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Hi all This is my take on 'Black 13' - thought to be from JG 27 - discovered belly-landed and abandoned in a field at the end of the war. Presumably the pilot walked away and went home Black 13 was an Erla-built G-10, one of a number of late-war Erla 109s finished in either 'all green' or 'two-tone green' camouflage with bare metal undersides, which makes them quite distinct from the more usual Luftwaffe camo schemes of the day, especially with camo applied to the undercarriage doors, which are evident in some photos and visible in one of the pics here. The reasons for this particular paint scheme are not clear - maybe paint shortages, maybe new RLM directives. Anyway, Eduard's kit went together pretty well, although I have to say not as well as the Hasegawa 109F-4 I built a few weeks ago. Painted with a combination of Vallejo and Mig colours (as usual) - and pretty awful pics (as usual). But I hope you like them anyway A few more 'natural light' pics added. I think these show the colours a bit better...

Hi folks! I wrapped this one up last month and forgot to make a post for it. The Gaspatch kit is interesting, and surprisingly complex. The tiny little cockpit has more parts than a 1/48 Eduard Spitfire. It's unusual for me to build something OOB, but that's how this one is with the exception of replacing the pitot and antenna with Albion Alloys tubing and rod. On to the pics! Thanks for looking!

F-35A Italeri 1:32, As always, I made the model straight from the box. However, I did add some shadows and differences in the shade of color so that this one-color painting would be a bit more interesting.

....so l could not resist this colour scheme! Airfix 1/72 kit built OOB, although internally l only built and painted the cockpit and navigator departments, a bit lazy but the other areas can't be seen once the fusalage sides are joined. I tried the SMS range of paints for the metallic side of things and was impressed, found they did need thinning although they claim you can spray straight from the bottle, drys quickly and is very robust, all other colours are Mr Color for the green, olive drab and yellow. Annoyingly l read too late in the build, a comment from @tomprobert in a review that the wing cheveron should be insignia Blue, bugger! So here is Milk Wagon,708th Bomb Squadron, 477th Bomb Group and a couple of pictures of Little Patches which l built a couple of years ago.

Depicted as the Douglas A-4C Skyhawk C318 from the Argentine Air Force flown during the 1982 Malvinas (Falklands) war. This kit was built as an entry for the 2022 NSW Scale Model Show's 40th Anniversary of the Falklands Conflict category. It was also built to take part in the Model Geeks Podcast's A-4 Skyhawk Group build. There is a full build post and more pictures at my blog but here's some photos

A different Mustang with sharkmouth...hope you like it:

Hi again fellow modelers This is my Spitfire that I have just completed and has been made out of the box without any corrections or additions or weathering, etc. The last time I actually made a model Spitfire was over 45 years ago and I just had the urge to see how things have changed over the years as in those days we tended to be limited to Airfix or Matchbox kits. This is the Revell version and I must say that I found no flashing on this build at all and had no problems during assembly. Apparently there are some inaccuracies compared to the real one but I decide to just go with the flow. Overall I found the quality and detail top notch with all of those thousands of rivets shown in all their glory. The decals went on perfectly though the underwing roundels took some softening and pressing around the various raised parts of the aircraft. Thanks for looking folks and if you want more pictures they can be found HERE

Hello Dears, I'm a bit ashamed to present this one seeing your level... It is totally out of my comfort zone... No wings but fenders and so on.... The funny part of it is that I'm a car mechanic... Working on the roadside and on the real thing is definitely not an incentive for me !! Enough of blaaaah blaaaah.... Hello Greta, you gonna love this one !! The old AMT kit has been reissued in the '80s and I must say that the molds did'nt aged well.... Flashes and sink marks at all the floors.... Plastic really bristle and that refuse to cement Well, the poor car missed to be crash tested numerous times... Almost Out of Box.... My aviation mates will take a big laugh.... Well okay, I added some bits and pieces.... Painted with Tamiye cans... AK Chrome for the bumpers... Almost no weathering since I was afraid to ping some pieces.... And Hooooops I forget the inner side of the front bumper.... I now to live with it.... I would have added more wiring, the gas pedal mechanism and so on but honest... I'm bored... I used photos of the real thing for the paint, I've been lucky enough to see one on the street... Now, in my Aviation threads , I use to do some family pics... in 1989, my younger brother lost his life in a car crash, it has been the worst blow to me Since we were really close sharing the passions of modelling and heavy metal music... My parents passed away in last September, and I picked up back one of my brother's car.... That special one was a Cadillac but he painted it like the Oldsmobile Toronado we once had in Kinshasa... So let me present one of the last car of my late Brother Herve ! That last pic is from my son Nicolas !! Okay Gents, here is the WiP !! I hope that you enjoyed it, once again, I will apologize for the far from perfect kit... Sincerely. CC

Here is my second real build to try and get some sort of semblance to what I used to be able to do with kits. Granted, my skill level is nowhere near the masterpieces I see on this site. I am more the journeyman type of builder. It looks somewhat like it is supposed to but it ain’t gonna win any beauty contests. This is the old version of a 1/48 Tamiya ME 109 I had in the stash. I have the new tool version but thought this would be a good kit to practice on. It is OOB with the only modifications being the gun barrels were drilled out. I am somewhat happy with it. (Mainly because with the canopy closed you really cannot see how poorly I did the cockpit!!) I was a little heavy handed with the weathering, especially on the bottom. My next project is another 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire which is in the beginning stages. From my work bench, it looks like I should know what I am doing!!!! However, the picture does show my shame of the 1/24 Trumpeter ME 109 and 1/32 Trumpeter Avenger that have long stalled, and I am working back to restarting. Before I started the Seiran and ME 109, I took out my building ineptness on the 1/72 PM “Bagdad Fury” and Revell’s Fw TL-Jager “Flitzer”. Do not be too harsh with the really poor painting, especially on the Fury. Finally, this morning one of the horses got spooked as I was feeding him a treat (German Horse Biscuits or as I call them “horse crack”). He mistook my little finger for the treat. Normally, I always wear leather gloves when working with the animals on the ranch. This one time I didn’t bother. Should have known. So, I will let you know how much modeling is done using the little finger.

This is not part of some group build or one started now because of present events. This build started over 4 years agon and unfortunately sat on the “Shelf of Doom” for most of that time for one reason or another. But with recent events I did feel that I needed to complete her. There is a basic build thread on one of the GB’s. For such an interesting aircraft there are there is next to no choice if you want to build one, only Trumpeters version……there are many other names I could call it! There was a Collect-Aire resin version released but they are super rare and expensive if you can find one and just as difficult to build….. thought they are correct in shape, something the Trumpeter model isn’t! The model is typical Trumpeter, ok is some parts, horrible in others and incorrect. Going from not so bad to……..well! The intakes are sort of right in shape though quite thick (the blueish bits are the resin replacements)…… , the forward fuselage profile is incorrect it curves up too much…. , the rear fuselage and exhausts are completely wrong in shape, size and spacing! The first 2 you could live with the last, it’s just so wrong. Luckily a small company out of Russia did release a series of correction sets for this model, though they are long out of production. They do appear on occasions on evilBay and are quite expensive. They do fit the model quite well though my fuselage piece did have some slight warpage and needed filling, as can be see behind the cockpit. Pl,us I added way too many "extras", I hate to think how much I spent on her!!!! I originally had planned to build a Russian aircraft until I saw the FoxBot decals and masks for the Ukraine Digital scheme, I just loved it the moment I saw it and had to do it. The “Warriors of Light” was a special series they did of current Ukraine aircraft, with proceeds going to restoration work on Ukraine aircraft in one of the aviation museums. There masks have to be some of the best I’ve used, super thin and adhere nicely….probably too nicely, as if you use anything less that lacquer based paint the masks will just lift the paint off! I even had minor bits lift off and I was using lacquers. But the results are just so good, though the masking and painting took probably 20 hours to do! The decals are top notch as well. So here she is, not one of my best builds, but still very happy with the results. Thank you for looking, please enjoy. Model: Trumpeter 1/48th Su-24M Fencer D Scheme: Ukraine Su-24M in Digital Scheme Paint: AK Interactive Real Color (main), and Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: Aires – Su-24 Cockpit set Aires – Su-24M Wheel Bay set AMG – AL-21F Exhaust Nozzle set for Su-24M Armory – Su-24M Pitot Probe Eduard – BigEd Detail set Foxbot – Warriors of Light Digital Su-24M decals Foxbot – Warriors of Light Digital Su-24M White 41 Masks Komplekt Zp – Su-24 Replacement Intakes Komplekt Zp – Su-24 Rear Fuselage & Burner correction set Komplekt Zp – Su-24 Forward Fuselage & Canopy correction set Reskit – Su-24M/MR Late wheel set

It’ll be your round then Terry…. See that’s the thing about social media type stuff - it never disappears and can alway be resurrected agin you…… I accidentally came across Terry’s post (and it’s ok Terry - I’m too much of a lawyer not to notice that you hadn’t actually promised to buy any beer ) looking back to last year when Alan posted this: Which also goes to show that you have to be careful what you post……but which not denuded of context by an untrustworthy copyist referred as you may remember to Alan sending me some printed MDC for the Hawk canopies. Quite literally it wos Alan’s bits prints that, along with inspiring much BM punning, inspired me to get back on with the build. Oh and to try and learn Fusion and to buy a printer….. But I now find myself in the rather embarrassing position of not being able to put Alan’s bits on display after all (that sounds wrong on just so many levels) cos in producing a new canopy for the Hawks the original MDCs no longer fit quite properly. And so, following in the footsteps of the master, numbn*ts has started to have a bash hisself. This is a sketch of half the front cockpit MDC prior to being mirrored to make t’other ‘alf. I have to say my macbook air struggled a bit with all the computation needed in copying and moving some of the sketch elements and got quite bogged down at times… But anyways - a bit of mirroring etc and I’ve got this far. Front MDC only at present. I had. bash at doing it with the sweep function but the complexity of the zig zag path blew Fusions mind. So I reverted to extruding a cut through a suitably sized thin-shelled solid canopy. Over-scale is inevitable, but I’ll try and keep it as thin as possible. Hoping it’ll print at a cross-section of 0.2mm. But we’ll see. The idea of printing it pre-canopy shaped rather than flat is to try and make the gluing task simpler. Maybe to only have to glue it at the root. If it can be got to print in the first place of course… Getting quite a kit of cockpit/canopy bits now:

