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Due to the hugely popular thread below Is there an appetite for a 2nd Frog GB ? Cheers Pat List of Fame 1. @JOCKNEY 2. @vppelt68 3. @Corsairfoxfouruncle 4. @stevehnz 5. @Ray S 6. @Romeo Alpha Yankee 7. @CliffB 8. @rafalbert 9. @AdrianMF 10. @bigbadbadge 11. @Adam Poultney 12. @klr 13. @Rabbit Leader 14. @nimrod54 15. @Rob S 16. @Retired Bob 17. @theplasticsurgeon 18. @Grandboof 19. @Mjwomack 20. @DaveyGair 21. @Toryu 22. @Doccur 23. @Johnson 24. @TimJ 25. @zebra 26. @jean 27. @Jinxman 28. @John Masters 29. @feoffee2 30. @Marklo 31. @Mjwomack 32. @Richard Humm 33. @Adrian Hills 34. @heloman1 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

For the first time ever, let alone on a group build, I shall be attempting two kits side by side. A pair of Macchi C.202 Folgore in gorgeous sand/green desert schemes. Wish me luck..!

This is final post in the series of long projects. Vultee Vengeance Mk.II by Eastern Express (Frog with terrible clear parts). Nothing special about it - just plain OOB, no weathering, just wanted to finish it and move on to something else.

My latest build, number 5 this year, is the Frog Fokker D. XXI, a kit in a bag on a card that I bought at a model show some time ago, which takes me right back to my early days aged between 7 and 11 when I started making Airfix models in similar card and bag packaging. This particular kit looks like it was first issued in 1973. I approached this relatively simple kit with caution - my recent experience has been the simpler the kit, the harder it can be to put together. I was right. I think there's more CA holding this one together than I've used in all my other builds. For those who like a bit of history, here's the card the bag containing the kit came on, togwether with the printscale decals showing it included decals for the Frog schem I had already painted the kit in, All the way from 1973 - the decals told me that. How? you ask; easy. when they went into water, they kind of did a decal star jump, splitting up into several pieces that floated away from each other. Printscale decals to the rescue !! Now that you've seen the decal sheet in all its glory I'll point out the several items that both Frog in its packaging and printscale decals instructions informed me of that Frog didn't include in its parts; an exhaust tube; a radio aerial and a gunsight. All of which I've added to the basic model, together with a seatbelt and a shelf behind the seat on I put some boxes, to represent radio etc.. The radio aerial, gunsight and gun barrels are albion alloys; instrument panel by Yahu. Aerial line by Uschi van der Rosten. Filler by Perfect plastic putty, plastic sheet by a generic supplier, tape for masking by Tamiya. Paints by Airfix, Tamiya and Mr Colour. Varnishes by Windsor & Newton Galleria.. Here's the actual kit; I'm sure the critical eyed out there will have spotted one or two anomalies, shall we say; chaps, I'm well aware the paint colours may be wrong for the time, but they were the best matches I could find. I am disappointed with the cockpit masking, all done by my hand; unlike previous builds, where my mask cutting improved, this is a 2 steps back kind of job. Altogether, I'm disappointed but not crushed; perhaps the next build will show improvements. And finally, this build, despite its flaws, and the rest of my builds to come this this year, are dedicated to the memory of Ian Stanley, my very good friend from Canada who I met 25 years ago due to our shared love of the Who, who died at the end of April this year. A musician himself, who played in bar bands in and around New Brunswick, we rapidly discovered that it wasn't just the Who we both enjoyed, many other bands, and tv series' and films. His witty, warm, and generous nature shone through all of our regular contacts, and he surprised me more recently when I mentioned I had started modelling after a long break, he told me that he had enjoyed modelling in the past, though he had long stopped making models himself. I began sending him photos of kits I had bought and made, and he enjoyed seeing my builds, and reading about them in the RFI's I'd posted here. Like me, he was astonished at the way in which modelling has changed over the years, with P/E, resin and other accessories, and of course the sheer range of subjects kitted. His preferred kits were mostly tanks and other armoured vehicles. His generous nature meant that he rarely mentioned the flaws I saw in my builds, he would always find something positive to praise, no matter how small, and offer me perhaps some witty thought on what I'd done. He was indeed a good friend. In memory of Ian Stanley 1959 - 2023

