specky

Hi guys, unfortunately, this one has come to a screeching halt due to the disappearance of the cockpit glazing. After a dip in Klear, it was put to one side to dry for a few days, but yesterday when I was ready to fit it - Gone! An intensive search last night failed to locate it and another look this morning in better lighting has also failed, so whilst I will continue to keep my eyes peeled and tread carefully, I'm not holding my breath on being able to continue. Hopefully I can avoid the same dramas with my 110's! Craig

Thanks for that walk-through Phil, my local model railway shop stocks Woodland Scenics stuff, so hopefully he can help me out with some 'snow' - at the start of June! And thanks for the heads-up on the camo. Being somewhat colour blind, I really struggle with 70 & 71, they look almost identical to me! Craig

That is very nice Philip and exactly what I'm aiming for. If you don't mind me asking, what did you use to simulate the snow on the base? Craig

Hi everyone, despite the fact that the bench is liable to collapse under the weight of stalled/unfinished/abandon builds, I couldn't resist this one..... ....efforts to postpone this until the MTO GB have failed! Pleasantly surprised to find this all over the sprues.... ...but it seems like something of an oversight based on the effort that Revell went to when removing all mention of Matchbox after acquiring those toolings. I will be finishing it in this option... ....which includes an application of, I assume, temporary white over large portions of the upper surface - looks like fun! Craig

Hi everyone Since my 'body-clock' seriously let me down this morning by forgetting the Bank Holiday and I found myself wide awake at the crack of dawn, how was I going to spend the bonus couple of hours at the bench? Working on the growing pile of on-going builds? - No, that would be too easy! Instead, I've made a start on a new one. The Airfix 'C' is the least impressive of the pair and will require the most time - so best I get started. Cockpit. out of the box.... ...and after a couple of hours fiddling around with plastic card, stretched sprue and whatever..... ....much better, although I probably should have checked to confirm the configuration of a 'C' pit, rather than just copy the Eduard 'E'! Still loose to make it easier to paint, so ignore the 'BluTak' More to follow Craig

Hi Matt, the glazing is pretty dire on this as well, all the fuselage windows have shocking sink marks and the windscreen is way too small for the hole, but the wings fit together reasonably well! Scalemates list it as released in '63, but the box says 'Designed an tooled in 1961', but either way, its still blinkin' old, but as you say, a bit of fun Good spot Radleigh and I only noticed it was missing whilst previewing that first post - but rest assured, it was found, loose, in the bag

Hi everyone Intrigued and inspired by Matts (S5 modellers) trip to the 'Dark Side' with his 707 build, I found myself handing over a number of perfectly good drinking vouchers in return for this..... Although I've never travelled in a Vanguard, I do remember the Viscount very well and if you squint a bit a lot, there is a hint of a family resemblance. Bigger than I was expecting, but not exactly 'cutting edge' and further research shows that this kit is older than me, just, tooled in 1961! Although I'm not anticipating too many dramas, there are only 75 parts and 6 of those I wont be using, any tips, advice and suggestions will be gratefully received Craig

Hi guys. Well...I had my doubts about the suitability of PE for such a comprehensive cockpit rebuild and despite giving it a fair chance over the weekend, its just not happening for me. Folding tiny bits of brass into tiny box shapes is just so 20 years ago, on top of which, so far, nothing actually fits where and how its supposed to! So, in a slight change to the advertised program, the brass is being put to one side for the time being and plastic sheet will be used to create the revised, and hopefully more accurate structure, then the best bits of the PE, and there certainly are some, will be added to dress it up. More soon...ish Craig

Hi everyone. Due to commitments on another GB, I'm not anticipating much, if any, progress on these builds for a couple of weeks, but here's the box shots to get things started. Eduard.... ...mmmm, nice..... or is it? Lots of detail and lots of finesse to that detail, but there are some quite obvious omissions - the 'towel rail', lower rear fuselage, for example, which, it turns out, is on the PE fret, not included in the Weekend edition - rats! Canopy framework is exceptionally fine and is crying-out for a mask set, but again, not included - double rats! Without a doubt, ProfiPack is the way to buy these kits! Airfix.... ....O dear! You might think it a little unfair to compare these side-by-side, but its worth remembering that they retail at more or less the same price, so either Airfix are being a little greedy, or Eduard are selling themselves a little short, but I know which one I would buy, every time, given the option! The plan is to put some effort into the Airfix kit and try and bring it up to something close to Eduard standard, but without 'cheating' by just throwing pots of money at it, but having said that, this might have to make an appearance.... ...I'm not a big fan of vacform, but the kit glazing really is an issue. More soon....ish, Craig

For some reason, it sticks in my mind that Revell and Zvesda share the tool for the 1/72 version - but I could easily be wrong!. Either way, sadly this one is 'straight-up-and-down', which is a shame, but its excusable, I suppose, given its age and it'll only be an issue if I look at it from head-on!

