jackroadkill

Oh my goodness..... What a buy!

That's a fantastic job to be given - what pervert put DM humbuckers in that?!

Welcome to the fabulous reality that it kit building! Being sensible for a moment, there's more to be learned from a mistake or accidental breakage than from a build that goes swimmingly. It takes a while to find your feet and work out exactly what works best for you and what doesn't. For example, if at all possible I leave the undercarriage and any extraneous protuberances (pitot tubes, gun barrels etc) off the kit until the very last moments. Ask me how I came to this conclusion.... I also have a bit of a thing about Bf109's, and one of the worst aspects of the type was the spindly undercarriage legs - this is replicated in 90% of the styrene versions, so I now routinely drill and peg the legs into their sockets using 1mm steel wire. This has saved me many hours of swearing. Cheers, JRK

Anyone else? Come on, ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up!

It's lucky for you that you live in Oz, or I might well be turning up at your front door every couple of weeks with demands for your template design and cutting services!

@elger, she's coming together very well. 303 Sqn are one of my favourite squadrons; as a child when going to see my grandmother in west London I would always look out for the Polish War Memorial new RAF Northolt. I'll be very interested to see her coming together and will follow the build. I have the same kit in my stash and want to do something interesting with it.

It's nice to see all the old headaches with the VC series are faithfully reproduced and included! Have fun with the build - I shall watch from behind the sofa!

Hi Mark, somehow I've managed to miss the whole build up until this point, so apologies for that; this is a variant I'm very interested in and I love the confusions regarding paint schemes, and who/what/why/where/when questions that late war Luftwaffe aircraft throw up. I think you've done a remarkable job on the paint - not just the colours but the application of them in the exact areas of the airframe. I also like the kit's representation of the engine and systems you'll see through the wheel wells - I built HB's Ta152C-11 recently and although the model was a beauty to build I felt that the gaping cavern of the interior let it down. I'll be following the rest of the build closely! Thanks, JRK

Oh my goodness, this is brilliant! I'm going to follow this one closely. Slava Ukraini!

After having definitely having some time available on Monday after work, then Wednesday after work, then Thursday after work, and then yesterday after getting jobs done, I finally got to spraying the underside in RLM76 this evening. The picture doesn't show the full effect, but in principle I'm happy with the mottled black base. I'll try to take some better pictures as I go, but in reality you can see much more tonal variation than you can in the above image. Cheers, JRK

Well, this is embarrassing; I was composing a message to say that I'd have to delay the start of my build for this GB by six weeks or so due to an imminent house move when I discovered that I've not actually signed up to the GB! Uh, I might sign up for this GB after I move house, then... Yours in confusion, Jack

That's just showing off, Adrian - mine looks like a 1950's propaganda comic representation of something that was supposed to look futuristic but, by the time eighteen months had gone past, looked both arcane and shonky in equal measure. Mind you, I did choose the works Matchbox kit ever.

Jeff, that's a bloody good build, especially considering the hassle it gave you and that you've not built a kit in a good few years. All power to you, sir.

I remember building that kit as a teenager; I'd not built a Hasegawa kit before and was a bit reluctant to depart from my usual Airfix kits. It was a great kit, as I remember.

This is your second kit?! I might have to give up building in despair....! I'll follow this with great interest.

I was sent this by my very good friend @Gavin Stewart: Thanks Gav - much appreciated, my brother.

I can't comment on the SH kit as I've not built one, but the Airfix kit is a cracker. Here are my experiences with the kit:

Some lovely work there, Walter. You've done a superb job on the overspray on the fuselage and upper wing surfaces especially.

Welcome back; as you've already discovered there is no escape. Your wallet will never be the same again.

Superb, as usual! Cracking job again.

Yay, Mig21 friends!!

That, sir, is the most insightful and inspired philosophy I have seen in weeks.

I'm having to move house soon, and so was looking to reduce my stash, which is almost exclusively of WW2 aircraft. Therefore it made total sense for me to buy a Revell (Monogram) F-5F Aggressor and an Eduard MiG21, right?

Oho, I like that a lot. Superb job, sir.

Had a dark few days, so Nick Cave is appropriate: