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This was my build for the Britmodeller, 2020, Battle of Britain Group Build. The Hurricane is from the Airfix 1/48, Ready for Battle Gift Set. The only things I added extra were the motor - to run the prop, the aerial wire and the pilot figure which is, I think, from the Airfix Seafire kit. I thoroughly enjoyed the build even though the kit has to be carefully assembled due to some tight tolerances. This Gift Set was a birthday present from a colleague at work a few years ago - so I would like to say a big thank you for the very thoughtful gift. Kit: Airfix 1/48 Ready For Battle Gift Set Paints: Humbrol, Revell, Citadel, Vallejo acrylics all applied by paint brush Extras: miniature motor and plasticard for supporting the motor plus a hair for the aerial wire. The WIP can be found HERE The vignette photos can be found HERE Please excuse the electrical wires in these first photos. The wires are for the motor and, as can be seen lower down, they pass through the base under the wheels once the aircraft is in place on the base. These were taken against a white background and without the prop working: [ The next set of photos are of the Hurricane with the prop motor running and with it on my Spitfire display base - which has a photographic sky background: Next a couple of photos of the Hurricane with some of the ground crew and smaller equipment from the set: More photos of the vignette can be found HERE Finally a big thank you must go to the fantastic hosts of the GB and to everyone who took the time to comment or offer advice in my WIP thread. Kind regards, Stix EDIT - 16/10/20: @Troy Smith, in a post further down this page, kindly posted one of my photos alongside a photo of the actual aircraft. The photo of the actual aircraft was this one: Apart from the angle being a little low, the photo of mine was pretty similar - except it was in colour........so: I figured I could also do the same with a similar view but with the ground crew around: ...and while I was about it I did a few others: Kind regards, Stix

Hi all - here's my latest project - Tamiya's Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik in 1:72 scale. Build out of box in in the Soviet 1945 scheme - only aftermarket was some Eduard canopy masks, which made a huge difference to the finished product. Brush painted in mix of Vallejo and Revell acrylics. Overall a beautiful kit with lots of nice touches that make the modeller's life easier. Minimal filler required. Took me about 2 months, which is very quick for me - and that included about 2 weeks of waiting for canopy masks to be delivered, and a repaint of the grey which was initially too light. Only thing to note would be that the instructions require you to add the landing gear very early in the build - but I don't think there's any way round it. Enjoy!

This was my build for the Leopard STGB - which still has about a week left to run - if you'd like to catch up with some more Leopards in production! I got the kit quite a while back, for quite a good price on Amazon - there was a good price reduction on it at the time. It was actually a good kit to build, apart from the tracks, which were made up of 4 parts per link and 80 plus links per side! Track building was a bit tedious at times and very fiddly. The bar/slat armour was also a bit fiddly to attach. Hobby Boss suggest this kit is how Canadian Leopards served in Afghanistan, but, according to some modelling reviews online, it is unlikely that the Leopard 2A4M served in Afghanistan with bar/slat armour fitted but without Barracuda MCS on the hull and turret. Hobby Boss do not include the Barracuda. So, rather than me doing a lot of desert weathering, I've done minimal weathering to the (rather boring) finish which is only enlivened, a bit, by the Velcro patches, that would normally hold the Barracuda camo in place. The Velcro patches are supplied as decals - which, now I think about it, were also very tedious to apply!! So, overall, I have attempted to portray this tank as it perhaps appeared during trials, in either Canada or Germany. I know I could have left off the bar/slat armour and made the tank as it appeared when they returned home, after 2011, but, I figured, I'd paid good money for the bar/slat armour and was going to use it! As I said, I actually enjoyed the build, despite the tracks, Velcro decals and attaching the bar/slat armour being a bit a bit of a pain at times! Kit: HobbyBoss 1/35 Paints: Humbrol and Revell Acrylics all applied by brushes The only extras applied to this model were the aerials. My Work in Progress thread can be found: HERE So onto the photos: Some slightly closer views: So, if you read any of my introduction, above, you'll know I decided not to make this as the HobbyBoss suggested version - based in Afghanistan, in the desert - but as a possible version that was undergoing trials before deployment to Afghanistan. So I used my standard sky backdrop with some grass matting for some photos: Finally, I must thank Craig @modelling minion for suggesting and hosting the Leopard GB and everyone who took the time to comment and make suggestions in my build thread. I'm off to the 'I Feel Deserted' GB next. Hopefully see some of you there. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

