Leaderboard

From March 2022 until the middle of May, Ukrainian Army Aviation organized multiple sorties of Mi-8 helicopters with supplies and relief personnel to support Ukrainian defenders besieged at the huge Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol. Using a force of 16 Mil-17 Hip helicopters, a total of 7 daring missions were flown under Russian fire from Dnipro airport into Mariupol in order to re-supply the Azovstal defenders. The Mil-17 Hips were stripped of armaments and other systems to reduce their weight and make room for food, MANPADS, anti-tank missiles and satellite communications terminals to be taken to the defenders. Wounded Ukrainian personnel were airlifted out for the return journey. This is the Hobby Boss Mil-Mi-17 kit, with a few small changes and decals from the spares box: FredT

Mirage III BZ "Flying Cheetahs" of South African Air Force. Model straight out of the box, folds very well. Main landing gear requires attention. It is best to glue them with CA glue, otherwise the connection is very delicate and easy to break off, which I found out by simply placing the model on the desk. Now, after snapping off, one shin is slightly bent. I only made ladders on my own. I was modeled on these photos.

#14/2022 After the USN Skyraider, this is my dad´s second Korean War build this year. Hobby Boss kit, painted with a mix of Gunze H307 FS36320 Gray and H334 Barley Gray BS4800. Horizontal antenna wires with EZ Line, vertical one with fishing line. The kit has better molding quality, fit and cockpit detail than the Ark Model kit and for sure easier to build than the Mikromir kit. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235109468-korean-war148-lavochkin-la-11-fang-peoples-liberation-army-air-force/ Besides with the MiG-15, this is another case of Soviets in disguise. After WW2, Soviet air units supported the Chinese communists to eliminate the nationalist Chinese forces. Afterwards they also fought in the Korean War, wearing Red Chinese or North Korean markings. If the info is true, this aircraft was flown by N.Guzhov, 1st Sqn 351st IAP PVO, scoring two kills in the Shanghai region. The unit flew La-11 from 1948 to 1952. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0022 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0024 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0025 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Finished!

Hello everyone … I present to you my first CF.100 Canuck airframe #18551 in the markings of 410 Squadron stationed at RCAF Station Uplands, Ontario circa 1957. This is a kit restoration of a previous build (not mine). I was able to finally secure a kit earlier this year and part of the deal was to restore this kit. Here is a link to the build thread if you're interested. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235104890-cf100-clunk-restoration/ My unbuilt kit has started in the Canadian Group build please visit and follow along if you would like. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235111843-mk4b-cf100-all-weather-fighter/ Please feel free to ask question's, post comments or add thoughts. Dennis

I built this many years ago. I copied details from a magazine which had a few photos of the same Scout. I crash/push moulded 'blown' doors over Fimo bucks. The SS.11 rockets were made from the bombs from an Airfix Messerschmitt 109E The framework was built up from hss Maybe not the greatest or most accurate build but I'm content with it

Howdy A while back, I was reading ( looking at the pictures ) in Osprey`s Tomahawk and Kittyhawk Aces book when I noticed something unusual about a picture of a P-40 on page 81....... The camouflage colours seemed to be reversed ie the dark colour was where the light colour should have been. ( Desert scheme ?? ) So after spending several hours on Google came up with nothing definite, so posted on BM to see if anyone else knew anything Luckily for me, Allan Willoughby and Robert Hagger, posted me some information and interesting photo`s of Kittyhawks in a Grey and Green scheme. ( thanks very much to you both ) So I thought I`d give it ago and managed to get hold of a Mauve 1/48 P-40M/Kittyhawk III kit. Did a bit of work to suggest a `K` version and some improvements to the kit along the way: filled the perforated plates behind the spinner, butchered the kit seat to look like a p-40 one and added the mounting frame from wire, seat belts, added the missing lower part of the instrument panel, corrected the scissor links on the U/C legs, brake pipes and added tie down loops,......... ......gun barrels from metal tube, fuel dump pipe and that little spikey thing they have midway down the underside the fuselage, anti collision light, pylon for drop tank and that little plate on the fin leading edge where the aerial wire attatches. Decals from Italeri kit, a Ventura sheet and the stash Apparently Geoff Fisken flew this aircraft on occasion instead of the Wairarapa Wildcat and gained 3 kills in it ( according to the book ) Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Hope I haven`t bored you 🙂, cheers Russ

