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With the mail dragging its feet I felt like something quick to build while waiting, and luckily I had this in the stash. I doubt I would have ever even thought about buying two if it was only one to the pack, but since it wasn't I didn't exactly get much choice. But now that I have them I may as well build both, one in everyday puttering about mode and the other one stripped down and buttoned up for stealth. As for the specific ships K31 HMS Visby has a bit more potentially going on, so that'll be the "bells and whistles one", and for the sneaky one I'll go with K32 HMS Härnösand, large because that completes the pair that I happened to stumble on while out for a walk downtown back in '18.

I picked this up about 10 years ago just in a plastic bag with no clue of the manufacturer. A quick look on Scalemates shows it to be by Musasiya from Japan who mostly do figures. The instructions are all in Japanese, but the pictures are in English! The parts are fairly decent with only a few bubbles, that I've put some filler into already, metal detail parts and pilot figure. The vacform canopies aren't very clear and are too big so I'll be making a new one. I've also drawn and printed some decals as the kit didn't come with any. For anyone who isn't sure what this is, or just likes purple wigs.... - https://www.facebook.com/GerryAndersonOfficial/videos/ufo-interceptors-immediate-launch/221768608763619/ Steve

German Infantryman Carried on a Hetzer (F35370) CMK by Special Hobby Walking into battle was never really much fun (I'd imagine), as it meant that you arrived tired and could be tramping across the countryside for hours, although arriving after the battle probably wasn’t all that despised. Grabbing a ride on a tank would be the ultimate perk for the infantryman, as you’re travelling on a mobile blockhouse with a big gun that is also a useful source of cover if the shooting starts. This figure from CMK arrives in a shallow blister pack with a yellow-themed header card and the instructions sandwiched between. Inside are six resin parts on three casting blocks, the largest containing the majority of the figure, minus head, one arm, one hand and one of the jacket panels between the rear vent and the left side seam. He is sat on the angled deck of a Hetzer with one leg straight and the other brought up under his haunches. The right arm is attached over a set of ammo pouches round his waist, and the hand has a grab-handle moulded into it, which marks his location as on the rear left quarter of the vehicle, as confirmed by a small photo on the instructions. The left hand is cradling a late-war STG-44/MP-44, the successor to the ubiquitous MP40, and grandfather of the AK-47. The final part is the jacket-tail, which mounts to the rear of the figure on a block and socket, having the mess-kit and water-bottle moulded-in. Finally, the head is sculpted with a long, deeply socketed neck, and moulded-in helmet with the strap crisply moulded into the chin. Sculpting is excellent, and the helpful photo will assist with the posing of the completed figure on the rear of the Hetzer, but he’ll need some mud splattered on his legs if he’s been sat there for any length of time. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

This is my Grumman GB year, so I'll build Attack Squadron's 1/48 F2F-1. The F2F was Grumman's second aircraft, after their FF-1. It first flew in 1933, serving in USN and USMC squadrons from 1935 through 1939, when they were replaced by the F3F. The F2F were then relegated to training; the last was stricken in 1943. The F2F inherited its manually cranked retractable landing gear from the FF-1; it was subsequently used in the F3F and F4F. Attack Squadron had outstanding resin kits.They became Arma Hobby and then went to the Injected Side. Some of their subjects, like their wonderful 1/48 RQ-7B and MQ-8B, are now produced by Brengun. And here are the starting pix. Resin, PE, and a vac canopy. Markings are included for USN squadrons VF-2, VF-3B, VF-5, VF-7, as well as USMC squadrons VF-4M and VMF-2. The cockpit looks nearly ready to prime I'm happy the MLG have metal reinforcement The upper wing will be aligned I hope I remember to properly orient the stick PE looks good.

This build was done for the 'Anything but Injection' Group build but for those members who don't venture so far down the page I thought I'd post it here as it was an interesting challenge. This is a resin kit of a famous New Zealndtop dressing aircraft, the Flecther FU24. After WW11 top dressing land with fertiliser was big in New Zealand and huge numbers of war surplus Tiger Moths were used for the task with hoppers of Super Phosphate fitted into the front cockpit. As the Moths began to expire in the early 1950's, an alternative was needed. In typical Kiwi spirit, a group of farmers decided to build their own plane for the task and this was the result. Some were built in the US and assembled in NZ but most of the 300 eventually built were made in NZ. Some are still flying today 40 Years later. Here are the kit components. Note the poor quality resin parts, broken propeller and tiny seats for the cockpit. Unusually for a fixed under carriage model, the kit comes with wheel wells! Instructions are a 3 view drawing. Quite a bit of Milliput needed to correct the shape of the fuselage and fill those wheel wells. The nose and rear fuselage were hollowed out with a power tool to reduce the weight at the rear and make space for lots of lead in the nose. Basic structure completed Final paint scheme completed and passing the nose weight test. The kit supplied main undercarriage was under scale, inaccurate and far too weak for the weight of the model. A new one was made from brass wire with wheels from the spares bin. Ribs have been made for the flaps and the vacform canopy fitted over the scratch built interior. Decals were made on my home printer. Finished article. View showing scratch built hopper with exhaust pipes, nose grear leg and leading edge mirrors added. Full build log and more pictures can be found on this link Colin

My first time joining a Group Build.... I’m going to build the Whirlybirds 1/72 Sikorsky HH-52A Sea Guard helicopter in USCG colors. It is my first resin kit, too! I figure a helicopter is a good way to start- build the fuselage, and you’re nearly finished!😁 The kit looks nice, and fills an important gap in my collection of US Coast Guard subjects in 1/72. The HH-52 has never been kitted in injected plastic- the closest kit was a 1/48 scale kit of the Sikorsky S-62, the civilian version of the HH-52, by ITC in late 1950s. Tonight I opened up the kit and cut the main fuselage parts free from the pour blocks. So I have officially started!

Edging onto the starting grid is this https://www.scalemates.com/kits/ma-scale-85-ferrari-712-m-1010--1072520 And now you know as much as me!! No, that's not right, because I know what it looks like And now you know as much as me! Quite possibly more, though I have heard of Andretti. I got this because it was bundled in with the Porsche 910 that I built for the 10th Anniversary GB. As such I didn't necessarily want it, and when I looked inside the box I wasn't sure I wanted to build it.. Largely because of what's not in the box, namely any instructions. Anyhow, now's the time and I think I can figure out where most of it goes. There again if anyone has got a copy of the instructions I'd be thrilled. Plenty of shiny red coming up and not on a fire engine

Continuing my pattern of a resin alongside a vacform in this GB, the plan is to do this - photo from https://www.dgualdo.it/regs7/getpi.htm copyright Graeme Lovell & used only for reference. The kit is from Scaleworx and is intended as the LUH version as used by the South African AF Lots of parts cast in a pale blue resin and virtually bubble free, the vacform transparencies are nice and clear I shall have to have a good look at the instructions to figure out what all the parts are for, but I'm guessing some of them are for the military equipment that I won't need. I've drawn and printed the ETPS decals already and managed to find some blue backed decal paper so the white can actually be seen - makes it a lot easier to cut out rather than white on white! Probably be a couple of days before I get started on this one due to work getting in the way. Steve

