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  1. Here is my Attack 1:144 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21SMT "Fishbed K" which I built back in 2012. It represents "Yellow 09", of the 582nd IAP, at Chojna airfield, Poland, in late 1980s. The Attack MiG-21 kits were quite basic and have been superseded by the superior Eduard kits. In fact I built this one at the same time as an Eduard kit. I made a series of improvements which included adjusting the nose wheel to correct the sit, adding the intake on the spine and the nose probes (the long one a spare from the Eduard kit), sharpening the nose cone, adding the retraction arms to the main legs and opening the solid-moulded rear sections of the rocket pods. The underfuselage tank was also taken from the Eduard kit. The bombs aren't entirely correct but I left them as they came. I finished the kit in one of the options of the Eduard kit. The colours may not be 100% correct but I didn't find any references to guide me. The kit was painted with brush except for the final light coat of matt varnish which was airbrushed. Thanks for looking Miguel
  2. Hello everyone! Here is the second of my two latest kits, finished last weekend. It's Mark I Models brand new 1:144 Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4 which I started building the day I received it about 4 weeks ago and built simultaneously with the other one I posted yesterday. It represents 3-14, W. Nr. 333878, of 3a Squadriglia, I Gruppo Caccia, Aeronautica Nationale Repubblicana, at Lonate Pozzolo airfield, Italy, in March 1945. The same notes concerning the build of the other one apply here. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush and the decals went on very well although the green was off-register. I didn't paint the kit in the RLM82/83 upper surfaces scheme as suggested by Mark I since , according to what I found on internet, K-4s were either painted RLM81/83 or RLM75/83, and some sources pointed to this aircraft being the latter so I went for that. Where I did foul up was with the overpainted German markings. It seems that the Italians used Grigio Azzuro Chiaro (Light Blue Grey) to overpaint them and that's what I did but it was mentioned to me that they most probably darkened it to reduce contrast which would make a lot of sense. Sadly the warning came when have the decals were on! Thanks for looking Miguel
  3. Hello everyone! Here is one of my two latest kits, finished last weekend. It's Mark I Models brand new 1:144 Messerschmitt Bf 109K-4 which I started building the day I received it about 4 weeks ago. It represents White 1, W. Nr. 330204, of 9./JG77, Luftwaffe, at Neuruppin airfield, Germany, in November 1944. It was built mostly OOB adding belts from Tamiya tape and the armoured headrest (a bit of a fiasco that) in the cockpit as well as the missing tail mast for the radio wires and the FuG 25a IFF aerial under the fuselage. I opened up the supercharger intake which was moulded solid. The FuG 16ZY aerial under the wing and the pitot were replaced with items made from stretched sprue as they were too thick. I used the kit's loop antenna but thinned it in profile. It's a bit oversized. This kit was nicely moulded but had some sink marks to be dealt with on both sides of the supercharger intake and the oil radiator. Fit of parts wasn't bad but some work was necessary to get the wing to fit well with the fuselage and even then a little work along the roots was necessary. The fit of the canopy also needed some attention. The kit has two nasty flaws. The join of one fuselage side in the tail area leaves a large seam that does NOT match panel lines so they must be filled and the panel lines and rudder restored after sanding. The second concerns the main undercarriage legs, they are too long by 1-1.5mm. I shortened them (after removing them successfully from the kit) and deepened the dimple into which they are inserted. Getting their angles right is by eye as there are no guides. I was so concerned with these problems that I forgot to thin the doors! The propeller tips needed some attention too as they were a bit too wide and rounded. The kit was fully painted (the propeller spiral included) and varnished by brush and the decals went on very well Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  4. Here is my Eduard 1:144 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21Bis "Fishbed N" which I built back in 2012. It represents "MG-129", of HavLLv 31, Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), at Kuopio-Rissala, Finland, in 1980-1981. The kit was built OOB and panted with brush except for thr final light coat of matt varnish which was airbrushed. Thanks for looking Miguel
  5. Hello good people I just finished this for a 1940 group build on Kampfgruppe 144 and thought I would also post here as I haven't seen that many finished examples of this kit. There's a WIP thread here if anyone is interested. It is the Mark1 Models Gloster Sea Gladiator. I used the Marabu Design etch set which was brilliant. The Mark1 kit needs a bit of work to correct some obvious accuracy issues. I haven't completely managed to sort everything, but it's as good a shot as I could manage. I have to say, I slightly surprised myself with this build - not only was it less arduous than I'd imagined (I think Marabu do most to the work for you) but it was also quite enjoyable. A complete contrast to my previous Gladiator build which was - on the face of it - much simpler, being an out of the box build. I took a gamble doing the rigging with the top wing temporarily off which worked really quite nicely. I may try this approach more often with 144 biplanes. I will confess that I'm really rather happy with the outcome with this. Yes it is not a perfect Gladiator and there are some shape issues from the Mark1 kit that still could be addressed (the cowling is too bulbous and I think the forward fuselage is also a bit too shallow and too long, but I'd need to check against drawings). But overall I think it is pretty Gladiatorsome. And to finish, one of the smallest allied single engined fighters with the largest. Thanks very much for looking! Angus
