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Percival Proctor Mk.III (72014) 1:72 Dora Wings The Proctor was developed by Percival from their Vega Gull in response to an Air Ministry Specification for a radio trainer and communications aircraft. Percival made the fuselage 6 inches longer and incorporated larger rear windows. Modifications also had to be made to the seats in order that parachutes could be worn. The prototype first flew in October 1939 and was put into production fairly quickly. Over 1000 aircraft were built, the original 222 by Proctors, with the remainder by F Hill & Sons of Manchester. The original marks of Proctor (I through III) were very much of the Gull design, later ones were enlarged, but the larger aircraft suffered in terms of performance. After the war the aircraft were dispersed to various operators. The fleet was grounded in the 1960s due to concerns about the glued joints in the airframe; though some have been rebuilt with modern glues. They still make good light aircraft and inherited the Gulls folding wing which can make storage easier. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send samples for review. Information and help was gratefully received in the production of this kit from John Adams formally of Aeroclub models which can only be a good thing. It is also this reviewers opinion that Percival Aircraft made some of the best looking Civil Aircraft in the UK, so these new kits are more than welcome. Initially Dora Wings have given us The Vega Gull and followed this up with the Proctor as Percival did. Now the Mk.III is with us. The kit arrives on three sprues of nice hard plastic, detail is good raised and recessed where necessary. The ribbing on the wings is nicely restrained. There is a clear sprue, a sheet of PE and a set of masks (not shown). In other boxings the instrument panel markings were on a film sheet, they are now on the decal sheet. Construction is fairly simple just like the real aircraft. The tail wheel is the first part to be made up and then put to one side. We then move to the cockpit. The instrument panel is made form a plastic part with the film and PE making the front of the panel. This is then added into the coaming. Just to go off on a tangent the wings then put together, these are of convention left/right & upper/lower construction. Separate flaps are included as are landing lights for both wings. Now that the wings are done we can move back to the main cabin, Controls and seats are put in place, followed by the front firewall and instrument panel we put to one side earlier. The fuselage can then be closed up, and the canopy added. At the rear the rudder is added along with the tailplanes, and at the front the engine front and propeller. The wings can then be added along with the main landing gear. Markings The decals are from Decograph and look good with no registration issues, there are five decal options provided; LZ766 RAF as seen at Duxford 2017. 605 Royal Danish Air Force, Karup Airfield, 1946/47 Z7237 RAF, 1942 (its worth noting that these markings seem post war not WWII) RAF Serial HM300 but USAAF Markings 1945. W-1 1315 Communications Flight Royal Netherlands Air Force, 1947. Conclusion It is high time that we had some modern toolings of British aircraft from this period. Very Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings is to release 1/72nd & 1/48th Percival Proctor Mk.I/II/III & Vega Gull kits. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2005654616331772&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Dora Wings has 1/72nd & 1/48th Bellanca CH-200/300 & 400 Pacemaker & Skyrocket kits in project and need your help. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2014889655408268&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

A tardy entry that may come to naught: In keeping with my current racer fetish, I've ordered one of these Hannants aren't showing any in stock yet but hopefully it should make a timely arrival and bring a bit of civilian glamour to this collection of trigger happy warbirds Cheers Anil

After the 1/48th kits (link), Dora Wings is to release 1/144th Gee Bee Super Sporter R.1 & R.2 racers kits Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2154248744805691&id=1929101897320378 Length of the model -37mm. Wingspan -52mm !!! V.P.

Dora Wings is to release a 1/72nd Savoia-Marchetti S.55 kit - ref. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2265902620306969&id=1929101897320378&__tn__=-R 3D renders V.P.

Arsenal Model Group (AMG) is to release new tool families of 1/48th and later 1/72nd (thread is here: link) Bell P-63 Kingcobra kits. 1/48th first boxing is expected for this Summer. To be followed. Sources: http://amg-models.net/2017/01/17/bell-p-63a-kingcobra/ http://amg-models.net/2017/01/17/bell-p-63c-kingcobra/ http://amg-models.net/2017/01/17/bell-p-63e-kingcobra/ http://amg-models.net/ 3D renders The Bell P-63 Kingcobra is an American fighter aircraft developed by Bell Aircraft in World War II from the Bell P-39 Airacobra in an attempt to correct that aircraft’s deficiencies. Although the P-63 was not accepted for combat use by the United States Army Air Forces, it was successfully adopted by the Soviet Air Force.[2] The production model Bell Model 33; 1725 P-63As produced in various sub-marks. P-63C Second production series differed from the P-63A by being powered by the uprated Allison V-1710-117 engine with a war emergency rating of 1,500 hp (1,120 kW) at sea level and 1,800 hp (1,340 kW) with water injection. The wingspan was reduced by 10 inches (250 mm). A total production run of 1,227 was completed P-63E Essentially similar to the P-63D with the exception of a ventral fin extension and the use of a standard “cab”-style cockpit; only 13 built. V.P.

