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Showing content with the highest reputation on 24/10/22 in all areas

  1. Excellent Arma Hobby model. John S. Thatch's aircraft after the first action of Battle of Midway where he shot down three Japanese aircraft. Mostly out of the box model, with just a few scratch items and a riveting job.
    29 points
  2. I love Arma Hobby kits. They've been doing great kits of interesting subjects for years now, and each new release is better than the previous. I can see a day when they're going to be as synonymous with modeling and quality as Tamiya. The PZL P.11C is one of their earlier releases, and doesn't have the finesse of their latest, but is still a great little kit, and very easy to build. I finished this model in a week. This doesn't happen often, but this kit is just such a joy to build, and the painting is very easy too. I built my machine from no. 141 squadron flown on September 2nd, 1939 by Captain Florian Laskowski. Captain Laskowski was leading a strafing mission against Nazi motorized columns north of the city of Toruń (where Copernicus once lived) when his plane was hit by flak, and he was badly wounded. Laskowski crash landed in a field. But the Nazi marauders reached him first and blocked civilians who attempted to pull him from the wreckage to provide first aid. Captain Laskowski bled to death. Thanks Arma for kitting these markings, so we can remember what happened. Here is the P.11 with it's real life stablemate, the P.7 (also an Arma Hobby kit, I built about 5 or 6 years ago) And my collection of Arma Hobby kits built to date (I have several more in the works. I love what these guys are doing!).
    22 points
  3. Canadair Sabre Mk.2, 416 Squadron RCAF, Grostenquin, France 1954. 1/48 Airfix Sabre F-86F-40 backdated to a Mk.2 There is a little back story as to why I chose to build this particular model, as it is one flown by my father as a 21 year old, back in the day. This particular Sabre, 19250, was one he flew many times when on 416 Squadron RCAF based in Grostenquin, France in the early 1950''s before I was even born. It's last appearance in his logbook is on May 7th 1954 when some of the squadron flew up to Manchester Ringway and delivered their Mk.2's to Airwork for refurbishment for the Turkish airforce. (416 were receiving new Mk. 5 Sabres). It nearly all went wrong due to having to hold before landing at Ringway while a bellied in RAF Vampire was dragged away, and he actually ran out of fuel taxying off the runway. The logbook entry shows it as May 7th, 1954. The problem I had was that there is no Sabre Mk.2 available in 1/48 scale, so I never got around to building one. However, the Canadian Group Build motivated me to have a go at a conversion, using the new Airfix F-86F-40. At the same time I discovered a set of decals for this very aircraft available from Above & Below Graphics. So, no reason not to attempt the project in time for the old fella's 90th birthday in a few weeks from now. There are 2 major areas to deal with in making a Mk.2, The wing is slatted with a smaller chord and span, and the windscreen has a 'V' shaped screen fitted on the front panel. I wont go into the ins & outs of Sabre wings here but there is a build log showing warts & all how I faffed around trying to both understand what needed doing, and how to do it. Anyway, it got finished, so on with some photos. I've even got a model of his Citroen to go with it; Amazingly there is a photo of 250 on Wikipedia, so I couldn't resist photographing the model in black & white to try and mimic it! Thanks for looking, John
    20 points
  4. This was done before the Italieri kit came out. I wanted a DUKW in my collection and the Airfix kit was the only option. I sanded off almost everything and then rebuild the inside and outside and added stowage from the spares box.
    17 points
  5. Hello, here is my representation of a JG26 5th Staffel Bf109E - using the Airfix 1/24 109 kit. Along the way I made modifications to the cockpit, wheel wells, and flaps but it goes together well and I think has pretty good proportions for such an old model. I've used custom decals since there are no after market sets for the markings I wanted to represent - and critiquing my own work I'd say that for starters, the canopy cable needs to look taught and secondly the gunsight clear part is too thick. For some reason Airfix don't supply this as a clear part and I didn't spend long enough making a suitable replacement. Anyway, here it is: Build thread can be found here: Thanks for looking.
    17 points
  6. Hi all, just completed the new Pilot-Replicas Saab Sk60 (Saab 105) in 1:48. Really nice kit with a lot of fine details. Built it OOB.
    16 points
  7. Hi guys! After 6 months break and 2 months build, finally this kit comes to an end. Not a top-quality kit for sure with some fit issues and shallow panel lines but fun to build. It is built straight out of the box without any upgrade parts. I applied moderate weathering which I think is appropriate for an aged aircraft. The aircraft is a copy-built version of the Russian MiG-21 used by Chinese Air Force. A number of aircrafts of this type were exported to Burmese Junta Air Force in the 1990s as the F-7II. Hope you guys like my creation. Enjoy!
    15 points
  8. I had a couple of the new Airfix Vampires in my “For Sales pile that weren’t looking like being sold anytime soon and after looking at the plastic over few beers one evening I figured it looked simple enough that I could it smash it together in a couple of weeks. Bar the undercarriage, this was an extremely enjoyable build. The kit goes together really quickly and there is minimal clean up required. For me the detail is adequate for the subject and scale. I think it took under 15 hours of build time from box opening to it going in the cabinet. If I build another it will be done wheels up to make the build even simpler (and quicker). Full details at my blog but here are some photos. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3QWksPJvUTRTu99uAmBaMHwIY3FHEuelefHJtZUTSunj26bSnEVwlwgCnw7XrcpwcHs-Dp3yYLzw1HU9Puqjzt6uEy_EGGT_EDsZ9aAjKNW7cIErQwiCrWCQBlGgJ73ZHGa_MmNHTSaJy2q1rJfSGeajWzduXCVqxsvRcs4fPycwLb64pHYD5nQEv/s16000/Vampire-FB5-25.jpg
    12 points
  9. Hello dear friends. I would like to present you my latest aircraft model. Mig-15uti from HobbyBoss in 1/72 scale. This model was built for a group build called Brushes only. So, i painted this model only with brushs. Base coats were painted with acrylics and weathering was applied with oils. I like to built models with unusual markings or painting schemes. So i choosed the Iraqi air force version of the aircraft. Please feel free to criticize. By the way, the cockpit or control panel have no details out of the box. So i tried to add some details from scratch.
    12 points
  10. Darth Vader, 3D print resin, painted with hairy sticks (hand brush painted).
    11 points
  11. Howdy all, Finally getting round to replacing my collection of 1/48 Hobbycraft Hurricanes, thanks to Hobby 2000 reissuing the Hasegawa kits, so thought it only fair to bother you with some pic`s of my first effort. Finished to represent an aircraft of 17 Squadron, RAF, based in Burma, early `42 Built pretty much from the box contents, but with a tweak Firstly built up the bit of the spine of the fuselage that sits under the canopy so that I could pose the canopy open...... ...... and cut off the kit item from the windscreen and replaced with vac-form item, also drilled out the exhausts Additions were just usual dodgy seat belts, aerial wires and stiffening brace for the radiator scoop Decals were a mix of the kits and the spares box, replaced the normal Red/Blue upper wing roundels with Red, White and Blue, which was a Squadron modification, Presumably to prevent confusion with the Japanese marking. Tried to replicate the remains of the white ferry flight markings on the rear fuselage and upper tailplane that was evident in the only pic` I`ve seen Hope you enjoy the pic`s, thanks for looking Cheers Russ PS: I know they probably didn`t has PSP at the airfield in Burma, but it`s what I`d got to hand 🙂
    11 points
  12. 11 points
  13. I couldn’t resist a final session today. With the fuselage buttoned up, the wings and tail parts were only a short step away. The wings slide neatly over the spars to end up nice and flush with the wing root. I ran Revell Contacta along the spars, and followed up with some MEK liquid cement along the roots. The flaps and ailerons fit nicely, with the chance the latter could be positioned slightly if desired. The rudder is also positionable, but the elevators are not without some surgery. I’ve opted for straight ahead on all points. With the flying surfaces all done, this is a good time to retire the build to the shelf for a bit while real world stuff and paying jobs come back to the fore. The next stages are a bit more fiddly, being the engines and undercarriage, and I would like a clear run at those. Not a bad weekend's work all told. Thanks for playing along.
