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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 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

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 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. 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 😉

One bird belonging to my favourite category of prototypes and experimentals. French Nord Aviation 1500-02 Griffon II was first flown on 1957, was equiped with combined turbojet+ramjet engine and on 1959 reached top speed Mach 2,19. All decals except roundels are home made.

Today I picked up a parcel from the depot in Edinburgh that has come half way round the world and I am truly excited to build this conversion. The base kit then the parcel from Australia. As you can see this conversion was made available by Bespoke Precision Models or as we know him @Dunny of this parish. My heartfelt thanks to Roger for making this available to the rest of us mere mortals. The conversion kit parts. I'll make a start after my Night shift stint but am really looking forward to building this one. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

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.

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! 🤭

The kit had been in my stash for years, it does not have the best reputation and since Tamiya released their P-38 it is in fact obsolete. But it was there and I finally decided to built it. It`s greatest weakness is the cockpit, especially the clear parts. You can not see anything through the windows. So I concentrated on the NMF. I used Gunze H-8 Silver all over with a postshading of thinned Mr Color 101 Smoke Grey to dull the bright silver down. In general the fit of the parts is OK, so relatively little putty was used. The decals are from the kit and they behaved well. The ones on the vertical stabilizers would not settle down well, even after some setting solution, but they look acceptable, especially from the distance 🙂. Masks are from Montex. This is not one of my best models but maybe it is an encouragement to those of you who still have one in the stash. It can be built! Charles H. MacDonald`s "Putt Putt Maru" is a well known subject and I hope I did it justice: Thanks for looking Volker

Hi, This was a "quick build" based on a picture my father took of a derelict P-47 back in 1967. It is meant to represent it before it was left to rot, yet at the end of its career with the Brazilian Air Force. This was 45-49244 before it became FAB 4139. WIP here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235145798-tired-p-47/ Kit: Hasegawa 09477 - P-47D Thunderbolt ‘65th Fighter Squadron’, 2003 (originally 1996) Paints: Alclad - ALC 102 Duraluminum, ALC 106 Dull Aluminum, ALC 113 Jet Exhaust Gunze - H90 Clear Red, H93 Clear Blue Model Master - 4757 Aircraft Interior Black, 4851 Yellow Zinc Chromate, 17178 Chrome Silver Mr. Hobby - SF-287 Mr. Primer Surfacer 1000 Polly Scale - 505086 US Neutral Gray A/N 603 Tamiya - LP-2 White, X-1 Black, X-19 Smoke, X-21 Flat Base, X-24 Clear Yellow, X-25 Clear Green, X-35 Semi-gloss Clear, XF-1 Flat Black, XF-2 Flat White, XF-3 Flat Yellow, XF-4 Yellow Green, XF-7 Flat Red, XF-10 Flat Brown, XF-16 Flat Aluminum, XF-26 Deep Green, XF-49 Khaki, XF-69 NATO Black Vallejo - 71.250 Bronze Green Aftermarket: Arrow Graphics C-75-48 - 8” High Serial Numbers and Letters for Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Fighters & Bombers World War Two “Stencil” Style FCM 48-01 FCM 48-06 FCM 48-10 Woodland Scenics DR511 Woodland Scenics MG739 Tamiya 61096 - P-47M (seatbelt decal, distributors) Scratch built: Machine gun blast tubes Propeller governor control pulley On to the pictures. IMG_5077 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5078 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5079 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5080 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5082 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5083 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5084 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5087 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr IMG_5088 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Thanks for looking. Cheers, Wlad

Bagged Airfix Hawker Demon picked up at Shuttleworth Museum last November, some modifications to the basic kit (all detailed in Progress section), used Modedecal decals for a 64 Squadron aircraft.

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

Morning Modelers. A couple of years ago I went to the Hod Rod Races at Pendine Sands, South Wales, and came home with inspiration to built a Hot Rod that would compete at such an event. From the start I decided not to use the OHV motor that came with the kit; I wanted a flathead with a big carb set up. I found a couple of flathead blocks in my bits-box, but unfortunately my carb set up was too wide. The solution was to glue a pair of flatheads to a big-block OHV motor. Apart from that, the kit went together pretty much as per the instructions. After paint and weathering I was done. Anyone wanna race? Hot Rod Races, Pendine Sands, Wales - check it out.

