Lee Chambers

I have the 1/72 Trumpeter Fencer E version to build soonish, I think it should go together much easier than the old 1/48 version, but it does look nice in this scale if you have the room for one.

Have you checked out the final reveal yet?

Thanks !

Cheers Dave.

Thanks guy's, it my first large jet model since returning to the hobby in 2014, after a 30 years gap. I hope to build more aircraft in the future.

Cheers Steve, best of luck building the original version, at least you won't have to swop the exhaust over like the movie version has.

Hi folks, I am calling this Algerian SU24 done. They seem to prefer in-flight refuelling, rather than strap the huge fuel tanks under these birds, so I just went with a light load out that my reference book showed. Also, stencil dated seemed to be rather sparse around the fuselage compared to the Russian flown versions. Overall, it was a great build, the Aires cockpit was slow going, but after that it went together pretty well. The nose cone was left open to display the radar equipment and I scratched built a few extras to fill the void in the nose, I call it recalibration test equipment, just some detailing to give a bit of visual interest to that area. The kit is known to have some inaccuracies, especially the rear engine exhausts are too wide apart, and hence the FOD covers mask this issue. Thanks in advance for all your comments and interest.

Out of the box build Paints used - Tamiya Hi all, I am calling this highly recommended kit done. Yes, if you want to fill your swear box up in record time then this kit will help you achieve it! Poor instructions and some parts that had not a prayer of coming close to fitting made this a frustrating build at times. However, it's my first go at building a biplane and rigging one. I admit I used some wrapping wire with the insulation stripped off it to rig the model, not sure all of it looks in scale, but the kit had parts that also looked a little out of scale. Weirdly I would build another one of these kits, as I have learned a lot about how they go together and I fancy building the Airfix Tiger Moth in the future. In the movie the plane appears brand new, however at this scale; it needed a little weathering to stop the "toy like look". I have to thank the ghosts of Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who I am sure gave me the will power to complete this build. I have included some stills from the movie of the plane flying over the African landscape, I hope you enjoy your flight. Happy modelling.

It's the same with the Polar Lights 1/350 Star Trek Enterprise Refit kit, adding all of the lighting and airbrush work involved to get the look of the motion picture studio model is easily 6-12 months work, like any project you really have to be focused and want to get it built. If there's any doubt by all means sell it on.

Thanks !

Thanks everyone.

Hi folks, well I am calling this done, I ordered some replacement shield generator towers from Shapeways, as the kit resin items were a bit fragile and crude in details compared to 3D printed ones. I also ordered a Rebel Blockade Runner and some TIE fighters that were about the size of a grain of rice! The tiny Imperial Shuttle did come with the kit, I wasn't too sure how the final display would be presented, in the end I opted for the traditional captured Blockade Runner from the original movie opening scene. But I had a bit of fun photographing the various options. Happy modelling and may the Force be with you! Finally, if you want to see the work in progress of this build, click the link below. I've also created some videos to compliment the model.

Hi all, here is the final paint scheme for the ship. I wanted the top deck area to have a bit more detailing, so I took a chance on adding loads of very thin vinyl tape over most of the top decking area, this was sprayed over with Tamiya LP-35 Insignia white. Then the vinyl stripes were removed to reveal the black lines, trust me it looks better later! Next, I got my local vinyl cutter guy to make up 12 masks panels; I had drawn out the panel shapes from a plastic template used for plumbing fixture plans. I then set about airbrushing hundreds of the panels, first with a mix of AK Real colors RCO21 Pale grey, mixed with Tamiya XF-2 Flat white, thinned with Rapid thinner. I then added a few panels sprayed with a mix of AK real colors RC003 White grey, mixed with AK RC221 ADC grey. This gave a warm white/grey tone. I then sprayed a thinned blending coat of Tamiya Flat white mixed with ADC grey. Next, I sprayed a thin coat of AK RC508 clear smoke, in the areas like the side trenches to give a slight shadow effect. The whole ship was sealed with AK RC502 gloss varnish mixed with 50% rapid thinners and left to dry overnight. Then I sprayed a few light coats of Flory Models grey weathering clay wash. This gave another blending coat. Once this had dried, I only lightly removed it with a damp cloth (old T-shirt). I then spent a good few hours, cutting back all of the fibre strands with my new Tamiya PE scissors; they were ideal for this purpose. I then gave the ship a final coat of Alclad II ALC 313-60 Matte clear, mixed 50% with rapid thinners. Some highly thinned 502 Star Ship filth oil wash was gently brushed into areas, such as the side trenches and deck sides/rear engines, to bring out all of the detailing. Once dry, a quick check to make sure all of the lighting was still working, which thankfully it was. Overall, I am delighted with the look of the ship; it’s got a bluish grey tone to the overall colour, but changes to a very light grey in bright lighting. The panelling I think looks in scale with the ship, and the lighting in person looks amazing. Next is to fit all of the wiring and control boards into the base and then mount the ship on the base stand.

Hi all, here is an update on the build so far. After installing almost 300 metres of fibre into the ship, I added the engine bell lighting. I used 5mm warm white flickering LED's in the 3 large Ion engines and 5mm cool white flickering LED's in the 4 small thruster engines. After double checking all of the electrical connections, the top and bottom of the ship was clamped together for a test fit. Once I was happy with the test fitting, I marked up some reference lines with a red marker pen. I had scraped all of the mating surfaces and used JB Weld slow setting epoxy to glue both sections. The clamps were left in position for 16 hours for the glue to set. Once the clamps were removed, I found a few areas that were slightly out of shape, so I used a flat blade knife to separate the joint slightly and a few shims of styrene sheet will be added to square up those areas, but it was no big issue. Then I test fitted the upper tower section, made up the power connections and used 15-minute epoxy to glue the tower in place. I have added a couple of lighting effects boards into this build. They ramp up the 4 thruster engines and give the effect of jumping to light speed, this works by a quick push of a momentary switch button. I have 7 multi coloured SMD's installed into the lower bow section which with holding the momentary button down for 1.5 seconds bring an 8 second flashing sequence that mimics the lasers firing as seen in the beginning of the New Hope original movie. The lighting boards also give some random slow blinking SMD’s in the side trenches of the ship. The lighting still has to be refined and toned down to a more scale like look, but overall, I like it. Although it may not, please the purists! I need to put the project to one side for a week or so, before I begin the painting stage. So, I can work out what paints and colours I will use, happy modelling.

Hi all, here are a few pictures showing the progress this week. I crammed 190 metres of fibre into the top decks including the separate bridge decks and another 90 metres into the lower hull section. The fibre was held in place with PVA glue. I have used cool white LED's for all of the lights on the top part of the ship, with a sprinkle of red LED's here and there. For the lower hull, I have used warm white LED's with a sprinkle of orange LED's in the side trench areas. The hangar backs have warm white fibre, with some blue LED's to fill the main decks and hopefully when painted in the light grey scheme it should give off a nice glow to both bays. I ran out of solder this weekend so I wasn't able to wire up all of the fibre on the lower hull, I should get that done next week. The lower hull has about 3 times more lighting than the upper hull, mainly due to the side trenches, but it really needs it in that area. Overall, I am happy with how the lighting is looking so far. Bye for now, and happy modelling.