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  1. I'm often attracted to the 'unusual' and 'often maligned' subjects, and into this falls Blackburn's Botha. Along with the Beaufort, it was designed to a specification issued in 1935 for a torpedo bomber and general reconnaissance, twin engine, shore based machine of high performance. The result was the Beaufort remained in service as a front line aircraft. That the RAF received nearly 600 Botha's and employed them for 4 years as an advanced trainer beggars belief, a handling report from 1939 having comments such as ; "deficient in longitudinal stability and there is barely sufficient elevator control", The view forward is excellent, but the aeroplane is completely blind from either beam to the rear, the side view being restricted by the engines", "underpowered", "uncomfortable to fly : bad in pitch and yaw", and "poor view from the cockpit makes it useless as a GR aircraft". The Botha was operational with one RAF squadron for 4 months and never dropped a torpedo in anger. Its shortcomings made the Botha unsuitable for pilot training so was pressed into service as a navigation and bombing trainer. After reading the excellent 'Database' article in 'Aeroplane' magazine, I almost felt sorry for the thing! So I had to build one. This is the only kit I am aware of at present of the aircraft, by PH models, I think from the Czech Rep.(?) Very nicely cast in resin, has enough detail for me to be satisfied in this scale, very fine panel lines, the props are cast all in one piece which I am pleased about! A spare cockpit canopy and nose glazing is supplied but only one turret and one set of side blisters. There are no decals supplied. The aircraft I will try to represent is one which was stationed just up the road from where I live at RAF Morpeth. I will have to try to cobble together the markings from spares I have. No 4 Air Gunners School was formed in 1942, training mostly Polish air gunners. The type proved unpopular and was eventually replaced by Anson's. Accidents that occurred included 16th November 1942 a Botha took off from the wrong runway and collided with another, killing one and injuring another. 1943, in March alone they lost 4 more. The reason discovered was the poor view from the cockpit apart from ahead, led to collisions with 'attacking' fighters and target drogues. Enough history, here's the bits. Not starting yet, there's plenty of time.... isn't there? Davey. Here's the link to the aircraft I will be representing. http://www.neaa.co.uk/botha.html
  2. Well, after the not very nice experience with the noticeably inaccurate and problem-riddled Savoia S.65 by the same manufacturer, and because fellow modelers stated that their other kits were good, I decided to purchase another Karaya kit and give it a go. Today it arrived. All in all, this seems indeed a much better kit than the S.65, but we are still in the early stages of the build. These are the things that I like very much: -Subject, very appealing. -Price, fair. -Well detailed kit, convincing surface details, a number of detail parts that enhance the build. -Reasonable casting pouring blocks, making the parts not really difficult to remove and clean (one exception to be discussed later). -Reasonable engineering. -An exquisitely detailed engine. -The cockpit area has fine side wall detail (besides the natural components, included too) -Parts in general well cast (with exceptions, again to be discussed later). -A commendable non self-flattening box, if not a paradigm of rigidity either. -Thin trailing edges and flying surfaces, well represented, with nice detail, and in general highly commendable. -So far (we'll see as we go) an appearance of fidelity (not like the Savoia S.65, the misses of which could be spotted from miles away). -The wings have the panel separations, but are in one piece, making it very easy to produce the dihedral with little effort by just pushing carefully the outer panels up. That is a clever solution that deserves praise. -The location of struts, control cables, etc. is well marked and already prepared for insertion. -The struts are stamped on their pouring blocks with Roman numerals, making IDing them easier
  3. Here's an entry I did in the 'They also serve 2020' GB, which was what I would be building in the 'What you wouldn't want to go to war in' GB. Briefly, the Botha was built to the same specification as the Beaufort, a combined spec of a shore based torpedo bomber and land based general reconnaissance bomber. Despite passing Torpedo and mine-laying trials the Botha was a very difficult aircraft to fly and like most early war RAF types, underpowered. Despite this nearly 600 were built, most ending up in training units where losses mounted, due mainly to the poor all round vision it seems. I wanted to build one of these as I'm often attracted to lesser known types and obtained this PH resin kit from Hannants, it is currently still available. The build thread is shown on the link but generally it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Not for the beginner of course, and there is a lot of fettling to the parts required but the only things I added were carb intakes modified from an Airfix Beaufighter (the kit included two pairs of Volkes filters, used by some units near beaches), a lorenz beam antenna from the spares box and scratch built most of the cockpit. The undercarriage legs were moulded with steel rod inserts so are quite strong. You have to scratch build everything else and there is no positive location for them, they are made too long though. I don't know what the layout is like in the wheel bays so my twin hydraulic ram set-up is entirely fictitcious! The markings are for an aircraft based up the road from me at Tranwell airfield, RAF Morpeth. Used by 4 AGS training mainly Poles, they were soon exchanged for Avro Anson's due to the mentioned often fatal accidents. They were just knocked up and modified from the decal stash so aren't entirely spot-on, but when looking at photo's of Botha's they varied a lot in the style of roundels and codes. Critique and comment welcome. Davey.
  4. Thanks to 6thCCU for pointing this out to me under the Roden B-36B topic. Anigrand is to release a new 1/144 XC-99, though the release date has not been released. Hannants shows the forthcoming kit on their site but a search of the internet unearthed no additional information. Nor did I see anything on the Anigrand website confirming this release. Given that Hannants has it listed, this doesn't appear to be a rumored release but the lack of further information makes the status of this project hard to determine. I'm not familiar with Anigrand's practices regarding information on new releases so I'm definitely open to education from more experienced Britmodelers.
  5. Here is my latest kit finished during this week. It's Miniwing's 1:144 Dornier Do 18G-1. It represents K6+CL of 3./Kü.Fl.Gr. (Küstenfliegergruppe) 406, Luftwaffe, in 1940. This resin kit with vacform transparencies gave quite a bit of work. Some corrections had to be made like the top of the nose section as it is too high and curves up to the cockpit in profile when it should be lower and flat. The kit only came with one water rudder when the plane had two so I made a couple from plastic card. All masts, antennae, wires and rigging was made from stretched sprue. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. I had to overpaint some of the decals as the printing and or colour was poor. I scratchbuilt a beaching trolley using various builds of the Matchbox 1:72 kit with the Kora resin trolley kit as a guide. It was loosely based on this and although I made a mistake and it came out longer than it should be, I'm very pleased with it. It was fun!! As the kit was tail-heavy, I had to glue the trolley to a home-made base and the plane to the trolley. Despite some frustrations (and procrastinating) it all paid off and I'm very pleased with the result. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  6. Hi Folks, 2nd build in this GB. While I wait for seat belts to arrive for the prototype (I have some here somewhere , but damned if I know where!) I'll make a start on this 1/72 Czech Master Resin F Mk 22/24. I'm going to model F Mk 24 VN318 when it was with the Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force at Kai Tak, as it appeared for the HKAAF's final Spitfire flypast in April 1955; Alfred Price's 'The Spitfire Story' says that 'the Mark 24, was in its initial form externally no different from the Mark 22... Late production Spitfire 24s were distinguished by the fitting of the shorter-barrel Mk V Hispano cannon. Fifty-four Spitfire 24s were built by Supermarine, and a further 27 were converted from Mark 22s...' As you can see, VN318 had the long-barrel cannons. AFAIK the Mk.24 had a re-positioned access hatch behind the cockpit on the starboard side. The hatch on the CMR kit is further back where the Mk.22's hatch was (according to the Mk.1 profile). So I'm going to have to fill and re-scribe the hatch. No problem unless the the hatch really was back there on VN318, being an early Mk.24? Any Spitfire experts out there who can help? Possibly Graham, Troy, or Peter M? @Troy Smith @Graham Boak @Magpie22. Apologies in advance chaps for asking if this isn't your thing, but I would hate to re-scribe it now and then get told later when its painted that I got it wrong - and apologies to any other Spitfire experts I've overlooked! Anyway, back to the kit... Looks really nice. Lots of fine detail and the decals look really nice. I made a start on this kit many years ago but lost interest when I came up against the bright yellow canopy and the fuselage to wing fit problems. I've now got a Falcon vacform canopy and I'll see if I can fix the fit. Any thoughts, suggestions or tips gratefully received! Cheers,
  7. This is Fantastic Plastic's resin and photoetch model of Space Station V from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. After trimming, filling, sanding and washing, the resin parts look like this: Surface detail is good in parts, but there's a little damage to detail here and there, particularly in the short rim sections. Also a missing corner from one of those sections, fragment not present in the bag, but I should be able to patch it with styrene sheet. Above, I've already assembled the two ends of the hub, each of which comes as two parts. Lots of pour stubs to be removed from the hidden surfaces, and quite a bit of sanding, trial fitting and then a little filling to get a good fit. Fantastic Plastic helpfully include a set of scaled diagrams, helpful for trial fitting. They suggest immersing the long rim sections in hot water if they don't have the correct curvature, and the plans are invaluable in getting that right, though I got them pretty soggy as I dipped, stressed and then checked each rim section! Getting the spokes and rims all neatly aligned with no gaps is going to be a challenge. Again, the plans are excellent templates. Here, I've discovered that the thick end of the spokes is just the right width to support the rim section as a height gauge to keep the positioned spokes level while glue dries. Given that the kit provides a spare spoke, I may actually be able to repeat this trick all the way through. Any guidance on washes to bring out surface detail will be appreciated. I'm more used to marking up panel lines and applying oil and grime to aircraft.
  8. As I have finished my other four builds for this GB, when I was doing a stash tidy, (Oh the delights of lockdown) I found a small bundle of resin flight deck tractors and thought, 'well these are Naval aren't they? so let's build one'. I thought I'd go for the most modern in the bundle and here it is. You might question my sanity, and I do myself frequently, but it hasn't got many parts, it's basically all the same colour apart from the tyres and superglue dries really quickly. And the mould gates are not that big so should be reasonably straightforward to saw off. And there's no canopy to mask and fit. The contents of the box. 23 pieces of resin, including 5 for the tow bar, and they're all nicely moulded and little or no tidying up will be necessary once removed from the pour blocks and they're sanded clean. And a small piece of etch, with a manageable number of pieces. And a diminutive transfer sheet. The instructions are simple and small. But very comprehensive. So lets get started.
  9. Hello 👋 After encouragement from @JOCKNEY and a few others, I am going to enter one here. It is for the Spanish Civil War II Group Build that didn’t make it. I was going to be the host, I will return and edit this, place the co-hosts names here soon. I’m in hospital at the moment, Inverclyde. Everything will be done by iPhone. If images don’t show, please let me know. I will be building the recently released, by Dekno of Catalonia, British Aviation Eagle in Spanish Civil War markings. It is 1/72. Tiny, but it looks lovely in the box 😊. There may still be a special offer on the website. Worth checking; there often are offers and discounts for two or three models. All ‘Golden Era’ and/or SCW or racing/record aircraft; my favourite era and types. I must stress that new Dekno is very, very different to old Dekno. Superb Resin models with beautiful detail. I will start once out of hospital. Not long. Best regards Tony T
  10. Hello, Has anyone got any thoughts / knowledge they might share on paint primers that bond well to PU resin. I've tried over a dozen and I'm familiar with prep, degreasing sanding etc. I will more than likely be using enamel paint over the top. Thanks.
  11. I may have an opportunity to acquire a couple of 1/350 Iron Shipwright, Cold War, US Navy ships. I have read one or two reviews which were not entirely favourable given the price these can retail at. Does anyone have any view or information on the quality of these models generally? Thanks Terry
  12. Would you pay a premium for ready-to-use resin? Having had to clean a good number of blocks from some resin parts I purchased lately (add to that the precautions you have to take not to inhale the stuff), I was thinking that I would be ready to pay a premium for clean, ready-to-use resin parts. Would anyone else?
  13. This is one I started back in 2010. It's by Airtrax, and is moulded in resin. Tyres, suspension or glass are not included, although wheel covers of the correct design are provided. Photos of the kit parts themselves are here (not my pics - I had already made a start before it occurred to me to photograph them I'm using an Airfix (ex Aoshima) 1:24 MGB as the parts donor since the MG's 14" wheels at 1:24 are close enough to 15" at 1:25. The track is also the same, so most of the suspension parts etc can also be used. No doubt, the headlights and other small detail parts will also end up being used too. Headlights (both bowls / surrounds and lenses) are included in the kit, however I don't use alclad, just BMF or a Molotow Chrome pen & so will use the spare MG ones, with Molotow & BMF for other parts and detailing. My overall impressions of the kit are very positive - yes, some cleanup of the parts is required, and there are a few air bubbles that need filling, but no more than expected based on the description from Airtrax. The parts are all well moulded, with lots of detail with all badging on the body, and the dash is especially detailed. Now for the donor parts - the MG kit front suspension is close enough to the Volvo setup, so is being used pretty much as is but will have a few cosmetic tweaks to better represent the design of the Volvo crossmember. However, at the rear the MG is cart springs, whereas the Volvo is upper and lower trailing arms with coil springs and a panhard rod. The MG axle and hubs will still be used, but I will need to fabricate the rest of the suspension components. Wire wheels were a period optional fitment for P1800s, so I may keep those. If not, they may be hollowed out to accept the standard wheel covers as supplied in the kit unless I decide to turn something up on the centre lathe at work. Anyhow, enough talk – here’s the pics... An early shot, whilst still cleaning up the shell, and tweaking the fit of the chassis. Also in process of finalising the position of the wheels: Pretty much sorted - also added a section at the bulkhead to represent a box section that is there on the real car, and also to overhang & thus hide the join between body & chassis: (Also in the middle of cutting away the back of the finely moulded grille) Underside is well moulded too: Grille surround in place - this and the immediately following pics show the grille aperture cut away (compare to the very first pic - the original molding was solid all the way back to level with the front of the radiator): The front of the radiator (part of the chassis) has the appropriate detail moulded into it, so combined with the opened up grille, it seemed a pity not to show it. Front suspension - springs have been added, and there are now metal rod pins to locate & set the alignment of the crossmember (it needs to be removable, for a lot of further detailing to better represent the Volvo unit & then painting): The steering is incorrect too, as it still has the MG's rack & pinion, whereas the Volvo used a steering box with idler & linkages, which also need to be fabricated Crossmember as visible from the engine bay - the hollow top will be blanked off, and engine mountings then added. ON the real car, the top wishbone mounts are highly visible in the engine bay (those bushes are actually changed from under the bonnet!) so that needs detailing too. Rear suspension - the rear remainder of the leaf springs will be removed once the axle location is fixed, and has further location. The front part of the leaf springs will be remodelled into the lower trailing arm. Started fabricating the rear shocks (location point on the body was marked in the moulding) & just need to sort out the axle bracket now before the rear brake / hub assemblies can be glued in place properly: Front and side glass is in place - just need to sort out the rear window, but in the meantime, here's a view of the very nicely moulded dashboard: I must confess that I have done little since this stage except buy more Airtrax kits... In the to build pile I also have their Volvo Amazon saloon, Volvo Amazon estate (I provided them with reference data & also feedback on the masters for that one, and will be building it as a replica of my 1:1 Amazon estate), Jaguar Mk10, Volvo 142 and Triumph TR6. My excuse is that I am taking my time to build up my skills in order to build it to the standard and detail that I want. I would say this that this is also because it is my first resin kit, but that isn't strictly true as I built a 1:43 Alpine A110 by Starter when I was about 17 (Christmas present from my father, along with a custom mixed spray can of the correct Alpine blue 😎), but that was like painting and assembling a diecast model compared to this. Anyhow, now that I have posted about the P1800, hopefully it will guilt trip me into actually making further progress.
  14. Had no intentions on doing this little kit just yet. Knocked my coffee over and made a mess all over the bits and bobs. Thought I had better start it then. Looks like it will be an easy kit to build Decals and masks Thanks for stopping by for a look. Stephen
  15. Time to start something new and different. This is to help me cope with corona virus, corvid-19, wuhan, china virus or whatever you want to call it. Frankly I am quite angry about the whole thing and I will keep my angry thoughts for my wife and kids who have had a gut full me wanting to push the big red button. It is even illegal for me to go and take star pictures even at this location https://www.google.com/maps/@-28.8704918,152.7450645,479m/data=!3m1!1e3 (right click - open link in new tab). There is a cattle yard along Richmond Range Road at the center of the map. Only one car has previously passed me at this site and the only other critters that would know I am there are the wild dogs and some cows. There is no TV here either. Every time the idiot box is on you here about corona virus. GROWL Why would I want to build this, well it is going to be a Moa build with toilet, toilet roll, hand basin, passenger seating and anything Moa would add to a model, you get the idea. Am I biting off more than I can chew? YES, if I don't put myself out I won't learn. ENOUGH grizzling here are some of the bits in the kit. The kit is made up of Resin and white metal parts Thanks for stopping by and having a peek. Stephen, trying to cope. Wife NOT coping with Stephen ( wife wrote this) I know the rest of the world has got a very bad dose of this and my heart goes out to you all. Australia has so far gotten away very lightly with only 70 deaths. My Protest.... I will NOT buy anything made in china
  16. Here is my latest kit, finished this week. It's Kami de Korokoro's resin 1:144 Fokker D.XXI. It represents FR-106, LLv 32, Finnish Air Force, Siikakangas, summer 1940. Finland's top ace, Ilmari Juutilainen had scored a kill with this machine during the winter war (1939-40). As with my previous kit (also of Kami de Korokoro) despite the low part count it gave plenty of work but for different reasons. This one had less moulding flaws and flash in general though the propeller was very tricky to clean up. Unfortunately, the kit is a bit off in shape being somewhat compressed in length and with the tailfin too wide and the canopy top too curved. I managed to fix the latter two and lengthened the engine part as it was a bit short too. This meant making new blisters (which were oversized anyhow) and replacing the exhaust and the two underside intakes, all made from parts from my spares box. Apart from the tail struts and radio mast which were made from the thin metal rods supplied in the bagged kit, I added several details from stretched sprue: the guns, wing pitot (simplified), the gunsight and the tail mast. The scheme was based on a profile I found on internet. The colours aren't 100% authentic but come sufficiently close to those seen on photos of the replica on display in the Finnish Air Force museum. The kit was fully painted and varnished by brush. I replaced the insignia decals with those from a Mark I sheet and only used the serial and tactical numbers from the kit's sheet. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  17. Recently completed is this 1/350 HMS Upholder of 1942 where. on her 25th mission, she was lost with all hands. The kit is by EVA that was acquired unusually via FB. As is my 'new' way, The boat was going to be presented on a sea base so being a full hull model, much of it is below the waterline but to me, it's where it should be. Like most submarine kits, it has few parts but went together well. Painted with Tamiya Royal Blue. Build log here: Stuart
  18. Here is my latest kit finished just yesterday. It's Kami de Korokoro's all resin 1:144 Caproni-Campini N.1. It represents the first prototype (MM487) at the Caproni facility in Taliedo, near Milan, Italy, on 27 August 1940. Although low in part count, it still took quite a bit of work to clean up the parts, fix malformations and improve the mating of parts. I added the main undercarriage retraction arms and the wing pitot from stretched sprue. The kit was fully painted and varnished with brush. The kit decals were poorly printed so, apart from the tail crosses, the remaining markings came from other sheets. Although I didn't completely iron out all the flaws, I'm pleased with the end result. Thank you for looking and all comments are welcome as always Miguel
  19. The BFW M.20 (Or Messerschmitt M.20) was a passenger plane of the 30's built in several versions and used extensively by Lufthansa and subsidiaries. The version here (M.20b2) was able to carry 10 passengers in comfort, even providing a restroom with toilet and sink, necessities always appreciated on board. A monoplane of metallic construction and elegant lines, it was a truly modern plane, considering its contemporaries.
  20. Hi all, I had the need to build a 'boat' that has been sitting on the start line for a while. HMS Upholder, a U-Class coastal submarine and was launched in 1940 and operated out of Malta for her 2 year lifespan. She was involved in operations and in one year, she sent over 93,000 GRT to the bottom of the Mediterranean and her Captain was awarded with the VC. Unfortunately, Upholder was sunk on her 25th mission, in April 1942. A big box that could have fitted 30+ of these subs. Purchased from EAV via Facebook. Delicate stuff; sail, masts, gun, PE and decals. Picture... Started, couldn't help myself. A huge casting plug was attached at the obvious point, along the keel. Unfortunately, the plug hid much of he keel and the forward section came off with the plug. No matter, as my new doctrine with subjects that sail on or under water, are now going onto a sea base, so half the boat isn't going to be seen. Stuart
  21. The exceptional lines of the Savoia S.65 are a sheer delight, and although it never delivered what it promised, and did not actually compete in the Schneider Cup, the mere act of contemplating it is a source of aviation bliss. Karaya is a firmly established model manufacturer with a wide catalog that includes, to my delight, many Schneider planes. Karaya's reputation is good, but apparently my first encounter with their products was unfortunate, as I purchased a sadly inaccurate S.65. To start to make this flawed kit look like the real thing, the following was done: -Correct the spurious cut out on the fuselage top and sides, restoring the correct, continuous shape -Install the side windows, deleting the spurious extra radiators (located above the correct fuselage radiators) -Correct the shape of the elevator horn balances -Add the headrest -Correct the wrong position of the insertion of the float struts into the fuselage bottom -Substitute the ridiculous resin butt-joined booms for metal inserted ones -Correct the mistakes on the rigging -Revise position of "V" struts at the end of the floats, moving them back as per photos -Add boom fairings that continue on top and bottom of the elevator I am sure there were others, but that should be entertainment enough. A seemingly nice kit, certainly nicely molded and with good detail, completely let down by its many very visible inaccuracies. And not just minutia: blatant mistakes made absolutely obvious just by looking at photos of the original plane. The list is too long, but you may like to have a look at my many encounters during the build with frustrating errors, and to add insult to injury an engineering that left a lot to be desired, and not particularly accurate decals: Still, propelled by the sheer beauty of the type, some modifications were made, parts replaced with better ones, engineering revised, and many details corrected to obtain a model that if still not totally accurate, at least resembles much closely the original. This is a missed opportunity: such fantastic plane, and a kit that came too short, not sure why, as the general quality of the parts (accuracy and engineering apart) is good. The modifications to obtain a more credible model are too involving, and I wouldn't have done it if I knew from the start the challenges, but I started blinded by the good reputation of the manufacturer (whose other kits reputedly are accurate and nice to build). So I went on, feeling bad about trashing a kit of such beautiful plane that besides cost a pretty penny. So here are the results of much huffing and puffing, and having to continually look at references in order no to fall into accuracy traps. A paradigm of Italian design that produced a very stylized racer, and, if nothing else, a wonderful "oggetto d'arte".
  22. Well, I just got this one from Santa, and since I am away from the building board and surrounded by unruly British inlaws, I thought I should take my mind off things and psychologically shorten the time to get back home by doing these opening posts for this build. There is a long cue of WiPs that I started, and am waiting for the decals to complete a few others, so this will not be Speedy Gonzalez style at any rate, just an opening gambit. I got no magnifier nor tools with me at the moment, but I do have with me my portable hard drive with some references and the laptop. This is not a new kit on the market, so I won't be doing a full review, just stating some impressions and making some comments. Firsts impressions are cautiously optimistic. This is my first Karaya kit, a brand I stayed away so far due to their prices, however justified they may be because of to the medium and the quality. The molding looks good, no pinholes, bubbles or blobs, parts being crisp and with reasonable pouring blocks that seem easy to detach and clean. You get a dolly and trestles, a succinct interior -with some wall detail also- (yet not much will be visible anyway) and a relatively small part count. The windshield is cast as a sort of cage, not as a clear part. You may clean it (there is a bit of thin flash in many parts), paint it, and fill the voids with window-maker (clear glue), or just replace it with folded thin clear sheet. The decals seem well printed and sharp. The float halves (total bananas in my sample) have locating devices, but show no location marks for the struts that I can see, which shall make things interesting. The molding as said is quite good, yet not in the same league of -for example- SBS's offerings. I got what it looks like a short pour on one of the trolley wheels, nothing terrible tough. I see so far three noticeable issues: 1) The radiators on the wing have an exaggerated thickness, they would benefit from some toning down. 2) The kit has depicted an area immediately above the fuselage oil coolers as extra radiator surfaces (or something like that), but these areas (both sides) were actually windows, included to help the very restricted visibility the pilot had. 3) There is an abrupt transition (more like a cut-off section) of the fairings of the cylinder banks (fore and aft) mid-fuselage (cockpit area), which I don't think is correct. The windows -described above- located in panels seem in photos to make a less abrupt transition between the said volumes. .
  23. After my brief flirtation with Hammer films,normal service has been resumed Got this big kit via Killer kits,a lovely big chunk of well cast resin.Kit as it came. fair play to the original sculptor,Sigourney Weavers hair is very ill defined in this film,so I had a go at bulking it out with Milliput The base is really nice too,but I didnt like all the gaps ,so filled with Milliput and added some surface detail. Story so far.
  24. Panavia Tornado Wheel Set (3230) 1:32 Halberd Models Halberd Models’ recent flexible resin tyre sets require a slightly different method of construction to standard resin wheels, so I’ll refer you back to my initial review in 2019 here, which explains the process and design ethos in more detail. It also has a link to a video that shows the process fully, so if you’re unsure about how to use flexible resin tyres it’s worth a read. The assemblies are a drop-in replacement for the kit parts, so they should glue straight onto the landing gear axles, but it's always wise to test and adjust as necessary, as you'll be using either epoxy or super-glue to attach them because resin doesn't adhere with styrene glue. The tyres will deform slightly under weight, just enough to give them a more realistic look, but not so much that they'll look in dire need of more air before the next mission. This set is designed for the big Revell kit, which has been re-released more than a few times under different marks, but the wheels shouldn’t differ so only one set is needed. Arriving in the by now familiar box, there are ten resin hub parts on two casting blocks, plus four tyres – two larger main and two nose wheels. Construction involves liberating the resin from their undercut base either with a razor saw or motor tool, then cutting the spoked centres out of the tyres and smoothing the inner face with a burr chucked into a motor tool. Each main wheel has a thick rear part with brake-detail added inside the rim, and a thinner front hub face, while the two nose wheels each have two hub parts as you’d expect. They’re best glued with super glue (CA), and the wheels can be painted with latex based acrylic paints if necessary. Detail is excellent both on the hubs and tyres, and with sympathetic painting they should far outstrip that of the kit parts. Highly recommended. They’re currently being sold direct to customers via their Facebook page and through their distributors worldwide. Review sample courtesy of
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