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I have been slowly working on a collection of different Spitfire Marks. I have been ignoring the "lesser Marks" (e.g., VI, VII, XII) because kits don't seem to be readily available. Well, I found the italeri Mk. VI and learned how to make a VII using the Quickboost conversion set. Which brings me to the XII, which is one of my favorite marks and (except for a Czech resin kit, and an old xtrakit release) seems to have no 1/72 kits of it. I read someone had kitbashed a 1/48 scale Mk. XII (maybe before the Airfix or Special Hobby kits were available), by using a Mk. V with a Mk. XIV cowl (shortened). But reading about the various spitfire kits out there, I realize that fuselage diameters can vary, which makes mating the two fuselage parts problematic. so, a couple questions: Has anyone kitbashed a Mk. XII in 1/72 before? If yes, what are the brands of kits you recommend? There is a blister on top of the cowl just behind the propeller, any suggestions how to make it? If I could find some scale drawings I could probably make it from epoxy putty. I know there were some conversion kits (Brigade and Paragon) that I look for on flea bay whenever I remember, but I've never seen them available. Hyperscale had an article from 2007 about a kitbashed 1/72 Mk. XII and the author detailed what kits he used, but I'm not sure they're all still available and he left out some important details! Any ideas are welcome!

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Vultee Vengeance ever since a friend gave me a partially built Special Hobby kit a few years ago. A combination of my inexperience, general clumsiness, and the use of the wrong primer saw it broken up for spare parts. Nevertheless, I was determined to complete a model of what is to me an interesting - even intriguing - aircraft. I decided to buy the Eastern Express (Frog) kit and kit bash it with the remains of my Special Hobby wreck. Armed with the Airwaves PE set, a Falcon vacform canopy and some decals from the Print Scale Vengeance sheet I set to work. I began by rescribing the (Eastern Express) airframe and working out how to fit the Special Hobby resin cockpit into it. Some scratch building was needed as the cockpit areas of both models are slightly different. My biggest headache was the cowling as, foolishly, I had somehow lost the Special Hobby one and the Eastern Express one is most unrealistic. I therefore had to make a new one out of bits of spare cowling aided by some Isopon P38 filler (I can’t praise this stuff too much; it sands and smooths beautifully but I did, as the instructions recommend, wear gloves and a respirator when mixing it)! Other than this it was the usual fun and games when cutting a vacform canopy – though the Falcon offering is apparently made for the Frog kit. Thirty-three A-31s and A-35s were supplied to Brazil carrying out a few anti-submarine patrols. Plagued by high oil consumption, fuel pump failures, lack of spares, and corrosion, they were withdrawn by April 1948. The subject aircraft was one of a batch – diverted from a British order, hence the serial AN581 - of 28 A-31s which arrived between August and December 1942. After the war the Forca Aerea Brasileire renumbered the aircraft ‘6000’. The Print Scale colour scheme depicts an aircraft in a sand, green and light grey finish but I chose to paint it in the scheme in which it was probably delivered: US equivalents of the RAF Temperate Land scheme. Colourcoats do such a set and I was very pleased with their set of enamel colours which spray beautifully and give a nice finish. Some weathering completed the model. The Vultee Vengeance is an intriguing aircraft on many levels. The most obvious feature of the aircraft is its wing which some have attributed to a mistake in the centre of gravity (CG) calculations. While I’m not an aerodynamicist my background research has suggested three reasons why this is not so: · This wing allows a broad CG range, which is useful in a bomber; · Such a wing planform (on a dive-bomber) apparently allows a truly vertical dive without the aircraft ‘walking’ [a feature of aircraft with wing dihedral] towards its target as the dive angle is increased above 70 degrees; · Finally, the later Vultee XA-41 aircraft, also a dive bomber, was designed with a similar wing - so why repeat a mistake? One notable endorsement came from that doyen of test pilots Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown who thought the (later) Vengeance IV was [‘After the Ju.87 Stuka] ‘the… best dive bomber I have flown.’ While it is true to say that the Vengeance eventually ‘came good’ as an aircraft, and gave sterling service in the China-Burma-India and Pacific theatres it did so at a time when the initial allied enthusiasm for dive bombing - mainly influenced by the Stuka – had waned. The type was largely relegated to target towing and training duties. The Australian Air Power Development Centre summarised the issue common to all nations’ poor use of the Vengeance: it ‘demonstrates the need to align force structure, doctrine and equipment.’ Thank you for stopping by.

