Jon Bryon

Finally at a realistic price! Jon

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment. Much appreciated. Jon

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Much appreciated. My set up is pretty simple I think, in this case a largish softbox with four LED panel lights shining on it all set up on the dining table. I wish I could get a brighter background The close ups are with a 100mm Canon macro lens (I'm using a Canon EOS800D). Camera is on a tripod with a remote release cable. There are actually quite a few schemes that didn't carry stencils. VF-32 was one of them, and its sister squadron, VF-14, seems similarly unadorned for at least the 1966-1967 cruise. I actually quite like adding stencils... Cheers Jon

Evening all, I know the internet is awash with images of this kit, but I'm going to share mine anyway This is the Tamiya kit, which is the best model I have ever had the pleasure to build. It's not perfect - the tailplanes are an inconvenient gimmick, the conical pegs for the wheels baffling (although I used Eduard wheels, which probably didn't help), the lack of options for more common airframes is frustrating and the pylon situation is a bit annoying - but it's as close as I've yet seen. This one is done in the markings of VF-32 from 1966, a scheme fortunately lacking stencils and provided by Meridia-Hobby Decals (very nice). A Quickboost resin tail tip is required as it's not in the kit, as are the early MB seats (by Eduard), and for complete accuracy I should have used a Hypersonic nose pod, which has the shorter front. Empty LAU-7 launchers are by Quickboost, the centreline pylon is from Hypersonic and the wheels are also Eduard (and were simply used because I messed the kit wheels up). Paint is mottling of Hataka, AKRC and Mr Color shades of FS16440. Comments welcome Jon

https://www.facebook.com/1441398459/posts/pfbid02CjpCC254iRPG4JNuk7y41UfhR6JZMWfSFA4YvgUueQNPMSAdGtYV9CHgCfixKJdFl/?app=fbl It's a pretty explicit comment and Kinetic have long had a pretty public and close relationship with him. Jon

Note sure why yours have done that. Mine ended up like this: I used some large pliers to hold the whole assembly in a large saucepan of boiling water and then ran it all under a cold tap. Jon

Here's one method that works (in this case on Academy plastic): Uses a steel rule, plastic clamp and little magnets. Nothing was damaged by dunking it in boiling water for 30-40 seconds. However, I wish I'd used one magnet instead of two to get a less exaggerated droop. Jon

Widely being reported on FB that people have received a marketing email from Tamiya confirming this is a new release as a follow on from their F-35A. FWIW. Jon

Are these definitely in 1/48? I can only find Broplan and Isracast kits of these aircraft in 1/72... Thanks Jon

Nope. I didn't add mine, and they're identical to those in that build too...they're moulded in the plastic Jon

http://www.hsgalleries.com/gallery04/seakingas_1.htm

I'm not going to clog this topic up, but if you go to https://jonbryon.com/sh3h-html/ you can see all the moulded rivets on the one I built back in 2005... Jon

The Hasegawa kit is covered in recessed rivets. Jon

I missed out on the Italeri 1/48 Wessex when it came out and it took me ages to get one in an auction. Second hand ones fetched full retail price (or more). Italeri have kept re-releasing the various versions and it seems to be a strong seller and there are always loads on display at Telford. That, plus the difficulty of getting an Airfix 1/48 Merlin these days, always seemed anecdotal evidence to me that helicopters could sell pretty well. I'm very grateful for this Airfix release and can continue to hope for a Wasp/Scout/Whirlwind/Puma... Jon

And the 1/48 SF-260s... Jon