True fact #1: if you type 'Kate Bush flying in a Short Sturgeon' into one of those AI image generators currently flooding social media, the result just looks so much like the actual aircraft that you wonder why people bother.... Speaking of warped realities, let's meet the teams: Merci Christophe. The trick is now to keep the legs on at all times! 😁 Mixed feelings eh Alan? I keep casting a speculative eye of the AP for the Wasp and then whilst mentally working out its shapes, it triggers the memory of another detail which I've overlooked on the Vixen, thus delaying matters further.... Thanks Bill. That's the trouble with printing your own kit Ian - not having a set of instructions to ignore! It's funny John but I felt something similar immediately upon popping it onto the plinth. The mind going 'Close enough...' perhaps. 'Stance'! That was the bloody word I couldn't think of Pete - thank you. What did I call it? Some kind of Yoga position probably.... 🙄 Gracias AW & CJ, Have to pinch myself to remember how long this thread has been going on for - it seems to stretch back into the mists of time.... 😁 Up in Dublin on Monday to check in on progress with the Corporations' latest set of Flak Towers: Keep wondering what it must be like for the lads up in the cabins of those cranes - do they sit there all day like Wagnerian Gods, or are they just texting each other stuff all day like 'Has that fat seagull sat on your crane yet today?' and 'Aren't people small?' As I mentioned above in replying to Alan, there are still details popping into view from references that I either forgot about or didn't notice to begin with at the start of the build. in the latter category are some markings on the door fairing that sits immediately behind the Forward Large Door. It was only recently scrubbing through that footage I found of XN708 at Yeovilton in the summer of 1964 to check wear details that I noticed the last two digits of the nose number repeated: A check of other aircraft revealed this a regular (and obvious!) feature that until now I just hadn't paid sufficient attention to: These numerals were too prominent/legible to risk painting freehand on this occasion (being about 1.8mm high), so I cut some masks to brush paint them in with tempera: You can see in above shot also that the outboard main gear doors have had some representative grime and marks added to express the typical appearance of these areas on operational aircraft of the time, some of which the above mentioned footage shows off quite nicely: I was pretty pleased this time around with just how vibrant the (round) taxying and (teardrop) deck approach lights turned out on the forward large door: The use of burnished metal foil and Fabrika glass drops was identical here, but these seems somehow more brilliant in the light then XJ481s were previously. I've no idea why. Getting that numbered nosegear fairing into position was a tricky enough task; as I'd lost the printed resin part this one was knocked up from a scrap piece of brass strip, so I had to tuck a sliver of resin in behind it to attach it at the correct angle: Forward door added: With those jobs done, it was on to the main gear, attaching the outboard doors: These went in nice and snug both sides, the peg/slot design on the parts giving a good secure attachment point as required to get the angles correct in all three dimensions. As you can see in this frontal view, not only do those doors need to angle outwards away from the main legs, but they are also rotated outwards on the vertical axis slightly: Also added at this point were the fairing attachment hinges, that diagonal fitting you can see running from the outboard door to an attachment point on the main legs just above the triangle of torque links: These hinges were too fragile to print successfully from resin so were added in here using 0.3mm brass tubing: Some general views to finish then of the undercarriage which is itself now completed: Microcells and arrestor I'll leave until later just before the wings go on as I need to keep the bottom free in those areas to rest on the stand whilst I finish detailing the top. RAT tomorrow then hopefully. Sweet dreams for now though. Tony

Hi All, Some strong progress on the Glad today! I've been positively frothing all week about getting on with this complex paint job, so when my youngest daughter tested positive for the spicy sneeze this morning, thus banjaxing an otherwise busy weekend, I did a secret little happy dance (am I a bad man? Said daughter is only showing mild symptoms, BTW 😷). The first job for the day was separating the struts from the sprues and labelling them with the appropriate paint colour: Most organised of me, thought I! (Note the Dunny patented small part spraying jig 🤣). Next I preshaded the white areas with my now favoured EDSG (as discovered on the Sunderland build): Actually one of my neater preshading efforts! Here's the upper wing completed, with the main undersides part way through: The finished effect is quite pleasing. Once that had dried for an indecently short period of time I masked up for the NATO Black: I then preshaded the rest of the airframe with said black, before mist coating both upper & lower port wings with the same. I did my usual trick of adding some interior grey green to the NATO Black for highlights - here's the result: As usual, the effect looks far more pronounced in the photos - it is actually quite subtle to the naked eye. I'd also been organised and sprayed the propeller tips yellow, so could finish that off in black (including the highlight shade): That moulding really is a thing of beauty - that's not just a propeller, it's an airscrew! 😍 I then masked over the black, including the non-slip steps on both wings: If you've seen earlier posts you may recall that I'd elected to go with a 'home brew' Light Earth, using a 50:50 mix of Dark Earth and Mid-Stone. Here's the result: Very pleasing effect, but you'll have to be patient to see the contrast with the Dark Earth. What's that? You can't wait? Well, as it happens neither could I so I duly sprayed the upper wing with DE: I rather like that contrast. Next I masked up for the Light Green: The LG (or RLM82 - Mr Hobby) was semi-gloss, but no problem. Here's the situation following unmasking: Again, I couldn't wait to see the LG/DG contrast, so I masked up the upper wing with almost indecent haste. The Tamiya XF81 was laid down (beautiful as usual), with the result: I do like the contrasting yet complementary colours. It was rather odd spraying the LG - is dissonant the right word? All looks good now though. Next it was on to the 'dark' phase on the airframe, so masking was applied over the 'light' camo: Aaand with the DE applied: I neglected to take a photo with the blutac sausages applied for the DG, so here's the result after unmasking: There's a couple of minor errors that need fixing, but the overall effect is rather spiffing! 🤩 Here's a couple more shots just to show the contrast between the 'light' and 'dark' camouflages: I'm quite pleased with the way those colours work together. The final job for the day was removing the masking for the undersides: You can see that a couple of small areas have lifted, so those will need fixing up. To be fair, this has been a very complex masking job so if that's the worst that's happened I'm not complaining! There's also a couple of small bleeds that need fixing, but I'm pretty happy with the overall look! Thanks for looking, Roger

I wasn't sure whether to post these pics in the Canadian GB chat or here so I played safe. Its my first Voodoo that I built some years ago and has sinc been moved on to another owner. Most of the decals are Belcher Bits except the long fuselage flash and stencilling that came with the kit decals. As you will see, I have depicted this one in the first scheme worn by these soon after delivery. Note the early flag on the fin and early silver leaf maple on the roundel.

