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Beeing uttlerly undiscerning I add another one to the pile... Enter Heritage Aviations de Havilland Comet racer: The D.H. 88 Comet kit is a 100% Polystyrene-free resin kit with vacuformed clear parts and white metal detail parts. Decals are included as well. All well packed in a sturdy box. The kit dates back to the previous owner of Heritage Aviation and thus is a bit older, which can be seen in the details and mold quality. Compared to newer resin kits this one looks to be "exciting". I purchased this kit some years ago but never picked myself up to start it (I shudder at the tought of the u/c assembly and the fuselage - see below). There are three seats included. Two were not 100% OK but one was very good and I recased it in resin (not shown). The lack of photoetch parts became unbearable to me at some time and I did new instrument panels in CorelDraw and had them etched by Peter Kormos (excellent guy! - see Tinyland.com). As said the castings are so-so. Some pin-holes and some larger ones... One of the biggest flaws is the fuselage which has very prominent steps from misaligned molds. I have the stron feeling that one side is longer than the other giving it a banana-like shape from above. At last I have made out a way to solve this in the years the kit rested in my stash. Wish me luck or better a broken leg so I can stay some weeks at home finishing all the started kits... ;-) Rene

Hi People, I have just returned to scale modelling after too many years and have decided to build WWII British tanks and cannot find a 1/35 model of the A34 Comet. Nearest is the Bronco model that seems to be long out of production. Is there a 1/35 plastic model kit that I could use as a base and where would I find any scale drawings? Cheers

Hello folks, A while ago Airfix released a newly boxed version of the dH-88 Comet but it was "The Green 'Un". For me, the iconic Comet is Grosvenor House so when they recently released that version I bought one. I'd read a number of reports detailling the ancient molding of this one (late '50s for the original I think) but decided to take the plunge anyway. The model is offered in the new red box style of current Airfix releases but the plastic is showing it's age. There are very fine raised lines on the surface which will prove a challenge to sand around. The fit of some components looks to be a bit vague at best and the cockpit detail is none existent, two amorphous pips on top of a flat deck suggesting the crew. So, where to begin? Inspired by several 1/72nd scale builds here on Britmodeller I decided to attempt a little additional work. As many know, the Comet has a big glass house looking canopy so that seemed a sensible place to begin. I carved away the flat decking on both fuselage halves and added a semblance of an interior. I did n't go all out on this as A/, it's all black and B/, I planned to add a crew (from the old 1/72nd scale Tiger Moth) to fill out the space. With these modifications complete it was necessary to take a long hard look at the kit canopy. The clear plastic is very thick. My copy has two air bubbles trapped within the plastic and the shape is not accurate. To allow a better view inside the modified opening and in an attempt to improve the shape I smash molded a replacement from clear packaging material. A resin master was carved from waste resin pour stub and mounted on stilts so that the plastic sheet would clear the template. The canopy shape of the full sized bird is quite complex so it took a number of tries to get anything resembling the real deal. Equally, it took even more attempts to arrive at a part that fitted the opening adequately. I used scissors to cut each canopy but it was trial and error to get a good enough fit and there was plenty of waste. Finally I ended up with a passable (for me at least) result which is much clearer than the kit part. I've joined the two fuselage halves together now but one task on the horizon is re-shaping the spine of the fuselage aft of the glass house. The kit depicts this as almost triangular yet the real Grosvenor House is more rounded. I have replicated the rounded edge to the canopy so I'll have to fill in the gap. Initial thoughts are two-pack modelling putty like GW "green stuff". Thinking ahead, if anyone has any ideas about re-creating the thin lines of the canopy framing I'd very much like to hear them. The framing is made up of at least two different thicknesses some of which is inside the canopy glazing. In this scale it is very thin Plus, it needs to be red on the outside and black on the inside..... Anyhoo, I've made a start and the canopy framing can be done later. Once the glue has set I think I'll have a look at the profile of the nose. From staring at reference photos it looks as though I might be able to tweek the shape a little to improve the look. Thanks for stopping by. More when I can. Cheers. Julien has posted up a walk-around of the Comet by Mark Mills in the Walkaround section. See it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/

Hello fine folk of Britmodellerland, If I may, I'd like to share my latest model? I've been tinkering away merrily with the old Airfix dh-88 Comet racer for about three months or there abouts. The old girl needs a bit of TLC to get the best from her so I did some work on the kit in an attempt to model "Grosvenor House" as she appears today. Thanks in large part to some fine images by Alpha Delta 210 (see here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968762-de-havilland-dh88-comet-grosvenor-house/ ) and others in the Aviation Photography forum plus the walkaround here on BM http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/ I had plenty of reference material to work from. For those who have n't seen it, there is a WIP thread detailling the specifics of what was tackled here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234967804-airfix-72nd-scale-dh-88-comet-new-release-ancient-molding/ I'm not as used to photographing the smaller scales as I am the larger scales so I apologise if the images are n't too clear. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy them anyway. These next few are a bit closer in an attempt to show some details. Lastly, a couple of shots in front of a scenic backdrop. A big thankyou and two thumbs up to everyone who helped me along during the build. Now, what to build next? Cheers for now.

After quite a few months' hiatus I'm back modelling in two GBs, but my first build went horribly, recyclable-y wrong in the Mosquito GB. Time to take a deep breath and do my best on two more basic jobs... results here. No aftermarket stuff, just the two recent reissues of this vintage kit. After what I thought was some rather smart work on them, I had to cut the heads off the 'interiors' as they were keeping the canopies off the fuselage! Oh well... that was the only snag, but it's still too cold for spraying and I had to put about 5 layers of Klear on 'Black Magic' in order to get any lustre! I really enjoyed doing them and researching a bit more on the Comet. In fact now these are going to be the first of seven - decals for 'Grosvenor House' led to more sets for 'Boomerang', 'The Orphan', 'The Burberry' and 'Australian Anniversary'. Should make for a colourful shelf among all the camo! Hope you like them!

Hi guys 'n' gals, I thought I'd share this link as I stumbled across it whilst gurgling. http://www.cometracer.co.uk/ If this is old news I apologise but I had n't seen it before. A very worthwhile project and with "Grosvenor House" back in the air it would be astonishing to see two of these beautiful pre-war designs together. Cheers.

Hi guys, Just perusing the Wonderland models site and they detail a 1/72nd scale dH88 Comet for release during 2014. http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/airfix-172-de-havilland-dh88-comet-racer-red/ I'm guessing this is another re-release of the old tool kit but can anyone confirm or deny my guess? The blurb does suggest that it was created using CAD so I'm optimistic that it is new tool. {~fingers crossed emoticon~} Cheers.

de Havilland DH.88 Comet. G-ACSS "Grosvenor House" Pics thanks to Mark Mills.

As part of our website we have loads of vehicle Walk-arounds http://leicestermodellers.weebly.com/its-for-real.html Come and take a look

My entry to this GB will be the Welsh Models Comet 1, finished as the first prototype. The Comet should need no introduction to a bunch of airliner enthusiasts, and I consider the Mk 1 to be one of the best looking aircraft ever! That wing planform is absolutely gorgeous Not only does the prototype fit in with my normal build theme, but it looks great in its natural metal finish. Internet pic: The Welsh kit has a vacform fuselage and outer wing panels, with the other large components in resin with white metal for the structural and smaller items. It was by no means cheap, probably the most expensive kit I'd bought in fact at the time, but it's the only game in town and a very nice quality kit too. Model box: Vacform parts: Other contents: This kit will be quite a challenge for me, being my first proper attempt at a vacform kit. Then there's that natural metal finish to look forward to... I will also need to make some modifications to back-date it to the prototype, something I need to research properly. So far I'm aware of: Single large wheel main undercarriage, with different doors Nose probe Different window layout No wing fences No doubt there will be other differences once I look into it in more detail (but feel free to point me in the right direction!). Looking forward to starting this weekend! Mike

Hello Everyone Id like to do a BEA Airtours comet 4. i know of the airfix version, but which version od the comet is it? Also how difficult is it to locate? Thanks Bradley