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I'm not sure if someone is already planning to build the mount of Lt. Lee "Buddy" Archer of 302nd FS, 332nd FG? With my calendar filling quickly with various non-modelling events, I thought I better step back from doing the multi colour, splinter/mottle/theater/unit coloured Bf 110 and build a more simple single engine fighter. No, not the Fort or the Jug, but the Mustang. I will build "not the best of the best of the best" combination, the Revell kit with Academy decals . Although the kit doesn't look that bad at all. I know it has some accuracy issues in its wings and the fit of the canopy isn't perfect, but I think I've built far worse kits than this . That leaves me to deal with the Academy decals ... I wouldn't be that brave to try to paint the various stripes, or would I? V-P

I recently finished the First to Fight Sd.Kfz.222 with markings from the DAK. I added some extra interior details and the armoured cover for the radiator on the rear. Decals are from the sparesbox and from Peddinghaus. For the post card challenge over on the Braille Scale Discussion Group I created a little dio with Roman columns and DAK figures from White Stork Miniatures. I hope you like it. Peter

Not much to say yet as I only started today, seats are almost done... I cut some cloth to size to replicate "sheepskin" seat covers I'd say they look quite good! The sword kit does come with PE but I didn't feel comfortable using the seatbelts due to the rigidity, I sacrificed details for a more natural look, I still think they look perfectly acceptable. Work on the cockpit has also started but nothing to write home about (just yet). Exhaust has got some paint on it but not ready just yet Intake is done, although on the sword kit that's a rather easy thing to do.

Edit 28.4.: A change of plan! No more: "The Spook Continuing the theme "Yanks with roundels, Brits with stars and bars" I participate with a Mosquito F8. It'll be a nearly oob Tamiya 1:72 PR Mk.IV kit as a Canadian built B. Mk.VII (if I recall correctly) converted to USAAF photo reconnaissance variant. The biggest external difference appears to be the lack of the port aft fuselage oblique camera window. The plane is rather nicely documented too: https://www.americanairmuseum.com/archive/aircraft/43-34926 I still lack "The Spook" decals from the nose, as Xtradecal set 72232 appears to be an extinct specie. I'm prepared to finish it in this GB even without them, and add them later if and when I get my hands on the decals. Everything else is sorted out and ready to get started ." V-P Oh, and big thank you for the inspiration goes to @Geo1966 and your Mossie build in the Recon and Scout GB, George! Before I saw that, I had no kit and no intentions at all to take part in this group build - but the Tamiya kit is indeed so nice.

Well, this kit certainly is big, the biggest I've attempted for sometime. First released by Hasegawa in 1979: My kit is the Revell 2006 re-box: The kit doesn't look that complex, although such size always brings its own (potential) issues: I will probably go for the USN aircraft. The prospect of hand-painting the entire airframe with two coats of paint is one of the reasons why I am allowing myself as much time as possible for this build.

Another blast from the past. This kit is from 1965, although when I first built it in 1981, there was a "new" stamp on the cover. "New" meaning reissue of course. I am building the 2013 release, with Cartograf decals: The parts breakdown is predictably simple. I will be building this "wheels up", so as not to spoil the clean lines. I still have two more kits in the stash, albeit of an older boxing. The trickiest part of this will be painting the transparency framing, as the framing is rendered as very narrow lines. When I built a "Val" a couple of weeks ago, I had the same choice of paint schemes as here. For that, I chose the light grey (hemp) scheme, so it's only fair I go for the dark green/light grey scheme this time around,

I started this in the Salty Dog GB but lost the windscreen so it stalled. It miraculously reappeared but too late to complete in the GB so I’ve transferred here. The initial part of the build can be found here. I have done a bit more with the airframe complete, underside painted and masked off for the upper surface Extra Dark Sea Grey. The canopy is on and masked with an Eduard mask.

I have a Draken! It's the Hasegawa 1/72 - rather nice looking kit. Some light reference material too. I have a proper book about Finnish Drakens too (I think) - I just need to find it. My hobby room is a mess at the moment due to some renovation. Plastic parts. I will be doing DK-215 which is 35S variant. DK-215 is the same plane which flew the Draken's final flight in Finland in a rather striking yellow scheme with a big european bison painted on top. But I will be doing it in normal service era camo. Some aftermarket stuff - PE inside the cockpit, pitot tube and a resin seat.