Given that @mark.au, @bigbadbadge and @Dunny have succumbed to a common urge to build Spitfire XIVs, I was wondering if I could join in with another one? Of course, I insist on a kit with state of the art tooling: ... of which I seem to have two! If I'm allowed to join the happy throng, this will be in the 132 squadron SEAC scheme. There are photos in the IWM collection showing this very aeroplane as well as others from the squadron, so I'm happy with the colour scheme (and I am going to assume that the squadron codes are white). Accuracy?? Hmm, I'm sure there's lots to talk about here - for me, the two things that really stand out are the lack of a gull wing, which throws out the wing fairing something awful, and the too-small radiators. So I will have at those. I will also be detailing the cockpit from the plastic bits box, will add a full-size pilot, wheels up on a stand (probably an Airfix one out of sheer perversity). Awfully tempted by a what-if Japanese V1 but I think I'll lie down until that goes away. Well fingers crossed, I'll wait and see if I've been judged desperate enough to participate. Regards, Adrian

Having stumbled on Adrian's @AdrianMF lovely little FROG Proctor, not just his excellent build, but the kit itself, I thought I'd build one myself. I had another reason to build this aircraft. My Great Uncle, Leonard Carruthers, was Percival's Chief Test Pilot and there are several photographs dating from 1942 of him flying LA589 the 2nd prototype of the Proctor IV, a RAF radio training plane. I made 2 so that I could have one on the shelf and give the other to my cousin, Leonard Carruthers' daughter. I find most Britmodeller builds a learning curve, not just the modelling side of things, but also about the plane itself. The Proctor IV was a 3 seater with the pilot on the port side and the student set slightly back on the starboard behind the fairly hefty TR1154 R1155 radio (as used in RAF heavy bombers). The instructor sat behind the pilot. The FROG cockpit isn't accurate and I'm indebted to @Dave Swindell and @Work In Progress for finding me really useful links. Being of wooden construction, the Proctor hasn't fared well, mainly because of the glue holding it together breaking down and there are only a few left flying today. The only Mk.IV that I know that survives is at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre. The kit, for it's age, was lovely. Went together very well and appears to be generally accurate. There was quite a bit of scratch building and modification in the cockpit but I've left the outside pretty much OOB. I was lucky enough to find the Falcon vacuform set that has the nice clear Proctor IV canopy. The model was finished with Xtracolor enamels, markings are from Xtradecal or homemade. Finished with Winsor & Newton matt acrylic varnish. Here are the results; And the real plane; If you want to know more about the build, here's the link to the WIP thread; Thank you to all who followed and supported my build, and thanks for looking!

You might ask 'why would anyone want to build one FROG Percival Proctor IV', let alone two? The answer lies in a photo on page 72 of 'Camera Above The Clouds', Vol.2 by Charles E. Brown*: Copyright Considerations. The original photo would have been taken by Charles Brown for The Aeroplane magazine during WW2, so by the 70 year rule it is now out of copyright. The photo I scanned is from the Airlife book but alas they have gone bust, so I can't ask them for permission. This is a reduced resolution image for study purposes. If there is a copyright infringement, please let me know and it will be removed. Staring out of the cockpit, dressed in a tweed jacket by the look of it, was my cousin's late father, Leonard Turnell Carruthers*, Percival's chief test pilot. My cousin Jane, who bought a copy of the book when I showed her the photo, still talks about it and I thought, why not make a model for her? And while I'm about it, maybe one for my shelf? So, two kits purchased, not too expensive, from King Kit, I love the box art of the planes breaking from formation. And when I bought the kits, I noticed that the decals have the same serial number as the prototype Proctor in the photo (LA589). From the same photo shoot, a poorer quality photo, but from a slightly different angle and it does show the serial number and other useful details Sprues: And what wonderful yellow plastic! Not sure it's going to help much though. The decals will not be used, they're old, wrong size and the wrong colour. I have Xtradecal replacements including the yellow prototype symbol. The intention is to do fairly simple builds. I'm thinking that I'll leave the raised panel lines, part of the charm of an old (60 years!) kit. * There are three 'Camera Above The Clouds' volumes, published by Airlife. Charles Brown was the greatest aerial photographer of his time and his colour and b&w photos are simply stunning. They cover the pre-war, WW2 and immediate post war period. The books are available reasonably priced on Abe Books. * If you would like to know more about Leonard Carruthers, this website has some good information; http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2008/04/lt-carruthers-1899-19xx.html Cheers,

