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Just finished this one, the wife gave it to me for Christmas along with a 'Sit in a Spit' gift card. Did that 2 months ago, so I finally got the model made. Its OOB with Tamiya and Revell acylics, I did use the starter kit paint on the underside but it did not spray well, came out a bit rough. I think the decals are a bit thick, some would not settle into the panel lines, ut otherwise a nice little kit to build.

The new museum at Filton, the home of the Bristol Aircraft Company are repatriating a Freighter from NZ shortly, which in my world is great news. To celebrate I have taken my Superfreighter from the stashlet and decided to make it as a Mark 31 using the Magna resin conversion kit. So without further ado.....the boxes. A little surgery... Now here's where I need some help, what goes on behind the pilots seat in that big hole? The answer is not freight.. there are I think some racks with equipment on and possibly another seat? I have looked at previous builds, searched the internet, bought the Freighter book etc. but cannot find a nice clear guide. Any one know?

Hi! I need some advice from those of you that are familiar with the Alley Cat Canberra conversion sets. I like the mean look of the T.17 Canberra and recently found a Classic Airframes kit at my local store. I had my doubts about it, but when offered it for free if i bought the new Airfix (10101A) i jumped the deal. Now I wonder what is the best way to ending up with a T.17. Somehow use the CA nose on the Aitfix kit or scrap the CA kit and get the Alley Cat conversion? If anyone of you has ever used the Ally Cat set on the modern Airfix kit I would appreciate any word on the experience. From my understanding the Ally Cat set is designed before the new Airfix came around, and probably to fit another kit?

My entry into this group build, a recently-acquired Airfix Ka-25. An ebay bargain, complete and practically un-started - the rear seat had been glued in (in what I think is the wrong position but Airfix weren't to know that in 1983!) and the radome had been glued together: Have made a slow start so far, just filling and sanding the inside fuselage halves and cabin floor and removing the base of the rear seat - as far as I can see from interior photos of the Hormone-A, there is a seat facing starboard just behind the cabin, not as Airfix portray it facing forward. I haven't found any photos of the interior of a Hormone-C but I am assuming it will have a radar operator's position in the same place, and the rest of the cabin will just have folding canvas seats, in the style of a Seaking or Wessex SAR variant, or indeed a Kamov Ka-29, which are much better documented online.

Hi everyone After completing my Typhoon and the false restart on my Halifax (which has been consigned to the draw of oblivion for now ) I wanted a 4 engined WW2 RAF bomber in my collection. So out came the B17. I asked my wife if I could get some bits and pieces from Hannants to give it a boost and her answer was and I quote "Of cause you can, so you want to pimp out another plane eh" Too much Fast N Loud I think, Bless her! So last night I spent 30 minutes on the Hannants site and I ordered some bits and bobs which should be here shortly. I want to finish the plane as a MKIII which I know didn't have the chin turret does anybody know if there is a conversion for the Airfix kit? The markings I will use are either B-17 Mk.III 'Give it to Uncle' 214 RCM Unit 100 Group or B-17 Mk.III 'Keflavic Cutie' (FA712, AD-C) 251 Met Sqn, Reykjavik RAF Coastal Command, late 1944, both on the Kitsworld (KW172134) sheet. Laters Iain

Although I have been doing some railway modelling, I have been going through a dry spell in terms of enthusiasm, productivity and just generally not getting anything done. Today, a broken boiler forced me to have an unexpected afternoon off. While I waited for the gas man, I made a start on what I hope will be a reasonably simple build to get me back into the swing of things. R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr I know the Airfix 1/48 Hurri isn’t perfect, but as an OOTB build it suits me. And as the kit markings include UP-W, which @procopius, @cedb and I saw at Duxford on our grand boys day out (was that really almost two years ago?) the choice of subject was straightforward. R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr I deviated from the instructions by building up the undercarriage box and main spar onto the lower wing before adding the cockpit tubular structure. I read of doing this in a magazine (Airfix?) and it certainly seems a more logical route, giving a square and sturdy foundation. R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr R4118, UP-W, Hurricane Mk1, 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron, RAF Croydon September 1940 / IWM Duxford September 2015 by jongwinnett, on Flickr It’s currently drying after a waft or two of Halfords aluminium.

