CT Modeller

Thanks Dennis. I have several re-done Frog Lightnings and a single 'new' Airfix F.6 and yes it would be nice to see them next to one another. I have seperate photos here: (23 and 11 Sqn are modified Frog, 5 Sqn is new Airfix)

Republic RF-84F Thunderflash AG52, 1 Staffel (yellow trim), West German Air Force Erding Air Base,1963 Many years ago I bought 2 Italeri 1/72 RF-84F kits. They came to life recently after I came across a German ‘F-40’ publication that I had forgotten about, while sorting a stash of reference books. They were decent kits in their time, but they are of that 70s or 80s period when all kits had raised panel lines and minimal detail so would need some work to bring them to a passable standard. Thing is, though, I just wanted to see what one of these would look like built up, so I took the decision to build the first one old style, straight from the box, including the weird interior – pilot and all – and kit decals. I used the Italian markings provided. I’m glad I did that because a) it provided a good reference for what needed working on and b) I probably wouldn’t have wanted to done all that work twice! Should I have just bought the recent Sword kit? Probably, but what would I do with two Italeri kits if I didn’t build them? Anyway, I decided to build this one, from the F-40 book: A couple of pictures of the finished model before I write any more words: Here are the two models together: This is a summary of what was needed to turn the Italeri kit into something acceptable: Panel line rescribe Addition of spoilers to the wing top surface just ahead of the flaps, which I cut off and repositioned in the down position. Italeri had completely ignored the complex spoilers – I used a photoetch set from Airwaves designed for the Airfix F-84F. New wing fences added from thin plasticard. The marked positions for the fences on the kit wings were far too outboard. Air intake reshaped in plan view – see photo: Machine gun ports added to the front of the reshaped air intakes (something else ignored by Italeri). Cockpit detail scratch built and resin Martin Baker seat fitted (German RF-84Fs had their early Republic seats replaced sometime before camouflaging) Airbrakes replaced by the Airwaves photoetch set for the F-84F. They really didn’t fit the Italeri kit so I was pleased to find photos with airbrakes slightly open. Drop tank pylons shortened and rebuilt to give a better sit to the drop tanks. Tailplane hinge added to show the drooped position with hydraulic power off. Nose camera windows increased in size – see photo for comparison: Wingtip pitot tube replaced with a sewing needle (I did this on the Italian one also as the kit version is ridiculously fragile). Paint was Xtracolour enamel over Tamiya acrylic primer, then Klear coat before and after decals and Xtracrylic ‘Matt’ varnish (Matt in inverted commas because it actually gives a semi-gloss finish, which looked just right in this case!) Decals came from some old Superscale sheets for German F-104, RF-4C and G-91s, with stencils from some Modeldecal RF-84F and F-84F sheets. An enjoyable project but I would go for the Sword kit if I wanted another one….

Really like that and well done for persevering with an Frsin product. Great result. I took a lot of detail photos of the 614 in Nordolz museum in Germany a few years ago with the aim of building this kit but haven’t got around to it yet

That is great modelling. Really nice to see an airliner model treated in such detail and skill.

Hi Orso. I’m not the only one to find this conversion difficult, then. I missed the air intake change - wasn’t aware of it, though maybe I should have been considering the more powerful later versions would have needed more air! Anyway best of luck with your Hasegawa / Heller hybrid.

Hi Nymond. Thanks for your comments. The metallics were Model Air Aluminium acrylic overall, then panels masked and sprayed with Xtracolour Duralumin enamel. I then masked a few more panels and polished them using Rub N Buff metallic paste. Access panels were painted in light grey acrylic. The orange panels were from a Tauro dayglo decal sheet. I painted two extra coats of dayglo orange over the decals before I cut them out as I had used them before and they were very thin. As for pictures of the cockpit, I did have this one below but there is very little to be seen through the thickish Heller transparencies (also the close up photography exposes all kinds of roughness!)

SAAB Sk35C Draken F10, Angelholm, Sweden, 1980s Heller 1/72 conversion The Heller Draken kit contains a Danish two seater option so I initially thought I could produce the Swedish version without too much work - I was wrong! The Swedish version is based on the early Sk35A airframe which has the shorter rear fuselage compared with the later versions. I tried just cutting off the rear fuselage, but finished up rebuilding the whole area aft of the rudder hinge with Milliput. There are all kinds of other differences, such as a single centreline drop tank compared with two and a totally different fin tip.. The kit I used had a lot of plastic shrinkage on wings and fin so I started with a Milliput session and rubdown, followed by a lot of panel line scribing. At the same time I removed the control surfaces from the wings and repositioned them drooped as seems to be the case as the hydraulic pressure bleeds away. Also completely refurbished the cockpit interior and seats. Decals became a bit of an issue but I found numbers and Swedish crowns from the decal bank and made up the stencils from a combination of hand painting and donations from various Superscale sheets. The final result is small but colourful!

That is an absolute gem. Top class modelling. The overall finish, weathering and detail are just right

Just wonderful modelling. Your Phantoms are an inspiration. Mine are in 1/72 but having seen what can be achieved in the bigger scale I'm sorely tempted. Just a point of note - best to leave the tailplane in the slightly negative incidence position as those hinge cover plates move with the tailplane on the real thing.

Hi bryanm - The S.1s are as follows: XN953 109/E 800 Sqn - This was based on the original Airfix NA39 kit. The tailplane is Freightdog resin. Nose cone was completely reshaped. Internals added - tubes for intakes and exhausts to prevent see through. Vortex gens added to wings. Wings thinned and rescribed. NA39 exhausts were removed and replaced with tube and Milliput. Aeroclub seats. My own canopy crash moulded. All kinds of other detail added. Decals from Modelart. XN965 696/LM 809 Sqn (the white one) - Built from the old Airfix S.2 kit. Intakes replaced with tube and Milliput. Airwaves undercarriage. Aeroclub seats. Own canopy etc. Decals from Modelart again. XK532 681/LM 700B Sqn - Again built from the old Airfix S.2 kit. Resin intakes this time (Whirlibirds I think?), Freightdog resin nose and tailplane, scratch cockpit, Airwaves metal undercarriage, etc. Decals from Freightdog. It should be much easier to build a decent S.1 nowadays by using the new Airfix S.2C kit with resin intakes which I'm sure I've seen available somewhere. All the best Chris

The Buccaneer collection produced over many years. I don't think they need any further description but please ask if you would like any info:

Fiat G-91R/3 LeKG 43, West German Air Force As seen at St. Mawgan Air Day, August 1977 Revell 1/72 kit with Xtradecal, Superscale and kit decals Xtracolour enamel paints with Xtracrylic varnish The Revell kit from 1999 was the only game in town for many years other than the Airfix offering from the early 60s. It has decent detail for it's age but suffers from a few shape issues around the nose. I brought this one down from the attic to build just before doing what should be the ultimate G-91 in 1/72 from Meng, which I'm working on next. The Meng kit will be finished as the Itallian G-91R/1 version. The German decals on this one were mainly a mixture of Superscale (code numbers) and Xtradecal (national insignia and badges). The kit decals provide a good set of stencils, though they are quite thick and needed a lot of Klear treatment.

Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker 314th ARS, Air Force Reserve Command, Mather AFB, California Seen at Mildenhall, May 1989 It was the 'Foxy Lady' nose art that caught my attention during a visit to Mildenhall in May 1989 (probably the arrivals day for Air Fete 89 but can't quite remember!). This KC-135 was sitting in a good position for photography. It wasn't until 2001 that I got around to building the model, and at the time had my own photos as reference. I also had a very informative article from Scale Models magazine on the subject of 707 and derivatives fuselage lengths and wing types, including suggested methods of shortening the old Revell 707 kit. Time has moved on and as I brought the model down from it's attic resting place I was unable to locate neither my photos nor the article, which I had intended to scan and post here. However, to my surprise a simple Google search on 'Foxy Lady KC-135' came up with a photo of that aircraft on that day, which I have now included here! One day maybe I will find the magazine article and will scan and post it if/when I do. Meanwhile on with the pics. The Foxy Lady nose art was hand painted by the way and I haven't included a close up of it because it becomes too obvious that it was! The real thing on that day in 1989:

F-16C Fighting Falcons of the 86th Tactical Fighter Wing Ramstein, Germany, 1987 Red/Black - 526th Tactical Fighter Squadron Green/Black - 512th Tactical Fighter Squadron Hasegawa 1/72 kits

Apologies to all for quoting the wrong decals used, and particularly to Twosix decals. The model is indeed finished with the Twosix sheet, now corrected.

