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Probably my last finish for the year. Special Hobby's Viggen with a bit of aftermarket. More details at my blog

Model: Hobby Boss F3H-2 Demon Scheme: VF-31 F3H-2 Demon Paint: AK Interactive Real Color, and MRP, Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: CAT4 - Ejection seat CAT4 – F3H2/2N/2M Wheels Type 1 Eduard – AIM-9B Sidewinder Phase Hanger Resin – Aero 1A/4B Sidewinder/Sparrow Rails Reskit – AIM-7E Sparrow III This model is aa continuation of my VF-31 Tomcatters anthology, this time this time an F3H-2 Demon. I used Hobby Boss’s model for the as the base for this build as they include a VF-31 scheme in the boxing I used. Unfortunately they sort of got things a wee bit confused their F3H-2 and F3H-2M boxings, namely with regards to the tail fairing. The F3H-2 model is meant to represent the later “Short Tailed” version but it only comes with the early long tail, and the early version F3H-2M only comes with the short tail. All the other bits in both models are the same. They could have made life nice and easy and release a boxing with both tails! So I had to scratch build the correct tail fairing for the model I wanted. The kit pylons were also incorrect and were replaced with AM resin ones, same with the supplied Sidewinders and Sparrows, they weren’t correct either. Other than those minor things it was a pretty straightforward build. The model as actually huge, I didn’t realize how big they were, no wonder they were so under powered with a single Allison J71 engine, the F-4B Phantom that replaced it had over well double the thrust and only was 20% heavier! Anyway, she was a nice model to build and a must for anyone interested early USN jet aircraft. Thank you for looking in please enjoy. Plus here she is with her siblings, I only need to add the F-4J (currently on the bench) and another F-14A and will have completed this series of my VF-31 builds.

Model: ICM MiG-25 RBF Scheme: Ukraine MiG-25 RBT Paint: AK Interactive Real Color and Extreme Metal, Tamiya and Mr Color Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: Barracuda Resin – MiG-25 Wheel set Foxbot – Ukrainian Foxbats MiG-25 RB Foxbot – Foxbat Stencils Master Model – MiG-25 Pitot Probe Reskit – MiG-25 3D Landing Gear Reskit – MiG-25 RB Masks Reskit – MiG-25 RB/RBT Exhaust Nozzles This build was part of the MiG-25 Foxbat / MiG-31 Foxhound STGB. She is part of an ever expanding Ukraine air force SIG I am doing, which will cover all aircraft operated since their independence in 1991. Barring the Tu-22’s they will all be in 1/48th. The base model is ICM’s lovely MiG-25RBF, with a few extra AM bits thrown in. The model to build is really nice but it has a few trick bits to catch the unweary out! Joining the 2 fuselage sections and side panels being the trick bits. Lots of test fitting and being really careful when glues bits together is the way to solving some of these issues. I tried Reskits new 3D printed Undercarriage, looks awesome....right pain I found to fit, as with this model the main gear needs to be fitted quite early on.....and yes I manages to break one of them!! The decals are form Foxbot, their decal sets are amazing...just be warned their stencil set for the MiG-25’s!!! The decal number count is well over a 1000 tiny decals and their numbering system makes the “Where’s Wally” games seem like child’s play!!! On the end I’m really happy with how she turned out, what a beast of an aircraft! Thank you for looking and please enjoy. Plus here are a couple of her siblings.

An actual proposal to use the HS125 Dominie as a Carrier On-board Delivery aircraft, has been lost to the mists of time. A project which I've undertaken, using the Airfix kit, contents of my spares box, leftover decals, and a few other bits and bobs. This was a no-cost conversion. Mods to the undercarriage, to give it a sit up and beg stance - ready for catapult operation, and a Buccaneer style airbrake at the tail. Then the completed model, with refuelling probe, scribed leading edge slats, wingfolds, enlarged spoilers, Extra dark sea grey over white scheme, reminiscent of Phantoms and Scimitars of that time. and of course the hook.

Ive been quite enjoying the recent tooling Airfix kits, pretty crisp detail, nice fitment, breezy construction for the most part. The BP Defiant is no different, a nice impression of the big turret fighter. I think Defiants look slick, like a meaty spitfire, and I really enjoy the camo on top, black on bottom style night schemes. As far as I can tell, Defiants may have worn something like this for a brief period as they transitioned to nightfighter duty. But even if not, I think it makes for a super cool and visually interesting scheme. You'll note the slightly wobbly/scratchy lines on the canopy and turret, this BP was another experiment in hand-painting the canopy frame. I absolutely hate masking canopies, tape, parafilm, liquid mask, always put the brakes on a build for weeks cause its such a tedious operation. Tape and paraflm have gotten me nice results before, but also some about as scuffed as the hand painting, while taking about twice as long lol. Liquid mask has just never worked for me. Let me know what y'all think:

