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Recently I looked at how many unfinished models I have on my shelf. At first glance, there are a lot of them. But I made a disappointing conclusion that they are still not enough if I want to become the absolute champion in unfinished models. It turned out that this hard sport has a lot of competition, so I start a new model - Kübelwagen Type 82 from Tamiya. I hope that this will be another gem on my shelf with unfinished models Vytautas

Hi All, My latest completion is Special Hobby's Fairey Fulmar. The Fulmar was a carrier-borne reconnaissance & fighter aircraft operated by the Fleet Air Arm during the earlier years of the war, eventually being replaced by single seat aircraft such as the Sea Hurricane, Seafire and Martlet. Despite being slow relative to these aircraft, the Fulmar acquitted itself well in combat throughout the Mediterranean theatre, and at its peak equipped 20 squadrons of the FAA. The SH kit allows for 5 schemes. I have chosen to complete as N2015 of 805 Sqn, which flew from HMS Eagle during 1941. Here's a link to a photo of N2015 (kindly added to the WIP by @Grey Beema - thanks GB!): https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205046496 Here is a link to the WIP if anybody is interested: This scheme was notable for a few reasons: - The white sunscreen applied to the pilot's glazing - The lighter covers for the wing machine guns (which I mistakenly omitted) - Most notably, the locally applied 'spaghetti' camouflage applied to the leading edges and lower surface of the cowling. This was applied in order to confuse enemy troops during ground attack sorties This was one of my most complex paint schemes to date - sadly, it is almost certainly incorrect! @iang supplied some information during the WIP (thanks very much Ian!), which strongly suggests that N2015 had a Sky underside, rather than the B/W & Sky as I've depicted. Furthermore, the leading edges would have been painted in Sky, and the 'spaghetti' elements applied with paints which would have been in store onboard Eagle, such as Roundel Red and Dark Slate Grey. If anyone is considering this scheme I would strongly recommend that you have a look at Ian's very credible advice. I did briefly consider respraying to the correct colours but decided that I would likely make matters worse so pushed on regardless. The kit is the usual SH fare, with vague fit and engineering, but lovely surface detail. The resin cockpit, whilst beautifully detailed, was a woeful fit so much cursing and sanding was expended in getting the thing to fit. With all that said, I'm not displeased with the overall outcome. Anyway, on with the photos: Here's a final shot with another FAA Merlin-powered stablemate: I'm glad I've given this kit a bash - although it's a little frustrating to have knowingly finished the scheme incorrectly, I still think it looks pretty good, and it's good to have the type in my collection! Thanks for looking, Roger

Hallo dear fellow-modellers The project was actually done already a year ago: These are two pichtures I did by myself: However, it took my almost a year to fix a date with my friend and photographer Felix Streuli to let him shot some nice pictures of my little USS Northampton. Cause Rome wasn't built in a day... And for size comparison, some notorious international currency: No, that ain't 15 inch shells. Some more close ups... I hope you do enjoy. Take care and kind regards!

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Centaur Dozer Tank from IBG. I added a few stowage items (from unknown manufacturers). The model was painted with Mr.Hobby acrylics, weathered with artist oils, pastel chalks and a mixture of earth, white glue and pigments for the mud, and sealed with Alclad II Klear Kote Flat. All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel. Disappointingly, the vehicle cannot be displayed with the excavator bucket raised, as shown on the box top art. Therefore, I cut the suspension with a micro saw, repositioned it and rebuilt the lost details on the sideframe. I also added a small cable for the headlight above the shovel. Thank you for your interest!

Dear fellow Britmodellers, here's my 1/72 Phänomen 25H Ambulance car, built from the box with some minor adjustments. The model was painted with Mr.Hobby acrylics. Photos by Wolfgang Rabel. The model is a typical multi-media short run kit consisting of injected plastic, etched parts and resin bonnet. It was a tough build, because fit is iffy and alignment of parts challenging. I replaced the photo-etched dipsticks and grab handles with pieces of stretched sprue. Thank you for your interest!

Have you ever wanted to make your own custom masks for your Luftwaffe aircraft, but your attempts ended up as utter failure/markings were too difficult to draw by hand? Well, don't dispair anymore! I found this link which allows you to download to your pc the exact letter/number font for Luftwaffe aircraft! Simply download the file, open the RAR and install and font, it'll install itself on the font list on Word. You have numbers, letters, and two types of Balkan Crosses! Once you open Word and select the font, "Blockschrift fur Flugzeug", you'll be able to print the desired codes, cut them and make your own masks. https://fonts2u.com/blockschrift-fr-flugzeuge.font

A thirty minute film dated 1941 regarding the Air transport Auxiliary (ATA) who delivered Aircraft throughout the war. In black and white it has some good shots of Ansons, A Whitley, Spitfires (Including aerobatics said to be by Alex Henshaw). It shows how they were organised, though there aren't many shots of the Women Pilots. Everyone is smoking furiously!

Hi everyone, Since last week I've been toying with an idea of dipping my toes into the world of 1/32 planes. I've seen a few really nice examples at Hinckley model show last week and I've developed an itch that I need to scratch. However as I've not built any aircraft type models since late 90's I have absolutely no clue what I'm getting myself into, hence why I would like for some advice from more experienced aircraft wizards on here. Because my interests are predominantly in the WW2 period I was contemplating getting one of the Kotare Spitfires (most likely Mk. Va), but would this be a bit too much too soon? Are Kotare models easy to build? Or shall I start on Revel, Hobby 2000 or Eduard? Also what are the do's and don'ts when it comes to big boy planes? Any tips are much appreciated.

Hallo Here I started a new project. P-51 Blue Nose. Versions/ Pilot FS-FG Kennung Jahr Station camouflage ID stripes canopy exhaust mirror tail decal P-51 B 1042-106451 George Preddy FS 487 FG 352 HO o P Juni 1944 Bodney / GB natural metal finish with med blue nose full malcolm Hood shrouded yes alu ES 5 P-51 B-1542-106914Robert Powell FS 328 FG 352 PE o P Juni 1944 Bodney / GB natural metal finish with med blue nose full framed canopy shrouded yes alu ES 2 P-51 D-544-13321George Preddy FS 487 FG 352 HO o P Juni 1944 Bodney / GB natural metal finish with med blue nose full bubble canopy shrouded yes alu ID Streifen kit Eduard P-51 D-1544-14906 George Preddy FS 328 FG 352 PE o P Dezember 1944 Asch / Belgien natural metal finish with med blue nose half bubble canopy shrouded 2 black rot ES 2 The wings are done. Cockpit is right now in working progress. Happy modelling

Hi All, My next completion is Tamiya's mighty Stringbag, which I will say from the outset is a superb kit. I've completed it as LS276, which flew as part of 836 Sqn FAA from Merchant Aircraft Carrier (MAC) Amastra in 1943. Here's a photo of Amastra, which was a coverted oil carrier: I couldn't find any photos of LS276, but here's another aircraft from 836 Sqn: These aircraft were unusual in that the 'Royal Navy' above the a/c serial was overpainted with 'Merchant Navy', initially as a joke but eventually a source of some pride. As my grandfather served in the Merchant Navy throughout the war I feel a small personal connection - these aircraft could well have been flying as part of the many convoys he sailed across the Atlantic. Here's the WIP if anyone is interested: The kit was built OOB with the exception of the Tamiya rigging PE set, which was veeeerrry fiddly. This build nearly ended up on the Shelf of Doom due to decal disasters, so I'm glad I had a word with myself and pushed it over the line. Anyway, on with the photos: Despite a myriad of minor imperfections and errors I'm pretty pleased with the way she's turned out, and she certainly has shelf presence. I might move on to something a little simpler next time though! Thanks for looking, Roger

𝟏/𝟒𝟖 𝐓𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐲𝐚 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐤.𝐈 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 ================================ "Never was so much owed by so many to so few" - Winston Churchill. Hello guys. Productive year I suppose. Already 2 finished and this is my third one. A simple build of a Tamiya Spitfire Mk.1 from No. 610 squadron, Battle of Britain era. The kit? Tamiya is Tamiya. Nothing much to say. As I always said, only the decals carrier film is a little bit thick. The Mk.VIII in my last photos is my previous build and it was an Eduard kit. See you next time.

First Beaufighter, picked up cheap from a vendor at SMW. Thought it would be an interesting build; I am trying to broaden my repertoire. Only Spitfires, Mosquitos and a Hurricane so far. adding some extras: Not installing the pilot and gunner as I'm adding some aftermarket details ... going to make a small diorama instead. I know I'll only need two crew... undecided which ones. Making a start: Cut away the control panel, quite detailed 3rd party to replace that. I'll get it smooth later... A quick prime. and I'll crack on with some interior green tomorrow.

Hallo I am looking and searching for more information about the nightfighter operation on the Russian frontline and behind. What made me curious was, in literature of testemony of Luftwaffe pilots it occured as a secret topic an acquaintance of our family was a technician for radar systems for the Luftwaffe, traveling throughout the Reich My father was developenig engineer on radar devices The radar installation were on railway cars as well other fixed radar installation from the Luftwaffe. In addition I have a Fw-189 to build as a nightfighter from GWH. Actually I have no picture of nightfighting between the two airforces during WW2. I am not talking about night operations to disturb soldiers with the U-2. I am talking about real heavy attatcks. If you know more about it, so let me know. Happy modelling

Been a long while since I uploaded here, hah. Not to say I haven't worked on anything within that period (had a lot of pictures of finished projects but hadn't gotten around to putting them up 😅) So, background on this project. A family member came into possession of a watch that contained a part of HX-909, a Mosquito from No. 487 Squadron RNZAF that took part in Operation Jericho, so I built this as a birthday present. I have an associated project yet to upload, but for now, here is this one. Model is the Tamiya 1/72 GB MK.VI kit, with some markings from Oldsmodel Decals in order to get the correct identifying number and tail code. Painted with Tamiya RAF Dark Green and Hobby Aqueous Light Sea Grey, and matt coated with VMS Matt varnish. Canopy had a few issues when removing the Eduard masks (greenhouse canopies always have issues when I work with them). Gave it a snowy base given the time of year the Amiens raid was conducted. Enjoy Thanks for looking Gaz

Airfix Avro Lancaster B.IIII 1/72. Built this for a friend who's father served in the RAF in this very aircraft as an Aussie bombardier/navigator in the Pathfinder Sqn. I used his log book as the ramp and rescaled the crew group photo to 1/72. Enjoyed the research about the RAF Pathfinders as much as the build. First time for a new Airfix mould and suitably impressed.

I' m wondering if anyone else has seen a drama programme in one of the SKY channels, U& Drama I think? Home Fires (or as I irritate my wife by calling it Home Fries) is a 2 series, 12 episodes in total drama set in a village near an RAF fighter base focused principally in the ladies of the WI. As you can imagine, there are a number of sub plots involving romances, the RAF, WI activities, families losing members in the war and a parachute factory set in the early part of the war, clinching in September 1940. You might think why is he watching this obviously "woman's programme", it started with a trailer featuring what look like real hurricanes and Spitfire flying. Once I saw that, and watched the first episode, I felt weirdly compelled to watch it. Rivet counters (no offence!) will probably have fun pointing out the errors in wrong marks of Spitfire and hurricanes for the time period, possible errors in RAF uniforms worn, etc.. Most people I'm sure will just let all that wash over you, apart from the incredible representation of security at the RAF base, where WI women seem to have the run of the place including wandering among the planes, WAAF girls have affairs with seemingly every officer including the CO. The last episode of the second series shows a damaged hurricane crashing into a house in the village, which might be the doctor's house where he is attending a woman giving birth. Unfortunately, this cliff hanger was the last episode, as the tv channel it was originally on declined to commission a third series! As I say, if only for a chortle at the portrayal of the RAF, one of those programmes you could say "I can see why they didn't want a third episode !"

Hallo The Flettner 282 Kolibri was one of the most successful German helicopters. In opposition to the FA 223 Drache it did not have structural or dynamic unsolved problems. It was a stable aircraft, easily to fly and even fast to learn to fly properly. It was produced too in small numbers. The limited production capacity was one issue and the jealousy of the Luftwaffe versus Marine was the second issue. So, just successful trials were flown during the war. After the war it was honey for the Allies. The aircraft, or helicopter by itself in this configuration is a stable platform. No need of a counter torque. The build, as the second of the early rotary aircraft from Germany. The next model I will build is the FA 223. The kit is quite well, and there are no issues to remark. Have a look around: happy modelling

The red gear was for GM or MW boost? Was the red gear a standard for this issue or just a maybe ? Thank you Happy modelling

Hallo The Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze from Takom in scale 1/16 This is my first model in my rotary project. This project will show the helicopter development until present time. Which contains the German war designs, the post-war development in the west and east. Until today’s types from the world, including China. The kit is excellent designed. It is a real joy to work with such a kit. Precise and exact. Parts are really small and tiny, but the engineering behind shows a skill level. Takom today is unrivaled by all competitors. The original Bachstelze was a simple design of the new technology of rotary aircraft. Without engine, the rotor driven by the wind caused by the ship in motion. It is auto-gyro without engine, just driven by the drag of rotor blades. It served as an observation platform for ships. Submarines. About 200m altitude increased the sighting radius enormously. The aircraft was always towed. Operational use was not often, firstly it was overseen in importance, and produced in small number. Fighter aircraft had a higher priority in the second half of war. In case of emergency, the pilot could get down on deck with the aircraft fast, or to unhitch the rotor and land by parachute or to unlock the rope and land by his own. When the submarine was on an emergency dive, there was seldom time for taking the pilot onboard. The aircraft was stowed in a few containers onboard. It could be easily dismantled or again erected for a flight. The yellow handles all over shows you this. A perfect design. So have a look: Happy modelling

Hallo This is my A4 (V2) with trailer & truck & crane for loading. The topic of the rocket research in WW2 became personally to me. I had a teacher who was part of the research team around W. von Braun. During this time I got a glimpse about things going on there, at Peenemünde. Also about the institutions in Berlin, like the RLM and the situation what it was like. Of course also about the slave labor. It was quite shocking for us in young years. The A4 became also personally to me, since all over Austria companies built components for the A4 in mass production during the late time of war. Just 5 minutes from my present home in Vienna. The thinking about, what I would have done at this time accompanied me during the build. Since I was eyewitness of war, today my mood changed just for peace. Creativity for peace is better than creativity for weapon design. Decades changed my mind. The modelling military aircraft seems absurd, but it helped me to establish a peaceful mind, for all people of the world. A4 it was called during developement and afterward, V2 was an invented name from Goebbels. Back to the model: To get an idea what the handling was of this V2, or A4 as it was called internally, look at the manual called the A-4 Fibel! https://www.aggregat4.de/A4_Fibel.html This particular A4 (V2) represents a rocket for field tests, away from Peenemünde. The camouflage is exactly for this purpose. The truck was omnipresent during and after the war. I remember quite good from my child’s days. The trailer was a special design and is called Vidalwagen. The crane is the Fries crane, also omnipresent during and after the war. The reloading from the Vidalwagen after transport to the shooting area, to get loaded on a Meillerwagen, for launching the A4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meillerwagen https://www.v2rocket.com/start/makeup/design.html https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vidalwagen https://www.alamy.de/stockfoto-ein-bild-von-einer-batterie-von-drei-deutschen-v2-raketen-bekannt-als-vergeltung-waffe-nr-2-wahrend-sie-zum-brennen-vorbereitet-wurden-1944-90821747.html?imageid=507328C4-49E8-4A55-9EE6-984B2EFB474B&p=75935&pn=1&searchId=b85a4c6390ac41c93d8da7fe161d4211&searchtype=0 The research and first shooting area: The modeling was quite straight forward. Takom kits are to my opinion excellent! Enjoy the pics: The crane in detail: Happy modelling

Hallo This thread will become a chronology about the FW 190 A-6 and A-8. Most kits from Eduard. The decals will be from Eagle Calls. Code letters from Fantasy Printshop. In summery there will be 4 aircraft A-8 and two A-6. https://www.1001hobbies.de/decals-fuer-flugzeuge/9093-eagle-cal-eag48022-decal-focke-wulf-fw-190a-8-rs-ii-jg4-sturm-4-.html https://www.1001hobbies.de/decals-fuer-flugzeuge/9085-eagle-cal-eag48007-decal-focke-wulf-fw-190a-sturmjager-pt-1-4-white-.html Aftermarket products I do have a lot. 2 boxes! One version will be a A-5 converted to a G-3. In US service! How accurate the conversion will become, I do not know yet. https://www.pinterest.at/pin/57561701470917414/ One will be a D-9 from Eduard and one Ta-152 from Zoukei Mura. All in scale 1/48. However, some basic questions for this build are solved. One was concerning the gear. The others of the Sturmstaffel are solved due to the book: https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=581894545&rlz=1C1SXXQ_deAT915AT915&hl=de&q=fw-190+sturmstaffel+1+book&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy-Z6h-cCCAxWbhf0HHdJJBzMQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1920&bih=931&dpr=1#imgrc=xN0-fmKlfiTnIM&imgdii=3363IQ7Cmdn-RM So far for today. The building will start at Christmas or in 2024 after New Year! Happy modelling

Hi, I have been trying to research what kit and where worn for ww2 British infantry. Im putting together a diorama of a Churchill crocodile assaulting a bunker near Normandy, I’ve made / adjusted various figures for bickers machine gun crew, Lewis gun and Bren gun crew and similar troops deploying and have found good info on these topics that have led me to a solution to how to pose and with what, however trying to find info that is definitive in an infantry radio man seems not to be so easy. I can’t find anything definitive on what was worn and where, so many conflicting info and photos. Original photos showing a massive radio on the back of soldiers, tech info showing small radios and museums stuff of Canadian small radios but nothing that says ‘follow this’ or ‘model this’….. help! Does anyone have a clear steer? Below is the link to some of the stuff I’ve found thus far, some tech info sheets, some museum photos and some real life photo of WW2. https://imgur.com/a/s7dOc0X

Just finished the 1/72 Bristol Buckingham, made by the Czech company Valom. This was a kit from a company I had never heard of, of a plane I had never heard of. On opening the box, I was happily surprised by the amount of pieces and (seeming) quality of the parts. There were a number of photo-etched pieces and the engines are cast in resin. I expected this to be a high quality build, and in many ways it was; however, there were definitely some issues with fit. The piece behind the pilots seat would not fit between both fuselage halves without considerable sanding; the propellers are attached to the spinners with extremely small contact points that I doubt will last for the long-term; the and worst of all, the wheels did not fit in between the forks of the landing gear arms out of the box, so I had to drill through the wheels, insert some spare sprue and try to glue them in place--they've already fallen off once and I again think this will need to be repaired any time I move the model. It's not the worst quality build I've made by a long shot, but there is definitely room for improvement. I painted this in AK Real Colors RAF Dark Green and Dark Earth on top with Duck Egg Blue underneath. It may have been more accurate to do the underside in Azure blue but I couldn't find a definitive answer, and I had an unopened bottle of DEB so thought I'd use it. I did a panel line wash with AK's Green and Brown panel liner on top and their White and Winter panel liner underneath (the first time I've used either of these products). The panel lines on this model weren't particularly deep, so much of the panel lining was washed away with white white spirits, but I instead did a light wash over the whole surface in straight strokes from front to back which I think has given a nice worn look. Overall, I'd certainly buy another Valom model, but it would depend on the price. I picked this one up from an antique store unopened for $20 and it was more than worth that price. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: The colours here are wrong. Red, golden yellow, red and white stripes are all completely wrong. Save yourself the heartache. See evidence and pix on page 2. Haven't been able to get back to models for months as I've been caught up in life issues. Today the wife encouraged me to get back at it and to not worry about finishing something else first. So, I decided to do something "simple" and not get hung up on details. I picked this kit up in Ottawa back in April/May because of the orange Japanese plane. Apparently this orange is way too red. A quick Google research while at a gaming shop in Ottawa back then suggested it should be more golden than red. I chose Game Air 76.007. Is it right? I dunno. I like it. https://acrylicosvallejo.com/en/product/hobby/game-air-en/gold-yellow-72707/ So I opened the kit today and was pleasantly surprised to learn there were two planes inside. The decals are simple so I may just paint the markings instead. I have some round vinyls that are the same diameter as the hinomaru. Only 8 steps but this is AZModel... so lots of fettling and no guides or pins anywhere. And lots of sprue connections that leave ugly blobs to clean off. Here I realized I was supposed to make the control stick myself. Time for sprue. Here I've got the seat and stick glued and I'm using my big flat sanding pad to prep the fuselage halves to fit together better.You can see the exhausts are just closed blobs. Yuck! Out of the box build? Maybe not entirely. Starter holes... Wing is all one piece. I filed the centre part a lot to improve the fit with the fuselage halves. Fuzzy but you can see the exhausts drilled out on each half. I used three bits... .4, .6, .7 Glued cockpit stuff in, and ready to airbrush for first time in months Here you can see the air intake on the top half. It comprises front and rear cowl pieces glued to the bump in the middle. Messy job for me. I tried sanding to fit the cowling pieces better against the fuselage but they were not cooperative and I somehow got worse gaps- probably because of the shape of the cowls and thickness of plastic. In the lower half you can see the cockpit with IP as well. I did an oil wash with white. I read some stuff saying aotake was not common and blue grey was a decent bet. Here, I've glued the fuselage halves. A bit messy. I was using slower tamiya extra thin. On the top, that's paint not a big crack. You can see the drilled exhausts and the side air intakes. Intakes will need some putty work. The wings are dry fitted. They took a lot of work to settle down and get the gap and step minimized. Same experience as my hurricane but I minimized damage this time 😛 You can see the horiz stabilizers will be butt joints. Whee, IP done in dark grey with white oil wash. You can see rear cowl on right has a big gap. How did that happen? Really not sure. I think the shape and thickness of the cowl was off and my sanding and filing didn't help. Sprue time for that. Dry fitted wings still.... Cute little fella. Tomorrow maybe I'll work on all the seams and putty. 😛 . There are bad gaps on the bottom where the wings meet the fuselage. This is AZModel, not me! Similar to my hurricane experience but I avoided making things worse this time. Sprue should fix it. Some kind of intake on port wing edge Here you can see how tiny the plane is in comparison to paint intended for it.

Dear community, May I present my latest project: the heavy cruiser USS Northampton (CA 26), depicted on 26 October 1942, trying to rescue the by a Japanese attack heavily damaged carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) - watch the original footage of the action on that video link: To be honest, I didn't know anything about the USS Northampton before I run into the "SSModel" 1/1200 series. I couldn't find out much about the company as they do not have their own homepage, only a ebay- and alibaba-seller plattform. These Chinese 3D prints are as detailed as it gets on that scale. The challange is not to break the parts while detaching them from the frame. Sadly, beside the USS Arizona they do not have really famous WWII warships in their assortment. That's why I ended up with that USS Northampton. Not a beautiful ship in particular, however an intersting story for sure. And for those who wonder: unfortunately the rescue action failed an the USS Hornet got sink by a final attack... And here a picture of the Hornet (leaning towards starboard due to two torpedo hits) and the Northampton: