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The Convair F-106 has long been a favourite of mine. Earliest memory of seeing "The Six" was an article in Aircraft Illustrated featuring F-106s of New Jersey ANG in the late 1970s or 80s in WH Smith in Cliftonville, Margate. I plan on building the classic Monogram kit from the 1980s complete with decals for 186th Fighter Interceptor Squadron Montana ANG out of Great Falls Airport. The 186FIS flew the SIX from 1973 until around 1987 so qualifies for this group build. Despite 57-2346 No 14 being on the decal sheet I haven't been able to find a photo of it. So far. 57-2456 ended up being dumped in the Gulf of Mexico in 1995 near Panama to form part of an artificial reef. Some photos and no I will not be re-scribing this kit! This kit came from Kingkit's Salvage Yard so quite a few parts are off the sprue and with cracked decals. But I have had the Superscale sheet for years. The star n bars sheet along with the mask are a recent purchase from Hannants. Thanks for looking. Grahame

This is one of my latest builds. The Revell rebox of Monograms F-105G. Very nice kit with raised panellines but good detail. This was painted with mostly Vallejo acrylics and the Revell decals.. There is a great decalset, but it is very prone to silvering. Kind regards, Gerben

I was extracting a whole load of kits from my 'hidden' (more precisely, 'blocked') stash. I finally moved all the stuff from the kitchen refurbishment, so I could get at my trapped models. I recovered about thirty plus kits from the cupboard... Anyway, to the topic at hand. I'm making this a WiP as I expect to try an do some of this soon. This is an old Monogram 1/24th model. It's a simple click to fit kit for young people. I originally bought it for a fun 'quick build'. It is an extremely simple kit with onoly 34 parts... So: The box. The box picture appears to show the actual kit, built. Those wheels have gotta go... I have found some year appropriate Fuchs wheels and tyres on a German site, so I will be getting those. The body. That doesn't look too bad. It looks a bit 'matt' as a number of years ago, I had sprayed it with Halfords' car primer and orange (I forget which orange). However, it was a complete bodge and looked it. So I submerged it in Brake fluid and it removed all the paint, but of course it did leave a slight matt finish as a result. Nothing that a sand with 3000 grit Tamiya sanding paper won't resolve. I compared the body with the Tamiya 1988 911 Turbo kit, and it looks pretty accurate. Well, good enough for me... The floor-pan. Pretty c**p, if you ask me. Again, the general proportions look good compared with the Tamiya version. The wheels attach to a couple of plastic rods that go through holes in the wheel-arches. I am planning a few mods here: That back-end is going completely (not until I have measured it all, so that it can go back together well). I am planning to use a more detailed 911 model to fabricate a new rear-suspension setup from various plastic bits and pieces. I have a huge collection of plastic rod in various section types (Round, hexagonal, square and so on). I think that the worst bit will be the semi-trailing arms. They have quite a complex shape. I am sure that I can use one of my other 911 rear ends as a moderl for those. Only time will tell. This will also mean that I need to fabricate the engine and transmission to some degree.. On top of that, I will then need to line all of this up again with the existing remains of the floor-pan. Because this kit has simple rod axles both front and rear, I will need to rustle up a 'working' front end. I plan to replicate the front suspension and steering, again using another more accurate 911 model to replicate the McPherson struts (At least, I think they are McPherson struts! ). That will need a steering rack fabricated. I've done this before, so no big issues there, I think. Still, a shed load of work. The 'chrome' sprue. The wheels I have already discussed earlier. These ones are just not up to snuff at all! I plan on replicating the gear-stick. The exhaust pipes look a bit dodgy as well. They will be replaced with something better. I like the look of the Revell 911 G model exhausts. Bending plastic rod into complicated manifolds may well prove a big task. Let's see... I will probably use the head-lamps, but again, there are alternatives available in the after-market. The glass and passenger 'tub' I'm in two minds about this part. I may fabricate a new tub using aftermarket resin seats. I think I can mock up the door cards. Well see. This may be a step too far... The 'glass' is mostly OK, but I want to put in door glass. That will be fun ... The front and rear valances. They look OK, though probably not 'prototypical' I will use them. I have a few missing parts. Well, actually only two, really. The steering column and wheel. There are aftermarket parts available for this as well.... All in all, a lot of work for a simple Monogram kit with 34 parts. I can hear you saying: "Why bother?" Well, because: It's a Porsche and needs some love. It's not a completely bad kit, just a simple one. I fancy a challenge! 🤪 Did I mention it's a Porsche? Wish me luck as I plunge into the vortex .... 🌪️ Cheers, Alan.

