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Hi all heres my completed Kilo 877 build, nice kit no issues in assembly. Peoples Liberation Army Navy scheme. All the best Chris

Whilst it was great that we, (in the UK), have had a great summer, it really slows down the modelling progress! I started this one in April and finished last weekend. Even by my sedentary pace that's slow! Anyhow, about the model. Here we have the Hobbyboss A10a Thunderbolt. I chose to present it in the experimental 'Peanut' scheme. I was not convinced by the painting guide in the instructions, with few pictures of this scheme online I had to go with my instinct. It may not be a perfect colour match but I am pleased with the result. No major vices with build. The cockpit and wheel wells were lacking in detail. I used an Aires detail set for the cockpit and scratch built some detail in the wells. I've kept the weathering light, only using Flory 'dark dirt' wash. I apologise for the photo quality, the light was beginning to fade! I hope, you enjoy.... Thanks for looking...

Whilst the build is finished, I've left off any real weathering as I've got plans to put this into a diorama, just undecided in which season to place it, although Winter is winning at the moment. So you will see this again. The build went really well until I came to put the side plates on, there are just too many contact points and they wouldn't all line up at the same time. But for the casual observer they will do. The decals also didn't like Microsol and set as they shrank back and split in places which had to be touched up with paint, although once weathered properly you won't see the problem areas.

Blohm & Voss BV141 1:48 HobbyBoss In 1937 the RLM (Luftwaffe High Command) issued a request for proposals for a single-engined reconnaissance aircraft with a three-man crew. The initial concept by Richard Vogt, chief designer for Blohm & Voss, was a conventional layout with the cockpit behind the engine. However this provided a limited field of view, leading him to come up with possibly the most radical aircraft design ever. The crew cabin was moved onto the starboard wing, resulting in an asymmetrical configuration which looked as if it would be unstable and uncontrollable even if it could get off the ground. In effect it was a twin-boom aircraft with the starboard nacelle removed! However the RLM saw the potential and authorised the construction of three prototypes. The first BV141A took to the air on 25th February 1938 and proved to be surprisingly easy to handle. Vogt redesigned the cockpit to improve the field of view before the second prototype was built. This machine was lost when it crash-landed following an undercarriage problem. However the RLM gave its approval for further aircraft to be built. Along the way the plane got a more powerful engine, an asymmetric tailplane which improved the rear gunner’s field of fire, and a change of designation to BV141B. Then the project was suddenly cancelled – not, as some historians have believed, due to any misgivings about the aircraft’s design or performance, but for purely logistical reasons. The engine used in later models was the same one fitted to the Do217 and the Fw190, and the factory where these engines were built found itself unable to meet the demand after it was bombed by the RAF. Understandably, the RLM felt that the war effort would be better served by bombers and fighters rather than reconnaissance aircraft, and the BV141 was consigned to history without ever seeing active service. Its role was filled by the Fw-189, even though it did not meet the initial request for a single-engined machine. Records show that twenty aircraft were built before the plug was pulled, but none survived the war. The Kit Until now the only mainstream kit available – so far as I’m aware – was Airfix’s 1:72 offering, which was first released in 1970 and has reappeared periodically since. It’s fair to say that they took some liberties with the design – for instance, to accommodate the wing attachment tabs they created a non-existent step in the cockpit floor, which led to the rear-gunner having to be moulded with no legs below the knee so that he would fit! This left anyone interested in the aircraft keen to see a new more accurate kit, preferably (for me at least!) in a larger scale. And now we have one: HobbyBoss have come up trumps with their new 1:48 offering. The kit comes in a sturdy top-opening box and consists of three sprues of light grey plastic and four small ones with the transparencies. HobbyBoss have got round the attachment tab problem by moulding the entire starboard wing, including the base of the cockpit, as a single piece. Surface detail is nice, with finely-engraved panel lines and some good detail in the wheel-wells. The main fuselage halves are here and it’s clear how slender this component can be when you don’t have to include room for the crew! Of course this is the case for twin-boom aircraft but it’s odd to see just one in the box. There’s some lovely internal detail for the cockpit, including the mat on which the rear gunner lay and the rails on which the observer/bomb-aimer’s stool ran. The kit doesn’t actually include crew figures so if an in-flight version is required these would have to be obtained elsewhere. The asymmetric tail has some odd sink marks in its surface that will need correcting before assembly, but it occurs in the centre area where there is minimal detail, so it's not the end of the world. Unfortunately, they don't show up well in the picture below. The BMW801 radial engine is reproduced in fine detail and some careful painting will bring this out, even though much of it will be concealed by the cowling. The undercarriage was the source of teething problems in more than one aircraft and again this is nicely detailed. This sprue also carries the machine guns and ammunition plus other internal items, all of which will be visible through the big cockpit transparency. Most of this was absent from the Airfix kit so its inclusion here is good to see. The transparencies sprues are packed individually, each one wrapped in a soft foam material and sealed in a plastic bag, which will avoid any scratches. This is particularly important with the main cockpit canopy, which is moulded as a single piece – masking that should be fun! The shape bears a strong resemblance to that of the Fw-189 and a side-by-side comparison might make an interesting display. The various access hatches are moulded separately so can be fitted open if desired. Markings are supplied for two aircraft – NC-RA, the second B-version to be constructed (the tenth machine overall) and GK-GH, which was found in a wrecked condition by the US Army. There are, of course, no swastika decals as such but the sheet does include the “mirror-image question mark” things, meaning that the model can be completed without having to resort to aftermarket sheets. Conclusion A long-awaited kit which should satisfy anybody with an interest in this odd aircraft. Also an ideal basis for some what-if projects! Nicely tooled, with plenty of detail inside that goldfish bowl of a crew compartment. I obtained details of the aircraft’s history from this book: It contains numerous photographs and diagrams of the real aircraft, plus some beautiful digital renderings of the plane in action. My copy has been on my shelf for years so I’m not sure how easy it would be to get hold of, but it’s worth the effort. Review sample courtesy of Thanks also to GordonD for the majority of the text in this review

Been having a modelling dry patch for the last 6 months, so completed this as a quick build. Nice kit (recommended by Murdo back in January) picked up at a model expo a few weeks ago. Completed with brush painted Tamiya acrylics and a Italeri Acryl flat coat. Sorry for the dodgy iPad photos. Thanks for looking.

