tomprobert

I've been so inspired by this that I ordered the decal and conversion set yesterday - it looks so good in RAF dress! Just need to finish a few current projects and I'll be cracking on with this at some point soon... loving your work, Alan. Tom

I’d be keen - but with mentions of B-24s as well how about an 8th Air Force group build? Off the top of my head, that would give us: B-17 B-24 P-51 P-47 P-38 L-4 Mosquito PR Spitfires… Thoughts..?

Ah - apologies. I thought you were referring to the three signalling lights carried on the undersides of US aircraft - did the Hellcat have these?

This is looking seriously tasty... it’s certainly inspiring for us with this kit in their stash to see what can be done with it. My understanding is the lights were coloured lenses - they were in the bombers so logic would dictate it’s the same set up with the fighters. Others may know better of course. Tom

Thanks for this, Graham - and yes with the sheer bulk of the fuselage the aerodynamics can’t have been great. I always think the engines look so small and undersized compared to the rest of the aircraft. I didn’t realise the engine setup was different on the prototype - or the Empire boats for that matter. Speaking of which, did you ever complete that rather splendid conversion you were working on? Thanks, Tony - but I always maintain anyone can do kits like this. It just needs a little thinking outside of the box and not being allergic to filler and sanding! Tom

I have a set of Tamiya paddle-blades in the spares box - they're yours if you want them. Just ping me a PM and we can get it sorted. Tom

Well you learn something new every day... can't have done much to help the aerodynamics of the beast! Tom

Thanks - oh and it's BIG. Here's a picture from a few pages back of my 5 year old daughter taking it for a spin...

You, Sir, are extremely talented. I really enjoyed catching up with this - masterful! Tom

Evening boys and girls, It's been a glorious sunny day here in my corner of Kent so I got the camera out and snapped some pictures of the recently installed engines. With each 'power-egg' complete it was just a case of adding them to wing-section of each nacelle. The Revell Beaufighter cowl flaps were an absolutely perfect fit for the kit's forward firewall, so it was just a case of applying some Araldite to the inside surfaces of the cowl flaps and sliding them into place. The relatively slow drying time of the epoxy glue meant I had ample time to ensure each engine was aligned correctly, both with the plans and each other. When installing them, I didn't realise that the engines canted outboard at such an angle, but references confirmed this was the case. It certainly looks a little strange that the thrust line is so off central, and I presume there is a valid reason for it, too! Anyway, on to the pictures... As you can see the fit is nice and snug, and engine no.1 looks the part now it's hung on the wing. The early MkII-style straight exhausts will be made and added later: Engines 3 and 4 - lots of care was taken to align the engines carefully during installation: When I was hacking about with the kit-supplied nacelles I removed and kept the very crude carburettor intakes in the hope I could make something useable from them - as you can see from the three finished intakes at the top of the picture they scrubbed up fine: These were than glued in position on the lower section of each nacelle: She's really starting to take shape now: Thanks for stopping by folks, and stay safe! Until next time, Tom

In that case I'll wander over and take a look! Tom

@Marklo that's taking it to a whole new level... what a fascinating project. Have you got a build thread running for this? I, and I'm sure many others, would love to see more as it unfolds. And what a strange aeroplane - one I wasn't aware even existed! Tom

Well said, chaps! Throw caution to the wind and crack on! The engines were fitted to the wings last night... some pictures over the weekend, all being well. Tom

Loving your work, Bill - but surely you must be tempted to convert one of the HobbyBoss 1/32nd B-24s to a PB4Y-2..? I've actually got the Koster 1/48th conversion for the Monogram B-24 slowly moving up my stash so I'm taking notes of the finer details of this fantastic build. One day... Tom

I'd seen the US-style helmets and Yellow Hammer provided some nice tiger-themed helmet decals. However, when I came to apply them, they sadly broke into thousands of pieces so I used a bit of artistic licence and painted them the FGR1/2 style green with the white stripes! Tom

Fair point - I’m just hoping there’s enough people out there who’s knowledge of the Phantom is like mine and have no idea what missiles they carried I’ve often thought that - however there is a group working to restore a J-model that was at Manston. I think it’ll be the only original F-4J(UK) in its RAF colours. As the UK ones were repainted, they seem to have avoided the stencil-zapper. Pictures show them to be very limited in terms of stencil data, but I’m no expert and just followed the YellowHammer instructions. Now that would be an impressive scheme. And she’s a big girl in 1/32nd scale!

