Search the Community

I have had the Dynavector Gannet kit in my stash for some years intending to make it one day – the article in Cold War in January this year called "Gannet goings on" by Canberra Kid sparked my interest again with some nice drawings from manuals and news that Airfix are releasing a 1/48 AS1/4 Gannet. As a result I decided to start on my Dynavector Gannet now and try and try to get it made before the Airfix kit is released and distracts me. I had a look at some nice Dynavector Gannets by Rizzo & ianwau posted here in Britmodeller - https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234918551-fairey-gannet-cod4/ https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235101507-148-dynavector-fairey-gannet-as-1/page/3/ I had the old Airwaves etched wing fold set and was interested to see how it would look and Rizzo’s build was a good example of this - I decided I would trim the airfoil ribs down to fit inside the wing halves. I would also fabricate the hinge and pushrod mechanisms similar to what Rizzo did – the etched parts should help working out dimensions of the various bits. FUSELAGE I belatedly decided to do a WIP so unfortunately, I did not take many photos of the fuselage halves before I cemented them together other than sections where the cockpits & nose wheel bay go - The kit cockpit assemblies are quite nice and I added some extra detailing and some Airscale instrument dials and decals. I separated the rear operators seat back from the seat pan referring to photos. These photos show some of the extra details added with plastic card & copper wire. An internal bulkhead and the nose wheel bay were added prior to joining the fuselage. I cut the rudder away from the fin and added a rudder post for strength. Several test fits were done ensuring the cockpit assemblies, nosewheel bay & fuselage bulkhead all fitted snugly before gluing it all together. References I used included these - https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910632-fairey-gannet-xa334-royal-australian-navy/ https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/gannet/walkaround.php https://www.net-maquettes.com/pictures/gannet-as-4-walkaround/ INNER WINGS I decided to scratch build new main wheel bays & try & replicate the internal structure which was built mainly in 30thou Evergreen sheet - the main spar was made from 60thou sheet shaped to the wing dihedral. T I glued an inner aerofoil section of Evergreen plastic about 2mm inboard of where the etch part will sit to provide an anchor point for push rods & cable/pipes if needed and also to prevent see through into the inner wing space. I used multi strand copper wire stripped from some fine household electrical cable to represent the hydraulic pipes and other cabling - My method of keeping the copper strands from fraying & falling apart is to solder the ends of each branch of the pipes once they have been separated into the various pipe runs I am trying to replicate. The wire was then carefully fed around the internal ribs and was and positioned referring to the walkaround photos - a couple of bottles in the wheel bay were made from sprue turned in a drill & copper wire piping added. photos above show mounting hole for main gear strut and extension to the strut with aluminium tubing to allow for the deeper wheel bay. INNER WINGFOLD The plastic outer edges at the inner wing fold break were thinned to about 0.5mm using the edge of a scalpel blade and the edges of the Airwaves aerofoil section were carefully filed holding the etch piece against a wooden block to prevent it from bending. The etched wing panels above before being separated and showing the thin green outer edge that I filed away so it fits inside the upper & lower wing halves – you have to take care doing this as the etch will bend easily. The etched aerofoil has been glued into place with CA and the flap end made from plastic sheet A test fit of upper & lower wing halves around the aerofoil section all held together by a rubber band. I really am enjoying all of the scratch building I'm doing on this model. So that's the Gannet started and hopefully it will progress steadily without too many hold ups CJP