These are the first stages of my attempt to motorise the Frog he-219. I already fitted a beaufighter with a pair Frog spin-a-prop motors, but I think the magnets have become unpolarised, after about 10 minutes of running, spread over the weeks of building & testing the battery fitting, they are now almost impossible to start up. So I set about sourcing different motors on the internet. Most motors will need a switch in the circuit, so I also found a relatively small microswitch, & bought a pack of 10 for about £3.00 This project took a bit of a back seat to my two Ju-88's and the Bf-110 seen here, as my soldering skills were pretty poor. But I have a new iron now, so it's time to crack on ... I started the Bf-110 & the UHU at the same time, but the Heinkel project was delayed by difficulties with the engines (ironically), so production of my bf-110 took priority, followed by my Ju-88R I've always been fascinated by the UHU ever since I built this same kit when I was 10 years old. I recently obtained this fabulous reference book online, with scale drawings in 1/72nd, 1/48th & 1/32nd scales

Morning folk's a stash choice picked up for pennies last year and waiting for an excuse to build. Inside the battered box were a few surprises when it arrived.

I should like to go on with presentation of some my models. Let stay with British airplanes. Now the Miles Master/Martinet family. First the family photos: Master I cames from Pavla. It has just few additions/correction and the decals are not just out of the box. Miles Master III is basicly the very old Frog kit, however it was deeply re-shaped regarding drawings. BTW I should like to acknowledge my brother (KRK4m on this forum) for large help in research in completing documentation in this particular case and in general - as he deals professional on history of aviation. Going back to the Master III. The fuselage was cut - it is lower by about 2 mm now, the whole engin/cowling is new and the canopy cames from Pavla spare one (for late Mk I). There are other minor modifications as well - have a look please (I edided this paragraph on 20 August when I realized that I mixed Master Mk II and Mk III - my model is Mk III, with 14 cyliders US engine...): The Martinet comes not from Pavla kit, as one could think. This is a free scratch conversion from Frog Master II kit... This happend, because I started work on this just before a Martnet kit from Pavla apeared, but I finished it alredy knowing, that kit exists. Sometimes life if bitter, isn't? It has a longer wingspan of course, again lower fuselage etc... Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

There, I've said it now, I'm in! This will be as near OOB as I can make it. Except for the cockpit, obviously. And the wheel wells. And probably the undercarriage. And the guns... Pictures will follow when I have trawled the Deep Stash. [edit] Trawled: Regards, Adrian

Zvezda has just reissued the old Novo/Frog 1/72nd Fokker F.VII/3M "Southern Cross" kit - ref. 7233 Sources: https://zvezda.org.ru/catalog/sbornye_modeli/aviatsiya/vtoraya_mirovaya_voyna_aviation/fokker_f_viib_3m_yuzhnyy_krest_/ https://www.aviationmegastore.com/en/modelling/fokker-fvii3m-southern-cross-ex-novofrog--reissue-zvezda-7233-35159.html V.P.

Hello, colleagues! I'd like to present another model from the FROG/NOVO contest - the british naval fighter McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1. It is the repack of the old FROG model F262 by Industrial Group "Mir" (Minsk). As usual I built this model in "Out of the box" nomination, so no modifications to the original kit were allowed. The only modification allowed to me by the contest administration was the extension of the nose landing gear. This gives the model more "british" look. The model is of poor quality and was difficult to build. According to the rules of the contest I had to stay within the limits of the kit - rised panel lines, geometry inaccuracies and so on. So, the result is before you. It is the naval fighter XT872 005/R, Naval Air Squadron 892, Royal Navy, HMS Ark Royal, 1973. Thanks for looking!

