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  1. Trumpeter 1/32 model, Kagero decals, Reskin wheels set, Phoenix cockpit, All colors MRP
    44 points
  2. tomprobert

    1/32 Short Stirling

    More transparency work of late, this time huge steps have been taken with the canopy. The kit part was always suspect in my opinion - it just looked too big, windscreen shape was totally off and the sides too vertical: Something like this would really bug me, so I was thinking about making my own by either doing a master and vacforming it or alternatively doing the framing, much like the bomb aimer’s section, and dropping in the clear pieces using acetate. Then I had an idea… why not get in touch with one of the greatest model makers of our time, Peter at Airscale? And low and behold… And a comparison with the kit part: Here we now have a beautifully printed cockpit framing that will sit on top of a new vac canopy. As the pictures show I originally cut the fuselage to fit the kit part so some work is going to be needed here to get the fit right, but I’m delighted with Peter’s handy work! I’m currently working in finishing off the gear bays so the cockpit will have to wait for a while, but for once I can’t wait to get started on the cockpit and it’s interior - which is usually a job I hate! More when there’s more… Tom
    43 points
  3. Here she is, done! Thanks for the research support I've received for the build, especially from Jari. I seem to have lost my photographic skills, most of the pics are overexposed, in some the model appears a lot more patchy than she really is. I am really pleased with the way the hinge mechanism turned out, thanks again Severin. Here and there I used old-school detailing techniques, e.g. the fuel dump was done by squashing some brass tube in a vice to get the oval shape, then sawn off to correct length and worked into the trailing edge. Those Eduard photo-etch stencil masks are gems. Don't pay too much attention to the base, it's somewhat temporary since the end-game is to have this and an A-6B stand on a large Coral Sea base. Cheers, Marcel
    38 points
  4. Plm

    HPH Fw 189 Uhu

    Hello, Here is my last build, a very long one with a lot of sanding, test fitting and sometimes the help of boiling water to straighten parts.
    36 points
  5. Good morning to all I would like to share with you my super detailed cutaway of the old Airfix 1:24 scale Ju87B. I just love this kit and decided that I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to make a cutaway of the Starboard side plus the wing. After searching dear old Google for hours to get some sort of info I started. I built this many years ago and sold it on, so the photos are from way back! ....so apologies for the quality of them! I haven't been active on here for a long time as I have moved back to the UK from Bulgaria.. so I do hope I remember how to load the photos! Cheers...................... Thanks a lot for taking a look! Cheers Fozzy
    34 points
  6. Just a quick post before I visit the land down unda'. I Rhino-designed two important cockpit items over the last few days - the engine quadrant and the oxygen regulator. They occupy similar regions right behind the instrument panel mounted to the upper longerons - the engine quadrant on the LH side; the O2 regulator on the RH side. Pictures: VERY TINY PARTS! 100% 3D printed. It shows what a good modern 3D printer can do. Also, for the umpteenth time, I am so thankful to Peter Castle for the decals. Just amazing. I will bond these components on later, to keep them out of harm's way as I continue to populate the cockpit sidewalls with stuff over the coming weeks (months?). Stick with me.
    34 points
  7. thank you chaps, you are all so very kind Well Jay, having just done the wings I do have pains from RSI - it will pass, but yes sometimes I just have to push through the pain Exactly Chuck, it is an adjustable trimming tab, but only on the ground - suits me, as it makes it easier to build So, lots has gone on the last few weeks... ..the propeller was made as a 3D print which I found very hard to do as it's a complex shape which has oblong roots and quite a twist.. - the spinner cap is machined from solid aluminium so it can be polished like the original.. ..I started the wings by filling the plastic frame with foam & filler - this was then refined many times and note they are complete with the ailerons in place so they can be cut out later... ..after a lot of finishing, the ailerons were removed... ..and so to the skinning... I drew out the plans that copied the layout of all the fastners that cover the entire surface.. by the time I finished I selected all objects in the drawing and for the four wing surfaces there were 8,962 rivets... that is bordering on the ridiculous and likely as many as I have done on entire airframes before.. ,,nothing to do but get started, so here is a typical panel - the small dots are one rivet depression, the big dots two, which was even more demoralising.. ..also seen is a template to score out a hatch with a pin in a pin vise.. ..after 3 days and a very sore set of muscles they were done... ..no time to rest though, and the ailerons were completed.. ..the wings were added using JB weld and given a day to set, then I could start the fillets - I have not done the front ones as they need to also cover the forward strut mount.. ..with the wings on, I could add the belly oil cooler assembly - as with the fuselage sides this was a 3D printed buck over which the metal sheet was fomed.. ..in two parts, it stretches all along the lower fuselage.. ..with so much skinning going on, I fancied a change and so started on the beaching trolley - well at least the wire wheels of the trolley.. I 3D printed a hub, a rim and a jig.. ..and then bent a lot of piano wire spokes and started to populate them ..and the finished wheels, along with some Pratts petrol cans I have seen in pictures with the airframe.. ..and so before the painting starts next week, some final shots in all her nakedness... ..time to start thinking about the finish... until next time TTFN Peter
    33 points
  8. Thanks Guys! March 3/24 Well, I’m back already, mostly because I didn’t really go anywhere. To make a very long and painful story short, I experienced an intestinal blockage almost a month ago and spent 4 days in the hospital. When we left for our big trip I was feeling OK, but on the first leg of our flight all of the symptoms of a blockage came back, so we had to cancel the 16 hour flight to New Zealand and the 6 week cruise we had planned for 2 years to celebrate my new retirement. Huge bummer, but there are much worse things that could have happened I know, so my wife and I have re-booked a similar trip in a year and we soldier on. After a week of feeling sorry for myself and moping around, I finally picked up this model and got after the Aires main landing gear bay. Modeling is great therapy when you want to forget about things and I soon became totally engrossed in painting all the tiny details. This was fairly difficult to do, because I suck at brush painting and with all the tiny details hard to get at, it took a long time with lots of mistakes. After fixing most of them, here is where I am today. With the gear bay already cemented into the lower fuselage, I found it easier to handle than it might be otherwise. I tried to replicate many reference pics I found on the ‘net, and some great detailed pics in Jake’s Modern Viper Guide. The Aires resin is super detailed already, but I did add a few hoses and pipes here and there into holes I had pre-drilled earlier before paint. The 3 holes on either side at the top will be used for the hydraulic lines that will go into the gear doors when they are attached. The battery frame isn’t accurate for modern Vipers, but it looks so nicely detailed I retained it, partly because the kit has the perfect yellow decals that fit perfectly around the frame. I also added some decals to that silver Halon bottle to match a few pics, although the red band should be a bit darker. The central wall looks a bit rough because I had to sand it down, but it will eventually be covered by Part C27. Some of the hoses are only dry fit for now, because they will be in the way when I install the main landing gear. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of some of my plumbing, but I think it looks pretty close and makes the gear bay look a bit more busy. As always with these close-up pics, you can see a lot more mistakes than you can with your bare eyes! With the Aires cockpit and main gear bay now painted and detailed, the most difficult part of this build is now complete. Next steps will be to detail the front gear bay and landing gear. Thanks for looking in. Cheers, Chuck
    32 points
  9. No rest for the wicked they say, so with the paint drying on my S6B it's time for a new project.. I built a Hobbyboss Sea Fury back in the day and added loads to it including a visible engine and I have always wanted to make a large scale one. The problem was (and is) it doesn't fit in my display cabinet. I remeasured it the other day and somehow got my sums wrong and thought it would fit so off I went and started researching.. Turns out I was right the first time, the airfame is a beast and won't fit so will need a home once complete (or I get a bigger cabinet..) My last one was the civil demonstrator G-AKRY, but now I just proved to myself I can paint an aeroplane, this one will be a service machine. Choosing one is harder than I thought - it's got to be RN, but to be honest, they were all painted the same for now I chose this one VX620.. I started with Jumpeii Temma's plans and checked these with Will at DBMK on the one they scanned - they were bang on, so I designed the parts for my cutter.. also made a 3D cowling.. ..the brass bar is to keep the keel rigid.. ..the keel was taped to a flat sheet of acrylic and all the formers added - I also 3D printed a wingroot section to help alignment.. ..I have had problems with plastic card cores flexing during construction so I clamped an ali bar and added the other side, moving the bar as I went.. ..very quickly the fuselage took shape - it is huge.. ..the floor is too high here and had to be chopped out and lowered - this is the problem with not having drawings ..having designed the cowling, I spent some time doing the prop, spinner and a basic engine front.. I think it came out pretty good - it defines the aeroplane so has to be right.. ..starting to look like the brute it is.. ..so thats it - off and running with a new build ..A plea for help - if anyone has any good interior pictures of the cockpit, seat, seat bulkhead, rollover structure, please drop them here or PM me also if there are more unique RN schemes out there I am definately open to a rethink TTFN Peter
    31 points
  10. Hi Everyone! These are the final photos taken of my recent completion from the Aces High group build hosted by LSP. The kit itself was sold to me by a fellow LSP'er and I'm glad to get it done. Yet these aren't the pictures I wanted. These are pictures saved from the recycle bin. I wanted pics with perfect lighting taken perfectly. Alas, the perfect lighting didn't present itself, and the model itself suffered a gravity related catastrophe and awaits repair. There are a lot of pics. I hope you like them. More to come...
    31 points
  11. Hi, everyone. I guess it's time to get my membership card to the Kotare Klub as there seem to be about a million of these in the WIP forum right now. Since finishing my Corsair diorama, which took months, I wanted a quick, straight forward build as something of a palate cleanser. My son said he thought it'd be neat if I did a Spitfire, I had the Kotare Mk Ia (mid) kit in the stash, I've never build a British aircraft before, and so, fate was decided. I departed from my usual MO of recreating an historical photograph and decided to just do a fictional, but feasible scene. I've wanted to depict battle damage on an aircraft since I was kid, but never really had the skills or practice till now. So, being that this kit has a low parts count and went together really nicely, I decided it would be a good platform to try my hand at damage. I thinned the interior plastic walls with a low rpm rotary tool, carefully punched and pried holes in the weakened area, then painted and streaked the area to look the part. Aside from the rigging wire (EZ-line), figures (Black Dog Resin, out of the box), and the base (el cheapo panel board), the kit is presented out of the box. I even used the decals in lieu of my usual gig of cutting masks and painting. This experience reminded me that I'm way out of practice working with large decals, but after a few minor scares, they turned out okay. This is a Spitfire Mk Ia of 610 Squadron sometime in the summer of 1940 before it was damaged beyond repair that August. "Bit of a rough go today, eh, chap?"
    30 points
  12. Here I am showing my Williams Bros Gee Bee R-1 which I have just finished after several years on the shelf of delay. It depicts the 1932 Thompson Trophy winner and was flown by Jimmy Doolittle. It's made OOB except for the propeller hub, which I remade from aluminum. I did not include the thin black pinstripes separating the red and white colors as I could not think of a way to produce them in scale. The pilot figure is from Immense Miniatures.
    29 points
  13. Greetings all, Time for a long over-due update on this build. Various other projects have been getting attention and to be honest, sorting out the nose on this thing was very nearly a complete mojo-killer for the whole project and has taken a lot of time and effort. But, no pain... no gain. ID Models provide some very poorly shaped transparencies for the nose turret (this was more suitable for a MkI Halifax!) and the bomb aimer's windows, which sadly wouldn't be an accurate representation of the real deal. Luckily, when I inherited Cees' stalled project he threw in lots of HK Lancaster parts for the turrets, including all the internals and transparencies. Starting with the nose turret, as this would be the most tricky, I had the problem of the Lancaster turret being a lot wider than the Stirling nose. Whilst the internals are identical, the perspex was a different design but, with some gentle persuasion and some mods to the nose area, I was confident it could be made to fit. Therefore, my first task was to gently sand away all the raised framing seen on the Lancaster turret as the Stirling was devoid of any framework: I then set about polishing this back to clarity, using a nail buffing pad (don't spend a fortune on 'modelling' buffing pads and get the cheap ones from the make up section in a chemist or the like!) as well as some of Microscale's polishing compound: Turret internals are assembled here and checked for clarity: With the glazing good to go it was time to check now the Lancaster part would fit to the Stirling nose. The answer was: not very well.... I had suspected that the shape of the nose was a bit off - the section between the turret and the bomb aimer's panels is too blunt and flat on the kit, when in fact it should be rounded and follow the profile of the lower part of the turret. This was corrected by first making a plastic card shelf and then filling and shaping this area with Milliput: Once the nose was sanded to the correct shape, I began making the upper faring that wraps around the turret. I use card for this to make a template, which is a far cheaper option than wasting plastic card: At the same time, I also made the framing for the bomb aimer's window from Evergreen - the glazing will then be made and added at a later stage, by dropping them onto the frames: With majority of the hard work done, I then gave the nose section a coat of black to ensure none of the white plastic would show through to the turret or nose interior, and added the home-made turret faring - this time from plastic card. This was then filled with more Milliput, and the whole nose area blended to the correct shape with regular checking of photos and plans: To finish off, the lost panel lines were re-scribed and another coat of black was applied: I think I've just about got away with it... Next up will be the rear end... oh er Missus! Tom
    29 points
  14. tomprobert

    1/32 Short Stirling

    I can certainly relate to the storage issues @Out2gtcha!!! I’ve done the rear turret fairing tonight which was a lot more straightforward than the front! I’ve once again utilised the HK Lancaster rear turret which will make things much simpler - all I needed to do was make a simple fairing from plastic card. More when there’s more… Tom
    28 points
  15. It's finished! The build thread is here
    27 points
  16. Hello there, I haven't made a model kitset in ages so dusted off the Kotare Spitfire. Great kit, as has been often said. Seeing as my cat riddled my airbrush hose with toothmarks (furious) I've taken to brush painting. All those lovely little raised rivets on the fuselage cause havoc with my painting technique because I do a lot of sanding to keep the surface smooth. They all had to go. I found a lot of the panel lines quite indistinct and soft so had to re-scribe quite a lot of the fuselage aft of the cockpit. Paint is Atelier Free Flow artists acrylic mixed to approximate WWII colours. I went with close enough is good enough. All the weathering has been done with very watery Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils. Chipping is tiny dots of Vallejo silver paint. Really enjoying modelling again. I've been keenly watching all the fabulous builds on this site. Keep it up everyone! Cheers, Kels.
    26 points
  17. Done after 3 months. While taking photos yesterday, I noticed that the undercarriage extension indicators were missing. My next project will be Curtiss P-40N Milkyway Wagon/Please Daddy.
    26 points
  18. The long slow march towards the front of the jet continues- cheers P
    26 points
  19. chrish

    UAF Mig 29 C Digital

    As always; striving for mediocrity Thanks for looking
    25 points
  20. Tail position light. The master for these was turned on a lathe by Timmy! Years ago. I used the aluminum master to make clear resin copies for the wings and vertical tail.
    25 points
  21. Got the tail antenna up..still needs to be blended in. Also the tail beacons. Continuing to skin the belly-
    25 points
  22. This is my Typhoon F-2000A in AMI (Italian Air Force) 4 Stormo colors, based in Grosseto-Italy. The model is built using the “old” Revell 1/32nd kit: this has details that are a mix between the pre-series Typhoons and the two-seater ones, not the best start to build an up-to-date single-seater Typhoon. Most of the panel lines has been rescribed and details added from scratch and using aftermarket sets too. Here is a list of the set: · Aires resin cockpit set · Aires resin exhaust nozzles · Aires resin wheel bay · Cold War Studios PE splitter plate · Cold War Studios PE canopy details · Two Mikes resin FOD intake covers · Wolf 3D Resin Parts external fuel tanks · Wolf 3D Resin Parts ESM-ECM pods · Wolf 3D Resin Parts antennas and exterior details · Wolf 3D Resin Parts APU & precooler outlet · Wolf 3D Resin Parts gun air vent · Wolf 3D Resin Parts flaperons & rudder · Wolf 3D Resin Parts wheel set · Wolf 3D Resin Parts MEL missile eject launchers It's a lot of resin sets and a bit of money... but they're worth it because they definitely help in quickly modifying the kit. The painting was done using airbrushed acrylics from Gunze and Tamiya. The metallic colors are Vallejo acrylics. For the brush details I used Vallejo colors. The decals are mostly from the Two Bobs sheet for the "Italian Typhoons": however, the Italian roundels and the 4 Stormo badge are incorrect in size and details. In this case I preferred to use the Tauro Models decals. In the end I'm satisfied with this model and I hope you like it! CIAO! Piero
    24 points
  23. March 14/24 This build marches on with quite a few updates. With the main landing gear bay pretty much finished, it was time to finish the front landing gear bay. While a lot smaller with less parts, there are still some important things you need to do in order to get the Aires resin to fit properly. Here’s a few pics of where I was about a year ago. The surface detail on the bottom of the intake needs to be sanded down, but so does the top of the resin part. The Aires resin doesn’t have a notch for the gear leg to fit into, which tilts it slightly forward like the kit parts. The fix is to cut a small notch and glue in a styrene block for the front paddle to slide into. The bottom of the metal leg or the diagonal struts need to be trimmed as well. This provides the correct angle and the ability to remove the gear leg until final assembly, much as I did with the main landing gear. Although the Aires “instructions” don’t mention it (no big surprise there), the actuator and control arms Part F2 and F3 must be trimmed and cut as shown. After painting and assembly with the other intake parts in Step 8, here’s how it looks with a little bit of grime added for contrast. Here’s how F2 and F3 should fit the resin gear bay. Much like the main landing gear, there are a lot of hydraulic and electrical lines that are attached to the front gear leg. I only added the front 2 hydraulic lines, because they are the most visible from the front. Again, I used blue lines like pics I have of the real deal. Before gluing the front intake assembly to the rear intake assembly above the main landing gear bay, I painted and glued the front fan Parts P1 and P24 to the rear of kit part B31, because it doesn’t fit the Aires resin at all. As shown earlier, I had to trim down the Aires resin quite a bit in order for this fan to fit at all. Here is the front intake glued to the rear intake and rear air duct. The big air duct ring Part C34 is not used or needed, but to close up the sides of the rear intake, I used strips of white styrene to close the gap and make it less obvious. You can’t really see this gap from the front unless you use a flashlight and peek inside, so I took the easy route for once and focused on what you can actually see, instead of trying to make this deep assembly seamless. On the bottom, I needed to sand down the central rib of the Aires gear bay a bit more…… …. so that Part C27 is a drop-in fit at the end of the build, after I install the main landing gear and other bits. This part was a bit too short for some reason, so I added a white styrene spacer to make it fit better. Aires supplies a resin replacement, but it's even shorter, so I don't know why they bothered. I finally got the Aires cockpit to fit the upper fuselage pretty good, so a revisit of what is involved is shown again below. The back of the kit cockpit wall needs to be cut out, which was a bit crude on my part, so I filled in my mistakes with CA glue and sanded them smooth. The fit is much better now. The front area around the coaming/glare shield is another matter, because the Aires parts don’t fit the kit parts at all. To be fair, not even the kit parts fit very well, which leave a very noticeable gap at the front that must somehow be filled. This is a shame, because on the F-16, there is no front windshield to hide all these flaws, so many modifications to this area need to be made if you want something that looks close to accurate. I closed the gap at the front with some strip styrene, but the sides are still a bit of a mess. More strip styrene to the rescue, among other tweaks here and there. Here is the end result after painting from a variety of angles. The black areas are not “weathered” yet, because I want to mask all of this off for painting, and weathering agents like pastels will reduce the adhesion of the tape. Even the back area looks pretty good, at least to my eyes. So how did I fill all those gaps without making a big mess with putty and paint? I finally gave a bottle of black CA glue a try, but it was very risky. I thought that if I applied the glue from the back, it would ooze into the gaps to close them and already be “painted” black, while gluing the cockpit into place solidly. What really made this work was the viscosity of the glue I had on hand, pictured below. It was a bit thick, maybe a touch more than medium viscosity, which allowed me to apply it with a micro-brush from below, working it into the gaps one small segment at a time, then flipping the fuselage over so that gravity wouldn’t let the glue move down too far. After it dried a bit and became relatively solid, maybe 3-4 minutes, I flipped it over and applied more glue to the gaps on either side in a sequential fashion, never letting wet glue move to the surface of the cockpit for very long- maybe less than 5 seconds. If this glue was super thin like the CA glues I usually use, it would have made a big mess and ruined everything. If it was too thick, it wouldn’t have filled the gaps very well and would have been lumpy when it dried. For once one of my little experiments worked, and I will always glue resin cockpits this way from now on. Since I’m using the Thunderbirds kit which is primarily a Block 32, it doesn’t come with a gun like the Block 50 kit. It even has a plug, Part Q5, which is supposed to be painted white. Since all Viper Aggressors have a gun and are battle ready, I just painted the inside of the gun area flat black, so that all you can see is something dark and maybe not notice the lack of gun barrels. Gun panels glued into place, since they will never come off. This kit calls for a side vent, Part C4 in Step 19, like this Block 32 Ghost scheme Viper, 86-299. All pics are mine at Nellis AFB. My subject, however, is 84-220, a Block 25 Viper with no vent on this side, amongst other small differences. I’m not really sure, but it looks like the rear window is clear and not tinted? Tinting variability of Viper canopy glass is all over the place and there are few hard and fast rules, which is why the kit comes with both clear and tinted glass parts. Still, I'd rather make my subject as "correct" as possible, so does anybody have a good pic of what this rear glass should look like? The front canopy is tinted for sure. As a result, I’m not drilling a hole or installing the vent as instructed. When I get to the rear vertical stabilizer, I won’t be added any vents either, as Pete Fleischmann so kindly guided me way back in December 2022, a few months after I started this build. 86-299 again (Block 32) 84-220 (Block 25) So that’s about it for now. With all the heavy lifting over, the rest of this build should go fairly smoothly from now on, right? Famous Last Words for sure! Cheers, Chuck
    24 points
  24. March 6/24 A little more progress on the Main Landing Gear (MLG). The last time I played around with fitting the MLG and other aftermarket parts to the kit parts was way back in December/22, so if you want to see how I got to this stage before paint, there’s quite a bit there which is roughly on Page 4. I hate metal landing gear of any kind, because it’s usually rough to begin with, you can’t screw holes into it for wiring and plumbing and paint doesn’t stick to it very well, making masking a risky procedure. On a few of my prior builds I used Mr. Metal Primer-R as a base with mixed results. It was better than no special primer, but not by much. Something that seems to work a bit better for me is to use ordinary Tamiya X-22 instead. It’s not perfect either, but I find it better than the other stuff and it’s a lot cheaper. Here are the results of lots of picky, picky work which is quite frankly on the top end of my abilities. I’m not sure if it’s my declining dexterity and eyesight, or I just don’t give a crap about some details that you’ll rarely see anymore. In any case, despite my struggles, I’m generally happy with the end result. Here’s some pics with labels of the highlights: Wheels are only dry fit and I will likely add a few more lines from the wheel to the leg when they are cemented in. I used ANYZ line connectors (AN016) to hold the wires, which required drilling them out using a #80 drill bit. My success in doing so was only about 1 in 3, so I used a lot of them! For reference pics I used mostly Jake’s Viper Guide and a few pics I’ve taken over the years at Nellis AFB. There are two main white hydraulic lines that go along the top of the main leg and one black electrical one that goes halfway down on the back. For some reason the hydraulic lines cross halfway down the leg. I used a thin wash to dirty up the MLG a bit to make them a bit more realistic and also hide the odd boo-boo. Scuffed paint is usually due to dry fitting in the gear well, which you won't see later. Here’s how everything now looks parked into the very crowded MLG Bay. I’m fairly proud of this assembly I’ve created, because now everything fits fairly well and can easily be cemented in at the very end of the build. As a matter of fact, the MLG just slides into place with a firm click and I won’t need any glue at all. A look from the rear showing that prominent black line. All of the new wires tuck into the middle of the MLG where they belong. Even the landing gear doors are now plug and play and just slide into place. Remember those 3 holes I drilled earlier? They hold 3 hydraulic lines that loop into the top of the main door actuator at the front. Although they don’t connect to the actuator in this exact way, it’s all I could do with such a fine detail at 1/32 scale. BTW, they are usually dark blue, so I used dark blue wire I had on hand. I'm leaving the doors clean for now, because I'll be painting the outside of them blue later, so I don't want masking tape to remove anything. When the gear doors are open, they hang down a bit and are exposed. I also added 2 small wires to the front control arms. I’m calling this MLG Bay Done! On to the front gear bay, which is much simpler, but still has a few things you need to be careful of. Cheers, Chuck
    24 points
  25. Dandiego

