I just bought this kit for the pretty amazing price of £29. Upon getting the kit in my hands I couldn't resist starting to cut some of the parts off the sprues and dry fitting.

I'm not going to do an 'in box' review, partly because I've cut a lot of parts off sprues and because it's too much hassle. There'll be reviews galore soon enough I'm sure.

I'm not going to compare it to the Trumpy kit. I have one of those, never cut anything off the sprues, never really measured it, so I'm not going to be able to comment on millimetre accuracy. What I will say is that this is a true 262B-1a/U1. It has the correct canopy and canopy mounting mechanism. Trumpy's is a sort of hybrid, not a deal breaker, but this is nicer and more prototypical.

Though I haven't actually taken glue to plastic yet, I feel this Revell kit has better detail and certainly bigger 'bang for buck' than Trumpy (at least here in Europe)

Bulkhead fit problem

During my dry run with major components, I found a small issue with the fit of the forward bulkhead (part C129) onto which the whole cockpit tub fits. If you look at this part, it has a couple of small protuberances on its edge which look like they would key into depressions on the fuselage halves. There are, however, no such depressions.

So, in the image below you can see the part (rear face) and on the right the two areas labelled HERE ( B ) are the locations of the raised areas and HERE (A) denotes the location of a raised area on the rear face of the part (I was too eager and took both off prior to photograph - a small black line shows where it was )

The left side shows these areas removed. Gently sand back to the part's proper outline, giving a smooth edge - check fit into the receiving groove in the fuselage halves. The two raised areas at HERE (A) also seemed to interfere with the fit and were removed.

So, a little hiccup that needs five minutes with a sanding stick. I'll cover any other issues as they arise and hopefully let you see enough of the kit to help you decide for yourself if you like it.

One thing I shall replace are the mainwheels. The hubs are very nice but unfortunately (due to the limitations of IM) the tread gets a bit 'weak' towards the centres. I'll put them together and see how they look but I do have a set of the beautifully cast and designed Barracuda items. I believe Radu has a pair of resin wheels in his range as well.

Finally, I also have a set of Master FuG 218 Neptun aerials. Revell has made a commendable effort at doing the aerials in plastic and they'll look OK, the turned items are, however, in another league (and so they should be, costing half as much as the kit itself )

More to come...

Matt

The aircraft I'll be modeling is a P-51D-10-NA piloted by Urban L. Drew of the 361st Fighter Group, Eighth Air Force. He finished the war as a P-51 ace with six victories.  Interestingly, he was credited with shooting two Me262 jets on a single mission.

I'm no expert in the P-51 and its probably this unfamiliarity that has prevented me from doing a Mustang build earlier.  From what I can gather, the kit needs to be backdated to a P-51D-10-NA but most of those changes are minor and should be easy to do. I'm going to forgo the sprue tour... just way too many parts on this one... and jump right into the AM stuff.

Here's a big chunk of the AM that I have on hand.

I really love Roy Sutherland's stuff, especially his cockpit stencils.  I used them on a Tamiya Corsair build and they really up the level in detail. And I'm not a big fan of how Tamiya represents their instrument panels as clear parts.  The instrument gauges are decals that are applied to the back of the clear part and looking at the instruments through that layer of thick plastic doesn't look realistic to me.  So yes, sign me up for the Barracuda Studios resin/PE version on the P-51D instrument panel.

Unlike some other AM suppliers (cough..Aires... cough), Roy typically supplies his resin upgrades with very comprehensive set of instructions including photos of what the parts look like after they been cut from their casting blocks. First step in this build is getting the Barracuda instrument panel cut away from its casting block.  Since the shape is complex, careful cutting and trimming is the way to go.

The instrument cluster is provided as PE inset panel with separate bezels.

The panel is cut from the PE fret and placed into the resin panel to check fit.

Next is placement of the individual bezels on the inset panel.  I recommend cutting PE parts off of the fret using a hard surface like glass or metal to avoid distorting the part.

Grinding down the fret gates on a small PE part can be a challenging experience.  If you don't already have one, I recommend getting a pair of PE pliers like these from Mad Works.  Before this, I was using my trusty Tamiya tweezers but it was difficult to get a good grip. These make it so much easier.

As recommended by Barracuda, I used Future to secure the bezels to the inset panel. Make sure you allow the Future to complete dry before touching the bezels that have been set in position.  

I will further secure everything by applying a light gloss coat before I paint the panel parts.

Got to say it looks like a really nice kit Eduard have put together here, the plastic parts look as do the the 3D printed psrts and I'm extremely interested on the fit and finish compared to the Airscale Typhoon kit. The decal options supplied are pretty cool and really not sure which airframe to build but equally many other cool schemes to do out there. 