    11 points
  14. Thank you very much gentlemen, you're comments are most kind! So another week filled with distractions have passed with only a little modelling here and there. The sills are dressed in brighter sheet metal covers and after some deliberation I choose Alclad dark aluminium, not that they are aluminium but it was what looked reasonable under the bodyshell. Basic detail painting done on the underside. It's very hard to see in the light on this picture, but the chrome foil work has been done on all window surrounds and some other small details. The foil work was followed up with some black detail painting and panel lines. The bodyshell was then finished off with basic painting on the inside, quite simple but enough. Today I printed the license plate decals I came up with in Photoshop earlier in the week. If I have done my homework correctly we have here a car owned by some Citroën SM enthusiast in Kyiv Ukraine, on current plates. Everything should now be ready for some serious assembly work.
    11 points
  15. Nope; not even if I finish em by then. Which, for the avoidance of doubt, I won't I'm not really a society joining/club joining/competition entering sort really; no doubt hampered by a lack of social skills to start with... And then there's all the logistics of boxing and carting and so on and so on and so on. Much happier looking than displaying. Seems unlikely. He’s only 171 pages in I detect a theme here. I'm clever that way... I'm almost embarrassed to say Chris, that it's just the standard refill for the Faber Castell 'Perfect Pencil' - I'm not even sure what grade it is - but I think it's a 'B' - so quite hard really. I just plucked it out of the drawer and had a go with it... Bill, Giorgio, Terry, Johnny; I don't really want to use a darker/black pencil on the TWU Hawk cos I really don't want the panel to stand out very much. Just visible from some angles is the sort of look I'm after. I'm going to try some more shading and/or oil highlighting techniques and see how it goes. And very effectively you use them too Serkan. And Giorgio @giemme uses tempera to good effect. I'm fairly comfortable with oil, thinned with sansodor, and I just like the way the oil can produce filtering and staining effects. Until I have a bad experience of course...... And then I'll be running for the water based paints... Ha. If I ever get a cutter and switch to 1/48 scale I might try and emulate some of your work on painting markings. Till then I'm gonna fight my losing battle with decals... Speaking of which. Basic stickering is in progress. Not enjoying the process much. Probably my own cackhandedness, but I'm finding the Xtradecals a bit inflexible, unwilling to settle into the panel lines even with liberal amounts, of micro set/sol, and prone to cracking if pushed. Anyways a few progress shots just to prove it's happening. Undersides weren't too difficult it's fair to say. With the topsides I had the problem that the wing roundels cover some vortex generators. Each of the Valley hawk roundels covered 3 of the bl**dy things. Inflexible decals prone to cracking and sticky-uppy (technical term) home-brew photo etch VGs were not a happy mix. I tried slitting the decals but they still cracked a bit. Useable, with a bit of making-good to be done, and at least the headaches is behind me. (I did think about hand painting the 4 FTS badge on the tail Mark, (not) ) Well, it's a start.
    10 points
  16. Good evening guys A lot of progress since my previous post ! I've fabricated 8 spark-plugs and their cables. I used: - black electrical micro wire 0.27 mm diameter, 6 medium sections and 2 large - 8 sections of 0.5 mm brass tube, 4 mm long each - 8 sections of 0.8 mm aluminium tube, 0.5 mm long each - The alu parts have been threaded on the brass ones, placed a little before the centre - the black wires have been threaded at one end of the brass tubes - the brass tube above the alu section and this last one have been painted red (a mi 50/50 of gloss and flat reds) - the brass tube under the alu section has been painted white, to simulate the ceramic part of a spark plug A last this 8 elements have been placed into the 8 holes of the engine block The looms have been fabricated with 1 mm aluminium tube, 2 sections of 12 mms, in which of each one I've drilled 3 holes. Why only 3 holes and not 4, since there's 4 cylinder on each sides ? Because the front spark plugs cables doesn't go through the looms, they come directly from the distributor ! The looms have been glued in place with 3 droplets of fluid CA. At last, the 3 rear spark plug cables of both sides of the engine have been cut to the right length and the cables inserted in the holes of the looms The distributor provided in the Revell kit (BMW 507 series 1 ) seems to be a series 2 one ! , but, when Elvis's BMW has been restored, they have used a different distributor, on which the cables are plugged on the top of it. So, I can't use the kit part, and I've designed a good one with Fusion 360 Sans titre by Thierry Decorniquet, sur Flickr Sans titre by Thierry Decorniquet, sur Flickr I took the opportunity to design as well a coil, because this visible part when the bonnet's opened, has not been supplied by Revell !!! These parts are currently 3D printing, it will take 2 hours ! But that's not all. I also began to work on the other kit parts of the engine. It took 2 hours to clean them and make them acceptable, particularly the pulleys and bel systems. But I've had to modify others because they were not accurate or incomplete . That was the case for the exhaust manifolds and for the alternator. The exhaust manifolds supplied by Revell have the right shapes BUT on the real ones, there is 3 fins on each one, which, imho, are there to reduce the heating, offering additional surfaces for air cooling when the car runs I intended to reproduce them adding tiny strips of 0.18 mm styrene The alternator is molded with another part of the engine, and is very basic. Its pulley is inaccurate, there's not the cooling propeller, so I added it, from scratch with 0.18 mm styrene sheet, magnifying glasses and a lot of patience That's it ! What !!! that's all ?....well yes 🤣 Next episode on Tuesday evening ! Stay tuned if you like 😎
    10 points
  17. After the Saab 105 and forthcoming Vampire T.11, Pilot Replicas are working on many Swedish modeller's ultimate dream: The Saab B 18 twin-engined bomber, probably in 1/48 scale: Source: https://www.facebook.com/Pilot-Replicas-390440134419981 (see comments.)
    9 points
  18. Another shelf of doom refugee. Finished last week. I started this sometime last century, it probably stalled due to the modellers legit fear of natural metal and all those wheels to paint. In my case I pulled it off the legendary shelf, sanded, primed and made the finish as smooth as possible, then applied Alclad’s primer. It didn’t harden, I gave it a month, no luck. I did some research and found I was a victim of the quality control issues they went through. It didn’t sand off so much as peel off. That took forever. So I sprayed it with Tamiya gloss black and ignored it for a month-I was a little paranoid at this point! Started spraying the Alclad aluminium-it crazed……. I think I applied it too thick. More sanding, more gloss black. I do have to admit this approach of endless prime and sand improved the panel lines by filling them in, which on the full size aircraft are barely noticeable. Eventually I got there. An entire package of post-it notes gave their lives while painting the panels. Kit was out of the box except for the excellent Caracal decals. They did get the wing walks slightly wrong. I noticed too late. Anyway, she is done, a beast of an aircraft, in my case and I don’t see myself doing another. A monument to perseverance or bullheadedness, not sure which. edit I forgot to add, anybody building this kit, I would recommend priming it with gloss black and mask the wing walks with 1mm Tamiya tape. Eliminates some fiddly decaling.
    9 points
  19. An overall pretty good kit, in particular as regards the general lines, since Sabrekits used the drawings of Eng. Lebl, which appeared in the Revi magazine n. 74 and 76-2009. The assembly is not the simplest and many modifications are necessary both in terms of the cokpit and the exterior of the fuselage. The wings have also been improved with various small details. I wanted to create an aircraft different from the usual recce and, thanks to the Brengun BRL 72-247 resin set, I chose a machine equipped with a smoke system ('Nebelanlage'). These a/c were used in Poland in 1939, and then reappeared in France during the preparation for landing in Great Britain ('Seelöwe' operation). The model represents a Hs126 B-1 of the 2.(H)/31, which operated from an unidentified base, probably Beaumont, in December 1940. The camouflage is the classic 70/71/65, entirely brushpainted, using the Vallejo acrylic colors; the RLM71 in the photos have assumed, I do not know for what reason, a too yellowish hue. Finally an image of the lower surfaces. Hope you like it. Thanks for your attention. Giampiero Piva
    9 points
  20. The Spitfire MK.VB in 1/72 scale by Směr (old Heller form) with a small vignette depicting Karel Pošta taking a cigarette break during flights. The build was quite fun as well as the sculpt. I had to fix the rudder, which was badly pressed (see last photo). The figure is a modified German tanker from Orion set. This is my return to modeling after 10 years or so. Photos are taken by a mobile phone, so I am sorry for the lower quality. Cheers, Thomas Vintage filter: Original photos of Karel Pošta and Ladislav Světlík, who flew on the aircraft in contrast with the model in the lower right corner. Correction of the rudder:
    9 points
  21. A Daghestan Airlines (Авиалинии Дагестана) Tu-134B-3 lined up to the row. I would say now, the dirty dozen. 😛 This livery was on my bucket list since very long time, but this "one time released" and limited edition decal was not available since 2018. Then I was very happy this summer to find the probably only one example remained in a domestic market and get it through Kazahstan. The original aircraft has been released in 1980. as CCCP-65700 and operated in the Latvian OAO based in Riga under Aeroflot c/s. Later in 1992. moved to Latavio/Lat Charter Airlines in Latvia as YL-LBH, and finally moved to the South-East region of Russia in 2002. to Makhackhala (Махачкалa) - Daghestan, where was flown until 2012. This always dirty Tushka (RA-65569) brings back my old memories, and because a Tu-134 in clear state must be fake or unreal, therefore I also added a slight weathering as usual. Kit: Zvezda 1:144 with corrected and replacement nose section from the czech AZmodel kit. (The Zvezda nose and cockpit section shape is unfortunately not correct, especially if you would use the radome nose version) Decals: Ascensio, Revaro. T/E flaps: LACI-ltd.uk as always, alias Ladislav Hančar made from resin. For photo background I used an old poster, and on the last photo there is my Tu-134 fleet still growing. 😛
    9 points
  22. And here's a Monday update for a change. Well, I had the day off. Aside from fixing a leak on the basin in the downstairs loo, what else is there to do? (Maybe sheltering in a nice warm house from all that rain this morning was a good idea though. I had a search through the tyre stash, and did a mockup photo session down at the tyre shop.. (Or should that be Tire shop?) This kit has the old metal axles. The front one goes through the engine block. I quite like the height and stance. The scratchbuilt Portakabin and figures are from when I used to build cars over twenty years ago! The wheels came with the (second hand) kit. Plus another similar set, so I'm not sure which are the right ones. Though I prefer these. Front and rear valences needed filler at the joints. Plus some sink marks on the body. Here on the rockers (sills) & the trunk lid. Matey here is supposed to be holding the grille in place, but it drooped on the RH side. It's supposed to be up by that piece of white card. The back has taken lots of TLC. You can see inside where I'm trying to smooth things out. The light bar will mostly hide this anyway! The chassis plate has moulded in exhausts and Tie bars/axle. I'll leave the exhaust as is, but I'm going to cut out that triangular bit. No doubt it will then need filling etc and I'll build dummy shocks. You can see the hole where the metal rod goes here. Can't get much lower eh? Of course, with the wheel in place you can barely see this area. But hey, It's what we do. BTW, I went to the Lincoln model show, met a couple of other BM members too. Lots of great/amazing models. Very shiny car models there. Thanks for looking. Your ideas and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Pete
    9 points
  23. Here's my second completion for this GB: Zlin Z-XIII Sports Plane 1/72 RS Models Build log here: Stuart
    8 points
  24. This is the Titan Models 1/48 B-2 Spirit – sensational model. As the photo shows, the length is not much longer than the Kinetic Hornet, but the wingspan is huge. I have started with the cockpit, although you won’t see much once the fuselage is all closed. I have replaced the kit ejection seats with a set of Legend ACEs II resin seats. If you are going to see anything, it is going to be the ejection seats (and the Victoria Secret shopping bags) . I have also finished the intake and engine fronts. These are a guarded secret, and no photos exist of the full intakes. Titan have done well to 3-D print the intake trunks, and the fit is superb. With the cockpit finished, my attention moved to the bomb bay and wheel wells. I originally thought about installing these and details them later but have decided to do the hard work now. The bomb bay and undercarriage are both straight from the kit. All I have done is given all the parts a coat of Tamiya surface finisher, a coat of SMS Insignia White, and a wash of Tamiya Black. The B-2 Spirit is kept clean and I will use some IPA shortly to take some of the grim away. The 3-D parts are sensational, the surface finisher and coat of paint have taken away any signs of the step from 3-D printing. I have added detail to the main wheel well. Most of the maintenance on the B-2 is performed through the bomb bay and wheel wells, so they are very busy parts of the airframe. With the undercarriage and wheel wells, there is sufficient detail to build these from the kit (especially a loaded bomb bay). I have started to add detail to the main wheel wells and brake lines to the main undercarriage and will move onto the bomb bay shortly. Once finished, it’s onto the flaps…..
    8 points
  25. It's done. I'm stopping there because I like it. The other things I planned to do may make it even better but may wreck it and for now at least, I'm happy with it exactly as it is.
