 has also recently joined the production line on the bench. You have probably already spotted the drone theme, which I'm hoping to be ready for Telford. The scheme I am planning is along the lines of this one, taken from Duncan Curtis's @Sabrejet's excellent publication on QF-86 drones. It's a great publication Duncan, and I plan to model a few more QF-86's! Apart from the drone collection building up, we also hope the QF-86 will be joining these soon: More soon. Terry

Hi fellow modelers, This is my finally built resin behemoth, the Anigrand Lockheed C-5A Galaxy. Enjoy! I had it on my shelf for almost 10 years, never dared to build it. Just too big, I was kind a 'scared' of it. But finally last year I had the guts: I'm going to start it and finish it! This is the kit with box art: This is what you get, a lot of resin: Bags with resin parts, here are the engines / gear wheels and parts / flap hinges: Crisp details and panel lines (nice work Anigrand! I have seen worse kits from Anigrand..): Nylon, brass and stainless steel parts for a sturdy gear construction: The clear windshield part: Very nice detail and panel lines: And a very simple manual.. Doesnt matter, the placement of parts speak for themselves with this kit: I didn't want to make the dull grey MAC Galaxy, so I decided to buy a DrawDecal aftermarket decal set for camouflaged and grey Galaxies: This will be the end result: Source: airliners.net First I reinforced the 2-part resin upper deck and lower deck with aluminium strips and screws. This is really necessary as it's a very fragile construction..: Then I reinforced the slightly warped wing halves with aluminium tubing: I glued the 4 fuselage halves parts together: Here's a test fit of the fuselage halves with upper deck, with a 1:72 Piper Cub for scale comparison: I strengthened the upper and lower deck construction to one fuselage half with little N scale screws and polysterene edge strips for extra support: I constructed the tail parts together, in total 168 grams and the size of a 1:72 Fighter jet kit: This kit needs a lot of weight in the nose, it's a potential tail sitter.. So I experimented with adding weights until I reached a balance. In this case I drilled a hole in the lower deck, and made a construction of M13 bolts and nuts and washers. A lot of them ; ) : Measuring and drilling holes for better and sturdier fit of the wings to the fuselage. Only glue is not enough and not reliable.. after all it’s only resin. With a dry fuselage-wing fit I heared all kind of sounds like crackling etc. So I decided to give that construction more strength. The holes are for little bolts and nuts that will connect the wings trough the aluminium strips on the upper deck: Glued washers on the underside of the wing holes positions, so the nuts and bolts have better grip: Drilling the same holes in the upper deck on the same position as the holes in the wings: Constructing bolts and nuts trough the upper deck, upside down so the remaining part of the bolts can be used for the nuts from the wings: The advantage of this construction is that I can adjust the height of wing position by fastening or loosening the nuts: Then i glued the fuselage halves together, in parts as it's too much to glue at once: Then I started sanding, a lot of sanding. The length of the fuselage is 1 meter! I secured the tail to the fuselage by using fine steel rods as split pens. Now the tail can’t come loose anymore: The 1/72 figure is standing next to a hatch. I read somewhere that there’s a ladder in the tail to this hatch, for maintenance. C-5 crews sometimes sit on top of the tail during airshows to have ‘a nice view’. Well I believe they have some view up there! The construction I made for glueing the wings to the fuselage to keep everything level: After attachment of the wings to the fuselage there were some gaps between the joints. So I used pieces of plasticard to fill it up, after that cutting to size and sanding and filling the joints smooth: Securing the bolt positions by sealing them wit Loc-tite: Dryfitting the part that will cover the construction of the wings: Filling and sanding the upper plate: Preparing to spray the landing gear by attaching parts to sprues with a tiny droplet of superglue. The wheels are on fabricated axes: Spraying the gear: Constructing the gear parts together: Test fitting the gear. As you can see, the pile of M13 bolts and nuts as nose weight in the nose section prevent it successfully from tailsitting! Attaching the cockpit windows to the fuselage and filling and sanding again: I used Tamiya surface Primer (2 cans) to prepare the monster for the camo paintjob: Ready for a camo ‘jacket’! The sheer size of it.. unbelievable: Only the gear of a C-5 weighs about 25000 kilograms in total.. Underside airbrushing: Did the camo paint job with a friend of mine at his house. It was real teamwork; constantly refilling and diluting paint for the airbrush while the other one was paintbrushing, one holding the beast in certain positions so paint could be applied at more difficult places, holding a lamp for extra lighting etc. Paintjob ready! Applying Gloss varnish for the decals: An evening applying decals. Not easy I can tell you, carefully manoeuvring a 1x1meter model in different positions while trying to apply thin decals! Preparing the decals. DrawDecal prints its sheets in 1 piece, so you have to cut out every single decal: This one is from Altus AFB, 97th OG. The only Galaxies which flew with the camo scheme and later the grey scheme on this decal sheet. Finally, after 2 months struggling and scratchbuilding with resin, aluminium and a lot of superglue, may I present: A 1/72 scale totally resin Lockheed C-5A Galaxy! Never thought I would actually manage to finish this kit. A final coat of matte varnish to seal the decals and give it the dull look: I joined the Scale Model challenge 2019 in Veldhoven, The Netherlands with this model. Didn’t win a prize, but I didn’t expect that either.. the models at that show were outstanding quality, from international professional modelbuilders. Hope you enjoyed it, and feedback is welcome! Greetz Dick

