Jon Bryon

Thanks. Since it's the front and rear windscreens that are particularly distorted, I'll request a new sprue. I think Airfix do need to be held to account for their poor QC. These issues have persisted for years and I don't know why they haven't switched to a better quality source for their injection moulding. Jon

Picked mine up today from Roxley Models near Leatherhead. Very nice, but the clear parts are quite poorly moulded with lots and lots of distortion. Is this a widespread problem or are other people's ok? Jon

In the UK, it's available in several places - Hannants and Premium Hobbies, for a start. In fact, from the marketing of PH, I get the impression it has not been a great seller. I think the high price combined with niche subject means there will be quite a few available for some time... Jon

Interesting that there are no shared parts with the HUK-1/HOK-1 at all, which just reinforces how the early and late Huskies were entirely different machines. Jon

Thanks again for the comments everyone! The 1/32 kit must be quite impressive. Although it has a reputation for being a very small airframe, the Bearcat is still bigger than I was expecting. Jon

Don't see many of these built, so a pleasure to see yours. I have one in the stash, but I am really waiting for Mars Models' MiG-9 to be released... Jon

Yep - all the stars and bars and the yellow codes are masked and painted. Thanks Jon

Thanks for the comments chaps The blue is Mr Color 365. It's been mottled by adding Mr Color 137 Tire Black and 29 Hull Red to the base colour, and by using Mr Color 14 and 72 (which were GSI's other, earlier attempts at GSB), but it's pretty hard to tell unless you get the angle and the light just right. Jon

Hello all, Here is my latest project: HobbyBoss' 1/48 Grumman F8F-1 Bearcat. This is from the F8F-1B boxing and with decals by Superscale. In the end, most of the markings were masked and painted and only the stencils on the rudder are from that sheet. The wheels are by BarracudaCast. My additions were seatbelts (Eduard generic set), the whip antenna, underwing pitot, small pylons (from Hasegawa late F4U kits) and the light on the top fuselage. Paint is Mr Color 365 Gross (sic) Sea Blue. A write up of making this kit is available here: https://jonbryon.com/hobbyboss-1-48-grumman-f8f-1-bearcat/ Thanks for looking Jon

Thank you guys for the comments; very kind. Jon

Thanks SAT69 I have to say I didn't think I'd like the shape that much, but I think it looks much better in 3D. The wide and slim look is kind of cool. Jon

Hello all, I finished this about a month ago. It's AFV Club's 1/48 AIDC F-CK-1C Ching Kuo built straight from the box. The paint is mostly Mr Color and the eagle emblem on the tail, along with the stylised ROC star, is masked using home made masks cut on a Silhouette cutter. The rest of the markings are from the kit. A full build article is available here: https://jonbryon.com/afv-club-1-48-aidc-f-ck-1c-ching-kuo/ Thanks for looking, and comments welcome. Jon

I lived in China for seven years, and a popular soft drink was Pocari Sweat (I think it's from Japan). Always thought that was an unusual brand name to encourage people to drink your product... Tasted quite nice though. Jon

...and decals for the F-4G are available here: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/KW148095?result-token=mqdW1. Not the best quality decals, but they look okay enough. Jon

I don't see what's lazy about it. It's factually correct. Middlesex doesn't exist in any meaningful sense anymore. Of course we still have counties, but their boundaries changed nearly 60 years ago... It makes sense that you lost your free rail travel because you moved from London to Kent. Jon