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  1. Hi All, after a lot of indecision, I've finally settled on what was my originally-intended subject, that of 44-72199/G4*A flown by Capt Charles Edward Weaver of the 362nd Fighter Squadron out of Leiston. This particular aircraft has a very striking reclining nude for its nose art, although strangely there's no actual name. I had set out to model this aircraft a few years back with Airfix's 1/72 offering and KitsWorld decals, but as so often happens with me and products from Margate, it died a death. So here I am again! This time the kit is Eduard's 1/48 Weekend boxing, which has Chuck Weaver's mount (fnaar!) as one of its provided schemes. This will be a mostly-OOB build (provisos as below), and as such I'll be relying on Eduard's researches for colours and fixtures/fittings. Having said that, I'm not entirely convinced by the reproduction of the voluptuous lady and so I may well fork out for Pyn-Up's set which appears to be much nicer (although check out her shoes!). The KitsWorld set is available in 1/48, too, but also seems slightly "off" with herself's ribcage resembling a toastrack. Anyway, to the pics (as if we don't know what it looks like!): Box art: Instructions: Very useful, looking at all those tiny pieces! My subject: Kit-supplied tiny PE fret and decals, plus a couple of bits of AM: Sprues: Transparencies: I'm slightly disturbed that all three canopies have detached from their feeds.....which is which??? I've assembled the seat, but as it's just a seat, I'll save pics of it till there's something else to show as well Cheers, Mark
  2. I have been avoiding the big Sanger 1/48 Avro Shackleton in my stash for a while now. I picked it up on eBay a few years back & then realised it was an MR2 version and I wanted the AEW2. So some great service from Sanger provided me with the correct bits to build the one I wanted. The Martine Reconnaissance version had been retired before I started going to airshows, although I think the Duxford one had not long arrived when I first went around 1976. The AEW2 all over grey Shackletons were still sometimes seen around airshows until the late 80s. I can remember the sound of those 4 Griffons, and one memorable time seeing one flying with the BBMF Lanc. Anyway, the kit. These are the two fuselages and wings with a 1/48 Airfix Lightning for scale The detail isn’t actually too bad And the white metal parts. As I said I have both MR and AEW parts. So 24 separate prop blades & vacform hubs. Nice and easy then! This is not going to fall together over night! I usually do lights & motors but even though technically a modified rc helicopter would give contra rotating props, I think the white metal blades would fly around the room! Might still squeeze in some lights though
  3. New Polish company decided to release new tool plastic kits of PZL W-3 Sokół helicopter. Firstly in 1/48 and then later in 1/72. Company have normal site, but it is empty now.
  4. This Phantom was originally built for the US Navy as 153795 and served in Vietnam with VF-154 ‘Pukin Dogs’ on USS Constellation before later serving with the Marines. Following the UK’s decision to purchase 15 Phantoms for the RAF to fill the gap left by 23 Sqn deploying to the Falklands, the aircraft entered service with the RAF’s reformed 74 Sqn at Wattisham, Suffolk in October 1984 as ZE354. Along with its squadron mates, this Phantom was soon adorned with the unit’s famous black fin and served until mid-1991 when the Tigers took on surplus Phantom FGR2s until disbanding in 1992. This is the 1/48 Academy kit, and it was not without its issues, particularly the fit of the intake sections to the side of the fuselage. The nose section also required filler underneath, but although due to age it compares unfavourably to new-tool Airfix (understandably!), with some care it’s a reasonable build. I particularly like the breakdown of the tail section as it makes painting much simpler. WIP here: I used the Eduard cockpit detail set to enhance the instrument panels, and made my own canopy mirrors. Markings are from the Xtradecal ‘History of 74 Sqn’ set, plus a few stencils, etc from the spares box. I’m still looking for the crew names for the canopy rails. Paint is all rattle cans, with Mr Color 11 for the fuselage and outer wings, Tamiya AS-16 for the underside and TS-81 for the inner upper wing surfaces, plus Halfords satin black for the fin. All comments and discussion welcome! …
  5. Hello, I will start a build of this gem, a 1996 Eduard 1/48 Sopwith Triplane. Got it from a connection during the pandemic. With my luck, Eduard will retool it and sell a Profipack version after I finish this one, on half the price I paid for this one (without shipping and custom fees). At least it will have some people interested in this amazing plane. I went to London in April, and I manage to visit the RAF museum and take a good look at the one of the only two surviving Triplanes, and document it a little. This will be a Collinshaw's "Black Maria", by the way. The kit itself is very simple with two sprues, details are average, decals are impeccable. Comes with a photo etch, but not as detailed as the profipack version, so I bought a photo etch detail that is intimidatingly damn small. Now, this will be a very slow build, as I do not have much time left, and I want to make justice to this gem, so I do not want to rush things. Let's see how this will turn out, wish me luck.
