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Hello all, and thank you for my extra bonus point for 'non-mentioned' manufacturers, this one being from Scaleplanes. Scaleplanes were, I think, a more 'basic' form of the Libramodels brand, and as such, were well, basic. They supplied a vacform sheet, type-written instructions and a good old hand-drawn diagram. I picked up this model quite a few years ago at a Gloucester IPMS Club Show, for the princely sum of £10. I was highly surprised when I got it home to find that there were white metal parts, a photo-etch sheet and some transfers in it too. I'm not sure if they were included, although the etch sheet was marked 'Scaleplanes', so it was probably upgraded. The vacform components were pretty comprehensive, but whether I'll use them or not remains to be seen. I was going to build this some time ago in another Group Build (High Wing I possibly) but I ran out of confidence or mojo. I am going to give it another go now. This is what It looked like when I had originally unpacked it: Having obtained permission from our very kind Governer General (thank you!), I started some prep work. In the past I have usually gone down the usual route of drawing around the components with a Sharpie as that, when the parts are cut out, shows how much of the carrier plastic needs to be removed when sanding down. Any white under the pen line shows more still needs to go. However, one enterprising modeller on here showed a different method, which I've tried here. Spray the whole sheet with primer, does the same job and also means you possibly have less to do later, so: Halfords finest grey primer added. This also showed up the detail even better, and makes things easier to see. Anyway, the eye-catching artwork that really draws you in and says (shouts!) BUY ME: I like the comment bottom right, well, that didn't work did it for a child of 57 years of age when I bought it. The mains instructions are fully explanatory: This was the batch of goodies included, some of the struttery has been pre-painted by the previous owner: I cut out the major parts and have dealt with them, this image shows the benefit of marking the 'tide line': I generally use some 250/400 grit sanding sticks to trim these items down, otherwise a sheet of wet and dry taped to the bench with some water sprinkled over it to help trap the dust is used. I also use a dust mask for my protection too. There is a template for the struts, although no indication of which strut goes where. That's less of an issue now because of the etch sheet which will give me a better idea. I'll use the aerofoil rod for a better appearance rather than the etch. The template: The LC stands for the designer of the kit. In this case it was Les Cooper. He has/had a superb reputation as a modeller, and was pretty prolific in vacform production. I was nattering to a gentleman at the Club show one year and I was telling him about a model that I had built previously, a Burgess-Dunne seaplane vacform by Scaleplanes. It turned out that the gentleman in question was Les Cooper, and he was the designer of that kit. He subsequently joined our model club and was a superb gentleman. Sadly, during the Covid years, he vanished from our club, and no one knows what happened to him, I really hope he is okay. The last evening he was in the club, he brought in a lot of his modelling gear and said we could have what we liked. He also brought in a master for another kit (a work of art in itself) and said that the next month he would bring in the master for the Burgess- Dunne. He never appeared. In a way, I'd like this to be a tribute to him, wherever he is. I deal with the wings in a slightly different way. This is my armoury for tackling them: Add to that the coarse and finer grit sanding sticks too. The wood scrapers make quick work of the plastic but they doo leave a huge number of plastic spirals all over the place, and they are affected by static. I clear these up but save them in a pot as they can be re-used with some liquid poly as sprue glue (backing sheet glue doesn't quite have the same ring to it). I've left some of the smaller parts as I may well see about fabricating them myself, but I'll see how I get along. I really hope I finish this, but there is hope. I tend to aften leave a build until a Group Build as I find that gives me inspiration to pull all the stops out, stretch my tendons and crack on until the cows come home. I also find the help and advice plays an even more important part. I'll tell you know that the thing that scares me more than anything for this subject is fitting the wing to the supports, as they go through the wing from the fuselage to an apex (gulp!). I am really looking forward to the starting date, All the best with your builds, Ray

Hello all, I thought it was about time I made a start in this Group Build. Mainly because it is so warm in the model room I cannot get any painting done on my Pup or Albatros in the 'Less than a Tenner' GB. This is the kit I have decided to go with: I just love these instructions, always have, always will! The vacform sheet is quite small, but superbly moulded: There are templates on the sheet for things like undercarriage struts, main/cabane struts, tail skid etc, along with mouldings for the interior, which I will probably use as templates too. There are a few white metal bits included, for gun, wheels, engine and prop: They too look nicely cast, with only a little cleaning up to do. I have not much in the way of reference for this, so I will have to see how the gun fits, details of that are not clear in the guide, and one thread I have read ( @Brandy's) said it was offset at 30 degrees or so. I might see if I can find an un-armed option. There are three colour schemes on the transfer sheet: Again, that looks to be in good condition and has not yellowed at all. I bought the kit at a Gloucester Model Club Show a few years back, and the price label was pretty good: I have to admit I thought it was a Libramodel, not a Rare plane! However, at that price I was not going to let it go, and now it's time has arrived. Although it is very hot here at the moment, I risked starting it. One of our Club Members is Les Cooper, and he has been involved in the production of vacform models in the past, and also did a lot of test builds for the late, great Joe Chubbock who produced this kit. Les suggested an alternative way of marking up the vacform sheet before cutting it out and sanding it down. Rather than draw a line around the parts, spray it with a grey primer instead! That was so that when you cut it out and sand it down, you can see very clearly the un-sprayed section and will know when you are getting close to sanding it down to the right size. So I did: Thankfully the Halfords Grey Primer went down well and has dried very nicely, so this afternoon I can cut it out and start sanding! What a way to stay cool, man! That is it for now, more soon with luck. Ray

Hello everyone! I have just finished having great fun over in the Group Build section of our lovely BM, where there are many gallant folks building a selection of aircraft that float and fly, seaplanes, flying boats, float planes Eraknoplans etc, and this is one what I did (sic)! The build log is here The kit was a basic Scaleplanes 1/72 Vacform that I picked up for £3 at my local model show a few years ago, Moulding were pretty crisp and fitted well, especially the top and lower halves of the main float - in fact I have had injection moulded parts that failed to click together better than these two bits! I added some detail in the cockpit, but as usual it is almost impossible to see. I had better luck with the engine - that was an interesting looking blob on the sheet, so I wondered whether to but a Small Stuff resin engine or scratch one, I did the latter in the end. In fact the engine ended up with something like 30 bits of plastic and copper wire, but was well worth doing, and added to my scratch build armoury. I also built the fuel tank, this time the kit parts were good, but I just felt like doing my own. I wrapped Aizu tape round for the strengthening straps and coated them in thin CA to seal them. Rigging was a mix of EZ-Line and a couple of types of speaker cable core pulled taut between two pairs of tweezers to get the wire straight. I tried to accent the rib tapes on the wings despite only using a paint brush for the colour scheme, and I think there is still practice required. Anyway, here it is, but please accept my apologies for the tattieness of the rigging exit points on the wings - this model was really fragile, and I was rather scared of holding it too hard when trying to clean them up as the struts were just butt-joined to the wings! Thanks for looking, all the best, Ray

Hello all, I have just finished this in the Non-Injected Moulded Group Build here on BM, a full build log is here http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234980926-short-singapore-iii-completed/ This Short Singapore represents an aircraft from 203 Sqn based at Basra, Iraq during 1938/9, in Light Earth, Mid Stone and Light Grey camo colours. The kit was an old Vacform by Contrail, exhausts and props came from Aeroclub, and the scarff rings and guns were from a Supermarine Stranraer I have civilianised (we were allowed to used some minor injection moulded stuff).I had great fun with this, and had plenty of great help and advice form fellow builders, to whom 'Thank You'. I learnt a lot, and it was my first vacform for an awfully long time. Thanks for looking, Ray

Having a soft spot for all things Postwar Vickers aircraft, I thought I would try my hand at this Vacform model produced by Gene Hooker of USA, I think originally the moulds may of come from a Travel Agents desk model as the kit is not supplied with any props or wheels, but looking at the plans I have it looks quite accurate. This shall be a challenge as I intend to have the passenger doors open with scratch built steps, I shall be constructing the front part of the engines and making resin moulds from these, also the Aeroclub props are from the Britannia which will be modified, all the windows and doors will need cutting out, I am thinking of making the windows from clear resin, the only thing I shall need to find is some suitable wheels. Once I have constructed the basics such as the wings and such I can then add extra detail and start scribing Hopefully as this will be a challenge it will be painted BEA red square colours. The 4 photos below were taken from Carlos a memeber on Britmodeller and can be deleted at his request, as I did not take any photos showing how the vacform model looks straight from the box, but gives a good indication on how basic the model is and what work needs to be done to make it acceptable.