With the Christmas season upon us (thanks to the forum software for suggesting the intro statement ), I have taken up an eBay project, a BIG SCALE 1967 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 427. Why did I want an oversized model kit when I already have a backlog of 3 WIP kits and countless other unstarted kits? Because money (supposedly) buys happiness, even if it's temporary... The kit was already started by the previous owner before the seller. But I'd say that this kit is currently on its fourth owner, as the kit does not come with windows or decals, and the seller stated that the previous owner chopped off the roof to make it a "convertible", although it looked more like an open top Grand Sport project. So, my guess is: kit made in late 80's/early 90's, sold to first owner, started but lost interest and lost/broke a few parts, sold to 2nd owner, chopped roof off, sold to selling "dealer", and then to me. The model was never painted. I am going to paint it Silver Pearl with a black stinger (using masking techniques due to lack of decals) with a Teal Blue interior. Reference vehicle on Mecum: https://www.mecum.com/lots/282962/1967-chevrolet-corvette-coupe/ The rear suspension and the engine were already started, but I noticed some parts were glued insufficiently. I say "glued" instead of "cemented" because the engine came apart completely using muscle and a blade. I'm not going to touch the rear suspension YET. At least I don't have to deal with removing actual cemented parts.

I figured this old kit would fit in with this build and give me a chance to get it out of the stash. Time to see what I can do with it.

My second build will be the Monogram '55 Ford F-100 Street Rod. DSCF8445 (2) by timothy jones, on Flickr Some assembly has been done on the chassis and engine but it's well below the 25% cut off point. DSCF8808 by timothy jones, on Flickr DSCF8807 by timothy jones, on Flickr DSCF8806 (2) by timothy jones, on Flickr DSCF8805 (2) by timothy jones, on Flickr More soon.

Hi 👋 A few pics of my 1/48 Monogram A-10A Thundersbolt II. I got this kit a few years ago from a childhood friend. I am still impressed how good the Monogram kits are, the details are really nice. A Warthog more or less OOB. Just added a ResKit pylon, som weapons from the spare box, a Master pitot, a pilot from Def.Model and Print Scale decals. Thanks for looking 😀 Cheers! /Fred

Hi, Please find my latest completion the Monogram B-24 Liberator. For the full build details, please find the WIP link at the end of this post. Hope you like it. (Picture heavy) Please find the WIP thread below: Thanks for watching, Rgds, Rob

Last time I posted a What If build here was 2021, since then I've been a little distracted by 'real world' builds, so thought... why not have some actual 'fun' with a quick project. Cracked-open this old Monogram kit about three weeks ago and other than the scratch-built 'Jaguar style' ECM bar on the fin and the loadout from an unsuspecting Rafale and F-16, it is completely OOB. Decals are from a long out of production Zotz sheet (also for F-16's), the teeth tho' are from an even older Microscale F-5E sheet. Not too much else to say, nice relaxing & stress free build and I thoroughly enjoyed... a little sad when it came to an end TBH. As ever CCQ's welcome. Cheers from NZ. Ian.

Hi, Here's my Monogram F9F-5 with Bullseye decals from the 2022 IPMS USA convention. This aircraft had a big fight with Migs that didn't get much publicity at the time because the Migs were fully Russian and the location of the fight fairly close to Vladivostok. Cheers, Stefan.