  6. Here are a couple of Sweet 1:144 Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeros I built back in 2011. These are delightful little kits which require a little work but nothing too complex and no filler. I built them OOB just adding the missing wing pitot tube from stretched sprue and, of course, the radio wire. They were both painted by brush and only the final varnish was airbrushed. 1. Mitsubishi A6M5 Type 52 Zero 53-104, of 253rd Flying Group, Imperial Japanese Navy, flown by W.O. Tetsuzo Iwamoto, from Rabaul Tobera AB, New Britain Island, in February 1944. 2. Mitsubishi A6M5 Type 52a Zero 43-118, of 343rd (Founder) Flying Group, Imperial Japanese Navy, Guam, from the Mariana Islands, in 21 June 1944. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome Miguel
  7. Here is my latest kit, finished this week. It's Kami de Korokoro's resin 1:144 Fokker D.XXI. It represents FR-106, LLv 32, Finnish Air Force, Siikakangas, summer 1940. Finland's top ace, Ilmari Juutilainen had scored a kill with this machine during the winter war (1939-40). As with my previous kit (also of Kami de Korokoro) despite the low part count it gave plenty of work but for different reasons. This one had less moulding flaws and flash in general though the propeller was very tricky to clean up. Unfortunately, the kit is a bit off in shape being somewhat compressed in length and with the tailfin too wide and the canopy top too curved. I managed to fix the latter two and lengthened the engine part as it was a bit short too. This meant making new blisters (which were oversized anyhow) and replacing the exhaust and the two underside intakes, all made from parts from my spares box. Apart from the tail struts and radio mast which were made from the thin metal rods supplied in the bagged kit, I added several details from stretched sprue: the guns, wing pitot (simplified), the gunsight and the tail mast. The scheme was based on a profile I found on internet. The colours aren't 100% authentic but come sufficiently close to those seen on photos of the replica on display in the Finnish Air Force museum. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. I replaced the insignia decals with those from a Mark I sheet and only used the serial and tactical numbers from the kit's sheet. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  8. Here is the third of my Minicraft 1:144 Martin B-26 Marauders which I built back in 2014. It represents Martin B-26C-45-MO Marauder 42-107812/KS-J "Baby Bumps II", of 557th BS, 387th BG, USAAF, in 1944. 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 kit was completely painted and varnished by brush. Thanks for looking and, as usual, all comments are welcome Miguel
  9. Not sure if this is the right place on the forum for this but seemed more appropriate here than in Science Fiction/Real Space. Though, I grant you, it does look pretty funky. The Vickers C Bomber was a paper project for a 75 ton long range heavy bomber to replace the Avro Lancaster. It was designed to carry large bomb loads to bomb the Ruhr. Several variations of this design were drawn up, with the third variant (hence the ‘C’) being the most bizarre and radical. Ultimately, however, the tradeoff between range, defensive armament and aerodynamic stability proved too much on paper and the Air Ministry backed off. Had Air Ministry approval and funding ever become available, the C Bomber would still likely not have entered service before 1945 and even then would have required specialised expanded runways and airfields from which to operate. Some pretty cracking box art... This is the Fantastic Plastic Vickers C Bomber, beautifully cast by Anigrand. I've not seen one of these built up before so thought some might be interested to see it here. There's a WIP thread on KG144 here: http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=5295 and Out of the Box Review here http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5264&p=32008&hilit=vickers+fantastic#p32008 I've not built a 'what if' before but I've noticed on some builds that people do elaborate backstories. I've often thought this is endearingly nerdy but probably much too much trouble and effort. But while suffering from an acutely delayed flight before Christmas and with book and magazines exhausted... Well... forgive me. Perhaps we could all do with a bit of escapism to an alternate reality at a time like this. Well that was fun. If you made it this far, I salute you. Though I do recommend writing stupidly elaborate backstories as a way to ease the tedium of a dreary, antiseptic departure lounge. Not a very challenging build and basically out of the box. I replaced the rather poor kit decals with some of my own (pilfering a Kitsworld Lancaster sheet for 'Thumper' and various spares sheets). I also pilfered a lot of stencils and markings from that same sheet. I also replaced the guns. I figured, I'm only going to build one of these things and the Anigrand ones are frankly rubbish. So I ordered some Ju-87 cannons and Japanese 20mms from Master. Beautiful though they are, I now live in fear of them pinging off into Narnia, n'er to be seen again. I've obviously taken inspiration from this: Good fun and a complete break from what I'm used to doing. Thanks for looking! Angus p.s. I can confirm that all six wheels do in fact touch the ground when placed on a level surface. The board I'm using is bowed!
