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  1. For my 5th completed build of the year (which is a record for me!) I have the 1/72 Airfix Tiger Moth. She's finished in the colours of Brooklands Aviation, flying from Sywell in the late 1930s. I decided on G-ADGT ('Gadget') in the yellow and camo scheme from the late 1930s when it was decided to camouflage training aircraft in view of the impending outbreak of war. Putting massive white letters and yellow squares on the top of the wings somewhat spoiled the camo effect, mind you! Decals are from Arctic Decals (https://www.arcticdecals.com/products.html?id=21443/1224128) which provide markings for a number of machines so I will prob do a red and black machine at some point. This was a fairly straightforward build, although putting the wings together was a little tricky. Airfix help there by putting some cross brace struts between the wing spars so that they remain in alignment. The downside of that is that they have to be removed when the glue is dry which is tricky. I found sanding where they had been snipped off even trickier. Paints are Vallejo Model Air which didn't give me much trouble. Couple of drops of flow improver and they sprayed really nicely. Thanks to everyone who followed the build - and to @TEXANTOMCAT for the inspiration for a subject that's not normally on my radar - nice to do something different. Al.
  2. Been a while since I did a build thread, an in the midst of finishing the new Airfix Mossie which I didn't think really required one. However, while the various coats of paint dry I've decided to crack on with my next project. As ever, there were many calling out from the stash, but I've decided to go for one that never really made it to the stash. Only bought it a couple of weeks ago, and it's been on the bench ever since. Shh, don't tell the other kits that have been in the cupboard for years! 🤫 Not normally my kind of thing, I was inspired to do this due to the local connection with nearby Sywell. I got hold of a set of decals for Sywell based Tiger Moths of Brooklands Aviation through the Sywell Aviation Museum. So here we are.. Box shot along with the Arctic Decals sheet. And the chosen scheme: I like the red and black scheme too, and there are decals for both so there'll probably be another of these coming along at some point 😁 I've heard this is a good little kit, plus it's little so might not take me too long.. although, I'm tempted to try my hand at some rigging which might slow me down massively. Any hints and tips on that front most welcome 👍 And we're off... Al
  3. Hi All, This is my build of the Lancaster Dambuster. I've used the 1/72 kit from Airfix. The open Merlin engine is from an Aires detail set and gun barrels and main wheels are from Quick Boost. For colouring I've used Gunze Acrylics and Alclad for aluminium finish. Weathering and exhaust streaks where done with oil washes and oil paint. The build was straight forward. A friend of mine a professional photographer took these photos, hope you enjoy it. (In the first picture there is a big gap between fuselage and canopy, the canopy is detachable and I didn't put it on properly, I only noticed after the photos where taken, the photo is more to show the engine) Cheers, Alex P.S. I got asked to show some close up pictures of the Merlin Engine, hence I am adding the 2 additional photos below.
  4. 2024, finally completed this one. I started many years ago to lobby Airfix on every page I could for a Mk XIV, with the option for an added larger fin for a MkXVIII option. They finally did it! (I'm sure I wasn't the only one asking for it!) But it’s taken a few years to get around to building and finishing one of them - and I think there's been 3 boxings of this kit since. This is without doubt my most favourite Spitfire mark and paint scheme - I love the big, bright post war roundels on camo. This is a 28 squadron machine based at Kai Tak in late 1950 – with Korean war theatre stripes. This kit has had some not great reviews – poor fit in places, particularly the fuel tank cover. I didn’t find this too bad. There are some thought out parts and fitment – it’s well designed, I thought. My only negative about the kit is that some of the parts are a bit soft in detail and require resin replacements – the gun barrels are the worst. As it happens, I don’t replace these on this kit, but I will in future. I really tried very hard to make this a very beat up and dirty airframe. There are some reference photos of this machine at Kai Tak looking very untidy indeed. But looking at my final photos I think I could have gone a lot further! My build was from the box except the following: Drilled out exhausts. Resin wheels. Under fuselage camera ports x2. Re-scribed upper and lower wing panels. The Airfix kit is really a Mk XIVe and the outer .303 bays are still marked. On the XVIII these are not there as the wing was a strengthen redesign with the space being used for survival equipment. Under wing signal lamps rather then centre fuselage. I used the kits rockets to provide the rails only, chopping off the actual rockets themselves. PE seat belts as usual. Aftermarket decals were used; XtraDecal sheet X48230 to represent a machine from 28 squadron in late 1950. The black and white stripes are hand painted. Here's some photos...
  5. Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII (A17002) 1:24 Airfix The Supermarine Spitfire was the mainstay of British Fighter Command for the majority of WWII, in conjunction with the Hurricane during the Battle of Britain, seeing extended periods of production with only minor alterations for the role for which it was intended during the early part of WWII until the Griffon engine variants were brought in. The Mk.VIII was a development of the pressurised Mk.VII, removing the pressurised cockpit, and the majority weren’t fitted with the extended high-altitude wingtips. It could be differentiated from the Mk.VII by its larger fin and pointed tip that extended to the rudder panel, but was otherwise very similar. The fitting of twin wing-mounted cannons with accommodating blisters gave it enough punch to take down its prey, which included the then-new Focke Wulf 190 that had surprised earlier marks of Spitfire with its performance and agility when they first encountered it. There were three sub-variants of the Mk.VIII, tuned for operations at different altitudes, and running specialised variants of the Merlin engine to squeeze maximum power from the air density at those levels. The LF was intended for low-level dogfighting with a Merlin 66 and was sometimes fitted with clipped wingtips, the F was the standard fighter with a Merlin 63 that was tuned accordingly, and the high-altitude HF with a Merlin 70 for rarified atmosphere. The test pilots hated the extended wingtips, so check your references to see whether they were fitted. One Mk.VIII airframe was used as the prototype for the first bubble-top Spitfire, which was an attempt to remove the blind-spot that could be utilised by the enemy to attack a Spitfire from behind, the pilot oblivious until the rounds began tearing through his aircraft causing untold damage to man and machine. There were over 1,600 Mk.VIIIs built, although few served over Britain, most flying in warmer climes such as the Mediterranean, Pacific and South East Asian theatres, and serving in the USAAF. The Kit A lot of Britmodellers had been waiting for the predecessor to this kit, the Mk.IX, and now this variant has arrived after a relatively short period of notice. It is a modern tooling, and Airfix have created a highly-detailed, well-appointed model of this graceful and deadly WWII fighter, in a surprisingly numerous variant. The kit arrives in a comparatively compact box that has a certain heft to it thanks to what’s packed inside. The artwork on the front depicts a brace of Mk.VIIIs in suitable camouflage for the theatre with the red centres missing from their roundels to avoid friendly-fire incidents. The box has a satin finish that I feel adds a little class to the package, but the rest of the box is finished in the familiar red theme that we expect from Airfix. Inside are twelve sprues in mid-grey styrene with 452 parts in total, a sprue of clear parts, a thick instruction booklet that is printed on heavier stock than usual, two glossy painting and decaling guide sheets on folded A3+, and the sprues are bagged in singles and pairs, apart from the fuselage and wing sprues, which are bare and separated by sheets of brown paper to prevent scuffing and scratches in transit and storage. There are new sprues in this boxing, the largest of which contain new upper and lower wing parts, which have different panel lines engraved on the surface, most notably the additional leading-edge fuel tanks, and the short-span ailerons, plus many smaller but pertinent differences. The instrument panel is also substantially amended, moving some instruments, and adding those that weren’t found on the Mk.IX that preceded it on the shelves. Construction begins with a page of diagrams showing where the interior decals go, and there are plenty of them, with 25 on the instrument panel alone. With all that committed to memory, the pilot’s seat is the first actual modelling to be done, making up the seat and its mount from four main parts, plus another two on the rear, linking the support rails together, with the seat armour sliding over the arms, and latching on a spur moulded into the back of the seat. The lap belts are draped over the seat pan, sliding them through the slots in the sides of the seat, then the adjustment lever glues onto the left side. The fuselage frame behind the seat is prepared by adding the small block and reel on the rear at the top, with the triangular head armour panel on the opposite side, fitting the seat to the front once finished. The cockpit floor is a busy assembly, and starts with a long shallow curved segment to which ribs and other parts are glued, to be joined by the starboard sidewall, which is also detailed and has all the colours called out as you go. The instrument panel frame includes the foot well cut-out, and has the compass mount hung from it with a clear lens, and a raised turret is removed before the panel is installed into the depression, adding two small controls under it on the right, referring to the diagrams at the front of the booklet for decal placement. Moving on, the completed panel is inserted into a groove in the floor, and the port sidewall is mated along its length, using the ribs as a guide to the correct angle. The prominent bundle of thick wires runs down the starboard side, leading to the throttle quadrant, and the rudder pedals with their linkages are laid into the floor along with another frame over the top, then they’re hemmed in by the bulkhead that has a pair of indented areas to accommodate the pilot’s feet. The seat and its frame are inserted into another groove in the floor with an accompanying side-view, and the two frames behind them are also installed, with two bracing struts keeping them at the correct distance from each other. The shoulder straps can be added to the seat now, slipped through the slot in the head armour, and attached to the cross-brace in the frame behind. The port sidewall is detailed next, and the control column is built up from the wider lower section, with the top section having the spade-grip and control-lines moulded-in, which should strengthen the join, adding the trigger to the grip, plugging it into the socket in the floor. The fuselage is prepared by adding inserts under the tail to accommodate the retractable tail-wheel that this mark had, as anticipated from the initial boxing. A jig is provided to cut a hole in the belly for the downlight in this variant, and you are advised several times NOT to glue the jig in place, as it will be difficult to remove otherwise! The next step only applies if you intend to close the canopy, and includes holding part N4, which has the word “JIG” written on it, against the starboard cockpit sill to use as a guide to removing the lip of the cockpit. You are told again in big bold letters NOT to glue the jig to the fuselage sides, and that’s not an incitement to dance. Additional equipment is glued to the inside of the fuselage above the waist-line where the cockpit tub will sit, then adding another control box with wiring once the cockpit is in situ. A long, ribbed hose with a small rectangular box on the end is threaded through the aft cockpit, and a few more details are inserted on the opposite side, then the radio palette is built and glued to the back of the aftmost frame, with the battery-like radio box built up and fitted on the platform, which has an arrow moulded into the underside, to help you orient it correctly. The downlight is inserted in the new hole behind the radio box, then at the rear the tail gear frame is inserted into its raised location area, and is painted silver. The next choice is partly dependent on whether you have already removed the lip from the starboard sill for the closed canopy option. The other two options are to have the canopy open but the side door closed, or have the door open, and for once you don’t have to cut a section out of the fuselage. The port fuselage half has the cut-out already present, and if you are closing the door you insert the crowbar, remembering not to paint it red (a post-war thing that purists hate), and then position the door. An opener mechanism is fitted along the top edge for the other two options along with its crowbar, and is either put in closed, or open after removing the four little tabs from around the door cut-out. At long last, you can close the fuselage, and add the firewall after fixing a part that holds the fuel filler cap just below the level of the deck in front of the windscreen. There’s a note that some aircraft had that bulkhead painted aluminium instead of the usual interior green, so if you’re a stickler, you’ll need to find out which to choose, or do what I usually do and paint it whichever colour you think will be prettiest. The first of the flying surfaces to be built are the elevators, the separate aerofoils and flying surfaces each comprising two parts, with a separate trim-tab in each one that you can leave loose, although that’s probably not a good idea, as a droopy trim-tab would indicate a badly trimmed aircraft, or a broken cable. The aerofoils slot into the tail with male and female aspects to the tabs that allow them to lock together within the fuselage for additional strength. The flying surfaces are glued to the trailing edges after inserting the inner end into a slot in the fuselage, just like the real one, and the rudder panel is made up and glued in the middle with a separate trim tab, stopping the two elevators from arguing. An actuator is glued under the elevators to the rudder on the port side, although if you’ve deflected the rudder, you might need to extend or shorten the rod between the two fairings. The Spitfire’s lower wings are moulded as a single span part that extends out to the tip joint, and incorporates the rear fairing underneath the fuselage like almost all other Spitfire kits. A pair of shallow inserts for the flap bay walls are glued near the rear of the wing, and a small raised half-circle upstand is removed from the port wing-root, as two are moulded in, one in each root because the location of the gun-camera varied between variants. The main spar has two holes that are filled with inserts that hold the gear leg pegs later, with a scrap diagram showing their correct location. At this stage the spar isn’t glued in place, but is used as a guide along with the first of the ribs (F33 & F3) for the following steps that build up the gear bays. Each circular section of the main bays is built up from three sectors plus a rib, while the long portion of the bay is formed by the spar and another wall part that is glued to the edge of the bay, but not the first rib, or the rib attached to the round bay section. Once both bays have been completed, glue can be run along the spar and the initial ribs to ensure everything is correctly positioned and symmetrical. You are advised to hold each wing on a flat surface while the glue dries, to further ensure correct alignment. That might be a challenging task for the impatient modellers amongst us or those that no option but to clear away after each session due to lack of space. The next stage is to create the gun bays, starting with four more ribs, each one having an additional tube-part fitted before installation. There are two twin receptacles for ammo boxes in the wings, but only one is filled in this variant, with a well-detailed run of ammo moulded into the top of a box slotting into the front of the two lateral spaces, one for each wing. Each wing is fitted with two of the four ribs made up earlier, plus four additional ribs that need no preparation, dropping a spacer between two of the outer ribs, and the ammo feed assembly is fixed into slots between the two wider spaced ribs. A horseshoe-shaped part slips in the front of the outer pair of ribs, and another sturdy rib slots into the space between the innermost two, then an L-shaped trunk and a straight extension snake from the inner wing to the outer, linking up with the small tubes inserted in the ribs earlier. Very clever, and carried out twice in mirror image of course. The gun-camera cradle has a lens inserted behind the aperture, painting the tubular hole black to reduce reflections. The inner bay is fitted out with a 20mm cannon breech, linking into to the heating trunk (guns freeze at altitude), and a two-part drum feeder that is slipped over the breech and into the ammo box if you are posing the bays open. This mark also carried a pair of .303 machine guns in the outer gun bays, which you can install with their ammo feed if you plan on leaving the bays closed, or with their mounting clamp if you are opening the bays up. Once they’re glued in, your options are limited if you change your mind unless you abrade away the clamp, which will otherwise baulk the bay door. Again, this is done in mirror-image on the other wing, then the lower bay doors are optionally fitted into the lower wing, unless you plan on leaving them off. Surprisingly, you can then join the fuselage to the lower wings, with two scrap diagrams showing how the two assemblies lock together top and bottom. The upper wings are separate assemblies, and take much less effort than the lowers, simply adding the bay doors if you want to, and choosing the appropriate teardrop cannon bulge for this variant, then gluing them onto the lower wings after installing the underwing lenses to the outer panel. We stay with the wings, but on the exterior of the lowers, where you will find the radiator pathways. The process begins with making up the radiator baths on a C-shaped bearer, adding two textured faces to the open sides, taking care to heed the arrows moulded into the backsides of the parts. The bath attaches to the floor of the fairing, and two side panels are added, making the choice of posing the cooling flaps open or closed, and again doing this twice, one for under each wing. The air-path in the lower wing is prepared with a short length of pipework at the rear and a strake at the front, then after a little pre-emptive painting, the radiator fairings are docked with the lip of their bay and glued in place. This variant’s decal options wore the traditional elliptical wingtips that are made of two halves plus a clear light, sliding the tab into the inner wing and taking the time to check they are level before the glue cures. If you prefer your models buttoned up with the cowlings in place, you have an option to build up a slender core of the engine that uses a few parts that will be visible to give you something to hang your prop on. Alternatively, you can build the whole Merlin engine up and display it proudly after you’ve painted and weathered it to your liking. The instructions hold your hand and allow you to step through the process with minimal fuss. We’ll follow the easy route first, then come back and discuss the building of this impressive rendition of the Merlin in plastic next. Engine Cowling On The basic engine block is made of three sections of plastic, and at the front is a flared portion onto which you glue the transfer casing with its many closure bolts, after sliding the splined drive-shaft inside without any glue. You use this as a jig for the engine bearers, but don’t be tempted to throw the engine away afterwards. The two triangular mounts clip onto the sides of the engine and are joined together via a U-shaped cross-member, then once the glue is dry, you remove the engine and add a flat-bottomed V-shaped brace between the U-brace and the rear of the mounts. The completed mount is then inserted into the holes pre-drilled in the firewall bulkhead and left to dry while you finish off making the core of the engine. The substantial supercharger assembly is made up from eight parts, and a section of the trunking marked in green is cut off to allow easier fitting of the cowling parts. The finished sub-assembly is glued to the rear of the block, and it is re-introduced between the engine bearers, this time with the addition of glue. The ram air intake under the nose is made from two halves plus slim side parts, attaching it to the intake end of the supercharger assembly under the engine, then you can start making up the cowling panels for installation, starting with the side cowlings, which have an extra frame added inside after clipping off the pegs at the rear end. The spinner backing disc joins the two panels at the front, and the top is covered over with a one-piece typical bulged Merlin cowling, avoiding all those horrible centre seams that dogged older kits. The lower cowling is still moulded in two parts through necessity however, as it has the air intake with a separate lip added to the front. It is glued to the bottom of the cowling assembly, creating the completed nose, revealing why you removed that section from the engine earlier. Two small wing root fairings are added at the leading edge of the wings, covering over the gun-camera on one side, after which you can install the engine cowling to give your Spitfire a nose. Engine Cowling Off The first step is the same, joining three parts to make the block, then making up two cylinder blocks out of another three parts each, and remembering to paint the RR logos red when you’ve finished. Each head received a few small parts, then they are linked together by the intake, which is made from a two-part duct and two three-legged spurs, one each side. The completed subassembly is installed on top of the block, locating on raised pads and adding more small parts before building up a more detailed version of the supercharger and adding a curved tank under the transfer casing that holds the prop axle without glue. The vertical intake ducting is also more detailed with various ancillaries, and the extras just keep piling up on the sides of the engine, including a wiring harness and dynamo, plus several parts spilling over onto the bulkhead, which includes a couple of small tanks of various shapes. The three-part engine mount is formed around the engine, using it as a jig while you glue it, adding the V-shaped braces and two thick hoses snaking through the interstices, with two scrap diagrams showing their correct orientation. The motor drops into its supports, and more wires and hoses are added, some of them with scrap diagrams to help you with routing them. The oil tank that is slung under the engine is shaped around the sump, and is made from top and bottom surfaces, plus an end-cap and a filler tube on one side. It mounts under the engine on four lugs hanging from the mounts, then the spinner backing disc glues to the front of the transfer casing, locating on three pips. Two more lugs on the sides of the spinner plate locate the front of the inner mounting frame for the cowling, and there is one for each side, adding the root fairings over the hoses and the gun-camera location. Creating the ram air intake is the same for the engine-out option, making up either the L-shaped intake, then building the cowling with its intake lip and installing it under the engine, unless you’d rather leave it off to see your work on the engine better. The side cowlings have a small intake on the port side, and a blister shape on the starboard, and you can fit one, both or neither as you see fit, with the same choice for the top cowling, which has a small intake on the starboard side near the rear. The ejector exhausts are all separate from each other, and have an insert in the inner face to give each one a hollow tip, although you may need to do a little filling if you don’t manage a neat join. It is on the backside though, so you don’t have to be too fastidious. Each stub is handed, so take care to keep the sides separate, and slot them into the grooves in the cowling, starting at the rear due to the cranked shape. You have another choice under the wings, to decide whether you want to pose the flaps up for a ‘clean’ airframe, or pose them down as was often seen when taxi-ing, although rumour has it that a pilot would be fined a few shillings if he left them down once parked up. The closed flaps are the easiest option, requiring fitting of the two flap sections flush with the airflow under each wing, and gluing the flap indicator tabs level with the upper wing surface. Posing the flaps down is a little more involved, but could hardly be called complicated. The flap sections are posed dropped, and an actuator is inserted into the wing, pushing up the indicator tab into the vertical position. The ailerons are next, made of two halves plus a C-shaped hinge that is set within the halves unglued to allow you to pose them as you like. I’ll probably set mine and flood them with glue to keep them in position, to prevent them both hanging down, bearing in mind that very little deflection upward is needed for the typical aileron when compared to downward deflection. The twin cannon fairings are both made of two halves with hollow tips, and have a peg moulded in that should give a strong joint. If you plan on displaying your model wheels-up, the main gear is made with only half the tyre, inserting a two-part hub in the centre, and then sliding the leg into the assembly. The painted assemblies are then set into the bays flush, inserting the top dog-leg into the socket in the spar, and the inner part of the bay is covered over by a cover with a serrated edge. The main gear bay covers fill the rest of the aperture, leaving part of the tyre visible at the outermost edge. For wheels down, you start with a four spoke hub, slipping it into the two-part tyre, and the gear leg has a separate oleo-scissor link added to the rear, joining the two moving parts of the strut. Before they are inserted into their sockets in the spar, a small mechanism is installed in the bay, connecting to an actuator at the upper end of each leg. The small serrated insert and main wheel are fixed to both sides, and the captive bay doors are mated with the backs of the struts after painting them the same colour as the underside. This variant had a retractable tail-wheel, which is made up from a short strut with split yoke, and a two-part wheel with narrow flat-spot at the bottom. It is slipped into the front of the bay under the tail, and secures in a hole in the bulkhead within, adding two doors with substantial mounting tabs on the sides. an L-shaped pitot probe is inserted under the port wing and an antenna under the starboard, the mast antenna behind the cockpit with a fairing and a clear lens just behind it, and a gunsight in the front of the cockpit, which is made from several parts, some of which are clear for realism. You have a few choices with the canopy beyond whether to pose it open or closed, but the windscreen is just one part, having a circular rear-view mirror added at the apex, and the fixed rear portion of the canopy is also standard. Where you do have a choice is whether to use the simplified un-blown canopy that has no seam down the outside, or go for the more accurately-shaped canopy and sand then polish the seamline away. It’s a surprisingly simple task with the correct tools, so I’d suggest making the effort to use the more realistic version, but if you really can’t face the prospect, you have an easy alternative that doesn’t look too different. You use the same part for the sliding canopy whether you are depicting it open or closed, and if you have decided to pose the door open, that gets glued in place at this stage too. It will probably end up left off until after painting in the real world though. The prop is the last sub-assembly, which has four separate blades, each one having an insert at the root of the blade to obtain the correct shape and thickness. A little filling and sanding might be required here, but getting it right with the glue should help reduce that. Each blade is keyed and inserted into the two-part boss, which is laid over the spinner back-plate and has a two-part front section that fits over a square peg, then is covered over by the pointed spinner cap, which could also be left off for a maintenance diorama. Markings There are three decal options on the extensive sheet, with a good range of schemes to broaden the appeal. From the box you can build one of the following: Sqn.Ldr. Bruce Watson, No.457 ‘Grey Nurse’ Sqn., Royal Australian Air Force, Morotai, 1945 No.152 (Hyderabad) Sqn., Sinthe, Burma, 1945 307th Fighter Sqn., 31st Fighter Group, USAAF, Italy 1944 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This is now the second in a nascent range of very impressive successors to the original 70s era “Super Kits” of yesteryear, and brings an impressive quantity and quality of detail to the party that will look great under a few coats of paint and some sympathetic weathering if you’re so minded. It’s a beauty, with some subtle overlapping panels and oil-canning of the skin, and the short wait since it was announced has been well-worth it. What’s next? Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  6. Done! And not too pleased. It seems the more models I make, the worse I get. Loads of mistakes - never going to leave attaching the canopy until after painting ever again! As you see it is after 3 re-paints!! Anyway, here it is. Airfix's 1/48 scale Hawker Hunter F.6. Decals are from Xtradecal, sheet X48-105 and depicts Hunter F.6 XF527 'P' of 19 Squadron at Church Fenton in 1958. I used replacement resin wheels and wheel bay doors. The aerials are stretched sprue and I added a small exhaust port on the tail underside. The rest is OOB. Paint is mainly Vallejo Model Air but the undersides are Humbrol 11 (another mistake!).