Thanks Giorgio. Thanks Terry. 'Giant' is, of course, relative: That's not even the whole fuselage or wing. Scary. The cheat lines are on and have been burnished down and brushed with Klear. Obviously that's used a lot of Aizu so I Googled to see how much it's going for now. Looks like £5.50 for 5m. Yikes. Why don't I use the tape cutter I thought: Oh, right. I'll let the Klear dry while I do some more on the Pup and then I need to make a plan…

For an afterthought model, it didn't turn out too badly. You can see the "before" pics here. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235151875-a-172-lemon-to-lemonade/

Hi All, Life has been rather busy lately, so not much time on design work. However, I've managed to get a little work done on the horizontal and vertical stabilisers. Here's how the whole assembly looks at the moment: I also got a test print done of the turret - here's a couple of shots: I reckon that should look all right under paint! Thanks for looking, Roger

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).

Hi all, out of the box build of this new Gecko kit arrived 3 days ago with their Otter. Tamiya and Vallejo paints, Flory wash and pigments, AB oils, ttfn 😇

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.

I think it's just paint lift... problems with adherence. Thanks Wlad... onwards to to tonight's dramatic instalment... Today was a very blah day. Probably post work project crash, and yet I was starting the next one. Mucked with aluminum on floats and it was not going well... so I gave up and took all the masking off to get some sense of this thing... how bad was it? Here she is.... seems like I got away with the masking job for floats and struts but there were casualties. Rigging line on elevator broke off. Float rudder broke off (probably when I dropped it on the desk.... ). Paint on canopy has some issues with paint lift, but looks like the clear bits survived the TET. Those acrylic windows turned out ok... thanks for the suggestion. They do capture the look, I think. Yellow got onto the cowling edge, so I masked and brushed aluminum. Not perfect but ok. So it's got lots of imperfections including scratches showing up in the floats but I just don't have the patience for them right now. And I still need to fix the blue roundel rings, which I am massively procrastinating. So... I painted yellow on the windscreen struts where it was missing... and brushed some off-black onto the float tips for the bumpers... and... decided to do the prop warning stripes. Because if I don't feel like a simple masking job for the blue roundel rings then it makes more sense to do a crazy one for float stripes! Not bad! I think this is basically getting to my "artistic" vision. So... still need to: fix those blue roundel rings... sigh fix the paint lift on the lower fuselage... and not make it worse fix broken float rudder... for the millionth time fix broken elevator rigging... again reglue a rigging line in the floats that got loose on one end open the cockpit doors and glue open fix any paint issues in doorways do some light oil wash with brown paint and glue the prop fix the broken pitot run aerial line (need a bump on the rudder)

So, it has begun. My first kit build since 1995, and I’m going to be posting progress, mostly to keep myself moving forward and to share my newbie stumbling. This will end up being a 74 sqn FGR2, although the kit has a 56sqn decal set, but I’m getting ahead of myself. picked it up on eBay with a set of resin Martin Baker ejection seats from KMC. I still need to make the handles up for these, which I expect to be a pain to do. the seats needed considerable modifications to fit the Fujimi cockpit bucket, but I think I have got the heights right. as for the cockpit detail, I swiftly ditched the decals and dry brushed the panels, which I think works perfectly well on models of this scale. still need to do the side wall details, but I haven’t cut those parts off the sprue yet. Hopefully I can get this stage completed by the end of next week and go about assembling the fuselage. We shall see how much time I get. with quite a lot of help, managed to get the image thing sorted out.

Thanks Cookie Good enough for me! Thanks Adrian Rigging, fun? Hmmm. Thanks Mr T. It's certainly gone together pretty well, although the cowling has had to be, er, encouraged and taped while it dries. Assembly starts! Check the empennage: Phew. I suppose I need to think about rigging now I may use Easyline for the rigging as it's sort of flat, Infini for the control cables.

Working through some more small scratch-built details and getting into "final" assembly. It get assembled and disassembled carefully 100 times in order to get fitment correct.

Thanks to Bianfuxia for hosting this GB and all the wonderful build threads Brengun 1/48 Chester Jeep Wingspan: 16'8" Length: 15' 0" Wing Area: 50.5 sq ft Weight: 1,150 lbs OOTB, but some critical help from jigs I designed in Fusion and printed on a Prusa MK4S Build thread

Came home tonight and found the kids had been on Ebay all day - if they're still there tomorrow I'll drop the price...

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.

I have time for another build, yeah? Here's the Ford Flivver, another Golden Age aircraft. This was supposed to be the "Model T of the Air." This first prototype was only flown by Harry Brooks (Ford Chief Test Pilot) and Charles Lindbergh. Brooks died in a crash of the 2nd version of the Flivver, ending the program. The box: The kit is simple, a single sprue Decals First page of the instructions; the red tape dot attaches a square of clear plastic for the windscreen and a length of monofilament for rigging. The reverse provides detailed assembly instructions. Thanks for looking!

Hello everyone, My TKS from this thread is finally finished: I learned a lot during this build, especially while making the vignette and painting the figures. This is my first finished "diorama" and only about the fourth time I've painted figures. Thanks for looking. 🙂

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

This is the 2009 tooling Revell 1/72 Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet also known as the Rhino for reasons I don't fully understand. The last Super Hornet I built was the Hasegawa F/A-18F and I would classify the Revell kit as the same level of fit and finish as that one but, with a more complete interior The only issue was with the decals and the instructions. There were call outs in the instructions that were not on the decal sheet and there were some different decals on the sheet that had the same numbers. But these were minor and easy to deal with. Also the "Navy" marking on the sheet blended in perfectly with the fuselage colors and so disappeared when applied. Other then that the sheet was very complete with all the stencils you could want, some of which I used, and they worked fine with only minor silvering. The build was OOTB with a total build time was 12 days. Next up will be the Navy Test Pilot School boxing of the Clear Prop OV-1B Mohawk. Enjoy

Paint on and I've dry fitted a few bits, the kit is bit rough but the ship it quite nice looking. Once the paint is good and dry, I'll mask the sides and paint the horizontal surfaces. Jon

Nearing the end now. Engines, props and wheels added as well as a bit of shading on the top of the wing. These were worked hard but most pictures show them as being quite clean so I dont want to get carried away. Oil stains from the engines were notorious so i've smeared them in. Doors and paint touch ups to do but I've bought a new printer so I'll have a go at the decals as well once it comes.

Finally, some bench time! I had unfinished business with the insignia; I added a "waffer-thin" extra stripe of red over the white on the insignia above the wings after trimming off the slight ridge at the edge where it had been masked. Then I could paint the blue bits: The red and blue are a bit darker than the colours provided by KP but I'm ignorant enough to get away with it.

Evening all......just a catch up on the KT. Managed to get the tracks on from R-Model. which are a great product. My next steps will be the dust and dirt with a couple of leaves here and there. I've made a few mistakes here and there as regards details of the late production......but I'll live with them. Anyway, catch you all soon.

First in! My entry will be this Tamiya FB.VI/NF.II which I will be building as an NF.XII of 85 Sqd Using a Quickboost resin radar nose. I will be building this aircraft, flown by the Mosquito ace Branse Burbridge: The sprues: As with my AV-8A in the 80’s GB, as I will be away on holiday and miss the start and first couple of weeks of the build, I have jumped the start by priming some parts and shooting some interior green on the cockpit and aluminium on the undercarriage, but kept well below 25%. I’ll pick this up again around Easter and get on with build proper. Looking at the parts, I can’t wait! AW

Now, before you think I've lost the plot and gone a bit more mad, fear not, I'm not starting this until I've finished my current build, converting a sows ear into a silk (well nylon) purse. But I thought I get the ball rolling, so to speak, and show the parts that are in the box and then as I gradually add extras I'll update this WIP. So, here's what's in the box. With some of the sprues, there are more than one and there are couple of sheets of PE, but they are a bit basic, railings etc. I am going to replace the guns with 3D from Micro Master, which are on their way from NZ. I'm also investigating replacing the boats, but that is becoming quite complicated, in knowing exactly what is where, but more of that later. The first parts to be here though are PE scuttles. Sticking these little b###### on is going to be fun That's it for now, see you when the MM parts arrive. Jon

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.

