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I started this one in January, and it doesn't seem to have taken that long, though battling the Winter cold wasn't much fun. There is a build thread, here. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235104485-another-mak-sternail-the-ausf-f/ The basic shape is wood which was then clad with various types and shapes of plastic. All hail the bits boxes! The scale is 1/35th. Length of the model is around 64cm. These are the first pictures of the ship with the sponsons fitted. They work as well as I'd hoped. Detail painting has been carried out, BTW, but not too much weathering, as such. The Kamov fuselage blended in well. The blue and yellow are the unit/Squadron colours (would I lie to you) chosen at random (yeah, right). The decal in the centre is a cut down car decal. Hopefully it now means, we will even see you in the dark of space. The other two decals there would be unit citations. Sorry @voozet I forgot to add the letters you suggested. The round thing that looks like a button, was a button. Now side thrusters. I found the sharks mouth in the decal boxes. It had to be done. That's another thruster ahead of it. Rocket pods, ex 1/24th Harrier and dressed up a bit. I forgot the connecting cable between those two holes. Doh. Just a close up of the unit markings. Looking battered, but defiant. The entry hatch. It was a plastic spoon. The number is so the pilot takes the correct ship! Many years ago I remember when a Wessex crew climbed in and started up the wrong one! Underneath at the rear. Solar panel mountings, loco and tank bits. Centre fuselage. A couple of jet fuselage nose pieces and other bits. The Lunar Diver Stingray uses A-4 Skyhawk nose sections! Forward of that we have a bit of 1/24th Merlin engine. Still moving forward. The numbers are on the top of a loco. Oh look, a tank wheel. And then we went outside. Just to prove that I painted the other side. The pods and sponsons have their own I.D. numbers BTW. Close up of a sponson in the sunlight. The overall colour is a mix of green and grey Tamiya drab. The other half of the Kamov. These widen the fuselage to make the cabin wider & so more comfortable for the pilot. The engines. Mostly car & loco wheel bits and various bits box parts. The Sponson rears are from loco tenders. Solar panels in the sunlight. And in closeup. I hope you like the pictures. Any comments or questions will be welcome. Thanks for looking. Next weekend I'm away from home, So the next build should begin in early April. Cheers, Pete

It's about time I started another post, and it's another big build. I've previously built two other Sternails (A small garage kit was available in Japan years ago) and there are images of other scratchbuilds on the net. Here's a link to my last build. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235072311-sternail-ausf-d/&do=findComment&comment=3667426 That one was built using a frame made from thin lengths of wood. It took a long time to do. This time I had a cunning plan.... Here's a picture of a picture of someone else's scratchbuild. This shows mostly how the nose should droop. Unlike my build above where I opted for something different and called it the Ausf D model. Yep 64cm long! Same model to show the nose again. I like the ghostly effect, good lighting. And here's my Ausf D in it's normal habitat. Hanging up in the mancave. I recently acquired a large picture frame from a skip. Part of the frame was broken, but the rest of the wood, around 15mm x 23mm strips, were nice and straight... Gorilla wood glue and clamps came into play, resulting in this top section. I then created the rest of the fuselage by laminating more of this wood, infilling with balsa. Later the whole fuselage will be covered with plastic card. So it will be a lot stronger (though heavier) than the last one and should be a quicker build. Here I built the sponsons at the back from thin strips of wood. In this case I used industrial superglue for instant results. You can see the laminations of the fuselage in this side shot. It will all be sanded smooth before I glue on the card. A top shot showing what a mess it looks at the moment. Again, the 80 grit sandpaper will clear that up. And, the drooping nose. Alien, anyone? This afternoon I smothered the nose in P-38 car filler, aka Bondo. The sponsons (on the original build) carried 1/35th T-55 tank turrets. It's a bit expensive to buy two kits just for the turrets, so I used what I had in the spares boxes. My thanks to those who donated their unwanted bits and pieces. On the left, above, a 1/35th turret. On the right, what I created from 1/72nd bits. About the same size. That's a modern tank upper hull with a Panther engine deck inserted and a turret from a Sheriden?. I replaced the cardboard prototype in the above shot with plastic card. Then used more to build the odd shaped front structure. Of course I needed two of these assemblies. The more or less finished article. The corrugated hose was a Biro spring coated in Elmers PVA glue. I seem to have accidentally created an Elephants trunk! Yes, the black bit is from a steam engine. These tank bits were all put together a few weeks ago as I pondered how to build the fuselage. I like skips! Next up, lots of rubbing down and then more plotting and planning. Plus rummaging in the bits boxes. Thanks for looking. As always, all questions, suggestions, donations, are welcome. Stay safe, Pete

EDIT JUNE 2018 - To see pictures please google sternail. Any pictures of the ship in a garden are of this build. There is also a photoshopped image of the ship with clouds in the background. Yeah, thanks Photobrokit. Pete And there's more! This one I built about a year ago, I think. There are, In the Ma.k universe, Two types of Sternail. Both Space going and operated by the opposing sides. One is large & grey, The other smaller & white (usually) So far as I know, there are only a few of these around. The small white one can be had as a garage kit (I think) But this one has to be scratchbuilt, using the few bits of information on the net. It ended up at 65cm long. So, This is a 1/35th scale, Single seat spaceship (The door is on the left side. Yes, those are Russian tank turrets at the back. This is as close as I could get to the original by Kow Yokoyama. The other models aren't armed, But I built this for my mate John and he wanted missiles. Now, Ma.k is part styled on WW2 Germany. (Markings, some shapes etc) So, Based on the Rucksetz? used by the Luftwaffe to add weapons to say, Fw190's, I 'bolted on' a couple of homemade ones. Actually a modded blue steel & a TSR2 missile! Pictures are by Johns wife, Maria. Many thanks. (Photobucket wouldn't do all of them to 640x480 for some reason?) The basic frame is model boat type wooden strips. Add a 1/48th F15, The Turrets, Drop tank halves for the hump, Various other bits, LOTS of filler & plasticard and hours of rubbing down & painting. Markings are a deaths head near the bow, Then a German Tornado sqn badge. the blue & white stripes are because John is a Scot. As always, Comments are welcome. Pete