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Hi all, my latest build as part of the Nordic GB. WIP here. Aircraft depicted was flown by Eino Luukkanen for LeLv 24 of the Finnish Air Force in the continuation war. Interestingly for his kills he painted (stuck?) beer labels on his tail. He managed 14.5 victories during this conflict using the buffalo. I like to call this aeroplane the Barrel! But the Finns called it the Pearl of the Sky! The model took me a long time due to the limited run nature of the kit and how it is as the largest model I’ve built to date. The detail is incredible but the fit can be dreadful. I would definitely recommend the kit though. I may have used a bit of poetic license with the weathering but I wanted to try something (Rivet counters beware!!! ). I sprayed the model all over Vallejo aluminium and applied masking fluid in certain areas and then sprayed the camo using a variety of acrylic paints. I weathered the model using revell weathering powders. Only thing I’m unhappy with is a seam still visible on the lower surface and the shade of the grey (it’s supposed to be black). Hope you enjoy however: Cheers, Ash

Well I am back....after nearly 2 years away from the bench, given the current situation I have a bit more time on my hands.... Where did I go? Well its a bit of a story, a combination of things...my last GB was the Hawker Siddeley in June 2018 - I didn't complete my 2 x 1/32 hawks as I went off to Russia 18 world Cup with work. On my return and after some leave, my boss and Head of the team told me he was moving on to News UK, leaving me to step up as acting Head. My younger son, then playing grass roots football in goal was also asked to go to Ipswich Town for some training, ending up at the centre of excellence, playing in goal, a year up at U14. So a new busy job plus 3 nights at footie training a week, plus games at the weekend left little time and I drifted away from the hobby.... I applied for the position and with luck I got the job...football continued at a pace, as does work, time away, family life etc ...then COVID 19 has struck us all....leaving me working from home rather than a 2hr each way commute to London, all football off until at least early July, strange work tempo...what to do? All the 'Man Jobs' quickly completed, including the garage where my work bench area was...... So here I am, I will need to remember and brush up on a lot of skills, check my kit, paints, filler etc.... Back in 2017 a good friend, Finn Isaksson, who was the Head of High Risk Projects at Swedish Radio, invited me for a coffee whilst in a meeting somewhere, asked what I did out of work...it became clear we both enjoyed modelling...I remarked I'd never done any Swedish aircraft...he had himself served in the Swedish Airforce. A few weeks later the Lansen arrived in the post...I promised him I'd build it, but the rest is history as per above. Now the time has come!🤨 Standard pre build pics.... There should be in the post, will need to order the paint I think... Some would say its a lovely plane, others...... I thought I would some the J 32E ECM version to do something a bit different...go easy on me, 1st model for 2 years! I plan to build a little 1/72 Spit I have as well as a bit of a Muler to practice my skills on! I normally do in flight mode, but no pilots, so in a bit of a quandary....will think it through... my bench tidied up a bit....no doubt will have a shopping list... Wish me luck!

Hi all. My entry for this GB will be my second Nordic build of the year - my first being a Finnish Il-28 in the Nordic GB. I'm planning to represent each of the five Nordic countries over the course of 2020 and this time it's Norway's turn! I'm therefore going to build an Arado Ar,196 float plane, that was briefly operated (for just 11 days to be precise), by the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. As many of you will know, the Ar.196 was standard issue for larger German warships during WWII and sure enough, my Norwegian plane actually started its career aboard the cruiser Admiral Hipper. At the beginning of April 1940, the Admiral Hipper formed part of the flotilla carrying German troops for the invasion of Norway. On 8th April, whilst en-route up the Norwegian coastline, Admiral Hipper and the German destroyer Bernd von Arnim, engaged the RN destroyer HMS Glowworm and ultimately sank her. At the start of the engagement, as was standard practice, Admiral Hipper launched its Ar.196. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the plane was unable to return to the ship and had to make a forced landing at Lyngstad, in Norway. After apparently trying to buy fuel from some locals, the aircrew were detained and handed over to the Norwegian police. Meanwhile the plane was towed away, repainted with Norwegian markings and assimilated into the Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service. On 18th April, the Ar.196 was successfully evacuated to Britain by a Norwegian pilot, but was shortly afterwards destroyed in a crash (whilst being flown by a British pilot), en route for testing at the Helensburgh air base. For a kit, I'll be using one of Trumpeter's 1/200 scale series of naval aircraft. These are sold as supplements to Trumpeter's 1/200 scale warship kits (the Bismark in this case), but are sweet little kits in their own right. I made their Walrus in last year's Float Plane GB and really enjoyed it. Unusually, the kits are moulded in clear plastic - which thankfully is not at all brittle. Strangely, Trumpeter have chosen not to provide a plastic canopy piece, but instead give you a PE frame which has to be folded into shape. No reference is made to glazing. I'm not sure if glazing is necessary in this scale, but it should be easy enough to do using Krystal Klear if necessary. PE is also provided for the floats' bracing wires. It'll be March before I start, but I'm looking forward to it! Cheers