franky boy

Excellent choice! A Lancaster was on my list of potential builds for this one I’ll be watching with interest. James

Nice work on a potentially tricky kit. Good to see another cutting mat as dirty as mine James

Thanks Rob I think the only thing with the UC is the choice between skinny tiers or the fatter tiers and their corresponding doors. I think the Canadian 104’s had the skinnier ones but am happy to be proven wrong. James

Nice work Rob Ill follow along for the duration if that’s ok as this kit is on my to build list. Nice choice of markings to. However if you should change your mind I made a Belgian Starfighter in NMF a couple of years ago below. A07B8B84-080F-4415-8885-6D4BCB7488D9 by James Halls, on Flickr Its the Hasegawa kit with Armycast decals. The ladder and sidewinders are from the Daco set which is excellent if you’re feeling rich! Look forward to more progress. James

Excellent. I’ve wanted to see one of these built for ages as I quite fancy one myself. Any chance of a shot next to something to gauge the scale Thanks James * Edit. Scrap that request. Just seen your first photo.

Beautiful build Elias I love mk1 Spitfire in the more irregular markings pre Battle of Britain. James

Thanks Tony. Much appreciated. Thanks Gene. Yes I know what you mean. Let’s hope they get this one right as we know they are capable of doing a good job of it. Thanks Troy Answer - the rack in the back ground is a Flory Models tool station A3 size. Available from pmmodels.co.uk. Expensive but it’s been a good addition. Especially if you’re a messy bugger like me. I can’t find a link right now, maybe it’s down due to Covid? I know, I need to buy big sheet of blue card to photograph in front of. Thanks for the kind comments. James

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Thanks Lord Riot. Yes I’m looking forward to the new Airfix kit to. It would be nice to have a slatted wing version but somehow I doubt we get it. Nice work on yours also Ian. I didn’t realise that the pitot was red in this aircraft. Will have to sort that out. Thanks Steve. Agreed, I think the sabre looks pretty good in RAF colours. I think the new Airfix kit is going to be a good seller. James

Thanks Wez I did actually do a bit of surgery last couple of nights. This was the top part of the wing which was cut along the front edge of the wing spar panel line. That went fine, no dramas. D74FFB43-DD34-463C-9D84-19521C3152F0 by James Halls, on Flickr I then stupidly sat down at about 10pm last night after a couple of glasses of red and decided to do the lower wing section in the same manner. Big mistake! I cut Hasegawa leading edge of to far back and had a huge gap which I had to fill with a big shim of plastic card and sprue gloop. 1A23E922-BA76-47C2-B598-D4D5123072A0 by James Halls, on Flickr Anyway it’s not as bad as it may look. I’ve sanded it back just now and it just needs a bit of a re scribe and hopefully it will be fine. Note to self, late night modelling and alcohol don’t mix! Thanks James

Great work. I particularly like the paint job on the A-4. Thanks for sharing. James

Hi everyone Let me present my Sabre Mk4 OOB converted from the Hasegawa F-86 f30 kit in 1/48 scale. Finished in the colours of the CO’s aircraft of 3 squadron based at Gielenkirchen in 1954. Paints are Hataka orange line. Decals from Eagle Strike. Flory Models dark dirt wash and Tamiya satin varnish. Thanks also to @sabrejet for the advice on the particulars of RAF Sabres. Here are the pics - 67A128FD-B2B2-4231-9D99-F66E079EFBE0 by James Halls, on Flickr 62E6828A-8A78-4979-A720-30A6525BD6E3 by James Halls, on Flickr 27C3402B-2653-4A8A-A788-046F6727A21D by James Halls, on Flickr D6ED8453-8FA4-43B1-9A16-74293A385862 by James Halls, on Flickr 3993E63D-ED4A-4FFA-9D27-41078CB3BB51 by James Halls, on Flickr 47925569-78AC-4497-AFDE-7E6229ECBD8B by James Halls, on Flickr 388845A1-F8E0-4961-A0F9-4A710F9CA268 by James Halls, on Flickr Questions and comments welcome. Thanks for looking. James

Hello chaps It’s been ages so here we go. Sabre no. 1 is now finished. After decals it had a gloss clear coat, Flory Models dark dirt wash and some oils here and there followed by a satin coat. U/c was then painted up and given a wash. I also added a pilot figure as I saw a picture of 3 squadron pilots with green flying helmets. I’m terrible at figure painting but anyway it’s done now and here it is. I’m actually fairly pleased with it. 62E6828A-8A78-4979-A720-30A6525BD6E3 by James Halls, on Flickr 67A128FD-B2B2-4231-9D99-F66E079EFBE0 by James Halls, on Flickr More pics in the RFI section soon. Sabre 2. I got the cockpit painted and fuselage together pretty quickly. 10655948-F363-4D65-8CAB-2C22A60AF8F7 by James Halls, on Flickr The donor kit also arrived and was immediately hacked up for its wing slats. 0DBCF6DE-B7F0-4346-9261-BB89A5E75430 by James Halls, on Flickr 14DDBD1C-5C47-4F51-9EDA-A99B59BBAC4E by James Halls, on Flickr The leading edge of the D is longer than the F wing so it will need cutting to size. CBFF332E-8C65-40F8-AB3A-34842BBCC194 by James Halls, on Flickr This is the scheme for the second kit. 76E3120A-EBED-49FA-98FA-3858820021F6 by James Halls, on Flickr That’s all for now. I need to take a short break from Sabres for now as I want to build my entry for the Journeys End GB but keep an eye out for more updates later in the summer. Thanks James

Hello chaps Not really a first update but the obligatory sprue shots as I hope to start cutting some plastic and etch this weekend. 12B5FD11-C365-46FD-892B-DCFD4F522E29 by James Halls, on Flickr And this close up one to show the very nice surface detail in this kit. 220D878A-9D14-46DC-9D32-F657D9654F8E by James Halls, on Flickr Updates to follow soon hopefully. Thanks James

Nice work Ben. Welcome aboard. James

Nice start Dennis. That at does look like a nice kit. James