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  1. Hello All, WIP of the interior prior to permanently closing up. Will be converted to a Afrika Korps 250/10 so don't take too much notice of the Panzer grey finish as it will be a base for some hairspray technique 'action' .... (fingers crossed on that)! Happy Modelling, Ian
  2. This is another kit falling victim to my new found battle to eliminate my shelves of doom; kits started, but just never quite finished for one reason or another. It is the HobbyCraft 1/48 Bf 109-C. I found this box, opened it up and discovered it was painted, decaled and just missing the miscellaneous parts that need to be put on at the end of the build. Why I didn’t complete it is a mystery to me. I am not even sure when I started this kit. Apparently, I bought the HobbyCraft kit so I could use Cutting Edge decals for a Bf 109 D-1. Maybe I thought it didn’t look like a D model, but in doing some research, I frankly can’t tell the difference between a C model and a D model in pictures. Anyway, here it is, off of the shelf of doom. It was not the best model as far as detail and fit goes, but I like the scheme and different nose of the C/D model. Now the landing gear has already collapsed once due to the dodgy attachment. Hopefully, with the super glue and metal reinforcements, it will stay on its feet. As always, all comments welcome.
  3. Hi guys here is a Heinkel He 111 H22 from Revell Monogram. It's in 1/48 scale and hase new prop's (RBS), a big edition set from eduard and self made exhausts. It is a nice kit to build. Here is the building thread. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234967990-heinkel-he-111-h22-update-19-10-2014-and-finished/ It was made for a friend of mine from IPMS Netherlands. Rene, I hope you like it. Here are the pictures. Cheers,
  4. I've just read a topic on Hyperscale Jet age forum http://www.network54.com/Forum/624633/mess...tool+1-48+F-94C where I've found a link to IPMS-ES Forum http://ipmseaglesquadron.org/ES-forums/ind...msg4027#msg4027 In this thread dating last December a guy called Glen (aka Kagnew) and presenting himself as a Panda-Hobby representative announced that his company is to release a brand new 1/48th Lockheed F-94C Starfire kit! If you have a look at the Panda-Hobby homepage (http://panda-hobby.com/) the company Chief Information Officer is... Mr. Glen Coleman http://panda.s109.000pc.net/news/12_451.html Stay tuned! V.P.
  5. Well I decided to start a new project. Photo's to follow. 'Sailor' Malan's Spitfire that he flew with 74 Squadron in 1940, ZP-A (K9953). I am hoping to record the progress of this build, unlike my last project (DB Airfix Spit) which I have put to one side. It just seemed to keep going wrong. Perhaps every Spitfire project starts with a bit of debate, so here goes. I have Southern Expo 70th Anniversary decal sheet which shows a Sky Blue. Now we all know that the Stadard 1940 Scheme started of as Black/White and the went to Type S (Tamiya XF-21). I am cuirious as to the correct underside colour for Malan's Spit. I am sure a lively debate will follow as I prep the first set of photos.