This will be my first GB build for quite a while and I'm also acting as co-host for @modelling minion, so it could be a busy time! I'm going to attempt to build this kit in the three months of this STGB: There's a LOT of parts in the rather large box!………….and the tracks have to be built up with 4 parts for making each link and 80 links per side! Could be fun!! I'm looking forward to getting started next weekend. Kind regards, Stix

Mosquito FB Mk.VI MM417 EG-T No. 487 Squadron RNZAF Based at Hunsdon, Hertfordshire in February/March 1944 This 1/72 Tamiya Mosquito was my build for the De Havilland Mega GB that is currently taking place down in the GB section of Britmodeller. Ever since seeing the film '633 Squadron' as a youngster I always loved the Mosquito although, oddly enough, I don't think I've ever made a model of one before. I decided fairly early on in the project that I wanted to show the aircraft in flight so I purchased some new miniature motors - the Airfix motors I already had wouldn't fit inside the Mosquito's 1/72 engine nacelles. This also meant I would need a base to support it in flight so I also decided to make a small vignette on this base. The aicraft itself served with 487 Squadron from 29 February 1944 to 26 March 1944. On the 26th March she was lost while leading the attack on coastal defense emplacements which were under construction at Les Hayes and was hit by flak during the mission. Wing Commander I S Smith was forced to crash land back at Hunsdon. The crew survived but the aircraft was wrecked. Kit: 1/72 Tamiya De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI/NF Mk.II Extras: Eduard Zoom Set SS137 plus two mini coreless magnetic motors Paints: Humbrol, Revell, Citadel and Railmatch Acrylics - all applied by brush Base: Zvezda Snap-fit German Howitzer and a Wilko's picture frame WIP: Here Vignette base photos: Here Shaky YouTube video: Here I really am sorry about the amount of photos! It is such a photogenic aircraft - I actually took about 3x as many as this and it took me ages yesterday to whittle them down to these. This first set of photos were taken against a white backdrop: The following set show the Mosquito in relation to the base: A few to give a sense of the Mosquito overhead: And finally, for this set, just one of the base itself: I have posted a few more photos of the base itself in the Diorama and Vignette section - here Believe it or not I have taken yet more photos - this time against a sky background - but I will put those in a separate post below. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Hi all - here's my most recent project, Eduard's MiG-15bis in 1:72 scale, from their 7461 Weekend Edition boxing. It's in the colours of a Soviet Air Force aerobatic team, flown by Major V.M. Fokin in 1951. All brush painted with Vallejo acrylics, everything OOB. This 'weekend edition' took me the best part of 3 months - partly due to my very incremental personal modelling rhythm, but also due to a number of frustrations: Construction - Reading others' experiences of this kit mad me aware that I would probably have alignment issues with the nose - despite extensive dry fitting, this was very much the case. Boatloads of Milliput needed and all the attendant filing, sanding, rescribing, etc. Not why any of us got into modelling is it! Painting - My paint for the dark blue upper surfaces was Vallejo's Model Air 71313 Dark Mediterranean Blue. A very pretty colour but the worst coverage of any paint I have ever used. Could hjave been a duff batch but even straight out of the bottle it was watery and rubbish. I must have put on about 10-15 coats and it's still translucent under bright light. As a brush painter you live or die by the coverage of your paint and this was awful. It also made touch-ups very difficult... you really don't want to be doing 10 coats of paint to touch up some masking imperfections! Stencils - Par for the course with Eduard but there were a crazy amount of stencils, which took the best part of a week to complete at my pace. Nothing to be done really but it does suck the life out of a project a little. The red stencils do look good on the dark blue though. Canopy masking - I use Mr Masking Sol R. Normally produces acceptable results but for some reason here it performed really badly - when demasking I lost huge chunks of paint from the canopy frame (more dark blue to repaint, lol) and I was left with a jagged edge on other parts if it. Next time I will just cough up and buy the precut masks. Varnish - I wanted a nice shiny finish. Given the subjecr was from an aerobatic unit we can assume the VVS would have kept these birds pretty clean. I used Mr Super Clear gloss, but I really wasn't happy with the results - not a smooth finish and looks grainy under the light (I did polish between coats so I did everything I could to keep it shiny). Could have been user error but I think next time I need a glossy finish I will just go with a single coat of satin. All that said - the MiG-15 is a beautiful aircraft and it's an unusual scheme. I wouldn't recommend the Eduard kit to an inexperienced modeller and I wouldn't recommend the dark blue paint to anyone! I think it came out OK-ish in the end as long as you don't look at it too closely 😅 I've also added a couple of comparison pics with an Airfix MiG-17 I built a couple of years ago. I think seeing it next to the familar shape of the 15 makes the crescent-like 17 look even cooler and otherworldly...

