Mike Dean

My next offering in the Matchbox group build is the two-seater Starfighter from 1986. Bought a while ago as a "no box, no instructions, no decals, cheap as chips", decals (with instructions) were acquired for a few pence so we're good to go. The eagle-eyed amongst you will have spotted what the cheapskates at Matchbox did with most of their two-seaters in the late '80's. Instead of adding another ejector seat and pilot, they replaced the existing pilot with a second ejector seat. Hence, no pilots. Thankfully, they had deleted the stand by then, so we were spared aircraft up on stands, wheels up and no pilots. I have some spare Matchbox pilots, so they'll feel right at home. However, Matchbox added wingtanks to the two-seater, something that they missed off the single seater. Silver fuselage, white wings and some snazzy USAF decals, and that'll be your lot. This isn't going to take long (what am I saying..........?).

Here is an OOB build I acquired many years ago (with missing windscreen!), alongside my group build. I forgot to mention that I changed the licence plate to 620 WJH to match the real example shown up thred.

Those white markings on the missiles are going to be a bummer to paint. Sorry about giving you extra work, but it does make for a more interesting model. Is it going to be "wheels up"? If so, be careful with the stand and CoG of the plane fully loaded. It's a dodgy balancing act with clean wings as it is. You might have to move the stand slot.

More pictures in the gallery here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235104470-matchbox-50th-anniversary-gallery/#comment-4310063

PK-451 Packard Victoria 1/32nd scale Build thread is here:

Here we are then, the end of the road so to speak. The light is not the best here: I might take some more pictures in better light for the gallery. And with the soft top removed to show the internal detail: Here's a list of modifications: Front axle modified to turn the wheels out Bonnet fixed in the open position Coolant pipes added to connect the engine to the radiator top and bottom HT lead covers added to the top of the engine Fan belt added (not that you can see it, but I know it's there!) Rear view mirror removed from spare tyre drivers side, and placed on the back seat Front windscreen tilted open Doors cut out, door recesses added, new door cards created with added door closeure handles and window winder handles (front and back) Front passenger seat tilted forward Carpet added Front door window glass cut down/removed (rear windows slide up and down in their reccess!) Other than that, everything else is as per the kit. I'm quite proud of that!

Not the finished picture yet, but coming soon! Two of the last bits to go on are the chrome, soft top folding brackets. Having cut them from the sprue, I hadn't realised one of them was broken and the broken bit missing. So I had to scratch build the lower section of the one on the right to make a mirror image of the one on the left. To give the idea of scale, the new bit is 4mm long. They have now been added to the soft top and looking good. I didn't realise I could do such small work, so I'm crafting new skills on this build, and doing things I didn't think I was capable of.

A gentle canter towards the end now. This is where the car is at 10:35 this morning. Not many bits to add, and there's no more painting, only gluing (maybe a touch up here and there). The folding bonnet has been done, and looks the business (no picture, but trust me). The rest of the day is gluing on the rest of the shiny bits, the windscreen and finally the doors and the canvas top. Next picture will be the finished article.

Has the paint dried on Tempest yet?! Straight into another build (and a biggy). That's the way do it. If you need some spare pilots, you can leave the three back seaters off the kit, as you can't see knack in the back once finished. You can barely see the two in the front office.

No flying today if dispersal is as soggy as that! Those are very atmospheric shots, there's even a hint of early morning low lying mist. Very nice. It's good to see the other bits of undercarriage doors making an appearance, especially the ones on the tail wheel. Those extra little details make all the difference.

That canopy looks nice and clear. Did you put clear varnish over it? I've always liked the moulded wheels on this kit. They look so much better than other Tempest/Typhoon/Sea Fury kits that I have seen. The finished model has come a long way from where it started, so a great rescue.

Things are moving very quickly now. Here's the state of play right now. A wheel at each corner, right hand side bonnet attached, wooden trim to bodywork painted, and two scratch built coolant pipes added to the top and bottom of the engine to connect the radiator to the engine. Carpet and gear lever installed. The window winder handles are only a tiny engravings in the plastic, so last night I worked on building some replacements. They just need tidying up, chroming with the Molotov pen and adding to the door cards and rear passenger compartment. It'll soon be time for the shiny bits!

Three days of no activity (but lots of thinking time, experimenting and dry fitting) and then a burst of activity today. Outer bodywork sprayed yellow. Interior painted satin black to simulate leather. Inner and outer bodywork installed, and the gaps between the two filled with layers of plastic card to simulate the door recesses. The doors (not shown as they were still under construction when the picture was taken) have had similar treatment. Door pillars, firewall with attached sidelights, dashboard and the steering column added. I have sourced some black felt so there's going to be some nice carpet installed (shortly). I test fitted one of the back sections of one wheel, and it's such a tight fit, I can't get it off without risking snapping the axle, so there's currently one half wheel on my wagon. I've also painted the wheel hubs red, as they didn't look right as aluminium. Somehow, and I've no idea how or when, I've broke off the near side rear bumper bracket (see "hook" thing on the rear off side). Not happy about that. More work was done this evening, but I'm waiting for daylight to take more pictures. There has also been some minute scratch-building going on, which I'm very pleased with. Stay tuned.

The Buccaneer is a big plane. I don't know why it didn't make it into the red range alongside the Phantom, rather than dumped in the orange range. Maybe the lack of stores stopped it: Even if they had matched just the Phantom's bomb load, that would have would have been something to kick it up a notch.

I've got a full set of Martel missiles from the old Airfix kit if that's any good to you. That's four missiles with alternative heads, the acquisition pod thingumy, plus associated rails. Mike. Spares central.

(I still think the decal was a good idea).

That looks very Tempest-like. The colours look pretty good from here. There aren't many decals in the kit, but I like the fact that they produced one for the rear fuselage stripe. That has saved many a young builder (and you) trying to paint straight lines!

Thanks for comments. Possibly a short sabbatical next week (life gets in the way and all that) but this will definitely be finished by the end of January (but don't pin me down on which year ). Mike

Thanks Ray, I'm quite pleased with the way it's going. I find if I keep the momentum, things tick along nicely. Once I stop, I find it hard to get going again. Far too many stalled projects litter the shelves. This won't be one of them!

Section 8 & 9 Bodywork and interior The yellow bodywork section is rather badly warped and has now split apart at the front on the drivers' side and at the thin section at the back right, both of which are getting a bit of help from a plastic card support from the inside. I'm cutting the doors out of this piece, so I'll wait on the repairs until I have cut them out. With some careful sawing, I got the doors out leaving a small strip at the bottom of the outer bodywork, which was no mean feat. Rough edges have been sanded off, and the broken outer section glued back together. I've dry fitted the repaired outer body over the inner bodywork (which is lightly glued with pva glue to the chassis), and cut out the inner door panels, leaving a 2mm lip on the interior for the door to close onto. This is an initial photo, it looks a lot tidier now. Next up: The doors have to have a "thickness" and so does the bodywork, so plastic card will be used to bulk it out, before adding new door cards.

Excluding the wheels, only 22 parts have been used to get the chassis and running gear done, so it's mainly painting (and drying time) that has taken up the time so far. What doesn't come across is that I'm working in 1/32nd scale here. Matchbox did a fantastic job to produce a kit of this quality in this scale. I was a bit afraid of over-doing the turnout, with the wheels fouling the wheel arch once fitted. A dry fit of one wheel eased my worries. Seats have been primed with matt black primer, and set aside for a satin black leather finish.

Sections 10 & 11. Suspension Out of sequence, but I'm not faffing about under the car after all the fiddly bodywork has been done. The chassis is pretty much OOB, but I want the front wheels turned out. That means sawing off the hubs with attached outer axle, filing off the edge of the axle bearer at a slight angle and gluing each hub back on. Everything on the underside is red, but I've painted the hubs and fuel tank aluminium. Modified and painted front axle with front leaf-spring suspension, the driveshaft, rear suspension, rear axle and fuel tank all installed. You can see the turn out on the front wheels much better after it has been installed than you could when it was off the car. Sections 4 & 5. Interior I'm skipping adding the seats and gluing the interior to the chassis until section 8. However, both front seats needed a backing of plastic card, and the front passenger seat back tilted forward, so that you can see into the back seat area, so I've done all that now and will be set aside once painted. Sections 6 & 7. Wheels The wheels are nicely chromed which is a shame as they have to be gloss red. I don't want to spray primer and top coat over the chrome as it will make the spokes look really thick (they do already). So the chrome is going to have to go. There is a very thin chrome outer ring on each road wheel plus the large centre cap, but they can be restored with my trusty Molotov chrome pen. 5 minutes in the gloop (domestos), and we're back to plastic. Unfortunately, that'll be yellow. After a waft of quick dry grey primer, and a dab of gloss red, we're looking good. The Molotov pen has been deployed to re-instate the chrome details, the whole wheel has been constructed with the tyre and white-wall insert. Repeat three times (plus the two spare wheels), and the new wheels can be set aside for a while. I might leave one of the spare wheels off (but laying casually on the ground) so that there is a better view of the engine. Here's the sequence of events from chrome to red: Next up: the "biggy". All the bodywork.

Section 2. Bonnet Not much to do in this section, just cut the top of the bonnet in half, file off the part numbers from inside the bonnet sides and spray them all yellow (inside and out). They'll be more work later to glue the left side of the bonnet in the open position (section 12). Section 3. Chassis The chassis gets a splash of colour. Gloss red undersides: gloss brown topside (Tamiya matt brown with an acrylic clear varnish over the top): satin black in the engine compartment and footplates on the running board (with chrome surrounds). The engine and exhaust pipe go in now. The radiator front has been painted satin black but is only dry fitted. It will go on later when the bonnet gets installed (section 12). Next up is the suspension.

I don't know why anyone uses 1st class post when 2nd class gets to you so fast. On with the wheels.