I have been in the model making doldrums for a while, so thought I might try something different to get my mojo back. Picked this up at a model expo last week and thought I would a quick build on it. First step - adding a little weight to the hull to make it just a tad more stable on the stand. Then gluing up the hull, went together OK. slight step, nothing a bit of sanding won't deal with. I am going to do it without any scopes up (it is a quick build after all). Left it overnight before sanding and polishing the seam and glueing on the other parts - looking pretty good so far. There is some photo etch pieces, the little circles went on OK (just visible near the bow), bit there were some absolutely tiny bits that defeated me - so I treated them as optional. First coat of paint - Tamiya acrylic NATO black. Beginning to look quite menacing.

I bought a hobbyboss lynx on Britmodeller and have just got around to building it. Hobbyboss missed a great opportunity to build a Lynx with the aid of CAD but it has turned out to be a bit of a challenge to get it near right. I am nowhere near the helicopter modeller that Lynx 7 and Perdu are but I gave it a go and here it is. The faults of the kit are well documented and I wont go over them again but in building it I have used The Rotor head and blades from an airfix kit (car boot 50p badly started) Why on a kit that is more expensive than the airfix one would you leave off the control arms on the rotor head??? I wish I had noticed that the front doors didn't have the bulged windows I could have used the airfix ones instead. I also used the nose of a Fujimi kit I had from years ago that didn't have any transparencies in. Normal proviso best seen from 5ft Away Rodders ##

Hmm I appear to have been somewhat remiss in documenting my latest project, which is a follow up - or rather a prequel to my recent Hurricane IIc project. In October 1942, my Dad was posted to 81 Squadron which at that time was in Gibraltar, awaiting the launch of Operation Torch to invade North West Africa. At this time 81 Squadron were flying Spitfire Vc which were adapted to the Tropical configuration by adding a Volkes filter at some point. So my source kit is the HobbyBoss Spitfire Vb Trop and to convert to the Vc I'm using the resin C wing conversion from Grey Matter Figures. Obligatory sprue shot Some of the aftermarket - the wings and some other bits turned up later The most glaring problem with the kit is the tailplanes which are metal on one side and fabric covered on the other! This is easily fixed by the QuckBoost update. I've also sourced fabric seat belts from HGW and metal cannon barrels from Masterworks, plus some Eduard PE for the exterior. Now comes the major admission - I appear to have all the photos taken int he early part of the project. I'd been keeping a photo record of the cockpit progress, but all the pics seem to have vanished, so all I have left are those I've taken very recently which you will see is some distance into the build!!! For this build I am going to do another diorama with my father in like I did with the Hurricane, but this time it will be set in Algeria in winter 1942, so no shorts and bush hats! The first thing I need to decide is what will my father be doing? For the Hurricane it was easy - open up the sides and have him fiddling around with the main junction box behind the cockpit. The HobbyBoss kit comes with an openable radio hatch and a crude representation of the radio set, however my dad wasn't a radio tech but an electrician. While building the cockpit I realised that the 3 lights that are on the port sidewall are only represented by small blobs in this kit... bingo, Dad is obviously replacing these lamps!! That means he'll be standing on the port wing leaning over the side if the cockpit. Although this kit comes with an engine and removable cowelings, the engine isn't a very good representation of a Merlin 45, so I'm going to leave it closed. The main work is going to be replacing the kit wings with the resin wings. So to begin - a lot of work was put into the cockpit, the Baraccuda resin set is very nice and although intended for a Mk IX, it'll pass for a Vc. I also used an Eduard Zoom set for the instrument panel. So here are some photos taken this evening to show the cockpit. There is a bit of dust from sanding the wing joints which I'll need to flush out with some air and the control stick is missing as it fell out during assembly so I left it out for now! The cloth seatbelts were superb and took staining very well and I would recommend them to anyone who has the patience to assemble them properly!! and here is the radio hatch - I did superdetail the radio but you can't see it in the small opening. I did add some placards from the airscale set to try to make it a bit more interesting and there will be a PE door from the Eduard set to fit later. So what of the wings? Well let me tell you they are beautifully cast but a total bugger to fit! For a start they come with the tips missing so you can add your own LF, high altitude or normal ones. Problem here is that the HobbyBoss kit, unlike the Tamiya kits come with the wing tips moulded on! So you need to cut the wing tips off. Then you find that the wing chord and width of the resin wings are just a little bit smaller than the wings that come in the kit! Fortunately, I have a Tamiya Spitfire VIII in the stash, bought when I thought my dad was with 81 Sqn in Burma. I'm still planning on building an 81 Sqn Burma Spitfire VIII but will build that with the high latitude wings as they first used when being posted there in late 43 early 44. So I can use the normal wing tips from the VIII to match up with the resin wings as their chord is slightly thinner. However they are still about 4 mm too wide when joining up. I solved this with some careful trimming and sanding as you can see above. Now when it came to attaching them to the fuselage, you need to cut up the kit lower wing section to provide the under-fuselage joint. I managed to mess this up a bit and had to insert extra triangles where I'd been too eager to cut and got the shape wrong. The upper surface fit is quite good but again the resin wing is about 6 mm narrower than the original kit part. The wing thickness is also thinner but this isn't so prominent. Here are the wings fitted and the cannon bulges added (these come as separate blisters that need gluing to the right places. Notice also the pencil marks to show where the cannons and machine gun ports need to go on the leading edge) Here is the underside where you can see the triangular in-fills I had to add where I'd made mistakes The trickiest part here was getting the dihedral right and I think I might have overdone this just a little - judge for yourselves here: So thats the progress so far. Its been about a month and a bit elapsed time but I haven't been rushing... Oh I almost forgot, I'm also building another of the iconair accumulator trolley kits to go with the diorama, but this time I'm doing it in RAF blue (ish) and adding a small motor on top as was seen on many airfields like here: (Copyright IWM Archive, used here for reference only) and here it is so far I used a piece from the Tamiya 1:35 US Maintenance kit which has a compressor with a small engine on top. I cut of f the engine and stuck it on top of the accumulator trolley. I doubt if it is 100% accurate but its a decent representation of the sort of thing they would have had. Oh and there will NOT be another PE toolbox in this diorama - I had enough with the one in the Hurricane dio