Hi Doc72. I have both the Meng and Revell kits open on the workbench at the moment. The Meng kit is a very nice modern moulding and is generally more accurate, particularly around the nose area. The Revell kit looks pinched around the nose. There were some negative comments about the Revell kit when it was first released (1999?) but I don't see much to complain about other than the nose. The surface detail, panel lines, etc are heavier than the Meng version but it works OK in this scale. The fit of the alternative armament panels on the forward fuselage is not brilliant on the Revell kit but works OK with a lick of Milliput. I haven't fitted the Meng panels yet so can't comment on that. You are right about the drop tanks - Revell provides the bigger Luftwaffe versions, but I've seen photos of Luftwaffe aircraft with the slightly smaller conventionally shaped tanks. So overall, looking at the kits unmade in the box, I think I would choose Meng but the Revell one is also OK Hope this helps

Fiat G-91R/3 Esquadra 303, Portuguese Air Force Lajes, Azores, 1985 This little G-91 was built from various kit components left over after building the Aeroclub G-91T using parts from the Revell kit, plus an old Airfix kit. The fuselage is Revell, wings are Airfix (modified and scribed),and the tailplane was scratched from plasticard. Undercarriage, airbrakes and ejection seat are Aeroclub white metal. Drop tanks are Revell, but pylons were adapted from the Airfix kit. Outer wing pylons plus wing fences are from the Meng kit which will be finished as an Italian version (eventually!). Paint was Mig acrylic with Humbrol Matt Coat over the top. Decals from Xtradecal, plus some stencils and wing walkways from the Revell decal sheet. Looking forward to doing another Revell kit next as the German version, plus getting on with that lovely Meng kit.

Thanks Pantherhawk. I always had a thing for USN grey/white jets. Saw a few of them here in the UK during the mid to late 70s before grey on grey took over.

EA-6B Prowler VAQ-138 , Carrier Air Wing 3 on the Saratoga, 1977 1/72 Hasegawa kit with Aires cockpit and Reskit wheels Superscale decals Not a lot to say about this one, except that I bought the kit soon after it was first released (early 80s?) and has been in storage up to a few months ago. The decals were also of a similar age but still quite usable. The kit cockpits are very basic by current standards so I fitted the Aires version which is an intricate work of art in resin and photoetch. I must admit I didn't use all the resin and brass as it became just too tiny and fiddly. The resin wheels were nice but not significantly different from the kit offerings, though needed less clean up.

Yes the MDC is etched into the inside of the canopy. Attempted to run some thin light grey paint into it - made a mess - cleared it out and left it as is!

Thanks Martin. It's a Heller kit from the old days and needs a fair bit of work but what a good looking machine!

Thanks for your comments. The yellow triangles on the cowling flaps are provided as decals by Eagle Strike but I painted mine so that the colour matched the cowling. Just Humbrol enamel yellow over Halfords white primer.

The last 4 have been finished for months - just had the chance to do some photography over the last few days so I've posted them here together!

Hawk T1 736 Naval Air Squadron, Culdrose, 2015 This is the old Italeri 1/72 Hawk kit. It’s been eclipsed a couple of times with later Airfix and Revell kits but I still have a few in the stash and I wanted to see whether I could improve the nose shape with a Milliput rebuild of the front fuselage – which I’ve done on this model. Looks OK but it was quite a bit of messing about so I might just buy a few more newer Revell kits to replace the Italeris (Italerii?). But I probably won’t because we never throw old kits away, do we. Humbrol gloss black enamel (easier to airbrush than acrylics) with Klear coat. Decals from Xtradecal

P-47D Thunderbolt 362nd Fighter Group, 379th Fighter Squadron Rouvres (A82), France, early 1945 Revell P-47 kit with repositioned control surfaces and flaps. The undercarriage legs are slightly too short in the Revell kit so I lengthened them a mm or two by pinning and inserting some plastic rod. Decals from Eagle Strike