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2012 kit and boxed as a 30th Anniversary Falklands War edition. (With 849 B Flight decals!) Couldn’t find any mentions on the forums but has anyone built this? Looks like it needs a lot of remedial work and conversion to get anywhere near the 1982 824 D Flight version.

KJ-200 Chinese AEW Aircraft (83903) 1:144 HobbyBoss via Creative Models Ltd The KJ-200 NATO Reporting name Moth (Or Y-8 Balance Beam) is a Chinese AEW / Airborne Early Warning Aircraft. The key component of the system is an Active electronically scanned array (AESA) phased array radar antenna in which the radar beam is electronically steered without moving the antenna. This is mounted on a Shaanxi Y-8 which is itself based on the An-12. The PLA Air Force currently have 7 of these, and the PLA Navy 3. The Kit Until now I don't think there has been a kit of this aircraft. In 1.144 it is still large but manageable for most modellers. The kit arrives on 5 sprues of grey plastic, a clear sprue, a small sheet of PE and 4 individual propellers (these are packed in their own box for added protection). The whole cockpit/nose section of the aircraft is moulded in clear plastic. Construction starts by adding some internal parts and the windows to the main fuselage sections. Then the main internal floor is made up with the front gear well on the underside of this, Internal bulkheads are fitted as is the main cabin roof. At the front the basic cockpit is completed. Instruments are provided for the panel as decal. The cabin/cockpit is fitted into the main fuselage and this is closed up. The nose section can then be added along with the wings. There is a single part upper with left/right lowers, once these are together wing tips need to be added. The tailplanes are also then added with there end fins. The engine nacelles can then be built up and added along with the landing gear. Lastly the single part props are added and the radar beam id made up and added. The final thing to do is a to add a series of PE blade aerials to the fuselage though the instructions don't show them being added. They are just there in the last steps. Markings There is a small decal sheet as the aircraft carries minimal markings. Just National insignia, serials and warnings for the props. Decals are printed in house and have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is a really nice rendition of this unusual aircraft. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This is my Sword 1/72 TBM-3W Avenger. The TBM-3W was developed as the first US Navy Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft during the latter part of WW II under Project Cadillac (named after the mountain in Maine where tests were performed, not the car). While the TBM proved a little cramped for the AEW task and was superseded by variants of the Douglas AD Skyraider in that role, when teamed up with a TBM-3S it served as part of a hunter/killer team in the Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) role for several years until replaced by the AF-2W/S. While certainly not Hasegawa this Sword kit proved to be a very pleasant build with only the wing to fuselage connection proving problematic. The slots in the fuselage for the wing tabs were a bit undersized and needed some filing and then the joint needed filling, but that is par for the course from these smaller manufacturers. The only other issue was that the otherwise excellent decals wanted to stick for dear life to the first location they were placed. I found that I could work a wet brush under them and once loosened they could be repositioned. But this also had a tendency to make the roll up into a unusable ball. Luckily I had a second set handy and it all turned out in the end. In my net searches I came across this picture of the aircraft that the decals were for So we can see how close I came. I am looking forward to Sword's upcoming release of the TBM-3S2 to build the killer half of this pair but until them next up will be the Octopus/Pavla F7F-3N Enjoy

This is my 1/72 Skale Wings Douglas AD-5W Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft. This is the first kit from the new company Skale Wings, and unfortunately it shows. The first word that popped into my mind after looking at the sprues was "crude" and it is not for the faint of heart or easily discouraged. I would place it one peg above Mach 2, but just barely. The canopy for this first version of the kit is inaccurate for the -5W in that the -5W has bulges over the radar operators compartment and this kit did not. However to their credit their later folded wings conversion for this kit has a corrected canopy so I purchased that, almost doubling the price of the kit. They now have a complete folded wings kit, and I am assuming that it comes with the correct canopy so I would recommend purchasing it instead of the non folding wings one. The quality of the parts in the conversion seemed to be slightly better also. The decal sheet, which is excellent, contains nice decals for the interior instruments. The seats are made up of 5 parts: a seat cushion, back rest and 2 sides. I you add the 2 side pieces to the seats they will not fit between the consoles so I left them off. The back rests are a little too high and bump against the canopy so needed a little sanding. I added some seat belts. Unfortunately you can't see any of this in my pictures because of humidity build up on the interior of the windows. This will clear up in a day or 2, but I don't have the patience to wait. I tried hitting it with a hair dryer and that cleared them up, but in the time it took to grab the camera it was back. So here are the pictures: Next up will probably be the old Airfix O-1E Bird Dog, but that might change. Enjoy.

A recent Parkinson's Disease diagnosis has explained the my right hand and arm tremor as well as a few other symptoms. If I'm honest, it has caused my modelling to stall a bit since my Be-6 build, but I've been chipping away at an Academy B-29 conversion I started 10-15 years ago. The now out of production Meteor Productions conversion is a reasonable but far from perfect fit, which also applies for the Academy B-29. Lots of filling needed around the turret banking plates, closed bomb doors, and some shimming around the cockpit canopy. This will be a view from 3 feet model. Here's where I'm at (the radar mount's white metal legs are just clipped loosely in place).

This is my Mach 2 version of a Grumman E-1B Tracer AEW (Airborne Early Warning) aircraft. This is my 6th Mach 2 kit and I have to say that this was the crudest one I have had to deal with. It seemed clear to me that this was derived from the Hasegawa S2F Tracker and since I had and extra S2F kit I used the wings, landing gear, and unfortunately the canopy from it rather then the Mach 2 ones. I say unfortunately for the canopy because after getting it installed and blended in, or maybe during, it cracked . I have also noticed that Mach 2 seems to have 2 decal vendors. Most of their kits have really excellent sharp, thin decals that go down great, but some have very thick, a little fuzzy ones. Tis kit had the thick fuzzy ones. They still go down great with no silvering. Anyway, enough complaining and on to the pictures. I don't usually do much weathering but I tried some light weathering with some engine exhaust Like every build there came a time when I concluded, that it was never going to get finished, but I think it came out nice. Next up is another Mach 2 kit, their RB-57F, which so far, looks to be much better and has the thin sharp decals. Enjoy

Collecting various SAR helicopters in 1/72 and have gone from building 1 CH-149 to 2 NAWSARH's! In getting the right parts I've bought 3 kits plus some spare parts to build 2 helo's and I was thinking "what do I do with the leftovers???" Then I had a happy accident. I found a spare radome in my Sea King! Then I thought of this...

XP226 at Newark Air Museum, pics mine.

Avro Shackleton AEW.2 WL790 on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA. Pics thanks to Paul Bradley.

Hi, Been a while since I last built a model but due to inclement weather, shorter days and the start of yet another reality TV show airing, I decided to "get me out of here" and find a wee project to keep me amused. Decided to build a fixed wing aircraft this time but stayed with the Fleet Air Arm theme and purchased the Sword 1:72 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 from flea bay. Apart from a wee 1970's pilot, this will be built OOB. Hopefully, I will be able to do it justice and if possible, change the airframe number to represent the old gate guard that sat at HMS Gannet for many a year. I do believe that she is now safely on display at the Dumfries & Galloway Aviation Museum - http://www.dumfriesaviationmuseum.com/fairey-gannet/ The following is a photo of her, quite a few years ago, resplendent in the Ayrshire sunshine The kit seems okay with plenty of recessed panel lines and raised detail. The instructions are very good and it would appear at first glance to be a straightforward build. I did notice that there is no numbers on each sprue part but this isn't really a problem as the diagrams are clear and there are not really that very many parts. Included in the kit is some photo etch for seat belts and panel instrumentation, although this cannot really be seen when the fuselage halves are joined together. I built up the cockpit, converted a modern "PJ production" SAR pilot into a 1970's pilot and popped him into place. There was not point in doing anything else with the interior as it is not on show. Having build an ASW version of this model some years ago, it is definitely a tail sitter, so I used some self adhesive car wheel balancing weights and stuck 20 grammes into the nose/cockpit section before gluing it together. I also used some pink tac to create the right amount of clearance and extra support for the nose wheel bay and cockpit tub. Most of the two fuselage halves went together fine but there is no real depth to the locating spigots on each half and there was a bit of sanding/fettling required to get the front section to mate together especially around the cockpit. More work required on this when cured. The wee pilot seems happy enough for now though .. The biggest problem is that the AEW dome on the underside has a huge gap which has required a liberal amount of filler to close. This will mean even more sanding and re scribing one it has fully hardened. Not much else to add at the moment, except that should be a fairly fast build, ie weeks instead of months. I purchased a rivet wheel a few weeks back but will wait and see if I will use it on this. Glad to be back building again, all the best B

I have come by this set but it is not boxed and there are no instructions. So I am not even sure if it is complete. Anyone got a scan of the instructions? Thanks, John

This should be my third, and final, entry for the group build. Being a glutton for punishment I have decided to attempt a vacform kit and will attempt to build the Fairey Gannet AEW Mk.3 by Welsh Models. Mike

I was going to build this straight from the box , but the temptation to make an AEW is just too great. Im not saying that this will be 100% accurate as im only working from photos. The first bit i have done is the fairing behind the canopy. I have built it from one of the kit drop tanks and some plasticard. Alot of fiddling and sanding later and i think it looks OK. Thats one thing done. Next i need to fill the side airbrakes , scribe a door and cut a window , plasticard finlets , wheel well fairings , vent on top of fairing , flame dampeners , oh yes and that big radome. Not much then...

RA1 Watchkeeper ASTOR/AEW As austerity starts to bite, the Royal Air Force realise that it would be advantageous to combine roles and retire both the E3 and Sentinel aircraft. Their replacement - the Watchkeeper. This aircraft is equipped with synthetic apperture radar, airborne surveillance radar and an advanced optics suite. It is flown by a crew of 6: 2 pilots, 1 mission commander (and optical systems operator), battlefield radar mapping officer, airborne radar operator, and signals intel/electronic warfare officer. The crew are seated in comfort in "assisted exit" seats and the aircraft has an endurance of up to 14 hours before refuelling (or 20 with ferry pods attached) and a cruising speed of 300kts. It is capable of carrying stores on external hardpoints including fuel, electronic warfare pods, or - for targets of opportunity, a small number of offensive stores including bombs and missiles. The aircraft features a large moving map and a multiple integrated sensor suite - allowing the mission commander to make real time decisions on the battlefield. This is a fully integrated and multi capable ISTAR asset, using the latest computing and radar technology - truly a leap forward. The aircraft is expected to make its first flight late in 2013... Pictures of the prototype below.... Needless to say - this is really a spares box raider!!! Lots of filler, lots of bits and bobs and a bit of experimentation. I've tried to be as realistic as possible - still, for example, have to sort some cooling intakes for the radar systems.. Quite a bit of filling and sanding still to do, and quite a few aerials still to add (similar to those on top of the P8 Poseidon). I've scribed a door behind the seats in the cockpit, and there are 4 remaining glazed windows for the crew. Unfortunately, I managed to sand across one of them - any advice on how to make it right again happily received!!! It will be painted in a similar scheme to the RAF Sentinel, though I haven't decided what stores I'm going to place under the wings yet. It will use an F111 front gear, with a modified DO228 rear undercarriage with double wheels. Hope to finish this soon, but with 2 young children, a wife, and a busy real life flying schedule - watch this space.....!! Any comments, criticisms, and advice will be most welcome!