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The Nene Meteor was one of the most highly modified of all the test and trials aircraft as it had an F4 style nose, F8 style tail and in addition to the PR10 style long span wings, an increase in the span inboard of the huge nacelles, giving it the longest span of all Meteors. The Nene engines were mounted forward of the wing and modified to enable some thrust to be diverted downwards through a separate jetpipe under the nacelle. It was used for trials into reducing the stalling speed., with only a 10 knot reduction being the best achieved. The model was produced using left over parts from some of my other Meteor conversions and consists of a Frog F4 fuselage, Matchbox NF11 fin/tailplane and wings, together with scratchbuilt nacelles and additional fins. The markings are home printed. Thanks for looking. Steve

Hi All, I haven't lurked in this part of the forum for ages...good to be back! Due to a recent house move, I have a much-reduced modelling space, with no room for an airbrushing station. Therefore I decided dabble again in figure painting with brushes. I had an idea a while back about converting one of the Tamiya 1/16 figures to represent a modern US Navy carrier deck crewman, as US Naval aviation is a strong interest of mine. I liked the look of the brown-shirted 'chock and chain/plane captain' crewmen: So I bought the Tamiya Bundeswehr Tank Crewman figure set below, as they wear a similar-style helmet to the US Navy crewman. They also come with goggles, and as a bonus, there is a second figure in the box (though he has no legs!) The photo below shows the figure head with the tank crewman's helmet detail sanded down, and the other moulded details on the helmet removed. My plan is to convert the head and torso and sculpt new arms. I have not tried this before so it's a step into the unknown. Any help from experienced sculptors would be appreciated!

Hi everyone, the glue's still drying on this but it's finished. 1/32 Revell Mosquito B.IV (the ancient 1970s kit) resurrected and converted to an FB.VI using Grey Matter nose conversion, AMS resin slipper tanks, Special Hobby RP-3 rockets, Master .303 guns, Quickboost exhaust pipes and decals from Aviaeology and Xtradecal. Paints were all Gunze Mr Color lacquers for the camouflage, interior mostly MRP lacquer. Base was built by me from some offcut wood and a carbon fibre rod. Spinning props were made from the kit spinners, clear acetate sectors cut using a rotary cutter and painted with thinned Colourcoats enamel. Canopy was adapted from the kit B.IV canopy using more of the same acetate sheet and Tamiya tape strips. The Grey Matter nose was a very nice piece and fit quite well. the gun camera port needed to be drilled with a Dremel. The kit stands up pretty well despite being older than me, it just needs some help It's just a beautiful aircraft - I've already got the HK Models B.XVI to build as a photo-recce, and I'm saving up for the Tamiya FB.VI because I need more Mossies in my life! Anyway, one more! Here's the build thread which might inspire anyone else to try this conversion: Hope you like viewing it as much as I enjoyed building it! All the best, Alan

