Baldy

Beautifully built and finished Heinkel Gazza. The course look good and I like the level of weathering. Cheers Malcolm

I think you are right on both accounts. I bought 2 at rock bottom prices at a show because everyone had got the impression that it was more of a toy. In many ways it is similar to the Tamiya kit - similar chunky feel to the parts and nice shiny surface - it is however much much better - the props are correct for a start (the Tamiya cuffed blades are awful!), the cockpit is much much better (apart from the sub-standard IP decal), the windscreen is moulded with part of the upper fuselage which is a far better arrangement that the Tamiya kit,the canopy is not in two parts with the hard to eradicate sprue scars/joint the and the kit design is far better so there are no joints to get rid of in awkward places. The only real problem with a joint was the insert for the guns but since I was modelling a puttied wing this was easily fixed. Cheers Malcolm

Wow! Not seen one of these for a while! Nicely built. I used to live in Dover so saw these operating out of there and Pegwell Bay all the time. Brought back some memories! Cheers Malcolm

Beautifully built Ki-44 Mirek and superb worn metal finish. Cheers Malcolm

Beautiful model - superb and very unusual scheme. Cheers Malcolm

Kev that is utterly stunning! I missed this first and second time around so I am grateful that it has been shown again. Beautiful modelling skills and such a beautiful aircraft. Cheers Malcolm

Brave talk! I think all of the V-bombers had their own forms of beauty but I do think that the Victor had the most interesting and charismatic shape - It always reminds me of 50's sci fi movies. Cheers Malcolm

Thank you Bob. It really is a nice kit - but yes, why they put rivets/panel lines all over the wings is a little mystifying. They were not too difficult to remove but a little annoying. The main things to look out for regarding dry fitting are the wheels onto the U/C legs and the rear fuselage deck. I forgot to mention a couple of other things which I did: - the instructions have you add the U/C legs to the wings before joining them to the fuselage. What I did was to cut down to about half the lugs on the legs which allows one to wriggle them into place later. - the canopy will not sit quite right as moulded so I thinned the inside quite drastically so that it will just clear the fuselage when pushed back. I also removed the bulge at the end of the lug which runs in the slot. (You will see what I mean when you build the kit) Cheers Malcolm

My latest effort, a Meng 1/48 P-51 built as Mustang IVA KH774, 112 Squadron in early 1945. First off I will be the first to admit it is not my finest work! I wanted a quick, easy build after a couple of tough ones and off court problems and distractions. I built an Airfix Tomahawk a while back and this was a later war companion for it in my collection. The kit was generally excellent - good fit in the main and nice details. I filled the wing rivets, added a few wires in the cockpit and replaced the gunsight and IP decals. The only problem I had during construction was due to the push fit nature of the kit - when you test fit, particularly smaller parts such as U/C parts, it is a devil of a job to get them apart again! As is typical with my modelling, I made a few assumptions - and errors! The only reliable picture of this aircraft which I could find showed a light coloured spinner - possibly sky? I assumed that this was a replacement/temporary and I used the theatre red spinner colour. I also left off an antenna wire since I could find no evidence one way or another whether they were used in Italy. I used decals donated from an Italeri kit and this is where it all started to go wrong. I blindly followed the Italeri instructions for the camouflage pattern only to find - far too late - that this is probably wrong for the so called "Firewall" scheme which it was trying to depict. The colours are, I think, correct but the pattern is not. Ho hum! Also, the shark mouth markings were way too long when compared to the picture so they were modified and touched up as best I could to make them look a little better. The final problem was noticed only when I was taking pictures - I don't know how but I hadn't noticed the small light just behind the arial mast - not sure if they were even carried on wartime machines but on my version, it was painted over (Ho hum again!). Anyway some pictures Cheers Malcolm

Now the dust has settled a bit and both Kitty Hawk and Hobbyboss Fullback kits are available, which is the best bet - Hobbyboss with the CWS nose/tail corrections or the Kitty Hawk kit? Having built a KH Su-17 and am battling to backdate/correct a 1/32 KH F-5E, I have a distinct aversion to their kits which are, at best, non-user friendly. I do know however that the HB Su-34 has been slated badly regarding shape issues. Any thoughts? Cheers Malcolm

Beautiful and extremely interesting model Moa. I have only ever seen models of the sometimes extraordinary and stylish Latécoère flying boats. This is elegant in its way but I am glad you didn't opt for the ungainly looking vertical exhaust system shown in one or two of the photographs! Cheers Malcolm

Lovely looking Goshawk Pablito. I think you just about nailed the colours and the level of weathering. Cheers Malcolm

Beautifully built and finished Skyliner Pat. Nice colour scheme too! Cheers Malcolm

Wow! Pretty Awesome is right - fantastic research and some brilliant modelling! Thank you for the link. Cheers Malcolm

Superb! Fascinating model Alessandro and an excellent build log. Lots of useful ideas. Cheers Malcolm