Tomcat101

I love Matchbox kits and that one looks like a lot of fun. Good choice on the USAAF markings those French ones are amongst the worst I have ever seen. Good luck with the build I look forward to watching your progress.

Looks amazing. Best of luck with the build.

Very nice. Its great to see one in a high visibility paint scheme.

I am hopeless with photo etch. You obviously are skilled. Looks great so far. Good luck with the build.

Looks to be quite the project. I look forward to seeing your progress.

I've always wanted to build one of those. Best of luck with the project.

Looks great so far. I really like the detail in the bomb bay. Good luck.

Very impressive. I especially like the cockpit panels. Amazing detail.

That looks like a fun project! Good luck.

No I never set up a construction thread for that one, but I have something unusual in mind. Hopefully it will turn out.

Background Memories stick with you. As a kid I was fascinated by aircraft and would endlessly pour over my aviation books. As I did so certain images would were indelibly etched in my mind. One of these was of a Bristol Beaufighter (see below). I have always been a fan of this machine. Ugly, pugnacious and purposeful it had an ‘in your face’ quality I tend to love in military aircraft. In spite of this as an avid modeler I have never built one, till now that is. Last year at a local model show I bought a 1/32 scale Revell ‘Beau’ kit for the princely sum of seven dollars Canadian or approximately 4 pounds. When the World War 2 Twins Mega Group Build came along I decided I could wait no longer. The Kit The kit is of 1970s vintage and isn’t great. Raised panel lines and voids where no panel lines exist at all. The details are rudimentary and in some place like the wheel wells nonexistent. It will be a challenge to make something decent but to me that is part of the joy of modelling; transforming bits of plastic into something that looks real. Poor kits do not dissuade me as I like doing the extra effort of adding the details myself. The Plan Is to convert the aircraft from a Mark IC version to a Mark X with the thimble nose and extended vertical stabilizer adding detail everywhere I can along the way. Having done a split paint scheme for my AH-64 Apache in a Group Build last year I thought I would try something similar here. On one side all black for the night fighter role. On the other either a white and green and grey camouflage scheme or alternatively in sea blue with D-Day invasion stripes. Decision pending. Well that is the plan anyway. Like in war everything is up in the air once the build commences. I hope to update my posts weekly throughout the build. All comments and suggestions are welcome and greatly appreciated. Regards, Tomcat101 The start of any build. Cleaning the desk and clearing away the last completed project which for me was a 1/32 scale Hasegawa F-5 FT ‘Frankentiger’ made from an assortment of spare parts and kits. This build for anyone interested was recently added to the aircraft for inspection forum. The other build being a 1/72 scale MPC Avro Vulcan which will again have to remain on the back burner till the Beaufighter is done. A kid’s inspiration…. The kit. Mine came in a bag with different markings but representative ….

Marvelous! One of the best built Phantoms I have ever seen. Well done.

Phantastic Phantom. I especially like the weathering.

Very impressive. The light weathering gives a very realistic look. Well done.

The B-52 is a beast! You did a great job and that is quite the bomber collection.

Very nice. Sounds strange, but I especially like the weathering on the central fuel tank. I believe it is the attention to small details that make all the difference in modelling. Well done.

Thanks everyone. I am glad people liked it. It was a lot of fun.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

There is a thin line between those who like a challenge and those who are a glutton for punishment. Those who have seen my past submissions or group builds will know I am in the latter camp. I also cannot help but tinker which leads me to my most recent project the F-5 ‘Frankentiger’. In September of last year I purchased a 1/32 scale Hasegawa F-5E Tiger II at a local model show. What I got was one complete kit and an assortment of extra parts including the pieces for one after fuselage, two extra cockpit panels, three extra seats, and at least four extra canopies – you get the idea. So what is a mad modeler with a restless mind to do? And with that the idea of the Frankentiger was born. So what have we got…. The after end, vertical stabilizer, landing gears, auxiliary fuel tanks, AIM-9 Sidewinders, seats, and cockpit panels from an F-5. The horizontal stabilizers, wings, forward fuselage (widened with styrene strips) and main tank from a 1/48 scale Italieri F-4 Phantom. The engine exhausts from a 1/48 scale Hasegawa F-4F Phantom. The nose is the sweetheart combination from a 1/48 scale Airfix Blackburn Buccaneer and a 1/24 scale Airfix Harrier GR1 with a few clear pieces from a 1/35 scale Tamiya TFerrari Testorossa thrown in. The canards came courtesy of a 1/48 scale Monogram A-4 Skyhawk. The Sidewinder missile rails and Hellfire missiles were donated from a 1/32 scale Revell AH-64 Apache. And finally the NATO 2014 Tigermeet decals came from a 1/32 scale Revell Panavia Tornado. The build itself was a blast, but certainly not without its frustrations. The biggest challenges were determining the width of the forward fuselage and centering the location of the nose gear, scratch building a cockpit that didn’t look like junk and finally shaping the connection between the F-4 and F-5 air intakes. The paint scheme was a second attempt. The first was a 5 colour aggressor scheme that never quite looked right and which was ruined when I added a Vallejo wash instead or a Flory wash (which I intended to clean the majority off). Thoroughly dissatisfied with my attempt I opted instead to steal the Tigermeet decals from a Tornado on the stash shelf and create an original paint scheme to accompany it. While perhaps not for everyone I really enjoy these projects. I like the challenge, creativity and pushing myself to model differently. I know the Luftwaffe never adopted the F-5 Tiger II but assumed as the plane is fictional then its use by Germany could be too. Photos include the build and the final result. I will let you assess the success or failure of my efforts. All comments and suggestions are welcome. Regards, Tomcat101

Great Corsair! I really like the invasion stripes and rocket details.

Very nice Tomcat. I really like the subtle shading.

Very nice, especially the weathering.

Superb! I love the look of the Skyshark but its engine was junk. You have produced a great representation of this little known aircraft. Well done.

Nice build of an unusual subject.

Very nice. I like old kits and the results as you have demonstrated can be impressive. Well done.