Evening all With the waters now settled on my 1/32nd Sunderland build, I thought it about time to start another big vacform... well, to be exact, continue with a long stalled project from a few years ago. I started this Tigger (ex ID Models) vac of the Short Stirling about 5 or 6 years ago and ran out steam, and it had been consigned to the loft since I boxed it up and got distracted with something else. A conversation a few months ago with @Cees Broere about the Stirling led him to offer me his also-stalled project with the promise that I'd continue his excellent start and get it finished - an offer I grabbed with both hands considering the excellent start he's made to the cockpit interior which is my least favourite part of building models such as these. I was in the Netherlands with the family last week, to I popped in to see him and picked the beast up - thanks again, Cees! I've since been for a rummage in the loft and dug my kit out, and now combining the two means I'm confident that I can finally get the job done. So here's where we're at... This is how far Cees had got with his fuselage: And how far I'd got with mine, which as you can see is not very: Cees is a wonderfully talented modeller and scratch-builder and has made some beautiful progress with the cockpit area - a great base for me to continue working on: Here are the wings I'd started a few years back - at the time I decided to open up the wing and reveal some of the interior detail. I like to think I've improved my scratch-building skills since then so instead I'll use the wings from Cees' kit and start again: That's a lot of plastic! Here are the other parts that include the engine nacelles, stabs and fin, etc - pretty basic stuff but perfectly workable: Cees has kindly given me a supply of Bristol Hercules engines as well as various HK Lancaster turret parts which will come in very useful and reduce the amount of scratch-building needed in the future: So... with both my earlier work and Cees' more recent efforts, I certainly have something Stirling shaped which is a great start (or point to continue from) for this project so I'm ready to dive back in! The plan is to do a late MkIII variant with open bomb bays and a full bomb-load - squadron and specific aircraft yet to be decided. I'm really not looking forward to tackling the landing gear, but that's a problem for another day. Updates are likely to sporadic as the new school term starts imminently but I'll do my best to keep those interested updated on my progress. All the best, Tom

The Vickers Valentia is the tenth 1/72 aircraft kit I've made since I restarted modelling in 2020. But it's the first vacform, and nothing really prepares you for that. Fortunately, JWM was already working on one and his Valentia K3160 WIP pages (https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235109961-vickers-valentia-contrail-172/) provide a masterclass in tackling the idiosyncrasies of these Contrail kits from the 1980s. There are parts that don't fit well, scored lines that are almost invisible, parts so thin the plastic can even melt if the putty is exothermic, and ludicrously inadequate instructions. The kit needed a fair amount of scratch-building to prepare items that weren't in the box or to replace parts that were plain wrong for this aircraft. I was lucky to find an unopened box so I could see from the beginning where I'd need to improvise. So no complaints, some things you just have to learn. It can be difficult to find information on aircraft from the interwar period. Around eighty of these 'Type 264' Valentias were built, and none of them survive. However, I had a personal lead-in, as it were, as my dad had flown in one on the Khartoum-Nairobi route AND HE TOOK PHOTOGRAPHS. Working through his negatives from 1938 to 1941 was the starting point of all my recent builds. So here she is - K3604, code 'B', of 216 Squadron RAF, at Malakal in Sudan (now South Sudan), on Sunday the 8th of January, 1939, where they had a flat tyre on the rear wheel. p7_57_doublex by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr Aircraft fabric paint on a black and white photo shows up as white under an equatorial sun. I was almost tempted to paint the body all white, but instead I picked a metallic paint and reduced the shine with around 20% satin white. IMGP0455x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr The ribs on the rear of the fuselage and on the wings below the engines are 0.5mm hemp cord, the same as used for model ship rigging. And following Jerzy's lead, I bought 1.5x2.5mm ABS strips for the main wing struts and used another 2mm rod for the exhausts. For the tail struts with a wider profile I took a couple of rods, glued them together, and filled the groove with putty. IMGP0448x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr The kit has Pegasus II engines as required, but there were no exhaust collector rings in the box. Instead, 1mm ABS rod was cut up and glued against a plastic ring cut from the body of an old Letraset ProMarker pen; the diameter and thickness were very close, and filing, putty, and paint did the rest. Antique Copper paint, some Plaid FolkArt acrylics I had - 20 years old but still good. I also had some 3mm brass tubing from another project I did 20 years ago which was a perfect sleeve for a 2mm prop shaft - I now have the smoothest running propellers ever. IMGP0481x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr Jerzy was also on point in removing the individual window sections and inserting one long strip of clear plastic with painted divisions - so much easier, though it was still tricky to keep the glass clean. The cockpit seats are small squares of ABS sheet in a stack, with an upright piece forming the back. I used grey and Cockpit Green on the interior. Seat belts and instrument panel are from a Kora Fairey Gordon kit I'd bought from LFModels two years before. Well, it's from the same period! IMGP0475x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr One of the undercarriage struts broke at the elbow when I was trimming off the flashing. It was such a weak point I reinforced them all by gluing the flat side to 1mm ABS sheet and then trimming them to a better shape. You don't want them to look too heavy of course, but the finished aircraft is no lightweight at 150g. Fortunately, the black injection plastic wheels were pretty good and just needed filing around the edge. The tail wheel may also have come from the Gordon kit, as my own version had used a skid. IMGP0467x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr I haven't added rigging to any of the biplanes I've built and without practice there can be no skill, so I wasn't about to try it with this model. Maybe next time. The original Contrail decals needed cleaning up as the glassine paper had stuck to them but they were tough enough to withstand a wet cotton bud. And a creative drop of paint was needed in converting the supplied K2340 decals to K3604 under the wings, the 2 taking on the role of a 6. Juggling the small code numbers around the tail was very tricky. The 'B' on the fuselage is in two sizes; an old ModelDecal '105' sheet was good for the nose and a Kits-World paint mask on a clear decal sheet did the rear. IMGP0474x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr Faults? Yes, quite a few in planning and assembly. There is a slight distortion at the tips of the wings. I used 1mm ABS sheet strips to reinforce the length inside but should have added more around the extreme edges - in some places the vacform wing plastic is probably no more than 0.3mm thick. Getting the fuselage cuts right for the angle of the lower wing to slot into was also difficult and needed Milliput packed in below. For contrast, this shot shows a Fiat CR.42 Falco I made a couple of years ago. Both 1/72. Who knows, they may have met in the skies above Sudan and Eritrea. IMGP0464x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr I started cutting out the parts in November '22 and worked on it in shifts. Challenging? Very. Satisfying? Immensely. IMGP0452x by Sandeha Lynch, on Flickr

