SpasmoTrout

Thanks all! Dennis - the big FREIES DEUTSCHLAND decal came as one big unit... I chopped it into two words to make it more manageable, but, on reflection should have gone a bit further! The decals really stuck when they were applied and I lost some of the E in trying to move the thing around.

Base kit is the Eduard 1/72 FW190A-8 which I'd started a long time ago. I had the Karaya 'Captured Butcherbirds volume VI' in the decals stash and decided to use one of the schemes on this to resurrect the project. Technically, the scheme is for an F-8, but since it's a bit of a fair-fetched What-If anyway, I don't mind. The scheme depicts a aircraft captured by the Soviet Union in 1945 and repainted as a propaganda machine for Kommando Seydlitz, the unit of German Communists. According to the Soviets, whole Staffel of Germans defected to the Soviet Union and fought under General Seydlitz, who'd surrendered at Stalingrad. Post-war, this was revealed to be, topically, FAKE NEWS. The captured aircraft is an FW190 of IV./JG 5, Herdla Norway, Spring 1945, improbably captured by the Red Army. They painted out the Balkenkreuz on the upper wings and fuselage and replaced them with red stars, and the swastikas on the fin with an RAF roundel (for some reason). the lower Balkenkreuz are painted red and FREIES DEUTSCHLAND (Free Germany) is stencilled on the lower wing - presumably to encourage others to defect. The kit is Eduard's 1/72 ProfiPack edition, to which I added Brassin resin wheels, Brassin resin gun barrels and Brassin resin exhausts (which are a waste of time, effort and money as they are invisible!). All brush painted with Humbrol and Tamiya, and sprayed with a matt coat - slightly overdone on the wings, but it's left a nice satin sheen. Anyway, enough blah - pics: http:// http:// The canopy is on a little wonky - i need to fix that obvs. http:// http:// The E in DEUTCHLAND went a bit mad for some reason. http:// Proof of exhausts! They are there, honest!

I did make a start on some exhaust blanks but I can't cut out the shape to save my life! And I didn't even know about the gust cover thing! Might give them both a go if I get time.

Airfix's new 1/72 Sea King HC4. I added Eduard's internal etched set (bit of a waste IMHO); canopy masks; RBF tags. I scratch built the sand filter cover (to cover the worst bit of the kit - awful sand filter decals) and the rotor socks and tie downs. The etch set seems a bit pointless, as it takes about three weeks to fit all 27 seats with seatbelts, and then they can't be seen anyway... The build was a bit fraught - when I unmasked the canopy I could see a could of spots of less than perfect paint coverage. And i ruined two rotor blades trying to introduce droop. Luckily Airfix supply enough blades to do either folded or out, so only needed some minor surgery! And I'm not even going to mention the decal silvering issues! Here 'tis! The canopy could do with some tidying up I think I decided that Airfix had clearly intended the featureless tail fold to actually be a FOD cover...! Sand filter tarp. DOH! Thanks, Steve

Nice kit - i like the coverage of the blue paint. On the micro sol/set note i find a matte coat usually helps (and it hides some of my brush strokes too!). Spasmo

I have to confess to 'cheating' with the rigging... I glued it to the tops and bottoms of the struts before I attached the wings. Seemed to work pretty well, although you can just make out one of the lines on the port wing has gone a bit slack. Also, my advice to anyone else making on would be to attach the control wires to the elevators as the very last thing - if you do it too early it's almost impossible to move the thing around! Hats off to biplane modellers - I have a new respect for them, and I can see the attraction as well now!

Airfix 1/72 BE2c and Skunkworks 1/72 MQ-9 Reaper, both in 39 Squadron RAF markings. The BE2c is as flown by William Leefe Robinson VC in 1916 when 39 RFC were a home defence squadron, and the MQ-9 is as flown by 39 Squadron currently, also from the UK, but with a very different mandate. The Reaper is surprisingly massive. The MQ-9 isn't my best work - the lack of interior means it really goes together quickly. A little too quickly in fact and it's a bit of a mess. Luckily, there are two kits in the box, so I'll crack on with the other at some point. The BE2c is a very complicated kit for it's size IMO. My first attempt at rigging a biplane and second attempt at a WW1 aircraft. I'd give it another go though. The rigging is Uschi van der Rosten Rig That Thing Superfine, and is held on with superglue and swear words. Both brush painted with a combination of Tamiya, Gunze and Humbrol colours. Thanks for looking. Spasmo.