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Airbus A350 Thai Airways. 1:144 Revel kit with 26 Decals. I bought this kit when it first came out a few years ago, in the prototype scheme. I didn't much fancy doing that, so waited for some aftermarket producers to come out with some alternatives. Having a liking for all things Thai, I bought these decals from Two Six when they came out. I started the model a year ago, and more or less finished it by June of last year. It has been sitting on the workbench ever since, waiting for the aerials to be fitted. I'm having a bit of a purge of 'nearly finished' models on the bench, and this is the first one to be completed. The kit itself is excellent, the fit is amazing, one of the best I've ever worked on. The engine fans actually rotate if you blow on them. I haven't even glued the wings on, they push fit in and stay in place so well, that it gives me the option to detach them for storage. Now, I've got a couple of Airfix lightnings, a Wingnut Wings Albatros, an Eduard Pfalz, an Airfix DC-3, an Authentic Airliners 707, and two Group build 737's to be getting on with before the bench is clear. Anyway, after a long delay, this one is at last complete. I hope you like it. A couple of 'With something else' shots. It it a huge aeroplane, much bigger than I realised. Two regularly seen at Suvarnabhumi airport, teh A350 and an A320 of Bangkok Air Pretty much the same size as a 747, it's only slightly smaller; And the fit is so good I've left the wings detachable for storage; Thanks for looking, John

This is a 1/144 Westland Lysander Mk.II from the small Japanese resin manufacturer FoxOne Studios. I built this as part of the RAF 100 GB on Kampfgruppe 144 (see full WIP thread here) but am reposting here as I've only seen one of these built up before and it might interest a few people... This is the Mk.II kit, but FoxOne also do a Mk.I and a Mk.IIISD boxing. I have both and am tempted to get cracking on the next! The kit has one of the most detailed and spectacular interiors of any kit I've yet built in this scale. No, none of it can be seen. The resin is generally very nice and fit is ok. I replaced some of the kit parts as they seemed quite clunky and over scale - I added some aerials of my own, put the messenger hook on from stretched sprue and devising the gunsight that sits on the nose. For this I cut up some 1:700 ship railings and fettled to taste. I also added some etch to the wheels but these aren't very accurate and I may yet do something to improve this. All in all I very much enjoyed this build. It was taxing at times but nothing offputting, but builds into a good representation of a Lysander with the right stance on the ground. There are some clunky elements to it, but it was fun. Yep - surface detail is a bit heavy. But so what. I will very rarely get as close to this as the camera lens is here, and from a respectable, normal distance the recessed detail looks rather nice to my eye. I avoided doing any sort of washes or weathering though - felt that really could ruin the party for everyone. Kept it to a few smudges with pastels. One thing I'm very glad of is that I devised my own scheme for this. The kit comes with some very dreary decals for a training unit based in Scotland. I built mine as a 13 Squadron kit based in France in 1940. The Lysanders took a terrible punishment in trying to observe the Wehrmacht moving through the Ardennes and were soon withdrawn from France, but I was drawn (like a scale modelling magpie) to the unusual roundel. All decals from the spares box. I intend to have a Battle of France shelf one day and this will go front, centre among a Squadron of Sweet Hurricanes, a yet to be released Blenheim or two, and perhaps the odd Zvezda Fairey Battle (and if you want to know what the modelling deities among us can do with that kit, look here - yep it's 144 alright). Finally, with a rather small human and an SEAC Hurricane I'm working on, I'm impressed at how large the Lizzie was. Oh and a 1:1 tupenny. Thanks - as ever - for looking. Angus

I know about the Douglas DC3 Dakota and C-47 Skytrain however, whilst looking for liveries of these types in civilian use, I've come across references for Dakota 4's. Can anyone help and explain what was different about the Dakota 4.? I would also like to know what, if any, visible differences were to be found between them and the DC3/C-47. I'm planning to build two or three DC3 kits as civil liveried postwar aircraft, for a small airport diorama, but some of their serials state them to be Dakota 4's. cheers Mike

