Leaderboard

Such a pleasurable build, relatively simple, great fit and hundreds of schemes to choose from, so I went with the one in the box!! If you ever lose your mojo give this kit ago, you will be straight back on track!

I'm sure there'll be better ones than mine over the coming weeks, but, I must admit to be very impressed with this kit especially after all the hype over how ever many months/years since it was originally announced. First impressions on opening the box is how delicate the mouldings are, particularly some of the finer parts. Anyway I have built it pretty much straight from the box except for some light sanding of the control surfaces and some Eduard RAF seatbelts. 20250105_161127 by 20250105_161144 by 20250105_161214 by

I'm not going to get into a lot of build details because there's a WIP for this build here I will mention that right after the last WIP installment I had a disaster. With everything done but the dangly bits I back flushed my airbrush to clean it and spattered silver lacquer all over the horizontal stabilizers and the fuselage spine up to the first invasion stripe. Not only did I get the plane three feet away I also got the plastic container with all the subassemblies too. You can see the line of silver spatter running the full length of the container. Livid and more concerned with fixing the damage I didn't take pictures of the plane's damage. Today I took this picture of the container to show the spatter. Needless to say I was very upset with myself. I was hoping I had enough clear coats protecting the underlying paint to wet sand the silver off. Unfortunately the silver lacquer ate past the clear coats. I had to wet sand and touch up paint the stabs, fuselage spine, two tires and a prop assembly. So I almost botched this plane completely in the final home stretch. Typical Ron move. The build itself was inspired by a Rikyu Watanabe illustration. I've wanted to build this plane for decades as per the illustration. Although I love the illustration it lacks a supporting photograph so I built it a slightly more plausible scheme. Mainly leaving the black undersides off. That was difficult for me because I really like the way the black undersides look. Always the modelers dilemma, accuracy vs aesthetics. The kit is the 1/48 Tamiya MkXIII/XVII built nearly OOB. The only additional work and pieces was Brass wing dipoles for durability and the Monica (?) lens and relieved fairing. The kit was the best fitting and engineered model I've ever built. A big thanks goes out to all the helpful gentlemen that provided the references I needed to build this plane. That's it. My first build completed in 2025. I started it December 1st so it's also one of my fastest build in years. I don't know what I'm building next, but I can tell you it will be a Tamiya kit. I'm thinking something like this with folded wings. Or their Ki-61 kit. Hmmm? Decisions, decisions. Be well and a belated Happy New Year. Ron

Hi All, A little more progress today has got the Manchester very close to the finish line. The kit undercarriage doors were shortened by 3mm, but otherwise unchanged. These were added along with the flaps and bomb crutches: The printed bomb doors were then added: The pitot tube and 'towel rail' antenna were also added (the latter's position changed to just above the bomb bay door on the port side. Topside fiddly bits were added, which got us here: I now await the transparencies in order to complete, but it's looking like a Manchester! Thanks for looking, Roger

Hil all, it's been a good while since I posted anything here, so I'd like to share one project from 2024 that I'm most proud of. Airfix's 2010s era He111 is was what you Brits might call a curate's egg. Some aspects are excellent. There are great interior details, things scale out just right, and the complex curves of the wings and canopy are captured perfectly. The engineering of the complex landing gear is done very cleverly, and I like that Airfix gives you the option to open the unique vertical bomb bay (curiously, there are no bombs provided). On the other hand, fit was a little tricky in places, and I used more filler than I have on other Airfix models from the period. I had a very hard time fitting the four piece glass nose, but I think much of that was due to user error. My advice is to glue the three main pieces together BEFORE you add them to the fuselage. The fit of the lower wings and flaps was also tight, and the fit of the side windows was extremely tight side windows didn't fit at all without major shaving. What really surprised me was the low quality of the decals. Airfix has established a track record of supplying excellent decals printed by Cartograph. Indeed, the box side says Cartograph. But these have a thick flat finish, and were a little stiffer than any Cartograph decals I used before. They reminded me more of old Italeri decals. They also had very poor adhesion, and some of the smaller stencils fell off after they had dried. I hope I just got a bad batch, because this was totally uncharacteristic. As for the build. It went quickly. I think I finished the model in about three weeks, which is very fast for me. Despite some of the fit issues, the kit is designed to be quickly assembled. I added some paper belts, and replaced the stick-like Airfix MGs, with the somewhat overscaled, but more MG-ie looking guns from the old Italeri heinkel. I also used a set of resin wheels I had laying around. The model was painted with Mr. Color RLM 65, 70, and 71. I also applied several shades of green, brown, and drab colored oil paint filters (basically dirty thinner), to shift the colors and add some tonal variety. The exhaust stains are Tamiya smoke. I lightened the greens just a touch in an effort to achieve the look of an airplane under sunny skies, and I didn't want the model to turn into a heinkel-shaped black hole on my display shelves, with the two very dark greens. These might look too bright for some color purists, but I think they make the model visually more interesting. Alse the colors have a lot less contrast when not under my bright photography lights. So there we have it. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this one a 6. The fit issues were one thing, but the poor decals really brought this one down by one or two points.

Hello everybody, Completed Eduards weekend box kit of their latest 109 family, the K version during the holidays. Used their masks to paint all insignias and the tulip effect but found them very unforgiving since they’re made in vinyl so painting around the forward fuselage was a chore indeed. Some minor rectifications to improve details and omissions and painted with Gunze and MRP. Lightly weathered since I don’t think this machine has a very long operational life. Wishing you all a fantastic 2025!

I've wanted to build one of these for a long time and the reissue of the ancient Airfix P.1127 rekindled my aspirations over the Xmas period ! The Kestrel had a lot of differences from the P.1127 and from the later P.1127(RAF) or Harrier; it's kind of a half-way house between the two. So, my first major project of 2025 is a conversion of the Fujimi AV-8A into a Kestrel FGA.1 of the Tripartite Evaluation Sqn at RAF West Raynham, by altering the nose, intakes, undercarriage and air brake, wings, fin, nozzles & nozzle fairings (amongst other things). Decals are home-made inkjet printed. The rocket powered Martin Baker Mk.6 ejection seat (a first) is from Aeroclub. I was quite pleased with the way the conversion turned out, but the metallic finish and the decals gave me a lot of trouble. I went for the very first Kestrel, XS688, because it initially carried the rubber intake lips plus the original un-cranked tailplanes (albeit with anhedral). Athough it eventually wore side number "8" along with the TES markings, I've done it as it first appeared, with Hawker Siddeley P.1127 titles on the nose. I hacked out the main gear bay and filled the Harrier air-brake on the donor kit as well as adding the Ram Air Turbine that always seemed to be extended when the Kestrels were on the ground. Next up, the Airfix P.1127 with a set of Harrier wings to represent XP984, the last P.1127 !

I have very long break last year, only one kit finished in 2024. Hope that this year will be better. First finished kit in 2025. Resin from SBS in 1/72 scale. Canopy is wider then fuselage, the only problem with kit parts. For that blue I used Gunze H-5, but I think a darker blue will be better.

Hello everyone! Here are two of four Me 262 kits I finished right at last year's end (10 minutes before midnight!). Both are Me 262A-2a attack variants of KG51 using the Trumpeter 1:144 kit although one uses the main decals form a Mark I issue of the Eduard moulds. Both kits had the incorrect inner main u/c doors replaced with new ones made from Evergreen card using the Mark I kit parts as templates. I added the spine loop antenna from the Mark I etched set which came with four, so there were spares. The underside aerials were made from stretched sprue. The schemes are 'representations' using educated guesses and considering that reproducing them accurately in 1:144 is really difficult if possible at all. Both kits were fully painted and varnished by brush. For more details and WIP build, check out my posts on the Kampfgruppe144 site: http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=10269. The Kettenkrads came with each kit. Firstly then, 9K+YH of 1./KG5, Luftwaffe, based at Rheine, Germany, autumn 1944. I am well aware the white Y is wrong and it should be a "y" instead. I left it alone as painting it with a black outline wouldn't work out well. The bomb load consists of a single SD500 bomb which was a common practice in attack missions. Trumpeter actually supplies both 250 and 500 kg bombs as well as R4M rocket racks (but ignore using them on this variant and with bombs loaded as they suggest in the instructions). Secondly, 9K+BH of 5./KG51 Luftwaffe, Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental, Germany, autumn 1944. This scheme was in one of the Mark I Models reissues of the Eduard kit and I used the decals here. I modified two 250kg to represent AB250 cluster bombs, another load often used by the Me 262. I questioned the wave pattern being only applied on the fuselage so I applied it on the wings too. Mark I suggests the wavy pattern should be white and I have seen suggestions of using RLM02 but, in the only photo I found, a close-up of the nose of one machine painted like this, I agree with others in that it may well have been RLM76. Thanks for looking and all comments are, as always, welcome. Miguel

hi all, Happy New Year. This is my first completed model of 2025 although it was started last year. It's the Platz 1/72 Fuji T-1 and it's an excellent little kit, having great detail and good fit all round. The decals are superb and fit all of the contours very well indeed but i chose to paint the dayglo orange areas. The only issue i had was with nose weight. The kit comes with a plastic weight but it isn't enough (therefore why bother?). I had to add around 4g into the intake and fashion a FOD cover from metal foil. Not hard to do but annoying that no mention of extra weight was given in the instructions. Hope you like it, Andy

I've been building three 1/72 F-15s alongside each other since before the 2022 F-15 50th anniversary GB...and the two Japanese ones are *finally* finished. There's a Strike Eagle that's 99 per cent done - I just need to install the two external targetting/nav pods (inconceivably, I've lost the little ball turret thing in one of the pods). These two are: a regular JASDF F-15J of the 204th Tactical Fighter Squadron, then of the 7th Air Wing at Hyakuri Air Base, some time in the 1980s or early 1990s (but seen below flying over Amami airport down near Okinawa, following a holiday we took there last northern summer) a dressed up and more modern F-15J MSIP of the 306th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 6th Air Wing at Komatsu Air Base in 2021 (a 40th anniversary scheme) These Hasegawa F-15 kits are good but they are very involved and fiddly. The exhausts - admittedly complex on an F-15 - have no fewer than 44 parts per plane. Getting the join smooth between the nose part and the main fuselage was just about impossible. The main undercarriage was a real chore too, as the diagram isn't super clear. But in the end, and despite the harsh Aussie sun revealing all the blemishes, I am glad these are done and reasonably pleased with them. For the regular F-15 I added weapons from a Hasegawa set and a pilot from somewhere (probably the Revell set). The other one had a scheme that attracted me while late night shopping on a Japanese website - seemed like a good idea at the time! I do like it, and I think it adds some great pop to the display shelf. Not everything needs to be two tone grey! I had all kinds of grand plans for another 1/72 F-15 - a 57th FIS out of Iceland with CFTs - but honestly I think I need a bit of a break from unfinished F-15s on my bench! They do look cool and I was also pleased with the blu-tac worm spray-paint finish. I just should have worked harder on getting a better fit of wings and fuselage - but as anyone who's tackled the Hasegawa F-15 will know, it's not that easy! Above all I am glad they're done - these are #2 and #3 off the bench for 2025, noting that 95%+ of the work was done in the preceding few years. They didn't make it into the 2024 Yearbook but they'll be in 2025! Thanks for looking!

