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Atenhut, stand at ease gentlemen or ladies! So Airfix Gannet’s seem to be like buses at the moment, wait ages and then at least 3 come all at once! Here’s my rendition to throw into the ring. It is as many people say, a cracking little kit. If Airfix keep designing them like this. It puts the company in line for a very good future. (Hurrah, 1/48 Short Stirling please🤪) Anyway here it is, the only addition was an Eduard 3d cockpit, paint was MRP, wash was MIG. Few mistakes along the way. I’ll keep stum, if you dont spot them then that’s ok! Thanks for looking. Peter And here are some cockpit close ups whilst building.

A model from many years ago, which required quite a bit of work, in particular the construction of the rear part of the Jumo 213 engine (visible through the landing gear well) and the replacement of the tail-rudder complex with that of a Ta152. This D-9, one of the rare examples with an enlarged tail, belonged to 7./JG 26 and was found in fair condition at Celle-Hustedt in May 1945. The upper wing camo is RLM 75/82 (light variant) and the lower one is always 76 and natural metal, while the fuselage is RLM 81/82/76. The colours used are Precision Paint and Humbrol Enamels mixes, all applied exclusively by brush. The decals come from EagleCals sheet no. 4; the kit is an Academy, completed in 2000. Hope you like. Thanks for viewing Giampiero Piva

Hello Modellers This time I want to show you another of my 1/72 builds, I started it back in January and just got to the finish line a couple of days ago. I usually have 2-3 kits that I work on in paralel, so there's always something to do. This is the Hobby Boss' 1/72 kit of a French SEPECAT Jaguar A jet (plus a mean looking MP from Hasegawa figures set 🙂), painted in the desert camouflage. The build is completely out of the box, with just a couple of scratch build touches like seatbelts, HUD glass (none provided in the kit), some hydraulic pipes for the landing gear and couple of bits and pieces in the cockpit. Painted mostly with Tamiya acrylics, the camo was painted free-hand with an airbrush, then postshaded - including the panel lines. Very nice and well designed kit, it is easy to build, the parts fit great so there's very little sanding. Enjoy!

Hi all This is finish number 3 this year, the Special Hobby 32nd scale Westland Whirlwind. What a cracking kit. I was so excited when this one was announced. I got the first kit release and was wondering what option to build when I saw a link to Op Starkey, posted in the Rumourmonger thread for the re released 72nd Special Hobby Whirlwind kit, by @brewerjerry. Thanks Jerry the photo showing the scheme made me want to have another go at this scheme to try to get it right this time. I previously built the Classic Airframes 48th scale kit, but used the profiles which were not right. The SH 32nd kit is fantastic and gives the correct undercarriage and main wing trailing edge inboard of the radiator flaps. I added a few extra bits here and there using the Kits World 3d decals for the seatbelts and IP and some extra details such as wiring, rudder pedals etc brake and Hydraulic lines. I also cut off the moulded fuselage aerial mount and scratched a new one in the offset to port slightly as it is incorrectly moulded on top of the spine in the kit. Here is the link to the build thread The model was brush painted, using Humbrol enamels and weathered using oils and weathering powders Extra levers and gun camera panel control added Folding cowl sides made from post it note paper ID stripes have raggedy edges as does the nose I really enjoyed this kit, it looks impressive on the shelf even though it's a small aircraft, not much difference in length to a Spitfire and Hurricane really , what a fantastic beast this must have been, shame tge change of props from the prototypes let it down . Thanks to all those that have followed and offered support and encouragement along the way. Chris

Just finished last Saturday is Hobby Boss' 1/48 A-6E TRAM Intruder. It's a very complex and complete kit, although not without its inaccuracies, and it definitely needs to be wrestled together, especially if you want anything closed or neutral. I've added some resin exhausts and a fin tip from Hypersonic, wheels by ResKit (I've not fitted them properly, so they look odd attached to the legs), metal refuelling probe and pitot by Master and decals from AOA. The lights under the fuselage had to come from the spares box (not provided by HB, although the locations are marked) and a few surface details corrected as per AOA's excellent instructions. The inboard wing fences have been relocated 7mm inboard. This represents an airframe used in Operation El Dorado Canyon in the bombing of Libya in 1986. The decals are excellent, but I messed the colours on the tail up, so the 'AK' code and horse heads are all airbrushed. I'm hoping an article giving more details will be in SAM in due course. Comments welcome and thanks for looking Jon

