Excess

I remember Profiline talking about these as their next release. We can but hope!

I am making this same kit at the moment. It is the Russian early war boxing with the rockets and skis but I have aftermarket decals for SCW. I've looked on with disbelief at all the mishaps you've been having. Anyway, I had literally just started making it when I set it down on a patch of my workspace I had tested my glue nozzle out on, accidently gluing it to my desk. You know what - I think this kit is cursed. Maybe some crazy babushka cursed the moulds the day she was fired from the factory.

Holy cow! I have the Airwaves conversion set. Obtained it several years ago (cheap for around equiv GBP25) but always with the intention of copying the parts with my own scratchbuilt plastic bits and selling it on for what I paid for it. If there's a kit coming out there may not be a market for it anymore. Maybe its time to get off my chuff and get that Scout converted. Good idea! You've prompted me to do the same...

I've just ordered a couple from Model Hobbies along with the Xtradecal set. Time to list my Cyber-Hobby one on an auction site...

For anyone still keen on cannons, I've just noticed Italeri's fresh repop of the 1/72 MB-339A comes with an extra sprue containing a pair of cannon pods! Sweet!

Aha, right I understand now. I still need Skunk Models to shrink their 1/48 French set!

That's cool, but where oh where are the Armement Air-Sol Modulaire's???? I wish they had those instead of the Alarms which are out of service, or the AMRAAMS which seem to be in every set!.

Hee hee. A classic movie that one. Think I actually went to the pictures to see it!

Nice review, but just a minor thing: there is a control column, its just part of the front landing gear oleo (shown pointing down in the 3rd photo), and it comes up through the cockpit floor when you attach the landing gear.

I just saw that Hannants have a future release listed that's described as 3 sets, sprues only without decals. (http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AZM77002) Anyone know what that's about? It's actually not a bad idea, considering all the aftermarket decals available from Fireball etc.

I think you are going to sell a ton of these. The XM-35 system is a nice addition, as well as the XM-158 pods - I'll no longer have to buy Hobby Boss UH-1s just to get these! I look forward to seeing them on sale...

When I compare it to Paul's photo I think he's right about it not being bulbous enough. But I also compared it to a Fujimi kit and the nose on the HC.4 is a lot shorter - maybe that's it? (the Fujimi has the same shape though). Another gripe I forgot to mention is the instructions don't give any painting advice. There's a list of paints to use but none of the construction steps show where to put what colour!

Here you go Giorgio, my kit arrived today (from a Hong Kong-based online store for the equivalent of 20 pounds + 6 pounds p+p): It's a really nice kit, but it's a real shame about the shroud cover and the cabin seats are ridiculously small. I may have some spare Italeri wessex ones somewhere I'lll try and use. I've noticed the instructions also have a few steps out of order. The whole Falklands theme seems to be a bit of a red herring - it's definitely a modern one. The decals are very much different (smaller roundels etc) to the 'VG' aircraft depicted in the Modedecal 66 set I have. I'll leave the RWR off and check photos etc for the other aerials and other protuberances. It has the strakes for the rear left side fuselage too but I'm not sure whether 1982 a/c had those. But I've already pulled a spare GPMG out of a Dragon HMMWV kit for it. The rotors can be posed either in flight (bending up), at rest (bending down) or folded.

Because it has the.50 cal which was only fitted to the HC.4 in 2010 I'd say the kit is actually supposed to represent a modern-day one, and not a 1982 Falklands example. I have ordered one and plan to replace it with a FN MAG. I'm not sure about the aerials and RWR etc but I think I have a Modeldecal sheet lying about somewhere that may have decals for a 80s a/c. Its expensive yes but I've seen the conversion sets go for ridiculous prices on eBay in comparison.

Hi there, I just saw this thread the other night. I got a Fiat CR.32 kit just after Xmas and while trying to research the Spanish Civil War I found a copy of Frank Tinker's book 'Some Still Live' in the library. He often referred to the Rasantes and it took me a while to figure out they were R-5s. I found an eBayer in the UK who was selling these Pioneer 2 kits new for about £3.50 each so got one sent out to me. I have to say I am really enjoying this build. Its a very simple kit but goes together pretty well with a little bit of care. It's comparatively big too, especially beside a scale I-15. The only mods are a set of exhausts cannabalised from another kit, for which I cut space in the cowling, and a new rear gun. I also had to make a piece to hold the propeller in place. It's great to see this build and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone else. Cheers

The answer is no! I actually thought it ended today, but it was two days ago on the 26th so I definitely failed. I only got one coat on top (partially) and bottom, but managed to paint all the extra bits except silver on the the wing and intake leading edges. The paint is still drying in these shots. I haven't got the exhausts far enough in as I was worried they'd pop all the way through into the fuselage. She needs some more sanding and holes filled, but I wasn't too far off. Not a very good effort for my first group build.

Aaaarrgh! I got a bit distrcted there and only checked the GB closing date last week. Since then I've been feverishly trying to finish her off. I initially added weight into the nose intending to do a wheels-down kit but now with time running out I have just done her wheels up. I have also decided not to bother with armament, instead just putting on a slipper tank and refuelling pod. I decided that the Airwaves buddy pod was too small and not the right shape at the rear so I just took a whole unit out of my Matchbox Victor kit, which are spare since I bought the Heritage Aviation resin replacements. I used wire for the hose and one of the Heritage drogues. I didn't bother with a pylon, I just used the one from the Victor which looked about right. Once attached it was on to painting. I have done one coat on Petroleum Blue on the underside. I have to say I haven't really enjoyed this build. I've had to do a lot of filling and sanding and every time I've done sanding parts of the fuselage joins crack and I have to re-glue a lot of them as well as various bits and pieces including the tailplane which took me a while to get straight. Last week I lost the internal bulkhead with the turbine fan faces so I had to open up the bomb bay and re-glue it in place, then struggled to get the bomb bay door to sit correctly again. I'm using Tamiya liquid cement, which doesn't seem to dissolve the plastic very well in this case. Anyway, only 1 day to go and I need to door more paint and apply the decals. I wonder if I'll make it???

Gorblimey, its almost halfway through November already. Believe it or not I began work straight away back in September but got distracted with overtime at work and another build. But I've finished the cockpit and can move on to the build proper. Figures are PJ Productions US 1970's pilots.

Thanks for the referral Paul, that's a great site and I did as you suggested and got some good detail for the buddy pod and AS-30s I'm looking at. I'm still not 100% sure about the pylon used for the buddy pod though. I'm wondering if it's a deep pylon similar to the height of that used for the TV Martel datalink? There's a good pic of it on page 36 of the Graham Pitchfork book. Maybe its just my imagination... I got my new Airfix boxing today, and luckily yes it does have the elongated tanks on one of the extra two sprues they've added. Thanks for your offer though Mark. And here it is in all its glory: So my build can begin in earnest.... Errr maybe tomorrow night!

Alright, here we go. Initially I was going to do this using this late 80s Airfix issue S.2B kit below, using the decals from the spares box. But after a little research there are a lot of details like the earlier FAA wing pylons, that will be too much effort to replicate. So I have now decided to just buy the new 2010 release from Airfix, which has all the parts and the decals that I need. Plus the spare bits I can use on my Matchbox S.2 that I'm bringing back from the dead in a Gulf War scheme. I need to do some more research into payloads. At the moment I'm looking at a rather implausible payload of left slipper tank, Airwaves resin buddy refuelling pod and a pair of AS-30 ASMs from the Heller hi-tech "OTAN armement" weapons set in the configuration shown below. If I'm only using one slipper tank I thought it wasn't worth getting a set of the elongated slipper tanks the South Africans developed but luckily I understand these come with the new Airfix issue anyway. I need to find more references of SAAF Buccs in the tanking role, e.g. I understand only the starboard inner pylon was used for the buddy pod, but I'm unsure whether they carried any self-defence AAMs, ECM pods etc. I have seen an ECM pod on a late SAAF Buccaneer, but it wasn't one I recognised. It had a stubby cylindrical fore body, with a thinner longer aft body. I'm also keen to discover when the SAAF installed the belly tank and whether this was the same size/configuration as the RAF birds. It would make more sense for a tanker to have the belly tank. I've had the SAAF scheme in mind for a while now for the earlier airfix kit and I managed to find a tin of the old Humbrol 124 petroleum blue for the underside at a small local hobby shop. As an aside I'm also currently trying to finish an old Academy MiG-23 as its theoretical MPLA "dogfight double"...

Hi Mark, I'm new here but would like to join in with an 1990s issue Airfix 1/72 S.2B kit that I'll make into a S.50 in South African Air Force hi-vis colours, similar to that shown below. Cheers, Justin

Hi Deacon, I've just joined and saw this old post. Its probably old news but the USAF used UH-1Ns from late 1970. They were used in Vietnam, some by the 20th Special Operations Squadron, the Green Hornets, and had a wrap around three colour camouflage. There's some more info here (scroll down about halfway) and here. Cheers