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Alright all, I still am not absolutely convinced about my goals here, and it may be something of a movable feast. I should also point out that I'm going to be frightfully busy until Christmas. A retail job isn't bad except when you actually have to work The leading contenders at present are: A) Wolfpack T-38A, probably in NASA markings (thus far this is the kit that I think gets it most right, of which more later) B ) Kinetic F-5B, possibly in home-grown Turkish Stars markings, as done here (such a sexy airframe seems to deserve better than your usual fatigues...) I seem to like the curvy, dolphiny two-seaters better than the "dart" shape of the single-seaters, and anyway, if you're going to fly one of the all time great "aerial sports cars" wouldn't you want to be able to bring that special someone? C) Nevertheless, it does occur to me that if I'm going to do the Kinetic B, I might as well do the A alongside (another Turkish Star, or?), so that's a possibility, especially if I D) Hope to end up with some spare parts with which to tart up the ancient Fujimi F-5B- not that I would try to make it pass for a state of the art kit, but rather just have some fun and see what I can do with it. Or use it as the "test mule" before I get in my own way with one of the "good" kits! Potential party-crashers are Monogram F-5E or F-20, and AFV Club F-5F, while a Trumpeter T-38A might appear too, if only as a sacrifice to the modelling gods. Next up will probably be some "this compared to that" stuff, just because I enjoy this sort of exercise. And then I suppose there'll be nothing for it but to start slathering grey and black paint on the stuff what goes inside... bob

Kinetic is to release a new (revised?) boxing from it's Fighting Falcon, the 1/48th Lockheed-Martin F-16A/B Fighting Falcon RoCAF 70th Tiger Wing (Hualien AB) - ref.48055 Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel/photos/a.150625411771245.1073741825.129238860576567/529182953915487/?type=3&theater Box art + decals http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=KI-K48055 Or repackaging of ref.48011 with new decals? V.P.

Made the jump up to 32nd! Got tempted by this as TrickyRich was selling it and I thought it'd be a small 32nd to start off with. I've also got all the paints in stock and I wasn't planning on adding anything to the build (Ha!) Received it yesterday so I've jumped on it, finally got some bench time after a solid 2 weeks of college work. Started cursing the designers straight away - I get that some people might want to display this with the engine out and the tail section removed but why not just make a line on the inside of the fuselage to allow those people to cut it! Taped up the main bits and it doesn't look too bad. All the mating surfaces need checking though as there's little mold mismatches that cause gaps. Cockpit was banged together as well Can see where I got a bit enthusiastic with my new micro chisel. Detail seems a bit soft, I might remove it and redo it to sharpen it up, not sure. Gaps where the rear bulkhead meets the sidewalls are quite evident. Part of the Quickboost seat, just needs the headrest fitting. Gun covers are on but are going to need some filler to flush them in properly. I'm going to be spending some serious time on the gun ports as well, the kit ones are crap. This annoyed me as well, put the smooth plastic inside and the rough stuff outside the intake!

MQ-9 Reaper French Airforce 1/33 "Belfort" operation Barkhane 1/48 Kinetic kit reboxed by Revell decals: he excellent ones from Caracal Models WiP: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234992379-mq-9-reaper-french-airforce-133-belfort-operation-barkhane-148/ finally finished! was definitely more than a weekend project as initially planned! first, I identified the need to know a bit more about the Reaper, then I noticed that France operates a more modern version than the kit represented, then I needed to modify,....etc. you know this, don't you? but here you are all the necessary mods: , no photoshop, he! just natural sunlight reflection! thanks for comments! Salut, Werner

New hopefully fast "weekend" project: MQ-9 Reaper French Airforce 1/33 "Belfort" operation Barkhane 1/48 Kinetic kit reboxed by Revell decals will be the excellent ones from Caracal Models decals: main parts: good fit, no glue yet!: no actually small... as far as I know France does not arm its Reapers as of yet, so a clean recce drone it will be