Consensus on the Airfix Spitfire Mk.1a seems to be that it's currently the most accurate 1/72 Mk.1 in shape, but has panel lines that you could grow spuds in. Knowing this before paying my £6.99 to Lidl last December, I decided to set about ridding myself of those panel lines. As I saw it, I had two choices: 1) Completely fill and re-scribe them, but what with ? 2) Partially fill and just reduce them I decided upon both approaches. All panel lines on the fuselage and centre underside wing section were filled with CA and re-scribed, with those on the wings being partially filled with Mr Surfacer 500 until of acceptable depth. My intention being to have the panel lines only just visible on the finished model. I also decided, what the hell, and riveted the whole a/c. Fiddly and time consuming yes, but not overly difficult once a consistent strategy had been applied and very satisfying. Regarding leading edge puttying and after a lot of reading, I decided to rivet them as I 'believe' that puttying wasn't applied to BoB Spitfires and tbh, I couldn't find a consensus. The a/c modelled is X4382 flown by eleven-kill ace Plt Officer 'Pedro' Osgood Hanbury of 602 Sqn. Westhampnett c. September 1940. Hanbury was awarded the DSO in 1943 and was granted leave to return to the UK to get married. Unfortunately, when returning to North Africa soon after, the Hudson that we was aboard was intercepted over the Bay of Biscay by a Ju88 and shot down, with all occupants reported as 'Missing'. The figures are from the classic Airfix RAF Personnel set, with the accumulator trolley being scratch from plasti-card and rod except the wheels, which were from the said Airix set. Btw, Osgood Hanbury actually sported a rather nice moustache, but as these were the first 1/76 figures that I'd ever painted, I didn't think that I was up to moustaches ! Addons used: Eduard PE cockpit detailing set Rob Taurus vac-formed canopy Replacement pilot's seat Xtradecal Battle of Britain set X72221 Peewit canopy masking set Radio aerial hair donated by my wife Paints used were all acrylic from Vallejo, Humbrol and Mig Ammo. Varnishes were Pledge, Mr.Aqueous Gloss and Winsor & Newton Galeria Matt. Weathering was a Flory wash followed by oils and Tamiya weathering powder. The Xtradecals were superb and went down without any issues. Thanks for reading and taking the time to look. This is my first Spitfire in over 30 years, and having now well and truly disappeared down the Spitfire 'rabbit hole' comments and critiques will be most welcome in helping me improve my future builds ! And here is a selection of WIPs:

Another kit I've had completed for several years. Takom's 1/35 Chieftain Mk.10 in the Berlin Brigade camo scheme. Painted with Mig Ammo for the grey, brown, and NATO green, and Tamiya for the white. Pretty happy with the overall outcome of this one. Took a LOT of masking tape, hah Thanks for looking as always ^-^ Gaz

Got another older build here, hah. Sadly this one ended up accumulating a bit of shelf dust before the pictures, and as usual I couldn't get it all removed (stuff always sticks). Ukrainian 2A6 in 1/35 scale. My second Tamiya Leopard after the original 2A6 release from the early 2000s (which didn't turn out so well at the time for some reason). Luckily, I've gotten much better 😅 Enjoy Thank you as always for looking Gaz

Ah, that seems to be working. Now all I need to do is write some historical spiel about Battles and the squadron this model represents, and post an RFI thread for it. I may be some time. Then? Well, I feel a Halifax isn't far away. Where's me references gone?!

.... and she is finished. HMS Jonquil shortly after her refit at Sheerness in April 1942. The model is scratch built and based on three well known photos, and so I have had to make a lot of educated guesses as to the details. 82 separate pieces of PE, and 38 bits of after market resin, plus plastic card, wire and putty. Very pleased with the end result. Full build thread can be found here P

Lovely little kit of a lovely little tank. Always had a soft spot for these and glad I've ticked it off. For a change to green or brown I thought I'd do a UN version in white. Cold and wet and miserable is the theme I think 😱 Added scratch mesh storage panels which were a thing. Aftermarket AFV Clug individual link tracks which were a PITA plus a few accessories and the Eduard PE set. This was the main inspiration Headlights were solid so I covered them in canvas which they did, well I think it was an exercise only thing but ho hum Scratched the rear canvas cover Added the bolts sticking down from the field applied mesh panels 😁 Couple of UN covered Helments. I didn't have any modern so I added 1.5mm sheet to some WW2 British helmets and trimed them down then covered with paper. I spun the wheels to get that spray effect. Scratched a civilian plastic box as well as the canvas engine covers Cable reel was left in desert colours as another point of difference. The visors were solid as well so I painted them very dark green then a purple wash then a gloss varnish. It sort of works. Plus scratched the fire extinguishers and added random decals. Now! Have I got time to fit another in before the Stalwart comes? 🤔🤣 WIP is here Cheers all Andrew

