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Hi Team, I have not posted in a while and thought I would present my latest build. This time I tried to do something different - forced perspective. I wanted to do an action scene - an air battle over North Vietnam, circa 1967. I had a 1/72 scale Revell F-8 Crusader and decided to use that as my starting point. I then scratch built a SA-2 'like' surface-to-air missile (SAM) out of spare parts. It turned out ok I think. From there I had the missile launching and had the F-8 diving to evade. I then built the ground scene using crinkled tinfoil, white glue and paint for the water and styrofoam, putty and paint for the land (all on a wooden base). I also added ground buildings for the launch site and small boats in the water. At the mid-level I added three 1/400 scale A-4 Skyhawks from another build and another SAM. Looking up its a bit wonky but looking down I think its ok. I am just tying to get into more dynamic builds so any and all suggestions, criticisms and advice are welcome. Thanks for looking. Regards, Tomcat101

Good day, I check in with my sixth and final project for the year. While the kit is delightful in construction, there is no shortage of tiny and microscopic parts. That is great for detail however it is easy to lose one and ruin the end result. For this one, I used the resin aftermarket ejection seat. The kit supplied ejection seat is very nice but it comes in multiple parts just like each of the main and nose landing gears. Unfortunately, Special Hobby does not include any underwing ordnance apart from the centerline tank. I added the Swedish versions of the Sparrow and Sidewinder along with the mounting rails from the spares box. The fuselage pylons and rails are included. The decals are excellent. I added 0.05mm brass rod for the main and auxiliary pitot tubes and AOA ( Angle of Attack ) pitot. After research, it appeared that three main colors were used for the air-to-air missiles….white, grey, and a very unique green. Here are the basic colors I used for the Viggen………. 1. Upper surface : Model Master Haze Grey 2. Lower surface : Model Master Light Grey ( FS36496 ) 3. Cockpit walls : Tamiya Medium Grey ( XF-20 ) 4. Washes : Upper - AK Grey-Blue, Lower Ammo Medium Grey, Stains - Vallejo Dark Brown and Black I enjoyed this kit and a long overdue subject was finally added thanks to Special Hobby. I have always been fond of the Viggen and am pleased at how it turned out. I`ve waited for a modern tooled Viggen for a very long time. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the lack of under wing stores. Due to the numerous small parts, I can only recommend this kit for those who have a bit more experience in the hobby. Thank you in advance and with much respect, Mike And here the three I have of the forward canard type of design……………. Top : Trumpeter J-10 Center : Special Hobby JA-37 Viggen Lower : Hobby Boss Rafale

Hi mates, Here is my last model for 2022, a quick build of the 1:72 Sword F8F-1 Bearcat kit. And speaking of quick, the Grumman Bearcat and Hawker Sea Fury were real hot rods - at the end of WWII, they emerged as the ultimate in single-engine propeller driven fighters. I built the Sea Fury a while back (RFI here) so it's about time I built the Bear. I waited a long time for a modern kit to surpass the old Monogram offering (which I built way back before I started shaving, and that was a long time ago), so I picked up one of the three Sword kits as soon as I could. Unfortunately, I didn't get the one with all of the resin goodies, just a nice resin engine. Undaunted, I proceeded anyway. This is my sixth build for the year, finally (!) surpassing my average of four. Here's my usual summary: Project: Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat Kit: Sword Kit No. SW72022 Scale: 1:72 Decals: Starfighter Decals sheet 72-121 for VF-3 Tomcatters in 1946 Resin: Just the lovely engine included with the kit and a gunsight from the spares box Photoetch: From the spares box, primarily the seat harnesses, torque links on the main gear struts, and an occasional greeblie Paint: I love these Sea Blue USN planes - almost everything is the same colour! I used MRP-014 Sea Blue, MRP-48 Super Clear Gloss; Mr. Hobby H58 Interior Green, H11 Flat White, H12 Flat Black, H34 Cream Yellow, H61 IJN Grey, H90 Clear Red, H94 Clear Green, H47 Red Brown, H339 Engine Grey FS1608, H78 Olive Drab, H338 Light Grey FS36495; Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminium, XF-69 NATO Black; Floquil 110015 Clear Flat (actually a semi-gloss egg-shell sheen) Improvements/Corrections Added seat harnesses and main gear torque links Added a resin gunsight Scratchbuilt an improved rollover structure behind the pilot Cut open the canopy so I could pose it open Drilled out lightening holes in tail wheel strut and machine gun holes in wing Faked the leading edge landing light with a decal Added vanes in leading edge air intakes Added some extra details in the main gear bay Added aerial wire and whip antenna WIP can be found here. On with the show - enjoy! A few in-process shots - first the resin engine: And the cockpit: And finally, how about a shot of those two "hot rods" mentioned at the beginning of this post - the Bearcat and Sea Fury? Both were the pinnacle of piston engine, propeller driven fighters. And, of course, they were both Navy birds! The Bearcat had a rated top speed of 455 mph, and the Sea Fury 460 mph. Both went on to achieve further fame in the air racing circuits, often highly modified. The Sea Fury shown here is the Aki Products resin kit. Cheers, Bill

Very brief update: I got the Reskit engines painted and added, but the step makes it look...not good. Which is too bad, because the kit resin bit was awful, tons of pinholes, and the inward-projecting portions of the jet pipes were subtly angled so it didn't quiiiite fit. You can see the very prominent step. I almost wonder if the replacement aft section Quickboost makes for the Trumpeter Lightnings might not be a better bet. Decals are starting to come on, including the wing walk stencils, which absolutely suck to put on. The Sword instructions for them are worse than useless, so I'm relying on the placement guide for the Xtradecal Lightning stencil sheet, with some theft of wing walk lines as well. The metal replacement shock cone is on, atop a fair bit of noseweight, because you never know. This build has suffered a great deal from overconfidence, which I'm not ordinarily overburdened with.

I've been pontificating on this site a lot of late, and some folk may think that a bit inappropriate since I've only ever posted a couple of model photos here (since my old host Picturetrail decided that photo hosting wasn't really for them and pulled the plug). Seems an opportune time to post my last completion for this year, a 1/72nd Avro 504 N. This is a very nice kit whose components were beginning to age badly, so a week ago I thought 'now or never'. As a model it isn't brilliant, and that's all due to me. The rigging is just tolerable in real life, but too thick and scrappy in the photo. Still, it illustrates what happens when you go the quick and easy route instead of doing it properly with monofilament. It's rolled copper armature wire, quite prone to kinking if not handled carefully, but easy to cut and self-coloured steel grey by oxidation over the decades I've had the spool. You can see two wires have pulled loose and are resting against the top of the inner front port interplane strut. That only showed up in the photo and will take 30 seconds to fix, but I left it here because 1) I'm lazy and 2) it shows what can happen when you use wood (white) glue instead of superglue. Had I bothered to secure the wires into holes then the wood glue would have been sufficient. The wire is around 0.2 mm diameter. Anyway.......... For the record, the kit was produced in aid of Southern Expo some 30 years ago. Vac plastic by Joe Chubbock/Phoenix, PE fret by Akita, decals by Blue Rider, and extruded strut material from Contrail, who also may have done the white metal engine, collector ring, prop and wheels. The casting was quite rough but useable, except the wheels which had some odd defects that were too much effort to fix, so I used a slightly larger set by Aeroclub that look more like the real thing anyway. The deteriorating bit was the decal sheet. Decals took more than 10 minutes to soak free in warm water, wouldn't stick, curled up and then fragmented a bit as they dried. However, 3 very liberal applications of MicroSol saved them and now they look okay. Overal very enjoyable to build. Only two slight downsides apart from the decals (which BTW are only the second lot I've had from Blue Rider that were like this, the old sheets normally being okay, so maybe down to storage history?): for an early machine you need to trim the ailerons down to the tapered version, a bit tedious to get all four to match, but not difficult. And unavoidably the lower wing to fuselage joint is very fragile. Usually you can just about drill a fine hole to reinforce the joint with a bit of wire, or rod if you're lucky, but here I couldn't do it. The wing plastic is less than 1mm thick and my hands shake too much. The joining area is but 1 cm long, using Tamiya extra thin cement reinforced with a later application both sides of thin CA. Does the job just about but it's marginal. Oh, I was just about to wrap this up and post it when I noticed I'd forgotten to add a pitot tube. Oh well, you'll just have to imagine that for yourselves................. Been a while since I did this photo thing with Flickr so there may be some unwanted text stuck to them, which I'll fix later if I can remember how. Paul.

