Search the Community

After several rainy days in a row, the sun thankfully put in an appearance for today's event at The Shuttleworth Collection: The Gathering Of Moths. This is a free event and well worth coming to if vintage aeroplanes are your thing. I took a few pictures while I was there. Ok, I tell a lie: I took over 700 pictures while I was there! The lighting conditions were constantly changing, and proved to be a bit of a challenge at times. Anyway, I have opened a temporary account at Flickr (I can't stand Flickr, but it'll do until I find something better) to host a small selection of the photos. Here's a few of them: (Well, that was an effort! I see that Flickr is just as "user friendly" as it was ten years ago!) The Paddock was opened to the great unwashed for ninety minutes, which I think is mainly a brilliant idea. Mainly, because it's bloomin' difficult to get a good pic while the world and his wife are blissfully unaware of everyone and everything around them, displaying all the situational awareness of a bat wearing ear muffs. My patience was tried many times today, but it was well worth it in the end and I have to thank the Collection for the opportunity to get close to so many lovely, old aeroplanes. Once I have found a suitable replacement for P****bucket, I will gradually get round to re-uploading all my old pictures, plus all the new ones I've taken since, which is probably around a thousand! I'm thinking about giving Smugmug a go, as they seem to offer exactly what I'm after. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of it, or thoughts on alternatives. I tried Village Photos, but it was just awful. Nothing worked properly and it took over a month for support to get back to me! That's deleted now. Cheers, Mark.

Well, this morning I shot some spray-can green on the interior bits of my Tiger Moth, so I guess that means that it is officially started. In my wildest fantasies (err, make that relatively tame fantasies...) I'd like to be done by April 2, which is when the next "local" contest is. For normal people that would be simple, but I seldom claim to be normal. My plan is to do a representative civil-paint example- I'll consult the rules to see how faithful I have to be. I'm also aiming to stick as close to "Straight out of the Box" as I can manage, BUT this'll also be my first attempt at rigging a model. I'm anticipating conducting pretty much the whole build through my magnifying desk lamp! To prove that I didn't cheat: bob

Extras used: Kora Tiger Moth in Spanish service decals and resin wheels, Uschi super fine rigging thread Paints and colours used: Mr hobby Aluminium metalizer What a great little kit, this one marks the start of a little project of mine to have a go at some Spanish civil war subjects. It's a very interesting period (this one is depicted before the hostilities) and the amount of possible aircraft is huge. I found a great website which lists all the aircraft and info etc: http://bioold.science.ku.dk/drnash/model/spain/did.html Anyway onto the pictures, a guy at my local club took these for me, I must say it looks better in pics than in real life! DH. 82a Tiger Moth, Spanish Republican Airforce 1935 Thanks Jason

Hi Everyone, I managed to slowly make my way through 3 kits this year, with the same number still sitting on the bench. All Australian Fleet Air Arm in 1/72 scale as part of my long-term RAN FAA build theme. First up was the wonderful little Airfix Tiger Moth from HMAS Albatross in the mid 50's. This was my first biplane and it won't be my last. I really like doing the rigging. Decals are from Southen Sky. Then another Airfix, this time the RAN's fist jet trainer, a T.22 Vampire also stationed at Albatross (NW) tail code, in the mid-late 60's. Mostly out of the box with some Pavla Martin Bakers added and excellent Xtradecal decals. And lastly, my first ever completed group build, a UH-1B Iroquois N9-882 (857) which served with 723 Squadron from 1964 to 1989. This one has fair bit of Eduard etch added and a largely scratch-built cabin. That's all for this year. Hopefully next year will see 4 or more! Andrew

Anyone got any suggestions for the yellow used by the London Flying Club? Cambridge Flying Club still use the scheme on their Tiger Moths G-AHIZ & G-AOEI. Due to working shifts, reduced daylight hours and the aircraft being kept in the hanger more at this time of year I'm a bit stuck for a chance to pop over and compare iModelKit against the real thing!

