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Back from Fujimi to some of the older Tamiyas from my stack. This one went together well, oob, with added tobacco decals and a driver from the Tamiya "Driver & Engineer" set (who fit barely into the cockpit ). Oh yeah, and I opted to use the kit provided decals for the day glow red of the car, as I wasn't able to match the color (which is also used on the Marlboro logos, car no. etc.. I was relatively happy with the fit of those decals. I once prided myself on my driver figures (rightfully or not), but lately they are an issue. It is probably because the decals have become reeeaaally old by now (30+ years). With the recent build of B195, Johnny Herberts decals just fell apart. For the Berger helmet, I fortunately had like 3 1/2 sets to play with. First one, the helmet color bleeded through, second one didn't really fit the helmet and came apart from the softener, third set: bleed through again, despite the fact that I had put a clear coat over the helmet before applying the decals. As you can see, the helmet looks a bit rough now, but as the driver was already glued into the car, I had not really a choice - unless I wanted to show a decapitated Gerhard ... Btw, decal softener: for a lot of years I used Walthers Solvaset and was very happy with it. As I am cut off from my sources, I switched to Tamiya. It seems that the regular stuff doesn't do anything to the decal and the "strong" one not much more - even to Tamiya decals.. Alright, enough venting, here it goes: as always, thanks for looking and any comments welcome. Here are my other race related builds: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tAzkGmj4w2fTJir87 Cheers

Hi everyone, I'm just finishing up a Mustang III in the D-Day GB, and having built a couple of ICM things lately I'm craving for a well-fitting simple kit. In my stash is a Tamiya 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf 109 E3 (61050) which seems to fit the theme in this GB quite well. So please allow me to join with this: In my usual need to unnecessarily complicate things, I'm using Eduard's PE set. Here's a sprue shot and the extras: It's a delightfully simple kit with only TWO sprues of parts. I might yet enjoy myself here I'm currently planning to build Adolf Galland's plane from August 1940 in France, but there are a few other schemes also. /Jari

Ten years ago, almost to the day, on 24 July 2014, I was fortunate to witness the rollout of the RAAF's first F-35A in a ceremony at Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth plant (back when I worked in the media). Given that small connection, that jet, known to the program as AU-1, and to the RAAF as A35-001 (and wearing 2OCU tail markings), will be the subject of my first/main/only* build for this GB. Which I will build using Tamiya's state-of-the-art 1/48 kit. Just look at that beautiful styrene goodness. Like the F-35 program itself mine will have a little bit of Australian industry involvement, thanks to decals... ... and masks from Ronin Graphics. Plus (not pictured) I plan to try SMS paint's Have Glass grey (PL59) for the main FS36170 grey (perhaps in a mix with something to give it the metallic effect). I also have 3D decals for the instrument panel and seats from Reskit. Incidentally I still have some merch - a cap and two challenge coins - from the rollout event. So I should be able to put together some sort of cool display with the finished model and the challenge coins in particular. Here's just hoping for an on-time and on-budget build! Thanks for looking in, Gerard (*TBC - I would love to build one each of an F-35A, B and C in this GB, but my build rate of late suggests otherwise!)

Finally finished my Panther tank. First attempt at multi colour camouflage. I broke the plastic tow cables trying to bend them in hot water so got some picture wire and drilled the eyelets to fix. Unfortunately, they are a tad too long but there you go. Pinched some spare tracks from another model I have started o add some interest.

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

Seeing as I am co-hosting the GB I suppose its about time I got my build thread started! In preparation for the GB I picked up the newish Tamiya M3A1 at last years IPMS UK Nationals, and while it certainly isn't as detailed as the new Miniart kits it has the traditional Tamiya mix of a decent amount of detail without being over complicated which is a big help to me as I have a lot going on at the minute so it should give me a chance of finishing it. So lets start with the ubiquitous box top and contents shots. the box top; And the contents still sealed in their plastic bags; And now comes the difficult bit, deciding what scheme to finish it in! I have two options going around in my mostly empty head and they are one very similar to the box top art as in a US Army machine from North Africa but possibly using markings from a Star decal sheet for an example that had mud painted onto the original OD camouflage to give it a bit of variety. My other option is for a post war machine used by Chile to help show that the Stuart didn't disappear from inventories after WWII, they stayed in service into the 1970's at least for training and also wore a variety of desert related schemes according to profiles on a PDF I have about Chilean armour, though I would like to see a picture or two to back this up. So there you go, thats my proposed build. Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig.