I'll be getting this on the bench yhis and post some closer pictures of the contents later.

Regards. Andy

Development of the aircraft later known as the Westland Wizard began in 1925 when some of the company's engineers drew up the design for a single seat racing aircraft.   This was a private venture as a spare time activity by a group of enthusiasts in the design office who were working on the Westland Westbury, a twin-engined home defence night fighter called for by Air Ministry Specification 4/24.

To reduce costs the construction was wooden but, having seen Sydney Camm's method of metal construction on the Hawker Heron, the front of the fuselage was removed and replaced with a metal-framed structure using a modified version of the Hawker system which became known as the 'Westland system'.

It was a parasol monoplane of mixed construction, with a Duralumin and steel-tube forward fuselage covered with metal and fabric skinning, a wood and fabric rear fuselage and a wooden wing. The Westland Widgeon, also a monoplane, had influenced the designers in their choice of wing arrangement.

After receiving permission from Westland's management, a prototype was constructed, powered by a surplus 275 hp (205 kW) Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine.

Construction was completed in early 1926 with the first flight, appropriately taking place 'out of office hours' on a Sunday, watched by the team who had developed the design.. Later that year, however, it was badly damaged in an emergency landing at Westland's Yeovil factory. It was decided to rebuild the aircraft as a fighter with a new all-metal fuselage.

The Falcon engine was replaced by the Rolls-Royce's new F.XI (later known as the Kestrel) engine giving 490 hp (366 kW) in a more streamlined nose, while two Vickers machine guns were mounted semi-externally in the fuselage sides. It retained the wooden parasol wing, which was mounted close to the fuselage on tandem pylons on the fuselage centreline.

The thick section wing allowed the aircraft's fuel tanks to be buried in the wing, saving space in the fuselage while keeping wing drag low, also allowing a gravity feed to the engine and reducing fire risks.

The cockpit was more or less in line with the trailing edge of the wing. The seat was of such a height that the pilot's eyes were generally level with the wing. This enabled him to look either over or under the wing. The height of the seat was adjustable, and the rudder bar could be set up for two positions.

The rebuilt aircraft, now known as the Wizard, flew in November 1927.

The Wizard was fast and had an impressive climb performance.  It was tested by the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at RAF Martlesham Heath from the end of January 1928. While the A&AEEs test pilots praised the Wizard's performance, they criticised the pilot's forward view and considered the aileron control loads too heavy.

It made an impressive appearance at the RAF Display at Hendon on 30 June 1928 before King George V and 200,000 spectators. The Wizard attracted a great deal of attention, mainly because of its clean lines and generally attractive appearance as well as its unusual layout. (Parasol monoplane designs had not been in service with the Royal Air Force since the days of the First World War, when a number of Morane-Saulniers were used.)

The Air Ministry remained interested in the Wizard and gave Westland a contract for further development. It was fitted with a new, all-metal wing of increased span and reduced chord. In order to improve the view for the pilot, the wing was fitted with a much thinner centre section and was mounted on more conventional cabane strutting. It had new inset ailerons. The engine was also replaced by a supercharged 500 hp (373 kW) Rolls-Royce F.XIS.

In this form the fighter was known as the Wizard II, however it had a lower performance than the earlier version and did not impress the Air Ministry sufficiently to override their long standing preference for biplane fighters.

And some pictures:

The pictures above are all (I think) of the Wizard Mk II with the more conventional cabane struts, the one below is the Mk I with central "pillars" supporting the wing.

The kit is all 3D printed to a very high standard, absolutely no trace whatsoever of layer lines.  I'm in the throes of cutting away the supports; the cockpit framing slotted very precisely into the front fuselage section.  

The parts beforehand:

I know I'm going to really enjoy this build. 

Test print of my instrument panel with switches in place (with the exception of the rocket volley selector dial which fell out before I took the pic)

Test fit of the IP on the bulkhead. It fits perfectly.

Wireframe of the IP and the switch and handle blocks.

The Barracuda PE center cluster fits perfectly!

Render of the IP cad model for fun.

Test print of the swtiches:

I was so happy with how the instrument panel is coming along, my OCD got the better of me again and I couldn't resist starting modeling on the sidewalls as well. I'm nearly finished with the port side and almost ready to print (I did an early print before I started detailing to ensure good fit). I modeled all of the levers, but I'll probably use spare PE fret to bend them up and use printed knobs, with the possible exception of the throttle lever since it's a good deal more robust than the other ones.