And to complete my trio of FAA V-fighters we have a Sea Vampire, again from the CyberHobby stable.

Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina "Black Cat" Kit: Academy 1/72 Consolidated PBY-5A Black Cat Catalina (#2137) Simple straightforward build with no aftermarket parts or other alterations, straight from the box. Painted using Vallejo Model Air acrylics and weathered with Flory Models wash and oil paints. Fun build of an charismatic aircraft. "Black Cat" Catalinas were painted black and they made night raids against japanese supply ships in the pacific.

There should be a modeller's confessional booth: "... it's been over 40 years since I built a Wildcat". To be exact, the only previous kit I built was the ancient Airfix FM-2/Wildcat VI. I put the blame on the lack of good kits. Until recently, the only kits I had in the stash were 2 of these, and a Hasegawa F4F-3, although the plastic is for an F4F-4, requiring work to obscure the wing fold, etc. Then there was the fact that this kit is derived from the old Frog kit, which made me reluctant to build it. Once the new kits from Airfix and Arma Hobby started to come on-stream, I sold one of these kits, but kept the other "just in case". Here are the contents. The artwork shows the Wildcat landing on a fleet carrier, surely incorrect for an anti-submarine patrol version, which would have operated from escort carriers. Be that as it may, the kit clearly does represent an F4F-4: double-banked 14 cylinder engine, folding wings, 6 guns, forward swept radio mast. Then there's the Frog angle. I've never seen the Frog kit, but it instruction are readily available, and this kit has the exact same parts breakdown, including the two-piece main wheels and distinctive Frog display stand. However, the level of recessed detail looks well beyond what Frog was doing in the early 1970s. This is clearly evident on the wings:

Once I’ve finished off a few other things I’ll be joining in with this DH beauty. Though I suspect the kit will take a bit of work to get there. Three grey plastic runners, much of the moulding is nice and fine, if not totally crisp. The detailing is relatively restrained, but there are a lot of injection pins that’ll need removing. A fair bit of resin and a small injection moulded transparency runner, with the canopy and camera ports. Typical SH instructions and some etch as well. Markings for two F20s, one High Speed Silver and one in Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, and for a PR22.

....well I hope it will at the finish! 😁 Welcome to part 2 of my repatriation to the hobby. For background, the first instalment was here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235120976-rookie-errors-revisited-first-build-for-36-years-with-apologies-to-spitfire-fans-finished/page/3/ I learned a lot and really appreciated the generous advice and encouragement. Major lessons I think were 1. I need to greatly improve my application of dark green over dark earth 2. Wheels are wheely ( ) difficult! I had some major painting traumas in those previous builds 3. I was rather too zealous with the filing and my scribing skills are almost negligible so I need to guard any surrounding details if I need to do this again But on the plus side 4. I got a lot of sanding sponge material of different grades that will last a lifetime!! 5. I really enjoyed fiddling around with the internal details - even though they can't be seen in 72nd scale 6. I learned useful stuff like being able to scale printed plans to the correct size 7. Despite the attentions of the Domestic Accounts Department, I've managed to collect a few more models for the stash (there was a sale on dear! ) as well as some new paints and gadgets (which of course are all essential ) I know there are many threads for this rightly popular subject. I hope you don't feel its a case of "Oh no! Not another one!". Anyway, to business. I decided that I needed to have a go at some things in prep for this build. Looking at my illustrious predecessors with this model, I rather liked the idea of addressing the wing tip lights and improving upon the "silver paint" approach. I also noted in the walk around thread (https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234999078-boulton-paul-defiant/ ) that the landing lights are very prominent. The kit supplied transparencies look a bit un-refined, shall we say. So could I do anything about them? Whilst in the loft I came across what must be the only relic from my former modelling days. I think it was by Revell in the 1960's and purports to be a Hurricane. By modern standards it can only be described, borrowing from Douglas Adams, as being almost entirely but not quite unlike a Hurricane. So I had no compunction in attacking it with my newly acquired (actually I've had it a long time dear) razor saw. The wing tips seemed to work ok using transparent sprue. And I was really pleased with the landing light "dish". This was made using a cheap n cheerful hole punch made from a handy wooden peg, drilling a hole of the right size, then using the drill bit non-business end to poke through the silver foil. After a couple of tries, I found that the foil from wine bottles was the right combination of stiffness and maleability. It has the advantage of being readily available ..... but I won't say how readily The hard part was the clear covering over the front and I haven't solved that yet. In the picture above is sticky tape. Although it's the best I've tried I'm not quite sure it will actually stick in place. I thought I'd come up with a brill idea of heating some spare acetate and when soft enough moulding it around the wing leading edge. The shape wasn't bad. It was close but I couldn't get it to adhere in a non-messy way in the right place! Glue everywhere! So any hints or tips would be gratefully received. Until I find a solution I'll try the wing tip lights on the Defiant but not the landing lights upgrade....... The other thing I did in preparation was thouroughly check all the parts and try and plan ahead to avoid "eventualities". Learning from previous posts, I dry fitted a fair number of parts. However, due to the very delicate state of some of the very tiny bits there were accidents. I seem to have badly bent, but not yet fractured, one of the undercarriage leg stays whilst still on the sprue! The other things that suffered were the machine gun barrels!!! Impressive for this scale in plastic I thought, but so delicate. But I had an answer! I treated myself to some After Market items!!! This is new for me apart from decals. In the post I received some beautiful little brass replacements by Master They're so nice I can't bear to think of applying paint - especially with my ham-fisted approach. Anyway, persistence points if you've got this far! All constructive comments welcome. Thanks for looking Rob