Finally, I got the undercarriage bits and bobs, and flaps on. Added the remove before flight tag to the pitot so it resembles the Telford specimen. Here’s a few pending the RFI next week: It’s a pity that the kit is dog rough in parts as it’s a beautiful aircraft. With time and patience it could be kit bashed and up-detailed into a really nice piece of work. Anyroad, it’s done the job of restoring the mojo, and I’m broadly satisfied with the outcome. Thanks for the company and see you on the next build.

49:45 to 61:00. Back in Town! Hello everyone. Following 6 weeks enforced leave of absence from this project I'm back in town and back at the workbench. Despite the loss of six weeks and my horrible under-estimation of how many hours this project will take, I'm determined to press on and do everything I can to finish this model within the group-build time limit. The next small and simple step is to make some pedals for in the cockpit. These are made from a combination of MDF, aluminium lithoplate and sculpting mesh and, now that I look at them completed, are both ridiculously overscale and absurdly mis-shapen. Too bad! There's not time to waste and these will be mostly hidden away inside the cockpit so I'm calling this job done! Following a failed attempt to make the cockpit cowling, if that's the correct term, out of shaped metal sheet I resorted to using plywood and balsa. Here the plywood side walls are being fitted. At this point they are absurdly too thick but they should file down to a better-looking thickness. The remaining hole is filled with a sheet of 4mm balsa cut to the correct shape, soaked in water and squeezed into the hole and bent into a conforming contour. it's then held in place with aliphatic wood-working glue which, when used generously, tends to harden-up the soft wood. A bit of rasping and filing and sanding goes a long way to establishing the requisite curves... Then a generous application of panel-beaters 'blade putty' fills the gaps. More sanding leaves this... And another blast of blue spray-on putty filler gives us this result. There's a bit of a 'dimple' in the contours just ahead of the cockpit opening that will need dealing with but other than that I'm happy that this is looking OK. 61:00 hours invested so far, which is just over my inital estimate for the entire project. Bandsaw Steve.

Interesting talks regarding the bath room mat 😁 I decided to take no chances regarding nose weight and lumped in a suitable lead lump in there, securing it with some white glue. Cockpit tub and the rest of the innards were installed. The nose hear bay was a real bad fit, until I discovered that I had installed it the wrong way around... Fortunately, that came loose quite easily with some more application of TETC. Now it fits a lot better! Air brakes were glued shut, even though there are some nice details in there... Before glueing the intakes in place I painted the surrounds in the final color. It would be quite tricky to mask of this area I think. Wings was installed, with a little smear of filler to hide a too large gap. The intakes also had a little bit of filler Time to check some seams, before heading into the pain barn.

Well, I actually found the farm animals in the correct scale..very expensive of course and on the Well-known Auction site. I might substitute some 1/35th scale items (barrels, etc...) for a load instead. I could probably get away with that. I have these things already. Anyway...some progress. The motor and the axles are all ready. The front axle is articulated for the moment. They will need paint. The chrome bits went into the bleach last night and as of this morning are stripped cleanly. Some nice, smooth black primer went on the larger pieces destined to be black last night too. And I soaked the rubber in some washing up liquid for a few hours to get rid of their shine. More today I hope... --John