Hi everybody, calling all Corsair maniacs experts for this build, such as @corsaircorp and @Corsairfoxfouruncle just to name the two I'm more familiar with I always loved the Corsair, but know very little about it, so any help, hints, tips, references and pointers will be greatly appreciated This is more of a bookmark than an actual start, I still need to study some proper documentation about the subject, anyway here are a few pics. The kit: It's the well known Tamiya 1/48 box - I don't think there's much to say about it, anyway here are the sprues: The second pilot figure, in the "jumping on board" pose, is very tempting... Clear parts Decals (as usual, I plan to use very few of them ) and the scheme I want to reproduce, Jolly Rogers' BIG HOG Actual works to start soon-ish, I may venture into a foray in another field of modelling before/along this, we'll see. Meanwhile, I'm all ears Ciao Edit: I almost forgot to add that my friend @corsaircorp had sent me some resin bits to tart up this build: I'm not sure if I'll be using the whole engine or just replace the crankcase of the kit with the resin one - definitely going to use the resin seat, though

Kit - Tamiya Paint - Mr Color & Tamiya lacquer for camouflage, Tamiya acrylics for internals, W&N oils for weathering, SMS lacquer for clear coats. Decals - RoG Extras - Yahu IP, Eduard type specific seat harnesses, Owl ASV aerial (modified) Bristol Beaufighter TF.X 489 (NZ) Squadron RAF Langham June / July 1944 Been planning (an putting-off) this build for longer than I care to recall. No problems with the actual construction, it's a Tamiya kit after all so nothing to report there. It was always going to be as weathered as possible without looking like a flying wreck, I went as close as my skills allowed to the photo, and I think I did OK - pleased for any comments or criticisms on that - I used a little pre & post shading to get the basic 'tones' then a lot of time with various Windsor & Newton oils to filter, fade and bleach the paintwork. Extended the weathering to the engine splatters on the nose and all around the nacelles - in the old Ian Allen 'At War' book (my primary reference) you can see Beaufighters in general were filthy machines - and 'ground-in' lots of dark tones again around the nacelles to simulate burned and dried leaks. Scratchbuilt the wooden torpedo glide wings from plastic-card, then a little pastel work on the tires and it was done. I love the irony of building the Tamiya kit using Revells decals, I eMailed RoG as soon as I saw that they'd done P6-S as one of their kit options and they sent the sheet out to me within ten days... just brilliant. Very happy with how it looks, double win as it's D-Day anniversary this year AND another NZ build to keep the locals smiling !. Please feel free to ask any questions, make any comments or post any criticisms. Cheers Ian.

Fresh not even off the bench is just another Kepford Corsair. I haven't really been doing anything original lately. This particular plane is supposed to Ira Kepford's first 29 when he only had four kills with it. This allowed me the artistic license to use the red boardered insignias I like and delete the weird darkened kill markings. If it isn't obvious to you this is Tamiya's 48th F4U-1A kit. Believe it or not it's only the third Tamiya kit I've ever built and my first Tamiya Corsair. It's a nice kit. I didnt have any real troubles with it. Other than the somewhat ambiguous fitting flaps the fit was excellent. I intended to build this completely OOB until I broke the propeller. I ordered the prop and much improved exhaust from Ultracast in Canada. I'm really impressed with their stuff. I used this plane to try out some new things. First was mixing custom colors. I wanted to mix my own blues. The full value colors I had would only represent a brand new plane and would be hard to weather the way I like. Second was using stencils to paint the major markings. I'm considering getting a cutter to make my own stencils to replace larger decals. These stencils came from John at Hawaiian Air Depot. They worked great. They're well thought out with almost idiot proof instructions. Almost because somehow this idiot put them in the wrong place. Always check your references beforehand. Oooy. I've been experimenting with different chipping methods. I haven't had much luck with hairspray. I'm a stickler for smooth finishes and hairspray always gives me a pebbly finish. Plus it takes forever to activate through my preferred lacquer paints. On this model I mostly used Testors silver enamel randomly applied with small pieces of sponge. The enamel over lacquer allows me to wipe away my many mistakes with mineral spirits and start over. I still haven't gotten good with it but you can see I got lots of practice with this plane. In fact I went too overboard for the age of this particular plane. For areas I needed more control I used silver pencil as usual. The rest of the model was my normal M.O. of Mr.Color paints, oil and enamel washes, and pastels sealed with GX114. Other than the excessive chipping, I'm pretty happy with the results and the things I learned along the way. Be well all, Thanks for looking. Ron

