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Please excuse the ignorance but I have a project to build aircraft in 1:144 scale which were built or operated from RAF Weston Super Mare. Of of those aircraft was the AW Whitley but there isn't a 1:144 scale kit available of that type and therefore I wish to convert some other existing kit. I would be grateful if anyone can recommend which, if any, 1:144 scale aircraft kit would be best/nearest shape for such a conversion. I know that I shall have to scratchbuild the angular bomb-aimers canopy but could do with finding a kit that requires minimal hacking and slashing etc. cheers Mike

Here is another of my F-Toys Beaufighters in 1:144. It's Bristol Beaufighter Mk.10 RD776/OB-B of No. 45 Sqn RAF at Negumbo, Ceylon, in February 1947. I finished this one in 2016. F-Toys planes are pre-painted partially assembled snap-fit kits. I removed the paint and separated the parts and converted the kit to a late Mk.X. I added the wing leading edge light, the strike camera behind the cockpit, made longer carburettor intakes, added all the aerials, the underwing pylon stubs and the propeller spinners, which came from the spares box and I had to shape accordingly. The kit was completely painted with brush. The scheme's main markings came from an MYK Design sheet and the insignia were sourced from a Mark I sheet. The MYK sheet had some flaws, the main one being the incomplete underwing serials. Since they go underneath I decided to live with it! Thanks for looking and al comments are welcome Miguel

Here is my Trumpeter 1:144 Chengdu F-7-II which I completed back in 2013. It's F-7-IIN "701" of No 5 "Arrow" Sqn, Air Force of Zimbabwe, based at Thornhill-Gweru AB, in the late 1980s. The Trumpeter kit was a real let-down which is surprising since, being Chinese, they should have first-hand information on the real machine, a derivative of the MiG-21. The tailfin was closer to that of the -III variant (the MiG-21MF copy), the underside fin was too shallow, the tailplanes were so thick they almost looked like cushions and the undercarriage was such that, had I used it, the plane would appear to be standing on stilts!! Other areas were also suspect and the fit of the thick parts was bad. Fortunately, I had the parts of a previously scrapped Revell MiG-21PF which came in handy to replace and/or fix the major errors, not without some extra work as in the case of the tailfin. I scratchbuilt some details for the cockpit, just enough to see something inside. The rear ends of the rocket pods were opened up. The kit was completely painted and varnished by brush and the decals came from a Berna Decals sheet. The tailfin markings lacked the black lines and I just about managed to paint them on. The end result wasn't great but at least I managed to complete it and get something decently close to this particular variant of the MiG-21 family. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Here is one of my F-Toys Beaufighters in 1:144. It's Bristol Beaufighter Mk.10 RD857/OB-R of No. 45 Sqn RAF at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, 1949, during Operation "Firedog". I finished this one in 2016. F-Toys planes are pre-painted partially assembled snap-fit kits. I removed the paint and separated the parts and converted the kit to a late Mk.X. I added the wing leading edge light, the strike camera behind the cockpit, made longer carburettor intakes and scratchbuilt the late-type rocket pylons. The kit's rockets were modified to make the later type with larger warheads. I also added all the aerials. The kit was completely painted with brush. The scheme's main markings came from an MYK Design sheet and the insignia were sourced from a Mark I sheet. The MYK sheet had some flaws, the main one being the incomplete underwing serials. Since they go underneath I decided to live with it! Thanks for looking and al comments are welcome Miguel

This plane doesn't really need an introduction.. But I'll make one anyway. For those of you who don't know what it is; Have you been living under a rock? The Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde was one of the first and only supersonic passenger airliners to enter service. Its design was unique, graceful and miles ahead of any of its contemporaries and up until now, no airliner has been able to surpass it. The aircraft's economic future was short-lived, though; In the end, only Air France and British Airways ordered it, paid almost entirely for by their respective governments due to low demand, rising fuel costs and high fuel and maintenance expenses. It was retired in 2003 after its only crash in Paris as well as the commercial aviation industry plummeting after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The kit is Revell's 2005 tooling of the Concorde with BA's Chatham livery, depicting G-BOAG in the 5-degree nose-down takeoff position. So, before anything else, here are the pics! The model was painted with Base White 1000 for the white basecoat and the gloss coat was Tamiya X-22 with Mr. Levelling Thinner. The metallic parts of the engines were painted with Alclad II Airframe Aluminum under XF-1 + X-22. The rest of the aircraft and the smaller components were either painted with Tamiya acrylics or Alclad II White Aluminum. Now, about the kit.. Hoooo boy, where to start? I'll probably end up writing this like it was it's own review. The first thing you notice about the kit is that it has very few parts - Only around 60 if I remember right - but for such a simple kit, it's also a major pain in the behind to assemble overall. Because of the age of the mold, expect to be trimming off sheets of flash as well. The fit of the fuselage components is fine, but the wing components are especially difficult. The way it's engineered, the entire underside of the wings + undercarriage and bottom half of the fuselage are to be fitted in one piece, but the assembly's so flimsy that it's difficult to keep all of it glued to whatever fuselage supports there are without buckets of cement or CA. This also affects the way that the upper half of the wings fits together. The whole assembly is so flimsy that it bends too easily. In the end, the seam that connects the bottom half and upper half of the wing were impossible for me to eliminate as they just kept cracking and reopening every time I put putty over it and sanded. It would be advisable to stuff some plastic card or CA and talcum powder in there so that it has some structural support. The engines were also tedious to fit together but it was possible to get a flush fit if you test fitted and sanded ad nauseam. Some of the components fit well and others simply didn't. Be careful to test fit everything and you should be able to proceed with the rest of the build somewhat more smoothly. The decals are printed by Cartograf and as a result are quite nice to work with. The adhesive isn't too strong, which on one hand means that they're easy to work with and don't get stuck the moment they're applied. On the other it also means that they're somewhat more prone to being shuffled around when you don't want them to and peeling off. For an airliner kit a lot of stencils are provided which is nice although they might seem too many for some. Check reference photos of the particular aircraft you're modelling. Some of the stencils seemed to be in wrong places in the instructions or not existent at all, especially in the engines. As mentioned in other reviews, the nose gear is too long and should be trimmed a few mm. I did this on my build but found it wasn't enough as the model still had an excessive nose-up position. The nose visor and windscreen is also wrong - The model depicts it as flat but it should be angled. I scratchbuilt this by bending a piece of plasticard and with a bunch of epoxy putty, and printed my own decals for the cockpit windscreens. Worked out pretty well, I think. The main gears need careful alignment because otherwise it doesn't fit on all fours. It doesn't show all that much on the photos, though. Closing in on a long wall of text, I certainly made more than a few mistakes during the build, but despite the difficulty I'm rather content with how it turned out. Thanks for somehow reading until this point, and any feedback would be appreciated!

I have wanted to do a conversion of an aircraft kit for a while, but not had the confidence to start one; or sure of which one to do. I have eventually overcome the doubts of my abilities and decided to convert a Minicraft 1:144 B-24J Liberator into a wartime PB4Y-2 Privateer. This will be trial and error; however, if I am successful then I intend get the Minicraft B-24D version and do another as a postwar Firebomber. For now though, I only have a drawing for a wartime version so will start with that. The donor kit will be this one: The drawing that I shall be using for reference will be this one: To help identify where to cut and the relocation of parts, I will re-draw the salient sections to 1:144 scale and print them off like this profile view: I will be happy if, at the end of this build, it at least looks like a Privateer! Mike

Here is Anigrand Craftswork's 1:144 resin kit of the Junkers EF.132 bomber project which I built in 2002. Markings are for a fictitious KG200 machine in the Luftwaffe. It was built mostly OOB with only the guns being replaced by thinner items. The undercarriage doors were thinned. It was all painted by brush except for the matt varnish which was applied with airbrush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