Mirage IIIE Update sets (Kinetic Kit) 1:48 Eduard Eduard have brought us their magic for the Kinetic Mirage IIIE in 1.48 from Kinetic. There in interior and exterior photo etch and a set of masks. Interior The interior set comprises one smallish coloured fret, and one plain fret. Details on there are; a main instrument panel, side consoles, ejection seat details, ejection seat belts, cockpit bulkhead details, and canopy frame details with rear view mirrors. Interior Set Exterior The exterior set provides details for the engine exhaust nozzle, wing mounted air brakes, landing gear scissors, main wheel hubs, front undercarriage bay, a front undercarriage bay door, and parts for the main undercarriage doors. Exterior Masks Masks Conclusion These sets will provide some good looking details for your Mirage IIIE. Recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Here is a slightly different WIP pic set (pic heavy). For the recent Israeli IPMS Annual Show, a friend of mine and me built a quartet of IAI built deltas. I got stuck with the Kfir C1, and C2, whereas the other pair of Nesher and Kfir C7 were built by a friend of mine. As it turned out, the baseline Kfirs were Kinetic kits, whereas the early ones were Wingmans. As I usually have more than one project on the go I decided to build these two in parallel. Reasoning that same time in build process ends with the double the result. Both kits are well known, and I will point out some of my remarks here on the build. As is usual both started with the cockpit. Wingman kit comes with the resin tub / wheel well, and resin seat and instrument panel. Well, the bang seat does not fit the tub, and if fitted leaves no room for the control stick. So luckily, basic Kinetic kit caters for both versions of bang seats fitted to Kfir so with some masking tape and careful painting you can get with around that one. Additionally, the resin instrument panel was very different from those fitted to the early Kfirs in Wingman kit, so I opted out for the plasic one from the same kit. Fit of the resin pit to the model on the other hand was better than in some plastic to plastic combinaions I've seen. Kinetic's pit just painted up, with the late version bang seat fitted. (These were retro-fitted to some C2s late in their life, about time C7s came on line). and side by side (will be a recurring feature here). So with pits closed up in place and painting the wheel wells white, the fit of the rest of the Kfirs was quite straightforward. Wingman provides with the resin early nose, and I have to say, that the plastic one (provided in the kit) does not fall too far behind, apart from the pesky seam line down the middle of the thing. Some filler was needed on the top of the fuselage, and a bead was run in the wing-to-fuselage joint. Vallejo's white primer here so to save the fiddly detail. Also bottom wing joint, as with all deltas, was a tad troublesome. but again, Fill the seams you must, as Master Yoda said. Kinetic's one went for the same treatment I did say recurring, now didn't I. Brotherly pose awaiting primer The cubs have been washed and primed After primer, some tonal variations were added, just as a test for new Italeri paints. Painting started with the Wingmans F-21 (Kfir C1) undersides in MM Medium Gray. Colour was chosen based on the pics available and some tests done. Some of the afore mentioned tonal variation can be seen in the above pic. Kinetic Kfir was painted in air-superiority Gray IAF Camo. Colours from Italeri Acrylics range, LGG & DGG Paint booth job then proceeded on the upperside colors, again from Italeri's range of Reggia Aeronautica, what they deign as FS30219 and 34092. (Light Brown and Dark Green for us mere humans). All painted free hand with lots of cursing. I use mineral thinner with the acrylics (don't tell the EHS). It tends to help them flow, and not to dry up on the tip. Also checked (on the gray coloured one) the "home brew" thinner, of 6 parts distilled water, 4 parts alcohol and 1 part acrylic retarder. Worked a charm that one. And here is the Wingman one with the Ammo Mig Israeli Desert Sand added. And the family pose all painted up Finishing touches, such as decals, gloss cotes etc, were not photographed due to the unavailability of motivation. So Wingman's one completed deal. Added the resin fuel tank and the ACME pod (sounds like something Willy E. Coyotte would order). The other side got a redesignated Matra 530 for the acquisition round. Kinetic's Kfir got its loadout from the kit (fuel tanks and Python III missiles) and Hasegawa weapons (for the heavy punch) load of 2 MK-84s, 5 Mk-82s and 2 Mk-81s. Famous pic of the Kfir with this loadout - tried to get the same angle (I have it in a book dated 1984!) So there you have it. Thanks for looking and sorry for the pic heavy post.

This set intended to improve 1/48 Monogram / Kinetic F-84F Thunderstreak exterior details. Highly detailed airbrakes, wing interceptors with fine details, emty shell ejection ports fences, small air scoops for both fuselage sides, JATO hooks are included in the set. Though airbrakes are very complicated to build, you can simlify building process, using kit details as a base for outer and inner elements. We will provide some building tips here soon for better model accuracy. Made of steel with a thickness of 0.05 mm.

After over 1 year, i finally finished a new project!! My Mirage is built OOB except for a resin seat from Detail Model and metal gears from SAC. Sadly the serial QA85 is wrong, it belongs to an two-seater Mirage... but i've discovered it too late Painted with Gunze H338 (light grey) and H307 (dark grey) It's not perfect, but i'm satisfied of my "come-back model" more pics tomorrow with better day-light! hope you like it! ciao Ale

On May 3rd 1979 the F-16B J-259 made it's maiden flight from Schiphol. Was delivered to the Royal Dutch Air Force in June 1979 and flew to Leeuwarden on the 7th of june. It was the first F-16B for the Air Force. The Block-1 F-16s were initially equipped with black radomes. The objective I had in mind was to do an early F-16, so I choose the J-259, without the sidewinder rails, squadron markings, just a center fuel tank. Beside the black radomes the early F-16 had big roundels at the tail. The kit used is the F-16 A/B NSAWC Adversary from Kinetic. Paint Vallejo 70870 Medium Sea Grey, 71097 Medium Gunship Grey and the underside Vallejo 70989 Sky Grey. Decals are from Flevo Decals (48-015 313 Squadron F-16A/B, F-16AM/BM Part 1, just for the numbers) and the decals from Shyhart (48-905 F-16A/B Falcon, standard stencils data Belgian Air Force and others). The two lager Dutch roundels came from the Kinetic NF-5. Next time I need to spend a bit more time about examining pictures and data, as there are some faults. It was a pleausre to build and that's what counts for me. During the build I made my first Work In Progress, which is here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234990853-148-general-dynamis-f-16b-kinetic/ Thanks for looking. Jan Remco

For the first time I'll do a WIP instead of doing just a RFI topic. The object to achieve is the first General Dynamics F-16B delivered to the Royal Dutch Airforce in 1979. The inspiration came from this picture: It is taken from the book "Vlucht door de tijd 75 jaar Nederlandse Luchtmacht". This picture is taken in june or july 1979 at the Fokker aircraft factory when the first 2 Fokker build F-16's were delivered to the Royal Netherlands Airforce.The F-16 is probably the last fighter that is ordered by the Dutch government in large numbers, the total order was 213 and the Royal Netherlands Airforce took delivery of 212 F-16's. Replacing the F-104 Starfighter and the NF-5 Freedom Fighter. The J-259 still exist, it is in use as an instructional airframe at Woensdrecht. The kit: The build will be a factory fresh F-16B so there will be lots of parts left, the Air Combat Manoeuvring Instrumentation (ACMI) pod will be used in the Eduard Top Falcons build, in that kit it wasn't included. The books for reference: The instructions are weird. From the F-16A/B they skip to the instructions of the F16AM Fighting Falcon Block 20 (Belgian AF Tiger meet 2009 Kit 48036). Fortunately only on the first page. For today done some minor things. The cockpit some basic work as a well trying the do dry brushing basic color light grey (Vallejo 71050 and brown (Vallejo 70822). The tail section was suggested with a parachute. And this is the reason I like the Kinetic models. The box is filled with parts you can use, there are three different tail options. The photos are taken by phone, not the best, but it's about modeling and not a photosession with models. Jan Remco

Hi there. Although this model has been completed for a couple of months now, it's took me until now to get some photos taken and posted on the forum. This is the Kinetic 1/48 F-16A but in Belgian solo air display colours courtesy of the excellent Syhart decal production. I saw the real aircraft in action at RIAT 2014, inspiring me to make one for the display cabinet. I'm pleased with the result but the Kinetic kit is not without its problems, but nothing major. This is mostly OOB other than wheels and ejector seat as resin replacements. There are a couple of minor inaccuracies compared to the Belgian aircraft, but I'm not telling. Thanks for looking. " /> " /> " /> " />

Finished this a few weeks ago but only just got arounbd to uploading pics. Not quite the correct grey (which was totally my fault) but still looks ok. An enjoyable build, so much so that i have also bought the F version.

This NF-5 is displayed in the colors of 316 squadron, based at Eindhoven. In the 80's some of the NF-5's from 316 squadron, had a colorfull band on the top of the fuselage. The reason for this is to be recognised during dogfights. These NF-5's were used as an agressor. The K-3072 had and orange centertank as well. These tanks were not as common as the colorfull band. This Agressor is also equiped with dummy AIM-9 Sidewinders. I choosed the build the aircraft in this colorscheme because it breaks the usual camouflage paterns. The colors I used were Vallejo Model Air71017 Russian Green, Vallejo Model Air 052 German Grey, Vallejo Model Air 051 Barely Grey and Vallejo Model Color 70733 Orange Fluo. The decals are a mix from the ones that came with this kit and Dutch Decal DD48045. I made some seat belts from masking tape and fuse wire to get some detail in the cockpit. I will get some better photos and upload those. These were taken duting the spare moments we had some sunshine today. Thanks for looking. Jan Remco

After the M5BA/BR ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975342-148-dassaultsabca-mirage-5ba-br-by-wingman-models-kinetic-variant-released), the Nesher/Dagger & Finger ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975341-148-dassaultiai-nesherdagger-finger-by-wingman-models-kinetic-variant-released ), Wingman Models is to release a new variant from the Kinetic's MIIIE (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234959104-148-kinetic-mirage-iii5 ), the 1/48th Dassult Mirage 5F Armée de l'Air - ref.WK48015. Source: http://www.shopofphantoms.com/rhino/Pulsar/en_US.Shop.displayShop.8331./wmk48015-mirage-5f V.P.

