Search the Community

I've got a few F-104s in the stash...so this is a fine excuse to build one. Hasegawa's venerable 1/48 Starfighter kit repackaged by Eduard with some extra goodies and decals for several operators. A small bit of additional AM will be acquired (some bits already sitting in the cart awaiting payday), likely surrounding engine can, bang seat, pylons & weapons. Not planning anything extravagant, but it wouldn't be the first time things got out of hand. Parts are washed and patiently waiting the start. Realistically it'll be Sunday before I can even look at it...and there is currently a 1/72 Tomcat on the bench vying for space (never mind the F-4EJ Kai & Mig-25 that need to find their way back ). I'm not personally a fan of the special meet markings, so the red & white accents will likely be left off representing a typical line jet.

I kinda wanted to do Croatian MiG-21Bis (as per 'my flag') - but suddenly I felt strong disturbance in the force, I fear that there are too few finished Starfighter kits in the world. So I ended up starting a Canadian Starfighter Being one of the founding countries, I think Canada is a good choice for this GB. And I have not built anything Canadian yet - so that's a bonus (well, technically I have - Avro Canuck - but I did it in Belgian markings). This is the kit. Yes I know it says JASDF on the box but we will fix that. This is not my first Starfighter Nor the last! Kit parts. My favourite 1/72 Starfighter kit. Good basic all around kit with no major problems or issues. Kit instructions and decals. But won't be using these now. We are using these from a kit I made earlier - I converted CF-104 into F-104C build thread here: All lovely schemes! Top one is NMF with red tail. Middle one is nice dark green and on bottom is green/grey camo. I think I will go with option too, the green one I'll be doing this more or less straight from the box - and canopy closed. So the kit details with some decals will suffice. I might add few details to the seat though. Kit comes with clear plastic IP which I don't quite understand how to to make it work. So I will just paint it and use decals instead. If there is a tricky part with the kit - it's the four part fuselage with the intakes added to the mix. There's a lot of seams in one place. This time I try to glue the front and rear fuselage parts together to make sure atleast they fit nicely. Now it's not the easiest thing to do as the connection point is only via top of the fuselage. We will see if it was worth the extra hassle. Adding the intakes makes the package come together but I want to paint he insides first. So left and right side of fuselage are not glued together yet - only the front to rear on both sides. I think this will work out if the mating surface will hold up until I can glue in the intakes. The gun panel is maybe a tad too small on the rear, should have maybe added a thin strip of plasticard for a better fit. We will sort it out later. It seems I got some glue where I didn't want it. Oh well, no biggie as I thought of puttying over the (not so realistic) riveting on the rear fuselage anyways... The thing with Starfighter is to check your references for all the antennas and sensors you need - and don't need. The instructions are actually really good for this, they clearly indicate what to cut and what to keep for each of the schemes. As long as you remember to read them This is the sensor I usually forget to take off - it is RWR sensor for the Japanese F-104 only. Selection of small parts getting ready for primer. Fuel tanks, wings and rest of the bits are taken care of and tidied up - all we are left with is empty sprues So next time we will get into painting!

Oh Canada! So I'm in with this one, to be built OOB with decals from the spares box. Academy F-18A Hornet_box by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr With a Sword and two Frog kits currently on the bench, I cannot wait to start something with decent fit and details! Academy F-18A Hornet_contents by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Decals will be for the 2007 Demo scheme which celebrated 25 years of Hornet service with Canada and are from this kit Thanks for looking, good luck with your builds! Cheers, Dermot

Thought I'd pop my placeholder down for my build. In a departure from my usual RAF WW2 Builds - I'm going to build this 1/48 Hobbyboss Kit as a Royal Canadian Air Force BAe CT-155 Hawk Training aircraft which is part of the NFTC (Nato Flying Training in Canada) at CFB Cold Lake & CFB Moose Jaw Here's the obligatory sprue shots 🙂 Not included in the photos are Montex Canopy Masks, Flying Leathernecks Miniature Detonation Cord, Reskit MB Mk.10LH Ejection Seats and Flightpath ASCI Pod with AIM-9L Sidewinder Looking forwards to this one 🙂 Many regards Matt

