Leaderboard

Bought this kit out of curiosity, as I was wondering how a 3d printed kit looks like in this day and age. While I don't see it yet making a mass production, this kit proves that the technology has advanced immensely.

Good morning all, Here is my new diorama showing the Martin PBM3 Mariner from Mach2: I have to honestly admit that I had already built it four or five years ago. The model was sealed in inclusion resin. The dio weighed a lot, and I wasn't happy with my representation of the sea: So I wasn't very careful and I dropped this "brick". But it's difficult for me to throw away a Mach2 model, firstly because of the subject matter, and secondly because this brand demanded a lot of sacrifices in its construction. So I picked up the pieces: I rebuilt the seaplane: I repainted it: I created a new, much lighter diorama, using paper clay and aluminium foil to sculpt the waves: And here is my new result: This time I've taken into account the effect of the swell and the weight of the seaplane, which will be carried on a float. The pilot positioned his plane to protect the shipwrecked crew to leeward. A lookout can be seen scanning the horizon with binoculars. I overmoulded all the transparent parts and dressed the turrets. I also built part of the interior of the Mariner, just for fun because you can't see anything! While the shipwrecked crew are about to embark, with the engines switched off for safety reasons, the bosco seems to be throwing kitchen waste into the sea! The yellow fluorescein spot adds extra colour: The last: Enjoy. Regards, Eric-Snafu35

Hi All, Converted MiniCraft/Academy 1/144 L-1049 to L-749. Shortened fuselage from forward and aft from main wing root. Reconfigured to shortened nose and added "passing lights" lower section of nose. Reconfigured engine-cowl assembly with smaller underside scoop and panel lines. Added Astro dome and radio line post. Made boomerang and underside blade antenna, and underside pitot tube masts. Painted with Tamiya acrylic Flat White, Flat Black, and custom mixed grey using black and white paint. Also used Vallejo Acrylic Aluminum. Clear coated with Mr. Color GX112 UV Cut Super Clear paint. I applied "Western Airlines" decals from Welsh Models. Used for old vacuform kit. Attached radio lines using "Fly tying nylon thread" called Uni-Caenis, which I purchased from Cabela's sporting goods store. Using laser color printer, I printed blurred prop images on to over-head projector transparency film and trimmed each blade and inserted into prop hub. Each prop hub was prepped by removing plastic props and using razor saw, added slot to accept blurred prop. Enjoy the pictures. Alex

Howdy all, you know the Chinook hovering above the Dragonfly in my previous post? well, thought I better do a model of it 🙂 So here`s my attempt at HobbyBoss`s 1/48 CH-47A kit Built mostly from the box contents but with a few additions and tweaks Additions include: seat belts from the stash, some red webbing in the interior made from a red envelope and a representation of some missing structure above the loading ramp Tweaks include: left out the last two cabin windows transparencies as these were often used for shooting through....... ....cut out the port emergency escape hatch and mounted machine gun as seen on many photo`s....... .......mounted machine gun on the forward starboard hatch, inserted the end part of the loading ramp extension/fairing inside the ramp and....... ...finally deleted the rear inside wheel as nearly all the Vietnam Chinooks I found photo`s of only had the outside ones Decals were the kit items and were no trouble although I painted over the walkway ones as they looked a funny colour ( to me ) Hope you enjoy, thanks for looking Cheers Russ

The main gear doors have actuators that are quite prominent in photos, and since Hobbycraft did not provide any such doohickeys, I had to make some teeny tiny brackets from card stock and fake the actuators with styrene rod and brass tubing. Hey, it's what I had laying around. The black squares on the doors are sensors (I think) for contact with the wheels when they are retracted. There's a reason why I said "I think..." Lame, I know. But hey! The good news is we be stickerating! The wing walkways are weird. Where exactly are you permitted to walk? The stripes are decals, and they were cut into individual straight line sections to assist with application. The instruction sheet even says to do so - but it was still a royal pain... She's getting there. There are a bunch of stencils to apply, and then I think I'll give her a coat or two of semi-gloss to seal everything in. The last items to do will be the canopy (which I intend to leave in one piece and available to be easily removed if the future brings resin-cast open canopies in 1:72 scale), the ejection seats/control column, and finally the nose probe followed by painting of the anti-glare area and the radome. Then I quit. Cheers, Bill PS. Oh yeah, the FOD covers....

Hi Friends! Monday I finished my number 6 in 2025. Do-335A from Dragon in 1/72 scale. From aftermarket I used: - Quinta 3D decals for cockpit - Revi gun sight from Quickboost - Reskit wheels - Master gun barrels, pitot and IFF Decals from Dragon has cream instead of white color, I used crosses from old Heller Bf-109K and swastika from Fujimi Ju-87D, number 102 from a generic set with German numbers. Painted with Mr.Hobby RLM76, 70 and 66, Hataka RLM 81 and 82, wash neutral brown from Ammo, mask for glass parts KV MODELS - very nice even vinyl, flexible and good glue. Again I am disappointed from the quality of Dragon kit, even the diameter of the prop shaft was bigger then the dedicated hole 8| I have still following Dragon kits to build: Ar-234, P-38J, P-38 Pathfinder, P-61 and He-219.

Well maybe I seem to be fast in building models but frankly - most of them have been "in progress" for months and/or years. This one was started maybe 15 years ago but there was always "something" wrong. So finally finished straight from the box, painted with AK Real Colors brown and Tamiya Silver Leaf. Rigging is Uschi "Standard" as usual.