To be honest I'm more or less an out of the box builder for kits such as this. I have lots of complex builds on the go at any one time, and a shake and bake such as this is light relief so I don't get too hung up on the details. It simply doesn't bother me - if I was really into total accuracy I would have no doubt researched the missile load out further and spent some of my pocket money on an after-market set or the like. However, I just enjoyed building it for the fun of it. If I felt inclined, I could have painted it florescent pink and still enjoyed it That must have been awesome! I vividly remember a Biggin Hill airshow in what must have been the mid-80s and two of these circling above my house waiting for their display slot. We're not too far from Biggin and they were low and slow - simply marvellous!

That's gorgeous! Tom

Morning all, A little more progress to share on the Sunderland - I've been working on the engines of late which has not been the most fun (I hate engines and cockpits!) but I'm at a stage where they are ready for installation to the airframe. Sunderland IIs were powered by the Bristol Pegasus, of which aftermarket options were very expensive and to fit four to model would have cost me nearly £100! Therefore I did originally plan to modify the Revell 1/32nd Hercules engines from a Beaufighter, but being two row seven cylinder engines, that was going to be quite a challenge. With the Pegasus being a single row nine cylinder set up, a better starting point would have been a Wright Cyclone and thankfully a fellow forum member came to the rescue (thanks, Mark!) and sent me a set of his unused HK Models' B-17 engines. The reduction gear housing more closely resembles the Hercules set up, however, so I used the HK cylinders and the Revell Hercules reduction gear - not perfectly correct but close enough... The Pegasus is actually, at least at first glance, a quite simple engine to replicate (used for illustration purposes only): I won't have to worry about detailing the cylinder heads as these will all be hidden by the cowling, so it would just be a case of adding the single push-rods. First up I sprayed the inside of the cowlings black and then I needed to check the cylinders fitted inside the cowlings properly - in the picture below you can see they sit quite happily in the correct position and actually needed no glue to hold them there. The reduction gear housing is just sitting on the cylinders to get the 'sit' of the engine correct in regard to clearance for the propeller: I then painted the cylinders and reduction housing, and made the pushrods from Evergreen before adding and painting: A final test fit in the cowling - as you can see not much can actually be seen so the detail I've added is quite adequate: All four 'power eggs' are now complete, with the engines secured with Araldite Epoxy to ensure they don't fall into the nacelle: Next up will be installing these onto the wing... stay tuned. All the best, Tom

Thanks, Alan. As I said earlier it is starting to show it’s age but it’s still Tamiya after all... I’ve built a Revell Phantom and enjoyed that too - the older Revell kits are quite nice I find and I have the F-15C and F-15D in my stash too. I’m currently doing the new F/A-18 and that’s a different story altogether unfortunately. Thanks, Selwyn. As I said I just built this out of the box and as it came - I did wonder about the missiles actually but for a non-Phamtom fanatic I’m not all that bothered Appreciated, Tony - the drop down steps are part of the kit. Tamiya provide a nice crew access ladder too but I haven’t got around to that yet.

Many thanks! To be honest I have no idea if the UK J-versions were any different to the US examples - I’ve just built it as a standard J-model. The only thing I did leave off were the catapult hooks and these were not used in the RAF machines as they were not needed. Thank you - appreciated. The kit is really quite straightforward to build, but it’s not up to current Tamiya standards being 25+ years old now. The fit is generally good, but the intakes need a bit of blending into the fuselage sides and the trunking is poor - hence the FOD covers on mine. The insert for the metal areas behind the jet pipes is also a little narrower than the fuselage, so this needed a sprue spreader to reduce the step/gap, but other than that it’s a breeze.

Greetings all, This has been a long-time 'as and when' project that I completed this weekend - Tamiya's 1/32nd F-4J finished as an F-4J(UK) of the famous 74 'Tiger Squadron' in the mid-1980's. It was built more or less out of the box, but with Mastercasters' FOD covers and YellowHammer decals. Paints were all Xtracolor enamels. It's the first time I have added crew figures to a model as my daughter requested that the pilots should be in it. I might add crews in the future as it adds a bit of life to the cockpit! All the best, Tom

I’ve seen this article before, and the reference to the external ammunition cans. However, there is yet to be any pictorial evidence provided of this - I’ve searched and searched but am yet to find a wartime era picture with the external cans fitted. If anyone has one or knows of one, I’d love to see it! All the best, Tom

I used the AMT H and Monogram D to make an H a few years back. I used the Monogram centre section of central fuselage and wing, combined with the AMT nose and tail sections. This kept the structural integrity of the wing box and landing gear bays. I then added the AMT engines to the wing which wasn’t difficult. Finally, I rescribed the whole thing to ensure all panel detail was consistent. There was a slight mismatch between the fuselage profiles, but this was easily fixed with some filler and rescribing. In short, it can be done! Tom

Thanks, Alan - really helpful and I’m pleased that I didn’t dream that somewhere and it actually was part of the cabin heating system. Appreciated!