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KUTA continuation. Lets see if I can get this knocked out this month. Original thread: '70s NATO/Warsaw Pact - Luftwaffe RF4E Haven't done much yet aside from painting the inside of the intakes and now researching loadout, which should be pretty minimal considering it's a recce bird.

Rarely do I post a finished build, but perhaps the amount of builds started would leverage that.... No. This Draken has been ready since about June, but other commitments (some of them can be applied as decals to 1/144 F4D, F-14s, F-15Es and F-16s - if one would follow the Shelf Oddity trace) stood in the way of doing proper photos. The kit is F-Toys, sripped of the factory applied paint with the help of Wamod Acrylic Cleaner. Underneath the original paint you will see crisp panel lines, some fine details and loads of potential. The weakest part of the kit (or of all F-Toys kits in general) is the canopy. Recently Brengun began to release vac-formed replacements, so this is less of an issue. Gear doors in this kit had been replaced with prototype PE parts, some antennas added from the same fret, pitot and fin spike from Master. I scratch-built the main undercarriage legs, which ...kinda shows - I took the liberty of presenting only the photos that do not display this unwanted feature. Tail bumper-wheel were also scratchbuilt. The Danish art of mantainence was the desired end effect: RLM02 from Valejo used as base and Hataka Blue Line B025 Interior Green for extensive touch-ups. Selected touch-ups received glossy highlight. In 1/144 two additional layers of paint, applied with the brush produce some noticable bumps.... Some panel lines were accented, some smoke stains added (a little too much?)... The finished model goes like this: And well, that's it, really.

It has been in the works long enough. Resin, vacu canopy and decals from Miniwing. Cannon fairings courtesy of Master. Brass by Shelf Oddity, which means it is the test article for the brass parts - an awkward way to promote our product and equally awkward way to excuse imperfections. First two photos with my trusty companion, who did the part chopping: and lent a helping brush: Now, the Attacker himself: "We there yet?" Thanks for watching!

Su-122-54 Tank Destroyer Early Type (37035) 1:35 MiniArt Not to be confused with the unsuccessful Su-122 of WWII era, the Su-122-54 (Object 600) was a re-tread of the concept but utilising the more recent T-54 chassis as its basis, although this was lengthened slightly to accommodate the alterations that included a fixed casemate for the gun, which has elevation and limited traverse like many other tank-killers and Self-Propelled Guns (SPGs) to allow fine tuning of aim. It was fitted with the D-49 L/48.4 rifled main gun with 35 rounds carried onboard, and a pair of KPVT 14.5mm heavy machine guns with 600 rounds, one mounted coaxially to the barrel, the other on the commander's station on the roof, which rotated to give fire all round. The commander also had a TCD-09 stereoscopic rangefinder available for targeting, and could be used out as far as 5000m at extreme. They were only produced in small quantities (under 100), and were kept well away from prying eyes for much of their career, with NATO barely mentioning them in reports, despite them playing a part in some of the major exercises and deployments of the 60s. This could partially be due to the use of the Armoured Recovery Vehicle variant in parades that possibly gave a false impression of the type at the time. The Kit This is a new tooling from the masters of armour at MiniArt, using some of the sprues from their successful T-54/55 series. It arrives in their standard sized box, and inside are a lot of sprues of varying sizes. There are 49 sprues of grey styrene, two in clear, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, decal sheet and instruction booklet, with colour profiles at the rear for paint and markings. If you're not familiar with MiniArt kits, 49 sprues might seem a lot, but if you scroll down to the pictures you'll see that some are small, and often there are upwards of dozens of the same sprue for example in respect of track links. If you have built a T-54, you will recognise the construction of the lower hull, which is achieved by adding the suspension mounts to the lower panel, threading the torsion bars through the hull, attaching all the suspension parts such as the swing-arms, dampers and such to the side, then putting the sides with separate final drive housing and rear bulkhead in place. Between the two sides is a firewall, which is there as a structural element, as there is no interior to this kit. That said, you do get a full-length breech, which is assembled with its big coaxial machine gun and slipped through the big bolted mantlet and then set aside while the casemate is made up. The roof of the casemate is first to be put together, with four hatches on the roof, mating with the other sides before the whole assembly is placed on the top of the hull. Worthy of note are the two diagonal corners to the casemate, which are separate parts that normally leads to worries about alignment. MiniArt have sensibly provided a pair of angled plates to glue inside the joints, which ensures that the sides and diagonals obtain the correct angle to mate with the glacis plate, which by now has the mantlet and breech installed. The wide fenders are also glued in place at this stage, with large tabs holding them to the top of the hull at the front, and two pins that locate into the side of the engine compartment, which is slightly raised compared to the front. The rectangular hatch sports the commander's periscope, and the larger round hatch at the rear has the huge KPVT machine gun attached to it, with twin magazines, one each side on a sturdy mount. The engine deck is made up in three sections, with louvres and hatches, plus small parts, some of which are PE for scale fidelity. A large storage box fits onto the deck once it is in place, and the rear bulkhead is decorated with towing hitches, rails and pioneer tools, plus a pair of large mud guards with separate supports on each side. The remaining two hatches are fitted, a number of supports are glued along the length of the fenders, and stowage boxes plus fuel tanks are added to any free space, as is the large side-facing exhaust on the port side. At the front, the fenders are finished off with front guards, which have PE stiffeners inside, and the single-part barrel is inserted into the keyed slot in the mantlet, with the outer saukopf-like section slid over before the two-part hollow muzzle-brake is closed up around the tip of the barrel. The vehicle now needs some road wheels, which are created in pairs with separate hub caps that hide the axle that also holds the multi-part drive sprocket and idler wheels. There are 10 pairs of road wheels needed, and two of each of the idler and drive sprockets, one for each side. At this stage various small parts are added around the hull, with a choice of day or night operations headlights on the diagonal sections of the glacis, more pioneer tools, additional stowage, aerial masts, plumbing for the additional fuel cells, and a rolled up tarpaulin that is attached to the rear of the casemate with PE straps. A common theme to Soviet era armour was the unditching beam and additional fuel drums on the rear, which were carried over to the Su-122-54, with PE straps and fuel caps that are shown from other angles in scrap diagrams to ensure you place them correctly. The towing cables are something you will have to supply from your own sources, with a requirement of two lengths of 1.1mm diameter with lengths of 175mm each, but you do get the towing eyes to terminate them with, so forewarned is forearmed. Keeping the best and most fun part until last, we come to the tracks. Yes, I'm being slightly sarcastic, as there can't be many modellers that actually enjoy putting tracks together, due to their repetitive nature. Each of the 90 links per side is attached by four sprue gates, and they are located in the pit of the concave track-pin tunnel, so will require extra care during clean-up. I found this a bit of a chore for the three links I did, but I do have easily fatigued hands, and you may come up with a faster method than I found using a sharp knife and round file. Detail on the tracks is staggering, with individual casting serials in the depths of each one, and happily no ejector pin marks to contend with. Markings There are three markings options available from the box, and the profiles are split between the inside front and rear covers of the instruction booklet. You can build one of the following: Soviet Army, winter camouflage 50-60s, marked red 326 Soviet Army 60s, marked white 318 Soviet Army 50-60s, marked white 344 Decals are printed by Decograph, which as usual have good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion Whether you've heard of this Tank Destroyer before or not, it has a certain presence, and the angular casemate is appealing as well as a useful feature for deflecting shots away from the crew. The detail levels are excellent, with PE and clear parts to give it extra realism. The only minor gripe is the positioning of the sprue gates on the track links, but with some careful cutting and making good, no-one will ever appreciate your effort! It's typical modern MiniArt, who have made producing great kits look easy. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

As mentioned in my 92 Squadron post earlier I planned to build a 1/48 Lightning in a Grey scheme. Here it is, 5 squadron from 1987, one of the last of the Lightnings in service. Built using the Airfix kit, out of the box, painted using Halfords Ford Polar Grey, Humbrol Dark Sea Grey and Humbrol light grey 27 (under the wings which looks much darker in the pictures). Flory wash and a satin varnish. Xtra Decal squadron markings and kit stencils etc.

Hi, A little mojo project I have had on the go for a few months. Inspired by my ability to paint white that I discovered with my Valiant I decided to have a crack at this attractive scheme. A lovely kit to build and am looking forward to the AEW.2 I have planned for the Maritime Group Build. Built completely out of the box, using Humbrol Medium Sea Grey 165 aerosol, Halfords Appliance white over Citadel Corax white as a primer. Eduard masks were used and the soot staining was achieved using eye shadow and a flitch brush which worked very well. The kit is so well engineered that I painted the wings off the airplane and a little Tamiya extra thin over the wing spars held them in place once completed with no filling or sticking required around the wing to fuselage joint, this made masking a doddle! Enjoy.

My build of the Anigrand 1/72 kit, using AK Interactive's Xtreme Metallics, not without problems. This model represents the first of the two prototypes, in her original configuration, as tested at Edwards AFB in 1949.

Hello, all, Just got an email from Caracal with news and description of new and reprinted decal sheets. I thought some of you might be interested in seeing them, as some of the subjects have been recent topic discussions. The one we ALL have been waiting for on the FJ-2/3 Furies is not among them, doggone it! I do not have an affiliation with Caracal, nor do I receive any consideration or compensation for mentioning their products, but I have sent them yet another request to do the Fury sheet ASAP as well as a sheet of WW2 FAA codes in white and red with white outline in both 1/72 and 1/48 scales...a few more requests might speed up the process. (Mike, I wasn't sure the best place for this topic- if you need to move it, please feel free.) Mike https://mailchi.mp/caracalmodels/new-decal-sheets-and-b-58-reprint-from-caracal-models-2904421?e=b9f6163f7b

Absolutely loved building this. A real Mojo restorer. OOB apart from some resin ejector seats that can't be seen and the Master pitot probes. Hope you like it. WIP here...

Hello mates! I want to build the Saudi AF EE Lightning Mk53 in 1/48. What Airfix boxing I need to buy? What modifications I need to do? I saw decals by Model Alliance, are they of good quality? Thanks in advance

Hi fellow modellers, this is my first post... This is my rendition of a derelict Aero S 106 the Czech version of the mithic Mig 21 F-13, The kit is the very basic a non recomendable academy mig 21 in 1/72, the whole idea was to try new tricks, and not worry too much if i ruined it, but altogether i am happy with the end result being such a forgotten kit in the stash with nothing to lose, as im getting back in the horse after a couple of years off the modelling world. I hope to make another shining in all its glory... deepest respect for the mikoyan design bureau. The kit was pretty basic, almost no panel lines, i scribed a little too much and riveted lightly, I used reference pics of abandoned types such as this with rivets showing. Built OOB with minor scratch built parts, such as pneumatic suspensions, a canvas piece in the cockpit and the modified flaps. I used AK green primer, then a black cote of vallejo, and then vallejo model air aluminum in several shades mixing it with white and black in different panels, tried the sharpie method for paneling with interesting results. The cockpit was very ill shaped so i decided to put a piece of cloth on it as i saw in various east european museums and abandoned aircrafts, it was made using tissue paper and water and white glue diluted.. i dont know the name in english... pev or something like that... The decals was self made with laser printer over transparent decal sheet. Weathered with vallejo wash, aqua pencils and dry brush. I hope you like it, your inputs are very much welcome! Cheers! Iggy.

Hi, I am not at home right now otherwise I'd dig through my stash, also I have been searching on-line for an answer to no-avail. Do any of you know if the Airfix Victor B Mk.2 can be built with conventional bomb doors closed or with open bomb bay doors and a freefall weapon (nuclear or conventional) inside? I only ask because I think the Blue Steel looks a bit odd on the Victor, and I plan to use the Blue Steel from my Victor kit to improve my Airfix Vulcan when the time comes. Thanks.

The output this year was three models, one below average. The RIAT Su-27 keeps me more busy than expected. Anyway, I’m happy with the three new kids on the block. First one, A Hasegawa A-7E as it participated in the Gulf of Sydra incident in 1981. This one is part 3 in the a project related to that incident. Next the Hobby Boss F-14A disguised as Persian 'Cat. Finally a WhatIf from Kinetic. What if the F-16XL won the strike fighter contest, and not the F-15E Strike Eagle.... Let me present you the F-16E Strike Falcon! Hope you like, and Happy 2018!

Hello fellow Modellers! This "Red" 02 is a "Polish Flanker" stationed in Stargard, Poland and featured by photographer Robert Senkowski in Verlinden Lock On 17. 1992, when VVS left, there was a big fly out ceremony. I spent a lot of time to make a sleeker aft fuselage and other corrections and detailing. I made this model 2002/2003. The older pictures on tarmac were on film. I hope you like this grey stuff, Cheers!

These are from a while ago, before the final decals turned this anonymous Vulcan into XM602 of IX sqn, circa 1978. I'll post those later in the RFI section. I think the underside grey may be a bit too dark, though I used 'light a/c grey'. I feel compelled to do a white Vulcan next, then maybe a wrap-round camo one!