I'm not a car or bike builder but I'm a massive bike fan so this was a lot of fun to do.The tamiya 1/12 is a great kit and goes together really well, the fact you get lots of extra parts is fantastic. Hope you like it. Cheers Brian.

So today I have a proper build update and things are coming together nicely. The chassis,wheels and interior have been completed and fixed together with no issues at all. One of my least favourite parts of building any car kit is fitting the wheels to the suspension where gentle pressure is required but you can almost sense the components are ready to break at any time. Fortunately on this occasion the wheels slid into place no problem which brought about a large sigh of relief. Now I know the interior is slightly boring being all black but imo it looks fine and will do the job nicely. Here's a few pic's of today's progress I'm happy with the results so far especially the wheels i reckon with the shell in place they'll look great. The shell will be clear coated on Sunday as tomorrow I'm attending my cousins wedding so no cave dwelling tomorrow 🙂. In other news the Texaco decals for my upcoming RS500 build arrived today and @keefr22 was spot on as they look superb. So that's where I'm up to for now hopefully Sunday I'll get to see exactly what colour this Delta is going to be and fingers crossed it looks at least a little like the reference pic. Thanks for looking back soon 🙂👍

Simon.

It didn't carry any ordinance. it carried ordnance John ( the Pedants' Association)

This is the Series 3 Airfix 1/72nd scale kit of old...Mosquito Mk.II/VI/XVIII...using the Herge decal set from Blue Rider...Bab el-Ehr's Mosquito from 'The Red Sea Sharks' I built during the 'Film and Fictional' GB back at the end of 2019... --John

Hello all, Here is my recently completed 1/48 Revell Rafale B, in the markings of Escadron de Chasse 1/4 'Gascogne', during Operation 'Chammal' over Iraq and Syria during 2018. The build thread is below. Extras used included BAM models intakes, exhausts and update set along with Wolfpack Designs ejection seats, Wolfpack updated nose and missile launchers, L'Arsenal Damocles pod, New Ware masks, Syhart decals, Renaissance models MICA IR missiles and Skunkworks MICA EM missile. Paint is overall MRP Dark Ghost Grey and the weathering is a mixture of Abteilung oils, Tamiya pigments and Flory wash. Thanks for looking and stay safe Dave

