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Hello Everybody! This is the ICM P-51B with the same Aires resin conversion and old Verlinden engine set, Squadron vacuum Malcolm canopy. And this is a small black-DIO

Here is my Mach2 Armstrong Whitworth Argosy C1, XP450 of 70 Squadron based at RAF Akrotiri in circa 1974. I wasn't going to post this as its no where close to most models posted on this site but it kinda looks like an Argosy but as there are no other 1/72 kits on the market, and it filled a gap in my quest to build every RAF type in 1/72 since 1950 so i thought I'd share. It is agricultural to say the least (which i knew from reviews), didnt realise how much filling, sanding and whittling would be needed and patience finally ran out but I did learn a lot from the near death experience. The paint did hide more than I thought and a lot of the mistakes are not noticeable on the tablet camera. Learnings can be taken on to the Mach2 RAF Comet 4C that I've just ordered 🙈

The French manufactured C.M.170 Fouga Magister was the world's first jet powered training aircraft that performed its first flight in 1952. In addition to France the Fouga was also manufactured under license in other countries. In Finland the manufacturer were the state owned industrial conglomerate Valmet and in Israel the Israeli Aircraft Industries. In Israel the Fougas were mainly used in IAF Flight school units but the planes also participated in combat operations during the Six Day War in 1967. I decided to get the 1/48 scale Fouga Magister dual kit of Kinetic after I saw the Finnish Air Force Fouga perform at the Helsinki Air Show. The trainer is really sleek and elegant and the characteristic feature of the Fouga is the high pitch sound of its Marboré jet turbines. I first built the Finnish Air Force trainer and decided to assemble the Israeli Fouga or “Tzukit” later. The Kinetic kit included very good decals for both the IAF trainer and the combat fighter versions. I chose to build the trainer model since I actually sat in the cockpit of the white and orange coloured Flight school Tzukit when I visited the IAF museum in Hatzerim. Well, as to building the IAF Fouga I totally forgot it in the stash of unbuilt models. Now, after ten years, I found it and decided to accomplish the mission. The quality of the kit was quite good. There were some difficulties with the fit of the parts, though, and some putty and sanding was needed in building the model. The instructions on the other hand were disastrous, full of errors and omissions and the drawings were cryptic. Without various reference material and pictures I couldn’t have been able to finish the models. I first primed the model with white Tamiya Fine Surface Primer. I then sprayed it with Tamiya’s clear gloss varnish. The masking of the orange coloured areas was a bit tiresome but with a lot of patience I made it. The orange I used was Xtracolors International orange X104 Tzukit in the IAF museum in Beersheba, 2005 Happiness is to sit in the cockpit of a Tzukit 🙂

I've wanted to do a 72nd F-8C for some time to go with some VF-111 decals. You can get resin conversions (in 72 and 48) but they're not great and CAT4 have just released a 48th 3d print conversion which @Rando is messing with here But back to 72nd. The main differences are: windscreen, intake, radome and no dorsal hump. The hump is easy to sort, remove it & fill the gap. The windscreen is 'bodge-able' for some of us who can live with the difference (I can). The big problems are the radome and intake. Early Crusaders had a smaller, pointed radome (& oval in cross-section) and the intake was shaped to match the radome (see the Rando link above for drawings etc). You could stick the front end from Sword's RF-8 onto another kit but I decided to experiment with an old kit and change the radome to see if I could get an easy win. I used the old Hasegawa kit because it was expendable. I removed the hump, scribed the kit and shaped a new radome from a Hobbycraft 48th A-4 fuel tank with some help from epoxy putty. So, was it worth the effort? I can't decide, it looks closer to an early Crusader but it's not quite there, the radome looks bigger than I thought it would, though being painted in white doesn't help! Here's a pic of the converted nose and the Academy kit. The nose shapes are different ... but not different enough for my liking. As it didn't turn out great I dropped my plan to do VF-111 and I went for an alternative early F-8 decal scheme that's been waiting in the wings. I had planned to try the same nose job on the 48th Hasegawa kit but as CAT4 are improving their 48 conversion and also planning to do in 72nd (according to rando), I'll wait for those.

Boeing 757 British Airways 'Whale Rider' Zvezda 1/144 with 26Decals The Zvezda Boeing 757 is a lovely kit, one of the very best airliner models available. It comes with decals for the previous Icelandair livery, but I wanted to do mine in one of the 'World Tail' schemes. (They should have done one called 'Marmite' as people seemed to love or hate them at the time!). Personally I liked them. If you can spot them, the cockpit is crewed by a couple of CRM 3D printed pilots. I would have liked to have done the Tartan 'Bennyhone' one but couldn't find a set anywhere. Fortunately 26 Decals do a fair few of these schemes for the 757, so I chose 'Whale Rider' as it was on the only 757 I ever flew on, on the Manchester/Heathrow shuttle in 1998. It's as good a reason as any! I'll give a shout out for 26 Decals here as these were absolutely superb. The Tail and British Airways elements were laser printed and fitted with precision, the most stress free decals I have used in a long time. They also come with a sheet of silk screen printed standard 757 items for all the details. It is a hugely enjoyable combination of a superb kit with a set of superb decals, and one that doesn't happen often enough! Of course I have to do a 'with something else', so how about a DACO 737-400 in 'Blue Poole' I'll have to get on with that Revell 767 in the 'Chelsea Rose' scheme now 👍 Thanks for looking, John

BMs Find below pictures of my recently completed, scratch built, Scale 1:1, Barr & Stroud Elliptical MKII gunsight for the Spitfire & Hurricane (Battle Of Britain type). The 2 items were designed in Fusion 360 and printed out using x2 Creality CRS10-Pro's and an Anycubic Mono 5: The design in Fusion: The 1st prototype gunsight print: Followed straight away with a second gunsight with the rubber cushion instead of the leather type: Both items together: A Real later MKII sight which gave me the inspiration to try and replicate the earlier model: First Gunsight in build: Hope you enjoyed the thread:

Hi Here is my completed SAA 747 Jumbo model acquired from my husband's collection of dust covered un-made models. My daughter was sorting through his box of water decals and spotted a set of SAA decals which prompted me to have a go myself. This took about 8 weeks to make around mom duty and work commitments. I grew up as a child in Durban on the KwaZulu Natal coastline and had initially wanted to pose the model over Table Mountain, but chose instead to try and depict the long sandy beaches I grew up swimming from (inside the shark nets!) north and south of Durban in SA because the water decals supplied the registration number code and aircraft name for 'Durban' - so 'Durban over Durban became the theme. I chose from the start to make the model flying as I was wary of all the fiddly small wheel parts, but having now learnt how to mask, cut and apply decals, airbrush and sculpt and work with liquid resin water, perhaps I could have managed the wheels too. I hit a problem with the type of jets along the way of the build, luckily my husband had some correct spare RR jets. And here is my completed jumbo 747-444. I had to ask for help with the wire support as I was not strong enough to hold and bend the wire support rod. I apologise for the poor photos but I used my mobile phone to take them. The model build is here for anyone interested to see how I coped with making the jumbo:

Hi All , here you are my latest built! Modelvist Mirage 2000 C in 72nd scale straight from the box except ladder and pitot! hope you will like it.

I have documented this build under the thread below and it is now more-or-less complete, certainly ready to present to this august group. You can find a full set of images for the build here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26690797@N02/albums/72177720318477513/with/53870864441 Best wishes, Neil

A few months back, I bought a book called "Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North Vietnam, 1965-1973" from the US Naval Institute Press. It's an interesting perspective of the war from the North Vietnamese side. To be honest, the book is a little drier than I was hoping, but it still gave an interesting overview of what I was looking for. So that naturally made me want to build a model from that era. Thankfully, Airfix was there with a lovely MiG-17F. I am very happy with this kit. Airfix kits continue to just be an absolute joy for me to build. For one, I love their gear up pieces! So few companies make it easy to close up the damn airplane if you want to display it in flight (which I do, very much so), but Airfix does. They also included a pilot, which again makes things easier on me, even if it's not the highest definition lil' guy. It all adds up to a build that doesn't really cause me any problems, and I can just relax with. I enjoyed being able to mostly free-hand the airbrushing. Not a lot of masking, which some models can just be full of. Overall, super enjoyable. IF I had a critique, which I do because as an artist that's how you grow, I would say that I wish the panel lines on the wings matched the lines on the fuselage. I noticed the discrepancy and could have tried to fix it, but I think I kind of rushed myself. I felt momentum, the model was progressing, and I was excited to see it finished, and I just said 'Good enough'. Looking back, I think the panel lines on the fuselage were deeper than those on the wings and it held onto the oil paint way better. So next time I'll try and take my time, and try to make sure the panel lines were of similar depth on the model. Whether that means a little bit of vallejo putty to fill them in on the fuselage, or attempting to deepen the ones on the wings with a scribing tool, or both, we'll see on the next model. Thanks for looking, hope you have a great day! :}

Terence (Terry) Spencer was born during a Zeppelin raid in 1918 – and after that start in life the rest was never going to be boring, was it? He applied to join the RAF from the Royal Engineers in early 1941 and was first posted to 26 Sqn in late 1942, flying Mustang Mk.Is, and then in early 1944 to 165 Sqn flying Spitfire Mk.IXs. In May 1944 he was posted to No. 41 Sqn, flying Spitfire Mk.XIIs. Between 23 June and 28 August 1944, he claimed seven V-1 flying bombs destroyed, with an eighth also recorded in his logbook. One he destroyed by tipping it up with his wing - sketched into his logbook by a fellow pilot who titled it "Tip 'em Up Terry". From Squadron records: 9th August: “F/Lt Spencer caught the usual dawn wave of flying bombs and dispatched another of them. He made a perfect interception and a half second burst sent it down to explode in a field” 23rd August: “A (cash) prize had been arranged for the pilot to destroy the Squadron's 80th flying bomb and it was awarded to F/Lt Spencer who . . . destroyed the 80th and the 81st” In early September 1944, his section of four encountered two Luftwaffe aces, Emil "Bully" Lang, the Commanding Officer of II/JG26 (173 victories), and Alfred Gross (52 victories), in Fw190s. Although one of his section was killed, the two aces were shot down, with Lang credited to Spencer. In January 1945 and now a Squadron Leader, he was posted to No. 350 (Belgian) Sqn flying Spitfire Mk.XIVs. On 26 February, he was hit by flak and captured. Just over a month later, he escaped by bicycle, and then motorcycle (sound familiar?) and made it back to Allied lines. He resumed command of 350 Sqn on 2nd April 1945 (his escapades being marked with drinks in the mess). But on the 19th he was hit by rocket fire while strafing a trawler. His good fortune saw him blown out of his cockpit with such force that his parachute deployed at a height of just 30-40 feet. Amazingly he survived - but was captured again. The Guinness Book of Records recognised this as having been the lowest authenticated survived bail-out on record. Spencer was liberated approximately two weeks later and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and, in 1947, the Territorial Efficiency Medal and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm. Upon his return home he romanced the actress Lesley Brook, who starred in 23 films between 1937 and 1948. After a whirlwind romance, they married in August 1947 and moved to South Africa in July 1948, shortly after her final film release. What a couple they must have made. Spencer and his wife then started a successful aerial photography business. In 1952, he started shooting for Life magazine, covering war stories in Africa, including Sharpville, the Congo Crisis and many of the independence struggles. Plus Nelson Mandela on the run and Jomo Kenyatta in detention. In 1962 he returned to England and, at the request of his daughter, Spencer followed the Beatles (at the time largely unknown) for several months shooting more than 5,000 pictures. Commissioned by Life he covered the Vietnam War, crises in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Cuba after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He also shot celebrity stories for People magazine including Freddie Mercury, Bob Dylan, Ava Gardner, Katharine Hepburn, Princess Grace of Monaco, Richard Branson, and John Cleese. Have a look at just some of his images here : https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/2/image?page=4&phrase=terence spencer&sort=best&license=rf%2Crm Terence Spencer DFC, Croix de Guerre with Palm, died in February 2009, aged 90, less than 24 hours after his wife of 62 years. ==================================== This then is my attempt at F/Lt T. Spencer's Spitfire Mk.XII as at 6th June 1944. The kit is the Airfix 1:48 Mk.XII with Eduard p.e. interior and Quickboost resin exhausts. I used the kit decals plus stencils from a Barracudacals set. Paints are acrylics: Ultimate grey primer with Xtracrylics and Tamiya. Some thinned Winsor and Newton oils for details, smeared felt pen for the gun stains and chalk pastels for the exhaust stains. I originally built this for the D-day group build – here's the build thread: I wanted to post here as I felt his story worth telling (and didn't really fit in a GB) - I think it can be said that he lived a full life (or two). All the best Mark

My contribution to this, a Hasegawa Tornado IDS in the colours of MFG2 of the German Navy in the late 1990s from photos of this machine on the net. Build thread. Thanks to @vppelt68 for proposing the GB & hosting it, @JayBee for help along the way & to all who dropped by & offers assistance & encouragement, especially @Chrisj2003, @PattheCat & @PhantomBigStu If nothing else I know more about Tornado's than I did before this. Steve.

I'm seeing mottles in my sleep!

Hello Britmodellers, This Revell F-104G was built more or less oob, except for the two AIM-9J's on the fuselage launching rails, which came from the Hasegawa Weapons Set III. Thanks for watching! Luka

This is utising the early G hull from the Vespid Sperber Infra red night fighting kit (VS720008). I added Zimmerit, the MAN variant with milliput and a stamp tool, long job. Otherwise pretty straight forward, added road wheels are from a Dragon kit kindly donated from a fellow Braille scale member. Jerry can and racks added to rear, gun cleaning tube shifted to rear deck. Life Color paints via Harder & Stienbeck infinity, usual weathering stuff used for the finish, oils, pastels and mud from VMS. Kit: Vespid After market Adler lifting hooks set Adler stowage lids, loaders hatch and engine louvres set Adler Tank crew. L

Evening BMs I began by designing my early gunsight in Fusion 360 and came up with a design for the elliptical MKII sight. The main body would all be printed on my x2 Creality CR10-S Pro. Comparison with the later (real) Sight looked good: Early prints were very encouraging and a comparison against the original looked good: A good clean up and a bit of spray paint brought out the details: I was not happy with the flat projection lens I cut out and searched the internet only to find a 95mm optical condenser lens of the correct diameter and shape, £10 down the line...... This really made the sight look the part as did the leather head guard which took me a good few hours to stitch. Other details such as the data plate were added: The completed replica was mounted on a wooded display with the electrical cable it would have used: Having completed my prototype I noticed that the same sight was also issued with a rubber head guard instead of a leather covered item. Still hot from the first build I decided to build another with the other type of cushion. I also noticed from looking at internet pics that the Reflector Glass was too long, so I made the next sight with a smaller glass: Once I had tested this new glass on the second sight I re-cut the first sight to follow suit. I also made the wording on the sight data plate larger and more readable. The rubber version looked realistic enough simply painted in NATO black (this was printed on my latest acquisition, Anycubic Mono 5): Im just missing some cable for the second sight but the effect looks good for this 1 to 1 3D printed MKII early Barr & Stroud Gunsight: Hope you enjoyed this quick weekend build?

Hi there , This was a build going on in the background and I thought I'd just stick it up to give my thoughts on it. My previous experience with Dora Wings was their 1/72 Lysander which was challenging to say the least. The fit was not stellar. However, this kits absolutely falls together. I used a smear of filler on the underside seam and some canopy blending was needed on one side. The vinyl masks given for the windscreen had a tendency to lift in one place and the nose pitot is way too delicate but these are minor niggles. The decals were a different story. They are extremely thin and brittle. Indeed the starboard nose decals completely shattered on me. Those got left off as it will be positioned in the cabinet to show off the port side. All in all a cracker of a kit that I have no problem in recommending. In the photos the forward part of the pitot was replaced with some stretched sprue and brass rod. There are no vanes on the pitot yet as I've put the PE frame in a safe place and can't find it at the moment. When I eventually stumble across them I'll get them fitted. Primed with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. Painted with Rainbow Railways First Group Magenta. Tamiya Rubber Black, Gun Metal and Gloss Aluminium. Finished with Windsor & Newton Galeria Satin Varnish. The Rainbow railways Magenta is a fairly good match for the real colour in normal light but in strong sunlight and LED lighting goes a little pink. It looks ok in the cabinet. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

Good day to all, After a long delay, I am finally able to submit my fourth project for the year. Here are some of the highlights of this kit………. 1. Colors & paint brands used A. Airframe : Alclad Dull Aluminum, AK Extreme White Aluminum, AK Matt Aluminum, Tamiya Flat Red, Flat Black, Flat White, Olive Drab, Interior Yellow-Green & Flat Yellow. 2. Washes : Ammo Medium Gray, Tamiya Black, & Brown 3. Built straight out of the box including provided decals. 4. Uschi Fine bobbin thread for antenna wires. 5. Weathered with paint, pencils, washes, & chalk pastels. 6. Eduard canopy mask is a MUST HAVE for this kit. This one turned out to be a challenge and it was all centered on the nose section in front of the top gunner`s station. Understandably so, Hasegawa separated the nose sections on their Liberator kits to provide an early D / Delta variant and later J / Juliet version. I had to perform surgery inside the nose section to get multiple lead fishing sinkers for ballast so it would not turn into the dreaded “tail sitter”. That wasn`t enough so I added more sinkers under the top gunner`s turret and it proved enough. The nose section comes in three main clear parts and the interior pieces do not fit all that well to get a proper alignment. The decals turned out to be a nightmare as the first green - yellow ID bands broke into no less than 12 pieces . After a considerable amount of time, I was able to repair the damaged decal and proceed after spraying a clear gloss coat over the remaining sheet. Oddly, everything behind the top gunner`s turret went together very well and the wing spars help greatly when handling the model. Due to the complex nature of the nose section, I can only recommend this Hasegawa B-24 kit to those with some experience. Thank you in advance!!! Mike

This one is a really nice and simple model to do.I enjoyed every second of this build.I upgraded the cockpit a bit and the rest is oob.Painted in gunze and tamiya paints.The decals came from the spares box.

Thinning down the cockpit edge from around 2mm to 0.5mm: Should look better under an undercoat of cockpit colour. I will be going for RLM02 (Humbrol 240 acrylic).

My second build for this GB is the Chieftain Tank Mk.11 using the Takom 1/72 kit. Build log here: Stuart

My first build for this GB is Chieftain Tank Mk.10 using the Takom 1/72 kit. Build log here: Stuart

thanks chaps very kind now I will say I never want to see another pipe or wire again... I have pretty much done the U/C bay which is an amazingly complex arrangement on this aircraft - even so I have probably got about 80% of it and where I can see it the pipework is routed correctly. Tried to match 'Hawker yellow' but not sure if I did very well - i can see a few things need doing in the photos so here we go.. also skinned upper and lower wings... so it's getting there - I think I will do the undercowl next, or maybe the wing roots - the undercowl looks intimidating as it's a bunch of louvres so I might try and crack that first TTFN Peter

Hi @modelling minion, @Keeff & @bigfoot. Thank you all for the comments. Quick update. Sorry it's been a while again. So, camo applied. Very thinned acrylics applied with a small stippling brush and then dry-brushed over with the lightened version of the Desert Yellow. Then I cut out all the decal numbers and crosses and applied them with loads of Humbeol Decalfix. They seemed to go into the Zimmerit okay. Finally I did the same with the wheels, sprockets and idlers and got them fitted in place. The upper hull and main gun are not glued in place yet: Finally, you may notice from the title, above, I have had to abandon the idea of doing the Spifire and Panther kits. There is no way I can get them completed in the GB's timeframe. I still want to do the base for the Tiger and Sherman if I get time. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Spitfire Mk1 1/72 01071 - (Taga Taga Taga) - 74 Squadron RAF -BoB Finished as Flt Lt Adolf Malan's aircraft in June 1940. Decals are from an old set produced for the Southern Expo on RAF Hornchurch based BoB aircraft and their Luftwaffe counterparts. The aircraft was an older K series (perhaps Malan don't have much clout at that time), so I used a pole aerial and two pronged pitot. According to the decal sheet notes, Flt Lt Malan shot down two H111s at night in one sortie in this aircraft. I didn't do much weathering, to keep it in the 1970s (feel). There was some basic rescribing of the surface detail. And I forgot the aerial wire. The aircraft had been recently repainted underneath from the B/W demarcation to Sky. I used light blue as suggested by the decal sheet. Thanks to the mods for the GB, I hope next to do the MkVb.

The model is finished and I already invite you to the gallery. I made a few changes to the model compared to what IBG offered in their kit. But these are all cosmetic changes. Based on the photos and plans I made an open cockpit but without the windscreens and in it I added a few small details, on the engine cover I changed the locks for opening it and on the underside of the wings there is a top coloured leading edge and wing tip. I described everything in the workshop thread. Model of a Polish aircraft used by the Bulgarian Air Force. PZL P.24 B, 1st Armejski Orliak (1st Army Squadron), Bozurishte airfield near Sofia 1937. The inscription on the fuselage (Simeon Kniaz Tyrnovskiy) was applied on the occasion of the birth of Tsar Boris's son (16 June 1937) The aircraft in such markings took part, among others, in the ceremonial dedication of the banners of Bulgarian aviation units on 27 June 1937.

This is the second of a pair of Tamiya Jugs that I used to continue my personal theme for 2023 of "Pairs." It's painted with Alclad, AK Real Colors, MM and Testors enamels. I used Eduard wheels and Master Model blast tubes and pitot. Its decals are from the old Superscale sheet and is weathered using the salt technique, oils, and pastels. Honestly, I'm not 100% happy with the results, but it looks pretty good on the shelf next to my other 3-footers. I'd love to hear what you think. All comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Please drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out. Thanks for lookin'! -O

Hi All I haven't built a commercial aircraft before, and never anything in this small a scale either (unless you count the 1/350 aircraft on my carrier builds). I got handed this one for free literally over the fence, I was chatting with my neighbour about hobbies and when she heard the model making, she went and retrieved this one from the loft. Apparently it had been acquired more than a decade previous, and wasn't ever going to get built, so they were happy to get shot of it. The box was falling apart, but otherwise there was only one fairly significant obstacle, one half of the fuselage was broken in half, with the rear half nowhere to be seen. A quick email to Revell spares sorted that though, replacement part delivered about a week later (no charge, awesome). I enjoyed this one as a little side project, I've probably overdone the panel line wash, and almost certainly got a couple of decals in the wrong place (the instructions were a bit vague), but had fun, so that's the main thing. Anyway, here she is, my first 1/144 airliner, hope you enjoy. I might have to get a 747 to go with her (the Iron Maiden livery is very tempting), but don't want to get too into another genre - the stash is big enough as it is

In my new member introduction I mentioned that I started the project to "consume" my stash after 25+ years of modeling abstinence. Major victim of this pause was this 1/48 Jaguar, that was lying around and collected dust, partially assembled (only fuselage and wings), and painted. In my earlier career, I painted models solely with brush, but now I acquired a decent airbrush, hoping to raise my level of modeling quality. And to start using that new tool, I thought an overall black aircraft would be perfect, since what could possibly go wrong when painting a plane black? Well, you all know that a lot can go wrong, and it did. I messed up several things, was unable to get a smooth finish as base for the decals, completely messed up the canopy, using liquid mask that let through the paint, and many other things. Yet I like it somehow, the special paint scheme with the decals from a Xtradecal sheet looks good on the Jaguar. I think. Marcus

Hello, I've been working on the biggest detail here. To be honest, it was the first time I tried to depict a calm sea and I was afraid it would be boring. For more transparency (and on photos from those places the water is often very transparent) I put a sheet of 3 mm plexiglass, in which I sawed the outline of my ships. What an abyss of emotions I experienced, sawing this contour with an ordinary hand jigsaw, will understand only those who tried to do it themselves) Acrylic transparent glue was applied to the plexiglass, the texture was made with a teaspoon. Now the glue is almost dry, but in some places it is still cloudy. Let it dry some more. I'm in no hurry. What did I do while the glue was drying? Mostly crates on the shelterdeck. I also built an armoured main calibre director, redid the rangefinder bridge a bit and did a bit of brushwork on the quarterdeck to improve the texture of the deck Cheers;)

Here's the very ancient Cattle Wagon, in it's Dapol iteration, having also been Kitmaster and importantly Airfix. Build thread here I could've done far better (like my school reports when I first built it, so that's nostalgic), but thanks for all the encouragement peeps.

I've squeaked in with this, sort of finished, not necessarily as I'd have wished it but enough for now. It is too clean for a Tornado, especially around its tail end & too shiny but that will be attended to at my leisure, maybe rate another photo in this thread later on. So for now, one to be going on with, the rest are in the Gallery. I finished this in a self decided brew of Humbrol 104 + 25% (4:1) of Hu 27 for RAL5008, Hu 240 for the RAL7009 & HU64 with 33% (3:1) of Hu27 for RAL7012, these colours being my idea of how these appear to me after some fading in service. A bit more grot about the tail would improver the look too. I found the Hasegawa kit a fair mix of quite nice & bloody frustrating. The instructions were maddeningly vague in areas where you needed them to be more accurate. maybe an indication that Hasegawa were a bit vague about things too. I found there was no way the main gear doors were going to fit & look right the way it appeared they were meant to so some tinkering occurred here after downloading useful photos, not the first time I did that. I see that my efforts are all but invisible in my photos. Oh well, I know I did it. Steve.

Hi all this is the 1:72 scale kit, actually a fairly easy build as long as you test fit everything first, The only real issue is a gap between the top wing and fuselage a fairly easy fix just add a shim in the gaps. There are a few errors in the instructions and I would recommend reading the article in tailhook topics as it has some good tips and reference material. Hope you like it.

The model is good, but there are errors. The front wheel housing is without much detail. It is necessary to add strips to strengthen the lower part of the wing and a target attachment on the left TIESO wing. I did a slightly modified scheme. This one is from 1983 and has no red stripe on the vertical. Also, the white shadow for the letters SP is not correct out of the box, so I modified that as well.

Afternoon folk's built for the Classic Airfix GB Airfix's 1979 tooling of the Spitfire,now replaced by a newer tooling still easy to find and despite some fit issues especially the re-tooled Snap fit editions once fettled still looks like a Spitfire.Many thanks for looking.

Thank you very much! Now, the stowage bin aka the Rommelkiste. I started with an Aber PE set that I had for this purpose. It turned out pretty nicely except early side mounts that had to be made of scratch. Only after attaching it on the turret backside, it was clear that the shape was not quite right - the topside slope wasn't steep enough and the asymmetry of the bin wasn't too clearly defined either. Here it is - beautiful and useless at the same time: So came to play the next best option - plastic bin that was in the kit. That turned out not too shabby either. And that's how the tank look now: The commanders cupola is a placeholder at the moment as I have The New TMD one coming. Cheers! Kristjan

I checked again, and can confirm i am not going mad 😄No decal. Thanks again for the info and i have had a look at your build. Have added the camera control panel from a bit of sprue with a dot of paint. Also added some "ribs" in the wheel wheels. Thanks Col. Thanks. Your's turned out nice. I think the blue and grey results in an attractive paint scheme. A few pics. Camera control box. Ribs from masking tape Not alot to this kit, so you soon have something resembling a Spit. Bit of a gap at the wing roots and the underside at the back. I have already filled the gaps where the upper and lower wings joint together with some Vallejo plastic putty. Next up a bit of filling, then look at getting the canopy on. George

CF-100s The curiously clunky Avro CF-100 Mk.V in Canadian and Belgian colours from the equally clunky Hobbycraft 1/72 kit:

Not exactly a refreshingly different subject but I needed to build something familiar and simple to get back into the swing of things. This old Hasegawa 109 fit the bill. This model is completely OOB. The only things added were aftermarket decals and masking tape seat belts. Other than the mottling coming out too soft, I'm pretty ok with it. This is what it was supposed to look like. Thanks for looking. Ron

My third and final build, the 1/72 Revell F-4F Phantom II, in JG71 markings, using the decals from two different kits. Thanks for watching. Also thanks to the hosts and everybody who participated.

No not possible

Good evening you lovely lot. Let’s begin by going through the part trees. As you can see the detail is really nice and crisp. The nose bump is quite evident but nothing a bit of sanding won’t fix. 👃 The flaps and what not all look really good too. You get some brass parts for the wing innards/ seat belts and nose intake. Also the lovingly wrapped clear parts. Are a thing of beauty. And you wouldn’t believe it but the tyres are….. you guessed it. Rubber! Shhhhhh🤫 not a word to the hound. 🤪🙃 The instructions seem good and strangely not that many steps. well I better get on with some actual sticking things together eh? I did spend some time researching the cockpit and this kit in particular. For some reason or another it seems to get a lot of bad press. It’s a little bit much I think as looking at the ref and checking the parts there’s not bad. The seat seems to have a few different variants, some with more round and some totally square. And some that look a bit like this. It’s not goi g to win seat of the year but it’s pretty well detailed , with some decent paint and the belts in place will look pretty good The walls and floor look pretty good. The detail is crisp and as far as I can see quite accurate. I don’t think there are four dials but I can sort that out. With more of the detail parts dry fitted it looks ok. The IP also looks really nice. The target sight is inaccurate but I can fix that. A quick dry fit of the parts proved that everything looks rather busy and with paint and decals in all the right places will do the job nicely. I even heard someone calling the control column a “baseball bat” looks ok to me. With the ip and pedals in even in its naked form I think it’s really good. I’ll add some extra details and some lead wires but overall I’m happy. ok that’s it for now. I’ll need to get some detail parts in place and get that wiring sorted. Watch this space. 😀 Happy modelling chums. Johnny. 🥳

This is my rebuild/refurbishment of my old RA-5C Vigilante which I broke down into component parts, stripped the paint off, and then started again, adding a bit of detail to the cockpit, new seats and an Aeroclub undercarriage. Here is a link to the build thread. I have since straightened out the Master nose probe which I could see was bent in the above pics! As I mentioned in my thread the decs are not technically accurate as they are actually for one of the 36 "new build" versions produced when the production line was re-opened in 1968 to replace losses, and which had a few differences to the Airfix kit of the earlier version. Pete

afternoon ladies 😄 thank you for taking the time to drop in.. I took the plastic card wing cores and added foam & filler to generate the blanks, careful attention paid to the leading edge intakes & radiator shapes. Chopped out the landing lights and added vacformed clear replacements and then the last few weeks have been busy skinning the forms... ..I started with the cannon blisters and worked outwards - these are the hardest part and it is much easier to make panels fit things like this, than try and make the blisters fit in existing panels.. ..because of the wing fold, the panel & rivet layout is quite complex.. ..also started on the radiator skinning, though not much done yet.. ..starting to look like an aeroplane ..think I will finish the tops and move onto the bottoms, which are even more complicated - prolly 30 - 40,000 damned rivets on this one... TTFN Peter

This is the first of a pair of Tamiya Jugs that I used to continue my personal theme for 2023 of "Pairs." It's painted with Alclad, AK Real Colors, MM and Testors enamels. I used Eduard wheels and Master Model blast tubes and pitot. Its decals are from Aztec Decals and weathered with oils and pastels. This Escuadron 201 airframe is in honor of my late father, and this was my inspiration: Here's what I turned out: Honestly, I'm not 100% happy with the results, but it looks pretty good on the shelf next to my other 3-footers. I'd love to hear what you think. All comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. Please drop your two cents into the bucket on your way out. Thanks for lookin'! -O

The Bloody Hundredth 1943 Limited Edition (11183) Boeing B-17F of the 100th Bomber Group USAAF 1:48 Eduard in collaboration with HK Models The B-17 that first flew in 1935 was quite a different beast than the one that flew during WWII, having a glossy bare metal finish, a tall, narrow chord vertical tail with no fin fillet, and lots of art-deco glass. The press coined the term "Flying Fortress" because of the number of gunnery positions around the aircraft, a nickname that stuck, and was later trademarked by Boeing. Its first attempt to gain approval and induction into the USAAF was foiled by an unfortunate accident that wrote off the prototype and killed the pilots, but it was given a second chance because of its comparative performance, and was eventually accepted into service with more powerful Cyclone engines and without the blister-type waist gunner windows. The E model was probably the first "real" fortress, with a larger expanded tail fin, tail gunner position and guns in the nose. It also had the familiar ball-turret on the underside that stayed with it throughout the rest of production. The F model brought in some more changes, most notable of which is the almost frameless nose glazing, which afforded the bomb-aimer a much better view, although he must have felt commensurately more exposed as a result. The G model with its jutting remotely operated chin-turret was the final mark of the war, and fought doggedly over Europe with a formidable offensive armament consisting of 13 guns. This of course was at the expense of bomb-load, which reduced the distance from home the Fortress was able to bomb, although as the front lines moved through France, this became less of an obstacle. Many of us will have recently seen the new AppleTV show The Masters of the Air, a show that depicts the trials and tribulations of the brave pilots and crew of the 100th Bomb Group, who flew missions over Nazi Germany and other occupied territories during 1943 and beyond, taking heavy losses due to the type of missions they flew, and the fact that they were flying in daylight over heavily defended factories, shipping yards and so forth. Their losses were so severe that they gained the unfortunate nickname “The Bloody Hundredth”, which was well-earned, as the rate of attrition of new and experienced crews was so appallingly heavy. If you’ve not seen the show, it’s well worth a look to gain an insight into a truly momentous battle in the air that the Allies ultimately won, but at a heavy cost. The Kit Several years ago HK Model brought out a monster of a 1:32 kit of the B-17, and eventually followed up in 2019 with a 1:48 scale reduction in a -G model, and two years later a -F, that between them put many a Monogram kit out to pasture, being a thoroughly modern kit with plenty of detail included in the box. This kit is a collaboration with HKM, adding new parts on a clear sprue that broadens the range of B-17Fs you can build from the box, additional details in resin and PE, new decals, masks and revised instructions. In addition, there are a host of new after market sets available separately to the modeller that wants to inject even more detail to their model, and we’ve all been there. This is a Limited Edition boxing, and arrives in a large top-opening box with a painting of a group of B-17s flying in formation high over enemy territory, with contrails streaming out behind them, and what could be the contrails of a swarm of enemy fighters coming in from above, circling round to get in behind the bombers. Detail of the kit is good, with an almost complete interior included within the fuselage, well-detailed engines on the wings, and details included for the bomb bay and gear bays. This is augmented further by the inclusions that Eduard have added to put their stamp on the model. There are eleven sprues in grey styrene, plus two fuselage halves, two wings and two forward fuselage halves in styrene of the same colour. There are also five sprues of clear parts, some of which containing only one part, and the most prominent areas are protected by an extra layer of clear adhesive tape within their bags. The extras include a handsome 25mm/1” enamelled pin in a small plastic box, seven resin parts that include the superchargers, two frets of Photo-Etch (PE), one in bare brass, the other nickel-plated and pre-painted for extra detail, plus four sheets of kabuki-tape masking sheet that is pre-cut to mask the interior and exterior of the model’s transparencies. The final parts of the package are the instruction booklets, one standard, the other marked as ‘Bonus’ that includes four extra decal options that require different nose window arrangements that are included on the additional sprue, which is transparent and designated X, which is in addition to the standard clear sprues. There are three large decal sheets, the smallest of which is A4, the other two substantially larger. The level of detail is excellent, and the box is rammed full of styrene, resin and decals. The large surfaces such as wings and elevators have internal support structures moulded-in, and have plenty of rigidity that will be essential for a model of this size. There is also a full spread of ribbing around the interior of the model that will be seen, even if only vaguely from the windows, leaving the modeller plenty of choice to pose hatches and windows open as appropriate, and for the modeller with insane levels of confidence and skill, a cut-away model is also possible if you choose the locations to cut open carefully. If you have the Bonus edition, you can choose the decal option you would like to portray, then select the appropriate instruction booklet to refer to during the build, putting the other to one side to avoid confusion. The Bonus boxing has additional steps to create alternative nose configurations that match the extra decal options, but the majority of the build steps are identical between the two boxings. The standard instruction booklet have a four-page history of the Bloody Hundredth that is written by Jan Zdiarsky, a historian and long-time contributor to all things Eduard. For the sake of this review we will follow the booklet with extra steps (the Bonus Instructions) until we reach the painting and decaling steps, showing both of these to assist you with choosing. It’s worth noting that this boxing has already sold out via the Eduard website, but there are many retailers that will have bought plenty of copies that are currently still available. Let us begin. Construction begins with the cockpit floor, which has the centre console moulded-in, and has two four-part seats installed after adding the pre-painted four-point PE seatbelts, which is probably best done after literally smothering the centre console with PE surface, throttle levers, and using some 0.5mm styrene rod from your own supplies to create the cross-bars that allow the crew a double-grip when necessary. Both flight crew have a handed control yoke in front of them, then the cockpit is bracketed by a pair of sidewalls that have racks of oxygen bottles moulded-in, painting them yellow so they stand out. The bomb bay is close behind the cockpit, separated from it by a bulkhead and the top turret mechanism. It has two bomb ladders and a large lower beam glued behind it, along with six two-part bombs split into threes, one set on each side. there are decals to be applied to the bulkhead, and the diagram also shows that if you are planning on closing the bomb bay, you should cut away two ‘whiskers’ from the bottom edge. A curved section of roof is glued over the bomb racks, with another bulkhead behind it that has a navigation table moulded-in, and two more whiskers on the lower edge to cut away if selecting a closed bay. Two sidewalls are glued between the two bulkheads, and a section of floor is fixed to the rear bulkhead and outfitted with radio gear and a seat with separate support. A circular bulkhead is fitted behind the radio room, fixing two boxes to the front face, and two supports for the belly turret at the rear. Another bulkhead is attached to the front of the cockpit after gluing the instrument panel and three decals to the rear face, or following the next step to create a much more detailed panel. This option involves removing all the moulded-in detail from the face, then applying two layers of PE that are pre-painted with dials and panel details, using four parts for the main panel, and folding a smaller part to accommodate the raised box on the starboard side, fitting PE levers near the lower edge. Additional PE parts are applied to the bulkhead above the moulded-in rudder pedals, with five in total. The main fuselage halves have the section forward of the cockpit separate to allow variants to be created more cost-effectively, and both halves are filled with ribbing detail from nose to tail, with a few ejector-pin marks that you may wish to fill if it bothers you or you think they’ll be seen. The waist gunner positions have narrow platforms added to the insides, with an ammo box and oxygen bottle forward of the window, and the .50cal Browning machine guns on curved shelves, mounting the gun on its shelf either facing forward for unopposed flight, or facing outward when enemy fighters are expected. The waist gun positions for this variant have a larger window that should be cut out following the guide, and you have a choice of inserting the closed window panels, or inserting a three-frame insert and resin gun pivot, sliding the gun through the hole from the inside. The PE sheet includes ring-and-bead sights for the guns, and all variants have a small square window over the wing root trailing edge. The port fuselage is prepped first so that the interior assembly can be glued in place, adding another framework bulkhead and the tail-wheel floor further aft, linked to the belly turret via a narrow walkway with a piece of equipment on a spur to the side at the rear. The starboard fuselage half is prepared in the same manner, after which the fuselage can be closed, with the rear crew hatch optionally posed in the open position. The tail gunner’s position is built on a narrow floor, adding two ammo boxes, a simple seat back, and gun breeches, linked together by a vertical mount, applying PE lap belts to the bicycle seat that’s moulded into the floor. The completed assembly is then inserted from behind, a scrap diagram showing how it locates within the fuselage before it is surrounded by the two tail inserts and gaiter that fits around the guns. The PE ring-and-bead aiming device is assembled around a length of 1mm rod from your own stock, pivoting on a PE bracket that is glued just behind the canopy that fits snugly between the fuselage and tail. The Fortress’s raised crew area was configured differently between variants, and this area is provided as a separate section that inserts in the space in the top of the fuselage over the cockpit and other crew areas. It has more ribbing inside, and is prepared by adding a support for the dorsal gun position, the gun’s breech and barrel plus PE sights as separate parts that pivot around a curved mount in one of two positions depending on whether the aircraft is in combat. The canopy glazing, roof lights and the two clear panels over the rear are added if the gun is retracted, leaving the larger panel off if the gun is deployed. The nose insert is where the biggest variation in fit and finish will be found, and all but one Bonus option uses clear skin parts from the new X sprue, which have ribbing moulded into the interior, and have been moulded clear to simplify the depiction of the many windows. Choosing the correct parts for your decal choice is key, and it is wise to put a prominent mark through the other options to avoid confusing yourself after looking away, especially if you have a poor memory like me. The clear nose parts don’t need any additional glazing panels gluing in, simply masking them off before painting, but the grey styrene option will require careful gluing of the clear panes in place, then all options are rigged with ammo boxes, oxygen bottles, gun support frames and the guns themselves, adding PE sights and small parts on shelves to the starboard side. The interior of the nose compartment is standard between all nose options, starting with a tapering floor, then adding a raised portion and instruments with decals on the port side, plus ammo and other boxes on the starboard side, then mounting the Norden bomb sight on a small platform in front of the two-part chair, which has a set of PE crew belts laid over the pad. There is a later step that has you drilling a 0.3mm hole underneath the floor, but this is best done before any details are added to avoid damaging the delicate parts on the top side. The interior is then enclosed by the two nose halves that you created for your decal option, plus a common roof section that has the radome moulded-in for the clear options, adding a pair of curved inserts to the front of the bomb aimer’s window. The nose gun installation consists of the breech with separate barrel that inserts into a four-legged frame that projects through the nose cone, installing antennae and a D/F loop underneath. The grey styrene nose option is used for some of the Bonus decal options, and doesn’t have a roof insert, only one of the three options having an astrodome that is cut from the centre of the roof using a thinned area inside as a guide, filling two small windows nearby, then adding a teardrop fairing and the clear dome over the top, taking care to align it dead-centre, as the human eye is very good at telling when things aren’t quite level, central or even. The other Bonus options have a pair of PE appliqué armour panels glued either side of a small window above the bomb aimer’s position, installing the gun and nose glazing in the same manner as the other options. Your choice of nose and upper crew area are mated to the fuselage after adding more decals to the front bulkhead in the nose, then the elevators are each made from upper and lower parts, plugging onto two holes in either side of the tail. The belly turret is made from two tapering side panels that have the breeches and barrels of the guns, plus the pivots added, joining them together with the help of the two-part centre section along with the two-part interior that locks into the sides. Its vertical mount is made from a Y-shaped part with two additional legs and an actuator, plus a two-part oxygen bottle and hose for the gunner, fitting a ring to the ends of the legs, and locating the turret’s pivots in the edges of the ring. The mid-upper turret has its mechanism assembled inside a cylindrical base, adding two ammo boxes underneath in a V-shape, then building the tapering supports with foot-pegs and a central pivot below that, and adding the glazing over the top, fitting barrels later, which is good news for painting and masking. It slots into the cut-out above and behind the cockpit, with a small antenna mounted on the tail fillet, flipping the fuselage over to install the belly turret and the tail wheel, which is made from two halves, plus a two-part strut that locates in the shallow bay. A towel-rail antenna is made by drilling two holes under the aft fuselage, inserting PE masts, and stringing a length of wire or stretched sprue between them, adding another pair of antennae in front of the bomb bay, a whip aerial behind it, plus your choice of two open, or one closed bomb bay doors. When you unbox the wings, they appear to be moulded as a single part, but in fact it’s just that their fit is so good that they appear to be one. Each wing has a tubular gear bay assembly made of six parts, with ribbing moulded into the parts for extra detail. They are trapped inside the wings when they are brought together, adding a pair of prop axles to the front of each nacelle as you do so. The flap bays are moulded with ribbing integrated, but they are shown covered by the flaps in the instructions, and Eduard have a PE flap set if you should get the urge to deploy them, with finer detail included in the set that is well-engineered, and shouldn’t be too taxing to create. The resin superchargers are removed from their casting blocks and inserted in the recesses under the nacelles, plus an additional length of trunking for the inboard engines due to the presence of the gear bay taking up the space inside. The landing gear is straight-forward, consisting of two-part wheels, and a two-part strut that installs in the gear bays after painting. The leading edges of the wings have short intake trunks inserted between the two nacelles, and a landing light lens with clear cover in the outer panel, trapping the engines between the cooling gill inserts and the forward cowling, after adding the PE wiring looms that Eduard have provided, slotting them into position at the front of the four nacelles, and mounting the four three-blade props to the front of the bell-housings. The last act involves mating the wings with the fuselage on locking-pins that will be familiar to anyone that already has a HK Models kit already, adding the four remaining barrels to the top turret and tail gunner’s posts, and for some markings options, a short length of wire is glued as an antenna between the astrodome and the nose cone. Masks There are a surprising six pages of instructions for the masking of the many windows, turrets and canopies on the model, which are included for interior and exterior surfaces, and is great news. The interior masks are tailored to fit the inside of the glazing so that you can paint the model’s interior and give your kit that extra bit of realism. Having used these sets on my own models now, I can confirm that they are extremely accurate, and it's good practice to place the outer masks first to act as a guide for alignment of the inner masks. Markings The standard boxing has a generous eleven decal options, while the Bonus boxing has another four, and both booklets have a separate page at the rear that shows where all the stencils should be placed, with extra diagrams showing decals for Wright and Studebaker engines (Marked on the individual profiles), extra decals around the cockpit windows to depict armoured glass, the ball turret, the backs of the crew seats, and bomb stencils. All decal options are Olive Drab over Light Grey due to the period of operation, and from the box you can build one of the following: Decal options A-K are the standard boxing, whilst L-O are in the Bonus Edition. B-17F-30-VE, 42-5864, Capt. Thomas E Murphy crew, Lt. Col. Beirne Lay Jr. 351st BG, Telergma, Algeria, August 1943 B-17F-30-VE, 42-5864, Capt. Thomas E Murphy crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, September 1943 B-17F-30-VE, 42-5867, Lt. William D DeSanders crew, 350th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, August 1943 B-17F-120-BO, 42-30796, Capt. Glenn W Dye crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, September 1943 B-17F-120-BO, 42-30796, Lt. George W Brannan crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, December 1943 B-17F-120-BO, 42-30758, Lt. Robert Rosenthal crew, 418th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, October 1943 B-17F-45-DL, 42-3307, Maj. Ollen O Turner, Lt. Jack R Swartout crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, July 1943 B-17F-45-DL, 42-3307, Lt. Arch J Drummond crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, Late 1943 B-17F-40-VE, crews of Lt. Sumner H Reeder, Lt. Henry M Henington, 349th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, early 1944 B-17F-55-DL, 42-3413, crews of Lt. Loren C Van Steenis and Lt. John S Giles Jr., 350th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, April 1944 B-17F-55-DL, 42-3413, Lt. Albert E Trommer crew, 350th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, July 1944 B-17F-85-BO, 42-30066, Lt. Charles B Cruikshank crew, Maj. John C Egan, 418th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, August 1943 B-17F-40-DL, 42-3271, Capt. Robert L Hughes crew, 351st BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, January 1944 B-17F-120-BO, 42-30788, Lt. Steward A McClain crew, 350th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, early 1944 B-17F-80-BO, 42-30088, Lt. Sumner H Reeder crew, 349th BS, 100th BG, Thorpe Abbotts, United Kingdom, April 1944 Standard Boxing Decal Options Bonus Boxing Additional Decal Options The decals are printed using a digital process and have good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut loosely around the printed areas. This means that the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. Conclusion The base kit is good enough, but the additions made by Eduard and the wide range of decals included in both Standard and Bonus boxing make it a highly appealing subject, as does the fact that this is the Bloody 100th. A subject well-deserving of a Maximum Effort commemorative build. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I got this one cheap many years ago, but have not been brave enough to build it until now. There are soooo many things to correct, and soooo many other kits that are easier to build if you should go all the way with this one. So finally I decided not to bother so much, building it mostly OOB just correcting a few of the most prominent issues. And here it is: Issues corrected are adjusting the shape of the fin leading edge, moving the exhaust on the front part of the right nacelle to the other side, removing the door on the left side of the front part of the body, plus adding a few antennas, opening a few holes and some more small additions. My original plan was to find aftermarket decals, since the colours on the Airfix sheet are far from correct. Not having found any cheap enough - this is a "good enough" build - I still wanted to do the hemp sceme, I decided to use the Airfix sheet after all. Replacing the roundels an fin flash with decals from the Xtradecals 1/72 Nimrod sheet that were in perfect size. I also replaced the kit seat with one from my spares box, (I think it was from a Kinetic Mirage) and added a few details on the visible part of the cockpit. Having decided that this was good enough, the rest of the build was more enjoyable than I thought. Fit was acceptable, parts are few (it feels like an upscaled 1/72 kit - which I also guess that it is, although it is not exactly similar to the Airfix release in that scale). The main problem was to handle the size, this is a huge bird, wingspan is 42 cm! To avoid it being a tail-sitter, I added more noseweight than I have ever done. The total weight of this model is almost one kilogram! I painted it with Mr Paint colours and did not weather it that much. Canberra experts will find plenty of errors, the rest of us, I guess, think that it looks pretty much like a Canberra. Once more - the mantra for this one was "good enough". I can't remember the number of times I said that to myself during the build. Thanks for watching!