  10. Here is the second of a trio of Sweet 1:144 "BoB Aces" Hawker Hurricane Mk.Is built back in 2009. It represents P2921/GZ-L, flown by Flt Lt Peter Malam Brothers, No. 32 Sqn, RAF, Biggin Hill/Hawkings, UK, July 1940. The kit was fully painted with brush except for the final matt varnish which was airbrushed. Thanks for looking Miguel
  11. Here is my latest kit finished just yesterday. It's Kami de Korokoro's all resin 1:144 Caproni-Campini N.1. It represents the first prototype (MM487) at the Caproni facility in Taliedo, near Milan, Italy, on 27 August 1940. Although low in part count, it still took quite a bit of work to clean up the parts, fix malformations and improve the mating of parts. I added the main undercarriage retraction arms and the wing pitot from stretched sprue. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. The kit decals were poorly printed so, apart from the tail crosses, the remaining markings came from other sheets. Although I didn't completely iron out all the flaws, I'm pleased with the end result. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  12. Here are a pair of Platz 1:144 Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai (Early) "George" which I built back in 2007. Both kits were built OOB and fully painted and varnished with brush. Like the P-51D I posted last week, these Platz kits are a real delight with great finesse for this scale and are highly recommended. It's just a shame the type is limited in terms of schemes since all machines flew with the 343 Kokutai (Wing) and the only differences being the fuselage bands for each squadron of the wing. The first one represents "91", a prototype at the Kawanishi factory, Japan, in December 1944. The second one is "15", 343-15, 343 Kokutai, 301 Hikotai, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, flown by squadron leader Lt Naoshi Kanno, Matsuyama airfield, Japan, April 1945. Thanks for looking Miguel
  13. Here is my Platz 1:144 North American P-51D-15-NA Mustang which I built back in 2007. It represents 44-14888/B6-Y "Glamorous Glenn III", flown by Captain Charles 'Chuck' Yeager, of 363rd FS, 357th FG, 8th Air Force, USAAF, in summer 1944. The kit was built OOB and fully painted and varnished with brush. These Platz kits are a real delight with great finesse for this scale. Eduard has recently released these same moulds under their label. Highly recommended. Thanks for looking Miguel
  14. Hello everyone! Here is my latest kit and the first of this year. It's Mark I Model's 1:144 Dassault (SABCA) Mirage 5BA representing BA 21 (No.021), 2nd Sqn 'La Comète', 2nd Tactical Wing, Belgian Air Force, based at Florennes AB, Belgium in late 1985. This machine was sent to a museum in Deblin, Poland, following retirement. Following my previous experience with this kit last year (Swiss AF Mirage IIIRS) where it was pointed out the kit had a nose-down sit rather than the opposite, I made a correction to the nose wheel leg part. It is clearly too short lacking some 1.5 to 2 mm. I sawed it in the centre and added a plug from stretched sprue. The end result was much better. I also modified the large drop tanks as the ones in the kit were not of the type often used by the Belgians with down-sloping fins and not straight fins with vertical stabilisers. The pylons used were those from the smaller tanks. I removed the missile rails from the outer pylons. As with the other kit, the tailfin leading edge probe was removed and the nose probe was replaced by one from stretched sprue. Two antennae on the spine were made from spare metal from etched parts. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  15. Here is another pair of Sweet 1:144 General Motors FM-2 Wildcat VIs I built back in 2007. Builds were OOB with just the wing probe being added from wire. They were both painted by brush with the final varnish being airbrushed. First: Wildcat VI JV640/"O", of 881 Sqn, HMS Pursuer, Fleet Air Arm, in Southern France, August 1944 during Operation Dragoon, the first combat use of the Wildcat VI. Secondly: Wildcat VI JV851/"J3-V", of No 794 NAS, Fleet Air Arm, Eglinton, October-November 1945. As always, thanks for looking Miguel
  16. Hello everyone! This was my attempt back in 2013 at correcting the awful Trumpeter 1:144 Chengdu F-7-II, Chinese derivative of the early MiG-21F-13. It represents Chengdu F-7-IIN "701", of No 5 "Arrow" Sqn, Air Force of Zimbabwe, based at Thornhill-Gweru AB, in late 1980s. I ended up using parts from a scrapped Revell MiG-21PF to correct the major flaws. The tailfin was wrong for an F-7-II being more like an F-7-III (similar to MiG-21MF). The underfuselage fin was wrong too, being too short in height. The tailplanes looked like inflated cushions and even sanding them flat was no good so I used the Revell parts instead. Besides they were somewhat undersized too.The u/c legs were so tall the kit would have ended up looking like it was on stilts! The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. The markings came from a Berna decals sheet. This represents an F-7-IIN early in AFZ service so it only had 2 wing pylons. The machines were later upgraded and had 4 pylons. These machines were quite clean so weathering was minimal. Not a great result but at least I saw it through and managed something much better than what came in the box! Thanks for looking Miguel
