aeroplanedriver

The wings glue on to large tabs (I had to remove a considerable amount of plastic in the wing slots to make them fit). Really what made the greenhouse look better was to put a copious amount of CA on the tabs and then squeeze the greenhouse together with the wings while it set up. Agree 100% Trevor...seems like this is a kit that is just screaming for some 21st century attention from Mr. Airfix. Here are a few pics that I think show it off a bit better I think.

You're right, it's the Gavia kit I think. Eduard made a few changes to the base kit from what I read. Apparently on the original kit the wing struts were too short. The fit FAIRLY well on this one. Still took some fettling, but they were an appropriate length. The Eduard bits were a nice PE fret and some resin, though a good bit of the resin and PE is for detailing the guns, which are not installed on my build. It was a frustrating kit in that it COULD have been so much easier to build. The fir of the clear parts is my biggest complaint.

So lets just start by saying I remember one of my very first kits way back c.1977 being a Matchbox Lysander, and I've loved the aircraft ever since. Now that I build almost exclusively 1/48 it was only a matter of time before I sprung for Eduard's Lysander Mk.III Profipack. In the box the kit looks nice enough with a few bits of resin and some nice PE, mostly for the cockpit. With a fairly low parts count (most parts seem to go in the cockpit), I decided to give it a shot about a week ago. A few days later I was ready to chuck the damned thing in the bin. It really is not a great kit. The are zero alignment pins anywhere on the kit. And while detail is nice, especially in the cockpit, but it just wanted to fight me at every step. Once it came time to fit the 5-piece greenhouse canopy/windshield affair and the associated wing carry through I decided it was time to pack it back up and find a less stressful hobby. But after a few days at the coast I decided to power on through and see what I could do with it without putting in too much frustration. So here she is. Kit decals for a 161 Sqn machine in 1942 were used, because I like the SOE machines, but didn't want to do the all over black scheme also included. I masked the grey/green with Silly Putty for a hard edge and if I'd been in a better mood with it would have done the same for the black, but the example hanging in the main hall at the Smithsonian Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum Annex seems to have a softer edge on the black, so masking was skipped and I freehanded it. It's not my best build ever but I am glad I followed through and now have a good "4-footer" of one of my favorite WW2 aircraft on the shelf.

Thanks!!

Finished this one this past week for a One Week What If GB. Spent three day on it and I'm pretty happy with the result. I changed up the Rafale's needle nose to a blunter nose (the nose of the kit external tanks is a perfect fit for the nose) to change up the look a little. Paints are Hataka and Vallejo Model Air acrylics. Decals are a potpourri from the spares box with the national markings coming from an Academy Hunter. I cut up the tail code to represent what would be a representative tail code if the Rafale is selected for the F-5E replacement. Backstory is pretty simple and not too much of a stretch. The Swiss are currently in the final stages of a competition to replace the F-5Es and eventually F-18s. In the running are the Rafale, Typhoon, Grippen, F-18E and F-35. They ran a competition back in (I think) 2011 and the Rafale won on technical grounds, but the budgetary decision led to the Grippen being selected. The purchase had to be put to national referendum though, and it was voted down so the whole thing was cancelled. It seems this time replacement is becoming more of a pressing issue so it should happen. This is my idea of "What If" the Rafale wins the order. I loaded it up with AIM-9X and AIM-120 missiles for the QRA role to keep commonality with the existing F-18 fleet instead of using French missiles.

Beautiful job!! Excellent work on the exhaust especially. The P-40 is one of my favorites! (Thats me flying one in my profile pic!). 👍

Tamiya's gorgeous Beaufighter TF.X built OOB except for some wine bottle foil to give the seat belt decals some body and some kabuki tape painted red for the cannon trough covers. This was a very enjoyable build and my first attempt at the hairspray method of chipping paint. Since my reference photos of this particular aircraft showed it pretty dirty I made her look a little war-weary. The Mossie certainly has her beat in looks and performance, but there is just something about the Beau that I've always loved since I built an Airfix or Matchbox one when I was about 9 I think.

Worst icing I ever saw was an April day at 5,000 descending into Cincinnati, Ohio. Even in the Dash 8, which lived up to Canadian heritage and handled ice beautifully, we couldn't keep it shed. I think it's the one time I reported severe icing. Airframe ice is weird stuff. the thoughts of flying around over the North Sea with no ice protection is...thought provoking. But at least the engine cowls wouldn't ice up! lol

It was called "Killfrost". The company is still around and still make modern aviation anti-ice fluid. Heathrow use it as their standard Anti-Ice fluid. I read a blurb about it long ago that I think said it had a yellowish/beige tinge.

Great pic and info! Thanks for posting that. Clearly I don't have to be too worried about over weathering.

My current build is a Tamiya Beau...I'm fitting it with rockets and have read that rocket armed Beaus had a sheet metal cover fitted over the landing light in the last wing to prevent damage from the rocket exhaust. I can't see to find a pic of how this should look? Crude thing riveting on or a formed cover resulting in a near-flush leading edge over the light. Anyone ever seen this or a reference to this?

I have a similar tale of buying one of these around 13-14, like you I rushed it a bit, but was still happy with it. I have one in my stash now and had planned on building it as a retirement present for one of my bosses who flew F-16s in the Colorado Air National Guard, but COVID hit and he ended up retiring without much fanfare. One of these days I'll get to it. Such a fun kit and a nice break from aircraft models, while still being an aircraft model.

AMRAAMS weigh about 350lb each. BAe flew the 200 with about 8,000lb of ordnance during their sales push. I think it would do fine with a pair of AMRAAMs. Normal RAF Hawk T.1s flew with loads far more than this build too.

Well here she is done...my 11th COVID build! HobbyBoss 1/48 BAE Hawk 200 as a "What If" Irish Air Corps Seabhac (Irish for Hawk). Backstory involves Putin's Russian Bear awakening a little earlier than in the real world, with Russian Air Force and Naval forces probing NATO territory on a regular basis. The RAF are stretched to the limit and facing an ever shrinking budget. Many of the Russian Bear flights probe the western defenses of he UK, resulting in a lot of Tornado and eventually Typhoon scrambles being sent to defend Irish Airspace in accordance with a long standing agreement. With RAF Air Defense assets stretched a clever bod in Whitehall hatches a plan to fund the Irish Air Corps from the Foreign Aid budget in a tidy little arrangement that also benefits BAE as the Hawk production line is looking at a diminishing order book. Financed by the UK the Irish Air Corps received 14 Hawk 200s and two Hawk 100s in 2006. The aircraft operated through a bilateral agreement with the UK that saw close coordination with the UK air defence network as well as refueling assets. Pilots did initial training alongside RAF counterparts though the two 2-seat Hawk 100s and a simulator at Baldonnel allowed for most training beyond initial pilot training to be carried out in Ireland. OOB build except for a scratch built HUD to replace the pathetic kit piece, AMRAAMs and rails from an F-18E, and chaff/flare dispensers from an A-4E since the kit has nothing to represent these at the rear of the box at the base of the fin. Colors are Hataka Barley Grey on the lower surfaces, Vallejo NATO Green and British Dark Green on top, and a Light Ghost Gray radome. Decals are from the MaxDecal Irish Air Corps 2005-2010 sheet for the national markings (mostly form the PC-9 markings) and stencils from a mix of the kit decals and a XTradecal RAF Hawk sheet. This Seabhac (local name, Irish translation of "Hawk") is shown as it would appear on QRA. Once the Irish Hawk force was integrated in the UK Air Defense network the IAC kept two fully armed Hawks on QRA at Casement Aerodrome just south of Dublin. Normal QRA fit included two 190 Gal external tanks, two AIM-120 AMRAAM and two AIM-9M Sidewinder AAMs and a centerline ADEN 30mm cannon pod with 130 rounds. This aircraft, 272, was the third single seat Hawk delivered to the IAC, joining two single seat Hawk 100s that were part of the 14 aircraft deal. Weathering is minimal as the IAC ground crews take great pride in keeping their Seabhac fleet in tip-top condition. In addition to their Air Defense role Irish Hawks are cleared to carry a variety of Air-Ground ordnance including CRV-7 rocket pods, 500lb freefall and GPS guided bombs, and AGM-65 Maverick missiles. In the hands of IAC pilots the diminutive Hawk 200 proved to be a viable warplane. routine DACT exercises with RAF aircraft saw many gun camera shots of Tornadoes and even occasional Typhoons in the Hawk's sights. A late 2020 upgrade program funded partially by BAE Systems, will see integration of the Meteor and ASRAAM AAMs and the Brimstone ASM as well as the PIRATE IR sensor system. Overall this was a fun build. The kit isn't bad, just not up to the Tamiya quality I've got used to with recent builds. It took a little filler at the fuselage join aft of the cockpit and at the wing roots and the underfusealge wing-fuselage joints, but not a whole lot. I'm not all that happy with the kit seat. It builds up as a fairly generic looking seat, so next time I see a good deal on a resin MB Mk.10 I'll likely replace it.

Beautiful job! Welcome!

I was in the mood for another WW2 build and realized that in a lifetime of modeling I don't think I have ever built an BoB early Spitfire. Plenty of later ones but never the iconic Mk.1 in brown and green. This is an old Tamiya 1/48 Mk.I that I got cheap on eBay after the new mold kit was released. It's not my best build ever, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. After Tamiya's Tomcat last week it was nice to build something with 40ish total parts and less decals that one AIM-54 in the last build! Totally OOB except for a stretched sprue antenna (tightened up with a little heat since the pics were taken) and a little foil from a wine bottle to give the kit seat harness decal some body. Kit decals were used, except for the wing walk boundary lines which were airbrushed. Some red from an unused roundel for the other kit option was used to make gun cover patches. Paints are Vallejo for the green and Hataka for the brown and Sky. Again, not my best ever, but for a 72 hour build I'm very happy and it looks nice on the WW2 shelf. Spitfire Mk.I, RAF 610 Sqn, June 1940

Nice job! There's just something extra cool about a UK Phantom!

Thanks! The one just north of North Yorkshire!

My latest COVID build...this one took two weeks instead of the 4-5 days I've been averaging in lockdown. Well worth the extra time and effort though. I really gorgeous kit and a lot of fun to put together. The build is OOB except for Eduard seat details and the canvas covering of the RIO instruments being replicated with Tamiya tape.

Here is my Bandai 1/12 Stormtrooper converted to a post-Imperial era Bounty Hunter. The kit is nice and easy and went together in about an hour, but out of the box the joints are very toy-like, so I decided to take my first foray into figure modeling a bit further. I filled in the joints and all other black areas with milliput in an attempt to give the appearance of some kind of jumpsuit garment under the armour. the armour around the abdomen is also replaced with a miliput garment. The guns both came in the kit (along with the typical Stormtrooper Blaster, but I thought three might be overkill). Pretty much everything else is scratch built. The white Comlink on the belt is the fin end of a Mk.82 bomb. The holster is foil from a wine bottle formed around the blaster, superglued and trimmed. The various pouches are all milliput, the flares in the right leg strap are jut bits of stretched sprue and tubing. Whatever kind of weapon/accesory is mounted on the right arm is just a bit of styrene stock and some PE scraps. The thing on the left arm that looks like it might extend into a vicious close combat weapon is a daisy cutter fuse from the bomb that donated it's rear end for the Coms. This fella's story is that after the Empire fell he needed a job. Bounty hunting seemed a good line of work in the outer rim, and it beats moisture faming or rancor keeping so he gave it a shot. The tally marks on his right arm show he is fairly new to the job, but doing well. The Corellian Bloodstripe running under the holster on his left leg hints at a heroic past in the Corellian military before his Imperial service. I guess that's enough backstory for now...he is busy on his way to find a much hated Gungan with a lot to answer for...

LOL.. The ankle joints were particularly toylike. More like an action figure than a real model. After a few attempts at making them look better I decided on covering the whole damn thing with what I prefer to call gaiters than leg warmers. Though I must confess the same thought struck me.

Taking a break today from my Tamiya Tomcat to celebrate Star Wars Day with my first figure model since doing a few when I was a kit. This is Bandai's 1/12 Imperial Stormtrooper. It went together out of the box in about an hour and looks nice enough. But on close inspection it shows it's simple construction and movable limb with lots of ball joints where human joints should be. I decided to make this trooper a post-Return Of the Jedi trooper now just trying to make his way in the galaxy. This would be roughly the timeframe of The Mandalorian and he is trying to make a name as a bounty hunter... I filled in the joints and all other black areas with milliput in an attempt to give the appearance of some kind of jumpstuit garment under the armor. the armor around the abdomen is also replaced with a miliput garment. I'll be scratch building some suitable accessories for a bounty hunter and his armor will be painted in a scheme a little less conspicuous. It's been a fun build so far...very different than aircraft modeling. Our (anti)Hero straight out of the box eager to volunteer for some typical Imperial turkey shoot. Some of the joints, revealing the more toylike aspect of the kit. Starting to fill in with milliput to make it looks like armor over a jumpsuit. The milliput sculpting got easier as I went and was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon with Star Wars on the TV. And l here is the day's progress on my Trooper turned Bounty Hunter. I also worked on some weaponry...he has quite the arsenal, which I can hopefully reveal with the competed model tomorrow. But for tonight he is mostly painted. Another coat on the gray jumpsuit under the armor tomorrow and then on to some weathering and a little color for some bounty hunter flair as well as his accessories and weapons.. A man's got to look the part after all...

Gorgeous! I have very fond memories of building Monogram's "Biplanes Of the 30s" kits when I was a kid after we moved to the US in 1980. I think I got them at the local department store (a pretty dismal place) for about $2.00 each. Seeing this build actually motivated to go on eBay and find them all at a good price.

I have about 4,000 "interesting" and occasionally "eventful", but mostly great fun, hours flying Jetstreams. LOVE seeing them in plastic. Would give anything for a nice J31/32 in 1/48.

Here is my seventh build in exactly one month. At the rate I'm going I'm going to need; A) A bigger house with more display space, and B). Counseling when life returns to normal. Kit is the ProModeler (RevelloGram) 1/48 early F-86D. For the price the kit is amazing. Not QUITE as good as new Tamiya stuff, but not far from it. only filler on the whole build was a tiny dab of gap filling CA on the fuselage spine. Paint was my first attempt at using Vallejo Metallics for anything more than details like exhausts and landing gear. I'm fairly happy with it, and I'm sure I'll improve with practice. Decals are from ScaleMaster and I was surprised at how much MicroSol it took to get them to really settle in. The large fuselage markings never really did settle into the panel lines like I would expect from aftermarket stuff. Still, it looks good on the shelf so I'm happy with it for a four day build.