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(If this post shouldn’t be in this section please let me know) Hi fellow modellers (Pre-warning this is a rather long post please feel free to skip to the pictures as you wish) I brought a BPK 1:72 Beoing 737-200 (no7206) around 4 years ago And straight away I had and idea to do it in a What-if scheme so over the next couple of months I came up with a few ideas and did a some drawings on my wife’s MacBook. anyway the project was put on the back burner till late September this year when basically on impulse I got the kit out of the stash and the project was on. This is the first BPK kit that I built and I knew from the word go this was going to be a challenging project and it certainly fought me every step of the way (partly self inflicted) but hopefully I’ve beat it into submission. If I was to build this kit again I’d certainly do things differently now I know how it goes together. The Kit. BPK first released the 1:72 Beoing 737-200 back in 2012 with this iteration was released in 2019. The Boeing 737 (FACT) The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington USA. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two underwing Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofan engines and offered seating for 85 to 130 passengers as well as cargo. Envisioned in 1964, the initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967 and entered commercial service in February 1968. The 737-200 was a 737-100 with an extended fuselage and entered commercial service in April 1968. The 737-200 Advanced was a improved version of the 737-200, introduced into service in May 1971 and the 737-200 Advanced had improved aerodynamics, automatic wheel brakes, more powerful engines, more fuel capacity, and hence a 15% increase in payload and range over the original 737-200s and respectively 737-100s. Boeing also provided the 737-200C (combi) which allowed for conversion between passenger and cargo use. RAF INTEREST (FICTITIOUS) The UK’s Royal Air Force was looking for a new type to supplement the Vickers VC-10 Fleet of Number 10 SQUADRON at RAF BRIZE NORTON Oxfordshire and Boeing were approached in September 1970 with a request for a hybrid version incorporating both the upcoming 737-200 Advanced and the 737-200C (combi) Aircraft. Boeing’s designation for this type was 737-200AC but would be known as the Boeing Hermes C.1 in RAF Service. This advanced combi version of the 737-200 was Accepted by the Royal Air Force in May 1971 and an order for 5 Aircraft was placed with delivery due to commence the following year. The first aircraft XR811 made its maiden flight on the 15th May 1972 and was delivered to the Royal Air Force on the 28th July 1972 and the second Aircraft XR812 making its maiden flight on the 25th June 1973 and was delivered on the 1st September 1973. The remaining 3 Aircraft on order XR813-814 and 815 which were due to be delivered over the next 2 years were cancelled in 1974 by the new Government due to defence cuts. (Well done for reading this far) RAF USAGE The Beoing Hermes C.1 in RAF service was put to good use from flying military personnel, Royalty, dignitaries as well as Cargo to wherever needed within Europe and the aircraft being configured to whatever role was necessary at short notice. The Hermes C.1’s main routes being to RAF Akrotiri Cyprus,Germany or anywhere else that was needed within Europe for diplomatic purposes AIRCRAFT HISTORY XR811 had a fairly short career with the RAF having been written off after a heavy landing at RAF Akrotiri on the 13th August 1980 and was uneconomical to repair she was stripped of any useful equipment and ultimately scrapped in early 1982 XR812 had a long distinguished career and soldiered on right up to its retirement from RAF service on 31st July 2015 having served 41 years and 9 months. XR812 had several upgrades during its career mainly internally plus a couple of scheme changes XR812’s story doesn’t end there after her RAF career she was put up for sale after a year in storage at St Athan with all military equipment removed she was sold to Buffalo Airways and flown to Canada soon after being re designated 737-200AC with the civil serial C-ACCI flying cargo across Canada she was permanently retired on the 1st September 2023 50 years to the day when she first entered RAF service. THE BUILD This is the scheme that i decided on when I thought of the idea but with 4 different marking options and literally right at the decalling stage is when I settled for these markings after asking opinions of 3 fellow modeller mates and they all picked the same option. Cheers guys 👍 The kit itself was built pretty much out of the box the only extras was some brass tubing for the engine exhausts and the various aftermarket decals to make up the scheme. It’s painted as XR812 of 10 SQUADRON at RAF BRIZE NORTON Oxfordshire as it appeared in 1998. The model is finished using the following products Primer Halfords grey primer Paints used Mr hobby C1 white upper surface Mr hobby C332 light aircraft grey lower surface MRP Marking Blue for the lightning cheat line The decals The RAF wording are from a 1:72 VC-10 sheet by F-DCAL (FD72-018) The underwing serials and tail fin number are also from the above F-DCAL sheet as was the 10 squadron badge on the tail. The fuselage serials are from XTRADECAL (X48-044A) The fuselage and wing roundels and fin flash are from XTRADECAL RAF D TYPE ROUNDELS (X037-48) The cockpit and cabin window decals are from AUTHENTIC AIRLINER DECALS The door markings and engine decals are from 26 Decals THE UNION JACK decals are from a mates spares box (cheers Steve 👍) Plus a few of the kit decals used. Varnish MR hobby GX100 gloss Tamiya XF-86 Matt This was a throughly enjoyable but challenging build Comments welcome and thanks for taking the time to read through this post Enjoy and happy modelling Now the pictures