Model: Trumpeter 1/32nd A-4M Skyhawk Scheme: IDF A-4N “Ayit” Paint: AK Interactive Real Color, and MRP, Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: Dead Design – A-4M Canopy Masks Reskit – A-4 Skyhawk late Wheels set Sky Decals – Israeli Air Force A-4 “Ayit” decal set Wolfpack – A-4H/N IDF Conversion set This model was built as part of the “Go Large or Go Home” GB. The base model is Trumpeter’s A-4M with the Wolfpack conversion kit. Unfortunately, this conversion kit is actually more suited to do a IDF A-4H version as I is missing extra bits found on the A-4N. These missing bits needed to be scratched built. Generally, the model isn’t too bad to build, though the leading edges slats are a right pain, to me, Trumpeter seemed to have gotten arms on the slats the wrong way around. Assembling them per the instruction they just wouldn’t sit correctly, so I had to break them off and swap over the inner and outer arms. Then they fitted a bit more like they should. The scheme is for a near factory new A-4N of which the Golden Eagle squadron was one of the first to receive them in 1973, plus here he is in “Bomb truck” configuration with 10x Mk.82 bombs loaded ready to do some landscaping!

Hi everyone! Let me present you my next model from "Italeri". The truth is that this plastic model is physically incapable of depicting this sleek helicopter to scale. To do this, you need to solder the tail boom from metal rods.

Model: Eduard 1/48th F4F Wildcat Early Scheme: VF-6 F4F-4 Wildcat Paint: AK Interactive Real Color, and MRP, Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: Reskit – F4F Wheel set This model was built as part of my VF-31 Tomcatters anthology. Basically I am building every aircraft type they operated, from when they were VF-6, though to now being VFA-31. This will include the various schemes they used on all the aircraft carriers they operated off, 17 aircraft in total including the “Any Time Baby” F-14D which was a VF-31 aircraft. I have completed 6 so far and currently have 4 on the bench. If there is a Tamiya F-14 Tomcat shortage then blame me!! This F4F-4 Wildcat is in the last scheme they flew in as VF-6, in July 1943 they were re-designated VF-3 and transferred to F6F Hellcats. The model is Eduard’s lovely F4F Wildcat and the scheme is straight out of the box. The only extra bits were new resin wheels. You cannot fault this model, a sheer joy to build and a highly recommended must on the build list. Thank you for looking in please enjoy.

Hello gents, here's my eighth (and no doubt final) completion of the year – my second Kotare Spitfire I, this one the 'Brian Lane' edition. It's OOB apart from the ASK 3D Printed exhausts and their canopy masking set. Having already built the first release of this kit I got a bit complacent and thought I could just use the instructions as a rough guide and reference, consequently I didn't initially remove the cockpit door rims (as you need to if you are planning on not having the door open) and then wondered why the closed door did not fit properly; I didn't install the prop shaft before joining the two fuselage halves, which means I don't have a successful model – i.e. the propeller does not spin. I also managed to slightly misalign the spine part but somehow only on one side. However these things aside I enjoyed building it as much as I did the last one, indeed I'm slightly more pleased with this one. The next one should be great The paints used were Colourcoats of course - for the 'apple' green cockpit colour I used ACRA08 Verde Mimetico 53192, uppersurface camouflage was ACRN09 Dark Green over ACRN10 Dark Earth and the undersurface camouflage was done in ACRN01 - Sky "S" Type. I painted the spinner yellow as per the instructions; in the most widely-reproduced picture of this aircraft it looks white ...but Brian Lane's fitter John Milne apparently told Dilip Sarkar that it was yellow and I didn't feel I could really argue with that. I did use a paler yellow than RAF trainer yellow so that there is a difference from the roundel surround as the original photograph suggests, but in the photos I took of my model it looks exactly the same shade There is also this photograph, apparently of the same aircraft. Doesn't look like a white spinner there (and it does prove Kotare's assertion that it didn't have doped covers over the gun muzzle openings, though I imagine they would have been applied after the first time it was armed up, I'm pretty sure it was standard practice by September 1940). TLDR, I went with a yellow spinner; it's your choice what colour you do yours The markings are from the kit transfers, they are beautiful to use (they're made by Cartograph) and can take repeated applications of decal softener (and you may well need it to get them to settle down over the bumps on the gun covers and the rivets on the rear fuselage). My only gripe is that the grey for the codes looks far too light, the side-view photo linked above shows nothing like that level of contrast between the camouflage colours and the codes. The final touches were a coat of AK Varnish (Satin with a little bit of Ultra-matt mixed in); an RT wire from Infini lycra thread – slightly underscale I suspect but I prefer the wires not to be too obvious; some wing-root chipping with Prismacolour pencils in a mid- and light-grey; a little exhaust staining from a brownish-black mix; navigation lights in red and blue Tamiya Clear and some staining from the cartridge ejector slots using black-grey pastel powder as this appears to be present on the original aircraft. Apologies for all the verbiage, thanks for stopping by Cheers, Stew

Sharing my latest build here. This is Takom's 1/35 AH-64D Apache Longbow done in the markings of the Republic of Singapore's 120 Squadron "Kestrel". I used the "D of the World" boxing of the Takom AH-64D and built it straight out of the box. The only exceptions were a couple of homebrew decals to detail up the cockpits. Painted with Mr Color lacquers and weathered with oils and enamels. Hope you enjoy the photos of the completed model!

