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My entry for this GB will be Revell's 1/48 F/A-18F Super Hornet. Will be finishing it as the box art, an aircraft of VFA-102 Diamondbacks. I do like a colourful Hornet. my only other Hornet build was in the 2013 F/A-18 STGB.

I’ve been threatening to build a Salamander for ages so here goes. I have a Mr Craft Camel earmarked as a donor kit, now afaik the Salamander is not all that similar to the camel ( a bit like the Nimrod vs the Fury of the Gladiator vs the Gauntlet) so it may be a case that the wheels snd the engine ( possibly) are the only transferable parts, it may also be the case that it’s easier to make new components, so onwards and we’ll see how we go. Next step is to organise a set of 1/48 plans. Blueprints.com I think . Since virtually nothing from the Camel matches the Salamander I’m going to make it as a TF1, which is pretty much a standard camel but had a pair of downward facing Lewis guns installed.

Hello fellow modellers, (where have I heard that phrase before?) For this GB I'm going to build last year's Tamiya F-4B Phantom II as used by the United States Navy to make many a large hole in South East Asia back in the day.

Good evening everyone, so glad the Matchbox group build is finally upon us! So sorry my other build isn't ready yet. I'll be back to begin with this one in a week or two...

Looking forward to this one. Not entirely sure why

Been a while since I've posted as I've been busy with sorting out the house. Major works going on since May and now my builder has covid so i've cleared the decks in the workshop for some light building. So I know i'll get a ribbing for this thats for sure but what the hell (Tiger on Temp hold ------- Dont worry, i'll be back on it soon) Quite a few years ago popped down to see Ant Phillips @AntPhillips and the generous chap gave me this little kit as a gift. It had been started but not very much at all - you could say more taken off the sprues than any real building. I've played with this kit over the years and chopped it about with a view of making one of the Dutch Airforce Vipers that i have seen and worked with whilst on tour. I've got some decals and AM bits to pop into this build, I missed the GB as i couldn't commit, just too much work going on in the house. Aires Office area that i'll use. Pilot torso is from the kit, helmet is from the Hasegawa F-16D block 50 kit, made some alterations of the figure. Life vest etc Had models wheel wells, these were fun as the one part that was assembled was the intake - I had to take it apart to get the nose gear bay in and had much fun in doing so, the plastic had became very brittle over the years. Eduard wheels made for the tamiya kit but fit a treat with some modifacation to the kit hubs. Tail end, Wolfpack resin for the Tamiya kit - extended parabrake , altered to fit the Hasegawa kit. It was only slightly wider than the Hasegawa tail so a touch of sanding back was required. A few bits to hang off the pylons - Eduard Brassin bits. Modified ECM 131 pylon, cut down drop tank centre line pylon. It will get some sway braces yet . Wingtip launchers, LAU-128's for AIM120's Robbed from a another Hasegawa F-16 kit. Flaps cut out so I can drop them later. Back end details - PW exhaust i think ? And the decals , stencils from for a Greek F-16 look to be the same as the Dutch Vipers, these are very well detailed decals. Lets see what an Armour modeller can do with this little lot !! Enjoy.

Hi, This is the Meng F/A-18F. I'll be building it as BuNo 166620, VFA-103's CAG-bird during many years. I'll pick this particular option from the Furball decal sheet for several reasons: Ensign Jack Ernie's name is on the canopy sill and I think this particular paint job has the biggest size "skull and bones" that has ever been applied. 166620 was already the CAG-bird during VFA-103's first Super Hornet cruise back in 2006-2007. On that first cruise targets in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan were hit. The aircraft stayed VFA-103's CAG-bird for a good 10 years. I have not taken the kit out of the box yet, but I know that the Meng kit allows for a choice of bard stacks or heat blankets. 166620 received the bard stacks at one time in those 10 years. I think this had already been done in 2012, but I'm not 100 % sure. I'll look into it if it's possible to buid the kit without glueing the bard stacks in place, so that the option remains to change it back to heat blankets. Cheers, Stefan;

Hi folk's,been on the search for Matchbox's 1/32 Bf109 for a while still not found one in good condition at a reasonable price so out has come this re-box of their Skyraider kit I got for a tenner last year. Good parts count nicely molded too but very little detail compared to more modern kits but it is Matchbox so I love it. And three interesting schemes on offer not sure which one to do though.

