Search the Community

Hello. I present you my latest finished model.The 1:72 Sale Zvezda Mi-24V in the colors of the Macedonian air force.I fully rescribed the panels because the kit ones are almost non existent.I also riveted the model to give it a bit more authentic look.The cockpit was upgraded by the eduard pre colored Pe set that is actually a bit bigger than the kit parts and needs quite the trimming with a metal file for it to fit properly.The paints used are revell enamels.I managed to scratchbuild the aso-2v Flares on the back and designed and printed the decals myself on a laser printer and microscale dekal paper.I couldnt reccomend the paper enouhg.One of the best I have seen.I will be definetley getting more of it in the futre.

Just smashed out the cockpit last night. First Bandai kit, Primed in SMS Surfacer Black https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/primer-surfacer-black-50ml Painted the Canopy and front cluster in SMS Gunship Grey. I haven't decided if I'll use the clear or glass free canopy and hatch so I'm painting both https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/premium-gunship-grey-fs36118-30ml?_pos=2&_sid=abe991cfe&_ss=r Interior in SMS Neutral Grey https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/premium-neutral-grey-30ml?_pos=1&_sid=4de655062&_ss=r Painting Vader Head: SMS Jet Black Satin parts: SMS Advance Black Check switch panel thingy: SMS Advance Black with some Gunship Grey mixed in Eyes: SMS Clear Red over SMS Jet Black Belt Buckle: SMS Hyperchrome Pen Rest: SMS Surfacer Black primer SMS Interior Grey SMS Super Clear Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash Added SMS Super Clear Tamiya Panel Line Wash Photographed with better lighting than earlier pic Super Clear and Decals These decals aren't bad but they're definitely not Cartograph They're a faithful reproduction of the kit bashed original studio model so they don't quite fit the spaces and are real fiddley to work with. Starting to assemble cockpit base. Coin in the reference photos is an Australian 10c piece, this kit is TINY Detailed the back with SMS Hyperchrome pen and test fit Added some Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash for a little more contrast and gloss coated over the top. I left it glossy as limited light will get into the cockpit anyway so any extra sheen or reflection is going to make it that much more visible. The glass free piece has subtly more detail than the clear on the underside of the hatch. But with the hatch closed it'll never be seen.

On Saturday (24th), I went to Scale Scotland 2022, I had a wonderful time. I bought a few kits but this one especially excited me because I've wanted one for a while and I've liked wildcats/martlets since I went to the FAA museum in RNAS Yeovilton when I was younger. I personally think the martlet/wildcat looks excellent in FAA camo. Today I started working on her. I'm quite happy with the cockpit and landing gear. Because of how small the kit is, construction and initial painting went very quickly I did all if this in one day! This might be a speedbuild depending on whether I'll have more workbench time this week

Hello to all of you.I have just finished my 1:72 R.V.Aircraft MiG-21 UM of the Serbian Air Force.I hae upgraded the cockpit a bit and finished the model with Mr.hobby and Mr.color paints.The decals came from LIft Here decals and I am quite pleased how it turned out.I hope you will like it as well. Regards,Dragan

As seems to be my habit recently I came across this when looking for something else. and one of the options is for 826 Squadron of the RCN. The kit is an early Special Hobby kit (2003 according to Scalemates) and has a real 'limited release' look about it. There's a lot of flash on the three grey sprues and the surface is a little rough. But the transparencies look nice. There's a lot of resin, which is much more delicately and finely moulded than the Injection plastic. Good selection of transfers and some film for the IP. And a small bit of etch. Reasonable instructions and although they do suffer from the usual SH mode of 'stick this piece somewhere round here' there are some detail drawings. And decent colour call outs and transfer application guides.

Might as well jump in, doesn't come any more Canadian than this. Well, maybe if you posed it next to a moose and a Mountie.... The infamous Avro Arrow......

Next off the shelf is the very old (maybe original?) boxing of the Hasegawa P-2H Neptune. I've washed the sprues and resin bits. Here they are drying amongst the Scout WIP. Soon to be joined by the Eduard bomb bay and general detail kits, the Aeroclub props and landing gear and PD Decals, amongst others. Not too many plastic parts but heaps of resin and etch. Lots of rescribing to do as everything is raised detail. I'll paint everything this week when the wife goes back to work as she hates the smell of enamel paint through the house!

