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Pretty much out of the box except for the rear guns that were replaced with 3d-printed set from Inside the Armour. Comments welcome and thanks for looking.

Hello I have just finished my couple of 1/72 SWORD Vought RF-8A and RF-8G kits. As usual with this type of kits the surface is very nice but the joints are touchy. So I needed much time to complete them. Anyway I wanted them to be in my cupboard. The RF-8A scheme came from the box with this VFP-62 aircraft in November 1962 for photo reconnaissance missions above Cuba. The RF-8G scheme came from the 72-113 Wolfpak Decals sheet and is one of the VFP-206 aircraft in 1985. Patrick

One of my most recent models, built mostly OOB (which contained essential PE parts), painted using Humbrol enamels and weathered with AK pencils and no-name pigments. Antenna wire is elastomere. Comments are more than welcome!

Hi all, Would like to present my most recently completed build which took approximately 4 weeks to complete. Hasegawa's Eurofighter Typhoon benefits from some lovely engineering which ensured a seamless fit of parts. One thing I did however notice is the kit is very much geared to an inflight position, with closed petal exhausts included only and the air brake seemingly designed not to be closed. I ended up completing filling and smoothing this area, then rescribing the air back in to great effect. I would say the only element of the kit to be cautious with is the join of the fuselage halfs to the upper wing section. I did spent the bulk of the 4 weeks cleaning this up as per reference photos, but pleased I took the time to do so. The kit is finished as ZK343 of 29 sqn and serving as the display jet around 2014. Decals courtesy of Xtradecal. In terms of aftermarket, Eduard's photoetch set for the cockpit and canopy masks were used, as well as Reskit's Open Exchaust Set and resin wheel set (which wasn't as good as the kit parts I thought....?) I have yet to add the array of small attenna as these are likely to be broken off until I can find a suitable place to keep my latest projects. Painted using Hataka's Orange Line Modern RAF Vol.1 Thanks for looking!

Finally got this one across the line on Saturday and have got my modelling desk back at last. This is a truly horrible kit of a fantastic aircraft, so had to be done. Like most bits of plastic it can be turned into something pleasing with a bit of work and a lot of patience, Not sure how many hours that I put into this one but the painting alone had to be about 20, or so, hours. Each coat took 1½ hours and, being white, there was a few. This list of modifications included: Re-scribing all of the panel lines Drawing and 3D printing all of the vanes, sensors, flaps and the whole back end including exhausts Photoetch for the vents, undercarriage doors and details (Armory and Brengun) Resin wheels (Armory) Harnesses and belts to the pilots seats (Kits-World). They were for an ACES II I think , so not necessarily accurate but busied them up nicely. Pitot tube (I used the Master-Model one for a 1/48 scale T-38B, F-5B which looks pretty close to my eye) All in all, a lot of fun but not without its trials and tribulations. I used AK Real Colours for all of the painting but, for some unknown reason, the gloss coat reacted with the base coat and lightly crazed as it dried. I decided to press on and, thankfully, after two more coats of a different gloss (Gauzy) and the final coat, it has gone, One happy bunny, for sure. Onto some pictures. They're not great, as this is not the easiest of things to photograph , It battled me to the end. As always, comments and critique welcomed. Pete

Hello all. This link will take you to a short WIP thread where I describe how I modified the Airfix 1/24th scale Spitfire MkIX into a replica of the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's Spitfire MK356 in honour of Squadron Leader Mark Long who perished on 25th May, 2024, almost a year ago. This is my small tribute to the man. RIP Sqdn Ldr Long. Blue skies * Thanks for taking a look. Please feel free to comment and critique and if anyone has any questions, feedback or thoughts about the build please also leave them here. Cheers, Guy

Hi! I wanted to share a gallery of my recently finished model. The plane in the markings of the machine flown by Oblt. Ludwig Franzisket from 1./JG 27 in Africa. I added barrels from Master in the wings. Below are a few photos.

The kit previously mentioned in the Union Memorial collection thread hit the deck earlier today:- Bought simply because I've been after a GT Mk IV kit for a while and this one came up on t'Bay for the sensible price (for once!) of £30 including P&P. That equates to about £24 plus eBay fees & postage, one heck of a decent price for any kit. Despite the worn-looking box it's effectively in new condition - sealed bags, original packaging. The decals are a bit yellowed but I can easily get a replacement set online for a few quid if they turn out to be cream-crackered. As far as manufacturing quality is concerned I'm prepared to accept it might have the odd shortcoming or two but it looks good at first glance. 🤞

Kevin at Magnix kindly replied to my request, thanks Kevin you are a star, the electric motor fits within a tube of 675mm diameter which I computate as 9.375 mm in tiny scale. So the intention is to slip the pointy nose inside a 10mm tube/shape to compensate for things. Which gives me this A little more work rounding off the top and I can begin making a propellor