After the 1/48th kits (link), Dora Wings is to release a 1/72nd Bell P-63 Kingcobra family. More: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 - ref. 72005 - Bell P-63E-1 Kingcobra - ref. 72006 - Bell TP-63E Kingcobra - ref. DW72010 - Bell P-63A Kingcobra Racer (Sohio Handicap) Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2118881271675772.1073741866.1929101897320378&type=3 Box art V.P.

First kits from new Ukrainian company Dora Wings (http://www.dorawings.com/) will be 1/144th and 1/48th Gee Bee R-1 & -2 racers. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1929166587313909&id=1929101897320378 See also Dora Wings 2017 catalogue: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235016727-dora-wings-new-company-programmecatalogue-2017/ V.P.

After the 1/72nd kits (link), Dora wing is to release Bellanca CH-300 kits - ref. DW48007 In project. Release expected in 2019 Source: http://Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2014889655408268&id=1929101897320378 https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Percival Vega Gull (72002 & 72004) Civil & Military Service 1:72 Dora Wings The Vega Gull was a development by Percival of their earlier D-Series Gull. The main advantages over the earlier design was the addition of a 4th seat, dual flight controls, and flaps were fitted. The airframe was made wider, the wings longer and the airframe made more streamlined. A feature of the aircraft was the ability to fold the wings for storage. The work was attributed to Arthur Bage's arrival at Percival. The resulting Vega Gull had extended range and payload without sacrificing performance. The aircraft was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Six engine. As well as civilian operators the Air Ministry ordered 15 Aircraft. 11 were used by 24 Sqn RAF, 2 by the FAA, and 3 by British Air Attaches. At the outbreak of WWII many civilian aircraft were impressed into service in Britain and the Commonwealth. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send samples for review. As it is this reviewers opinion that Percival Aircraft made some of the best looking Civil Aircraft in the UK, these new kits are more than welcome. Initially Dora Wings have given us two boxings depicting both the Civilian & Military users of the aircraft. Like the Proctor Information and help was gratefully received in the production of this kit from John Adams formally of Aeroclub models which can only be a good thing. Construction is fairly simple just like the real aircraft. The wheels and their spats are the first parts to be made up and then put to one side. We then move to the cockpit. The instrument panel is made form a plastic part with the film and PE making the front of the panel. This is then added into the coaming. Just to go off on a tangent the wings then put together, these are of convention left/right & upper/lower construction. Separate flaps are included as are landing lights for both wings. Now that the wings are done we can move back to the main cabin, the rear bulkhead is installed. Then the controls and seats are put in place, followed by the front firewall and instrument panel we put to one side earlier. The fuselage can then be closed up, and the canopy added. At the rear the rudder is added along with the tailplanes, and at the front the engine front and propeller. The wings can then be added along with the main landing gear. Markings Decals are printed in house For the Military boxing 4 options are provided; L7272 ex G-AFWG Allocated to British Air Attache Buenos Aires, Argentina 1939. ex L7272 Sold to Argentine Government in 1946 P10 Requisitioned by the Belgian Government 1939 N7571 Requisitioned by the Royal New Zealand Air Force 1944 For the Civilian boxing again 4 options are provided; G-AFBC 1952 Kings Cup Air Race, Joan Lady Sherborne. G-AFBW Alex Henshaw, Nicosia, Cyprus 1938. VP-KCC Beryl Markham trans Atlantic flight 1936. G-AEKE Winner of "Schlesinger Race" 1936. Conclusion It is high time that we had some modern toolings of British Civil aircraft from this period Very Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Another Dora Wings project is a family of Seversky P-35, in 1/48th, 1/144th and maybe 1/72nd. To be followed. For my part I would have preferred a Blackburn Firebrand. Source (see comments): https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2254229254807639&id=1929101897320378&__xts__[0]=68.ARDHKzz_4aRzAKGMWKR3iyv6XxAHRGmxkgIGRdpZJqy27iFF2t-OShgbWaHrQK9dtWr1NaHpjOSK9g-S4uqhQtCXhdPnf5VmmckkS9l21rJ9RIvA60wKqoPrMz1v1p-wBtrTczo&__tn__=-R V.P.

