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Joining you with this Sword 1/72 Harrier. Bought from PlasticPastimes in 2012. For which these Model Alliance decals have come my way from Jet Age.

I don't often do WIP threads, mostly because I'm quite slow at building but also never quite sure how the finished thing will turn out! Decided to take a chance and start one now. This'll be the third Sword twin-seat Harrier that I'll have built, and I've decided to do the raspberry ripple scheme of the DERA (later Qinetic) Active Control Technology airframe. I've always thought it looked spectacular, if a fiddly masking challenge in 1/72 scale. Then I saw @Navy Bird's stunning version, which decided me. The Sword kits can sometimes be a little frustrating but they end up as great-looking models, despite my best efforts to the contrary!! (Here are my T10 and T4 versions, so hopefully with some decent background photography at the end, the new one will look suitably tidy): So here we go. The kit comes with a little etch for the cockpit; extras already purchased are the mandatory dropped door intakes by Freightdog, a set of nozzles by Pavla (may or may not use these as they look a little small) and the fancy nose probe for the test aircraft. Decals will be the Combat Decals set, unfortunately not the Vingtor set with the Qinetiq markings, but I can at least do the older DERA version - plus there are at least two other options for other type builds I'm aiming for in future. First step, as with all end-opening kit boxes now, is to tape up the edges and ends, then hack the top open to create a top-opener. Doesn't have to be tidy but at least it's easier to get stuff in and out, and protect the build as it goes on: Thanks for reading so far, hopefully it won't turn into a 6-month thread!

Hi all. Here is my first contribution to this GB, a Curtiss SOC-3 Seamew using the Sword 1/72 kit. She will be built OOB with no frills although I will investigate if I can open the canopy. I would've like to display her as per the box art on a catapult but they are way too many pennies but... Anyways, the compulsory stuff. The box. The plastic sprues. Canopies, resin bits and decals. Instructions. There are a couple of build threads on BM that may be useful. I shall not be starting this just yet as I need to complete another GB build. Stuart

I have a Sword kit of the Hawker/Ratheon 125 with the Anniversary markings that I will be building for the GB. Pictures to follow soon

Hi all Hot off the heels of the Martlet, may i present the Avenger/Tarpon 1. Built mainly OOB apart from the walkthrough between the Observer cockpit and TAG cockpit which was cut out and added, some seatbelts from my PE spares. A couple of aerials added too. Brush painted using Humbrol enamels as usual. For a limited run kit this went together very nicely. I would likd to thank everyone who offered support and encouragement along the way, always appreciated. Thanks for looking in. Chris

My seventh Harrier completed, this time the longest one - 1:72 Harrier T.4, aircraft XZ146, 4 Squadron RAF, RAF Gütersloh 1984. Sword kit, Master Pitot tube, Reskit Matra-155 rocket pods, Eduard RBFs, Revell AIM-9s and some scratch - rest is out of the box. Painted with Mr. Hobby C series. Thanks for watching!

Hi Everybody, First timer in Group Build. Not sure how successful I'll be with my building pace. Moreover I thought to enter with even three models of Jet, Streak and Flash! Nevertheless doubts aside and let the fun begin!

Following @heloman1's T-33, another Shooting Star for my club display due in September. This time the Sword kit with Superscale decals for the Blue Angels support a/c. Cheers

I have never been fond of the Spitfire with "bubble top" canopy so I am building one. Not a "shake and bake" kit. It need lot of dry fitting but building a Ventura kit at the same time make it easier to cope with. i robbed the kit of the guns so I replaced them with some from Airfix. So I think that I have it ready for paint.

