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The first of 10 Academy Zulus is on the bench. This one will be shipped to the Commanding Officer of HMLA-267 when it's finished. Nothing fancy, just a straight build with a nice clean paint job.

I would like to present you the model that I prepared for the model exhibition. I chose a fairly difficult to build model, Su-25 Frogfoot A Trumpeter 1:32 Model I made straight from the box + Pitot from Master. I decided to make this model very heavily exploited. This plane is a work horse in the Russian Air Force, so this look is the norm. I add a lot of photos on a light and dark background, I hope they will please you.

Hi, i just finished this kit by MRC which i bought 20 years ago. had some major issues, as the decals have deteriorated and somehow the canopy had warped and a slight crack. other than than, it was an interesting learning experience building this kit without a conventional build guide. the mrc kit's instruction were more of an instruction with words rather than the normal pictorial guide. after some reading, there is a black and white photograph of how the part should look like after assembly. sure was interesting to me. I used the 2 bobs decals "whiskey in the mix" and Eduards BIG ED pho

Color study before i decide the final paint job.

hello again folks Hi Craig - I only do this when using annealed litho, or the soft ali I use for compound curves - a good example of this comes in a minute when doing the stabiliser fillets - it's a really good way of getting a virtually invisible seam rather than trying to butt two complex edges together.. So, fillets.... they are all curved as you woulkd expect, some in multiple directions - I was hoping the dorsal fin was the last panel as the very tip of it overlaps the fuselage skin I can't add until the cockpit is in.. but no, it's th

Thanks for asking, Olivier! My little resin printer sadly cannot handle the sponsons properly, the parts are always slightly deformed - probably because they are too big. Tim aka Wunwinglow is so kind to print them for me on his Form 2, so (near) perfect parts will be available soon. In the meantime, I have made a little test with failed parts to see how it looks. Pretty massive, I'd say... The part is very dusty and the defects are obvious, but you get an idea of the surface detail. I am currently printing the engines; these are simple low r

Amusing Hobby's Rheintochter - fun kit and surprisingly good And some figure from a figure painting couse this weekend

Thanks Squizzy!!! A little update for today. I worked on the forward bulkhead of the wing box. I happy with the result obtained in a 0,13 mm steerene sheet even if it is not well centered on the fuselage. Anyway, we will not see the default once the wing in place. Eric

Almost finished

Some more... Finish looks very flat when photographed in the light tent - but does have a sheen - here she is on the kitchen table with ambient light: Need to sort the lights, paint radio aerial, weather the exhaust stubs a little and a few other bits and bobs. And, yes, cowl panels are removable - just a bit of a faff. Will include when I do final RFI shots. A HUGE thank you to everyone that's chipped in along the way and kept the encouragement going. Takin

Thanks guys - wine was good! Not delivering next weekend now - so gives me a little extra time for some details! Here's where we're at - please be gentle! Back with a few more in a mo... Iain

After reading a handful of complaints from a few modelers regarding the decals in the Academy AH-1Z, I decided to do a quick test. First, not only is one of the colors called for incorrect (36320), one of the paints they recommend are Vallejo. I would strongly suggest you DON'T use Vallejo's air colors as they are way off. The correct colors for the AH-1Z are 36375 for the bottom and 35237 for the top. In this test, the paints used are Ammo acrylics 36375 and 36320. This was used to check for color contrast as the decals "should" be printed to match 35237 as that is the

I have had a real mixed bag of luck with transparencies since migrating from 1:48th to larger scale models. This canopy seemed to be cracked on both flat windscreens. Fortunately the rear one was a scratch that I could polish out, but the front one was cracked and I resorted to drilling it out and replacing with a piece of clear PETG. Needless to say I nearly destroyed the now flimsy forward frame and decided to glue the front "hatch" closed to increase the strength of the canopy as a whole unit. Here you can see the added framework inside the opening part, as well as a locking handle and a pi

thank you chaps - I do really appreciate your kind words after a day of looking at the fasteners - I have to accept they are over scale... I could not find a drawing that had the fastener size, just the hole size, but then I saw the hatches below the stabilister have the same size fasteners and I have that drawing, and it has that dimension.. basically they should scale to 0.85mm and the smallest puch I have is 1mm, it doesn't sound much, and maybe it's not the diameter that is troubling me so much as the thickness - they look like big bolts and they should be shallow

"notable changes include the removal of the dorsal speed brake". http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Su-35S-Flanker.html

It’s to bad you can’t use this beautiful Photoetch on the older Revell kits! It sure would dress them up immensely!

I finished setting up the wing to fuselage attachment today. Here you can see how I configured the magnets and the tab that keeps the wing from shifting forward. The magnets are neodyneum with a 0.3lb pull strength. It worked with 2 but I could shake it and get the wing to pop off so to be safe (I don't expect it to get shaken but you know how that goes...) I doubled the magnets up. In the back I've made a tab that slips up inside the fuselage. This holds the left/right alignment and presses the two parts together to minimize the joint. Overall this will allow me to make

Today update!

It seems like the longest time since I've been able to work on a model, and this is my attempt to claw my way back to bench and at least try to get something built. Having lost my mojo due to the extended break, none of my started projects have much appeal to me at the moment, and having promised Espen I'd build this one after reviewing it, I decided it would be a great project to get back in to the swing of things. So, what's the project, then? I'll be using Hasegawa's Bf 109G-6 kit, and combining it with the Attitude Aviation As Hispano HA-1112-M1L (Buchcon) conversion, to build

Coming sometime in the future to a magazine (hence only one photo - sorry, no more or I'll be in trouble with the Editor), here's my rendition of the Italeri two-seat Starfighter. The subject was an aircraft of 31 (Tiger) Sqn, Belgian AF, 1983. The tip tanks were used for the 1983 NATO Tiger meet, just before Belgium finally retired the F-104. Decals by DACO, intake covers & chocks by Video Aviation, pitot by Master, and RBF tags by HGW. Thanks for looking.

Just a few odds and ends to re-orient myself with the build. The access panel on the bottom of the fuselage is molded too softly so I am going to fill it with CA glue and re-scribe it. Added some bits of plastic and brass to make a bracket for the drop tank strap. The horizontal stabilizers have been given a coat of Mr Surfacer 1200 and marked with a pencil for riveting. And I've received the MDC cockpit decals from Vincent K! Thanks so much for your generous contribution to this build! Can you tell me where the blue SAUERSSTOFF decal (7) and

I taped up the stripes for the floor last night (it took me an hour) and when I went to turn on my CO2 tank, it was empty. What a wasted night!!! So I just went to bed! Tim

Hi Chrish, thanks for your support. Speaking of support I put the aircraft on a temporary stand to see what it looks like, what I have in mind. that is what I am looking for! still need to do more work on the nos wheels as they are standing too far apart. Also the main landing wheels are too square in profile. All in all the landing gear is not bad, but a bit too skinny. You wonder if Revell had the nerve to deliver the parts for the gear in plastic, they might want to have made the parts at least as thick as in real life. I am not so worried for this one,

Not really any good at keeping up the updates, am I ? The 190 is pretty far along now, been painting markings on it. Starboard fuselage cross still have the mask on because I need to correct it

Thanks Thomas I am always a little mortified when folks say they are discouraged by what I post - I understand the emotion if you see something you think is better than you could do, but ultimately I think it's like a ladder - i was on a rung somewhere at the bottom when I started, and after lots of trial and error I ascend a step at a time - now maybe somewhere in the upper middle... before you say anything, I too see builds that take my breath away, or make me feel inadequate for a moment, and then I realise that they are actually my inspiration -I wanty to be as good at every d

Hi all, The basic undercarriage assembly is done now. I still have the undercarriage struts to make and attach before I can fit the assembly to the fuselage frames, Mike

I'm going to get a very large box soon with a Lancaster, B-17E/F, Do 335B, and a Ju 87G. Funny thing was that I was going to get the first 2 earlier last week but something told me to wait and see what the weekend deal was going to be. I think it cost me more in the long run but lots more fun I reckon. I hate Paypal credit!!!!

Cheers everybody, it's bee a while since I finished my big Prowler - buying a new background for my photo booth was a good opportunity to finally take some photos of the finished model. For those who haven't followed the build, here's the link to the WIP thread: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/57040-how-to-destroy-an-expensive-kit-with-just-a-few-cuts-or-prowler33/ Photo quality is not ideal, I've been playing around with the photo settings but I am obviously not a good photographer... Anyway, comments, questions and critique are welcome

Today update.

finished:

Hi Craig, Thank you for appreciation. At the moment I used only a light pass with steel wool "00 00" to get the details highlited. For weathering with this technique(MWP) I usually use the procedure that I show you below only for illustrative purposes: B-25 J Kit HK 1/32 scale model "Lady Lil" and weathering + stress effect: Nakajima Ki 44 Type II "Tojo" Hasegawa kit 1/48 scale model George

I promised an update with modelling content within 24 hours, and here I am 22 hours later with exactly that! I have to confess that I haven't really achieve all that much, however, but it is at least something. The major element of this conversion is of course the new nose, which requires removing the corresponding sections from the kit fuselage halves. Below is a photo of the terrific one-piece resin replacement nose, which I borrowed from the review: My first task was to remove the substantial casting block, and happily the cut locations are quite well de

Here you go

Here is one in action giving a look at the inside: Jari

Nobody hurt...

Nice to hear that you are back at the bench Kev, I really must get back at it myself but the modelling mojo is very weak at the moment. Cheers Den

Outstanding. I have that one in the stash to do, hopefully in the near future.

Order placed, Thank You !

Yes you do....build it!!!

Looking mighty fine there Peter - masterful stuff and, as ever, it’s a genuine, inspirational joy to follow this build. Torben

Here is the first of two pilots we are producing for the new 1/24 Hellcat release by Airfix. US Navy/Marine pilot in flying gear. Resin kit Sculpted by Robert Lane Box Art Edward Sage Available from the Elan13 Miniatures website Price: £20.00

I sat in the one at RAF Spadeadam whilst on exercise one. It’s a tank with blades, truly impressive lump. Steve.

I painted the starboard sidewall based on what I thought was accurate, though I question some of my decisions now. Tamiya German gray base coat and model master enamels for colors

Everything going up must eventually come down. Should have stuck to something in 2d, like snow mobiles.

Amazing work, what's done so far is very neat and sharp work, I'm really looking forward to seeing the details added to the bays that you've built!

Cockpit about done... The lower middle wings in place with the brass reinforcements... Cheers: Kent

small update cleand up more body parts dry fit front wing thats it for now Mark

Hi all, Well the fuselage is completed, apart from fitting the engine exhaust and the propeller. The Rudder and Elevator control runs have been connected with the turnbuckles under the pilot's seat. Also the tail plane to fin bracing cable. The entire fuselage has been weathered and sealed. So now it's on to the lower wing, followed by scratch building the skeletal undercarriage assembly, which unfortunately is not available as a 3D printed part. Mike

Ugh, this project has turned my usually fairly neat workbench into a disaster area. Tools of the trade... tape, scribers, saws, glue, cutters, files, scissors, and scotch. The paint side is a mess too... Anyway, here is a quick update. I've opened the holes for the belly gunner's observation windows. This photo illustrates the amount of seam work I'm going to have to do. Nearly every inch of the fuselage seam has that ridge on both halves. There will be much sanding, scraping, scribing, and riveting work in my future. Speaki

Time to finish it off. Here are the remaining canopy bits. Dragon gives you alternative parts for open or closed gunner's canopy so I used the open ones. Likewise there's hinges for the upper pilot's one if you pose it open. One problem I had was that I had to hold the plane upside down while the glue set. With the lower fuselage antenna in place, everything was finished. It'll be a day or two before I can get some proper RFI shots, so here's a couple for now. Carl