Gidday All, I've commenced my next build, a model of HMS Hood as she appeared at the time of her sinking in the Denmark Strait on 24th May 1941. Actually, I commenced it three weeks ago. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Bismarck chase, and to commemorate this the ATF is running a GB of the chase. As the name and tags suggest I'm converting a 1/600 scale model kit of HMS Hood to her appearance at that time. The kit OOB represents the ship at about 1932. I know there are kits available that depict the ship in the 1941 guise but a rule of the ATF is that it must be an Airfix kit. Besides, I like to work in 1/600 scale. Between the two dates the ship was altered a bit. The main alterations that I'll have to do (as far as I'm aware at this point) will be removing the 5.5-inch guns and adding twin 4-inch guns, quad .5-inch machine guns and those UP (unrotated projectile) launchers. Minor alterations to the upperworks and spotting top also, and no doubt I'll learn of some more alterations as I go along. Below is a photo of the box art, parts and instructions. I've included parts from other kits that I'll need, namely twin 4-inch gun shields and UP (Unrotated Projectile) launchers. I forgot to add an extra octuple 2lb pompom mounting. When I bought the kit some time ago I noticed that the box art is of the ship in May 1941. And as it turns out so is the colour scheme in the instructions. I didn't know whether to be pleased (it'll save me quite a bit of work) or disappointed now that the challenge had gone. But as you can see, the kit comes with single 5.5-inch guns, not twin 4-inch, so it is still the 1932 iteration of the ship. I believe this could be deemed false advertising by Airfix but I'm not going to quibble. Included in the parts above are six UP launchers (I only need five) from the twoAirfix KGV kits I used to build HMS Monarch many years ago (yes I plan that far ahead) and seven twin 4-inch shields from Airfix Ajax kits. The kit seems nicely molded with very little flash. And I've had a pleasant surprise - the gun barrels and 5.5-inch guns are attached to the sprues at the rear, not half way along the barrel which Airfix are prone to do. This will make them easier to use (the 5.5-inch guns I plan on using on a future build of HMS Eagle). Why can't Airfix do this all the time? I'm also going to need another octuple pompom mounting, which I have from my recent build of a 16 gun HMS Belfast. I forgot to include it in the photo here. I've glued, re-inforced and drilled the hull. This model is quite a bit bigger than those I've done recently. I think I need a bigger cutting mat. Therefore of course a bigger desk. And perhaps a bigger room? I don't think SWMBO will agree to that. Oh well . . . There was a bit of thick jagged flash on the lip of the hull. I checked with a second kit of this, same. It could be a fault with the molding but it's not a major problem. While the glue was setting yesterday I thought I'd start on the turrets. I have decided on a standard fitting method for cruiser and battleship turrets now, which is 4.8mm (3/16 inch) tubing for the trunking, and a keyway added to allow removal yet locking in. When I saw the faces of the turrets of this kit I said "erk", followed by "gosh" (or words to that effect). The slots for the guns are a little rough. In fact I could have done a neater job with a chainsaw. See below. The top row of turrets came with this kit. The second row, obviously from another kit. These are like those I remember when I did my first build, many years ago. The reason I have two kits is that when I decided to do this version of HMS Hood I had trouble finding a kit. When I finally succeeded in tracking one down the store had two so I bought them both. Greedy I know, but I've never claimed to be a saint. Regarding the turrets I had some options. Plan A, use them as they are. Err, no. Plan B, use the turrets from the other kit. Maybe. Plan C, use these turrets and make turret faces to cover the shoddy faces here. Maybe. Plan D, make my own. In fact I have already done so. About forty-odd years ago I had this idea of scratch-building a model of the ship, using my younger brother's build for measurements. Why I decided to copy exactly a model when I could simply have bought my own kit I have no idea. I can't remember what I thought last week, so definitely not my thoughts that far back. Anyway I made the hull from balsa, the turrets from balsa and matches, the 5.5-inch guns and started on the superstructure, this from balsa and paper. Plus a carved name plate. That's them in the foreground. The levels of the superstructure are dry fitted here. I include them here to show how skilled and talented I was back then. 🥴 Yeah, right! 😁 The hull was weighted with plasticine to make it float at the waterline but I put too much in and it floated with the quarterdeck nearly awash. Considering how wet this ship was in a seaway, particularly in later years this wasn't far from the truth. Anyway, the plasticine must have absorbed moisture from the atmosphere or something because it swelled and split the hull. So this I ditched, along with the ten 5.5-inch guns glued to it. Anyway, back to this build. I initially decided on Plan C (making turret faces) with Plan B as a back up if I'm unsuccessful.

Here's my 1/144 Zvezda Ilyushin Il-76, converted to an Il-76LL engine testbed. The test engine is the Aviadvigatel PD-14 intended for the Irkut MC-21 and was 3D printed and decals for the Gromov Flight Research Institute were custom printed. You don't seem to see a lot of the Zvezda Il-76 kits built which is a shame, it's an interesting aircraft. I've seen others comment that it's over-engineered - perhaps it's not as simple as many 1/144 kits, but it's a nice kit and I enjoyed it. Build thread is here. I have another Il-76MD kit and a Beriev A-50 in the stash. Might have to have a go at an Il-976SKIP next. thanks for looking Julian

I got this 1/72 Airfix (E-3) B707 kit a couple of years ago from PacificMustang (Bruce) part started, well actualy almost finished as he did not want to finish it up. As I had already built a good old RAAF Seven Oh I pondered what I would use it for. Along came the Recce GB over on ARC and I decided I would use the Flightpath JSTARS conversion to bring it back to life. Wolfpak decals released a sheet with markings for 93-0597 which was originally delivered to QANTAS as a B707-338 VH-EBU. Double win! 72_AF_E-8C_03 by Ray Seppala, on Flickr Unfortunately, the aircraft suffered major damage during mid air refueling when a tank in the wing over pressurised and ruptured (due to a test plug being left in the fuel vent system after maintenance) back in 2009. In 2012 the aircraft was reported to have broken up and parted out in Al Udeid, Qatar. So I started on the E-8C today. Mostly scribing and drilling out cabin windows and doors. The engines needed some disassembly so I could fill the huge holes where the turbo compressor are attached on 3 of the engines. The Flightpath conversion comes with a number of scribing templates. I had to carve out some of the fuselage for a missing cabin door Also had to fill some poorly rescribed panel lines and fill some for the new rear cabin doors at the trailing edge of the wing root. Finally I glued the missing etch door to the fuselage. That's it for now

I came across an interesting paper project in a book I was reading last week on German supersonic research. Apparently In 1943 the RLM asked Messerschmitt if a single jet engined me 109 was feasible, some discussion must have taken place but Messerschmitt chose not to pursue it favouring the P1101 instead. Focke Wulf pursued the idea as the Project I but it was eventually canned as the Technisce Amt didn’t think the concept was practical, ironically the Soviets used it in the Yak 15. So basically a 109G6 with a 262 nacelle ( I happen to have two in the spares box) a new nose and wing centre section. As it would have been a 1943/44 project I’ll base it in a Hasegaea G6. More to follow.

