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My first entry to this GB will be the recent KP kit of the Spitfire PR X. Originally intended to be the PR equivalent of the Spitfire VII/VIII, it was overtaken by the need to get a higher performance PR Spitfire into service. The 'quick fix' was the PR XI, based on the Mark IX with a high altitude rated engine. The PR X was apparently based on the VII fuselage with a pressurised cockpit, and the enlarged oil tank and wings as of the PR XI. Delays meant that the PR X was late into service, and did not appear until April 1944, and appeared to offer little advantage of the PR XI. It may also have been that the type was overtaken by the PR XIX, the first of which flew in April 1944 and deliveries started in May 1944. Only 16 were built, and not all saw service. The KP kit shares its sprues and instructions with the PR XI kit. The only differences are a different decal sheet and a fighter type windscreen. Fortunately, the deeper rear section of the canopy found on pressurised Spitfires seems to have been catered for. The box art shows an aircraft in PRU Pink that has been illustrated in profiles elsewhere, but I understand is unlikely to be accurate. The kit parts are cleanly moulded with no flash and what I consider to be an adequate level of interior detail, and exterior details looks well done and not too heavy. No locating pins on the main airframe parts apart from the tailplanes, I can live with that. I remember a time when some authors in magazines suggested that the location pegs should be removed as they obstructed a better fit. Eee, it were hard bein' a modeller in olden days, no photo etch or fancy paints, and thy could get an Airfix Lancaster for two shillings, and still have enough change to buy all the paints and glue, and a fish supper. Tell it to these young ones today, and they don’t believe you, just cos' it's a pack o'lies. (With apologies to Monty Python) Python)

As I've had to temporarily put my Supermarine Seafire FR.47 on hold, @TonyOD gave me the go-ahead to bring this into the group build. It was started at the beginning of the New Year and is currently at the painted innards stage. I intend to do it in the kit 217 sqdn scheme, with EDSG/DSG/Night camouflage. I am hoping for a "no surprises" build . The only extras are an Eduard steel photo-etched seatbelt and the Eduard canopy mask set. I mean, what can possibly go wrong with that?

My entry is the Tarangus SF 37. A few extras - ejection seat, RAT bay, wheels, pitot probe and canopy and camo masks. My main references.

This is a build that has finished after being started in the Prototypes, Special Schemes etc GB. The AW52 was built to test the feasibility of the flying wing planform and also laminar flow, for a projected flying wing airliner. Two were built, the first one flew in late 1947 and crashed in May 1949, the pilot John Lancaster, becoming the first British pilot to make an emergency ejection. This airframe, TS363, being the depicted by the model. The kit is by Mikro Mi,r is a bit of a curates egg, but eventually built up into quite an imposing model. The WIP is here

Hi Gents, Checkertails clan !! famous MTO US Air Force unit ! Attached to the 15th AF The "heavy" part of US air forces in Italy , the 12th AF being the one of medium bombers .Thus main task of 325 th FG was to cover heavies of 15th AF ( mainly B-24 and some B-17 BG) by sweeps on axis airflieds and of course escort of bombers streams over south and east front of this theater of operation. Being as as read first fighter group to operate " shuttle trips" between Italy and USSR ( not quite sure of that any comments welcomed ) So I represent my P-47 with quite a "marker" for 325th FG P-47 , ie , big 150 Gallons Wing tanks. Use that was may be helped by vicinity of P-38's and P-61's around location (personnal feeling) Some misses , in my built , wings bomb racks should have been painted yellow at last front part ( I see color picture but too late ) , and backward metal rod on wing tank.. will , may be, correct that in the future .. Hope you'll like it and as usual comments welcome ! The pics :

As the P1A has about reached the finish line and the Meteor in the STGB awaits paint, I am looking at another build. This going to be the Pavla kit of the Supermarine S6B, the winner of the final Schneider Trophy air race in 1931. It is a short run injection moulded kit with some resin for detail parts, cylinder fairings and beaching gear. Going to be fun, as basically no location tabs etc at all. The plastic parts have a fair amount of flash. This kit is going to be interesting.

