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When it comes to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 1991 winning Mazda 787B is quite iconic among racing enthusiasts. It gave Mazda its first overall victory at Le Mans, as well as the first for any Japanese manufacturer, a record that would hold until 2018, when it was practically gifted to Toyota for remaining in WEC. The 787B looked and sounded great, and has since lived on famous video games like Forza and Gran Turismo. The 787B was the culmination of Mazda's Group C / GTP program, which came to an end shortly after the FIA disallowed the rotary engine. Before the 787B, Mazda enjoyed some success with the 757 / 767 cars, building experience and reliability at Le Mans. During the 1988 race, the 757 would win the GTP class ahead of the 2 767s. The 767 would be upgrade for 1989, known as the 767B, being made faster and lighter. 2 767Bs and a 767 were entered for the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans, the only 3 entries in the GTP class. All 3 would finish, with the class winning #201 767B placing 7th overall. A 767B would again be entered for the 1990 Le Mans, alongside 2 new 787s with their more powerful R26B engines. The 767B would end up being more reliable however, winning the GTP class again in 1990. For a plastic Mazda 767, Hasegawa is the only game in town. This kit has been around in several boxings since 1990, and has been rated to be quite good. My copy was a Christmas gift, though not the version of the class winning entry. This version is the more colorful livery, with the Charge sponsorship on the 2nd place #202, looking much like the eventual 787B. The plastic was produced in orange and black, to help with painting. Because I'll be building the #201, which wore a white and blue livery instead, I'll be spending plenty of time to make sure my primers are able to cover up all the orange. For decals, I've ordered a set from Indycals, who offers decals for many sportscars. Great thing about Indycals, they offer what they call "Oops Protection". If the decals become damaged within 1 year of purchased, simply take a picture to show them, and they'll send you a replacement. Their decals are the sole reason I'm doing the #201, as I have horrible luck with Hasegawa decals, and replacing those will allow me to finally build this kit.

I usually make WW2 aircaft but have recently been buying things without propellers and find myself in possession of several Phantom kits (an Airfix FG1, 3 Fine Molds (a C, E and J), a Fujimi FGR2, and 3 Hasegawa (a EJ, J and S). In an effort to reduce the Phantom stash a little, my next victim will be this: Bought second hand, I think it's all there: I've also got a few aftermarket bits and bobs to add: Because I know next to nothing about Phantoms (in fact, I know next to nothing about most things), I asked for some advice. As usual on Britmodeller, several people offered advice and support. I also promised @Gene that I would do a WiP (something I haven't done a WiP for quite a while). I can't promise that this will be quick - I've got a couple of other kits in progress in the F-16 & F-104 group builds - or that'll get finished, for that matter. Anyway, work will start as soon as I've tidied-up my workspace (which also doubles as my home office):

Next build series is two exmaples of the Hasegawa Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 kit; one is the road car and the other is the 1991 Ivory Coast Rally vehicle driven to victory by Kenjiro Shinozuka and John Meadows. The road car kit is Hasegawa number 24001 (CD-1). I don't think this is Hasegawa's first 1/24th scale road car, but appears to be the first in the more modern series. When I say 'modern', the kit is very basic by recent Hasegawa standards. The engine bottom, front and rear diffs / gearboxes, drive shafts and all four prop shafts are molded in one big piece, for example. Plan is a two-tone paint job and simple period correct grey and black interior. The rally kit has the full photo-etch detail set common to Hasegawa rally kits of the time. Of course it also has the modifications for the Ivory Coast Rally, such as front bar and large spotlights. Despite being a Group A car this particular vehicle is right-hand drive; I had actually clipped off the RHD dash and put it back in the box before I read the instructions! Blue on the rear (can't be seen on box art) is paint and the big side decals will be fun around the door handle and side trim. No photos yet but I have made start on both bodies, which are now drying to the point that I am happy to mask for respective second colours. Fairly basic kits so painting the other pieces will not take too long, then just usual detail painting. Updates soon I hope. Grant.

Hiya, I've been wanting to build this 1/48 F-16D for ages, and this is a good opportunity to finally start it. I will be using the Hasegawa F-16D kit, with some spare parts from a C that I built many years ago, and a Black Box cockpit, Afterburner decals, and I have an Aires exhaust on its way. I also will be needing some new wheels, but I have to look into that. The goal is to build 90-0800, which was also the last Block 40 D built. After Ramstein gave up its fighter mission, it went to Aviano, where is still is, as far as I know. Here's what it looked like about 30 (!) years ago: https://www.planepictures.net/v3/show_en.php?id=574378 As said I will be using a Black Box cockpit set. This set is from 2003, and it feels like proper outdated tech now, but still nice. Nice big chunks of resin have to be removed to make it fit. None of your fancy modern 3D printed stuff. The fit is not that bad, actually. By now I have sprayed some primer on the parts, and painting the tub is next.