    Star Wars Y wing

    Having been a strictly airplane guy for the last 40 years this build is a big step....sideways. I have always liked the Y wing and have always wanted to build one. But a big one. The only IM kit is a Bandai 1:72. Nice but small. So while wandering one of the 3d print sites I saw some Y wing files for sale. $25. What a deal. The transaction was simple and 10 minutes later I had the files. In all of my research I came across a term that I was unfamiliar with, Studio scale. Essentially this is the scale that was used to produce the movie miniatures that were used in the movies. Or 1:24th scale. Cool. Nice and big. The downloaded files were in 1:18th scale. Even I am not this crazy. Well, at least not yet. So after doing some math I determined that if the files were reduced to 75% it would be 1:24th scale. So I reduced the size and began preparing the files in my slicer. However, many of the parts are way too big to fit my smallish resin printer. This necessitated printing the smaller parts on the resin Machine and the main body parts on my filament machine. Anyway here are the first parts. Both printed on my filament machine. Stay tuned. lots o fun ahead. Dan
    23 points
  26. Ermmmmmm... I'l cross that bridge when the time comes! Final parts have been added on the B-52 as I'm hoping to get some paint on her when the Easter Holidays come around. The BUFF is festooned with a vide array of different aerials to these have all be fashioned and attached from plastic card: And some final glamour-shots before she gets some Gunship Grey... I would invite some of you good folks around for a spot of dinner, but as you can see the dining room table is otherwise engaged! I just need to make the small pylon for the targeting pod between the engines on the right wing and do some final scribing around the tail cone, and we're good to go! More when there's more, Tom
    23 points
  27. Bekim

