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The rather grandly-named Aeronautical Corporation of America (Aeronca) was formed in 1928 by a group of Cincinnati, Ohio businessmen hoping to profit from the recent boom in US civil aviation. With initially no product to sell, they settled on the ultralight monoplane designed by Air Corps engineer Jean Roche, which was productionised as the Aeronca C-2 ‘Flying Bathtub’ and became the World’s first successful major-production ultralight aircraft, largely down to the reliability of the 2-cylinder engine Aeronca also manufactured to power it. By 1935 however, the writing was on the wall for the Flying Bathtub line (after over 500 had been produced), as the CAA banned the production of light aircraft with wire-braced wings, which required careful maintenance, seen as a potential safety hazard. So Aeronca had to create a more modern successor and hedged their bets by designing two.... First was the model K, which was effectively an updated replacement for the bathtub, with slimmer lines, strut-braced high wing and the same 2-cylinder 36 h.p. engine. The other was the model L, an altogether more sophisticated affair, with a low-mounted cantilever wing and very 1930s-looking trousered undercarriage. Although the prototype had the usual 2-cylinder engine, that proved adequate only for a single circuit of the airfield to determine much more power was required. This was found in the shape of the locally-produced 5-cylinder Le Blond radial, with 85 hp, which gave the hoped-for performance. Although it was well-received, it was comfortably outsold by the cheaper model K, which evolved into the popular Chief when fitted with 4-cylinder engine. The Aeronca factory was flooded in 1937 and some of the model L tooling destroyed, so the management decided to cease production after 66 had been completed. Only a handful survive, with only one currently in airworthy condition, as shown in this very informative video with vintage lightplane test pilot extraordinary Andrew King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEtvvrJjHqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkVZjyX7jro It’s one of my favourite 1930s lightplanes and I built this model almost exactly 30 years ago and it won the 1/72 scratchbuilt and vacform class at the 1993 IPMS UK Nationals. Model is 100% scratchbuilt from plasticard using my take on Harry Woodman’s techniques, including the Le Blond engine and Sensenich prop.

So Alien/Aliens are among my favourite films. I’ve built an alien and an APC in the past and have half built an APC recently, so this is an excuse to finish the APC and add something interesting to my collection. This is where my APC is at. This is my starting point it’s in 1/200 so first step is to scale it up by 2.7 to get 1/72.

Just a little diorama to get me back into the swing of thing, not the best dio but I had a lot of fun putting it together. Cheers all. Brian.

I’ve been threatening to build one of these for a while, possibly the ugliest airplane ever built. First order of business, a buck got the fuselage, I’m going to split it into three moldings, one for the cupola and two fuselage sides. It’s glued/taped/screwed so once it’s shaped I can easily split it into three pieces for molding.

PzH 2000 - 1/24 Scale - Scratchbuilt I present my recently completed model of a Panzerhaubitze 2000 self propelled howitzer in Ukrainian armed forces service. Originally my intent was to paint this model as a german gun in Afghanistan, but very unfortunately about half way through this build, the war in Ukraine escalated dramatically. As a consequence several of these extraordinary weapons have been dispatched to the conflict and I have changed the markings to represent one of these as it may appear today. This project ran for over three years and, by my very rough reckoning, has absorbed at least 300 hours of my time. The model is completely scratchbuilt using a wide variety of materials including, wood, MDF, plastic-sheet, brass, poured-resin, aluminium lithoplate, a few dabs of filler and - very occasionally - bits and pieces scavenged from injection molded kits. No 3D printing was used. The last photo is intended to show the size of the finished item. It’s a fairly large model. The whole WIP story is documented here: Building models this way is always a learning process. For me the chief lessons learned were: How to scratchbuild tracks; which is actually not too bad once you know how. MDF is a really useful material, especially when skinned with plastic-sheet or aluminium lithoplate. Acrylic laquer paints are really very good. In this case I've used SMS paints and am definitely a convert. Figures can be scratchbuilt, although not easily. Magnets can be used to hold movable parts steady when required. In this case once the gun's elevation is set it's held in place by a couple of strong magnets inside the turret. There are some really good modern glues out there including Selly’s Powergrip and Gyprock’s blue acrylic joist paste. Careful attention to precise and accurate measurement at every stage really pays dividends. A good set of digital calipers are an indispensable tool. That's it for this project. Sincere thanks to all that have shown interest in this, especially anyone who has commented or posted 'likes'. As always, without the support of the Britmodeller community I don't know that I would have completed this. I hope to see you soon on the maritime pages as the SS Xantho gets yet another KUTA! Very Best Regards, Bandsaw Steve