Here is my second entry into the LTAT GB friends, Romans and countrypeople - the lovely (and supremely quick to build by the looks of it) 1/700 HMS Astute - by HobbyBoss. The photo is a quick shot from the fluorescent lit, kitchen worktop; it's a grubby day, not much light about! A grand total of 20 parts on this so should be super quick - a cheeky dry fit of upper and lower shows a perfect fit, coupled with crisp detail. The submarine is about 120mm long in total; as I wait for my Japan parcel to arrive this will keep me going, (as well as finishing off the Challenger). Pete

One of my newer models - circa 2014 Kit: HobbyBoss 82499 Scale: 1/35th Scary part: the Indy link track with indy track pins Yikes! (15% tank, 85% track ) Based on the T-26 chassis (a British concept) this was probably the first Soviet SPG This was another long weekender for me and although it looked crude, it went together really well. The kit is fairly bland having no markings supplied so, I took a little license and added the '143' strictly for effect - I think it works? AND, the track Actually Works! Yeah, I know....... Just a little light weathering and ????? Hope you like

Russian Akula Class Submarine HobbyBoss 1:350 History The Russian Navy has 14 Bars Class project 971 submarines known in the West as the Akula Class nuclear-powered submarines (SSN). A number of Russian Akula class submarines are deployed in the Pacific region. The submarines were built by the Amur Shipbuilding Plant Joint Stock Company at Komsomolsk-on-Amur and by Sevmash at the Severodvinsk shipbuilding yard. Seven Akula I submarines were commissioned between 1986 and 1992, and three Improved Akula between 1992 and 1995. The improved Akula I and Akula II are also designated as Project 971U and Project 971A respectively. The Akula Class submarine was deployed for the first time in 1986 by the Soviet Navy. Three Akula II submarines, with hull length extended by 4m and advanced machinery-quietening technology, have been built. The first, Viper, was commissioned in 1995, the second, Nerpa, in December 2000 and the third, Gepard, in August 2001. The Akula II submarines are 110m long and displace up to 12,770t. They have a maximum speed of 35kt submerged and a maximum diving depth of 600m. The oldest submarine, Akula I, is likely to be removed from service by 2015, while the Gepard Akula II is expected be withdrawn from service by 2025. Construction of Akula II began in 1991, but it was suspended for a period of ten years due to lack of funds. So far only three Akula II submarines, with advanced machinery-quietening technology, have been built. The Indian Navy signed an agreement with Russia to lease a new Akula II submarine, the SSN Nerpa, for ten years. The vessel was completed at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard and commissioned to the Russian Navy in December 2009. The submarine, renamed INS Chakra was recommissioned by the Indian Navy in April 2012. Initially, the Akula II submarine was scheduled to be delivered to India in August 2007. However, the induction was postponed to 2009 due to recurred delays caused by the installation of new systems and technologies on Nepra and due to an attack on the latest series of Schucka-B or Akula-II Class Russian-built submarines. Delivery was further delayed due to a fatal gas leak causing the deaths of 20 crew members during sea trials in November 2008. The Model The model comes in a very attractive top opening box with an artists impression of the one of the class under way on the surface. Inside there are the two hull halves, split horizontally at the waterline with the sail moulded into the upper half. The curves of the sail are very well done and looks pretty accurate for shape. The moulding is very nice on each half, but as with other submarine releases from HobbyBoss a lot of the detail is a little too fine and could be obliterated by too thick a coat of paint. The rest of the model is contained on a single sprue of grey styrene and a small etch sheet. The styrene sprue contains the diveplanes, rudders and various periscopes/ sensor masts. Construction starts with the joining of the two halves, after which the forward diveplanes and sensors just foreword of the sail are attached. On the review sample there is a slight bowing of the upper hull but it should take much to get the mating surfaces to adhere correct with just some masking tape. The teardrop shaped variable depth sonar housing on top of the upper rudder is in two halves, when assembled the rudder can be attached and the whole item fixed to the rear hull, followed by the rear diveplanes and lower rudder. The two strakes on the underside of the hull just aft of the sail position are also made up of two halves. The modeller has the option of using the injection moulded propeller or the etched version also supplied. This will have to be careful shaped to give the scimitar blades some resemblance of the real thing. After fitting the propeller boss can be attached. The etched brass sheet contains the nameplate, screen for the sail command position and doors covering each of the mast silos. The decal sheet is very nicely printed and in good register. Decals are supplied for the depth markers, hatch and hull markings, but not the emergency hatch marking which will have to be painted. Conclusion This is another very nice submarine kit from HobbyBoss and whilst simple the art of these is in the painting. It will certainly build up into a sleek and yet quite menacing looking submarine. The way the hull is split will allow easy use in a seascape. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Russian T-30S Light Tank HobbyBoss 1:35 History Unfortunately I cannot find any reference to this tank anywhere on the internet, other than just over 550 were built and it seems it was in production for only one year. If anyone has further information I would gladly welcome it. The Model The kit comes in the HobbyBoss standard top opening, and quite attractive box, with an artistic representation of the tank trundling along a country road. Inside there are six sprues of green coloured styrene, a separate hull, seven brown sprues of track links, a metal barrel and a small photo etch sheet. The parts are really well moulded with no flash and only a few moulding pips needing removal. Although not to everyones taste, the track links, whilst pretty small, are beautifully moulded, but note, there are 172 of them, (86 per side), which can be a bit daunting. The build begins with the fitting of the idler axle plates and centrally fitted towing hook to the rear hull, followed by a sprocket drive mounting plate, three return rollers and the four torsion beam bump stops attached to each side. A photo etched support beams are fitted to the underside of the rear fenders which also has the rear mudguards attached. The drive sprocket drive, four torsion beams and idler mud scraper are now fitted to each side of the hull, followed by the single piece sprocket, idler and road wheels. The track links are assembled as per the instructions and fitted to around the wheels, but it might be best to leave this stage until after painting of both the tanks and tracks. With the lower hull now complete it’s on to the upper works, and the attachment of the forward fenders to both sides of the hull. The upper hull section is then fitted with the rear and right hand side plates to the storage bin, the slats within the engine intake box structure before being attached to the lower hull. A PE footplate is attached to the right hand side of the upper hull. There is a horn/tannoy like fixture to be assembled next from three styrene parts and an etched support plate. Once assembled it is fitted to the right hand side of the upper decking, next to the drivers hatch. Three armoured plates are then attached to the area around the drivers position, the front plate features the drivers viewing port moulded into it. With these in place the drivers hatch can then be fitted. A lot of the fittings, such as grab handles, brackets and clamps have been provided in both styrene and etch which is good for modellers who don’t particularly like using etched parts. One etched piece you can’t get away without using is the large intake grille on the rear right hand side of the upper decking along with the weirdly shaped exhaust which is fitted over the intake. The large engine hatch is that fitted along with the two headlights, each made from three parts. Unfortunately, unlike most of their other small tank kits, HobbyBoss don’t provide clear lenses in this one, so it may be an idea to source them elsewhere or fabricate them yourself. The small conical turret comes with a separate trunnion mounting and mantle, to which the barrel support structure is attached, followed by either the single piece styrene of the metal provided. The coaxial machine gun is slid into position from inside the turret and is provided with a ammunition drum, but since there isn’t any other interior fittings you could leave this off and keep it for a spare. With the guns in place the turret hatch is applied, as are the main gun muzzle brake and flash ring. The completed turret is then fitted to the hull and finally the pioneer tools fitted to the front fenders, thus completing the build. Decals The small decal sheet only provides the numbers 0 to 9 for each side of the turret for use when the unusual and interesting three coloured camouflage option is chosen. The other option of an overall Russian green tank is devoid of markings. Conclusion Hobbyboss have been releasing some really obscure early WWII Russian vehicles lately and they should be commended for it, but this is the most obscure yet, with very little information anywhere that I can find. That said it is a rather interesting little tank and looks like it may have evolved into the T-37 amphibious tank which is also due out soon. Highly Recommended Review sample courtesy of