Sorry for the lack of an update...life. I have been trying to get these mounted on their bases with figures but they're not quite finished. The models themselves are finished, the Mk.10 is that of C Sqn, 14/20 Kings Royal Hussars, Berlin, 1988-1991 and the Mk.11 is that of A Sqn, 1 RTR, Germany, 1992. Stuart

Hi Rob, Yes it certainly looks like the same plane - pity it does not say what unit it was. Anyway, I have made a start. The phantom riveter has been at it - although they are somewhat more subdued than on say the old Frog Shackleton I will probably sand them down a bit. The interior is very basic - just what you see above plus 3 figures and seats and a stick up front. These are the Airfix instructions- And here are the Revell ones for their much better version. Given the amount of glazing I will have to do quite a lot of work. The real thing was unusual in that it did not have an IP as such, just side panels and overhead ones something like this apparently. The late Do-217 were similar as perhaps the Ju 188. Although early versions were perhaps painted RLM 02 inside, I would imagine the A-5 would have been RLM 66. Anyway on with the story. Rather than proceed chronologically, it perhaps makes more sense in this case to talk about the engines next as they were the main “Achilles Heel” of the Greif (Griffon). The more engines you stick on the wing, the more weight and drag you create – at least in theory, so instead of going for 4 normal engines, both Avro and Heinkel decided to go down a twin engined route. However, as there were no sufficiently powerful “normal engines” available for the Manchester and 177 they both opted for untried “double engines”, namely the R-R Vulture and DB 606, and both had serious problems as we know. Avro fairly quickly opted to go for a modified 4 Merlin design (Lancaster) as R-R did not want to spend time sorting the Vulture, being too busy with the Merlin and Griffon development, which would soon be generating as much power as the Vulture anyway. Heinkel however persisted, though they did suggest a conventional 4 engined version as early as 1940. For whatever reason the Technischen Amt of the RLM refused permission – Green suggests that at that early stage they felt the problems would be overcome and that they did not want production to be suspended whilst a new version was introduced. However, their continued refusal not only to switch designs, but even to allow a pause for serious remedial action to be taken beggars belief. Even when they did finally consent the change had to be hidden from Hitler, though Heinkel continued design work under the cover name Heinkel 177B. 3 prototypes of the 277 as it was later called flew in 1944, and permission was finally granted, but only a small number of production models were build before production of all bombers was stopped in 1945, and probably only 2 or 3 actually flew. The performance of the modified plane was nearly up to the original Bomber A spec! The DB 606 consisted of 2 DB 601 inverted V 12 liquid cooled engines mounted side by side as shown in this overhead view. The later models used the DB 610 made up of a pair of DB 605 as shown here courtesy of Wiki. This is a front view and actually looks quite neat. They drove the prop through a common gearbox and the composite engines were “handed” so the Port prop turned clockwise and the Starboard anti-clockwise. The 606 generated about 2100HP and the 610 around 2700HP so they were much more powerful than the R-R Vulture. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the engines themselves as was proved later, but the installation was a real mess. To save weight and space they were shoe-horned into tight fitting cowlings with all the related services for fuel, oil and electricals squeezed in, and no firewall was fitted – engineers at the Rechlin test centre called the installation of the 606 a “sardine can”. During testing of the He 177A-02 pre-production prototype it was already clear that changes were needed. The two engines shared a central exhaust manifold which got very hot and could cause any accumulated oil and grease in the cowling to catch fire. To make matters worse, when the pilot throttled the engines back the fuel injector pump produced excess fuel, and the pipe joints tended to leak. Throw in a lubricating system where the oil tended to foam at high altitudes and the oil return pump was too large anyway, and lubrication became inadequate causing the connecting rod bearings to disintegrate. The net result was a firebomb waiting to explode. Suggested changes were to extend the engine mountings forward by 8 inches creating more space, moving the oil tank away from the engine, putting in a firewall and modifying the exhaust, fuel and oil systems but with the RLM refusing to allow any delays in production, Heinkel kept putting off the changes. The oil tank was moved on the A-1, and when crews demanded flame dampers for night work, the exhaust system was modified, and when the A-3 started production the engine mounts were lengthened, so things did improve somewhat, but the engines remained suspect. In 1943, Rechlin were given a Greif to play with and identified no less than 56 problems. Once all of these were addressed the engines performed flawlessly it seems. If a short delay in production had been allowed earlier to resolve the problems. who knows what might have happened. So that covers the main problems with the 177. Next time I will cover the actual development of the plane itself. Pete

When first introduced, Series 5 kits cost all of 7/6 (37.5p) though by the time the 177 appeared they may have cost a little more, so what did you get for your money? The decs are decidedly "iffy" - solid black crosses with a very thin white outline and a dubious set of letters. Airfix never said which unit they thought it was but K9 is I believe one of the recce ones and surely the "N" is the one that should be in the staffel colour, not the 9? The kit comes with both bombs for the bomb bay and up to 3 Hs 293 missiles, so I am considering either a maritime strike aircraft from KG 40 or a night bomber from KG 100 in Operation Steinbock. Before I start on a bit of background, a couple of corrections to my earlier post. I mentioned that the delays with the Grief caused the Fw 200 Condor to be introduced as a stop gap, which I believe is partly true, but the fact that Hitler went to war earlier than his military had expected was another factor. Also, even if the plane had been operational in time, there must be some doubts over whether or not Goering would have released any of "his" air force planes for maritime recce based on his attitude towards the Kriegsmarine, which was similar to that of Arthur Harris towards Coastal Command. Also, I said that the Luftwaffe did not look at any other strategic bombers but it could be argued that the later spec for the "Bomber B" was for such a plane, the requirements being similar to the "Bomber A" spec but rather faster. Of course none of the planes offered for the Bomber B requirement ever really got into service either. OK, this is going to be another of my long rambling rants lectures discourses for which I apologize in advance – of course you don't have to read it if you know it already! However, although much of the story is well known, a lot of the written information/opinion is old and I hope to cast a little new light on the saga. I am as ever open to any feedback/new information of a constructive nature. When Hitler started to build up the Luftwaffe the initial emphasis was on tactical support for the Wehrmacht, and this resulted in bombers with a relatively small payload and short range such as the Do-17, Ju 88 and He 111 which were more than adequate until the Battle of Britain and later the invasion of Russia, when their lack of range and hitting power became obvious. Some elements in the Luftwaffe had anticipated this problem and this resulted in 2 new designs of 4 engined bombers – sometimes unofficially named Ural Bombers, rather prophetically as it turned out. Initiated in around 1934, the Do 19 and Ju 89 first flew in 1936. Neither of the two planes were particularly impressive, the Do 19 for example being intended on paper to carry up to 16 x 220lb bombs or equivalent for a maximum range of about 1000 miles with a max speed of around 190 mph, whilst the Ju 89 could carry a similar payload a little further and faster. It has often been claimed that following the death in a plane crash of their main supporter General Wever, interest waned but Green thinks that unlikely. The idea was clearly not forgotten because, as it seemed that both the previously mentioned bombers would have inadequate performance, a new requirement was issued in 1936 for the so called “Bomber A” and in 1937 Heinkel were ordered to proceed with their 177 design. The Bomber A specification was for a machine capable of carrying a load of at least 2000lb over a range of 4160 miles with a top speed of no less than 335 mph and it had to be strong enough to carry out “medium angle dive bombing attacks”, and frankly was rather over-optimistic in terms of performance and the dive bombing requirement was to cause major problems. During the early 1930's, dive bombing was popular with the US Army and Navy, and it is sometimes said that whilst touring the US as a stunt pilot Ernst Udet was impressed enough to push for similar planes on his return to Germany – in fact I have read that Goering offered to buy him two Curtis Hawks if he would join the Nazi Party in 1933. Whatever the case it certainly caught on in the Luftwaffe and initially proved to be the most accurate way of delivering bombs, though as shown in the Battle of Britain it was not as good when faced with determined opposition. Using Hs 123 and Ju 87 as dive bombers was fair enough, and it seemed to work quite well on the bigger Ju 88, but there were major problems with the Do 217, and expecting the even larger He 177 to operate in that mode, even at a relatively shallow angle was probably unreasonable. In order to meet the requirement Heinkel had to make the whole structure stronger and therefore heavier, which in turn reduced the speed, payload and range, and perhaps more importantly put an increased strain on the engines which were already unreliable. More next time.😄 Pete