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It all started with me building three of the Roden Rolls Royce armoured cars: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235079254-rolls-royce-armoured-car-1914/ When the Rolls Royce chassis of the armoured cars finally was worn out, the armoured bodies were moved to Fordson truck chassis. As I already had built three different variants of the Rolls Royce I also wanted a Fordson. I ordered a Roden Rolls Royce for my project. Then I needed a Ford chassis. In my local hobby store there was a 917t Maultier and a look at the instructions showed that it had the parts to build the wheel version so I bought it. But as I later found out, it was the wrong chassis. I had to order a V3000s to get the right one. Luckily it also has all parts included for the 917t so I can still build that this if I find an engine of some sort. I started to put the chassis and the armoured body together. As the Roden kit didn't have a complete engine I had to open up the floor to get the Ford engine in. Time has come to start planning for the "cargo bed". The wheels was something that I thought would be a problem. But I think that I found a solution. Airfix messed up with their CCKW 353 truck and made the wheels with five holes instead of six. I had a bunch of those faulty front wheels that I would use now. I cut the tires off from them and sanded down the rims to make them thinner. Then I removed the rims of the Roden wheels and will fit the Airfix rims in those tires. It will probably not be 100 % right but it will be close enough for me.

My first GB of the year, looking for a nice easy build. My entry is Tamiya’s 1/72 F-84G, plan is to finish it in the scheme shown on the box art.

I shall be joining with an Odessa Toy Factory boxing of the Beaufort. It is moulded in lovely blue plastic, the decals look average and I may have to dig into the spares to mark it up. There was also a set of resin engines in the box so I shall use these. It will be built as a RAAF example, the decals supplied for the RAAF machine are for 93SQN's A9-408. There does not seem to be an entry in the kit list thread for this one.

About 20 years ago I picked this up second hand. The kit supposedly represents the Westland PV 6 which together with the PV 3 was part of the "Houston Everest" expedition, becoming the first planes to fly over the summit of Mt Everest in April of 1933, and was issued in 1964 as part of the Trail Blazers series. Following the end of WWI the RAF used surplus stocks of DH 9A for many years, initially as a bomber but later as a "general purpose aircraft". When they finally ordered a replacement in 1927, they stipulated that as many DH 9A parts as possible were to be used so the Westland Wapiti initially used DH 9A wings and tail surfaces, but over time new metal replacements were incorporated. In 1930 Westland developed am improved all metal version as a private venture, hence the name PV 3. This was longer and had various improvements and a more powerful engine, and was followed by the PV 6 which incorporated a few other changes. The PV 6 went on to become the prototype of the Westland Wallace I which the RAF initially ordered 12 of in 1932, to be converted from existing Wapiti's A further 56 were converted from Wapiti's, and in 1935 orders were placed for 75 of the more powerful Wallace II, In 1936 a final 29 were ordered bringing the total to 172. Of all metal construction and fitted with wheel brakes and a cowling ring for the Bristol Pegasus engine (unlike the Wapiti), the Wallace had a fuselage length of 34ft 2inches compared with the 31ft 8 inches of the Wapiti. The wing and tail retained the same outwards appearance to the earlier plane, and besides the cowling ring the most obvious difference was that the wheels on the Wallace but perhaps not the PV 6 had spats, and therein lies a problem! I had intended to convert the kit to a production Wallace Mk I by replacing the enlarged and glazed rear cockpit with a smaller one fitted with a Scarff ring and Lewis gun, and providing a blast trough for the pilot's fixed Vickers MG, which should not have been too difficult, but I have now realised that Frog completely forgot the wheel spats! This could be a real pain in the backside as although I have made many different parts from scratch over the years I have never made anything quite like this, but is should be possible. I was thinking of card sides and maybe a slice from old engine cowlings plus filler when I remembered a couple of old Frog Ju-87G wheel spats in one of my many my spares boxes. I don't have much in the way of plans to hand but they might work if cut down and re-shaped. I do like a challenge - but not too often😀! We shall see. The Novo box art of course shows the front gun trough, rear gun mount and wheel spats , together with both the civilian registration and RAF fin flash and roundels, so is a work of fiction. Oddly it seems to be based on the "Air Lines" boxing from the 1960's as shown on Scalemates. The original Frog boxing was more honest. I suppose I could take the easy way out and built it as the PV 6. I am going to have to think about this. Any suggestions will be welcome. Pete