This is my first entry for this group build. The English Electric P1A was designed as a transonic research aircraft, with possible development into a fighter. It first flew in 1954 powered by Sapphire engines and was the first British aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. The wings and tail married to a largely new fuselage with Avon engines formed the basis of the Lightning. Not the most elegant looking aeroplane, but one of the most distinctive. I was eight when I first saw a Lightning, on holiday in Norfolk in 1961 when one went supersonic over the sea off Caistor. The kit is the Whirlykits resin model from 2015. It is all resin with a little bit of PE and vacform canopy. It comes with decals and parts for both WG760 and WG763. New wings and a belly tank being applicable for 763 at a later stage in its life. Grey resin is used for most parts, with a hard black resin for the undercarriage legs. The fuselage comes in two halves like an injection moulded kit, which will make the whole thing a bit lighter. The two books above will be primary references. The Datafile has quite a few photos of both P1As. First job will ve to remove the parts from the casting blocks and webs.

This is my entry for this group build. It will be an Israeli F15C from the Hasegawa kit that I bought about 1988-9. The kit decal sheet is for USAF aircraft, but I have an old Cutting Edge decal, which also details the airframe differences and an equally old Microscale decal sheet for the stencils, which on the Israeli aircraft were largely unchanged with just a few in Hebrew. As was typical for Hasegawa kits of the period, there are no weapons, and so these have been separately sourced as shown. The Pythons will need new pylons, which I think are going to be scratch built. There is a Dream model etch set that will tart up the cockpit and ejector seat quite nicely. Been on my to-do list for a while, and now seems a good time.

The Planet Prester. The location for the Japanese Anime Last Exile. A TV series and a film. It's a bit steam punk with 19th Century technology and Anti Gravity! Large Airships are common, as are Vanships. Small agile flying craft used as Couriers and for racing. I watched the film some years ago and have wanted a Vanship kit ever since. This one turned up as spares or repairs on the bay at a decent price so I bought it. It's something of a glue bomb and one engine was missing. Never mind. Here's a link to what it should look like https://www.imgmsplus.com/item/63000/63931_2.jpg This is what I got. I've partially dismantled it and in the centre is the start of my replacement engine. Scale is 1/72nd. The plastic is very nice, Bandai, I think? Weird steampunk engines! The replacement is copper wire from a cable and scrap box parts. I've since remade the smaller circle in plastic. It's easier to work with. My soldering is very poor! Later today. I attacked the seams with extra thin and mostly it came apart nicely. The replacement circle can be seen here. More Austin Allegro steering wheel than circular, but it will do. The carpet monster got the first (better) one I'd made, Ping! That's it for now, back to work tomorrow. Got beer to deliver. No idea what they did with what we delivered last week. Comments welcome as always. Thanks for looking, Pete

Even though the camera has shown me areas that still need attention, I'm calling this sort-of done. Rough and ready photos taken with my phone under my workbench lighting. This is the 1/72nd scale Tamiya Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb Tropical, Rising Decal Mediterranean Spitfires decal sheet (RD72-037), aircraft EP200 based at Ta'Qali on Malta in July of 1942. I went with the suggested colours simply because I know nothing compared to folk who've spent thousands of hours researching the subject. Vallejo paint for the main colours, Tamiya X-35 varnish, Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colors, and various oil paint streaks, smudges and washes. I have almost certainly overdone things heavily (and the phone camera has emphasised things a bit), but I'm fairly happy with the results. I will fix the wonky wheels, the paint on the bottle-bottom canopy, and the overdone wheel-well washes. I may even repair the pitot tube. This was, however, more of a "get myself moving" build, after a prolonged period of procrastination. I've learned a lot on this, and will never, ever use Vallejo paint for the main colours again. They do not airbrush well, at least for me, no matter what is used. Pebbly, lumpy texture, and they stick to the surface of the primed model as well as if you'd just smeared Vaseline all over it. Good colours, no stick. A shame, so it's back to Tamiya and Humbrol for me.