Well mateys - I'm back after an extended tour over on AFV and timed it well with the arrival of Foreart's Type 42 Destroyers Sheffield and Coventry. They were promised some 8-9months back and I for one have been waiting eagerly. I've taken 2 of the HMS Coventry edition. At a price of £34.95 each it seemed rude not too. Am I getting old or does that seem rather good value by today's standards? So.......what's it like? Well on on first inspection it really does seem rather good. You have a choice of Waterline or hull... And one of the first nice touches is a choice of Bridge pieces - clear so that you can mask windows or opaque as is more commonly the norm And should you go for the clear - you'll have noticed that there are internal Bridge details... Surface detail seems very good - well in excess of recent Trumpeter offerings and whilst I'll be replacing the ships boats and soome other details, when it came to the turret - it hardly seems worthwhile as the Gun turret has the rear ladder nicely moulded with the top railings etc - hard to see in the pic but they are definitely there... The Lynx HAS 3 is nicely detailed. I was intrigued that L'Arsenal recently advertised a 3D print of the Lynx that looked nice but oddly it hasn't appeared in their catalogue yet despite the fanfare And I know YOU know this but I didn't ........................looking at the Trumpeter pack of "Lynx HAS 3's" which are moulded in clear plastic so that once again you can mask "windows"; except they are not HAS 3's at all but rather HMA8s? I stand to be corrected, @Chewbacca and @Ex-FAAWAFU?? Some more really nice touches that might just be with the first Edition of these kits are a metal barrel for the Mk 8 gun and a 3D printed 965 radar Decals are provided for the "Falklands ID" black bands Though as others have commneted I'm not sure about the blue in that Union Jack - I'm not certain that I can live with that but more on it later in the Blog. And here's one last shot of the crude dry-fit The plan is for on vessel, likely HMS Glasgow to be mounted on a stand and the other - likely HMS Cardiff to be waterlined in a sea base. I was hugely taken by this iconic photo of HMS Cardiff during her time on Armilla patrol in the Gulf circa 2002........ It would be rude not to.......................don't you love those 2 Pacific RIBs with their lifting derricks. Now as it happens Swordfish models have just released a whole bunch of "Modern" RN items, one of which is a pair of 24ft pacific RIBs I haven't quite decided whether Glasgow will be in her pre Falklands livery - that is painted boats and pennant number present OR as per the diagrams above in war attire. To set the mood I'm currently reading David Brown's history of the RN in the Falklands war and very good it is too So - it's VERY good to be back building floatey things and I'm looking forwards to tackling this brace. The theme for the rest of the year will be Modern RN subjects. Rob

Gosh with the theme for this GB I think it’s time to bust my F-14 cherry and finally build a Tomcat........ .................. .....bahahahaha.. 🤣🤣 I’ve only built or building 7 so far, have another 2 in the stash and have to buy another 3 to complete my VF-31 series! To say I love the Tomcat is a wee bit of an understatement and to add the Tamiya model to that and I’m in modelling nirvana!! Unfortunately not quite this time, for this build I’ll be building Great Wall Hobby’s F-14A Tomcat, this will be interesting. I’ve started and attempted to build the AMK F-14A and found it way over engineered and complicated and will seriously punishing if you make a mistake when fitting and gluing bits. Not a fun model to build in my opinion. I’ve pulled the GWH model out and had a really good look over it and it seems to me to be a bit of a cross between the AMK and Tamiya models. It is really engineered but hopefully a bit more forgiving. Plus it looks to have heaps of extra separate arts for the other versions, F-14B and F-14D included, not sure why. There is a 3rd sets of tail nozzles and ends in the box, with 2 sets being for the F-14A....not 100% sure why. I need to have a look again as I’m not quite sure, but I don’t think you can build an early F-14A-70 or earlier (the 7 port gun vent is missing for one), there are probably a few other things but I need to go over the model again. Scheme, as always a VF-31 bird, in this case the last time they operated an F-14A and off the USS Forrestal. For this build it’ll be a CAG bird from 1989, the rest of the squadron birds went Li-Vis grey starting in 1988. They gave up their A models in December 1991. The final Tamiya F-14A I have will be a Lo-Vis bird, though I still could change my mind and swap the schemes! For the next bit please be seated as it is terrifying........I have no AM bits for her!!!! 😱 That may change once I start on her, though I do see now that Quinta has released some 3D printed seats for her and that ResKit has some cans for her.....so all is not lost! Another build I’m really looking forward too, will start once I have made some serious progress on the Phantoms.

This is quite an old model, not up to my current standards. For one thing, at that time I preferred to build aircraft with wheels retracted and pilot in the cockpit. Not that there was the abundance of detail in the cockpit seen in more modern models. Anyway: Points of interest: . The guns in the nose are not all the same. The inner pair are supposed to be short-barrel Hispano cannons. The outer pair are the normal Brownings. . The reason for the odd location of the cannons is that they couldn't go in the usual place in the belly as the breeches would take up half the bomb bay, and this one needed the full-size bomb bay, crudely sculpted here from Milliput. . The identification letters were painted by hand as I'd never heard of Xtradecal then, and there's no serial number because I had no idea what would be even the right range, let alone the exact number.

Welcome to Kendari Airport. The plane is ready, take your seat please. The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was first used in combat in August 1940 in China and accompanied Japanese pilots throughout the Second World War until its last day. It was the navy's primary fighter and not only, as it also surpassed the army's aviation machines with its performance. Even after the start of the war against the USA, it performed very well against American fighters. Excellent flying qualities such as fast climb, high manoeuvrability, long range and good visibility from the cockpit, together with experienced pilots, meant that their crews achieved great success over the Americans. This gave rise to the myth of the super fighter, which ultimately turned against the Japanese because the belief in the invincible Zeros caused delays in the development of their more modern successors. Many of the aircraft's advantages were due to its light weight, which was also bought with disadvantages such as poor armour, lack of self-sealing fuel tanks and low firepower. As time went on, the design from the beginning of the war did not stand up to competition to the increasingly modern american planes. The American tactic of using speed and altitude and not engaging in manoeuvring combat also did its part. In addition, the Japanese began to run out of experienced pilots. All this meant that the A6Ms was no longer a challenge to enemy planes and they began to be used more and more for suicide kamikaze attacks. This does not change the fact that the Zero fighter became legendary and remains to this day an icon of Japanese aviation and air operations in the Pacific during the Second World War. The model was made from Eduard's Profipack kit and depicts Lieutenant Kunio Kanzaki's plane from 1944 stationed at Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island. I also used Eduard's flaps, wheels and machineguns, EMP3D's valorisation kit and HGW's seatbelts for the build. This is my first finished aircraft model and I invite you to see the end result of my work with this kit.