Hello everyone... Im starting this WIP to fill another promise. About 6 weeks ago i received an email from a member. He was curious if I had ever been able to find a Monogram 1/72 F-8F Bearcat? I hadn't so he offered one of his kits. About a week later i received two items in the mail. The first a small package containing a baggie of plastic bits, instructions, and an old decal sheet. The second was an envelope with several photocopied Grumman plans and copies of the line drawings of the bearcat in 1/72. I know the vertical tail is short by a little bit. So this is why the drawings were sent with the kit. Also there were photo copies of the airwaves detail set for the kit. It will allow me to scratch build a better cockpit. You will note that I've already laid the fuselage to the drawing. You can see were i will need to extend the vertical tail/rudder. Copies of the Airwaves set. Emailing back and forth and many internet searches later I've decided my build will be of a F8F-2P in these markings. I know the universal rule never trust a profile without a photo. Well I found a Russian website that actually had a photo of this plane. this aircraft still exists in the U.K. and does fly from what i understand. I also posted a query in the cold war aviation section, asking for any information on the -2P ? https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235053866-f8f-2p-bearcat/ Now due to Life getting in the way and some illness slowing me down for a couple of weeks i was finally able to start on the plastic today. After an hour or so i had a reasonable better cockpit. I forgot to take a photo of the office outside of the fuselage. I will remedy that and post them soon. I also had to drill the skin of the plane in 3 places to simulate the camera doors. I did add the prominent ducting in the wheel bay its not perfect but its enough to simulate them. Here are some photo's of the real camera windows. A close up of the camera window. If you look closely its sunken in. So i will backfill the openings i have with plastic sheet. Once that is done i can do the 3 oil deflectors around the openings. The schematic for the photo. In closing i will say thank you to @72modeler for both the kit, and all the help researching it. Questions, comments, jokes, or stories are always welcome ? Dennis

