Leaderboard

1/32 Academy F-18 VFC-12 "Fighting Omars" This was built using Quinta studios cock pit decals, and aires ejector seat, its painted using MRP paints. I have to say overall its not a bad kit, I would say its better than the Trumpeter kit, but they both have flaws. One thing I didn’t like is the very small attachment that your given for the tail fins, it really is bad, but as modellers we adapt and over come. Fighter Squadron Composite 12, also known as the "Fighting Omars", is a United States Navy Reserve fighter squadron based at NAS Oceana. It provides adversary training to East Coast Navy air wings. VFC-12 reports to Tactical Support Wing, a component of the Naval Air Force Reserve

Here's the first completion of the year, the epic Airfix 1/72 Buccaneer, a kit I've been waiting for since I started modelling some 40 years ago! Painted in Xtracolour X032 RAF Desert Gulf War pink and then toned down with Revell matt clear, the additions to the kit are as follows: Armory resin wheels Kits-world decals Eduard ejection seat handles Coastal kits base Tamiya weatherine master soot for the engine stains Flory models wash I've also got the Flightpath RAF oxygen/nitrogen set, RAF diorama set and RAF ground power unit to add - but these are proper hardcore and will probably take longer to build than the model did! I'll post fresh pics when I eventually complete it. Bucc9 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc8 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc7 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc6 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc5 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc2 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Bucc1 by tony_inkster, on Flickr

HI everyone!🙂 this is my 1/48 hobbyboss TBM-3 avenger this kit is very nice,and the decal is good.. the blue tone camouflage is a big challenge for me..😅 If you are interested in my building progress about this aircraft,please feel free to check my YT channel..😊 hope you guys like it!

An Italeri kit from their golden era, not over-engineered or over-detailed, just a solid basic kit at a good price and some of the detail is on par with current releases. The 2 stowage racks (above the cab and on the roof) were scratchbuilt but otherwise it's built from the box. If I had a quibble it would be the suspension. I went to great lengths to align the suspension properly as per instructions, but even then I had to alter the rear wheels so they'd sit lower. Before the alteration it was more like a hot rod and even now the front suspension is a bit too low for my liking. Painted with Tamiya and Vallejo, weathered using Mike Rinaldi's OPR method (oil paint rendering). This is my 3rd try with OPR, I'm slowly getting there but it's a long road and there's still loads to learn...

Hello Another finished build with this 1/72 Finnish Curtiss P-40M which actually was some sort of a gift from the Soviet enemy in 1943. The decals came from the old V7269 Ventura decal sheet. At the moment I am clearing my huge "in progress" boxes as this one was started many years ago. Patrick

Hi folks. Some kits make for lots of 'in box' reviews but fall off a cliff when it comes to turning them into finished lumps. MiniArt's Avro 671 seems to be one of those. Whether MiniArt's scheme colours are hysterically accurate I don't know - there's debate about this elsewhere on BM. I ran with MiniArt's version anyway as I just liked the 'look'. Delicate in places, even in 1/35, it's been a bit of a 'bucket lister' since this RAF version was released. The modelling market is fairly well flooded with targeted finishing products these days and while I usually opt for brewing my own I have to say AMMO's black Shader was an extremely pleasant surprise. Weathering over yellow is particularly tricky, at least as I've found - easy to overdo, underdo and look out of place. I confess, I didn't use the Shader exactly as Mig intended but I'm an inveterate anarchic fiddler, so lightly sprayed it on and wiped vertically with a gloved finger. The nature of the material is so forgiving and easy to manipulate and remove that I bought five more colours. Really excellent stuff that suits my 'opps, wrong again, back to square one' m/o. Happy days. TTFN Steve

