gregg136

Hello, While waiting for a spare part to arrive so I can complete the Type 45 and with the Helicopters put away until I can get into the swing of them again I decided to finally crack on with Heller 1/400 Charles De Gaulle. I've been wanting this for years and finally picked it up for just over £10 last year. You get a few other bits in with the model including this rather nice fold out detailing the ship and life on board. The kit is rather simple, with the Island requiring the most work, Hull is all in one piece There's a couple of nasty marks on the underside that will need some work Flight Deck which despite appearances has already been primed and painted in a dark grey Which if you can see brought yet another mark right through so that'll need sanding down and redone. I did encounter one other problem when I started assembling the island and that's one heck of a warp in it Once the roof is fixed on it straightens it out so then the back panels can be put on. Then it's a case of cleaning up and filling the seams and getting it painted. At some point I need an airbrush, hand painting the T45 was a pain and this is nearly twice the size. Hopefully more later tonight.

I'm currently in the latter stages of Dauntless (as she was when I saw her earlier this year, which means no CIWS or Harpoon) and put it next to Trumpeters 1/350 Montrose. Now there's a size difference.

Absolutely brilliant, I love the amount of detail you get with the newer bomber models. I tried the big 1/48 "Belle" a while back and it still haunts me, awful kit.

Very nice, I do love the dragon decal on the bow. I'll be adding this to the stash as soon as the Model Shop get them in. I have just gotten the Trumpeter T23 and with Lusty sitting around with the last few bits to do I'm considering renaming the work area "Little Rosyth"

Oh dear, looks like yet another set-back. "The Pentagon on Friday suspended the flights of all 51 F-35 fighter planes after a routine inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the jet engine of an F-35 test aircraft in California. It was the second grounding of the warplane in two months and marked another setback for the $396 billion (259.7 billion pounds) F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the Pentagon's biggest weapons program. The program has already been restructured three times in recent years and may face further cutbacks if Congress does not avert major budget reductions due to take effect on March 1. The F-35 program office said it was too early to know if this was a fleet-wide issue, but it was suspending all flights until an investigation was completed. A total of 51 F-35 jets were affected, including 17 that are being used for testing and 34 in use for training in Florida and Arizona. It said it was working closely with Pratt & Whitney, the United Technologies Corp unit that builds the engine, and Lockheed Martin Corp, the prime contractor for the radar-evading warplane, to ensure the integrity of the engine and return the F-35 fleet to flight as soon as possible. The Pentagon's F-35 program office began notifying the chiefs of the U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps late on Thursday about the engine issue and decision to ground the planes, said Kyra Hawn, a spokeswoman for the program office. She said that a routine inspection at Edwards Air Force Base in California on February 19 revealed a crack on a low pressure turbine blade that is part of the F-35's F135 engine. The blade was on an F-35 A-model, or Air Force variant, which takes off and lands from conventional runways. Pratt spokesman Matthew said the inspection showed "an indication of a crack" on the third stage low pressure turbine airfoil. He said the company was working closely with the Pentagon, Lockheed and the military services to get the planes flying again. Engineering teams are removing the turbine blade from the plane and plan to ship it to Pratt's engine facility in Middletown, Connecticut, for more thorough evaluation and root cause analysis, according to the Pentagon and Pratt. Hawn said an initial analysis was expected next week. The grounding comes on the heels of a nearly month-long grounding of the Marine Corps variant of the new warplane after a manufacturing defect caused a fuel line to detach just before a training flight in Florida. The Marine Corps variant of the F-35, which takes off from shorter runways and lands like a helicopter, was grounded for nearly a month after a fuel line detached just before a training flight at Eglin Air Force Base in January. That issue was later found to be caused by a manufacturing defect. The Pentagon and the U.S. Navy lifted flight restrictions on the B-model of the plane on February 13." Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/22/uk-lockheed-fighter-idUKBRE91L11J20130222

Something about the photo of it in flight doesn't look right

Thanks. The sheer number of parts is quite daunting but it's all going together pretty easy, the rear cabin wall was a bit of a tight fit into the floor and the instrument panel tests the patience since all the dials are separate. Taking a break tonight got the left seat in place and painted (pics to follow)

So while waiting for the orange to dry on the new Vampire I decided to open up one of the Lynx's' in a rapidly expanding stash. Cabin floor painted and the centre console and Left Collective placed. Cabin ceiling covering Rear cabin covering Cabin coming along, the seat frames are built up and one is painted ready for the covers to be added and then the pedals and control column. Then a bit of tidying up on the rough edges. I'm not predicting a quick build, so far it's hand painted with enamels (forgot how good they are) but hopefully I'll have an airbrush soon (I lack the sanity to even contemplate hand painting the entire thing) so I'll be wanting some practice on a few little kits before going near this. I'm still deciding which one to do I'm leaning towards the Black Cat finish, I have the other kit with the HMA.8 nose so that's a possibility (I'm not going for an entirely accurate model so if there's a sensor on the 8 that isn't on this it wouldn't bother me. Big thanks to Lynx7 for his answer to the question here, that saved me looking at comparison charts.

Hopefully the small explosions at sea create huge tsunami's that swamp the camera just like the original Although if they go near my beloved "Seascape" there'll be hell to pay

Eurofighter Typhoons, F-16's, BBMF, P-51's F-86's, Tornado's, Hawks, Tucano and the Reds. All in one weekend, every other day nothing at all. Oh and once a B-52 and F117

it looks like one of those cheap & cheerful chinese models you get in stores like 'The Works' or 'Boyes,' I imagine that would be labelled as "modern stealth fighter" Probably a mix of F-22/35 and the Boeing Bird of Prey and strong paint fumes went into the design of this.

That is absolutely gorgeous, I'm burning with envy.

A couple from when the Ark came to Tyneside.

Very nice work I saw him as a kid at the FAA Museum. I'm halfway through Chris Parry's 'Down South' (well worth a read) and saw this in Modelzone so it's next on my to do list.

I have it, only built the island then it got put on the back burner, it's a nice kit and is Slightly bigger than the Airfix 1:350 Lusty. There's a few photos on Airfix Tribute forum of a built one. My only gripe was what I assume is an injector mark on the underside of the flight deck it's that big it's created a noticeable bump on the flight deck that will need work. You do get a nice little booklet going over the Carrier and a nice montage of previous "porte avions" And a letter from the project lead wishing you luck and asking to put your heart into it as they did. (Although judging by the problems it's had it shouldn't be given too much effort

Absolutely Fantastic!

When I got the Land Rover Patrol me and the guy at the store spent ages looking for it. Ended up having to get a tin of spray which has ran out tonight. Plenty painted to get cracking with it. I'll need to keep an eye out for the paint though, there's quite a lot of small "fiddly" bits on the Coyote. It's showing as in stock on the Humbrol website.

Is that the Desert tan?

I've bought the Coyote today and already started it. built up the wheels etc and have sprayed the lower section of the bodywork since one wheel unit sits exposed at the front and didn't want to have to repaint it. Seems to fit together nice so far (same with the Land rover, which I've already built) I'm sorely tempted to buy a few more and get a diorama going.