Finally finished the second part of my large diorama Liebe Deinen Nacthsten/Love thy neighbour and now hopefully Part one will make more sense. 20 figures, tamiya m8 greyhound, m10 wolverine, willys jeep. Its scratch built building and base and its all brush painted. I used the mini art garage set and beer bottles crates, the czech hedgehog is from Tamiya and barb wire from yan models, the rest I made. The figures are tamiya, mini art with hornets heads, bravo six and royal models. I adapted the some of the figures, the jeep driver had his arm remoulded to be the machine gunner on watch outside the gasthoff, the M10 gun loader is the m8 beer loader! The m10 gunner is now the jeep mechanic. I added a walking stick and bag to the civilian. Took a year on and off for both parts to complete. All feedback welcome. I added the camo net, made from a hair net and treated moss I made the sandbags from milliput and the rickety stowage holder from styrene. The guy with dark hair and his back turned is cheating at cards, note the cards tucked under his elbow! The back: A few pics of how part one fits in with part two: These guys have started realise that their neighbours might not just be so friendly as they hear the Glen Miller being played from nextdoor. I made it so that the two parts of the broken church steeple fit together once both boards are lined up: The link to part one is below: Sorry its bit photo heavy and the quality of my pics aren't great as I really need to upgrade my camera at some stage. All the best for now, Paul

Hi everyone! Here's my latest little test piece - Airfix's very nice 1/48 P40 Warhawk. The plastic is a bit soft, but the detail is pretty good and it was a very pleasant build overall. I'd heard that the engine panels could be a bit of a challenge, so I deviated from the destructions and stuck them in/on before putting the fuselage together and it worked out fine. This was built as a demonstration of simple, out of the box building - no aftermarket and no fancy tools like an airbrush, so it's all brush painted. The idea was to video the build as a guide to beginners who don't have/can't afford the fancy stuff or who are just starting out. I was inspired to do this after meeting a young, next gen (11 year old) model fan, so thanks Jasper, for your enthusiasm and encouragement! The videos can be seen on youtube here if anyone's interested..... modelmate's model tips - YouTube

My latest completion.......another lovely 1/48 kit from Tamiya. I've opted to try my cleanest whitewash finish so far. On previous winter camo AFVs, I've tried to make the whitewash look more worn. This time I tried to make the whitewash look less faded, but still like the Stug has been in use with it on for a while. As I'm hindering helping @modelling minion with his Leopard STGB, at the end of May, I decided to stop at this point, rather than risk adding stowage, other figures or a base - which may have taken me another few weeks to complete. At some point in the future I might try to do something more with this model, but we'll see. The only extras I added to the kit in the box were some Hauler PE grills, some Vallejo Snow product and a couple of brush bristles. As usual, everything was painted with thinned acrylic paints applied with a variety of actual brushes! The Work In Progress thread for this build can be found HERE Thank you to all the people that took the time to comment in my build thread. Next up - I will be making the Hobby Boss Leopard 2A4M CAN in @modelling minion's Leopard STGB, which starts at the end of May. If you would like to take part in the Group Build, more details can be found here: Hope to see lots of you there!! Kind regards, Stix