Yes, that’s my hobby; making a reasonable stab using any starting point that comes to hand. The grandly titled “1/72 Scale Model Construction Kit Vickers-Supermarine SPITFIRE VB”, all 33 parts of it, was the best Airfix could manage in 1974. It arrived in our household in 2013 as one of the three models in the Under the Red Star Airfix club set. Its time has come to be built, and that’s what I will show here. There is a pre-story, that as a lad I built this kit in 1977, taking for me (then) a very long time of about 30 days. I have that model still, and it has survived in good shape, so there is a neat reference comparator: out the box in 1977 using a teenager’s skills (it was one of my last youth kits); and research and aftermarket a plenty in 2024. According to the Airfix catalogue, it cost £0.34 back then. Ouch! I have spotted that there are a lot of Spits on BM recently. I’m going to struggle to match those results, but I did start further away than a newer issued kit would allow. I think I am from the same school as these two modellers @Brigbeale, @PATRICK FROM THE SANDSwho like a challenge beyond the usual. Before starting, I tested BM on ideas for the direction to take. I didn’t get a huge amount of ideas, and not much encouragement frankly. Still, I have plenty of Spitfire reference books, access to the worlds aftermarket and some time crawling around and under a museum Spit to help (thank you Hendon). Dozens of photos and measurements came from that exercise. I used the Soyuyo plans for the Vb, happily believing they are accurate but with no proof at all they are! As is life. For books I used the indispensable Franks, plus a few other more slimline reference books, like Wingleaders. Overall BM users suggested that dimensionally and shape-wise the Airfix 1974 mould is fair. It was pointed out that the wing-fuselage fairing is wrong, and the Frise ailerons are not represented. Actually, I found a lot more wrong with it. The upper nose shape is all wrong, the underside centre-section is wrong in a hard to describe way, and various panel lines (raised) are in the wrong place. The control surfaces are a poor replication of the fabric covered originals. All that to me is a challenge, not a turn-off. I tend to react well to encouragement and ignore the why bother comments. I wasn’t encouraged to consider a cockpit, but that didn’t work for me. If this Spit didn’t deserve a decent cockpit, why would any at 1/72? My choices of main aftermarket were: Marabu PE cockpit (very, very good). Actually for the KP kit, but a cockpit is a cockpit. CMK control surfaces, for the later Airfix kits ABRA guns Barracuda DH spinner Quickboost DH blades, and antenna Falcon canopy SBS exhaust stubs Eduard bronze u/c legs and weighted wheels I thoroughly recommend the Marabu PE, and would take a guess that any of their PE cockpits are good stuff. It went together well. One downside are the instructions, which are not brilliant at showing the precise fixing position of the parts, and the instrument panel is a complex sandwich of three PE layers and two acetate layers. At conclusion the instrument panel is rather dark, so all this faff seemed a bit wasted. The radiator grill looks more like those for a MkIX but the set is described specifically as a MkVb. I won’t go through the build in fine detail. Aside from obvious work needed to fit the aftermarket, the major areas worked on were: a/ nose removable access panels cut away, reshaped and fixed back b/ main u/c bays remodelled with better geometry and interior detail c/ major wing gun blisters needed shifting and changing shape, and numerous small blisters added. d/ radiator innards cut into lower wing e/ cockpit sidewalls scratch made to patterns from Franks f/ radio access panel opened up; cockpit entry panel likewise g/ IFF wires added I didn’t have a particular fixation with a Spitfire to represent. I wanted a bog standard one and at random chose Vb AB908 and the Aviaeology 71 (Eagle) Squadron decals. It was identified that this Spit was a DH prop, original pattern (MkI/MkII) exhausts, internally armoured windscreen, but flat sided canopy. Obviously, my aftermarket purchases were targeted accordingly. This took me down an offshoot of reading up on 71 (Eagle) Squadron via Listemann’s book, plus it made me read Alex Kershaw’s “The Few”. I have had the latter for nearly 20 years on the unread shelf, but I can report great disappointment. Being told that the Hurricane’s designer sadly did not live to see it enter service and a lot of remarkable (aka fantasy) exploits really sounded alarm bells. I would summarise it as a collection of urban rumour tales wrapped around a (probably) well researched core. Back to modelling, I could find no photo of AB908 but the general weathering was an easy guess from countless like-subject photos. I sprayed most of the model with Alclad Aluminium lacquer and then used Marmite to mask it when camo spraying to give a fairly well-worn look. I used roundel/fin flash masks and kept decals to serials/codes/stencils. Painting the roundels is a vast improvement over decals because a nicely worn “can’t be bothered” feel can be achieved (if roundels can have feelings). The downside is that spraying enamel masked roundels is a time-consuming business. It took a week to create the roundels. With over 4000 Vb manufactured there are countless small details that varied through the run, and across the multiple factories for final assembly. Therefore, exactly what AB908 had in areas like gun heating vents, landing lights, wing skin stiffeners etc is never going to be known. I made informed guesses as best I could. The one photo that purports to be of AB908 is of the central fuselage/cockpit, so the glazing options are clear, but only if the photo really does depict AB908! Despite the kit being basic from the 1970’s, Airfix were generous in their 2013 Red Star decals. So, a good set of stencils were “in the box”. I augmented the selection by acquiring the currently available Vc set from Airfix which were printed better. What slowed me down? Quite a lot really. I worked a while on fettling the rudder and fin to gain a more accurate thickness, and making the rudder have a better surface appearance. Overall getting the rear fuselage sufficiently slim and dainty was a challenge. Cutting the panel lines is always a job and a half. I drilled out the numerous circular mini access panels and fitted plastic rod replacements. Recovering the wing-fuselage fairing was a bit fiddly. The main flaps fell into place, but the small inboard flap was a problem needing a brass scratch build item to allow the wavy surface to exist, and fixing the internals behind the small flap went wrong and had to be repeated. Remodelling the nose removable panels and then refixing along with a re-bossed prop was a bind. It all has to fit together in way that captures the multi intersecting curves of the DH spinner and the forward fuselage. Fixing the bronze undercarriage legs was a job and a half. The Eduard legs are for the Eduard kit and have a totally different fixing to that for Airfix. Further, they are effectively 1.2 mm too long because they are held deeper in the wing in the Eduard model. This required the leg to be shortened, which was a good lesson on how hard bronze is, but how workable. They are also for a Vc but I took the view that the leg is pretty much the same as a Vb, it is simply oriented very differently between the two wing configurations. The Falcon windscreen and fixed rear canopy were no trouble at all, but fixing the sliding hood was hard. Even a slight difference in fuselage width makes the hood tend to pop up. I don’t think I can add to the sum of human knowledge by commenting on the less than perfect fit of the main kit parts. It is what it is, and 1974 was a tumultuous year a long time ago. Perhaps the dies were cut in 1973 by candlelight? I have never been a Spitfire person, having instead a connection to and affinity with the Hurricane. However, I have set some prejudice aside after this dip into the world of the Spit, and come out a bit more a fan of this oh so beautiful machine. I have a 1/48 Spit in the stash and the random kit selector has about a one in 50 chance of turning it up some time, plus a 1/72 Mk XIX. I am well set up if it does. I hope you like what I did. She looks better than my 1977 attempt (thankfully). Any comments that I wasted my time will be read with relish! We all waste our time! Alongside the two Vb’s is a Seafire IIc I made about 10 years ago. This is the Frankenstein kit where Airfix provided the same fuselage as I have just sweated over, but with a different kit’s wing to allow a c wing to be built. That c wing is an affront to all things Supermarine. kitchentable

I began this Sexy American Singles in South American Service project a couple of years ago with the aim of building eight (sexy) American single piston engined aircraft representing the air forces of most of the South American nations (not Colombia and Venezuela, because I'm building representatives from those nations in my Last Legs Ponies project, and not Guyana and Suriname which I don't believe operated any relevant aircraft). I finished up recently, and here are some RFI pics. And here is a photo of each subject individually. I hope you find them as sexy as I do! 🤭

What? Eh? Has nothing changed? Well, yes, it has actually. I had a bit of a brainwave. I’d primed in grey, but realised it would be sensible to spray over some white primer where the markings go. That would save me, thought I, the faff of airbrushing white for the roundels. And that’s it, so far. More Real Life to deal with today.

