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I'll join in with another nice new 1/48 Tamiya F-4B. Still bagged, but not for long. I'll go with the 3rd Tamiya option - kit decals and all - the CAG aircraft, another MiG killer from VF-161 "Chargers". There has been lots of aftermarket enthusiasm in the F-4 Phantom II Chat. Some really good gear to add. That Quinta Studios stuff looks lovely and how cannot I not use a replacement jet exhaust (my normal) with that PayPal icon an easy curser click away. This time though, I'm going largely OOB, that is other than what I might already have kicking around for enhancement of the kit plastic - already planning my attack on the kit's ejection seats. Should be fun. Ray

Hello all, I've been working on this one for a while now and i was hoping to get outside and get some photo's on a diorama and in daylight, but the weather hasnt been playing ball. So, i thought i'd get some indoor pics done and then update this later. The build includes Red Fox Studios instrument set and all the weapons are attached with magnets for ease of transportation, paints were from Gunze and oil washed with Abteilung Starship filth for the most part. All comments welcome

So, I'm fairly new to modelling and this is my third official build. First was a steam train as my 2 yr old son loves them. The second was a jeep 1:72 but I felt it was too small scale, so this was my first serious attempt so I thought I'd give weathering a go. It's the Tamiya British SAS Jeep 1/35. Happy for some thoughts or constructive criticism Just bought the Airfix M3 Grant tank as my next project. Looks complicated!!

The title says it all apart from the actual choice of airframe The top decal pack allows for three different aircraft but having already built a Hobbyboss kit as "101" (the middle scheme) it will either be the CAG "100" with the black fins or the retro finish grey / white "103" Mike

I had no intention of joining this until Tamiya and @trickyrich unknowingly tempted me. what am I doing i surely don’t have time for this So, another Tamiya to add to the growing list… The last Phantom stgb I entered failed miserably so I am determined to make this one a good result. I’m choosing to to go OOB on this and using the kit ‘sundowners’ scheme. however. To spice the proceedings up a bit I’m trying something a little new. I recently bought a cricut and after some fettling have been making t-shirt designs with it with and for my kids with quite succesful results I think. So, I intend to make my own masks and paint a bunch of the markings, (the sundowners scheme on the tail will be perfect for this) the nose sharkmouth and other difficult markings I’ll use the kit decals. So it’ll be new and fun for me in this respect. looking forward to experiencing this universally declared brilliant kit. Just gotta wrap up the dual F-16 stgb. yay! maybe the world’s best kit is on it’s way

To accompany the USMC Wildcat, my dad also started now a Corsair, using the Tamiya kit and wet transfers from HGW Models. DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0009 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Good evening, all! For my (first ever groupbuild!) entry, I've decided to model my Tamiya F-14a as Maverick & Goose's mount from that certain film that ignited my love of Grumman's big 'cat. I've built Tamiya's superlative Tomcat - albeit in its - D guide) previously, and it has firmly cemented itself as my favourite kit of all time. So I'm very happy to have the opportunity to add another to my shelf. I know quite a few in the STGB are also building the same kit, so I won't go into detail about it. It's a stunner and we'll leave it at that. I have Fightertown's best of the best decal set, which provides a lot of very attractive liveries. I've also got the Eduard Big 'Sin set to enhance the cockpit, burner cans and wheels. Although the OOB offerings from Tamiya are very commendable, Eduard's resin alternatives are unbeaten in my opinion. I also have Quickboost' s chin pod and tail stiffeners to update Tamiya's kit to the correct block for the movie jet. I have the Eduard' external PE set on the way as this adds a lot of fidelity to the look of the kit. And here is the livery I'll be working on depicting. I'm anxiously excited about the weathering that will take place on this build. Those movie jets were rather grubby to say the least! I have the Sabre resin crew kit on order to go with this build, and I'm looking forward to putting the helmet decals that come with the Fightertown sheet to good use! I'm very excited to start this build, and equally looking forward to seeing everybody else's builds and what we all come up with! Gentlemen; I feel the need - the need, for lots of re-runs of my favourite movie! Daryl

A recently finished build, this Tamiya P47D was built for a good friend. Finished in the colours of the Brazilian Air Force, it represents a machine flown by Ten. Cel. Nero Moura in 1944. Build was OOB and straightforward..well it IS a Tamiya kit The only aftermarket used was an Eduard instrument panel. Finished with Tamiya Laquers and lightly weathered, per my friends wishes. Decals are from the excellent FCM Decals and they went down without any problems. I must admit to having no knowledge of these machines being used by the BAF, but a bit of research brought up some interesting reading. Thanks for looking Gary

