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Congratulations to Avis for releasing this fantastic, futuristic plane of the Golden Age of aviation. Not only a civil subject to break the routine of drab military machines, but a plane with a revolutionary design and a very appealing shape. The kit itself requires thorough cleaning and some prodding here and there, nothing extraordinary, though, and something we modelers are used to with these kits from smaller manufacturers. I replaced the kit's nose decals, with Arctic Decals items. Otherwise the kit's decals and masks behaved very well. I cut and lowered the flaps, added a couple of missing mass balances and elevator control horns with their cables, besides a Pitot probe and navigation lights. I also discarded the kit's exhausts parts and made new ones from metal tube. The engine nacelle fronts that came plugged in the kit were hollowed and mock engines were added inside. I am pleased beyond words (although I had nothing to do with it) that a subject that I scratched many years ago for sheer love of the machine, is now available to the modelers in the form of a fairly detailed, affordable kit. So here it is a plane that may have looked like a space ship in its time, when biplanes were aplenty on the skies. Shelton, the designer, was no doubt a refined visionary, unfortunately hindered by the financial doldrums of his time. He created a memorable plane that whispered "streamline" to the ears of the incredulous bystanders.

It's difficult to recognize the future when it is in the present. As with other many cases in aviation history (and History at large), the American (Shelton) AG-4 Gyro Crusader arrived too soon. Eight years ago, attracted by its aspect, between futuristic and comic book, I made a scratch-built model of the AG-4 Gyro, thinking that there was no chance that any manufacturer would ever issue a kit of it. I am glad I was proven wrong, so others can enjoy the incredibly modern looks of this remarkable plane, created in 1933 and flown in 1935. My scratch of 10 years ago: Here a clip of its test flight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xifECLKFc I will quote myself from that build of long ago -since this house policies preclude me from posting a link to my scratch-build, located somewhere else-: "The retro-futuristic look and curvaceous, graceful lines of the Shelton American Gyro Crusader whisper in your ear “streamlining” and “teardrop”. To anyone familiar with the Bauhaus school of design it wouldn’t be a surprise if this one would have come up from their workshops, but it didn’t. It is actually an American design –many of you already knew it, since the answer is in the question- that had the misfortune of seeing the light of day in the hard post-depression years. Nevertheless the one and only machine built attracted a lot of publicity, the attention of the general public and some remarkable personalities, Amelia Earhart among them. During its life the Crusader had some changes in its landing gear and props and also in the variety of images applied mainly to its nose. In some images its surfaces seem to appear without any inscriptions or images, though. A good reference is: "Crusader: The Story of the Shelton Flying Wing" by Alexander Roca." So we have now the Avis kit in what it came to be known as short run technology. It has, as we all know, its pros and cons. We get those models unlikely to be cater for by the industry giants at an -in general- reasonable price, and we have to deal with something that occupies our modeling skills in a perhaps more demanding and certainly less complacent manner, cleaning flash, refining parts, dealing with the lack of locating devices and some vague fit. So be it. Resealable bag, I like that: Parts' array: Masks included: Decals (will talk about them later): Transparencies. Fair, if not precisely crystalline: The limitations of the media, but nothing a modeller can't deal with...with some skill and patience: Some cleanup is ahead... Instructions, well printed, in good paper, with a few vague points: Transparencies cleaned, washed, given some floor polish: The coffee mesh in which all those parts, especially the very small ones, are washed after the cleanup. Do not lose them!: Parts cleaned up. And man do they need cleanup: Not the sharpest of molds: Again, the fixes seem easy enough: The engine fronts also need a serious cleanup. Not sure if they attempted here to represent the things behind the openings, or these are just plastic blobs. In any case I will open those up and simulate the engine inside:

I recently finished this off in the B-25 STGB and thought I'd share the results here. It's the new Airfix B-25C/D converted to a J and then converted again to a firebomber that crash-landed in Alaska, and is now being restored to flight. It was a lot of work to do the conversion (there's more differences between the D and the J than I thought!) but I thoroughly enjoyed it You can find the build here: Anyway, on with the pictures!! Some details: And finally, some more artistic shots with the piece of the real aircraft, and on a VFR sectional chart of Alaska: For reference, here's what the real thing looked like: Thanks for looking! Beggsy