Great Airfix kit with "Xtradecal" and "Maketar" masks for RAF insignias for Hurricanes. Every opinion,especialy about colors is wellcome.Vallejo color were used. Here are some pictures:

Just completed for the ATF 11th Anniversary GB, a constant fight with the very old, brittle, cheese-like quality of the plastic.

Hi, I am new to the forum and thought I would post my newly finished Airfix bf109. Before i show you the pictures, I would like to state that I have only just got back into the hobby after buying myself a proper air compressor. I have been ordering Mr hobby Aqueous paints as I am starting to buy more expensive models and would like to do them properly. For this model though, I used my humbrol enamel paints with some success. I am a bit dissapointed as I scratched the model quite bad from succesfully removing the paint that humbrol suggested ( it was way too dark for the underside) and also some of the parts melted a small amount too. All in all I think it went alright for my first proper airbrushing attempt although you will notice that my airbrushing needs a lot more practise and settings need more tweaking. The only extras I included was an edurd seatbelt taken from an old kit and a swastika taken from the same kit mentioned. Without rambling any longer, here is the finished kit, let me know what you think and more importantly, what you think I should do differently next time. As it will not let me post my images properly, I will add a link to imgur: http://m.imgur.com/a/zy9yK

This is the ancient Airfix kit I can remember building as a child, revisited for old times' sake. I bought one on eBay, and found the parts needed a lot of filling and sanding to produce an acceptable result. The decals were yellow with age, so i replaced them with the (in any case much more accurate) Apollo 13 recovery set from Old 66. I was driven very close to demented by the rotor blades, all of which had twists and kinks as supplied. I'm still not happy with them, and I think I've drooped them excessively, but I was so relieved to have them all roughly the same shape I just stopped while I was ahead.

I have finally finished. This kit gave a few problems being fit issues on nearly everything but I have really enjoyed doing it as it gave me a chance to try a few new things. I am really pleased with the result and after reading references on the Pucara I can see why people loved it. Anyway here are the photo's and I am sorry there are a few. Before I forget thanks to everyone for their advice and support through the build which can be found at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235018470-172-airfix-pucara/

Hi Folks Just been having a look at an Airfix Seafire FR.46/47 kit I picked up second hand and wondered whether I could build it as a Mk.22 Spitfire. The kit seems to have the bits (windscreen, Rotol prop and Rudder base), but is there anything else I should look out for (other than the Griffon nose bumps, which I would have replaced anyway)? Cheers Kev

