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  1. With the P-51D done and on the shelf, and the He-280 back on the table I scanned the stash and decided a chopper is due. Picked out this one and will try to go for the White JDF Bird. This should be an easy build with a challenging paint job. Stay tuned. Ran
  2. Academy is to release a new tool 1/48th North American F-51D Mustang - Korean War - ref. 12354 Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235117457-academy-2023-releases-newsletters-1/&do=findComment&comment=4622755 Top prize Creativity & Originality for this type choice... V.P.
  3. The M3A1 halftrack is my all time favourite military vehicle, so I had to join in with this group build! I've always thought the M3/M3A1 halftrack was surprisingly under represented in kit form, especially considering how widely they were used. In 1/35 there was the Tamiya M3A2 (a version which never saw combat) and Dragon's more recent kit, which is a bit out of my price range. In 1/72 and 1/76, there is the very inaccurate Airfix offering, the long in the tooth Hasegawa version and the subject of this build, Academy's M3A1. Whilst not perfect from what I've read, it is by far the best small scale kit of this vehicle out there. Bought mine cheaply off Ebay, complete but minus box, so in the absence of that, the black and white picture on the instructions will have to suffice; Kit looks nicely moulded; Nice clear instructions; And, as you hardly ever see a photo of an uncluttered halftrack, I'll be using this Redog M3 halftrack stowage set. Used a generic Redog stowage set on my Airfix Universal Carrier, and was really pleased with how much it enhanced a simple model; Won't be starting it for a week or so, as I've got a couple of builds to finish in the Revell/Monogram group build, but I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this.
  4. The 1/48th McDD F-4B Phantom II announced by Academy (ref. 12232) should be out for the third quarter of 2012. Source academy homepage: V.P.
  5. Academy is to release a new tool 1/35th Boeing AH-64E Guardian/Apache - US Army - ref. 12134 Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235117457-academy-2023-releases-newsletters-1/&do=findComment&comment=4622755 V.P.
  6. Hi All, Diving head first into my first large scale model. In this case, it Academy's lovely 1/35th scale AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter. I love the AH-1 series of helicopters, and really dig this particular variant (as well as the OG Vietnam War era AH-1G). I've picked up just about everything made for this model, so let's see if I can make it work. The box art; The aftermarket goodies; First thing to accomplish, and the most involved aspect as far as integrating an aftermarket set was preparing the forward fuselage for the Legend Productions AH-1Z avionics and ammunition bays. I drilled holes around the perimeter of the molded in bay access doors, then used a craft saw to removed the doors. Various sanding sticks and files were used to removed the remnants of the doors up to the door panel lines and clean up the opening. Here's the bays loosely fitted into place. I will permanently glue them into place once the bays are painted and the forward fuselage is assembled. Thanks to @Greg W for helping me get these fitted into place. His knowledge on how to tackle installing resin sets of this type was greatly appreciated. Here's the tail boom with some photoetch screens and Flying Leathernecks FMV antenna fairing fitted in place; Thanks for looking!
  7. Hi folks 🥳 Now that the M3/4 GB is finished, I would like to continue with my work here. As you can read in the title, it's about the M12 GMC from Academy, which I finished building after a lot of work, but I couldn't paint it in time. As usual, I had also planned a vignette, so I still have a long way to go. Some of you already know my model from the GB, for all those interested I would like to present a few pictures with the most important milestones of the project. In the coming months I will be painting figures, pouring water, creating decals and weathering the M12. I would be happy if you join me in this process. MD The figures were more expensive than the kit😁 The wall to the engine compartment was revised The bogies have been reworked to show the weight The drive housing has been improved The air filters were redesigned and printed The spade was also redesigned and printed The details of the bogies have been improved The gun socket was improved... also the fuel filler caps The complete rear section was rebuilt... and provided with missing rivets and weld seams Missing details of the gun were attached The drive for the height adjustment was added The trackguards were ground thinner The front trackguards were rebuilt Adding new details to the hatches The gun support revised and made movable The ammunition rack newly created Missing weld seams and holes added Casting markings applied The protective shield improved The drive wheels modified... for new AFV Club tracks (here you can see the weight distribution well) new seats The complete new winch is a model in itself The finished model with some accessories is ready for the last steps before painting When I look at the pictures again, I realise why I didn't finish them completely 😁 See you!