In 2024 I joined a number of groupbuilds that offered a long-awaited opportunity to deal with a swarm of 1/48 Curtiss Hawk biplanes withering away in my stash. Here they come to life. I hope you enjoy the story of this famous golden-age fighter. (1) The racer - Curtiss F6C-3 VF-4M MCAS Quantico March 1929 Lt. W.O. Brice, Squadron Commander The F6C-3 was the Navy version of the Air Corps P-1, specifically built for the USMC. It was the second Curtiss fighter for the US military, a development of the PW-8. The construction followed the trusted Great War concept - a wooden frame covered with fabric, a fixed gear and an open cockpit. It was powered by a 435 hp V-1150 Curtiss D-12C and armed with two .3 cal machine guns (alternatively one .3 cal and one .5 cal). My kit-bash is a combination of the Lone Star Models P-1 resin fuselage with P-6E main and tail planes from Classic Airframes and Lindberg. Obviously a lot of detail work was necessary to convert it to an F6C, particularly around engine and landing gear (for a full WIP see here). The Liberty Truck is described here. (2) The poser - Curtiss P-6E Hawk 36th PS 8th PG Langley Field 1936 Squadron Commander's Aircraft Next at Curtiss was the P-6 series culminating in the P-6E, the most popular US fighter of the thirties cleverly propagated by Curtiss' busy marketing machine. It converted to the 600 hp V-1570 Conquerer engine, a smaller 'Prestone' radiator and a 3-blade variable-pitch propeller. Other visible features are a wider oval fuselage and a cantilever landing gear. The basic structure and armament remained. The model is based on the Classic Airframes P-6E with a number of modifications such as a vertical tail and lower wing from Lindberg. This kit is not for the timid as explained here. (3) The sailor - Curtiss BFC-2 Goshawk VB-3 USS Saratoga 1937/38 Section Leader of the 5th Section The BFC-2 (formerly F11C-2) was the navalised version of the Hawk. The US Navy insisted on a radial engine and consequently the front end was adapted to take the 715 hp Wright R-1820 driving again a 2-blade propeller. The landing gear was lengthened and the wing gap increased. Other alterations included a tear-drop tank instead of the slipper tank, a partial canopy (not installed here) and a raised turtleback to accommodate a life raft. With the latter modification the name was changed to BFC-2 indicating the new role as dive bomber. The conversion and upgrading of this Lindberg kit was accomplished in two steps. When I first built the model in 1996 I raised the rear fuselage of the F11C to become a BFC-2, and made some evident improvements like the lateral bulges over the guns. With my recent revision here I perfected the model to accurately represent 3-B-13. (4) The warrior - Curtiss Hawk III 21st PS 4th PG Chinese Air Force Schien Chiao August 1937 Lt. Liu, Che-sheng The final Hawk biplane was the Curtiss Model 68C or Hawk III, the export version of the ill-fated BF2C-1. While the US Navy lost confidence in Curtiss after the disastrous failure of the new metal-framed wing, the design (with the old wooden wing) enjoyed some success in the foreign market, namely with Thailand, Argentina and China which procured 102 Hawk III to resist the Japanese invasion. The forward fuselage was transformed again to incorporate a retractable landing gear, the body was further widened and the main plane moved forward. The export version reverted to a 3-blade propeller but there was no change in armament. This Freedom Model Kit was a pleasure to work on but it's not void of flaws. Please refer to my build log here. This concludes my short narrative about one of the epochal combat planes of the interwar period (which eventually became a nail in Curtiss' coffin). I hope to continue this series with the succeeding Curtiss monoplane fighters but I'm still missing a P-36. Meanwhile please enjoy my other Yellow Wings here. REFERENCES THE CURTISS ARMY HAWKS, PROFILE PUBLICATIONS NO.45, PETER M. BOWERS, LEATHERHEAD THE CURTISS NAVY HAWKS, PROFILE PUBLICATIONS NO.116, PETER M. BOWERS, LEATHERHEAD THE CURTISS HAWKS, PAGE SHAMBURGER / JOE CHRISTY, KALAMAZOO, 1972 THE TAIL OF A SAGA - THE LAST OF THE HAWK BIPLANES, AIR ENTHUSIAST VOL.3 NO.4, LONDON 1972 CURTISS ARMY HAWKS, AIRCRAFT IN ACTION NO.128, LARRY DAVIS, CARROLLTON, 1992 CURTISS NAVY HAWKS, AIRCRAFT IN ACTION NO.156, PETER BOWERS, CARROLLTON, 1995 WINGS OF STARS, ON TARGET SPECIAL NO.6, PETER FREEMAN / MIKE STARMER, ARLINGTON, 2009 WINGS OF THE FLEET, ON TARGET SPECIAL NO.8, PETER FREEMAN / MIKE STARMER, ARLINGTON, 2010 ACES OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA, OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES 126, OXFORD, 2015 Well, Curtiss... Looking back at this history of biplane development a few things stand out - (1) For over a decade a lot of effort was put into upgrading the basic design only to bring the same mediocre punch to the fight, namely one .3 cal and one .5 cal weapon. This was rather owed to an unimaginative military than Curtiss but is still incomprehensible (and it went on!). (2) The layout of the Hawks did not progress at all. It unerringly followed the concept of a fabric-covered wooden airframe with open cockpit. Wings and tailplane were actually so similar that they could have been swapped. Any concession by Curtiss to 'modern' design was essentially forced upon them by more innovative competitors (Boeing, Grumman). (3) The once rakish looking fighter with race-plane ancestry took on more and more weight and plumpness until it became downright ugly. This was the result of ever heavier engines and aerodynamic 'refinement' to squeeze more speed out of the old design. In consequence Curtiss lost sales volume versus the competition and was finally discarded as a manufacturer by the US Navy. Had it not been for their infamous influence on the procurement office(r)s they would have been ruled out much earlier. The same pattern blithely repeated itself in the following decade with the P-36/P-40 design.

Finally uploading images of this project, which was completed mid 2023. The story behind this is much the same as my recent Mosquito topic. A family member acquired a wristwatch that contains a part of ED825, one of the Lancasters deployed on the Dambuster's raid. The aircraft survived the raid, but sadly crashed some time later. I created this model for my relative as a Christmas present. Sadly, they became incredibly unwell around the same period, and although they did receive the present, they passed away in early 2024. I was at least glad they got to see a depiction of the aircraft they were carrying around with them at the time. For this build I employed an Airfix 1/72 B.III special kit, along with a Zvezda aircraft stand (with some modification to mount the Lanc to it. I decided to depict the bouncing bomb having been dropped, and with a strange quirk of the water gel I applied retaining a bit of whiteness, made it look a little like moonlight. KitsWorld decals were used for the correct numbers and letters, although they required a hand overpainting in order to match the correct letter colouring (being too red orange). Two small disasters accompanied the build, one being the tearing away of decals on one side that nearly ended badly. The other right as the model was completed when a mysterious drop of a still unidentified fluid got onto the right wing and ate through every layer of paint, requiring some emergency surgery and repaint that thankfully paid off 😰 Anyway, here's the finished article Thanks for looking as always ^-^ Gaz