I texted a couple of photos of my recently completed Ki-43 Hayabusa to one of my college ROTC buddies. He told me once that the Oscar was one of his favorite aircraft. After he saw the pictures, he asked me if I would build a model for him. He surprised me by asking for a C-130. He flew C-130s back in the 1980s, H models from Dyess AFB, Tx, and EC-130 Compass Call out of Sembach AB, Germany. He wants a basic trash hauler in Euro 1 lizard camo. I checked out what kits were available and the Zvezda 1/72nd C-130H seemed to be the fan favorite. I checked online shops and eBay and found that BNA Model World in Australia had the best price with shipping. I put in the order, along with Eduard canopy masks and a cockpit detail set. In a very short time the box arrived and it was Christmas in October. But, when I opened the box I thought maybe I should have gone for a 1/144 scale kit. The Zvezda kit is big. I usually build 1/48th fighters, so this one dwarfs my workspace. But I haven't started that 1/48th F-105 yet either. I had already started the kit when I took these first photos. Management of the workspace is important in the build. You can see the green dusting the spray booth filter. I glued some of the cargo bay side panels into the fuselage halves, sprayed the interior parts with Testors Model Master Sky Type S. I had an old bottle that was unopened. I thought it was too dark for use on a 1/48th Spitfire. Works well for that sickly "hospital green" that C-130 interiors were painted. I also painted the landing gear wells, struts, and wheels gloss white. After the main gear wells were painted I glued the multi-part sponsons (I think that's the term) to the fuselage sides. Fit is good, but I usually end up with seams to fill. There are insert panels forward of the main gear for different versions. This one does not have forward side doors. The white squiggle is some correction fluid. I find it fills fine seams well and wet sands very easily. I plan on cleaning up the majority of the fuselage seams before getting too far with the interior. But, when I join the fuselage halves, sanding the long seams will be a problem with keeping the interior clean. I'll probably tape the openings to try to keep the muck out. As you can see, the fuselage will be about 17 inches long once the nose cone and tail stinger are attached. The wings consist of 2-piece outer panels with a single upper mid-section that attaches atop the fuselage. The lower outer panels extend to meet up with the fuselage side, so it should be a strong joint with no wing droop in the future. Again, the size is impressive. I don't think it will fit in my spray booth. Also in the photo are the 2 external wing fuel tanks. There are only 3 seated crew members provided. I guess the Nav and Load Master are late for the flight. One of the crewmen looks a little like Freddy Mercury with the crew cut and mustache.

Airfix is to release in 2014 a new tool 1/72nd Supermarine Swift FR.5 kit ref. A04003 I'm really really disappointed by the scale... So not for me. Source: http://www.airfix.com/shop/new-for-2014/172-scale-military-aircraft/a04003-supermarine-swift-172/ V.P

Hi All, thought I'd throw this Centurion Mk.5 MBT in this GB pot. I'll be using the 1/72 Ace kit, having never built a kit from these guys before, we'll see what the future holds. Here's the obligatory stuff. Pretty box. The plastic and rubber. You'll notice that the hull is started, well under the 25% rule I think. Instructions, decals and also a little PE. Stuart

A more recent completion this time; I had finished this one up just this past September and I was very please with the end result. This was from an old Revell kit containing three models, each one with only a small amount of pieces to construct. I painted the whole thing in AK Real Colors' No.6 Earth Yellow, then covered that with tiny balls of stick-tac all over. Once covered, I sprayed the plane again with IJN Deep Green and removed the tac. Once removed, I brush painted spots of Rotbraun within the yellow spots, giving this cheetah-print camo. The results were better than I expected, and this is still one of the most unique and visually appealing camouflage patterns in my collection. There were a couple major downsides to this kit: the first being the complete lack of any wheel wells. Looking back, I probably could have put some card-stock in there at the very least for something, and that would have been better than the empty recess that is currently there. The second issue was the discolouring of the decals, most notable on the underside of the wings. But, this was a free kit and very old, so some imperfections are acceptable to me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The C.200 Saetta (Lightning) was an Italian-made fighter aircraft used by the Regia Aeronautica throughout the Second World War. It saw more operations than any other Italian aircraft and was noted for its agility, climbing and diving capabilities. The C.200 was the first all-metal monoplane produced by Italy and led to the developments of the C.202 Fulgore and C.205 Ventro (the latter of which I did a model of earlier this year). In its initial design, the C.200 had stability issues and was prone to spinning due to an imbalance in the wing, but these were later rectified with changes based on studies by Willy Messerschmidt and NACA (later to become NASA). The service history of the C.200 is long; they didn't see service in the Battle for France, but they were used extensively in the Mediterranean, especially after Britain's heightened involvement and introduction of the Hurricane. While the Hurricane was faster than the C.200, the latter was found to be superior in terms of manoeuvrability, turn radius, and climb rate. The C.200s were also used during the Italian efforts in Yugoslavia and, more than anywhere else, North Africa, providing cover for the retreating Axis forces after the Allied victory at El Alamein (a battle at which my grandfather on my mum's side fought for the Allies). After Fascist Italy's surrender in September 1943, many remaining C.200s still in operational condition were used by the Allied Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force.