All hello! I want to build the Yugoslavian tank the type of А. of Tanka was built on the basis of Т- 34 . Made 5 things. In detail about a prototype it is written here - https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_tip_A

This is actually the first 38(t) I’ve built a 1/24 Scratchbuilt Hetzer. I’ll be reusing the masters I made for the running gear on this build to make a 1/24 38(t) I’m also going to build either or both a Grille and a Marder. Now to go figure the best way to cast 24 sets of road wheels …

The Austro Hungarian Lohner type AA I came across this on the internet and thought I just had to build one. There were a surprising number of prototype variations built but I’m going for the AA. I’ve already found some plans and scaled them to 1/48. Now I just need to attack my WIP to have the scope to start this in a few weeks time.

I’m probably going to scratch some 1/28 airplanes as my Fokker DR1 is lookin awfully lonesome but I thought I’d start the ball rolling with two Daleks. Yes I actually went and bought the plans from projectDalek ( I wonder if they’re evil plans, hmmm) An Emperor and a drone both in 1/6 scale… More to follow

Here we have a slight departure from the norm, but my son has a school project to build a prehistoric roundhouse so I thought it was time to teach him some techniques and train up the next generation. Here are some pics of today's efforts in the sunshine. Waiting for the clay and glue to dry out now before we weave some coloured wool between the wall posts and add the clay and flock turf roof tomorrow. Then we'll sprinkle some flock around for some grass and add some doors.

I'm guessing most of you won't know me as I'm a ship modeller. I'm posting here because I'm currently constructing a diorama showing a WW2 RAF Air-Sea rescue buoy (known as a Cuckoo) that has beached in a storm and is being inspected by some RAF personnel in a Bedford MWD. Now, I don't make kits, I scratch build everything and wherever possible, I model wood in wood and metal in metal. So, the Bedford is being modelled in brass, shapes and etched parts with a wooden bed and sides. This thread is in the marine section where people know me and as the main event is maritime. However, I thought there may be a little interest in the process I'm attempting for the truck amongst vehicle modellers, so if anyone wants to stop by, here is the link. Bedford MWD It's my first attempt at vehicle modelling so be kind Cheers Steve

The next build begins This is a quick small build (pause for hysterical laughter) while I work on the drawings for what will be a very large complex build that I finally have the room for. This one is a small diorama of an ASR buoy that has ended up on the beach after a storm. It will be being inspected by some RAF personnel who have just rocked up on a Bedform MWD I'm sure a lot of you know about these buoys (or dumb barges) but I only found out about them watching the film "One of our aircraft is missing" As I understand it, the story begins the Luftwaffe general Udet deciding that too many aircrew were drowning in the channel and North Sea on the way home so he had these buoys built and anchored on the common routes home The British found out and decided to copy the concept with a more seaworthy alternative, the ASR Dumb barge, also know as "Cuckoo", shown here being anchored for the first time, all shiny paint... These were ~30 ft long, this is the best drawing available on line, there are a couple of others, but they seem to be copies of this image, with slight variations. You will note this drawing doesn't agree with the picture when you study it closely I couldn't find any model plans so I've drawn my own. It is in 1:48th and 1:72nd scale, with frame cutting plan at the former scale I'll be using One survives in a maritime museum on Scotland, but it has modifications from its time as a house boat, so be careful. This is a 3D scan of that survivor The other part of this diorama is a Bedford MWD. Now I've never built a truck, but my goal is to scratch-build it in metal and wood which could end up a complete disaster, but I'm going to give it a go. To help, I bought this Airfix kit (no longer available apart from really expensive on eBay). This will help me reproduce the components in brass etc But I'm getting ahead of myself, first the Cuckoo, which I know I can make. This will be ply on frame and then clad in 0.3mm copper. With the cutting plan, I had the perfect first project for my new toy, a desktop laser cutter/engraver Some hours later, and much frustration over file types, finally to the sound of "what's that burning..." drifting up the stairs Job done, it actually worked first time, amazing. The uncut rectangle on the right is for scaling in the control software How sweet is that Some 2x2 and 1x1.5 lime strip later And 0.5mm ply cladding started, its taking shape very rapidly Something a little different, really just playing with some new stuff and I get to build a war-time beach, possibly with a pill-box, we will see Cheers Steve

Having been a long time fan of the Schneider trophy planes I always wanted a Crusader, and right here on good ole Britmodeller @greggles.w built Karaya’s 1/48 Crusader which impressed me greatly (his build – not the kit so much!) and again got me wanting to add one to the collection. If you are so inclined, pop over and see @greggles.w's build here:- My preferred scale for race planes is 1/32 because race planes are generally tiny. And it needs to match my Williams Bros kits. So currently scratch building is the only option, although I’m sure Murphy will bring one along as soon as I finish…. At least the fuz being circular should be a 5 minute job in the lathe. @greggles.w’s build was very useful in showing how to approach the more difficult aspects. So forget all the other stuff on the bench that needs finishing, push it all to one side …… LETS GO! This is what I am talking about, any excuse to show Laurent Negroni’s fantastic sketch from his Speedbirds website again:- I had already collected all the available photos (there aren’t many!) and a couple of 3 views neither of which agreed with each other very much. I chose to use this one as my main reference:- Comparing this 3 view with photos show its not without its faults, the upper front rigging attachment to the fuselage is too far forward, the front struts should be wider and angled back a bit more, the rudder is a bit small and the floats a smidge short, but otherwise looks good. I initially had no intention of doing a WIP so took no pics of the first stages, so pay attention as you have some catching up to do! It’s a multi media model(!) the floats and fuz are made from Ureol as its easy to work with, The wing is 3 laminations of 2mm styrene as Ureol tends to crumble where the sections get thin such as trailing edges. The fuz was made with a lateral join, this means its easy to machine the wing seat on the pillar drill table. It also means tailplane alignment is easy. The upper and lower sections were pinned with wire before shaping to ensure repeatable re-assembly. Aaaaaand the fuz blank was too long to fit between the lathe centres, oh bother. So after band sawing the fuz top and side profiles, I carved the square to an octagon, then 16 sides (I just looked it up, its a Hexadecagon – every day is a school day!) I then sanded off the Hexawhatever ridges and used circular drafting templates to mark the high spots and kept sanding until it was circular along its length. After the disappointment of not being able make it on the lathe, I was quite pleased with the result. The wing laminations were left for about a week to fully cure, the outline cut with Tamiya sprue cutters, then scraped with a wood chisel to get the aerofoil – followed by a good scrubbing with 80 grit then 240 and finally wet and dry used wet. The lamination contour lines made it easy to make it symmetrical. The fuz wing seat was cut with a 30mm Forstner bit after raising the nose to set the wing incidence, the ends of the gap were then squared off. A smaller bit was used through both halves to remove the bulk of the cockpit material, which conveniently provided a positive location for the wing after a matching circle of plastic card was stuck to the top of the wing centre section. But not before slicing 75% through the centre line with a razor saw and re-gluing to bend in the miniscule dihedral. The tail seat was cut by hand with a slight neg incidence as the plan. So enough blather, here is the resulting set of parts. The float profiles were again bandsaw’ed out, the top shaped, then the underside carved with a curved wood chisel and finished with 240 grit. To be able to get the 3 main elements to vaguely face the same direction a jig was required, some millimetre graph paper was stuck to 12mm MDF. I have found the problem with sticking the graph paper to corrugated card as a jig (Tyrrell 006), is that the graph paper gradually shrinks over a few weeks and what started as a nice flat base ends up like a potato crisp making it pretty useless. The tail feathers are two laminations of 20thou card. The spine is laminated from the same stuff as the wing, - a redundant B&Q styrene bath side panel! Nothing is glued yet, just held by friction, apart from the nose which is stuck on with blu-tack. The nose did fit in the lathe, and from the blank I carved out the cylinder bases, I found it very hard to initially visualise the final shape, but by marking out and carving away a little at a time and lots of referring to the photos eventually revealed something approximating the real thing. (after cocking up the first one……) Malc.

Last May I decided to build a companion model for the s-boot I had built in 2021. I like companion models, they make great comparisons. It also fits with my small WW2 coastal forces navy that I've been constructing for a few years. There were only two problems: My almost complete lack of knowledge or reference material for the Kriegsmarine; and A total lack of commercially available plans. The challenge with 1:48th scale is you need a huge amount of information to do a subject justice. It's a very unforgiving scale as you can (should) build down to the rivet Countless hours on search engines plus a couple of lucky breaks; 10 new books for my naval reference library; a Russian model forum; and last but not least some very helpful people on a German naval forum turned my meagre cache of 4-5 pictures into to an astonishing 150 images of the type. I still didn't manage to find a good drawing of the R25, but enough others and some assumptions plus a bad lines sketch was just enough to produce my own 4 sheet set of plans. It's all tentative, but I've done my best to align dimensions with drawings I trust and photographs. Thankfully I don't count hours modelling, but the plans alone probably took over 300 hours before I was happy to start the build last September. As with my other models, this is a working boat during wartime. It is dirty and chipped with algae and oil on the waterline Here are the completed plans. I hope to make them available via a model shop in the UK, rescaling is straightforward, it would make a stunning 1:35th scale RC model.... I've spent the past couple of weeks fitting out a loft space as a gallery (to stop the "and where is this one going to go...." from my better half), so these pictures are in my new light box The single crewman (for scale) is fixing the anchor winch this time The midships assembly is packed with stuff and of course the wheelhouse is complete with Kriegsmarine charts for the Norwegian coast (this batch of R25's all served in Norway) The sweep winch and gear The fo'c'sle came out well, love wooden decks, these are 2 mm planks cut in to the margin plank using the 1/3rd rule And this thread wouldn't be complete without the s-boot. The cases are identical in size and I've tried to align the waterlines with the pillar mounts Feel free to double zoom, there is a lot of detail to take in Thanks to everyone who followed the build thread and provided encouragement and information, I hope it represents a useful resource for anyone else wanting to attempt to model this under-represented workhorse of the Kriegsmarine. I have many wartime pictures I didn't post, so if anyone wants to have a go, please get in touch and I will be most happy to help Lastly, I said at the end of the build thread that I would announce my next project Well, I've been working on more drawings (I always do this in parallel with building) and I'm going to attempt a diorama of a beached ASR buoy being inspected by some RAF personnel who have just arrived on a Bedford MWD. The ASR buoy will be made in copper, the MWD in metal and wood, all at 1:48th scale of course. I'm not sure about the latter main component as I've never built a truck, still the attempt should be amusing. I parallel I'll be starting the drawings for a large complex build, but more on that in time Happy Easter🥚 and thanks again for the interest Cheers Steve