My entry is Hasegawa’s 1/48 F-104G Starfighter. I will be building it as the box art scheme. I going with this scheme as it makes me smile, bringing back memories of visits to Munich, the beer and visits to the Hofbrauhaus (other beer hall’s are available) and Oktoberfest. Going off topic, if you like wheat beer, I can recommend the Weißbierbrauerei Isarbräu located in the old station building at Großhesselohe Isartalbahnhof (S-Bahn). When inter-railing many years ago, travelling from Rome to Paris we detoured by Munich just to spend an afternoon in the brewery.🍺

Besides the White Chinese Hayabusa, my dad now started a Red Chinese Hayate, using also here a Hasegawa kit and Kora decals. DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Hs126 just finished, now on to the next project.... DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr planning to do scheme C 39789_rd by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

I hadn't actually planned to do a WIP for this one because it was supposed to be a bog standard Tornado F.3, nothing special. However, I bought the Flightpath detail set for it and it's becoming abundantly clear to that it's a bit beyond me. So by putting this out there I'm going I might elicit some advice from the great and good 🤞 First up, the kit. It's the Hasegawa kit, decals are not in great shape but I have replacement stencils thanks to Xtradecal so that's not an issue. Being a Leuchars boy growing up I have a very vivid memory of 43 squadron's first two F.3s being on display at the 1989 battle of Britain airshow - all shiny and new. Thanks to a generous chap on here I have the markings for ZE961/GA from a now OOP Xtradecal sheet 👍 Now for the tricky bit, the Flightpath set. You get a lot in here, white metal, PE and some resin hindenberger tanks. I'm not that experienced at working with PE and I'm struggling to follow the instructions on the set 😟 If anyone has done it and has pictures of the progress, I'd be very grateful! I think I have to sand down all the moulded detail on the IPs for a start. There's also a replacement rear cockpit section meaning I have to remove some of the rear IP, and perhaps some of the coaming moulded onto the front fuselage halves. There's also talk of Modeldecal IP decals, which I don't have. I'd also like to do the refuelling probe open, which requires some cutting of the fuselage, when I work out how the PE bits go together to fill that void. This is going to get tricky! My eyes may not thank me.. Al

My dad will continue with the Japanese aircraft in foreign use. Gonna use a Hasegawa kit with Max Models decals which are a reprint of the Rising Decal ones. DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

This is the oldish Hasegawa 1/72 kit. Despite being nearly 50 years old, the kit is surprisingly decent, with fine engraved lines and good decals, this boxing I think is 1992. It does lack cockpit detail and the decals are incorrect in this boxing for Scott's P-40E. Supplied is a serial number for the tail, which despite being incorrect, this aircraft had no serial painted on it and it lacks the white 7 for the rear fuselage (this came from the spares box). The 2014 dual boxing of the kit corrects these errors. A quick look online sees not very many 1/72 P-40E's available so for it's simple buildability and being fairly easy to come across, it's still up there with the best in scale for it's type. I rather hope Airfix might continue their P-40 line.

With a month still going on this GB, i decided to push my luck with a 1/72 Hasegawa F-104G, with CMK detail set and scratch build gun bay with Master M61 canon. I started today with all the cutting for the open bays as well as basic scratch building of the gun compartment. As with my 1/32 Zipper, i will do it in Danish livery, but this time i will do the gloss green finish.

Allright as the topic says, firstimer for me. The build Can be seen here on Britmodeller. I usually build WW2 aircraft 1:32, with scratch and all that, but felt, need to develop my building and try new areas, step outside the comfort zone so to say, and damn i was surpised, ive never had this much fun in building for a long long time, the build became almost like an obsession gone out of control here 😁 , never frustration, the opposite all the way, also feels empty when its done. Ill do other builds between my 1:32 builds, as learn alot from ship modelling and wached others building ships here on the Britmodellers, and mighty fine builds going on here, and impressivie aswell as inspiring, new technicues, worked in an even smaller scale, and detailig and some scratch, rigging, and yes never worked with PE like this (yes seen others it a forest of PE parts on their ship modelling), glueing two PE IP Panels in an aircraft does not count here, ship modelling sure build skills indeed. Allright, this is what i can do for the moment, so enjoy. This will be displayed next to my sextant, yes its the real deal. /Mal

Last one from me, lads and lasses. This one was inspired by George Hall’s wonderful photography in the Osprey Superbase series. Much loved, this book was, as you can probably tell! I dreamed of walking the sunny Miramar flight line in its heyday. Fightertown USA, baby! This Scooter sports the famous (and, apparently later classified because it was just so effective) Heater/Ferris wraparound scheme. Devised in large part by ‘Heater’ Heatley, whose book largely inspired the movie. I love these ghost scheme colours. I was a bit disappointed to discover that the starboard side camo actually slants the opposite way - I spotted this aircraft in the background of a Tomcat picture elsewhere, but there you go, I’m very happy with it otherwise. The base is the Uschi Miramar print, there’s a Verlinden NC-5A power unit on there, ladder, Aerobonus Halon extinguisher (which is a lovely little kit in itself) and some scratch built chocks. Hope you like it, a reminder of a simpler time. I’m currently trying to find loving homes for my unstarted and unfinished kits, when I have my BM post count high enough they’ll be in the for sale section for your perusal, so keep an eye out😉

