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Hi, Ryan PT-22 Recruit was a basic trainer in late 1930s and early 1940s in US. There were few kits of this machine produced in 1/72 ( https://www.scalemates.com/kits/special-hobby-sh72064-ryan-pt-22-recruit--103722/timeline ). As we can learn from above link one of them is a originally MPM kit of Ryan PT-20 from 1999, then re-issued with new resin parts to get PT-22 by Special Hobby in 2004. However this model was not flow-free - for example it was a subject of critics due to all wrong shapes of u/c. I had this kit waiting in stash from perhaps 2006 (bought already at a second hand market). If you look into box you could find a complete kit of PT-20 and a lot of resin parts including new tail, engine, front of fuselage , propeller and this mentioned wrong shaped u/c... The idea came to me (already when I got it), that if I would copy in resin only few parts (the basic one, thought) like wings and fuselage I can multiply this single kit into two: the PT-20 (STM) and PT-22. Moreover, the PT-22 existed in two variants: with straight and swept wings so to make the model even more distinguishable next idea came to me - to do the swept wing PT-22a and STM. Finally, after waiting some 16 years (!) I copied the wings and fuselage as well as cockpit floor and instrument desks. I used a general use silicone from a cartridge and then a Distal Classic resin glue as resin. Here are the forms - for wings (the roll of tape is just to keep it open): and for one of fuselage half: The copied elements has a lot of quality issues, so a lot of additions had to be sanded out and a lot of voids needed to be filled up with filler. I cut the wing into two pieces and made it glued with swept. In the top of picture you can see the original wing. Similar with fuselage. Here is opposite, on top one can see all resin fuselage for PT-22 (front from box, the main part from my resin casting, I made a late style u/c with all fairing removed, so the bare steel tubing left. I made them from o 0.7 mm diameter injection needles. I made a shaft for prop from a brass rode (1.2 mm diameter) and prop bearing from a brass tube of external diameter 2 mm. Rigging by EZ. Decals from drawer. Here is the results: And two more shots showing prop rotating The STM should come here soon... Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek P.S. This is mine #22/2022

Loving the incentive this group build gives to finish stalled builds. Here's a WW2 Canadian Lynx scout car conversion/scratchbuild I started a few years ago.

Hi, Recently I post a short story of conversion of Frog/Novo Percival Proctor into Percival P3 Vega Gull Six. It warmed me a bit and I started work on something, what I had been planned from about 10 years, to do one day. It is to construct models of DH 84 Dragon and DH 90 Dragonfly. I know, tahat there are kits of them in vacu technique or a resin one. However I want to try it anyway.... This is my first time when my scratch conversion of biplane(s) which needs preparation of new wings and then it will need rigging, I hope that I will manege, but I am not sure... The basis is SINGLE DH 89 Dragon Rapide/Domine from Heller (my is reboxed by Airfix). The other main sources for canibalization of parts are DH 88 Comet by frog/novo (incompleted, engines went to Percival Q6 Petrel, which I alredy posted on RFI) and old mould of DH 82 Tiger Moth (old tool), Airfix. Idea is that wings of DH90 I will do from outer parts of wings of DH89 (reshaped of course), wings of DH84 I will do from Tiger Moth (outer parts) and DH89 (central parts). Engins of DH90 will be done basicly using engines of DH 89. The fuselage of DH90 will be done with a lot use of fuselage of DH 88 Comet. The fuselage of DH 84 will be done from that of DH 89. Engines will be done from one DH82 and a resing copy of it. Anyway - I do not have any idea what to do with old mould DH 82 from Airfix . I started about 10 days ago from cutting the nose of DH 89. Then I turn to fuselage of Dragonfly. I planed to do two cuts, to remove some part of Comet fuselage. (I am sorry for the quality of photo, I have not noticed that it is not sharp before I cut already) After a while it was looking like this: Meanwhile I started to cut wings for Dragon I had to remove slots, as you see from one wing. Here wings have basic shape I attached struts which, after shaping will imitate ribs. And below I present the idea of wings for Dragonfly In my up to now scratch build of airplane with windows I was always cut the openings for windows. For the first time I am testing another idea - just to glue a transparent plate with just masked windows. I started to work on interior. The floor is made of very thin plastic card, to eneble it put inside. I have to cut Dragon Rapid engines into pieces. The Dragonfly and Dragon had four cilinders smaller engines the the six cylinders ones of Dragon Rapid. Marked are lines for cut. I was also filling space between ribs of Dragon's wings with thin layers of Tamiya filler. You cannot use too much filler at one, since it drying by evaporation, and the solvent is disollving polystyrene, so there is a ris of deformation of wing. This is one of key source of my fear, regarding this build. Today I stopped at such stage: Thank you for watching, Regards Jerzy-Wojtek To be continued....