Found while searching my stash for Tigers, I had completely forgotten buying this. Haven’t decided on a scheme yet but (if applicable) I fancy something in camo not another NMF.

Miniart sent me this kit to do a build review and even though this kit is their first foray into small scale armour, it is a knockout. Detail is crazy good and the kit looks better than some 1/35 StuGs I've built. Hoping I can do it justice. I decided (boldly or foolishly?) to try squiggly camo with an airbrush for the first time. Mind you, this kit is only about 2.5" long, so it was a bit stressful! I almost chickened out and went with an overall dunkelgelb finish...

Another one from my backlog, this time February 2023. This was the first Italian plane I had built and it was a fun one. I had never heard of the company Delta (or Delta 2) before, and haven't seen anything of theirs since, but I'd buy another for cheap if given the opportunity. This was painted using Revell's Aqua line of Acrylics, and I don't recall much about that process aside from that it wasn't ideal. It's a very thick paint and even thinned down the end result was a little heavy and...chalky? I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, but I've not done any model in this line before; the only reason I did so here was that I had their Sand colour already sitting around and thought it looked like a decent match to the Italian Giallo Mimetico. It ended up chipping a bit under masking tape too, but since I primed in silver, this ended up looking like some natural wear and tear, so I didn't mind too much. Still wouldn't use it again, though. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 205 was considered to be an excellent fighter, perhaps the best Italian one, able to match some of the best-known Allied planes such as the P-51D Mustang or the Supermarine Spitfire. However, it was introduced very soon before Italy's surrender to the Allies, so it didn't get a large production run due to their crumbling war economy. It used the same engine as many German-made aircraft (including the Bf-109s), the Daimler-Benz (current-day Mercedes-Benz) DB 605. In one Allied pilot's words: "One of the finest aircraft I ever flew was the Macchi MC. 205. Oh, beautiful. And here you had the perfect combination of Italian styling and German engineering. It was really a delight to fly, and up to anything on the Allied programme. But again, it came just before the Italians capitulated so it was never used extensively. And we did tests on it and were most impressed. The cockpit was smallish but not as bad as the Bf 109." This kit came with three sets of decals: one was for the Regia Aeronautica, the Italian air force under Mussolini; one for the National Republican Air Force, a short-lived German puppet state after the Italian surrender; and the last was for the Italian Co-belligerent Air Force, made up of Italian pilots who joined the Allies. I chose to go with the Regia Aeronautica set simply because they were the most unique and I wanted something different. The quality of the model was a little disjointed. There's a lot of detail in terms of rivets and panel lines, but there was also a lot of plastic to cut away, and sanding to get them to fit together properly. Overall though, worth the ~$10 or so this cost at my local Antiques Mall.

Hello all from the shed. First finished model of 2024. So, there I was making Chinook HC1 BN for a friend when crack went the canopy while I was giving it a little polish 😧. Nothing for it but to buy another Chinook model for the canopy. As the HC1 was the Airfix kit I thought I would get the Italeri kit for a change. However, it was remarkably similar (in fact identical) to the Airfix one apart from the decals. Just as well I suppose as I was swapping bits between kits. The HC1 built in parrallel has lots of Black Dog resin on it, as I enjoyed using those parts I bought Black Dogs snow shoes for this Italian cab build. I also added a little bit of scratch work in the form of aerials and the decals are a mix of Airfix, Italeri and Model Allience. Its finished using Xtra Color paints and varnishes and is panel lined and weathered using Flory wash and Tamiya powders. Not the best fitting kit but I do like doing a helicopter (two in fact) for a change. I'm looking forward to seing how the new Airfix moulding of the Chinook is in comparison to the old moulds. The model depicts a Chinook CH-47C of the Italian Army. 1 RGPT. “Antares” based at Viterbo in 1992. Here are a few pics. Hope you like it. Thanks for looking. Bravo November soon. Pete

