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Bf110D-0/B S9+HH of 1./EprGr.210, Denain/Boulogne-Ost, September 1940 I've just finished this, the Eduard 1/72 Bf110C/D Profipack Edition built for the Bf110 STGB, build thread is here This model represents the aircraft flown by Leutnant Ulrich Freiherr von der Horst and his gunner Obergefreiter Franz Öllers, which was destroyed on 24 September 1940 following the gruppe's second raid of the day on the Supermarine factory at Woolston. The aircraft crashed in the channel off Southampton and Ltn. von der Horst and Gfr. Öllers were both killed. Here is a picture of the real S9+HH The kit was built more or less OOB, but with the kit exhausts replaced by the Quickboost ones and the decals are from the Authentic Decals Bf110D set. The aerial wire is made from EZ Line. The Eduard kit is beautiful, a real pleasure to build; nicely complex without being difficult and superbly engineered from start to finish and produces a very good result for very little effort The paints used were Phoenix Precision Paints RLM65, 71 & 02 and RLM24 Dunkelblau for the propeller spinners - the Phoenix paints performed flawlessly as usual. I painted the bombs in Humbrol 65 so they didn't look too much like part of the aeroplane, but if I'd known the difference in shade and tone would be that great I would have cut it with a dash of white... but never mind, I think it is one of the best - if not the best - model I have ever made and I am very happy with it. Perfection I don't do, and I hope I never do because it will be all downhill from there . Thanks very much for your attention, Cheers, Stew