  6. Hi, Here's my Tamiya P-38J. What a great kit... I know because I built a P-38H of theirs and I enjoyed it immensely. I'll build this as one of Robin Olds' aircraft in the 479th FG. It is part of my project to build at least one aircraft of each FG of the 8th AF. The project is off to a good start with a P-47M of the 56th FG completed in the P-47 GB of 2023, this year hopefully this P-38 and a P-51 in that STGB. That would see at least the 3 main types covered. Cheers, Stefan.
  7. Hi, Here's my Revell F-84E with Aeromaster decals. That 86th FBW must have been quite a sight, I hope to reproduce a little of that magic. After years of looking for the F-84E and only seeing F-84G's, I finally found several last year at a modelling festival and from an estate sale. The one from the estate sale (a modeller named Jean-Claude of the Amay Models Club) had a bit of work done on it. He removed what looks like external reinforcement plates around the Main Landing Gear wells. I've circled the areas in red on the picture below. The shape of the ones in front of the wells reminded me a bit of the compressibility flaps on late P-38's and I noticed that there was a stencil with quite a bit of text on them. Stencils 40 and 41 on the Revell kit sheet. Fearing that the stencil might mean "stay away from this flap!" I looked at it with a magnifier. The stencil is about electrical plugs. I plan to use Jean-Claude's lower wings on this build as this will be the earliest F-84E that I'd want to build and thus the best one to do without external reinforcements. Cheers, Stefan.
  8. Hi, Now that I have cleared the last troublesome kit I will build from my stash, it's time to get to the Corsairs. It started with the F4U-5, then I found an AU-1 (F4U-6) kit I didn't know existed, and recently I found an F4U-7. I thought I'd work on them all together since they are all related. As everything will be in triplicate this will be a slow build. Cheers, Wlad
  9. I need to find some motivation to continue work on my F-84, but still have plenty of time for that. So I figured I’ll start my thread here in the meantime. I have plenty of planned subjects to choose from, including a couple for my yet to be built Wisconsin Aces collection, but I’m going to do a 361st bird for this GB. Specifically, Jasper Joker II flown by Lt. Donald Vulgamore. I’ll be building my first Eduard kit and using Aeromaster decals. And of course using an excellent Schiffer Military History book for reference.
