Rob 1

Great job on this classic cruiser kit, looks very good.

Super diorama, great work.

I've used soil as a base for dioramas/display bases for some time now - it really is the perfect material. Not only plentiful and free, it's a perfect material for easily formed into rough, fine, or right down to powder like natural scaled down texture, and forms a good solid finish after sprinkling on a layer of thinned sprayed PVA, then perfect for airbrushing an improved shade. Static grass goes over this finish with no issues. I've generally sorted/sieved it to remove stones and plant material, but that's all, and it doesn't seem to deteriorate over time.

That is top rate modelling; nicely done.

Nice to see another build of this classic Airfix kit, and she looks particularly good in that camoflage scheme!

Lovely job on this Anson (one of my favorite utility aircraft).

Excellent show today - all went well considering they were hosting the first edition for this club; it's a great venue, and a very friendly show all round! Here's a small selection of photos, with a number from the many excellent entries in competition area:

This is incredible work in 1:35 - well done indeed.

That's an excellent finish!

That's an exceptional build, great detail and finishing. the end product looks superb.

I built the aircraft up after pre drilling the holes in the lower half of the top wing, but omitted the upper half of the top wing. I threaded each line through those tiny holes, pulled them tight one by one, put a dab of standard polysterene cement over each hole/threaded end, turned the aircraft up-side-down and clipped a mini clothes peg to each dangling line end to keep them all taught while the glue set overnight. The upper half of the top wing then nicely covered all the glued ends. First time I've done it this way but works well. May do some WWI planes in the future using this method. This is the drill set I use for all modelling work (available at Hobbycraft stores), as the thicker shaft doesn't need a driller, all holes can be done by rotating between finger and thumb. The smallest drill is good for rigging lines.

Looks good, and looks a real mean machine with all that armament. It must look pretty impressive in the flesh at that size (1:24).

Thanks all for your comments. The rigging is E Z Line (fine), as it has elasticity it can be fitted with just a small amount of tension and they stay taught, and survive any amount of being caught or knocked. It was fitted by drilling fine holes in the wings and fuselage, and glued on the inside faces. I would warn anyone using this that spraying Halfords primer after completing the rigging was a big mistake, lesson learned: better to prime the parts first before assembly with the rigging.

I haven't built an airplane for while, so to add to a few trainer types I already have, had a go at this new Revell 1:48 'Stearman' kit, which is an interesting (and colorful) subject of a classic primary trainer of it's time, and is such a good basic aircraft that they've been in fairly widespread civilian use ever since. There's some nice HD videos on You Tube of this type being flown.

Planning to move on to Vietnam conflict modelling, so this certainly could be one for the future.