David H Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 I like the paint and decal execution on the Mirage III. The road to building an accurate F4U-5, AU-1 or F4U-7 in 72 scale is not an easy one. Nobody does a good F4U-4 to begin with, having the proper lower fuselage contours. On top of that, Vought revised the production tooling from the -5 on, probably to better handle the R2800-32W "Double Twister" superchargers. This led to a notable "kink" in the contours on the fuselage sides. The 48th scale Hasegawa Corsairs depict this, but they have their own set of construction challenges. It's a pity that the late Corsairs are not better rendered in 72 scale. By that point, most of the bugs had been worked out of the design. I got to ride in the back of a -5 on 3 occasions and the plane is a runaway freight train. -d- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tailspin Turtle Posted January 13, 2022 Share Posted January 13, 2022 3 hours ago, David H said: I like the paint and decal execution on the Mirage III. The road to building an accurate F4U-5, AU-1 or F4U-7 in 72 scale is not an easy one. Nobody does a good F4U-4 to begin with, having the proper lower fuselage contours. On top of that, Vought revised the production tooling from the -5 on, probably to better handle the R2800-32W "Double Twister" superchargers. This led to a notable "kink" in the contours on the fuselage sides. The 48th scale Hasegawa Corsairs depict this, but they have their own set of construction challenges. It's a pity that the late Corsairs are not better rendered in 72 scale. By that point, most of the bugs had been worked out of the design. I got to ride in the back of a -5 on 3 occasions and the plane is a runaway freight train. -d- https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2014/03/f4u-4-modelers-notes.html https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-last-propeller-pulled-corsairs-f4u.html 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 24, 2022 Author Share Posted January 24, 2022 Hello, only short note about my current status on my workbench, Wildcat is going slowly to the finish 🙂 I learned a lot about Wildcat design and versions e.g. formation lights, landing light etc... Regarding landing light, I didnt improve it on the model, but I intend to do it on another Wildcat. Improvement of the cockpit rear section as visible on the real subject. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Lovely progress on the Wildcat, and impressive work on the Twin Otter! Your workbench highlight posts are something I really look forward to - please keep them coming. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted January 26, 2022 Author Share Posted January 26, 2022 Thank you Andrew, I apreciate it and try to keep it updated as much as possible 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted February 14, 2022 Author Share Posted February 14, 2022 Well, after finishing the Wildcat I continue work on Twinn Otter and Corsair Birdcage. Pictures will follow soon. I also have a new post on our blog. It is uncommon subject for me, which I was building about 13 years. You can see it here: PzKpfw VI B Königstiger 1/72 Dragon . I think also other posts are worth to look, especially recently finished Avia BH-3 1/72 build by Dušan Vrážel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amos brierley Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Hello David K. Some nice work - all very animal inspired - Otter , Wildcat , Tiger , all you need now is say something like ( an RAF HC2 ) Puma ( helicopter ) to mix up your model bench subjects. 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socjo1 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 David, I am your topic's observer as I like your modelling skills and topics very much. Waiting for progress with Tornado (I am struggling my own Revell Tornado now - quite heavy fight 😉 ) but now I must admit I love Twin Otters! What a pitty we haw only very obsolete Matchbox kit untill now. We wait new kit from Special Hobby, Airfix and so on 😉 Could you show us more photos this colourful bird? Out of Box standard or some improvements? Very tidy work. Best regards, Michał 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) On 2/14/2022 at 1:01 PM, amos brierley said: Hello David K. Some nice work - all very animal inspired - Otter , Wildcat , Tiger , all you need now is say something like ( an RAF HC2 ) Puma ( helicopter ) to mix up your model bench subjects. 😄 It is really good idea, yesterday I bought another tank, a Leopard 1/72 kit 😃 but I would like to build Puma as well 👍 On 2/14/2022 at 1:13 PM, socjo1 said: David, I am your topic's observer as I like your modelling skills and topics very much. Waiting for progress with Tornado (I am struggling my own Revell Tornado now - quite heavy fight 😉 ) but now I must admit I love Twin Otters! What a pitty we haw only very obsolete Matchbox kit untill now. We wait new kit from Special Hobby, Airfix and so on 😉 Could you show us more photos this colourful bird? Out of Box standard or some improvements? Very tidy work. Best regards, Michał Well, my Tornado (Hasegawa) is sleeping but ready to start camouflage. I also started the Revell kit, but only a few pieces from the sprue. I am inspired by your build and build by Libor Jekl. Unfortunatelly the Revell is not much more easier than Hasegawa as oneman could expect. It will take some time I will come back to Tornados, as I have to clean my desk and move some "animals" into displaycabinet 😁 Thanks to both to yours kind words. Edited February 15, 2022 by David Koktavý Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted February 15, 2022 Author Share Posted February 15, 2022 Regarding Twin Otter, current status is shown bellow: I intended straight OOB quick build as it is not worth to invest too much time to that really old kit. Nevertheless I made some changes and improvements. The OOB fuselage is empty, therefore I made complete antenas set acc. to photos. I improved pitot tubes and step struts on the front. Reworked possition light on the rudder. Finally I reworked last windows in the doors. Original was filled and I am going to put there convex circular window. I also rescribed the port doors as there was another design. Bellow photo of the real subject. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socjo1 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) Really nice looking Otter, it is not very frequent picture , thanks fot photos - and for kind words about my Tornado as well. I begun doing Otter too however at first I have to finish Mig Eater. I hope in March will back with Otter again, if you want you can see it here (progress is very slow at now however maybe you will like videos). https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235105343-pk-127-young-old-aviation-corporation-twin-otter/ Did you engraved lines? They look nicely dark. Regards, Michał Edited February 15, 2022 by socjo1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted February 17, 2022 Author Share Posted February 17, 2022 I saw videos, the Otter is really incredible plane. Why it is ignored by manufacturers and we have to use that old kit? 🙄 I engraved only some lines on the wings as I did a mistake and the positive line was destroyed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted March 11, 2022 Author Share Posted March 11, 2022 Hello All, some update, I recently finished Twin Otter and put it into display cabinet The gallery you can visit here : Britmodeller Galery - DHC-6 Twin Otter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted April 19, 2022 Author Share Posted April 19, 2022 Hello again, today I would like to update this thread with two subjects. At first , during a holidays I started and quite quickly finished the Leopard 2 tank in finnish army colours. It is the Dragon 1/72. I tried to make white snow ground for it. Now finished kit and real subject. As you can see, the kit is not 100% accurate, but for relax purposes for plane building modeller, I think it is accetable 🙂 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted April 19, 2022 Author Share Posted April 19, 2022 (edited) The second subject is recently released KP Alphajet. I started build some time ago. Well, is there anybody who can help me with english language ? I really can not find right decent wording for that piece of bu...hit (even badly copied from Fujimy (?) )). Sorry, I am really disappointed. Comparing the AJet with building the Twinn Otter there is not 50 years difference of quality. Even I would say, the AJet kit seems to be a first attempt of short run production in 1950´s , not in 2022 😭 Despite this statement I managed to build that poor kit and now it is prepared for camouflage. Now I am again switching for another build, the Eduard´s Hellcat... Edited April 19, 2022 by David Koktavý 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted April 19, 2022 Share Posted April 19, 2022 Too bad the KP appears so disappointing. Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 Well after some time, I am able to update this thread and write a few words. I don´t Let´s don´t keep chronological order of my work progress as is more suitable to present some parts of kit progress. Therefore continuing with Alfajet, I finished a stage before applying the decals. Now I am waiting to right time to start decaling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 (edited) I finished the Mirage II EA from Modelsvit. The final stage was as usual very hard. A various corrections, retouching, broken pitot tube, gluing the small pieces of mirror and instruments on to canopy frame etc. etc. It took at least 5 Hrs, but finally I was able to put it into display cabinet. Edited June 1, 2022 by David Koktavý Picture addition 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted June 1, 2022 Author Share Posted June 1, 2022 Now I can introduce next project in progress. In the past I started the Airfix BAE Hawk T.1 I used the Red Arrows boxing, but wanted to make common black camouflage. I realised soon, that there are different sprues than in normal Airfix Hawk box. Especially there are missing gunsights in the box and the sprues are really different. To my surprise I would say the fitting is slightly better than on the common Airfix Hawk box which is also suplied with the armament sprue. The canopy pieces are from my point of view quite in bad quality. I had some struggle with fitting and gluing the front frame. I performed it at least 3 times with corrections and polishing till I get accetable result. The next point was the canopy masking. Well where Eduard made a mistake? 😅 Fortunatelly it is not big issue... Finishing the mirage III definitivelly convinced myself that I need a visit the ophthalmologist and diskuss the optical system, especially glasses 🧐 At the moment I started to use the head magnifier which allows me to perform some very small operations, e.g. slats on the leading edge. At the end the final photo, as I finished rough build on the Hawks and now I can start to make camouflage 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted June 16, 2022 Author Share Posted June 16, 2022 Hell fellow Britmodellers, some next update, but first of all it is time to present some finished kits. Modeling is not only about building, but also finishing, taking photos and finally presenting models. Well I put the Gloster Pioneer here into Galery And also there is some update on our blog. Dušan Vrážel with his Letov Š-21 and myself with the Me-109 Duo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted June 20, 2022 Author Share Posted June 20, 2022 Well, let´s continue with some progress. Starting the Academy A-37 Dragonfly some time ago, now the stage before decaling is finished. Now I will let the gloss coat dry for some time and then I really looking forward to Academy´s plank decals 😅 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 Dear fellow britmodeller. Time is running very fast and I realized, despite my continuous progress on the work bench, I didn´t update this thread for longer time. So there is a brief "report" A-37 prepared for the panel liner wash The Alphajet is finished. I will come back to it later once it will be photographed I started to make camouflages on the Hawks. Pink looking Red looking Black 🙂 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 Maybe I have one question or demand. I make the Red Arrows Hawk inspired by the first female pilot Fl. Lt. Kirsty Moore in the Red Arrows team. I found some stories about her, but found only one notice she flew Hawk XX179. So please if anybody knows how are the Aircrafts asigned to pilot, or what aircraft serial she flew, please let me know. Despite I found lot of pictures with Lt. Kirsty Moore in the cockpit, there is not visible XX serial as it is writen on the exhaust area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted September 2, 2022 Author Share Posted September 2, 2022 Hello all, again some update. This time only presentation of finished kits. Bellow is the Alphajet. I decided not to present it in separate galery as I consider the A/Z kit as very bad and I relly can not recommend it to build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Koktavý Posted September 2, 2022 Author Share Posted September 2, 2022 (edited) I also managed to publish F4U-1 Corsair Birdcage in our Blog HERE Edited September 2, 2022 by David Koktavý Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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