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When the 1/48 Sea Fury appeared, I bought one. After looking and thinking that the Yeovilton Display aircraft looked cool it went in the stash...then late last year as I was just finishing the Airfix DH Vampire FGA 9, as flown by 502 Squadron RAuxF It was the last Vampire of 3, F1 (Square Tail) and F3 from the FGA 9, straight from the box, but with Rockets and Bombs...not included by Airfix I remembered that I wouldn't need the under wing load included with the Sea Fury so I thought I'd like to build the Sea Fury...and I needed something that wouldn't drive me mad, as the Vampires did. The initial build went well, no surprises. For the first time this build was all Airbrush/Acrylic with the hairy stick only brought into play on some very small details. I was impressed by the even density of colour and the amount of detail that showsd through. So, the first view.... I followed the Airfix Colour suggestions, but using Vallejo Acrylic paints. The resultant colour for the underside and interiro were a little surprising..... Comments, anyone? Anyway, on to the U/C and other external details, I'm enjoying this!

Hello Gents !! First RFI for this year.... I would have finished the kit in December but life is life.... Inspired by Tony... Obviously since he is credited by DK decals for that sheet.... I already produced a kit from this decal sheet... Let's go for a second one.... The destination is what I use to call my fav place in U.K..... Yeovilton....but in 1942 for this kit.... A Hurricane Mk I but in Fleet Air Arm markings... Welllll.... huh... Almost.... since a borrowed engine cowling came from the Fighter Command... So, here's Popeye...from 760 Naval Air Sqdn.... I once again Thanks Tony for advices, tips and historical knowledge.... I really enjoy weird markings and that one was a pleasure.... Colors are Xtracrylic as usual Weathered with Flory and oil paints.... I used to have a pic of the real thing, I'll find it back... Just for the one who think that the weathering is a bit overdone.... I know that I oftenly fall for dirty aircrafts.... A last pic of Popeye ?? And on for the family pics ?? Comments are welcome, banters are mandatory... Sincerely. CC

Hello Gents !! Here I am again.... First of all, My friend @The Spadgent will be glad to see another Sharkmouth.... That's pretty funny to call 112 Sqdn the Shark Sqdn since it is in fact the Black cat Sqdn... I once again have to thank our friend Tony O T for the tips about this kit.... He realised one too.... So this is the Airfix kit almost OOB..... I said almost..... So, let's go to Bruggen, Germany in 1955.... Some outside pics in between rain squalls.... I really enjoyed the Airfix kit, I'll make another one since it was pleasant.... Eagle Strike decals, Xtracrylics paints.... Eduard PE seatbelts, syringe needles gun barrels..... I used the ferry fuel tanks, 166 gal fuel tanks were rarely used on the British Sabre.... So let's say that mine is ready to go to Akrotiri or Wheelus for a life shooting training... Or for some airbase in Scotland to bring back some liquid replenishment..... I see that the last coat of varnish has reacted strangely Some family pics now ??? It's up to you Gents, comments are welcome, banter are mandatory.... Sincerely. CC

Hello Everybody, Gidday everyone..... First RFI of the year still in January... Not too bad... Why Giorgio @giemme ?? Because we go in Italy for this one... Okay, let's guess that Giorgio have a Huuuuuge backyard... But huh.... We go on the Adriatic coast in Ramitelli..... 301st FS, red tail Angel... Flown by Lt Charles white Part of the Tuskegee experiment.... A pic of the real thing ??? This Fighter group has pretty well maintained aircrafts since they were under close scrutinity.... At the time being, there was still a great defiance regarding the african american peoples... The fact that the whole thing was called an "experiment" say it all !! The kit is the Airfix offering... A fairly good kit Decals and lots of internal parts are from the Eduard royal box.. Huh, the propeller is an Eduard one too... Paints are AK extreme metal and I notice right now that I forgot the position light.... That will be fixed this evening.... I got the superscale decal sheet 48-1186 but I'll say that Eduard decals looked far better... That's not lost anyway since there are P-51C on it, I did'nt start the B and C Mustangs yet.... Now... on for family pics ??

