Markh-75

Thank you Steve!😀 yes it was an adventure, that’s for sure, but I won! Setting up the floats and struts was very tricky and had to be done in stages just minutes apart, I don’t think it would have been any easier on the original model (had the fuselage not been so flawed), it was one of those jobs that once started it had to be seen right through until it was all set up correctly. I was in and out of the room countless times just checking and rechecking; finally I just left the glue to set, let it do it’s part. Im delighted with the results!👍

Yes thank you, the wingroots were both at different heights! It would never have worked out like that, as you say, I have much better surface details although I lost many of the locations for mounting the floaty bits to the newer fighter as it was a later model of fighter but I think I have made it all work out okay! I’m pleased I had a go at it, and I succeeded with it! I might just make it as a modeller yet!😂👍 Thanks to everyone for support and for help and encouragement, particularly Alt-92😁 for sending me more pictures and explaining the layout as I was building it! Cheers everyone 😀👍

Not much to report on this other than after its first coat I found a few 'depressions' in the fuselage and the floats, so I've filled them and primed over them and then gave the undersides its second coat. One more coat to the undersides and I'm ready to paint the upper half!😀

Love the peeling paint on the engine cowling! Looks like the flame decal you see on motorcycles! This looks FEARSOME! I wouldn't like to be up against one of these! Awesome job!

Ah, the old 'Vibrator'! Thats what they used to call these because they rattled and buzzed pretty much all the time the engine was running. Very nice finish on this! Love it! I was looking to buy one of these but Model Hobbies seem to have fallen off the face of the Earth, so I can't buy it now!

Wow! That is 'Kickin'! Excellent job! What unit is it from? cracking job! Love your other P-47's, especially 'Hun Hunter'! seen the video for that one, based at Altus airfield on Corsica! Seriously brilliant job; the P-47 is one of my favourite US aircraft of WW2!

This will be a great project! The Airfix starter sets are great for this!👍

Looking Good! I always liked the clean lines on a Hasegawa, really nice and sharp, hardly any flash (if any at all) and nice to put together! This is gonna look fab when its done!

Today I started painting the undersides, first coat on, tomorrow it'll get another coat. Primed parts will probably get away with 3 coats, but unprimed parts (the wing floaties), probably 4. I wont fit the wing floats until its all painted because the stbd side has a decal inside the area of the floats spars on the underwing; I can paint the parts though.

Thanks Chaps; the first big model I made (about 3 years ago now) was a Privateer four engine Naval bomber by Matchbox and there were no exhausts for the engines; after doing a bit of research I found that they were on the inboard side of each engine, so I added them. Made from short lengths of clean WD40 straw fitted into a hole in the nacelles, since then I have always made sure that all engines have exhausts, many do have them moulded in and some have little short stubs that I drill out to look like a little pipe. Others didnt have them so I did the same thing as I did with the Privateer; maybe with them being on the inboard side of the nacelles Matchbox felt they wouldn't be seen anyway, I dont know but I added them to mine. The Revell version of it is the same, its just a rehash of the same moulds that Matchbox used. H,hmm I digress a tad! I made these ones from a little bit of thin sprue with a bend in, cut to a length that my big ol' tree trunk fingers of mine can handle, shaved flat on the back and drilled out! Simples! Thanks for your comments Ray and Steve😀

Thanks Ray👍😀

Got a little done today; still not feeling great though. Its the skin on my face, it flared up and my face looked absolutely scarlet; felt red raw! Plenty of ointment on it to try and calm it down again, but it was rather inflamed and itchy, kept me up most of the night trying not to scratch it! Eventually it was time to try and sleep but I couldn't get over, the slightest thing that touched my face made it even more itchy. I tried a good wash, let my face dry and put on moisturiser and that did help but it didnt take the problem away. I dont cope well the next day if I dont get sleeping and the only way now was with a sleeping tablet; it knocked me out until mid-morning! I dont know what it was that set it off, sometimes it just does that, its not pleasant. Normally happens in winter. Yesterday I was just whacked, couldn't do a thing, no concentration as I was very tired so I went back to bed in the afternoon and got to sleep until this morning. Anyway; After the primer had dried I went around the wing crevices at the wing and tail roots with some PVA to close up any crevices and gaps there. Always looks better for it after painting. I've done most of the interiors, just last minute stuff to fit later. This is the stored position for the machine gun, I only fitted it to show but havent glued it in yet as it needs painting. I found an instrument panel in my PE box, painted the area behind it white; painted the PE part with black and fitted it. Its not really going to be seen once the canopy is on and I've painted the lines on it. a few bits and pieces i painted in the rear area. You can see the little part I fitted behind the pilots seat, looks far better than just a flat plain rear bulkhead, and I found some seatbelts! I painted outside the edges of the instrument panel with black and painted the coaming. The machine gun for the rear, drilled, set on a piece of pin and painted up; I've made a loop aerial too but the machine gun and the loop aerial wont be fitted until I'm ready to fit the rear canopy! Saves my fingers from accidentally damaging them when I'm painting the fuselage! The exterior of the fuselage needed some work too, I still had the tailwheel slot to fill and I fitted the engine exhausts! Pleased with these! Made from a corner part of a parts sprue, cut back, shaped, shaved flat on the back and a hole drilled in what was the bend! A little bit of tidying to be done around them. I'm ready to start painting the outsides now; light gull grey on the undersides and intermediate blue upstairs! Tomorrow.

Wasnt able to do anything today; I didnt sleep well at all last night, and I felt "urghh" all day, so have been resting all day even though the weather is nice outside! Hopefully back at it tomorrow!

Thank you Ray, I deliberately do not have a large stash of models, I think there are about 30 and I intend to build every one of them; this little run of 5 were put-offs, kept putting them off time and time again but now I want them built, it has opened up a new direction for me as I now know I can make biplanes as long as I just take my time and build logically, a few more biplanes would look great in my cabinet! The biplanes were always colourful as it was the interwar period so camo wasnt a requisite. I will buy some more biplanes now!👍

Thank you Jason.😀

Thank you, It’s not a hard build, but I’m adding bits.😀👍

Absolutely, I like tlar! Thank you 😊 I might look to be a little sensitive, I can’t help that because it’s how I am made, each and every person has their own individual make-up, it’s just me. I make no apology for that. I really enjoy making models, it’s actually good for me, I like to show them on BM I’m just a little uncomfortable when I’m told I’ve made mistakes without my knowledge after I put in so much work on it. Unless it’s a particular project build I tend to build and paint to the instructions in the box. If I’m not happy with a model and I know what’s wrong then I will correct it, if I make and paint to the instructions and they are wrong (and I didn’t know) then it’s not a deliberate mistake or attempt to fool anyone and as long as I am happy with it then that’s fine for me. 😀 I don’t go out of my way to be spiteful or anything. Certainly not intentionally.

Thanks Russ, it’s a small project for me to get some models built that I had in the stash, I kept putting them off again and again but decided that they should now be built and on display. I have a large model I keep putting off too; one day!😂

Got some more done on this today. Painted the inside of the engine cowling and the engine crank case in neutral grey before It was fitted to the fuselage. I joined the two halves of the fuselage together around the wings and tail, looks much more like an aeroplane now. Its a nice easy kit to make but I am adding a few bits and pieces that I want on it. I found good engine exhausts and even drilled a hole in both, and found some nice P.E. parts for the pilots cockpit, control panel and a pilots seat. I glued the gun ring into the back area and prepared a few other bits to be fitted in. The blue 'thing' is the seat that came with the model! It will not be fitted. The main float I assembled yesterday and today I rubbed it back and then filled the areas that needed filling, and another rub back. I even found a perfect little rudder for it! I rubbed the model down after I had painted a line of liquid poly around the wing and tail roots as they were rattling in the fuselage, I filled the holes where the undercarriage would have been fitted, once dry I rubbed the areas back and then wiped the whole model down with a panel wipe so that I could prime the airframe and the main float. I widened the gap that the piolts seat fits into, to take the new seat I have for it, looks good! Its not glued in yet. I'll let this dry over night now before I do anything else, This is coming along quickly now, once I've built up the cockpits I'll start painting the underside, I have the wing floats assembled too but they need to be rubbed down. I wont fit these until the decal is on the underwing but I'll get them painted, ready. More tomorrow!😀

Quality rather than quantity! Superb job on this one! I love the nice sharp lines in the paint edges, very neat and tidy! Great detail throughout especially the bomb bay, I have a Special hobby kit of this yet to build in 1/72, not sure if it has the option of an open bomb bay but if I can get mine looking like this it will look pretty good!

There's me thinking it was all Victors, Vulcans and C-130 "Fat Alberts" at Ascension! Never realised there would have been other contract aircraft helping the effort! Not seen one of these modelled before and this is a lovely example! Superb I'll bet it takes a bit of space in your collection even at 1/144!

That really is fantastic! I always liked the A-26 in WW2 garb but I know they served a good bit longer as the B-26, this is a smashing piece of work! A masterpiece!

The one I did was in grey plastic, but the plastic on the one I had was rather poor, some areas were so thin that when I started painting it, it deformed, melted a hole in it. Had it been better plastic it could have been okay. This one is in blue plastic; I think the idea was it might not need painting but once this one is made I'll prime it before it gets any paint. After this one I have a Stearman Kaydet! That'll be fun!😁 Thanks chaps.😀

I remember having the Airfix version but it wasn’t very very clever and I was unable to assemble it properly and it had to be abandoned, it was a pretty poorly moulded kit.

Thanks for that, I wasn’t aware that Monogram made this in 1/48. Cheers, Mark.