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Hello all, a complete change for me here is the latest from the shed. This is the first Japanese WW2 aircraft I’ve built since my teens!! And I have to say I had great fun making it. It was bought as a practice piece before I make the main event, a “Pete” on a catapult. Designed as a three-seater deck borne Reconnaissance aircraft the C6N1 entered service after the majority of Japanese carriers had been destroyed, so most were flown from land. It was a very fast aircraft for its time and could outrun most pursuing fighters. The C6N1-S was a modified C6N1. It was developed as a night fighter to counter allied bombers as they came within reach of the Japanese homelands and had a 30mm cannon obliquely mounted in the cockpit area, where the centre seat used to be in the reconnaissance version. Having no radar severely diminished the effectiveness of the aircraft. The Kit provides three options, one of them being the night fighter. A bit reminiscent of the old Frog kits the interior was a bit sparse, so I added stringers and longerons and a few boxes to fill it up. Apart from the wing roots the fit was pretty good and the decals were excellent. The instructions were in Japanese so thank heavens for good diagrams. Its finished with Humbrol and Xtracolor enamels, Flory dark dirt wash and weathered with Tamiya powders. Here’s a few pics. Thanks for looking Pete

For my entry I’ll be doing yet another ICM Dornier, this time a Do 215B-5 nightfighter in the one true scale. I’ll be doing Helmut Lent’s machine which fits into my aircraft of the aces theme. Here’s the box and sprues and a bit of aftermarket. As I’m going away for my first holiday away in over two years for the whole of May so I may not start until I get home. AW

Recently completed in the Turning Japanese Group Build, Hasegawa 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Army type 1 Fighter Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon) Allied reporting name “Oscar”. Built OOB with the fuselage bands and tail arrow from Berna Decals sheet 72-117 Oscar Part II. I had to use the kit decals for the Hinomarus as the Berna ones were out of register. Model completed as the aircraft flown by Capt. Yasuhiko Kuroe while acting CO of the 64th Sentai based at Toungoo Burma in March 1943. Painted with AK interactive acrylics, the heavy waring around the wing roots was done using the hairspray technique, smaller areas of chipping done with a toothpick. The Dead Design canopy mask set was also used. Thanks for looking. AW