Hi all, some pictures of my new built 1:48 P-39N by Arma Hobby. Add Eduard Brassin exhausts and some Eduard PE`s for the cockpit and landing gear.

Greetings, Folks! My second aircraft build of the new year is the Hasegawa SR-71A in 1/72 scale, the first version (17950). The kit was straightforward to assemble, although I did read some reviews pointing out that it’s not the most accurate kit available. That’s fine with me; I can live with it. What really had me concerned was the black paintwork. I’d never painted anything entirely black before, let alone dealt with black sprues. After some trial and error over time, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. I started with a base coat of neutral grey, followed by a light spray of white, and then added random touches of blue and brown. I’m happy with the result, but I’m always open to feedback to improve. So here it is—thank you for taking the time to have a look! Cheers!

I must admit these aren't my usual subect but I couldn't help myself as they are such an iconic aircraft and look, well, a little strange but I suppose its the design of the cockpit openings which to my mind look just like eyes.. Anyway, a little bit like comparing the two Wildcats on my previous post one can't help comparing the two kits even though they are a different variant with the Mikro Mir one having larger wings. The Mikro Mir one is also a much more difficult build as regards to fit and quality of some of the smaller parts. It was a bit of a tussle I must admit. The Miniart one though was a joy to build and also features better detailing throughout. The corrogation effect is also much better represented than the Mikro Mir one. It was fiddly at times particularly the engine and cockpit with a myriad of tiny photoetch parts and despite the complexities of the structure, parts fitted together perfectly. I'm certainly looking forward to the floatplane version. The Mikro Mir one is the yellow one and the Miniart one is silver. Thanks for looking. 20241020_193238 by 20241020_193249 by 20241126_192757 by 20241126_192616 by 20241126_192632 by 20241126_192719 by 20241126_192603 by 20241126_192951 by

Just sneaking in under the wire for 2024 (31/12/24) was completion of my latest Eduard 1/48 Grumman Hellcat II Weekend Edition. The Aircraft was built to represent Hellcat JW731 / R6*L assigned to 1844 NAS 5th NFW HMS Indomitable. The model in the Eduard 1/48 Hellcat II Weekend addition with a few extras. Eduard Hellcat etched detailing set for the cockpit. Eduard etched Gun Bays. Ammo boxes are scratch. Brassin .50 Cal MGs. Various bits and pieces of wire, lead wire, etc for engine ignition cables, piping, brake cables, Aux fuel tank stays & straps etc. Paint is the excellent Colourcoats enamels, which I am looking forward to being available again soon. Roundels are painted using hand cut masks. Serials and aircraft codes were generic Xtradecal. Armourers are ICM as is the pilot. Research materials are key. There appears to be no actual pictures of JW731. @iang helped me by identifying the probable differences between 1839 & 1844 squadron aircraft. I also plundered the IWM Photo collection site for pictures of hellcats being armed and serviced for background. You get all sorts of little tip bits like:- There are three ammo boxes per wing (obviously) two one colour one lighter in colour. Once you study the gun bays you realise that the rear ammo box and a lower feed than the other two. The lighter coloured box goes at the back... The colours came from a preserved machine. The History to quote Wiki "Operation Meridian, also known as the "Palembang Raids" was part of a series of British air attacks directed at Japanese-held oil refineries near Palembang on Sumatra during the Second World War, Meridian had two phases: Meridian I on 24 January 1945 and Meridian II on 29 January. As a result, the critical aviation fuel output of the plants at Palembang was reduced by seventy-five percent." SLt EW Wilson was assigned aircraft JW731 / R6*L on 24th Jan '45 (almost exactly 80 years ago) - 1844 were assigned Target CAP. During the operation the CAP was engaged and at 0815 Ki-45‘Nick’ shared destroyed with Flight Leader additionally, Wilson engaged with and destroyed a Ki44 ‘Tojo’ Destroyed. ‘out of control vertically smoking, Palembang’. Enough waffle here are some pictures:- This aircraft goes along with a previously built Hellcat flown by Wilson that has previously been shown on these hallowed ages:- “In the meantime the enemy made an appearance over the fleet, but were met by our Hellcats and Vics’s Corsairs. The Corsairs shot down four and the Hellcats three, all Oscars. Tug Wilson destroyed two and (John) Smithwick one. They were flying with Bing (John Hawkins) and Claude (Lt RC Westfield), who was just about to press the ‘tit’ when Tug nipped in before him and shot it down. Bing got on a Jap, but his electrics failed so his guns failed to fire”. SLt R McKenzie 1844 NAS HMS Indomitable Operation Millet – Nicobar Islands o 19.10.44 (1010) 2 x Ki-43 ‘Oscar’ Destroyed 3m S of Car Nicobar. Grumman Hellcat I FN411/5*E[2] One more to build for Wilson and I'll have a model of every identified Hellcat that he scored or shared a victory in.. Thanks for shopping by

