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Got another older build here, hah. Sadly this one ended up accumulating a bit of shelf dust before the pictures, and as usual I couldn't get it all removed (stuff always sticks). Ukrainian 2A6 in 1/35 scale. My second Tamiya Leopard after the original 2A6 release from the early 2000s (which didn't turn out so well at the time for some reason). Luckily, I've gotten much better 😅 Enjoy Thank you as always for looking Gaz

Leopard 2A6 with Crew (35013) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The Leopard 2 is the successor to the earlier Leopard Main Battle Tank (MBT), and was developed in the 1970s, entering service just before the turn of the decade. The original had a vertical faced turret front, while later variants had improved angled armour applied to the turret front that gives the tank a more aggressive look and provides superior protection, and more likelihood of deflecting incoming rounds harmlessly away. It has all the technical features of a modern MBT, including stabilised main gun for firing on the move, thermal imaging, and advanced composite armour, making it a world-class contender as one of the best tanks on the market. The original Leopard 2 variant entered service in 1979, but has been through several upgrades through its service life and the current production variant is the highly advanced 2A7+, with the 2A8 waiting in the wings. The 2A6 is still a powerful battlefield resource however, and likely to be so for some considerable time. It sports the Rheinmetall 120mm smoothbore gun with the barrel extended over the A5, which gives it a higher muzzle velocity that improves its penetration power over its predecessor, allowing it to reach targets at a greater range, and hit harder. It also has an armoured ammunition storage space in the turret that is engineered to blow outward in the event of a detonation of munitions, which again improves the crew survivability further. For close-in defence they are fitted with an MG3 machine gun, and the appliqué armour gives it an arrow-head front profile to the turret, as well as several more subtle upgrades that follow on from the 2A5. Sales of the Leopard 2 have been good overseas because of its reputation, and Canada, Turkey, Spain and most of the Nordic countries use it as well as many other smaller operators. Since the unlawful invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, many nations have been providing military and other strategic assistance to keep the brave Ukrainians in the fight, defending their nation against the aggressor. Although Germany initially appeared reticent to proffer their leading-edge A6 variants to a non-NATO nation, they eventually supplied A4 and A5 variants, but policy changes led to a small number of the more capable A6s being added to the roster, to be used as “tip-of-the-spear” at the centre of the attack to punch a hole in the front line and give the less capable tanks a boost. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough available of the A6 to spare from the nations that are supplying them, or more would doubtless be forthcoming. The Kit This kit is based upon the Revell tooling that was first launched in 2012, and is part of the long-term collaboration between the two companies. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the tank and crew on the front, and has a captive lid on the lower tray. Inside the box are ten sprues of grey styrene of varying sizes, four sprues and four half track runs in black flexible material, a small sheet of clear acetate, decal sheet, and instruction booklet printed in spot colour with glossy outer pages that have the decaling profiles printed in full colour, plus a separate sheet of instructions for the crew figures, which includes five humans, and a dog performing tricks for his owner for the promise of some treats. We’ve reviewed the Revell Leopard before, and it’s a solid kit from the era, including detail to the exterior, and a set of flexible tracks, towing cables and mudguards. The figures are a 2024 tool that we’ve also seen before, but the combination is a first, and lends itself to a diorama, or at least adding some human scale to your model. Construction begins with the hull, which is built up from separate sides, one with an insert on the rear upper edge, held in alignment with the floor by two perforated bulkheads that sit in slots. The lower hull is completed by fixing the rear bulkhead in place, giving the assembly extra rigidity. The upper hull is prepared by fitting a hatch on the right side, and one of the two circular cooling vents on the engine deck, the other fitted during final assembly. Suspension details such as bump-stops, swing-arms with stub axles detail the hull sides, after which seven road wheel pairs are slipped over the axles on each side, and four return rollers per side. The idler wheels are smaller than the road wheels, and the drive sprockets are built from two separate toothed parts each. As mentioned earlier, the tracks are of the rubber-band type with nice detail, and if you can live with the curving of the links around the drive sprockets and idler wheels they should suffice. Each length is made from two sections, which have a generous four-link overlap and two pins on each link to strengthen the join. For a previous review, I tested liquid glue and it had no melting effect, so CA (Super Glue) would be a better bet. The pins are flush to the track pads on the outer face, so filling or hiding them under the fenders and against the ground would be advisable once you have attached them to the vehicle. The rear bulkhead has a large radiator grille running along the full width, which is a little shallow, but with some black paint in the recesses, should suffice for most modellers. A set of turnbuckles are glued to the lower edge, and at the ends are light clusters and two flexible mudguards that are made from the same plastic as the tracks. Two other panels are fixed to either side, with a bracket in the centre that receives the convoy light shield, applying a decal or painting the white cross by hand if you prefer. A set of pioneer tools are added to the rear deck, making towing cable from flexible parts with styrene eyes at each end, gluing barrel cleaning rods and two racks of track grousers to the front deck, plus the afore-mentioned towing cables that are fitted over the ends of the engine deck and onto the rear bulkhead. If you're not happy with a mould-line running down your tow-ropes, now would be the time to replace it with some braided wire or cord, using the kit parts as a length template. Moving to the glacis plate, towing shackles and headlights are applied, followed by the driver’s hatch, which has detail inserts fixed front and rear, more grousers in L-shaped sets and a couple of spare track links. The fenders are integral to the top hull, and only the side-skirts need to be added. These are made from two basic parts on each side with tapering forward sections, and overlaying thicker appliqué armour over the front two road wheel stations and idler, plus the rear sections that locate on a long guiding tab moulded into the back of the parts. The turret is a complex shape, and the base is made up from three parts, onto which the main gun is built up from halves plus hollow muzzle with a block in place of the breech. It has some nice moulded-in detail, so take care aligning the parts and again when cleaning up the seam. The muzzle is a little shallow, so might be better drilled out once the glue is dry, or painted black to hide its depth. The mantlet section that raises with the gun is built up around the base of the barrel in three parts, and this is then added to the lower turret, being locked in place by a pair of trunnions that permit the barrel to raise and lower if you are careful not to allow the glue to flow into the pivots. The top of the turret is a large part with an insert panel in the rear right added along with the sighting system's lenses that are installed from inside. This is mated to the bottom of the turret, after which the side panels and bustle are added to complete the main part of the turret's construction. The angled panels that bolster the armour of the turret's arrow-head front are installed next, and here there are were some quite significant sink-marks in previous boxings that seem to have been almost totally eradicated in this boxing, but might need a smear of filler if you think it will notice. A bustle stowage box is created from three parts with separate roof, and is glued to the rear of the turret, then the roof of the turret is festooned with various small parts, including antenna bases, armoured surrounds over the vision blocks, the new sight in front of the commander’s cupola, which utilises two parts cut from the clear sheet for its lenses front and rear. Another sighting turret is installed behind and to the left of the commander’s cupola, and the TV sensor box at the front is outfitted with its doors, which you can pose open by cutting the part in half and gluing it to the outer edges of the box. Lifting eyes and two crew access hatches are made and installed in open or closed positions, fixing the gunner's MG3 to the edge of his hatch. Triangular mesh baskets are made from four parts each and are installed on the angled rear corners of the bustle, and these styrene parts would be prime candidates for replacement by aftermarket mesh to give a more realistic appearance. The smoke grenade launchers are fitted to each side of the turret just forward of the baskets, and these are made up from individual barrels attached to a rail with supports moulded in. To create the aerials, the instructions tell you to stretch some sprue and cut it to 75mm lengths before gluing them to the aerial mounts that were added earlier in the build. Both crew hatches are made from three parts each, fitting them to the cut-outs after installing raised surrounds to them both, and these can be fitted open or closed as you see fit. The turret can then be added to the hull by twisting it into place to lock the bayonet lugs under the turret-ring flange. A pair of rear-view mirrors are added to the front of the tank in deployed or retracted poses, and the last part of the build is to decide whether to lock the barrel to the rear for transport, or leave it free with the transport-lock stowed between the two large fan grilles, one of which has been left off until this point, possibly to ensure that the base of the travel-lock that is moulded into the grille is correctly lined up. Figures The parts for each figure are found in separate areas of the sprue for ease of identification, and parts breakdown is sensibly placed along clothing seams or natural breaks to minimise clean-up of the figures once they are built up. The sculpting is typically excellent, as we’ve come to expect from ICM’s artists and tool-makers, with natural poses, drape of clothing and textures appropriate to the parts of the model. There are five human figures on the sprue, plus a canine that is playing with one of the crew members. Four of the crew’s heads are trimmed down to a peculiar shape in order to fit a semi-soft three-part tanker helmet over them, and all five humans are wearing loose-fitting overalls and combat boots. One character is a half-figure that is popping out of a hatch with his arms outside the tank, with a colleague sat on the turret or deck sucking on a pipe. Two more men are kneeling and hunkering down in the process of fixing an issue with the tracks, one of whom is nursing a sledgehammer for advanced fixing duties. The final human is stood playing with the dog, which appears to be a Labrador or retriever, begging for a treat from the bearded tanker who is wearing a soft beanie cap on his head. These are great figures with realistic poses, and bear in mind that they’re at rest, so wouldn’t be suitable for a combat diorama, as they’d all be safe(r) inside the vehicle. Markings There are six decal options included on the sheet, all wearing the current NATO European camouflage of green, black and brown, but wearing differing identifying markings. From the box you can build one of the following: Zaporizhzhia Region, Summer 2023 Robotyne, Summer 2023 Zaporizhzhia Region, Autumn 2023 December 2023 Winter 2024 (Marking option 1) Winter 2024 (Marking option 2) Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The Revell Leopard 2A6 is a good base for your work, and the figures offer a more personalised, candid look to the model, including some human scale. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