  17. Here is another F-Toys 1:144 Bristol Beaufighter I built in 2016. It is Beaufighter Mk.VI "308" of Escuadrón de Caza-Bombardeo, Cuerpo de Aviación Militar Dominicana, Dominican Republic, in 1948. The Dominican Beaufighters were really re-engined late-Mk.Xs with the torpedo gear removed. By changing the engines to Hercules VIs, these aircraft became technically classified as Mk.VIs. I had to carry out a series of conversions/upgrades: adding the strike camera, making longer carburettor intakes, making spinners, oval landing light, late-type rear wingtip lights and aerials above the fin extension, as well as missing underside aerials and underwing pitot The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. The markings came from Petersplanes decals. Thanks for looking Miguel
  18. Here is an old LS 1:144 Panavia Tornado IDS finished as 43+47, of MFG1, Marineflieger, at Schleswig-Jagel, German Federal Republic, in the early 1980s. I built this one back in 1999. I replaced the stores and pylons with those from an Italeri (Dragon) kit. I forgot to put nose weight so I finished the kit "in flight". I therefore added the two crew members from plasticene! The kit was mostly painted with brush except for the white and the varnish which were airbrushed. The main section of the stand came from an old Matchbox kit. Thanks for looking Miguel
  19. Hello all! Here is one of the last two kits of 2019 that I managed to finish the day before leaving for my Christmas holidays last month, both being Eduard's 1:144 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI "Midget". This one represents CF801 of No. 6 Sqn, Sri Lankan Air Force in the 1970s. It was built from an "overtrees" set with markings from JBr Decal's "Mighty Midgets" Part 1 sheet. The kit was built OOB just adding belts from Tamiya tape in the cockpit and the radio wire and replacing the overly thick wing pitot tube with one from stretched sprue. The kit went together well with most problems being of my own making but others were of the kit itself. Some parts needed to be well trimmed/cleaned up to fit properly, the most notable part being the canopy. I failed to get it 100% right and ended up having to do some sanding to blend the rear and filling some gaps with Kristal Klear. The big challenge was putting sufficient weight to avoid tail-sitting. I packed weight above the engine splitting plate, along the sides of the cockpit, below the cockpit and a little behind it. As a note, you CAN add the nose u/c AFTER joining the fuselage - it's a bit tricky but possible (I missed that and had to do it this way). The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush and I made some weathering/painting experiments with mixed results though I am pleased with it. Because of the way I did the dry-brushing (on gloss instead of on matt), I feel I overdid the weathering as I prefer a more subtle effect. Since I was working on a self-imposed deadline, I didn't try to fix it. Thanks for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  20. Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E, Airfix 1:144 Cyprus Airways decals from classic-airliners.com My last RFI of the year, in fact of the decade. It is the venerable old Airfix Trident, dating from around 1966 with some of its faults corrected. Yes Authentic Airliners do a Trident that is almost perfect, and yes Eastern Express are due to release a new range of Tridents next year. But this was in my stash and the sticker on the box tells me It only cost me £3.50 some 25 years ago, and what is a stash for, but building from! I stumbled across this decal sheet at Telford, and thought it made for a different looking Trident. It is actually the second Trident I started, as I also have a -1E on the workbench that will be finished in the BKS scheme. It was often known as the 'Ground Gripper' , or just 'Gripper' because of its tendency to use a lot of runway on take off, it was also said the it was only due to the curvature earth that it was able to get airborne at all. This was partly due to its swept wing design that enabled it to be one of the fastest airliners in service, once it was in the air. This particular aircraft 5B-DAC still exists. It had earlier served in BEA as G-AVFB in the red square scheme, and is preserved at Duxford today. After service with Cyprus Airways it returned to British Airways in 1977. An early 1970's ramp at Heathrow! The kit has several inaccuracies, and thanks to Dave 'Skodadriver' and Chris 'Stringbag' who both kindly supplied me with valuable information about where corrections are needed, and photos. I did not correct everything, the main thing I left out was reshaping the wing to get the leading edge 'kink' in it. It was a bit of fun, and I enjoy doing a bit of old fashioned modelling to try and make improvements. Airfix never kitted a Trident Two but all you need to do is fill in the windows and extend each wing tip . The rest of the changes are applicable to the Trident One (and the extended wings tips for the 1E). (Edit - Forgot to point out some reshaping of 'hole' in the center intake. There is a limit to what you can do, it is better but not perfect. Perhaps it needs building up with more plasticard and filler, and some serious reshaping.). These are the main improvements: The decals were laser printed and do not contain any white coloured print, which means that you have to mask an accurate demarcation between the grey and the white. I used a photocopy of the blue cheatline taped to the fuselage in order to apply the masking tape accurately, ending up with this: The decals had a 'Gotcha' which fortunately I noticed before putting them in water. The 'Antelope' figure in all references I have seen, id always heading to the right, as on the side views in the decal instructions. Strangely the port side decal for the option I chose, had him heading the other way. Simple to fix. I just cut him out and substituted one from the other tail decal that I wasn't going to use. Odd that the 'Trident Sun Jet' option was wrong but the other was was fine. Thanks for looking, John
  21. Airbus A320neo Lufthansa new livery 1:144 Revell (03942) The A320 neo is the most recent development of the highly successful Airbus range of narrow bodied airliners. Available as the A319, A320, and A321,'neo' stands for new engine option' as the aircraft can be fitted with the very fuel efficient Pratt & Whitney PW1000G or the CFM International LEAP (Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion) engines. The other noticeable change is the wingtip 'sharklets', similar in appearance to those used on Boeing aircraft, which replace the smaller winglets previously used. With 95% commonality with the earlier A319-A321 range (now known as the 'eco',engine current option), it is an obvious choice for airlines operating the older machine. Entering service in 2016, the A319-321 neo family has become the worlds fastest selling airliner, although production delays with engines initially slowed down deliveries. For many years to come, they will be seen at airports all around the world, probably in a vast number of different liveries. The Kit. This is an all new tooling from Revell that has no commonality with it previous range of the A320 family. Moulded in Revells standard white plastic, everything is crisply moulded and flash free with no sign of sink marks or other flaws. The fuselage has a large cut out where a clear cockpit glazing section is fitted. This far better then the old kit which had a 'letterbox' slot into which the clear part had to be inserted, not an easy job. Cabin windows are moulded open, with clear plastic window strips to fitted from the inside. All the blade aerials are moulded along one fuselage half, but personally I cut these off for later re-attachment as they make cleaning up the fuselage seam very awkward. Rather than alignment holes and pins, Revell have gone for interlocking tabs along the fuselage halves. A neat little cockpit is provided, complete with separate instrument panel. I often scratch build my own airliner cockpit interiors, so here is one job saved. I normally put a flight crew in though, using 'N' gauge figures, and will do so on this kit as it can only be built 'in flight'. It will therefore need at least a captain and co-pilot in attendance. The wings are very nicely moulded with inbuilt dihederal and broad, thin sprue attachment point which make removal from the sprue much easier. On the old A320 kit you had to remove a number of flap track fairings and fill panel lines, as the kit shared the same wing mouldings as Revell's A321. No such problem here, this is a dedicated A320 wing ready to use 'as is'. The wingtip Sharklets are on their own sprue along with the nose cap. Also nice to see is the SAT antenna that fits on top of the fuselage, possibly this is the first time one had been included in a mainstream kit. Now, the big talking point about this kit. It does not come with any undercarriage, you can only build it 'in flight' and attach it to the included stand. I believe that the reasoning for this was to keep it as a simpler 'Level 3' kit for the inexperienced modeller. The similar A321 kit is Level 4' and does include the undercarriage, which apparently will fit this kit as it has the nose wheel bay and wing mountings for the main legs, notwithstanding the subtle differences in main wheel size. The engines option used by Lufthansa is the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G, so this