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I bought this resin model from Ebay some years ago, it's an aeroplane that has interested me for sometime a 1930s design that lived on till the end of WW2. These aircraft used by the Luftwaffe for night harassment on the Eastern Front make a change from all the usual 109s and 190s I have built. Onto the kit all the basics are there in resin plus white metal undercarriage legs, injection moulded wing struts, vac formed windscreens and decal sheet. Unfortunately I should have checked the contents of the kit a little more carefully when I received it as some of the smaller detail parts were missing ( good old Ebay!!!!). I managed to get some reasonable idea of the layout of the cockpits from trawling the net. Incidentally it seems the French have an example of this aircraft preserved, it originally was liberated by the French Resistance! The kit detail in cockpits was basic 2 floors, 2 seats, crude instrument panels, two radio sets, moulded interior framework (removed) and a missing control column! I added as much detail as would be seen, the cockpit openings are not that large. Fuselage was glued together and sanded down. The wing was supplied in left and right halves which I joined using small metal tubes to add strength, the weight of the assembled wing meant that the interplane struts supplied in resin were not going to support it, they would have been better supplied in white metal. My solution for this was to fabricate struts in metal using some brass Strutz streamlined wire I've had for many years, this was quite a reasonable solution I'm pleased to say. The joining of wing to fuselage still caused me a lot of frustration and cussing but eventually came together quite well. I painted the wing and fuselage seperately also applying the decals before joining them together. I fabricated the exhausts using 2mm soldering wire as the exhausts supplied were not suitable for a night harassment aircraft. A note about the colour scheme and decals these came from an OWL decal sheet I bought after buying the kit, they were quite thick and a couple of the items broke apart when applying them however I managed to get them on successfully in the end! The aircraft is He46c of NSGr.1, Idriza airfield, Eastern Front early 1944. Not one of my best builds but I highly doubt we'll see an injection moulded kit of this aircraft, watch the Czech kit producers prove me wrong 😁. It would be great to see some of these neglected second line aircraft in kit form (1/48 of course). Thanks for looking Cheers Andy

Hello again, I sincerely hope you don't mind me asking two consecutive questions about similar subject but I am planing a multi build of Eduard's Fw 190 A-3 and would like to find a proper references for the decal sheets I have! This time I am looking for a photo reference (or any secondary source of info) regarding Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-3 featured on Cutting Edge Decal sheet CED48196 "Fw 190 Reich Defenders Pt2" (can be seen here: http://fineartofdecals.com/goodies/148-treasures-axis/ second decal described on the page) Decal sheet instructions are mentioning the photo but they do not list any references which we could check to make our own assumption! I somehow remember this machine from some of the discussions on some of the forums over the last 20 years and I thought I have saved the photo & even the discussion in my "archive" but I am unable to dig it out! From the decal sheet: "First is Fw 190A-3, Red 7/Blue 1 (starboard) AND Blue 1/Red 7 (port), of an unknown unit. This very interesting A-3 features a late-war ground concealment scheme consisting of RLM 82/83 over the original 74/75. It IS possible that was an eastern front aircraft and received the infamous JG 53/54 experimental schemes using Russian paint stocks. There is no evidence of a yellow stripe under the fuselage cross visible in the photo. The exact colors of the numbers is also unclear. The 7 is darker than the yellow undercowl, but much lighter than the 1. The 1 is lighter than the Swastika. We think the colors are as shown, but the one could be black, and the seven could then be yellow or blue. Since the 7 is applied in the standard number position for the Fw 190, it appears the 1 was the new number for the aircraft during its final days." Is anyone able to help me locate a photo or two of the mentioned machine... I would really appreciate it! Thank you very much in advance! PS It's the first machine from the top - in the decal instructions:

