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A long time at home, lots of cardboard, spare time. Let’s face it that’s a bad combination for silly ideas. Some years ago I started a project to build a Hardened Aircraft Shelter (HAS) form cardboard. I reasoned at the time that it would make a good diorama to show off my 1/48 Cold War Jet builds. And it has done that very well. Now I originally settled on the HAS as a compromise on size. I had originally looked at making a hangar. But that is silly. An RAF Type C hangar would fit the bill. Like the ones at Wattisham. Now in 1/48 that would be about a metre wide and nearly 2 metres long. See? The idea is plain silly. But maybe just the front of the hangar, to act as a backdrop. Or maybe the front part with a mirror in it. Like @Mancunian airman’s T2 hangar. Pose things something like this Or this Type C Hangars to me just look right So now the time element comes in. I started scribbling some measurements We had a delivery of Ikea furniture a little while ago and the boxes hadn’t gone to the tip. In the boxes are some nice reinforced packing strips too. So taking the measurements, a ruler, a pencil and a Stanley knife I thought I would see what it would look like. The is an end - nearly 1m wide, ready for the doors to be cut out. The strip on top is one of the reinforcing strips that could work So a bit more cutting out & a Harrier for scale just for scale too that is a full size fridge & freezer behind. Yep this is madness. So that is one end, one set of doors. How big would a whole hangar be again? So what if I double all of the walls with packing corrugated card. Make 2 ends, two sides, a floor & a roof that lifts off. All parts go flat. Really not keen to build the 11 roof sections with associated steel work. More making a slot together scale hangar. Finally a backdrop that will even make my Hercules look, well not quite small, but you get the idea....

Looks to be 3D printed. It’s obviously not for everyone, especially considering the price: https://www.hlj.com/1-48-scale-zero-fighter-type-21-skeleton-full-set-model-umltp-004

What ho! May I present the Eduard weekend edition of the Hawker Tempest Mk V. This has taken just over 2 months, and follows on from my Spitfire build. Build log is here: And so to the pictures .. As aircraft are not my usual subjects, comments are welcome. Thank you for looking! Keith ☺️

After seeing other Phantoms on the site lately, I thought I might add my own current effort. In this case it's the Monogram Pro Modeler early hard wing E, i.e. no wing leading edge slats. The kit is actually the Hasegawa 1/48th F-4E fuselage with the F-4J wing set. Kind of a mishmash of Hasegawa Phantom parts to get an early E. This is my first build of this kit and it looks like the molds were well used by the time this one came out. Some flash, a little more mold line mismatch, and the recessed panel lines seem a little less deep than original Hasegawa kits. My inspiration was seeing this photo in an F-4 Google group email several months ago. When I researched the tail number, this same photo showed up in Wikipedia, so it must be public domain now. This is the only photo with this load out that I could find. I have the Hasegawa Weapons Set B with the AGM-12B Bullpup missiles and have ordered a set of early SUU-30 CBUs for the outboard stations. This is my sixth or seventh Hasegawa F-4 and there are a couple of things I do on them now. There are always ejection pin marks on the inside of the intakes. I don't really mind the "shallow" intakes, but do have a couple of sets of seamless intakes for use on later builds. I filled in the pin depressions and sanded them smooth. Also, the back side of the intake ramps need to be filled in. The lower area is not really visible once assembled, but the upper areas are. Filled with plastic card bits and sanded smooth. After a primer coat, I'll see if they need more attention.

This is my first build here. About a year ago I managed to buy such a kit from hands. And I got guns by Master this week. But I want to build A3's variant in Tamiya's kit 61037. First I installed the wheels bay. I cut the plastic incorrectly and cracks formed. I will remove them later. It was also difficult to install the bay in the center. I was upset when I found a stumps on the cockpit floor for his legs. So I made a elements that, in general terms, repeated the original. I will install leg bindings after painting. Edward's photoetch is often flat in cases where it is not. I made a handle instead of a flat piece. Engines are always my headache. Only if you are building a large scale model you are not be cut with a scalpel and your desk will not be covered in your blood when you remove the pushers of cylinders. I had made the pushers out of copper wire. My set is A4, but I want A3, so I had made new panels with holes. I wish you a enjoy watching

After the success of the Spitfire build, I'm going to stay with the 'winged things' theme with the 1/48 Tempest Mk. V series 1 from Eduard. Pre-flight briefing: At risk of upsetting fans and lovers of all things Spitfire, I have to admit that my favourite WW2 aircraft is the Hawker Typhoon. I like it's 'thuggish' and rugged looks .... it's like a tool made for the job in hand. I acquired the Airfix 1/24 scale Typhoon and added a load of aftermarket and, as much as I'd like to build it, I'm not that confident with aircraft and want to do it justice, so more flying hours are needed, so what better way to add to the log book than with this one? I've added a pilot from CMK and Montex masks, although after the experience of them with the Spitfire, they may not get used! Rather than a specific pilot, I'll be building this as JN735 operated by No. 3 Squadron, based at Newchuch, Kent in June 1944. And here's lies first challenge - invasion stripes! The stencilling looks to be not too bad - less than the Spitfire - until I noticed S47 relating to the 'Amal' fasteners ....... so I counted up on the decal sheet and immediately wished I hadn't. There are over 100 of them! As seems to be the norm, here's the sprue shot: And, as I had some primer in the airbrush, I thought I'd give the fuselage and wings a coat: So, it's time to climb aboard, buckle up and start the engine - the tower has given the green light so lets hope there isn't much turbulence on the coming sorties! Keith ☺️

I’m excited to announce the start of this Zoukei-Mura F-4D 1/48 Phantom as part of a buddy build with some modelers on Instagram. I chose the ZKM Phantom after reading tons of great reviews. Along with the kit, I also have the following accessories: Quinta Studio 3D Interior decals Reskit AIM-9B Sidewinders Reskit AIM-7E Sparrows Reskit Exhaust Nozzle Reskit FOD set Mini Craft Collection M.B. Mk-H7 ejection seats I plan on doing the SEA camo pictured on the box art. Jumping straight into the build this weekend by painting up these fantastically detailed ejection seats from Mini Craft Collections: It was quite challenging painting the ejection handles in their yellow/black striping. I redid them about 4 times each and ended up just having to be satisfied enough with them not being super crisp. Once in the cockpit, it would be near impossible to really see how detailed those handles are without zooming in a great deal.

So it's been a little while but time to update on the next project, yep another F-15! This one is a late C model courtesy of the 1/48 Eduard F-15 kit which is an upgraded Academy kit. The upgrades include nice decals, resin wheels, ACES ejection seat and most importantly some very nice exhausts. The kit also includes some PE including colour PE for the cockpit which all together make it quite an attractive bundle. The only slight caveat is that it is still the academy kit which does have some fit issues especially regarding the engine intakes and nose-to-fuselage join. As most of the essential bits are already upgraded, I'm not planning too many additional items however, this will be lit up with some LEDs which always requires some additional thought/patience/sanity-check on a 1/48 scale model. Subject of choice will be a blue aggressor machine from the 65 AGRS at Nellis similar to this one (but not a twin seat version). Decals for 65 AGRS machines are courtesy of an old Afterburner set I bought ages ago (as who doesn't like some more Aggressor options!) and as this will also be an in-flight display, I'll need a pilot . Right onto the kit and straight into the first issue - which to be fair I knew when I bought the kit second hand. The cockpit had been started but it looks like initial efforts to assemble the PE elements had not gone well and subsequent attempts to rectify the situation with copious amounts of super glue had also not gone well. Even the cover-up paintwork failed to improve the look which was probably the point the previous owner decided to call it a day. Anyway, never shy of a challenge (and knowing that a closed canopy will hide a multitude of sins) I set about removing the super-glued paint as best I could with chemicals and assorted files/sanders. All the front cockpit PE was trashed so I purchased another set and set about to recover what detail I could. As you can see, there was not a lot left to play with. Some clever paintwork required here I think or more likely for my skill level, just rely on the seat and pilot covering up most of the issue. The new PE for the front IP should also help. Talking of the seat, at least the Eduard resin one is nicely detailed and some additional PE should detract nicely from the melty-mess of the rest of the cockpit. More to follow soon, intake heaven (not).

My entry is Hasegawa’s 1/48 F-104G Starfighter. I will be building it as the box art scheme. I going with this scheme as it makes me smile, bringing back memories of visits to Munich, the beer and visits to the Hofbrauhaus (other beer hall’s are available) and Oktoberfest. Going off topic, if you like wheat beer, I can recommend the Weißbierbrauerei Isarbräu located in the old station building at Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof (S-Bahn). When inter-railing many years ago, travelling from Rome to Paris we detoured by Munich just to spend an afternoon in the brewery.🍺