@TimLucas kindly supplied me some mirrors after I accidentally threw mine away in a tidy up (yes, I know) so can now publish the finished conversion of the Revell Mk 2 rally Escort into a 1.1 base model. This took a lot of work and involved scratch building most of the engine - you can see what was involved in the build thread I have noticed after taking the pictures that the bonnet isn't on quite tidy in some of them but I had already packed it away and couldn't face getting it out again - it does sit properly normally! Last few pictures show it sitting with some VW contemporaries that I built during the first lock down, showing how dated the Ford was getting by that point. Hope you like it - similar treatment to a Mk1 Escort may follow at some point! Chris \

My other attempt for this GB will be the Airfix Fokker F-27 converted to a Laser Airborne Depth Sounding aircraft operated on behalf of the Royal Australian Navy. I will again be using a Hamilton Hobbies conversion as well as some replacement white metal under carriage legs Decals are from Southern Sky this time around From Wiki The Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) Flight was a unit of the Royal Australian Navy. Unlike the rest of the flying units of the RAN, it was not controlled by the Fleet Air Arm from HMAS Albatross (NSW), but instead fell under the operational control of the Australian Hydrographic Service at HMAS Cairns (QLD), providing a platform for the operation of the laser airborne depth sounder system. in 2009 the F-27 was replaced by a DHC Dash 8 which operated until 2019.

Good day, colleagues. I present to you for review the conversion of the BT-7 from Tamiya with the use of the tower from the КомплектЗип - BT-7A artillery support tank. Out of box build with small cosmetic modifications and a pickled anti-aircraft turret from a microdesign There is no prototype, it turned out to be a collective image of the tank. The tanker is assembled according to the principle "I made it out of what was there" Coloring - Gunze and everything Oils and Pigments-AK and Co. Enjoy your viewing, thank you for your attention!

XA897 of 230 Operational Conversion Unit circa 1956 at RAF Waddington.

Well it's Vulcan time again! This time I'll be cutting one up to build a Vulcan B1a, a variant which has never been represented in a plastic, resin, vacuform or any other type of kit. If you want a B1a, you have to convert one and generally the starting point will have to be a Vulcan B2. The B1, which would be a much better starting point, is only slightly better represented by the incredibly rare Frog kit from 1958, the Lindberg prototype from a year later has straight wings so won't build a standard B1, much less a B1a. No resin, vacuform or other form of kit of any Mk1 vulcan has been made since, only a 1/72 conversion set. If you know your Vulcans, you'll know the last B1 was scrapped at Cosford in 1986 having been left outside to corrode for years (already in a bad way by the time the museum got hold of it), the only one which had a chance of surviving to today would probably have been XA903 which was flying until 1979 as a testbed, but no one was interested in preserving the full aircraft with the retirement in the B2 not far off. This makes researching the B1 enough to make an accurate model a bit of a pain, there are plenty of photographs around but weren't really taken with modellers in mind. I've had a Vulcan marked up for conversion for months, but just not gotten around to cutting the plastic. Even in this fairly small scale it's not an easy task and there's definitely a non-zero chance of this failing and ending up in the bin. This isn't my first B1a conversion, in fact it's the third one, and I've converted one in this scale to a very early B1 with the straight wing (most B1s had Phase 2 kinked wings, introduced from XA894, the sixth production, aircraft onwards and refitted to most early ones). I've made a set of wing templates to speed up the process of measuring out and marking the lines to cut. Chop! Goodbye B2 wings. It's a crude, but effective process. My three Mk.1s, notably absent is the standard B1, but I have two Frog kits which will fill that gap.

The Sapphire engine testbed Meteor was the most powerful of all Meteors. I replaced the kit engine nacelles using larger diameter tubing and added new intakes/jetpipes from the spares box with lots of filler! The decals are home made. Steve

Two RR Soar engines were tested on extended wingtips in the mid-1950s but unfortunately the engine didn't go into production. The engines and extended wingtips are scratchbuilt and the decals are home made. Steve

This Meteor was used to test the RB108 lift-jet engine for the Short SC1. After tests with Rolls-Royce it was dumped at Hucknall until rescued by the Newark Air Museum where it is on display. I made the dorsal intake and engine from scratch as well as the decals. Steve

