CliffB

Arado Ar.196 Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service, April 1940. 1/200 scale Trumpeter kit, with homemade decals. This aircraft has an interesting history, as outlined in the first post of my build thread. Cheers

Thank you @stevehnz and @helios16v Well, I'm pleased to say that I'm now finished I decided not to attempt to glaze the canopy using Kristal Klear, as I was worried about the whole thing turning into a big blob of PVA. It looks slightly odd as just a skeletal frame, but much less so at 1:1. I've enjoyed being a small part of this mega-GB, so thanks to all of you who have supported this build and in particularly to @rob85 for hosting. Cheers

It's great to see this one finished in the Gallery V-P, and it's very fitting that you should be the one to close the party. Thanks again for hosting such an entertaining Group Build Cheers

Thanks AW. At least it shouldn't take up too much space on display! Here it is with the masking tape off and the airframe balanced on its floats. There's still some detailed painting to do. Cheers

I'm just catching up with this one Marklo and was pleased to see that you've used staples on the tracks. A real memory jerker! Re the artwork - are we sure it's a Roy Cross (it doesn't really look like his work to me). Cheers

Very smart Davey. Congratulations! Cheers

A great start Dennis Cheers

Masking on and ready for some green. Cheers

A bit of colour on now. RLM65 underneath and 70 on the prop. Researching the spinner colour, I discovered that my chosen aircraft didn't actually have one. Never mind I've also put some white on the rudder (as the first stage of the national markings), plus tried out some matt black on the flat shelf that is the cockpit. The optical effect through the canopy is surprisingly good. Cheers

A lovely build Mark. Congratulations! Cheers

Thanks Rob Having said that there would be no more construction before painting, I then remembered that I hadn't fitted the PE bracing struts to the float supports. Well, it is quite hard keeping track of everything, when your kit has 14 parts They're now added though and everything is primed. The macro shot has kindly shown up then I've left a couple of PE tags on the rear bracing struts - something that I hadn't seen in 1:1. Needless to say, I won't be trying to remove them now that everything's in place. Cheers.

With my Lancaster finished, I'm now back onto the Arado . Since re-starting, I've sanded down the bases of the floats - along with the tips of my fingers. The tiny floats are very difficult to hold! I've also added the main struts and folded the canopy framework, which was actually quite fun. This is about as far as I can go with the construction, whilst still being able to paint everything. So the next step will be to get some primer on. Cheers

Thanks Pete. In fact I put the orange on before the silver so was spared those tribulations! Cheers

RCAF Lancaster Mk.10 107 Rescue Unit, Torbay, Newfoundland. 1962. Converted from the 1/96 scale Eastern Express (ex. FROG), B.1 kit. Cheers

Hooray, it's finished I ended up adding de-icing boots to the fins after all, but used a marker pen rather than paint (I still masked though). Really, the model needs a selection of antenna (which would undoubtedly lift it to another level), but I've no appetite for adding these at the moment. To be honest, I don't want to risk the paint finish ! I've really enjoyed this GB and thank you to all who have supported my build. Special thanks to @Adrian Hills (who generously donated a beautiful decal sheet to the cause), and to @vppelt68 for hosting . Cheers