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I'm on a BT-7 kick at the moment. I tend to often build several of one type of vehicle at a time, probably because I have reference materials together and get additional inspiration from that. Here's Tamiya's 1935 Model in 1/35. This is a project that I started in 2016 and shelved. Time to finish it.

As the Spitfire builds for this GB seemed to have stalled a bit , I thought that I should have a go and I managed to get a cheap 1/48 Spitfire Vb from eBay: A photo entitled -Still life a Spitfire and bowl of fruit'. The kit came out in the early nineties and is renowned for its ease of assembly (being Tamiya of course). It is less renowned for its overall accuracy, compared to the latest crop of 1/48 Spitfires. The sprues: They come as a light relief after the parts count for the Eduard 1/48 Spitfires. I have some old etch that I can use and might try some Eduard spares where appropriate.

Hi All, This is another one that I bought a while back (Late 90's, early 00's?) and decided that I need to get going with it again. First, the box art: Brutally Handsome (Hotel California). The engine had been built a while ago, and primed, but not painted. I sprayed the entire built engine (as far as it had got) in Zero paints aluminium: On small components, like the suspension above, I like to paint them matt-black, then aluminium and other metallic colours. The metallic colours come up really well painted over matt black. It's a trick I learnt from my son who was at one time really into Warhammer. There they paint the figures black, the paint the metallic armour over that. After I had sprayed the engine aluminium, I then painted the transmission with the called-out colours The 'box' at the back should be woven carbon fibre, but I have never tried to use the decals, so I stuck with satin black. Maybe the next model, or the next, or the next ... Here's the engine with the decals on the cam covers. Everything about this car is brutal. A six litre V-12 producing 800 bhp (I think). Must have sounded amazing. More to come, Thanks for looking. Cheers, Alan.

Hi everyone, once more I start a kit I should not start. At least I know what sickness I am suffering from. I have already built a Tamiya P-51D, so I know what to expect. I initially thought the P-51D was not a shake and bake at all, but at the end of the build I realized it was nonetheless a good kit. So here we go: I am banking on a quick build............... No comment. Here is the box art. The sprues will appear at the beginning of the build. See you soon. JR

Running a bit behind on builds but I'm not going to let this GB pass me by! I'm not getting much modelling time at the moment and I've got some other (too many) builds on the go as well so it's going to be straight out of the box for me, possible exception for a bit of stowage. Here's all the sprues in a single shot. I built a Churchill gun tank from this kit in a Blitzbuild last year as one of A Squadron, 147th Regiment RAC, 34th Tank Brigade supporting an attack by 1/5 Battalion Welch Regiment around Martigny in Normandy on 16 August 1944. So this time I'll be building the Crocodile variant; I believe that 147th Regiment RAC may have had some Crocodiles attached to it from 141th Regiment RAC in August 1944 so I'll do some digging and see if there might have been any anywhere near Martigny on 16 August and, if so, take a punt at markings accordingly. In a history of 53rd (Welsh) Division I found mention of Crocodiles supporting 4 Battalion Welch Regiment earlier in the Normandy campaign; a Major Lewis recounted "The 'Crocs' arrive and fire large squirts of flame at one of my platoons. The Germans and my own troops run away from those hellish flames. The 'Crocs' then turn their attention to a house on the corner where some twenty Germans letting out agonising screams are sizzled to death. My lads appear to have dodged the flames, but God knows how." Horrible way to go, and it sounds like they weren't always safe for the friendlies either. This one won't be a blitzbuild but hopefully I'll be able to post some progress before too long. Cheers, Richard.

