AntPhillips

Ooh, now that is a collection , will definitely have to invest in one sooner or later, trouble is once I succumb get the first one I know I'll end up hunting for them all

Ok Doc, What do we need to do to to get your Mojo back, if someone's nicked it there's enough of us here to sort him out But seriously, this is a great build, I've never bought a Tamiya 1/12th scale kit, I've got virtually all the 1/20th kits just never seem to have got any of the big scale kits. Hope you get your mojo back soon. Ant

I'll second that emotion, the "Old Man" is probably spinning as we speak. Nice clean build Warren, can't wait to see more.

Funnily enough I've just stripped the paint (and the chrome plating) off the DFV and gearbox assembly of a Tamiya Williams FW-07, painted it a few years ago, never got round to finishing it then, picked it up again a couple of weeks back and couldn't believe how bad a job of the painting I'd made, Fairy Power Spray to the rescue, popped it in a sealable plastic box, and then promptly forgot about it for a week, not only did the paint come off a treat with a light going over with a toothbrush* but it also dissolved a lot of the previously glued joints, its going to make the repaint so much easier now it's in component form again *Tip : Tesco's budget toothbrushes 2 for 10p (yes 10p), gotta be the bargain of the year so far Remember to use some form of skin protection though, in my haste I forgot and removed my fingerprints at the same time Back to the point, the build looks superb Nick, it's going to be stunning when it's finished. Ant

Absolutely fantastic, the Aluminium sheet trick works a treat, is it just thick Aluminium foil or a sheet, whatever it really works.

Such a shame that you've had the problem with the body, the engine and detailing looks fab. I would try and get a replacement from the UK importer www.modelwholesaleuk.com (the wholesale part of www.modelsforsale.com), never tried getting Fujimi parts before, there may be a charge, but might be worth asking the question. Hope it works out for you. Ant

There was a 1/72 resin kit of a Royal Navy tractor produced by a French company a few years back, it's the 1970/80's vintage one similar to the ones in OzH's post. It was a very simple kit basically consisting of a single piece body with 4 wheels and a steering wheel/column, it's still in the stash somewhere.

It is quite a list, but luckily someone has already taken the trouble to do it, take a look >>>HERE<<< Rajendra's, Joe's, Dave's, et al's list of SHIP KIT REVIEWS, not just 1/350 but all scales, including OOP kits, covers most manufacturers, it's not totally up to date but was updated last March 2009. It's a fantastic resource. Happy modelling Ant

Some more pics added

It is indeed, it's always been a favourite of mine, I'm a huge fan of F1, but I love the look of 1970's Group 6 and 1980's Group C cars, they nearly all have a charisma that F1 cars rarely achieve, in fact the cynic in me thinks that the FIA killed off Group C because it was on the verge of becoming as popular as F1, not only with the car manufacturers but with Joe Public too, the Jaguar vs Mercedes vs Peugeot vs Porsche battles attracted a lot of media coverage at the time. Maybe the word unbuildable is an overstatement, I've certainly built worse fitting aircraft kits, partly I think it's just that the car modelling fraternity is used to the quality of Tamiya, Hasegawa and Fujimi. It is essentially just the way Heller have broken the parts down, little things keep cropping up, little mismatches between mating parts, in fact I removed the locating pins off anything that was made out of multiple parts and just aligned them with the good old Mk1 eyeball, saved on the filler and sanding after joining. The way Heller have moulded the body work is also a pain, they have broken the upper bodywork into 3 sections (upper nose and side panels, upper monocoque, and engine cover) I originally intended to have the front and rear removeable as Heller have made a cracking job of the actual monocoque, and I fancied being able to show it off, but getting the nose part to fit to everything else was a pain, so I ended up gluing the nose directly to the monocoque after painting, hence the joints still visible. I'll do the same on the next one, but with that one I'll fit it all together before painting and make a better job of blending it all together. The rear suspension is tricky, this time a lot of the joints are almost butt joints, you have to mock it all up to work out how it goes together and then sand everything to improve the fit. There is no attempt to model the spring dampers you merely get a pin attached the the top of the pushrod, ok if your going to leave the engine cover on I guess. If you build the engine as the instructions would have you, the engine inlet duct sits too low to the rear engine cover, it needs to be raised about 2 mm, I used a short length of rod at each corner to space the duct above the top of the engine, works a treat and doesn't look out of place. The exhausts go together OK, they need some filler to blend them into 1, but the location into the engine block is almost non existent, I've actually left mine off as with the engine cover on you cant see them anyway. On the whole the kit seems to have been rushed into production, there are some real nice touches here and there, but modelling skills are definitely required. I'm sure my second one will be much easier to build as I've already found the traps, I'd really like to give it the works, and do some of the plumbing and wiring, as well as adding some carbon fibre decals. BTW, the decals in my Airfix kit had a lot of milky residue under the carrier film and I've read this on another site too, but I checked my Heller kit yesterday and they appear to be much better, shame the Heller kit only has the option for car #5 & #6 (Dalmas & Rosberg or Alliot & Baldi) , whereas the Airfix one has extra options for car #1 (Dalmas & Warwick). Here's a pic with the engine cover off, showing the exhausts and rads in position, these are only placed for the photo and have yet to be finished, I may well remake the radiator ducts from plastic sheet as they are a bit short in my opinion, the radiator inlet and outlet stubs end up alongside the monocoque, whereas in reality they should sit behind the engine bulkhead. Heres a pic of the real thing for comparison (pic from www.ultimatecarpage.com a couple of other useful ones over there too). Hope this helps. Ant

I'm a bit late posting these pics this build actually started about 3 years ago, however whilst doing a bit of a clean up amongst the kits stashed in the garage I found the started project tucked away, the kit box was long gone, the decal sheet looked wrecked, but at least all the parts were there. Among the car modelling fraternity this kit has a bit of a reputation for being a dog, I will not dispute this, but that being said with this being my first car kit in a very long time it has been a challenge but I think with a bit of forethought, could be a nice model. I have another in the stash that I will one day build, and armed with the knoweledge gained in this build and some detail photos, I intend to give it the works and detail the engine bay too. Here's where its at right now. I still have a couple of details to finish, the drivers seat (with belts which the kit does not include) the inner radiator ducts and some finishing touches, aerials, windscreen wiper etc. The engine cover is removeable, but as the detail is a little sparse I'm thinking of fixing it down. Thanks for looking, and apologies for the poor pics these were taken with my phone, I'll try to take some more in natural light over the weekend. Ant

Amazon originally listed it at £18.38 it has now gone back up to £39.99

I had put one in my Amazon shopping cart waiting for payday next week, I just logged to Amazon and sure enough the item is no longer available. Looks like they picked up the error after the first batch of shipments.

Hi Mike, If your interested in who makes what in ship kits, take a look here: Model Ship Kit List It is a very useful resource and does seem to get updated fairly regularly, the reviews are basic, but give a useful pointer for a wider search. Happy modelling Ant

Well its the USS Saipan (LHA-2), but you knew that didn't you, my guess is that its 1/700 scale, IIRC both Dragon and Revell have released LHA kits, not sure if there's a 1/350 version.

Without getting too political, if EADS decide not to bid then Boeing will get the contract for their "KC-767", allegedly that's what a lot of people in the USAF and on Capitol Hill wanted all along anyway. Boeing get to keep the 767 line open, the USAF gets an American product and all of Europe gets to moan about isolationist purchasing decisions by the US again, there we are everyone's happy. There are some quarters in the USAF that believe the "KC-330" was too big an aircraft for the requirement anyway as it is substantially larger then both the 767 and the KC-135 that it replaces, don't forget the Boeing 767 variant offered was based on the -200 so it is the short fuselage version anyway.

Strewth that's a fair bit of plastic, shame about the price though, if I win the lottery yes I'd have one, but with a wedding and a baby due it won't be for a while yet.

I seem to remember reading that the Teflon (PTFE) washer in the brush body can absorb some thinners and swell slightly, if left to dry out for a few days it returns to normal. I used to have an intermittent problem with my 200, and traced it back to this sort of problem, I was being a bit over zealous with my cleaning regime, leaving the body soak in thinners etc. now I just strip it down and only leave the metallic parts soak in thinner), less is certainly more in some circumstances. Maybe you should strip it down and pop it in a warm dry atmosphere (airing cupboard??) for a day or two. Hope this helps Ant

I had both Airfix and Heller kits at one time, and started the Airfix one, but had a nightmare with the rear fuselage joint, ended up binning the basic airframe and sold my other Heller Air France kit off with the remaining parts as spares and the choice off BA or AF decals. I'm pretty sure someone on Britmodeller bought it. I have read elsewhere that it uses less filler if you join the nose, mid fuselage and tail parts together as seperate halves and then just join the fuselage as you would a normal kit. I might well treat myself to another one at some point in the future, but only once I have the space to display it properly.

Well that pretty much settles it, I have the TwoSix decal already, might even use my last remaing ESCI kit as that has an airliner interior rather than the military style benches in the Italeri kit, will be this scheme:

As previously mentioned, the main build will be a Heller 1/72 Lockheed L-749 Connie in BOAC decals, but I'm also hoping to do at least one Italeri 1/72 DC-3, livery undecided as yet but Air France is well up there as is Cambrian Airways.

I'll join in the praise and also request some more pics. I've got 2 of these, one is an early release with British Air Ferries makings and the other the more recent release with Sabena and Citie Air Transporte markings, I've also got a Magna conversion set for the Mk31 that includes the new nose and tail fin, would be very interested to hear more about the other mods you made.

Excellent build of what is for me the best scheme ever on a Mustang. :worthy:

I can't remember for sure but I think you have to have a Yahoo identity, but thats free anyway, you just need to sign up for one. Once your signed up you can edit your e-mail preferences to use another e-mail account. It's a useful resource, I just have a daily digest consisting of 1 message containing all that days posts, so it doesn't fill my inbox with multiple messages. Happy modeling Ant

The Flying Fish release of Kurt's Authentic Airliners 727 had a clear nose, maybe that's the one you saw. But didn't Flying Fish recently go under which is why Kurt had to find another casting house.