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Hi, I've been a long-time lurker and liker on here, occasional commenter and epically rare poster. However, I thought it was time to put something back in to the forum and I'm just embarking on the build of a project that I hope you lot find interesting, so I thought I'd start my very first build thread. 😬 I have a long history of making models (50+ years) and have done my stint on the usual polystyrene affairs. I think I must've made 95% of the Airfix range during my youth. However, in the last few years I've found myself drifting toward larger scale multimedia kits and scratch building. Building Hasegawa's Museum Series 1:8 Camel and Fokker DR.I got me into 1:8 scale, and engines in particular. Having scratch-built a couple of Hispano-Suizas (specifically the ones fitted to the SE5a) and a Le Rhone 9C (which I really must finish) I felt it was time to build a 1:8 Merlin. I originally wanted build a Merlin III as I consider this to be the first 'true' Merlin. However, quite a few hours of web research culminated in discovering that those lovely people at the Air Corps Library ( https://app.aircorpslibrary.com/ ) have put almost the complete Packard Merlin drawing set online which you can access for a few pounds each month. There are also quite a few North American P-51C/D drawings there too. I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to scratch build a model using the original manufacturer's drawings and the Merlin III idea was upgraded to a Packard Merlin V1650-7 from the P-51C/D. This engine is very similar to the Rolls-Royce Merlin 68 and 69, and those are regularly referenced on the Packard's General Assembly drawings and Illustrated Parts Manual. In addition to the Packard drawing set, The Smithsonian Museum's website has some excellent pictures of the Packard engine which really clinched the deal as I'm housebound and not able to get out and photograph the things myself. https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/packard-rolls-royce-merlin-v-1650-7-v-12-engine/nasm_A19520106000 As a result of my deficiencies in fashioning plasticard and putty to a level I'm satisfied with I use CAD and 3D printing for a lot of my modelling work, either to produce the parts directly, or to produce mould masters for resin casting activities. Therefore the first thing required to produce the Merlin will be a detailed CAD model. This an activity likely to take quite a few months and I have doubts about the level of interest such a thread would attract, though I've been enjoying the Westland Wasp thread on here quite a lot, so maybe I'm wrong. Whatever, in true Blue Peter fashion, here's one I prepared earlier. The model has been drawn as the engine might look if it'd not long been removed from an aircraft. It's not strictly how Packard would've delivered it. The original engines came without exhausts fitted, no generator and the coolant inlet pipe missing for a start. These were all furnished by North American when building the aircraft and I wanted them on for the full Merlin look. I can go into the process of how the CAD files are converted into bits of hard plastic in detail if people are interested. Explaining how I produced the CAD model isn't going to happen. I don't know how to explain it succinctly. The short description of the 3D printing process is that the CAD program (AutoCAD and Fusion 360) throws out an .STL 3D file which then goes into a 'slicer' program. That converts the .STL file into a form acceptable to your particular 3D printer and adds the various supports required to hold the model while it prints. I use the freebie version of Chitubox for this because: a) I'm a tightwad. b) It does everything I want, and the whizzy features of the paid-up version aren't enough to prise the hard earned pennies from my grasping fingers. This is what the preview of the print looks like on the Chitubox screen. I shall be running this print over night tonight as it'll take about 14 hours to complete*. There will be 8 more print runs required to finish all the parts required for the model. I hate to think how many hours that will take, I'll let you know how it goes... * For those interested in 3D printing, I'm printing it on a Phrozen Sonic Mighty 12k with 20um layer height and using Phrozen's Aqua Grey 8k resin. The lateral resolution of the 12k is 19um x 24um IIRC.

Not sure if this has been done before? A group build of anything that is powered by the Legendary Rolls Royce Merlin, (or license-built Merlin by Packard, or the land based Meteor variant). so production-wise wikipedia tells me that’s… Packard: Avro Lancaster B.III/B.X Bell XP-63 Kingcobra Curtiss P-40F/L/Kittyhawk Mk.II Curtiss P-60 de Havilland Mosquito B.VII/B.25 Hawker Hurricane Mk.X, XI, XII North American P-51 Mustang North American F-82 Twin Mustang Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XVI Rolls Royce: Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Avro Athena Avro Lancaster Avro Lancastrian Avro Lincoln Avro Manchester III Avro Tudor Avro York Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol Boulton Paul Defiant Bristol Beaufighter II CAC CA-18 Mark 23 Mustang Canadair North Star CASA 2.111B and D Cierva Air Horse de Havilland Mosquito de Havilland Hornet Fairey Barracuda Fairey Battle Fairey Fulmar Fairey P.4/34 Fiat G.59 Handley Page Halifax Handley Page Halton Hawker Hart (Test bed) Hawker Henley Hawker Horsley (Test bed) Hawker Hotspur Hawker Hurricane and Sea Hurricane Hispano Aviación HA-1112 I.Ae. 30 Ñancú Miles M.20 North American Mustang Mk X Renard R.38 Short Sturgeon Supermarine Type 322 Supermarine Seafire Supermarine Spitfire Tsunami Racer Vickers F.7/41 Vickers Wellington Mk II and Mk VI Vickers Windsor Westland Welkin and the meteor: Cromwell Challenger Avenger, Comet Centurion Charioteer Tortoise experimental assault tank. Caernarvon, Conqueror tank (and of course any real life application not listed above - if someone has a merlin shoehorned into a car chassis sure, if it exists) (but no whatifs) you can also choose to build a model of just the powerplant itself. What’s not to love about that lot?! 😎 any takers for this one? 1 @Dansk 2 @Colin W 3 @PhantomBigStu 4 @Bonhoff 5 @Black Knight 6 @TEMPESTMK5 7 @vppelt68 8 @zebra 9 @2996 Victor 10 @franky boy 11 @Andwil 12 @theplasticsurgeon 13 @Marklo 14 @TonyOD 15 @Corsairfoxfouruncle 16 @stevehnz 17 @Jabba

Yet another from the archives, this time a slightly unusual one. I chose this as the body didn't need painting (I have to spray outside & this was during winter) and I wanted a quick & easy build to make up for the 1:16 Bugatti which was driving me mad at the time (& is visible lurking part-built in the back of some of the pics). It is one of Monogram's Metal Master series, which I think was a '80s release, but the original kit is from their excellent 1920s & 30s car series which I think dates from the late 1960s. What should be bare plastic is silver / satin chrome plated, and what should be chrome is instead gold plated... I think they were intended to be built as exactly that, with no painting based on the info on the box and in the instructions but I don't think I've ever seen one built. However, I decided to treat it as though it was simply an over-restored motorshow / museum display car, and thus appropriate details were washed (e.g. the engine & grille) and painted as per the appropriate material (e.g. badging, tail lights, engine hoses & instruments), and which is also why the spare wheel covers and interior are a natural leather colour. Looking back, the latter could do with some more texture / depth, especially to the flooring. Anyhow, whilst the glitzy, Liberace style finish not to all tastes, it was a good mojo booster at the time. I was pretty impressed with the kit itself and as a result I soon ended up building another from this series although it was a normal version this time!