Hi all, My Centurion Avre is not yet finished, but I like having a few projects on the bench. Even though this one will be a huge project. 😉 A few weeks ago I attended Militracks 2024 in Overloon, Netherlands. Two FAMO half tracks participated. That gave me the idea to build a scaled version of it. A version with a heavy crane (I think it's a Bilstein crane): And the "regular" one: So I went to my local hobby shop and got this kit: As the kit is a bit older, I got some aftermarket stuff too: (I might get some resin tires for the trailer as well) The trailer could carry loads up to 22 tons. So my plan is to build something like this. Half track, trailer and a damaged Panzer IV: I yet need to get the tank, but first I need to focus on FAMO and trailer anyway. 😁 Daniel

I am really pleased to present to you all my latest build, a North American F-51D-30-NA Mustang of Nevada Air National Guard as she was when seconded to the Icelandic Defense Force in 1952-53 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_Defense_Force), based at Keflavik Airbase, Iceland and operated under United States Air Force control. This subject caught my eye many months ago and I have been determined to build her. I could have plucked any of the aircraft from this deployment but I chose 44-74482 “Nancy” as she had some of the markings that appeal to me – the stencil-type Buzz number, particularly, as well as the one named aircraft that I could identify. In building her I have used a little “Modeller’s Licence” in terms of the colours applied. You will see in the text below that there is detailed description. However, I fear that time has allowed memories to wain and so I have used “best guess” for this model, with reasoning for each difference using reference images. I have noted my changes in the following text. The following background has been extracted from Wikipedia (public domain and edited): One of the last overseas deployments of a F-51D Mustang unit by the U.S. Air Force was in late 1952 when 25 aircraft of the 131st Fighter Bomber Group, were assigned to the Iceland Defense Force (IDF) at Keflavik air base in Iceland. Most of the 25 Mustangs came from the 192nd Fighter Bomber Squadron, Nevada Air National Guard, with fillers from the 110th FBS, Missouri Air National Guard and 170th FBS, Illinois Air National Guard, as no squadron in the 131st had the originally required number of 35 airplanes to be readied for the mission. Distinctive "arctic-red" (Insignia Red) markings were applied to all IDF Mustangs before their transfer from USA to Iceland. This included the painting of the outer wingspan, fuselage aft end, and tail empennage (minus control surfaces) in Insignia Red. My note: wing control surfaces were red also. The sliding canopy frame, propeller spinner, and tips of wings and tail empennage were Insignia Blue (the standard colour trim for the 192nd FBS). The windshield frame and the anti-glare panels (between the propeller and the windshield) were black although some were Olive Drab (often not distinguishable from black in colour photos). Some aircraft had stainless steel panels around the exhaust stacks painted glossy black for easy cleaning. The landing gear strut fairings had a 6 inch colour at the panel bottom for separate flight identity, blue, red, and yellow. The panels over the filtered air intakes on the lower nose were painted red. My note: these were Insignia Blue. The wording “Nancy” was determined by me to be in Insignia Red. According to written personal notes from Col. Robert W. Gruenhagen (flight chief, line chief, and quality control inspector of the F-51 Mustangs stationed at Keflavik airbase in 1952) the deployment procedure was as follows (quote): "P/F-51 assignment, Iceland During august 27, 1952, 35 Mustangs were readied for launch from George AFB, Victorville, California with destination of Keflavik, Iceland by 1 September, 1952. The aircraft were prepared in A/W T.O. 00-25-4 for overseas transfer and modified with APX-6 transponders to provide the latest IFF capability. Two groups of 17 and 18 aircraft were flown across the U.S. in a northern and southern routing through bases coordinated for en-route support. Two C-119 aircraft were manned with 15 man crews to follow the flights and repair ant turn and launch the Mustangs at each base. Intend was to reach the east coast with 30 aircraft and proceed on with the best 25 for the final destination. The serials listed below were in place in Keflavik and on alert by 15 September of 1952. The aircraft were