Unkempt

I don't think it's that, but I certainly wouldn't rule out me being the PEBCAK. My problem is this: That squarish bit I've circled is a hinge or catch or something for the engine panels and it's definitely supposed to be there; the problem is that when I try and fit the coaming (is that the right word?) then I get either or both of which are clearly wrong. The obvious thing to do is fettle a little bit off the coaming so it fits, which I'll do today, but I can't see how it was supposed to fit at all. What does the 1/72nd look like there? edit: Peter, looking at your thread I think I can see a little cutout exactly where I need to make one, is that right? Also, you've got more detail in your 72nd cockpit than I have in 48th...

Well hello again chaps, looks like I actually got some stuff done a bit more quickly this time. Engine: Half a dozen parts, two bits of PE. I think it'd look good with the inspection panels open, but there's no provision for that in the kit and you'd have to take a saw to it which I'm not going to do. As it is, it's a bit of a shame that all you can see is Ah well. Also finished up my auxiliary fuel tank: ... and here's where we are at the moment with the fuselage closed up: Next bit might be a while as I'm completely baffled as to how the instrument panel/coaming/canopy all fit together at the front of the cockpit; my dry runs so far have a huge gap whichever way I try to fit them together. I'll try again tomorrow, hopefully something will click.

Told you I was slow... OK, the interior. Dora give you seats that look like this: The rear one isn't too bad but the two front seats don't really look like the ones in the diagram and I remember one of the threads on here saying they're more like military seats. But I think you can get a good compromise by just cutting the tops down a bit, which makes them match the rear seat. They also need a couple of cushions, and since I won't be using the rear cushion bit: I've also decide that the all-grey cockpit looks a bit drab, so I'm arbitrarily declaring that these guys probably forked out extra for some nice blue leather cushions. Here's where I am now: The belts, compass holder and the barely visible black lever are all from the provided PE. There should be at least one more lever which is currently, ah, somewhere in my house I guess. I've also made a stab at the rear fuel tank, which I made out of a cut down rocket launcher or something from the spares box; needs a bit more work though. And that's where I am now. If anyone else has this kit, does anyone know what PE parts 18 and 19 are? They look like small instrument panels and it's be nice to fill the cockpit up a bit if I can use them somewhere.

Grey it is then, just what I was looking for, thanks.

Something about this one really appealed to me. A lovely art deco-y 1930s plane with no struts or rigging? Sign me up. Sprue shot! Also includes a small PE fret and canopy masks. There's a bit of flash to clean up, but nothing too terrible OK, this is going to be pretty much OOB and probably quite slow; I haven't actually finished anything this year and I think only one last year, so this thread's mostly here for a kick up the a to remind me to get it done. So far I've stuck tailplanes/wings together just to get started, and I've had a go at the instrument panel: The dials were supposed to come on acetate which was missing, but Dora provided a pdf replacement to download, and I think it looks pretty good, actually. There are four decal options and I've decided to go with G-AEKE, winner of the Schlesinger air race. According to the instructions it's a similar blue/silver to Beryl Markham's plane so I'll go with that. I've ordered a pot of this for the main colour: - looks pretty good to me, but according to Polish Post tracking it's been sitting in Warsaw for the last two weeks so there might be some delay there. As for the interior, I found this cutaway on the net: I think I'll put that extra fuel tank in the back, replacing the back seat. Unfortunately, I can't find any info about interior colours. I have found some pics of a red Gull and its interior is all red so I'm thinking of making mine all blue. Does anyone know any better about interior colours? Anyway, let's see if I can actually finish one this year.

I've been looking around for a good match for that Pantone colour suggested earlier, which looks like this, and I found a soviet cockpit blue-green that looks pretty good to me: http://hataka-hobby.com/products/soviet-cockpit-blue-green/ I'm not familiar with the manufacturer, though. EDIT: Ignore this; bought some, the actual paint colour is nothing like the sample.

Sorry, what is it exactly that's missing? Is it just the acetate sheet? I want to get one of these but I'm not sure whether I should wait...

Well I think I'm done. It was a nice idea but try as I might I cannot get the canopy to look right. It just doesn't fit and I'm not starting again at this stage. It doesn't look too bad from some angles... But from the front... Yikes. Maybe I'll go back to it at some point but that's it for now folks. Sorry!

Couldn't find a dog. Found this in a bead shop though. Seals are the dogs of the sea, right? Bit of filler Bit more filler, primer Et voila: Probably should have measured first, he's still too big and doesn't really fit in the back.

And an attempt at the soft top. This is tissue paper (OK, it's bog roll) over the frame sprayed with varnish and primer. It's actually pretty solid but it still needs some finishing.

Slow going, but here's a bit of brass rod and superglue:

Thanks chaps. A quick no-glue push together looks... not too bad: Still not sure about those seats but now I'm thinking I might put something in there to cover them up. He'd probably have some files or something in the back.

I've rescribed the doors and the boot. I foiled the hubcaps on the wheels. The seats looked very bare so I tried to reproduce the upholstery using putty, but it doesn't look very convincing; not sure whether to redo it or not. Still, progress is happening.

Thanks guys. A bit of progress: There's a shelf attached to the back of the rear seats; that came off and I used a bit of that and some scrap plastic to fill in some of the rear forward of the boot. It looks like the soft top comes down just behind the rear seats at the back. Also tried to fill in the rear door lines... looks like more filling/sanding needed, then I can rescribe the front doors. Still, it's a start!

The Peugeot 403 was made by the French manufacturer in the 50s and 60s. They made over a million of them, apparently, but the only plastic kit I can find is the old Heller 1/43 scale. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that I've been watching a lot of Columbo recently. Lt Columbo of the LAPD is very proud of his car, which is also a Peugeot 403. Unfortunately, he's got the two door soft top coupe version. They only made about 500 of those, so it's not surprising that the Heller is the far more common 4 door hard top. Since I'm not a massive fan of vintage French cars but do like Columbo quite a lot, there's going to be a bit of surgery. The kit: What I'm going for: Here's what's in the box: It's a fairly crude kit and I don't intend to detail it very much. Most of the work is going to be in the conversion and 'weathering'. Basically I just want a little Columbo car on my shelf. I've found a decent profile pic of the soft top. I've also scanned the kit plans. I then outlined the kit plans, made it red and overlayed it to give a comparison: - so I've got what's in red and want what's in the photo below. The basic shape looks good. Differences I can see are: -no rear door -front door is longer and needs extending -take the roof off, obviously - the soft roof doesn't go as far back so the boot will need extending forward - oh, and make the soft top roof I haven't actually managed to finish a model this year so hopefully this'll get me back in the groove. Might be a bit slow, though,

Like most here I used to make a lot of Airfix when I was a kid. In about 2010, the Wife and I really liked the TV programme Lost, and I got to thinking, maybe I could... It didn't turn out too well and is now languishing under a table in the hall gathering dust, but hey, it's Oceanic 815 and nobody else had one. And now I was stuck making kits again. Favourite/finest are a bit of a toss up but I really like how this one looks: It's the Matchbox Heyford in (sort of theoretical but possibly existed) trainer colours. I really love that 30s look and the scheme is great. But finest - well, I got my first gold medal at a show for this, and it's got a plane in it, so....

That's what I meant, yes.

Would it not be better to print one detailed prototype and then resin cast from that?

Hey chaps, One of the alternatives in the Airfix 48th Walrus has you fill in the bomb bays with panels. Did the real thing have those panels or were there just no bomb bays on that version? Wondering if there should be panel lines on the model there.

Lovely Mosquito. I'm a sucker for Tintin stuff, Herge obviously did a ton of research. I did that one! It's the 1/32nd Revell version.

Well thanks, it's not perfect but I was pretty happy with it. Very nice kit IMO. RFI here:

That's mine, and I'm going to say it'd look better with a background. Can just see the black through.

Got to say I have no idea what's going on here but I like the way it looks, so good job.

Yep, that's one of them; the other is this: ...and it's all from page 3 of this thread so many thanks to all there, and mostly John Aero and dogsbody for the pics.

Thanks again for the kind words, guys (and rabbits). Calling it done, posted in the gallery and I've stuck a thread up in RFI too. That was quite a fun one