Karearea

Maybe a foreign operator boxing of the Gannet? RAN, Indonesia and Marineflieger would be an interesting range of markings.

Is something like a Martin-Baker MB 5 too left field? 1/72 of course. I know there’s an AZ one, and it doesn’t really have a service history, but it looks cool enough to fly off the shelves. Imagine that Adam Tooby cover!

Looking even better with a few more coats. Electrical wire has become my new go-to for a bunch of tasks, particularly providing a miniature cleat for rigging. For thicker wires like the undercarriage cage, I have some quite flexible brass wire that I think is intended for picture hanging- not the braided type obviously but a single filament. Available in a number of thicknesses. I see hardware stores in a whole new light these days!

Great marking options! I'll wait and hope for VMFA-311 decals in the inevitable 1/72 release next year, then no doubt end up stacking the box on the Hobby 2000 A-4E box of the same unit and wistfully imagine building them both.

Looking great!

I’ve realised I can be quite careful with aerials and small parts once they’re attached, but often seem to make a mess attaching them. To that end, I decided to add all the little bits and pieces ahead of weathering, while I can still clean up small messes. On the underside, the exhaust pipes and undercarriage doors were added, along with the cute little pitot on the port wingtip. While they are probably an anachronism, I also painted the lights along the belly for a splash of colour. On the top side, I replaced the tiny mast above the vertical stabiliser with some brass rod. This gave a solid base to rig the aerial wire with the usual invisible mending thread- I’m happy with how it turned out. Dabs of paint for the insulators. I did make a slight mess around the insignia, but hope to very carefully repaint there- the star itself has a nasty repaired patch too but it’s not so discernible in person.

Same answer from me as last year- 1/72 Javelin. But a Venom is an unmet need, scale agnostic, and a Hudson still makes sense in 1/72. Banshee vintage classic? I don’t really do 1/24 but would be very tempted by a Hawk as mentioned above.

Are you certain it wasn’t an introduced Australian species? Exercise due caution…

Glad your wife and you are doing ok after the crisis. Definitely relate to finding tranquility in repetitive tasks! Reckon this should work really nicely, as it’s convex you’ll be able to feather the ends down quite delicately.

That makes sense, thanks. I had read on an AWM caption a few months back that the leading edges exhibited a ‘stucco’ effect, which I had thought at the time was a symptom of weathering rather than a protective coating. I’l have a ponder, my usual painting quality leads to that sort of effect naturally!

As I have a tendency to make a mess of such things, I decided that this evening I’d resolve the undercarriage geometry before I started weathering. I’m relieved I did- note the sanded down inner doors. One of the benefits of having far fewer aircraft on the bench is that this doesn’t seem such a nuisance, I’ll happily retouch it next time the airbrush is out, immediately before the clear coat. Regarding the actual undercarriage, Arma make fitment beautifully simple, with a shaped aperture on the wing for the legs to slide into. I had to fettle the angles slightly with the aid of a set square, but it was all a revelation after some of the undercarriage I’ve fitted recently. I wanted to give the Mustang III that distinctive stance they exhibit in photos with the inner doors retracted, as compared to the P-51D series which invariably have them hanging down on the ground. However there’s some door and wheel well detail which is quite nice, so I elected to have them drooped slightly, which is also evident in a fair few photos. Thanks! I’m still not sure how grubby to make this… need to test some various approaches on the mule. I note the exhaust stains aren’t very pronounced on the Fano aircraft, I imagine they were perpetually being cleaned off along with the ever present dust.

Specification P.27/32 was issued April 1933, first flight March 1936. This thread began in November 2021, so it’s a dead heat! Edit: I hadn’t read the last few pages, but facetiousness aside I’m firmly in the ‘I’ll be lining up to show support whenever this is released’ camp.

Great photos. I particularly like the Bf 108 diving shot, there’s a real purity of form evident that isn’t apparent at the more usual viewing angles.

All the decals are now on the Mustang III- it’s exciting to finally envision how the subject aircraft might have looked. The KH516 serial needed to be completely disassembled, reordered, and reassembled to fit within the sky band. Otherwise the kit decals were easy to rejig to suit. No problem applying the Ventura ‘B’ either, although the film was very thin and needed to be treated quite carefully. It was particularly satisfying to apply that lovely Southern Cross detail on the rudder. Those of you with an affinity for Aussie Mustangs will probably have noticed a mistake I’ve made here- when I sourced what I thought were 32” Type B Roundels from the Spitfire sheet, and then the Arma F4F-4 sheet instead, I must have measured and converted them incorrectly. They’re most certainly not a scale 32”. In any case, there are numerous applications of Microsol on the roundels in order to have them conform to the underlying detail, so I’ve decided I can live with these rather than damage the paint removing them.

Lovely lovely work. Superb modelling and painting. Great to see the GDR scheme completed too. I have one of these in unbuilt form that lives in my ‘special stash’ (indoors rather than out in the shed)- I’m eager to build it but never quite feel ready yet. Seeing yours is a real inspiration.