This is Tamiya's sublime Heinkel He-162 in 1/48th scale. It falls together with no issues at all! Tamiya provide a ball bearing for the nose weight and there is an option to build it with an opened up engine, or displayed separately on a maintenance trolley. The only additions I made were a set of etched seat belts, replaced the gun barrels and pitot tube with hypodermic needles. Painted with Mr Color acrylics. Thanks for looking Angelo.

Just finished - 1:72 Convair F-102A Delta Dagger, serial 56-0981, 342 AWS, Hellenic Air Force, Tanagra AB, 1975. Meng kit "out of the box" except Quickboost resin nose, Master Pitot tube, decals from Icarus Productions and some scratch. An unusual topic for me, but during this year's holidays I visited the Hellenic Air Force museum at the Dekelia AB, where I was enchanted by this extraordinary aircraft. Thanks for watching!

Hello fellow modellers, here is the third DC-8 I have finished this year. here is the first one: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235131153-dc-8-52-air-new-zealand-authentic-airliners-1144/ here the second one: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235132131-douglas-dc-8-73-aire-devasion-minicraft-1144/ This one here is from the X-Scale kit with decals from Nazca. African Safari Airways started their business with a single Bristol Britannia (available from Roden) and bought this aircraft here as their first jet airliner in 1973 and used it for three years for flights mostly from Basel and some german airports to African destinations. The -33 used a very special kind of thrust reverser. The rear part retracts to the back, then folds the doors to reverse thrust. After landing, the so called ejector stays in the backward position as shown here. I hope you like this airliner with the non standard markings. cheers, Norbert

Here's a small vignette I threw together from recent builds, made up with the Academy SR.71A, Airfix Astronauts, AIM starter cart, and Hasegawa US Pilots & Groundcrew. Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoy the scene.

After building the Airfix Gazelle I fancied doing change and started a restoration of anAirfix Hampden, but I kinda lost interest in that quite quickly - but I will re-visit it at some point. The WIP for the Merlin build is here I bought this one off EBay not boxed but with just the instructions and no decals. When it arrived a couple of parts were broken but still useable as they were clean breaks. Whit a little trepidation, I set about the build - due to the fact that the Italeri Merlin/AH101 kits aren’t known for their ease of build due to badly fitting parts most notably being known for fitting where they touched, and also being toy-like in appearance. With a few breaks - some forced and others with ‘I just can’t be bothered with it tonight’ during the assembly, work slowly progressed persuading each part to fit and fitting the Eduard PE kit (from a AH101 as I couldn’t get the HC3 version). Slowly it came together and approached the painting stage. It was primed, preshaded, and given 3 different colours to give the worn paintwork look. Once painted the stencil decals (bought from Italeri themselves for €10 inc postage) were fitted. The decals depicting XJ119/C were from am Xtradecal set. I have plenty of thee options if anyone is interested in doing a non standard kit livery - I doubt if I’ll use them (unless an AH101 kit shows up very cheap). The undercarriage and detail parts were fitted and painted where necessary. The sliding doors were fitted in their open positions and after a couple of touch-ups she’s finished. I’m very proud of how this one’s turned out - especially given the kit’s reputation. And with my other helicopters.

Yes, I know I’m very single-minded about my chosen subject matter most of the time. This year, though, was pretty much devoted to building RAF bombers for my 1940 obsession. I began the year, though, by finishing off a build started the previous autumn. No prizes for guessing this is Airfix's Bristol Beaufort. I chose to try and model one of the first Beauforts to enter squadron service in 1940. Here's the WIP thread: And RFI: I also tried to finish off a couple of RAF trainers. The Master got consigned to the Shelf of Doom, while the Tutor did go on to be finished. Happily, the Master will be finished at some point early next year. RFI here: With the Master in abeyance, I moved to my main course - the bombers. I admit I was a bit ambitious, as I end the year with one partly-built model, two unstarted, and one yet to arrive. Anyway, there’s a massive thread, still growing, documenting all the builds as well as giving some background to Bomber Command and how it ended up at war with such a rag-tag and bobtail collection of misfits. First off the blocks was the AZ Model/Valom Handley Page Hampden. WIP starts about here: RFI here: I actually began work on upgrading the venerable Airfix Short Stirling next. As I got a bit bogged down in that build, I also started the rather lovely Airfix Vickers Wellington. WIP starts about here: RFI here: I still have the Wimpey MkII to start. I think there’s a suitable Group Build kicking off at the start of the new year… The Stirling. Ah, yes, the Stirling. Technically, I suppose, it’s still not actually finished, as I’ve bunked off working out the turrets. Here it is, anyway. I will sort the shooty bits in the nose and tail eventually, promise. The gory details of this build can be found starting about here: An RFI with some backstory here: At this point, I started doing a Blackbird Models conversion of an Airfix Lancaster into a Manchester. It’s still on the bench, waiting for me to pluck up the courage to actually attach the replacement outer wings. I did find time to revisit a model I’d built some time back. The Airfix AW Whitley I finished using poorly printed aftermarket transfers. This bugged me for years, so I decided to do something about it. The saga begins roughly, here, interspersed with fun and games with the Manchester: As a refurb and not a fresh build, I haven’t revisited the original RFI. I did do a proper portrait session, though, and this is one of the results: Which brings me on to a couple of my so-called set dressing builds. The Humber Snipe is from Ace Models. I’ve got the estate "woody" version to build, too. The AEC 854 came via a well-wisher when I posted something about wanting a good source of suitable wheels to upgrade the old Airfix tanker. I could tell you where it came from, but I’d then have to kill you. There’s a goodly pile of various road vehicle kits now, so 2024 may see some interesting builds in that department. As ever, I want to thank all of you that follow along, and join in with, my witterings, offering information, guidance and excellent craic along the way. I hope, domestic life permitting, for more of the same next year!

