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Italeri is to release a 1/32nd Dassault Mirage IIIC kit - ref.2505 Source: http://www.primeportal.net/models/thomas_voigt9/misc/ V.P.

After the highly detailed S4 to the really basic Stratos I didn't realise how bad and basic Italeri kits were, but then it's an original 70s kit, so things have moved on I suppose, it doesn't even come with windows for the doors, which I thought was odd The bodyshell isn't too bad even though it took a lot of filling and scraping to get it half decent. It also fits way too far forward on the chassis so had to be modified to make the wheels central to the arches. I also thought I'd go away from the usual Alitalia decals and with the Chardonnet instead

Having made a Norwegian Starfighter, Danish registered SAS Caravelle and Swedish Saab Draken for the previous Nordic GB, I decided it was time for a subject with a Finnish leaning and thought that this would be something different to my usual aircraft builds. It will also rekindle memories of time spent trudging along forest tracks on cold November days back in the 1970's to watch Scandinavian drivers teach us how to drive on the Special Stages of the Lombard RAC Rally. Anyway, here are the box and contents photos of my subject choice, but it will be a short while before I start the build because I have to finish a few others first. by John L, on Flickr by John L, on Flickr Cheers. John

My second Tomcat is the Italeri 1990 boxing of their 1988 moulding and is for a low-vis F-14A Plus, later re-named the F-14B and is a far simpler kit than the Fujimi one - not that many stencils but I do have a Microscale/Superscale decal sheet of low-vis stencils for the F-14 if needed. I will probably have a lot of spares if anybody wants them! Again, more when I start. Pete

Built straight from the box, a nice quick, easy model. Thanks for looking. Steve

With the news that the long awaited Revell rendering of the SR-71 has finally started landing at the homes of folks in nations far and wide, naturally there is an uptick in folks wanting to commence builds of this subject matter. In fact three managed to make their way to my abode and I plan to start building one in the near future. Naturally, this has meant that ’ve decided to inflict maximum pain on myself and choose to build the old Italeri SR offering instead. Why I hear you cry? To be honest, there are several reasons. One is that I want to hone my scribing skills and the raised panel lines of the old Italeri kit offers ample opportunity to refine those skills whilst being relatively low on complexity. The second is that I can also use it as a (very large) paint mule to try and test techniques ahead of tackling the Revell. The third reason being that whilst the new Revell tackles the ‘A’ model, the Italeri offers the opportunity to build the ‘B’ and ‘C’ models too. I’ve long had a fascination for this incredible feat of design and engineering. As Mike alluded in his excellent review on this very forum, the Blackbird would still look futuristic if it rolled out of the hanger for the first time today, which makes it all the more incredible to think that this aircrafts gestation can be traced back to the 1950’s. Having accumulated and read many books on the aircraft over the years and even obtained a small piece of titanium taken from the airframe of Super Skater and having a dear friend whose company recreated the mounting pod for the D-21 drone and display stands for the M-21 on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle and had the opportunity to crawl all over that aircraft (he also obtained the piece of titanium that I have too). For this build I have a small selection of aftermarket, the Metallic Details nose correction set, the Squadron Products cockpit set (I’ll use the pilots cockpit section, the seats and the glare shied). I also have the Caracal Decal sets for aircraft too. I’m somewhat undecided as to which one to build at present. Current thoughts are to do one of the NASA schemes, but there is also an opportunity to do the ‘B*stard’ or ‘two aircraft flying in close formation’ SR-71C. So, first things first, scribing. I’ve made a start and have a good many of the various pieces of plastic scribed. I do not know whether this is unique to the Italeri kit, but I am noting some delaminating of the surface from the scribed areas. I’d say I am around 75% done with the scribing, and have started knocking back the little peaks that the troughs created by scribing create. After that I will use a toothbrush and some alcohol to clean the plastic, then run some liquid poly into the scribe areas to level them out. I’ve read that the build process can be made easier if you glue the top halves of the fuselage together first. Having done a test fit, it would appear that the cockpit section is a little wider than the section that butt joins behind it. I’m thinking that I could use superglue and squeeze the halves into alignment, then run liquid poly to secure the join, or build as per the instructions and break out the filler if needed. Anyway, tools down the time being, the F1 is on…

