Diggers11

That really was a tragic event. Hopefully when Special Hobby release their Venom they will get the shape more accurate than they did with the Vampire. I see you have a Vampire on your bench, is there a build thread for it? I will have to try buffing the one shot primer sometime, or use a gloss black primer to start with. I think in this instance the extra layers of paint helped reduce the panel lines. Mark

Thank you all for your comments. Sorry to hear of your families loss, its easy to forget the real dangers of these machines and the bravery of the pilots when we build scale models of them. I chose this scheme originally as I wanted to try doing a overall metallic finish. Previously I had only done a metallic underside on my Gnat and jet exhaust areas. I also really likes the splash of red and white against the high speed silver. Mark

Hi, Here is a selection of images from my latest completion. This model is based on the 'The first Jet Guardians of Neutrality' boxing of Special Hobby's 1/72 De Havilland Vampire. The airframe depicted is a Mk.1, specifically J-1003 of the Swiss Air Force as included in the kit. This release adds to the previous boxings of this kit with the inclusion of new tail booms and a new tailplane specific to the Mk.1. Also the later variant tailplane and the intakes have been re-tooled to correct errors. In the case of the tailplane its chord has been reduced and in the case of the intake openings they have been reshaped. I am not sure exactly when these modifications were made. Despite Special Hobby fixing these errors there is still a big error which remained untouched, the overly large wing chord. The issue seems to be with the root rather than the tip so I removed a slither of plastic about 1.5mm at the root from the leading edge of the wings leaving the tip as it was. This changed the wing leading edge angle to better match references. This also required the intakes to be moved rearward the same distance to avoid a step and the fuselage parts needed adjusting to match the new intake positions. The trailing edge of the wing remained uncorrected even though I estimated it was about 2mm to far rearward along all its length, the tail booms and control surfaces made it more complicated to fix. Apart from the modifications to the wings the kit was built largely out of the box, except from some scratch built details in the cockpit including a seat harness and other details based on references. Along with a couple of aerials under the port wing noticeable in photos of J-1003. I also drilled out the clear wing tip lights from the inside to create the bulbs. I packed the nose and area behind the cockpit bulkhead with steel balls to try and prevent the model from sitting on its tails, although I ultimately failed in this regard. Once the airframe was assembled it was primed in Ammo One Shot Black primer then overcoated with gloss black in preparation for the High Speed Silver finish. This was replicated using Vallejo Metal Colour White Aluminium. The red wing bars and fins with their white crosses where masked for and then painted, as I thought the red may bleed through the included decals. The model was then gloss coated using AK Interactive Gauzy Shine Enhancer to help protect the paintwork. After applying the numerous decals another coat of Shine Enhancer was airbrushed on. Weathering was achieved with the use of Ammo's panel line washes, Ammo's Starship Filth Oilbrusher and Tamiya's X-19 Smoke. The model was finished with a coat of Vallejo Satin varnish to tone down the shiny metal effect. The undercarriage parts that were previously painted, fitted without any issue along with their doors. The masking was removed from the canopies and the sliding portion was secured with Vallejo Liquid Mask. If you add some to the canopy mating surface and leave it to dry it remains tacky enough to hold the canopy in place once positioned. It can then be repositioned a few times before the stickiness is lost, allowing the canopy to be posed open or closed. Hope you enjoy! Mark.

Thanks everyone again for your comments. As I understand it a lot of E-1's had their wing armament updated to the MGFF from the MG17's, which were standard on the E-3's. As the photos I found show a circular patch over the old hole in the wing leading that the MG17's used to fire through, I presumed it was built as an E-1. Most the references to the aircraft also list it as being an E-1. I don't know if replacing the guns was classed as a field mod or a rebuild. So I am still calling mine an E-1 with E-3 armament, a E-1/3 if you like. I found out about the drooped ailerons during the build and I bent them down to what I thought looked the correct angle at the time. Unfortunately since then they seem to have returned closer to their original position. Its easy enough to fix, ill just bend them back down a bit. The plastic is soft enough and they are moulded as part of the lower wing half so they bend along a recessed hinge line.

Thank you everyone for your enthusiastic comments. Its a really nice kit from Airfix, the fit is good and the panel lines are not too thick, but not too shallow either. Unfortunately it lacks the earlier canopy out of the box and its not that easy to retrofit the older armament, as the underwing blisters would need removing. That would then leave a big hole in each wing to fill. I see AZ models are planning to release a new tool Emil that may have more options out of the box. Its a bit difficult getting the camera into the cockpit now its finished, so here is a couple of shots taken before the fuselage was closed up. The seat had its moulded in harness removed and replaced with the Eduard steel one. The trim wheel, throttle controls and the seat height adjustment lever are scratch built. The Yahu photo etch panel replaces Airfix's underwhelming decal.