BCATP Ansons – British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (48042) 1:48 Iliad Designs Originally designed as a fast mail carrier in the early 30s, the original AVRO design was amended in the mid-30s in response to a specification issued by the Aviation Ministry for a reconnaissance aircraft that could also perform other roles. It beat a similarly militarised De Havilland Rapide and was awarded a contract for series production with the name Anson after an 18th Century Admiral of the Fleet. At the outbreak of war it was still performing its given roles, and was engaged in the Dunkirk evacuation where it surprisingly managed to shoot down two Bf.109s and damage another, as they found the low speed of the Anson hard to gauge, overshooting straight into the line of the nose-mounted .303 machine gun operated by the pilot. She was thoroughly outclassed as a front-line aircraft though, so was soon withdrawn from fighting service to form part of the training fleet, and as a communications ‘hack’. Despite its withdrawal from service, more aircraft were built, and they were used as trainers for radar operators, navigators and as a trainer for pilots that were destined to fly multi-engined bombers. Its replacement in maritime service was the Lockheed Hudson, which had a hugely increased range and speed, the Anson only being capable of a four-hour endurance that prevented it from covering much of the Atlantic or North Sea before it had to turn for home. It could carry a small bomb load however, so could take action if it was to find a U-boat on its travels. Following WWII, Faithful Annie as she became known was used as a civilian and business aircraft, although some of the wooden-winged examples that were used overseas began to suffer from problems due to the humidity’s effect on the timber areas. Not all Ansons had wooden wings though, and some of the wooden winged aircraft were refitted with the improved metal wings, although even these were eventually retired, leaving only one airworthy by the new millennium. This new decal set from Iliad in Canada depicts a variety of airframes in the service of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, training aircrews for the fight in Europe. The sheet arrives in a Ziploc bag on with the decals printed on an A5 sheet of decal paper. There are six decal options included on the sheet with side and top profiles printed on the instructions along with captions and arrowed areas that give additional details to help you make your model more accurate. They are intended to be used with the new Airfix kit, which is the new standard in 1:48. There is an older kit from Classic Airframes in 1:48, but the kit is a much more complex build and only available on the second-hand market. The decals would likely fit though, as they aren’t contoured particularly to any part of the model. The top and bottom profiles are small but able to show sufficient detail to be useful, and these too have detail painting call-outs where necessary. From the sheet you can decal any of the following: Anson Mk.I, 6077 (ex R9878), No.7 AOS (Air Observers School), Portage la Prairie, Manitoba Anson Mk.I, 6117 (ex R9956), NO.4 AOS, London, Ontario Anson Mk.I, 2115 of No.6 AOS, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Anson Mk.I, 6013 (ex RAF N9943), Camp Borden, Ontario Anson Mk.I, 9982, No.6 AOS, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Anson Mk.I, 6067 (ex R9835), Prince Albert, Saskatchewan The decals are printed on a pale blue paper in good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There are some large areas of carrier film between the lettering by necessity, but due to the extremely thin nature of the film it should disappear, especially if you ensure a highly glossy surface before application. Highly recommended. To pick up your set, visit the link below, scroll down, and follow the instructions for purchase Review sample courtesy of

I have seen the name 'George Wittman' listed as a Canadian ace in WW2, with 17 victories. This is a name I am completely unfamiliar with, and can not find any info online. Would anyone have any info on this person and his service? I find it truly odd that he appears on the lists of Canadian aces just below "Woody" Woodward (19.83 victories) and above Willie McKnight (16.5 victories) but there is no indication of which branch he served with, or where. Canadian Aces Thanks, Colin ... update ... It's clear that the problem was the miss-spelling of his last name in the 'Aces' lists. Thanks to JackG for the clarifying link!

