Viking

You are correct there, the Hapag Lloyd livery really does suit the 737! Lovely light weathering on it too. Cheers John

Superb finish with incredible realism, and such an interesting subject. I have one in the stash and now and again think about doing it as a fantasy 'Lufthansa Cargo' post war freighter! Cheers John

That is just so smart, the Sabre is a good looking aircraft anyway, and that livery takes it to another level. Beautiful. Cheers John

Lovely SE5a, it shows that the Roden kits are well worth building even if Wingnut Wings had spoiled us. This one more than proves that a great result is possible with the Roden offerings. Cheers John

That's a little cracker Dave, amazing to think that this was a front line fighter in such a scheme! And that the whole Jasta was painted like this. Cheers John

Another incredible build. just amazing. Cheers John

Unusual looking Vampire, nice to see it in different clothes! Cheers John

Lovely Chippy Neil, I'll have to get mine out of the stash now I've seen this beauty! Cheers John

A post script that I just remembered! My father returned to Gardermoen, (Oslo, Norway) after 68 years since he first arrived there in a Sabre for NATO exercises . In the museum is a a Norwegian F-86F that I believe was used by Airfix to lidar scan for the kit, The kit comes with decals for this aircraft, and illustrated on the box art, Appropriate then that I should use it to backdate to his Mk.2!

All done & posted in the gallery. A few more here: With his Citroën 'Traction Avant' that he owned at the time! Thanks for all the help & comments throughout this, I've really enjoyed it, and to Zebra & Enzo for hosting it, Cheers John

!/48 Airfix F-86F-40 converted to Canadair Sabre Mk.2 with reduced wing span & chord, and 'Vee' windscreen. Decals from Above & Below Graphics. This aircraft was flown by my father from RCAF Grostenquin, France, in 1954, callsign 'Boozey-eight-seven'. He delivered it to Manchester Ringway, UK in May 1954, for refurbishment for the Greek (or Turkish air force, not sure which) . It was a notable sortie as he ran out of fuel on the taxiway after landing, due to having to hold while an RAF Vampire that had bellied in was dragged off the runway. The photograph that inspired this build, with the model in a similar pose,

Superb, I thought the first phot was real! Cheers John

Superb job again John, it is a really fascinating way to build a model and way more interesting than a 'painted' one, Cheers John

That is a really lovely build of the Airfix Sabre, the weathering looks just right for a well used aircraft. Cheers John

Just started doing a few photos, and playing around with a comparison of the real photo that started all this off. Hmmm. the tail plane dihedral needs increasing And in colour:

Another Airfix DHC-2, you can never have too many, great to see this one joining the fray.

Great to see someone tackling a '105, I have both the the 1/72 and 1/48 kits, Sometimes I look at them, and then put them back in the box... You might just inspire me to actually do something with them!

Looks lovely, makes me want to build one!

Short update, all the final parts are added, and ready for decaling. It is a a sort of bare Sabre (apart from the black rudder and noseband. (I have now applied all the decals and myriad stencils from the kit, but need to get time for a final photo session, but for now I have these photos). Let decaling commence! The sheet is on a continuous carrier film so you need to cut each subject out. Very easy to do. Final update to follow over the next few days. Cheers John

Ditto what Julien said, it is looking really good.

That is looking lovely, A super smart sword! Cheers John

Fabulous work again Russ, and yet again the photographs look real. Cheers John

Beautiful Sabre, great idea to use all the leftovers! the metal finish is superb. Cheers John

Just a humorous aside about the tough looking solidity of the real thing

So much work has taken place for so little to show for it! I've been through interminable masking sessions, outlining various panels and then spraying different silver tones of Tamiya silver mixed in varying degress with black or white to make different shades. Over and over again,! Some hardly show until you look at from various angles and the light catches them, which is the effect I was after. First set of panel masking: vesrion-i can't remeber-which of more panel masking. The initial tone of the gun panel wasn't dark enough, so I masked again and resprayed it. It really isn't east to photograph the full effect, hopefully this gives a sense of the multi tone panels. I masked and sprayed the black band around the nose in gloss, with the anti glare panel done in matt rubber black for contrast. I don't like to leave tape on clear parts for any longer than I have to, so took it off as I won't be spraying varnish on this. I'll give it a brush coat of Johnsosn Klear to seal the decals when it is finished. A couple of shots of that elusive Vee windscreen that was so important to this build. Getting close to the finishing line now! Thanks for looking, John