This is a trip down memory lane to my first scratch-build over 25 years ago. I had built a large kit of "Peggy" a steam drifter with a working steam engine and found that I had replaced so much of the kit that the result was probably 40% scratch-built so I decided to build a complete working model from scratch. Around that time Model Shipwright published plans for the Brazilian Customs Cruise Amapa build by Thornycroft's in 1907 (Edition 88 if anyone wants to buy a copy). This pretty little vessel has all the hallmarks of a late Victorian cruiser on a small scale, even a nod to the ramming bows that became popular after the Russo-Japanese war. At 130ft long, a working model at 1:32nd scale seemed about right to me. The model took 18 months to build, all in wood and brass, about 90% scratch. The hull was a bit of a disaster to be honest but the result has a sort of old world charm that I still love to this day. It has aged well, acquiring a nice vintage patina over the years. The wooden deck has gone a wonderful honey colour while the boats still shine as they did when completed. As a working boat, it was not a huge success, having a tendency to try to capsize in a turn, I didn't run it much... I wrote about the build in Edition 104 of Model Shipwright, warts and all and the model received an undeserved Silver medal at the Model Engineering Exhibition, can't remember which year She has been languishing since our move over 2 years ago as I had nowhere in the new house to display her. One of the reasons I've not been posting is I've spent the last few weeks fitting out a loft space as a small gallery and yesterday she was unwrapped and placed on her niche, giving me the opportunity to photograph her for the first time in many years. I painted her grey overall but a year after I completed the model, the Brazilian embassy replied to a letter I had sent them 2 years before asking for information on the vessel and enclosed pictures showing she was in Victorian white with mustard funnel etc, what a shame as I love that colour scheme The boats were my first papier mache hulls, they have stood up well To access the battery etc, the entire well-deck lifts out. This didn't really work well after the rigging was completed..... The wheelhouse is mahogany and is fitted out internally A rather simplified Hotchkiss 3 pdr QF but a nicely detailed steam anchor winch The galley door open for service, the galley stove was made from copper I'm very tempted to build her again at 1:48th scale, in the right colour scheme, would make an interesting companion model It's nice to see her again after over 2 years in storage... Thanks for stopping by, the R-boat rfi thread will be soon, once I finish the case and pillars Cheers Steve

Finally finished the second part of my large diorama Liebe Deinen Nacthsten/Love thy neighbour and now hopefully Part one will make more sense. 20 figures, tamiya m8 greyhound, m10 wolverine, willys jeep. Its scratch built building and base and its all brush painted. I used the mini art garage set and beer bottles crates, the czech hedgehog is from Tamiya and barb wire from yan models, the rest I made. The figures are tamiya, mini art with hornets heads, bravo six and royal models. I adapted the some of the figures, the jeep driver had his arm remoulded to be the machine gunner on watch outside the gasthoff, the M10 gun loader is the m8 beer loader! The m10 gunner is now the jeep mechanic. I added a walking stick and bag to the civilian. Took a year on and off for both parts to complete. All feedback welcome. I added the camo net, made from a hair net and treated moss I made the sandbags from milliput and the rickety stowage holder from styrene. The guy with dark hair and his back turned is cheating at cards, note the cards tucked under his elbow! The back: A few pics of how part one fits in with part two: These guys have started realise that their neighbours might not just be so friendly as they hear the Glen Miller being played from nextdoor. I made it so that the two parts of the broken church steeple fit together once both boards are lined up: The link to part one is below: Sorry its bit photo heavy and the quality of my pics aren't great as I really need to upgrade my camera at some stage. All the best for now, Paul

Personally I’m blaming @Bertie McBoatface for this what with all the talk of there not being as many ships as expected I felt so guilty that I decided to go build one myself. And seeing as how this will be my first Scratchbuilt boat it may all go horribly wrong… Now do bear in mind that this would also be eligible for the ‘not my comfort zone’ GB the ‘go large or go home’ GB as well as the salty sea dog but hopefully not the entropy GB Step 1 start with a scale plan. Step 2 using Amadine drawing software scale it to 1/72 print it off cut it out and stick it to a suitable piece of lumber. step 3 cut out the profiles with my scroll saw. The observant among you may motive that it’s now two bits of wood. My scroll saw can only cut 50mm wide wood so I had to cut the block in two then saw each half then glue them back together. I’ve roughly sanded the blocks with my detail sander. I’ll let it dry overnight then continue sanding/ carving to the correct profile. Still have to figure out what way I’ll fabricate the hull. I may well end up planking over the form either with balsa or plastic sheet.

Ok I must be nuts but owing to the simple shapes I reckon I can pull this one off. Some artwork for the decals, need to be scaled, printed and varnished Wish me luck…..

So for my second build I’m going to build an Erhardt from the papercraft model on Landships 2 but in 1/35 rather than 1/43 and from plastic not paper. The papercraft model. Next step to scale it up by 12%.

Started quite a while ago, sat in the shelf of doom for a while but finally finished.

Geoffrey Neville ‘Wicko’ Wikner was a self-taught Australian aircraft builder of Swedish descent. Having designed and successfully flown a series of home-built aircraft in his home country, Wikner had become disillusioned by a lack of support from the Australian aviation authorities, who he felt were effectively thwarting his attempts to build light aircraft in the country. Thus, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious uncle, Edgar Wikner Percival and re-locate to England. After several years working in various aeronautical jobs, notably for Miles, Wikner entered into partnership with one Jack Foster and furniture manufacturer Lusty & Sons, to design a new plywood lightplane suitable for factory manufacture or home-building. The prototype was built in Lusty’s furniture works in the East End of London and powered by a modified Ford V8 car engine, made its first flight in 1936. Despite it’s racy, bullet-nosed appearance, it was seriously underpowered. A couple of years (and engine changes) later, it finally entered production in a factory at Southampton airport (Eastleigh), with the popular DH Gipsy Major engine as the definitive powerplant, which gave it the desired performance. After only a year of production, which resulted in 11 airframes , WW2 intervened and brought things to a halt. Most of the planes had found ready buyers in flying clubs, with 2 having gone abroad to New Zealand and South Africa. All were readily impressed for military service, where they were mainly used for ferrying ATA pilots around the country. In fact, a military version optimised for this activity was proposed, to be named ‘Warferry’, but came to nothing as the Lend-Lease Fairchild Argus was used instead. Several aircraft survived the war and took part in King’s Cup races in the 1950s. Ultimately, only a single aircraft, G-AJFB has survived to the present day, which underwent a complete restoration to better than new condition in the 2000s : http://www.wicko.com/ Here is my model of this aircraft, in its original 1938 colours. It was donated to the Midland Aeroclub, Pendeford, Wolverhampton, by the Wolverhampton Express and Star newspaper, on the condition that it was used for training 4 local youngsters to fly as part of the Civil Air Guard scheme and was named ‘Wulfrun II’ (after the Anglo-Saxon woman who founded Wolverhampton). Model is 100% scratchbuilt from plastic sheet. With its boxy shape, I thought it would be a straightforward scratchbuilding project, but the complex colour scheme and window arrangement elevated it into a more challenging category.... A few WiPs :

Hello all, This is a bit of an opus of mine! One of a two part diorama in 1/35. Featuring: tiger 1 (tamiya), one 20mm AA gun (Tamiya), 16 figures (various makes- see figure WIP:) Took around 5 months to complete with a lot of research and planning before hand. I used the below two books for some of the research: The Harry Yeide book is a little bit of a dry read but helped with some of the unit specifics etc: I'm really happy with it and enjoyed every bit of it despite being a long complicated build. As mentioned in the tags its all brush painted and mostly scratch built (bar the interior furniture of the house and shop which I got from Verlinden and miniart and the shells are from tamiya.). I'd like to mention that the 246th VGD were in the area of Lucherberg but not the village itself. The figures featured here are for storytelling purposes, the unit was being pulled off the line at the time when the 3rd fallschrimjager, 8th regiment took over the position, these are supposed to be retreating stragglers! If anyone is interested in the battle itself it was part of the American push towards the Roer in operation Queen. The Siegfried line was first breached in sept '44. Then Aachen, the city itself, fell on the 21st of Oct and this is a loosely based diorama set early dec. '44 in the various villages and minor towns before Duren (and then Cologne). To give a general overview. Yes my tiger is very scared and heavily weathered but I wanted to have a little fun with it plus it was from the 301 which inherited its tigers from other units, meaning they would have been fairly cobbled together and would have been around the block a few times. Plus in two months after being depicted here, tiger 201 from the 301 looked like it did in the picture below: This photo came after the tiger 201 put a Pershing 'fireball', out of action in Elsdorf. It then backed up into a building and got stuck. From the shackles and tows being loose it looks as though they may have attempted to retrieve the tank but gave up and the crew abandoned it to the advancing Americans in February of '45. Elsdorf is around 30km from Lucherberg. Might seem a bit odd showing the back of the model but this will play an important role in part 2 and it shows the tiles and dormer which can't be seen from the front. And yes if that panzerschreck was to fire in this confined position then its crew would almost certainly be knocked out by the toxic fumes created by the back blast and also yes the mg42 is in a tactically terrible position. The pics below are a few close up on some of the specific items I scratch built: Such as the head stone and cross: I also scratch built the telegraph pole/signs/light: The doors and handles (plus a little ding a ling bell at the back of the door which you cant actually make out!) I made the dozer shield with the exact spec from the ones used to clear roads. These were normally attached to stug's or panthers adapeted especially for rubble clearence. The idea here being that the dozer sheild and shovels were used to clear the space for the tiger to shelter in, away from the marauding 'Jabos' (allied fighter bombers). I also did the balcony, drain, shop sign, picture frame, fire place and cellar doors (which you would have seen in plenty of the other pics). A couple big ole shots without the tiger: Sorry if the pics are a bit repetitive but I'm not very good at them and theirs loads of angels I try to cover. I could wax lyrical about this one all day but at the risk of boring you all half to death I'd just say if you have any questions please feel free to ask away! Part two might be another five months away as its of similar size, has three afvs, 18 or so figures, a pub, garage and few other its (but a little less scratch built items). Thanks for viewing, Paul