Germany’s Gerhard Fieseler was one of the most important figures in the history of aerobatics. He dominated the formative era of European competition aerobatics from 1926-34, a period which saw it evolve into a disciplined sport, in which a series of pre-determined figures were performed and given scores by judges, according to degree of difficulty and precision of execution. Aerobatic competition was the second phase of Fieseler’s remarkable aviation career. He began as a fighter pilot in WW1, where he became the top scoring fighter ace in the Turkish theatre with 19 victories, where he acquired the nickname ‘Tiger of Macedonia’. Some of his victories were scored in second-rate types like the Roland DII, which perhaps gives some indication of his proficiency as a pilot. After the war, he became involved in sporting aviation, one of the few fields left open to German pilots after the limitations imposed by the Versailles Treaty. He was test pilot for the small Raab-Katzenstein company and flew modified versions of their sporting biplanes in his early contests, winning the German aerobatic championship 4 times in the late 20s/ early 30s, as well as performing at demonstrations throughout Europe. A significant factor in this success was his pioneering development of an inverted fuel system which permitted sustained inverted flight and negative ‘g’ manoeuvres. By the early 30s, Raab-Katzenstein was experiencing financial difficulties, so he decided to strike out on his own and build a new aircraft, optimised for aerobatics. To that end, he used his competition winnings to acquire a small maker of sailplanes in his home town of Kassel, along with the services of their designer, Emil Arnolt. The Fieseler F2 Tiger was the result, the first aircraft in the world designed specifically for aerobatics. It had an extremely robust structure, designed for the highest ‘g’ manoeuvres, but was consequently heavy and needed more power than was available from the low-powered German engines, leading him to select a 400 hp Czech Walter Pollux. The plane had marginal stability about all 3 axes and Fieseler refused to allow any other pilot to fly it on safety grounds. A cramped second cockpit behind the pilot was incorporated, in which Fieseler’s trusty mechanic rode with him to events across Europe, with his legs wedged on either side of the pilot’s seat. Another interesting innovation was the ‘sunburst’ marking used on the top wing, known at the time as ‘Fieselerstreifen’ (= Fieseler’s stripes) and widely copied by aerobatic or sporting aircraft the world over, ever since.... Fieseler used the Tiger to great effect, winning the 1932 & 33 German aerobatics championships, the 1933 European championship and finally, the crowning achievement of his career, the first World Aerobatics Championship held in Vincennes, France, in June 1934. His main competition in the international events came from Frenchmen Marcel Doret and Michel Detroyat, whom he usually managed to narrowly beat. After this victory, he announced his retirement from aerobatic competition to concentrate on aircraft manufacture, the final phase of his career, which lead eventually to his best-known creations the Storch and V-1 flying bomb. The F2 Tiger was retired to a museum in Berlin, which it occupied with many historic German aircraft from WW1 and the pioneer era. All were sadly destroyed by RAF bombing in November 1943. Some nice films of the Tiger in action are seen here, with Fieseler executing some of his hallmark manoeuvres. Good also to hear the rather rare Walter engine : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFl0pGVWmwk https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MVTN/id/685/rec/307 Here is my 1/72 model in its 1933 season markings, scratchbuilt (apart from the modified resin engine) in plastic sheet. It's a small model, with a wingspan of around 4.5 in (11cm) : Some WiPs: Walter Pollux IId and Schwarz propeller: Fieseler and mechanic :

Hi, being new here, I thought I'd post this by way of introduction. I hope you'll forgive a rather large and wordy post, having bypassed the WIP section and being totally inexperienced, I thought I'd go into some detail so that you kind souls might pick up on my various errors and misjudgements! I recently returned to the hobby after a dark age of 25 odd years. Having 'made' countless models in my youth (I say 'made', really it was glue together, paint applied in a single thick layer of humbrol brushed straight out of the pot and done), I was amazed coming back to see in the internet age, the wealth of techniques, tools, materials, kits, aftermarket gubbins and frankly excellent information available now. I hadn't ever even used filler in the past, let alone varnish, decal solution or even sandpaper; and even the effort of painting the cockpit was reserved for 'special' kits. So really I'm seeing this as starting as an absolute beginner. Anyway to 'get my eye in', I thought the traditional 1/72 Airfix Spitfire was pretty much obligatory as an easy first build. Some minor modifications were made to the paint scheme (I'm not particularly fond of the of early war black and white undersides; and preferred the look of a duck egg blue spinner; unfortunately that necessitated some decal surgery on one roundel and the omission of various white lettered stencils). The cockpit and overall build is OOB aside from the addition of some rather rough slices of Tamiya tape as seatbelts and some copper wire aerial (seems rather thick and of course lacks elasticity). The model is primed and painted in Tamiya. I opted to keep it simple and go with unmixed acrylics XF-21, XF-52 and XF-81, on the basis that it being my first model, the probability of messups and resprays was high. The underside sky looks a tad dark but it's close enough for me! It's my first attempt with an airbrush and while not perfect, I'm pretty happy with the results. I had a go at a soft-ish camouflage demarcation using blu-tack worms, and while I wasn't quite able to get them small enough to be 1/72 appropriate, it looks pleasing enough to my eye. A gloss layer of Mr Color GX100 came next to prepare for decals (and also apparently to crack up the Alclad in the wheel wells!). Decals being one of the few techniques that I had past experience with, I wasn't prepared for how much of a pig's ear I made of it. Gungy Vallejo decal fix everywhere and pieces of roundel coming off on my clumsy fingers left right and centre. The decals seemed pretty thick, but in retrospect that was a blessing what with how badly I handled them. Really I was happy to escape with most of them somewhat intact and roughly in the right place. I followed with another few layers of GX100 and a fine sand to level out the decals and hide some of the not-insubstantial mess I'd made. A quick grey or brown enamel wash, and yet more varnish, this time GX114 flat until enough shine had come off. After this are some rather clumsy first efforts with oil weathering. At this point I was rather looking forward to moving onto something new, so my weathering attempts are rather cursory. Some stream-wise dust or grime streaks (needs more practice), an attempt at airbrushing a light exhaust stain (wayyy underthinned, made a mess then bailed out, will rethink my strategy), and some dots of Humbrol 56 on a sharpened toothpick to mess around with chipping (doesn't really work at all, will try something different next time!). So overall a really enjoyable build, kits seem to have come a long way since my childhood. Generally it went together very easily. If I were to be over-critical, the panel lines seem a little excessive, and an open canopy option would be nice, but otherwise no complaints. There are a litany of errors and many things that I could go back and rectify or improve upon, but I'm overall really happy with the result for a first attempt. It's served it's purpose as a training aid, time to attack the alarming mountain of kits that have since accumulated! Apologies for the shonky camera work, I felt the effort expended in posing should not exceed the perceived quality of the finished product! Thanks for looking, grateful for any criticisms or suggestions.

..... Well sort of! I went to Lakenheath today with a couple of good friends, hoping to catch some F-15C action in the last couple of weeks of their tenure in the UK. Unfortunately, no C-models put in an appearance, but we were delighted to see this! Setting the scene! Federal Aviation Administration (Flight Inspection Services) Bombardier Challenger 605 "N89" believed to be testing the ILS. Surprise visitor! Another surprise visitor! I want to try to catch some C-models before they leave at the end of this month, so another trip is on the cards! Some nice variety, despite the lack of -Cs! Thanks for looking.

Looks like a little seam work ahead. Actually, it's not as bad as it looks. After sanding, things will look OK after some paint. The automotive glazing putty I use sands back rather quickly and feathers beautifully. I also started playing with little tiny pieces of card stock and some micro-drills to try and flesh out some detail in the arresting hook bay etc. I think a few ribs are still in order. The tail bumper bay was blocked off and I'm looking for a small cylinder to add along with the bumper to try and match the photo. I may have to just use a bit of rod, although I'd rather have something like an actuator of some sort. (Please consult the Detail & Scale publication on the F3H Demon.) Even with the speed brakes open, it won't be easy to see any detail in the wells - although the two large holes are somewhat prominent. The underside of the speed brake proper is where most of the work will be. The new digital Detail & Scale volume indicates that the inside of the speed brake was red, but that the well was a bronze green or dark chromate green despite restorations being red as well. In colour period photos it looks quite dark indeed. As does the arresting hook bay for that matter. Without further guidance, the plan is to paint these areas bronze green because a) I have some and b) it's a cool colour. Combining the red speed brake with the green bay will remind me that this kit was someone's sick idea of a Christmas gift. I've also begun preparing a list of the items that I'm going to fake with homemade decals (vents, cannon shell ejectors - stuff like that). I think there will be quite a bit. What fun! I always know when a kit is not "shake and bake" by how long it takes for the sanded red putty residue to disappear from under my fingernails. I assume it's being dissolved by my skin and immediately absorbed into my bloodstream. What happens them is anyone's guess. Cheers, Bill

Hi all 😀 Finally finished this after about a year of on and off work on it. I'm not the quickest modeller and this is my first jet in 1:48, the F-14 is a big plane so I took my time with it as I can't see me getting many of these on the shelf at the moment 🙂 This is the Hobbyboss F-14B in 1:48, bought for the bargain price of around £30 off a well known auction site a couple of years ago. Being a lifelong fan of the F-14 and Top Gun meant a man scale version needed adding to the collection. Its not a bad kit all in all, a lot of plastic in the box for the money, loads of weapons options and nice general detail, including a small sheet of PE for the seat belts and canopy rails (and radar if you want to leave the nose open). The general fit isn't too bad and a lot of dry fitting meant minimal filler was needed in the end. I closed up the gun access panels as I prefer the clean lines of what has to be the most beautiful airplane ever. I left the access ladder open, though with hindsight I think I would close it up or look for a PE replacement as it's a bit clunky. I did look at the great tips on here by @Parabat and dealt with a few of the areas that could be easily improved, like filling the wing rivets, shortening the arrestor hook. One of the main issues I head read about the kit was the intakes being too thick and parallel to the ground and dealt with this by sanding them thinner but also cutting a thin wedge out of the outside faces and clamping and glueing it all back up. I also used a thin strip of foil tape to create the ring that's missing before the intake petals which I found quite a noticeable omission. Paints used were Gunze numbers as per the instruction callouts for the TPS scheme grays, thinned with Tamiya thinners, sealed with Alclad aqua gloss and then an oil wash and Xtracrylics Matt to finish. Photos were taken from my phone as I am lacking any decent setup so hoping they come out OK. I realised when taking them the the old light blue pillow case I had used previously as a back drop is both far too small for a plane of this size and also in dire need of replacement 😂 Anyway, hope you like and on with the pics, hoping that they work as this is the first post I have attempted entirely from my mobile... Cheers for looking, Stu 🙂

Hawker Tempest F6 of Squadron 8 Aden 1948 Humbrol Metalcote brush painted Printscale Decals Eduard detailling set And with a few parts from an Heller kit Patrice

Hi All, With the kind permission of the GB Mod's, this is my entry for this Matchbox Group Build As I said in the Chat, i have ummed and aahed about committing to this build, given I have a number of other builds underway. But here I am and lets kick this off The Kit is typical Matchbox moulded in Blue(ish)/ Blue Grey/White styrene. Not a truck load of Parts and is nothing like your 1/32 Tamiya Types kits of today. But hey modelling and shaping a kit to one's discerning eye is part of the fun right (insert Tui's ad here )? For those of you who may be mystified at the Tui's comment, a link to what I am referring too Tui's Ad Yeah Right Bit of History: The RNZAF began it's relations with the "Slow But Deadly" Dauntless circa late 1943 when second hand US Marine Corps SBD-3/4 arrived in Auckland to begin equipping RNZAF 25 Squadron - Note these are still wearing the US Star some months after arrival - It's purported that some of these SBD-3's were at the Battle Midway The Squadron was under Command of , Squadron Leader TJ MacLean de Lange (sitting in cockpit) (RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions) The above RNZAF Photos are taken at RNZAF Seagrove (South of Auckland) of 25 Squadron Line up of RNZAF Dauntless's at Seagrove (RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions) Photo/History of Seagrove RNZAF Seagrove 25 Squadron took up training crews to fly operationally, and eventually left for Overseas, to take the fight to Japan. (RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions) The Squadron received SBD-4's from the USMC on loan at Espirtu Santos late December 1943. The RNZAF SBD-4's did not fly actual "Bombing Missions" perse, they flew with US MAG Squadrons usually providing "Navigation" to and from target..... I have linked this form Wikipedia (photo too large), but is RNZAF SBD-4 NZ5034 being serviced at Espirtu Santo early 1944 NZ5034 The SBD-4's were returned to the USMC circa March 1944, and the 25 Squadron received the SBD-5, again on loan around the same time. These were then used in actual bombing missions - NZ5049 - Note Yagi aerials under wings (RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions) The SBD-5 only served with the RNZAF for about 3 months - so not so used and abused airframe wise The receiving USMC Quarter Master when returned, noted that the SBD-5's were in a "As New" Condition such was the Care/Maintenance by the RNZAF. Now some might ask why such a short time of use? The RNZAF were expecting the TBF-1 Avenger, where the "Dive Bombing" experience came into play later on in 1944. So with the history lesson over, the actual model build Box art with a side view and Matchbox number Sprue Shots With the Lower Wing mid section, I have to do something about the Bomb well......... Glasshouse/Canopy - lots of masking there....... Kit Instruction/Painting Guide As to markings, the original decal sheet I gave away some years ago to a fellow BMer, but I have these Montex Masks to build as NZ5060 (my Wife loves Ducks so......) The real NZ5060 (RNZAF Official - Air Force Museum of New Zealand - Used with Permissions) Finally I have these plans I purchased years ago, don't know how accurate they are, but they may come in handy for the bomb well? Anyway - That's all for now, next to cut styrene and apply cement and paint Thanks for looking in Regards Alan

