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In 2019 Zvezda is to release a 1/144th Airbus A350-1000 kit - ref. 7020 Source: Zvezda catalog 2019 V.P.

Hi Pals, Now the turn for another old acquaintance, the Panther Ausf D, from the Zvezda brand. I bought it a long time ago on balance, and although there are now better alternatives (and more expensive ... lol), it is a fairly complete kit. It includes parts of the barrel, turret basket, accessories on the roof and internal sides of the turret, but really basic, so in the end it did not convince me, because it would have to be completed, and for what in the end it would look ... I gave up, and focused on the outside. It has transparent parts for the periscopes, although the motor grilles are "mosquito net", and the tow cable is not metallic. The tracks were somewhat complicated, since the internal "teeth" had to be included, and the resulting structure was really fragile and flimsy, so after early breaks, I decided to use vinyl ones from an old Tamiya kit ... I saw the camos schemes they suggested, but I didn't like any of them, so I assigned a tritone to it, as I had already done another (Kingtiger Zvezda). The intended appearance is that of a used but not "defeated" vehicle, with scratches and chips, dry vegetation on the underside and dry mud on the belly ... I added some spare parts helmets and an ABER metal antenna. I hope you like it, and thanks as always for watch and comment. Cheers and TC Francis.

Hawker Hurricane IIc British Fighter (7322) 1:72 Zvezda HobbyPro Marketing If one was to asked to give the name of a British fighter that took part in the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire would undoubtedly be the most common answer. However, the aircraft that provided the backbone of the defence in that infamous battle was the Hawker Hurricane. Designed in 1935, it was quite a step forwards to the existing front line RAF fighters of that era, key features being a fully enclosed cockpit, retractable undercarriage, 8 guns, powerful V12 engine and most notably, a single cantilever wing as opposed to a biplane configuration. Despite its revolutionary look though, the design and manufacturing techniques were old school, a steel frame with fabric skinning so in reality, it was very much a progressive rather than evolutionary design. This however was to provide useful in manufacturing and in the face of battle. The Hurricane was easy to produce, repair and maintain. This is in comparison to the birth of the Spitfire which used completely new manufacturing techniques which whilst offering performance, hindered early production. Early Hurricane Mk.I’s went through a series of design enhancements. Initial aircraft had fabric wings which limited the dive speed whilst the spin characteristics were a concern for test pilots. This was remedied by the addition of a strake below the rudder that became a key characteristic of the Hurricane. The fabric wings were also changed by 1940 for new metal skinned ones which increased the dive speed by some 80mph. Other notable improvements on the Mk.I were the addition of 70lb of armour plate for the pilot, self sealing fuel tanks and a 3 blade constant speed propeller. Of the 2700 victories claimed during this battle by the RAF, nearly 1600 ware at the guns of the hurricane. Whilst the Hurricane soon became outdated a front line day fighter in Europe, it went on to see considerable success in other campaigns throughout the war. The Mk.IIC was a much improved version, armed with four 20mm cannon and equipped with the Rolls Royce Merlin XX engine, capable of developing almost 1,500hp. These aircraft were generally used for ground attack and night fighting duties. With the addition of these bombs and cannon, it became an effective ground attack aircraft. It has its history firmly rooted in the battles of the Mediterranean, Russia and the Pacific, not to mention early night fighting over Europe where many aces earned their status. Over 3000 Hurricanes were sent to the Soviet Union under lend lease. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Zvezda, fresh off the presses in Russia, so it is a modern kit and has plenty of detail moulded-in, with fine engraved panel lines but very subtle fabric effects. certainly on the fuselage. It is designed to be assembled without glue, no doubt for the younger modelers out there, but I suspect it will also be be bought by some a lot older! The kit is quite detailed for an easier kit, there is even different pilots supplied for the RAF or Soviet marked aircraft. First of when building the kit the modeller needs to decide on gear up or gear down. The main gear well and ailerons are then added to the lower wing, with the radiator going underneath. The one part top main wing then goes on top being sure to add the clear parts for the navigation and landing lights before closing them up. We now move to the cockpit. A basic lower frame goes in which contains the rudder pedals and control column. A second frame then holds the seat and instrument panel, with a decal being provided for the instruments. The top frame clips into the bottom frame, and then the rear bulkhead goes in. Moving on to the fuselage sides tow A frames go in which allow the two sides to go together. Once together a 3 part propeller / spinner goes on the front. At each side a single 3 pot exhaust is fitted. If using a pilot then there are two choices if you are going RAF or Soviet. Once he is in (or not) the fuselage can be clipped to the main wing. The canopy then goes on. At the read the rugger an tail planes are fitted. If making the model gear down then a single part tyre is attached to a single part leg, and the gear door fitted to the outside of this. A single part closed door complete with wheel is provide for a gear up option. Markings There are three painting options included on the decal sheet. From the box you can build one of the following: KX471 from 78th Fighter Aviation Regiment, Northern Fleet, Vaenga Airfield, Summer 1943 Z3778 No.1 Sqn RAF, Tangmere 1942 BE581 No.1 Sqn RAF, Tangmere 1942 (Overall Black Night fighter scheme) The decals are well printed with a red band around the edge that is reminiscent of Begemot’s work, but that’s just my guess. The colours are dense, printing sharp, with a satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a very nicely moulded kit, A welcome addition to the range. Recommended. Available from all good model shops online or in actual buildings. Review sample courtesy of

Those who have followed my recent builds will know of my affinity with the 747. Whilst my current 747-436 tribute build is stalled (I'm still waiting for replacement decals), I thought I would turn my attention to some more modern 747 kits. Hopefully they will be far less hassle and go together much more easily than the venerable Revell 747-400! The only modern version of the 747 is the -800 variant. Both Revell and Zvezda have 1/144 versions of this aircraft, but which is best? There's only one way to find out - build them both! To start, here are the two boxes: First impressions - the packaging on the Revell box is superior, as are the decals. The quality of the sprues looks pretty comparable - time will tell as the build progresses... More on that later! Regarding the schemes, I am going to venture into the world of custom decals and build these two as 'what ifs'. Both models will be finished in a 'Utopia' or 'World Image' livery, used by British Airways at the turn of the century and then dropped in favour of the current 'Union Flag' scheme. It was a bit marmite(!), but I quite liked it and thought it would be an interesting side project to design something completely different and previously unseen on a 747. One model will be finished in the 'Youm al-Suq' design, representing Saudi Arabia. This scheme was only ever used on two aircraft - an Embraer 145 (G-EMBJ) and a 737 (G-GBTA). Images of these two aircraft can be seen on the artist's website: https://www.shadiaalem.com/british-airways-utopia-project I purchased some decals designed for the 737 and set to work on photoshop, amending the design to fit a 747. Here's the original decal: Then after many, many hours of work, I created something 747 sized: The other airframe will receive a variation of the 'Colum' livery used on my tribute build. This design was quite well received and there were several different versions of this design in use. I am basing my decal on G-BGDR, a 737-236. I bought these decals earlier in the week and have a few hours of work ahead of me... Here's how they look, compared with the 747: Obviously they need enlarging and I will have to make a few modifications and additions along the way! I hope to turn my attention to these two models soon - I need a break from the endless round of filling/sanding/priming which seems to be happening with all my other projects at the moment! Just gluing plastic together will make a pleasant change...

Zvezda is to release in 2020 a 1/48th Mil Mi-24 "Hind" kit. Probably the start of a family of Mi-24: D/V/P etc. Fingers crossed. Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235061306-zvezda-2020/ V.P.

Zvezda is to release in 2020 a 1/72nd Lockheed C-130 Hercules kit - ref. 7321 Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235061306-zvezda-2020/ V.P.

Irish leasing specialists CityJet were the only European airline with a fleet of Sukhoi SSJ-100s. Between 2017 and 2019 they operated seven SSJs on a mixture of their own services and wet-leases to Brussels Airlines. Four aircraft were painted in full Brussels Airlines livery but despite positive passenger reaction Brussels terminated the leases early without giving any public explanation. Complex maintenance and poor availability of spare parts were probably factors. Matters can’t have been helped by the SSJs not being able to serve LCY forcing Brussels to continue using their elderly Avro RJs. Following the termination of the Brussels leases CityJet disposed of the SSJs and replaced them with CRJ 900s. The Zvezda kit is OOB apart from a few small details from plastic strip. It’s a pleasant build, the only annoyances being the need to fill various sink marks without destroying the detail (thanks goodness for Mr Surfacer 500) and trying to detach the halves of the nose wheel leg from the sprue without breaking anything. White paint is Halfords as usual. Blue is a mix of Revell 54 and 350, roughly 1:2, plus a few drops of black. Light grey is Humbrol 196 with a tiny spot of 42. Natural metal is mainly Tamiya TS-17 Livery decals are available from Drawdecal and Nazca. I had both sheets in my stash. Neither is completely accurate and the best that can be said is Drawdecal are less inaccurate so I went with them. I added Authentic Airliners windows. Detail decals are mainly from the “technical lettering” sheet by Revaro plus a few from the spares box and the kit sheet. It has nothing to do with the build but when I was researching photos of Brussels SSJs I was amused to see EI-FWF apparently suffering from silvering decals on the fin proving that it’s not just a problem for modellers! Thanks for looking and as always constructive criticism is welcome. Dave G

While I'm still trying to solve the problem with the Lufthansa DC-10 cockpit windows, I decided to start with my other kit that I had in my queue. In order to complete the complete line of Boeing passenger planes, I chose the Boeing 767 in the colors of the magnificent Brazilian airline Varig. The choice of VARIG started through a very strong link that I have with the airline and with Brazil itself: My grandparents emigrated from Portugal to Brazil in the 50's. They met there, got married and had children telling Portugal again already in the 1980's. On the trips they made from Rio de Janeiro to Oporto they chose Varig most of the times and even today, they always tell me how big, splendid and good the airline was in terms of service, quality and planes. Thanks to that and also thanks to my mother, my house is full of things from Varig. Cutlery, trays, blankets and more. Like TAP and Swissair, Varig is an airline that is in my heart, due to my connection with Brazil. An airline that unfortunately shouldn't have had the outcome it did. But turning now to the kit itself! I bought this kit on sale on eBay and with free shipping! I was quite satisfied however, a little suspicious that the kit is from Zvezda. Since I was a kid, I've been used to seeing Revell kits. That's why I always try to give preference to Revell, even knowing that most of the time the mold is not the best. The box is a normal Zvezda box, with the lid and the illustrations drawn, along with the classic box where the kit comes from, which is quite good and resistant and useful for storing things in the future! When I started assembling the kit I put the two main parts together and I was very surprised by the quality of the kit. The two pieces fit perfectly and at first glance everything looked in place. All the pieces have incredible lines and details that honestly left me with an excellent impression of Zvezda! For all kits to be so perfect, I started to have a favorite brand! The next step was to apply putty to all the windows as well as to make the necessary changes to the main fuselage. This Boeing 767 comes with the Aeroflot layout which consists of four doors at the front and four doors at the rear. It turns out that the Boeing 767 that I'm going to make, the PP-VPV has a different configuration: It has two doors at the front, four windows on the wings and two doors at the rear. I confess that I was very close to changing the plane to the -200 version. The 767-200 is an airplane that manages to have a very peculiar beauty. But after comparing the 767-200 and the 767-300 with the same painting (yes because Varig operated with both versions), I opted for the -300 version. Maybe one day I won't make a 767-200 with the colors of American or United Airlines The kit had such a good fitting, that the windows fit perfectly into the holes. Obviously, I putty and sanded everything and in the final result the entire surface was polished. I have to stress this one more time. The kit had such a good fitting, that I didn’t apply putty in the top and bottom. I just sanded it and then with the help of a scalpel I redid the lines I had erased with the sandpaper. It was a 1st time, not applying putty to cover bad fittings, which saved me a lot of time and patience! Zvezda you rock! After sanding and applying the wings (and those had to take a little plastic putty from Vallejo), I turned to the engines while the putty was not drying so I could sand again to apply the primer. I decided to follow the instructions and started with the low pressure turbine and nozzle area of the engines. After assembling (just to check the fit and shape of the engine), I noticed that this interior part would not be very visible. Anyway, I decided to apply a smoky color in order to simulate a little the metallic alloy already marked by the high temperatures there. Varig's 767 used to have General Electric CF6-80C2 engines. After that I decided to apply a primary white to reveal some imperfections as well as for the paint to adhere better when applying the final color. This afternoon I did it and left it to rest. Next time I will probably sand the imperfections a little and then start with the painting process!

Until @Homebee....next you's know!!! On Moscow...next you's also know....But no one except the Zvezda knows what she will do in 1/48 because it's a secret items! My bet is on the Star Destroyer! B.R. Serge P.S. Talk: "veeery secret project that everyone will love".....hmmm, maybe this 100$ in 48 scale ? O.K., O.K....not 100$!!! It's £100 in 48 scale, only because this British forum!!

While the @Homebee sleeps, I'll crack his news! On Moscow "МИР ДЕТСТВА 2021" ( WORLD CHILDHOOD 2021) expo , has announced a 1/48nd of Sukhoi Su-25 from Zvezda in 2022. Greetings in Frogfoot world! B.R. Serge

While the @Homebee sleeps, I'll crack his news - 2! On Moscow "МИР ДЕТСТВА 2021" ( WORLD CHILDHOOD 2021) expo , has announced a 1/72nd of Yakovlev Yak-9 from Zvezda in 2022. B.R. Serge P.S. On street @Learstang the candy truck has finally turned over!

While the @Homebee sleeps, I'll crack his news - 3! On Moscow "МИР ДЕТСТВА 2021" ( WORLD CHILDHOOD 2021) expo , has announced a 1/48nd of Yakovlev Yak-9 from Zvezda in 2022. B.R. Serge P.S. As far as I understand, the whiskey truck overturned on the street @Learstang , in addition to the overturned candy truck!

While the @Homebee sleeps, I'll crack his news - 4! On Moscow "МИР ДЕТСТВА 2021" ( WORLD CHILDHOOD 2021) expo , has announced a 1/48nd of Mill Mi-35 from Zvezda in 2022. B.R. Serge P.S. But if you think need to merge this branch with the Mi-24 from Zvezda in 1/48 - no problem!

This one is an old and well known kit of this iconic aircraft.The kit itself is pretty rudimentary.I rescribed the panel lines and made the pittotube out of a hypodermic needle.I also replaced the ejection seat because the one in the kit did not resemble anything remote to a KM-1M.The paints used are tamiya and gunze and the decals came from the spares box. Enjoy the photos,Dragan

Hello to all.Here is my latest finished model.The great zvezda/dragon mig-17.I love this kit.The fit is superb.I only upgraded the seat.Made the pittotubes out of needles and the canons out of hypodermic needles.The paints used are gunze and tamiya.The decals came from the spares box.I made a full video of the build process and if you would like you can see it on the link bellow. https://youtu.be/C-Dw2nqAGIg

With my D.520 winding down in the GB, and having a hankering for prop planes, decided to pull this one out for a spin. My first Zvezda kit ever! Box art: Sprue shot: And another first, Quinta 3D decal thingamabobs. Must admit, they appeal to my lazy side so been dying to try them out. Pitchforks are in aisle 2 for those of the puritanical persuasion. Now, there is currently a rather spicy discussion going on in the WW2 section about V.V.S colours used during the G.P.W. (I hope they don't find this WIP. Please don't let them find this...) Anyway, the kit instructions tell me to use Dark Gunship Grey (H125) and Light Gull Grey (H129) for the upper camo. That is surely wrong, what I need is AMT-7 lower, and AMT- 11 & 12 uppers. So, been digging through my VMA stash and will try mixing something from the following that will prevent this comrade going to model gulag. So. The plan. AMT-7 - Going to mix up 71.109 Faded PRU Blue & 71.124 USAF Green and see what happens. Maybe some Dk/Lt Gray if needed? AMT- 11 & 12 - Going to futz around with 71.314 Seaplane Gray AKA FS 36081, 71.097 Med Gunship Grey and 71.277 Dk Gull Gray until I get something that resembles the colours on Massimo Tessitori's page HERE. Well. This should be fun!

Here is my finished Boeing 757-236 in 1/144 scale from Zvezda’s new B757 kit in the classic ‘Negus’ livery of British Airways registration G-BIKC “Edinburgh Castle”. This kit, quite literally, goes together seamlessly with very little sanding and filling required. It’s great that is has both engine options as well as having either the newer blended winglets or the classic wing tips. I’ve never built the Minicraft or EE kits but I absolutely can’t recommend this kit enough! The beautiful decals are from Ray at @26Decalsand the B757 detail sheet is from @nazca-decals. The registration I went for, G-BIKC, was fitted with the older style RB211 engines. But I love Edinburgh so I opted to go for an engine upgrade with my build and use the newer RB211 engines. Paints used were Halfords appliance white for the upper fuselage, Humbrol 15 Midnight Blue for the lower fuselage and Halfords Racking Grey for the wings, nacelles and stabilisers. Metals are a mix of Revells aqua range. The decals are excellent, though I did mess up the port side tail decal as they were designed for the Minicraft B757, but Ray kindly provided me with a replacement screen printed one. I am already looking forward to building my next B757 which will be either Thomas Cook or Continental. As always, all comments and feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for looking! Regards, Alistair

Zvezda is to release in 2021 a new tool "easy-build series" 1/72nd Hawker Hurricane kit - ref. 7322 Source: https://vk.com/doc6108131_578170851?hash=b62de4a6f84263e904 V.P.

In 2020 2021 is to release a new tool 1/144th Airbus A320Neo kit - ref. 7037 Source: https://vk.com/doc-29859496_526077927 V.P.

Hey folks, i'm back haha after finishing my easyjet 319, i'm now sharing with you a WIP of two A320s. One is a custom order from someone, the other one is for myself. The custom ordered one will be AerLingus and my own will be holiday airlines, an airline most of you probably haven't heard of. Basically my friend @Berko suggested to do something from turkey, which initially wasn't my preference, but then i remembered that i flew to turkey in '94 and in a split second the choice was made. Since i have a weird tendency to build rare birds or things that are neither popular nor beautiful, this color scheme might not wake up everyones interest. People who know me, are aware of whats coming. Lots of scratch builds, details, corrections and ways of doing things a bit different maybe, which doesnt mean it is right or good, but my aim is always to improve my model skills and to share stuff here, so you can supply me with tips or ideas and vice versa. Less talking, here come the first pics. First i was a bit bored and i started with the fuselage halfs. So the surface is made for painting it with a brush, very coarse and not airbrush friendly. I initally filled the main door oulines with superglue. The rear doors are rectangular - which is completely wrong. seems like the CAD designer forgot them. After filling i sanded the stuff and now the surface is nice and the door outlines are gone. this way i dont have any conflict with the door decal dimensions. next up is the flight deck. Added thrust levers and a proper anti glare shield.

Mi-24P Hind-F (4812) 1:48 Zvezda HobbyPro Marketing Instantly recognisable to enthusiasts of Cold War aircraft, the Mil Mi-24 'Hind' has formed the backbone of the Soviet Union/Russian Air Force's attack helicopter force since the 1970s. The need for a battlefield attack helicopter became obvious following the experience of American forces in Vietnam. Mil developed the Hind as a response to this need, using the successful Mil Mi-8 'Hip' transport helicopter as a basis. It was transformed by the addition of a small pair of wings positioned to the rear of the passenger compartment for carrying weapons, a machine gun in the nose and a tandem cockpit for the flight crew. It was capable of carrying eight troops as well. The Mi-24V Hind E is one of the later, and more capable Hind variants, introduced into service in the 1980s. It is capable of carrying the highly effective AT-6 Spiral anti-tank missile on the hard points under its wings, as well as the four barrelled 12.7mm machine gun in the nose turret. It is capable of carrying a range of other ordnance, including the UPK-23-250 23mm cannon pod and the B-8V20 rocket launcher. The later Mi-24P or Hind F is a gunship version, which replaced the 12.7mm machine-gun with a fixed side-mounted 30mm GSh-30-2K twin-barrel cannon. As aiming the canons depends on manoeuvring the helicopter controls are moved for this to the pilot. First seeing use in Afghanistan these models also saw combat in Chechnya and later in Syria. They are still in service today with Russia and other nations. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Zvezda, fresh off the presses in Russia, so it is a modern kit and has plenty of detail moulded-in, and options to have many areas of the kit opened up. Its great to have a new tool model of the Hind in a manageable scales, as nice as the Trumpeter one is 1/35 is a bit large! The only issues I can see is that there are no rivets at all on the fuselage? Having seen a couple of these close up they are covered in rivets and the lack of them on the model is strange. I can understand this would have cost more to mould onto the kit but there is just something about seeing the kit smooth that is not right. As well as the main fuselage parts there are another 6 sprues of parts in grey plastic, and a clear sprue. The rotors have their characteristic droop moulded in. Before you start its worth considering if you want the engine covers, doors, engine compartments open or closed. Once this is done construction can start with the cockpit. Here two figures are supplied if the modeller wants to use them. The tandem tub is moulded as one part to which the seats are added along with the flight controls and side controllers. All instruments are provided as decals. The cockpit sides go on and then the cockpit section attaches to the floor of the rear troop compartments. Next up we concentrate on the engine decking which also forms the roof of the troop compartment. The main gearbox is built up and added along with other engine ancillaries to the top. Rails are added to the underside. The mount for the gearbox is added along with the separating bulkhead between the two engine. The rear bulkhead for the troop compartment is added and then the roof/engine decking can be added on making sure the central seating part for the troop compartment goes in. The two engines can the be assembled and added to the engine deck. Inside the troop compartment the seat bases are added. Moving to the main fuselage sections holes need to be opened up and additional parts added inside the main cabin area. If closing up the fuselage then engine panels and the troop compartment doors can be fitted in the closed positions. Next up the cockpit section is flipped upside down and the front section including the wheel well is added. At the rear the main wheel well is assembled ad added in. The main fuselage can then be closed up around the cabin section. At the front the pilots main panel goes in and then the front fuselage side can go on. The forward sensor fairing is also fitted. At the rear of the tail section the small wings are fitted as well as the tail rotor gearbox. The wings for carrying the weapons are built up and added at this stage along with the pylons. The rear top mounted IR jammer is also now installed. At the front the engine intakes and covers go on. The clear canopies can now be fitted. The last major area for completing the fuselage is the construction and addition of the landing gear. If building the Afghan version then IR diffusing exhausts are fitted. Onto the rotors. The main rotor head is built up with the blades adding onto the rotor head, the lower plate is added and control linkages join the two. This can then be added to the helo. The tail rotor is a single part. To finish up the main fuselage the side mounted 30mm cannon is built up and installed along with various aerials, and the large external chaff/flare dispensers. The large spure for the weapons is the same as for the previous kit as it also contains the under chin turrets. There are four fuels tanks, four rocket pods and four anti-tank rockets. Markings There are five painting options included on the decal sheet. From the box you can build one of the following: 262nd Separate Helicopter Sq,n Soviet Army Aviation, Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, 1989. 334th Centre of Combat Employment and Personnel retraining. Russian Army Aviation, Torzhok Airbase, 2014. Aviation Group of the Russian Air & Space Forces in Syria. Khmeimim Airbase 2017. 5th Helicopter Sqn, (Hubschrauber - Geschwader) East German Army, Basepohl Airbase, 1988. 86th Helicopter Aviation Unit, Hungarian Military Forces, Szolnok Airbase 2019. The decals are well printed with a red band around the edge that is reminiscent of Begemot’s work, but that’s just my guess. The colours are dense, printing sharp, and what little registration there is on the two large Russian logos is good, with a satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s a very nicely moulded kit, A welcome addition to the range. Recommended. Available from all good model shops online or in actual buildings. Review sample courtesy of

Hi there! My choice of model for this GB: The fuselage. Hellcat is there for size comparison. Masks are the only aftermarket item I'll be using. Decals. Huuuge walkway decals for the wings. I think I will paint them instead. Not sure yet on my choice - but it will be either the ROKAF one with green/grey camo or the Japanese grey/blue camo. Both look really nice. I was so excited that already made a start, but I just realised that the GB has not started yet! Oh well, I think I'm still safe below the 25% mark - I'll just wait up few days until I continue It is looking really sweet model and excited to build something BIG for a change.

For part two of my reparations to Col I shall be taking my build to the other temperature extreme from the deserts of North Africa, the freezing cold of the Russian front in Winter. I have an interest in the equipment flown by Germany's allies and have wanted to build up a collection of 109's in their various markings so this seemed as good a place to start as any. I was going to go with a Romanian E but the Airfix decals I have for them are a bit pants with the yellow looking very faded which will only get worse when put onto a dark green camouflage scheme, I then thought about a Finnish G-2 but thought I would save that for the Scandinavian GB later this year, Bulgaria is being expertly covered by @Ray_W in great detail, I already have an Italian ANR G-10 so that left Hungary and Slovakia, and Hungary was the best option in my opinion. The Hungarians operated almost every version of the 109 so there is a lot to choose from, including a great variety of colour schemes. The version of 109 I am going with is the F-4 which in my opinion is the best looking 109 version, and the kit I am going with is the recent offering from Zvezda which is a very comprehensive kit of around 200 parts, not all of which are used as there are parts in the kit to allow you to build an F-2 as well and there are options of open or closed panels on the wing undersides and complete engine should you decide to display your model that way. Here is the ubiquitous box top shot, with some pretty nice art work; And the untouched sprues; And a look at some of the details on the wing interiors; And the aftermarket decals by SBS that I will be using for this build; And the sheet itself; Don't think I will be using the decals for the tail stripes, paint will work much better. And a look at what for me was the absolute stand out scheme on the sheet; I do love a winter camouflage scheme! Also gives plenty of scope for weathering, the plan is to paint the aircraft in it's normal 74/75/76 scheme and then apply the decals and then to carefully mask them and spray the white over the top, just like they did in the field. I need to get Emil either finished or very close before I can make a start on Friedrich, hopefully that will be soon. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

In the framework of the recent toy tradefair Mir Detstva 2017, held at Moscow, Zvezda is reported having announced a "surprise" new tool 1/48th aircraft kit for 2018. Bets are open La-7, Fw.190... To be followed. UPDATE : IT'S A YAKOVLEV YAK-130 "MITTEN" https://vk.com/wall-29859496?own=1&w=wall-29859496_2175134 Source: https://vk.com/wall-29859496?own=1&w=wall-29859496_2000050 Source AlexGRD: http://master194.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=100171&sid=b7252e4ad3d849de8e26c4c009281a81 V.P.

In 2021 Zvezda is to release a 1/144th Boeing B-757-200 kit - ref. 7032 Source: https://vk.com/zvezdamodels?z=photo-29859496_457589701%2Fwall-29859496_2617107 V.P.