Hi, Ah, the 10th of May. Happy birthday to my beloved A-10. I'm going with the classic 1/72 Hasegawa A-10A. I'll be using Caracal sheet CD72112. Option 1 is for a NY ANG aircraft with extra markings from one of its deployments to Lechfeld AB during the 1980's. Cheers, Stefan.

Allright, new project, that started few weeks ago, Yes as the topic says, ive never builded a ship before, and not PE in this way (ok yes i have but two PE flat parts doesnt count), usual building aircraft in 1:32 scale. So between builds try something ive never done before, so here goes. Here is the kit. And the shipyard is open. some fixes on the bottom hull. Noticed one thing early, if not taken care of, the fit issues between panels, solved with a piece of sprue that presses, can be seen on earlier pics. and the primer is on. very delicate surface details, dont want to loose em. Smooth indeed. Time to paint the deck. that lovely orange and hull red... First time with PE railing, geez.... Aaaand in place. Its not big....lol. few vinsches in place. fecals as well. And washes. more details. The console for the float plane, got to be fixed....drill em holes then. dryfitting. and painted and weathered. And now some PE Work, first timer for me lol. Spotlight needs to be fixed, drill shallow holes, paint reflector, clear UV resin as glass and in place.... More details fall in place, gas tubes. more PE work, fiddly as hell lol. dryfitting. Life boats....dryfiting, testing. Some upgrades, scratching, this djonk is to blocky imo, and also want it to be covered with a tarp. Frame... Silk paper and PVA gluse does the trick here. just dryfitting that it looks right and weathering matches the rest of the ship. Thats how far ive have come with this project, and very fun enjoyable, relaxed , recreation, no crazy high amition lever here, have just fun.

Good day, Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. I stepped outside of my normal 1/72 scale subjects and spent some time with this superb kit from Hasegawa. I agreed to join some of my friends in a group project and it was decided that the Ki-44 would be the selection. Here are the highlights of the kit…………. 1. Airframe : AK Interactive Extreme Aluminum, Tamiya Nato Black XF-69, Flat Yellow XF-3, Flat Red XF-7, IJA Grey XF-14, Vallejo Dark Brown, Light Rust wash, AK Oil Stains , Fuel Stains, Brown, Medium Grey, Black pastels. 2. Propeller : Mission Models Japanese Propeller Brown MMP-115. 3. Cockpit : Mission Models Aotaki Blue-Green MMP-113, Gunze Silver seat, Tamiya Metallic Blue X-13, Rubber Black XF-85, Titanium Silver X-32, Tamiya Black & Brown wash. Painted Tamiya tape for the seat belts. 4. Engine : Tamiya Metallic Grey XF-56, Dark Iron XF-84, Dark Grey XF-24, Polly Scale Rust, Tamiya Black wash, Vallejo Light Rust wash. 5. Landing Gear : Gunze Silver, MRP Tire Black, Tamiya Metallic Grey XF-56, Polly Scale medium brown dry brush, Tamiya Black and Grey wash. Gear wells : Mission Models Aotake Blue-Green MMP-113 7. External wing tanks : Tamiya Sky Grey XF-19, Dry brush : Gunze Burnt Iron, Polly Scale Medium Brown, AK Fuel Stains. 8. EZ Line Rust color bobbin thread for the radio antenna. I found this to be a very enjoyable project. The fit between parts is superb and it comes with an excellent level of included detail within the cockpit and perfect recessed panel lines. Because of the high quality molds, I found no reason to add any aftermarket accessories. The decals were excellent and adhered well with setting solution. I added a metal wire for the brake lines for the main landing gear. I can recommend this very nice kit from Hasegawa for all skill levels due to the simple and straightforward nature of construction along with the great fit between parts. Thank you in advance. Respectfully, Mike

My other other (but not other other other) project for the GB is this very colorful starfighter. Igor, fetch my lederhosen! This kit was way back in the bottom of a box at the end of my stash, and I forgot I owned it. I think I bought this kit maybe a decade ago and its been languishing since. Don't horde kits, kids! It's never a good idea. Only buy what you intend to build right away! But here we are. Better late than never. The pretty Bavarian markings are from a special scheme worn by JG 32 in July of 1983. There are also options for much less colorful Italian and Dutch planes. I'd be a fool to not go with the Bavaria option, even with the off-white whites in the decals. Here is what comes in the box. Oh my, that's a lot of pieces!

Ive just noticed that this build took exactly a year, which by my standards is actually good going. The main challenge on this build was to see if I could fit a Honda engine into a classic mini as per the real world conversations. Thankfully I did and hence here we are 😁. I've thoroughly enjoyed building this (which is the main point, isn't it? ) and learned a few new skills along the way and very much appreciated all you comments and input along the way - Andy Just incase you didn't notice my WIP thread, here it is and more importantly where have you been? 🤣😂. Just be warned there are lots of micro updates. So with out future ado, the beauty shots 😍 A couple of double exposures (created in photoshop) Some construction photos These just seemed appropriate 😁 Thanks for looking, oh and "Hang on a minute, lads. I've got a great idea." - Andy

Convair TF-102A Delta Dagger 525th TFS / 86th TFW, Bitburg, Germany, 1968 This one was built back in 2003 using the old Hasegawa F-102A kit along with the Xtraparts conversion. I don't remember a great deal about building except lots of Milliput and lots of cutting out tiny squares of thin plasticard for those vortex generators on the canopy. I must have been better at using tiny quantities of superglue back then than I am now! Spent a long time rescribing the basic kit as well - and of course Milliputting and sanding the closed missile bay doors. Paint was Xtracolour Vietnam camo colours which I still think are the best for this scheme, with Humbrol Matt Cote over the top.

Morning folk's this a GB build of Hasegawa's 1/48 F16A in Ukrainian colours.Not the newest of kit's but still an enjoyable build.These ex RDAF aircraft looked clean when handed over so weathering kept to a minimum.Many thanks for looking in.

This F-4S Phantom was started in August 2018, nearly finished (got to the 'ready for decals' stage) and then several things got in the way of modelling. This April I retrieved the build from the box and cracked on, quite surprised that all my modelling gear was pretty much OK after nearly 7 years. I had a bit of a nightmare with the decals, which was probably down to too rough a surface, so fresh decals were purchased (Cut then Add - which are excellent decals) and applied on a slicker gloss coat. Several small things made the finishing of this challenging - Hasegawa F-4 undercarriage assembly (yes, this is my first Hasegawa F-4), paint that got underneath the canopy masking, smudging of paint when doing some final detail painting etc. The final wait was for some Tamiya polishing compound to remove the paint on the canopy, put the rear view mirror on and reattach the missile that fell off during the canopy polishing. I'm content with the way it is, I could have spent more time weathering and trying for perfection, but I'm satisfied with this. Kit used was Hasegawa 07077 F-4S 'Rock Rivers', Cut then Add decals, Humbrol enamels, Alclad lacquer glosses, Tamiya polishing compound, Eduard cockpit PE and Master brass pitot on the tail fin. I scratched a more modern hexagonal hud, but you can't really see it! Enough guff, here is the Phantom, in all her TPS low-vis glory, as a F-4S of VF-103 Sluggers, with a loadout of 3 x AIM-9L and 2 x AIM-7E. And on the bookshelf for now, I need to get a better, more permanent display case.

Time I picked this up again (as several of you have hinted in not entirely subtle ways of late...) It's been 6 months since I last did anything to this model, so some of you might not even be aware of it. If so, I hope you have some spare time, because if you are really interested you have a mere 103 pages of build log to get through... "Fill yer boots" as they say in the Navy. The original build has already walked through: a. the back story (I ditched this aircraft in July 1988, flying from Ark Royal just outside the mouth of the Med); b. the planned configuration of the eventual model (RAF Blue Grey paint job, folded tail, folded rotors, engine blanks, lashed down); c. lots of banter with the much-missed Debs (@Ascoteer) about Cold War ASW; d. some basic explanations of rotary-wing aerodynamics (and push-back against the inexplicable myth that Plank-Wing things that go whoosh are more attractive than Useful Aircraft); e. droop stops, what they are for and how to build them from brass; f. a great deal of discussion of rivets; whether to add them to Hasegawa's entirely smooth fuselage, and if so how. The short answers for those who want to skip the 103 pages is "yes" (because the Seaking has a pretty bumpy skin) and "using HGW rivets". HGW rivets are absolutely superb but be warned; they are not easy to use. I ended up doing them badly once, stripping them off and doing them better the second time - after having to visit Yeovilton and produce my own drawings (Fearless wasn't the first!) to work out where to put them. g. the difference between Sikorsky seats and Westland ones; h. weird Seaking details like the collector cans, pee tube, sonar snub ring & sonobuoy chutes; i. in-flight refuelling from ships (HIFR); j. a minor diversion into restoring an earlier damaged Gazelle model; k. discussions of SACRUs, "Coke cans" and other such load-lifting goodies; l. correcting Revell's Sea Searcher radome (which happily Hasegawa got right); m. the relative merits of masks vs decals/transfers/stickers (& how excellent Maketar Masks are); n. building a tail rotor gust lock & what it was for; o. me being persuaded into adding sliding pilot's windows & other such mad details; p. the joys of a proper micro-chisel in embedding PE convincingly; q. embarrassing accidents involving Seakings landing on top of Sea Harriers; r. the right recipe for RAF Blue Grey paint in Gunze Sanyo lacquers; s. the superb-itude [which isn't a real word, but should be] of the FlightPath 1/48 Seaking conversion set; t. custom-build apparatus for extracting windows which the ham-fisted modeller has shoved into an already sealed fuselage; u. red & yellow engine blanks and how to build them; v. just how sexy a Seaking looks in all black; w. nylon & chain lashings on RN flight decks; x. a second diversion, this time in building a flight deck tractor to tow my aircraft; y. oil dot fading; and z. John Beattie ditching the RNHF Sea Fury... Just to remind you and/or give you a clue about where I'd got to: The tail pylon, Barn Door and tail rotor (complete with gust lock) - plus the beginnings of some weapon stations: Engine blanks! The exquisite FlightPath rescue hoist: A Flight Deck tractor: The rotor head (very much still a work in progress): ...and the aircraft itself (this one wasn't taken today, because it shows the cab before I re-applied masks to the windscreen)... and before I knocked the tail wheel off for the umpteenth time! As she looks today (glossy in preparation for further oil dot fading etc: Still to do? Three main things, all quite complicated: 1. the rotor head (specifically, the snakes' wedding of hydraulic pipes and wires around the blade fold); 2. the weapons stations and associated wiring; 3. the Forth Road Bridge gear ...plus putting it all together. I have just had 6 months away from it, but even before that it had taken me well over a year. Take your seats, Ladeez 'n' Gennelmeeen More soon Crisp