This was the first kit in 1/144 scale that I bought, several years ago, and don´t ask me why it took me so long to start assembling it. Anyway, a beauty in 1/144, with decent interior including cockpit and cargo area. Main issue in my opinion is the absence of engine exhausts, something very notorious even in this scale. Kit offers two paint schemes: the striking Tiger meet scheme in orange and black, and the standard two-green RAF camo. I chose the latter as I normally like to represent my models in operational status (And I chickened out wrapping all the Puma in tiger decals!). Not much to talk about the assembly, I added some details like two pilots, the engine exhausts, refined the rotor´s hub details, it was too thick and devoid of any details, scratch built the access steps to the cargo area, added detail to the engine air intakes front, added some lights and antennas, substituted the lateral mast antennas with thin wire, and substituted the "moustache" antennas in front with thin wire and stretched sprue. I used proper Preiser figures to convert them into pilots and crew. And another one in my 2022 count! Marco

I really like French aircraft (and cars!), but build far too few of them. But here is at least one: The subject is really nice, but how was the kit? Well, the same as many other Kinetic kits: Mixed emotions. Details are amazing, shapes are good, and fit is acceptable - with a few horrible exceptions. The wings consist of eight parts each, and are a true nightmare, I think that I spent at least 1/3 of the build time trying to get a decent fit - and I am still not 100 % satisfied with the result. Air intake channels provide good detail with a non-visible fan, but instead, the very visible fit to the intakes are far from good. And the front part of the canopy demands a little work to achieve a good fit - however, for that one I was prepared (Kinetic canopies seldom fit...), and did fix it during the for Kinetic kits compulsory dry-fit stage, making it much easier. On the other hand, the decal sheet is brilliant, and a photo-etch fret provides more good detail. My intention was to use an Aires cockpit. However, when trying to install it, I discovered that it was about 0,5 cm too wide! Yes, I mean centimetres, not millimetres. The one that sculptured that well-detailed cockpit, can never have seen the kit it was intended for... Luckily, Kinetic provide a really nice cockpit, and besides that, everything is black, making details hard to see anyway. So it ended up with that I used the seat, stick, instrument panel and the IP coaming (which is hard to differ from the well-detailed kit one). There were also PE parts for the inside of the canopy. I am sure that there are builders capable making that looking OK. I soon discovered that I am not one of them, and decided to only use the mirror. A challenge painting the Super Étendard, is that the text MARINE and the digits should be in almost exactly the same colour as the light grey. I have seen great builds of this kit almost ruined due to a mismatch on these colours. I decided to follow the FS numbers in the instructions, and used Mr Paint colours - which can be a challenge, since they are not always completely correct. After a test, I decided to darken the dark grey a little to achieve more contrast. And to my satisfaction, the decals were almost exactly the same as the Mr Paint light grey. As I mentioned, details are great. The wheel wells could almost be resin ones. I am aware of that parked SuE's had closed inner landing gear doors and air brakes, but did not dare to display them closed due to that they did not fit very well. So as you might already have guessed: The final verdict on this kit is that it is like a rollercoaster. But as with many rollercoasters, sometimes they can be frightening, but in the end they are fun, making you want to go there again. And I will build more Kinetic kits, and could even think of building this one again. After all, it was a demanding, but very fun build of a classic French aircraft! Thanks for watching!

I haven't built a four engined aircraft in while and I was pleased with the outcome I had the benefit of masks and color set from ammo.

Hello all! This is my new model. I think last in this year. In the assembly it was an easy set. As additional sets i used photoetchet set and exhaust nozzles from Eduard, pilot tube from Master, TER, AIM-9 and Mk-82 from Reskit. Painting MR.Color