This is the Hasegawa F-104, built as a CF-104 using markings from and old (and I mean old!) Modeldecal sheet. This one is augmented with Eduard details and masks, which were definitely well worth it, plus a couple of BLU-27 napalm tanks (slightly modified) from a Hasegawa weapons set as I generally like my models with live (but valid) loads. The base model was an F-104G so, although the Lockheed C-2 seat and the short exhaust nozzle that came with the kit are correct for a Canadian Starfighter, the MLG doors should not be bulged – ah well, I’ll live! Likewise, the leading and trailing edge flaps would not normally be drooped for a Canadian Starfighter on the ground but I think that it adds interest to that distinctive wing to deflect them. The Hasegawa Starfighter is a great kit that goes together nicely and the Modeldecal markings worked beautifully despite their age. Hope you like it ...

Hi there from St Catharines Ontario, along the southern shore of Lake Ontario in Canada. I have been a big fan of Britmodeller for a number of years and enjoyed the variety of kits and fantastic workmanship demonstrated. My main areas of interest of classic aircraft kits from the 60's and 70's and also scifi from the same era. Here is a Revell Spitfire Mk 1 1/32 scale the kit is from 1967. The decals were cracked so replaced them with Eagle Edition decals. The paint is Tamiya. If I was to do it again I I think I would use Humbrol. The fancy stand is from flight pose. Cheers

I am currently building a lovely Cf-18. I like my aircraft to carry a lot of bombs and missiles, but i am unsure about what canadian horners can/do carry... bomb loadouts would be preferred. Thank you in advance

The Canadian Quad gun tractor a fine old kit from yesteryear sits in my build queue and I have a paint question. Presumably the Quad would have been painted in a dark green in Canada then had #61 Light stone applied in a divisional repair shop , correct? If so would the interior and under hood- correction bonnet🙄 -areas be left in the dark green? This of course assumes the Quad in question was delivered for use in North Africa. Well, how thorough were the Royal Army painters? (and would the Canadian army use Royal Army paint standards for the green?)

Hello! These are from last year, at the Edmonton Airshow were I live. The camera I used is a Nikon D7100 and the lens was a Tokina 150-600 mm. Thanks! Jorge

In October and November 1944 Canadian forces fought some of their bloodiest battles of World War 2 as they tried to liberate the entrance to the port of Antwerp. Known as the Battle of the Scheldt this operation involved the 4th Canadian Armoured Division and the 1st Polish Division, as well as British Naval and other units landing on the Islands of Walcheren and South Beveland. Although I usually build 1:72 aircraft, I intend to build several models in 1:72 to commemorate the battle next year (I'm a slow builder). Would anyone know a good source of images of the (armoured) vehicles and tanks that were used by the Canadian forces in this operation? So far my internet searches came up with very few and mostly very grainy images. I also sent a request via the website of IPMS Canada, but to no avail. Many thanks! Peter

Hi All, Finally, I managed to complete the first model for this whole year. Somehow finding time for hobby was especially complex. Hopefully I will now gain some speed and would be up to my building plans next year And it looks like there has been a lack of T-birds recently on this forum so here is another one! This time it’s Canadair CT-133 Silver Star in its earliest version of RCAF markings. Model is built from Sword kit combined with excellent Leading Edge decals. Sword kit requires some effort to allow for clean assembly. The worst thing in Sword’s kit is the canopy. Front screen does not match in shape and width to the main part. So you can either model canopy open or look for a replacement. In my case, my brother helped me with vacuum pressed canopies that he did earlier for his Sword’s F-94 (it has same issue). Some extensive sanding and dry-fitting was required to make sure canopy sits right on the fuselage. Other changes: lower parts of intakes were cut from large lower wings/fuselage part and attached to each of fuselage sides for easier clean up of seams inside of intakes exhaust tube was replaced with a circular one added pitot tube in front of nose gear and fuel discharge tube on the aft starboard beneath the stabilizer sanded fuel tank fillers from outer sides and cut them through in inner sides of fuel tanks Also some mods were required to convert later service period T-33 into an earlier CT-133: equipment cooling vents in front of the canopy were sanded off as these were added later in T-33 life removed 4 of 6 gun port covers (Canadair CT-133’s had actually only two guns!) and drilled out 2 remaining gun ports drilled starter exhaust on the aft port side, removed US-version exhausts repainted some cockpit PE in black Otherwise Sword’s kit is pretty decent for a short run kit. As a benefit, Sword supplies resin gear bays, ejection seats and painted PE fret for cockpit and for some external bits. Resin wheels were the only purchased aftermarket. On to more photoes: And some family shots. First, with its British cousin that was also a very successful conversion of an early jet fighter into a T-bird: and second is my full collection of jets with centrifugal compressor engines - could not stand making a collective shot of fatty (or not that fatty) buddies Thanks for looking! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! Dennis

Canadian Leopard 2a4m of Lord Stratcona's Horse regiment on the ranges at Canadian Forces Base Suffield; Hobbyboss Leopard A4M-CAM, Leopard Work Shop - Arieal mounts, tow shackles and 'velcor' tabs.

Hiya, folks. I finished my Willys, so it's time for something new. This time I decided to build something more modern. I found this Grizzly in my stash. I bought it once in Berlin for a bargain price due to the box damage. It's an easy to build (i hope) model with no interior. It has lotsa mistakes - too bad. I'll try co correct some of them. Here's what's inside the box: But first, the box itself... Rubber tires. Some PE parts. Clear parts. And the sprues. The Hull. I also started on lower hull and suspension. So far everything fits fine, no problems. Some more details added. Some close-ups. As lower hull is nearly done, I'm gonna go for upper one. First I'll fill these 3 holes in the center of the image. They are incorect, the hull should be flat. That is it for now. Cheers. DAwid

Hello everybody, I'm Rob, a recent returnee to scale modelling, and new to this forum. I hale from Winnipeg, Canada, where good hobbies help us cope with dark and cold winters. I see a great deal of inspiring work being shown here, and I hope to show some of my own builds in the near future. Thanks for allowing me to participate. Rob Bye.

A new project. This is a commission job for Champion Towing here in Winnipeg. The truck is a 2015 Peterbilt 367 tri axle with a Century rotator wrecker. The model is being much modified from the First Gear 1/50 Kenworth T880 wrecker. Much of the Kenworth donor truck is die cast. To make a Perbuilt I have to scratchbuild the hood, cab and sleeper along with all the small parts. I was luck and found a PDF Pete manual online with profile drawings and when I printed it, it was almost perfectly 1/50, so I had my pattern. You can see here the start of the hood and the cab side. These are cut from 0.060 sheet. I hope to cast the cab and hood so I can do this again (well maybe), have to learn how to cast the shape of a cab, unless I do it in parts. The grill came off the yellow toy Pete in the backround. It's closer to 1/48. I casted it and shaved about 1/2 mm off each side to narrow it, but i left the height. A long way to go yet. Here's the actual truck.

Hi all! Another appeal to the wise and knowing ;). Does anyone out there know the font used by the RCAF/CAF for serials and codes on, say, the T-33? If so, is it available as a downloadable font?? Thanks in advance. Martin

Leopard 2A4M CAN (Canada) 1:35 HobbyBoss The Leopard 2A4 models were the most widespread of the Leopard 2 family to be built. Featuring an all digital fire control system, and an improved turret. Following the end of the cold war the Dutch and German Armies had large stocks of these tanks which were now not needed. The 2A4M CAN is an upgraded Tank purchased by Canada from Holland. The Tank was upgraded for use in Afghanistan where the Canadians have played an important, if often overlooked part of NATO operations in the region. It was originally planed to upgrade these tanks with the longer L55 gun as used by Canadian 2A6M tanks, however it was found the shorter barrelled gun was more suited to use in Afghanistan. To improve armour protection applique armour such as that found on the new 2A7 tanks was applied along with slat armour to the rear of the tank. Unlike the 2A6M Tanks the slat armour is only on the rear of the 2A4M CAN. The Kit The kit arrives from HobbyBoss in sturdy box with the main hull and turret parts in a segregated end compartment. In addition to the two part main hull and two part turret you get 10 sprues of plastic, 22 small sprues of track links, two photo-etched frets and a 300mm length of brass wire. All the parts are crisply moulded with no sign of flash or mould defects. Of special note is the slat armour provided. This has been moulded quite thin and HobbyBoss actually protect this sprue in a foam layer to stop it being damaged. Construction starts with the wheels. Two return/idler wheels, two driver sprockets and 14 road wheels need to be built up. Each are two part with a poly cap being sandwiched in the middle. In addition four inboard and four outboard return rollers need to be built up. . Once the modeller is finished with the wheels attention turns to the main lower hull. what look to be additional armour plates are added to the lower sloped are and the vertical sides. A large additional armour plate is attached to the bottom. Both sets of return rollers are also added along with the mounting arms for the idler wheels and drive sprockets. The torsion bar ends for the road wheels are also added. The rear of the tank is then added along with all the remaining wheels. Next up the tracks are built. Each side consists of 80 links. The track sprues here contain 8 links per set. According to the instructions the track centres are removed and clipped together with a central linking part. Then the end caps are added while still attached to the sprue. Once attached they can be cut from the sprues. The instructions indicate no glue to be used. The tracks can then be attached to the lower hull. While this all sounds great in reality after completing 8 links it is not that straight forward. The small links which join the track links in the centre are difficult to handle, with tweezers they just ping off an become fodder for the carpet monster so I found its better to do them by hand. It is then best once the centre part is on to lie it flat and join to the next link. The outer end caps are best done one pair of links at a time as its nearly impossible to line up more than one set at a time. While frustrating to put together they do look the part once done. Next up the side applique armour panels are constructed along with various PE parts. Attention then moves to the upper hull. The rear part is added along with various tools on the rear decking. A large applique armour plate is added to the front surrounding the driver copula. The drivers hatch along with light fittings and mirrors are added. The upper and lower hulls can now be joined, and the side armour added. A tow cable utilising the brass wire can be added. Next the rear slat armour is added to the hull. Attention now moves to the turret. The gun, and gun mantle are built up and these are added to the lower turret part. Once in the top and bottom of the turret can be joined. The rear turret bins are made up and added, along with the side mounted smoke dischargers. The side applique armour for the turret is built up and added, along with the rear sections of slat armour. The hatches are added long with various fittings and the machine guns & mount. Lastly the aerial mounts are added. Once complete the turret can be added to the main hull. Decals There is a small sheet of the minimal markings these tanks carried, plus a larger sheet of black rectangles which seem to be all over the tank. Conclusion The quality of the kit is first rate. Although not a widely used variant of the Leopard family it is great to see this one kitted. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This will be my entry for the group build. It's a Mosquito, but with a twist - what I will be doing is a racer version owned by Don McVicar, an icon of Canadian Aviation. He bought a Mossie and fitted it out to compete in the 1948 Bendix race. I will be using this excellent Tamiya 1/72nd scale kit. Decals will be by Thunderbird - I purchased the decals in Telford last November, and have been waiting for the opportunity presented by this group build to get it moving.... (You can read the bones of the story here...more details are in the book mentioned at the end of the decal instructions page) I will, of course, have to "civilianise" the model, as provided in the kit, by removing all military items, and then paint it in this rather interesting cream colour.....(which, according to the decal instructions, approximates to Humbrol 103) I intend to start towards the end of the month....once I can finish the conversion of my attic into a long-awaited "man-cave". The attic was insulated during the autumn, with a pull-down step ladder, and I have been working on it since. Over Christmas, I managed to purchase and assemble some kitchen units, and these provide support to an off-cut of a kitchen worktop, that had been in the garden shed for the past 12 years (since our kitchen was done), This will be be the main modelling surface. Some shelves were added this weekend, as you can see...These should provide places for paints and other items, including all my tools....Still to be done are some more lights, a table for an extractor booth (which I will be ordering in a few days' time), and a chair to sit at while modelling..... See y'all in a couple of weeks.... Philip

