Big and British GB Gallery

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Post your completed builds here. No more than five photos per entry.

Please do not post comments in this thread. All comments should go in the subject's build thread.

[PeterB]

Many years ago I built the old radial engined Airfix Wellington III and Halifax III but I have always fancied the Merlin engined versions, Now I am building the Matchbox Halifax in another GB, and here is my MPM 1/72 Wellington II. It has been languishing in my stash for about 10 years as I kept putting off building it. Though it looked potentially difficult. In fact it has gone together quite well, though the legacy of their origins as a short run manufacturer mean that some parts are butt fit with no clear location marks and the instructions are a bit vague at times. The new Airfix one looks to be better engineered and has more detail but a lot of that won't be seen once the fuselage is closed up, and MPM did provide quite a bit of interior in the cockpit. The Revell reboxing has been modified to make construction easier in one or two places it seems and they include decs for the IP. There are decs for 4 aircraft and I have gone for one of those operated by 104 Squadron in mid 1941 as I have a decent pic of it. I usually prefer to take my final pics outdoors as artificial light plays havoc with the colours sometimes, but it is a bit grey and dull today - I might replace these with some more if the weather improves.

 

And here is an indoor shot with more detail.

 

 

Here is a link to the build.

So, one down and maybe a few more to go.

 

Pete

Edited March 12, 2022 by PeterB

[theplasticsurgeon]

Revell 1/72 Vickers Wellington II.  RAF 104 Squadron.

[Marklo]

 

 

 

 

 

[Ravnos]

Thunderbird 2 1/350, Adventures in plastic kit.

 

Mostly painted with Vallejo paints, model color, model air and metal colors. plus a touch of some warhammer paint I was donated for some of the small silver area's

Build Thread:

 

 

 

[JeroenS]

This is IBG's 1/35 Scammell Pioneer recovery truck. I like to "civilianize" military trucks and when browsing online for a nice livery my eye fell on a restored version, painted black and yellow. I immediately took to it and hope you like it as well. 

 

Paints are all Tamiya's, Lemon Yellow and semi gloss black. Rubber black for the tyres. Some Vallejo paint for detailing, mainly for the interior. 

 

WIP here: 

It's an excellent kit to build, fit is very good. Quite a bit of PE as well but not too fiddly. There's definitely room for a lot more detailing than I did (which is none). 

 

Update May 20: I finally managed to locate the leftover decals from my 1/24 Emhar Bedford Wrecker build, and they work brilliantly because the Scammell is so big! I took some more pictures and changed some of them out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by JeroenS
New pictures

[Mike N]

1/72 Nimrod AEW3

 

 

Airfix base kit with Cammett conversion and AlleyCat windscreen. Scheme painted with Halfords Appliance White and Xtracolor Light Aircraft Grey, with Model Alliance decals.

 

XV286 was the first AEW3 development aircraft, which was the main reason I chose this as my subject. I also prefer the white and grey scheme to the later hemp, although no paint job could make it look attractive!

 

The Airfix kit was nice, if somewhat basic by the company's current standards, and I did myself no favours by deviating from the suggested instruction sequence - lesson learnt for my next Nimrod! The Cammett set was superb, although several pin holes were found in the horizontal tail surfaces after priming. I'm also not too sure about the fin and fillet dimensions, but too late now. The AlleyCat windscreen was a bit disappointing, being tricky to fit and blend in, and the supplied masks were not a good match in many places, even on their own part! The Model Alliance decals were flawless in application.

 

Build thread here:

 

 

 

 

 

[Scargsy]

Revell 1/72

Halifax B Mk II Series 1A

Xtradecal decals

Build log here

 

 

 

 

 

[Scargsy]

Hasegawa 1/24

Jaguar XJR-8 Sprint version

Build log here

 

 

 

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

Finished at last! A kit that may be as old as some of the real thing, a Kader Vickers Valiant. It's not quite built straight out the box, I did a small amount of improvement to the intakes and shortened the underside of the wing fences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build thread here ^

 

RFI thread here ^

[PeterB]

When Airfix announced the release of their Whitley back in I think 2015 I immediately pre-ordered one to replace my 40 year old Frog version, but have only just got round to doing it. It has come out quite well in the end but was a bit of a struggle as you can see from the build thread.