This is another build from a while back. It's Eduard's 1:48 Lysander (I think originally a Gavia kit). I added a lot of scratchbuilt details, as well as photo-etch and some resin bits. I think The upper parts of the pilot's side windows should be fixed, but...I have a rule where I never fiddle with a model once I've called it finished! Not the most detailed or best fitting kit, but the Lysander is always a favourite. The model won the IPMS Czech Republic Award (Aircraft), and a Silver Medal at SMW 2021. Thanks. Here it is with my 1:72 Matchbox version, built sometime in the '80's: I scratch-built a cockpit floor, and added a lot of scratch-built detail to the cockpit; it's all very visible once completed: The fit of the wings to the greenhouse was almost totally random, so I made some modifications to the kit to improve the chances of getting everything to fit:

My first completed build for this GB. Trumpeter 1/48 Supermarine SeaFang F. Mk.32 Straight OOB apart from tape belts. Build Thread Here. Many Thanks to all who've commented, reacted and looked at this build. And, of course a huge thanks to @TonyOD and @Col. for hosting and keeping this together. Cheers, Alistair

Hi guys , Italian WW II aircrafts, are one of my favorite topics, love their shapes and camos. The MC 202 was one of the more elegant one out of them ( in my opinion). Adding DB 601 engine ( made under licence) to part of MC 200 design , produce a very efficient plane which was more than needed by Italian pilots at that time. regarding what they were facing . Mc 202 could be considered as standard " work horse " fighter for RA between End of 1941 and middle of 1943. Thus, numerous camos schemes, depending on areas use, and also different building lines Macchi, Breda ..) . I have chosen to represent one of the first operational MC 202's by the RA. This unit was the first one to be fully equipped by the new fighter. On pictures ,these planes looked pretty new and cleaned up ( with slight exhaust stains) , ready to go on Malta operation area. Main features of Mc 202 first batches were : short antenna mast, slim compressor intake ( means without sand filter) and specific tailwheel end . Regarding camo, we are on a classical one for that period ie : verde mimetico 2 with gallio mimetico 3 and marrone mimetico 2 blotches . If I'm wrong on that, forgive me and correct it if needed. 😉 ( anyway I'm not sure to re-paint it !! 😄) I used Aeromaster paints,( yes Still have some !! 😁) and Airone hobby undercarriage set , which is quite nice indeed. ok guys enough talk, let's go on to pics ! Hope you'll like them ! best regards ! cheers !

after years of lurking around here I finally uploaded my first RFI. Modelling since forever and still learning new skills as my results are far from perfect. Eyesight issues don't really help but I am still enjoying the hobby! The Zvezda 757 kit is straight forward and offers both RR and PW engine options. I choose the classic Monarch livery, laser printed decals provided by 26 Decals, the set comes with a silk screen printed details sheet as well and is excellent as usual from 26. Biggest issue was the nose landing gear that is a bit fragile but overall I am happy with the result. The GPU and airstairs are kits from Rocast. Very fine but fragile detail but great to have some GSE to join the scenery. Peter

I wasn't sure whether this one belonged here or in the Figures section, but here seemed more appropriate to my mind. Anyway, this is a Mondoshawan from the movie "The Fifth Element", which I 3D-printed from files I downloaded from Thingiverse. Painted with a range of metallic colours and weathered mostly with oils, plus some post-shading with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics. The base is a standard craftwood variety, into which I scribed the paving stones, and it was once again painted mostly with Tamiya acrylics. I cut the letters with my Silhouette cutter, laid them down over a white base, and then sprayed the black over the top. This process actually gave me a lot more trouble than I anticipated, but I got there in the end. And here's a brief 360 video, though the colours are way darker here: Thanks for looking! Kev

Howdy All. Finally finished my RAAF Vultee Vengeance, so thought you wouldn`t mind if I subjected you to some pic`s Built from Dora Wings 1/48 kit In the markings of an aircraft of 24 Sqn RAAF Mostly from the box, just added ignition harness and brake pipes from bits of wire, antenna wires, also replaced the kit bombs with some from the spares box........ ......not because there`s any thing wrong with them, I just couldn`t be bothered with trying to assemble the etched fins and get them straight. Decals were the kits and behaved perfectly It`s a massive improvement on the old AZ kit which I built a long while ago and still have nightmares about........ .......but I still struggled with this one in places. Glad to have it on the shelves though 🙂 Hope you enjoy the pic`s Thanks for looking, cheers Russ