Whilst the bubble mould is in abeyance for now meet N1043T, being the last of my dalliances down Sea King Street for now meaning there will be a trio of Sea Kings on the club table soon. She is a very standard SH3H but with land type undercarriage like the other Croman with its bits exposed. N1043T will not be so exposed in its water tanking, fire fighting rig out and might even be a faster build than the others, coming very close to OOB (for me!) Here the internal firefighting water tank is installed, awaiting pumps and pipes before I shut up shop. On the outside some of the exquisite surface detail has to go however, including one of the fuelling points which N1143T doesn't have and of course the water friendly sponsons have got to go too. The port side windows are blanked off on 43T and in fact the water collection tubes are piped in through the rear window opening. Years ago I purchased several sizes of Slater's plastic rod, hoping they would be made of their very strong, hard, historic red plastic but sadly it seems they no longer make rods from that. but today some of that very poorly extruded, almost oval plastic is here exactly right to fill the filler groove. And the holes for the kit undercart are temporarily filled with little stubs of 1/16" rod from Evergreen, which are actually round in cross section, yippee! I should get some colour inside tomorrow, but today is Tuesday. Obligations for today, obvs Its steak Night which will be disappearing from 'Spoon's menus soon, far too soon. Thanks inflation and recessions.

I've always liked the razor-back Mustangs, and I knew that Arma Hobby's was meant to be very good. However, with a stash and backlog that will take years to finish building, the fighter version of the kit never quite justified itself in my collection. Then I saw this boxing, and this paintscheme, and all rational decision making was abandoned. Bold colours? Check. Bare metal? Check. Kit with no known major flaws? Check. And so, it followed me home from the model show. Having brought a couple of second-place trophies home too, I figured I should give this one everything I had. In the end, though, I reminded myself that this is a hobby, and I was better off having fun than chasing the chance of an award. So, there are some seams not perfectly filled, lines not perfectly scribed and parts not perfectly aligned. But, unless you're a model judge, I don't think they're worth bothering about and I had a great time putting it together and experimenting with a couple of new things. Kit: Arma Hobby Expert Set 70040 Paints: Tamiya acrylics and Vallejo Metal Colour acrylics Weathering: Tamiya panel liner for the interior, Abteilung oil wash (buff and raw umber mix), Abteilung oil streaking (engine grease), prisma colour silver pencil chipping Decals: From the kit (lots and lots of stencils!) Additions: Brass rod replaced the landing gear door actuator rods. The originals broke off when trying to mask the gear bay. This is my second time trying oils for weathering. Some good, some bad. It was harder to completely remove excess paint after the wash than I expected, so I spent quite a while trying to un-grimy the panels. Overall, I think the wash has mostly disappeared. Some of the streaking worked out well though. Overall, the kit went together really well. Near perfect fit of every part. I only needed filler in a few small areas. Unfortunately, I've just seen that the fuselage seam has split right above the rear D-windows. That area was always pretty flimsy. I used the closed canopy part as a mask while painting, then replaced it with the open part at the end. That took a bit of force to get it in between the windshield and the D-window, so maybe that's where the crack happened. I probably spent 1/3 of the entire build time on the cockpit, there's so much detail in there. Careful assembly was needed to make sure it was all aligned before the fuselage went together. The paint scheme really did sell me on the model. I know very, very little about recconaisance Mustangs in China, other than that they looked pretty awesome! No bombs fitted, as I've only ever seen photos of the recconaisance Mustangs in this squadron with drop-tanks. No drop tanks fitted because I lost them. Maybe they'll re-appear one day and be added. The replacement rods attaching to the gear doors are visibly here. Maybe I should go try to paint them sivler, the brass is a little more obvious than I expected. Arma's detail in the wheel-well is phenomenal, and really does make it look like there are pipes and wires running off into the rest of the airplane. If you're at all wondering about buying this kit, do it! You won't be disappointed.

I was intending to use these resin figures on my last diorama but they are slightly bigger in scale than all the other 1/35 figures (more 1/32 really), so ended up doing a small vignette instead.

Hi all, Today I took pictures of my most recent creation, the re-issued Tamiya Fiat 500F. This car is actually not for my own collection, but will be given as birthday present to my Italian mother-in-law. She owned for a very long time a Fiat 500 but as it rusted to pieces in the Dutch climate, she had to separate from the car she loved a lot. So I thought it would be nice to build her a Fiat 500. After starting the kit and asking for a few pics of the original via my father-in-law, I started noticing some differences between the Tamiya 500 and the real one. Apparently there are quite substantial differences between a 500F and a 500L. After considering my options, I decided to try to imitate the bumpers of the 500L, swap the front logo and add a fabric roof that can can be actually opened and closed. The bumpers were a bit of pain, but turned out ok-ish in the end. The roof looks nice, but doesn't really nicely seal when closed. As I don't think she will play with opening and closing the roof, it should be fine 😇 The engine cover can be opened a bit, but as others have encountered, the level of movement is limited. I printed the original license plate and added some carpet inside. Color comes very close to the original and is Tamiya TS-34 Camel Yellow with TS13 Gloss Finish. The TS-34 I think is a very nice color, but as I've found out previously with one of my Skylines, it has the worst ability to cover properly and needs patience and quite a few layers. Oh and really, I've seen others mentioning it, but this really is a tiny car 🙈 Thanks!