Hi I have just finished my second He-111 done within He-111 STGB. This is very rare variant G-3. From what I've learnt only a few of them were originally build few next were converted from C during WW2 times. Similar was in my case - the model was done by rather massive scratch conversion of Roden He 111 C kit. I said "massive" because it was not only about engines and props but also about wings, which in case of "G" were already not old style elliptical but newer style with straight sloped leading edge and also almost straight trailing edge. More about the build is told here, including problems with terrible whitening of varnish which happen in the end... The scheme presents machine from used as trainer for blind flying in school FFS B 34 located on Castor airfield near Copenhagen in 1943-44 (she crashed in 1944). Decals are from Hasegwa He-111 Z (crosses and swastikas), number "28" is from Hasegawa D-520, the emblem (a styled bull) is hand painting on decal, the code letters are by Fashion (edit: sorry, I mix the name, should be "Fantasy" ) Printshop (I have found them in net and after four days decals were on my desk in Poland!). Here is the model: Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Next done this year (No 21, I think). This is Douglas DT 2 C, a torpedo-bomber development of Douglas DWC - a famoous long-range flight pioneering aircraft. Of course it was originally US designed but that particullar machine was of Norwegian licence production, as 7 others. Origianlly was equipped with Liberty engine (as DWC) but latter all Norwegians DT's were re-engined with Armstrong-Siddeley Panther engine. Scheme from April 1940, Norway. This "84" survived German attack on 9th April and then was captured. Was the only one DT 2 which survived Norwegian campaign. In general DT 2 took passive role in WWII - as a targets of attack. The model is scratch conversion of Williams Bros Douglas DWC. It was build within this GB: So, many photos from build are there. In general the base of AS engine comes from Broplan Hoever MF 11 ( by chance {edited - this is a rule othrewise thre will be just half of needed struts} iin my Hoever I had doubled injected parts, among them those two rows for engine! - however now it contains 49 elements), propeller is resin copy of LF Fokker CVD (doubled), MG is from Ardpol Douglas O38 E, rest of conversion iis scratch. She is here: Last two takes are with bulb light. For construction and detailing I've used help of photos from book: "Marinens flygevaapen 1912-1944" by Bjoern Hafsten and Tom Arnheim published in 2003. I've purchased it in October this year in Oslo and this made whole work possible. Many thanks for Mike @KRK4m (my Brother) for a year ago talk, which inspired me for this work. Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek P.S. Merry Christmas to everybody!