Background Another project starts. This is a build that I’ve been intending to start for some time, but I was holding out to see if I could secure some of the previously available aftermarket parts to help with some additional details; they’re all (long?) out of production and availability is tending towards zero but after several years of periodic searching, a few months ago I stumbled on an auction of the kit “with lots of extras”, including Eduard phot-etch (although I already had a set), two sets of decals and, the much sought-for, Wolfpack-designs resin folded wings. I won the auction and the parts have sat waiting my attention since. The other parts I sought, I have all but given up looking for, these being the XMM resin intakes; but more of that later. I’ve got the Aires cockpit (early ICAP II) set, in fact I’ve two of them (probably a case of ordering parts when I’d forgotten I already had a set) and some ResKit wheels. The rest will need tinkering with the kit itself. I also bought a Kinetic kit, and some aftermarket parts, purely for research, but I’m sure that I’ll build that too one day (when I’ve more storage space perhaps). I remember that I built this model back in the 80s; I though it was quite early in the 80s due to where we lived when I made it, but I’m not going to trust my memory on this as Scalemates has the later boxings (which I think it was) only emerging in the late 80s. I think that I built it, an early Hasegawa F14A (aftermarket decals – low vis VF111) and an A-4E (or M?) at about the same time. I’d used low vis aftermarket decals rather than the hi-vis ones in the kit… so I’m quite sure it was this actual boxing. I remember struggling with the split forward canopy (why do they do it like that?) and remembering that the decals were quite pale against the colour I’d finished it in using Humbrol enamels… but that’s about it. So, here we are almost 4 decades later, with the same kit on the bench, but with a hope of producing a better end result; I’ll certainly be spending a little longer on this build… so I hope you’ll be patient with me as I go along this journey. Hasegawa Prowler project commences by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Wings The first thing I wanted to check is whether the wings were ok. I’d read that some of them were cast short, or small (?) so I kept my fingers crossed and removed them from their casting pieces and did a few test fits on the fuselage halves. I think I’d seen from other’s use that they come up a little short at the exhaust, but a slither of plasticard will sort that when they’re installed, but the test fit seemed positive. Some filler and fettling will be required to get a seamless join, but that’s just modelling. Kit parts and resin wings test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr In looking at the wings more closely, I realized that both of the outer pieces were warped a little (after years of being in their bag on the casting pieces). The photo shows the extent of the warp. Slightly warped outer wings by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I forgot to take a post-process photo, but after advice from a good mate I put some ‘nearly’ boiling water in a bowl and immersed each one (at a time) into the bowl for a few seconds then removed it and applied gentle pressure by hand to bend it the other way and straighten it. After two or three attempts on each wing, they were straight. I accomplished this during a quiet moment in the kitchen one Saturday evening whilst the good wife was watching Eurovision in the front room; I think my time was better spent. I’d been thinking about how I’ll present the model once finished; it’s a long-term plan, but one that needs considering through the build rather than at the end. I’ve a spare Trumpeter display case (316mm x 276mm x 136mm) the other two of which I made ‘concrete apron’ display boards upon which to display my wings-forward Tomcats, with ACMI pod fits) I used one of these boards to place the model on, along with an A-6, just to see if both could be accommodated with wings folded. I used my Italieri A-6E Tram for this purpose… although the Trumpeter one may arrive before I get started on that. The Italieri kit looks ‘ok’ but is a little simpler that what I’d like to model, but we’ll see how things go. And yes, I know there’s a Trumpeter EA-6B due too… no doubt it’ll be available once I’m part way through this build. We’ll see. But, a plan for the two alongside each other on a board presented as a carrier deck (I have the Brengun etched tie-downs set somewhere) will be considered. A number of Reedoak figures will be painted up, and maybe some of the Fujimi figures I have too for the background. I’ve some Verlinden tractors that could compliment the scene too... so this will not be a short build. But those resin wings will mean that such a display is possible. Planning a display by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The model So, lets get started with the model. One thing, before we do. I’m not sure when the model I had was made, but the mouldings weren’t as crisp as I remembered. A year or two ago, I picked up a pair of kits with very tatty boxes for a very good price – which were in Hasegawa/Hales boxes: a Tracker and a Prowler. Boxes and decals had suffered damp issues and were shot but the kits are fine. The prowler in this instance is a nice and crisp moulding, so I’ll use this one for the majority of the build, although some re-engraving will be undertaken to deepen some of the around-panel lines and add a few fasteners. The fuselage is a little warped, but pulls together neatly with a little tape around the extremities. The other fuselage will serve as a practice piece for trials of modifications to come… and with a pair of Aires cockpits, I’m sure I’ll build that one too at some point. One other advantage of the older boxing is that it came with darkened glazing. I need to look at these and compare them with what I want the model to eventually look like. The forward windscreen will have the ‘armoured glass’ blue tint but the canopies will need their unique gold tint (gold plate to protect the crew from the high-energy radio frequency emissions of the aircraft jamming antennas) and how I apply that will be something to experiment with… so I might not use the dark-tinted pieces after all. I’ll be building this in an order that suits my approach; I’ll not be following the instructions except where I need to; let’s face it, this isn’t the most complicated of kits… but what I’m doing means there will be a certain amount of sub assembly done and jumping around to get to where I’ll need to get it too in the end. Cockpit So, having said the above, the first part of the build starts with the cockpit anyway. The kit parts in this regard are quite shameful. Yes, Eduard initially went to great trouble to add parts to improve this area, but the resin replacement part that came along (with its photo etch parts too) is certainly the standard to beat. The Aires cockpit in firstly removed from its moulding parts and