ZiL-131 with Trailer (72817) 1:72 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The military ZiL-131 chassis was a 6x6 general purpose truck chassis that was capable of transporting 3.5 tonnes, developed from the earlier ZiL-130 civilian truck. Its versatility made it useful for many tasks when suitably fitted out with an appropriate cab and load area for the assigned task. The power was provided by a 7 litre V8 petrol engine that gave it a top speed of 50mph under ideal conditions, but it was off-road with all six wheels under power that it came into its own, although 6-7mpg was far from economical compared to a more modern vehicle. The cabs were fitted with standard Soviet-era equipment to give the drivers a sense of familiarity, although cost-saving was probably a bigger motivator to those making the decisions. Their presence in many of the former Soviet states is almost ubiquitous, and they have provided excellent support for the military of Ukraine, providing transport of goods, equipment and troops to and from the front in their fight against the aggressor that invaded their country in 2022. The Kit This range of kits was originally started by little-known company Omega-K as a truck with canvas tilt in the 90s, before the tooling was taken over at the turn of the millennium by ICM, since when it has been re-released many times and with various alterations to the basic kit and its chassis. This boxing arrives in a relatively small top-opening box that has a captive lid to the lower tray, and inside are seven sprues and three loose cab parts in grey styrene, three clear sprues, a large decal sheet and two instruction manuals, with colour profiles on the rear pages showing the decal options. Even though the base kit is of a certain age, the detail is excellent throughout, and whilst there is some flash evident in places, it is easily removed to expose the detail. Construction begins with the six road wheels that are all moulded in two halves with chevron tread, and have a separate hub cap for extra detail, with just the seam to clean up in the middle, conveniently located at the centre of the tread pattern where it won’t be damaged. If you want to add some weighting to them, a quick swipe with a coarse sanding stick should do the trick, after which you can glue the wheels with the flat-spot at the bottom. The ladder chassis is a single moulding, adding the underside of the engine, transfer box, drive-shafts and various tanks around the ladder, then the twin axles at the rear and single front axle are both inserted below the rails on leaf-spring suspension with the axles interlinked by numerous drive-shaft elements, and a steering link for the front. Underneath, the twin exhaust downpipes from the manifold merge into a muffler then make their way out to the side as a single pipe, over one of the rear axles to exit between them, then installing a winch with motor at the front, and a towing hook to the rear of the chassis. The cab is a nice slide-moulding that has a little flash here and there, but it’s well worth the effort to remove it, as I found out when I tested one by scraping the seams. After this, the cab floor with various controls and steering wheel is inserted from below, then the clear windows, windscreen and headlamps are inserted to the front, with cages finely moulded, although suffering a little flash that will take care to remove, but again it’s worth the effort. Door mirrors, a small spotlight and a fire extinguisher on the rear corner finish off the detailing of the cab, after which the load box is begun. The load box is another single moulding that will need a little cleaning up to remove the moulding seams, especially the seam on the top of the roof, subsequently adding two vents along the centre and grab-rails at the edges, a ladder to one side, clear windows parts from the inside, a spare tyre and other small parts at the rear, and two circular vents in the walls. The floor is added as the three sections of the model are mated, fixing the cab and load box to the chassis, whilst adding the chunky bumper iron to the front, the twin two-part fuel tanks in front of the rear axles, and adding a pair of towing/tie-down hooks to either side of the radiator. A number plate holder, mudguard and rear light cluster are fitted under the rear of the load box, and the shelf high up on the front is detailed with five parts that provide facilities to the load box. The trailer has its own ladder chassis that has four leaf-springs mounted in the corners, fitting the towing arm on two brackets under the front, leaving the arm mobile without glue. Two axles are fixed under the paired springs, and chassis rail extensions are added to the tops of the ladder, locating them via lugs and notches, fitting two-part wheels to the ends of the axles to complete the running gear. The trailer body is made from six faces, fixing windows inside three of the walls, and skylights on the diagonal portions of the roof. The completed body has a two-part stowage box fitted under one side, a box on the rear next to the double-doors, and facilities for heating and cooling the interior high up on the front wall, which includes a two-part tank. The chassis is glued to the underside of the body on four pegs to complete the model. Markings There are two decal options on the sheet that depict the two different digital camouflage schemes, the more subtle option introduced the year before the invasion. From the box you can build one of the following: Armed Forces of Ukraine Armed Forces of Ukraine, camouflage version from 2021 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion There’s a little flash to scrape away here and there, but it’s worth it to get to the detail, which is pretty good for the scale and the age of the original kit. The added trailer gives extra length and interest to the model, and with some sympathetic painting and weathering the completed model should look good. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Hi all, just finished model that i started about 3 month ago.

