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Aviation Traders Limited Carvair. 1:144 Roden kit with Classic-airlines.com decals. The Carvair was developed to replace the Bristol Freighters used to transport cars & passengers across the English Channel to France, hence its name (Car-via-air). Modified from C-54/DC-4 airframes it was considerably cheaper than an all new aircraft would have been. The modifications consisted of a completely new forward fuselage, relocating the cockpit on top, much like the later Boeing 747, and a new tail fin to counter it. Its has been widely thought that the fin was from a DC-7, but apparently this is not true, they were new build units. The Roden kit build very well, although I did have to shim the upper inboard wings to avoid a gap where they meet the fuselage. The main gear legs were way too short, initially resulting in the rear of the fuselage almost touching the ground. I removed them and inserted a platform about 4mm deep to attach the legs to, in order to achieve the 'sit' you see here. I wasn't too keen on the kit supplied colour scheme for British Air Ferries, but found this 'British United' scheme at Classic-airlines.com, which I really like. There are also several others available. They are laser printed on constant film, so you have to cut each subject out individually. I can heartily recommend them though, they went on superbly and were easy to use. Enough chat, time for the photos (ugly innit?) ; 'With something else - an easy choice - A Welsh Models Bristol Freighter. Thanks for looking, John

Maybe I should give peace a chance with this Roden 1/144 Convair CV-340. I bought this kit second hand and it's already been started. Windows have been glued, nose weight added and wings glued together - but still well under 25% I'm sure. Windows have been sanded flush with the fuselage, I think the idea is to use the decals for the windows. Kit decals. But I will be using Kar-Air decals by Arctic Decals instead.

Well, I know this subject was quite popular last time but having recently got some decals from Ray at 26Decals to replace those that came with the kit (which were poorly printed) this will be my first foray into this year's GB. Photos taken by me at Ringway on 23 Aug 1966, presumably it was on the Manchester - Prestwick - New York route. I'm aiming to build at least two aircraft but have to get my From Russia with Love entry done before too much will be done in this GB. Regards Mike

I originally posted this in the Rumourmonger section where there was a thread about the kit but it probably makes more sense to re-post here where more airliner fans are likely to see it. I received my first Roden CV340 today. I don't claim any great expertise in Convair Twins but Roden seem to have given us the narrow rectangular engine exhaust outlets of the 440, not the twin round pipes of the 340. I know that many (most?) 340s were upgraded to 440 standards but unless I'm mistaken it's not possible to build an unmodified 340 from the kit as it comes. Scratch building replacement exhausts shouldn't be difficult but it's a bit of an annoyance. Would anyone who knows more about the prototype than me care to comment? Rumourmonger thread including sprue shots here. Apart from the exhaust issue the kit looks lovely.

One or two, because I just remembered I’ve got both boxings of Roden’s RAF Se5a: the Viper and Hisso. If I can find the latter I will add it. This is the box art of the version with Wolseley Viper engine. The only visible difference between that and the Hispano Suiza will be the radiator and propeller - they rotated in different directions. I also found a PE fret from Parts of Poland, but i’ll hardly use all 70+ little pieces. First things first is no surprise - I will need need new decals, at least roundels: Roden decal issue cleared, here comes the good parts: As usual for Roden we are treated with nice details and several options, e.g. different deckings and both standard and reinforced undercarriage. I’m curious to see what the other box contains. Which particular machines I will built depends on what decals I can find or mask.

Slight change of plan as I am postponing the Albatros D.I, so instead I will build this (hopefully) and get my hand in for Roden's delicate biplane kits. A rather cleaner moulding of this plane which is perhaps less well known than its Albatros contemporaries. The kit contains parts for both the D.III and the D.IIIa, and unlike the replica flown by George Peppard's character in the Blue Max film which was lozenge painted I seem to recall, this kit comes with a selection of rather more colourful markings. I always wondered why the producers of the film chose to have Pfalz and not Albatos replicas made Many years ago I bought a vacform kit of this but like all of the others I bought it never got built. Pete

With my batch of roughly 20 year old Roden fighters just about beaten into submission I decided I now had enough experience of their earlier kits to attempt something bigger that I bought at the same time. Having watched Ray's build of their G.III last year I realise this will not be an easy build and so I am unlikely to finish it in this GB, but there is always the KUTA, providing it has not by then made a short terminal flight into the bin! Pete

Figured this kit would be a perfect choice for this group build. The Boeing 307 was developed from the B-17 to answer the call for a 4-engined airliner. It was one of the first airliners to feature a pressurized cabin. 10 were built, 5 for TWA, 3 for Pan-Am, and 1 for Howard Hughes. Their service history is quite interesting, but unfortunately, most airframes were lost to accidents. 2 airframes remain today. NX19904, owned by Hughes, was damaged during Hurricane Cleo in '64. It was then converted to a house boat, eventually being acquired by the Florida Air Museum until sold early this year to Kermit Weeks, the owner of the museum Fantasy of Flight. N19903, the other surviving airframe, was first sold by Pan-Am in '48 and went through many different owners (including a Haitian dictator) before being acquired by the National Air and Space Museum. It was stored at PIMA Air and Space Museum from '73-'94 until funds were ready for a full restoration. Shipped to Boeing Field in Seattle, it was completely restored to airworthy condition. In its final test flight, it ran out of fuel and crashed in Elliot Bay on March 28th, 2002. It was raised from the water, and once again, fully restored. In June of 2003, she flew from Seattle to her home at the National Air and Space Museum, where she sits on display today. This will be the aircraft I will build. Roden's kit came out in 2019 Having a cockpit in 1/144, I found KV Models made some canopy masks The detail of the kit is quite good, especially in this scale I found decals for the Pan-Am aircraft from Vintage Flyer Decals Looking forward to this!

My dad´s next project DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr bought Quickboost resin seats with molded on seatbelts in the past DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr initially wanted to use Siam Scale decals, but realized, the schemes on this sheet all come with ejections seats, like the ones used in Skyraiders. DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr therefore gonna use AOA decals, will do one of the two center schemes which have the normal seats DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Good day, This is my seventh completed project for the year and second in 1/144 scale. The highlights of the kit are as follows……… 1. Paints used : A. Airframe : Tamiya Flat White ( XF-2 ), Tamiya Light Sea Grey ( XF-25 ), Tamiya Flat Black ( XF-1 ) B. Misc colors : Tamiya Titanium Silver ( X-32 ), Tamiya Metallic Grey ( XF-56 ), Tamiya Flat Aluminum ( XF-16 ), Tamiya black panel line wash 2. Uschi Bobbin Thread ( super fine size ) for the antenna. 3. Kit decals 4. Plumber`s putty and lead fishing sinker used for ballast in the nose section. 5. Replaced wing edge pitots (?) with metal tubes. Like many kits in 1/144 scale, there are not many parts / pieces to this Rivet Joint however and don`t ask me why, but I had a devil of a time trying to eliminate the numerous seams. The fit of the engine pylons to the wings was troublesome but overall, the fuselage, wings, and horizontal stabilizers went together without too much difficulty. I used a decal from the spares box for the cockpit windows. I even had to correct the always dreadful “silvering” of a select number of decals. The black line between the white and grey colors on the fuselage was a decal that came in three separate pieces for each side. The landing gear is nicely detailed. This kit took longer than I first envisioned due to extra effort required for the seams throughout. I recommend this Rivet Joint from Roden for all skill levels but be mindful of the seams and the blade antennas during assembly. Thank you in advance and respectfully submitted, Mike

My first entry in this GB. I built the ancient Airfix kit a very long time ago, and this tank has always been a favourite of mine. I bought this kit not long after it was released in the early noughties, it being the very first Roden 1:72 AFV kit. The kit comprises about 125 parts, including flexible tracks. My preferred subject is an Egyptian tank, but I doubt I'll be using the recommended Humbrol 63 Sand for that. Something much, much paler seems to be required, such as Humbrol 121.

Having just about finished my Fokker E.V I will make start on the F.1 and just to prove there is no limit to my foolishness I will also have a go at this. During the first trials at Adlershof in early 1918 Fokker entered several prototypes as I mentioned in the E.V thread. One, the V.11, went on to become the Fokker D.VII with a water cooled Mercedes engine but as rotary engined planes were also on the agenda they also entered their V.9 together with 2 variants of the V.13. Both the V.9 and V.13/1 were powered by the 110 h.p. Oberursel U II whilst the V.13/2 had a 160 h.p. Siemens-Halske Sh III engine. Both of these engines were new and still under development, and so a bit unreliable, though the Oberursel was somewhat better in that respect and the V.13/1 was deemed suitable for service as the Fokker D.VI - more on the development later. Having perhaps learned a little of how to apply the Roden lozenge decs from the E.V I may have a shot at using it again here, though I suspect I will just use it as a template for the Tec Mod decs I bought recently. Unlike the E.V and as you can see, in this case the lozenge is also on the wings to add to the fun! Pete

As my D.I is going together reasonably well so far I thought I may as well start the D.II in parallel. I won't bother showing the sprues as they are identical to those of the D.I boxing. After a short production run of D.I, Albatros responded to complaints from the pilots about poor upwards/forward visibility by lowering the upper wing and moving it slightly forward. They did this by replacing the original triangular cabane strut arrangement with splayed out "N" struts and brought the wing closer to the top of the fuselage. Early versions as the one on the box art retained the Windhoff radiators on the fuselage, but I will be building the later version with the aerofoil section Teeves und Braun radiator mounted on the top of the upper wing on the centreline. The kit provides two variations of this radiator, the other presumably for the Austrian Oeffag built version, which Roden released as an alternative boxing. Pete

Last year in the "Not my Comfort Zone" GB I built a Halberstadt D.II which was probably the first purpose built fighter aircraft used by the German Airforce in WWI. It did not serve for long as it was outclassed by the more heavily armed Albatros series of single seat fighters, so to complement it I thought I would build this. The sprues contain parts for several versions as we will see later and there is a surprising amount of flash, which could be problematic given how fragile some of the parts look. I was also a little surprised by the lack of cockpit detail from a kit first released in 2002, so I may have to do a few improvements. Depending on how this build goes I will probably also be building their D.II which has a few subtle differences. The only other Roden kits I have built so far were of German armoured cars, and whilst they were good, the were fiddly with fragile "scale" parts. At least they did not need rigging!😄 Pete Pete

When I bought a batch of Roden WWI plane kits around 20 years ago, for some reason I included this. I am not quite sure why, though perhaps having already built the old Airfix and Revell Dr.1, I fancied something slightly different, or maybe because I rather liked the idea of building the plane Werner Voss flew before he was shot down and killed. I will explain the development later in the build thread, but the F.1 was a "pre-production" version of the Dr.I, two of which were issued to units for service testing before the initial batch of "Triplanes", one initially going to Manfred Von Richtofen and the other to Voss. As usual Roden make the maximum use of their mouldings by producing boxings for the F.I and a normal Dr.I, and as you can see from the sprues they include two styles of both ailerons and props, but unfortunately they have not catered for the fact that the horizontal tail of the F.I had a slightly curved profile compared with the straight edged production version, so I will try and modify it. There were perhaps a number of other differences but sources are a bit vague - I seem to remember reading that the cowlings may have differed though I have no details, and also that the wingspan of the production version was slightly greater. One thing that was apparent was that the F.I did not have the skids fitted to the outer edges of the lower wings, but that is easily dealt with. More as and when. Pete

I don't remember when I first heard of this plane, but I always fancied building one. Of course, over the years I have discovered that it was far less important than I first believed, and as I will explain later it seems that very few actually entered service and that probably only one kill was claimed when flying it, but when Roden released a kit I bought it anyway. It has the advantage of having only one wing and no rigging, but could prove tricky anyway as the struts look very fragile and I will need to use Roden lozenge decals on the fuselage which, given their track record, could be a real pain. Time will tell! If anybody out there has built this kit themselves and knows of any problems with it I would be interested to hear from them. I seem to remember having seen comments about the lozenge decs being "a problem" but whether that meant they disintegrated, or maybe a criticism of the pattern/colour was unclear. Pete

Roden is to release a 1/144th Convair XC-99 kit - ref. 14351 Source: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11131688 V.P.

My initial thought for this GB was a Spit, everyone loves a Spit particularly an early mark. I have an Eduard Me109E "in the stash"but I didn't fancy modelling the "bad guys" this time. I took a bit of advice and settled on a Gloster Gladiator. 247th Squadron flew the Gladiator in protection of the SW ports from a pretty rough strip near Roborough (also known at one time as Plymouth Airport) (More history of the site here). The strip was unsuited to more modern monoplanes at the time so the Glad was deployed having moved the squadron down from Sumburgh in Shetland where they were tasked with providing cover for Scapa Flow. Since deciding on the subject of my model I have done some internet research and I will add more of this as I add to this thread. So this is the kit (love the pixie boots!) Contents of the box... And these are the add-ons I have chosen I decided against the resin engine and cowl as they almost doubled the cost of the build and I'm not particularly fond of working with resin. So I have the Yahu etched instrument panel a set of turned brass gun barrels (as I more often model armour plastic bun barrels seem, wrong) and then we have the real challenge of this kit... rigging on the recommendation of another Glad builder I have chosen this elastic material. Wish me luck! One thing that does concern me is the decals. I am told to expect these to be a pig to work with. I will try the Finnish swastikas to see how they handle. If they are as bad as people suggest I will be looking for alternates and would welcome pointers as it looks like I will be buying multiple sheets. This is what I hope to model.

Hi everybody, For starters, i conflated the H.P. Victor with the VC10. It was the Victor that was called the "Iron Duck" , and not the VC10. I have flagellated myself appropriately, and made the corrections where needed. Most of you know that i recently finished my first airliner- the Roden 1/144th scale Super VC10. For those of you who want to go directly to the end result, go here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235113603-iron-duck-final-report/#comment-4467887 And for those who wonder about how i go about building an airliner model (badly 🤣), go here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235103625-iron-duck/#comment-4279708 So Anyway....as G-ASGH was approaching completion, i went and did a thing. Yes, i went and started another Roden Super VC10. Some of you might be asking, "David in the name of God, WHY??" Well the reason is because over the course of the build, new information came to light on the VC10 that was received too late to implement on -ASGH, and there were some techniques/aspects to the build that i was either not satisfied with, or not documented appropriately at the time. So, this thread won't go into the mind-numbing detail of IRON DUCK. Rather it's intended to expand on just the places where i (think) i can do things a little bit better and cleaner. It won't have quite as many photos or quite as many updates, but i think the information will still be useful. The first thing that i decided to tackle were the fuselage windows. As some of you know, they were something of a disaster on the first model, using the kit windows and then puttying over them with Tamiya putty (which then pulled out during the masking and painting phases). On this second model, i attempted to fill the windows from the inside using epoxy with tape on the outside to hold it in place. Sounded like a great idea in theory, but in practice i was left with numerous air bubbles which needed to be filled with CA after the tape was removed. The windows are now all filled and they are all flush... but i am still searching for the best, most perfect, most-can't-fail-sure-fire-way method to fill the windows. Next up was the vertical fin. As with -ASGH, the halves were flat sanded on a piece of wet 320, but i was still left with gaps at the trailing edge of the rudder which were filled in by ramming strips of .005 sheet into the gaps with CA, and then block-sanding everything straight, thin, and flush. I'm still looking for a method to "nail" the alignment of the stabilizers. This time i glued just the lower halves to the fin, turned the whole thing upside down and taped the stabs down onto two pieces of wood of equal thickness, assuring that the surfaces were at least on the same 3-dimensional plane. Once dry, i added the upper halves. Next up came the engine nacelles. I learned too late in the game that the inner engine inlets were staggered slightly forward of the outboard ones. Not a huge amount, but enough to notice on close inspection. At the time, i felt the engine pylons were a little too thin in cross section, so i tried to thicken those up with a piece of .015 styrene. The end result of that wasn't very noticeable and it required slicing partway between the lower engine/pylon piece to fix some fit issues. I would not do *that* again. However, extending the inboard intakes was worth the effort... There's still quite a bit to be done with respect to panel lines and vents, drains, etc., but the major re engineering is all done. Next up came the wings. Again, i cut off all of the locator pins and flat sanded the surfaces on wet 320. The leading edges come together just fine, but we still were left with the gap issues on the wing trailing edges... However, with time, patience and the right tools, the trailing edge can be successfully rehabilitated and made presentable. Fabricating the wing fences came next. This time, i made the saw cuts in the wings before gluing the halves together... The fences are removable and can be left off the model until the painting stage. No longer in the way, where my fat fingers will blunder into them. I used the same method of re-doing the wing attachment as on -ASGH, though i went with somewhat beefier rods in the rear spar area. One of the things i learned late in my first build, (and i was not happy with either) were the gaps at the trailing edges of the wings at the fillet fairing. When the flaps are down, the innermost flap segment actually incorporates a small portion of the wing fillet, and there should not be any gaps there. Since my last major forays into gap filling with CA, i've expanded the technique somewhat to incorporate dental resin acrylic powder mixed into the CA. Trust me when i say that the resin/CA composite sanded away quickly and easily. That's all for the first installment. I'll report back when i'm finished installing and blending in the windscreen. I'm about halfway though that evolution right now. Maybe i'll work on that Phantom for a little bit.....

I don't learn of my mistakes. I was stupid enough to build the He111C and later stood in the hobby store holding a He111B but then remembered what the kit was like and decided on not to build one. Now some years later I am sitting here with a kit anyway. Let get in to the misery. It's no big secret that the box for the landing gear is too high to fit inside the wing halves. The sides of the box were this time built together without the "ceiling" and glued in place. Then the sides could be cut down to the appropriate height to fit. I used the Dremel to deepen and extend the recess for "the roof". Of course I sanded through the plastic as it became too thin. I think it would have been easier to skip" the roof" and glue some plastic strips directly into the wing instead .The upper half of the wings need to be thinned out at the rear to get it right. My earlier build:

Roden is likely to release a 1/32nd Avro 504K in late 2022 Source: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11367.0 V.P.

#7/2024 So, here´s my dad´s latest completion. Typical Roden kit so it didn´t turn out "perfect". Markings with Iliad Design decals. Seems nobody knows the Chinese camo colours, if they had any specific ones. Usually in kit and decal instructions you only read dark green and light grey. Painted the model with AK RC AII Protective Green and Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey. Used 0,4mm plastic rods for the rigging. Buid thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235135968-sino-japanese-war148-beechcraft-d17-staggerwing-chinese-nationalist-airforce/ The Chinese Airforce used a bunch of Staggerings as Air Ambulance during the concflict with Japan in the 40ies. Found no pic of the original and have no idea how the interior of these planes looked, so built it according to the instructions. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0022 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Gonna be a companion for the Chinese I-16, Roden kit with decals from Iliad Design, let´s see how it turns out.... DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Hello to all! here my last work... an Air America PC-6 C/H2 from Roden (one of the most challenging kit that I ever faced). I converted the base kit to a "no car doors version" adding a new and corrected vacuformed windshield. Pilatus_15 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_100 by Valerio, su Flickr I also used some aftermarkets like Quickboost propeller, corrected nose and exhaust, Eduard photoetched set and Wolf3Dresin.com main wheels and tail wheel 3D resin parts. Many other parts has been scratchbuilt or made by turned brass. The model has been completely riveted with Archer positive rivets. Pilatus_130 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_132 by Valerio, su Flickr Decals from Mike Grant's, except for the registration marks painted using home made plottered masks. Hope you'll enjoy! Pilatus_END 1 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 19 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 18 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 6 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 4 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 17 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 20 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 5 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 16 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 14 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 15 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 13 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 12 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 11 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 10 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 9 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 8 by Valerio, su Flickr Pilatus_END 7 by Valerio, su Flickr Cheers from Rome!

I'd forgotten all about this one, but chatter around the Baby Boomers GB stirred my memory and in turn the stash. Too far over the 20% for that GB but I'm feeling it for a KUTA. No pics until phone broken, but gone backwards a little for starters as tugged the fuselage apart to rework it, and add more ballast. My main incentive is to get to the KLM 40th anniversary decals from F-Decal. Before that, I see a lot of struggle and pain.