Dassault Mirage 2000C (03813) 1:48 Carrera Revell The Mirage family of fighter aircraft began in the late 1950s as a brainchild of Marcel Dassault, using the delta wing format and having no horizontal tail surfaces. The Mirage 2000 is the final mainstream (ignoring the Mirage 4000, which did not see service) 4th generation development of the general concept before adoption of the Rafale by the French Air Force in 2000. The C in the title for the fighter stands for Chasseur or Hunter. As well as two internal 30mm DEFA cannon the aircraft is armed in the air-to-air role with Matra R550 Magic, Matra Super 530D, and MBDA MICRA Missiles. In addition to the Mirage C there is a two-seat B model trainer, N model that has Nuclear Strike capability, and D model Ground attack version, all of which saw service with the French Air Force. Mirage 2000 aircraft have also been sold to Egypt, India, Peru, The UEA, Greece, Tiawan, Brazil, and Qatar, many of which are still in use, although at time of writing, Greece retired theirs a couple of years ago. The Kit This is a reboxing by Carrera Revell of a Monogram kit that was first issued in 1982, and was later upgraded with some weapons, most notably the Exocet missiles, and a one-piece lower wing. The kit arrives in a shallow end-opening box with a painting of the subject on the front, and inside there are four sprues in grey styrene that don’t have the modern runners around the edges to protect the parts from damage or accidental removal during handling. There is also a small clear sprue, a wide decal sheet and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour on matt paper, with painting and decaling instructions on the rear pages. Detail is reasonable for the era, although the panel lines on the underside of the wings are engraved because of their later tooling date, while the rest are raised, which might make a little extra work for the modeller if the urge takes them it rescribe the rest. There is a little flash here and there, but much of it is on the sprues, although a little is also present on the parts, but flash is easily removed, and is preferable to short-shot parts on any day of the week. The clear parts are in good shape, although my sample had a little light scuffing on the canopy that could be sanded and polished away with little effort. Construction begins with the cockpit tub, adding the instrument panel in the front, building the Martin-Baker Mk.10 seat from three parts, and adding decal seatbelts before installing it in the sloped rear of the cockpit along with the control column. There is also a crew figure that is moulded mostly in one part, with a separate right arm for the control column that should allow it to be positioned accurately on the control column. The pilot’s back is hollow to help reduce the likelihood of sink-marks on the figure, and to assist in a close fit to the seat or waving to someone if you prefer. The fuselage halves have sidewall detail moulded into their inner surfaces, and these should be painted before the cockpit tub is glued to the starboard side, and the walls of the nose gear bay beneath are inserted underneath and into the port side, so that the fuselage can be closed and the seamlines dealt with in your preferred manner. The clear windscreen and HUD glass parts are fitted to the front of the cockpit opening, then the assembly is put to one side while the wings are built. The lower wing is moulded as a single full-span part that also has portions of the lower fuselage moulded-in, gluing the upper wings over the top, and then unusually moving on to the making of the main landing gear before it is joined to the fuselage. Each gear leg comprises a single strut with retraction jack added, and two-part wheels glued to the stub axle at the lower end, fitting the captive bay doors next to the strut on the outer edge of the bay. It’s probably wise to skip ahead and join the fuselage to the wings before doing this, but the instructions blunder on with the weaponry next, making a large three-part finned fuel tank for under the centreline, a couple of Exocet missiles on custom pylons, and a pair of Magic A2A missile on their own pylons on the outer stations. This is where the two assemblies are joined in the instructions, and good luck dealing with any seamlines without knocking any of the weapons or gear legs off if you followed the instructions! The single SNECMA M53-P2 engine is not depicted, but the afterburner ring is trapped between a tapering length of trunking and exhaust petals, which slides into the rear of the fuselage under the tail once completed, and to avoid any possibility of see-through effect, the four holes in the trunking ‘plant pot’ would be best filled with styrene sheet or something similar. At the intake end, the blanked off fronts of the nacelles either side of the cockpit have a two-part intake with shock-cone on the inner face, and a strake added at an angle to the horizontal on the outer surface, with a scrap diagram helping you get the angle right. If you followed the instructions, your Mirage is lying nose down on the table at this stage, which is about to be rectified by the addition of nose gear, which is moulded as a single strut and retraction jack, which has a pair of trapezoidal landing lights added, one on each side of the strut, and two single part wheels, one on each side of the short cross-axle. This plugs into sockets in the shallow bay, then it’s a case of adding the various probes and sensors around the model, one on each side of the fin, two at an angle in front of the windscreen, plus another in the centre, and the pitot probe at the very tip of the nose cone. The final act is to decide whether you want to pose the canopy open or closed by gluing the tab at the rear of the part into a slot behind the cockpit at an angle or otherwise. Markings There are two decal options on the wide sheet, both wearing the same basic scheme, but one with special markings to set it apart from its in-service colleague. From the box you can build one of the following: Mirage 2000C/RDM EC 1/2 ‘Cigognes’ Dijon, France, 1994 Mirage 2000C/RD EC 5/330 ‘Côte D’Argent’, Centre D’Experimentations Aeriennes Militaires EM AA Monte-de-Marsan, Tigermeet 1996, Beja, Portugal Decals are by Cartograf, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion It’s not the newest kit in the world, and you might want to consider rescribing the raised panel lines if you’re so inclined, but there are some good decal options to make this old kit more appealing. Recommended. Carrera Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Hi All, Here is my effort on the venerable Monogram Cadillac a car which oozes excess! There has been some discussion about using Molotow Liquid Chrome and this model has been entirely rechromed with it. I have thinned 50/50 with Isopropanol and not only airbrushed but some areas were brush painted which worked very well and also did not bleed under the masking tape which was a suprise! Not my finest effort but these days I am happy to build out of the box. The only thing I am not totally sure about is the durability of this finish or how varnishes may affect it. MODeller

Hi everyone - i've recently been on a bit of a 'nostalgia bent', and decided to pull this one out of the stash, with the aim of a relatively quick and easy build: This is the Monogram kit of the Bf-109G-10 variant, released by Monogram around 1991 and reboxed in the above boxing circa 1992/1993. This kit traces its origins back to the Revell release of 1978 (indeed you can still find this release available today; Revell has been releasing this kit on and off again, most recently in 2016). The kit still holds up well today; it has generally accurate lines, recessed panels, is an easy build, and passes quite nicely for a 109G-10. It is also far less complex and far cheaper than the contemporary Eduard kit. I picked this one up for somewhere around $5-10 at a swap and sell some years back. I picked this boxing because I have very vivid memories of buying this boxing as a kid, getting my hands on the dark green plastic, and building the kit in a hurry. Whilst I don't remember how I painted it, I do remember re-painting it a year or two later in a blotchy 'Africa' scheme, similar to that painted on 109Es (totally not accurate... but hey, I was maybe 13 years old, so accuracy wasn't a real focus back then). No idea what happened to it, but pretty sure it didn't survive the 'Cancian turkey shoot' in the backyard some time later... ahem. Anywhoo... in any case, this one is another nostalgia build for me. First up, one notices some elements that need addressing: The cockpit needed some attention. The kit canopy is surprisingly clear, so I decided to upgrade the kit cockpit, which is pretty light on. I had some old bits and bobs in the spares box from some 109 cockpit sets; one floor piece and sidewall from (I think) the Aires 109G-6 cockpit, and another from I think an old Hi-Tech resin set from again, I think, a G-6. Not going for accuracy, I decided that these would do; the sidewalls were quickly sanded back and the resin bits added. The kit has its control surfaces modelled in the neutral position. I decided to at least cut and reposition the rudder and elevators. I managed to find a spare resin rudder (no idea who produced it) which fit the kit and was a bit nicer than the kit rudder, so this will do also. And after a few etched additions and some paint (the shoulder harnesses will go on towards the end of the build): The fuselage is also now together and cleaned up, remembering to re-scribe the panel lines that run down the centreline of the aircraft. The fit here was quite good. I added a set of quickboost exhaust pipes which will look lovely once painted up. I've made a start on the wings, where I find another Revell advertisement The wings are moulded with the flaps and radiator cooling flaps moulded in the neutral position. A bit of time and patience with a razor saw sorted these out; I cut them and repositioned them to a more dynamic look (most photos of 109s on the ground show these flaps deployed / drooped). I won't be doing anything with the ailerons, or the slats (probably not correct for a 109 on the ground, but oh well). A dry fit suggests the wings will fit quite nicely to the fuselage, once I get there. Cheers! BC

1/72 Monogram F-105G with Hasegawa missiles, LP Models ladders and Caracal decals. Painted with Hataka Orange Line paints (after having to strip off my original attempt with acrylics) Really enjoyed building this old kit, and now toying around with the idea of having another go with the Monogram 1/72 A-10 from the 70s 🤔 Four from the top: ...and a profile shot to finish off Thanks for looking mike

On the 10th May 1961 Convair B-58A Hustler msn 59-2451 named 'The Firefly' set a world speed record of an average of 1302.07 mph for more than 30 minutes, winning her crew Majors Elmer E Murphy and Eugene F Moses, and 1st Lt David F Dickerson, the Bleriot Trophy outright. On 26th May she flew from New York to Paris in 3 hrs 19 mins 51 secs averaging 1089.36 mph winning the McKay and Harmon trophies. On 3rd June 1961 this stunning aircraft took off from Le Bourget and crashed shortly afterwards, killing all three crew members. When I was a teenager the Convair B-58 Hustler was my dream plane. No matter that it had already been retired, the B-58 really looked like it was doing mach 2, even on the ground, and I wondered whether I would ever see one for real. Quite a few years ago I did build the Italeri 1/72nd TB-58A however the kit I really wanted was the huge 1/48th Monogram B-58A Hustler first issued in 1985. I did snag one on eBay for £16.49 plus £6.00 p&p and it has been taken out and looked at many times since. Now I feel like building it and have already started:- Hustler007 by Ghostbase, on Flickr I have detached most of the parts, given a first dusting of white primer, and cemented several of the sub-assemblies. Hustler001 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Caracal Models CD48059 contains markings for 'The Firefly' while she was at Paris in May 1961. I also have the Osprey Combat Aircraft 130 "B-58 Hustler Units" as a reference. Hustler002 by Ghostbase, on Flickr I have started painting some areas. The undercarriage wheel wells have been sprayed with Tamiya zinc oxide. I have used Humbrol metalcotes on some panels on the wings, also Humbrol acrylic metallic silver on the delta wing leading edges. Hustler003 by Ghostbase, on Flickr Why the Brasso? I intend to use a mix of paints and silver foil to try to replicate the metallic panels of the bare metal Convair B-58 Hustler. I recently purchased a Lifecolour metallic paint set so maybe they will be tried out too. Hustler006 by Ghostbase, on Flickr The top of the wing section so far, being Humbrol metalcote polished steel and matt aluminium. Hustler005 by Ghostbase, on Flickr And the underside of the wing section. Hustler004 by Ghostbase, on Flickr I should say that I am a 'grasshopper' scale modeller. I have several projects on the go and I just jump from one to the next as befits my whim and this will likely be the same. Could be a long project however I have wanted to build this for a long time now. Michael

Here's my take on the Monogram Pro Modeller rebox of the 1/48 Hasegawa F4U5. I live about 80 miles from the location of NAS Glenview, so I felt compelled to do that scheme. This model was going to have that scheme, and that was that- more on that later. Aftermarket additions include a Wolfpack cockpit set, Quickboost gun barrels, and ResKit tires and wheels. Paints are Mission Models glossy sea blue, Mr Hobby aqueous semi gloss clear, and Vallejo Model Air colors and matt and satin varnish for the anti glare panel, cockpit, wheels, etc. Decals are a mix of kit decals, Super Scale, and Eagle Strike. I started off on the Wolfpack cockpit, which really was nice to work with. Minimal fitting was needed. The only issue was with the cockpit side walls- installed on the cockpit tub, they would have sat well below the cockpit opening. Those were glued to the fuselage sides instead. I used the included decal for the instrument panel, which was sealed with Vallejo satin varnish, topped with a drop of Mr Hobby aqueous clear gloss on each gauge. I used Vallejo metal color dull aluminum for some wear. I also scratched out armrests. I then set to work on the engine, which was pretty straightforward, except for drilling 36 tiny holes for the ignition wires. It was made to look grimy with oils. I used a shim, about .030", in the lower part of the nose to address the poor fit between the fuselage sides and lower panel that's part of the wing. The shim was glued on one fuselage side, allowed to dry, then the fuselage stump on the front clamped and glued. I had to open the notch in the exhaust mount to fit. It sat down snug when installed. The rest of the assembly was uneventful The seams were addressed with a thin application of Mr Dissolved Putty and careful sanding. Surgery was performed to put the flaps in the up position. The priming, painting and pre-decal gloss clear were equally uneventful. The adventure began when the decals came out! I bought this kit second hand, and it was still factory sealed. What I did not know is how it may have been stored! When it arrived, I took a quick look over the decal sheet, and it appeared fine. Wrong! I cut and dipped a national insignia in water, and to my horror, it was full of cracks! Thankfully, I have an abundance of aftermarket national insignias. A closer inspection of the kit sheet showed cracking in nearly every larger white decal! This Corsair was going to be a Glenview bird no matter what, and I saw no aftermarket NAS decal options, so I treated all the kit decals I would be using with liquid decal film, and set about using them anyway. They released from the paper just fine, and adhered wonderfully. Unfortunately, the cracks still showed. I made up a mix of Vallejo white paint, slightly thinned and mixed with retarder medium, and started filling the cracks with a fine brush. I then used micromesh to polish out the painted areas, and it came out acceptable. Photos are of the worst one, before touch up, during, and then after the final clear coat. This aircraft had distinctive exhaust pipes, which were replicated with bent styrene rod, drilled out. Weathering was kept minimal, as the real thing looked pretty clean. Tamiya Weathering Master was used on the exhaust, and I did some pin wash on the upper fuselage to replicate oil and fuel spills. Additional detailing was done to the canopy, gun sight, and upper switch panels. I cut the wingtip lights out, made a "bulb" in each with Micro Kristal Klear, painted the area silver, added red and green for the bulbs, and made lenses with Kristal Klear. I added a bit of wiring and tubing to the wheel wells, which wasn't worth the effort, or worth photographing. It all but disappeared once it was closed up and painted. I noticed the real aircraft had white overspray by the "6" on the nose, which was replicated. I took some artistic liberty in adding this on the starboard side too. There was a cutout in the lower part of the orange band decal, and I drilled a hole there for the "T" antenna, not realizing it's a bit far forward. Oh well! This build was fun, but not without a few hiccups. I rarely say this about my own work, but I am genuinely satisfied with the end result. It felt like it took forever to finish- it was started at the beginning of January and finished today. Here's the finished product. Photos were taken in indirect natural light and indoor light. Apologies for the novel length writeup. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