This kit has been nagging me to be built for ages. It's a Torpedo Bomber that was in RAF service in Fife, Scotland in the early 1930's I have been neglecting my Vacforms in the stash for a while, so hopefully this will allow me to rediscover my vacform mojo. Best of luck everyone Cheers Pat

You may have noticed a Falcon 900 in the inspiration gallery which I finished back in 2015 (started in about 2005!). Well it's no longer in my collection so I need to add another which I will be hanging on to. The kit The bits The very comprehensive instructions The decals (which I won't be using) The aircraft (taken at Denver in the mid 90s on a training flight to the USA (my photo) Hopefully I don't botch this one up too much!

I wasn't going to post an RFI for this because it was just a bit of pre-Christmas fun, but it gives me the opportunity to wish everyone here Happy Christmas and thank you all for the companionship and community over the year (with even a meetup at SMW thrown in!). I cut out the parts earlier in the year during the waiting times of an F-102A build (nothing like a bit of contrast), and got serious with the sanding on 10th December. What you get in the kit.: And I finished yesterday in a bit of a pre-Christmas rush with a few rough edges: The struts were real wood from some old, old 1/32" veneer, the paint was AK acrylic with a dose of Hu70 to make it browner, over Hu 103 and 94, and the prop came from the KP Sopwith Swallow kit. WIP is here if you are interested. The whole thing is tiny! Length 3", span 4" (75mm x 100mm for you metric types). Happy Christmas, Adrian

The Avro 707 was designed as a one-third scale research aircraft to test the delta planform of the Avro Vulcan bomber. It first flew in September 1949 and commenced low-speed stability and control trials after being on static display at the Farnborough Air Display. After only a few flights, the prototype crashed on the 30th September. The longer fuselage 707B was next to fly followed by the 707A (two built) and then the two-seat 707C. Today both of the 707As and the 707C survive in museums. The Avro 707 family were originally produced as part of the Project-X range of vacforms in the 1990s and were subsequently re-issued with some additional parts by Whirlybird. In both cases the decals were mostly the Press-Fix type which have caused me many problems in the past as they tend to shrink and crack after a couple of years on the model. For this build I'll be doing all five of the 707s - one of the two 707As tested the extended/kinked wing as used on the Vulcan. I only managed to get one 707A kit but did get a second 707C which has the same vacform parts, except for the canopy, so will be using that. Some of the canopies have yellowed so I'll need to do something about them. The parts for the short-lived 707 prototype, The 707B The 707A with extra parts for the later wing The 707C The new decals I've drawn and printed with the kit decals below Cutting the vacform parts out shouldn't take very long and then I can get on with building. Steve

I hadn't though of doing this as a WIP build - but have had a rethink: i) I had all sorts of trouble finding any build reviews of this one - and suspects there's quite a few of these in peoples stashes (either as Contrail, or the Sanger re-release). ii) hoping that actually building it will provide the impetus for an injection moulded 1/48 Hudson (Airfix?). That's invariably the way it works isn't it? Scalemates says this was originally released in 1984, then re-released by Sanger in 1992 in a new box. The Classic Airframes Hudson kit came out in 2000 - a significant step forward but almost impossible to come by this day (unless you're lucky at a Swap Meet or online 2nd hand). In frustration (at not being able to get a Classic Airframes kit) - I bit the bullet and picked this one up 2nd hand for not much at all. The original purchase price (in $AU) suggests that this wasn't a bargain basement kit at the time. Here's the back of the box. In the spirit of truth in advertising - note the warning: Not suitable for children, contains small metal parts, considerable modelling experience required. They aint kidding - as we'll find out shortly....

Evening all, I took advantage of my time away from the classroom last week and finally finished this two-and-a-bit year project: Tigger Models' (the old ID Models' vac kit) of the Short Sunderland in 1/32nd scale. This has been a really rewarding project, and despite a setback when I knocked the completed fuselage with its interior off the table, making a rather messy contact with the kitchen floor, it's been great fun and relatively straightforward - despite its size. Pic 1 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Kits like this come as a blank canvass for the builder to work his/her magic - 'bumps in plastic' is quite apt, but the shapes are reasonably accurate if not a bit primitive (picture borrowed from Tigger's webpage): Pic 2 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The kit provides a the correct hull shape for a MkI or MkII, but with some mods the more adventurous builder could easily convert it to a MkIII/V, etc. All panel lines and surface details need to be added and the parts are devoid of any real detail, but the plastic is lovely to work with and scribes/sands beautifully. Due to the size of the parts, home-made interior bulkheads are needed, and any visible parts of the interior need to be made from scratch: Pic 3 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Strong wing spars are also essential to keep the structure of the model sound - thick plastic card spars were made and added: Pic 6 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The flightdeck interior, bomb room and nose section were all made from scratch and detailed with some aftermarket seatbelts: Pic 7 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr All the aerials were made from sprue and thin wire - markings were mix of home-made masks and decals: Pic 8 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The engines were made from spare HK Models' B-17 cylinders coupled with Revell Beaufighter parts to make a reasonable representation of the Bristol Pegasus. The early-style exhausts were made from Evergreen tube bent slowly over the toaster! Pic 10 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Landing lights were home made from some of my daughter's diamante play/craft jewellery (for the lights) and the covers were clear acetate once again heated over the toaster. Rigging for the floats came for EasyLine and reminded me why I'll never build a biplane! Pic 11 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr The kit's transparencies were used throughout - all turret interiors were scratch built. Beaching gear was also made from scratch with a friend helping out with some 3D printed wheels: Pic 12 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 13 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Bomb racks were again made from scratch with some rather lovely depth charges coming from Tim Perry - thanks, Tim! Pic 14 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 15 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I used Xtracolor enamels throughout the build - 6 tins were used in total! Pic 16 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I don't like to go too mad with weathering on my models so kept it relatively clean - however you can't build a Sunderland without the distinctive water marks on the hull: Pic 17 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr A bit of exhaust staining and some fading with post-shading completed the upper surfaces: Pic 18 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr And for some generic pictures: Pic 19 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 20 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 21 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 22 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 23 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 24 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Pic 25 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I'm often asked how big a 1/32nd Sunderland is. I'm sorry to inflict my ugly mug on you but you can see that it is a massive model with yours truly holding it! Pic 26 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr My model represents a Sunderland MkII of 201 Squadron during 1942 in the lovely temperate sea scheme. Painting white gives me nightmares (especially something of this size) so I took the easier option. W4001 (ZM-V) was only on strength between February to October 1942, before hitting an underwater rock and being written off, thankfully with no loss of life. Thanks for those who took an interest along the way - I'm off for a long lay down in a darkened room to contemplate the next project! Best wishes to all, Tom

