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  1. Good afternoon all, Bit of a mammoth project for me. It's taken five months and one week of (almost) daily modelling, and thus well in excess of 200 hours. It could (and maybe should) have consumed so many more. The basic kit is from Academy and the decals are a scheme provided by AOA Decals that represents a CH-53E from HMM-264 in 2006. The sheet covers multiple types and thus some of the markings are required from the kit sheet, and some (like the national insignia on the horizontal tail surface) need to be painted. Additions are numerous: Added UHF antenna above and below fuselage Scratchbuilt GPS antenna on fuselage spine Modified antenna mount on starboard side of spine Peanut light added to tail tip Eduard and Archer resin rivets all over (of several pitches) Resin wheels (Armory - nice but don't fit) Resin exhausts (ResKit - nice) Resin air intakes (ResKit - awful) Resin tail rotor (ResKit - nice) Resin main rotor hub (ResKit - mediocre (at best)) Blades dropped Blades magnetised (i.e. removable) Rotor blade hub magnetised Resin refuelling probe (ResKit - nice) Refuelling probe magnetised Cables for NVG sensor arm Cables for engine intakes Cable for refuelling probe Scratchbuilt search lights lower front fuselage Exhaust shroud made from foil Scratchbuilt engine intake struts Scratchbuilt Lifting eyes Scratchbuilt Maintenance struts x2 Eduard brass (inside and out) Pitots replaced with brass tube Rotor hub wired ANYZ connectors dotted all over the place AOA decals NVG sensor removed Chaff buckets modified to be empty There's a lot wrong with it, but I won't list that here. On to the photos... Thanks for looking and comments welcome. Jon
    87 points
  2. Hello, There are already plenty of Mustangs here so one more shouldn’t be a problem I guess 😊. A slightly unusual pony, not a glamorous fighter but a humble utility animal. F-6C - a reconnaissance version of venerable P-51C. Additionally in French colours (best regards to all French friends 🙂). A very cute Arma Hobby kit, built almost entirely out of box. Except of exhausts (Eduard’s). And wheels (Eduard’s). And I used some additional Eduard’s PE parts in the cockpit. So, not so OOB after all 😁. The construction was fun, Arma Hobby kits are well engineered and manufactured. I decided not to fill wing panel lines (I’m not very orthodox about it) but instead I went for slightly unrealistic concept of painting gun bays covers with a different shade than the rest of wings 😊. The painting is based on Mr Color paints (C08, a few Super Metallics) and Alclad (Magnesium) for exhaust cover panel. Enjoy and comment! Marcin
    69 points
  3. As they say "another one bites the dust" Very nice model to work with, pilot form White Stork Miniatures. WIP Cheers Mick
    63 points
  4. North American Harvard Mk.IIa, No. 62 Air School (Central Flying School), Bloemspruit, South Africa 1944/45. I used Xtradecal decals to finish the model and also Reskit resin wheels as they look better than the kit offering. I enjoyed the build a lot and I can recommend the kit to anybody but a perfect beginner.
    61 points
  5. Another Desert Storm warrior in my collection. Hasegawa kit, Aires avionic bays and exhaust nozzles, Eduard armament, Brengun wheels, Quickboost seats and Flying Leathernecks decals. Happy modelling!
    58 points
  6. Italeri kit with 'no additives' unless you count the outstanding Sky decals. Paints are Mr Color lacquers and Tamiya acrylics all mixed until 'they look right' - no exact formulas here. I temporarily tack-glued the ventral gondola section into place for the painting sessions, then removed it so I could add the beam position Lewis gun. It was a calculated risk but seems to have worked-out for me. As for the kit - IMO, one of Italeri's best. The fit is generally very good, the internal details, whilst basic, do come alive with some careful painting and dry-brushing. I wouldn't recommend opening the large dorsal hatch aft of the 'hump' unless you're willing to go all-in with the etch & resin interior sets. The open side door and especially the built-in air-stairs are a bit clunky and maybe one day I'll replace that with some etch (yeah right). Not my best work by a long shot, but looks very cool in my cabinet. Please go-ahead and make any comments or ask any questions. Cheers from NZ. Ian.
    54 points
  7. Here is a little built dating back a few years, the kit used was the Trumpeter one, a very shameless copy of the monogram kit but with engraved panel details, it even carried over the same mistakes and shape issues found in the monogram kit, a very straightforward build overall, paints used were all tamiya custom mixed to try to match the typical SEA camo colors, the kit has a few modificatios, I scratch built the parachute and seatbelts and adapted a resin cockpit designed for the monogram kit, decals come from several sources, some from the encore kit, some from Aztec and some others from superscale, hope you guys like it.