Hoorah! Back at the bench once more. See the mojo frolick gaily as the TET and thinners flow like wine and the room spins like a carousel...Oh...perhaps I should open a window.... That's better. Anyway, here we are. As promised the Mossie's bomb bay has become a busier place. I have modified the bomb crutches from the Airfix Lancaster B.III to the point where it would probably have been easier to scratch build them. As usual I have been a bit heavy handed with the dry brushing, but hopefully that will tone down with a wash of grime. The only other details I would like to have added are the bomb winches, but I have done all this in completely the wrong order and trying to fit them onto the beam between the fuel tanks might be not sensible now...so I will probably give it a go tomorrow! Other highlights of tonight are getting down on the floor to search for a missing piece only to realise that I still had my close-up work glasses on and could barely see the carpet, let alone a few millimetres of grey plastic, and then once I had gone through the palaver of getting up, changing glasses and eventually finding the rascal hiding behind a rack of musical instruments, not all mine, I then spent several minutes searching the room again looking for the box with my detail brushes in. Can you spot it in the photos above? Here is a better view... There it is. On the bench all the time, pretending to be a work stand for the Mossie. Doh! My brain is completely fried, so just one last bit of silliness for the.evening... Does anyone else look at the glue bottle in the inset photo above and think of 70's prog rockers Emerson, Lake and Palmer? Onwards and Upwards, chums!

Another P6 3500 V8, this one from 1969. Matt

Thanks Giorgio, hendie and Keith Ah, so a sort of 'NOW can you see I'm one of ours?' eh? Crazy. Stencils. I hate stencils. If this build was for me I'd probably be selective but hey ho. Easy start: WHAT THE… Gaaah! Gloss varnish hasn't helped. I hate stencils. Top of wings done though: The usual 'Can you see them?' question is obviously irrelevant. Rats. I shall try the usual remedies. Later (That's the 100th photo for this build. Too many?)

Cheers Roland, glad you're liking it, nice to do other stuff from camo. As for the cockpit protection, can't claim it as my idea, use what comes to hand. Thanks Terry. As for the green...just lucky. Cheers James. Thanks Dave, much appreciated. As for the doors, I had noticed these, took a note 'to do' then promptly forgot about them. To late now as... it's finished. I'll get pics into he gallery once I've done the base. Stuart

A few photos of my latest build and I really enjoyed this one. Excellent fit and nicely detailed throuhout. Not much to say that hasn't been said before over the past months. Built pretty much straight from the kit but with some generic seatbelts and new 3d printed exhausts from Inside The Armour. The decals are a combination of the kit, the original Airfix release (as I particularly wanted to do a 41 squadron aircraft) and Kits World. Highly recommended. Roll on the GR3 and two seater. Thanks for looking. 20250512_200505 20250512_200354 20250512_200322 20250512_200526 20250512_200303 20250512_200427

Hawker Hurricane IIc Q Z3152 (on the left in IWM contemporary image, fair use)… consensus is this was a IIc with a Vokes filter, black spinner, dark earth and dark green over sky blue, no exhaust glare shades, early style exhausts, early style tailwheel. Thanks to Troy Smith and other Britmodellers for their advice on this … I take responsibility for any errors or anachronisms. Tamiya XF and Alclad paint, kit decals and HGW Models 248026 Hurricane stencils (recommended), some markings with masks, Uschi ultra-fine line aerial wire, bead gunsight with piano wire, weathering using Tamiya dark bown panel line wash, Prismacolour pencils. Nice kit… took a while to get used to the raised rivets but now I’m OK with them 🙂

Thanks for the well wishes lads appreciate it So the sub is painted Panzer Grey RAL 7021 (ARG10 Colourcoats) the Satin varnished been playing with some base materials to give me a Varnish range what do you think. The base had a coat of Deluxe Materials Making Waves but it has started to go off not usually lying around that long. So painted over this and will add some Acrylic gel to smooth out some rough bits then its time to add the wake with cotton wool. Stay Safe Keith

The chassis of both models are complete. Despite the low parts count they both actually caused me quite a bit of trouble. It has been a while since I have done one of these older Hasegawa kits and I forgot how fiddly they can be and the need for lots of test fitting and fettling of joins. Much filing, sanding, swearing, drilling (!!), clamping, swearing and gluing later.... The Ivory Coast vehicle was the most troublesome. I noticed the sprue with items specific to this kit - raised suspension, body armour, etc - was a different shade to the other white sprues. The plastic of this particular sprue has gone brittle over the years with the slightest amount of force during assembly managing to break the rear-leaft suspension in about four places, while both fronts broke where the steering rod joins. I am not looking forward to attaching the wheels; I think I may reduce the size of the rod in the wheels then just glue the wheels to the brake centres. The model will definitely tripod and I suspect have natty toe angle front and rear down one side at least.

Done fiddling with the base coat. Lot of back and forth to clean up the freehand. Think I came close to the correct colors. Of course those colors will shift when the decal and weathering process is done. Cheers

Thank you all for your comments and interest! It is going to be boring lightning blue - the colour of the box art - but don't worry, there is another GT in the stash that is likley to be more interesting! At the moment, I am doing some sub assemblies shown, but not doing and body painting until my Range Rover & Mitsubishi WRC are finished (I only have the capacity to do 2 body shells at a time...!

With the Daihatsu Move finished and the Subaru Eighties GB entry moving along nicely I found myself able to start something else, taking the opportunity to choose a Japanese maker that is so far unrepresented in my cabinet. I think it's a slightly older one from Hasegawa's wonderful Historic Car Series but it still seems to be well detailed with good proportions. This 1:1 I saw back in the '90s came tomind: This was taken at one of the very earliest Japanese car shows at Aintree in 1993. At Billing a year or two later it looked like this: Sadly it shows as untaxed since late 1997, be nice to think it's sitting in a garage somewhere awaiting restoration. My build is going to reimagine it as having undergone a sympathetic restoration and gaining some appropriate wheels. Colour will be some sort of dark metallic blue, either the Halfords Vauxhall Polar Sea Blue or Tamiya TS-53 above. Actual build progress so far is limited to glueing on the arch flares, as they are body colour. These were the first wheels I tried SSR MkIIIs from a Tamiya Mazda RX-7 with lower profile tyres from a Tamiya MX-5. Diffult to properly imagine what they'll be like until they're painted and detailed, and I'm not sure if I want to do that yet. These are more likely what I'm going to use, Fujimi Racing Harts with the same MX-5 tyres. The separate wheel centres will be painted gunmetal or gold. This wheel set is good value, with six tyres (four narrow, two wide) and the ability to build four each of the narrow and wide wheel sets. For this build I'll go for narrow front and rear. Fingers crossed for a forthcoming quiet weekend so I can make some decent progress on it.

Hi all, out of the box build although I did replace the kit supplied mesh screen with some I had in spares. Tamiya and Vallejo paints used, Flory washes and pigments, AB oils, Mr Metal Color, ttfn 😇

The Wallace kit is ancient and its level of detail shows it but its an easy kit to work with so I had at it. The Wapiti had a Bristol Jupiter engine, mostly seen uncoweled in photos, and a rear gunner's position. The kit comes configured as the aircraft that flew over Mt. Everest with a pressurized rear cockpit so that had to be modified back to a gunner's position. The engine was salvaged from the spares bin as was the prop. The Wapiti was shorter than the Wallace, but I never found the location of that shortening, so I'm afraid that fell to the 'fudge factor". I added the bomb racks under the wings. Please excuse the crew figures as they are rather tragic and I'm not at my best painting them anyway. But, in my display case it looks like a Wapiti.

Wow, time passes so quickly, so a whole month without updates. 🙄 But before that, the non modelling front has treated me well, in the form of a flight on Monday, in a Spitfire no less. This was a birthday treat from my lovely wife, when I passed 70 last September. Some temporary back issues prevented me taking the trip immediately, then I wanted to wait till the spring, which I did, patiently yet excitedly. I flew from Bournemouth Airport, although the aircraft was flown over for the day from Goodwood, where the company base this one and the others they have. IMHO, the company were superb in every aspect, but special thanks must go to Rosie (ground crew) and Dave (the Pilot). Rosie greeted me and my wife and son, kept us fed and watered, then kitted me out, briefed me on all aspects of safety and emergency procedures, then got me strapped in. Dave was superbly helpful and briefed me on what we planned to do (with much input from me on what I was keen to do) and generally kept me well appraised during the 45 minutes of the flight, and allowed me a good 20 minutes at the controls through the flight. It was an absolute delight to fly. We found my house and I was able to fly around it for a bit before clearing to the south for a some pleasant aerobatic experiences. Meanwhile, my wife was in the crew room watching where we were at all times via flight tracker, and warned our neighbour that I was overhead, and she came out and videod my antics from the ground. How cool is that! A few pics from the day.......... The flight was fantastic, one of the best of my life. I'm still on a high two days on! From one Merlin engined beauty, to another.............. ........ back to the P-51D. We are actually getting some paint on now, albeit primer (Mr Surfacer 1500), plus some aluminium paint on the fuel tanks. Nice black props with yellow tips: Some quick primer bursts to check the main underside and topside joins Left and right mainwheel legs in primer: Canopy frame: One main wheel. I'm using the Aires wheel doors on the kit, so I used the kit wheel bay doors to mask the bays, held in by very small dabs of masking fluid. I started to mask up the cockpit area a couple of weeks ago: Initially I used a large blob of this stuff in the rest of the cockpit area: Problem was, I then didn't get around to intend to paint, until a few days ago, and this greeted me: Lesson learned. Mask immediately before paint! Managed to sort that and now have a primed aircraft: The fresh masking tape you can see on the starboard quarter windshield on the top view, is there because the original got lifted during airbrushing, and some paint got underneath. I'll have to clean that up after the big reveal. I used the old damaged piece of mask to cut a fresh one. NMF finish will be the next big job. I haven't decided whether to use decanted rattle can Tamiya paint, Alclad lacquer, Vallejo Acrylics or Mig lacquer metallics yet, as I've had good results from all. I did try out Tamiya rattle can on the wing tanks (straight from the can) and they came out fine: That's all for now, more soon. T. PS. I should add that today I ordered the new 1/48 Airfix Spitfire TR9 ............. of course I did!

