Shorty84

Although it doesn't tell anything about accuracy, this build at least shows the parts in much better detail and according to the builder it goes together well enough: https://modellbauer.forumieren.de/t11349-f22-raptor-148-von-ilovekit-geb-von-millpet Cheers Markus

As shown above, part of the instrument panel was indeed standardized. From 1943 they introduced the "Einheits-Blindfluggerätetafel" (standardized blind flying panel) on most aircraft types which grouped the most important instruments consistently: https://www.deutscheluftwaffe.de/cockpitprofil-einheitsblindflugtafel Cheers Markus

As said above, most companies keep very quiet about sales numbers but in their February 2022 newsletter, Eduard openly talked about them. https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2022/info-eduard-2022-02en-feb.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0TnaWiFdfFBcJ1IUfQY99beb0x3mhplrtz4-YGJkOISOAYD3aazPQYnwk Some information how many kits they sold of their 1/48 Spitfire up until End of 2021 (all boxings): "That this can work extremely well, we only need to point to the Spitfire Mk.I, Mk.II, and Mk.V. Together with today’s release of Spitfire Story: Southern Star, we have released five kits in the Limited Edition line, including one covering American Spits, ‘Eagle’s Call’. These are further complemented in our range by four ProfiPACKs and a Weekend Edition kit. The end result is that by the end of 2021, 30,149 kits have been sold for 17.5 million Czech Crowns. But all of these contain 47,898 sets of plastic sprues, or complete kits." Then some figures about their best-selling individual boxings: "The best selling of the Spitfire kits was Spitfire Story: The Few, which sold 7,535 pieces, and as such, became our best selling single kit out of our range, ahead of the second place P-51D Chattanooga Choo Choo with 6,422 sold items. In third place, we have the 1:72nd scale Tornado GR.1 Limited Edition kit “Desert Babe” with 6,295 sold. Worth mentioning is that in fourth place was the TORA TORA TORA! Zero new release with 5,706 sold, that is a number that continued to grow through January." And finally, they even mentioned the figure of total sold kits in 2021: "In all, we sold 152,784 kits in all of the ranges." This should give one an idea about the numbers which can be expected for mainstream manufacturers. Cheers Markus

I think this is a slight misunderstanding, as Piotr exactly said: The comment regarding the appalling quality was pointed at the W-3RM Anakonda release (see lower picture) and the W-3A Sokół (see upper picture) was just mentioned to highlight how good the quality of the parts originally was. Cheers Markus

A splendid pair 👍 Thanks for sharing them with us as one doesn't see a built Isracast or Broplan kit every day. Especially Broplan kits I've heared are quite challenging, so great to see they can be built into a nice replica. Cheers Markus

Great work 👍 It's nice to see that more and more of these lesser known aircraft types become available due to 3D printing. They have a few interesting types in their portfolio and seeing your build I feel I need to go shopping soon 😄 Cheers Markus

But the current 1/32 kits are based on the single seater airframe (MiG-29M) which never went into production. All current in-service variants are based on the unified two-seater airframe (MiG-29M2). That means regardless if the machine is built as a single or double seater, it always features the two-seater canopy and the only difference is how the rear cockpit is configured (pilot workplace or 400l fuel tank). The HB kit will be the first one in any scale representing an in-service airframe based on the unified two-seater. Cheers Markus

The cockpit colour depends on when your machine was built. The great @Dana Bell says the following: "The original cockpit color was Yellow Green, a mixture of zinc chromate primer, aluminum powder, and black enamel. In 1942 there were fears of an aluminum shortage, so Curtiss purchased a mix of zinc chromate primer and gray enamel called Curtiss Cockpit Green - it looked enough like Yellow Green to please Curtiss and the AAF, even though there was no standard for the Yellow Green Color. When Interior Green - the mix of zinc chromate primer and black - was introduced in 1943, Curtiss switched to this color (which was standardized and much darker than Yellow Green)." Discussion and some colour pictures here: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/curtiss-p40-interior-colours-t505611.html Another discussion here on BM which goes into some detail about the exact shades: This should give some pointers. Others for sure know more and will chime in soon. Cheers Markus

