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Good evening Fellow Modellers Aged 11 this was the first aircraft I flew, all the way from Newcastle to Belfast Aldergrove, back in 1975 for my first day at school. I was on my own but accompanied by my own stewardess so felt suitably important. This is the beautiful resin kit from Authentic Airliners with their window decals and markings from 26 decals. Local flying around the UK was often by Viscount in those days and I remember with fondness watching the world go by from those huge windows The Mammoth Major refueller and Sherpa van are from the excellent Ray Rimes Designs (3-D printed) Does it bring back any memories for some of you? Regards Andrew

My third finish of the year, it still needs a pitot tube and a couple of aerials but otherwise I'm calling it done. This one fought me all the way. The fuselage was twisted, the air intakes didn't go together (so I filled the intake area and painted them on), half the brass aerials were missing, which is why they aren't on yet, and the undercarriage was so out of scale that I snapped it off and built the model in-flight instead. That being said, now it's done I'm happy with it and it really does show the graceful lines of the Valiant. The only addition to the kit is the cta decals as the kit decals weren't correct for the scheme. thumbnail_IMG_2189 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_2188 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_2187 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_2186 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_2185 by tony_inkster, on Flickr thumbnail_IMG_2184 by tony_inkster, on Flickr

Evening all Last of my shelf of doom completions.... Roden's nice AC-47 Spooky Gunship. From what I remember (it was started about 3 years ago!) it was a nice kit to put together, the only problems being the decals which were horrendous! I think most Roden kits suffer from this problem? As was my standard practice back then it was brush painted with vallejo paints, with weathering from Flory wash and Windsor and Newton satin varnish to finish. Not totally happy and probably could do much better these days but at least it looks like a Spooky! Hope you enjoy. Thanks for looking IMG_20230322_213531 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213554 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213644 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213254 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213228 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213316 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr IMG_20230322_213458 by Binbrook 87, on Flickr

Another 1/144 kit from Trumpeter which I previous completed the F-22A. F-16 has much less parts compared to the F-22A, partially because it comes with NO weapon. Much simpler in design of the kit. It has a 2-part cockpit, the ejection seat and the cockpit ! The panel lines are detailed in this scale but not deep enough. Covered the back of the seat with a thin plastic card as it might be seen after the build. Applied German grey on the inside of the fuselage and around the cockpit. Added other parts to the airframe - noted that most of them are in good fit except the nose cone does fit well but have a huge (in its scale) step between the front fuselage and the cone, need to sand it down. Test fit the canopy too, seems all good. Added a bit of color in the cockpit, dry brush enamel silver, and add a few of different color on the instrument panel and side panels. Also apply a layer of Gaia green color on the seat. Also fit a small piece of transparent green cut off from plastic file folder to make the HUD. Next, I cut a few very thin (less than 1mm) masking tape and make the harness, and brushed blue and silver. It is then time to close the canopy. Applied green stuff putty under fuselage where the wings joint and also in front of the canopy. After rounds of sanding, scribed the panel lines and installed pylons

I couldn't wait until I'd finished the Viggen before I started this one, so I cut parts from the sprue last night. I haven't seen one of these on here so here the obligatory sprue shots. Lots of plastic in the box. A tiny Cewbacca Cockpit painted up.

Hellenic Airforce F-4E Phantom II (AUP)

Put the finishing touches to the AT-AT today, as usual with a Bandai kit it built up very well very quickly. Made it quite dark and dirty by pre-shading with black and white before using XF80 as a blend coat. Painted with Tamiya acrylics, weathered with Flory Dark Dirt wash with some oil paint streaks. Made a base as an experiment, RFI below.

A Rafale An F1 And an extremely ropey Mirage IIIR Sunce they’re all small I’ll group them in the one thread. The first two should be very straightforward but the Heller kit has raised panel lines and wings professor Junkets would have been proud of…

I thought I might try a new challenge and go down from the big scale of 1/72 to 1/144. So I dug out this Dragon Tornado from the attic. They do a weird cockpit with Mr Blobby crew, so the whole cockpit and ejector seats had to be scratch built. I have to say 1/144 is a very unforgiving scale! Too tall nose wheel or skew whif pylons are all too easy errors to make. The canopy was not all that good so had to use filler to fair it into the spine. Anyhow tell me what you think? You might recognise the 56(F) Squadron markings It's an old scratch built RAF hanger in the background and an Oxford Diecast landrover Andrew

Good day everybody, this is a placeholder for a maybe second contribution to the SSDGB, depending on how well my build of the Crusader will go. I intend to build this plane as the SAR/firebomber as shown in the boxart. Content of the box: We'll see if this will get started during the GB. Best of luck to all of you!

Just 2 in fact! So continuing on with the airliner SOD* clearance here are my next projects. Both are Minicraft kits, maligned by some, I have built a couple and find them OK. First is Singapore Airlines jet which made it tot eh decaling stage when the decal setting solution discoloured the gold in the cheatline. Here is is before my blunder After sanding most of the decal away and after repainting the fuselage Second is a BA jet, G-YMMM, the one that had a fuel starvation problem on approach to Heathrow and landed short of the runway. It's at the priming stage at the moment. I'll be using Xtradecal sheet for this one. * Shelf of Doom (or should I say Tub of Doom)

After completing Bandai's X and B wings along with Darth Vadar's Tie Fighter I wanted to do more of their excellent kits and the AT-AT was ideal choice and its poseable as well. I haven't seen any builds on here so here's the sprues. x2 of D sprue. Completed the head in 20 or so minutes, it has a detailed interior but nothing can be seen now its together. Onto the legs next.

I managed about the same as last year, with 3 being rescued from the Shelf of Doom (all my 1/144 completions) which were my last 3 finished for the year, and one a strip and repaint of an older build. 5 were RAAF subjects for my club's delayed RAAF 100 display and a number of others for GBs here and elsewhere. Here they are in no particular order. 1/72 Airfix Ilyushin IL-28 Beagle, Finnish AF 1/72 Airfix North American RA-5C Vigilante, RVAH-12 USN 1/72 Hasegawa McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A Hornet, 77SQN RAAF 1/72 Hasegawa Lockheed P-3X Orion, Swedish AF (What-If) 1/72 Italeri Aermacchi Macchi MB-326H, 2OCU RAAF 1/72 Matchbox Hawker Siddeley HS-125-600, 32SQN RAF 1/72 Matchbox Hawker Siddeley HS-125-600, Finnish AF (What-If) Refurb. 1/72 MPM Lockheed 5 Vega D1-1A, 3CU RAAF 1/72 Dora Wings Percival Vega Gull, 1CU RAAF 1/72 Revell Mikoyan MiG21 F-13 1/144 Airfix Boeing 737-26Z Adv, RTAF 1/144 Minicraft Boeing 737-376(SF), Australian Air Express 1/144 Revell Boeing C-40A (737-700), VR-59 USN

After I got over the worst of the mojo meltdown which hit me about eighteen months ago I decided to concentrate on straightforward models until I felt my confidence was fully back. As a result my 2022 output is mainly OOB builds although the modified Airfix Boeing 737 is an exception. The year’s work should have included a Boeing 787 but at a very late stage I managed to confuse plastic cement and decal solvent and the replacement titles which Ray Charles kindly agreed to send me appear to have got caught in the postal strikes. Never mind, it should give me a head start for next year. I hope you enjoy my collection of 1/144 civilians and I’ll see you in 2023. Dave G Alitalia Vickers V.785D Viscount F-RSIN kit with Classic Airlines decals. In RFI here Balkan Bulgarian Tupolev Tu-154M Zvezda kit with Two Six decals. In RFI here Braathens SAFE Boeing 737-500 Daco Skyline kit with mixed Liveries Unlimited and Lima November decals. In RFI here Iran Air Airbus A320 Revell kit with F-DCAL decals. In RFI here Air Europe/British Airtours Boeing 737-200 Adv Heavily modified Airfix kit with mixed Classic Airlines and Flightpath decals. In RFI here Loganair Short SC-7 Skyvan Eastern Express kit with Classic Airlines decals. Not in RFI SAS Star Alliance Boeing 737-800 Zvezda kit with V1 decals. In RFI here EasyJet Boeing 737-300 Daco Skyline kit with Scaleliners decals. Not in RFI ("Double sided" livery from 2000 when EasyJet were moving from telephone to internet booking)

Hello everyone, I have managed to complete this little bug before year end. It has been a great learning during the build, did a number of mistakes and learnt from there. I did not manage paint it in metallic sheen theme, and I have read in this forum on how to make it, I will try next time. Spent some amount of time to deal with the weapons and doors too, it is not just small, but TINY to my eyes even with reading glasses. Another important milestone for myself is that I can manage the masking of the exhaust !! I told myself - I can manage this masking, I can mask anything in the future The WIP : Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas !!

BAC 1-11, Airfix 1/144 Classic-Airlines.com decals. I don't normally do airliners in 'house' colours. much preferring to build them in actual airline liveries, but when I saw this on the Classic-Airlines.com website I thought it was very attractive. My son bought me the sheet for Christmas last year, so I thought I'd better finish it before Christmas this year! The Model is from the old Airfix 1-11 kit, with the nose made more pointy with Milliput, the wing landing lights filled in, and the wing fences cut off and replaced inboard with plasticard. The decals are laser printed on a constant sheet of carrier film so need cutting around, but behaved very well. G-ASYD spent its entire life with BAC/BAe being used a a prototype/development aircraft. It was in fact stretched to become the prototype series 500, and the shrunk again to become a 400 series aircraft with the 500 wing. Anyway, I think it makes an attractive little model, and the Airfix kit is still worth building if you can find one. And a family shot with a couple of other Airfix 1-11's, also with Classic-Airlines decals: Thanks for looking, and Happy Christmas! Cheers John

Just got these tiny wee things from Messrs. Kingkit for a bit of Christmas fun.

Braathens first and last. DC-4 and 737 Minicraft DC-4 and Daco 737-400,1/144. Lima November Decals Braathens SAFE (South America & Far East) was started in Norway in 1946, receiving its first aircraft, a DC-4, LN-HAV on December 26th 1947. The airline was formed to support the Braathens shipping lines, carrying crews and spares worldwide. as well as charters for other shipping companies. The SAFE suffix was dropped in 1998, and the airline was taken over by SAS in June 2004, being known initially as SAS Braathens. The aircraft were repainted in the then SAS livery. As I already had made a 737 in the final livery, I thought a model of LN-HAV would make a good companion, so here they are! Thanks for looking John

Hi everybody! Upcoming project will be another unusual soviet russian object, but this time a completely non-fictional one that actually flew. It's an Antonow An-71 AEW/tracking system based on a highly modified airframe of the Antonow An-72 series. This is in the box: 6 sprues of light grey styrene, 1 sprue with clear parts, 1 small PE fret, decals and instructions booklet. The eagle-eyed among you might already have spotted a tiny little amount of flash here and there. I think you know AModel kits, so I don't think that I have to tell you that this won't be an easy going build at all. This will be a slow, very slow build, I'm afraid. Well...I must be masochistic. The build will start soon, first I have to sort some real life things. Any thoughts, comments, encouragements will be very welcome! Thanks for looking.

My apologies for being late on parade chaps, I have been wrapping up a build for the Century Fighters GB (finished yesterday). My first entry for the GB is this Revell Airbus A319 which will be finished in British Airways centenary markings when sporting BEA's Red Square retro scheme. Here are the box and contents photos along with the 26Decals sheet. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Time to get on with it now. Cheers. John

I think it's time to build another airliner. In the late 1990s BA painted a small number of its aircraft with a Poppy scheme to coincide with Remembrance Day; usually this had a poppy and "Pause to Remember" applied to the fuselage but G-BIKW was (as far as I know) unique as the poppy was applied to a plain white tailfin (this was after its "Ndebele" World tails had been removed but before the current "Chatham" livery was fully applied). Here is a link to the scheme So, to be built from the Zvezda kit (which has the correct Rolls Royce engines) with 26 Decals. Unlike some other Zvezda airliners this kit has no option for dropped flaps or slats, so should be a relatively quick and straightforward project. It will probably be another week or so before I get started as there are still two F-15E to finish. Mike

I picked up static model in recent years after long retirement since 90s. Decided going to start with a small one, really tiny one - 1/144 F-22A from Trumpeter. Started with cockpit - 4 pieces of small parts, no detail but just some sharp shapes to represent the 1/144 cockpit. Painted black and highlighted with some German grey. Glued the small parts inside the lower fuselage, parts are small, but still have good details, fitting is not bad. Applied a few thin layers of Tamiya smoke (x19) followed by clear yellow (x24) on the inner surface of the canopy. Gun metal (x10) on the inner wall of the exhaust ports and some black / grey color in the inner frame of the fuselage as the plastic is really thin in some area. After a day, glued the upper and lower fuselage together, added air intake ports too. Fitting is nice, no major faulty area. There are a few mold marking on the upper surface of the wings and on the main body just behind the cockpit. sanding them down and also sanding down all the gaps where the upper and lower fuselage combined. Will then check if any putty filling is required. Definitely NOT a Bandai type of model kit which trial build is almost not required and parts are just fitted together like magic, but if I can manage it as a newbie to airplane model, I am sure it is an above-average kit !

One of my latest creations. Great Mazinger by Bandai at 1/144 scale, Infinitism range. Really a nice kit. Easy and pleasant to assemble. I really enjoyed this model. I had fun customizing the colors and adding details and a bit of weathering. And a finish with a satin varnish to make it less plastic. He's coming to keep his big brother, Grendizer, company. On to the pictures. Hope you will like it. Alain.

These two will be a fairly straightforward oob build. They’re somewhat close to my heart as the YF23 was pretty much the last model I built in my first modelling stint before a thirty year break. Also I was working for a subsidiary of Prat and Whitney at the time so all eyes were on who got the contracts. Rumour had it that economics not performance won the day but that’s another story Both Trumpeter and both pretty good little kits m, despite the somewhat ropey box art. Right then back to the WIP till Sunday week.

Hello comrades 😃 So, let's get it started! After one not easy work with Amodel short-run kit I want to take something high-quality and easy to assemble and just to build model without big problems, half a kilo of putty and pare meters of sanding paper. After I've have built enough modern Boeing and Airbus aircrafts, I think it's time for something from USSR civil aviation. From the other side, I prefer to make models of machines, that still in service. So, when I've chosen the prototype, I've noticed that in Sheremetyevo you can meet one unique machine.It's IL-62 MGr still flying in small Belarus cargo air-company Rada airlines. The main interesting fact - there is monument near airport with IL-62M mounted there. And it looks amazing for me when I can see one old girl on the monument, and turning my head I can see the same one machine moving on taxiway. The monument of IL-62M near Sheremetyevo in hot evening of July 2022 (some smoke from forest fires in neighbour Ryazan region) And her "sistership" still in service onto parking slot of Sheremetyevo. August 2022. A little info about prototype. EW450TR was produced as usual passenger version of IL-62M in 1985 (wow, it's older than me!). First was delivered to Interflug company in GDR (eastern Germany). This machine was the first one performed flight between Western and Eastern Germany. B/n DDR-SET After Germany became united the machine was returned to USSR Uzbek civil aviation administration. СССР-86576 A year later USSR was disintegrated, machine was re-registrated in Uzbek republic as 86576 (later UK-86576) In 2007 the plane was returned to Russia (B/N RA-86576) and was converted to cargo version. Todays modification IL-62MGr or IL-62МГр means IL-62M "Gruzovoy" that translated as "Freighter" Since 2015 plane was delivered to small private Belarus company Rada airlines with new B/N EW450TR. I can't say certain, how many IL-62 still in service. Maybe some another machines are in a state of airworthiness in reserve of ministry of defence, and maybe some another also still exist in North Korea or Cuba. But doubtless this unique plane is one of last "dinosaurs" still flying. What about kit, there are two good kits of IL-62M are available in 1/144. First is Zvezda, well known for it's ultimate edition, and another one is Ukrainian ICM, also well known for good quality. I've chosen ICM for experimental reasons. I've assembled some Zvezda kits, but never had a deal with ICM aviation kits. So, after reading some positive reviews, I've decided to purchase ICM kit. And there is one intersting thing that ICM IL-62M is available in two versions of livery - Aeroflot USSR and Interflug GDR airlines. And the joke is that GDR version is about 1000 rub (EUR 15) cheaper. Sure I've bought DDR version, besides I'm not going to use out-of box livery. ICM plastic is well-looking enough, I like it. For me, it's something like Revell's plastic, also white and thin enough, with high detalisation. Assemble without glue is also neat and I hope I'll do not need much putty and assemble will be not an exhausting task. So, I've started from protecting windows that will stay transparent. I've used a few masking tape for this purpose. Then I've covered inner surfaces of fuselage and wings with Decorix dark primer from the balloon. This method prevents model of transparency when situated under bright sunshine. To be continued as usual 😎 Respects, tMikha.