I can't remember if i have posted this one before but i have had to rebuild this one as i got damaged i my recent move including re chroming the trailer wheels as they had the plated chrome.

I know time is counting! But there is some progress too. Here is where I'm today Undercarriage alignment was not among the easiest affairs "thanks" to none attachment points in the wells. Front one was better because I made a location point as I created the well. More photoes: I also attached landing lamps, some undercarriage retraction struts and well doors. Still need to make some touch ups with white paint. I also installed exhaust pipes. Looks more or less symmetrical to me from the front view Otherwise not much remains so hoping for final finish on the weekend.

Just finished! But this is the first batch of pix, and I'm willing to correct/add some glitches here and there, before going for the definitive pics latter. Yet, please guys: NO COMMENTS HERE, but you can stll reach me via PM if needed.

Thanks all! A bit more progress was made last weekend: As it was a simple masking exercise I gave the roof another couple of coats to lose the spots I'd got first time around, and the headlight covers also had a bit more blue which seems to have got them matching the bonnet. I also realised the mirrors needed doing, so they got painted silver then blue, and finally everything got a few coats of Mr Hobby Super Clear. This has the ability to be applied quite heavily without disturbing the colour underneath. What I like Tamiya and many other Japanese kits of this era is the ability to clip the floorpan into place and do a mock-up, helped here by the simple rod axles: With the result being: At present I've used the kit supplied wheels and tyres, I'll give the alternatives a try over the weekend. The clearcoat inevitably needs a polish with my usual preference of Micromesh then polishing compounds, but fingers crossed I've got the basis of a good finish. In the meantime I can concentrate on the funky '80s interior.

Good evening fellows😉 I'm forced to create longitudinal railings in order to fasten the body panels correctly : this time I don't have a proper chassis for that operation... Slight bending and hole drilling ( and you can see the painted firewall in the left corner ) Perfect insertion of the rivets Then a gentle squeezing to secure the rivets ( and the firewall is installed ) See you😎

Hello all ! Here is my take on Sgt Peter Durnford's Spitfire Mk.Vb Night Fighter, JU-H (W3848) of 111 Squadron, Debden, December 1941: Kit used for the build was Revell's Mk.Vb, a kit which to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised with. Overall, it's a great little kit with sublime recessed detailing and a very good shape, but which seems to get little RFI exposure. I decided to improve a bit on this detail by fully riveting the fuselage and wings. The only real let down were the upper wing cannon blisters, which were awful. These were removed and replaced with the ones used in the earlier Revell Mk.V kit, where interestingly, they are separate items. Addons Used: Replacement De-Havilland propeller Eduard PE harnesses & belts Quickboost resin exhausts (for Tamiya kit) Rob Taurus vac formed sliding canopy (for Tamiya kit) Pilot from Airfix RAF Personnel set Many scratch built items IFF aerials donated by my wife. There seems to be a lot of debate as to whether these night fighter Spitfires had their upper wing roundels painted over or left on. To be honest, I couldn't garner a consensus, so I hedged my bets by masking and spraying the roundels, then overspraying them so that they were still there, but barely visible. Unfortunately, this effect doesn't seem to have come out too well in the photos, unlike the dust, which seems to appeared from nowhere !!! 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. Decals were a combination of Xtradecals for the coloured 'bits' and Ventura for the lettering. Thanks for reading and taking the time to look. Comments and critiques will be most welcome. Gary

The Academy kit is good, especially with the addition of the CMK resin sets 7152 (cockpit) and 7153 (undercarriage wells). The chosen subject is an A-2a of the 1./KG51, which operated from Giebelstadt in April 1945 and which was then found abandoned on the edge of the Munich-Salzburg motorway a month later. The camouflage scheme cannot be defined with certainty, but the color photos indicate in my opinion a base in RLM 76, covered with RLM 81 green variant, on which spots have been applied in a color very similar to RLM 02. The touch-ups are very evident in very dark green in the fuselage code area, while the moving part of the rudder, cannibalized from another aircraft, is in RLM 81/82. The model was painted completely with a brush as always; the decals are of various origins, while the individual code 'F' and the WNr. are of my own production. Model completed in 2024. The undersides. Hope you like. Thanks for viewing Giampiero Piva

I’ve added a bit more metallic silver to try and make the exhaust area look more realistic.