Hi, me again. Although it doesn't seem like much, removing the surplus plastic from the cockpit moulding proved to be a rather time consuming exercise.... ....Eduard really don't help too much with their instructions regarding exactly how much is to be removed, but since its plastic, it will be easy enough to build up if I've gone too far. Interesting to note the size difference with the seats... ...offering up one of the figures suggests that Revell were rather generous when tooling those 'arm chairs' More to come Craig

To be fair, the delay is very much down to you, since it was you who put me onto the chap selling this stuff! Anywho, slightly disturbingly, Edward will have you chopping most of the cockpit away..... ...I think that will require the assistance of Mr Dremel in the AM, but if it all goes horribly wrong, at least I have a second kit! In the meantime, just to make it feel as if I'm making progress, some soldering has occurred near one of the seats Some clean-up still required! More to come Craig

Been there !!

Hi everyone So, the postman has finally decided to deliver this second kit.... ...US market?, with alternate decals, which is nice, but far more importantly... ....some pretty much essential after market. Although I'm not convinced PE is the most appropriate medium to represent some of the internal parts, it still promises to be a major improvement over the kit plastic. Finally, ready to get started! Craig

Nice! My favourite version of the Stuka, especially with those tank busting cannons. I'll be taking a seat for this one, if you don't mind Craig

Hi again, so....as I was returning the rejected potentials for this GB back to the stash, I stumbled across this little rascal.... ...and I cannot for the life of me remember why, where or when it got there! I built one of these 5 or 6 years ago, shortly after it was released and all I remember was being thoroughly underwhelmed - terrible glazing, ridiculous panel gaps and an almost comically simplified cockpit - not one of Hornby Airfixes best efforts! However, the Eastern Front decal option caught my eye... ...so, with the vastly superior Eduard kit as 3-D reference, I should be able to scratch-up enough junk to create a reasonable 'pit plus it looks like there's enough 'spare' glazing to cover this and, if nothing else, it will be useful as a paint mule to test my 'white-washing'. Looks like a double build is on the cards! Craig

You've got my attention, that's for sure! Craig

Hi everyone Not the most original choice of subject or kit, I admit, but if I don't grab it, someone else will.... ....a weekend build? - I'm not so sure about that! This will be the scheme... ....an attempt at a 'winter white-wash' is the whole point of this build Cheers for now Craig

For what its worth, I think the picture on the sheet is wrong.... ...from one of my 1/72 Revell C6 kits - seems to match your part M11 much more closely than C5 Craig

Regarding your request for dimensions, I only have the 'night fighter' kit to hand, but the cockpit floor (part a2) is 35mm long - the zoom has distorted it relative to the ruler What I would suggest you do is visit the Revell website, select downloads and the construction manual is available to view, in this case kit #04856, which will give you plenty of references regarding the general layout, shapes, etc. Looks to me like the night fighter was a 3 seater : pilot, radio/radar operator and a third to look after the weapons(?) because there is a fold-up jump seat in there. Craig

Yes! and it does work a treat - dries in a fraction of the time of oils - win/win! Craig

Don't worry, I shall be shamelessly hijacking hints, tips, tricks and advice from everyone who has been foolish enough to put anything out into the public domain - including yourself ! Revell appear to have done a remarkably good job with the kit, since it was tooled in 1986 whilst these things were still at least semi secret, so - well done to them! Already, I've hit a bit of a drama with the motors, The very visible seam on the inside of the exhaust nozzles is going to need some thought. Maybe cut the nozzles off? so I have access from 'inside' and outside to blend it. Craig

Wow! I think we could be in for a treat here if the rest of the build is anything like the recovery on that seat! Keep it going Craig

Hi everyone, with progress on the T-72 slowed to a crawl, its time to fire-up this beast... .... purchased with the Helicopter GB in mind, but when I checked and saw the East German decal option, I decided to save it for this one. Even with the 'too short' tail, its still a big old bus.... ... but looks simple enough, which is handy since I know absolutely nothing about 'choppers'! Cheers for now Craig

Hi everyone. So ...now I'm beginning to remember why I drifted away from this scale/subject all those years ago - trying to attach tiny bits of PE to plastic by nothing more than a butt-joint is, quite literally, a pain in the butt! Some progress has been made, and this is by no means all of it..... ...but it is painfully slow and spectacularly frustrating. An 'out of the box' build would have been virtually finished by now, but this kit is from an era when fine detail was in rather short supply and since it does benefit immensely from every extra part that goes on, I'm reluctant to just give up with the 'improvement program'. The plan now is to by-pass build #2 (another AFV) and jump straight into #3, whilst continuing to potter about with this in the back ground. So, updates as and when there is something worth sharing! Cheers for now Craig