After a long absence, mainly due to professional obligations but also the endless Greek summer, return to the bench. I had long been planning to build another Ju-87B, (R this time) and was looking for a relatively quick build, so I pulled the Fujimi kit from the stash. In short, it is a relatively simple kit, with few pieces, crisply recessed panels, and detail in the main pieces, which is not the case in the smaller ones. The hood is in two pieces and will need surgery to pose it open. The application is exemplary, and the decals are well printed. I think it's the best "B" on the market, slightly beating the Italeri offering. As far as the after markets are concerned, there is at my disposal the set for the exhausts from Quickboost, wheels from True Details (which is for the D) but probably will not be used because the wheels of the kit are very good, an set for the cockpit (for the D also but there are not many options), instrument panel from Yahoo models (for the Zvezda kit but we will see if it fits), seat belts from Kamizukuri, and an MG-15 machine gun from GasPatch (Greek Company). There are leftovers of decals from Almark and from the Italeri kit, as well as crosses from Tech Mod and swastikas from XtraDecal. I also have masks for the D model which they will not be used except for the windshield (maybe)… I haven't decided yet whether it will be a plane with the classic splinter or one with the desert variant, so maybe from here you can contribute with your prompts. May you all be well.

Hi everyone, I did not really have any plan to enter this GB, although I did put my name down for it under extreme coercion. Then I realized that one of the two kits I had planned for the Frog GB would fit nicely in this Twins Mega GB! So here I am with the Frog antediluvian Beaufort Mk I, re-boxed by Encore as a Mk. VIII. Needless to say that there is no way this Beaufort can easily be made to look like an Aussie Mk. VIII. Encore did simply add some PE fuselage antennas and a decent decal sheet for a few RAAF Beaufort. But no mention of the larger vertical surface and the host of other differences. So I will quietly stick to a Mk. I, built mostly OOB. Not much happening on the inside with this kit: I have a Eduard IP I will add, with some safety belts and the navigator table and swivel chair in the nose, to try and get rid of the cavernous look. Oh, and did I mention that there is a lot of flash?! I am infatuated with the Beaufort, so it is now or never. Some photos will appear a bit later. Cheers JR

I picked up a number of kits from someone thinning out their stash last year. Included in this was a small cardboard box marked FROG KITS. The chap told me that they'd been unboxed and might not have instructions or decals so he didn't think he could sell them individually. It was attractively priced so I picked it up out of curiosity. I've had a quick look inside but it's all freezer bags with sprues and I've not gone through them to identify them or see what sort of state they're in. This seems the ideal opportunity to check it out. Once the GB officially starts I'll open the box again, get everything out and see what I've actually got. Assuming I've got any complete kits in there then I'll choose what I'm building from that.

My Meteor is going okay so, in a burst of enthusiasm and ignoring all the nearly finished kits littering my workdesk, I've started another kit. I've had this one in the stash for years, not entirely sure why because I don't make Axis stuff. Anyway, I'm going to avoid my no-Axis rule and make it as a Bf-110 C-5. I took a photo of the sprues... But promptly forgot to take any more photos until I'll try to take more photos as the build progresses.

So this is a first ...WiP bit late but better late than never. So first is the Matchbox .....very basic but I scratch built the cockpit....nothing fancy a modified non descript white metal seat side walls and instrument panel blah ....cant see much anyway. Started to drill out airbrakes but made a mistake so filled the holes and might simulate airbrake holes with decals. Got a C scale white metal upgrade kit for about 7 quid so started to add some details plus tanks,recce pod maybe etc. Modeldecal decals still to decide on squadron . Then I started the Frog kit...to be honest it seems to be a better shape than the matchbox ...especially the hump but they are Jag shaped so that will do for me ....I seem to recall the vert stabilser is a bit off but meh. Found some 'french fancy ' decals so looking forward to fitting those. Had a few snags with phots and can't delete the doubles so if the mods have got some time to waste can you help me out 😌 please. I think I will add undercarriage to the French cab ....needs some thinking about ...stay 🎶 ed

I have the Sword Thunderstreak kit too but in general the SH one looks more high quality straight from the box - so I think I'm gonna start with that. I did a quick side by side and the Sword kit seems slightly smaller - it's a bit shorter but then again the tailpipe section is thicker. Can't really say which one is correct though. But anyway, let's start with Special Hobby. Amazing cover artwork BTW! Nice pile of plastic. Details seem really nice too. And while the SH kit decals seem amazing - gotta love the colourful US birds - but I'm still drawn towards the Sword options. So this is the decal sheet for a Sword Thunderstreak and I'm gonna kick things off with a Dutch Thunderstreak. This is from the Sword kits manual. But I'm also thinking about getting Dutch Decal sheet, would give me more options. https://www.dutchdecal.nl/publications