Hi there, pulling out some shelf of doom oddities. This one is the Welsh models vacform kit that I begun.... 2014?? I really can't remember anymore having a soft spot for Luxair birds (first time I flew in an airplane was 1996 from Luxembourg to Frankfurt in a 737-500) and having also a soft spot for Vacform kits I startet numerous Welsh kits in the past. Non of them made it to the finish line So, having what I can only describe as a manic episode concerning my modeling motivation I dug this one out and see how far I can get with it before I lose all my modeling motivation and dive into my other interests (watches, guitar)... Wish me luck http://

I don't normally get as far as RFIs because I lose interest the moment a model is finished, but this is my first 1/72 vac form biplane. Looking at the pictures, I can see that I need to do some dusting after my last bout of sanding a Pegasus Albacore! Anyway, here it is, warts (aplenty) and all: Here's the starting point (the bottom one): I didn't use the struts (plastic rod for the wings and brass rod for the undercarriage, but I did use the wheels and propeller. Lozenge decals were the Pegasus 5-colour set. WIP is here. Thanks for looking, Adrian

I'll start by wishing all Britmodellers a very happy 2019 So... a new year means a new project. I've had this ID Models' 1/32nd Sunderland MkI/II vacuform in the stash for a few years now, and decided that it was time to give it a go. The inspiration is in fact a multi-engine group-build that's going on over at Large Scale Planes for the duration of this year, and I thought this fitted the bill perfectly. I'm hoping to get this completed by the end 2019 - the fact that there's no landing gear/undercarriage bays or bomb bays to worry about having to scratch-build should mean this is doable providing the motivation remains. I'm planning on a fully-detailed flightdeck as well as opening up the bomb hatches on the sides of the fuselage. This thing is massive - the plans below are laid out on our kitchen table. The cutting mat is in fact A3 sized! IMG_0639 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr I'm busily rubbing down fuselage halves and opening various portholes etc. at the moment, so a pictorial update will be coming in the next couple of days. Until then, happy modelling! Tom

Designed to test the low speed characteristics of highly swept wings for Concorde, the HP115 was used for many years of research flying without any major changes and is now preserved at the FAA Museum Yeovilton next to the first British Concorde and the BAC221 used for high speed wing research. A very simple kit with no build issues and painted with Alclad. I added the smoke generators on the wing leading edges and printed my own decals. Thanks for looking. Steve

Following the success of the Hunter, Hawker designed the supersonic P1121 which was substantially larger. The first aircraft was under construction when the project was cancelled but the forward fuselage has survived and is in storage at RAF Cosford. Despite the size the kit was easy to build and I finished it in a pale green scheme similar to the Hunter prototype. Thanks for looking. Steve

