mitchem

AFV Club F-5F modified with fin fillet, blade aerial and shark nose sourced from their F-5E Tiger version. Various paints used from a variety of manufacturers. Aztec decals used for the markings (although I opted to paint the tiger stripes by making stencils based on the decals) Enjoyed the build more than the painting, but that's par for the course Thanks for looking. Mike

Liking that a lot ! Cracking build and a classic scheme to die for

....and I will be buying it from you !

Certainly nailed that one to the wall and smashed the paint scheme out of the park! Excellent all round. mike

Many thanks John although I'm afraid I can't keep up with the standards of civvie builds on BM Thanks Dave. I used AK Extreme Metal Aluminium on the fuselage and wings. "Corogard" areas on the wings were done by spraying the aluminum with AK Ultra Matte Varnish. Not sure if they existed on the real thing but they look the part. Thanks Keith. I don't suppose you'd have any idea as to how I can delete this post and wipe your memory clean ? (Ken's memory may need a bit of 240 grit) Thanks Chris. I have to admit that I've taken a shine to Amodel Caravelles and Eastern European kits as I like attacking polystyrene with sanding blocks and grinders. It's the painting bit that I don't like. Cheers Mohawk (don't worry, your identity is safe with me......). To be fair, I didn't think I'd finish my Twin Otter in time, and Keith offered to let me rent one of his until the voting had been completed.

My take on Amodel's Sud Aviation Caravelle III finished off in the markings of VIASA. I enjoyed the build although the undercarriage was an absolute nightmare to put together. Wings fences were made from thin plastic sheet as this boxing didn't come with photo-etched parts. (Luckily I had Amodel's 10-R version to hand, so their parts were used as templates). Classic Airlines decal sheet (CA144-419) was used and it will come as no surprise that they were beautifully printed and performed flawlessly. (It does give you the option to paint the tail and this is the route I took). Thanks for looking. mike (P.S. Looks like my entry for next year's Latin American competition has been completed )

Thanks Keith. How about a 1/72 707 in full Ecuatoriana bling? (Five months won't be long enough!)

It's been some time since I've posted any civvie stuff on BM. I'd like to say I've been to the Seychelles but that would just be wishful thinking.... Here's my take on the Matchbox Twin Otter dressed up in the markings of Air Seychelles : I started using the markings on the Nazca decal sheet but I couldn't live with the join line on the tail markings. Although I tried to paint over, my efforts to match the colours failed miserably - there's a surprise ! I ended up taking the easy way out by painting the markings with home-made masks Hope you can feel the sand between your toes ? mike

Thanks Gary. As I mentioned, the kit was built out of the box but proved to be a bit tricky in places - multi-component fuselage parts needed a bit of filling and sanding and assembling the main undercarriage was difficult. (Small pieces + fat fingers = cursing). Don't get me wrong - no complaints - just a test of skills. As for the paints, I was really impessed with the Hataka set, so much so that I've subsequently bought some other sets for other projects. I found them easy to spray and touching up mistakes with a fine brush was simplicity in itself. Thanks exdraken. I scaled up the instructions and cut masks out using masking film for the flat surfaces. Didn't work out too well for the curved parts so I resorted to using lengths of Tamiya tape. One thing that I did avoid was cutting the masks out while the film was stuck on the kit's surface. I made this mistake when I built a "Whif" Su-47 and when I applied a dark wash to highlight panel lines, the wash took up residence in the cut lines : Sukhoi Su-47 Berkut Think I've done my fair share of splinter schemes though? Here's something else that's Swedish : cv9040b Cheers Keith. Hope to bring it along to the club next week if I can find a pocket big enough ! Thanks Orion. The model is quite big and I'm glad to haveadded one to the collection. It's really hard to believe that this technology dates bacck to the late 60's / early 70's, and as for the exhaust, it's absolutely enormous. Many thanks for the video too - extraordinary to say the least. Thanks Joachim. I found a walkaround video on Youtube and the paintwork did look really worse for wear! I'm afraid that weathering is one weakness that I have never mastered.

Thanks John. I have to admit that I'm a complete novice when it comes to figures so it would have been good to do a bit more homework from my side. Slots in the rifle stock ? Evolution MIniatures got it right with their moulding - I got it wrong by drilling and carving them out.

I bought these figures for a planned diorama, but as the club decided to have a "Figure" competition, the soldiers took priority. I have to admit that Figure Modelling is way out of my comfort zone but the resin figures are really stunning and very well moulded. The eyes still need work but I though I'd post thes before I botch them up. As for the rest of the diorama, I'm afraid that it's still in my imagination..... Thanks for looking. Mike

Well, in spite of life doing its best to get in the way, I still managed to finish something ! A bit different from my usual civvie stuff, this is my rendition of Special Hobby's 1/48 SAAB SK-37E Viggen finished OOB and painted with Hataka's Red Line Paint Set (Modern Swedish AF Paint Set Vol 1) The kit was a bit tricky in places and I made a few mistakes.....but hey.....I just did it my way. Thanks for looking. Mike

Another corker off the bench Ian Looking forward to the Tristar mike

...as if ! Feast for the eyes all round, but then again, that's the standard we've come to expect. Thanks for sharing. mike

Thanks Scott. Did seem a bit odd so I did a Google search on "KKK biplane". Apparently the photo was taken in the USA on 22 March 1918 and the KKK used it to drop leaflets over the countryside. Now I've just got to wait for the knock on the door for typing KKK on my keyboard. mike