- The "Black Cats "pub ,no age limits... .

Things I have discovered since restarting this modelling lark: 1. Superglue only sticks to 2 things; skin and anything it's not supposed to. 2. A bottle of Tamiya Extra Thin will only get knocked over if it's: a. Full and b. You leave the top unscrewed. 3. Your finger will unconsciously be drawn to the area of filler you've spent 10 minutes meticulously smoothing. 4. You can find every colour of paint under the sun except the one you're looking for. 5. Cats like 'helping' by knocking bits off the cutting mat or getting sub-assemblies stuck in their fur. 6. The announcement of "dinner is ready" comes just as you have filled the airbrush cup. 7. Trying to place a microscopic piece into an even smaller locating hole will be interrupted by heavy breathing over your shoulder and the "what ya doing?" question, as the aforementioned piece pings out of the tweezers and sails across the room, never to be seen again. 8. The kit you really want is always out of stock. 9. Nightshift youtube videos are addictive 10. You get some funny looks when browsing the makeup department in shops "these makeup brushes and nail sanding sticks are for my model making, honest" "Of course they are sir. Would you like a bag for your, ahem, modelling supplies"

Kit from Eduard, build OOB. It is an exelent kit, fit is very good, no big issues. I have used Topcolors 28. Luftwaffe over the Far North decal, that are of very good quality. As always i never build a kit that I do not have a photo of original, so was lucky to find some on the Internet. Cheers Jes

How many impossible things before breakfast was it? I can't find enough topside pictures to KNOW for certain but I think there should be two slightly prominent filler caps by the side of the pair of hook shaped pipes atop the tank. I've seen several guesses at the purpose of dem tings, I think tank vents with a front opening to maintain higher than ambient pressure inside the tank thus allowing fuel to be drained normally to the engine rather than causing suction in the tank. It could be disastrous for an aeroplane to lose fuel pressure whilst planing the air couldn't it? Any way filler caps just slightly proud of the tank surface, must get paint on them. The holes for the aforementioned vent pipes are alongside the caps. There's a few more shots of the present day stance of the cabanes and we might just be able to spot the pair of aileron control cables at the rear cabane junction. No I haven't seen them yet either, lets take a trip. This ugly shot shows the control cables and the fuel feed to the engine casing, didn't expect that. Yuk. Don't know why but this picture reminds me I need to make underwing bomb racks to model this machine as she is equipped at Shuttle worth. Wheels and weapons nextest, ciao.

The vital link for SHADO's Moon Base is the Lunar Module, ferrying equipment and personnel to and fro. Launching from Earth aboard it's carrier vehicle, then separating at the extreme atmosphere to make its way to Moon Base. The kit is solid resin produced by Alfred Wong: http://www.alfredsmind.ca/shadolunarmodule.html Along side the model from Konami Thanks for looking, Angelo

Completed as J-9552 in the livery of No. 2 Squadron (army co-operation), somewhere in southern England early in its carrier, most likely sometime in winter 1931/1932. Judging so by the rudder stripes, which are still in the pre-1930 order. However, all things considered, the plane was from the 1928 contract, it was stored for some time, and I do not think anyone in the service would have cared too much about repainting the stripes unless the rudder needed to be replaced. Therefore, probably the airplane could have worn the same markings anytime in its service carrier, i.e. from 12/1931 to 06/1933. The kit is quite a nice Phoenix vacform from the start of the 90´s, with white metal parts by Aeroclub. The main parts come from the kit, but many details were either scratchbuilt or taken from the spare part box. The build thread is here: Brush painted with an assortment of enamel paints, roundels by Xtradecal, serial numbers from the kit, stencils from my spare decals. No matter how hard I tried, the rudder serial number did not fully blend with. I will have to survive. Altogether very enjoyable old-fashioned job, though I will be glad to take a break from vacform modelling for a while. As usual with me, no rigging.

Hi guys! Short information The Soviet heavy tank KV-1 (Kliment Voroshilov for short) was mass-produced from 1938 to 1942. From the first days of the war, it proved to be a reliable and slightly vulnerable vehicle due to its good armor. Even the enemy used them after being restored. And despite this, by the end of 1941, it was decided at an accelerated pace to shield most of the produced vehicles with additional armor plates (30 and 25 mm). These works were decided to be carried out at the Kirov and Izhora plants in Leningrad. The turret and hull of the tank were shielded, and fastened with 48 mm bolts. A simplified version - only a tower. For all the time of work, about 130 pieces were produced. Engine V-shaped, liquid-cooled diesel (500 hp) Front of the tower - 75mm, gun mantlet 90mm. Frontal armor of the hull and sides - 75mm. F-32 gun with a 76mm rifled barrel. Three machine guns DT - 7.62 mm. Crew - 5 people. The combat weight is about 48 tons. The model, as usual, is made with some modifications. - simulated armored screens with bolts on the turret and hull -machine gun barrels replaced with needles (forward and turret) -made handrails on the tower of wire -changed cannon to correct size -added headlight and front towing loops (rear modified) - Improved caterpillars, etc. Painting - AKAN enamels (6th series), glossy varnish - FUTURE and matt TAMIYA Washing MIG (dark), "dirt" - pigments MIG, tinting "metal" pencil. Presented KV-1E from the 1st Mechanized Corps of the 2nd Tank Division of the Leningrad Front. Happy viewing!

Hello all! Here is my recently completed build of Eduard's FW190 D-9 in 1/48 scale, the kit went together a treat and was a real mojo booster, only slight filler needed on the ammo covers on the top of the wing but apart from that no issues at all. I used Mr Color paints for this build, I will definitely be building this kit again and have already snapped the D-13 from Eduard. Please let me know your thoughts and critique always welcome. https://i.postimg.cc/wB9jQWcL/IMG-2198.jpg

I've been waiting for this one to arrive for a while, so after talking to the good folks at Albion Alloys I was kind of excited After doing the review here, I couldn't resist pulling a few bits off the sprues to have a look at it. One thing led to another, and before the day was over I'd been gluing things together and adding filler here and there. It's a simple kit because of the shape of the airframe, incorporating the wings and engine nacelles into the fuselage, so it didn't take too long for me to get some things done. I put the engines in their buried nacelles together loosely first, so I could see how it all went together, to give me an idea of how they would look inside the main gear bays, and which parts would need painting. it's a weird-looking thing, and I'm not going to complain about the shape of the engines, trunking and so forth because I just can't bring myself to, as it was never meant to be 100% historically accurate inside Here it all is in the lower fuselage: I did decide that the roof of the bay would be a bit bland by the time it was together, so I decided I was going to put some ribbing that mirrored the rivet-lines on the outside of the skin, so I did a little measuring up and drew a rough sketch on the upper fuselage interior: I broke out the styrene strip. This time some 0.1mm x 0.25mm from Evergreen, and hasn't that stuff gone expensive lately? A couple of minutes later (maybe an hour or so) we ended up with this: It'll need a little tidying up once the glue is fully dry, as I glued my finger to it at one point Still, it should look OK through the keyhole shapes of the gear bay apertures though, so I'm not going to worry unduly. This is meant to be a fast build... yeah, so why did I do all that ribbing? I'd also already decided that I was going to add a skin to the nose gear bay, as there are a pair of ejector-pin marks there, and it would be more trouble to try to fill and make good. Using a bit of tape as a template, I cut a piece out of some 0.25mm sheet, and then cut some notches for the ribs and sanded it until it fitted neatly. After I'd taken the pics, I glued it in with some CA instead of liquid glue, so it didn't melt if a pool of glue formed underneath, which was likely thanks to the depressions that led to the process. I also added some ribs going across, just because I felt like it, and it helps to distract the eye from the notches. There weren't two bays, I just PhotoShopped the two picks together. you can see the feather in the middle if you look hard What else? I glued together the intakes and filled them, then used some custom sanders I made from wooden rods with sand paper glued round it, as well as some of my Galaxy Tools stainless tongue sanders. I put together the weird-looking engine-ish parts and smoothed them off, and also smoothed out the exterior of the intakes too, as they'll just about be visible through the bays. I'm not going to worry about the location pegs, as life's too short, and I also disappeared a couple of ejector-pin marks on the bulkheads while I had the filler out. The cockpit had a few underneath, and that too will be visible after, so I filled those and primed both sides to check for lumps. I took a quick pic of the cockpit put together while I was testing it, and it looks pretty good! Here's another pic of the assemblies before the primer. There's an outside chance I may have to put this on the back-burner shortly, but I'm going to press on while I can, in between another cluster of migraines I seem to be having again

last time was a fixed turret tank destroyer in WWII, this week has a Swedish post-World War II main battle tank, a turretless cum interesting suspension system: Stridsvagn 103 B. its polygon camo, anti-HEAT slat armor on the front also nice. But this box doesn't include the skirting armor... 😊 Stridsvagn 103 B Product Photos: Working Photos:

Patch who has taken to living in the back garden is slowly working his way in! He's been hiding from the sun in the conservatory this afternoon. He now follows me about the garden when i'm out. He's a bit of a strange fruit really as one minute he's very smoochy and the next he'll take a swipe at my leg as i go past 🤨 Therefore i always approach with caution! Am thinking of making him a shelter for winter so he has a nice cosy hidey hole 😉 Regards, Steve

On this plane the white camo was worn, sometimes showing traces of the underlying camouflage.