Hi all Finally managed to finish a build. It was a really nice kit to build, Decals were a different matter. No matter what I used I could not get them to settle or matt down. Did a bit of weathering with pigments, think I need more practice! Brush painted with Revell Aqua paints. Enjoy photos. Cheers Andy

Having recently finished my first kit in quite a while, the photos of the finished model can be found here, I decided I'd like to continue with another Stug from the stash....this time the G version. So this will be the kit I'm building: This is currently the version I'm planning on making it as: When I was first looking through the stash, I actually assumed the base colour of this version was the usual German tank grey, but, when I got the kit out to wash it with warm soapy water, I realised that the whitewash on it was actually applied over the base colour of Dunkelgelb. This could be interesting. I have done a couple of whitewashed tanks over the years, but usually over a darker base colour. So I will wait and see how it goes. Usual contents of the box photos: Closer views: The details look quite good, although I am aware, from a couple of reviews of this kit, that some details are missing from the upper hull. I may try sort out these missing details if I can. The included figure should look okay when painted: There are two of these sprues: The dreaded metal lower hull: ....perhaps 'dreaded' is a bit of a strong term, but I know some modellers don't like them. I'd prefer a plastic lower hull but usually get on with these okay - although on my last Stug the front of the metal tub was bowed outwards and the model required some filler. Last one: Decal sheet: Sample of the instructions: The one I'm thinking of making it as: I've also got the Hauler grill set for this model: Looks like there's some nicely gone grills: The sprues have been washed in warm soapy water and are currently drying. Hopefully I'll be able to get it started soom. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Hi all - first time poster, long time lurker. Here's a ICM Soviet Air Force MiG-25RB in 1:72 scale I finished last week. Brush painted with Vallejo acrylics, everything OOB - apart from the seat which is an Eduard aftermarket part for a MiG-21 - from looking at references it looked identical to the 25's. I'm a slow builder at the best of times but this build took far, far longer than it should have done (an embarrassing number of months, especially as I only work on one project at a time). I had a lot of alignment issues with the fuselage, which seemed far too complicated a design to me. Lots of sanding and fettling required - hopefully not too obvious in the finished product. Was also slowed down by the crazy amount of tiny stencils. But overall I'm happy with the end product, of an extremely cool plane.

This is my first kit completion for more than half a year! I decided I wanted to do something fairly straight forward to get me back into the hobby and this 1/48 Tamiya Stug was just the ticket. The only things I added as extras were the PE grills from Hauler, a bristle from a paintbrush, some cotton and a bit of stowage from a part used Tamiya Jerry Can set. As usual, everything was painted with a variety of paint brushes, as I don't own an airbrush. I only use acrylic paints, mainly from Revell, Humbrol, RailMatch and Citadel. I use water to thin all my paints. The mud product was from Vallejo. The Work In Progress thread, if you are interested, can be found HERE. The photos above were taken against a plain white backdrop. The photos below were taken with the model on a grass mat with a sky photo backdrop: I really enjoyed the build and, as you might have guessed, I also enjoyed taking ALL the photos of it. Part of the enjoyment of this hobby for me is trying to get reasonable photos of my builds. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and offer suggestions in my build thread. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. I am hopefully going to soon start another 1/48 Stug build, but this time the Ausf.G version, again from Tamiya. Kind regards, Stix