  8. Hello, as promised over on the build thread HERE I am posting a few more pictures of this odd P-47B variant, the "Double Twister": Thanks for looking. Ed
  9. Hello again. For this build thread, I've chosen the short-lived Republic P-47B "Double Twister", which as far as we know, only flew in this configuration one time, and of which only one photo was supposedly ever taken. In fact, most people at Republic didn't even remember the aircraft, but the pilot did, almost killing himself because he forgot to set the trim on the rudder, to allow for the offset of the vertical stabilizer. For those newer to modeling out there, let me explain. On single engine propeller-driven aircraft, the vertical stabilizer was usually offset, from 1 - 3 degrees, to counteract the torgue of the rotating propeller. This is still done today, on R/C aircraft -- not sure about real life. A few decades back, the super-detailing crowd was fussing with kit manufacturers about not having this feature built into the kits (seriously complicating the molding process, by the way), and made a big hullabaloo when some manufacturer actually did it, as a selling feature. I guess the kit had other issues, or didn't sell that well, because the whole mess finally just went away. I can't even remember what kit or kits this involved, but I guess most manufacturers said "if you want it, YOU make it"; and many of us did, as was the fashion in those days -- when somebody did something, everybody else was expected to follow suit, whether it was Rub-'N-Buff Paste wax or Floquil Old Silver for natural metal finishes, to later using heat-stretched Bic Ball Point pen filler tubes (emptied and cleaned out), and stretched into tiny gun tubes. I don't think that any of those products exist today, but back IN THE DAY, you just had to do it! Nowadays, it would be black-basing or hairspray technique or the like. Time marches on... But, I digress. Here is the said only picture of the said aircraft: Not shown well in the photo, are the twin contra-rotating props, and while they worked, the gearbox was fiddly, and the speed increase, I believe, was only 1 mph better than a regular P-47B, so it just wasn't worth the effort to alter P-47 production at the time. Also, you will note the odd color of the aircraft. The actual color is unknown, but many claim it is just plain old yellow zinc chromate primer, which sort of makes sense, in a certain way. Why waste the paint job if the plane crashes?. On the other hand, the obvious gloss on the paint is not what you would expect from the primer, and if you're going to the expense of clear-coating the primer, why not just paint the thing O.D. like all the rest? Maybe it's just oil smeared here and there, but I think it only had one flight, so - go figure. I have massaged the photo in Photoshop every which way I can think of, and still can't come to a conclusion. Since all of the Republic records were destroyed when Republic sold out, we will probably never know. However, I welcome any comments, informed or opinion on the matter, before I get to that stage. Otherwise, I will probably paint it yellow zinc chromate, just because its different... To do the dirty deed, I will fall back on my sawing and hacking favorite P-47 Razorback kit, the 1/72 Academy kit, mostly because it's cheaper than the Tamiya, which is considered a better kit. I'll save that one to build a real "D" model some day -- I hope!: On the bottom row, from the left, a resin copy of six propeller blades I got from some resin kit or the other, wherein I decided to build the 4-bladed version vs the contra-prop version, probably the Alliance XP-72 kit, but I'm not sure. Anyway it would not be that hard to take a larger prop spinner, perhaps from a P-40 and fill and sand it to shape and scrounge prop blades from the spares box. In the middle, somebody's P-47 cockpit set from the spares box, and a set of P-47 razorback masks, mostly because I happen to have them on hand. I also have a Rob Taurus canopy, which I will probably not use, but we'll see. As with my XP-47 Prototype build HERE I will begin by marking off the scale 8 inches of length that have to be removed from the front of the fuselage, below, where "A" is the scale 8 inch wide strip of tape I used and "B" is simply one of the pencil lines drawn: Above right, the tape-cutting device I used allowed me to cut a piece of tape 3 times the 0.8mm width, or a total of 2.4mm in real life. This, taken along with the width of the saw kerf, will get us right at 8 scale inches. Above left, the arrows point to the marked lines, which have also been scribed, to help align the saw when I make those cuts. However, I like to start by sawing through the wing root vertically, up through the marked lines, to leave as much of the wing root structure as possible, allowing for less work and filling later. Above right, the other lines are sawn through, separating the fuselage into two parts, and showing the removed plastic. I will continue with the butchery, when I return, anon... Ed
  10. Today in the Gustav Jung - from Wolfpack Design - Facebook page. It's reported as a Academy Hobby Model Kits project. 1/35th - ref. ? - Bell UH-1Y Venom But it's still a long way off until its release. Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=5767824333312067&set=a.136945053066718 V.P.
  11. Hi all I finally finished a build Not great but just happy to finish something Finished very much OOB with Tamiya acrylics and a model master flat clear I would have liked more colour separation on the camo but live and learn The kit is basic but went together okay Decals were terrible Out of registration and absolutely like leather so plenty of Micro Sol and Micro Set to try and settle them down as best as possible but many still silvered up 🙄 Just a few photos Cheers Thanks for looking
  12. I started this build back in July but only completed it a couple of days ago, as my first finished build for 2021. This is from Academy's Silverplate boxing of their 1/72 B-29 kit. The subject is built up in the colors of the infamous "Enola Gay". Painted with Alclad Airframe Aluminum, Aqua Gloss, Tamiya acrylic and lacquer paints and primers from Gunze. To be honest, this was by no means an easy or smooth build. I hadn't attempted an NMF finish on this scale before, and in this case it turned out to look a little more dull than I wanted to as a result of the overcoat of gloss to seal the paint. Some of the parts look more sloppily painted or weathered than I'd have liked, and I ran into a lot of problems during the build especially with assembly and fit. Some of the decals also silvered on me, which was something I wasn't expecting from Cartograf of all decal makers. The kit itself leaves a lot to be desired compared to what we have today, which to me is surprising given how well it scored in reviews. To be frank, building the kit felt like building something that Academy didn't try all that hard with. The kit goes together in a way that doesn't seem to be thought out very well which results in a lot of fiddling and build problems that in themselves don't ruin the kit but make it feel sloppy. This combined with parts that only vaguely fit and ejector pin marks and seams on very prominent parts among others make building kit a bit of a slog in my opinion. I know some modelers like this challenge which is perfectly fine, but I wasn't all that prepared to experience these build issues and it really took away from the overall experience. Since this kit is the only good option for a 72nd B-29, I suppose it's all about knowing what you might be in for. It does build up to look like a massive shiny display piece in the end. Thanks for viewing!
  13. Junkers Ju.87D-3 Stuka Experten (SH72470) 1:72 Special Hobby The Ju-87 Stuka was conceived as a dive bomber in the early 1930s and proved itself a capable performer during the Spanish Civil war, then later during the Blitzkrieg in Western Europe. However, the Battle of Britain showed that the relatively slow speed of the aircraft rendered it vulnerable to more modern fighters of that time, such as the Spitfire and Hurricane fielded by the British. As such it was redeployed to combat arenas where the Luftwaffe held aerial superiority or where there was unlikely to be any airborne opposition at all. Axis aligned countries were also supplied with surplus German Aircraft, usually those that had since been superseded by new variants. The -D series featured two coolant radiators underneath the inboard wings panels, while the oil cooler was relocated to the position formerly occupied by the single, chin-mounted coolant radiator. The -D series also introduced an aerodynamically smoothed cockpit with better visibility for the pilot and overall space for the crew to move around in combat. Armour protection was also strengthened and a new twin-mount 7.92 mm MG 81Z zwilling machine gun with a high rate of fire was installed to improve the rate of fire they could direct at their opponents. Engine performance was increased with the installation of the improved Jumo 211J that now delivering around 1,400 hp, which enabled the weapons load to increase from a relatively ineffectual 500 kg to 1,800 kg, although a typical bomb load was more likely to be 500-1,200 Kg. The D-3 was intended for ground attack and was armed with forward firing machine guns as well as the afore mentioned bomb load and crew protection. The Stuka’s ground attack credentials were further improved by the replacement -G variant, which added hard-points for underslung cannons in panniers under the wings. The Kit This a reboxing of the Academy kit, with additional parts that were tooled by Special Hobby themselves. The kit arrives in a top-opening box with the usual yellow/white theme and an attractive painting of the subject matter on the front. Inside are six sprues in two shades of grey styrene, a clear sprue, a sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), a small bag containing three 3D printed parts in orange resin, the instruction booklet with colour profiles on the rear pages, and a decal sheet in a separate bag. Detail of the Academy parts is good, and they are matched in every way but the colour by the new sprue from Special Hobby’s designers. The addition of the new parts, resin and PE are a good boost to the base kit, and the decals are printed by Eduard, so the carrier film can be removed after application. Construction begins with the cockpit of course, making up the bulkhead between the crew, then adding PE seatbelts to the pilot’s seat and the gunner’s less salubrious perch at the rear. The assemblies are fixed to the cockpit floor along with a seat base for the pilot, control column and tiny PE rudder pedals in the front, and extra ammo containers at the side of the gunner’s seat, and finally a bulkhead at the rear. Before you can close the fuselage, the rudder panel must be removed from just the port fuselage half, as it’s a full-thickness part and is replaced by the new part later on. The interior of the fuselage has nice detail moulded-in, with one extra part added to the starboard side before the cockpit is trapped between the halves during closure. The instrument panel is fitted into the front coaming and a decal is applied over the painted panel, then it is glued to the top of the fuselage, and at the rear of the cockpit opening another insert is installed with the clear direction-finding antenna that is recessed into the fuselage. The nose section is separate from the main fuselage to enable more versions from the same tooling, and it is built up from two halves plus two exhaust stacks, radiator inside the intake and the prop shaft moulded into the starboard side. This is glued to the fuselage, after which the wings are started. The lower wing is full span, but needs a section cutting out from the centre to accommodate a new insert with a pair of lugs inserted into holes from inside. The outer wings are glued over the top, and the fuselage is then dropped in between the gap. At the rear the new rudder panel is glued in place with the two elevators each single parts plus the flared end-caps, sliding into slots in the fuselage sides. Each wing needs a pair of holes drilled out to accept the relocated intakes for the oil coolers, and this is shown out of step with the build, as the flashed-over holes aren’t visible from the outside, so drill them out before you join the upper and lower wings together. This also applies to two more holes outboard of the gear legs under each wing. You have been warned! Speaking of wheels, the new sprue contains two-part wheels with radial tread, and these can be inserted into either un-spatted gear legs, or the more aerodynamically clean but sometimes impractical spatted legs, the latter option also having 3D printed tubes added to the curved front and spinners that apply to just one decal option. With your choice of main gear legs installed on butt-joints under the wings, the common tail wheel is inserted under the elevators, adding support struts between the elevators and fuselage sides, plus a pair of semi-conformal bomb shackles under each wing. Each of the moulded-in wing-flaps have three actuators added into holes in the respective surfaces, plus two smaller parts, and a further two more upstands are inserted vertically under the chin intake as pivots for the bomb launching cradle. The bombs are made up from PE fins and two-part styrene bodies, adding more PE stabilising struts between the rear of each fin, forming a square when looking from behind. The larger bomb is added to the launch cradle and glued to the centreline, while the two pairs of smaller bombs fix to the mounts under the wings, plus the PE dive-brakes that flip up to enhance the aircraft’s dive characteristics when deployed. Turning the model over onto its wheels, the rear gunner has the mount and twin machine guns added, while at the front the prop is built up from the three blades that are moulded together, which is slipped over the shaft following the rear spinner plate, so that it can be secured by a styrene O-ring that is then covered over by the spinner cap so it can remain mobile once the glue is cured. The canopy can be posed closed by using the single-part moulding on the clear sprue, or you can use the four-part separate sections to pose the canopy fully or partially open, with both options receiving an antenna that fixes in a hole moulded into the centre-aft section. The wing guns, pitot probe and clear landing light are all then glued into the leading edge of the wings to complete the model. Markings There are three decal options on the sheet, and you will need to make some decisions about which you want to model early on, as it affects your choice of gear legs. Although the options all wear the same green RLM70/71 splinter camouflage over an RLM65 blue underside, they are differentiated by their distinctive markings and the clumsy way that previous markings have been overpainted. From the box you can build one of the following: T6+AA, Orbstlt Dr. Ernst Kupfer, CO of St.G 2, The Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, Summer 1943 S7+AA, Orbstlt Walter Sigel, CO of St.G 3, Egypt 1942 T6+BC, Wr.N.2491, Little Bear, Gruppenadjutant II.St.G 2, Lt Gunter Schmid, Eastern Ukraine, September 1942 The decals appear to be printed by Eduard and are in good registration, sharpness, and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. I mention Eduard because from 2021, the carrier film on their decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier film free, making the completed decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the carrier film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and saves a good quantity of precious modelling time into the bargain. The swastikas on the tail are shown as black diamonds on the profiles, but are on the sheet as two halves so that you can add them for the sake of historical accuracy, leave them off if you don’t wish to display them, or your country has laws against its use. Conclusion The base kit is well-detailed with fine engraved panel lines, and the addition of the new sprue and extras in the shape of PE and resin really raise this Stuka’s game, making for an interesting build and some unusual schemes. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  14. And my dad starts the next Latin American subject. DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr
  15. this model has been on my to-do list for two years now, I finally got round to making it. It only took a week! It's a decent model, didn't have many problems with it. I'm pretty happy with the result, a good way to start 2023... Next up (probably): RA-5C Vigilante, should look good next to the crusader.
  16. I've always liked the looks of the massive “Jug”, i.e. the barrel-shaped Republic Thunderbolt P-47D, and prefer its bubbletop version to the razorback one. The painting of the USAF Thunderbolts was very colorful at the end of the war, and the well-known "Tarheel Hal" is an excellent example of that. There is still an airworthy one in the USA, painted in that colourful “camo”. Tarheel Hal was the personal mount of Lt. Davis in the 9th Air Force, on the European theatre. Tar heel is the nickname given to the residents of North Carolina, and it is also used for students at the University of North Carolina. I built my model from the Academy kit, but I got the decals from the USA through one of the international model forums. The decals are probably from an old Hasegawa P-47D model that I believe is no longer available. For the modeI also used photoetch parts from Eduard. The kit was of good quality and I didn’t encoungter any problems in the assembly. I painted the metal colour fuselage and wings with Alclad aluminium after having primed the areas with Tamiya black rattle-can spray.
  17. Academy is to release in 2019 a new tool 1/72nd Grumman F-14A Tomcat "VF-143 Punkin Dogs" kit in the MCP (Multi Color Parts) serie - ref. 12563 Source: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235047967-academy-catalog-2019/&do=findComment&comment=3218086 Box art V.P.
  18. Sorry to be mysterious- I feel honor-bound to speak up, but as of this moment have NO idea what kit or subject I've got in mind. Maybe, just maybe, an early model in Army Maneuvers temporary markings? 48th, unless I foolishly decide to throw my 32nd Revell into the ring...
  19. After the 2021 programme/newsletters (link) Here's the Academy 2022 - newsletter 1 http://www.academy.co.kr/6q/board_news_main.asp?pMenuId=BOARD00002&pCode=12365&pCategory=NEWS2 In the aircraft pages for Q1/2022: 1/48 - ref. 12345 - Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless - plastic Accurate Miniatures 1/72 - ref. 12573 - Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina 1/48 - ref. 12346 - Dassault Rafale C - Nato Tiger Meet 2012 - plastic Revell (yes 1/48th and not 1/72nd as wrongly indicated in the folder) 1/72 - ref. 12575 - Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion - plastic Fujimi 1/144 - ref. 12627 - McDD F/A-18C+ Hornet 1/144 - ref. 12??? - McDD F/A-18D Hornet V.P.
  20. AT-6C/D & SNJ-3/3C Texan (SH72450) ’Training to Win’ 1:72 Special Hobby The North American Aviation T-6 Texan has a long history dating from its inception as the NA-16 in 1935 right up to 1970, and even today there are flying versions in various Warbird associations, sometimes masquerading as Mitsubishi Zeroes in films. The T-6 (in various designations from NA-16, through B1 to T-6 etc.) was originally produced as a basic trainer but over time it was upgraded to an advanced trainer (AT-6 Texan) with improved performance for basic and combat type flying training, plus an added facility for training rear gunners. The T-6 was also supplied to Britain and Commonwealth nations and designated the Harvard (I & II) and was in service during WW2 and for many years post war. Many British, Commonwealth and American pilots earned their wings flying a Texan, although it was known to have a fairly severe stall characteristic. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp that gave it a unique harsh buzzing engine note, the SNJ-3C was fitted with arrestor gear to facilitate deck landing trials for pilots destined to serve on aircraft carriers. The Kit This is a re-boxing of the Academy kit by Special Hobby with an additional injected clear sprue for the different canopies used and some resin parts, a small Photo-Etch (PE) fret, a miniscule slip of pre-printed clear acetate sheet, a decal sheet and instruction booklet. The Academy kit is well-regarded, so the additional parts and decal sheet should give the model an additional boost by the time you have completed it. Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with the two seats, which both get a new set of PE four-point seat belts before they are glued to the cockpit floor, which also receives a linked pair of control columns running down much of the centre of the floor. The sidewalls are applied to the floor along with a central coaming, rear bulkhead and rear deck, with a decal for the instrument panel under the coaming. The front panel also has a decal, and is attached to a spur inside the front of the cockpit aperture within the fuselage, while the cockpit assembly is held in place by a number of raised supports, but first several small sections around the cockpit and front cowling are removed, as shown in red. Only one decal option doesn’t have the resin insert in the starboard side of the nose cowling, so get your decal option sorted early in the process to avoid issues. The exhaust collector ring is slid over the fluted front of the fuselage, then the engine is made up, consisting of a bulkhead to which the engine is moulded as one part, fixing on a ledge inside the resin cowling, except the first decal option, which uses the kit part. The twin bladed prop inserts into the front of the bell-housing and is secured at the rear by a small cup that can leave the blade mobile. The low-mounted wings are supplied full-width on the underside, into which the central bay insert is placed, painting the area interior green, as well as small sections of the inside of the upper wings where the gear legs will fix. It can then be mated with the fuselage, and the completed engine assembly attaches by two pegs at the front. A resin machine gun with fairing is glued onto the starboard side in front of the cockpit for one decal option, and the gunsight is only needed that same option, folding up into a triangular shape, with the glazing replicated by the small and eminently losable slip of acetate, taking great care with the glue. The elevators are each a single part and fix to the tail by the usual slot and tab method, then the canopy can be installed, starting with the windscreen, then adding the two rear sections that are found on the additional clear sprue. Another clear part forms the glazing for the wing-mounted landing light in the leading edge of each wing, and a pitot inserts into the starboard wingtip. An intake attaches to the port side of the forward fuselage, then right in the pilot’s eyeline, a post for the radio antenna is fixed to the deck in front of the windscreen. Inverting the model (taking care of that antenna), the landing gear can be made up from individual legs with separate outer bay doors and wheels. The tail wheel has a choice of a faired-in assembly for one option, or a bare wheel with strut moulded-in for the rest. One camouflage option also needs an arrestor hook and curved bumper from the resin parts glued in front of the tail wheel. The final act is adding an intake under the rear of the engine cowling and a pair of actuators to the undersides of the elevators. You are also invited to fill a small hole under the wings in between the two main gear bays, and flat-back three raised lights under the fuselage as these variants didn’t have the recognition lights fitted. Markings There are a generous seven decal options on the sheet included with the kit, and each one has a page devoted to it with four views and a list of colours using names and Gunze codes. Most of them are painted silver, but with enough variation to appeal to most modellers, but my favourite is the one in blue grey. From the box you can build one of the following: AT-6D-NT Texan 4134617 ‘Bridget SPM Baby’, 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group, Middle Wallop (USAAF Station 449), Great Britain, 1944 SNJ-3C Texan BuNo. 6792, J-9, NAS Glenview, Illinois, Autumn 1942 SNJ-3C Texan BuNo. 6792, 11-1, Marine Aircraft Group 11, Cactus Air Force, Turtle Bay, Espiritu Santo, South Pacific, October 1943 AT-6C 42-3996, 77th Flying Training Wing, Foster Field, Texas, 1943 SNJ-3 Texan BuNo. 6773, Training Squadron Three, Detachment 8-B, NAS Pensacola, Florida, 1942 AT-6C Texan, 41-17249, X-508, Luke Field, Arizona, 1942 AT-6C Texan, 41-17249, X-508, Luke Field, Arizona, 1942 The decals are printed in the Czech Republic, and are in good register, colour density and sharpness, with a thin gloss carrier film over the printed areas. Looking at the carrier film I surmise that they are printed by Eduard, and as of 2021, the carrier film from Eduard decals can be coaxed away from the printed part of the decal after they have been applied, effectively rendering them carrier-free, making the decals much thinner and more realistic, and obviating the need to apply successive coats of clear varnish to hide the edges of the film. It’s a great step further in realism from my point of view, and having now tested them on my recent F4F-3 Wildcat, I’m a fan. Conclusion A welcome reboxing of a well-regarded kit with some resin and PE extras to give it some individuality, and a host of interesting decal options that you can remove the carrier film from after application. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  21. Had this kit since it came out, just needed a good excuse to get it started & here it is. The only D-Day special that I didn't manage to get a photo of with these markings, got the other two so building this will make up for it. I've been told that 91-0603 with the D-Day stripes & yellow tail was slightly more elusive of the three which only makes me feel slightly better! So - Academy kit - 1/72 F-15E 494th 91-0603 of the 48th FW. Initially I would have liked to build it out of the box, but the engine nozzles look ok but not as refined as I'd like so if anyone could recommend some decent resin nozzles for it would be appreciated. I might even buy some 3d printed cockpit details, not sure yet. Just a small start to it. Removing the seam line on the canopy then a dip to help give it some clarity after a fine buffing. That's it for now. Will be minimum time available this week to go any further with it as I hopefully will try & get some pics at LN on my day off. Also does anybody know if the blue tail F-15C of the 493rd "D-Day Special" has been done in decal form? Would be great if this is out there somewhere. Martin