    8 points
  26. And nine days elapsed after starting, finished: I will put some pics in the gallery tomorrow when I’ve found all the deliberate mistakes! Not sure I’ve got time for another one in this GB but thanks to the folks on this GB for giving me the opportunity to build this little classic. Regards, Adrian
    8 points
  27. AVRO Anson Mk.I (A09091) 1:48 Airfix Originally designed as a fast mail carrier in the early 30s, the original AVRO design was amended in the mid-30s in response to a specification issued by the Aviation Ministry for a reconnaissance aircraft that could also perform other roles. It beat a similarly militarised De Havilland Rapide and was awarded a contract for series production with the name Anson after an 18th Century Admiral of the Fleet. At the outbreak of war it was still performing its given roles, and was engaged in the Dunkirk evacuation where it surprisingly managed to shoot down two Bf.109s and damage another, as they found the low speed of the Anson hard to gauge, overshooting straight into the line of the nose-mounted .303 machine gun operated by the pilot. She was thoroughly outclassed as a front-line aircraft though, so was soon withdrawn from fighting service to form part of the training fleet, and as a communications ‘hack’. Despite its withdrawal from service, more aircraft were built, and they were used as trainers for radar operators, navigators and as a trainer for pilots that were destined to fly multi-engined bombers. Its replacement in maritime service was the Lockheed Hudson, which had a hugely increased range and speed, the Anson only being capable of a four-hour endurance that prevented it from covering much of the Atlantic or North Sea before it had to turn for home. It was capable of carrying a small bomb load however, so could take action if it was to find a U-boat on its travels. Following WWII, Faithful Annie as she became known was used as a civilian and business aircraft, although some of the wooden-winged examples that were used overseas began to suffer from problems due to the humidity’s effect on the timber areas. Not all Ansons had wooden wings though, and some of the wooden winged aircraft were refitted with the improved metal wings, although even these were eventually retired, leaving only one airworthy by the new millennium. The Kit 1:48 hasn’t been well-served with Anson kits apart from one that is now long-since out of production, and wasn’t renowned for its fit according to some sources. This is a brand-new tooling from Airfix, and judging by the hubbub on our forum alone, it should be a good seller for them, as there appears to be a ready market, myself included. The kit arrives in a reasonably large top-opening box in the usual red style of Airfix, and inside are six sprues in the darker grey styrene that was used for the recent Buccaneer kit we reviewed here. There is also a substantial clear sprue with a pair of raised protective protrusions over the two canopy parts, although mine had been broken off in transit, doing their job of protecting the parts from harm in the process. I glued them back on so you can see how they should look. The instruction booklet is printed in colour on matt paper, and the decal sheet is found inside with a sheet of translucent paper protecting it from moisture damage. The final component is a separate pair of glossy-printed folded A3 painting and decaling guides, with one option per page and the final page detailing the location of the surprising number of aerials and control wires that were found around the airframe. Detail. There’s some of that. Lots of that in fact, and with this being an early airframe, the wooden wings and fabric covering have been moulded with undulations that hint at the structure under the fabric. The interior is also similarly detailed, with tons of ribbing on the expansive interior of the aircraft, although there are by nature of injection moulding some ejector-pin marks here and there that you may or may not need to fill, depending on where the interior parts are placed in relation. Construction begins with a strange lever on a triangular base that I have no clue about. Answers on a postcard please. It is added to the large floor part, which has the faintest wooden grain texture that I tried to photograph to no avail. A short spar is applied to a step across the floor, and a three-part ‘commode’ seat for the pilot, plus a rather laid back-looking tubular-framed seat for the instructor/co-pilot is made up with separate sides and placed next to the pilot, plus another two-part commode-style seat and yet another backless stool are fixed into the passenger area, with three decals applied to cylinders toward the rear of the floor section. The wider rear spar drops into a slot between the two passenger seats, with two scrap diagrams showing that it should be perpendicular to the floor in both directions. The Annie’s cockpit was surrounded by a tubular frame that is formed from one part per side, which has details of various equipment and instruments moulded-in, first inserting the control column with bow-tie yoke, navigation table with angle-poise lamp, well-detailed instrument panel with decal and centre console plus rudder pegs, and a stack of radio gear in a tubular frame that also has a number of decals to depict the dials. The starboard framework has a Lewis gun added across two of the triangular struts, then the roof framework is attached across the two frames, with the top of the radio rack locating in a socket moulded into the front cross-brace. Two scrap diagrams show the sockets in the side frames and how they mate with the cross-frame for maximum strength and precision. At the rear of the passenger area is a solid bulkhead with lots of details moulded-in, with a detailed painting guide for the various aspects, and a stencil decal for the bulkhead. The port fuselage half has a detail insert applied to the inside of the wing root on three pegs, plus an instrument box further forward, and a clear lens in the upper nose, then it is slid over the spars of the cockpit assembly, with eight drawings showing the right and wrong position of several sections of the assembly. Another Lewis gun is mounted in the port rear of the passenger area, then behind the rear bulkhead, a circular frame and another smaller bulkhead are glued together and inserted into grooves toward the tail to receive the turret later. At the same time, a clear part is painted with three translucent colours on the inside before it is put in place in a triplet of half circles cut in the floor of the fuselage under the turret. The starboard fuselage is prepared in the same manner as the port and closed up over the cockpit and spars, with seven more location guide diagrams with ticks and crosses to guide you. A small hole is drilled in the cockpit roof insert before it is placed over the framework, and underneath is a floor section, both of which have feint ribbing moulded into their exteriors. The fuselage structure is completed by adding the elevators that are linked together by a rod, with extra thickness added by another layer, both of which have subtle ribbing engraved. The completed elevator is dropped into cups in the tail, and closed over by the lower elevator fins that also includes a short section of the tail underside. The tops of the fins are separate, and as you may now have started to expect, they have rib-work moulded-in. There is still a little work to do to the fuselage that includes the glazing, but attention turns to the wings next. The main gear bay assemblies are made up around a short length of spar, trapping a cylindrical tank between the frames that hold the firewall to the front. Each one is inserted into a nacelle that is moulded into the lower wing, with an UP arrow showing the correct orientation on these and the twin landing lights that fix into the leading edge of the port wing. The lower wings are offered up to the fuselage and are mounted by gluing the longer rear spar, and the front spar overlaps on a pair of studs to strengthen the join. The upper wings close over the rear of the bays, while the front section is covered by two further cowling parts that close each of the bays entirely. A brief diversion to apply the ailerons and their actuator tab to each wing leads us back to the engine nacelles, which need an engine each to complete them. The Anson flew slowly thanks to a pair of Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah IXs that generated a staggeringly unimpressive 335bhp each from their seven cylinders, which are depicted in full here, beginning with front and rear halves of the cylinder banks, which are backed up by intake trunking on a circular block, and have the pushrods moulded into the bell housing at the front, which also traps the prop-shaft in position, leaving it free to spin if you are careful with the glue. More ancillary parts are added front and rear, with the exhaust collector fixed to the ports on the rear of the cylinders. The Annie’s cowling was covered in fairing bumps to accommodate the piston cylinders, and to achieve maximum detail it is made in three segments, which each have three fairings added from separate parts that fit in recesses, with the area in the centre of each fairing hollow to allow the pistons to project into the fairings, just like the real ones. With the three sections joined around the engine to make up the full cowling, a small exhaust slots into another recess, and both engines are glued to the front of their nacelles, with the exhausts facing outboard. Another diversion has you gluing the two rudder halves around the C-shaped hinge that is moulded into the fin, and this can also be left mobile if you don’t slather it with glue. The Anson has an expansive full-length series of windows all along the sides of the passenger compartment, and each side is supplied as a single part, with some stencil decals applied to the inside before gluing them in place. If ever there was an excuse to get one of Eduard’s Tface inside/outside mask sets, this kit is it, as there is a lot of framework that will be too shiny inside unless it is painted. There is a choice of two front canopy types with different frame layout, which you can refer to the decaling drawings to decide which one you need, and two roof lights are fitted into square holes there. The nose is supplied as a clear part because it has a foglight in the nose, the reflector for which is styrene and should be painted with chrome paint before you insert it into the back of the clear nose. The nose is fixed to the fuselage with a flat panel underneath to close up the fuselage. While the model is inverted, a pair of oil-cooler loops are added to recesses under the engine nacelles, then it’s time to make up the landing gear. Each main wheel is made from two halves, with a flat-spot moulded into the bottom, and they are installed in a short yoke that is in turn glued into the strut, which is unusual, as it has the bay door moulded integrally to it, and is supported when down by a twin strut at the front that locks into location within the main bay. At the rear is a single-part tail wheel and yoke, then the airframe is detailed with the forward-firing machine gun, pitot under the nose, aerials, D/F loop and windscreen “things”, plus a tiny trumpet on the top of the port nacelle, which could be the fuel dump valve. The two-bladed props are a single part each with a short cap studded with bolts added on top, gluing onto the prop-shafts projecting from the motors, then it’s turret-time! The interior of the turret is built first with a bicycle seat for the gunner, suspended in a framework that drops down into the turret ring, on top of which the gun mount sits, fitting the final Lewis gun at the front on a small upstand. It is enclosed with glazing by first gluing on the port side, adding a central faceted panel, then finally gluing the starboard side before popping it into the hole behind the cockpit and completing the model… except for paint. Markings As already mentioned, there are three decal options included on the sheet, with a varied set of schemes and operators to widen its appeal. Each option gets its own page with the remaining side covering the aerial/rigging diagrams. From the box you can build one of the following: N9732 No.500 (County of Kent) Sqn., Royal Auxiliary Air Force, RAF Detling, Kent, June 1st 1940 AW665 Coastal Commands Camouflage Trials Aircraft, No.71 Sqn., Royal Australian Air Force, Lowood, Queensland, October 1943 KB727 No.3 Training Command, No.31 General Reconnaissance School, Royal Canadian Air Force, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, 1941 Decal option A was the Anson that was responsible for shooting down two Bf.109Es from I./JG20 over the English Channel on that day. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The instrument decals have the dials and outlines, so you will need to paint the panel first. Conclusion The Anson doesn’t perhaps get the kudos it deserves due to its predominantly second line service, but it was an important machine that was responsible for training a huge number of pilots, navigators and radar men that went on to play their part in the defeat of the Reich. She’s an elegant bird, and must have been well-loved to garner the nickname Faithful Annie. She’s also a cracking-looking model that should be much easier to build than previous kits. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
    7 points
  28. I was on holiday in Greece recently and surprised by these two at low level. The two were from 335 and 336 Squadrons at Araxos (with thanks to Vangos for identifying the second airframe). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. That's it, thanks for looking.