Hi everybody; after a couple of propeller builds, here I am back to a jet, and in 1/72! A few words to introduce this project: almost one year ago, I started the build of a Hasegawa 1/72 F-4 J Phantom II, this one: It was my first serious venture in 1/72 scale, and was a lot of fun. I learnt a lot from all the people who followed that WIP, and one in particular is Gene K; former USAF F4 pilot, he has been very helpful both in terms of technical info on the AC and in terms of modelling tips. Long story short, we became friends an I offered him, as a sort of way to thank him for the great help and as a tribute to his career, to build a model of one of the F4-s he has actually flown. He suggested the subject of this build, and not only that: he has actually donated me the two kits I'll be using for this, plus a lot of extras. Basically, following Gene's guidance, I'm going to modify an F-4 J Hase kit to become an F-4C, with the addition of parts coming from the greatly detailed MONOGRAM kit and a few aftermarkets (and some scratch building, of course ). This thread is going to be co-hosted together with Gene, and we'll go into more details in the next few posts. For now, what I have is: a completely cleared workbench (that is something totally new for me ) the kits Hasegawa parts to be added/modified: Nose sensor Stabs Seamless intakes, Gene's patented method Monogram parts: Tanks, pilons, gunpod etc Speed brakes and arrest hook Cockpit (amazing detail for a 1/72 injected kit!!!) Pilots!! One half fuselage has already been "treated" by Gene prior to sending me the kits, as an example to follow. He has also noted indications on the kit plastic Aftermarkets: Specific decals Stencils; these have been donated by another friend, Silvano (Phantom61 here on BM) AC Profile and most important thing: Now Gene will go into more detail about the project and the aircraft. Enjoy! Ciao

My contribution to the GB will an T-55 variant made by the Cuban army, which removed the normal turret and replaces it with a S-75 Dvina (aka SA-2 Guideline) anti-aircraft missile launcher. It was first seen during a military parade in 2006 & nearly all of the photos I can find are from this one event. There is very little information known about this modification, even the official name is a mystery, it has been refereed to as several different things online such as the T-55/S-75, T-55/SM-90 or the T-55/SA-2. For this build I'll be combining Trumpeter's T-54B & SA-2 kits along with a set of Miniart's RMSh tracks & various small scratch built/3D printed parts. This will be my fourth GB here & so far out of the other three I've only managed to complete one of them! (Note to self: must finish the T92 HMC) This shouldn't be a very complex build so hopefully I can get this one finished in time 😛

Stash clearance and seeing as how I enjoyed my Tomahawk I thought I'd try to keep an Airfix build on the boil as I tackle more complex builds for therapy? This was a Christmas present last year. Santa brought this this year A little research on the interweb led to this and this They came in the same box so they're getting built together. Plus it will help clear out the 1/72 kits in my stash. (I'm going 1/48th for all my main builds) Now seeing as how I'm under a ban on German (ahem) tail markings (which is quite ironic as I'm the one with the Jewish ancestry) and how I like to bring in the slightly esoteric if possible, I've decided to convert the Stuka to an A model in either Spanish Civil War colours or possibly Japanese (hence the K, the designation for all export models), the Gladiator was always earmarked for an Aircorp build, just not sure which of the two possible schemes I'd do, but I'm veering towards the green and silver one. Comparing the Stuka to the plans, it will need new spats, some work on the rear decking a new canopy and some remodelling of the chin radiator with perhaps some other small work. the Gladiator will just need a paint job. The cartoon pig on the spats is Jolanthe btw, this was actually the Luftwaffe nickname for the Stuka So to work, first order of business is to make a blank to mold some spats. Here it is prior to some filling to close the woodgrain. It's a sandwich of Balsa and card with the centre pieces double sided taped together so will be easy to split for molding once I get the shape right.

I've lurked her a long time and thoroughly enjoy the WIP threads and take great modelling inspiration from them, so I reckon the time has come to start my own. Seeing as how this is (I think) an interesting subject which will have many modelling challenges I thought it would be a good first WIP. I do also have a wip thread on the Irish IPMS Forum which will be broadly similar, but then again might not be. This is my intended subject asn as luck would have it the SMER Bulldog has Decals for the black wavy line. The Gamecock was an improved Grebe which in turn was an improved SE5a, however I started from the Bulldog because they have (more or less) the same engine and the SMER kit was also available in quantity and at a low price, so I bought 2 with the intention of completing one as a Bulldog (maybe) and using the other as a donor for the Gamecock. So............ This is where I'm starting from. The SMER kit isn't terrible but like me it has some issues for example the markings are molded on (the kit not me ) . The engine , wheels and Decals are a definite part of the build and I'll see how much else can be beaten into shape as the build progresses. As luck would have it the upper wing isn't a million miles off and can be cut down to shape. Here it is with the markings sanded and scraped off and marked up for cutting. The lower wings and forward fuselage may also be good. It will definitely need a new tail and possibly a new rear fuselage, but I'll see as the build progresses. The upper wing cut and the left wing (confusingly the one on the right) cut to shape but not finish sanded.

Voila! A real mission, the work in progress thread is on here too for those who are interested, (sorry haven’t figured out how to insert the link yet) it was a real battle to get the stickers on (they didn’t stick), I was saved in the end by a Furball “Sea blue f9f-8 Cougars” sheet, and airbrushed the rest! The little starter jeep was mostly scratchbuilt, grafted onto a Tamiya Willy’s, can’t help thinking some nice 3D printed figures would set the dio off nicely!! thanks for looking!

Another kit bash this one. I'm pleased with how it turned out. Cheers Brian.

My second Spit in this GB is one I've wanted to do for a while - a Spitfire F.21 in 1/48, using the Airfix PR.XIX fuselage and Seafire 46 wings. I'm going to be following a build by @CplPunishment - his build is here. Most of the parts I need are in the two kits and it looks like a reasonably straightforward conversion, although a bit of fettling is going to be needed to get the XIX and 46 bits to fit together properly. It'll go something like this: Cockpit - largely PR.XIX parts, omitting the cameras and other internals that are specific to the PR.XIX. Rear pressure bulkhead will be modified to represent the frame that would be in that place in an unpressurised aircraft. I've got a Yahu instrument panel for a IX - ok the wrong mark, but it'll look good enough with the canopy closed, which is how I plan to build it. I'll use an Eduard seatbelt and Quickboost gyro gunsight. Fuselage: PR.XIX with pressurisation intake removed, camera ports filled, and a little scribing to represent the door. I'll need a new windscreen - I have two options, the closed canopy from the Eduard Spit which will be build with the canopy open, or the windscreen from the 46. Wings and main undercarriage: Pretty much the full 46 assembly. Here's the traditional box shot - 2 boxes this time - complete with an assortment of the kids' mess on the table! Fuselage mods came first: This included the modification to the pressure bulkhead - basically I've just cut out the middle leaving the frame around the outside. I've also made a start on painting the cockpit by painting everything that needs to be interior green. From here, getting the cockpit assembled and painted and getting the fuselage together should be pretty straightforward. After that it'll be time to get the wings on, which will be a bit more interesting! cheers Julian

