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Hello! This is my recently completed build of the Hasegawa 1/32 Bf109K-4 kit. I've had this kit + a bunch of aftermarket goodies on the shelf for a while and thought that I should crank it out before the new Kotare K-4 kit hits the market. Some of the add-ons I used on this build are: Eagle Editions Bf109K-4 Cockpit Set RB Productions Bf109K-4 Wheel Wells AMUR Reaver Bf109K Airscrew Barracuda Bf109G/K Main Wheels Quickboost Bf109G/K Exhausts Eagle Cal Bf109K Decal Sheet #32074 1ManArmy Bf109G-6 Stencil Masks The aircraft I tried to depict is this K-4 flown by Uffz. Martin Deskau, III./JG3. Most of the markings are painted, either with custom cut masks produced at home using the Silhouette Portrait 2 craft cutter and few of the 1ManArmy maintenance stencils. AK Real Colors (first generation)paints were used for the main camo scheme. The full build can be found at... Finished Photos taken with Canon 5D Mark IV with EF 24-105 F/4L IS

Today's update

I can't tell you how happy this makes me Tolga - I love your build and paint style and I really think it is bringing out the best in the kit ...speaking of which, it is happening... 100 tail sections which are the longest to print at 17 hours, nearly 100 noses, 30 mid-sections and 3 printers running 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. The first run will be 100 kits with more to follow if needed TTFN Peter

Hi All, Thanks to everyone about their comments on our upcoming Hurricane but this is an update on the 109 K-4. The second test shots arrived from China on Monday. Darren and Richard in Wellington have already been through them and are very impressed. I received mine yesterday and started building it last night and I’m also very pleased with the refinements and changes made, none of which were major but all of which have been achieved in quick time by our Chinese moulding partner. We could certainly release these parts now as a kit and I think they would get a good reception but we’re going to go all out for the ever elusive "perfect" model and do one more round of very minor changes which won’t take long. The decals are almost complete after much debate, the box art is almost done and the profiles are largely done. The instructions are in my hands. This is the first one I’ve coordinated myself and I admit that my full-time vet job has made this a bit of a slow process but I’ll call for help from Darren and Richard if the instructions are going to delay the project down. I’m an eternal optimist and I think we’ll be shipping pre-sales by the end of April with distributor shipments following thereafter. Richard would probably say May On the subject of pre-orders I do apologise for the trouble that people have had with the New Zealand Post website. Like a lot of big organisations their IT people insist they are right no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary. They think their software knows every single address in the world and just because you’ve lived in your house for 30 years doesn’t mean you know its correct address if New Zealand Post's E-Ship software thinks differently! Richard has helped many modellers work their way through this issue and usually what happens is that once you’ve learned the trick, you won’t have any issues in the future. We are grateful to all of those who pre-order, obviously that helps the balance sheet of the company and will help us to hire new designers to make more models. Would also like to point out that the free box art print that goes to every pre-order customer is never going to be available for sale. It is solely used as a way of saying thank you to those who trust us with their money before the kitset is released. I am getting really excited about the buzz you are all contributing to around this model, so thank you! Of course it WON'T be perfect and many of you will disagree with our colour and marking choices but that’s all part of the fun. Cheers Mark Robson Owner Kotare Models

big, big day for me and this kit... check this out... # the single thing stopping me doing anything are transparencies - now that problem is undeniably solved so thrilled Peter

This is my recently completed Spitfire XIVe using the Laminar Flow Design conversion set and the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire XVIe kit. I also threw in LFD's cockpit details, a raft of Barracuda Studios Spitfire upgrades, Master brass gun barrels and a HGW fabric seatbelt harness. Major markings were painted using custom cut masks from the Portrait craft cutter. Maintenance stencils were from Aviaeology. The complete build log can be found at: Final model photography using Canon 5D Mk IV with EF 24-105 f/4L IS processed in Adobe Lightroom.

I thought it was about time I dragged this out of storage and did a bit... I spent an evening over the weekend installing the gear and flaps for good - first I had to cobble together the oil tanks in the forward pat of the gear bays. I raided the spares box and found something suitable, before tarting them up a little with some extra details and installing them just behind the firewalls: The gear then slotted over some pre-made and installed metal pins in the spars, using Araldite Epoxy glue for a very strong join. The model isn't particularly heavy, but the gear being so gangly meant a strong union between airframe and gear is essential! The flaps were then added to their runners, again using Epoxy, and set in a jig to harden off and voila, everything is now rock solid and nicely in situ: I've been procrastinating with this project because the only major construction work left is the cockpit interior, which I absolute hate making. It seems I'm going to have to make a start and get on with it, especially as my aim is to get this finished in time for this year's Telford show, so I think I'm just going to have to dive on in there... Until next time, Tom

I'm still waiting for the decals. I decided to mess around with transparent pieces and frames. Peter sent some excellent clear parts. Transparent vacuformed parts mounted on thin frames, they look perfect. I painted the canopy and windscreen.