Hi, Here is a selection of images from my latest completion. An Airfix 1/72 Bf109E starter kit from Lidl forms the bases for this model along with a Yahu YMA7216 instrument panel, Eduard SS582 steel seatbelts, Rob Taurus 72034 E-3 vac-form canopy and Print Scale's 72-021 decal set. The model is completed as a Bf109E-1 flown by 2/JGr 101 in 1939. Photos I found online labelled as being Red 10, suggest at sometime its wing mounted guns were upgraded to the E-3 spec of a MGFF in each wing. As the Airfix kit depicts this armament including the underwing blisters instead of the E-1's MG17 guns I didn't argue with the evidence. The cockpit along with adding the Yahu panel and Eduard belts was embellished with scratch built details made from aluminium tubing, wire and plasticard. Prior to adding the photoetch the enhanced cockpit parts were primed with Ammo One shot black primer then given a coat of Xtracrylix RLM02 from an above angle to give more coverage to the areas that would receive more light and leave the areas in shadow darker. Details were then picked out with a selection of acrylic paints by paintbrush and once protected with gloss varnish an oil wash was used to add tonal variation and contrast to the cockpit. The Eduard belts worked well attached with cyano as was the Yahu panel, although it did require slight adjustment of the kit parts especially the gunsight and the metal part itself to fit correctly. The rest of the model went together easily except the lowered flaps which fowled the underwing radiators. After minimal trimming it went together in the end. I added some more detail to the airframe such as trim tabs on all the control surfaces and a splitter in the oil cooler intake. The underwing radiator intakes were embellished with a splitter made from aluminium tubing slid through a drilled out hole in the radiator housing, which was later filled and smoothed over with a drop of cyano. All four machine guns were replaced with scratch built versions made from Albion Alloys brass tube along with the pitot tube. The same pack of tubing was utilised in making a replacement aerial mast, paired with some plasticard and sanded to shape for installation later in the build. Other improvements I made were relocating the rudder control horns closer to the hinge line to match references and adding thin plasticard discs to the wing leading edge where the older MG17 apertures were. The MGFF barrels protruded slightly outboard compared to the MG17's openings. I carefully cut out the vac-form canopy, which was tricky. Despite the canopy being for the Tamiya kit it did fit the Airfix kit with a little adjustment. The kit supplied canopy was of the later style and the aforementioned photos found online clearly showed this aircraft retaining the early style canopy. This was dipped in AK Interactive Gauzy Glass Coat to improve its clarity. Wire brake lines were added to the main undercarriage legs which had previously been glued to their doors to simplify the construction later on, as they are the same colour. The exhaust ends were drilled out for a better scale appearance. The propeller and spinner were cleaned up and painted then assembled to create a sub assembly to be added at the end. I went with a red tipped spinner despite the decal sheet suggesting it was yellow. Red seemed more appropriate based on references. I primed the main airframe with One shot black primer and marble coated using white to create variation to the subsequent base colours. Before painting the main scheme I glued the already masked canopy windscreen and rear part in place. My usual method being Microscale Crystal Klear. Unfortunately as the vac-form parts were really thin there wasn't enough surface area for Crystal Klear to provide a solid joint so I resorted to using cyano, this took a couple of attempts but in the end I managed to get a satisfactory result. My colours of choice for this build were Mr Hobby H67 RLM65 for the underside and the same manufacturers H65 for the RLM70, the darker of the two upper surface camouflage tones. The lighter tone was provided by Ammo by MIG Jimenez's AMIG0233 RLM71. Each application was later varied with lightened down versions of the base colour to further add interest. The wheel wells and the fuselage mounted gun troughs were painted with the same RLM02 as the cockpit. I used a sandy brown to depict the canvas wheel well linings. The Print Scale decals were added after a couple of coats of Tamiya X-22 gloss. The decals where tricky as they didn't want to leave their paper backing until they had soaked longer than I expected. I had to replace the red wing walkway markings with those from the kit, as the Print Scale ones distorted and twisted when I realised part of the text was supposed to extend on to the flaps, midway through application. The main markings went on well enough but the stencils included on the Print Scale sheet didn't match the labelling on the stencil guide, not a single number matched. I had to consult references including Eduard's 1/48 kit instructions to aid in their placement. Also the stencils that are supposed to go on the underwing radiator flaps were wider than the flap and I think they were misspelt anyway. In the end I trimmed the erroneous letter out of the middle then overlapped what was left to make it fit better. Fortunately its not too noticeable. The decals were aided in their application using Microscale's Micro Set and Sol. After a further gloss coat the model was weathered with a selection of Ammo by MIG Jimenez panel line washes and oil paint including Ammo's Oil Brushers thinned with Enamel thinner. Ammo's matt aluminium acrylic paint also provided some chipping. A coat of Vallejo's Satin varnish was applied to create a key for further weathering with oils and enamels. Tamiya's weathering set A provided some mud for the tyres and undercarriage doors. A black/brown mix of acrylic paint was used to airbrush a recreation of the engine exhaust staining of both sides of the fuselage. Final assembly included attaching the undercarriage and aerial mast. A new technique I tried on this build was to use thin self-adhesive aluminium tape instead of paint for the undercarriage leg oleo struts. This worked well so I may use it again on a future build. The same tape, painted black was used later in the build to create a hinge to hold the canopy in the open position. Once the model was on all three wheels it was given a final Vallejo matt coat, which was allowed to harden for a couple of days. Then the model was completed with a aerial wire made from Uschi van der Rosten "Rig that thing". This was painted with Ammo's matt aluminium. The masking was carefully removed from the canopy sections. Then only finally could the propeller/spinner assembly be added to complete the build. Hope you enjoy! Mark.