Hi guys. I started a new project a few days ago... It will become a Ukrainian Army Aviation Mi-24PU2. I started with the cockpit parts which were painted black. When the Ukrainian Mi-24s where upgraded to Mi-24PUs2 standard they got a new cockpit which give them night flight suitability. For the first time I got me some Quinta Studio decals. This set is for the M-24V and provides the needed black layout for my project. Applying them is very easy and worked very well from the beginning. Cut them out like normal decals, dip them into warm water for a few seconds and slide them to the plastic parts. Different to normal decals, the Quinta Studios 3D decals need an adhesive. Quinta recommends any PVA based glue, clear coat like Tamiya x-22 or cyanoacrylate glue. I used Micro Kristal Klear and it worked very well. The WSOs instrument panel is different in Mi-24V and Mi-24P so I had to use the kit decals here. In my opinion the seatbelts looks way better in vinyl than their etched counterparts from Eduard & Co. Regards Daniel

This will probably take a bit of time, not just as it is resin, white metal and vac form canopies but the colour scheme of Aluminium over black/yellow target tug stripes as well as trainer bands, make it a bit of a challenge. And it is an relatively early Magna kit so I predict a fair amount of sanding and filler in the coming months. The Sturgeon was initially destined as an anti submarine aircraft but as the war finished it wasn't really needed. However post war the FAA needed a modern high speed target tug and the Sturgeon was redesigned to meet this need. It was carrier compatible and could land and take off at sea although the squadrons were shore based. It served the Navy well from 1950 to 1956. The Magna kit is a bundle of fairly well moulded resin parts with a bit of flash and some pretty big pour stubs. The shape looks reasonably good and the panel lines nicely restrained. A bundle of white metal metal parts for prop blades, undercarriage and some interior parts. They will need careful cleaning up but my experience of Magna kits is the white metal usually cleans up well. Detailed instructions and a number of options to build. Though apart from the natural metal prototype the scheme are all the same. There are no transfers but I think I should have enough in the stash. There's nothing fancy just roundels, serials and Royal Navy titles.

Here is my Mirage 2000EG of Hellenic Air Force in 1:72. Modelsvit kit 72073, made almost "out of the box", except for resin AM39 Exocet missiles (Eduard), metal Pitot tube and tip of refueling probe (Master) and pylons for Exocets (scratch). Painted with Gunze Mr.Hobby C series. Thank for watching!

I have been following @AliGauld's Airfix Hurricane build and saw the discussion on the Arma Hobby Hurricane. I built a couple of Airfix Hurricane's a few years back, converting them from fabric wings to metal wings but I then remembered I had one of these in the stash. So out it has been dug and put on the top of the lets get started pile. I do recall following a @Procopius build a few years back and there's a bit of care needed with fitting the undercarriage which happens right at the beginning. Anyways the boxing isn't a Sea Hurricane as I originally thought but the options are for two former RAF Hurricanes transferred to the Naval Fighter School, and a bit of an oddity, a former Sea Hurricane 'Hurricat' provided to a Polish RAF Squadron for training. And left in Temperate Sea Scheme. I think I'll go for W -D2 with Popeye on it. Two beautifully moulded sprues in grey plastic. Crisp and fine. and a transparent sprue with options for an open and closed canopy. Nice transfer sheet with a fair amount of stencils And what looks like a comprehensive set of instructions. This is my my first Armato Hobby build and I'm looking forward to it. I will have to think about how to distress the paintwork. I don't have airbrush facilities, or skills, to do filters, shading, etc.. But that's a fair bit off

"Seek and Destroy" (Part 2) 41 Sqn's finest Hi everyone! I hope you're all keeping well. I've been sitting on this kit (metaphorically of course) since last year when I picked it up at the Cosford airshow. As many of you will know, I've had a soft spot for 41 Squadron for quite a while now, after my visits to RAF Coningsby (I wrote a little bit about my first visit here). I've done a Typhoon FGR4 and a Tornado GR.4 in 41 Sqn markings prior to this, but it was only after I was trawling through the photos i took that I decided to have a crack at the Typhoon's family model. Now unfortunately I didn't have the available decals to model the specific aircraft pictured, but to the casual observer it looks like a 41 Sqn aircraft! Kit: Revell 1:72 Eurofighter Typhoon Twin-seater Paints: Vallejo model air Aftermarket bits: 2x Pavla resin MB Mk.16A ejection seats Decals: A mix of kit decals and Xtradecal's "RAF/RN Update 2015" set I've done quite a bit to "liven" this kit up. For example, the cockpit panels were detailed with plasticard, I built the ladder/hatch, the electronic access panel, slime lights on the sides of the nose, scratchbuilt RAIDS pods (simulating ASRAAM's), detailed inboard pylons, drilled out APU exhaust, detailed exhausts, gear bays were detailed (including wiring and adding a honeycomb grid structure to the gear bay walls) and most importantly lots and lots of fasteners (technically not rivets, but I used a riveting tool nonetheless). On with the photos! Well, there we are then. I'll probably only have chance to do one more model before heading back to university, and I've got a Boeing 777 ready and raring to go! One of these days I'm rather tempted to do a comprehensive WIP to try and create the most accurate Eurofighter I possibly can (yes I have noticed that this model is missing the rear MAW antenna that can be found above the parachute door, sorry!). So as always, thank you ever so much for dropping by. Best wishes, Sam Until next time!

I decided to try build something similiar to polish glider Bocian SZD-9 bis 1D. I will try not to write and only show progress

Hello! After recently finishing my gannet I decided to finish another "purgatory shelf" model (what I call my shelf of doom/old WIPs). The Eduard MiG-21 is a lovely kit, I just lost interest in it for a while. During the Summer Holidays I finally had a chance to go back home to Hungary again (after three years!) and I visited the Szolnok Reptár Aerospace museum. It was brilliant. Being up close and personal with all these aircraft inspired me to finally go back and finish my MiG and I must say I am very pleased with the result! Without further ado, here she is; In the end I ended up having a lot of fun with this model and the aftermarket decals by HADmodels behaved well. Only issue was the stencils were misnumbered and I had to do most of it by eye, I can still definitely recommend it though if you have good reference photos (which I did because of my museum visit ). I hope you all enjoyed looking at this and thank you for looking. Next up (probably): Trumpy 1:72 Westland Wyvern

Looking for something else I came across this in the stash. The inside of the fuselage says 1981 but I am sure it's a lot older as I recall making one of these as a kid in the late 60s. I could find it in Scalemates as my navigation wasn't working well. There are two buff coloured sprues and the fuselage halves separate, and the moulding although nice, the detail says 1960s to me and certainly not 1980s. However, it is within the 1989 cut off so I'm assuming it'll be good to go. The transfers are for a single aircraft of 111 Squadron RFC in Palestine and are definitely of a much more recent era. Straghtforward Revell instructions and although not on these two pages the usual set of Revell paint mixes.

This group build seemed like the perfect time to get round to building this one. Been hankering after one for years, finally bit the bullet a few years ago and bought it, but hadn't summoned up the courage to try a non-injection kit.... until now. I mean, So, the kit - unstarted, still the plastic bag: Looks like there aren't too many major pieces....fingers crossed.

Whoa boy...I started in January and didn't finish until October of 2021. This is built from the Sword kit, and it was a fight from start to finish. Like any short-run kit, the parts were clunky, and imprecise. Fit was mediocre at best, and a lot of details were missing. The clear parts are very thick and fit especially poorly. What really made the whole experience unnecessarily frustrating were the poor instructions. Not only were they vague on where smaller parts should fit, they also had contradictory directions on landing gear doors (they want you to fit both kinds that are in the box, at the same time), and allude to details which are not part of the kit (e.g., drop tank sway braces). Its as if the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, as the kit was being manufactured. Disappointing as the kit and the project were, I'm happy I pushed through, as the final product is hideous and cool, and now I can say I successfully finished a short run kit.