Hi, Beriev MBR-2 was one of the most numberous small flying boat of WW2 and the basic such machine in Soviet Union. This type apeared in 1930. initially with open canopies and M-17 engine, later (as MBR-2 bis) with pilot cockpit closed, a closed turret, added flaps and redesigned tail as well as M 34 engine The Avia/Eastern Express kit of Beriev MBR-2 bis looks in box very promising. However after careful look and comparison with drawing and photos some flaws became obvious. Among them the most important are too deep and unrealistic parts of wings and tail covered by fabric and too sophisticated shape of hull. Building earlier variant with M 17 requires introduction of all changies between those two variants. So, constructing this model I did following main changies: 1. change of shape of bottom of hull 2. filling up deep holes between ribs (i used Tamiya resin putty to avoid future deformation of wings) and reconstruct all ribs on wing and tailplane and remove flaps. 3. reforming rear part of fuselage and fin 4. Build new engine cover. 5. Replaement of 2 blade metal prop by 4 blades wood one 6,Removing of cockpit fairings 7. Additional detailing of MGs and 200 kg depth charges Model presents VV-183 captured by Finns on 31 July 1941. Machine was renovated and started service on 23 July 1942 but on 8th September the same year the plane made emergency landing near Norrksar due to engine failure and later sunk while in tow... (reference: Martime Aircraft by K.Keskinen, K.Stenman, K.Niska, 1995, p. 89 ). Since she was in use for about one and half month I did not do serious weathering or a lot of exploitation signs. Thi is first of mine planned series of WWII Berievs. I am building now also MBR-2 bis, Be-2 (KOR-1) and Be-4 (KOR-2) the two last in flying boats and floatplanes GB II. The MBR-2s I started prior launching of GB. Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, Aero A 100 is a light recco-bomber produced between wars in Czechoslovakia. There is a injected kit of this machine in 1/72 by Kovozavody from some eighties I think. A 101 is its developed variant. A 101 kit is produced as resin kit by CMR. A 101 is very sttractive due to use of this machine in Spanish Civil War, on both sides of conflict. I will try to do scratch conversion of A 100 into A 101 with parallel build of regular A 100 in Slovak colours. Many people think that diffrence is only in engine, undercarridge and fuselage lenght. This is unfortunatelly not true. The main problem is that A 101 has much larger wings... Not only bigger wingspan, but also chord. So the conversion is a bit more challanging. Besides Spanish drawing by Molina & Mercado (Aviones em Guerra Civil...) I have nice drawings from Letectvi + Kosmonautika from 1988. And two kits by Kovozavody, which are with me for some 20 years... More in next post J-W

Hi Avro Anson - for many years the only kit in 1/72 was the very old (1960?) Airfix one. Now there is much better, the Special Hobby one. However, models which I would like to show today were made in 2005. So there was no choice - the base must be Airfix kit. Please enjoy - the Anson family photos: They are Mk I of Royal Greek Airforces, 1941, Mk V of RCAF during WWII and Mk XII of RAF, early 1945. Mk I - i did some work with cabin and added some details. The Mk V of RCAF has deeply reshaped fuselage (playwood in original machine), different engines etc. It is a sctrach conversion: Mk XII has taller fuselage and also different engines. This is again scratch work: Regards Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi From some time I was thinking on doing finally the Hit-Kit Breguet XIX, which is in may stash from 1995. This is a Polish short-run kit with provision for four different engine version (Elizade W or three V types, no radial ones). If you have not heard on this kit the box looks like that: However an idea came to me - why do one model, perhaps I can do two (or even three) if I will copy some parts in resin. Let's try just two. I will try to make a CASA-Breguet 19 from Spanish Civil War (a Nationalist side) with Elizade/Lorrain W-type engine and a RYAF Breguet 19.8 with Wright Cyclone radial one. This model exists by Omega by I will try to do a scratch one based on Hit Kit copied parts. Version 19.8 has different wings, with rounded tips, so I started from wings. First the wing for Spanish one. The wing provided by Hit-Kit is too flat from top. So I tried to make it a bit more thicker. It appeard a bit more difficult than I thought, since the plastic of model is very hard. How I started. The parts of upper wing looks like that: Lower surface completly flat, without ribs. Upper not curved along chord. Since the plastic is really hard I start to cut back sides Add some kind of spar I tried to curve it but not very successfully The wing for Breguet 19.8 (with rounded tips) I decided to do from scratch - namely based on 1:48 RWD-8 wing (remains of a kit glued by my son at age of 7 years or less) After some cutting, glueing, sanding, using filler, sanding, etc...- wings looks this way: As you see the "19.8" has no ribs yet. Lower wings (bottom side): Bottoms sides need a lot of sanding still. The lower wing of "19.8" (rounded tips again) I will do from Polikarpov Po 2 - old Russian kit which I decided to shift to spar parts set. The fuselage Lower is resin copy To be continue Jerzy-Wojtek

Hi, This is my first model I made documenting it on WIP forum: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234971044-percival-vega-gull-p3-scratch-conversion-from-frog-proctor-172/ So this is scratch conversion from Proctor, Frog/Novo. I am very thankful to Rossm and Graham Boak who help me a lot clarifying some problems, which appeared during work. This was in WWII forum on BM: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234971179-percival-vega-gull-ax698-photo/ Namely, now I know, that proper name of this machine is Percival Gull Six (not “Vega”). Markings presents her when she served in 267 Squadron RAF in Africa ca. 1943, but earlier she was an airplane of Egyptian branch of Shell, then it was imposed into RAF and became AX698, after a year (1940) she had an accident in Lydda (Palestine) – and she was written off, later repaired and back imposed to RAF. So – have a look and comments welcomed Regards Jerzy-Wojtek And just to see them both together:

Hi, Completing posts of my French archive shelf - Bloch MB 200. Well - have to tell this. She was ugly. She was perhaps even more than ugly... But the bombers from early 1930 all were ugly - Dornier Do Y, Boulton Paul Sidestrand, HP Heyefors, etc.. - they all looks very strange today. The model was scratch converted from Kovozavody Prostejov kit of licence-build in Czecholovakia Bloch 200, named there Avia MB 200 (or Aero MB 200, since small amount was also produced by Aero, main production was in Avia). The main difference between original Bloch and licence one Avia MB 200 is no nose - Avia has just a sloped nose, whereas original Bloch MB 200 has a step nose - initially flat, then sloped. There are some differences in engines as well. I was tying to catch all differeces and made them properly. Here are drawings for Aero MB 200 http://www.cs-letectvi.cz/letadla/aero-mb-200 And here for MB 200 http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/bloch200_3v.jpg My Bloch 200 is in markings of Vichy AF in Syria, unknown (at least for me) unit, about 1940-42. She was used for transport purposes, and due to general regulation with Germans she had removed all MG from turrets. I made this model some 10 years ago. Comments welcome and I hope you will like her despite her ugly design cheers Jerzy-Wojtek Here she is:

Hi, Next piece from my shelf. I made it in 2002. This is Ju 86 R1, machine 4U+PK, belonging to 2 Staffel, Aufklarung Gruppe 123, based in Castelli, Crete, 1942. This is scratch conversion from Italeri Ju 86 (in particular it was Ju-86 D kit, but it does not matter if it was not Ju 86Z or other, since all engines as well as outer parts of wings and cabin are home made). In this time there was a Czech conversion set (resin) to Ju 86 P (as far as I remeber) or even longest wing-span R, but it was pretty expencive, so I quit with it and decided to do out of scratch. For more fun Now there is a nice injection kti of this machine by RS (?)... Two last photos I made in 2002 and other are from today. In recent ones some yellowish shadow appeared on canopies - they were painted (after polishing) with Humbrol gloss varnish ,12 years ago. Old pictures do not show this problem... However now I am using water diluted acryl gloss varnish (Pactra) to finish canopies. We will see, how they will stand with years. Model was brush painted with Humbrol. I hope you wil enjoy it... Regards Jerzy-Wojtek Here she is:

Hi, A model from a shelf with airplanes of Spanish Civil War... This is Miles Speed Six, a/c no. 43, pilot W. Humble - a British volunteer in Spanish Civil War, operating as light bomber (!) in Asturias 1937 on side of Republicans (following data from book: Aviones en la Guerra Civil, 1936-39...). The model is converted from old Frog Miles Magister, using scratch parts and body putty by Humbrol. In background of some photos page of this book is shown. I hope you will enjoy this machine... Regards Jerzy-Wojtek P.S. And - just to racall how it looks like - my old Miles Magister (Frog, 1/72) And a family photo of Magister and two scrath conversions of it: Speed Six and Falcon Six (I posted it separately alredy for inspection)