JTninja

How important is rule 3? 😁 Looking at building the French battleship Richelieu, but the kit depicts her at 1943-1944. As she had a refit in the US in 1943, she was given US camouflage. However, the shape of the ship is clearly not American, so I was wondering if that's enough to be eligible. There's a small French flag included if that helps.

Withdrew my P-40 entry to help bring Bf-109 a bit closer. I want to see both get through

You have my vote. Will probably go with heavy cruiser CA-36 USS Minneapolis. For about a year she wore a modified version of Measure 8 Camouflage. Dark paint was used to simulate shadows, and to help give the ship the appearance of a smaller destroyer

Im in with a fictional paint scheme, but its an F/A-18, so it should still be eligible 😅

Hi Nick, The waterline and overall length numbers were from the published figures of 770ft (waterline) 824ft and 9inches (overall), which was based on CV-5 and CV-6 before the war started. I'm not sure we have drawings of her '43 refit. You can see them referenced on the general plans for CV-5 Yorktown here: https://maritime.org/doc/plans/cv5.pdf

Time to attempt something a bit complicated that probably wont be finished, but worth giving it a go! I'm a big fan of USN WWII aircraft carriers (I've got 18 to build), so when I found out a British carrier served with the USN, I wanted to make a model of it. In the fight for the Pacific in 1942, the United States Navy was desperate and willing to gamble. It was the year that saw the evolution of naval warfare, with the Aircraft Carrier now center stage, with battles taking place without surface forces sighting each other. January saw Saratoga damaged from a torpedo, requiring repairs. In April, Hornet and Enterprise launched a daring surprise attack on the Japanese homeland, known as the Doolittle Raid. In early May, The Battle of Coral Sea resulted in the loss of Lexington, but saved Port Moresby. The following month, Japan lost 4 carriers, but Yorktown was sunk. In August, the US went on the offensive at Guadalcanal, where Enterprise was damaged at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Holding Guadalcanal from the IJN and the IJA was a risky and dangerous affair though. At the end of the month, Saratoga was again torpedoed, requiring repairs. While escorting Marines to beef up the island in September, Wasp was sunk. The end of October saw the final major carrier battle of the year, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Enterprise, freshly returned from repairs, was again damaged, and her sister ship Hornet sunk. Enterprise would received temporary repairs to hold the line until Saratoga returned in November. The situation in the Pacific was looking desperate. The United States Navy was set to receive their new Essex-class carriers in middle to late 1943, but needed help until then, and requested the aid of the British. Carriers were heavily prized in Europe, but the British realized the potential benefits. Supplying a carrier to the USN would increase the threat to Japanese forces in the South Pacific, potentially relieving the threat to the weak Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, they worried that by not fully supporting them in their time of need, could result in reluctant allied support for further Mediterranean operations. They agreed to lend a carrier to the USN, providing none were damaged in Operation Torch. After providing air cover for the invasion force during Operation Torch, HMS Victorious was sent home to prepare for her journey to the United States. At Norfolk, she received upgrades to operate with the US Navy, as well as new aircraft. The Fairey Albacores were replace with the new Grumman TBF Avenger. These were heavier than any previous carrier aircraft, and gave the deck crews a difficult time until further upgrades were made at Pearl Harbor. Arriving at the front in May, Victorious operated with Saratoga, covering the invasion landings at New Georgia, and operating there until July, when she was recalled home. While in service with the USN, she was referred to as the USS Robin (though not her official name). For an incredibly detailed account of HMS Victorious and her adventure with the United States Navy, check out this page https://www.armouredcarriers.com/uss-robin-hms-victorious For this build, I've gone with the 2016 1/700 new tool from Aoshima. replacing their previous kit from 1974. Flyhawk also makes a kit in this scale, but people have had issues with getting incorrect flight decks. Either way, some modifications will be required to depict Victorious as she was in 1943. I've got lots of spare F4F-4s and TBFs from Trumpeter, so they'll find some use here Also a bit of photoetch as well. TOM's Modelworks has a nice set, including some parts for her mid war appearance. Looking forward to this getting started next week!

All done! Overall, a pretty good kit from Airfix, only a few issues but otherwise it went together very well. Thanks for tuning in and helping me pull through this!

Mosquito RS709 on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force as NS519 Kit used was the Airfix A04065 1/72 Mosquito PR.XVI, built out of the box with Eduard masks. Paints were mostly Atom by Mig, with Gunze Black Primer, Tamiya White Primer and Clear Coats. Build thread can be found here

I checked all the parts, no luck 😭

Since May, this thing as seen plenty of filling, sanding, and priming. This photo was taken a week after the previous update I also started working on the floor, which required attaching the side skirt pieces. Now, the body is at a point where I'm ready to start getting ready for actual paint. Anywhere inside that could be seen has been sprayed black Lets see if we can get this finished up in these final few weeks.

When visiting the National Museum of the United States Air Force a few years ago, I came across an impressive looking cargo aircraft that I didn't know much about. I took this picture but carried on to my main target, the Ju-88 (for our Ju-88 GB). When I got home, I looked into the C-46 and its history. The aircraft I saw didn't have much history, other than being built in WWII, and managing to survive in the USAF among the final 13 aircraft that were retired in 1968. Searching Scalemates showed slim pickings in my preferred 1/72 scale, but a recent molding in 1/144 by Platz looked good, judging from a review here on Britmodeller. And more importantly, one of the reissues had decals for the C-46D 44-78018, the very one I saw at the NMUSAF. Naturally, when Small is Beautiful made the bunfight, I made sure to vote for it, having this kit in mind. I managed to pick up some canopy masks as well from KV models.

Decals are on, final bits have been painted, and is ready for a clear coat. Landing Gear has been installed, wheels being assembled now. Props are glued, dry fit found some gaps, and are being worked on.

Hell yeah, love me some MS33 camo!

If you're not in a hurry, keep an eye on Trumpeter In their '25-'26 catalog, they announced a 1/350 USS New Mexico (kit 05383). As Vlad mentioned above, Idaho was part of the New Mexico class. Its possible they would also issue an Idaho kit (When they did the Tennessee/Colorado class in 1/700, they covered all 5 ships in at least one fitting). Also possible they could release in 1/700 a few years later, as they have done with quite a lot of their 1/350 catalog. That said, Trumpeter is also notorious for announcing kits, releasing them much later than expected, or not at all.

Unsuccessful in making the original deadline, but well on track to make the extension. Left the blue as is and went to work on the red. It ended up being slightly darker than intended, but it'll do. Required some minor touch ups After a clear coat to protect the paint and create a smooth surface, the decals went on. I enjoy Airfix decals, much easier to handle than Hasegawa, which always shred apart when I so much as look at them Once the last of the decals go on, it'll get another clear coat to seal them to the surface before putting down a flat coat.