Yes, and some were even converted into recce machines: Lim-6R (based on Lim-6bis/MiG-17F) and Lim-6MR (based on Lim-6M/MiG-17PF): https://il2forum.pl/index.php?topic=19869.0 They really got the most out of their MiGs. Cheers Markus

And Poland. They converted their MiG-17s (Lim-5) into fighter bombers (Lim-6) adding two MARS-2 rocket pods starting in 1963. Eastern Germany converted 40 MiG-17F similarly in 1973. The main difference between them is a braking parachute container below the rudder on the Polish machines. Cheers Markus

Hi Werner! You aren't losing any time, don't you? This kit will for sure find its way into my stash so I will follow your endeavour to see what you think about it. I'm clearly no expert but after a quick comparison they look quite identical to me, even down to the details like fuel cap/hatch position, shape, etc. The 1300l tank on the Mirage were designated RP62 so maybe some other Member here knows if they were used on the Super Mystère too? Cheers Markus

@tempestfan, they look very nice indeed. Seems this mysterious build article on a 'French modelling page from a master modeller' is some kind of secret lore only to be revealed to the initiated Cheers Markus

If you are not limited by the exact variant and talk about the Hasegawa Reboxes in both scales they indeed contain the parts for the Sirens although most of the time listed as "no use". 1/48 (#04564): https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mFgAAOSwVb5k0pp3/s-l1200.webp 1/32 (#04711): https://www.super-hobby.at/zdjecia/6/2/5/1439_1_rev4711_5.jpg Cheers Markus

Pavla ceased operation at the beginning of 2022 and their sets are increasingly hard to get. I've not seen any of their Mirage F.1 sets being available since a long time. For ESCI/Italeri your only choices are either AML or Renaissance to update the exhaust area. L'Arsenal also does a lot of stuff applicable for the F.1: https://www.scalemates.com/de/search.php?fkSECTION[]=Kits&fkSECTION[]=Utensils&q=*&fkTYPEGROUP[]="Dassault+Mirage+F1"&fkSCALENORMALISED[]="1:00048"&fkTYPENAME[]="Detail and Conversion sets"&fkCOMPNAME[]="L'Arsenal" Cheers Markus

RLM02 was commonly used as well for mottling on RLM74/75/76 camouflaged aircraft. For example, the official camo diagram for the Bf 109Ga-2, as shown in Merrick's/Kiroff's 'Luftwaffe Camouflage and Markings 1933-1945' Part 1, Page 79 in the side view stipulates: Fleckenverteilung (Mottle distribution): 2/10 Farbton (colour) 74 3/10 Farbton (colour) 02 5/10 Farbton (colour) 75 über lichtblau nebeln (to be misted over light blue) Edit: Found the diagram online: https://verde9.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Me-Bf-109-02-70-74-75-76.png Many years ago, in an article about the restoration of Bf 110F-2, WNr.5052, it was mentioned that they restored the camo colours according to original data and the mottling included RLM02. I still remember this because this was new information for me at that time. Cheers Markus

Sorry to disagree but there is a 'problem' insofar that the corners of the intakes should be rounded (see here) while the ESCI/Italeri ones are not (see here; at least one would need to sand them rounder from the outside as ESCI moulded a rounded wedge at the inner face to allow for that). Also the camera fairing (CR) and FLIR fairing (CT/AZ) under the nose are not correct (too big and/or incorrectly shaped) as I read previously and saw myself once I compared the kit parts against photos. Still a nice kit I prefer over the overly complicated KH one. Could you please post the link to this build? I would be quite interested about his assessment. Thanks! Cheers Markus

Yeah, the flat central panel looks really too wide compared with the original: https://www.atacusa.com/sites/default/files/2021-11/aircraft-miragef1_0.jpg Not sure if there really is an error without measurements but at least French company Renaissance felt it necessiates an quite extensive correction set: https://www.renaissance-models.com/ter/index.php/avions-toutes-echelles/echelle-1-48/produits/902-amd-ba-mirage-f1-1-48 I played with the idea to buy one for my own build but costing as much as the kit for correcting a fault you can only see from a certain angle I decided to pass on this. Cheers Markus