Well……… It’s been a while….. ........what do mean you hadn't noticed?!! From somewhere near the middle of last year, I seemed to be struggling with a range of things which prevented me from doing any modelling or being on Britmodeller. I’m not going to bore anyone with the details of the latter, but this project is, I’m hoping, going to get me back into gluing bits of plastic together as a hobby. I did attempt a dual build ‘offline’ but I quickly realised I wasn’t into the project and so stopped. As a result, I didn’t feel I could contribute much to the conversations on Britmodeller either, so only dropped in occasionally to check on some bits and pieces. There has been some brilliant modelling going on in my absence. Now this build may result in some regular postings, or they may be few and far between. It may just fizzle out. I can’t promise I’ll be checking in on other people’s builds too often either. I will just have to see how it goes. One of the things I have changed is where I’m doing my model building. I do still have my space upstairs in a back room, but a combination of things made me less interested in sitting up there. Instead I’ve gone back to how it was, before I had the space upstairs. My modelling ‘stuff’ is in a single box file and I’m planning on doing my modelling on the dining room table: When I originally got back into the hobby and first joined Britmodeller, most of the building I did was on the kitchen counter. Mrs PlaStix is okay with me cluttering up the table! She plans on doing some of her builds/other hobbies there too. So, as you can see from the above two photos, I have opted for what I’m hoping will be a fairly straightforward kit to make: The contents of the box seem up to Tamiya's usual standard: Sample of the instructions: My plan is that, initially, I'm only going to add these grills to the base kit although I may add some stowage as well: As you may have noticed above, I have made a bit of a start: After I'd got the above parts cleaned up - seam lines, etc. removed with a scalpel blade and wet'n'dry paper - I got the bits glued on and then gave them their first coat of paint. It's Revell's Acrylic Panzergrau, (Tank Grey - 78) very thinned with water and applied with a medium flat brush: Tyre seams cleaned off and paint applied in the same way: Track parts given a thinned coat of Revell's Anthracite, applied in the same way with a flat brush: Then I gave all the Panzergrau painted parts a wash of very, very thinned Revell's Gunship Grey before using a very fine pointed brush to apply thinned Anthracite in and around all the details. Then, once dry, I dry brushed on some Gunship Grey to pick out some of the details followed by some dry-brushing of Revell's light grey in some areas - again to pick out some detail: I did the same processes with the hull: The track parts were first given a dry-brushing of Humbrol's Gunmetal before having a thinned wash of Humbrol's Desert Yellow 93 applied: And that's where I'm up to. I seem to be getting on okay with it at the moment, so I'll wait and see what happens as it progresses, if it does. Comments and suggestions welcomed. Kind regards, Stix

Hi all, Here is my FT-17. Its the 1/35 meng kit. This was a joy to make. Its all brush painted. Filters done with oils and mud was made from a homemade solution. Any feedback welcome. Shot of the inside before assembly: I very loosely based it from this pic below, just liked the way it had randomly hit or had been pushed into a tree. Shot prior to weathering: Thanks for looking, Paul

Hi all Thought I would show a few pics of my latest build, the Russian T35 heavy tank by Hobbyboss. As you can see construction is nearly complete, as is the basic paint job. I have left off a few parts, like the boarding ladders and frame antenna, as they were not shown in the reference photos. I have made a small mistake and fitted the early style of drivers hatch rather than the late on that is not even mentioned in the instructions! The kit has been brush painted in Revell Aqua 65 which is the closest colour I had to Russian 4BO. This is the first Hobbyboss kit I have built, and I have to say I am pretty impressed. Although I can't speak for the kit's accuracy, it has been a fun build (apart from a few self-inflicted photo etch issues!) and it builds into an impressive model. Enjoy photos Cheers Andy

Hi all, Really looking forward to this project. I usually like making 1/35th kits in GBs but, whem I'm hosting the GB as well, I try to go for something a little more straight forward, so I decided on this kit: I got it unpacked over the weekend to give the parts a wash in warm soapy water. This is what's in the box: A few closer views: The instructions: To make things slightly more complicated for myself I discovered these aftermarkets sets: I've also got some figures and stowage I could use, if I get time! Kind regards, Stix