A quick build this one. Was the Hobbyboss Easykit Mig-3. Figured I'd give it a buy since it was only £2.50. Can't go wrong at that price. Turned out to be a decent kit. Fits together like a glove but had a very basic cockpit and was a little too simple to piece together. Still, it was enough entertainment for a Friday night and a Saturday morning so can't complain. I didn't like the schemes suggested on the box so opted for a green and white speckled, 'diseased' look that I saw online and liked the look of. Figured it would look cool and would be something different. I decided to nickname it 'Speckled Jim' There's quite a few interesting schemes available for the Mig-3 so I may end up buying more of this kit and getting a little squadron. Anyway, if you can pick the kit up cheap I recommend it. On to the pics...

I built these three side by side in January and then completely lost interest in them (and modelling) after the decalling stage. With the family away for Easter, I mustered the enthusiasm to get them finished. They are built from the box with the addition of tape seat straps and decals from Kits World and the spares box. Despite being an expensive kit, the P-38J was not an easy build - in fact it was one of the worst-fitting kits that I have built recently. Lightnings were not normally based at Boxted (Station 150), but this one was attached to the 61st FS and given HV codes and the red markings.Used on July 25th 1944 by Col. Hub Zemke, it made an emergency landing at Boxted after being severely damaged by flak. The stars and bars and stencils were from the kit decal sheet, and the codes were from the "Kits World Mustang Numbering/Lettering/Kill Markings Camouflage Finish" sheet. The aerial is Ez-Line attached using super glue and accelerator. The HobbyBoss kits, by comparison were cheap and delightful to build (apart from the poorly fitting canopy on the P-47D.) The rather plain Thunderbolt was Capt Robert Johnson's assigned machine in early 1944. He shot down three enemy fighters flying this aircraft. The codes were from the same Kits World sheet as the Lightning (and may be a bit small). The tail number of 276234 was created from the kit number of 276594. This involved reversing and inverting the number "5" to create the "2" and cutting off part of the loop of the "9" to create the "3". The P-51B is my salute to Lt. Col. James Howard of the 354th FG in early 1944. "Ding Hao!" is a Chinese expression of luck from Howard's time in the Far East flying with the AVG. The codes and tail number were from the the same Kits World sheet as the Lightning and Thunderbolt. The kill markings and the nose art are home-made decals. All the models were painted with Lifecolor Olive Drab and Neutral Gray. I randomly misted some lighter OD to achieve a patchy finish and then a light wash of Raw Umber that was streaked with cotton buds. Finally, exhaust staining was achieved with Mig Black Smoke pigments. I was hoping that finishing these three might motivate me to start my Airfix Tiger Moth, but I'm not sure that my modelling interest has yet been restored! Thanks for looking. You can see my other Boxted builds here.

Hi I’m back with a new build or builds to be exact this time I will build two F-14A from Hobbyboss in 1/48th scale. Since I saw Top Gun I always wanted a couple of F-14s in my cabinet and it was actually that movie that got me into this hobby from the beginning. I decided on the Hobbyboss after reading a lot on the internet, it would seem that about 50% hate it and 50% love them but I think it’s going to be a great build. I also have some extra bits from Eduard and Aires and the DACO book Is on the way. I also have the furball sheet with 7 cag birds that I’m going to use. For the markings I have decided to build a bird from VF-84 (of course, who doesn’t want a jolly rogers F-14) and one from VF-142 Ghostriders . I hope that I will be able to finish them this year but we will see. I also have a couple of pictures of all the stuff and also the 7 markings available an lastly my “man cave”. Cheers Jakob

Hi folks just a couple of pics of the Hobbyboss PE2 built for the under a tenner GB,WIP thread can be found there including the disaster with the windows and glue all over the ccockpit glazing!now on the windowsill of doom in my sons room I thought I owed it to this nice little kit to finish it.Thanks for looking.

F-84F Thunderstreak 1:48 HobbyBoss The F-48 Thunderjet was a post WWII early jet with straight wings that suffered some horrible teething problems, which took a long time to fix, resulting in the F-84G. The Thunderstreak was a swept-wing variant that was needed to match the F-86's performance, as so different that it was pretty much a totally new design, but stayed under the F-84 designation. To maximise the performance gains, a British engine was chosen, which necessitated a deepening of the fuselage cross-section, which resulted in the intake having an oval profile. The Sapphire was eventually to be license made as the Wright J65, but flight related problems delayed its introduction into service until 1954, at which time it still needed a long take-off roll, and was prone to unrecoverable spins. In service it was a problem child from the start, and was ear-marked for phase-out almost as soon as it arrived with squadrons. The last airframe left the front line in 1958, and was replaced by the F-100 Super Sabre in active service, while in National Guard service it soldiered on until the early 70s. The fleet was briefly reactivated in 1961 due to tensions in Europe, but after being grounded the year after due to control-linkage problems, it was gone again from front line service by 1964. The Kit This is a new tool from HobbyBoss, and on opening the lid on the box, you are greeted by six sprues of mid-grey styrene, clear parts, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a large decal sheet, instruction booklet and painting guide. It's a surprisingly large aircraft, and the fuselage halves take up a lot of room, with lots of nicely engraved detail on the outer skin that should look good under paint. It's a single-seat fighter of course, so construction is fairly straight forward, starting with the cockpit, which is made up from a "tub" with rear bulkhead, rudder pedals, control column and instrument panel added before side wall detail inserts are added between the panel and rear bulkhead to block off the blank fuselage walls. The ejector seat is made up from a sizeable number of parts, and has a set of PE seatbelts added before being installed in the cockpit. The nose gear bay, which is a single part tub has surprisingly good detail within, especially considering the small aperture. The nose gear leg is moulded with an integral wheel, which makes it look a little flat, but separate scissor-link and landing light should help distract the viewer a little. You need to glue the gear leg in place before installing it in the fuselage though, which I find to be a little bit of a nuisance, as you can quite easily damage these frail parts during the rest of the build. The fuselage is closed up next, after adding the intake splitter to the front, the air brake bay inserts, and the exhaust, which is a tube split vertically along its length, with a rear engine face and some moulded in rib detail, that is attached to an oval bulkhead that curiously has a fan moulded into the forward side. When that would be seen is anyone's guess! The simple instrument coaming, which is a flat area with gunsight and reflector glass added, is closed in by the windscreen part that should be faired into the fuselage contours for added realism. The main canopy hinged up and back when opened, and this is replicated in the kit, with two vertical arms added to the side of the canopy, plus a section of the rear canopy that hinges up and is attached to the back of the opening part. The rear canopy section is glued to the fuselage behind the pilot, while the vertical arms hook into the cockpit sidewalls. If you want to leave the canopy closed however, there are alternative parts specifically shaped for the job. The air-brakes on the side of the rear fuselage are supplied as PE outer skins, which glue to styrene inners with a retraction jack added to achieve the correct angle. You will need to anneal and roll the PE parts to match the contour of the fuselage sides, but you'd be better of leaving them loose until later in the build to avoid damage. There is no option to have the airbrakes closed, but with some care and careful gluing, you could probably align the PE skin with the fuselage if you like the airframe cleaned up and sleek. Bay doors for the nose gear and a large canoe-shaped ventral fin/bump-stop is added to the rear, and for some reason the wings are decked out with wheels and fuel tanks before being added to the fuselage. Scratch all that and add the wings from their separate upper and lower halves, before you build up the main gear, which is made up from gear leg, two-half wheels and two bay doors. The wings have the flaps moulded into the lower half, and a large contact patch for good adhesion, as well as separate PE spoilers, which can be modelled raised or lowered to taste. The main gear bays are nicely detailed with ribbing and plenty of hoses, which is well done considering they are moulded into the wing skin. They also have sockets for the main gear legs and their retraction jacks, with a small inner bay door added closest to the fuselage. Holes for two wing pylons are already opened up on the underside of the wings, and you can choose to mount two fuel tanks under each wing, or the larger finned tank on the inner pylon, and a bomb on the outer one. Not much in the way of choice, but weapons technology hadn't yet progressed much past WWII levels, and these aircraft weren't involved in much actual combat. What is supplied however is very nicely moulded with filler caps on the smaller tanks, and fine panel lines throughout, including the separate pylons. Markings Post WWII was a colourful time for American jets, and the Thunderstreak was no exception. Plenty of bright colours over a bare metal or pale grey airframe was the norm until the ageing airframes reached the National Guard in their twilight years. Two US Air Force machines are depicted on the decal sheet, both of which are pale grey, and you can build one of them from the box: BuNo. 51-9432 432nd Fighter Interceptor Squadron – blue/yellow/red stripes on the fuselage, wingtips and tip of the tail. Strategic Command crest on a blue starry background stripe just aft of the cockpit. This aircraft also had stripes on its nose gear bay doors at some point in its career – check your references. BuNo. 26675 81st Tactical Fighter Wing, 78th Tactical Fighter Squadron, RAF Bentwaters UK, May 1958 – three red stripes on fuselage and tail, Bushmaster logo on tail, 81st TFW badge on fuselage in a stylised mushroom cloud on a blue backdrop. The decals are well printed, have good register, colour density and sharpness, apart from some diagonal black lines where "jaggies" are visible under magnification. The various badges and an instrument panel decal are printed on a small separate sheet, while the stripes are printed on the larger sheet with the national markings. Conclusion A nice looking kit overall, with enough detail to please many modellers. The nose gear is a little simplified, and the cockpit is adequate, but not inspiring, however the addition of the instrument panel isn't noted in the instructions, but is welcome none-the-less. The decal options are colourful, but knowing a little more about the subjects without having to search the internet would be nice. If the decal choices don't appeal, you could go bare metal or Vietnam era camouflage by sourcing some alternative decals. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Well I have really let myself in for it this time. I am building this as a Christmas present... I think I might have underestimated the build time... The last 1/32 Spit I build was the old and lovely Revell Mk1 with my Dad when I was Lad but it was a lot simpler than this... I was not sure what to expect I got this thinking WOW only £39.99 ! DEAL.. I hear it has issues and some bemoan the kit but it looks good to me. much as I LOVE Spitfires I am not an expert I know quite a bit about them but not the really hardcore details of them all. All I can say is I have just got it opened it and can't believe how much you get its even got some PE which is new for me and for £39.99 compared to the £19.99 for the little 1/200 vulcan thats sat on top of the sprue pile for comparison I can't see whats not to like Bargain! I am looking forward to this challenge.... Cheers Rob

So in order to ensure that I make some progress on this build I am starting a thread, all encouragement and criticisms warmly received. The plan is based on this picture that I came across, the aim is to use the feel of the scene and not the exact event. The kit is a HobbyBoss 1/48 T34/85 with flattened turret. There is a full interior of which I will add photos later and the upper shell is held by magnets to the tub. There is a gloss coat on currently and the weathering is due to begin this weekend. The troops are the Tamiya 1/48 Russian Tank Infantry. These are fantastic models with around 10 pieces to each figure. A little filling is required on the odd joint before the painting begins. I shall update more as progress occurs and would be grateful for any thoughts or insights as I go. Thanks Pete

Hi, I got this kit from White Ensign Models and was very impressed with the delivery (24 hours from dispatch). I have laid a coat of grey primer over the whole kit and display stand. This will be my first kit with photo etch parts and need some advice about the painting of the photo etch parts as they fit into the hull of the sub itself. Photos later. Rick

Finished this one a few weeks ago, the HobbyBoss 1/48th A-7A Corsair II, finished as Bu.No 153177 coded 'AC-15' operated by VA-105 off USS Saratoga in 1973. This Corsair II was retired from the US Navy and was then converted to an A-7P and served with the Portuguese Air Force, she is now in store at Alverca. The downsides of the HobbyBoss Corsair II series have been long debated here and elsewhere but I can live with the faults and this was a straightforward build. It goes together quite well and needed very little filler. The instruction sheet can be a bit sparse especially regards the cockpit but I like researching so no real problem. My airbrushing was less than brilliant unfortunately and I ended up drenching the model with too much Klear in one application! The two things I did mess up were the jet air intake (more filler needed!) and the wing centre stations weapon loads. I originally intended for her to carry a pair of AGM-62A Walleyes but I had some spare Mk.82's so I made up two TER's and they just did not go at all well, sort of hang like coconuts! I also put a pair of LAU-10 rocket pods on the outboard stations. When I get the inclination I will complete the Walleyes and take the TER's off. Still, learned a lot from this one and will be happy to try another HobbyBoss Corsair II, maybe the next one will be one of the two-seaters. Michael

By popular acclamation started the F-3H-2 Demon today Unsurprisingly work starts with the cockpit Peter

Kit Hobbyboss 1:48 ‘J-5’. Paint All Tamiya acrylics & oil washes. Decals Hi Decal 48-012. Extras Pavla resin seat. MiG 17F Syrian Air Force ‘Yom Kippur War’ 1973 Built for the ‘From Russia With Love’ campaign over on www.modelersalliance.com. Lots of pre & post-shading to get the faded and ‘dried-out’ paint effects. Relatively straight-forward build which would have been completed a lot faster if we hadn’t had moved house in the middle of the project !! – build thread is http://www.modelersalliance.com/forum/from-russia-with-love/147646-mig-17-syrian-af-f-i-n-i-s-h-e-d#159721 if you’d like to take a look. As ever, thanks for taking the time to look, and all comments, criticism and questions are very welcome. AFN Ian

