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Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V.c & Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II (A50190) Then and Now 1:72 Airfix This set represents the pinnacle of fighter technology at the height of the Battle of Britain in WWII, and today with the newly minted F-35Bs that have been entering service with the RAF to augment the Eurofighter Typhoon in service, adding V/STOL take-off and landing capabilities that have reintroduced the UK’s ability to fly fighters from carriers again, following the untimely demise of the beloved Harrier and scrapping of the older carriers before the new ones were ready. Both kits have been available separately, and are now boxed together as a celebration of their individual talents. The Kit The kit arrives in a medium end-opening box in the usual red-themed style with an inner tray holding the contents, and inside are two bagged kits, plus another bag containing the included paint, glue and a pair of paint brushes that will come in especially handy to the modelling novice if they’ve bought or been bought this kit without a previous “plastic habit” and the accompanying (and ever-expanding) toolkit that comes with our hobby. We’ll discuss the kits individually, and you can see the toolkit below: Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc The Spitfire is perhaps one of the best known and well-loved aircraft in Britain, and deservedly so for its work in the Battle of Britain alongside the doughty Hurricane. It thrived in its point-defence role, and shone during its finest hour, then on through many versions and types to the end of WWII and beyond. The Mk.I was predictably the first in-service type, and sported eight .303 Browning machine guns, and by the time hostilities commenced in 1939 many of them were using the blown canopies that gave the pilot a better field of view with less likelihood of smacking his head against the glazing. The Mk.I was superseded by the Mk.II, Mk.III, and then the Mk.V due to the introduction of the Focke Wulf Fw.190 by the Germans that gave the British Spitfire pilots a nasty shock when they first encountered it. The Mk.V gave them the extra horsepower to cope with these pugnacious little enemy fighters, adding 20mm cannons instead of the pea-shooters, and so the tactical leapfrog continued to the end of the war with the Mk.22/24 being the last mark of the Spitfire with cut-down fuselage rear, bubble canopy and the monstrous power of the Griffon engine in front of the pilot with all the torque steer he could handle. The Kit We’ve seen this kit before, and it’s designated as a Starter Kit, having some details slightly simplified to assist the novice, and it comes with a custom base into the bargain. There are three sprues in grey styrene, plus the canopy in its own bag to protect it from scuffing during transit, plus a shared decal sheet, instruction booklet and full-colour painting guide on a separate glossy sheet. Construction begins with joining the fuselage halves together, and the joins are marked out with yellow here and throughout the instructions. The propeller shaft with moulded-in rear to the spinner is inserted into the base of the receiver to be placed inside the nose without glue and clamped in position by the top cowling, which has the three exhaust stubs moulded into each side. The lower wing is full-span minus the tips, and has the cannon fairings moulded into the leading edges, so take care not to bend or break these while you’re wrangling the model. The upper wing halves are glued over the top, with the wingtips a single thickness to obtain a slim profile, with the pilot’s seat fitted on a turret that projects from the centre of the lower wing. The wings and the elevators are then joined to the fuselage, and it would be wise to have painted the cockpit sidewalls before joining the halves, as the seat will prevent easy access from here on in. Under the wings the chin intake, radiator bath and oil cooler are all fixed in place, then it is a choice of using the retracted wheel parts, which have moulded-in impressions of the wheels, or posing your model wheels-down using the struts that have the bay doors moulded-in, but separate wheels for more realism. The last job is to paint and install the pilot into the cockpit, followed by covering it over with the canopy, adding an aerial mast behind the glazing. At the front, the single-part propeller with integral spinner is glued to the back that was installed earlier. The stand is custom to this kit, and depicts a 3D shadow of the Spitfire, with a curved riser glued into a socket supporting the model, which has a hole under the pilot’s seat turret. You can paint it any colour you like, but a dark grey would give it a shadowy look without distracting from your work on the model. Markings There is one decal option on the shared sheet, in Ocean Grey/Dark Green camouflage over Medium Sea Grey lower, depicting a Spitfire of No.91 Sqn., RAF Hawkinge, Kent, England, 1941. Flown by Sqn. Ldr. Robert Wardlow “Bobby” Oxspring. Don’t forget to check the photo above if you want to see the F-35’s decals, as they share a sheet, as you might have noticed. Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II The F-35, previously known as the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is an American led multi-national effort to bring a fifth-generation multi-role aircraft to several Allied nations, whilst spreading the cost of development between them. The Lockheed X-35 won the JSF contest over the peculiar-looking Boeing X-32, and development went ahead, culminating in its first flight at the end of 2006. There are three variants of the F-35, the A, which is a conventional aircraft designed to take off and land on made-up airfields on Terra Firma, the B, which is destined to be the successor to the Harrier, or AV-8B as it is known in the US with V/STOVL capabilities, and finally the C model, which is the carrier-based cat & trap variant with larger wings and longer range. The F-35B is the most complex of the three variants, as it has an additional lift fan installed behind the pilot, which is powered from a shaft linked to the engine. There was, and likely always be a great deal of negative speculation about the validity of the additional dead weight that is carried around after the take-off phase of flight, when the aircraft has transferred to horizontal flight and the fan is essentially redundant until landing. This is likely informed partly by the almost universal love for the Harrier, and the lack of success of the interesting but ungainly Yak-38 Forger, which is the only other production aircraft to use such a technique to achieve hover, as well as the comparatively low fuel load that can be carried as a result. It can't have helped that the British AND Americans hold the name Lightning in high regard due to the success of the BAC Lightning of the 60s and the WWII P-38 Lightning, respectively. As well as all the latest avionics and weapons systems, the F-35 is also a low-observable airframe, more commonly known as stealthy, and has two internal bays that can be used to carry munitions, as well as six external hard-points for when stealth is not the primary mission focus. It also exhibits the same style blended fuselage and wings as the F-22 Raptor, with semi-blended engine intakes and heavily canted twin-tails, although it sports only one engine compared to the Raptor's two. The engine has a flexible nozzle that is used in the Vertical/Short Take-off Vertical Landing (V/STOVL) process, when it is directed downward to support the rear of the airframe while the lift fan supports the forward section. In horizontal flight, the flexible nozzle is used to vector thrust, enhancing manoeuvrability in much the same manner as the F-22. The first of the F-35Bs arrived with the RAF in July of 2012 for evaluation, with further deliveries resulting in a total strength of thirty aircraft, while three remained in the US for initial pilot training. One airframe has already been lost in 2021 as a result of an accident, bring down the total available for operational use to twenty-six. These aircraft are significantly more expensive than originally planned, and successive changes to the order have come and gone, giving the builders of the two new aircraft carriers on which they are carried some sleepless nights throughout the construction process. The intention is to increase strength to 74, with an option of expanding the total purchase back up to the original 138 at some point, but that could change at any moment due to the vagaries of the political landscape, regardless of who holds the purse-strings. The Kit This is a brand-new tooling from Airfix in 1:72, and has been launched in three boxings initially - with, and without additional aircraft that are linked to it in some way over the years. This starter set arrives in a red-themed box with a large header that lends itself to vertical display, and shows pictures of the six included paints, glue and brushes that come with it, although the paint colours are more generic and colourful than those in the box. There are four sprues and two separate fuselage halves, with a return to ‘ye olden days’ for the sprues, which have no protective runners around the edges. That’s not a criticism, just an observation, although eager hands are perhaps a little more likely to knock parts from the sprues when delving into the box. There’s a single clear canopy in a separate bag, a small decal sheet and the instruction booklet, which is in the new style with colour throughout, although the profiles can be found on the back of the box for a change. Gluing locations are shown in yellow throughout the instruction steps, and the moulding over-flow chambers or ‘pips’ are marked out in green to help the novice, who may not have encountered them before. It is a starter set, after all. Detail is good throughout, with just a few light sink-marks present on the flying surfaces of the wings where the surface is double-thickness to achieve a sharp trailing edge. A few moments of work with some filler and sanding sticks should see those off before you start building. Construction begins with completion of the lower fuselage, adding the nose on a large tongue to achieve a strong bond between the two parts. Three bulkheads are then installed behind the cockpit, mid-way and at the rear of the main fuselage, the latter having a depiction of the rear of the engine face, after which you can bring the two fuselage halves together, taking care to test-fit, as the wings may need some fettling to ensure they fit flush. A quick test indicated that the ejector-pin marks on the inner face of the wings might be the cause of possible issues, so forewarned is forearmed. The cockpit is moulded into the upper fuselage, as are the three gear bays, but don’t let that put you off, as the detail is excellent for the scale. The flat instrument panel in the cockpit is adorned with a decal, and the ejection seat is inserted into the rear of the ‘pit. The seat is a little simplified for the purists, and there is a pilot figure included on the sprues, which should improve the look if you decide to use it. The twin fins slot into sockets in the tail outriggers that completes the main airframe. There is a custom stand included in this kit, and it forms the shape of a simplified 3D shadow of the airframe, and comes with two uprights, one for gear-up horizontal flight, the other for gear down hovering, both of which come with instructions on which steps to follow and which to ignore. For straight-and-level flight a two-part exhaust trunk is made up from halves and has the exhaust ring glued to the end, fixing it in turn to the rear bulkhead over the circular engine face. The two doors over the engine are a single part to glue over the underside of the engine, adding the main, nose gear and lift-fan doors under the nose, plus lift fan and intake doors behind the cockpit on the top-side. The pilot and canopy are then fitted, installing the canopy without glue and finishing off with the longer upstand to plug into the base. There’s painting and decaling of course, but the model is finished for in-flight operation. For hovering, an angled trunk is made from two halves, adding the exhaust ring to it before gluing it in place under the rear, and splitting the doors in half before installing them in the open position. The nose gear and lift exhaust bays are added in the open position under the nose, fitting the nose gear leg with integral wheel into the bay, and applying the main bay doors in advance of the legs, which have separate wheels to add, and several moulding overflow pips to remove as you go. On top, the intake and lift-fan doors are fitted in the open position, the lift-fan door a single part that opens at the rear, guiding air into the intake as it slows to a halt. The pilot and canopy are fixed in the same manner as before, the canopy without glue on a couple of pegs moulded into the part. You have the choice of displaying your model on its wheels, or using the shorter stand to plug into the base to simulate hovering. Markings There is a single decal option, No.617 Squadron RAF, embarked on HMS Queen Elizabeth (Carrier Strike Group 21) in 2021. In case you didn’t know, that’s the Dambuster squadron, who were first to operate the F-35 when it arrived in the UK. Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin gloss carrier film cut close to the printed areas. All except the instrument panel decal are in low-viz grey, and the IP has a clear background to avoid tricky paint matching with the rest of the interior. Conclusion A pair of simple models with a low parts count that belies the detail included therein, which would permit a novice, an expert or anyone in-between to create a creditable replica of the UK’s best known WWII fighter and the latest carrier-borne fighter that even has a real-life carrier or two to lift-off from when away from home shores. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Believe it or not, this popped up during a search for MB Mk5 bang seats! Very interesting article and photos of some well-known designs that never saw service. Not sure I agree with all ten selections, but hey- everybody here has an opinion, right? My personal two faves are the MB Mk 5, a real rocket ship, and the XA-38 Grizzly- not your father's Twin Beech! I hope you enjoy this! Hmmm...believe it or not, I have an injected or resin kit of every one of these- 1/72 is truly THE scale! https://hushkit.net/2019/07/10/cancelled-the-10-best-aircraft-of-world-war-ii-that-never-saw-service/

I don't recall seeing this posted here on BM before; if it has, I will remove the redundant post. I found this on the World War Photos website while looking for something else! I think it would be a useful modeling reference. Mike https://www.worldwarphotos.info/usaaf-codes/

I imagine most of you older modelers might've built all of these models at some time. Heaven knows, like us, they've been around a really long time. 😄 These were built a long time ago, pre-internet in fact for the most part. Monogram kits may not have had all the bells and whistles of more modern offerings but they mostly got the shapes of the airplanes right and provided a good "canvas" upon which a modeler could "do his stuff". These were all built at a time when nobody saw them but myself and my family. As time progressed and I completed more kits, I started to think that they weren't worthy of photographing. But obviously, a few years back, I decided that even these old kits should be documented by some pics, if for no other reason than to see how my skills might've improved. Back in August of 2015, I took two models to the Cameron Airport for a little photo session, and neither had been photographed before. Although it was really hot out there, I managed to get some pics of each plane. These are both ancient 1/48 Monogram kits (as are all four), and both were built at least 25 years ago now, maybe even longer. The Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX has an entirely scratch-built cockpit, resin wheels/tires and a vac-formed canopy from Squadron. The camo paint job was sprayed with my venerable Paasche H airbrush. The Douglas SBD Dauntless is pretty much OOB. I remember being a bit “daunted” myself by all that greenhouse canopy masking. For sure, there were no pre-cut masks back then! Again, all enamels, and applied with the Model H. I did drill out the holes on the dive-flaps, and added a few other details. The Curtis P-40B and the Mitsubishi A6M5 were photographed back in 2013, again at the by-now so recognizable Cameron Airport. Both reveal my limitations as a model builder back then, and those probably haven’t improved as much as I’d like since then. 😉The A6M5 has my first fully scratch-built cockpit but with the one-piece kit canopy, most of the work is largely unseen.😥 I’ve been telling myself for years that I’ll buy a Squadron vac canopy and open it up to show off the details. Maybe still...one o' these days. I used the book, “Great Book of World War Airplanes” with illustrations by the great Rikyu Watanabe for the detail information. Best as I can recall, the 'pit turned out pretty good; maybe someday I’ll get to see it again. I just remembered that I used rubber O-rings from the hardware store to replace the kit's tires. I scratch-built the wheels from plastic scrap. The P-40, long a favorite type of mine, may well be the oldest of these builds. I can still recall sanding a big step down where the wings and fuselage met. That took a while! I believe that other than the radio aerials, it is completely OOB. All four have received some rudimentary weathering; I guess my very first attempts at that feature. As with the others, the paint was all ModelMaster and Humbrol enamels, sprayed with the Paasche H single-action AB. I hope everyone enjoys my little look at scale modeling back in the day and perhaps feel a bit of nostalgia for that simpler time. 🙂 Thanks for letting me humbly share this “blast from the past”, in more ways than one! Thank you also for stopping in and looking around, and as always, please leave your comments and critiques! Cheers! Gary Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX more spitfire Mk IX pics Douglas SBD Dauntless more Dauntless pics Mitsubishi AGM5 Type O Curtis P-40B Warhawk

Here's a question for the Eagle gurus. Has the F-15 had the LAU-128/ADU-552 Sidewinder/AMRAAM launch rails throughout its career, or have they only been introduced in recent years? I'm building an early Hen, and was wondering whether I should invest in Metallic Details' resin replacement set. TIA.

Hi Guys, last weekend was the Classic Fighters Airshow at Omaka, Blenheim, New Zealand. Despite the worst weather to hit New Zealand, swamping some towns under water, the airshow went ahead and was blessed with blue skies at times. The organisers were very lucky and its a credit to them and everyone involved that it went off as smoothly as it did. Here are a few images and a link to an album. Link to my Flickr album. https://flic.kr/s/aHskTnQduh Enjoy.

So i just got a Nikon D3300 and would like to do some (very) amateur airshow photography with it. I dont really have much money to spend and accept this is hardly enough to get a decent Lense but i was wondering if either of these lenses would work: Nikon 55-200mm VR - I know 200mm isn't widely considered enough, but with a crop sensor would it be enough for airshows at Duxford and Headcorn where the planes are fairly close? Sigma 70-300mm APO - I have heard the image quality is decent but the autofocus is a bit rubbish. has anyone had any success with this lense? I have looked at the Nikkor 55-300VR but i can't afford it really, as my max is about £130. If i really can't get ANYTHING good for that i may be able to stretch it a bit. Will

McDonnell F3H Demon Warpaint Series No.99 Hot on the heels of my last review from Guideline Publications comes No.99, the McDonnell F3H Demon. The Demon was large, ugly, underpowered and soon superceded as front-line interceptor; however it comes from an era when US military jets, especially naval ones, were adorned with bright hi-vis liveries and markings. As such, models of these would look good in any display case or collection. The F3H was McDonnell's offering of a single seat, short range, carrier-based fighter with the ability to climb rapidly to high altitude in order to intercept incoming enemy bombers; to meet the US Chief of Naval Operations requirements for the 1950's. The first prototypes, designated XF3H-1, were ordered in 1949 with the first flight being achieved in 1951. During these trials periods, considerable changes were made to the designs shape in virtually all areas of the wings, fuselage and tail; and are all described in crisp terms by the author Tony Butler within the book. Most pages within this 52 page edition contain a combination of historical and technical data, which is supplemented by photographs or profile drawings; superbly produced by Richard J. Caruana, and provide the story of the United States Navy's first all-missile-firing jet aircraft interceptor. There are 30 full colour profile drawings, laid out five to a page as shown below, and each profile has a short descriptive narrative alongside. In addition, some illustrations also have an enlarged view of that squadron's emblem and/or motto alongside. These are helpful to the modeller as colour call-outs are described by the names (i.e. Gull Grey) and also by their associated FS numbers. Also to be found within these short texts is data on the particular individual airframe illustrated and included serial, squadron and location for the aircraft at the particular date described. There is also a full colour 4-view profile and plan illustration, to be found within the front cover, providing much detail in the placement of markings and colour demarcations. There are also various tables of data distributed throughout the book, each giving a set of pertinent information relevant to the F3H Demon. As the table below shows, there is also a section on the available model kits; by manufacturer and scale, plus after-market parts and decals. This is useful for the modeller who perhaps wants to find a kit to build using this publication as a guide to colours and markings. The centre page of this book is taken up with a set of general arrangement diagrams; on a single A3 sized page in landscape format and printed to 1:72 scale (although I'm sure this could be enlarged or reduced as required with any good photocopier), and these show the layout and surface detail to a high degree. In past editions of these Warpaint Series I have found that these diagrams are usually printed on a standalone pull-out sheet, with diagrams on both sides, all held within the book by staples. This edition is slightly different as the diagrams are on a single page which means that the pages on the reverse contain text and illustrations that are part of the book and, as such, it would not be simple just to remove the g.a. diagrams (for working at the modelling bench for example) as that would make the book incomplete. This example page, below, from the book shows a typical mix of b&w and colour photo's interspersed with historical narrative plus an inserted table of relevant data. All of this, and other elements throughout the book, help to build a picture and timeline of the F3H Demon's production and service history. In total there are 29 colour and 104 b&w photograph images printed alongside the text. Other diagrams, showing development changes and ad-hoc sketches are also included. Some of the photographs are also interesting for background information, such as the early F4H-1 Phantom seen in the bottom image on this page. A set of additional close in photographs has been included in the "In detail" pages towards the back of this edition. These show extra details, especially on the early prototypes XF3H-1 and F3H-2. Conclusion Suddenly I feel an urge (or is it a Nurge?) to build the F3H Demon! Guideline Publication's latest has arrived just in time to be found on the tables at SMW 2014; or possibly as an early Christmas present? The FH3 Demon was certainly a colourful aircraft and yet still very military; and this edition is a welcome source of information on the Demon; especially for its excellently produced illustrations, both drawn and photographic, that accompany this well researched and detailed history of the first all-missile-firing naval fighter from America's early jet era. This book is one that should appeal to anyone who likes 1950's high visibility jets of the U.S. Navy and is very much recommended. Review sample courtesy of