I made this a bit earlier in the year, but have only just got around to taking some decent photos. As usual Kinetic offer an amazingly detailed kit but true to form over complicate the build. I added a resin cockpit but everything else was OOTB. A 1st for me using Mig Jimenez acrylic paints, which I think were spot on for the right coloring's for this IDF bird.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel My guess... V.P.

Sea Harrier FA.2 1:48 Kinetic The Sea Harrier FRS.1 was first used in the Falklands War in 1982, dispelling any doubt as to its effectiveness, and gaining a reputation as a formidable opponent. Ten years later a new and improved version in the shape of the FA.2 was rolled out, that had a number of systems upgraded to widen its weapons capabilities, more powerful engine, and a fuselage plug that extended the available internal space to accommodate the additional equipment. The most important addition was the Blue Vixen Radar, considered by her crews to be far superior to anything around at the time. The Shar2 as it was sometimes known went on to take part in Bosnia, as well as the Gulf, but was retired prematurely in 2006, citing the lack of commonality of parts between it and the GR.7/9s in service with the RAF at the time. Further budget cuts saw the rest of the Harrier fleet retired soon after, and sold as "spares" to the US for a pittance, leaving the UK without a carrier force, and later without a carrier until the Queen Elizabeth and F-35 come on stream sometime in the future. The Kit We've been poorly-served for Shar kits in 1:48, having only the ageing FA.2 kit from Airfix, which although broadly accepted to be good enough in outline is lacking in detail, needing quite a lot of work to build a modern looking model. Kinetic's new kit is a thoroughly modern tooling, benefitting on first look from a lot of extra detail that just wasn't doable back then. It arrives in the familiar blue Kinetic box with a painting of a Shar2 on the front, and various reference photos on the sides. A look through the box shows seven sprues in a mid-grey styrene, plus one in clear, a tiny fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, and a large decal sheet. The instruction booklet appears to be portrait A4, but is landscape within, so be prepared for a 90o twist, or a stiff neck once you open it. The painting and markings diagrams are at the rear in greyscale. A quick comparison between the old Airfix kit shows the differences, although the fuselage is almost a carbon copy, but with a LOT more detail, and a different approach to installing the wings. I'm not implying plagiarism, merely a great deal of correspondence between the two kits, which is probably due to having been tooled from similar data-points. The fuselage plug has been correctly rendered as a step in the skin, as the FA.2s were just extended FRS.1s that were rebuilt to zero hours in batches. If you're wanting a new FRS.1, you might be interested to know that there are cut-lines engraved into the inner fuselage that mate up with the insert, so you just never know! The upper wing on the new kit is a single part, and has the extended tip of the FA.2, larger out-rigger fairing and the leading-edge kink between the two wing fences that's not present on the Airfix kit. The radome is also slightly shorter, and looks better when compared to photos, but you'll have to mask and paint the lighter grey tip freehand, as there is no panel line present this time around. The moulding shows evidence of a slight flaring of the edges where the two halves of the tooling come together, but these will be quick to succumb to the edge of a scalpel blade, although this will slow down construction a little as a result. There are also a few sink marks around, and a few of those will need attention as they are on visible surfaces, and there are also the innevitable ejector pin marks, although these have been kept to a necessary few through sensible design. It's no surprise that construction begins with the cockpit, and there is plenty of detail packed into this small space. The tub has moulded in side consoles with plenty of raised details, and you have a choice of instrument panels, with one of two MFDs, although it's not made clear when you would use them. Separate rudder pedals and control column are also present, along with a two-part HUD that is made completely from clear parts. The Martin-Baker Mk.10H ejection seat is well detailed too, and has a central cushion that is flanked by side parts with raised rivets, a head-box topper, and pull-handle for between the pilot's knees for emergency exits, the tube housing the rocket motor for which is also depicted. The pilot sits right in front of the engine, and the rear bulkhead with moulded in detail attaches to the combined intake trunking/nose gear bay. The intake narrows to a circular profile via a short lip, and it appears that Kinetic's instruction guy has missed the part number (C3) off the separate engine front face, which has the prototypical ring toward the outer edge of the blades. It includes enough detail to fool the eye into believing there is an engine in there, which should satisfy all but the torch equipped viewer. The single main gear bay is built up from individual sides to maximise the moulded-in detail, and the rear air-brake bay is a single part with the thick ribbing moulded in to allow the brake to be posed open or closed, with the aid of a separate jack. These are placed inside the fuselage, which can be closed up after the stubs for the four vectoring nozzles is built up, along with its control linkage that ensures all nozzles move in unison. You'll need to be frugal with the glue here if you want to be able to VIFF your Shar after building, or simply use it to effect the desired angle before gluing them in place. At this point the intake lips with their blow-in doors are built up from an inner and outer skin, and a choice of closed doors for forward flight, or "drooped" upper doors when the engine is inactive. There are some sink marks present in the door part, so check yours and fill the depressions where necessary before you install them. Moving back, the nozzles are exceptionally nicely done, with lots of moulded in detail thanks to some clever slide moulding, leaving only a fine seam down the centreline to scrape away before they can be installed on the previously mentioned stubs. Three scrap diagrams show the correct orientation for three flight modes, in the form of horizontal flight or "cruise", Short Take-Off or landing (STOL), and of course vertical Take-Off or Landing (VTOL). The plates behind the hot nozzles are installed next, after which the wing is attached to the top slot that closes up the fuselage. As previously mentioned, the wing upper surface is full width, with the top surface of the fuselage moulded in, and the detail here is very well done, and captures the curve nicely. The lower wings are added before the assembly is placed on the fuselage, which manages to leave the modeller with three relatively short seams to deal with, but test fitting will of course make this task easier. At this stage the turtle-deck behind the pilot's seat is added, with the canopy built up later in the process, made up from separate windscreen and canopy parts. Attention turns to the underside with the nose and main gear bays having their legs and doors added. The tyres are made of two halves that enclose a single piece hub, which follows suit with many other Kinetic kits. The bay doors are supplied with moulded in hinges, so should have a good solid attachment to the bay sides, and detail is again very good. You can pose the doors closed with little effort according to the instructions, but I suspect that the hinges will have to be removed. There are a host of antennae and sensors around the airframe, some of which require holes to be drilled in the fuselage in order to fit, and this extends round to the upper sides of the aircraft, making for a Shar that fairly bristles with them! The rudder and main flying surfaces are shown as being assembled last for some reason, and these of course can be posed at your whim, but some suggestions for the aforementioned flight types would have been helpful. Check your references to decide whether you should use the extended or retracted flap parts for your particular aircraft in the pose that you have in mind. Speaking of flight-envelopes, there appears to be a little "gotcha" waiting for you with the outrigger wheels if you are planning on posing your Sea Harrier in flight. The instructions deal only with the single part outrigger wheels that are deployed, and although they are nicely moulded, with plenty of detail, they have two flaws. The first is easily remedied with a little filler, in the shape of a slight sink mark on the lower spats where the plastic is thickest. The second is not quite so easily fixed, because there are no parts in the kit that can be used without alteration to depict the wheels retracted into their housings for forward flight. In order to retract them, you will have to cut off some of the legs, and detach the leading edge cover, re-assembling them remains into the bay. It's not an impossible task, but one that could have been avoided. That's unless I've missed something along the way, and I'm sometimes easily confused! The fixed refuelling probe attaches to the port intake, and the canopy is well moulded, with a det-cord that breaks the canopy before ejection in relief on the inner face. The canopy has been moulded without slide-moulding, as it doesn't have the characteristic blown-style of later marks, which means that there's no annoying seam on the centreline, although one is depicted in the instructions! It fits on a separate rail part that some people seem to loathe, but as long as you're careful of your choice as well as quantity of glue, it should go together just fine. The windscreen is similarly well moulded with a raised windscreen wiper that might cause some consternation during the masking process, but it also has some nice delicate rivets, and the asymmetric fairing at the front that houses the wiper gear. Weapons & Fuel No Harrier (or modern fast jet, for that matter) is complete without some additional tanks to extend its range, and/or some kind of war load, and Kinetic have been their usual generous selves as far as this kit is concerned. A full set of slightly bland pylons are included, with additional detail in the shape of separate shackles that fit into the bottom of each one, plus either a pair of belly strakes, or the 30mm Aden cannon pods that are synonymous with the mighty Harrier slung under the belly in their place. In addition are the following weapons for you to choose from: 6 x AIM-9 Sidewinder A2A missiles 4 x AIM120 AMRAAM Beyond Visual Range (BVR) A2A missiles 2 x Sea Eagle Anti-Ship Missile (ASM) 2 x Drop Tanks (Large) 2 x Drop Tanks (Small) The adaptor rails and twin Sidewinder palettes are also included, so consult your references to come up with a likely load out for your Shar. A full complement of stencils is included for the supplied munitions, with their placement given on the stencils page that precedes the markings section at the rear of the booklet. Markings Kinetic have included three sets of markings in the kit, with one additional point. The third set of markings for the disbandment markings worn at the Yeovilton display allows you to portray them all, which is a handy option. All the aircraft codes and their respective squadrons are described with the aid of tables that relate to the scrap diagrams on the last two pages. From the box you can depict one of the following: ZD613 "Satan 1" in Decommissioning scheme of 800 Squadron, Royal Navy, March 2004 – all-over Medium Sea Grey with red upper wings, tails and tail fin. ZH809 Celebrating 25 years of Sea Harrier (since 1979) 899 Squdron Royal Navy Yeovilton, Oct 2004 – Royal Blue over White with FLY NAVY under the wings. 800, 801 or 899 Squadron Disbandment aircraft Yeovilton 2004, and last HMS Illustrious Detachment, Nov 2005 – all over Medium Sea Grey. The decals have been designed by Crossdelta for Kinetic and printed by Cartograf, so quality isn't an issue. Register, sharpness and colour density are excellent, with all but the smallest weapons stencils legible with the aid of magnification. Conclusion A thoroughly modern tooling of this superb and much missed aircraft. With the exception of the out-rigger wheels, everything is there to make a good replica of the Shar in its final guise. There are a couple of sink marks, some ejector pin marks to fill, and some seam lines to scrape, but we're modellers so we shouldn't be too frightened of exercising our skills. Plus, Kinetic's designers have kept these to a pleasant minimum to keep us happy. Am I being optimistic in hoping that those cut-lines inside the fuselage halves will mean we also get an FRS.1 to complement the FA.2 on our shelves? I do hope so. Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Finished together with the IAF C2 Kfir. My first F-16 (since the 80's) a pleassant build, the only difficult area was the main landig gear bay and the amount of flash to be removed. The model is finished with Vallejo 70989 Sky Grey, 70870 Medium Sea Grey, 71097 Medium Gunship Grey and 71046 Pale Grey Blue. Added some home made seatbelts from maskingtape. Thanks for looking. Jan Remco

