AdrianMF

This is a kit made in the 1980s in "W. Germany". I have previously taken the larger airframe parts off one of the sprues and I glued two upper wing halves onto the centre section lower half, but other than that the kit is unstarted: One of the propellers comes in black plastic instead of the chocolate-like brown plastic of the rest of the kit. They must have detected a problem with the mould, and moulded the replacement parts. The decals look pretty good, although slightly off white, and they provide both injected (rather cloudy) and vacform (very slightly yellowed but clear) formats. According to Scalemates, Karo-AS produced some 30-50 kits in the 1970s and 80s in a variety of scales and genres, focusing on German WWII arcana and exotica, but with an Airacomet in there too. So what's this chocolatey plastic like, apart from being very hunger-inducing? The main airframe parts are crisply moulded, nicely engraved and pretty fine around the edges that matter. The other parts are a bit rough (looking at you, wheels) but salvageable. The cockpit is pretty well detailed too, although I'm sure I will be adding to it...

Terrific! Shame the B-52 instrument panel only has eight dials across the middle, not 70... Regards, Adrian

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Good idea. My most recent Pegasus build had the same problem, solved with an extra coat of something.

It's a fine colour scheme too... Regards, Adrian

Simply gorgeous! The horse and rider sit well together and the animated pose looks completely natural. Love the bold colour scheme too. Regards, Adrian

I had a look through some instructions to see if there were any clues about aerial lengths. There were: AFV Club 1/35 MkIII and AVRE Snake: 2cm and 3cm (28in and 42in approx) Tamya 1/35 MkVII: 4cm and 7cm (56in and 98in approx) So no great concordance there! I think I could go with 24in for the B radio with the tube and open cone base, and 96in for the A radio, as I've seen those figures quoted here in a Britmodeller thread started by @Courageous in 2020. (edit) I went for 4ft and 8ft in the end because that looks about right when compared to photos... Regards, Adrian

I nearly got caught out (I blame ancient Hasegawa decals) (and Mrs MF's captivating after dinner conversational skills) and only managed to get one rushed photo into the gallery at (literally) 23:59 on Sunday! I have taken a few more shots today, despite not being able to get the lighting right. Starting with the Hasegawa Mk I. Best kit for me, effortless construction, horrible decals (translucent, mis-registered). The periscopes are all a bit nominal and I could have beefed them up but didn't. After my decal troubles and the consequent touch ups I didn't have time to find replacement decals or do any weathering, so here is a factory fresh Mk I Churchill with a happy commander on a test drive before having its unit markings painted: So there's a little way to go before this is finished-finished. The Italeri Churchill is a good kit, with nice detailing, the most realistic tracks of the bunch and mostly decent fit. The upper mudguards took some fettling to get right, the turret front face is inexplicably too wide. I extended the rather undersized periscopes and added the modified exhausts, but didn't add the side rails or the front sand skirt. The commander seems strangely proportioned and too big around the head, but looks OK with some tweaking of the hands and some binoculars to add interest: The Airfix Churchill (1/76) is from 1961 and is a very nice kit, especially considering its age. I added a commander (rather undersized, especially next to the Italeri one) from an ancient Airfix/Dapol platform figure set and made a set of enhancements and corrections as detailed In this very informative blog: I mounted some extra track links to the side of the turret to draw attention away from the rather too large skirt that I had added to the lower rim! The Matchbox AVRE Churchill bridgelayer (1/76) is an impressive kit when it’s all put together. it doesn't fit particularly well around the mudguards and upper hull, and the tracks are awful (I replaced them with moulded copies of the Italeri ones). I didn't extend the periscopes (next time, eh...): I mixed PVA glue and acrylic gunmetal paint together and ran some sewing thread through it a few times between my fingers to make the cables and got everything set up before adding a drop of superglue to the pulleys to set everything in place. The bridge itself and the winch build up very well. The bridge is a push fit onto the lugs at the bottom and the loop of cable from the front pulley hooks over a notch cut into the top of the "A" frame, so it can all be dismantled for storage. The crew are modified Dapol railwaymen. Until I built it I didn't realise how close the pulleys are to the crew - the loader lurking low down in the hatch is probably taking sensible precautions! I kinda wish now that I'd opened all the hatches and had the crew hanging out, because apparently the bridge was transported in a lorry and it was all only assembled together for the last hundred yards or so. But then I would have to start looking into how much the winch was simplified and it would probably be a half-finished diorama on the Shelf of Shame! The aerials don't get in the way of the winch if the turret is turned sideways, which it seemed to be when the bridge was mounted (who wants to shoot their bridge off?). I am leaving them long now until someone tells me/I find out how long they were full size. Anyhow, thanks again to @ColonelKrypton and @bigfoot and my fellow participants for an entertaining and informative GB! Regards, Adrian

Very dramatic presentation! Regards, Adrian

Brilliant base, set the model off perfectly! Regards, Adrian

A massive thanks to Graham @ColonelKrypton and @bigfoot for hosting a smashing group build. I've had a great time and learned a lot! Regards, Adrian

Ooh-er, is that the time? Here we go: Thanks to @ColonelKrypton for a smashing group build. I over-committed! Regards, Adrian

Really? Binoculars?? Do we have time for alll this??? 🙄🤷‍♂️

...and two steps back: I was juggling the tank body to get some parts fitted when I dropped it onto a hard floor. It landed on the brittle car filler tracks. Luckily, I had fitted a plastic strip down the middle of the track on the inside, and I think this absorbed some of the shock and stopped wholesale breakage. As it was, four links were broken. I found and re-glued three of them, and the fourth came from a spare length that I'd made earlier. And a bridge winding handle snapped off, probably on a bounce, but I managed to find that too. It was a bit of a moment, but everything is repaired now and it doesn't show. @marvinneko I find the odd armour kit makes a nice diversion from aircraft. And I have found myself reflexively blowing them when I pick them up, even though there isn't a propeller in sight! Mind you, I'm ready for an aircraft kit again after this little lot...

Fantastic detail! Best not to rush it, RFi is always open... Regards, Adrian