Jeddahbill

Many thanks everyone for the comments! This was a new challenge for me and a nice change from plastic and resin kits. Working with wood is very different and I enjoyed this build very much. Looking forward to another wood kit soon! Bill

Greetings! Just completed Roman Liburnia Bireme. Starting with the wood kit from Mantua, the model was subsequently modified and enhanced in several areas. Rather than the ornate configuration featured in the Mantua kit, I decided to depict a more austere and streamlined vessel that I imagined better reflected what a commonly deployed Roman warship would look like. Double plank on frame construction with a scratch built styrene ram modeled after the Athlit ram, an actual ancient warship ram found in 1980 off the coast of Israel. Sail is modified from the kit and the eyes are decals I made on my printer. Finished in stained and natural wood, sealed with satin polyurethane. Not certain as to the scale, it seems to be around 1/48 based on my best guess. Many thanks for looking, your questions and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Bill

Well Done! A superb restoration and a stunning result. There is something unique about wood that is absent in other materials. Cheers, Bill

Great work Iain. A long term project indeed, but the results are excellent. Please post images of your other projects when ready. Cheers, Bill

Excellent work and photos. Respect! Cheers, Bill

Here are some close up images of the hull after restoration. Gaps filled with tiny splinters of matching wood along with a mixture of glue and sanding dust followed by semi gloss finish.

Many thanks Stuart! I usually work with styrene or resin, but sometimes wood. There is something about wood that is lacking in plastic, it lends itself to much greater creativity than plastic . . . . restoration of this original build involved very careful removal of everything down to the hull and deck . . . The hull planking on the original build was in bad shape with a great deal of separation and gaps . . .

Superb! Congratulations on such a fine job with this old kit. Bill

Greetings! Recently completed restoration of a decades old build of the Mare Nostrum kit from Artesania Latina. The original build was done by the father of my client and she wanted to have this kit restored. Over the years, the model suffered damaged and was coated with dust and grim. Restoration work involved repairs, cleaning, rebuilding, enhancements, additions, refinishing and a display stand. Along with the completion photos, I have included a few images of the unrestored model as I received it. Many thanks for having a look, your questions and comments are always welcome. Cheers, Bill Following images are prior to restoration . . . . . .

Greetings! Vintage Airfix kit of the Pan Am space clipper from 2001: A Space Odyssey finished in a speculative Princess Cruise Lines scheme as Clipper Crown Princess. A few minor changes to the kit along with added landing gear from the spares bin. Decals from an old Mircroscale special print run and various spares. A few other scratch built modifications and enhancements. Simple paint scheme and some subtle weathering. No panel shading. I wanted to do something different from the typical Pan Am scheme and avoid the complicated panel shading. Straight from the box, the kit has several problems, but can be made into a nice build with some effort. No attempt was made to scratch build wheel wells into the bottom fuselage and wings which are not seen when the model is displayed. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome. Cheers, Bill

Sharp eye Mike! The Starfighter decal does have the correct equal red and white rudder bands. I had a mishap with one side of the rudder decal and ended up painting the rudder white and then applying red and blue decal stripes. The problem was my fault, the decals are very high quality. Unfortunately, I did not have the correct size red decal stripe and ended up with what you see in the photos. So now I have a spare Starfighter decal for just one side of the rudder! Billl

Much can be done to this kit with some scratch building and items from the spares bin. I made several major changes to this classic early space age kit from Monogram, but it is also a gem straight from the box! Cheers, Bill

Many thanks for having a look! This kit was a pleasure to work with and Glencoe did a great job with the old tools. Cheers, Bill

Thanks everyone for having a look! The decal set from Starfighter is nicely done and includes markings for 4 different USAAC P40B's. Cheers, Bill

Greetings! New tool Airfix kit of the Curtiss P40B Warhawk completed in the U.S. Army Air Corp colour scheme for the 79th Pursuit Squadron, 20th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field, California in 1940. Airfix has done a great job with this kit and it comes together very easily straight from the box. I did not use the kit decals and went with the excellent Starfighter Decals 1/72 Pre-War USAAC P-40B set #72-134. Many thanks for having a look, questions and comments always welcome! Bill