donalyah00

Hope they are visible now - sorry about that. I have placed the images from my google photo account - they were visible to me but apparently to noone else. Best Regards, Marek

Thanks Gents! A next step in this slow build - more brass on the stern. Not sure if it is the best order to fit the walls before the main deck is attached. I have another copy of the etched walls in case I will have to attach them to the main deck first an only then stick the whole set to the hull. We will see when the main deck is ready (the most time consuming part of this project). The hawser bays got a small brass doubler underneath the opening. More substantial progress is visible on the funnel - now waiting for the primer coat to see what is left to sand down from the 3D-printed surfaces. Finally thanks to blacman's help I have received a nice custom set of bollards and chocks. TBC Best Regards, Marek

Thank you very much Kev! I have to admit I am already familiar with this blog - it does contain quite a few valuable shots of Rhyl - but other modellers interested in RN Type 12 Frigates can benefit from it. Meanwhile, the first deck is on. It seems like not much of a progress but at least I managed to get started. I drew the deck basing on photos of Rhyl and her siblings I have found in my books and online. When all decks are prepared it'll be practically half of the model done time wise. The brass surface has been "wiped' with 1500 gradation 3M cloth - I wanted the small details to come out a bit. When large surfaces of brass are etched to half-thickness, the brass surface usually becomes dull and dark. TBC. Best regards, Marek

Thank you guys! Decals were created using Adobe Illustrator software - in most cases I placed levelled and geometrically adjusted photos of the actual ship in the drawing file and then the shapes were traced. Please note this is a preview only - when I do some more in progress photos I will take one pic of the actual printout. Best regards, Marek

Hello, This time I would like to build something less usual but with very class hull lines - a Royal Navy Type 12 Frigate. I have chosen the old Frog 1:500 scale offering reissued in the former Soviet Union under the Огонёк brand. Last September I have found it on sale for the whopping amount of 2 EUR while visiting excellent Berlin Gatow model show. Among many good-looking Type 12 vessels I have picked HMS Rhyl during her Malta holiday between 1966 and 1967 - the final stage of the first configuration. Here is the original boxart: The scale is a bit unusual as for today's standards but the interesting subject tempted a few companies to prepare the aftermarket updates: first PE from (Atlantic Models)... ... and 3D-printed parts from Bogeys Bits (via Shapeways). Also, I am going to add self made decals, PE (decks and some superstructures) plus some odd bits and pieces from my workshop reserves. OK, the first cut(s). After the dust has settled the clean lines became to be visible (basically this is nearly all the plastic from the original kit I am going to use): The styrene is quite soft but highly workable. I have downsized the hawser boxes a little to make it closer to the original ones. Tamyia Extra Thin glue made the plastic to settle down a little... ...but some CA glue came to the rescue: The portholes were drilled and filled with brass tubing of two diameters: 0.5 mm and 0.3 mm - the bigger and the smaller ones respectively. The bridge deck has been just glued on and the funnel dry-fitted for the photo. The funnel - Bogeys Bits offer the raked funnel used in the later guises of Type 12. The resin is very hard and a bit brittle but I managed to clean nearly all the grain from 3D printer as well as to drill the top openings. The confused alien has just been born. One last glance at the hull lines... ... and on the small decal sheet I prepared for my model. TBC. Best regards, Marek

Thank you for the nice words. This u-boat was one of the first submarines with an air independent propulsion. Its Walter engine utilised a High Test hydrogen Peroxide as oxidiser for the kerosine. HTP was stored in the rubber tanks hidden beneath the rectangular covers visible on both sides of the hull. The size of the boat was ca. 2/3rd of the type VII uboat size and its hull was exceptionally streamlined to take the maximal advantage of its advanced propulsion system. U-1407 after the end of WW2 went to Royal Navy and was briefly tested as HMS Meteorite - no one seemed to enjoy working with bigger quantities of HTP. Best regards, Marek

Hello, Here's my version of MikroMir kit. It depicts the third boat of the XVIIb type: U-1407. It was commissioned into Kriegsmarine in April 1945 and used for the training, hence the yellow band on the kiosque. The kit parts are quite accurate in terms of shape and dimensions but in some places the detail is missing. To update it a little I created the set of the photoetch plus decals which were used in this build. The model was painted with Lifecolor acrylic paints and Tensocromes. Some smaller details were painted with MrColor C-series paints. The overall varnish comes also from MrColor range. One last pic to show the size of the model: Thank you and best regards, Marek

Thank you for the kind words. I am glad you like the small Vulcan. Best Regards, Marek

Hello, This is my rendition of the early Vulcan B2 XH556 depicted as in No.230 OCU Finningley, ca 1962. The pic of the original is shown below. The Pit-Road/GWH kit and excellent Fundekals decal set inspired me to tackle the Vulcan subject. To portray the early B2 airframe the kit had to be backdated a bit - the nose cone and a tail-tip antennaes as well as in-flight refuelling probe had to be removed. Hopefully the coming GWH Blue Steel release will make things easier. The by-product of this build is the ShelfOddity PE set. MrColor GX Cool White and GX100 Super Clear III lacquers, which allowed for easy surface polishing, made the painting a relatively straightforward task. Finally – a big thank you to Leszek lejgo_inc for taking the photos. The mind-boggling task of preparing the final pics was my share. Beginning of 1960s, RAF Finningley. Waiting for the sunrise. The overall view. The bottom side – airframe from 230 OCU depicted here just started getting dirty. A couple of details. Thanks for viewing and best regards, Marek

Thank you gents! I think JB-2 was only slightly updated version of the original V1. Russians went a bit further with their 10Kh aircraft. Hope that Brengun someday will scale down to 1/144 their offering of Chelomey 16KhA in 1/48. Regards, Marek

Hi, A small blast from the past. The model represents JB-2 Loon, #902 belonging to the newly formed USAF, Alamogordo proving grounds (later Holloman AFB), New Mexico ca. 1948. The launcher with RATO bottles, front propeller, finer surface details and engine pipe plus its front support were scratch built. The wing was also repositioned - moved to the rear a little bit. It was my first approach to the glossy white paint (Gunze Sangyo C series) and it is a bit overdone. The panel lines (in fact welds) on the engine were drawn with very sharp pencil on matt Olive Drab paint and then the whole thing was weathered with artistic oils. First, a photo of the original airframe: Source: The Internet A few shots from production hall... ... and the final result: Enjoy! Marek

An utterly amazing build! If one takes the sheer size of 1/72nd scale Spruce Goose into account, the attention to the detail is simply amazing! Skin wrinkles, hollowed and thin-walled air intakes, perfect glazing, realistic lights and a perfect paint coat! A museum quality model, congratulations! The build process photos are also worth looking at! I second that! Regards, Marek

Just a small suggestion - there is no U-boat type XXIII in 350th scale on the market. AFAIK only this and types X ('cruiser') and XVI ('milk cow') are missing from WW2 U-boat portfolio. The documentation is widely available - would you consider preparing such kit by any chance? Regards, Marek

Speaking of 144th scale RAF D-type roundels decals - Mark I comes to the rescue. Avialiable also at Hannants. Regards, Marek

There is also a nice selection of Brengun Lanc accessories for 144th scale A-model kit: - bomb bay - flaps - vacformed transparencies Regards, Marek

I think they did: http://www.anigrand.com/AA4046_XB-46.htm If you look at the usual bonus kits - B-45 is one of them. Regards, Marek

Definitely. It is the same style as Argossy Warpaint. I have both books on my shelf. Regards, Marek

Lovely! As the Argossy begins to materialise - may I suggest next subject? HP Hastings would be a welcome addition to your range. There is an excellent Warpaint book available too. Regards, Marek

The GWH kit has jet pipes for 200 series engines and they seem to have proper dimensions. There is one glitch however - you have to skew them a bit outside to resemble the original. I did that in my Vulcan (I stick to pure 200 series XH556) - I sanded down the outside part of the jet pipes base and delicately bent the outward pipe to the outside. As to the 300 series - you may try to sand down the business end of the respective jet pipes to shorten them. Regards, Marek

I went through my books as well as through info published on the Internet and this is what I found about Blue Steel anti-flash Victors: - GWH kit depicts B.2R (retrofitted) airframe with correct longer wingspan of 120 ft (36.6 m), Kuchemann carrots and the largest fin root intake - the kit allows relatively easy build of the following airframes (of which I have found pics): XL158, XL162, XL164, XL511 and XL512 - the best photographed airframes are XL158 and XL512 - always with the missile underneath - Aug 2006 issue of SAMI magazine contains very detailed Victor drawings prepared by AL Bentley - there is an information that when the missile was not carried the bomb bay opening was covered by fairing stored inside of the bomb bay, there is also drawing of Blue Steel bomb bay fairing. - three photographs taken on the ground show this fairing being actually used: XL162 (Aerofax p.117), XL164 (Aerofax p.141) and XL511 (Warpaint p.15) - two Blue Steel related details are missing in the kit: heat exchanger fairing on the bottom of the plane and the ECM 'warts' on the tail cone. - in this thread there is an interesting info about covering the lower part of air-refuelling probe with pale blue paint - it is visible here on XL158 - several pics of XL512 in flight with Blue Steel missile are showing darker area on the bottom of the forward fuselage - a rectangle between dielectric radar fairing and the front gear doors. What colour could it be? Or maybe was it left in natural aluminum finish? This area is darker also on camouflaged Blue Steel airframes. - the air deflector in front of the bomb bay seems to be made of solid parts in case of Blue Steel airframes. The perforated parts are visible mostly on B.2SR camouflaged machines. - all the anti-flash Blue Steel Victors seem to sport only rear antennae mast on upper fuselage. It is usually dark (black?). The railing and the front mast are not present on period photos. - the decals supplied by GWH are unusable in case of anti-flash Blue Steel Victors. 26 Decals have anti-flash Vulcans and Valiants in their 144th scale offer. They also do have the anti-flash Victor but only in 72nd scale. Anyone has an info about possible 144th anti-flash Victor decals? Regards, Marek

Thank you! Good to see the Polish Aviation Insitute (IL- Instytut Lotnictwa) SP-GLK markings included. Looking forward to the kit release! Regards, Marek

Looking good. The canopy transparency seems to be a bit thick but there will be a field for vacu 3rd parties. It seems like the box would contain two kits: one-seater plus two-seater. Are the markings chosen already? If so, could we take a peek please? Regards, Marek

Any chance for its version in 1/350 scale?

Scale is very, very good! Please, keep'em coming! Yak-15 and -17 in the 144th scale would also be great. Two-engined Yaks -25, -27 and -28 family would be even greater! Any ETA on the 23rd?

Is there any chance for those late Lavochkins in 144th scale? BTW - any news on Yak-23 in the same scale? I have seen this Yak as a one of the future production items in your catalogue. Regards, Marek