I built this kit back in the Dark Ages, and while I've had another in the stash for about 20 years, I was not inclined to build it, mostly because of the very poor canopy. Then as luck would have it, I bought a Mistercraft (ex-ZTS Plastyk?) kit that had a spare canopy included by mistake. It looks as if it will fit with a bit of work. I also took a couple of the under-wing bombs and crutches. The artwork and subject choices are at odds. The Roy Cross artwork shows a Lexington-class carrier being attacked on the open sea. The subjects are from Akagi and Soryu, from the Pearl Harbour attack. Neither carrier was at Coral Sea where the Lexington was sunk, and the Saratoga was not at Midway, where Akagi and Soryu were amongst the Japanese carriers sunk. However, I won't lose any sleep over this. A closer look at the replacement parts. I have also grabbed a couple of Matchbox figures from the spares box. I have chosen these over spare Airfix figures, on the basis that IJN crew at the time would not have had life jackets, but I could be wrong. I could have gone further with a replacement main bomb. I have both boxings of the Airfix B5N, and a Fujimi B6N with 5 different stores loads. But I'm trying to avoid cannibalising stash kits if I can. Colours are frequently an issue with Japanese aircraft. For the cockpit, Airfix specifies Hu 89. I may mix something with a blue-green metallic tinge, which I believe is the correct interior colour for the D3A. I haven't decided yet which of the two schemes I will depict: The overall IJN Grey aircraft from Akagi, or the IJN Dark Green over IJN Grey aircraft from Soryu.

Reserving a spot for an unarmed Spitfire with Stars and Bars. I think the Title and the Tags tell all I know about my build plans so far! V-P

Hi Gentlemen! SBS Models provides us with Another nice Fiat G-50. This time an early Serie I model . Second Fiat G-50 I build from SBS ( third one on the way 😉). I still think it's the best option available these times at that scale. Good point : the new engineering of the windscreen part , makes it easier to fix on the body. Also the second added decal sheet with good color match for Finnish roundels . Bad point : lack of "pointed" winter hub cap. presented on lateral box art and not included on the kit . Had to buy it separately ( overall cost almost half the price with fees of the initial kit 😡) Anyway it's still a very good kit, and I dream , one day , SBS would go on Macchi MC 200 series with this quality 🙏. ready to buy some units of it 😆 . Wanted to build one of the few " serie I" really used on operational duties ( the ones used during Spanish civil war, arrived lately and did not see real " fighting" activities there.) So I went for an ilmavoimat aircraft.( I have a great interested for this AF ). This plane went on different camouflage sessions. After the "peeling off" of initial Italian paint, was first overpainted with a light olive green paint made at unit level, with original paint see through , and after with black paint addition to be in line with new Finnish aircraft painting at that time. I decided to let the Italian scheme as it was on the lower surfaces as it was probably not overpainted during this work. Paints used : I started with classic Italian scheme of "mimetico" colors from MRP. ( Gallio/ Bruno: verde) and Grigio Azzurro . Then I covered them with Finnish "olive green " from aeromaster and "Black 093M Swedish Army " from MRP ( MRP -173) it's a "toned down " black which is more appropriate , I think at this scale . Looking back at the pictures , and helped with a pertinent comment of one of our members, on another forum ( Hello Jean 😉), I see that I have positioned pitot tubes the wrong way , as they are glued with white glue I will correct this later 😇, as I've already taken the pics , I just present them to you the way it is , sorry for that 🤭 on to the pics now : Italian original scheme : Then : And to present it in a more " dynamic way " Hope you like it ! cheers guys ! take care ! François