This is one of my latest builds, the old Monogram F-14A. I have always really liked the old VF-1 markings, so I used a set of Hungarian Armour decals for these. I bought this kit second hand and it was quite a challenging build. Some parts were warped pretty badly. Shapewise, I think it is a good kit, like most of the Monograms. It really looks like a Tomcat. I hope you like the pics. Kind regards, Gerben

This is the Monogram First Lunar Lander kit supplemented with the New Ware Apollo Lunar Module Detail Set. The detail set is indispensable for turning this old tooling into something display-worthy. I purchased my own gold foil closer to the actual color, but reserved the paler, adhesive-backed foil that came with the Monogram kit for certain parts of the kit like the landing gear "feet". The ascent stage is painted with Tamiya Medium Gray XF-20, metallics are done with Alclad, and I used Tamiya dark gray and AK white enamel panel liners. Thanks for looking!

Hi All Usual reluctance to post anything in this fabulous forum! Nothing special just the 2001 RoG boxing of the near 50-year old Revell B-17G OOB with Tamiya Fuel Truck & ICM Bomber crew. Thanks for looking and see you at Telford! Best Regards Ben

This was on deck right after my YF-16 and again using the vintage Monogram. The 1980 kit F-18 has the open LEX slots perfect for the first prototype but still needs some small changes, mainly adding dog tooth on the elevators and wings plus some changes in the cockpit instrument panel. I added seamless intakes and a vac canopy as the original was too small and not the more rounded omega shape. In both kits I used the original landing gear struts, they are of the day's molding capabilities but despite some chunky areas are well detailed and even have the brake lines included. Paint was a mix of Testors MM enamel blues and Testors gold, Caracal and Monogram decals. Caracal had matched their 'F-18 Hornet - The Early Years' with the original blue auto paint used in the rollout F-18 which saved me from repainting the Monogram decals the correct color.

