Search the Community

Hi all, The new Airfix 1:48 Jaguar is complete! What a kit... the fit, the detail, everything about this kit is amazing. I went with a Royal Omani Air Force aircraft in a very distinctive two tone desert camo, thanks to a now very rare Model Alliance decal set. This is a kit I will definitely be purchasing and building more of and it's worth every penny - a very enjoyable build which I would seriously recommend to anyone! Finished in my favourite, go-to Hataka Orange Line paints which gave me a lovely smooth finish. If you want any more information on this build, please ask in the comments below. Cheers all!

This is a fabulous kit from Airfix, an absolute joy to build. All of the parts fit together superbly, with very little filler required. There’s a plethora of underwing stores (though still no CBLS pods!) and a great decal sheet. The only slight issues are no seatbelts or cockpit mirrors, so I scratchbuilt those, otherwise she is out of the box. Now brilliantly preserved in taxiable condition by the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, XX741 was delivered to the RAF in November 1974, initially with 226 OCU before the move south to Coltishall where it was assigned to 54 Sqn before transferring to number 6 Sqn as ‘EJ’ in October 1984. Its final flight was ten years later, with acquisition by the BCWM in 2009. I used Tamiya AS-30 green and a custom filled dark sea grey aerosol spray, with Ammo zinc chromate yellow for the door and wheel well interiors. WIP here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235153583-new-tool-airfix-jaguar-148/

My entry will be this old Hasegawa Harrier: which will be built in the interests of stash reduction with a few minor improvements. Here are the sprues: usual crisp moulding in the hard, light grey Hasegawa plastic. I won’t be using the kit decals, but instead will use these from CtA to represent an aircraft from VMA 513 “Nightmares” operating from USS Tarawa in 1981. As I will be away from home from Monday touring New Zealand until the middle of April, I will miss the start and first few weeks of the group build. I have therefore made a bit of an early start, but well below the 25% mark. I have boxed in the nose gear bay and modified the nose to take a spare Airfix cockpit to replace the virtually non-existent Hasegawa one. I also sourced a bang seat from the spares box, not an accurate one, but better than the seat Hasegawa provide that looks more like one of those chairs used in nail salons where women get their toenails painted in pretty colours. seriously? Also sprayed a little primer. I’ll be back around Easter time to get properly stuck into it. AW

.....well i hope not. The whole point of this hobby is to have fun. However, I’ve always wanted to do a PRU coloured aircraft since I returned to this hobby a couple of years ago. I’d always expected it to be a Spitfire. But this GB and the Airfix Mosquito PR XVI means the Mossie gets first crack. I’ll be trying to keep this OOB as much as possible – that scheme with the yellow spinners, red/white stripey fin and big b&w stripes is both a challenge and very eye-catching. I know these have been done before, but I want one of my own. 😁 In preparation, I have been looking up the history of this aicraft. Fascinating. If it's not too boring, I may share some of the findings with you as we go Cheers for now Rob

Airfix is to release in Summer 2025 a 1/72nd Westland Wessex HC.2 kit - ref. A04068 Source: https://uk.airfix.com/products/westland-wessex-hc2-a04068 Box art Renders Schemes V.P.

SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1/GR.1A (A11010) 1:48 Airfix The Jaguar had a convoluted development history, which began with Britain and France wanting different things, with some commonality of goals, if that makes any sense. Eventually these converged sufficiently to make more sense, and with the cancellation of one of the possible solutions, the Jaguar was born along with a separate joint venture between Breuget and BAC (as it was then) to form SEPECAT, which stands for Société Européenne de Production de l'Avion d'École de Combat et d'Appui Tactique, which translates to European Company for Production of Combat Trainer & Tactical Support Aircraft - a descriptive title if ever there was one, but a long way from catchy. The British and French partners ordered about 160 airframes each, with the French opting for a portion of their lot to be the yet-to-be finalised Jaguar-M options. These maritime operations tuned airframes were of course cancelled due to cost increases and political wrangling in favour of the single-engined Super Étendard. Each Nation also ordered 35-40 two-seat trainers to assist in the conversion of pilots to this new jet. With the jet trainer element now completely removed from the aircraft's tasking due to the introduction of the Hawk and Alphajet, the Jaguar was transitioned to a pure Ground Attack and Tactical Strike aircraft, a job that it did well, as it was a mechanically robust aircraft, with its unusual over-wing pylons freeing up more wing hard-points for munitions. Powered by two Adour engines, the initial airframes were considered to be underpowered, and crews joked that they only took off due to the curvature of the earth. Successive improvements to the engines increased power and load hauling ability though, and its ability to produce high power for take-off and short dashes made for some interesting low-level flight videos on YouTube over the years. The French Jaguar A was delivered to the Armée de l'Air in 1973, taking part in several conflicts in North Africa where French interests were threatened, and then went on to serve in the Gulf War through to the Kosovo and Bosnian conflicts, before being retired in 2005, some two years earlier than the British Jaguar's final curtain call. The British order of 165 of the initial GR.1 models with a further 35 T.2 two-seat trainers resulted in the formation of two active squadrons and one Operational Conversion Squadron in the mid-70s, which became operational carrying the British nuclear deterrent in 1977. As the fast-jet training aspect of the Jaguar's initial requirements was removed by then, further squadrons were raised to carry out reconnaissance tasks. After avionics upgrades they became GR.1As with more powerful engines that went at least some of the way to dispel their reputation for being underpowered. The GR.3 update saw the avionics and power plants upgraded further still, but only 10 years after this expense they were retired before their time (as usual), which marked the end of the Jag's faithful service with the RAF. During her time at the front line, she served in Bosnia and the first Gulf War, narrowly missing the later invasion of Iraq after Turkey withdrew permission to overfly their airspace at the last minute. The final scheme was a stunning salute to this interesting aircraft, consisting of a blazing orange spot pattern of the jaguar showing through the simulated torn outer skin of the aircraft. After a number were sent to museums for preservation, the rest were reduced to main assemblies for storage, thus ending an era. India still operates a number of license built and former RAF airframes, carrying out upgrades of their own, including radar systems similar to those proposed for the Jaguar-M in the 70s, while the other legacy operator, Oman retired theirs in 2014. The Kit Even though there was a relatively modern tooling of the Jaguar in this scale a few years back, most people didn’t much care for it, so the announcement by Airfix of their new tooling in 1:48 was greeted with uproarious applause. I built one of the now defunct Kitty Hawk kit, but I’m still in the cheering crowd, as with hindsight I didn’t fancy building any more of that manufacturer’s offerings if I didn’t have to. Now I don’t! This kit as a complete new tool that replaces their old kit in this scale that was lacking in many aspects, including the height of the spine in the coke-bottle area-rule midriff of the fuselage. The kit arrives in a good-sized top-opening box in Airfix’s usual red theme, with a painting of a brace of desertized Jags high over somewhere hot and dusty that doesn’t take a genius to guess where it might be. The Jaguar’s last hurrah in the Gulf War. Inside the box are seven sprues, although some linked sections have their own sprue codes, two clear sprues, a decal sheet, instruction booklet printed on matt paper in spot colour, and three glossy pages of white A4 paper that are printed on both sides with four decal options, and a fifth containing profiles of the weapons, pods and tanks on one side. Airfix routinely scan aircraft they intend to kit with LIDAR to ensure they achieve accuracy in gross outline and as much of the detail as possible, backed up by the more traditional methods that involve research, a camera and a tape measure. We know that they scanned the airframe that is preserved in running condition at the Bentwaters Cold War Museum, where our Moderator Julien is a volunteer. They have the aircraft on display there, along with a surprisingly large number of other aircraft, plus a ton of Cold War exhibits at a former US base where the Cold War was very real for those stationed there. They even have a little bit of UFO related history there too. Detail on the kit is excellent, with a nicely appointed cockpit and a pair of well-appointed ejection seats. The exterior is covered in finely engraved panel lines, plus raised and recessed rivets as appropriate, and other features where you would expect them to be. The wing trailing-edges are realistically thin and moulded into the upper wing surface to achieve finesse, and the air-brakes have a translucent thin aft section with details moulded onto the inner faces, and no annoying ejector-pins to be seen there. The engines have deftly moulded exhausts and afterburner rings, there are plenty of stores for above and below the wings, and a crew figure with hands-on-knees, plus a redundant (for this boxing) second identical figure that can be left on the sprue or committed to the spares box. The gear bays and air-brake bays are similarly well-detailed, and there is a jig included to adjust the nose to accommodate both the earlier solid option with probe, or the Laser Ranging and Marked Targeting System (LRMTS) under the nose that was fitted later. The first page of the instructions shows where all the decals in the cockpit, canopy and on the gear legs should be applied, although these will be mentioned again in the relevant steps. You have a choice of either a Mk.2 or Mk.3 Martin Baker ejection seats, which have their own stencil layouts as well as alternative parts on the sprues. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, which has a pair of side console tops glued in and decals applied to the tops. A pair of raised marks underneath are removed, then the instrument panel with a further two decals, and the control column are inserted into the front of the cab, followed by a rear bulkhead with plenty of detail moulded-in. Your choice of seat is built from a two-part chassis, back and base cushion with lower support, a one, or two-part head box front, and base insert that incorporates the pull-handle to initiate ejection. Each seat has individual stencils applied to the head box and shoulders after detail-painting, sliding your choice into position into the cockpit floor. The nose wheel bay comprises a detailed roof, with two side walls, cutting off a pair of raised ejector tabs before adding the two-part front and rear bulkheads with a choice of paint schemes, gluing the completed assembly underneath the cockpit. Basic cockpit sidewalls are moulded into the sides of the nose, adding a block of equipment to the starboard side before proceeding with detail painting. Both sides of the nose are moulded with the LRMTS cut-out integrated, and if you intend to depict an early airframe, this must be removed, which might seem scary at outset until you see the lilac coloured jigs in the instruction steps that allow you to mark and cut the exact line without hesitation, although cutting a little away from the line and sanding the final distance is a sensible technique. Remember however not to glue the jigs to the nose halves, or you’ll have a very bad day, but the instructions do mention this twice for good measure. If you cut the tips off the nose, a replacement cone is included to make good, trapping the cockpit between the halves as you apply glue, and fitting the nose glazing if you elected to keep that feature. The instrument coaming is applied over the front of the cockpit to complete work on the nose for now, setting the assembly to one side while work begins on the main fuselage. Ejector-pin towers are cut from the main bay panels, then the boxes are built from four parts each, making the air-brake bays from another three each, which mount inside the fuselage halves just behind the main bays, with a scrap diagram helping you orient them correctly. A smaller almost heart-shaped bulkhead is fitted where the fuselage begins to taper, and our example had a lot of mould-release agent still clinging to it, which should be wiped away and cleaned with some IPA or similar. Bringing the fuselage halves together is the next task, taking care to align the holes along the belly, which will help the engine insert to sit better once it has been installed, following drilling out of four flashed-over holes, and a choice of clear or a styrene insert that receives a raised clear light later for some decal options. The insert should be aligned carefully with the exhaust cut-outs, making a pair of perfect circles if you succeed, then the nose can be retrieved and glued into the front of the fuselage to complete its length, save for the para-pack cap in the tail. A pair of two-part cannon trough inserts are added on the border between the side and underside of the fuselage by the cockpit, which will