zebra

Thanks! The carpet monster has tried to take a couple of the PE parts already but I fought it off. I think this kit's going to put up a fight, but I'll do my best to stand my ground and stare it down!

I'm going to join in with a pair of Special Hobby 1/72 Super Mysteres. The dual boxing was a xmas present from Mrs Z - you get two complete kits, plus an Isradecal book on Israeli Super Mysteres. There are decals for four SMB.2s (two French, two Israeli) and two Sa'ars (a natural metal Israeli now, and a Honduran one). Curiously none of the Israeli ones is in the later desert camouflage (the one we'll all be familiar with, as used on many Israeli aircraft from the 70s to the present day) in favour of an early camouflaged SMB.2, one in SEA camo (delivered in this scheme, apparently) and the natural metal Sa'ar. I fancy doing a Sa'ar in the later desert camo, and the book comes into its own here by giving me all the info I need. I should be able to do it with the decals for the other Israeli ones. The other one will be a natural metal French SMB.2. I've started prepping and priming parts - assembly will start tomorrow. cheers Julian

Cracking on with it. The build-up of the airframe is a bit unusual, but that's down to the unusual configuration of the helicopter. I've started by cleaning up and beginning the assembly of the main fuselage components. On each side there's a tail boom, rotor mast and fuselage side - these will be built up and joined with the rear fuselage roof. Then we have the cockpit roof - the clear part with a couple of PE bits attached, fuselage bottom, and cockpit floor and rear bulkhead. The bit on the left of the photo with numerous bits of PE attached goes at the front of the cockpit floor - pedals will attach to this part. These parts have all gone off to the garage to be sprayed with some interior green. more soon Julian

Count me in, this is right up my street.

Thanks! No I didn't trace around them, but I sprayed a coat of black primer under the white and the Peewit masks did the rest. I've mentioned the masks further up the thread, but it's worth repeating - they were really, really good. I hadn't used Peewit masks before and I'm very impressed with them.

Thanks! I’ll have a look at the canopy when I get home later - I might well have forgotten to remove it

I’ve been tempted by this one too, but was always put off by the price. If I ever see one at a good price I’ll snap it up. great choice Exdraken, I’m building the Zvezda kit in 1/72 and have a couple more in the stash so there’s a chance that another will put in an appearance

Thanks Mike - the Peewit masks that came with the kit were very good indeed.

From one manufacturer with a distinctive, characteristic design feature (Kamov's contra-rotating main rotors) to another one, similarly named at that, with Kaman's intermeshing rotors - the Kaman HOK/HUK-1, using the AMP 1/48 kit. Not yet decided whether this will be a USMC HOK-1 or a US Navy HUK-1 - I think the only difference is the colour scheme. Here's the kit. Quite a lot of nicely detailed plastic parts, quite a lot of PE, some resin for the engine, and masks. I have a feeling this is going to be one of those kits that rewards careful builders and punishes carelessness! more soon Julian

I've decided this is going to be the year I build a few helicopters. I find helicopters really interesting, I have several in the stash, but somehow I've only built one helo in the last 30 years. Time to fix that. First up, the Ka-32 Helix, using the Zvezda 1/72 Ka-27PS kit. This is going to be built as a helicopter used on the icebreaker Siberia on ice reconnaissance duties, using decals from Begemot. It's going to be a (hopefully) quick OOB build. Here's the kit. Not a lot of parts, not much of an interior, but the external details look quite nice. I bought this second hand, it was obviously sitting in someone's stash for quite a long time, the decals aren't so much yellowed as browned! Good thing I'm not going to be using them. more soon Julian

Here's my Fireflash trials Meteor NF.11, built using the Red Roo set which includes the Special Hobby 1/72 kit and everything you need to convert it to the Fireflash trials aircraft. These Meteors were used to test the Fireflash missile at Woomera in the mid fifties. Build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

Fireflash trials NF.11, Special Hobby/Red Roo 1/72. Fun build, I can see myself building more of the SH night fighters. Build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

Finished! A couple more shots will be in the gallery shortly. cheers Julian

magnificent!

Fantastic lifting bodies! As for the GP... they say consultant surgeons have a god complex but they've got nothing on the receptionists