Inspired by the German WW2 Bachem Natter, the Fairey Delta was originally designed to take off vertically from a ramp as an interceptor. This idea was quite sensibly dropped and it was used for delta wing research and was the first British delta. A nice simple vacform with a few metal parts for the undercarriage. Painted with Alclad and finished with home made decals. Thanks for looking. Steve

Hello all. At the moment it is so hot here, and I do not have aircon or a fan, so that is limiting what I can do on the workbench. I have decided to do something which I am not renowned for, and that is a bit of pre-build preaparation. When the 'French Fancy II' GB came up, I really only had two subjects in my stash. There was the small matter of this vacform, or HobbyBoss' 1/350 Condorcet pre-Dreadnought. At one point I was going to do both. However, the 7 GB's I signed up to were overlapping each other somewhere along the line - they all started between January and August. I have therefore decided to do only the one, but it will be my third vacform for the GB's, with possibly another later on in the High Wing GB. This is what I have chosen for this GB: It is a small sheet for the aircraft, and I will not need to cut out too many parts as some are duplicated in metal. Scaleplanes as a brand were in my memory as being very good but basic kits, giving the modeller the bare bones to work with, but good bones at that. Their instructions are of the time (1980's): As you can see, it states quite categorically that is a 'Basic Vacform Kit' And there was plenty to read, but minimal guidance as to what goes where, or even how big the bits are. There are templates for the struts, and the modeller has to work out which is which - 'proper modelling!' When I bought the kit from a trader at our local Club Show a few years ago, the price tag was £10, and I saw the vacform sheet and the instructions. Imagine how I felt when I also found this lot inside the pack too! Transfers and a photo-etch fret, complete with 'Scaleplanes' etched on it. They must have decided to go a bit 'less basic' compared to when I bought my first couple of Scaleplanes' kits. But there was more! Yes, even some white metal was in there too. Whoever had pre-owned it had started to paint the prop, but that was as far as they got. I am not sure if this was included by Scaleplanes or if it was after-market stuff that had been left in the pack.There was also two strips of Aeroclub/Contrail-type rod in too for the struts and undercarriage. All in all, I was happy with the £10 for the vacform model, but these accessories really made my day! The etch fret appears to have numbers printed on it, but no reference to it in the instructions, but I will replace the etch undercarriage and struts with the rod (or my own Aeroclub struts) as the etch is too flat, but it will do as a template. I have sprayed the vacform sheet with Halfords Grey Primer, and tomorrow I will start cutting it out and sanding it down. I have three other kits on the go at the moment, so it will be a little while before I start this properly, but at least it will be cut out and ready to go! Any advice, hints or tips will be greatly appreciated. Ray PS - Scaleplanes always seemed to pick subjects that stretched the skill levels. The two others I have done were the AD-1 Sparrow Scout, and the Burgess-Dunne Floatplane

The Short SB5 was built to test the highly swept wing layout for the EE Lightning and flew with three different wing and two different tail configurations. I built the 69 degree sweep version last year; Now it's time to build the other two versions to complete the set and as the kit is fairly simple and they are both in the same colour scheme, I thought it made sense to do a double build. Two Whirlybirds kits and an original Project-X conversion that supplies the different wings and high-set tailplane. The resin parts simplify the build by dealing with the cockpit, intake and jetpipe. The decals are the horrible Clear-Fix type that don't work very well and always crack after application so I'll be replacing them using home printed ones using the artwork I drew for my previous build. Colour scheme will be silver upper and black lower as it is now preserved at Cosford. Steve

