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Hi all This is my most recent finish, the cracking ICM Sea Gladiator kit. I built the kit using the AIMS PE sets and Resin Engine and cowling replacement set. I added a few additions to the cockpit as well. The PE set really does make the cockpit superb. The AIMS Engine set is wonderful and really enhances the front end no end The kit only provides the 2 blade Watts and 3 blade Fairey Reed Props, however all the Malta Gladiators received Blenheim Props which improved their climb rate, by the time period this one was modelled from. So I put a wanted add out on BM for 32nd Props and @Pete in Lincs came to the rescue with three P38 props do I thinned and reshaped the blades of one and cut the boss down on another and made a new prop adding the ribs between blades new centre and balance weights from padticard and brass, very pleased with the result The model was otherwise built as per the kit, but I deflected the elevators and rigged with Prym Knitting in Elastic and invisible thread. The model was brush painted using Humbrol and Colourcoats enamels. I modelled N5524 as best as I could in January 1941 as I only had the image showing it in TonyOT's wonderful book, No Place For Beginners, which was the inspiration behind the build, so thank you Tony. Also I came across the Silverwings profiles online although this is showing as Dark Earth, Dark Green and as Tony suggests in his book more likey repainted in Royal Navy colours down the sides of the Fuselage, which I would think is correct as the aircraft had been recently taken over by the Royal Navy . Decals are a mixture of Kit, AIMS and Xtradecal for the Codes and Serial numbers. Anyway here is the model. Thanks to everyone who has offered support and encouragement along the way. Thanks for looking in Chris

First serious bit of modelling I've attempted in about forty years – so guess that makes me a newbie! My first experience of photoetch, acrylics, airbrush... you name it. So I wanted to do a subject I felt a connection to, and something that would stretch me to the max. So it's Revell's 1/32 Schnellbomber which will assume the guise of 4D+DH 'Dora Heinrich' of 1.KG30.
 This Ju 88A-1 fell to the guns of 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron on 16/10/39 during a Luftwaffe raid on RN ships in the Firth of Forth. 'Dora' was the first enemy bomber downed by the RAF over the British mainland in WWII, and was on the receiving end of the first ever Spitfire victory.
 I was born by the Forth, and have lived half my life on its banks, my family have worked for generations on its waters and in its docks and I live just a few miles from where 'Dora' ditched almost eighty years ago. So I thought I'd make her the first half of a 1/32 'Dogfight Double'. Eventually I'll get around to tackling her nemesis – XT-A 'Stickleback' a MkI Spit of 603 Squadron. Over a year in, having too much fun, here's some (unfinished) pit shots. Apologise for quality – taken with an iPhone4 Cockpit side walls, still needs wiring/some piping added Eduard PE, Aims and homemade decals Floor and curtains printed on inkjet Pilot seat, control column and BZG2 Bombsight

Hello all. Having finished the Prinz Eugen and having been through a few build issues (AKA loss of mojo or detail-itis), I wanted to do something which should hopefully be a bit more simple. I have chosen the Jaguar 420. Until Airfix said it was going to be a part of their 'Vintage' series, I did not know it even existed! Having finally seen a kit in our local Antics store, I got it. The moulds were made in 1968. Here are the obligatory pre-starting pictures: Nice package, glorious Roy Cross artwork, and a huge amount of space in the box. Over 100 parts, which back in my younger days would have translated into 'that's a good model' (I used to pore over the old Airfix catalogues and ogle at the kits therein, and always gravitated to the number of parts contained - the more the better). Some clean up will be required, methinks A page from the instructions and the transfers. The colour scheme I do will be different It looks like some release agent is apparent, if that is what the brown stuff is. It appears on some other parts too. Anyway, all in all it looks like a good kit, and hopefully I will have a bundle of fun with this. Any advice will be greatly received. Ray

I'm toying with the idea of converting the Revell/Matchbox Tiger Moth to a Fox Moth. Apart from the new fuselage. centre wing section and tweaked u/c legs, my research indicates that not much else needs changing. Does anyone have any other views to the contrary? Anyone have any scale plans?

Hi Folk's my contribution marking this momentous anniversary is Revell's newish tool Mustang,I will check references to see if the box art schemed aircraft flew on the operation if not suitable marking's will be sourced.

After 2 failed G/B completions in a row (both completed after deadline ) I have decided to continue my ambitious streak with the largest .most expensive and most advanced kit iv ever attempted to build . This would probably remain on the shelf for many years if i don't grab the opportunity to build it now . I have also a new phone /camera so uploading progress pictures should be far simpler . I have just ordered Building the Heinkel He 219 Uhu Daniel Zamarbide - Airframe Constructor Nr. 2 published by Valiant Wings Publishing. I will try the step by step approach of the book to help drive the pace forward . Comes in a large box that is absolutely crammed with plastic I will find some after market paint masks for markings and fiber seat belts . I have been looking forward to this G/B for some years so here goes................................................. Cheers Alistair

I'll leave this here as a placeholder for me to start in the next week or so once I've had a big clean up of the bench. The kit was originally released in 1969 with Roy Cross artwork, but this is a later rebox from 2015 with different boxing and artwork. Don't worry, I'm not going down the hairy stick route with the horrible supplied paint pots. Shouldn't take long as its pretty basic, he says optimistically 🤣 Ian

Big, you say? Well okay. It's almost the biggest model in my stash, the Special Hobby Westland Whirlwind Mk.I. It's big: And it's been unstarted for too long: Did I mention that it's big? While waiting in the stash it has accumulated quite a bit of aftermarket; a set of seatbelts: Some resin wheels and cannons - I'm not that comfortable with the idea of the resin cannons which I think would be more vulnerable to breakage than the kit's plastic ones, but if they look much better I would probably go with them: ... and finally, canopy and camouflage masks. What can I say? I'm lazy and I'm prepared to pay any company that offers to indulge my laziness So I'm set. See you at the start line gents Cheers, Stew P.S. It's big

Announced (sort of) on their FB page. https://www.facebook.com/Hong-Kong-Models-Co-Ltd-1375731456009809/timeline/ Cheers, Andrew

My second entry will be this Scooby-do. It was actually developed and built in the UK by Prodrive, but has clearly got Japanese DNA, so is hopefully OK for the GB Cheers

Hi everyone I just wanted to share my thoughts and progress using the Cricut Explorer Air 2. I received my Cricut last Wednesday, my wife brought it for me for my 50th birthday (thank you Leanne). Now I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to technology and I'm incredibly lazy I just want things to work with out any messing around but to my surprise the Cricut is very easy to use and I think the masks that you can make are as good as any commercially produced items. I started by looking for any additional software that you might need to use for designing and producing masks, the Cricut software is ok but almost every user I could find recommended using Adobe illustrator so I duly subscribed to Adobe (£19 pcm) down loaded the software and had a play. I started by producing a series of RAF roundels circa 1939 - 45, I found several references online that gave the size of each roundel type in inches so I found an online conversion tool and converted these measurement's to cm and drew them in illustrator to 1/48 scale. I then sent the image to the Cricut software and cut my first mask a Type A.1 roundel in 1/48 scale. I used some white vinyl which has proved to be very hard to remove because its too tacky and it lifted the paint. I had another go, this time creating a mask for a 56 in, 28 in, 21 in upper wing roundel again in 1/48 and sprayed that (see both roundels below) Not too bad I think I could be onto something here? I then decided to create some templates for RAF fonts circa 1939 - 45 again a search of the internet threw up some examples so using these a place to start I produced my own set of fonts again in illustrator.. ..for my next test I scaled my drawings to 1/32 and created some more masks this time using Frisk film as the masking medium and this time sprayed my 1/32 Fly Hurricane paint mule again applying a Type A.1 fuselage roundel and code letters.. I think with a little more practice the Cricut will prove its worth enabling me to produce any set of codes, markings, camouflage, wheel and canopy masks. I think the Cricut is a great bit of kit, not cheap (my wife paid £260 for mine) but I'm the kind of person that will spend a small fortune on after market masks so I think that for my it will cost effective in the long run plus its quite enjoyable researching and making the masking templates. Cheers all Iain

May I present you my rendition of Tamyia's 1/32 Corsair: The VMF-321 F4U-1A flown by 1st Lt. Robert Whiting on Guam, August 1944. Every praise about this kit is true, it plays in another league. The fit and engineering is second to none and it was a very enjoyable build. From the aftermarket came: - HGW seatbelts - Baracuda cockpit stencils - Eagle Cal Decals - Barracuda wheels For the WIP see here:

Hi all. First up from me will be my attempt to create the 'ultimate' 1/32 Le Mans Bentley Blower, by using the best bits from each of these two kits . Generally speaking, the Pyro is the better of the two, but is let down badly by Pyro's decision to simply use the body parts from their Bentley Straight-Six kit, rather than create new ones for the Le Mans So basically, I'll be using the Airfix bodywork/chassis and the Pyro bits for everything else. I actually started this project a couple of years ago, but progress is well below 25%. When I'm finished, I'll still be left with one complete, un-made kit, but unfortunately comprising all the worst bits! I'll be open to offers . Cheers

Hi all, First completed kit from me for quite a while - and certainly the first from me in 1/32. This is Bf109K-4 'Black 12', thought to be from KG(J) 6, photographed in both colour & b&w at Prague/Ruzyne at the war's end. Pictures show the a/c in an un-typical finish (for a 'K'), with the outer landing gear covers not fitted. Colours are debatable (despite the existence of a colour pic, albeit taken from the front), but cleverer people than me have suggested that the mid-war colours of 74 & 75 were in use longer than previously thought, so I went with that. The tones seem to be a match in b&w, at least. Painted mostly with Vallejo & Mig acrylics, with a Flory wash for afters. Hope you like the pics..

This is the Piper Enforcer I'm planning to build for the GB. Although not a true Mustang, this has been approved by Patrice @TEMPESTMK5 and will be the Halberd Models resin conversion for the Revell P-51D-15-NA kit in 1/32. Here's the raw materials... The very nice Revell 1/32 kit. This is the later edition with the fin fillet to complement the earlier -5-NA. It's not as finely cast as the more expensive versions, but it goes together really well. Great parts breakdown, especially in the cockpit. Enables much finer detail than the traditional moulded sidewalls. Lots of armament options as well, with two drop tank variants, 500lb bombs, and 5in rockets. Three canopy options, including the required blown Dallas canopy for this aircraft. This is the ludicrously good Halberd Models conversion set for the kit. As @trickyrich will tell you, the quality and fit are superb for a resin/3D conversion, especially considering the size of the parts. As you can see this is a very extensive set - two replacement fuselage halves being the most substantial parts, plus the tip tanks, prop and spinner, cockpit floor, ejection seat and lots of pylons! On with the show... Cheers, Alan

Hi. Here's another one from me. The Frogeye Sprite (aka the Bugeye in the States), was produced between 1958 and 1961, and utilised the 948cc engine from the Austin A35 and Morris Minor 1000. Whilst the A35's engine produced around 35 BHP (the clue's in the name), for the Sprite this was boosted to 43 BHP. This gave a top speed of 83 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 20.5 seconds. For its time, the car was pretty nippy and went on to provide an affordable way into motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic. The Airfix kit was first released in 1961, but mine's a '90s release. All my parts are still factory-sealed, so I'll open things up for a closer look, once I get started. Where possible, I like to base my car builds on real, preserved examples and I'll be using this beauty for this one. Cheers

Hi all, Looking forward to this GB, I'll be starting with this excellent resin/multimedia kit from MDC and designed by Radu Brinzan. Let's have a look in the box! A surprisingly compact box for a 1/32 WW2 bomber. Some nice documentation and parts guide in the box. Unfortunately I am missing a couple of bits Nice inclusion here of the canopy glazing and frames. A lot of decals are provided for the framing! Decals for 6 options (4 bombers and 2 recce variants.). Loads of PE and some additional detailing wire, which is nice to see. And of course, there are a lot of bits! All washed and drying. The casting quality is among the best I've ever seen. Creamy smooth resin parts with minimal casting blocks. Very few pinholes for bubbles. This stuff is amazing. The fuselage halves are very well cast. Both were slightly warped, but a nice hot bath and some reshaping sorted them out. This upper canopy part was quite significantly out of whack but again it survived a hot bath and I was able to shape it back to something useable. The eagle-eyed among you will notice there is only one main gear wheel. There's no sign of it in the box, bag or round the bench, so unfortunately it would appear to be a manufacturer error. There is an AMS Resin set but the only one I could find was from Sprue Brothers in the US. Item cost: $17.99. Shipping cost: $60.71!??? Are you having a freakin' giraffe, Sprue Bro? So I was just about to cry and resign myself to an inflight model when I remembered I had some Halberd wheels for the Do 335 - I wonder if they might be around the same size? Well lucky old me, they're close enough! So that's my new plan. The other missing part is the tail unit for one of the 250 Kg bombs Luckily no shortage of aftermarket options for those. Hey ho. The resin casting detail in this kit is excellent. Engine intake and 'bullet' Recon cameras Main gear bay, even though it's practically invisible Surface detail is very fine as well. Well, that's your intro - hope to start mangling resin and making superglue splodges everywhere soon! Alan

My modelling interest in this period lies mainly with Naval Aviation, specifically the Silver Wings of the Fleet Air Arm and the Yellow Wings of the US Navy. Going with the Yellow Wings, previous GBs saw me build in 1/32 the Grumman F3F (Revell) and Boeing F4B (Hasegawa). For this GB I will be building the Curtiss BF2C in 1/32 from Hasegawa. The BF2C had a short service life, 1934 to 1937. Withdrawn in 1937 after it became apparent the wings had become weakened due to the stresses caused by dive bombing. The kit decals look like they have seen better days, so will be using an aftermarket sheet from the appropriately named Yellow-Wings Decals to build an aircraft from VF-5B, USS Ranger. I believe this was the only squadron that flew the BF2C.

Hello all, I started this project a couple of years ago, but shortly after starting it, I took a long pause until I got an airbrush. Now I'm back on it The aircraft I am replicating is an MBB BK117, N445CH, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, a common sight around where I live. https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/N445CH So far the interior is almost complete, the walls just need to be put up. I picked this kit up for a bargain from a local hobby shop. Yes it was open box, but everything was there, for USD$35. A quick search on eBay shows the same kit for double the price. Revell kit # 04897 DRF Luftrettung scheme was default, obviously not going to be used.

Hello people! This is my first post of the year, I will be building the infamous 1/32 Revell UH-1D Gunship with the Dominican republic air force paint scheme and configuration, I'll be building the UH-1H FAD 3032, I want to try to do the best I can to get this kit up to today's standards.

Greetings all, An Easter holidays completion from me - Revell's 1/32nd scale Hawker Hunter FGA.9 more or less OOB, other than some aftermarket decals from AeroMaster and some home-made FOD guards. This kit is really under-rated in my humble opinion - it has lots of detail OOB and beautiful surface detailing from a time when Revell were at the top of their game. I had no issues whatsoever with the build - it's about as close as you can get to building Lego - and it went together in a few days. Paints were Xtracolur enamels with a splash of Humbrol Matt Cote to finish it off. Some light weathering was done with Mig pastels. All in all a very enjoyable build - and it only cost me a tenner under the table at a show! All the best, Tom Hawker Hunter FGA.9, XG207, 58 Squadron, RAF Wittering, mid-1970s.

Here's my recently completed Kotare Spit. You don't get many parts for your near-£100 quid but you do get great accuracy, meticulous research and no loss of building enjoyment. The detail in the casting is exquisite - you can't quite see the raised rivets at the back of the fuselage in my photos for example, but it is there. Of course you could pay a bit more for a Tamiya Spit and get a much higher parts count and a full engine if that's your thing, but it won't be an early version - you pays your money and takes your choice. Both are a joy to build in their own way. Thanks for looking J.A.

Happy Easter folks! Here is my attempt at Revell's new(ish) big Hurricane. Decent enough kit for the price, although some quite clever design in places is let down by the soft plastic as the pieces aren't as sharply moulded as they might otherwise be. Nothing a bit of effort can't overcome though. Thanks for looking, J.A.

I've not been idle for the last 6 months or so: this has been on the bench, and now it's finished. Here are a few photos until I get out and do some "beauty shots". The model is Italeri's 1/32 GR4 in one of the box schemes, the Tornado retirement scheme for IX(B) Sqn. This squadron was the first RAF operational unit to be equipped with the Tornado GR1. IX Sqn flew several types in WWI, and was briefly disbanded in 1919. It reformed as a bomber unit in 1924 - hence the "(B)" in the title - and starting with the Vimy, flew Virginias, Heyfords, Wellingtons, Lancasters, Lincolns, Canberras and Vulcans, before reforming on the Tornado. Italeri's GR4 builds up quite well: it needs a little work to make it fit, but in the end it is a solid construction. I did use rather a lot of aftermarket, to whit: Eduard canopy masks; Bandit Resin Factory empty Sidewinder rails; HGW safety ("RBF") flags; Jet Passion 1500 litre tanks, exterior detail set (partly not used as not needed imo) and replacement back seat monitors (scrapped and reverted to kit parts for reasons I won't bore you with); Master pitot tube; Scale Model Developments (SMD) seats; Tradewind67 (eBay trader name) intake and Jet pipe covers, other covers, and back seat grab handles); and home-cut masks for the roundels and serials. And until I get what I call the "proper camera" out, here are a few quick post-finish bench shots. Comments and feedback welcome, thanks for looking.

Phew, broke my duck for 2024. I was very pleased to finish this one, not least because it was an xmas present from my Dad. The kit was pre-owned and included quite a lot of aftermarket – the Ali Cat canopy set, Quickboost propeller and exhausts and the Master brass gun barrels set (this being particularly appreciated as the forward-firing MG17 in the kit seems to be a 30mm upgrade from the diameter of the barrel). I had another beef with the kit, in that it seems to be designed to be built with the wings folded and all the engine panels open... as a result the wings seem to be lacking the wing-root fillet at the top if you build them unfolded (it could have been me, but I couldn't find any such part or any part that looked like it might fit the bill) and the engine cowling panels don't fit at all well if closed up. Still, I made it in the end and as it's unlikely anyone else will produce an injection-moulded Ar 196A then you either build this one or you don't build any. I did add the HGW resin seat and fabric seatbelt set, and the Quinta instruments sets, as the kit's moulded seat belts weren't all that impressive and there were no decals for the instrument panel. The model was finished in the Maritime Scheme, with Colourcoats ACLW04 - Grun RLM 72 & ACLW05 - Grun RLM 73 over ACLW03 - Hellblau RLM 65, with the interior in ACLW12 - RLM Grau RLM 02, the propeller blades in ACLW02 – Schwarzgrun RLM70 and the bombs in ACLW11 - Dunkelgrun RLM71. Detail painting was mostly Vallejo acrylics with Tamiya Clear Red and Green for the navigation lights. I used the kit transfers, they were good but I did ditch the large stencilled laurel wreath marking which commemorated 100 catapult launches from Tirpitz – I didn't like the way it was sprayed over the hand-hold ropes and there must have been a time when it didn't have that marking applied (the first 99 launches, for example). I finished it with a mix of satin and matt varnishes, it still came out shinier than I expected but them's the breaks. Thanks for your patience, apologies for the verbiage Cheers, Stew