Slywolff

Hello This has been a long term project, started before digital cameras were available... (as my first photos of the Frog fuselage and wings were taken with a 35m camera). A mate gave me his KMC detail set for the interior and to fold the wings, combination of resin and p/e, the decals came from Eagle Strike and did not take kindly to my unvarnished paint work!! The KMC is actually meant for the much better Hasegawa kit... but I wanted to do a RN FAA Avenger/Tarpon and believed the Frog kit would be more accurate!! Doh etc.... it was like trying to fir the proverbial square peg in a round hole... a very poor decision on my part and a waste of a lovely detail set on a rough old kit!!! Now I remember looking back that the wing parts were not fully molded and required a lot of either filler or plastic card and elbow grease by the gallons: The lovely resin interior: The replacement tail area: More of the interior: It was the folded wings that sold it for me.. er but what a job!! But I digress.. the Frog engine and cowling were molded as one but I decided to use an old Airfix engine from their Avenger... actually it fitted quite well!! Can't recall but I think the canopy also came from an old Airfix kit and with a bit of cleaning up worked okay..: Anyway this is the finished beats... port folded wing unfolded twice, tail wheel refused to glue with liquid cement so I super glued it... and the turret assembly came lose in the assembled fuselage... The wings took a lot of super glue and pva to stay in place.. I tried to hide the glue wherever I could....excuse the pun but a sticky problem.. I was motivated to complete this model for a club display at a local model show, a modelling mate and I put together a display of carrier types for our club... all these in this photo were by my fellow conspirator! This is my small collection: Then in to the display cabinet at home: High Planes Sea Fury, Rareplanes Fulmar, Airfix Firefly (RAN markings) and Airfix Swordfish!

Hello there, Finding time to sit after work and model is really relaxing... why didn't I do this years ago!!!!! I chose Humbrol 86 as the colour of choice through elimination of anything remotely looking not like the colour in the photos I have.... unfortunately this is an old.. old tin!!! and the airbrush struggled with the thinned paint... not a great result (I bought a new tin today!!). Since these photos I painted the various interior parts... it's coming together!! I used rubber bands to bond the hardtop to the body... glued the parts with super glue.... worked a treat then when removing the rubber bands I snapped the end of the exhaust off!! last seen flying through the air into the thin air..... insert swear words here.. At some stage, date and location unknown, I snapped off and lost one of the kit axles... which I replaced with a bit of stretched sprue!! These are the kit wheels... I did not fancy cleaning these up, so a fellow modeller kindly donated some Airfix wheels from their Bloodhound/Landrover kit... Only problem is the hole to take the connection to the vehicle are smaller than the ones on this resin kit, easily fixed just drilled them out with a 1/8 drill bit...

Ah Mr Futtock...how is Mrs Futtock? and the little Futtocks? A sheet load of reference..... no less! I picked up the Tiger Moth chaps so that's sorted and the scare gun will come from the BE2c... all these PnP projects are now coming forth!!! Cheers..

You can see why I was put off building this kit.... hm..... joy... perseverance more like it or stubbornness.... well that's what modelling can be about!! 🙂 Hope to get some paint on it this weekend...

Hello, This Airfix Hawker Hart came from a deceased estate, quite some years ago now, I have always harbored a desire to restore this model, not sure if that is the right term to use.. it had been collecting dust but was not damaged and in fact has been well built and parts line up really well... the only problem is the builder used tube of glue to assemble this model, I guess considering the age of the kit that is to be expected. I used oven cleaner to paint strip the model and it worked a treat as you can see from the photos. I want to do the aircraft in a more appealing scheme, a modelling mate has loaned me a Xtradecal Hawker biplane set to and there are plenty of 930's schemes to choose from. In the meantime I am filling the join gaps, cleaning up the tube glue globs that abound and removing mould lines here and there, I have decided to not update the kit or detail it but keep the basic kit as is.... except to add two chaps, a scare gun and windscreen... the crew figures will probably come from another Airfix biplane the Tiger Moth (the new one NOT the old one). Anyway on to the photos; As she was: Restoration work on the go: I managed to break off the fin/rudder... tail strut and then the tail skid!!

Hello, I bought this kit after seeing a built example on the Kingfisher Miniatures stand at Telford in 2011, I thought this vehicle would go well with some RAF types... hey it looked good on the stand! However the flimsy packaging contained some nicely detailed 1:76 parts but which were pitted with bubbles and quite extreme flash.... certainly around the lower parts. I started then stopped this after feeling quite disenchanted with the kit, however I am sort of glad to have persevered, yes I know the kit is not meant for beginners I get that and the kits have lovely detail but the parts were rough going and good reference comes in handy. I did get to learn a lot about this vehicle from the web... but thanks to some time off house and cat sitting this got restarted... and I am glad I did... not sure I will again though! I want to paint it in that Mid Olive Green with yellow stripes on it.... This is the type of scheme I would like to do!!

Well what you don't see is all the little gafs which have been hidden with liquid putty!! I'm getting better at the scribbing, having practiced quite a lot, I also use a small metal ruler which actually does help with the longer panels. But it does test ones patience!!! :-)

Hi Colin, Yes I would recommend the Falcon canopy, but having looked at the CMR conversion which gives you two vacform canopies I would try getting that as the frame detail looks more prominent, besides if you are doing the IIb version you'll need the extended exhaust. Thank you for the compliments!

Hi Dave, I certainly hope so!!!! :-) as there is a need for a decent Harvard/Texan kit, Kiwi Wings in New Zealand do a conversion set for various Harvard's, the old Heller kit has been re released through Revell but is not up to scratch compared to current kits and it is a Texan, the Academy kit which is the better of the two is out of production!! I really wish Airfix would produce one, so many countries used the Texan and Harvard!!! They would sell like lots and lots.. well I would buy a couple. Thanks for the compliments!

Hi AMB Yes they were all gloss but I have found that model gloss paints look too glossy on scale models.. I actually used Humbrol Satin Varnish but a bit too thinly! All the photos I have don't show off the gloss as being that vibrant.

Hi Ajmm Thank you for your compliment, the full build was posted on Hyperscale on the Group Build 1/72 Scale forum, from January this year till yesterday so there is more information on my build on there. Only mistake I made was when using the Falcon canopy I cut off the tail/fuselage end of the canopy... a minor mistake!!

Hi and hello, This is FT314 from the Harvard trio that used to fly at Boscombe Down, based on the Heller T6G kit with some modifications. The seats were replaced with Pavla examples, the canopy is from the Falcon canopy set, engine is a resin example from Wings and Wheels to replace the very basic Heller engine; the wheel wells needed quite a lot of filling to cover the gaps from the kit joins; all kit raised panel lines were rescribed; resin exhaust came from the CMR kit and decals mostly from the excellent S&M sheet but various roundels and no step decals from Tasman Sea Venom set, Airfix Harvard kit and Airfix Lysander and Blenheim IV... just remembered some of the panel lines needed modification and in some cases removal. I have since obtained an Academy Texan and plan (plan as in long term eventually etc) to do another Harvard IV in an RAF 1950's scheme.. but using the CMR vacform canopy

Hi Acklington, Nicely done, love the canopy paint work! I'm in the process of building this kit and doing it as one of the Boscombe Down aircraft, care of gifted old Airfix decals... I also obtained a Falcon vacform canopy for this project. Thanks for posting the photos!! Simon

Hi Bob Henry, The motorcycle and other vehicles are all 1:72, sorry for the late response and thanks for the comments!

Really nice work!

Hi guys, Thanks for the comments... I've still got a Millicast Fordson to finish yet, these Airfix vehicles have been good to experiment finishes with.. nice kits!! regards Simon

Hi Jim and Dave, Not sure if I am replying in the right field... I don't er come here often! :-) But thanks for posting comments and Dave thanks for pointing out my error... bugger... how annoying I didn't do my research, suspect I was getting impatient towards the end!! Thanks guys!

This is the two part BSA motorcycle with spokes.. and the three vehicles and Blenheim IV..

This is the 1"72 Tilly, lovely kit although some fit problems with the doors!! Bit of experimenting with paint styles...

Hi mattww21, I am also in the land of Oz.. but have had the opportunity to visit Cosford on a couple of occasions and photographed the SR 53.. sen me an email and I'll see what I can help with! Simon

Excellent work! Well done..

That's a lovely build you have done? I'd like to ask what was the kit like to put together, I have one in the stash and am keen to know how it went together? Must be easier than the old Aeroclub build!

Hi, I am in the midst of building this kit, I did have problems with the interplane struts on my kit they being far too short in length. I believe you can buy (or could) sets of plastic struts (Aeroclub??) I just can't think who produced them. Anyway I replaced mine by slowly stretching some sprue, keeping it thick .. letting it cool then sanding it to an approximate shape of a strut (sanding two sides if that makes sense)... not as difficult as it sounds just laborious! Hope this helps.. and good luck.