I'm a fan for the old Monogram 1/48 kits, they had so much more detail than other kits at the time. This kit I first built as a child, brush painted with some red paint that took ages to dry.... I've wanted to retry it and have had the kit in my stash for a while. After reading Robert Coram's book 'Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War' did the trick and I was finally ready to dig out my 1979 Monogram F-16 kit and make what Boyd referred to as a pure fighter. The YF-16 at that point was more like his vision, not a multirole aircraft but light, fast and maneuverable. This project also got an F-18 prototype kit out too and was next on the bench, another Monogram kit from 1980. The F-16 kit is pretty close to the YF-16, it needs nose reshaping, cockpit/seat changes and some other little things but comparing my changes to profile photos it worked well. Vingtor decals were used. This shows how the nose got bigger with the radar on the production versions. And some minor differences from above And finally to my studio where the shelves are and I paint other things. If interested you can see my paintings here.

Something a little ancient from the depths of my stash that deserves to see the light of day. Monogram's 1/48 Hawker Hurricane. Since this kit lets you build any one of 7! versions(box says 5, but there are 2 more as well that you can do). I think for this outing a MKCII in SAAF livery might be out of the ordinary for me, but it is a simple little build . I'll probably make an addition here or there just because this kit was originally more toy than model and as such some detail that's normal today (cockpits and Gear wells) were almost unknown way back then. I think I first built one of these back when Johnson was in the White House, Lyndon not Andrew. I'm not THAT old. I just feel like it. So lets see whats I gots wit dis. The kit decals are definitely old so I'm using Aeromaster for the national insignia and whatever I can scrounge from y decal spares to supplement.

Evening all. My latest completion is a real classic: Monogram's 1975 edition B-17G in 1/48th scale. I actually started this a number of years ago for a previous B-17 Group Build, but got side-tracked and never finished it. However, I recently stumbled upon the partially-started kit when rummaging in the loft and thought it was time to finish it off. Despite its age, it builds well and is a good rendition of the B-17. Although HK have recently come to the party with their B-17F and G kits the Monogram kit, in my humble opinion, is more accurate shape-wise and I actually prefer the raised surface details which are a far better representation of the Fortress' skin than anything recessed. Saying that, I do have both the F and G kits from HK and will build them one day! This was made more or less as it comes in the box - you can't see much of the interior so I didn't bother enhancing it at all and just enjoyed building it. I did substitute the cowls from the Revell kit however, as I'd previously used the Monogram parts for a B-17C conversion a couple of years ago. The tail gunner's transparency was also improved as the kit part fits poorly so I blended the whole thing in with Miliput, sanded it all smooth, polished it back to clarity and then made my own window masks. Other than that, it's how Monogram intended. Decals came from KitsWorld as the ones I had in the kit (original 1975 boxing) were well past their best. I've modelled this as "Pistol Packin' Muma" would have looked in early March 1944 when it arrived at Bassingbourn: 42-37779 flew with the 324th Squadron of the 91st Bomb Group. This was prior to the red 1st Division tails and wing-tips being used, the radio operator's gun is still in position and she's only got three missions to her credit. The Monogram kit is actually a later-batch than the real deal, but I can live with that as other than the cheek gun arrangement, the Monogram kit is a pretty close match for this particular aircraft. Paints were my favourite Xtracolor enamels, with decals from KitsWorld. Some light weathering with some pastels give an impression of wear but nothing too dirty as the full on rigours of air combat are yet to ravage her fresh olive drab paint. For those of you with these Monogram classics in your stash - build them: they're great fun! Tom

Okay you folks got me going crazy, or is it just the heat in here? Anyway, a second coming of a group build-build that never started. An American Classic indeed. Compared to an 1:72 scale model, it's like Texas vs. Rhode Island. Well not that much, but much bigger (1,5^3 = 3.375) anyway. The sprues back then still in their bags. It is probably the first and only kit so far that I've washed the sprues, never found any harm with that but these felt so greasy I decided to go the extra mile with it. But then I never dared to actually start building it! I still plan to decorate her as "Marsha Sue". A plane, whose pic is in a book I got when I was probably ten years old! It's also a plane whose details match the Monogram kit 100%. Read more of her here if interested 🙂. Oh, one thing I don't know yet for sure is whether I want to decorate her with the red CBW colours or not . I like the all-grey looks, a lot. V-P