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Hello all, here on this fine Forum, we are running an epic Group Build celebrating Matchbox models. There have been amazing builds shown on there, and this was my contribution, with the exception of the 'amazing' part. I used the Revell boxing of Matchbox's PK-127 Twin Otter. I have a bit of a love-affair with the DHC-6 Twin Otter, having flown in them numerous times, and have been patiently building them for quite a long time in the hope that my exertions would prompt someone like Airfix or Special Hobby to dip their toes in the water and give us a modern tooling of one. This time, I thought I would try AeroCraft's cockpit upgrade set. This comes as an upper and lower set of resin parts, along with a replacement bulkhead, and that means a major piece of surgery to the front of the fuselage. I had a reasonable result, but I think that the result in the hands of someone who was really good at repairing joins would be exceptional. I am very glad I used the part, it really makes a difference to how the Twin Otter looks, by correcting the lower profile of the front windscreen to give the characteristic downward sweep for the glazing. There is a thread to look at if you would like to see what went on during the build: This is what I ended up with: To see the difference with the windscreen, here is the upgraded one: And compared to an unmodified on from a previous build of mine, of a Yeti Airlines Twin Otter: And back to the Air Taxi again: The black and red parts of the paintwork were Humbrol enamels, brush-painted (three coats of Humbrol 60 Scarlet as undercoats and three of 220 Italian Red as topcoats), the white was Tamiya White Primer. Propellers were masked and painted rather than using the transfers, and the prop warning lines on the floats, and the cheatlines on the engine nacelles were again masked and painted rather than using the transfers. The scheme markings came from a ModelCraft sheet which was originally included in their re-issue if the Matchbox kit. I had a photograph of my own to act as a reference, and also as a reminder: Ideally, I would like to find a way of doing this as a diorama and give this model an appropriate setting. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the build, especially as it was a type I had flown in on our honeymoon, although not this registration. Thanks for looking, Ray

Hello all. You know how it goes, you have a complex build on the go and you get to the stage where it represents a bit of a challenge, so you start a quick, simple build, out of the box and all that to help you through with something easier? And it never goes according to plan? Well, that has happened to me. A long time ago, I treated myself to a Matchbox Twin Otter. I had flown in one in Nepal to that wonderful airstrip at Lukla, you know, the one with the crashed aircraft just shoved off the rock and earth runway because they could not carry it out? One of our BM manufacturers, (Parkes682Decals) did a set of transfers for a Nepal Airlines Twotter, and that, plus the fact that Revell had reissued it, prompted me to get one. Then Paul said he could do a Royal Nepal Airlines one (the one I had flown in) so I got another. Then I found he did a Yeti Airlines one (which I also flew in!) and when I went to Hobbycraft, I found Twin Otters were half price, so I bought two (as you do!). That meant I had a spare plane. What to do? The answer was this: A Maldivian Air Taxi one (my personal photograph)! It should have been high on my list of 'to do' because my lovely wife and I flew in one on our honeymoon! (not this plane). I hunted high and low for a set of transfers for it, and found, not really to my surprise, that Paul Parkes had one of the old Modelcraft sheets available, so I snapped that up too. Well, I built the Nepal Airlines one as a test quite a long time ago, and it came out very well, I thought: I did not do much in the way of modifications to it, but I have learnt a lot since then. Paul's transfers worked a treat I must say too. Anyway, my complex build at the moment is an Aeroclub Felixstowe F2a vacform, and what can be simpler than one of those? A Twin Otter of course... I got the Revell colourful boxing, the parts were pretty good, fine raised detailing (possibly in line for rescribing). And the replacement transfers: There are still some interesting schemes left on that sheet, (I wonder if I could get away with two or three more?). Then I started construction. I knew It would be simple, but I read somewhere recently that the Matchbox cockpit windows were too tall, so I added some plastic card to the underside of the top frames, and then sanded a downward arc to get a better representation of the lower part of the windscreen: Then I remembered that the Nepal Airlines one looked a bit empty with just two bulkheads in the passenger cabin, so: I made a floor and some seats. As the shops are shut, I needed to be a bit creative with those. I used some T- shaped rod, filed it so it was then L-shaped, and added seats and backs to that - the idea was that the L would give a consistent angle for the backs. Then I cut two U-shaped pieces and stuck them together to create a plinth for the seats. The quadrants came from sheet I had punched out with a hole-punch, and then cut into quarters. It worked reasonably well. I did not bother with arm rests... The seats glued down well with Revell Contacta, and there is enough space between each seat for an Airfix Pilot to sit! He is a bit bulky, but you had to be well wrapped up in WWI! He is just testing it out, and will be gone soon. Another thing I had read about was concerning a thicker section of the fuselage near the front cabin window. There are two of these, one either side of the fuselage, and it seems that they were to protect the fuselage from ice coming off the propellers. I scratched and sanded them off, as I do not think they would apply in the Maldives: You can see where this is going, can't you? It seems to have morphed from a OOB to a complex job after all, and I wonder if the Felixstowe really will be the more complicated one after all! When I originally posted the image of the Nepal Airlines one on here, I had a PM conversation with @Admiral Puff and learnt a lot and I told him that I would be improving things on my next Twin Otter I did. It was 7 years ago, crumbs, where did that time go? I have finally kept my promise. Anyway, I think that is enough for the first post, thanks for taking the time to read it, Ray