I finished this model ages ago, but it took a long time to get around to taking studio photos of it. The new animated show "Star Wars: Resistance" is a mixed bag, IMO. I love the animation style (I grew up watching Robotech, the US-import version of the Macross Saga, so I love the anime style applied to Star Wars) and some of the ship designs are quite cool, while some of the characters are.....anyway. I fell in love with the main hero ship, the constantly-in-need-of-repair Fireball, which came about from one of Lucasfilm's showrunners wondering what an X-wing designed around the F4U Corsair would look like. While the actual ship doesn't directly share any parts with the T-65 X-wing or the F4U Corsair, you can get pretty close my mashing the two together, which is what I did with a Bandai Vehicle Model T-65 X-Wing, and an AFV Club 1:144 scale F4U. The AFV club model was very nice to work with, with plastic that's compatible with Tamiya extra fine cement. I had to do a lot of chopping, filing, and repositioning of various parts, as well as replacing the X-wing wing cannons with music wire and aluminum tubing, since they predictably broke off in all the handling. The paint job took ages - SO much masking. There are 4 base colors, and quite a few odd panels. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I didn't really keep a build log outside of Instagram, but there are a bunch of WIP and primered photos in a flickr album.

USS Anubis | NCC-586 | Hermes Class | 1/2500 From the classic Franz Joseph "Star Fleet Technical Manual", this is the USS Anubis, a Hermes class scout. It was kitbashed from the classic Enterprise in the AMT 1/2500 "3 enterprise" (1701, 1701-A and 1701-D) from the '90's, of which I had an extra. The name came from the technical manual, but is also a sly nod to Stargate SG-1, which my kids also love. Work in progress is here. I saw several examples on the internet of classic Star Trek models with the shuttlebay integrated into the saucer section which I thought was brilliant. I cut the back off of the engineering hull and glued it to the saucer and then used Apoxie Sculpt epoxy putty to blend it in to the B/C decks on the saucer. The toughest part of that was cutting the angle on the bottom of the shuttle bay right so that the top of the shuttlebay was even with the top of the B/C decks. I only had one shot at that so it was a careful and tedious process. The other difficult part was to turn the center part of the warp nacelle so that it would be pointing down ward in the finished model. This meant I had to cut off the front and back parts, re-glue them in the right orientation and then fill and sand. I then had to fabricate "final stage intercoolers" (the thingamajigs that stick up in the back of the warp nacelle) out of sheet styrene and glue them on. Paints: (applied from base coat to surface): Mr Surfacer 1500 black as a primer > Testors Enamel FS36440 (Flat Gull Gray) marble coat > Testors Enamel Black preshading > Testors Enamel FS36440 top coat > Testors Enamel Dark Ghost Gray (FS36320) / Testors Enamel Gunship Gray (FS36118) / Testors Enamel Chrome Silver for details > Alclad Aqua Gloss (3 coats) > Decals > Testors Model Master Semi-Gloss lacquer clear coat Decals: JT Graphics Surya and Constitution Class Decals / PNT Models 1:2500 scale hull details (for the pylon) In all, I was pretty happy with how it turned out! I kinda wish it hadn't taken so long, but it wasn't as big of a priority as some of my other builds. Thanks for looking. Comments, constructive criticism, questions and tips always welcome! Hope you enjoy.

Late Friday night, while waiting for my MiG-15 to dry, I got stuck on my Miranda Class because the paint I needed was dried out. So what does a modeller do? Start a new project! I have an extra 1:2500 AMT 3 enterprise kit, and this has been percolating in my mind for a while. As with most kids my age, I thought the Franz Joseph "Starfleet Technical Manual" was the greatest Star Trek book ever and always dreamed of building up my own fleet (of course, when role playing I was always the captain of a Federation Class Dreadnought ). 1:2500 scale is the perfect scale to do that with. So, since I have extra registry number and fleet pennant decals from my JT Graphics Surya class decal sheet, I figured I'd make the USS Anubis (NCC-586) -- partially as a nod to Stargate SG-1 which my kids love. So, for starters, I wanted to turn the center section (with the "control reactor" which is the name given by the old AMT Enterprise instructions) so that it would face down in the finished product. So, I cut the front and back parts off the engine nacelle with an exact-o knife and glued them on 90 degrees clockwise. I had to cut off the "Intercooler units" and will need to fabricate new ones later. I didn't get pictures of the nacelle all cut apart, but here it is re-assembled, but not sanded yet: I also needed to cut the "neck" off of the secondary hull, so I did that with an exact-o knife and press-fit it into the saucer: Yesterday, I sanded the warp nacelle. It looks pretty good, but I won't know for sure until I primer it. Don't know how well the picture shows it, though: Also, I've seen pictures of kit bashes with a shuttle bay on the saucer section, which I think is brilliant for a hermes class scout. So, I tried to replicate that by cutting the back end of the secondary hull off with my Dremel and spending an hour with the Dremel and sandpaper to try and get it to fit correctly. This is the best I could do. I think it will be OK. The next step is to sand this down, and then use Apoxie sculpt epoxy putty to fill in the gaps. That will be the tricky part!

Hi all, happy to say I have pretty much bashed this bike into a Z900A4, Heller made a great job of the details of the Z1000 kit, just some of the engineering let it down. For example, the rear grab rail was perfect but it was split into two halves and the join seam was in the centre over the tail unit that would've been tricky to hide with a chrome finish. The 750 kit had a fully moulded rail, but where it bolted to the side of the bike, it was missing the indicator mounts, so I cut off the one piece rail and I glued it to the Heller kit side rails, this worked out pretty good in the end. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the photos, which include a blue 1975 Z1B which I have painted and my friend fully restored, this was taken yesterday in his back garden. "Let the good times roll" as the Kawasaki slogan went. Finally, you can see the work in progress of my build in the link below.

Ever since I got hold of this book: There was one chapter that tickled my brain. The chapter is named, "planned developments and modifications" and contains all the projects that nevere got anywhere, like the JA35 with larger radar, the AS35X with a GE J79 engine and thinner nose (no radar probably). All very tempting subjects, but what really set me off was the 35 Mod 4 version which is something of a brutish beast. During the late -70:s there was much confusion about how the next aircraft to replace Viggen should look like. The B3LA attack/trainer was cancelled ( a wooden mockup of the fuselage still exists) and the Gripen was not officially sanctioned or started. The AttackViggens (AJ37) were delivered, and production of FighterViggen (JA37) was ramping up, but there were a lot of Drakens still around that was going to be replaced by FighterViggen. At the same time it was felt that the strike capacity of the Airforce was low, especially anti ship. What to do then? Off course modify Draken for this! With new extended span wings, hightened fin, retractable canards and two new weapon stations for the Big Mean RB15. Maximum Take-off weight was raised to 15tons (the Danish Draken had MTOW 16 tons, so this was not a problem) and maximum landing weight to 11 tons. Simulation had showed that during landing the clearance between the runway and the fins on RB15 was 44mm... These guys were cutting it close, for sure! Nice 3-way drawings exists in the book, but also here http://www.airvectors.net/avj35.html#m4 In the end, Gripen was approved and the Mod 4 version was dialled back to Mod 1, which then turned into J35J (seen on the cover of the book) I will do a AJ35 Draken, around the end of Cold War, fully loaded with 2Rb15, two jammer/countermeasure pods, two Sidewinders and two fuel tanks. The kits to use will be these: I also have a Pavla Resin seat, and Maestro Models KA&KB ECM-pods and RB15. This should be fun!

Greetings Sherman Fans. My entry for this GB will be this Photo for discussion only from the excellent walk round HERE. I may also make an instructor figure as this is a driver instructor in the Israeli Army.... After that I assure you things will go downhill.... This is what I'll be starting with My big box of unloved Sherman bits left from several stalled and abandoned builds. Fortunately there are enough bits to build this vehicle but I will be replacing the horrible HB tracks with THESE from OKB Grigorov and using his drive sprockets HERE. The HB tracks are a little narrow due to overthick drive sprockets. But they seem right for the slightly narrower items fitted to the T29...... The M4A1 upper hull has had an engine bulkhead added to keep the lower hull aligned and it's engine deck removed for another project which, as you may guess, never got finished. Roll on the 30th!