Thank you for the update. Just to clarify is there going to be combined March/April issues for both SAMi and Model Aircraft Magazines? Because I noticed the digital March issue of Model Aircraft is available from Pocketmags but SAMi is not. Does this Digital Model Aircraft magazine actually exist or is it just a cover? (I don't buy digital magazines, just interested to know).

It can leave a bad taste in the mouth when companies act like this. I had a similar thing with two Airfix MiG-17 kits having the same missing part. They were purchased from the Airfix website and they replaced the missing parts but there wasn't much of an apology, it was if they expected parts to be missing and its just how it is. Its not like companies have an excuse not to get information out to the public with all the social media platforms available to them. They are quite happy using them to sell products. Its good they responded to your PM on Facebook though, at least the mystery is solved and the magazine should be available shortly. Thank you again for helping as I was starting to assume they had folded (no pun intended, magazine are folded paper).

Thank you for that information. I didn't know about that Facebook group so didn't see it unfortunately. I checked the MA Publications website and their own social media pages but there was no mention of the issue. I am not a subscriber my self, but I agree they should have informed people that are at the very least. Mark.

Has anybody seen the March issues of either of these magazines yet. The website still shows the February editions to be the latest but the March ones should be out by now, but I cant find them at WHSmith's. Has there been a printing delay?

I have just seen on Hannants they have the Mirage F.1C kit but they want £25 for it. That's a 58% price increase over the Special Hobby boxing also available on Hannants. I think that's a bit expensive for one decal option, you could by the SH kit plus Syhart decals slightly cheaper than the Revell kit and have some spare decals left over.

How can it be "Maverick's F/A-18 Hornet" when the character didn't fly it? (I haven't seen the new film, maybe he does) Its a bit worrying that Airfix don't know the difference between the two aircraft. It would be like selling a spitfire kit in a box branded as a Hawker Hunter. Although I see from the Hornby video on the Airfix Youtube channel that Scalextric are trying to pass off a LMP1 race car as a batmobile, so accuracy not so high a priority it seems. The box art on the Airfix website shows a Super Hornet carrying the same scheme as the box on display at Nuremberg so presumably their old Hornet kit is pretending to be something its not. I know this range is supposed to sell to kids excited about a film that may not know any better. But I think if I was that age and I found out the kit depicts the wrong aircraft I would not be very happy. I predict next year we will see their recent 1/72 EE Lightning kit packaged as a F-35B Lightning II.

Thank you everyone for your complimentary comments. Mark.

Hi, Here is a selection of images from my latest completion. This is Revell's 2004 Eurofighter Typhoon in 1/72 (04317), not the new tool. The model is built mainly straight from the box, except I scratch built the intake ducting using plasticard to disguise the opening left by Revell. I also added detail to the kit supplied ejection seat using wine bottle foil and different gauges of wire. I had to create the HUD from scratch as the part including on the clear sprue was crudely moulded. The moulds are showing their age with some flash but once cleaned up most parts look ok. The exception being the engine rear face inside the exhaust pipe as the detail is damaged, fortunately this really cant be seen unless you look closely. The canopy was dipped in AK Interactive Gauzy Agent Glass Coat. I glued the canopy in the closed position before painting so I could fair it in to the fuselage using Deluxe Materials Perfect Putty. The plastic was primed with Stynylrez grey and painted mainly using Mr Hobby Aqueous. Variations of tone were achieved by adding white to the base colours and randomly mottling the surface. I used Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium as a base for the exhausts, varying the tone by adding other metallics or greys to the paint mix. I chose this scheme from the kit as I thought the Spanish roundels added a splash of colour. Before applying the decals I tried to give the model a glossy surface by spraying Ammo by Mig Lucky gloss varnish. Unfortunately I couldn't get a smooth coverage all over as it just dried on adjacent surfaces with a rough texture. In the end I resorted back to Tamiya X-22 which just about saved the day, although the surface wasn't as smooth as I would like resulting in some silvering to the decals. Tamiya X-22 was used once more to seal in the decals. Weathering consisted of various enamel panel line washes from Ammo by Mig and their Starship Filth Oilbrusher. I also replaced the sensors under the nose with triangles of thin aluminium as one of the kit parts pinged from my tweezers. Hope you enjoy! Mark.

So there are as follows all in 1/72, Beginner Firefly Tank + Full kit Firefly Tank Beginner Tiger Tank + Full kit Tiger Tank Beginner Spitfire Vc + Full kit Spitfire Vc Beginner Red Arrows Hawk + ? Does this mean there is a new tool Hawk that's not been announced yet as that's what the Workbench blog suggests. The author of the blog didn't exclude the Hawk from their statement.

Looking at the CAD renders on the website it appears that Airfix have decided to mould detail on the instrument panel face and not rely solely on a normally basic decal. If the CAD transfers over to plastic this is a first for them in 1/72 for quite a while. Some of their kits have different levels moulded in, but I cant recall any with actual instrument dials. Hopefully a matching decal with just the dial faces will be provided to lay on top like some other companies do.

I think we can separate these Top Gun kits into two categories. First the F-14, F-5 and A4, which are most likely Airfix's old tooling rereleased. The second category contains the Mustang and the Super Hornet which were both listed as "New Tool" (they don't anymore) and have the new film branding. Presumably the Mustang is the newish Airfix kit maybe with new parts or just new decals (the New Tool logo was just a mistake?) and the Hornet is someone else's tooling. The idea that it could be Airfix's old Hornet masquerading as a Super Hornet is also possible, but that would give the impression that Airfix either don't know there different aircraft or don't care about their recently improved reputation. Time will tell (currently Spring 2020).

It could also mean the new Revell Easy Click kit is also the academy kit as that's branded a "easy assembly" kit. We will have to wait and see on that. It would be odd for Airfix to release their old legacy Hornet as Super Hornet as they are almost completely different aircraft. There is definitely something different with the Top Gun Hornet and Mustang compared to the F-14, Skyhawk and F-5 (MiG) as they have different box styles.

The Revell kit I am talking about has never been released. Its a new tool for 2020 but its a EASY CLICK kit.

I'm guessing this F/A-18 Hornet is the same as the newly announced Revell Easy Click kit (04965) as they seem to share the same Top Gun theme and even share artwork. Revell http://www.kitreviewsonline.de/revell-neuheiten-2020/ Airfix https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2020/top-gun-f-18-hornet-maverick.html Maybe Airfix are releasing the E and Revell the F.

That theory sounds plausible to me, although I'm no expert. Aren't they always after a new release? Its weird that the two kits I have both have the same fault yet I have not heard anyone else having this issue. There must be plenty of unchecked boxes in modellers stashes.

Of the four runners that come off of the part only two have the thinner sections that is supposed to connect to the part. The ends of which are cleanly moulded and show no signs that the part has been ripped off. Its as if the part was never there or it was cleanly separated and was left in the mould.

I have just checked the two boxes of this kit I have, which I ordered from the Airfix website. Both boxes have part C7 (engine turbine/ exhaust rear face) missing from the sprues. So please check your kits for missing parts.

Nice end result. I use Stynylrez to prime my models and had similar problems with it peeling when masked. I found that if you make sure the surface is clean and not too polished it sticks really well. The problem lies in grease from your hands transferring to the model through handling. Once ready to prime I wash the model with warm water and detergent then rinse with cold water and dry. Then just before priming I wipe down it down with 90% IPA while wearing disposable gloves. Leave the IPA to evaporate, then spray the primer. From cleaning the surface to after priming I never touch the surface with a bare hand. Also de-tacking the masking tape helps.

Thank you all for your positive comments. The exhaust staining is just a thin black and brown mix airbrushed carefully at low pressure.