  7. Bristol 192 Belvedere (A03002V) 1:72 Airfix Vintage Classics Based upon the cancelled Bristol 172 civilian twin-rotor helicopter, the 192 was developed in the late 50s, while two other Navalised options designated 191 and 193 also fell by the wayside. The 192 shared much of the development efforts expended on the 191, the extant prototypes serving as test airframes for the 192, trialling Napier Gazelle engines, and stress testing the airframe. The Naval origins of the design also had drawbacks, forcing passengers to climb four feet to the bottom sill of the door hatch, as the type had long gear legs that had been mandated for an anti-submarine role, and the engine placement was less-than-ideal, making transitioning between cockpit and passenger compartment difficult, thanks only to a bulge on the port side of the cabin. Engine location also prevented a rear access ramp that further inconvenienced loading and unloading, especially in a hurry. The rotors were synchronised by a gearing system, and after the first few airframes, the initial wooden blades were replaced by metal units, with four blades per hub. The HC.1 entered service with the RAF in 1961, with a capacity for carrying eighteen fully-equipped troops or 2.7 tonnes of cargo, if it would fit through the side door. Only twenty-six airframes entered service in all, and although there were other variants planned, such as re-engining the type with Gnome engines, and a civilian variant called the 192C, nothing came of these, making it the only indigenous twin-rotor helicopter to see service with British forces, the rest being of American origin. There were three squadrons equipped with Belvederes, and the last airframes went out of service in 1969 to be replaced by Westland Wessexes, a license built variant of the Sikorsky H-34. Today, there are three complete airframes in museums in Weston-Super-Mare and Hendon, plus a nose section in WSM, which is quite a proportion of the total built. The Kit This is a reboxing by Airfix under their Vintage Classics range of a tooling that originated in 1959, which makes this reviewer feel quite young by comparison, and that takes some doing these days. The kit arrives in a red-themed top-opening box with a reproduction of one of the early box artworks on the front, and inside are four sprues of grey styrene, a separately bagged clear sprue, new decal sheet, and instruction sheet that is printed in spot colour on matt paper, with profiles on the rear pages of the gatefold booklet. Detail is as you would expect for a kit of this era, with thousands of fine raised rivets covering the exterior, the rotor blades and other appendages, plus a pair of civilian-looking pilots that were probably tooled that way because the usage of the type wasn’t yet set in stone when the model was tooled. Construction begins by installing the side windows, engine intakes and the rotor heads in the fuselage halves, closing the fuselage around them and dealing with the seams in your preferred manner, deciding whether to remove all the rivets, or keep them, as you see fit. Inverting the fuselage allows you to apply an insert into a cut-out under the rear, two stabilisers to the sides with supports, plus end-plates for one decal option, followed by the aft landing gear, which also have supports above, and a wheel on each end of the axle. A similar axle is applied under the forward fuselage, although the supports and gear legs are combined in one part each end, completed by adding the wheels to the ends, fitting two inserts under the nose, and the forward cargo door in either closed position or opened with a strut holding it at the correct angle. Posing the door open will expose the bare interior, so unless you plan on putting something or someone in the way to hide that fact, you might want to do some scratch building of a basic interior around the door, although you could always rely on dark paint inside to hide the absence of detail. Even though this kit is from an era when you were lucky to have a pilot’s head moulded into the fuselage, there is a cockpit included, with two separate seats that fit either side of a moulded-in centre console. The crew are posed with their hand by their sides for ease of moulding, and as mentioned earlier, they are dressed more like civilians than RAF personnel. A bulkhead is fitted into the open front of the fuselage, placing the cockpit floor on a raised dais in front, then closing it in with the two clear nose halves, which makes a simple job of masking the windows cleanly, and cutting down on the likelihood of glue or seam-filling marring the finish. The model is completed by adding four blades to each rotor head, meshing with the head for a strong join. Markings There are two very similar decal option on the sheet, probably due to the relatively short service of the type. From the box you can build one of the following: Development Trials, Aircraft & Armament Experimental Establishment, Royal Air Force Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, England, late 1959 Belvedere Trials Unit, RAF Odiham, Hampshire, England, October 1960 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion This kit has nostalgia oozing out of the box, and while it is older than many of us, there’s still a quaint charm to it. The raised rivets are unusual these days, and there is a little flash and some minor mould damage that you may encounter, but this is your only option in this scale at time of writing. Highly recommended with the above caveats. Review sample courtesy of
  8. I will build Hellcat. A model first time is made in 1968. I want to leave the external riveting. On an airplane an electromotor and running around screw will be set.
  9. This is a fabulous kit by Airfix, very little filler needed and slots together really well. This particular Javelin was originally built as an FAW.7, and subsequently converted to FAW.9 standard before being one of the first pair of the latest version to be delivered to 25 squadron in December 1959. XH768 went on to serve with 11 Sqn after 25 disbanded and this airframe is now preserved in Italy (marked as XH707), having had a recent restoration: https://www.museoaviazione.com/en/gloster-javelin-faw-mk9-restoration-2021/ All comments and discussion welcome as always …
  10. de Havilland Tiger Moth (A02106A) 1:72 Airfix The de Havilland Tiger Moth was one of the most important and widely produced trainer aircraft to have seen service with the RAF. It was designed by Geoffrey de Havilland himself in the 1930s and was based on the Gypsy Moth, suitably redesigned to meet Air Ministry Specification 13/31. In comparison to its predecessor, the Tiger Moth's wings were swept and repositioned, and the cockpits were redesigned to make escape easier. The airframe was also strengthened and the engine exhaust system was re-engineered. The Tiger Moth entered service with the RAF in 1932 and remained in use until well after the war. Over 8,000 examples were completed, and the type also served with the Royal Australian Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force as well as a great many other military and civilian operators. In service it proved itself to be ideally suited to its role, being easy enough to fly, but challenging enough to weed out weaker students without killing them. It was also cheap and easy to maintain. Further variants would be the DH.82C fitted with an enclosed hood for cold weather operations in Canada, and the Queen Bee, which was an unmanned radio-controlled target drone that resulted in a thinning of the herd of surviving airframes. Always popular with civilian users, many Tiger Moths found their way into private ownership after the War, with many maintained in flying condition to this day. The Kit This is a reboxing of a 2013 tooling from Airfix, and arrives in a small top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter on top, flying against a reddish sky. Inside the box are three sprues of grey styrene, a small clear sprue, the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper, plus a separate glossy sheet detailing the rigging process. Detail is excellent for the tiny size of the aircraft, and includes moulded-in features in the cockpit interior, and well-defined ribbing and scalloping of the wings, plus a couple of pilot figures, one of whom has no lower legs. There are a few ejector-pin marks that you may want to fill in the cockpit, although they may well be invisible once the model is completed. Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with a skeletal floor with rear bulkhead moulded into it, onto which the semi-conformal front seat and fairing, plus the rear seat are fitted, adding control columns into the sockets in front of each seat. You have a choice of installing the pilots at this stage, using the chap with complete legs in the front, and the shortened legs at the rear, both with moulded-in parachutes and leather flying helmets with goggles as befits the period. The port fuselage half can have the two crew doors cut away along the engraved line on the inside, and if you select this option, you should also drill out a pair of flashed-over holes under the cut-outs, which will hold the new door parts in place with less concern about knocking them off accidentally during handling. The same process is then carried out (or not) on the starboard fuselage, painting the cockpit interior once you have completed any surgery, and remembering to paint the inner faces of the open doors as required. The port fuselage has the two instrument panels and their decals applied, accompanied by the cockpit assembly, after which the fuselage can be closed and the seams dealt with in your preferred manner. The engine cowling is a separate moulding that is ostensibly complete, needing just an intake on the starboard side, and the exhausts from the inside, slotting into a groove that holds the carrier for the four stubs that merge into one at an angle. The two-blade prop is fixed in place by a pin inserted from the rear, taking care with the glue if you want it to remain mobile. Installation of the lower wing is next, which is a single part with a narrow strip that nestles into a groove under the fuselage to obtain the correct dihedral. The upper wing has a radiator insert added to the underside to prevent sink-marks due to over-thick plastic, and this has two sets of cabane struts installed to its sides, ready to join it to the fuselage with the two pairs of interplane struts further outboard. Both strut pairs have sections of sprue between them, and you are instructed to leave these intact until after the wings are mated, to ensure they are correctly oriented, and you are assisted with this by the letter L or R stamped into the sprue along with an arrow to designate the front, which is very helpful. The elevators are a single part that fits in a recess in the rear of the fuselage and is supported from underneath by a pair of diagonal struts, with a tail-skid slipped into the rearmost tip of the fuselage. The tail fin with integral rudder slots into a recess in the top of the elevator part, completing the empennage. The final steps involve installing the main gear legs, which consist of a bow-tie framework with stub axles, and a pair of supports that link it to under the nose cowling, fitting the wheels to the ends of the axle so that the model can stand on its own wheels for the first time, and at this stage you may want to sand a little flat-spot at the bottom of the wheels to give the impression of weight on the tyres. A pair of three-pane windscreens are found on the small clear sprue, and one is inserted into the depression in front of each cockpit cut-out, using a suitable non-fogging glue to fix them in position. The last step shows the sprues between the interplane struts being cut away and made good, at which point you may have to do a little touch-up painting if you use that technique. The main instructions don’t mention rigging, and we haven’t either yet. A separate sheet of diagrams shows where rigging will be required from the front, with letter codes indicating detail drawings from the side that will be useful in assisting you with placement, as will the box art and any reference material you happen to have at hand. Markings There are two entirely different decal options in this boxing, one in US service in England, the other in the antipodes in service of Australia. From the box you can build one of the following: 353rd Fighter Group, USAAF, Station 366/RAF Metfield, Suffolk, England, September 1943 - Pilot: Maj. Glenn E Duncan HMAS Albatross/NAS Nowra, Royal Australian Navy, New South Wales, Australia, 1950s Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Tiger Moth is a small aircraft, but well-loved. This kit from Airfix might be a little over 10 years old, but the detail is excellent, and the build should be straight-forward. If you’re feeling “advanced”, you can add rigging to the build process, which should result in a well-detailed replica of this biplane trainer. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  11. Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Airfix Me-262 A2 "Blitzbomber", built with the addition of Eduard photo etch and resin wheels. Pitot tube from the spares box, brake lines from stretched sprue, and vacu canopy from Rob Taurus. Painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics. Photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. The Airfix Me-262 kit is precise in shape and outlines and features an open landing gear bay (a detail other manufacturers have missed). Unfortunately, it suffers from fit problems with the engine/wing assembly. This is not difficult to correct, but comes unexpected on a modern tooling. I damaged the kit's canopy hood when cleaning up the sprue gates and replaced it with a vacu piece from Rob Taurus (intended for use on the Revell kit). The mottle scheme (RLM82/83) was airbrushed free-hand. Thank you for your interest. Best greetings from Vienna!
  12. As threatened, I'm adding in this build of the very simple MIG-15 since I'm on a roll with silver paint (on the 707). I built this one as a youth, wheels up on the stand, of course. A bit of history on the header card, as usual. Did the packers ever get the staples in a neat line? All the parts are there and look flash free - lovely classic silver plastic. Instructions and paint scheme are very simple, Transfers look a bit yellowed so hopefully some sun will bless my modelling days and help to lighten.
  13. The TSR-2 first flew on 27 September 1964, which means the 60th anniversary of that milestone falls within the timeframe of this GB. So building this here seems particularly appropriate. Sydney Camm is reported to have said regarding the TSR-2 that: “All modern aircraft have four dimensions – span, length, height and politics. TSR-2 simply got the first three right!” Rising costs and a new Labour Govt saw the TSR-2 cancelled in April 1965, by which time the first prototype had flown 24 times. Enough to show its promise but so much lay ahead to prove it as an operational aeroplane. But still, what an aeroplane it promised to be: I'll be building mine from the Airfix 1/72 kit. As mentioned in the chat a while back I picked this up from a trader at the local model show last November for A$60 (about 31 GBP): That's a pretty good deal, although I didn't realise when I bought it that it had actually been started. Well, some of the key parts had been removed from the sprues and a little work had been done to the intakes and in the cockpit. But it all looks to be there: After market is limited to an Eduard PE set and masks, while the original decals look pretty decent. (Interestingly, what looks to be the original receipt was in the box too.) Information on the TSR-2, and building this kit, abound. Bill/Navy Bird has built perhaps the best Airfix 1/72 TSR-2 to emerge off a modelling bench: Mine won't be in that league, but I'll take inspiration and as many tips as I can from Bill's amazing work! The Wikipedia entry entry is also excellent and worth a read (not all are): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAC_TSR-2 (For example, I didn't realise the '2' in the TSR-2 name stood for Mach 2.) And this documentary is well worth watching, given it features interviews with a number of key players: One of those interviewed claimed it was Australia's decision not to order the TSR-2 that ultimately killed the program. I understand the logic - another customer would have increased the production run and thus lowered the unit cost, plus politically it would have been harder to cancel the project had it an international order - but that seems a stretch. But this RAF Historical Society publication from 1998 has a very well-research chapter discussing Australian deliberations that ultimately led to ordering the F-111. https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-17B-TSR2-with-Hindsight.pdf Of course, politics played a part. But there were other strategic considerations at play too (including for better and for worse, gaining favour with the US.) Given Australia was a potential customer I have contemplated building mine in a RAAF WHIF scheme, but I think I'll stick with the classic anti-flash white of the prototypes (especially now that I think I have a handle on the scheme after my Victor build!). Like the TSR-2 itself, my participation in this GB is a little ambitious. Competing priorities might yet mean I'll have to, err, cancel my participation as I have a couple of other builds on the go/planned and then I'm hosting the upcoming F-35 STGB starting in August. But over-ambitiousness is the essence of this GB! And I'd love to get this into the gallery on 27 September... Thanks for looking, all advice, encouragement and admonishment welcome! Gerard
  14. Hello, I’ve just completed my journey with Airfix Fairey Gannet and I’d like to share its results with you. I rarely build models in 1/48 scale but I’ve heard so many praises about this kit that I had to give it a try. So here it goes: Fairey Gannet AS.1, serial XA331 in the Royal Australian Navy service. It is shown in the livery of 816 Squadron RAN in 1957 (301/Y). The aircraft was attached to HMAS Melbourne which at that moment was using the Y code letter. The weapons bay doors are wide open to facilitate the ordnance loading process. The kit is quite ok. I didn’t experience any major fitting problems and I also appreciate the idea of providing two sets of wings, it spared me lots of cutting and sanding. The manual is quite comprehensible although requires additional pair of glasses to decode the diagrams and read all the part numbers (they are really small). It’s wonderful that it reminds you about the front weight, pity that you really need to stretch your imagination to fit it properly (this bird is really nose heavy). There are also some annoying simplifications (e.g. air intakes) which should’ve been easily avoided in a kit of this scale. I used the famous Cartograf decals for stencils only and they did the job quite well. In general, the kit is not bad at all and I had a lot of fun building the model. And the Gannet itself turned out to be so superbly ugly that I really fell in love with it 😍. The model was built basically OOB with only a cockpit furnished with Eduard’s PE parts. The roundels and other RAN insignia were painted. The Melbourne’s aircraft elevator deck built from scratch. Please enjoy and comment at will. Cheers, Marcin And a few cockpit close-ups:
  15. In 2020 Airfix is to release a new tool 1/72nd Bristol Beaufort Mk.1 kit - ref. A04021 https://uk.airfix.com/products/bristol-beaufort-mk1-a04021 3D render V.P.
  16. I will try again at this as this failed to get off the starting blocks in the 'South of the Rio Grande GB', so it should make Martin @RidgeRunner happy. The Honduran Air Force (FAH) acquired a number of Sabres, mostly ex-Yugoslav F86E(M)'s. Compulsories: Will be using the Airfix boxing. The plastic. Glazing. I have read that FAH Sabres were fitted with MB Mk10 ejection seats, so that'll be fitted. Kit decals on the left and Aztec decals on the right. Stuart
  17. I've been a bit quiet modelling lately. Or, at least, plastic modelling - I have completed a couple of wooden boats, with a third fitting out. Here, I hope to get back to plastic with an F=86 in Portuguese colours. The kit is (obviously) Airfix, with a few AM pieces: some decals, and a pilot. I might have a think about the little guy; maybe go for an F80 or F-100 driver? For what it is worth, I believe Portugal received F-86F-35 airframes, though these were fitted with F-86F-40 wings (the latter had slats).
  18. This has been one of the most indecisive (and confusing) subjects I have ever elected to make. However, with a little suggesting from @Corsairfoxfouruncle, I am going to attempt 2 builds simultaneously; one for this group build and another for the Asia group build. I figure that'll make things easier and I can accomplish 2 group builds. Anyway, the following selection is for this group build using Hi-Decals' sheet: F-86F-25 51-13240 / 275 - 1st Fighter Bomber Sqn, Imperial Ethiopian Air Force, in Asia Minor camouflage, Asmara AB, 1972 I currently have the Airfix F-86F-40, which if I have read everything correctly, can be built OOB for this particular aircraft. If I am wrong, then someone please chime in here. From the description on the decal sheet, these Sabres utilized napalm canisters against Eritrean forces and I will try to add these as ordinance. I will likely also be getting the Eduard Space cockpit decals and the Quickboost resin seat to round the details out.
  19. Back in 1967 Airfix released a new Series 5 kit of this rather ill fated aircraft. At the time I had just gone to Uni so my modelling was cut back severely but a few years later, probably somewhere between 1969 and 1971, I was driving through Queensbury up the hill from my home, and saw a shop I had not noticed previously, which had kits in the window. I was unable to stop at the time, but the following day I got on my push bike and paid it a visit, coming back with this kit- This is actually the 1990 final reboxing which I bought around 20 years ago but with the exception of the slightly earlier box with a pic of the kit on it, all the other boxings like this one had the original Roy Cross artwork on them, though doctored in some cases. I know the much later Revell offering is said to be more accurate but as this is the last Luftwaffe plane in my stash I thought I might give it a try, though whether or not I finish it remains to be seen. I actually have the Falcon replacement glazing set somewhere so that may just come into play as well. A lot has been written about this plane which most consider a failure with some justification but as I hope to show later, the concept was sound but was let down by bad engineering in some critical areas, probably combined with some highly suspect policy decisions from the RLM. On paper, when everything worked (which was rare at first) the 177 could carry up to 6 x 2250lb bombs over 750miles range, or more often a smaller bomb load and more fuel with ranges from 1500 to 3000 miles, and had a top speed of over 300 mph, but as with the Rolls Royce Vultures in the Avro Manchester, the coupled engines were prone to failing and/or catching fire, but more on that another time. In a way, the failure to get the 177 into reliable service did the allies a considerable favour - not only was it not available as intended for long range maritime recce work in support of the U Boats, thus requiring the Fw 200 airliner to be pressed into service in a role it was not really suited for, but the prolonged gestation of the 177 left the Luftwaffe without a strategic bomber and they never really looked at another design as they continued to hope the 177 would soon become good, but again I will no doubt ramble on about that during the build. Before anybody else says it, yes I know that they blew hot and cold about the concept anyway, with Goering insisting that Hitler would rather have 3 medium bombers instead of 2 larger ones for the same price or whatever, and that initially they had no obvious need for a strategic bomber as they thought Britain would surrender, but if a fully operational He 177 had entered service as intended in 1940/41 then things might have been rather different, particularly in Russia where the existing bombers did not have adequate range once the Soviets removed their factories to the Urals. That's enough for now. Pete
  20. I did not originally intend to join this group build, however with a suggestion from @Corsairfoxfouruncle, I decided why not as it would allow me to work on 2 models simultaneously. For this I will be building the following: F-86F-30 52-4576 / 'DRAGON' - 9th TFS, 5th TFW, Philippine Air Force, in Jungle camouflage, Edwin Andrews AB, Mindanao, 1973. It will be alongside another F-86F for the F-86 Group Build which can be found here: As with the Ethiopian F-86, I believe I am right in that I can use the Airfix 1/48 F-86F-40 for this one. If I am wrong then please someone chime in on this. Both models will be utilizing decals from the Hi Decal sheet 48-034, Eduard Space cockpit decals, and a Quickboost seat. I have not seen any pictures as evidence, but I think I can put M117 bombs on it for ordinance.
