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Two of the just released AZ Models Chipmunks arrived from Mr H in Lowestoft yesterday. I have been thinking of what to build for this GB and this little treat of an aeroplane is a goood start. Although a De Havilland Canada design, the majority of Chipmunks were built in the U.K. by De Havilland first at Hatfield and then at Broughton. So this should be OK for this GB. I will complete it as one of the Navy T10s. The Fleet Air Arm received a number from the RAF and indeed still have some in flying condition for the Royal Navy Historical Flight. I'm not 100% sure which aircraft it will be but I'll work on that. Anyway here's the box and sprue shots. Not a lot of it and a tiny little thing. But the detail is a lot better than the old Airfix kit and no Rosie the Riveter! Unfortunately none of the options are for a FAA aircraft or even one that got transferred.

Sigh. The MiG-15 project was a big old fail, and the -31 just isn't drawing me in right now. I've been on something of an armor kick lately, so I'll try getting back into the group build mojo with this project. This is not your father's braille scale armor! The level of detail and finesse on the parts is simply astounding. Zoom in on that pic if you can. More close-ups of parts will come with build sequence shots. The complexity of detail comes with a complex build, but I like complex AFV kits. If I wanted simple, I'd buy diecasts. Tonight I finished one side of the suspension. Again, unbelievable detail, and for a killer price! I'm very excited about this kit. I also got Zvezda's T-90, but I don't think I'll have time to finish both in the GB time. So for now, just this.

This is my first RFI as a newbie member of the forum. When I decided to get back modelling I picked up a few cheap and basic kits to practice on with a view to trying out at least one new technique with each. In this instance the goal was rigging but I ended up trying out a whole lot more. Despite the age of this kit it was a real pleasure to work with and it's whetted my appetite for more! I've already started on the next two 'practice pieces' from the (rapidly expanding) stash. As I intend building another, more detailed, Swordfish in the future this one was was built in the radar equipped (pic 3), rocket toting, Mk III guise. WIP is >HERE< Swordfish RFI 1 by Martin Fay, on Flickr Swordfish RFI 2 by Martin Fay, on Flickr Swordfish RFI 3 by Martin Fay, on Flickr Any feedback, criticism and advice welcomed! While researching for the build I found myself intrigued by the aircraft, the missions it was involved in and the men that flew them. As a result I've ordered copies of "The last Torpedo Flyers" and "War in a Stringbag" to learn more on the subject. Cheers, Martin

The last of my recently built Soviet trifecta. This little BTR is the 1:72 kit by ACE. It is a beautiful kit, but a bit tricky to build. Some of the structures (e.g., smoke grenade rack) are multi-piece PE, all grab handles are made from bent wires, parts have to measured and adjusted to ensure proper fit, and the suspension took a very long time. This is essentially a short-run kit, but for once I felt like I was modeling and not just assembling. I've mentioned it elsehwere, an I'll say it again. I really like ACE's plastic. It reacts quite well to Tamiya Extra Thin, and disolving and then fusing into very strong structures. Great for all the butt-joints of fine tiny pieces. I finished the model as a Soviet machine serving in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in the late 1980s. Paint is MM Acryl. Weatheirng consists of a few washes, and pigment work. I have ordered some tank riders and crew figures, so stay tuned for more pictures sometime soon. As I said, this was an extremely rewarding build. I haven't built 1:72 armor in some years, but this relit that fire in me. I enjoyed this project much more than any of my recent 1:35 armor builds, and I think it looks much cooler on my shelf than the bigger tanks. Might be time to sell off that portion of my stash.