the main components (not all of them) assembled using tape and blue tack (why are there so many spellings of this?) to look at it’s fit into the fuselage. I was prepared for some serious surgery here, knowing that few Aires cockpit tubs fit without some cleaning out of the kit sides, and this was no exception… except, where the instructions said to remove material (insides of cockpit side steps and the bits to cut away) wasn’t far off all that was needed; which was good. Aires cockpit pieces removed from 'sprue' by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The cockpit for this kit is certainly exquisite; whilst many of the parts Aires produce are stunning, in this instance, with such a large open tub, the detail is not only amazing, but there’s a lot of it and it will all be visible once the kit is finished, so it’s worth spending time on to get right. Fuselage surgery started with removing the front coaming and the rear cockpit rear panel; I used a 0.9mm drill in a pin vice to add holes on the cut side of the parts, trimmed away with some sprue cutters and then removed the remaining pieces with an abrasive bit in a mini-drill which made short work of the Hasegawa plastic. Fortunately, the plastic in the kit is typical Hasegawa, being quite firm (rather than the soft plastic of certain Margate based companies – although that now has improved considerably) so cutting away was measured but with some success. The inner faces of the cockpit area identified by Aires were also removed using the min-drill, along with some thinning of the central arch prior to a first test fit. First cut... drill and cutaway for Aires cockpit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A test fit was undertaken using lots of tape and blue tack to hold it all together. Several times, this would be undertaken until I was satisfied that enough material had been removed to allow a more stress-free fit of the tub. The only real positive locating guide is that of the lip on the rear of the rear cockpit, so I let that be my guide. This suggested that the front coaming was a little short of where it needed to be and after several attempts at verifying this I decided that some research may be needed to see of more revising was required. First test fit before (lots of) fettling by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Looking at how another modeler had used the Aires part, I noticed in one photo that he’d cut and shimmed the cockpit tub to lengthen it. I decided that I would try the same… but noted that it didn’t need much. The cut, down the middle of the section between cockpits was made using a fine saw, the cut width being 0.5mm (I measured this for reference later, seeing how much material the cut would remove and thus shorten the tub… I then added a shim of plasticard (about 1mm) thus giving a net lengthening of 0.5mm. The photo shows a crude reassembly prior to test fit with a much thicker piece inserted… which I decided was too thick after a quick first fit and replaced with the thinner piece I mentioned. Decided cockpit needed lengthening by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr But a further test fit now put the front cockpit coaming closer to the front of the cut out, which I viewed as much better. Another reference point (looking at photos) is the position of the throttles (just visible in photos) and how far aft they are of the rear of the windscreen frame. Later photos will see the windscreen piece sat on the fuselage halves, that I used to make this check… and I was happy that the slight lengthening put these is about the right location. Lengthened cockpit... better fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Another view, this time looking forward into that delightful resin cockpit tub. Forward looking view of cockpit test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I superglued the insert in the tub and then took this forward with further test fits as I started to apply the cockpit frame pieces around the exterior. Spliced cockpit with 1mm insert by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The side pieces needed some fettling to get to settle and some trimming to sit where I wanted them to sit. The instructions suggested glueing the side sill onto the vertical inside pieces, but I found it better to trim the inside pieces to sit inside the cockpit walls and then fir the sills… for a more repeatable fit. At this point, I was still using blue tack to hold the tub in place so ‘fit’ was a little variable. Test fit, adding the surrounds by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr With the tub held in place this way, I used a sharp pencil to mark off the underside of the tub at the front and rear so that I could add four ‘shelves’ onto which the tub would sit. To give a positive location at the rear, I also beefed-up the rear frame to hold the tub positively and to fill-in the gaps that were otherwise evident around the cockpit’s rear. At the bottom of the picture you will also see a curved piece of plasticard that I attached to close-out the remaining gap forward of the coaming; I secured this with small triangles of plasticard/plastic strut, secured with superglue. In this photo you can probably also see the tabs I added to the fuselage halves to help give a better, more positive alignment of the two halves. Note that the between cockpits arch is now much, much thinner to allow the resin panels to sit with less stress on it. Packing out the rear section and braces for cockpit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Here’s another image of the cockpit tub with the forward frame added. There’s lots more detail to add to the rear bulkhead of the front cockpit (and a bit to the rear) but I’ll tackle that later. For now, I’ll move on to another area of the kit. Cockpit forward piece added - gap filler by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Intakes So, let’s talk intakes. The kit is quite disappointing in this area as, quite simply, they’re blank. Having failed to find a set of the Russian XXM resin intakes anywhere, I pondered alternatives. The easy approach would be to just leave them. No, that wasn’t going to work for me. I thought about scratch building some intake blanks (I’d need exhaust blanks too), but when I looked through my reference library I failed to find (m)any photos that convinced me that these were used at any time apart from when the aircraft was stored in the hangar bay (or perhaps during an ocean transit). I found just one photo and that was of the exhausts blanked! So… what to do? I decided to dig out my A6 kits (Italieri A-6E and Fujimi EA-6A) and see how they tackled it. Well… that was enlightening! Each of the A6 kits has an attempt at providing some form of passage through to a compressor disc, but the Italieri compressor disk is tiny and whilst the Fujimi disk is the right size at about 10mm diameter (scaled from dimensions for a P&W J52) the intake itself is a little oddly shaped. However, both have cut-out intake splitter plates; the Fujimi kit has a half-diameter trunking piece. The intake shapes are however varied. The first photo shows the Hasegawa kit ‘blank’ intake alongside the Fujimi kit. Intakes... to see the compressor disk or just a blank? by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A further comparison of the three kits sees the manufacturers attempts at intake shape. Let’s be honest here… this is nothing new (ever looked at the intakes offered on A-7s, of F-100s come to that) so the shape of these seems to be a challenge for most companies. I think in isolation, you could probably get away with any of them, but together they do tend to jump out a bit. I presume that there would have been subtle differences in the Prowler intake from that of the intruder, but not too much. I think the Hasegawa kit item shape isn’t too far off, although it is still a little egg-shaped (rather than symmetrical which I think it should be), but it’s possibly close enough; the Italieri seems too squashed and the Fujimi just too round… but… that was not the point of the exercise, so let’s use what we have and move on. Comparing intake lip shapes ... prowler and intruders by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The intention was therefore to produce some form of trunking that would allow the compressor disk to be seen through the intake. I’ll use the Fujimi disk for now (as it’s about the right size – close enough) and attempt to fabricate something. Time for some prototyping! Because I’d already invested time on the fuselage parts I’m using, and because I didn’t trust myself to get this right first time, as I’d not tried this sort of thing before, I grabbed the fuselage parts from the other kit (header photo). Approximating what I could see in the Fujimi kit, and in looking at photos of the XMM pieces online, I set about the drill and cut process, opening up holes in the splitter plate piece and the fuselage intake section. Intake splitter plate and fuselage drill cut and file by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I’d no idea what diameter of plastic tube I’d need (and I didn’t have any!) so I made a tube section from plasticard which I formed around the body of a pen and secured the two layers with Tamiya thin. I then guessed the shape that I’d need to cut out of this for a first test fit – then fettled more and more. First prototype components by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A first test fit revealed lots of fettling would be needed, but that the approach might produce what I sought. First prototype test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Clearly, I’d need something a little stronger, so I guesstimated the tube diameter and popped out to get some from a local model shop, settling in the end for some Evergreen 11.1mm diameter tube. A second prototype was made using this tube, with more an more refining of the shape to give a better ‘sit’ inside the fuselage. I also attacked the inside of the outer intake with white (fine) milliput to sculpt the intake trunking shape. I remember using the old green stuff years ago, but this was my first time using the white – and yes, I set a 7 minute timer when mixing/kneading the two-arts mix to ensure I got a good mix of the two white parts. Once attached and cured (overnight) some sanding, filing and cutting away (with a sharp blade) were necessary to get the shape I was after. It’s not perfect, but it’s a test piece and more care will be needed for the final item(s). This also shows the repairs to the now-fragile splitter plate piece, the fuselage hole now reduced in size and the prototype#2 trunking. Second prototype components by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A test fit shows where this will go; still far from perfect but getting-there! Second prototype test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A third prototype was then made, trying to make it to match the shape of the second, in which I’d constantly added and removed sections for a better fit. Some repairs were needed to strengthen the corners of this… but this was still better than the second. The main tube is made from two sections that are spliced at an angle to ‘curve’ the tube… it’s not enough yet, so some more curving is needed. The next one may be three rather than two pieces. Second and third prototype pieces by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The following photos show some of the test fits that I eventually achieved with No. 3. It’s still far from perfect but it’s getting there. So, some points to make here… 1. The intake trunking fouls the rear of the nose gear bay piece. I removed a lot of material off the outer corner of the gear bay and ultimately filed a flat onto the trunking to allow a stress-free fit. It’s till tight, so some further fettling will be required with the next version. 2. The inside face of the crew-access ladder is now paper thin. The XMM parts replace this altogether on one of the A6 kit parts, and it’d be better to do so here, but I’m still experimenting. As the photos sow, this doesn’t give a seamless trunking on the outer faces, but they’ll be difficult to see with the finished model – only the inner faces will be easy to see (see photos) so it might be good enough. Let’s see what prototype no. 4 gives me! 3. The intake piece needs tidying up between the outer part and splitter plate, to fill-in the corners seamlessly. Something that I’ll need to try when I come to final assembly of these parts. 4. The outer diameter has an additional tube piece glued to the outside to allow this to ‘sit’ against the fuselage outer wall and present a bonding surface to secure it. 5. Inner face has a ‘flat’ filed away where it meets the nose gear bay corner. 6. The front of the trunking has a small tab that secures to the inside of the fuselage, again, to allow correct positioning and to secure the part with glue. Third prototype test fit #1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #3 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #4 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Prototype 3 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #5 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #6 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Third prototype test fit #7 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr So, that’s it for now. I need to use the parts I’ve made, and the holes I’ve cut, as templates to try the other side and hopefully improve again on the design and assembly. It’s a lot of effort (more than I’ve tacked before) and I’m still not 100% convinced that I can pull it off… but I’ll give it a go. I still need to determine how I’ll present a seamless trunking throughout the whole of the final assembly; but let’s get it’s structure and design sorted first. I guess I could always go back to plan b and add intake blanks if the end result isn’t good enough, but let’s see how this goes. I’m in no rush. Thanks for reading… and please throw you comments my way… especially any positive suggestions that could help this further. Cheers, Jonathan

