Back in the Saddle

Thanks for the reminder! Looking forward to doing a GB again, it’s been a while…

I managed to find the missing parts in the bin, so that potential disaster was narrowly averted! Having initially fitted only the body gear on the Zvezda model, the next task was fitting the wing gear. With these glued into the wing section I flipped it all over to check alignment and let the glue set: I also have another two Revell 747-8's on the bench, one of which will be built with the gear retracted. These builds are not being documented on Britmodeller, but I thought a comparison shot showing the gear up would be useful in case anybody else is contemplating this option: The two red dots indicate the areas that need drilling out to accommodate the display stand. This section needs some tidying up before spraying - these models are still at an early stage! Returning to this build, the engine assemblies have finally begun to get painted. The pylons were initially sprayed grey, before getting masked ready for the blue: Once the blue was dry, more masking was required on the Revell engines for the inlet rings: Zvezda have these as separate components, which is a much neater option: Alclad was then applied to the intakes: The next stage is application of the engine decals and general weathering, before attaching them to the wings.

How did I miss this when originally posted?! Fantastic builds Neil, they look great together but must take up some space! I will hopefully finish mine soon. KUTA GB entry maybe?

Thanks Zac! Funnily enough, I had a session today trying to polish the canopy. It wasn't very successful. I will try again another day - at the moment it looks more opaque than when I started... I've spent some time detailing the cockpit, with additional seatbelts and general weathering. I also popped a checklist on the coaming: It's not brilliant, but it's as detailed as it's going to get at this scale!

Thank you! Time to actually do some building! The cockpit insert was removed from the support struts and painted, then the control yokes were glued into place: This needs some weathering (and a matt coat!), then I'll add a few more details to create a bit more interest. The interior should be quite visible once built, but that canopy definitely needs a polish first! I also found a useful reference photo, confirming the colours of the stripes and their relative position on the fuselage. It also shows a striped interior on the fuselage sidewall - I will not be attempting to replicate that! Great build so far, I'm enjoying this one!

Having shown you the belly of the Revell model above, it seems only fair to show the Zvezda model as a comparison. The belly is integral to the wing section and a lot less detailed. This was taken just before spraying the blue, with cling film protecting the wings and the kit parts masking the wheel bays: Like a complete muppet, after painting the blue I threw the gear doors away, thinking they were not needed... However, the bigger sections are required, so I need to dig through the bin to find them! Here's the same area after painting and with the body gear installed: Note the bare bays compared to Revell. Obviously some of this will be covered once I find the doors! Here is Revell for comparison: Also lacking the gear doors ATM, which be added at the final stage. Here are the remaining pieces (the big belly panel is now fitted!): I also need to finish painting the engines, but the end is nigh!

Thanks Tinners and apologies for the delay in replying… other builds have been stealing my attention! As I’m building XR220, I will do some more research on these braces. I think I’ve finished spraying all the remaining bits, so will get decals on next before adding all the fragile pieces!

Oops, typo! Well worth the effort!

Thanks Bill, that link is very helpful! I will have a good look at that as my build progresses, to pick up some tips. Cheers Zac, hope you enjoy it! I agree - great visibility, great handling and an excellent tourer, but not as popular as the Pipers and Cessnas which were (IMHO) inferior aircraft.. I had some happy times flying the Grummans! Time now for a better look at the components, starting with the fuselage halves: Nice crisp details and print quality. However, the baggage door hatch outline looks very overscale, I think I will fill that up and make a decal instead. On the real aircraft it was not very obvious - here's the picture of G-OMOG from my original post as a comparison: There is a well produced cockpit section to slot inside the fuselage; painting this will be my initial task on the kit: The wings: A few printing striations, but that is expected and easily fixed. They are a bit more apparant on the tailplanes: As you can see, two options are provided here. On the left are the 'standard' AA-5 tailplanes for the Cheetah and Tiger; on the right are the earlier and more squat tailplanes that came on the Traveller. Two fins are provided too, for the same reason: There are also two cowling options. Here are the undersides: And the topsides: All the other solid pieces, including steps, propellor, spinner, wheels and tiny control yokes. There is an option to build without undercarriage spats too, but I'm including them as the real aircraft had these fitted. The two different nose wheel options are in the centre, but I omitted the un-spatted main gear to avoid cluttering the picture too much: Finally the clear parts for the windows and canopy: A bit of polishing will be well worth the errors here! All in all, great first impressions and a kit I am really looking forward to building!

The wings and tail planes are now completed. First up are the tailplanes - the colour difference in the corogard should not be an issue, as the decals are all on the underside so will not be seen in comparison with the painted upper surfaces: And the wings: Hopefully a concerted effort will get these finished soon!

A great build of an unusual subject. I’ve never seen the Mk.3 Spitfire before!

Very good!

Somehow I missed this one Terry… Stunning builds, they are really rather good!

After the unmitigated disaster that was my first resin kit, I have decided to dip my toe into the water again with another one - hopefully this will go together much more nicely! It's the 1/72 VFR models Grumman AA-5 kit, designed and produced by @Bangseat. This is an aircraft that I used to fly in the late 1990's, when I was working as a flying instructor. I will paint it as "G-OMOG", an aircraft operated by Solent Flight at Southampton airport - here's a photo of the aircraft, copyright Simon Palmer: It also has the benefit of being a simple livery to replicate - solid colours and basic design. Many other AA-5's that I flew during this time had metallic paint and complicated designs - I'm taking the easy option here! So what's in the kit? Let's start with the box, which is very sturdy, top opening and has some good graphics: As you can see, four decal options are supplied, the one for G-ODAM will make a great template for my own decals, which will need producing at some stage: The parts come in several in several bags, with multiple pieces for the different variants: And an instruction sheet, showing the various different variants that can be built: First impressions are very promising - I'm looking forward to this!

Thanks David, I was glad to see the back of this one! I wouldn't buy another one either...! Cheers Alex. It's probably the worst model on my shelf - I will attempt the injection moulded version next time! Thanks Mike! Thanks tMikha. The decals were not very good, but I had lost my enthusiasm to produce a new set by that stage... Thanks Keith, you're very kind! Thank you! I'm about to try another resin kit, which I hope will turn out far better. I think this one was particularly poor... don't let this put you off resin! Thanks Dave. I have the other one in my stash, so will do battle with that in due course! Thanks for the great tip about the decals; they look very good. Thank you! An easy mistake and one I nearly made myself...! Thank you!