These are finished at last. Real life kept getting in the way. As usual! See the WIP for the full build. I got a pair of part started 1/48th Hobbycraft Vampires from the Bay for a decent price. Bits were missing. What to do? Why not turn them into 1/32nd scale orbital fighters in the Star Wars universe? I just made it up as I went along. Both were two seaters. The oneon the right had a broken canopy. I took a page from early Meteors and built it as a Mk 1, with a metal rear to the 'greenhouse'. The paints are Citadel (Warhammer) as I wanted 'Alien' shades rather than bog standard Tamiya. Here the laser pod is underneath. Engines are printed and were very kindly donated by @TheBaron I've added a bit of detail and paint. The Vixen name comes from the source of the engines, they were for his wonderful 1/72nd printed Sea Vixen. Not meant for atmospheric flight you just need an engine & thrusters. Not tail booms. The yellow stripes? Alien flames, for that death or glory look! RH wingtip pod. Half an old missile with added bits. Yes, And a Harrier outrigger. In the Star Wars universe ships can hover indefinitely. But I've fitted a fixed central skid & the outriggers in case of 'wobbles'. Launched from an orbiting space station the skid could be jettisoned and the ship could 'skip' on top of the atmosphere. The Mk 2. Full length canopy. Slightly different markings. I just used odds & sods from decal boxes. The 'flames are intentionally rough, BTW. The green is Citadel Goblin green. The Vampire had a Goblin engine! Just sayin'. The Pilot is ex Phantom. Now from an unnamed race of humanoids, threatened by the evil Empire. The gear is just a push fit, so here's a close up. The skid was two halves from a wingfold, I think. My Citadel paint stock. Bought used from a car boot 4 or 5 years ago, they are still good to go, and odd shades. Another fun scratchbuild and I'm happy with the end results. They're certainly unique! Thanks for looking. Your comments are always welcome. Next? one word. Vanship! ×

Greetings! This is part of a much bigger 1/96 scale Apollo Saturn V and LUT project that is nearing completion after many months of work - more on this later. The Colby Crane sits at the top of the LUT and represented one of the more challenging components of the overall build due to the complicated open girder construction. Scratch built from various styrene, brass, and paper materials with various photographs and diagrams as reference guides. The machinery housing is from the Edu-Craft Diversions paper kit. The mast is hinged and can displayed up or down as desired. Finished with a variety of paints and sealed with flat clear, weathering will be done along with the overall LUT once completed. Many thanks for a having a look. Questions and comments always welcome! Bill