Closeup of the throttle quadrant:

The flare port adapter:

Map and report holders. I'll probably try and cut them out of paper or thin plastic to simulate the leather, but I have a backup modeled, just in case.

I also modeled the Goodyear style magnetos, the ignition wiring harness tubes, and spark plug adapters since the tubes and adapters are completely missing and the older style magnetos are not correct. The flexible conduits are braided nylon cord coated in CA glue to eliminate fraying.

Test print and assembly of one of the magnetos and ignition harness:

Test fit of a spark plug adapter on the cylinder:

Magneto test prints on the support structure:

Test print of the ignition harness tubes:

I'm still using a lot of the Eduard PE and Barracuda resin parts.

Barracuda resin seats with some of the Eduard PE bits spliced in:

Eduard PE gun bay covers:

More Eduard PE in the gun bay:

I also modeled and printed more detailed Brownings for the gun bays:

PE installed in the wheel wells. I plan on using jewelry wire to do all of the plumbing.

PE installed on the oil tank, sanding off the straps was a little anxiety inducing.

I also added oil lines to the merlin with jewelry wire. I'm using stainless steel, it cuts nicely, forms and bends well, and doesn't seem to be as delicate as lead wire. Hopefully it takes paint OK. I'll also be using quite a bit of the Eduard PE for linkages and other accessory detailing.

Finally it arrived, this kit I've been waiting for a long time so thanks Eduard for creating this kit, my first look at the kit is very positive, nice plastic surface and rivet details are fantastic, and the resin 3d prints' quality is superb which I was a bit concerned after seen their previous quality sets, so very Happy about it!

The subject:

P-51C-10-NT, s/n 42-103454, Lt. Albert L. Young, 318th FS, 332th FG, 15th AF, Ramitelli, Italy, January 1945

This P-51C originally flew with the 325th Fighter Group and sported a yellow-and-black checkerboard pattern on its tail. It was nicknamed "Stonewall". After being transferred to the 'Tuskegee Airmen', the 332nd Fighter Group gave it a new paint scheme and it became the personal aircraft of Capt. Crockett. He named it 'Daisy Mae', after the golden-haired character from the popular comic strip. The aircraft was lost on 21 January 1945 near the village of Opatovice, close to Rajhrad in the Czech Republic. The pilot, Lt. Albert L. Young, was killed in the crash, the cause of which remains unknown.

I was lucky to receive some relics from this plane from my Czech friend Pavel some years ago so that's why I chose this scheme

here is a link to Pavel's website with information and pictures related to "Daisy Mae" here:

http://www.leteckabadatelna.cz/havarie-a-sestrely/detail/480/

new things after my Arado, and yes its not done yet but waiting a figure i hope will be done from @RCPlym, that looks awesome, cant wait to get it in my hands...as that is 99.9% finnished now.

so started looking at my next project.

jihaa, this will be fun.

Yes, very nice molded indeed, not perfect but first impression looks real good, few sinkmarks and little Flash, not to bad on the first impression, and yes seen far worse, so my first encounter with Mikro Mir..

And LoL realized no wont dona quickie on this one, its way to serious lol

I typically have 3 models on the bench at any given time. It allows me to keep moving something forward while I wait for assemblies or paint to dry, I temporarily lose focus or I have to have a think about how to solve a particular problem, sadly far too many of which are the self-inflicted type as you’ll see soon.

This is a build that I’ve had going on and off for a bit, but is the first time I’ve posted anything on it. It is also a build I had been looking forward to ever since watching Patrick Sparks’ wonderful effort in converting the HKM B-25J to a B-25C/D.

I chose to start with the wings as I (mistakenly in the end) felt I could progress these fairly quickly and treat them as self-contained models.

I added the landing lights and faired them in; it became pretty evident that the glass enclosure for the lights is too deep in relation to the leading edge of the wing. Using drawings from Aircorps Library, I made some correctly sized masks then faired in and primed the kit glass right up to the mask. The mask will remain in place for the remainder of the build.

The main gear legs need to be added to the wings before the nacelles are attached. I substituted great G-Factor gear legs for the kit’s. They were primed and painted with neutral grey with two cool stripes added, one green and one yellow on the legs just above the oleo. These are .3mm decal stripes that I used a Silhouette cutter to slice the correct stripes out of decals; in this case an old Aeromaster sheet for 55th FG P-51s which included extra splotches of each color on the sheet.

The nacelles were then added and the main focus was in eliminating the most visible seam which ran across the rear upper surface; in the real aircraft there is no panel line here, so I was able to fill the seam with CA glue, sand it out and re-rivet. The fit of each of the nacelles was completely different, with one fitting extremely well and the 2nd requiring help at nearly every joint. Inside of the gear bay and essentially invisible are some Eduard PE enhancements which were glued to styrene card for added strength before adding them to the bay. 

At this point I proceeded to throw a massive wrench in my plans. I wanted to build the kit with the flaps up, and in doing so I eagerly cemented the separate flaps to the wing which (predictably given my haste) left a very unrealistic gap at the join between the upper wing and the flap. Deciding I couldn’t live with my mistake, I started removing the cemented in flaps, finding that parts I couldn’t previously get to stick together now wouldn’t separate. In the end my efforts created massive carnage any German flak crew would have been proud of. If you are the least bit squeamish, don't look!

Since that disaster, I’ve spent multiple sessions with various tools, applying and sanding various applications of Milliput, Mr Surfacer and black CA glue working to refurbish the parts.

Building the flaps in the up position is not inherently designed into the kit. Doing so even without the destruction I introduced would require significant thinning of the internal wing structure, but in the end I like to look better. 

As a quick aside, and in an effort to restore my sanity, I built up a handful of Belcher Bits 500lb RAF bombs. These were painted in differing shades of green, detailed with homemade decals, weathered and set aside for inclusion in the bomb bay once we get there.

With the mess I created finally cleaned up, and the rivets and panel lines restored, I finally moved on to painting the wings. Everything was primed in Mr Surfacer black and then the uppers were given multiple coats of various highly thinned olive drab lacquers including Tamiya, SMS, and MRP over a thin OD base coat with some purple and dull dark green mottles. The undersurfaces received misted coats of MRP Neutral gray over a mottled mix of purples, light blues and tans. I drew the RAF insignia in Silhouette, cut masks and sprayed them, The overpainted US national insignia was done in RAF Dark Green on the uppers and Medium Sea Gray on the lowers.

Sven's wonderful 1ManArmy stencils then were painted on. 

Research revealed that the majority of RAF Mitchells in the ETO had de-icing boots installed. These were masked, rivets and panel lines filled, primed with MrSurfacer black and sprayed with MRP Tire Black - couple of touch ups still needed. 
 

The wing in now ready for what I have really been looking forward to:  adding well beaten and battered invasion stripes.

Thanks for dropping by!

John

When the kit was announced, I made sure to pre-order it for the additional 3D printed engine and additional decal scheme. I'm also adding the 3D printed seat and interior details-

Comparing to the kit seat, you can see why 3D printing was necessary to get the right look and number of holes in it-

The extra decal scheme for Georges Raymond's plane really jumped out at me, I'm deciding between his or the classic Jean Navarre scheme for this one-

The last addition to the kit is the Copper State masks for the plane, allowing you to paint on roundels, rudder flags, as well as the blue edging around the fuselage and wings-

Progress has begun with cleanup of ejector pins in the fuselage sidewalls and hatches, and beginning on the firewall. The firewall was painted using Gunze Super Metallic shades, and the French Blue came from AK's 3rd Gen acrylic line. The oil pump and magneto were picked out in Vallejo Xtreme Metal Steel. This will take some weathering, as what I do to the engine and firewall will help set the vibes for the rest of the build.  I hope you all enjoy, please let me know what you think.

Matt 

1/48 SB2C Helldiver--Attack on Yokosuka and IJN Battleship Nagato, 18 July 1945 (finished) - Non-LSP Works - Large Scale Planes

Infinity SB2C Helldiver (26 Nov: Finis) - Works in Progress - Large Scale Planes

Here they are on display in my cabinet:

Back in June @ChuckD was gracious enough to offer another Infinity Helldiver up to me. He said I was lifting a curse upon the household by taking it off his hands. The Beast is my all-time fav (weird like that). So here we are... 30+ days into a government furlough, I've done 90% of momma's honey do list, so time to clear the bench!

My previous build ended up being an SB2C-4E.  This one will either be an SB2C-1 or SB2C-3. Not gonna do the dive brakes or the bomb bay.  Right now, I'm leaning towards a Dash 3 from the Hancock with the Omega/horseshoe insignia. Hancock's 44-45 cruise was pretty epic involving Leyte Gulf, strikes on Hong Kong and Taiwan/Formosa. These pics are from those strikes on Formosa.

Here's a pretty famous pic of "Satan's Angel" (check out the gun pod)

And a whole fleet of Whoop A.. heading into harm's way!

So the first cuts have been made. Just like my previous build, I'll remove the control surfaces. OOB, they're not bad, but the hinge detail is 'soft' to put it mildly  

I also cut the turtleback area off too, as well as the window section behind the pilot's cockpit.

Next post I'll show the mods I've done to the interior, which should get us up to date.  More soon!