Quite a drive for two Seakings but i couldn't resist...250 kilometers one way 🤪 These particular Seakings were operated by the Belgium Air Force Three years ago they were decommissioned and i never thought that i would see these flying again soon! They look as they were in service with the exeption of their registration OO-SEE and OO-KNG quite apropriate i think. This day they went to their new operator Historic helicopters in the UK who are planning to use these machines on airshows. May you fly and prosper you mighty King... https://www.historichelicopters.com/Pages/1/Home.html cheers, Jan

Hi Guys, I've just ended up this model. It was a challenge to assemble all in one shape. Enjoy See you soon with the new project, regards to All

Good luck with it mate,...... I think you`ve made the right choice with white. The original Verna June had larger roundels which were mostly blue with a small white centre and it does look nice,.... but it did not have the white fern leaf markings as far as I can tell. Here are some of my Verna June 1 and 2 models; -The first one,.... in 1/48th,.... and the second one,.... with the leaf,.... in 1/72nd; And some of my other SEAC models just to show the variety of roundels and how they developed, seeing as it was being discussed; And then this one shows the first and last style of roundel on Merlin engined Spitfires in SEAC,... of course by 1945 white stripes were also being applied (blue on silver aircraft); All the bet mate and good luck, Tony

Last night was spent soldering the side skirts..... first and last bolt holes were pinned so as to make a far more solid mount for them. First and last mount blocks have been drilled to except the pinned guards simple push fit and nice and sturdy Just the other side to do then time to add the bolt heads

Nice thread, here are mine 1:72 Airfix (03062) de Havilland Mosquito NF Mk XIX, No. 68 Squadron, RAF Wittering, February 1945 03019 Airfix 1:72 de Havilland Mosquito NFII DZ-G of 151 Sqn 1:48 Airfix (07112) De Havilland Mosquito PR XVI, “GREEK” s/n NS725 ‘F’ 858th Squadron, USAAF, based at Harrington, 19 March 1945 Matchbox 1/72 Mosquito NF.30/Mk.IX (PK-116) transformed with Airfix paddle props to De Havilland Mosquito PR.XVI, TA614/R of the 858th Squadron, USAAF, 492nd (P) BG, based at Harrington, 19 March 1945 Airfix 1/72 de Havilland Mosquito NF.II (03019), No. 141 Squadron, RAF Wittering, October 1943 Airfix 1/24 de Havilland Mosquito NF.II (A25001) W4097 DZ-N No. 151 Squadron, RAF Wittering 1943

I built one in the last Airfix Classic group build. Most of the Haldane Place pimples had to be sacrificed, the moulding was definitely showing its age (a 1980s boxing), the nose glazing was all wrong, and the Humbrol period transfers were a disaster, but it scrubbed up okay. Now, would I buy another? Never say never. Like others here, I fancy a bit of a WHIF in RAF Transport Command colours.

Some superb Mossies on here that show that the type has been well catered for by the world's model companies. Here's what I still reckon takes some beating, the Tamiya 1/72 offering converted into a PR.34.

The one at the back is definitely plotting something.

Hello Everyone This is Tamiya’s excellent 1/35 Panzerkampfwagon IV Ausf.H. I’ve always admired Tamiya’s box art even though the AFV’s are usually just the vehicle against a white background. There’s something about their artwork that makes you want to buy it in the first place and then to at least attempt to replicate the fantastic artwork. Anne 823 hasn’t had a difficult life and I wanted to keep the weathering to a minimal but realistic level. The only modifications were to the springs on the mud guards, a metal tow cable, the outer doors on the turret Schurzen and the main Schurzen on the sides of the tank. It’s been painted with Tamiya paints and weathered with some of the Mig Ammo Splashes range and I also used a selection of Windsor Newton oils. It’s also the first time I’ve spent some time on figure painting, lots of lesson’s to learn but I’m getting there. Many thanks for looking. Regards Trace

Hello everybody, This is 1/32 Special Hobby Westland Whirlwind Mk.1 with the markings of P6985 HE-J No 263 sqr RAF, Exeter air base March 1941. Model build OOB except for Eduard seat belts and CMK wheels set. Paints are Gunze Sangyo acrylics. Happy Modelling

Most of the parts came out ok on the first try. I did have to fiddle with the Slats some. the first set were scale correct, but the thickness was too fine to prevent warping and curling. So I went back and increased the thickness 2.5 times to about 400um( just under a 1/2 mm) Fuel Tank Pilots seat. I had to redo the seat. The original print was too wide and too short.