    7 points
  29. Decided over the weekend that this will be my build! Looking forward to starting!
    7 points
  30. McDonnel Douglas F-15 C 'Eagle' 32nd TFS 'Wolfhounds' USAFE, Soesterberg (NL), 1991 Dear all, this is my F-15 C model obtained from the old Tamiya 1/48 kit. I bought this kit back in 1991 when it was newly issued, but I left it forgotten in storage since then. Recently, I pick it up and built it essentially OOB with two exceptions: the ejection seat and the decals. Being the interior quite basic compared with the kit standard of today, I chose to build it all closed up, however I replaced the ejection seat because it is quite visible through the closed canopy. In addition, as replacement of the yellowed decals of the kit, I outsourced a sheet with the markings of the 32nd TFS which is based at the airbase of Soesterberg, in the Netherlands since the early 50's. The color scheme depicts one of the Eagles as it appeared in ca. 1991. For this model, I used the following materials and aftermarkets: Tamiya acrylics for most of the surfaces; Vallejo Metallic for the jet nozzles and the panels around the engines; Eduard resin ejection seat; Decalsheet from Dutch Decal with the Wolfhounds markings. I did not replace the simplified jet nozzle parts provided with the kit and tried to add interest to them by using various metallic shades only, as they appear in some pictures of the original. This Tamiya kit is quite old and with some known shortcomings, but it is still an enjoyable one and it can be built into an impressive model. The model was sprayed with gray mixes on top of a black basing and it was finished with semi-mat finish. The panel lines were accented by using oil colors diluted with white spirit. The various stains and fluid trails were also made with brushed oil colors. I really enjoyed building this awesome and powerful jet fighter which I had never built before and I hope that you will like my model. Comments and suggestions would be appreciated. Best regards, Dan
    7 points
  31. This is one I built just a few years ago about 2019 I think. Its from the Sword kit and finished with markings by Red Pegasus Decals. I have just been given another kit of the same brand by a club mate for free or as a gesture as we give each other items and kits more pertinent to each of us. I have a juicy set of decals by Thunderbird Models for it....
    7 points
  32. Figuring there were too many other features of the engine deck that have to line up with another it was time to take the plunge and begin work on the Nmbus itself. The main 'core' - as it were - from urbine, forwards through the bulge of the combustion chamber and axial compressor up to the forward intake was a relatively straightforward matter of using a dimensioned drawing to revolve a profile from: - which in turn (no pun intended...) lead to a relatively straightforward panic attack upon realizing that the wide mouth of the air intake up front then completely buries the three couplings sticking out the rear of the MRGB! That is, until you belatedly check your references for yet another instance of not seeing what was staring you in the face the whole time, which is that the intake does indeed cover up the oil and hydraulic pumps on either side unless you cut the required sections out of it on either side like the real thing: Image credit: Graeme Molineux Lacking any manual for the Nimbus but posessing a digital copy of RR's brochure for the engine (which contains some excellent technical drawings and a table of dimensions) was also most useful in confirming those cutouts to the lower qudrants of the intake: If I bung the MRGB back in for a moment you can see the kind of clearances we're talking about under there: Pretty tight! I haven't worked out yet what some of these fittings are for around the rear of the intake but that long feature mounted at an angle halfway up appears to be a level gauge - perhaps for engine oil? Tucked away under all the components bolted around the Nimbus are a ribcage around the compressor up front and a trio of rectangular features around the the turbine drum down at the rear: That and a whole shed load of bolts.... I see I've missed a ring of them in that shot. Bugger. The Westland lads went a bid mad with the ruler and compass on this bit to be honest: Bolted to the turbine drum, this cradle provides moubting points for the reduction gearing and output unit that sits below the exhaust: I've just blocked those latter units in temporarily here with some basic cylinders to aid the design work on that cradle; there'll doubtless be some back and forth involved when tweaking the relationship between those two structures in terms of aligning specific details later. Lovely graphic Pete! Tony
    7 points
  33. I finally settled on a fitting subject for the build last night: More in a moment....answerphone messages first. Outrageous! Next you'll be telling us them hosses of yours don't have the correct number of hairs in their tails Bill.... 😁 All good coffee is well-deserved in my book G. And tea. And, well, any thing containing caffeine really! On the plus side you could start helicopters with your breath. Often just where you don't want them Chris! (You can turn them off but it looks odd....) Also available for obscene limericks, although you find me cruelly deprived of anything to rhyme with Wasp at present... 🤔 Thanks: hope the coffee was good Steve. I think I know what I'm doing (with the Wasp, not life in general, just to be clear), but as to the why, well, that's a source of constant speculation. I may have been deprived of helicopters as a child? You'll recall me bleating about wanting to build a torpedo-toting version of the Wasp whilst ruing the necessary exclusion of the missile sight. Well, there I was last evening disconsolately leafing through the webpages of the HMS Ambuscade Association (we've all done it) when I found a photo of their Wasp running with torpedo, flares and APX/BEZU sight all clearly fitted together at the same time. I can't embed the photo as their albums are protected but the image in question is this one: http://www.ambuscade.org.uk/Images/Slideshows/David Marchant/album/slides/scan0025_jpg.html In fact David Marchant's crew page from which it is drawn is a treasury of period 1970s photography, almost bordering on photojournalism/social history in the way he captures people and events: http://www.ambuscade.org.uk/Images/Slideshows/David Marchant/album/index.html As well as his excellent description of Ambuscade's helicopter operations here: http://www.ambuscade.org.uk/am_sea_ops_Flight.htm You never know what you're going to find do you? So glad to have discovered David's references buried away in the Association's pages like that, making this now officially Wasp XT778 ('323' in the period 1976-80). 😄 Nimbus update to follow later this evening.....
    7 points
  34. Here is my newly built model Polikarpov I-15 ICM 1/72 scalle Painting from the Spanish Civil War If you want to see the construction, watch a short video
    7 points
  35. Hello folks Thanks for your kind comments! Today I want to share with you again some pictures of the M12. The main work is done and in the next few days I hope to be done with everything. I still need to do some work on the water effects, after that the model will be weathered together in the ground. At the moment I haven't applied any dirt or dust etc except for the running gear, the figures also need to be weathered to fit the scene. I had to change the driver, because I melted the goggles by accidentally using LT. The new head of RM is also very good and the cigar is a cool detail. Enough words and enjoy the pictures. MD Parts likely to the lamp post and bridge railing. Some cargo for the M12. A tarp from Milliput. Other accessories make the model look more realistic. Clint-the new driver 😎 The street lamp from a barbecue spit. The signs are self-made and partly from Miniart. Cable and protection tube made of wire and plastic profile. This sign designed on PC glued on thin aluminum foil. New idler pulleys, the ones from the kit were not usable. Unfortunately, without protective cover, but I simply lacked the patience. Working like on a sailing ship. Preparation for the water. Dust protection. The puddles are done, the water surface gets small waves later. Test setup to see if the tracks rest on the ground without an air gap. See you!
    7 points
  36. Three of the four figure set (the other one wasn't great, but was handy for practising and deciding on paint schemes). I wasn't happy with how I painted the spade-guy's face (last one I did; maybe fatigue was setting in?). The groundwork material wasn't ideal - too uniform, so the end result looks painted, even though it was only washed and dry-brushed. I enjoyed painting the figures, but the rest ... meh.
    6 points
  37. Revell's old widebodies (A330 and A340) are rare models. Unless they are for sale on eBay for an exorbitant amount of money. As a model maker, my initial concept was to have in my model collection, at least 1 model of each plane, either Boeing or Airbus family. But for lack of kits, this goal was kinda difficult. The adventure of finding an A340 at an affordable price was a difficult task, but not an impossible one. It was still 2021, and in one morning I decided to spontaneously start looking for Revell models that could be for sale on a Portuguese second-hand shopping site. Out of the sudden, I came across an ad for an old Revell A340 for sale. As the seller was close by, I soon said I would buy the model and we set up a meeting to do the business. I bought the kit for only €20, when I had already seen the same kit for sale for €90 plus the cost of shipping on eBay. I was indeed a lucky bird! The box was still the original, but it already showed the years passing through it, with some duct tape corrections in the corners. The sticker with the price (in German marks) was still in the box, which confirmed what the seller had told me: that he had bought it in Germany, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in the early 90's. I started to open and inspect the kit and quickly realized that a wing was missing. I panicked and thought I had burned a €20 note. Without the wing it wouldn't even be worth trying to assemble the kit. I contacted the seller and he apologised and said he would look for the missing wing at home. After a couple of hours I got a call saying that he hadn't found the wing, but that was no problem, he would refund me. Conclusion. This kit was like a gift. The next task was to find a wing for the plane. I sent an email to Revell, who replied that they no longer manufacture parts for the kit in specific. I had no other solution but to ask my modeler friends for help. I contacted an Austrian friend, and he told me he had the wing, because at the time he was converting his kit from an A340-300 to an A340-600. Lucky me (again)! I could start the kit now. I waited for a more favourable time to start the assembly, but I decided to start making the first parts and then in the painting phase, joining my other planes, so that they are all more or less in the same phase.The paper of the instructions was already yellowed for being so old, and it is curious to see that Revell's graphics have only recently changed. After having done a quick reading of how and what this project would be like, I officially started the assembly. I started with the main fuselage, covering the windows' holes. This time, I decided not to use Revell's Plasto entirely, but plastic putty instead, and use only Plasto on windows that effectively need to disappear to comply with the airline's layout. As a rule, I don't worry too much if the window holes are 100% filled because they will be covered by decals later on. With this, I just want to leave a surface for them to settle in the last stages of the process. After the windows I went to the emergency exits. The A340 as a rule has emergency exits number 3 narrower than the others. On the A340 that I'm going to do, this is exactly what happens, so with a 600-grit sandpaper I completely eliminated the emergency exits and reduced the size of the rain gutter. The major work on the fuselage was complete. According to Revell's instructions, we start with the landing gear. As a rule, I like to take care of the landing gears at the end, so they don't break or something like that. Here it was mandatory to at least mount the central and front landing gear. I confess that for an already quite old mold and kit, the fittings and small pieces all come together like a small puzzle in perfection. On the central and front train I had no big problems and all the parts are super detailed. There was only one small problem with the whole process: Revell printed the instructions wrong and I glued one piece backwards. I only realised later when I saw some pictures. I cut it with a scalpel and re-glued it on the opposite side. I think the mistake is imperceptible, since the piece was in a V shape. I hope everything is uniform in the final paint adjustments! As with any kit I make, I like to collect a lot of pictures for later in the painting and decals stage to make things as they should be, and also to guide me on what colors I should use. The colors for the landing gear bays were one of the hardest I had to choose. In some the photos it looks like it's a mix of gray with oil residues, in other photos a more orange tone. In order not to create more doubts and confusion and after seeing a video on Youtube of this kit, I chose the reference 71.117 “Como Brown” from Vallejo. I confess it got a little darker than I expected, but it served the cause. After the paint dried, I applied Tamiya's black panel line. For the landing gear legs, I opted for 71.064 “Chrome”. The end result was this: The landing gear parts fit in the right places without any major problems. I let it dry so that I could then glue the central section to the main fuselage, so that I could then join the two main parts together. Here the process was not complicated but became complex, as the two main parts of the fuselage assumed a convex behavior, joining in the front and rear parts but moving away in the center. In the end, with the help of a lot of tape, the parts were joined together for a whole and here Revell continues with its characteristic gaps. It took a considerable amount of Plasto, especially in the central section, for the flaws to at least disappear.
    6 points
  38. Hi all, here is my recently completed Zlin XIII Sports Plane by RS Model's mixed media kit in 1/72 for the 'Prototypes, Racers, Research, Record Breakers, Special Schemes mega GB', build log here: Stuart
    6 points
  39. Made some good progress over the weekend even though it does not seem much to show for the effort. Splayed out the fuselage slightly with some sprue struts and glued in place. This was to ensure a reasonable fit at the wing root. The wing assembly was then glued in place. The wing root results were ..… OK. I am still not totally happy with the joint. I always like a zero-filler build. In this case, the small gaps can be easily filled with a little wicked in thin CA. Alternatively, Mr Surfacer 500 and then clean up with lacquer thinner. Or, my usual preference, a tiny amount of Milliput applied and tidied up with a toothpick and then a final clean-up from a water moistened cotton bud. I’ll decide this later. No other gaps to speak of. I then moved onto the PE flaps. A fun build – yes really. The brass folded up nicely and assembled easily with a little wicked in CA using a wire as an applicator. My technique is to put a small drop of CA on some shiny cardboard then use the wire to pick up a suitable amount and touch it to the desired location. I trim the wire as need be to keep the right tip size for the amount. You can also bend a small loop (hockey stick) onto the wire end for a bigger application I always like the look of finished PE. Flaps are loose. Ready for some painting. Cut the wing tips off at the prescribed position using tape as a guide Replacement resin wing tips glued in place and shaped to match the wing Still a lot of tidy up to do and replacement of some panel lines, but all is going well. Ray
    6 points
  40. Seats fitted (together with tilting backs - I'm impressed!) and that completes the interior module... Thanks for watching!