In 1/48 your best option is the ICM kit for the He 111H-16 as the CASA was based on this variant: https://www.scalemates.com/de/kits/icm-48263-he-111h-16--1123818 It is available and has the advantage that you don't need to deal with Vac clear parts as ICM already provides them in the kit. Otherwise any H-variant would do it. The Revell/Monogram kit should work too (at least acc. to Mulberry) but it is not readily available and has some shape problems with the main clear parts (unfortunately I can't find the article which shows the problem now). Cheers Markus

Not sure what you try to say but I think you've misunderstood something. This section provides information about (future) releases and is not for product reviews. Homebee is just a member (albeit a very prolific one) who posts these info he collects from various sources like homepages, social media, etc. But neither does he buy all these items nor does he review them. Items get reviewed in the Review Section of the forum when manufacturers send BM free review samples or review staff buys them themselves from their own money. This has nothing to do with not being 'in their commercial game'. It is simply not possible that way to review each and every item that gets released. If a manufacturer wants his stuff to be reviewed on BM he is free to send a sample of his work. Otherwise, if you have bought this set feel free to share your impression and some pictures here. It will be much appreciated. Cheers Markus

Hi Gary, unfortunately I cannot offer anything regarding your request but if you ever decide to buy one of the mentioned kits I may suggest going with the CMR one. When comparing pictures of the finished kits with photographs of the real deal, I get the impression that the proportions of the Octopus/Pavla kit are totally out of whack. The fuselage looks way too deep and I suspect the fuselage before and aft of the canopy is too short, giving the whole model a chubby appearance. This is the best photograph from the side I could find: https://www.worldwarphotos.info/wp-content/gallery/usa/aircrafts/tbu-tby/TBY-2_Sea_Wolf_4.jpg Compare with the side view of the built Pavla kit, it misses the sleek impression of the real machine (no disrespect to the builder): https://modelingmadness.com/review/allies/us/usn/attardtbya.jpg And here how the CMR kit looks like (https://media.fotki.com/2v2a7GyTnxfzdhW.jpg), built by our own @TheRealMrEd Cheers Markus

Haha, me too. I sometimes buy older/rare kits although a new, better alternative exists in the meantime just out of curiosity. If I'll ever build it is another question

Just now at my LHS, a loose bagged Airfix Buccaneer (old tool) in 1/48 for just 20€ (£17.20). I've heard SF are veeery short run. Guess you'll find out soon why it was just half the price of Zvezda Cheers Markus

Aren't we all a bit?

Hi @Litaki, congrats for your brave choice to give us an injection molded kit of this lesser known but important Yugoslav design 👍 From what I see your CAD shows the config of an earlier series machine (nose starkes, tail surfaces with external balancing weights, blanked off cannons). So will you do seperate boxings for the different series or provide all options in one? And will you do a very early recce Version (IJ-22) too, with recce pod and early wings (without LERX)? Oh, and do you plan a twin-seater too? Sorry for the many questions. I wish you good luck with this kit! Cheers Markus

Question is if the E-2 variant was built at all? I may point to the following webpage devoted to the Bf 109: https://me109.info/ It contains a quite extensive database which links Werknummern, known photographs and technical information*. It states that while the Bf 109E-2 was planned, this variant was never built and sources stating this are wrong. His references (237 books at the moment) can be viewed under 'Sources'. *Some instruction to navigate the page: On the left you select the appropriate variant (e.g. Bf 109 E). Then you will see a drop-down menu in the upper right corner which allows you to select the desired subvariant. This will open the page which contains technical information and known pictures, profiles and Line Drawings for this specific variants. Each picture you open will contain further information like Werknummer, Markings, Pilot, Squadron, ... if known. Of course, you can use any of this information to locate a picture of a specific aircraft via the Search function. Cheers Markus