#23/2021 My dad´s next 15th AF pony, after the Tuskegee one. Tamiya kit with Aeromaster decals. Did some minor filling and removing to get a D-5 model. Also filled the wing panel lines, like on the original. Painted with AK Xtreme Metal Color Aluminium. All the yellow trim is painted, the black stripes are decals. Added some fuel lines between drop tanks and wings with lead wire. Antenna wire done with EZ Line. Eduard seatbelts used. Build thread here https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235098060-airwar-over-austria148-north-american-p-51d-mustang-2ndfs52ndfg-yellow-tails-15th-af/ The model shows the P-51 of Korean-American Fred F. Ohr, serving with the 2nd FS 52nd FG, stationed in Italy 1944. He was credited with the destruction of 6 aircraft in the air and 17 on the ground. Ohr was born on July 15, 1919 in Oregon to Korean immigrants Wanda and Wan Ju, and grew up on a farm in the Boise, Idaho basin. Out of high school he joined the military in 1938 but was not on the path to becoming a pilot until inadvertently participating in a pilot examination in 1940. In fall 1942 he deployed with the 68th Material Service Squadron to Britain. He served as a ground crew member in Tunisia, seeing action as his airbase was overrun. Afterwards, Ohr flew until November 1944 with the 2nd Fighter Squadron, 52nd Fighter Group, ending his tour as the squadron's commanding officer. He received numerous decorations including the Silver Star with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with 18 Oak Leaf Clusters. He received a citation for his escort action during Operation Tidal Wave in 1943, when he and his unit intercepted three enemy fighters preparing to attack Allied bombers over a target area. He shot down one aircraft during the mission. After the war, Ohr became a dental surgeon in Chicago. He practiced dentistry until his retirement in 2005. DSC_0001 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0002 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0003 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0004 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0010 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0011 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0012 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0013 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0014 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0015 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0016 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0017 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0018 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0019 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0020 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0021 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0022 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0023 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0024 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0026 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0027 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0028 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0029 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0030 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Finally finished, WIP thread here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235079872-tamiya-148-f-14d-tomcat-wip Also I had done similar work with the AMK kit: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235079280-amk-f-14d-vf-213-oef-2001-148/ This work consist of three parts: 1, Tamiya 61118 F-14D Tomcat, 1/48 2, KASL Hobby F-14A/B/D Slat & Wing Flap Set (Perhaps this is the most difficult part! The flaps warped a bit, and the rails of slats and flaps did not align perfectly) 3, ResKit F-14D F110-GE-400 Closed Exhaust Nozzles for Tamiya The airplane is built with some modifications on landing gears and high lift devices. The paint I used was Gunze Mr. Color, a solvent based color. Painting was done in four steps: 1) apply a layer of Mr. Surfacer 1500 primer; 2) making preshading with brownish black ; 3) basic painting, but with thinned paint so as not to fully cover the preshading; 4) weathering with Winsor Newton Oil color I took this project as complement to my F-14 Tomcat collection since AMK did have some shape issues (especially at the nose section). The engineering and shaping of Tamiya Tomcat was absolutely a master piece when compared to the AMK Tomcat kit. Yet the biggest short coming of Tamiya kit was lack of details and the slat and trailing edge flaps. Tamiya chosen to achieve a enjoyable build yet AMK went on an epic build with abundant details and options. Most of the difficulties of this build lay on the resin parts. The wings took a lot of time to test fit, fill and sanding, and the KASL Hobby nozzles were too short. I later chose a ResKit set of nozzles to complete this build, only to find ResKit did not do enough test fitting with their parts. I had to cut the afterburner cans short to make it fit better to the F-14 nacelles. Here comes the reveal photos:

Hola comrades, I just had a cunning plan but I wanted to see if anyone else has ever tried this themselves. I have decided to switch from Vallejo to Tamiya for Airbrush painting but Tamiya's jars are so inconvenient to me compared to Vallejo's dropper bottles. So i'm curious, has anyone here ever tried transferring their Tamiya paints to dropper bottles (either plastic or glass)? I'd like to know if it would work or just instantly dry up due to a adverse reaction.

