Nocoolname

I think I can empathise with your situation Bozo... I recall the excitement and enjoyment related to just 'building' a kit, especially during my younger days. I remember just being happy knocking together kits from the Airfix 1/72 'blister pack' range and slapping on paint just because. Detail and specifics only really started to feature as I hit my late tens/early teens, with my interest gradually drifting from just making a model to making it look more like the 'real thing', though I wasn't quite sure why. I never got as far as indulging in PE, WM and certainly not resin before my interests shifted to girls, clubs, flying et al, as much from lack of awareness of such things as lack of funds. But my inexplicable (at the time) desire to increasingly get my kits to resemble a particular look slowed my build rate right down and shifted my perspective on what I found to be satisfying, with the year 87-88 (my last before the 'long-gap') producing just two models. One of those was driven by a near obsession to replicate a master build that was on display at a local model shop, down to each and every detail - from the detailed cockpit, to the very same decal scheme to the way they blended in as if painted on, to the same subtle weathering and strokes of rust - and that alone took up most of that year. The outcome was a diorama that 'would' have been a competition winner at the time had the size not fallen too short by a few centimeters of what the 'regulations' stipulated But when I returned to model making I was king of haunted by that build and the need for my new models to meet that 'standard' or better has been hard to shake, while the difference in my disposable income coupled with the sheer range of better and better kits and then the myriad of after market options that just keep adding more, has caused my brain to pinball into a state of almost build-paralysis. I've since been diagnosed with Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism, with the 'high-functioning' aspects of my particular cocktail being off the scale but which also presented some challenges around expectation management in relation to my own works at least. But the more I've learned, the more I've started to adapt and develop new ways with being happy with what I am doing and how I am doing it - all in very small and graduated steps. One of the approaches I've taken is to balance my 'detail' WIP's with a simple kit on the side - a 'just for fun rather than display' - to just let me indulge myself a little. It's helped me to feel ok about the WIP's in boxes that are being modified to display a high range of detail - to take the time needed and to put some focus and perspective back to them. It's still all very experimental for me (as are all of the other aspects of my life that are adjusting to my new reality) but it helps. My HKM 1/48 Lancaster arrived this week and while it will sit there in the stash awaiting the inevitable myriad of AM - the 'Big Ed's', the 'Brassin', and much more besides I imagine - I'll be picking up a NOVO Lancaster and just 'build it' as it is. Maybe I'll paint it, maybe I won't. But I know it'll make me feel good and far better about what I'll invest in the HKM kit.

Mine arrived today

One of these

Ten episodes? Oh. I watched two then two more as background noise.

My loft just cheered!

Looks very interesting and I look forward to seeing some hi-res images so I can get my beady eye's down into the detail. Meh! points so far - Ejection seat, though I would wait on seeing it up close and wouldn't die in a ditch since the use of AM would fix this. Yey! points so far - ordinance, engines, wing fold options, radar and avionics, inclusion of new ECS pipes. Can't comment on shape to the degree that other's might be interested in but it looks Superbug shape enough to me. Now I just need detail detail detail... to help me decide whether to buy.

I know where I'll be putting mine. In the loft. With the rest. We scale model makers collectors have never had it so good

Finally had the chance to catch up with this thread and take my time over the excellent content provided, many thanks to you all for your help. I'm going to have another think about my original idea and what might be feasible based on what the stock kit can provide for. I'll have a look and see if there are more options available to do a Speke build in 1/48 instead and perhaps build the Trumpeter jut OOB. Lots to think about. Thanks again folks!

DCS in VR is literally 'mind blowing'. I picked up a RAZER and VIVE Cosmos combo over Christmas and launched the DCS F-14 sim. I think I crashed about 18 times from turning my head around in 'wow' and from instinctively trying to reach out all over the place to press buttons and pull levers. The other time I crashed was from trying to land on a carrier deck while also going 'wow'. As well as a HOTAS setup I also wish I could have a pair of haptic feedback gloves. But that'll have to be a pipe dream for now!

So the new release is basically just the addition of 'a missile'. And for that they needed a whole new release?

Thanks both! That’s an awesome amount of detail. I’m going to go through it and see what I might make of this kit, especially if the metal wings rule out the original idea. I’m looking at some of the Techmod sets for alternative ideas. Thanks again for the above, great stuff!

Hi Folks Due to some sad events I’ve just inherited an unstarted Trumpeter 1/24 Hurricane Mk.I and would really like to build it as the aircraft credited with one of the fastest air to air kills, from RAF Speke during the Battle of Britain. I believe it’s a 312 sqn Hurricane with the code DUP. I can’t find evidence of any specific decals set for this but was wondering if anyone knows whether it is possible to get the correct RAF codes in this scale so I can just create my own version? Any and all help appreciated! Many thanks Nocool

Nope! No idea about that, but I also think it’s a lovely kit and have been rendering 1/48 Blue Fox and Blue Vixen in 3D CAD to add a even more to these wonderful Kinetic kits. I keep hoping that they will ‘accidentally’ produce a new tool Buccaneer in 1/48. Just at the same time that Airfix and Trumpeter ‘accidentally’ produce 1/350 kits of the Queen Elizabeth (R08) and Ark Royal (R09) (...along with a same scale IM Type 42 to keep it company...) In the meantime my recent purchases have been an array of bits and bobs... Quinta Studios: 1/48 F-15E Cockpit 1/48 F-18F/G Cockpit Wolfpack Design: 1/48 F/A-18E/F Refuling Probe 1/48 F-14 Refuelling Probe (just to make my current Hasegawa build even more complicated) Tamiya: 1/48 F-16 replacement parts for the bits I stuffed up on a current Arctic Aggressor build. Big thanks to The Hobby Company for saving my skin there in record time! And I accidentally just purchased another 1/72 Space 1999 Mk IX Hawk to add to that collection. That makes three now. But my most important purchase, delivered today, is my all in one electric trimmer. Between the beard and the fact that my hair was creeping into longness when they launched Lockdown 3, I now resemble Tom Hank’s’ even scruffier doppelgänger from Castaway. So with today’s acquisition I finally have a chance of returning to humanity!

LOL! In my case the Harrier is 'over' represented in my collection but seriously under built! Mostly due to my habit of trying to hoard all of the extras and then being distracted by other shiny things to build. So far, the following kits remain neglected: Kinetic: 1/48 Harrier GR.1 1/48 Harrier GR.3 1/48 Harrier T.2/T.4/T.8 1/48 Harrier FRS.1 1/48 Harrier FA.2 Including Model Alliance Sea Harrier Part 1 for the FRS.1 and Qinetc VAAC decals for the T.2/T.4/T.8 Hasegawa 1/48 Harrier AV-8B II Plus 1/48 Harrier GR.5 1/48 Harrier GR.7 1/48 Harrier GR.9 1/48 Harrier T.12 (courtesy of the CMK conversion set) Including the Airframe decals for the Harrier Retirement schemes. I have custom lighting kits and engine parts for some along with some nice Brassin and pitot tubes. What I really need now is another 20 of me to get cracking on them (actually, one of me per kit to get on with it and a spare to just stare in terror and procrastinate by playing on the BM site ). I fully imagine you'll be able to complete all of the above before I manage a single one of mine. Cheers

I was... ahem... a little too young to get mine so have to wait a little while longer...

Is my understanding correct of the first video above, in that Tamiya have actually molded in clear elements within the grey plastic such as for the Splitter Plate Flooding Door?

Any further news on the 'G'?

Another cracking build Dave! Thanks for sharing! I’m still (quite literally) grinding my way through my first ever Hasegawa Tomcat

Totally agree! I’m a model maker not a ‘plastic’ surgeon!

Ahhhh.....!

My query was in response to a post with with a different title to the above so something appears to be moving around here. That post made reference to a Tamiya kit but without any further details. Now added as the F-4B as seen above. Might need to screenshot some of these to save my sanity.

Didn't realise Tamiya were doing an 'EJ' version?

Hmmm... so aside from the canopy frame and engine detail decals (welcome) the other decals appear to be similar to the data stencils usually included with other kits e.g. Academy?

I keep looking at the Quinta sets and think that it might be interesting if they could ever print a cockpit that that had a 'transparency' in place of the main panel colour. The idea being that it might give the user the option to simply cut out and use the main features - dials, buttons, switches, leavers, etc. - over their own painted cockpit, which might provide for a less layered look than the 3D process can currently achieve and therefore provide for greater fidelity?

Totally agree about the GWH kit. After my experience with their Su-35, Mig-29 and F-15 kits I was a convert and quickly off loaded my Eduard Su-27UB when they announced their intentions. The Kitty Hawk kits come a close second for me, at least those I have had (Su-35 and Su-34) and I had to hold myself off from buying their 27's. I'm still tempted, if only to combine some of the detail features (radar, engines, etc.) with the GWH shell to make for an extra interesting diorama, but the main build would still be GWH. I really hope they follow through with their intention to make an F-14 in 1/48. I know there are plenty of different kits out there but... you know... it's a GWH...