Hi, I would like to join with 1/72 F-2A Viper Zero, or as noted in the rules as the "Cousin". I'll source the Ordnance from Hasegawa's own JASDF Aircraft Weapon set. And probably the ejectiuion seat too Cheers, Mario

#8/2025 Next one finished by my dad. Hasegawa kit with Siam Scale decals. Either this time the decals weren´t so good (used Siam Scale several times before) or the paint surface, because the decals silver a bit. Painted with a selfmixed grey, MRP RLM82 and Gunze H60 IJA Green. EZ Line used for the antenna wires. The canopy wasn´t a good fit. Tried to make it fit by sanding and bending, but that caused two cracks in the rear part. Replaced that part of the canopy with a vacform from Dead Design. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235152160-siam-at-war148-nakajima-ki-27b-nate-royal-thai-airforce/ On December 8th 1941, Japan started to invade Thailand and forced it to become its ally, which then happened on December 20th. In January 1942 Thailand declared war on the Allies. The Thai Airforce was reluctant to support the Japanese advance with its aircraft. So Japan delivered a whole bunch of various aircraft types to the Thais. Among them were 12 Ki27, designated Fighter Type 12 or ‘Ota’ by the Thais, which were built under license in occupied Manchuria and stationed at Don Muang airfield. The Thai Nates didn´t play a significant role in combat, although they had some sorties and engagemenst with US aircraft. By April 1945 only 5 Otas were still airworthy, by November only 1. To avoid confusion with the British roundels, the Thai roundels were replaced with a charging elephant from 1941-1945. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr