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MPM 1:72 Boulton Paul Defiant TT MK.I Defiant with turret removed and target towing equipment installed instead. MK.I's were converted planes, Mk.III were built brand new - almost 300 were built/converted all together. Couple of plastic sprues. Clear parts, including specific vacuform part for this version. Plenty of resin and PE to add a nice amount of details. Also most/all of the TT variant parts seem to be resin. The scheme I'll be doing.

The other builds A legion Condor E-3 Airfix with a new canopy A 109 E-3 from III/JG 53 Battle of Britain during the period where Goering ordered them to paint out the Pik Aus badge so they painted out their swastikas in protest. Airfix oob Finnish G6 Oob italeri Swiss G6 oob italeri Hungarian G6 oob probably the Hasegawa Italian G6 as probably the Heller K4 with minor modifications Yugoslavian G10 Revell oob Croatian G10 Revell oob Another Yugoslavian G10 Revell oob. if my AVIAs arrive within the GB I’ll post them here too ( not holding my breath in them ) Have to post some sprue shots next.

As I was digging through the stash for something else today I came across this, the Revell boxing of Matchbox's 17 Pounder A/T gun, it's tractor and a Jeep. Along with probably the finest piece of Matchbox's diorama bases. As it was cheap in the first place and reduced further then it's an ideal contribution to this GB. I think I got it either at Modelzone when closing or at an outlet store in Croydon which was flogging off a lot of Modelzone stock. There's three dark green sprues which are crisply moulded and relatively flash free containing a reasonably detailed anti tank gun, Morris truck and a little jeep with drivers but no gun crew. And a super piece of bombed out French streetscape. Umpteen pages of imstructions. I think Matchbox had everything on two sides but Revell have a lot more detail. Colour call outs for three sets of options in NW Europe post D Day all night with a fair amount of transfers. I think I'll finish the set as late North Africa where these guns were first deployed.

Hi all, having just rolled the Canuck out of the workshop onto the apron, my bench is now heaving a sigh of relief... but that relief is to be short-lived as I contemplate the next phase of my stash reduction plan. So, I've done a tandem-build before, where I did an Airfix Hawk and a MisterCraft P-40K on the same WIP thread a while back - which was moderately interesting. Over the weekend I was perusing what I had left to build (don't go there!) and pondering what subjects I'd not done before, and what subjects tend not to be so common on here. It occurred to me that I had no less than 3 kits of Polish WW2 aircraft, all different designs from the drawing boards of PZL - Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze (State Aviation Works), quietly maturing under a mountain of other boxes. One of them was quite simple, the other 2 less so. So I had the idea that I would try and document the builds of all 3 simultaneously. I mean, what could go wrong? Oh no, wait - the last time I said that was back in February 2020, so maybe I should just shut up and get on with it! So, what am I going to build? Well, there's this wee beastie: A P-11c. I have visions of this one finishing way before the other two! Which are, this: A P-23 Karaś, this will be first Heller kit I've ever attempted! Oh, and this: A 37A-bis Łoś ('moose'). OK that's great, but why 'Poles Apart'? Well, having looked at the OOB decal options, it seems that with the overrunning of Poland at the start of WW2 by the Germans and the Soviets, those surviving Polish aircraft were quickly put to work by their respective captors, and re-badged accordingly. Some were also taken on by the Romanians, who subsequently used them to attack the Soviet Union! Thus, it is my intention, at this stage at least, to apply 'foreign service' markings to each. No progress as such to report, apart from the ordering of a plethora of AM stuff - PE, canopy masks, decals and the like - from the Big H and an outfit in Poland, Super-Hobby, that I've used before and gave pretty good service. The P-11c I am going to do more-or-less OOB, as it's pretty simple and the cramped cockpit is unlikely to afford much of a view of any detail I might choose to add - having said that, watch this space! One add-on has already been taken care of: the kit-supplied engines on the P-23 and the 37B are rubbish, and the after-market 9-cylinder radials are way too rich for me, so I have raided my spares box and come out with 3 9-cylinder radials from my old Italeri Ju52 kit. I might need to bash them about a bit, but I'll take those for the win! So, buckle up folks! For now, though, it only remains for me to say, at this stage : 'Tally Ho, Yellow!'