Here's my entry, an old school legacy Hornet from 20 odd years ago. Will be giving the box art machine a bash. Going to use the mixes suggested in the instructions, but I found the FS numbers (I think) during some online browsing for anyone curious (from light to dark): FS 30279 FS 30219 FS 30140 Box contents. Not worked with white metal in years! A small PE fret is included for the instrument panel, HUD, wheel bay wiring and ladder I think. I do have an Eduard masking sheet on its way to me, due sometime before the universe suffers heat death. My Hasegawa weapon sets will be here sooner, the kit only includes drop tanks. Hasegawa ...

Have just been looking at how the main gear legs attach on my kit, can anyone who has built this model confirm that they should sit like this It's strange that the top of the leg doesn't reach the ceiling of the well but I can't see any other way of fitting it. Thanks Mike PS Does it need any ballast weight in the nose - there is no mention of such in the instructions.

First of the two kits Jim sent me for the 453rd Museum build it's the well known Tamiya 1/48 P-51D I wasn't part of the group that visited the Museum but I'm friend with many of them, and I hope I'll be able to join them soon for a proper visit Jim asked me to build the boxart aircraft, which by coincidence is my favourite Mustang scheme Let's see what's in the box: a total of four sprues, including the transparents So a relatively low parts number, and the kit isn't like the most recent Tamaiya issues. Still it's a Tamiya, with some great detail all over Jim also included an Eduard PE set for the cockpit I started with a quick dryfit of the fuselage halves an the cockpit tub bottom view Typical good Tamiya fit, but it will need some work along the seam line, because of the metallic finish of this aircraft. The sidewall detail is amazing: I don't think I'll entirely replace it with the provided PE parts; I'll probably go with an integration, and some scratch building too Surface detail is also great: Alright, this should be fun! All comments welcome Ciao

Hi All. Here is my first completed model for the year 2022. Over 20 years after finishing Dynavector's 1/48 Vacformed Gannet AS1 we finally have a kit of the AEW3 and I have managed to build it. Like many others, I expected Dynavector to release one of these as many of the bits in the ASW Gannet could have been reused but alas it was not to be. I built the Dynavector ASW Gannet in about 2002 and waited for the AEW but nothing has been heard from Dynavector for a few years. Special Hobby announced an AEW3 about 10 years ago but still nothing in plastic so when I heard about a resin kit made by Alan Wilson here on BM I decided to fill the gap and ordered one. I've had it about 18 months so here it is finished. The Radar operators doors are open as I scratch built a complete interior. See the WIP thread (link and the Bottom) for whats inside! Arestor hook replaced by an old white metal hook from Aeroclub lengthened with a sewing needle. The kit cockpit canopy was clear resin which presented a few issues as expected. Quite a bit of material needed to be taken off the inside of the windscreen and coaming to allow a good fit without having to repolish the clear parts. Having the rear section of the canopy open was driven by the 3 supplied in the kit all being very thick and having air bubbles. I figured the air bubbles would be less noticable with the canopy open. However the thickness of the resin left it perched unrealistically on top of the fuselage. I decided to plunge mould a new one and got it right on the 4th attempt. This is paper thin and very fragile. The kit decals are useful only as a template. The roundels came from Xtradec, the serials were home printed and the bee was drawn from scratch then home printed. Sitting on Ark Royal's waist catapult August 1978? The aerial fit is dated for August 1978, lines are EZ line. The 1/48 Gannet collection is now looking like this. Thansk for looking More pictures at the WIP in the link below.

