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Wow James, great progress! Reckon you'll be done before I've got the fuselage stuck together at this rate. I'm battling with pretty much the same parts right now, but there are two of everything. That's not an excuse btw, I'm just a slow builder!

Nicely laid out there with all the paints ready to go. I used to model in front of my PC keyboard too when I re-started the hobby, but thankfully now I've got a separate desk for it - used to get very messy! I've never made an Arma kit before, but they do look stunning. Look forward to seeing the progress. Mark

Indeed! And the flaps too. They were positioned together. Nice colour schemes you've chosen.

Thanks for all the comments & best wishes for the job hunting. I feel myself falling down a giant rabbit hole here regarding Mk VIII variants. From what I understand there were 3 Mk VIII variants: F (fighter with a Merlin 63), LF (low & medium altitude with a Merlin 66) and HF (high altitude with a Merlin 70). F was the original. The LF was the most common type produced. HF MkVIIIs look quite rare according to the production records, were a later type and most were delivered to the RAAF - as Graham pointed out. The 32 and 92 Squadron Mk VIIIs in Italy do appear to be the F variant from what I can gather and had Merlin 63 engines, despite the 32 Squadron aircraft sporting a high altitude camo scheme. I'm not sure when the extended wingtips were dispensed with, but from the original photos of 92 Squadron MKVIIIs, they look to have the expanded 40’2” wingspan at this time. This is at Grottaglie, so mid-Sept ’43 https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209288 This one is taken at Triolo, so dated Oct/Nov ’43. Looks to still have the pointy wing tips. This date corresponds with the variant described in the Eduard kit (Nov 43) https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205209310 The description of these photos has these as HF MkVIIIs, but I think this is incorrect, as Graham suggests. Anyhow, it looks as though the shape and colour schemes in the kit are broadly correct, so whether they really were F or HF shouldn't matter. Hopefully. There is a question around the colour of the squadron code letters QJ – they were either red or blue. There are decals in the kit for both with a ‘?’ on the instructions. I’m inclined to go for red if I end up making one of them as the 92 Squadron aircraft. Cheers, Mark

Having just been made redundant I have a bit more spare time on my hands compared to normal and I feel as though I could use some modelling therapy. Taking a look at ongoing group builds and trying to fit in what I currently have on the shelf, this one fits the bill nicely, so I would like to join if I may with a Spitfire Mk VIII. Sorry, not many points for originality I know. I have a couple of these Eduard Profipack Mk VIII kits I bought during the first Covid lockdown as they were on clearance at Jadlam. I've never made an Eduard kit before, but they do look very nice and I like the fact that these kits come with PE and canopy masks already in the box. There are decals for 5 variants with 4 of them depicting aircraft which operated from bases in Italy. I will definitely be doing one in the PRU colours of 32 Squadron GZ-N JF 364. The second one I haven't decided yet between the 1 Squadron and 92 Squadron schemes. I'm leaning more toward the 92 Squadron middle stone/dark earth/azure blue at the moment, but there is still plenty of time before I need to make a final decision. Hoping I can make the most of my unemployed status to get these over the finishing line by October Cheers, Mark

Well I managed to get some gallery photos in, but there are still a few details I want to add to finish them off. I've been wanting to finish them all week, but it has been so hot that my hands are just too sweaty to tough them without ruining the paint and I can't face wearing gloves. In the interest of completeness, I'll bring this build log up to date and will then update again once everything is in its final version. I'm sure that everyone will have packed up and gone home by then, but it must be done! Next bit was the seat, radiator, interior walls of the monocoque and the bulkhead. I added some ignition wires at the back of the bulkhead to be plugged into the engine later on. The seat was a bit of a tight fit, but got it in the right place eventually. Next up was the monocoque. I cut all the parts off all the wishbones that attached to the main bodywork as these all needed to be painted white. Stuck these on the monocoque and drilled some holes for small pieces of brass rod so I could pin the wishbones in place later. There are 2 attachment points at the front and 4 at the back. The main body parts then got a white Mr Surfacer undercoat which was wet sanded with a 3000 grit sponge, then several coats of the Zero paints Racing White. The paint was really smooth so I decided to put the decals on without a gloss coat. The red circle decals I didn't really fancy, so I cut some circle templates and sprayed them on instead. Only decided to do this after already putting the other decals on the monocoque, so I was a bit nervous that the masking would damage them. Thankfully it didn't. Pretty pleased with how these turned out. Clear coat was Mr Color Super Clear III. Think I did 3 coats, 4 would have been better but I was in a rush at this point. Wet sanded everything with 3000 grit sponge to get rid of the raised decal edges, then polished with Tamiya polishing compound to get the shine back. I still hadn't done the top engine cover as I was waiting from some goodies to arrive from Spotmodel. Got 2 types of mesh - some to add to the inside of the nose cone to protect the radiator, the other to go onto the engine cover. Drew and cut out a card template and used this to cut the mesh to shape. This was then superglued in place before painting in Racing White. The bit of the monocoque where the fuel cap sits just in front of the dash was masked off and painted black. Those tanks took 200 litres, so the car was a like a fast bomb like all F1 cars of the day. The monocoque body wraps around the rest of the assembly, though it needs to be bent an alarming amount to get it on. I didn't take a picture at this point, unfortunately. The steering wheel and dash could then be fitted. I added a few wires coming out the back of the dash. Suspension pieces in these kits can always be improved. Middle bits were cut out with a razor saw and replaced with some plastic rod. Added some pins so they all went back together ok. Then it is just a case of painting them, sticking them together and wrapping some black wire round for the spring. Wheels up next and then the rear uprights. This pic must have been before I painted the bolts in the wheel rims chrome. Also the outer part of the wheel rims needed to be silver, so I added this with some Uschi metallic powder applied with a fine cotton bud. Engines were wired with fuel lines and ignition cables. Very fiddly and took ages. Then everything was stuck together, which just about brings us up to date... A few things left to do: Add radiator mesh to inside of nose cones. Add fuel line from fuel tank to engine (prominent in reference photos running inside the monocoque on driver's left). Add another prominent cable from throttle link on the engine through to the front of the car (also prominent, but on the right side). Add some bolts to the bottom of the windshield where it supposed to attach to the car. Add some brake lines both front and back. Cheers, Mark.

Honda RA272 (F1 1965) Tamiya 1/20 x2 Car #11 Richie Ginther Car #12 Ronnie Bucknam Just about made it. Still a few details left to add and bits to tidy up, but completed enough for some gallery pics. Build thread is a bit behind (will be updated soon):

Thanks Rich. Time flies. I have quite a few progress pics that I don't have time to go through right now, but I'll post them as an update in some sort of chronological order at some point. I realised that I am going to miss the final 2 weeks of the GB as I'm off on holiday to Cornwall, so I've been working on this most evenings over the past couple of weeks in a push to get it done. When I say it done, I mean them done as I've actually made two! I'm going to be back for the final weekend, so hopefully I will be able to complete the final assembly. Everything is painted ready to go, it just needs putting together. Except the wing mirrors still need a bit of work. There may be a few wires and tubes missing here and there, but I'm hoping to get something into the gallery before it closes. I can add some more tubes later - they are extras anyway and not in the kit. It's adding the extra bits that takes the most time. Cheers, Mark.

That's a good idea which I think I will adopt! Would have saved a whole lot of pain. With the engine just about done, we move onto the floor and the front wishbones. I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with these parts. They seem rather clunky and un-Tamiya like all being moulded essentially into just 2 pieces. It also makes the paint job rather complicated with everything amalgamated on the same piece of plastic. There are also some very awkward ejector pin marks. I found the painting instructions for the underside a tad ambiguous. I've ended up painting the main part all aluminium, but I think that the outer frame and those central brackets should be the same Racing White colour of the car. I'm not going to bother trying to do this as nobody will be looking at the car upside down anyway and it will take me a good while to do. I think I'll give the floor a dark wash to make it look dirty and give it some more depth, but that will be it. The front wishbones I did paint black and the front tip metallic grey. I cut off the end of the front lower wishbones where they attach to the main bodywork and stuck these onto the bodywork itself. I've drilled some holes and will pin them on later. The other job at this stage was the front brake assemblies. Again, some awkward ejector marks on all of these parts. I've done quite a rough filling job on these as they won't really be seen much as the wheels will be in the way. So here is the front section assembled. Up next the radiator, pedals and seat.