I have done some thinking. It hurts. I have also had a look at the vac-form canopy. It is not too bad at all. The framing is not spot on for a B.XVI but it is close. The biggest error is a missing external capping strip on the escape hatch, but I reckon I can recreate that with several brushed on layers of paint. I am going to give it a coat or two of floor polish and then see about masking inside and out. In the mean time I turned my attention to the 4000lb cookie and the Type F bomb trolley from the Airfix Bomber Re-Supply set. The trolley is moulded in only five parts, and four of those are wheels so progress should be quite quick. I had started work on the cookie some time back and the business end looked like this. It is okay but I wanted it to be busier. I had some spare arming spinners on a fret of photoetch left over from the Flightpath bomb trolleys I made last year, but they were six bladed and, as is the nature of PE, very flat. After a bit of experimentation I came up with a technique to modify them. I cut a spinner from the fret and then pushed it very firmly onto a cocktail stick. With it securely held, and with the help of my best close-up glasses and a big magnifying glass, I gave all six blades a slight twist before gently working the spinner off the cocktail stick and snipping the worst looking blade out of the ring with my fine scissors. Finally I squeezed the blades either side of the gap together so that the remaining blades formed a five pointed star. I did not try to make the angles of the blades accurate or precise, but they are certainly not flat any more. They are only resting in place there but I think it works. Hopefully I can get a coat of aluminium paint onto them next time. Onwards and Upwards, my friends!

Due March 2025:

I am getting 83º here not 87º but broadly getting ready to knock up an assembly jig No don't look at the drawing device, I'm definitely unqualified to drive it but for these items it's quite useful.

I got the inspection panels and control horns painted up, then fitted the transparencies. At the first attempt the glue would not dry clear even after being left for three days. They were popped off and the old glue cleaned up then I gave them a second try and this seems to be working. I'll leave them for a good while to see if the clear this time if not I'll try Krystal Kear or GS Hypo. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

I was going to leave this open after receiving a report, but after a little pondering I'm not, as it's not really a discussion that's going to change any minds. You probably fall into one of a few camps: They look like originals to me, and they're cheap They're cheap and I don't care if they're knock-offs I couldn't countenance buying rip-offs I couldn't bring myself to buy inferior products, no matter how cheap they are Why did I click on this thread? A few of 1 might be swayed by being informed that they're very likely knock-offs, and 5 can just hit the back button. All the rest will continue to think the same no matter what anyone says, so it'll probably just end up with a meeting of craniums and brick walls, followed by Mods dishing out holidays. With that in mind, one of my privileges as Moderator is to get the last word on the matter. Don't buy inferior copies, they're stealing the intellectual property of others, and an awful lot of work that went into making the original masters too.

In an effort to keep @jean happy, well let set the bar a little lower.... let's go for less grumpy I've thrown some paint on the Potez As you can see, things were so desperate when they made this aircraft they only painted half of it, as per the Heller instructions However as I know my mate would never let me get away with that I've decided to paint all of it. First up some yellow Then a light blue underside Finally some chocolate brown on the top The chocolate brown will need extra coats, must remember not to lick the brush after use 😜 Cheers Pat

Rear assembly with bumper and fuel tanks.

Well, I did fix it, for certain definitions of fixed. And she's finished. I struggled with the canopy to get it to the point that you see below. The decals went on very well, but I did struggle with the wheel spats inner decals. I scanned the decals and printed several copies so that I could get a pattern that fit around the landing gear struts. I did resort to paint to fix up the joint between the inner and outer decals. The jigs I designed and printed did a fair job aligning the horizontal stab, wings, and landing gear. Here you can see the paint needed to join the wheel spat inner and outer decals I managed a 3 ft finish for the vertical stabilizer repair And here's a comparison with a contemporary, the Hawk 1/48 Curtiss R3C-2. I'll have another go at that kit, adding a printed cockpit next time around. Many thanks to Bianfuxia for hosting this fine GB. And thank you to all who commented and liked.

D0.1 - No injected kit in 1/48th scale - just two OOP resin kits in 1/48th by JMGT & Isracast ; D0.2 - Deliveries started in 1951; D0.3 - Wingspan: 13,16 m - Fuselage length: 10,74 m D1.1 - Some aerial victories: against egyptians aircraft; D1.2 - Four users & four continents: France, India, Israel, Salvador; D1.3 : +350 build; D2.1 - Scorpion insignia: 29 Sqn IAF; D2.2 - Single engined; single seat (pilot); 1/72nd kits by Heller & Valom; D2.3 - Battle of Ilopango Airport during the Salvadoran civil war - five or more destroyed Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Ouragan Could fit. And definitely a perfect choice as follow on to the FRROM 1/48th SMB2 Super Mystère. V.P.