It seems I was not alone in having problems with the multi-part fuselage joints and the engine nacelles/cowlings, and on my moulding the slots for the guns in the turret glazing were rather undersized, but I got there in the end - thanks to Adam for a replacement rear turret as I made a bit of a hash of the original.

 I have used the kit decals for N1380/R of 102 Squadron as it may have been on the night of March 19th/20th 1940 when it was flown by Squadron Leader MacDonald in a raid on the German seaplane base at Hornum, and was reputedly the first RAF plane to drop live bombs on German territory in WWII - before they just dropped leaflets as there was a ban on risking civilian casualties but the base was on a narrow spit of land so considered an acceptable target. In May of that year, like many other planes, it was thrown into a desperate attempt to slow down or stop the German advance through France by bombing bridges, troop concentrations and the like, and together with 4 other planes from 102 it took off on the night of May 20th to bomb bridges crossing the River Oise near the Belgian border. The other 4 got back though one was damaged by flak, but N1380 failed to return and was believed to have been shot down to the East of St Quentin.

 

Pete

[BritJet]

This started life as the old Matchbox HP Victor K2 as re-boxed by Revell and I added the Flightpath Victor B1 conversion, took lots of bits away and made a new fin and cockpit transparency. Lots of fun with filling and sanding but it wasn't a difficult conversion.

 

The Work In Progress is here.

 

 

The silver is from a Halfords rattle-can, the black and the red stripe are Humbrol gloss enamel. After an overall coat of gloss the home printed decals were added before an overall coat of matt varnish .

 

Back in the early 1950s the Victor must have looked very futuristic compared with the Lincolns and Washingtons in service with the RAF. I think the colour scheme makes it look very menacing as well but was probably chosen to hide a few details from the prying eyes to the East. 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Steve

[Colin W]

HK Models 1/48 scale Avro Lancaster.

625 Sqn RAF Kelstern Lincs, Apri 1945 with 93 missions and 7 from "Op manna food to occupied Holland in 1945."=100 Ops.

 

Well this is Big and British, almost too big to build but helped a lot by the easily detachable wings.

 

I chose this AC as it has a Kiwi on the nose commemorating its New Zealand pilot TG Wilson RNZAF, who completed 22 ops in PB150, completing his tour and being gazetted for the DFC, eventually returning to Auckland in 1945. Weathering is quite heavy as would be expected from a plane with 97-100 missions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More pictures in the build log

 

Build log here

 

Many thanks to Adam for the GB and for moderating.

 

 

Colin

[CliffB]

1933 Rolls Royce Phantom II 'Sedanca Coupe'

 

This is the 1/32 Pyro kit.  It's built largely OOB, but with the spare wheels relocated from the front wings.

The paints were mostly Humbrol enamels, with Alclad for the chrome work.

The build thread is here, if you would like to see more.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

 

[PeterB]

This is my attempt at the old Airfix Handley Page O/400 from 1918. I had a few problems with the wing alignment so it is a bit "wonky". Here is a link to the build thread.

And here are some pics.

It is painted with the Colourcoats version of PC.10 which is a problematic colour. It reputedly started life as a greenish brown, but rapidly faded to quite a dark brown, but this plane would be virtually brand new. As with many paints it looks different depending on the lighting and  can look quite brownish, but today it looks a bit more green that I would perhaps have liked, particularly as the late war batches of paint seem to have been more brown than the earlier ones.. The kit markings are "anonymous" but I have found something similar on a photo of a plane operated by 207 Squadron RAF in August 1918 - previously that was 7 Naval Squadron of the RNAS who operated both O/100 and the later O/400 though probably not the latter prior to April 1918 when they became part of the RAF.

 

Not the easiest of builds but it is not too bad, and I quite enjoyed it - well most of the time anyway.