Abandoned during a previous modelling frenzy from 15 years ago, I found this Amodel Sh half completed, but with wheels swapped out for skiis alongside other red waifs and strays, all forgotten. I had a vague memory of building the Sh. The fit was awful. Consider the lovely Heller SAAB 91 - it needs around 3mm square of putty in total under the fuse join: that's it. It is beautifully and flawlessly engineered so imagine just how awful the whole fit was by comparison. Later, the wings had been lost somewhere but I had already detailed the interior panels where they folded back. It had been primed here and there but really, quite an abandoned project together with a 4 seat limousine Po-2 mod in the same shoebox (for the 'more equal' members of soviet society) and here shown. https://ibb.co/RcF9ywz I had this single visual reference at the time to work from as a guide but forgoed the available PE set to tart her up apropos. A lot of that set seems superfluous. https://ibb.co/pn9qjyD There are choices today. Remake the wings using plastic card and ballpoint pen &c. to add 'engraved' detail from the insides (wings to be folded back) or leave her as per the image above, this machine being assembled in a cozy soviet sweatshop but with skiis for no reason at all (a lazy route). Or buy another kit to add the wings, but this seems too expensive a prospect. Amodel's Sh-2 is rare now, the Choroszy kit not cheap for just two wings. I know of nobody prepared to sell those 2 wings from a trashed or abandoned build that are just crying out to be sold, either A Bigger Picture: Many Sh-2s were done over in a pale grey colour, let's call it Ae9 (hexidecimal) for fun, That's the whole scheme. Civil regs a possibility or "Donated by the Landlocked Fishermen's Soviet of Kazan'!" inscription on account of them being landlocked. You know the routine. Exclamation point essential. No weathering as I can't abide this Jallyvo 'extra sausage and sage greasy grey' or 'rotting Orc's spleen vermillion' acrylic and powder fad -- in no rush to model 72nd scale oil and dust (but respect to those who do). Just enamels and oils. Old school, me. I have a 72nd scale old Zvezda soviet revolutionary figure to add into a possible small 'factory' diorama, Foreman Comrade Oleg is apopleptic about the theft of state property! ( the wings ). The NKVD could already be interested in this wrecking counter-revolutionary act of sabotage. Poor Oleg... helplessly caught in an implausible scenario. https://ibb.co/tB8DwKP Nota bene. There are small details which mustn't be forgotten: the generator windmill, a skii for the tailskid, piping away from the S-11 engine, the skii crank added to the dashboard. The little red weathervane at the hull's very fore. The lateen sail... Now they're mentioned here, I can't overlook them. The Polikarpov limo needs work too, clearly, so could be a parallel project? Maybe she'll get the skiis and swap out some wheels to the Sh-2 once more. Her engine is already a beauty. Could be fun either way. Best wishes.

Here's my entry over on the 'Unarmed' GB, just made it into the gallery as I nearly abandoned it. I made a right mess of filling in the side windows, made a mess of re-scribing the panel lines that were lost and gave up on that! The decals broke up with little handling, especially the walkway lines, the fuselage band broke up as well so I painted it, making it slightly too long. I forgot to add the Aluminium letters that provide the outlines to the figures in the fuselage band! The White on the roundels is a bit translucent so the Red/Orange underneath shows a bit, something I should have foreseen! Nearly on completion I discovered the demarcation from the Aluminium to the main wing Red/Orange panels is slightly different on each wing! Overall though, I'm pleased I finished her and as long as you don't zoom in on the thing it looks Ok in the photo's! OOB with Pavla resin intakes and CMR wheels. AK Extreme Metal Aluminium with Vallejo ModelAir for the rest. Hasegawa didn't supply the mast toward the rear of the fuselage shown in photo's of this aircraft but the kit supplied everything else, I lost the small resin fairing on top of the canopy but fashioned one from sprue. There is no mention of filling in the side windows though, and the metal covering for the turret is in the wrong place for this Canadian built machine which would have had a Martin(?) turret further towards the front. I sprayed random patches of Satin varnish over the Gloss finish to create a bit of variation. Comments and criticism welcome. Davey.

Here's the second MiG-15 I'm doing for this GB, an Algerian Trainer. Will be OOB hopefully using the nice PE supplied and hopefully should be a straight forward build. Doing this in tandem with the Egyptian one as explained in that thread. Davey.

A little late to the party, but I am starting on my Special Hobby Wirraway. The Wirraway was one of the many variants of the Harvard/Texan theme in this case the NA33 that was licence built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation who modified the type in terms of its armament. When the type was ordered, there was some argument over ordering an American type, but given the need to rapidly expand Australian defence capability, there was little choice. It was to be used as a trainer and General Purpose type and survived in the former role until 1959. As a general purpose aircraft it was caught up in the disasters surrounding the Japanese attack in Malaya and the South West Pacific, but saw the war out in an army cooperation role, often sharing the duty in mixed squadrons with Boomerangs. The Special Hobby kit consists of grey injection moulded parts with no location pins except for the tailplanes and some vague indications for the cockpit parts. There is an injection moulded canopy and landing lights and a resin engine and cowling. Decals are for four aircraft including one which may be in the Sea colours used by the RAAF as it was used for coastal patrols. The instructions mention this, but give no sources. I fancy this scheme as a Boomerang is also planned for this Group build. First off will be the interior, that looks a bit fiddly with a bit of vagueness around the instructions as to what goes where.

My first build for this GB is going to be the Magna 1/72nd scale Martin-Baker MB3 Fighter. The small Martin-Baker company had created some impression with their striking MB2 fighter, which although not selected for production had impressed those who tested it by its simplicity and how easy it was to maintain. When possible Spitfire Hurricane successors were being considered Specification F18/39 was issued to Martin-Baker for a new design that built on the experience of the MB2 but was to be more powerful. This was to be the MB3, originally to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon, but this was changed to the Napier Sabre when it became obvious that the Griffon was not going to be available, although it is not entirely clear who instigated the change (Bill Gunston in an article in Wings of Fame states it was MAP, but Tony Buttler comments that it is currently impossible to know) Construction of the first MB3, and only completed airframe, was slow owing to the small size of the firm and full order books and delays in delivery of components from outside companies. Eventually MB3 R2492 was completed and first flew on 31st August 1942. Its life was brief, crashing on 12th September 1942 in attempting a landing after engine failure and claiming the life of its pilot, Valentine Baker. The partly completed second prototype was rebuilt as the sole MB5, an outstanding aircraft, but at the time of first flight in May 1944, it had no chance of production with the Hawker Fury in view and the first jet fighters already flying. The kit is a typical Magna product in cream resin with a chunky look to them but reasonable surface detail. There are a few air bubbles on the wings near the undercarriage bays. Most parts are attached to resin pour stubs that will need removing The parts count is low and a resin airframe is supplemented by white metal details such as propeller blades and undercarriage legs. These are going to require a lot of cleaning up as most are well-endowed with flash and some pitting on the surface of the propeller blades The resin parts have no locating points and so will need some brass rod to help keep the wings and tail in place. The canopies are vacforms. Four are provided, two with a fuselage spine and two bubble canopies that were schemed but were apparently never fitted, the photo showing the MB3 with a bubble canopy being a 1940s equivalent of photoshopping. One irritating aspect of the kit is that the propeller spinner has holes for four blades, whereas quite clearly the MB3 was fitted with a three bladed propeller. Decals for the yellow P in a circle are present, but no other decals. The First job will be removal and cleaning up with adequate protection against resin dust.

This is a placeholder for the first of my two builds. I'll be using the excellent Academy 1/72nd scale kit with the Berna Decals for the EALA3/1 option. I've got the LF resin bits and bobs to arm the beastie with but I'm in two minds about using them. Kit and gubbins References The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted there's two kits in that box, well I haven't settled on my 2nd subject yet (and to be fair, I'm hoping Special Hobby get a wriggle on and release their Harvard kits).