    54 points
  8. THE FINISHED MODEL WW2 training was dangerous but it's not commonly modelled or discussed. This is RCAF Ventura Mk.I, serial AE728 after it suffered a crash while landing at the end of a night flying training exercise. Its brakes failed and it swung off the runway, collapsing its starboard landing gear. Pilot Sgt. Baker could have escaped from the cockpit hatch, and my great uncle, P/O Reg Cook (Wireless Air Gunner) from the side door. THE BACK STORY [Photo of Reg Cook J11618. Note his Wireless Air Gunner half wing. Family photo.] William Reginald "Reg" Neil Cook was the son of a coal deliveryman. Born Jan 31, 1915 in the tiny southwestern town of Clinton, ON Canada, he loved music and wanted to "be somebody." Reg went to teachers' college and taught in the remote town of Dryden, ON. RCAF TRAINING [First class training on the Ventura. Reg is in the very middle. Courtesy Christian Larsen] In 1941, after a year in the army ambulance corps, he switched to the RCAF, perhaps inspired by movies and posters. After wireless training in Winnipeg, and gunnery training in Mossbank, he received his commission to Pilot Officer (J11618) and was assigned to the first training course for the Ventura daylight bomber at 34 OTU in Pennfield. They trained as operational crews comprising pilot, navigator, and wireless/air gunners. In these early days, Pennfield had few Venturas ready to go. Even when they had planes, they had few flying days because of the East Coast weather. The daily diary for July showed they only got a quarter to a half of their expected hours of flying. When the skies were clear, men had to fly as much as possible, sometimes many times a day. When one crew landed, another might take the plane up again. THE CRASH In late August, there were many days of misty weather. The men were grounded and watched movies on base. They may have been thinking about the disastrous raid on Dieppe only days before when over 900 Canadians were killed. On the 24th, the weather cleared. Reg went up in Ventura AE879 for night flying as wireless air gunner. When they landed at 125am their tail wheel collapsed, causing serious damage to the plane. The very next day, Reg went up again, this time with student pilot Sgt. Albert Baker (GB1435654). Only a month before, Baker had tipped a Ventura onto its nose during landing. Baker flew four times on the 25th. During the last two, he and Reg flew together to practise night flying, first with dual controls and a staff pilot on AE931, and then solo on AE728. [AE728 after its training crash. Photo courtesy of Andy Thomas] AE728, construction number CN 37-4071 was a Mk. I Lockheed Ventura. Destined for overseas use, it was diverted to the RCAF for training. It lacked guns, turret or astrodome. The RCAF version of the plane had nose windows and a clear nose dome. [Crash report for AE728. Courtesy of Christian Larsen.] On the last flight, Baker and Reg spent an hour night flying AE728. At 245am they came back for a landing. The brakes failed and they swung onto rough ground. The starboard landing gear collapsed and the prop and pitot tube were damaged. The tarp over the cockpit may indicate the escape hatch was used. The plane was sent for repairs but not used in training again. THE KIT [The partially-assembled & painted kit as I received it] In March, 2023 I attended the HeritageCon model show in Hamilton, ON for the first time. I had a 1/48 Ventura kit that I was afraid to touch. I was hoping to find cheap kits to learn on. My wife found a partially built and painted 1/72 Academy/Minicraft Ventura for sale that I got for $5. THE BREAKDOWN [The kit after dis-assembly and stripping... I went on to disassemble the wings as well, damaging their trailing edges] I broke the model down using time in the freezer, soaking in isopropyl alcohol, bleach, a qtip with acetone, and a little force. After much work, I had a stripped and somewhat damaged bunch of parts. KEY POINTS OF THE BUILD - cut the nose windows into the front and glazed with UV resin - cut off the nose, vacuformed a new one using a 3d-mould, and added gun port covers with painted vinyl - rounded engine nacelles under cooling vanes and cut vanes to make more prominent - added other covers on the bottom, noticeable in photos - covered wheel hubs - bent props on the collapsed side - added curtains to this side of the radio room as well - vacformed a new canopy that featured bubbles in the pilot side and co-pilot roof to allow for better visibility - cut escape hatch out of top - converted cockpi to RAF style with a single seat, consoles and levers, and a side-mounted steering control - added curtains to radio room window - replaced df loop (fragile wire) - scratchbuilt the cool "bat wing" Fowler flaps Venturas had - cut out door, added dinghy bulge, and hinges to attach it in the open position. I ensured there were stringers and formers on the inside wall - covered astrodome and gun turret holes - collapsed / damaged landing gear - bent the pitot tube - added distributors to the engines - cut and deflected the twin rudders - cut and lowered the elevators - made custom vinyl masks and painted the squadron code (FY*F), serial number (AE728), and national markings - cut slots in leading edges of wings - on the nose. "painted over" the factory constructor number with the green rectangle (CN was 4071) FULL CIRCLE One year later, I am returning to HeritageCon with my little $5 Ventura utterly transformed. I entered the competition, not expecting to win anything, but to force myself to complete the build and participate as a modeller rather than just a buyer and observer. This $5 kit was meant to be a learning experience to prepare me for the 1/48 Revell kit... so I took risks, messed up, fixed things, and spent 9 months getting it done. I hope to learn from my errors for my next projects. In the future, I hope to make other planes Reg would've flown in during his wireless training (Norseman, Tiger Moth) and gunnery training (Fairey Battle).
    53 points
  9. This was a "something to do while I waited for paint/glue to dry on another project" model. I changed it to the trainer version by redoing the rear cockpit and omitting the guns. The paint scheme came from a book I have. Surprisingly, given it's age, it went together pretty well with even the two wings going together pretty easily. Decals were shot so these are from the spares box.
    53 points
  10. This one has occupied me since Christmas. It's not an easy kit to build, with quite a few significant pooh traps, not least the 5 part fuselage. As I often find with big kits, I was getting a little tired of it by the end. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with the results and now struggling to find a place to display it! The kit comes from BPK (£99.99 via Jadlam) and the decals from Air Graphics (£21.99 via Hannants). Sadly, the kit does not have an opening weapons bay, and the nice looking Air Graphics resin one was out of stock by the time I looked. Given the problems I had fitting the existing weapons bay door covers, I suspect that fitting the resin might have been challenging. Equally sadly, the RAF have not procured wing pylons or anything to hang on them, so my wings are bare, although I am looking at how I can put together a set of SPEAR 3 Missiles to hang from the wings in the future. Brush painted as usual with Humbrol enamels (I used 127 Ghost Grey, which is a little too blue for Boeing Grey (gray?), but matches my own photos quite well) with a darker grey wash in the panel lines. I added two cockpit crew and one side observer, just to give the kit a bit of life! Like with the E-3D kit I did a few years ago, I have managed to leave the wing and centre section loose (at the cost of a slightly gappy join) which will help with storage and transport. Photographing kits of this size always poses me a problem, so I am afraid I have had to photoshop some extraneous detail (my conservatory, house and cherry tree) out of some of the pictures.