OK, this is is my first foray into the odd world of airliner modellng, so be gentle! This year I've been introducing my lovely girlfriend Louise to aviation history, bit by bit. Among other things we've been to Duxford for a look round, and enjoyed a couple of Shuttleworth shows and Flying Legends together. ] Anyhow, for no reason that I can determine, the two aircraft she has most taken to, out of all the things we've seen, are the DH Comet and the Fieseler Storch. She's also shown quite a bit of interest in my modelling, so I bought her the Academy Storch for her birthday (very much still a WIP) and agreed to make her a Comet for Christmas! So here's the result. From the start I wanted to convert my 1:144 Airfix kit into a Comet 4 of BOAC, as well as improve the detailing. Changes to the base kit are was follows: Cut 1.99 scale metres (two windows) from the fuselage length-this was tricky as the fuselage tapers subtly outward towards the nose! Cut off the wingtips, and added new carved from scrap plastic to reach correct wingspan for longer-winged Comet 4. Wing pinion tanks from 1:72nd Vampire T.11 drop tanks (they're an amazingly good match) Tank fillet fairings from scrap resin and filler Re-profiled fin tip Detailed exhaust cans Added rudimentary cockpit including floor, instrument panel, seats and yokes. Cut out near-nonexistent nosehweel bay, built new to appropriate depth with plasticard, detailed with more plasticard. Thinned out nose and main u/c doors and added extra struts to legs Replaced cockpit glazing with individual windows from CD case Cut out underside thrust reversers and various vents etc. Lined intakes and added rudimentary compressor faces. Drilled out auxiliary intakes between main ones Drilled out landing lights outboard of intakes and replaced with shaped clear sprue Plasticard aerials, intake scoops, anti-collision beacons added to added to fusleage and centre section Plasticard fuel dump pipes added to wings and tanks, hinge actuators added to aileron trim tabs, and wing fenclets added to leading edge. Scribed majority of panel lines, filled and re-scribed double joints between control surfaces The model is shown below before painting with Halfords Appliance White and Hunbrol Metalcote rattle-cans. I used the S&M sheet for Comet 4 to represent G-ADPC, one of the two aircraft which flew the first scheduled transatlantic jet service in 1958. The decals were of very good quality but rather over-sized, for example the tailfin decal was much too big, and the fuselage stripe needed cutting down to fit the kit windows better. The bit where the stripes widen and join around the nose was a nightmare, especially as I had to cut around the cockpit windows. In the end I mixed paint to as close a match as possible for BOAC blue, and had to touch up! It doesn't notice too badly under a coat of gloss varnish though. Hope you like the results! Horrible flash shot shows up all sorts of nightmares, but it's the only way to see the intakes properly: U/C bay. Just noticed the ruddy stripe isn't central. Grrrrr! Happy customer.

Extras - None. Kit - Airfix 1:48 Paint - All enamels Decals - Kit, Aeromaster, Eagle Strike Spitfire Vb 302 (Polish) Squadron 'Operation Rutter' (Dieppe rehearsal) Croydon, July 1942 Yep this is my take on the Airfix 1:48 Spitfire …and from the outset, have to say I didn't enjoy 'the build', but before you all head down to Wilkinsons (US = Walmart) for blazing torches and pitchforks, let me explain… I found the cockpit assembly and installation is far to fiddly and intricate – it takes so much time building-up and test fitting that all the joy of the frankly superb detail is simply lost – also locating/gluing some of the details in to the floor area then the floor to the fuselage is down to luck more than skill, I was lucky. The attachment of the main gears is an absolute horror – the ‘L’ shaped cut at the pivot point just inside the well simply doesn’t have any residual strength to allow you to later attach the wheels on to the axles and is too thin to drill’n pin – go-on ask me how I know !. The plastic is a little too soft (reminiscent of old Heller kits) and lack ‘sharpness’. Good points outweigh the bad it has to be said – Superb details, crystal clear canopies (and so many of them), excellent fit of all the main parts and once you’ve wrestled the cockpit in to the fuselage it looks magnificent. I’ve harboured the decals for over twenty years and unfortunately they have suffered – they were produced for one of the Hasegawa boxings of their Spit Vb by Aeromaster in the 1990’s and despite very careful storage in the meantime, one squadron code disintegrated completely and had to make it up from spares. Stripes are all painted & masked, as are the yellow ID panels. The camo is extensively pre & post shaded as a painting experiment, and has come-out quite well, but I still need to work at it. So that’s it – a three-week build and a half-decent model at the end of it, far too many errors to be a ‘winner’ but looks fine on my 1:48 WWII shelf. As a conclusion, as a 'build' I prefer the Tamiya 1:48 Spits they are a whole degree more enjoyable - I've built both kits so feel comfortable saying this. The Airfix kit is fine and well priced and beautifully detailed, more so than the Tamiya one, but as a 'build', I prefer the Tamiya kits. Thanks for taking the time to look, please feel free to make any criticism or comment or ask any questions. Ian.