Hi all, First out of the blocks is this little Ausf-B, a magazine partwork picked up from WH Smiths a couple of years back. According to the reference material seen alongside, only 15 of this variant were constructed - The most notable difference between this and later versions being the suspension with 8 wheels rather than 6 each side. The plastic itself is produced by IBG and there is some good quality moulding going on here - Gun barrel, exhausts were already open, suspension seems to be slide moulded and nice chequer plate on the fenders. The suspension are 1 part units so a quick build is guaranteed. And so it turned out to be - good fit and little fettling required meant that it took about an hour to get to this stage. Instructions and painting schemes listing Vallejo and Hataka paints are included in the accompanying magazine, I think that I'll go with the early war grey/brown scheme as I have any number of grey German tanks already. Now onto the next one. KR's IanJ

With the Supermarine 224 finished and the Dewotine D510 at the painting stage, I think I might have time for least another entry. So I have started an Amodel Hawker Fury that I have in the stash. This is a 'short run' kit that offers the wheel spats for the Mk II and nice surface detail, but is probably a harder build than the Matchbox kit I first built in the summer of 1973 after my First Year Uni exams. The Mark II Fury was an upgrade to the original Fury bought by the RAF. It had a more powerful Kestrel engine, wheel spats and increased fuel tankage which gave it a top speed of 223 mph compared to 205 mph of the original Fury. 100 were built and production started in late 1936 and the type entered service in early 1937. It was only ever seen as a stopgap and remained with a handful of squadrons for a short period until replaced something a bit more potent. Front line units equipped with the Fury II were 25, 41, 73 and 87 Squadrons, some as interim equipment for a few months with 41 having them longest from between October 1937 and January1939 when they were replaced by Spitfires. The Amodel kit is moulded in fairly hard pale grey plastic. Most parts display noticeable mould lines but no flash and some parts like the struts are quite delicate and will require care to remove them. Surface detail is restrained with the fabric areas being muted with none of the sagging associated with some kits of fabric covered aircraft, One small clear part is provided for the windscreen and the decal sheet provides markings for two Mk I's and a Mk II. The decals are matt and some colours look a bit dubious. The only areas of shrinkage on my sample was on the spatted wheels that I wanted to use and the prop, so out has come some filler. As always seems to be the case work started on the fuselage and cockpit. Some wall detail is provided on the fuselage halves and this was added to with a few scratch-built bits like a trim wheel and map case. There is a seat, rudder pedals and a control column that is added to a floor that never existed on real thing, but some effort has been made add details of the fuselage structure on it. The instrument panel is the correct shape and the bodies of the two Vickers machine guns are there as separate parts, but the location pins for them would leave them much too far forward. Paintwork was taken from the Mushroom Model Publication on the Fury and Nimrod and is largely aluminium with the tubular fuselage frames in black. The floor was finished to march doped fabric of the bottom of the fuselage. The lower wings area butt fit and so to make the join stronger and before too much work was done on the fuselage, I drilled a couple of holes and inserted some plastic rod that fit into holes drilled in the wings. Mrs T is out at the surgery until 8.00pm giving coronavirus jabs and so the fuselage will go together. No location pins, but everything lines up nicely by the look of it

Also from last year, a build that may especially interest the British membership.} This Hart, as all harts do, loved to race. Purchased by Princess Margaret, she entered the plane in the King's Cup race of 1951 (that was cancelled), and after that in other competitions and events, some times in the company of the Hurricane seen also bellow (and that I will post after this one). The opportunity to build this racer came in the form of a set of high-quality decals produced and released by Arctic Decals. The Hawker Hart is from Amodel, and it's typical of their range: reasonably-priced, lots of parts, good detail in their masters, but in general a somewhat indifferent molding creating a bit of flash and occasionally dubious fit, making you perform a thorough cleanup session before starting. But you will get a good model if you do your homework. I have built a number of Amodel kits, showing that ultimately it's a fair deal, as long as you spend some time to get the parts sharp and clean and refine them up for a good fit. Small grumbling aside, you will need of course to de-militarize your Hart. A whole sprue of bombs and similar expendable miscellanea will go the scratchbuilding recycling department to become something better. Then a few external features will have to be modified. There are photos on the Net showing this racer with and without a faired cover for the aft position, so it's up to you. Surely it didn't race with a guy on the back of the pilot, though, so I'll be scratching a cover. The Arctic Decals set and the Amodel kit (there are other 1/72 kits of the Hart, by Airfix, Aeroclub and Kora, and the latter has also resin sets for it) is as usual excellent. (Fire engine is a commercial item) (fueling truck is scratch-built and was posted some time ago here at Britmodeller) With the Hurricane it many times shared the field (also purchased by Princess Margaret):