A civil plane, in spite of its cockades (as explained below), the Fokker C.IV C was one of the protagonists of a rather eventful world-renowned saga. (I am replicating here the text written for the seaplane version, as it's pertinent to both models). Here is the step-by-step building article: And here is the seaplane version model completed: A country at the southern tip of South America, still partially in its agricultural/ranching-economy slumber, far away from the hubs of financial power and technology, dared to dream of an almost mythical feat: to circumnavigate the world by airplane, in 1924. The dream proved bigger than the available resources, and in spite of strong popular support, certain dose of chivalry, and a number of strong wills put together, the dream ended up sinking, literally, in Tokyo Bay, a long time after departing east-bound from Amsterdam. A Fokker C.IV and a C.IV W planes were involved, a third reputedly left in storage in Canada as a replacement for the last leg of the attempt, that a source states was a low wing Fokker T.IIIW. The two Fokker C.IV were the landplane Ciudad de Buenos Aries and the seaplane Provincia de Buenos Aires. Of the three crew members that were initially chosen to fly, only two would do the trip: pilot Pedro Zanni and mechanic Felipe Beltrame; the third, Nelson Page, that was supposed to be the navigator, having fallen ill. Zanni's strong desire to accomplish the task may have led to some questionable piloting decisions involving weather judgment that cost him his first plane -demolished in China- and eventually the second, seen sadly in photos ignominiously half-submerged in the water sticking its tail up. Many accounts veil the final shame, and state that Zanni "decided to abandon the enterprise due to weather and financial concerns". All this, as said, after a series of mishaps involving possible misjudging of terrain and weather. It could be argued that you can't fly a plane only with your will and bravery, you also need a cool mind, and a knowledge, financial and technical support, and skill comparable to the enterprise you want to tackle. Be that as it may, Zanni and Beltrame made a prodigious journey, again considering their lack of resources and feeble tactical support. And so Argentina was for a while featured in newspapers that followed the progress of these commendable men. For some reason, it was decided to keep the standard factory finish, catering for the military market, as we know an absolutely terrible choice for a civil flight if an emergency occurred, when finding and rescue may have been impaired by that standard camouflage. The plane wore the country's cockades and rudder colors, not necessary -or perhaps not even legal- as the plane did not belong to the Argentinean military, nor was it sponsored by it, if indeed the pilot was an active military pilot. The fact that was paid be popular collect and sponsored by the Aero Club Argentino (a civil entity) is the reason I decided to build these planes, as there was no military ownership or sponsorship, and the planes of course were exclusively used for (and spent in) this around the world flight attempt. As stated in the building article, this is a project we took up together with my older son, also a modeler, and decided to build one of them each. At one point it was obvious that many mods were needed and the kit was extremely poor (to say the very least), so I was supposed to build mine and prepare an "improved and modified kit" for him to build, to save him time. Well, guess what, daddy ended up building both and gifting one to the son, as son became a father himself in the interim with additional responsibilities and certain restrictions regarding modeling time, and daddy became a grandfather. Still, each of us will have now one of these twins on display, which is, after all, very nice. I (almost) always enjoy working on basic kits aspiring to make of them more accurate and better detailed replicas, but there are limits to that approach. In this case the kit was so lacking that it would have been immensely easier (not to mention more satisfying) to scratch the two models from the start, instead of having to deal with re-working almost every part of it, in part of course to obtain a different version, but mostly because the parts were so poor to start with. The two planes, for land and sea, were the same plane, but not completely identical: besides the obvious landing/alighting equipment, other small differences are present. On top of that, the machines changed details as they progressed in their trip, with differences most notably on their noses. As usual, one version has to be chosen for the model, in this case the machines as they were in their last legs (figuratively and literally) of the trip. It is of note that Zanni's -that news agencies often spelled "Zani"- flight was contemporary of that of the USA pilots in their four Douglas World Cruisers, that even counting with vastly superior support -technical and financial-, had nonetheless their fair share of serious difficulties. It's not surprise then that Zanni and Beltrame had to abandon their enterprise midway, and yet still they were hailed -and fairly so- as heroes in their native country. The two machines, used consecutively, in the around the world flight attempt: Some articles with varied information, a few bits of it not totally accurate (Zanni dismissed Italian and British plane, and ended up adopting Fokker's): Page, Zanni and Beltrame. As explained, Page became ill and remained behind in Amsterdam, not taking part of the flight.

