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Heres the thing - I don't model many things that are unarmed - so I looked at my stash and there was the PR9 I got at a snip some years back, part of building aircraft from my nostalgic youth, living in East Anglia... so I dug it out and looked at the ongoing builds to find a few PR9's in1/48 and 1/72...what can I do different...and found the Alley Cat SC9 conversion - why not I thought. All kit reviews also hammered the decal quality - not easy to get aftermarkets anymore... Alley Cat conversion kit: Then I have seen @DaveJL's build and thought, great another project I can follow and handrail - sorry Dave my last 3 builds have kinda mirrored yours, obviously we have similar tastes, honest I am not a copycat! The next factor - I am due to jet off to Tokyo with work on 12 July to cover the Olympics (if it goes ahead!) so my initial look at the dates thinking I have til August was thrown into touch! So what option paint job should I do - looking at Dave's build and the fact a bit of the extra lumps will be omitted, I have thought I can bash it together reasonably quickly as I am off this week (though the suns out!) which would give me the time for the paint job.... Anyone have any preferences?! Depending on the option a number of early decisions will need to be made (with/without tanks, antenna holes etc) - oh and requisitioning paints etc.... Option 1 - High speed Silver would be straightforward paint wise, with the Day-Glo and blue primer - but my building skilz are not perfect so would show the likely many imperfections! Option 2 - White always a challenge I spose and similar imperfections wise as Silver .... Option 3 - never done a Raspberry Ripple, would be a challenge I guess, but with Mr Paint Lacquers the drying time is quick meaning the masking etc would not have to wait days as per other paints.... Option 4 - Hemp/LAG would be a bit easier I spose.... So - what will it be.... Next I will get the parts off the sprues, get the cockpit done quickly, believe its not correct and it will be black with a bit of artistic license on the buttons and switches...maybe get some of the other bits off and cleaned up as well.

Hi! As my first one here, I choose the RAF's turbopop trainer. I have got it from my girlfriend and she told me that I want to build "the black one". So I had no longer any options, she told me what I want to do... After opening the box, I had mixed feelings. However Airfix had improoved a lot, there is sill some need here to get even more better. Anyway the decls are excellent. I added the Pavla's seats, whiches were far oversized, I had to grind a lot, and also I had to build a new cockpit, to gain some extra space and correct the Airfix's fault and also, I had to make a new canopy. I scretched the undercarriage too. However I thinned the plastic in the nose and added as many wight that I cuold, did not managed to ballance it. So Its still sitting on it's butt. After a jolly time with the sandpapers and blades the model was primed with Mr. Surfacer, coated w/ Gunze acrylic flat black and finished with a lot of Future layers. And let me show you from the biggining: Some problems with the widht. The "edge" is as wide as the black line. Factory version to the left and corrected to the right: Pavla seats didnt fit. Minor corrections: Cockpit done: Vacu formed canpoy: Steps: Compaired to a Flanker : Painting: The trainer sqadron : Of course the matchbox will be replaced.

Raising awareness for the Stirling Project who are doing an amazing job of recreating the nose section of a Stirling Just an old-fashioned Stirling With old-fashioned ways A fuselage tattered and torn. Four Hercules kept chugging away She's flying from midnight to dawn. Though she don't go so fast, No great height does she claim, Sure there's something that makes her divine: When she flies there on high She's the queen of the sky, She's that old-fashioned Stirling of mine. (Taken from Stirling Wings by Jonathon Falconer) LJ525 was a Mk.III flying from North Creake in norforlk in 1944/45 carrying out radio counter measure ops in support of the bomber missions. The noticable differences of this aircraft from a standard Mk.III were the various antennas and 'Window' dispensers sticking out of the belly that were used to jam and confuse enemy radar signals used to track the bomber streams. Whilst it's one of the more famous Stirlings pictured, finding information about it is quite difficult as is the sad lack of attention the Stirling got in comparison to the Lanc and Halifax. I'd like to thank Len Thompson for supplying his build pics when I started, Neil Whitely Bolton for translating the amazing build by some Italian chap and John Lathwell (12Jaguar) who apart from being part of the Stirling Project team has been a fantastic help and source of enthusiasm throughout the build. There were many times I wanted to just put this back in the box, but the interest from you guys at BM has kept me going. Clearly from the build thread HERE, despite the relative lack of fame, the Stirling certainly isn't forgotton where us modellers are concerned. The only game in town is the Airfix kit, however whilst it generally looks like a Stirling, every (and I mean 'Every') part has either been replaced, sanded to smitherines or modified. I've learned some new techniques during the build such as replacing windowns with acetate and the carpet monster now has indegestion from all the plastic filings Key upgrades were a complete rescribe, new windows, scratch built cockpit, bomb bay, wheel bays, rear interior and engine details. After market parts were the Resin Art wheel set, Falcon canopy set, Quickboost gun barrels and reversed Little Car lenses for the landing lights. The Stilring buffs amongst you will notice a few mistakes due to a lack of research at the right time, but I'm not telling you if you don't know Enough waffling, here's the pics... Thanks for looking, Neil

Pics from Graham James