    51 points
  11. Following my comment on @John Masters's thread, I realised that I had not shared that build that I completed at the end of 2020. If my memory is any good, this aircraft is an F.6 that received the rear part of an FGA.9 with the parachute housing and not an FGA.9 as Revell state on the box. Final pictures: The build: Moulding: This picture is typical of what was in my box: Flash, heavy sink marks and soft surface details caused by the moulding issues. Nothing major but frustrating nonetheless when it comes to a kit that is not supposed to be short run... Having said that, a fired of mine who had acquired several boxes right after the kit was released did not have the same issues. Cockpit: The cockpit tub is very nice OOB and the seat was improved using my usual process (lead wire, Tamiya masking tape strips, plasticard, aluminium foil, Magic Sculp and stretched sprue): The cockpit sides were detailed using plasticard and a punch-and-die: The backplate was the area that needed more improvements: I also added a collimator before gluing the windshield: Once painted, it looks really nice. I did not use the decals but painted everything by hand using a sharpened toothpick and Vallejo acrylics: Air inlets: It is advisable to add a shim of plasticard where the wings meet the fuselage around the air inlets. Otherwise you will be left wth a nasty gap at the top and bottom junctions: The air inlet cone is missing and the resulting empty space is quite noticeable. I made some off 0,2mm plasticard sheet: Painted white at the front and going black at the back to give an impression of depth: Parachute housing: It had a very nasty sink mark and the panel lines had nearly disappeared. It took quite a bit of time and effort to bring it back to a decent condition: I had to rescribe and add missing rivets to quite a few hatches / covers, mostly on the wings. Overall fit: In spite of the moudling issues, the overall fit was good and little filler was needed: Painting and weathering: The model was painted using Mr Hobby Aqueous over an Ammo One Shot black primer: Grey: I sprayed a highly thinned H331 DSG in a mottling fashion, building up slowly the coverage and letting the black show through around the panel lines. Then, I made some highlights using H337, insisiting on raised details and the centre of the panels. I finished with some post-shading using Panzegrau. Green: I used H73 DG follosing the same process and made highlights by adding H313 sand to the dark green. I toned down the effect with several light mists of H73. Red: I primed the area in white, then applied a coat of yellow and finally the red base coat (H13). I applied some shadows using a highly thinned dark brown. I then applied the decals, though most roundels , the code and fin flash were painted using masks cut with my Silohouette: I like to get the landing gear and weapons out of the way as quickly as possible, as I consider them as a chore: Then, I applied the washes: I used True Earth Neutral brown on the underside, Black on the camouflage and Dark Brown on the red. The weathering was done using mostly felt tip pens and aluminium and dust weathering pencils: Finally I applied a light coat of VMS matt varnish. In hindsight, I probably should have been more restrained on the weathering. But at the time, I wanted to give it a worn out look. On some pictures, they are in a worse condition than shown here with large patches of white showing underneath the red on the wings, for instance.
    50 points
  12. OK BritModders, this is my Monogram Invader, built as a "generic" Korean warrior. This was build mostly OOB, with a few small alterations. I modified the upper turret, the underwing gun pods, and the tail light. I also added some TD resin wheels and EZ line aerials. Most of the major markings were painted on, with some markings taken from the kit's original sheet and some found in the spares box. This was painted with MM enamels, Testors little square bottles, and AK Real Color lacquers. The kit was weathered using some oils, Micron pigment pens, and Flory washes. Of course, comments, questions, and criticisms are welcome. I appreciate you stopping by. Thanks for looking! Cheers! -O
    49 points
  13. Hi all!! My last job finished today. Very good model but some little things not so cool to glue/ put in correct position (pitot, antennas, hydraulics...). I know, I´m a little limited with small parts.... 🙂 Decals are RV Decals with some modifications in the code numbers. Paints are Gunze (Acrilic) and MRP varnish. Wash with oil paints and some "pastel chalk" was utilized. I hope that you like. It was not my best job, but It was the best I could do. Especial thanks for Pierre Baudru and Rogério Marczak. Best wishes for all. Claudio
    47 points
  14. Designed in 1935, the FW58 'Weihe' honorably performed the role of trainer, liaison, casualty transport aircraft War (earning it the nickname 'Leukoplast-Bomber') during the, but a small fraction of aircraft were also employed in the end of 1942 and the following year as an night assault/harassment aircraft on the Eastern Front. The SH kit is good, it also includes resin parts and a set of photoetched parts, but it's still a short run, so the modifications, big and small, have been numerous, especially in the cockpit and in the area of both the engines and of the landing gear wells. The aircraft chosen is a FW58 C belonging to the 1./Störkampfgruppe Luftwaffenkommando 'Ost', which operated in the Orel area in February/March 1943. The rather simple camouflage was obtained with Humbrol Enamels applied exclusively with a brush; the decals are from OWL sheet D72009. The underside. Hope you like it. Thanks for your interest Giampiero Piva
    46 points
  15. Hi all, I recently noticed that the paintwork on my Airfix Sea Vixen from a few years ago was starting to craze and fade somewhat. As I have fond memories of building the kit and it’s not exactly easy to get hold of a replacement I decided to give it a refresh. MRP provided the paints, the EDSG being a much better match, and the decals came from a variety of sources. The stencils mainly came from print scale, probably the most traumatic three day decalling odyssey I ever hope to endure! Thin and extremely “grippy”! I used VMS satin varnish for the final finish which I have to say is absolutely lovely stuff - very very smooth! In the process of gluing the last few bits back on I managed to crack the windscreen, fortunately I too cracked and bought another kit along with the FAW.1 conversion from Alleycat which includes a new windscreen. The spare kit one will eventually find its way onto this model. Hope you like the model ! I think she needs a Phantom and a Buccaneer for company…. First the original: And now the 2024 refresh:
    39 points
  16. A bit of a personal one this. A nice if fiddly in places kit from Airfix dressed up as the Chippie I got a couple of flights in during a Summer Camp at Leeming, many, many years ago. Primed with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. Painted with. Tamiya Nato Black, Rubber Black, Flat Off-White mix with Buff, Clear Green, Clear Red, Lacquer Semi-Gloss Black and Lacquer Italian Red. Colourcoats Light aircraft Grey Xtreme Metals Aluminium. Wheels washed with Citadel Nuln Oil Finished with AK 3rd Gen Matt Varvish which gives a nice satin finish. Thanks for looking, Cheers, Alistair
    39 points
  17. Greetings everyone, After a brief hiatus, I'm back with the new Airfix Swordfish Mk.1. It's an excellent kit and I thoroughly enjoyed building it, although rigging a 1:72 scale model took some time. Being away from my main workbench presented additional challenges as the tools and materials available here are limited. I used Tamiya and Mr. Color silver paints for the aircraft. Despite the kit providing decal options for the black markings, I chose to mask and paint them for a more natural finish. While researching Fairey Swordfish markings, I came across several options, but I opted for No. 824 NAS 945 K8386, based on HMS Eagle out of Hong Kong, for my paint scheme. I considered weathering the aircraft, but ultimately decided to keep it clean. One criticism I have about the kit is that the struts were quite soft, making it difficult to mount the wings together. Even slight pressure would cause the struts to break, and repairing them proved to be a bit challenging. However, the overall fit of the kit was great. Without further delay, here is my rendition. Thank you for watching, cheers. PS pictures were shot using an iPhone.
    39 points
  18. Here is the mighty Big Bertha. One of the biggest guns that saw action during WW1. Any comments and or critique is more then welcome. Thanks for stopping by!
    38 points
  19. Here is my 1/32nd-scale cardmodel build of Flight 2-19-35, a Forrest Petersen mission in 66671 on 28 September 1961. The flight was intended to gather heat transfer and thermostructural data. It involved two types of temperature-sensitive paint — a gray paint on the left wing, tailplane, ventral stub and skid, and a green paint on the rear of the left side tunnel and right ventral speed brake, as well a rectangular patch on each side tunnel. There was an irregularly painted white patch on the right tailplane, and the lower bug eye camera housings appeared white as well. Petersen hit Mach 5.3 and an altitude of 101,800 feet. Petersen was the only X-15 pilot to hit his fastest speed and highest altitude on the same flight. He went on to command the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. The model is a conversion/repaint of the Ken West X-15A-2. I used 170gsm glossy stock, and the build involved shortening the fuselage and side tunnels, as well as numerous other modifications, scratchbuilt parts and improvements. While a friend digitally repainted some parts, I used Tamiya spray paints to replicate the gray and green thermal paints. Both sides of 66671’s rudder showed heavy weathering even before the flight. The right side was particularly weathered; it carried the remnants of a stripe of gray thermal paint tested on an earlier flight. The stripe obscured the top portion of the serial number, and when technicians tried cleaning it off, it just made a bigger mess. The still-visible portions of the serial were scorched as well. Weathering/scorching was done with markers of various colors. In looking at photos from the flight, there is a curiosity on the left side of the tailcone. There are rows of different colored dots, painted somewhat haphazardly. Some appear scorched. Dennis Jenkins, co-author of “Hypersonic: The Story of the North American X-15,” told me they were “tell alls,” dots of thermal paint that change color depending on how hot they get. He said they were cheaper than using thermocouples.
    38 points
  20. Good evening ladies and gentlemen! I present to your attention my next model from the “What if?” series.
    36 points
  21. Hello everyone, Here is a model I built as part of the WWII twins group build currently ongoing. It’s the Revell kit of Beaufighter TF.X finished in the markings of 144 Squadron during the disastrous raid on Norway known as “Black Friday” on the 9th Feb 1945. This aircraft was badly damaged during the raid and belly landed back at Dallachy, never to fly again. More information and the build thread can be found here: In short, the Revell kit is a bit of a chore. Over-engineered and rather flimsy until final assembly I would not describe it as a pleasant build! It does however look much more Beau-like than the chunky Tamiya offering. The latter is a much more enjoyable kit to build however! The undercarriage on the Revell kit alone is enough to bring on nightmares…I used Eduard etch and Aerocraft’s 3D printed cowlings as part of the build, the latter are absolutely stunning in detail and fit! Aviaeology decals went down over MRP paints and were sealed in using VMS satin and then MiG flat varnish. Hope you like the finished result! Chris
    36 points
  22. Another kit dragged out to kill time while a big project dried/set. What a nice little kit. With care, it went together easily and makes a nice display model. the decals were yellowed so the only ones I used were the checks. The rest are from the spares pile.
    32 points
  23. Hello all...new here! Following on from this intro... https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235138184-another-middle-aged-bloke-coming-back-to-the-hobby/ ...here's a Spit that I've just built with my 8 year old lad, the first model I've built for about 30 years, the first one he's ever built, and the first one I've ever bothered with filler/airbrush etc. He built it (with a bit of help on tricky bits), I painted it. I know there's a lot wrong with it (down to my painting mainly!) but we are really pleased with how it's come out. The kits have got a lot better in the many years I've been away! Lots of lessons learned, and I know it's not a patch on some of the incredible builds I've seen on here, but we really enjoyed the build, such a good thing to do together learning skills, patience, dexterity, physics, engineering and history, and not a screen in sight! He's now onto a P-47 on his own, and I'm doing a Gannet. Cheers!
    32 points
  24. Here are the pictures of my completed build of this, my second Phantom.....( Only 25 more in the stash left.......😅) Really enjoyed building this one, went together really nicely. My first attempt at a camouflage pattern, pretty happy with it. It was going to have open canopies and I did get a detailing kit for it, but managed to cut off the hinge pins by mistake so had to revert to closed cockpit....every build has some hard lessons to learn! Paint was my usual acrylic AK 3rd gen, and I used some photo etch seat details, and I made some oxygen hoses from coiled .2mm wire but apart from that its much out of the box. As thse birds got pretty battered and dirty, I went with quite heavy weathering and tried some scratching effects using a silver pencil....Hope you enjoy! Thanks for looking!
    32 points
  25. Hello everyone I'd like to present my latest model. P-51 D-5 Eduard /82101/ + Montex mask. s/n 44-13859, flown by Lt. Walter Mullins, 55th FS, 20th FG enjoy the photos.
    32 points
  26. This is one of Tamiya's finest kits in my opinion, nary a problem during the build.Looking for something different to do to a corsair, I stumbled upon the "colourized" photo shown. I can't vouch for the accuracy but it started my search and I found a whack of photos of Corsairs of various models all over the web. This is not a model of one particular aircraft but several that had little peculiarities. The black and white photo was my muse to start as it shows some different shades of YZC. To do these differences I added Grey to Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green. The Intermediate Blue was actually sprayed twice as I didn't like the first mix. The second attempt was Tamiya XF-18 Medium Blue and XF-2 Flat White, 3:1. Semi-Gloss Sea Blue was a Tamiya mix of XF-17 Sea Blue, XF-8 Flat Blue and XF-53 Neutral Grey 6:6:1. This was then given a Satin coat. The Non-Specular Sea Blue was XF-17 Sea Blue. To continue with the Frankenstein theme I found a photo of a long line of Corsairs, all having the flaps painted in YZC save one. The oddity was that the last aircraft had the inner flaps painted Semi-Gloss Sea Blue. Not sure why this was, maybe it was the end of the shift on a Friday or a hung-over Monday thing. I figured that maybe if they made that mistake once they could have installed an oddball set. Some photos showed the outer gear doors painted white so I went with it. Tamiya has you shave off the forward antenna mast. In the Detail & Scale book it says antennas varied depending on the radio equipment used. I found four and quit looking. The wire was Uschi Van Der Rosten super fine rigging thread. Only two decals were used. I wasn't going to do any weathering, this being a new aircraft and all but if you look closely at the black and white photo you can see dirty panel lines around the wing area. To acheive this I mixed Tamiya Panel Liner Brown and Light grey to get a pale Brown. A highly recommended kit and I hope you like this
    31 points
  27. Howdy, partners! I’ve put aside other jobs on the Stirling for the time being as I was really keen to get the new canopy to fit. I hate dealing with transparencies and cockpits in general so felt it would be good, psychologically, to get this part done, and then hopefully it’ll just be a drop fit towards the end of the build. As you saw in the previous post, the kit canopy was too big and incorrectly shaped. When I cut the fuselage ages ago, I used the kit transparency as a guide, not realising at the time how ‘out’ it was. As a result, I’ve had to build up the fuselage around the cockpit to match the new canopy - plastic card and Milliput white has done the job without issue, and it now drops in perfectly! A reminder of what I had in the kit: And after a few hours tinkering: That’ll do very nicely… Until next time, Tom
    30 points
  28. The initial I-15 biplane was not popular with leadership of the VVS. The I-15bis replaced the earlier model's gulled upper wing with a standard cabane center-section, and replaced the earlier model's Townsend ring with a full cowling similar to that of its monoplane stablemate, the I-16. The resulting machine was faster, but not so manouverable as the original. Production of the I-15bis ended by 1940, with some 2400 built. By summer of 1941, the type was mostly with ground attack and training units. These latter were combed over for useful machines in the wake of the havoc wreaked on VVS front-line strength when the German invasion commenced. Some survived the emergency, and continued on in various second-line duties. This is one of them, flown as an artillery spotter with a unit stationed in Siberia during the last months of the war. This is the 'old tool' ICM I-15bis (in its Encore' re-issue). It remains a good kit, and not much different from the company's later kit of the type. It is finished in line with a photograph on the Soviet Warplanes site: https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/i15/i15bis/i15bisevolution/i-152evolution.htm James
    30 points
  29. The Revell FGA.9 goes together really well and with the lovely conversion kit from FreightDog Models this builds up very nicely Only a modicum of filler was required with only one bit of actual surgery. This enables a completely ham-fisted idiot like me to put it together. Primed with Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black. Painted with, Tamiya Nato Black, Rubber Black, Gun Metal, Clear Red and Clear Green. Colourcoats RAF Roundel Blue Post War. Xtreme Metals Aluminium. Flory Dark Dirt Wash for the control surfaces. Finished with Windsor & Newton Galeria Satin Varnish. I can heartily recommend this conversion kit as an easy way to give you something a little different. WIP Here. Thanks For Looking, Cheers, Alistair
    30 points
  30. Hi, My second P47 this year, both inspired a bit by a STSG, for which I decided too late to fit in time. Anyway - this is P47D-28RE 44-19662 "D5" serving in 1º Grupo de Aviação de Caça, 1st GAvCa Brasilian Air Forces (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Brazilian_Fighter_Squadron ) flown by Ten. Jose Rabelo Meira de Vasconcelos. in Italy 1944-1945. Here it is: The model is a small conversion of Revell P 47 M. It was a removal of air breaks, small flaps or interceptors below the wings and slimming the belly. The decals basically are from an ESCI set bought in mid-seventies od XX Century (!). However the ESCI set was for a D25RE C1 s/n 42-26752. This was a machine with Hamilton propeller and in Revell M 47M there was only Curtiss propeller. Therfore I switched to D28 and "D5" machine using those markings from a Techmod sets of US letters white and yellow. Moreover, the centers of Brazilian insignia in the ESCI set has a Southern Cross five white stars, whereas all photos of WW2 Brazilian P47s show plain blue centers. So I overpainted stars. The bazookas are from Academy kit of P51C and bombs are from Academy B 17. The fuselage tank is a scratch work to get a in-field enlargement visible on some photos. Here is close up in slimmed belly - you may see the interceptors/air breaks/flaps prior to removal (they were present from D30 to M) And here - the Brazilian one is accompanied by a Mexican one build from old molds Revell kit in a mid 1970s (so almost 50 years ago) also be me but as schoolboy, using decals from the same ESCI set (no corrections just a small dedusting...) Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek #3/2024
    29 points
  31. This was a kit I finished last year for a GB. I have been learning how to paint figures so I decided to add a base, some extra stowage and a couple of men. The figures were from a Miniart set, which although not well moulded, they have decent enough poses and paint reasonably well. The base is from Reality In Scale and is well made. Very porous so needs a lot of primer. It would have been better if I had followed their instructions and given it a good coating of PVA. I also got a new camera phone so have been playing around with that. Apologies for some blurring etc.👍 Thanks for viewing and all the best.
    29 points
  32. All Color: Hataka RAF, Orange-Serie, Decals from my decal spare parts box, some from Airfix (Propeller blades)! Serial number from amour decals of tanks in scale 1:72, This model was a lot of fun to build!! 😀
    29 points
  33. Douglas OA-4M H&MS32 Cherry Point MCAS 1984 Hasegawa 1/48 TA-4J, Phase Hanger OA-4M conversion, Flying Leathernecks LAU-10 rocket pods, Eduard wheels and Furball decals.
    29 points
  34. Been working on an old ICM Studebaker truck. I did this to learn some new skills regarding building weeled vehicles. The kit came from an old stash and it wasn't the best. The plastic had completly dried out so i broke very fast. However, i managed to pull of a decent vignette of a russian driver taking a break. Enjoy and all comments are more then welcome.
    27 points
  35. This is my latest completion, the Airfix 1/72 kit of the Messerschmitt BF 110E Trop, built using the kit scheme for a machine from 7/Zerstörergeschwader 26, Derna, Libya, 1942. It’s also the first of my many builds in the WW2 Twins GB I’m running to make it over the line. Pretty much OOB, I added the crew as the cockpit detail was a bit on the sparce side, and the nose guns were replaced with brass tube. Paint is Mr Hobby acrylics, and weathering is a combination of oil paints and pigments. The WIP is here. James
    26 points
  36. ...and another one from me. This is Meng's 1/32 Fokker that took me a really long time to finish. I think I started this model in 2020 or 2021, and I would do a bit, get mad, and put it away. I really suspect Meng got these molds from Wingnut, before the latter was able to work out all the engineering kinks, and they just rushed it out the door. There is a lot to dislike here. The upper wing is badly warped, and attempts to unwarp it didn't seem to hold. The wing warp introduces warp to the struts. Since everything is molded in a somewhat brittle plastic, this meant broken struts. I also managed to break most of the control horns, and had to replace them with PE items (in 1/48 scale, surprisingly enough!). I think I broke the ailerons off at least three times because the attachment here is pretty weak. The fuselage stitching insert is crap, and would have looked much better as PE, and the whole thing just felt like it was not worth the $80+ USD I paid for it. I really wanted it off my shelf of doom, so I rushed things and wrapped it up. Don't look too closely, or you'll see my sloppy execution. But complaints aside, I'm pretty happy with how this looks. Though I don't think I'll be building more biplanes in 1/32. There are certain expectations for fidelity of detail within the modeling community, and which I guess I have of myself as well, but which I don't have the skill, patience, and fastidiousness to meet. A lot of these details are far easier to imply in smaller scales, and I'm all about smoke and mirrors, so I'll be going back under my small scale bridge
    26 points
  37. Evening all, Latest off the bench is this beauty from Tamiya. A near flawless kit, it's come together pretty quickly with no issues at all really, save for few kit decals that I've used that have unfortunately silvered quite badly, taking the shine off the final finish sadly... I added some Eduard belts to the seat and used Techmod decals for this rather unusual and striking scheme. Finished using a medley of Mr Color, Tamiya, Hatake Orange Line and Alclad paints- Techmod lists RAF colours alongside FS numbers, but from a quick Google, it seems this Jug was painted using British paints that were to hand, and as such I went with Dark and Medium Sea Grey over Sky (rather than the clearly wrong Azure Blue suggested in the paint guide). 6W7A9786 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr 6W7A9787 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr 6W7A9788 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr 6W7A9789 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr 6W7A9791 by Shaun Schofield, on Flickr Thanks for looking, comments welcomed as ever Shaun
    26 points
  38. My latest is Vespid's neat little late-production Jagdpanzer 38. A bit fiddly in places and the photo-etch side skirts with their miniscule mounting brackets completely defeated me, so after much choice language I gave up and left them off. I really wish plastic alternatives had been provided. The tricky camo scheme was hand-painted (and it shows..) but masking seemed impossible. These AFVs were very effective tank killers, especially when firing from ambush positions among giant paint jars...
    26 points
  39. This B-17 story is not the first time here, as I have seen the same aircraft model here before and this was very good model. I may have shown a picture of my own model somewhere here for a while, but I thought of doing it longer this time. Felix's story has already been told here, but let me write it here as I once wrote about this model on my website, maybe someone will find it worth reading The story continues from where the B-17 and Sweden collide. As a strictly neutral country, Sweden was an escape route for pilots from both sides of the war whose planes got into trouble. So it was that planes that were hit in combat or had a technical failure often aimed to land over Sweden and then disembark there. Sweden's neutrality meant that aircraft and crews that entered the country were interned, although in the early part of the war the crews were able to return home. Later, however, so many distressed people began to appear that they were no longer allowed to go. Quite a large number of those men stuck in Sweden were B-17 crews. At the same time, however, the Swedish airline ABA (AB Aerotransport) had the problem of replacing its two DC-3 aircraft that had fallen prey to German fighters on the routes between Scotland and Sweden. The two problems were solved when ABA President Carl Foreman and American Colonel Felix Hardison came up with a plan to trade men for planes. This is how the Swedish government got possession of 9 B-17 aircraft for the release of the Americans 7 of these planes were converted into 14-seater passenger planes at the Saab factory, the other two were scrapped. The nose section was redone, the bomb compartment became a luggage compartment, and the bomb hatches also got a new task. One was closed and reinforced, the other became a loading device. Passenger space was divided so that there were 6 first class seats in the first half and 8 second class seats in the back. The aircraft was officially given the additional name Felix after the American author of the idea. The completed aircraft were later split between ABA and SILA (Scandinavian Airline System), plus two were sold to Denmark's DDL They were used on a variety of routes, the longest of which was to the US in June 1945. In total, the Felx made 31 such trips before being replaced by the DC-4 in 1946. The Danish Felixes were in operation until 1948. As for the model, I have to say that years ago I collected a bunch of different Academy b17 models. Probably with the idea of making bombers out of them. But later I became fascinated with airliners made from bombers and Lancstrains, Haltons, Whitleys and so on came into play. Among them was Felix and the idea was born. The bomber could wait, first "From swords into plowshares," By then, the Revell box had also appeared, which of course I had to get, and the Academy offering was starting to fade. However, I decided to go ahead with it because I didn't want to start cutting the Revell yet. However, the beautiful Revell was attractive and so I had to help the Academy to improve as well. To do this, I took a harder route, cutting it along even with the better bits of the old Hasegawa, and on top of that I cloned parts from the new Revel box. Next, I had to start making the content according to the available pictures, so that it could all be neatly hidden inside the halves of the body. Here are some pictures of this build: And finally the finished model. First, I must say that in addition to the rather raw resin parts, the Magna Models box also included decals. In the original, the windows were also intended as decals, but of course I skipped that part. Other than that, the decals were one of the biggest horrors I've experienced and the end result looks like this plane has been in service for many years. However, I decided not to start cutting masks myself, and that's how it stayed. Also, around this time I read that the Academy model was supposed to have a serious dihedral problem, but I just decided to ignore this info, because my model was ready and maybe it still fits to eye.