assigned to the 192 Ftr Bmr Sqdn. (TAC) with support crews made up from three squadrons of the 146 Ftr Bmr Wg, the 178th, 186th and 190th. Serial: 44-72708 44-73788 44-74482 44-74880 44-74845 44-74717 44-73769 44-74586 44-74963 44-72843 44-74377 44-74522 44-84769 44-74382* 44-73996 44-73826 44-74870 44-73409 44-74317 44-74811 44-84834 44-74975 44-74959 44-74368 45-11364. The aircraft served until April, 1953 and were replaced by F-94B interceptors assigned to the 82nd FIS. The Mustang unit designation changed to the 436th Ftr Sqdn on 1 December, 1952. The Mustangs were flown to England, (Renfrew) and transferred to AMC at Brookley field, Mobile Alabama and eventually to Norton AFB Sam Bernardino California were they were scrapped in May of 1954. *44-74382 was left at BW-1 (Narssasuak, Greenland) enroute for an engine change which was completed in one week. A B-26 Navigation aircraft accompanied the Mustangs on all the overwater legs and the later pick-up of 382.” Except for a few remaining on active duty, the three support units returned to Air National status upon return to the US. During this period, the Mustang units in Korea were also converted to jet aircraft with the Mustangs being assigned to the Republic of Korea Air Force and these units along with the Icelandic units were the last overseas assignment of the type with the USAF. What did I use/do? 1. Kit – Tamiya North American F-51D Mustang (60754) in 1/72 2. Decals – the aircraft specific markings were drawn and printed by Arctic Decals. The remainder were from the kit. 3. Aftermarket – Falcon Vacform canopy (9158), AML seat belts (AMLE 80 003), CMK exhausts (Q72 033), Uschi antenna line, Yalu instrument panel, various bits of rod and wire to create the radio box etc. 4. Paint – Mainly Colourcoats Insignia Red (ACUS26) and Insignia Blue (ACUS39), together with Humbrol 27002 Polished Aluminium. H27002+Humbrol 140 mix on the wings. The rudder is H11 Silver. Interior was primarily Colourcoats US Interior Green (ACUS09) and wheel wells are Colourcoats Zinc Chromate Yellow (ACUS23). Varnished at various stages with Humbrol Glosscote (first coat) and Vallejo Gloss and Satin. 5. Weathering – Flory washes used here and there – not the panel lines – plus Prismacolor Silver pencil and various Tamiya Weathering Powders. Here she is: I hope you like her. Martin

Encouraged by the kind feedback I received from my first tank modelling attempt. Here is my second one.

I've had a thick line drawn under this GB ever since it came through the bunfight. US Navy aircraft dominate both my stash and my completed builds, maybe because I am a Top Gun baby, or maybe because I find most USN aircraft interesting and colourful (both figuratively and literally). My choice of a Phantom for the GB is an unimaginative one, but I'm excited nonetheless, especially as I'll be building this beautiful kit: You probably can't tell that the box is still wrapped in clear plastic, but you can probably see the Japanese price tag. My daughter bought this for me from a model shop in Osaka when she was in Japan on holiday back in January for the very reasonable price of JPY 6050 (which if you do the conversion works out to about half the retail price here in Aus!). She bought it for me as a present for my recent 50th birthday, which makes me a 1974 baby, and so I figured that makes a VF-74 bird somewhat appropriate for a birthday build. So I'll be building this as a VF-74 'Be-Devillers' F4H-1/F-4B when the squadron was the first to take the Phantom to sea with their 1962 cruise aboard the USS Forrestal - hence the 'First in Phantoms' moniker. Here's the Bullseye decal sheet I'll be using (some lovely, printed-by-Cartograph goodness): And I have some bits from Hypersconic models to make it a period correct early F-4B/F4H-1 - namely the plain fin cap and non-IRST chin pod. Plus some very nice looking seats (well, they do look nice when the light is not reflecting off the packaging). I'll take some better shots of he Hypersonic bits once I make a start and removing them from their packaging. Likewise I'll take some sprue shots then - for now I am saving myself the treat of opening the box and savouring the sprues until I make a start after clearing off my other GB commitments. Am looking forward to making a start, but in the meantime enjoy this McDonnell promotional film on the Phantom's first cruise with VF-74, it's 23 minutes very well spent: Best of luck with your own builds, I'm looking forward to following along. This should be a cracking GB, Gerard

Whilst waiting for paint to arrive for my Panther model, I started this. It sort of took over from what I was doing. However, it was a quick build. I just wished I done some weathering on the inside but hey ho it’s done. And I broke the sticky out things off the front wheel arches..

I hope someone here can have a good idea about a disaster that struck me yesterday. I have brush painted my 1/72 Airfix sea fury including b/w identification stripes, in Extracrylic extra dark sea grey, Tamiya sky, Tamiya flat white and Tamiya flat black. After leaving the kit for 4 or 5 days to fully dry off, I started to brush varnish it with undiluted Windsor and Newton galleria gloss varnish. No effect on the extra dark sea grey, sky or white, but it instantly appeared to dissolve the flat black and left it smearing across the white stripes. I stopped as soon as I saw the black smearing, tried to dab as much of the black smeared varnish off with IPA as I could, and then put the kit into the airing cupboard for 24 hours to see if it dried. It did, and yesterday I repainted the worst affected white stripes, putting it back into the airing cupboard. Now I would like to gloss varnish before putting the decals on; so I am wondering if the collective brain of the Britmodeller massive might have an idea as to why the varnish affected the Tamiya flat black, and then obviously any recommendations for gloss varnish that might not dissolve (I think that's what happened) the Tamiya flat black.

Mes amis, as seems to be the general custom with Group Builds, I've allowed this one out of it's tub in the loft with no guarantee of getting finished. I present to you Tamiyas Mid Production with an Eduard 'Big Ed' photoetch set .... I'll be building this as (another) tank 131 of Panzer Abteilung 101 deployed in Normandy 1944 .... how timely! So, without further delay, let the shenanigans begin! 😬 Keith 😁

The first of several 'in progress' projects I'll post and the most recent one I started. It's the Tamiya Mazda Eunos Roadster, or MK1 MX5, or Miata... Anyway, I bought this because it was cheap and I thought I might lower it and chuck some little fat wheels on. But then I thought that's what happens to most MK1 MX5s, so maybe I'll make a dune buggy because the tyres should be fairly easy to model. So I need to model a lift kit and some wheels, maybe a roll cage and new exhaust. First thing I did was wheels and tyres - because it's fun! I decided to recreate the original 14in wheel centres but as though they'd been machined from the original wheel and converted to split rims. Then I went with a 17in front rim and 15in rear to keep the overall diameters similar. The wheel centres are the same front and rear (because they're modelled on the originals) and I made separate valves that push in from the outside. After printing a set of these and mucking about with them for a while, and making a start on the front suspension, I decided I'd quite like to do a set of off-road wheels, too. Then I could make a trophy truck or rock crawler type vehicle as an alternative. Because the off-road wheels would be a square set-up (same diameter, width, offset front and rear, not actually square!), I thought my rear offset on the sand wheels was a bit too aggressive for the suspension to work with both sets of wheels and keep a similar front and rear track. I re-modelled the rear rims and re-printed them. As you can see in the photo below, it's not a massive difference (1.4mm actually). The left is the original and the right is the new version. Below is the final set of sand wheels and tyres with an original wheel and tyre for comparison. In order to create the off-road wheel set I needed to up my tyre modelling game and picked the Yokohama Geolandar X-AT as my inspiration. This wasn't too bad to model as it turned out and I'm really happy with the result. For the wheel, I went with a Fuel Zephyr as my starting point but made them a 4x100 bolt pattern to match the original MX5. I went for a 17in wheel and I can't remember what size tyre I picked but it comes out at about a 32in. The wheel comprises a Tamiya style locator that is also the wheel nuts, the wheel, a centre cap, a valve and a lock ring. I did this mainly for ease of painting Although, the separate centre locator does mean I can create an Aoshima/Fujimi style one in the future. I'll probably model some 5 and 6 bolt versions of the wheel, too. Once I'd printed the wheels and tyres, I thought it'd be much better if I gave the tyres a bit of 'sag' so they look like they've been aired down for off-road use. I use Fusion 360 for my modelling but it isn't really made for deforming stuff. As it happens, I also have a copy of Blender installed, so I used the mesh deformer in that to squash the bottom of the tyre and I'm really happy with the results. Below is a photo of the full set of wheels and also a comparison between round and sagged tyres. Whilst I'd been messing with wheels and tyres, I'd also been working on the front suspension mods. These components basically replace the kit originals directly with the removal of the anti-roll bar and addition of a sump guard/skid plate. I didn't want to have to cut or modify any of the original kit parts, so the front and rear track are vastly wider that original for tyre clearance. In fact, the wheels are entirely outside of the original bodywork! Although this doesn't articulate, I did check that it was "useable" in terms of camber and steering. It has a crazy amount of lift and I wanted to give as much ground clearance as possible, so the track rod angles are ridiculous. Through the full "movement" of the suspension, though, the hub would remain the same distance from the steering rack, so it shouldn't be a nightmare to drive. The track would actually alter dramatically, though, and I guess that's not ideal. Here are some shots of the front suspension so far, with comparisons to the original kit parts. Everything is beefed up for off-road use. I'm now working on modelling the rear suspension and am pretty much there. I still need to work out the propshaft, differential and half shafts, as I'm keeping to independent suspension. I think I'm going to attempt to model a Mazda RX7 diff and use it upside down for extra ground clearance. Here's a render of where I'm upto so far Wow! I think it's taken me almost as long to create this post as it has to model everything! I was thinking I could actually create a full exo cage for this and make a military version so I'd fit in more Anyway, if you've managed to make it this far down, I hope you've enjoyed it! Cheers Martin

Outside one of the Gates of the Millennium Stadium (formally called something else for sponsorship reasons) in Cardiff is a statue of a bespectacled older gentleman. There are plaques on four sides of the statue's plinth. Each plaque is topped with his name: Sir Tasker Watkins VC GBE PC DL Three of the four plaques provide details on aspects of his life and the fourth his dates of birth and death (November 18 1918 to September 9 2007) and a quote from him. One plaque details his distinguished legal career, ending as Deputy Chief Justice of England and Wales from 1988 to 1993. One details his time as President of the Welsh Rugby Union from 1993 to 2004. The third contains a summarised version of his citation for the award of the Victoria Cross which reads: “On 16 August 1944 at Barfour, Normandy, France, Lieutenant Watkins' company came under murderous machine-gun fire while advancing through corn fields set with booby traps. The only officer left, Lieutenant Watkins led a bayonet charge with his 30 remaining men against 50 enemy Infantry, practically wiping them out. Finally, at dusk, separated from the rest of the battalion, he ordered his men to scatter and after he had personally charged and silenced an enemy machine-gun post, he brought them back to safety. His superb leadership not only saved his men, but decisively influenced the course of the battle.” It is this plaque that has inspired the build planned. I've been considering how best to do this. It turns out that Sir Tasker rarely talked about his VC and apparently refused to allow the Welch Regiment museum to display a painting of the incident that led to its award as he felt it ‘over-glamourised’ his actions. I thought any sort of ‘action’ diorama might be interpreted the same way. I feel therefore that it might align better to his views to depict the moment when he returned to battalion headquarters with the remnants of B Company; 27 men. Tired, weary men who had lived through terrible events; their officer amongst them but barely distinguishable. I therefore intend to use the below kits to try and represent at least a selection of those men and some of the vehicles that might be found at the battalion headquarters. I'll probably need to get more British Infantry. I hope that I can complete this diorama to represent in this GB not just Sir Tasker Watkins VC, not just the men of B company, but all of the ‘Poor Bloody Infantry’ who fought and suffered and died in Normandy. According to the Imperial War Museum “All seven infantry divisions that fought in Normandy had lost three-quarters of their initial strength by the end of August. The rifle companies had been the hardest hit. Though they formed no more than 20% of the whole, they had taken 70% of the casualties. In an echo of the First World War, junior infantry officers had a mere 1 in 10 chance of surviving unscathed.” https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/tactics-and-the-cost-of-victory-in-normandy I’ll leave the last words to Sir Tasker Watkins VC himself, speaking on the events that led to his Victoria Cross award, as quoted on the fourth plinth of his statue. "I did what needed doing to help my colleagues and friends and saw more killing in 24 hours than is right for anybody. From that moment onwards I have tried to take a more caring view of my fellow human beings and that of course always included my opponents, whether it be at war, sport or just ordinary life."

When Honda introduced their new CB750 motorcycle model to the world in 1969 it was seen as a revelation by many. A powerful and relatively easy to maintain 736cc air-cooled in-line four cylinder engine was at the heart of the bike but the inclusion of many other features, such as an electric starter, ensured their rapidly growing popularity; so rapid, according to some sources, that it caught Honda by surprise. So good was the bike that it reputedly birthed the term 'superbike' and its popularity was responsible for the U.J.M. epitaph - Ubiquitous Japanese Motorcycle - as everyone seemed to have one. At over 110,000 units produced it's easy to understand why. The popularity of the CB750 has been recognised by Tamiya in both 1/12th and 1/6th scale kits with the former appearing in the catalogue during 1982 and remaining available ever since. There just happens to be one in my stash... There's plenty reviews covering the contents of this box on-line so I'll not repeat the process but let's just say it's well filled We're not going fully out of the box with this one. I quite like the café racer style and the CB750 is a popular bike amongst those who do custom conversions so let's head down that road a little.

Hello gents, here's my fourth completion of the year: Tamiya's 1/48 Vought F4U-1D Corsair: A very nice kit, I hardly remember building it in fact, so stress-free was it. I bought the 'towing tug' edition as it contains the full rocket and fuel tank load, which I don't think the standard boxing does, and because I wanted to use the little guy leaning out of his cockpit I did cut the forward 'prong' from the wing-join pieces and it seemed to give a better fit without them. I was a bit cheesed off having to build it with the flaps deployed but them's the breaks, you don't get the choice unless you are brave enough to do it yourself. I used the Quinta 3D cockpit decal set and it is actually at least partly visible through the cockpit opening, also at ASK double-sided canopy mask set; both of these worked as advertised. The aircraft was finished in Colourcoats enamels, overall ACUS34 ANA623 Glossy Sea Blue with the anti-glare panel in ACUS33 ANA607 Non-specular Sea Blue. The interior was done in ACUS09 Interior Green with the wheelbays in ACUS23 Zinc Chromate Yellow. Detail painting was done with various Citadel, Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics. The final coat was AK Interactive Satin varnish, with Ultra Matte varnish used on the anti-glare panel and wing walkways. I used the kit transfers for the 2nd option from VBF-6 based on the USS Hancock (CV-19) in March 1945. The transfers felt a bit thick, but they went on fine and to their credit did not 'silver' at all. I appreciate the 'Pacific Island' backdrop is not really appropriate for a carrier-based Corsair, but I had the background already (from Coastal Kits) and it was a bit more interesting than just taking the pictures against a white or grey background like I usually do Thanks for your attention Cheers, Stew

Here's the start of my 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire Vb, in markings of an aircraft flown by one of the "Eagle"squadrons, American pilots who flew with the RAF before the US joined the war. I was minded to do this subject because my late father served as RAF groundcrew and was stationed at Martlesham Heath during the time that 71 Squadron, made up of American volunteers, was based there. I don't know whether he ever worked on these particular aircraft, but I think it's likely he would have been aware of them. I'll be using the Aviaelogy decal set, and the Tamiya kit. Hoping for a fairly quick build, although I'm tarting up the cockpit a bit with an Eduard set I picked up at Telford last year. I've spent a few evenings so far on the cockpit - here's a couple of pictures before everything gets hidden away inside the fuselage. All fairly straightforward so far - the only wrinkle was that the Eduard set refers to a mysterious "part 45" which is absent from the fret. It appears to be a wiring bundle on the left hand side of the instrument panel; I've made up something from fusewire and tape.

Time to over commit! My 1/48 F-35A will still be my main focus for the GB, but I am going to aim and build its younger, smaller brother as well, Tamiya's 1/72 kit. As you would expect, it comes in a much smaller box, with a lot fewer parts. But the breakdown looks pretty similar: Except there's no weapons' bay on the smaller kit. But otherwise, the detailing is to the same exceptional standard. No tinted canopy either. But it looks like it should be a fun, quicker build, which, when complete, will wear 75 Squadron RAAF markings: Decals courtesy of Ronin Graphics. Tail number TBC, but like all bar the first two RAAF F-35s it features the 'late' scheme which means no masking the RAM tape, thankfully. Speaking of masking, the Ronin Graphics decal sheet does include masks, but it's for the Academy kit. But still, pretty neat. Thought this would make an interesting comparison, both to my 1/48 build, and to most of my completed builds, which are predominately 1/72 scale as well. Let's see how I go with this! Gerard

At the risk of spreading myself a little thin, Im going to present another entry. The historical significance of this GB is just too much for me to pass up. So since I already have a plane entered, I decided to do an AFV. Looking through my stash, I wanted to do something different from a Sherman or tank destroyer (which is what most of my armored stash is), and since the GB encompasses the ensuing Battle for Normandy, I decided to take advantage of the extended date range and do an M8 armored car. I did some research and found that while the M8 did not make much of an impact in the month following the invasion, it did play an important role once the allies were able to break through the bocage. Tamiya’s 1/35 kit includes decals for the vehicle pictured below which was part of the 82nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. The 82nd came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day Plus Four and was held mostly in reserve for the next month. But when US commanders became frustrated with the slow advance through the hedgerow ridden terrain, fast recon units like the 82nd became a valuable asset when commanders came up with the idea of Operation Cobra. Using concentrated bombing to try and breakthrough German lines, while also hoping the German lines were unbalanced having to deal with British and Canadian offensives, the fast M8s sped through the gap to scout the enemy and relay valuable information while also helping to escort heavier armored vehicles like the Sherman. Along with coordinated infantry movement and air support, Operation Cobra was a success and led to a much more rapid advance through Normandy and beyond for the allied forces.

I am planning on building Tamiya`s Spitfire Vb kit in 1/48th scale as a artillery spotter of the US Navy`s VOS-7. This unit comprised of US Pilots who had flown Seagulls and Kingfisher floatplanes, but these were considered too vulnerable for the assault on Normandy, so converted to Spitfires and flew out of Lee-On-Solent. I plan on building 4Q which seems to have more invasion stripes than camouflage. On the Fundekals sheet 4Q has full span wings whereas the new Eduard Spitfire Vb Overlord kit has the same aircraft with clipped wings, As the squadron in its role worked at quite low level. I am tempted to go with clipped wings. What are others thoughts? This kit was purchased from Hannants secondhand and previous owner had removed most of the sprues for some reason. The kit looks complete. More images when i have figured out how to post them.... Grahame

Why not another entry? I wanted to do another vehicle and this golden oldie seems like a simple enough project. This is the 2014 boxing of Tamiya’s Ford GPA which was first released in 1974. A DUKW probably would’ve been a more appropriate build but would also be more involved and since I have several builds planned for multiple GBs, I’m trying to pick simple projects. The “seep” (sea-faring jeep) was the amphibious version of the Jeep and while a novel idea, was not nearly as successful as its larger cousin, the DUKW. Production vehicles came in nearly half a ton heavier than the intended design which left little freeboard while in water in even calms seas and wasn’t well regarded on land either. Only 12,700 were produced before the Army cancelled the contract and a good chunk of them were then sent to the allies via lend lease with the Soviets receiving the most. They saw limited action with US forces starting in Tunisia and did make it to France in small numbers, too. Like the M8 I plan to build, the GPAs did not play much of a role in the beginning stages of the invasion (the GPAs really didn’t play much of a role at all), but were present. I haven’t decided on markings yet since I have to do some more research, but even if in small numbers and a limited role, US, British and Canadian vehicles would’ve been present in France in the days and weeks following D-Day, so it does fit the parameters of the group build and is something different.