Kit: Airfix A55204 1/72 de Havilland Vampire T.11 Paints: Tamiya 🤢 Time: who knows For everything else: Mastercard Picked up this little kit for pretty cheap and it's been one of my most favourite kits that I've made so far. Not only does it fix extremely well but there was sufficient challenge that I felt like it improved me as a modeller. The paint sat well and didn't require 50 coats to get a decent colour like some of the Revell kits that I've noticed when using Tamiya paints. Even the decals were fun to apply and just gave the model that chef's kiss. I debated trying some different weathering techniques but didn't want to ruin a model that I thought was looking sexy. My only regret is not applying a stand to it.

I apologise for being a bit late to the party @TEMPESTMK5. It's a Spitfire STGB!! Can't miss out on one of these. I had intended to be more organised and build Eduard's 1/72 Mk.IXc Late ProfiPACK Version but it's a beautiful and quite complex kit and I have another GB I want to take part in which starts in a few weeks time. So, rather than building the Eduard kit in a rush, I have opted for Airfix's less complex kit that I picked up about seven years ago for the princely sum of £6.99! It was an impulse buy from Geoff's Toys in Loughborough - a shop that sadly no longer exists! The impulse I had was that I wanted to buy a kit!! However, when I was searching through the stash for something to build, other than the the Eduard kit, I found this Mk.22 kit and it already had, in the box, the Eduard PE set for this kit that I must have picked up for it at some point! So I will be building a slightly enhanced version of the Airfix kit. Actually I'm quite pleased to have a good reason to make this kit. There's a chance it would have otherwise sat in the stash for quite a while before I got around to making it. I'm intending to make it as the 607 (County of Durham) Sqn. PK553/RAN/4 Cooper Trophy Air version from Farnborough in July 1948. Edit - 03/05/20 - I may now make the standard version as the racing version seems a lot more common as finished models out there! We'll see...……. I'm hoping to get started tomorrow. A few photos - box art: Just to show where I purchased it from and how much I paid!: This is the Eduard set that was in the box when I opened it up. I had forgotten I had purchased any AM for this kit: And this is the actual PhotoEtch: Kind regards, Stix

It's been an odd year again and I've got no-where near the amount of models completed that I used to achieve a few year's ago. I did, however, enjoy all of these builds. As always, the paint on my builds is all applied with good old fashioned brushes (the ones with hairs/bristles!!). I don't own an airbrush as I have no-where suitable to use one. The first completion of 2021 is a bit of a cheat - as the Pz.III itself was completed right at the end of 2020, but the vignette wasn't finished until early in January of this year. Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.N - Tank No.04 Tunisia 1942 - Tamiya 1/48 The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here My first proper build of 2021 was Meng's Toon Panzer III - which I built to fill the gap between the Pz.III, above, and the start of the Pz.III STGB - which started at the beginning of February this year. Panzer III - Meng Toon The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here For the Pz.III STGB, which I hosted, I built one in 1/35: StuG.III F/8 Early Production - Dragon 1/35 The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here The next two completed builds from this year were made in the "Less Than A Tenner" GB, which I also hosted. 1/72 Dragon T-34/76 Mod.1941 Cast Turret The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here Zvezda Soviet Tank Destroyer SU-100 Snap Kit 1/72 The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here Next up was another tank, this time in the French Fancy GB, which I wasn't hosting! AMX-13 Light Tank - Tamiya 1/35 The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here My final completion of the year (so far*) was my only aircraft build of the year: Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I - VY-G The WIP can be found here The RFI thread can be found here And that's it! I'm counting it as 6 1/4 completions! * The 'so far' is because there is a chance I will have another build completed by the end of the year, but, at the moment - it only looks like this!!: I might have some time over the Christmas period to work on it...….we'll see...… Thank, as always, to all the modellers who have taken the time to comment and offer advice on my builds. Comments and suggestions welcome. I hope everyone has a Very Merry Christmas and A Very Happy New Year. Take care and stay well. Kind regards, Stix

The 38(t)s used by the Germans were originally ordered by the Czechoslovak Army from a manufacturer called CKD, but the German occupation of Czechoslovakia prevented the order from being delivered. The German Army liked the design and eventually over 1,400 were made. These tanks were equipped with the 3.7cm KwK38(t)L47.8 gun and had 25mm thick armour on the turret, fighting compartment and glacis. The Ausf.E/F versions, of which there were 525 made between November 1940 and October 1941, had thicker armour of 50mm on the front of the turret, fighting compartment and glacis as well as 30mm on the turret sides and hull. They saw action in Poland, France and the invasion of Russia as well as in other areas and the chassis design would eventually be used for other AFVs including the Marder III. This is my most recently completed build. It’s a lovely kit from Tamiya and I thoroughly enjoyed making it. The kit itself is OOB but I have added an aerial, some stowage and made a simple base for it. As usual it is all brush painted. Kit: Tamiya 1/35 No.369 Paints: All Acrylics: Revell, Humbrol, Citadel, Railmatch – all applied by brushes Extras: Redog Resin Stowage, thread, paintbrush bristle, Vallejo European Mud and Vallejo European Mud and Grass, 2mm MDF board, pizza box styrene, Gaugemaster Grass Matt, Army Painter Grass Tufts, Wilco picture frame WIP: HERE A couple of scenic version photos of it “in country”: More of these photos can be found: HERE The majority of the photos here are just of the tank itself against a white background: Some slightly closer views: And some with the turret rotated: This is how it looks on it’s base but without the sky photo backdrop: And on its final, photo-frame base: Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and make suggestions in my build thread. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix PS – Please remember the M3/M4 Medium Tank STGB II starts on Saturday 19th March 2022. More details can be found here:

Having recently finished my only aircraft build of the year, I have decided to build a small 1/35 AFV to round out the year. With the Christmas holidays approaching I'm hoping I might get it finished by the start of the New Year. I have a number of light tanks in the stash but opted for the 38(t) as I'd built Tamiya's 1/48 version back in 2015 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. This is how the 1/48 version turned out: The 38(t)s used by the Germans were originally ordered by the Czechoslovak Army from a manufacturer called CKD, but the German occupation of Czechoslovakia prevented the order from being delivered. The German Army liked the design and eventually over 1,400 were made. These tanks were equipped with the 3.7cm KwK38(t)L47.8 gun and had 25mm thick armour on the turret, fighting compartment and glacis. The Ausf.E/F versions, of which there were 525 made between November 1940 and October 1941, had thicker armour of 50mm on the front of the turret, fighting compartment and glacis as well as 30mm on the turret sides and hull. They saw action in Poland, France and the invasion of Russia as well as in other areas and the chassis design would eventually be used for other AFVs including the Marder III. This is a photo of the box art for the 1/35 kit I will be using: I got the kit parts washed in warm soapy water this morning and I'll post some photos of the sprues in a day or so and I'm hoping to make a start on construction next weekend. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Hurricane Mk.I VY-G of No. 85 Squadron, RAF, Advanced Striking Force, Lille-Seclin, France, May 1940 It's been a while since I have posted a completed aircraft build in this section. I've mostly been making AFVs in the GB area. This will be my only aircraft build of this year and it's actually one I started in a GB back in 2016! After I had finished the last of my current projects in the GB section earlier this year, I decided I'd like to finish this, partially started, Hurricane. My original GB project had been to make two Hurricanes - one taking off and one on the ground. I completed the taking off version but ran out of time with this one. I enjoyed finishing off of this build but it's taken a lot longer than I thought it would. The kit is lovely, if a little flawed in places. I added most of the parts from the Eduard PE set designed for this kit and also replaced the four spoke wheels with replacement 5 spoke, resin wheels from CMK. I have also done a bit of extra work on the kit, to correct some of the issues, and the WIP for this build can be found here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235100221-back-into-the-hurricane-mki-airfix-172/ As always, all the paint was applied by paint brush. Kit: Airfix 1/72 A01010 Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Extras: Eduard Photoetch Set, CMK Corrections 5 Spoke Resin Wheels Set, Lead Wire and 1 strand of hair Paints: Humbrol, Revell and Citadel Acrylic Paints all applied by brush. The first few photos were taken against a sky photo background with some Gaugemaster Grass Mat on the base: This set of photos were taken against a white background: A few closer views: I have made the canopy so it can be removed to see into the cockpit: …..but it's still difficult to get a photo of the detail in there - so I have included a few photos here of the cockpit during the assembly stages: And some photos in Sepia: Finally - this is how the completed 'taking off" version looked back in 2016: More photos of this model can be found here: Well I enjoyed my one aircraft build of 2021 and I must try and make a few more aircraft in 2022! Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

This was my build for the French Fancy GB which is still running in the GB area. I bought this kit when it first came out in 2016 and it's one I had been looking for an excuse to build for quite a while and the French Fancy GB gave me the perfect opportunity to get it made. I always thought this was an interesting looking vehicle - a little bit different from the norm. It was a typical Tamiya kit and I found it to be quite a relaxing project - the tank itself is completely OOB - although I have made a small base for it. Rather than my usually worn and muddy weathering, with this one, I decided to go for the 'in use' look - with some worn edges and a bit of dust here and there. According to Wikipedia: The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and reliable chassis, it was fitted with an oscillating turret built by GIAT Industries (now Nexter) with revolver type magazines, which were also used on the Austrian SK-105 Kürassier. Including prototypes and export versions, there are over a hundred variants including self-propelled guns, anti-aircraft systems, APCs, and ATGM versions. The Wikipedia page for the AMX-13 can be found: HERE Kit: Tamiya 1/35 Kit No. 35349 Paints: Humbrol, Revell, Vallejo, Citadel and Railmatch acrylics all applied by brush Base: Wilko picture frame, picture frame backing board MDF from a larger frame, Polystyrene, emery paper, Woodlands Scenics Blended Turf, Army Painter grass tufts/flowers and a Tamiya road sign. The Work In Progress thread can be found HERE A few closer views: A few with the turret at different angles: A few on it's base: And a couple with a sky background: Finally a big thank you to the hosts of the French Fancy GB and to everyone who took the time to comment in my build thread. Comments and suggestions welcome. Kind regards, Stix

Operation Veritable was succinctly summarised as being of 'Mud and Mines' and so I wanted to do diorama which summed this up. Took around 3 months of fairly continuous work, my first 1/35 models ever (seems like 'first' is all I ever say but I had started modelling back in March this year, in 1/72 scale.) Its brush painted and mostly scratch built. I built the base, signage, ground works, vegetation, the booby trapped mine and mines, fence, tree stump, scarecrow, some of the carriers stowage (the sandbags, areal with flag, the satchels with the maps, the bag in the back and the roll sacks). Some of inspiration and ref pics below: Ok so obviously not a UC but gave me the initial idea: This is the 9th Camaronians in the Reichswald. Note the general detritus at the road side, including a ripped out door frame. http://ww2talk.com/index.php?attachments/br-offensive-n-holland-27-jpg.186292/ This is taken from Holland but helped with the water effects: Also from the Reichswald (not sure of the unit): The 2nd Argyll's in Normandy (where gecko got their idea for the figures from). Now onto the dio itself: My initial sketch: Barely make out the dropped rifle under the murky water (top right). The bag pipes came with a decal which I would never have been able to fit so I ended up painting the tartan on. Its a difficult balance to strike with regards to the mines as I had to try make them be seen, as they were the whole point and title but also not very obvious to spot which would have been realistic to the soldiers in the piece. Hopefully your might be just able to make them out in the above and below pic (Their was four in total but really only three ended up visible. Played with a cold filter for the pic below: Note the booby trapped mine under sarge sten gun's boot. The link wire cutting across the front of the resin water, in front of the ducks Thanks for viewing. Paul.