Hello friends, here I present to you another completed model. In question is the Ki-44 Shoki, Hasegawa's model. In my opinion, a model for enjoying work. Everything fits as it should. Everything was done OOB, only the rings were painted. Here are the pictures.

Hello friends, here I present to you another completed model. In question is the Ki-84 Hayate, an old Hasegawa model. In my opinion, the only complaint is that the panels are positive, otherwise everything else is great. Everything was done OOB, only the rings were painted. Here are the pictures.

Here's my second old Aurora knight kit. This one is the Black Knight of Nuremburg. This was an old release and came with the full Aurora catelogue on the back of the instructions. Fun to look at. It also had a white feather for the helmet plume but it must have come from a sick chicken or something or other as it was pretty misshapen and unusable. I pick up something at a craft store as a substitute. A large part of the work involved is clean up and checking fit as there are lots of angles and odd shapes to accommodate. He comes with a mace that is supposed to go in his left hand, but since that hand is in an open position, it doesn't look right so I left it off. Now, on to Atlantis' re-release of the Blue Knight.

Been a long while since I uploaded here, hah. Not to say I haven't worked on anything within that period (had a lot of pictures of finished projects but hadn't gotten around to putting them up 😅) So, background on this project. A family member came into possession of a watch that contained a part of HX-909, a Mosquito from No. 487 Squadron RNZAF that took part in Operation Jericho, so I built this as a birthday present. I have an associated project yet to upload, but for now, here is this one. Model is the Tamiya 1/72 GB MK.VI kit, with some markings from Oldsmodel Decals in order to get the correct identifying number and tail code. Painted with Tamiya RAF Dark Green and Hobby Aqueous Light Sea Grey, and matt coated with VMS Matt varnish. Canopy had a few issues when removing the Eduard masks (greenhouse canopies always have issues when I work with them). Gave it a snowy base given the time of year the Amiens raid was conducted. Enjoy Thanks for looking Gaz

Thanks to the heads up from @MODeller I had a look on a well known auction site and picked this up brand new for the princely sum of £29.95 delivered Ordered it Friday and it was delivered from Ireland yesterday afternoon, top service and he has other bargains as well, proof that bargains on E-**y can still be had occasionally

You know one of those modelling sessions where everything that can go wrong does go wrong? Well that. 😩 so much wrong in fact that no photo evidence is available to prove it actually happened. So maybe I’ll just wipe it from memory. But I’ll post about it here because I need to tell someone who vaguely cares. 🥳 This is the calm after the storm. So not all bad in the end. before I begin, if you were to do an oil wash using artists oils, what white spirit do you use? I’m thinking of W&N but it’s a bit pricey. Thoughts and opinions please. Anyway I’d seen a guy using oils as a wash and it looked good so I decided to give it a go. All was going quite well until it started to dry off, a white residue began forming that looked terrible. So I decided to try and rub the whole thing off. Bad idea as it just made the whole mess look worse. ☹️😩. Struggling to wipe away the (it looked like road salt on your car in the winter) I managed to snap off a lower wing. 😣. And guess what while trying to glue it back in place I slipped, snapped off the other wing, dropped the whole lot and snapped off the tail fin too. 😖🥺😣😩. I literally rage quit the desk and had a breather. I really wish I’d taken pictures. She looked a right old state. Once calmness had fallen I drilled new locating holes for the wings and attempted to glue them back in place. Push came to shove and eventually it popped in. Happy was I until I turned over to see my melon thumb had destroyed the lower roundel. 🤬🤬😱. Really??? I attempted to add the other wing, quite a bit of pressure was added and yes not to be left out of the party the lower part of the fuselage popped off. 😳🤯😶‍🌫️ more breathing and transcendental meditation was in order. 🧘‍♂️ Eventually I managed to get the wings, fuselage, tail glued in place with CA and wrestle the decal back into place too. This is where we were when you saw that dead one up there. ^^^^ I couldn’t use the jig because the wings were so weak. At this point I’d decided to wipe down the worst of the oil wash and start again when dry. I’m a sucker for punishment and I hate leaving things in a bad way. Soo using a small amount of my white spirit I did a subtle was of burnt umber. And it looked ok. When I’d got to a point where I was as happy as I could be I top costed and left it alone again. This was lunch time. After work I decided to try flory while I got info on oil washes. and. I used brown. I never use brown. But I think it came out ok. You can just see the big chunk of decal that came away. It’s kind of on the left hand side in the middle. Thumb shaped. 😆 I want to do more stuff to make it better but added a top coat before making this post. I think I saved her. Honestly there was a small minute when she was almost binned. and. Looking at that now I’m more than happy that she’s not in the bin. More tomorrow. 😇 Any help with the white spirit question would be appreciated. I’m thinking my cheap Wilco’s stuff is too harsh for my model? Take care out there. It’s pretty hairy. Johnny Nightmare.

Aside from the antenna wire and some weathering, this is done. Once those final bits are finished off I will sort out some photography. But not tonight. My mood is very low (health woes) so I shall snuggle up with the cat and lose myself in some film or something on the idiot box.

This 3D printed kit was a purchase during lockdown but only relatively recently completed - my first experience with 3D printed modelling. This was bought directly from OMM in Japan via eBay and I thought was an excellent kit that has clearly had a lot of work put into it by the designer. The way the parts were broken down was very clever, with the fuselage halves being slightly asymetric so that they join off centre, allowing the detail on the spine to be preserved rather than sanded off! There are also lots of extras including masks, dowel and metal rod for strengthening the wing join and the landing gear, sandpaper (of which you will need a lot), and access to lots of detail photos on "the cloud". Untitled and10 and2 First tip for 3D printred models is to buy lots of primer - I reckon this proabbly had one and a half 500ml cans sprayed on it. Due to the 3D printing the parts have a slightly rough texture to them which needs lots of priming and sanding to get them smooth. I prepped most of the parts in this way before joining any of them together. Parts were attached with either epoxy or superglue, depending on how much strain they were expected to take. Becasue of the neat engineering, the fit was on the whole very good, although a bit of filler was needed to blend in the tail section to the rear of the fuselage. and7 and5 the kit can be posed with the rear loading door open, and the undercarriage can be adjusted to make them "kneel" as per the real aircraft. THere is a full interior although the detail is limited by the production medium. There is even a toilet to go in the cloakroom! There is a recessed area around the cabin windows that I suspect on the 48th and 32nd versions of the kit is where you could install some thin clear acetate and then use the provided masks to have flush glazing. I found this too tricky to pull off in 72nd, and ended up filling the recess with primer, and then using UV curing clear resin for the windows. The cockpit windows were fashioned from clear acetete cut to shape. and8 and4 Painting was done in Gunze Aqueous Dark Earth/ Mid Stone/ Black with the interior in white and, I guessed at Light Admiralty Grey for the blueish hue of much of the interior and gear well inners. Decals for the 46 Squadron scheme came from Old Models in New Zealand. It makes up into an impressively large model even in 1/72. and1 And finally, one for the "Carry On" fans 😁 Untitled

Hello friends, another good old model. The model turned out to be better than the new Italeri model of this plane that they modernized. Apart from the fact that this model has a poor cabin and that the panels are positive, everything is better on the new model. The fit is perfect and I really enjoyed making this model. Here are the pictures.

its based on/very similar to..... Its not like its the new All Electric Ford Capri - that is soooo much like the original. NOT!

Paint time at last! The M8 got an overall primer coat using Halfords Body-shop black primer and the interior of the tub and the turret ring got a brush-applied coat of a rusty/primery enamel colour. I then masked up the hull parts. The ring and tub got a coat of hairspray ready for chipping. While the hairspray dried, I did a pre-shade and main coat on the jeep. I decided to take different approaches to painting each vehicle to see if this results in slight differences in their eventually appearance, and also as the Jeep has no metal bits, I could avoid the black primer coat. Then some white – diluted with water for the bits to be chipped and with Tamiya thinner to impart a bit of light pre-shading to the turret insides. The chipping went pretty well – happy with that. And after the hairspray, I went in with the “Kevin” brush and added a few rounds of painted chipping – an olive brown, lightened greens…. …and finally dark grey Then it was time for detail painting of various boxes and other bits, a Klear (brush-applied) coat and some oil washes. All the same for the Jeep, and I masked off the windscreen after applying the decals. I could then fix the turret halves together and paint and install the little resin guns There we go… ready for matt coat. I realised that the rubber track blocks were pristine, so gave them a bit of a scrape with some useful wire and fibreglass pens I picked up a little while ago. The matt coat (Tamiya acrylic) went ok on (in) the M8 But not so well on the Jeep. I admit that I did this spraying session a little late on Sunday afternoon, and the rear deck of my boat (my “spraybooth”) was a bit gloomy. As a result, I think I applied a bit too much. The result is too matt for my tastes really, and has resulted in a bit of weird grey/blue discolouration. Note to self – only use the airbrush when you can see what you’re doing! It looks worse in these merciless close ups than in real life and I think a bit of handling is knocking back the grey colour a bit, so I’ll live with it and I’ve given the tyres a wash of black oil paint to restore some of their colour. I prised off the radiator grille and installed the actual radiator and light assembly and started adding some light grey mud deposits on the Jeep using grey tile grout, fixed with isopropyl alcohol. The front glazing got its masking swapped for some wiper marks before a sprayed light dust coat. After that I’ll add some more mud tones using pigment and pastels.

Thanks for all the comments so far, glad to have brought something unexpected/unknown into the WIP area. As with the Pulsar I've just built, I prefer to mask and spray and remask so the black areas are done *before* the main colour. The usual logic: It's easier to touch up black with body colour overspray than vice-versa. It does involve some extra masking but only that in the bottom right of the 4 images. The main masking (top left) would have to be done regardless of the order. Here, three coats of the final colour. Goes on smooth, bodes well for the clear coat.

Welcome aboard Bill. Welcome back all. I have been a little busy, although mostly coming to terms with the dimensions of the interior, its layout and what mods to make. Needless to say I have been busy researching and cutting away bit and un-assembling more than gluing stuff together. Here is a dry fit of the interior bulkheads. A nice fit as it happens with hardly any fettling or sanding necessary. However, it is far from accurate, The rear bulkhead lies too far back; the top floor is too high (and is stepped which it shouldn’t be; and the bottom floor … well there isn’t one on the real aircraft. I could go go on, but don’t want to sound negative about an old school Airfix kit, which is rather nice, and I am enjoying the kit bash. Anyroad. I’ve now got my head around what it should look like and made a start. I removed a few sink marks and lugs (these are intend to mount the gun and its mount which I don’t need), plus sanding it back so it’s sort of nice and smooth. Also there is quite a prominent sunken mould where the wings are joined to the fuselage. This would be visible so that needed filling. There is an aperture in the floor to access the passenger compartment (rescued downed pilots), and the observer’s seat is on a pivot which retracts through an aperture in the rear bulkhead giving access to aforementioned passenger compartment – quite ingenious methinks. Now I know what I’m doing (well almost) I can add the other bulkheads, ribbing and other details. Plenty of stuff to do upstairs and downstairs. Here is my observer’s seat: I also opened up the engine vents: Now I know where I’m supposed to be I can get some momentum going. Thanks for looking and to be continued...

Good Morning, Decide to drag this one out, These GB are a great excuse to stop procrastinating and get on with making a kit. This is typical 1980's with RPL's very much in evidence but the fit seems to be goo enough to retain the raised rivet and lines. ~(much to the chagrin of my good friend!) a Discussion with said friend push the German Cam but I will got with the Desert scheme. The kits gives enough interior detail to keep in interesting but I expect you could do to town in this yoke. Love the 2 step instructions aslo!! Some parts also do not have locating pins with tbh helps alignment. Fully detailed engines!! No locating lugs. Primer on. nice fit. Test fit.

Good day! Finished TOYOTA 86 from AOSHIMA. Good quality kit, no problems, pleased with assembly. When assembling, I used chemicals from TAMIYA and MR HOBBY. The model is covered with 2K varnish. Thank you for your attention.

Hello everyone! I've been considering joining this forum for quite some time, and I figured that starting a new project would be the perfect opportunity to do so. I'm from Poland, and I've been involved in plastic modeling for the past three years. As a child, I used to build paper models with my father, but it was only a few years ago—thanks to a friend's encouragement—that I decided to give plastic modeling a try. After a few training builds, I focused on World War I aviation, and soon enough, my main area of interest became the wars for Poland’s borders (1918-1921). However, my projects also extend to other historical theaters, such as the Allied intervention in Russia, air combat on the Western Front during the Great War, and occasional ventures into the 1930s and World War II. What fascinates me most about modeling is not just the aircraft but the stories of the people who flew them. For me, modeling has become a way to tell forgotten or lesser-known historical tales. I have just completed my Halberstadt Cl.II project and am now preparing for the next build, which I hope to document here. You can also follow my work, along with historical backgrounds and pilot stories, on my social media: Facebook and Instagram, under the name Aces in Scale. I've attached a photo of my latest model, and I look forward to sharing this journey with you all! Best regards, Łukasz

Hello all. This is the second P-40E as the Royal Class box is giving you two kits. I was reading again the chapters of the Java air battles on the Vol II of "Bloody shambles" and came upon a very nice picture of this plane. After the Philippines, the remain of the group went to Australia and from there went to help defend Dutch East Indies. January and February of 42 saw a lot of dogfights over Java and Palembang where Lt Joseph Kruzel gained his first victory against a K-27, followed by two Zeros the following day. Another move to Australia to join the 9th FS found him with George Preddy as a wingman. Then he moved to England with the 361st FG where they were equipped with P-47. Kruzel ended the war with 6,5 victories and left the Air Force in 1970. Od over NG was the rule in 42 ! So I have tried to simulate the wear of those colors without falling in the caricature! Best regards. 45BB4155-14D5-46E9-9FE8-AB0E802BD804_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 79981576-44F9-4207-A31B-954085094AFD_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr BCBAC94A-0498-4980-A949-CA9872FF4994_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr DCA5F8EB-D7D7-4DEE-858B-749DDEA0EBF3_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 240F3037-DD71-4B1F-BA18-7121C3C32906_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 5485A773-6EFF-4FBA-858F-C6B79168DFC0_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr 9343FB94-1821-46A3-B1E7-4614996F18A2_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr B5912839-000C-47E3-84E6-594AED7D710D_1_201_a by jean Barby, sur Flickr

Hi Folks, Ever since I started scale modeling, I’ve always wanted to have an F-22 in my collection. For a few years, I couldn’t get one, but last year, I finally bought an Academy 1/72 scale F-22. I read many forums and articles about how confusing it is to paint an F-22. I even asked a friend from the U.S. who does aviation photography to share some of his F-22 photos. Looking at them only made me more confused—the paint seemed different on every aircraft. Some looked metallic, others more plastic-like, and the modulation varied from jet to jet. Since I had already started the project, I figured, why not give it a shot? I narrowed my reference images down to two or three and focused on replicating them as closely as possible. None of the paints I had matched, so I spent three days experimenting through trial and error. Eventually, I settled on this approach: first, a metallic base coat, followed by a mix of red, blue, titanium, and black. That combination created a purplish metallic tone. After that, I avoided using decals where possible and instead painted each panels. Most of the colors were mixed from blue, red, brown, silver, gray, white, and black—each layer was applied by eye, comparing it to my reference images. This project turned out to be quite a challenge. I’m not entirely sure if it’s accurate or a bit off, but I really like how it came out—so I’ll give myself a little pat on the back. Here it is! All feedback and criticism are welcome. Cheers!

X Plus snap together (well, very firm push really) kit... Apologies for the large size of the pictures, but it's the portrait format! The skin is all AK 3rd generation acrylics, the uniform mostly Citadel including their contrast paints, and the jacket is Vallejo acrylics. Her hair was far and away the most difficult part, and I'm indebted to Hobby Cheating's Vince Venturella for the tutorial that helped me take it on, and to @JamesP for introducing me to him. There's a decent amount of reference material with some rare colour snapshots online for what she looked like at the time, and handily you can buy a replica of the blue flying jacket to details of that are easy to come by. The one "gotcha," right at the end, was that I had to take out 20mm from the vertical upright at the front to get the handrail to sit where it needs to for her hand to be able to hold it. Fortunately it's easy to do it just below the top elbow fitting so that it's not obvious. I don't know how they missed that. best, M.

I'll certainly try Thanks Crisp. An order from Resolution models duly arrived 3 days post order - SOOO good to have keith back at the helm. Thanks @beefy66 It's a novel feeling masking a ship bridge..... The supplied etch watertight doors are double sided and excellent. Some will left open. I finished the quarter deck detailing - almost None of it will be visible but it was good practice with the grey wash etc For the over-zealously toilet trained, I now realise that the Fairleads should sit outside of the rails - Foreart got that wrong and I'd already "welded" mine in to the slots given. It's possible that the kit's Fairleads are slightly too small, I have some alternatives winging their way from Black Cat. I'm conscious that @Ex-FAAWAFU Crisp had the same issue with Fearless. Watch this space. I attached the deck to the hull and "closed-up" - say goodbye to the Quarter-deck. Fit was good needing only a smidge of filler. Meanwhile I couldn't resist painting the Bridge even though once again - nothing is likely to be seen through the Bridge winidows.... It's in Light Admiralty Grey which seems to have been the colour used. Painting this means I can crack on with the bridge /forward superstructure assembly and painting. I am really liking the Mr Hobby "Finsihing surfacer 1500" and strongly suspect that will be my primer henceforth - it dries smoother than Alclad/A-stand. Nuff said. First coat of Weatherworks grey applied And a dry-fit shot to illustrate progress Some more detailing on the hangar assembly And a final progress shot.... I've been surprised as have others, as to actually how small this type was. Thanks for looking Rob

The chassis is now up to revision 4, but it's getting there. I've produced a test print to see which parts might be problematic... it's mostly OK, but I'm going to beef up the suspension brackets. The plan is to print the final version like this. with the upper wishbones and diff/half shafts in-situ, so I have some solid mounting points for the rest of the suspension. Ropey phone picture... this is the underside.

Some more done, The stowage rack again was VERY brittle and the sooner it’s on a wagon and I don’t have to touch it again the better😀 pump and fuel reel to go now. cheers Ivan

Experiencing progress is rewarding and addicting which lead me to finish the majority of the interior not including door cards and the instrument panel. Electrical and braided lines, extinguishers, harnesses and both seats are in. I feel I’ve achieved a balanced look. By far the most detail I’ve endured doing.

Saw this come past and noticed it pull in to B&Q, so toddled out with the camera. 1980 Volvo 244DL Walking back this was parked at the BP 1969 Triumph Vitesse. And this recently imported 2000 Mazda RX7 came past too Matt

Spotted in the local Leisure Centre car park this morning. Trevor

Just loaded up the BM 80's Spotify playlist (posted in the nostalgia thread, page 4). Still no idea what I want to do for the GB. Another race car?...been itching to build a Group C prototype. But it's also a fine excuse for another NATO/Warsaw build. I keep telling myself not to start anything new...to get a couple ongoing projects finished. But this one and the Vietnam GB are so tempting.

Ship is.... done. Added the rest of the rigging, flags and finally, the anti torpedo nets. To be honest, I hate the way they look, maybe shoelaces just were not the right material choice. Or AT nets are just not that pretty in general? Well, they are done, as is the ship. I shall put it into the RFI as soon as I have take some proper pictures in good daylight. Overall I am happy with the model, a true last gasp of the pre-dreadnought age, small, yet tough and with quite a bite. I want to thank everyone who followed me on this journey. I had planned to be done in 3 month, it turned into 3 monaths and 3 weeks, not too bad really. I shall start the next WiP thred in April, once I am back from a vacation - with a parallel build of 2 early ironclads, so stay tuned!

But as I said, in yesterday's mail, there was some good news. All the decals needed to have another go at it arrived! My modelling schedule is pretty busy for the weeks to come, but I'll manage to find some place for Eileen. I hope I'd be able to show her finished in the next few days.

I've been spamming the What Music are you Playing thread with 80s bangers of late, so I'm joining in here too. I will never tire of this synthy wonderfulness: My favourite Pet Shop Boys single: Trevor Horn was mentioned earlier, but I can't believe this hasn't come up yet. That bass sound was like the engine powering the decade:

This one is better And Kerry has been working his magic again...thank you mate! This is truly a collaboration build! Rear parabrake housing