Some more airliners came off my busy production line last week. The old but very nice Airfix DC-9s. Despite its age,it is very well detailed,with good fit (except the doors) and the shape is pretty well captured by Airfix. I rescribed the flaps and panels on the wings as they were just raised lines on the kit,otherwise it was a straight OOB build. The "Fly",AZmodel,Karaya...or whatever the other DC-9 kit is coming from, has recessed panellines and other nice touches,but I find the Airfix kit still a nice replica of this classic and a re-release would be highly anticipated. Anyone from Airfix reading this...?? I worked on those 3 DC-9s at the same time,so they got finished almost on the same day as well. The KLM and IBERIA DC-9s,the decals came from the respective kits. The windows and details are from the superb Flying Colors MD-80 detail set. For the Aeropostal Avensa DC-9,I used the decal set from Classic Airlines courtesy of Nick Webb. The quality is superb,very thin decals but great to handle.The only small issue was that the cheatline and the tail part is slightly too long.This required some cutting and adjusting.Otherwise the decals fit perfect. I very much enjoyed building these 3 classic Douglas airliners and they will receive a nice spot in my vitrine. Hope you like them And a DC-9-30 group shot

I am currently building the Airfix 1:350 kit HMS Illustrious and have both Airfix and Trumpeter 1:350 Merlin HM.1 helicopters for this. I've noticed that there is a 10mm difference in fuselage length between the Airfix and Trumpeter kits, so I went online and searched for the correct fuselage length. This is where it gets confusing for me, in that Wikipedia says the fuselage length is 64.1 ft/19.53m (the Airfix version fits this at 55.8mm); however, the Leonardo site states the length is 74.9 ft/22.81m (the Trumpeter version fits this at 65.5mm). Can anyone here please confirm the correct fuselage length for this helo? A difference of 10mm at 1:350 scale is quite noticeable. Mike

Managed to pick up a Mozzie for half price at ScotsNats yesterday so I can finally throw my hat in to the ring. Hardly original but been wanting to do one so now was as good a time as any, plus it was a good chance to make my GB debut. Multiple birds and all that. Box, sprues etc... Due to various constraints of real life and what-not it'll be an OOB job. Tempted to go with the NF.Mk II as something different from the standard scheme on the Mk.XVIII option, and I've cried enough doing a couple of NMF birds recently to put me off trying the Aussie Mk.IV option. Let's go...

Here we go on this year's second project and my first WIP outside of a group build. Just to keep things easy for myself I'm going for two at once. I picked up the spitfire/messerschmit 110 dogfight double cheap in a sale a couple of years ago before I realised I already had the same spitfire in 1/48. However, just after the new year I saw the mk1/mk2a kit on sale and realised I could just do both using the decals and bits from both. Besides, when are there ever enough spitfires? Love that box art. Hate doing the split black/white underside though. The all important raw materials. Identical kits with the all important extra sprue on the end and the differing canopies up top. If we've not met, hello and welcome in, just be aware I'm not a big accuracy guy, this is all for fun for me. This won't be big on new or clever techniques though tips and tricks are always welcome. I've discovered if I do a WIP I tend to go along at a better pace. This weekend we break plastic! Though hopefully not literally.

As if by magic a couple of days after completing my P-51D the postman delivers a special package Unopened still in its original cellophane wrapper complete with its original price tag £3.50 ( I wish !! ) I am bringing to the workbench 1970's / 80's chic - the Airfix B-26 Marauder , and rather than grumble and curse at my wife - I will share my fun and frustrations with everyone The grand reveal for me will take place tonight - 30+ years in the box - how will the decals have faired - hence the thread name - will 'Mild and Bitter' have become dark and cloudy ?

Hi all, I am about to start the Airfix 1/72 Harriers GR.1 and Gr.3. Both have this strenghening plate on the fuselage sides which I can't find on any pictures in my reference books - but then again, this area is almost always in dark shadows. Does anyone know if all Gr.1/3 Harriers had those or only certain aircraft. I am in doubt wether do leave them or to sand them off. picture see below.

Here we have the Airfix Sea Vixen, which took me two days over 3 months to complete (not that I was working on it every day though!) Having 3 of these in the stash, I had this idea to build them all in different poses; one parked up with wings folded, one coming in to land, and one in flight mode with everything up and clean. So this is the first one ticked off! I had originally intended to do a nice colourful drone or target tug, but with the intention of building the radar I didn't know if either of these would actually have one fitted, so I elected for a more conservative colour. Decals were from a Model Alliance sheet. The other major catalyst was an abundance of reference material online, so opening up engine and boom panels was quite easy. So apart from the kit, I utilised a Pavla cockpit set and speed brake, Aires wheel bays, Eduard etched interiors, flap bays, ladders and masks, Master wing probes, and some Flightpath FAA chocks. Paints were by Humbrol, Xtracolor and automotive sprays, sealed with Klear floor polish. Everything else I added from plastic card, strip, rod, tube, solder wire. The wing folds had pipes, cables and bits added to them, even the tail hook bay I put hydraulic tanks in though you can't see them!The nose cone I was going to model folded right back but I left it too late when I tackled it and realised only after I'd painted the main fuselage that I'd have to cut a notch out of the starboard side to replicate this properly. I didn't fancy that so it's just representative more than accurate. I also initially used a vacform canopy but didn't like my effort of putting the white paint on so I used the kit version (the separate frame is easier to spray before attaching the glass!). The other thing I did was having thinned the plastic down on the removed engine panels, I was so eager to finish the decalling I put the rest of the "for sale" marking on, then only realised I had forgotten to put the remaining red No Step lines on first. So I did those the hard way - lay over the For Sale paint, and trim around the overlapping red areas while the decal was still wet. As ever, my biggest problem was deciding which pics looked best so please excuse the selection : some with a Coastal carrier base, some against blue paper background, and some on a shelf. As usual, Bruce appears in some for scale My next project might be the prone pilot Meteor F.8, which I've had in the stash for a while, but I want to find some reference pics of Meteor 8's with fuselage panels removed so I can go "one step behind" like I did with this. Sadly these are being elusive at the mo! EDIT: this is a linky to the build log photos, hope it works https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1366255540058006.1073741840.100000207207287&type=1&l=d6499d4bbf

Hello folks, well, guess who's back. This Spit was finished at the end of last year but I just got to take pictures of it. Now that my exams are over and my aprenticeship is almost over, I got a bit more time for the most interessting hobby in the world. Created during a "battle building" with friends where only minimal equipment is allowed, this thing was brush painted with Vallejo paints. Later it was sealed with Vallejo matt varnish via airbrush. What else is there to say? Not much, nice kit.

Hello All I'm struggling with one aspect of Airfix's new tool Bf 109 E-4- fitting the tail strut between the tail and the fuselage- I've made two of these now and both times I've managed to break the little struts, usually while I'm trying to attach them. Anyone have any tips for how to fit them and keep them in one piece? Thanks

Hi folks hope you like my attempt at adding the prototype Hurricane to the collection.Part of a six plane stash clearance build in WIP this is the first one done.Airfix new tool kit,no major work other than filling the exhaust aperture and using decals(thanks Rick) and re-doing the early U/C doors as per this model.Not 100% accurate but I don,t count rivets!

Hi all , this is Airfix's Mustang, another great little kit from them. I used Eagle Cal's P-51D decal sheet, and chose the Thunderbird option. When I was doing a bit of extra tidying I managed to take half the logo off the nose with masking tape, bringing the build to an abrupt premature end...so these are the pics I took just before that point, warts and all. (if anyone has the Eagle Cal sheet with the unused T-bird logo I'd be happy to buy/swap btw...) C&C always welcome, thanks for looking in. All the best, Dave.