Calum

I was hoping Southern Stars referred to the Southern Cross - and hence we'd see a Kiwi option. Noting how many Kiwi pilots flew Mk V's in Italy Several of them were quite successful . Evan (Rosie Mackie (20 Victories ) to name one. He scored a number of his victories in Mk V's in the Med and preferred it to the Mk IX. Not in the Pacific as the RNZAF never operated Spitfires down here. But many Kiwi pilots in the RAF flew the MK V in Burma and other parts of the SEAC . It's not the end of the world there are some aftermarket options and I can always make masks.

Yeah without a Kiwi option titling the box Southern Star makes no sense to me

Excellent work. I've just built eh IA and really enjoyed it

Excellent news from Airfix. As for the price well no one is forcing you to buy it, and you don't it to feed yourself so it's a bit silly whinging about it. Last time I checked not everything has to be able to be purchased by everyone - I'd love a Ferrari but there is little chance of buying one. Now, as Greg B says - lets see a Jag.

Looking great Pappy

Nice set , well photographed as well

Looks great

Well 2021 is pretty much done. I don't see me finishing any of my current builds before the end of the year so it's time for the usual recap of the years efforts. Another pandemic affected year with a two month lockdown in the middle meant I did get a bit of time at the bench. That said I didn't get through as many builds as I'd hoped, This was partially because jets dominated my attention this year and they just take more time than props. This years tally included seven aircraft and one armour piece, all in 1/48. If you are interested in more of any builds the titles link to an article on my blog. But enough waffle, on to the builds Hasegawa A-4K Skyhawk of No. 75 Sqn RNZAF Those of you who know me know I worked on these for a while so the subject is close to my heart. 1/48 Eduard North American P-51D Mustang - Master Mike This is my second Eduard P-51D. After the first one (see here) caused me a few issues, (the decals anyway) I decided I wanted to have another go - partly to see if it was me and partly as the Hasegawa Skyhawks were dragging me down at the time. 1/48 Hasegawa Douglas TA-4K Skyhawk - No. 2 Sqn RNZAF Next was the second Hasegawa Skyhawk. This time T-bird depicted as a 2 Sqn aircraft base at HMAS Albatross in Australia. 1/48 Kinetic Mitsubishi F-104J Starfighter 202 Sqn JASDF This was a quick palette cleanser. It was excellent build and made me want to build more. 1/48 Airfix Bristol Blenheim Mk 1F - No 25 Sqn RAF I have a thing for early war RAF subjects so the Blenheim was right up my alley. Overall it's a decent build . I'd love to see a Blenheim MK IV from Airfix. 1/48 Tamiya T-34/76 - Tank No. 106 - Recon Platoon - 1st Regiment - Eastern Front 1944 The only armour piece for the year. I had a couple things I wanted to try on this build, those being multi colour hairspray chipping and a muddy. . I was really happy with the outcome. 1/48 Tamiya Lockheed Martin F-16C Viper - Arctic Aggressor I'd been wanting to do this scheme for ages. I had a bit of an issue with the SMS light tan paint which set me back but overall it came out ok. 1/48 Eduard Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4B - 6 Staffel LG 2 Another palette cleanser to finish the year. I managed to knock it off in less than month. It was also an experiment to try out the "new" Eduard Decals . I wrote an article on my experiences with those decals here. Well if you got this far down, thanks for looking . As for 2022, well I've got another Skyhawk on the go, a Su-122 and I have to do a Eduard Mk 1 Spitfire as part of a buddy build with a mate

Looks fantastic Steve. Love the Andover.

Nice work Ray

Wow. Tony. Where do you the time. . Nice collection there. What do you do with all the finished builds?

Excellent work.

Last one for 2021. Eduard's nice 1/48 BF 109E$ as a fighter bomber. Was done as a palette cleanser as the F-16 had worn me out and to test out the new Eduard decals where the carrier film can be removed. I wrote a full article on the decals (see here) but in summary they are fine if you don't want to peel the film off. They look great if you peel the film, but it's not without risk. As usual there is a full build article on the 109 here but here are some pictures

Excellent

cracking shots Greg