Enzo the Magnificent

Oh my word! That's superb!

That's what I've always taken it to mean.

Nice! I'll be building a Hobby Boss 1/72 Panther for the USN GB. I particularly like the recce nose on this version. Are there really hooks on the noses of the tip tanks?

Another Kfir!

Sadly Kittyhawk is a place, as is Catalina...

Replaced by the horrendously expensive Cyber Hobby kit.

The Smer kit is a re-pop of the Heller kit. The Monogram kit is around the same vintage as the Heller one. But... there is a recent Azur kit, so the Heller one is in ! Edit: Just found out that there's a Special Hobby kit available as well, so the Heller kit is even more in!

Or a Beaufighter... I'll get me

Always do!

If you're anything like me, then absolutely zero! I built the Hasegawa kit about thirty years ago in the kit scheme. This will no doubt bring back some memories.

It all looks like a bit of a mess at the moment... But I'm quite pleased with the way it's all going. The PE instrument panels just didn't fit, so I reverted to the kit decals for both models.

At first glance, the cockpits look quite spartan as there is only structure detail moulded into the sidewalls. However, there are a lot of small parts and the build is quite intricate. Here are the parts sprayed and drybrushed ready for installation. The seats have Eduard harnesses added. Incidentally, I intended to use Airscale instrument decals on the instrument panel as the decals provided by Special Hobby looked very toylike. But I gave the decal a try just to see what it looked like. It fitted perfectly - unlike many IP decals I've seen - and actually looked rather convincing. So it stayed! Here are the cokpits almost fully assembled, with the seats held in with blutak.

Aha! So that's what they are. Thanks, Giorgio. I'll almost certainly be building at least two models for this GB, one of which will no doubt be a bis. Hopefully I can find a scheme which requires those RATO bottles.

It's a lovely kit! It was previously issued as a PFM (?) and so the parts breakdown make it easier for me to convert it into a PFS. One problem though - doesn't the bis have an internal gun? There doesn't seem to be any representation of this on the kit. My decals are all in register, which is good as I'm tempted by both the Polish and Finnish schemes for a second build. However, the decals remind me of the old Hasegawa style. The carrier film is very yellow, so I'll have to do a bit of trimming if I use them. The stencils are minimal, but thanks to Eduard that's just not a problem. The thing that really impressed me about this kit was the packaging. I took off the lid expecting to see the parts only to find a very robust top opening cardboard box underneath. Revell could learn some lessons from Zvezda in this respect.

Here we go with two Eduard 1/48 Hellcats. One will be an F6F-5K drone using the Alley Cat decal sheet. The other will be a Fleet Air Arm Hellcat II, using the Freightdog "Brits At Sea" decal sheet. The kits will be from the Eduard FAA Dual Combo boxing. This has to be the best value kit ever! Two complete profipack kits in one box, including PE. There are parts for a Mk 1 and Mk 2 (aka F6F-3 and F6F-5). All this for about 18 quid! Of course, both these kits won't be coming from the same box as they are both F6F-5s. I've already built a Mk1 from one box and I have another couple of boxes in The Stash, so I'm good for Hellcats for a while! These are the fuselage and wing sprues, which are specifc to the F6F-5. The kit has different sprues for the -3 version. The remaining sprues are common to both versions. Weapons won't be used on the -5K but I may well put rockets on the Mk2. The PE provides two sets of cockpit parts for the -3 (upper) and -5 (lower) Here are the aftermarket bits. The wheels in the kit are really only suitable for the prototypes so they will be replaced by resin wheels. The CMK set will go on the Mk2 and the Ultracast set with block tread will go on the -5K. The decal sheets are also shown. The -5K will be the red and orange Point Mugu aircraft while the Mk2 will have the blue and white checks on the cowling.

Oh my goodness! The cats are out of the bag!!!! Good luck to all - and enjoy the GB!

I drive past Lakenheath twice a day. It's a pleasure to be assaulted by the Sound of Freedom in the afternoon once again!

stoppit! You're just causing trubble! I will be building a Hobbyboss Panther in the USN GB. I'm looking forward to that one as well. I spose I could have put it in this GB as well. Oops... Sorry, Radleigh. Hijacking your thread... So this is the one with the yellow trainer bands?

Heavens forfend!

I'm absolutely fascinated by all this. I'll probably never build anything which would need this sort of camnet and I'll certainly never have a laser cutter. But the level of ingenuity and resourcefulness shown here impresses me! This is real modelling!

I built that kit when it first came out - in those very markings. Brings back memories!

'ere! There's nowt wrong with kitbashing! I do it all the time!

Too late! You've started your build thread so now you have to build it, otherwise we'll send the boys round