Afternoon everyone. I’m not one for posting WIP’s or RFI’s on here as I don’t build very often (In fact it’s mainly July and August when I get time) with other things taking up any free time and there’s never a guarantee I’ll finish something or it be good enough to share. However my confidence got a slight boost when Airfix put my K2Y up on their social media pages so I figured what the hell. Let’s get one done on here for a change. I’ve had a little Academy A6M5c Zero in the cupboard for a few years and having just built the first of the Eduard “Tora Tora Tora” set, and having a bit of a Pacific War thing going on this summer, now is as good a time as any to do this. As you can see there’s not massive amount to do and as this will be strictly OOB It’s easily doable within the timeframe. The plan is to start one morning and just work through. I brush paint everything (The big scale stuff is F.U.N) so the plan is to use AK’s 3rd Generation IJN Paint set. I’m slowly swapping out all my old Tamiya acrylics with AK’s as they’re just beautiful to paint with

Hello! No WIP thread for this build unfortunately. I started this build earlier in the year and then abandoned it. Yesterday I had a burst of inspiration and I decided to finish it. By that I mean fully paint it and all the other stuff, In one day! Anyway, here she is, XA322: And here she is with my Bucc S.2C XV336 I had a lot of fun building this kit and I'm very happy with the result, hope you all enjoy it too!

I have finally arrived home after a refreshing and very fun trip to Hungary. Back to the workbench! I've decided to attempt more speedbuilds and I've definitely caught a helicopter fever because this is my third helicopter in a row! (1st was Sea King, 2nd was Merlin). Done quite a lot today considering the age of this kit (1976 tool), the fit is surprisingly good but there are a lot of gaps. I'm aware the seats are inaccurate but the navy lynx version of the seats airfix provided were shocking so I decided to go with the normal version. Seatbelts were added later. It never really struck me just how small the lynx is until now, quite awesome! As I'm writing this, I'm currently filling and sanding everything. Shouldn't take too long hopefully, school starts again on Wednesday!

Here is a little project I've been working on, on the side. My photos don't do this kit justice, but I seem utterly incapable of capturing a good shot, so these will have to do for now. The kit is Fine Mold's excellent F-4D in 1:72nd scale. The kit has wonderful details, is generally easy to build (but don't expect flawless fit like their Star Wars models), and comes with a few interesting options. The F-4D comes with several tail antenna arangements, optional early and late fuel tanks, and a nose with or without anenna bulges. Sadly, there is no LORAN towel rack antenna, and no weapons. I added an old set of True Details resin seats, and an even older set of Microscale decals, and still older Hasegawa weapons sets. Paint comes from the AK Real Colors USAF Europe set, modified with some Tamiya whites and yellows where necessary. I strongly recommend the Fine Molds kit, but I learned a few lessons during this build, which I'll be applying in future FM Phantoms (and I already have two more in the stash) 1. glue the metallic bottom tail part, the flanges around the engine exhausts and the vertical rudder before painting. FM supplies these as seperate parts to ease in masking, but none of them fit all that well. Your call, but I prefer to mask than to have to fettle with painted pieces, which leads to a mess and requires masking for retouch in the end. 2. The horizontal tails interlock in in just ONE correct way. You have to keep at it many times until the tabs slide over one another just right. But it will happen, and then they will line up correctly. Be patient. 3. The sidewinder rails can be added at the very end And lessons from the additional parts and paints 4. AK Real Colors medium green is REALLY BRIGHT but stands out well from their Forest Green, in scale. So leave it be 5. Old Microscale decals silver even with a gloss undercoat. They silver where the adhesive has dried out. Silverving has more to do with poor adhesion than with a smooth substrate. 6. The Old Esci and Italeri Phantom kits has slightly shorter (chordwise) tails, and the old Microscale decals sized for them need a little paint touch up to fit this kit 7. Invest in a Fine Molds weopons set. The old Hasegawa sets really haven't aged well. 8. I miss True Details. Anyhow. This aircraft represents an F-4D flown by the Alabama Air National Guard around 1985/1986. At the time, some of the Alabama and Georgia ANG units were deployed to West Germany. I don't know if they trained in dropping LGBs, but I love assymetrical loadouts, and the blue training munitions look really great against the drab scheme, and so I could not resist a bit of artistic license.

Hello everyone. This is the last of a pair of Sea Vixen FAW.1s that I started building as a project in 1/72 scale back in 2019 in order to go beyond what was available in kit form in terms of quality and detail. The first of these aircraft - XJ481 - was completed last October in her Martel trials livery and can be seen here. The aircraft represented here - XN708 from 890 NAS - crashed into Lyme bay killing both crew on the night of 25th Nov, 1964. A fuller history of both aircraft, as well as the build log for designing and printing them, can be found here: Source materials used in developing the CAD designs comprised of the Sea Vixen maintenance manuals cross-referenced with photographic imagery, a combination I've come to rely on in terms indexing what you see against its actual function. Aside from printed resin, the build also required the use of vacforming for the pilot's canopy and the production of homebrew PE for a range of internal and external features. All markings are painted using custom mask sets. Walkaround: Wingfold: Radar and nose area. (Yes, the scanner dish moves...) Engines: I've a list of people already who want a copy of this to make a FAW.1 for themselves so I'm going to be producing it as a multimedia kit in resin, brass and vacform over the coming months, to include all the details shown here. If you like what you see and want to register an interest in having a a copy as well, please feel free to drop a PM. As ever I'd like to finish simply by thanking all those forum members who gave so generously of their time, humour and expertise in following along with this project: it's always chastening to realize that no matter how certifiable my ramblings, there are other equally disturbed individuals out there prepared to read them. All power to you, and of course, peace. Tony Ps. The pair of them together...

Kit - Airfix A05010 Paint - All acrylics Decals - Xtradecal & Kit Extras - none Dornier 17Z 10 (Croatian) / KG3 Central Front, Russia. Winter 1941/42. So after just over fifty years of slapping together pieces of injected plastic, I've finally attempted an aircraft in a chipped & faded winter finish. So after the 70/71 was masked & sprayed, I sealed it with a coat of gloss, then decalled and sealed again this time with two good coats of gloss. I left that for a week before decanting & spraying the hairspray in two coats, allowing that to go-off overnight then mottling the (Tamiya) white. I let that settle for around four hours then began picking, scratching and brushing it away in the high wear areas. Later on I applied a light brownish grey overall wash using/mixing Flory washes which slightly toned the white and took-the-edge-off the finish. I sealed that with a coat of Tamiya lacquer satin clear. After a couple of days I broke-out the W & N oils and dirtied-up around the nacelles and added the exhaust streaks. After that was all sealed away, the last step was the streaks on the underside, again with W & N oils. Last job was two overall coats of Tamiya lacquer matt clear, a little pigment work on the tyres and final assembly. As a first-attempt I'm fairly pleased with what I've ended-up with. If I do this finish again, I won't leave the hairspray as long to dry as it was quite stubborn to remove in some areas. So there t'is, please feel free to ask any questions, make any comments or criticisms. Going to take a break from aircraft building for a while as I've completed six builds in about four months, so time for an AFV build next I think. All the best from NZ. Ian.

Hi, SPARKIT Models is a new French company that proposed 3D printed detailing sets, guns, wheels, ejection seat, engine. You find products in various scale, F-8 Crusader USN & French Navy ejection seat, Mirage III B/C/BE/E/R/RD wheels, MIRAGE IIIE/BE/R MIRAGE 5 - ATAR 9C EXHAUST, Mirage IV wheels ... https://sparkit-models.com/en/ Some sample products: Vickers gun S-3 Viking INTAKE AND EXHAUST SET : JAGUAR A AND E - MK.4 JRM EJECTION SEAT F-4 PHANTOM II - MK.H7 EJECTION SEAT US NAVY T-2 Buckeye - WHEEL SET DH VAMPIRE/SE535 MISTRAL - WHEEL SET (LATE TYPE) MIRAGE IVA/P - WHEEL SET Next product soon: Fouga Magister CM-170 Wheels Possible to follow on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any suggestions. I will update here with new products. SPang

Another filler kit to fill the Canberra paint drying time the Academy F4f-4. No real period pictures of the Wildcat with the star and bar roundel scheme so opted to use a few pics from life magazine with the star and bar and reference material. It’s a very simple kit if almost say starter kit but goes together well. Grand total of 8 decals although 4 where no use to my example. (Aircraft number) As always I look forward to your comments/tips/suggestions.