Bell P-63A/C Kingcobra (14401) 1:144 Dora Wings The P-39 was developed to meet a proposal in 1937 for a single engine high altitude interceptor having the tactical mission of interception and attack of hostile aircraft at high altitude. Specifications called for a level airspeed of 360mph at altitude, and a climb to 20,000 feet in under 6 minutes. Armament was to be heavy including a cannon, the engine was to be liquid cooled, and the aircraft was to feature a tricycle undercarriage. Bell had previously designed the YFM-1 Aracuda featuring a mid-fuselage mounted engine to free up space for a large calibre 37mm cannon which would fire through the propeller hub. This was unusual as fighters were normally designed around an engine, not a weapons system. The Bell XP-39 would make its maiden flight in April of 1938 reaching 20000 feet in 5 minutes and maintain 390 mph. However it was found that top speed at 20000 feet was lower than the original proposed 400 mph. Bell would change the aircraft configuration for production to remove the turbo charger so production aircraft were only fitted with a single-stage, single-speed supercharger. Its been argued that Bell did this to save money, though its been said that testing showed aerodynamic issues with it. As a result production aircraft performance declined above 12000 feet and it was never able to serve as a medium level let alone high level aircraft. The RAF ordered the aircraft based on the XP-39 specifications however limitations of the "new" aircraft became apparent, and despite modifications it never was deemed acceptable. Only one Squadron No. 601 would use the aircraft operationally. All UK based aircraft would be sent to Russia, along with aircraft being built under contract in the US. In contrast to the UK, the USSR appreciated the P-39, although they would use it primarily in the ground attack role. The tactical environment of the Eastern front suited a low speed, low altitude aircraft much better. As well as in ground attack the USSR developed successful group aerial fighting tactics for the aircraft. 5 out of the 10 high scoring Soviet aces scored a majority of kills flying P-39's. Contrary to popular myth the Soviets did not use the aircraft for Tank Busting as the US did not supply any armour piercing rounds for the aircraft. A total of 4758 aircraft we sent to Russia. Following on from the P-39 the USAAF wanted a larger aircraft based on the same principal design, this was originally designated the XP-63. The wing was larger with a laminar airflow design and the engine gained a second turbocharger which was remotely mounted to augment the principle unit. The USAAF concluded that the new aircraft was inferior to the Mustang and decided against adopting the type. However as the Russian had shown a liking for, and were the biggest users of the P-39 it was ordered into production as a lease-lend aircraft for them. The Soviets had input into the design and added more armour, extra fuel tanks, and underwing hard points. Bell was happy to do this due to the number of aircraft the Soviets were taking. In later models the cannon was moved forward changing the centre of gravity and allowing more ammunition to be carried. Over 70% of production would reach the USSR. The French Air Force would later get 114 aircraft which arrived to late for WWII but would see service in Frech Indo Chinna. These were mothballed on arrival of the Grumman Bearcat. Post WWII some aircraft were purchased as surplus and made into Air Racers. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send samples for review. Kits in 1.144 are new to Dora Wings, this being their first, and they have kindly provided us with a sample in advance of them being on sale. Being 1.144 you get two kits n the pack. The kits do not have a mass of parts, but they are detailed for the scale. Construction starts with the cockpit, the front ad rear bulkheads are installed with the seat moulded in. The nose gear is installed on the underside of this part. The fuselage can then be closed up. The wings can then be made up and attached to the fuselage, this is followed by the tailplanes. The canopy can be put on along then with the front