I'll be honest from the start; This kit very nearly wasn't going to get built. I bought it on a whim with a view to building a full set of the various interceptor generations. Lightning, Phantom, Tornado and Typhoon. I was so underwhelmed when I opened the box that I just packed it all back up again and pushed it to the back of the shelf. But then I bought myself an airbrush and needed a couple of mule builds to practice on and try out the various types of acrylics that were available locally. I looked through the stash and chose a Revell Fokker Dr.1 to paint with Gunze and Tamiya paints and this Tornado to paint with the much maligned Humbrol Acrylics. First up was the cockpit. Now when I say cockpit what Airfix supply isn't isn't so much a cockpit as a smooth, flat, featureless bathtub. After their delightful little Vampire model this was a real disappointment. Rather than try to make a silk purse from a sows ear by adding detail I've elected to fit the pilot figures and build this as an "in-flight" model with the cockpit closed and undercarriage up. Even so, I think it'll need a little more than a quick coat of 164 - Dark Sea Grey to be acceptable. Airfix-Tornado---cockpit by Martin Fay, on Flickr I've also made a start on the wings, replete with raised panel lines and enormous ejection marks. How very 70's. 2016-09-09-11.30 by Martin Fay, on Flickr Much slicing, scraping and sanding later and we're getting there. Airfix-Tornado---Wing-WIP by Martin Fay, on Flickr And finally I can actually glue something! Airfix-Tornado---Wings-WIP2 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

After a lot of thinking I've decided to build Revell's 1:72 Buccaneer for the Made in GB group build. This is a Matchbox kit that has been reboxed, and unfortunately doesn't have the signature folding wings and airbrake. However, ever since I saw the Buccaneer at the London RAF museum I've had a soft spot for the aircraft. the kit is made up of 3 sprues, all pretty clean and flash free, as well as a small clear sprue for the canopy. There is a small decal sheet, so the graphics will be minimal, but I love the mean appearance of the aircraft in its desert pink colour scheme.

Hi folks! Last year I built the wonderful Airfix Defiant as the famous N1801 "Coimbatore II", a nightfighter of 264 Squadron RAF, complete with lots of extras including Eduard photoetch, Barracuda wheels, Xtradecals, etc. You can see that build here. This left me with the quandary of what to do with my old MPM Defiant, built something like 9 years previously while I was still doing A-levels! I did take a photo of the model last year but it's gone astray so you'll have to make do with this one from 2008: As you can see, same scheme. I'll hope you'll agree it's not as good as the one from 2016! Anyway, having thrown all that AM at the Airfix kit left me with a lot of bits left over, including most of a decal sheet, a complete set of undercarriage doors, and two spare canopies. So I elected to strip down and repaint the MPM kit, and finish it as a Dunkirk/Battle of Britain machine - attempting to fix some of the worst inaccuracies of the MPM along the way. These chiefly involve the turret and canopy (both 2mm or so too high, the turret is also too large in diameter), and the undercarriage legs, which I'd already shortened by about 2mm back in 2008 shortly after the above photo was taken - but still looked too long. A quick test fit confirmed the Airfix closed canopy made the model look vastly better, and I combined this with sanding the turret down from the bottom. The undercarriage legs were quite badly damaged from being cobbled back together before, so I attached the Airfix door parts directly to the wing undersurface as a height guide and a solid anchor point, then having reattached the cleaned-up wheels I pieced back together and cut down the legs until the right amount of tyre showed underneath the bottom of the doors. This was another 2mm at least removed so the MPM legs are a grand total of 4-5mm too long. That's about a scale foot. I also had to scratchbuild some replacements for parts lost or too far gone to save, such as the rear undercarriage struts, radio masts etc. As usual it's brush-painted, although the Sky and the flat varnish come from a rattlecan. Decals were from Xtradecal stock, stencils I'd saved from the kit first time around (MPM helpfully provided two complete stencil sets, one in red and one in black!), and the fin flashes from the Airfix sheet. Scheme represents L7006 of 264 just after the Defiant's brief period of glory over Dunkirk. Hope you like it! I think this proves the the MPM kit can be made to look pretty like a Defiant without major surgery, although with the Airfix available it's almost certainly not worth the bother! Lastly a brief comparison shot. I think the MPM may still be touch plump around the centre fuselage, and it lacks some of the subtle shapes Airfix capture well, but the modifications make it look a lot better in my humble opinion

If I wanted to build Battle of Britain specific Hurricanes in 1:72 what are my options in terms of available kits, or conversions of other kits? I don't profess to be an expert on the BoB or Hurricanes, but I think very few of the Mk I fabric wing version would've remained unconverted by July 1940 so the Hurricanes that flew in the battle would have mostly been the Mk.I with a metal wing but some Mk IIa and Mk IIb might have been operational before the official end of the Battle on 31st October. Am I right in my thinking here, and if so, what are my best options in modelling those variants? From browsing Scalemates there is a plethora of different older issues of the Hurricane Mk I and Mk II (especially the Mk IIb) but there's not a lot available in kits currently issued (curses to Airfix for making a fabric wing Mk I). I don't mind scouring ebay or second hand kit sellers; but narrowing the parameters of the search to kits that fit the BoB Hurricane would be helpful. Thanks MO

This has been in the stash for some time. I bought it as the Freightdog Models 'Brits at Sea' transfers sheet had an FAA Mosquito. The sheet has TE711 of 811 Squadron, based at NAS Ford in 1946. My Sea Hornet is getting close to completion and I thought another DH aircraft would be in order. Rather than fight a limited run like the Hornet or the resin Sea Devon I did for the airline GB, hopefully a Tamiya kit will go together fairly easy. Z Here's the transfers. I do like the Dark Green over Medium Sea Grey finish. Ii previously painted up the interior green but it's well under the 25% previous build.

I hope it's not too late to start with this little beauty. Special Hobby's boxing of the NF21. This is not a simple kit, the basic airframe is but it has to be cut up as it's the basic fighter airframe, there is a shed load of resin a little bit of etch, and the props need constructed. Here is the sprue shot The resin, having undergone an ultrasonic clean. Not a great picture but shows the cutting that needs done and the rather nice transfers. Transfers for three Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky, whcich IMHO is a rather fetching scheme for this beautiful aircraft. I think I'll do one of the HMS Eagle options as it was one of the carriers my dad served upon. First up the chopping up of the fusealge. Out with the saw, knife and sandpaper. Pictures to follow.

Hello Finally I had some time to continue the work on my Ost-Front scene. I've finished the models some time ago: Ju 87G-2 Stuka 'Kanonen Vogel' and Heinkel He 111 H-6. Both in 1:72 scale. Now it's the time to build the diorama for them. The plan is something like that: So, here is what I've done so far: Ju 87G-2 Stuka 'Kanonen Vogel' from Academy Heinkel He 111 H-6 from Revell Perspex box base with both of them arranged: Some SC250 bombs from Czech Masters (6) and one left from Messerschmitt Bf-109 kit: Some SC1000 bombs. Four again from Czech Masters and two from the Heinkel kit. They are a little bit bigger. Not sure which are in correct scale but I've decided to use all of them. The sledges to transport the bombs I've made from matches. Cut, glued, filed, airbrushed, drybrushed and finally weathered with washes. Here is how they look with the bombs: And finally Kettenkrad to tow the sledges and Kubelwagen for pilots (who are not ready yet). Both from Academy kit. The diorama will have some boxes, barrels etc. plus of course ground crew servicing the planes and the pilots resting and waiting for the mission. Thanks for watching.

It's always an exciting time, having finished a build and choosing from the stash which kit to attempt next. I've decided to go for a (slightly) more modern aircraft, and am beginning the Tamiya 1:72 McDonnell Douglas Harrier II. This is my first Tamiya build, so I didn't know what to expect when unboxing the kit. i was surprised to discover the instructions only in Japanese, but as there is mostly only the numbers of parts and detailed pictures, I should be fine🙏. there are a minimal amount of decals, and not much detailing to the inside of the fuselage, but that means it's open to my own interpretation. So here goes!

Ready for inspection is my McDonnell Douglas Harrier II. It was the first Tamiya kit I have attempted, and I was excited to compare it to my previous experiences with Airfix, Revell and Eduard. I found the kit went together smoothly, and very little filler or sanding was required. I opted to use Humbrol equivalent paints, as my local model shops don't stock Tamiya and finish it with a coat of Windsor and Newton matt varnish. It's not been one of my favourite builds, but I'm happy with the result.

My second build for this GB is Heller's older, but still nice BF109B1/C1 kit. The model has a pretty accurate shape, and okay details. I plan on drilling out the exhausts, ,maybe reaming out the gun troughs to make them round in cross-section, and replace the guns with tubing. Maybe. I would really like to box in the wheel wells and add some details. Would the C wells look like the E wells? What this model will really need is some decals. The kit did not include any. I have a set for an early E-1. in RLM 71/72 with a big yellow "1" on the side, and the box side shows a C with essentially the same markings except for a "3" instead of a "1". So maybe this will work? I'd love to do a Spanish Civil War C, but I have no clue where to get decals. But I'll burn that bridge when I get to it. For now, here is the simple cockpit. It will be modeled with the canopy closed, so I didn't add anything except some tape belts. I still have to add the control column. And the fuselage halves closed up (next to a Zvezda F-2 in 1:48 near perfect fit so far.

Ready for inspection is my McDonnell Douglas Harrier II. It was the first Tamiya kit I have attempted, and I was excited to compare it to my previous experiences with Airfix, Revell and Eduard. I found the kit went together smoothly, and very little filler or sanding was required. I opted to use Humbrol equivalent paints, as my local model shops don't stock Tamiya and finish it with a coat of Windsor and Newton matt varnish. It's not been one of my favourite builds, but I'm happy with the result.

Ancient kit I picked up on the cheap at Edinburgh show last year just as something to play with. Finished ages ago just never got around to taking some pictures. Thanks for looking.

Are the Airfix Dogfight Double sets new tool or old tool kits? Depending on where I look the info seems conflicting- is there a way to tell from looking at the box? Thanks A

Having been lucky enough to see the Vampire flying at Wellesbourne last year, I was keen to have a go at recreating the little rocket myself (my son too, as it's one of his favourite planes). I've have begun painting the cockpit of the Airfix Dehavilland vampire T.11, adding some minor details to the sides and weathering to the floor and seats, ejector seat handles painted (using fuse wire), awaiting attachment once the seats are secure. Finished painting the pilot and trainer last night (using the closest colour paints I have in my collection), after beheading the trainer and re-fixing his head so he looks like he is observing his trainee. Updates to follow as I progress.

I'm offering up my Eduard Lavochkin La-7 for inspection. It has been a tricky build all in all, my first Eduard kit, first experience of working with Mr.Hobby acrylics, and photo etch parts. I have discovered brush painting with Mr.Hobby paints can be difficult, and that using a primer is vital on these kits. That said, it's a fantastic kit that went together easily, I especially enjoyed working with the decals supplied in the kit, which were extremely thin. I am pleased with the end result I've achieved, and grown fond of the angry looking Russian aircraft.

Perhaps two is not enough to make a clutch, but it's what I've got. I've stalled out on my Jaguar build for now, and feel the small-scale bug biting again, so I conjured up some phantoms (all one needs is goat's blood, backwards chanting, and some baking soda). I have a Hasegawa F-4C and a Fujimi FGR.2 I've also got two sets of Truedetails rocket chairs, and have placed an order for two sets of Airwaves Phantom canopy details. The plan is to build the FGR.2 as a 92 squadron's XV414 based at Wildenrath, Germany in 1979. For this I'll be using decals in the box, along with some spare 4s from a second Fujimi sheet I found laying around. Photo credit: King Cobra 92 https://www.flickr.com/photos/50963614@N03/12057567995/ The F-4C will be built as a mid-1970s F-4D from Lakenheath, UK. These aircraft were in S.E.A. scheme, but a few got a bad batch of tan, which turned to a light pea green, as seen in the photo below. I have ordered the Xtradecal sheet from Hannants to make this possible. Photo Credit: Fred M (http://www.fightercontrol.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&p=705920) I have some writing to finish first, but wife is out with friends tonight, so I hope to get started later!

Hello folks, well, guess who's back. This Spit was finished at the end of last year but I just got to take pictures of it. Now that my exams are over and my aprenticeship is almost over, I got a bit more time for the most interessting hobby in the world. Created during a "battle building" with friends where only minimal equipment is allowed, this thing was brush painted with Vallejo paints. Later it was sealed with Vallejo matt varnish via airbrush. What else is there to say? Not much, nice kit.