What is a thing that looks like a Lockheed Model 12 Electra and a Beech 18, but is neither? A 1937-born Barkley-Grow T8P-1, of course! Continuing with the vacuum-formed building trend, here is a product from Execuform, that gives you the basic shapes as a sort of base onto which you have to add the detail you want. Only the main shapes come in the kit with some leaflets containing a plan, images and information. The decals and accessories (engine, wheels, cockpit and cabin detail) are to be provided by the modeler. I have built products from this brand before and they should be considered a white canvas onto which you can express your modeling artistry, on subjects most of the time nowhere to be found as injected or resin kits. If do some scratch-building, Execuform saves you a lot of time by producing the masters and pulling the styrene shells, but they are not meant as complete kits. The Barkley-Grow was not a particularly successful design, although it managed to operate with a number of airlines and private owners. Three airframes seem to be still today being exhibited at museums. The Barkley-Grow was operated on wheels, skis and floats, making it especially useful as a bush plane in Canada, where it saw a bit of recognition, negated to it in the US. The seaplane version had an additional, smaller, central vertical stabilizer. The land version had a fixed landing gear with characteristic pants. Of pleasant lines and uncomplicated design, especially on wheels, it makes a good candidate to try your skills at this somewhat neglected media. It teaches you in the process quite a bit. Notable operators were Canadian Pacific, the US Antarctic Service, Yukon Southern Air Transport, Pacific Western, Northland, Prairie Airways, Associated Airlines, a private individual: Alexander Papana (YR-AHA, Trăiască Regele "Long Live the King", same exact registration by the way wore by Papana's Bellanca 28-92 trimotor), and the Peruvian government (OB-GGK, Cruz de Chalpón). This is what you get in the Execuform package. The basic shapes and reference material: Outlines with a permanent marker to easily located the edge of the parts: Parts off the backing sheet (keep the scraps. they will be used later): Parts sanded up to the line previously traced: Excursion to the spares bin and aftermarket parts drawers to find engines, props, wheels, etc.: Separating the future cowls: Gluing the cowl and float halves (not sure yet if I will present the model on floats are panted wheels): Floats and cowls with a cursory tide-up (notice the roundish stern on the floor, that has to be sawed off: Stern sawed off to real shape (the floats are a few millimeters longer to allow you to do this): Float noses also come with the kit, in case you feel you need them to achieve a better shape -or mess-up): The kit provides cowl fronts: Carburetor intakes from unknown donor. As they are hollowed and firm in the drill bit, the mold edges are cleaned up: Just in case the struttery for the floats is being prepared (I WANT MORE CONTRAIL AEROFOIL MATERIAL!!!!): Inner "N" float struts assembled. Passenger seats scratched, pilot-copilot seats and control wheel from spares box: Remember I said do not discard the scraps? here a cockpit/cabin floor is made of from a piece: Dry run of the setup: To deal with the roundish (inaccurate) finish of the float step, a cut is made: A styrene sheet piece is inserted in the cut with glue: So the blobby area can be later on removed: After the glue has set, then you can cap the stern: The float bottom flutes will have to be "sharpened" a bit using sandpaper wrapped on a dowel of appropriate diameter.

Not long ago I saw this on Getty Images while looking for something else: https://www.gettyimages.ae/license/3430428 It was love at first sight. The search begun, and I learned that there was a resin kit from Aeropoxy and an out of production vac from Aeroclub. The Aeroclub kit can be seen popping sometimes on online auctions, but is not easy to get, plus it's a bit dated. The few images I saw online of the Aeropoxy kit didn't tempt me, but in all fairness I did not have the kit on my hands, so this is subjective. I think that Contour Creative Studio produced at some point a paper kit of the DH83, but I have no direct knowledge of it, besides is not the media I build on. Since there are in the market now two relatively new kits of civil De Havillands in 1/72nd scale, the 60 and 82, it could be perhaps possible to borrow some parts and achieve a credible representation of such beautiful airplane. Very fortunately, I was directed by Ebil Genius and friend Sönke Schulz to a thread on the topic right here at Britmodeller, where a great deal of information was provided by John Adams, to whom I am grateful. I am using a combination of plans that are available on the Net, although none seems to be completely accurate. So here it starts this attempt to a half-scratched 1/72nd scale Fox Moth, this time the one with the aft rectangular window. All this is a bit tentative, and although hopes are high I really don't know how far this will go or how successful this may ultimately be. So let's start the road, but bear in mind that I am very practical modeler. The flat sides and formers are cut: Windows and doors are cut. Usually I am unable to extricate the door cleanly from a fuselage side, and have to carve out first the opening and then produce a separate door, but this time somehow it worked: Both doors will be posed open: Gluing begins: It is very small, smaller than I though it will be, how they managed to cram up to four people there I don't know: The window that communicated cabin and cockpit is carved, seat and controls prepared, and the oil reservoir made too:

The long road to convert this kit into a somewhat decent model was nevertheless fun to walk. The step-by-step build is here in Britmodeller: In the world of vacuum-formed kits -as in any other-, there are good things and no so good things. This kit tends to belong to the latter category. But hey, it is a kit of a civil plane! not much of those abound! However, I appreciated the opportunity to flex the modeling muscle provided by the gift of fellow modeler Luis Santos, to whom I once again express my gratitude. You can see all about the making of model using the link provided above. Arctic Decals made the necessary items to finish this model (this kit has no decals). This was a plane that was adapted as an experimental machine, carrying instruments and external probes; and it can be seen in photos with two or four main wheels, and slight variations of the rigs it wore about it. Thanks to Peter in the Netherlands from Britmodeller who provided the color clue as dark blue. I am really surprised that no good kits of the Fokker F.II and F.III do exist, while there are hundreds of arch-known iterations of the same-old-same-old. F.II and F.III were very significant transports used by many countries and airlines, and could be released in almost infinite variations changing just noses and window arrangements. They are simple enough and just by doing an Internet search you could fill volumes. The liveries are invariably attractive, from elegant to showy. What else could you ask for? Any adventurous manufacturer out there?

The transformation, including modified Khee-Kha Art Product resin floats and an Arctic Decals set is completed. This plane operated on both, wheels and floats for the Tokyo Koku KK, transporting passengers. The WiP post is here: This seaplane civil version implies a number of modifications described in the construction article, that include -but are not limited to- reshaping and reposition of windows, deletion of military features, correction of kit's defects, addition of floats and involved struts, new home-modified engine and propeller, slight correction of elevators and ailerons, new interior, new set of civil marks and many small additional details (radiator, louvers, Pitots, etc.) As explained in the construction posting, the final inspiration came from the Arawasi blog which had an interesting post on the type (link in that WiP). My thanks to George Eleftheriou and his contacts for providing needed material to build a more accurate model.

Continuing with the saga of civil Japanese planes from the Golden Age, here is a rather stocky plane that briefly flew for a Japanese airline (Tokyo Koku K.K.) As J-BABG (not the kit's version). I immediately liked the ungainly stance and the sumo wrestler proportions. I have seen this kit time ago, at a somewhat stiff price, so I waited a bit until it became (just) more reasonable. Still, being this a short run technology kit, and for what it is, it is not a bargain. The box announces resin parts (actually one part inside) and super decals. We'll see about the decals. Contents. Short run, so thick gates, some thick parts, not a lot of refinement: An itsy-bitsy of flash: Tail feathers a bit thick: Exterior detail: A view of some of the parts: Thick exhausts. This was true for the collector, but not for the connecting bits to the cylinders, which are represented too thick: Restrained wing surface: Film for the windows and windshield, resin engine that is rather simple: The "super-decals" (did Superman make them?): Some psychedelic perspectives in the instructions: Color and decal instructions on the box back: Interior detail (remove the ejector marks): Off the sprues: For being a resin engine, and considering the products that are out there as aftermarket options, I am not particularly thrilled by this one, which by the way doesn't quite match the photos I can see on the Net -that show a lot of pushrods at the front: The window areas are recessed, quite a bit inside and a little outside. The instructions tell you to fix the film from inside, I guess to render a thinner wall appearance: The kit, although sold as the civil version, has the military parts still in it, and there is no provision to close the round opening for the top fuselage machine gun. I seriously doubt the passengers of the civil version flew with a hole on the fuselage top, as depicted in the kit instructions and color views. In any case, there was J-BABG that flew on floats, and requires other engine (Jupiter with front "Y" exhaust), had no Townend ring and needs different windows, plus didn't have the hinomaru. I will go for that one. Here it is in the Arawasi blog: http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2014/10/mitsubishi-ms-1.html You better sand those wing halves before gluing them together, or you will end up with blunt leading edges and thick trailing edges: Floats are cut from a very old Aeroclub generic floats vacuformed sheet: Fit tested: New windows for the airliner marked, floats need center section removed to get proper length: Kit's windows blanked: The styrene sheet needs to be thicker inside: Once the glue is dry, the new windows will be carved.

For those interested in such matters, following the Gee Bee and Kingcobra, Dora Wings seem set to release a Persival (sic) Vega Gull and a Proctor in both 1/48 and 1/72 scales. This could be great news for fans of air racing and record breaking flights as such famous fliers as Beryl Markham, Alex Henshaw, the Mollisons and many others owned Vega Gulls and there are a vast number of civil schemes for both types. Dora promise some interesting types for the future, including a Bellanca and in 1/72 a new Fairey Delta FD.2. (now wouldn't that be something in 1/48!). Visit their F/Book page for details. Apparently there's no UK agent as yet, but I saw them at Telford and the Gee Bee looked pretty decent, although not to my taste. Nice to see some neglected types being done for a change. Dave

Here is the civil Caproni of the London-Cape Town attempt in all its Italian redness. For the step-by-step building article please go here in Britmodeller. (I made a mistake on the WiP and many photos are now missing, but I re-uploaded many of them at the end of that post): http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235027739-caproni-ca310-civil/ My thanks to Fabrizio D'Isanto who provided useful input. He is not responsible for any mistake I may have committed. As I mentioned before, there were several Caproni Ca.310 civil machines that participated in raids, record attempts and long distance flights: I-BFBA, I-BFBB, I-BFBC, I-LIRA, I-MANU, I-ORSA, I-LUAL, I-META, I-MOTO, I-ORSA, I-LUPA, I-ABMI, I-GARA, I-SVSB, for some of which you may find photos online. Details vary between them. There is a clip showing the machines at the Saharian Raid here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWIBtENfu7c All these other machines wore an ivory/metal scheme with most likely black regs. I used a custom decal set by Mika Jernfors of Arctic Decals. Many drab military models offered in the market can be easily converted into their civil counterparts (and again, in this case the manufacturer fortunately did include at least one "civil" option, although not really civil) for a more appealing result. This kit has very good detail and external parts' surface. The resin and P.E. accessories in the box are also nice. It is good that with some modifications this well done kit can be converted into many options for the civil versions of it. Old Airfix converted to one of the Corsa (I-12), rather poor Dujin Breda 33 kit righted, and the nice Azur kit of the Caproni, to establish a size comparison:

Several civil machines existed of the otherwise somewhat bellicose Caproni Ca.310 Libeccio in the late 30's. They participated in competitions and long distance raids. Of them, the most colorful was I-ENEI, that sported two different decorations. This colorful machine attracted my attention and as I was searching for a suitable kit I found the lovely Azur rendition. I bought the issue that even has a civil Norwegian registration, thus including the parts needed for the making of the civil machines (mainly a fuselage plug for where the dorsal turret was). When the kit arrived, I was pleasantly surprised with the contents, which include the said decals plus resin and photo-etched parts. The molds are very nice and with very good detail. More will be told as the build advances. An image of I-ENEI can be foud in the Gallica archives: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6553461s/f31.item.r="type 310"libeccio Contents: Parts are separated and given a cursory cleanup. Kids, don't do this at home: The resin bits are very easily separated from their casting blocks, the casting are really good: I stress the easiness of separating the parts from their bases, provided you know what you are doing and are using the right tools and are careful. No broken parts, no bubbles, no stubborn, extra large, extra heavy casting block. Nicely done, Azur (with Czech associates): The snowy bits, not necessary for this version, are gladly stored: Some of the bellicose bits are cast aside: The fuselage plug for the civil version. As you can see, it doesn't have the stringers' relief as the rest of the back. We'll see if this matches reality: Again, very nice surface detail: I am so far very happy with what I purchased.

Here is J-BAAL, Asakaze (morning breeze), twin plane of the better publicized J-BAAI Kamikaze (spirit wind). The step-by-step building article is here also in Britmodeller: I went for it given that the registration most frequently represented is the latter (flew to London from Japan in a much reported feat). Photos show changes in time on the paint scheme of J-BAAL. One is the same in general as J-BAAI, nose, top and part of the wheel pants blue (with of course different lettering), but there is another where the blue painted area is restricted to the fuselage nose, has hinomaru, and also the characters are different (and two instead of four) This Mania model as I mentioned during construction is using the decals from the ARII kit (which cover the two versions -but do not have two complete set of decals). The quality of this "old" Mania/Hasegawa kit is remarkable (Scalemates states that the kit is from 1974!) , its finesse commendable, and certainly puts to shame a lot of much more recent kit releases. Pity that the standards of this kit were not more widely imitated or achieved. The pattern makers and other people involved in the creation of this kit should be very proud. This old kit (44 years old as I write this!) is a real pleasure to build; it has a more sophisticated interior than the ARII kit, but I like better ARII's canopy and main landing gear legs, with separate wheels, and detailed landing light (blank in the Mania kit). Between the Ki-15 I and II (both released by Mania/Hasegawa and LS/ARII) there are a number of civil versions to build. I still have three more boxes! A nice kit, for a convenient price, for which the passing of time is nothing.

Following now with yet more Mitsubishi Ki-15 (this time the I variant, externally differentiated by its Townend ring instead of the full cowl of the II). Still to be determined is if I will go for the mostly seen variant of J-BAAI, or the twin J-BAAL. Or may be both? In any case, in the previous post I used for the II variant the LS/ARII kit. Now I will be using the Mania release later on re-issued by Hasegawa. There is one difference between the Mania and Hasegawa kits. in the Mania sprues the fuselage side windows are flashed over, whilst in the Hasegawa release three windows are opened and the fourth is flashed over. The instructions and decal sets are different too. Both instruction sheets are much better than many contemporary examples. Comparing this kit with the ARII one: I like very much both kits, and again, they are both much better than a bunch of currently released kits. The panel lines are gorgeous, neither trenches nor faint suggestions. The detail on the interior of the Mania/Hasegawa kit is quite better, but alas, the wheel is one piece with the pant, which I find childish and more difficult to paint, whilst on the ARII kit the wheels are separated from the pant. The recent reissue of ARII has two canopies, which is good, since the masking is laborious and can lead to mistakes. And while we are on the subject, I find strange that no aftermarket vendor has come up with masks for these two kits. which are good, have a fair price and are easily obtainable. Mysteries of the kit industry. Somewhat vintage Mania kit: Decals and instructions: Nice canopy: A nice interior: Good surface detail: Fused wheel/pant, a bit of a let down: Again nice surface detail: A prop that will have its spinner: A somewhat credible engine with its exhaust plumbing: The fuselage inside: Bulkhead detail: The more modern Hasegawa issue of the same molds: Same mold, windows flashed over (Mania) and not (Hasegawa): Very nice Yahu Models aftermarket inst. panel: Parts separation a breeze, thanks to sprue gates that don't have the size of a finger: Fine locating pins and holes, a delicate touch: Started interior assembly: Decisions, decisions...to separate those elevators? to get rid of those childish pants-cum-wheel parts?

This is one of the several civil versions of the Ki-15 (I and II) that flew for Japanese newspapers in the late 30s, in this case for Domei News. This somewhat old kit now re-released by Arii is very nice and only needs a few touches to render a nice model. As explained in the building article (posted here as work in progress): there used to be aftermarket decals for this one, but are now OOP, so I had to make my own, helped by the fact that the images needed are very simple and black. The hinomaru were taken from a kit´s stock decal sheet. This worked out as a relatively easy assembly with very few touches as a break from more complex and demanding endeavors, also showing how easy is to take a nice, affordable, available old kit and turn it into something not often seen on shelves and much less in model shows or meetings, where military types tend to be predominant. I found some of the info regarding this build some time ago on the Arawasi website: http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2013/01/mitsubishi-ki-15-ii-domei.html Enjoy this 30s nice civil plane:

I enjoyed this build a lot, in spite of the few shortcomings of the kit. The subjects is very appealing, civil and unusual. Final notes: Read the detailed construction post: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235027304-miles-aerovan-mikro-mir-172nd/& Other than that: This is a very stubborn tail sitter. Even with quite a bit of lead it will tail seat. The landing gear is weak (because it is to-scale, which is good). So instead of adding lead -as I did-, prop the aft fuselage with the short propping leg -seen in some photos of the real thing- that I added at the end of the construction to the model. An open tail and a ramp -that also "holds" the aft fuselage- is another possible approach -again, as depicted on the construction post-. Check photos, since some inaccuracies seemed to have made their way into the kit's painting schemes and decals, regarding geometry and color. What finally decided me for the PH-EAB registration is the fact that it has a larger glassed area on the nose, whilst other liveries, as tempting as they were, had less glass area, hiding detail on the cockpit. Of course it also helped that the decals for the chosen version came with the kit, but the instructions to paint the model are quite inaccurate, and you have to check photos where you can clearly see the differences. PH-EAB went through some changes (even in the clear panels on the nose), so again, look at photos. At one point it had light racks on the fuselage sides for night advertisement. I really liked this unusual subject. The molding is in general good, you get a few optional liveries (there are plenty more options, surely a matter for the aftermarket entrepreneurs), but you have to work on the fit of some parts. Most of these issues were covered during the building and posted here. Reflecting a bit on the build, it is evident that a subject that has for the modeler a great appeal, helps to overcome the faults that almost all kits, one way or another, seem to have. An appealing subject keeps the interest alive throughout the build, and the unusual aspect of this plane is surely an asset. Perhaps this build will eventually spur the dig up of more references and details on this machine by other modelers/enthusiasts, for the benefit of us all. I love civil planes, and I love unusual, so for me this was a rewarding build. Wish more manufacturers (some already do) would produce more subjects on those lines. 'Till the next one, distinguished members.

This release has been posted and commented on somewhere else in Britmodeller, so I won't abound much in disquisitions. The variant released by Mikro-Mir is the IV (fourth), and includes several liveries in its decal sheet. But, if like me, you tend to diverge and follow your own path, there were other many liveries out there. Just be careful to see if they are the right variant, and not the ones with different windows or engines. Some adventurous modelers may even convert this kit to those other variants, perhaps the most extreme of which was the Hurel-Dubois/Miles HDM 105, with a high aspect ratio wing. In any case, you also get a fully detailed interior, nice for the scale, but beware that some variants used the cabin as cargo hold. Photos show one even loaded family cars! Another of them had installed neon signs for night flying. An interesting and well-produced model. Logical breakdown: Nice transparencies and decals that look nice: A much welcome set of masks: Very tiny and fragile parts, dealt with with a razor blade (cover the other edge): The big partotas: Assembly of the fiddly seats (five parts) begins: Seats ready and other sub-assemblies in progress for the cockpit area (side console, front console, pilot's seat): More sub-assemblies for the structure of the fuselage area:

I have had plans for a transport variant of the Airfix Ford Trimotor, a Ford 8-AT for a very long time. I bought this kit 2005 and I finally I got around to do something with it. But as usual I have to convert it a bit. I started by cutting along the recess for the windows on the inside of the fuselage to cut out away the windows. I also cut thin slivers of a plastic tube I filled the hole from the old windows with corrugate plastic card and drilled out new windows. The thin plastic rings was used for the port holes to get a nicer look. I also needed to make a new door without a window. I learned that three of the small windows later was closed on this plane so I had to do the same. The cargo bays under the wings has to go to. More plastic card to the rescue, but the biggest problem probably is that the canopy is to wide.