gear doors. On the underside of the aircraft the main gear can be fitted along with the tanks and gun pods if needed. Last up the prop & spinner are added. Markings Decals are printed in house and appear to have no issues. An impressive 9 decal options have been provided. P-63C Soviet lease lend aircraft, USSR 1944. P-63C Soviet lease lend aircraft, USSR 1945 "Bell Booby TRAP" painted by unknown American Mechanic. P-63C SC44126 Glendale, 1946. P-63C French Air Force, "Normandie-Nieman" French Indochina 1950. P-63C French Air Force, "Lle France" French Indochina 1950. RP-63A Pinball 1947 (All over yellow). P-63A "55" Winner Sohio Handicap Trophy Race 1948. P-63C "Tucker SPECIAL" Thompson Trophy Race 1946. P-63C "4""Join The Navy Reserve" Sohio Handicap Trophy Race 1948. Conclusion It is good to see a new company producing new aircraft in this scale as fans of 1:144 appear to have less choice than other scales. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Percival Proctor Mk.I (72003) 1:72 Dora Wings The Proctor was developed by Percival from their Vega Gull in response to an Air Ministry Specification for a radio trainer and communications aircraft. Percival made the fuselage 6 inches longer and incorporated larger rear windows. Modifications also had to be made to the seats in order that parachutes could be worn. The prototype first flew in October 1939 and was put into production fairly quickly. Over 1000 aircraft were built, the original 222 by Proctors, with the remainder by F Hill & Sons of Manchester. The original marks of Proctor (I through III) were very much of the Gull design, later ones were enlarged, but the larger aircraft suffered in terms of performance. After the war the aircraft were dispersed to various operators. The fleet was grounded in the 1960s due to concerns about the glued joints in the airframe; though some have been rebuilt with modern glues. They still make good light aircraft and inherited the Gulls folding wing which can make storage easier. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send samples for review. Information and help was gratefully received in the production of this kit from John Adams formally of Aeroclub models which can only be a good thing. It is also this reviewers opinion that Percival Aircraft made some of the best looking Civil Aircraft in the UK, so these new kits are more than welcome. Initially Dora Wings have given us The Vega Gull and followed this up with the Proctor as Percival did. The kit arrives on three sprues of nice hard plastic, detail is good raised and recessed where necessary. The ribbing on the wings is nicely restrained. There is a clear sprue, instrument panel film, a sheet of PE and a set of masks. Construction is fairly simple just like the real aircraft. The tail wheel is the first part to be made up and then put to one side. We then move to the cockpit. The instrument panel is made form a plastic part with the film and PE making the front of the panel. This is then added into the coaming. Just to go off on a tangent the wings then put together, these are of convention left/right & upper/lower construction. Separate flaps are included as are landing lights for both wings. Now that the wings are done we can move back to the main cabin, Controls and seats are put in place, followed by the front firewall and instrument panel we put to one side earlier. The fuselage can then be closed up, and the canopy added. At the rear the rudder is added along with the tailplanes, and at the front the engine front and propeller. The wings can then be added along with the main landing gear. Markings The decals are from Decograph and look good with no registration issues, there are two decal options provided; P6240 Czech Air Attaché, RAF Hendon 1945 Ex P6240 now D-41 Czech Service, Kbei 1946-49 Conclusion It is high time that we had some modern toolings of British Civil aircraft from this period. Very Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

After the 1/48th (link) & 1/72nd (link) kits, Dora Wings is to release 1/144th Bell P-63A/C Kingcobra kits - ref. ? Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2183038905260008&id=1929101897320378 Test sprues V.P.

Bell P-63E Kingcobra (72005) 1:72 Dora Wings The P-39 Airacobra was deemed to be a damp squib by the US, although the Russian pilots thought well of it, as it suited their needs, but Bell tried to improve the aircraft by basing their attempts on the more suitable P-39E with a redesigned wing, engine and the inclusion of a supercharger that was omitted from the original Airacobra in order to save money, which inevitably affected high altitude performance. The resulting airframe was so much different and noticeably larger, so was renamed and given the designation P-63A by the military, who ordered it into production toward the end of 1942, which was the main in-service variant. In an attempt to improve performance it progressed to the D variant, which was the basis for the P-63E, but with a return to the cab-door canopy, and a ventral fin extension to improve stability. Only 13 Es were built, and the project stuttered to a halt from there. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send samples for review. Mike reviewed the 1:48 version of this kit here, however as he is not a proponent of the "one true scale" he has left it to me to introduce this one. The kit arrives on six small sprues of plastic, a clear sprue; and provides a PE sheet and a set of masks. Very much the complete package, Construction starts in the cockpit area the seat and bulkheads being made up and attached to the floor, the rear radio area is also made up. The front bulkhead with the instrument panel is made up and attached. The instructions have you add the front landing gear at this stage, though you may well be advised to see if you can leave it off for addition later. The indies for the front gear well are also then added to the other side of the cockpit floor. Construction then moves to the wings with the main gear wells and radiators being installed, the drop tanks are also built up at this time. The wings can then be closed up, Flaps and the air intake are also built up at this time. The fuselage is then closed up around the cockpit and the side exhausts added. The top air intake can then be added. On the wings the flaps are added, and at the tail end the tail planes and rudder are added. To finish The main gears, canopy and propeller are added along with the drop tanks and underwing guns. Last part on is the cockpit door and top aerial. Markings Decals are provided for 6 aircraft. 311721 USAF 311720 USAF 311727USAF N9003R Civil registration 401 Honduran Air Force 402 Honduran Air Force The decals are printed by in house and would appear to have no issues , its worth noting that the USAF never used the aircraft and the USAF markings are probably for delivery flights to the Honduran Air Force. Conclusion The P-63 came along at a time when the attention was focused more on the nascent jet age, so it gathered little attention, and many folks probably couldn't even tell the difference between it and the P-39 unless they were side-by-side. That said, it's an appealing aircraft, and as a model it looks like it will go together pretty well. It's a shame there weren't more variations on colour schemes, but as there were only a few airframes built in this configuration, it's hardly surprising. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings has a family of Bloch MB.152/155 in project Source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/DoraWings-1929101897320378/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2257706667793231 V.P.

New Dora Wings project is a Miles Master family Mk.I/II & III, a target tower and an experimental fighter. Announced in three scales: 1/48th, 1/72nd and 1/144th. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2254229254807639&id=1929101897320378&__xts__[0]=68.ARCLW6FZdIt5Ble-Q0gjhkw0tcQI4MsbyYn33BBsGM6rL6ZMpWkJGejo8MkFssfsZeu8XBjnkY8dJcCnH7Ompu5lZJ_-LiQw9RkOBKtcW6aqqDQr2fDCqQNn6pLfHIrVNxZu4DU&__tn__=-R 3D renders Miles M.9A Master I V.P.

Gee Bee Model R1 (48002) 1:48 Dora Wings The Granville Brothers Aircraft company produced a number of racing aircraft under the Gee Bee name, starting with their Model Z that won awards in the 30s, and leading to the similar but shorter profiled Model R super sportsters of which the R1 was first, with R2 being a sister aircraft. The R1 was flown by Jimmy Doolittle in 1932 and won the Thompson Trophy Race with a dash speed of rather healthy 296mph. It was a difficult machine to fly, but Doolittle loved it dearly, however another racer was killed flying it when it stalled during the Bendix Trophy in 1933. It was rebuilt with an extension to the fuselage to help counter its murderous tendencies, but even with wings transferred from R2 it still managed to crash very quickly after. After that it was sold to its final owner, who modified it further by adding fuel tanks in the rear, but it crashed and killed him, never to be rebuilt again. A replica was built more recently, which flew for several years before being retired to a museum, and there are also a few non-flying replicas in museums in the US. The Kit This is a new tooling from a relatively new company who have produced a small number of new kits with a healthy upcoming catalogue of new toolings in the works for the coming year. Their kits are in the short-run tooling category, with nice detail once you have the parts off the sprues and have dealt with the moulding seams, which is much the same as many kits but with a little more preparation time. This is of course time that