F-94B Starfire F-94 was the first US all-weather jet interceptor and first US jet to be fitted with an afterburner. It was derived from the Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star two seat trainer (which itself was based on the P-80 Shooting Star) by adding larger nose with guns/rockets/radar/fire control system (depending on the version) and a bigger engine. These two seater planes were held in high regards in the early 50's by having highly advanced electronics - to the extent that they were somewhat held back in the early stages of Korean war. US didn't want to risk losing the advanced electronics to the enemy so Starfires were mostly kept above friendly territory. The electronics weren't probably as hi-tech as US believed and later F-94 missions included night time B-29 escort duty, in which F-94 was succesfull (four shot down MiG's and no B-29 losses). Not a flashy plane by any means but served a very important part in the early stages of all weather interceptors and did it's part until more advanced planes such as F-89 Scorpions and F-102 Delta Daggers arrived, F-94B was an updated and more reliable F-94A with most of the problem areas sorted out. It had four .50 cals on the nose as the later F-94C had rockets. F-94B-5-LO, BuNo 51-5449, Capt. Ben Fithian, Lt. Samuel Lyons, 319 FIS, Suvon AB, South Korea 1952. In January 30 1953 scored the first night victory with F-94, shooting down (most likely) a La-9. Model Kit: Sword 1/72 F-94B Starfire (#72054) The kit was bit on the complicated side, some issues with the fuselage fit and so on. Landing gear and air brakes really fiddly and difficult to put together. But having said that, the kit comes with nice looking parts and a good sized PE fret to add details. There are several issues with my build but I'm still fairly happy with the overall look of the plane. Painted with Tamiya and Vallejo metallics, weathered with Ammo oilbrushers and panel liners. Built for the Baby Boomers GB, WIP here:

Here is my completed Sword 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader Crusader over Cuba boxing, what you get in the box is not a an RF-8A but a RF-8G so a bit of work is required to backdate the kit to the RF-8A mainly sanding the extra lumps and bumps on the kit I tried my best, but on checking references I have missed a couple but I know next time, the wheels as supplied in the kit are not correct for a RF-8A but there is no alternative to replace them with, I changed them for Reskit items anyway as i find them easier to paint. The instructions with the kit are confusing in places and the decals supplied do not match whats depicted on the box. So not perfect by any stretch but I present my Vought RF-8Aish. 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr 1/72 Vought RF-8A Crusader by Phillip Wilmshurst, on Flickr

Although the Special Hobby kit is a better option, the Sword F84F is quite buildable. I 3D printed a correct ejection seat as the kit only includes the early seat. The incorrect wheels were replaced with some new ones I designed and printed as well. The build saga is here. If anyone has a 3D printer and wants the wheels, send me a PM with an email and I will send you the STL file.

All: I met with Milan, Sword's boss, at Moson at the end of April, who told me he is actively researching the Dominie T.1 and HS.125-400 for future projects. Don't throw away your Airfix Classics yet, though! I strongly encouraged him to proceed with both aircraft models, and he cautioned that it depended on the economic situation. I also suggested that he engineer the Dominie with a series of optional parts, including the ventral equipment bay, to allow modelers to build Series 1 or 3 business jets. Side Note: Sword's team was uniformly unenthusiastic about producing a 1/72 C-140 (Lockheed JetStar) due to its size.

Well, here's my Cunning Plan! I already gave a sneak preview in the STGB chat,: which have since then been joined by a couple of saucy Special Hobby Streaks. I plan to build four Koninklijke Luchtmacht models (yay, ambition!): - Fighter bomber F-84E (Academy) - Recce F-84G (Academy with ModelArt resin) - Strike F-84F (Special Hobby) - RF-84F (Sword) EDIT: now with added Heller 1/72nd F-84G! Game on, sirs and madams. Game on. Cheers, Andre