As I've been promising, this new thread follows on very quickly from the MTB, it is intended as a companion model and will cover the larger BPB boat before the addition of torpedo tubes. I've been working on the drawings while competing the MTB and so here we are ready to start building. For those who are not familiar with the type, this illustration from the Osprey British Motor gunboat publication gives a great idea of what the model should end up looking like I've managed to source about 10 high quality images of this class on-line, here are a couple of the better ones, MGB 75 and MGB 107 I've searched hard but can't find any commercially available model drawing sets, but the Haynes workshop manual featuring MGB81, the historic preserved MGB, is a great source of information and contains two extremely good drawing sheets that scale rather well and provide accurate lines. I've been able to scan, re-align and re-scale these and had them printed as A1 pdf's. They are based on drawings held by the IWM archive and to my delight, a number of the builder's drawings have been scanned and are available to purchase as art prints. Screen grabs of these provide useful back-up information and additional detail which is great. As It seems a shame that commercial model drawings are not available, this time, I really intended to completed a model markers set of plans that others could use. I'll make these available at both 1:48th scale and 1:72nd scale, more on that at the end of the build. The model will be 18 inches long, a nice size to work with. Here are some of the refence material I'll be using, the pdf reproduction of the Haynes drawings included below I'm not sure I should post a copy of the Haynes manual drawings here, but as a teaser, here is one of the IWM art prints you can buy (full size copies of original drawings, would look great framed) So, overall I'm happy there is enough detail for me to build a decent model of these vessels, one of the key criteria for me to start a project. If you are wondering why I've included the Anatomy of the ship Fairmile D book, it actually has the best drawings of the twin Oerlikon power turret which was shared with the dog boats. The Vickers 2prd turret on the bow is identical to that fitted on the SGB so I've already built one of those and have the etching drawings of the mount, the props look the same (as far as I'm concerned) as the MTB, I have a 3d model of Holman projector and the right smoke machine so this should be easy eh... I didn't have a drawing of the twin Oerlikon, but I do now This, together with the 2 pdr and the props are being cast by Shapeways and should be here in a couple of weeks, the guns in brass and the props in bronze, £80 for all 5 pieces inc shipping. So, progress to date, I've re-drawn the times and checked the gunwale, and chine alignments, that Haynes manual drawing is really good.. The whaleback deckhouse was slightly off, but I used the IWM construction drawing to correct it, think I have it right. Here is my outline lines drawing, the starting place for the frame drawing. On interesting point is the outer rudders are angled at @10 degrees to the vertical, that's a little challenge to get right. For this hull, I'm reverting to balsa infill hull construction which is then covered in diagonal planking. The MTB wasn't a great success in my mind as the inner curvature of the lower hull really didn't work well because the planking had no intermediate support. Also, the simple balsa infill I used on the S-boote actually leaves you able to see the frames in some lights which is bad. This combination approach should solve both these issues, it is what I used on the Fairmile B but that all happened before I started posting so I'll cover this in full detail here. This sectional drawing shows how the hull and deck house will be constructed. The deck-house top box stringers are deliberately composite as they curve in 2 directions and a single piece of wood would be too stiff and might actually warp the hull. The chine stringer is horizontal to allow the balsa blocks to be slid in, I'll show all this in the build. The vertical slot in this frame at the top is there to receive the open bridge side piece which connects frame 6 and 7. Frame 6 was moved forward a small amount to form the forward bulkhead of the open bridge, details details.... A new thing I'm trying on this project is the two locking bars, we'll see if they work. As I've said before, bent hulls are not good and using 1.6 mm ply for a keel is easily bent by the gluing process. Before I've dropped the deck-house into an open box structure on the lower hull and this box helps keep everything straight. With this whale-back deckhouse which curves in 3 dimensions, that isn't possible (well anything is possible, its just not easy) so I've drawn two side bars in the plan which will (I hope) slot through all the frames and then slide towards the keel to lock them and the frames in place to make sure it is all straight. Stick with me and you see what I mean From the lines above, each frame then needs splitting out, re-drawn to allow for the outer planking and the slots set in for the longitudinal timbers. The result is the following cutting plan, locking side bars at the bottom This was then turned into cutting artwork (colour changes and re-grouping) for cutting from a 1 ft x 2ft sheet of 1.6 mm ply (I just love mixing units, keeps the brain active...). 2 days later, this arrived in the post from 4D for a very reasonable £55, I'm getting so lazy in my old age...🧑‍🦼 Add some balsa from SLEC and strip-wood from Cornwall Model boats and you have a wooden hull kit in the making The outer planking will be done in pear wood, it will look fantastic and be such a shame to paint it... Build starts tomorrow Cheers Steve