Well today I had a big slice of Humble Pie. I planned on doing the IPs, assembling the G-6 fuselage and getting both cockpits installed today. You know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. I painted both IPs off white lacquer first. Then enamel Dark Grey Then I painted inside the guages with black enamel. I then wiped away the enamel with a small craft swab dampened in white spirit to reveal the white lacquer. I installed the gun sight and filled the guages with future. This is what it looks like. I was cool with that. Here it is with the second one. I rubbed too hard and rubbed through the white so I had to strip it with MCLT to start all over (as seen here). I put that aside and wanted to move forward so I could share my pearls of Hasegawa 109 wisdom😒 I figured I could at least show my tips on the G-10. I tried fitting IP but the location was a little more ambiguous than I remembered. I credited that to not building the later streamlined cowl 109s in a while and having installed the windscreen first. The latter is highly recommended. I usually have to grind or shave the inside of the windscreen coaming to fit down over the IP. Although I deliberately used a "not used" artifact part (D27) from the 109F releases I struggled to get the cockpit seated correctly. I didn't understand. I've used that part on Gs many times before. Using that part was one of the brilliant tips I was so eager to share. I finally got the cockpit in there and glued it thoroughly. Then I seen it knocked the IP/gun sight crooked. Then I had break all the bonds which made for some rough and ugly parts once I got them out. I glued the IP back in straight and the cockpit sidwalls kept hitting the IP and either knocked it out or made it crooked again. I fought with this thing for an hour. I finally notched the cockpit side walls to clear the IP and glued it all in. With the cockpit in the G-10 I figured I'll finish it up by putting in the PE shoulder belts. I've never liked PE but the lap belts from the Eduard Steel line went surprisingly well. So well I ordered two more Luftwaffe sets and two American sets. Then I wrestled two shoulder belts for way more than an hour. The first end kept popping off when trying to get the other end into position. After an hour of gluing, regluing, scraping old glue off and gluing again I was ready to cancel my order and go back to simple masking tape belts. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. They can't be all that problematic for everyone because lots of people use them. Here's how they look now. Here's the IP/gun sight installed. To keep all these shenanigans in perspective, this is what it looks like through a closed canopy. Ok so I had a rough day with seat belts I don't know what I'm doing with. That's my fault. Then I figured out what went wrong with the IP cockpit fit. If you look at the IP photo you'll see they're part 29. If you look at the instructions you'll see 29 is not used. The instructions actually specify F19. I freaking used the wrong IP. I've built bunches of these and I thought I knew enough to breeze right through them. Shame on me. Ok, so I'm an idiot that can't follow instructions. So take this fwiw. My big tip to KDB and anyone else building these things is use D27 to glue the cockpit tub to the top of the fuselage. On the G-10 & K-4 kits it fits perfectly. On the G-6 kits you'll need to shorten it a little too get the right height. You might ask, why do we use it? It's so you don't have to glue the cockpit tub at the lower front corners (marked in red). Here you can see D27 holding the cockpit tub in place. You can also see the seam behind the oil cooler was left unglued. Why is this all important? Tune in tomorrow and hopefully I can show you. Well that's if it goes as planned 🤣 Be well all, Ron Bonehead

Decals are underway. I need to be super careful with these because if I move too fast I will put a fat thumb or fingerprint into that blue stripe while the Mr Mark Softer is drying. So I just did this side quickly today and I can try the other side tonight. Also it's really important to lay down those stripes first, and then the doors and windows go over the top of it. The instructions mention this but in some tiny fine print. The gloss white is a lovely bright white - the white balance in this quick phone pic is not great, that's all. When it makes it to the gallery I'll take some better-lit photos. Not long now! At least I know I will get one build into the gallery of this GB!

