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Well what else could a Minion do? I tried to resist for as long as possible but I am a truly weak willed Minion at the best of times, and as we all know this isn't the best of times! So in the ebst Minion style I reached into the stash and pulled out a BANANA!!! No not a large bendy yellow herb but a 1/72 Italeri Piasecki H-21 Shawnee or as it is usually referred the "flying banana". I really like the early helicopters and this has long been a favourite of mine, in fact this will not be the first time I have built one as I built a RCAF machine in a rather fetching red, white and blue rescue scheme. this time around I shall be building her as a USAF machine assigned to the flight test centre at Edwards AFB as my model clubs theme for this year is "testing times" and as it was my idea I thought I needed to build something else along the theme, I have built an AV-8B and am part way through a B-57E already ( really must finish that!) so this will join the line up. As usual lets start with box and contents shots; And the decals, some of which will come in handy; Now as I said I am still building for a model club theme so I intend her to end up like this; https://www.helis.com/database/cn/41702/ Now it might take me a week or so to get started as I have other projects to finish and two GB's to co-host with another on the way so don't go expecting rapid progress, or any at all to start with, but I am looking forward to this one. So until I get started, poopaye! Craig.

Hello! This is my post Korean F-86F from Hasegawa. Very nice kit, no issues at all. Since the decals were quite old and “yellowed”, I got a new set from Aeromaster. Metallic paint were automotive types and the rest from Gunze acrylics. Hope you enjoy! Cheers!

Hi! Little fast project on the side. Completly no problem build - 100% OOB. Model was painted with AK RC, Tamiya and Gunze paints, small details with Vallejo and Model Master. Weathering I made with oil paints for artists.

Like many on this forum I remember the excitement of queueing up at age of six for the Cinema (Gants Hill Odeon I think) to see Battle of Britain with my Dad. And again a few weeks later to see it again. At the time the main thing my friends and I remembered was the endless parade of German bombers at the start proving “we” didn’t have a cat in hell’s chance; and the bomber crew’s goggles filling up with blood when attacked! Gruesome, but that’s a six-year old for you. That must have been the time the Airfixing started, initially with Dad but quickly progressing to my own work and painting. Around a year or two later Dad gave me a big pile of aeroplane books. They were a present from an older couple, friends of his who’s son had died in tragic circumstances. He was only around twenty and they wanted me to have the books he’d loved when he was growing up. Wow, I’m getting weepy typing this; the perspective of being a father of a now 20-year old myself. I’ve always been grateful for the gift of those books, which nurtured an interest in aviation and history that has stayed with me. As well as the tiny William Green “Warplanes of the Second World War” 1-6 there was the World Airpower Guide with scale elevations of all the current types in service around the world, from the “Mig-23” to archaic Buchons and Moths. My favourites were two big pictorial books by Martin Caidin, “Air Force” and “Golden Wings”. I still have the books though I’ve managed to get replacements for them all as they had become extremely “tired” after nearly 50 years of use and moving. I even managed to get volumes 7-10 of the Warplanes to complete the series, but don’t bother. They were issued 6 or so years after 1-6 and the four volumes only cover France and Germany – Green “went off on one” and just went into far too much detail; precursors of his later massive German tome, whereas the earlier books give a nice brief precis of lots of types. As a result of those Caidin books, I ended up being as interested in the planes of the USAF, USN and USMC as in Britain’s. Not that I’m averse to a Spitfire as my stash would confirm, but a nice Fifi, Panther or Corsair is equally if not more attractive to me. I hunted through my stash to find something that matched the kits I built back in the day (I have a list of what I built then which I try and update each time I remember one - 132 remembered to date, I’m sure there should be a lot more. Here’s an extract; needless to say the full list shows 90 of the entries were Airfix, most must have been from the local newsagent in the parade up from Grange Hill station). The P-38 with its twin sharkmouths and Roy Cross boxing was shouting “build me”, but last year I picked up a Thunderstreak, which I remember building around the same time as the Sabre Dog and Shooting Star in some keenness on 50s jets (I recall a bunch of Hasegawa kits bought at the Model Engineer Exhibition too) but Meteors and Hunters, no thank you. I can’t recall much of the F-84 I built back then, other than that the red paint reacted with the overall silver paint job, and I’m sure I did an open canopy as it was a separate part for once! Anyway here’s the box with its lovely hard silver plastic just as I remember. I’m not sure I’ll get going on it just yet as there’s the Mark.VIII to decal in the Spitfire STGB and an L139 I should complete from Christmas 2018. Oh for the days when there was nothing else to do at a weekend than build models…wait a moment… Cheers Will

1/72 Academy F-8 Crusader, 422d Fighter Weapons Squadron, USAF, Da Nang AB, South Vietnam, 1969 Well then, certainly not one for the purists.... I absolutely love the Academy Crusader - must be one of the best '72 kits ever made. I have built 4 of them now, 3 of them in their traditional grey and white. I do like throwing my own ideas into the mix now and again and have wanted to do a USAF Crusader for ages. So, here it is...! Depicted as an aircraft undergoing test and evaluation but on the front line of CAS missions in South Vietnam - why let the Marines have all the fun...!! 😉 Carrying a full load of Zuni's and Snakes. I have used etch for the seat handles and added a strike camera between the ventral fins. Decals from the spares box. I am really pleased with how this has turned out - I certainly haven't seen another one in this scheme before. Airbrushed freehand again with Tamiya acrylics. I hope that I don't upset too many of you....! Cheers all, Phil

Hello! I’ve always liked Aggressor’s scheme for the Eagles, so as soon I got a F-15C kit, I went after the right decal set for this scale. They’re from Two Bobs and everything else is OOB. I scratch built the ACMI pod from a AIM-9, so this bird is in the normal configuration for ACM training, with the pod and a captive AIM-9. Kit was ok, except for the rear compartment lid that had to be well sanded so the canopy could fit closed, even tough is not perfect. Hope you enjoy! Cheers

This build was cursed. That is all. Problems were mostly caused by my own clumsiness, not the GWH kit, which in terms of fit and surface detail is fantastic. Dropped the model, breaking a stabiliser and meaning I had to redo the first camo colour during the large-scale masking work… then a gear leg snapped and I had to drill the stumps out and brass rod repair job the thing, the AK colours I used for the first time on this kit didn’t react well to Mr Leveling Thinner, separating during spraying so that each cup sprayed different shades which meant my usual shading technique was impossible. The GWH Decals are almost completely useless due to being extremely thick and with a matt finish that makes them almost impossible to blend into paintwork, even with Agama Hypersol. As a result, I bought some aftermarket decals and made this colourful (for an F-15C anyway) US Air Force 1st Fighter Wing bird stationed at Langley AFB in 2004. This particular aircraft was the the personal mount of (then) Commander Frank Gorenc, who went on to become a four star general and commanded US Air Forces Europe and Africa. When spraying a layer of varnish to protect the decals, however, the real disaster occurred. I refilled the airbrush cup and forgot to put the lid back on, meaning that I splashed a large dollop of Mr Super Clear III on the left wing, which immediately dissolved the existing varnish, decals and paint layers. Much cursing and fixing required before I could get back to weathering. Even once nearly done the resin engine replacements kept falling off due to miniscule glueing area, the canopy was dirty and fogged inside when masks came off so I had to cut/lever it off to fix, and the pylons were a job and a half to get settled in place. All in all much more work than it needed to be but I think the result is ok.

A few months ago I was discussing the TSR2 with a fellow club member that it was a shame it never made it into service and that I had been looking for a TSR2 kit for a while when he had one which he would let me have, an Airfix 1/72 still in the original box. My idea was do make as a what if the USAF had taken them instead of the F111 in use in Vietnam circa 1970's, in SEA camo and a full load of mk82 snakeeye bombs. I have got a set of Print scale decal for the correct period F111 based in Thailand and will use the F111 paint scheme as a guide. I will have to source the bombs and MER's at some point, the Pylons I will base on the F111's or RA4 Vigilantes. Started as usual with the cockpit, must say white plastic is not the easiest to work with.

Howdy all, Just finished my attempt at making an Early Vietnam era F-105D from the old 1/48 Monogram kit Finished to represent an aircraft of the 334th TFS/355th TFW, Takhli RTAFB, Thailand, circa 1964/65 Had to make a few mod`s to the base kit, including: deletion of the gun compartment vents, deletion of the afterburner cooling air scoops, deletion of the fuselage spine, enlarge the tail air intake, removed various scab plates from the air frame, gun camera and nose antennas. Noticed in photo`s that the Aluminium Silver Paint they were finished in didn`t show too many panel lines, so kept them to a minimum Decals came from the stash. Here`s some pic`s of the rest of the family so far........Later model F-105D, `Polish Glider` EF-105F, Early Wild Weasel, `Sinister Vampire` And finally; F-105G, Wild Weasel, `Hanoi Hustler` Hope I haven`t bored you too much with my Thud obsession Thanks for looking, Cheers Russ

Hi all, I'm oping to depict the Italeri F-100F as the a/c below, only this is the only picture I can find of it. Any tips welcome. Where can I obtain the MicroScale decals from the late 1970s?<

USAF Flight Line Maintenance (198232) 1:32 VideoAviation.com Aircraft dont fly and generate sortie without correct maintenance. Flight line maintenance kits and figures can add an essential touch to any diorama and this set from VideoAviation is an update of a previous set. The Kit It arrives in a clear plastic bubble box, and inside there are a substantial bundle of resin parts, all in bags and protected for their safety. There are two figures, one standing as if about to start marshalling and the other fixing some thing a pilot no doubt broke There is no timeline for the figures and with the correct painting could resemble any period between the present and the cold war. There is a tool chest on wheels (with individual drawer), briefcase and 2 buckets provided. For the tool chest a whole host of PE and resin tools are provided. A couple of the news are newer ones but the majority are pretty timeless Conclusion If you're placing any of your models on a base, adding ancillary equipment and figures is a great way of enhancing realism. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hallo again The EF-111 is the 1/48 kit from HB. I used the etched parts from Eduard and I think this was all. The a/c is for me interesting in the navigation aids, as terrain following and stellar navigation. The kit is not so difficult; the aerodynamic of the open wing was for me the most exiting feature. Happy modelling

USAF Vietnam Set (191348) 1:48 VideoAviation.com Our friends at VideoAviation have released quite a few figures now, and have recently scaled down their USAF Crew Chief set to my favourite scale, 1:48. In the process they have dropped the "Crew Chief" part (I guess he got demoted) and due to the drop in scale there's a lot more in the box, making this ideal for general crew during the Vietnam era. The set arrives in a clear clamshell box, and is rather well packed with resin and instructions as a result of the upgrade. Inside the box we have the two crew figures that were present in the larger scale set, both of whom have separate arms for added detail, one of which is kneeling, the other cooler dude is standing with a neat pair of shades on. In addition you get a substantial quantity of equipment, including a six-part extinguisher cart, six large ammo cans moulded on a single wafer, and four tool boxes also wafer cast. Finally, there are two hollow-cast lidless oil drums to decorate your diorama with, which were often used for dumping FOD that was found around the airfield. The instructions point out colours as they go, using colour names instead of a particular manufacturer's brand codes, which is helpful. You'll need to use super-glue (CA) or epoxy to glue the parts together, and as usual with resin, take the precaution of wearing a mask when cutting or sanding, as the tiny particles are harmful to your health if breathed in. Washing the parts in warm water will also improve the adhesion of paint, as there may still be some moulding release agent on the parts when you receive them. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

3 Down, 3 to go in my Canberra project This time, its a Vietnam-era US cloned Canberra all set to attack the Ho Chi Minh trail: Not a lot I can say about this kit, it builds very easily, doesn't need any filler and clearly shows the differences between the US variant of the Canberra and the British B(I).8, which was intended to fill much the same role. Italeri provide a good representative 500 & 750lb bomb load showing just how much of a bomb truck this aircraft was. No pilots though, so I have added a Matchbox navigator and Airfix pilot to fill the open (but nicely detailed) cockpit. Flaps and air brakes are open, as provided for in the kit. ... and finally, all 3 (thus far) lined up. I will need a bigger board to photograph them on when the next one is finished: FredT.

Hi, I saw this is coming out soon and as a fan of the B-52 and the early silver over white SAC scheme I thought about giving it a go. Thoughts? Anyone built one? Any major flaws? Any decent aftermarket? The other question is does anyone know if ModelCollect are planning a complete B-52 range? Because if they are I'd like a C and D as well. Going to need a bigger cabinet...

OK, Korean war aircraft fans- check out these color photos! Very nice 8th FBG and 51st FIW photos, too. Some very nice modeling possibilities in this bunch. I hope you enjoy them. Mike http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?354

Second version of our first kit PE4801. Changed the way the assembly. Sets can be used with models of aircraft: F-15, F-16, F-111, A-10, CH-53, Swiss Hawker Hunter F.Mk.58. One set allows you to assemble four blocks, enough to equip such plane as F-16. For the F-15 will need two sets, and for the A-10 – four.

Hallo This model is from Monogram 1/48 B-17. Old versatile kit. Interior mostly self-made. This model was a shared occupation with my wife Ruth; she is also very active on the forum with her F-16 yet. Anyway, the challenge was the first time use of Alclat. Happy modelling

USAF 24" Tail Code Markings FS36622 1:72 USAFline Tailcodes for USAF aircraft or "Distinctive Unit Aircraft Markings" came about during the Vietnam War as a way of identifying individual aircraft once camouflage was applied to aircraft. White was used at first though this later changed to black, other colours then followed. The sheet provides 24" tailcodes with appropriate serial numbers. Also supplied are 6" marking letters for aircraft which never carried tailcodes. The sheets are well printed and colour dense. These are printed in FS36622 or "light gray". If needed they are available in other "colors" on the USAFline website. Conclusion Many modellers want different markings that the kits supply, these sheets from USAFline have made this easier. Highly recommended. Review samples courtesy of

Hi everyone, thought I could show you my attempt at making a recce version of the Voodoo from the old Monogram kit Used the Koster Conversion which has vac-form front end from behind the canopy vac-form ecm pods and resin exhausts the markings are bogus, made from bits and pieces from the stash as none come with the conversion but tried to get as near as possible This is my only success at anything Vac-form, which says more about the quality of the conversion than my modelling prowess hope you enjoy looking at.. Cheers Russ

Kit by Roden. Decals by Caracal.

Hello everyone ... Im not sure if this has been posted before. I was researching the Two letter tail code’s for the USAF. I came across this site. http://www.military.cz/usa/air/air_accessories/usaf_tail_cod/usaf_tail_cod.htm Maybe it will help someone looking for a specific code. They also list units assigned, as well as aircraft types assigned to the specific codes. Dennis

Hello Here is my most recent build with this 1/72 North American B-45A from Valom. This aircraft was from the 86th Bomb Squadron / 47th Bombardment Wing in 1954 at Sculthorpe RAF Station. The transfers came from a Caracal Models sheet and were very satisfactory. This kit is not for beginners and honestly one is enough. In the end the product is correct and will be published next month in the French magazine "Avion de combat". Patrick

Hello mates, I am back and quite tired from Nuremberg Toy Fair (Darell Burge was so very kind and showed me a lot of beautiful Airfix stuff like Hunter and Wellington), so here as promised more pictures for you of my ripe Miss (Marilyn) Minooky, built 1999... Cheers, Thomas