  22. Hello everyone! Here's my rendition of the much-maligned Academy 1/72 Spitfire Mk. XIV kit. Dare I say it on Britmodeller of all places, but I admit that I'm not that knowledgeable about the Spitfire, particularly the Griffin-engined marks. The kit was a gift from my now ex-girlfriend back in 2018, when she kindly tried nudge me back into the hobby as a respite from a severe work burnout. It sat in the stash for a while but over the past couple of years I found myself quite in debt (a mortgage and family health issues, not the criminal sort), so having a lot of free time at home, I started building through the kits stash, a dozen kits that were sitting idle for well over fifteen years, when I bought them back in high school. In fact, I completed this kit back in May of this year, but I've been a bit lax about taking photos and sharing the build - because if there's anything worse than my modelling skills, it's my skill as a photographer! I believe much has been written about the Academy kit. It's a strangely mixed bag of very fine engraved panel lines, excellent cockpit detail, incorrect overall shape, very incorrectly shaped radiators, thick and incorrect decals. Given my lack of in-depth knowledge on the subject, I decided to go easy on this one and not try to correct the geometry errors but build it mostly out of the box with minor improvements - I added a glass reflector gunsight, and "padded" the seatbelt decals with masking tape. This didn't turn out as good as I hoped but it's still better than flat decals on the seat. The tires are finely detailed and wight-flattened out of the sprue but there are alignment pins that causes the flat area to sit at an angle against the ground, so I had to reshape them using several layers of CA glue and a lot of sanding to get them aligned. Paints are entirely my own mix of Mr. Color acrylics, top coated with a 1-to-3 mix of Mr. Color acrylic gloss and matt varnish. Initially I used the decals for the DW-D service tag but as the Academy decals were way too dark for RAF Sky, and somewhat transparent, I had to mix a new batch of Sky and paint over them with a brush, then coat with varnish again. Definitely was a nerve shattering experience as I repainted it on the evening before taking the model to an expo last week. It seems that the yellow bands on the wingtips should be smaller but I'm going to overlook that one. Spitfire Mk. XIV RB159, DW-D, No. 610 Squadron "County of Chester, Summer 1944, flown by CO Richard Newbury who shot down 9 V-1 flying bombs. Wikimedia commons photo of the real plane. Anyway, enough blabbering, here's the end result!
  23. Here is my latest and probably my most detailed 1/72 model to date. I used the "old" 😉 but still very good kit by Academy released in 2007. Good fit, decent detail and great decals printed by Cartograf. To show more movement and detail I've dropped the front slats, ailerons and flaps and I've added the nice and crisp Aires cockpit resin set and Black Dog's box which includes the electronic bays, canon, radar, spine and engine. The Black Dog set is good but is not at the same fine level as the Aries one, and in fact some of the pieces had pretty bad fit, so I ended up replacing them with some scratch build ones like the partition wall in the engine bay or the hatches for the avionics. All weathering was done using oil paints. F/A-18A+ US Marine Corps VMFA-232 "Red Devils", USS Nimitz, Persian Gulf 2007 Thanks for looking!
  24. Hi all, My mad dash to finish up shelf-queens continues. The next one off the shelf of doom (tm) is Academy's fantastic F-84. I only changed out Academy's dodgy decals with a random Superscale sheet I had laying around. I forget the squadron, but I believe it's from a unit stationed in West Germany in the early 1950s. The kit has a well-earned reputation for being excellent, and construction was problem free. The project stalled on my desk mainly because of my fickle ways, and because I forgot to add nose-weight. I had it assembled, painted, and even partially decaled, but set it aside when I realized it would be a tail-sitter. Then earlier this year I discovered a product called liquid gravity. I was able to get enough of the tiny pellets in through the open nose to make the kit almost balanced. More weight was then added into the drop tanks, and problem solved! The Superscale sheet was sized for the Tamiya kit and so didn't fit exactly. Gaps along edges needed to be touched up with paint, and some creative centering and stretching of decals was required on areas where its less obvious. The drop tank checkers were particularly tricky, and I messed up the alternating pattern at the top where the two halves meet. I can live with it, I Imagine Airman Pyle soldered two wrong tank halves together or whatever :) If its screw-upable in 1:72 it could have been screw-upable in 1:1. Looking at the finished kit, I wonder why I let it sit unfinished on the shelf for five years. It ain't perfect l, but I'm happy with it.
  25. Everyone builds airplanes, but I don't. This needs to be fixed. I want to build a prototype XF6F1 Hellcat. I will use the ACADEMY model.
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