more of a chef's raspberry this time around Heather. Save all your kisses for... later I can conform the Muppet part Pete. Xmas? damn, I'd better start saving 10/10 for perseverance. 2/10 for accuracy Giorgio. I was determined to use what I had without resorting to buying yet more stuff. I'm now buying more stuff. Just don't follow my example Bill. Maybe in a week or two I'll get it right. Thanks James. They do look great, it's just a shame there was one ittle itty bitty bit I didn't take into consideration. I was always very considerate as a T2 driver Tony. I always made sure I was at the front of the queue. thanks Mark. VW vans aren't really my thing either but there is something rather quaint about the T2's that I am rather fond of. Later versions I could care less about. Silently sceptical huh? If I'd been more sceptical I might have paid more attention to that floor area. Probably not though. RIchie, if I can do a Pegasus, there's no reason at all you cannot do a Mauritania. I guess there's no point in beating about the bush is there. You've all probably guessed by now that there was something not quite right with the floor mat. The walkway mat was fine but there was one important part I neglected to take into consideration when designing the front mat and that was the dashboard panel that sits on top of the floor. As nice as my shiny new floor mat is, it's too long and I need to shrink it back by about 3mm for things to fit together properly. It's hard to see in this shot since it's black on black but this was the best shot I could get. New floor mat molds printed and curing on the kitchen window sill and those nice Amazonians are sending me some tin cured silicone so this time hopefully I can do it right. There's nowt so dumb as dumb folk is there. Since the thing that should have fitted didn't actually fit I thought it only prudent to test out some other parts that I had never really test fitted as I don't want to hold up the build later for some silly little mistake. I had printed out some headlamp units a while back but I had never tested to see if the kit lens would fit inside the housing. This resulted in some mild relief. I was stumped for a while over how to replicate the headlamp bulb until I stumbled across the idea of using clear resin blobbled on the end of some wire. I think that will do the trick. Now I just need to see if the headlamp units will fit into the bus front panel... A bigger dose of mild relief. . I think I will reprint the headlamp units though as I think I can get a better finish on the chrome surrounds. (not to self: try harder next time) Since I was fettling about with lights n such I thought it was about time I tackled the tail lights. The kit parts were for a 1972 onwards T2 (rectangular) and the '71 bus had the much cuter little oval tail lights. The printer vat was filled with grey resin but I thought it was worth throwing a few on the plate just to as a test print for size and fidelity. The clear resin can com later (I thought). Since this was just a rough test I wasn't too bothered about getting everything spot on and I dropped a spot or two of gloss orange on the upper half of the tail lens and when it dried I threw some clear orange over the top of that. The bottom half I just went straight for the clear red. For the reflector (square part in the center) I daubed some silver paint on there first just to give some kind of contrast to the rest of the red lens. What I really wasn't prepared for was how well that combination turned out in respect to looking like a real tail lens. These are just test parts but I think I will be going with grey resin for the tail lamps rather than clear resin. I'm more than happy with the result here. ONE job I really wasn't looking forward to tackling was fitting the doors. I had cut the kit "hinges" off a while ago without really giving any thought as to how I was going to actually make the doors work. After coming across Crazycranks marvelous BMW507 build I thought I was going to borrow his wonderful idea for having working hinges. However, after spending an entire day and sacrificing loads of brass rod to the gods I had to give up on that idea as for various reasons (including my incompetence) I just couldn't get it to work with this design. After convincing myself that this is a static model and will be displayed with doors open and there was no real need to have operating hinges I chose the simplest route and epoxied some brass tubes into the front panel. These will allow me to continue with the assembly and slide the doors on later at the appropriate time. i.e. when there's less chance of damaging them. I used the same method for the rear door Believe it or not but after all this time mucking about with parts and printing etc. it was actually time for some assembly. Some slightly out of focus assembly, but assembly nonetheless. The courtesy lamp was the first part to get fitted - after I had given the interior a coat of very thinned light grey with a touch of aged white. I wanted to have a slight difference between the white on the outside of the bus and that of the inside. The sun visors were also fettled into shape and fitted. The rear view mirror lying there is a rough test which I used just to gauge the visor location and spacing. both visors fitted. and they even work! There was no stopping me now and I rolled ahead and fitted the rear upper cupboard along with the draw clamps that hold the roof down when traveling at speed. I'm not happy with those domed "fasteners" and will have to think of something to replace them with. A job for another day though. I drew up and printed the treadplate I had under the Rock n Roll bed. I won't be able to start trimming that down to size until the body and chassis are mated and the interior trim fitted but at least it's another job off the list. As is one of the most important camping accessories, the Porta-Potty. I still need to gloss coat these and add a wash to bring out the detail, then choose the best one. I should stress that our Porta-Potty was a very special porta-potty. No Number 2's allowed. Only number 1's in this potty. If number 2's were required it was off on the bike with you to the nearest hotel or similar establishment. The porta potty was extremely useful in preventing those inebriated night-time stumbles through camp sites desperately trying to remember where the loos were located. There was even a dedicated potty room in the tent so it was all quite civilized. As far as I can be called civilized. Other shenanigans this week have included some home brewed windscreen wipers. The kit parts were a bit meh. Chromed and just waiting on a clear coat and black paint for the blades... no I am NOT making silicone rubber blades for the wipers. door mirrors. Alclad chrome for the "chrome" parts as I now have one of those molotovw cocktails pens and will try to use that for the mirror part. Stay tuned. A selection of rearview mirrors. Again I will be using the molotow pen for the reflective surface. Three attempts and I will chose the least horrible one. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to paint that thin black rim around the mirror? Then I wasted some more time avoiding the important stuff and printed some of these. What? Yup, some of those. In glorious macrovision. Just what is it? FYI: those wires on the surround are 0.19mm in diameter (or are they smaller? I can't remember now), and there's 24 of them - and they printed !!! It's one of these... a fan. There was so much glass on the T2 and no decent cooling (or heating) system that in the summertime it would get sweltering hot in there, even in Scotland, so the only way I could keep the sweat out of my eyes while driving was to have one of those small fans fitted on top of the dash. Therefore in order to keep faithful to the original I have to include one on my model. (that one shown there was a first draft) Actually I printed a bunch of them. They are so small - the fan part being about 6mm in diameter I knew I'd have a hell of a job painting them with any hope of staying inside the lines. I've printed entire fans as one piece, and then body and fan as separate pieces to see if painting them is any easier. I could have separated the front and rear of the wire cage so I could have painted the fan blades grey but that would just have been silly. I think that's about it for this update. With any luck I'll be able to keep on that assembly kick over the next few days. There's so many parts lying around and at some point I've got to stop collecting them and just start sticking them together. Oh just for interest sake (if anyone is interested that is) I just did a quick check and so far I have printed around 100 separate components for this build - and I'm not finished yet.

My failed entry for the Christmas Blitzbuild was a Suspermodel Fiat G55, the mould dating from 1968. It’s definitely a model of its time, and I pushed my luck on this build by: - detailing the cockpit - correcting the fuselage length - detailing the wheel wells - adding wingtip lights - choosing a five colour splinter scheme Ironically, I had lots of effort time left, but what pushed me over the deadline was the OOB decal sheet: I found some FROG decals which could stand in (after some touching up they are close but still not totally right) and wrapped it up over the last couple of days: The new Sword kit blows this (and the FROG kit) out of the water, and in its double boxing format is available for less per model than you’d pay for a second hand clunker after postage. Luckily, I bought this for less than a quid quite a few years ago. The WIP is here if you are interested. Thanks for looking and have a great 2023, Adrian

Hello Gents, Glad that 2022 draw to the finish line, it has been a bit better than 2021 But on the other hand, better than 2021 was really easy... So enough whinning, let's go on kits.... Starting the year with a Corsair is a treat for me, and a Jolly Rogers one at that !! From a Tamiya. And a pic of the Corsair family... Then, the end of a curse.... I finished a Phantom.... An Academy one. And ooooooh another Jolly Roger !! Sooo the Jolly Roger Family to date.... I then put @Dunny's decals to good use.... Old Monogram Cobra a bit reworked.... Total change of style for the next one... Old Jo Han kit 1/24 No worries, back on winged things... Old Monogram kit seriously reworked too With a pin up ... Back in WWII, on the soviet front.... Eduard kit... with scratched reinforcement plates Soviet serie to date... Now something more modern... That gave a laugh to my son.... Modern ??? 1982 ??? Kinetic kit... Still Bri'ish, still a warrior but other times other front... Eduard kit and operation Firedog in Malaysia... Same era, but in Europe for the next one....With a Tamiya F-84 transformed to an -E model Cold war jets now ? Shiny and colorfull !! Aaaand the last one now... Another Eduard kit finished on the line.... 10 kits and only 4 sailor's bird... Well, I'm ashamed, I will fare better next year.... Happy New year folks !! enjoy it to the full !! Sincerely. CC

Small display box I built for my Flying instructor many years ago.... Both are Revell kits One of the few moments I used decals and instantly regreted it.

Oi. I started and finished a Spitfire in 2021. Everyone seems to be overlooking that...... Not sure I'll finish these in 2022 tho'. Too many other calls on my time and just too many fiddly little tasks still to do. Speaking of which; one that I'd forgotten about was the main undercarriage Jacks. Forgotten about or deliberately ignored. One or t'other. Anyways, the kit bits were inevitable bland and probably wouldn't fit the fettled bays/legs. So it was back to Fusion. Simple task this time. Centre tube to be from 0.4mm Nickel Tube: Printed and painted: Fitted: Something else I'd forgotten I still had to do was the wingtip Nav Lights. These are opaque on the 1:1 so paint will do. Base coat of green or red as required. Top coat of Tamiya clear green or red to give it some depth and shine. One potential gotcha is that the invitingly triangular panel lines on the kit do not represent the outline of the coloured section of the lights; which are smaller than that. I remembered thankfully. Starboard: Port: I've just realised that the red and green looks a tad too bright in these photos (because of the strong white lights). They're a bit darker in more representative normal lighting. Still more bits and bobs to fit. But the undercarriage jacks where the last items that can really be called construction (I think).

After I got over the worst of the mojo meltdown which hit me about eighteen months ago I decided to concentrate on straightforward models until I felt my confidence was fully back. As a result my 2022 output is mainly OOB builds although the modified Airfix Boeing 737 is an exception. The year’s work should have included a Boeing 787 but at a very late stage I managed to confuse plastic cement and decal solvent and the replacement titles which Ray Charles kindly agreed to send me appear to have got caught in the postal strikes. Never mind, it should give me a head start for next year. I hope you enjoy my collection of 1/144 civilians and I’ll see you in 2023. Dave G Alitalia Vickers V.785D Viscount F-RSIN kit with Classic Airlines decals. In RFI here Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-154M Zvezda kit with Two Six decals. In RFI here Braathens SAFE Boeing 737-500 Daco Skyline kit with mixed Liveries Unlimited and Lima November decals. In RFI here Iran Air Airbus A320 Revell kit with F-DCAL decals. In RFI here Air Europe/British Airtours Boeing 737-200 Adv Heavily modified Airfix kit with mixed Classic Airlines and Flightpath decals. In RFI here Loganair Short SC-7 Skyvan Eastern Express kit with Classic Airlines decals. Not in RFI SAS Star Alliance Boeing 737-800 Zvezda kit with V1 decals. In RFI here EasyJet Boeing 737-300 Daco Skyline kit with Scaleliners decals. Not in RFI ("Double sided" livery from 2000 when EasyJet were moving from telephone to internet booking)

The FROG decals, while very welcome, aren’t quite right for late war markings. The axes should be nearer the ends of the bundles, and the axe heads should be squarer. I fixed the latter problem with a bit of paint all round, top one done, bottom one as supplied: Close enough for a nearly-Blitzbuild! An hour or two later (probably still less than 24 hours effort), it’s all done: It looks much better to me with the copy of the FROG spinner on than the bulbous one from the kit. I have put some more pictures in RFI here too. Thanks for looking and have a super 2023, Adrian

With half a mind - something of a stretch at the best of times - on painting this thing, I’m starting to dot around the instructions rather than follow the set sequence. I’m leaving some of the more vulnerable spiky bits off, and the undercarriage, until nearly the last thing. As I have plans to photograph (and possibly display) the Beaufort in a practice torpedo loading diorama sort of thing, the various bay doors went in. It takes a bit of brain cell exercise to make proper sense of the instructions, bearing in mind they cover three scenarios: bay doors shut, loading, loaded. I got there in the end. I suspected the turret would be a problem. For the MkI with original turret, there’s a collar that’s fitted to the fuselage. It has to go in after the turret assembly is located. As you can see, the turret can’t really be wheedled into location after the fact. I don’t really want the turret in place while priming, at least, although once masked it ought to okay. The problem then would be manoeuvring it to get all the masking off, particularly the back side. What I’ve elected to do is temporarily fix the fuselage collar in place, and bung foam into the openings so I can prime the model. The turret, meanwhile… … has been masked up and brush painted. I have also installed the torpedo crutch system in the bomb bay. Surprisingly, I found it needed some fettling for everything to fit neatly. I suppose I should sort out the painting setup so I can squirt some primer about. Then, I think I’ll go and play with my pooter and scanner to make some stencils for my chosen aircraft's markings.

Master Box Ltd Kit. All hand painted, no airbrush used. As usually I try to replicate an original paint scheme to have the model serving as documentation of actually used camouflage schemes in my collection. Here is a photo of an original and the yet unpainted model. Just liej the original it was first painted in Panzergrau and then got the 1943 three tone camouflage on top of it.

Based this build on the P-40 currently on display at the USAF museum located in Ohio, United States. I had built this plane when I was a kid, so there was a bit of nostalgia when choosing to go with it as my first USAAF build since returning to the hobby a year ago. Overall I had a great experience with the build, and would recommend it to others. Cheers!

I've managed to finish (or at least, nearly finish) a dozen this year, along with some scratch built components for future builds. 3 Malta Spits, 2 Vc, and a Vb. All 1/48 'Buck' McNair's Vb 'Buzz' Beurling's Vc and an uncredited Vc in TSS The true stars of the movie "Battle of Britain" All 1/48 The HA-1112 Buchons 'Falke's' Chevron marked aircraft (with both the 3 bladed, and 4 bladed props) and Red 6 Sqdn Leader 'Skipper's' Mk IXc dressed as a Mk I and Sqdn. Leader 'Harvey's' Hurricane Mk IIb dressed as a Mk I A Coastal Command, 404 Squadron Beaufighter for D-Day An M3A1 Stuart 'Honey' in the 'Caunter' scheme 1/35 ... and finally, 3 near completions ... and a scratch building project for the future Thanks for indulging me, and have a happy 2023! Colin

Afternoon all, I've taken advantage of some time at home over the last few days and have got the Halifax painted using Xtracolor enamel Dark Earth, Dark Green and Night which were sprayed free-hand with my trusty Badger 200 airbrush. These paints give a beautiful glossy surface ready for decalling, which will come next: Things are progressing nicely now - I'll hopefully get the decals done over the coming days and everything can then be dulled down with some matt varnish. Tom

Greetings! Recently completed Moonship from a 1952 design by Wernher von Braun. Guided by various drawings and paintings, I combined parts from several kits along with some scratch built items. Not exactly certain of scale, probably about 1/96th. The Moonship, along with the Moonlander, were early ideas of how we might circle and eventually land on the moon. Many thanks for having a look. Comments and questions are always welcome. Cheers, Bill

Gidday All, after today there's only three days left of the year so I think it's safe to assume I won't be completing any more this year. So this is the tally for the year. I've completed five ships this year, all in 1/600 scale, plus two aircraft. The first completion in January is a model of the destroyer HMS Hardy as at the First Battle of Narvik in 1940. This is a conversion of the Airfix HMS Hotspur kit. The next, completed in February is a model of the large light cruiser DKM Seydlitz as I think she would have appeared if built as originally planned, with 15cm guns instead of 8-inch. The model is a whiffed version of the Airfix Prinz Eugen kit. In April I completed my next model, the destroyer HMS Onslow. This ship was Capt.(D) Sherbrooke's flagship when she held the heavy cruiser Hipper at bay for two hours on 31st December 1942, waiting for Adm Burnett to arrive with his cruisers. This action undoubtedly saved the convoy they were protecting. The model was mainly scratch built but used a highly modified Airfix HMS Cossack hull to start with. In June I completed another whiff, a large cruiser of the HMS Minotaur class. I used a lengthened hull of the Airfix Suffolk kit, the guns and other parts of two Airfix Tiger kits plus other assorted Airfix parts and some scratch building. Although the ship was designed and built late 1940s/early 1950s I dated the model as she (fictitiously) appeared at the Falkland Islands in 1982. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that in the first photo she carried four Exocet canisters before the bridge, but in the second photo there are two quad Harpoon tubes there. I made them interchangeable. In August I took part in a blitzbuild, doing two Japanese Mitsubishi Ki-46 Dinahs. One was an Airfix kit in 1/72 scale, the other was scratch built in 1/600 scale, the same as my ships. As I did them simultaneously I consider them a single build. And finally for the year, my model of the guided missile destroyer HMS Glamorgan as she appeared at the Falklands in 1982. This ship was the first to survive a hit by an Exocet anti-ship missile fired in anger, although sadly not without casualties. I started the model for the Falklands 40th anniversary GB but completed it in October in the WIP section. The model is a highly modified Airfix HMS Devonshire kit. It needed a lot of scratch building work for a number of reasons, and I received a lot of help and advice from members here. Well that's it for this year. I have two more builds on the go at present but won't finish either in the next three days so they'll be in next year's tally. Thank you for your interest. Stay safe and I'll see you all next year. Regards, Jeff.

My latest builds are all Lindberg kits, well one is a Revell re box of a 1965 Lindberg Heinkel 162A from 1984, the other two is actually a double kit of the Me 163, from 2012, except this is a J Lloyd international Inc re box in the Lindberg name from 1965 original moulds. I picked the He 162 up from a model show somewhere, but the me 163 double box was bought some time ago from Home Bargains, along with a Lockheed Stiletto X-3 that is still lurking in the stash. I have to say that if the kits I have from Lindberg are from original 1965 moulds, they are in pretty good shape- virtually no flash, and a blessing this year, pretty good fit ! But .... (oh yes, there's always a but ) ...... we are not looking at sophisticated kits here. The He 162 (a revell rebox) occupied me with 10 parts, and the Lindberg Me 163's comprised 7 parts each. Their cockpits are a hole in the fuselage, where the seat fits. Decal wise, the Me 163 kits each had the same decals. You could make the two kits in 2 different paint schemes - I did - but each had the same decals. The Me 163 decals weren't too bad to put on, no swastikas though. The He 162 didn't have swastikas either, but I pinched some from an airfix Me 109 which I have always intended to make in a Bulgarian scheme. I'm not so anal that I must have swastikas on the Komets, but if the opportunity to pick up an after market decal set with them or I can pinch from other German WW2 planes I buy, I will. The decals all went on pretty well, no silvering to be seen. My big disappointment with all three was the German camouflage paints I have, the RLM colours - from Xtracrylic, Tamiya and Mr Colour. The splinter camouflage on the one Me 163 is awful, though I have tried 3 different dark colours before deciding to not load any more paint on the kit. I used RLM 71 as the base dark colour, I think it is too dark, but I can't judge which other RLM colour to do the very dark tone. I'm hoping that expert modellers will be able to advise here. The other Me 163 is a strange one, painted in red overall. I tried to make the red paint over a super finish from a Halfords Matt black paint look like the patchy red paint on the box art; it didn't come off at all. Oddly though it does look like a red finish hastily applied over black, so perhaps it wasn't the big fail I think it is. I used a Revell fiery red rattle can. One item in the instructions for the He 162 made me laugh - "fit the nose spike" . It must be a pitot, but called a nose spike. The kits also contain a first for me, pilots; the incredibly simple cockpit with the models in flight on the dinky little stands provided needed a pilot. The only aftermarket is some albion alloys brass tube for pitots on the Me 163's. Here's the box art; Here's one Me 163 in the lovely Halfords rattle can matt black paint; and here are the completed kits; Thanks for looking lads and lasses, anyhelp on the RLM colours especially for splinter camouflage gratefully accepted.

Guys, thanks for all the prompt replies on this. Much appreciated Good results came much more rapidly than I imagined. Basically I'm already sorted now My first experiment worked! My first instinct was definitely to do the mist first. However, for some reason a voice in my head said to try the Pledge gloss first, just to see what happened. So, I put a drop of XF7 into my usual pre-decal Pledge floor polish glossing stage and airbrushed a trial pre-painted white surface. No real difference was observed. So I added another drop of XF7 to the Pledge for the second pass. This time I saw a hint of a difference. Bingo! As the test sample showed no adverse chemical reaction and dried normally, no reason I thought not to go right ahead on the model with Pledge red tint. It looks link a red puddle in the dish, but even the 2 drops of XF7 in this quantity of Pledge was barely noticeable when airbrushed onto the model, after one pass. I needed 4 passes, allowing 15 minutes between. Then I was happy I'd managed to achieve what I set out to do originally. The photo is a bit disappointing. It doesn't really show how successful the Pledge tint turned out to be. Tomorrow I'll try for some daylight shots. Basically I'm more than ecstatic with the end result. Way better than I imagined. The moral of this test is for PRU pink in future, I'll try pre-shading using black with silver on top. Followed by a white coat, followed by a Pledge red XF7 tint. Interesting experiment using red as a pre-shade effect. I found the transition fascinating but in the end couldn't get a result with it. Maybe others could get it to work, or use it for a different effect. I hope you found this exercise interesting. I certainly lucked out with the Pledge tint, in the end to say the least.

OK last one for this year I've built this truck before, I liked it a lot and I wanted to build another one. The kit has recently been re-issued but it's expensive, as are the earlier boxings. This is the original 1979 boxing (which is the one I built earlier) and it has been partly started. The engine has been put together, and the fuel tanks. No problem! It made this kit a lot cheaper, I got it for a really good price.

Here is my pride and joy: 1/144 scale USS Guadalcanal (CVE-60), as she appeared in June ‘44 at the time of the capture of U-505. Scratch built from the Models Boats plan. Some other recent builds: Academy 1/72 Curtis SB2C-4 Helldiver: Revell 1/72 HH-19: Revell 1/305 USCG Secretary-class Cutter: USCGC Duane (ca. 1981) Dumas 1/16 USCG 36 foot Motor Lifeboat #36500:

Right then, decision made! The Revell Gannet will be the first Salty Dog off this potential list of British export Carrier subjects. I’ve pretty much got everything I need to make a decent start and have made good progress reading the very good Mushroom publications book “Submarine Hunter”. This kit is also the oldest one of the four in my stash, so probably deserves to be built more than the other three. A few years ago I also purchased the excellent CTA (Cut then Add) ‘Aussies at Sea’ decal sheet, which has two Gannet schemes on this large and very impressive decal sheet. Still yet to decide which one of these schemes to do, however the basic colours are identical, so its just a matter of what decals I happen to slap on when I get there. Since the initial post, I’ve also managed to track down a spare set of Canadian Banshee decals from another BM member, so that kit is also a good possibility when these decals arrive from overseas. Cheers.. Dave

Busy year and mojo-sapping shenanigans at work contributed to rather less output than usual: Jaguar 420, Airfix, 1/32 BMW Race HP4, Meng, 1/9 Corvair "Yenko Stinger", AMT, 1/25 1931 Mercedes SSKL, Matchbox, 1/32 Jaguar E-Type, Airfix, 1/43 Happy New Year, all.... I'm certainly hoping for a more productive one! best, M.

Hi all, I may have set a new record for myself this year. Twelve builds completed and one more in the pipeline, which maybe, just maybe will get finished in time to earn a place in 2022's lineup. If so, I'll add it. #1 Italeri 1/24 Land Rover. The kit I used is the fire truck version but I built it as a regular one. It's a basic kit and I built it as such, it was a quick one. #2 Revell 1/24 VW T1 Camper I built this as a birthday present for a friend who's into everything T1. I love that little bus as well, I mean who doesn't #3 Revell 1/24 VW T1 Panel Van I was really into the VW bus at this point and I picked up this kit right after finishing the camper and built it in 2 days or something. Van Dordt is my ficticious company, this build is the first one sporting the name. #4 Hasegawa 1/24 VW T1 Pickup Uhm, yep it's another one. This one was built for 2022's first Blitz Build. Man, I love those little T1's. #5 IBG 1/35 Scammell Pioneer Breakdown Tractor This was my entry for Big and British GB. I like the Scammell, it just looks brutal. I built it in civilian livery, as I like to do. #6 Aoshima 1/32 Hino HH Tractor This was my entry for Japanese GB. A really nice kit to build, and I like the 1/32 scale for trucks as well. #7 Miniart 1/35 Lanz Tractor I started this in 2021, it was on the shelf for quite some time before I finished it this year. Great kit, lovely little tractor. #8 Revell 1/24 VW Beetle I got this as a birthday gift from my kids, a good choice. The kit is the police version but I went ahead and built it as Van Dordt's luxury executive limo I really went for shiny on this one. Photographing it was a bit of a struggle, it's a dust magnet. Clean it, turn your back and the specks are right back. Ah well. #9 Revell 1/25 Mercedes-Benz 1628s I love this classic kit a lot. It was my first truck build, a couple of years ago, and it really set me off into that area of interest. My plan was to build three of them for Revell Classic GB. This is the first one, a conversion to a chassis truck (the kit is a 4 x 2 tractor unit). Most of the chassis is scratch built and I did a bunch of plumbing and wiring on it. #10 Revell 1/25 Ford Torino This was meant as a quick build, which turned out a little bit longer because somehow I tricked myself into engine detailing. Still a relatively quick build though. #11 Revell 1/25 Mercedes-Benz 1628s This was the second build for Revell Classic GB. I intended to build it as a beavertail truck but ended up building the tractor OOB (except for the hydraulic tank) and scratch building a low loader for it. The low loader is huge, 45 centimeters in length. #12 AMT 1/25 International Harvester Scout This kit was my entry for the Blitzenbuild, a very enjoyable build for a kit this old. I wanted to get a '70's / '80's vibe on it and it worked out quite well I think. #13 Revell 1/25 Mercedes-Benz 1628s Well, I just managed to get this build over the line in the closing hours of 2022! This is my 1628s SWB Tanker Conversion. Chassis for the truck is mostly scratch built, the tanker chassis is completely scratch built as is the tank itself. The pump assembly and hose reel were leftovers from build #1, very convenient. A very enjoyable build. Thanks for watching and have a great 2023!

My dad´s now 75 and still cranks out one model after another, hope he still has some good years ahead. All aircraft models in 1/48, the F1 car in 1/20. Hasegawa kit with DK Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Revell (Hasegawa) with MDC decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobbycraft kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobby Boss kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobby Boss kit with Berna Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobby Boss kit with Model Maker Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr AMG kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Eduard kit with Berna Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Italeri (Ocidental) kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Tamiya kit with Berna Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Airfix kit with Berna Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Tamiya kit with Berna Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Italeri (ESCI) kit with Cutting Edge Decals DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobby Boss kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Revell kit with Armycast Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Monogram kit with FCM Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Academy kit with Xtradecals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Tamiya kit with Kagero Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Italeri (Ocidental) kit with Armycast Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hasegawa kit with ProModeler kit decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Eduard kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobbycraft (Trumpeter) kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Tarangus kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Hobby Boss kit with Moose Republic Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr ICM kit with Vespa Models Decals DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Eduard kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr Ebbro kit DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 2022 production line, all in 1/72 scale. Finished model photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. This was a year of many changes. I quit my job, inherited a house, and moved from the city to the countryside. Once primarily an aircraft builder, my output of small-scale AFVs has been increasing, and they are making up almost half of my total builds now! I hope you like my selection, and thanks for your interest in my works. JANUARY 1/72 Italeri IS-2, with CMK figures, Blackdog stowage, OKB Grigorov tracks and Colibri decals. 1/72 Kovozávody Prostějov Ilyushin Il-2M, with Quickboost gun barrels. 1/72 Heller Sherman M4A2 built as a British Mk.III, with figure, brushguards and antenna socket from Dan Taylor Modelworks. The antenna is a piece of stretched black sprue, the towing cable is from Eureka, and stowage is from Milicast. Markings represent a mid-production vehicle of the Junior Regiment of C-Squadron, 27th Armoured Brigade, in France, 1944. 1/72 UM SU-85M with resin tracks from OKB Grigorov, CMK resin fuel tanks and Dragon spiderwheels. 1/72 Tamiya Fw-190D with photo-etch from ResIm and markings from Eagle Cals, representing an aircraft of JG301. FEBRUARY 1/72 Dragon Panzer IV Ausf.J "Final Production", built from the box. 1/72 IBG Fw-190D, straight from the box, in markings of JG2. MARCH 1/72 Arma Hobby P-51B out of the box. APRIL 1/72 Zvezda Sherman M4A2, with stowage from Sandsmodels and BlackDog, steel towing cable from Karaya, photo-etch brushguards from Dan Taylor Modelworks and antenna from stretched sprue. 1/72 Airfix DH Mosquito B.XVI straight from the box, with slightly silvering decals. 1/72 IBG Ford Maultier with Modelltrans resin tracks. A bit out of my usual interest and scale, this is the 1/87 (HO) Trident Steyr 4K 4FA, as used by the Austrian Army. A commissoned build. MAY 1/72 Airfix P-51D Mustang, converted to Mk.IV using Freightdog conversion and markings from Xtradecal, representing an aircraft of 19. Squadron in Peterhead, 1945. 1/72 Revell Heinkel He-177 A-5, markings from Eagle Strike. 1/72 Stransky Kits Bücker Bü-181 "Panzerbücker" 1/72 Academy Ford GPA with Blackdog stowage. 1/72 Tamiya Bf-109 G6 in colorful Romanian markings, decals from "Romanian Roundels Over Czechoslovakia" (DK72088). "Tumpi-Bumpi Flostomok" was the mount of Lt. Baciu from Grupul 1 Vanatorare, in May 1945. JUNE 1/72 Dragon Heinkel He-219 A2 with photo-etch from Eduard, resin wheels from True Details and decals from AIMS, representing an aircraft of NJG3. The mottle scheme was free-handed, using my trusted Harder & Steenbeck airbrush with 0,15mm nozzle. 1/72 Kovozávody Prostějov Spitfire Mk.XI in colors of the USAAF. JULY 1/72 Airfix Hawker Tempest, straight from the box. AUGUST 1/72 Dragon SdKfz 165 Hummel, from the box. 1/72 IBG Cromwell IV with resin tracks and wheels from Tank Models, etched antenna socket from Dan Taylor Modelworks and stowage from Modelltrans. Markings represent a vehicle of the British 6th Airborne Armoured Regiment, 6th Airborne Division, operating in Normandy in summer 1944. SEPTEMBER 1/72 Hasegawa SdKfz 251, converted to a battlefield ambulance by covering the (poorly detailled) interior with Sandsmodels tarpaulin and adding Aleran Miniatures red-cross decals. 1/72 Hasegawa SdKfz 234/3, built from the box. 1/72 Finemolds Bf-109K4 with etched parts (armored headrest, seatbelts, antennas) from a Brengun set and a pitot tube from Master, markings from the box. OCTOBER Another 1/72 IBG Fw-190D, this is the "Over Czech Lands" boxing, representing an aircraft of the 211 XXX Werknummer range, identified by the late three-piece gun cowl with small round bulges in the lower rear position. Decals from Eagle Cals (#108) 1/72 Academy Dodge WC54 Ambulance with stretchers from Milicast. The red-cross decals were sprayed using a paper template. 1/72 UM SU-76M Soviet assault gun with metal barrel from RB Productions. 1/72 Zvezda Yak-9D with decals from Printscale. NOVEMBER 1/72 Dragon Sherman M4A3 with sandbag armor from Blackdog and figure from Milicast. 1/72 Dragon Sherman M4A4 dressed as "Philippsbourg" from the Free French Army 1945. I added OKB Grigorov resin tracks, Eureka towing cable, Milicast figure and stowage and Peddinghaus decals. The antenna is from stretched black sprue. 1/72 Arma Hobby Yak-1B, built from the "Expert Set" box. DECEMBER 1/72 Valom C-46D Commando in markings of "Operation Varsity", March 1945. I wish you a great holiday season and a lucky new year. Greetings from Austria, Roman

Hello Here is my output of 2022. In total 18 models , all are in 1/32 except for one. 1/32 Hasegawa Fw 190A5 1/32 Hasegawa P-47D 25 1/32 Hasegawa Bf 109g 10 1/32 Hasegawa Fw 190 F8 1/32 Trumpeter Me 262A 1/32 Dragon / AIMS Bf 110F2 1/32 Trumpeter P-47D22 1/32 Great Wall Hobby P-40B Flying Tigers 1/32 Revell Fw 190A8 R2 1/32 Hasegawa P-40N 1 1/32 Special Hobby Hawker Tempest Mk.II 1/32 PCM Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 Early 1/48 Hasegawa F-104G 1/32 Hasegawa + Paragon Spitfire Mk.XII 1/32 Spitfire Tamiya Mk.IX TuAF 1/32 Trumpeter P-47D 5 1/32 Hasegawa Spitfire Mk.Va 1/32 Hasegawa P-47D 28 FRIGIT MIDGIT

This is 1/32 Hasegawa Spitfire Mk.Va with the markings of W3114 FJ-K “Argentine (British)” from 164 Squadron, Skeabrea , Orkneys in May-July 1942 The donor kit is old 1/32 Hasegawa Mk.I/II. Cockpit modified with Barracudacast resin seat, Eduard seat belts, Yahu instrument panel and some parts of Barracudacast Spitfire interior set. Other modifications are as follows: Archer fine fasteners Quickboost exhaust set Quickboost propeller set Master details horizontal tails Barracudacast cockpit door Barracudacast main wheels SAC main landing legs Paints are Gunze and Tamiya acrylics. Decals are from Hobby2000 Spitfire Mk.Va kit. Happy Modelling

And we had Holly not on the tree but in it.

More kits went out of the stash than what went in. 27 finished this year compared with three last year. 1/72 is my scale and there were many Swedish vehicles finished. The reason that I managed so many is that I decided to finish some shelf queens in the end of the year.

Hi all Decalling completed, canopies arrived so will attempt to cut the sliding section tomorrow Really pleased how it looks now. Thanks for looking in Chris

Hi all Welcome to my interpretation of the GT4. This was inspired by an flat black Audi A4 parked next street from mine. I thought that the GT4 would be a suitable car to try this colour scheme on. I'll let the pics do the talking. As always comments, thoughts and criticism are very welcome. As you can tell I did have fun with the lighting setup on this one! Thanks for looking, Nick

This kit is The Revell 1/72 kit and is getting a bit scarce right now, for me this is a rare helicopter build. I have built a machine belonging to HMS Devonshire using various resin improvement sets, model decals and crew from PJ products. I also did some surgery on the nose to better represent an earlier model. Thanks for looking, I hope you liker it. Regards Glenn

His nibs thinking he's a present... And then deciding my water tastes better than his! Regards, Steve

OK, with the benefit of a day for the opacity to settle, its clear a line was crossed and the original experiment transitions into the remedial phase. I think someone with the required skill and experience could get this right, but as pointed out by several people, the line is a fine one. In practical terms the situation has been either hinted at or directly referenced in some of the previous contributions on this thread: the red and black are competing. To hide enough of the black underneath with white paint, means the red suffers - which is the active ingredient. When I try this on another project, as @SaminCam suggested I'd substitute black for a grey base, then red, then white. What comes next? This now becomes a brand new challenge. How to obtain a pink tinge? I need it pink enough to just pick out the white in the fuselage D-D half-stripes that follow before the decal stage. Option 1: selectively airbrush a pink mist and leave the panel tonal variation intact. Promising, I'll test and report. Option 2: add a red tint to the pre-decal gloss varnish. Promising, I'll test and report. Option 3: complete repaint with a pink shade. Too drastic, and not needed I think. Option 4: Experiment with an acrylic medium on a hidden area to see if the opacity can be tweaked at this late stage. Worth a test and report No progress will be made on the model for the next few days, until I reach a conclusion and run the above tests. That's all for now. Great to hear your further thoughts. Any other ideas, or things to try?

Managed a day at the bench. The cabin and engine are coming together, dials, seats and a hint of weathering. The seats were painted with Sepia oil paint and using a reverse dry brush technique a layer of oil was removed leaving lighter, high points. Once dry this was given a dry brush with lightened Sepia. I've tried keeping the sheen the replicate the leather. Cheers all and a Happy New Year to you.