repays you by easing your way later in the build. The kit arrives in a relatively small box, as it is a small aircraft that was pretty much engine, wings and a space for the pilot. Inside the box are four sprues of grey styrene, a small clear sprue, a sheet of copper-coloured Photo-Etch (PE), masks for the red and white colour scheme, a sheet of decals and the instruction booklet with colour scheme on the back page. The R1 was a small plane. I've said that already, but it bears repeating. The instruction booklet is actually a single sheet of A4 folded into A5. The instructions cover only one side of this sheet, with 19 steps to make the complete airframe. Construction begins with the cockpit, which consists of three bulkheads that are linked by a series of tubes, with the seat placed against the rear bulkhead and the pilot's legs going through the central hole in the remaining two. A simple instrument panel, throttle box, control column and rudder pedals are fitted, and before closing up the fuselage you can elect to remove a portion of the cockpit sidewall to depict the access door on the side of the fuselage, the job of which is done by a new part so you don't have to be careful to keep the cut-out intact. The rudder is in two parts and fits to the rear of the fin, and a ventral fuselage insert with ribs matching the rest of the aft fuselage closes the bottom of the cockpit. The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine is supplied in six parts, with a further two for the exhausts, and this is enclosed in the two-part cowl with a PE ring at the rear before it is fitted to the front of the fuselage later in the build. The fixed and spatted landing gear are made up around the two-part tyres, the wings and their ailerons are put together and fitted to the roots using a modified butt-join that has pins and depressions to register the join more accurately. The elevators fit the same way, and the wings are braced by V-shaped PE wires that fit into holes in the wing upper and the fuselage top. A small panel inserts into the top of the forward fuselage with delicate louver patterns moulded-in, and a further pair of V-shaped PE bracing wires are fitted under the wings, with an additional two smaller wires bracing the landing gear spats. The canopy is supplied in two parts with separate windscreen, and the final part is the simple two-bladed prop that fits into the boss at the front of the engine's bell-housing, which should be able to be left spinning if you have been careful with the glue. Markings The R1 wore a rather striking scheme during its racing life, which began at the front with a red cowling, with red wing leading-edges which were scalloped into white, as was the fuselage. This is a tricky scheme to paint, so the included masks will come in very handy. They are vinyl and pre-cut for your ease, and while they're not as flexible as kabuki tape, they are less likely to stretch out. You will need to burnish them down over the ribbing under the fuselage, and expect a little touching up to be required due to the edges of the ribs, but once done it should look stunning. The decals cover the rest of the markings, which are in good registration, are sharp and have good colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. There are two instrument panel decals supplied, and with some decal setting solution should settle down over the lightly raised instrument faces on the styrene panel. Conclusion Interwar racers aren't everyone's thing, but then neither are Bf.109s. Between the wars was a time of innovation that sometimes led to some quite nasty dead-ends, so racers and their aircraft were often short-lived, as demonstrated here. The kit should go together well as long as you don't expect it to fall together without your help, and you will end up with a nice replica of this short, tubby little racer for your cabinet in a scale where you can actually see it! Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I reviewed this one and went straight on to building it, mainly because I fancied it (in a non-biblical way), so off I went. It's pretty much OOB apart from a few alterations I made to the wing-mounted landing light and due to a few of my own screw-ups, and of course you have to bear in mind that it's a short-ish run kit, which always needs more care and attention to fit and finish than a mainstream kit. It's my first try at an all-over natural metal/silver finish, and I'm reasonably pleased with how it has come out The exhaust staining is perhaps a bit over-done, but I think it adds a bit of drama to the scheme, and the red spinner also helps to lift it a bit too. I chose to paint the gear legs green as an accent, although many examples have silver legs, but green ones are seen. What else? Paints were Gunze, with Alclad white Aluminium as the main shade, which needed straining due to this weird degradation that seems to occur with their metallics, which renders then gritty in the bottle after a few years in stock. Anyway - on to the pics: I'm sure I've probably forgotten a few things, but I'm certain the world won't stop spinning as a result, and as I'm not competitionally inclined, I don't care now I've called time on it You can see the build thread here, and thanks for watching I'll be appearing in an Me.262 ST Group Build here next if you fancy heckling as I go along

I reviewed this puppy a couple of days ago here thanks to @dora(of the Wings variety, not the explorer), and wanted to have a go at putting it together, as with it being a short(ish) run type of moulding, it would be useful to our members to see how it goes together. This type of moulding needs a little more care in construction than your average big-box, stack-em-high type of kit, and preparation of parts is bound to take longer, with test-fitting and fettling an essential part of the model building process. We know all that of course, but it bears repeating just in case some of us aren't familiar with the term I started with the cockpit as per instructions, and have built up a number of assemblies, scraping seams on all the parts, which transforms them and makes construction much easier. There's a shade of mould-slip on a few parts, but nothing too difficult to sort out with just a soupçon of modelling skill and patience. The nose gear bay builds up under the cockpit, so that was done too, as they'll both be interior green, as will the main gear bays etc. Those have just come out of the ultrasonic bath to remove any lingering mould release, which is more likely on short-run kits. Apologies to those that I'm teaching to suck eggs, but not everyone's familiar Anyhoo, while those bits are drying off so I can photograph them, I thought I'd show you a little off-piste non-OOB modelling I've been doing on the leading edge landing light in the port wing. There's a clear part included in the kit, but I wasn't too happy with it, so initially I cut and shaped a piece of 4mm clear acrylic sheet with a view to drilling a shallow hole to represent the light. After a bit of retrospective research on what it actually looked like, I realised the lamp is large and mounted on a flat bulkhead in a square sided enclosure. Back to the drawing board. Version 3 involved squaring off the curved edges of the aperture, building up a little 3-sided box with a recess for a 3mm self-adhesive cabochon (a what?) that's often used in dress-making for rhinestones and sparkly bits, but also looks very like a scale light that some companies sell to modellers at inflated prices I bought a few sheets off eBay in various sizes for a couple of quid for a few hundred of the little blighters. Money-saving tip of the day I also drilled a few holes in the side walls, just like the real thing. That's about the only deviation I'm planning apart from any losses or breakages, which I'll come to later! That's where we're at right now, and that little assembly will be painted up after being glued into the closed up wing (post painting of the wheel bays & their insertion). The cabochons in the foreground will be glued into the recess you can see, as I don't want to rely on the adhesive, in case it falls off later on and rattles around. I was tossing around the idea of using a clear piece of acetate or @woody37's idea of using a piece of sellotape, but as I've got to make good the curved edge, I'll use the acetate block and mask the shape of the outer cover so it looks proper. That would be tricky with tape, and could look a bit of a mess. The cockpit went together ok, apart from the control column pinging out of my tweezers, hitting my shoulder and totally disappearing. I've nabbed one from an Eduard P-39, and will cross that bridge when/if I come to it later I also lost the handle on a lever on the right of the cockpit floor, so I made up a new one from a piece of rod that I sanded to a handle-shape & glued on. I think the nose gear bay sides need a bit of fettling before I close up the fuselage, as they're holding it a little wide, and contributing to a fit issue I've discovered/made for myself on the wing root. I'll talk more about that later on when I've glued the fuselage and wings into their separate assemblies. You might remember that the intake on the spine of the aircraft was an insert, but beware - there are two in the box! Guess how I found out? Yep - fettled and glued the wrong one in! I pulled it off the next day and glued the correct one into each half of the fuselage, and for avoidance of doubt it's the one with the hole in the rear face that you put a bit of mesh over. That's fitted fairly well after a bit of fettling, and I will smooth it out properly during the fuselage closing process. The main gear bays fit inside the wings with a bit of sanding down of the mould edge flairs, but I wanted to be absolutely certain they weren't going to baulk the closure of the wings later on, so I scribbled on their backs with marker pen, then dry assembled the wings. Where the marker had transferred to the top wing I scraped off a bit of styrene with the side of a curved blade until fit was nice and loose. It's more of a precaution than anything, as I hate having to adjust parts after I've spent ages painting them. While I was test fitting the fuselage halves together, I decided to test-fit the nose insert, which has the two cannon ports in the top. Fit straight off the sprue was pretty bad in fairness, but was a bit better once I'd removed any moulding artifacts and flash. It's still going to need a blob of filler here and there, but it's far from unbuildable! I'll get that squared away once the fuselage is glued together, while I work on that wing root. I'm not 100% sure what's going on there, but once the parts aren't slopping around due to being taped together, I'll be able to get a better handle on it and formulate some sort of plan for dealing with it. Happy days! I'll take a few snaps of the cockpit, wheel bays & such once they're dry.

