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STEEL Seatbelt Sets Luftwaffe Fighters, Bombers, Early RAF, USAAF 1:32 Eduard As with the 1:48 scaled sets reviewed by Mike HERE, Eduard have also produced four sets of seatbelts in the new Steel range for those of us who like to build in 1:32 scale. As with the smaller scale, these are also pre-painted and appear to be remarkably flexible, and even with quite rough handling the paint adheres to the metal really well. They are still made from 0.1mm sheet with the resulting etch is thin at around 0.06mm and have the same details printed on them, such as the webbing, stitching, and shadowing. Unlike some sets, all the buckles and clasps are etched as part of the strapping, so there is no fiddly work required to assemble each belt. [32867 – Luftwaffe WWII Fighters] – There are four complete sets of belts on the single sheet. These include shoulder and lap straps along with separate padding that is fitted under the main buckles and a couple of smaller fittings. [32868 – USAFF WWII] – There are four belts included on the single sheet. Two of the belts are in olive green and two in a sandy colour. The shoulder and lap straps are once again separate, as are the the release clips and orange brown padded panels, although for some strange reason, Eduard have only provided three clips and pads. [32872 - Early RAF WWII] – This sheet contains four seatbelts, all in a beige colour and with separate lap straps. Two of the shoulder harnesses have a short attachment strap that I believe is fitted to the seat, and two with long attachment straps that fit to the rear bulkhead of the cockpit. [32873 – Luftwaffe WWII Bombers] – The single sheet in this set contains just two complete seatbelts for the pilot which include shoulder and lap straps, along with the attachment strap assembly and the reddy tan padded panels. Conclusion Those who build in the larger scales generally try to add greater levels of detail into their models, showing much skill and technique. Now, those of us who aren’t endowed with super skills can at least have some nice looking seatbelts fitted to our models, with very little skill needed, other than a bit of bending and gluing. Of course the belts can still be weathered more if required. Review sample courtesy of

Good morning! This build was one that I had wanted to do for quite a while, so my LMS had one in stock the other day so I thought it would be silly not to get it This bulid also marks the end of my AS exams (culminating with Chemistry on Friday) and "liberation" from schoolwork for at least two or three months...... Kit used: Airfix 1:72 Hawker Siddeley Harrier GR3 Paints used: Vallejo "Model Air"- Barley Grey, Medium Olive, Fire Red, Black and "Metal Color" Duraluminium. The nozzles, heat-shield and gear legs were painted with Alclad Aluminium. Vallejo "Model Wash" Dark Grey was used as a general wash and also sprayed in my first attempt at post-shading. Decals: The kit decals were perfect, with no splitting at all and no excess decal film being visible once applied. Edit: Thanks to Airfix for supplying me with a missing half of a cannon-pod! Thanks for having a look! Many thanks, Sam

Welcome to my latest posting- I'm going to win no prizes for speed modelling but I'm having fun so who cares! I'm working on a big long term airfield diorama project but it'll take me months/years to get all the components done so I'll post 'em as I do 'em. Here's the finished article (read down for WIP & more finished pics). I was inspired by an article by Richard Langford in Airfix Model World magazine, Jan 14 issue. The moulding is pretty ancient (I built one as a kid, it hasn't changed and I'm pretty ancient as well!) so I thought I'd have some fun super detailing it. As you can see, I got a bit carried away (considering most of it was inside and won't be seen when assembled) but it was a learning piece as much as anything, more scratch building experience and my first use of PE, which went pretty well in the end. I make no claims to historical accuracy with this model and some elements were made up as I went along, but I've enjoyed myself. DJ Parkins (www.djparkins.co.uk) supplied the PE set for the windows, doors, hand rails and watch hut and the maps/posters/blackboards etc were a custom set from Sankey Scenics. I found him on-line & asked if he had anything suitable. He does mostly model railway stuff (as well as being a professional model maker) but researched it for me and came up with a great little sheet of scale images that I've used all over the model. Check him out at www.sankeyscenics.co.uk. The sheet costs £5.00, which seemed pretty reasonable to me as he put it together from scratch. You can order by accessing the bespoke page of his website and by clicking the £5.00 button (towards the bottom). This will take you through the steps for the order. You can quickly access this by clicking the link below: http://www.sankeyscenics.co.uk/#/bespoke-items/4551163731. Based on Richard Langford's article, I fabricated a first floor out of styrene sheet, supported by styrene corner pieces. I then decided to put a dividing wall in made from more styrene and utilising a door & window from the Airfix set (redundant because of the PE set). I glazed it with clear acetate and used thin slices of Tamiya tape to represent diagonal blast taping. An assortment of notice boards, maps, pictures, chalk boards, clocks & signs were carefully scalpeled out of the Sankey Scenics sheet & glued in place. Very late in the day I decided to also build a desk/counter upstairs and some of Sankey's maps and documents decorated the surface. I decided to call it a day, furniture wise, as I had a life I had to get on with! Incredible detail on the maps & chalk boards! Having enjoyed that, I decided to build a room for the ground floor so built a floor and walls from styrene sheet and used the Airfix windows again. More posters/signs added a bit of interest downstairs. Those observant amongst you may have noticed that my super detailing may possibly have forgotten to build a staircase to get from the ground floor to the first, and then to the terrace and roof. Oops! I decided to let this one slip! I also decided to have fun with the watch tower on top. The phone was made from a bit of styrene sheet, the radio from a piece of sprue. The phone cord is a piece of thin fuse wire and the microphone boom from a slightly thicker piece of wire. More Sankey docs spread around the desks. I got a Master Tools PE bender thingy for Christmas and really couldn't figure out how it was meant to work, but a few goes with the thingy & a pair of flat jaw pliers & I sussed it! The watch tower was a bit fiddly with folds going in different directions but got there in the end with a bit of squeezing and swearing. I had to fabricate a pillar to join the edges and locate the walls as the Airfix location points were in the wrong place. The acetate proved tricky - it was hard to keep it free from scratches and glue. The handrails were an absolute bugger - microscopic folding, aligning, gluing, drilling and feeding through 0.31mm brass wire. Lots of patience required. They're not perfect but for a first go, I'm quite pleased. The stairs were also tricky, being made from folded side pieces and individual folded treads. Richard Langford suggested building a little jig, which I did and it worked well. The last thing was to slosh a load of Flory Models 'Grime' wash around the model in places where the day to day muck from a busy airfield would accumulate; on the flat surfaces, window sills, stair treads etc. Flat roofs are notorious for puddling so the Flory grime is spot on for this, although I kept it light on the higher traffic areas. The RAF figures came from a 1970s vintage Airfix set I had as a kid. They'd been painted in gloss enamels (I was young!) so I had lots of fun soaking them in white spirit and picking off the paint! Only later did I discover that Airfix still sell that set so I could have saved a lot of bother, but there's something nice about recycling a 40 year old toy! I think some of them might have come from a Bloodhound missile set - wrong decade but I think I got away with it! I chopped the bases off so they're secured with Deluxe Materials Tacky Wax - it's good stuff. Here are some other shots of the finished building: I broke the aerial thingy in the corner so had to botch up a new one from the spares box. I had to fabricate a new door for the emergency exit as the PE set didn't include one and I'd mistakenly used the Airfix door for my Amera Nissan hut! Always read the instructions! The bionic dog! One of his legs got broken off somewhere between the 1970s and today so I had to make a new one out of a piece of fuse wire! Thanks for looking and any feedback/tips would of course be appreciated. Andrew

Here is another one I've made after Messerschmitt. It's Spitfire Mk IXc from Polish Fighting Team (also known as Skalski's Circus). I decided that brush painting does not give me satisfying results so I've purchased an airbrush / compressor set. Model has been preshaded with black dry pastel (I found this method better for me than airbrushing along panel lines). It was then airbrushed with Vallejo Air paints. It was my first airbrush job ever and I had to do it twice on the bottom because I've applied too many layers and preshading disappeared. I've preshaded it again and painted it once more. Finally it was weathered with pastels. Again, some Photoshop work on diorama blending with background applied. Hope you like it

Hope it's not considered cheating to chuck up pics of the painting stage of a build and state it's a work in progress! I started this ages ago when the kit was first released but as with many of my builds something else bigger and shinier came along and it's been sat on the bench for a few months now. Cue a couple of days off, all my chores done, and kids at school, it seemed a good opportunity to roll out the airbrush and see if I could push this on a bit. I think it may have been the thought of masking those invasion stripes that stalled this, no decals for this! I work solely with Tamiya paints for airbrushing these days as they spray absolutely beautifully in conjunction with there own thinners. Matt White, no problem, covers superbly. I couldn't help myself from unpeeling the middle sections of masking to see how it looked, there would be tears and tantrums if after completing all the painting the lines were not quite straight! After recovering the stripes it was on to the lower surfaces, I used a mix of Tamiya XF21 Sky, XF20 Medium grey, and XF80 Royal light grey in a ratio of 4:11:2. I stumbled across a great phone app called iModelKit which has a superb set of paint charts and a paint matching calculator and its indispensable. A couple of hours to mask up the lower surfaces and a mix of XF24 Dark grey and XF2 White (16:2) and on with the upper surfaces. I misjudged how much paint to mix for the uppers but always try and paint in symmetrical sections, and blocks of panels just in case I do run short, this helped as any slight variations in mix aren't as obvious. I lightened the base coat slightly and went back over random panels to break up a potentially bland finish. Here's how it looks just now. Coats of Klear next and decals! Comments and criticism all gratefully accepted, Rgds, Eng

Hasegawa 1/72 Airwaves etch for airbrakes Pavla resin seat Modeldecal decals (thanks Matt B!) Gunze paints for camo AK Extreme metal for metallic areas Built for a GB over on Flory Models. Goes together well, though rather basic by today's standards. The photo's show joint lines that aren't that visible in person - honest! Still it looks ok from 3 feet away! Thanks Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr

Hi, Few Airspeed Horsa gliders with troops started about midnight of 5th June 1944 in aim to capture one or more (I am not that much expert to know it exactly) bridges in Normandy - one of the most fameus was so called Pegasus bridge. Here is a basic info https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_Bridge. Some years ago I made a Horsa machine from this action: I added some details inside and modified skid following the photos. On the contrary to Albemarle, which was badly weathered I assumed that Horsa was almost directly from production line (perhaps I was wrong?) - so even I made her with satin finish... Comments welcome Cheers Jerzy-Wojtek

I finally decided on a build for this GB. By chance in fact, I was scouring the stash for another kit and found a bagged Revell BAe 146 and remembered a decal sheet I got from MODeller for 32SQN. It will fit nicely into my VIP aircraft theme. I have a couple of these kits but never attempted one. I will add pictures when I find the decal sheet.

Good evening all, I've been following some of the builds on this group build for a month or two and alas last night I decided to enter into it. So, here I am- my first group build! What am I building? Well, during the "black friday" sales the Airfix Gnats were on sale for about £2, so I got 4 of them! I have already completed one (as seen below) as "what-if" British Airways Gnat (Note: NOT PART OF THE GROUP BUILD!) On a more serious note, the relatively recent incident regarding Kevin Whyman and the Gnat Display Team has given me an idea of what to do with the other 3 Gnats: the red and white "striped" gnat and the yellow gnat on either side of my Avro Vulcan (hung from the ceiling) with Whyman's red arrows gnat ahead, nose up and soaring into the heavens. Things that I have noticed about the kit during my BA gnat build and a previous OOB build is that: A. The landing gear legs need to be fully secured before the gear bays are inserted into the fuselage B. The seats need to be painted before they are glued to the "back-walls" of the cockpit C. Pitot probe is sturdy but not invulnerable! D. The underside antennae can be damage easily, so be careful! -It is also worth pointing out that these gnats will be built with the undercarriage retracted so the gear bays aren't a critical feature. Cue the pictures!!!: Picture of the 4 Gnat kits (note the Vulcan mouse-mat, i'm a huge Vulcan fan ) British Airways Gnat (not part of the GB) British Airways Gnat (not part of the GB) The aforementioned Vulcan (done many years ago when I was entering into the hobby, painted with a grey that was too dark ) So, that's it for today! Thanks for stopping by Kind Regards, Sam

One of the benefits or living between York and the East Coast is that i sit right below one of the RAF's training areas and in the good old days was lucky enough to watch Harriers, Jags and the odd Canberra and Nimrod etc flying about. These days its Typhoons, Tornado's and F15's (could be worse!). So now the USAF have kindly sent over some of their Raptors I have geared myself for the ensuing entertainment. Office window has been cleaned and Bino's cleaned and sitting at the ready on the window ledge! If I had some brain cells I might be able to track their movements but alas I have no idea how to do this. So in effect I am now on QRA! Chris

Aircraft in Miniature Limited (AiM) is to release 1/72nd and 1/48th RAF Medium (Taskmaster) - ref. GE72062 & GE48062. TRACTORresin kits. Source: [http://www.aim72.co.uk/page164.html V.P.

Hi folks, I'm part way through building Airfix's 1/72 Hawker Typhoon but I've come a bit unstuck when looking at what the best likeness of paint is for Ocean grey. I always paint in acrylics and whilst Airfix recommend Humbrol 106, I find that they're not the best for airbrushing as they can be a bit 'bitty' and not particularly smooth. I use a lot of Model Air and Revell Aqua so wondered if there's a good equivalent for those or any other brand that anyone can suggest. Really appreciate your help with this one as I would like to get the colour as near as dammit. Kind Regards Kris

Hi After what seems like ages, here's my attempt at an RAF Merlin, as used in Afghanistan....Plus a bonus pic of the Merlin with some of it's flying cousins. The Merlin is slightly untidy around the edges of the windows - always a part I struggle to get looking right. Hope you like! Cheers Rob.

Hi everybody, here is my recently finished Hurricane Mk.I in 306, Polish RAF squadron markings. Very pleasant kit to build. I added Eduards PE, exhaust, whells, Techmod decals and some scratch-building details (riveting, anti-glare plates etc). I used dedicated MrHobby paints of C-series. I hope you enjoy, Artur

Hi,just thought I'd show my current WIP, being the old Hasegawa Jag. Nice kit overall, if a little dated. Going to use some old Modeldecal decals for a 20 Squadron a/c. Something I noted is that the instructions show a dark brown panel on the upper starboard wing, the only pics I can find so far show this to be black to my eyes, any experts out there able to clarify? Thanks Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr Untitled by bryn robinson, on Flickr

Hi everyone Some photos of my Airfix 1/48 Mk 1 Spitfire R6800.... ...any comments are welcome Cheers Iain

Found this link on hyperscale. It leads to a series of 'LIFE' photographs on facebook labeled as 'RAF Base 1940' http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_145686296745510&key=0eff82a158b9bcd735539ea921a97f93&libId=il9uf09l010009tm000DA7ma7u1s9&cuid=f-&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.network54.com%2FForum%2F149674%2Fthread%2F1456861218%2Flast-1456861218%2F%2528View%2BAll%2BMessages%2BIn%2BThis%2BThread%2529&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmedia%2Fset%2F%3Fset%3Da.1720244971554825.1073742292.1634742540105069%26type%3D3&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.network54.com%2FForum%2F149674&title=Plane%20Talking%20-%20HyperScale's%20Aircraft%20Scale%20Model%20Discussion%20Forum%3A%20LIFE%20series%20%22RAF%20Base%201940%22%20...&txt=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmedia%2Fset%2F%3Fset%3Da.1720244971554825.1073742292.1634742540105069%26amp%3Btype%3D3 Some great pictures and it would be nice to find out where it is and get some names to go with the faces. Thanks to the original poster 'Mark Allen M' Pete

All in all a nice, easy build. There are a few amateur tell tale signs (like that big paint smudge on the fin insignia) I need to neaten up. But by my standards this is pretty good, and overall i'm very happy with this Chris x

Hello and welcome to 2016! My last build from 2015, the first to be presented in the new year. Sword 1/72 Spitfire XVIe with photo etch from Brengun, Vacu canopy from Squadron and Decals from Xtradecals. Represents SM309/AU-H, “Panama Bound” of 421(Royal Canadian Air Force) Squadron in 1945. Flown by Flt.Lt. Richard “Hap” Beal. Painted with acrylics from Gunze/Mr.Hobby. Main Inspiration for this build was the model by Mr. Jekl, as seen on Britmodeller: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234949348-supermarine-spitfire-mkxvi-172-sword/ Pictures by Wolfgang Rabel of IGM Cars & Bikes. Thanks for your interest, have a good start into the new year! Cheers from Vienna Roman

Has anybody any other pictures of this seaking? or know anything about it? a great whatif don't you think. Rodders

Hello! This is the first 'proper' build i've done for a few years, I'm rusty but back with vengeance. Far from perfect re: paint job, but it's a notorious kit to build. I've neatened up the cockpit and airbrake since I took these pics too. Can't wait to get my hands on the new tool Airfix kit! Up next: 1/200 Vulcan in anti flash. If anyone can tell me what image extensions i can use here, i'd be grateful. They all reject for me! In the meantime, pics here: http://postimg.cc/gallery/2lgjzw3xg/31c2f0a1/ Chris

So slight change to the title in view of a change to the thread. On other forums I've noticed people tend to keep all their stuff in one thread and then have a contents on the first page for those looking for a certain model. I figured I'd give this a go rather than clog up the forum with lots of threads. For the main part RAF colours will prevail, most will be OOB with a little detail or two and there may even be some whifery in the air. Hope people don't mind! Anyway contents list: Hurricane Mk IID Page 1 Sea Hurricane Mk XVII Page 1 Spitfire Mk I Page 1 Spitfire MkII Page 1 Falcon FGR.1 Page 2 Falcon FGR.3 Page 2 On with the models.... This is my first attempt at doing anything more than merely sticking a model together straight from the box. Although for the most part it will be OOB, I will be trying to correct any obvious errors with after market kits (think rag wing Hurricane here) or to protect fragile parts such as pitot tubes etc where appropriate. So where to start? Well having seen how easily (for the most part) the new Airfix Hurricanes go together I figured this would be a good place to start and picked up a few varieties from e-bay and the like. To stop myself getting bored I figured doing two at a time would be good and tried to stick with like versions for the sake of painting and such. To this end I've started with a Mk IID and a Sea Hurricane Mk XII and here is my progress so far... Please remember, although I've some modelling experience, this is my first time at trying to do anything this small to a better standard! Thanks

The 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW2 RAF Model Kit from Revell is available for pre-order and should be arriving very very soon! Get your preorders in as soon as possible to get your hands on some of our first batch! Don't forget to check out the rest of our Revell New for 2016 range too. Watch out for more great release from Wonderland Models!

A bit of fun. Saw the egg plane for the F-4EJ and though it would not be too hard to make a F-4M. Well yes and no, hacked off the top of the tail, glued on a bit of scrap plastic. Easy. Then cut the nose down and was left with the gaping hole in the bottom, after Inhad joined up the fuselage. Bum. So with a lot of patience and a bit of luck got it filled and sanded smooth enough to make a FGR.2 egg plane. Seen here with his bigger brother. Enjoy.

English Electric Canberra PR.9 No.39 Squadron - Royal Air Force - RAF Marham 2006 1/48 Airfix This is the result of a very long break from the hobby, around 2 years. This break was during my A-Levels and 1st year of University. Now in my second year of uni, I wanted to get back into the hobby. So with the money I earned working over the summer I finally purchased a respectable airbrush a H&S Evolution 2in1 and ditched the cheap Chinese imitation badger airbrush that looking back really gave me trouble! To get back into modelling I went for a relatively simple build the 1/48 Airfix EE Canberra PR.9 that I'd picked up very cheaply a few years back. I am aware of the long list of issues regarding accuracy of the kit but being a come back build it's all OOB, with the addition of my first ever stretch sprue antenna. The model was painted using predominately using Tamiya paints except the underside which made use of Humbrol's acrylic 166. The model was finished as XH135, in it's 2006 scheme prior to retirement. From references XH135 wasn't too grubby as had was repainted on return from it's final deployment to the Middle East earlier in the year, this colour remained behind the cockpit, something I've attempted to capture. Weathering was carried out using my own pastel washes. Onto the images; Thanks for looking, Nick