A civil plane, in spite of its cockades (all explained below), the Fokker C.IV W was one of the protagonists of a rather eventful world-renowned saga. The model was made for my older son, an accomplished modeler himself, and an agricultural engineer and prize-winning brewer. The step-by-step building article can be visited here: The completed model of the land version is here: A country at the southern tip of South America, still partially in its agricultural/ranching-economy slumber, far away from the hubs of financial power and technology, dared to dream of an almost mythical feat: to circumnavigate the world by airplane, in 1924. The dream proved bigger than the available resources, and in spite of strong popular support, certain dose of chivalry, and a number of strong wills put together, the dream ended up sinking, literally, in Osaka Bay, a long time after departing east-bound from Amsterdam. A Fokker C.IV C and a C.IV W planes were involved, a third reputedly left in storage in Canada as a replacement for the last leg of the attempt, that a source states was a low wing Fokker T.IIIW. The two Fokker C.IV were the landplane Ciudad de Buenos Aries and the seaplane Provincia de Buenos Aires. Of the three crew members that were initially chosen to fly, only two would do the trip: pilot Pedro Zanni and mechanic Felipe Beltrame; the third, Nelson Page, that was supposed to be the navigator, having fallen ill. Zanni's strong desire to accomplish the task may have led to some questionable piloting decisions involving weather judgment that cost him his first plane -demolished in China- and eventually the second, seen sadly in photos ignominiously half-submerged in the water sticking its tail up. Many accounts veil the final shame, and state that Zanni "decided to abandon the enterprise due to weather and financial concerns". All this, as said, after a series of mishaps involving possible misjudging of terrain and weather. It could be argued that you can't fly a plane only with your will and bravery, you also need a cool mind, and a knowledge, financial and technical support, and skill comparable to the enterprise you want to tackle. Be that as it may, Zanni and Beltrame made a prodigious journey, again considering their lack of resources and feeble tactical support. And so Argentina was for a while featured in newspapers that followed the progress of these commendable men. For some reason, it was decided to keep the standard factory finish, catering for the military market, as we know an absolutely terrible choice for a civil flight if an emergency occurred, when finding and rescue may have been impaired by that standard camouflage. The plane wore the country's cockades and rudder colors, not necessary -or perhaps not even legal- as the plane did not belong to the Argentinean military, nor was it sponsored by it, if indeed the pilot was an active military pilot. The fact that was paid be popular collect and sponsored by the Aero Club Argentino (a civil entity) is the reason I decided to build these planes, as there was no military ownership or sponsorship, and the planes of course were exclusively used for (and spent in) this around the world flight attempt. As stated in the building article, this is a project we took up together with my older son, also a modeler, and decided to build one of them each. At one point it was obvious that many mods were needed and the kit was extremely poor (to say the very least), so I was supposed to build mine and prepare an "improved and modified kit" for him to build, to save him time. Well, guess what, daddy ended up building both and gifting one to the son, as son became a father himself in the interim with additional responsibilities and certain restrictions regarding modeling time, and daddy became a grandfather. Still, each of us will have now one of these twins on display, which is, after all, very nice. I (almost) always enjoy working on basic kits aspiring to make of them more accurate and better detailed replicas, but there are limits to that approach. In this case the kit was so lacking that it would have been immensely easier (not to mention more satisfying) to scratch the two models from the start, instead of having to deal with re-working almost every part of it, in part of course to obtain a different version, but mostly because the parts were so poor to start with. The two planes, for land and sea, were the same plane, but not completely identical: besides the obvious landing/alighting equipment, other small differences are present. On top of that, the machines changed details as they progressed in their trip, with differences most notably on their noses. As usual, one version has to be chosen for the model, in this case the machines as they were in their last legs (figuratively and literally) of the trip. It is of note that Zanni's -that news agencies often spelled "Zani"- flight was contemporary of that of the USA pilots in their four Douglas World Cruisers, that even counting with vastly superior support -technical and financial-, had nonetheless their fair share of serious difficulties. It's not surprise then that Zanni and Beltrame had to abandon their enterprise midway, and yet still they were hailed -and fairly so- as heroes in their native country.

Here is one of the two Ansaldo "Brescia" racers, number 3, made specifically to race in the famous events hosted by that Italian city. Number 4 had a more powerful engine and some minor mods. The base was a not bad Pegasus injection kit, with home-concocted decals. The building post can be visited here: The drastically clipped wing and modified strut arrangement gives it an unusual but -to me, lover of oddities- appealing geometry. The model was possible thanks to aviation historian Paolo Miana and his team, as information found in their book on their Ansaldo machines filled a number of voids. https://www.gliarchiviritrovati.it/home/prodotto/gli-aerei-che-hanno-fatto-la-storia-ansaldo-sva/ They have publications on many other very interesting Italian subjects. Any potential inaccuracies are only mine. This was an almost painless adaptation of an easily obtained kit (there are many others by different manufacturers readily available) that presents a known plane under a mostly unknown guise, just the type of modeling I love. As always, I enjoyed very much reading about and working on an Italian racer, a nation that gave so much to that field of aviation, with luscious designs of undeniable appeal, even when they are unorthodox. Some of the images show my 1/72nd Italian test pilots, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Pier Paolo Pasolini, assisted by their mechanics (out of the frame) Domenico Modugno and Adriano Celentano.