Hello gents Here's my first completion of 2025, a Christmas present from my Dad, the Tamiya P-38F Lightning, representing White 33 of the 39th Fighter Squadron based at Port Moresby, New Guinea in late 1942: The kit has a bit of a reputation of being a lovely build and I'm pleased to say that reputation is well-deserved, there are some really nice engineering choices made so you get a nice easy build of a well-detailed kit. The majority of the parts fit just like Lego, things just click into place and if you are the sort of modeller who likes to get elbow-deep in putty and solve problems... well this may not be the kit for you There are various part options detailing the difference between the F and G variants and markings for a G are also included in the kit. I didn't quite go OOB on it; I bought the Eduard T-Face mask set for the canopy (becaused I like them) and the Eduard resin wheel set (because I don't like trying to hide the central seam on diamond-tread tyres, and the detail on the Eduard wheels is really nice). I painted the aicraft in Colourcoats US Olive Drab 41 over US Neutral Gray 43, with US Interior Green for the internals, US True Blue for the propeller spinners and AK Extreme Metal Matt Aluminium for the wheelbays, with the detail painting in various Vallejo and Citadel acrylics. I used the kit transfers, I feel that in a way they are the weak spot of the kit, being a bit thick (I know, pot, kettle, black) and some of them were frankly rather strange (yes all right) - like the ones used to represent the cooling holes in the .50 cal barrels... however when all was varnished with AK Ultra Matte they look fine. And finally, I got another outing for the Coastal Kits 'Japanese airfield' display background for the photos Thanks for your attention Cheers, Stew

Hot off the bench, here's my third 1/48 Buccaneer, which I have just finished - alas, too late to take it to Peterborough yesterday. It depicts a tanker aircraft of 800 NAS in 1970 when embarked in HMS Eagle. Just for a change I wanted to show the flaps, aileron droop and tail trim deployed, which is why the crew are there: this was only ever seen with the aircraft powered up. I suppose it really needs a deck marshaller to add a final touch: maybe one day. It is the Airfix new-tool kit. I did it mostly from the box, but did use a Master FR probe and pitot, Eduard canopy masks, and (particularly poignant in view of the recent news) the buddy refuelling pod by Flightpath. Markings were mostly from home-made masks, including the Flight Refuelling logo in the fin; stencils etc (those I bothered with) were from the kit, as were the fuselage roundels after a mask/paint disaster. The small serials were from an Xtradecal generic sheet, and the 800 NAS badges from the old-tool Airfix kit, kindly supplied by @BushBrit66. Comments and feedback welcome.

Hello! I see that the GB has opened up so to commemorate that I'd like to start off with something to set the mood. Strangely enough Sabaton has yet to make a song about the Erdnagel, but Welle:Erdball has! What's better than to combine banging Chiptunes with german lyrics about the F-104G? Not much! Well, after this there is only one thing to do, and that is to present my little build, and for this GB I will bring out a Kinetic box: In order to satisfy my AMS addiction, but still keep it reasonably sane I "just" added this That should do it! I'll go for the boxart, just because Norm-83 looks nice 😍 I hope this kit goes together a bit more easily than that E-2 Hawkeye that I tried to build last year...

Hi, Here's the Eduard boxing of the Kinetic F-104C. I'll be using the Caracal decals for the fantastic markings of the 479th TFG. Cheers, Stefan.

My entry is Tamiya’s 1/48 F-16C/N kit. Originally planned to build the box top scheme, until I looked at the instructions and saw the two tone blue aircraft operated by Top Gun, the decision was made for me. I will be building this as a F-16N operated by US Navy Fighter Weapon School, AS Miramar, October 1993 Colour profile from the box side.

I declare my Interceptor ready for inspection! Has been a long term project, and I'm not completely satisfied, but for now it's OK. Kit was Dora Wings Paints; AK true metal wax aluminium Vallejo I hope you like it!

Ok , yet another Spitfire, but a Mk., Model and Manufacturer that I'v not tried before. Going to make this one think. Will make a change from RAF colours Already made a start... and found my favorite new tool... This kit comes with far more comprehensive photoetch than I've used before.. i didn't find superglue very much fun.... but this is a game changer ..for me anyway Already enjoying the kit... more complicated than the Tamiya Mk. I

Hello evrybody, Here is my latest build, the midget T-34B Mentor, an evolution of the Beech Bonanza to a primary trainer. A nice little kit, even though it needs some TLC to fit properly - and a lot of weight in the nose, the little guy is a dead tail sitter. Other points of attention are fit of the clear parts, especially the leading edge landing lights and decals, which are pretty good but lack density, especially for the wings roundels. These are to be set over the orange area and orange is showing through white. In the whole, an enjoyable moment, with a striking scheme that enlight the shelves. Build out of the box, used Tamiya, Gunze and MisterPaint. Hope you'll like her. Feel free to comment and discuss. Best Stéphane

So this is as much a statement of intent and a request for help as the start of a build thread. It’s the centenary of the formation of the Irish Air Corp, and the Martinsyde was the Air Corps first plane. So what better model to mark the event. This is the beast. But I have a slight problem, this is the closest drawing I can get hold of; and notwithstanding the obvious fuselage and rudder differences I’m not sure if the planview is correct for the Big Fella. So can anyone point me in the direction of a correct plan view?

Now following on, Time for an episode Tales from Shelf Crypt of Doom. Be warned this build is not for the faint of heart, weak willed , or knobby kneed. If I can finish this it will be a tale you can tell your Grandchildren,... and mightily bored they'll be. But anywho, I started this 7-8 years ago and stopped almost immediately realized I couldn't figure out how to do some of the aspects of the aircraft that I wanted. After many sleepless nights, quaffing a lot of legal beverages, some cypherin', and a little bit of practice building vacs, though probably not enough🤪 I've decided to take the plunge and get this plane built. I did actually get this from Combat models complete with detail set if it can be called that. That's not actually fair, it is a well produced resin set, just needs some work. Ok, it needs a LOT of work and I'm just whacked enough to try and bash this into some semblance of a Flying wing. So come on along as we travel down the march hares rabbit hole. Hard to tell what we'll find.Any comments suggestions, general mayhem from all, even the Naughty Corner and the Usual Subjects will be most welcome.

I’m excited to show off my completed F-16 Aggressor Viper in the Splinter Green markings of 86-295 operated by the 18th Aggressor Squadron from Eielson AFB in Alaska. I assembled this 1/48 replica using the Tamiya Block 50 kit. In addition to the base kit, I also used the following aftermarket items: •Aggressor decal set from Bullseye. Overall the decals went on fine without any fuss. I color matched the brown paint I used to the decal brown to create a more coherent finish. •Exhaust nozzle, masking, access ladder and remove before flight tags from Eduard. The exhaust nozzle was easy to work with and a definite upgrade over the stock one. •Mini Craft Collections ejection seat. Extremely detailed. Going forward, I plan on getting these magnificent ejection seats for all future builds if available. •Quinta Studios interior 3D decal set. Easy to work with and provides a realistic look. •Kopecky Scale Models FOD set. There is not a lot of FOD sets available for this specific F16, but this one did the trick. •Landing gear set from Detail and Wonder. Can’t say enough great things about this set. Very highly detailed and easy to work with. •Aim 9M sidewinders from Reskit. As expected, these were quite detailed and provided a more realistic look than the standard ones from the kit. While taking photos, one of the missiles fell off breaking a fin. I’ll need to replace the fin when I get time 🥲 A few notes about decisions I made for this build: Obviously I decided to add live banding to my missiles. I wanted this build to represent a scenario where the aggressor was actually armed for combat and not just training. Next, the aftermarket exhaust nozzle is not technically correct for this aggressor. It should have been the GE motor, but I went with Pratt. This happened for 2 reasons. First, I originally had a GE engine from Reskit, but ultimately did not like their choice to include inappropriate details on the turkey wings. Second, I personally like the look of the Pratt engine more. Lastly, my wing walk lines do not extend far enough towards the tail of the aircraft. This was unfortunately a mistake I made while looking at the decal instruction reference image and not the actual aircraft. Ya live and ya learn kinda thing WIP thread here: Cheers, Keith

I have officially started the much anticipated Eduard P-40E Warhawk in 1/48. Along with the kit, I also have the following accessories: •Eduard P-40E engine •Eduard P-40E flaps •Eduard P-40E wheel wells •Eduard P-40E exhaust tips •Eduard P-40E SPACE 3D interior decals This kit includes two models within and enough decals to build roughly 3-4 aircraft. Good opportunity to buy the OverTree sets that Eduard offers since they are missing decals. The kit itself contains the following accessories included: •Eduard P-40E resin wheels •Eduard P-40E cockpit chairs •Eduard P-40E rounded exhaust tips I will be building both aircraft within the kit, but only 1 at a time as I have other commitments coming up. The first aircraft will be opened up showing off the engine etc. My plans for the second one include an in air diorama swooping down in a guns firing blaze of glory on an unsuspecting 1/144 A6M Zero. First aircraft scheme choice: I feel like most people will primarily model the shark mouth versions of the aircraft. It might be a good opportunity for me to try out the other RAF Egypt scheme that I suspect most people will avoid. Typically I like modeling less popular schemes. My second P-40 which will be starting later this year will be a P-40 with the well known shark mouth. This one will be used for the in air diorama I spoke about earlier I have already started working on the resin engine set provided by Eduard and should be finishing it up this weekend. It is quite intricate with a ton of detail. Last night I got the engine block assembled, lead wires attached, and everything base painted. Tomorrow I should be doing detail paint work followed by assembly. While assembling, I will be adding more lead wires. Engine block prior to paint with wiring attached: Cheers!

Ready for decals. A 1/48th - Airfix - DH Vampire FB.5 - markings from N°98 Sqn RAF Germany based at Faßberg in 1953. V.P.

It became clear to me last week that while cleaning out a closet, I am accumulating kits at a faster rate than I'm building them, so I'm going to try and tackle a few this year. I got several half dead built group build projects last year that should be at the top of the list, but I'm going to take advantage of my short attention span and tackle a few Pacific fighters since that's the kick I'm on right now. First up is a subject I've wanted to do for awhile, and that's an early Razorback from the 348th FG which was the premier P-47 group in the Pacific. Flying a fighter not well suited for the theater and not at all liked by most other groups who flew it in the PTO, 20 men became aces with the 348th, led by their fiery leader Neel Kearby who was right in the thick of the famed "Ace Race" and ran his score up to 22 before tunnel vision got the best of him and he was shot down and killed in March 1944. While Kearby's Fiery Ginger IV is a subject for another day, the plane I plan to build right now is Marvin Grant's Racine Belle. I learned about Grant whilst researching Wisconsin aces, so his planes were always a "want to" for me. Grant was an original member of the 342nd FS, the first squadron assigned to the group, and trained with them stateside when the intention was still for the group to go to Europe. During his time with the group, Grant flew 187 missions during which he scored 7 aerial kills, 3 probables, 1 damaged and 8 ground kills. His 'bounty' included 3 Kates, 2 Oscars, 1 Tony, and 1 Betty. He flew several different Jugs but the one I'm focusing on right now is his D-4, serial 42-22694. No markings for this plane are available, but markings are available for his later natural metal D-23, and luckily Grant was one of a handful of pilots who transferred his cowling from an earlier plane to his later plane. That gives me the nose art, and the rest of the markings can be cobbled together from other sources. Profile showing how Racine Belle looked circa January 1944 when Grant had two aerial kills to his credit. This is how I plan to model it. And his later D-23 sporting the cowling from his D-4. Racine Belle appeared on the right side while Sylvia (a named believed to have come from the crew chief) appeared on the left. I know DoraWings has some early Ds in the works and I do plan to get a couple of those when they're released, but I have a surplus of Tamiya Jugs in the stash and it should be relatively easy to backdate their kit to a D-4. The biggest visual differences are the full lower cowl flaps and the non bulged keel. The cowl flaps are easy enough to fix with some styrene, but I wasn't too sure about the bulged keel. I try to avoid surgery whenever I can, so I was curious to see if I could improve the look just by sanding the bejeezus out of it. I tested it out on an incomplete kit I bought several years with the intention of being a paint mule, and although its hard to tell from this photo, I think its a definite improvement and resulted in a much smoother, continuous curve on the bottom of the fuselage. Modified fuselage on the left, original on the right. This was just rough sanded with an 80 grit stick and this is as much I can go since some areas are paper thin which I figured would be the case. So this lets me know I need to reinforce a couple areas with styrene from the inside, but that it is something that can be accomplished. It may not be perfect but to me it gives a better look for a flat keeled plane. This all I have done for now, but hoping to get a start on the cockpit this week once I get the bench cleaned.

Hi, With my Boeing 727 progressing well and the F-104 GB on the approach, it's high time to start my F-16 thread. Really high time...I bought this kit back in 1994. I also bought a "Seamless Sucker" for it. The decals will be from Daco and I'll build an aircraft from the 10th Wing at Kleine Brogel in the 1980's. Cheers, Stefan.

Hey all, This is ICM's new-ish A-26 Invader. The A-26 has always kind of appealed to me as a mean looking aircraft that always has a presence, even on the ground. When ICM announced they were releasing one I immediately knew I must get one, but its not until earlier this year that I took the plunge. The kit is beautiful out of the box, and went together nearly as nicely as a Tamiya kit, requiring minimal filling, sanding or other adjustments. As a rather expensive kit however, it would've been nice to complement the kit with some PE, especially belts, but this isn't a deal-breaker for me at all, and I simply used a generic USAAF/USN seatbelt set from Eduard. The kit was painted using a mix of Tamiya Lacquers and Mr. Color acrylics, then weathered with oils, acrylics and a few pigments. The decals OOB were a bit fragile and required careful handling, but there were a number of interesting schemes available right out of the box. Overall, an enjoyable build of a surprisingly large aircraft that certainly has a presence on my display shelf. Thanks for looking, Sam Again, thanks for looking, Sam