De Havilland Tiger Moth Airfix 1:72 These are the re-tooled Airfix kit. It is a huge improvement over the original kit from the 1950s. The plastic is brittle though, and the struts easily broken. Not one of my four have the kit supplied tail skid, they all broke off during construction and were replaced with brass wire. But don't be put off, it is a lovely little kit for the more experienced modeller. Oh, and the control horns on the tail are not on the lower surfaces, so I made my own. Rigging is with invisible mending thread, Decals on ZK-BFH and G-ADJJ from Hannants Xtrdecal sheet 72204 'De Havilland Tiger Moth part 2'. I already built one of each straight from the box, and will probably do a couple more. Thanks for looking John

Hi Everyone, I might have missed the cut for the Tiger Moth Group Build, but I did finally finish this really nice little kit. Markings are for the Royal Australian Navy Naval Air Station at Nowra in the mid-1950's. Decals are from Southern Sky models and the kit is of course the new-ish Airfix 1/72. I had my usual bumps and scrapes in the build process but I enjoyed it very much, especially my first attempt at biplane rigging which was done with invisible thread and superglue. (I gave up attempting the elevator rigging!) For the photographically-minded, it was my first attempt at using the focus-stacking function on my Olympus m43 camera which composites several pictures with slightly different focus points in order to get more of the small model in focus. It worked very well. The last shot with the engine "running" is me blowing on the propeller whilst pressing the shutter! I couldn't use focus-stacking for that, rather a very narrow aperture which still doesn't get all the plane in sharp focus. Thanks for looking, Andrew

Good Day All, i'm calling this "done" Started this project back in March and took my time at it but now she's finally complete. The DH.82c Tiger as she may have appeared in 1942 after rolling off the production line at DeHavilland Canada in Downsview (now part of Toronto) Ontario, Canada. She stayed in Canada her whole life (including some 25 years in storage) and is currently flying with/at The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. Here's what was done to get it as close as I could to a DH.82c: Canopy (vac formed), prop (metal), and engine (metal) are via John at Aeroclub (THANKS JOHN !!) - the Gipsy Major is quite nice on its own and I just added a few small wires/tube items to make it look a bit more "busy". Scratchbuilt the engine mount and supports using lead foil and thin wall micro brass tubing from Albion Alloys Scratchbuilt exhaust shroud.. again more micro brass tubing. Scratchbuilt elevator trim tabs from brass sheet Scratchbuilt replacement interplane struts also using the Albion Alloy stuff Scratchbuilt replacement landing gear struts (brass tube again) and moved the struts forward as per DH.82c Added plastic strip "canopy rails" Decals were a mix of Xtradecal roundels and ModelDecal numbers Paints were Xtracrylix Trainer Yellow and a mixture of Tamiya "blacks" (mostly used Nato Black). WIP build thread is located here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234978628-first-wip-build-172-canadian-dehavilland-dh82c-from-airfixs-dh82a/ Overall, I'm happy with the result and time put in.... and I think, just my opinion mind you, it's a bit nicer than the Pavla kit Cheers, Dave P.S. Haven't decided if I'll leave the Airfix Airborne jeep there or not.. may move it and put a pilot there instead http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03492.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03494.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03496.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03497.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03498.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03499.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03500.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03501.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03502.jpg http://www.chang-sang.com/photo/models/TigerMothBuild/DSC03504.jpg

Hello Everyone, Welcome to my build, I have decided to go with this one as I got it in the Black Friday deals a while ago, typically I have gone with something yellow... I hate painting yellow. I'm an imbecile... While I am waiting for the sprues to dry after their wash I will post this little lot. Thought I would cheat by getting an aircraft that doesn't have any canopies That yelloe looks like it will be fun to paint. Yay! All Yellow! I am really impressed with this sprues. Think I will leave the pilots out tho. The interior is really good, think I will have the cockpits open to show off that detail. My extensive tools for this show. This came with the order... I haven't read that it can't be used Do I get extra points for stealing my girlfriends sister lap tray with SpongeBob on it?... As an extra reminder of being a kid making models in the afternoon. I have a stolen jar from my parents! Water is from my place tho. I think this will be good for me, I have been wondering how well I can make a model in my flat without the "toys" I have in my shed. This will be a good indicator, back to basics kinda thing. Even my girlfriend is interested in this, altho she won't join in. She'll be supervising me. More to follow soon... Kind Regards, Dazz

Hello gents I'd like to join in with another Airfix Tiger Moth if I may. I don't often do civvy aircraft but I was particularly taken with one of the options on the Xtradecals sheet, so... Here's the kit, it's the civilian boxing which I imagine is the same as the RAF Trainer version but with different transfers: ... and this is the aircraft I hope to represent; it's the chequered tailfin that did it for me: The first thing I did was to remove the marked areas of the rear fuselage so the parts with the anti-spin strakes can be fitted: Then I started assembly of the interior: ... and gave it a quick blast of interior green for the basecoat: I'll do some detail painting later but I have the feeling that not much will be visible when it is all closed up anyway so I don't intend to go nuts on it Cheers, Stew

