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HobbyBoss is to release 1/48th TBD-1 Devastator kits - ref. 81783 - Douglas TBD-1 Devastator - ref. 81784 - Douglas TBD-1A Devastator Source: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/8249037080 V.P.

Just a placeholder for now, will add more details once the GB commences (and I've got some space on the workbench). I'm going to attempt the US Navy 3-tone camo (grey) scheme, I have some camo masks for it, so hopefully not too hard! According to Scalemates info here, the kit was originally a Trumpeter moulding from 1999 so shouldn't be too old, also I've become a bit of a fan of HobbyBoss 1/72 stuff, not overly complex and tend to build up quite nicely so fingers crossed.

This is the second Israeli Improvised Armoured Car that I've built, the previous one being a Type 4. This one required a bit more scratch building, but was just as enjoyable as the first one. I'm going to give them a rest for a while until the Armoured Car GB next October, and then it'll probably be based on a different vehicle. Meanwhile, if anyone is interested in the build, it can be found here; And this is the Type 1 and Type 4 for comparison; Type 1. Type 4. That's it for armoured cars until the GB in the Autumn. Thanks for looking and for any comments. John.

Well seeing as I'm hosting I think its about time I actually commit to build something for it! After a great deal of thought (right up to the last minute) I have decided to build a HobbyBoss 1/35 Leopard 1A5 but with a slight twist as the options in the kit didn't really inspire me a great deal. I have a Revell Leopard 1A1 in the stash too which has markings for a very nice looking Norwegian one in a 4 colour splinter camo scheme which looks very nice indeed and when looking at pictures of them I found some even better ones with winter camo applied over the splinter. So why not build that one? Well I have a good reason to build the HB kit as it was a gift, so after more digging I found pictures of suitable 1A5No's (33 ex Bundeswher tanks complete with applique armour unlike most Norwegian 1A1's that were updated to 1A5 standard) so that is what tipped the scales, HobbyBoss it will be! So onto the kit itself, starting with the obligatory box top picture; The box is packed with plasticy goodness; Including a very nicely moulded turret; As you can see though it is moulded with the attachment points for the extra applique armour as fitted to German 1A5's but not all foreign operators which is why I am building as one of the Ex German examples supplied to Norway. And lots of individual links! they're moulded in one piece though (unlike the nightmare that @PlaStix is having to deal with on his HobbyBoss build), whether they fit together though remains to be seen! There's also an etched fret and wire for the tow cables; And finally a picture nabbed from t'internet to show the kind of result I am hoping to obtain; Really looking forward to getting started on this! Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received. Craig. 🇺🇦

Here's my 1/72 representation inspired by a fellow Britmodeller "Old Viper Tester" who posted probably some of the finest 527th photos on these forums a few years ago. Built for the Northrop F-5 group build. Always loved the look of the F-5 & it's many variants, just wish I had enough time to build a few more, but just the one for now. Northrop F-5E 527th Aggressor Sqn RAF Alconbury 1987 74-1532 Hobbyboss 1/72 F-5E - after realising the differences between an A & an E! With some cutting & reversing I used the red & yellow two & three bort numbers from the Hobbyboss kit. I also scavenged serial numbers from an old Italeri F-5E decal sheet & the Heller 527th decal sheet with some stencils also from each. The main stars & bars were from the Superscale 72-479 black stencil sheet. I had to use artistic licence to turn the other letters into the low viz stencil font. Paints were from Vallejo & Ammo Mig, & Vallejo Metal Color for the exhausts. A Mig enamel panel wash was used but realised it was a tad too dark so proceeded to go over that with a lighter wash. Almost forgot...Minor adjustments were; Used the windscreen from the Rob Taurus vacform canopy. Cut & put the nose gear into it's fully extended position, also had to face the scizzor link facing forward using scrap plastic for the links. Used a Molotow chrome pen for the stansion. Drilled out the gun ports & used brass tubing. Pilot managed to escape from box of spare discarded pilots. That's enough waffle. Here's the pics.... Thanks for looking! Martin

I see @Bobby No Mac has beaten me to this one so I will follow his progress with interest. I have a bit of a thing for these early British jets, having built a Meteor and Vampire over the last few months. Maybe it is the clean, smooth lines, they just look like proper airplanes that are pleasing to the eye. I have never built a HobbyBoss aircraft before, although I have made a couple of their AFV’s. Looking in the box it all seems quite nice to me. I am planning to go with the HMS Albion version as I have never painted identification stripes before (decals are provided btw) and it will add a bit of colour to the display cabinet. I am currently involved in the Entropy GB where I am building a Tractor https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235127443-tractor-blues/ The build is nearly complete so once I get to the paint stage, I will have time to start having a go at this. I would really like to do a Hellcat as well, but will have to see how time and other commitments go before taking the plunge. George

My diorama..... a Flak Bergepanther making a final stand in the ruined streets of Berlin. Slapped together with parts scrouged from deserted vehicles and leftover factory parts. Thanks for watching! 👍👍👍 On to the next one.