OK Allan, here`s mine……………… Tamiya 1 / 72 scale Excellent posting and I look forward to all of the responses. Mike

I sprayed some MRP's ADC Grey on it, and I'm quite happy with the shade. A bit less happy with the seam between the front and rear fuselage, but I can live with it. The anti glare panel was painted with Tamiya NATO black, and the radome with regular black was glued in place. I will probably start on the decals tomorrow.

A family shot that reminds me of the Corleone's...

L to R Tetley, Evie & Tilly

This old boy was abandoned when his people moved away and he was left in their rented house. He then spent 4 months in the animal shelter. We got him about a year and a half ago. He's adapted well to his forever home. Chris

Hi Folks! This time I read all the comments about this particular aircraft in 1/48 scale before starting the build. Dang! Just in time to put aside the Italeri kit and went for the Airfix new tool! Definitely, it worth it, because the building of the kit was a delight (after the Italeri's Hurricane experience). I used only some decals from the Italeri kit, because I like the yellow RLM 04 spinner tip on this particular Stuka. The pilot and rear gunner figures came from Zvezda kits. Here are the photos of the Airfix kit for the Junkers Ju-87 B-2 'F1+DP' of 9./StG 77, Caen/France, August 1940, during the Battle of Britain. Cheers and happy modelling, Cris.

A realization of some years ago, the Ju 288 of Huma; on the whole it is a good model, but it required a great work of modification, both of the cockpit (almost totally rebuilt)… and of the wings and engines details. The model represents the Ju 288 V103 (C-1), as it appeared in Dessau in the summer of 1943. The camouflage is in the classic 70/71/65 (Humbrol Enamels mixtures); the codes are decals printed by me, the crosses and swastikas instead are from other models. Everything, as always, has been totally brushpainted.. Hope you like. Thanks for viewing Comments and suggestions welcome. Giampiero Piva

Little bits and bobs this week. I didn't have any time to update so here comes a picture dump! I painted the entire propeller yellow orange, and then masked for the prop tips: A shot of propeller brown later... There were two options for under the wing -- fuel tanks or these things: Called "Ta-bombs" in the instructions, I had to look them up. Turns out they are known as "Ta-dan" bombs and they were phosphorus cluster bombs intended to destroy bombers in mid-air. It seems they weren't very effective, but put on a neat show as seen here: interesting discussion and more photos at http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=258910. Anyway, I decided that was a unique thing to put on the underside, so I decided to paint them. The instructions called for "Khaki", and I actually had some, except it was from the late '80s or early '90s. I wasn't sure what condition it was in, but after careful mixing, it was like new. Astounding! I decided it was a good idea to hand brush. Once that was done, they got a gloss coat in preparation for a wash. I had to fix one of the lines on each of the wings because it was on the wrong side of the black walkway. So, I had to do some careful masking: I panted it white and then decided to try @Bertie Psmith's suggestion of using pink to bring the orange hue out in the yellow-orange paint with fewer coats. I just dusted some red on until it was the right shade: While I was spraying the white, I painted spinner, which I had masked earlier: The yellow stripes did indeed turn the right color with only a couple passes so that was a great suggestion Bertie! You'll see the result in some of the following pictures. Finally got to decals; Those blue stripes really make it, I think! Some of the stencils were teeny-tiny... you can almost see them in this picture (the ammo loading panels): So, the only disappointment I've had so far with the decals is that the decals over the flaps are a little more orange than the lines I painted. I made sure to match colors when painting all the yellow, but apparently the decals look different on the backing paper than the aircraft (which may have been a trick of the eye). If I'd used all the decals for the stripes and I.D. bands the colors would match, but then they would've been very orange. Oh well... not much I can do at this point. The markings over the flaps seem off-center, but that's how the instructions had me put them on... so,,, I did a wash in the wheel wells and controls surface hinges. Now I'm going to do some oil staining. After that, I was thinking of dullcoating the top to give the pencil lead something to mark on since all that filling and sanding around the nose wiped out some of the lines and it looks funny. after that I will use the Gunze semi-gloss coat to bring it back to the sheen in the photos I posted earlier in the thread.

More beauty shots of this greasy pig:

Some nice Mosquito's there. Let me add my three to the collection. All 1/72 Tamiya with Paragon Conversions. Mosquito Highball Mosquito Tsetse Sea Mosquito

So just after posting the last update a parcel arrived containing a couple of canvases I ordered. They are now in place in the cave and I like what I see 🙂 A few more required methinks 🤔😉👍

Thanks for positive feedback! This is the case I wrote about above. The box with the hose was supposed to stand by the side, but is too high 🤣 But it's cool, so I gave it a second chance. I decided to combine it with cargo bay. But that required improving the look of the rear section wich was poor. I also found a broken fire ax and thought it was worth adding. I made the new handle from styrene. I also added a handle and a lock to the box' door. This is what it looks like after priming and in a new place. I also primed a few other little things. Helmut considers retiring Helmut 'The scale comparator' helped me with many projects. I think it's time to settle him down somewhere permanently. Remora seems to be good for that. But he has to rest so he shouldn't be in the wheelhouse. I'll make him a comfortable armchair. That's early WIP phase. I'll see what the effect will be. If it will be looks bad Helmut will sit on it. (Pilot's is also still unfinished).

This isn't about wingey things, so if this sort of thing upsets you.....look away now. About 15-20 years ago, when I gave up a lifetime of building aircraft, I built Tamiya's Cromwell OOTB to see if that sort of thing was for me. It was the kit that got me interested in all things AFV. Fast forward to 2017, and I decided to rebuild it. The kit purports to be a Cromwell lVD, but actually has a lVc engine deck. So I took a look at it and decided that I would rebuild it as a Cromwell lVF. That involved redoing the engine deck, altering the driver's escape hatch, removing the forward bin on the RHS, adiing new bins either side of the turret and a few other bits and pieces. And this is what I ended up with. Many a good tune played on an old fiddle. John.

The control column and pedal assembly I combined from an earlier separate print. Though both pieces printed perfectly the columns would break while removing from the supports. Combining the wo made for a more successful print. I took my old model of the Bristol Taurus I used on another build, dropped half the jugs and re did the crankcase I'm not going to worry about the exhaust piping as it won't be seen Then finally the slats

I wanted to also do a full set of flaps and slats. I at first started to print out new lowered leading edges but on cypherin' and plotting and thinking. I tried something with the original slats I cut off. I sanded the detail off and the thinned the back(or bottom) side and attached with the top wing part setting on top. And surprisingly it WORKED! There was just enough of a gap at the back that the leading edge's thickness doesn't change the fit of the top of the wing.

Many thanks Johnny! More progress, and a little more regression, over the past couple of days. The last steps now are really just gluing the details on. Fuel filler, oil and radiator caps have been added, along with the headlamps. That's where I swore a lot - I managed to break off the bracket I'd soldered onto the front chassis tie bar for the spotlamp. Consequently this model will not have a spotlamp! The headlamp rims were rechromed first, as they hadn't come out quite as well as earlier bits. Now they are shiny! One for Tony @TheBaron [ Steering connections added: I also took a look at the kit windscreens. They were very thick and had moulding marks on them so I sanded them down and polished them with micromesh, followed by a bath in Pledge Floor Care Finish (aka Kleer) This is what we are given in the box (on the left) and after sanding thinner (on the right) That also got rid of the moulding marks! This one shows the thinned on e on the right. It's a lot clearer now the micromeshing and Kleer have been completed The frame has also received a little attention - I filed out the bottom corners to represent the separate frames which allow each windscreen to be folded flat, and then rechromed it. That leaves the accessories on the running board, windscreens, stoneguards on the front mudguard mounts, and knock-offs to fit and she's done! Thanks for looking in! Ian

Hi All, The cockpit ready to be installed. ...and installed I've filled in the trenches in the air intake ramps as that's not a very realistic way of depicting the tiny holes, for me a smooth finish is closer to the real thing. Dave.

So figured it was about time to stop ignoring Dunkerque, she was giving me the eye from the cupboard so she now has her Loire on board, did the windows with a hb pencil - who knew! Thanks Sam

Hi everyone. Time for next update. I have just finished the bas paint job for Miss Virginia. Below few photos of finished paint work. I must say that painting this model was hell of a ride for me. Definitely the most complex paint job I have done so far! Camouflage itself seems easy, just two colors - Olive Drab and Neutral Grey in a nice simple pattern, but as they say the devil's in the detail which you can find reading https://www.fine-miniatures.art/post/base-painting-of-p-38g

HI Everyone, Finished this one about the same time as the VLR Mustang so thought I`d share some photo`s My latest go at Eduard`s 1/48 Airacobra kit Built from the latest Weekend Edition boxing Finished as `PAT-RIOT II` of the 46th FS, 15th FG, 7th AF Built from the kit contents but with a few small additions and tweaks Namely: brake pipes, splitter plate in the dorsal intake, some wiring for the radio in the rear cockpit and aerial wires Also drilled out all the gun barrels and exhaust pipes Decals were from the kit Hope you enjoy the pic`s, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

My workbench is beginning to look relatively empty again(!), as I have a few builds coming to an end... Time to start something new! I have a couple of Revell 767-300's in the stash. One was picked up on eBay a while ago, when this particular kit (with the Rolls Royce engine option) was getting harder to find. The other was picked up much more recently, after Revell re-released it! I've built one in the past and it's not too bad. It has a few inaccuracies, which I will attempt to fix along the way. Here are the two boxes: The plastic inside is identical, so I'm not sure why the newer version is so much bigger... The new kit very helpfully comes with BA decals, in the 'Chelsea Rose' livery and depicts G-BNWB. I first flew this aircraft in 2003 as part of my conversion training onto the 757/767 fleet: Commander's names have been pixellated in the interest of GPDR! Here is the decal sheet supplied with the kit: Very crisp and detailed, but I'm not sure why the white elements of the tail design were included - they might need to be removed before application, as I'm sure I will not be able to exactly match the colour! The older kit will be finished in the 'Sweden' livery, worn by G-BNWU. I first flew in this aircraft in 2004, after completing ETOPS training to allow me to commence flying on the BA long haul network: The decals are from V1 Decals in Canada and look rather good: Hopefully work on these two will be underway soon!

Just fined a Honda CB750 cafe racer build for a change of pace and as I was given a bag full of greeles, I thought I would build another Yakult engine. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet either but here is what I have after a bit of time at the bench.

Time to put the cockpit, most of it anyways, together. I built the tubular from from plastic rod. Since I'm only doing the area seen I didn't drill and carve out the rest of the resin fuselage. and as such I'm only going back as far as the rear of the fuel tank. Also built the flat framing and added throttle quadrant , added the printed bracing, seat and control column assembly. I got the Eduard instrument panel and seat belts in stead of printing out my own ,(I know I cheated) I wasn't feeling like making my own on this part. So there you have it. Today I'll put everything together and start the painting process. More updates soon!

Brief report on my re-scribing activities before vacation. New panels indicated by arrows, one or two of them are just modified originals. Masks by Peewit