Good evening everyone. The de Havilland Sea Vixen is an aircraft of singular appearance is it not? You notice it. The sweep and curve of its geometry. Formed not only from the requirements of naval aviation but (covertly, one suspects) from those1950s fantasies about how fast and silver a technological future would look. It was the kind of aircraft Captain Scarlet would have trained on and was capable, if required, of protecting the Earth from UFO invasion. At least I think so. I'm going to build two of them partly for the aforementioned reasons, and partly as a way of celebrating the friendship and generosity to be found on this forum. (More on that in a bit.) For now though, posting this in full view means there's no bottling out. Choice of Subject Having wanted to build one these for a long while, I'd been collecting various bits and pieces and images without (as often happens) a definite subject in mind. Always liking a build to be rooted in a meaningful narrative of some kind, I was leafing through some of the entries in the Dorset Crashes site and noted that a FAW.1 (XN708, from 890 Sqn) had gone down in Lyme Bay on the night of 25th November, 1964, killing both crew: Lt Michael J.W. Durrant RN. & Lt Basil A.Last RN. We can sometimes be guilty of building things only to celebrate the notable or the heroic in conflict; in this case it seemed fitting to build something to note those who end uncelebrated in the footnotes of history as peacetime or training casualties. This is the only clearly identifiable shot I've found so far of XN708/R244, original date of photo unknown: Image credit: Imgaylard Brian Patterson has an excellent colour gallery of a sister aircraft here though that will doubtless prove highly useful as references. For the second choice, I'm (as frequently the case in matters of naval aviation) indebted to @Ex-FAAWAFU for drawing to my attention the powerful, nay provocative, black & white diagonal scheme of XJ481 when undertaking Martel trials: Image credit: Roger Winser This has not only the challenge of building a replacement nose to incorporate that camera housing and a Martel to scratch up (I knows there's a 1/72 resin one out there but think the fins are too thick) but a snazzy 'dazzle paint' work to do also, for which @Terry1954 has also kindly supplied some colour references. The Kits I'm going to modify both the venerable 1/72 Frog offering and use the High Planes kit, which has a FAW.1 option. I'd mentioned above that this build was in part a celebration of the generosity no be found on this forum. Let me start by detailing such matters here: The High Planes kit was sent to me some time ago by @Procopius. How gracious is that? Thank-you Edward for this kindness. As a young shaver on the forum, not long after joining I'd mused aloud in a thread about the absence of FAW.1s in 1/72 and been overwhelmed by a (characteristically) generous influx of references and diagrams from both @71chally and @canberra kid regarding the feasibility of modifying the Frog kit. The fruits of these discussions are posted here and I must reread them myself prior to commencing any work in this direction! If you've had a look at Brian Patterson's colour shots above you'll notice prominent in one of them is a Palouste starter. I never used to know about these until seeing @perdu resinate superb examples in his Buccaneer build. Not only that but again without saying anything he'd tucked some of his output away in a package he sent and so I'll be proud to use one of his Paloustes in this project. Thanks Bill! The High Planes kit first: As it says on the box: In fairness I see 'adjustment of parts required' on every kit I buy.... I haven't looked closely-enough at the canopy yet to make any decisions regarding suitablility: Some replacement Aries wheels (I'd forgotten I'd bought them) to replace the originals: The Frog File: Check out the crazy patterning all over the plastic. Weird.... That nose: Subject of much discussion with John and James on the original thread, as might be imagined.... How to '1 a '2: Picked this up dirt cheap of 5thletter bay many moons ago. Think that resin is the 'Final Touch' set (?) but no idea about the white metal provenance. Wheels and legs don't impress: The Airwaves stuff was in the Frog box when I bought it, honest guv: Vaguely possible one or two of those bits may prove of use but certainly not the grotty wingfold. Here's what's really going to offset a diorama - a beautifully perduced Palouste: The markings on both aircraft will be painted rather than decals, but thankfully I've the Model Alliance decal set for the Ark's air wing that I can snaffle the moonlit witches from for the 890 Sqn Vixen: I'm aware of multiple issues with correcting the Frog to a FAW.1, but the High Planes I believe is to be generally trusted in shape terms? (Please correct me if wrong on the latter point). There will of course need to be a wingfold involved somewhere but this has given me a pause for thought: the colour scheme of the Martel-tester is so good that the wings on that one will have to be fully extended to display this handsome plumage, so XN708 will be the one to get the folding treatment, though which kit do do which with (if you see what I mean)? The Frog is moulded with the break in the wings where the fold is so a natural candidate, yet one with such problems in its nose area that this really makes it a better candidate for (the unfolded) XJ481 viz. a totally new and angular schnozz. I'm sure that the High Planes kit can be 'persuaded' to fold so: High Planes = XN708/Palouste (wingfolded) Frog = XJ481/Martel (non-folded) Nearly forgot. XN708 will have the RR Avons visible. So I'll be building 1/72 Avons as well.... References As standard for me, along with contemporary photographs, will be working from original technical documentation, namely several thousand pages of these: I've all 4 volumes of the above, plus: - for the engine build. As the technical manuals are obviously for the FAW.2, help with that handful of specific differences such as canopy etc comes in the form of relevant sections from the FAW.1 manuals generously provided previously by John (@canberra kid). Who else? I'm hoping to have the current Anson build finished by the Autumn so if you've nothing planned for those long winter evenings you'd be very welcome to pull up a Palouste and keep me company here. Thanks for reading, as always. Tony

While the @Homebee sleeps, I'll crack his news - 2! On Moscow "МИР ДЕТСТВА 2021" ( WORLD CHILDHOOD 2021) expo , has announced a 1/72nd of Yakovlev Yak-9 from Zvezda in 2022. B.R. Serge P.S. On street @Learstang the candy truck has finally turned over!