Hungarian Light Tank 43M Toldi III (C40) HobbyBoss 1:35 History The Swedish Landsverk L-60 was licensed in 1938, bought MÁVAG and Ganz factory plants. On paper, the new model the armour was slightly decreased to allow a greater supply of ammunition, and agility. On 17, august, 1937, the V-4 was tested with an all-Hungarian Armament. At that time, the Hungarian armies most likely enemy was Czechoslovakia, and it needed relatively light tanks to cope with the Czech designs. The Swedish Landsverk tests in Hungary showed a need to redesign some of the internal fittings within the turret and add enhanced shock absorption. The turret was to be originally fitted with a 25 mm Bofors but the project had to be dropped when faced with pre-production and supply problems. So the well-proven 36M type 20mm infantry gun was chosen instead. It was made more compact and was already in large supplies. The turret electric rotary engine had shown that it had to always be switched on, as it was found to have a tendency to switch itself off. Considerable attention was paid to speed, but also agility, as the final goal was to perform a complete turn of 360 degrees in around a 8m radius. This was achieved by a fitting a revised five-speed gearbox and advanced steering. Each cranked axle control arm consisted of a double road wheels connected to a common hub. The first and fourth swing arm was fitted with spring shock absorbers. The chain tensioner for the return roller springs pulled the tracks up and they each had a separate cranked swing arm. During the early phase of World War two the tanks were used in Yugoslavia and later during the early phase of the summer campaign against the Soviet Union, the Toldi showed it had excellent qualities. When faced with the Russian T-26 and BA-10 vehicles it could just about cope, but when the later T34 and KV-1 tanks appeared the 20mm gun was shown to be completely ineffectual against their armour. From 1942 onwards, despite the arrival of the Toldi II, the Hungarian infantry had to continue fighting a growing number of these Soviet tanks with the same increasingly ineffective anti-tank weapon, which led to proposals or a redesign of the tanks. The Toldi II had its frontal armour increased to 30mm but was nearly identical in many aspects to the Toldi I, even so, 110 were manufactured. Later on, the Toldi IIa was introduced, mounting a 37M 40mm (licensed Bofors), L/25 anti-tank gun, whose longer calibre offered increased accuracy and muzzle velocity, which considerably enhanced their antitank capabilities. The tanks were further modernized in 1942, but the expected full upgrade never came about and instead consisted of replacing the 37M by the 42M main gun. From the beginning of 1942 up until April 1943, 80 Toldi II were upgraded as Toldi IIa. The next upgrade was taken to produce the next generation Toldi III, with thicker armour (40mm glacis and mantle) and the introduction of spaced armour. However, due to the deteriorating industrial conditions (and allied bombings), production came to a standstill and only 12 of the new 43M were delivered. The Model The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box with a depiction of two Toldi IIIs charging into battle. Inside there are 5 sprues and 2 separate hull pieces in a sandy coloured styrene and eleven sprues of brown styrene. There is also a small etched brass sheet and a small decal sheet. All the parts are well moulded with no signs of flash, but there are a number of moulding pips. Detail appears pretty good and they match well with photographs of the surviving example at Kubinka. Dry fitting of the two hull parts produced a very positive click and showed little in the way of gaps that would need to be filled. The instructions are nice and clear and pretty precise with parts placement. Construction begins with the two sprocket and rear idler wheels, each made up of inner and outer rims. With the sprockets having an extra space on the outer face fitted. The lower hull is then fitted out with the lower front glacis plate and the mountings for the road wheel torsion bars, bump stops and the return roller axles. The torsion bars, three piece return rollers, and the sprocket wheel axle plates are then fitted, followed by the sprocket, idler and road wheels. At this point the most taxing part of the build is building up the individual links to make up tracks, although the instructions do have a very clear diagram to guide the modeller. Patience is the name of the game here to get the tracks looking natural given the fact that there are 125 links per side. They also look very fragile and are held onto the sprue at three points, so great care will be needed to remove them. The two exhaust silencers and their pipe work are then fitted to the rear bulkhead, which is then attached to the rear of the lower hull. Meanwhile, on the upper hull the three intake parts are fitted to the inside of the hull, followed by the side fenders and their PE support brackets, six per side. On each of the rear fenders a storage box assembly is attached whilst at the front the drivers hatch is fitted. Several hand holds, a hand rail, headlight guards and rear engine vents are fitted into place. The upper hull is then attached to the lower hull. The turret is made up of upper and lower halves which, when glued together are fitted with the trunnion mount and mantle. The commanders cupola is fitted with several vision blocks before being fitted with the hatch cover and the assembly attached to the top of the turret. Around the sides there are three vision block hatches which need to be fitted and on top there is an aerial base. The single piece main gun has been slide moulded giving a good representation of the muzzle opening and not a seam in sight. The co-axial machine gun is also fitted at this point. Finally a turret vent, a four lifting hooks, one on each corner and a pair of PE mantle lifting eyes are fitted. The turret can then be fitted to the hull, completing the build. Decals The small decal sheet provides identification markings and national markings for just one vehicle, which unfortunately doesn’t have any information on which unit operated the vehicle. The decals are well printed and have minimal carrier film and are of good density. Fortunately the areas the decals are positioned are fairly flat so they should settle down well. Conclusion This is another super little kit of a little known tank which looks like it will be a fairly fun build, perhaps with the exception the small individual track links, which may add some consternation. Otherwise I think that with the three colour paint scheme it will be a striking looking model in the display cabinet. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Chance Vought F4U-4B Corsair Hobbyboss 1:48 History Chance Vought's F4U-4 came about as a development of the F4U-4XA, which was first flown in early April 1944. It was fitted with an up-rated Pratt & Whitney R2800-18W or -42W engine. This powerplant developed 2,450 bhp with water injection. It was also fitted with a four blade hydromatic propeller which provided the necessary efficiency to utilize the greater power. The carburettor inlet was moved from the wing root leading edge to a duct located und er the engine. The exhaust stacks had to be re-routed as a result. Armament remained the same as the F4U-1, with six .50 calibre Browning MGs. The limited production F4U-4B was armed with four M3 20mm cannon. Under-wing load capability was substantial. Up to three 1,000 lb. bombs along with eight 5 inch rockets could be carried. Reportedly, it was not unusual to rig the F4U-4 with as much as 6,000 lbs of ordnance. Apparently the robust structure of the Corsair could bear these loads without undue wear and tear on the airframe. Almost certainly, such overloaded Corsairs did not operate from carrier decks, but exclusively from shore bases. Although the designation F4U-4B was for a batch destined for the Fleet Air Arm , they were all retained by the US Navy and Marine Corps for their own use. The F4U-4 arrived in combat early in 1945. Therefore, it had only about six months to establish its combat record against the Japanese. However, the big fighter remained in service throughout the Korean War, where along with the F4U-5, it gained a sterling reputation for delivering ordnance with great accuracy. Indeed, the Corsair earned the respect of enemy pilots flying the MiG-15. Vought's Corsair was a fighter that could not be treated lightly. In a turning fight below 350 knots, the Mig pilot could find himself in big trouble very quickly. The Model The kit comes in a very attractive box, with an artists representation of the aircraft overflying Commencement Bay class carrier CVE-119 USS Point Cruz, presumably during the Korean War. One could point out that the ship didn’t arrive till after the armistice and it certainly didn’t operate Corsairs, but that’s artistic licence for you. It really should have been CVE-115 USS Bairoko since one of the options in the kit is of an aircraft from this ship. Inside, there are seven sprues of grey styrene; in addition there are two separate parts on their own sprue trees, a single sprue of clear styrene and a colourful decal sheet. The parts appear to be very well moulded with some fine recessed panel lines and rows of fasteners and rivets. There is no sign of flash, but there are quite a few moulding pips, particularly on the smaller and/or thinner parts which will require some care to clean up. The “corrugated” sections of the outer wings look overly heavy, as from research they are quite difficult to observe on both historic photos and restored examples. They could do with some filling and sanding, although they should tone down with a couple of layers of primer and paint. Staying with the wings, the gun bays are provided with separate access panels, but no internal detail, which seems a bit of a waste of time, and my cause fit problems when trying to get them all flush into their recesses. Fuselage internal detail is nicely provided for both the cockpit and engine, yet still providing a good starting point for those modellers who really wish to go to town with super detailing. The clear parts are very clear, with only a slight distortion on the blown areas of the canopy. Strangely, Hobbyboss have provided two canopies, which look exactly the same. Not quite sure why, but at least it gives the modeller a spare should anything go amiss with the first one. The construction begins with the cockpit. There is a lower floor piece, onto which the joystick and its control rods are attached. The joystick is then threaded through the gap in the main cockpit floor. The two floor sections are held in place with the front and rear bulkheads. The cockpit is then built up with the two piece side consoles, seat, headrest, instrument panels and rudder pedals. Decals are provided for the IP and side consoles, which are then further detailed with sundry parts such as the throttle and elevator trim wheel. A fire extinguisher and another leaver are fitted to the cockpit floor completing the assembly. For the engine Hobbyboss have provided each cylinder bank as a single piece, thus eliminating any awkward seams. With the front and rear banks joined, there is a single piece for the air intake piping and four parts for the exhaust pipework. The three piece gearbox assembly is attached to the rear of the engine, whilst at the front; the ignition harness, propeller shaft and the four piece crankcase are fitted. As stated above there is quite a bit of scope to add more detail to the engine, but this will only be appreciated if the cowling was left off or the access doors were cut out and posed open.[/indent] The build then moves to the wing centre section which consists of a single piece lower section and two upper parts. In between the upper and lower parts the radiator housings and wing fold ribs are fitted. To the inboard leading edges of the wings the radiator intakes are attached, having had the guide vanes installed before fitting. On the trailing edge the inboard and middle flap assemblies are also attached. At each hinge point the modeller has the option of fitting parts for folded or extended wings. If the wings are to be posed folded then there are additional parts for the flap actuator rods that need to be assembled and glued into position and a small flap needs to be removed from the upper wing at the fold joint. The instructions also call for the tailwheel assembly to be constructed. This is quite a complicated affair with the tailwheel sandwiched between two axle yokes along with the shock absorber and retraction arm. To this the tail hook is also attached, with the option of retracted or extended actuators depending on whether the hook is to be posed up or down. Before the fuselage can be closed up the tailwheel rear bulkhead and half bulkhead assembly needs to be built and fitted to one half of the fuselage. Cockpit sidewall details are fitted to both sides then the cockpit, engine and tailwheel assemblies can be fitted into position and the fuselage closed up. Once the fuselage has had time to set properly the centre wing assembly, cowl flaps, engine cowling are attached, as are two fuselage panels behind the cockpit. The horizontal tailplanes, elevators and rudder and assembled then also attached to the fuselage. Sundry items such as the two piece gun sight, aerial mast and anti collision beacon are then fitted. The outer wing panels come in upper and lower halves which are joined together with the hinge point rib in position. The upper panels are then carefully fitted with the five separate gun bay access panels to ensure they sit flush with the wing skin. The trailing edges are then fitted with the aileron and outer flap assemblies, while on the leading edge the cannon muzzles, pitot probe, navigation light and camera gun ports are added. If the wings are to be posed extended then they can be fitted before painting, if the folded option is taken then it would be best to fit them after painting. The windscreen and canopy are also fitted at this point as are the small spring loaded panels at the fold joint for the folded option. The main undercarriage is then assembled. Each unit is made up using the two piece wheel, main oleo, scissor link, retraction unit and front bay door. The assemblies are then positioned into their respective bay followed by the main doors and their actuator jacks, whilst at the rear; the tailwheel bay doors are also fitted. Lastly the propeller and boss are assembled and slid onto the propeller shaft. There are two optional drop tanks that can be fitted to the centre wing section whilst on the outer wings the instructions call for three small pylon like items to be fitted. No information can be found as to what these are and they certainly aren’t zero length rocket stubs, although they are pretty much in the right positions, just not enough of them and too large. Decals The decal sheet provides markings for two aircraft, one in US Marine service and one in US Navy service. The two aircraft are:- • Corsair F4U-4B, No.97473, of VF-53, USS Essex off the Korean Coast 1952 • Corsair F4U-4B, No62969, of VMA-332, USS Bairoko, 1953[/indent] The decals are very nicely printed, in good register and suitably opaque since most of them are white. The decal film appears fairly thin, but due to the nature of the markings there is quite a lot of area between letters. As usual a good gloss coat and your favourite softening and setting solutions should prevent any silvering. There don’t seem to be much in the way of stencilling on the real aircraft and this is reflected on the sheet, but the propeller manufacturers marks are provided. The tail hook stripes look ok, but it may be better to paint these on which would make it easier to weather too. Conclusion This is a very nice little kit from Hobbyboss. It looks like it will build up fairly easily with enough detail out of the box for most people and still with scope for adding more detail should you wish. The disappointments are the individual gun bay panels with nothing to go in the bays themselves and the lack of weapons. These aircraft were commonly seen loaded up with bombs and rockets and were in fact renowned for the weapon carrying capability so it would have been nice to have the option of loading one up. Generally though it looks pretty accurate on shape although I haven’t any plans to measure it I feel it will look good in any collection. Recommended. Walkround photos are available HERE Review sample courtesy of