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Box art is up - I'll be purchasing this one just for the box art, not to mention the kits, just enough time to read Joe Foss's autobiography...(not that the decals are for his aircraft), hears hoping for some external fuel tanks for the Wildcat AIRFIX

Another picture teaser posted up on the Airfix Facebook Page (note the 1/12 scale Typhoon pilot in the background under the monitor).

We've just this week received our stock of the 1/72 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat Plastic Model Kit from Airfix! This detailed, new tooled model kit, based on the WWII era American carrier-based fighter, comes with a choice of 2 sets of decals! For more details, check out our newsletter here.

Back in the 1970s, my dad built an Airfix Dornier Do17 as part of his collection of World War 2 aircraft. I can't tell you how many bombing raids that model and I made on our flower beds, but our missions eventually ended after one too many hard landings on the kitchen counter. (The dining-room table was highly polished and strictly off limits !) Fast forward forty something years and I've built my own Airfix Dornier Do17 - this time using their new kit for a BoB group build at our local club I used Xtradecals X72206 to represent F1+FH which was shot-down over Victoria station 75 years ago on 15 September 1940. The base was home-made using Noch grass-matting, basswood strips, sandpaper and other odds and ends. Thanks for the inspiration dad. Mike

Since I finished my brace of Spitfires I thought I'd have a go at an idea I've had kicking around for a while, combining a rag wing Hurricane and a Messerschmit bf109 with an old stand I had lying around. This was supposed to be done a while back to clear out time for a Battle of Britain build but when do we ever stick to any schedule we plan? Both kits are the new tools from Airfix, the 109 is the starter kit edition. Both are good builds, very easy and go together quickly, though how the top and bottom of the wings on the Hurricane have wound up different sizes is beyond me. This was done as a first experiment with weathering more than anything so the finish on both is a bit scrappier than I would normally aim for and I wasn't sure if I was going to put them up here but I'm generally pleased with the result so thought I may as well. Hurri first This was finished first and so is my first attempt at weathering. This was in no way because it represents a fighter operating away from home for some time so I could get away with being a little heavy handed. Also, the port red gun decal went missing mysteriously overnight after application so had to paint a red patch which is a bit scrappy. The 109 Again, not the best finish but not what I was aiming for with this one. And the finished article Had fun with these and looking forward to working on these skills in the future. Thanks for looking.

I'll be building Ian 'Widge' Gleed's No. 87 Squadron RAF Hawker Hurricane Mk I from the Airfix 1/72 kit, OOB as usual for me (apart from the markings of course and a bit of fiddling). I wanted to build something that was near Bath and Wikipedia says "The first occupants of Charmy Down was No. 87 Squadron RAF, with night-fighting Hawker Hurricanes..." They were on detachment from Exeter and were covering Bristol from Colerne and / or Charmy Down. This is covered in Gleed's book "Arise to Conquer" (thanks to Airgunner for the reference). LK-A sported the "Figaro" Cat Motif from Disney's Pinocchio clawing a Swastika with Blood soaked Paw. This is covered in XtraDecal sheet X72222 (scheme and more later when I get back to Blighty!). Chocks away!

Here I present my second Airfix Blenheim Mk 1 for the year, using markings from Xtradecals sheet 72-202. Completed as L6670 UQ-R 211 Sqn Menidi Greece 1940, which is the subject of a well known photograph: http://commons.m.wik...1941._CM290.jpg The instructions indicate this aircraft as dark earth/mid-stone over either sky or light Mediterranean blue. In an earlier post in the RFI thread for my FAA Blenheim Mk 1, Tony O'Toole suggested on the basis of the photo that it could be azure, and so I went with that. Brush painted Italeri Acryl Acrylics for the camouflage, Tamiya Acrylics for the interior and detail painting, made grubby with some watercolours. Also replaced part of the canopy due to an unfortunate mishap (see the build thread here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234980814-172-airfix-blenheim-mk-1-in-mediterranean-colours/). As a change to my earlier build, I went with the bomb bay open, flaps down, engine cowling gills open and the turret in the up position. Thanks for looking.