As the WWII jets and rockets GB did not get through the bunfight I thought this might fit into this GB instead if I went for a prototype of either the B or C - I will decide which later. The kit comes with parts and markings for a production B-2 and C-2/3 but I can change them if needed. Pete

This is my first post on this site - although I have coming here for several years now for references & guidance. Partly thanks to Covid lockdown, I have returned to the hobby after a break of around 40 years, I have had to learn new painting techniques with acrylics and an affordable airbrush kit from Hobbycraft (originally intended for decorating cakes) I have made a couple of small single engined WW2 fighters, now I wanted to turn my hand to some of the models I made as young lad, and improve on them. Currently I am making a collection of WW2 nightfighers - with limited space I am going to stay with 1/72 scale for the time being. I have made a Blenheim NF I with AI Mk III arrays, a Beaufighter NF II with AI MkIV arrays, and I am currently building a Heinkel He-219 Uhu and a Bf-110-G - all from vintage Frog kits. This has given me a lot to research, and I have made a few minor mistakes (for example finding out the radar operator in the early beaufighters squatted with a greatcoat under his knees behind the pilot in the Blenheim, and not in the navigators seat in the cockpit as I had assumed and depicted when I scratch built the interior of my glasshouse 1940 nightfighter. For my Bf-110G I splashed out on an Eduard Brassin cockpit interior kit, and I have also amassed a small collection of antenna kits for Fug 202, 212 in brass or plastic - so heavy surgery was needed in the fuselage as I rejected the marshmallow puppets of the kit to allow me to install a full cockpit, with guns & radar equipment, and crewed by figures from PJ Productions in Belgium It looks like I will have to set up a website where I can host my photos before I go any further, I will set something up in AWS & post a few photos of the first stages - starting from this The hideous "Mr Blobby" crew figures can be seen at the top right of the bag in this photo

Back in 1974 I came across a new Frog kit in my then "LMS" in Chester. As ever it was somewhat "exotic" - a 2 seat Dornier 335. It was a nice enough kit but I later decided that I would have preferred a single seat A-1 version, and having seen a conversion, probably in Airfix magazine, I picked another up in 1991 but never got round to building it. By this time the moulds were with Revell and they released it in their own name initially, but this 1991 boxing is under the Matchbox label for some reason - I believe they later started releasing a Dragon kit of the 335 under their own label. Anyway, here it is! I have glued the spinners to the props a few years ago but done nothing since. The box art is pure fantasy as I doubt that the V10, as the first prototype of the A-6 two seat night fighter, ever saw action. The colour scheme is problematic as they suggest "Matchbox" paint references and I have no idea what they refer to but they seem to be green uppers and a blue/grey on the unders . I believe that the original Frog kit had a "3 greys" scheme of 74/75/76 which I painted in the old Humbrol Authentic colour range but I suspect had they been built the production versions would have been all over 76 with a mottle of 75 on the upper surface as was standard on night fighters at that stage in the war. Having said that I have read that by that stage some night fighters were getting day fighter camo uppers, presumably to make them less visible on the ground given the risk of strafing. Of course prototypes were not always painted in the current paint scheme anyway but I will go into that in my other entry! Pete

I'm in the process of migrating old builds from Photobucket to Flickr and whilst I can find the WIP of these two builds back in 2013, I couldn't find an RFI so thought I'd post them here linked to the Flickr pics. Build thread: Here It's the Frog Mk.I and old Airfix Mk.IV kits with Falcon canopies and plenty of scratch building to bring them up to date. Fun builds from what I remember and pleased with the results. Frog: Airfix: Thanks for looking