    F-20 Tigershark

    Here a finished in Flight Model , build by a friend of mine Torben Weckeck
    23 points
  28. 23 points
  29. nearly finished - just flying wires to go.. TTFN Peter
    22 points
  30. tomprobert

    1/32 Short Stirling

    Howdy, partners! I’ve put aside other jobs on the Stirling for the time being as I was really keen to get the new canopy to fit. I hate dealing with transparencies and cockpits in general so felt it would be good, psychologically, to get this part done, and then hopefully it’ll just be a drop fit towards the end of the build. As you saw in the previous post, the kit canopy was too big and incorrectly shaped. When I cut the fuselage ages ago, I used the kit transparency as a guide, not realising at the time how ‘out’ it was. As a result, I’ve had to build up the fuselage around the cockpit to match the new canopy - plastic card and Milliput white has done the job without issue, and it now drops in perfectly! A reminder of what I had in the kit: And after a few hours tinkering: That’ll do very nicely… Until next time, Tom
    22 points
  31. ..teaser... ..the primer was fine when applied over clean fine sanded surfaces and this model has had a LOT of masking so it needed to be getting some stainless steel flying wires etched and a mask for the serial - once thats done it's glamour shot time Now where did I put those Sea Fury drawings... Peter
    22 points
  32. drt786

    1/35 Academy OH-58D

    Hi all, first post on these forums. Many thanks for all the tips and insights everyone on here has shared that have gone into my builds!
    22 points
  33. As Promised... Thank you for looking.
    22 points
  34. OK guys, time to right this ship and get it back on topic. We've been aware of Simon's conflict of interest with regard to Kotare and Richard Alexander for some time now, and normally we would treat this as their personal business to sort out between them. But it has spilled over into many threads here in the forums, and caused a certain amount of aggravation. Given that we've recently discovered that Simon had in fact been removed from the forums once before, I've taken the rather drastic decision to ban him. We don't normally discuss these decisions openly in the forums, but I think an additional level of transparency is required in this case. OK, back to Eduard's fantasy 1/32 release schedule! Kev
    22 points
  35. MikeMaben

    Thunderbolt ...

    Got some markings on , feeling better about my progress. Still some markings I'll need to make myself , stencils and/or decals. Thanx for lookin'
    22 points
  36. Not really sure where to put this as I've never reviewed a product before but the new book from Crecy on the Macchi 200, 202 and 205 fighters arrived yesterday and simply blew me out of my socks.I was deeply into building Italian aircraft in 1/72 scale back in the 70's and 80's when I could see that well and lately my interest in trying again in a larger scale has been growing so I went ahead and bought this book. We had nothing even remotely this good to go from and the Italian publications of the day suffered from poor photo reproduction and paper. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of detailed information, drawings and best of all clear period photos that really show the design and construction of these beautiful 'planes .One thing I note in particular is that none of the paint applications are the same from 'plane to 'plane, even in the same scheme the motions of the human arm and hand are visible in the random application of the markings.A feast for the smoke ring aficionado.I am already searching for a better airbrush! Since losing a fifty year accumulation of books a few years ago I have been extremely picky about what I have replaced.This is certainly a book worth the modest price and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about these gorgeous aircraft. Best, Paul
    21 points
  37. Hello all of you shiny, happy people. I hope everyone is well. A little while ago Airfix released a large scale MkIX Spitfire in 1/24th scale. I was lucky enough to be at the launch event and was blown away by the look of the models on display. I resolved there and then to treat myself to one. I got the kit in December 2023 and began it shortly after unwrapping it on Christmas day. The kit is substantial and relatively easy to build although it gets a tad unwieldy due to it's size so care must be taken in the latter stages of the build. For a kit this size the detail is good. However, there are many aftermarket parts available that improve the look still more. I opted to enhance the cockpit by scratch building a few elements and treating myself to the beautiful Airscale cockpit upgrade. To my mind this is a must for this model. It takes patience to assemble but improves the face of the cockpit no end. The other bits of aftermarket that I'd recommend would be a set of wheels, an entry door and exhausts. There are a few wheel sets available. The ones I went for were by Eduard The detail is great and the wheels look the part but for some reason the subtle molded in flat spot doesn't sit flat on the ground when they are fitted so some judicious sanding is required. If you choose to use these be aware of this before glueing them in place. The door is by Buchon models and is a definite improvement over the somewhat chunky kit part. Lastly, one area where Airfix really dropped the ball is the exhaust stubs. What were they thinking? For a start these are molded in two parts but not where a seam line falls. If two parts are necessary why not make the join along an actual seam? Also, there is a huge hole in the underside of each stub that has to be filled. I can't help wondering if the designer was off the day these were created and the janitor had a go..... Fortunately Eduard come to the rescue with a beautiful 3D printed set. Another must for this build in my humble opinion. Airfix include a plethora of markings but for this build I turned to a combination of 1ManArmy masks and some custom masks kindly created for me by Mozart here on LSP. Many thanks Max I was hoping that painting the markings would give better results in this scale. All of the masks worked beautifully and the fidelity of the stencils needs to be seen to be believed. Add one more to the "must have" list for this build. The 1ManArmy set replicates the markings offered in the kit but my aircraft depicts an aircraft of 412 RCAF sqdn. This squadron was formed in 1941 at RAF Digby in Lincolnshire which is only a stone's throw from where I live. Thank you for your patience so far. Now after this pre-amble it's on to the RFI photos. Setting a couple of hiccups aside (I lost one of the Eduard exhaust stubs) I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If I were to build another I'd definitely thin the aft lip of the ailerons. I'd also buy a set of turned brass cannons. Getting the two part plastic components round and filled was too much fuss. For a kit assembler like me this Airfix product is nigh on perfect. Plaudits to them for giving us a very good representation of one of the most popular marques of Spitfire. Thanks for your time. I hope you enjoyed this. If you'd like a more in depth article please have a look here for the WIP thread. Cheers, Guy
    21 points
  38. thank you all, very kind So, the painting stage is looming.... I needed to get some new etch primer as it only has a 12 month shelf life and frustratingly it is still not here yet.. I have worked out the colour (I think) - some of the original paint is still on S1595 in the Science Museum (it was repainted ages ago in the wrong blue, likely roundel blue) so I did some samples and arrived at what i think is a reasonable match given the limitations of eyeballs, digital sampling and light I took all my similar blues and did a tester, photographed in natural and artificial light and ended up mixing a shade from what I had - this is the analysis.. It is what it is, there are no colour pics so sue me if I am wrong... ..while waiting I busied myself and there is absolutely no construction remaining.. Pitot tube done - complex little thing.. ..cockpit canopy done, another complex little thing - i hate doing transparencies as they are just a huuuuuge opportunity to fu#k up.. also all the beaching gear was made of plastic and wood, and the wire wheels finished.. ..again with no colour photos, I painted them what I thought / interpreted - basically battleship grey as it's likely marine paint.. ..added the petrol cans and trolley.. ..and thats it - the next time I post, it will be all painted.. wish me luck ..in other news, I have decided on my next subject - something I have wanted to do for ages but thought it wouldn't fit in my display cabinet - I measured again and I think I can just squeeze it in - any ideas? TTFN Peter
    21 points
  39. Haven't built a 48th bird in about 20 years, just wanted an Expeditor and I know I'll never see one in my scale so took this down from the shelf that had been sitting for the last 3 years and dove in, reworked the whole thing to get it where We are. hope you like it. Bill.
    21 points
  40. Been too long, golf and gardening gets in the way, but: Just the yellow edges to the outer wing areas to do, that will see pretty much all of the painting done, weathering can then start.
    20 points
  41. Thanks Guys! Thanks Mike, it's great to see you follow along again. Sorry to hear about your friend. That's brutal. Thankfully after lots of CT Scans and the like, I don't have anything sinister going on, but without going into too much detail, I do have lots of scar tissue due to multiple stomach surgeries after an ordinary appendix removal 3 years ago. Just bad luck I guess, so we'll see what the future holds for more trips. I liked your "work smarter, not harder" comment, which I used again at the end of this update. March 21/24 First a little housekeeping. I showed above that there are 3 blue hydraulic lines that stick out a bit at the front of the main landing gear, so I tried to create something that was close. It turns out I have a pic of them, so here they are below. Duane (chaos07) pointed out above some slight depressions near the canopy hinge, so here’s a pic of the one on the left. It has since been filled, along with the one on the right. Thanks Duane! The kit parts share many with the Block 50 kit, so some of them need to be modified. Although the blister removal on the wing roots is in the instructions, here they are again, since they are easily missed. Here’s a tip that helped me a lot. The instructions have you join the upper fuselage Part B28 to the rear upper fuselage Part A1 in Step 19 first, then glue the entire upper assembly to the lower fuselage in Step 20. While this kit is generally excellent, gluing such large mating surfaces all at once is asking for trouble in my mind. Instead, I glued the rear Part A1 to the lower fuselage first, got things sorted out, allowing the glue to dry and cleaned up, then glued the front Part B-28 to the rest later. This procedure allowed me to glue all the complicated fitments in a reasonable amount of time without being rushed. Gluing one big upper assembly to the lower assembly as instructed, would have been very hard to do cleanly. I find masking off cockpits and landing gear to be a real PITA, partly because its hard to do cleanly, but also because it must be done right if you want a successful outcome. There are no real shortcuts, but I have developed a procedure that I’m sure a lot of you guys use as well. Note that this model is now sitting on the same cardboard box I’ve used for at least 6 different models, using pipe insulation as a soft platform. The yellow paint is from my Harvard/Texan build 4 years ago, followed by my Special Hobby Tempest Mk V, Italeri CF-104 and my last build of the big 1/24 Airfix F6F-5 Hellcat, which all sat on this same box for much of their assembly and painting. More on that in a bit. I used a small block of foam to fill the cockpit cavity, then ordinary masking tape for the rest, followed by a liberal coat of liquid mask. The mask holds everything together strongly and covers small edges that tape won’t adhere to. When the liquid mask has dried, I apply a few pieces of masking tape, since the liquid mask is tacky and you don’t want it to stick to anything and come off. The landing gear bays were a lot harder to do, but I did have the advantage of having a central beam to attach masking materials to, since Part C27 will not be installed until the end of the build, right after the landing gear is installed. Again, the voids were filled with custom cut little pieces of foam, followed by masking tape. Everything was then toughened up with liquid mask, in this case “Mr Masking Sol neo”, made by Mr. Hobby in Japan. This is the very best liquid mask I have found, because it’s easy to apply but more importantly, easy to remove as well. You can’t say that about Micro Mask, which can be almost impossible to remove from small cavities after it dries. Again, cover tape to keep the gear bays from sticking to stuff, like my fingers, arms and elbows as I handle the model. As much as my cardboard modeling box has served me well for a long time, it was time to “upgrade to a new model”. This was created with a small acrylic storage container that was 6 ½” X 12”, cut down to 2 ½” high, then foam pipe insulation was added to the top, for a total cost of about $3. While I see that many of you use all sorts of contraptions to hold your models, I like this simple box a lot better. There are no pressure points to rub paint, I don’t have to adjust anything and I can carry my model around safely to and from my paint booth without fear of it falling off something. I just cover the box with a microfiber towel and paint away. You can flip the model around from top to bottom with ease, because there’s always a position somewhere that fits. One thing I’ve noticed in my pics above is that the leading edge flaps are usually up a bit when parked. According to Jake’s book, this is normal for parked Vipers, which are up about 2 degrees, so I will be gluing the flaps accordingly. Right now they are just dry fit. The other thing I found in Jake’s book and pointed out by Pete Fleischmann earlier, is that Block 25/30/32 jets have only 2 “fingers” that connect the flaps to the wing at the most inboard position. This kit has 3 fingers, just like the Block 50 kit, so it’s obviously a holdover not easily cut off like the blisters. If I filled the outboard finger it would be more accurate, but I’m not sure if this is “working smarter or harder”, since I kind of like the look of it, even if it’s wrong. I’ll think about it. Any thoughts? One thing that I did add was the so-called “ECS Exhaust”, which was basically missing from this kit. What prompted me to look for it, was because there was a small depression at this location, that I thought might be a flaw of the plastic. Checking my Block 50 kit, it’s much more pronounced, although quite small. There’s a great picture of it on Page 65 of Jake’s book with a half shroud forward from the hole in the fuselage, so I fashioned something similar out of styrene. So that’s about it for now. I still have lots to do and then there’s that super complicated paint job! I sure hope it turns out OK. Cheers, Chuck
    20 points
  42. MikeMaben

    Thunderbolt ...

    Got some more markings on, Serial on tail is a stencil, others are Alps printed. Some ugly silvering , waiting for something in the mail. These pix look more green than IRL.. This one has better color ... Thanks for lookin' . p.s. the squadron badge (rooster) and the numeral 5 are from an Eaglecals decal (excellent decals)
    20 points
  43. Painting stage, all of "decorations" painted using mask or handpainted like bell-emblem on tail (not perfect but had no decals unfortunately). Im not a fan of black-basing rather like to brighten surface using surfacer as a base, then I modulated primary colors making efects of worn metal surface. I will use decal roundels i'm not patient enought to mask them :).
    20 points
  44. Well, a bit of work on the beast, nothing too impressive but necessary to have something well finished before painting. I glued the 2 upper wings to each side of the fuselage, to make the joint as nice as possible, then glued the lower surface to the fuselage and to the 2 upper wings. I also glued to the bottom of the 2 air intakes on the 2 wings, a grid made from a flour sieve (thanks Paolo for the tip). The 2 horizontal tailplanes are also glued on, but I left out the 2 ailerons + vertical fin + 2 movable horizontal tailplanes. Some engraving on the engine cowl and also some rivet lines, but not too much as the plane was quite smooth. Note, but it won't surprise those who know me well, that I forgot to glue the cockpit floor once the wings and fuselage were glued together... Big moment of solitude... *sigh of weariness* I had to unstick the bottom of the pilot seat and patiently managed to get the floor in place and glued... A photo of 2 Border pencils for engraving structural lines, ordered from Ali Express. Micromesh 12000 was applied all over the Yak, followed by a coat of MRP Dark Alu paint only at the panel junctions and on the wing fillet. Next, an even coat of MRP black to start the BB'ing.
    20 points
  45. Thank you Test print of the engine: Initial fitting for the model: I'm making small details, now the control system: This is what it looks like at the moment: To be continued
    20 points
  46. 19 points
  47. The rudder and elevators have a kind of fabric surface texture but there’s no attempt to give any semblance of rib tapes or stitching, in fact the ribs are so subtle as to be almost invisible. So I’m applying my home-made remedy; thin strips of Oramask that have a regular “stitch-like” effect (at least that’s what I tell myself!). The Oramask is of course self-adhesive so it’s a fairly quick job to apply and cut to length: I make sure that it is firmly pressed down, especially at the ends so there’s minimal danger of “lifting”, and under a coat of primer plus paint it looks ok. This from my last Hurricane: All done, plus some work on the exhausts, trying to get the “hot” metal effect!
    19 points
  48. Today's update: This is one of the most problematic parts of Trumpy's kit. As seen in the pictures, the area between the windows behind the cockpit is very wide. It is obvious that this is not the job of Trumpy's A team. Aerocraft released a clear resin kit a few years ago for this problem. It looks like it will work. The necessary parts of the fuselage were cut. Test fitting looks good. I keep moving forward, hoping I don't run into Murphy.
    19 points
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