Fifer54

A long time ago in a galaxy far away (late '60s?) I built a F-105D in 1/72 in the IMC "battle damage" series. It was an ordinary F-105D kit but with extra parts to produce a damaged wingtip/trailing edge and underwing tank, with shredded skin panels and internal framework exposed, and an extra "bullet-riddled" canopy. There were painting instructions to enable the modeller to create realistic damage. Does anyone else remember these kits? Mine was bought from Argyle Models in Edinburgh. The concept was quite exciting for a 14-year-old!, and it ended up as my first (and so far only) competition model in an ATC modelling competition.

My subscription copy arrived last week, no problem.

Result! Well done, Nick!

What markmarples said. Well done fellah!

Go on then, I'll have a go at another Harrier. But it won't be the Airfix GR3! What's the "best" Harrier kit in 1/72? And why is it the "best"? Would a Matador be eligible?

The same eBay seller was offering an Airfix meteor at an inflated price, whenever I see an extortionate price for a kit on eBay I check out what Kingkit want for the kit. They have the Airfix LFG Roland C.II for £4.99 plus p+p. This seller must be hoping for a gullible collector........ I have no connection with Kingkit, I merely use them as an example. Other secondhand kit dealers exist also!

I've been thinking some more (always dangerous!) about my backstory and it's implications. This morning it occurred to me that: 1. No British Purchasing Commission to the USA, hence no P-40s or Bostons for the RAF. The Mustang is not developed. 2. Lease-lend never begins.......... 3.The Mosquito is not developed. The RAF obtains Ju88s instead. 4. Adolf Galland gets his squadron of Spitfires! 5. The Lancaster (as such) is not developed. The Avro Manchester gets 4-engined variants, The Manchester III with Merlins, the Avro Av.683A fitted with 4 Daimler-Benz DB-603s and the Av.683B with Junkers Jumo 211s! A manufacturing licence is sold to Dornier to produce aircraft as the Dornier Do.220A & B. Dornier develop the Do.220C with BMW 801s. 6. There would be no M3 Grant or M4 Sherman tanks in British service, although the Commonwealth, specifically Canada, might get some. The British army might obtain Pzkw IVs or Panthers to supplement British production. The possibiites appear endless. There may be some clues to my build for this GB in the above! Apologies to Mosquito fans!

I've got a backstory! Assume that General von Hammerstein's plot in 1939 to assassinate Hitler had succeeded in causing der Fuehrer to meet with a fatal "accident". World War 2 (our timeline's WW2) is thus averted and a more moderate National Socialist government comes to power. The Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact is never signed, and the natural enemies of Naziism, the Soviet Communists under Stalin are put under diplomatic pressure to make concessions to Germany in a contrived border dispute. The result is that Germany and the USSR go to war. Germany appeals to her European neighbours for military assistance, and France and Great Britain answer the call. Germany needs a strategic bomber force to take the war to Russia's cities, but as German military doctrine treats the Luftwaffe as a tactical force, they have none, not even in development. They therefore turn to their allies to supply suitable aircraft............ As a slight side issue to this, Germany's partners in the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis join in the war against the Bolsheviks , the Italians fighting alongside the Germans, and the Japanese establishing a second front in the far East.............. The stage is set, what shall I build?

Hi, guys! I'm going to have to change my subject, I may need my Floatfire for another project. The SPLASH! SIG are having a WW2 theme for SMW 2010, but I'm told deffo not a whif scheme on that table, so I'll be building that as a prototype for them, (hope it's good enough, Jen Wright gave me some very kind and encouraging words after looking at my builds on here) so, like markmarples, I need (urgently) to decide what I'm going to build.

Well, I would have been interested, but I'm half-way through building the only Harrier in my stash (Airfix 1/72 GR.3, and it's a 'orrible little kit)- ejector pin marks, flash, incomplete moulding, warped fuselage, mould seam ridges, it's enough to make you want to build a target AFV.

Here's a little inspiration for any figure modellers browsing this forum!! She's never worked on any ward I've worked on! I'll get me

Whew, I don't usually go online on Sundays (busy with "family" things!), but things seem to have moved on whille i've been gone! Thanks for holding the fort, Mark, and here is a statement of the rules for this group build. Models can be of any eligible genre, aircraft, ships/boats, land vehicles, or figures. The subject MUST be (or have been) used by Emergency Services, i.e. Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance service, Coastguard, ASR or similar services (e.g., French Protection Civile or US Forestry Service (firebombers?) Subjects can be Military or Civilian, RealWorld or fictitious (e.g., Holby City Ambulance, Gotham City PD car), as can Science Fiction subjects (e.g., police vehicles from "Demolition Man" or "The Fifth Element", or Gort from "The day the Earth Stood Still"- He's a !) So Thunderbirds are Go! A Redcap, Snowdrop,"ChainDog", firefighter, nurse(bear in mind both the hosts are nurses!), air ambulance crew are examples of eligible figures Not eligible!- Superheroes, and equipment directly associated with them. Thus a Gotham City PD vehicle is allowed, but the Batmobile isn't!! If you have any doubts about your subjects eigibilty, ask Kev1n or myself! Roll on September 2011!