We're currently having building work done in the house so not much motivation, especially for modelling at the moment, therefore I have been spending a little time repairing lost mage links in some older threads. This one is a scratchbuild of a Topol ICBM on a seven-axle MAZ-543 chassis. It was part of a group build in 2013 but I thought I would resurrect the link here in the armoured section. cheers Mike

hello! Model aircraft builders with a special interest for (US) navy will have concluded, just like myself, that except for a few inaccurate diorama bases in 1:72 and 1:48 scale and some figures here and there, there is not much out there to build an accurate diorama. Having read an article in the IPMS Netherlands magazine about designing your own 3D print some time ago, I though that I should give it a go and create my own parts for a nice piece of 1:144 carrier. It turns out that, having designed a highly detailed Jet Blast Deflector in scale 1:72 and 1:32 that was welcomed by many fellow model builders (build report on Large Scale Modeller site), the same print can be simply reduced to 1:144 scale without the loss of any detail. My first try started out with designing tie-down points for the deck, which I got printed at Shapeways some weeks ago: There is no way that I would be able to get these from scratch building or photo etching. Now I just need to drill holes in a base plate and glue them in. the resin is a bit brittle so you can simply snap each 2mm tie-down point off with tweezers, no clean up necessary: this is the part of the deck that I have in mind with some nice F/A-18F's parked and a Hawkeye on the catapult. I designed the deck in CAD, using many internet photo's as reference. Luckily the tie-down pattern is very regular so it is a very easy measuring aid: for anyone out there with a wish to have more navy accessories available on the market: I know how you feel. So I published my models on the shapeways site for everyone to have printed on https://www.shapeways.com/shops/klekotech. I am currently busy with flight deck crews in all scales, and much more to come after that. In the mean time I am building this project and one in 1:32 in parallel. to be continued!

I have always liked the C-130 Hercules and have a few kits in the stash that need building, so one of these will be used in this WiP. This build will hopefully be a conversion to a civilian L-100-20 version, which is a short extension variant of the standard C-130. Extended sections need to be inserted in front of, and behind, the main wings; with measurements of 5 ft (1.52m) forward and 3ft 4in (1.02m) aft. These convert to 10.583mm and 7.056mm respectively in 1:144 scale. The L-100-20 is a shorter extension version than that of the later C-130J-30. I haven't decided on an airline or livery yet, mainly as I haven't been able to find much on Google except for a Delta Air Lines version. More to follow when I know more and am ready to cut plastic. Mike

I built these for an RAF 100 Group Build on the KG144 forum. There's a full WIP there which I'll spare you. I'm fascinated by the bush wars of the twilight years of the British Empire, of which the Radfan war of the early 1960s was a pretty nasty, brutish example. I built one FGA.9 (using the Xtradecal decals), one T.7 and one FR.10, all using the newly-released Mark1 kits which are fantastic. I added a few scratch built details around the engine intakes and the ejector seat. I used the Master Hunter pitots (incredibly fine things). The 100gal small tanks are available from Whirlybird Kits (four in a packet and very reasonably priced) and the rockets on the FGA.9 were designed by immensely talented Decapod and are available from Shapeways. You can also see the different nose shapes between the FR.10 and FGA.9 quite nicely. And finally, all together. If you haven't had a crack at a 144 Hunter, I can't recommend the experience more highly. Plenty more aftermarket options that I didn't use if you're into that. Check out Brengun's etch sets and Retrokit's early Hunter conversions for starters... I'm very happy with the three of them. Thanks very much for looking! Angus