F-104G Luftwaffe Starfighter (K48083) 1:48 Kinetic Model The F-104 starfighter was designed by the famous Kelly Johnson from Lockheed after a series of visits to USAF Bases in Korea where he sounded out pilots about what kind of aircraft they wanted. Their main focus was on a small simple aircraft with a high speed/altitude capability. The new General Electric J79 engine was chosen to power the aircraft and he would wrap around this the lightest possible airframe he could. The new aircraft would be all metal with wings located further back than most designs to allow a minimum drag angle of attack. The aircraft would feature an internal 20mm Gatling gun with additional missile armament. One downside to the new aircraft was the downward firing ejection seat which was developed after concerns of a normal seat clearing the tail. The seat would later be replaced by a conventional one, but only after a significant number of deaths during low altitude ejections. Many operators would replace the Lockheed seats with Martin Baker ones. The F-104G was developed by Lockheed at the time the USAF was not happy with the aircraft. The Luftwaffe at the time was looking for a new multirole aircraft and the Starfighter was reworked with a stronger fuselage and wing, larger fuel capacity, a larger vertical fin, new landing gear, and upgraded avionics. Many of these models would be built under license by Dornier, Fokker, Fiat, Canadair and SABCA. The aircraft had a poor safety record with the German forces leading it do be dubbed the "Widow maker", pilot workload was high and it emerged that original fatigue calculations had not taken into account the new role of the aircraft. It would later transpire that underhand methods secured many overseas orders with German and Dutch officials accused of accepting bribes. The Kit This is a new tool from Kinetic. The Box top is branded as Kinetic Gold, with no explanation anywhere to what makes it a "Gold" kit. The kit features an open electronics bay behind the cockpit, nose radar There are three sprues of grey plastic, a clear spure and a small PE fret. The plastic looks to be upto the recent high standards of Kinetic., the panel lines are very fine and I fear will disappear under primer and paint to a greater degree. Construction begins with the cockpit, and the seat is the first thing to be built up. This is multipart affair and there is a C-2 seat and a Martin Baker one. The back and sides attach to the seatpan, the head part with the handles is attached and the seat gun fitted to the back. Seat rails are then fitted to the sides. PE belts are then fitted. The cockpit tub is built and the control column followed by the seat are installed. Next up we have a few sub assemblies to make. The radar and electronics boxes for the nose are made up. Its worth noting there is no parts in the kit to fold the radome back to expose the radar? The rear jet pipe and the exhaust nozzle follow. For the undercarriage the front and rear bays are made up, and lastly the nose cone is put together. All of these can then be added into the main fuselage and it closed up. Some additional panels are then added to the underside. The top to the T tail is then added as is the rudder. The three part intakes (each side) are built up and added to the fuselage. The nose wheel is now built up and added as well. Two different types of wheel are included, however there is no information as to which to use for any aircraft, so the modeller will need to check their references. The nose boy doors can then be added after the nose gear is in. The main gear is now built up as well, again two types of wheel are supplied, and again without any information. Once the gear is on the doors can be added. Moving to the rear of the fuselage the air brakes can be installed. We now move onto the stubby wings. There is a main centre section with separate leading edges and flaps. Holes must be made if using the underwing pylons. If not using the wing tip tanks then there are PE faces for the end of the wings. Once made up the wings can be attached. Back to the fuselage the cover for the electronics bay behind the cockpit is added. This can be open or closed. The glazing is now added. There are PE parts for inside the canopy. Small parts are then added to the airframe including PE AOA indicators. For stores, fuel tanks are provided for the wing tips, and underwing pylons. A double sidewinder adaptor is provided for under the main fuselage. Markings There are designed by Crossdelta and printed by cartograf. It is noticeable there are very few stencils on the sheet. 22+39 Fighter Bomber Wing 34 Memmingen 1984-87 With Earlier type Splinter scheme 21+64 Fighter Bomber Wing 34 Memmingen 1984-87 With Later type subdued scheme 26+60 German Naval Air Wing 2, Eggebek, 1985 Conclusion This is a great new tool from Kinetic. Highly recommended. In association with

Ju 87 D-3, Hs 129, FW 190F-8 "Luftwaffe Ground Attackers vol.1" 1:72 Exito Decals Polish company Exito are an online retailer of all things scale modelling. They also have a nice line in decals with a 'twist'. Unlike most rivals, their sets are packed into large, A4 sized packets backed with a piece of heavy card. Each of the schemes included on the sheet is replicated as a high-quality colour print on thick, glossy card, with a painting diagram and other information on the reverse. The overall impression is of a very high quality product, albeit one which is surprisingly reasonably priced. The set includes markings for three aircraft: Junkers Ju 87 D-3, W.Nr. 100082 (Stkz. BP+DD), coded T6+HN of 5./StG. 2, Achtirskaya, USSR, early summer 1942; Henschel Hs 129 B-2, W.Nr. 140405 of 4.(Pz)/Sch.G.1, USSR, summer 1942; and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 F-8, flown by Major Theodor Nordmann, Kommandeur of II./SG 3, Riga-Spilve, Latvia, 1944 There is no secondary theme that ties these schemes together, other than the that described in the title. The decals themselves are printed by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Helpfully, there are sufficient national markings on the sheet to model each of the three options. Colour references are provided for Mr Hobby and AK Interactive, as well as the RLM codes appropriate for each shade. Conclusion This is yet another professional and attractive package from Exito. As well as some interesting decals printed by the company everyone else is measured against, you get profiles of all the options that are of such high quality that they could be framed or incorporated in the display of your finished model. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Guys, Images from the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin. The museum from the footbridge over the Lanwehr Canal. The C-47 used to sit outside the big terminal at Tempelhof. Europe 261 This is a model of the Deutsches Luftfahrt Sammlung, the Nazis' big aviation museum, which opened in 1936 to coincide with the XI Olympiade, the centrepiece of which was the Dornier Do X. Choccy fish if you can name all the aircraft. Europe 265 This is what the main entrance looked like; note the Spitfire at bottom right. The museum caught fire during an air raid in 1943 and most of the collection was destroyed, some airframes survived and are now in the collection of the MLP in Cracow. The Airco DH.9A at Hendon used to be there. Berlin Tour 15 This is a 'then and now' comparison. It was taken on Alt Moabit next to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, just across the Spree River from the Reichstag. Berlin Tour 14 Arado Ar 96. Europe 266 Nord 1100 Noralpha. Europe 268 Ju 88G and Fi 156. Europe 269 Bf 110 and Fw 44. Europe 270 Ju 87. Stuka A slice of the Dornier Do X. Europe 271 More to come.

This is my Hobby Boss 1/48 FW 190 D9, a nice kit and relatively trouble free build, I managed to keep the canopy moveable and the rigging wire drops down when opened which is a nice touch. Finished in MRP and Mr Color Lacquers and weathered with oils and pigments. Eduard belts and brass tubing for gun barrels were added.

Hello everyone Here is one of three 1:144 Focke-Wulf Fw 190Ds in fictitious schemes and/or variants I built back in 2013. In this case, it's a Platz Fw 190D-9 kit in an MTO scheme representing a fictitious machine from 4.JG27 based in Italy in 1945. The Dora never served in the MTO and I thought (correctly) that it would look great. The kit was built OOB and fully painted, weathered and varnished with brush. The JG27-specific markings (emblem, number, etc) came from a Sweet Bf 109F kit. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel

Hi Guys, a look at the aviation collection at Gatow. I've been before and the aircraft outside are rustic and unkempt, which called for some experimental photography. I've been fiddling with contrast and exposure where appropriate. it's not to everyone's tastes, but here goes. Europe 227 Europe 228 Europe 230 Europe 231 Europe 232 Europe 235 Europe 237 Europe 240 More to come from Gatow.

Recently I "recovered" my DML Ju88C bought over 15 years. It's kit No. 5540#, based on Shanghai Dragon 5536# C-6 version, with a new nose and radar antenna added. Another difference is the dorsal (is it a proper name?) gun position, or B-stand. 5536 has 2 MG17s same as A-4 version: 5540 has a single gun replicated this photo: It seems that the latter one only appeared on Nacht Jagers, so can we speculate that C "Zerstroyer" usually converted from bomber version, so remained the gun layout...... although not so crisp, we can see "bulge" on canopy. .......while Nachtjager might be new built or modified at factory? So all modifications applied? Earlier C-2/4 also had single gun fitted. However, twin guns also seen on Nachtjagers....so how to figure out them...