Hello gents This will be my contribution to the Group Build - the Hasegawa 1/48 Type 97 Motorcyle and Sidecar: That isn't misleading advertising on the box top, you do get two motorcyles in the kit, plus riders and passengers, Here's the sprues, you get two each of the sandy-coloured ones but I've only photographed one for a less cluttered picture: Hasegawa also provide a kick-stand so that you can build one without the sidecar if you so wish... However... Look: Look closer: No, closer still... There! I'm no expert on Motorcycles but I'm willing to be that the real thing didn't come as standard with great rings moulded into the framework, so I'll be building both mine with the sidecar fitted (and I do love the clown-car horn) Cheers, Stew

I am really, reeeely out of my confort zone with this one! This is a resin bust of a Samurai warrior. Figures are not my strong point so I'm deliberately challenging myself. The kit was bought from evilbay and I think the company is simply some bloke in China casting these in his garage. The goodies in the bag. As you can see, this chap is definitely a Samurai because he has two swords. And to give you some idea of scale. This is scaring me.

So here he is. My version of the Panzerkampfwagen IV. I tried to do a DAK version. In my head this tank has seen a lot of combat in the harsh African desert. I have no particular backstory on this tank so use your own imagination 👍😀 The build process was pretty straight forward as one can expect from a Tamiya kit. No noteworthy problems exept from a seamline i had to adress at the front of the hull. Nothing a bit of vallejo putty couldn't handle. Painting the basecoat in vallejo panzergrey and then some preshading with flat black to finish it of with a custom color mixed of vallejo dark yellow and ivory yellow. I went overboard with the weathering. Just did too much wanting to compete with some of the awesome builds i see on this forum. In the end i cleaned it up as good as i could and i finished the tank adding some stowage on the back and a antenna made out of sprue. It's not my best build and looking back i know my mistakes. Anyway here are the pictures. Tnx for taking the time to read and comment. All your tips and tops are more then welcome.

Hi folks! Just wrapped this one up over the weekend. Having a closet full of Eduard 109's, I was a little worried that I would be spoiled by the Tamiya kit and not like the Eduard kit so much. To my relief, I found the Tamiya kit to be a bit over-engineered and a bit simplistic with many of the details. If you want to build one with the engine displayed this is surely the easiest path but I like my models closed up. I do love the design of the canopy though and some things I learned from this kit will change the way I build my Eduard 109's. 1/48 Tamiya Bf109G-6 9./JG54, "Yellow 9" Ludwigslust, Germany Spring 1944 Yahu instrument panel BarracudaCast seat BarracudaCast wheels BarracudaCast tall tail conversion Albion Alloys gun barrels EagleCals decals AK Real Colors paints Anyway, on to the pics! Thanks for looking!

Had fun building the somewhat fiddly 1/72nd scale Roden Albatros kit (several of them are currently under construction in Mein Albatroswerke!)as the License Built OEFFAG that Brunowski, A-H Lead Ace, flew. The unique KuK camouflage was done freehand watching an evening of Television. Give me a Sunny Day and VOILA! the Dual Monarchy Again Takes to the Skies! BTW, just finished the book "The Fortress" by Alexander Watson - dealing with the siege of Przemysl and the "Bloodlands" of Eastern Europe. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Austria-Hungary's Polish province Galicia regional capital, Lviv, is now Ukraine....but Przemysl is in modern Poland - and in fact is now a major Refugee Center. The Borders in that area are very Fungible.....

Hi folks! Just finished this one up last week, it's been a productive year thus far. I had never done a plane with full invasion stripes so I figured I would give it a go. The Tamiya kit still holds up well, but I'm looking forward to a B variant from Eduard. P-51B Mustang "Impatient Virgin?" 376th FS 361st FG Lt. Victor E. Bocquin Bottisham UK, September 1944 Ultracast seat Ultracast wheels Ultracast flaps Eduard Zoom PE Riveted fuselage Hollowed kit exhaust and gun barrels Squadron vac canopy KitsWorld decals Custom insignia masks Anyways, on to the pics! Thanks for looking!

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Airfix Mosquito B.XVI, built from the box. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. My only add-ons were seatbelts and steel wire for the tail fin antenna. Painted with a mix of Mr.Hobby and Tamiya acrylics. A full build review will appear in an upcoming edition of Phoenix Aviation Modelling. Thank you for your interest! Best greetings from Vienna, Roman

A bit of a golden oldie from the 1970's, complete with Hales sticker on the box. A little bit of work was done by the previous owner, looking forward to this one Cheers Pat

I have built most of the Hasegawa egg planes Inspired by these I tried to build some of my own If you managed to come to the end. Happy Easter.

