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How unwise would be of me to pretend even the most superficial knowledge on this machine, given the fact that this report is presented in the land where it was born. What else could be added to what have been said about the excels beauty and the graceful lines of this design, or the feats accomplished by it. I will just add that because of my unquenchable love for this plane I have built a number of DH88s, from Airfix ancestry and from the beautiful and exquisite resin cast offered also in 1/72 by the Hungarian firm S.B.S. Model: SBS Model models: Airfix model: And my oldest DH88, also from Airfix, eons ago: Still undeterred, I bought the recently released boxing from KP, a manufacturer that has been lately releasing some beautiful kits, the civil Avia BH11 among them: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235045353-kp-172nd-avia-bh-11-boska-1923/ Encouraged by those releases I embrace now the build of this DH88, an injected rendition of the iconic machine. I have to say, before starting, that the SBS kit is a formidable one, and I don't believe that any injected kit could beat it, but the idea is perhaps to have an affordable, easier to build endeavor for those that still tremble and shake at the mere sight of a resin kit. Fear not, this KP rendition is in some ways well above the old and venerable Airfix kit, being a much modern kit, but I am sure connoisseurs will soon find areas that may leave a bit to be desired, as is seemingly the fate of all things produced by humans, including little humans themselves. Here are some shots of the contents, for your perusing and amusement:

It's been a very long time since I posted on here, my last model being my BR86 loco. Unfortunately that has gradually ground to a halt, i've been busy letting life get in the way of model making so here I am. It's been at least 2 years since I actually completed a model so I decided I need to pick something nice and simple to get back into it. This particular model is yet another result of spending too much time in the Hannants tent at an airshow. I'm not usually a fan of resin kits, but this one just caught my attention being rather more sophisticated than the resin kits of old. Well I have to say it's a beautiful kit, and of course within about half an hour I managed to slice my finger with a fresh blade whilst cutting a piece off the casting block (I never seem to learn to use a saw and I always cut myself pretty well at least once when dealing with resin). This is the kind of kit that makes my fingers seem like huge clumsy blobs despite the fact that they're smaller than average, this little seat being a great example. That said, I seem to be able to get on somehow and haven't crushed anything yet! I'm pretty impressed with how the pieces fit together once they're off the casting blocks, they really do need very little, if any adjustment to fit perfectly which is a bonus. I've just finished detailing up the cockpit ready to go together, I decided to go more dark grey than black as it's only tiny and I actually want something of the cockpit to be seen, it being pretty much mostly black!

Hello folks, A while ago Airfix released a newly boxed version of the dH-88 Comet but it was "The Green 'Un". For me, the iconic Comet is Grosvenor House so when they recently released that version I bought one. I'd read a number of reports detailling the ancient molding of this one (late '50s for the original I think) but decided to take the plunge anyway. The model is offered in the new red box style of current Airfix releases but the plastic is showing it's age. There are very fine raised lines on the surface which will prove a challenge to sand around. The fit of some components looks to be a bit vague at best and the cockpit detail is none existent, two amorphous pips on top of a flat deck suggesting the crew. So, where to begin? Inspired by several 1/72nd scale builds here on Britmodeller I decided to attempt a little additional work. As many know, the Comet has a big glass house looking canopy so that seemed a sensible place to begin. I carved away the flat decking on both fuselage halves and added a semblance of an interior. I did n't go all out on this as A/, it's all black and B/, I planned to add a crew (from the old 1/72nd scale Tiger Moth) to fill out the space. With these modifications complete it was necessary to take a long hard look at the kit canopy. The clear plastic is very thick. My copy has two air bubbles trapped within the plastic and the shape is not accurate. To allow a better view inside the modified opening and in an attempt to improve the shape I smash molded a replacement from clear packaging material. A resin master was carved from waste resin pour stub and mounted on stilts so that the plastic sheet would clear the template. The canopy shape of the full sized bird is quite complex so it took a number of tries to get anything resembling the real deal. Equally, it took even more attempts to arrive at a part that fitted the opening adequately. I used scissors to cut each canopy but it was trial and error to get a good enough fit and there was plenty of waste. Finally I ended up with a passable (for me at least) result which is much clearer than the kit part. I've joined the two fuselage halves together now but one task on the horizon is re-shaping the spine of the fuselage aft of the glass house. The kit depicts this as almost triangular yet the real Grosvenor House is more rounded. I have replicated the rounded edge to the canopy so I'll have to fill in the gap. Initial thoughts are two-pack modelling putty like GW "green stuff". Thinking ahead, if anyone has any ideas about re-creating the thin lines of the canopy framing I'd very much like to hear them. The framing is made up of at least two different thicknesses some of which is inside the canopy glazing. In this scale it is very thin Plus, it needs to be red on the outside and black on the inside..... Anyhoo, I've made a start and the canopy framing can be done later. Once the glue has set I think I'll have a look at the profile of the nose. From staring at reference photos it looks as though I might be able to tweek the shape a little to improve the look. Thanks for stopping by. More when I can. Cheers. Julien has posted up a walk-around of the Comet by Mark Mills in the Walkaround section. See it here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/

Hello fine folk of Britmodellerland, If I may, I'd like to share my latest model? I've been tinkering away merrily with the old Airfix dh-88 Comet racer for about three months or there abouts. The old girl needs a bit of TLC to get the best from her so I did some work on the kit in an attempt to model "Grosvenor House" as she appears today. Thanks in large part to some fine images by Alpha Delta 210 (see here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968762-de-havilland-dh88-comet-grosvenor-house/ ) and others in the Aviation Photography forum plus the walkaround here on BM http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234954337-de-havilland-dh88-comet/ I had plenty of reference material to work from. For those who have n't seen it, there is a WIP thread detailling the specifics of what was tackled here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234967804-airfix-72nd-scale-dh-88-comet-new-release-ancient-molding/ I'm not as used to photographing the smaller scales as I am the larger scales so I apologise if the images are n't too clear. Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy them anyway. These next few are a bit closer in an attempt to show some details. Lastly, a couple of shots in front of a scenic backdrop. A big thankyou and two thumbs up to everyone who helped me along during the build. Now, what to build next? Cheers for now.

After quite a few months' hiatus I'm back modelling in two GBs, but my first build went horribly, recyclable-y wrong in the Mosquito GB. Time to take a deep breath and do my best on two more basic jobs... results here. No aftermarket stuff, just the two recent reissues of this vintage kit. After what I thought was some rather smart work on them, I had to cut the heads off the 'interiors' as they were keeping the canopies off the fuselage! Oh well... that was the only snag, but it's still too cold for spraying and I had to put about 5 layers of Klear on 'Black Magic' in order to get any lustre! I really enjoyed doing them and researching a bit more on the Comet. In fact now these are going to be the first of seven - decals for 'Grosvenor House' led to more sets for 'Boomerang', 'The Orphan', 'The Burberry' and 'Australian Anniversary'. Should make for a colourful shelf among all the camo! Hope you like them!