Hi All, Here is my last AFV and last build for 2021. A Bishop SPG in 1/72 using the Italeri kit. The real thing with it's diver's doors and huge rear doors of the gun housing cries out for internal detail. So, as is my way, I decided to have all the doors open and internal details added the best I can at this scale; drivers seat, consoles, controls added, gun housing detailed with a radio, ammunition in their stowage, seats, boxes and stuff. Externally, the stowage bins and tools were remodelled, boxes and flimsies added and an external fuel tank built and added. Painted using AK paints for an unknown unit in the El Alamein sector, late 1942, kit decals and slightly weathered with Mig wash and pastels. Mounted on a desert base with a couple of desert figures from Milicast on a chilly night. Build Loge here: Although this took a while to do, I enjoyed every part of it, even the very frustrating external fuel tank and its mounting. Hope you like. Stuart

Hi Pals, I finish working with this model. I have seen that it is a fairly simple kit, without major problems for assembly, with acceptable instructions. As a bonus, you can make several versions, just before the Paladin appears. Although this is an old kit, modestly I think that you could still get a good result, (I am reasonably happy with it), the only thing that gave me headaches were the main pieces of the turret and helmet, as they were crooked , I imagine that by the passage of time, and the worst, the tracks, which when they were already in place, split, where the hardest (in the curve), although I was able to rectify it quite well. I have chosen to make a version in Vietnam, because although the kit does not bring that option, I saw some photos (which I include) about this, I liked it a lot. Thanks to my box of spare parts, it was not a problem. I thank as always all fellows of the forum who have accompanied me in the assembly process and encouraged me with their comments to improve / continue. I include a link to the WIP section, in case someone is interested in seeing the post. I wish you all a Merry Christmas! (If possible ... lol) Some shots in detail.... And some pictures of real model in Vietman (ALL PHOTOS ARE ONLY FOR INFORMATIVE PURPOSES, AND ALL LEGAL RIGHTS BELONG TO YOUR LEGITIMATE OWNERS)

Built straight from the box as a quick build after a couple of more challenging models. Thanks for looking. Steve

Basically the Italeri Sea Harrier FRS1 with an old CScale FA/2 conversion. Thanks for looking. Steve

Built straight from the box. Thanks for looking. Steve

Built straight from the box and a very nice easy model. Thanks for looking. Steve

I fancied something nice and quick after 4 tanks in a row, so dug this one out. I bought some Star Decals with big 'Rauchen Verboten!' warnings because they looked fun. Cab, chassis, covered load bed, dunkelgrau - what could go wrong? Two large sprues in a nasty dark grey plastic (hello 1970s!) and some really mad instructions with arrows all over the place somehow linking the parts together, Then I spent a good 30 minutes just looking at the cab parts and trying to get them to fit together and line up. Hmm. There's gonna be a few gaps. It's going to be draughty in there for poor old Hans! The doors are moulded into the cab sides, with a very thin section down the hinge joint. Apparently they can be opened up once the cab is assembled, and swung open "several times without breaking". It's going to be a different kind of fun to what I was expecting, but I'm sure it will go great. I might need to find better wheels. The tyres are rubber and only the front rims have 8 spokes, the rears are commercial 6 spoke ones. Perhaps that would be correct for an early one though. Wish me luck! I can't find any previous builds on here, just a few saying what a relief the Tamiya Blitz was after this effort. It can't be that bad though, it's just a cab and a chassis and a covered bed.

Once the Jaguar is finally done, my dad will start the next jet, building the Italeri reboxing of the Kinetic kit. Gonna do the box art scheme, to say a French Suez Crisis aircraft. DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

I've made a start on a new model which will be something I never really do - a diorama of sorts but really it's two model aircraft. I've had to depart from my preferred 1/48 scale for this for various reasons but let's simplify it down to kit availability. The ultimate aim is to try to recreate a scene like this: I expect the readership is well familiar with the USAF's Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) efforts which really came to maturity during the Vietnam war. The Sikorsky S-61R model in USAF service as the CH-3 was modified with long range tanks, refuelling probe, pilots' seat arm, winch and some defensive guns and became the HH-3E, nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant. They didn't and couldn't work alone though. They were still relative sitting ducks to ground fire, expected to fly into a hover in an area where a fast jet had been shot down. They flew in pairs, a high ship providing cover and a low ship which went in to pick up the downed airman/airmen. They usually had an escort of around 4 Douglas Skyraiders which flew under the nickname of "Sandy" which would provide heavy suppressive fire support for the helicopters. The whole operation was initiated, supported and coordinated by the crew of the Combat King however - the HC-130P would patrol and listen on the US military's radio frequencies monitoring ongoing air operations. As soon as they heard communications that suggested a friendly aircraft was in trouble the CSAR machine was warmed up. The Combat King crew would direct the rescue aircraft to the scene but also provided refuelling services to the fairly short-ranged Jolly Green Giants. The models then - I'm using a Whirlybird kit of the HH-3E which is almost entirely resin with a fret of photoetched brass. Unlike their earlier S-61N conversion which used a Revell donor kit, the HH-3E is a complete kit. Good then. The HC-130P is going to be provided by Italeri, with HC-130P conversion parts from David J Parkins' Flightpath, with photo etched details (mainly to get the flaps which, as can be seen above, were normally extended to allow the big Herc to fly slow enough for the helicopter to keep pace and take on fuel) and the correct Alison T56-A-15 engine nacelles from same. I still need the air to air refuelling pods from Flightpath and they're not available right now but David, if you're reading, I'll be keeping an eye on your website for them coming back into stock. It'll be a while before they hold up proceedings though. Never one to be content however, I have decided to attempt to make this much more difficult. I've never been impressed by clear plastic discs with blurry blades and the like, so to try to get a good impression of movement, I've decided to electrify this little ensemble. That's going to be easier said than done... Apart from any thing else, when you've actually seen things like the helicopter (or at least are familiar with its family members) things like relative RPMs begin to matter, within fairly broad reason. When photographed, the relative blur achieved by an camera will be more telling than just looking and since most people will see this through the results of a camera, I wanted to make a reasonable effort during the parts procurement process to try to get it close-ish. I've known 3 Hercules pilots, and have no way of contacting any of them so I've had to guess at what is probably a sensible propeller RPM for a C-130 flying straight and level with flaps down - and my guess is that 1200 RPM isn't going to look out of place. I ordered 4 of these for the Herc: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC3V-1200RPM-Micro-Mini-6mm-Planetary-Gear-Reducer-Motor-Precision-DIY-Robot-car/254151008187?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648 These are approximately 17mm long and 6mm in diameter. The solid resin engine nacelles are, I believe, a benefit here since I can drill the nacelles in my pillar drill and get all the motors and thus all 4 propellers on the same axis. It would look dreadful if they all had different up/down/side thrust. Everything needs to be straight and aligned properly. On to the helicopter for now though. I needed to measure up what I had to work with, and that meant cleaning up the fuselage halves: The fit is pretty good, but there is a mismatch on the top of the fuselage to deal with later - but it doesn't affect what I need to know now: I have a bit of space to work with for the main rotor, but still the smaller the better - I don't really want a huge silver monstrosity gleaming through the cabin windows: The tailrotor however is a real issue: I have better data here (I think) about what speeds I want, but in truth that probably makes me less satisfied with whatever I get in the end! I have my father available who was licensed on the Sikorsky S-61N and has all of his Sikorsky course notes. I'd love to show some of the amazing reference material inside, but Sikorsky never miss an opportunity to sue people and the course notes have prohibitions on unauthorised disclosure all over them, so you'll have to take my word for the rest. Not knowing any S-61R drivers, but believing the powertrain to be very similar to the S-61N, my dad's course notes state that 100% on the mainrotor is 203 RPM. The same drawing shows that the power take-off for the tail rotor runs at 3030 RPM at 100% and that the 45deg gearbox at the bottom of the pylon is a 1:1 gear ratio. The final drive gearbox to the tail rotor itself has a ratio of 2.4375:1, making the tailrotor run at 1243 RPM at 100%. The best I could find that would fit in the fuselage for the mainrotor was this 242 RPM geared motor, measuring 16.5mm long by 6mm diameter: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253771137237 That's at 3v so I've also ordered some little potentiometers to, hopefully, tweak that down a touch. Compromise is the key here. I considered asking someone to design and 3D print me tiny bevel gears and sit a motor in the pylon coaxial with where the transmission shaft would be on the real thing, but then I found these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC3V-3-7V-4-2V-Ultra-mini-Coreless-Motor-3-2mm-12-2mm-Vibration-Vibrating-Motor/283101330780?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=583506556671&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 They are tiny little things 3.2mm x 12.2mm overall including the shaft which has a vibrating counterweight attached, so I've ordered 2 of them incase I ruin one. This should just fit in there. I expect it spins far too fast for what I want, but I will mock it up first with a potentiometer and see how low I can get it - but really I think I'll just need to take what I get as this really seems to be the absolute bottom end of what's readily available on the market just now. Since I had the stuff out, I made a move on the sponsons. Whirlybird provides sponsons with separate end plates; one with floats for the HH-3F "Pelican" used by the Coast Guard, one plain as used on some of the CH-3C utility versions and one with the pylon for extended range fuel tanks. The fit isn't great unfortunately. I spent a while trying to make sure the pylons were aligned and looked like they would be at the same angle of incidence as each other - I don't want one fairly long, spindly fuel tank pointing up and one down! I've had this stuff for a while but have never used it, so thought I'd give it a go It's like Milliput but seems a bit softer and easier to knead/mix than my packets of Milliput. That said, my Milliput has always been quite old whenever I've used it - mixing epoxy putties always seems a real faff so I'll use solvent types normally. For resin here though this is probably more suitable. Thanks for looking in. This won't be fast paced - and indeed I need to wait for motors to arrive, but I will work away at it along with my other projects. I'm not always in the mood for shaping / painting / photo etch / sanding / scribing so I like having different models at different stages of build and pick up whichever I'm in the mood for. I'm not a linear person.

Hi, have started work on an Italeri 1/48 SR-71 kit and hit a couple of questions, so thought it best to seek advice. Question 1 Top & bottom anti collision light location. I plan to build the kit in pre flight pre start up. Obviously being a low viz spy plane there are not a lot of lights! Nose wheel light & a bit of instrument glow with the canopies open maybe. But the anti collision beacons look to extend out from the body along the top of the spine behind the in flight refuelling receptacle and directly below it from the centre line of the underside. Well slightly off centre line from the look of this lower light picture from google My plan is to install popped out lights with flashing leds behind to simulate the strobes. Question 2 Nose camera. The kit comes with a large glazed panel in the nose underside that seems to be missing on many preserved Blackbirds Maybe a later service change of configuration? Fuselage work has started around the cockpit & the kit came second hand with various bits from an older presumably Testors kit | so I have 2 noses! Question 3 Ventral fins. The kit has them, but I haven’t seen them on a Blackbird. In fact the instructions show the fins on the page to the left and a Blackbird with no fins on the right! Hope that picture loads! Anyway, any help gratefully received!

Here's my latest RAF Phantom using the Italeri 1/72 FG1 kit. XT870 / BS of 111 Squadron at RAF Leuchars circa 1987. Painted using Xtracolor enamels and finished with Humbrol Satin Cote. Decals were kit decals and a few others from my stash. Decided to try the Flightpath ladders and warning flags with the Quickboost AOA cover added to add a bit more detail, fairly happy with how it turned out. Struggling with the fine detail as I canna see anything close up but don't want to move away from 1/72 so it will have to do. Photographs taken on a new tablet and they came out a bit dark but they'll also do. Now onto the 92 Sqn jet.....

Hello everyone This is my first "Non-GB" build here on britmodeller. I have acquired myself 3 1/72 mig 29 fulcrums, and have wanted to build a fulcrum for some time now, so here we are. So far the plan is to make one from Poland (this one), one from Irak, a italeri Mig-29a kit, and one from Iran, a mig 29a as well, which is a tamiya kit, but exactly the same as the italeri, right down to the decals I've read a bit about the kits, and I'm a bit excited to get started with the models since I've read the are not the best kits Anyways, here are some pictures: The box The sprues Aftermarket parts, decals

hi there , sharing some pictures ( well actually is just one picture) of this Bell UH-1c from an italeri Vietnam set in 1:72 now is masked and ready for priming. I had a bit of a challenge with some badly aligned parts.

This is one of those extremely rare occasions that I have known what I want to build for a GB since before it got through the bunfight, I usually end up building something completely different from what I intended after going through several changes of mind. Right from the start the Henschel Hs-126 was the front runner in the stash and the colour scheme was going to be either from a land of snow or sand, and snow has won. ICM first released their very nice 1/48 Hs-126 in 2010 and It was released in boxings for the A and B versions, then about a year or so later it was released by Italeri with the options of both A and B from the same box (at least that is what it claims) and with a very nice decal sheet for 7 versions which actually made it quite difficult for me to decide what to build as I like a few of them, especially the Condor Legion and Greek ones, fortunately I think I have another one in the stash somewhere. Anyway lets start with the usual box top and whats in it shots shall we; Rather nice box art actually. The as yet untouched parts still in their plastic bag; And the 6 other schemes offered by Italeri other than the option on the box top; And the very nice looking decal sheet that comes with the kit; I have a couple of references that I shall be using for this build; Now those of you that know me or pop into my builds will know that I have a liking for a temporary Winter camouflage scheme and the Luftwaffe were kind enough to oblige by painting a fair few of these in such schemes from their service on the Russian front, such as the one on the front of the Aufklarer book on the right. And that aircraft is shown in the book with a nice clear picture to back up the profile; So that is the one I am going to try to reproduce, assuming I can find the correct size and style of code letters in the decal stash. I have a Helldiver to get either finished or very close to finishing before I can make a start on this one which will prove difficult as I really want to get started on this as I have been looking forward to it for a long time. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

This is the Italeri 1/72 UH-1B dressed in DekLs delivery scheme markings. Finished in just under 2 weeks it was a nice change to build something OOB rather than my usual major kit bashing. I very different scheme for a RAAF Iroquois prior to going green.

This was a nice, quick fun build. Nothing too stressful and the fit was mostly really good. A few issues that I found out right at the end was the ride height. Even after taking out the rear suspension springs the car sits too high on the back axle. The windscreen doesn't fit flush with the side windows but this can only be fixed if you take off the location pins but then you are left with two large holes on the bonnet. Basically I have left it as it is but it needs to be fixed before painting. A nice engine is included but the bonnet is either on or off. Some aftermarket bonnet hinges would have come in handy but in the end I just glued the bonnet on. I got complacent on my first coat and made a bit of a mess of it, very grainy. After sanding and repainting it came out much better,although not perfect, it doesn't now look like red sandpaper. It was a good lesson to treat my airbrush and paint with a bit of respect. Paints used. Tamiya LP21 and Mr Color 158. Both Italian Red and exactly the same shade. Interior Tamiya Rubber black with a coat of satin, which gives a nice leather look. All metallics Tamiya/Mr Hobby lacquers. Anyway, thanks for looking. I would recommend this kit. It builds into a nice model and there is plenty of scope for super detailing. Just keep your eyes on the back axle and windscreen. All the best.

Here is my contribution to the group build. I have finally got around to building aircraft that I have worked on during my RAF career. During my tour out in Germany, at RAF Gutersloh, I worked in the Radar/Comms/Recce Bay and part of my duties was to download and replenish the camera systems of several NATO aircraft types, including Dutch F-16s that visited Gutersloh. This was known as Exercise Ample Gain, which was an ongoing training exercise in the 80's to train for the possibility of the Russian horde decided to invade Europe - Gutersloh was one of the nearest NATO air bases to the East German border and so would be the place where aircraft would refuel and rearm etc. Every year I would go to the RNLAF air base at Volkel (306 Sqn) to be retrained which was great fun! I picked the Italeri NATO Fighter boxing as it contains decals for a 306 Sqn aircraft, which was the sqn I trained with, and luckily, DACO Products make a 1/48 Orpheus pod (they actually supply two in the pack so if anyone else is after one I am sure we could come to some arrangement) so I can reproduce one of the aircraft that I possibly worked on (I didn't keep tail numbers! 😊. I normally replace the seat with a resin one and use Eduard's Cockpit Zoom set but this is the first time I have bought a resin exhaust. Looking forward to starting this very soon. Mick

I saw Bridge of Spies a few weeks ago and quite enjoyed the film. The U-2 sequences where very good, dramatic license aside, and it wasn't long before I had checked out a few books from the library on Lockheed's Skunk Works and the U-2. The next step was to see what kits were available. I was somewhat disappointed to discover that there were no kits currently in production and unless I could find something on eBay, I was out of luck. Well, as luck would have it, soon after I started looking one or two popped up on eBay UK. The one I liked had a low starting price so I put a bid in and waited. Only one other bidder joined in but didn't seem to want it as much as I did so I won the auction. The box was a little worse for wear and many of the parts had broken off the sprue tree but it was all there. It is an old kit, however, and not at all cutting edge but, based on drawings I have since acquired, I think the general overall shape is good and it just cries out for a little scratch building and super detailing. Which I am more than happy to get stuck into now that I'm giving the Camel a bit of a rest. I've started on the cockpit and will post a couple of photos tomorrow. Meanwhile: pic in a minute.

While I encountered more difficulty with this model than I had anticipated (so what’s new?) and, as with all large models, it took longer than a smaller airplane would, I feel that the result is impressive. There are better made examples of this kit on this forum (I see one beautiful example with motorized propellers) but I feel that my relatively 'quick and dirty' approach to model making has some merit too. To see more photos and description, click the link in my signature and then click Gunship: Spectre of death (indented under Vietnam war plastic models). (That hopefully complies with forum rules limiting links to personal web sites while avoiding duplicating content on different servers.)