Nigel Bunker

Hasegawa seem to have a policy of re-releasing their kits with new decals, actual new kits being pretty scarce on the ground. Like you I await their F-35C, though I'm not holding my breath waiting for it.

It goes together well enough but as Ray says, the undercarriage is weak. I replaced the axles on my kit with wire and superglued the wheels on, and this cured the undercarriage problem.

I posted a few in progress pictures Work in Progress but here's the finished model. Work in Progress here. It just goes to show what can be done when you're stuck indoors. I think it's time for another trip into the loft for my next project.

Well it's there. Decals are either from the spares box (national isignia, no step), home designed (lettering, numbers and the big A) and for the few I couln't design, I scanned a Caracal sheet I had, enlarged parts of it and printed it. Ruler is to confirm the size. I'll post some more pictures in RFI.

Paint applied: And now for the interesting bit - decals. Looks like a raid on the spare decals box plus some home made ones.

It was made by David Klaus of Meteor Productions and is shown here. Just after it was released Meteor Productions ceased trading and consequently the fetch silly money when sold. It's been promised for several years, but I think its purely mythical, like Nessie.

??? Funnily enough, I have been thinking that an F-4M from the 1/32 Revell F-4F might be a possibility, especially if lockdown goes on and on.

Hello WV908 Intakes are the doors under the fuselage - they need opening up and new doors making - apologies for any confusion. Xtradecal X32028 for the Hawk decals and I cannot locate the correct 1/72 Modeldecal set for the tail though I do remember cutting around the tiger's head on a black background decal and putting it on a white disc to get the desired effect. I chose to model ZE351 as it was 'I' which could be made from black decal striping on top of yellow decal striping. I chise the simple letter I as it was easiest although any letter made up of straight lines should be relatively straightforward. Regards Nigel

Well being stuck indoors, I decided to tryout this conversion. The base kit is the 1/32 Revell Red Arrows Hawk that I picked up for about a tenner and has been langishing in my loft. Wing, tail and tailplane extensions from plastic card and filler, airbrakes from plastic card, nose deepened using plastic card and milliput. Main undercarriage modified to resemble T-45 undercarriage, nose undercarriage built from scratch. I have a pair of resin NACES seats to add, plus the HUDs and canopy but first it needs painting. Pictures so far, no in progress pictures I'm afraid as I only just decided to post pictures on Britmodeller. I apologise in advance for any errors but it's kept me amused during the lockdown.

And here's the finished model Decals were sourced from my decal box - nose tiger was from Xtradecal 1/72 Hawk set, the tail tigerhead was from a 1/72 Modeldecal with roundels, etc from my spares decal box plus the iriginal kit decals.

Yes it is possible. Here's one I made earlier, several years earlier. Revell F-4F converted to F-4J(UK) 1. Chop off the nose and fit the larger Radome 2. Change the cockpit to USN type 3. Fit the catapult hook recesses (less the hooks for F-4J(UK) 4. Change the engine fronts as I believe the bullets were smaller on USN F-4s. 5. Modify the main wheels to USN types instead of the USAF ones that were fitted to F-4Fs. 6. Remove the reinforcing plates from the tailplanes and add leading edge slats to them. 7. Add the fairing to the top rear of the tailplane (RWR?) 8. Modify the outer wing panels to be unslotted - plastic card & filler. 9. Add the empty RWR units to the top edge of the intakes. 10. Modify the AIM-9 rails to the shorter length used on RAF F-4s unlike the lengthened ones on Luftwaffe F-4s. 11. Change the AIM-120s to AIM-7s and the AIM 9s to AIM-9L 12. Make new nosewheel doors from plastic card. 13. Make & fit aerials as required. 14. Use the US H-7 ejection seats included in the kit (rather than the Luftwaffe GH-7A seats also in the kit) and add the various straps and pipes missing using wine bottle foil and wire. 15. Make & fit new air intakes just behind nose. 16: Fill refuelling receptacle on spine and scribe new door outline starboard side under rear cockpit. 17. Add strap reinforcement on u/s wings and outer wings. 18. Hump shaped bulge on top of wings above u/c legs. Here's pictures of my conversion during construction. I'll post pictures of the finished model once I've blown the dust off of it. I believe Revell F-4F to F-4M is slightly more difficult.

There was a previous post here . If you type 'Mirage 2000C colours Britmodeller' into Google search ( or any other search engine of your choice) you will get a selection of previous questions and information on the subject. I find doing this gets better results than using the Britmodeller search feature.

Well I have checked the two kits and one has the Q sprue in it. That gets me 97% of the way there, things like seats can be scratch built and decals can be sourced from either the German ones in the kit or the spare decals box. I must just finish my T-45 then the Lynx is next up. Thanks for all your help, gentlemen.

Decals for almost every RAAF and RAN aircraft are available from Australian decal makers such as Ronin, Hawkeye and Novascale to name a few. I have used decals from all of the manufacturers named and have had no problems with them. You can usually buy direct from the manufacturer or through shops such as BNA or Southern Sky Models (apologies to any shops I have omitted). Delivery is usually 1-2 weeks by airmail.

Hello Mac RAM Models disappeared a couple of years ago. The only chance of getting any is if you can get a set second hand.

Can IPMS Russia please talk to Sukhoi and get the camouflage scheme changed to one that is easier to reproduce on a model.

Well it was the early 1960s, the Beatles hadn't had their first number one single yet and Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister. A trip to Woolworths in Reading (remember when Woolies stocked the entire Airfix range in their shops) and after much deliberating I came away with plus the obligatory tube of Does anybody else remember how it always took a tube of glue to complete a model? Happy days

I don't know about north of the border but here on the south side of Hadrian's Wall newsagents are some of the few shops allowed to open.

No, it doesn't look possible. Oh well.

Thank you for the information gentlemen.

Available direct from Big H in Lowestoft here .

During my enforced isolation I was exploring my stash in the loft, and to my surprise I came across two Revell 1/32 Mk 88 Lynx kits that I didn't remember I had bought. Just a simple question - can I male a Royal Navy Mk 8 from this kit? The only thing I have noticed to date is that I need to fit a folding tail which will mean scribing a break line and fitting a hinge mechanism. Any help much appreciated.

The ESCI F/A-18 does not build into am accurate production model. However it is a great basis for an MDD F/A-18 prototype (as Giorgio says) or a Northrop YF-17, although having to be modified in both cases.

There was an article in Scale Aircraft Modelling, September 1994 (Vol 16 Issue 11) called 'Improving the Italeri F-15" which dealt with the F-15E kit. PM me if you'd like a copy e-mailed. As Giorgio says, you'll need to check for a suitable weapons load, and you'll probably need some aftermarket decals.

Italeri are not the first kit company not to use original sources. There was one Japanese company (name withheld) who copied at least one commercially available decal sheet. The man who designed the decal sheet told me knew this as they copied the mistake he had made. It is much better to start from scratch and work from original sources, but I suppose the designers think it is easier to copy others.