be useful when the 2-seater comes out, as it only carried one cannon, the redundant bay filled with relocated avionics from behind the pilot. A pair of strakes are inserted in the holes under the engines, with a scrap diagram showing the correct angle to the vertical once the glue has cured. It’s time for another jig, but put away your dancing shoes, as this is to align the engine intake parts either side of the pilot. Earlier kits of the type suffered from a lack of detail of the blow-in doors, and the radiused internal corners of the trunks weren’t depicted, which Airfix have sensibly dealt with, ably assisted by a flat rectangular jig that is used for both intakes and has P and SB for Port and Starboard, or left and right to the lay person. The trunks are built from two L-shaped halves with angled join-lines that have shallow ridges to assist alignment, attaching the inner “half” to the jig without glue, then bringing in the outer half with engraved blow-in doors from the side, carefully applying glue to ensure you don’t accidentally weld it to the jig. You are advised to leave the glue to cure for a little while before removing the first intake, carrying out the same task with the port intake, leaving that to cure too, then fixing them both to the splitter plates moulded into the sides of the fuselage once you are happy with the seams. Thanks to the Jaguar’s high wing planform, the upper wing is full span and incorporates part of the spine, needing a single hole drilling in the centre before it goes into service. The lower wings are separate parts, and they too have flash-over holes drilled-out for pylons before they are glued to the underside of the upper wings. The completed assembly is then mated to the fuselage, the instructions showing the use of pegs or other clamps around the leading-edge root to ensure a good fit. A NACA intake for the primary heat-exchanger is supplied as an insert behind the wing, and another insert fixes to the starboard side further forward to add detail there, making up the prominent cockpit secondary heat-exchanger fairing behind the canopy from a body and intake lip, and once the glue is cured, another jig is placed over the top to assist with drilling either one or two holes in the top of the unit, depending on which decal option you have chosen. The tail fin is a separate unit in this kit, made from a main part that has the leading and trailing edges moulded-in, and adding an insert into the thicker centre section, and on the opposite side to thicken out the rectangular avionics fairing that crosses the upper portion, slotting the finished fin into a groove in the fuselage at the rear. The Jaguar’s oft-maligned engines are a pair of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca Adour Mk.102s, of which the exhausts, trunks and afterburners are depicted. The trunk has a blank forward end that accepts the afterburner ring, painting it first to simplify the task, making the shrouded exhaust petals from two layers, fitting them at the rear end by way of a keyed lug to ensure correct alignment. They then slide into the holes in the rear of the fuselage under the tail, and are joined by a pair of elevators with serious anhedral, para-pack tail-cone, and two chaff and flare packs under the engine fairings. You have the choice of fixing a pair of wing fences or a combined fence and pylon that was almost unique to this Cold War jet, with the BAC Lightning another example. Two bulged fairings are applied to each of the flap sections before they are glued in place in the drooped position, as was often seen ground-side or on a taxying aircraft, lending them an aggressive air. The leading-edge slats are also separate, and are mounted on short struts in the deployed position, as shown in nearby scrap diagrams. The model should now look like a Jag, but there is still much to do before it is complete. The main gear was a complex arrangement that previous kits didn’t do justice to, but Airfix have done their best to rectify this, using substantial numbers of parts to achieve the desired level of detail. The main struts are made from two halves, and you must remove the raised ejector-pin turrets beforehand. A T-shaped part has a pivot inserted at an angle, sliding the main strut over the peg on the end, then bracketing it with two ancillary struts to complete the leg structure. The opposite leg is built in mirror-image, and the root of each one has a substantial wedge moulded into the top to achieve a good bond, helped along by multiple scrap diagrams showing different angles. Two retraction jacks are strung between the legs and bay walls, adding them in sequence to achieve the correct look, and painting sections of the oleos chrome as indicated. Two wheels per strut are made from halves, with a flat-spot depicting the weight of the airframe on the tyres, making another two for the opposite leg and mounting them on the cross-axles. The nose gear leg is a substantial forged Y-shape, and again has ejector-pin turrets to remove first, joining the two halves, then adding the yoke to the hole in the bottom, and fixing it into the front of the nose bay on two prongs that slot into the front bulkhead, then adding a retraction jack to the front, which has a small cut-out in the front of the bay to accommodate it. Unlike the prototype Maritime variant, the nose gear has just one wheel, which is again made from two halves with a slight flat-spot portraying the airframe’s weight. The contents of the air-brake bays are not identical, one side having the APU, while the other side has an equipment box instead. The air-brakes are well-detailed, complete with perforations and a thin trailing edge, fitting into the front of the bay with a retraction jack holding them at the correct angle, and the instructions advising you to paint the interior the same colour as the exterior. Moving forward, the main gear bays are partly covered by L-profile doors, hiding away some of the detail in the interior, but these doors were usually closed on the ground, unless the aircraft was under maintenance. The forward portion of the bay is covered by a two-part clamshell that separates on gear deployment to allow the retraction jacks to pivot out. Another smaller door opens to accommodate the gear leg, hanging down toward the centreline. The front nose gear door is in two parts, and has two clear landing lights inserted in depressions, fitting the second portion at an angle in the rear with the help of two scrap diagrams, adding two more doors to the bay sides that latch in corresponding holes. A slender arrestor hook is applied to the chine between the exhaust troughs after fixing a bumper, with four tiny parts under the engines, plus a raised light for two of the decal options, then moving forward, a choice of two styles of probe for the nose options are glued to the tip, with a pair of L-shaped whiskers further aft, and an angle-of-attack probe forward of the avionics bays in the sides of the nose. Either one T-shaped antenna or a pair of blade antennae are added to the holes in the heat-exchanger fairing behind the cockpit, and a choice of nav-light shapes are inserted in the spine. Two vents are also installed on the sides of the spine, with a fuel vent exiting the rear under the tail, with two large blade antennae on the sides of the fin, and a pair of optional FOD covers for the intakes, which are a welcome inclusion. As mentioned earlier, there are two identical pilots included on the sprues, and you can choose to paint and install one of them now along with a clear HUD panel in the coaming, after which you can glue in the windscreen, and choose whether to pose the canopy open or not, remembering to add a decal to the aft frame, as per the accompanying diagram. There is a wealth of stores and pods to hang under (and over) your new Jag, starting with a set of four pylons, two per wing, each made from two halves, plus a centreline pylon with a pair of ejector-pin turrets to remove before gluing. Two 1,200L wing tanks and a solitary centreline EMI reconnaissance pod with its own pylon are made, the wing-mounted tanks fitted with a pair of fins at the rear, slotting into grooves in the tail. A Phimat Pod with Heavy Weight Adapter is made from three parts and stashed under the starboard wing on the outer pylon, with a two-part AN/ALQ-101 ECM pod on the port wing outer station. There is also a choice of loading two retarded or free-fall bombs on the separate centreline pylon, each made from two halves, but this can be replaced by the EMI Pod already mentioned. If you are a purist, the Heavy Weight adapter on the Phimat pod should have its ends made a little more pointed with a sanding stick. If you have fitted the over-wing pylons, a pair of AIM-9L Sidewinders are supplied with two fins moulded on a separate part to complete their empennage, locating on lugs moulded into the pylons and corresponding depressions in the missile bodies. Markings There are four decal options on the sheet, spanning much of the Jag’s career with the RAF, including one choice from Operation Granby (Desert Storm), namely 'Buster Gonad'. From the box you can build one of the following: Jaguar GR.1 No.54(F) Sqn., RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland, 1974 Jaguar GR.1A No.6 Sqn., RAF Coltishall, Norfolk, England, 1990-94 Jaguar GR.1A XZ118/Y ‘Buster Gonad’, Operation Granby/Desert Storm, Muharraq, Bahrain, October 1990 – March 1991 Jaguar GR.1 NO.II(AC) Sqn., RAF Laarbruch, West Germany, 1976 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Additional Information Our Walk Around of the Jaguar is the largest on our site, and has been viewed over 80,000 times so far, and includes many photos of the airframe at Bentwaters that was used to create the initial data for this model. The following videos are also of the Bentwaters Jaguar, and if you look carefully, you might see Julien wielding a fire extinguisher in the engine reheat test video. Conclusion Detail is excellent, with some good choices of options for this initial boxing. It’s unusual to see a modern Airfix kit without the option for in-flight and clean configuration, but it’s something I can live with, as that’s how the Jag looks best, in my opinion, of course. Add in four decal options, plenty of stores, and it results in a quality package. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