I have finally finished my Lancaster. But before I present the photos I would like to make a couple of comments in regards to the Airfix Kit. I don’t think is news to anyone to say this kit is quite mediocre. Throughout the building, I’ve constantly find myself fighting to it rather than enjoining the process. From the get-go, there was something weird about it. As soon as I opened the box an awful stench came out of it! it really stinks. Not sure if all Airfix kits are like this or only my box, but it was so bad that I have to put it far from my workbench. Second, called me spoiled, but I’m used to nice quality instructions from Eduard or Tamiya, this one instead, is very poor, with many wrong call outs and mistake and with no logic at all. Another frustrating thing was the soft plastic. In particular, when glueing small parts they just melt!…And what about the warped pieces and bad fit? …Seriously!. It really bothers me that this kit cost $78 dollars here in Australia. To put it in context, you can buy a fantastic Eduard Profipack (with PE and mask) in 1/48th scale for $48 to $52 Australian dollars. This is simply not right!. Airfix has been around almost longer than any other company and they still can’t produce something decent! ( I know for some their Hellcat in 1/24 is “amazing”, but I don’t do that big scales, so I don’t know) What annoys me the most is the fact that this is the Avro Lancaster! One of the most iconic, if not THE most iconic bomber (sorry B17’s fanboys (I like it too)) of WWII and there are no good alternatives. I’ve heard worst things about the Hasegawa and Revell 1/72nd kits and the Tamiya 1/48th is almost 40 years old!. The only hope was the Wingnut Wings 1/32, but that would never happen now, and for many of us it is way too big anyways… (the HK Models 1/32nd is good, but not close at all to the sample model presented by WW) …Ok, enough of my rant. Sorry about that . Now to the photos. I've tried to improved the simple surface detail by adding some missing panel lines and rivets. Thanks to elger, Simon Dyer and warhawk for providing me with the drawings! I’ve replaced the plastic wheels with the resin set from Eduard and I’ve used AK real colour lacquer RAF Dark Green and RAF Dark Earth as well as some AMMO washes, filters and oils to give a little of colour variation and weathering. I hope you guys like it and any comments are welcome. Mickey the Moocher QR-M EE176 of A Flight, No. 61 Squadron. Stationed at Skellingthorpe One of less than a dozen to have survived over one hundred bombing missions in active WW2. And one more with some size context cheers Jorge

I decided that I did not have time to build another plane due to other committments, so I thought I would have a shot at this, I bought it about 10 years ago along with the Airfix Saladin and Saracen, but I never opened the box it seems, so I had a bit of a surprise just now. Clearly the one piece wheels and tracks are not normal for Airfix so I had a look on Scalemates and all was revealed. About 20 years ago I bought a couple of kits of the British Light Mk VI tank made by a British company called JB Models during the 1990's. Later, in around 2008 Airfix started selling the same kit, and it seems that they must have aquired the moulds from JB. They also aquired some others, this M113 together with the "fire support" version, the Saladin, Saracen and the LWB Land Rover with trailer. JB also made the 105mm "light gun" and a Bedford lorry and tanker. Airfix have re-boxed all of them at some point. Curiously, JB also released a Scorpion/Scimitar light tank, but it turns out that that was a re-box of the old Airfix kit! Strangely however, they do not seem to have aquired the moulds for the Landrover 1 tonne truck and Ambulance which appear to have gone to Eastern Europe. Anyway, this is clearly quite a simple kit but nicely detailed as were the Mk VI tanks from the same source, and Scalemates say that all 3 versions which decals are provided for actually served in Vietnam. However, the support version whch Airfix sold as "M113 US Fire Support Vehicle" is actually the version fitted with the turret and gun from the Saracen Armoured car, which was also used in 'Nam. but by the Australians, not the US. The only slight disappointment is the lack of stowage and clutter such as spare wheels that often was to be seen on these APC in service, but I can probably do something about that as I have some resin stuff I bought from Millicast a few years back - boxes, camo netting, roled canvas etc According to Airfix it has black rubber tyres on the wheels and just about everything else is green, but I won't be following their suggestion to use Humbrol Hu30! Besides the 3 rotating gun shields it can be built with the top doors/hatches open, and the water trim vane open or closed. Does anybody know what the interior colour was - white/cream perhaps? I would imagine that the inside of the hatches would have been the same colour as the hull though. Anyway, I will make a start on this shortly - should not take too long but I have said that many times before only to be proved wrong! I was also considering building a T-54 tank, but am not sure what markings it would have so probably won't bother. Cheers Pete

This will be my entry to this GB, Special Hobby's lovely kit of the Meteor NF.12... The Kit ...I usually try and do something different than what's in the box, the kit provides markings for 25, 46 and 64 Sqns RAF, unfortunately the 25 Sqn markings are incorrect as Special Hobby show the bars as being silver and blue, not silver and black which is correct. For this build I'll be building a 264 Sqn jet stationed at RAF Middleton St George in 1957, these markings will come from Modeldecal sheet 93 and are the yellow and black bars... The stickers ...I've also got the Peewit mask for the multi panelled canopy although I have heard rumours about their lack of tenacity so they may just end up as templates for normal tape. What's not shown here is the Aerocraft clear resin, open canopy as seen in this link, the kit has a very good interior and it would be a shame not to show it off! I've got quite a lot of references for the Meteor, the aircraft sits squarely in my preferred era of subject so I've accumulated quite a few references on the type... References I've got quite a lot going on in the Heller Classic GB at the moment so I won't be getting around to this one any time soon.

A model from 2 years ago. Civil aviation once had the very democratic dream of providing everyone with a personal plane, as it was happening then with cars. It didn't do it off the goodness of its heart, let's be frank, it wanted to create a market -already filled with home appliances and such-. The dream (sorry, can't help it) never "took off". But the trend spawned a legacy of "flivver", "personal" planes, though, that make the delights of some modelers (I have built a few). Besides the floppy beginnings of the aeronautic endeavors of the Ford company and the later success of the -copied shamelessly from Fokker and Junkers- trimotor transports, the company turned its attention to the personal market. The glossed-over figure of -ideologically very dubious- Henry Ford merits no further mention in this article, but let's start by saying that as the result of that directive Otto Koppen designed the Flivver in 1926, which was reputedly an original idea of William Stout, in charge then of the company's aviation program. The diminutive Flivver had an Anzani of 35 hp engine, a wooden airscrew, a wide landing gear track, Gottingen 387 airfoil, and a span of 22 ft. The Flivver came in two flavors: the first one, with an Anzani 3-cylinder engine, no dihedral and no braces, and the second one with a 2-cylinder engine, dihedral, inverted wing bracing, different tail and inset ailerons. Many other differences apply. The first Flivver was modified a number of times (shorter ailerons, for example) and photos show changes in the engine cowling, upper fuselage and instrument panel. As usual, if you want to build one, check your photos and written references. Since no manufacturer wanted to kit it in 1/72 due surely to its limited bombing capacities, I decided to scratchbuild it (there is a William Bros. injected kit issued in 1/48, many times mistakenly stated as 1/72 due to its small size). This very little model has a chubby and cutely stumpy appearance, and it wouldn't have been out of place in the comics and cartoons of the 20s and 30s. Its stance is proud, and you expect it to walk away swinging that wing to one side and the other on its short lading gear legs. An old Aeroclub prop was used (thanks, caballero Armando!) and the adapted cylinders came originally from Matías Hagen (gracias, Mati!). No decals for this one, since I will depict the model unmarked as it appears in trial photos with a particular prop, spoke wheels and a shorter engine cowl (and in Flight magazine, Feb. 17 1927). As explained above, the plane was modified many times, and decorations and details vary. The Flivver is reproduced here as it appears in photos in what seems early test flights. No markings and a different fuselage top and nose than in later modifications. Photos show a spoke wheel -this model- and covered wheels -my other 1/100 model-. The finding of the photos with the absence of markings was a blessing for me, since I did not want to publicize a brand associated with the historically glossed-over figure of Henry, whose discriminatory ideology was extremely questionable in many regards, as articles in his newspaper of the time prove. But since the plane was the product of other minds and hands, and it is a really a cute little thing, I thought it deserved the effort of a scratchbuild, twice! since I made the 1/100 (by mistake) and 1/72 versions. Please don't sneeze. A 1/100 minime: The dreaded bane of small models and parts:

As There is still a few weeks left to run in this group build I thought I would do another build. From the stash I have retrieved the 1/72nd Amodel kit of the Piasecki HUP Retriever. I am going to build it as one of the three Canadian helicopters of this type and using decals from Print Scale. The Retriever was designed to a USN requirement for a rescue and communication helicopter for use on aircraft carriers and ships. A prototype first flew in 1949 and entered service in 1951. There were four variants. The HUP1 had horizontal stabilisers on the tail, which were deleted on the HUP2 as this was fitted with an autopilot. Some were built for antisubmarine use, but apparently saw little use in this role. The HUP3 was similar to the 2, with more powerful engines and some were converted (including the three Canadian ones) from a US Army version called the UH25 Mule. the UH25 was to be used as a light transport and communications helicopter, but was found not to be rugged enough for Army use. The A model kit is moulded in a hard white plastic with little flash and some reasonable detail Some parts like the engine support look quite delicate and will be visible through the air intakes on the spine. As moulded only the upper set are open and photos vary as to whether the lower set of intakes are open are not. The photos of the aircraft I am building so them to be open and it is straightforward to open them up as there position is indicated on the fuselage halves by engraved lines. Nice to build a kit that can be stuck together with styrene cement.

My latest model finished the end of last week of a Lockheed Hudson I of P5143, 'VX-M' of 206 Sqn, Bircham Newton, May 1940. The Hudson was derived from the Lockheed Model 14 airliner to meet a RAF requirement for a General Reconnaissance (GR) aircraft or as a trainer. Buying a US aircraft for potentially operational duties caused a lot of comment at the time, as some believed the RAF should use only British aircraft. It was then decided,with the threat of war looming, to use the Hudson in its GR role as it offered better performance than the Avro Anson currently used. The Blackburn Botha was the intended replacement for the Anson, but was unlikely to be available in any numbers and when it did appear the Botha proved to be a disappointment, being underpowered and most ended up as trainers. The Hudson first entered service with 224 Sqn in May 1939. 206 Sqn first received Hudsons in March 1940 as replacements for Ansons although the latter lingered until June 1940. The model was built using the MPM kit that first appeared in the mid 1990's and has been reissued by Revell. My model is from the original release and was a resident of the Shelf of Doom for some time, partially because I became disenchanted with the kit at a time when life and work were quite stressful. The kit, even for a limited run kit of the period is not the easiest. Although MPM had moved on to injected moulded transparent parts by that time, it still relies on butt joints in places where some more locating points might have been helpful, like the nose. Fit of some of the parts was also quite vague and not helped by the instructions. The kit has quite a few alternative parts to cater for later marks and this does not help the fit. For me the major jarring note is the Boulton Paul turret, that looks no advance shapewise on the Airfix kit from the sixties.. Thanks to a conversation with Tony O'Toole of this parish at the Bolton Show, the turret has been replaced by a spare from the Revell Halifax III kit with a scratch built interior. Also from the Bolton Show I purchased some Deluxe materials 'Looks Like Glass'. not cheap, but you get a lot for your money and really does look shiny and clear. Paintwork is from the Mr Hobby Aqueous Colour range for the Dark Green and Dark Earth with Vallejo White Aluminium Metalcolor undersurfaces. The kit offers the decals for the aircraft modelled, but looking ata photo of the real aircraft, these were replaced with markings made up from various Modeldecal sheets. now it is finished I am fairly happy with it and can now give my full attention to the Group Build York. As the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetic Corp. would say, 'Share and Enjoy'