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  1. Hello everyone! Here is my first kit of the year, built for the "Minicraft Remembered" Group Build in the Kampfgruppe144 forum. It's Minicraft's 1:144 North American PBJ-1J Mitchell built as 64973/"O", of VMB-612, US Marines, at Iwo Jima, from April to late July 1945.. I was hoping to make this a quick OOB build but it dragged on for more than a month-and-a-half due to all the modifications and improvements needed to make this old Crown kit more accurate. These were (in no particular order): - Reshaping the nose canopy part, which was completely wrong, and getting the "Hose Nose" to blend in properly. - Adding the Matador Models white metal cockpit parts. I replaced the sticks for proper steering controls from stretched sprue. - Completely replacing the side gun packs which were oversized and too shallow. - Adding the armour plates below the main canopy. - Lowering the main wings 2mm. - Adding the two blisters on the fuselage spine. - Elongating the fairing to the tail gunner canopy. Replacing the tail gun barrels. - Remaking the tail bumper. - Relocating the underside bullet aerial. - Adding a retraction arm and scissor link to the nose wheel leg. Thinning the u/c doors. - Making the various intakes and landing lights along the leading edges of the wings. - Opening the cowlings and adding 3D-printed engines. - Remaking the intakes above the cowlings and adding the missing exhausts. - Thinning and reshaping the propeller blades. - Adding underwing HVARs taken from an AFV Club F4U kit. - Replacing the wing probe. It was fully painted and varnished with brush. I actually enjoyed all the work involved and am pleased with how I solved some of the problems. Above all, I am very happy with the end result, so much better than had I built it OOB. Thanks for looking and all comments are, as usual, welcome. Miguel
  2. My latest build is the RusAir 1:144 Antonov 140 in Aeromost colours. The An-140 is a twin-engine passenger/cargo aircraft designed and developed by Antonov ASTC of Ukraine to operate on regional air routes. It was built to replace the An-24 aircraft. About 1367 of the An-24 were built, so Antonov saw plenty of possibilities back in the day. Unfortunately, success was not forthcoming as only 35 were built in total (only one is currently operational in civil aviation). Officially, the An-140 is still in production, but none have been produced since 2016. I find the aircraft to be pretty forgettable designwise, but the Aeromost livery however is pretty attractive. Also, it's a relatively unknown aircraft, which always makes it extra fun for me! The kit is from RusAir and is excellent as always. The decals are a bit more fiddly, especially at the propellers. They also detach quite quickly. So Sol and Set are really a must. There are two options for the propellers: with loose blades, or blades already attached to the hub. I initially wanted to use the latter variant. I had already started to cut them, but they are moulded in such a way that the bottom is attached to the resin and so they are almost impossible to cut properly and certainly cannot be sanded easily. As such I used the loose blades option (which was also easier with airbrushing, just a little more work to glue them to the hub). Most of the decals (apart from some details) come from the kit. The windows however come from a spare Authentic Airliners DC-10 window sheet. The cockpit windows as well as the display bases were made by me. At any rate the pictures: My next Eastern Bloc kit be the Zvezda Il-62 kit with Aeroflot/KLM livery. But first I'm first to finish the F-RSIN SE.2010 Armagnac and Roden KLM DC-3 / C-47. Thanks for reading and see you next time!