I went to last years Headcorn show in Kent for '558 but thoroughly enjoyed the day. Here are some of the aircraft shots, if you like your military vehicles please follow the link to see what was there: http://www.hanger51.org/airshows/2015/headcorn-military-vehicle-show/ Vulcan B.2 XH558 by tony_inkster, on Flickr DHL Jet Ranger by tony_inkster, on Flickr Tiger Moth by tony_inkster, on Flickr Vulcan B.2 XH558 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Dragon Rapide by tony_inkster, on Flickr Spitfire by tony_inkster, on Flickr Vulcan XH558 by tony_inkster, on Flickr Vulcan XH558 by tony_inkster, on Flickr

Here's my entry for a wonderful GB on yet another forum which theme is; "The name of the subject needs to have an animal in it...". The options are endless, and I decided to dive into the stash and grab one of my antiques. And I have plenty of antiques to chose from... But only one that ticks all of my -and- all of the GBs boxes... Matchbox kit? Check. 1/32 scale, and thus a nice big canvas to work with? Check. Room for improvement with minimal scratchbuilding? Check. Fits into the GB? TRRRRRIPLE CHECK BABY!! Tiger >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger Moth >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moth Tiger Moth >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_tiger_moth It's three times the animal it needs to be! Yummy multicolour box content. Matchbox was doing MCP before it was cool. Eat that, Academy! Decal sheet... and they look like they might (being very cautious here...) still be usable... Trees... lovely crisp parts, no hint of flash on anything. One of the advantages of using an early boxing! I -had- one of the Revell reboxes in the stash, and that one had a lot more flash and sinkmarks. And even if it didn't have a decal option for the floatplane version, it did have a nice Dutch decal option... oh well... Classic Matchbox instructions. Gotta love them, sooo much nostalgia! But the Revell instructions I downloaded have a nice bonus; loads of rigging help! And trust me, I need all the help I can get when I'm rigging... I want to try to build this OOB as much as I can. Perhaps some harnesses and some tinkering with the engine, but nothing major. I will be working on this one whenever the Wendover build grinds to a halt for whatever reason. Good way to keep sane... (I hope) More soooon! Rob

Pics by Graham James taken at Old Warden

Good evening, well, few weeks ago I finished the Tiger Moth group build, but still didn't got any proper pics. Today, I finally did it. I took the pics in one of the fancy foto cubes, I'm still trying to get used to, but it already helps a lot! Not much to say about the kit, it's a really nice one, almost perfect fitting, excellent decal sheet, and a pure pleasure to build! I think I forgot the washing, maybe I should add some dark shadows in the engine cowling where there are supposed to be some holes . Paint was Modelmaster Enamels (RAF Trainer yellow, dark earth and dark green). Rigging is stretched sprue, painted with edding. Hope you like the result! Thanks for attention, and for hosting the GB! Alex

I would like to make my SEAC collection something more than standard set of Hurricane, Thunderbolt, Spitfire, Mohawk, Vengeance, Blenheim, Beaufighter, Mosquito, Auster, Sentinel, Lysander, Harvard, Expeditor, Dakota, Swordfish, Catalina, Sunderland, Walrus, Warwick, Wellington, Mitchell and Liberator. So I'm looking for pictures of other SEAC aircraft wearing "India White" roundels. Among "suspected" types there are: Anson, Oxford, Hudson, Tiger Moth, Proctor and (maybe) Master and Magister. All other RAF & FAA types used in this theatre (Audax, Hart, Hind, Wapiti, Valentia, Vildebeest, Buffalo, Beaufort, Albacore, Fulmar, Singapore) have been probably retired before the small roundel with pale blue centre was introduced. Or maybe I'm wrong?

It was my original intention to model one of these Tiger Moths, T-7938 since my father flew her a month beforehand, but in the meantime I've picked up a couple of the venerable Revell 1/32nd scale Tiger Moths, so "in for a penny, in for a pound" I've decided to do a dio of the crash! Madness??? Yes, probably.....challenging definitely but I think it'll be fun. It gives me licence to model the extent of the damage as much, or as little as I think. I'll probably start off before cutting plastic by doing a few sketches from different angles so that I have a plan of attack, as it were. I'm also doing a little research on the cadet pilot killed in the 14 May 43 crash, Sergeant Ernest Thomas Rees from Llanelli. He's an interesting character because he was 27 years old (most like Dad were 18 or 19), married and had been mentioned in despatches! So far I've found out that his MiD was during the Battle of Britain where he was commended for "gallant and distinguished service", presumably as ground crew. I've got a small feature asking for info from any family members being published in next week's Llanelli Star newspaper, keeping my fingers crossed. Max

Good morning, it's time to show the results of the first few hours working on the Tiger Moth. Not much to add, a nice little kit, fitting so far was good. First colour was interiour green (airbrushed), then Revell brick red for the dope, and later on aluminium for the framing. I should have filled the holes, though. And the knobs should be painted black, I will do it this evening. Both dashboards have got the decals. It helps to trim the edge, so they fit well. Seatbelts were added, too. I used the famous "wine bottle foil", painted firstly sand, then the ends with leather brown. I made the holes with a needle, and glued them with CA to the seats. Looks nice, me thinks! Alex

"Ext. The Sahara Desert. Late 1942 Silence. The desert seen from the air. An ocean of dunes for mile after mile. The late sun turns the sand every colour from crimson to black and makes the dunes look like bodies pressed against each other. An old aeroplane is flying over the Sahara. Its shadow swims over the contours of sand." So begins the screenplay for The English Patient, a fantastic novel by Michael Ondaatje that was turned into a fantastic movie by the late Anthony Minghella, winning a hat full of Oscars. When we got married, my wife and I had a section of the book as the reading. It's a big favourite. And central to the plot is a plain aluminium Tiger Moth, carrying the registration G-AFFC. I'm going to have a crack using the Revell rebox of the Matchbox Tiggy, making the decals myself. I'm quite nervous as I have rotten luck with aligning individual struts such as the four between the wings on this kit. Be that as it may, I'll give it as good a shake as I can and, all being well, will use the standing 'mechanic' figure to make Ralph Fiennes. Not sure how I might do Kristin Scott Thomas yet, but to be honest if I get far enough for it to be a problem I'll be thrilled! Here is the kit and sprues (still bagged!) On with the show...

Finally, after all the pressure, I'm starting the build. I shall shamelessly follow Adrian's excellent WiP (without the hard bits) - thanks Adrian! I've bought the paints, opened the box, examined the parts (what a lot of tiny parts) and painted the interior 'wine' bits (no, too early for wine, resist!). The tin of H73 I bought especially for this build was gummy but hey, it'll probably never get used again so never mind. Progress so far: Big deal, I know, but I'm planning to do this alongside a Miles Magister and BoB Blenheim. Slowly. I was going to run the Magister in this thread but it's such an, er, unusual kit I think I'll do a separate thread. First job is to sort out the boys for all three and paint them up 'a la Stew'. i'll also separate out the black and IG bits and point the airbrush at them. I'm pondering Adrian's 'spray before build' techniques. Hmmm That would certainly allow me to blast away with the H24 rattle can... although I suspect using it on the Magister would blow the parts all over the garage.

I have three airframes to build, and my plan is to do one Polish operated example; one as the Airfix 1940 offering; and probably one pre-war silver airframe (with blind flying hood). Transfers have been ordered from Hannants and should be here by Monday, I'm away tomorrow and deep in my first three BoB builds so I may not cut plastic for a few days, but in the meantime here is some of the raw material. 31 July by jongwinnett, on Flickr

Hello All, I am in with an OOB build for the RAF Training School boxing of the new 1/72 Airfix Tiger Moth. Departures from OOB will consist of rigging, new pitot tube and a couple of tubes around the petrol tank. I might also add a pilot or two. The kit arrived today, courtesy of Ebay, and I haven't taken any pictures yet. Because of the nature of my available time, I plan to do this as a blitzbuild on Saturday or Sunday. This will be my third. My previous record (unrigged) is 12 hours! Regards, Adrian

I've said enough in other threads, I suppose I should start one of my own ... This is the Tiger Moth I want to build - assuming I can get the codes to work Source: http://www.milspotters.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6168&start=15 (Why am I not worried about those hub caps? I should be) There atr plenty of images of this machine (Google Images: https://www.google.com/search?q=tiger+moth&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI29yp0by3xwIVw7IUCh38DQkt&biw=1245&bih=784#tbm=isch&q=tiger+moth+g-ajhs&imgrc=_L59X9NNE0FA7M%3A ) Some show silver wings ... Source: http://www.wingsovereurope.com/tiger_moth_dh_82_gal_2.html Others show white wings with a blue sun-burst - it is in the latter configuration I hope to build her ... Source: http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2008/06/04/tweedekker-fly-in-at-lelystad-2006/ Planning - I've had a go at making the registration code .. Quite how I make these white letters in 1/72 scale I don't know. Possibly I'll mask them out (is there a better, affordable solution?) The kit I'll be using is the current Airfix 1/72 Tiger Moth We must have plenty of sprue shots in this forum, but here are some more ...

