Aims

Also missing is a crew ladder, fuel dump outlets and locking arm for forward facing MG 15. And finally the aileron actuators are 1/72 scale instead of 1/48. I only point these things out for the sake of sharing, I loved putting this kit together, I think it goes together very well and the soft plastic is a joy to work with. As a kit it is just inconsistent throughout - you have a 5 piece construction of the radio operators seat with amazing detail - sat on just a slab of plastic at the lowest level of the cockpit floor - you have amazing engines hiding behind radiator faces with next to no detail on engines that just blend into the gear bay. It is all very strange but I also note that in my opinion the clear parts quality and how they have been designed to kit to the cockpit is actually superior then the Revell 1/32 kit. Anyway that is all I have to say - I will be buying another one asap

Hi Everyone, I put my ICM kit together last week and enjoyed the build very much, just a few more issues to point out so that you can fix them if you so desire. When building you often notice things that you could not when all the parts are in the box and indeed there are more things to be corrected or added. The gear bays are too rounded and should be flatter as per Dragon 1/48 kits and Revell 1/72 and 1/32 kits. This has the knock on effect of have a slight arch in the gear bay cut out instead of straight sides for the hinged doors. No door actuators are provided. There is also no actuator for the Gondola hatch / bola.

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Well my own little group build is at an end although I am tempted to buy an Airfix Tiffy and a Falcon canopy set with a car door style canopy in it as i would like to make at least one Tiffy carrying bombs but it really is not a priority. Finishing off this bird was not the easiest of tasks and I could not get a nice fit of the canopy which was itself not that nice to begin with. I really did not enjoy making this Pavla kit and given that I did not use the kits decals anyway and i could have got a much better after-market car-door style vacform to use on an Academy or Airfix model - that would have been the best way to go but never mind - I finished a limited run kit which weighs a ton. Thanks to everyone for looking, thanks for all the kind words and remember - build the kits you start and put away and forget about!

Cutting a 1/72 vacform canopy into 5 pieces is no fun but that is what is needed if having the door open! Painted on some black acrylic to make the interior framework and to help show where I need any filler which I indeed need and will do latter, Will use decal strip in the exterior colours to finish her off tomorrow I hope.

Well on to finishing the last model started 6 years ago and forgot about - and the one I am least happy with. The kit really is a bit of a dog requiring a lot of work - more than I have done. The after market Master gun barrels and Resin Simple spinner and props and Quick Boost exhausts save it somewhat and the decal scheme is attractive but it still looks and feels to me like a 50 your old Frog kit. The vac form landing light covers are usable but opening up the thick plastic wings much earlier in the build to get them to fit right put me off. I never thought I would be using sellotape again for landing light covers in 2016 but there you go! the small lenses were from Little cars. Note that in the photos of Lallemant's Tiffy - and indeed other Tiffies in this Sqn - the red band on the spinner is much lighter than the red used in the roundel. I used RLM 23 and am happy with the clear difference. the leading edge large 'Ds' are also the same tone as the spinner red whilst the background of the small badge is just as dark as the red of the roundel - in fact I would think it more like the dark blue of the roundel but I have only darkened the red on the decal rather than change the colour.

The spiral is on the Eagle Strike decal sheet

last lot

Although I think Tiffies look great in gloomy shots I just took some more pics in better light

Thanks for the compliments guys, much appreciated

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Well 3 down one to go!

Been a bit busy but got the Flatt Varnish on and a little bit of weathering, all my efforts taking off the PR-D codes were a waste of time, the codes are a little bigger than the standard 24" ones and the only replacements I had that were the right size - (9.5mm tall) were on an old Almark sheet but like I say the whole exercise was pointless as the codes are now darker than the fuselage band but at least more green than blue. In hindsight the thing to do was to re-paint the fuselage band to better match the decals not the other way around - silly boy pike. Anyway everything will just have to stay as it is now.

Well I have had a success and a catastrophe - could have been worse haha! My measurements for MR-? worked out well - only needing the Eagle Strike 'MR' codes to be dissected and placed a tad closer together as per photographs and the they fitted perfectly into the simple style 13mm wide window on the right side. As for my Car Door Tiffy PR-D using the Techmod decals what can I say other than o for a time machine! One of the reasons why I had not used one of the very nice kit decal options was due to the overly blue colour of the kits Sky codes. The Techmod rendition of 'Sky' looked much closer to both the Xtracolor enamel and Aeromaster acrylic that I had so went ahead without too much concern. On applying them I found they split very easily if needing to be moved around to much but with everything in place it was not onto backed on the I noticed that the colour was not the same as my sprayed on Sky band. No problem as this sheet contained a Sky band decal but on putting it on it broke into 5 or six pieces almost immediately so that option was out. I also saw that the serial numbers were too small compared with side photo although the decal option drawing shows it correct. finally the wing leading edge red 'D's were both the wrong size and style. I have since almost ruined the model drying to pick away the codes in order to use some replacements - having tried first to place new decals over existing ones without being able to get a close match and so once I have repaired the damaged paint work i will put new decals on - same option as do not want to take badge off as well. These things happen!

A lot of masking just for two little models - I hate it erhhhhhhh

I hate masking! Well both Tiffies ready for the upper colours - it making sense to paint these two at same time due to all the black and white ID or Invasion stripes. Ok I know photo of MR ? is poor quality and I see others have done things differently and indeed the Eagle Strike decal instructions are different again and show fuselage invasion stripes differently to in photo but looking at photo of crashed MR+B I am doing a simple 'window' showing the upper colours at the rear of the fuselage roundel. My simple window is basically the height of the code letters and the width of the 2x middle stripes. This to my mind bearing in mind the two photos mentions works and there is enough room on the right side to but the 'MR' to the rear of the roundel - not in front as I have seen on some models. All the other 245 Sqn photos I see show MR as I intend to do it.

whoops my mistake

Deleted - No Traders.

Been a while since someone called me 'Sir' many thanks to all. Its too hot here to do anything more - need a typhoon to cool things down lol

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Well another one finished. I used the Eduard Zoom PE set, Almark, Kit and Model Decal decals and a mixture of acrylic paints. I obviously did not bother to make depth of gear bay correct or hollow out back wall but it can be tarted up a far bit just with wire and the few parts on the Eduard Zoom set to take away the eye from these errors. Pitot tube and spinner / props was Quick Boost. I had to use kit canopy in the end as all the vacs I have were too wide and were perhaps designed in the days of the Heller kit. The kit sliding hood was altered at the back to have a sharper point in the centre rail area like in the Academy Typhoon kit. Note the C-1 lower wing roundels as per 3rd Jan '45 2 Taf specs. I just used some Johnsons clear painted in the area of where the sky fuselage band had once been to give a hint of darker fresh paint and painted some specs of Sky around the seriel like can be seen on SA-M. It was great to have this old Almark decal sheet and its comprehensive stencils which are fantastic although I used the red stencil for indicating the emergency canopy ejection and latter learned from another source that this was only applied on overseas aluminium aircraft haho! Model represents aircraft of Warren Schader RNAF in the clossing weeks of the war when he claimed 7.5 victories in this aircraft and 2 victories in two other machines (SA-M and SA-V) ending his tally at 11 and 2 shared. Posted to the United Kingdom on completion of basic traning, he joined 165 Squadron at the start of 1942. Following a summer of uneventful sweeps and patrols, he was posted to Malta in March 1943. On arrival he joined 1435 Squadron, flying a variety of operations, including some fighter-bombing attacks on airfields in Sicily. Despite operations during the Sicilian landings, little was to been seen and the Squadron moved to Brindisi on the Italian mainland at the start of November 1943. He had still not had an opportunity to engage an enemy aircraft, although he had become commander of A-Flight during July. On 12th of that month however, he was able to destroy an S-79 on the ground at Valona airfield, Albania. It was during this month that the squadron re-equipped with Spitfire IXs. With these new aircraft success at last arrived on 17 December, when Messerschmitt Bf 109Gs were engaged over Albanian coast, Schrader claiming two shoot down. He was to share in the destruction of another on 3 January 1944, and was awarded a DFC in April. His tour ended early in May and he was posted as an instructor to 71 O.T.U. at Ismailia, Egypt. Returning to England subsequently in early 1945, he transitioned to Tempests and was posted to 2nd TAF, joining 486 (NZ) Squadron at Volkel in Holland early in March as commanding officer. During April, as the Allied armies advanced across Northern Germany, he enjoyed a tremendous run of success, claiming nine and one shared in just three weeks.

Haha if I use the flash they turn salmon pink!

Watch Indiana Jones and the last Crusade - I think there is one in that film