(According to the Paolo Mina's book (that translates as "Airplanes That Have Made History, Ansaldo SVA"), this is a heavily retouched photo of the second Brescia racer (250hp engine). The number 4 had actually a star background. In this photo the number has been altered to follow the decoration scheme of #3) This link will take you to Kees Kort (varese2002) flickr page, that features #3: https://www.flickr.com/photos/varese2002/42416308151/in/album-72157636093418425/ Racers are like the spicy dish on the menu of civil aviation, the curry or jalapeño of winged apparatuses. One may even refer specifically to Italian racers as the pasta alla puttanesca plate. I have build very many models of them, as they are just beautiful. Long time ago a slightly bizarre one caught my attention, a (drastically) clipped wing version of the Ansaldo SVA biplane, called Brescia, as it was designed to compete in that city's famous races. In one of my excursions to the surrounding modeling grottoes (in this case during a trip to Palm Desert) I spotted and promptly acquired a Pegasus 1/72 kit of the SVA-5 with the purpose of conversion (that is to obtain a more civilized version). I have a few Pegasus kits stashed somewhere, and to be sincere they don't make a wonderful impression on me (and for what I can tell on many others as well), but having built veritable monsters that even today invoke nightmares in my mind (Merlin and the old Dujin kits, to name just two) this is not really a bad kit. Yes, it has a lot of flash, no locating devices whatsoever, some of the parts are a bit coarse, and there is not much in terms of interior detail, but I think they are perfectly buildable with some work and patience. In this case, to obtain the racing version, the wings and horizontal tail will require complete reworking, the interior a bit of improving, and a few external details added, as well as new decals. During my research I came across a wonderful publication by Italian aviation historian Paolo Miana and his team: https://www.gliarchiviritrovati.it/home/prodotto/gli-aerei-che-hanno-fatto-la-storia-ansaldo-sva/ That made me immensely happy, as I have purchased and used as references before two of his titles: "Gli aerei che hanno fatto la storia – SIAI S.64", https://www.gliarchiviritrovati.it/home/blogs/gli-aerei-che-hanno-fatto-la-storia-siai-s-64/ that I consulted for my Savoia S.64: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235050050-scratch-built-172-savoia-marchetti-s64-1928/ and his book on the Savoia Marchetti S.79 racers: "Lost Archives - Pictorial history of SIAI - Chapter I - the Sorci Verdi". https://www.gliarchiviritrovati.it/home/prodotto/siai-s-79-capitolo-i-i-sorci-verdi/ That were helpful in building two of them too: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235050724-savoia-s79-corsa-adaptation-from-the-172nd-scale-airfix-kit/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235050725-savoia-marcehtti-s79-corsa-conversion-of-the-172-italeri-kit/ A bagged kit, conveys a sort of vintage flavor... Contents. The machine guns are swiftly trashed: Plenty of flash: In spite of the prominent and ubiquitous flash, the plastic is soft and cleans perfectly in a matter of minutes: The "instructions" let you know that you have to fabricate your own struts. Again, do not panic, easy peasy for any modeler with a bit of experience: And in this very special and VERY happy day, an unusual and welcome sight in California: a life-giving rain, as if the sky would want to wash away the filth of these last four years, and to top everything, the sun is coming out again, shinning on all things, without distinction:

I fear quarantine has finally caught up to me and left me fit for the madhouse. While I finish tracking down the paints for a 1/72 Texan in Brazilian Markings courtesy of Tim and finish painting a 1/72 Mustang in Guatemalan Markings courtesy of Herb, I've decided to crack into what I expect will be a years-long endeavor. Having recently done more reading on the later marks of the ever-beautiful P-40, I came across a few more photos of the TP-40 models, both K and N, and somehow decided making a TP-40N starting from the Academy kit didn't seem all that difficult. So then, of course, I chose to make it difficult. And expensive. And time consuming. As only a modeler could. I stumbled back across Super Model of Polands fine website and began to take inventory of just how much aftermarket I could work into the build, from flaps and gear doors to engines and radios, and even bomb racks and machine gun bays. With some wheels, stencils, and control surfaces for good measure, I've gotten to work. Now I just need new cockpit parts, exhaust pipes, pilot figures, and resin wheel bays from Aires. Perhaps a new pitot and gun barrels will even find their way to the bench. PART flaps were chosen because they're vastly more detailed (and easier to use) than the ones Verlinden provide. Seeing a Hasegawa P-40N for cheap, I picked it up to make use of some of the leftover parts from the Verlinden set that won't find their way into this build, as a dry run to get more experience with resin and PE. Expect to see that in an Olive / NG Brazilian Scheme eventually. Once the Academy kit arrives, I'll be able to make more visible progress than just cleaning resin parts and opening access panels. For now, the parts: Wish me luck! Stay Healthy, Tweener