Shouldn’t be long now; PJ is strapping in to deliver mine now I think:

Fresh off the production line the 2nd aircraft build for a Miles Aircraft fan friend (has a couple of us making aircraft for him). This is the Eastern Express 1/72 Miles Master III. Kit goes together quite well, has 2 sets of decals 9(Irish and RAF) unfortunatly no placement instructions for either and the RAF serial number comes back to a Wellington Mk2 bomber shot down over Belgium. Rather interesting bit of info even if not for this aircraft. (Link for anybody interested W5586 history) So some research I decided on W8565 which was actually a Master III although no record I could find exists what happened to it. Other adjustments to the kit for my own OCD sanity included a rear cockpit bulkhead, Floor section, adjustment of the wheel to include a hub, Instrument panel. I thought about a cockpit partition but decided I probably couldnt make it look correct. Painted in the standard Humbrol enamels by brush.

Kit: Cyber-Hobby 1:200 Modern Air Power Series Avro Vulcan B.2 Subject: Modelled as Avro Vulcan B.2 XL321 of 617 Sqn RAF, based at RAF Scampton, 1962 Details: Modelled as per reference pics from interweb and decal instructions Misc: Mr Paint paints, Mr Color paints, Vallejo paints, Oils and Florey dark Dirt wash Build Thread:

It is fascinating to see our own psychology happening at times... i'e, convincing ourselves we are not actually a "snob". I'm also afflicted with this condition, but manage to keep it under control by applying a bit of "scrooge-factor" towards purchases. Case in point. I have recently purchased a watch that is far superior to anything that Rolex can produce (in my mind...). I don't have to take it off when swimming, don't need to insure it and also don't need to keep it in the safe! I desired a self-winding watch and discovered a very nice one which has a passing resemblance to a Rolex, called an Invicta. All the reviews I watched were positive and the movement was a seiko (which is my go-to brand). After stumping up the equivalent of 150 quid I'm a happy bunny. Would/could/should I buy a Rolex: yes. Will I? No. Does this make me "Doesn't have the gear & still no idea"? But I do know what time it is...

Hello Gents !! I had to go in Liege (Lüttich) for my son.... There are a lot of work in progress on the road.... Very busy in linking potholes Methink.... But, all went well and I had an hour to spend.... So, I stopped at Neuville en Condroz for the first time... That's really impressive, I used to get in Colleville (Normandy) or Diekirch (Luxembourg) Knowing that this cemetery is for the aviators and the battle of the Bulge.... It left speechless.... There are even USN service men in there... These panels are in the chapel... It's huge... I mean Huge the models aircrafts are something like 1/48 ones... I hope that I did'nt disturb with all these memorials. Have a great week end. Sincerely. CC

Thanks Spad... Learning from mistakes.... Or going from failure to failure whithout loss of enthusiasm..... That's about the story of my life..... Thanks Levi... IRL interrupted my workbench time.... I'm eager to finis the SHar.... Thanks John !! Now, Pappy's idea sound smart !! Let's say Great minds look alike.... It's at least self reassuring.... Good one Roger !! But, in this precise case, the cream is more looking like a shovel full of sand..... Thanks Johnson... I did sand the nozzles a bit, but the less is the better, and I did it where it will no longer can be seen once the nozzle is glued.... Thanks Pappy !! It sound like a cunning plan... I never wanted to see the nozzles moving, I glued even the props.... And the wheels too.... Guess how I learned it.... Well, decalling is almost done... Lord !! What a week, today's restaurant !! pleasant evening, and tomorrow theatre again.... Then.... Evening work week again... I'm burning out !! The young colleagues did'nt have the feeling of duty.... So guess who's doing the hard work ?? The Alten Häse..... 🐰🐰 See you soon !! Happy modelling week end !! Sincerely. CC

The Postman Cometh. #checkit But first, this. A dab of paint gives the impression of a thinner style bar horizontal, erm... bar. After a second coat it was good for adding some top mounts and belts to. I supplemented the belt mounts with some 1.5mm tube to give the illusion of the plastic bolt covers that road cars have. Not perfect but I'm happy enough with that. It's the little details that make all the difference, innit. Speaking of which, time to turn back to the body shell to install the front indicators and side lights. Every other Eunos build I've seen leaves these clear/silver. Now I don't know about all markets but the UK and Japanese cars have distinct orange turn signal in the centre of the light. It's more subtle than painting the external surface orange, so I dug out some old Revell clear orange which is more of a gloopy pinky orange than the really very amber Tamiya clear I have. Applied to (what would be) the lamp reflector. Let's see if this works when it's fully dried. Kipping time.

This morning I was privileged to join a group of other photographers at Boscombe Down where the ROKAF Black Eagles team have been based since their arrival here a few weeks ago. We watched the pilots crew up, taxy out and return from their display at Southport. Next week they'll be displaying at RIAT and Farnborough before travelling to Poland and then flying home giving displays in various countries along the way. A huge thank you to Dougie and the rest of the team at Boscombe and Richard Cooper at the Centre for Aviation Photography for organising this event. Not least an equally huge thank you to the ROKAF air and ground personnel for giving us such a friendly welcome. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. That's it! Thanks for looking.

Finally I’ve managed to haul this one through finishing school for your delectation. As you can see, she is a Republic RF-84F Thunderflash of the Elliniki Aeroporia (Greek Air Force). More specifically she is a RF-84F-15-RE, an early block number, serial numbered 51-11294. Credit: Public Domain The Greeks operated at least 36 of these machines, gained through US MDAP deliveries following services with other European or US operators, varying from the USAF through other air arms such as those of France, Germany, the Netherlands. This machine was from US stock and had seen service with the regular air force as well as the 154th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Arkansas ANG, being delivered to Greece in 1958. Throughout her Greek career she was operated by the 348 Mira (or Moira) from Larissa Airbase. Finally, she succumbed to progress and was retired to the Larissa dump in the late 1980s or early 1990s. I wanted to build one of these as a memory jogger for two trips I made to Larissa in 1982 while these aircraft were still active. Also in the same year my mates and I saw 53-7682 fly in to Athens for maintenance. Here is the only photo I ever managed, taken from the flight deck of our 737-200: Edit: I found a photo of “11294” on the Larissa dump in July 2013 For a taste of how they looked in operation here is a short video: The build thread is here: I chose to build this machine simply because I had a good image of her (above). The model is built using the Sword kit which is a reasonable basis for getting an “okay”-looking ‘flash. It is, however, known that the kit is slight short in length – depending what reference source you have and believe – and requires a fair bit of fettling to get something that looks as it should. I am no expert but I have tried a close representation. For those out there who fancies building one of these kits I suggest the following as some of the modifications that you could/should undertake: 1. Use an Airfix nosewheel leg. This would need more detail too but it sits better than the kit parts. What is must have is the compression link ahead of the main strut. 2. Make up a tail skid from plastic rod. 3. Add more detail to the intakes. I used plastic sheet cut into the BL plate and the small vortex generators. 4. The tailplane should be pivoted. I used 0.5mm brass rod. 5. Drill out the wing gun ports 6. Add more detail to the coaming area 7. Add fillers to get the wing tanks to sit proud of the pylon, ensuring there is a small gap. Also add vent pipes. The tanks also need filler caps to the rear. 8. The canopy needs the four latches along the lower edges. I made these from plastic card. 9. The rear of the fin needs the nav light housing and two lights. It also needs the small rudder balance (is that what it is?) on either side. 10. The rudder and ailerons need trim tabs. Again, I used plastic card. 11. Consider the very noticeable putty around the canopy and rear glazing on these aircraft. I painted mine and masked them prior to adding the main masks. 12. If you are very particular, add a clear part for the dorsal nav light housing just ahead of the fin. I got too far and so opted to use silver decal. 13. Add new canopy struts 14. Add a mirror on the canopy 15. Add wingtip Nav lights In terms of what I used otherwise, it was the following: 1. Kit – Sword (SW72116) in 1/72 2. Decals – the Icarus set for F & RF-84Fs (72008) and the serial was printed by Arctic Decals following Giorgio’s drawing @Giorgio N. 3. Paint – Humbrol US SEA colours (two greens, tan, gray). These are numbers 28, 116, 117 and 118. Otherwise she had various greys, reds, blacks, metallics. All of these were Humbrol enamel. She is finish with Humbrol Satincote. I used a Montex mask. 4. Weathering – Flory washes (Dark Dirt and Sand), Tamiya Weathering Powders and a Prismacolor Silver pencil. After the washes I used a brush and Tamiya Weathering Powder - Sand all over to give her a bit more of a dusty look. 5. Aftermarket – none And here are a few shots of her: I hope you like her Martin

Many thanks for the support - much appreciated. Fuselage cheatline has now been completed, but I'm really struggling with the tail stripes / cheatline join. There are some complicated curves at the back of the fuselage and laying down the masking tape has been a bit hit and miss. I'm hoping that once I've sorted out the starboard side, I can use it to make a template for the port side. I also removed the cockpit masks to give the pilots a bit of a view 😁 View of the port side (some minor touch ups required) : and a dry fit of the wings (for motivation) : I may have to take a bit of a break from the build as the Halford's Gloss Appliance White seems to feel a bit tacky at present. Not sure if it's due to all of the masking tape that has been used, or if it's because of the atmosphere of self-levelling thinners? (Answers on a post card if anyone has any ideas ?) Thanks for dropping by. mike

back in this project. Some decal work going on. I really must say that decals are not best possible. These are really thick and need lot of softener to go in place. Also some decals are not exactly correct in size. And I think Kevlar pattern is too dominant to this scale.

Thank you gents. I will never be intimidated by antennas on aircraft again, nor rigging for that matter. This evening’s efforts… It’s not perfect, it’s not even totally accurate, I’ve still a few nub ends to clean up, and It’s not finished yet. But, by golly, I’ve gotten a monkey off my back on that effort. The air did turn blue on more than one occasion too. I used CA glue and AK antenna wire which is elastic. After some false starts, I realised the trick was run the line such that it had only just enough tension to hold itself taught. When I figured that out I got in groove and the last 15-odd pieces took less time than the first 4. Let’s hope I don’t mess it up tomorrow when I put the final pieces on. Cheers.

My fairly old (15 years or thereabouts) compressor is really beginning to act up now, and I think it is reaching the end if its life. It was an unbranded one bought as part of a kit at a SMW and so I feel I have no cause for complaint. Its replacement arrived yesterday. An Airgoo Ag326 compressor with tank. I think it is something out the same factory that makes Fengda and other Chinese ones. Tried it out and seems OK. Awaiting some Iwata Superlube as my tube has split and leaked it's contents. You really have to be very careful when Googling this stuff, I mean flavoured?

It's been a while From the recent Airfix Club special offer week: The new(ish) Mk.XVIII, Club package and to make the shipping worth it, mystery box. From HLJ during their site relaunch campaign: The new FineMolds F-2A , another F-4EJ and an Aoshima US-2 flying boat.

Thanks Mr G It's hard to have a RFI nowadays.... But family business is taking a lot of my modelling time Aaaand a lot of berries to reap... Add to all these 5 pounds of raspberries.... Have a great modelling week end Gents !! And take care !! Sincerely. CC

OK, after a week since the last update I found my thread back near the bottom of page 5. Lots of activity on BM, but that's a good thing! So many great builds in progress. I got the Aires cockpit mostly painted, just a little bit left to touch up and scuff up. The Genessis step-by-step mentioned coating the back of the instrument film sheet in white to highlight the dials. It does make a difference (better) than painting the resin backing panel white and gluing over it, I think. Here are the cockpit parts waiting for assembly. I dry fit the rear IP, radar set (stowed), front IP/glareshield and right side wall. The parts look good and paint up fairly easily. I started painting the seats too. There are 8 colors on it so far. Now to start on the details. Later the PE belts. Not the fun part. While the cockpit parts were drying, I painted a few other airframe parts and finished the missiles. The missile bodies are all the same color, just depending on how they are angled to the camera, the color looks a little different. The "brown" stripes on the Skyflash are from the Revell FGR2 decal set. They look a little orange, but not enough to do it over. Next up will be to put the cockpit together and get the fuselage together. Once that's done the wings are ready to go on.

Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy C.1 XN847, 267 Sqn, RAF Benson, 1966, 1/72nd Mach2 kit. This is my entry to this group build, and it is big and British!. It is the largest kit I have built since building a RAAF C130A in about 1990 (which is completely lost). Not the easiest build, but it has been immensely satisfying. The badges are from the kit sheet, but everything was home printed. The kit instructions regarding the colour scheme do not match the photo I have of the aircraft in 1966 from Air Britain and portray the aircraft in a later scheme. The wheels are a temporary fit pending some 3D printed ones from a fellow Britmodeller. The build thread is here : Thanks to Adam for hosting this Group Build and Enzo for keeping us in line. I have wanted to build an Argosy from when the Vacform kit appeared (but never bought it) and this GB has been ideal. I now fancy the Britannia in the stash, but that's for next year.

Finished this kit in Decmber 2021. Ultra happy with the result! I will never build a Kitty Hawk ever again. Crappy kit from beginning to start. The fittings, the instructions, incorrect parts, the decals. I will also never used Agama acrylic again. Here are the final photos: First.. the build: ............ 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌............ The Shoot:

Straight from the off, this is NOT my model, as such, and in truth I have been very undecided over the years as to whether I should actually finish this or not. This is the 1/48 Hasegawa Bf109 F4 Trop, in the markings of H.J. Marseilles, started and initially built by former Britmodeller member @jagmate in 2006. For those that do not know, @jagmate was in fact Steve Shutt, former 41 Sqn Jaguar pilot based at RAF Coltishall (my local RAF base) and he was also an enthusiastic model maker; I first got to know Steve when he attended our local model club here in Norwich (our friendship stemmed from there) and when he started building this model, back in 2006, the intention was to eventually post pics of it here on Britmodeller. As you do ..... Also as some of you may well know, I owned and ran 'Paragon Designs' for many years (manufacturing aftermarket resin, photo-etch, and vac-form components for model aircraft kits) and to put it mildly, some of the items that I manufactured were a direct result of the help and input provided by Steve, namely the 1/48 aftermarket resin detail sets for the Airfix Jaguar GR1/3 kits. In particular, Paragon Designs set 48095, the RAF Jaguar T2 conversion for the Airfix single seat GR1/3 kit, would NEVER of seen the light of day if it had not been for Steve, he arranged personal visits for me to RAF Coltishall for almost unlimited access to one of the T2 Jaguars in the hangar, for reference pics, measurements etc etc. Steve was also a veteran of the first Gulf War of 1990/91, flying combat missions, his Jaguar aircraft being XX725, 'Johnny Fartpants', and I think I am correct in saying that he also dropped the RAF's first live ordnance in combat over mainland Europe, since WWII, during the Bosnian conflict. He flew commercial aircraft for a major airline after leaving the RAF in the mid 90's, mainly in the Far East and Pacific region, and would make regular visits to me at my workshop here in Norwich, while I still ran Paragon Designs, on the occasions that he was back in the UK, from the mid 2000's onwards. He started this particular 1/48 Bf109 kit while visiting my workshop (he left the started kit with me at my workshop, and would drop in when he had the rare chance, to tinker with it, do a bit to it, here and there, as and when he could ...). Unfortunately during 2008, while taking Ian Davies, from Archant media, for a flight at Seething airfield in Steve's own Christen Eagle aerobatic 'plane, when landing they struck a crop-spraying tractor which was crossing the threshold of the runway, regrettably resulting in the immediate fatality of Ian, and a few weeks later of Steve after being taken to Addenbrookes Hospital. It goes without saying, an understandably huge loss to all family and friends of Ian and Steve. In the whole scheme of things it may seem trivial as such, but Steve's started, and 90% built, model of this Bf109 has remained in my possession since then, and I have been loath to do anything with it for more than 14 years. However, Steve's original intention was to post pics of it, back then, on this forum, once it was completed, so here you go. It seemed pointless to keep it packed away in box for no good reason, after being 90% finished, so I decided to bring the model to a finished state, without making wholesale changes to it, hopefully keeping the completed model within the bounds of Steve's original intentions. The pic below, taken back then, shows the basic model assembled by Steve, with black pre-shading he airbrushed along panel lines etc. Underside view, camo colours applied. After over 14 years, this is the model, below, taken out of it's storage box last week, essentially 90% finished, how Steve left it in my workshop, with various sub assemblies such as wheels, prop, undercarriage legs etc all sprayed up ready for fitting. The canopy sections were still unpainted, so I airbrushed those ready for assembly a few days ago. After fitting all of the sub-assemblies a day or two back, I gave the model an overall covering of Matt Clear varnish, with a touch of White added to it, to try and give a used, faded, look to it,. In the dry, dusty, hot North African climate, the finish may of bleached-out and worn like this? Added a few wear marks to the wing roots and canopy opening too. I wanted to see the model finally completed, but hopefully without detracting from the input Steve had done it previously. Pic below, the man himself, Steve Shutt, former 41 Sqn Jaguar, at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, 1991, just after the first Gulf War, beside XX725 'Johnny Fartpants' the aircraft he flew during that conflict. A finer chap you could NEVER hope to meet. Blue skies.....

Okay, a year on and my Hurricane is back on the bench. So long away from it I spent several hours studying where I'd got too last time around. Then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get sub-assemblies put together before I lose any parts, as many are already off the sprue. I had a few scares along the way, but now I confident I've located all the parts. On advice from above I have now changed the engine bay to aluminum, plus some painting elsewhere.

I believe the difference on price between the P-51B and Hurricane is on the upper left of the P-51B box. Boeing need their money to. The thing with these kits is you don't need to buy mask, photo etch seat belts. Maybe decals for other subjects unless you're a P-51B fan and have way too many decals already. My brother-in-law just bought a guitar for $2000 but to me I can buy lot of Arma kits for that amount. I guess it depends on one's passion. I'm hoping the next kit from Arma is one I like but if not, that is ok to. Rick

Hi All, Me again, been doing a bit on the AA guns to break things up, also been adding the support ties to the platforms, the kit parts are pretty good but the DX version of the kit adds further detail, the main support has only two holes but the PE faceplate for it has four, and they're slightly larger than then two on the kit part so they needed opening up The gun 'body' is a resin upgrade, definietly fiddly and the opening for the gun barrels didn't quite line up so needed some jiggery and pokery, PE upgrade on the kit parts that complete the mount Bring it all together for this All Six done I should start the triple 25mm AA mounts next but im not looking forward to doing 18 of them so i'll duck that for now, Hopefully have a bit of something to show later, thanks Sam

#13/2022 After the French Skyraider, my dad decided to build another one, this time an AD-4NA during the Korean War. He used the Italeri boxing of the old ESCI kit which was first released in 1979. Most Korean War naval schemes are rather boring, but I had a Cutting Edge sheet with a more colourful scheme in the stash. Like it happened several times before with Cutting Edge decals, they disintegrated in the water. So my dad secured them with Microscale Liquid Decal Film, which luckily worked out. Because of that, the decal carrier film looks a bit thicker. Painted the model with an older selfmixed navy blue. The kit is a modular one for AD-4 (N, NA), AD-6. There are fuselage side inserts for either the dive brakes or the doors. My dad had to fill some lines and engrave new ones in that area, in the end he dicided to remove all the raised panel lies and rescribe the model. Kept the ventral dive brake. It´s slightly raised and to sand it away completely and get a smooth even surface, hardly impossible. When the model stands you don´t see it anyway. The prop plades are molded the wong way around, to say the rear side faces forward. So my dad cut them off und glued them on again in the correct position. The pitot tube under the right wing was taken from a Tamiya Skyraider kit, the Esci one has only a tube for the fin. The two napalm canisters are leftovers from an unfinished Hobby Boss F-80 kit. They have no engravings for the filler caps, so my dad used some decals and added fuses with plastic rods. The 2000lb bomb is from the sparesbox, added some scratchbuilt strap-on and mount. Real center racks came later with the AD-5. Little fin mast was done with plastic rod, antenna wire with EZ Line. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235109348-korean-war148-douglas-ad-4na-skyraider-vf-194-us-navy/ Model shows a VF-194 Skyraider onboard the USS Boxer in 1953. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0022 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0024 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0026 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0027 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

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

Ok guys. Painting proces in progress. Shadows laid. Then base coat and two highlights.

Airfix Fairey Rotodyne with home made decals as I wanted to do a later version of the colour scheme than provided by the kit. The Fairey Ultralight is trying to steal the limelight.... One of the nose wheels has fallen off, but that's an easy fix! Thanks for looking and to the GB mods and all the support with my two builds. Steve