Here a couple images of the British Heinkel, converted from the ICM kit changing the nose and altering other parts, plus some additions. A previous post on the same matter was excised since it contained a link, which seems that is not appropriate in certain cases. Hope this unusual version of the "good" Heinkel entices some modelers to attempt this kind of conversion. Three things differentiated the "British" Heinkel He-70 from the original one: 1) A different nose with a different engine 2) The covers of the retractable landing gear are partially different 3) It didn't belong to the freaking dumbhead nazis Different accounts exist on the details and development of the acquisition by England in 1936 of a He-70 passenger plane, before all hell broke loose a few years later. You can find the stories with the browser of your preference. The fact is that England acquired a He-70 but had to send a Rolls-Royce Kestrel to be installed on it in origin as the builders -predictably- refused to send their plane as it was to England (with its BMW engine) to be motorized there (they all felt the dark clouds already looming). This was no doubt a sort of intrigue gimmick, but the plane finally arrived to Croydon with a Kestrel -in route to Hucknall- with its British registrations. Long ago I used the old Matchbox/Revell kit to build the civil passenger version, but the sight of an ICM kit enticed me to build this unique machine, G-ADZF. Nice of ICM to release once in a while a civil plane. The kit, well-known by now, is a newer -and therefore better- kit than the venerable Matchbox/Revell rendition, but, as always, there is a little room for improvement. The lowest part of the wheels' retractable covers should be appended to the outer side of the wheel bay, instead of folding at 90 degrees of the leg cover as in the other machines. The new nose was obtained via a carved basswood master used to plunge vac shells on the Mattel Psychedelic machine. I got a resin Engines & Things Kestrel. The very good news: The ICM kit comes in very sturdy box with the addition of a lid cover. I do appreciate this kind of box since as we all know it protects the contents much better than the pre-crushed flimsy thin packaging used by some manufacturers. The molds as said are much better than the Matchbox/Revell old release, and include wonderful surface treatment as well as many detail parts. The engineering is innovative. The parts come separately bagged and the transparencies are clear and clean. The injected plastic is free of fuzz and flash and the sprue gates are reasonable small. Now the not-so-good news: The decals (that have small lettering rendered blotchy), for some reason I can't fathom, are absolutely dead matt in finish, whilst the real planes had a subtle shine clearly appreciated in photos. Not only that, but instead of printing the "thunderbolts" in their appropriate color, they are rendered as clear spaces amidst the black decals, that you somehow will have to match or mask in order to paint the surrounding nose black too. In my boxing the instructions unfortunately committed the silliness of using a faint and fuzzy gray scale for the drawings, that fuses the detail in an undifferentiated gray mass, and makes everything confusing, rendering most of the diagrams useless. Really, guys, don't you check your galley proofs? Summarizing: A welcome civil release, fairly priced, and exceptional kit, of innovative engineering, well packaged, with superb detail and moldings, BUT where all graphic components (instructions and decals) are barely useful. The model:

I finished my double build. "Kamikaze" and "Asakaze" from the Asashi newspaper company. "Kamikaze" made a flight between Tokyo and London, for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, between 6 April 1937 and 9 April 1937 in a flight time of 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds, a world record at the time.

Doing some out of the box builds while waiting for inspiration to bring out the saw and cut some plastic up. For some reason Hasegawa made a twin pack boxing of this kit and I had an idea of building one in military colours but with the lack of decals I opted for the scheme in the box for both planes. One will be mounted on a stand. It came in an old boxing of a Hasegawa Egg plane. As it turned out I got another "Babs" very cheap and found some decals so I started on a military plane as well.

Just finished my South African Airways DC-4 in 1/144 for the Airliner III Group Build. MInicraft kit finished off in markings from F-dcal : and here it is with a neighbour : Build Log can be found here: South African Airways DC-4 (WIP 2) ***FINISHED*** Time to start the engines and head on back to the Group Build and see if I can make any progress on my 747. Thanks for dropping by. mike

Heller 1/72 with Maestro's fighter conversion and etch. Sadly there is no towing equipment available for the B-version. There is one for the D.version but that is a completely different winch. I started to build the Del Mar winch using Phoenix missiles cut in two different lengths. That will give me a stronger bond so that I don't brake it while sanding. The start of my Del Mar winch is at the bottom right. The rest are a MBV-2S winch with two counterweight bombs that I will use on a J 32D version sometime. With a winch one need something to tow also. The larger one is a Del Mar DF4 and the smaller a Del Mar DF14 made from various things from the spare part box and some plastic.

Now I call it ready. It only took 10 years. It is an ex Danish AF plane operated by the Swedish firm Svensk Flygtjänst. Build:

Next month this one has been sitting on the shelf for ten years. I took it out as I'm in at "Tugger mode" right now. I wasn't sure on how the masks of the canopy would react after this long time so I tried to remove it. When that worked I decided to restart on the build. When I left it I had just realised that I had made the target winch to small and received more information about the towing equipment. I started to build some of it with thin brass strips. and finished the paint job. Then I built a new winch. Much bigger than the last one. Now I'm building the rest of the towing equipment. I think that I can finish the kit this time.

A simple kit with a few improvements. The towing equpment wasn't included so I scratch built it. The droptanks in the kit was to big so I used Tempest tanks from Academy. A colourful companion to my blue and gold Hawker Hurricane