Hi All, Another 'new' one. This was bought a very long time ago, and started a long time ago, and now resurrected in an attempt to get it done as well. So, the box art: I'm not sure if it ever raced outside Japan, but these single seat sports cars are fun to build. I have quite a few in my stash. And what with Tamiya releasing the Gazoo Toyota hybrid, and re-releasing the Mazda 767, well I feel my bank balance lightening as I type.... This one had a 4 cylinder turbo engine, and that's where I have got up to. Assembling the engine: I decided long ago to wire up the ignition, and this is the result. Don't look too closely at the distributor, trying to fit 8 itty-bitty teeny-weeny wires to something about 4mm across was, shall we say, challenging... It's a four cylinder engine, but with two plugs per cylinder. As I don't seem to get on with CA glue very will, I tried using a high-tack PVA glue. It sets a bit slower, but doesn't prefer (on the whole) to stick to me... Thanks for looking. More to come soon, Cheers, Alan.

I have the oldie kit that Tamiya released a few years ago, I know it’s not the most accurate but can anyone recommend a decent set of tracks for it? Hobbyboss did a cheap set but they now look like they are out of production? Cheers

Recently I looked at how many unfinished models I have on my shelf. At first glance, there are a lot of them. But I made a disappointing conclusion that they are still not enough if I want to become the absolute champion in unfinished models. It turned out that this hard sport has a lot of competition, so I start a new model - Kübelwagen Type 82 from Tamiya. I hope that this will be another gem on my shelf with unfinished models Vytautas

Hello chaps, Waiting my dental scanner to work again soon and help me so to get convincing wipers that will add the final touch to my Ford Mustang Indy 500 Convertible at 1/16 scale... ... I begin here a new thread dedicated to my next build, the Porsche 934 Vaillant Tamiya at 1/12, a big scale! For this build, I decided to buy the expensive Scale Lab detail set, hoping this set will allow me to get a very nice result, even if I am sure you can get a fine one just with the Tamiya kit. Will this set worth it? I will give you my opinion independently. This set was bought on Spotmodel, it is about 300€, much more expensive than the Tamiya kit itself so (about 140€). Below are some pics of both boxes and their contents: The first impression with the Tamiya kit is very good despite its quite old age, 1976, it has been reissued more recently with a PE detail set and a Cartograf decal sheet (both very nice!). The Scale Lab detail set is impressive with 9 PE plates, resin parts and a sheet of masks for the windows frame painting job. It will require a careful study before use because the instructions sheet above seems to me somewhat succinct... Well, I hope I'm wrong on that point, we shall see. A word about the choice of the Porsche 934 Vaillant: as usual, the choice for a model is for me first aesthetic. From this point of view, I could have chosen the Jägermeister version, orange (I love this color) but I ever have the huge 1/8 Pocher Lamborghini Aventador in nearly the same color. This Light Cobalt Green (lighter than what the Tamiya box-art suggests imho) is though also quite to my taste, in addition to be more original. It is also very possible that the name "Vaillant", even if it is here just a sponsor (Vaillant was and is still today a heating systems manufacturer), resonated in me and more or less consciously recalled the adventures of Michel Vaillant, famous racing driver in the comic books albums of Jean Graton (the French and Belgian members of this forum will understand me very well). Looking in the Net, I found a pic of this Vaillant version showed at Autoworld Brussels. Pity, when visiting this nice car museum last year, the car was missing... The documentation will be consequently quite poor, a priori... For the paint, I decided to use mainly Gravity products, but most likely Tamiya and Vallejo ones too. Well, let's go to the bench now, hoping this build will arouse interest from the Brit community. Cheers, O

Having a shelf of doom bigger than my display cabinet and adding to it all the time, I have now paused my previous project in search of something new. This time it will be an experiment to find the holy grail of aircraft modelling: a really realistic natural metal finish. I usually use Vallejo water based acrylics, and while their Metal Colour range is about as good as it gets when it comes to water based metal colours, there is no denying that there is a limit to how small particles you can suspend in water. And enamels and lacquers smell and gum up your airbrush if you forget to clean it properly and use water based acrylics afterwards. So when AK released their True Metal Colour series some years back it peaked my interest. They're not water based, but a wax of some sorts, doesn't smell at all and can be both brush painted and sprayed if thinned enough, and they are even buffable (YAY!).. So what's not to like? Let's find out! The subject of this experiment will be Tamiya's venerable 30 year old P-51B kit. I could have used the newer and probably superior Eduard kit, but I don't think it beats the Tamiya kit for ease of build and quick results. My only additions will be a Quickboost resin gun sight, some spare Airscale instrument and cockpit decals, and the excellent looking Lifelike decal set for "Bigmac Junior". I'll be speeding through most of the cockpit build as I plan to build it with the cockpit closed to save time. First of all is the instrument panel, which has neither raised instrument details or even a decal to slide on top, so needed some Airscale instruments to look OK. Floor, which is incorrect for a B series since it is modelled on the A series curved floor, was painted Vallejo Interior Green with black floorboards and a bit of weathering plus some decals for the fuel gauges in the floor. That's it for now, but I have test fitted this kit and based on that it should be a breeze to build.

