Search the Community

My first build of the Zvezda 777. Its a superb kit with lots of details.The only problem I had was some warped parts. No idea if this is a common problem with this kit or if I was just "lucky" to get a "monday kit"...I have another one in the stash and and a quick glance it seems ok. The build itself is pretty straight and the overall fit of the parts is good. Paints used for this bird are Tamyia Pure White from a spray can,Testors Voodoo Grey for the wings and engines,and Testors metallics.Sealed as usual with Testors metallic sealer and polished with Tamyia Wax. The decal set for this special livery of Air New Zealand comes from PAS decals.They are very well done and they fit on the model without much trouble. The only problems are the cabin windows as they tend to disappear on the darker parts of the Hobbit decals.Here I had to use windows from my Doyusha 777-200 kit ( this kit is also up here in the RFI section) as they had silver frames around the windows which makes them better visible. The finished kit is huge and an impressive size comparison to the classic 747... Another nice addition to my fleet of special liveries. Cheers and on with the pics. And with my usual critic...Kitty Merry christmas to everyone...

This kit is quite difficult to find nowadays. It was released somewhere end of the 90s by Doyusha with Japan Airlines decals. The kit has recessed windows on the fuselage which need to be filled and sanded if decals are used.The cockpit windows are too small anyway. Panellines are also deeper as on actual kits so the Doyusha 777 shows a bit its age.Its nonetheless superior to the Minicraft offering though...ok,that was not difficult but I had to mention it anyway... Fitting of all parts is very good and as the kit consists only of a few parts,like the Hasegawa 1/200 Boeing 777 kit for example,the build is quick and easy. A nice addition are the 3 different engine options provided by Doyusha,so one can build every version and airline with this kit. The engines are of course much simpler in design compared to the Zvezda kit but they do the job. For my build I opted for the British Airways Landor livery as the first 777 for BA had been delivered in this elegant scheme. The decal set comes from Xtra Decal (Hannants) and provides registrations for 4 aircraft. I chose to build the very first BA 777. Paints used are Revell light grey 371 for the upper fuselage,Humbrol 15 blue for the lower fuselage and engines,Testors Voodoo grey for the wings and Testors metallics. All sealed with Testors metallic sealer and polished with Tamyia Wax. The finished kit,although much simpler than the Zvezda 777-300,still represents a nice 777-200.Too bad as this was the only one in my stash.I would like to make another one...hopefully I find one somewhere ... Cheers,

Aircraft in Miniature is currebtly designing a AEC Mandator, Blue Steel Transporter, 1/72nd 1/144th (and 1/48th?) resin kit for release in 2015. Source: http://www.aim72.co.uk/page130.html V.P.

I love the Swoose - I built the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet two years ago and this is Vultee's design proposal to the same USAAC directive. XP-68 Tornado The XP-68 was actually based on a slightly older design than the XP-54 and is closer to what Vultee was originally looking to achieve, so it's especially interesting to see this kitted up by Anigrand. In short, the Swoose was initially designed with a number of engine options - one of which was the 2,500hp Wright R-2160 Tornado. This was a hugely ambitious, hugely powerful but overly complex radial engine design that never made it past testing, leading to a whole lot of scrapped designs (an XP-69 I built last year was also a design that was abandoned when the Wright Tornado was cancelled). The XP-68, also named Tornado by Vultee, was a September 1941 derivative of an early XP-54 design, the Vultee Model 78, which was intended to utilise this Wright engine. The design never got off the drawing board. The kit is included with Anigrand's C-82 Packet. I find both of these designs fascinating, of an era and very predatory with their inverted gull wings and aggressive stance. Of the two, I think the Tornado is the more handsome. The kit went together beautifully with no dramas anywhere along the line. This was even from a more recent era of Anigrand kits where the props come moulded to the hubs - such luxury! I replaced undercarriage doors with thin plasticard but otherwise this was OOB. The instructions say to paint this natural metal overall but I thought that sounded very tedious and went with olive drab and neutral grey like the first XP-54 prototype. I added a yellow serial from my spares box just to liven things up a touch, and some prop logos on those big old contra-props. I weathered with pastels and prismacolor pencils (I figured that Tornado engine would need a lot of maintenance...). XP-54 The XP-54 was based on a subsequent Vultee design, the Model 84. This did get off the drawing board and two prototypes were built. A sad tale of design intent frustrated by ill-fortune, client whim and over-ambition. Vultee was under pressure from the start to ensure that the airframe could accommodate the Wright engine should it become available, so inevitable compromises were made in the layout and proportions. Then the backup P&W engine was also scrapped so Vultee was stuck with a less powerful Lycoming powerplant. Vultee also (rashly) promised to include a nose section that could pivot upwards enabling the armament to fire at a target in a turn-fight - incredible stuff for 1941, but predictably overcomplicated and heavy. The mission brief was then abruptly changed in September 1941 to high altitude interception - meaning turbo-superchargers and more armour were needed (read: a load more weight). The performance estimates for the XP-54 with a compromise engine and lots of flashy gadgets (see also: ejector seat, pressurised cockpit, ducted wings) were successively revised downwards until it was clear that the aircraft was unlikely to pass the Air Force's tests. The project was shelved after flight testing in early-1943, which confirmed its dismal performance. The second prototype, which I've built from Anigrand's XB-31 Raidmaster box, was left in natural metal but only flew a couple of times before being transported to California by road and scrapped as a parts donor to keep the first aircraft in the air for a few more flights. A sad end to quite an intriguing design. The kit was good in most parts but pretty basic. I did a lot of work on the nose gear with plasticard and wire as it's pretty prominent. I also had to drill two holes in the spine to accommodate some brass tubing for the supercharger outlets which were curiously not moulded onto the kit at all. I also did some work sprucing up the cockpit with radio equipment and so forth - some of which is pleasingly visible. I painted it with a brushed base coat of Humbrol Metalcote 27002 followed by AK Interactive's TrueMetal Aluminium. I then varied some shades but this hash' t come out in the photos really. Also added steel on the spine for the engine covers, as the few reference photos of the second prototype show. Hugely enjoyable build. Tempted to get hold of another with which to do the first prototype. And finally - who doesn't like a scale comparison?! An F-Toys P-51B I'm planning to restore/repaint. It's a big old thing, the XP-54.... Thanks very much for looking (and reading, if you made it this far!). Angus

I finished these recently for the Mustang STGB III. Red Dog XII was built OOB whilst Petie 2nd received some interior work in the cockpit which included sidewall details and instrument panel using the Airfix 1/72 kit as a guide. I also split the one piece canopy to give the fixed and sliding sections on this aircraft and added some tape belts to both models. I painted Red Dog XII using Vallejo's Metal Color Acrylic Aluminium after a Gloss Black primer coat from the same manufacturer whilst Petie 2nd had Mr Metal Aluminium applied and this was buffed to a shine with kitchen paper towel. For those who are interested, more details of the build can be found here P-51D Mustang x 2

Kuat Systems Engineering Firespray-31-class patrol and attack craft Slave I Bandai Slave I (1/144 scale); completed in Tamiya and Vallejo acrylics, MIG enamels, and Secret Weapon Miniatures pigments. The stand and the Star Wars decal are from the Fine Molds version of this model and the mythosaur skull was made with my Cameo cutting machine. All and all, I think this kit turned out great. I was pretty nervous about starting it because the paint job is pretty complex, but once I got in the thick of it I was okay. It could probably stand to use some more weathering and I'll probably do some before I take it to the model club meeting next month, but for now I'm calling it done. The work in progress log can be found here. Comments and criticism is welcomed as always!

I've been longing to build a model of one of the coolest Star Wars ships of all time, Boba Fett's Slave I. Like all Bandai kits, this 1/144 scale version of his iconic ship comes premolded in various colors but unlike most Bandai Star Wars kits, this one has to be painted if you want to accurately represent the ship. Having the parts organized by color makes painting it pretty easy given how complex the rear of the ship is. I removed and cleaned all of the parts from the sprue and organized them by what color they were to be painted. After I got all of the rear pieces organized, I started painting the cockpit. Most sources show that the cockpit should be army green but I much prefer grey, which was Tamiya Neutral Grey (XF-53) in this case. I highlighted a few bits with some Vallejo light grey and silver and gave everything a wash with MIG Dark Wash (enamel). The front console was painted with Tamiya Deep Green (XF-26), I applied some liquid mask with a sponge and then gave it a coat of NATO Black (XF-69). The bottom dark grey layer of the rear was painted with Tamiya German Grey (XF-63) and given a wash with MIG Dark Wash enamel. The engine nozzles were undercoated with Tamiya Buff (XF-57), had some liquid mask applied with a sponge, and then given a coat of coppery brown mixed with a few Vallejo reds and browns. I preshaded the green bits with Tamiya Flat Black (XF-1) and gave them a coat of Tamiya Field Green (XF-65) followed by a wash with MIG Dark Wash enamel as the first pass of weathering. The grey parts were preshaded with Tamiya German Grey (XF-63), painted with Mr Color 315 (Gray FS16440), and given a wash with MIG Neutral Wash enamel. I also applied a few of the small decals on the grey parts. I love how layers of parts are stacked on top of each other to make a complex surface. There is even parts that can't really be seen unless you hold it just so; it really is quite impressive. After all of the pieces are in place, more weathering will be added to dirty everything up, mainly chipping on the raised areas, more enamel washes, and possibly some pigments. The stabilizers were painted with Mr Color 315 (Gray FS16440), the yellow markings/chips were painted with a mix of Flat Yellow (XF-3) and Yellow Green (XF-4), the red strip was painted with a mix of Flat Red (XF-7) and Hull Red (XF-9), and the entire assembly was given a pin wash with MIG Neutral Wash enamel. After everything dries, they'll get a coat of matte varnish and then more weathering. Moving on the the front "skirt," I started with the base coat of pale green. According to the painting guide supplied with the Fine Molds version of this kit, the "correct" color is supposed to be Tamiya J.A. Grey (XF-14). This was a little too green for my taste, I mixed in some Tamiya Medium Grey (XF-20) and Flat White (XF-2) in a ratio of 3:2:2 to get this wonderful pale green. Also, I took this photo while experimenting with a new 50mm lens I bought for my Nikon. I would like to take all of my work in progress shots like this but it's much easier to grab my iPhone and snap a few quick pictures. After giving the skirt a nice coat of chipping fluid, I sprayed on the redish brown. All and all, I'm not entirely happy with it. I decided to use chipping fluid instead of liquid mask applied with a sponge. It's not bad, it's just not the finish I was aiming for. I guess it will be cool because the chipping on the skirt is going to be different than the hull, where I will be using liquid mask. The colors I used were Hull Red (XF-9) and Buff (XF-57) for the red, Pink (X-17) for the chipping, German Grey (XF-63) over Medium Grey (XF-20) for the grey panels, and Vallejo Model Air Tank Brown (71.041) for the brown panel. After this picture was taken, I managed to get a panel line wash on with MIG Dark Wash enamel. Once that is sealed in with some matte varnish, I'll move on to more weathering.

A pig of a kit and not totally happy with it, but she's done and over. Unless I come across a better kit to replace it in the fullness of time. But anyway... In 1989, the decision was taken to consolidate the remaining F-5A's and E's and replace them all with a single type to lower costs. Although the Hawk FGR.3 was considered, a supersonic replacement was deemed necessary to replicate the MiG-21 still in service across the world. With the end of the Cold War, several weapons manufacturers began to feel the pinch, one of these being Focke-Wulf of Hanover. In an effort to assist sales of the new F-20, a design bought from Northrop with the African and Asian markets in mind. Forteen complete airframes were purchased, along with a further seven for the forces based in Brunei, as well as a service contract to ensure a good supply of parts. As an almost like for like replacement the transition was smooth and the aircraft performed its duty well until being replaced with the Falcon TF.4.

Hello All, Dragon Models Panzer Korps Series Early Hetzer and Jagdpanzer IV A-0 in 1/144 scale. Good detail for the size but the rubber tracks are abysmal.... Happy Modelling all, Hope all goes well on the modelling front in 2017! Ian

Ok this will be my second entry into the GB. While waiting to secure a new kit for my 1st build the Soyuz 733, why not get cracking on this one. The Minicraft model is quite large compared to some smaller airliners I have been working on...I'm almost at the limit of my photo studio! image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr\ } image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr\ } Draw Decal will be providing the markings... image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr\ } This is the Pratt and Whitney boxing of this kit...although it took a little time to figure that out as the kit was released separately with each of the 3 engine suppliers. The instructions lead one to believe these are Roll Royce units. image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr\ } image by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr\ } Thanks for looking I switched from my Nikon to iPhone for those last shots...eeesh they look gloomy! More pics to follow. Ryan

Hi! I just saw that Hannants now has Micro-Mir 1/144 Argosy in store. There are two versions: 100 series and 200 series. If I were make a RAF Transport Command version, which one of these should I get. Has Micro-Mir announced a RAF version? Cheers Hans J

Hi guys, Another one has made its way onto the bench... This is going to be a long term project. Basically I can foresee this being a project which I'm going to do a bit, then wait a while for drying times, do a bit more, wait a while, do a bit more... It's also going to be my first ever airliner, so will be interesting to see what happens. Help, C&C is more than welcome I'm going to do the Alitalia version, and then the plan is to use Halfords White acrylic spray for the gloss white, Xtracolor enamels for the wing grey and Metalizers for the metal areas. I hear that acrylics over enamels is a no-no, but from what I've learned is it's because of the enamel paint outgassing and reacting with the acrylic top coat, but it's ok to do so if the enamel has totally cured. I've experimented with Tamiya over Xtracolor, and this seems to be ok if the Xtracolor is given time to totally go off, and I mean 4-6 weeks plus!! If I'm wrong, please let me know Worst case scenario, sand the wings clean and start again. I've filled the windows with milliput, I'm yet to sand down though; there are no pictures as I was covered in liquid milliput and leaving white finger printers everywhere! I'll sand off the panel lines on the fuselage and won't rescribe these. I will probably try and rescribe the wings though, as the panel lines seem to make good guides for painting and the wings seem to get a bit dirtier and therefore panel lines more visible. Basically this is all that's really happened bar the milliput... More to follow (one day, you know what my builds are like!! Sssslllloooowwwww!!) Oh, and I've also got a couple of AM bits for her: The wheels seemed a bit crude OOB so replacing them, and I've heard the metal landing gear is a worth while addition to this kit as the way the kit gear fit makes them quite week OOB. Well, speak to you all soon Val

Scratcharonautics (https://www.facebook.com/Scratchaeronautics/?fref=nf) has just released a 1/144th Boeing P-8 Poseidon resin kit Available here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BOEING-P-8-POSEIDON-1-144-SCALE-POLYURETHANE-RESIN-KIT-/252498106728?#ht_566wt_1271 V.P.

Hello All, After 6 months, a change of airbrush, a lot of swearing and lots of "what the heck am I doing"? here is my interpretation of Hans Dortenmann's mount in 1/144 scale. This is not the first one of these I have done and they are exceptional kit to build. oooops forgot to remove the canopy mask..... Happy modelling all, Happy to take questions. Ian

I have been a regular flyer on easyJet’s Bristol/Edinburgh flights over the last 4 years. This build uses the excellent Two-Six decals to convert the basic Revell A319 kit into one of the aircraft used on that route, named after Sir George White, the founder of the British and Colonial Aircraft Company, otherwise known as Bristol. Revell’s kit is nicely moulded and fits together well. My one criticism would be the shape of the CFM56 engine pods, which lack the very distinctive flattened lower edge. Fitting the cockpit windows was also surprisingly difficult due to a lack of fixing surface and I ended up having to fill them with Tippex. Like most 1:144 airliner kits, in comparison to larger scales it is a relatively simple build with few parts and limited detail. It has been released many times, with excellent decals for a number of airlines. Mine was a British Airways release, but although the kit decals are of excellent quality, I replaced them with after market easyJet ones, including, as seems to be the fashion in this scale, replacement decals to cover the kit’s windows. FredT

Hi All, Dragon's diminutive Panzer Korps series of vehicles looked interesting so had a go at giving a couple a go. The kit (2 tanks to a box) has photo etch and good detail for scale so below is the result of a bit of fun. The rubber tracks aren't though. Happy Modelling all. Ian

I bought this Eduard kit a couple of years ago at the Cosford Model Show. There was some vague plan to fit a resin or PE cockpit of some kind but in the end I decided against it because I wanted to just get on and build them. Plus you can't see anything through the canopies as they are so small. The kit itself is very simple, with fewer than twenty parts each but there is still plenty of detail. The box contains two Spitfires, one full span and one clipped wing version and a sheet of decals as well as a very nicely laid out instruction booklet. There are six different schemes in total with three for each wing type. My only slight criticism would be that there is only one set of upper wing roundels on the sheet which meant I couldn't build my two preferred options although AM decals are available. The main colours were a mix of Revell and Humbrol enamels although the props and stripes were acrylic and everything was brush painted. Anyway, enough rambling, here they are, hope you enjoy them. TD147 JF E Wing Commander James “Stocky” Edwards, Schneverdingen, Germany, May 1945 PV181 RAB, flown by Wing Commander Rolf Arne Berg, No.132 (Norwegian) Wing, Twente, the Netherlands, winter 1944-45

Hi Everyone Thought it was time to get some serious modelling done for this GB. I'm going to make a 1/144 Revell Airbus380, finished in British Airways livery using 26Decals for the BA specific parts. Obligatory box / state of play shot: The windows were filled-in in advance of the GB to leave enough time for shrinkage effects to show. Although there is still some minor finishing needed, most of the windows are quite good: Having recently flown on the "baby" of the fleet, this will be finished as G-XLEL. Mike

This will be my second build and surprise, surprise! it is also in my GB banner This will be an OOB build from a kit liberated from Graeme H's stash along with some decals from Draw decal.