HMS Astute Trumpeter 1:144 The Astute is the lead vessel in Britain's Astute class of nuclear powered Tomahawk cruise missile carrying submarines, and as such represents the cutting edge of sub design. While Astute was commissioned in 20107, it wasn’t until 2013 that the second of the class HMS Ambush joined her as part of the fleet, followed by HMS Artful in 2016. There are four more of the class either in build or due to be built, the last, having been named only last week, being HMS Agincourt. The kit comes in a glossy top opening box with a painting of the Astute on the ship lift. Inside the box are the two hull halves, a sprue of detail parts, a small stand, a fret of Photo-Etched (PE) parts, decals and instruction booklet. Essentially this is a blown up copy of the Hobbyboss 1/350 kit, the parts layout being exactly the same, apart from size that is. The moulding is superb though, even thought the two hull sections are quite large, there is no sign of imperfections or flash. The Model The hull is split horizontally, and there are large lugs that join the hull parts together, but, at least on the review example there is a slight warpage in the parts and will need to be strongly clamped to get a good join. Once clamped, there isn’t too much of a join to clean up, which is always good. The fin (conning tower) is moulded onto the upper half of the hull, and has a choice of two inserts to show the various periscopes and antennae hatches open or closed. The front recess is a standing area for the commander and crew, but appears to be too shallow to stand a crew figure in, so it should either be deepened, or your crew figures cut down if you choose to use them. The various antennae, 10 in all, including one PE part are installed later in the build, but you should check your references to see which should be extended together, as it is rare to see them all raised at the same time. The bow planes and rear steering vanes are all supplied as styrene parts, and slot into mounting lugs, as is the two piece propulsor unit. The large surround that reduces cavitation effects slides over the "spinner", and mounts on the multiple stator vanes forward of the blades. Two cowling supports are fitted, one per side of the upper fin. A few small PE parts are added to the bow area, which I think are the covers for the retractable bitts, while a mooring eye is fitted bow and stern at each end of the walkway area of the deck The four piece stand has two y-shaped crutches on which the boat rests. The decal sheet is simple and well printed, consisting of depth markers, various lines, deck markings and so forth. They are crisp and in register, and should settle down well in use on a gloss varnish. Conclusion The 1:350 kit was very nice, but in this large scale it’s so much better. In my view a submarine kit really needs some size to give it a presence in a collection. Of course it's not going to be 100% accurate, as a lot of the detail, especially around the propulsor, is classified. Having seen some shots of it out of the water however, I'd say that Trumpeter/HobbyBoss have managed to capture the shape pretty well, given the aforementioned constraints. The low parts count might dissuade some, but adding any extra parts would only be making work where none was needed, as these vessels rely on their sleek hydro-dynamic shape to cut through the water at surprisingly high speed. The fun part is in the painting and getting any weathering just right. Review sample courtesy of UK Distributors for

My latest finished project is the DC-10-30 in KLM colours. The kit, windows and windscreen decals are from Authentic Airliners. The decals are from the 26 and Revell (logo’s and registration). The kit is really great and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to build a DC-10-30. I made a detailed comparison between the Revell, Authentic Airliners, Welsh (fuselage) and Contrails (engine) offerings, which you can find on the Dutch page here. The AA kit is the winner (clearly). Although the kit isn’t terribly difficult to build, I did have some problems with the primer. By trying out various primers, I eventually found one that didn’t result in “fish eyes”. Also, this has been my longest project so far (over 70 hours). This has mainly been due to the paint scheme (it’s a pain to get the metal colours right), but in the end I’m rather happy with the result. For the paints I used Revell 50 with a dash of white of the upper fuselage, Alcladd II ALC-111 Magnesium for the exhausts, ALC-119 Airframe aluminium for the engines, ALC-116 semi matt aluminium for the different colours with the engines and ALC-105 polished aluminium for the belly of the fuselage and the engines and leading edges of the engines as well. I also used ModelMasters Chrome Silver as a wash to smooth out the colour differences in the engines (so they become less stark). The Coroguard was painted with Vallejo Primer and the simply putting Alclad II Aqua Gloss on top of it (I found the colour to be just right). Model Masters Canadian Vodoo Gray was used to the lighter part of the Coroguard as well as the wing/body fairing, a part of the nose and the trailing edges of the wings and horizontal stabilizers. The decals from 26 (which actually come from their MD-11 sheet) are excellent as well. I would not recommend using the Coroguard decals from Nazca, as they are designed for the wrongly shaped Revell kit and do not fit on the AA kit! My next project will be the Czech Master Resin Douglas DC-2 orange KLM 1:144, which is part of Dutch a group build. Anyway, enough talk. I hope you enjoy the pictures, thanks for looking and see you next time! And finally, a picture with its sibling the MD-11 (also Authentic Airliners) that I build two years ago.

This squadron has been a long time in the making, although it only settled in to this configuration with a flurry of activity very recently. Here we have my converted F-Toys Y-Wing with scratch built hull plating additions, and a Bandai Vehicle Model A-Wing and X-Wing that I painted up to match as soon as I'd finished painting the Y-wing and fell in love with the deep red and cream color scheme (it's highly likely that I'll add a T-70 X-wing to this in the future, with extra shiny silver accents to go with the red & cream). The U-wing is still unmodified from when I finished it last year, but fit right in with these ships. The final ship is Nicholas Sagan's McQuarrie Concept A-Wing from Shapeways, painted in the colors from The Last Jedi. It also fit right in once I'd finished the other three. RZ-1 A-Wing Modified Y-Wing T-65 X-Wing McQuarrie TLJ A-Wing Lots and lots of WIP pics in my flickr albums.

RAF Britannia C1 XM496 'Regulus' 26 Models kit, 1/144. The bus is an Oxford diecasts 'N' gauge model. Since seeing Ian Turbofan's and Dave Skoadriver's lovely Roden Britannias, I thought I must get one. Well here we are! This is from Ray at 26 decals, who sells several versions of the Roden kit with various option of his own decal sheets, all a bargain price. Rather than a civvy scheme I opted for this RAF version as I have happy memories of seeing them at Brize Norton in the 70's on several trips with the Air Cadets. As Ian and Dave pointed out, the kit is a real beauty, one of the best airliner kits available. I chose XM496 simply because it is the only genuine RAF Britannia still in existence. the only mods I made were to add a small teardrop blister on the underside between the wings. I struggled to find references, and just 'eyeballed' it from photos cutting up a 1/72 bomb to make the shape.. It meant that the underside 'towel rail' aerials were relocated to the top, again located according to photos. The underside 'teardrop'; I also opened up the cockpit area and scratched up some basic detail, as I was masking the cockpit glazing to leave it clear. The windows are so tiny, that I might not bother to do it again. So what next? I've got this lined up. Airfix VC10 with Braz Super VC10 conversion. Some guidance would be appreciated here, I think all I need is the leading edge extensions and engines/pylons, & some wing fences. The RAF VC10's were standard fuselages with these other 'Super' fittings right? Cheers John

My newest build will be the BAE Jetstream 41. The 41 is a further development of the Jetstream 31, although it's more of a new aircraft then a simple stretch. The 41 is 4,88 meter longer than the 31 and can fit 29 passengers. It is a direct competitor of the EMB-120 and DO-328. 100 aircraft were build of the 41 (compared to 386 of the 31). Production stopped after 5 years in 1997. The 41 is still operational, though in Europe the only operators are Eastern Airways and Sky Express. Anyway this is going to be the build: The kit is from Welsh. The parts are from resin and metal. There aren't many parts, so I don't think the build will take a lot of time. I have to say the resin is very well cast, although the engines and wings lack detail. No worries, because with some scratch building, decaling and weathering, one can improve the model quite a bit. Instruction manual The flight deck and window decals are once more made by me. While I was at it, I made the -31 flight deck decals as well (the 31 is also available by Welsh, which I also have in the stash). Allright, let's get started! Firstly I have attached the metal nose and the vertical stabilizer. The fit is really excellent! The flap track fairings have been removed from the base (which went easier than expected (and glued on the wings. Added putty to the nose and vertical stabilizer. The model will be only 13 cm long. Compare that to my recent A330-300 build! I added a bit of styrene to the engines to give a little bit more detail to them I always find it hard to make the direction finder loop antennae. I usually make them out of styrene, but I find it hard to sand round or oval because they are so small. I decided on a different approach this time. I used small droplets of superglue on the fuselage. I will let them harden and then sand a bit afterwards. I also sanded the nose and vertical stabilizer meanwhile. The first priming round! Little bit of sanding of the direction finder loop antennae and after priming it a second time, it does give me the result I was looking for (although not really visible on the picture) I used a small straw to make the engine exhausts The result after priming. And that's the status at the moment! If all goes whel, she should be finished before the end of the year!