Hello Ladies and Gents !! Mmmmh.... To be more accurate, I have to say Fleet Air Arm in Korea.... Now, 2.0 is here just because of these... The first response has been swift and vigorous.... HMS Triumph went to war with Firefly Mk I and Seafire 47.... the so called "colonials" were amazed since the old lion took his part of the fight.... Then came more deployments, HMS Theseus relieved HMS Triumph... Followed by HMS Glory, HMAS Sidney and HMS Ocean..... HMS Glory did 3 Korean war cruises, fair enough for me to paid my little tribute.... That said, Let's go on HMS Glory flight deck... Sea Fury FB.11 from 801 NAS in 1952 Airfix kit, I'll rate it as a good kit, sadly Airfix fell short of giving us a great Sea fury kit... Short shot on the sprues, no compass and no gunsight.... Seriously... A sailor's bird whithout a compass ??? And last nasty surprise, wrong location for the rockets on the wings.... It explain the fact that only eight of it are carried on my kit.... I know that excentricities are usual but firing a rocket that lie against the fuel tank is.... how can I figure it ?? Suicidal ?? A pic of the real thing as usual... Paints are Xtracrylics as usual... Weathering with Flory and oil paints... I've been soft on the weathering since the pics show mostly clean aircrafts... And YES, once again I choosed stripes although I hate these.... Okay, now, it's up to you Gents, comments are welcome, banters are mandatory..... Family pics are coming.... Sincerely. CC

Hello all. I am a bit of a fan of the EE Lightning, and have been since 1970. I have built many of them since then, but it was only recently that I have been confident (ahem) enough to get natural metal finishes that I have even remotely liked. My ultimate goal was to produce a replica of a Lightning in 1/48 rather than in my more usual 1/72, but I could never pluck up the courage. I have now since 2014 built 11 1/72 Lightnings, and had a couple of the Airfix 1/48 F.1/F.1A/ F.2/ F.3's in my stash. The other month I decided that I would never know if I did not try, so I got one out and started it. I found the 1/48 kit a delight (mostly) and did not need much filler, but me and filler do not get on. There are a few things I think I would do differently next time when I build the other, but as a test, this was fine. The main paintwork was done with Tamiya rattlecans, a light grey primer first, then a white primer, the to-be-red areas were masked, then I sprayed Bare-Metal Silver, then masked various panels (oddly satisfying!) the sprayed Silver Leaf. The difference was subtle and visible at some angles and not others. The red was Humbrol 60 Scarlet followed by Humbrol 19 Gloss Red enamels, brush-painted and thinned with naphtha thinners. The transfers were the Airfix ones, and I was amazed that there were fewer stencils for this than on the Airfix 1/72 recent tooled kits. I had the devil's own job of attaching some of the final parts, I was using fresh CA and nothing would stick, and when it came to attaching the Firestreaks, I ended up adding the two of them at the cost of four other parts just falling off! Even the tailplanes caused me problems, but that is one area where I had my ideas for dealing with differently. Anyway, enough waffle, and this is what I ended up with: The nose ring by the way was Mr Metal Colour Chrome metallizer scrubbed onto the nose ring with an old brush, left for a minute then buffed with a cotton bud... ... as was the rectangular panel under the wing root. Some of the different panels show here Not sure about that pitot angle! I was concerned about the wing walkways. I had the old Airfix Magazine which had an article about the Airfix kit build (December 2015) which showed an odd (to me anyway) finish with the walkway, and was nothing like the box top illustration where the walkways followed their usual path and went over the red, but the builder (Chris Jones) showed them like I have here. I am a member of the EE Lightning Appreciation Group on FB, so I posed the question as to which was right, and the general opinion was that this way was, and that was backed up with photographs. I still think the Airfix/Adam Toobey way looks better. Next time, I will see if I can add the underside leading edges to the lower wing before fitting as there is a step underneath on my build. I will also add the nose ring before painting anything and masking it for the chrome as there is a small step around it and may benefit from clamping. I will remember to add the missile rails (which between you and me I forgot!), and I will probably pin the tailplanes and not rely on the friction-less fit that they have. Finally, I will add the wing navigation lights before painting too, as they are fiddly and needed some help to fit. The final thing to deal with differently was to do with masking - when I masked the spine to paint the red, I used short lengths of tape. Where they overlapped, they left a white area where the paint did not get to, so I had to try re-touching with a very steady hand along the lower edge of the spine, it was nerve-wracking as I have the shakes a bit! This is not perfect and I made some boo-boos, but I am mighty pleased that I finally have a 1/48 EE Lightning in my collection, without resorting to Corgi, which would not, after all, be quite playing the game. Thanks for looking, all the best everyone. Ray

