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I got this kit from and collegue at work who said he will not get it build, but maybe I could find the time. Well now it is the time for this old kit! I've build a few Mustang, but all in 1/48 scale so I guess that won't help me much. I'll be building it straight OOB, and my plan is to do it as a "fast" build, since I've have another kit waiting for me as well Anyways, here a some pictures: The box The sprues - which looks like they'll need some filing and sanding The instructions and the decals. They look good, hopefully the will work fine

My weapon of choice. I quite like the kit scheme so may well be completely oob. Unless of course I fid something more interesting.

I’m thinking I’ll save the Yf24 for the prototypes gb (if it happens) but I think I’ll start with the Su-47 as imho the quirkiest one there, then maybe a Typhoon next.

I'll be joining with a 'speed build' of the Republic of Singapore Air Force Black Knight. It will be completely OOB. I was just finished with construction of Tamiya F16 when I saw this group build, and thought, well, I need something to do and a reason to finish something from my stash, so... two F16s in a row it will be. After quite a hiatus building models, as well as acquiring them, I seem to have got my mojo back having just finished a X-47B. What I have decided is that while I do enjoy building models, I particularly enjoy finishing them, and like to do the painting and decaling most of all. At the end of the day I put them in my cabinet, and all I need is for them to look good in there. I've therefore decided to only focus on what I see as 'value added' tasks which mean the plane looks good enough on the shelf. So for example, basic cockpit colours are done with a drybrush and black wash. No primer on these small areas. Wheel wells will be also basic colour with a light wash and nothing more. Final finish particularly on top will still follow a standard procedure so the main paint job looks good. I will do this approach for a few kits to thin out the stash, then perhaps pick one to do as a more detailed model. A big help to build this fast will be the lack of weapons and even pylons. A big hindrance is the fact I cannot airbrush at home any more, I don't have a spraybooth, and outside is Dubai summer, 40deg + during the day, and early mornings 99% humidity. Lucky the local hobby shop here has some fantastic spraybooths which can be rented for about 2USD per hour Including compressor and a few tools and alligator clips etc. I hope to finish the basic construction this first weekend and prime and maybe paint next weekend. However, I do have a lot of other models requiring a prime job, so it may just be a priming weekend. Let's see! I did live in Singapore before and certainly saw these aircraft during National Day celebrations. They have a very impressive colour scheme, and I actually acquired this kit in Singapore at a local hobby shop there. My only real concern is going to be getting the white of the paint to match the stars and moon decals, and I'm also worried about the red showing through on the white decals. Any hints or pointers regarding this would be most appreciated. Good luck everyone with your builds and I look forward to following what you all are doing.

Hello all. This will be my second contribution to the 'Less than a Tenner' Group Build. It is the recent red-box issue of the somewhat ancient Albatros DVa (it is as old as me - we were both born the same year!). Quite a few years, my wife and I had a day out in Oxford, and, as you do, I found a 'model shop' in Boswells, and snapped this up for £5 as a memento of our fabulous day out. Jane then promptly snapped it out of my hands and put it away and I got given it back that Christmas. There is not a lot of parts to the kit, which are in a grey plastic (unlike my bagged version which is in pale blue plastic). Surprisingly at first glance there is not much flash, but plenty of stuff that need doing (see the ejection pin marks on the upper wing surface? - why did they do that?) The transfer sheet looks very well printed, and there are not many stencils on this - yippee! This model has two marking options: The one which really took my fancy was the one with the wooden varnished ply finish and the red nose, but that is Manfred Von Richthofen's machine, and he gets too many of his planes built, so I will go for this one instead: This one looks nicely different, with a black fuselage, duck egg blue undersides, and a camouflaged pair of wing and tailplane upper surfaces. And that flag looks fun too. I will have to do some research to find out if I can learn anything about the pilot. I say that this will be OOB, but the question is, will I succumb to adding an extra detail or two or not? - Please bear in mind that the guns are, how shall I put it? - interesting. Find out in the next thrilling episode! All the best, Ray

My head says the Smer ( as it’s by far the better kit), my heart says a nice austro Hungarian oeffag but not the box scheme, I’ve built one of the DIIIs before so nice bitten twice shy, and I’ll probably build the monoplane anyway. I think I’ll sleep on it…

This will be my second entry to the group build. It’s a very simple but nice kit only one sprue and a decal sheet so will probably go together very easily. More to follow.

My entry from the 'Africa' GB - the 1/48 Airfix Curtiss Tomahawk Mk.II. The build thread is here if you want to see it coming together. Completely OOB, except for some Tamiya tape seat belts. A fun build and a chance to use my sand weathering wash! Here are the pictures: My one issue during this build was the opacity of the paint on the canopy - it is the same colour as the fuselage, but light was seeping through I and making it look pale. I added some thinned dark brown paint, but could not quite match the colour on the airframe... As ever, comments and criticism welcomed!

A little late getting started on this GB - I'm still finishing my 'Interceptor' and 'Heller' GB entries ATM! 😁 However, I couldn't resist this one and will be joining in with this kit: As soon as my workbench is a little emptier I will get started!

Notwithstanding some kits earmarked for GBs this is the last of the 1/72 aircraft on the stash, it’s also a fairly complex build and I have to admit although I’ve tried to build one in the past I don’t ever remember completing one. So for that reason I’m starting a new thread instead of adding it to my stash clearance one. An interesting fact I always thought the nickname was an allusion to the amount of rigging wires on the Swordfish however it isn’t. It’s a reference to the versatility of the plane that it was as useful as a stringbag. Still to decide on a colour scheme but it definitely won’t be the one that torpedoed the Bismarck might even stick with the kit scheme as everyone seems to do wartime camo builds.

I am entering this GB with the 1/48 Airfix Lightning F.2A - here's the obligatory box shot: It is completely untouched and will remain that way for a while - I've too many kits on the go at the moment and need to finish a couple before embarking on this one! Hopefully it won't be long before it’s underway...👍

Here's one of my entries over on the current ANZAC GB on which you can have a look at the WIP. This is from the double boxing, with a Proctor, I got for almost the same price as a single kit on the 'net. A nicely detailed kit let down by poor instructions, it isn't what you would call a simple build. Lots of clean-up of mould lines and test fitting. The cockpit floor and bulkheads need careful placement, I put those together into one half of the fuselage before adding the seats etc. The other main problem was the five-part glazing which needed filing and constant test fitting. There is a lot of PE which I mostly discarded, I only used the cockpit dashboard shelf and the pitot tube assembly! Despite usually using an airbrush these days, with the ease of use and clean-up of water-based Acrylics, I decided to give using a Hairy Stick for a change, with Xtracrylics for the uppers and Vallejo ModelAir RLM 65 for the Sky Blue. The kit decals settled easily using Humbrol Decalfix on the Gloss finish of the upper colours, I used 'Klear' for the matt lower colour. Final Matt finish was done airbrushing Vallejo Acrylic Matt Varnish. Comments and criticism welcome. Davey.

This one was finished in the recent 'KUTA XIII' GB but I've only just got around to posting an RFI... The latter stages of the build are here if you want to see it coming together. Work on this model began years ago, long before I joined BM, so the early stages were not recorded. You won't miss much, as it was built to a very basic standard! Normally I would ask for critique on a model, but not this time! This one is full of silly mistakes and areas that could have been built better. Even my recent work, which really should have been to a higher standard, was frequently jinxed by problems. Eventually I lost interest and just wanted to get it finished - my mojo was gone... It is a large beast - the following photos were taken on a standard 18" patio slab and it filled that entirely! Hope you like it and please do not be too harsh with your comments! 😁

I started this one a few years ago, after picking it up from a Debenham's sale for about £30. Here's the obligatory box top shot: Progress stalled for some reason - I think I was getting fed up with all the filling and sanding! Here's the current state of play: It's a big beast - I think it's a Series 18 kit... I'm not sure if Airfix produced anything bigger than this one? Despite the size, the build standard is not as high as it could be (my techniques have improved quite a bit in the past two years!) I will try to improve the model over the next three months wherever possible, to get it looking more respectable.👍

Airfix 1/72 Folland Gnat in Vietnam war flight colours.

Re purposing this thread to be a general farewell to 1/72 thread. Not that I won’t build some models in that scale but 1/48 is now my default. the list Airfix Typhoon P51D FW190 Swordfish Gnat Revell Ta 154 Me 109G Heller Me109K The 109s now have several friends and are reserved for the STGB but the rest must go. First up the TYPHOON Found this when going through my stash for bits for my current wip (guns, engines etc) I also happen to be reading this and have a new airbrush and compressor (my first this time around) sitting in a cupboard. So I decided to start the typhoon, that it will be largely if not completely oob and also that ...... it will be my first (attempted) airbrushed build. So off we go. The obligatory sprue shot Zipping it up, my new berna clamps are extremely useful here. Wings on. A little filler at the wing roots and seams (liquid green stuff btw) and it's ready for some airbrush action........ Now I've ordered some ultimate primer so I need to decide if I wait for that or bale in with the Tamiya light sea grey as an undercoat. Just arrived in the post no excuses........

So we’re mete mojo restoring here as my PV Kitten pair ( over in the interceptor GB) is an antidote to the complexity of my PB31 (Also in the interceptor GB and coincidentally also dubbed the Nighthawk ) and other projects, as an even more straightforward mojo restorer I thought I’d dust off some if the little jets I bought last year. For the GB I’m going to do an F117a, a Tomcat and an Eagle, possibly a Hornet and an Apache too. So starting with the F117a Sprues. I’ve started painting the interior, more to follow. I think the challenge for this one will be making the black finish visually varied and interesting.

Here is my 12th completion for the year, 19 Squadron English Electric Lightning, Gutersloh, late 1974. Airfix 1/72 with Barracuda Cast seat and Master pitot. Finished with Hataka acrylics and Vallejo metalcolours. Built for the Interceptors a Group build. Thanks for looking. AW

Nice little Kit. Pretty much Oob but in a Caunter scheme. Looking at it beside the T34 and the T55 you’d have had to be pretty brave to go into battle in one.

Some time ago in a fit of charitability, I bought an old Heller 1/50 (clearly not 1/48, how very Gallic) Puma helicopter from Newark Air Museum on an Open Cockpit day. I don't know why as helicopters are not that interesting to me - I think it was £8. So this GB is an ideal way to hopefully get rid of it! Having seen superlative builds of RAF Puma HC1s with all the detailing around the cockpit, rear interior and various external antennae fits, not to mention rotor heads in Britmodeller builds - I won't be going there! This will be OOB: I will try to recreate the box cover model. Although if things get sticky the alternative is a mono colour French version, which has an attraction. I presume it will need weighting at the front, although the clear nose looks as though it was carved from armour plate and might help. Actually, having looked at the nose and the framing to be painted I may well be losing the will already.

Having finished the T34 and almost completed the T55a I’m enjoying large scale armour so I’ve decided to start on my M3, as with the previous it will be largely oob but I’m going to do a Caunter scheme as I think it’s a wonderful looking camouflage. The kit has rubber band and link and length tracksThe rubber band tracks are quite good and could be stuck down to get realistic sag so I’m not entirely convinced that the individual tracks are all that much better, but I decided to use them. So I’ve started on the individual tracks, talk about fiddly, but I shall just chip away at them.

Now that my 1/48 BoB Spitfire Mk.1a is approaching the finishing line, I thought I would build its stable mate: It's another wet day outside, so I'm getting stuck in!

With my other Spitfire build coming to an end it seemed an ideal opportunity to start another one! Here's my offering into this GB: It will be built OOB in the colours shown above on the box artwork - a Mk.1A Spitfire from 610 Squadron, based at Biggin Hill in July 1940.

planning on completing this, will be oob but I may change the colourscheme if I find anything more interesting.

I have LOADS of subjects for this GB, don't know where to start. I think I'll start, hopefully, with an easy one, Airfix's Wellington Mk 1 in 37 Sqn markings, part of a detachment to Greece in March 1941. Using the Plastic Planet Club's decals, don't know yet which one but they're both in Dark Green/Dark Earth over Black. Should be straightforward. Already decided to use Airfix's method of not using all the interior parts, I'm firmly in the 'if you can't see it, it's not going in' club. I have the GR.VIII boxing as well which has markings for a 'Desert Scheme' one as well.... and a Trumpeter Mk X with Xtradecals for Desert ones also.... mmm. I have kits to do the Maryland and a Blenheim Mk 1 from this sheet as well, we'll see how it goes. Davey.