Thank you very much! The sponson floors and the front bulkhead is now added. The driver's compartment has some extra seats and the bulkhead contains the winch operating levers as well. To the winch compartment I added two hoses that goes to the transmission. And that's how she looks now. Next stop will be fuel tanks, batteries and a few electrical bits. Cheers! Kristjan

What I should've done was fix the blue rings on my roundels. But after working late last night to finish a project, I was feeling quite blah today. I did note some paint lifting on the bottom of the fuselage from when I did roundels... and when I feathered the area, paint started to bubble and peel. That was a real bummer and I stepped away from it for now. Maybe some magical thinking will make it go away? I reflected on putting floats and rigging on before painting them, for the millionth time, and thought how much of a pain it would be to mask everything. My lovely wife let me know that she had recognized the issue as I was putting the struts and body together... but she figured I knew what I was doing.... um, thanks but don't you know me by now? 😛 For some reason, the nuttiness of all this spurred me on to do it. Because there's nothing like feeling I need to prove that I can overcome a dumb decision. So..... much.... masking.... I told myself to keep doing tiny pieces, piece by piece.... hope it works! Wheeeeee! Aluminum looks good over black primer. Hope nothing goes where it shouldn't. I think I should leave that overnight and revisit things in the clear light of day. I'm hoping this will work well enough to boost me into repairing the blue roundel rings... and maybe even underwing roundels. I did note some artifacts here and there in the paint. Tomorrow I will recheck and if needed, buff/sand/spray.

Hi guys, This will be my second build of the GB (it would be easy to go bonkers with this theme), a wrap-around camo Hawk T1. The scheme was prevalent with all RAF strike aircraft in the 80's so to me this kit is ideal for the GB. The kit was a gift from a friend of mine who, being a Scotsman, was rather attracted to the roundel bars! Cheers, Dave

Hi guys, This has been sitting in my stash for as long as I can remember, so now is the time to build it. This kit has it's issues by all accounts, not least of which being the radome is the wrong shape. Hopefully it will still look ok when I have been let loose on it. The first F3 I ever saw was a 5 sqn example towards the end of the decade, so I will finish it in their colours. Cheers, Dave

This one was slightly started before I got it It made a brief appearance in the "South of the Rio Grand" GB but didn't progress, so fingers crossed it fares better this time Cheers Pat

Thanks Mr T. I've overheated with Hu26 (see below). Better, I think. Thanks Terry Thanks Paul I think this looks better? Grey bits painted too.

Thanks Giorgio, James, Bill, Tomo and Martian Wing fit. What a pity I don't have a massive jig… no, wait! Sorry about the text. Schoolboy error! Don’t double click - it won’t edit. Actually quite good for aligning and holding the wings. The fit is good enough for me to continue with stuff on the separate parts and join the later: So I started the cheat line: …until my patience ran out. I've adjusted that bottom line (titter).

My entry will be this old Hasegawa Harrier: which will be built in the interests of stash reduction with a few minor improvements. Here are the sprues: usual crisp moulding in the hard, light grey Hasegawa plastic. I won’t be using the kit decals, but instead will use these from CtA to represent an aircraft from VMA 513 “Nightmares” operating from USS Tarawa in 1981. As I will be away from home from Monday touring New Zealand until the middle of April, I will miss the start and first few weeks of the group build. I have therefore made a bit of an early start, but well below the 25% mark. I have boxed in the nose gear bay and modified the nose to take a spare Airfix cockpit to replace the virtually non-existent Hasegawa one. I also sourced a bang seat from the spares box, not an accurate one, but better than the seat Hasegawa provide that looks more like one of those chairs used in nail salons where women get their toenails painted in pretty colours. seriously? Also sprayed a little primer. I’ll be back around Easter time to get properly stuck into it. AW

Finalized the exhaust stains last night, toned down the dry brushed white with another layer of smoke black powder. Repainted the armour panel the decal lifted off so it looks like a replacement. Lastly masked the top turret and side windows ready for paint.

Whoops, this one has slipped a long way down the pecking order. Some progress this evening The decals are amazing Cheers Pat

It's a nice looking jet Ced so go for it. Hello I’ve been back at the bench and it’s almost, and I’m almost done in. I got a coat of gloss white on and a few coats of Klear. I then embarked on the decaling which was a proper pain. Given it’s quite a recent kit I expected them to go on well. How wrong was I. First up some were practically unusable. As you can see the ejector seat warning signs just represented polygonal red blobs. Fortunately I had a couple of spares from an Airfix Gnat, which given it is broadly the same era, I found a nice touch. The other decals took ages to come off the backing sheet, would break up really easily, and required copious amounts of Micro Set to manoeuvre into place as soon as they touched plastic would stick like the proverbial “you know what” to a blanket. I persevered with the stencils (with some choice Anglo-Saxon profanities) given they are so small they just resembled specks of detail. I know a lot of modellers don’t like stencils as they are fiddly – which I understand. However, I do find them somewhat therapeutic and give the kit a sense of realism, distinguishing it from a model to a scale replica. That said these were a nightmare and I’m glad to see the back of them. Once I got them sorted I got some more Klear on and put on a panel line wash. I did use Winton & Newton oils – brown, grey and a touch of white. TBH if I had my time again I’d use more white as they are a little dark for my liking. That said they don’t look too bad … from a long way away 😉 Here is the front bid with the canopy masking removed and the anti-glare panel painted: I then masked up and put down some Humbrol Metalcote gunmetal around the exhaust, gave it a buff and added the blanks. I do like the Humbrol Metalcoat gunmetal. I have resisted the temptation to paint my living room with it mind. I’ve just noticed a little overspray I need to get rid of. In the meantime I masked up and sprayed the Firestreak missiles. They are not pretty well moulded so the finished effect is not quite as sharp as I’d like. This is where I’ve got up to at the moment with the missiles fixed: I must admit it looks quite colourful for an all white model 😁. Have to say I quite like the look aside from the kit’s shortcomings. I need to do a little bit of touching up to the canopy, fix the undercarriage and flaps, and finally the remove before flight tag to the pitot. Then it’s done. Almost ready. See you later.

My second build for this GB will be the new Airfix 1/48 Jaguar. I can't post any photos of the plastic at the moment as I haven't received the kit yet! I'm assured that I will receive it sometime next week. I intend to build this as an aircraft from 31 Sqn Goldstars based at RAF Laarbruch in West Germany. I will be using decals from Kits World. No 31 Sqn converted to the Tornado in 1984 so there is a limited window of opportunities for 80s schemes. Not to worry though as @Old Viper Tester has provided some excellent documentation here. I wonder how many new Airfix Jaguars we will see in this GB.

The 1980's what a decade! As the strap line say's, 'what not to build?' I could build models from the 1980's for the rest of my life but I'm going with 2 iconic planes. This is the first and the last of my 1st issue Airfix kits. I've built 4 of these so far and this will be the last kit from the stash. Any more will have to be the new mould which I've heard is 'less interesting'. The previous 4 were 3 RN, one being an S1 and a NA39. This will be an RAF version in camo wrap, as someone on here once said ' everything looks good in camo wrap'

The 1980's what a decade! As the strap line say's, 'what not to build?' I could build models from the 1980's for the rest of my life but I'm going with 2 iconic planes. This is the second. Although Airfix have released their excellent new kit, I still have 2 Hasegawa SH-3H in the stash ready for conversion. This one will be converted into an AEW machine using a Belcher Bits sponson set and a Flightpath AEW set. Doing it the hard way? Yes but a great way to represent the 1980's. I still plan to do the last one as '66' the apollo recovery Seaking which is quite famous. Does anyone know where it is now? Here's the base kit and I'll post the aftermarket when I get to it. Colin

Hi everyone, I’m really knocking out the kits at the moment and I’m rapidly running out of display space, despite my promise to myself to stick to the smaller scales. I really must get back to scratchbuilding to slow me down! Anyway, in order to clear the stash, I took this nice little M8 out of the cupboard. For the first time I think, I invested in an aftermarket upgrade, largely because of the very open (and otherwise pretty empty) turret. While mulling that over, I decided to bolster the kit’s single crew member, and got the Tamiya “military at rest” set which contains a Jeep – sorry “light vehicle” (licencing issues apparently – I’ll continue to call it a Jeep and fend off the lawsuits). I’ve also got a few left-over oil cans etc. so a diorama beckons. My recent 1/48 bases have been fairly basic, so I’m aiming a bit higher with this one, with a background building and bridge/tunnel entrance, different road surfaces, tree(s) and so on. I started on the Jeep. Few rather inconvenient ejector marks needed scraping and sanding back on the inside faces and I stuck the running gear together. The radiator/light piece got a little grey and chrome (Molotov) paint. I then took a look at the seats. This isn’t my first 1/48 Jeep – I got hold of an amazingly cheap, if rather basic kit from China to accompany a P38 diorama years ago and it required quite a few scratchbuilt upgrades including some seat texture. I used tea-bag fabric to impart some canvas texture, and so I did the same this time round. First, I scored and scraped the plastic parts to enhance the creases and folds, and then laid pieces of teabag over the cushions, soaking them well with Tamiya extra thin. Once dried, I trimmed them with a brand new scalpel. The bulk of the Jeep was fitted together without issue. I’ve lightly tacked the radiator grille in place for painting. It’ll be popped off later to install the light and rad piece behind. I also made a start on the new figures. Pretty hefty seam lines and rather soft detail from Tamiya on these, so they need a bit of clean up and sharpening of detail using a pin. And so onto the actual M8. I glued the Hauler meshes on the back deck. I didn’t bother cutting out the plastic ones, just glued the etch on top and needed to add some stretched sprue on top of the rear mesh to replace the fuel cap handles that were lost to allow the etch to fit. Hauler provides some tiny etched deck handles, but they look thin, flat and frankly a hostage to fortune, so I used some 0.2mm silver wire instead. Similarly fragile, but more firmly attached and easily replace if/when they get bent and damaged. I’ve also decided to use the kit pipes in lieu of the flat metal replacements here, although I haven’t put them on yet. I did use the etched floor plate though and glued it in place in the lower hull. There’s a new resin part to be added at the front of the main floorplate, so I had to shift the metal weights that Tamiya supply further back, fixing them in place with a couple of sprue barriers. The sides of the lower hull, with part of the suspension units moulded on also had a bunch of awkward ejector marks that needed erasing. The top deck and superstructure are just resting in place here..

My entry will be on of the well known colourful Michigan ANG rhinos, thanks to @Jabba I have a picture showing one armed (along with multiple photos with tanks only) so I will be using some Sparrows from the armament set. Scalemates says this issue was 4 years' ago and I bought it on release; time flies. I have completed 2 FineMolds F-4, with a third on the SoD, so no AM apart from 3D for cockpit, which I think I have already got, and I need to get canopy masks. The SoD is pretty full, so I aim to get my dark viper, or one of the unfinished planes from last year's GBs, done before starting on this. We have 4 months, what could go wrong? Chris

Due March 2025:

Recently had the light box set up so thought as display space is getting tight I would create a photo record of old builds. This is a very old build, brush painted, but I really don’t remember much about the which kit it is or what unit it represents. Something in the back of my mind says it’s a Fujimi. Any ideas?

Hi folks! A few months ago I picked up the 1/32 Revell F-4F on ebay for just £20, as you can see though it's a special scheme with some of the largest decals I've ever seen on a model kit! As nice as that scheme is I'm not going to subject myself to trying to cover a huge orange Phantom in checkered squares 😅. Instead I plan on building this kit as an F-4E Kurnass during the 1982 Lebanon war, specifically a 105 Squadron Kurnass in a SEAD role. This is one of 4 Phantom's I'll hopefully build this year. I've raided Hannants for as much aftermarket goodies I can get my hands on, ejection seats, IPs, masks, a PE detailing set, pitot, decals and of course the AGM-78 ARM. (I still need an AN/ALQ-119 ECM pod and TISEO too!) I have the Double Ugly books which have gave me some brilliant reference shots of 105 squadron Kurnass' during Operation Peace for Galilee. 105 Squadron was the only IAF squadron operating the AGM-78 at the time, and the Kurnass played a critical role in destroying Syrian SAM batteries. 105 Squadron Kurnass' also feature distinctive red arrow markings along the fuselage which is an added bonus! 😁 I also have another build planned for this GB, WIP will be up soon Thanks for looking in!

I'm getting a bit worried about my life coach. For instance, when I told her what I was doing on Monday, I got her usual advice - "Give it 100%!" I'll be donating blood.

I thought that building a 'stripped' turret might a bit simpler/quicker than a 'standard' one. So far it seems to be somewhat more difficult. Progress thus is a little slow. The loaders hatch got new hinge blocks and then I tackled the commanders cupola. I decided it would be easier to scratch a cupola that try to modify either of the kit ones that I have. To this end I resorted to the good old fashioned 'bread & butter' technique to form the cupola. I used a 5/16 BSF bolt - a fine British tank deserves a fine British bolt - as a mandrel to turn some discs from 80 thou styrene. Then used the mandrel as a clamp to glue the discs together, and then turned the resultant blank to form the basis of the cupola. At this stage I also planned to scratch build the top plate. However I ran into some problems with that plan and decided to rework the kit top plate instead. Not a very exciting update but at least I am still plugging away at it.

Hi all The Crikey is on its wheels finally and the bay doors are on too. Just got to build yhe sliding canopy section sort out a couple of sticky out bits and finish the props and add the aerial wire and we are there. Thanks for looking Chris

Hi to everyone I want to share the photos of the first batch of 2 Junkers Ju52 done by my father of this series. This is the preliminary list of models to do for this series. Aircraft Type Operator Serial code letter Squadron Place Time 1 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 661 50 SquadronZwartkop Air Station 1943 or Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 26 Bulawayo 2 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 662 (not confirmed) 3 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 667 G 4 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 664 5 Junkers Ju 52 3m8ge (MS)RAF Air Minister xx 6 Junkers Ju 52 3m ge (fuselage) + 3m g14e (wings and undercarriage)RAFAir Minister 104 Wk Nr 641038 Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, England August, 1945 7 Junkers Ju 52 3ms 450 Sqn. RAAF Libyan Clipper Heliopolis 1942 8 Junkers Ju 52 3m RNAF German Werke Nr.2982 20 Transport Squadron, Fornebu, late summer 1945 Norway 9 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF CQ-HH 10 Junkers Ju 52 RAF still carrying the unit badge of IV./KGzb V 1Tunisia 11 Junkers Ju 52 3m SAAF 1945 12 Junkers Ju 52 3m North Africa 1) Junkers Ju 52 3ms 450 Sqn. RAAF Libyan Clipper Heliopolis 1942 2) Junkers Ju 52 3m RNAF German Werke Nr.2982 20 Transport Squadron, Fornebu, late summer 1945 Norway Cheers Santiago

The Story: Airplane No. 2337, bearing the registration number of the Yugoslav Air Force, was one of the first 24 aircraft in a hurriedly completed series at the Zemun factory, driven by the imminent approach of war. On April 13 (or 14), Captain First Class Vojislav Rakić was sent in a "Bücker" aircraft from Nikšić to Butmir. His mission: retrieve and fly a Hurricane fighter to Nikšić for air defense. Despite technical challenges, such as the inability to retract the landing gear, Captain Rakić used the plane to patrol and protect the area. In one skirmish with Italian aircraft, the Hurricane sustained 17 hits but remained operational. On April 15, at 7:00 a.m., three bombers from the 81st Independent Bomber Group launched an attack on Italian tanks near the Skadar-Yugoslav-Albanian border, accompanied by a lone Hurricane. Later that day, Air Force Commander General Borivoje Mirković ordered Captain Dragomir B. Nešović to patrol the Nikšić Valley and engage any enemy aircraft. The mission was executed successfully, though no enemy aircraft were encountered. Captain Rakić later attempted to join other aircraft fleeing to Greece but was forced to return due to poor weather and inadequate navigation instruments. The Hurricane was eventually abandoned at Nikšić, where it was captured by Italian soldiers. Italian forces seized various aircraft, including No. 2337, at Nikšić and other Yugoslav airfields. The Hurricane, found in relatively good condition, was among those inspected, repaired, and incorporated into Italian units. After technical modifications, including patching damaged areas with unpainted sheet metal, the plane was transferred to Tirana, Albania, and eventually to Italy. In September 1941, the Hurricane was showcased to Benito Mussolini at the Ciampino airfield near Rome. Italian pilots used the aircraft for training and tactical studies until 1943. It was also used in a movie used as a British fighter plane in Italian movie “Un pilota ritorna” directed in 1942 by Roberto Rosellini. After a belly-landing incident rendered it unserviceable, the lack of spare parts and technical expertise consigned it to ruin or destruction. Unlike their British counterparts, Yugoslav Hurricanes featured unique design elements. Early models had two-bladed Watts Z.38 wooden propellers, while later ones adopted the three-bladed De Havilland propellers. Additional features included: · Engine fairings with distinctive side bulges. - Additional tail protrusions in front and behind the tailwheel and in connection with that a slightly inreased rudder · A pitot tube beneath the left wing. These aircraft were armed with eight Belgian-made FN 7.9 mm machine guns, differing from the British Hurricanes' 7.7 mm Browning guns. The Build: The somewhat aged model produced by Pacific Coast Models is still the only Hurricane Mk.I model with fabric wings. Despite its age, it is still a very enjoyable model to build. I encountered no major problems during construction. It is a so-called short-run and requires careful fitting of parts - but if you do it carefully, you don't even have to use putty. For the first time in a long time I built a model practically out-of-the-box. The only modifications were: - removing the panel on the left side of the fuselage behind the cockpit - early Hurricanes did not have this - slightly reshaping "the hump" - trim tabs were made from scratch using plasticard - I made a trim tab balance on the rudder - added some details inside the radiator under the fuselage - added handles inside the cockpit canopy plus one outside and two thin metal bars just behind the windscreen Hmmm - and that was the easy part... Next up was painting. I consulted with a well-known and recognized historian and expert on Italian aviation Stefano Lazzaro on this matter and as a result... I painted this model three times before Stefano said it was ok! Such is the price of learning and developing knowledge and skills. Without Stefano's help this model would have been a repetition of many of the mistakes present in the numerous colour profiles of this aircraft. Stefano's help in this project was invaluable and his patience with a certain strange guy from a distant country - immeasurable. Thanks again! The model has been painted with MRP paints, no decals have been used except Royal coat of arms on the rudder. For the first time I did some shading to the "fabric" with quite satisfactory result. Weathering is minimal because this airplane was not used operationally and had rather stort "Italian life". Well - I hope you like this unusual "Hariken". A friend of mine said that it caused him an internal confusion - the attractiveness of the camouflage is in total contradiction with the well-known classic shape. And that's exactly what I wanted 😉

Hi all, This build idea started after a trip to the Fleet Air Arm Museum. My fiance looked at the gangly Gannet (XA466) and asked, "Why don't you build that one?". So, I decided I would. At the time, Airfix had not released a Fairey Gannet, so I searched (and finally found) a Classic Airframes Gannet, and bid on it. I was the highest bidder (you don't want to know how much I spent!), and as soon as I received the kit I promptly cut the wings for the fold. Inevitably, only a few months later, Airfix released a Fairey Gannet.... The Classic Airframes Gannet went to a fellow Britmodleler member, and I started on the Airfix Gannet instead - another sacrifice to the modelling gods! On to the Airfix Gannet, I made the following modifications; Front cockpit instrument panel was converted by replacing the gunsight with a 3D printed ILS instrument panel, Rear cockpit had the radar instrumentation removed and a rear bulkhead added to represent the COD variant, Cockpit access ladder panel cut out and detailed with plasticard, brass rod and a 3D printed access ladder, Radome hole faired over, Wing fold detailing added, control rods made of brass tube and wiring added, Baggage pods 3D printed, White aerials 3D printed, added to outer wings on the upper and lower surfaces, Scratchbuilt aerial on the port bomb bay door made out of 3D printed parts and brass tube, Aerial wire added (with 3D printed and brass tube supports/mounts), Propeller hubs were 3D printed to allow the blades to be feathered. The following aftermarket was used; Eduard STEEL seatbelts, Quickboost exhausts and intakes, Armory wheels, Decals from Xtradecal, CtA and Kits-World. The build wasn't overly difficult, Airfix have done an excellent job with the design of this kit Painted with Tamiya XF-50 Field Blue (which seems to be a perfect match for RAF Blue Grey), weathered using MIG oilbrushes and MIG Panel Line Wash. I sealed the paint and weathering with GX100 before spraying with a final varnish of Winsor and Newton Galleria acrylic in a 1:1 mix of Gloss and Satin. I made a couple of mistakes here or there (mainly with paint colours), but I can overlook these... Here are the photos I'm very happy with this one, it's a quirky looking aircraft with an interesting colour scheme that holds a presence in my display shelves. Thanks for looking! Ben

Nearly three weeks since my first post, but I have been working on it. It was just time consuming. The next stage is the part that I have the least enthusiasm for, namely the wheels, tracks and the rest of the running gear. The wheels, all forty six of them in different sizes nearly all need a mould line removing from around the circumference. Once that was done, they all got mounted on various flat pieces of materials, along with the HVVS units and drive sprockets, ready for spraying. I've run into a problem quite early in the build, the drive sprockets. The ones in the Tamiya kit are the plain type, whereas the ones on the subject that I want to depict have the fancy type. I've got some spare ones from Dragon and Academy, but the problem is the mounts. Both are completely different to Tamiya's. I looked at the Dragon ones and wasn't impressed with how they turned out (there were gaps around the inner parts). The Academy ones were better, but had a tubular part that fouled the drive part that's moulded onto the side of the hull. So it was out with my Minicraft drill, with some dental burrs in the chuck. After about ten minutes of butchery, I was fairly happy with the outcome. The only down side to this is that they will have to be glued into place, as they are a bit on the slack side, fit wise. Another small problem encountered involved the idlers. Once again, at some point, I must have raided this kit for said idlers, but fortunately, the ones in the Academy kit fit quite well, so problem solved. Painting. For the primer I used my favourite, namely Halfords Grey acrylic auto primer. The main colour that I used is Alclad's IDF Sand Grey. I came across this paint a couple of years ago at Telford, and I'm very impressed with it. The colour seems to be spot on, but one thing that I'm a little sceptical of is, it states on the label on the bottle that it's FS36118. That's Gunship Grey, which is a very different colour from what's in the bottle. It has a distinct brown shade. So I wouldn't recommend spraying a C-130 with it. Next, it was tyre painting time. I used to use Vallejo's NATO Black, but I've run out of that, so I used the same company's Black Grey. Then a coating of Vallejo's glass varnish. I brush painted this on because on the label it recommends a needle size, no smaller than 0.4, and the largest that I have is 0,3. I didn't want any clogging issues. Once the varnish had dried, I applied a pin wash to the hull, HVSS units and the wheels, using one from AK for desert yellow colours. Finally, with all of these items completed, they were assembled onto the lower hull. Last thing to go on was the tracks. Now, I know that a lot of people don't like the rubber tracks that come with the kit, but this is the fifth one of these that I've built, and so far, none have given any problems. So with that in mind, both track lengths were secured to some polyurethane foam, ready for priming and painting. First job was to prime them with Halford Acrylic Auto Grey Primer. Once this had dried, I brush painted them with Tamiya's Dark Iron, XF84. Then the raised steel chevrons were rubbed with a silver water colour pencil. The inside surfaces of the tracks were then rubbed with a black pencil to represent the rubber. All that remains to be done to the lower hull is some weathering with some dust. That's it for the lower hull, and it's now time to move on to the upper hull. Hopefully this will progress faster. Back soon. Thanks for looking. John.

This is my latest completion, the Tamiya 1/72 P-47D Razorback, built using Xtradecal decals as an RAF Thunderbolt Mk I of 135 Squadron, Chittagong, India 1944. It was started for the P-47 GB way back in 2023, then sat on the shelf of doom until a couple of days ago. Turns out it only needed a couple of minor bits and finally assembly. Pretty much OOB, I’ve added PE belts and a set of Quickboost guns. Paint is MRP lacquers and Tamiya acrylics, and weathering was done with oil paints. The WIP is here: James

First thanks to @Keeff, @Bullbasket, @Milan Mynar and @mbthejester for the kind comments and to everyone who pressed the Like button. Now that the Centurion AVRE is finished it's now back to the Scammell so it was time to see how far it has progressed so although only a little has been done it is at least it has started to move forward with the winch and exhaust system fitted to the chassis. Here are a couple of pictures to prove it's on the go again Thanks for stopping by more on this soon Roger

Hi folks, my second build planned for this GB will be the relatively new Magic Factory A-4M Skyhawk converted to an A-4N Ayit. To convert the Magic Factory kit I'll be using the quickboost exhaust and 30mm DEFA cannons, along with the Eduard Space cockpit set. I have the Isradecal studio set too for decals. I've not decided on a specific aircraft yet, there's some brilliant reference images in the Isradecal instructions but none are dated so I'll need to do a little research first and make sure it's as seen in the 80s. I've always wanted to build an A-4N, and from what I've seen the Magic Factory is a nice kit. Just looking at the sprues it's certainly impressive and the level of detail is fantastic. Should be a fun one, thanks for looking in!

Good day to you all. The Mod 32 was a development of the type 21. She had a more powerful engine, a Sakae 21 which asked for a new cover, shorter wing tips for more speed and agility and was primarily supposed to replace the Mod 21 on board IJN Carriers. As a matter of fact some did and because they had now a shorter range, and after the debacle of Midway, the Japanese CAP policy had changed, so most of the new models were doing CAP patrols. They were not very successful and most of the Mod 32 were land based, and the short legged Zero fought in the bloody Southern Solomon campaign. Eduard'Mod 32 is very nice but not easy as fitting the cockpit assembly in to the fuselage and aligning the U/C legs properly is fiddly to say the least!For the IJN Grey-Green I have used AK color plus some white, an even lighter shade was used for the movable surfaces. The deco depicts a Zero from the Zuikaku in July 42. All models 32 and 22 were built by Mitsubishi which means no Aotake in the wheel bays or wheel covers. Eduard has well studied its subject as the kit provides the interior with and without the radio equipment, the land based units removing these items to save weight. Thanks for looking! 88C87328-F2C0-434F-AFD8-AB94CA05B9B6_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 067FE77E-822E-4D6C-A1D4-8F7EC93D8B1A_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 35888570-7521-4134-A7AB-B9E6E8D72D7C_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr AD8719C0-90A6-4B44-8E7E-F6E417771D8C_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 1F2535A5-A004-4494-B367-4DC4E76695B5_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 3E054F25-3AA9-4E2B-95C1-DB40A18388A8_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr C4D3DFC8-48E7-40CD-99DC-3DEFCA394C28_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr A3EACDA2-4B40-4773-AA95-B336731B54A6_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr

Foremast has been added too, as well as some of its rgging. I also painted and glued on the nameplate; this time I decided to use the one from the kit, I think it looks neat, like proper metal. More rigging and flags to come.

Fellow Modelers-The painting and subassembly part of the adventure begins in this post! Figures 072-073: The floor assembly is shown after painting. Note no weathering will be applied to this model as I wanted a very clean and pristine look. However, I will use various pastel dust colors to create the illusion of depth/shadow, and dry-brushing techniques to bring out the details on the parts. Figure 074: Here are the pilot seats after basic painting. Figures 075-076: Two Airscale 1/24 scale USAAF photo-etch Seatbelt Sets (#SB25US) were used on the pilot seats. I have used sets similar to this in the past and been happy with the results. White glue was used to assemble the paper straps. Burnishing brown pastel dust into the paper gave it a realistic finish. Figures 077-078: Here are the finished seatbelt assemblies, which are a nice upgrade for the project. Figure 079: I really liked the molded detail on the cabin bulkhead-especially the insulation pattern. However, trying to paint this single molded piece by masking several different colors was going to be a nightmare-at least for me. Therefore, I decided to sand all the raised detail away and rebuild it with few simple pieces. Figure 080: A new curtain was cut from .010” Evergreen styrene. Figure 081: A hanger rod was made out of small diameter rod, and holes were drilled in the curtain where the connecting rope would be strung. Figure 082: The cabin bulkhead is shown after painting and final assembly. Figures 083-085: Here are photos of the cabin after the bulkhead was glued in place. Figure 086: Miscellaneous parts from two 1/32 scale Eduard pre-painted photo-etched sets provided much needed detail to the cockpit instrument dashboard and control console. Figure 087: The control console is shown after the photo-etch parts were glued in place. Figure 088: For the cockpit instrument dashboard, the panels are photo-etched parts and the dials are original kit decals cut and glued in place with the paper backing still attached. Figures 089-090: Small diameter wire with colored insulation was used to represent electrical connections throughout the entire cabin with care taken to hide where the connections ended. Figure 091: Here is a front view of the instrument panels. Figure 092: The cabin nose structure, complete with equipment boxes, is shown after painting and assembly. Note the equipment boxes had photo-etched parts added to the faces and electrical connections coming out the back. Figure 093: The cabin nose structure is shown after being glued to the floor. Figure 094: It was time to glue a main frame part in place so I went ahead and painted all of the frame pieces at once, using zinc chromate yellow as the color. Figures 095-097: Here is what the main cabin looks like at this point. Until next time... Phillip1 @Tomcat101 @Pete in Lincs @anders1970 @Billos @Alan P @Robin-42 @tempestfan @georgeusa

It doesn't help that the perceived colour depends largely on the nature of the lighting. Currently ,if you dig a bit, you'll find around 15 PC10 formulations on the market as enamel or acrylic paints. All different.Personally, unless in a hurry I use Ray Rimell's old mix of Humbrol Dark Earth and black. The result is a greenish or brownish ochre, depending on light. P.S. no turnbuckles on a Sopwith Pup main rigging, because it used streamlined wire with built in connectors at the ends. Paul.

WOW....another awesome choice!! I haven't seen a Magic factory Skyhawk built yet, so should be a good one to follow. One thing you'll need to modify in the extended tail pipes the IDF A-4's had fitted, a Czech company called Armycast did a conversion for this, unfortunately it is a bit hard to find now. Plus the strike camera which is fitted to the rear of the left main gear faring (this antennas were move to the right hand one), is fairly simple to scratch build. Squadron wise all the A-4N squadrons used them in the 80's, and from what I can see were all pretty much retired them by the end of the 80's. So you set should be ok with one exception, the "Flying Tigers". Up until 1997, they just had a small logo on the tail, see the blue circle one 3rd down from the top on that sheet you have. After 1997 they went first to the huge coloured Flying Tiger, then towards the end just the Dark Brown outline one. I've did the anniversary later schem, on a 1/48 converted Hasegawa A-4M.

YEAH BABY!!!!!! What's not to like with an IDF F-4E armed for bear....well camels in this case! Love all the AM, will be one to watch for sure! I did a 48th version a wee bit go with BFM's fitted!!!!

Thanks a lot guys. My method of rigging is not difficult, just a bit time consuming. 1) First of all I drill 0,3 mm holes in all places where the rigging threads "start" - on fuselage, bottom wing, tailplanes. 2) And the same with the upper wing but this time I drill through the wing. 3) Then I "build a monoplane" (hope you know what I mean) and paint everything but the upper surface of the upper wing. 4) Varnish, decals, varnish, weathering, matt varnish - again everywhere but the upper surface of the upper wing. 5) Using some thick superglue I cement particular lengths of Uschi Standard thread to the holes in fuselage/bottom wing. 6) Then the upper wing is cemented to all struts. 7) All the threads are pulled through the holes in the upper wing and secured with a drop of thin superglue from the upper side - the overlapping threads are cut off with a new double edge shaving blade. 8 ) And the upper surface of the upper wing is painted, varnished, ....