Hi everyone, My first entry for this GB (I'm planning at least two if time permits) will be the Airfix Blenheim Mk.IV (using Eduard photo-etch and canopy masks, and an AML camouflage mask). I built one of these last year for the Battle of Britain Group Build in Bomber Command colours. This time I'll be focusing on a Coastal Command machine from the same era. I'm yet to decide on a particular aircraft to represent but almost certainly one from 53 Sqn or 59 Sqn, which undertook coastal patrols, night raids on occupied ports, and daring daytime shipping strikes. Along the way if there's interest I'll relate the details of the raids the Coastal Command aircraft participated in during the Battle of Britain. As I already have several aircraft on the go (Bf109s for another ongoing Group Build), I'll delay getting started on this one until my workbench has a bit more room - probably mid July. Thanks for looking! Matt

Hi everyone, With my Blenheim well underway it's time I got cracking on my second project for this fabulous Group Build. This one is Airfix' lovely new tool Beaufort, complete with Eduard photo etch, resin wheels and masks. I'm going to build mine as a Battle of Britain era Beaufort to add to my expanding collection from this era. During the Battle of Britain the Beaufort played an increasingly active role in attacking invasion barges and ports, initially with bombs and later with torpedoes. Some of the pilots who went on to become well known exponents of torpedo bombing in the Mediterranean theatre and the Channel front in later years started their combat careers flying Beauforts at this time. I'm still to decide on a particular aircraft, but, as I usually do, rather than just use the kit decals, I'm reading through my references and downloading Operations Record Books from the National Archives to help me choose something a little different. I've made a start already and I'll be back with progress very soon! Thanks for looking! Matt

Hello to all of you good people.I present you my eduard MiG-15uti of the Algerian air force.I built it pretty much OOB.The kit is awesome.The fit is really good.I just hand made the FOD cover in order to cover all the led I had to put in the nose.The painting was done with Mr color paints.I also made a video of the build process so who is interested can see it on the following link https://youtu.be/yjDsYQK2bjw

Greetings all! It's time for a project that I've been planning for well over a year. This year, on May 5, will be the 80th anniversary of the first newly-built* Beaufort Mk.V's first flight. This is not just an anniversary for the airplane though. It's also the first-flight of an airplane built by the Department of Aircraft Production at Fishermans Bend in Melbourne Australia. It just so happens that I now work on that same site. In fact, on most days I walk right through the hangar where it was built on my way to lunch. It's now full of Boeing 787 flaps under construction, and there's no airfield on the other side of the roller doors. Here's a publicly released photo I found on the web. Take my word for it, this is the old Beaufort line: I'm going to attempt to build the new Airfix Mk.1 as this aircraft, numbered T9540 (later renumbered to A9-1). There's a fair bit to modify, much of which I wasn't aware of when I first decided to do this project, but I think it will be manageable. Especially so, if HPM's conversion kit is available before I get to the engines and nacelles. So far, this is what I know I need to change, based mostly on photographs: - Twin Wasp engines (from HPM set) - Larger nacelles with different exhausts (from HPM set) - Curtiss-Electric Propellers (from HPM set) - Remove the gun camera port from the Starboard wing** - Add the gun camera mount on the Starboard side of the nose** - Add some sort of nobbly bit under the oil cooler intakes (might come with the HPM set?) - Remove nobbly bits on upper wing surfaces aft of the engines - Don't add the forward gun or the clear blister under the nose - Don't add guns in the turret (the first few DAP Beauforts were unarmed) - Add spindly little vent(?) on the Port underside of the fuselage Things NOT to modify: - The vertical tail. The first few DAP Beauforts didn't have the extended-chord tail. I've got a set of decals from Print Scale that include T9540 in it's rollout scheme. For now, I'm assuming the aircraft was RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green on the upper surfaces and silver on the lower surfaces. There's a chance it could have been RAAF Earth Brown and Foliage Green, though. Unfortunately, the archives at work aren't catalogued that far back and no-one knows if there's a record of the colour. I've put a query in to the RAAF museum about it, as I was told by our site communications team the that museum have been a good source for that kind of info in the past. Other aftermarket being used are the aforementioned HPM set, Eduard photo-etch set, and Eduard Brassin wheels. There are a few reference photos of T9540, but they're not super abundant. If there are features I can't determine about it, I'll probably assume that it's identical to the next few airplanes that followed it off the production line and were sent to the RAF in Singapore. I've also had a thorough and enjoyable read of @Navy Bird's build of the Special Hobby Beaufort, and may be peeking at it again a few times for ideas and information. I'll definitely be adding a map to the navigator's table, but maybe a more local one of the Melbourne area. Back soon with some photos of the construction! *I'm not counting L4448, which was converted to use Twin Wasps by CAC "next door" ** I was only able to work this one out thanks to the discussion on @Rabbit Leader's build thread, so thanks everyone for that! Edit 21/7/2021, here are a few more photos. Hopefully this post will be a useful reference if anyone else is looking to model T9540.