  6. Hi Guys, It hase been a while sinds I worked on this model. I started this one in januari 2013 in the Battle of the Reich GB. Here is the link. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234932979-148-heinkel-he-111-h22-update-25-03-2013/ But I didn't manage to finish it. So now I have started it up again. The no go at that time was all the etch in the cockpit, but that hase now been taken care of. Here are some pictures of what hase been done lately. And some coloured etch. and the cockpit compleatly placed. And some pictures of the glasswork. I have given them a dip in some Klear. The grey part on the first picture is a eject shute for the MG131 in the nose. I also have sawn out the top hatch for the pilot and the hatch I have taken from a Falcon set for the He 111. I have also made up the prop's but no pictures of those. Cheers,
  7. Hello all. This will be my first entry for this GB. Oh boy, was it difficult choosing a subject for this? It is a shame my Dreadnought is more than 25% done, as it will probably take 'til November to get her complete. Anyway, my subject as chosen by Mrs Wifey The Roden Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter. Boxed as 'Comic' fighter, it will be done as a different version. It has plenty of detail, some quite fine moulding (to my eyes anyway), and a fair bit of flash to contend with, normal Roden traits. The bits: It comes with two upper wings, so I can modify it to non Comic format (I think). The instructions do not supply a rigging guide, so I will need to interpret the box diagrams. I will use EZ-Line for that. Roden supply Etch rigging points, but the hole in them is extremely tiny, so I hope the line sticks to them well with CA, as I doubt I could thread it through. There is one hitch to try to sort out, one of the wheel hubs is missing (middle sprue, bottom right), so I need to get a pair of replacement wheels - any suggestions would be of great help. I am not sure if they are Palmer Cord, or their sizes, but will do some research. There is also a second upper fuselage deck to enable the different version to be built. The transfers were the usual Roden quality: I have built a couple of Roden kits in the past, and thrown one away, so I know their transfer quality is not, shall we say, 'great' but this was daft. They had disintegrated in the packet. Normally at least they seem to wait until you put them on the model before they do that. I found that there was not much choice with aftermarket markings, but Hannants came to the rescue with these: A set by Blue Rider, and in keeping with me preferring to do things slightly off-beat, are of Imperial Russian WW1 aircraft. I have heard that Blue Rider transfers can sometimes be a little bit see-through, but as these only need 6 roundels, and all are overlaid on the same colour, it should not be a problem. This may not be a rapid build, but I will crack on as best I can. As usual, any hints or tips will be greatly appreciated, kind regards, Ray
  8. Hi! Here's my latest. It's Academys Strike Eagle finished in Xtracolor paints. I used Eduard photetch for extra detail, and Hasegawa weapon set for the Mk. 82's. Decals are from Afterburner and depicts a Lakenheath Eagle All comments appreciated Best regards Rune Haugen Norway
  9. Time sure flies, when you're having fun. So here today - 5 days before 'take-off' I present my topic for this Group Build. Hasegawa's 1/48 P-38J w/Eduard etc and Kagero decals: I'll be starting this on friday the 6'th of june and I be having 'The Longest Day' on the telly as further inspiration! I'm really looking forward to this! Cheers - and may your glue never dry out! Hans J
  10. Hello, Having noticed a dearth of discussion regarding said kit, I thought I'd start the ball rolling myself. Sprue pics are already floating on the Net, however here are mine. Looks like this boxing is the only one that we'll get, with optional parts for early and late versions and something for the spare box as well. Manufacturers take advice: the fuselage interior shape follows, well, is the actual fuselage: the Karman fairing is a separate part. Great for accuracy, although it remains to be seen how this will affect putting on the wings. With respect to their first kit, ejection pin marks are more in check, and there is some detail on the inside of the wheel wells: You get enough bombs to prevent takeoff. I don't think the Il-4 was ever armed with rockets, however their provision doesn't certainly harm no one. Spare box, here we come! A rather unusual load is an AMG-1 naval mine with aerodynamic fairing; there's also a torpedo (possibily a 45-36-AN model?), one FAB-1000 and two FAB-500 bombs. If you build the bomber version the torpedo can be used for a Soviet A-20... What let me down is the width of the panel lines. What to do here? Mr.Surfacer? Stretched sprue? Bite the bullet? Suggestions are welcome. Some oddities of the surface detail: Rendition of the fabric has improved a bit: There are a lot of parts for the interior, but the detail is rather on the soft side: The clear parts are thick but clear. You get a dorsal turret and a half (the difference is in the number of frames), the other half might be a starting point for a field-modified Boston...? This was the feature I was most anxious about. How do the nose windows fare? Fit seems good but they sit 'recessed', not flush. Thinning of the fuselage in correspondance to the frames is in order. Part of the engine. See what I mean about the 'soft' detail? Re the decals, we're finally spoiled for choice. Register is good. However, there's a bit of a problem with the star borders and other details: the white and especially the yellow don't quite cover. This kit will satisfy enthusiasts first and foremost by virtue of its existence, however in some regards (surface detail...) it's a step back from the Tu-2. Pity. Still, I'd rather put together this one rather than wait for Tamiya. If I get some spare time today, I could try and tape it together to check for fit and shape. HTH, Bone
  11. Hi all, I have a question for the F-104 experts out there. What are the differences between the cockpits of the TF-104 and the F-104DJ? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking of using Aires' TF-104 1/48 cockpit in my Hasegawa F-104DJ. Any insight would be very much appreciated. Many thanks in advance!
  12. Now that my Dakota is nearing the finishing line, I hunted through the stash for another subject I came across this battered box, and thought the GB would be a good excuse to get it built so thought I would get stuck into it and do it in D-Day stripes The obligatory sprue shots [img This one has been in the stash for a fair while, and there were no decals in the box, but I am sure I will come up with an appropriate scheme. I will be doing it alongside another A20 build,as the box contained sprues for another A-20. IO will do this as a RAAF machine, obviously I will only be showing the Day one in this GB
  13. This is new set intended for 1/48 Academy Hunter. This set suitable for all F and FGA Hunter mods. There are flaps, airbrake, nose wheel hub details in the set. Model flaps are narrower, then should be. The etched flaps have precise dimentions and fix the original parts sizes error. Avail direct from http://amurreaver.m-fix.ru/ and eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/261595600010
  14. Pro-Resin (Olimp) is to release a Short SC.1 resin kit - ref. R48-001 Source: http://www.olimpmodels.com/catalog_2.html V.P.
  15. Hasegawa 1/48th recycling... - ref. HSP324 Source: http://www.amerang.co.uk/model-kits?product_id=48642#.VCwtOT9xmUm V.P.
  16. Pro-Resin (Olimp) is to release a Temco TT-1 Pinto resin kit - ref. R48-002 Source: http://www.olimpmodels.com/catalog_2.html V.P.
  17. My latest: Heller’s old 1/48 Mirage 2000C. This has had a fair bit of other stuff thrown at it. You can read about it in my separate hints and tips here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968266-heller-mirage-2000c-with-pavla-upgrades-hints-tips/ - but, to sum up, I’ve added a Pavla cockpit, Pavla control surfaces, Pavla wheels, a Master pitot probe, and an Eduard tank very kindly supplied by horrido109. The camouflage is the specific Mirage blue-greys from Xtracolor, brushed on as always, and the usual variety of this and that for the rest. I’ve drawn in the panel lines but done no weathering. So far as I can tell, apart from the centreline tank these things stay pretty clean - or at least they did back in 1991. Not like the two-seat attack variants. Markings are from the kit: EC 2/5 Ile de France, at Orange. The decals were twenty years old and most went on flawlessly with only a little help from Microsol and Klear. Apart from a slight register problem, I was very impressed. But can anyone spot where they went wrong?
  18. I've just posted my Mirage 2000 here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968265-dassault-mirage-2000c/ in Ready for Inspection. Here are some tips for building it, and the Pavla parts I added, in the hope that someone might find them useful. Cockpit Pavla make a cockpit for the Heller kit, but that’s not what I had; I had the one for the Kinetic kit as a review sample. This is very similar but, of course, designed for a slightly different piece of plastic. Still, it’s a better idea than the NeOmega cockpit, which is designed for the old Italeri kit (not the newer Kinetic rebox). Large differences in the way it fits to the nosegear well would have caused a lot of trouble making it fit. (I’m selling it if anyone’s interested!) The cockpit for Kinetic can be made to fit Heller with a lot of sanding of both plastic and resin. This probably applies if you’re putting in a Kinetic kit, of course, but differently. I think I took out too little plastic, which has made my cockpit narrow. I had to mount the side-walls a bit far in: they’re meant to sit on ledges next to the side consoles, while mine are just about on top of them. On one side the ledge was a little too small anyway, so you might want to watch for this. I ended up having to shave off the bottoms of the side-walls to give them room to sit above the buttons and switches. Though it doesn’t really show. Even allowing for this, the fit’s not brilliant behind the seat; but that can be concealed under the rear bow of the canopy. The coaming is much nicer than NeOmega’s (this set is almost worth having for that alone) but, again, it’s a tight squeeze. No matter which set you have, be prepared to shave off corners and to have to remove more kit plastic than you realised. Painting instructions are a bit haphazard. As always, check your references (and bear in mind that not all seats found in a Mirage 2000 use the same colours). Canopy This was the single trickiest stage of the whole build. The Pavla cockpit set includes a vac-formed acetate canopy. This has its attractions: thinner, reasonably clear, separate canopy and windscreen. The detail is a bit soft but it’s on a par with the kit’s. Neither Heller’s nor Pavla’s parts fitted. In part this must be down to my not having trimmed the cockpit tub enough. The effect on the cockpit parts themselves was to pinch in the sides (as above) but the effect on the fuselage parts was to spread them slightly. In the end I pressed on with Pavla. Because neither Pavla nor Heller supplied an actuator, I wanted to leave the canopy shut while allowing the cockpit to be seen, and Pavla’s problems were more manageable. In particular, I knew it would need some flexing and poking to make it fit, which acetate could take better than polystyrene. My diagnosis notwithstanding, I don’t think all the bother was down to me. This is because both canopy and windscreen were wider than the fuselage at the bottom front corners, and narrower at the bottom rear. That can’t have been caused by a wide fuselage. The windscreen also sat too high at the front. This could have been addressed by trimming the front end, but that would have removed the frame and its bolt details; trimming the other end would have removed the rear frame. The only remedy I could find was to plonk it on, then fair in the front end by building up two thin plies of plastic sheet and slopping on Mr Dissolved Putty. If you’re forced to do this, take care over the mounting for the FR probe. If you can leave some plastic showing through the filler, it will be a lot easier to attach. The canopy tended to a different curve from the windscreen - it seemed twisted to the right and so was too high on that side and too low on the other. The soft detail also made it hard to know where there was excess acetate, and on reflection I probably trimmed away a little less canopy than I should have. It might have fitted better but for that. Well, anyway, I muddled through and bodged most of the resulting dips and gaps. The filler here was Clearfix because, as well as all that, the rear frame of the canopy wouldn’t reach the fuselage spine at the bottom corners - not only too narrow but too short. There’s some swarf inside the canopy. I suspect this is not so much unavoidable as obligatory. There’s also some glue. I’d have preferred to use PVA but I knew it wouldn’t stand up to the manipulation. And, despite a coat of Klear inside and out, there was enough CA to create some fogging. The lesson is to use more Klear - I couldn’t have avoided using that much glue. On balance I’d have preferred a one-piece vac-formed canopy with the option of separating the pieces. Who knows how it might have fitted, but at least there wouldn’t have been a mismatch between canopy and windscreen. Control surfaces Pavla’s elevons are nice to have because they show the hinge covers better than the kit parts and have finer external hinges on the underside. Those hinges are how the elevons attach to the wing. But there’s a problem. To fit the elevons you remove the kit parts by sawing along the hinge line. To avoid steps from the remains of the engraved line, you need to remove all of it. This effectively puts the mounting line for the new parts too far forward. On the real thing, when the elevons droop there’s not much space between their top surfaces and the fixed structure. Pavla’s seem to have dropped slightly. They sit low, leaving a large space behind the wing. It’s not a gap - you can’t see daylight through it - but it’s not the correct snug fit either. I suppose I might have attached the hinges in the wrong place. But I followed Pavla’s incised marks on the elevons. And, with the geometry, it doesn’t seem possible to fix it by mounting the hinges further back. That would tend to raise the elevons, but it wouldn’t leave enough room for their leading edge, which is already in contact with the wing. My solution was to attach a length of 1.5mm L-section strip along the wing trailing edge. This give a false impression of how the edge looks, but it covers that space reasonably well. I suspect it also puts back a little bit of chord lost because of Heller’s slightly coarse hinge line. Where it’s not all that easy to fiddle is the wing root, where the Kármánn fairing starts. You can create the curve by building it up with thin plastic, or by leaving the end of the L-section free and bending it before you glue it in separately. I ended up doing both, on opposite sides - still not sure why. One small mystery is that Pavla’s hinges are all slightly inboard of the kit ones. At the outboard end, Pavla also gives you replacement wingtips with slightly better rendered RWR receivers. I discovered only on attaching them that these are mounted nose-up, which isn’t right. I can’t think of a correction. Another feature is that the rear of these bits has a little recess to take the nose of that section of elevon. This is nice to have, but no earthly use when the rest of the elevon hinge has to be sawn away and there’s no replacement structure. I defy anyone to create a hinge line that looks right and still allows room for the elevons. If you’re doing what I did with covering the elevon hinge line, bear in mind that the wingtips are slightly longer in chord than the ends of the wings after you’ve cut away the kit elevons. I should have extended that L-shaped strip into a narrower bit on the wingtip. The antenna fairing is partly on the wingtip and partly on the elevon, so you’ll want to ensure they line up. Judicious sanding of the inner end of the elevon or the wing root fairing should take care of it. Also, the nose of the elevon portion needs chamfering, or it will foul the tail of the wingtip portion. Finally, this set includes replacement rear ends for the Kármánn fairings (the bits inboard of the elevons that lie alongside the rear fuselage). I’m not sure why. Neither kit part nor replacement is a brilliant fit and there’s not much to choose in the sharpness of their edges. This Pavla set doesn’t include the fairings with the Spirale dispensers. The kit does - well, sort of, they’re pretty coarse. The only way to get better ones is to buy Pavla’s control surfaces set for the later Kinetic Mirages - eg the 2000D. Two more small tips. The outboard pylons are wrongly shaped at the rear end and will foul the elevons; and the rear end of the rail, where the Magics attach, fouls their rear fins. A little filing is needed (or the Pavla pylon set). On one of my elevons there was also a slight bend. My attempt to flex it back snapped it, but that wasn’t a problem as it was along the panel line and the two halves can be made to marry up again. If I hadn’t also snapped a hinge, I might have done the same on the other side. Intakes These are a shocking fit. Your goal is to ensure that the leading edge of the splitter plate is flush with the intake lip. As designed, the kit will probably make it protrude slightly. There’s a choice of ways to address this. None is “right” in the sense of minimising trouble; your best bet is to dry-fit, see out where the gaps are, and decide which of them you least fancy trying to fix. Personally I fitted the intakes after the wing, contrary to the instructions. This seemed to make the gaps easier to deal with. But, as I should have expected, it all changed between dry-fit and final fit, and there’s packing everywhere. Having said that, I still don’t think attaching them to the fuselage first would have been significantly better. The intake strakes are far too fat. But they fit into plain holes, directly to the outer surface of the intakes, so you can thin them to your heart’s content. A common feature of Heller kits is that the locating pins are smaller than the corresponding holes*, so a bit of filling will be needed too. Be warned that your strakes may actually be fatter towards the ends, in defiance of all that we think we know about mould design. * if you think this is bad, you should see the pitot heads. Undercarriage The undercarriage legs are fairly sturdy and shouldn’t need replacing for strength. But there are problems. The retraction struts on the maingear fit poorly to the legs and have no location at all in the wells. You can brace them well enough but they’re just touching, with no obvious reason to be there. The same goes for the inner doors. The nosegear arrangement, as assembled, leaves the retraction strut floating free. It should attach at the top front corner of the well - still no proper detail there, but at least the location would be right. But it’s too short and barely reaches the lip of the well. If you try to get the leg raked slightly aft as it ought to be, the strut misses the well altogether. On reflection I think this is because the leg is slightly too long, or at least its location points in the well are too low. I realised this far, far too late. All the wells are very plain. You can hide a lot by leaving all the larger doors shut, as is the norm on the ground. But even then a little detail in the outer portions of the maingear wells is worth adding. NB: I don’t think the inner doors are curved to match the underside. My solution was to mount them ajar, which is also seen on the ground. The roof of the maingear well is mostly on the wing parts, but one slice doesn’t appear until you attach the wing to the fuselage - it’s under the wing root fairing. There will be gaps. The fuselage section is the right depth on the outer side, but it’s too shallow and too narrow on the inner side. Even with the doors fully shut, these gaps can be seen, so they’ll need fixing. The small doors to either side of the nosegear fit poorly. The curved hinges are quite nice, but they foul the nosegear leg. File and fit to taste. Overall, I’d say it wouldn’t be a bad idea to seek replacement undercarriage and wells. I love those resin wheels, though. My cavil about the brake actuators is trivial compared with the overall effect. VOR aerials These mount to either side of the fin. Like the intake strakes, they’re far too chunky. But unlike the intakes, Heller moulded little plinths on the fin to attach them to. These are the same thickness and they’d be very tricky to thin. I decided to leave it in the end. Exhaust I used the kit part. It’s a bit plain and it’s stuck in the fully-open position, but I was happy with the representation of the inner nozzle. I scribed some lines on each outer petal and used Mr Metal paints for a passable result. An obvious alternative is an Aires exhaust. Whatever you choose, the ring at the end of the fuselage is in one piece on the kit, but 64 tiny sections on the real thing. If you like, you can scribe them in: four for each exhaust petal. Counterweight No nose weight is mentioned in the instructions. As the build progressed it seemed none was needed - the extra weight of the elevons was balanced by the weight of the cockpit. As it’s turned out the model is just balanced, and I think that’s only because of the position of the centreline tank. If you were to add a resin exhaust as well, you’d definitely have a tail-sitter. So I’d recommend half an ounce or so. There’s plenty of room in the nose. The rest of the kit A familiar problem here: iffy fit, and panel lines not always meeting where they cross the joins. The part where you should pay the most attention is the fin root. If you can get this level, your job when attaching the fin will be much easier. The fin itself needs the right-hand half thinning, or it will sit proud. There’s also rough fit just behind the nosegear well, and the inserted ventral panel takes some fiddling too. I’m still trying to work out why there’s a separate panel there. The wing-to-fuselage junction is very uneven: at some points the wing is higher, at others it’s lower, that’s not symmetrical, and the gaps (just about all the way along) vary in width. If you can leave a trace of them, though, it’s a help, as there are real panel lines there. Note that they’re not smooth curves - they really do kink to and fro as the kit parts do. But at least the wing is in one piece, goes on evenly, and sets the correct anhedral. This is a major plus compared with the Kinetic kit. You can do a bit of surgery on that to fix it, but it’s nice not to have to. Overall This kit definitely falls into the category of some modelling skills needed. I don’t mind this approach where you get, say, basic shapes and you have to add detail. I find it less acceptable where it amounts to having to compensate for poor design. Being fatalistic about it - or, worse, having a go at people who object to it because they’re not “proper modellers” - does nothing to encourage kit manufacturers to improve their fit and finish. (This is an old kit, though, and Heller hasn’t done much of late, so that boat has probably sailed.) Unfortunately the upgrades are also some modelling skills needed. While I created my own problem by using a cockpit aimed at a different kit, a lot of the fit was ropey, the instructions were murky, and I don’t think quite enough thought went into how the resin was meant to attach to the plastic. Nor am I very impressed with acetate canopies. I’m quite glad I didn’t pay for this stuff. But the detail is, on the whole, improved for having it. And, having said all that, I’ve rather enjoyed myself. I’ve always thought the Mirage 2000 was a dainty little thing, and I’m quite pleased with the end result.
  19. Hi everybody, This is my first "in progress" post. I am by no means a professional builder and the purpose of my post is purely for interest to those wanting to see how the new Kittyhawk Mirage F1 single seater goes together. Photography is also not my strong point so please forgive the quality of my (Cellphone taken) pictures. This is the kit: My attempt will be to turn it into this: This is the South African Air Force example of the Mirage F1C, called the CZ in SA. This aircraft was the first example painted in the blue/grey air superiority scheme. Shortly after it was painted in this scheme this aircraft shot down an Angolan Mig-21MF with its 30mm canon. Soon all F1CZs were painted in this scheme. The initial impression of the kit is very good. Mould quality is excellent and the kit has a lot of detail. Certainly an improvement over the Esci/Italeri example. The kit is however not without faults of it's own. the main problem for me being the shape of the intakes. More on it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948924-kittyhawk-mirage-f1-intake/ I decided to use the Pavla intakes. Although originally designed for the Esci/Italeri kit, it can be made to fit this kit. Some sanding is required but the general result is acceptable. I also used some plastic card to build up the area where the intakes join the fuselage to get a better fit as the Kittyhawk kit is slightly deeper in this area: I'll post more pictures shortly Victor
  20. Sharkit is to release in October 2014 a 1/48th resin kit from the Rutan Long-EZ. Source: http://www.sharkit.com/sharkit/longez/longez.htm V.P.
  21. Under the label KaJuk the Russian modeller Alexander Kozyrev has edited a 1/48th resin kit of the MiG-9 "Fargo". This aircraft was the first Soviet turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich in the years immediately after World War II. A total of 610 aircraft were built, including prototypes, and they entered service in 1948 with the Soviet Air Forces. At least 372 were transferred to the People's Liberation Army Air Force in 1950 to defend Chinese cities against air raids by the Nationalist Chinese and train the Chinese pilots in jet operations. The MiG-9 was quickly replaced by the MiG-15 and only three are known to survive. http://en.wikipedia....-Gurevich_MiG-9 Two reviews : in Russian: http://scalemodels.r...1-48-mig-9.html in German: http://www.flugzeugf...iG-9--Fa-KAJUK And THE question: where to obtain/purchase this kit? V.P.
  22. Next Attack Squadron (http://www.attacksquadron.pl/en/) 1/48th resin kit is a Camcopter S-100 drone kit - ref. ASQ4800? Source: http://www.attacksquadron.pl/en/2014/09/19/coming-soon-models-camcopter-s-100-enginres-for-c-130j-jdam-bombs/ V.P.
  23. Just wondered if anyone else had spotted these about. I have a couple of Eduard Mk IXs with lots of extras in the stash, but before I set too on these, I wanted to have a play around with a simple spit. Saw these on Ebay, and thought at that price must be worth ago, especially with the added figures and diorama details included, £12.99 posted. (also comes without figures even cheaper) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291229848738?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 Arrived yesterday, and after a quick look through the box, was pretty impressed. I didnt get the Eduard out for a comparison but think we all know the standard of that kit. Detail in the ICM box is pretty good, the engine bay is built up of several parts and the panels can be cut from the main body to display it. Likewise the cockpit too is pretty nice. There is some sprue around, but not too much, and there is on mine at leat, a lack of ejector pin marks. One issue I did not though was quite a bit of shrinkage/sinkage on several part. The propellor roots inparticular stand outm but where detail has been molded onto one side of a part, there is often a little sinkage on the other side. OK, so with a bit of work this is 'easily' addressed, but I dont think it dtracts from the kit given the price bracket - certainly in my opinion anyway, worth a bash as a trial piece. Decals are minimal, but look a great colour and are well printed.
  24. After it's IAR-81C (http://lcaerodesign.com/ocart/ & http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234938533-148th-iar-81c-resin-kit-by-icaerodesign-released/?p=1292717) Icaerodesign is to release a 1/48th IAR.99 Soim (Hawk) resin kit - ref. 48003. Source: http://www.coopersmodels.com/catalog/item/8905511/10077308.htm V.P.
  25. Following my somewhat epic Harrier build I fancied something small and harmless. I have a few Tamiya Mustangs in the stash and some Xtradecal RAF decals to go with them so this seemed like a good opportunity. Anyone who has built one of these will know what a great little kit it is, no vices to speak of and nice levels of detail. Kit was built OOB with the aforementioned decals plus a PE harness in the cockpit. Cheers Liam
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