This is the starter kit boxing of the "new" Fw 190 A/F tooling. To be brutally honest, I have never liked the look of this kit. The trailing edges are ridiculously thick. That said, I'm going to build it anyway. To make thing more interesting, I will use spare parts and decals from a Revell kit to convert it into an A-8/R-11 "Wilde Sau" machine. The parts ... are not all correct. Specifically, one of the tail planes is missing (my fault). I'm sure I'll work something out. Updates soon ...

Hello all, Time to get started on my first entry for this Group Build. This is one I've had in my stash for a while now: an Airfix 1/72 Beaufighter T.F.X. As the kit omits or simplifies some of the cockpit details (e.g. the very prominent heating pipe on the starboard side), I also purchased a CMK resin cockpit, and as I often do I'll also use Eduard photo-etch and paint masks. The aircraft I'm planning to build is an early T.F.X of the North Coates Strike Wing in August 1943. A quick history of the North Coates Wing in 1942 - 1943 The North Coates Strike Wing was formed in late 1942 and consisted of three squadrons - 143 Sqn with Blenheims but converting to Beaufighters, and 236 and 254 Sqns with a mix of Beaufighters Mk.Ic and VIc. The Wing's role was coastal reconnaissance and shipping strikes against convoys usually off the Netherlands. These convoys transported materials vital to the German armaments industry, such as high grade Swedish iron ore, to Rotterdam, where they would be sent up the Rhine to factories in the Ruhr. The Wing's first strike on 20 November 1942 didn't go to plan. The Wing set course for the target without its fighter escort, the two formations failing to rendezvous, and several of the Beaus detailed for anti-Flak duties lost contact with the formation in poor weather. The aircraft tried to press home an attack on a convoy off Texel but the Flak defences and escorting Fw190s of II./JG1 were waiting for them. In the confusion some Beaufighters were hampered by other friendly aircraft which got in their way and did not bomb, while three Beaufighters were shot down (including 236 Squadron's C.O., Wg Cdr Fraser) and seven badly damaged, two of which were written off on return. This was a poor return for one tug sunk and several vessels damaged. 236 Squadron's new Boss, Wg Cdr Neil Wheeler, along with Wg Cdr R. E, X. Mack of 254 Sqn (replaced by Sqn Ldr G. D. Sise when Mack was killed) and Wg Cdr W. O. V. Bennett of 143 Sqn, energetically set about devising new tactics so that the earlier debacle would not happen again, and the Wing entered a period of intense training interspersed with search and coastal reconnaissance duties. In April 1943 the hard work paid off when the Wing attacked a heavily escorted convoy off the Dutch coast. As the Beaufighters attacked the Flak ships with bombs, machine guns and cannon, the "Torbeaus" swept in at low level and aimed their torpedoes at the largest merchant vessel, the 4,906 tonne Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh Carrier. In an attack lasting just four minutes the Hoegh Carrier and her cargo of coal was sent to the bottom, two M-class minesweepers were set on fire and an armed trawler was damaged. Only two aircraft were hit. More successes followed throughout 1943 as the Wing continued to press home their attacks with cannon, torpedoes and for the first time rockets. The Germans soon started sending some convoys by night, rendering them more vulnerable to the Royal Navy's Nore Flotilla and to mines dropped by Bomber Command. The combined result forced the Germans route many more convoys to Emden not Rotterdam. This was a far less efficient journey to factories in the Ruhr due to canal locks and limitations of barge sizes on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, as opposed to the Rhine from Rotterdam where larger barges could move freely up the river. The first shipping strike using new Beaufighter T.F.Xs occurred on 2nd August 1943, and in a "copybook" attack the Wing's 24 aircraft targeted escort vessels with rockets before the Torbeaus struck the merchant vessel Fortuna, which reportedly sank in only 30 seconds along with her cargo of iron ore. It's an aircraft from this last raid I'm planning to build, and as an early T.F.X will be in the (very attractive in my opinion) Temperate Sea Scheme - not that I dislike the later scheme! Enough of my ramblings for now, I'll be back soon with more on the exact subject of this build and some progress! Matt Bibliography: RAF Operations Record Books AIR 27/1447 (236 Sqn), AIR 27/978 (143 Sqn), AIR 27/1515 (254 Sqn) The Strike Wings - Special Anti-Shipping Squadrons 1942-5; Nesbit, Roy Conyers; https://www.bcar.org.uk/north-coates-history.php

Here is my latest completed model - 1:72 CASA C-212-100 Aviocar, no 16507, 502 Squadron "Elefantes" of Portuguese Air Force, Sintra 2005. Special Hobby 72376 kit "out of the box" with a few additions made from scratch. Painted with Mr. Hobby C. Thanks for watching!

Hi all, I'd like to join with a kit that I began for a Vietnam GB from a few years ago. I only got as far as assembling the wings. This is Hobbyboss' A-7B in 1:72 scale. It's a pretty nice looking kit, at least as far as everything aft of the cockpit is concerned. The front is a little funky and I can't tell if it has a pinched nose, too wide of an intake, or a bit of both. Nevertheless, it's not a plane I'm anal about, so let's see if I can finish it up this time.

F-106A Delta Dart, 72-502, 101st FIG, Massachusetts ANG, during William Tell 1980 weapons meet. The kit is 1:72 Meng Models and was rather nice kit with good details. You could have built this with missile bay and radar open and comes with extra missilles and a missile carriage but I made this almost closed up to make sure the nice lines are visible. Basically no weathering apart from soft panel line wash to show it's near mint condition (I haven't seen a pic of F-106 in dirty/bad condition). And I thought as it was a plane to be sent for the William Tell weapons meet, it would have likely be seen some extra care before the event. No aftermarket apart from Master pitot tube. Painted with Vallejo acrylics and weathered with Flory Models washes (I made a mix from Grey and Dark Dirt). Decals by Experts-Choice. They were meant for the Hasegawa kit so the fit was not 100%, needed to do some adjustment by painting. Cool thing was that the USAF and U.S. AIR FORCE text are in dark blue as they should be and not black as they are usually printed in the decal sheets. Built for the Century Series GB but missed the deadline. WIP:

Reini's Century Series - F-105G Thunderchief Trumpeter kit. I've built the single seater years ago, but this is the two seater SAM-hunting 'Wild Weasel' variant. Pile-o-plastic - it's a decent looking kit. I'm not really happy with the Trumpeter decals, I've had issues where they are just the wrong size, usually too large. Like the ejection seat warning markings. They are quite prominent in the real thing, but these look just way too big! Caracal seems to be making a decent looking decal sheet, so I might pick that up. Wheels and pitot tube. I do have some items still missing from this kit, mainly related to the loadout. Trumpeter's AGM-45 Shrike and AGM-78 Standard ARM that come with the kit are apparently wrong size, But I have yet succeeded in finding replacements for them. This is my earlier work on the Trumpeter F-105 kit. From years back, brush painted and all.

Hello everyone! Here is my Revell 1:72 Fokker E.III, 340/16, flown by Joachim Buddecke with 5nci and 12nci Bölüks, Ottoman Air Force, in 1916-17. This was an old 1980s issue of the kit I found in a shop during the late 1990s and eventually built in 2004. It was painted by brush with only the varnish being airbrushed. The markings came from a Pegasus decal sheet and the serial number was hand-painted. Thanks for looking and all comments welcome Miguel

Overall, good kit, main issues were with decals (terrible print quality and crumbling/folding) and bad fit. Really nice details though and I still enjoyed making it. Glad I'm finished with it however. Thanks for looking!

It was not my intention to join in The Salty Sea Dog GB as, far as modelling goes, I am strictly a Land Lubber. However due to a period of ill-health (now recovered from) I have not done any modelling in plastic for nearly four months. I have committed myself to the Big in Japan GB with this. So I thought I would ease myself back into modelling and GB's with something simple. This had been sitting in my stash for about 5 years after I obtained it as an add on in a kit swap. with only 47 parts, 2 colours in the US version (on the instruction sheet) , minimal decal sheet etc.. this seemed an ideal choice. Sprue shot and after 90 minutes work, this is where I have reached It is now being primed. Thanks to my spares box, I will be adding some additional features to the build.