Progress report: Good progress has been made in assembling the kit! The fuselage has been closed up- And some scratched parts added so that the 'pit is a little less "naked". Cockpit coaming, a rear coaming, a roof to the nosewheel bay and an instrument panel, all of them "speculative" (i.e. I made them up!) Wings have been assembled, but not engines, yet! I've also built up the empennage (now there's a posh word for the tail!) 10 parts each side!! The fuselage has a "step" at the dorsal join, so lots of filling & filing, and it's now got a stripe of paint down it to show up faults, so more filling & filing to come! Also a repair where I sanded right through!!

I wish I had some "Spin-a-prop" motors for mine..............

I don't think they are, John. My son has a Pzkw IV from that series,and it's a die-cast metal model with a "low-relief" track and suspension. I bought a CCLee 1/35 Leopard for £5.99 just before Xmas, from The Works, my other son built it, it seemed a super kit. I saw a review somewhere on the 'net that said it was a copy of a Heller kit, and not to bother as it was the worst 1/35 Leopard around, and might be useful for spare parts! Unfortunately, I can't find that website now. 15 mins Googling hasn't turned anything up! Still. it seemed like a good kit to me.

Sounds good to me! Woo Hoo! We got us a Group Build! :partytime:

The plane is painted in Humbrol enamel. The "varnish" is MicroScale's " Micro Gloss". The problems with the finish are streakiness (after several coats) and air bubbles, OMG what air bubbles! On an initial attempt at sanding it out, the finish looked worse, so I concluded that I ought to get rid of it and start again!

I have been told that the only stupid question is the one you don't ask, so....... I've heard about the "chemical" ways to remove paint from a model (I've used them successfully!), but is there a way to protect some paint if you don't want all the paint removed? What I'm thinking is, I have a Eduard 1/48 P-400 Airacobra on which the paint went wrong at the "gloss varnish" stage with a very unsatisfactory finish that I want to remove and start again. I'm quite happy for all the exterior paint to come off, but other than closing up the cockpit by adding the canopy and doors, can I prevent the paint on the interior, the cockpit, coming off? Or do I have to paint the 'pit again as well? I suppose what I'm asking is can I successfully mask off the 'pit when stripping paint?

Ok, then, we've got a quorum, myself and markmarples to host. Oh, Mish, can we have a date for this GB, please?

Well, here's who's interested so far: MadNurseGaz: Revell Dornier Do24T richellis: Police Evo Deon: Kamov 32 Portuguese (civil defence?) Mish: Police Helicopter bexwh773: Fire Engine xxlouisexx: SeaKing theplasticsurgeon: RAF Rescue Launch ChancerUK: TBA markmarples: Coast Guard Landrover/ Landrover Ambulance TrojanThunder: TBA PhilW: TBA Graham77: SeaKing Milo Black: Severn Class Lifeboat grufsnik: PBY Catalina Kev1n: RN SeaKing and Erwin sounded interested! I make that 15! and 1 possible! As it was my idea I feel I should offer to host this GB, although I have very little idea of what's involved. We need another host, then we can approach Mish for a date for this GB. Anyone interested?

I've made a start, but unfortunately the camera is playing up (no spare batteries) so I've got no piccies! Anyhoo, Frog provide 2 seats on a little floor panel for the cockpit....and that's all! No instrument panel, cockpit coaming, joystick, consoles, nosewheel bay, etc. Soooooo....... although I tend to build OOB, this was a bit bare, even for me! First of all, I cut and sanded a cockpit coaming to fit under the windscreen, and attached a litte instrument panel cut to an "instrument panel"-y shape under it. After closing the fuselage there was a BIG see-through aspect from top to bottom, so a fairing panel under the floor blocked that.Finally there was a big gap under the rear end of the canopy, all the way down to the bottom of the fuselage, so a rear coaming was needed to sort that out. All of my panel designs are "speculative" but the 'pit does look a little better! Oh,, and I blocked off the stand slot.

That's a great finish, love your weathering!

That's great work. Think I'm giving up modelling ..... again........

Watching with great interest!

If no-one minds, can I claim XX306 as my model please? It is, as I have already claimed, a RED one!