Well, second time around for this project, but other than cut my finger getting something off a sprue and buying decals and paint, I never did much. Actually, cowls/noses have been attached to their respective fuselage halves. I'm going to investigate the possibility of using an Airfix fuselage, with Hasegawa Mk.IIC parts, but unless it looks really easy I'll just stick with Hase. It'll be in the blue "air racing" paint job. Back about the time that Billy Joel was making a splash with 'The Stranger' and '52nd Street', an older gent gave me a stack of RC modelling magazines. There was a 3-view in one of this subject (which I bet I still have in a file somewhere lost in storage), and from that day I've wanted to build it. Considering that it was the pride of the Hawker (_____) Company, and that they saw to its survival, it seems an appropriate choice for this GB.

Scratch building/ kit bashing time, So Im going to have a go at building my own 1/144 Hyper mega cannon mobile armor, the sort of thing you would find in the Gundam universe. I have been trying to get this one started for ages and found myself with 1/2 hour at the bench and didn't fancy anything much so i pulled out the parts box and made a start, not a serous one but i do like the look of how this fits together, for what we have so far I started of with a hose connector a screw driver handle and versus Gundam parts and this is what I ended up with. The pointy end is supposed to be the barrel of the cannon and the fat end will house the engine, I now i need to some inspiration the mid section and engine. Any help tip comments or resources are most welcome.

This is somthing new for me an online building comp. Its over on the Mecha lounge here is the link and im sure there will some amazing builds in the GM vs Zaku comp. http://mecha-lounge.com/index.php?board=20.0 So for my build im going for a 1/144 RGC-80 GM but the only kit available is a really old Bandai kit, its so old you need to glue it together and with not much in the way of details im going to try and bring it a little more up to date by bashing it with a HG GM kit, and when i say bashing i mean cutting to bits and stick back together ( well thats the plan). Work so far..... http://mecha-lounge.com/index.php

Hello, I'm wanting to kitbash/scratch build a helicopter from the anime film "Ghost in the Shell". What would you recommend I do? It has the features of a Hind, but it has a bay where snipers are perched. Any scale will work. https://goo.gl/images/Yq9vxn Yours truly, Sam

So far I'm only certain of the kit I'll build, The Revell newish A-4, and the standard RLM 65/70/71 splinter camo. I'm still hesitating should I build a straight OOB A-4 for KG 30, add nose MG-FF for one, convert it to an A-4 torp for III/KG 26 or make a D-1 for 1.(F)/22... All from Luftflotte 5 in Northern Norway, late summer of 1942. Decisions, decisions! V-P EDIT: will post progress of building two kits in just one thread, it´s so much easier, regarding how much these kits have in common. EDIt 2: A-4 torp is already on its way and the MG-FF will be added to otherwise Plain Jane A-4

Hello Everyone, After seeing Wills and Blastvader's builds, I have been inspired to start my own kit. This is a model I have had in mind for a while. I was doing a lot of planning for it, which I have now decided to throw out the window and just wing it. So what I am going to aim for is a suped-up GM or a Gundam not sure yet from the Flag of Titans/Advance of Z series, this series is quite popular with Gunpla fans the world over. In the Gundam series, this takes place right after the events in Zeta Gundam. Most of the main mecha in it are named from characters from Watership Down series. Most of the main characters mecha is a deep purple which I might go with, or maybe a mixture with red/black. The main idea was to make a variant/custom of the RGM-79Q "Quel"... see below. This is the base model that eventually "evolves" into the TR-6 Gundams and so forth. Love the colours on this, but I don't think I will be copying them. See the little Hazel logo? I like this model and I don't, I don't own it neither (I know...shocking for me). So lets see what we have to work with... This is the kit I am going to base the model from, I will keep the guns on the back, however I do not like how far they stick out when in the firing posisition. This is the first Gunpla that Fumina Hoshino fights with in Gundam Try Fighters, a cool but weird show, it's on youtube for free (legally) if anyone wants to watch it? The shields coming from the back is a Gundam Thunderbolt idea, the guns on the arms is from NT-1 Alex (War in the Pocket) the guns on the back is from any Guncannon/Freedom/F-91/7th Gundam... you get the idea and the powered bit is from 0083 : Stardust Memory. I do not intend to keep all of the items on this model, the hand held gun is the first thing to go, possibly the shoulder armour, the sideskirts too. This is the "normal" GM from 0083 : Stardust Memory, I doubt I will use much from this model. The rifle will be getting used, possibly the shield too. Maybe the shoulder pads too. We will see what comes of this, There are various other bits I can steal, we will see... who knows I might even make two Custom models. This is the first Gundam that is designed from the Quel, I might use the shield you see, it's actually a booster that doubles up as a shield. I might steal the legs as well and put the extra thrusters on... like I said, I am going to wing it... I do like the red finger tips tho, that will be taken over, maybe the powerpacks for the gun too. I spoke to will about these in his Guncannon build, I got these decals from China, cost about £5 each... the print quality isn't all that. Look at how bad the little Hazels are, god job I will not be using them. I got the warning stickers and the Titans Test Team logos, that is what I wanted really. These are the offical Bandai GunPla decals, I have not been able to find these for a while. For the Gundam above, I would use the top left ones, but as I have another one of the RX-121-1 I will not be using them. Well not all of them anyhow. Notice the way I have tried to keep the decal sheet together Will? Stickers that came with the original Hazel RX-121-2... highly doubt I will use any of these at all. The decals under it are for the Hi-Nu RX-93 Gundam. Got this a while ago for... well because I could. Not really had any idea if I can use them or not, but I might put it on the back of the GM... who knows. Love the shield for this one tho. Notice the Gundam Mk.II Titans version Inside the instructions, gives you a better idea of what I have got to work with. I know it wont be staying those colours tho. The Plastic bits I have got to play with... yay. Shameless plug for the Hazel I built, this is the kind of colours I am going for. However I will be painting this one a lot better... who knows, I might even weather it... or completely brake it... hhmm.. This is what I have started with, I have decided to build the GM up and then consider where I can go from there. Slow and steady, I can't bodge this one up surely?? Dont like the antenna coming from the back, the thrusters I do not like neither, I am not too keen on the access hatch neither. This is where I was as of Tuesday night, the gun arms look ott compared to the rest, might armor them up a bit. I like the beam sabres ontop of the sholder pads however the actual sholder pads I do not like. The head is something I might replace with the Gundam head, not sure yet... lets see where this ride takes us.. Suggestions are most welcome... Kind Regards, Dazz

OK, sticking my neck out with my intended build: NN660, the short-lived first prototype for the Spiteful Source: http://ipmsuk.proboards.com/thread/5630/supermarine-spiteful-1st-prototypes-colour I'm not actually sure how I'm going to attack it yet- I've got Falcon vac Spiteful and XIV fuselage, and I'm tempted to try to do a vac kitbash, but may go with an injection fuselage instead. bob [Edit: 28 Apr I'm going to try to do a production Spiteful as well.]

A new year . A new project. And you know what? As a first project of this year we do something simple... BWAHAHAHAHA... sure... For a "Flying Abominations"-GB on another forum I proudly present; The Westland P.12 Lysander Delanne (Wendover)! The whowhatsit!? Well, this... Short (Really short) History Almost everybody knows the Westland Lysander . Famous mainly for the risky missions that the Allies undertook during WW2. Because of his special flight characteristics of the Lysander was very suitable for landings on short improvised airfields to pick up and drop off agents and Resistance fighters in the middle of the night. With the expected invasion of England in mind the Ministry of Defence was looking for a way to defend the beaches. Thus was born the idea of Westlands’s chief designer, Arthur Davenport, for a "beach Strafer " . The Lysander as a basis (which was able to maintain a speed of just over 100 km/h in the air), but better armed to wipe clean the beach. Therefore it was decided to install the 4-gun Nash & Thomson rear turret of a Wellington. The design was made even stranger by adding an extra pair of wings. The Westland P.12 Delanne was equipped with the tandem wing akin to the design of airplane designer Maurice Henri Delanne . And contrary to what you might expect at first sight, the flying characteristics of this monstrosity were remarkably good . So much so that the pilot flying the first test-flight in July 1941 ended it with a loop! The Victim For this build the Matchbox 1/32 Lysander serves as a (willing) donor. Recently picked up on a forum for a pittance, without decals and box. Along with the Revell reboxing from the stash I'm going to see if I can do something with it. Matchbox kit. Trust me, everything is there... Revell kit Sprue shot! I'm not entirely sure if I even need parts of the Revell kit, but the decals are in any case already moved to the box of the original Matchbox kit that still lies waiting in the stash... Reference Material So pitifully little... On the Lysander itself there is material enough to find, but on the Wendover (as the British called him eventually ) there is not much. Some black-and-white pictures and a few three-way views of questionable quality, one more useful than the other. But do not worry; with a little common sense, a bit of calculation and tricks with a drawing program , we can work it out ( I think ...). Anything I can't figure out I will guestimate... More sooooon! Rob

Hi Guys, just thought I'd post a few pics and link to the rest on my FB page of my most recent build which has some WIP of this and my other recent builds! This one was built by kit bashing two Revell Galactica kit, but there are enough parts left over to build some more kit bashes!... Anyway enough talking! Thanks and enjoy! https://www.facebook.com/chriscardwellmodels/?fref=ts

The Spitfire Mk. XII: To build a hybrid Good evening, and welcome to a build log I have been eager to start since discovering what is my favourite version of Spitfire, the Mk. XII. A few versions of the XII exist, most notably the newer Airfix kit in 1/48. Also, the M News and Xtrakit versions in 1/72. I found it very difficult to get even a sniff of the Xtrakit version, which I would have been content with, and so my quest took me to ask, ask, and ask some more about the XII. Members of Britmodeller have been most gracious in sharing information pertaining to the discovery of version specific traits and helping with guidance. I would like to thank Procopius in particular, who without fail answered so many of my questions and actually supplied some of the crucial build components. I will be cross kitting the Sword models Seafire XV and the Spitfire Vc. Various other parts will find their way into the build, some aftermarket and some fabricated. Let's open the door: I started with the spinner of the Seafire XV, which was crude when compared with aftermarket offerings and even kitted contemporaries. I gripped the small alignment nub with my cordless drill and used a sanding board to even out the step between the hub mounting plate and the spinner front. The shape still looked a little off and wobbly, so more spinning and sanding was required. For comparisons sake, here is the quickboost version of the five blade prop associated with the XIV. It has a longer nose to it, and much smoother details. I will try to emulate this piece with the four-bladed Sword XV spinner. Here I used two different photoetch saws to create the seams in the spinner like the quickboost version features. The rearwards seam appears too coarse when compared with the resin accessory, and I switched then to a Tamiya brand saw which gave me a much finer impression on the forward seam. There appears to be a slight wobble in the line on the rear seam, which I shall fill and re-scribe. At the rear end, I used a Mk. IX pointed rudder which Procopius supplied in a comprehensive care package he sent me. The XV rudder was carefully sawed away with etch, and this AZ models piece glued in. The actuator unfortunately does not line up within reason and so must be carefully dissected and replaced. Gluing the fuselage halves together with MEK gave me a nice squished plastic weld line to sand down and polish into a seamless ridge. I re-scribed some panel lines top and bottom which were lost in the sanding. The cockpit was tricky to assemble, and did not lend well to photography. It drops in nicely from the underside so painting should be a breeze. The fuel filler and the maintenance hatch forward this were all but obliterated, and needed to be remade via etch saw. And the fuselage as a whole. This shall sit overnight and firm up before attempting the engine cover. My initial thoughts were to use the quickboost XIV upper cowl, but it has been made for the Fujimi kit and has an angled rear most face. If it is close enough in visual similarity to the XII cowl then I may just trim the angled portion off and re-rivet the new curvature. The teardrop fairing over the top centre of the upper cowl must be fabricated as well, being a hallmark feature of the XII. Thanks for looking in, and please do add comments pertaining to the build process and general accuracy of my planning and execution.