I think this, when straightened will be a reasonable facsimile of the oil cooler. I have mounted it at a slight angle to the airflow, obviously intended to allow a larger surface area to be influenced by the wind's cooling effects. It would/does appear there is much to do to there. That tiny radiator is too tiny I think... I am unsure whether I have mentioned this before, here within our hallowed community reside the finest people in the world. At the weekend young Roger, AKA Hamden whispered to me "You need a Scarfe ring for this build, allow me to send you mine..." And it came to pass that this morning the hard worked postie had to take a minute out from delivering trashmail to hand over this special delivery. In all its glory, not just the Scarfe Ring and a Lewis gun. But also two more Lewis's and a triple pack of instrument faces, Ancient And Modern Now I have to work out how the gun sits on the Scarfe Ring. Where did I put the Kestrel?

The Danish scheme is just a joke. Black radome, IR probe, non-painted wing/fin edges, Swedish "Danger" decal at the air intakes, Swedish-style antenna on the spine, etc, etc... Besides that, the "AR" marking on the fin indicates a recce version, which this is not. Actually, I can't see why MisterCraft is bothering releasing this old kit, pretending it can be used to build this decal schemes. The only version that can be built from that kit is early Swedish J 35A. Although there are several errors on that too. Even worse, is that they are promoting these releases with photos of a 1/48 Hasegawa Draken. https://mistercraft.eu/en/strona-glowna/282-d-88-f-35j-draken-swedish-af-172.html And to answer the initial question: Hasegawa is the ONLY choice. Airfix has several errors, already mentioned in this thread, plus a mis-shaped nose. MisterCraft/Aeroplast are based on the more than 60 years old Revell kit and could not be recommended in any way at all. Skale Wings TF-35 has plenty of errors too, bad fit and bad research. The only thing to do with these kits is to forget them. The only alternative that one could consider is the old Heller kit. Shapes are OK and it contains parts for many versions. But raised panel lines, poor interior, over-sized nose wheel and more makes the 70s origin too obvious. Besides that, it is almost impossible to find. But if so, it can be built into a reasonable model, this is my build from the Heller GB last year. Almost OOB, although the recce nose is modified a little (the kit contains a Danish recce nose), and aftermarket decals:

This is scary. Who needs a canopy anyway? Print this and the rear MDC and the eye will fill in the not so obviously missing clear bits...

No, it's not automotive Bondo. That's a two-part (resin and plastic) filler. My "red stuff" is an automotive spot glazing putty that is used to fill in the little pin holes one can get with Bondo. So it's used over the Bondo (once it has cured) to create a nice smooth surface for painting. But I just use the spot glazing putty, no Bondo. The brand of spot glazing putty I use is Nitro-Stan made by Standard Coating Corporation. A one pound tube costs about $25 and literally will last your entire lifetime of building models (unless you build a lot of Emhar kits). My tube is over 20 years old and it's still just like new. Phenomenal shelf life - I've only used about a quarter of it, if that. The only downside is it can shrink a bit (if you try to fill a big hole) and therefore more than one application might be required. But it dries fast and sands beautifully. I started using it because I never could get Squadron Green Stuff to feather nicely. I had worked part-time in a body shop when I was 17 and remembered this Nitro-Stan stuff. Now don't tell anyone else - it's me trade secret. Cheers, Bill

Sorry I’ll leave you alone after this. “BIOCD” Bill’s infectious obsessive compulsive disorder. Poked me so much I snatched the blighter out of the case and popped off the seat and cut the back off. Glued back in the right way now. Flipped down for show. I’ll make some belts tomorrow. 😇 excuse the drift. Back over to the main course. 🙃

With the photoshoot out of the way, it's time to call the MGB done. For those who haven't seen this kit, Aoshima's rubber bumper kit is a good one to go for as it has all the bits you need for the chrome bumper version in there as well (i.e. wire wheels and chrome bumpers). In effect, this kit is the chrome bumper kit with added Rostyle wheels, rubber bumper and tonneau cover. Unfortunately, that also means that all the other bits which changed in the 1974 facelift are also as the original - you can make a rubber-bumper version with this kit, but if you want it accurate you'll need to make quite a few modifications yourself. There are other good conversions on here, either completed or in progress, but I took the view that as 99%+ of people won't know of the difference I could live with the inaccuracies and make do with it as it it. The kit itself is kerbside, with the underside of the engine moulded into the chassis. With a bit of careful painting you can make it look ok, but it's not a bit to go showing off. It's not a new kit, but it is one which goes together well, although getting the body over the tub and aligned with its mounting slots is harder than I expected. Other than the wipers, that was about the only bit which gave me any trouble with fitment so I'd definitely recommend this kit. Mine is built out of the box with the exception of me adding seatbelts made of buckles from the Belkits Fiesta rally kit and some 2mm ribbon. I wanted to do it a '70s colour, and was initially going to paint it Sand Yellow (babysick), but couldn't find it in Halfords. They did do Inca Yellow which I nearly got until I decided to check out the Rover section and there was a spraycan of Russet Brown. I knew I had to use that for its '70s vibe, but the more I've worked on the car the more I like it and now I can't think of a colour I'd rather have used. That was then clear-coated with Tamiya TS13 Clear which seems to have made the brown that little bit richer. As for how I've done, in some ways this is one of my better builds. Certainly, it's rare for me not have any foul ups in sticking bits together but I've avoided it here. And I feel I'm getting better at BMFing too. The downside is the paint, not the colour but there are some bits where I went through the clear giving a bit of an uneven finish in some lights. For the most part it's hidden, but I know it's there and it does irritate. The link below takes you to the full build thread which should provide a more complete breakdown (caution: lots of detail painting in here!). With that lot written, time to go into photo overload (got rid of most of the dust, but it's amazing how quickly it reappears ). As usual, all comments and (constructive!) criticism is welcome. And thanks for looking, and for all the encouragement throughout the build. I'll start off with a top-down view (which is also probably the worst photo of the lot). After that, it's time for my usual tour around the car: I also tried a few shots in the sun since the weather was good this afternoon and the sulight really makes the brown pop, well as much as brown can anyway. Next time I'll open the conservatory doors as I hadn't appreciated how much the glass was going to reflect the highlights. Next up, a few close-ups of some of the bits I feel I managed to do a bit better than my usual standard. First up, since they got so many comments through the build thread, the Rostyle wheels. It took a long time to paint these, but the end result feels like it was worth it. Next up, the BMF. Still something of a beginner at this (this is only the 3rd car I've used it on), but I was particularly pleased with how the quarterlights went. Granted they're not perfect, but they are pretty much on the limit of my current ability. The mirror in the foreground was painted with Revell acrylic Silver (90) with details in semi-gloss black, and were then pinned to the bodywork to make them a bit stronger. Not strong enough to survive fitting the body to the chassis though. The coach strip is also done in BMF. Unfortunately, although I spent a bit of time getting rid of the dust from the car, before I took this shot I didn't spend as long getting rid of the dust from the camera lens and with the car almost touching the lens (as you can see from the reflection in the paint) it picked up all the lens dust in shot The other bit which I was pleased with was the interior. Like the wheels, this took a while with the detail painting. And, while it might be inaccurate, I'm happy with the result. I did wonder if the tan/Autumn Leaf seats might be a bit much with the brown body, but in the end I'm happy with the effect. And with that, all that's left is a few shots from when I started playing around with composition: Thanks again for looking. Hope there weren't too many photos!

Hi Everyone Sure I'm not the only one, but got into modelling during the pandemic to stop myself going mad. Us pilots were regularly locked up around the world in various countries & hotels & sometimes quarantined back on arrival. I decided to make a model of every type of aircraft I've been lucky enough to fly so far in my career, these are the first 2 that I've finished building. These are also the first models I've made since I was about 12, I know they're not a patch on some of the fantastic ones I've seen on here but I did my best 😅. And yes I made some stupid mistakes, which I'm sure you guys will spot. The 757 was modified with some flaps by LACI with decals from Draw Decal, the 767 decals are from 26 decals Any comments welcome as I'm a complete beginner and looking to learn from the vast experience on here \

I've had this unusual plane in my stash for a few years and I thought now is the perfect time to make a start on it. The KI-79 is based on the older Nakajima KI-27 Nate with a new engine. The sole manufacturer was the Manshūkoku Hikōki Seizo KK plant in Manchuria which produced 1329 single seat Ki-79a and dual seat Ki-79b trainer versions. The main difference between the Ki-27 and Ki-79 was the KI-79's open cockpit. This seems a retrograde step in my book 😕 This kit is based on the RS Models Ki-79a and has you cut out the second cockpit by hand. A task which has put me off building this..... until now. A bag shot! Only one cockpit at the moment.... Some of the PE looks good. Some looks tiny! The decals look good.

Hi guys, This is my first model painted using airbrush.I wanted to start this new adventure,with something not too challenging. After a bit of research, I picked this little kit from ICM. The building was quite simple, only a few parts were included.This submarine was the first example of elektroboote operational. I decided to follow the german scheme during the last year of the war .Even if only a little thing, I really enjoyed it. Soon, I am going to build another submarine as I am really fascinated by this subject.I hope you like it too, and any comments are always greatly appreciated.

Some of you may remember I built Meng's Ninja in 1/9 a couple of years ago, and very much enjoyed it. This is the latest in the same series, and also the pre-coloured version. The quality of finish has moved along significantly, with the carbon fibre and livery being incredibly crisp and the variety of shades and tones on the other parts much wider than the Ninja. It's a very sophisticated snap kit with a few screws here and there, usually where the real thing has fasteners. Like all of Meng's snap kits, they've thought very long and hard about what can be seen and what can't, and where to put joints and sprue gates to minimise any rectification after assembly. So without further ado, Day 1 of this build: The usual classy satin Meng box which is completely packed with plastic. All ABS, so no glue required. Note the beautifully printed cowl parts in the foam lined box to the right. Engine block is a flat pack built up around an invisible (but still press-fit) frame in the middle. The fit is very good, but keep a wary eye out for the odd raised ejector pin mark on a hidden surface before pushing it all together. The detail is fabulous, but I'm in two minds about using a wash, because in all the pictures of these things I can find, they are very well looked after and pristine. Airbox and throttle bodies. That pipework is one multibranched part that just pops perfectly into place. Engine taking shape. The first use of carbon parts warrants a closer look at the textre. I really don't know how it's done. They aren't decals, and there's a "ghost" pattern on the other side. If it's a mask, it's a very clever one, and if's some sort of printing it's equally impressive. Rear shock absorber: there are 9 parts in there, and it's fully functional... Steel etch for brake discs -- very detailed and surprisingly hefty. The holes are even slightly chamfered on the "good" side. I did apply wash on the chain: Citadel "Nuln Oil" Carbon fibre rear "mudguard" in place. Three parts that snap together cleanly and the CF weave even continues across the joins... And this is where I got to at the end of the first building session. Next, we begin the frame. best, M.

I was also done with the Star Destroyer. Bandai, 1: 14500 scale. It had to be sealed here and there, unlike Death Star II. The real challenge is painting, these ships are usually brilliant whites in the movies (except for the Jedi returning from the blue-filtered Battle of Endor). I built the surface from several layers: black primer, Mr.Black Surfacer 1500 thin layer matt white + tamiya xf-19 sky gray darker surfaces, temporary shadows with xf-19 highlight bright panels in matte white dry brushing with white artificial oil. Well, nothing of that seems obvious, but I hope you like it.