Hi Chaps (and Lady as I see Heather is in this GB already) Plenty of scope for me here in this GB but I have decided to build the Unicraft Resin kit of a Fletcher FU-24 which I originally planned for the NZ Group build before defering after Andy Scotts untimely death in September. The kit I planned for this might make an appearance later in the 'Unarmed GB". This model combines 2 equally rare things, a New Zealand made kit and a New Zealand made plane. After WW11 top dressing land with fertiliser was big in New Zealand and huge numbers of war surplus Tiger Moths were used for the task with hoppers of Super Phosphate fitted into the front cockpit. As the Moths began to expire in the early 1950's, an alternative was needed. In typical Kiwi spirit, a group of farmers decided to build their own plane for the task and this was the result. Some were built in the US and assembled in NZ but most of the 300 eventually built were made in NZ. Some are still flying today 40 Years later. The kit was definately not mastered by Wing Nut Wings. The box contains a warning about the brittle nature of the resin. Why a better resin was not used is unknown to me but this is very brittle and trying to cut parts from the casting blocks just caused it to shatter and crumble. The massive rear overhang suggest a lot of nose weight will be necessary while the tiny nose suggests opportunity will be limited. The poorly cast fine resin undercarriage similarly suggests it will not be able to take the load of the base kit never mind the necessary nose weight. If you can see in the pictures, the propeller, seats and one undercarriage leg had already snapped before I recieved the box so it might have to be built with wheels up. Oh dear fixed undercarriage, looks like I need plan C! The kit is by Unicraft whom I have never heard of before. There are 9 main components which will get used. 2 wheels which might get used, and a few bits which will make handy templates but wont get used. There are no decals but lots of colourful options to build and paint. I am in fear of dropping it in case it shatters so this will be a challenging build. Colin

My first build for this GB is going to be the Magna 1/72nd scale Martin-Baker MB3 Fighter. The small Martin-Baker company had created some impression with their striking MB2 fighter, which although not selected for production had impressed those who tested it by its simplicity and how easy it was to maintain. When possible Spitfire Hurricane successors were being considered Specification F18/39 was issued to Martin-Baker for a new design that built on the experience of the MB2 but was to be more powerful. This was to be the MB3, originally to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Griffon, but this was changed to the Napier Sabre when it became obvious that the Griffon was not going to be available, although it is not entirely clear who instigated the change (Bill Gunston in an article in Wings of Fame states it was MAP, but Tony Buttler comments that it is currently impossible to know) Construction of the first MB3, and only completed airframe, was slow owing to the small size of the firm and full order books and delays in delivery of components from outside companies. Eventually MB3 R2492 was completed and first flew on 31st August 1942. Its life was brief, crashing on 12th September 1942 in attempting a landing after engine failure and claiming the life of its pilot, Valentine Baker. The partly completed second prototype was rebuilt as the sole MB5, an outstanding aircraft, but at the time of first flight in May 1944, it had no chance of production with the Hawker Fury in view and the first jet fighters already flying. The kit is a typical Magna product in cream resin with a chunky look to them but reasonable surface detail. There are a few air bubbles on the wings near the undercarriage bays. Most parts are attached to resin pour stubs that will need removing The parts count is low and a resin airframe is supplemented by white metal details such as propeller blades and undercarriage legs. These are going to require a lot of cleaning up as most are well-endowed with flash and some pitting on the surface of the propeller blades The resin parts have no locating points and so will need some brass rod to help keep the wings and tail in place. The canopies are vacforms. Four are provided, two with a fuselage spine and two bubble canopies that were schemed but were apparently never fitted, the photo showing the MB3 with a bubble canopy being a 1940s equivalent of photoshopping. One irritating aspect of the kit is that the propeller spinner has holes for four blades, whereas quite clearly the MB3 was fitted with a three bladed propeller. Decals for the yellow P in a circle are present, but no other decals. The First job will be removal and cleaning up with adequate protection against resin dust.

It seems I've been running my own private KUTA build for some reason, with the J-22 that stalled during the summer, the (also Swedish) Tunnan, and my long-standing Tactical Pod Regult builds all seeing some action over Christmas and the New Year. It's been nice doing some modelling again, but BOY have I gotten rusty! This is the excellent Planet Models 1:48 FFVS J-22A fighter, which most folks including me have probably never even heard of! It kind of looks like a Swedish take on the Fw.190 after a fashion. It's pretty much out of the box except for the gunsight, which was a bit simplified, and some struts to hold the canopy open. painted with Lifecolor, Mr Color, a bit of Alclad (mostly primers), some of the new AMMO Bare Metal series, and whatever else I could lay my hands on, Ultimate Washes, the superb AKAN Flat varnish, and some old Mig filters too on occasion. Thanks to @petr@SpecialHobby for the review sample, and to Sten from Flying Colours Aerodecals for the additional decals I needed. Pictures... here they are: Thanks for watching, and if you've enjoyed it, please remember to hit like and subscribe... oh hang on, that's YouTube You can find the Work in Progress (WIP) thread here if you're bored.

I just discovered this GB, so I hope it's ok to join in on the fun since its already started. I have a Planet Models 1/48 XF-10F-1 resin kit It's not a bad little kit, but will definitely be in need of some extra parts and work to make it shine like a new penny.

One of my builds will be this resin Grob 120 originally released by Dujin several years ago and available again now from FSC Dujin. As usual with resin kits, not too many parts, two vacform canopies (fairly clear but will need tinting) and etched brass. The instructions are all in French but apart from working out what the etched brass parts are for I don't think that will be a problem. The major parts are quite nicely cast but the seats, undercarriage and prop are rough so some work/replacements needed there. Whilst the kit scheme is attractive, my plan is to add a few scratchbuilt parts to turn this into the later turboprop version as used by QinetiQ/ETPS. It needs a new engine cowling, exhaust pipes, five bladed prop, winglets and larger dorsal/ventral fins. I've already got the basic shape for the prop and made vacform moulds for the upper and lower cowling. Also drawn and printed the decals, the lower ones are for the white parts - white ink on white paper doesn't photograph very well...... This is what I want to end up with (my photo from Fairford 2018); Steve

ESK 2000B Gun Camera (4417 & 5133) 1:48 & 1:32 CMK by Special Hobby During WWII it was helpful to all combatants to be able to verify claimed kills in order to obtain accurate numbers on enemy attrition, which helped immensely with strategic planning. They were also used during training to help the novice pilots understand where they were going wrong, and could be strapped to airframes that otherwise couldn’t be used. The Germans used such devices, which could be mounted internally where there was space, or externally on smaller airframes. These sets depict the Zeiss ESK 2000B camera, which was mounted in an aerodynamic bullet fairing, and attached to the airframe by a mounting plate. Due to the limited space available only a small amount of film could be stored in a cartridge within the fairing, so the operation of the mechanism was synchronised with the pilot’s thumb on the trigger in an attempt to catch the action, which didn’t always work out 100% due to the erratic movements in dog-fighting - even in training. Both sets arrive in the CMK/Special Hobby yellow themed blister pack, with a header card and instructions behind, completing the package. In the 1:32 set are six resin parts, and in the 1:48 set there are five due to the differences in moulding the two scales. You will also need some fine wire to lead off into the airframe on an external mounting. Construction is a piece of cake with the bullet fairing mounting onto the base, and the three tiny parts inserted into their sockets moulded into the sides of the camera. You can find the location for many of the aircraft that used it with a quick Google, but CMK have included a drawing for the Bf.109E on the instructions for both sets, even down to the location where the control wire enters the wing at a nearby maintenance hatchway. 1:48 ESK 2000B Gun Camera (4417) 1:32 ESK 2000B Gun Camera (5133) Conclusion An unusual and interesting addition to any WWII German fighter that is incredibly well-detailed, and starts to add a back-story to your latest project. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Here is the other Miles Magister Mk.I of Heroes Models in 1:144 scale that I finished this week. It represents R1918 of 312 (Czechoslovak) Sqn, RAF, UK, 1941. This is a delightful resin kit with the windscreens made from thin plastic sheet and the exhaust pipe from plastic rod. Obviously some work is involved and for more information see my WIP in the Kampfgruppe144 forum: http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=7326. As with the other kit, it was built OOB with my only addition being the underwing pitot. I'm aware the main legs are in the extended position but I realised too late. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. Thanks for looking and, as always, all comments are welcome. Miguel

