Jay Gee

Fantastic work, love the natural metal finish. Congratulations on the gold medal.

Thanks mate. I did see that about the red spinner which may be the correct colour. But by the time I saw it, it was too late to change. Not sure what the 1/48 is like but I also found it easier to divide and concquer the spinner spiral decal. Cut it into three sections, then apply, much easier. Thanks Bertie, that is my worst fear as my house is full of floor tiles. Although I still manage to lose stuff to the carpet monster

Hello, Here is an FW-190 that I built at the same time as my Me-109. I figured while I have the paints out, I'd knock over 2 birds with the 1 airbrush. This one is an Eduard Fw-190A8/R-2 Profipack painted up as an aircraft from 5/JG300 in Dec 1944. The red stripe sold it for me. The kit is typical Eduard with all the extras, a little fiddly throughout but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Painted RLM 74, 75 & 76 with Vallejo Model Air paints. I thought I better get these photos on quick as I snapped off the small straight aerial off the lower fuselage about 3 times, before I lost it completely and had to replace it with stretched runner. On with the pics. Hope you enjoy.

Thanks for the kind words, it is a great little kit. I used the Vallejo Model Air RLM colours 71.128 Grey Violet (RLM75) 71.046 Pale Blue (RLM76) and 71.054 Dark Grey Blue (RLM74) with 50/50 mix of airbrush thinner 71.061.

Hello all, Here is one of my latest models, the Tamiya Me-109G6 straight out of the box (apart from EZ line for the antennae wire) and painted with Vallejo Model Air paints, in one of the colour options from the kit 9/JG54. The kit went together brilliantly. The only issue I had was working with the Vallejo paints when trying to spray the Luftwaffe mottle. I usually use enamels and have been moving into acrylic lacquers, so I found these a little temperamental. What I did like was the 3 part decal for the spinner spiral. When I stuffed up my Eduard Fw-190 spinner decal, I ended up cutting another one in three which made it a lot easier. Anyway on with the photos.

Thanks Mike, I knew I had seen a build like this somewhere. I've found plenty of discussion and photos about the D2 gun positions and more importantly the shape of them, but not much luck on finding an easy conversion or better still a conversion set. The waist guns look fairly straight forward to graft in but the tail gun doesn't look like a straight swap as it had a single gun and a completely different shape to the J. Hopefully a late 2022 Airfix release?

Hello everyone. I've been eyeing off the Airfix B-25 for a while now and I would like to build a RAAF D model as these were more numerous and therefore more schemes are available. However most of these were the B-25D2 model with the waist and tail gun postions added which are a different shape and location to the J model. Does anybody know if there is a 1/72 scale conversion set for these gun positions? Or is it possible to kit bash? Has anyone done this before and if so which kits? (although I don't fancy my skills in plastic butchery) Thanks.

Wow! Great work Thommo.

They are basically a Sidewinder (although slightly longer) that's been gutted and filled with electronics. You will always find them on one side of the aircraft as they are Left or Right handed, depending on aircraft type. I made one of these by getting a 1/72 scale Sidewinder, chopping the fins off, lengthened it a little bit (eyeballed off pictures on the web by comparing AIM-9, ACMI pod and launcher rail length) and added stretched runner for the antennas. Also ran some tape around as they have 2 counter weights on them. Paint the body Hornet grey, the nose black and the antennas radome tan you're done!

You'll be pretty safe in doing a RAAF A-20G as these were loaned from US stocks in June 1944 and painted in Olive Drab & Neutral Grey. They didn't last too long though, most of the fleet was destroyed in a Japanese night time raid on Morotai in November 1944 with the survivors returned to the USAAF. 22 Squadron was then equiped with Beaufighter Mk21 (an Austraian built MkX with a buldge on the nose for an auto pilot and a slightly different navigators bubble canopy) Nearly all of the Beaufighter Mk21s used by 30, 31 & 22 SQNs were painted in RAAF Foliage Green. The UK built MkI, VI, X & XIs are a little bit of a mine field as these were painted in the Temperate Land Scheme or Temperate Sea Scheme depending on what aircraft you're modelling. DK Decals do some good and fairly accurate schemes for RAAF Beaus and Boston/A-20. This is some basic info to get you on your way, however there is a wealth of information here on Britmodeller regarding RAAF Bostons and Beaufighters by people who are more smarterer than me. Happy modelling!

G'day Mycapt65, B-25s were operated by 2 Squadron from the Northern Territory over the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) from mid 1944 onwards. Initially they used aircraft handed over from a joint RAAF/Dutch unit (18 Netherlands East Indies Squadron) where the Dutch provided the aircraft and most aircrew while RAAF provided majority of ground crew and had overall operational control. Most of the B-25s were D models with the -20 (I think) mod with tail and waist gun postions and forward firing cheek guns added. But there were B-25J models as well. For a complete run down refer to the link below. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a47.htm

Great work there Mark. Nice to see a chopper in RAAF markings too!

Wow! Awesome work. That is a master piece.

Thanks for the kind words gents. Thanks Steve, I did another one a few years ago and used the standard FAA colours not realising how different the colours are to the ANA standard. This one turned out much better than the first effort.

Hi everyone, Here is the last kit I finished for 2021 which has been collecting a little dust before I could get some photos. It is the 1/72 Hellcat Mk I/II Dual Combo Profi Pack from Eduard painted in one of the kit schemes being 1844 SQN from HMS Indomitable. The kit which went together in typical Eduard fashion (meaning any mistakes are all mine) and was painted in my trusty Humbrol enamels. After a little research here in regards to ANA colours, I went with Humbrol 155 Olive Drab, 125 US Dark Grey and 90 Sky which looks alright to me. I went a little too heavy with the weathering in some spots, but apart from that I'm pretty happy with it. Sending everyone best wishes for a successful 2022 at their work bench! JayGee.

Thanks Doc. I think the Special Hobby was the better kit, it had better detail and went together with a better fit.

G'day all, Here are a couple of P-40Ns done up on the colours of 75SQN (Special Hobby with Eduard interior) and 1 Aircraft Performance Unit (Academy). Both markings are from DK Decals. The 1 APU aircraft is in NMF and painted with Alclad Aluminium while the 75SQN is painted with Tamiya XF-62 Olive Drab and XF-53 Neutral Grey. I went with the NMF as I have some P-51 builds in mind down the track so wanted to test out my skills, which need a fair bit of work in regards to surface preparation while the Olive Drab I found is quite difficult to photograph. The 75SQN build was A29-521 "Svengali". On 9 August 1944, 12 aircraft were on a patrol when 3 out of the 4 aircraft in yellow flight suffered a collision. Yellow 3 struck Yellow 1 (A29-521) before becoming locked in an inverted spin with Yellow 4, crashing with the loss of both pilots. The collision ripped off the aileron and 25% off the LH wing from Yellow 1, exploding the .50 cal ammunition. FlgOff Jacklin flew the 200 miles back to base and landed without incident. The aircraft was repaired and later on served with 78 SQN. Anyway on the models, hope you enjoy. JayGee. Below are some pictures of the real Svengali from the ADF Serials Newsletter, which show how tough these work horses were and the dangers faced in the mopping up faze of the war.

@Geoffrey Sinclair Thanks again for the tip to NAA, very handy indeed as it lists A/C serial, pilot names, dates etc. I had searched this site in regards to my Grandfathers war service but didn't realise Squadron war diaries were listed as well. I'll definately be making some time to have a good read through and with the dates you've given will help me narrow down a time frame. Some top shelf information right there. @Magpie22 Thanks for the reply and for the great pictures, I was wondering how long it would take before you had seen this. In the photograph of the 457SQN aircraft, do they have the 30Gal slipper tank fitted as well? Or is it the fairing from the radiator I'm seeing? A bombed up, fuel tank fitted, shark mouthed Spitfire definately looks the part! What you don't know about RAAF Spitfires isn't worth knowing, although I'm not too sure about your footy team. Go Blues!

Great work Geoffrey thanks for that info. I'll have a look through and that should get me started.

Hello all, I've been searching high and low regarding RAAF Spitfire bombloads and I am out of ideas on where to search. I've found a few photos of the locally designed bomb racks and some mention to dive bombing missions, but few photos of RAAF Spits loaded with bombs. What I'm after is the type of bombs used. Were they British or American 250lb? Or were both types used? Did all 3 squadrons (452, 457 & 79) carry out dive bombing missions? If so when did they start? Any info would be appreciated, thanks. JayGee.

Brilliant work General, nicely done with the adjusted landing gear. Although looking at the back of those engine exhausts made my ears hurt!

Excellent job Ben, what we can see of the landing gear looks great too.

Very nice job there Mark, beautiful finish.

Great collection of choppers there. Nice work.

Thanks for the kind words gents. Thanks, I hadn't really given much thought to USN schemes but after how this turned out I might have to do some more. Luckily I could drive to where I was needed so I could take it with me. It was either do a kit in my spare time or drink. I think this was the much healthier option.