Icarus

Early days with this - the cockpit is largely complete, but still attached to the sprues for ease of painting. I must admit I'm a bit disappointed with some of the flash on this kit. For example, there was lots on the leading edges of the upper fuselage in the above piccie, that I have now sanded down. It's not as if this is a very old kit. "Made in China" is written on the inside of one of the fuselage halves, but I have only ever seen excellent castings in Chinese manufacturers of late. I am also having some serious difficulties with the decals, despite them having been stored in a cool, dry place since purchase. At present I'm having to excise them from the carrier film with a new scalpel blade after soaking. This has been achieved with minimal breakage for the cockpit instrument decals, but I am dreading the main exterior decals. Incidentally, for some reason all the MFD screens on the decal sheet were light grey, despite there being no evidence they ever looked like this in reality. I have painted them black/green now, as you can see on the photo. Odd. Thanks for looking, Icarus

A quick question if I may, and apologies if this has been covered in the multiple pages of chat above. Does this GB include only Japanese a/c based in Japan? There are some pretty funky colour schemes for US jets stationed there... Otherwise, I'm afraid I will only be able to join with a Tamiya 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero, which is not exactly original, compared to some of the amazing kits proposed above! Icarus

Thank you gingerbob - trying to finish a very stripey St Athan Station Flight "Welsh Dragon" Hawk at the moment (which coincidentally also has a significant amount of red on it), then I'll crack on with this build. Icarus

Hi everyone. I dug this out of the stash, only to see that there is another example of this being built. However, as you can see I will go for an OOB build, apart from the masks. We will see what the base kit looks like. If the cockpit isn't up to much, I will mount the canopy closed... Need to finish off a couple of commissions first, so at least I will be able to learn from @jb65rams' build... Thanks for looking, Icarus

So, my second (and possibly final) build for this GB - the magnificent Viggen! Kit: ESCI 1/48 SAAB JAS-37DI Viggen Markings: "Red 8" - 1 Sqn "Johan Röd", F.4 Division, Swedish Air Force Extras: Maestro resin cockpit, ejector seats, instrument panel. Airscale "Modern Jets" instrument dial decals Paint: Vallejo acrylics Tamiya lacquers, Alclad metals and Alclad and Klear varnish. Weathering: Windsor and Newton Oils, artists' pastels on undercarriage and in cockpit. Lightened and darkened base colours at extremes of panels Build link here: Thanks for looking, Icarus

So, after a bit of "removal/polishing/regluing" of the canopy, to try and eradicate some microparticles that seemed to manage to (helpfully) embed themselves on the inner surface of the front canopy, I'm calling this done. I have not fixed the rear canopy open - I'm increasingly inclined just to leave it loose, so it can be removed to show the cockpit detail if need be, but remains in place most of the time to preserve the lines of this striking aircraft. I hope it goes without saying, but I have thoroughly enjoyed this combination of old (but essentially sound) ESCI base kit with the less old Maestro resin, to make a replica of this magnificent beast. I'll put some decent photos up in the Gallery later. Thanks for looking and for all your helpful comments/guidance, Icarus

Morning - after a 1 week hiatus with some weird gastroenteritis (5 kg involuntary weight loss anyone?) I finally feel strong enough to try and get this over the line. Nearly there now... Unfortunately, the oil pin wash has extenuated a tiny seam running behind the canopy, but I'm hoping that when the canopy is open the cockpit detail will distract from this. I'm certainly not going through all the hassle of sanding this down, respraying and then redoing the weathering/varnish layers - the risk/benefit ratio is just not worth it! Aiming to get the canopy done, then final touch ups and we're done! Thanks for looking, Icarus

Yes Werner - that's the plan! Icarus

I now have the decals on, and have started the oil weathering. This probably is enough for now, as I am going to add a further oil pin wash and some pastels when the wheels and ordinance are on. Thanks for looking, Icarus

Paintwork done, and gloss varnish on ready for decals. The gloss varnish has rather obliterated the tonal variations I have put in the paintwork, but hopefully they will reappear with the eventual satin coat. Anyway, I still have the oil pain weathering to add! Hoping to start the decals later. Thanks for looking, Icarus

Starting to get the painting done. Initial Halfords Grey Primer, then lower layer of FS36495 (Humbrol 147) on. Masking ready for upper layer of FS36375 (Humbrol 127), with patches of respray on original a/c masked - I will use the original grey primer as the colour here.. I don't tend to use Humbrol paints now, as they stink out the house, but I had some old tins in the stash and thought I'd give them a go, as coincidentally they match the colour call outs from the Model Alliance decal instructions. I have to say they were a pleasant surprise - they spray really well with a bit of thinners dilution, and don't lead to clogging of the nozzle. The colours look pretty accurate as well. Hoping to have painting and gloss varnish done tonight, ready for the (relatively few) decals. Then the real fun starts - weathering, which appears to be extensive on these aircraft according to the references. Thanks for looking, Icarus

"Party green" cushions! The beast is starting to emerge... There has been a serious amount of sanding and polishing going on here. I do love these old ESCI moulds, as they are fun to build and generally have good shape, but they do need quite a lot of work! Thanks for looking, Icarus

Thank you exdraken. I did see this in other reference photos, but thought it must be a mistake. Clearly not. I will get some party green on the headrests!

I had a bit of time yesterday to make a start on this. These are the Maestro resin seat, I/P and cockpit tub painted and weathered. The flash has rather over-extenuated the highlights on the I/P, but to be honest once this is down in the deep dark hole that is the cockpit the concern would be not enough contrast! The instrument decals are from airscale "Modern Cockpit Instruments", matched as close as possible to the functionalities in the original a/c. Kind regards, Icarus

Thank you CliffB and Corsairfoxfouruncle. You may have also noticed some munitions missing in the lateral racks - now duly added...

So, unfortunately, I just missed the deadline for posting in the Gallery. Here we are finished - a lovely kit. Thank you Airfix! Thank you for all of the helpful comments. Off to the Viggen now! Icarus

Great call exdraken, and very correct. Hence, I will in fact be now building this version out of the Model Alliance decal set (which whilst a bit less startlingly red, in truth is still very visually appealing with it's bright red "08" numbers). Probably a lot more opportunity for weathering as well... Thanks for looking, Icarus

So, having stuffed around for what feels like ages on the camouflage painting, finally making some progress here... The instructions would have me build the engine now, but I would rather leave this to the end. I will mask and add the canopy now, then build up the wings and the rigging. I'm still hopeful that this will be done by the 28th, but if not this has still been a pleasure to make! Thanks for looking, Icarus

Still just over a month to go exdraken- what could possibly go wrong? It's not as if there is any sort of major holiday/festive season that might get in the way of building time...🙄

Evening - trying to complete this build in time, as well as the High Wing GB Swordfish. Initial photos: As you can possibly make out, I have the Maestro models resin cockpit, i/p and seat (which I have just removed the resin plugs from) and the Model Alliance decal sheet for the relevant colour scheme. Looking forward to trying to build this beast in time! Thanks for looking, Icarus

So, having finally extricated myself from the seductive pleasures of the French Fancy GB, trying to get this done in time. Lower surface FAA Sky Grey and upper surface Extra Dark Sea Grey now laid down - masking in place ready for dark slate grey layer... The painting has been a bit more of a pain than I expected, due to some issues I had diluting the Xtracrylix down for airbrushing- but getting there now. Thanks for looking, Icarus

Just for the sake of completeness - here is the final set of photos of this aircraft, with everything I forgot previously now attached! And yes, that open cockpit canopy is being held with a bit of white Tak. I may eventually decide to permanently have the canopy open - I have saved the opening actuator just in case! Now, off to the Operation Judgement Swordfish in the High Wing GB. Thanks for looking, Icarus

Thank you Andwil - the Gallery was locked by the time I saw exdraken's note, so a "Draken" it will have to remain. The result of a rushed cut and paste from another Gallery with the clock ticking down to the midnight deadline! Icarus

I also realised the canopy and weapons decals plus the complementary crew ladder were missing. Now added. To be honest, I need to get the Swordfish finished for the High Wing GB, so I will leave this one alone now. Thank you for all the helpful comments and advice, Icarus

Thank you exdraken - I also managed to put the nose probe on the wrong way round! Corrected now - with updated photos. And yes - I was a bit suspicious about the fuel tanks, but I do like the look of this with them on! Thank you for looking, Icarus