So the first finish of the year is Airfix's Bristol Beaufort, a very nice kit that built up well except the mistake I made using the wrong turret fairing so my turret is a bit lower than it should be and I separated the clear parts from the sprue several months before fitting and I had problems getting a good fit. Made as a Malta based Mk1A circa 1942 using the Xrtadecal sheet and 2 resin guns added. Painted with Tamiya, Mr hobby and Vallejo acrylics, weathered with Flory Dark Dirt wash and Mig Ammo powders. There has been some comment on the WIP that these particular colours may be incorrect but I like the look. As usual all comments welcome. Beaufort is slightly smaller than the Beaufighter.

Boeing B-17G/Flying Fortress Mk.III (A08018A) 1:72 Airfix The B-17 that first flew in 1935 was quite a different aircraft than the one that flew during WWII, having a glossy bare metal finish, a traditional vertical tail with no fin fillet, and lots of bulging art-deco glass. The press coined the term "Flying Fortress" because of the number of gunnery positions around the aircraft, which stuck and was later trademarked by Boeing. Its first attempt to gain approval and induction into the USAAF was foiled by an unfortunate accident that wrote off the prototype and killed the pilots, but it was given a second bite at the cherry because of its comparative performance, and was eventually accepted into service with more powerful Cyclone engines and without the blister-type waist gunner windows. The E model (British Fortress Mk.I) was probably the first "real" fortress, with a large expanded tail, tail gunner position and guns in the nose. It also has the familiar ball-turret on the underside that stayed with it throughout the rest of production. The F model (British Fortress Mk.II) brought in some more changes, most notable of which is the almost frameless nose glazing, which afforded the bomb-aimer a much better view, although he must have felt commensurately more exposed as a result. The G model with its jutting remotely operated chin-turret was the final mark of the war, and fought doggedly over Europe with a formidable offensive armament consisting of 13 guns. This of course was at the expense of bomb-load, which diminished with the distance from home that the Fortress was sent to bomb. In British service it was known as the Fortress Mk.III, where it served with Coastal Command in small numbers. Post war the B-17 was converted and used in a number of civilian roles, as well as some remaining military and pseudo-military roles such as Coast Guard or search and rescue. There are still a comparatively large number of airframes in airworthy condition, and most Brits that have been to the air show circuit have probably seen the Sally-B at some point in their lives. The Kit Airfix released this kit back in 2016 and then followed it up a year later with an RAF Fortress III version and a couple of special editions, one with diorama potential, the other with extra decals. This kit is a rebox of the original release but with a new sprue and decal options. The red top-opening box is adorned with the usual high-quality digital artwork from Adam Tooby, this time showing a stream of Fortresses on a bombing run. Inside the box are ten sprues in mid-grey styrene, a clear sprue, decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed on white paper with spot colour. Inside the booklet are two separate folded A3 sheets of glossy paper that contain the profiles for the two decal options on one sheet, and the stencil locations for the British and US variants on a separate sheet of line drawings to keep the profiles uncluttered. The mouldings are clean and crisp as we’ve come to expect from Airfix, with fine, recessed panel lines and plenty of crisp detail on smaller parts, bomb bays, gear bays and the interior. Construction begins with the cockpit, building up an open-topped box with two pairs of rudder pedals in the raised forward area, separated by a two-part centre console, adding control columns with semi-circular yokes at the top, locating them in small recesses near the rear of the raised section. The flight crew seats are built from a single-part seat with two sets of legs and a piece of armour at the back, slotting them into the main floor, at which point you realise the length of the legs. A stepped bulkhead is inserted in front, fitting the full-width instrument panel after detail painting and applying the dial decals under the coaming to add realism. The bomb bay walkway has a pair of bomb ‘ladders’ attached to slots, making side frames with their own ladders, each with slots to accept bombs, which are made from a two-part body and separate fin unit, following the scrap diagram to align them correctly. One bomb is installed on each ladder, sliding them into the rear spar if you are modelling the US Fortress, while the British decal option leaves the bombs on the sprues, but retains the ladders, both options adding a section of the roof to the spar, then closing the assembly with a shorter forward spar. The rear of the aft spar is detailed with four radio equipment parts, following the detail painting instructions, then the cockpit is installed to the forward spar, extending the interior before building the rear compartment. A long floor section has a bulkhead with three more equipment boxes and a pair of three-part swivelling seats fitted forward of the belly gun cut-out, with more detail painting needed before proceeding. The fuselage halves have ribbing moulded into the interior where it will be seen, and waist gunner windows can either be fixed in place, or left off, drilling out several holes, fitting a small square window over the wing root, and opening the slot in the upper nose to accept a bull-horn antenna late in the process. The forward interior is slipped into position in the port fuselage half, adding the rear behind it, which locates on tabs in the fuselage and on the rear spar. If building the British decal option, a blanking plate is inserted into the belly gun cut-out, as they were removed and faired over to allow more weight for fuel on longer flights. A gear bay insert is added behind the floor for the tail wheel, fitting a large ammo box in the sides that feeds the waist guns, each with moulded-in supports. Another pair of crew seats are built for the nose crew from three parts each as before, but the bomb-aimer’s chair has a different set of legs and the famous Norden bombsight in front, adding an equipment box, ammo supply and a tubular mount for the nose gun for the US option, omitting the ammo and fitting a box on the raised left side after drilling out a location hole from the underside. Scrap diagrams show the correct orientation of the interior parts from the front for both options to assist. If building a US airframe, the belly turret is made from a clear portion of the bulb, fitting an insert, then sliding a pair of guns through the holes from within before adding one side of the glazing, the rudimentary seat, then the other side to complete the sphere. The completed turret is then clamped in a two-part mount, adding a suspension arm to the top, then trapping the top end in a curved fixture with a styrene washer that should allow it to rotate if you are careful with the glue. The completed assembly is then glued into the roof of the fuselage through the holes in the fuselage and floor, and can be posed semi-retracted or deployed for operation as you wish. The fuselage can then be closed, trapping the two-part rudder panel between the tail halves as you do, dealing with the seams in your