From 2 years ago, another toilet-equipped flying wonder. SBS' Latecoere 28 is a welcome addition to the slowly growing line of civil options provided by smaller (in size, but big in brains) manufacturers. SBS releases of the different versions of the DH88 racer and the Farman F.190 (and other subjects) are to commend in every sense. As said in the WIP article, you could build this kit as it is, but I decided to go a few extra yards to tweak it a bit and add some things. The "Comte de la Vaulx" (in honor of a FAI preeminent member), flown by Mermoz, realized the first commercial crossing of the South Atlantic and added a record for that to its existing numerous ones. The Late 28, part of the legend of "La Ligne", opened the South-American region to new horizons, and pioneered and heralded the future of commercial aviation for that part of the world. Names like Mermoz, Guillaumet, Saint Exupery and many others will grow to the stature of legends. In 1929 Saint-Exupéry was appointed director of the "Aeroposta Argentina ", a branch of the Aeropostale. I made for this kit a full interior (the manufacturer provides a full cockpit) with restroom and cabin equipment. If you are curious, go the to WIP link of this post, BUT it you really need to use the restroom, please note that the toilet discharges au plein air 🙂 And now, images of the completed model (but why of why did I then photograph this model on grass instead of tarmac?)

Unusually for me I planned my years intended builds by looking at the Britmodeller group builds for the 2021 and worked out which ones I wanted to join. So here is my second non injection GB entry - a F-RSIN resin kit of the lovely post war Languedoc airliner in Air France colours. My plan hopefully coming together later in the year with another 144 airliner for the French Fancy GB, again in Air France colours. So here we have it - simple looking kit with minimal number of parts Box and decals Fuselage and winds - two pieces - bonus! # And lastly white metal props, brass tube undercarriage and resin tail plane. The fuselage and wings are fine smooth resin and hopefully I will add some subtle panel lines to add interest. Done no real research yet but hoping to put this recently acquired kit together quickly and test out the new airbrush on the all important paint scheme - all silver, so preparation is everything! Cheers JP

Here is one of a pair of kits I finished this week. It's a Miles Magister Mk.I of Heroes Models in 1:144 scale. It represents 1208 of the Força Aérea Portuguesa, at Base Aérea Nº 2, Ota, Portugal, in 1952. Portugal received 10 Magisters in 1946 serving under the Aeronáutica Militar. When this merged with the Aviação Naval to form the Força Aérea Portuguesa in July 1952, 10 new serial numbers were allocated even though several had been withdrawn form service. The Magister was officially withdrawn from service that same year although there are reports of one still being used from Ota in 1956. These aircraft were painted aluminium overall. This is a delightful resin kit with the windscreens made from thin plastic sheet and the exhaust pipe from plastic rod. Obviously some work is involved and for more information see my WIP in the Kampfgruppe144 forum: http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=7326 The kit was built OOB with my only additions being the oleo links of the main legs and the underwing pitot. I'm aware the main legs are in the extended position but I realised too late and they were too delicate to modify. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. Thanks for looking and, as always, all comments are welcome. Miguel

This came from out of the blue for me - a nice spring surprise. Print scale has issued a resin kit, the boxes have been sent to Hannants already according to their FB page: https://m.facebook.com/printscale/ To be issued in 1/48 and 1/144 too

Star Wars Star Destroyer Engine Bells & Shield Generators (10120-1/5000 for Bandai) 1:5000 GreenStrawberry Star Destroyers. It’s just occurred to me that despite their name, they can’t even destroy planets, which was why the Death Star was created - as Alderaan found out to their cost. Still, it’s a cool name. Apart from Tantive IV, known at the Blockade Runner in the olden days, the Star Destroyer was the first ship to hit the screen at the beginning of Star Wars: Episode IV. Bandai have the Far Eastern kit rights to the Star Wars franchise, but those kits are so nice that they keep finding their way to our shores here in the West. GreenStrawberry are big Sci-Fi fans, and have a ton of sets for these kits and many others to improve the detail and accuracy of these kits. This set is intended for the recent Bandai 1:5000 Star Destroyer kit, which although quite a bit larger than the usual 1:72 kits of fighters and so on, can still be improved upon. The set arrives in a small dark-themed box, and inside are five resin parts and a fret of Photo-Etch (PE). The three larger parts are the replacement engine bells without the thick fluted lips of the kit parts. They still have holes in the centre for the lighting kit if you’re lucky enough to have that variant (Brag: I do!), and the three surrounding baffles that are visible at the very tip of the engine bells are supplied on the PE sheet together with a more in-scale fluted section of the engine bell that should be rolled to match the size of the bells and is attached on a tiny dropped lip inside the edge - you can just see that in the picture below. The other two resin parts are the shield generator “golf balls” that sit atop either side of the bridge superstructure. They are moulded on small casting blocks with a central support section, around which the visible PE structure is fitted. The PE part has the support shape etched-in, so that you can glue the resin ball in place before you begin to fold it to shape. Before the outer struts are folded up, the inner ladder-like supports are folded up and glued in place on the etched squares that gives them a good contact patch. With those fitted, and there are 12 for each generator, the outer legs are folded up to touch the underside of the faceted spherical skin. The completed generators are glued into the space left by removing the chunky kit supports, after which the tiny little antennae are glued to the top at the intersection of the facets, as per the accompanying diagram. A scrap diagram shows how the supports should look from the side to assist in placement. As an aside, you can see some holes in the model that have been drilled to accept fibre-optics later in the build in these pictures. Conclusion Another great set from GreenStrawberry. A little delicate folding will be needed to do it justice, and those tiny antennae are best left off until the end. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

AS promised over on the build thread HERE some pics of the finished beastie are provided: It was a fairly problematic build, but I'm glad to add her to the collection. Thanks for looking, Ed

I'm going to try to get this finished, having started it a couple of years or so ago, can't remember what GB it was! Here's where I got to, the airframe assembled, some filling done, primed and some remedial work done. I decided to do an in-flight, 'Operation Firedog' machine. Hopefully I can manage the myriad of small resin and etch detail parts yet to add! Davey.

Having decided to build an Airfix Mosquito Nf.II over on the 'Interceptors' GB I thought why not build another which has almost a similar scheme, this being a conversion of a Tamiya B.Mk.IV into a B.Mk.XVI. The Airfix kit went together Ok, I added a bit of interior using some bits from an Airfix Wellington I recently did. I had a Pavla Vac-formed canopy which was a lot clearer than the thick Airfix one. The framing was done using painted Tamiya tape. I used .009" thou guitar string for the receiver aerials. The decals are by Delta Decals, printed by Tally Ho! They were very thin and opaque but went on well onto the 'Klear' gloss coat using the Mocro Set/Sol solutions, or so I thought. After doing the Matt coat the codes and serials silvered badly I ended up painting over it after rescuing them failed, the serials are hardly readable still! The Tamiya kit is the first aircraft of this manufacturer I think I have ever built, having made lots of their 1/35th scale vehicles back in the 70's! It was superb to put together as all Tamiya kits are. For the conversion I had put together 'Brengun' resin Two-stage Merlin's, Blackbird models Bulged Bomb-bay and 100 Gallon tanks and their decals for a 109 Sqn B.Mk.XVI. Of course Airfix had to announce their new kit last month so I decided to get on and get it done! The new nascelles fitted very well, just don't cut the kit parts on the panel line as stated in the 'Brengun' instructions as you'll have a gap, as I found out! The bomb-bay didn't fit that well and needed a bit of filing of the part and the fuselage, I think it looks just a bit too bulged maybe? The tanks fitted well without much trouble.The decals went on superbly, being thin and adhered well. I know the canopy isn't correct, I tried to fashion some of the 'blown' type side windows but it didn't work very well. Hopefully Airfix have the correct side windows, unlike in their CAD drawings! Comments and criticism welcome. Davey.

Hi everyone, I am about to start the kitty hawk su-30sm which came with these resin exhausts. I need advice on how to remove the flash without damaging the part as I have no idea how to. Thanks

Another resin model on a stand.I only added the pilot figure in the cockpit.Did the nose light form transparent sprue and made a gunsight.I used paints from tamiya and MM.