mitchem

Excellent job on a tough kit, as I really struggled with mine. Reading your construction notes brought the memories flooding back. While Eastern Express should be applauded for their growing range of 1/144 civvie stuff, their prices are absolutely ......IMHO mike

Cheers Keith, but making a base for it would mean that I couldn't attend club meetings for another month ! .....could there be any malice in your suggestion ??? Thanks Celt - the fever should pass in a week or two. Thanks Jim. I'm afraid that you may be right ! No meesing about with gloss paints and very few decals - what's not to like ? Rooikat with Rhino :

It's not often that I venture across to the dark side but Trumpeter's 1/35 Rooikat appealed to me. Built out of the box with some brass wire aerials, front reflectors and tail light lenses. The suspension units were a bit tricky to clean up and assemble, so pay careful attention to the instructions ! Camouflage was sprayed freehand using three of the colours in Hataka's "South African Army Paint set (highly recommended) Thanks for looking. mike

(I'm afraid I've misplaced my dictionary of superlatives !) mike

Hi Keith - I'm afraid I've been AWOL for the last two meetings as well so I'm sure there will be a lot of wrist-smacking going on when we get back.

Thanks to all of you for taking time to drop by and express your interest / pass comments - much appreciated. Thanks Dave. Nick's markings called out for a light grey belly and nose tip, but I found some photos online with a darker belly and black nose tip. The THY Version in the Airfix 1/72 kit has a black belly so I split the difference and ended up painting mine with a black nose tip and dark grey belly (Tamiya Dark Grey XF-24) Thanks Ian. I'm afraid I was rather disappointed with the kit as it didn't live up to expectations. At times it felt like a short-run kit with thick plastic and few parts that fitted together properly. When I dry fitted the wings to the fuselage it looked like it had more wing flex than a 787 ! I opted to replace the propellers because I found it to be easier than trying to clean up the join after sandwiching the propeller blades between the front and back sections of each spinner. (One nearly made it through the process and although I did get it spinning, it was rotating anticlockwise which was wrong - Proof, as if it was ever needed, that I'm a sad git !) What's next on the bench ? A couple of 737s that I started before the 737 STGB.........and yet still didn't manage to finish Crikey Chris ! My Turkish Airlines A320 retrojet has already become a retro-build. Cheers for letting the cat out of the bag Celt ! Carry on like that and it won't be long before Mrs M finds out that I've been using her electric toothbrush and Fairy Liquid to clean my models. (Every time she cleans her teeth, she thinks she has rabies !) Best Regards mike

Trying to get a 738 over the finish line myself so thanks for the inspiration. mike

Not sure why I never got around to commenting on this earlier Ian, but you've certainly smacked this one out of the park ! Cracking build and finish on one of my favourite schemes. mike

Top of the range Martijn. mike

Impressive stuff there Martin, all the way from the "speed build" to the home-made decals. mike

Excellent Fabio ! You've done a cracking job on that (which pleases me no end, as I have the Classic Airlines decals in my stash) Victoria Falls mike

Eastern Express kit finished off with decals from Classic Airlines. I like a challenge and let's just say that this kit certainly ticked that box! I replaced the undercarriage doors with plastic card and I scratchbuilt the propellers and spinners. Decals performed flawlessly and kept me motivated to finish the build. Standard 4 x 4 walkaround pics : ...and the "with something else shot" - THY's retro Airbus that I finished off a few years ago : Hope it meets expectations. Comments and criticism welcome. mike

I have to agree as I've been battling with one myself. Taking my hat off to you as you've certainly made a silk purse out of a sow's ear there. Cracking job all round ! mike

Cracking job Dave although I should point out that admiring builds like these is keeping me away from the bench. . mike

Spectacular work Neil ! You're right about the size of the kit though. Mine has been sitting on the dining-room table ever since I finished it because I can't find anywhere else to store it. mike