[1/48 Academy A-10C Thunderbolt - "Hoosier Hog"]

That’s a great result eng, certainly looks like a well detailed kit and much better than one I tried a few years ago (can’t remember now if it was a Revell kit or someone else’s) which was so bad I binned it.

 

Always fancied doing an A-10 since I was targeted by one a few years back on a road through Snowdonia - mine was the only car in sight and I  was convinced he took a practice run at me!

[Gaahleri GAHD-39 Airbrush Kit]

Thanks for the heads-up Tbolt, I ordered this yesterday at the lower price (back up to £44 today) and have just taken it on a trial run. My main airbrush is an Iwata HB and this one shares a lot in common design-wise without it being a close copy, and while it doesn’t quite have the quality feel of the Iwata it still feels quite robust and solid. Comes very well packaged including spare seals and a tube of lubricant, and my initial reaction is very favourable; once I’d got the pressure and the paint/thinner ratio right it performed very well and I was able to produce very fine lines as well as good, even coverage over larger surfaces. The trigger is a bit stiffer than my Iwata, although I’ve had that for a good few years now and is probably well ‘run in’.

 

overall I’d recommend this to anyone looking to get into airbrushing, or even more experienced users looking for a back-up; even at full price it is a bit of a steal IMHO.

[P-39 Airacobra USSR 1/48]

If that’s a bad kit I’d love to see what you could do with a good one!

 

Tremendous result.

[HP Victor B.Mk2 (BM)]

I'd built the Airfix Valiant quite a while ago and it was interesting to note the advances made by the company in the 5 years or so between the two kits being released (2011 - 2016 according to Scalemates): a clear step up in refinement and build quality, which they've continued pretty much ever since. Next on the production line is the Vulcan so I'm looking forward to see how it stacks up against their much more recent releases.

 

The size & shape of the Victor makes it hard to photograph, let alone display but I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

J.A.

[Bf 109 G-6 Emil Klade 1/72]

Amazing result, it could easily pass for a 1/48 or even a 1/32 kit.

[Spitfire Mk1a (Mid)]

Here's my recently completed Kotare Spit.

 

You don't get many parts for your near-£100 quid but you do get great accuracy, meticulous research and no loss of building enjoyment. The detail in the casting is exquisite - you can't quite see the raised rivets at the back of the fuselage in my photos for example, but it is there. 

Of course you could pay a bit more for a Tamiya Spit and get a much higher parts count and a full engine if that's your thing, but it won't be an early version - you pays your money and takes your choice. Both are a joy to build in their own way. 

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

J.A.

 

[Hawker Hurricane IIB]

Happy Easter folks!

 

Here is my attempt at Revell's new(ish) big Hurricane. Decent enough kit for the price, although some quite clever design in places is let down by the soft plastic as the pieces aren't as sharply moulded as they might otherwise be. Nothing a bit of effort can't overcome though.

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

J.A.

[Messerschmitt Bf-109F-4 Trop - Regia Aeronautica - 1/32 Hasegawa]

Fabulous paint job!

[Hawker Kestrel FG1A 1/48]

Proper modelling, that. I’m very envious of both your skills and patience.

[Amazon Bargain topic]

? C47 still showing as £17.33 via the link.

[1/72 Airfix Blenheim]

That’s very impressive, I’ve built the 1/48 version and from your photos it’s hard to tell them apart.

[Border models 1/35 He-111 H-6 1/35 scale]

28 minutes ago, Ed Russell said:

Everyone talks about plane/armour dioramas but very few are built.

1/32 - 1/35. A bit over a 9% difference means that two aircraft are going to look a bit odd together, But a 1/35 Jeep or motorcycle look fine with a 1/32 aircraft.

I reckon Border designed their first aircraft in 1/32 then found out about the prohibitive cost of custom boxes......... "ràng wǒmen jiāng móxíng suōxiǎo yīdiǎn, zhídào tā shìhé hézi" What? Make it fit? A-ha! Good idea!

I suspect it was more a case of the WnW Lanc moulds falling into their laps so to speak, and too good an opportunity to turn down. Their first 1/35 kits must have been in the planning stage well before the Lancs hit the shelves.

[Border models 1/35 He-111 H-6 1/35 scale]

I seem to remember this issue being discussed previously re Border’s FW190 - I think the difference in actual size between a Revell 1/32 Heinkel and Border’s 1/35 version for example will be very noticeable, with the latter being much more ‘shelf friendly’.

[Hobby Boss 1/48 A7E Corsair II "Sidewinders"]

That’s a terrific result Nikola, construction, weathering and decals all look completely faultless. 
 

Although I’ve never built one I’ve always had a soft spot for the Corsair, I much prefer its squat lines to those of the Crusader.

[Fiat CR42 LW]

Hi All, 

 

This is my last one of what has been a quiet year output-wise, ICM's CR42 LW in Luftwaffe service, Italy 1944. A nice, straightforward but well-detailed kit with no fit problems.

 

And to finish off, here's a couple including the figures supplied with the kit which I actually painted quite a while ago:

 

As always, thanks for looking.

 

Season's Greetings, 

 

J.A.

 

[Arma Hobby Hurricane Mk.IIc 1:48]

Wonderful! One of the best Hurri’s I’ve seen in any scale.

[Lancaster Nose Art Kit]

Hi All

 

No way I can find space for the full kit, so this'll have to do.

 

Its WnW heritage is obvious, with quality and detail at least matching Tamiya's Mosquito. Shame that there is no way of displaying the interior though as the double-skinned fuselage means a clear section (as per HKM's otherwise vastly inferior version) isn't feasible. Photos will have to do instead.

 

Only problems I encountered were that the instructions are a little vague in places as to the the locations of some minor fittings, and the decals are the thinnest I've ever come across - while usually a good thing, it meant that the larger ones were prone to curl and stretch, hence the wavy lines of bombs on the mission tally; and I completely destroyed the one of the "Phantom of the Ruhr" text which meant I had to hand paint it instead.

 

The duplicated flight deck in the foreground is my own resin cast of the Border one with a heavily modified/scratch built seat, which I'm going to use to try to bring the HKM version a little closer to representing the actual thing:

 

 

Thanks for looking,

 

J.A.

[Revell Spitfire Mk. Vb 1/72]

That’s a great effort, especially for your first foray back into the modelling world. Every kit is an education and you will learn as you go along, as you clearly have here.

 

As for your masking attempts, they aren’t really necessary until/if you move onto an airbrush; if you stick with paintbrushes then a faint pencil line will suffice for plotting your camouflage. Blu tack sausages are useful when you want to spray a feathered demarcation to the pattern, as you’ve already found out they don’t offer anything to your brush painting.

 

Good luck with your next kit(s), be prepared to lose hours to the hobby without realising it as well as £££!

[Zeppelin L.25 With Siemens Torpedo Glider,]

That’s a tremendous result, I know from painful experience how difficult it is to get all those p/e gondola supports into any kind of convincing shape. Suffice to say, I didn’t have the nerve to post mine up for wider scrutiny!

[McDonnell Douglas F/A-18D Hornet 1:48 Hobby Boss]

Brilliant work, museum standard. You should be very proud of that.

[1/72nd Airfix Short Stirling, 1940 edition]

Always a treat to see a Stirling, especially one as good as this. I wish I had your focus and clarity of vision Heather, to research a subject so exhaustively and then bring it to fruition.

 

The Airfix kit might be ancient and lacking in a few areas, but to my mind it’s still better than the Italeri one with its trench-like panel lines.

 

I’d love someone to give us a 1/48 Stirling kit, but it’s probably too obscure (to non-Brits) to ever see the light of day sadly.

[HK Models 1:32 Lancaster Mk. B.I Special - Guy Gibson's ED932 just prior to take off on Operation Chastise May 15-16th 1943]

Wonderful work there, it’s new owner will be blown away I’m sure. It’s unfortunate when a big model needs such a large amount of additional work to correct it, but if the respective Nose Art kits are anything to go by you’ll have a much easier ride with the Border version - they really are chalk & cheese in terms of accuracy and detail.

[Eduard Bf 109 F2 in winter camo]

Fantastic work there - base, figure and of course the plane all absolutely top quality and ultra-realistic. I wish I had the patience to try such vignettes but I’m usually too eager to just get on with the next model, but your presentations might just be the incentive I need (not that I would get anywhere near your standard).

[Tamiya Mosquito FB Mk.VI]

58 minutes ago, Vingtor said:

Very nice model, and a good subject!

 

I do not think 333 Sqn Mosquitos carried bombs, so you better switch back to fuel tanks.

 

One minor thing - the flag on the nose should be in the wind direction on both sides. Most aircraft had the flag only on the left side though.

 

Nils

Thanks Nils, good job I made the attachments interchangeable! I did wonder about the direction of the flag put couldn’t find a picture to check it out (admittedly it wasn’t a very exhaustive search). I’ll have to find a way of covering it or amending it some way.

 

thanks all for your kind comments, much appreciated.

[Tamiya Mosquito FB Mk.VI]

Hi folks

 

I was regularly put off starting this whenever I opened the box due to the number of sprues and its apparent complexity, but once I started it I wished I hadn't waited. Typical Tamiya perfection, and still the benchmark others can only hope to match.

I've done this as a 333(N) Sqn of the Banff Strike Wing, c. January 1945 using a mix of decals from Vingtor, Barracuda and a couple of Tamiya's own. The bombs and drop tanks are fixed with magnets to be interchangeable.

 

A departure for me is to include a couple of WIP pictures - the cockpit is completely OOB and I thought deserved to be photo'd prior to being locked away:

 

The obligatory 'everything uncovered' image. The magnetized cowlings fit well but don't really stay on securely enough, so they probably won't be taken off again:

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

J.A.