Hello, Some years ago I was given the Pete's Hangar (produced in Queensland Australia) cockpit interior, a nicely done resin set that is designed for use with the Frog kit, it will not fit the Special Hobby product. Sadly I did at one stage own a Frog Vengeance but chose to sell it, which I regret as I had to obtain a replacement Frog offering! At considerably higher price than I sold mine for, well at least plenty of them are still out there and unbuilt! I also did a swap with a fellow club member for his Pete's Hangar replacement cowling, propeller and undercarriage interior again only suitable for the Frog kit, the white metal prop is lovely but the replacement cowling is no better than the kit offering! So I modified it using the second Special Hobby cowling front! It is a bit of a Frankenstein modification but cleaned up should be an improvement!!! Thanks to a local guy here in Sydney I was able to obtain this issue of the kit.. You get two vacform canopies with the Pete;s Hangar set, nice and crisp mouldings.. This is the Frankenstien cowling with a good amount of Milliput slapped on it to cover the variations!! Resin replacement Pete's Hangar engine, remains of Pete's Hangar Cowling after removal of offending nose... and believe the plastic cowling front from the SH Vengeance kit. The Pete's Hangar (a VAST improvement of the basic Frog cockpit bits) resin and brass interior.. Unfortunately the replacement vacform canopy sits too low!! and a strip of card needed adding to the side walls of the Frog cockpit parts... easily done. The entire Frog parts have had the panel lines all rescribed including the missing ones... of which there are quite a few, I couldn't fins decent drawings of the type so I referred to the SH kit.. The Pete's Hangar cockpit interior replacements set... the seats and twin .30 are brass.. tough as old nails to file!!! Work in progress, the Frog kit in dark blue and the SH kit in light grey... I have modified the u/c legs slightly.... The wheel wells with the Pete's Hangar replacement resin parts which fitted absolutely perfectly!!

Hello All, Well, I haven't quite got helicopters out of my system with the group build... At the Cosford model show I was rummaging in the bagged kits section on a stand and I came across a bagged Frog Wessex for £1.99. When I asked the man whether the boxed one was complete he said he didn't know and threw it in for free! So I now have two Wessexes for 99p each - seems rude not to build at least one. The boxed one is complete, so I decided to build the bagged one. There are some issues with it. The canopy is subtly short shot - the right hand side of the windscreen has shrivelled a bit and does not fit. Some of the windows were missing, but that's not big loss as they all needed replacing anyway. There is also a missing rotor plate (here replicated out of plastic card and rod), bulkhead (plastic card and scored wine bottle foil), and a missing seat (spares box). I knocked up a quick cockpit from the seats, balsa, card, rod and fuse wire. I also cut away the shrivelled side windscreen and located a Frog Blenheim turret as a donor for a replacement pane: Cockpit painted and fitted: Replacement pane cut from the turret: I made some replacement side window frames from card: And here are the parts for the windscreen taped together. I will file down the new pane and add a pillar to the edge: The bulged side window needed replacing so I made a quick balsa and superglue plunge mould: It fits! And I've hollowed out the exhausts: So I plan to use the decals from the boxed kit and go with the overall blue scheme. Two questions: Is it blue or blue-grey? Is there a source of white letters and numbers in Royal Navy font? I have a number of projects that are crying out for these (including a tasty orange and blue scheme for this one), but I can't find a suitable decal sheet. Thanks for looking, Adrian

Now that I'm more or less done with some builds that took far longer than they ever should've, and appear to be on the near edge of done trying to figure out whether or not I owe my school or am owed for a term I'm already 90% of the way through, I broke into the old FROG Swordfish I had thrown in with a Blenheim and Firefly a while back. I've got the new Airfix Floatfish, but I don't dare tear into that just yet before I end up with another 4 month project. @bigbadbadge gets the credit for inspiring the topic. First, the boxart - It's quite honestly one of my favorite box tops, though I don't think much will ever pass the Matchbox Siskin or Fury. So far I've gotten most of the interior together and painted. By that, I mean I added both interior parts - Ok yes, there is still a gun mount and gun to attach, but otherwise it's a fairly plain. I may just have to paint up a few figures for once. The lower wing has also been assembled, though this was notably difficult as the tabs were somewhat smaller than necessary. With any luck the fuselage will be joined to it tomorrow morning. More soon, Tweener

WIP can be found here... As I said, many days and nights I thought I would never be making this finished Ventura post, this was a real mojo test. And as I also said, if you want an enjoyable, care free build as FROG would have wanted you to, build the Academy/Minicraft kit, they started with these unfinished molds. Only aftermarket used were the Print-Scale decals. My own vac canopies, scratched cockpit and turret, I used original kit plastic whenever possible. Kit propellers reduced in chord and reshaped. All surface detail removed and replaced with .005 pen lines. I followed technical drawings to replicate the wing panel lines but when I saw what was ahead for me with the fuselage I said "not happening.." Fuselage lines are totally fictitious, I was just trying to get the feel of the real thing. Scratched together a Martin 250CE-13 turret with twin .50's. I used small plastic wire-ties for the twin ammo feeds. I'm glad I spent the time on the cockpit, I hadn't realized how much would be seen under the vac canopy. Brush painted canopy frames this time. Would I do it again? Probably. I didn't realize the full scope of this build when I started, I usually don't let plastic win or get the better of me and this one almost got binned a couple of times but I'm pleased with this finished build. Thanks all for struggling along with me. I think a nice little Me-163 with a parts count of 5 is in order for a little therapy.

The FROG Ventura, kit F240. This was one of the last ever kits but didn't make it out except for 100 kits, see below. I know one lucky guy in North Carolina has an original FROG boxing of the kit, his boxing is shown below. I hope he builds it. My kit is the Eastern Express issue, still has the F240 imprint on the sprues. Armed with a Squadron Signal and aftermarket decals, I jumped in. Airfix should spend a couple of bucks on these, would save them a lot of headaches.... Since I'm changing over to acrylics, kicking and screaming, this build will be a good test mule for these. Major components fit together well. It does seem as though they rushed the molds. Poor detail and panel lines. I will sand all those off and do pencil or pen. Biggest problem are the engine nacelles. The crude engines don't fit into the cowling and the opening is too small and off-set to one side. This is what I have, and this is where I need to get. Um........cowling flaps?........ I have some Hercules engines I might try and use or re-create the cowling flaps from sheet styrene and enlarge the cowling opening. I will use the quartz parts as masters and vac my own canopy. If I can wrestle the engines and cowlings together the rest should go well. If that's the case I want to end up here with this a/c. So, the biggest part of this build was always going to be the the engines. If I can get past those, I figure I'm good. Starting with nasty out of round cowlings, I started carving with a #11, actually easier than I thought it was gong to be. Next, the engines were not even close. Then to get those to fit, A level of plastic on the cowlings had to be removed. And even then, when eveything was together, it sucked. That morning, I whacked the coffee filter too hard and broke it which gave me this screening that allowed me these niffty oil cooler intake screens. I'm pretty sure this is the most putty I have ever used on any one model. Worked out well, not perfect but good enough. Next was tackling the cooling flaps. 10thou. sheet styrene. I wanted something better but these will do. Never in my entire model building life have I spent so much time and so much effort just getting a model to the point I can close the fuselage halves. If you want to build the FROG Ventura the way FROG intended you to with all the warmth, joy and pleasure building we've enjoyed from FROG, get the Academy/Minicraft kit. I absolutely know this is in no way FROG's fault, just unfortunate timing. If they could have finished the molds they would have. The cockpit fit has all the same issues as the engine nacelles. Generic parts thrown on the parts sprues that don't fit together at all. Since these Venturas were originally built to RAF specs with only one pilot seat, when diverted to the US Navy on Attu, an island off Alaska, they were field modified with a second seat for the co-pilot. A second seat was sourced and second control column made. Throttle quadrant made from stretched sprue, seatbelts from yogurt foil and an instrument panel decal pinched from the Airfix Hudson. The main canopy got 10thou strip added for better fit and I will vac this for the finish. The rear gunner position was fixed with more 10thou plastic and lots of putty. I will use this quartz example on the finish build as it's hardly seen. I will vac and detail my own upper turret but now, finally, we are here... The only drama I know still waiting for me are the wheels/tires as they are badly misaligned. Honestly, there were days and nights that I thought this build would never, ever get to this point. My kicking and screaming journey from enamels to acrylics was abated a bit. I picked up this Vallejo set to try out on the Ventura. No color corrections or youtube tricks, just a straight out-of-box test. (...bottle) As I said, I really didn't think I had a chance of posting these pics but here they are... I'm pleased with the colors, easy to use, dries nice and smooth. They also passed the tape test as I masked off and sprayed the de-icer boots with no lifting problems at all. A coat of Future over all this. The a/c I'm doing is from VB-135, serial number 48891 as shown below. The markings for this a/c often included in kits show decorations on the rudder. I have found no photos of any 135 squadron a/c with these decorations. There was a photo shoot of 135 and 139 crews all posed in front of this one aircrafts tail. The a/c is from 139 squadron. So hear we are tonight with a coat of Future drying over the PrintScale decals. Grunge oil wash tomorrow.

Hi, Thought I might try and slip in a quickie, though that depends somewhat on the weather in terms of painting. In 2019 I entered my first GB - the Frog one, and one of the other modellers Ash @Doccur built a really beautiful FD2 - here's the link to his build. I remember buying this kit which was originally released in 1957, but judging by the pics of the boxes on Scalemates mine was almost certainly the later 1965 reboxing. I just threw it together in a matter of minutes, the only extra detailing being to "glaze the small rectangular windows with some thin clear plastic, and slapped on a coat of silver paint, probably Humbrol Hu 11. By comparison with Ash's build it was very crude as he corrected the position of the windows and painted it in a stunning pink scheme, helped by the fact that he tracked down a supplier of decs in I think either the States or Canada. The chap had actually closed down his business but Ash persuaded him to run a set off for him, and it was certainly worth the effort. I thought I had thrown mine away years ago, but then a year or so ago I found it lurking in a box in my loft. I brought it down, stripped off the paint and partially dismantled it so I could get some weight in, and I contacted Ash and he kindly set me the undercarriage which he had not used. Since then it has been sitting around waiting for a KUTA! Amazingly I managed to find all the bits, few that they are - usually my refurbs end up going nowhere as I lose them. Won't take long to build I hope but then I have to spray it a nice shiny silver - polished aluminium probably. As to markings I will recreate the old Frog ones for WG774 unless somebody happens to have some viable spares. Cheers Pete

I’ve had a FROG Katyushka in my stash for ages. One of those kits you get out periodically, take a look and put back again quickly! I do like the work tray box though - I wonder why they never caught on? ICM do an SB-2. I was struck by the kit engineering and bought one: The idea of this build is to make the ICM kit and see if I can’t salvage the FROG one alongside it. The ICM is one of their older kits - it isn’t as sharp as their Po-2 but it’s still very impressive. The wings and ailerons take a bit of work to get sorted (on the right): Here’s what made me get one. You start building the airframe with the centre section: Then add more bits: And suddenly you’ve got a detailed cockpit, bomb bay and wheel wells: Although I suspect that there are some throttles and other bits needed in the cockpit. The nose and tail follow the same pattern of building up separately before sticking it all together.

Werknummer 494230, T6+HM seen below on downwind. I wanted to capture the dusty, weathered look of these aircraft at the front. The olde FROG kit from 1968, F-195. Looking at this kit in the stash over the years, I've always been impressed how cool this looked with the raised panel lines, the rivets, the overall shape, even the razor sharp trailing edges of the flying surfaces are all aspects FROG captured really well. I added aftermarket cannon barrels, a Falcon canopy and a resin cockpit. Old aftermarket decals for the markings, werknummer and codes are my own press-type on clear decal, the rest is out of box as I wanted it as much FROG as I could. This build was also a test mule for the MMP Luftwaffe colors. MMP paints were used exclusively, color coats, clear coats, all weathering. I had no problems, I'm pleased with the results and will continue using them. The cannons are such a big part of this aircraft, I detailed those to busy them up some. Not perfect but good. The Falcone canopy was extremely hard to work with because it is so thin. I spent a day framing and another whole just attaching it. All in all, I'm pleased with this. I wish I had paid closer attention and studied photos better. The yellow fuselage band is too wide, by about half, and I think the "HM" on the port side would all be on green. I was copying an artist illustration, not looking more closely at a photo. There is a lot of life left in this old FROG kit. With just some basic additions, the old kit cleans up well and looks pretty close to modern, more expensive issues of the Ju-87G. 1968, who would have thunk it....