  21. Messerschmitt Bf.109F-4 Starter Set (A55014) 1:72 Airfix Starter Set With almost 34,000 examples manufactured over a 10-year period, the Messerschmitt Bf.109 is one of the most widely produced aircraft in history and it saw active service in every theatre in which German armed forces were engaged. Initially designed in the mid-1930s, the Bf.109 shared a similar general arrangement with the Spitfire, employing monocoque construction and a V12 engine, albeit an inverted V with fuel injection rather than the carburettor used in the Spitfire. Initially designed as a lightweight interceptor, like many German types during WWII, the Bf.109 evolved beyond its original brief into a bomber escort, fighter bomber, night fighter, ground-attack and reconnaissance platform. The E variant, or Emil as it was more affectionately known was the first major revision of the original design, including an uprated engine and the attendant strengthening of the airframe that was required. It first saw service in the Legion Condor fighting in the Spanish Civil War on the side of Nationalist forces of Military Dictator Franco, and then in the Battle of Britain where it came up against its nemeses the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane during the critical fight for the survival of the RAF and Great Britain, which was key to halting Operation Sea lion/Seelöwe, the invasion of Britain by the Nazis. The F, or Freidrich as it was colloquially known was another revision that was initially based around a new more powerful Daimler-Benz DB 601E engine, but also experimented with changes to the wing planform, initially shortening the tips, but adding back a semi-elliptical tip when the test flights showed off the negative effects the wingspan reduction had created. The new tips became the standard going forward, and other aerodynamic refinements were made to improve performance, including expansion of the radiators and the intake for the supercharger on the port side of the cowling. The end result was considered to be the best handling 109 by its pilots, although its successor the Gustav was faster and more heavily armed. Almost 2,000 of the F-4 were manufactured, with 20mm cannon in the cowling, and later examples capable of carrying additional cannons in panniers under the wings. The Kit This is a new tooling from Airfix’s growing Starter Set range that includes a simplified kit plus stand, four thumb-pots of Humbrol acrylic paint, a 5ml tube of cement, and a #2 Humbrol paint brush with a clear plastic tube protecting the synthetic bristles. This range is intended to cater to the novice, whether they’re young, old or somewhere in between, or an experienced modeller that wants to build something simple for a change that is sometimes referred to as a “palette cleanser”. The kit arrives in an end-opening box with a header for vertical display at point of sale, and aside from the consumables already mentioned, there are three sprues of grey styrene, a small clear sprue, an instruction booklet in spot colour, a colour guide sheet to the basics of modelling, and a simple decal sheet. Detail is good, bearing in mind the simplified nature of the kit, extending to the cockpit, gear bays, nicely moulded wheels and a pilot figure with his hands on his laps. Starter Set instructions differ slightly from the standard offering, as they include yellow markings as suggestions for where to apply the glue between parts, and each step of the instructions has a sprue diagram in the corner that points out the location of the parts used, cutting down on the time spent hunting for parts that can affect even the most experienced modeller, draining away valuable modelling time hunting for that last part. Construction begins with the cockpit, fitting the pilot into the tub, noting that there isn’t a control column present in case you feel like adding one. The cockpit is glued into the starboard fuselage half, choosing either a retracted tail-wheel or using the same part in a vertical orientation for wheels down. A horizontal insert carries the exhaust stacks on each side, with an arrow ensuring that it is inserted the correct way around, and the exhausts project from the slots in the sides of the cowling. With that the fuselage can be closed, and after the glue has cured the wings are made from upper and lower full-span parts, slotting the fuselage in between them and adding the elevators to slots either side of the tail. The supercharger intake is fitted to a recess in the port nose cowling, then the model is inverted to add the twin radiator housings beneath the wings, and the oil-cooler intake under the nose. While the model is inverted, the main gear legs with moulded-in bay doors are inserted into the bay after adding wheels to each axle, or the slimmed-down retracted versions are glued into the recess with a section of the tyre visible past the captive gear bay doors. Righting the model permits fitting of the one-part canopy, which has a small hole near the rear for an aerial mast, creating the prop from three blades that are moulded as one, spinner and back-plate, plus a peg that pushes through a circular plug that glues into the front of the model, taking care with the adhesive if you want the prop to spin once the model is complete. The stand is made from a silhouette-shaped base and a curved support, plugging the model into the top of the support once complete. There are engraved Airfix logos at each wingtip that could be painted a contrasting colour if you’re feeling brave, or you could paint the stand a dark shade to resemble the shadow of the aircraft flying low over the ground. Markings The rear of the box has the painting and decaling profiles printed in colour, using Humbrol, codes to call out the colours, and red boxed numbers to refer to the decals. From the box you can build the following: Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Starter Set range is intended for a wide audience, with the possible exception of the ‘serious modeller’, but they already have more detailed kits of this type from Airfix and others, so they can’t complain, and we need more modellers in our hobby. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  22. Finally, Finally I will call this Buccaneer done. It's a representation of a Buccaneer of 809 NAS Squadron, stationed at HMS Ark Royal in 1978 at least, that's what Airfix tells me) It took me half a year to build it. Not the fault of the model, it was due to work and other stuff that kept me from building. I know I should prioritise different, but hey, that's life.. All the mistakes on this build are my own wrong doing, my not 20/20 vision and my thick fingers. I would like to also blame the infamous carpet monster, but I don't have a carpet. Still, parts went awol. The kit is very nice to build, only difficulties I had was with the folding wings and the angle of them. Brush painted with enamel EDSG and vallejo light grey. The metallics are done with AK extreme metallic wax. It's not weathered, I need to grow a pair to weather, but as soon as I found them I will give it a try. Photos are not really good, I had a photosession planned outside, but it's raining.. I still need to add Remove before flight things but I couldn't control myself. I had some tips about the Martel missiles and I tried to apply these tips. I added black caps on the nose of the missiles and brass (should be brass, but all I had was copper) cups on the exhausts. Colour bands on the missiles are for a live missile, so black/yellow in front and 2 brown ones in the middle and on the end. The 2 pointed "bullets" on the frontside of the wings are the wrong ones. That's the fault of the carpet monster.. I replaced them with the other option from the box. Here are the photos ( please, have mercy on me😀) I hope you like it. Advice is always welcome!
  23. Airfix is to release in Summer 2021 a 1/48th de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk T.10 kit - ref. A04105 Source: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/new-for-2021/de-havilland-chipmunk-t-10.html V.P.
  24. Finished up my latest build, the 1/72 Spitfire Mk Ia starter set from 2013(?) I tried to add detail using as many of the existing kit parts as possible. I was able to drill out the exhaust manifolds. I cut the kit cockpit door out with a razor saw, and thinned it using a sanding stick. The kit canopy was cut apart with a razor saw, but I ended up cracking the sliding portion while trying to thin it out. I used that portion from a Falcon vacuform canopy. Paint is Vallejo Model Air throughout, topped with Vallejo premium satin varnish. Weathering was done with oils, pastels, Tamiya Weathering Master, and a silver artist pencil. I used Eduard seatbelts, from their "early RAF" 1/72 set. They look off, so I'll likely do a little surgery on the next set I use. The holes in the bulkhead and instrument panel were drilled, and details added. It doesn't really show well, but I made the reflector glass on the gunsight from spare plastic stock. I used the kit decals, supplemented with Techmod stencils. I purposely didn't stencil the "night" wing, as it could have been painted in the field. I also used Uschi rigging wire for the first time. It was nice to work with, but difficult to see! The rigging wire from the mast to the fuselage has since been corrected. It's not perfect, but this was a fun, relaxing build overall. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking!
  25. In Autumn 2022, Airfix is to release a new tool 1/48th Avro Anson Mk.I kit - ref. A09191 Source: https://uk.airfix.com/products/avro-anson-mki-a09191 V.P. For me a Avro Anson C.19/T.21 in the same scale. 🙏 V.P.
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