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Happy New Year everyone! Hope you've managed to find time in the festive period to move a few projects on. Well its been a while since the F-15E but next up is another twin-tailed, twin-engined fighter but this time from the other side of the Berlin wall. The chosen subject is the ICM 1/48 Mig-25 PD Foxbat, which looks a nice kit, much more accurate and with finer detail than the old Revell offering and a better prospect for an in-flight display than the flawed KittyHawk version. One of the main reasons for choosing this particular aircraft was that it is a monotone grey scheme and I wanted to practise the use of black-basing to make the colour scheme more interesting. Plus I really like the rugged lines of the Foxbat and I'm using it as a technique trial before committing paint to a concurrent project of a 1/32 F-15B. The kits surface detail is very nice and crisp though the construction looks more complicated than usual. As usual, and nice though the kit is, I couldn't resist adding some extras which included: Eduard Big-Ed set Metallic Detail Exhausts (which are lovely but incredibly thin (and fragile!) Master Pitot Probe Aerobonus Mig-25 Pilot (as the kit doesn't come with one and it is in-flight!) As a starter I thought I'd add some of the PE detail as I need to get the intakes sorted early in the build. Some nice detail but the intake lips will need to be amended as they are in the down position which is fine for on the ground but not wheels up. Whilst the strips on the intake braces add some nice relief I found that they made the intake harder to fit and ended up removing half of them. The cockpit PE fits well though whether you'll see all this detail when the canopy is closed is another matter! I've drilled holes where the instruments are to allow then to be backlit. More eventually!

Aircraft Model Stands (03800) Revell Once upon a time most models included a clear plastic stand for the modeller to pose their latest creation in the in-flight attitude, which is quite tempting for those that aren’t keen on detailing wheel bays or leaving cockpits open, or just fancy a quicker project. Along the way this tradition went away, as the companies must have realised that many of the stands were going unused, particularly in more detailed and larger kits that were more likely to be built by the serious modeller. Time marches on and almost no modern toolings have stands included, which is fine until you want an in-flight model. Now you can grab a simple aftermarket pack of three stands that will help you expand your in-flight collection, making it easy to pack more models into your otherwise crowded cabinet. The set arrives in a printed foil package that is releasable and shows a graphic representation on the front and the scales 1:72, 1:48 and 1:144 written small on the front, which is replicated on the extra foil bag on the inside. Inside that bag is a single clear sprue that has all the parts on it, and on the little sprue tab you can still see the ICM logo on the reverse, which is the source of the parts. if you didn’t know, Revell rebox a number of ICM products and as they have a pretty good distribution network it’s probably an easy way to pick up ICM kits for some. Each stand is almost identical in every way apart from size, comprising two parts that join together to form a traditional stand that simply requires you to make a small hole in the underside of your model, with a size guide printed on the back of the packet, which if you’ve already binned I’ll helpfully repeat for you (and me, as I’m prone to chucking things out too). Small (1:144) 2.0 x 0.6mm Medium (1:72) 2.8 x 0.8mm Large (1:48) 3.5 x 1.2mm The styrene is clear with a frosted finish that shows through a quartet of ejector pin marks in the corners of the base. They’re slightly recessed into the underside, so might be hard to obliterate if that bothers you, and one way round that is to paint the base and leave the arm clear to minimise its impact. Conclusion Handy to loft your latest creation over the rest of your cabinet contents, and squeeze a few more in if you have limited space. The little lug on the end of the arms should also allow you to move your model without losing the stand if you don’t oversize the hole. Measure twice, cut once, and if you’re like me scrape it a bit more until it fits snugly. Highly recommended. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

Evening all, here is my recently completed F.3 Vampire from the Revell box. From the off, I decided that this would be built OOB and would be destined for the ceiling and the only addition to the kit was a pilot who got drafted from a nearby F-86. The kit went together well enough but modellers should be aware that the wing/ fuselage join needs some attention to mate correctly. Once mating had been achieved, the wing roots and intake fillets needed a PPP/ sanding routine. Once built, the 'bat' was primed with Halford's primer, coated with Tamiya Silver AS-12 and coated with Klear prior to decals. Finished with the markings of 601 Sqn, Royal Aux Air Force, North Weald, England, July '52. WiP here: Stuart

Well, with the revelation that the GB will go on till October, I decided there's time for another single seater. This time it'll be the 1976 Messerschmitt 109 in 1/72, from the absolute high point of Airfix. I think any of the early-mid 70s aircraft are absolutely superb kits, from looking at it I wonder why they bothered with the more recent tooling. Here's the lovely box art, I think Roy Cross. This is a first edition with "new" star and even swastika on box and decals transfers. I'm probably going to go for the tropical alternative and save the Galland transfers for an Aldi new tool. Here's the sprues. Many of the parts have fallen off over 42 years. I think they're all there, though! The stand hasn't been nicked for once. The canopy is really clear. Too late to use the complaints slip. The transfers look fine, not too yellowed. Straightforward instructions, should go together easily. Not absolutely sure how the pilot flies the plane without a joystick. The colour scheme is all in Airfix paints. I always found them better quality than Humbrol, I have a few that still work though I'll be airbrushing acrylics. Parts are all washed and I'll start putting it together tomorrow evening. It's going to be light relief between filling and sanding my Supermodell Can't Z.506B whilst carefully assembling a Tamiya Mosquito for our club display at Telford! Cheers Will