preferred manner once the glue has fully cured. The wings are prepared by adding three inserts around the inner nacelle lowers to form the main gear bays, fitting another section of skin to the outer face that has the supercharger trunking moulded-in. A bulkhead with engine mounting stub is inserted in the nacelle, adding more detail to the side opposing the trunking, with the help of some scrap diagrams that show correct alignment, strengthening the assembly by placing a bundle of cables/hoses in the centre of the roof of the bay, before inserting a pair of twin intakes in corresponding holes in the lower wing leading-edge, slipping another pair of inserts on a carrier between the nacelles. The ailerons can be posed clean or deflected anywhere up to 12° in either direction as you please, filling the outer nacelle with a circular bulkhead that also has an engine mount moulded into its centre, fixing another pair of inserts on a carrier into the inner wing toward the trailing edge, after which you can close the wing halves, repeating the same process for the opposite side. The completed wings are then mated with the fuselage by sliding them into position over the two wing spars, gluing them into position, allowing the glue to set with the aid of a jig or jury-rigged contraption to ensure correct alignment of the wings. The elevators have separate single-thickness control surfaces, making the panels themselves from two halves each, inserting the completed assemblies in slots to the sides of the tail, and noting that they can be deflected either 23° up, or 14° down to add a bit of individuality to your model. All four nacelles have two-part superchargers inserted in recesses in the underside, adding extra trunking into the recesses on the inner nacelles, following which the engines can be made from three parts each, the front cylinder bank, intake spider, and exhaust collectors, which differ between the inner and outer engines. After detail painting the engines and installing them to the front of the nacelles, two-part cowlings can be slipped over them, with a choice of open or closed cooling gills in the rear, as shown in scrap diagrams nearby. The first gear leg is the diminutive tail-wheel, which has a two-part strut and separate wheel, fixing it to the bay installed earlier, following which the main gear is started by gluing the two hub halves together, then sliding them through the two-part wheels, which have diamond or circumferential tread and a small flat spot moulded-in, with the option of posing the gear retracted or deployed as you prefer. There are no bay doors to hide your sins however, requiring two parts to depict the struts, rolling the wheel around to hide the flat-spot within the bay, gluing them in place with the assistance of accompanying diagrams. The deployed gear option also uses two parts, first adding one, then the other into the bay, followed by your choice of tyre tread patterns. You also have a choice of open or closed bomb bay doors, the latter achieved by simply cutting away the hinge-tabs from the single bomb bay door part and gluing it in place in the bay. To open the doors, you must first score and cut the bay door part in two along the pre-weakened seam-line, adding a pair of actuator jacks into the front and rear of the bay so that the doors can be fitted at the correct angle to show off the bombs. The Flying Fortress lived up to its name by bristling with .50cal machine guns from almost every aperture, which were intended to give full coverage against enemy fighters when flown in tight formation. The tail guns consist of a pair of guns that are slotted through the rear lens into a vertical pivot, which is in turn attached to the two-part clear fuselage section, adding a one-part depiction of the floor and ammo supply before it is glued to the rear of the fuselage under the tail fin. Another pair of guns are mounted on a pivot and trapped between two halves of a cylindrical turret that has two small windows in the rear, mounting it under the nose in a recess, adding a teardrop-shaped aerodynamic fairing behind it. The British decal option mounts a small radar instead of the turret, then covering it with a different all-encompassing aerodynamic fairing over it. The upper turret has a basket added under its ring, fitting the twin guns into recesses in the top, either aerodynamically posed level for travel, or elevated for battle, dropping the turret into position behind the cockpit, installing the glazing later at the same time as the canopy. A single rear upper gun is slid through the large window in the rear of the crew blister, adding a small aerial mast on the spine, and inserting the waist guns through the windows, and a hatch with window into the port fuselage side aft of the wing trailing edge. If you have elected to open the waist windows for action, two small supports are added to the lower edge of the cut-outs, mounting the gun in the socket just inside the lower frame. The British decal option has a pair of fairings fitted under the fuselage just behind the waist gun positions, locating on a hole in the underside. Clear landing light lenses and their covers are added to each wing outboard of the engine nacelles, then the nose is finished by adding clear side panels that have ribbing moulded-in, and an optional cheek gun pushed through a hole from the inside before installation, adding a lozenge-shaped window to the centreline at the top. Behind that an astrodome is inserted in a circular cut-out, with the fairing moulded into the clear part for a clean join, adding the clear nose cone to the tip, and the main canopy over the cockpit, with a bull-horn antenna between the two top nose windows for both options, finished by placing the glazing over the top turret as previously mentioned. Another antenna is mounted under the tail gun for the British option along with another pair of masts on the fuselage. The final act is to add the props to each of the four engines, which are each made from a three-bladed prop with boss moulded-in, which pushes through the separate bell-housing of the engine, and is secured at the rear with a pin, carefully gluing the pin to the back of the prop if you wish to be able to move them later, inserting them into the centre of each engine, completing the engines and the model, so remember to paint the bell-housing before you get to this stage. Markings There are two decal options in this boxing, one in British colours, the other in USAAF service. There are differences in equipment fit that will influence your build process, so it’s a good decision to choose early. From the box you can build one of the following: B-17G, 774th Bomb Sqn., 463rd Bombardment Group (Heavy), Italy, July 1944 Fortress Mk.III, No.214 (Fe3derated Malay States) Sqn., No.100 (Bomber Support) Group, RAF Downham Market, Norfolk, England, 1944 Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Both decal options have different stencils, so a second sheet of decal instructions are provided, consisting of line-drawings with the stencils pointed out to reduce clutter on the main painting and decaling sheets, which are both A3, and printed in full colour. Conclusion This isn't the only available kit of the B-17 in this scale, but it is up there with the best. This recent tooling has excellent detail and plenty of parts that include options specific to each airframe. It won't be a done-in-a-day build, but it should result in a rewarding experience. Overall, this kit is a real gem and should build up into an excellent model. Highly recommended Review sample courtesy of

Hi folks, I recently picked up this kit during the closing down sale of my local model shop (they will be surely missed), and to my surprise it was far bigger than I initially thought, when I got it home I took a look at it and found that it also seemed to be somewhat lacking in the interior department, particularly for an aircraft that is intended to be displayed with the doors open. So I decided to take my first trip down the rabbit hole and begin to customise my own interior, as well as taking Airfix's rather poor interior painting instructions and painting it myself based on reference images. I decided to use cardboard to build up the interior dividing walls and I plan to probably use bits of sprue for the seats. I found this illustration online of a configuration for the interior and decided to use that general shape, with a bit of my own imagination as well. I have marked out where the interior dividers should go as well as the seats. Assembly of the exterior of the aircraft is going alright as well. I recently received some help from Troy Smith on paint colours for the exterior, as I couldn't find a Tamiya Acrylic equivalent of Humbrol 166 (rectified now). I found the image above online, which I will try to base my interior on, just with the seating arrangement from the illustration. I also looked for an image of the cockpit, but could not find one, so I have decided to model mine off of the cockpit from a Bristol Freighter (rather than a Superfreighter), which I was able to find. I personally think the brown seats and metallic interior give the cockpit a bit more visual interest than Airfix's 'paint it all black' approach. As this is my first time customising a kit, if anybody has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