The Andover C.1 was a regular aircraft to be seen in my military days and I would like to build one in 1:144 scale for the Hawker-Siddeley GB. The problem is that I only have Welsh Model's Andover CC.2 version and cannot afford the outlay for their modern, resin/vacform C.1 version. My thoughts are pondering on doing a conversion of this Queen's Flight CC.2 kit to a brown/tan/black C.1 transport version. I have one diagram which shows the port side profiles but could do with more detailed plans or g.a. drawings. Can anyone help please? cheers Mike

Is the Liberator GR.VI the same as a Liberator B-24J? I have a B-24J kit but would like to do it as a GR.VI cheers Mike

Tried to find this out earlier but nothing on the web that I could see. But it's a distinctly unhelpful name to search (less so than S&M Models, but that's another story). Generally something shows up on one of those Russki forums around this time of year (greenmats?) but can't see anything there (or here for that matter). Anyone have any gen?

This will be my subject for this group build: There are three sheets of vacformed pieces plus a set of props, wheels and struts in white metal: The letters on the decal sheet appear to be black; however, other references show these to be blue. I may have to make my own decals in the correct colour. I have a set of Aeroclub engine cowlings which I had set aside for this build and will hopefully enhance the model. This kit has been stored in the loft for quite a few years so the first thing to do is give the plastic a thorough wash with warm soapy water, to clear and grease and fingerprints etc. Then comes the tedious phase, to cut out and sand off all the unwanted residue around the parts before I can start any gluing. Mike

I have an interest in building some firebomber aircraft in 1:144 scale and would like to convert a B-24 Liberator to a PB4Y-2 Privateer. I know it will be a tough assignment, with quite a bit of scratchbuilding, but has anyone already done such a thing; in any scale? Are there any build or conversion links, plans or guidelines etc., such as information on where to cut, shape and join items to make a decent model? My build will only be to 1:144 scale so it doesn't have to be super-detailed. Although the aircraft concerned are WW2 airframes, hence why I am posting here, I would like to make a firebomber Privateer similar to the one below The basic shape and work would be similar to its wartime configuration but with glazing closed over etc., plus the water-tank bulge underneath. I would be grateful to hear from anyone with any information, advice or help on this please. Mike

Work on my Short S3 Empire Flying Boat is somewhat slow, mainly due to a little diversion to build some engine cowlings. In the interim, I thought I'd add another build to this GB, this time a PBY-5A Catalina. The kit is by Minicraft in 1:144 scale and I intend (I think) to build it as is, straight out of the box. Mike

I already have one Catalina build ongoing in this GB and that represents a standard PBY-5A Catalina; however, I would like to build another kit but something like this type. Note the redesigned nose and lack of side gun sponsons. As before, I shall be using a Minicraft 1:144 scale kit of the Catalina. I haven't decided on exactly which firebomber markings to complete this in yet, although it will probably be bright colours and so I'll start with a white primer base. I need to find a good profile plan which shows the re-shaped nose contours correctly; then I can start to build the new nose. In the meantime I can start filling the sponson openings. Thanks for looking. Mike

Vickers Viscount 701. Early BEA Scheme. Converted from 1:144 S&M Models Viscount 800. The Viscount served BEA very well from 18 April 1953 when series 701 G-AMNY operated the worlds first regular turboprop service, until the last service flown on 28 March 1982 by 806 series aircraft G-APIM. Incidentally, G-APIM is preserved at the Brooklands museum.Such a significant aircraft deserves to be modelled, and when I found this decal sheet at classic-airlines.com, the project was on! As I had a few of the S&M 1:144 Viscounts in the stash, I decided to try modifying one from an 800 series machine to a 700 series. The major difference was to shorten the forward fuselage by 8mm and try to reduce the bulging of the engine cowlings. I'm not after a competition winner here, just a bit of enjoyment from enhancing a basic kit. Cutting out & rejoining the fuselage went remarkably well, and the join vanished under a coat of primer. I also did quite a bit of reshaping of the kits nose area as it is far too blunt as it comes 'out f the box'. I reshaped it side to side & top & bottom with Milliput and sanding until I got it to look like it does in photographs. The noseleg was also shortened a touch, and an air intake fashioned from a section of sprue, and glued on the underside near the trailing edge of the wing. Paint on the fuselage & cowlings is Alclad highly polished aluminium, as these aircraft had almost a mirror like polish to them. I did the wings in a duller aluminimium from Vallejo 'Metal Colour' Aluminium to provide some contrast. The white is Halfords appliance white. The decal sheet does not have any white printed on it, so the white top demarcation with the silver fuselage sides had to be vary carefully masked to give a white pinstripe under the Peony cheatline. Likewise the badges on the nose needed an underlay cut from white decal sheet. The underlay was applied first, then the 'BEA Sir Ernest Shackleton' decal on top. Because I had reshaped the nose, the peony trim was a little fiddly to apply, but I did it in sections to leave white stripes in in, and it wasn't too difficult. The 26 Decals detail sheet was used for the panellines & wing details. It adds hugely to this model and is almost essential. I'm reasonably happy how it turned out, I'm trying to use up the 3 S&M kits I got at a bargain price and this seemed like a good way to use one up. With the BCAL 800 that's 2 down and 1 more to go, with a British Midland waiting its turn on the workbench now! Thanks for looking, John <Edit>18 Dec 2017</> A short update... Ian (Turbofan) noticed that this livery had 'BEA' logos on the upper & lower wings, and very kindly produced some decals for me; Easily applied; Thanks Ian!