Have just started new scratchbuild and thought it'd be good to share the build here. Kits of civilian scale models are pretty thin on the ground - compared to the crop of Spitfires, P51's, 109's etc. One that seems to have been quite overlooked is the Piper PA-24 Comanche. Correct me if I'm wrong - but I've only seen some larger scale flying model kits - and nothing in more conventional (or even unconventional) scales. There's quite a few Cherokee kits (which is more 'family sedan') but the Comanche (a bit of a 'sports car') seems to have missed out? The inspiration for this is that it was one of my fathers favourite aircraft when he was in his early flying years - at the Royal Aero Club of NSW based at Bankstown in Sydney, Australia. Here's a picture of the subject model here - taken circa 1963 on a 'field trip' to Canberra. This is a VH-RSX PA-24-180 - in a rather tasty colour scheme. The other one I am torn with doing is this PA-24-250 VH-SME operated by the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority - who had quite a fleet of aircraft to support that big project. This one here - a Greg Banfield photo from Bankstown 1963 courtesy of the Ed Coates collection. Including tip tanks. http://www.edcoatescollection.com/ac1/austmz/VH-SME2.jpg To save making a decision - my current plan is to build TWO models at the same time. One of VH-RSX and one of VH-SME. Twin Comanches? Anyway - onto the model. I've now scratchbuilt quite a few of this style of aircraft and have a fairly standardised technique for dealing with the glasshouse and a full interior. These will be in 1/48 to fit in with my 'collection'. I found a set of plans from Aeromodeller 1961 - which whilst targeted at a flying scale model include some very handy fuse cross-sections and 'look' to be on scale vs compromised by the 'flying scale' requirements. There's also another set of plans in Air Progress - Winter 1962-63 which are rather nice but without the cross sections. There's some subtle differences between the plans - which I'd put down to artistic license. And happy to work with both of these as a basis. First up - here's the 'buck' for vacforming of the fuselage. Basically a skeleton of 1mm styrene built out with the cross sections from the plans (and all a little undersize to allow for the thickness of the vacformed plastic... That looks like the pic below after it is filled and sanded, filled and sanded, filled and sanded with 2-pack car putty (buy it from the automotive supplies stores - tell them you want to fix a dent in your car!). This is not quite ready for vacforming - a little bit of finessing still required to get the shape right, For vacforming, I will mould the underside in white styrene - and the topside in probably PETG (first use of this, wish me luck). The buck will be cut just in front of the windscreen after moulding the underside - this will give me a sharp clean edge to the front canopy, and ditto the top of the engine cowling. [The photo looks as if it's back to front - it's just the plan printed in reverse so I can get both a LH and RH view of the fuse (& yes I know the door is only on one side)]. So with some more putty on the buck and set aside to dry - time to turn attention to the wings. Remember I'm tag-teaming two models. The wing shape has been cut from 1mm styrene for bottom skin and 0.75mm for the top skin. Trailing edges have been sanding down wafer thin on the inside surface (using 180 grit then 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper. very wet). then a bit of marking out of the wing spar location and the wheel wells. Next steps are fabricating the wheel wells (gosh they're a long way aft!). Also finish off the buck to the point I can vacform. Hope you enjoy the build!

Hi, One project that never seems to come of the ground properly is the Monogram B-17G in my stash (for years). Especially since a new tooling by HK has surfaced. Always liked the B-17 and an earlier effort was sadly ruined by my inexperience at the time. So I chose to find a reasonably priced b-17 on an auction website in a tatty box, but to keep the costs down, I went for the transparent version (which I regret now). Nevertheless, I am going to attempt to finish it using the Big Ed photo etch set. Not sure how long it will take me and if I am able to preserve sanity through the torture of photo etch bending and glue-ing. Nevertheless, I'd really like to get better at photo etch, so by the time the b-17 is finished (one day), I should be pretty proficient at the skill. Already tried to replicate the framing on the (formerly) transparent inside. Hopefully I will finish it one day and this post may assist in further driving the motivation. Here some early pics below, although the paintwork on some parts need further tidying up and some panel wash etc. Thanks for watching

Rummaging through my attic and found a very old MAP set of Albatros plans, with nothing better to do I went through the whole pack, all the B,C and D series, of all of them I liked the look of the C IX it’s essentially a two seat D series with ( for the time) a very unconventional wing arrangement. The plans. Not having access to a photocopier any more and with time in my hands I decided to draw up some 1/48 sketches my hand, these will be my working drawings.

OK, I'm in. Here's a Tamiya 1/48 Corsair, which was started several years ago. I bought this boxing in part because I liked the pirate flag badge on the nose (OK, I'm shallow, I know!), but then at some point thought I would do it as a FAA aircraft, so chopped the wingtips off. When I came back to it recently, I thought I'd rather just go back to my original plan and use the box decals for 'Big Hog', so I've rebuilt the wingtips with plastic card. In theory there now shouldn't be a lot of work before I can start getting paint on. It was always going to be a more or less OOB build, so I haven't done anything fancy in the cockpit. Have just been filling some ejector pin marks in the main gear legs.