  10. I’ve been thinking about making one of these for a while, so here goes. I remember watching these taxying past one of the viewing lay-bys at Wattisham in the late 80s; might try and dig out some old Kodachrome photos if I can. Onto the kit, I’m hoping this Academy USN F-4J is suitable? One thing missing for the RAF version is the two long antennae on the intakes - anyone know where I can get some, or the best way to scratch build those please? A couple of aftermarket bits I’ll be using. I’m glad I bought the cockpit set as the kit has no instrument decals and requires one to paint them. The Xtradecal are good too, enabling you to make any of the ‘Tiger Sqn’ coded Phantoms. Thinking I may do ZE 353 ‘E’, though not really decided for sure yet. If I may, I have a couple of questions - need some advice please! Firstly, would I be correct to use the kit decals (US Navy) for stencils? Or do I need to source RAF ones? (from an FGR2 kit, perhaps, or different again)? Now it’s time to go down the rabbit hole … Are these Tamiya greys close enough? Can you believe it was 40 years ago this summer that these entered RAF service!? I was 13 then, makes me feel so old! 😟
  11. Revell Chinook HC.Mk.1 1/48 Model kit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Something of a departure from my normal builds, but one I’ve been promising to get done for a year or two for a friend who had the model sat under his desk in the office for about ten years and wondered if he’d ever find the courage (as a non-modeler) to tackle it; we’ve worked together for about twenty years, so I offered to build it for him. It will essentially be an out of the box build but with a few changes to decals to represent the first aircraft he worked on (so many) years ago. I was quite surprised to see that there were very few articles on the build of the Revell kit (a few of the Italeri version – which I think is the same kit) and hadn’t realised that the kit had become a little scarce. As I said, it’s a bit of a departure for me, as I usually build aeroplanes and in 1/72… so to tackle a 1/48 Helicopter (pronounced heli-co-peter) 😊 is putting me somewhat outside my comfort zone, but we’ll give it a go. I started with some kit familiarisation of the sprues and the instructions, and looking at where all the painting instructions were hidden. Ok, confession… I’m not much of a fan of Revell instructions, which seem a bit random and basic. I spent quite some time marking up the sheets with colour annotations, but realised that using the instructions alone was never going to tell me everything I needed to know. More of that to come. Anyway… the sprues A first look at sprues by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr An article on the Italeri kit that I’d read about in Phoenix Aviation Modelling suggested the need to “droop” the rotor blades. I took a close look at the rotor blades on the sprue and noticed that these ones are least are pre-drooped. Poor photo but shows blade curvature (droop) by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I appreciate that when parked, the blades (or some of them at least) can look even more drooped that this. The day before IPMS SMW at Telford I meet up with some good mates at RAF Museum Cosford for a wander around (well… what else would you do?) and I took a good look at their HC.Mk.1 that they have (Bravo November)… including some studying of the rotor blades, and whilst the blades on the front rotor do exhibit more of a droop, they’re drooped at the root and not along the blade length. I’m no Chinook expert so I presume this is something to do with Parking of the blades… I’ll need to look at the photos I took when I get to this stage… but I was left with the impression of not needing to bend the blades at least. Another aspect that the article I’d read had left me with the impression of was that the overall fit of the model was less than ideal. To be honest, this is the first model I’ve made with both an inner and outer fuselage, so I was interested in doing a little test-fitting to see how all the parts went together, to see what I’d need to face later on. To be honest… “false alarm”… as having taped the inner sections together, I cocooned it in the outer shell and, despite some slight warping or the under-side, it seemed to go together “ok”…. Yes, a little disobedient along the top section, but some strong tape as glue dries will sort that (I hope). One impression I was left with was the “heft” that this model had. I’m not used to such large models or ones that are dual skinned… it was quite impressive. Inner and outer fuselage components taped together for fit check by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I was interested to see how much would be visible inside… always good to know; this test assembly helped the understanding. Looking to see what will be visible inside by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The glazing and nose cover were added and despite a few gaps, I hope these will be treatable with a little persuasion of the parts when them need to be glued. The glazing did have a few scratches, possibly due to having broken loose of its sprue when in the bag/box… so I spent an evening polishing these out. There are still a few imperfections, but these look to be in the material, so we’ll need to live with these. A little clamping and filler will hopefully sort these gaps by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr This is the interior all taped up for the just-described test-fit. Interior fuselage components