Looking back over what must be almost 65 years of building Airfix kits, I have to say that the pattern of their earlier aircraft releases seems a bit strange at times. Having started off with a supposedly Mk I Spitfire you might perhaps have expected a few more aircraft from the Battle of Britain period, but instead we got a Spitfire IX, a Hurricane "IV" and a Bf 109 "G" followed later by a Do 217E instead of a 17Z and a late war Heinkel He III H-26 I think. Whatever- I bought their Do 217E in the early 1960's not too long after it was released, and when I had probably not really heard of it and here it is, totally refurbished in Maritime colours RLM72/73 over 65, next to a Frog Do 17Z in normal 70/71. There is of course a strong family resemblance as it was initially intended to be an improved Do-17 but put on weight and was given a new number. Subsequently I bought a book which had details of the plane including the later versions with the new glasshouse nose and I rather fancied one, perhaps a K-2 with extended wings to carry Fritz X or Hs 293 missiles. However I ended up buying this. The kit was first released in 1977 though this is the 1983 boxing, and over the years they released it as the N1 night fighter in 1979, the K2 eventually in 1996, bnackdatyed it to an E in 2005, and then they released inline engined M1 in 2011. I think that at one point there was an aftermarket set of extended wings available but that seems to be long gone. The 217 is a curious plane in some respects. As a night fighter it was too slow and clumsy but had long range and made a good night intruder until Hitler stopped operations over Britain as he wanted the German population to see the fallen RAF planes over their own soil. As a bomber it was pretty good but mostly was used at night or on maritime duties and was not too well known in the UK. It had a max bombload of around 8000lb, was quite fast, perhaps 350mph at altitude, and depending on the fuel/bomb load it had a range of over 1000 miles. This will probably end up as a night bomber from KG2 Holzhammer as on the front of the box. Incidentally this is my second kit of this plane, the other was picked up cheap to provide an undercarriage for the Do-217 E refurbishment shown earlier. So if anybody needs any spares I should have everything except the wheels/legs/bay roof and maybe the cockpit floor and turret glazing. I may even have the decs too. Send me a PM if interested. So my contribution to this GB with any luck should be one of the first Do-17 and pretty much the last Do-217. Cheers Pete

Here's my entry the Dornier Do17 Z10, its not going to look very different to my Z7 so I'm considering doing some extreme weathering to it as a plane that lasted longer than it should have. It will give me an opportunity to experiment and develop my painting techniques. This model will be the 2nd to last example of the Dornier Night Fighters in my collection.

Although I love building German aircraft I try not to do Swastikas so in looking for a suitable scheme I came up with various Do17Ka’s or A Hungarian Do 215. Both require a conversion. So I’ve decided to go for the Ka-1, which only needs the main canopy and nose changed. First off a comparison to scale plans. Actually pretty good, the leading edges of the horizontal tail needs reshaping but other than the new nose a good match. Next up a little surgery

Being born in the 1950s I have always been attracted to the Century Series of aircraft. It was a difficult choice which aircraft and in which scale to build for this GB. Having made the decision to build a 1/72nd F-106 I then had the task of which markings to apply, so many colourful and attractive schemes, all of of them on an overall ADC grey scheme. First the kit, I bought a couple of Meng Delta Darts when the kit was released in 2016 and they have remained in the stash ever since. The only other Meng kits that I had bought prior were the 1/48th P-51 Mustang and the 1/72 F-102 Delta Dagger, both of those were disappointing because of the overdone surface detailing of large rivet divots and the F-102 also had deep panel lines and random, overdone panels. The F-106 doesn't, thankfully suffer from these problems, surface detail is very fine and they have detailed the missile bay, undercarriage bays and have provided full length intake ducts and the exhaust/afterburner tube. The kit is so complete that apart from a Master brass pitot tube and some Reskit resin wheels I couldn't find any other AM available for it. Everything still bagged up in the box and the Master brass pitot tube. For decals I will be using the excellent Caracal set, their part two for the F-106, the 318th FIS is the middle scheme on the cover sheet, I also have a set of Fundekal stencils and national markings to use. I wanted to have a start made on the kit so I didn't just have the kit photo on my thread with no progress to look at for a couple of days. So my first update, I have painted the intake ducts and compressor face ready to be assembled into the fuselage, same with the exhaust pipe and I have painted the ejection seat and cockpit parts dark Gull grey, detailed them up as best as I can and added some seat belts from Tamiya masking tape. I just need to paint the instrument panel then I can fit it all inside the fuselage and join the two halves together. Thanks for looking, any comments or questions are always welcome.

My entry will be a 1/72 Hasegawa CF-104 in the later Norwegian green and grey scheme. OOB expect for Master pitot. After having fun my second aim is to complete within the GB dates, for once. (Probably more in the stash that fits this GB than any other GB but there are other GBs that may will fit in.) Done too many grey planes recently so a simple bit of colour. Masks are old, so I hope they work, decals showing some yellowing so bleaching on widow now. I have got Xtradecal set for this scheme but I understand they are not accurate and the Vingtor set isn't available. Chris

Finish no3 for the year is Meng's F102A Delta Dagger (case xx). Been working on this one in the back round while doing the shiny Black Widow. Built OOB as an aircraft operated by 509th FIS from Adorn RTAFB in 1969, using my usual mix of Tamiya and Mr Hobby Colour acylics. Went together fairly well but I found that the colours that Meng recommend (only Vallejo) didn't look like the photos of the aircraft so I substituted Tamiya XF11 for the dark green instead of H304 and used the H304 as the light green instead of H464. The decals went down well except the large fuselage band which needed a lot of Mirocsol to conform to the shape and ripped in one of the corners.Light weathering with Flory Dark Dirt wash. The instructions also have the main undercarriage door actuator upside down in step 8 and the canopy doesn't fit well in the closed position. Otherwise straight forward build less the masking of the canopy for the sealant tape, not had to do this before. Now this one is done I can get back to the P61A, as usual all comment welcome.

Just starting this tonight; one of my favourite aircraft. I find it interesting as pretty much the most distant development of the original Spitfire, and what lines! Everything about it from the contra-rotating props to the ram air intake to the new design folding wings and of course the EDSG over Sky is just >chef's kiss<. I've wanted to build one of these for a long time. I originally was hacking away at the cockpit of the CH/Revell Sea Vixen to make it look something approaching reality, but changed tack for some reason. I have an Airfix 1:48 stored up, and was planning the Rareplane version as my first foray into vac-form as well, but part of the reason for this one in particular is to try something a little more challenging, what with the limited run-ish-ness and PE parts. A quick session this afternoon, so far the interior bits have had some Mr surfacer followed by a coat of Tamiya NATO black (to give a bit of range for washing) (incidentally I'd got the impression from various threatds that this was a bluish-black but looks plenty brown-red to me), and the wheel wells some dark grey. I know Sky or interior green or even Ally are probably more realistic choices but I figured Sky might look a bit toy like (couldn't be bothered to change the colour), and I always felt interior green was a horribly land-lubberish colour to put on naval aircraft. So it's an aesthetic decision I'm afraid. The exhausts also got some Alclad burn iron, since I had it out anyway. My first foray into PE, I did the pedals, which I know was pointless and they'll never been seen in this scale, but I need the practice. Since this is a Hi-tech boxing, the instructions immediately ask you to cut up the cockpit, including sanding down the control panel. A sadness really, seeing as it's be best-moulded part in a rather indifferently moulded kit! Thoughts on the kit so far... it has a very Special Hobbyish tang... fairly rough mouldings that always tend towards flat styrene sheet shapes, but with un-square sides! The transparencies all look a little rough. The exterior shape and detail however, all look lovely. This is going to be a good one for the spares box, there's a lot of extra parts for, it appears, pretty much any late mark Griffon Spit. Anyone got experience with this kit? EDIT: oh and also... the gap in the frame behind the seatrest.. I believe maybe has a fuel tank behind it... can anyone confirm, and know what colour that tank might be? I've seen someone paint it red, I'm sure.

Already I'm wondering if I've bitten off more than I can chew, but more on that later! I'm in with the Valom Vickers Viking C.2 (Royal Flight), already I think three V's in an alteration is worth something. It comes in a proper box with a lift off lid and is so solid no cat will be able to resist sitting in it! So, let's get the bits and bobs out and make room for the cat... It's not just the cat that's happy; there's a little sheet of etched brass that's got the carpet monster happy as well! And a spare fuselage (could be handy for the proposal) Decals and instructions A choice of VL233 for Queen's flight (1956) or VL247 King's flight (1947). This is going to be easy isn't it? VL233, biff bash boff proper job and off to the pub before you can say Platinum Jubilee! Ah yes though, I did say I wondered if I'd bitten off more than I can chew. Good job I'm not doing VL233 for the king isn't it? Because the decal options are wrong. Decal 16 is actually a common for both as an instrument panel. Only decal 8 for Queen's Flight is provided. And this matters because tucked away in an unused part of my memory is that a 'queens' crown and 'king's one are different. Google agrees, basically a Kings one goes up and a Queens has a 'dimple' plus the decal is for EIIR. Obviously none of this is a problem because this is all about the Queen's flight option and its a lovely looking decal for that. No, the real problem is VL233- I can't find the clinching photo of Queenie-love with it, only of VL 247, and that's only of the tail so I don't know what the markings should be. What I need is a gallant knight of the realm to confirm that VL233 was used by HM and I'm back in the clear.. ...Otherwise, I'm in deep about markings We'll worry about bare metal finish later!!!

Been waiting to start this one for a while but now I been moved from my normal work bench into a cupboard I realised just how many kits I have in the stash, 40+ (SWMBO also saw these) and in the move this one came to her attention so she said this should be the next one built. Hobby Boss's P61A Black Widow kit in 1/72, this will be done as aircraft 42-25531 which was the personal aircraft of General Earl W Barnes who was the commander of the 13th Air Task Force, summer 1944. This was the only Black widow to be unpainted if only for 3-6 months before being painted black. In 1/48 decals are available but I couldn't find them in 1/72. I have the Eduard cockpit etch and a decal set for the serials. I have seen other pictures that do not have the art work on the tail but I may try making this as a decal. The Hobby Boss kit looks nice and I will be using Billn53 previous build as reference and other than the paint scheme it should be straight forward. I sprayed some of the interior green at some point but nothing more.

Back in 1972 Airfix released this kit and I bought and built it - not very well as the plastic cement in those days had been modified to combat glue sniffing and although it smelled nice, it was not to good at sticking plastic together! Later I would add the Frog Do-17Z and I already had the Airfix Do-217E, and much later I bought the Italeri Do-217K1. which I hope to build in this GB also. About 10 years ago I decided to strip and refurbish this kit and maybe add an undercarriage, as originally I had built it wheels up. Unfortunately it never got rebuilt but I have managed to find most of the bits. Since taking the above photo I have also found the transparent parts, but I have a Falcon replacement set I may use instead. It needs a bit more cleaning up before I start but the only parts currently glued together are the horizontal and vertical tails and the props mounted on the engine fronts, so it is below 25% complete. It is going to take a fair bit of work and given the number of GB I am involved in at the moment it might not get finished but we will see. Unlike the Do-17Z this is the true "Flying Pencil" version and will make an interesting comparison. As far as I can see the only difference between the E and F involved the bomb sight on the E, the F being a recce version, and the different windscreen, with the F having an extra mg stuck through it on the right. The Falcon set only provides this later type which it claims was standard on the E as well, but that is not quite true I think. Certainly I have seen pics labelled E with the later windscreen but also ones with the earlier one, but more on that later. See you later. Pete

While on ponder on paint for the Me 209V1, I thought I'd start this since it's on the top of a recent purchase pile, a Piper L-4H on floats by Mistercraft in 1/72. Usual bumf... Box art Some plastic Some glazing, decals for 4 airframes and instructions. I have been informed that the scheme of 'choice' is a pretty one; yellow or red/white, she hasn't decided yet. Some plastic to get on with. Two sink marks on the cockpit sides have been dealt with, the smaller parts didn't need much cleaning at all. I have never met a Mistercraft kit before, so I didn't know what to suspect but seeing that it's also Kopro/ KP/ Smer adds to the tension. The raised ribs on the wings and fuselage are a little proud, so they'll need to be knocked back. As far as I can tell the aircraft are pretty sparse, the kit doesn't have any throttles, they must be there somewhere, other stuff too surely? Stuart

My final entry in this GB is hopefully going to be the old Airfix Scout helicopter - I say hopefully because some of the parts are very thin and fragile and I am a lot clumsier now that when I built it not long after it came out in 1966! It looks like I may have to try making a number of modifications, which could cause problems, but first I need some info as I have to date only found one pic of a Scout in the Falklands and that is unclear due to a number of people standing by it loading a casualty. As moulded by Airfix there are bulges to glue on the lower rear fuselage to provide enough width for a stretcher to be carried but it looks like at some point these were replaced by bulged doors instead so does anybody know when this mod took place? Given how frail the structure is it could prove problematic but I will have a shot if it was a feature of the ones used by the Army's 656 Squadron or 3CBAS with the Marines, both units having 6 in action at the time. Another problem is the roof mounted sight for the SS-11 missiles - pictures definitely show it on the helicopter I have seen but in one source it mentions that the missile kit and rails was not always carried, and had to be mounted when a mix of Army and Marine Scouts carried out an attack on some Argentinian Artillery - does anybody know if the sight was carried all the time? Finally, immediately after Airfix released the kit an article in Airfix magazine showed it fitted with a pair of small wheels on the skid frame, apparently to make it easier to manhandle it about - I have seen pics of Scouts both with and without the wheels and a soldier is masking my view of the skids in my photo, so would the wheels have been fitted or not - I am hoping to do a machine of 3CBAS - the air support unit for the Royal Marine Commandos. By the time of this conflict the Scout was obsolete and being replaced by the Gazelle, but it was still used for scouting, moving small numbers of troops about, casevac and as mentioned previously for attacking enemy emplacements, guns etc. Of the 12 in theatre one was shot down by a Pucara and one damaged in a hard landing after a transmission failure. It was recovered but later written off. Cheers Pete

F-4C Phantom II 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, RAF Bentwaters 1966 1/72 Revell / Monogram F-4J kit converted to early F-4C configuration It was on the 17th September 1966 that I saw my first Phantom. The occasion was the RAF Coltishall Battle of Britain ‘At Home’ day. There in the static was 40864 in the original Light Gull Grey / White scheme and at last I’ve got round to modelling it. At the time I only had an old camera with 24 black and white shots and this is the photo I took that day, complete with people standing in the way due to excitement and lack of patience on my part. Not the best photo, so here’s a better one: At this time the Viet Nam camo scheme was about to happen and some aircraft could be seen with drop tanks already camouflaged, such as this on (taken from that excellent book ‘Force for Freedom – The USAF in the UK since 1948’ by Michael Bowyer). Note the ‘Buzz Numbers’ have been removed also by this time: For my model I decided to show 40864 with one camouflaged drop tank to illustrate the impending change to camouflage. The model is based on the old Monogram 1/72 F-4J kit, recently re-issued by Revell. I had built a couple of these way back when it first appeared and always thought this kit captured the shape and detail of the Phantom really well. Surface detail was very nice but of course it was raised, not engraved, so by the time the fuselage join was cleaned up there was no detail left on top of the fuselage. I re-scribed the fuselage top and wing top surfaces but decided to leave the rest – mainly because it looked so nice, particularly on the underside and rear fuselage. To make and F-4C from an F-4J included the following: Cockpit interior configuration change – mainly leaving out the J specific items in the rear cockpit, plus the addition of a control column there. (By the way the cockpit interior is very impressive given the age of the kit. The seats look just right and I even used the moulded seat pull handles, though I thinned them down quite a lot). Nosewheel door change to Air Force type with landing lights Shorter J-79 exhaust nozzles (spares from a Hasegawa F-4E kit) USAF inner wing pylons from an Esci kit Removal of the fin tip ECM antenna Removal of underwing catapult hooks Scribing of the USAF style flight refuelling receptacle on the fuselage top and removal of the (raised line type) Navy refuelling probe beneath the starboard rear cockpit. I had intended to use the Xtradecal sheet which includes 40864, but I thought the font wasn’t quite right and the national insignias were too big, so instead I used some old Scalemaster sheets – including the correct Insignia Blue U.S. AIR FORCE and USAF markings, with numbers in black. I bought two of these Revell re-issues and I’m starting work on the second now as an F-4J. This time I think I will go for an overall re-scribe.

F-4J Phantom II VF-11 CAG Bird, USS Forrestal, 1977 Revell / Monogram 1/72 kit – Superscale decals This was the second of the ex-Monogram F-4Js, recently re-released by Revell, that I recently built. The kit captures the elusive Phantom contours really well and has excellent detail for its age. The major snags are raised surface detail (including control surfaces!) and lack of fit in some areas. I re-scribed the surface detail on the upper surfaces but I left the undersides alone as it all looked nicely done. Cockpit detail is very nice. The seats have moulded on harnesses but these are differently posed front and rear, and even have usable pull handles (I thinned them a little but they look good). Instrument panels and side consoles are also nicely done and look the part with the kit-provided decals applied. A few areas needed extra work, the main one being the boundary layer holes in the intake splitter plates. The original can be seen on my F-4C version of the kit : On the F-4J I filled in the oversize depressions and added some light pre-shading before over-spraying with Light Gull Grey. I found a pic of the VF-11 CAG bird in a Detail and Scale book on CAG machines. The Superscale sheet provides the 1976 markings for this aircraft, which includes red, white and blue bi-centennial stripes for the fin tip, etc, but I preferred the standard red squadron colour so modified the decals accordingly. If you haven’t tried this kit and don’t mind some work in the re-scribing area I would recommend it for its shape and detail.

This is the kit, almost a shame not to use the kit scheme, but tbh I almost always prefer to model something a little different. And here is its provenance; a photo with the Queen kindly suggested by @Enzo Matrix I don’t do that many modern subjects and even less in 1/72 so it’ll be a nice change from my usual fare. I’m looking at that decal sheet and have decided it’s a total waste not to use it. So instead I’ll be building this in the 25 years scheme. Trust me you won’t even notice the difference after a while

Hello, fellow Britmodellers, First, my thanks to Rich @trickyrich who, with his ideas for GBs, keeps sparing me headaches when the time comes to decide what to put next on the bench. Well, OK I changed my mind two times for this one but it still helps. I built a Zero (Matchbox) once, back when a computer was the size of a set of grandmother wardrobes and all Zeros were white. High time for another one. I already had an A6M3 (Tamiya 1/48) in the stash but a captured A6M2b was the initial idea and I felt the need to build something in the gentleman's scale this time. So when I saw one of their 1/72 kits of the A6M2b at a discounted price ..... After getting the kit I changed my mind for a Pearl Harbor aircraft (all three marking options from the box are such planes - choice not done yet). Considering the scale, the kit matches it's bigger brother in quality, engraving and detail .... a little gem. Some tiny parts which I hope won't fall prey to the carpet monster (even as I have no carpet). As per my own immemorial rules, it shall be OOB except for seatbelts (Eduard superfabric) and canopy masks (Eduard too). Googling around several evenings (nights) for info about IJN/Pearl Harbor Zeros colours, THAT gave me headaches. Thus, it will be one step at a time. Maybe I'll keep it easy (interior Tamiya XF-71, exterior Tamiya XF-76) or go wild and do some paint mixes. Enough prattle, here are the pics of what I've on hand: The box art (the depicted aircraft is NOT part of the marking options) The usual Tamiya style clear instructions and a folder with info about the different types of A6M. Small but very nice decal sheet. 80+ parts. Option for a closed or open canopy. One part cowling with carburator intake moulded on. No option for folded wingtips and no moveable control surfaces. No pilot figure. Tomorrow, tomorrow .... Hey, keep calm, first the very last small touch-ups on the Tunnan you began 8 months ago. You don't put aside what's 99,9999999999% done. NO, you don't! (my conscience is quite loud, but will it be enough?) Have a nice week. Pat.

Hello all, This is my latest build, it's Tamiya's 1/72 A6M5 Zero. The fit of the kit was perfect, like all other Tamiya kits (in my experience). The model was painted with Ak real colors and Tamiya acrilycs, the yellow band on the leading edge and markings on the propeller were painted. I initially wanted to build Saburo Sakai's aircraft, inspired by his biography "Samurai!"; but I discovered that the Peddinghaus decals I had were wrong (dimensionally) and the other ones I had from an AJ Press Zero book were bad as well. So after some research I decided to do an aircraft from the 203 kokutai, at Omura airbase in Nagasaki, August 1945, from the Rising Decals sheet Zero pt.V, I decided to depict the aircraft with the tail number of it's first owner. The decals went on wonderfully. Some aftermarkets were used: Brengun Pe, a Yahu models instrument panel, master model 20mm canons and resin machine guns. The weathering was done with Tamiya enamel washes and powders, and a silver pencil for chipping effects. Hope you enjoy it! Next up is Arma hobby's F4F-4 Wildcat!

This is the Tamiya Bf 109 E in 1/72, done up in captured RAFwaffe markings. This bird was dirty so I went at it with the weathering. the model was built with the New IPMS/USA "Basic Kit Build" (BKB) rules in mind. They can be seen on the IPMS/USA website. AZ decals were used from their new 109E kit. E3BB9B03-BAE3-4ED4-9152-8266BD7D9875_1_201_a by Barry Numerick, on Flickr 56419735-CA5B-4EF3-A079-CA25F392B726_1_201_a by Barry Numerick, on Flickr 5E27CA70-E932-49CE-855D-EBB2A0077453_1_201_a by Barry Numerick, on Flickr 55D4D306-D5C4-4EBB-AE6B-5458820A52D2_1_201_a by Barry Numerick, on Flickr

Hi Folks, I'd like to join this important GB if I may. Important in historical terms, and important to me as I was involved (in a minor way) as a young MOD cartographer making maps for those at the other end of the Atlantic. Yet another Harrier. They seem popular which is unsurprising to me and the GR.3 is missing from my collection. So without further ado... the very nice box art; A box of un-butchered (yet) plastic... And some aftermarket additions. The Pavla seat looks very nice, And if only the AIM 9L Sidewinders in the kit actually looked like those on the box. So some Eduard resin/brass replacements to hang on the pylons, Great - I can start cutting! Cheers,

Hello guys, my name is Tomas, I am 24 years old modeller from Czech republic and I would like to share with you one of my newest builds. Also I would like to apologize for my not perfect English, but I will do my best. Our story started in 1957 in Londons Chiswick where the pilot boat Leader made for company Trinity House has been launched. About Leader: Leader is 21,43 m long and 4,58 m wide wooden boat which was build in 1957 as a pilot vessel by John Isaac Thornycroft & Company at Chiswick. It was originally fitted with 2 Rolls Royce engines, but now It is fitted with 2 Leyland diesels. Leader served out of Cowes and later at Southampton. When I decided to build Leader, I also decided to find where is the end of Leader. I was suprised, that Leader is not scraped, so journey could start. After southampton service for Trinity house, Leader was sold and has been on river Itchen until 2011. At this time It was repainted, interior was refited and Leader was sold somewhere.. I spend with this looking for Leader about 3 months (I was in touch with lot of people from Trinity House, british national museum, maritime museum, boathouse 4, but modeller Mr. Taylor from Southampon helped me the most) , but at this moment I am at the end of journey, because I have no chance to find it.. Why Leader?: Leader is built by modellers in Czech republic so often and as RC boat, Its is absolutly amazing and It has no problem with waves or wind. Problem is, that Leader built here, is mostly built based on czech plans drawn in 1985, which are absolutly wrond. Hull of this remade model is angular and has only one motor. There are lot of different details and so on, so I decided to build my Leader based on polish plan from 1959 and comics picture.