Silverstone 2

I've had this Heng Long Tiger for a while now. It's always struck me, that with a few careful mods this could look far more authentic and realistic with the correct colour scheme, weathering and markings. So The Bovington 'Fury' Tiger is what it will be! The stock - Heng Long: Apart it comes: All the individul pieces are going to be detailed as authentically as per the Bovington Example. Now The Base coat:

Bought this as a desk-toy for my brother, Revell Easykit Looks a bit toy like when finished, so at the request from my brother, I made it look more authentic by detailing it and re-spraying the entire thing. Before: The Process: NOW:

Thanks, I'll need to do some weathering on the 2 Tie Fighters, look a bit too clean now Phil

Here are the pictures of the long awaited ISD. I actually finished this colossal item 4 weeks ago. Just haven't had time to get any photos done. Ideally i'd use a decent SLR with a proper back drop sheet. The last details to go were the vertical antennas on the deflector shield tops. The MF & BR still need final paint and detailing. so i will finish these this week. Weighs in at 23Ibs here goes:

Hi Matt, You are right, Gunnar versions definetley look like history now. I've looked at the Schumo/Aber combo you are talking about. Looks like Aber's smaller Muzzle brake of the H King Tiger L71 go very well with the Schumo, and yes that is becoming hard to find. Couldn't find any links anywhere apart form 'Frontline' in the US. Maybe i'm going to have to pull something smart off the original, another challenge. As for the KT progress i'll post some pics today. I'm also in the progress of repainting a Heng Long Tiger 1- (Bovington )Colour scheme. I'll be posting pics of that too. Phil

Been going a bit bonkers recently, too many projects on the GO at the moment. Luckily for me the majority is now finished. Recently all Star Wars related. Picked up this AMT ERTL Tie fighter set, enjoyable build but extremely time consuming on the solar panel deflectors.

The ISD is now finished. I'll post Pics on the Ready for Inspection Thread. Blockade runner still needs final paint and detailing. MF cockpit detail also not quite finished yet. Phil

Hi Matt, Looking good! I will post soon pics of my KT build so far, tomorrow. Glad you have started up yours again. I have a question regarding the Gunnar Janson metal barrel. Do you know where I could get hold of one or at least a good quality H turret L71. I'm sure I could make the kit one come up nicely but I feel this huge tiger is crying out for a decent turned barrel. Phil

Could be interesting? I do have a HL tiger also, which I'm modifying to the famous Bovington example from North Africa. Detailing could be an interesting project for a Jagdtiger, although interior detail work for HL examples is another matter. Thanks for the link. Phil

Hi Matt, The King Tiger build has now started up again, after finishing of the ridiculously large ISD on the real space forum! I'll post some Pics soon, basically finished the gun and recoil mechanism and have started on the H-Turret interior. After the KT I'm planning on building the HB 1/16 Tiger with plenty of mods, I feel I'm on a roll with this AFV stuff is super fun and makes a nice change from aircraft. Phil P.s. still wishing for a Jagdtiger in 1/16, the Tamiya 1/35 will have to do for now

Wish Trumpeter would do a 1/16 Tiger or even Jagdtiger or Panther. The King Tiger IMHO is absolutely amazing bit of engineering as models go. After that's complete I'm doing a HobbyBoss 1/16 Tiger with zimmerit and all the corrections. I'm really enjoying the Trumpeter model, and after the inspiration of WOT by Wargaming I've started AFV building as well as aircraft. Panzer IV is a welcome addition

That's a must! Looks like this will be significantly better model than the old/recent Hasegawa offerings IMO, and probably half the price? There BF109 G6 was great!

Looking good, sure those ejector pins will all be gone in the final release? Haven't built an HK model yet but I have there B-17G ready and waiting, possible the "Sentimental Journey" scheme is what I'll go for. I am very impressed with the HK model's crisp moulds and I particularly like there detail and accuracy, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. although the ISD is still to be finished. not to mention the huge King Tiger Phil

Some Film Pics: The MF on the back of the Command bridge.