I've not done a group build before. Joining late, hope that's ok? I'm going to do two VC10s from Roden kits - a BA Super VC10 and a BCal standard VC10 (type 1103). Making a start on the super-to-standard conversion first. Box photo - both kits, including the two six decals I'll be using for the BA Super. Two six decals for the BCal standard are on their way, although Australia Post has been so slow lately I wouldn't be all that surprised if the group build has finished before they turn up! Roden VC10s ready to go by Julian Griffiths, on Flickr

When you have multiple projects in finalization phase, it is best to start a new one This kit is pretty basic (and based on what I gather, shape wise not entirely accurate), so there will be plenty of opportunities for improvement and scratch building. Starting with air intakes which were sanded down a bit: Cockpit will be scratch built, starting with this opening Nose gear bay will be rebuilt: As well as main gear bays: Biggest disappointment were decals, at least with my sample they're full of tiny gaps and will not be used. BTW are there any sets for 1/144 Foxbats?

I have some massive plans for this GB so let's get started with RusAir Tu-104B offering This seems to be an easy way to put a replica of iconic soviet airliner on your shelf comparing to AModel Indeed - put together 6 parts and the plane is almost ready

I received a nice pack of decals from Rich W on Friday so I decided to bring forward my attempt at a B777-300 conversion from the Minicraft kit. I started this yesterday. I am using a fresh kit as well as one of my older builds to make the stretch. I started by chopping up both kits, the built up kit was cut up to make the extended forward and rear fuselage sections while the new kit was cut up to use the centre fuselage and wings. So the 777-3 is obviously longer, what to do with the discards? Perhaps a 777SP I used some pieces from my A330-200 conversion to reinforce the joins, could this be a first in Airbus-Boeing co-operation (or is it Revell - Minicraft???) Forward Rear I am also using the Contrails GE-90 engines and raked wingtips for the build. The engines are average, not up to Braz standard. I have cleaned one up and I needed to sand the intake lip flat and reshape the lip as it was not straight. The rear of the nacelle also needed squaring up I assemble the right wing and then cut off the tip to add the rake tip It was slightly over sized in chord so I aligned it to the trailing edge when gluing and then cleaned up the leading edge to match the Minicraft wing. I also tried to thin the trailing edge of the wing, this is an issue with the Minicraft kit. I took material form the inside of the wing and glued the halves together. I found this was not enough and proceeded thin it down from the outside from both top and bottom parts. Some rescribing of moving surfaces will be required later on.

A P-38F I finished this afternoon. This is a Gashapon Japanese pre-painted kit which I stripped down, rebuilt and repainted. Very satisfying and the level of surface detail is fantastic - a beautifully-designed mould that captures the original aircraft's lines very well in my view, certainly much better than anything else in this scale. The aircraft is Capt. Jack Ilfrey's P-38F Texas Terror/The Mad Dash. I used the Kitsworld decals not the F-Toys decals which provide for the same aircraft (on a sidenote - Kitsworld decals are just beautiful to use). Ilfrey was the first P-38 ace in WW2 and he flew this aircraft in North Africa in late-1942. He had quite an adventurous time getting to North Africa, being forced to land in Portugal after engine troubles, but managed to escape internment when demonstrating to his gun-toting Portuguese guards how to start the Lightning's engines! I had to do a bit of filling and sanding of some of the joints between the nacelles and the wing, as well as some on the aircraft's nose, but nothing onerous. The aircraft tail-sits despite the small piece of metal that goes in the cockpit nacelle. I scratch built the mass balances on the tail, as well as the aerial under the nose and added a pitot which seems to have pinged off sometime while I was photographing it. I used pastels and prismacolour pencils to weather it. And with a teeny-tiny Stout Skycar II I finished this week as well…! Thanks, as ever, for looking!