[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Very colourful, a nice change from the standard bland grey or green schemes.

Thanks, Windy. It was a quick, fun build.

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Funky build, nice colour match

Hi F-32,

Glad you like it - I don't imagine that Hornby sell that many Humbrol Emerald tinlets!

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Gorgeous. Both this and the Saudi Hawk. Superb work with the hairy stick - Further delaying my (never-to-be-realised) airbrush purchase - while Halfords and the badger-pluckers still exist! Top Notch build, lovely finish.

Thanks, Shelfspace. I really appreciate your comments. I nearly didn't post the pictures, as I didn't think my efforts compared with some of the amazing work on this forum.

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

That is HELLUVA BEAUTY !!!

Goodness that is ONE wondrous build and love the Color...

Thanks Houston. I think that I need to tone the gloss down with a coat of satin, but it doesn't look as glossy on the shelf. As mentioned above, the colour may or may not be accurate, but it still looks pretty to my eye!

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Looks great, nice to see something a little different

ATB Rich

Thanks Rich. Glad you liked it.

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Thanks for all your kind words! I didn't use the supplied decals for the main gear doors, as they were intended for a gear up model, so I took the easy way out and masked off the green and brush-painted the white stripe using Humbrol acrylic.

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Thanks for all the kind comments.

[1/72nd Hunter F1]

Beautiful Hunter I must get around to building my Revell pair.

[HAF T-2E Buckeye]

That is simply outstanding!

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Interesting scheme, nicely done

Thanks Deon, the only real problem was fitting the wing fences, as they seem to be the wrong shape.

[OOB Group Build]

I am a "from the box" builder, so I would like to take part.

[Dassault Mirage-2000C]

What a beautiful model. I love the subtle weathering without over-emphasised panel lines.

[1/32 Seafire XV]

What an absolutely outstanding model.

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Wow, that looks wet its that shiny, love that finish

Si.

Hi Si

The wonders of Klear and some unseasonal brightness!

Nice work

Thanks Mish.

[Matchbox Swordfish - back to my roots]

Excellent job. I can't wait to see the RNHF Swordfish displaying next year.

[Trumpy's 1:72 Gannet AS.Mk.1/4]

That's pretty (for a Gannett, anyway!!) I must dig mine out of the "to do" pile, or should I do the Revell one?

[Looks like a low flying Saudi Hawk to me?!]

Good grief, that was low! After struggling with the Fujimi decals on the Airfix Hawk this week, I would say that was definitely a Saudi Hawk!!

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Very eye-catching

Cliff

Thanks, Cliff. Hopefully we will see them at Waddington or RIAT sometime.

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Ah - one of my favourite aircraft!

Interesting to hear what you did to get the colour. I think I read that for the real one, they added black to roundel blue until it "looked right". Some pictures I've seen make it look near black, others closer to the colour you have. If I ever get round to building mine, I'll go a little bit darker I think.

As I'm a self-confessed Harrier snob, I will point out that someone seems to have stolen your airconditioning system intakes (the pair behind the cockpit) and the dorsal aerial (UHF?) and that the white on the intake should be continuous.

Other than that, a fine Harrier sir. Now you have to do a multi-colour ZD318 and a prototype GR9 of course

Cheers, Kirk.

Hi Kirtk

Oops - well spotted on the omissions, I not sure what happened to them!

I read the same comments about the colour mix on the real machine, and agree with your comments on the colour, but as a brush-painter, I decided to take the easy route! I guess that it is one of those colours that can look very different depending on the lighting conditions.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Harrier GR5 Pegasus 11-61 Testbed Airfix / Fineline decals]

Dear All

I was in the process of building the current BBMF line-up (still need to start PA474) and needed white letters and numbers for the registration/codes for one of the Chipmunks. I found what I was looking for at hannants.co.uk, but the sheet was too cheap to qualify for the free decal delivery. I trawled through the decal listing until I found the Fineline GR5 Pegasus 11-61 testbed sheet for about £3. This pushed me over the £6 minimum price and I knew that I had an Airfix GR5 "in stock." When the decals arrived, I was so taken with them, that I dug out the old kit and threw it together in double-quick time. Apart from fixing the out-riggers on back to front (!), everything went well. References stated that BAe painted the aircraft in a one-off midnight blue colour, so I brush-painted mine Humbrol 15 Midnight Blue. I weathered it with a wash of Raw Umber and called it finished! I think that the colour is too light compared to the published photos and artwork, but for a weekend build, I am quite happy with it (except that I wish I had added some seatbelts!)

I hope you like it.

Comments and advice welcome.

[Hawk Mk 65 Saudi Hawks Airfix / Fujimi]

Taken from http://saudihawks.com/en/ "The Saudi Hawks are the public face of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). Since the team creation in 1998, the Saudi Hawks displayed and participated in a lot of official and public ceremonies inside and out side the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia representing the professionalism and excellence of the Saudi armed forces and its personnel.

All Saudi Hawks display pilots are fast jet pilots who have flown as part of front-line RSAF squadrons. The Team’s support staff are drown from a wide Varity of RSAF background, and play a crucial role in keeping the Saudi Hawks flying.

The Saudi Hawks success depends on commitment and motivation, combined with RSAF skills training and equipments."

This is one of my usual 6 foot models - they look fine from 6 feet away!!

I started building the Fujimi "BAe Hawk Saudi Hawks" kit a couple of years ago, but was quite underwhelmed by the quality. I got to the pre-paint stage and then stalled. Once Airfix released the new Red Arrows Hawk, I thought that I would use one of the several copies that I have acquired with the Fujimi decals.

The Airfix kit is great and was hand-painted Humbrol Number 2 Emerald. To emphasise the det cord in the canopy, I ran a grey wash into it. I am no super-deailer or scratch-builder, so all I did was add some masking tape seat belts and fashioned the missing aerials on the nose and undersidefrom scrap plastic. I also replaced the pitot tube with a cut-down dress maker's pin. Unfortunately, the decals don't seem to be completly accurate in size, so I used some artistic licence and the long white side stripes fought me all the way! As a result, I cut off the white decal on both intakes and masked them prior to hand painting the white stripes, which is why there is a noticeable colour difference!

There are pictures in the SAM Publications AirData 1 BAe Systems Hawk book and on the net that show these aircraft to be immaculate, so I decided to leave the weathering to a very thin Raw Umber wash to lift some of the detail.

I know that there are some accuracy issues, especially around the landing light arrangement, but I hope you like my first RFI.

My "studio" was an un-ironed single sheet from a "Bob the Builder" set draped over the coffee table in the conservatory. I used natural light, but will aim to improve the quality if I make further posts.

Comments and advice most welcome.

[Airfix Modelworld, when is next issue due?]

Just picked up my copy from WHS and very good it is too. I feel a subscription coming on!

[Painting exhaust stacks]

I'm blushing! Sorry to cause additional work!!

[Painting exhaust stacks]

Hi

I use a mix of Humbrol 27004 Gunmetal and Humbrol 55 Bronze buffed with soft cloth.

I hope the pictures below are of use. They are of the Historic Aircraft Collection's Spitfire LFVB BM597 JH-C and Hurricane XII Z5140 HA-C taken in the hangar at Duxford prior to the Autumn Airshow 2010.

[1/72 revell Ju87 R2]

Wow, that looks fantastic. I'm not sure that I would have wanted to tackle that snake decal, though!