Whirly

I'm going to build this classic Airfix kit, with some improvements along the way. The livery is Alitalia, not the original pinstripe but the subsequent Landor scheme, thanks to these very good 26Decals. Quite busy at the moment with other GBs, I plan to start later.

Definitely better after the Milliput treatment: see how the ailerons and elevators are of uneven thickness, now I just need to rescribe the joint 😱 Nose is nearly reconstructed, a good polishing and then I can try to join the nose cap. Thanks for looking!

Alea iacta est! (the die is cast) I also replaced the exhaust with something more fitting shapewise (an old pen section) and I cut a groove for the long ventral strake. Thanks for looking!

Sure, you can read more here http://www.archiviograficaitaliana.com/project/239/alitalia

I'd like to join with a 1/144 Caravelle, late Alitalia livery (Landor scheme?) thanks to 26Decals.

You're totally right Graham: I still need to engrave the missing line in the tail center to depict correctly the continuous surface. Actually I'm not happy at all with the result so far, I'm considering filling all with Milliput and rescribing completely the elevator AND aileron surfaces.

By pure chance I was browsing the site when this thread was brand new, it was too good an opportunity to miss! Now it's time for an update since it's already fallen in the third page... First a look at the basic kit. I found inside an Aeroclub nose gear, will decide later about its use. I have also an Hobbyboss kit which may benefit from it. I took inspiration from these previous builds which are quite complete: http://www.ratomodeling.com.br/finished/new_breed/ http://hsfeatures.com/features04/xp84bd_1.htm The conversion is not that complex, but there are many changes to implement, so this is a list: - remove 1 scale ft from the cockpit and shorten the cockpit tub too - shorten the canopy of same amount and remove all the framing - remove tip tanks and build up wingtips - remove the auxiliary intakes below the cockpit - engrave movable trim tabs for the ailerons and rudder, remove the fixed tabs - add a long pitot tube to the left wing leading edge - the thin strake under the tail is much longer - the main wheel-wells have a different shap around the u/c leg (and so the u/c doors) - the tail exhaust is slightly longer and with a bigger diameter The last three I didn't see addressed in the previous conversions and it is interesting to note that most of them are not specific to the prototype but valid for all Thunderjets up to the F-84D included. This could be a job for Sword! First let's see the wings. I choose to make a quick resin copy of the Tamiya wheelwells to embellish a bit the Heller wings which are totally void. The result is a bit agricultural but not so bad. Wingtips nearly complete, tabs inscribed, wing cannon plugged and wheelwell shape corrected. See as I initially enlarged the hole for the leg attachment point and now I found it in the wrong place after changing the shape. With hindsight, I should have moved the attachment point instead of adapting the resin piece. Work is also underway on the fuselage: auxiliary inlets are gone and the early airbrake is installed (fit was not great...) while nothing has been installed inside. I preferred to make one single cut to avoid banana shapes and will add the cockpit and intake lining afterwards. You'll see I'm removing all surface detail and I don't plan to rescribe it: I choose the Heller kit for this project just because there's is so much work to do on the airframe which would ruin all the delicate engraved details on the more modern kits and the prototype is also very smooth in its grey overall livery. Thanks for looking!

Ok, now let's see some actual building work. First I tried polishing the nose windows with the "new" products I didn't have nearly 30 years ago. A definite progress, making them at least presentable. Then I re-did all the filling which had shrinked notably, see how I used Squadron Green Putty in the first round. I wonder if it still exists as a modelling product... Had already an accident in these first stages, for some reason the lower nose broke up during a sanding session and part of it disappeared in the sink 😡 Time for a break! A lot of work is needed to make the tail presentable: I added plasticard shims to reduce the enormous gaps in the elevators. See as the groove is still very deep despite the shims. Surely this won't be right at the first round.... Something for the cockpit too, don't foresee anything special here. Thanks for looking!

This I didn't know and you are right, the build is too advanced to follow this route. However it's a useful advice for those wanting to build their Airfix kits, definetly a big help. Thanks Adrian, you might have guessed that most of my to-do list was inspired by your great build 😊 I'm not going that far remedying the kit faults, though, just want to get this finished!

You're right about what happened in the real world, though it's not my cup of tea with models 😊 I recovered the canopy and trying a second chance with painting: definitely want to finish this!

I have a couple of 720s and some Minicraft 707, all 1/144 waiting to be built, so definitely add me to the list please!

Thank you @Col.! I made a mess of the painting stage because no paint masks are available for the Hobbyboss canopy and I diddn't fancy doing it all with masking tape. So I resorted to masking liquid, but made a basic mistake: I totally forgot to mask the upper windows, realizing it only after the second paint coat... Then it was a long process of sanding with wet Micro-Mesh, at a certain point dirty water got inside the canopy ruining everything. I still wonder how it got inside. Long pause dedicated to fishing, meditation and similar quiet things, then I got back to this and found the canopy had got loose. To cut it short, I'm back to about three weeks ago and trying to find a working plan. I surely can't put this kit aside again because I will never finish it!

Hello, sorry for the lack of updates: this build is not going well like the first two. I had a lot of issues with the cockpit canopy because the kit supplied item is too narrow, I tried to replace it with one spare from the Heller kit but I just couldn't make it sit correctly. In the end I managed to obtain an okayish fit with the help of these Berna clamps, which I procured after years of procrastination. By the way, after using them I can say that every comment (good and bad) you find googling is correct: they skip like mad, but if you are very delicate and try to help them with additional guides they are just the right tool. In this case, had I used a traditional clamp I would have probably crushed the canopy or misplaced it. This seemed to solve the biggest issues, but then I had an unfortunate sequence of accidents during painting and I'm still pondering the possible solutions. I hope to have a good idea before the deadline.

Hello everybody, after some negotiations with the moderators I'm joining with one of the most primitive classic Airfix kits: I hope my sacrifice will instigate a retool appearing in next year Airfix announcements! This is a build I enthusiastically started a long time ago, certainly more than a quarter century. After discovering the many inaccuracies of the Airfix kit it stalled and never got to an end. Now it is just a matter of finishing what I started, because I always try to save my builds and the competition from the MPM kit is not really that strong. I know the builds seems quite advanced, having joined the fuselages and wings halves, though I actually postponed most of the work because I plan to do the following corrections: - correct the passenger door engraving - replace the engines with the Airwaves Wright resins - correct the bomb bay doors engraving - replace and adapt the transparencies with the Aeroclub acetate mouldings - modify the tailplane to make it a continuous surface with the cutout in the fuselage tail - change the exhaust arrangement - rework all the landing gear area: nacelles cut-outs are completely wrong. - rework the wing slots: position and shape are not correct. I planned to build a Photo Reconnaissance bird without turret, so I'm at least relieved from the hassle of correcting the abortion supplied in the kit: I even have an Almark decal sheet for this subject, though it seems to be a very obscure one and I couldn't find more than two very blurred images over the internet.

Hello, I anticipated a lot this GB because there are so many wonderful subjects to build! My first will be the prototype which I plan to convert from the Heller F-84G kit. Now superseded by the Tamiya and Academy much better efforts, bust still enjoyable. Pictures to follow. Cheers Fabio

Thank you James, now I'm forced to finish it 😆

Hi James, this is a build I enthusiastically started a long time ago, certainly more than a quarter century. After discovering the many inaccuracies of the Airfix kit it stalled and never got to an end. Now it is just a matter of finishing what I started, because I always try to save my builds and the competition from the MPM kit is not really that strong. Consider it a sacrifice to the modelling Gods, so that a new tool Hudson will appear in next year Airfix announcements! Anyway, my list of corrections to be done is: - correct the passenger door engraving - replace the engines with the Airwaves Wright resins - correct the bomb bay doors engraving - replace and adapt the transparencies with the Aeroclub acetate mouldings - modify the tailplane to make it a continuous surface with the cutout in the fuselage tail - change the exhaust arrangement - rework all the landing gear area: nacelles cut-outs are completely wrong. - rework the wing slots: position and shape are not correct. I planned to build a Photo Reconnaissance bird without turret, so I'm at least relieved from the hassle of correcting the abortion supplied in the kit. If you think it is not eligible, no problem: there is plenty of group builds in the calendar to choose from 😊

Hello, I would like to join with this Airfix relic. Considering the work needed to make it presentable, could it be under the 25% rule?

Hi, would this kit from ICM qualify? It is tagged '1939 production' on the box, so just borderline, therefore I'm asking 😉

Thanks to everybody for the kind words of appreciation! I'm glad you like colorful subjects too, they are just a bit more tricky to paint but so much prettier to look at than all the boring grey jets! 😄

8 finished in a year is a very good result for my building pace (only 3 in 2022!), mostly the result of Group Builds: I try to get involved in them as an incentive to finish something, otherwise I often get derailed. I planned more than I actually built as usual, the biggest problem was staying at the workbench from May to September with the really hot temperatures of this summer. All are 1/72! Pilatus PC-6 from the old Classic Plane kit Curtiss XP-40Q from the Pegasus kit. Skyraider AEW from Suez, Sword kit. Mirage 5BA BA33 'Blackbird' Belgian Air Force, Revell kit. SAAB J-35Ö Ostarrichi, Hasegawa kit. Here is the WIP in the SAAB Draken STGB (unfinished) And here the RFI after completion Agusta Bell AB47G Italian Air Force (Italeri & Pavla mix) N.A. T-6 in RNZAF ‘Red Chequers’ livery, early & late (Academy and Heller kits) Both can be found here: Eight for the year is a very good output: I had a lot of encouragement and help from the BM members and for that I remain immensely grateful. Cheers!

Don't be shy, there are so many variations with the Texans you're never tired of them! Hope your bargains were Academy kits, they are really little jewels. Back to this irritating Hobbyboss kit, here you see the sidewall detail I duplicated in resin from the Academy parts, as supplied this kit is completely empty. I also added the bulge for the machine gun on the right cockpit coaming, this was needed in all three builds. Then a look to the underside. You see: a bad joint just in the middle of the u/c bay and no engraving to mark the center flap area. Bah... A comparison of the spinners supplied, from the left Hobbyboss, Academy and Heller. The best seems in the middle, the others being too blunt or too pointed. And finally the air intakes. They are really BAD: lots of shrinkage, clumsy and oversized, they needed a lot of works to be just acceptable. Thanks for looking!

Ok, while I did my naca comparisons you also took a glimpse of the third kit which will (I hope) complete my Texan trilogy. It's an Hobbyboss Easykit and let me say that it was a mistake on my part: it has so many inaccuracies and clumsy details that in the end you work more than building an Academy kit, for a result that's just acceptable if put alongside the 'traditional' kits. The chosen livery is this SNJ-5 used by the Blue Angels team as an 'adversary' aircraft during their early shows, a tradition carried on with the F8F Bearcat dubbed 'Beetle Bomb'.

Hehe, yeah: I obtained a suitable cutting mat with enlarged squares just for taking photos 😆 And here is the finished model, second one done! (well, this was really a small effort...)

Thank you all for the positive comments, you are too kind! In the meantime I worked on the second Red Chequers Texan, this is the later scheme in Light Aircraft Gray and Signal Red (or whatever was the correct name in RNZAF) applied to the Heller kit. I recalled why I didn't apply the final transparent coat: I needed a very precise masking on the canopy without risking to tear off the yellow decal lines and, at the time, I was seeking for a suitable replacement of Maskol which was giving me a lot of grief. I now found what I needed and had no issues with that,here you can see the model nearly ready for the final satin coat: Thanks for looking!