-Peter

I have a huge collection of F-16 in the stash in multiple scale, but there is one particular project that I want to do since I saw it flying throughout the airshow season in 2011

The aircraft is FA-87 and I have thought about this project on and off for quite a long time. Luckily I took a lot of pictures back then in that very rich european airshow season

The base aircraft will be the Tamiya F-16, converted to MLU. A while ago I was lucky to get a package from Stokey Pete with a started F-16 meant to be built as an aggressor with the small intake, the lightweight doors and a PW resin engine.
That's halfway there, remains the tail, the carapace system, the bird slicers, the strengthening plates, etc 
Most of those will be designed and printed in 3D

The real challenge will be the painting which will be custom made with masks and my own decals where necessary

That's where I intend to have the most fun with this build.

I also want to have this in-flight. I sourced the Tamiya Thunderbird stand and will make replicates for the parts inside the engine and the intake fans to accomodate the stand that goes through the exhaust.

The painting will be outside my comfort zone, but If I fail, it can easily be converted to a standard Belgian airforce F-16  and pretend it did not happen 

In this day and age, when the accomplishments of black Americans are being hidden and removed, I felt it was fitting choice to model airframe 63-7499, an F-4C Phantom II, as flown by then Colonel James during Operation Bolo.

Link to General James' wikipedia article

Link to the Operation Bolo wikipedia article

I'll be using the Tamiya F-4C/D.

More to come, I actually have been working on this one so give me a few to post the progress.

This is my first topic about a mounting. Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I loved take photos of all steps of my models mounting. But the time passed, the age came, and the lazy came together. Now, I am very, very very lazy to take photos. I continue building my models, no photos (or a little bit photos) - only the finished models. And  apologize for that!

Currently, I'm fascinated with large sacale models. My models always was built in 1/100 scale, but now I'm construct then in 1/32 scale. Of corse only real small planes are possible, due the space and dificult with my thecnique - large pieces warp over time. So the WWI birds are the cartain choice to me!

In this time I build the Nieuport 11 C.1, flow by Jean Navarre, in the Escadrille N67, during the Battle of the Somme, in 1916. IN this battle, Jean Navarre help the Allies finish the Fokker Scourge, or Fokker Scare, when the german fokker aircrafts rules the air. The entry of the news allies aircrafts, like the Niueport 11, allow the Frenchs and English finish the german aerial supremacy. This plane is the famous 576, with the French colors in the fuselage, that painted to provide moral support for troops in the trenches. And to provoque the German pilots, like a challenge.

Well, like my others scratchbuild models I was made and mounting the pieces, using manly cardboard, white glue, superglue, balsa, foam, and other things, almost all find in our homes! I will explaing some steps in the mountig, but if you have a doubt, i try answer.
The mounting already started, but is possible to follow the process.

In the below images, are the fairing engine, the engine, the tailplane and the fuselage.

The engine cylinders are made with a barbecue stick piece with sewing thread rolled aorund it; after I fixed the thread tith superglue and white glue; in sequence I mounted the cylinders in the cental piece of the engine; the brass tubes are a simple paper tube (A4 paper); after all mounted, I painted witn acrylic paint. The tail plane is some layers of carboard (5 or 6) until I obtain the desired thickness. I made the elevators down, to get a better effect.

Cockpit details. The cockpit gauges are lollipop plastic stick. The pilot seat are cardboard, and the cushion are foam; the internal struts of the fuselage are balsa and cardboard. The leather protection in the front of the cockpit opening are the coating of a electric wire. The exhaust pipes are the plastic of cotton swabs. In the front are the oil tank, made with thick cardboard, painted in brass. And a simple lollipop stick in the nose.

First off, here's what I'm aiming to replicate. Note the insane amount of corrosion control and more bluish nose. 

Here are some pics of the cockpit, from some months ago. I started with the Aires tub. Used the Eduard photo etch set for the side consoles, which I drilled to sink in ANYZ switches. The front instruments are from Red Fox. Some of the screens are augmented with some photo film I still have from about 25 years ago. The circuit breaker labels are also from ANYZ.

Oops, sanded the floor all the way through but that will be covered by the seat.

I started designing parts in Fusion 360 a few months ago, hard to imagine how I did the hobby without it. Here's the windscreen frame I designed:

Much of the detail is too fine to be visible. However, a friend of mine has enlarged this for his 1/18 F-14 project, I'm glad the detail isn't going to waste.

Printed with a Mars 5 Ultra:

Fit is pretty perfect. Incredible how even the 0.2mm wires were printed.

That's all for now folks, more to follow.

Cheers,

Marcel