    6 points
  41. All back together & a cowl that fits now. I was going to be clever & take a photo to show my shims but the cats had me barricaded downstairs & I couldn't face the hassle, so you'll have to take my word for it. These couple of photos are the state of play so far, a complete airframe, maybe a degree or so lacking in the dihedral dept but thats the way the wings seems to want to attach, at least they're the same angle each side, approximately. Time was spent with a triangular needle file redefining the cowl flap & fuselage cowl lines, the detail on the kit was distinctly weird & wobbly, maybe an old mold that has had a rejuvenation by a juvenile to look at it. I've given them a witness coat in light gray to show where it needs further filling & rubbing, not too much by the look of it, a slight sink line above the flaps will be left alone as I'm keen to retain as much of the detail warts rivets as possible, albeit slightly buffed back. Check out that cowl. Ok, not a good shot for that, so check out the exhaust stubs, still to be drilled & filed to the correctish angle but far better than what wasn't there before. Sorry for the kacky colour, using my phone now & it doesn't like the light I work under, maybe need a bright white shade bulb. Steve. I've just noticed the Revell TM thingy under the port wing, to go or not to go, that is the question?
    6 points
  42. Back from my short break and time to get cracking with my Meteor. First some background on the subject. On 1 December 1951 14 Meteor F.8s from RAAF 77 squadron were attacked by around 40 MiG-15s and a wild dog fight broke out during the course of which Flg Off Bruce Gogerly in A77-15 “Elyana” shot down a MiG for the RAAF’s first jet vs jet kill. A second MiG was destroyed and credited to the squadron as a whole. 3 Meteors were shot down in return with 2 pilots ejecting safely but the third, Flt Sgt Armitt was unfortunately killed. A77-15 will be the subject of this model. Construction starts with the cockpit, which is made up of nine parts, all butt jointed. the rear deck was reinforced with a scrap piece of plastic: I also separated the resin seat and instrument coaming from their pour blocks, breaking part of the fragile coaming in the process. I’ll have to patch that up after its attached to the fuselage. The ResKit wheels were also assembled ready for priming. While getting the wheels ready a small slip of paper fell out of the packet stamped “Packer Natalia 2021”. Wherever in Ukraine Natalia is, I hope she is safe and well. I’m not the praying type, but she is in my thoughts. Thanks for looking. AW
    6 points
  43. Let's continue the build... The turret was relatively easy, although a few places have to be painted before assembly. The periscope lenses were fun to make, but masking them later was a pain in the a$$. The overall fit of the turret pieces was good, considering there are a lot of sharp angles to join. Tamiya did a great job here! However, the smoke grenade launchers needed extra care. This is something I neglected. I got lazy and just glued each launcher into the rectangular slots without test fitting. As it turned out, the slots are too loose and the launchers could be pointing at bad angles. For example, the starboard side looks fine: But the port side has one that doesn't come out completely: (Reminds me of my wisdom tooth situation 😁) Some small details I added: There are hundreds of grab handles and loops on this tank that one could spend a lifetime scratch building. I chose to do only 4 here😅. By the way, any tips on how to bend wires consistently? I couldn't make the two handles in the above foreground the same size. On the commander's cupola ring, there are 2 travellers with rollers like this: I noticed the kit does not have any detail on the outer face, so I drilled shallow holes to mimic the roller axles. Hope they'll look convincing from a distance! On the left is the MG traveller before drilling. On the right is the hatch traveller after drilling. For the hull, I mentioned before that the fit was not so good. This is because Tamiya made the lower hull thinner than usual. As a result, mine came slightly warped and twisted. What's also unusual is that the upper and lower hull are almost entirely joined by these tabs near the middle (where the arrows are pointing at): This made it more difficult to correct the warping, as the front and back are free floating, so to speak. The back plate actually does not touch the upper hull! What a stupid design 🤦‍♂️. By the way, I made a strut (circled in red) to prevent the sideskirts from caving in. Because of the way the hull sides and the sideskirts are molded as one piece, and that the sideskirts are very long, it is better to paint and assemble the wheels and tracks first. So here goes.. And here's what the tank looks like without sideskirts: Notice the tracks are loose. I guess Tamiya miscounted the track links. The hull construction was tedious and unsatisfying. It is really light and feels like a cheap prop. I don't know if Tamiya was trying to save on plastic or something. In fact it is so light that the bottom tracks are not touching the ground completely. I probably have to add some lead weights later 🤦‍♂️. By the way, this is quite an odd sight for me. I'm used to seeing at least 6 road wheels on modern tanks, but there's only 5! I guess Japan really tried hard to keep this tank 44 tonnes. Anyway, enough ranting about the hull. The tank looks much better with sideskirts on: And here's the end of the long and somewhat painful construction. I could finally move on to the painting stage!🙂
    6 points
  44. So I put down the Zero white coat, initially mixing a little self-levelling thinners (though this did make it a little thin). I have to say it went down amazingly nicely and smoothly... It's a lovely colour however I have to say maybe a little too creamy to my eyes (considering it might look odd against the kit decals), the kit suggests Tamiya TS-26 (or X-2) which is more of a pure white. I tried to get a photo to show above, obviously photos aren't great at colour reproduction, so I put some milk in as a reference. Paints are from L to R: Zero 6R4 white, Mr Color GX-1 Cool White and Tamiya LP-2. The GX-1 looks like a pure titanium dioxide white (very bright with a hint of blue), the Tamiya slightly warmer but pure white and the zero warmer still. Before my eyes started bleeding micro-analysing overly comparing white tones I decided I'd give it another coat but mixing some of the GX. So 1:1:1 mix of the Zero white, Mr Color self-levelling thinners and the GX1... I think it's a bit better but it becomes difficult to tell with all these whites! I masked up and added some sandy yellow for the front splitter and the Zero colour blue - I had worried looking in the jar that it might be a bit on the light side but it seems better on the car. Somewhat annoyingly that didn't go too well - my masking (with the curve tape) has slipped on the front splitter, some of the white has chipped off, the blue has gone down a bit textured and I've had a bit of blue bleed through. Anyhow, enough for today, I'll see how it settles, sand back and touch-up as needed once it's all fully dried.
    6 points
  45. Fresh off the press is this Zlin XII 2-seater sports plane using RS Model's mixed media kit in 1/72 for the Prototypes, Racers, Research, Record Breakers, Special Schemes mega GB. Thanks for popping by. Stuart
    5 points
  46. Hasegawa F-15E 1/48 scale So here is my first ever F-15 model done as an F-15E from RAF Lakenheath in deference to all the great airshows over the years. F-15E 00-3004 "Bullseye" from the 494th Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath 2018 The Aries burner cans and seats Weapons from Hasegawa weapons sets C and D Decals from Caracal This kit seems to depict an early E or the prototype with pylons on the slipped tanks which are very different from the actual production machines. The pylons on this model were either made from plastic card (main pylons under the engines) or from the spares box (for the 6 smaller ones). The air scoop under the wings also came from the spares box. 'Bullseye' is of course 'Woody's' horse. Build Thread here
    5 points
  47. I know it is actually not about the Iranian lot and I don't want to unnecessarily hijack this thread but there is A LOT of misconception regarding Iranian Tomcats here in this thread I'm afraid. I hope my remarks won't come off as too snippy (please excuse if that should be the case) but as said, there's an awful lot of misinformation out there on the web regarding these elusive birds. They indeed received external fuel tanks and they also still have original AIM-54As left and they were not of the earliest blocks with the unreliable early TF-30-412 engines but received Block-90 and Block-95 Alphas and were the first to get the newer more reliable TF-30-414 engines. And their AWG-9 radars were also not more primitive than what the USN birds had. Really lots of silly nonsense floating around on the internet reg. the Persian cats. I have managed to sneak into Iran a few times just a few years back between 2015 and 2019 before the situation deterriorated to the current state of affairs and managed to see and photograph some of their Tomcats. I actually planned on another try end of this year but the current upheaval and the drastic measures of the regime forbid any attempt for the sane person (according to the traveller information of our German foreign affairs ministry the Iranian regime has started to randomly arrest foreign travellers in order to use them as bargain material in case of European sanctions). Anyways I had the chance to see and touch their Tomcats up close not too long ago and ever since the USN retired theirs I tried to follow up on these "Black Sheep" of the flock and frequently try to keep tabs on the state of their fleet. I have plenty of close ups and a halfway decent walkaround including the Phoenix (ATMs as well as live ones). A few years back I managed to spend a few days at the Grumman history center in bethpage and also was able to snatch away a nice original Grumman program management plan for the whole Iran deal with info about all the deliveries by Grumman among other things. Forget what you read about them on FB and the like; 90 percent of what Western posters state is flat out BS to make us all feel better about them still flying the bird. They did indeed receive tanks! As said I do own an original Grumman IIAF programm management plan (official document) and there are at least two images of a modern blue/grey IRIAF F-14 with gull grey tanks set right to it ... Just because they don't make much use of them, doesn't mean they don't have them. Here is one of the admittedly very few images of a Persian Cat with all the equipment. I circled the external tanks for reference. The blue/grey camo indicates a modern image. The tank still has the old light gull grey color. They either received them right away (most likely) or they manufactured them themselves (probable) or just both .... I think you hardly ever see an IRIAF bird with ext. FTs just because they don't need them. These Tomcats are exclusively used for air defence over domestic Iranian soil. An aquaintence who did two tours to the Persian gulf told me that they often saw them on their SB radar but they never went feet wet. On one occassion they seemed to do a mass radar sweep with as many as 40+ AWG-9 signals on at the same time but he only ever saw that once. Why use draggy tanks if you only operate within your own air space saturated with ample air refuel capacity, lots of bases around you and enough ground based intercept radars of old school so you can limit your loiter time. Your job is just to do air fighting from a distance if all goes well, why limit your maneuverability with something you don't need for above reasons and that just adds drag?! There's more but I can't find 'em right away. Here are images of the Grumman delivery list to Iran: I circled everything relevant .... That the Iranians wouldn't have gotten what they paid for or that essential stuff wasn't delivered is as much a modern myth as the one that Grumman engineers sabotaged all of their Tomcats on their way out upon the revolution. Only minimal equipment was not deliverred to Iran. In fact the level of Tomcat-related equipment delivered to Iran was so high that members of congress started to worry and launched petitions to limit weapons export to Iran, albeit only with limited success. What they could prevent was the sale of AWACS which would have boosted Irans capability way too much coupled with their Tomcats. All in all, their Tomcats are nice and regular Block-90 (serials 160299 / 3-6001 to 160328 / 3-6030) and Block-95 (serials 160329 / 3-6031 to 160377 / 3-6079) airframes with the Block-90 serials brought up to Block 95 standard by Grumman in Iran right after delivery even before VF-84 received their Block-95 birds as the first within the USN. They are exactly identical to the USN machines. There really wasn't much left out according to Grumman. The AN/ARA-62 ILS system was left out (just needed for the boat and only works there actually, doesn't read civilian or land based ILS), the KIT-1A, KIR-1A and KY-28 Secure Voice system was left off (again, only a USN specific system) and the APX-81-M1E IFF interrogator was obstructed to just interrogate Soviet built aircraft. There was one ECM suite left off but at that time the Israelis (which were on very good terms with the Shah in the 70s) took care of that and had that covered for Iran. Apart from that no differences to the US lots, i.e. with all the regular bits and pieces of USN birds including fully operable AWG-9 radars, down to the hook and launchbar and all that other stuff people think they wouldn't have. In fact Iranian Tomcats were the first ones to receive the newer more reliable TF-30-414 engines since the Shah paid for the upgrade and the Block-95 serials were the first to receive the at that time new automated slat/flap flight control. All Tomcats I saw were in really good shape including 3-6001 / 160299, the first Tomcat delivered to Iran in early '75 and by now the longest flying Tomcat of the whole fleet of 712. No dents, bumps, rough spots or whatever. The worst I saw had a neatly weathered paint job but the airframes itself looked really good. All in all I would say they do keep the old gals in pretty prestine shape. Just for interested parties: The stories about Grumman employees sabotaging the fleet apon their flight from the country after the revolution are overblown fairy tales. The entire fleet was spread across the whole country (which is about as huge as central Europe) with units stationed at Mehrabat (Teheran) in the North, Shiraz in the South and Khatamy (today Babaie) airbase (Esfahan) in the middle of the country. In no way would have a sabotage of the whole fleet been possible. Grumman employees at Mehrabat sabotaged some IFF and emitter boxes by (I kid you not) urinating on them causing oxidation and pulling some plugs and they managed to manipulate the targeting system of 16 Phoenix missiles. Until the war broke out in late 1980 it was all fixed, again with Israeli help (remember: The enemy of my enemy is my friend etc.). Regarding their use of missiles and depletion rates: Well they had 8 years of war to put the Tomcat to test and make use of them. The Iran / Iraq conflict was essentially a test field for the great powers to see how their equipment would fare against each other; Iran with Western equipment and Iraq with mainly Russian and French stuff and the Tomcats just had plenty of chances to wreak havoc among the Iraqi fleet. Accoridng to the IRIAF there were about a 200 air engagements per year on average during the war so plenty of chances to score aerial victories. When mission readiness rates sank due to attrition in the mid 80s just around "half time" of the war, the Iran contra affair re-sustained and even increased about everything for the Tomcat fleet up until the early nineties well after the war had ended. Originally the Shah had ordered 714 Phoenix missiles of which 276 were delivered when the revolution broke out and deliveries were halted. By 1986 the Phoenix stockpile was essentially depleted and only about 24 F-14s were mission ready with only about 12 or so FMC but the Iran contra affair gave Iran allegedly about 500 AIM-54As plus enough stock to revive most of the fleet. Today the IRIAF cklaims it has about 100 AIM-54As left in useable status with refurbished thermal batteries and fixed propellant boosters plus their derivative of the AIM-23B (M-90) Fakour. Just recently some photos emerged that seem to indicate that Iran also managed to reverse engineer the old AIM-9Ps and also develop an AIM-7 derivative. Contrary to what is generally stated in the West images indicate that there are quite a few units that can still carry the MIM-23 Hawk which seems to still be in use occassionally until the other derivatives are supposed to replace that arsenal. I tried to keep tabs on which serials are still left and think ... well ... hope I have a pretty accurate serial list of what is still there. All in all they should still have 63 airframes available with at least 57 in working order (2 losses before the war, 9 losses during the war (five losses to SAMs, three losses in air combat, one loss due to unsuccessful defection), 2 losses in the nineties and 3 losses out of four known incidents between 2000 and 2022 including the most recent one from June 2022; (one serial slid along the runway in 2008 similar to what happened to a VF-101 bird in 2001 and got refurbished until 2012)). According to the US-DIA the IRIAF tries to maintain about 42 airframes operational at any given time (three squadrons worth plus training machines) with the rest being either in overhaul or mothballed. Apparently they run through a repeating cycle of mothball storage - overhaul / pot. upgrade? at Mehrabat and Esfahan - frontline service - rear service - withdrawal to storage and repeat. As far as I can make out the IRIAF has about an overhaul rate of 1 to 2 machines per year. Here's little me with a "living" Persian Cat:
    5 points
  48. Good day, This is a scratch built 1/35 scale Poplavko Jeffery armoured car circa The Great War. Still not finished; patiently waiting for some proper wheels, a few other small details and paint: Something more recent that built for the most recent Blitz Build Group Build. A scratch built 1/35 scale 1915 Tracteur Blinde Filtz : I am looking forward to this, soon to start, Armoured Car and Half Track Group build. cheers, Graham
    5 points
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