is what the kit provides. The fine detail is superb, particularly on the fan blades, which fit inside the nacelle to give a seamless intake. The intake ring are separate parts, which makes painting them silver much easier. (Tip - attach them after the nacelles are painted, using white glue so as not to risk messing up your nice finish). Options. Only one livery is supplied, the current Lufthansa scheme. The decal sheet has been designed by DACO, and is superb, covering all sorts of fine stencil detail and giving a choice of four differnt Lufthansa aircraft. Printing is faultless with minimal carrier film and in perfect registration. Personally I find the new Lufthansa livery to be rather bland, but I'm sure that it won't be long before there are plenty of aftermarket decal sheets if you would like to build this kit in a more colourful livery. Conclusion. New release of airliner kits are few and far between, even less so when a manufacturer decides to produce a new tool of a model they already have in their range. Revell are to be applauded for this, and have produced a very lovely model of the A320. The decision to leave the undercarriage out strikes me as odd, as although it may attract the inexperienced modeller, it also runs the risk of putting off the experienced modeller. It is possible that Revell may re-issue this kit in other liveries in the future, and also include the undercarriage in those boxings. You could also use the parts from the A321 kit, if you plan to build one of those in flight. That said, the rest of this kit is a high quality product, the mouldings are superb, and it is far superior to the old A320 eco kit. It's simpler colour scheme will also probably appeal to the inexperienced builder, and construction also looks to be very straightforward. If, as it should, it encourages more people into airliner modelling, then I'm all for it. Recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit
  22. I am trying to convert a Casa CN235 kit (resin) to the longer CN295 version. I know that the extension is 10ft 2in (3.1m) which, at 1:144 scale, works out to 21.5mm but don't know where to make the insert(s). Can anyone here help with this information please? Was it a single extension in front of the wing, or perhaps two extensions one in front and one behind the wing? I would appreciate any assistance with this, especially if anyone has drawings of where the cut(s) and insert(s) would go. Thanks in advance, Mike
  23. I had this old Minicraft kit lying in my stash of doom, started, in fact already painted White and I was reluctant throwing it away´even after the much better Skyline kit was available. Going through my collection of decals, I found the BOA Easy Jet sheet and gave it a try. I won´t show you the gear wells, as there are none, I mentioned Minicraft, didn't I? The Right engine is tilted a Little bit, don't know why, oh yes, Minicraft... I tried to use some printed Pictures as Background, but still have Problems with reflections, but some are ok, just to create an Airport atmosphere. Easy Jet used this type until 2006, I think, now they are using Airbusses. So, enjoy the Pictures! Comments are Always welcome, I can live with critique…. cheers, Norbert
  24. Douglas DC-8-62CF 'Thai Airways International' 1:144 Minicraft with 26Decals. One of my favourite airliners in one of my favourite liveries, a combination of two classics. The DC-8 is the Minicrfat kit available from S&M models but without any decals. This is not a problems as I expect almost all buyers would want to choose their own aftermarket decals anyway. I've always wanted to make one in the beautiful Thai Orchid livery, and found that 26 decals do a sheet for the the DC-8-63. I could have built the kit straight from the box and the decals would have been perfect for it, as Minicraft provide the fuselage for the stretched -63 version. However they also provide recessed cut marks inside the fuselage to show you where to remove sections forward and aft of the wing to shorten it down to a -62 version. I much prefer the -62 as it looks like a much better proportioned aircraft. The only thing was that Thai operated the stretched -63, but I came across some images of a single -62 Combi Freighter that they used for a while. Being part owned by SAS, Thai used lease/borrow/purchase several of their aircraft. I'm assuming this one was leased as it retained its Danish registration OY-KTE. All I had to do was shorten the cheatline decals, and find some suitable purple letters for the registration, which I did on the Thai A350 sheet I already built (never chuck anything away!) On with the photos: 'With something else", a Thai 737-400 in the same livery! Thanks for looking John
  25. I may yet put up 12 entries for KUTA XII! Here's one of them though... It really, really shouldn't take too much to finish this off. Well, repaint the #3 nacelle and some decals.
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