It's been a weird year. I acquired a nerve condition rather suddenly in March that leaves me hardly able to walk, amongst other things. and a month in hospital in June (apart from nearly killing me) has brought me neither cure nor even a definitive diagnosis. All conducted at the leisurely pace dictated by the lack of resources in the NHS. However, I'm still able to model and work (thanks to just about all human contact moving over to e-meetings) so that's been going well. Let's start in January, half way through my SPAD madness... Airfix SPAD VII, a pretty horrible kit, with corrugated fabric effects filled on the wings and lots of work to make the struttery useful: In its defence, the decals were great. Then the Eduard SPAD XIII, which is undoubtedly a very accurate and detailed kit. However, there are quite a few fit problems (lower wing, cabane struts) which detract from the experience. However, all is forgiven: The blue on the decal sheet was a strange shade veering towards cyan, so it's been overpainted back to a colour that works better for me. Completing my SPAD obsession: Count Baracca and his mount were unavoidably detained in the living room during the photo session: The Matchbox GB brought an SdKfz 251 Hanomag (lovely kit): And the Henschel 126, couldn't choose a scheme so I built both: Adding a synchronised dance troupe for a little variety: When presented with two scary vacforms you are meant to run away, not start them. Nobody told me that. So first the Classic Plane Pfalz DXII (cue lots of "Pfalz Dawn" etc puns that had us all rolling in the aisles): Then the Rareplanes/Warbirds Pfalz DIIIA in a scheme that I'm not completely sure ever existed, but it was too pretty to pass up: The Eduard Nieuport 17 is a delightful kit, and I couldn't resist the dragon: Somewhere along the way I acquired a Pegasus Fairey Albacore missing a fuselage half: Lots of work on this one: Choosing a scheme was hard until this picture turned up: The Morane Saulnier 406 was missing from my French WWII fighter collection so (after balking at the FROG MS 406 kit) I built the Hobbyboss MS 406 in the FROG colour scheme: More vacs (some people never learn) this time a Rareplanes/Warbirds Junkers D1: I am reliably informed that if you have ingested enough psychedelics you can see Blue Meanies from the Yellow Submarine in the camouflage! A sneaky Matador refueller from the Airfix refuelling set: Not today, thank you! Try down the road: Toko/Eastern Express Hansa Brandenburg D1: FROG Spitfire XIV and V1 (I'm counting that as two builds): KP Sopwith Swallow in the August Blitzbuild: Hasegawa F-102A for the Century Fighters GB: Full of missile-ey goodness: Revell Macchi MC200 for the Revell/Monogram GB: Airfix P-38F Lightning with Exito decals for the eponymous GB: Scaleplanes Vickers FB19 vac, tiny at 3 by 4 inches: And finally a Supermodel Fiat G55 which just failed to make the Christmas Blitzbuild deadline: In progress? * Second Airfix P-38F Lightning * Frog Fiat G55 * Sd Kfz 234 in Armoured Cars GB Shelf of shame? * Fairey Long Range Monoplane (or Fairey Long Time Stalled) - this is the year! (again) * Short Empire - looked up, saw the whole elephant, lost my appetite a bit. Thanks to JWM for building one from my fuselage blank! * Tupolev SB-2 (Waiting for green squiggles, not enthused by anything Russian at the mo) * Bristol Type 142 (needs stripping and repainting for shiny silver) Plans? * Too many to mention - at least half a dozen GBs including two over-ambitious builds. * Persuade people to join the NOT MY COMFORT ZONE GB! Thanks also to the runners and denizens of this forum for your support and companionship this year. Happy New Year and may 2023 be a good one. Adrian

Hi all, for this GB I'm finally going to be building my favourite plane- the Westland Wyvern. This is the Trumpeter kit in 1/48 and its some size- I'm also planning on getting a photoetch cockpit set for the build. The kit comes with Suez markings for Operation Musketeer, but I'm leaning toward building this kit as one from 813 Squadron aboard HMS Eagle. Very much looking forward to this build and can't wait to see what everyone else produces, thanks for looking in!

Hi All. Built in the run up to Christmas, this is Airfix's 1/72 Bf-109 E3 from their starter kit, bought from Lidl for the sum of £6:99. Their starter kits come with decals for a single aircraft and little pots of acrylic paint for the basic colours. The paint pots went in the bin and the rest was done from the box, including the very nice decals. I found a photo of this aircraft in France in the Spring of 1940 and it showed almost no weathering, not even the typical '109 exhaust staining; so that's how I modelled it. The kit has the aileron mass balances but I managed to break them and one 'ping'ed off when I was trying to reattach it, so they're both missing now. The soft plastic presents some challenges as the control column, aerial mast, pitot and both mass balances broke as I tried to remove them from the sprue, even though I was very careful having been made aware of this risk. Paints are Mr Color for the RLM71 and RLM65, and Vallejo for the RLM02. I haven't highlighted any of the panel lines, they show through as I used Mr Surfacer 1500 black primer. Decals are straight from the kit with the exception of the swastikas from an Xtradecal set, and the final coat is Xtracrylix satin varnish.

One of my builds from a few years ago. Hasegawa 1/48 kit with Eduard PE, Eduard fabric remove before flight, Aires resin and scratchbuild upgrade in cockpit and wheel bays and struts, all marking are painted

I’ve taken a couple of moulds of the spinner using Oyumaru and got a couple of good copies using two-part car filler:

As I assemble the jig, I have found that the translation of the instructions, while useful, isn't sufficient. I need to translate the captions on the plans too. With Google translate this is an easy matter and has the brilliant side effect of teaching me just a little Italian. Bonus! The next parts requiring gluing to the jig were the two ends. These are of double thickness and will support the inner stem and sternpost (part 15) to which the inner planking will be attached. That may not make a lot of sense. It took me a while to work this out and just in time too - I could easily have glued the stem and stern - boat parts, to the two ends of the jig which would have been a fatal error. Sticking on the shaped end pieces of the jig was difficult for me too. How on earth would I clamp that shape into exactly the right position? It's a simple butt joint of the 'side grain' of a big chunk of plywood. No locating pieces. It's a wedge shaped piece and any way I tried to clam it simply shot it across the room. I thought long and hard and then drilled through each piece, leaving the drill bits in place to act as purchases for my clamps. What a stupid idea that was! Round metal doesn't give a good secure base to a pair of clamps which have to be loose enough for adjustment of the joint but tight enough not to fall off. It was quite a comedy routine - I should have videoed it but I already needed several more hands than I owned, with none left for the camera. So I used superglue and held the joints together in my hands. It won't be the last time I over-think myself into a corner. The rest of the frames fitted well once the laser char, the brown markings on all of the cut lines, had been removed. So the jig is done and I must now stop for ten days or so because the next step is to begin the building of the actual boat. I'll be back on the 7th Jan unless I find any more interesting whale tales for your amusement. Happy New Year!

Hahaha...true! Thanks buddy Which leads me into the last update for the year as I am going away to Queenstown with my sister who is out from the UK with her family. I managed to pull the nose section up to its correct position and am really happy with the way the new modified nose profile looks. Although a few panel lines will need shifting a little. Every possible type of glue, epoxy, bracing and clamps were used to hold the correct profile whilst everything set rock hard It seems to have held out! LOL what a mess in there, good thing you wont see it! This now leads to a tricky and complex section of the conversion and that is that the radome is too long, but the fwd fuse is the correct length . I have had lots of awesome info and help from several people and studied multiple drawings. It's just really hard to figure out once the radome has 3mm removed (as per someone actually physically measuring one) where the deficiency is. I have come to the conclusion that the forward fuse station 48.28 is slightly too far back. This corresponds with the air conditioning ducts on the nose sitting incorrectly at that panel line when it should be further back. I know most sand it back but it measures pretty well spot on. I have opted to increase the frame station forward 1.5mm at this stage and I reckon I should be pretty close. Maybe I have it wrong, but it all seems to add up and look correct on test fittings etc. Thats how I will fix it anyway. The Flightpath nose is very good but because I now have a slightly deeper profile it wont fit. So.......3mm removed off the rear surface on my belt sander, then a cut along the lower line to open up the dia a touch, then where the tape is I will will make a couple of cuts to help with lowering the and holding a round radome section....well thats the plan! here is where I am at I am making it up as I go really, But this is the direction I am heading for now. Well this is my last update for the year Thanks to you all, your support to me has been amazing through 22. Largely its because of your encouragement it might otherwise be on the SOD, every comment and 'like' is super appreciated and taken to heart! I caught up with Kerry last night as he was down and enjoyed a drink together and for you buddy....thanks!! Your help in CAD'ing up these parts would not have led to such a result so far and in many respects I consider this a joint effort, not just my model or work! I will be on line but not at my bench, keep up all the amazing work chaps, and here's to a much better 2023!! Cheers Anthony (who better go pack the car now as everyone is buzzing around the house LOL)