More updates, I've addressed the detail issues by scratch-building in areas, and i'm happy with a consistent result on the upper and lower hull faces now. The Trenches have also been cleaned up to remove seems. There were quite a large number of casting bubbles that also needed attention. This detailing phase has taken up the last 2 weeks. The thing with resin (white chocolate) is that these imperfections cant be really seen until painted. I completely re-built the top rear hull join to make things meet up correctly. I used MillyPut before but this is not strong enough and plasticard strips gives a much crisper edged line. The rear detail is much better for it. The Millennium Falcon, lots of painting & Detailing still be done here but the casting is very good IMO. The scale is pretty accurate too at 33m long it is actually 1/4 the length of the Blockade Runner's 120m length. The Blockade Runner - Still lots of work to be done here also

More pics soon, just cleaning up some details and a bit of panel line re-scribing at the moment. The ISD has had 2 coats now and is looking very clean, after some addressing of panel lines. I will get some pics of the in-scale Blockade Runner and MF too soon. Thanks for all the great comments!

Perhaps, Shame they are not releasing the bomber or PR MK.IV version with the glass nose this time round. I did enjoy the Airfix 1/24 Version a great deal. Maybe again?

Does look good! I liked the Airfix 1/24 version a lot too, although slightly too big when finished as it's a twin. 1/32 Version looks like a must, also looks to be much more detailed than the Airfix version. Nice idea on the canopy internal frames. I really hope HK release the Lancaster also, was hoping for it, this year . I have their amazing B-17G and there Do-335 still awaiting build

Here is the finished 1/32 Fw-190 finally. Been engrossed with the huge ISD and the 1/48 Mosquito. Also doing a commission build on a resin car, which is seemingly difficult to get the metallic finish i want on this Marcos car. Started this build a while ago, originally the A-7 Bar, but no longer: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968984-hasegawa-132-fw-190-a-7-bar/ Now:

The model ISD worked out to be just over £400 + shipping which was about £90 then there was the import duty. Cost of build is around £100 so far. All in all not shy of £600ish. It's on a queen size bed. It is expensive and has taken more time than anything else I've built but strangely the ISD results are the most satisfying out of any build so far! Phil

Update time, here is last weekends progress: Head is still dry fit only and so are the main 3 engines. This facilitates easy handling during the airbrushing process. 1st gun emplacement: Just 7 more to go, extremely time consuming on the prep and sanding front! The painting has revealed all the tidy-up that is necessary IMO to make this model look authentic as possible. Some Scratch Building: I've now sprayed the head again after re-working a lot of the detail parts. Also all the trenches are now attached and the hull displays the re-addressing of the detail areas......a lot of work I've also finished all 8 gun batteries now. The Millennium falcon i'm currently working on (only 18mm long ) along with the blockade runner is also underway to complement the ISD. More updates soon

Painting has now commenced! The entire hull and main structure has had its first coat today, looking good but this has highlighted the areas that still need some tidying-up! Overall I'm very happy at the moment with it even after 4 hours of airbrushing and about 50ml of paint used already. There is going to a couple of days needed, devoted completely to surface refinement. I will post more pics as they become available. I cant handle the main hull yet until the first coat is dry. Thank you for all the great comments. Phil

The Star destroyer on eBay is indeed the Anigrand version. 1:2250 scale and only 27" long. So quite small in comparison the 38" Randy Cooper version. Yes you are right the blockade runner is small in comparison but only 120m long in life scale, vs the 1.3 mile long ISD. I will not be using Fibre optics in this model, although it might look convincing to various degrees with the lights off but it detracts from the authenticity and the model detail. Also I intend to be looking at the finished Star Destroyer in daylight or with the lights on. There have been plenty of good attempts at interior lighting on Sci-fi models but to me they always end up looking less real and more like toys in this case. A bit like making a perfect 1/32 Aircraft with weathering and washes and then having LED nav lights or landing lights? Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement on this build, I'm looking forward to progressing a bit further with it this weekend. I do have a Millennium falcon for this too, which I will make detachable from the rear of the main bridge.

There will be more to follow shortly, quite busy this week. So next update will be at the weekend

I'll be removing the molding mark on top of the deflector shield radome!