And my dad starts another 15th AF pony. DSC_0005 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0007 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0008 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr DSC_0006 by grimreaper110, auf Flickr

Being home for this last week, first tending to a sick family, then being sick myself, has afforded me the opportunity to crank out some kits from my stash in short order. This is the most recent of them: It's a Tamiya Bf.109E-3, built mostly out of the box with the addition of Eduard seatbelts, some resin wheels from the parts bin (the ones in the kit were previously knicked for another build) and some other details such as brake lines make from fine wire. Since I have an irrational aversion to building anything matching the box art, I chose the marking scheme of 4./JG 52 in the spring of 1940: (illustration from "Jagdwaffe - Attack in the West, May 1940' by Eric Mombeek with J.Richard Smith and Eddie J.Creek") The kit decals provided almost all the needed makings except the Staffel's red cat insignia, which I borrowed from another kit in the stash. The paints are all from the Vallejo Air range and the light weathering was mostly done with acrylic washes and Tamiya weathering powders. The whole build took about a day and a half... I've still got a runny nose, and a lot of models staring me down from the stash...

I don't think I've ever built a Tomcat before, not even in my youth, so it's about time to do something about it. In three weeks time I get access to our newly built house that comes unfinished on the inside, so guess what I need to do? Yes, starting this kit off course? What could possibly go wrong with that approach? As a serial kit-starter i need to break out a new box now and then. Said box does look nice, but the contents are probably even better! Last year I started another swinger for the Tonka GB. That one was filled with so much resin that only @trickyrich can handle, but it sort of went quite well. "Well" as in it now painted, but no decals or kabloey stuff to hang on it. This time I'll just use the bare minimum: I managed to acquire an Areomaster sheet, so that I can do a nice sharkmouthed F-14. It's not sized 100% to Tamiya but I've checked the sunburst fin decal and that is a decent match to the fin so it might turn out fine. My plan for attack will be to start with the three bits that always is a hurdle when I do something modern. Weapons, landing gear and ejection seats. We'll see how that goes...

I have always wanted to build an early Phantom F-4B in the markings of VF-84 Jolly Rogers, there are two slightly different versions, the first had a pirate flag shape on the vertical fin with a yellow fin cap and a yellow sash with black chevrons on the fuselage. Later in their Vietnam cruise they changed to an all black tail, yellow fin cap and a black sash with yellow chevrons on the fuselage. I'm doing the earlier scheme as in this picture and using the Furball decals. I will be building the new Tamiya F-4B as most of the parts to build a 1964 era Phantom are included, the un-slotted tailplanes and the separate bumps on top of the wing can be left off (or donated to a late Academy F-4B build) The lower wing surface ECM bumps can also be left off. There are a choice of nose sensors in the kit, only thing that is required is an early fin cap without any ECM bumps, CMK are about to bring one out or there are spare ones from a ZM F-4 that just need a bit of sanding thinner. This is my third build, but as they say...You can never have too many Phantoms. Thanks for looking, any comments or questions are always welcome.

So this will be Tamiya's 72nd scale F4U-1D, based somewhat on the artwork below. I've drawn up decals and sent them out to the printers last Thursday, so couple weeks for sure before I'll have them physically. The tail marking is about the only one I did not change, well almost. Made the white and blue equal widths, but for the rest: 1. - underwing roundel will have lighter surround representing fresh paint, or possibly showing a little difference between American and British Sky Grey 2. - original artwork has a red Indian chief's head, but I could not find any references about this. So will not incorporate this, but in it's place will add the chalked warning "GUNS LOADED" 3. - going with slightly larger fuselage code letters (20 inches) based on studying the well known photos of a pranged Corsair (see image below) 4. - more visible original roundel of 36 inches, with a smaller white portion 5. - smaller serial, adjusted to what should be 4 inches height Photos of plastic to follow ... regards, Jack

Straight from the (1974) box, no interior just a two-session build and a little longer on the paint & weathering. One of those Mojo-restoring builds that was a pleasure to finish. Nothing else to say except please feel free to make any comments or suggestions. Have the rest of a great weekend, all the best from New Zealand. Ian.

I blame @Procopius and @Cookenbacher. And @CedB In what feels like a very different world, c.2 years ago, 2 young(-ish) Americans well known to this community came to visit the UK. They visited a truly epic number of air museums in a short time, met many of us at Telford and/or some of the museums, and generally appeared to have a blast. As far as I am aware there was no direct evidence of their being over-sexed, but they lived admirably up to the example of their ancestors 75 years ago by being over-paid and over here. One of the museums they visited was at Old Buckenham, SW of Norwich, dedicated to the 453rd Bombardment Group USAAF during WW2... and they got talking to the curator, who reckoned he could use some more models. Many emails and 18 months later, several of their BM friends found large parcels arriving; somehow all those years in the Navy and the instinct never to volunteer for anything... wasted. What was I thinking? [All joking aside, it is an honour to pay tribute to those young men so far from home. No, not Edward and Cookie; the proper heroes.] So I find myself building not just one aircraft miles out of my comfort zone... but 3. The idea is the Museum provide the kits; we do the building. You’ll see other BM 453rd-ers appearing in the coming weeks - it’s kind of like a weird group build. I’ll document all 3 of my builds on here, and no doubt others will do the same. Closer to home, though, there are other reasons for this. Many of you already know that completely out of the blue I had a heart attack on 6 March, while out walking the dog on the downs near Salisbury. It was very, very scary, but I managed to avoid meeting that nice Mr Reaper quite yet. 10 days on and I am still pretty weak and lack stamina (quiet in the cheap seats!), but off work for a few weeks. So I need something to do. My Ark build will continue in parallel, but I feel like something self-contained; the plan is for this to be pretty quick, especially by my standards - this is a celebration of still being here! It has to be said that I’ve wangled 3 corkers, all in 1/48 (so at least some of my comfort zone remains intact): the Eduard P-51D, Tamiya P-51B and, up first... the Tamiya P-38F/G. Every review I’ve seen of this kit since it was released in 2019 has positively drooled, so I’m pretty excited about building it. I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert on either the Lightning or the Mustang; if you are and you see me about to make a howler, then feel free to tell me! I have the kit itself, and Jim (the Museum curator) is sending me sone after-market stuff... including the markings, so I cannot yet tell you exactly which airframe this will be...other than that it will be a P-38 of the 479th Fighter Group, based at Wattisham. OK, enough rabbiting on; the kit and the obligatory photos of the box and its contents. Even on initial inspection I can see why everyone raves about it; beautifully moulded, and some really ingenious engineering. ...and the proof that Tamiya engineering is ridiculously good; no tail-sitters here: The game’s afoot. More soon Crisp

Hallo This is now my finished model. Straight from the box. Missing decals for the dials I used from an earlier half track. This is last one I built. All German half tracks done. There are some flaws due to the earlier purpose of this kit. It was a battery driven toy, many years ago. The reengineering for a plastic kit was just half way done. Well, so take a look. I hope you like it. I will continue with interior kits from MiniArt. All I will show in WIP. Happy modelling

First of the two kits Jim sent me for the 453rd Museum build it's the well known Tamiya 1/48 P-51D I wasn't part of the group that visited the Museum but I'm friend with many of them, and I hope I'll be able to join them soon for a proper visit Jim asked me to build the boxart aircraft, which by coincidence is my favourite Mustang scheme Let's see what's in the box: a total of four sprues, including the transparents So a relatively low parts number, and the kit isn't like the most recent Tamaiya issues. Still it's a Tamiya, with some great detail all over Jim also included an Eduard PE set for the cockpit I started with a quick dryfit of the fuselage halves an the cockpit tub bottom view Typical good Tamiya fit, but it will need some work along the seam line, because of the metallic finish of this aircraft. The sidewall detail is amazing: I don't think I'll entirely replace it with the provided PE parts; I'll probably go with an integration, and some scratch building too Surface detail is also great: Alright, this should be fun! All comments welcome Ciao

Plus the Magic Scale Modelling Light & sound kit. AOA decals, Quickboost pilot & RIO, painted Mig Ammo light gull grey. Link to video at the bottom showing the light & sound of engine start etc. (I know the open canopy position isn’t right but I’m delicately balancing best I can before I commit to glueing - the only minus point for Tamiya in this kit!) thanks for looking. jump to 2:55 if you want to skip my rambling

Hallo After building all the halftracks of the German army during WW2 already, this 9er is my last one. So, I have experience from all manufactures already, just Tamiya is new in this particular item. What are the differences? In design and instruction. In design it is good, but there are some items omitted, which are visible! The most obvious is the front axle. Here is the transverse damping unit not fixed to the axle and it ends in the nowhere. All other manufactures did this perfect. This is the worst high visible error. The assembly is very different to other companies. Specially the front bulkhead with the steering unit is difficult to assemble, when following the instruction. As you see on the photos, after some steps I ignored the instruction and did my way, as I think. My experience I can use now. The track chain is tricky: As you see the arrows on the photo, to place the cushion in the right way it fits good. On the wrong way, you will not notice it at once. After a while, the drack disassemble, it falls apart. It took me a while until I noticed it. No remark in the instruction. On the one side every simple detail is noticed, on the opposite side, no information how it goes on really, or how it looks when parts are assembled. This is no matter of the age of the instruction, logic is and was always the same. Well, we will see, how it works out. In the coming days we will see. Happy modelling

Since the lockdown started, it seems to be the fashion to go with multiple builds, so I thought, why not. The M51 will continue as it's not far off finished, and I'll do some more on the Centurion, as and when. But as this dropped through my post box a couple of days ago, I decided that I wanted to make a start on the conversion. And this is what you get in the box. X2. It's certainly a very nice looking kit. Gone is the old Tamiya cast metal hull, and this one looks as though it assembles easily. Tamiya include two lengths of metal to give it some weight and a sensible method of fixing it in place. One thing that I did find strange is the fact that the indentations on the forward and rear parts of the track guards have been moulded raised instead of recessed. It's up to individual taste as to whether you correct this. My original intention was to turn this into a Tiran 5, but getting hold of an M68 105mm main gun in this scale is a no no as it doesn't exist, and I didn't want to start scratch building one. So the alternative was to go with and early Tiran 4 as the D10T 100mm gun is included in the kit. I have the Sabingamartin book on the Tiran 4 which has a few profiles of possible candidates. I spoke with Das Abteilung with regards to whether this is possible and there are some pitfalls apparently. BUT, I decided to go ahead with the conversion and try and produce one of the profiles from the book. 100% accuracy might not be there, but hopefully it will look like a Tiran 4. I’ve got both the Miniart kit and the Takom kit of the Tiran 4, so I will be using those as a guide. So I'll be getting this up and running very soon. John.

Hi All, My latest completion is Tamiya's beautiful 1:32 Spitfire Mk.IXc. As many of you know this is a superb kit, and it's out of my normal 1:48 comfort zone. Although I was severely tempted to model the kit scheme EN398 JE*J, as flown by Wg Cdr Johnnie Johnson, I ended up modelling as MJ586, as flown by P/O Pierre Clostermann, whilst he was part of 602 (City of Glasgow) Sqn, which formed part of 2 TAF based at Longues sur Mer during July 1944. Here's a couple of pics of the aircraft: And here's Clostermann in the cockpit: Here is the WIP thread if anyone is interested: I added a few extras for this build: The Montex mask set depicts another of Clostermann's aircraft MH526, so I had to be a little creative in cobbling together the aircraft serial number! Anyway, on with the pics: Here's a couple of the engine from the WIP: I'm glad to have finally got this one over the line - it's a superb kit and I really don't feel that I've done it justice, but it's turned out all right! Thanks for looking, Roger

Hi All, My next project will be Tamiya's lovely Spitfire Mk.IXc. The wife gifted me this as a birthday present 18 months ago - I've periodically pulled it out and had a little peek and rapidly put it away again, because I was frankly a little intimidated. I don't normally model in this scale, and I guess I didn't want to risk ruining such a lovely kit. However, with mojo in a healthy place I've decided to give it a red hot go! Here's the box art: This is a very high quality affair, and a very full box! Here's the sprues: That's a lot of plastic! Now although I knew that this would build beautifully OOB, as I did not buy the model (??) I thought I'd indulge in a few extras: The wheels look superb as does the cockpit door (and separately moulded crowbar, which will look lovely in red ). On @shortCummins recommendation I've invested in a Yahu instrument panel (thanks for the tip John!), and I'll be trying out HGW seatbelts for the first time. The kit provides for a number of schemes, including the ubiquitous EN398, Johnnie Johnson's mount. Although I was sorely tempted by this scheme, I wanted to spray the markings, and therefore selected a Montex mask set: The lower scheme depicts MH526, as flown by Pierre Clostermann whilst part of 602 (City of Glasgow) Sqn. I actually want to depict this aircraft: This is MJ586, as flown by Clostermann whilst the squadron was part of 2nd TAF based at Longues-sur-Mer during July 1944. I'll therefore need to adapt the a/c serial and figure out how to represent the kill tally (the squadron and a/c codes also look more compact than the 'other' LO*D - hmmm). The partial worn invasion stripes will also present a weathering challenge! This will not be a quick project and I might have other WIPs running concurrently, but I'm now quite excited to be getting going on this icon - wish me luck! Thanks for looking, Roger