bryanm

Superb! Mine also keeps coming off the shelf of doom for short periods - this is inspiration to have another go at it!

The old Airfix Auster Antarctic - years since I've seen one of those! Great reminders of a pioneering period of exploration. Apparently International Orange was originally formulated for the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Here is my recently finished Airfix Vampire. It's a jolly good kit and went together well, needing just a skim of filler on the join between the upper and lower fuselage halves. I cut the wires (or cables?) off the bottom of the box that fits in the starboard side of the cockpit to get a good fit, but that could have been me fitting it too low. Following a tip on this site I used black tungsten putty as the nose weight. There's room to get most of a 20g tin in and it sits well on its nose leg. I was (as ever) wary of trying an overall silver finish so completed it as FB5 WA402/J of 612 Squadron in 1956 using Xtradecal sheet 017-48, a leftover from my build of the Hobbycraft "Vampire" years ago. I suspect the decals were sized for the Hobbycraft kit and had some problems with them, notably the fin flashes, but was reasonably satisfied with the result. Although Airfix supply the cropped tips for the FB5 the nav lights seem to be way to big to fit so rather than try to cut them down I used a skim of Krystal Kleer to build them up. It's brush painted with Humbrol enamels. Thanks for looking!

Very good - well done with the silver finish.

Excellent - love Mustangs in RAF colours.

Well done - love the wood effect on the prop and the control cables.

Thanks for the comments and 'likes'. I've moved the pitot tube but am curious why it went on to the wrong wing tip - possibly I transposed the port and starboard wing tips but the contours seem to line up well so I guess it's more likely that I clogged up the hole in the starboard tip with paint and had some sort of defect in the port tip that I mistook for the mounting. More care needed in future!

Very good and a great finish - the first one I've seen built here. Thanks for the info re the cowlings as it's on my medium term list but I'm waiting until the desert camo version is released. I'd be very pleased with the end result!

Quite right - thanks - I will move it!

Here is my newly finished Airfix Sabre in 1/48. It went together pretty well apart from some nasty sink marks on the bottom of the flaps which I filled and some less bad ones on the drop tanks, some of which I left, and the peculiar breakdown of parts around the fin fillet and fuselage spine. Perhaps some more careful dry fitting would have given me an easier ride here but I'm sure there must have been a better way to allow for a 'fillet-less' fin in later releases. I was pleased that I didn't manage to lose the small triangular leading edge piece that has to come off to allow the lower part of the gun bay to be displayed open and did manage to find a home for it on the step and even apply the stencil! Ah, the stencils - how the Americans love their stencils - but I persevered and (I think) only lost one. 'Sabre from the Cockpit' has some great photos and although I used them, it looks as though the small white stencils in front of the windscreen weren't applied to RAF Sabres. I've moaned about the lack of adhesion of Airfix decals in the past but after watching their 'How to' video on the Spitfire starter set discovered the technique has changed - no longer do you soak them in water until the decal loosens, you just dip them in water for a few seconds and let it work its magic. Presumably the old technique now washes the adhesive off the decal. It's a nice kit, perhaps not one of new Airfix's best but still very good. It's from the box apart from moving the drop tanks according to Sabrejet's posts and is brush painted with Humbrol enamels. Thanks for looking!

Very smart in silver. I guess the pilot was an MG fan! I've read that the RAAF was disappointed to have the Meteor rather than the Sabre.

Brilliant! Can you give more details of the markings?

Looks great and a very unusual scheme - Vingtor decals are new to me!

Brilliant - Merit were one of my favourite manufacturers with subjects like this, the Walrus and the Swordfish.

Excellent - looks like a very good conversion kit.

Wow - remarkable result from a golden oldie. Great rigging!

Excellent - great finish - hairy sticks forever!

Excellent- interesting colour scheme.

Beautiful silver finish!

Excellent, and many thanks for the fascinating WIP.

Great - a tribute to you and the Lindberg Line!

Very smart - must get on and finish mine!

Excellent result from one of Airfix's best kits. Nice photography as well!

No, don't do that - it looks beautiful! Nice story as well, dito with your Lightning post - brings back memories of the RAF 'At Home' Battle of Britain displays at Gaydon when it was a V-Bomber base.

Excellent result! I had thought about trying this one but having seen your post, I won't. It's all doable but just too time consuming.