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This is the 1/32 Roden O-2 kit with the following modifications and additions. Modified kit to a later version with larger pilots side window Added RB Productions seat belts Scratch built throttle quadrant Opened air vents on side of fuselage Thinned cowl flaps EZ line aerial wire Flattened tyres Strengthened and thinned the main undercarriage legs with brass sheet . Added scratchbuilt hoodlining Scribed many panel lines around main undercarriage legs and also oil filler access panels. Paint and Markings: Painted to represent aircraft flown by David Robson during the Vietnam war. AOA decals with custom masks made for the kangaroo/snoopy logos on the nose and tails.

Your absolutely right, many plans are as unreliable as you and I... If you have more sources available, it's always a good idea to check for consistency. But In this case, with the Air Corps plans, you can check if the measurements fit the drawing. One could argue that if the Air Corps manufacturing plans are off, all B-17's would look a lot more like the HK kit. It's not my intention to turn this thread into a discussion of what or who's right. As Brahman, I'm just trying to get closer to 'the look' of this 'iconic' aircraft. So, knowing this and being the lucky owner of this kit, what can be done? Well, maybe the best approach is to build it straight out of the box, not trying overcome it's flaws. You will have a finished build, looking like the real thing and be happy with it. If you are suffering from AMS, it looks like you are in for an almost impossible task, as almost all the parts of this kit will have been affected by this. In this build, I will however attempt to fix the major issues of the kit and not all of the minor ones. It will become a bumpy ride for sure, but I hope in the end, I will have a result looking a lot closer to the old Monogram B-17G kit. You are of course welcome to 'tackle along'. Cheers: Kent

It's been a while since I've posted an update, pre-painting in fact. So things have progressed but not necessarily smoothly. Having done the masks, applied them on the upper wing as number 99, I found a) the usually faultless MRP+Oramask 810 combination resulted in a less than perfect edge though I'm not sure why, and b) that from close scrutiny of a rather hazy black and white wartime photograph, 99 was a Mk I and not a Mk II. So all that was sanded back and the leader of this balbo was chosen instead: The later Harvards supplied to Rhodesia were all in the EX serial range and left NMF but the earlier ones were those painted yellow and more likely to be in the AJ serial range, so mine is plausibly AJ617!! I'm currently working on fiddly bits like undercarriage (being lowered), prop (spinning) and flaps (down) before adding a multitude of stencils and a bit of weathering. Just the canopy to mask inside and out then!

I will be real interested in seeing the finished product once the WNW kit comes out. I have a feeling under flat camo paint, especially black, the oil-canning will become subdued. BTW, a realistic oil-canning should show some panels as "innies", some as "outies" and some simply dead flat. Also, it isn't really overly 'stressed' as being flown a 100 times. Sheet metal will oil can simply due to temperature change, like being directly in the sun and then a cloud passing by, you can hear metal panels pop if you are near. Over-stressed skin often shows as diagonal ripples from it being over stretched in one direction. WNW has displayed that in their fabric in a couple of kits.

Next up was the lacing.. brown thread from the sewing kit... Looks not bad and MUCH better than just leaving it as per the kit !

He couldn't care less. Wingnut Wings produce basically whatever he fancies building at home one rainy evening. He fancies a Lancaster in 1/32, and he's getting himself a Lancaster in 1/32. I get the feeling that if he wanted to build a 1/4 size scale model of a seagull, he'd just go ahead and get an injected plastic 1/4 scale model of a seagull produced. Then we'd have different breeds of seagulls, different colourings of seagulls, baby seagulls, boxed squabbles of seagulls, etc. They'd be the best 1/4 scale seagulls anywhere, as long as you didn't want an American, Italian, Austro-Hungarian or French seagull, because you can bet your bottom dollar Mr Jackson would like Anglo-German seagulls. But he'd ignore the most famous German seagull, despite consumers queueing around the world for one, because he's funny like that. But he'd produce a few obscure German seagulls, and multiple British seagulls, even though their all the same dull colour.

I have had a thing for this machine for longer than i cam remember! I was planning to upgrade the old Revell kit when along came Dragon & AIMS. The AIMS set is an absolute dream to use. All the parts are designed to be "drop in" with no surgery is required, the parts needed to modify the 110 to a G4 just replace the kit parts. The Master turned brass aerials are included in the set along with a very extensive etched set. I didn't use the etched seat belts, instead I used a set from HGW. Initially the set came with a vac form rear canopy, but AIMS now do a clear resin part which is very nicely cast. I used Xtracolor RLM matched paints for the colour scheme. Thanks for looking, Angelo

A quick thank you to Brian for taking the time to review these. Sorry for my delay, but this last week was hectic. Brian did a much more thorough and in-depth review than I was expecting and I'm pleased that his bottom line was "HIGHLY recommended!". Coming from a modeler with Brians skill and experience this means a lot to me. Thank you Brian... And a big congrats on getting married!!! In the article Brian describes a flaw between the mounting lugs on one of the missiles as a "casting bump". That is actually a seam where the mold is cut that didn’t quite align properly when I casted that copy. That seam runs all the way from the tail end to a point about an inch past the front fin mounts. Aligning the seam when casting is difficult (sometimes seemingly random) and the misalignment visible on the cast parts can vary. I do ship parts with that misalignment if it isn’t “too” bad but reject parts if the seam is unacceptable on an area of the part with detail that would be too difficult for the modeler to fix. For the most part if there is a visible seam it can be easily sanded, as described in the article, but in some cases a little primer/filler may be required. This is the case with all of my missile sets. One seam on the pylon mounting surface. Fortunately the AMRAAM seam is almost completely hidden by the pylon it will be mounted on, so in most cases doesn’t need to be dealt with.

IBG informed on their FB that release of PZL P-24 will be related with PZL P.11 selling numbers, I really encourage you to buy as many as you can guys! Here in Poland we need your help!

The Ammo can, floor and rear panel glued in place.. I think it's looking not bad. That's it for this week ! Tune in next time to see if I've lost it entirely !! Cheers

Guess I will just put this here for a start... First off, I will not in any way be attempting to finish this within the GB time frame - But as it is a 'Multi-Engined' kit, here we go... The subject of this build, will be this very well known 'ship': Boeing B-17G-70-BO 43-37675 (VE-N) / 'Trudie’s Terror' / 'Patches' / 'Flak Magnet'. 532nd Bomb Squadron 381st Bomb Group, based at Ridgewell Airbase UK.

Yesterday and Today I’m working on the markings. I found VF653 in 1/32 scale from Draw Decals. It’s a special restored plane so Cleland's markings were only on 1 side and another ace was on the other. So what I’ve done is scan the decals and then print them out on my Maketar Mask paper. I found a close match to the navy font and added that to Word so I could print out a full set of numbers. Scaled everything to match the decal sheet and printed them out. I only have an inkjet printer so I have to print on the backside of the mask, that’s the dull side and the ink doesn’t rub iff. For lettering that means you have to mirror them because your printing on the back and cutting on the front. If it sounds confusing, it is and i had to do it twice to get the mirror right ;-) going to finish covering everything up after lunch. Hopefully by dinner she’s in her best dress!

Nerd mode: Actually you have your scenes mixed up, you're referring to the swallow scene* at the beginning of the movie. Chrish's quote is from the end of the movie when Arthur was asked five...sorry three questions by the old man from scene 24 who also happens to be the keeper of the Bridge of Death, which dangles above the Gorge of Eternal Peril /nerd mode. Do I get a cookie? *get your mind out of the gutter!

Hi Joachim Great work on your Bf110, having built one my self I'm aware of the pitfalls of the kit, but it does build into an awesome looking aircraft!! As said before, good luck with the belly section, that's probably where I used the most filler and expletives! Just a note about the horizontal stabilizer where you have inserted that top shim - where it meets the fuselage on the spine - the 110's horizontal stab was slaved to the flaps, so that when the flaps were lowered/raised an air-driven screw jack would raise or lower the horizontal stab (adjust the angle of incidence) - very much like some modern jets. So, there is supposed to be a slight gap where you have inserted that shim. Good work, looking to see this one completed. I still have another 4 to go!!! Regards Iain

The ammo cans right in front of the pilot has a few issues. There is an instrument face molded on the lower edge and a panel part to glue onto it.. both are wrong for the aircraft but match up with pics I found of reproduction aircraft... I filled the pin holes by filling with stretched sprue and cut off the instrument face. Painted silver I swirled the paint a bit with a small stiff brush to get the brushed aluminum look.. Next detail required more stretched sprue.. wrapped around a mini file handle.. Nipped off.... And glued in place... this cockpit will be big enough the stiffening rigging will be very visible so the supports have to be there !!