I made a start this weekend on my second Blenheim Mk 1. Again using Xtradecals sheet 72-202. This one will be completed as L6670 UQ-R 211 Sqn Menidi Greece 1940. This is the subject of a well known photograph:http://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force-_Operations_Over_Albania_and_in_Greece,_1940-1941._CM290.jpg The instructions indicate this aircraft as dark earth/mid-stone over either sky or light Mediterranean blue. In an earlier post in the RFI thread for my FAA Blenheim Mk 1, Tony O'Toole suggested on the basis of the photo that it could be azure, and so I am going to go with that. As a change to my earlier build, I am going to have the bomb bay open, flaps down, engine cowling gills open and the turret in the up position. I also have the issue of a broken canopy (from the previous build): An email to Airfix revealed that they currently have no spares :-( I think the break looks reasonably clean along a canopy frame so I am considering whether I can use the front part and try and make the sliding part from spare acetate or other clear plastic and model the top of the canopy open. Managed to get the main airframe together over the weekend, everything going together nicely. I made a start on the other bits and pieces. I am using Italeri Acryl paints for all of the outside paint scheme, a first for me, using flat dark earth, flat mid stone and flat azure. It goes on very nicely, thinned with a little water, with a minimum of brushstrokes and I am very happy with the finish on rudder and tail-planes. Masking of the canopy went OK, no sliced up fingers! The engine cowls went on OK (better than last time). I made a slight change to how I fixed them last time by gluing them in place without the engines present, and then wiggled them around a bit to minimise any gaps. I used tamiya acrylics for inside the cockpit (xf-71), the collector rings (my own mix, for which I forget what the recipe was) and the bombs (xf-4).

Hi folk,s third one finished today as part of the twin pack Airfix QLD/T boxing,as with the previous QLD a lovely little detailed kit with only the rear tilt causing a but of swearing but once lined up correctly look,s OK.Thank's for looking in.

First RFI for ages from me, in fact I finished this kit a while ago but not built much since, I did this as a post-war Falklands based Harrier as I wanted to arm it up with some Aims, think it looks quite mean with these. Aftermarket bits included resin seat, intakes and outer wheels to spruce up the old kit! Anyway, here she is...

As promised on one of the Sea Vixen builds, it has inspired my first real WIP topic here. With this beautiful beast: Hope to get some work on this done and posted by tomorrow. Cheers Harrison

Morning Folk,s finished for the Battle of Britain GB.Airfix new tool Spitfire on the strength of 222 Squadron RAF during the battle. I wanted to build this machine as a tribute to Sgt.Stanley Baxter a native of my home town of Birtley then in County Durham.He was killed near Rochester Kent 75 years ago today.This was not the aircraft he flew that day but thank,s to Edgar who sent me details of the squadron's ORB this aircraft was flown by him occasionally during the Battle.I was unable to add the serial as my decal stash let me down,a thank you to Ross for sending me the codes.Many thanks for looking. WIP here.http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234984675-hello-hunter-leaderhello-hunter-leader/page-1 And finally the man himself.

Hi everyone Hot on the heals of my Spitfire and Albion is my next build the Airfix Hurricane. Again this will be incorporated into a diorama of a BofB Hurricane under going a some maintenance. I've opened the maintenance hatch on the starboard side of the cockpit, the access panel to the Radio Type 1133 on the port side of the air frame, I'll also open the gun bays and lastly I want to show this Hurricane undergoing a wheel change so I'll scratch build a Dunlop 2.5 tonne jack. Well that's, that! Cheers Iain

Evening, Have had this lurking on the shelf for a while with the aircraft pretty much complete but struggling to get the base finished off, well today gave me an opportunity to get it wrapped up. The kit is beautiful and I had no trouble whatsoever with this one, the rockets were a bit fiddly for my fat fingers but the rest of it was spot on. I wanted to try something a bit different and had an idea to portray the aircraft just airborne off a strip somewhere in SE Asia, with the main gear almost fully in the wheel wells. This bit was quite straight forward, but something was niggling away at me about the whole thing, the stationary prop just didn't sit well with me. I just happened to have a cheap old mobile that had died stashed away, it's amazing the things you keep, anyway pulling this apart revealed a tiny motor for the vibrate function....could I motorise the prop? A plasticard support structure in the nose, some carefully routed wiring and a battery holder and switch on the base and......I'll let the pics do the talking. All comments and criticism welcome, hope you like it. Eng

Hi folk,s, the next build for this one will be Airfix's B57G the background and title is explained in the link.When Modelzone closed my local store flogged off the three kit's at a tenner each so I bought all three,the B2 came to a sorry end when I dropped the damn thing right at the end of the build here on BM early last year,and the other two seemed destined to never get built but what better excuse than this GB. As soon as I finish "Run through the Jungle" I will make a start on this one and what better inspiration than John's(Canberra Kid) build which I have bookmarked for reference, box and sprue detail,s will arrive soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Shed_Light

Hi, i will be entering my build of the Airfix 1/48 Ready For Battle gift set. i have had my eye on getting this kit for some time, and when i found out about this group build i thought it enough justification to build this kit/set (i was going to build the Eduard 1/48 Spitfire Mk IXc, which will just have to wait). annoyingly i will have to hand paint it as my airbrush is broken at the moment, but will try my best. (image courtesy of airfix)

Apologies for those who've seen these before in my Cezch Hurri thread, but I have started a metal wing conversion to represent one of 303 squadron's Hurri's - probably one of the two RF-E coded machines. Untitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr I've scribed and joined the upper wings now: Untitled by jongwinnett, on Flickr Seen with the fabric wings for the Czech plane. The rescribing filled me with dread but was actually alright once I got started. Don't bother trying to follow the wing reinforcements (I did and it was pointless), just cut cleanly fore and aft. I used a mixture of laying the parts on scale plans and using a set of unconverted fabric wings as a template to get everything in alignment. Under side will have to wait until Friday as I'm out tomorrow. I have a set of Techmod transfers to do the second RF-E - P3700, but if I can cobble together the numbers will perhaps do the first machine, P3901

Hi everyone My Airfix Albion 3 point refueller. Thanks Iain

Right then, whilst waiting for my Hurricane to arrive I have got the modelling itch from watching all the great builds on this GB and have decided that I have to make another model for it. I have long been a fan of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 so what better excuse to start the build of one than this GB? Most of my markings for the 109 are for foreign operators of the aircraft but I do have some Luftwaffe decals and I shall use these to build what will be my first Luftwaffe 109 for around 20 years! I shall be using the new tool Airfix Bf-109 E which, as I'm sure you all know, can be built as any version of the E from the -1 through to the -7 and as such comes with a variety of options such as inserts for the wing guns and fuel tanks or bombs for the centreline rack. I will be building mine as a -3, which had the earlier rounded canopy and had wing mounted cannon. First a picture of the kit. As you can see some of the main parts were removed from the sprue a while ago and there has even been some RLM-02 applied to some of the interior components but this is well inside the 25% rule. As for the colour scheme I am still not sure. I have 2 schemes in mind, which are actually quite different. As you can see this a/c was operated 3/JG 53 and was flown by Feldwebel Walter Schultz (or Scholtz), this aircraft was brought down on 30th September at Langney in Sussex where the pilot was captured unhurt. This is probably my favourite choice as I like the different camouflage scheme. My second choice is below. As you can see this a/c was flown by Oberleutnant Heinz Bar, and he too was shot down in it, this time crashing into the Channel, from which he was rescued. He went on to fly over 1,000 missions and survived the war after fighting on every front possible. I actually have the correct decals to do Bars a/c but will have to cobble together the markings for Schultz's a/c, this should not be too much of a problem as I have a number 3 in the correct size and colour and should be able to make the number 1 from some bars I have in the correct colour. Now I know profiles in books can be slightly off at times (to say the least) I have checked both of these out and they appear to be correct, just have to decide which one now! Thanks for looking, and hopefully there will be a small update tomorrow. Craig.

Hi guys, This is my recent entry for the ongoing Battle Of Britain Group Build. It's Airfix's excellent 1/48 Bf-109E built as an E-3 flown by Walter Scholtz of 3/JG53 when he was shot down on 30th September 1940. I really enjoyed building this kit and will definitely be buying others. Here is the link to the build:- http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986206-bf-109-e3-airfix-148finished/ And here are the pictures, hope you like her. Thanks for looking. All comments and criticisms gratefully received. Craig.

I've finished! I have encountered many of the problems reported by others, in terms of poor cockpit side panel fit, vague nosewheel bay fit, difficulty attaching the instrument panel and brittle plastic making it difficult to get small parts off the sprue intact. The two fuselage halves joined together reasonably well, although I used a little filler on the top, possibly due to damage incurred when removing from the sprue To crown it all the Humbrol grey paint then "curdled" as I brushed it on, requiring a second coat of both which is not as smooth as I wanted. I attempted to blend the colour demarcations together into a soft edge; easy for you airbrush users, but a little more difficult for us hairy stickers! I think it worked reasonably well although it looks much better in the flesh than in the photos. As usual, I exchanged the plastic pitot for a dressmakers pin in the interests of handling longevity That said, these little frustrations aside, I have enjoyed the build and I don't think there is anything there to be wildly alarmed by, although this kit definitely requires care and patience. FredT

BAC 1-1 200 Converted to 1-11 510ED I've been rather busy with the day job taking me away from home for long stertches of time this year, which has affected my modelling time. I've not been able to use my workbench, compressor/airbrush much, so found myself looking for something to make with minimal tools paints etc. I came up with this, the old Airfix 1-11 which has been around for forty odd years, and figured I could do some cutting and gluing to improve and convert it. It has a few problems, the main ones being that the nose is too blunt (correct for the very earliest 1-11's though) ourboard wing fences needing deleting and moving inboard, wing landing lights deleting, and flap track fairings need lengthening and altering to 'canoe' type. To make it more interesting I decided to stretch the fuselage to a 500 series aircraft, with extended wingtips. And then I realised I'd need to 'hushkit' the engines. Interestingly, I have an original issue of the kit, and the most recent boxing hasn't half seen the box size grow! Decals will be for the final 'Landor' scheme the BA 1-11's wore before retirement. Not wanting to cut up 2 1-11 kits for the fuselage extensions, I rolled some 20 thou plasticard into half rounds, sawed the fuselage halves fore and aft of the wing, and on a flat surface glued the extesnsions to the insides of 1 fuselage half. Thats 18.1 mm forward and 10.5 mm aft. When that was set the next day, I did the other side, matching it to the one already done. and putting it on a flat surface to set. This left a big recess to fill in and build out the fuselage side. More rolled plasticard (curved around my x-acto knife handle) filled in the recesses, with quarter sections. one on top and one on the bottom, then the side. White milliput was slathered on and left to set. A fair bit of sanding followed to flush the extensions in with the rest of the fuselage. I didn't take any photos unfortunately. I cut a vertical slot in the nose and glued in a rough profile of the new more pointed nose shape, build up around it with milliput, and sanded it all to shape. It;s a huge improvement over the blunt kit shape. The glazing fitted nicely so I will leave it clear. It was sanded to belend it in and polished back to clarity with micromessh. The wings received attention next, with new tips cut roughlt to shape, glued on and then sanded down to shape. The flap track fairings wer cut off, and I sawed slots into the wings for new plasticard ones. Likewise the outer wing dences were removed, a stlot marked out with an olfa p-cutter where the new ones went, and new fences glued in. They were approximately shaped first and the sanded down to proper size one firlmy set. The engines needed some thought. The 'Hushkits' are a long extension on the rear. I found some bombs that had the right cross section to do the job, and cut them to size. I didn't like the engine mounts as they have half on the fuselage and half on the engine cowling making for a pig of a job to eliminate the seam down the middle. So I made new ones from plasticard, and sliced the kit items off. Engine pylons are on now. I'll have to figure out how to do the 'crinkled' exhausts on the hushkits now. Wings, tail and engines can then go on, and priming can commence. Thanks for looking John

As with a lot of other people I've been eagerly awaiting the release of the Airfix Bristol Beaufighter TF.X since it was announced last year and when it arrived I couldn't wait to start it so thought I would do a WIP like I did with the Defiant. (I still need to take some more photos of this one!) Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr I was surprised that Eduard managed to release aftermarket before the kit was available and after looking at the instructions on the Eduard Website I decided that it was worth purchasing. While I'm building the model I'll try and take pics of the parts before and after the etch is added to show the difference it makes. I was initially tempted to do my Beaufighter as an operation Firedog aircraft and buying the necessary conversion parts to portray this scheme but as the molds indicate that the parts I need may feature in a future boxing I decided to go for a Wartime Coastal Command aircraft. There is nothing wrong with the kit decals or marking options but I had been inspired by the Article in the May 2015 Issue of Airfix Model World along with the built up Airfix kit and decided to go with the Aviaeology decal sheets. Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr Although I've never used Aviaeology decals before I can highly recommend these decal sheet on the research and the supporting material alone. They have photos of the chosen aircraft and a lot of notes regarding Armament, colour schemes and how they were weathered and retouched along with lists of the different modifications represented on the aircraft chosen in the sheet. It's almost complete package of research material and decals. The Above mentioned issue of Airfix Model World has an excellent article on the variations found on the Beaufighter TF.X and compliments these decal sheets nicely. I think I'm probably going to make this model to represent LZ451 of 404 Squadron Late on in it's career when the invasion stripes have been partly painted out and the fuselage codes have been moved to above the wing so there is a good opportunity to do a scheme with a bit of a patchwork paint finish with over painted markings etc. I made a start on assembling the interior. and made a few deviations from the instructions. There are a few ejector pin markings on the inside of the fuselage. I'll doubt you'll see any of them on the finished model but I was still compelled to fill them all! Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr I then filled in the forward area of the wing root while I was filling the ejector pin marks and at the time didn't realise that the consoles covered this gap and the filling I had done meant I now had to modify the parts to get them to fit. Not a problem but a bit of extra work that I didn't need to do. As I had done this I decided to fix the consolses to the cockpit floor as opposed to the fuselage as stated in the instructions. Airfix 1:72 Bristol Beaufighter by Mark Maclean, on Flickr As you can see from the above photo of the fuselage the interior has the vertical frames moulded onto the inside of the fuselage but no horizontal ones. As you can see I've had a go at reproducing these and think it has made a big improvement to the inside of the fuselage. To be honest I didn't really need to do the whole interior I could have just done the bits around the openings but htought it was a good opportunity to practice the technique and I'm glad I did because I got quicker and more consistent as I went on. Just got the other side to do now.... Thanks for looking, Mark

Hi everyone Well another day and another build. My 1/32 has been put to one side for a little while for no other reason than I received the Airfix Albion 3 point refueller and Bedford MWD plus the WW2 RAF ground crew set. For a long time I've wanted to create a typical scene that happened on any given day at every RAF fighter station during the opening days of WW2. I wont be using all of the above items but I intend to create a diorama for the Spitfire and another for the Hurricane. I've also bought decals from Xtradecal (X48086 RAF Battle of Britain 50th anniversary Spitfires and Hurricanes) and the Spitfire will be finished as R6800 for no other reason that I like the Sky Blue undersides and the Roundel red spinner. I started the Airfix kit about 2 -3 months ago but it stalled because in my example part C51 was in three pieces but after an email the good folks at Airfix sent a replacement. So here is where I'm at the cockpit is complete and the fuselage has been glued together.. I hope to crack on with this over the next few weeks as I'm iching to start on the ground equipment, which by the way I have no knowledge on! Cheers Iain

Hello and after a too long break away, this is my first very late entry to 2015. A none too accurate portrayal of Canberra XH134 in it's retirement scheme as I saw it back in 2006 at RIAT. A sad day thinking I'd never see a Canberra fly again (oh sooo wrong), and also a day when I was taking my first steps in photography with my brand new digital slr. So this is the Airfix Canberra we all know and 'love', sadly missing out on today's new jewel like Airfix toolings that have certainly spoiled me since my return to modelling. In the end I didn't go a bundle on fixing her up. I reshaped the root of the tail and replaced the rudder with a more suitable resin part. Resin wheels looked much nicer than the kit ones so they were added as well. A little bit of brass from the usual people was added to brighten up the cockpit. I spent some time filling in the deeper trenches on the fuselage, but I didn't bother with the wings as I didn't find the engraving there quite so offensive. Mild weathering was done with True Earth filters... which may have ended up being too subtle on the hemp upper surfaces, and a little artist oil on the undersides where it's a little dirtier. Oh, and after totally losing the ability to stretch sprue, I gave up and ordered some of that Uschi van der Rosten elastic rigging which made things considerably easier. The stencilling is a bit of a mish mash and not quite right, and I don't think I have all the correct aerials for this time, but I've been SO busy with other life stuff that I've had to shrug my shoulders and go 'close enough'. So here she is, the original followed by my 'interpretation'. Thank you once again for your attention. Jonathan RIAT2006_004 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr RIAT2006_017 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_01 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_02 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_04 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_05 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_06 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_07 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr Canberra_08 by Jonathan Macauley, on Flickr