Spitfire Mk.IX - The Longest Day 1:48 Eduard - Limited Edition Without going in to the whole history of the Spitfire the Mark XI was developed by mating a Merlin 61 engine to a Spitfire Vb to combat the arrival of the Fw190. The Kit Eduard have released a few boxings now of the Mk.IXc and Mk.IXe and this brings together the plastic from both as the options in the kit feature four Mk.IXc's and one IXe. The boxing is to celebrate "The Longest Day" or D-Day and features Spitfire XI's wearing D-Day stripes, some very quickly applied. The kit arrives in six sprues of gray plastic, a clear sprue, a fret of colour photo etch parts,a set of masks, and in resin a 500lb centre line bomb & its rack. I am reliably informed the kit is superb. The mouldings look great, and I am told the fit is spot on. Depending on which Mark you make there will be more than a few parts for the spares bin. The build begins with the cockpit, and here some of the sidewall detail is moulded into the fuselage, with the rest being supplied as separate parts that fit to the lower sidewall inserts. The frame that holds the pilot's seat has recessed lightening holes that could be drilled out if you feel the need, and a sturdy mount for the seat and its two armoured plates behind it and in the head/shoulders area. The frame behind the pilot's seat is supplied as a top portion only, but little should be seen of that below the small rear glazed area anyway. Under the pilot's feet are the control linkages, as well as a further strengthening attachment point for the seat. The seat is built up from back and side parts, with the adjustment lever on the starboard side, and a flare rack in front, under the pilot's knees, which is then dropped into the cockpit with its PE armour panel, and the pre-painted seatbelts from the etched fret can be draped over the seat in a realistic way. The control column and linkage is built up from three styrene parts and one PE part, and then added in front of the seat along with a few additional sidewall details. The instrument panel is the forward bulkhead, and is supplied as either a single styrene part with raised instrument bezels on the surface, which you can paint or decal, or the more sophisticated lamination of three pre-painted layers to create a highly detailed panel with instrument dials that is glued to a styrene back-plate for strength. The gun-sight and compass assemblies are then added to the panel, with the compass glued on the backside of the panel and protruding through the bulkhead opening between the pilot's knees, just like the real thing. Rudder pedals sit within the bulkhead, after which the other sidewall can be added, creating a neat assembly that is sandwiched between the fuselage halves after fitting the bulkhead to the engine-bay, the final frame to which the spinner attaches and he socket for the tail gear leg. If you're going to close the canopy, a couple of small segments of the sills are removed, as they won't be seen under the canopy, and would baulk its fitment if left behind. At this point, the leading edges of the wing root fairings are also attached. As is standard with the Spitfire wings in this kit the lower wing is a single full-span part, (make sure you select the right wing for decal option being modelled) there is then a stub spar that crosses the mid-line with around 3cm on each side providing a little strength to the wings which must be fitted. This forms part of the front wall of the landing gear wells. The upper wing section has been moulded with a thinner skin within the wheel well to give a more realistic depth, and also has details of the ribbing moulded into its surface. The balance of the wheel bay walls are constructed from short sections, which allowed Eduard to put some wall detail on them where appropriate, but take care getting alignment and orientation correct before committing to glue. Once the upper wings and separate wing tips are attached, the fuselage can be dropped into the gap and secured in place. The top cowling is a separate assembly, made up from two halves, and again you have a choice which depends on which markings you intend to use. The exhausts that are fitted to each side of the cowling are slide-moulded to have a hollow exit, although the edges are a little thick when compared to the resin replacements. The exhausts fit into a pair of backing parts that give an impression of the engine within the cowlings, which must be almost unique on a stock kit at this scale, but it means that they have to be inserted before the top cowling is added, so must be painted and masked beforehand. The elevators are separate from the tail plane, and they are supplied as a single part with some impressive fabric and rib-tape texture on the surface. They must be installed before the rudder, and are locked in place by a pair of small parts that should allow then to remain mobile if you are careful with the glue. Ailerons are also separate, and these are of the metaltype, so devoid of any fabric detail, as is correct. They can be posed at any sensible angle, and have small tabs at the hinge-points to improve the strength of their join. Because of the almost scale depth of the wheel wells, the landing gear is built up the same way whether you are choosing to model it up or down. The only difference is that a small portion of the dished leg cover is removed so that they can fit within the bay recess. The tyres are provided in halves, with separate front and rear hubs, with a flat PE hub-cap installed on only one of the marking options. If posing them down, the gear legs sit in a pair of keyed holes that ensure the angle and orientation are correct, but a pair of scrap diagrams provide clarification if you are unsure. The tail wheel is a single part that fits into the two-part yoke that terminates in a long shaft to plug into the socket within the fuselage that was installed earlier. The Spitfire IX had a four-blade prop, and this is one of the last assemblies, consisting of single part for the blades, around which the front and rear plate of the spinner are clamped. This then fits into a small hole at the front of the cowling, and will need to be glued in place unless you do a little scratch-building. The cannons in the leading edge of the wing are installed to the inner stations, while the outer ports are faired over with a pair of hemispherical bumps. The canopy gives you the option of a two-part closed assembly, which has the sliding and rear portions moulded together, or a three-part open assembly to display your hard work in the cockpit. The windscreen is fitted with a circular rear-view mirror on the very top of the roll-over loop, and the sliding portion has a small PE grab-handle/latch added to the front, which is a nice addition. The side door is detailed with locking mechanism that is also made from PE, and you use different parts for open and closed canopies. Lastly the aerial mast if attached to the fuselage via an insert followed by a small clear tear-drop shaped bubble just aft of the mast and only used with certain marked aircraft. If the modeller is going to make the last decal option a Mk.IXe then bomb racks are fitted. Czechoslovak pilots flew the Mk.Ie for the first time during the Normandy landing as they were fitted with bomb racks and more suitable for operations over the Beaches. These aircraft were put into operations rather quickly and some did not receive full identification strips. Two 250lb bombs are provided for the wings in injected plastic. In addition a resin 500lb bomb with its rack is supplied for the centre line. Clear Parts The clear parts are on one of Eduard's familiar round clear sprues. Both an open and closed canopy are provided (in this case one part has come adrift but this is unusual for Eduard). Also supplied are the wing tips and a variety of navigation lights. Decals There are two sheets of decals in the kit. The first is a smaller sheet of stencils printed by Eduard. The second decal sheet for this kit gives the modeller the choice of 5 schemes, and is printed by Cartograf. Spitfire Mk.IXc, ML214, No. 126 Squadron RAF, Harrowbeer Air Base, June 6, 1944 Spitfire Mk.IXc, MK924, No. 302 Squadron, Chailey, June, 1944 Spitfire Mk.IXc, MK892, No. 222 Squadron RAF, Normandy, June 10, 1944 Spitfire LF Mk.IXe, PL124, No. 312 Squadron RAF, June, 1944 Spitfire Mk.IXc, MH819, No. 310 Squadron, Appledram Air Base, Mid June, 1944 Conclusion All of the parts are upto Eduard's usual high standards. If you like Spitfires, or aircraft with D-Day Stripes; this one is for you. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Woohoo here we go!!! Ok after such a long wait it has finally come…………and it’ll be a few weeks before I can start!! Ok I decided to go with something nice and easy…….then I found this, the Czech AF Mig-21MF s/n 7701 in “Splinter Camouflage”, something nice and simple! Copyrighted material removed photo courtesy of Airlines.net Ok the base model will be a 1/48 Eduard MiG-21MF, I have a choice of two, but will be using the ProfiPACK one for this build….have plans for the other one! Lots of nice bit inside, Eduard was even nice enough to give me two complete sets of PE bits! What lovely people!! Not too sure if I’ll through extra bits at this one or not, have a few weeks to decide before I even get a chance to play with it. The camouflage is the big part of this build and I have a choice of either the sort of easy path and use the Syh@rt decals……..can imagine how much fun that will be!! Or go hard core and use the Model-CZ masks, a lot of work but mistakes can be corrected….just have to make sure everything is in the correct place! Or a combo of the two……..not too sure about that, for sure I won’t be able to get the colours to match. Anyway am sooo looking forward to this one, though I still have to wait for 3 more weeks till I get back home!

Siemens-Schuckert D.III 1:48 Eduard The Siemens-Schuckert D.III served in comparatively small numbers on the western front in the final few months of the Great war. It's ancestry goes back to the SSW (Siemens-Schuckert Werke) D.1, which was designed in 1916 as a response to the agile little French Nieuport 11. Its most interesting feature was that the propeller rotated in the opposite direction to the way the rotary engine spun, cancelling out the torque effect. The Siemens-Halske ShIII engine suffered from the poor quality oil available, and initially was dogged with overheating problems. However the D.III proved to be faster than both the Albatros D.V and the Fokker D.VII, and most notably had a phenomenal rate of climb for its day. 40 D.III's were sent to the front line for evaluation in March/May 1918 where they performed well when the engines were working, and it was felt that a useful fighting machine could be developed. They were all returned to the factory for upgrading, with a new rudder, elevators, shorter wings and new spinner and cowl. These aircraft mainly went to home defence units, where their high climb rate made them useful bomber interceptors. The D.IV was developed in parallel, with wings shorter in span and chord, and started to be issued to the front line in August 1918. By this time the war was entering it's final stages, and the D.IV was the familiar story of too little, too late. It was potentially the best German fighter of the war, but remains one of those great 'might-have-beens'. The kit. It has been a while since Eduard added to their range of 1/48 Great war aircraft, so this is an extremely welcome new release. They produced an earlier kit in the 1990's, with a brass etched interior and fairly basic injection moulded parts. Be assured, this kit is all new and has nothing in common with the old version. Presented in an attractive orange-stripe 'Profipack' box, the kit contains two sprues of injection moulded parts, two packs of decals, a pre-coloured etch brass fret, a small set of Kabuki tape masks, and a nicely illustrated set of instructions. Looking at the plastic parts, it is obvious that Eduard have taken a step forwards with their moulding techniques, which were always good but are now even better. The parts are crisply moulded in a medium grey plastic with absolutely no evidence of any flash. Sprue A holds the engine, interior, and fine detail parts, whilst sprue B has all the main airframe components. Particularly noteworthy is the way that have managed to mould open louvers on the underside of the cowling, and the beautifully rendered rib tapes with their delicate stitching. Fantastic! There is a lot of interior structure supplied, and it should look great when painted and assembled. As usual there are a number of photo etched parts to enhance things, and you have the choice of solid plastic or etch jacketed Spandaus to suit your skill level. The strutting looks like it should be pretty easy to assemble, the D.III has 'N' struts on the fuselage and the outer 2 struts are actually a single 'U' shaped assembly, as per the real aircraft. The amount of rigging is not too bad, mainly being 2 'X's on each wing bay. Eduard supply some etched brass eyelets and turnbuckles, a 'first' in one of their kits as far as I am aware, probably suitable for the more advanced modeller. You can of course stick to your preferred method of rigging, but it's nice to have this option and I will be tempted to give them a try. Decals. The main decal pack contains 3 sheets, with the largest being the 5 colour lozenge fabric areas, in 'cookie cutter' format. A second sheet supplies the numerous rib tapes, whilst the 3rd holds the BalkenKreuz and individual aircraft markings. All are produced by Cartograf, with sharp, clear printing, and appear to be very thin. A second decal pack is supplied, with 2 strips of the upper surface lozenge in it. It is not clear why, as they are not referenced in the instructions, so I assume they might be for any patching up you may need to do. Brass Etch. The fret offers an alternative seat back (also in plastic), seat belts, machine gun jackets, and amongst other various parts are the aforementioned eyelets and turnbuckles. Also in the ziplock bag are the optional windscreens. Masks. The small square of Kabuki tape provides a set of pre-cut masks for the wheel centres, easing the job of painting the tyres. Options. Five different D.III's can be made from the kit, Eduard have chosen a very good range of different and colourful machines. A. Jasta 4, Ltn. Ernst Udet, Metz, October 3, 1918. B. Jasta 85, (Kest 5) Ltn Heinrich Dembowsky, Schaffenhausen, November 13 1918. C. Jasta 15, Chery-les-Pouilly, July 1918. D. 1626/18, Kest 4b, Vzfw. Reimann, September 1918. E. 3025/18, Trier, December 1918 to January 1919. Conclusion. This is a stunning little kit of an interesting and charismatic aeroplane that all Great war modellers will want in their collection. Eduard have made a superb job of it, the moudling quality looks exceptionally high and the whole package has been produced to a very high standard. I first became interested in Great War aeroplanes in the 1990's due to the kits Eduard was producing, and did in fact build the original release of the SSW D.III. They have produced a fabulous range of models in the intervening years, and this is surely one of the best yet. Also available, 3 Upgrade sets Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Photo Etch Detail Sets & Masks for Airfix Spitfire Mk Vb 1:48 Eduard Airfix's new 1/48 Spitfire Mk.Vb (reviewed here) was a most welcome and unexpected addition to their 1.48 Spitfire range. As noted by the reviewer the kit is excellent though there is room for some aftermarket improvement. Eduard have come forward with a few of these with these sets. Interior Self-Adhesive Set FE695 This is comprised of a pre-printed, self-adhesive fret. The pre-painted set starts off with a host of small parts for the cockpit, including a multi-layered instrument panel, details for the rudder pedals, sidewalls and throttle control. A full set of painted harnesses for the seat are also included. Interior Self-Adhesive Set 49695 This set contains the full fret from the set reviewed above. A second plain brass fret contains additional parts for the radiator, carburettor intake, entry door, canopy mirror, landing gear brake pipes, and wheel well interior parts. This fret also includes details for the frames behind the seat, and the pilot's head armour. Landing Flaps 48822 This set provides a complete replacement for the kit flaps so the modeller can put the landing flaps in the down position. Detailed flaps are made up, in addition the indicators for the flaps are made. A handy template is included for making the holes in the wing for the indicators. Flexible Mask Eduard's pre-cut masks are the bee's knee's if masking canopies is toward the bottom of your list of favourite modelling tasks. This set contains masks for both types of canopy included in the kit, as well as masks for the main landing wheels Conclusion Airix's new tool Spitfire VB was a welcome release. If you want to add more to the kit then these sets enable you to do this. You can chose between the basic and more involved interior sets, and even have the dropped flaps if you wish to do so. The paint masks are, as always, great time savers too. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Brassin SSW D.III upgrade sets. 1:48 Eduard. For those who want to add that extra bit of detail to the new Siemens-Schuckert D.III kit, Eduard have released these three upgrade sets. All three sets replace parts that are already provided in the kit, so these are really aimed at the 'connoisseur' who is prepared to pay extra to get very best in fine detail. SSW D.III fabric seatbelts (49070). Although the kit already supplies a full set of pre-painted etched brass seatbelts, these are completely different, being actually made up of fabric belts with tiny etched buckles that must be threaded on. The 'hang' of them promises to look much better than the etched versions, and the shoulder straps will look great hanging outside over the cockpit sill, as so often seen on German aircraft of this period. (Reading my colleague Paul's review of recent sets, I note that white glue is recommended, and cyano is a no-no, so be warned!). SSW D.III engine (646 166). Although the kit engine of the Siemens-Halske Sh.III is perfectly good, this replacement has much finer detail thanks to being a resin moulding. The cooling fins on each cylinder are incredibly fine, and much closer to reality than the injection moulded kit engine, and the intake pipes are similarly improved. Tiny etched pushrods are provided, and again these are so much more to scale than the kits plastic parts. There is nothing wrong with the kit engine, but it is at the limit of what can be achieved with injection moulded plastic. This resin alternative takes a step up to another level in terms of fine detail. SSW D.III guns (648 177). There are 2 choices of LMG 08/15 machine-guns in the kit - solid plastic, or plastic with etched brass jackets. This setprovides a third choice, with incredibly detailed resin bodies fitted with some of the tiniest detail parts I have everseen. Fine tubing is supplied for the barrels, along with etched jackets and numerous detail parts. They will probablyneed assembling under a magnifier of some sort, but should make up into little jewels. All highly reccomended. Review sample courtesy of

Bf110C-1 M8+FH of 1./ZG76, Norway, April 1940 Finished this yesterday, the Eduard 1/72 Bf110C/D Profipack Edition built for the Bf110 STGB, build thread is here This aircraft, flown by Unteroffizier Helmut Mütschele and gunner Gefreiter Karl Lorey, was shot down on 09 April 1940 by Sergeant Kristian Fredrik Schye of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, flying Gloster Gladiator No.427. Helmut Mütschele and Karl Lorey survived the crash without injury and were taken as Prisoners of War by Norwegian forces. Minutes later Sergeant Schye was shot down by Leutnant Helmut Lent in the M8+DH - Lent's fifth victory and the one that made him an ace, later he would run up an enormous score as a night-fighter pilot. Sergeant Schye was slightly wounded by cannon shell fragments but was released from hospital after a couple of days. This was one of the best-engineered kits I have ever built, it was a pleasure pretty much from start to finish and was almost entirely OOB as everything you might need is provided, however I used the Quickboost exhausts as they are nicer than the (perfectly adequate) kit ones, and added the aerial wire from EZ Line - note that the B and C-1 series of the Bf110 had wires attaching to both tailfins, the C-2 onwards had a single aerial wire to the starboard fin. The paints used were Phoenix Precision Paints RLM 65, 70, 71; the decals were partly kit-provided (national markings, stencils and the 'M8' part of the aircraft's codes), DP Casper (the locomotive badge on the nose, from the markings for Helmut Lent's aircraft in the Operation Weserübung decal set) and Superscale decal sheet 72-722 (the 'FH' of the aircraft's codes). Cheers, Stew

Poised and eager: I'm not sure what markings I will be going with, I have approximately 1 metric tonne of 110 decals in the bank so will have a sort through later and see what appeals... For sprue shots etc. please see Woody's excellent review here Cheers, Stew

I wasn't sure how my style of aircraft modelling would go down in the main forum, but Procopius seemed to think it was OK, so here goes: I have taken massive liberties with the scheme.....Apologies to the purists, this is for a diorama and it's meant to be fun (and to learn some new techniques)! I once joked that you would never paint a biplane using the same techniques that you would on a tank.....Then I had a think about it and decided it might be fun to find out the truth of the matter! I also need to learn rigging and I can prevaricate no longer.....Whether there will be further updates to this build rather depends on the behaviour of my spiders! Wish me luck, it's my first time!

Hi folks, I bought the Eduard Czech dual combo cheaply from HLJ recently and it seems to have ended up getting built! I don't build many planes (too scary) and I don't think I've built a 1/72 plane at all. So this is a bit of an adventure The version I have doesn't have the little bobbles on the sprues which indicates that there's apparently something wrong with it. Eduard haven't been very forthcoming about what that is (some problem with the forward fuselage?) but they'll replace the sprues if you post them all back. I did a dry fit and thought I'd just go ahead and build it. Hopefully this won't bite me later on! So far I've assembled the wing halves, made up both cockpits, and joined the wings to the fuselage halves. (I know this is a bit odd but I was waiting for something else to dry...) To my great delight I got all the etch fitted without losing anything but the smaller throttles. I still need to adjust the washes, check it for mistakes (looks like the top of the console has popped up) and give the etched bits a wash and a coat of matt varnish, then add some gloss to the dials. The wing halves didn't fit brilliantly but some sanding has mostly fixed that. I took a lot of care cleaning the roots to get a tight join to the fuselage, but I ended up with a step, which other builders have mentioned. I'm not sure if I want to sand this and lose the rivets, or keep it. Cheers, Will

Hi folks, I finished this wee plane for club night on Wednesday and managed to take a couple of pictures today. I'll do some more but I ran out of light! This is (confusingly) from an early boxing of the Czechoslovakian Service Dual Combo kit. So it's not the one of which they made a handful and then retired, but the one after that. Except that the early version (sprues without three bumps on) is somehow wrong and Eduard will send you a new one if you post them the sprues. They mention issues in the forward fuselage construction. I did some dry-fitting and thought it seemed tight but OK, so opted to build mine rather than exchange it. In the end I did have to do some sanding around the nose ring so it's possible that's been fixed. There's also no positive locating socket for the nose gear, which is odd. I thought I'd glued it in place successfully but it fell out after a trip to the club and might be a bit off in these pictures. I didn't mind since I got the kit for cheap from HLJ, and it came with nice resin rockets and pylons, plus a full set of etch for the cockpit and masks. The masks were difficult to use successfully (too many pieces) and needed some re-masking and touch ups to straighten the frames afterwards, but the cockpit parts are lovely and weren't too hard to add: I ditched the resin pylons since the fit to the wing was poor and grafted the plastic pylons to the resin rails. I also left off the sway braces (?) since I couldn't see a good way to fit them. Painted with Alclad, not sealed (except for a bit of Klear Flat over the decals) and weathered gently with - wait for it - MIG pigments and MIG washes. Oh dear... I think this is the first 1/72 plane I've finished since I was a kid. I'm surprised at how small it is, and it was quite difficult in places (I did a poor job on the antenna and had some decal trauma) but it looks nice in the pictures. And you can easily frame things so that you can't see the edges, which is more than I can say for my larger models. The last picture is on the base I made for my Tu-160 last year, but it seems to fit nicely! (Edit: forgot to add that there's a build thread on Britmodeller) Thanks for looking, I hope you like it! Cheers, Will

Was'on My Typhoon has come a bit of a stand still whilst I'm waiting for the seat harness to arrive from HGW so I thought I'd make a start on this lot.. ...should be fun! Yours aye Iain

For my next trick, I'll be building one of Eduard's apparently excellent 1/72 Nieuport 17s; I have a deep fondness for the Nieuport fighters of World War I, which is a perfectly normal thing that nobody should look askance at. I'm building Nie.17 A313, which was issued to 1 Squadron at Ballieul on 4 January 1917 and lost in action over Coulin, near Wavrin, on 22 April 1917, the first of five victory claims by Leutnant August Hanko of Jasta 28. Lieutenant AW Wood, the pilot, was wounded, but survived to be taken prisoner. As there were three AW Woods with the RAF at the close of hostilities, I have been unable to determine anything further of Lieutenant Wood's fate, and welcome any light that anyone can shed on his subsequent movements. He doesn't appear to have remained with the RAF in the postwar era. Eduard, in their infinite wisdom, have issued the kit without any RFC marking options, but why would they? Virtually all of the top British and Canadian aces, Mannock, McCudden, Ball, Bishop, etc etc, flew it, so there's tons of options and zero competition. But no. Presumably in revenge for Munich, the kit includes markings only for French subjects, and their Nie.23 boxing includes only Belgian, Russian, and Czech markings. Little...devils. Fortunately, Blue Rider have ridden to the rescue on an azure horse straight out of a Kandinsky painting, presumably, and sell a sheet of markings for RFC machines. It will be noted that this is about 20-25% of the total aftermarket RFC decals out there, excluding Pegasus's lovely generic RFC roundels and serials sets. However, when I looked closely at the sheet, the red centers appear to be misaligned: Can you see it too? Is it just me? Well, go figure, the Pegasus decals are terrific, but do not include the French-proportioned Nieuport-style roundels. So what's a fellow to do? I'm going to use some Xtradecal RAF roundels from the sixties, that's what. The blue is a bit too dark, but it's what I have, and any port in a storm. I contemplated cutting out the red from the BR decals and patching over the hole with Xtradecals, but my hands are not steady and it seems a recipe for disaster, all told. Moving along: We have our PE seat assembled, more or less, and it only looks wonky if you get this close. I'm pretty pleased with myself here. I also sanded down the sides of the fuselage interior in preparation for the PE detail to be added, and primered it white.

An old build, but since I had the kit out I took some new piccies today. This is the Eduard Mk.V with the Airwaves resin conversion, plus resin wheels and a scratchbuilt fin fillet. all the best, Jason

Finished this morning, built as a quick simple build after the Spitfire. This is the same aircraft as the Walter NOWOTNY scheme, but with a different pilot at a later time in Winter Distemper. This was done to try AMMO Washable White paint, which works really well. Painted with Gunze throughout, apart from the AMMO Washable White, and weathered with Oils. Peter

While working on my "big one" - Airfix 1/72 Lancaster BII - I have completed these two kits on the side. They are from Eduard's "Dual Combo" set which comes with Photo-Etch parts and an extensive decal sheet. Both kits were built from the box with the addition of SBS resin spinners - the kit's items look a little bit like "Kremlin's Towers". I also added Rob Taurus vacu canopy on "White 24", as the plastic kit part is too thick to fit over the back section of the cockpit. Both kits were painted with Gunze/Mr.Hobby acrylics and weathered with artist's oils and pastels. Metal blanking plates behind the exhausts were painted with Alclad II. The pitot tubes were exchanged for a piece of wire. So, first here's "White 24", the mount of Major Sultan Ahmet Khan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amet-khan_Sultan) of III/9.GIAP, 1945. According to Wikipedia, there's also a movie about his life: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haytarma Sultan Ahmet Khan was killed in 1971 while flying a Tupolev Tu-16LL. Next is "White 33" of Col. Georgy Golubev, 4th GFAR, Baltic Region, 1945. All photographs by Wolfgang Rabel of IGM Cars & Bikes, Vienna. Thanks for your interest! Roman

Hello everyone! I am presenting a Mig-21M model that was finished one month ago. Used accessories: Eduard Brassin – Mig-21MF – Interior early Eduard Brassin – Mig-21MF/SMT Exhaust Nozzle Eduard Mig-21MF Exterior Master Pitot tube Decals: Balkan Models, Lift here, Eduard stenciles Paints: Model Master Aluminum plate Lots of accessories from Eduard were never used, there was a lot of scratchbuilding. An entire process of building and painting can be found in the workshop in the folowing link: http://eberlemodel.blogspot.com/2013/04/mig-21m-eduard-148-part-1.html Photos of the finished model: Two black ones: More photos of the finished model can be found here: http://eberlemodel.blogspot.com/2014/09/mig-21m-eduard-148-finished.html Greetings from Slovenia and happy modelling! Aleš

Started today as something quick and simple after the Spitfire, so I picked out on of my many Eduard 190's. As i've built a few of these before things go quite quickly. Work starts with the cockpit, sprayed Gunze RLM66, with all the PE and an oil wash Then added the PE belts, matted down, and added some light chipping and dirt Next up - close up the fuselage with some 'assistance' from some berna clamps Then make up the wing - as per normal the spar needed some light sanding to get a decent fit . Also needed some Mr Dissolved putty on some edges, and a small plastic shim at the back - nothing major. Peter

I've been stuck with the model making equivalent of writers block recently so I decided to finish a model I started a while ago to give myself a little push in the right direction. Usually the idea of a pink model with hearts on would really put me off but for some reason I actually liked this. However as soon as I started I hit problems. I applied a little too much pressure to the tiny canopy and managed to snap it clean in half. After cursing rather a lot i decided my plans would have to change. The only way to mask he issue would be to paint the canopy, and so it turned into a display model. In my imagination this MIG would be being displayed somewhere where it appears to be a little out of place. Maybe this would be in the middle of a roundabout or next to a car park or outside an entrance to somewhere. It would have a really harsh, solid looking concrete base like so many MIGs seem to be displayed on. Anyway that's the idea, here's the pictures

Grumman Hellcat MkII 1:48 The Royal Navy received 252 F6F-3s as Hellcat I under Lend-Lease. Production continued until November 1945 by which time 7870 F6F-5s had been built, of which some 930 had been supplied to the Royal Navy as Hellcat II and 1434 of the total had been completed as F6F-5N night-fighters. Ultimately, the Hellcat equipped 14 FAA front-line squadrons. The first Hellcat Mark Is started to be delivered to the Fleet Air Arm on 13 March 1943, FN321 and FN323 arriving three months later, in June 1943 to the A and C Flights of A&AEE, Boscombe Down for service trials by RN pilots, and in July 1943 FN330 was tested by 778 squadron at Crail. Very soon afterwards the Hellcat was distributed to operational squadrons, 800 Squadron received its first Hellcats in batches in July, August and October 1943, and 1839 squadron from December 1943. Not long after this, on 31 August, 1943 the first combat sorties were being flown by the USN VF9 and VF-5 squadrons aboard USS Yorktown against Japanese targets on Marcus Island (Minami-tori Island) some 700 miles southeast of Japan. The first and second batches of 188 F6F-5 Hellcat Mark IIs started to be delivered to the Royal Navy from May 1944, primarily to 1840 squadron. By this time many Hellcats were being shipped to overseas FAA squadrons directly from Norfolk, Virginia, USA to HMS Thane 14 August 1944 and on to RNARY Wingfield, then onto 804 Squadron in September 1944. The subsequent batch of 295 Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Mk F.II was also shipped directly to RNARY Wingfield in HMS Ranee in September 1944, and on to RNARY Coimbatore. Many of these Hellcats were still in service in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) after the end of the war and into1946. However, quite a number were surplus to requirement after VJ-Day and dumped in the sea off Australia by HMS Colossus in 1945. The final 293 Hellcat II to be delivered to the Fleet Air Arm arrived between January and May 1945, the very last aircraft, being delivered on 11 May 1945. The Hellcat served post war and some of the earlier batches managed to remain in RN service, in 709 squadron. After this aircraft was paid off it went to Fairey Aviation at Hayes in 1946. Whilst Grumman F.II KE209 remained as the personal aircraft of the Lossiemouth Station Flight Commanding Officer Caspar John until 1952, and the Aircraft Holding Unit in 1954, (this aircraft is now on display in the Fleet Air arm Museum at Yeovilton, Somerset). The Model With a Hellcat in RN colours on the front of the standard Weekend Edition yellow/white and blue box. Upon opening the kit is well wrapped in a poly bag with the decals and instructions loose. The model is produced on five sprues of greeny beige styrene. Being a weekend edition, there are no resin or etched parts. All the parts are nicely moulded with no visible imperfections but quite a few moulding pips. The details are well presented including the prominent rivets on the rear fuselage. The panel lines are finely done and seem to represent the aircraft structure well. Construction starts with the cockpit tub which is made up of the floor, rear bulkhead, seat, joystick, rudder pedals, instrument panel and side consoles. Detailed painting and the provided decals will pay dividends on the instrument panel and consoles. The cockpit assembly is then fitted to one side of the fuselage. With the addition of the tailwheel, and under cockpit panel the fuselage can be closed up. Note that if the centreline external fuel tank is to be fitted then a slot in the fuselage needs to be removed. The engine assembly comes next with the two banks of cylinders, crankcase and magnetos along with the prop shaft. The whole assembly is then fitted to the fuselage followed by the two halves of the engine cowling sides and front. Now, there are two sets of cowling, but there is no reference to why inthe instructions. To the rear of the fuselage the horizontal tailplanes with their respective elevators and the rudder can be fitted. The wings consist of upper and lower halves, clear landing and navigations lights, machine gun barrels, undercarriage bays, plus separate ailerons and flaps. Firstly the machine gun barrels and undercarriage bays are fitted to the lower wing sections before the upper sections are attached. Although separate the ailerons and flaps don’t appear to be posable without some modification and scratch building. Once the wing halves and flying controls are fitted then the clear navigation and landing lights are fitted. When all complete, the wings can be attached to the fuselage. At this point the instructions call for the cockpit canopy and aerials to be fitted, but these may be left off till near the end of the build, unless of course the canopy is to be posed closed, then the two parts can be fitted at this point. Turning over the completed assembly there are couple of small parts to be added to each wheelwells along with three identification lights on the centreline of the lower fuselage. The hook can also be fitted, either in the retracted or extended position. The undercarriage is built up of the main leg, retraction jack, scissor links, main undercarriage doors and four piece wheels, made up of the separate tyre halves, inner and outer wheels. Now, while this will help with the painting of the wheel, but it will need some careful cleaning up of the tyres join. The completed undercarriage can then be added to the main assembly. The final parts to be added are the built up long range fuel tank and its support, propeller, front undercarriage doors, and the optional rockets, 6 of which are provided, and finally the pitot probe. Decals The only decal option provided is that for an aircraft flown by Sub-Lieutenant W.M.C. Foster, of No1844 Sqn when onboard HMS Indomitable, Okinawa, April 1945. Along with the main insignia, decals are also provided for the propeller, cockpit side consoles and instrument panels, for use if painting them is not for the modeller. The decals are well printed to the standard we are coming to expect from Eduard, in good register and nicely opaque. Conclusion This is another very nice kit from Eduard. It looks like it will build into a very nice model and I don’t think the missing resin and etch of this weekend edition makes it any real difference, unless you are a real superdetailing modeller. It would certainly make for a good, quick mojo booster. Recommended.

This is the kit I have been working towards for a while now. I saw it quite a few months ago but thought, because I hadn't built any plane kits for over twenty years or so, that I ought to practice on something smaller/cheaper in case I messed it up. Well I've practiced on three 1/72 and (currently) one 1/48 Spitfires and, in a week or so's time, I'm going to hopefully start this one. I've read a lot about how good this kit is and, when I noticed that this group build was coming up and there were decals for Jerry Billing's Spitfire included in the box, I thought it was the right time to have a go at it. Jerry Billing, a Canadian pilot, flew the original aircraft, of the kit I'm going to build, on 7th June 1944 and there's a good article about him below - the link to which was kindly passed to me by JackG: http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/jerrybillingbs_1.htm Anyway here's the kit in all it's glory - the first one I've built that includes PE. I know most people on BM will have seen the kit before but I'm too excited not to include the photos of everything! Jerry's Spitfire's markings: I can't wait to get started on this! Kind regards

After the Leopard, time for an aircraft, now you can never have enough spitfires, so it's spitfire time. The lovely tamiya kit, but rather than the Mk IX wanted to be slightly different, and not do an Ocean Grey / Green one. I may have one or two extras for this, oh all right, maybee 6 or 7...... Work starts as expected with the cockpit - aluminium for the most part, but interior grey green ( Agama Red Top - Alcohol based paint ) for the main section of the cockpit The rest of the day was spent with the Instrument panel, and control column. The control column is the Barracuda resin replacement, with the added cables, and the additional decals on the instrument panels - these really do add something to the panel. Finally I started assembling the harness - glueing grommits into holes Peter

Finished today, this is the Tamiya 1/32nd Spitfire VIII kit with extras from Barracuda, Eduard, Master, Quickboost and Radub. Constructed as one of 152 Sqdn's mounts from Burma in late 1944. Painted mainly with Gunze Aqueous paints, and weathered with pastels and oils. Mostly loved this kit, but the Engine cowlings are a pain ( might be due to the AM rocker covers), and some of the swappable parts are basically pointless. Also you are left with holes to fit the slipper tank. I am happy how it's turned out though. Build Thread is available here Peter

My new finished Fw.

MiG-15bis - Weekend Edition 1:72 Eduard The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was the most famous fighter aircraft to emerge from behind the Iron Curtain during the early years of the Cold War. Although a Soviet design, the MiG-15 made use of captured German research on the aerodynamic properties of swept wings, combined with a reverse engineered Rolls Royce Nene turbojet engine. The resulting aircraft was a triumph, easily outclassing the more conventional jet fighters then in service. In order to ensure it could perform adequately as a bomber destroyer, it packed a formidable punch, with two 23mm cannons and a single 37mm cannon mounted in a pack under the nose. The MiG-15 was the original production version, which lacked the range of small improvements made to the follow-on bis variant. The MiG-15 made its combat debut during the Korean War, where it proved a nasty shock for UN forces. It wasn't until the North American F-86 Sabre became available that American forces had anything able to hold its own against the new Soviet fighter. The MiG-15 went on to become one of the most widely produced jet fighters in history and saw service with air forces around the world. Eduard have earned an excellent reputation with world-class models such as their 1:72 Hellcat and Messerschmitt Bf110, as well as the 1:48 MiG-21 and now the new 1:48 Bf109. Their models typically feature a mixture of exquisite detail and superb engineering which puts them right at the pinnacle of worldwide kit manufacturers. Now Eduard have followed up on the MiG-15bis profipack with a weekend edition as is pretty normal for them. The Kit Inside the sturdy box are three sprues of grey plastic and a clear sprue. The overall impression is of a really premium quality package. The quality of the mouldings is up to the usual Eduard standard. Details are clean and crisp and there are no flaws anywhere. As with other recent kits from Eduard, there is plenty of fine detail, with parts such as the cockpit comparable to high-end resin items. The surface detail on the outside of the airframe is comprised of recessed panel lines with delicately engraved rivet and fastener details. The kit does not have a massive amount of parts but is still fairly detailed and now doubt the best MiG-15 kit available in 1.72. The first step in construction is the cockpit area. A part seat is put together and then inserted into the cockpit. Like the real aircraft the cockpit sides form the inside of the intake as well. Front and rear bulkheads are added to the floor and sides to complete the cockpit. A separate control column is added. Decals are provided for the side panels. The front wheel well is made up from two parts and attached to the front cockpit. The next step is to make up the jet pipe/exhaust. This is two parts with a further part making the exhaust part of the engine. Once this and the cockpit are completed they can be added to the fuselage halves along with the rudder parts. The fuselage can then be completed. The next step to then tackle is to make up the wings. These are of conventional construction split top/bottom. Holes must be made for the drop tanks. Once these wings are complete they can be attached to the completed fuselage along with the tail planes. Final construction steps are to add the gun pack under the front fuselage, the nose intake ring and some external antennas. The landing gear can be made up, the front is a one part fixing where as the mains are four part affairs with separate hubs. Once the gear doors are attached the canopy can be added along with the drop tanks. Canopy A largish clear sprue is provided as seems to be Eduard's want. This seems to be a good idea as I have never had loose canopies rattling round their boxes, or any damage to clear parts. They are well moulded and thin for the scale. They look clear and should provide the modeller with no problems. Decals As this is the weekend edition only one decal option is provided. This is for a Soviet aircraft which had been in North Korean service at some time. North Korean markings are provided over which the modeller must add the Soviet markings if they wish. The North Korean markings will have to be suitable weathered to indicate an attempt at removal before hand though. As well as the standard decals a set of eduard seatbelts are also included. Conclusion Given how excellent the original bis edition was, it should come as no surprise that this kit is equally as good. It is both accurate and well engineered, putting other 1:72 kits of the type in the shade. The level of detail Eduard have packed in is superb, as is the treatment of surface details. Its great to see the weekend edition for those of us who don't like multiple decal options and all the photoetch etc Eduard throw in some of the boxes, or for those on a budget its a great way to get these new tool kits. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of