Courageous

Cheers Martin. There will be a Sabre involved and I reckon it'll have to be a Sabre on its tail. White ceiling...clouds. Can anybody spot the mistake?? To say it was 'DOH' moment would be an understatement. I should have masked the centre area of the canopy after I had fitted the border !! Surely I can overcome this little hiccup ? The canopy was carefully removed and I tried to remove the AS12 and primer with various cleaning agents that were on hand. It sort of worked but unfortunately the agent had reacted with the plastic and made it cloudy like for. Not to give in to this issue, I broke out the Micro-Mesh pads and worked my way up to the 12000 grit and gave it a little brush with Klear. Not as good as the original but better than throwing the build in the bin. Masked the canopy again, properly this and gave it quick coat of AS12. To add a splash of colour, I decided on an a/c that was based in Korea, 1951. Masked and painted the nose area with Mr Hobby Aqueous red, nice. The scheme shows black wing walk ways but are supplied as decals, so areas were masked and painted with Tamiya black. Stuart

Fantastic job Chris and the backdrop sets it off nicely. Well done. Stuart

The underside are. The main areas of work were forward of the wing where there was a dip that needed building up and the area aft of the radiator outlet which was missing, so plasticard and filler are needed. The radiator intake shroud was pinched from the donor kit but needed widening to fit. Also built up the propeller using the donor kit hub and the kit boss & blades. Stuart

With the undersides done, it was time to fit the canopy bits, cannons and mask up. Primed with a light sanding. Ready for paint. Stuart

I have the same kit, so it'll be interesting to see how this builds. Stuart

Nice work Martin, very colourful. Stuart

Great stuff...looking pretty. Stuart

With the S.55 being completed in the 'Twins' GB, it's time to get back the MiG... This stage was the fitting of the undercarriage doors to the closed configuration and a fiddly job that was too. The wing doors were all oversize, so needed a little fettling to fit. With them in place, it was time to tidy up the gaps around the doors. Stuart

Cheers guys. I think I over did the enthusiasm with having so many builds on the go that I hit a wall. I've finished the S.55 in the 'Twins' GB, so now I can get back on to this racer. While the fuselage was sticking, I turned my attention back to the wings and having decided to drop the flaps, these were cut away from the wings. With a bit more fettling, the wings were attached to the fuselage. All the joins need seeing to, so that will be a few cycles of the filling, sanding and priming. Stuart

Thanks for the praise Craig, much appreciated. I like to add a figure or something for scale, a base helps too in my book. Stuart

Cheers Martin, much appreciated and yes, I consider this variant ugly too but I think that it's just the boring grey, now a pretty red one... Thanks for the praise. I think it was the engines that attracted me to this kit. And to think that if there were any inflight engine issues, the poor mechanic had to get up there and fix it! Stuart

Here all. Here is my recently completed build of a Savoia-Marchetti S.55 Torpedo Bomber of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana using the Dora Wings kit in 1/72 and was built as part of the World War 2 Twins GB. Built out of the box with only a figure and rigging added and mounted on a sea base. Build log here: This thing is big for me, taking the space of 4-6 of my 'normal' sized subjects... Stuart

Here is my second build for this GB: Savoia-Marchetti S.55 Torpedo Bomber using the Dora Wings kit in 1/72. Build Log here: Stuart

Endgame... Decaled rudders attached. Tail assembly with booms attached. Engine mount assembly, propellers and the mechanic fitted. Also fitted the open cockpit windscreen. Job done. Thanks for @81-er & @modelling minion and their regular flybys and other visitors throughout this build. Glad this is done, time for something smaller. Stuart

A splendid job there Chris. Glad the oil wash worked out well, looks fabulous. Stuart

Getting closer to the finish line... Like the underside, the topside of the wing has its PE bits and control wires fitted. The 4 off MG's have been fitted at the gunners positions. Stuart

Looking very smooth Jeff, good work. Stuart

I've never seen built models of these two classes, will be interesting to see how these build. Stuart

Having recently completed Ace's Centurion Mk.5, I'm looking forward to seeing how Vespid's Cent scrubs up. Looking good so far. Stuart

Stunning. Stuart

Nice. Stuart

Cheers guys and yes, this small PE does test your resolve and your eyes. With the underside complete, i decided to put it onto the base and secured with PVA. The gaps around the pontoons will be sorted later. I've made a hole ready for the anchor rope. Engines, oil tank, radiator and associated pipework fitted. Another fiddly job, particularly when fitting the front engine as the radiator needed to be fitted at the same time. It didn't help that the hole for the propeller wasn't central in the radiator, so that needed to be sorted. Stuart

It's the miles Terry, nothing worse than back pain. Chin up. PE control horns and cable guide rollers fitted. Those PE rollers are 2 disks, just over 1mm dia, they were a right pain to clean up I'll tell you. Uschi thread is used from control horns, round the rollers and down a tube, a hole in my case. Underside nearly complete. Torpedo sitting in its holding clamps. Underside now done. Next step is to fit this onto the base and work can be done on the top. Stuart

Fabulous work there Rob, looks stunning. Sea base if looking great too. Stuart

Very nicely built. Nearly picked one of these up today, deep box full of plastic. I've enough kits, so better not. Stuart