My latest build is the 757-200 from PAS models (Russia), with decals from DACO, the Coroguard from Flying Colors and the windscreen and window decals from Authentic Airliners. I had fun building this model, but there were two problems. One was that I forgot the balance weight near the top of the fuselage, after I already glued and even puttied the two halves together. As such I had to cut open the model to add the weight to prevent it becoming a tail sitter (on the plus side, it did give me experience for possible future conversion projects). The second one was the decals. As said, I used the decals from DACO (normally they are very good), but the fit was terrible (most likely because it is designed for the terrible Minicraft kit) and I botched them up. Luckily TheFlyingDutchman (he can also be found on the Airlinercafe site) had a spare that I could use. Still, I had a lot of trouble with it, but in the end it turned out OK. As this is a resin kit, most will want to compare it to the Authentic Airliner offering. I haven’t build an AA 757 myself (yet), but in the far future I may make an Martinair one (I have the decals already). From what I can tell though, the PAS 757 is actually pretty good and accurate. The fit of the fuselage and wings isn’t too great and if I have to nitpick the leading edges of the wings are a bit thick and the engine pylon is a bit too short, but other than that it’s a very fine resin kit. Much cheaper that the AA one, although the shipping costs from the PAS website have increased recently. If you manage to spread out the shipping costs by buying various kits, you have a very good alternative to the AA 757. my next build is going to be the BAE Jetstream 41 from Welsh. I already started building it. I will probably make a build thread here at BM as well, as it’s a British build Aircraft and that’s appropriate I suppose Anyway, below are the pictures. And as a fun extra, a small Apron scene made with some of my previous builds: Hope you enjoy and thanks for watching! Martijn

I'm looking to find a set of decals to the size and design of the one on this Hawk below. Does anyone here know of an existing 1:144 scale kit that has these decals, with the white outer band, or a decal producer that has them to this size? I'm not sure if the wing roundels are the same size and would be grateful for confirmation of that as well please. cheers Mike

Hullo. I built this for a GB over on Kampfgruppe 144, where there's a full WiP. Like one of those soppy parents who can't help but show you pictures of their child at every opportunity, I'm afraid I'm pretty proud of it so felt compelled to post here. Forgive me. The French inherited some Spits (VIIIs initially, latterly IXe's) from General Gracey's British forces that re-occupied Indochina after the Japanese defeat in August 1945. In the war of ground support against the Viet Minh, the nippy little interceptor that was built to take on the Fw-190 was really pretty inadequate really: they lacked the hitting/lifting power of the big, brutish American Hellcats, Helldivers and Bearcats that the French later received in the late-1940s, and they also lacked the legs to conduct close air support where they were needed most (i.e. along the Chinese border and upcountry Tonkin highlands where suitable airstrips were few and far between). The Spits rapidly became knackered - the photo below gives a sense of this. The scheme (of GC. 1/4) is relatively popular, being one of the more colourful kit options for the Eduard 144 IXe. I used the kit decals, but added some bomb racks (Brengun), bombs (3D printed via a seller on Shapeways - superb little things)…. I actually had a devil of a time finding RAF 250lb bombs in this scale so was delighted when I found these and discovered they were of such good quality/detail. I also used Eduard's own (and really quite lovely) photo etch, cutting open the cockpit door. This is really only the second aircraft I've attempted with reasonably serious photoetchery - a skill I've learned over the course of the Vietnam GB this was built for (the other build was my Toucan). I've been pleasantly surprised to find that it's not as daunting as I had once thought, and the process can even be enjoyable! I used pale pastels to weather and fade the the panels. In the harsh light of the photo booth this has not come out very well, but looks great to my (naked, possibly biased) eye. I'll use that technique in future, I think. Prismacolour silver pencil for the chipping (which I tried not to overdo, but these poor Spitfires really were knackered). I have to say, I've enjoyed this build enormously. Although it has taken me a while, it has been a blast (and a welcome sanctuary from nappy changes) - which is what this hobby is all about, I reckon. Much fun had. Thanks for looking!

Hello all you phabulous Phantom enthusiasts. I am building up the info I will need to convert a 1:144 scale F-4J Phantom into a F-4K/FG.1 version and would like to know whether the nose contours are the same. I have some info on the enlarged rear and underside for the engines but could do with some differences in contours if that info is out there. At this scale, it is not imperative that every inch of detail is exact and I just need to work out where to add milliput to get the shape correct. Thanks in advance for any helpful advice, and plans/drawings if possible. Mike

The French built these after the war because they had all the tools left over in their factories from the German occupation in 1945 so why not? I built this for a Vietnam-Indochina GB over on KG144, there is a full WiP thread here. This is No.414, Groupe Transporte I/64 'Béarn', Tan Son Nhut, Indochina, 01 October 1952 Toucans were used as bombers, general transports and paratroop aircraft in Indochina in the late-1940s until surplus USAAF C-47s (and later C-119s) reached the French Armee de l’Air and became the backbone of aerial resupply in that theatre. Toucans limped on getting increasingly knackered until the French withdrew from Indochina in Autumn 1954. The Toucan had a walk-on role in Algeria and a few more French African states for a few more years, but was relegated to dusty corners of French aerodromes by the mid-1960s. There are a few little differences that differentiate the Toucan from the Ju-52 proper - all are small enough that a bit of light scratch building will overcome them. You'd want to add some C-47 wheels, some square air filters under each engine, exhaust stubs on the outboard side of each wing engine cowling, a passenger door on the starboard side behind the cockpit and a conventional pitot (not the t-shaped torture implement on the Tante Ju). Phew. Not that it's that much work, really. I got a severe case of early onset mod-itis on this, and proceeded to buy most of the available modifications in existence for the standard Eduard Ju-52 to convert it to a Toucan. This included the full Eduard etch set (including throttle quadrants and flap levers in the cockpit - nope, even squinting you won't see those); Armory Li-2 wheels (well I wasn't going to rob my Roden C-47 kit was I?) and Brengun BMW engines (actually these are not designed to be built on to the kit, but for dioramas - they caused me all sorts of headaches but are a big improvement on the existing Eduard plastic). As I was doing all the interior I decided to pose the doors open and added a cargo load of ammo boxes, a crate or two, some rice sacks and a Brengun etched bicycle (the little 1:144 scale irony being that despite all these powerful transport aircraft, the Viet Minh bicycle and A-frame was what largely defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu, and so in Indochina). Can you see any of this? Sort of, if you're me and I know where to look; but no I can't really photograph it. Still, I had a load of fun doing it. Decals were Berna decals' superb sheet. I totally failed to get the decals to conform to the corrugations on the fuselage and wing despite some vicious application of decal setting solutions. I painted the tail flash on and had to make my peace with the roundels separately - now I've told you it's really obvious I suspect. Great fun - really enjoyed that build. My first serious effort with photo etch and I have to say I enjoyed the experience. Some build photos: Thanks, as ever, for looking! I really recommend the Eduard or Revell 1/144 Ju-52 to anyone with a passing fondness for them. If you have an urge to add things to them like I did, so much the better. Xtradecal are releasing a Ju-52 sheet soon with an RAAF option and there are plenty of other aftermarket decal options out there - I may have another on my horizon...