This kit was built alongside the Eduard 1/48 Fw190A-5/U12 (see my earlier post in RFI). Again it was virtually an oob build, all I added was the excellent Brassin resin cockpit and some detail to the wheel wells. The wheel wells lack detail at the front so I added some, using the Eduard P/E set (intended for the old tool 190s) as a template for these missing details. The kit was again finished using the AK True Colours Luftwaffe paints, these actually supply 3 variations of RLM76 of which I used 'variation 2' a later war shade! This kit was from the Reichsverteidigung combo which unlike the A-5 kit has gloss decals which went on perfectly! The machine I chose to build was that flown by Ofw. Karl Rusack of 5./JG.300, Lobnitz Jan.1945. This machine had the standard 74/75/76 scheme over which a meandering spray of green was applied possibly as ground concealment. Some sources say this may have been RLM71 but I chose the AK green variation of RLM81 (83 ??!!!) :- Now where are those other 5 early 190s!!!!!!!!!!! Cheers Andy

Hasegawa's Bf 109G-2 with decals from Eduard and Aeromaster.

Found this movie on YT while I was searching for clips of Marseille's aircraft, I thought you too might be interested. The aircraft used are the Spanish Ha 1112.

What are those colors?? Captioned: "A very rare color photograph of a Bf 109 B-1 being the centre of attention for a group of Hitler Youth, obviously on a visit to a Luftwaffe station in 1938" in Aviation Classics issue 18, 2012 https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/germany/aircrafts-2/messerschmitt_bf109/messerschmitt-bf-109-color-15/

Hi! Is it possible that some He-111Hs were intended for desert use and received factory camouflage of RLM 79 instead of standard RLM 70/71? Thanks in advance

Hi ! Building a 1/32 scale Luftwaffe diorama with a large hanger. I'm about to paint the hanger but need some colour references. I can se in a lot of ww2 pictures the hangers and some service buildings är painted in camo patterns, but of course, I can't se what colors. Some help to get color reference would be great ! Regards Stefan from Sweden

Eduard's Weekend Edition Bf 109F-2 painted as Wolf Dietrich Wilcke's plane when he was Gruppenkommandeur of III/JG 53. I found a pretty good photo of the real plane, and I didn´t know if what I was looking at was a dirty airframe or a mottled one, so I decided to follow the scheme of a similar Bf 109F-2 flown by Heinz Bretnütz of II/JG 53. The aircraft was brushpainted with Revell acrylics.

Decided to go back to reality and build Gerhard Barkhorn's Fw 190D-9 using the Hobby Boss 1:48 kit. It´s and absolute joy to build, everything fits together nicely and without gaps. The cockpit and engine both have mounting pegs which allow for the correct placement of both of them. Another thing nice about this kit is the landing gear legs, they fit perfectly and can´t be moved, unlike what happens with the Hasegawa kit, so you´re assured the correct rake of the Fw 190 from the start. The main markings came from the Dragon D-9 kit, the Swastikas are the only decals I used from the HB model.

Continuing with the topic of my last model: I built the Hobby Boss 1:48 Me 262A-1a with the same theme, and painted it entirely in red, the way it looked in the show. Regarding the aircraft itself, it wasn´t as well fitting as the Fw 190D-9. The gun bay is designed to be posed open, so the covers won´t seat flush with the rest of the fuselage. I used the weight that came with the kit, and found it pushed the nose outwards a bit, but pressure, glue and superglue fixed everything in place. The biggest problem with this kit was the way Hobby Boss decided to attach the big pieces (wings, wheels and fuselage halves) to the sprues. They did so by putting the sprue gates inside the pieces. This isn´t a problem with pieces that are thick, but clean a bit too much on the wings and rudder, and you´ll shave a part of them. To sum up, I really enjoyed building these two models, they gave me inspiration to continue with the aircraft of the real pilots. Though my display space is running out.

Another 190 for the collection, and I still haven´t built my Pegasus Hobbies 190A-3 with EagleCals decals. I´m also planning to buy again the Fw 190A-5/U7 Graf Special in 48 from Hasegawa, and build the high altitude U7 version with the resin parts, however, there´re many models I´d like to buy, and so little space on my hand luggage. This aircraft also gave a bit of a fight, because somehow the cowling wouldn´t fit over the engine, it would get stuck half way, so I had to force it into place and then hold it while the glue was drying. I swear each new Fw 190 in 48 I build from Hasegawa gives me new problems.

German Luftwaffe Cadets (1939-45) ICM 1:32 (32103) This set of three figures from ICM are primarily designed for their excellent 1/32 Bu 131 kits. There is one pilot figure strapping on his parachute with help from one ground crew member whilst another gives instructions. The figure are well sculpted and moulded from ICM Conclusion If you are looking for some figures for you 1/32 Bu 131 or similar kit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

First off I should start with a BIIIIIG sorry! O.k. please guys, beware! This one is really picture heavy, to be precise, it will be almost 140 pics heavy, so if you want to get out, better do it now! I thought some time about splitting this up between the WIP and the RFI sections but since the lady is already finished I thought it even more unpleasant to make the watcher switch between the sections. Hence I now decided to turn this into some sort of crude mix of WIP and Rollout. I hope this is not far too much and that I am not breaking any rules and that you bear with me. I just finished this baby and had a one year long WIP thread in a German forum. Some folks asked me to give at least a rundown of what I did in english before letting the Tiger roll out so here we are. Some time ago I already did this Tiger in 1/48 along with the Monster-sister of the JABOG-32-wing's second squadron: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234917593-148-luftwaffe-tornado-ecr-4633-lechfeld-tiger-2011/?hl=lechfeld http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234939481-148-tornado-ecr-4629-a-monster-for-the-tiger/ This time I went and tried the lady in big, i.e. 1/32. Before I start just a little digression but wich should hopefully make sense in the end: I was one of three finalists of Fighter Bomber Wing-32's design competition which led to the design for this - as it should prove only a short time later - sadly final Bavarian Tiger Tonka due to the wing's dispandmend only a few months later. In 2011 and 2012 I had several opportunities to have some pics taken of me together with the lady as many of us like to do given the occassion. For me this Tigerlady is something very special and it is just a shame that she got shredded in early 2013. If the original can't be saved I want at least a nice keepsake as big as possible, hence in 1/32 and it needs to be something special. Some time ago another German modeller had the idea to portrait himself infront of a model, i.e. something like a 3D photo. I just found this idea so grand and original, I just had to copycat that for me. On one occassion the Tiger was covered with FODs, canopy and refuel probe open / extended but without any load and another time the Tiger was packed, with closed canopy and refuel probe and without any covers. Hmmmmm hard choice .... hence before I force myself to decide I'll construct everything as flexible as possible so I can change to whatever mood I am in and in the end it turned out as a changing amalgam of these two shots:

KUTA continuation. Lets see if I can get this knocked out this month. Original thread: '70s NATO/Warsaw Pact - Luftwaffe RF4E Haven't done much yet aside from painting the inside of the intakes and now researching loadout, which should be pretty minimal considering it's a recce bird.

This is a very slight conversion of Eduard's Bf109G-10 into the G-14A/S version see my WIP post Also my other RFI post. This Bf109G-14A/S is an aircraft of 2./JG77 Red '1' Wk.No.784930 January 1945, scheme is taken from the MMP book 'Bf109 Late Versions - Camouflage & Markings' Below I have posted some pics showing the result of my 'modification' of the cowling on the G-10 and G-14A/S:- Even built OOB the late model Bf109s by Eduard are to my mind the best around by my reckoning. I have now added the WNF G-10 to my stash which will also receive my 'modification'! Thanks for looking. Cheers Andy

Allow me to present one of my latest builds this is Eduard's 1/48 Messerschmitt Bf109G-10 [MTT Regensburg]. Not happy with Eduards rendition of the asymetric cowling which I modified see build in WIP Forum. My build is a representation of the Bf109G-10 in which Heinrich Bartels met his death on 23rd December 1944 Yellow '13' Wrk.No. 130359 (an MTT Regensburg built machine) of 5./JG27. The remains of both pilot and machine were not discovered until January 1968! No photos exist of this machine so I based the finish on the other aircraft of JG27 at this time:- I leave it to the viewer to decide if you think I have improved on an already excellent product I myself am not 100% satisfied with the end result but I think the finished model represents the G-10 a little more accurately than the basic kit. Take a look at my 'conversion' of this kit to the G-14A/S version. Cheers Andy

The Eduard line of Messerschmitt Bf109s love 'em or hate 'em we remain divided!!!! Personally I prefer them to the other two main competiters (Zvezda & Tamiya 1/48 of course) I know they have their faults but I don't feel they distract from the overall finished product (except the E series!). The latest in the line and my next two builds. A G-10 and a G-14/AS Mtt Regensburg, however I'm not satisfied with the Eduard rendition of the assymetric cowling which typifies these later sub types of 109. I think Eduard have captured the cowling shape well, but to my eyes and comparision with drawings and photos it looks too symetrical. Before this starts any great debate on this particular forum these views are my own personal feelings on this kit. If anyone is interested on discussions as to the 'accuracy' of this kit I refer you to the following links https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234947521-148-messerschmitt-bf109f-g-gustav-friedrich-family-by-eduard-next-variants-bf109g-14-avia-s-99c-10-october-2018/&page=6 https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/about-the-cowling-of-the-new-bf-109g-10-eduard-t497142.html https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hyperscale/bf109g-10-oil-cooler-and-the-new-eduard-kit-t498072.html This is according to drawings, I found, the shape the cowling should be :- Plus these set of photos show the correct shape:- http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/bf109detailbg_1.htm To my eyes as I stated before the Eduard rendition is too symetrical in comparision, so before the build commences something needs to be done to rectify the cowling shape. The following is my way of doing this. I removed the outlined portion of the cowling with a saw and then glued it back so this panel overlapped the fuselage by a fraction (eyeballed) this gave the cowling a slightly larger bulge. According to several photos I found the cowling overlaps the fuselage on the port side (as shown in the photos in the last link). The front of this panel very slightly overlaps where it rejoins the cowling, this I gently sanded down, in doing this it gives a little more emphasis to the bulge at the rear of this panel. I then turned my attention to the top of the cowling and removed the outlined portion of this:- I then glued this to to the portion of cowling I had previously removed and rejoined to the fuselage. This will result in a small gap when the top cowling is added to the fuselage but I will fill this with plasticard. Onto the starboard fuselage, again from the photos on hyperscale it shows an excellent shot of the fuselage minus engine which shows quite clearly the scalloped fairings behind the cowling. Here you can see the starboard fairing is not as deep as the port fairing, where as on the kit they are the same depth so some careful sanding is called for within the area outlined in the photo below:- This removes some of the surface detail which will have to be replaced later, the upper cowling will also require some sanding down. I actually found in MMP's publication 'Bf109 Late Versions - Camouflage & Markings' a 1/48 front view of the G-10 cowling which I traced onto card, cut out and used as a rough template to get the cowling shape to my liking! The pics above give an idea of what I was after, with the assymetric effect more pronounced than Eduards rendition. I applied some filler to the top cowling to make the bulge covering the modified engine bearer more pronounced. This will require more attention when the fuselage is eventually assembled. Leaving the fuselage for now I turned to the undercarriage legs, these according to critics are incorrect for the later G models so I made an effort of sorts to modify them my efforts are shown below. Whilst not completely accurate will satisfy me! With all my builds of Eduards 109s I slightly modify the exhausts by cutting down the backing they are moulded to so I can insert them after painting is done. I sand the stacks down a little themselves, as they appear to be slightly on the large size a criticism of all Eduard's 109G series. My final work for now was to replace the solid wingtip lights with transparent ones. for this I decided to use a method I read of on Britmodeller, using UV glue. The solid lights are removed then a hole is drilled, a very small one, in the corner of the cutout into this a piece of transparent sprue coloured with Tamiya red or green clear paint, to represent the bulb. The glue is then applied into the cutout filling it, the UV light supplied is used to cure the glue. The hardened glue can now be treated as transparent plastic, sanded down and restored to clarity ( I use Brasso metal polish) easy!! The last pic shows how the UV glue is supplied, mine came from Amazon who have quite a selection of these glues at various prices. A brilliant way to sort out wingtip lights. Well that's it for now, more to follow in due course happy to hear your thoughts on this build, Cheers Andy