An ex-Vichy repainted in the French color "Chamois",serving under the rightful owners...hope you like it...:

Thanks Chris..... Well as long as I am on here, I got some progress made last night. Kerry's printed part arrived yesterday and I trimmed, painted and installed it. Even the toggle switches printed! Even more impressive is that I managed not to snap them off! Painted and glued in This sidewall has already been modified and extra cable added The junction box on the right side was scratchbuilt, painted, yellow markings applied, weathered lightly and glued in. Also of note is that the BB shelf it sits on was lowered too, ugh terrible photo's And everything is waiting patiently to fit in the fuse.... Bit of a rush unexpected update, scuse the terrible photos Cheers Anthony

OK, so I think I'm calling this one "built". Suspension fitted since last time plus a few other bits and pieces and correcting the wrong spare wheels. I managed to find some correct-for-this-tank closed-spoke large hub wheels in the bits box, but annoyingly only 11. Rather than splash out £13 on a Panzer Art set for the sake of 1 wheel I decided to have one bogie with the concave disc wheels from the kit. These types were in use at the same time - and were the only 2 types with the later larger strengthened hubs - and mixed-up wheels on M4s were not uncommon. I could have fettled the thick kit bogie skids but found some thinner ones and used them. Drilled out the roller bracket holes in the bogie fronts and added 2 of the 4 bolts to the brackets: you can't see the top ones. The bogies go together fine: no faffing with springs or foam and they don't move. Usual awkward joins to fill and mould seams to eradicate. The bogie casting marks are for OSF (Ordnance Steel Foundry) which may be OK for Fisher but photos suggest that both Fisher and Chrysler were using National Malleable bogie castings on A3s. So making an accurate Chrysler-built tank from this kit will need some fiddling here. Archer's 3D casting symbol decal set has the right symbology IIRC. Wheels and rollers are a little too square-edged but that is easily solved. Sand shield mounting strips are far too thick and trying to thin them down just broke them. Found some spare brass ones. There will be some rope stowage tie-downs after painting. Now all I have to do is put these zillion parts together........ Talk about wasted packaging for the EECs.

Painting backlog out of the way, I settled in to some proper progress last night. First off, a shot of a couple of the bits that got some colour on them: A couple of touch-ups needed, but not too bad. I’m quite surprised that the Hr Hobby RLM 66 I sprayed on the seat and control column has a metallic quality to it, leaving the parts with a graphite-like sheen. There’s never been any metallics through the airbrush I sprayed them with. Odd. Also worth noting is the difference between the two undercarriage bays; the one on the left looks like I did some great pre-shading on it, when the reality is it’s just badly sprayed. I mixed the colour in the cup for that, so I suspect I didn’t mix the thinner in well enough as I add thinner before the paint and that one was the first to be sprayed. Still, it looks good side on: Those both got a Flory dark dirt wash to even them up, but I haven’t knocked it back yet. The plan was to let it dry while I added some PE, then clean up after. Then I got absorbed in adding the PE and forgot! Still, it was worth the effort on the PE. First up the control column with the instruments added to the strip “box” I made, and the IP (which is two layer): The dorsal gunner’s station also got a two-layer instrument cluster (and damn these macro photos for showing up the minute fret tangs that I thought I’d cleaned up!): Both sides of the other IP that frames the edge of the sliding roof panel (cocktail stick for scale). I’m hoping some matt varnish will make the CA residue disappear: The rear cabin area: And finally a couple of views of the cockpit: There’s a whole raft of teeny levers to be added to the pilot’s side console, as well as another IP that extends from the front of it. The glue joint on that is miniscule, meaning I’ve already knocked it off twice. Who knows if it’ll survive long enough to be safely housed behind the glazing! Join me next time to see how many of the remaining bits of microscopic PE make it on to the model, how many feed the carpet monster, and how many I manage to superglue to myself instead! Until next time James

Hope this helps, two IWM pics and one from my Rodney albums.

More pictures and an update. I have now sanded out the right side fuselage, the exhaust pipe for the J33 engine, and glued the two kit supplied bulkheads into the fuselage. Here you will notice that I have also put in two locating tabs located mid fuselage to help to properly align the two fuselage halves. Using a piece of excess plastic sheet trimmed away from the parts, I aligned both halves of the exhaust and glued them together. I used some thin plastic strips to make alignment tabs for the bomber nose as well. The cockpit as supplied in the kit is inaccurate. Using the photos from the Tail Spin Topics blog as a reference, I cut out the left side aft seat riser. Part of the cockpit floor will be cut away, and a lower floor level with the bottom of the crew entry door will be put into place. Not sure exactly how I'm going to do the leaning ladder floor, but I'll figure something out. I used some resin remnant blocks to fabricate a center console and also made up a new seat riser for the Bomb/Nav seat. The center console has not been glued in yet and I may need to make an adjustment to the B/N seat riser's position. I also added a piece of scrap plastic sheet to fabricate the crewchief's panel. I will have to cut and sand the upper right edge to fit after the glue has dried. https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2013/04/aj-2-savage-cockpit.html When I did a test fit of the fuselage halves after the two bulkheads were installed I noticed that there is a gap of about 3/32" at the forward bulkhead, but no gap at the rear bulkhead. I will have to trim the front bulkhead so that the two halves line up correctly. I will also need to test fit the cockpit, minus the seats into the fuselage to see where exactly to cut out the cockpit opening. I also need to check to see what color to paint the cockpit area. It will probably be interior green and black. More to follow! Later, Dave

I mean exactly like that one! Very cool. Please arrange delivery of one to Martian Towers forthwith! In other more serious news; does anyone know if @general melchettis OK? I was watching one of those police reality tv shows last night and that particular episode was focused on the Lincolnshire Constabulary. One part of the show focused on the cops dealing with a load of drunk and disorderly people in the centre of Lincoln. I could have sworn that I caught a glimpse of an inebriated member of the Imperial General Staff, replete with regimental kilt, being bundled into the back of a police van, shouting "It was Captain Slackbladder wot done it, honest Guv!" What it was that the General was supposed to have done, the programme did not say. Concerned of Mars 👽

Chris, you might find this site useful with your stock of Tamiya paints. I haven't tried any yet but they look as though they might have some merit. Steve.

Like this one, for instance?