    25 points
  40. Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is my 1/72 BR-2 152mm Soviet Artillery Gun from ukrainian manufacturer ACE. Photos by Wolfgang Rabel. The kit contains both plastic and etched parts providing a high level of detail straight from the box. I found it very difficult to assemble because of poor instructions and lack of reference material. It took me over a year to complete, which is way above my usual work time, and was about to end up in the trash bin several times. Given the rather high price tag I forced myself to finish this kit. Thanks for your interest. The matching tow tractor will follow!
    24 points
  41. Hi all, Please see below some pictures of my recently completed 1/72 Revell Harrier GR.7A. The kit generally went together well, I used an Eduard photo-etch set for cockpit details, exhaust nozzles and antennae, etc. I also used a resin seat, BOL rails and Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod (DJRP) from Air Graphic Models; a metal TIALD pod from the Flightpath Jaguar set and the laser-guided bombs were spares from my Revell Tornado GR1 (next build!). The other diorama accessories are also from Flightpath. The pilot is from the Italeri NATO pilots and Ground Crew set. I added some rivet detail to the airframe with a riveting wheel and scratchbuilt a few of the RAF-specific 'lumps and bumps' on the wing tips and rear fuselage - see build thread here for deets! Paints are AK Real Colours and for weathering I used Promodeller dark wash, Mig washes, oil paints and Tensochrom 'smoke' for the exhaust stains. The aircraft depicted is ZD404 'Lucy', depicted as she served at Kandahar air base, Afghanistan in 2007 as part of Operation Herrick (kit decals). Cheers, James
    24 points
  42. Cheers folks, Attached are some pics of the completed Eduard Mig-21R. A great kit, my first Eduard and very impressed. Out of the box and painted with Gunze or Tamiya paints. Enjoy.
    24 points
  43. As far as classic US muscle cars go, I am pretty much a MoPar fan. The AMT kit of the 1970 Super Bee ticked a few boxes for me, spurring a recent purchase. This variant of the Dodge Coronet was only available for a couple of years and culminated in 1970 with a styling change, most notably the front grille, this was now configured into the shape of outstretched Bumble Bee wings, very pretty! Unfortunately the kit is a bit of a mish-mash of different boxings. Apparently, the body shell is derived from the mould used to produce the 'Annual kit'. If I recall correctly, these were simplified, built up, model cars that the salesman would present to little Johnny when his Dad picked up his new car. I chose yellow and black because.... Well, it's a Bumble Bee innit !! 😉 The black bonnet is non-standard but I've seen a few real cars sporting this, I like the look. Mmm, last year I built the AMT 68 Roadrunner (Pro-Stock version) This was not too bad and went together ok. Now, the 70 Super Bee kit shares a floor pan, suspension, and engine with the Roadrunner, problem is, none of those parts fit into the Super Bee body 😱 The body was painted, foiled, decalled, clear coated and polished. The interior was completed and the chassis and drive train all fully built up. The instructions do tell you to modify the front side windows to clear the dash. Had to laugh really and did wonder if anyone at AMT had actually put this thing together! The side windows were sawn up as I just wanted to put the rear glass in, to show the door glass wound down. Test fit again, now the interior will not fit!! Side glass in the bin.🤬 The interior is a little bit narrow for the body, also very shallow. It's not clear from the pic but the bottom of the steering wheel is actually lower than the top of the driver seat! I'm now starting to get into the realms of 'just want to get this thing finished'. Anyhoo, I finally wrestled the parts together and ,apart from the missing side glass, the end result is not too bad. I did make a few changes, the door handles and windscreen wipers were chiseled off and replaced with white metal items. Door locks simulated with 1mm rivets. The wheels and tyres are from a Revell 32 Ford. Headlights drilled out and replaced with aftermarket items. (I really dislike the moulded in chrome headlamps) Final pic is of the Revell 69 Super Bee and the AMT 70 Super Bee together. This highlights the difference between 1/24 and 1/25 scales, more obvious in such a large car? Atb, Steve. The Ram Air induction scoop on the bonnet is just clipped in place. It doesn't actually fit over the air cleaner. The 440 'Six-pack'. I have added ignition wiring and heater hoses. The moulded in wiring is highlighted with a fineline paint pen. You can just make out the rear side window, ready to fit. This didn't last long. The flat spots on the tyres look terrible here, but they do help to create the illusion of a car having weight.
    24 points
  44. Here is the (more or less) final version of the Schnellboot. It does not show any boat in particular, but rather a typical boat of that class in the Black Sea around 1943 in the process of resupplying after the nightly sortie. I took some (artistic) liberties (e.g. no green deck, mines and torpedoes loaded parallel, etc.) but otherwise tried to be as accurate as possible. Crew is Miniart and Tamiya, folks on the dock are some 40 year old Tamiyas and Italeries repainted, dock, crane and building scratch build, supplies Miniart and scratch, the mines are from AFV, the rails scratch. The Oerlikon on the dock was surplus in the kit. The barge is 1/87 from my farthers train set, repurposed I am still fantasizing to produce some kind of water surface to give it a more diorama like look, but am not sure exactly how I want to do that. Give it some time ... Also in the works: a Miniart A400 Tempo 3 wheel truck for delivering more supplies to be added at a later time. This was my first serious try at 1/35, but now that I tasted blood (and as long there is room on the same shelf!!!), there is of course a Italian MTB that was also used by the Germans at the same port, there a the mini subs like the Biber etc., and maybe a plane buzzing overhead? Thanks for looking and reading, comments of course always welcome! Work in progress was posted here: My other maritime subjects are here: Deutsche Marine https://photos.app.goo.gl/Yn65LrC4H3Xv2qmx5 Battle of the Atlantic (Very loosely named ) https://photos.app.goo.gl/ejKuxEzNpACkLhwr8 Cheers
    24 points
  45. Hi my Britmodeller mates, its been a while between drinks... This was my first 2024 build but just now getting to the post..... This kit built my skills in PE and also efficient use of CA glue !! When I first joined FFGs as a Sonar Technician, I was billeted to a CIWS spot (long story), but got a chance to do a little work on this system, and took part in a full strip down, ammunitioning and of course live firings, and PAC tests.... Like my FFG build, this really brought back some memories... A few takeaways from the build: It worked out better building and painting unit buy unit, because the entire system is built and maintained that way. The 3A3 base (I think) just did not want to hold the primer and after many rubs, the brass ring and what ever primer was left kind of looked cool so I ran with it though not accurate. The radome door needs special attention when rounding it into shape, I did not take care of it so had to switch to plasticard and lost the rivet detail in the process. the gun is tricky, I ended up compromising the concealed gun detail for the sake of the whole kit. I hope you like it !! WIP is here: Cheers JJ Thanks for checking it out.... Cheers JJ
    24 points
  46. Not the greatest job, but better then I expected. Trying out my portable airbrush, and a spraybooth, decided to try a quick 'real world' build instead of my ususal 'what if?' models. Haven't bothered with the tiny little decals, my 70 year-old eyes are a bit weary, plus I might need them to make a whiffer look more authentic. Masking was with blue-tak and shop towels, paints by Tamiya. Hadn't installed the pitot before taking pictures, and the canopy frames need a bit more scraping. But she's done!
    24 points
  47. This is a rather little-known and unfortunate aircraft, so an introduction is appropriate. And despite of the fate of the real plane, such planes also deserve to be modeled:) The story of SM86 is very closely related to the SM85 aircraft of the same manufacturer. They are often mentioned together, although the first completed 85 was still only somewhat similar. The SM85 was to be part of the Regia Aeronautica's program to create a twin engine dive bomber. But if this plane with a mainly wooden construction made its first flight in 1936, it was a disappointment in almost every aspect and did not deliver the conditions imposed on him. Big problems were repeated uncontrolled spins, very slow rate of climb and instability when pitching. However, the RA was of the opinion that the matter could be fixed and gave it to the aircraft order. However, when these planes were handed over to Flight Group No. 96 in June 1940, Commander Maggiore Ercolano stated that once these aircraft are deployed, he can confirm that the losses will be 100%. He also offered himself voluntarily to prove its poor flight characteristics. A total of 34 SM85 aircraft were built, one of which was lost in an accident. The commander's prediction could not come true with the rest, because they did not enter into combat operations, but were taken out of armament and demolished and Ju-87s took their place. Savoia, however, was ready to offer an improved version, and so it was The SM86, which made its first flight in April 1939, equipped with 447 kW (600 hp) With Walter Sagitta engines. However, it was a completely new plane, which was only slightly similar to the SM85. The SM86 was similar in appearance and characteristics to the Henschel Hs 129, although the SM lacked both armor and a ground attack gun. Although the new aircraft was in many ways an improvement over the SM85, however, only one copy was completed, and despite Savoy's efforts to arouse interest in the aircraft, the project was closed in 1941. I Yet another prototype was completed with 403 kW (540 hp) Isotta-Fraschini Gamma engines, but soon it also shared the fate of the previous one. The SM85/86 project has been considered Savoy's greatest failure of the Second World War period, but still the British considered it a threat to themselves. This is only thanks to a translation error from the Italian specification zone, thinking it could be a plane intended for suicide missions against English ships. Model is again a Czech manufacturer, and on this occasion LF-Models. This resin kit is an older school thicker wall type. Generally average level, although there is minimal surface detail. Sat together still pretty good and with minimum extra work.
    24 points
  48. nearly finished - just flying wires to go.. TTFN Peter
    24 points
  49. This is the Wingnut International 1/72 Republic XP-72. The XP-72 was designed as a high speed interceptor with a fan cooled P&W R4360 replacing the R2800 and an Aero-Products contra rotating propeller. 100 were ordered but by this time there was a greater need for long range escort fighters, like the P-47N, than for a high speed interceptor and the order was cancelled. Wingnut International, not to be confused with Wingnut Wings, was a small resin company in the '90s run in the buy our own @Amo Aero who literally wrote the book (Secrets of Expert Mold Making & Resin Casting) on resin casting. As far as I can tell he only produced 1 other full kit and a couple conversions. Mine is marked 161 of 200. The resin was thick, very smooth, hard and flawlessly cast with no pin holes, bubbles or any of the other issues with resin casting. Fit was very good. I used the extra interior parts from the Sword P-47N 2 in 1 kit. Quite a bit of resin needed to be ground away from the fuselage interior to get them to fit but they look good once in place. I also used the wings, landing gear, and canopy (there was a vac canopy included) from the Hasegawa P-47D Bubble top kit. The Hasegawa parts fit the resin fuselage perfectly. Decals were Scale-Master and despite their age were not yellowed and worked perfectly. All told it was a pleasant 9 day build. Next up in the Modelsvit Pilatus U-28A
    24 points
  50. Someone gave me this . Not to build it would have been rude. So, for your delectation, an Albatros 109 (Very Early), license built by Messy-Smith. I left off the rigging. Ostensibly 1/48th, but who cares, really? Paul.
    24 points
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