Thank you kindly Rich. Progress has been quite slow over the last few weeks. I was hoping to get some serious time in over the Jubilee w/end but we ended up spending most of the time visiting people. Work also always seems to ramp up whenever I join a group build too. I have been able to keep chipping away at this though. The engine is pretty much done apart from the tubes & wires I want to add if I have time at the end. I had a bit of a disaster last weekend when shaking my bottle of black Mr Surfacer. The glass gave way presumably to the steel ball bearing I'd added and so I ended up randomly decorating the place with black paint. My modelling time was spent clearing up the mess. Luckily no paint ended up on the model, just all over my desk and the carpet . Managed to move on now to the front part of the car which I'm hoping to get finished by the end of the week. I'll get a more detailed update done over the weekend. Cheers, Mark.

Wow, you're really motoring through these kits. It will be interesting to see how this goes together compared to the Tamiya RA272 kit. I'm 100% sure you will have finished this one before I'm done.

Nice swift work. Looks great!

Just watched your video Tom. Nicely done. Great looking finish on the paint work.

A small amount of progress over the weekend. It did rain a little . Managed to get the oil tank fitted and the last couple of pipes on. I still need to paint some of the bolt heads silver on the engine frame, but I don't want to right now as I'm having to handle the engine block too much at the moment to fit the parts. The drive shafts are also ready to go on, but I might wait to fit them until later when the rear uprights are ready to go on so I can align them correctly. Next up are the impressive looking quad exhausts, each one of which has three separate pipes. The clean-up on these parts took ages as the mould lines were right down the sides of each pipe and their positioning makes them tricky to get to. They are also of course solid pieces of plastic, so I made some pilot holes and drilled out the ends as much as I dare without them disintegrating. I could have replaced the lot with some metal tubing, but I don't have the right size to hand. The walls still look a bit thicker than they should, but they look a lot better than they did. These are the top two. There are another two that go either side of the engine block. Cheers, Mark.

Nice work! Great detail for 1:72. I'm impressed with your eyesight.

High time for an update I think. Not a massive amount of progress. The lack of rain has meant that outdoor jobs have been prioritised most weekends. Hopefully this weekend will be washout and I can get my head down with this . Next up was the engine frame, oil tank, air funnels and some pipes. Drive shafts are on here too but not needed til later. I've drilled some holes to put the fuel lines in later. Hopefully I'll get round to it as it always makes a nice touch. I decided to re-spray the top of the engine block with a richer gold colour after looking at a few photos of the real thing. The titanium gold looked a bit anaemic. The engine block also got a pinwash with some black panel liner. I got hold of some Molotow liquid chrome for the funnels. I've seen it airbrushes nicely, but I wasn't quite sure how it would go on with a brush. Not too bad actually, though they don't look quite as shiny as some of the examples I've seen. Maybe I should have re-based the funnels with black before putting the chrome on. It looks more shiny than it appears in the photo below - not enough light! Just checked the forecast - looks like I'll be outside again this weekend!

I've had my eye on this kit for sometime. When I saw this GB I thought it provided the perfect opportunity to build it. The RA272 is a beauty - Honda's second F1 entry from 1965 having first broken into the sport in 1964 with the RA271. In a season of 10 official championship races dominated by British cars and drivers, the RA272 won the final round in Mexico with American Richie Ginther at the wheel - his first and only F1 win. Team-mate Ronnie Bucknam finished 5th. I was away for the weekend visiting family, so early progress has not been quite as rapid as I had hoped. I usually build the engine first and this time is no exception, so I've made a start on the somewhat unusual transversely mounted V12. For once, the instructions would also have me start on the engine, so stage 1 here we go. As with most Tamiya F1 kits, the majority of the engine parts are from the same silvery grey sprue, this one designated 'D'. All went together nicely. Quick coat of black Mr Surfacer, then sprayed with Alclad aluminium and titanium gold. I still need to add some more gold to the areas indicated on the plans. Not 100% sure on the colour matching here. I think that it should perhaps be a richer gold tone with the instructions calling out a 5:1 gold leaf - silver ratio. I'll seek out some source photos and see if it needs changing. I need pictures anyway as I'm hoping to add a bit of additional plumbing later on and it would be nice to get all the pipes and tubes going to the right places.

