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I finished this today. Its the RS Models kit finished mainly with Mr Color paints and I used the NH Details PE set. I scratch built the DF loop, the underwing mast, pitot tube and the undercarriage retractor struts. Quite a few of the decals were from my spares box: The WIP thread can be found here.

Having completed my current builds I have selected this as my next project, acquired at Telford three years ago : Ced B built one of these earlier in the year and that partially inspired my choice. There are three grey and one clear sprues: And a nice looking set of decals of course: I think I will go with this scheme of the two offered - its the one depicted on the box art and has an attractive white tail: Starting in the cockpit - I detest moulded in belts, these will have to go to be replaced by PE ones: Much sanding and filing later they were gone, finished off with a dab of liquid poly to help smooth things out: A mockup of the cockpit shows that the back of the instruments will be highly visible so that needs some detailing: There was a sink mark on the back which while not very visible was worth plating over with a scrap of card: Here is that finished ready for some paint: I will add coloured wires to the instruments after paint. The pilot's seat looked very squat so I have packed it out and added 1mm square seat rails: That's as far as I've got today. Bye for now, Nigel

I missed the sunshine this morning so I took these indoors of my latest completion. The WIP can be found here. I replaced the moulded in seat belts with PE ones, modified the instrument coaming and gun sight, replaced most of the gun barrels with brass tube, added brake lines and scratch built the DF loop, Marston mast and pitot tube. The paint is mainly Mr Color lacquers. I hope you like it: This is my next project. Bye for now, Nigel

With the osprey on hold for a couple of weeks, on Fri i got stared on my first build of the year. Been wanting to do this for a while. This is the oldr boxing, released in 1998. This kit is what got me signing up to the forum a couple of months back. I was doing some advanced research and came across Nigel heath's build. There was some great ideas in that build and I will be pinching a few. First thing I will say is that after seeing Nigels build I checked my kit over and it doesn't have the blemish's on the tails and underneath that Nigel's did. His was the 2012 release, so I can only assume the moulds have not weathered well over the years. Before i actually make a start on construction, i need to make a few changes and improve some detail with some scratch building. There are no AM sets for this, so the spares box is my new friend. First, the bomb bay. This is moulded to hold the 2 large and 3 smaller bombs that come with the kit. But i need it to hold a single 4,000KG Uranium bomb. I found a couple of sway braces in the spares box. And after removing the moulded in braces, i added the missing detail with some stryene strip and the new braces. Then onto the cockpit. The seats clearly needed some work. So i removed the belts and filled the hole. I also sanded down the seat backs, i don't like that quilted look. I will fill the rest later with some perfect plastic Putty which i need to order. I had not heard of this putty until I saw Nigel use it on the control surfaces. I decided to order some for those and figures it would do the seat backs as well. Also added some PE foot peddles and acuator rods with some styrene rod. Another area that needd attention was crew access, i need an open hatch for the dio The most sutable area was a panel between the front wheel well and bomb bay. Afraid i got carried away and cut it out without taking a pic, but the hatch goes here. I would usually replace the hatch with sheet stryene. But the one i cut out has a gentle curve and some nice engraved detail that will pass for the locking mechanism. After thinning, i added some detail on the inside. That hatch is right under the rear gunners seat, the seat fit onto these rails. After xconsidering several soloutions, i setteled on putting the seat on rails so it can be slide towards the back and off to one side. This leave its clear of the floor/hatch and also allows personal to access the erar of the aircraft. And on the underside of the hatch a ladder to ease access. And finally the landing gear. The front gear is supposed to be fitted when the pit goes in. But taking an idea from a build on another site, i rigged the front leg so it can be fitted later. I still need to fill the gaps on each side at the front. I also removed the solid triangular plastic at either side of the legs and replaced them with some plastic rod. And the same with the main legs. And that it for now. Just got a couple of small things to do and then its off for some primer and paint. Thanks for looking, and of course, all comments welcome. And sorry for some of the pics being so blurry, never my strong poit. I'll try and improve on that.

Sorry for the late arrival to this GB. All the normal excuses, work, kids etc.... The background to this aircraft is that in 1941, following early experimental jet aircraft from Heinkel, which showed the limitations of the propeller powered aircraft that were at that time being built by Messerschmitt. Dr Willy decided he too would build aircraft with jet propulsion. His first attempt was the Me163, this had some plus points, "bleeding Nora that's fast!" And some less positive point BOOM ! during refuelling if you get it even slightly wrong putting both liquids in. What you want it to have wheels to land on ? No let's try landing on a teatray with gallons of explosive liquids and a red hot jet engine behind you instead ! Now unbelievably some pilots thought this design could be improved upon, difficult to believe but true. The Messerschmitt design team while watching a repeat of "Scrapheap Challenge" on Dave TV decided to recycle a pair of tandem jet engines from an Arado 234, the swept wings from a crashed me163, and undercarriage from a P38 Lightning. The result being the Schwalbe. This design wasn't felt to be quite challenging enough, after all it was a lot faster than the me163, that already flew too fast to hit anything with either machine guns or cannons, so how can you enhance the degree of difficulty ? As you can imagine this taxed the design team for sometime before they came upon the decision to incorporate an untried and untested air to air missile system. RESULT ! This came with the added bonus of making the aircraft considerable more unstable on takeoff and the possibility of shooting yourself down with your own missiles. The end result was hugely successful for the Allied cause, as only the best pilots were selected to fly the aircraft and as the fatality rate was so high, this design hastened the demise of the Luftwaffe and played an important part in ending World War 2. A long time ago, a certain gentleman aka TrickyRich offered to be my mentor on a Resin kit should I finally grow a pair and build one. Well said pair have appeared so here I am. The kit is 1/72, but really small, probably around Me 163 size I would guess, but this one is armed with missiles ! Photos below I have never built a Unicraft kit before so any tips, on this and resin in general gratefully appreciated. Good luck to everyone on this GB. Cheers Pat

While still waiting for the decals to arrive for my Osprey build this is going to be my next project. I bought the kit from Wonderland at Telford two years ago and have been itching to make a start on it for ages. I see there has been an excellent BM review of the kit here and a couple of stalled builds here and here. Hopefully I will be able to finish mine. The review contains better pictures than I can take but this is what I have, the attractive box art (for those who would like to see New York destroyed - not I): Three grey sprues: Plus a very nice decal sheet and clear parts: For such a large kit the parts count is low and I can see this being an almost out of the box build. Bye for now, Nigel

Just a link for those interested in this remarkable aircraft. The surviving example with the Smithsonian, is currently undergoing survey/ conservation work, prior to a move to the restoration facility at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. http://blog.nasm.si.edu/uncategorized/horten-h-ix-v3-bat-wing-ship-november-2013-update/