Hi all! This BMD-1 from S-Model is perfect! I love this kit so much, it have really sharp details, nice fit, and i just love BMD's. Painted by guze and tamiya, weathered with oil paints, and ICM. It inspired by two bmd's that i seen in anti-terrorist operation zone in period of 2014-2018. This BMD's Hope you like it

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/germany-send-ukraine-six-sea-king-helicopters-air-defence-2024-01-23/ I know the Sea King is a marvellous bit of kit ....but air defence....journalists eh . Still another 6 aircraft

Ok this STGB came up way quicker than I expected, but the Turd is finished so there’s room for this build. The model is ICM’s wonderful MiG-25 RBF, the main reason I bought it (it was some time ago) was for that crazy scheme on the box, bonkers and I love it... ..... and yes not to disappoint some or to cause worry about my mental health, there is some AM bits as well ..... .... some nice new cans, I did have some resin wheels for her, but I stole them for the M-G-25 PD. So I had to go shopping for more, well that’s my excuse! ...and along the way these fell into the basket as well! Now these Reskit U/c bits.....WOW!!! They are so finely detailed and printed, they even have special instructions, 20+ steps on how to release them from their cages! Finally, the scheme, well as much as I liked that crazy box art one I am now building on a theme so she will be a Ukraine bird. For this I’m using one of FoxBot’s wonderful decal sets. They give you a choice of RBF, RBS, and RBT versions. I’ll be building the RBT, the scheme of which is on the other side of this picture! Plus I’ll be using FoxBot’s stencils. When they were in the early designing phase of the Foxbat, they wanted to know what the secret was to producing the ultimate fighter/interceptor! At that stage it was the Phantom and thought the secret to its success was all the stencils on it, so they decided to go one better! Instead of the thousands of stencils as on the Phantom they put billions on the Foxbat!!! Oh dear....I’m going to be playing “Where’s Ivan” for the next year or so with these! The reason why I still haven’t finished the PD!! There should be a nice quick build, no nasty surprises with this model, plus I’m be fitting the new cans as I build the model, not right at the end as I did with the PD......and you there will be a thread for that one.

PzH 2000 - 1/24 Scale - Scratchbuilt I present my recently completed model of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 self propelled howitzer in Ukrainian armed forces service. Originally my intent was to paint this model as a german gun in Afghanistan, but very unfortunately about half way through this build, the war in Ukraine escalated dramatically. As a consequence several of these extraordinary weapons have been dispatched to the conflict and I have changed the markings to represent one of these as it may appear today. This project ran for over three years and, by my very rough reckoning, has absorbed at least 300 hours of my time. The model is completely scratchbuilt using a wide variety of materials including, wood, MDF, plastic-sheet, brass, poured-resin, aluminium lithoplate, a few dabs of filler and - very occasionally - bits and pieces scavenged from injection molded kits. No 3D printing was used. The last photo is intended to show the size of the finished item. It’s a fairly large model. The whole WIP story is documented here: Building models this way is always a learning process. For me the chief lessons learned were: How to scratchbuild tracks; which is actually not too bad once you know how. MDF is a really useful material, especially when skinned with plastic-sheet or aluminium lithoplate. Acrylic laquer paints are really very good. In this case I've used SMS paints and am definitely a convert. Figures can be scratchbuilt, although not easily. Magnets can be used to hold movable parts steady when required. In this case once the gun's elevation is set it's held in place by a couple of strong magnets inside the turret. There are some really good modern glues out there including Selly’s Powergrip and Gyprock’s blue acrylic joist paste. Careful attention to precise and accurate measurement at every stage really pays dividends. A good set of digital calipers are an indispensable tool. That's it for this project. Sincere thanks to all that have shown interest in this, especially anyone who has commented or posted 'likes'. As always, without the support of the Britmodeller community I don't know that I would have completed this. I hope to see you soon on the maritime pages as the SS Xantho gets yet another KUTA! Very Best Regards, Bandsaw Steve

I first purchased this kit at the Holbeach 2022 show & thought I'd start putting it together at our club table there & then. It was a random purchase & something to do in between my usual fast jets. I didn't complete it till later this year & after seeing these Bradley's being used in Ukraine in 2023 I thought why not make it topical & found some reference pics online of Ukrainian Bradleys in a pixellated paint scheme, which was made up from hand cut masks more or less copied straight from photos of an actual Ukrainian pixelated example. All paints are Ammo Mig as is the weathering pigments & washes. The added on stowage was a resin set from Legend productions. Oh and a photographic cheat for the interior! Thanks for looking! Martin

Hi everyone, this model was made for contest. Theme of this contest was to give 15 same corvettes for peoples, and make some scratchbuild to make "what if" UAF corvette in Mad Max style. On my model i use parts from Trumpeter stryker, ICM King Tiger, and Trumpeter M1117. Hope you like it!