Greetings! It's "Bomb in a bucket" time baby! The new Airfix Jaguar has certainly re-ignited my modelling mojo, and the builds on BM and around the web have inspired me to start a kit that I have only just purchased, rather than letting it languish in the stash until a certain decal set is issued or a 3d printed LOX Pot and Chocks can be sourced 🙂 So, assuming that you've seen the box art, the sprue shots and the instruction sheets, its straight on with the build. This is the first build in my new "Hobby Room" as I like to call it, as my mid-twenties 'child 2' is now living and working 100 miles away and he doesn't need his bedroom any more. (Went down like the proverbial Lead Balloon with him, I'm destined for a very poor standard of care home when it's my time 😞) Yesterday I washed the very large sprues in some detergent, to remove any release agents, force of habit mainly, and then after allowing to dry, shot the wheel well interiors, gear bay doors and cockpit with some Tamiya extra-fine surface primer from a Rattle Can. This really helped the very impressive surface detail 'pop' off the parts: The tooling really is state of the art in my opinion, so well done to Airfix for producing this quality kit of an important cold war Jet. That was all for yesterday, as I'm on a challenging work pattern, but I have resolved to do little each day, and eventually produce a finished model. This morning, it was time for some more primer- not more Tamiya though, some lovely Gunze Mr Color 352, FS 33481 Chromate Yellow Primer, that if it isn't quite correct, is close enough for Jazz as they say: Airbrush and compressor did well. (A close up of the detail in the Nose Bay roof and Main gear bays A couple of things I've noticed so far- I never worked Jags, shared a pad with them in Alaska in the last century, and had left Cosford before some airframes arrived as training resources, but they do remind me of the Tornado set up, in terms of large, quickly opened access panels, under fuselage pylons and mid wing pylons for ample stores carriage, the Radar Warning Receiver mounted fore and aft on the Vertical Fin, the Auxiliary Air Intakes on the intake sides. Large flat upper surface, All very MRCA-esque, and I suppose unsurprising given the aircraft's BAC lineage. Secondly, my camera is not picking up these colours anything like what I'm seeing- I have included a picture of a sprue held up to the sunlight streaming through my window that is a closer representative of what the parts actually look like to my eye! So that's all for now, I have some detail painting to do on these interior bays, and a choice to make regrading which colour scheme I'm going to use. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Troffa

Hi all, here is my last diorama, two italian tankettes L3/33 and L3/35 used by the italian army after the armistice, by the german side. Historical pictures courtesy Stefano di Giusto Panzer in OZAK. Models, shed, accessories and some figures all from the Model Victoria range. Fell free to add your comments! Cheers! Alessandro

Good day to all. This is my next model. I made the rivet, antennas and Pitot tube were made from medical needles and wire. A photoetched set from Eduard was added.

As I suspected, painting this is a pain. The model is so large that it is difficult to move it when working with an airbrush. But I'm slowly moving forward. Taking pictures of this is not easy either, so I apologize for the not-so-great photos. It took me a few hours to prime it, which is relatively easy. I dread to think how long it would take to get the color on. Thanks for looking. Wiesiek.

With one GB subject all but finished and the other in the pain shop, thought I'd do a few little jobs on Brisol. Period photos backed up by ex-crew state that the wooden deck moulded on the model should only run from the second breakwater to the aft funnels, so with that little nugget the gundeck area between the breakwaters needs to be filled and sanded as this was a metal deck. Also. I thought that the life raft platforms on both sides were overly thick, so they have been removed, areas repaired and new, thinner options will be fitted later. And while the filler was drying, I thought I'd quickly do a base. My way for waterline models is to use the model as a template and draw round the base onto some rough watercolour paper and cut out the hole . Fix the paper to a 6mm MDF base that has been cut to size, then paint and stuff.

Ok then, off we go! I've never build the Academy model before. But I've started a few from Hasegawa, so I'm going to use my own cuisine, instead of following the instruction sheet, with a good fit overall as the target. For the P-38, everything start from the booms! We'll see that cockpit later. Both booms get a test fit, then are glued, without no problems, but some care is needed when you put the air intakes up front in place. Then I put the undercart bay in its place inside the boom. Don't try with the right one in the left boom... And the boom goes against the lower part of the wing, taking great care not to have the slightest gap between the two.

First step of the fin fix complete: From a decent long distance it looks ok... And the rest of the main assembly was done as well. Time to shift over to the sand, fill and primer stage of this build!

Blacque Jacque: the Revell Premium kits used to retail for about twice the price of regular Revell car kits. The kits are either full Fujimi reboxes (with Revell decals), Fujimi reboxes with Revell parts (e.g. Gemballa Avalanche, which is a Fujimi 911 kit with Revell Gemballa parts) or full Revell productions (BWW 750iL, BMW 850i and derivatives, Mercedes 560SEC) . All Premium kits came with fully detailed engine bay, cabin (and trunk). Later Revell created some Premium versions of regular car kits by adding some cast metal parts (7002 BMW 507 cabriolet with metal wheels, 7003 BMW Z1 with metal engine parts). AlanR: tyres produced by Revell Germany (as the 750i kits were) are usually made of softened polystyrene instead of vinyl. This difference is relevant because the plasticisers in these tyres will melt the wheels over time. To counter this I usually apply either some Bare Metal Foil or a thick coat of gloss varnish (old Humbrol 35 is great for that) to the areas of the wheels that touch the tyres, sofar so good... HTH, -- Eric.

This is precisely what I wanted to do... But, his brain was in fistfight mode.... Well, By luck, when i came for him he already was agressing the guy or gal that was behind my car in the queue... And the other drivers behind saw the scene and recorded it... Two of them get to the police station and gave all the necessary clues.... He's caught... I want to thank you all for the really kind words and wishes... Well, some news now, I went to the surgeon today... And I saw the pics from the scanner.... Just Wow.... The surgeon didn't believe me that it was just one punch... But it was.... Bad new first, I may not recover the sensitivity or feeling in the left part of my face since the nerves are severed... And no, I'll not change my alias for "double face".... Sarcasm is my best defence.... Good new, Surgery will take place on the 22nd of May... 3 scars, 3 metal plates and a net under the orbit to fix it.... Now, not only will I ring in the airport control but I have to avoid strong magnetic fields..... More and more a T-800..... Well I prefer joking about myself and my condition, but believe me, in the court, there will be no bantering.... A note for @Grey Beema, did you caution this paint scheme ?? Well Gents, once again, I warmly thank you for the support, it is really helping me and wifey.... By the way, Nokya seem to grow better, we both know that she's not healed but... Sincerely. CC

And here was me thinking it was taking two oil companies to keep up with the engine oil consumption, what with this being around the British Leyland era!

Hello, moving along with the project and here is some update. As I dryfitted the fuselage parts I realised that the area on the bottom inside the exhaust pipes just does not look right. On the model it is just a hollow space with imitation of exhaust pipes. In reality you have an engine and multitude of pipes there. (Images below are for discussion purposes only) So looks like another area for improvement. I did not try to reproduce the whole engine but decided I would like to at least reduce the opening depth by inserting a piece of black painted plastic and also recreate some of the most prominent pieces seen from outside - a square box and red piping. Pipes are well seen on this photo. So here are those small improvements before painting and after The last photo is with fuselage halves glued together. I figured the area might be of green zinc chromate but a lot of photoes including the one of Major Buang's Cessna from NAS Pensacola museum show something like unpainted aluminium or silver dope. I know this might be museum repaintings but I would probably leave the area in dull aluminium. The only thing I still do not like is the look of exhaust pipes. I tried to drill little recesses to represent pipe openings but think better cut these away and add brass tubes later.

I started a WIP on this a while back but have to admit that it progressed a bit quicker than I'd expected and I stopped taking photos after I realized I'd got too far ahead for it to be worthwhile. So here is is, finished. It's based on the Airfix 1/48 Sabre 4 kit, but with the following changes: 1. Wing pylons repositioned inboard to correct location (the kit has them on the 'outboard' station of a dual-store wing) 2. Drop tanks replaced with Clear Prop! F-86A versions 3. Windshield sanded flush and polished to remove excessively narrow centre pane; windshield masked with Eduard "Hasegawa" set to establish correct profile 4. Cockpit replaced with CMK resin 5. Speed brakes and bays replaced with CMK resin 6. Ammunition bay and dropped step from CMK resin 7. Intake re-profiled to remove 'pointed' profile of the Airfix part 8. Canopy replaced by Clear Prop! F-86A item (the Airfix canopy is too bulbous) 9. Landing gear from Hasegawa (nose) and Academy (main) 10. Decals are a mix of High Planes 'RAF Sabre' set D4805 (modified for different aircraft s/n) and Airfix kit stencils. 11. Paint is AK Real Color for the three 'standard' RAF camouflage colours but with the PRU blue made more blue with some extra blue. Speed brake wells, interiors and landing gear bays are AK Interior Green.

Thanks Chris, Most kind. I'm more curious about what's going on in my head. I truly belong on the Golgafrinchan 'B' Ark. Thanks for the help. With a little masking and a little time and checking some source pics. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair

Hello everyone, As announced in my last post on the Tiger 1, I was going to pause it to start a project that has been the subject of much discussion in recent years, an M1 Abrams in the version delivered to the Ukrainians following the Russian invasion in early 2022. As you've undoubtedly all seen, tanks are now threatened by a weapon rarely used in “official” conflicts: kamikaze drones (already used by armed factions in the Middle East), and Abrams and other vehicles, no matter which side they were on, they found themselves unprepared for this new type of threat, and so began to cover themselves with ERA-type reactive armor and anti-drone mesh dubbed “cope cage”, which can also be seen on the Israeli Merkava engaged in Gaza. Today, there's no shortage of images of Abrams and Leopard 2s covered in ERA and cope cage, especially on Reddit, and I'm planning to build several versions, given the variety of DIY techniques. Here's an excellent interview with a tanker from the 47th “Magoura” mechanized brigade, who hired Abrams and Bradleys. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puL0L4j2RHo The vehicle I'm going to represent is an SA version of the M1a1, which is an export variant without uranium armor, and for the Ukraine, with Kontakt 1 armor of Russian origin and M19 ARAT 1 brick on the flanks. The idea came to me after seeing a video broadcast by the 47 brigade of an Abrams in action in the Pokrovsk region in August 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTGP51c4CY8 And here is the vehicle that will be represented with a small diorama In addition to the ERA on the body and turret, note the addition of what I assume to be ARAT 1 on the roof and turret sides, to be confirmed... To do this, I'm going to base myself on the rye field model kit which has just released the Ukrainian version of the Abrams with ARAT 1 on the sides. To embellish the model a little, I'm investing in a set of ERA bricks, as the version of the tank shown on the box dates back to the first versions of the Abrams in the conflict, so with relatively few ERAs. The unmistakable friul tracks will also be part of the set and of the Eduard photo etch, for the simple reason that the Abrams in Ukraine all have a kind of cover on the rear sprocket, which is absent from the kit. Assembly starts with the suspension, which remains quite fragile, and a lot of parts to clean up, with a lot of misplaced molding lines. Note the mine-proof armour on the front belly. The wheels are prepared fairly quickly, with the rubber strip cut with a cutter to show how it's used, and the tensioning wheel has been given its cut-out cover. A difficult moment, gluing the upper part to the body, as the latter is slightly twisted (this was already the case on an Abrams of the same brand that I assembled 3 years ago), so I had to use a lot of Cyano and brute force to assemble everything just about properly (but there will be a lot of touching up to do). The turret and gun are quickly assembled without too much trouble, although the assembly is sometimes a little rough. And a final photo of the model's current state Thats'a ll for today, Have a nice day and best regards Vincent

Quick sortie into another great Airfix kit, they really are coming thick and fast at the moment. Mojo issues so, this was a bit of a tonic and not a full build history, just a few interior shots and the finished article. Thanks for looking Nick

Complete new kit would be needed I think, and not the easiest of shapes to get correct.

I found this on a Italian web page.It says that until the RLM introduced regulations on the colours which had to be used on the mediterranean Luftwaffe aircraft where left in original paint scheme or were overpainted with Italian colours.The only common thing are the white theatre identification marking.Later the RLM ordered that aircraft had to be painted in the two tones of RLM 79 Sandgelb and RLM 80 Olivgrün above with the lower part being painted in RLM 78 Hellblau.New aircraft were delivered in these colours while aircraft on place had to be overpainted but RLM 80 was not used on all aircraft and the use of it did not follow a rule. Saluti Giampiero "L’intervento tedesco nel Mediterraneo ed in Nord Africa colse impreparata la Luftwaffe, completamente priva di uno schema mimetico per questo nuovo fronte. Inizialmente gli aerei vennero inviati con la mimetica del teatro europeo ed alcuni di essi non ricevettero mai una mimetica desertica, pur operando in tale settore, come ad esempio gli Junkers 87. Nell’attesa che il ministero imponesse nuove disposizioni sulla mimetica da adottare, il personale della Luftwaffe verniciò gli aerei, impegnati su tale fronte, con i colori mimetici usati dagli alleati italiani. Questo portò, chiaramente, ad una eterogeneità di schemi mimetici, accomunate solo dalla fascia in fusoliera e dai terminali alari (inferiori e/o superiori) in RLM Weiss 21, aventi lo scopo di consentire una facile individuazione degli aerei dell’asse nei cieli del Mediterraneo. La nuova triade cromatica della Luftwaffe : - RLM Sand Gelb 79 e RLM OlivGrun 80 per le superfici superiori; - RLM Hellblau 78 per le superfici inferiori; venne applicata in fabbrica sugli aerei di nuova produzione, in particolare Me 109 F e G ed alcuni ME 110, e sul campo per convertire gli schemi mimetici degli aerei operativi. Il SandGelb RLM 79 copriva tutta la superficie superiore del velivolo e la separazione tra il colore superiore e quello inferiore era di solito posta a livello del bordo dell'abitacolo, anche se questa non era la regola soprattutto se il colore era applicato sul campo. L’OlivGrun RLM 80 non era applicato su tutti i velivoli alcuni ne erano sprovvisti. Inoltre l’applicazione di tale tonalità non seguiva una logica pragmatica, infatti, su alcuni aerei era presente con delle macchie rade o fitte, su altri invece con piccole virgole o con Wave Mirror (Figura n. 10)."