AND SOME MORE Thanks for looking!!

Well it’s finally finished! Overall a really enjoyable build. A great kit with some fit issues but excellent detail and brilliant value for money. I had to work quite hard on the scratch building and re scribing some panel details as I’m not a natural builder. Aftermarket was obviously the engine and also brass machine gun barrels. I should probably have used resin wheels. And I think Andy (monthebiff) mentioned seat belts and I regret not putting them in now but at the time I was pushing the build on and didn’t have any to hand and didn’t want to wait. What next? Well the airfix hellcat is only a week away! cheers Matt

Hi All, have applied a dark brown panel line wash and have shaded the paint with oils to give it some depth and then a final flat coat. Almost ready for final assembly! cheers Matt

This is my recently completed Hasegawa 1/32 Fw190D-9 kit built to represent Hans Dortenmann's famous yellow-tailed "Black 1". I threw a fair bit of aftermarket goodies into this build including: Eagle Editions 190D-9 Resin Cockpit Set Eagle Editions 190D-9 Radiator Cowling Eagle Editions 190D-9 (Early) Tailwheel Set Eduard 190D-9 Brass Flaps HGW Fabric Seatbelts Quickboost Fw 190 A-series gun barrels Henri Daehne 190D-9 VS111 Resin Prop and Spinner G-Factor 190D-9 Metal Landing Gear Montex Maxi Masks for the crosses and number "1" EagleCal Decals for the rest of the markings For a build description of Black 1, follow the link below: http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=71526 More pics to come!

Good evening everyone, I have joined recently, and browsed through so many inspirational builds. An Italeri Mirage IIIE/R is on the bench, and I'm in the process of doing some research, detailing and corrections for a SAAF Mirage IIIEZ. The Martin-Baker Mk.BRM4 ejection seat was actually done almost two years ago, and the kit seat was used as a basis for this. The two boxes on either side of the bulkhead were removed. The instrument panel is too round at the top, as well as the radar screen should be flat, and not have the little dome on the surface. The instrument cowl has also been stripped of detail, to replace with the correct goodies. https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img921/8389/wgoOys.jpg The exhaust nozzle was quite tricky. It was stripped of the inside details, and a soldering iron was used to melt the rectangular recesses on the outside of the petals. Styrene rods and plastic card was used to replace the inside detail. Another issue, is the vertical panel line in front of the intakes, which needs to be filled and rescribed. The intakes also seem to be a little bit too long, but i'll investigate this thoroughly before I start chopping away. Cheers!

I built this one a while back and have just had the opportunity to attend Eric G's lair where Eric and I spent a day photographing models (well Eric did while I watched!!). The kit is the Tamiya E which had the usual mods, removal of raised panels, re-scribing etc. I used Aires seats, Eduard interior etch, slime lights, engine internals, Sparrow missiles and wheels, GT cans (not as detailed as Aires or Eduard but the only available that are the correct diameter), Sierra Hotel seamless intakes, Zacto sidewinders, resin cluster bombs (can't remember who by) and Master pitot and AOA probes. The kit was painted freehand with MRP paints which are excellent. I spent around 12 months to complete her enough of my drivel, lets let the pictures do the talking! ENJOY!

That's blackmail....

Woohoo this ranks as one of my best ever! It’s a good thing to because Uncle Dennis is an artist and I’m putting pressure on myself to make it worthy i took 3600 grit sanding sponge across all the markings in the direction of airflow. That was just enough to knock down the edge that was created by the tape and give them just a touch of wear. Lastly a satin clear and here you go... I had nearly zero leakage under the Maketar masks so thrilled with that too. Tomorrow I want to do some exhaust staing, finish the canopy, and add the long pitot on the wing to finish it up. Then put some trim on the base and I’m ready for the model club show on Monday and presentation to my Uncle on Tuesday.

Thank you all for your kind comments, the yellow scheme including the prominent numbers is striking. There were several airfields close together around most of the major townships such as Gwelo and Salisbury in S Rhodesia, so identification of individual aircraft was an important issue, especially with hot-headed young men doing low flying and risking killing themselves and the local populace!! I like modelling in-flight aircraft, so I'm working on the prop at the moment. There's no easy, or right way, to represent prop blades in motion - having no blades, a clear disk, a motor etc are options but I prefer the prop-blur solution. So I cut off the blade itself just above the junction with the propeller hub and cut a slot down the remaining length. The Prop Blur PE was cut to length (9 feet for a Harvard, the KH supplied blades are too long) and will be slotted into the cut, then painted. It's worth noting that the front face of the blades were silver, but the rear face was black, this to prevent glare I imagine? I like to think it worked reasonably well in my "Spit in trouble" from a few years ago!

Ah, that explains it then, mine was a customised model of Schnaufer's earlier aircraft G9+EF so I didn't look at the AIMS refs. I've got the AIMS G2 conversion from which I'm going to build a Bf110F later this year, that will be my third Dragon 110 following the E and G4. Great looking aeroplane!

"So, there is supposed to be a slight gap where you have inserted that shim." Yes, but note this area on Hendon's G4:

I hope I haven't scared any of you away with my findings so far! Relatively happy with the scaling and incorporation of the #4, I now wanted to import the accurate cockpit enclosure drawing into the mix. Like so many others, this drawing is also critical to getting the shape right. I've discovered that despite all the factory drawings being scaled and dimensioned, there isn't just one drawing that is completely trustworthy for total dimensional accuracy. General arrangements are a good start point, but for specific shapes you can't beat the actual component drawing. I guess this is why I have nearly 10,000 drawings to sift through! I also ran into another small issue. Due to the receding angle of the #4 on the real thing, the rear wall of the upper turret will be off if I was to simply chop the fuselage where I currently had the datum point (this could be what someone was trying to tell me a while ago? - sorry!) To preserve the 4mm of straight turtle deck aft of the turret ring, I've effectively had to move the entire fuselage forward that amount. I was hoping to split the difference, but as I hope I'll demonstrate later, it was better to use the full amount. I don't think in the end it will affect the overall look - takeaway message: the vertical #4 on the kit was a real pain in the a#^e!!!!!! This might explain better below: The aft most red line indicates where the "new" #4 will sit to preserve the section behind the upper turret on the kit. Coincidentally, to not affect the bomb bay length, the fuselage will be approximately 4mm longer than it should be. This will be absorbed in the "straight" section so won't change anything I've already done. Cleaned up, this is what it now looks like. Once I get rid of the background drawing you'll never even know! Now it was on to importing the accurate cockpit drawing and getting to grips with another of those "subtle differences" so important to "the look." As you can see, the line of the structure under the windscreen is the wrong shape on the general arrangement drawing. Also of note, the shape of the structure under the side windows where it meets the fuselage is not straight like the HK kit (due to the totally round shape of their #3). Once I get this drawn in, the next step is to print a trial shape to see how it merges with the existing kit. This will be the first real indication if anything of what I am doing here has been worthwhile, or if I'm just going off on tangents and confusing everyone! Hahaha! Anyway, lots more to do! Cheers, Craig

Thanks again for looking and taking time to comment, always appreciated! I've got some color on the Cessna, always one of my favorite parts. Some issues reared their head under the polished aluminum, I can accept the odd spot here and there. I'll give the Alclad a few hours to set up then spray the Aqua clear gloss then begin masking for the factory paint scheme (hopefully similar to the box top)

Working on the controls/ stick.. added in the missing aileron horns using sheet stock.. The oils really bring out the wood effect. Semi gloss black for the metal parts.. Test fitting showed no problems... The compass decal settled down after several applications of sol/ set and fasteners added to the rudder peddle heel scuff pads

On to the interior ! The kit gives you the tube structure.. undersized a bit of course to fit inside the fuse shell. It goes together easily and I had no issue with warps. First bit of extra detailing.. the canvas panel behind the seat. Nicely detailed but a few issues. As molded the stiffening cross wires are represented on the 'forward' face which is wrong, they are behind it. Also there are 3 push pin divots (sanded away in the pic). The easy fix for all this is... turn the sucker 180 degree's ! Cut off the bar and reglue it on the back face and all problems are solved ! Me being me.. those molded holes and lacing had to be redone, so out with my pin vice, a tiny drill and voila !.. cause it's gotta look better !! A bit of paint, my own mix for the linen and the part is ready...

Another week and the silliness is building !... or is it me ?..... anyhoo... I've decided to do the famous F1 presented to Voss... but I'm sneakily going to avoid all the cowling/ color controversy by doing it as it was presented to him.. BEFORE it did or did not get painted in his personal/ Sqn colors !! The first thing was the horizontal stab.. a curved leading edge had to be added to the DR 1 kit part... cut from sheet... A bit of filler, glue, putty and gentle sanding... But as you can see the kit has a problem here.. the seam is shown for the elevator but it's not continued forward to the leading edge... if one wants to go up or down this 'could' be an issue... .. Well, I wanted to separate the elevator and have the controls droop a bit so the trusty razor saw and exacto blades came in handy... I added on the kit supplied control horns but didn't realize till I took the pic the nearer one is backwards.. going to have to fix that...Also added a bit of scrap sheet to represent the hinge.

The 'Ninak' Liberty Engine exhaust has been put straight into the mold I will need another four for the two Liberty Engines. The 'Ninak' Exhaust looks to be an almost exact match to the ones fitted on the Aeromarine... Cheers: Kent

Tim aka Wunwinglow was so kind to print the sponsons on his Form2 for me - thank you very much, Tim! I have spent the last evening preparing the first sponson - the nonskid on the walkways was applied using Tamiya putty, rivets lost during sanding were replaced with Archer ones. The walkways are very rough on MH-53Es, hence the use of Tamiya Putty instead of Mr Surfacer. The center fuselage windows were closed and puttied as well.

Back from work - here are the promised picture of the assembly: The fuselage went together quite quickly but fit wasn't perfect. The horizontal stabilizer needed little shims - 0.2mm on the upper side and 0.4mm on the lower one - to get a decent fit. The intersection at the rear (not a panel line) still needs some filler. The fit of the rear cockpit cover (without comments): Then there's some good news - the camera window recieved its clear part and so did the coverage regulator. Beforehand there was some filling (after the black guide coat) necessary and when the PVA glue from the clear parts is hard enough, the whole section will get polished. I'll spend the next days cleaning up all the joints and panel lines on the fuselage.

The cyber hobby Emil is indeed the only 109 that has the combination of easy assembly, accurate details and the lack of any dimensional issue. No other large scale 109 kit is similar regarding such a combination. The engine area is indeed a common issue but it is not comparable to the Eduard one that is noticeably more difficult to solve. The Hasegawa G6-14 is easy to assemble but has the details of a 1/48th kit and has some dimensional issues in the nose area (too rounded spinner and Beule location because of length issue). The G10/K4 is noticeably worse (fat spine). Unfortunately, there is (still) no final late 109! The last Hasegawa release - the Friedrich- is the best 109 they produced (correct nose length and accurately shaped propeller). I made detailed reviews of most 109s. Just have a look in the tweak list section of the articles tab on the LSP website. Hth Thierry

Thanks for posting that link Derek, don't know how I missed your Wirraway build! It's looking very good, I'm especially impressed with the engine and prop development. I've contemplated usung the KH kit to make a Mk I Harvard but there is precious little out there in the way of detail scale drawings to work from, so at the moment I'm having to content myself with modding a 1/48 one, it's not the same feeling of satisfaction though!

The photos of the bottom were taken the day before I added the aerial.

1/32 Hasegawa kits HGW rivet set, wet transfers Barracuda wheels Eagle Cals #104 Aires wheel bay, engine, gun barrels Avionix cockpit All colours MRP

In a good way, that is..