Here we go again, my friends. First some history. On the night of 2nd May 1945 Bomber Command performed their last raid of the Second World War, against Kiel and the surrounding area. Included in the operation were twelve Mosquito B.XVI aircraft of 608 Squadron and it is generally accepted that the last aircraft to bomb was PF505, 6T-D, flown by the CO of 608, W/Cdr Gray, with Capt Mehre as navigator and bomb-aimer. But the aircraft that interests me more is Mosquito RV347, 6T-A, flown by F/Lt Hobbs with P/O Dennis. Facing no lesser dangers than any other crew that night they carried their 4000lb bomb all the way to Kiel, only to have the release mechanism hang up. Apparently unknowingly, they then flew all the way home and landed safely with the fully armed weapon still on board. No mean feat and, in my mind at least, that means they had The Last Cookie Left in the Jar. So, in honour of all unsung heroes everywhere, let us begin.

This will be my contribution to this particular party. Yes it’ll be another Airfix Mosquito, along with a selection of after-market bits to slow me down even further. The Xtradecal sheet has one particularly intriguing option, shown below. It’s KC-L allocated to 617 squadron - a Dambusters Mosquito. This looks to be unusual as although 617 squadron used a number of Mosquitos in the pathfinder role in the latter stages of WW2, I gather that these were loaned from other squadrons and usually didn’t spend long enough with 617 to get their codes repainted. I’m guessing that 617 would have been using the borrowed Mosquitos very much in the ‘master bomber’ role, which I need to read up more about during the build. For inspiration I have these ‘Mosquito Pathfinder’ I am finding virtually un-putdownable, a first hand account of flying pathfinder missions. A definately recommended read. For now I’ll shuffle nervously towards the start line and wait for the starting gun.

My love of the weird and wonderful has lead me to the far north for my contribution to the GB In 1943 the Finnish aircraft company Valtion Lentokonetehdas purchased two captured DH Mosquitos from Germany. One of them was to be repaired to flying condition and used for testing, where as the other was to be taken apart and studied so a reversed engineered copy could be put into production with the name Vihuri (Gale in English). As it wasn't possible the get any more of the Mosquito's Merlin engines it was planed to instead fit the aircraft with German Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines. It was estimated that plans for the aircraft could be ready by mid 1946 with production starting in early 1947. With the end of the war the plan was scrapped and no aircraft were built tho. Note that the name Vihuri was reused for the Valmet Vihuri trainer aircraft in the 1950's which can cause some confusion. For this build I have an old Airfix Mosquito kit in its 1998 boxing, I plan to modify/scratch build/3D print/Papier-mâché a pair of DB engines on to it and then finish it with an umm... Finnish paint job. I currently have 4 builds on my workbench that I want to complete before I start anything new, so it might be a few weeks or a month before I can start this build.

Oh look, another Airfix PR.XVI kit! 😅 In October 2021, I used the excuse of going on vacation to make a stop in Dayton, Ohio to visit the National Museum of the United States Airforce. I had been wanting to visit this museum for years, as it hosts an enormous collection of extremely rare and valuable airframes. While going through the WWII gallery, I was pleasantly surprised to see a Mosquito tucked behind a famous B-24 Liberator. Their Mosquito had been modified to depict NS519, which was used in service of the USAAF. I made sure to snag a few photos, making plans to eventually build one. Then in 2023, Airfix puts out kit A04065, which has the very decals needed to depict NS519. That made for an easy purchase. I'll be building this one OOB , and will look nice next to my Revell Ju-88, also depicted as in the NMUSAF collection. Going over the instructions, it looks like an excellent kit. This will be a slightly delayed start, due to prepping for our annual IPMS show.

I did promise @Johnson to do another Mosquito and I did promise to treat myself to a new tool kit this time - so I'm in with the Airfix B.XVI. I chose this kit as it has the fuel tanks provided, which you can see from the bomb bay (the newer PR.XVI kit does not!) I like bombers in black so I'm going to do the 109 Squadron option. I'm looking forward to this and everyone else's builds.

Hi, Please find attached some pictures of my recently completed Airfix B-17 of RAF 100 Group. To those who are in the process of building the model please be aware of the squadron code error on the Airfix instructions. Tonyot made a gallant effort to get me the information but alas it was too late. Here's is Tony's comment for reference. "Looking nice,...I`ve just discovered this one and reading through it I was really hoping that you hadn`t reached the decal stage as I wanted to warn you about a mistake in the kit instructions which is often made elsewhere,..... but I`m too late!! The sqn codes were 6G and they were grouped together as such on both sides of the fuselage and separate from the individual code `B' ,..... but on the left side they have been mistakenly grouped as B6-G!" In any case here are the pictures and I hope you enjoy them. If you want to see the entire build sequence please go to the STGB B-17 page. Oh and if you get a chance do participate in one of the group builds. This was absolutely fantastic....I'm earmarked for the February C-47 group build ...perfect for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. All the Best! Don

Hello, Here's my next project, a dual build which will carry me through most of the year. I'm continuing the trend of building my oldest kits first, in case I can still use the decals 🙂. One of the kits is a newer repop I purchased in 2019 in Airfix's soft light grey plastic. The other was purchased in 2004, and it's the harder dark grey plastic. They will be a Seafire FR.47 and a Seafire F.46 respectively. I've seen build reports outlining fit issues with the FR.47 and I know the soft plastic works well with TET and may make the build easier. I'll also use a bunch of goodies, like the Barracuda propeller blades and the requisite Rob Taurus canopies. I also got miscellaneous bits (flying surfaces, exhausts, wheels, cockpit bits) from Hi-Tech which I'll put to use on one of them, likely the F.46. I'll have to check my "Spitfire Goodies" box as well to see if there is anything else there worth using. Here is the start. The newer decal sheet is much crisper in printing though I'm not sure if there will be a difference in behaviour. And the first challenge has raised its head: the instrument panel. It's molded in three levels, and I doubt any decal sheet would conform to all of them. The panel in the older sheet is also useless. IMG_5089 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr Unfortunately Airfix moulded all but one instrument face as flat discs, so my usual method of painting white first, then flat black and scratching the instrument details won't work here. I thought of punching out the individual instruments from the decal sheet, yet with only one usable sheet that's not a good plan. I've painted the panels with Tamiya LP-2 White for now while I figure something out. The other challenge is the control column with a solid spade grip. What was Airfix thinking? I'll scratch build the grips as the Mk 47 has a differently shaped grip. IMG_5090 by Wlad Franco-Valias, on Flickr While the kit is good, there are many things to correct and enhance which can make the build interesting. I've just completed a shake and bake kit, now it's time to get creative again. This may be it for a while. Cheers, Wlad PS - I recognize beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so please don't be offended if you prefer the Mk.47 over the Mk.46. 🙂

