Stakka

Alas.... I would have certainly helped you thin your stash out ! Thanks for the thought though.

Well I managed to get an 18C version, complete with some Eduard etched parts. Fully sealed kit and for £110 so hopefully didn't do too bad. I'm moving house next week so if I didn't grab one now I prob won't get round to it. It's not the twin seater but on the upside there's less to paint 😁! Now just need to get a new airbrush compressor and I can make a start....once settled in the house that is. Thanks for all your help.

I don't rate my chances then - Ive been doing the lottery for years and have won next to bugger all 😆 Yep - my 1/32 Tamiyas so far are the F-16C which was fab, the Marines Phantom which was ok and the Spitfire and Corsair - which were also great. I've held off going for the F14 and F15 as although I like the look of the jets themselves I was worried they wouldn't live up to the F-16 - hence my other recent thread elsewhere that starting with the F16 and Spit etc was probably a mistake as they set the bar high now that I was looking for something else to build 🙄

Cheers, yep don't worry.... I'm very picky on quality / kit engineering and only go for kits that research has shown to have good reviews. I don't mind paying the price for a quality kit but it sounds like I might also be faced with paying a bit more for the rarity of some !...Such is life ! Have a great weekend.

Thanks Alan, I'll keep an eye out on line - and yeah I'll prepare for some steep pricing ! I don't do many kits but I like to do decent kits, bit of a Tamiya 1/32 fan boy to be honest as their later 1/32 releases have been cracking, but I'm guessing the likely hood of them bringing out another large grey jet soon, especially a Hornet (or a Raptor) are very slim.....one can only live in hope !

Thank you. I never really knew how manufacturers operated when it comes to availability / production runs / reboxing. I'll keep a look out online, was really hoping for the twin seat though but will just have to see.

Hi - sorry for my naivety but I have been off the scene for around 9 years - I was looking to add a 1/32 Hornet to my new stash and the Academy F/A 18D looked to be the latest and possibly the best kit of that aircraft - but I cannot find it anywhere (UK) and it is not listed on their website anymore. Did they just drop the line completely - are they ever likely to re-release - or am I missing something? Failing that there are other makes but from what I have read so far they don't quite match Academy, or thanks to correct me on that.

Thank you - I did see the Italeri Tornado and there is a thread lower down on here about it which gave a balanced review. When I initially saw prices at £140 what I would be worried about is constantly comparing it to the Tamiya F-16 build quality if it didn't quite come up to scratch, but now I see prices for around £100 which is a bit better. I'm sure it is a jump up from the Revell kits though - which I have previously built 2 off. So yes, I'll add it to the short list as I have real affection for the Tornado. And nice to see another mention of Zoukei - I really went off the modelling radar for the past 9 years and am pleased they have been mentioned. Cheers

Hey great call, I've never heard of them but a quick google and their Sky Raider immediately caught my eye. Plenty of detail / looks (folded wings add some interest) and I like the colour scheme. That's gone straight on my shortlist - thank you !

Hi, hope this finds you all safe and well. After a 9 .....yes 9 😳... year gap I'm returning to modelling....... I did completely do up a Victorian house in the meantime though. But I'm a little unsure, and if anything rather underwhelmed about what there is to build. I'm a 1/32 fan and a total Tamiya fan boy having built their Phantom and then the much praised Spitfire and F16 Falcon kits. The latter two in particular I found very enjoyable indeed, resulting in builds I'm very proud of. More-so, and maybe it's being a Mechanical Engineer, I really appreciated the build quality and fit of the kits. Totally frustration free and just the right amount of detail - in my eyes a dream to build. So I naturally google "Tamiya 1/32 aircraft" but the kits they have released in the meantime aren't quite doing it for me. The Mosquito is nice but a bit big and I do like my jets, the Mustang might remind me a bit too much of the Spitfire build and visually the Corsairs and Zeros .... well they seem to lack something - .I did build a Trumpeter Dauntless SBD as I liked the extra detail - cockpit, airbrakes etc. I dunno, maybe I'm just being spoilt having liked the Spit and F-16 so much 😀 There are the older Tamiya 1/32 Grey jets but will they be as accurate as the later models? I have started looking at other makes as typical birds I like are the Panavia Tornado, Typhoon, maybe the Eng Elec Lightening - but so far I've not seen a review which gives me confidence about the quality of the kits, but I admit I might be over thinking it all. So any thoughts / suggestions or reassurances of other makes to help me overcome my obvious Tamiya bias would be greatly appreciated..... or make my day and tell me Tamiya are about to release a jet I really like 🤣. Thanks for your time.

Tamiya 1/32 out of the box build Phantom F4-J Marines Apologies some of the photos are from the build thread - if I can get some better photos in time for the deadline I'll replace them. Build thread here : http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72044 Many thanks for looking.

Thank you Bill. I wonder if that Revell phantom was the one my parents got for me when I was a nipper - back in the 80's. All I can remember is that it had a removable engine and the canopies had little clear hinges on them to allow you to pose them up or down but they broke off even before I got a chance to build the darn thing. It was probably the last model I made until I took modelling up again a couple of years ago - I did try to do a quick search for it just before this build began for nostalgic reasons... however come to think of it then maybe yes, it was better left back in the 80's

Neph - welcome aboard the Britmodeller forum. Many thanks for taking the time to have a look and to extend such kind words. Coming from yourself makes the praise that much more valuable. We'll have a another natter soon about the other aspects in your post - but yes, rest assured I will take a brush back to the cockpit soon - hence me leaving the seats / canopies loose for the time being in order to get decent access. In case other readers did not know Neph is a fairly recent but good friend / aquiantance but is without doubt someone we need to encourage to post up some of his modelling work on here - jawdroppingly good brush painting skills, an all round modelling geeeeeenihuss and a real analytical / helpful approach to assisting and critiquing anything of a modelling nature. Let's hope to see some posting soon eh ? You know it makes sense Neph Thanks again !

Thank you for your kind words Yes - the model is 100% out of the box including all markings & decals. I just supplied the glue, paint, time, effort and enough square footage of my room to hold a 5 a side footy match To answer your question about the Alclads - I used a mixture of shades, mainly Stainless Steel, Magnesium, Pale Burnt Metal and with Jet Exhaust in selected patches to give the darker shades. I just kept going back over with various shades in more of a random fashion. All other paints were Xtracrylics and a dash of Valejo for brush detail in the cockpit. With the group build deadline looming this weekend I have had to quickly get the model all together a little more quickly than I would have liked - my fault though due to my lifestyle - as there has been plenty of time. When I get some more time again probably in the new year I may go back and add some more weathering detail as there is just so much to this model that you could go to town with. I was only able to base paint all the weapons and give everything a very quick oil paint based wash. Certain areas of the model need a bit more cleaning up and attention but for now I have to say I am very happy so far and Tamiya have (again) made a fab large scale model. I doubt I will have any more time before the weekend to do anything else or even get some better photos for the completed section but I hope these show you enough for now. . I was kind of pleased at getting rid of all the seams on the weapons. I didn't think I would have the patience but it was worth it. There's a fair bit hanging from the bottom of this bird that's fer sure.. One slight niggle is that the afterburner cans could have benefitted with a bit more detail - but it is tough to knock the quality of this kit. I wil try and colour them up a little more at some point, they need some "shiny" worn parts and although there is already some blue heatstaining done the photo does not show it up very well. The canopy and seats etc. have just been placed in without gluing as when I have more time I would like to finish them off better - some of the cockpit colours need toning down a bit as well. It is a shame you do not get to see many of these beasts flying around here today - still a stunning aircraft and a classic shape. ! Thanks so much for reading.

Whoops... well I said this would be a quick build as life was due to go mad.... well it went mad a bit too quick and the build got put on hold for a while Finally got stuck in again and managed to get started on the explodey stuff that hangs off the bottom of the model... it doesn't look it but there are about 150 pieces just to make up this lot. All that seam removal as well

Stunning photos and thanks again for sharing them. We camped the whole weekend and had a really good time but I did not take any photos. These really help remember the day. I hope you don't mind but I directed a couple of other friend to your photos / Flickr site as they were keen to see them and they too were mightily impressed, especially with the more artful black and white ones too !

I spent a great weekend there myself (Camped for the whole weekend) the weather threatened to be a real pain but in the end each day cleared up by mid morning and the whole family had 2 really good days. Super photos there, thanks for posting - I don;t have a decent camera so those shots help to give a good reminder !

I recently built this model, my first Trumpeter as well, I really enjoyed it and it is a great looking model. I'll be sure to check this one out - enjoy !

Thanks for the positive comments guys. This is the first real time I have ever posted a model for review and also entered a group build (what a great idea) seeing as I only got in to "proper" modelling 2 xmas's ago. This is about my sixth model now and I am so pleased how I have managed to get on with many of the techniques, pretty much all of which I must say has been down to spending many an hour reading this forum - full credit must go to all the helpful advice given on here. I have learnt so much, so quickly. If only my brush skills were better, but that will come. Anyway, I must have a browse through all the other entries on here, there is so many of them that folk probably struggle to work their way through them and comment so once again thanks for taking the time out to post here and I will get round to giving some support to some other entries.

Added some dashes of Red to the intakes and air brakes and then I was ready for .... dun dun DUUUUNNN !!!! The mucky bit ! The darn thing is so big I just had to take to it with the equivalent of an oil wash version of a walls & ceilings emulsion brush Have only given it a quick wipe off to get the worst off but I do not want to go too dirty so I will keep cleaning and will also have to go back and add some individual lines back in that got wiped out . This wing decal was a bit of a challenge due to a large prominent lumpy bit in the top of the white star... but the various decal softeners have done their job nicely

Well the dreadful weather over the weekend and a couple of quiet days has allowed good progress to be made. Some decals going on and the Alclad painting has progressed more on the tail. I cleaned the elevators / tail section up a little from before as looking at the overall paint scheme I think it will be better to go with a cleaner model. It may look as though alot has now been done.... but when I peer in to the mass of parts that make the weapons loadout, underwing parts and all the decals that are left to go on this jet I would appear to have barely scratched the surface of this model There are literally hundreds of decals for this kit - it took a couple of weeks worth of evenings to do them all !

Been mucking around with Alclad and masking to try and get an effect across the rivets - not sure how clean or dirty I want this model to be though The black is the undercoat for the Alclad, that section will eventually be white.

Thanks - yes the colouring was what attracted me to this model too.... the grey almost has a pink/fleshy tinge to it which makes it a little more interesting that the usual "Grey Jet" and I am a bit of a 1/32 and Tamiya supporter too ! Main body has been painted now - top and bottom. I was going to decant and then airbrush but due to the size of the darn thing I bit the bullet and sprayed direct from the rattle can (Tamiya AS paint) It was like painting the thing with a fire extinguisher but in approx 10 secs of spraying it was done. At first it looks as though the paint floods the detail but once dry it ends up finishing beautifully smooth and consistent. The cans are a pain to get hold of but I will certainly use them again.

Main body is now together..... all half a metre of the beast Not being a fan of too much filling I do like Tamiya kits as there has been minimal work required Just a patch on the nose and fin so far Getting to the bit I love now... painting the body..... when it starts to look more than just a bunch of plastic .....

As it is my first group build (and even the first time I have put a model up for review) I'm going to keep it as a straight forward OOB build. It will be a quick build - basic painting and not much detailing in the cockpit as I only have a few more weeks before life gets mad again, I also struggle to devote time to painting cockpits.... I just love airbrushing !! - but it is just good to be part of a group build. I've got cracking straightaway and the build is well progressed.... I just need to find some time to play catch up in getting the pics off the camera and on here - photography is not my strong point ! This is the "Beast" Only basic drybrushing for the cockpit - may try and add a bit more detail but brushwork is not my strong point. The cockpit is now in the fuselage but I can still get to it to add some more detail at a later date. This is what I love doing more... airbrushing and have really got in to Alclad