As usual, do I've to say, the Kinetic's German partner, Wingman Models (http://wingmanmodels.com/wm/Pulsar/en_US.CMS.display.65./superior-military-aviation-model-kits-accessories), is to rework the chinese new 1/48th Dassault Mirage IIIE/O/R kit (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234959104-148-kinetic-mirage-iii5/) to propose a family of IAI Nesher/Dagger & Finger in its Superkits range (http://wingmanmodels.com/wm/Pulsar/en_US.Store.display.80./superkits) - ref.WK48013. Source: https://www.facebook.com/wingmanmodels And what about the two-seats versions from these fighters? Considering Wingman Models has already released the two-seat variant from the Kfir, the TC.2 (http://wingmanmodels.com/wm/Pulsar/en_US.Store.display.151./wmk48011-israeli-air-force-kfir-tc2-superkit)... Wait and see. V.P.

After the single seat AMX/A-1A (ref.K48026 - http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234964446-amx-1m-kinetic-148/?hl=kinetic), Kinetic is to release in 2015 the 1/48th two-seat AMX-T/A-1B Ghibli/Falcão variants - ref.K48027 Target seems obvious, being on the market before the release from the recently announced HobbyBoss 1/48th AMX kits (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234972802-148-amx-a-1ata-1b-by-hobby-boss-in-20152016/). Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel/posts/417339898433127 CADs V.P.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Kineticmodel?fref=nf News from the 1/48th OA-4M Skyhawk ( http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234958047-148-kinetic-oa-4m;-possibly-more-than-just-a-rumor/?hl=skyhawk#entry1586057) or the 1/48th "classic" F-18A/C Hornet kits announced years ago? To be followed. V.P.

The first Royal Netherlands Air Force plane I've build. Reminds me back to the nineties when these NF-5's where stationed at Gilze-Rijen AFB. For the colors I used Vallejo Model Air71017 Russian Green, Vallejo Model Air 052 German Grey and Vallejo Model Air 050 Light Grey. The masking between for the camo was done with a sort of blue tack. This one is the K-4020, from 314 Sqn (Redskins), based at Eindhoven, Royal Netherlands AF, in the late 1970s. I need to practice to make seatbelts, so I have something to put inside the cockpitt. Thanks for looking. Jan Remco

This is another kit I recently finished. It is the well known Kinetic Hawkeye. It is the first in a serie dedicated to the Gulf of Sidra incident on 17 August 1981. Two Libyan Fitters were shot down by two Tomcats from VF-41. The interception was coordinated by a Hawkeye from VAW-124 Bear Aces. There are no decals available of VAW-124 during this period on board the USS Nimitz so I had to make some myself. This is the first in a serie dedicated to this incident. Next are the Libyan Fitter, already on the bench, the VF-41 Tomcat, a Corsair II and a Sea King. Almost forgot, and the Trumpeter 1/350 Nimitz... Hope you like.

AMX Fighter – Single Seater 1:48 The AMX was designed as a replacement to the Fiat G.91 and derivatives, and was the product of a newly create company called AMX International, which was a cooperation between Aeritalia, Aeromacchi and the Brazilian company Embraer. Each partner builds a portion of the aircraft, with the first assembled in Italy for flight testing in the mid 80s. After successful completion of testing, it started to enter into service toward the end of the 80s, as the A-11 Ghibli with the Italian Air Force and the A-1 with Brazil. The aircraft uses a license built Spey engine, which was chosen for reliability and ease of integration with the design, although later other engines were considered. It has been used substantially by both operators and has undergone a number of upgrades of the avionics over time. The two-seat trainer was completed in the 1990s, and many of the approximately 200 airframes are still in service, barring accidents and total loss incidents, of which there have been a few over the years, ironically one of which was due to engine failure. The Kit We have been poorly served for kits of this aircraft in 1:48, having only a few offerings that could hardly be called mainstream. This is the first mainstream injection moulded kit in this scale, although I believe another manufacturer is in final stages of preparing their own moulding. The kit arrives in a substantial top opening box that is full of parts, and the first thing I realised on examining the sprues was that this is not a particularly small aircraft. There are seven sprues in mid-grey styrene, two small clear sprues, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a sheet of decals and of course the instruction booklet. The mouldings are consistent with Kinetic style and standards, with plenty of engraved panel lines and rivets. There are a plethora of domed rivets on the rear "hot end" and a curved elevator guide as per the real thing, although these are perhaps a little overdone due to the constraints of injection moulding. The fuselage has been moulded in front and rear sections to accommodate a future 2-seat variant as well as the different cannon fit between the AMX and A-1, which are on opposite sides to each other. This results in two nose cones being supplied with the kit. Construction starts with the cockpit, and there are options available to the builder depending on which of the three variants is to be depicted. The main cockpit tub is a single part with moulded in side consoles to which a control stick, rudder pedals and rear bulkhead are added. The license-built Martin-Baker MK.10L seat is quite well depicted, although a few of the restraints are absent, however the main shoulder belts are included as part of the PE sheet. An optional instrument panel and coaming is fitted, and the seat is inserted in the completed cockpit. As is often the case with a modern jet, the nose gear bay is closely coupled to the cockpit tub, and this is supplied as a simple box that has a couple of prominent ejector-pin marks, and no sidewall detail. This shouldn't be much of an issue unless you wish to leave the main bay door open (as is an option), which only seems to happen during rotation and maintenance. The gear leg is dropped into a slot in the sidewalls, and has a separate yoke holding a three-part wheel in between. It will need to be installed before putting the bay in the fuselage, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but probably won't stop the world from spinning. On completion of the bay you can close up the forward fuselage around it and the cockpit, being careful to add some nose-weight, the amount of which isn't disclosed in the instructions. Pack as much as you can in without bending the nose gear leg, just to be on the safe side. At this stage the instructions would have you add all the small intakes and antennae, but you will probably use your best judgement on a case-by-case basis based on the probability of breaking them off during the rest of the build. The windscreen is also added at this point, and it is probably as good a time as any, as it will provide protection for your hard work on the coaming and HUD parts. The antennae fit differs between the AMX and A-1A/M, so take care in choosing the page you refer to. The rear fuselage needs filling with assemblies before it can be closed and joined up with the nose, and this process begins with the main gear bays, which are side-by-side taking up the full fuselage width, and separated by a bulkhead to which a number of ribbing parts are added, giving a nice focal point to the bay. The gear legs are added to the front bulkhead with another butt-fit on a section of the forward-most rib, with their retraction jacks added separately along with some trunking within the bay. Now for the tricky part! The intake trunking is supplied as full-depth in two parts, and there are a couple of ejector pin marks you'll need to remove if you think they'll be seen. The outer half is attached to the inside of the fuselage and the more rounded inner section is then installed, and hangs cleverly from a recessed location pin in the fuselage spine to ensure they mount at the correct angle. The fuselage halves are then brought together around the main gear bay, with a front engine face being added to the intakes, and a single-piece exhaust at the rear. The sides of the exhaust are featureless, but you can dimly see the rear of the engine if you look down the end of the tube. The exhaust lip is quite significantly over-thick, so a little sanding will be order to get a more scale representation. You get two in the box, so you can always start again if you make a mess! Once the fuselage has been closed up, more detail is added to the main gear legs which presumably would have interfered with installation beforehand, and a pair of three-part wheels are added for it to stand on. The intake outer trunking and lips are then added to finish off, and these seem to be on the money in terms of shape. The nose section is brought in, and should fit nicely, as there are some neat overlaps on the port side to follow panel lines and avoid awkward seams across inspection panels. Of course you'll be fitting the correct nose for the version you plan to model, but they are very similar apart from the cannon installation and some panel lines. Another round of small antennae, lumps & bumps ensues, and there are a LOT of these parts. There are also a bunch of little PE vents that fit into recesses on the fuselage, giving a nice bit of extra detail in the process, but as usual through this build, just make sure you are following the correct procedure for the version you are modelling, perhaps scribbling on the one you're not modelling, just to make sure. No aircraft is complete without wings, and the AMX has two, which are shoulder mounted and hang on a pair of lugs that fit into vertical slots in the fuselage sides, and have separate front slats and flaps, the latter able to be posed retracted or deployed by the addition of extra parts between the flaps and their bay. The wing-mounted spoilers are moulded flush with the surface, and would require significant work to depict in action. The tail fin is moulded into the fuselage halves with separate two-part rudder, while the elevators are both three-part assemblies including a separate tab on each trailing edge. The canopy is nicely moulded in crystal clear styrene, and fits aft of the windscreen, which can be posed open or closed at your whim, or depending on how proud of the work on the cockpit you are! It has a set of rear-view mirrors, plus a frame that sits behind the ejection seat when closed, and if you are posing it open, a retention jack that holds the canopy at the correct angle to the side of the fuselage (it's a side opening canopy in case you weren't aware). The AMX is a fighting aircraft, so its wings and underside are often decked out with pylon mounted weapons, which Kinetic have supplied in their usual generous fashion on the two identical smaller sprues. There are also a pair of 1,100L fuel tanks and an Orpheus Recce Pod that is used on the AMX. The two sprues contain the following: 4 x AIM-120 (unused) 2 x AIM-9L 2 x AIM-9X (unused) 2 x GBU-12 Paveway II (unused) 2 x Mk.82 bombs (unused) 2 x CBU-97 cluster bomb dispenser (unused) The two AIM-9 variants have slide-moulded hollow exhausts, as does one of the unused pylon adapters, all of which is nice to see. There are a number of adapter rails on the sprue, only some of which are used in this kit for the AMX and A-1 fit of the Sidewinders. The underwing pylons are on the main sprues and are supplied in halves, with two separate sway-braces per pylon. The Orpheus pod attaches directly to the centre-line of the aircraft without a separate pylon or adapter. Markings There are three schemes included on the kit's decal sheet, one each of the A-1A, A-1M and the Brazilian AMX. The sheet tells us that the design work was done by FCM Decals from Brazil, and the printing was done in Italy by Cartograf. The quality of registration, colour density and sharpness are superb, as you would expect from Cartograf, with carrier film cropped nice and close to the decals for minimal impact. Some of the stencils on the pylons have been amalgamated under one piece of carrier film, so be prepared to use some softening solution to get those to settle down nicely. From the box you can build one of the following: A-1A 1/16 Grupo de aviacao, Esq. Adelfi Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2008 – green/grey camo over grey lowers. AMX International Security Assistance Force Task Group "Black Cats", 51 Stormo Afghanistan, 2009 – Sky grey overall. AMX 51 Stormo, 132 Gruppo Caccia Bombardieri Ricognitori Treviso, Istrana 2007 – Sky grey with grey/black tail art. There appears to be an "Easter egg" of additional decals, including a triangular white decal with holes for another colour to show through, plus a black spotted 101 with a red lightning bolt through, and 100 years of Brazilian aviation badge. I'm not sure what this is for, as I'm not an expert on Brazilian aviation, and couldn't turn anything up on Google at short notice. Two separate pages of stencil placement are found at the rear of the instruction booklet, differing between Italian and Brazilian usage. Conclusion A very welcome release for anyone that's interested in a so far elusive kit in this scale. It appears to have been quite well done, although I'm sure some minor issues will come out in due course from those that know the airframe inside out. It will certainly be an easier build than anything that has gone before in this scale, but as always with Kinetic kits (which could also apply to almost any kit), the process will go more smoothly if you test fit and fettle before final assembly. Highly recommended. On backorder at time of writing Review sample courtesy of