This is likely my first or second post here on Britmodeller, and it concerns an F-5 model that is already being built by a number of fine hobbyist's in this campaign. None-the-less, this is the most peaceful, relaxing, and enjoyable hobby I can think of, and I don't feel the duplication should bother anyone. I'm doing mine in the CAF lizard scheme as shown on the boxtop. I have a reference with a pair of decent color photos of that exact aircraft. So mine will be built OOB using the kit decals. Here the prerequsite photos: I'm starting the model this evening, so progress photos should be forthcoming soon. I've been lurking for quite awhile, admiring the outstanding modelling skills of those who frequent this forum. I certainly hope I can hold my ground in the face of the skilled workmanship I see throughout this forum. Glad to be here. Guy

I found out recently that Buffalo Airways' C-46 C-GTXW crashed on Sept 25 2015. She is said to be a write off. Here's the accident report. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20150925-0 Very sad for me because I remember this plane well when she worked for Air Manitoba as "Ancient Lady" until the late '90s along with a few others, DC-3s and HS-748s. I saw her a lot back then thundering low over Winnipeg. I looked on googlemaps at Deline NWT and it looks like a C-46 shape minus wings parked off the runway next to a lodge a short distance from the runway, just very blurry since it's rural.

Since I'm waiting for decals to finish off my F-8s, I'm building a truck. I was commissioned by the KW saleman who sold the actual truck, part of a fleet to Morgan Fuels. Morgan hauls bulk fuel for Esso in southern and central Ontario and sometimes Manitoba. The model is a First Gear KW T880. I was lucky and found it on evibay. I say lucky because the truck originally had a lowboy trailer, the seller had two that he kept the trailers from. I also found an International Durastar with the near correct tank. Making one from the two. I hope to sell the IH and the leftover KW parts and get some money back. The pictures ahow the actual truck(will be #49)and the other shows what I am starting with. Had some fun with the lift axle before removing it, ever wonder what a KW would look like with hydraulics? Here's where it is right now. Lots more trimming than I expected. Lengthened the rear of the tank, this covers the hose reels. When I glue the top and bottom of the tank body, I missed seeing that it should have been a bit taller. No way to cut this up so I had to ad frame rails under the original tank frame. Added to the rear bulkhead, made a new end cap. I couldn't decide to move the under body cabinets back or just cut them off and make new ones, well I cut them off. Most of the worst parts done now. The bag of sand was inside the tank, I guess just to weigh it down for the die cast effect? Also shown is the test page for the decals.

Finally got this Busch 1/87 GM bus finished. Here's the link to the WIP page. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234985178-ho-gm-fishbowl-bus/

Venturas in Canada 4 1:48 & 1:72 Aviaeology by Skygrid Studio This decal set is for post war Venturas used in Canada for Bombing & gunnery training, as well as Target Tugs. The sheet features marking for two B&G trainers, and two Target Tugs. As usual with sets from Aviaeology there are copious instructions. To be honest for me they are in very small print on photocopied pages which are not the best to read. Different styles of national markings are provided given the changes at this time in the RCAF. Full details of these are provided in the text. The decals are printed on a pale blue background with a slightly mottled patina, and are of good quality as you'd expect. Registration, colour density and sharpness are up to snuff, just as you'd expect and the clear carrier film is pretty tight to the edges of the printing. Conclusion If you are a fan of all aviation things Canadian, want something a little different, or you are a big fan of stripes then these decals are for you. Recommended. 1:72 1:72 Review sample courtesy of