Ok, here's my placeholder ready for the start on Saturday. Can't wait to get going.

Hello Rich, I'd like to make it a nice round 50 participants (for now) with this please:

Thanks guys. Gutted I missed the gallery entry. I had been meaning to put them up all day, but as usual left it til the last minute. I'll post some inbetween pics when I get a chance to upload them. Thanks for hosting this Groupbuild Paul. Reckon there was sufficient interest to do it all over again sometime. There are plenty more old model kits from yesteryear waiting to be built! Cheers, Mark.

The Gallery locked just as I was posting these I heard the ping . I'm calling it done anyway... I'll upload the final pics here and update the build log later as there is a big chunk missing.

High time for another update. I've realised I have only 2 weeks left as it looks like summer holidays are back on. Thought I'd be best of attaching the fuselage to the under wing to line everything up, then adding the upper wing sections. Everything lined up - cannon and wing edges - but it left a massive gap for filling. I was ready for this though - I didn't expect the parts to fit perfectly. The air filter is just visible at the bottom of the shot. That wasn't much fun to stick the 2 parts together. I took a razor saw to the rear elevators so I can drop them seeing as this is going to be parked. Alas, no string from the bedroom ceiling anymore. There is no pilot figure anyway so that would look a bit odd. Second slight modification was drilling holes through the structure just behind the cockpit. Wing root gaps were filled with my new favourite filler for big gaps, Magic Sculpt from Green Stuff World. It's a 2-part epoxy which I find softer and therefore easier to work with than Milliput. Dries in about 2-3 hours and sands well. So after much filling and sanding, it was ready for some primer. Planning to use Alclad High Speed Silver, which is not one of the high shine finishes, so no gloss base needed. However, I wasn't happy with the front cowl and there were still some rough bits along the wing roots where the heavier filling had been done. As all the panel lines and rivets are raised, I had tried my best to preserve them first time round with the sanding. Not the second time round - I just obliterated them. Then had some fun re-scribing with a razor saw and trying to blend recessed and raised lines, which wasn't much fun. Final result after covering with primer again is alright though. Time for some silver paint... no more brush painting Humbrol 11. Heller decals next up. They actually look very good, so we'll see how they behave..

Thanks for all the comments. It's high time for an update, particularly since my first post is now second to bottom of the pile when they appear in the order they were last updated. I thought I'd get a bit more time for modelling than normal during the lockdown, but somehow it didn't work out that way. First thing I noticed when I started cutting pieces from the frame (apart from the fact that everything is so damn small) was that the cockpit walls actually had some detail that I wasn't expecting from this kit. Not a lot, but enough to make me question my initial pledge that I would build this up in the most basic fashion without adding any extra detail. The instrument panel has some random dials moulded on it. There are also a couple of what look like ejector pin marks that could be masquerading as dials. The seat has a nice ejector pin mark in a place that was simply impossible to reach, so out came the Milliput and I added a cushion to hide it. There were a couple of annoying dimples in the prop blades that were fixed with a bit of putty. I just can't help myself when it comes to cockpits - despite not being able to see any of the detail when the fuselage is closed, if there is detail there I just have to paint it. I also added a seatbelt - an Eduard steel one. First time I've used the steel version of these - much easier to bend than the normal inflexible photo etch ones. And the printed pattern didn't come off either. There were 12 seatbelts in the pack though, so to get my money's worth I'm going to have to build another 11 late war 1:72 RAF fighters. The part I always dreaded as a kid was closing the fuselage. More often than sometimes, this procedure resulted in several failed attempts where more and more glue would be applied to already half-melted, deformed surfaces. Often the fruits of my labour would still be scarred with a massive gap down the entire length of the model because I hadn't put the cockpit or instrument panel in correctly. And I used to fill these gaps when I could be bothered with Dad's polyfiller. These were the days before the remarkable discovery of liquid poly. Or should I say my realisation of how liquid poly should be used. I remember buying a bottle at one point, trying it and putting it away thinking it was useless. I mean it was so thin, how could it possibly stick anything together? It had virtually dried before I could mate the two surfaces I had applied it to. Must have been before the science lesson on capillary action . I was still a little nervous closing the fuselage this time round, but was a little more patient about making sure everything lined up ok before applying the glue. Next up adding the fuselage to the wing. Those black things in the bottom right of the picture go into the radiator ducts to block them off and make them look dark inside. I suspect there will be some putty required to fill a few gaps when the wings are on. I'm not quite sure how to tackle sanding the fuselage joins. It's not as though you can re-scribe raised panel lines. Have to say - this is a truly huge group build. Clearly plenty of people out there wanting to relive part of their modelling past. Great to see. Cheers, Mark.

When I saw the title for this GB, I just had to join. So many good memories of building models, but also so many models to chose from. My output these days is very low as when I get a chance to sit down the the bench I take my time. Of course as a kid, models flowed through the production line very quickly indeed. Quality was very much compromised in favour of quantity. I wondered if I could get hold of the very first model I ever put together (proper plastic kit, I'm not counting the Greendale village of Postman Pat fame crafted from cardboard boxes). I managed to find one on ebay of course. A Heller Humbrol 1:72 Spitfire Mk XVIE. I had my eyes on this kit for some time before I was allowed to buy it from the Post Office in the village where I grew up. I remember wasn't allowed to buy it until I had turned 8 as my mum pointed out that I was too young and the box was clearly labelled 8+. This was probably in an effort to discourage me as she will have foreseen the mess of glue and paint. So it must have been 1986 when I was finally able to buy it and armed myself with a tube of polystyrene cement, some tins of Humbrol enamel and a brush all from the hardware store which was conveniently located next to the Post Office. I have good memories of this kit and was very proud of the final product. It was probably awful, but I don't remember it being so. I can't say the same about my second project, which was a Mitsubishi Zero also by Heller-Humbrol. I used so much glue trying to put the radial engine on, it melted into a detail-less plastic blob. I quickly graduated to Airfix kits bought from Beatties or the great Gee-Dee models in Nottingham (which is still there). Mostly Series 1 and 2 stuff. 3+ was only attainable with holiday or birthday money. I had good intentions of working my way through the entire Airfix catalogue, but was never very good at saving money for the bigger models. There was one notable exception. Being a big Nigel Mansell fan I did buy a Tamiya Williams Honda FW11 which at £7.99 (I think) was the most expensive thing I had ever bought. I was hopelessly out of my depth putting that together. I must have been 9 or 10. The FW-11 still survives to this day, albeit hidden in a box. Alas, the Spitfire has long gone, so unfortunately there will be no before and after photos here. The first thing that struck me on opening the box was how small everything is. 1:72 seemed big when I was 8. I dismissed 1:48 kits as being too enormous to contemplate as well as too expensive. My usual scale now is 1:48 for aircraft, mainly because I can still see them ok at this scale. I painted my first Spitfire silver to match the one on the front of the box, so that is the version I will replicate this time around. This is JWL-F, RW396 RAF Central Gunnery School 1948. The decals actually look to be in good condition. My record of finishing GBs in the allocated time is poor. Played 2, lost 2 so far. But with only 37 parts in this kit, surely this is going to be the first one I actually get to finish.... Happy modelling to all, Mark.

Beautiful. I had one of these too. A series 4 Airfix was always quite a thrill if you were used to series 1 or 2. I remember trying to stuff the nose with modelling clay (it's all I had) in a poor attempt to make it sit correctly. I also remember horrible silvering of the decals which I applied over a lovely matt black Humbrol 33 finish