A Golden Eagle is lost at sea Long time ago I came across photos of the Lockheed Vega "Golden Eagle" that participated in the Dole air race to Hawaii. The plane started, but never arrived, and is presumed by most as having gone down in the Pacific. The Golden Eagle was the first Vega build, bought by George Hearst, and entered in the Dole race flown by Gordon Scott (navigator) and Jack Frost (pilot). Whilst some photos show a plane with the 2788 registration and an unusual, early style of curved small windshield and open cockpit, others show a plane as it participated in the race (as also seen in the Dole race start newsreels), with a "V" shaped more common windshield (still open "roof" in the cockpit), the actual legend "Golden Eagle" on the side, NX913 registration, and that -often seen in Lockheed planes- linear "spread array" pattern on the stab. Both had the early exposed cylinders -no NACA cowl or Townend ring- the triangular vertical tail, and a rather simple, unfaired, landing gear array. As it happens, after long perusing, reading and browsing, it is clear that the two are one and the same, with the registration changed. The color of the plane is given in one source as bright yellow. The diverse characters on the plane are certainly not black, and in fact are almost the same tonal value as the airframe color, confirming the red "trim" stated by many accounts. Yet another source (an article by Serge Pozzoli) reports orange-gold and red trim, and that would be indeed my choice, as it closely honors the name of the plane. The book Lockheed Aircraft since 1913 by R. Francillon states orange and red, and again, I think that "orange" stands for a golden paint. The plane had large signs on the sides, almost invisible in all but two of the images I have, that play a bit on the logo of the San Francisco Examiner (the sponsor) but adding "Golden Eagle" split to each side of it. The tail has an early Lockheed star logo with the word Vega in it, and the lettering Lockheed bellow it. As per details: a whole new interior has to be provided (fortunately I found a diagram). The Vega 1 was conceived as a four-seater, but for the race two fuel tanks were located ahead in the cabin, leaving a crawling space on top, and a navigator station was created with instruments, seat, a space for provisions, emergency equipment, radio, etc. An earth-inductor compass was part of the equipment, its mast with spinning windmill on the fuselage spine. A hatch for a cut-out was provided for the navigator on the cabin roof and a foldable windshield ahead of it on the wing. Opposite to what will be seen on successive models, the ailerons did not have a compensating mass, thus the ailerons leading edges were a simple straight business. These early Vegas, as mentioned, had a triangular vertical tail, a door that hinged upwards, located ahead of what will be the norm in later models, and only four windows per side. As many of you know, there is a 1/72 kit by MPM readily available -which I have in the stash- but also an old and venerable vac by Gordon Stevens of RarePlane fame. I had the good fortune of corresponding with him before his passing, at a time when I was building some of his kits. We had our good chats, as he was an affable, kind and knowledgeable gentleman, and I hope he may be looking from a cloud now and smiling, since I have chosen his kit for this build. This kit is peculiar in the sense that the fuselage (and all the interior parts and engine) are vacuum-formed in a thick clear plastic, whilst flying surfaces and other small details come in the usual white styrene sheets. No decals were included in these kits, and many of the details like engine, prop, wheels, struts and other smallish parts are better substituted. Gordon included those additional parts in the clear sheet most likely to take advantage of the space, but it's not a happy solution. I have built in another life his Bell Airacuda, similarly fashioned, and that engineering solution, that may sound practical at first, ends up being not much so, for diverse reasons. As the vac kit represents a later Vega, I will have to remove the nose NACA cowling and vertical tail, and replace them with pointy nose and triangular tail: I will have also to move the cabin door one "space" ahead, delete the aft fifth windows on both sides and replace the wheel pants-cum-partial wheel for just plain whole wheels. Landing gear struts need to be fabricated, new engine provided and a different interior fashioned. And, of course, the decals. A hefty amount of time, more than many would deem reasonable, was spent researching the many details of this plane, and lately I solved the last detail mentioned, that is, the particular details of the lettering and decoration on the plane, all from few, vague, and not very yielding images, gathered one or a few at a time, after hours and hours of perusing and browsing here and there. The vintage boxing A spurious 1/48 AMT decal sheet was put inside by a previous owner: Instructions... Plastic A not very practical approach, but may have seemed "high-tech" at the time: The door and windows are there, although I will have to change some of that:

Here's my 1/72 AW101, finished in the colours of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, built for the helicopters group build. It's converted from the Revell Merlin HC.3, which required a change of the window configuration and a few other detail differences. Decals were (mostly) custom printed, paint was Tamiya and Gunze (although I think the dayglo was AK real colour). Thoroughly enjoyable build, experimented with a few new things, windows didn't work out quite as planned but I learned a lot. Build thread is here. thanks for looking Julian

This is a model built 3 years ago, that I did not post. It will become relevant for another model that I will be (likely) building, hence this late posting. I am not particularly proud of this model, as I really struggled with the kit's quality, but here it is anyway. I converted the "normal" G.III into a civil plane, with enclosed cockpit. A page on the plane was found in Les Ailes #436, 10/24/1929, thanks to the wonderful Gallica archives. From that Gallica/Les Alies page: You may find a post here at the Passion Pour L'aviation blog: http://www.passionpourlaviation.fr/2016/04/23/cudron-giii-a-cabine-fermee/ The Chroszy kit provides a starting point, and it helps, but it has some shortcomings you may not like (I did not). A biplane is always a challenge at many levels, and this is no exception. The rigging on this one is quite a task, and the open twin booms uniting front and tail are especially tricky in more than one way too. My thanks to Mika Jernfors of Arctic Decals from whom I commissioned the simple images this one needed, being civil-registered. First the good: a detailed resin kit, mostly well molded (but with many parts not well molded, unfortunately) with reasonable scale thicknesses, with a nice photo-etched fret, and things bagged separately in an attempt (futile) to protect the contents. A piece of clear plastic was in the box too. The not so good: Quite so-so instructions, which seems to be the norm with so many kits, too small, and with the P.E. parts not differentiated from the resin ones. The parts of course do no have identification numbers, and there is no part diagram, so you will be left to guess in many instances, and trust me, you won't like it. As with other kits from this manufacturer, some parts arrived already broken, which really pisses me off. Choroszy could use those "ears" or sidebars that other resin manufacturers use to protect the parts in the casting blocks. The wingtip was broken, and I found (after much looking around) the fragment to glue it back, but one of the landing gear skis had its front broken, and no fragment was there. The way some parts are united to their casting blocks (like the seats) makes them prone to breakage in separating them. In any case, spares seem to be provided (difficult to asses since there is no part numbers or diagram). The too thick throttles come as resin parts, but they should have doubtlessly been included with the P.E. parts. My kit did not have the decals that according to the lid should have come in there. No worries, since I did not use them anyway, but heck! This kit in general is overoptimistic in the sense that part of the detail will have to be replaced by wire or very thin styrene rod. The fragile and in some spots uneven resin parts that depict the trusses are quite a bit of wishful thinking too. In general, the sense I got from this kit is an attempt to replicate a fragile structure that fell quite short, had poor mechanical strength, and molding that left much to be desired. Unclean casts, failed parts, and parts confetti upon arrival. Not to mention asymmetries regarding wing strut placement, that will make your delight once you realize it, hopefully not too late in construction. Not a happy camper I was with this kit. I had built before a Church Midwing racer from the same manufacturer, that was in general AFAICR a better experience, but with incomplete and bad decals:

So chaps, the next build will be something that is very dear to me, Veh reg 09EA90 ( G3 Ops) my old ride at 6th Armd Bde Salamanca Barracks in Soest West Germany. I signed for the detachment back in 1990 as a young Signaller barely just out of school, 09EA90 was straight out of base workshops after a major overhaul so it was basically a brand new wagon, the paint finish was immaculate ( sprayed black and green) , not a chip or scratch and all the kit was brand new first issue. (didn't stay like that for long) I'll be using the great Takom FV432 as the basis of this conversion which will be a in depth conversion. Most people wouldn't be able to tell a 432 and 436 apart from first glance but there are a bucket load of differences, the interior is the major headache as it filled with Radio kit. 09EA90 had a twin 353 Zulu fit along with a single 321 and a SCRAT fit. We also had 3 Ptarmigan subsets and the Redbrick TAC IC system. Adding to that I have to scratch build the new cage as the Takom cage is too small for a 436, a 1500 w Onan gene set and add the various armoured boxes on the roof plus the Racal 8m masts and mounts. After the first Gulf War our Squadron started getting the GPMG to fit on the commanders cupola, the Infantry started getting the swearing removed LSW as a section weapon so us Signallers got the GPMGs that were surplus to the Infantry. We did still have the LMG (Bren) up until that point but no mounts to fix them to the cupola. The box shot I need to find more of my photo's from the day but here are a few of 09EA90 First photo is of the Forward Headquarters 6th Armd Bde, 09EA90 (G3 Ops )on the left, centre is Radcon and the right hand side is one of the Ptarmigan Radio Relay wagon Stay tuned for more Dan

Found in my attic about a year ago, started about thirty years ago and finally seeing the light of day again. As I have a DV in my stash and there are many good DIII kits out there I decided it would either be an Offag DIII or a DI/II, seeing as how there are many good Offag kits too and the wings were terrible I decided to go for the latter. Wing blanks now ready for skinning, already better than the kit parts :). My younger self had already replaced the tailplane and filled the fuselage a bit. Still have to decide on a DI or a DII, those ear radiators are awfully cute, but the colour schemes on the DII are much more interesting, ho hum.