Hi this is my first build on Brit modeller, the 1:72 Jagdpanzer E-25 by Pegasus Hobbies. For those interested you can find a review and sprue shots here. I originally bought this set of models about 15 years ago and only got as far as a dry fit of the parts (which basically click together anyway), that's also when I stopped making models too. Now 15 years later I decided to get back into modelling and pick up where I left off. These two little tanks will probably be grateful of the long wait tho, because the teenage me would have been happy with just slopping a single colour of enamel paint over them and calling it a day. Over the past 15 years I've read about lots of different painting techniques and weathering effects and I'm eager to try them out for the first time. As such one E-25 is going to be dirtied with mud and the other is going to get a snow treatment with a white wash. I'm thinking of mounting them on a base and making my first diorama as well but I'll see how things progress. Apologies for the crappy phone camera, I'll dig out my proper camera tomorrow which should hopefully help a lot. After many years of sitting on a shelf the bare plastic had accumulated it's own natural weathering effects After a good scrub they where good as new tho. Vallejo Dark Yellow was airbrushed as the base coat/primary colour. I decided to try two different techniques, one with a blu-tack mask to make a tortoise style camo pattern and the other was done freehand in the typical late war three colour camo. I hand panted the base colour of the tracks, tools and exhausts, as well as adding matching camo to the wheels of each vehicles. I'm not that happy with how the three colour camo came out, I need more practice making finnier edges so that one is going to get the winter treatment. I hand painted some light and dark stripes to the flat and bare tracks in an effort to add some detail to them. The model also received it's first dark wash of thinned Tamiya flat back mixed with ground up shaving from a charcoal stick. I also made some "mud" by mixing several shades of brown along with fine ash from our fireplace mixed in to give it a lumpy muddy texture. Since the above pic I've done a lot more weathering and added a few extra scratch built parts. I'll post more tomorrow and hopefully with a proper camera

Just finished my Airfix De Havilland Vampire T.11. All in all its been a surprising little kit, parts were a struggle to fit together and brush painting the silver is always a challenge. That said I am really pleased with the results. It's an out of the box build, with a couple of minor tweaks. I changed the position of the trainers head, added ejector seat handles using fuse wire, and added some detail to the cockpit. I chose the preservation society paint job as I've seen that aircraft in the flesh, and having visited the Vampire at Wellesbourne airport yesterday, opted for some light weathering. with a final coat of Quick Shine, the pocket rocket is ready for inspection.

Good evening all, Just to finish up on my latest RFIs I have a pair of 1:72 Italeri Wessex finished in Royal Navy colours, the only colours a Wessex should wear . These were originally built for the Wessex ST GB last year, although they were finished on time I tried to upload a couple of minutes after the cut off, not realising the efficiency of the GB moderator . It's taken me this long to get them up! First up is the Wessex Mk3, I've modelled her as an early version before the advent of the parrots beak. I always prefer a wessie looking like this. So this involved opening and rebuilding the intake area, I also added lots (aand I do mean lots!) Of little handles and hand holds that are missing in the kit. The internal details were skipped and the doors welded shut. I completely rebuilt the underside trunking going by lots of upended wessies in various firepits. The tail rotors were swapped over and I folded the rotors using the bigger scale warship fold set as a template. Aerials were rigged with very fine cotton if you can see it! Unfortunately the blue is very dark so it doesn't show Alot of the details so I took a couple outside in natural sunlight. Cheers now Bob

Good day again all! This is my first RFI for quite a while. This is a Special Hobby Sea Hawk depicted as WM 995 OF 802 NAS. I have built her as a Suez machine on board HMS Albion. This aircraft was actually hit by Egyptian ground fire which resulted in a damage to the stbd drop tank. The kit comes with a nice load of resin and one piece is a drop tank that depicts the damage, so I modelled her postflight, blanked up ready for a drop tank change. The kit was originally the MPM version with resin cockpit incorporating a front nose wheel well, seat and drop tanks, bombs and sidewinders for other versions. There is also a nice etch set but very little was used on this kit, just the IP. The only disappointment was no resin for the main gearbay. I wanted this to be a quick build but got hung up on a couple of things. I did have to open up the gun ports as the kit just had engravings but they turned out fine in the end. As ever finished in Model Master acrylics and kit decals which are a little transparent when placed over the fuselage stripes. Blanks are scratched from plastic card and wire handles, saved alot of effort in building up the intakes. Although black and white blurry pictures of the actual aircraft show a relatively clean fuselage I did muck up the area around the damaged tank. Any hoo enjoy!