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Bought for a fiver at the Avon show. Built OOB except for CMK Ejection seats and Eduard RBF tags. Painted with Sovereign colourcoats, the high gloss finish was a trial. Neither VMS or Vallejo gloss really cut it, so I tried Mr Color GX100 sprayed at 10psi very close with the output turned up worryingly high! Thanks For looking Rob

Just your basic Eduard kit, not much drama. Painted with Tamiya, a 3:2 mix of XF-18 Medium Blue/XF-2 Flat White for the PRU Blue undersides

WIP here Figures are from Starling models Thanks for looking Rob

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.

Evening. 😀 I have just noticed that I’m progressing but not posting on the thread. Fatal as the further you go the more you have to post. I’ll try and catch myself up. where were we? Ahh yes paint. We start with a good prime. And an action shot. Or two. 🙄 That had a bit of a light sand to take any roughness away and a re Scribe where it needed it. Here is my chosen scheme. So I with pre shade accordingly. For the custard we have flat brown. Before the top I masked the tail to give a hint of wooden structure, thanks to a tip from @AdrianMF After that everything else went black. Same for all the bits. That all then got left to dry. More has been done but I’m pooped and need some sleep. 🥱 Thanks for dropping in. All comments welcome. More tomorrow. Johnny.

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.

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

Hi mates, Northrop began work on the BT dive bomber in 1935 but in 1937 the Northrop Corporation was acquired by Douglas who then ran Northrop as a subsidiary. The BT project continued and the Northrop BT-1 entered service with the USN in 1938 aboard Enterprise and Yorktown. The USN acquired 54 production versions of their new dive bomber, but due to some unpredictable handling characteristics at slow speed it was not an entirely successful design. It was a modern aircraft for the time, being an all-metal monoplane with retracting landing gear (although the gear retracted backwards into a rather ungainly looking housing below the wing). Ed Heinemann and his talented designers then improved the BT-1 and the resulting BT-2 flew in 1938. The USN ordered 144 production aircraft, with the last 87 re-designated as the Douglas SBD-1 Dauntless. The rest, as they say, is history with nearly 6,000 SBD aircraft produced during WW2. This is the first Valom kit I've ever built, and I have to say that I wasn't all that impressed with it. However, for a short-run kit it is more than adequate if you can ignore some of its inaccuracies. It is, to my knowledge, the only injected moulded kit in this scale. (See my WIP for the various issues.) At the end of the day, it is a nice addition to anyone's yellow-wing collection. Project: Northrop BT-1 Kit: Valom Kit No. 72016 Scale: 1:72 Decals: Pretty much all came from the spares box as the kit decals had some "disintegration" issues Resin: From the kit, for the cockpit, engine and exhausts Photoetch: Also from the kit, including the dive flaps, wing internal detail, and cockpit fiddlies. Vacuform: From the kit, for the canopy. An injected canopy is also included. Masks: Made by hand! With a pencil and a pair of scissors! Paint: Alclad ALC106 White Aluminum, ALC107 Chrome, ALC104 Pale Burnt Metal; Gunze H11 Flat White, H12 Flat Black, H15 Bright Blue, H90 Clear Red, H94 Clear Green, H326 Insignia Blue, H327 Insignia Red, H329 Insignia Yellow; MRP 127 Super Clear Matt, 048 Super Clear Gloss; Tamiya XF-69 NATO Black Weathering: None. Improvements/Corrections Not much... New forward machine gun and cover Added roll-over structure in the cockpit using card stock Photoetch details from the spares box added to main gear bays Photoetch structural details added to dive flaps Added antenna wires with EZ-Line (Fine) and 0.008" Nitinol wire Added port wing pitot tube Added photoetch port wing landing light Stripes on propeller wingtips and arresting hook are painted, not decals Some pics: Bright and colourful, she'll look nice in the display case. Cheers, Bill

It seems that with the advent of Companies like Arma, modelling in 1/72 has become very exciting and rewarding. I found the Arma Hurricane a pleasure to build and really captured the bulldog character of the plane. In this box the markings of Flt lt Nicholson are included. He is famous as Fighter Command's VC. On 16th August near Southampton he was bounced and his cockpit caught fire. Staying with his aircraft for a while he opened fire at a passing Messerschmidt. To add insult to injury he suffered gunshot wounds from the Home Guard on his way down. With this kit I included the Eduard PE, Quickboost control column and gunsight. Also the DMD mask for the fabric surfaces to cause a shadow effect. I now like to use an AK template with lots of holes to add more shadowing to the surfaces Hope you like it? Andrew

Built as a commission for the operating transport company Walon in the late 1980's they supplied me with all the drawings from Marshalles the vehicle builders and Tins of every colour of 2K paint in that years BMW range for the models. The base model was an Italieri Iveco Tractor unit which I lengthened I scratch built all of the decks and the trailer back then it was scratch build or nothing 3D printing was a fantasy dream, the cars were Revell and Fujimi kits all built in 8 weeks a bargain for them at £800 I was 20 then and it was a lot back then as some will remember. Pete

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

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....

I opened this kit, eager to make a start on it. Imagine the ugly surprise when I checked the sprues and found the main gear struts to be broken. I repaired then with UHU Plast and CA. Colours used came from the Revell Aqua range. They were 40 Blacl Green, 91 Steel, 59 Duck Egg Blue, 15 Matt Yellow, 48 Sea Green, 08 Matt Black. Naoshi Kanno was one of the aces of the 343 Naval Air Group. He graduated flight school in 1943 and waa posted to this unit soon after. During his service with the 343rd, he would achieve 25 kills. Kanno disappeared on August 1st 1945 near Kyushu, Japan, while on a mission to intercept B-24 bombers escorted by P-51 Mustangs. He was posthumously promoted to Lieutenant. Anyway, here are the photos.

Hi folk's.here's Frog's golden oldie for you.

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.

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.

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

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

Tim's Fujimi 1/24 Ford GT40 Le Mans winner.

Howdy all - new to here and thought I’d post some of my models. I recently started making models during the summer and so far have completed Tamiya Pz 38(t) 1/35 Tamiya Renault 35 1/35 Tamiya/ICM Panhard 178 1/35 Tamiya Pz.II a/b/c I have 3 more Tamiya models in my procession that are scheduled for the assembly line: Sd.Kfz 232, PzIV ausf.f, and Stug B w/aber kit On the panzer II I attempted to make a workable commanders hatch which was an absolute pain but I enjoyed how it came out for my first try.

Interesting. When do you apply the compress John? As soon as the decal is safely in place but not dried out? As it happens the Xtradecal decals do seem willing - albeit grudgingly and once ostensibly dry - to allow themselves to be be pressed gently into the panel lines with a pointed Tamiya cotton bud. Not sure that they'll retain the line once clear-coated, but we'll see. In other news I'm not overly impressed with the adhesive quality of the decals and a note to self has to be keep any sort of masking tape/post it notes etc. well away away; even after clear coating.. Another note to self will have to be to go gently even using oils over them as anything but the most gentle of scrubbing may lift or dislodge em... Anyroad up; I've repaired the roundel decals, where they cracked and split around the PE VGs, with tiny slivers of appropriately coloured decal. Does the job. Obviously the repair can be seen if you get close enough. But frankly only when you're so far into the Macro level that the whole thing becomes such a horror show that a visible sliver of decal is the least of the insults I suggest the easily disturbed look away now....... The horror-pic does at least show how I've tried to use the pencil over the red on the ailerons and the panel/VG/fence to the right of the roundel to add some shade/shadow/airflow staining. The Valley hawk in particular is a pain as XX176 or 176 appears 8 times. The TWU Hawk is only slightly better with XX263 or 263 appearing 6 times. Anyway the 'journey' is at least underway - here at more presentable photographic distances. Don't worry; now I've had my whinge about it I'm not going to bore you with a post everytime I've managed to get another serial number on a Hawk I don't have enough free uploads left on my flickr account apart from anyhting else....

A tiny kangaroo hops into a bar. The barman leans over and says "Wallaby?" "Pint of bitter, please," the kangaroo replies.

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.

The cockpit is complete, the massive Napier Saber almost finished. It is impressive.... The instructions continue to confuse.... Airfix allow three versions of engine exposure, plus one buttoned up. But the instructions only talk if fully open and buttoned up: many parts must be left off when the panels are fitted, but Airfix do not advise which apply to the various options. I plan to finish the model with the upper cowl open, as would be expected for field servicing, plus the gun arming panels. It looks as though some of the engine plumbing below the exhausts will have to be cut back on a trial and error basis when assembling the forward fuselage shell. I'm beginning to enjoy this!!

Final WIP shots. Time to get this thing on the road. In the end, I didn't bother with custom plates and just put one of the supplied plates on. Revell have the nasty habit of providing 2 plates on the decal sheet but only providing one plate holder. I want to get this thing done today so I just left the front one off. I know, it's easy to cut a piece of card, paint it and stick the decal on but really, I already spent way more time on this than anticipated so I just want to get it done. I need to finish my low loader over in Revell Classic GB! Mind you, despite wanting to get this off the bench, I had a good time detailing the engine bay to a level I didn't get to for other cars I've built. Well, there haven't been that many actually. Anyway, next post is RFI.

I'll get to posting once a week again, as my schedule gets housebound for fall and winter. The build is going slow, but forward. The mid platform is about finished to the point were I need to get the outside skin ready. I painted up the under side of the mid platform and the under side of the wheel fenders. The goo is still wet here. My trusted salt treatment, for a heavy texture, Top side, I finished up with the fan shroud and motor... I have everything painted and ready for install... Fresh wet paint......... The skin frames are installed and painted. The new Ballerina around here.......Sasha. these are the frame elements that brace the out side skin. The outside skin is just thick enough to only be a weather guard for the internal elements. This week I'll make some frame braces to support both cabs and this mid platform. These braces mount to the main frame and support everything I've built so far. If I get real ambitious, I'll try painting the cabs. Maybe........... Until next time......

The decaling session of a race car is usually one of the stages in a build I enjoy the most, but today has been quite tense. The decals were very slow to release from the backing paper, quite hard and a little fragile and very slow to respond to softeners. The red stripes took me the better part of the morning and all the way to lunch, but in the end they were beaten into submission. This is after mixing a suitable red paint and touching up several small cracks and damages. In the afternoon the other decals were a little more relaxed, or, well, everything is relative... But with some minor touching up with black paint I'm happy with the result.

I have always admired the F-4 Phantom as one of the first truly multi-role aircraft. And it's simultaneously gorgeous and ugly. Not sure how that works, but it does. Anyways, I built this one up from an ancient Hasegawa kit, and I tried a few new techniques on it and learned a heck of a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't find any decals for the Wild Weasel unit I wanted to represent, so I ended up using the kit decals, which weren't too bad for a 40-year-old kit. Most of us won't know the difference anyways. I also like a fully-loaded aircraft, so the missile load might be a bit on the extreme side, but I like it that way. I decided that I wanted it flying over a scenic base, and then I decided the base needed to be even more scenic, so I tried water effects and some 1/285 scale patrol boats from GHQ. I had a ton of fun with this build, and I hope you all like it.

Hello everyone, my entry for this group build will be a Miniart Austin Armoured Car. There are two Ukrainian versions, a Polish and a Georgian one. I always like the box art covers that Miniart produce and have always ended up doing that particular version. So that's the one I will be doing this time as well, which is the "Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Sich Riflemen, Autumn 1919". I have had this model for a while now, so was very pleased that we had this group build so that I could do this. This is a lovely looking kit with lots of lovely detail and It's an Interior build, which I'm looking forward to. But typically with Miniart, there are lots of very small parts and quite a few straight fragile pieces that have lots of gates on. So will probably have to substitute some with rod or wire, I'll see as I go along. MD has kindly given some info regarding his build, with difficulties that he had encountered, so will take note and see if I have the same issues. So all I have done now is to label the different sprues for easy identification and I'm looking forward to starting the build... all the best Ed

Finally decided on what to build for this GB. Hopefully I'll finish this time. I've built a Type 1 and a Type 4 before, but this one is little different. Whereas with the previous two I was able to use a lot of the donor kit, but this one will be about 70% scratch built. The Type 2 was practically rebuilt (bodywise), from the engine cover, all the way back. This is the donor kit. It's the Hobbyboss White Scout Car, early version. And this is what I hope that it ends up looking like. There won't be much to show to start with, as I'll be back in England for a couple of weeks for Telford. John. PS. Anybody know where I can get hold of some decals with the style of numbering displayed on the side of the engine covers?

Back in around 1992 a company called JB Models started releasing a range of simple but rather useful kits including the Vickers Mk VI light tank, FV601 Saladin, FV 603 Saracen APC, a couple of versions of the US M113 APC, various Land Rovers and Bedford lorries. Their last kit seems to have been the 105mm Light Gun in around 2003, and then Airfix seem to have acquired the moulds. In fact they seem to have had a relationship with Airfix quite early on as they actually released a reboxing of the Airfix Scorpion/Scimitar in around 1993 according to Scalemates. I built a couple of their Light Mk VI not long after they were released, and an Airfix boxing of the M113 ACV a couple of years ago, and now I am going to have a shot at the Airfix ex JB Saladin. Originally armoured cars were intended as scouting vehicles with light armour and limited offensive capability though some users preferred small tracked vehicles which were better for cross country work, but slower and somewhat noisier which could make sneaking up on the enemy a bit difficult. Inevitably both types were "misused" against enemy tanks and strongpoints and so the armament started to become heavier, and after the end of WWII the UK started thinking about something bigger and better armed than the Humber, Daimler and US Staghounds that saw wartime service. Thus was eventually born the Saracen, somewhat delayed by priority being given to the FV 603 Saracen APC based on the same chassis, but more on that later. The Ferret was developed at about the same time as a replacement light armoured car to replace the old Daimler "Dingo". Pete

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.

EE549: World Speed Record breaking F4. This aircraft raised the world speed record to 616mph in 1946 (although not wearing this later colour scheme). The model is based on a slightly modified 1/200 scale white metal kit from Helmet Models. It's been finished using Tamiya Sky Blue, along with decals from my spares box. Cheers

Hi All, This is Italeri's 104 with Reskit exhaust, Master pitot, Eduard wheels and seat. A few additions here and there but otherwise a straightforward build. The kit has its pros and cons and I think others have already given enough feedback about it. This plane was based in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) during the late 70' - early 80'. "D-8115" markings are paint otherwise I used the (top-notch) decals from the box. Paint is AK Real. Cheers Tristan

Natural occurrence after 15 years of building mostly american car kits, which almost always include some optional parts. I don't even want to know how many sets of 1:24 or 25 -scale Magnum 500 -type wheels I own... I'll probably find a way to shoehorn some pics in this thread, if I actually get something done with the car during winter. I'd be really excited to get the decal set on, it will really change the look of the car, I hope. I just have no experience with decaling a 1:1 car, so maybe I'll just get a pro to do it. Indeed. Really wish that this was in 1:25 scale so I could use the chassis/engine bay from an AMT 1970 Camaro. But as it is, they are just too far apart size-wise. Oh if I had the money, I wouldn't mind that Idea either. I really like the colour/decal -combo on the blue model. And I also had good taste with the engine back in the day, the way I painted it orange and used those finned calve covers makes it look like an older LT1 350 that was available on early second-gen Camaros. Much better looking and more interesting engine with it's claimed 360 horses compared to my actual cars malaise-era blue LM1. A little progress once more. Painted and assembled the main parts of the engine: The only power steering pump I found looks a tad blocky. Started building a bracket for the altenator. Modified and painted the air cleaner. The roof is starting to look a bit better. Still needs some work. I need to buy some fine plastic strip to make the mouldings for the side window. -Till next time.

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. 😛

"Mom tell the bad man to stop, he said extra rigging!"

Many thank's Steve,that's the main decals on now time for the underside painting!

Update 24 October Well, I'm up against the clock here - time rapidly running out… A few more photos before closing up: Then glue the fuselage halves together For the first time I taped and used Tamiya Extra thin - all worked fine The fit of the two halves was extremely good… …however smoothing the joins has taken hours of sanding and mild fillering - I think part of the problem is that the join is supposed to have a raised panel line - because my parts weren't exactly lined up I've had to sand offset and the panel line Wings were a relatively good fit apart from the nacelles - this were miles out had to join each one in a vice, but all seems to have gone together. The gear legs look fine after a bit of painting, I'm going to leave as is Cockpit, engine (I've done all four) and main wheels coming along: And the whole thing balanced together starting to look real nice: Lots to do yet, but I'm going to try for a big push for the deadline!!!!

Masterful it is, isn't it? Have a delighted wow from me. This image has me almost drooling, so detailed already Saved already for my nefarious purposes I did wonder if you were going to do as much to the drive shaft then I realised you had stopped it in the right place to add the coupler sleeve to the rear bearing. Studying that in my set of archive Scout photos (same device children!) I found a smashing shot of the coupler with a metal data plate wrapped round it Bugger, means I have to try that in 72th scale for my next Scout. Yup next! Found this and a few other relevant pics in said archive if it is any help. Let me know if they'd help Tony

Amazing turbine Tony.... And great choice of model... Mmmmh I go to get my Large Latte Macchiatto with Nocchiolla syrup in it... I must stay out of this 3D wizardries, I'm far too mad for that..... Sincerely. CC

Great spaceship. Well it is to my fevered mind anyway. Lovely renderings, as always.

More s-l-o-w progress. Any of you basketball fans? Then you know how the last 5 minutes of a college or pro game takes more like 30 minutes! Well, that is what this build feels like, and that is not uncommon for me. The last 10% of a build takes 30% of the overall times, it seems. I just completed one of my favorite parts of a build - removing the masking. I'm fairly pleased with how the canopy turned out, though of course it needs some touchup still. I think I can finish this by the end of the week.

Before you begin rigging using the supplied etch formers that originate from the periscope "Bridge" assembly, it's necessary to reduce the height of the column supporting the Type 291W air-warning radar. it will catch on the "catenary" otherwise. Here's a pic showing it lowered by approx 2mm to give space for the Catenary And if we are talking about this - then we are talking about rigging. This would have been really difficult with lycra thread so it's back to my currnet Fave stuff - Modelkasten wire 0.15. Jon @Faraway has been getting great results so i feel vindicated There was some shouting and general foot stamping but I managed to get to this... Which I was actually really pleased with though against the water background, it's hard to see. The basic bow and stern wires are relatively easy and "sag" with the wire which is nice. What's hard is the accessory wires that come from cradles. I pondered just how they shoudl sit and in truth it's not exactly clear from the instructions. In relaity i suspect there were variations in layputs specific to differnet vessels and the structure is well seen in the colour pics whichare shot from above. I made my own cradle to replicate that seen in the HMS surf photos for the AFT cradle - comme ci The etch triangle was from a rigging strut from a White Ensign Walrus PE set. I glued the wires to the cradle and attached the wires with some Super glue gel that allows movement for several minutes before setting, and then gently lifted the cradle to touch and stick to the main wire You can see it here. For the bow arrangment - I used the PE Starling offering. Nearly there - I'll paint some figures and get some RFI pictures shot. Thanks for looking Rob

Here's my third completion for this GB: Zlin Z-XII 2- Seater Prototype Sport Plane 1/72 RS Models Build log here: Stuart

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

Hi All, Some good progress on the Blenheim today on a cheeky day off! As promised the next job was finishing off the cockpit. First the instrument wiring: Not the easiest subject to photograph, but you get the idea. Next the bombsight. Now given the scale and position of the sight a rather basic scratch job would be sufficient, so here's what I knocked up from plastic card, and plastic & brass rod: You can see how weeny it is! After a coat of black and a drybrush with silver and addition of an appropriate decal from the spares box: That'll do pig! Here she is in situ: Glad I didn't put too much effort in 🤣! Once I'd done that I could add the main glazing elements, which I did one side at a time: The fit is superb! Here's both sides in place: The gap in the middle is yet to be glued - they do close up nicely, which I'll do tomorrow. Shaping up nicely! Thanks for looking, Roger

Like many Canadian Forces pilots, I too trained on the Tutor (and Chipmunk and T Bird). Should the subject 1/48 model materialise, I will most certainly buy/build one. In the meantime, I have the following creation.....