Hi Friends, I have been working on both my models and I think I can call the Tamiya kit completed.... I am yet to touch up on the exhaust stains and try antenna rigging if possible. As of now I will stop here and leave it in the shelf and move on to my Eduard kit.... Please feel free to comment on areas of improvement and any mistakes .... Have a wonderful day Mukund

Hi all Not much of an update , I have been doing little bits on the Sea Hurricane and Nimrod but the main work has been on the Seafire. Cockpit all together, just added some pipework from the UC selector and seatbelts I thought I would start a bit of the main assembly but it was so nice and quick and fitted beautifully and within a short time I ended up with this. Radiator and oil cooler added, filled in around their bases with PPP I know there are shape issues mentioned re this kit, I am not intending to correct these or complicate the build as I feel I need a trouble free Mojo rejuvenating builds the nose and wings will be as supplied. I may change the prop though and have Barracuda Griffon bulges . Have a good evening and thanks for looking . Chris

May as well call it what it is. Salty Sea Dog. Revell USS Arizona 1/426 classic kit build. A while back I posted my small collection of box scale kits, among them, the 1/426 scale Arizona. When I was surfing around looking for something else and discovered Old Model Kits again. The guy who runs it deals with mostly collector's kits, and he knows what they're worth, occasionally, you can find a builder's gem. Anyway, he's wound up with the display model that was given to the lady who christened the Arizona in 1915: https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=41628&manu=Revell&searchtext=arizona&erl=Revell-Documented-Arizona-Factory-Display-Owned-By-Esther-Ross-Who-Christened-The-USS-Arizona It explains how she was devastated by the loss of most of the Arizona's crew at Pearl Harbor really shook her up and she was the driving force in funding the Arizona memorial. And, if you have $3,800 burning a hole in your pocket, you can purchase a significant piece of plastic model history. It would be much less expensive to find a copy of the move "Follow the Fleet," 1936, featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The two break up and he joins the Navy to forget her on the USS Arizona as the lowliest part of the crew, in order to forget her. They wind up meeting later, and Astaire contrives many ways to wrangle a leave so he can dance with her in his magnum opus musical play. At the end, Astaire gets his way, and dances with Rogers, who wears a sheer gown where, in backlit portions exposed a lot more of Ginger Rogers frame than censors realized. Also included was a very young Lucille Ball, but much of the film was taken on the Arizona with many crew members who became entombed on the ship a bit over 4 years later. With all that inspiration, I couldn't help but start on the kit: The hull had significant sprue gates that had to be removed with a razor saw to limit damage. The hull needed to be walked together a few inches at a time. Once I'd done that, the same applied to the deck parts, so I kept on going. The same was done with the bulk of the superstructure, turrets, and guns. The turret with the aircraft launching catapult was made stupid proof, it can only fit where it belongs. This sucker's big and not easy to photograph. Anyway, I already have more than one irons in the fire, this one will go at a pedestrian pace as other projects dry or whatever... Dave

#4/2023 After the Lotus 72 not that long ago, my dad now finished another legendary race car. Well, it didn´t turn out "perfect", but which model does? Fujimi kit which dates back to 1989, this is the 2000 edition. Thekit decals weren´t usable, bought aftermarket ones from Slotracing Werk in Germany. They applied fine but once when dry they became a bit brittle, had to do some touch-ups with white paint. Tire decals are from Indycals. They are printed on a full decal film, to say the tire shape had to be cut out. As far as I´ve seen on original cars, the letter style was a bit different and the decals show a newer style, but better than nothing. Didn´t install the rearview mirror. Micro Klear didn´t work out and plastic or CA glue would have been to dangerous for the windshield, which btw didn´t fit that good and also was slightly too small. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235119141-le-mans-legends124-ford-gt40-mkii-1966/ The model shows one of 13! GT40 used in the 1966 Le Mans race. It was driven by US Americans Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant. The car didn´t finish the race. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Feel free to skip the story.... "And now something completely different", as they used to say in Monty Python... Anyhow, about two years ago, sometime before my birthday, I started teasing my wifoo, how in twelve years of my prison sentence, pardon, marriage, she didn't get me a birthday present even once.... Alas, I was doing it in front of my kids... Whatta mistaka to meka.... My younger son (at the time four), decided that I should get a present. Logically a model... But which?!? While staring at two cabinets, full o aircraft, some AFV and few ships, he decided, that what I would want is a dinosaurs!!!... Of course Triceratops (coincidently his favorite)... So not only I didn't get a present, (I had to buy it myself) I had to make it for him... Lesson learned. Model itself is simple, less than 20 parts, pretty straightforward. As for diorama, base is ring of tree trunk, and things collected in my back yard. Shake and stir, and voila....

Hi All A quick test of MiG Turned Earth Mud and Flory Brown and Sand washes. v WIP here Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve

Hawker Sea Fury FB.11 VW.623 102/K of No. 805 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy. VW.623 was the first Warbird I ever worked on back in 1980 not long after my first posting to VC.724 Squadron. I soon woke up to myself and skidded off the the other side of the hangar where a certain twin tailed deHavilland lovely resided. Fisher Model & Pattern kit in 1/32 with added engine bay and wing fold WEM paint for the main colours, Humbrol 74 for the Hawker yellow and decals from the stash.

I built the Matchbox Swordfish in the '70's with my Dad, and IIRC also the Novo (Frog) floatplane version, and always had a soft spot for the type. I seem to gravitate towards re-making subjects that I built as a child, maybe from different manufacturers, but they still hold some fascination for some reason. This is another model that took me a long time to complete. The fuselage chevron decals were asymmetric, and I only noticed after applying them, so they needed correction afterwards. Also the upper wing has sink marks around the spar elements (where there's an abrupt section change around the spar pockets). Again, this only became apparent after painting and weathering, so it all had to be stripped, filled, and...you get the idea. I'm still not 100% happy with the pre-shading of the fuselage. Anyway, the judges were kind at Scale model World in 2021, and it won a Gold medal and the Jim Howard Trophy. Modifications included: Scratch-built cockpit details such as: Eduard p/e Plastic road and Milliput leather crash pads Brass tube compass mounts Paper maps Eduard p/e airframe set Brass tube tail aerial mount Brass tube torpedo sight rails Brass tube pitot tubes Brass tube fuel tank vents Brass tube grab handles Brass tube tail skid assembly Brass tube cockpit step Brass tube starting handle Lead wire engine de-icing ring (I think that's what it is) Lead wire upper wing details (dinghy lines) Resin engine Elastic thread rigging CAD modelled & 3D printed bombs CAD modelled & 3D printed contra-rotating torpedo screws Brass torpedo fuze/cover Twisted lead wire mooring ropes/lines & torpedo lashings Oil paint woodgrain and p/e screw heads on trestle Cheers!

My first completed project for this Group Build and first one over the finish line for 2023. Airfix's 1/48 Sea Fury built up as an aircraft flown No. 805 squadron of the Royal Australian Navy in the mid 1950s. On August 30th, 1955 this airplane was flown by Lieutenant John Bluett who shot down an unmanned runaway Auster Archer over Broken Bay, NSW.

I'm working on the 1/48 Czech Models JRF Goose as used by the RCAF in WW2, No. 13 Operational Training Squadron based at RCAF Station Sea Island, British Columbia, with many thanks to Carl Vincent and member 'Dogsbody'. The kit is a short run, low pressure kit released in 2004, major parts in plastic, with interior and detail parts in resin. As a short run kit it, is a nice challenge, no locating pins, heavy trailing edges, many missing finer details, clubs for propellers, but an interesting aircraft none the less. Where I'm heading ... First up was thinning all trailing edges with much scraping, sanding, and rescribing, then because I seem to do things backward, I started with the peripherals, rather than use the inaccurate resin engine with it's huge crankcase, I thought I'd try to correct the plastic engine in the kit. I mount the crankcase on some aluminum tubing, chucked it in my Dremel, and turned it down to a correct size, with the ignition loom in place, and added an oil sump whittled from sprue (ignition harness and pushrods to be added later)... Eleven brass, aluminum, and plastic pieces went into each prop ... The elevators were separated, hinges and trim tab actuator added ... Rudder had a nav light position, trim tab, and rudder control horn added ... Wings had the aileron actuator pushrods/control horns added, inaccurate tabs filled, panels rescribed, landing and nav lights added ... Then I started on the fuselage, removing the windows in the entry and escape doors, then ... and the interior ... Now it's off to the paint shop for the first round ... Colin

As I'm taking a break from the Swordfish and this arrived last week. I thought, why not. It means I get to play with PRU Blue again. I should manage to cut some plastic later. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

This was built as part of The Salty Sea Dog Group Build. A straight out of the box build except for Tape Belts and the serials and roundels were masked and painted as Trumpeter had them a tad on the fictitious side. Primed with Tamiya Neutral Grey. Painted with Colourcoats Extra Dark Sea Grey, Sky S Type, FAA/RAF Yellow, Roundel Red, Roundel Blue and Dark Admiralty Grey, Tamiya Flat White, Flat Aluminium, Nato Black and Rubber Black, Panzer Aces Light Rust and Yellowish Rust. Washed with Flory Dark Dirt, Citadel Nuln Oil, Seraphim Sepia and Agrax EarthShade. Oils used were Windsor & Newton and Abteilung 502. Finished with Windsor & Newton Satin Varnish. WIP Here Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

Thanks, Bill. That sounds lovely. Mrs P and baby now both have RSV. Mrs P was coming off a cold and is very groggy, baby is in good spirits so far and we are keeping a close eye on her. Grant seems to have turned the corner.

There was a lot hiccups along the way with this one. It started off as "Berlin Express" and ended up this. Lots of lost and broken pieces along the way. Several sets of decals, exhausts, landing gear and landing light lenses later, I'm finally calling it done. I've spent enough in basic aftermarket stuff to buy three of these kits. Half I didn't use or threw out. In the end I used AMG Decals, Ultracast seat, Quickboost exhaust and Eduard's wheels. I scratch built the gun tubes and guns. The landing light is the Tamiya part glued in with not yet cured white glue. It doesn't fit well. It's a placeholder until I can scratch build a better lens. Here it is number one for 2023

Well, decaling has..... begun, anyway. Like the painting phase, slower going than i woulda hoped. Most of what you see here is clever robbing of Xtradecal, Zotz, and Microscale 72-26 sheets. For some reason, nobody makes the right sized numbers and letters. Everything is too big or too small. There's remarkably little available for the A3D in 72 scale. But, we go with what's available. i re masked the canopy since i wanted to nail down the decals i applied with Super Clear and needed free licence to let fly with the airbrush. Definitely some touch up painting in my future. More to come.

Hi All, just finished this, first effort with water, came out OK I think, went for a Green tinge, figuring vehicles coming ashore would churn up the sand and anything else. Trying to replicate shoreline seafoam was the hardest part. cheers Mark

Hi Friends, This is my completion gallery post for the FW-190 Group build. If and when I complete the Eduard A8 I will post more pictures later. Following are my Tamiya's A3 1/72 scale kit. A nice little kit which is a breeze to build and paint. Thanks for watching and Have a great Day Mukund

Closing on the finish line…. Decalling is nearly complete. After that comes attaching a few final parts, and then the final clear coat. I was hoping to have it finished in time for tomorrow night’s club meeting, but I don’t think it will be. I have already made way too many mistakes on this one along the way- really don’t need to make any more by rushing to finish it!

And this is pretty much finished. A variety of washes with Vallejo Model Washes - overall with grey, then a more targeted pin wash with with a mix of brown and dark grey, finished with overall khaki green. Then a coat of Vallejo Matt varnish, I may add a final dust coat tomorrow. Aerial wire is a bit of steel guitar string. I can see a few bits that need some touching up, but otherwise happy with it. Another interesting Bronco experience. Thanks for following. Photos in an RFI when I get some time.

Future Black Dog detailing sets in design by MP Originals Masters Models. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0X88QZmbW15mEbyQ4MXY2TGuBeeJ5CEdoyfznKG95eftdsJcwGgiz3K4EUi9PmCS5l&id=100063580513573 V.P.

Jesus Christ! As if I didn't have enough reasons not to ride a bike already.

Painted up the cockpit, ready to be lost forever when I stick the fuselage halves together: Not sure whether to bother with an open canopy or not. Can decide later after I've sanded in the gull wing, closed up the wheel wells and added the radiators

Hi, this is my first time posting in the non-military vehicles RFI forum as I am, characteristically, an aircraft modeller. But I simply could not pass up the opportunity to make this spectacular bus kit by the Ukrainian company Roden. The "Straßenzepp Essen" was a small series of luxury truck bodies (about 10 vehicles) produced by the workshop of the Ludewig Brothers in Essen. It was used for inter-city travel, day trips, and for transporting athletes and guests at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. The propaganda value of such elegant art deco styled buses with streamlined hoods and aerodynamic fins helped to announce the rapidly developing German auto industry to the rest of the world. Interestingly, not even these artfully designed buses were able to escape service in WWII. At least one was provided to the Luftwaffe for personnel transport duties. Of note, these buses had seats placed at 45 degrees to the window. So you didn't need to twist your neck to look out those big panoramic windows. A feature we've lost in the name of economy... As for the kit, it was difficult to assemble due to the body being moulded in separate roof, sides, and rear panel sections. It took quite a bit of filler and sanding to get some semblance of smoothness, and I think I did a decent job with this for such a small model. The diorama base is the Flyhawk French Streetscape kit. The tree and hanging sign are scratchbuilt. So without further ado, please enjoy the pictures! I should stop by this corner of the forum more often.

First of 2023. Revell's new boxing of their Typhoon in the recent RAF display scheme. It's quite an old kit with all that that entails. On the whole fairly decent but one or two problem areas fit-wise. The decals were OK but in places quite a poor fit. Anyway, here it is. zz20230201_093237 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr zz20230201_093250 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr zz20230201_093304 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr zz20230201_093311 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr zz20230201_093409 by Derek N.Ferguson, on Flickr

All the very best to you and yours, PC. I hope that things get better very soon over there. Positive waves, Baby!

I've added the rest of the bridge with its various controls, also, some 'bobs buckles' in preparation for the rigging. The next step will be to add the 'midships' superstructure and add detail to it. AND THEN for my sins, I have to try to fit these Into the two gun tubes.

Edit: Photo based post which made no sense once the photos were lost.

That's an idea Heather, thanks. I may be too lazy at the moment… That said I think I also have to find some other markings - see below - so it may be the best option. Thanks Keith - see below! Cheers Terry. Thanks Johnny. Madness is an option… Thanks Nigel, very kind. So, what markings do I need and what's in the sheet Jim sent me: I've checked this against the Hase build that pizzapaola did here and I need: - White 'L' in black triangle x 2 for tail and one larger for wing - 2107112 serials for tail x 2 - 'VE' code; provided - Nose art; provided - Two 'O's for tail; provided (cue two Ronnies!) How big are the serials? 6mm. Ish. 6 x 72 = 432mm 432mm = 17" Allowing for conversion I think 18" seems likely then? If I'm going to have to design the 'L's I may as well do the serials too. Gulp.

Yesterday i tried to fix some overspray issues and make the camoscheme a bit less crude. The downside to that is that the model looks flat due to the loss of the preshading/highlighting. Today i will try to fix that. Stowage looks nice though. I also noticed i made a mistake on the front hull with the scheme. I think i'm going to file that under "creative freedom" 😁 So today some work on new highlights and shades and i want to start with the tracks. I need to finish painting and placing before the sidepanels can go on. That also gives me the time to work on weathering the weels now that i still have the space. It's a working order i'm not used to. Also i recieved a nice package today... The Cruiser A10mk1A from Gecko. I seem to be in a bit of a brittish mood lately.... i need to be carefull i might end up even liking tea.... 🤣 I find brittish WW2 AFV's just make interesting models because of the shapes, rivets, bolts etc. However, after the Crusader is finished, i'll defect to the german side. I'm joining @FrancisGLin building my Takom Jagdtiger. So let's crack on with the Crusader shall we? I'll keep you guys posted. Cheers! 👍👍👍

Apart from the guns, anchors and chain, this part of the deck is done. This 3D printing has some insane detail, bulbs in the search lights, And just when you think the bits can't get any smaller........

I feel I have to follow-up on Troy's suggestion. I duly placed an order and ....the beast arrived. I set it free....... I have to say that it's good value. 155 pieces for under £9 delivered compared to my very neat and tidy 3(6 grades) sanding sticks for £5 from Hobbycraft. There are 5 different grades from Fine to X-microfine and some slightly coarser ungraded. Being curious I googled the info on grades and P values ............... Gosh! I hadn't realised that there was such a wide utopian world out there related to sanding info and activities. Anyway, @Troy Smith and @billn53 I now have no excuse for not being able to sand anything anywhere ever Have a good day Rob

Its always hard to believe at this point that the muck will come off. But it does. Its the Flory ‘Dark Dirt’, which is quite black, with some ‘Grime’ mixed in to make it slightly less stark. It WILL be mostly coming off as this was a very new aircraft at the start of its squadron service.

I’m using my super-expensive, extra-fancy biplane wing alignment jig… it does a great job at getting the top and bottom wings’ leading edges parallel. I also decided to go with painted-on stripes for the tail surfaces…..

Nice project. Some pics to help you choose for Bulgarian subjects. I recently built a series of Bf-109's in Bulgarian service. Gustav's as follows. These are 1/48 Eduard and Kora Decals. My favourite is White 7. Always liked its in-flight photo with the mountains in the background. Ray

This is a shot of my dad and I taken in the previous decade: I've gotten a haircut since then, and dad has passed on. This is the Kitty Cow, AKA Charley. The ladies at the vet called her Kitler, my niece named her after Chaplain. She says English words like "out." "yeah," "me," and "no." And Cricket Bug, the 100 year old cat. There's another one, a big black and white male who looks like he's wearing a tuxedo. He's frightened by the camera and hides when I'll try to take his picture. I add him if I can ever sneak a shot of him. Dave

Hi All Thanks. I usually have a couple of 'B-Grade' builds going on in the background, mainly because occasionally I have a glass of wine or two of an evening and fancy doing some modelling, but don't want to mess up an ongoing build. Here they are finished On with the Tiger Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve

This is made from the Tamiya 1:48 P-47M (Kit #61096*2800) offering which allows one to build any P-47 from the P-47D-25 to the P-47D-40 as well as the early P-47M. Lots of spare parts and if you have a Testors kit, you can almost build up an entire cockpit using spares. About the markings....."To clear test airspace of nonessential traffic - especially private aircraft with no radios (NORDO) - a late production P-47D (45-40329) acted as a flying billboard in the early post-war era." The P-47 (Pursuit) became the F-47 (Fighter) in 1948 and there are two photos of this aircraft, one saying that the shot was taken in "...late 1948..."

Well, having emerged from Canopy Hell, i thought it was time to begin the decals. But no. One thing that bothered me were the wing/fuselage walkways. More specifically the inch wide edge stripes. I guesstimate these as being .020 wide on the kit decal, and honestly i didn't think i was good enough at masking off something that narrow, let alone straight. Fast forward a week or two, and i thought i would at least try. The photos you see here, were taken after the painting was done and i'm removing the masking tape from the fourth spraying session. With this out of the way, decaling has begun (really). Until next time.....