Hi all, This is my first post here in Britmodeller, hope you like my work. After a long long time with no finished models (i spend too much time bulding ship models, so i do not have time to build ship models...) i present you a couple of 1/700 ships. Both are Combrig 1/700 kits, with lot of PE and scratch details (mainly brass tubes, pipes and Master turned masts), painted with lifecolor paints and lightly weathered with oils and pastels Lifeboats and some small guns are from Micromaster, they are a "few thousands steps ahead" of everything else on the market, while steam launches are from kombrig kits. Both models are placed on a 15 mm black plexyglass base, grooved for fitting the protective plexy case, custom made for my needs. Sea is simulated with heavy watercolour paper (Saunders Waterford 300g/m2, Rough Grain Torchon) painted with mixtures of lifecolor acrilics and covered with glossy gell stippled with an old brush to add movement to the surface. The inflexible kit was slightly modified to match pictures from internet, that were used as a guide to figure out some areas of the ship. The torpedo launching device on the bow was simplified because i could not find a better way to build it, and as soon as i find a way to replicate that better i'll replace the one on the kit with a new, more correct one. ION models figures from different sets are used for the crew. The PE fret of Italia's kit was extremely thin and fragile, completely impossible to recover a wrong bend. The flying brige with it's supports was a real pain to build and place in the correct position, only way i found to have a solid piece was to solder the three flat pieces mounted on the bottom half of the funnels, then adding the railing (white ensign models leftovers, to give some strenght to the bridge structure. The supports on the underside were glued to the platform after painting and placing it, to be sure to not interfere with the placing of the bridge on the funnels. The rest of the model was really an easy build...but that bridge is a nightmare! Cheers from italy Stefano

Decent year for me, mixed it up a bit in scale and subject, hopefully more time next year to do more as l step back a bit from work. Tamiya P51B Airfix lynx 1/48 Airfix Blenhiem 1/48 Airfix1/72 JP Tamiya Hellcat Airfix 1/72 Phantom Thanks for all your support and encouragement along the way. Merry Christmas. FB.

I managed to complete 8 this year, albeit with two sets of near-duplicates and all 1/32 scale. First up was ICM's lovely little Fiat CR-42 from the nightfighter boxing of the kit: RFI and more pics here Second was the Hasegawa FW190D-9 for the FW190 STGB Build thread here Gallery pics here Third was also from the FW190 STGB, Revell's FW190A-8/R2: Build thread here Gallery pics here Fourth was Trumpeter's MiG-3: RFI here Fifth was Kotare's Spitfire I (mid) - the loveliest kit of the loveliest mark of Spitfire: RFI here Sixth was Revell's re-pop of the Dragon BF110C, converted to a C-6 version using the AIMS set: RFI here Which was swiftly followed by number seven, the Dragon kit of the BF110D: RFI here And the final entry, freshly done today, the Kotare Spitfire I (again) - this time the 'Brian Lane' edition: RFI here Thanks for your attention gents, hope you all have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year Cheers, Stew

Hi, Not quite 'Armour', but it is military. I built it for the 'Go Large' so thought I'd share here too. Merry Christmas Nigel

I picked this out of a vendor's box of bagged Airfix kits at Scale Model World along with several other ancient gems. The original kit dates back to the 50's and this release is an early/mid sixties version. I don't 'do' cars that often so this was just to be lark. Turns out it was no lark but more like a bedraggled old buzzard. There was extensive clean up, few parts fit together well which was complicated by very vague instructions of the "put this on that" type with an exploded kit view that showed all the parts but not really how they fit together. I struggled on and built it straight out of the bag, the only modifications being I added the fishtail exhaust end and modified the windscreen part which portrayed the folded down part as a solid block. Photos showed me that this part was either a screen like material that was suppose to be a guard against flying stones or was a more typical fold down windscreen. I chose to depict the latter. Another thing photos revealed was that the coachwork/passenger compartment was covered in some sort of material as it had a textured surface and it was not a gloss finish as were all the other metal parts. I have no idea what the deal is with this, but I depicted it with a flat finish to distinguish it from the glossy metal. Finished, nothing is in alignment and it would probably go down the road crab-like, if at all, but it makes a decent display and was a break from my usual braille scale AFVs.

Yep, I have made it a habit of leaving things alone if it`s winding me up. And this one is!!!! Thanks @Thom216, @Zephyr91, @Johnson, @2996 Victor, @giemme, @elger, @GREG DESTEC, and @Hamden. How to fill an obstinate hole, tooth pick. I have trimmed and sanded it down as well. Then I bit the bullet and fitted the internals. And prop retainer. And together now. I am going to leave that to set overnight before cleaning any seams up. Stay calm. Simon.

P-47M (without the fillet) Col. David Schilling CO 56th FG. Academy 1/72 kit, Lifelike Decals set 72-011. AW

Despite many absences from the modelling bench and other issues I managed to build 25 models of many different genre this year. Airfix 1/76 Tiger I Tank (A01308) I knocked this out over two days. Built purely OOB for a comparison with another one of these Airfix Tiger boxings that was heavily modified. More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/76 Tiger I Tank (A01308) Lots of scratch-building and aftermarket bits used in this build including Dan Taylor Modelworks photo etch, Eduard Zimmerit PE, replacement gun barrel and Eureka Towing Cable Set. More pictures can be found, here. Avis 1/72 Short S.1 Cockle (BX 72031) More pictures can be found, here. HobbyBoss 1/72 Mikoyan MiG-15bis Fagot (80263) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Gloster Meteor F.8 (04064) More pictures can be found, here. Revell 1/25 1976 Ford Torino (07038) - Starsky & Hutch "Striped Tomato" More pictures can be found, here. Doyusha 1/24 Aston Martin DB5 007 Goldfinger (07-1-2800) More pictures can be found, here. Modern Armies In Miniatures 54mm Christmas Bunny (MAiM54005) I started this in 2016 but the build stalled within weeks. I dug it out a few days ago and finally finished it! Fenryll 25mm Grandma & Grandpa Roswell (TC 046) These figures were started in 2012 but almost immediately went to my stalled build box! I dug them out a couple of weeks ago and they are finally completed. Avis 1/72 Bristol Type 72 Racer (BX 72030) Another cute Avis kit. Not the easiest thing to construct as the fit of parts is awful and the undercarriage components cannot be fitted in such a way as to resemble the original's. Airfix 1/72 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR.1 (A03003) More pictures can be found, here. Aoshima 1/700 IJN Seaplane Carrier Chitose (00123) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Boeing B-29 Superfortress (07001) Decals are from the Kits-World 1/72 War Birds (KW172222) Set and I chose the scheme for "The Ancient Mariner". The particular machine was 42-65296, 883d Bombardment Squadron, 500th Bombardment Group, Isley Field, Saipan, May 45. The decals are excellent and went on without the need for setting solution. More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Mitsubishi A6M2b-21 'Zero' (A01005) A straight forward, OOB build that was brush painted. Airfix 1/144 Boeing Clipper (04172) More pictures can be found, here Airfix HO/OO White Half-Track M3 (61313-8) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/144 Sud-Avation SE210 Caravelle (03177) It was built OOB apart from BOA Decals (BOA44120). More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Douglas A-4B Skyhawk (A55203) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/600 Graf Spee (04211-0) Unbelievably, I started this build in the months before I set up The Airfix Tribute Forum in April 2006! It has languished on my Shelf of Doom for over 17 years until I resumed it's build three weeks ago! An OOB build apart from the replacing of the kit Arado floatplane with a Tumbling Dice Heinkel He51, modified to look like a Heinkel He60, which Graf Spee carried in October 1938. More pictures can be found, here. HobbyBoss 1/72 Lavochkin La-7 (80236) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Fiat G.50 (A01046V) Brush-painted and OOB apart from the decals that are SBS Model's Fiat G.50 in Finnish Service (D72032) set. More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Yakovlev Yak-9D (01034-6) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/72 Yakovlev Yak-3 (02091) More pictures can be found, here. Airfix 1/43 Lamborghini Huracan Evo (A55007) More pictures can be found, here. Revell 1/76 Krupp Protze KFZ 69 with 3.7cm Pak (03344) More pictures can be found here. That is it for 2023 and I would like to wish Mike, all Admins and all BM members a Merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous and productive 2024. Dave

Greetings to all. The Hasegawa model is of venerable age, poor in detail but at the same time with excellent panel lines, precision joining, thin edges. Therefore, in a sense, it is great for those who want to work with their hands and apply dexterity. At the same time, the prototype itself is very rich in details. Therefore, during the construction, a lot of aftermarket goods and even more parts made from scratch were used, most of which I think can be seen in the photo. The prototype is Captain Franco Lucchini's unit, a well-known aircraft among modellers, primarily because of its unusual paint scheme, which caught my attention. The plane was reconstructed at least twice, both times changing its appearance, and ultimately received half a wing and a hood from other aircraft. *Sorry for the automatic translation

Well, I didn't get the ISS finished - that was probably a bit ambitious - but I did put in a last burst to get this one done. The O'Neill Cylinder concept for a huge space settlement - basically a giant tube with three landscaped settlements inside, each separated by a huge window lying above each settlement. The whole things spins on its axis to create gravity and huge doors close at "night". A separate ring appears to contain farming facilities. This was a neat kit I had sent from Japan. The brand is "Wave Corportation". Like many Bandai kits, it was entirely press fit. Didn't use a drop of glue. Not the same scale! Here is the build thread:

Hi All, Another beast of a day on the Beau, in between entertaining/feeding parents and teenage children. The first job was the elevator balance tabs - here's before: And after a bit of carving and brass rod: Not perfect but it'll do. Next up cleaning and masking, with the lovely mask set: And we're into primer already folks, after a squirt of interior grey green over the glazing: A few niggles to fix up as usual, but the fit of this kit is something else. Preshading next with Nato Black: Here's the Sky going down as a mist coat: And the final result - you may not be able to see it but I've added a slightly lightened coat for where the invasion stripes would have been overpainted: Here we are masked up and with the 'virgin' layer of ECDSG laid down: Looking alright! Now this was quite a beaten airframe, so I've masked up the areas where the invasion stripes and codes would have been overpainted: I then laid down a fading coat over the rest of the airframe, with extra attention applied to the control surfaces, giving us this: It's a bit over the top but I can calm it down with another thinned layer of base coat. Finally, I couldn't resist posing those Hercules in position: That'll be it for a few days - plenty of time for @bigbadbadge to make progress! Thanks for looking, Roger

Look no further... 🙂 The pics up there of the fresh paint does look very factory fresh and we know that this airframe wouldn't have looked like that when it was in North Africa. Time to get messy. The first thing I did was add some post-shading as a base to work on with the paint texturing. Then, I started to fade the paint on the uppers and sides (I was happy with how the lower surfaces looked already). In the pic below the rather stark post-shade is evident and I've begun working on the paint fade on the port wing. I use very thinned variations on the base coat to build the texture and tone down the post-shade a little. At this point I'm happy with the port side but I've gone a little to heavy on the post-shade on the starboard side so more work needed there. Again, continually playing with the hue of the base colour, sometimes quite a bit lighter but mostly only slightly varied. I'm also letting this bleed into the blue to distress that colour - it was very blue to begin with but in the desert that wouldn't last long and I would wash out. At this point I'm done. The bright lighting on the bench is accenting the contrast somewhat and washing out a bit of the texture to the RLM79 in particularly. I'm happy with where it's gotten to. The post-shade is still a little more pronounced that I would want to end up but the next treatments, including the final semi-flat finish, will soften that effect more to where I want it. By the way, that's a shadow on the forward portion of the port wing, not a line of different coloured paint. Next I applied a sealing coat of clear gloss to prepare for masking the markings. We're heading over to the coast for a few days so there's not going to be any more updates until late in the week. That'll give everything a good chance to completely cure. A final note; it's a big day in our family as my son completed his final check-flight on the PC12 to begin his commercial pilot career. He's put in so much time, effort and expense to reach this point of fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a professional pilot. Forgive the somewhat self-indulgent proud papa moment of sharing this... Cheers.

Airfix 1/72 Gloster Meteor F8. Airfix 1/48 Supermarine Seafire XVII. Tiger Hobby 1/72 Spitfire V floatplane. Dragon 1/72 Focke Wulf Ta152C. Hasegawa 1/72 Fock Wulf 190A5. Heller 1/72 Mirage F1B two seater. Fujimi 1/72 Phantom FRG-2. Italeri 1/72 Vought F-8E Crusader. Heller 1/72 Vought F-8E(FN) Crusader. Academy 1/72 M35 2.5 ton truck. HobbyBoss General Motors FM-1 Wildcat. Revell 1/72 Grumman E-1B Tracer. Airfix 1/48 De Havilland Chipmunk. Airfix 1/72 DHC-2 Beaver. Hobby2000 1/72 Saab Draken. Revell 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf109F. Italeri 1/72 Douglas C-47 Skytrain. Sword 1/72 Harrier T4N. Italeri 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf109F. Revell 1/72 Fw190A. Airfix 1/72 Douglas C-47A Skytrain. Airfix 1/72 Hurricane IID. Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Vc. Hasegawa 1/72 Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress. Valom 1/72 Armstrong Whitworth Albermarle. HobbyBoss 1/72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt bubbletop. Academy 1/72 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt bubbletop. Academy 1/72 Republic P-47M Thunderbolt bubbletop. XtraKit 1/72 Supermarine Scimitar F1. Airfix 1/72 Bofors. Esci 1/48 Kfir. Italeri 1/72 Junkers Ju52. Airfix 1/72 Dominie COD. Revell 1/144 Fw190A8. Sword 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader. And one repaint job, this Airfix1/72 Thunderbolt to the razorback Eileen.

...and dark blue: I painted in the boundaries with a fine brush then filled in with a flat brush and a medium round for the fiddly bits. Masking off, a few minor touch ups required:

I've got tiny lead balls that I got from Eileen's Emporium and use that to fill where I can control where it's going. That's whats in the forward weight bin. The tungsten putty is for fishing use but it's more dense than lead and can be moulded around things. It's not cheap though so doesn't get used very often. Right, wings on. And positioned over the undercarriage position. Then shifted until a balance achieved. That puts the centre of gravity about an inch forward of the undercarriage at the bomb bay door locating points. Now, this was done without the horizontal stabilsers, rudder and the radar fitted so it will shift rearward but I think that this should be enough. It won't stop me adding about 5g of lead to the cowling to be on the safe side. Hope this helps Chris. Cheers, Alistair

Well here we are: Red band has been widened. I left the slight ridge where I had masked it previously because that is right on the cowling leading edge join, and I have run the black/silver down, in line with what is shown on the photos. I had a bit of fun with the decals too; the instructions show "UN-F" lined up with the topmost panel line, but if you do that they are running on a different angle to the insignia and photos. So I lifted them all up, both sides, and twisted them round. Just got away with it! You can see I've still got a load to do.

Thanks Simon, Including the wheel balancing weights it all comes in at 56g. The new tungsten putty arrived at about 4 and has been liberally smeared about. I had previously tried the cockpit floor in the fuselage with the side panel to ensure that the gaps I had planned on adding weight to wouldn't interfere. On numerous dry fits the cockpit floor didn't want to connect with all the location points on the bomb bay part so I trimmed a couple off to allow a good fit. And the on to a dry fit. All good there. If I think more weight is needed then there is space forward of the IP and in the top of the cowling that I can squeeze more into. But I think that may be enough. Then a wee dry fit to check things out. I'm happy with that. No painting tonight though as I'm having to go back out on an early tomorrow. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

Busy day in the booth, second coat on. Aging I am going to leave that to dry overnight. I am not happy about the finish but wait til morning/lunchtime. Stay calm. Simon.

Yep Thom (See below) Tape or mojo? 8 days and counting Steve. Thanks @marvinneko, @giemme, @elger, @Zephyr91, @corsaircorp, @cobraleader, @dogsbody, @GREG DESTEC, @AliGauld. Masking mojo back this morning. Then a coat of EDSG XF 24 in my case. I will leave to dry for now. Stay warm. Simon.

IDF A-4N “Ayit” Model: Trumpeter 1/32nd A-4M Skyhawk Scheme: IDF A-4N “Ayit” Paint: AK Interactive Real Color, and MRP, Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquer Extras: Dead Design – A-4M Canopy Masks Reskit – A-4 Skyhawk late Wheels set Sky Decals – Israeli Air Force A-4 “Ayit” decal set Wolfpack – A-4H/N IDF Conversion set

Hi all Been working on this little beauty. This is the Sword 48th scale Kit. It went together well and was a really enjoyable build. Built mainly OOB with the addition of masking tape seatbelts lead wire brakelines, brass rod exhausts and some sticky out bits. I went for this option due to the ID stripes as I liked it, it is of an unkiwn serial number. Brush painted using Humbrol Enamels and weathered with oils and weathering powders. Hope you like. Thanks for the support and encouragement along the way. Thanks for looking in Chris

'evening folks, Had to spend quite a bit of time doing 'real things'; garden, looking after grandchildren (7 & 3) - they helped decorate the Christmas tree! But also a useful weekend's work on the Mossie. Finished painting the canopy frames, a long process but it paid off. Painted the exhausts (they'll need weathering) props and spinners, done the matt coat - Winsor & Newton matt acrylic; The canopy is just balanced to see how it looks, the cockpit still needs fitting out. The matt coat went on OK. I start with very, very light coats airbrushed at quite a high pressure (20psi) to get a fine mist. This avoids bobbles on the gloss surface. The matt has brought out the richness of the Xtracolor. The matt also revealed some decal silvering which I'll just have to live with . Final steps will be the cockpit, adding the external bits and bobs and some gentle weathering. Thanks for looking! Cheers, Charlie

I won't be assembling it completely, but I do always look at what I can get away with in terms of assembly before paint! In this case, I've made it easier for myself by not painting the engine and such, as it will not be seen. I will detail the underside and the interior only a little bit, for the same reason of visibility. I like quick builds 🙂 Here it is, primed, "pre painted" and clear coated. I have some chipping fluid ready and will apply that before going in with white which will be the main colour.

That's the interior done. Pretty nice detail. I went with a little bit of weight reduction on the cab corners. If you watch enough Vice Grip Garage you know these are always among the first to go 🙂 And we are ready for paint, actually.

Hi all, Here's my Phantom FGR.2 that I finished this weekend. It's the Revell rebox of the Hasegawa kit (the original one, not the recent one), which we are all pretty familiar with. Not a bad kit, but I did replace some bits of it with aftermarket. The wheels are Aires, the seats are Quickboost, the pylons are from Aerobonus. I was planning to just use the old Airdoc RAF Germany Phantom decals, but they turned out to be not so good. Not in register, undersized, and some colours were a bit off to me. So I also got some from a Model Alliance set, stencils from Xtradecal, and a few from the kit sheet. Painted with Mr. Color. I went for 31 Squadron markings, mainly because you don't see those often. Thanks for looking, Pete

Instead of add the WIP pictures to a discussion of a different object I divert the discussion here. An engine from a Frog V1, droptanks from an Airfix Viggen and probably the horrible from the Gripen prototype from Revell became the start. The Gripen tank was cut in the middle and parts added to the ends. Plastic card added for the shape to take the form of the missile.

Hi All, A strong day's progress on the Beau today! Yesterday started out on the interior, with copious amounts of interior grey green emitting from the airbrush. Here's the cabin in construction, but yet to receive an oil wash: As I said at the outset this one is pretty much OOB, so here's the kit decal for the instrument panel applied: That'll do given the limited visibility I anticipate once the glazing is in place, The side instrument clusters popped out quite nicely after a dry-brush and a little detail painting: Here's the lot after an oil wash, prior to buttoning up: I have to congratulate Airfix on the engineering and fit of the kit. As with most of their more recent offerings it is pretty much clip together. A nice touch is the ventral fuselage component. The fuselage halves go together thus: The ventral portion is obviously so engineered to accommodate the cannon port detail, but fits into place seamlessly: The wings and empennage are similarly impressive, so with barely a breath we got to here: This is immense fun! This morning I'm going to set about 'improving' the elevator trim tabs with some judicious plastic butchery and addition of brass rod. I'm also going to add the landing light covers (these were commonly faired over on RP-armed Beaus, so I shall not need to mask). Then it's on to cleanup and possibly primer - I may even chuck in the Hurricane and Typhoon for a mass priming session! Thanks for looking, Roger

I intend to build a diorama based on the following pics : For the foreground I intend to use a 1/35 scale Italeri AB41 and Gebirgsjäger figures, whereas I will use a 1/72 scale Orange Hobby Sdkfz.7/1 and figures for the background. I have built the stock AB41 model and I have made a cardboard mock up of the steel fender plates. I had to shorten the Besa gun inside the turret by some 2mm to allow room for a commander figure. The Italeri gun inside the turret is definitely too long which means not even a contortionist would fit behind the gun inside the turret hatch. I also tried out various Hornet heads to replace the rather awful Dragon ones. Today I have finished three figures , I will finish the metal parts of the shoes once I have removed the figure bases. Arjan

The etching arrived This is my largest and most complex etching yet. If I have it right, it's the only one I need for this project. The observant will see in the top left corner I inserted the etching I'd prepared for the ASR Buoy. I considered this too expensive to have made on its own, but it was sort of free with this big sheet and will allow me to complete the buoy. I have an idea for a different diorama, in the dim and distant future... This is now a target rich environment, but to be logical, I decided to start with the core hull and deck fittings and work my way up so to speak First thing to attach was the cooling water intake grills. These are slightly too fine really, but I had included 4 on the sheet and two worked The outlet is to the left in this image The next piece is the torpedo tube mount ring. This is actually 1.5mm thick and consists of three rings soldered together forming a "C" cross section. I had etched alignment holes for 0.5mm wired to keep it all in shape The central plate raised the edges about the deck, so these two round packing plates were added. The pin in the centre is the central pivot, it tapers to allow centring the mount when lifting it on and off Here it is resting in place. The mount runs on bogies that run around the outer ring Next, I wanted to see how the large cowl vents would work out. These sit on square plates and because the vents are so large, they need to penetrate the deck or looking in, you would see the deck and that's not good Here it the forward one in place after cutting the hole in the deck. The white cowl is a test only, it's not the final version, but gives some idea of where I going... These large vents need a debris grid to prevent items being sucked into the fans and blocking them. After a review of the scrap etched grids I have, I decided none were right and as I'd forgotten to add this to the etch sheet, I decided to make then up. First I drew and cut out a grid frame in 2mm ply (love that xtool). This version had the wires too close together The second version is much better, 0.25mm wire used (from sparkling wine bottle wire, don't throw this away...). Its not perfect, but you will only glimpse it and hopefully it will add depth to the realism. Soldered in place, the cowl top will slot over this and allow the cowl to rotate as per full size The rear vent (there are only two of these large vents) has a rear air take-off pipe that curves down through the deck. This calls for a lobster-back bend, three 30 degree sections soldered together and filed smooth. Bit of fun, its years since I made one of these Soldering this to the vent tube will probably cause the soft solder of the bend to unstick, so I soldered an inner tube to the vent tube first that this will slide over and be glued in place Here it is all finished Next job will be the other cowl vent bases, easy work Cheers Steve

Once it’s complete I’ll have to put this side by side (with pics) with my Arma Hurricane I to see how they look next to each other Some more progress to finish the weekend off:

Triumph 3 HW (Italeri 1:9) Hi All, Here's my second contribution. The thread is below for anyone interested Merry Christmas Nigel

Let the paint cure a bit then inspected it. A few places paint pooled maybe from an airbrush spurt. Sanded those down, rubbed down the paint all over with a polishing cloth. Then applied another substantial coat with highly diluted paint. Ended up spraying for quite a long time. A real rich colour came out of it. I don't think I used enough paint on my Hurricane, Of course not much black base is going to show through but I am enjoying the richness. There are surface problems still but I think I will accept them for this project.

Hi all More progress. Seafire seat drilled out for the lower rear part of the belt mounted and belts added Beaufighter trailing aerial and shroud made from brass rod and brass sheet cut and bent round the rod. Also hollowed the fuel dump vents Painted Undersides painted Thanks for looking in Chris