I started applying the decals; First stage are the roundels. upper wing roundels are from the Xtradecal set The fuselage and Lower wing roundels are from the Fündekals spitfire set "A1 roundel" on the fuselage is not exactly what it should be. I realize the outer yellow circle should be a bit narrower, but I couldn't find a more suitable size Code letters etc are still on the way

This was one of the most involved conversions I've done: taking the Laminar Flow Design Vc conversion, adding it to the Kotare Models Va fuselage, blending that with the Tamiya IXc wings and landing gear. You might be asking why: the Kotare fuselage has the raised rivets already, and the fit to both the conversion and the Tamiya kit is almost flawless. I just needed to sand the floor of the Kotare cockpit so the wing would fit. Otherwise I painted all markings and scratchbuilt the crowbar for the pilot's door. For more see my Work In Progress here: Cheers, Tom

..anyone fancy a 1/32 Defiant kit? ...can't really believe this is actually happening not out yet, but coming soonish Peter

woohoo - final box art in production .. So masks will either be available separately for a small fee on the website, or the decals will have a QR code where you can get the file if you can print your own I have spoken to Dimitry at Uprise about a few projects as Ray at Fantasy Printshop is retiring so I am getting a boatload of airscale stock before he does and then they will likely become my supplier Hi Jay - yes, I am having 500 made as it's not much more and who knows if the kit sells over time I may need that many TTFN Peter

If you want hundreds of period images that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, then check this out..

Today's update

Thank you very much Mal! I try not to over-burden any individual effect but hope the sum of the layers creates the overall appearance I am trying to achieve. I never quite reach the imaginary goal but the pursuit is what makes this such a fun hobby. One more round of salt weathering was performed on the upper wings. Again, the effect was less than ideal but I'm not going any further with it. The cowling gun barrels have been masked off and painted using Mr Metal Iron, which you can burnish after application. Now its time to glue all of the final parts onto the model. First the tail wheel... The main landing gear legs... The control surfaces were marred with an excess of Tamiya Extra Thin, which required a minor paint repair. The horizontal stabilizers... The prop doesn't need any glue since I used magnets for attachment. The exhausts... The wing tip lights... The last thing to add will be aerial, which is attached to the little piece I fabricated earlier. I'm going to call this one a wrap. Canopy masks have been left on until she goes before the big camera.

Here is my last build that won't take a lot os space on the shelves.

Some progress before I take a short break. I will be taking a week off from updates due to a short trip abroad.

Bonjour à tous, je vous présente mon dernier projet, un Devastator. Le kit Trumpeter est très bien réalisé, mais il faut avouer qu'il manque de détails, notamment dans le cockpit ! C'est pourquoi j'ai ajouté un kit Airscale Pro avec cockpit, hélice et mitrailleuse. Et des pièces d'Anyz. Demandez des pochoirs. Et un peu de grattage aussi. Dévastateur n° 1505 VT-6 L'équipage participe à une attaque à la torpille sur l'île de Kwajalein. USS Enterprise . Merci d'avoir regardé

Lower surfaces were painted

Yes, assembling the engine cowlings was very similar to building a house of cards. I find it easier to attack it one glue joint at a time. Thank you Iain! The build is progressing quite smoothly. While I question many of Italeri's design decisions with this kit, one thing I cannot fault them for is fit, which has been very very good. I've separated the exhaust shroud from the PE fret and folded them. I can't get the warped ends straight but that can be taken care of during the gluing stage. First checking to see if they sit flush WITHOUT the AiP exhausts in place. Sure enough, the AiP exhausts stick out far enough to interfere with the fit of the shrouds so adjustments will need to be made if I'm going to use these together. It's the front exhaust piece that is causing the problems. Removing it removes the problem... a possible key to a solution? Verifying that I have the same thing happening on the other side. More to come on that issue but for now a review of the cowling parts and air filter components that are now removable. There are some engine parts that became dislodged during all of this fitting so I'll have to re-attach those bits eventually. Time to check the fit of the Quickboost spinner. I drilled a hole using my new mini-drill press but I made the mistake of not drilling the hole deep enough and sure enough, the second attempt wasn't quite perfect, resulting in a slightly oblong hole. Not to worry... a better option was to use magnets anyway so I just shifted gears. And here is the Quickboost resin spinner on the fuselage. My research tells me that this is the most accurate of the options I have and I think it looks good too. The Quickboost spinner comes with its own prop blades which have been temporarily fitted.

Hi friends this is next finished project - trumpeter's, 1:32'nd scale Mig-23 BN. There is a lot of re-work and scratch to achieve similar look with the real thing. Of course i used HpH BN conversion, and all AM that can be found It is also necessary to make a completely new front landing gear, its covers, the two front wheels with rims, the nozzle, bomb pylons, as well as other small details - characteristic of BN. I've been painting with tamyia, as always, nothing new about weathering - oil paints, filters, washes, acrylic paints and pencils. So here it is: Hope you will like it! Thanks as always for stopping by. Cheers friends and have a nice day

Hi everyone. Here is my WnW Sopwith F.1 Camel in USAS service. I decided to build #18 option, because it had a Camel in V letter, so it's like to have camel on Camel. The build is mostly OOB, I added some wires in the cockpit and engine, as well as rigging. Wood was painted with oil paints. Hope you will like it

Yup 19 months. Got a few months to go methinks, but I am not very good at estimating the time required. This one will be shorter than my past efforts at this scale, as 3D printing is not as laborious as scratch building. The Corsair took nearly 5 years!! But it had a complete engine and engine compartment.... So back to the landing gear bays again, for the final push to complete them. It was great that the firewall didn't have to be installed until late; that provided me much needed access to get at many of those last delicate tasks. Here is a list of things done to complete the gear bays: Install bomb control bracket and cables Terminate major wire bundles on bottom of cockpit floor LH and RH side (good god that was hard) Add uplock hooks and their pushrods Terminate various existing hydraulic lines on bottom of cockpit floor Install firewall Install oil and engine coolant line seals (rubber in real life) to firewall Terminate drop tank pressurization lines on firewall Terminate engine fuel supply hose on firewall Add engine compartment drain line to bottom of centerline rib, terminate on firewall Add various new hydraulic lines (the ones I couldn't do earlier for whatever reason) Add inboard gear door actuators And it is my pleasure to show you pictures of yet another milestone - the finished gear bays. First the work prior to firewall installation: Lotsa un-terminated lines flying about! And after firewall installation: Man what a busy place. And what a multi-step process. I hope I got it all, but it is so busy I doubt anyone would notice if something were missing. I did not put a few small springs in there - my skill level is not up to it. It isn't that obvious what to do next. The aft fuselage and tail section is now on the radar, that's for sure. That all is like a mini-airplane project all by itself, and I have done nearly nothing on it so far. But before that, I guess the radiator intake ought to get skinned: Yikes! Another big challenge. And I should do the remaining wing-to-fuselage fillet fairings as well. The gear doors and lower struts and wheels/tires are waiting in the wings too, but they may have to wait longer. I guess we will all see next post. Thank again for looking in!

Hello Friends, To begin this thread I want to introduce who I am, as this is my first post on the Large Scale Planes Forums. I am a 16 year old modeler from Minnesota. Around 5 years ago I had became very interested in anything aviation. This would eventually lead to me building model aircraft about 3 years ago. I had began this giant project at the end of February and have gotten much work done on it so far. My first set of photographs depict the pilots seat and the pilots quarters. This section of the build was quickly built up, only taking around 3-4 hours to put together, paint, and weather. I had primed with Alclad II gloss black lacquer primer and had done black basing with Tamiya white. The RAF interior green was done using MRP RAF interior lacquer paint. The various detail painting was done with Vallejo, Tamiya, and Mission Models acrylics. I had used brown Tamiya panel line washes.

The canopy masks are off and this will push another build across the finish line. I've popped off the Tamiya pilot door and posed the Laminar Flow Design door in the open position using Blue Tack. It doesn't fit the open as well as the kit part so I have two versions: open and closed. The various final bits have been added including the light cans and antennas on the bottom. Almost time for final photos.

Since my last post, I have been putting the finishing touches on the radiator air scoop, which was printed up quite a while ago and just sitting around. Unskinned: Skinned: I was very apprehensive WRT skinning this highly contoured piece. But the skinning went forth fairly straight forwardly. I never intended to skin the leading edge piece (like Peter Castle did with his Lope's Hope). Instead I designed it to be right on external contour, whereas the rest of the fairing is .005 inch under contour to account for the aluminum skins. The unskinned leading edge piece was painted with alclad "polished aluminum ALC 105". The hope was for the hue to match up well with the skinned and unpainted fairing after weathering and dull coat. And I think it worked fine. On the airframe: And that I regard as a milestone too, the underwing air scoop being such a recognizable feature of the Merlin engined P-51's. I think next is going to be the remaining wing-to-fuselage fillet fairings. Will report out soon.

Well finally! The ailerons are complete, and the wing tips are fully repaired. Just a shot to prove it: And a repaired wing tip: How tedious. Now the big challenge is to protect the wing tips from breaking again. The ailerons themselves provide a bit of shelter from bumps. The tape too. But I will need to do better. They are so very fragile. Not long after I got my new US insignias from John, I set to work re-doing the fuselage paint after the Model-Master meltdown from a few weeks ago. Remember? Here are a couple shots of the new paint job: Much better. I had two choices for the dark blue - slightly darkened Tamiya AS-86 Navy Blue, decanted from the can. Or MRP 300 insignia blue. I opted for the Tamiya, because it better matched the Model Master blue color I already have on the wings. Every color was airbrushed as well as the flat clear top coat. So Jay, you might ask - just when are you going to join the wings to the fuselage? Close, but not quite yet. I am going to do everything I can with wings and fuselage separate first, since the combined parts will be so large and unwieldy. My list of remaining pre-join tasks: Paint flaps Repair landing gear upper strut lugs Create, install flap drive push rods Skin aft most wing/fuselage fillet fairing That last one (the fillet fairing) is a big one. This beast: Man if I can get mine to look like that! I really really want to create (actually skin) that fairing and install it and paint it on the fuselage without the wings getting in the way. The other fairings further forward will be easier and can be done later after wing/fuselage join. Plus they are not painted. To do that, I 3D printed some bucks in which to wrestle with the aluminum skins on compound contours: You will see that effort next post, pretty sure. Take care and don't leave me! Not now!

It's been a busy time for "Cripes A Mighty". Especially today. First, let me show you progress on the middle wing/fuselage fairing. It's pretty cool. The wing/fuselage fairings need some back-up surface, so I designed and printed off exactly that, the two RH side parts shown already bonded to the fuselage and wing: Like nearly all of my aluminum skins, I first trace the outline of the part onto tape, then apply that tape to the aluminum. Here is the aluminum sheet trimmed up and ready for forming on the form block: Shown with the cool engineering drawing defining that fairing. Formed on the form block: And from there, bonded to the fuselage: Note that it joggles over the aft fairing already installed. The mid fairing was infinitely easier to do than the aft fairing. Before I could do the forward fairings, the engine cowl would have to be installed. But first a couple of other items: It was time to get with the flaps. First, painting of the invasion stripes, some weathering, and dull coat: Plus the fancy little drive links: I should remind everyone that the somewhat inadequate coverage of the white stripes (underlying color shows through) is intentional. The actual aircraft was that way. And bond onto the wings: I had originally intended the flaps to be movable, as you may recall. But it was just too much to ask. Positioned permanently at flaps 50 deg. And you know what? It was also time to get the radiator outlet door installed: No problem. That door had been sitting around for many months - I am glad it is now part of "Cripes". BTW - the actuating rod is a piece of .015 x .04 inch Evergreen plastic. Finally something easy. All this progress paved the way for another big milestone - engine cowl install: Yes - believe it! You all know how long that engine cowl has been sitting around. It was one of the first components I made. And finally, with the engine cowl installed, I could finish that forward wing/fuselage fairing. Form it first on the form block: Trim it umpteen times until it fits, and bond to the airplane: I have to tell you, getting a good match of contour and trim where the wing leading edge, the forward fairing, and the engine cowl meet is one of the biggest victories I have to show for this build. Huge sigh of relief. A bit of a whirlwind I know, compared to the snail's pace we are more accustomed to with this build. I still have to do the RH side forward fairing. That's next. And then I do believe that it will be time to finish off the landing gear, and adding the gear doors. And then it is going to be the aft fuselage and tail. Wow - is the finish line coming into view? Really no. The tail, tail gear, and aft fuselage are going to be pretty involved. Thanks for looking in; til next time.

Thanks Matt and Rampenfest for your messages. Well, I bought some RC markers from AK and I must say it was a great surprise: they're very easy to use, the tips are very fine, the colors are very covering with a special mention for the yellow color which covers the black color very well, without having to use a white undercoat! So I painted all the little touch-ups on the black and yellow checkerboards very easily, directly with these markers. A great discovery and I must applaud AK for the quality of these products, which are really practical. I've just about finished painting the OD anti-reflective panel in front of the windscreen with BB'ing.

The angle/splay of the landing gear and wheels was pointed out in the RFI by a couple of people. I acknowledged the mistake but thought it was too late to correct. But the more I looked at it, the more it bugged me. It finally pushed me to the point of prying off the legs from their mounting sockets and separating the wheels from the legs. Luckily, the only breakage was one of the landing gear mounting pegs breaking off at the based, which required a pin/drilled hole fix to maintain stability. During the repair process, I also knocked off the majority of the small add-ons like the underwing whip antenna, the DF loop antenna, the outer landing gear doors, one of the control surfaces and the aerial. The landing gear was splayed out a bit too much so I corrected that. I also made the angle of the wheels to the ground a little bit steeper. Both of these changes makes a significant visual impact and I'm much happer with the situation and that small voice in my head has finally quieted. Here's where we were: Here's where we are at: I'll post some more updated photos in the Completed Thread.

Thanks guys! The salt weathering technique often gives me pause too. It's just so time consuming... a lot of my builds will stall at that point BEFORE the salt weathering stage. Since I've passed that milestone, I don't think we'll have a problem putting the finishing touches on the Griffon-powered Spit. Kreeping forward towards the finish line... The fishtail exhaust pipes have been glued into place. The landing gear has been installed. The main gear is technically attached using screws not glues but they are on and the XIVe is finally on her own legs. The salt weathering process erased a lot of the paint chipping so I've redone it using dry-brushing and a silver pencil.

some more photos and video about the build

I'm jumping back to the XIVe conversion to hopefully try and push her over the finish line since she's so close to it. Painting is done and I've been stuck on the weathering phase. Using dry-brushing and a silver pencil, I've started the paint chipping, mostly along the wing roots. I've also been adding to the post-shading and staining on the bottom. But the next big step is salt weathering. I really wanted to perform this step as the two darker camo colors are very receptive to this technique. A layer of water is brushed over the model and salt is sprinkled on. It is not completely random as I try to follow panel lines to give some structure to the staining. This is done sections at a time. Once that is done, the model is set aside for the water to completely evaporate, leaving just the dried salt crystals. A highly diluted lighter color (in this case, Tamiya Deck Tan XF-55) is randomly sprayed over the salt crystals. This is the tricky part. Since the paint is so highly diluted, it is really difficult to gauge the effect as your spraying. You just have to hope and pray. The majority of the salt is then rubbed off by hand or stiff paint brush. I then do a more thorough cleaning by spraying water on the surfaces and wiping it off with a soft cloth. Afterwards you'll hopefully see the desired random staining effects. The effect can be dialed back by lightly micromeshing. I will also go back with the original camo colors and do touch up if necessary. All in all, I find this to be a usable result and I'll spend the next few days touching this effect up. So here's what the top of the XIVe looks like at this stage. As I said, I'll be fine tuning the salt weathering areas and adding more chipping.

Thanks Matt! It helps to take things slow and catch things before the glue stage. Easy to say but difficult to put into practice. Having previous builds to reference like Michael's helps tremendously. Thanks Kevin! Thank you Iain! I could tell that the adjustment would be minor based on how the original shrouds fit. Thanks Michael! Like I said, it really helps to have a reference build to follow so thank you for pioneering that trail for us. Thank you! Get back to it then! I re-started model building about 10 years ago after spending decades and decades away from it. Thank you! I try to operate under the principle of "if it looks good magnified, it will look good to the naked eye". As I prepare to join the wings to the fuselage, I'm taking care of small bits first. The aerial attachment points have been sorted out with some minor modifications/replacements to the kit-supplied parts. The wing-mounted pitot tube was similarly upgraded. The painting of the landing gear components has started. The last two 3D-printed part frets from Aircraft-in-Pixels are some external details and the incredibly fine brake lines for the main landing gear. The smallest parts on the external details collection, which are the ring and bead gun sights will be kept on the sprue until they are ready to use. The rest of the parts have been cut off and cleaned up. The brake lines... I've been afraid to try to separate them due to their extreme fine-ness. If I were a betting man, I would lay money down on at least one breakage. But whaddaya know... got lucky and managed to free all four gossamer pieces without a break. The flexibility of the resin used helps alot. While still separated, the landing gear components have been painted. After painting, I can start to assemble the landing gear components. The trickiest is the attachment of the brake lines. At this point, I can temporarily mount the landing gear legs onto the fuselage for this unique look. It's a bit shaky since the wing spars which house the landing gear mounts are not yet sandwiched into place by the wing tops and bottoms. The collection of painted landing gear components.

I am still waiting for the decals. Turkish Customs tripped me . Customs confiscated the customized code letter decals So, a small upate for today

+ some pictures without the base

Managed to get in a bit of time on the Stuka. I've blocked off the overall layout of the paint job with a bit of colors laid down just to provide a bit of tonal variance when I paint the RLM65/70/71. I haven't been too neat about it as once the paint scheme is painted and the markings are on, it gets a squiggle of RLM79 and 71 all over the upper surfaces and sides, so a lot of the major scheme won't be readily visible anymore, I also sat this morning and transferred dimensions for the major markings into Silhouette, and I'll most likely cut them out using Oramask 810 tomorrow on my Cameo. Interestingly enough, although the undersides are called out in RLM65 blue, the wheel spats are painted in RLM76 - with RLM70 splotches. This is going to be an interesting scheme to say the least!

Peter has asked me to lock this thread, with the following message: "Thank you everyone for participating - nearly 100 voters took part In some ways my question has been answered so I have asked the admins to lock this thread for now. I can see, and you can too that choosing a kit subject is not as straightforward as one might think. Typhoon - commercial risk as likely an IM one coming soon as has been thoughtfully proposed in this thread HS126 - valid choice, convenient for me as I have CAD, but a commercial risk as is it a 'must have' at the relatively high price point - maybe not best second release but will at some point Firefly - longish term project with another AM friend and I cannot and will not undo all that hard work Jets - who says you can't do jets... Twins - who says you can't do twins.. I quite like the British theme...so back to my well used drawing board for now, but rest assured, if you don't mind taking part, I will be back for more opinions soon Thanks again Peter"

Looks fabulous, it is so special to me to see this endeavour come to life in such masterful hands so a few notes about this particular kit - Tolga's is printed at 0.060 microns so has some visible layer lines, the kit itself is being printed at 0.030 microns so twice the resolution and will have virtually no layer lines. This is the big decision in 3D retail as the prints take twice as long - for example the mid-section fuselage is doing it's last run and I started printing that a week ago. I could turn out twice as many in the same time but I want the best quality and that takes time The transparencies are also unique to Tolga's build. In this case, I vacformed a set and fixed them to 3D printed frames - a tricky task and why people don't like vacforms in their kits... they look great actually, but the production kit will have injection moulded transparencies which are being tooled now by the folks that do Dorawings & Reskit (& their stuff looks outstanding so I have high hopes..) There seems to be quite a bit of interest, and even some folks asking for 2 kits when it comes out, but the first run will be 100 and will be released on a date and time I will announce when I have received the transparent parts - expected in 6-8 weeks. The design is complete, the instructions complete, the decal design is complete and I am about a third the way through part production The prototype is on my website as a placeholder advertised at £250+ and that's where it will be for sale when released, though may be nearer £300. That's a lot of money, but I can assure you not only is it expensive to produce in volume, but each part, let alone kit is personally curated to be the best I can do and that takes a lot of time. I don't have designers, production staff, logistics, packers, printers, I just have me, so if you want a 1/32 Defiant and you can afford one, buy one, if you can't, I can do no more than apologise for teasing you TTFN Peter

A few progress

Model: F-14B Tomcat, Jolly Rogers Scale: 1/32 Manufacturer: Tamiya Paints: Mission Models, AMMO, Vallejo, Tamiya Weathering: AMMO Wash, AK Wash, AMMO Oilbrusher, Flory Models Afermarket: Red Fox Cockpit, Quickboost GRU-7 Seats, F-14B/D Exhaust Nozzles Aires, Eduard Brassin AIM-54C Phoenix, Teknics F-14B/D Conversion Set, RBF Tags Eduard, wheels from Wheeliant. This is a kit I have purchased some 15 years ago as a second hand. When we met with the seller (yes people used to meet face to face back then ) we both talked about how this kit was a dream of ours during our teens as students. I still remember in the early to mid 1990's eyeing the kit at our local hobby store and hoping one day I will own and build one. Well the previous owner changed hobbies (hence the sale to me) and despite me starting pretty much at the same time, the kit took more than a decade to get done with multiple years of inactivity and moving around the shelves and closets of doom. Finally it was time this year to bite the bullet and finish the big cat. The aircraft is a generic F-14B so for those that have the names of the crews and serial numbers memorized I apologize, the crew names are from an A version of the Jolly Rogers and do not correspond to this serial number. Considering the kit is early 1980's with the kit re-released in 1990's (this was the 1994 rebox)Tamiya did the front section with recessed panel lines and the rest of the fuselage with raised so this was re-scribed and rivet/fastener detail added. All in all the fit of the kit is solid to be honest for this old of a kit. All of the markings are painted using masks and stencils (yes the no step signs are painted) with exception of some stencils and the mentioned crew names. It was really a fun build although taking me so long and taking multi-year brakes, the F-14 is one of my favorite aircraft. Now I have some more kits that started nearly a decade back to finish. I tried to replicate the Tomcat weathering as inspired by the various masters here at the forum especially chuck540z3 whose F-14 that was kicked up a notch back in the haydays of Aircraft Resource Center was a stellar example of salt weathering that I never had the guts to try. The weathering on this one is various washes and oils and airbrushed touch ups etc. Apologies for the background clutter in the photos, the finished cat is so big it does not fit my usual photo setup. Wishing everyone wonderful time enjoying our great hobby.

Thank you Matt and Michael! The exhaust shrouds are very delicate and I didn't think I'd have much success trying to modify them so I decided to create new ones. The PE fret was previously scanned for such a possibility and I used the scan to trace a slightly modified set of shrouds in AutoCAD. I essentially made the cut-out for that front exhaust pipe deeper to accommodate that front exhaust pipe. The resultant masks were laid out on a sheet of brass and cut out using a sharp x-acto blade. The exhaust pipes were glued into place using PVA glue using an eraser tip to push them into place without damaging the paint. The new exhaust shrouds were then test-fitted. Once I was comfortable with these new pieces, I painted them to reduce the amount of masking I would have to do later. The painted shrouds were then glued into place using thin CA glue. I think that worked out ok. I'll spend some time cleaning up the joint between the brass shroud and the fairing in front of it but I can essentially move on.

Thanks for the comments guys! I've painted the AiP 3D-printed exhaust tips but there has been some question as to whether or not they are too big. So I glued the nose bottom in place to help center the engine within the fuselage. And I fished out the kit exhausts (which need some putty in the obvious sink marks) for a looksee. And here are the painted AiP exhausts in comparison. The AiP exhaust openings are definitely bigger, with the thinner walls and being cut at a more aggressive angle than the kit pipes. There is one more factor to consider and that is the brass shroud that gets installed after the pipes go in. The delicate ends on my copies got bent out of shape so that'll make dry-fitting a challenge. Let's set that aside for now. As I slowly glue the engine cowling parts into place, I am going to determine if there is an option to keep some of the panels removable. The two-piece rear engine cowling, which was glued together earlier, now fits very well and is a definite candidate for leaving unglued and removable. The gun panel does not fit as well so I've elected to glue that one shut. I've also glued in the circular piece that goes in front. Each piece pulls components closer together and hopefully, everything fits as it is supposed to. Next to be glued into place are the forward engine cowling parts. To better manage the seams, I am going to glue the top to port side panel first and let these two parts fuse together without being attached to anything else. Once that joint is firm, I will glue the starboard panel to the top, again leaving it detached from any other part. This last join revealed a pretty good fit overall but there is one corner that is not behaving. I was very close to applying glue to ALL of the joints to take care of that errant corner but I decided to play with a little more. After a little hot water coercion, the 3-part forward engine cowling panel now fits much better, without glue. I still need to verify how the prop spinner fits but for now, I think the engine cowling panels can be removable. The AiP tropical air filter has been glued together but it will also be detachable, with the help of some small magnets. The rear of the Folgore is also developing, with the tail cone glued into place. I've added a small shim to the front top edge of the AiP rudder to reduce the gap there. And finally a partial peek back into the cockpit to remind us the previous work. The reflector glass for the San Giorgio gun sight has been knocked askew countless times so I've removed it for now. It will be re-attached right before the windscreen gets glued into place.

I haven't glued on any of the engine cowling parts yet. So I thought I should get a handle on the small oil cooler unit under the chin of the Folgore. It comes with PE screens with a nice fine mesh pattern but it will be difficult to see once the cooler unit comes together. The bigger cooling unit under the belly has more finely detail mesh grates, three overlapping faces per side. They are very fine and easy to distort so I thought it'd be safest to paint them while they were still attached to the PE fret. I deviated from the kit's color call-outs to give more contrast but it will be for naught as even these mesh grates will all but disappear. Now you see it... Now you don't! Ahhh... I guess the grate pattern is more visible than I thought. The first engine panels I've decided to assemble were glued to each other but NOT to the fuselage, yet. Once the glue was dry and two parts unified as one, I could address the little airscoop that simply falls through the hole it is meant to occupy. I filled in the bottom of the opening with sheet styrene so I can now glue the scoop into place without losing it into the engine compartment. Imagine the scoop falling through that space after the engine panels have been glued into place!

Printed even more Nortons after a lot of adjustments. The whirlwind is almost ready for paint!

Three and a half months, that was it. From her Maiden flight on 22 August 1931, to the tragic wreckage in a Michigan field on December 5th of the same year - the Gee Bee Z would certainly prove to be no ordinary aircraft! Designed by Bob Hall and built by the Granville Brothers in just five weeks, she went on to win every race they entered her in, including the prestigious Thompson Trophy race - for which she was originally built. The design was based on the engine, a loaned Pratt and Whitney Wasp Jr, that had been tweaked to 535 Hp (compared to the standard 375 Hp). It was essentially the minimum wing, fuselage, tail and fuel that could get the radial into the race and, oh yes, a pilot too... I have owned this kit for a long time. It has moved with me from Air Force base to Air Force base, to Hong Kong and back to South Africa, and that is why the box looks like this: But, surprisingly, the plastic survived intact... I bought the only aftermarket stuff I could find... And I must say, I'm mighty impressed with the 'Armory' engine. It is gem-like in its quality, and does make the old kit engine (which is a hybrid - to replicate two different engines) look rather dowdy in comparison! The nice thing is that, with a minor mod to the front of the fuselage, it fits! Even more astonishing, it also fits perfectly inside the cowling. A testament to the measurements made by both Williams Bros. and Armory. This should be fun! Cheers, Sean

LOL, I ended up selling her. She's up your way now in very good experienced hands. When Cameron got sick it didnt seem important anymore. OK, so I bet none of you all thought you were going to see this thread come up again?? LOL I am waiting on some Spitfire parts to arrive and I have been getting nagged by lots of people! Last week I finally got some progress on the vari ramps. This area had been giving me particular grief as I was working with the original prototype prints and was having issues on all directions. Anyway Kerry kindly reprinted them with fresh resin on his new printer and finally after several weeks I have a result I can show here. A bit of time on the belt sander, files and superglue, I had some perfectly flat ramps Then whilst I work on the other side I have been fine tuning the fit. Primer on Oh you may, or may not notice I have been going over some of my earlier work tidying up and adding a few items Pretty much got this area sorted now Now one thing that will be tricky is that there is no panel line down the inside of the ramps, so I am trying to get the join as perfect as I can so it will be an easy fix and paint after its glued Almost there So, shock horror! I did an update. I am sick of kicking the can on this...it is time to finish! Thanks for your patience and tuning in Cheers Anthony

This is the progress on the lanc from about Feb 24- March 2nd. This section was done in the same way that the pilots area was done as for paint and weathering. The maps aren’t accurate to any regions, as they were stickers from Micheal's The wood table was painted with Tamiya deck tan and had used Abteilung 502 brown oil paints to create the grain on the table. Sadly the kit had came with a few broken pieces, one of which being the very fragile seat in the rear. The part came very warped and deformed which made for the assembly to be quite a pain in the rear end. I wasn’t able to fully fix the legs without damaging the part further so I chose to leave it because it won’t be seen after the interior is sealed up.

Hi friends the model is 1:32 scale resin by TopGun Models. To give it a decent look, it has undergone a lot of modifications - a whole engine, a new interior, additional detailing on the exterior. It is painted with Tamiya, Gumzer and MRP. Oil paints and washes, acrylic paints and pencils were used for weathering. So here it is: Hope you will like it Thank you as always for stopping by, Cheers and have a nice day.

Thanks for the info, Greg! Thanks Denis! I picked up the Super Metallics after seeing you use them and someone said that they withstand masking very well, not needing a clear coat. I've been looking for a strong metal finish so I decided to give them a try. Positive results so far! Thanks Jay! This was a good mojo-builder for me and I'm pleased that I was able to push it over the finish line. Thanks Matt! I've got some unfinished business (Spitfire XIVe, Folgore) as well as some new projects (XF-85 Goblin, Fw 190D-11 Conversion) that I can also jump into. Thanks John! Yes, that was a major goal of this build... get the Hasegawa K-4 off the shelf and built before I buy the new Kotare K-4! Like I said, this one is a wrap! I've added the aerial, removed the canopy masks and also replaced the landing gear indicators (I thought they were a little too beefy). Go check out the finished photos...