Evening all. Looks like the Stuka is going on hold again! Without over dramatising, this will probably be the most important build of my life. Everybody in modelling, I think, keenly felt the tragic loss of Sqn. Ldr. Mark Long in May of 2024, shortly after take off in MK356, a mk.IXe. Three weeks before, I'd taken my finished model of MK356 down to BBMF for them to auction, sell, keep, chuck in a bin. Little knowing the tragic events that were to happen a few short weeks later. Mark's widow Beth has started a trust in Mark's name to keep his memory alive and to act as his legacy. The Mark Long Trust will provide flying scholarships to disabled people and "goes live" in 2026. Their inaugural dinner and charity auction is in January and they've asked me to produce a model of BBMFs TE 311, a mk. XVIe, and the aircraft most associated with Mark, to be auctioned on the night. To say I'm honoured is an understatement. To say I'm terrified a bigger one. Terrified because 35 ground crew and 2 pilots will be poring over every detail of what I turn out and, I have a scant two months to do it. They've graciously said that whatever I can turn out would be fine but bugger that, it needs to be all singing all dancing I think, to raise as much money as possible. There's no 1:24 mk.XVIe bubble so I'm going with Tamiya's 1:32. Jadlam Models have been incredibly kind in donating the kit for free so it's all hands to the pumps. I'm doing a simple diorama based on this photo of TE 311 outside the hanger at Coningsby Bins may be included! I'm lighting it, just nav and cockpit light, adding a motor for a spinning prop and a variety of Merlin 66 sounds, startup, idle, rev and shutdown. I'm hoping I can drill out all the exhaust stubs and add a 1mm SMD in each one which will flash for 10 seconds on startup to simulate unburnt fuel flaming. To control it all , I'm having my first go at programming an Arduino nano microprocessor to do it. Aftermarket wise, a new seat, wheels and tyres, control column, from Barracuda Studios, engine upgrade stick on bits from Eduard and, for the first time ever, an IP from Yahu since Peter at Airscale doesn't do one in 1:32. I'm using his prop and engine logos though. I was hoping to make this my first foray into YouTube but I just don't think I'll have time to learn and produce something decent with only a two month window to complete. I will post as much as I can here though. It might be a bit garbled due to sleep deprivation.

Hi all, For my contribution to this memorial GB, I'll be building Tamiya's Austin Mini Cooper 1275S Mk.I - originally tooled in 1983 as a Morris Mini Cooper 1275S Mk.I with a few minor modifications subsequently made to make the 2001 boxing I'll be building (this might be just to file off the moulded Morris logo and add an Austin logo decal!). First, sprues: I've not built a car model before, so will be following the instructions pretty closely. We start off building up the engine, which I did with some trepidation as my last engine build was a questionably fitting Zvezda kit - I needn't have worried though, this is a Tamiya after all! Fit was perfect and straightfoward as usual, as were the wheel hubs and steering rack. A testament to the engineering as well - not only will the wheels turn, but the steering rack piece links them so they'll turn together. A lovely touch! Time to prepare the engine bay next.

My entry is Tamiya’s Churchill Crocodile, the 2023 re-release. Hoping for a relatively quick build. It will be out of the box bar some aftermarket tracks and figures. Will look for some stowage from the spares box.

While waiting for some information on my Valentine build I thought I'd do something quick, cheap and an easy vehicle to try out a few techniques. Having some Kubelwagens in the stash they became a prime target. I have one where I will try out some winter whitewash again but first I'll do the AK desert/balloon tyred one. Simple sprues. And a very quick, easy build.

The main manufacturers I remember from my youth were Airfix, Hasegawa, Matchbox and Tamiya. Generally purchased from Beatties in Portsmouth when visiting my Gran. The first three were usually for aircraft subjects and Tamiya for armour. My first Tamiya kit being the 1/35 Motorised Saladin armour car. The Saladin now seems to be as rare as hens teeth, so will pick another armour subject for this GB. My choice is the 1/35 Valentine, new tool from 2017, recently purchased as part of my growing fascination in British manufactured WW2 tanks.

My latest creation, took a long time to finish but the engineering is on a next level in this kit, everything fits exactly where it should, the instructions are clear and the plastic quality is impeccable. The only downside was the decals, way too thick and took a lot of time and effort to soften and make them conform, I ended up with some silvering on the side decals but all in all it's a great kit. I went for a "late" version where the RAM coating is of the same colour as the fuselage and because it's the version that the Netherlands uses. Also went for a "Beast Mode" with all internal and external hardpoints being used with 2 AIM-9X, 2 AIM-120C, 4 GBU-12 and 2 GBU-31. Model was primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 black, main colour is a bit darker than usual because I liked it like that, a mix of Tamiya Dark Sea gray and a few drops of black. Very light panel lining and weathering as these planes are kept in excellent condition in real life. I spent quite some time on this piece, hope you like it.

Hi all Got the stash moving again by finishing off this Sherman that's been sitting there for a few years. This is Tamiya's 1/48 M4A1 kit but I went through the decal pot and gave this model over to the 144th RAC somewhere near Noyers in July 1944-its strange that the kit decals are for 7th armoured div but i think they were all Cromwells when over in NWE. Finished the kit off pretty quickly, just adding stowage from Blackdog but the building took a few weeks- all carved from xps. Roof tiles just made from carboard stips, guttering is the innard of an old biro, shutters and doors are evergreen sheet and a few PE nettles and thistles. All the figures are white metal from Dartmoor Military Models. Hope you like it and what it looks like normally!

Here's my entry into the Tamiya Group Build, it's the 1:24 Scale Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R V-Spec (24145) built with self modelled and printed exhaust back box, lowering kit, big brakes, wheels and tyres; front grilles by Aber; reg plates and carbon decal by ZoomOn and badges by Hobby Design. Paint is ProScale Nissan Midnight Purple with an SMS Pearl Magenta Rose tint coat over the top. WiP is available here... I had some issues with the paint, when I added the clear, as the tint coat was really 'spikey'. I set about polishing it to a greater degree than any of my other build and I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I just knocked out the lowering kit and wheels based on the R34 I built last year and it hasn't quite worked. The stance is pretty raked forward and the wheels could do to be a bit more flush. That said, I do like the way that makes it look so thuggish. If I was to build this again (and there's a good chance I will) I'd fill the front number plate mount so the intercooler logo is visible, adjust the ride height (to level it) and poke the wheels out 1mm. All those adjustments are actually ready to print. I'd also model proper headlights with clear lenses and include the sidelights. Anyway, on to the photos! Thanks for looking! Martin And a shot with some relatives...

Hi everyone, and here we go, another contribution to the GB community! My bench is getting pretty crowded now. I did not mean to start another new build but focus on my started ones and go for some KUTA with all the unfinished ones over here, but I guess it is just hard to say no to a Tamiya GB at this occasion, honouring Tamiya-san's legacy with all the lovely kits he and his company have provided us. This is not as originally communicated the same kit of the R33 that Martin is building but one series earlier, the 8th generation or simply Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R which I only noticed when looking closer. The subject: The Nissan Skyline 8th generation is a true beauty and for me, it very sharply marks the transition from the 80s to the 90s within the Skyline series. While the R31 still looks very edgy, the R32 was the first to adapt the curves you can find on many 90's cars, developing further with the R33 and subsequent variants. The R32 came with various engines starting with 1,8 L gasoline at 91 PS up to the top model with 2,6 L gasoline with remarkable 320 PS, fitting the top model GT-R. That particular model managed to beat the Porsche 959, a supercar of its time, on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The kit: Tamiya goodness. The kit, already some 25 years old, looks very good. Not overly complicated or extremely detailed but very nicely worked out individual parts and good overall engineering. I would expect a good fit as common with the wonderful Tamiya kits. The moulding is fine, so far I could only identify a few mould lines in the headlight/taillight sections of the body which seem to be common for car model kits in this scale, but nothing dramatic to report here. There are rubber tyres, a few decals for the instruments and license plates, but that's about it. The project: I am happy to have another opportunity to build another civil subject this year with plenty of tanks and warbirds on my bench right now. Being built from 1989-1994, I was originally considering to save this kit for the 90's group build (if that goes through), but fortunately I have more than just this idea for the 90's. I already opened the box a few weeks ago when I was interested to use the kit as a test mule to experiment on the use of the Vallejo colour shifter series. So this is what this model will mainly be, my first take on colour shift in this scale and an attempt to achieve a nice finish. I will build the kit mostly out of the box, although I consider buying some aftermarket wheels. The ones in the kit look nice, but are probably not the wheels of choice for someone spending a lot of money on an expensive paintjob. Some first photos of the material can be found below. When I opened the box, I sprayed the seats and the instrument panel in dark grey which I was using for something else at the moment. I trust that such limited efforts fall well below the 25% rule. Looking forward to this one shaping up and making my first experience on the colour shifters! Cheers Thomas

Well, maybe this will finally get finished! My Tamiya 1:12 scale Nissan (Datsun?) Fairlady 240ZG Street-Custom I bought this in October 2014 from Japan, as I couldn't find one in the UK. I seem to remember it cost me over £100 and now they're 'everywhere', but still about the same price. I got stuck into it in November and December, but I got a really bad chest infection just before Christmas that put a stop to work. Somewhere around this time I bought a set of resin Watanabe wheels and Toyo tyres, from a guy in Australia, that were about 17in and very wide. The problem for me was that, although he was building this exact model, the wheels weren't a direct replacement for the originals. The centre hole was huge and there was no sort of location points that would allow the wheels to attach without fabricating new hubs. This, at the time, left me thinking I'd need to find someone with a lathe who would turn a set of adapters for me. Now, I'm not having a go at the guy who I bought them from, he may be on here for all I know, because he worked wonders with them, especially given the technology at the time. But I didn't have the skills to do anything with them. Then, in January 2015, work went crazy and it just went back in the box. I was at the point of needing to paint the bodywork and I had decided to fill in the dents in the rear wings where the bumper fits, because I wasn't fitting the rear bumper. Filling and sanding that, combined with the stress of trying to figure out how to paint something of this size, was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. This was also the end of my short return to modelling. Roll on to November 2022 and I bought a 3D printer. Whilst wondering what I was actually going to print with it, I started thinking about the old 240 and maybe getting around to making a set of wheels that would be direct replacements for the originals and more detailed than the resin ones. I really loved the WedsSport RS5s that I had on my MR2, so I modelled a deep dish set of those with Toyo R888R tyres. I also use a little artistic license with the tyres as I used fewer grooves and made them left and right handed - so the grooves always point 'forward'. The problem with the RS5s is that they need to be 5 stud in order to look nice and the 240 is 4 stud. So I modelled and printed a set of Watanabes, similar to the resin ones I'd bought. At that point I kind of got distracted doing 1:24 scale stuff for a Skyline KPGC10 that I'd been messing with in 2014 whilst waiting for bits of the 240 to dry/cure. I guess I could do a KUTA for that, too, as I still haven't added all the badges to it, even though it's in the Tamiya GB inspiration gallery. Then I spent about 18 months developing a pair of car kits to 3D print that required no glue or tools to assemble. As it turns out, nobody cares about stuff like that, so I got back to aftermarket bits for proper kits. With the Skyline I'd modelled a set of Watanabes and also a set of Work Meister CR01s. I really liked the CR01s, so I modelled a 1:12 scale set that would work for the 240. I created several width options and several tyre options with varying stretch. A comparison with the originals... Some of the options didn't turn out too well, so I would need to re-print various bits. At this point I decided to make some 1:24 wheel packs, and needed some models to showcase them on. So the 240 was left on the side and I started smashing together some 1:24 stuff. At this point, I realised I was quite enjoying it and joined BM! And here we are, present day! This is the state of the build as of now... (including genuine 'barn find' dust!!) Oh, I forgot to mention (if you can believe that, given all the text there is in this post!), the oil filler cap in the original kit had failed to mould, so I'd poorly 'scratched' one from a bit of styrene. When I came back to the kit in 2022, all the plug wires had come off and I decided I could now model a new filler cap. I replaced the kit spark plug 'tubes' with some thinner, more flexible wire and used the tube as boots. I'd also printed some cable tidies and new radiator and oil filler caps. So, that's where we are. Hopefully I can make some decent progress on this before Christmas Thanks for looking (and trawling through the history of my last 11 years! ) Martin

The next kit in Project 100 is a Buccaneer! The kit was initially released in 1971. I beleive this kit is from the re-release in 1983. Revell also reboxed it in 1984. Like all of these mini-jet kits, it's very simple. There are three marking schemes provided on the decal sheet: RAF, FAA and SAAF. There are bombs provided for the weapons bay (which rotates), rocket pods for the wings, the characteristic slipper tanks and a full set of Martel missiles. As the RAF decals are for 12 Sqn, it makes sense to do the Martel fit. However, I would also really like a jet with tanks. I think there's an easy way out of that quandary.

Another classic this one cost €24.99 apparently as Tamiya amortise the cost of the molds they don’t increase the prices of kits after release so each generation of kit stays at the a as me price more or less. As I’m an inverterate cheapskate I only buy the older kits as I can’t bring myself to pay €50 for a kit😀 Bits in the box, actually one of the most complex Tamiya kits I’ve built. Unfortunately it’s missing the mesh for the rear section not a biggie but I’ll have to improvise… It comes with four figures I normally take the BMW approach but I’m toying with building them as they do add a bit to the overall look of the model.

Finally after 30+ years, this got done. Link to build here: Tamiya XJR-9 In typical Tamiya style, this kit was easy to build. with a few caveats: Some parts are very fragile, notably the windscreen wiper. The decals are complicated, but doable with care. They were a bit fragile after so long. A bit of stitching was needed I used Microscale MicroSet/MicroSol. The decals conformed well to the body shell curves. On the whole, I am very pleased with the outcome. There are a few blemishes in the clearcoat, but not many. Paints used: Zero Paints white Tamiya TS37 - Lavender Tamiya XF-1 - Flat black Citadel Abbadon black - Similar to, but less glossy than X-18 Vallejo Liquid Silver Tamiya XF16 - Aluminium Various Tamiya clear colours: Red/Orange/Blue Cements: Tamiya Extra thin Cellulose thinners Revell Contacta So, here are the pictures: On my workbench: That B****y spoiler! Outside in "real" light: A bit washed out! And, finally, on my shelf of honour: Well, that wraps that up, I think. BTW: The aerial is s bit of stretched sprue, melted over a tea-light flame (I'm not allowed anything hotter!) and stretched. Thanks for looking in. Cheers, Alan.

Greetings! I present to you my latest build which was completed as part of the Tamiya Group build. A lovely kit to build, finished with Vallejo and Ammo paints, the canvas and wooden floor are oils and weathered with pigments and airbrush techniques. The build log: And the pictures: Thank you for looking in, and comments are welcome. Keith ☺️

Hi All, While I have this burst of energy, I thought I would try to complete as many as I could... Another one that I have resurrected from the pile-of-doom. This Is the original Tamiya XJR-9. I have has this one for a very long time. the box top: The engine: And the rear suspension, primed: