Supercuber

Nope, despite it was intended to be four seater, due the increased wing loading , was used as two seater, using starboard fuselage only . After some 150 hours of testing, whole "thing" was dismantled and again converted to two regular Piper Cubs, PA-11 and J-3-65. This Revell build is in fact, part of publication i work on , about Wagner Twin Piper , with brief history of Wagner TWIN Cub, tech data, history photos, scale drawings, paint schemes and details how to convert and build this Piper Bomber in 1/32 scale from two Revell Piper Super Cub kits.

the Real "Thing"

"The THING" , "Double or Nothing" , "Piper Bomber" , "Twin Piper" , lot of names for this unusual brainchild of Mr. Harold Wagner of the Wagner Aircraft Co. at Troh's Skyport, Portland, Oregon., 1951. 2x Revell PA 18 Piper Cub , 04208 1/32 scale, with some scratchbuilding and DIY decals and airbrushing mask making.

Two new ORAO boxings released , Single seater and Two seater / Trainer , with SFR Yugoslavia and Serbia AF markings. Generic airbrushing mask for white squadron numbers and black serial numbers decal. Die cut vinyl canopy frame and canopy airbrushing mask. CD Rom with ORAO PDF book and more documents , manuals, photos included. Soko J-22 ORAO Soko NJ-22 ORAO - Trainer Also, Display B/W Eagle J-22 Orao 25207 with LiftHere decals , re-stocked.

Aeropoxy G4 Super Galeb , assembled by friend, Nikola a.k.a." MIHA" , from "Red Storm " resin , And with Red Stars display team one, Airfix HAWK converted to Super Galeb by Nikola, And accompanied by Red Storm 1/48 scale ORAO , OOP resin kit.

To complete this story, just tested VEB Plasticart custom print mug , given by the Lift Here as a present. Rooibos, with drop of rum. Thanx Dragan.

Being impatient , and since paint and decal clear base ( Future a.k.a. PRONTO in my part of the world) are dry, i started and finished decalling this evening, And complete ILYUSHA , Ready for inspection, here :

VEB PLASTICART - DDR , Ilyushin IL-18 1:100 , restoring project. First one in 2018. WIP here :

With some trouble related to plastic-paint/clear cote reaction and some re-sanding and repainting, after the upper part of the fuselage was masked, coat of silver paint was sprayed, in two tone/shades, lighter for the airframe, bit darker to control surfaces and engine nacelles . and dayglo orange wing and horizontal stab tips painted, Now, few days of drying and ready for decalling .

VEB Plasticart kits plastic is brittle and hard to engrave , also, very prone to orange peel effect , if used cellulose or acrylate thinners . Ask me how i learn this :-) Even Mr Surfacer 500/1000 thinner cause some damages on the plastic, and i leave it to dry thoroughly for a few days and completely wet sanded all the surfaces, and primed again with gray enamel paint. After this, vertical tail and upper fuselage was painted in Revell Gloss white. After drying and masking, rest will be sprayed with Aluminium/silver enamel.

Well, Trencher, in seventies & eighties in my part of the world, both eastern and western kits are common on the toy stores shelves, VEB Plasticart, KP and even Frog-Novo from the east and Airfix , Revell and especially ESCI , 'cause ESCI boxes were printed in former Yugoslavia. But VEB Plasticart was first choice for beginners , and i enjoy this restoring work on IL-18 . All the main parts glued, filled and sanded, Coat of filler sprayed, and now, few days for the drying, before another fine sanding pass, and paintwork on the list.

Just started restoring an old VEB Plasticart IL-18 model , for a friend, with idea to bring it to the AEROFLOT livery from 1964 , depicting a plane which sadly crashed near Belgrade , hitting the ground 600 feet below the peak of the Mount Avala , due the missed approach procedures in foggy weather. Passengers were Soviet WW II veterans traveling to Yugoslavia, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade , including high ranked marshals and generals , like Marshal Sergey S. Biryuzov and General Vladimir I. Zhdanov https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19641019-0 http://serbianna.com/analysis/archives/3570 Aeroflot livery,IL-18V CCCP-75668 , from postcard Decals were prepared by Lift Here ( https://lifthereserbia.wordpress.com/ ) and printed on clear decal sheet, on home laser printer , sealed with clear cote. Originally , kit contents looks like this, And this model was in bits, ready to be restored, Windows were blanked with styrene sheets from inside, Fuselage halves glued and left to dry and filled with super glue and microbaloons & talcum powder, More to follow, Happy New modelling year

Not exactly scale up, but parts layout are more or less similar , same plane, same disassemble logic.

Thx, G2A Galeb (Gull) or J-21 Jastreb (Hawk) were never considered, there are rumours about research and initial work started on few other regional producers, so, i will stay out of these , for now. J-22 Orao was planned, even decals printed, but looks like IcarAeroDesign from Romania, works on this kit in 1/48 scale, and i was supposedly, late to the party. RGDS

After four years of work, with multiple announcements and delays , Soko G-4 Super Galeb , 1/48 scale resin kit by AEROPOXY is finally ready. First kits will be presented at Belgrade model Show, "10th. New Year's Cup", december 16.-17. at Belgrade Aviation Museum. Hope it's well worth waiting for and kit will satisfy mr. Poloticni Komisar too.

Dear Sir, Sorry to hear about your health issues , I hope you get well soon. Regarding drawings source you asked, DH 60 Gipsy Moth drawings are from June 1977 Model Builder Gipsy Moth article and Fox Moth drawings you mentioned are scan from KIWI resin kit instructions , downloaded from the internet , from old Aussie modeller Forum topic. Being small, (600 pix wide) i resize it in Corel and print it in 1/72 scale. Clear enough ?

Sorry to hear this, could you reconsider this statement , after look at these photos , taken during scratch building the Fox Moth parts for Aeropoxy kit, way back in 2008. I'm not even aware of such the Fox Moth Vacformed kit existed , in time i do master parts. Hope you will accept my explanation. RGDS Nenad/Aeropoxy

Difference is in center engine exhaust, without thrust reverse ( early) and with trust reverse (late). Also, engine nacelles are different, as well, some series have T-tail cone , some not. There are also some minor details, like antennas and hatches , differ from series to series, but not depicted in kit parts layout. Only these sprues are different in kit packing, Early Late RGDS Nenad

It should be, its re-pop of YUMO, in different media (resin) with simplified sub-assemblies , some details improved and surfaces smoothed , new decal options (LiftHere/BOA), new MB MK10 seats , vac formed clearencies and die cut canopy frames & airbrushing masks.

Thank you, chaps .

AFAIK , only visible difference is lack of armored plate - headrest , other are probably minor structural or some internal changes , as declared for export versions. There is also one local Yugoslav modification & improvement on main UC legs retracting mechanism, preventing the well known UC leg collapse during landing. Only RYAF unit which planes have this white discs outlining regular markings is 31st Fighter group of the 2nd Fighter Regiment . Not a trace of similar thing applied to "EMIL's" of 6th Fighter Regiment groups or any Hurricanes or IK-Fighters .

Well, there are documented various sizes and shapes of underwing white disc/oval/rounded rectangle , all hand painted, probably with water soluble temporary paints. L-53 have large LE to TE diameter disc of not a perfect shape, see photo attached. Regarding "A" marking, its standard export version , like Swiss Emil's, having two MG 17 and one Oerlikon FF mounted. in just few days of fighting , 18 BF109E3a-s from 31st Fighter group have more than 150 combat sorties , totaling 120 flying hours , mostly strafing and patrolling over the south east and central Serbia , with few dogfights and claims, while most of the dogfights were over Belgrade and north, being under 6th F.R. area of action. RGDS

Thanx for the comments, here is the another shot , this time with more light , and with minor correction, hand painted small state flag on the lower portion of rudder applied.

Thanx, Paints used are RLM70 (Revell 40) and RLM65 (Revell 49). Humbrol Matt cote for final coat. RLM70 is really dark, and under tungsten light and with my poor camera manual setup it appeared even darker. Will try to make few more shots under daylight , once a sun clear the fog over my city. White disc around the Kosovo Cross RYAF official roundel, its a field application on some BF109E3a-s of 31st Fighter group of the 2nd Fighter Regiment, detached at Sušičko polje, local sport airfield , now suburb of Kragujevac city, central Serbia. It was applied to prevent friendly fire from trigger happy AA gun crews, in this area, knowing that Luftwaffe strafing with same planes from bases in neighboring Bulgaria. Dozen of these BF109E3a were destroyed on the ground by its own crews, burnt and demolished when Wehrmacht units reached near the airfield. Photos from EBAY album confirm this. And small note re HYPERSCALE state about " L-26 based at Prnjavor, Yugoslavia (now Republika Srpska, Bosnia Herzegovina.) " Its in fact, located at Bešenovački Prnjavor , Srem, Vojvodina, Northern Serbia, middle point between Belgrade and Novi Sad. The Bosnian one, was some 200 km south west. So, hope this data clear some of painting doubts.

BF 109 E3a RYAF L-53 1/48 Hasegawa , Kragujevac, Serbia, april 1941. Lift Here RYAF roundels, Hasegawa stenciling, Laser printed L-53 and rudder stenciling. Quick build, done for a friend, in just 10 working hours.