test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr So… getting back to the dearth of detail in the instructions, I’d spent some time searching for a useful book to refer to for this build. There really are not many books on the chinook. I found WWP Chinook In Detail and thought that it might help (yes it will) It’s a bit like the Danny Coremans “Daco” books that I use for reference in other builds, but getting a copy took some doing, what with it being out of print. Yes, a Japanese site said they had several copies… but that copies would be dispatched once in stock (suspicious!) so I eventually paid a little more from a UK second-hand book supplier and it arrived a few days later. This has interior and exterior details of US and UK examples, so has proven very useful. Useful reference by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr With the photographic reference book in hand, I could start painting with a little more confidence. I started with the interior as this needed doing first (of course). I used Halfords primer on everything, then applied a few light coats of a light grey (matched to photos – noting that floor, panels and padded walls and roof are not all quite the same shade). I mixed some Tamiya grey shades with white to get the colour I sought… adding more white where it was needed. Once good and dry, I masked off the grey sections so that I could apply a dirty-black (a very dark grey) Floor painted and masked for "black" areas by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Once airbrushed some variations in tone, the floor was unmasked looking ok. Once hard, I applied a few light coats of Aqua Gloss to seal everything for weathering. Floor section black areas applied by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr A similar approach was taken for the walls and ceiling, albeit with rear sections given a few coats of “interior green”, which I mixed using about 10 to 12 drops of yellow to 1 drop of black.. which with some experimentation seemed about right… mission models paints being used here. The seats had also been primed, and then given a light coat of Tamiya white… followed by a few light layers of Mission Models Insignia red. Once dry, I added a couple of coats of aqua gloss to seal it in, then painted the silver/grey sections by hand using Mig Ammo Bare Metal Matt Aluminium which went on with a small brush excellently. Finally, I made a few variations of light grey or hemp colour (using mission models paints) to brush-on the seat belts. Photos show these to be a bit of a mix of colours on any particular aircraft, so that’s what I did. The end result was sealed with some more aqua gloss and looked a bit “bright” but would tone-back a little with some weathering. Seats, painted by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr On to that weathering I mentioned; I took an easy route of using Tamiya panel liner brushed on liberally and then wiped off… which worked ok. Weathering interior sections by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The bulkheads and cockpit panels that lacked transfers (overhead panel and cockpit entry sides) were all painted up (using photographic references). There are a few issues here as the kit parts are a bit “hybrid” in some areas – or rather nothing like any photos I could see… so some artistic licence was needed in places, but I think they look ok… given how much will be visible afterwards. Interior painted by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Cockpit and bulkhead sections by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Although not shown, I later painted in the details in the rear fuselage "green" sections, and transfers were added to the fuselage sides (prior to weathering) I assembled the cockpit and test-fitted the seats to just take a look. It was only after the cockpit panel transfers had been added and sealed with a matt coat that I noticed that the HSI colours are upside down… at least, I presume the aircraft isn’t flying through a brown sky over water… hmmm. But it was too late to rectify that. Thanks, Revell. Before everything was assembled, I applied a unifying flat coat to everything. I don’t usually do anything flatter than semi-gloss (or satin) coats for exteriors, but for interiors, especially where there’s lots of soft coverings such as the insulation on the walls and seats) a flat coat seemed to be better. This tones everything back a bit and worked quite well for the interior floor, walls and ceiling. I’d do the same for the ramp later in the build. Cockpit assembled and seats test-fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Front section fwd-view by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Realising that before I could close the interior and exterior fuselage, I’d need to assemble the rear ramp… and thus paint it too. The kit provides for this to be fitted early in build, and has two brackets to attach it to the rear of the floor section. So, I assembled the rear ramp sections as shown. Now… here I have a bit of a gripe with the kit as the attachment brackets are angled and you need to take care which way they’re attached. Here’s where I feel-down a bit. Following the instructions, I added them one way… and when doing a test fit with the fuselage, found that the whole ramp sat a bit low… with a big step-up to the cabin floor level (which could not have been right). I looked at the instructions again … no, that’ the way the brackets are shown attaching… look at a later step in the instructions and it shows them the other way up. It’s not the part flipped… the