This is my Tupolev Tu-128 "Fiddler B" Red 01, unit unknown, of the IA-PVO, Russia, USSR, which I built in 2012. It's a 1:144 resin bonus kit of the Tu-22K Blinder-B boxing (one hell of a bonus kit!). Built mostly OOB, correcting the position of the main undercarriage legs and putting the doors as they should be as opposed to what was suggested in the minimal instructions. I added various aerials and lumps from stretched sprue and scrap plastic as well as missing u/c retraction arms or struts. The kit was completely painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and all comments welcome Miguel

Here is Miniwing's 1:144 Aeritalia (Fiat) G.91R/4 which I built in 2011. It represents 5429 of Esquadra 702 Escorpiões, Força Aerea Portuguesa, based at Boca de Tubarão, Mozambique, in 1970. It's a nice resin kit sadly let down by the poor printing resolution of the decals. I had to touch some of them up with paint, in particular the flags on either side of the tail. The kit was completely painted with brush with only the final varnish being airbrushed. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Learjet 35A Stransky Kits 1:144 The Learjet 35 is one of a series of American multi-role business jets and military transport aircraft manufactured by Learjet. The engines are mounted in nacelles on the sides of the aft fuselage. The wings are equipped with single-slotted flaps. The wingtip fuel tanks distinguish the design from other aircraft having similar functions. The availability of the Garrett AiResearch TFE731 turbofan in the late 1960s led to a development of the Learjet 25 that was initially known as the 25B-GF (Garrett Fan). A test bed Learjet 25 with a TFE731 on its left side flew in May 1971, while the definitive Learjet 35 prototype first flew on August 22 1973. Improvements to this model and to Learjet 36 led to the 35A and 36A from 1976, with higher standard max takeoff weights. Both models remained in production until 1994. The Learjet 35 is known, above all, for its range. It can fly 2,056 miles nonstop. The Learjet 35 offers more than range: it has good handling characteristics, a low fuel burn, and fast cruise speeds as well. A maximum of eight passengers can travel in the Learjet 35’s cabin. It is 12.9 feet long, 4.9 feet wide and 4.3 feet high. There are 40 cubic feet of baggage space, enough to hold about eight standard-sized suitcases. The real strength of the Learjet 35 is its range, takeoff, and cruise capabilities. Two Honeywell TFE731-2-2B engines provide 3,500 pounds of thrust, allowing the Lear 35 to take off in 4,972 feet. Its maximum takeoff weight is pretty high as well at 18,000 pounds. Components of these engines have been used on much higher-performing jets. Their pressure compressors were taken from the Garret 660-series engine, which is most notably used on 747s. The engine’s turbine components come from DC-10s, and the high-pressure impellers are modified versions of the ones used in the TPE 331 and T76 engines. The Learjet 35 has a relatively long range for a private jet and can cruise at speeds as high as 451 kts, or 424 kts with four passengers. Fuel consumption is excellent: the 31A burns 197 gallons of fuel per hour. The Learjet 35 has received some attention-grabbing honours since the first serial number rolled off the line. It was selected for use as a military jet, where it now operates with the name C-21. It was the first private jet to land at Denver International Airport when their new runway opened, and it seems to be a favourite among celebrities. The Model Stranksy is a completely new company to this reviewer, other than they are based in Prague, in the Czech Republic and produce 1:144 scale kits, I know nothing else. What I do know, is what I have in my hands, a dinky little model of a Learjet 35. Shape wise it looks to be pretty accurate even though my only real experience is with a Learjet 25 I look after at work, the 35’s fuselage is the same as is the wing till outboard of the ailerons. The engine pods are deeper on the 35 than the 25 and even in this scale this is shown well. The kit comes in a end opening box which contains a single large sprue of white styrene, a small sprue of clear styrene and a smallish decal sheet. The details in this scale are pretty hard to define, but the panels on the underside of the wing are correct for this model, as are those on the fuselage although they will mostly disappear under a coat of paint, as per the real thing. The only obvious “fault” if you want to call it that is that the main undercarriage bays are not deep enough, and if you really want to be picky, the nose wheel roof shouldn’t be flat by indented to accept the nose wheel. One of the stranger choices the modeller has is whether to open up the side windows and fit with the clear parts provided, or use the different styles as provided on the decal sheet. Assembly is pretty straight forward, with the nose wheel bay roof being glued into position, before the fuselage halves are closed up. The instructions call for 5g of nose weight needed to stop it being a tail sitter. The engine nacelles are each made up from top and bottom halves, including the stub wing moulded to the top half, which sandwich the fan blades and exhaust nozzle. These are then glued into position on the aft fuselage. The single piece tail plane is then glued to the top of the fin. The single piece wing is fitted with the two, two piece tip tanks and fitted with the main landing gear, each of which comprises the main oleo, retraction actuator, two wheels and outer door. Once fitted the main, inner doors are fitted in the closed position, not open as per the instructions. The single piece windscreen is then glued into place as is the ventral fin right aft. The wing assembly is also fitted completing the build for the normal Learjet. For the type fitted with weapons pylons this are fitted in accordance to the measurements in the instructions. If you wish to place you r completed model on a runway vignette, then the bottom of the box is printed for just that occasion, a nice little touch . Decals The decals appear to be printed in house and if I were to be slightly critical the colours are a little dull or off what they should be. Otherwise they are quite nicely printed with thin carrier film and quite opaque. You get three options on the sheet. Gates Learjet 35A of the Swiss Air Force, T-781, Switzerland Gates Learjet 35A, DRF Luftrettung, D-CCAA, Germany Gates Learjet 35A, Phoenix Air, N-549PA, USA Conclusion This is a great little kit of a very sleek aircraft, and one of my favourite aircraft manufacturers. It’s not perfect, but then at this scale no-one will notice that the vortex generators on the outer wings are missing etc. The company have a series of Learjet 35’s available now, some straight business jets while others are special mission aircraft for various air forces, which will make a nice collection. Review sample courtesy of