 

Pete

[PeterB]

And this is my final entry, the old Airfix Stirling. It is OOB except for replacing the decs which were shot and adding the missing pitot heads.

 Here is a link to the build.

And here are some pics.

 I have marked it up as a Stirling B. I of No 7 Squadron who were the first to receive Stirlings at the end of 1940, though this particular one first entered service a year later.

 

Pete

[John Masters]

Well...after jettisoning the gremlins that have been messing about in the bench I am happy to say that this beast is finished.  Remind me, next time, if there is a Big and British build, to try 1/144 scale.  This a good kit and very straightforward but the issue is really the bench space (and subsequent shelf space)  it occupies.  Many times I had to stand over the build in progress to a-fix decals, paint, parts...a logistical challenge for sure.  But it's done, mishaps or not.  I had to clear off the kitchen table to photograph it.

 

Here's the WiP if you want to read it.  The real drama begins on page 3...a result of a late night, too much coffee and...yes, gremlins switching the paint cans when I wasn't looking!  Beasts...Paints are Tamiya, AK White Primer and Vallejo...OOB.  Big box too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to the Mods and all the support.  Now to finish the Mirage and the Dornier before Thursday...

 

--John

 

 

 

[Marklo]

Trumpeter 1/35 Challenger 2 in Digital camouflage, very nice kit and probably  most complicated paint job I’ll ever do  But it does look suitably menacing sitting on the shelf.
 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Marklo

[BritJet]

Airfix Fairey Rotodyne with home made decals as I wanted to do a later version of the colour scheme than provided by the kit. The Fairey Ultralight is trying to steal the limelight....

 

One of the nose wheels has fallen off, but that's an easy fix!

 

Thanks for looking and to the GB mods and all the support with my two builds.

 

Steve

[Learstang]

Very nice! Makes me want to start working on mine.

 

Regards,

 

Jason

[Mr T]

Armstrong-Whitworth Argosy C.1 XN847, 267 Sqn, RAF Benson, 1966, 1/72nd Mach2 kit.

This is my entry to this group build, and it is big and British!. It is the largest kit I have built since building a RAAF C130A in about 1990 (which is completely lost). Not the easiest build, but it has been immensely satisfying. The badges are from the kit sheet, but everything was home printed. The kit instructions regarding the colour scheme do not match the photo I have of the aircraft in 1966 from Air Britain and portray the aircraft in a later scheme. The wheels are a temporary fit pending some 3D printed ones from a fellow Britmodeller. The build thread is here :

 

Thanks to Adam for hosting this Group Build and Enzo for keeping us in line. I have wanted to build an Argosy from when the Vacform kit appeared (but never bought it) and this GB has been ideal. I now fancy the Britannia in the stash, but that's for next year.

[Tim Moff]

Kit: Cyber-Hobby 1:200 Modern Air Power Series Avro Vulcan B.2

 

Subject:  Modelled as Avro Vulcan B.2 XL321 of 617 Sqn RAF, based at  RAF Scampton, 1962

 

Details: Modelled as per reference pics from interweb and decal instructions

  

Misc:  Mr Paint paints, Mr Color paints, Vallejo paints, Oils and Florey dark Dirt wash 

 

Build Thread: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[825]

Trumpeter British AS90 Self Propelled Gun in 1:72 scale.  Built OOB and brush painted with Xtracrylix Light Stone and matted down with Liquitex matt varnish. Enjoyable build but the tracks were a nightmare and took longer than the rest of the build. Nice chunky machine. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stefan Buysse]

Hi,

 

Here's an attempt to show XM715 as she was delivered.

 

 

From the underside, it is unmistakebly XM715.

 

And of course, a shot of both my XM715's together.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

Edited July 10, 2022 by Stefan Buysse
Spelling

[Rod The Fixer]

Sunderland Mk.III
RAAF 10 Sqn. Mount Batten, 1942

Italeri 1:72

 

 

 

 

by Rodolfo Masti, on Flickr


by Rodolfo Masti, on Flickr


by Rodolfo Masti, on Flickr


by Rodolfo Masti, on Flickr


 by Rodolfo Masti, on Flickr