Hi Guy's, I think everyone who has been looking at the HK B-17, has been wondering what's going on. There's obviously something off with the front fuselage, it just looks a little 'plump'. Craig's (brahman104) work, trying to overcome some of the issues, has inspired me to take a closer look at this. To get my bearings on this, I started by searching for online plans/blueprints of the B-17. There are several available and I downloaded the largest one I could find... This is one I got, I know nothing of it's origins, but it's very detailed, rivet lines etc. Next I downloaded the fuselage Blueprints of the B-17G from the Air Corps Library. I stitched them together to get the full extend of the fuselage. When I superimpose this plan with one from the internet in photoshop, I get this: Maybe it's not easy to see at first, but at the bottom of the fuselage there is a discrepancy of approximately 7-8 mm's in 1/32 scale (shown in blue) The front of the nose is also 'dropping' compared to the Air Corps drawing, by approx. 3 mm's. At the point where the nose cone is attached to the fuselage, the Air Corps drawing is 65 mm. (The HK kit is ca. 72 mm) I'm not sure, but if the wrong plans were used, this could explain why the HK Models kit is having the odd look. Btw. the Monogram fuselage is an almost exact match to the Air Corps drawing ( x 1.5) I really hate to be the bearer of bad news. What are your observations? Am I completely off? Please share any thoughts on this. Cheers: Kent

Great work!!!! I have 3 AIMS sets to use, so it's great seeing what end result can be had! Well done!!

Lovely progress, Vaughn! And very clever fixes to some of the kit's problems. Kev

Ali at Aerocraft is working on them - I sent him the kit parts to use - there's no point in encouraging anyone else to produce clear resin versions, better, no matter how hard , to display a bit of patience.

Good man, washes really suck and I avoid them at all costs. A good practice is to preshade your parts to assist the wash blending, the wash doesn't have to work as hard to create the effect. If you really want to see a different approach to washes and emphasizing detail take a look a work from JM Villalba. He hardly uses washes and employees the airbrush to shade. And there is the rub, you trade controlling washes to controlling the airbrush! Its hard to argue with his results though. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS754US754&biw=1920&bih=928&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=5osDXbTWFc-4sQWD25jQCA&q=jm+villalba+tips&oq=jm+villalba+tips&gs_l=img.3...34150.35511..36759...0.0..0.84.376.5......0....1..gws-wiz-img.......35i39.OdZouHnPkks#imgrc=AToXzTNORyVjnM: I like the outlining and style he uses and you see that in my work, but the only way I can pull it off is with the enamel wash and then surgical clean up. Red Baron by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Untitled by The 3rd Placer, on Flickr Ryan

Here is a scan of page 37 from Merrick and Hitchcook's Official Painting Guide to German Aircraft 1935-1945. The colors chips are based on matches to actual surviving aircraft, from the top a Me 262, a Do 335 and a He 162. Conceding to the limitations of color monitors etc., it is, none the less, illustrative the dark olive nature of RLM 81.

Thanks, Brian! The gloss that spilled did level out pretty well by itself and doesn't look too bad. I took a cloth polishing pad on my Dremel to it, and that seemed to smooth out the bad spots pretty well. It is, as they say, good enough for government work, and I'm calling it done! I'll try to take some better pictures for a RFI post later.

At a show once I saw a model of an E that had a really disturbing looking area right in front of the rudder... the horizontal stab?... is it the Hase E?

I've been getting on with my Harvard build in my few spare moments, nothing spectacular but I'm almost at the priming and painting stage. The first hurdle that had to be overcome however, as I mentioned above, is the tailwheel configuration. As supplied by KH, the tailwheel fits directly into the fuselage, as here on this fine build (I'm not sure who's it is but I hope he doesn't mind me using one of his pictures!): The actual arrangement is shown in the previous post, but since my model is going to be airborne the rear shock won't be under pressure so there's a very distinctive look about it: I started making mine by carving out a piece of resin left over from the Brassin Mustang wheels: and measuring it against the clearest photo I could find which I reduced to about 1/32 scale. My research also showed me the structure of the whole arrangement: and it soon started to look reasonable. A couple of bits of shaped 10 thous plastic glued to a piece of channel and some plastic rod quickly produced the end result: I'm rather pleased with the look of it all. Priming next then I'm going to try the "Scotchbrite" black-basing method.

Thanks Harv and Ernie. The props are too long, Harold makes replacements available from Sprue Bros over on your side of the pond: AMS32100 1:32 AMS Resin T-6 Texan 9' Prop Blades (KTH kit) and very good they are too. On the left the kit blade, on the right AMS Resin's (from my first build). Max