brackets are reversed. So. I opened the ramp up and managed to remove the brackets and added them the other way up... packing them out a bit with plasticard to strengthen the whole thing. Initial ramp assembly by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr When I then tried to fit these, I found that it would not close-up properly at all, I was a bit peeved! Having slept on it, I decided to go for a different approach and make some forks that could slot into the rear fuselage once complete... and thus not need to be fitted until final assembly (much easier) I disassembled the rear ramp.. which took a little doing Ramp disassembly and bracket removal by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I then made the two forks from four laminates of plasticard, and cut a wedge from each end so that the fork would be angled forward of the ramp, to allow a dropped angle for the ramp at the end. The reinforcing just beefed up the structure given that it would now be a separate part. Shown on test fit (for test fitting to the fuselage) and after gluing Revised fitting for ramp... test fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Fettling the ramp to work with attachment "forks" by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr In the latter photo above, the two chamfers are evident in the outer shell, allowing the forks to sit close to the outer skin once assembled. The ramp was assembled, some details added with a pin-vice and Rosie-Rivetter and primed. A shade of grey similar to the interior was added (as close as I could get it) and then this was masked for the back sections. Masked and black areas applied to ramps by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Notable in the above shot are the two ramp sections that sit atop (or down from) the main ramp. To sit these parts flush on the main ramp, they were sanded flat on their undersides. Once finished, these will just sit on top of the main ramp... ready for use if needed. Once finished and weathered, the ramp looked ok. The upper clamshell section for the rear fuselage opening sits inside the ramp when open; it is visible sticking-out of the main ramp here. Ramp completed, with weathering by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr That was 2023… it’s now 2024… so back to it. Happy New Year all. The seats were glued in place and I set about taping up the fuselage interior sections for gluing. Interior assembly stage by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I used plenty of masking tape to hold it all together then glued everything using Tamiya thin. Once dry, I beefed this up with my sprue-goo mix (Tamiya thin and sprues) along the seams. Interior taped up whilst glue dries #1 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Interior taped up whilst glue dries #2 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr One thing that may be noticeable from that last photo is that there’s a gap between the rear undercarriage bay plate and the fuselage walls… I therefore cut out a couple of sections of plasticard and glued these into the gap, using tape again to hold it all together. Added "packing" to rear undercarriage bay assembly by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Whilst all of the glue was drying overnight, I wrapped the outer fuselage sections around the outside, to keep everything true or square whilst it set hard. That gap by the rear undercarriage part being very evident here (prior to fixing) Outer fuselage added to keep interior "square" by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr And finally…. after a good 24 hours, all tape was removed and some final check made. I re-clamped the rear section and added some more glue, along with some more sprue-goo to bolster the grip, and then used this on all slightly open seams (although they’ll all be covered by the outer skin once added. Final clamping and glue and some sprue goo. by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr So that’s it for now. Not my normal type of build but another case of learning as I go. Thanks for reading… Jonathan.
  12. Hi All, We have a wee while to go so I'll share this gem from the bottom of the stash which will be my contribution to the Group Build. I bought it 2nd hand but suspect its been through a few sets of hands on its way to me. The box was part opened on one end but I opened the sealed plastic bag this morning. There are no dates in the kit but it has HAWK scribed into the stbd fuselage half in the usual rough manner. Scalemates lists it as released by Hawk in 1946 and this Testors boxing is from 2009. The moulds are ancient but my kit is not too old. I'm it will fit perfactly! I'll run this as a second build for now while finising a few entries in the 'Baby Boomers' Remember the A3 double sided instructions? Colin
  13. Hi - I decided that never having built a helicopter kit I would remedy that by pulling the Italeri 1/48 WESSEX HAS1 out of my stash. I had a search on Britmodeller and found several builds of 1/72 & 1/48 kits as RAN HAS31's so that firmed up my decision to make the kit as a RAN HAS 31B. I took the photos below in the late 80's at Cooma Airport NSW when two Wessex were on exercise transporting soldiers from the airport to various spots in the local countryside. Some good RAN Wessex walkarounds here http://www.grubby-fingers-aircraft-illustration.com/wessex_walkaround.html - just follow link HELICOPTERS>WESTLAND for three different aircraft. I'm not sure if the HAS31A was purely in an antisubmarine role & the 31B utility as in the photo but I leaned toward modelling it in the utility role - maybe someone could clarify on that? So armed with the 4PLUS book and referring to the Grubby Fingers Wessex walkarounds I took the plunge. I also found references on BM in the various builds on here including some with useful photos from Navy870 with of things like the main rotor fold jig in place on the aircraft. When I opened the box, I found that I had luckily purchased a Scale Warship Rotor Fold etch & a Rotor Craft folded tail rotor resin upgrade for the kit - other purchases lurking at the bottom of the box were two Wessex HAS31 decal sheets & a Scale Warship Helicopter Deck Grill & tiedowns. Sooo I plan to make the Wessex all folded up with the cabin door open & I wanted to make the cabin interior detailed - the kit does not have the "dog box" on the Beetleback fairing for this version so whether the build would go ahead depended on whether I could scratch build a passable "dog box" I started by making a mould for the dog box from a piece of pine & then vacuformed it from some 40thou plastic sheet - I then had to carve a recess in the beetle back to accept the shape of the dog box fairing & remake some of the beetleback fins I had been a bit heavy handed with. I decided the fairing was good enough to keep going & would largely be tucked in behind the folded rotor blades, so I turned my attention to the cabin interior. I made use of the RP Tools strip cutter which was very handy when you need to cut several strips the same length. I decided to make the cabin interior framework more prominent by overlaying the frames in the kit with Evergreen 20thou square strip. Various gussets & boxes were represented by its of Evergreen plastic, pipes with fine lead wire & electrical cables from electrical wiring with insulation stripped off & teased out into bundles At this point after studying the RAN Wessex walkarounds I noted that the cabin roof extended only about halfway along the cabin and from there back the curved roof structure of the airframe is visible so I decided to try & incorporate this feature. I wrapped a piece of 40thou sheet around a metal tube with copper wire to hold it in place & plunged it into a cup of boiling water - after a few minutes it had taken up the curve I needed. Next step was to shape it to fit the rear cabin - photo below shows it glued in & frames added - the square of white plastic is there temporarily to help align it. The cabin roof part was cut so that it stopped between the two port windows & then the quilting was sanded back & filled with Vallejo putty followed by sanding. The forward bulkhead was detailed with plastic card & wire to make it look a bit more like the walkaround photos - I note the fire extinguisher should sit in a recess & I may or may not fix that - a piece of 5mm plastic tube was filed flat one side, cut to fit into the framework & added to the rear cabin roof to represent the tail rotor shaft housing. The fuselage halves were masked along the mating surfaces prior to painting of the cabin interior. Having done all that the following shows the glimpses of the interior when closed up temporarily. I'm still thinking about the "troop seating"? that fits along the cabin wall but just noticed that the new Airfix Sea King has them on the sprues for one of the kit versions - the other option is to scratch build them. Thats it for now! CJP
  14. Hi all, Here’s my entry for the GB, it’s the Revell 1/48 Beaufighter TF.X. It will be in the markings of 144 Squadron based at RAF Dallachy in 1945. This aircraft (NE831) was damaged in the disastrous Black Friday raid on the 9th February 1945 when 9 Beaus were lost to flak and fighters during a raid on Norway. She ended the day with a belly landing back at Dallachy and never flew again. Fortunately there are a lot of photos of this aircraft showing some interesting variations and weathering of the finish which should make for a satisfying modelling challenge! The markings will come from Aviaeology, in addition I have an Eduard etched set, the Aerocraft cowling correction plus a stack of bits taken from an old Tamiya kit that recently went to the scrapyard. So far I’ve cleaned the parts up and got rid of some of the flash. More updates to follow in due course! Chris
  15. Hi folk's should be enought time to do another 1/48 build for this GB so instead of the common sense route of Tamiya's offering's I'll head back to Happy childhood days and Airfix's at the time much lauded release.KK have a dozen in stock so not sure which boxing will arrive if the decals are unusable AM will be bought.
  16. My entry for the group build will be Revell's 1/48 F-84E, and as the title suggests, the markings I decided on are the colorful markings for Col. Robert Scott's thunderjet he flew when he took command of the 36th Fighter Bomber Wing in Furstenfeldbruck, Germany in 1951. Scott gained fame as the highest scoring ace of the CBI theater in WWII with 10 kills. As the commander of the brand new 23rd FG, he flew hand-me-down AVG P-40s adorned with leftover Flying Tiger decals, so when he was assigned F-84E-10-RE 49-2299 as his personal aircraft with the 36th FBW, he figured it appropriate to pay homage to his WWII days and applied several Flying Tiger motifs to the aircraft. Decals are from an excellent Cutting Edge sheet, although the national insignia and stenciling will need to come from elsewhere, likely a newer boxing of a Revell F-84G in the stash since the decals in the E box have started to yellow. The only AM I plan to add at the moment is a resin seat from Quickboost.
  17. I decided to double down with a second build. It will be another 1/48 Eduard kit, this time being a fillet-less D-5 version. I’ve had this kit in the stash for a couple years with the intent of doing Richard Peterson’s “Hurry Home Honey” because I really really like the dark green over NMF scheme the 357th FG had on its early Ds. While researching the plane the other day on the LittleFriendsUK site, I came across a different plane from the same squadron with a pilot from my home state of Wisconsin. Always one to want to learn about the pilots from my state, I soon found out the pilot, Col Irwin Dregne, was an ace and was the last CO of the Yoxford Boys. His plane carried the same camo as Peterson’s and since Bullseye Decals’ excellent Yoxford Boy series has markings for it, I decided I’m going to build Dregne’s plane (just had to purchase the decals since it was on a separate sheet from HHH). It carries two names: Bobby Jeanne for his wife and daughter, and then Ah-Fung-Goo II which apparently was a name chosen by Dregne’s crew chief.
  18. Starting the new year off on a vac foot. Cooper Details Westland Whirlwind. Lets see what kind of mayhem I can come up with Vacs this year
  19. I would have swore I started a post on this but could not find it to save my life. This is Tamiya's 1/48th P-47 I'm planning to use Cutting Edge decal sheet. I've been wanting to do a P-47 marked as Eileen since seeing the Academy box art years and years ago on the store shelves. Doing the checkered nose had been giving me anxiety so in a rush of inspiration, I paused another build to tackle them back in June 2022. The Cutting Edge sheet provided the checkers but so did Tamiya and I felt I was going to have better luck with Tami's decals. They were in three parts compared to CE's 2 piece. I started out painting the cowl gloss white as a base. Then came the moment of truth.... There's some wrinkles but I got them mostly out with a healthy dose of Solvaset. Not too shabby, and I like that some of the black squares "chipped" as I'm sure they wouldn't have stayed perfect with use. From there, I started in the normal spot, the cockpit. Paints are Model Master, the green is Euro Green which I like as a match for "P-47 cockpit green". The black is just MM black. I did lay down a base of Alclad aluminum before the green for the chipping effects. I used the kit decals for the instruments and I'm very happy with the way it looks. They conform really well considering Tamiya's decals reputation for being thick, same with the cowl checks. There's some wrinkles but they're really only visible in this photo. I also added some aftermarket cockpit stencils which aren't really visible in these shots. I used a resin seat with molded belts from a company whose name escapes me, but I didn't manage to get a shot of it. 🫤 That's all for now, more to come.
  20. Lets see how this goes........ The kit does not have the side camera window... i am wondering if i'm brave enough to drill a hole and give it a go ..... Anyway started ... with a few other things... lights under the wing. painted silver apart from the centre. Filled that with ""Looks like Glass" ..seems to look like a bulb a drop of "Looks like Glass" on the front. Part II soon......
  21. Wasn’t planning on entering this groupbuild but came across this when tidying up the stash. Always like the look of the Mustang with the Malcolm Hood, so I will be aiming for a quick OOB build.
  22. As the title says; a De Havilland Vampire NF 10 to be built from the Hobby Craft kit: I still need to research which particular airframes were operated by the squadron (so far I've found pictures of WP242 and WP247 on the net) and as the kit has decals for a different squadron, will probably need to make my own decals. Mike
  23. My modelling subjects are varied but it is always something about each one that captures my interest and takes me on a path of research I love. And this like the others is no exception. A fondness for RCAF Spitfires and the crews that manned them. Gathering up the usual kit with aftermarket extras, it was finally time to start this. It was started in late August and now to the point of the final decals, weathering and topcoats. It is coming together more or less as I had hoped. But first a short intro to the pilot. F/Lt Andrew Boyd Ketterson of Montreal, KIA 4th of March 1944 while taking part in Ramrod 623. Ramrod - Short range bomber attacks to destroy ground targets, similar to Circus attacks. The internet provides access to the RCAF Operational Record Books of various squadrons with key information. His aircraft on that day, Spitfire IXc MJ306 and was taken on by 412 squadron in November 1943 making this a later build IX. F/Lt Ketterson flew this aircraft most frequently since it's arrival to the squadron and had "HOT-BOX" painted on the forward panel. A wise modeller was quoted once as "Research, time well spent". And this fits the bill. Most internet uses of an edited version of the following picture of Ketterson state the aircraft as MJ306 VZ*K, including Robert Bracken's book, Spitfire-the Canadians. But the un-cropped version of the image clearly shows the individual aircraft code is not a K but looks to be an M. The usual cockpit prepping with a few extras applied, including the Snapshot Barracuda IX cockpit upgrade and some fine beading wire added. Tamiya cockpit green with shadowing and highlighting. Trying a technique to simulate the sheathing applied to the propeller blades. Taping off where the sheathing was attached and painting on a heavy coast of Vallejo Model Color paint, color choice not important, just shown for contrast. Painted and weathered with the usual colours and hopefully showing evidence of where the sheathing was positioned. Yes it may not be in scale but shown for effect. Ultracast exhaust and one piece upper cowling used. Thinned Vallejo "Buff" used for the lighter colour of the exhaust staining. Bare Metal Foil used on the wing root before painting and my attempt at chipped and eroded paint work. Wing walkway stripes masked off and painted on to give a diminished look. Wing roundel painted on using Tamiya Masking Sticker and Olfa circle cutter. Small touch ups applied after to show field maintenance. New aircraft codes cut and airbrushed. Exhaust staining. Work continues and a few more weeks the final reveal will be ready. Thank you for looking in. Craig.
  24. I'm really pleased to be able to support @TEMPESTMK5 and join @RidgeRunner as a co-host for the Mustang STGB - I reckon it will be the highlight of the STGB calendar this year. My own build for the GB to use Eduard's Mk.IV Profipack to build "out of the box" 3 Squadron RAAF Mustang IVa KH716 as based at Fano, Italy in late 1944/early 1945. Here's the familiar sprues, with the beautifully detailed parts:: And here's the paint/decals call-out showing my scheme, which features the unit's iconic Southern Cross on a light blue background tail markings.: KH716 was flown by 3 Squadron's CO at the time, Squadron Leader Murray Nash DFC and Bar. Here's an Australian War Memorial image of the real thing (note the underwing bomb): The official caption reads: "FANO, ITALY. 1944-12-16. NO. 3 SQUADRON, RAAF. SINCE THE ALL AUSTRALIAN FIGHTER BOMBER SQUADRON IN ITALY HAS SWITCHED FROM KITTYHAWKS TO MUSTANGS, THEY HAVE BEEN CARRYING OUT LONG RANGE RAIDS OVER YUGOSLAVIA IN SUPPORT OF TITO'S PARTISAN TROOPS AS WELL AS CONTINUING TO BLAST ENEMY STRONGPOINTS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT IN ITALY. PICTURE SHOWS THE SYMMETRICAL LINES OF THE MUSTANG FIGHTER BOMBER WHICH IS PROVING VERY POPULAR WITH THE SQUADRON." This will be the second of my occasional 3 Squadron RAAF themed builds, after a Kittyhawk I'm currently finishing up in the (already finished up) Desert GB. If all goes to plan I'll also do a F-35A and a Mirage III in 3 Squadron markings in those STGBs later in the year. So I'm looking forward to building this one and doubling my 3 Squadron collection! But I'll have to be patient and likely won't make a start until a little later in the GB as I have two other GB builds on the go. But I wasn't going to miss this one! Cheers, Gerard
  25. I'm quite excited to start this! Here's a box shot - I'll be building Eduard's 1/48 P-51D, in markings of an aircraft flown by Lt James Hickey, out of Martlesham Heath. My late father was RAF groundcrew, and based at Martlesham until it became an American base in 1943, when he was transferred to work on Wellington bombers at Chipping Warden. So, a family connection, albeit a slightly tenuous one!
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