OK, I said there had been some modelling. As is the nature of things with resin kits, a lot of progress appears to happen quickly - she already looks like Fearless - but there's a long way to go. Though I have already said (& will continue to say) that Peter has done an astonishing job with this kit, even someone of his skill faces the limitations of the medium; for example, this steam pipe feeding into the port funnel from the forward boiler room has been moulded as follows: I tried filing it in situ, but it was wobbling too much and I was worried about snapping the pipe altogether, so I removed it & fettled it separately: Here is the outcome (amidst lots & lots of dust): The fit OOB is astonishingly good, especially for such substantial pieces of resin (the superstructure alone is 7" long - the whole ship 17.5"), but of course it is not 100% perfect, so a tiny bit of filling & sanding has been today's game (hence the dust): Even the flight deck fits ridiculously well (dry fitted at present, and will remain so for a bit; it won't be glued in place until the dock area is complete): So I have actually glued quite a lot of the superstructure today; everything in this series of shots is glued apart from the Special Forces Portakabins up on 04 deck - it will be far easier to paint the deck before installing them: The next game is going to be sorting out the fit of the superstructure to the main hull piece: it fits well fore & aft: ...but I think is going to need a shim on either side, because I don't think I trust my eye enough to sand a slight curve into the superstructure while keeping it level: To finish today, here are a couple of shots of the whole ship, with superstructure, flight deck (including FD crane and Wendy House) and stern gate all dry fitted for now: I am not working tomorrow, so hope to get a bit more done then (though I have a few real Life commitments as well). More soon Crisp

Happy New Year WIP Cheers macki

Some time ago (scarily, well over 6 years) I broke my wrist, so while I couldn't model I compiled some drawings of HMS Fearless as she was in 1982, when I served in her as a baby Sub Lieutenant during the Falklands War. For those who are interested and/or don't remember this endeavour, you can find it here: At the time I thought these drawings were going to be used to help me scratch build a Fearless, since the only modern kit available was the 1/700 L'Arsenal job [which I have & is OK, but still needs a lot of work to make it depict her as she was in 1982]. Definitely a build for my retirement, says I. But then about 18 months ago Peter Hall of Atlantic Models contacted me & asked whether he could use my drawings & photos (in addition to a lot of other reference material), because he was working on ... a 1/350 Fearless / Intrepid! I hasten to add that all the kudos should go to Peter; my drawings helped him to answer a couple of questions, but he has done all the hard work. A couple of weeks ago the kit arrived. I actually have 2 of them; one will be built for myself and will depict her as she was in San Carlos Water on around 24 May 1982, docked down with the stern gate open and the LCUs & LCVPs busy, Antelope's Lynx on deck in Fly 1 and a Sea King in the process of spreading (with a tiny me as FDO). Something like this: That is for the future. This build, however, will depict her as she looked when we sailed back into Pompey in July 1982, looking battered but proud - out of shot on the left of this photo are 3 x LCU in a "missing man" formation, denoting the fact that F4 had been sunk on the same day as the Sir Galahad / Sir Tristram tragedy at Bluff Cove. This is being built as a present for our Captain during the war, Jeremy Larken. [Apologies for the quality of the photo, which is taken from a 1983 desk calendar my Dad bought at the time & which is framed on my wall - but I have never seen this excellent photo reproduced anywhere else]. Anyway. The kit. It's bloomin' lovely; a hulking great piece of resin (& I haven't even bought the full hull version, which must be even heavier), which was one of the reasons Peter gave for not producing this earlier; I discussed it with him 3 or 4 years ago at Telford, and he said he reckoned it was on the edge of what is possible. But the casting is of the highest quality, and I reckon it shouldn't require too much additional work (famous last words, given my well-known propensity for detailing...). Here is the whole thing: the ridged piece on the left is the underside (deck-head of the dock) of the flight deck part; you can see that we get 1 x Wessex 5 and 1 x Sea King 4; 2 x LCU (the big landing craft carried in the dock) & 4 x LCVP (smaller landing craft carried on davits). I will use 1 of the LCUs from the other kit to give me 3 (which will be fine, because I only need 1 for the San Carlos scene). Here are the LCUs: the thin casting at the sides is superb, but he also provides PE to replace that section (which I will be doing); the bow door is scored underneath so you can remove it and attach it in the closed position (which I will also be doing). Here the LCVPs & the 2 helos: Here the masts, upper superstructure parts and radars: Here the flight deck underside & stern gate - some stunning casting: Funnels, crane cabs (FS & ID had slightly different flight deck cranes, but they both had the same crane on the port quarterdeck), & "Wendy House" next to the funnels (the shelter for flight deck crew): Extensive PE sheet of Peter's habitual high quality Decals: The kit 40mm Bofors Mk 7s are white metal and perfectly OK, but I already had some beautiful Black Cat Models 3D printed jobs, which I will almost certainly use: The only other after-market will be these Swordfish Models life raft canisters - the kit's are again white metal, and past experience suggests they aren't the easiest to clean up convincingly. All of this means that my never-ending Ark Royal 5 build is going on the back burner - not for the first time. I am comfortable enough with this; I have made substantial progress with Ark since I picked it up again in 2024, but there's still a long way to go. Jeremy isn't getting any younger, so I cannot leave this present indefinitely! More soon Crisp

Hi all. This weekend i finished this display for my Airfix 1/72 BN Defender from the Omani air force. The inspiration is a photo from the internet showing the Defender on a remote airstrip in 1978. I scratch build the two trolleys and used a bunch of resin oil barrels to create the scene. The kit is the old Airfix kit which is not bad at all, but takes a little work to put together. I sanded the surface detail back a bit and rescribed the wing as well as adding some antennas. I hope you like this little piece of aviation history 🙂

My first build (yes I may be tempted to do a few) is a 1974 release of Hellers Potez 631. As mine is a bagged kit and has no box, I've copied the picture from Scalemates below. Picture from Scalemates I'm planning on doing the Vichy colour scheme so hopefully my red stripes decals will come in handy. Cheers Pat

Long-time lurker posting in RFI for the first time, yay!😄 I have had this kit for a looong time (even the all-knowing .xls says "before 2004", best guess is mid-1990s), half-built, but could never bring myself to tossing it; somehow, I got inspired last year to pick it from the Box of Shame, and I managed to finish it just before the year ended. The ship is the Klingon adversary of Cpt. Kirk & Crew in only a few episodes of the very first Star Trek series. Fit of the kit is mediocre (as is typical of AMT kits from the late 1960s), and decals are limited to insignia and a few Klingon letters. No windows, of course (why should the Klingons have it any better than the Enterprise Herself) except for a few holes that had to be filled anyway. I replaced the transparent-green, riffled phaser banks to the left and right of the cobra head by something built from cut-up styrene tube that looked closer to the original. Since the kit had been in the Box of Shame from a time when I still used everything as a filler but real filler, there was some work to do, and tiny holes would appear at inconvenient times and places during sanding. The contraption for hanging the model from the ceiling and the holes for the Z-shaped stand were closed up and replaced by a single styrene tube for the base. Windows were researched online, but no absolutely consistent sizes or patterns could be found, even though there are only two original miniatures, both of which are in museums and are supposed to look exactly like manufactured. So I picked what looked plausible to me. Round windows were punched from black decals, square windows were created by cutting up rows of rub-on letters ("I"s and "1"s mainly) and transferring these to decal sheet - I was afraid that I would not be able to keep consistent sizes when cutting ~50 rectangular shapes from black decal. Colours are Tamiya XF-21 (Sky) and XF-23 (Light Blue) mixed 1:1 for the green, and XF-56 (Light Grey) for the upper surface grey. The metal effect was created by spraying XF-56 (Metallic Grey) and drybrushing with XF-16 (Matt Aluminium). I decided not to weather the kit at all - ships are quite clean in the Star Trek universe, and TV resolution was so coarse that all the miniatures were clean anyway. The Klingon base is a resin piece that I picked up at starshipmodeler.com ages ago; there is a gazillion tiny bubbles, which I had no wish to clean up, so I sprayed it all with semi-gloss black primer, inserted a piece of brass tube and called it a day. Might paintbrush the Klingon insignia and lettering with Future later to pick them out in gloss black.

I have a stash of a few hundred kits (no, I don’t have a problem, I think) and at least 99% of them would fit right into this GB, so I thought I’d have to give it some thought. Is the Pope a man of peace? After a quick deliberation I decided that at least Pope “John Paul II” would qualify for that. I well remember when Karol Józef Wojtyła from Poland was elected pope “IOANNES PAVLVS Secundus”, John Paul II, in October 1978 after the 33 day short period of his predecessor John Paul I. He was refreshingly young and active, for becoming a pope, and he was the first non-Italian pope in over 450 years. I also well remember the role he played later that to some extent helped liberate countries from communist dictatorship, and other countries as well. A peace advocate and inspirer. I’m not a religious person so that’s not the point here, but, especially in hindsight, I find Pope John Paul II a remarkable man. And he is actually part of a kit I have in my stash: A 1/43 scale resin kit of a “Papamobile” based on a first generation Renault Espace GTS. The car was prepared for a visit the Pope made to Lyon in October 1986. I bought this kit second hand perhaps 15 years ago on ebay. The box was plain and there are no instructions, the latter often the case with older 1/43 resin kits. Here’s the full content of the box. The decals are flags with John Paul II’s Coat of Arms for the front wings and there’s a piece of dark red carpet material among the parts. So no maker is directly given, but the inscriptions on the underside mentions “S 2 M 63 Sarl” that jogs some old memory I can’t place right now. However one name there is familiar, and all the Espace based parts are 100% like the parts from the same era 1/43 Renault Espace kits made by French maker Gaffe, as is the resin quality. And sure enough, inside the bodyshell appears the familiar logo of Gaffe. “85” would come from the year when the master for the original Espace kit was created. I don’t really know if this Papamobile kit was ever sold in kit form, or if perhaps only hand built samples were officially made, but this how I got it. Beside the two main parts and the Pope himself there are a few more resin parts for the dash board and the seats. Then we have white metal wheels and some smaller white metal parts, some metal rods and four tyres with pre-coloured white wall sides that have turned greenish. The odd looking wheels and tyres were apparently a special puncture proof design by Michelin. I’m not quite ready to start building yet. The problem is that I see little reason to have the Pope standing there all alone in an otherwise empty Papamobile. I don’t know how much this car was used during that visit to Lyon in 1986, probably very little, but there are some photos that shows it driven with John Paul II in it. This is more what I would like to achieve at least the feeling of; the Pope himself in the car together with some companion (might this be Cardinal Decourtray, Archbishop of Lyon at the time?), a few guards beside and the drivers. So I need to find suitable figures, or printable stl-files of them. I have some little idea, but far from what I need so far. I also have to make decals for the black Michelin tyre text, the small Lyon Coat of Arms for the doors and possibly better wing flags, but that’s a lesser problem. We'll see if I can get things to fall in place for this buid.

Although possibly not quite as comprensive as the recent Eduard kit (one can't help but to compare the two) I found this a pleasure to build along with the added bonus of the included wingfold option which I don't beleive you get with the Eduard kit? Parts fit together perfectly and surface detail is most acceptable. Other than Eduard seatbelts and Xtradecal decals, its straight from the box. Recommended👍 20250105_161401 by 20250105_161426 by 20250105_161513 by 20250105_161445 by

Some from today's very wintry Bicester Scramble.

It's been a wile since my last update. I hope you all had great holidays and spent time with your loved ones. I wish everybody here a happy New year. I did a bit more work on the lower hull of the Tiger. I tested the suspension. It work's great. All the weels were dry fitted btw. I want to fully paint and weather them before i attach them to the model. Then i went on with all the work on the upper deck. There is a lot of PE work. I had the option to replace all the clamps with PE clamps. I tried but i still haven't found a good way to assemble these tiny parts in a working clamp so i decided to work with the plastic parts. The kit offers the option for almost all parts to choose between plastic and PE so that's great. That way you can test and if you fail you can use plastic. They even have tools with and without the clamps so you don't have to scrape the clamps off. The RFM upgrade kit offers a lot of extra PE and resin parts. So far it's really worth the investement. So far the build is progressing without mayor problems. Sometimes RFM got their instructions wrong or they misnumber a part. I think it has something to do with them using the same sprues in multiple kits. But more on that later.... The overall impression of this kit is good exept the tracks. They are the worst i have encountered so far. I don't have photo's but trust me, their way of track assembly leaves you with a lot of frustration and no working tracks. So i ordered aftermarket resin tracks. Like i said before, RFM uses the same sprues in multiple kits. This kit is a non interior build however, when i started working on the turret i noticed 2 whole sprues with interior parts. So i searched on scalemates to see wich RFM kit has an early Tiger interior. I found kit number 5025 initial Tiger with interior and downloaded the instructions. And this worked like a charm. I was able to assemble a full interior in the turret. I know almost nothing will be visible but hey, always nice to add some fun to the build 😉 Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update you guys when i have more progress to report..... Oh, one last thing. I think my Tiger diorama will be a little bit bigger than i had planned 🤪

Long time lurker, aiming to get back to more than occasional build in 2025! Here's my first model of the year. Started in 2025, finished on the 2rd Jan 2025, which is my excuse card for the compromises. It may not be the most accurate (it isn't, the 1/72 Heller PZL P-11c is certainly superseded with more recent kits) but... I was gifted a lot of kits by a friend, including a large set of Heller black labels, and I thought it would be fun to build one between New Year's eve, when we met, and the 2nd Jan when we met again to farewell a friend heading home. Kind of proving they're not just moving from one shelf to another. So. I decided to grab the PZL, and do it as the single survivor that has QUITE the back story. Built (without markings) in less than 24 hours. Happy to share more details if of interest! I'm pleased that I conquered the rather tricky elements of the build, notable those INCREDIBLY fragile undercarriage legs and mount, and got it together. No decals, as the Heller ones are pretty unlikely to go over the corrugations, and I've yet to get a set of markings of the preserved example*. So here it is. For the purposes of the case, it's without markings as the team are preparing it for engine runs between refurbs at the museum... *I've discovered the ONLY(?) 1/72 decals of the preserved PZL P-11c are in the Arma Hobby boxing. (The Arma Hobby | No. 70016 | 1:72, 'Junior Set', aircraft '2' / '39') Anyone prepared to kindly supply just the marking for a naked model? TIA!

This my OOB 1/72 Dora Wings P-63E in Honduras markings, part of my "Last Legs Ponies" project. In place it was a little finnicky, but all-in-all a nice kit.

Had some fun playing with the circle cutter. Was able to cut concentric circles in masking tape and vinyl.... the vinyl roundel looks very usable. I cut on a piece of acrylic to protect the blade. Painted diluted putty into seams then filed and sanded it back... hoping this is the last pass Cut and fitted windows for the cockpit doors. As usual, the first go went well and smoothly and the second go took many tries, cleaning and redoing, and was a pain. Seems to be my pattern! Tomorrow, mask and fit cockpit doors then spritz primer again. If the seams are ok, we'll move on to fitting the engine, cowling, and flying surfaces. Perhaps I should try putting the plane + wings upside down, then fitting the struts in before I glue anything. Seems dihedral should be around 2.5* Also a question for Graham @ColonelKrypton: what do you use to cut your fine metal pipes?

I hadnt realised I'd completed so many Heller kits I can't think who the bad influence must have been.............@jean Morane 230 Morane Saulnier MS225 PZL P23 A/B Karas

My victim choice of build has been selected Instead of building a tractor (like everyone else ), I'll go with something a little bit faster Here's the plastic And the PE, fabric belts, decals, chromed bits, tyres and whaterver else is hidden in there I won't post a pic of the destructions. Everyone should know what Tamiya instruction sheets look like by now 1 week to go More soon(ish) /P

Hello all. I had a number of options for this Group Build but I was given this model as a Christmas present, so what better reason to enter it here? It is the Airfix 1/72 RNLI Severn Class lifeboat. I have had the pleasure of building one before which turned out okay: Thankfully this means that I know some of the kit's vices. Whether I remember them of course is a different matter. This is what the box is like, and what it contains: It has a lovely action shot on the cover, very eye-catching. Inside: Four runners of the newer dark grey plastic. It seems to catch the details well, and there is not (on first inspection) much flash. A nice colour painting guide, this should be a good test of brush painting (as was my completed one above). The transfers look good The clear parts are not crystal clear, but at least they don't have the 'dimples' that were in my previous one. I am still slightly tempted to use Clearfix, if I can work out how to stop a cloudy patch in the centre of the Clearfix appearing - it never used to The instructions now seem 'old school' compared to Airfix's current ones, but still presentable There are guide lines for waterlining the model, which is quite handy as that is what I want to do. I hope I can match them up on the four parts required to be cut. Way back in 2006, my good lady wife and I visited Brixham in Devon, and I luckily took a photograph of the local lifeboat: It shows the waterline to good effect, and the fact that some of the underwater red is visible, another thing to remember. I aim to build this one in a harbour scene (without the clutter of surrounding yachts and pleasure boats I hasten to add!), and add the buoys. I have an idea or two how to do the 'water', I will show you whether it works or not when the time comes. I will be portraying this as another lifeboat as I've already done this one. I am looking forward to the start of this Group Build, and I wish all of the other builder all the best with your builds. Ray

For this GB I am going to partake in a spot of gardening, specifically building a greenhouse. Picked-up the following a while back, think it is fits this GB. It looks intriguing. Hope it goes better than my attempts at 1:1 scale gardening, an activity I really don’t enjoy.

By sheer coincidence I've managed to finish this version of XV582 exactly 3 years to the day after a later version of the same airframe. Nothing to add about the Airfix Phantom that hasn't already been said but I'm enjoying my journey through these builds. Primed with Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black. Painted with Colourcoats Dark Gull Grey, Light Aircraft Grey, Medium Sea Grey and Barley Grey. Tamiya Rubber Black, Olive Green, Nato Black, Semi-Gloss Black and Chrome Silver. Mr. Hobby Color Off White. Extreme Metals Steel, Pale Burnt Metal, Burnt Metal and Jet Exhaust. Washes used, Citadel Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil and Seraphim Sepia. Flory Dark Dirt. Oil work with Dayler & Rowney Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna. Abteilung 502 Smoke. AM Used. Eduard PE Cockpit Set, AeroCraft Resin Exhaust Cans. WIP Here. On with some pics. As always, Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

Hi All, I have just completed a Pilatus Turbo Porter model within the Ukrainian kits Group Build. The prototype carried Japanese civil registration JA8221 and was used for 15 years between 1979 and 1994 by the Japan National Institute of Polar Research making flights from the Japanese Syowa Station in Antarctica. After retirement the airplane is demonstrated in the aviation museum in Komatsu. The Dora kit has been originally issued by BPK (another Ukrainian company) and was repacked by Dora with decals for some interesting markings also including a Swiss registered UN airplane and military and civil French aircraft. The kits contained plastic parts as well as two photoetch frets containing many parts that actually allow to build various versions of Pilatus. Also the kit provided resin wheels (look pretty much the same as plastic wheels in the kit) and two versions of exhaust pipes. I assembled the kit out of the box not using any aftermarket sets however I did not resist myself to make a number of corrections. Also because the Dora instruction is not indicating the differences between paint schemes, the walkaround photoes from Komatsu museum were my most watched webpage during the last four months. Major modification I made was a new cabin floor because the kit proposes to use the same part as the fuselage bottom and cabin floor thus making cabin floor far too low leading to the seats also seating loo low in the cabin. With a sliding door open this inaccuracy is becoming too obvious. Other mods included: - corrected engine radiator intake - modification of seat mounting struts - correction of the pilot seat - addition of the ceiling in the cabin - addition of the seat belts from the leftovers from other kits - removal of door sliding rails from the port side - added steps on the undercarriage struts - addition of the pin with a tail navigation light to the rear wheel - addition of hydraulic mechanism elements to the skis - addition of couple aerial covers on the top fuselage - addition of piping on the fuselage bottom - adjustment of aerial configuration on fuselage top in line with photos from Komatsu - installation of wire aerials and ski control struts - enabling rotation of the airscrew Some photoetch parts should not be installed on this version of Turbo Porter - primarily this relates to configuration of the grills and scoops on the front fuselage. Plus one should check aerials configuration to reference photoes as these may significantly differ between various Turbo Porters. More information and in process photos are in my WIP thread here Model is painted using Vallejo metallics, Vallejo black and white paints and Hobby Color red H327 and is finished with gloss and then satin Microscale. Decograph decals worked flawlessly. Dora instruction for Japanese version says nothing about stencils while there is a set of white stencils on a decal sheets and these correspond to what you see on photos from Komatsu museum. So I applied stencils referring to the real aircraft photos. Additionally in line with real aircraft photos I tinted side illuminators with transparent golden and top side of the front screen with transparent green. Thanks for watching and appreciations! Cheers, Dennis

Close to the end now. Weathered everything and put on the trickiest bit of the rear curtains. Just the windscreens to add, side door canvases and hoist chains. Cheers all Andrew

Take your pick as to the model reference number - first released as L759 in 1972, this is the Humbrol/Heller 1996 release (ref 80750). I've become quite a fan of these 60's/70's Heller car kits - they are normally quite accurate and have fine details. Obligatory box shots etc below : The kit decals are 'tired' and represent a non-Le Mans car, so Le Mans decals come to the rescue and represent number '64' which came 2nd overall and 1st in class at Le Mans 1969. I want a copy of the Ferrari 512s, but this is getting hard/expensive to find (Come on Heller - re-release this please!) Everything still bagged up and ready to go!

Just three from me. Airfix rebox of the Super Etendard in Argentine Navy scheme Airfix_Heller_Super Etendard_1_72_Done (14) Revell rebox of the CL-415 in Canadian scheme Revell CL-415 Done_1 Heller Alouette III in Irish Air Corps markings Heller Alouette III IAC_Done (15) Cheers, Dermot

DHC Twin Otter 1/72nd scale This is one of my few non-military models (apart from trains) and is the Matchbox Twin Otter. Basically OOB, it is in the markings of the now defunct Nature Air of Costa Rica. My son flew on one of their aircraft when he went to volunteer there some years ago.

References (plus the drawings, obvs!): Bottom right & top left are widely available. Top right was produced on board for the ship’s company as we sailed home; bottom left compiled by John Prime, the Navigator, in 2022 in order to raise money for the campaign to find the wreck of F4, which has never been found & which is the war grave of 6 of our shipmates. There has been yer actual modelling, too; more later Crisp

If the decals-for-seatbelts are to be believed, this car only has a three point seatbelt. Given that's less PE faff for me, I'm happy to follow it. The decal-belts are black however with no brand and that seems boring so a blue set of Willans looks a bit more interesting. I can't find any interior reference for this kind of car and so I've made it up - on the assumption that there must be a cable running from the front to the extinguisher to activate it, and a hose running from the back to the front to supply petrol to the engine. Completed interior. Weather isn't warm enough to think about clear coating over the decals on the body yet so that'll have to wait a bit. Otherwise everything under the body is complete.

Arado Ar96 target tug Arado Ar196. The same plane in two different liveries Caudron Simoun DH89 Dragon Rapide Messerschmitt Bf 108B Taifun North American T-6G Texan Junkers Ju52 DE HAVILLAND Vampire Bloch MB152 Messerschmitt Me163 SAAB J-21A-2 SAAB J 21A-1 SAAB J 21A-3 SAAB J 21R (Heller with parts from an Arne Anderson vac kit) SAAB Rb 21 (An abandoned drone project) SAAB J 29B SAAB S 29C SAAB J 29F (Conversion with Matchbox part) Two J 32B and a J 32D target tugs A 32A, J 32B and A 32A used in the development of Viggen SAAB 37-7 prototype SAAB AJ 37 Viggen Lot of Swedish planes. In the 1980's Heller supplied Swedish decals in the kits sold in Sweden.

Ready

The venerable Tamiya kit with Takom individual plastic tracks, crewman’s head replaced with a Hornet one. The mantlet cover made from aluminium tape, covered in Mr Hobby Surfacer. I added a bit of stowage from the spares box as well as replacing the jerrycans. I also used Microscale Kristal Clear for the drivers periscopes as these were open. I made one when I first got into the hobby way back in the late seventies. I recently saw one on sale for less than a tenner, so I went for the nostalgia and purchased and then threw it together. I think it came out very well. I will be revisiting a few of these older kits. Thanks for looking.

Recently finished, Eduard 1/48 D.VII, Jasta 30, Hartmann's "Moi Hexle' (My Witch)

A few of mine. Tempest (Belgian what if) DSCF8505 (640x480) by timothy jones, on Flickr Bf 109K-4 DSCF8668 (640x481) by timothy jones, on Flickr SAAB J-29 Tunnan DSCF9241 by timothy jones, on Flickr Fieseler Fi 103 Reichenberg & Bachem Ba 349 Natter P1070630 by timothy jones, on Flickr Land Rover 109 DSCF8500 (640x479) by timothy jones, on Flickr Jaguar XJS DSCF1419 by timothy jones, on Flickr Peugeot 403 DSCF1823 by timothy jones, on Flickr Citroen DS DSCF1825 by timothy jones, on Flickr Lancia Beta Montecarlo DSCF1894 by timothy jones, on Flickr Citroen 2CV DSCF1996 by timothy jones, on Flickr

A few more Caudron Renault C635 Simoun Drakkar Oseberg, Viking Longboat Bücker Bü133 Jungmeister.

This is where we stand now. The fit has been exemplary so far, except the tailplane struts, which needed modification.

Making slow progress on my FE.2b. Wings mounted. Most of rigging on wings and nacelle complete. The Fee is such a strange aeroplane - it almost reminds me of an Edwardian child's pram with an engine stuck in the back and some wings attached. This is a good kit to implement my philosophy of trying to use veneer materials rather than simply paint on plastic. Hence I have used translucent surgical tape (with paint underneath) to simulate clear linen areas; some smooth adhesive backed masking material to simulate the doped linen over the wings; some markings are hand painted; cowlings covered in aluminium foil; wheels adapted to include metal spokes and rubber tyres, some internal flooring/panelling covered in 0.15mm hardwood veneers; tie ropes for linen panels are made from fine thread stitched through the plastic; foot panels on the wings are made of hardwood veneer and scribed metal treads etc. Its not as neat and tidy as just painting and is painfully slow - but from a foot or two away I find it more convincing to the eye. Be pleased to hear your feedback! Thanks. Tim

Hi, I recently got my hands on a Hasegawa Hurricane Mk II C kit on Ebay, and decided to build it as a SEAC bird from 34th Squadron in Burma. It had been quite some time since I had not build a Hasegawa kit, and I was very pleasantly surprised by its quality, it holds its own with today's technology. It is a pity that Hasegawa stopped releasing new kits, some of their offerings were really very good. I painted it with Gunze and Tamiya paints, the very sober markings were done with vinyl masks done with my Silhouette cutter. I wanted to depict the Hurri with underwings bombs, so I scratched the underwings pylons with Evergreen plastic card. The bombs themselves are sourced from an Eduard kit. I bought a CMK resin elephant and mahout, added the padding with Tamiya epoxy putty and the chain with some leftover from a cheap necklace. The pilot is also from CMK but I changed the head, which was full of pin holes. The accumulator trolley was also build from scratch. I hope you will like it, have a nice Sunday, Christian.

Stage 1 of my FE.2b. Working hard at wood grain at this stage. Love this stage of the build when all your mistakes are still ahead of you, and in your mind you are still convinced this is going to be your first perfect build!