Dora Wings is asking/collecting informations about the Morane Saulnier MS.230. For 1/72nd and 1/48th kits? Time wil tell. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2161911817372717&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Dora Wings is to release a 1/72nd Fairey Delta FD.2 kit - ref.72009 Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Bell P-63E KingCobra (48004) 1:48 Dora Wings The P-39 Airacobra was deemed to be a damp squib by the US, although the Russian pilots thought well of it, as it suited their needs, but Bell tried to improve the aircraft by basing their attempts on the more suitable P-39E with a redesigned wing, engine and the inclusion of a supercharger that was omitted from the original Airacobra in order to save money, which inevitably affected high altitude performance. The resulting airframe was so much different and noticeably larger, so was renamed and given the designation P-63A by the military, who ordered it into production toward the end of 1942, which was the main in-service variant. In an attempt to improve performance it progressed to the D variant, which was the basis for the P-63E, but with a return to the cab-door canopy, and a ventral fin extension to improve stability. One 13 Es were built, and the project stuttered to a halt from there with a large number of airframes seeing out their days in Soviet and French service, plus a few air racers using modified surplus airframes. The Kit Dora Wings is a new company to us, and have kindly agreed to send us some samples for review. There have been a few kits in 1:48 of this aircraft, but nothing much in the recent past until Dora Wings popped up with the unusually configured TP-63E two-seat KingCobra, closely followed by this boxing with a single-seat fighter, and the soon-to-be-released Racer based on an A model with clipped wings. The box is small, but inside are a lot of sprues – eight in grey styrene, one in clear, a copper coloured sheet of Photo-Etch (PE), masks and of course decal sheet. The instructions are loose-bound and printed on matt stock in colour, with the painting and markings guide loose in the centre. This has the feeling of a short-run kit by nature, but in terms of detail and quality, it is more of a longer-run and the parts are well-moulded with only the sprues themselves looking a bit old-skool. The cockpit is first to be built up, and it is well-appointed with basic sidewall detail moulded into the fuselage, PE parts and a set of PE seatbelts. The nose gear bay is built up under the cockpit, and the gear leg is trapped between the sides of the bay at this early stage, leaving it a little vulnerable to the clumsy modeller. Before the fuselage is even introduced the instructions have you installing the wheel bays in the full-span lower wing, adding the intakes to the leading edge wingroots, and building up the gear. The upper wings drop onto the lower wing leaving a slot for the fuselage, which has its dorsal intake insert and PE grille added, plus a throttle quadrant before it is closed up around the cockpit/nose gear bay and the exhausts are added just aft of the cockpit door. A twin .50cal gun insert is fitted to the nose, and the wings are mated along with the flaps and ailerons, then the elevators, and lastly the rudder. The canopy is two parts with cut-outs for the car-door style windows in the forward section, and completely clear doors, which will need masking inside and out. The gear is installed, the nose gear bay doors added with separate hinges, and the prop, with integral 37mm M4 cannon muzzle is built up and inserted into the nose. You then have a choice of things to hang under the wings from a conformal fuel tank, wing tanks on short pylons, central tank, and underwing mounted machine-gun pods that housed a pair of .50cals. Markings As Henry Ford wouldn't have said, it's any colour you like as long as it's Aluminium. For most of the reference photos I've seen that appears to be a painted finish, but do check your references before plundering on. Decals are printed on off-white paper by Decograph of Ukraine, and are in good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. They also include an instrument panel printed in black and white with all the dials present. From the box you can build one of the following: US Air Force s/n 43-11720 – silver with black anti-glare panel and red spinner. US Air Force s/n 43-11721 – silver with black anti-glare panel and silver spinner. US Air Force s/n 43-11727 – silver with black anti-glare panel and red spinner. Civil registration N9993R – silver with black anti-glare panel and red spinner that tapers back along the fuselage. Fuerza Aerea Hondurena FAH – 402 Honduran Air Force, Tepucigalpa, 1948 – Honduran flag on tail and wingtips. Fuerza Aerea Hondurena FAH – 401 Honduran Air Force, Tepucigalpa, 1948 – Honduran flag on tail and wingtips. The Honduran flags are provided as decals, and prop stencils are also included, but you will have to paint the prop tips and the tapering red stripe down the side of option 4 yourself, which is probably for the best for colour matching with the spinner. Colour call-outs are made with Humbrol codes as well as the colour names, all of which are suitably generic, so easily converted to your favourite manufacturer. Supplied on a sheet of grey vinyl, the pre-cut masks supply you with a full set of masks for the canopy, with compound curves at the rear handled by using frame hugging masks, while the highly curved gaps are in-filled with either liquid mask or from tape. Conclusion The P-63 came along at a time when the attention was focused more on the nascent jet age, so it gathered little attention, and many folks probably couldn't even tell the difference between it and the P-39 unless they were side-by-side. That said, it's an appealing aircraft, and as a model it looks like it will go together pretty well. It's a shame there weren't more variations on colour schemes, but as there were only a few airframes built in this configuration, it's hardly surprising. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings is to release 1/72nd Westland Wallace & Wapiti kits - ref.72007 & 72008 Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 V.P.