KLP Publishing

I’m pleased to announce that our very first Build Guide, Building the Wingnut Wings AEG G.IV Late in 1/32 Scale, has just been updated to v1.5. And to celebrate, for the next 7 days, we’ve reduced the price to a mere 12 Australian dollars! For the curious, this update includes a few typographical tweaks, some minor layout improvements, and a couple of upgraded images. This a free update for all existing purchasers, and of course new purchasers will always receive the latest version of any of our books. In order to obtain your free update, simply re-download the book using either the original download link in your Order Confirmation email, or log in to your KLP account and download it from the Downloads section of your profile. If you don’t have either, please contact me and we’ll sort it out. Kev

I'm pleased to report that I can finally declare this one finished! The livery decals are from V1 Decals, and the cockpit windows and wing root landing lights are from Authentic Airliners Decals. The two VHF antenna blades are from CRM, while I scratch-built the red anti-collision light. I must say, it's quite difficult to photograph a mostly white object against a white background! But my coloured backgrounds aren't big enough to accommodate the low-down shots, unfortunately. The model has a lot of flaws, but I'm still really happy with the way it turned out. Now to finish its Welsh Models stable mate! Kev

Our largest title, Building Race #80 Spitfire Mk XIVe in 1/18 Scale, turns 6 today! And to celebrate, for the next 7 days, we’ve reduced the price to just 18 Australian dollars. So hop on over to our webstore and grab yourself a bargain! Kev

Man, this thing is really crawling towards the finish line! Originally I'd hoped to have it done by the end of March, but here we are nearly two weeks later, and I'm still trying to nudge it across the line. I've finally got it up on its legs, but can't for the life of me work out how to attach the y-shaped support struts to the main landing gear. Doesn't seem to work whatever way I go about it, and the instructions are no help at all. Here's what the Minicraft instructions give you: After examining some photos and renders of the real thing, it's clear that Minicraft has this whole arrangement backasswards, and it's nothing like the real thing. That's just not achievable using the kit parts, so I just fudged it as best I could: Stuff like this is a good reason to do airliners wheels-up! Kev

I’m pleased to announce that the next title in our Build Guide Series will be Building the Airfix Gannet AS.1/AS.4 in 1/48 Scale, by Gary Boxall. We are in the preliminary phases of developing this title, so stay tuned for more news and information! Kev

I’m pleased to announce that our latest title, Chevron and Cross: Camouflage Paints and Camouflage Schemes of the Royal Hungarian Air Force, is now available! In this 417-page eBook, author Károly Magó covers the camouflage paints and schemes of the Royal Hungarian Air Force from inception until 1945 in forensic detail. Using historical photos, original documentation, and extensive primary research, the author sets out to answer the following basic question: “whether the Hungarian Air Force had used Hungarian or German standardised colours and shades to paint the aircraft”. Along with extensive discussion of the subject, the book features over 200 photos, dozens of original source documents, period advertisements, and colour comparisons using salvaged aircraft pieces. Written with a modeller’s eye, the book also includes 46 colour profiles by Viktor Szalai. The book is available now for immediate purchase and download from the KLP website for 25 Australian dollars. Kev

Oh man, that was a nightmare! But I'm pleased to say that masking and painting the lower surface Coroguard panels is now done. It's far from perfect, but will certainly do as a shelf-sitter. Once I've dealt with a bit of overspray, it'll be on to the final stages of completion. Kev

I've just finished masking and painting the Coroguard panels on the upper wings and tailplanes: I used SMS Dark Gull Gray here, which turned out to be a pretty good match for the decals, though a tad lighter. Still have to do the lower surfaces, which will be an altogether more complicated process. Wish me luck! Oh, I elected not to repaint the engine pylons in light grey, as I realised after starting the masking job that it was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought, and really not worth the bother. Kev

Today—31 March 2024— is the 7th anniversary of the public launch of KLP Publishing, and to celebrate, we’re having a 20%-off sale on all titles! Simply use the coupon code 7YEARS at checkout to receive 20% off the value of your shopping cart. That coupon code again: 7YEARS The sale runs for 7 days, and ends 7 April 2024. I’d like to thank all our customers and friends for a great 7 years, and especially for the amazing support we’ve received since taking KLP Publishing full-time in late 2021. We have many great titles planned for 2024, so stay tuned for more news and information as it comes to hand! Kev

Thank you, sir! Kev

Gloss coating done: I used Alclad's Aqua Gloss, which I generally reserve for those occasions where I'm concerned that a solvent-based clear coat might affect the decals - which is the case whenever they're laser-printed, like here. I'll leave this for at least 48 hours now, before going anywhere near it with masking tape! I've also discovered some errors and omissions, some of which I also plan to attend to. The most visible one is that I got the colour of the engine pylons wrong. I assumed they'd be white like the engines themselves, but they are in fact the same light grey as the wings, so I'll be attempting to correct that, at least. Kev

Happily, the FCD Coroguard decals came off without much trouble at all: The next step is to give the entire model a couple of liberal gloss coats to protect the existing decals and paint work, and then it's on to some tedious masking... Stay tuned! Kev

These Coroguard decals are going to have to come off, unfortunately: They're like that all the way along, on both wings. They reacted badly to Microsol, and no attempt to fix them has yielded any results. The uppers aren't in great shape either, and haven't even had any Microsol yet. I had exactly this issue with this same decal brand (Flying Colors Decals) on a 767 build from 10+ years ago, so never again. I'll strip them off and mask and paint them. And sadly, I'd already applied the underwing registration discussed earlier, so it looks like that will be wasted, too. Quite bummed about this, as it was all going quite well until this point. But then, it isn't really one of my builds until something like this happens... On the upside, the decals on the bottom are out of position anyway, and not necessarily a very convincing colour. But what to paint them with? Kev

Awesome! Thanks for that. Tom Probert also confirmed this position for me, but it's nice to have a photograph of it. Kev

And here's the promised update! Decalling done on Ed Force One: I've taken the photos against both a white and a charcoal background, since each offers a slightly different perspective on the model. The only decals left are a pair of stencils for the nose wheel doors, and a registration decal whose placement I can't determine: My best guess is that it's supposed to go under the outboard end of the starboard wing, but I can't find a single photo that confirms this, so will probably just leave it off. Just need to deal with all the wrinkling now! But very happy with the way this is turning out. Kev