  3. Hi all Here I present Roden’s 1:144 RC-135V/W Rivet Joint in Royal Air Force markings I brought this kit not long after it’s release and started it back in October 2022 it was intended to be a quick build before starting my next project but as it was it didn’t go as quickly as I’d hoped but hay-ho anyways I wanted to do it in RAF markings but the the kit only comes with USAF decals so a quick search on the web and I see Welsh model do a kit so an email was sent and a few days later I purchased the decals 👍 I chose to do ZZ664 Paints used were from Vallejo (a first for me in using these paint’s) I thoroughly enjoyed this build despite it taking a little longer than I anticipated Thanks for looking and happy modelling 👍
  4. Hello everyone! Here is my latest kit. It's Amodel's 1:144 Beriev Be-12 Tchaika "Mail". It represents "Yellow 55" of the Ukrainian Naval Aviation in the 1990s. Following the break-up of the USSR, Ukraine had 12 ASW Be-12s plus a SAR variant. In 2001, the survivors were all grounded and at least six were refurbished and returned to service in 2004. This short-run kit with etched parts was not easy but the end result was very satisfying. The instructions were not clear in places and had several errors. Checking with photos of the real thing was a must. I built it OOB and only added the wing probes, the radio wires and some intakes from stretched sprue. It was fully painted and varnished with brush Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  5. Hello everyone! Here is one of my two latest kits, finished in time for the "1942" Group Build in the Kampfgruppe144 forum (and the year's end). It's F-toys' 1:144 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4. It represents "White 8", flown by Leutnant Walter Nowotny, Staffelkapitän, 1./JG54, Luftwaffe, Krasnogvardeisk, USSR, December 1942. This was a pre-painted semi-assembled gashapon kit. I took apart the assembled fuselage, removed all the paint and built it OOB only adding the radio wire from stretched sprue. In my haste, I forgot to sand down the exaggerated rib detail of the tailplanes and the rudder and missed that the main wheel hubs should be black not RLM66. It was fully painted and varnished with brush. Decals came mostly from an MYK Design decal sheet with the wing insignia coming from the kit's decals and the spares box. Weathering was minimal as the machine was quite new at that date. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  6. Hello everyone! Here is the other of my two latest kits, finished in time for the "1942" Group Build in the Kampfgruppe144 forum (and the year's end). It's F-toys' 1:144 Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-4 converted to an A-3. It represents "Black 13", W/Nr. 2181, of 8./JG2, Luftwaffe, France, 1942. This was a pre-painted semi-assembled Gashapon kit. I took apart the assembled fuselage, removed all the paint and built it OOB only adding the radio wire from stretched sprue and modifying the tail to make the characteristic forward tip blister for the radio wire of the early Fw 190s. In my haste, I forgot to sand down the exaggerated rib detail of the tailplanes and the rudder and missed that the main wheel hubs should be black not RLM66. It was fully painted and varnished with brush. Decals came mostly from the kit with the upper wing crosses and stencils coming from an MYK Design decal sheet and the swastika from the spares box. Weathering was light as these machines were well kept and quite clean in this period, other than the stains from the engine. Despite the things I missed, I am especially pleased with this one. Thanks for looking and a Happy New Year to everyone. Miguel
  7. Here is one of the kits I have completed this year. It's Mark I's 1:144 Arado Ar 96B-1 White 16 (KK+CW), W.Nr. 0122, of JFS 3, Luftwaffe, at Stolp-Reitz airfield, Germany, in autumn 1940. I added belts from tape and sticks from stretched sprue in the cockpit. There were issues with the wing/fuselage join which needed some work to get a decent join, and the exhausts which are unclear in their positioning and stick out too much if glued as suggested. I solved the latter by opening holes in the dimples on the engine cover where you are supposed to glue them, to insert them into and thus get them in a better position. I also added the underwing pitot tube. The big flaw of this kit is the propeller spinner which lacks the "orange-squeezer" tip. Retrokit have made a resin replacement propeller that is a big improvement and I have used it in this kit. The other thing to watch out for is getting the angle of the main undercarriage legs right as the instructions are unclear here too and they are supposed to be raked forward in a fashion similar to the Fw 190. Otherwise it was an enjoyable little kit and I have built another (to be posted later) and have several in my stash. The kit was completely painted by brush. Weathering was minimal as these were trainers and not combat machines and were better kept. Thanks for looking Miguel
  8. My latest finished build is the Eastern Express 1:144 Airbus A220-100 (CS100) Swiss. I usually tend to build more vintage jets and props, but from time to time I build something more modern. And well, you can’t get much more modern then the Airbus A220. The A220 started life as the Bombardier C-series. Bombardier already had plans for a larger aircraft in the 1990s and was in talks with Fokker about this. Unfortunately, this deal fell through and Bombardier put their plans on hold for the time being. However, due to increasing competition from Embrear, Boeing and Airbus, Bombardier was forced to develop a new aircraft. These eventually became the CS100 and the CS300. The first flight of the CS100 was in 2013. However, due to continued strong competition, program delays and a possible dumping lawsuit filed by Boeing, sales did not go so smoothly. Ultimately, a partnership was made with Airbus (which saw opportunities to use the C-series aircraft to replace the A319 in particular). This proved to be a good move (at least for Airbus) and, until now, around 740 aircraft have been ordered for 15 customers with 208 deliveries. Airbus has even taken over Bombardier's entire production line in 2020 and Bombardier has consequently withdrawn its commercial aviation part of the business. The kit is from Eastern Express and in all likelihood you have seen this kit and livery before as this is currently the only A220 in 1:144 available. As for the livery there is only a choice between Swiss and Delta, as they were the only airlines to order the -100 variant. The -300 has many more customers and as Eastern Express also has a -300 kit available I would recommend that instead as that will give you more livery options (I already bought the -100 kit before the -300 was released). The kit is excellent (some fit issues with the WBF and glazed cockpit nose aside) and definitely comes recommend. The cockpit and passenger windows are from Authentic Airliners. I also used some decals from the Nazca detailing set, although on hindsight I would rather have used the Authentic Airliner Decals detailing set. The Nazca details tend to be very obvious, which doesn’t translate well into a “realistic look” IMHO. The walkway lines for the wings for example are too wide and I had to look into my spares box for alternatives. At any rate, the pictures: My next build will be the F-RSIN 1:144 Dassault Falcon 20 in Pan Am colours, which is part of a French Aviation group build over at the Dutch ModelBrouwers forum. I’m also currently building the Authentic Airliners Lockheed L-1011, but the Falcon will probably be finished quicker. Thanks for reading and see you next time! Martijn.
  9. Revell has released two different kits of the huge Antonov 225. One has a complete interior and a landing gear. This one is the more simple version without interior and without a landing gear, so it can only be displayed in flight. I bought the decals from Revell which are normaly only delivered with the first mentioned kit. There is a stand included, but it is very short, so I made a construction out of the unused sprues to hold an acrylic or aluminium rod. The An.225 is far from being just "white". There are many traces of usage and on the bottom the normal "airliner traces" of dirt, smoke and oil. So I used a hard pencil to line out all the fine engravings of the kit. Sorry for the joint in the background, but this model is so big that my normally used foto background turned out to be way too small. Hope you like it!
  10. Here is my finished Airbus A300 Zero G, F-BUAD, that was used until recently for parabolic flights to provide zero gravity training for future astronauts. Now the aircraft is on display at CGN, the Cologne-Bonn airport and a newer A 310 is currently in use. the nickname was the "vomit comet", at least for beginners. The kit is from Airfix, the engines from BraZ and the Decals from Airlinedecals.com. Please don't count the windows , there are a lot of small differences to the original aircraft, but I hope the display is still kind of interesting. I will show it on Saturday, 06 august, on the Cologne model show for the first time. At first, my intention was to cut a slot into the background construction and fix a wing with a clamp or something to hold the aircraft. But I underestimated the forces and the weight of the model. For this rod I am now using I should have filled the fuselage prior to assembly, which I didn't, so the whole construction is not convincing. But you live and you learn.. Thanks for looking!
  11. Hello fellow modellers, I would like to show you this model of a rare aircraft. Air France used four converted military C-160s for postal flights from 1973 to 1978 between Bastia (Corse) and Paris. The service was very reliable. Some sources say, they were called C-160F, others say C-160P. The kit is a full resin kit by french manufacturer F-RSIN and was ....well,... a challenge. The wings were drooped at the end and bent. Treatment with warm water and hot air did not help at all. So I sawed off the outer wings, corrected the angle and glued them back on again. Not perfect, but much better than before Otherwise the Transall would have looked like an Antonov An-12 with its typical hanging down wing tips. The decals were very sensitive, so some repairs were necessary. All the walkway markings were not included, so I made them using black decal stripes. Some antennas and pitot tubes were also adde. The air intake in the right sponson was way too big and located at he wrong place, so I filled the hole and drilled a new one. Would I build another one? Guess! Well I got another one in my stash in German Air Force markings. (Should I sell or should I build? The Clash) Enjoy the photos. Greetings from Germany, Norbert . Size comparison to An-12
  12. Recently completed as part of a GB on another forum, but posting here as you don't see these finished all that often so thought it might interest some people. This is the US Coast Guard variant of the C-123 Provider. Quite a challenging kit (the GB this build was part of was entitled 'Nightmare Kits'!). This is the third Amodel C-123 I've built. I tried some new approaches this time that made the build significantly easier, but it's still a classic short run kit. Nothing some good old fashioned modelling skills cannot fix, but - at best - tedious at times. You can if you're interested read the build log here. I was intrigued by what the Coast Guard needed the C-123 for - the answer is quite fascinating (or I think so, anyway). The HC-123s were acquired in 1958 to help support the Loran-C network of navigation stations across the world. The USCG took over responsibility for maintaining this global network in 1958. I spent a bit of time trying to understand the Loran navigation system but to no avail. It's pretty complicated stuff. But basically it was a US-led development of the British GEE system used by RAF Bomber Command to navigate accurately deep into Germany. The system relied on ground stations that sent out a low-frequency radio pulse; a receiver on the aircraft (or ship) then measured the time difference between the pulses to get a fix. This GEE system was highly accurate - but only at shorter ranges. The more you 'stretched' the range by lowering the frequency, the greater the margin of inaccuracy (as it were). Successive Loran systems refined the accuracy of the fix obtainable at greater ranges through some Very Clever Engineering (that Angus won't pretend to understand). But there's a good explanation in this Coast Guard film if you want one - and can muscle your way past Siri's narration. The Coast Guard had become interested in the Loran system from 1942 (its dual utility for aerial and maritime navigation appealed) and were a major partner in its wartime development. Classic short newsreel feature on this here. The USAF and USN were actually fairly fickle in their interest post-war - flirting with their own alternative systems or (more complex) inertial navigation systems. With trials proving that Loran-C worked, the Coast Guard took on responsibility for the Loran-C chains from 1958 - it acquired its HC-123s to expand and maintain the Loran chains. Except for an enlarged radome to house the AN/APN-158 search radar, the HC-123B was a standard C-123B in all other respects. The first network of Loran stations was set up in the Mediterranean in 1959 (with stations in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Libya), the Norwegian Sea in 1960 and finally across the Pacific. Coast Guard Providers were scattered to Florida, Puerto Rico, Italy, Alaska, Guam and Hawaii in support of this until 1972. Loran was used extensively by both civil and military aircraft and ships during its lifespan, providing accurate navigation over 12 million square miles of planet earth. Less known, it was used extensively by the allied ballistic missile subs (hence all the repeater stations in the Norwegian sea) to synchronise or update the ship's inertial navigation system without trailing an antenna above the surface (Loran-C signals could be received over 60ft below the surface). With the coming of satellite-based navigation systems in the 1990s, Loran use dropped off (though widespread civilian uptake ensured it lived on longer than most other navigation systems). The Coast Guard ran and maintained the US Loran chain of around 31 stations for 52 years. It has now largely been shut down (the US decommissioned its Loran network in 2010). Anyway more pictures of the real thing... Nothing too difficult really. The undercarriage nosegear needed quite a bit of shortening to get the right sit. If I'm honest, I'm unhappy about the metallic panels in these photos - though the contrast is much subtler in real life lighting. But that one on the wing looks odd. Alas. Anyway... A surprisingly big old girl... And finally with her sister ship. There's a trio of ugly nose jobs the C-123 offered - I've done two of them! Thanks very much for looking! Angus
  13. Hello everyone! Here is my latest kit which has been almost three months in the making. It's Anigrand Craftswork's resin 1:144 Focke-Wulf Fw 200C-4/U2. It represents CE+IC (0138), of the Fliegerstaffel des Führers (F.d.F.), on the Eastern front, in late 1942. The Fliegerstaffel des Führers was a small fleet of transport aircraft for German government officials and high ranking command officers. It was established in the mid-1930s mostly with Ju 52s and later used Fw 200s and at least one Ju 290. Hitler, Himmler and Karl Dönitz each had a personal Fw 200. In fact, Hitler, was the first head of state in the world to have an official personal aircraft. The F.d.F. was not part of the Luftwaffe and was manned mostly by SS personnel as well as some from DHL Lufthansa. The Fw 200C-4/U2 was one of a small number of armed high-speed transport versions made specially for the F.d.F. CE+IC (0138) wasn't assigned to anyone in particular and was more of a backup plane but was indeed used as the only full photo and a profile I found says it was in the Ukraine in 1943. It entered service with the F.d.F. in spring 1942 and later in the war it was transferred to the Luftwaffe and was shot down in 1945. I was disappointed when Anigrand released this kit as I was hoping for the maritime variant. The kit had options to make this unique sub-variant or Hitler's personal machine (the V3). Roden has released a kit of the latter which I decided to get so I went ahead and built this variant. This resin kit measured out quite well with 1:144 SAMI plans that I have except for the wing root being too long (which I ignored) and the shape of the wingtips which I easily corrected with some sanding. There were several things that needed correcting or adding though: The tailwheel was moulded retracted and too far back. I scratchbuilt one from spares and made the bay in the correct position. The underfuselage gondola, although correctly shorter than the standard one used in maritime variants, was still too long and lacked depth. I cut off the second quarter and joined the resulting front and rear sections and blended them together, trying to get the underside with the right slope. I cut off the rear turret and reattached it aligned by the top, filling the resulting gap with CA glue (almost the same opaqueness). The engines where completely plain, with no exhausts and tubes and no dip of the nacelle behind them. I scraped a dip and added all the missing details including making the cutouts that the cowling flaps had. The guns were way too thick so I cut off the barrels and later replaced them with new ones from stretched sprue. I added some missing aerials or probes also from stretched sprue as well as an air scoop on the top starboard side. The main radio mast was moved forward as per photos as it differed from standard variants. I also added the missing forward retraction arms of the undercarriage. Wingtip lights were added from blobs of Kristal Klear. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Despite some suggestions of painting it RLM72/73, I went for RLM70/71 on the top surfaces since this was not a maritime machine but a VIP transport and per RLM regulations would have gone with the latter. If anyone knows otherwise for certain, I would be glad to hear it out of curiosity since I won't be changing the kit! I am very pleased with the extra work I put into the kit as it improved the end result considerably and was also a learning experience as I came up with solutions to some of the problems. It's not one of the machines that scourged the Atlantic but I am pleased I went ahead with this unique variant and with how it came out. I really should have built one before since it's a beautiful design. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  14. Thought I'd start to share my completed builds from my inventory. To make it easier for myself, I'll also go in alphabetical order of manufacturer (so expect a fair few Airfix kits next ) so here begins with Academy's 1:144 B-1b Lancer. Lovely little kit with the exception of the top to bottom join along the front fuselage to nose section and the incredibly lacking detail on the afterburners. All finished in Hataka Orange Line paints. I do have another one of these kits in my stash in which I plan to get some 3D printed engine exhausts for it instead of the awful kit options. I built this kit with the ability to swing the wings to my liking so the wing sleeves were glued in the open option. Depicted as B-1b Lancer 86-0139 "Drifter" as she was the first B1 I had ever seen at the fence of RAF Fairford. A great and late friend printed the nose art decal for me from a photo from the original painter of the nose art. Thanks for looking and don't hesitate to ask any questions!
  15. So an impulse trip to Hobbycraft today lightened my wallet to the tune of ÂŁ35 and I walked away with this (along with the annoyance that the TB1 and TB2/3 kits aren't in scale with each other unless you pay extra for the kit that has both TB1 and its launch bay in): I am a bit unsure about what paint shades are quote-unquote correct given that the instructions say that their codes are just a suggestion. Mostly because I've got a tin of Ford Nordic Blue in the garage from a costume project that I think would be perfect for those areas. Might also replace the black stripe decals with vinyl tape for the sake of my own sanity.
  16. My latest build is the Authentic Airliners 1:144 DH-106 Comet 4C Mexicana. I once made Airfix's Comet 4B, but that kit has a lot of flaws and when I heard that Authentic Airliners came out with a kit for the 4C, I couldn't pass it up. Poor famed Comet 1....what civil aviation enthusiast doesn't know the tragic story? The world's first commercially produced jet-powered passenger jet airliner with the famous fatigue-induced crashes in the 1950s. The Comet could have been a real success story, but Boeing and Douglas, among others, learned from the mistakes of De Havilland and build superior aircraft. By the time De Havilland came out with an improved version in the form of the Comet 4, the Comet had already played its part (although the Comet 4 was otherwise a very capable aircraft). The Comet 4C I will be making is an extended version of the Comet 4 sans suffix. In particular, the fuel tanks on the wings of the Comet 4 I find very striking (our 5-year old son likes those a lot too. It looks like an X-Wing he said :p) . The kit is truly excellent and comes highly recommended. The decals by Vintage Flyer are also very nice (and as a bonus come with AccuScribe, for easy masking). Cockpit decals are from Authentic Airliner Decals, but I didn’t like all the windows from that decal sheet, so I made the windows a combination of Authentic Airliner decals and Vintage Flyer’s window decals. I used Tamiya white for the top of the fuselage and Inspire Chrome for the metal parts. The antennas are scratched and the wire antenna is made using a hair from my girlfriend. At any rate the pictures: My next build will be the Authentic Airliners Lockheed L-1011 (Air Atlanta). Thanks for watching and see you next time! Martijn
  17. Dear fellow modellers, I would like to show you my latest finished model. I had been working on it for a long time and was reluctant to do some of the necessary additions, like the stabilizers on the elevator, the triangular part and the strake at the rear of the aircraft and of course ALL the antennas. I also added the windshield wipers, because they are very distinctive on the original. But two days ago I just started doing it and everything went very smooth and quickly. I was surprised to find fotos showing that the Nimrod has a more glossy finish. I used Revell Aqua Colours as usual. Only two were used. RAF Hemp was mixed using 4 parts 371 Light grey and one part or so of Africa brown. The lower side is painted with 371 Light grey. The model is a tailsitter which is unusual for Anigrand. Normally they are constructed so that no weight is necessary. I added chocks at the rear of the main wheels and that did the trick. More chocks on the front side are also needed, I know. The first try to do the dirt and oil traces of the Avon engines was a little overdone. So I resprayed the area and with some oil paint and soft pencil it looks a bit cleaner now. The panel lines are created very deep by Anigrand. I did not like that and tried to fill them but of no avail. Neither super glue nor Mr. surfacer would fill the deep lines. So I just accepted them. They are like you can see them now, I did not emphasize them. I also tried to take some pictures using a background picture, but I think the neutral dark grey background looks the best. I hope you like the model of this iconic airplane. Thanks for looking! Greetings from Germany!