Here is the subject of my entry in the group build - a Royal Australian Navy trainer from 1954 - one of only three DH.82's operated by the Fleet Airm Arm at HMAS Albatross, Nowra. It had only a short naval career, being retired in 1958 and transferred to a private aeroclub. The silver and trainer yellow scheme looks quite fancy! This will be built essentially out-of-the-box with no etch or resin but possibly a little scratch-building where needed. Decals are from southern sky models. I've never built a biplane so have started practising my rigging before i get too far into the build. In the test below I used some fine monofilament, superglue, a 0.3mm drill and some baking soda to accelerate the glue setting. I tightened the rigging with a hot match head. I have experience rigging scale wooden ships but find the monofilament and superglue actually more fiddly. My progress on the kit itself has been to cut out the side doors from the cockpit, assemble the seats and give the whole lot a coat of interior green. I also separated the rudder from the tail piece in order to simplify the painting. Both the cowl and rudder have been given a coat of yellow over a white Tamiya fine primer. I used Model Master Acryl paints for the first time for both colours and must say I'm very impressed. I thinned both colours with a drop of Liquitex flow aid and a few drops of fluid retarder and it sprayed beautifully - in fact the best experience I've ever had with acrylics of any sort. Next steps are to touch up and close the fuselage and contemplate drilling holes for the rigging. Cheers, Andrew

de Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth Warpaint Series No.101 The de Havilland D.H.82 Tiger Moth is possibly one of the most recognised and well-known aircraft ever built; mainly as it was used extensively in both military and civilian versions, and many pilots probably started their adventurous flying careers at the controls of one. The Tiger Moth had a world-wide reputation for being simple but tough, so much so that over 200 are still flying today; with quite a few to be seen at air shows etc. The author, Adrian Balch, has obviously spent considerable time and effort in researching for this publication. Not only is the historical perspective well covered but he has found some really interesting photographs, both colour and black & white, to bring the whole story to life. To accompany this, the book is nicely populated throughout with excellent full colour illustrations from the noted artist Richard J. Caruana. As soon as you turn the first page, you are presented with a beautiful 4-view illustration of a colourful Tiger Moth in civilian registry but with camouflaged upper surfaces. The history of this aircraft is fascinating to read and Adrian has included some good reference photos to assist with his narratives. His research has pulled up some interesting observations, which he is not afraid to alert us to. Adrian confirms the confidence of his research in the example, at the top of the page above, in which he points out various anomalies on current Tiger Moth's colours and markings, for a repainted version of a historic CFS Aerobatic Team aircraft There are 44 full colour side profile illustrations from Richard Caruana displayed throughout this book, both military and civilian variants are depicted. These must be a just the inspiration needed for anyone with a model kit they wish to build. Tiger Moths were exported all over the world and there are pages detailing these, such as the view above which also shows tabular data for imported Tiger Moths from the Indian Air Force. A full A3 size page is included that contains general arrangement plans drawn at 1:72 scale. These plans have been drawn by Richard Caruana and go well with his lovely illustrations. Above is a small section of the Tiger Moth plan and only covers a little detail; the full plan being a very useful reference indeed. The plan is stapled in place thereby allowing easy removal if required for referring to alongside your model build. The book is profusely illustrated with good quality photographs, mostly in colour, and they show many variants and colour schemes; such as the civilian registered airframes above. Three pages, of the total forty-six including covers, are devoted to close-up walkaround views of special interest areas; including instrument panels and floats/wheels etc. Conclusion The Tiger Moth is a lovely aircraft and one that once would have been found at most airfields around the country, if not the world, and I am of an age where the Tiger Moth was the most ubiquitious of all the aircraft in my spotter's book! There seems to be a plethora of model kits of the Tiger Moth available in all scales; with possibly the exception of my favourite scale 1:144. Add to this some nicely detailed aftermarket parts, photo-etch and decals, then this book must surely become a much needed reference aid for the modeller; as well as a good read for those who just like the de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of .

T11 by jongwinnett, on Flickr T10 by jongwinnett, on Flickr T9 by jongwinnett, on Flickr T3 by jongwinnett, on Flickr T1 by jongwinnett, on Flickr de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth by jongwinnett, on Flickr WIP