Hello all! I have to say I love these Group Builds, especially ones where I can stretch my capabilities, and this one is going to test me! I am no stranger to vacforms, but this will be the biggest I have attempted. The previous 'big' vacform was a Short Singapore III: One thing I will have to do is find a better way to display it! Anyway, here is the kit as supplied. The lovely, solid box, and a wonderful price tag! I got this at the Gloucester Model Club show a few years ago, and with that price it was a bargain! When I opened the box, I wondered just what I had done... There were two good, solid sheets of heavy gauge plastic with the main components, and on the reverse side of the wings, the glossiest finish I have ever seen with this type of model. The wings had been moulded in a very interesting way. They were angled in the mould, and that was to help with the trailing edges having less to sand away. There was also a very good selection of white metal parts included too: I will have to try my scratchbuild skills with the interior, only the control columns are supplied. There was a good instruction manual, from the days when instructions were in text, along with hints and tips for the preparation of the parts. There was also a transfer sheet, which unfortunately has seen better days - one of the roundels is damaged, but hopefully will be salvageable. There were a number of colour schemes supplied in the guide, but I decided to go for something a little different, and got the Aims transfer sheet for a rather interesting scheme: This sheet has the white swirls as transfers, which will help no end. It was designed for the Roden injection moulded kit, and I hope they fit this vacform one! The instructions gave me no clue as to the colours for the rest of the aircraft, so I trawled through Google trying to find instructions for the Roden kit which does contain this scheme, but it was the only one which did not have instructions online! I put a call for help on this Forum for these, and @Steve86 came through and sent me a scanned copy of instructions for the Roden kit - thank you very much indeed Steve! I have also downloaded the Wingnut Wings instructions for the Felixstowes which will also assist immensely. This will be an 'Early F.2A' with the glazing over the cockpit, that is supplied as a vacform part, and it is incredibly clear, and is not yellowed at all. I am looking forward to starting this soon, but the Hosts said in our 'Chat' section that vacforms can be prepped before March 20th! So that will be the next part... Any advice, hints or tips, will be greatly appreciated, I do have John Adams' vacform guide printed out already. Thanks for dropping in, Ray

As the title says From the abyss of reject/incomplete surprise kits, this is a 1/72 Vacform kit of a Focke-Wulf 58 Weihe navigation/air gunnery trainer. I'm guessing this is from somewhere mid- to late 1970s. Yes, it's partly incomplete, and pre-cut by the previous owner(s). Loose bits include a wing spar half - the other one is still on the styrene sheet. Worse is that one of the engines is missing. It's not all bad news, though. The canopy parts are OK - not even yellowed. Partially eaten (?) destruction sheet: Five Weihe trainers were purchased before WW2 by the Dutch LuchtVaartAfdeeling - so I'll be aiming for this with the assistance of the long-gone Special Hobby/MPM Fw-58 kit instructions that will also come in handy for some scratchbuilt cockpit thingies. Glad to have stocked up on Evergreen bits and bobs lately, I'm going to need them! So, tools out: But first, I need to mentally prepare myself - this looks like it might do the trick

Next one from me will be this oldie; Looks to be a fairly straightforward build but the canopy is way too small and very brown and the decals are very basic so I'll have to sort those out. An Aeroclub ejection seat will help with the detail as well as a bit of extra weight up front. The kit has got a few of those new fangled injection moulded parts which will never catch on. I should get the parts separated from the sheet tonight. No idea of what markings this will end up with yet. Steve

I have completed my build of the Dynavector Supermarine Scimitar kit which I started just on a year ago after being motivated to tackle a vacform by Martian & his Hawker Horsley vacform WIP. Subject aircraft of th is build is Supermarine Scimitar F1 XD248 195/R circa 1959/1960 ish. Kit type is a vacform which was surprisingly easy to put together although a lot of work was involved in preparation but satisfying when it started coming together. The Dynavector kit really captures the handsome lines of the Scimitar but I elected to make changes to reshape the fin, tailplane and windscreen which were the only misgivings I had with the kit. Some scratch building was done & some after market was added to add detail to the model- Boundary layer vents plus various other vents were opened and modelled Wheel bays were given some added details with Evergreen strip and wire. A lot of scratch building was done in the cockpit although I did use the kit side consoles otherwise the rest was build with plastic sheet and the instrument panel was fitted with Airscale dial decals Quickboost Reflector Gunsight added. new canopy vacformed reshaping front windscreen & flare on sliding part. An old Cutting Edge Martin Baker MK4 ejection seat was fitted. Wing trailing edge flaps were lowered as per a photo I saw leaving the rest retracted. Wing fold detailing and jury struts were scratch built. Intake and exhaust FOD blanks scratch built. 200 Gal inner wing tanks were sourced from a Kinetic SHAR outer 150 Gal tanks from the kit. CMK Palouste Starter Pod. Flightpath Buddy Pod fitted with scratch built trolley & home made stencil decals. Brengun Deck Tug. A set of Flightpath FAA wheel chocks The WIP link is below - https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235074267-supermarine-scimitar/ Thanks for your interest CJP Thanks again to the intergalactic motivator. CJP

Morning all, I was rummaging around in the loft earlier this week and stumbled upon this long-forgotten build from... 2015. Where has 5 years gone? To cut a long story short, I entered this as part of the non-injected group build and as usual ran of steam during the GB and never got it done. However, I've decided to give it some love and have since added the stabilisers and fins, added some resin engines (kindly donated by a fellow BM member years ago,) found some reasonably shaped air intakes for the top of the engines and given it a coat of primer: Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Lots of surface details to reinstate, but not too far off paint which is always good for the motivation. Tom

I like to have a couple of builds on the go at the same time so will be doing this alongside the little Grob 120. The Saunders-Roe SR177 was a development of the SR53 for RAF & RN use and used jet and rocket engines. Like a lot of other promising British jet projects it was cancelled in the infamous 1957 Defence White Paper as missiles were thought to be a better option. My plan is to do the first prototype that was under construction at the time of the cancellation and have printed my own serial numbers and RN titles. I won't be using any of the kit decals as they are of the Pressfix type and my previous experience of them is not good. The kit is a typical vacform with some nice surface detail and decent metal parts. Steve

1/72 Welsh Models P-8A Poseidon complete. The build consisted of scratch building the weapons bay, weapons mounting points onbthe wings and pylons, many of the ESM and AMS lumps and antennas. I also added various vent blow in doors and the sonobuoy tubes. I reshaped a lot of the kit supplied parts as well. Finally I added Harpoons from a Hasegawa weapons set and Mk48 Torpedoes from a Hasegawa P-3C Orion, they looked close enough to me to replicate the Mk54s the P-8 carries. Decals were from a custom sheet DekLs created by upsizing their 1/200 sheet and it was painted in mainly SMS lacquers. It is a bit rough in some parts but I have spent enough time on it and am calling it finished.

Back in the days before the internet , when we had to look at books for refferences , after market was virtually nil , an amazing man produced a quite limited kit of the Lightning in 1/32 scale. OK Yes it was Vacform , but it was superb. I was a teenager and was looking through scale aircraft modelling magazine and saw an ad for said kit. I had to have one. My Dad drove me from Essex to Maidenhead to get one from the Man himself , Frank Brown. He was a very friendly man. He showed me some built up ones and also the most gobsmackingly good solid resin fuselage with white metal inserts. I believe it was a master for the kit. No idea what resin it was but it was glass smooth and dark blue.Fantastic. The kit was built and displayed in my room before finally getting destroyed years later somehow. I have built a few over the years , i even started one using the Aires bits for the Trumpeter kit , but sold it on to a friend before finishing it. I now want to build another one. One came up on the web for a good price and it arrived today. All is good and the kit it as beautiful as the first time i saw it. Unfortunately the canopy is very yellow. Not to worry i will attempt to make a vac form machine and make a new one. I will post photos of the kit this evening.