Motty

Thanks very much again for all your kind comments. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks very much for all your kind comments everyone. Glad you like them. Cheers, Motty.

G'day All, Here are my latest completions. A pair of 1/48 Tamiya Mosquitoes. They are both based on the B.IV kit, with varying mods. They've been sitting on my "shelf of doom" for about 15 years or so until I was inspired to get them done for our local club's theme build for this year of "Twins". The PR.XVI was awarded third place in the member's choice comp too. The PR.XVI has resin engines and a vac-form canopy from Paragon (they've been on the go for so long that the engines were designed to fit the Airfix kit, because Paragon hadn't made any for the Tamiya kit when I started them! ) and the B.IV Series II has a bulged bomb-bay, also by Paragon. But it was originally just a solid piece of resin, depicting the doors closed, meant to be fitted to the underside of the fuselage. It has been hollowed out and built up to show them open. The main markings on the PR.XVI are all masked and sprayed, which is the first time I've tried this, and I'm pretty happy with the results. The markings on the B.IV are a combination of kit decals and Fantasy Printshop codes and serials. The normal Tamiya canopy has lines on the inside to allow you to represent the internal framing by painting them. But the vac-form version for the PR-XVI didn't, so I decided to do it by actually builting the framework under the canopy (I don't think I'll do that again 🤪 ) They're not perfect, but at least they *are* finished! 😁 Thanks for looking. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks again for the kind comments. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks very much everyone for your very kind comments. I'm glad you have enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Here are some dodgy phone pics of the cockpit during the build. Thank you again. Overall I say it's a pretty nice build. Lovely detail and good fit. There are some very fine parts involved in the undercarriage too. The trickiest part I found was working out the best way to approach the intakes assembly process. You need to install the intake trunking and engine face before you can assemble the forward and aft fuselage parts, then leave the intake assembly loose so that you can also get them to best fit into the wings when you put them on. (This description might make more sense when you look at the instructions). Also, when adding nose weight during the build, be aware that, if you are also going to fit the outboard tanks, they will also adversely affect the balance. Luckily, there's enough space in the back of the ejection seat to add a bit extra to fix that near the end. Thanks again everyone. Cheers, Motty.

G'day All, Here's my recently finished 1/32 Revell Hawker Hunter done up in Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) colours. It's mostly out of the box with scratch-built Singapore-specific antennas and inboard pylons added. Paints are Gunze lacquers (camo), SMS (metallics) and Gia varnishes. The Singapore-specific decals are a combination of laser-printed examples from SozoPlamo, in Singapore and an Aeromaster sheet. The airframe depicted was the last Hunter delivered to Singapore and was on display at a local museum here in Australia for a few years in these colours. More recently it was moved to another museum a couple of hours away and has been repainted in RAF colours with its original RAF serial (XF460). I hope to be able to donate this kit to the museum where the airframe now is, to represent its Singaporean service. Happy to pass on other info and pics if anyone is interested. Cheers, Motty.

Oooh, nice. It would be awesome if they did the same markings as the latest Italeri release, but I guess that's unlikely. Cheers, Motty.

Actually, I've just noticed on the markings guide, that the green on the upper surface of the elevons should extend further outboard too (to roughly in line with the outer edge of the roundels), and the blue and white calibration circle should be lower down, almost touching the green (or you could leave it off as it was only applied for a relatively brief time). Cheers, Motty.

No worries. Yes, the kit is fine. I already have a couple, although I haven't built one yet. I could easily be tempted again though. Especially if they can fix the artwork. It's a lovely image, just the wrong version. Cheers, Motty.

Yes, there should be two pitot probes in front of the windscreen. (I'll try a link instead of a pic?) And, no, that "nib" on the tail in the colour scheme plans is not meant to be there. Cheers, Motty.

G'day. WRT the artwork. The forward fuselage looks like a IIIC (the fuselage is shorter, so the intakes extend under the cockpit, whereas the IIIO/E had a longer nose, so the intakes finish at the back of the cockpit). And the tail cone is too long. More like a IIIC I think. The IIIO/E is much shorter in this area. I don't seem to be able to insert images from my web site into the post to be able to show this? As for the Nose. A3-2 used a few different types but, basically, the one it is shown with in that artwork was a metal, "dummy" version (no radar) which had a few vents and panel differences to a normal radome. It also used other versions of the same style with openings for cameras for recording various tests. Cheers, Motty.

Cool, one of my favourite RAAF Mirage schemes. Although I hope they fix the box art before release. It would be great if they included the unique nose cones used on that jet, but unlikely I guess. Also, for info for anyone interested, the original colours were BSC colours, not FS. That's not to say those FS numbers given aren't a good match (they do seem very close to my eye), just puting the info out there. Cheers, Motty.

Fotios Rouch's build on Cybermodeller has some useful info: Tamiya 61055 1/48 Douglas F4D-1 Skyray Build Review (cybermodeler.com) According to that, the Tamiya kit has the late rear-end but an early Douglas seat. Fotios' article also links to Tommy H. Thomason's site which has a good description in one of his blogs, here: Tailhook Topics: Bat out of Hell (tailspintopics.blogspot.com) Res-im do a replacement rear end if needed: F4D-1 Skyray Early Aft, RES-IM 4805 (2013) (scalemates.com) I've got one of these so I can do the Utility scheme on mine. I hope this helps. Cheers, Motty.

Thank you very much for that link. It has led to a treasure trove of images of Invaders in the Utility scheme. Amazing and very interesting stuff. Cheers, Motty.

That's an impressive piece of artwork. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks very much. I look forward to following your progress with this project too. Cheers, Motty.

Well, if you need reference. ... Hope these help. Cheers, Motty.

Just to rub salt into the wound, I've just been sent an email, kindly letting me know that the kit in question (which they allegedly don't have) is now on sale if I'm interested. Cheers, Motty.

G'day All, Thanks for your comments and suggestions. To possibly clarify a couple of points. The price of the kit itself has not been the issue. That has remained consistent. Yes, money was actually debited from my account but, yes, there was also a full refund. No issues there. I understand that I'm probably giving it more concern than it's really worth. I just find it offensive that they're (I believe) lying to me about why they won't fulfil my original order. It's not as though it was an absolute bargain either, as the landed-price was right in the ballpark of what I would expect to have to pay for that kit. Also, if taken at their word that they genuinely have no stock, even now, as I type this, they still have the same kit advertised on ebay as "6 available" a week and a half after telling me they had none. They're a fairly well-known name too from what I see, Not some dodgy fly-by-night operation. Anyway, again, thanks for your all feedback. All valid points. Cheers, Motty.

G'day All, I couldn't really see anywhere else more suited to this, so I hope it's ok here. I'm in Australia and looking for advice or thoughts about an issue I am currently having with an online UK retailer. A week and a half ago I found that a UK Retailer was advertising a specific (rare) kit that I wanted. I sent an email asking if they were definitely in stock and how many. The reply was, Yes, in stock and a few left. That weekend I placed an order for three (two for me, one for a mate). The order went through fine, money was charged. All good. A day or so later I get a notification that my order has been cancelled, saying, Sorry, but somehow our system was faulty and we don't actually have any left. Money refunded. I asked how this had happened seeing as I specifically checked before ordering. But, basically, they said our stock system didn't register them properly and we're fixing it. They also said they expected a restock in the future. But things started to look a bit Suss. While looking into it further, I also found that they have an ebay shop where the same kit was still listed as "1 left". I tried ordering from the site again and the system would now only let me put 1 into the basket. But, when I went to see if I could still get that 1, the postage rate had changed. When I ordered 3 previously, the postage was 30 Pounds. (total), but when I went back to see if I could even order 1 (after they had "fixed their system"), the postage was now nearly 80 pounds for 1! They didn't answer my email asking If it was still possible to buy 1 and why the postage rate had changed. Then, this weekend just gone, I see that their ebay shop shows "6 available"! The thing is, this was a one-off release, earlier this year Only available by pre-order from the manufacturer (retailers included) and never reissued. So they couldn't have had a restock. And, when I went back to the shop, I could now put 3 in the cart again, but, again, the postage was now 110 pounds! So I believe the issue is really that their system screwed up and might have charged me the wrong postage but, rather than admit that, they lied about not having any stock. Their latest email, which arrived as I was typing this, still insists that they're having issues with their system and that they don't have any stock. But the ebay page still showing "6 available" (which would be an issue with ebay if they don't actually have what they're advertising) and the sudden change in postage rates makes me *highly* suspicious of this. They're also insisting that new stock is on the way next month. I believe they should have supplied the kits as, any error in their system was not my fault, and they've since lied about it. I've got screen shots of my order refund which shows the original postage and another of three in the cart afterwards showing the higher rate. I've also got a shot of their ebay page saying "6 available" as well as the emails saying it's about stock, not postage. What are your thoughts on their behaviour? Am I entitled to demand the goods be supplied at the original rates? Do I have a case to make a formal complaint against them in the UK? Thanks for any advice you may have. Cheers, Motty.

I've finally had success! I contacted the team via the facebook group and, after a bit of looking into it, one of the team was finally able to get the validation email to get through. Thanks for your time and help here too. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks very much again Chris. @Mike, I've been checking my spam folder on my provider's site and haven't seen anything turn up there. Edit: I didn't think about checking via their facebook page. D'oh! I'll look into that after work if nothing has happened by the time I get home this afternoon. Cheers, Motty.

The F-35 definitely has visible RAM panels. It's just that they are reasonably subtle, and the type of paint used has a huge effect on how visible (or not) they are depending on how the light hits them. They are very visible in these shots for example,, and look pretty close to just how Tamiya has depicted them. And yet, same jet, same day, same time and light, but a slightly different angle and, MAGIC, they're almost invisible. Just because you can't see them, it doesn't mean they aren't there (much like the jet itself ). When I watched a video of the kit being reviewed recently, as the fuselage parts were being moved around under the lights, they did much the same thing. From several angles it was hard to make out the RAM details in the grey plastic at all then, just as the light hit it the right way, POP, they stood out like the proverbial. Without actually holding one in my hands yet, from what I have seen, Tamiya has done the best job yet of depicting the surface details. And other modellers that I know, who work on them, generally agree. Cheers, Motty.

Well, it's been another couple of days, I still haven't heard from anyone at ARC and I'm still locked out of my account. Cheers, Motty.

Thanks very much Chris. Cheers, Motty.