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Impressed with zvezdas 767 kit I purchased the new 777 kit which promises to be a vast improvement on the eastern express kit which I was tempted with until I heard about this one being released windows filled with a few exceptions.... don't want to lose any detail on the fuselage but i want those windows nice and smooth.... dare I say it but the kit hasnt went together as well as I had hoped...probs used excess milliput here but there was some niggly long gaps to fill. what i found with the 767 kit is although the fuselage halves looked like a seamless fit they kept coming apart in places (likley as i didnt use any plastic tabs on the inside) - didnt really learn as i didnt bother this time either! far too much milliput! the gap was probs a 5th the size of the milliput area. should be ok however wings glued and gaps filled. some sanding needed... cockpit filled, edges sanded, radome fitted, rudder fitted, satcom antenna's added. ready for paint already misleading size comparison to the MD-11.... the 777 kit is actually HUGE even in 1/144 - fuselage and wingspan nice clean undercoat for the fuselage. wings have had 3 coats already and will stay that colour with a light polish. for the fuselage im going with matt aluminium xtreme metal and for the underside lufthansa blue - same as aeroflot blue?

Well that isn't entirely correct. One of them is an H-19 from Sikorsky. I wanted to build a H-19 helicopter to accompany my SAAB Tunnan's in UN marking from the Congo mission in the early 1960's. I decided to build it using an old Airfix kit. It is a Westland built craft while the UN helicopters were Sikorsky's but I decided to let the differences of the air intakes on the sides pass and started to build. Then I saw that the version was totally wrong. The tail boom was straight when it should be pointing downward. I learned that Italeri made this version so I bought one and built my UN-craft. But I wanted to finish the Airfix kit that I started and found decals for a civilian machine from Sabena so I bought them. The decals could be used on a Swedish machine from Ostermans. The stripes were the same on them, I only needed to change some text. Sadly the decals were for an Italeri kit and didn't fit the Airfix windows so now I bought another Italeri kit. But again. What to do with the Airfix kit? On the decal sheet was an alternative for a machine from BEA. I decided to finish my kit with those decals. One alternative was for the machine used in the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night. But the problems wasn't over. The registration letters were to large for the Airfix kit but I just let that pass. I wouldn't change the scheme again. So that is why I built three helicopters even though I'm not interested in them.

Mangwanani fellow modellers. Keeping up with my African theme, here's Air Zimbabwe Flight UM 468 from Johannesburg about to touch down at Harare International Airport : Zvezda's A320 with a mix of home-made decals, paintwork and other bits and bobs. Struggled with just about everything on this build, but finished it just in time for the Airliner Group Build next month - Hooray (I think......) Thanks for looking. mike (Perhaps one day I'll get to make the journey ?)

Bonjour tous le monde, Ceci est un nouveau scratch diorama 1/35 en cours, nous sommes au fond d'un estuaire de la Bretagne, Il y aura un quai liittle en bois et une cabane de pêcheur, un petit bateau en bois et un ou deux pêcheurs (je ne sais pas exactement en ce moment ...) Il est juste le début des travaux, l'altération de la cale et de la hutte est en cours ...... .....To be continued

Hi All, I'm working on the re-released Airfix Vanguard (144) in the BEA red square scheme. Im conscious how those plastic strip windows (which I think it comes with) always look a bit cack. Can anyone offer ideas of how to fill in windows a different way? I'd like it to look as pro as possible, as it's going to be a father's day gift. Ideas welcome. Chris

Airfix Lysander Mk.II For some reason I never built a Lysander even though I always wanted one ever since I first saw it in the Airfix catalogue in the 1970'th. I finally bought an old Airfix kit thinking that I at last would build the "spy plane". After I had started on it I found a Frog kit as well. I heard that the they were different versions so I made a small research. The Frog is a Mk.I and the Airfix is a Mk.II so the Airfix kit was wrong for the Mk.IIISCW that was used in the "spy business". The main difference between the marks are the engines. Mk.I and III used a Bristol Mercury and the Mk.II a Bristol Perseus. As the Airfix kit was the wrong version for the "spy plane" I had to find another alternative. I like yellow aircraft's so a crop duster in yellow was the answer. The good thing is that it did really exist so it isn't a What If. Some were used in Canada. Home made decals but there is one line of text missing at the bottom of the fin as I don't know what it should read. The "dusting equipment" was scratch built from plastic rods. I wonder if this could be Dusty Crophopper Aunt Lizzie? Frog Lysander Mk.III SCW When the plans were changed, the Frog kit became the "Spy catcher" instead. When I started to build I found the engine to be missing. I didn't find a suitable in the spare boxes so I took one from a Marivox SAAB B17 kit. But I couldn't resist adding some details to it. I then turned to the Airfix engine. The cooling flaps are moulded with an engraved line separating them where a strip should cover this area. So I added some plastic strips to the cowl. The engine has push rods moulded to the front of the cylinder but the real engine had sleeve valve so there should be two holes on front of the cylinders instead. As the Frog kit now have a detailed engine I decided to experiment with the interior adding some plastic rods to the sides with the hope that a fuel tank will fit between them. I decided on an pilot in the cockpit so I replaced the seat and controls with a pilot from the Airfix kit instead. Perhaps I can use the part in a Matchbox kit later. The extra fuel tank was made with parts from some Spitfire canopy's and a seat was added at the rear. Then it was time to close up and start assembling the plane. Funny, I was going to build a black Airfix Lysander but ended up with a Frog kit instead. I decided to use the figures and the ladder from the Airfix kit as they looked better. I thought that it would look better with the rear canopy open with the figure attached so I had to vacform that part of the canopy. Well the home made seat is still visible. Over all I like the Airfix kit better for most parts. Frog has little more details in the interior and the wheels look better (What is visible of them) But the landing lights are missing and the canopy is wrong. With the rear part open it is less visible though. The Frog kit is harder to build. Part fits better in the Airfix kit. A couple of quick builds to get back the" modelling mood". Not much have been done in the modelling front this year. Bjorn B

Images sent to Julien to post in walkarounds. Regards,

I am planning a DH9a to DH 16 project. So far I have found good photographs on the net which explain a lot but only one basic drawing which appears to be taken from the Putnam publication. I am trying to understand how the original was converted, there is mention of a new 'wider' fuselage, the photographs appear to show the same width at the undercarriage but perhaps the taper starting further back. Is there a good published drawing of this aircraft which show the changes to the fuselage anound the cabin and engine? All help gratefully received .

This is the superb but tiny Dragon Rapide kit by Aeroclub. I have been trying to get it finished for a friends birthday so it will be winging its way over the weekend. The aerial mast is over scale but I could not get it any thinner without it bending when tensioning the wire, any suggestions on how to achieve this in 1/144th scale would be very welcome. Any errors are due to this modeller being ham-fisted when putting the kit together. Now to get back to my STGB build. Thanks for looking

I know that I was entering DC-9's and Caravelles but here are two planes that was started much earlier. They started as Boeing 737-800 from Revell in 1/144 scale. I had built them together enough to start painting when I lost interest. I don't know how many years they have been laying around. This autumn I started on a Volvo 850 that would be in SAS colours. So when it was time to start painting the body I decided to paint the 737's as well as the orange is the same. A couple of month later I tried again. I got the decals on but they didn't want to play nicely. The SAS decals were old and thick with bad glue so the wouldn't stick on the plane to good. The Globespan plane is a 737-600 so I had to shorten it. They bought it from SAS and was delivered in this mix of bot firms livery. It suited me fine as I could use the same paints for both of them. The Globespan decals is home made and one broke so I had to print it again. The grey letters was masked and painted as gray don't come out good on decals. So I once more got bored and it all stopped again. With this group build I decided that the should finally be finished.

Hello, I am new to the forums and relatively new to model kit building. Just finished this and would appreciate any tips/criticisms you may have! Thanks TBM

Hello people I am looking for a good 1/72 Cessna 182 that is decently priced, any suggestions?

Hello everyone, I have just seen some Emirates 1/144 SkyCargo decals for the 777-200, is there any possible way, with some spare windows and doors transfers, I could turn it into a 777 for people, cargo, i'm thinking remove the gold line and everything underneath it and make up my own registration, would that be good enough? Link: http://www.shopdrawdecal.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=44%2D777%2D25

(image from Google, I looked in vain for an "official" website) In 98 pages, some double, are depicted the following aircraft: Lancastrian, Stirling, York, Dove, Marathon, Hermes, Heron, (Cunliffe-Owen) Concordia, Brabazon, Vicking, Halton, Consul, Tudor, Freighter, Anson and Ambassador. Great photos, some of them spanning two pages, including interiors. A must have!

I found out that if I woul lay the cuts in the fuselage right, I could build a DC-9-20 and a DC-9-50 from two Airfix DC-9-30 kits But what good is planning if you don't follow it. When I brought out the almost finished fuselages I realised that I forgot to remove one window in front of the wing on the shorter plane. But as it is I am not to sad as the fuselage joint between the right an left fuselage halves is to weak so they split. Now I had a chance to reinforce them. But this is typically me. Don't think to much just bring the saw out and get to work. Redo it right later. But I get more building time for the money this way. Well now I have cut the fuselage apart, removed the extra window, reinforced the weak joints, and glued it all back together. When I've puttied the joints once again I'm back at square one.