Hello guys.This is a double build I did for a customer of mine.I have built both models OOB.I have tinted the canopies and used the least ammount of weathering possible.The painting was done with Hataka have glass followed by several coats of light coats of ak real colors gunship grey.The decals were a pain in the you know what and performed really bad.I had a lof ot problems while applying them.The kit itself is a great one with no issues of any kind durring the assembly. Regards,Dragan

Hello to all of you good people.I hope you are doing well.I have just finished this Hasegawa 72 scale F-111C in the colors and markings of the Royal Australian Air Force.I added the eduard PE set in the cockpit as well as the extirior.Painted with Gunze paints and varnished with Vallejo matt acrylic varnish. Regards,Dragan

In my stash I have a number of white metal figures awaiting a home in future dioramas and model railway layouts. Although there seems to be nothing in the rules for this GB that say that you cannot enter a figure with only one part, I thought I would at least enter these This has a wheeled trolley which needs some construction. Unfortunately MMS models ceased trading in 2018 and the owner, and designer of the models, Barry Walby, died in 2020. As far as I can trace no one purchased the business.

Dear all, Please find below some images of my recently finished 1:72 Heller Sherman III (M4A2) of the 3rd County of London Yeomanry (3CLY) 'Sharpshooters' as it appeared during the Sicily landings in 1943. Although not indicated in the instructions, the Heller kit has all the parts to build an early M4A2, although for this build I also needed the sand shields and deep wading gear from Dan Taylor Modelworks. The wading trunks for the Sicily landings were a bit shorter than the ones used in Normandy, so I replaced the etched trunks with new ones from thin plastic sheet. The decals are also from Dan Taylor, as well as some stowage, and this was complemented with stuff from O3D and Black Dog. I hope you like it. Peter

This is a placeholder for the moment until I proceed a little more with my other builds which are a bit more challenging. I got this not longer after it was released and I have an Xtradecal sheet with at least one FAA version on it so I should be able to slip a Navy Blenheim into the GB.

Here is another work in progress which will be most probably never completed and take its place in Hall of Shame on my workbench... This is an MHM/Hobbyboss Su-47 Berkut kit in 1/72 scale. My intention is to build this kit from OOB and place it in the display asap. In overall it seems not so bad but I am quite sure that I will have to deal with a lot of troubles during this build. Here are the kit sprues: At first glance this build shouldn't be so difficult and can be finished very quickly but we will see... Serkan

Not one of the usual suspects for a Beaufighter kit, firstly a Merlin engined option and one from High Planes Models. Last but not least all three options in the box are Fleet Air Arm options. The FAA used Beaufighters in a number of secondary roles especially in and around Africa; fleet requirements and convoy protection being the main ones. The HPM kit will take a bit of work to get it knocked into shape, the majority of the kit is a hard plastic with a fair amount of flash but under that there's a fair amount of nice detail. Vac formed canopies (in duplicate for the crack handed like me), white metal undercarriage and a transfer sheet with three options. And some etch. Fairly basic instructions, and colour call outs for three options. Once the starting pistol goes I see a bit of sanding in my future.

I've no idea how I ended up with two boxings of this kit. But the kits have identical sprues and it's only the transfers and instructions that differ. So it makes sense to build them together in the GB. A mini-GB within the GB, perhaps. Two grey plastic sprues that look well moulded with options of props, tailpanes and fins, and armaments on them. Some etch and film and quite nice transfer sheets for four versions in each box. Clear instructions. Four sets of colour call outs on each, mainly Clear Doped Linen and varnished wood. Though I think I'll go for two RNAS versions as there's should be enough transfers in this box. Ive never built a kit from MAC before so this will be anew experience.

Here's my first contribution to the GB. The strangely configured Beech Staggerwing which I'll be building as a Fleet Air Arm Traveller MkI. The boxing gives 4 options, an RAF, FAA (it does say RAF but the Royal Navy ID over the serial sort of gives it away), Finish and Chinese Nationalist options. Mine will be the FAA option in the US blues. Obligtaory sprue shot. Single sprue with minimal flash and most things reasonably well moulded but only time will tell. Nice transfer sheet and two tiny transparency sprues. And typical AZ instruction sheet showing vaguely where things go. Though to be fair on the other side there is a rigging diagram.

Folks.... need some advice: Got a 'need' to build an early F-16, either an A, or A+ / MLU machine, it's not particularly important as to which one of those nor the nationality as decals are pretty easily available. Really need / want the best or most accurate kit in 1:72. I seem to recall that the RoG kit from 2000 and all it's subsequent re-releases was supposed to be a very good A / MLU, just wondered what you guys think about it ? Over to you, thanks in advance. Ian.

I'll join in with this from the stash. I bought it long time ago and I don't know where or when. I've made one a few years back and it goes together quite well. The price is tucked round the side and I was surprised it was so cheap. Not quite the 2/- Airfix Spitfire of 1960.

Kit - Special Hobby Paint - all Xtracolour & Humbrol enamels Decals - Kit Extras - MPM kit specific etch set. Bell AH-1G Cobra Assigned to W/O 1 Dan Shaver C / 16th Cav Early 1972. The same photo again as above but with flash brings-out the brown in the OD. Bought on impulse from Hannants about six weeks ago and built it immediately ! - this is my very first SH kit and without any bull, I can tell you is one of the best kits I've ever seen. The finesse of the details, the fit, the options (loadout and decals) are incredible, and no I'm not on commission. There is a downside - the instructions are tiny and my 58 year old eyes really struggled at times. Only the slightest smear of putty used on the 20mm ammo bins as they joined the fuselage and that was it. The MPM etch set was / is outstanding and does a lot to the finished kit, well worth investing in. Not too much else to add, enjoy the photos, please go-ahead and pass any criticisms, ask any questions etc. All the best from New Zealand. Ian. Edit: Just noticed the cat hair on the starboard tailplane.... it's gone now !

Airfix Sea Vampire T22 in 1:72. Kit standard Airfix Vampire trainer kit but finished as XA160, an Admiral's Barge from NAS Lee on Solent in 1963. Painted with Humbrol Emerald on upperworks and Citadel White on the underside. Transfers a combination of ones left over from a CMR build and the Airfix stencils from the kit. Finished with Liquitex Satin varnish.

I decided that this year I would start to deal with an area in the stash known as the dust bowl where a number of almost completed kits and those needing some repair lie languishing simply accumulating dust. I've already finished an Aeroclub Fairey Flycatcher which will end up in the RFI section soon once I get the motivation for a photo shoot session. My next choice is this Airfix Vampire trainer which is one of two I started building as FAA Admiral's Barges. The second needs a bit more work as it needs some repairs to the undercarriage. This one has been built OOB apart from the colour scheme. The green is Humbrol Hu2 Emerald Green and the White from Citadel then a layer of gloss varnish. There's not too much work really needed. Once the dust is cleaned off, the undercarriage needs to be completed, the jet pipe inserted, the remainder of markings and stencils added, the canopy masked and painted and some varnish on to pull it all together. I have an Eduard mask for the canopy and I'll be using transfers left over from a CMR Sea Vampire kit that I completed in silver and red. A selection of stencils from the Airfix kit will also be used. An hour or so of cleaning with wet cotton buds has removed much of the dust and the main transfers added. The remainder of the underwing serials will need a little bit of work to cut up the sections on the undercarriage door. Airfix kindly do it on their transfer sheet but CMR just give the complete numbers. I've done it before, it's just painstaking but doable with careful measuring and a new sharp scalpel blade.

Built this one OOB.I did no add anything extra.The great eduard kit.It fits almost perfect making this a quick build.Paints used are gunze.The varnishes are vallejo and ak.

This is my first entry for this GB. I bought it at the end of 2020. I have Tigers (and King Tigers) from a whole range of manufacturers, and I wasn't going to pass up the chance to get yet another kit at a very reasonable price. Nowadays, many 1/72 AFV kits cost between 15 and 20 Euros, disqualifying them from this GB. I wanted to include at least one AFV in this GB, without resort to second-hand bargains, or a deep dive into the bowels of the stash. I will definitely not be using the "simplified" option for the tracks and running gear.

Since long time I was waiting for Zvezda's new Su-27UB kit (7294) for one of my ongoing Flanker projects namely Su-35UB. The main idea is to merge Zvezda's Su-33 and Su-27UB kits. Next I will add some pictures of my work in progress. Regards, Serkan