Kozak-2 Ukrainian MRAP-Class Armoured Vehicle (35014) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd The Kozak Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle was developed in response to a need for protected troop transports for reconnaissance, patrolling and other such tasks, and was first seen in 2014, although only a few proof-of-concept vehicles were made by Practika, in competition with several other types from other manufacturers, the Kozak going through to the next stage as one of the three that met the Ukrainian Army’s requirements. The original vehicle is based upon a heavily modified Iveco Eurocargo chassis, but this 2015 design is based on the Iveco Daily, which has a shorter chassis, resulting in a more compact vehicle. Looking at any of the variants side-by-side you wouldn’t think they were related to anything, as the outward differences are so great. It doesn’t have a sharply V-shaped hull in the same respect that custom designs do, but most of the chassis length is protected by a shallower V-shaped armoured panel that underpins the crew compartment, and in concert with the anti-trauma seating that is installed within, it satisfies the needs of the Ukrainian forces in the event of an IED detonating underneath. The exposed wheel stations would probably be sacrificed in the blast, but the diversion of the explosive energy away from the crew is the key aspect. After the initial design, the improved Kozak-2 was engineered, incorporating a weapons station on the roof that allows the operator protection from small-arms fire, with vision slots that are protected by armoured glass in each of the side wall panels, plus a splinter-guard with more vision slots at the front, through which the machine gun projects, which can either mount an NSV heavy machine gun, or a 7.62mm weapon, depending on availability and mission requirements. The Kozak-2 entered service in 2017, and has seen plenty of active service since the unlawful invasion of Ukraine that began on 24th of February 2022. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from ICM of the Kozak-2, and has been made in cooperation with the vehicle’s manufacturers Practika, as noted on the box top in the top right, which bodes well. The kit arrives in a top-opening box, with a captive flap on the lower tray, and inside are seven sprues of grey styrene, two identical clear sprues, a bag containing five flexible black plastic tyres, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE) of a copper-coloured metal, three decal sheets, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy paper, and has profiles on the rear pages to help with painting and decaling. Detail is excellent, and as it’s a home-grown product, local knowledge will have come in very handy, as will their nearness for detail checking, although the vehicles have been rather busy of late, working tirelessly to recover parts of their country still occupied by the invader. Construction begins with the chassis rails, which have a leaf-spring attached to the front, and two double-leaf arrangements that are each made from two halves at the rear. Small armour plates and other parts are fitted to the frontmost sides, then the cross-members are built up, with two under the engine bay, a central four-part transfer box at the midpoint, a tough braced bar behind that, and another at the rear. Under the rear suspension is an additional cross-rail, plus a braced rail that has a pair of two-part tanks applied, one on each side before mounting. The solid floor pan is detailed with a three-part representation of the underside of the engine and sump, then the chassis rails are mated to the underside on tabs, adding a short drive-shaft that links the transmission to the transfer box, ready for when the axles are completed. The front axle is a thick assembly with differential bulge in the centre, which is made from two halves, and has the rear of the hub attached at the ends, and a damper bar that joins to the chassis via links, and the drive-shaft that links it to the transfer box. A steering actuator and two armoured plates are fitted over the newly mounted axle, adding two dampers to the rear, and a C-shaped linkage that joins the two hubs together. The rear axle is built from four parts, and is much bulkier than the front, as are the hub assemblies, which are each four parts. This is then glued to the leaf-springs, adding dampers, drive-shaft, damper bar, another cross-member and a towing shackle at the rear. The interior of the Kozak-2, which if you haven’t already guessed means ‘Cossack’, is a spartan compartment that is designed for a purpose and nothing more, keeping weight and clutter to a minimum, as well as reducing the likelihood of small parts becoming missiles in the event of an IED detonation. The crew seats are made first, making the back from cushion and backrest, then adding this to the base cushion and two concertina-style side panels, plus front and rear sections, taking care to line up the concertina elements to minimise clean-up. An adjustment lever is fixed under the front edge, and you should bear in mind that the seats are handed, so take care to fix the correct one to the tread-plated floor on its guide-slots. A small gear lever is made from two halves and inserted into the centre console, which is moulded into the floor. The dash is a single moulding that has the three foot pedals glued into the lower portion, then has the multi-part steering wheel, column and separate stalks fitted on the left side, with a gaiter and hi/low ratio knob mounted in the centre of the dash low down. There are three undocumented decals for the dials and controls on one of the sheets, two of which are pretty obvious where they go, but remember to paint the instrument binnacle black before you put the decal on. The dash is mounted on a central locating guide in front of the crew seats, and behind and between them a four-part rack with crew step/jump seat that has anti-slip tread-plate moulded into it, and acts as the support for the gunner when he is in action, folding away when not in use to keep obstruction to a minimum. Two passenger seats are built with two-part backs, adding safety tubing to the sides and top that helps prevent flail and neck injuries, fixing onto the seat cushion that has more U-shaped tubes glued underneath that project up and help keep the sitter’s body in position in case of a sharp sideways jolt. A back frame and a pair of shock-absorbing tubes attach the frame to the deck behind the driving crew, facing forward. The other six seats are fitted centrally with three on each side facing left and right. The base cushions are all moulded as a single linked unit, to which the lower tubes are fitted, adding two central supports in the space between them, then adding the backs, which are built at the same time as the first pair. This assembly is then mounted on a pair of raised rectangular areas of the floor, ready for the body to be built up. The vehicle sides are one part each, and cover the entire length of the chassis, adding radiused bullet-proof windows in the sides, a foot-plate at the front, and drilling out four 1mm holes as indicated in a scrap diagram nearby. An interior skin is prepared by adding grab-handles and weapon stowage clips under the windows, with the inner face of the shooting loupes moulded into the surface. The laminated right side is offered up to the chassis, adding the front wing liner and inner panel to the engine bay at the same time, then doing the same for the left side, before working on the windscreen panel, which has two panes inserted into the frames, and two instruments applied to the centre frame on the inside. This is mated to the bonnet and two windscreen wiper blades are fitted into pockets in the bonnet before joining the two. The rear bulkhead has an inner and outer skin, then has the multi-part bumper and clear light clusters applied to the lower edge. It would be a good idea to prepare the front and rear panels at the same time as the sides, not just for ease of painting, but also to ensure that the side panels are mounted to the correct angle and can’t sag while the glue cures. The roof has four small parts fitted to the underside before it is glued in place, completed with a pair of moulded-in escape hatches and the circular cut-out for the roof-mounted weapons station. The grille is fitted to the front of the vehicle, and has a thick bumper with moulded-in reflectors for the clear lights that are installed and painted with suitable clear shades, then have protective cages folded from PE parts, with a winch housing between them. The front skirt is made from two layers and has small sensors fitted into recesses, then is assembled on the front with the bumper, and a cow-catcher that is built from eight parts, including three slats that protect the grille. The Kozak-2 has four side doors, two on each side, all of which have inner and outer skins plus glazing, with grab handles fitted inside, and handles on the outside, while the front doors have wing mirrors on C-shaped tubular frames, and the rear doors have a circular cut-out that doubles as firing loupe for the front passengers. The back doors are similar in construction, but with a smaller fixed window near the top, inserting into the frames at the rear. All doors can be mounted open or closed as you please. Inverting the model allows fitting of the shallow anti-mine keel panel, which has the ends closed off to prevent ingress of the explosive wavefront, which would reduce its effectiveness. Mudflaps are added to the rear of the front wheels, and on both sides of the rear wheels, then the wheels are made to fill the arches. The spare tyre is built first, adding a two-part hub from either side of the flexible tyres, and mounting it under the body at the rear. The rear pair of wheels have a slightly different pair of hub halves inserted from each side, and then have a choice of two styles of dust covers fixed over the outer face. The front wheels have similar two-part hubs, with an additional centre insert, and the same choice of dust covers over the front. They all fit onto their appropriate axles, but don’t put the model on its wheels just yet. There are a pair of crew steps to be fitted onto the keel panels under the rearmost side door on both sides, then the model is turned right-side up for all the external detail to be added to it. The first item is a searchlight, which has a clear lens and opaque rear, mounting on the right wing in front of a small part near the scuttle. A perforated mount for the pioneer tools is filled with four hand-tools before it is mounted on the right rear of the body. A two-part cage is closed around the searchlight, and completed by adding two top bars, and a bracket that stands out past the side of the wing for another mirror that is added later. Under the tools a pair of three-part brackets are mounted on recesses, and on the opposite side a pair of towing arms are fitted under the windows on pins. Two small lifting eyes are glued to the scuttle, and an LED lamp with armoured shroud fits into a pair of recesses on the left wing. What looks like a tubular convoy light in a shroud is added to the centre above the rear doors, and five rungs are glued to the left side of the rear for access to the roof, with a sixth on a bracket that hangs down below the bodywork, adding a jerrycan in its holder to the left. Grab handles are fitted between and above the side doors, on the roof above the ladder, and on the front and sides of the bonnet to ease access to all the horizontal panels, and on the right flank, a cage is fixed to the body for additional storage. The detailing is still far from over though, as the wing-mounted indicators and roof-line repeaters are positioned, with the more exposed lower wing lights protected by four half-torus PE guards that create a cage around them on both sides. PE cages are added around the rear lights too, bending the ends to match the profile, then adding a pair of stirrups below the back doors. A plate is glued to the left door frame to accept a two-part exhaust that allows the vehicle to plough through water up to a metre deep without stopping to prepare. The right door frame has another assembly made up from five parts, which looks like an emergency flasher, but clearly isn’t. The machine gun turret has a pair of smoke grenade launcher assemblies made up with three barrels each on a carrier plate that is fitted to the front corners of the assembly. The two side armour panels have their bullet-proof vision panels inserted from inside, and are then assembled onto the base, which has a circular ring with bayonet lugs fixed to the underside, and moulded-in stiffeners on the top surface to keep the armour at the correct angle, even under fire. The D-shaped crew hatch is given a pair of handles, and is then fixed into position in the turret floor, adding an A-frame mount for the machine gun, which needs a 1.2mm hole drilling to accept the weapon, which is built up from a breech with moulded-in barrel that is clamped between two mounting halves, with handle added to the rear and ammo feed on the top, linked to a three-part ammo box as it is slipped into the splinter shield, which also has two vision blocks inserted from within. The completed gun is then lowered onto the mount, securing its pin into the hole drilled earlier, then finishing off by adding a rear-view mirror on a U-bracket, a hand-traverse wheel on the underside, and a wire across the back of the turret. The completed assembly then drops into the cut-out and is rotated to lock it in place. Markings There are four options on the decal sheet, all with a base coat of green, and various digital camouflages applied over the top. From the box you can build one of the following: KOZAK-2, 35th Separate Marine Brigade of Ukraine, January 2021 KOZAK-2, 36th Separate Marine Brigade of Ukraine, August 2021 KOZAK-2, reconnaissance unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, November 2022 KOZAK-2, an unknown unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, autumn 2022 Decals are by ICM’s usual partners, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. As previously mentioned, there are three instrument decals supplied on one of the sheets, but these don’t appear to be mentioned on the instructions, so you’ll need to apply a little deductive reasoning to locate them, as A3 isn’t so obvious where it should go. Conclusion The brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has put focus on Ukraine’s defence systems from an outsider’s point of view, and it’s good to see that their equipment is being kitted for us modellers, so we can show support in some small way for their fight. It’s a good-looking kit, and apart from adding some window blinds, strap for the top gunner, and a few cables in the passenger compartment, it’s an excellent rendition of the type. Hopefully, we’ll see some of the longer-wheelbase variants in the future. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

It's Trumpeter m1130 Stryker 1/35, i used ak 3gen, tamiya, icm, mr. hobby paints. It was my second model painted by airbrush

I based the build on photos from 2022 Ka-52s in action in the invasion of Ukraine. Early invasion aircraft saw their red stars, bort and registration numbers all covered up with various spray paints. The Russians don’t seem to be so concerned with hiding aircraft ID in action in 2023. Camouflages of aircraft in action vary with glossy mustard tan and dark green newly built aircraft sporting colorful bort numbers, the faded 'eggplant' dark grey versions and the chosen subdued example below with the often seen 'V' on the sides and belly. I used the Italeri Ka-50 and Neomega Ka-52 conversion, not the Arma-Models 3d printed kit. Neomega's cockpit as usual is full of details and great seats. No complaints here. Rotor masts got some extra details. Neomega get the ball rolling with its conversion set but leaves a lot of things out. Studying photographs showed a lot of omitted details, mainly sensors and antennas that would need to be scratch built. The forward fuselage fits fairly well with the Ka-50 rear fuselage, it did take some sanding though not as bad as I feared. I aligned it so most of the coarse sanding was on the bottom. A lot of various aftermarket products used, most importantly Metallic Details who provided quite a few high quality Ka-50 improvement sets that I used including exhausts and intakes, new wings, pylons and weapons. The rivets needed to be added as well. After painting I added Begemot stencils and other tiny decals. All the identifying stars and numbers were sprayed over and the invasion V signs added.

Hello all, Picked up Trumpeters 1/72 M2A2 Bradley kit recently after it was announced my country has donated a good number to Ukraine. I know very little about this vehicle, but my understanding is its an effective weapon and will be very helpful in the near future as Ukraine attempts to remove their enemy from their country. I've never built any Armor kits before, so this will be a first for me. I also plan to learn how to apply panel washes and weathering to the finish, something I actively avoid and have little experience with. However, 2 weeks ago was my local IPMS show, and a majority of the tanks there (well over a hundred) had weathering, which looked great. I've started watching some videos on youtube about it, but if anyone has advice, im all ears. Hopefully I can finish this before I have to add ERA 😆

HESA Shahed 136/Geran-2 (PLT279) Planet Models by Special Hobby The Shahed 136 autonomous drone, which translates to “witness” in English, rose to prominence after the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine on 24th February 2022, when it was later rumoured that Iran was exporting these simple drones for use by the Russian aggressors, which was confirmed following the recovery of remains of several destroyed examples in Ukraine. The drone is a simple piece of equipment that has been put-together using off-the-shelf components, many of which either originated in the West, or were designed there and manufactured overseas. In Russian service they are designated as Geran-2, which means Geranium. It is thought that the Russians are now manufacturing the larger components themselves, importing only the specific electronics and other parts that would be more difficult to manufacture at short notice. They are powered by a reverse-engineered copy of a Western designed piston engine that drives a two-bladed pusher propeller, and they are noisy in operation, which makes them an easily identified target for Ukrainian snipers or anyone else with a gun and a scope to take a pot-shot in aid of their nation’s defence. Although their payload is relatively small at an estimated maximum of 50kg, they are cheap to produce, and despite their vulnerability to ground-fire, are hard to hit by other types of weapons, particularly aircraft as their radar can’t lock on easily, and the speed differential is significant. The use of a technological successor to GPS by the Russians has increased their accuracy and extended loiter time, waiting for targets of opportunity to travel into their vicinity. They are launched from a ramp, sometimes in a rack of up to five drones on the back of a truck, using a RATO pod under the centre-line of the delta-winged drone to gain height and speed, after which it is jettisoned and the prop takes over. There is speculation about the aircraft’s range, with a maximum of around 1,500 miles, but with a top speed of 115mph it would take many hours to reach a target deep within Ukrainian territory, with plenty of opportunities for interception by the eagle-eyed locals. The Kit This is a brand-new mixed media kit from Special Hobby’s resin specialist brand Planet Models, although it includes traditional and 3D printed resin, and injection styrene parts inside the small cardboard box. There are seven grey resin parts, five 3D printed parts in orange, a sprue of grey styrene, and a decal sheet that provides the minimalist stencils applied to Russian and tail-codes for Iranian airframes. It’s a very small model for obvious reasons, and all the parts are easy to remove from their casting and printing blocks, and we’re all very familiar with removing styrene parts from sprues. Construction begins with the liberation of the parts and clean-up, then the support frame is made from three styrene parts from the sprue, plus four resin castors on circular bases. The drone is moulded almost complete, needing just the fins and rudders to be glued to the wingtips, two pieces of wire or tube from your own stock inserted into recesses in the leading edges of the wing, and the nicely detailed piston-engine slotting into the rear. The RATO pack installs on a bracket and slot under the fuselage, and that’s it. You join the two assemblies together, the nose support fixing into a hole under the nose at the bottom of a retaining strap that is moulded into the drone itself. Markings There are three Russian and two Iranian tail-code options, and for the Russian airframes there are No Step/Don’t Push stencils for each of the horizontal control surfaces. The aircraft is painted an off-white all over, while the engine is different metallic shades, and the RATO pod is black. The trolley is dark grey with silver castors and rubber tyres. If you need further information, there are plenty of pictures online. Conclusion A well-executed model in my favourite scale of an interesting drone from the modern era of drone-based warfare, even though it’s on the side of the aggressor. They make quite a bang when they’re shot down, so you know when you’ve hit one, which is always good. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi everyone, So I decided to give this one a go which was kindly gifted to me by @chiefwiggumfrom Telford last year. That box-top Civil scheme from the Aero Club of Ukraine looked the business. AMK_L-29_Delfin_box by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr I've never built an AMK kit before but seem to have a good reputation. I think this is scaled down from their 1/48 kit? This is a small wee jet for 1/72 but beautiful detail throughout and includes a small P/E set for the flaps. AMK_L-29_Wip_Sprues by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Going to be OOB, save for some belts from tape. Lovely quilted cockpit detail... AMK_L-29_Wip(1) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Some parts to be painted - you get a very nicely detailed nose bay (top and bottom) and a fan/exhaust, neither which will be visible. AMK_L-29_Wip(5) by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Thanks for looking, more soon! Cheers, Dermot

Journalists in War (35751) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd It’s an important part of war that the truth gets out to the wider world, at least within the constraints of operational security. We’re all painfully aware of what’s been going on in the Ukraine over this last year, and the press have been in the thick of it, providing the world at large with a more honest representation of the facts that the invader. They often wear body armour and a MICH style covered helmet when they’re close to the front, with blue fabric and the words PRESS emblazoned in white in the hope that it will prevent the invader from firing on them. Sadly, that’s not always the case, so you must appreciate the bravery of these people their cameramen and technicians that put themselves in harm’s way to give us chapter and verse on the proceedings. The Kit This is a new tool figure set from ICM, and arrives in a top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter on the lid, and a captive flap on the lower tray. Inside are two sprues of parts in a resealable bag, and the instruction sheet that has a parts diagram and colour chart on one side, and a combined painting and construction guide on the other, using colour drawings and many lines to point out part numbers in black and colours in red boxed letters that can be translated to ICM, Revell and Tamiya paint codes from the table overleaf. There are four figures on the main sprue, three journalists, and one brave Ukrainian soldier being interviewed. All the figures are standing, the interviewer holding out a microphone with large wind-gag to the soldier that is wearing his full battle rig, including tac-vest, backpack and kneepads, and carrying an AK74 derivative with an optional Underslung Grenade Launcher (UGL) across his chest, and a wide-brimmed floppy hat on his head. The cameraman has a large two-part camera on his shoulder, wearing shorts, vest and a blue peaked cap, plus a bag slung over his shoulder. The remaining crew member is taking still photos with a DSLR, and has a camera bag slung over her shoulder, the strap for which is moulded into her torso, the bag being a separate part. Sculpting is first rate as we’ve come to expect from ICM, and the figures are all broken down sensibly, with separate arms, legs, torso and heads, which have flat tops to their heads where the need for hats or helmets arises. Markings There are no decals included, although a few PRESS logos would have been appreciated, but the colours are all pointed out on the build drawings, with plenty of options for alternate colours that will give your models a bit of personality, plus a swatch of the modern digital camouflage that is the camouflage of choice of the Ukrainian forces, and for which you can now buy a sheet of decals to help you to get a more realistic finish to the camo without painstaking hours marking out all the colours in individual blocks. I found my sheet by Breeze Decals, a collaboration with Dora Wings on eBay, so you now have your starting point. ICM have also just released a new acrylic paint set with six civilian colours, which is numbered #3030, and we’ll be reviewing that soon, so keep your eyes open. Conclusion An excellent addition to any Ukrainian (or many other places with different camouflage used) diorama that you may be planning, with crisp details that should look great after sympathetic painting and weathering. It also helps that it’s competitively priced, even at full retail. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Hi Friends, @Val_Ukraine , @Procopius My MiG is from IBG 72901 set "MiG-29 in Ukrainian Air Force". IBG reboxed Trumpeter's model with Foxbat decals (it is company from Ukriane). The set contains 3 different camouflage variants, in my opinion the most attractive one is with "tryzub" (harpoon). I added some extra goodies: Eduard's exhaust nozzles, Quinta cockpit and small but very usefull Eduard PE set designed for old Italeri kit. Instead of using digital cammo decal set I used additional masks produced by Foxbat too. I also added some wires, replaced probes and antennas. It was very relaxing build, took me only 3 months. Let's look a little closer: Important remark: I cut and shortened main landing gears. Without it model looks really bad - it's rear side is much too high, as you can see below. In my opinion best solution would be: to shorten all gear struts 1mm and add extra 1,5 mm for front gear. And some photos with Tonka which I finished recently too. She still waits for photo -session: Glory for free and independent Ukraine. Please, help and support brave Ukrainians, they are fighting not only for their own freedom. Thanks for watching and reading, hope you liked my Mig. Best regards, Michal.

The Crew of Stugna-P Anti-Tank Complex (35750) 1:35 ICM via H G Hannants Ltd In Ukrainian, the Стугна-П or Stugna-P, or sometimes Stuhna-P, depending on the translation, is a highly adaptable anti-tank weapon that was originally designed in Belorussia, but after 2014 was fitted with a new control unit of Ukrainian design. It is a capable platform that can attack targets from extremely close to medium range, attacking various types of target that can either be stationary or mobile. Sometimes called Skif, it can penetrate standard or composite armour and Explosive Reactive Armour, and is also able to penetrate bunkers and other soft targets, including helicopters. If there is no incoming fire or other impetus to vacate the area, the missile can be set up by its minimum crew of three and manually guided to target by its operator, but if stealth or absence is good for continued good health, it can be launched in fire-and-forget mode, with no external input required after initial targeting and launch. The weapon is mounted on a tripod in a tubular launcher, and the guidance computer is akin to a ruggedised laptop with a screen and game controller-style joystick. It can be operated remotely by a 50m cable in case there is a chance of the launch plume being spotted by the enemy, firing a HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) round with dual warheads that can penetrate thick armour after detonating appliqué armour with the first charge. It was originally designed with the M1 Abrams in mind during the Cold War, but with a High Explosive fragmentation missile it can be used to create havoc with entrenched troop positions. The Kit This new set combines a Skif unit with a four-man crew, and arrives in a small top-opening box with the usual captive lid attached to the bottom tray. Inside are two sprues, one containing the weapon, the other the parts for the crew. The instruction sheet is printed on glossy paper on both sides of a folded sheet of A3, one side containing a sprue diagram and colour chart, the second page the build steps for the weapon, and the remaining two pages covered with detailed drawings of the figures. Construction of the Stugna-P is a relatively short process, consisting of creating the tripod from three legs, one with the pedestal moulded-in, then making up the missile tube from two halves, building a box that the launch tube sits on from three parts with top and bottom pivots, making up the sighting assembly from six parts, including the lens in a tubular housing, then putting the elements together and joining the two halves of the control “box”, which has additional detailed painting instructions. The weapon is painted either camouflage green or desert sand, then the instructions turn to the figures. The crew are each broken down into torso, arms, legs and head that are moulded separately, plus modern MICH-style helmets, pouches and bags, four AK derivative rifles and a pistol in a holster. The figures are crisply sculpted and are wearing modern combat gear, including MOLLE loop vests and pouches, covered helmets, combat boots and tactical gloves. There are also four sets of goggles to strap to the helmets or over the crew’s eyes if you’re no good at faces, or think they need protecting from debris kicked up by a missile launch. The figures are shown as drawings with arrows pointing out the part numbers and paint letter codes that correspond to the table on the front of the booklet in ICM, Revell and Tamiya systems. To assist with painting the figures’ uniforms, a swatch of digital camouflage that is worn by many of the Ukrainian soldiers is printed with the figure drawings, although I’ll be looking for some camouflage decals to ease the task when I get around to building this set. Conclusion The Ukrainian flag swatch and slogan on the front of the box is good to see, the figures and launcher are finely moulded, and should build up into an excellent model either for display on your shelves or within a diorama. Highly recommended. Available in the UK from importers H G Hannants Ltd. Review sample courtesy of

Just started the Heller 2014 release SU-27, searched round found Ukraine color scheme, and now guess what -yes Heller announce the 2023 release of a Ukrainian Digital Camo version Grrrr. Ah well remember Niven's revelation - the perversity of the Universe tends to a maximum! Anyway searching round I couldn't find any reference to Nose weight for this. There's nothing mentioned in the instructions. So after taping the main structure together and some careful balancing on a kitchen scale, I estimate about 30g is needed (1oz in old money). Fortunately there's plenty of room in the nose cone and under the cockpit. Incidentally the instructions are a seriously confusing mix of color numbers and part numbers, with every part labelled with a color number and a part number.... Some people may welcome this but I find it annoying and unhelpful, especially since the color numbers are all for a Russian version. The ukrainian version is different in several respects - the cockpit colors, etc. Still we struggle on. I mean really if that's the worst we have to deal with, we're pretty lucky. Pics to follow. Slava Ukraini!

Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Interceptor (DW48046) 1:48 Dora Wings This little-known light-weight fighter was developed as a private project by Curtiss-Wright with a similar ethos to the Japanese Zero, which was under development almost simultaneously half-way around the world. It was intended to be unbeatable to altitude, outclimbing anything from the era, in order to take down bombers or reconnaissance aircraft before they could reach their target. It was supposed to climb away from its attackers so had little in the way of protection for either the pilot or the fuel tanks, and wasn’t all that heavily armed either, with just two guns in the nose of either .30 or .50 calibre, synchronised with the rotation of the propeller. As expected, the US Army Air Corps were disinterested, but the intent had been to export the type anyway, so Curtiss were unconcerned, although one tester was less than complimentary about the difficult landing characteristics of the aircraft, stating that it took a genius to land it safely. In 1940 a small shipment was sent to China as part of an export agreement, with three transported pre-assembled, the remaining airframes to be constructed on arrival, totalling 30 in all. The Chinese liked them a lot more than the Americans, and put them into limited use where they claimed a few kills. Curtiss were looking to improve the design to gain wider appeal, so two additional sub-variants were created, one dropping the Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine in favour of a V-12 Allison motor, which remained a paper project. The other variant was the CW-21B, which changed the retraction of the main gear from rearward to inward, removing the need for fairings under the wings, and giving the gear a more traditional look. The tail-wheel was also made semi-retractable, remaining in the airflow with a fairing surrounding it to minimise disturbance. An order of 24 was made by the Netherlands, but after the country was overcome in short order by the Nazis Blitzkrieg tactics, the order was transferred to the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army where they served valiantly, but were overcome by sheer numbers of Japanese aircraft. Before long they were all either destroyed or no longer airworthy, save for one that was used as a liaison hack, the eventual fate of which is unknown. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Dora Wings, and it’s an awesome achievement for them to continue to release new products while the Ukraine is still at war, and Eugen is doing his duty for his country. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a painting of the type on the front, having just downed a Japanese fighter. Inside is a resealable bag with six rectangular sprues in a medium grey styrene, a small sprue of clear parts, a decal sheet, vinyl canopy masks, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE), and the instruction booklet in A5, printed on glossy paper in colour, with profiles on the rear pages. Detail is excellent, continually improving since their debut, with fine panel lines, raised and engraved details, and inclusion of aspects such as PE and masks that many companies consider extras. Construction begins with the instrument panel, which has a decal for the dials, and is applied to a C-shaped frame, adding some small PE toggles to the dash. A lower stack of instruments is installed between the legs of the frame, from which the rudder pedals hang, and another C-shaped frame glues on behind it, making it free-standing like an easel. The pilot’s seat is a single part that has a pair of PE lap belts slung over the sides, and both assemblies are joined to the floor, which has the control column and a lever installed, plus a bulkhead behind the pilot’s seat. Preparation of the fuselage begins with detailing the insides of the cockpit sidewall on the starboard side with a throttle quadrant and a few levers, and adding more details to the port side. The area around the tail-wheel is a separate insert with ribbing moulded onto the inner faces to allow the original CW-21 to be made from the same fuselage halves. The halves remain separate for now, as the engine must be built first, as it resides inside, so let’s get on with that. The input pathway for the engine is moulded almost complete, but has two missing L-shaped tubes glued into place to finish it off, as is the push-rod wheel, which also has the bell-housing moulded into it, and magneto fixed to the top of it. The 9-cylinder radial engine is made of front and rear halves, with the gaps filled between the cylinders by inserts moulded into the front. The two halves are closed up around the prop-shaft, allowing the propeller to rotate if you don’t overdo the glue. The intake array attaches to the rear with a cylindrical spacer behind it, and the exhaust collectors are made up from two parts each side, with the impression of a hollow lip given by clever moulding. You could deepen the hole to add realism, or just paint the inner black. The two assemblies fix to the engine at the rear, one each side, with the push-rods at the front, and another ring at the rear, joining the three N-shaped mounts that fix to a D-shaped bulkhead behind. Even now, we’re not closing up the fuselage yet. There are wings to be built. As is common with low-wing monoplanes, the underside wing surface is full-width, and the various segments of main gear bay walls insert into position within, performing the additional task of strengthening the shape, accompanied by a short T-shaped spar that also follows and reinforces the dihedral of the wing. The upper wing halves are glued on top, and a central ribbed section covers over the rest of the gear bays. The ailerons are each separate parts, and two small U-shaped ribs are inserted into the bays, and now you can close up the fuselage, trapping the cockpit and engine in position as you do so. A small section of the cowling lip is a separate insert to facilitate adding the gun ports, and a little intake is backed by a trapezoid insert before it is added to the fuselage and the wings are joined to the underside of the fuselage. The fin is moulded into the fuselage, while the elevator fins are fixed by slots and tabs, joined by the separate elevators and the rudder panel, plus a pair of gun barrels that are slipped into the ports in the nose at the same time. The three-bladed prop is a single part to which you add the spinner, and then glue it to the drive-shaft, and the canopy is a single moulding with a spot for the PE ring that has a PE bead inserted into the fuselage in front of the canopy. A pitot probe slides into a hole in the port wing, after which the model is inverted to deal with the gear. The main wheels are each two parts that you can sand a flat into to depict weighting if you wish, and each one mounts on the bottom of the strut, which has a separate oleo scissor-link, and a captive bay door. The inner bay doors each have an L-shaped PE retractor added, and glue to the centreline between the bays along with a retractor for the gear, one part styrene, the other PE. The tail-wheel has a single-sided yoke to which the tiny wheel fits, and the model is completed by adding a clear landing light under each wing, aileron fairings near the wing tips, and a small horn-shaped “thing” between the main gear bays. I don’t profess to know what that is, but is could be a horn, a fuel dump or even a little whistle so people know you’re coming. I’m kidding, by the way. Markings There were only around 50 airframes made, so having three decal options makes for the depiction of a decent proportion of them. They all wear the same basic camouflage, but the operators’ markings help to differentiate them. From the box you can build one of the Following: ‘White Patrol’, Perak Airbase, Java, 2-VLG-IV, September 1941 ‘Yellow Patrol’, Perak Airbase, Java, 2-VLG-IV, September 1941 Ex-Dutch, captured and flown in Japanese markings, Singapore, 1945 I don’t know who prints Dora Wings’ decals, but they have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The instrument decal is printed as dials only with a clear film that allows the modeller to paint the panel without having to match colours. Conclusion I’m a fan of Dora Wings, as they’re not frightened of portraying types that you might not have heard of before, and suggest that amongst many other reasons to buy their kits, that’s one of them. This little fighter looks like a baby Corsair with straight wings before its prop grew in, and it will confuse the heck out of anyone that hasn’t heard of it before. The fact that it is also a well-detailed kit is a bonus. Don’t forget that the Ukraine is still not the safest place in the world for anyone, so if you decide to purchase this kit (why wouldn’t you?), it’s possible you might have to be patient due to the vagaries of the situation. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

It’s funny how one can be totally indifferent towards a certain aircraft and then one specific paint scheme sparks the inspiration. I noticed the (mid-90s) splinter scheme on the painting instructions of an ACE decal sheet I saw online and was intrigued, then somewhat disillusioned when I saw the real colors in an Airliners.net photo, then intrigued again after I finally found some pics of the aircraft in service. Of course everyone likes the signature digital camo of the Ukrainian Air Force, but for me the older splinter scheme is just too cool. The new Zvezda Su-25 seemed to be the perfect opportunity to implement this project, and I was delighted that Zvezda brought their A-game to this kit; it's miles above the competition. Cockpit interior details are very basic, but with a closed canopy and the awesome pilot in there, it won't be noticed, and the coaming & HUD are excellent. People who build this with an open canopy will want to use aftermarket parts anyway. The surface details are great, even if the thumb-sized mushroom rivets of the original are clearly under-represented on the model and the execution of panel lines is a bit uneven in certain areas. Part fit and engineering is perfect, and lastly, you can't beat the price, which is about 40 Euros around here. Fuselage construction is a multi-part affair, and I think it’s best to glue only limited sections while ensuring a proper fit. The decals (from Begemot?) are a dream to work with. There's a gazillion stencils to apply, since every panel seems to have it's own ZIP code on the original. The Ukraine markings were taken from a sheet for the Su-17 that I had around. The kit comes with a comprehensive and well-detailed weapon set. Unfortunately, Zvezda decided not to include the clear parts for some of the missiles, so I had to improvise for the S-25 seekers. I added and air duct and mirrors in the canopy and the target camera from an Eduard kit on the HUD, everyhing else is OOB state. Colors are custom mixed Tamiya acrylics and Vallejo Metal Color for the dull aluminium. Thanks for watching, and C & C are welcome!

Hearing about the Zvezda 1/48 Su-25 being produced I dug into the stash and decided to finish some of the KP kits with aftermarket stuff I have collected for them. Nothing like the threat of a new release to get me clearing the stash. Lots of aftermarket, scratch built some minor details, added rivets, new chaff and flare launchers. Love to say I painted it but I cheated with the Authentic Decals digital sheet. This aircraft Blue 06 sadly was shot down in the previous Russian invasion of 2014. Lots of rivets added among other small details. Size comparison with Su-35

After reviewing this kit (here) that was sent to me by Eugen of Dora Wings from the Ukraine just before the shutters came down in what is bound to be one of the terrible events of this century (that's all I'll say on the matter, you keep your own counsel), I wanted to thank him for the sample, and sent a message. So far he's not replied, but I hope he's ok. If he manages to read this at some point, I want to send my best wishes to him, his family and friends, and the wider Ukraine. I got the urge to build it, and I'm not too brilliant at resisting urges like that, so I opened up the box again and started hacking parts off. This is the third kit I've started recently, and I'm hoping to get them all through to completion at around the same time because I'm tired of not completing models. I've got the new Eduard Zero going here, and a Wingsy Kits Claud on the go here, which came to a grinding halt when I realised I'd got no suitable paint for the cockpit! I've since got those from Albion Alloys and Air-craft.net, so thanks to both of those lovely folks moving on, I began putting assemblies together on the Vengeance for the long two-seat cockpit that has the bomb bay running along the underside, the tail wheel bay and the engine. all of which will be needed to close up the fuselage. The kit's got some excellent detail from the box, with a lot of PE ready to further improve on that, which has taken me a while to get put together, but I'm not the fastest modeller in the world, and I've been doing other stuff in the background, such as sleeping a lot. The cockpit was made up into what seemed like an infinite number of sub-assemblies, with some of them are total works of art, such as the framework that supports the gunner's seat, which has to be seen to be believed. Surprisingly, I found that easy to put together thanks to the quality of the moulding, scraping away all the mould-lines as I went. The seats were also nice, as was the main panel, with decals to put behind the PE panel, which I did in a one-step process using Klear as both the decal setting solution and glue for the panel, so that everything could be lined up neatly before setting. Here's a group picture of the assemblies, erm, assembled. Sounds like a Marvel film: This all got a squirt of grey primer then a coat of either Gunze Chromate Yellow Primer (C352), or Zinc-Chromate Type-1 (C351), lightened hither and thither and then glossed'n'washed with some Ultimate washes. Some touch-ups, amalgamation of various sub-assemblies and re-gluing back the PE parts to the sidewalls 2 or 3 times (I can't help being clumsy!), I finally got it into position within the fuselage, along with the tail-wheel and its bay. I'm not terribly far off closing up the fuselage now, at which point I'm going to do the same for the Claud, but in the meantime I've put together the engine, which is currently in black primer as I write this. I also built up the engine cowling, partly because I was dying to see how it went together. The short answer is "brilliantly!". The longer answer is still brilliantly, but it took some careful and fun PE wrangling and was only achieved thanks to some exceptional moulding by Dora. The main cowling was in two halves with a separate lip that goes together nicely. I did a little fettling of the joins so they fitted flush, and then turned to the intake in the bottom of the lip. That's a separate styrene part with two PE splitters that fit into little grooves in the main lip. I glued those in first and then added the styrene top section, using plenty of liquid glue to get it to squish out when I put a bit of pressure on it. That worked well, and clean-up was minimal. The cooling flaps are PE and fit into gaps in the rear of the cowling. I cut each one off in turn so I didn't get them confused, annealed each one and rolling them carefully in my rolling tool, using the largest 19mm roller. With a negligible amount of tweaking of the PE, and a bit of scraping of the ends of the gaps, I got each of the four cooling flap sets to fit into the cowling really neatly in the closed position. A lot of the credit goes to Dora's designers, and they're going to look great with a bit of paint on them (the flaps, not the designers!). The half-circle recesses in the rear of the cowling is where the exhaust stubs poke through, and they needed a little bit of work to make them more in-scale with reality. Those were made up and scraped thin the following session, using my Galaxy Model motor tool to get the thickness down, then scraping the edges with a sharp '11 blade. Once I was happy, I melted the interior surface smooth with some liquid glue. They got a coat of black primer at the same time as the engine, and are now brown, waiting for me to put some rusty/hot shades on them. The pic below shows them before they were semi-melted: The next job is to finish up the fuselage closing and paint the engine. Whether I can be bothered to wire up the spark plugs or not remains to be seen. Doing that task on the Zero nearly drove me (more) (than usual). The gear bays have been painted and put to the side, and I've just realised that I've forgotten to take a single picture of them

After a long wait for decals, I have finally put the finishing touches on my Ukrainian airlines Embraer 190. I like this little kit. It's an easyish one to turn around, plus I had some spare AA decals left over from my BA 190 made at the end of last year. (See it here: https://bit.ly/3PwnIlj ) I have included some pre-decal shots too. - Kit went together okay, though needs filler in places. - Made a custom nose landing light from a transparent sprue - Decals from Authentic airliners and Polish eBay user 'bigt1972'. Decals quite thick and fragile but look good when in place. My narrowbody shelf is now full! Feedback welcome. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 Chris