....well l don't know about you lot but mine would be (front and back) if 9 of these had just taken off in a rolling formation, gone vertical, on full afterburner to 20,000 feet at mach 1.2. The noise and vibration would have felt like the end of the earth, Birds would have fallen from the sky. Women would have fainted in there thousands. Hard men with daggers tattoed to there foreheads would have cowered on the floor crying for mummy. It would have been FANTASTIC !!! Big thanks to @Dr. Quack for sending me the RAF decals. @Courageous @Wolfman @Terry1954 @Lightningboy2000 suggested l built this after l presented a Phantom Red Arrows in RFI back in 2019, it's taken a while so l hope it does'nt dissapoint. Suprised how big the Lightning is along side the Phantom. and NO l am not going to build a Vulcan Whif next!!!!

Hello Dears, Before going any further, I want to thank my friend @Grey Beema for the inspiration. So, let's go in Palestine in 1941, after the battle of cape Matapan and some Malta convoy escorts, the aviators of 803 and 806 Sqdn are disembarked at Dekheila.. The Fulmars were worn and inadequate, hence the creation of Royal Navy Desert Fighter Force... Or RNDFF ..... Equiped with RAF Hurricanes Mk I, they fought germans, italians aaaaand french aviation in Palestine... Enough with history... Let's get some plastic... Here we go in Sidi Haneish... followed by a pic of the real thing... The pics of RNDFF aircrafts are not very often seen... But, The one I saw shows only one bearing the Sqdn code OL... So, I choose not to put it on my model... Colors are Xtracrylics as usual Flory and oil paints as usual, and some pigments, but I think that I have to learn a bit about pigments.... My second Airfix Hurricane and I really enjoyed this kit !! More to come soon Aka, the family pics...

Hello everyone... I present my build of the 1/48 Airfix Tomahawk in AVG Markings. It wears the white #21 of Gregory Boyington. The decals are a mix of Airfix, Academy, and Microscale. The ring & bead sight are left overs from the old Revellogram kit. Please feel free to ask questions, post comments, or visit the build thread. Dennis

Back on the horse and this one will be OOB! Going to make the camouflaged F.24 version. Looks like a fairly straightforward kit, nice decals and only one main sprue! Any pitfalls I need to be aware of?

Hi All This my 1/48 Airfix and scratch built RB.57F, like the real GD RB.57F this doesn't contain much Canberra, much of what you see is scratch built from various domestic items, a full WIP can be found here. Big wing build Thanks for looking John

Hi Guys The second product is now available on my site, I will be able to ship in about a week on this product as production is only just starting and I need to obtain packing boxes, they are on order. See more pictures and explanation on my website but here is one picture of the finished product basically tacked and taped into position. visit http://www.aerocraftmodels.com

Another of the "new" AIRFIX range of aircraft - an aircraft that was much in demand, and what a big beast she is. The current Historic Flight Vixen is an impressive sight to see at the Air Shows, but equally sobering is the number of Vixen aircrew lying in graves at St Barts church in Yeovilton. (There is even an impressive memorial there placed by the actress Kristen Scott Thomas - her father was killed flying Vixens in the 60's - I believe her mother remarried another vixen pilot, subsequently killed on F-4s in the 70's). Working at yeovilton a few years ago there was still an old Vixen "Looker" working in uniform - in discussion he suggested that one of the reasons for the "side-by-side" arrangement for the Observer was a hang up from the de havilland design team still flushed with that arrangement on their Mosquito. With the requirement to sit "down in the coalhole" it took some courage (and faith!) in your driver to get it right. i understand that at one point in the 60's young Midshipmen were sometimes taken off training on Frigates & destroyers and sent on the Observers course just to make the numbers up for replacements! markings are for 890 NAS - the "witch on the Broom" is taken from the pub on the road to Yeovil - that is still there today. what? another kit missing it's Pitot tube.......there's a theme building here!

A quick build inspired by a completed model I saw at the Yeovilton show earlier this year. Amazing build quality - thanks AIRFIX - this was just the tonic to get me out of a modelling rut. Obviously I wouldn't ever do a CRAB subject, but liked the potential for colours on this one. Took a bit of poetic licence and painted it light grey and had a play with the serial numbers etc - just to be different. yeah, i know the pitot tube (!) and I really need to learn to take pictures

Just finished Lightning No 8 and the project is getting closer and closer now. A MASSIVE thank you to Alex ( Coneheadff ) who very generously donated the entire decal sheet from his Grand Phoenix kit And before anyone shouts out, Yes I too have just noticed that I forgot to add the 2 aerials on the spine - something to do at the weekend now. Thanks for taking a look

Well as I have been through all the trouble to get a photo posted with the good help of Emilliano I thought I may as well start a work in progress with my 1\48 Airfix Buccaneer. It will be Fleet Air Arm and more or less straight out the box but probably get AM airbrakes and wing fold. Progress might be a bit protracted and come in fits and starts due to work and wife! Will get something posted at the weekend hopefully and go from there. This will be a bit of a test for me, not only seeing what you think, but also getting used to posting etc, so apologies in advance if it goes astray at times!!!

Here's the latest in my projects this year. I got this from a modelling mate for rather less than what they go for so I was pleased before I even got started. I managed to pick up the Neomega cockpit at SMW 2012 with a bit of future planning purchasing. This is my first ever 1/48 Bucc so I'd put a few hours in on others builds and how to build it easily which wasn't a problem at all. The only difference I did was the lugs that make up the intakes most people seem to cut them off and then cement to the whole kit, I applied the same theory as per the body and just glue (well MEK actually) in small steps and I got a great join which required no filler what so ever. The kit came together very well and there isn't much filler on the kit at all. I inserted plasticard at the forward most end of the fin where it is way thinner that the spine part that makes the join. Airwaves wing joins were used but I could find any for the airbrake so detailed it a bit with plasticard again and filled in the extra holes, using the Aeroguide as a guide!. I did put a pile of weight in the nose just to be on the safe side and the build came together. I've used an article in MAI about the build and thought I'd try the paints listed in there, but the green is wrong, so I when I sprayed it it was immediately obvious it must have been a typo, so the grey is Tamiya X-54 & the green is Xtracrylix RAF green. Decals on, most were the kit but some of them were way out of register so the spares box was raided. Thanks to Dr Evil for the XV decals . All finished off with a dark wash for the panel lines as I didn't want to go to arty on it as they're just not like that, then finished off with Windsor & Newton Matt varnish. Once dry just the exhaust staining added then I added the wings, which the etch join wouldn't take the weight of the wings so I was forced into doing the stay bars, which once painted (in situ) I think I've got the center section a bit thick. Anyway one more to go then I can reveal my project finale.

Hi all Have made a start on one of the pair, going together really well so far. I just need to try and work out how to make the barracuda thermal/cam covering. Thanks for looking Jon