  18. I recently finished the second of two 1/144 models of somewhat obscure Sikorsky flying boats which I thought might be of wider interest here. The silvery one is the XPBS-1 and the camouflaged one is the VS-44A 'Excambian'. Both were build from the Anigrand kits and I used the absolute excellent reference book reviewed on BM here. Invaluable, even in the age of the internet (does that make me sound old?). Background These are both pretty niche but fascinating aircraft, forgive a bit of context... The XPBS design emerged first from a 1935 US Navy request for a new long range patrol bomber larger than the Catalina, with better performance and more bombs and guns. Both Consolidated and Sikorsky submitted proposals, and the XPBS-1 (dubbed 'The Flying Dreadnought' seemingly by nobody other than Sikorsky's marketing department) first flew in 1937. The Navy accepted the Sikorsky aircraft, even though the contract went to Consolidated for what became the Coronado. But the Sikorsky prototype was retained by the US Navy and between 1939 and 1942 it was assigned to a Naval Transport Unit flying staff between San Diego and Hawaii. It crashed when it hit a submerged log in 1942, sank and was lost. Admiral Nimitz was lucky to escape from the wreckage with his life. It's a funny-looking thing. Quite aggressive, with that jutting jaw. As my brother said when I showed it to him - "it's like an ugly Sunderland". Apt. From the XPBS, Sikorsky developed a civilian version, the VS-44A. Basically, when the Navy rejected the Flying Dreadnought, Sikorsky pitched it as a civilian airliner. It secured a contract from American Export Airlines (the air subsidiary of a major shipping company, American Export Lines... see what they did there. Golly branding was uncomplicated in those days). The three VS-44s were delivered to AEA after Pearl Harbour and were rapidly repainted into US Navy colours and designated, as far as the Navy was concerned, the JR2S-1, though AEA retained each aircraft's official name: Excalibur, Excambian, Exeter (also the names of AEA's flagship sea vessels). I love that that bit of the 'Golden Era' of air travel lived on amid all the drab camouflagery. The VS-44 exceeded all of its design expectations - being faster and with greater range even than the larger, more famous Boeing Clippers. During the war, Excambian - as I've built here - flew back and forth across the Atlantic and was the only aircraft in US service capable of doing so non-stop, establishing some notable records at the time for the fastest crossing. It ferried VIPs, cargo and mail, both on the main New York to Ireland route, but also from Bathurst (now Banjul, The Gambia) to the Caribbean, and around Latin America. Humphrey Bogart hitched a lift in one, as did Eleanor Roosevelt, Admiral Andrew Cunningham and General Omar Bradley, along with Dutch Queen Wilhelmina (incidentally, one of the few monarchs to reign during two world wars - quite a character). Many of the pilots for AEA were also former AVG Flying Tigers, which I didn't know. So a pretty hot airline in its day - somehow also crying out to be the setting for an Agatha Christie novel. Very 'Orient Express'. It was helpful for the Navy to be able to contract out some of this transport duty to AEA, both to free up Navy planes to do war stuff but also because, technically operating as a private company, AEA could land in neutral ports (like Foynes, Ireland). But by 1944, this was less essential and the Navy had enough long range aircraft to operate its own air routes, so AEA's contract was cancelled in early-1945. In June 1945, AEA merged with American Overseas Airlines (what is now American Airlines) which saw little future in flying boats given the vast increase in the number of landing strips across the globe during the war. Probably quite sensibly, it put its dollars into a fleet of DC-4s. In late 1945, Excambian and Exeter were put up for sale. Postwar they were operated by a hotchpotch handful of owners before Exeter crashed gun running for South American rebels, and Excambian essentially became derelict. The sole survivor of the 'Flying Aces' as the three were known, Excambian has since been restored and is now at the Connecticut Air Museum. Which I shall visit some day and bore all of the museum staff rigid. Builds Both are built from the Anigrand kits released in the last five years. Anigrand also produces a 1:72 version but 1:144 is my poison. Neither were complicated or particularly challenging, and I enjoyed both building them and learning about something new. First the Flying Dreadnought And it's younger, sleeker cousin. Both builds were fairly straightforwards (though there is one flaw on the VS-44 that I failed to correct to do with the inboard nacelle shapes) but happy to answer any questions. Full build threads for both are here and here for any that are interested. Hope that might be interesting or helpful for someone. Thanks very much for looking! Angus
  19. Here is a kit I built in the summer of 1994 for my dad. It's the Airfix 1:144 Handley Page H.P. 42W G-AAXC "Heracles" of Imperial Airways. It's an unusual subject for me since I don't normally build civilian aircraft and I'm not that interested in the inter-war period (although there are exceptions!). I built this under a deadline and completed it in just over a week with limited resources (I was at my dad's in Colombia) so it turned out to be an interesting experience. Fit of parts wasn't good and some gaps had to be filled. The kit was completely brush-painted except for the varnish which was an artist fixing spray. These are the only photos I have and they were taken by my brother back then. Miguel
  20. Hello everyone! Here is another small kit I managed to finish last month. It's Anigrand Craftswork's resin 1:144 Heinkel He 176 V1 which I built together with the Horten H XIIIa which I have posted before. The Heinkel He 176 was the world's first rocket-powered aircraft using liquid fuel. Previous aircraft had used solid fuels. It was built as a private venture by Heinkel and first flew successfully on 20 June 1939. When demonstrated to the RLM, little interest was shown and further flying was banned due to the dangers of rocket propulsion. The ban was lifted a couple of times but was made definite in September. The prototype ended up in a museum in Berlin where it was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943 or 1944 (sources differ on the date). This kit was another of the bonus kits of the Anigrand Fw 200 Condor. I was hoping for a quick build but due to some extra work I put in to it and some problems with the painting it took a little longer. I opened up the incorrect bulkhead between the cockpit and the nose, corrected rear taper of the wings which was wrong (the tips were too wide), replaced the overly thick nose wheel struts with new ones from stretched sprue, made proper tailwheel bay doors, and added the underwing handling bars and the wing probe from stretched sprue. I also opened up the exhaust pipe and thinned the main u/c legs a bit. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  21. Here is one of my latest kits, a Horten H XIIIa, one of the bonus kits with the Anigrand Craftswork 1:144 resin Fw 200 Condor kit. This unusual glider was a private venture built for research for the Horten H X (later H XIIIb) supersonic jet fighter project. It first flew on 27 November, 1944 from Göttingen, Germany. It flew over 10 times and was destroyed towards the end of the war by liberated Soviet prisoners. This kit was built on impulse while inspecting the Fw 200, which I will start building soon, due to the low part count: two solid and one clear resin parts. Had it not been a bonus kit, I wouldn't have bought it. Gliders are not really my thing but being a Horten design and actually used for research, it ticked a couple of boxes. The only modification I made was to add a spoiler on the top surface as mentioned in what little I have found on this type and as I spotted in one of the few clear photos of the type. Needless to say, this was an educated guess as I didn't find any clear references of it. The colours I used are also guesswork. I painted the upper surfaces RLM82 and 83 with the undersurfaces in RLM76 based on another build I found of this kit and the fact that the tones gave the contrast that you can see on the major photo of the type (although RLM74 and 75, or RLM02 and some other green could have worked too). Although it was a private venture, the photo shows a camouflage pattern which made sense due to the war going on. The pattern is wrong in the kit's instructions and I used the photo and an illustration I found on internet as a guide. Since I depicted the plane as it was on it's first flight, I kept it unweathered. I only highlighted the moving surfaces with thinned black grey paint. As it doesn't stand on its undercarriage and I didn't want it resting on one wing tip, I made a simple narrow base with printed grass and glued the kit to it as if it were starting to be tugged for take off. Thanks for looking Miguel
  22. Hello everyone Here is the third of three Mark I Models 1:144 Buffalo kits I have completed this past weekend. It represents White 24 (BuNo 1431), US Naval Air Training Command, US Navy, NAS Miami, Florida, USA, summer 1942. By mid-1942, most Brewster F2A Buffaloes in US service had been withdrawn from frontline units and were being used for training. Many had their gunsights upgraded and a gun camera added, mounted on a structure on the starboard side. This particular machine had the camera added but still had the telescopic gunsight. As with the other two Buffaloes, additions made to the kit included: the roll bar in the cockpit plus belts on the seat, the missing exhaust pipes, the wing pitot as well as the radio wires. This kit also had a life raft and headrest added in the cockpit plus the aforementioned gun camera and telescopic gunsight made from stretched sprue and scrap resin. I opened the leading edge gun holes. I also improved the hardly-noticeable cuffs of the propeller blades by adding a layer of Kristal Klear on them. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. A photo of this machine shows it was very weathered which wouldn't be surprising since I imagine these aircraft would be hard worked to train all the new fighter pilot recruits. Therefore, I went further weathering this one. Although I am very pleased with all three kits, this one has become my favourite. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  23. Hello everyone Here is the second of three Mark I Models 1:144 Brewster Buffalo kits I have completed this past weekend. It represents B-339D "White 2" (ex ML-KNIL), of the Air Technical Research Laboratory, Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, in 1942, one of several Dutch machines captured and tested by the Japanese. As with the previous B-339D, additions made to the kit were: the roll bar in the cockpit plus belts on the seat, the missing exhaust pipes, the wing pitot as well as the radio wires. I opened the leading edge gun holes. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
  24. Or a teeny, tiny triangle! Less affectionately, this was known as the Black Widowmaker. Charming. It had a short life, crashing three weeks after its first flight. Fortunately, the test pilot "Ben" Gunn managed to eject safely first (in the process gaining the dubious honour of becoming the first person to successfully eject from a delta wing aircraft). That's him on the right. Looks pretty unflappable to me. He was a Spitfire and then a Tempest pilot during the war and shot down the last V1 of the war over the South Downs so I guess you could say it figures. Also - somewhat unusually for a test pilot from the 1950s - he lived to the ripe old age of 76. He wrote a memoir which I'm trying to track down. This is the Boulton-Paul P.120, the last aircraft that Boulton-Paul designed and built and an evolution of the outwardly very similar P.111 (the main change is in the tail). Both the P.120 and P.111 were testbeds, designed to evaluate different delta wing configurations at various speeds. The P.111 was very tricky to fly because of its power-operated controls gave the pilot little feedback. This was sort of resolved in the P.120, after the controls were spring-loaded - it was a bit more docile but retained some unpredictable handling quirks that could not be ironed out. In preparation for the 1952 Farnborough Airshow this was repainted from its natural metal finish to this sharkish black and yellow livery, though it crashed and was destroyed before the airshow took place. This is the 144th.co.uk kit and it's a little beauty. Resin and removing the parts from the casting blocks takes a bit of time and care, but the overall fit is really good and it's a pretty simple build. I am ashamed to say I started this way back in 2019, and it has sat dormant in its box over various house moves ever since. The reason was that the kit does not have a transparent canopy (but it does have a separate solid resin one) and I stubbornly wanted one... so I made a smash-moulded one which I fitted earlier this week after years of procrastination. I believe it was worth the effort and am frankly delighted with the results - now scratching my head wondering why I kept putting this back in the box again. After that it was a simple question of masking the canopy and painting the whole thing black. The decals are superb - really, really nice. I think they are printed by either Cartograf or Fantasy Printshop and are very sharp and vivid. I replaced the thick undercarriage doors with plasticard and added some aerials and pitots from scratch. But that's about it. A quick build that I just took an appallingly long time over. I've started the P.111a so that should join this in - oh - 3-5 years too. Finally with another, larger British triangle... Thanks very much for looking! Angus
  25. Here is the other of my first kits of the year, finished during this week simultaneously with the Airfix Buffalo. I had hoped to finish both before year's end but I didn't make it. It's F-toys 1:144 Brewster B-339C Buffalo finished as B-3110 flown by Kapt van Helsdingen of 2 Vliegtuig Groep V, Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps (ML-KNIL), Singapore, in January 1942. It is basically a repaint and rebuild of a pre-painted Gashapon snap-fit kit with a few improvements. The partially-assembled parts were taken apart and all of the main parts were left in alcohol for a while after which removing the paint was quite easy. I made some modifications in the cockpit. Dutch B-339s didn't have a headrest so I cut it off. There was a gap between the seat and the rear cockpit decking (for the canopy tabs). I filled the space with scrap resin leaving space for the canopy tabs on the sides. I scratchbuilt a roll bar from stretched sprue. The propeller was completely replaced from spare parts from Mark I Models kits and is a great improvement over the F-toys part which has seriously undersized blades. Another missing detail I added was the small mast on the tail fin. The Dutch aircraft had a different radio wire arrangement with the middle wire in front of the cockpit rather than behind. The colours of the F-toys kit were awful and way off. From various sources, it seems these machines were painted with US colours so I painted the kit with US Medium Green 42 and US Olive Drab 41 (Aircraft Colors range). I really like this scheme! The kit was fully brush painted and varnished. I'll be repeating this scheme on a captured IJAAF B-339D from one of the Mark I Models boxing I'll be starting this weekend. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome. Miguel
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