A good few years ago whilst on an outing to the Vale of Glamorgan, I wandered into a "Toy Shop" and saw this. Having already built a Lindberg kit and then replaced it with a not particularly good Airfix version, I thought I would buy it, particularly as it seemed rather cheap for a Tamiya kit. It was not until I got it home that I noticed the "Plastic parts and decals made in Italy, other items made in Japan" on the box. In fact it is a reboxed Italeri kit with resin extras which I don't remember buying myself and rather think were made in Eastern Europe so what exactly was made in Japan I have no idea, but not to worry! The instructions are in Japanese only, so I will have to do a little research before deciding what exactly this is, but it seems to have a ventral fairing for a 37mm cannon. The colour of the plastic suggests that a desert version was planned at one time but the markings all seem to be for Russia. Looking at Scalemates Italeri did release it several times and it was also reboxed by Revell. One of the Italeri boxings did indeed included markings for a desert version and it has been sold as HS-129 B-1, B-2 and B-3. Pete.

Joining you with this kit, costing £3 at Lyneham last year. Which carried stripes after D-Day. Which is how I intend to complete the build.

MIG-21 PFS, 1/72. Kitbash from two Eduard kits: - fuselage and canopy from PF kit; - tail is a mix of the two - mostly PF with lower part removed and replaced by parachute container from PFM; - wings and almost all the rest - PFM. Eduard resin cockpit (PF), resin engine, modified MF resin speedbrakes, resin missiles (R-3S). Small alterations to jetpipe cone (thinned walls, added internal structure). Roundels and fin flash from PFM Profipack kit, tactical number airbrushed with homemade viny masks. All comments are welcomed, Iulian work on the specific PFS Tail detailing the jetpipe Eduard resin engine

I think I am starting to become a Meteor buff! Hot on the heels of the SH Meteor F.8 in SyAAF scheme, I started building the Airfix kit. I did not chose one of the schemes proposed in the box but an IAF scheme from the SH Kit: This is a good occasion to compare both kits and, spoiler alert, the Airfix kit is much much better! It is really well designed, the detail is excellent, the fit is top not notch and the moulding quality excellent. The cockpit tub is a 3 part assembly and has the characteristic horseshoe shape that its SH counterpart does not have: It is really easy to position it accurately inside the fuselage: Clever engineering. The seat is decent OOB but misses the harness and can benefit from a few added details: The fuel tanks have the rim that is missing on the SH F.8 and are more correct in shape. Note: the fuel tanks on the SH NF.14 are OK too. The engine heads are more detailed than on the SH F.8 but the SH NF.14 reactor heads are better. The IP, nose wheel leg and cockpit quarterdeck (is that correct?) have better detail: The air inlets in one part are a very good idea: No need to deal with an awkward seam between top and bottom half like on the SH kit. The engineering of the main landing gear bay walls is also really clever: 4 parts, a mortise-tenon system and you're done! The main landing gear bay roof only needs a black wash over the alu paint to make the details pop: I assembled the wings and painted the air inlet lips in black and white: The result can seem weird but the period pictures show they were actually painted this way on the original airframe. The flaps are provided as separate items but I always saw them level on the pictures. So, not really useful IMHO. I also painted the nose in black and white: But I have to re-paint it as I inverted the black and white areas! Doh! The main landing gear legs and wheels are the only letdown on this kit: Two gear leg halves and two wheels halves that have to be glued together. Filler is needed to get something clean. But that is only a minor gripe. So far, this is a fantastic kit and a real pleasure to build.

Hi all, it has been a productive weekend, spent half a day on the spray booth and completed some final steps of two Starwars projects. Here is one of them, the A-Wing. You can find the WIP info here Here are the final outcome, hope you like it.

New Polish company decided to release new tool plastic kits of PZL W-3 Sokół helicopter. Firstly in 1/48 and then later in 1/72. Company have normal site, but it is empty now.

Hello everyone, here is my work in progress A-Wing. Test fit in an hour. Trial build is almost done Surface details is really nice After that, unassembled the kit, and applied Finishers green putty to smoothen some surface area on the fuselage. Rest of the parts are washed, and prepare for paint shop. The pilot seat has a large connector to "click" in the pilot, since I am not doing the pilot (as usual, what's new), the connector is removed and sanded before proceeding further. Sand the surface again, and seem it is smooth enough. Black primer time Followed by a colorful pre-shading