Hi guys, I am a bit new to the forum so please excuse me if I didn't do it all correctly. I have a question about the A scheme in airfix's 2015 boxing of the Beaufighter TF.x The plane depicted here got the codes NE829/PL-J and was based at RAF Banff in October of 1944 and with it being a interesting scheme with only the fuselage stripes I would love to get a picture of the original airframe. I have tried my own reference books and the internet but I can't find this aircraft anywhere. Does anyone here perhaps know where I can find it? Cheers Joes

After the trials and tribulations of a Mach 2 kit, I thought I’d join in the fun with a lovely brand new Jaaaaag! I’m hoping it’s as nice to build as all the reviews have been claiming. Certainly on first inspection it looks excellent. One of my favourite aspects of this new tool kit is the fact you can build the flaps and slats hanging down. The now familiar box. Superb decal sheet. I intend to build this first one out of the box, as XX741/EJ of 6 squadron, with one tiny twist; this jet served with 6 from the mid 80s, so I’m going to build it as at circa 1986/87 when I’d have been watching them as a kid at Coltishall (rather than as at 90-94 as stated on the plans): I therefore have an initial question regarding the ejector seat. When was the mark 3 seat fitted? I know it says mark 3 for ‘741 but that’s for the 90s - Which seat would it have had in 1986?

My second entry to the GB will be the Airfix Sea Harrier FRS.1 I was 16 and doing my Army Basic Training when the Falklands started. We all used to crowd around a 16 inch CRT TV in the corner of our Barrack room every evening to see what was happening. Being young lads it was exciting, but also very scary. More to follow including a bit of after market. George

It's here......

Given the clamour for this kit on its release I thought there would be more examples posted on here by now, anyway here's my attempt at the lesser-decalled option. I hardly ever buy the same kit twice, but I enjoyed making this one so much I can see me making an exception with this one to do other markings: Thanks for looking, J.A.

On 16th June 1945, Squadron Leader Clifford Grainger Andrews DFC with 684 Sqn. made the first of two flights over Mt. Everest to help survey a second route to the summit. There’s an excellent article on the website of the New Zealand Airforce Museum. From his logbook, it’s evident that he flew a Mosquito XVI coded ‘O’ for the mission- although the serial is too small to read in photos. The June ORBs aren’t in the archive, but thankfully the May records are, and Mosquito ‘O’ appears as NS704. NS704 is a PR.XVI from the same contract and delivery dates (Between 24-3-1944 and 31-12-1944) as NS787, the aircraft illustrated in the photo below. Source: IWM Source: IWM This means an overall High Speed Silver finish, with SEAC roundels and ID bands in the same dark blue. The PRU Blue slipper tanks are noteworthy too. I plan to cut masks for all markings, although may use some of the kit stencils where necessary. As always, a little inventory to start with.

I started a WIP on this a while back but have to admit that it progressed a bit quicker than I'd expected and I stopped taking photos after I realized I'd got too far ahead for it to be worthwhile. So here is is, finished. It's based on the Airfix 1/48 Sabre 4 kit, but with the following changes: 1. Wing pylons repositioned inboard to correct location (the kit has them on the 'outboard' station of a dual-store wing) 2. Drop tanks replaced with Clear Prop! F-86A versions 3. Windshield sanded flush and polished to remove excessively narrow centre pane; windshield masked with Eduard "Hasegawa" set to establish correct profile 4. Cockpit replaced with CMK resin 5. Speed brakes and bays replaced with CMK resin 6. Ammunition bay and dropped step from CMK resin 7. Intake re-profiled to remove 'pointed' profile of the Airfix part 8. Canopy replaced by Clear Prop! F-86A item (the Airfix canopy is too bulbous) 9. Landing gear from Hasegawa (nose) and Academy (main) 10. Decals are a mix of High Planes 'RAF Sabre' set D4805 (modified for different aircraft s/n) and Airfix kit stencils. 11. Paint is AK Real Color for the three 'standard' RAF camouflage colours but with the PRU blue made more blue with some extra blue. Speed brake wells, interiors and landing gear bays are AK Interior Green.

I'm sure this information is out there somewhere but can anyone point me to a photo or schematic of how the gunsight is placed in the Defiant's turret? The photos I've been able to locate don't show it fitted. I'm planning a build of the Airfix kit at some point in the future and as far as I can tell, it doesn't include the sight. I assume it had to be inverted, with the glass down the way? Thanks, John

Here I go again, over-committing to a GB 🙄 But who can resist a Mosquito? This is one of my all time favourite kits and I've built a few of them over the years. I got my first one from a model shop in Ayr during the Summer holidays in 1973 and built it as the MkII. This one will be a Banff-based MkVI using the Xtradecal sheet. Placeholder for now, but we'll be back shortly. John