Dear fellow Britmodellers, this is Planet Model's 1/72 Fordson WOT2D truck built from the box. Photos by Wolfgang Rabel. Planet Models is a subsidiary of CMK/Special Hobby. Their Fordson kit is a multi-media affair, consisting of a 3D printed frame, resin cab and box body, transparent film for windscreen and windows, and (a lot of) photo etch parts. I received my review sample at Moson Model show. The model was painted with Mr.Hobby acrylics, decals for a RAF airfield truck from the box. A full build report will appear in an upcoming edition of Phoenix Aviation Modelling magazine. Best greetings from Austria Roman

This is a double build useing two different kits for a conversion set to produce a variant of the Hawker Tempest that was planned but never came about due to the power plant, The Rolls-Royce R.46 which eventually became the Eagle, fifteen of which powered the Westland Wyvern. The P.1027 as the planned aircraft was known, was dropped in favour of the P.1030 with both projects cancelled later in favour of projects powered by jet engines. So here is a picture of the kits and the conversions Sorry for the glare but they do have to make the box's shiney. Gondor

One of the things that got me back into scale modelling after some years of not building anything was the anime Strike Witches. In fact, I liked the anime so much that I set on a mission to find, buy, and build the aircraft the real pilots used (from which the Strike Witches girls were based from). The story so far: In the year 1939, an alien race know as the Neuroi invaded Europe, conquering the contienent in a matter on months. The only mass of land these invaders weren't able to conquer was Britannia, protected from the land Neuroi by the Britannian channel. Fast forward to 1944, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, an elite squadron formed by the top aces of different air forces of the world, began fighting back the Neuroi with their Striker Units, aircraft-like machines which are attached to their legs and allow the girls to take the fight back to the Neuroi. The pilots of the 501st JFW are Mina Dietlinde Wilcke, Mio Sakamoto, Gertrud Barkhorn, Erica Hartmann, Francesca Lucchini, Charlotte E. Yeager, Lynette Bishop, Yoshika Miyafuji, Eila Imatar Juutilainen, Sanya V. Litvyak and Shizuka Hattori. I have built all the aircraft from the real pilots, however, the only one which didn't have a real ace was Lynette Bishop. She uses an Ultramarine Spitfire Mk.IX and, in the second season, a Spitfire Mk.22. I've already built the Spitfire 22, so I thought on building the Mk.IX, used by Lynette in the first season. The chose kit is the Revell/Hasegawa Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IX/XVI in 1:48. I decided to start the kit by building the most tedious part of any WW2 propeller plane, the propeller. I painted the blades in matt black and the nose cone in Sky. I then masked the upper part of the nose cone and painted the lower half of it in red. Cockpit: Fuselage halves and cockpit: Cockpit glued to the fuselage: Wings. Options are provided for extended or clipped wingtips for either the Mk.IX or XVI. The same goes for the rudder. And here's where I'm now. Painting will start as soon as I come back home.

Hi everyone This is my 1/72 Merlin HC.3 by Italeri. This was a beautifully detailed kit of a beautiful aircraft. The panel line where nice and it had realistic raised rivets covering most of the model apart from the underside. It had a Very nice fit and required barely any filler. The inside was lacking detail, so I created the texture on the walls out of an old metal takeaway container. I created the texture by running the back of the hobby knife to create small lines. I painted it in RC027 Forest green. The decals conformed well to details and where nice and thin. I decided to buy AK panel liner and odourless thinner to try weathering with oil paints. This attempt went better than last time when my thinner removed the pain. I then sealed it in a matt varnish. Thanks for looking

Airfix 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb "Build Introduction" (4.1.16) Hello Chaps, In 3 weeks time, my wife and I will be moving to our new home, so, I'm not going to start another large scale plane build until we are settled in. But, that said, I feel I might be able to grab a few hours here and there, in between packing, to build a smaller quicker build kit. Therefore, I've chosen this kit, which was one of five kits that my wife bought me for Christmas from the Airfix "Black Friday" sale. I have made a start on her this week, but haven't found the time to start a WIP on here until now. So, without further ado, here goes..... The box is a typical Airfix two-piece construction- Lid and Base, which I much prefer compared to the end opening single units offered by Revell. The box art on the lid shows a Mk.Vb chasing and shooting down an enemy aircraft over the Mediterranean waters and is shown in the first of two color scheme/markings that are offered with this kit. The color scheme and markings are for the aircraft flown by Pilot Officer Robert Wendell "Buck" McNair D.F.C (Royal Canadian Air Force), No.249 (Gold Coast) Squadron, Royal Air Force, Operation "Spotter", Ta'Qali (Ta Kali), Malta, March 1942. This is the version that I will be modeling. On the sides of the box there are 5 CAD generated images showing some of the details included with this kit and the two options of color scheme and marking... Inside the box there is a large clear polythene bag containing 5 grey sprues and a smaller clear bag containing a single clear sprue. There is a 16 page Assembly/Instruction booklet and one sheet of decals... The decals are typical AIrfix, which I personally think are some of the best decals on the market, they are nicely printed, with roundels in register, minimal carrier film and the decals are nice and thin and have a matt/satin finish.... The 16 page booklet is printed in black, white, red and yellow and the last two pages showing the painting and decal instructions offering two options of color schemes and markings, are in full color. There are 46 assembly stages which are very clear with CAD generated images, clearly marked part numbers and color call outs. All colors are for Humbrol paints only will require converting should you choose other brand paints. The five grey sprues are very well molded, with nice crisp clean parts that have zero to minimal flash, if any. There is no warp, distortion, stress marks and sink to be seen and ejector pin witness marks are only visible on the inside of some parts. Other parts are ejected via "ejector slugs" that exist outside of the part geometry which eliminates any ejector pin witness marks on the parts. Sprue "A" Sprue "B" Sprue "C" Sprue "D" Sprue "E" Clear Sprue "F" includes options for open or closed canopies with three styles of hood available. All parts are nicely molded and very clear. Well, that's it for the introduction, so I'll see you guys when I have a "Build Update" ready to report. In the meantime, if you'd like to watch my YouTube Channel "Build Introduction" video for this kit, then here is the link to that: Thanks in advance for taking a look at this WIP, watching the video and leaving any comments, should you do so, much appreciated! Happy modeling and have fun! Cheers, ​ Martin

Hasegawa kit with Zoom photo-etched parts from Eduard, decals from Eagle Strike Range; except of them, i built my Sabre straight OOB and i had lot of fun. Paint with Gunze's acrylic H330, H331 and H56 for the blu (i know it's not the right PRU blu, but for me looks right!). Hope you like it And now... a couple of Sabres! thanks for looking ciao Ale