So, this is my first 'proper' build outside of an Airfix P51D and Bolton Paul Defiant (both in 1/72) I threw together as my first builds returning to hobby since I was a child! I went for a weekend edition so it wasn't too overwhelming. I forget to take pics of the cockpit before I put it all together, but so far I've used the decals the harness and instrument panel. And this is where I'm up to now... Be kind

My main interest in aviation has to be the random British designs produced in the middle of the century. Designs that looked a bit too absurd to work but actually were rather ahead of its time, such as the EE Lightning, Vulcan, and the TSR-2. Overall the TSR has to be one of my all-time favourite aircraft. Summing it up as "Concorde but it carries nukes instead of passengers", I've always wanted to have a go at building one, and a few months ago I got the chance. If anyone has seen my previous blog of various projects they may have seen this already, but I'm slowly splitting each project into individual threads to make it more manageable. I picked this up on eBay for a relative bargain. Airfix produced a limited run of 1/48 TSRs back in the mid-2000s and they go for a fair bit these days. First thing I noticed was the sheer size of the thing, far bigger than I expected, far bigger than anything I've worked on recently. I had done some reading on the kit beforehand and understood that there were a few issues of which I've taken steps to rectify and will be explained along the way. The first step however was the cockpit. The parts included were rather bare, so I tried as hard as I can to track down a set of the Eduard photo-etch upgrades. This proved to be almost impossible until I found a shop in France which had one. If anyone can find a 1/48 Eduard PE set anywhere else I will genuinely be surprised. The set went together pretty well, although there was a rather large issue with the colouration, as the light blue doesn't seem to match any photos I've seen of the real thing. Matching the shade for the cockpit tub was a bit of a challenge until I found a suitable shade from P3 Frostbite. Photo below is before the fuselage interior was sprayed. And the front cockpit for reference. I was really indecisive on how far to go with the aftermarket upgrades, as the cost is really starting to build up, much like the real thing. I did take the plunge with the undercarriage bays however, as the difference is just too much to ignore. Also since this is likely to be the only TSR I'll ever build, why not go all-out a bit? Again you can see how much detail has been added with the resin parts. Overall I'm confident with the project, although I've encountered some hiccups that I'll go into next time. Given the short lifespan of the TSR however I may go down the "what-if" route a little, primarily with the payload. I've bought a nice pair of WE.177s from Shapeways that I may do up in the later green scheme. I know some purists may be frothing a little at this but it's more just to break up the huge areas of white a little more. Joe

I remember reading books as a kid in the late 70s that hinted about the instance of a legendary black jet that went faster than any other. Then one day in the early 80s I went to a Mildenhall Airfete and there she was, sitting on static display but looking like she was going very fast. Then over the next few years she took to the air at these shows, coming in hot from an Atlantic crossing record attempt, and that legendary take off with a string of diamonds from the afterburners. I got over to the pilots on the static line up for an autograph. The Sled, the Habu or just the Blackbird. I thought a model of one of these was going to be out of my place range, the Revell talked about a new kit & the Italeri kits dropped their price on eBay. So I got one it’s a bit old & a bit battered (some might say rather like the builder). The kit had a few bits missing but the previous owner had thrown in some extra part that look to have come from either another Italeri or a Testors kit. So I have 4 engine & outer wing sections, spare glazing & two noses! You forget just the size of a Blackbird. So what is the plan? Well I like the late model very low viz Blackbirds. Det 4 at Mildenhall is a given, so a diorama of the Blackbird pre flight. I have been doing some building to make the shed too. So one of these But canopies open & getting ready to go. I have had a questions thread & have been putting some build updates on another thread but have been persuaded to start a WIP. Thanks to @e8n2, @Antti_K, @71chally, @JeffreyK, @LorenSharp and @Alan P for their help & advice so far. Thanks for looking in

Let's start my favorite theme "MIGs in foreign service". Now Mig-29A "Fulcrum" from GWH. I bought a minimum of add-ons: First time buying 3D-decals from Quinta Studio. Cockpit:

I last built one of these, from the old Italeri kit, about 18 months ago. However, I was inspired to build another one after reading Axel Urbanke's excellent article on Ta152 operations in a recent edition of 'Luftwaffe in Focus', which also throws some more light on the tactical numbers and colours used by the various staffeln and stabsschwarm that operated the Ta152 within JG 301. Anyway, this is 'red 2' of 10. staffel, III/JG 301, built from the Trimaster offering of this kit. Didn't seem to go together as well as the Italeri offering, but that might just be me. Painted mostly with a mixture of Vallejo and Mig acrylics. Hope you like it Edited to add a few more pics in different lighting. I really must sort out my photography skills (or lack of them)...

Hi all ! Thanks very much for my acceptance in this group build . As discussed with modelling minion , I'll start posting my WIP today but I actually started my build a few months ago. So , don't think I'm a fast builder since I'm a very slow builder indeed . The model : As usual for most of our kits , let's start with the bang seat . My A-4F his equipped with an Escapac IC-3 ( black in this case ) and I will represent it with it's security on ( pilots call it the headknocker !!!! ) in other words with it's headknocker out ! Details of the seat : The headknocker : Since I'm a DIY adept and , that I'm quite found of some scratch building , I started from the Hasegawa seat . Some more details of the top part of the seat with the security stuff hidden behind the head knocker . That's all for tonight !!! Thank's for passing by . See you soon for the next step .

As the title suggests, I have decided to venture over to the Dark Side. My interest has always been aircraft but the projects I've been working on the last couple years are long terms ones and I had trouble keeping interest so I've decided to shelve my aircraft projects for the time being and decided to try out armorsince tanks tend to build up a bit faster than 2 or 4 engine bombers. Having committed to the M3/M4 Sherman Group Build in a few months, I figured I'd get a couple other builds done first so I don't embarrass myself. So, I've started a couple of the 1/48 Tamiya kits in my stash that I'm using as stepping stones before moving to 1/35 in the future. First up is the excellent little M10 (along with the T26E3 in the background but that will be a different thread). The M10 has always been one of my favorite AFVs and this kit has been a joy to build so far. I'm waiting on a couple packages of paint to arrive before I start that so I've done a quick mockup to show my work so far. The bogeys it is sitting on were "rescued" from a M4 that turned into a paint mule and test build for cast texture techniques so those are not the ones I will be using....last night was spent cleaning up all the suspension pieces I will be using. I decided to add a Legend stowage set (not cemented yet) which is looking really good. I'm also using metal main gun and .50 cal barrels from RB Model and some photoetch bits from Hauler (most of which have yet to be applied). And then the rest of the improvements I decided to try my hand at were shaving off the hatch handles and replacing with wire, stippling Ammo extra thin cement with a stiff brush to create cast metal texture on the transmission cover, gun mantlet and turret counterweights, and then adding an Archer casting number to the mantlet. I'm liking the results so far and can't wait to start getting some paint on it! (also, nevermind the glue marks on the hull....I glued on the grouser racks before remembering I'll need to apply decals before attaching them, so that will get cleaned up)

My aircraft WIP started off with a couple of 1/48 RAF Phantoms I was building, but somewhere along the way I started putting together a background to photograph them with. This turned in to a hair-brained scheme to build a Hardened Aircraft Shelter (HAS). I live near Wattisham and have taken some photos while passing of the site, and using google maps I got started on some plans. A full size hanger in 1/48 would just be too big, so a single aircraft HAS seemed do-able. So this is what I was aiming for: Most of the build so far is on my other thread, so I won't repeat it all here. Suffice to say it got rolling with a bit of rolled up cardboard: The main structure is about 76cm x 45cm. But then add the apron in front, doors, vent at the back, annex, etc, etc. Its got pretty big.

G'day people, After ummimg and aaghing I decided I would join in this GB with the Hasegawa 1/48 kit. nobody else has been foolhardy enough to join in with this kit as although it once ruled the roost in terms of detail and accuracy, it also has a fearsome reputation for being a nightmare to build that makes the Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer kit seem like a doddle (I thought the Bucc was actually pretty easy to assemble FWIW) such that may a Has Kitty has languished in people's stashes. I am sure that plenty of people are probably trying to offload it now that Tamiya have provided an an easier option. Since I have been amassing loads of AM for this kit over the years, this looks like a perfect excuse to build it. Firstly, the box and bits, I made a start today by preparing the forward fuselage halves for the replacement resin tub by removing the moulded locating ledges and removing the section of the cockpit access steps that protrude from m the inside of the left fuselage as this would foul the resin tub The final job for today was to start assembling the intake sub-assemblies by cleaning up the ejector pin marks from the forward intake sections and filling the seams on the rear duct sections. cheers, Pappy