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This is Zvezda's 72nd kit of the Bf 109 F-2, backdated to the earlier F-1 model. It mainly involved removing reinforcement strips on the tail , and adding riveted strips and wing spar covers in the wing roots area. Fuselage codes and victory markings are home made decals. WiP can be found here: During the month of October 1940, Werner Molders would receive one of the first F-1 models, and at that time his tally stood at 42 aircraft. With the Friedrich , he would reach 50, and continue to add more while flying this particular frame, well into 1941. regards, Jack

Finally finished, this was supposed to be a quick build that started back in November - there is a WIP if you go looking. The kit was bought on a whim after Paul, the owner of my local-ish shop dangled it under my nose for the sum of £19.99. It went together well, a couple of little stumbling blocks but nothing major, the kit instructions were okay, mainly in Russian with some of the drawings a little vague but we got there. The crewman is an Evolution Miniatures figure & has that suitably hacked off look common to suaddies everywhere. Railway ground covering on a Trumpeter base (clear box on top) and the plate comes from Signomatic. Everything is brush painted with Humbrol enamels and Winsor & Newton varnishes. There's a couple of bits from the spares box to dress it up a little. The nationality of the vehicle is deliberately vague with no markings. Terminator 25 by phil da greek, on Flickr Terminator 24 by phil da greek, on Flickr Terminator 23 by phil da greek, on Flickr Terminator 22 by phil da greek, on Flickr Terminator 21 by phil da greek, on Flickr Terminator 20 by phil da greek, on Flickr All in all a good build of something different that I enjoyed. Off to give the bench a wipe off and hoover up the carpet monster and then see what's next on the stash build list.

Done! Here are some pics from my buddy Jason: Eduard boxing of Zvezda plastic AKAN paints Thank you!

Tupolev Tu-134. CSA and Interflug Zvezda 1:144 with Avia Decals The kit is the beautiful Zvezda 134, one of my favourite kits of recent years. It really is a beautifully moulded kit with almost perfect fit, and a pleasure to build. Add to that the fact that is a beautiful looking bird, combining good looks with toughness and it is an all round winner! I already built one with the kit supplied Aeroflot markings, so got hold of Avia Decals sheet from Hannants, with CSA, Interflug, and LOT options. It is slightly pricey, but good value when you consider that you can do 3 models with it. All 3 options have a slightly different window layout to the Aeroflot version, with an extra window on the starboard side at the front, and the small forward window relocated nearer the front. It is pretty simple and Avia explain it all. They even supply a vinyl template that you line up on the existing forward window, and it has holes in to tell you where to drill out the new windows. Simple and very effective, I was very impressed with this set, the decals themselves went on beautifully. Thats a 10 out 10 for Avia from me! On with the photos. First up CSA; Interflug version. Very similair, I know. But I like both, so built both! Both together; And with the glass nosed Aeroflot version, built straight from the box Thanks for looking, John

Hey guys! First post, I'm a relatively new member, although I have watched from the sidelines for some time. This was the first build I decided to document the process of, figured what better way than to just take videos of it. I'll be publishing the videos probably on Youtube. (If you're interested in seeing this particular full build video at some point, you'll be able to find it on MURRODELS (once I finish editing it), so be sure to sub if you don't want to miss it!) But I'll also be uploading them here. So back to the SU-2, its a great kit, falls together, except for the turret perspex. The cockpit is really quite visible through the canopy so if I was to do it again I would use a PE fret in there, also would consider an amended engine cowl which is missing ribbing, and a wheel well that has entirely too much ribbing! All in all, a good bit of fun! Cheers!

So I nipped into my local-ish shop for some paint and tape and this caught my eye. Now, Paul the owner is no fool, he dangled it a little & saw my interest, let me look inside the box and quite happily took the £19.99 off me! Untitled by phil da greek, on Flickr It's impressive cover hooked me, but inside is rather nice, you get a box within the box with half a dozen sprues of light grey, all nicelyformed not to much flash on the initial look, all seems pretty nice. Untitled by phil da greek, on Flickr There are no decals in the box or in fact any information on the instruction sheet for markings, so I guess something from the spares box will be used, nor are there any figures which is a shame, I think armour (in particular) benefits from a crewman to show off it's size. So I'm off to peruse the web for some images and colour schemes, never having built Russian armour I guess I'm open to suggestion. Has anyone built this or in fact any Zvezda kits? Any tips or tricks would be welcomed. I'll be building at my normal slow pace which isn't helped by being about to start a set of days! Chip in if you like!

Hi fellow modellers, Just in the nick of 2016, I’m able to post these images of my latest completion. It’s the 1:72 Zvezda MiG-21bis built up as an izdelie 75AP in Hungarian Air Force colours in the early half of the 1980s, just before the camouflage pattern was standardised throughout the MiG-21 fleet. I took this kit out of my stash completely contrary to my initial plan, which was to build something Phantom-ish. But I went with it and here it is. After market stuff: Kuivalainen (Eduard) MiG-21bis PE cockpit set, True Detail’s KM-1 seat, and two HAD models decal sheets with MiG-21 stencilling and generic Hungarian markings. I also used a length of copper tubing both as an exhaust can and as a way to forcibly deepen the aft fuselage, to make it more in line with what I saw in pictures. Gaps were filled with plastic and filler. Paints used: Gunze Sangyo Mr Hobby, different colours, all mixed to approximate photographic info. I wanted to reproduce a weathered finish. Especially the green used for the camouflage faded quickly; this is -approximately!- what I was going for: The kit as a kit is fairly nice. Parts fit together quite well, and if I had avoided modifications this would have been a comparably quick build. The plastic too is quite good overall - not too thick which pleased me. Especially the wings and horizontal tail look suitably thin. The wings are molded as one piece and the main gear leg housing is molded in the plastic; which is where the ejector pin marks are located. Filling these is difficult without damaging the surrounding surfaces but the marks can be hidden by overlapping added detail. However I discovered most of the panel lines on the kit were either misplaced or completely fictional; the tail fin in particular being a tableau of criss-crossing lines to nowhere. I always thought later MiG-21’s fins looked fairly distinctive, in part because of the big vertical panels in the centre. Remedy: filling, rescribing. The wheel chock was made with plasticard using the HADmodel PE part as a template. Thanks for looking! Have a nice 2017! Jay

Good evening. Another of my older builds: Zvezda's Bf 109F-2 1/72 snap kit, built as the plane flown by Hans Philipp of Stab I./JG 54. Enjoy!

This just in........ Zvezda's Su-33 box art showing a Flanker-D launching from Admiral Kuznetsov - with a Kirov-class battlecruiser in the background. The back of the box shows a made-up model..... Unlike the previous Su-27SM kit, the upper fuselage is a one-piece moulding - with correct contours around the canard mounting shoulders... The lower fuselage moulding - with correctly aligned main wheel wells!!!....... Half of Sprue C with the intakes - note that there are no mesh intakes mouded into the intake sides - they are provided as decals... Sprue B - with the correctly-raked fin tips...... Ken

A while back I bought the MiG-29 (9-13) and was very impressed with the kit. I see Trumpeter has a SMT (9-19), but was wondering if there was some news I missed updating the eventual Zvezda release? I would love one from the same company.

Hello, Hannants has this kit in their future releases. Does anyone know is it a variation of their excellent 9-13 kit or their old mould with new decals? Regards, Martin

This is the 1/144 Zvezda 777ER kit built as a display model for a very good friends' little daughter who likes both 'Hello Kitty' characters and aeroplanes It's a nice enough kit; the engines are especially good and I was very pleased with how they have turned out. I had to use a little putty for the fuselage join, and the locating pins for the tailplanes are very small which made them the most difficult aspect of this build. The decals are by 8A and are a delight to use, though the window spacing doesn't quite match up with the kit. They're laser-printed and have to be used on white only, but for this particular model that was no problem as the whole of the fuselage is white. The painting was good old Halfords appliance white plus Humbrol acrylics for the wings, tailplanes and engines. The base, which comes with the kit, is for display purposes only and won't be used when it's handed over to the recipient

Pe-2 Dive bomber in 1:48 scale. 34th Guards Red Banner Regiment, 276 Bomb Group, 1945 Built from Zvezda new tool kit. painted by Tamiya and vallejo paints. sealed by mat varinish. more pics

Hi Fellow modellers! This time I´ll show you one of my recent builds. It´s the little Zvezda Mig-21 Bis in 1/72. It has Kuivalainen PE, Pavla seat, Master pitot and Lift Here decals (wich are very good). I´ve also added some details in the landing gear. It´s a very nice kit, a little thick on the details but improved a lot with the aftermarkets. It only lacks a nice canopy, It´s too thick and distorted. It represents an airplane flown by cuban pilots for the Angolan Air Force in the 80´s in the conflict with South Africa. I hope you like it and all comments are welcomed! best regards from Uruguay Ignacio

Hi all, My first try on a work in progress. My wife complains that I don't finish any Kits while the stash is getting bigger and bigger... Can't say that's not true, so another approach to keep my motivation alive and to have a backup in moments of doubt or in search for reference 😉 So the plan is to build both together and I just begon to build te flanker. Also a small amount of building the fulcrum has taken place. I can't help but I am a bit sad about the decal cockpits Zvezda put in their otherwise superb Kits. Maybe it's the AMS speaking but what's the general thought here? Anyhow, The start has been made, so while waiting for a couple of new computers, I hope to get some pics up soon. Wish me luck!! Oh, subjects are 'red 54' RF-93731, revell's boxing) on the flanker and 'red 21' RF-29160 for the MiG. Greetings!

Zvezda released a 1/72 MiG-21PFM about a decade ago, and it seems more or less impossible to find in this country, whereas the -21bis is still somewhat available. I recall there being some unused parts when I built my MiG-21bis a few years back, and I was wondering: OOB, can a MiG-21PFM (or any other MiG variant) be built from the Zvezda MiG-21bis? I know the RV one is out, and I have one, but it looks a tiny bit weird to me and I want a fallback option.

Hi folks, Long time no post. Lots of stalled builds, so I tried something simple for a quick build and as a leaving gift to a colleague who is shortly returning to New Zealand. Zvezda 1/144 Boeing 787-9 kit with f-dcal decals. I figured there'd be tons of these on here, but surprised I couldn't find any. Kit is deceptively simple but very good. The engines, with separate fan blades are exceptional. The entire lower wing is a single piece moulding, significantly aiding the wing/fuselage join and the wing dihedral. The only downside are the overly shallow panel-lines, which all but disappear under paint and varnish. I replaced the landing gear with the Scale Aircraft Conversions white metal gear out of preference. The f-dcal decals are mostly silk-screen printed, with just the engine exterior decals and cargo doors on a supplemental laser-printed sheet. The silk-screen decals are exceptionally thin, like to curl up and stay put, so need some care, but survived quite a lot of abuse. They responded well to MicroSet and Sol without any adverse reactions. The rear fuselage fern is printed integral with the rear set of windows (aids positioning) but was challenging to get into position and remove wrinkles/air bubbles. Patience is most definitely the order of the day. Which I had run out of by the time I got to do the wing walkways. Oh, and to note, the kit decal windows do not fully align with the kit windows, so these need filling completely or one has to resort applying the windows individually. I found out the hard way. :-/ Paints were my usual Zero Paints white primer, white and black, AlClads metals and Alclad Aqua Gloss varnish, latter applied with a wide flat brush. On the with photos. Regards, Darren

Hello modellers , Well, I've been looking forward to this, only my second GB. I wasn't sure what a Vignette was in modelling terms. In terms of writing a little story, yes, so I thought that is maybe what it is for modelling. Perhaps a small section of what would usually be a diorama? A small part of the bigger picture. I hope I have at least the essence of the idea. Originally I had wanted to build one of two Spanish Civil War dioramas, but as time went by, I realised that my WIP for three I-16's had made such a diorama difficult. Many setbacks with these builds meant that I couldn't be very sure I could complete *another* I-16, a conversion to a 'Type 10' from an ICM 'Type 18' kit in time to have it ready for this GB. Moreover, I simply could not find figures I was happy with for the SCW Republican aircrew. I am so happy Minairons exist, their AFV's are lovely (although I prefer SteelWorks, but both are great). Nevertheless I purchased a set of their 'Republican Infantry' and was disappointed. They're obviously meant for the gaming community. They have that exaggerated, cartoon like quality, that inhuman chunkiness that simply doesn't float my boat. My brother is an avid gamer and I know these figures will be loved by that community (and I often wish I was part of it), but true to scale modelling is my love. Therefore figures like Preiser, even Revell and Airfix, make me happy So, I re-assessed. I'm making three Lagg-3 aircraft in 1/72 for the GPW GB. I checked and found it was OK to use one of these in this GB. This got me rather happy! A few months ago I found a photograph of a Polikarpov Po-2 being refuelled in the cold, harsh environment of a WW2 winter . I didn't know it was a Po-2 at first, but friends over on WW2 Aircraft Net helped me identify it as a night fighter variant on skis. The refueller is a BZ-35 in white distemper and I love white distemper camouflage! Here is the photo: Some sources state this as a BZ-38, but I will not worry too much about that, this Vignette will not even include the Po-2. I purchased a Po-2, but I have decided I will not have time to build it for this GB as I am also committed to the Airliner GB soon, so to keep it fun, a LaGG 3 (one of my aviation favourites!), should be in the process of refuelling. A photo of a LaGG 3 in winter 1942 by Lake Ladoga has always been a favourite; here it is: This image is from Page 10 of 'Lagg Fighters in Action', Squadron/Signal Aircraft Number 163 by Hans-Heiri Stapfer 1996. It is also on Massimo Tessitori's superb VVS website and there credited to'Red Stars'. If I need to remove it please let me know. I have always like the nature of this photograph; the rugged, extreme cold it shows, whilst the aircraft is pared down, even the cockpit main canopy removed, in this hellish freezing cold to improve visibility for the pilot; very likely Georgy Kostylev. He named his aircraft Columbine and was clearly fond of her, scoring at least 10 victories. Well, the components were in the porridge pot of my brain and this vignette was born. Georgy Kosylev waiting for his Columbine to be refuelled. Absolutely freezing even in his long coat. . For some reason the refuelling guy is wearing normal ground-crew clothing with no overcoat and doesn't seem to be cold at all. This causes some questions and thoughts to appear in the mind of Georgy! Has anyone yet noticed it is very cold ? The progress of my build of Columbine can be found here . Meanwhile, I purchased these Zvezda ground Crew figures: They are splendid figures and clearly based upon characters from a famous Soviet film (Only Old Men Are Going to Battle) that can be found here as a colour version (with subtitles) on Youtube, in particular one can identify the quite portly (like me) cheerful man: ​I ask some advice here; the Zvezda kit provides no information on the colours to be used for the ground crew uniforms, I have Googled but to no avail. l If I could type in Russian, I think I would have success, but I can't . Could anyone advise on colours? ​I have bought a figure to represent Georgy waiting for his beloved aircraft to be refuelled, it is by Aero-Bonus, is in resin and is very nice indeed. It was a little expensive for just one figure, but this is for something special Painting instructions are, very helpfully, included with this one: Finally the BZ-35. I have no way of knowing where Georgy got his fuel from, or what kind of bowser, but this will do; it was around in 1942 and looks the part. It is by PST and Sgt. Squarehead helped me to research and locate it; thanks Sarge! Finally the base, two dollars (a pound) picture frame from a Salvation Army charity shop: I will be cutting the size down to fit the dimensions allowed in this GB. It does not have glass, it has a plastic clear face, so I think this could be a nice 'icy' start to the terrain I've made a little start on the fuel truck/bowser and this, the base, a crew figure or two and the plot will be included in this WIP. I have never built a Vignette before and have no experience of painting figures or AFV's/trucks! !! This will be a huge learning experience. Any advice on how to replicate snow over forest/tundra grass will be much appreciated. Also any figure painting advice for 1/72. These are lovely figures and I'd like to do them justice. I've done a lot of Youtube and other research on painting them, and bought a 'Lifecolor' 'Flesh Paint' set. I hope that was a good start? Next post; the BZ gets underway. Thanks for reading and happy modelling Tony

Here's a few snaps of my Zvezda Pe-2 1/48 that I posted a few entries in the WIP forum. The antenna post extending from the canopy broke I believe when I put too much tension in the EZ line during bonding and a few days later a temperature drop (AC on in my house) caused the EZ line to shrink - has anyone else ever encountered this? Used some of the Eduard PE AM, paints were all Tamiya acrylics, Ammo panel line wash, kit decals (a #$%&!). The soviet blue underside way too green - sorry! In general a fun build - I especially like the exposed engine on one side. Enjoy, John

Hello Friends, I would like to notify all of you about latest new items that arrived in our shop's stock. - CanadAir Challenger C-143A/CL-604 from Big Planes kits in 1:72 scale (BPK7210) - 10,5 cm leFH 18 German light howitzer from First To Fight in 1:72 scale (FTF037) - KTO Rosomak "The Green Devil" from IBG Models in 1:35 scale (IBG35032) - German midget submarine "Schwertwal-I" from Micro Mir in 1:35 scale (MM35-016) - Photoetched set of details on the interior of the fighting compartment for 178 AMD-35 (ICM) from Vmodels in 1:35 scale (Vmodels35014) - Russian armored vehicle GAZ-233014 "Tiger" from Zvezda in 1:35 scale (ZVE3668) - Soviet heavy tank IS-2 from Zvezda in 1:100 scale (ZVE6201) - MiG-29 'Swifts' from Zvezda in 1:72 scale (ZVE7310) - Russian four-masted barque "Kruzenshtern" from Zvezda in 1:200 scale (ZVE9045) Sincerely, Alex Scale-model-kits.com - plastic scale model kits on-line shop

1/144 Boeing 777-3M0 (ER) (kit - Zvezda) Aeroflot Russian Airlines VP-BGF D.Davydov

An aircraft modeller's attempt on 'Heavy Metal'. After building Zvezda's Yak-3 'Snap Kit' I was so impressed by the quality and ease of build that I acquired some vehicles from their 'Snap Kit' range as well. Detail is sufficient, but not as good as with Dragon or Revell. Most suprising issue - there are no grab handles included. These are quite prominent on T-34s, so I added them from my spares box. The tow cable is from a Dragon kit. I really like Zvezda's design for the tracks, they come as one piece. You simply wrap them around the wheels. It's a good idea to dip it in hot water first. I didn't, and mine broke up, but were easy to fix with a drop of glue. I much prefer that system over the link-and-lenght tracks that I find very difficult to work with in small scale. I painted the model with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics (H80). The tarpaulin is a resin item from CMK. Exhausts were drilled open. Weathered with artists oils and pastel chalks. Thanks for your interest!

Mangwanani fellow modellers. Keeping up with my African theme, here's Air Zimbabwe Flight UM 468 from Johannesburg about to touch down at Harare International Airport : Zvezda's A320 with a mix of home-made decals, paintwork and other bits and bobs. Struggled with just about everything on this build, but finished it just in time for the Airliner Group Build next month - Hooray (I think......) Thanks for looking. mike (Perhaps one day I'll get to make the journey ?)