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The Special Hobby 1/72-scale D-558-1 is a quality kit. It comprises 31 pieces in soft gray styrene, 8 in resin (wheels, nose gear flap, intake cone, interior rear wheel well), and 21 photoetch (cockpit details, rear landing gear flaps). There are two versions of clear canopy: the bubble and more streamlined design. You need 6 grams of ballast to fit into a very narrow spot in the nose (I’m not sure a substance of sufficient density exists on Earth), but I was able to make do with a larger weight placed behind the cockpit. I used Tamiya flat red for the base coat and Alclad White Aluminum for the metallics, gave it a pinwash with AK 2071 in the panel lines, AK 2072 on control surfaces, and Tamiya black panel liner for the landing gear. Humbrol Maskol worked great for masking the canopy. Finished with Alclad Semi-Gloss Klear Kote to give it a bit of shine. Thanks for looking!

In flight test it's always something different, and this fits the bill. No sense in letting the Air Force getting all the glory. So here's Special Hobby's1/48 Douglas D558-1 SkyStreak. The Navy's version of the X-1. Not as fast as the X-1 but just as brightly outfitted.

To those (anybody?) eagerly awaiting the follow up to my earlier on of the British protoypes in January apologies for the delay. I got involved in designing a website for the local branch of a national charity. With that, the P1040 and spring finally appearing in the garden the follow-up took a back seat. Anyway I hope you like them but first a consumer warning. Some go back a long way - hopefully my modelling skills have advanced in the meanwhile John First the Americans Douglas D558-I Skystreak Anigrand resin, not the best of kits. Tail surfaces were very inaccurate and replaced by scratch built items Douglas D558-II Skyrocket Anigrand resin, not terribly impressed with this kit either. A pity as it was one of my favourite a/c. One of my model club members recently produced the Hobbyboss version and it looked ‘right’ whereas mine doesn’t Bell X-1 Hobbycraft kit – awful decals and I didn’t dare attempt to paint the canopy! Lockheed F94C Starfire Emhar kit. I think that there is something not quite right about the nose of this kit. A pity as I used to think that this was a most impressive a/c and I really wanted to model it. Douglas Skyray - No it is not the prototype but it was one of the many weird and wonderful efforts of the US Navy in the fifties that culminated in the Phantom. Tamiya kit - Why can't everybody produce well moulded kits like this? Convair XFY-1 KP kit. Quite a nice but heavy panel lines and undersize decals North American F107 Trumpeter kit. This went together with little trouble except around the intake but for some reason I had dreadful trouble with the paint job. Don't look too closely (Oh yes you will won't you!) Then a grandchild broke the nose probe! I wish all Trumpeter kits were this good. McDonnell Douglas F15 Hasegawa kit. Went together well but kit was old when I got it and the decals were a nightmare to separate from the backing sheet This seems to be a problem with old Hasegawa kits Lockheed YF22 Dragon kit. Some problems with sink marks but otherwise OK Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF23 Italieri kit General Dynamics F16 XL Monogram. One of my most recent completions. The rear fuselage does not have the uptilt of the a/c. I also suspect the a/c wing may not be as simple as the one in the kit. I was unable to find anything to verify this. And now some Russians Yak 23 A simple KP kit. I didn’t know it was a prototype until recently I found a picture of it in the book ‘Early Soviet Jet Fighters’ Mig 1-44 Zvezda kit. First time I have made one of their kits and it went together well. Only real problem was that the colour scheme had the upper and lower colours reversed Su 37 Revell kit. Went together fairly well with a few issues with the fit on the front fuselage and around the intakes. It wasn’t clear (to me anyway) from the instructions how the boundary layer bleeds fitted and of course I got it wrong and had to correct it. And finally a French one SO Trident II Mach II kit.