Haris Ali

Hello Dave. I've built a few - visit my site https://harisali.co.uk/. Thanks for the kind words. Haris

Hello everyone. Here's my latest - Wingnut Wings excellent Le Rhone engined Camel, featured in the latest issue of Model Airplane International. Haris

Hello again. Some progress made with the interior. I've had to remove quite a bit of plastic to had a bit of interior detailing. I didn't want to go over the top with this but to add enough to make it look busy. Most parts have been fashioned form bits of plastic and a few from the spares box, particularly the photoetch. Only thing I think I need to add now are the seat belts. Before painting....... .........and after I also made a start on the exterior by cutting a hole for the radiator from the Aeroclub set. The detail on the radiator isn't great so I pasted a layer of green putty onto both ends, pressing the wet putty onto some cloth for a bit of textured detail. This will be cleaned up and added to later. Also the gunners position has been reshaped by removing the section behind the pilots seat. Hoping to get the two halves together today so that I can make a serious attempt to sort out the exterior. Haris

That's very neat work. Nice model.

Good work, and it's always great to see 1/72 biplanes neatly rigged.

Hi there. Look around. Aeroclub did a 1/72 limited run injection moulded kit, whilst Czech Master did a resin one. I picked up a couple of Aeroclub ones for a few pounds each at shows not so long ago. Haris

Hello everyone. By no means a recent kit, but another from the loft which really hasn't fared well. Fitting the upper wing was always a problem and sure enough a recent look inside the box showed that after its' last showing the wing had come away, together with struts and a tangle of nylon monofilament. I don't think I have the patience to re-build it so it stays in its box until another day. The photographs will have to suffice - fortunately I took quite a few, including a record of the construction. I'm a bit sad about it really as I was pleased with the result. It was a nice kit, in spite of all the resin (not my favourite medium), and all the markings were sprayed using the masks supplied. I tried their Fury after this and really struggled with it, which made me appreciate how good the Gamecock was in comparison. Haris

Hello everyone. Making some progress with the build at last. First, some of the immediate problems - corrugated wings and sink marks. Tail fin a bit pointed and will need rounding off. Some very odd malnourished wheels. Holes need to be plugged. Sink marks filled and ribs rubbed down. Ailerons carefully removed with a sharp blade, hand grips drilled. Reworked parts so far. Details to the upper wing added with self-adhesive aluminium plumbers tape, Some re-scribing, and hinges to moving areas added after separation. Wheels came from the Aeroclub Hart/Audax kit which I didn't even realise I had, found on another trip to the loft! They've been drilled and detailed. After a coat of Tamiya Grey primer, the wing looks fine, apart from a bit of touching up here and there. Now the inside. Will post more soon. Haris

Congratulations on a superb model. Excellent attention to detail. Haris

Thanks for the advice, and everyone for their support. Project now underway and I have a lap full of Airfix Demon dust after removing most of the surface detail off the wings. I will post pictures in the next few days. Haris

Hello everyone. This is my first WiP posting, and I'm using it as a means to encourage me to get the job done! All the raw materials are ready: Rummaging in the loft, I found the instruction sheet from my last attempt, when it was first released back in the sixties. Saw it in the window of the model shop which was conveniently next to my primary school. Had to have it - those markings did it for me. Am I weird or does anyone else keep all their instruction sheets?! My next posting could take a while! Haris

Hello Christian. If you follow the link, go to the 'Archive' tab and you will see that I've added photos of the Siskin, Gamecock and Flycatcher under a 'Silver Wings' heading. I hope to add more in the next few days as I search through old photos of the some of the models I took some years back. https://harisali.co.uk/ Once again, thank you everyone for the comments and the interest you've shown in the Bulldog. Haris

Hi Christian. That's really great to hear. It's quite a while ago now and I'm glad that you got a lot out of it, and that it had such an influence! Looking in the loft I amassed quite a few models that never got built for the series - I can't believe I didn't do a Fury, but I am going to have a go at Airfix's venerable old Demon soon. Thank you all for your very positive comments about the models. Haris

Hello everyone. I've been sorting out old kits to record them for my website before they fall apart. I unearthed these two, built about ten years ago for a series of Silver Wing models I completed. They're in pretty good shape, the TM two seater a simple conversion by tilting back the wings, cutting and detailing a second cockpit, adding new panels from thin sheets of plasticard and a new tail. I can't remember what paints I used, probably a combination of Halfords BMW Silver spray and Alclad. The decals for the TM came from the kit and spares box, whilst the 29 Sqn markings for the single seater were off a very nice RAFDec sheet. Rigged with fishing line darkened with a sharpie. Probably one of my favourite Airfix kits of all time, it still makes into a great model. Haris

Hello Dave. Great little kit but I put a small length of brass rod into the port wing root as the joint is a bit weak, the starboard being supported by the longer cowl piece. I also sprayed the fuselage bands as I couldn't get the four separate decal pieces to match up. Other than that it's pretty straightforward. Good luck with your build! Many thanks to you all for all the kind comments. Haris

Hello everyone. Here's my latest, built more or less straight from the box with a few bits from scrap and spares. I wanted to keep this pretty simple after a few recent modelling disasters and managed to turn it out in just over a week, a record for me! A beautiful simple kit, reassuring me that I can get as much pleasure from this as I can from anything that's made in New Zealand. Weathered with artists oils and Karismacolor pencils. Rigged with Uschi Van Der Rosten's life saving rigging elastic. Hope you like it. Haris

Congratulations! Great work, and all the better for being 1/72 scale. I thought I was looking at Eduard's 1/48 kit until I saw it in your hand.

Hello again. More spring cleaning and a couple more old models. The Hobby Boss Hellcat was a quickbuild in 2006 to try out what was something of a novelty kit from a new manufacturer - an easy to build and well moulded model presented in a box with plastic tray. The wing was in one piece if I remember correctly, there was hardly any detail in the cockpit and it had very shallow wheel bays. They've come a long way! Looked pretty good when painted up though. The I-3 was a very impressive resin kit from Russian company Rest Models. I'd completely forgotten I'd built this! Great looking plane, the sleek lines ruined by the protruding radiator. I'm not sure that aesthetics were top of the design specification at the time. Rest Models still have a website but it was last updated in 2014. I'd love to see their promise of a 1/48 Westland Wapiti materialise. Thanks for looking. Haris

Hello everyone. Doing a bit of spring cleaning at the moment, unearthing old models from the loft and photos on the PC. I built this out of the box when it came out in 2012 for Spencer Pollard's Cold War Modeller, but I don't think I showed it here. Not usually my type of subject but really enjoyed building my first Spitfire in over forty years! Haris

Thank you Dave and Paul for the very useful information. I'm inclined to agree with the colour misinterpretation, and having studied the to photos on P.32 of Datafile 42 can see the details that you refer to Paul. I can also see that the open front cockpit has been blocked off at the front with what looks like a sheet of ply. If I make 2693 then I'll exercise a bit of artistic licence when adding details to the front, unless anyone can suggest more detailed references. Haris

Hello everyone. Just got home to rip open the Hannants package containing the new BE2c and Eindecker kits. Both look fantastic. Need a bit of help with the BE2c decals though. Leefe Robinson's 39 Squadron aircraft is depicted as having very pale blue grey colours with a standard red centre. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Jen Wright's review in the Feb. 2016 shows the model with more typical roundels and tail colours but this may have been an early test shot with different markings from the kit. Sorry about the iPad photo but better than nothing at 10.30! Haris

Very nice work. Excellent weathering and finish.

That's great work and a superb finish.

Nice rivet work Cliff! Tidy job as always.

I think I used 0.1mm fishing line at that time Andy, or maybe something similar coloured with a black marker, pulled through pre-drilled holes and secured with super glue. I've also used haberdashers smoked nylon mending in thread, but now I'm very keen on the range of elastic produced by Eschi van de Rosten (see link) as it's less prone to breakage. http://www.uschivdr.com/products-in-detail/rigging/ Hope this helps. Haris