Hello everyone This is my latest kit. It's Mark I Models' 1:144 Wessex HCC.4 XV733 of The Queen's Flight, RAF, at RAF Benson, UK, in 1981. It was built mostly OOB modifying the main rotor mast, this kit's main flaw, apart from those modifications specified for this variant in the instructions concerning the windows on the fuselage sides. The folded steps came as a nice resin part but unfortunately about 2mm too long so I had to cut it in two and reduce the length. Missing struts were added to the steps made from stretched sprue. In the cockpit I added belts from Tamiya tape and shortened the control sticks. The various antennae and the cable cutters were added from stretched sprue and etched metal. The engine exhausts were opened up as they were moulded solid. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush and freehand. The photos in the walkarounds section were very helpful. A big thanks there. Although some things didn't come out right I'm pleased with the finished result. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Here is another of the kits I have completed this year and the other Mark I 1:144 Arado Ar 96B I had mentioned before in a previous post. It's an Ar 96B-7 AIR MIN 120 of No.435 Disarmament Servicing and Repair Unit, RAF, in Schleswig, Germany, late 1945. This aircraft eventually wound up in the UK where it was eventually scrapped. As with the other one, I added belts from tape and sticks from stretched sprue in the cockpit, the underwing pitot tube and replaced the propeller with a resin one from Retrokit. Notes on the other one apply here The kit was completely painted by brush. This aircraft remained in Luftwaffe colours but had the German markings overpainted and British ones applied instead. Weathering was minimal as these were trainers and not combat machines and were better kept. Thanks for looking Miguel

Here is what became the first of a run of 1:144 MiG-21s, mostly from Eduard, that I built back in 2011-2012. This is Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF "Fishbed J" 5121, flown by Pham Tuan, of the 921st Fighter Regiment 'Sao Do', Vietnam People's Air Force, during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. This is the Eduard kit built straight out of the box. It was completely painted by brush. Thanks for looking. Miguel

Here's my Amodel 1:144 Canberra T.17 which I built in 2010. It represents WF916/EL of 360 Squadron, RAF, based at RAF Cottesmore and RAF Wyton (from August 1975 onwards), UK, 1970s. Not an easy kit but the only one of this variant in this scale. I built it OOB adding several missing aerials. The kit was painted by brush with only the varnish being airbrushed. Thanks for looking Miguel

Hello everyone! Here is Martin B-26G-25-MA Marauder, 44-68171 “8X/02”, of 1 Escadrille, GBM I/22 “Maroc”, Armée de l’Air, at St. Dizier, France, in May 1945. This was a conversion of Minicraft 1:144 kit I did in 2014 with the scheme markings from a Print Scale decal sheet. I added a Matador Models white metal cockpit, opened up all the windows and thinned the turret guns as much as possible. Despite the white metal cockpit part, I had to add a little extra weight to prevent the kit from tipping on its tail. The gun barrels of the external gun packs were scraped off the fuselage sides and replaced with new ones from either plastic or metal rod (can't remember!). The major point of the conversion was changing the angle of the main wings. The F and G models had the main wings raised 3,5 degrees at the front to help reduce the landing speeds. I managed to alter the tabs and root holes so the wings would sit at the new angle and then blended in the wings to the fuselage at the roots with filling and sanding. The kit was completely painted by brush with only the varnish being applied with an airbrush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

This has been trundling along for a while, this build. But a burst of energy (oddly enough as I was off work sick) has seen it over the line. The FM-2 Wildcat needs no introduction, and if it does then there are plenty of better written potted histories than I could manage. Suffice to say it was the last of the Wildcat line, with a more powerful engine and a larger tail to compensate. The Sweet kit is also well known. The only edits I made to it were to put a spare seat in the cockpit (can't be seen); to widen the diameter of the cowling (as the Shelf Oddity instructions wisely advise); and to put the prop in my dremel to lathe down the somewhat exaggerated staggered hub into a spinner. I was very tempted to use the lovely Shelf Oddity etch set for this (https://shelfoddity.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=58 quite challenging-looking but I think I'd be up to it). In the end, though, I've decided to save that or another 'cat... I did use the superb (https://shelfoddity.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=25) Shelf Oddity decals. These were an absolute joy to use, even considering all the many many little stencils I had to put on. Not a whisper of silvering and all perfectly well behaved. There is a small etch fret as well, so you can put rocket stubs and other little details on. I plan to do the blue and natural metal ones the decals provide for, so will use the full detail set and the subject-specific etch on a future build. The Naval Air Modification Centre (NAMU) trained mechanics and had a number of bright yellow aircraft assigned to it (including a rather fetching Helldiver). Here's my Wildcat parked up in September 1946... As well as being used to test things like HVAR rocket, they were used as trainers and tugs... I sprayed the whole thing in Mr Hobby 329 which worked well, but required quite a few layers to get the right depth and shade. I used oils, pencils and pastels to weather (I refuse to believe that a bright yellow radial remains clean for long). I was particularly smug about my little pitot which I scratch built... The aerials at the back caused me some grief, but I got there in the end (kept reminding myself that it was better than trying to rig a Gladiator...) And that's that. With something totally unrelated but also on the bench... And now this goes to join its sibling Wildcats... Thanks very much for looking!

Here's my Saab J35A Draken "19", of Flygflottilj 13, Swedish Air Force, NorrKöping, Sweden, early 1960s. It's the Miniwing resin 1:144 kit which I built in 2010. The kit was completely painted and varnished with brush. I used Humbrol 27002 Polished Aluminium for the main metallic finish and dry-brushed Humbrol 56 Flat Aluminium along panel lines. The markings are sadly poor because of the decals which Miniwing used to have. I had no alternative replacements so had to make do with them. Thanks for looking and comments are welcome. Miguel

Spanish Submarine Peral Mikr Mir 1:144 Isaac Peral was born on 1 June 1851 in Cartagena, a large and densely populated city on the Mediterranean coast, which was established as a naval base in the 16th Century. At the tender age of 14, Peral enrolled at the San Fernando Naval Military School in Cadiz, and at 16, he earned a commission into the Spanish Navy. During his Naval career, Peral was involved in active duties, travelling to Cuba and the Philippines. Peral excelled in his work, and was awarded a medal for bravery. In 1882, Peral was awarded the role of Professor of Physics at the Escuela de Ampliación de Estudios de la Armada. His growing knowledge of science and technology, combined with an understanding that Spain needed new methods to protect their territories overseas, spurred him to begin work on the plans for El Peral, a submarine designed for military use. With the encouragement and financial input of the naval minister Manuel de la Pezuela, Peral was able to build a full sized model of his design and which was launched in 1888. El Peral measured 22 metres in length, with a cigar-like shape, and was powered by two electrical 30 horse power engines. During the testing process, the submarine simulated both day and night time attacks, along with firing three Whitehead torpedoes. Unfortunately, despite promising results, in 1890, further investigation of underwater vessels for military use was brought to an end. In 1890 Peral was withdrawn from service, equipment removed, and the hull stored at La Carraca Arsenal. In 1913 her demolition was ordered but this was not carried out. In 1929, Admiral Mateo García de los Reyes, first commander of the Spanish submarine forces, managed to reclaim the hull and towed it to Cartagena, putting it ashore at the submarine base. In 1965 the authorities of Cartagena succeeded in moving the hull to the Plaza de los Héroes de Cavite. In 2002 was moved to the Paseo Alfonso XII, in front of the port of Cartagena. In 2013, Peral was restored and moved to the Cartagena Naval Museum. The Model The kit consists of two sprues of light grey styrene, one of clear styrene and a medium sized etched brass sheet. The kit is contained in the standard, colourful Mikr Mir box. As with most submarine kits, there aren’t a lot of parts and shouldn’t take too long to build, even in this scale though it is still a small submarine model, although some of the etched parts look to be quite fiddly. The instruction sheet just shows two complete operations with all the parts arrowed to their positions, broken up with only a few magnified areas where required. The hull is spilt horizontally and once glued together is fitted out with the addition of the bow torpedo door, upper and lower rudders, which are moulded complete with their support frames, the two main propeller shafts, shaft supports, tower trunk, two periscopes and two ventilators. The seven clear parts are used to shroud the lower tower, and on top of the tower trunk. You will need to paint the lower tower black first, and mask off the window areas before painting the hull colour. The rest of the build is accomplished using the PE parts provides, these include a small propeller on the underside, right aft, in front of the lower rudder, along with the protective guard that goes over it, along with a similar propeller and guard fitted right forward, just aft of the torpedo door. The main propellers are glued to their shafts, followed by their individual bosses, and shaped accordingly. The trickiest parts of the PE to assemble are for the two platforms that are fitted either side of the tower. Each platform consists of eight supports and the separate decking, but with patience these will look great when assembled and fitted to the model. Conclusion MikroMir really have a knack of producing interesting and unusual subjects, and this is another one that I knew nothing about. It’s great that they have chosen to release this in 1:144 scale as it makes this really small submarine that little bit bigger once built to show off, measuring out at around 155mm long when complete. Review sample courtesy of

Hello everyone! Here is one of several 1:144 MiG-17s I built a few years back (this one in 2014). This is Attack's 1:144 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17PFU "Fresco E", Red 15, PVO (Soviet Air Defence Force), Soviet Central Asia, USSR, late 1950s. This was the final Russian MiG-17 variant, armed with air-to-air missiles. This option also came in Mark I Model's re-issue of the kit. Since the decals were much better in the latter, I used them from here instead of those from the Attack kit. The PFU was a modification of the PF variant and since there were no new-build machines I decided to make it a well-worn machine. The kit was completely painted with brush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel

Hello everyone! Here is one of two Westland Wessex kits I built back in 2015. It is Wessex HC.2 XR505/081, Escuadrón Helicópteros, Aviación Naval Uruguaya, based at Base Aeronaval Capitán Curbelo, Laguna del Sauce, Uruguay, as seen on the USS Oak Hill (LSD-51) during Exercise Southern Partnership Station, Uruguay, in July 2009. This one one of five ex-RAF machines delivered to the Uruguayan Naval Aviation. It is the Mark I Models 1:144 kit with etched parts from Brengun. The kit needs some care and work as the fit of parts isn't great. The Brengun parts really improve the cockpit and supply several missing external details such as the winch and steps. The biggest flaw of this kit, and one that really needs a resin replacement, is the main rotor mast. As it comes, it is nothing like the real thing and makes the main rotor sit lower than it should. My simple solution in both kits was to cut off the mast, make the rotor head thinner (as it is on the thick side) and make a new mast from the kit's sprue sanded more or less to shape. It's not a great fix but looks much better. I'm currently building an HCC.4 and I'm giving thought to adding the links which would really improve the appearance. The exhausts were hollowed out as they came moulded solid. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel

Bud Anderson is part of that rare breed of fighter pilots who first saw combat in piston engines fighters in World War Two and whose last combat mission was over the skies of North Vietnam. He claimed 16 and a half aerial victories (no strafing victories in there) making him a Triple Ace. There will probably never again be another pilot to equal this. Anderson flew with the 357th from Leiston and was its top scoring ace. He has remained lifelong friends with Chuck Yeager who also served in the 357th and once said of Anderson ‘he’s the best fighter pilot I ever saw’. Anderson named all his aircraft 'Old Crow' after a brand of Kentucky Bourbon. I imagine there was a good backstory and probably a wild party behind that, though Anderson claimed to be teetotal...! Anderson’s first aircraft was not his recognisable Old Crow Mustangs but a P-39Q Aircobra while on a training squadron in New Mexico. Although the aircraft was much maligned by US pilots, Anderson liked the nimble little Aircobra: “Actually I enjoyed the ’39—it was fast and looked good. I just wouldn’t want to take it into combat.” This is the F-Toys P-39Q which I repainted. I replaced the pitot with something less cannon-like, but otherwise OOB. Different sources give different views on whether this had a red tail or not. I went for a red tail, because it was more fun (and the squadron aircraft were repainted with red tails for war game exercises, though there is nothing suggesting this was done on Bud Anderson's P-39). A good, clean build with few fit issues. I had to strip off the canopy pre-painting which was tricky (and it's still a little too thick but I can't do anything further on that). The Revell MicroWings P-39 is a useless old mould, replete with acres of flash. But it does come with some nice decals for Anderson's P-39, which I could repurpose for this build. No issues with these - they worked well. In March 1943 Anderson was posted to the 363rd FS of the 357th FG, flying the Merlin-powered P-51B. The 357th was the second P-51 Fighter Group formed (after the 354th 'Pioneer' Group that Sweet caters for in this scale), but the first assigned to the 8th Air Force on long-range bomber escort duty. On 27 May 1944 Anderson (who by now had scored several kills) was caught in a dogfight with a veteran Luftwaffe 109 pilot. In a series of 'boom and zoom' vertical maneuvers, which pushed the aircraft to the very limits of what they were capable of, Anderson managed to get some shots into the 109 which crashed. Subsequently some historians have offered to try to identify the Luftwaffe pilot (who was obviously very experienced). Bud Anderson's response was typically modest and quite moving: he didn't want to know, there was no prestige in it; the German 'was just some guy trying to kill me, that's all.' In his second tour in late-1944, Anderson flew the P-51D, which I've made here. This was initially olive drab, but returning from one mission over the frozen wastes of northern Germany, Anderson remarked offhand to his crew chief that he felt conspicous flying a dark-colored P-51 against the white landscape. To his great surprise next morning his Olive Drab/Neutral Grey aircraft was gleaming polished aluminium. “Otto Heino, Mel Schuenemann, and Leon Zimmermann had stayed up the whole night through, hand-rubbing the paint off with rags soaked in gasoline. In the process, they had rubbed most of the skin off their hands. No one asked them to do that. No one expected it." I've modeled Anderson's P-51 after perhaps a couple of missions. I've left things quite clean and polished, bar some mud and exhaust staining (it was a cold, wet winter after all). This is obviously the Platz P-51. The Platz 'Aces of the 8th Air Force' box offers decals for this version of Old Crow and the olive drab version too (Cartograf and very nice) but I went for a mixture of those and MYK decals' offering. The MYK decals are superb at conforming to complex curves and were better for things like invasion and ID stripes, but some of the Cartograf decals were a bit sharper in terms of details - like the kill markings. I love the whitewall tyres - so cool and come as decals which makes life easier... Overall AK Interactive Aluminium, but I varied some of the panel colours with a variety of other shades. A fun build - I can't get enough of these Platz P-51s (which is fortunate as several boxes of the new issue just landed on my doorstep!). I suspect I will try and build several other of Bud Anderson's mounts, including his F-105. What an amazing man. Thanks very much for looking - as ever! Angus

I’ve been really busy with work and private life lately, but things have settled down a bit so I finally managed to find some time to finish this model. My latest build is the A320-200 from Zvezda in the colours of Amsterdam Airlines. This short-lived Dutch airline operated from 2008 until 2011. As most of you know this model kit is really great, although I struggled a bit to get the engines attached in a straight way. Also the red is a bit too dark (I used gray primer, but should have used white instead) and the windows on the left side are a bit too low. Other than that I'm pleased with the way she turned out. Decals are from Flevo Decals. Cockpit, window and door outlines decals are from Authentic Airliner Decals. Corogard and cargo door decals from 8A Decs. The display bases are all 80 x 80 cm and made by myself. My next build will be the 1:144 PS-84 / Li-2 in Aeroflot colours from Eastern Express, which (just as my DC-2) is part of a Dutch Group Build effort. Anyway, thanks for looking and see you next time!

Boeing 727-200. 1:144 Airfix kit. 26Decals Iberia 'Delivery scheme' sheet. This is the venerable old Airfix kit that originally appeared as a 727-100 in the late 1960's, and the mould was modified in the early 80's to make it into the stretched -200 version. It's a bit clunky by today's standards, but can be made into an acceptable model. Some mods I made were; Cut out the cockpit area and replaced it with a Daco clear cockpit section. It makes a big difference and is well worth doing. Scratch built a basic cockpit, seats & instrument panel. Reshaped the nose, as the kit has it a bit blunt. Cut the wing fence off the trailing edge, and made new ones on the leading edge. Scribed the wings. Scraped and sanded the hard line that runs back over the fin from the top of the engine intake. Removed it and blended the area smoother. 10 minute job, but again, it makes a noticeble difference. Replaced the wheel with a set of Brengun resin ones. Paint is Halfords appliance white, Alclad, and Tamiya acrylics, all sprayed. Hope you like it! 'With something else' could only be the Iberia DC-9, also an Airfix kit with 26Decals. Some WIP photos. The cockpit area cut away: Daco glazing trial fitted Cockpit painted up, Milliput on the nose to help with reshaping. overall view. Note the 'hard line' running onto the fin from the centre engine top has not yet been scraped & sanded away. Thanks for looking, John

Hi guys, To celebrate/commemorate the last day of sixth form for me (yesterday) I've decided to embark on a little project. Unfortunately I damaged the seals on my airbrush after trying to thin down Alclad with cellulose thinners; a new airbrush and official Alclad airbrush cleaner will need to be sought at the start of next week hopefully......Anyway... Running alongside my 1:48 Canberra pr.9 build (found here) I'm going to build an aircraft in a particular scheme that I have been wanting to do for quite a while. The kit is the new(ish?)-tool Revell A320 1:144 in an Ethiad scheme: I won't immediately reveal which aircraft I'm doing, I shall reveal bits and pieces as I go along (what a tease I am! ) but I shall start by giving a considerable hint; Red. Any guesses? That's all for now, at least until the airbrush is sorted. Kind regards, Sam

Does anyone know of a source for plans for a Foden airport refueller (I think that is what this vehicle is) such as the one below? I'm looking for dimensions to scratch build one in 1:144 scale. I have checked Blueprints dot com and they don't appear to have one. Also looking for details of a Bedford S type refueller, for the same Shell-BP company. cheers Mike