Evening all, I've been contemplating what to build next for a few weeks. Got a Hobby Boss F-5 on the go which has just come out of the paint shop (albeit with half the number of wings attached that it went in with 😬) which had left me losing in mojo. Don't think the heat in the last couple of weeks has helped. Had to take my daughter to London the other week to visit the Doctor Who shop, so took the opportunity to visit Hannants in Hendon on the way back - never been and it seemed too good as opportunity to miss. I almost came out empty handed as nothing really jumped out at me, but on about the 5th circuit a came across the Sword Lightning trainer not which I've been looking at. Love a lightning, and I enjoyed building Sword's Gannet a while back so that was decision made. I actually found myself craving an airfix mosquito when we got back for some reason, that's one for another day. In a break with tradition, I've decided that this is going straight into production rather than languishing in the cupboard for months on end. I'm going to do the 111 sqn T.4 - being an ex Leuchars local these two squadrons are quite dear to me ( I know, 111 never flew lightnings from Leuchars - it's tenuous!). Box and contents shot: Unfortunately it's not a top opening box - I'm going to be sharing the desk with my wife who's about to start a uni course so I'm going to have to try and keep this contained. That might slow me down - even more!! I've found a build thread on here by @71challywhich has some very useful information, especially regarding the fuselage changes required to make this a better T.4. I won't be worrying about the instrument panel being for a T.5 though. I couldn't tell the difference so I don't think anyone else who sees this will either 🤣 So commences the second lightning in my collection. Wish me luck! 🤞 Al

Another "Future Release" recently listed at Hannants: #72092 - McDonnell F2H-2N Banshee Nightfighter - http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW72092 The previous F2H-2 / F2H-2P are great kits. Now, can we have a new mould of the F2H-3/4 Big Banjo, please?

Hi all Been working on this little beauty. This is the Sword 48th scale Kit. It went together well and was a really enjoyable build. Built mainly OOB with the addition of masking tape seatbelts lead wire brakelines, brass rod exhausts and some sticky out bits. I went for this option due to the ID stripes as I liked it, it is of an unkiwn serial number. Brush painted using Humbrol Enamels and weathered with oils and weathering powders. Hope you like. Thanks for the support and encouragement along the way. Thanks for looking in Chris

Just posted by Sword on their Facebook feed. The new Photo-Recon Crusaders in1/72! Released in October. SW72149 F8U-1P/RF-8A over Cuba SW72150 RF-8G over Vietnam https://www.facebook.com/swordmodels/posts/771237008133895

Sword Models is to release 1/72nd Republic F-84F Thunderstreak kits. First boxings expected in February 2023. Source: https://www.facebook.com/swordmodels/posts/pfbid02Lnf2uw1V1Cu71NkrjvmQPrfBGNEuvS6nkKjPtAvfn8edpCmnWCVCZ3He2CLaDFojl - ref. SW72146 - Republic F-84F Thunderstreak https://swordmodel.cz/cs/home/171-sw72146-f-84f-thunderstreak.html - ref. SW72147 - Republic F-84F Thunderstreak https://swordmodel.cz/cs/home/172-sw72147-f-84f-thunderstreak.html V.P.

(Paul Hollywood voice) "I want four, identical, Fiat G.55s, each decorated differently." My three recent Sword Fiat G.55s: Plus the one I made earlier this year: And all together on the tea table: The WIP thread is here if you are interested. I must have enjoyed making them because another double boxing has snuck into the stash! (edit) while I was rearranging the hobby room, I found the Supermodel and FROG versions that I made at the turn of the year, so here's a picture to show the plain green over grey FROG model and one of the alternative splinter schemes on the Supermodel:

I’ve a load of FAA aircraft in the stash and had intended to make a Special Hobby DH Sea Hornet for this GB. However, it’s not the easiest of builds and has a lot of resin parts, and as I’d like to do a few I thought I’d start with somethin a little more straightforward. Although there’s a few challenges along the way, there’s a few builds here on BM which will help me avoid the potential pitfalls. So here we go with Sword’s AEW Skyraider. Two grey plastic sprues which are reasonably well moulded with minimal flash, although there’s some annoying mould ejection pins near or on mating surfaces. There’s a small clear sprue and a nice resin engine. Instructions over a few pages, although as usual with Sword some of the locations are a bit vague. Colour call outs for one FAA aircraft and two US AD-4Ws. Obviously I’ll be opting for the 849 NAS machine. I’ll probably not add the Suez stripes. Comprehensive transfer sheet, and I’ve got a mask set to help with the painting.

Here's my latest 1/72 build. It's from the Sword Harrier T.4 kit. One of those frustrating kits which is a fight to put together, but worth it in the end for the way it just looks right. Extra bits to the kit were Flighpath CBLS-100 practice bomb dispensers, and some scratchbuilt canopy detail (bracing bar, strap). plus the intake FOD covers which were also made from plasticard. I honestly can't remember if the seats were in the kit or if they were resin aftermarket (I suspect the latter but it was a while ago that I started building it!). I added some extra wire detail, plus placard decals on the headboxes. Airbrushed with Hataka acrylics - was going to use Vallejo, but couldn't quite match the colours from the selection I had, and the Hataka just looked better to my eye. Wheels were from Armory, and the intakes (the most important update for any 1/72 Harrier kit!) were from Freightdog. My benchmark for the build was several amazing Kinetic 1/48 T.4 builds which I've seen on here... I tried to get as close to their level of realism in the smaller 1/72 scale as I could, and although it's not perfect, I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out. Special mention to Nick Challoner who has an interesting website featuring various designs of RAF hangar over the years - he very kindly allowed me to use a couple of his images to print off and use as backdrops. Here you can see a Type C shed at RAF Northolt, which works really nicely as a backdrop when printed large. Thanks Nick! Website here: https://www.challoner.com/aviation/hangars/index.html Assorted shots of this model, plus one alongside the Italeri GR.3 which I finished recently (and which is in the Arctic camo scheme similar to the example at RAF Cosford). I'm going to try a few hangar and/or night shots so might edit this post to add them in soon. Thanks for reading! And, as promised, a few more pics featuring my now usual 'night shoot' and hangar shot styles. Apologies if it's becoming boring but I like the look of them! As ever, assorted bits of ground equipment (plus Reedoak figures) and the Noy's hangar backdrop. One poor quality phone shot of the underside showing the tiny CBLS bomblets, taken at an earlier stage of the build before I put the super fragile masts / vanes / canopy on the topside of the aircraft! With thanks to @Selwyn who's about the sole CBLS expert on assorted threads here, including the tip I read on a dark brown Sharpie for the bomblet bands. At 1/72 even that was a challenge 😉 Finally view of my 1/72 Harrier family (minus a duplicate GR9). Still missing a GR1 [in the stash], an FA2 and maybe a GR5 and a GR7 [bit too similar to the GR.9 to motivate me to dig one out] but it's a reasonable spread of the evolution of the real thing! Two each from Airfix, Sword and Italeri. With credit to @gazza l who did a very similar thing but did it earlier and better!

Apparently there were two kits in this box: I guess the ”2 in 1” was a hint but I didn’t take it. Anyway, I’ll try to get both finished, one in kit a livery and one as Red-E-Ruth with Aztec AM decals. I have made a sneak start by painting, here the sprues: The styrene is complemented with Eduardy-looking PE and some nice resin for the engines, wheel bays and cockpits and guns: Decals by Techmod, looks quite thick carrier: One questionmark to resolve: Two options for the tailwheel assembly, but no hints which alternative to use for the different decal options.

Seen in Hannants future releases. Sword in coming back in the one true scale, with 1/48th BAC/EE Lightning T.Mk.4 and T.Mk.5 kits - ref. 48008 & 48009. - ref.48008 - BAC/EE Lightning T Mk.4: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW48008 - ref.48009 - BAC/EE Lightning T Mk.5: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/SW48009 V.P.

This one was finished yesterday and I'm pleased with the way it has turned out. It's the Sword Gannet AEW.3, which I understand is about to be re-released. This one doesn't have the resin radar operators' interior, but apparently the re-release may! The kit has a number of shortfalls (the cockpit canopy being the most obvious), and some of the detail is overdone, but it certainly looks like a Gannet. Markings are for A Flight in HMS HERMES (I already have a more colourful B-Flight model). I created an ink-jet decal for the distinctive A-Flight tail marking which is missing from the kit.