Expected in late October in China, Hobby Boss is to release a 1/48th Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K Izdeliye 9.41 " Fulcrum-D" kit - ref. 81786 Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=238 Box art V.P.

You've guessed it.... time for the next build. Got to keep the production line going 🤣 This Flak Panther never existed irl. It was a concept that never saw production. I think it's an interesting model and i can't wait to start the build. No vignettes or diorama's this time. I think i'm going for a wooden base with a little plaquette. However, first things first.... the build itself. It's a full box that comes with PE, NOT working tracklinks and a shitload of parts 🤪 So let's start the checklist. Spruecutter ✅️ Sandingsticks ✅️ Glue✅️ Glasses✅️ Cold beer ✅️ Let's crack on! Feel free to tag along. It's always nice to have you guys around. Cheers! 🍻🍻🍻

HobbyBoss is to release in late November 2022 a 1/48th Hawker Hurricane Mk.I kit - ref. 81777 Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=216 Box art V.P.

Hi all! Here's my Hobbyboss Bf109G-6 in 1/48- one of their easy-assembly offerings and a pretty nice kit for the price. A rare foray into props for me. WIP can be found here: I have two luftwaffe builds lined up for the Go Large GB but I rarely build props and I've never tried a mottled scheme so trying to get some practice in. This is my first attempt at mottling and I'm pretty happy with the result considering the airbrush I have is quite basic. As for the kit it was decent, not as beginner friendly as their P-51 or P-47 easy assembly 1/48 kits but considering its half the price of the Tamiya G-6 kit I don't have many complaints. Painted with Vallejo acrylics, Vallejo panel line wash and weathered with AK Interactive pencils. Here are the photos: Thanks for looking in!

Hopefully there will be no blood lost in my build of the VX-5 'The Vampires' TA-7C XE-05 using the HobbyBoss kit as my victim and Xtradecal's Twosair sheet to bring this Vampire to life. Dermot and Wez have already brought the HobbyBoss TA-7C kit to the GB, but for the record, here's my mine: The Xtradecal sheet has some terrific schemes on it, and looks to be of really good quality (much better than the kit decals): My subject is second from the top on the right, with the lovely green "XE" tail band. A quick spot of Googling dates this scheme to about 1978-80. That quick Googling didn't really uncover much information about what VX-5 used its Twosairs for, does anyone have any info in their research material? Images I can find of it (pic on Flickr here) and its sistership XE-08 show it either with empty underwing pylons or with external tanks on the outboard pylons (which had a green "XE" unit badge on them, which sadly isn't included in the decal sheet. Apart from the aftermarket decals I also have some canopy masks, plus I picked up Quickboost's resin drag chute housing. On the subject of canopies, I have a couple of other Corsairs in the stash, a HobbyBoss A-7P and a Fujmi A-7E. I had read here and elsewhere that the HobbyBoss A-7 is too wide in the cockpit nose section. I think that's definitely true of the single-seater, but less so for the two-seater? Here's the canopies from the three kits side-by-side, the two-seater on the left, obviously, the Fujimi A-7E in the middle and the HobbyBoss single-seater on the right. Not the best photo but to show it but the HobbyBoss single-seat canopy is definitely considerably wider than the other two, FWIW. Not sure either of the other two A-7 kits will make an appearance in this GB (although I do have a stretch goal to build an F-8 as well), especially as I currently have two other kits on the go, which means it will be a little while before I sink my teeth into my Twosair. But short of a stake through the heart, not much was going to keep me away from making an appearance in this GB. Just I won't be cooking with garlic for the next few weeks... Thanks for looking, cheers, Gerard

HobbyBoss is to release in late August 2021 a 1/18th Messerschmitt Bf.109E Emil - ref. 81809 Source: http://www.hobbyboss.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=187&l=en V.P.

I really don't like building aircraft that are white or have a metal finish, I always envisaged this one being Drab Olive over Light Grey with Invasion Stripes. But against my better judgement I decided to go with the metal finish as per the instructions. After doing a half decent paint job and Decals applied I thought it looked a little 'uninteresting' so I decided to do a wash to bring out the panel lines and that's when things went wrong. I think I left the wash on to long, because when I tried to wipe it off it wouldn't move. Long story short by the time I had removed most of it the paint job was ruined. At that point it was destined for the bin of despair but I decided I would experiment with pastels, this is the end result. Not my best work and I'm the first to admit I might have overdone it, but I'm happy to share my failures as well as my successes. As always all criticisms and comments are welcome. Thanks for looking.

HobbyBoss is to release a 1/48th Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-35 " Fulcrum-F" kit - ref. 81787 Source: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/8407857663 Have a look at the Lockheed TR-1 in the background ! V.P.

Well the day has come for the beginning of the Group Build, at present am still waiting for the Kit to arrive for this build. It appears to be still in Hermes/Evri's depot. Anyway I will be building a Hobbyboss BAe Hawk Mk.100/102 kit as the Royal Canadian Air Force's CT-155 Hawk advanced trainer. The kit will be utilising Caracal Decals Canadian Hawk set and specifically the commemorative scheme based on the 419 Squadron Lancaster marked VR-W. I shall probably get some resin Bang seats too and then ponder what to do about the Centreline Fuel/Baggage pod which no manufacturer seems to make in 1/48 scale. Photos when the kit turns up.

Sevastopol, 1942 It was morning over the Crimean peninsula when Aleksey woke from his rest, not from a call to fly as was usual but rather by the movement of a vehicle outside his barracks. He rose and clothed himself in haste, not expecting the Regiment Commander to arrive unannounced. He burst open the door only to find not his superior, but an Army Commissar followed by a number of cameramen. Slightly startled by the exit, the political officer introduced himself as the NKVD Propaganda Manager for the region, and that he would like to include a segment on Aleksey's unit in the next film, requesting permission from the deputy commander. Aleksey agreed to this, and while there were no combat missions being flown that day, a segment was filmed with himself and the commissar explaining the details of his own Il-2. Nearing the end of the film, Aleksey looked into the camera and smiled; the camera clicked as the cameraman extracted the tape from it. The NKVD commissar thanked Aleksey and his unit for the opportunity and left in their truck, putting the film together back at their headquarters, only to find that the segment filmed earlier that day could not fit - much of it had to be cut away, leaving snippets of Aleksey walking around the aircraft, pointing out certain features... And ending on his smiling face. Right, with that little (possibly fictional) backstory over, here is the sum effort of three and a half months of work: My Hobbyboss 1/32 Il-2 (1942) done in the colours of aircraft no.30 of PShAP 18, Sevastopol, U.S.S.R as shown by this reconstructed three-view from Sovietwarplanes pages by Massimo Tessitori: https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/il-2/il2-camo/il2-1942/il-2model1942.htm This is the aircraft that is shown in the background of the film that Aleksey Antonovich Gubriy, Hero of the Soviet Union, appears in sometime during 1942. I happened upon the scheme whilst browsing the website (https://massimotessitori.altervista.org/sovietwarplanes/pages/index.html) for information regarding Soviet Camouflage, and this stuck out to me as 1. It had an interesting backstory, which I have *ahem* amplified, and 2. It sat right in between being too generic and far, FAR too difficult for me to handle. The kit itself, while nicely detailed, has a rather jarring accuracy flaw in that it depicts the aircraft as being all-metal, something that can only be applied to the earliest production aircraft, the vast majority having a wooden rear fuselage and most sporting wooden wings, such as the example shown above. Take away this discrepancy, and the kit is wonderful; excellent fit, vast payload options and an engine more detailed than some in 1/24 scale. This was in some ways a testbed for me, as this is the first model I have used AK products on, their WWII Soviet Aircraft paint-set and their 'masking putty'. The paint was good, bar a few bottles that had gotten damaged and had coagulated a bit, and the putty worked well, though misunderstanding the limit of it's coverage meant that the paint did build up near the edges. This model also suffers from a continuous issue I have had with Tamiya Flat Clear, where it gains a 'frosty' appearance upon being applied. I made my best effort at polishing it down to an acceptable level, however I am still at a loss on how to cure the issue. Apart from that, the focal point of the model was the opportunity to use clear pieces for the cowling to display the engine, and while it took extra effort to mask and to fit, I am more than pleased with the result. Now, with the unnecessarily long foreword out of the way, enjoy the images of the finished product! As a final word of note, I apologise to all those who were following or were interested in the in-progress thread I had for the build of this kit - during the early part of this year I found myself suddenly over-encumbered with work and unable to take and prepare photographs for posting, and the events of Cyclone Gabrielle did little to ease that. In fact, I completed this kit back in March, but the ensuing chaos has meant I have only found time now to post it here. Sincerely, Hurricaneflyer

Alright, first of all, I will need to have a small rant: this Aircraft's nickname is a nightmare. I sent a solid hour or two looking for a proper 'official' spelling for use in the title, only to find that the closest there is (as it is used by the Videogame) is Sturmovik, which doesn't make sense considering the original Russian pronunciation, where 'ш' is pronounced as a "Sh" sound, but even more baffling is 'Stormovik' as there is no 'o' sound anywhere NEAR the first letters, and even though the theoretically correct 'Shturmovik' does indeed get used, it is primarily in more vintage works, where the more recently-printed copies of the same book have changed the spelling to that of the first variety! Due to this, I may as well use the original Cyrillic штурмовик, for at the very least it is undeniably accurate and true to the original with minimal fuss! …Okay, pet peeve rant over. I should probably now get to the subject itself: Hobbyboss's single-seat wheel-equipped Il-2. This is undeniably a great kit, as quite a few much more knowledgeable modelers have made clear, although that does not rectify a rather prominent issue: It cannot fit on my workbench! The solution, as obvious as it is, was to build everything separately, stashing the rest of the sprue back in the box where they would not bother me, and so I started with... The engine. Yes, I know that it is common courtesy to build the Cockpit first (at least so I think), however as I am studying resources and walkarounds to get the area as accurate as I can get in terms of colours, I elected to build the Mikulin AM-38 powerplant first, seeing as it should be relatively simple, right...? Well, the construction could be worse, however seeing as there are 4 different paints needed for the engine I had to assemble parts that shared certain colours and leave others on the sprue before priming them, a spit in the face to my traditional practice of smothering the engine in Tamiya Gunmetal and calling it complete! Here the parts were given their first coat of paint, chrome silver (the only shade I have at the moment) on the smaller pieces and a strange mixture of 'Dark Grey' and 'Neutral Grey' on the larger ones. Yes, I know I am supposed to use 'Dark Ghost Compass Grey' (which does not really match up with photographs of real AM-38s in any case), however seeing as I did not have the appropirate shade I just mixed' and matched'. It came out alright, but it was at this point I ran out of lacquer thinner (needed for one of the paints) and daylight, which meant I had to pause the painting, at least for now. And that is all the work I have for today. Don't worry about the relative lack of progress, as I will make an attempt to expand the build everyday, majorly if possible. I have tried to resize the photographs to be more compact (thank you very much @stevehnz) but if it has failed horribly please let me know. As an addition to this, if there is anything I could do to improve build or my methods I would be more than happy to see any tips or such, as this my first attempt at this sort of activity. In any case, that is all for now. Sincerely, Hurricaneflyer

My second build will be something more 'armoury' but without much armour! Based on the UK Army's military version of the Land Rover, the WMIK (Weapons Mount Installation Kit) is designed for use in recon and fire support. The kit seems pretty detailed, 3 large sprues (including some nice padding included in the packaging). Two smaller sprues, a set of tyres and the clear parts. A small PE fret and some decals complete the kit. Instructions are a black and white booklet with a colour paint chart - which is fairly redundant (it's either an all yellow/brown desert or all green scheme). I'll be building it OOB, I'm not sure which colour yet - I may add some figures (I think I have a set somewhere).

This will be the first of a two part* build of high altitude reconnaissance/research planes. The U-2 must be one of the more famous reconnaissance aircraft in aviation history. This being the C version which was flown by amongst others Francis Gary Powers when shot down near Sverdlovsk in what was then the USSR/SSSR in 1960. I haven't been able to work out the difference of the C and F versions (F being shot down during the Cuban Missile Crisis). The model is made by HobbyBoss slightly upgraded from the 2021 new tool release of the 1/72 U-2A (according to Scalemates: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hobbyboss-87271-u-2c-dragon-lady--1443513 ), the most obvious variation being the under wing pods for fuel. Searching on the forum, I couldn't obviously spot another build/completed thread. If i've missed one please let me know - I'm looking for ideas! After the delivery man had dropped it off. Opening the box, the 4 grey plastic sprues look clean (the three translucent sprues yet to be opened). Maybe even too clean. There is no detail on the instrument panels, and only the vertical instrument panel (part 7 on the upper sprue below, decal no28) has decals as far as I can tell from the guide, so the side panels of the cockpit (sprue beneath part 7 between part 8 and the wing) have no plastic or decal detail...For a 2020's new model (according to scalemates) I'm quite shocked. A similar story with the 4 part seat. The kit is not inexpensive c.40USD/30GBP. To counter the lack of detail, I've bought Eduards PE kit and masks - at least little sanding will be needed! Note the decals spelt HobbyBoos which amused me if nothing else - they aren't yet open. The paint scheme - one double sided A4 sheet - shows 3 US versions (2 airforce and 1 CIA) and no paint scheme but what appears to be Taiwanese decals albeit cut into 4? *Part two hopefully happening before the turn of the century but no promises can be made. But it does sort of depend on my ability to complete the numerous deck guns of a Japanese battleship, also under construction. But an aircraft seemed a nice distraction, and potentially a way to try a few technical skills out without it messing up a 1/350 battleship if it goes wrong.

After completing my mammoth scratchbuild, I need a new project. I threw together a lovely 1/72 T-35 kit, but it only took a handful of sessions, and whilst I’m happy with the result and thoroughly enjoyed it, I only have very limited display space, and it failed to entirely enthral me like a true DIY model does. I’ve not yet decided on a new full-scratch project and am not really ready for the commitment just yet anyway, so time to “scratch the scratch itch” in part at least…. Looking through my stash (not something that took long as there’s only a couple of planes, an old car and one tank) I found a nice looking Hobbyboss Vickers medium MkII. It looks to be a very nice kit, with individual link tracks, a little bit of etch and some clever moulding, all very neatly packaged. Some of this clever moulding includes a one-piece upper hull which has a number of separate hatches, so to my mind, it’s crying out for an interior. It’s also full of injector-pin marks, so the first job was to scrape (using a curved No.10 scalpel) and sand them away. I then set-to with the plastic card. I’ve found a couple of images of a resin interior kit online, which together with real interior photos, allowed me to start knocking up a raised floor, bulkhead and driver’s compartment from 0.5mm sheet. These are just blu-tacked in place for now. I’ll detail (and probably paint) them all before slotting them into place. It’s a nice, clear and open box basically, so pretty simple to make and easy to see why crews were apparently fond of this machine. I need some checker-plate flooring though, so I think I’ll need to order some textured card. It’s good to be back in the saddle, and while I get to scratch some fun bits, it shouldn’t take a year to complete (hopefully!)

I thought I had nothing suitable for this GB and then I remembered this. I bought it quite a few years ago to replace my old Airfix Rafael black prototype, which incidentally I cannot find listed on Scalemates - I presume it was just a re-boxing of the Heller Rafael A? Until I was about 10 years old I did not realise that Marcel Bloch who built pre war planes, and Marcel Dassault were one and the same person, but then my parents bought me a book on aircraft one Christmas which I have long since lost, but it had an article on Dassault and mentioned how he changed both his name and that of the company after the war. Apparently, so the story goes, his elder brother Paul Bloch was a General in the French Army who joined the resistance and was given the code name "Chardasso", derived from Char D'Assaut, the French name for a tank. It seems that after the war both Paul and Marcel decided they preferred the surname "Dassault" to Bloch! This should be a nice easy build but I am a bit uncertain about the colour scheme for this French Air Force version - the box art looks like more than one shade of grey but both HB and other manufacturers say all over Light Gull Gray - does anybody have any other suggestions? Pete

HobbyBoss is to release a 1/48th Consolidated B-24J Liberator kit - ref. 81774 Source: https://tieba.baidu.com/p/8249037080 V.P.

Hey All, Quick build. I really wanted to work on weathering, and trying to get it a bit more realistic. Enjoy the pics.

Morning all,number three in a quartet of this range for the Salty Sea Dog GB this time the Hellcat.Many thanks for looking in.