Leaderboard

This one sat on the SOD for a while. I built this to test/experiment with the Vallejo Metal Color paints. After the near disaster i had with the P-38, i needed to iron these out. I used The Vallejo stuff for all NMF colors on the build, but using Tamiya primer. What i found is these paints work great!! I have no reason not to reach for these as long as i don't use their primer, i used Tamiya rattlecan primer on this. There is absolutely no accuracy as far as decal color scheme goes, this was only a test!! Don

The days I strived for perfection and accuracy have long gone. These days I'm just happy to finish something. This is my 5th model this year. Paints are Gunze, decals are from HAD - a bit brittle, otherwise excellent - conform to panel lines beautifully. seatbelts are from Radu (superb!). Hope you like. I've also finished a Revell P-51D which I will take pictures of later today. Lothar

Houston, we have a new nose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After much confoundment with creating wall thickness to be able to print, I finally have something physical to show you! Despite my best efforts, the printing software blatantly refused to print the "eyebrow" section above the windscreen. I checked it out on Rhino before and it seemed all good. Sometimes these things just do what they want! Amusingly, as soon as I detached this piece, it was more than happy to print it separately!!! Anyway two big questions.... 1) how did it turn out? and 2) did it make a difference to "the look?" Well here's the pictures. Note this is a trial run to see it I had the dimensions and shapes right. I'll go back now and add the windows, then the final print will be in the Photon I don't know about you guys, but I reckon it looks a lot more B-17 like to me! Already you can see the inclusion of the correct #3 shape is making all the heartache of the CAD work worthwhile Over the next few days I'll cut the other side out and then mock it up complete and next to my other unbuilt kit. But for now, I'm happy that I have a workable solution to fix the nose issue with minimal disturbance to the rest of the kit. There you go, it CAN be done! Cheers, Craig

One major step closer! All of the major markings are now painted! Gloss coat next and then a few decals. Cheers. Matt

Today progress.

Ok ... so ... back to models ... Today a LARGE parcel arrived from Model Hobbies in UK ... With a few kits inside First ... The rather decent Fw-190 ... "Sturmbock" edition ... I didn't get the Hasegawa version of this so it's the only Sturmbock in the stash. Then the (apparently) "better-than-Trumpeter" Me.262A ... we'll see ... Next ... another Mirage ... RAAF Decals - BUT different time period Decals are from 1983, whereas the Italeri kit I bought earlier has the 1966 markings ... and finally an F/A 18.F Super Hornet ... I need some RAAF markings for this one ... and some of that non-existent AM!!! ... Rog

A little update before I travel to work! Cockpit is mostly complete, used the Tamiya "Old seat" that Anthony Wan supplied, rather than the nice Barracuda one, we shall see if that gets used, as I have a DIFFERENT Barracuda set for my Tamiya 'stang. Cockpit sides, center part and instrument panel (Yahu), Seat belts are HGW, and this is the first time I used chipping (on the seat), so it is a bit heavy. Cockpit installed, large opening behind the seat, but it isn't glued yet. there will be a tiny crack, but I hope some filler will sort it out. If you look hard you can see the clamp holding the bottom together Same seen the other way The kit is going together quite quickly, but the fit isn't all that good, some flash and some fiddling to get things to mesh properly. I guess this is why they call it modelling! Hope to be back in 2 weeks to continue the escapade! Cheers H.

evening boys & girls ..time for a nose job... ..this is one of the two detatchable panels that sit on top of the engine.. ..step 1 was to prepare the surface so it's nice & smooth and to mark the centreline.. ..then a sheet of soft aluminium was prepared by adding the row of rivets that go along the seam where the two panels meet and the fastener positions that run along the centreline on each side... then this was taped to the centreline... ..you can see rivets along the bottom scrap edge where I ballsed this up once already.. ..then the sheet is burnished down to the cowling with balsa blocks and in some areas around the nose where the curves are most acute, with a ball pein hammer... ..masking tape is used to hold the panel taught where it should be as the surface is worked from the straight edge centreline, to the outer curves.. ..soon the panel is roughly done and the borders appear as raised edges.. ..the masking tape is removed to see whats what.. ..the panel is then trimmed & fixed with contact adhesive, using the centreline tape to as a hinge to keep it's relative position and the overlaps start to get filed / sanded away.. ..with both sides done and the surface sanded smooth to remove irregularities (like glue highspots), the rivet detail was gone over again.. ..with the fastener details defining the lateral rivet detail position, tamiya tape was laid out to set out the spacing - interestingly these rows of rivets are perpendicular to the A/C datum, not the cowling which is tilted slightly downwards... ...also the hatches had been let into the structure by taping them down and tracing the outline with a new scalpel blade with the waste later removed.. ..once complete another burnish to get everything nice & recessed and a wire wool clean up.. ..lower cowl next... TTFN Peter

Small progress. Seatbelts made from AB putty. Wiring is from small diameter solder. Dan

Hello Everybody, we're back to LSP after long time to announce that just a few weeks remain till our first kit release.

Greetings everyone! I have been around the site for quite some time following posts and WIPs so I thought it was about time for my first large project. The following WIP will be my first in the 32nd scale and the first one in Large Scale Planes! As the title shows I will be trying my luck on an F-14B, based on the Tamiya 1:32 kit. Initially I was thinking of representing aircraft 105 from VF-41 with full low visibility colors however I changed my mind during the summer after seeing some wonderful shots of an F-14B 1:32 scale with the VF-102 Diamondbacks decals form Fightertown Decals. The decal set was particularly difficult to track, as it is out of print, however I managed to find a copy in a Japanese online store and in perfect condition no less. The aircraft that will be represented, flew with Diamondbacks during the OEF campaign in Afganistan in 2002. I will be using the 2003 version of the Tamiya kit which includes some updates in comparison to the 1994 and the 1980 versions. Also the following after market sets will be used accordingly: -Teknics ΤΚ32012 F-14B Tomcat/Bombcat Cockpit Superset -Teknics TK32013 F-14B Airframe conversion set -GRU-7(A) ejection seats from Avionix cockpit set BLC32039 -Aires 2099 F-14B/D Tomcat exhaust nozzles -If it is possible to get my hands on the exhaust nozzles form the 1:32 Tamiya F-16 they will be used instead -Hadmodels 432003 F-14B/D Upgrade photoetched part set -Crossdelta CD32002 F-14 Step area & Stiffeners -Master Model AM-32-031 F-14 Alfa Probe & Angle Of Attack probe -True Details TDP32202 1/32 F-14D Tomcat Resin Wheel Set (Late) -Eduard 32144 F-14A Tomcat exterior photoetched part set -Fightertown Decals 32009 VF-102 F-14B "Diamondbacks" OEF -Armament from the kit or Tamiya's F-16 The construction began with some modifications to the airframe around the cockpit area and the nose. Tamiya's mold in general includes not only raised lines but some panels as well. Initially I thought it was a mistake however it seems that very early Tomcats did have those. I could not find photos form both sides however at least on the right it seems that the panel was raised for some reason. In later photos these areas are not raised, so they were sanded down. One thing that is weird is how Tamiya chose to represent the refueling panel. In the kit it is neither closed nor open so since I would not doing it open it was covered with epoxy putty and sanded down while afterwards the panel lines were rescribed. Next, a characteristic electronics panel behind the cockpit was rescribed adding a bit of detail. An area on the Tamiya kit that can be improved are the NACA vents. The kit provides the correct gun vents for a late Tomcat however they are provided as one piece with the airframe. Using a rotary tool the plastic behind each vent was removed, the thickness of the leading edges was reduced and Evergreen plasticard was used to restore them. Eduard's PE was used for the gun muzzle blast fairing. HAD models PE set provides a replacement for the grills beneath the aircraft's ladder so the kit's detail was removed using a rotary tool. After the PE was in place, the area was rescribed and epoxy putty was used to restore the raised detail. The gun gas exhausts are provided in a slightly wrong position by Tamiya and because HAD models provided PE parts for the re-enforcement plates around them I decided to change their position. The old exhausts were filled with CA and sanded down while on the new positions the kit's plastic was thinned from the inside and new ones were opened accordingly. Initially the PE parts for the re-enforcements were used however I could not get them to glue properly in place so off they went! Two new pieces were created by using Evergreen plasticard and glued in place. Also HAD provides two pieces for the grills that are found inside them which were used. Eduard's set provides some nice details for the ladder in order to be represented in open position so it was the next area I started working on. Unfortunately Eduard provides a simple improvement to the kit's piece so a few additions were deemed necessary to be included. I worked based on photos of the real aircraft while Kai Wolter's exceptional F-14 build has been of great assistance and inspiration as well. Eduard's guide was not followed. Instead the two main ladder parts (1 and 2 ) were used to sandwich a piece of Evergreen in order to increase the thickness of the ladder while the PE steps (parts 73) were not used. Evergreen was used to create the two steps and to add the various small details. Parts 12 and 13 were used to create the handle mechanism. So ... that's about it for this time. Thanks for your interest! Andreas

I'm not good at posting WIPs as I go, but I thought this might be of benefit to anyone with one of Eduard's 1:32 Bf 109Es. When I started, I had a look at (among other things) Thierry Laurent's "Tweak List" on the LSP site ( https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=2924 ) which is, of course, generally applicable across the range. It mentions something I had already though of: if the engine is omitted to do a model with the cowlings closed, there is a big void which is potentially visible through the cooling slots in the cowlings. It is difficult to fit the engine and close the cowlings. But here's my solution. 1: Fit E24 & G16 as per the instructions, then fix G25 to E24. The position is approximately correct (I checked by dry-fitting the engine block etc). This puts something in the lower cooling vent. Assemble the basic engine block with the top panel and front portion: parts G27, G32, G8 and G24. Remove the top front portion of this assembly; you don't need the main block any more. Fix packing pieces of sprue to the sides of what's left of the block, so that this can be fitted inside the top cowling (A6). The wooden stirrer is attached using white glue as a handle for painting. If you're wondering why the cowling is a different colour, I messed up the original kit cowling. The replacement was "robbed" from an E-1 in the stash which is earmarked for an Alley Cat Bf 109C conversion. The plan is now to spray the whole lot suitable dark colours. The exhausts etc can now be fitted as per the instructions for a closed cowling. Note also that I've filed down the interior of the gun compartment (so that the cover for that will fit) and added a spreader bar as Thierry suggests to the cowling. Hope this is useful.

Thanks Jens, much appreciated! However, Uh Oh........ They just took delivery of their new H-145!! (photo courtesy of the Canterbury West Coast Air Rescue Trust Facebook page) So I went and brought one of these... Hmmm, I think I might have gotten the drive finally to work on this Bk-117 again!

It will be a biplane this time...

G'day everyone. Here's my rendition of ICM's I-153. Very nice build. Good detail, nice fit, but their soft, flexible plastic made for interesting alignment of the long thin wings. It's built almost out of the box, eduard etched seatbelts (I wasnt a fan, and will stick to HGWs belts in the future), and Quickboost exhausts. Painted with MRP paints and rigged with EZline. Denzil

Im thinking THIS: plus THIS:

Work continues on the other wing now. Once everything was dried and sanded back, I thought I'd attach the wings before slotting on all the other parts. Fit on both is again tight, perhaps too tight and it does well to shave a little off some of the mating surfaces to get a better fit. Still ti will require some work on the lower joint. But it is a Trumpeter kit so I was expecting the fit to be "good enough". There is actually a saying for that in Chinese industry that roughly translates to "close enough", which makes sense if you've ever built Trumpeter. Oh look, with a little bit of wiggling and perhaps selective words being said, the wing fits reasonably well. I haven't even looked at the weapons and pylons, there's probably more parts in those than there is in the aircraft itself.

Green, especially a very light one as found in glass, is one of the most difficult colors for color photographic film to capture accurately. In the commercial photo-separation process, it was always easier to work with a photograph that had an excess of green/yellow and remove that excess than to add green/yellow to the image. Not that strange to see "neutral" armor glass in period photos that have been through several photo and copy processes. HTH D.B.

Hi all, I've spent the last day or so applying the decals to the 'Swallow'. The PC12 upper surfaces and the CDL undersides were 'Aviattic' linen effect decals. The decals are supplied as A4 sheets and are not 'cookie cut', so each has to be templated and then cut. The white fin marking (AMA.E) and the name 'SWALLOW' of the fuselage sides were created, letter by letter, from 'Xtradecal' sheets. The specific serial number of B9276 was also created from number/leterrs and white strip from 'Xtradecal'. The biggest problem was the wing roundels, as the wing of the 'Swallow' had a wider wing chord than that of the 'Camel, therefore the 'Camel' decals were way too small. In the end I resorted to Cutting up and re-assembling decals from both the 'Wingnut Wings' Sopwith Pup (RNAS) and the SE5a, both of which I had as spares. For example the wing upper roundels were created from four separate cut decals. The colouring of the blue (lighter shade) on these roundels reflects that used towards the end of the conflict. Mike

Why are WNW doing Goering, of all people? A murdering war criminal, responsible for countless deaths, is that really what people want to model, paint & display? I don't get it?

Hi friends Continue detailing the 3d printed nose-cone for mig-29 by a hand:

Hi All, Of all the models I have painted this is by far the most difficult. And it’s only one colour! There are many versions of GSB to choose from from different manufacturers and each is a little different. And in the end I decided on the Tamiya mix of xf17, xf8, xf2 in a 5:3:2 ratiowhich to my eye comes close. The difficulty is getting any depth into the finish. I like to post shade my paint and with lighter colours it’s easy as the contrast between your base colour and your post shade is not as great as it is with a dark colour such as this blue. I think I’m getting there after lots of trial and error. Ive left the paint with a touch more contrast that I would ideally like but think that will reduce with washes filters and oils but I can at least see light at the end of the tunnel! cheers matt

Announced by Mr. Bobek on modelforum.cz today https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=515&t=61755&start=1095 it will be rebox of Dragon kit with wet transfers, fabric seatbelts, canopy masks (both sides), rivets set, PE (Eduard) and maybe Master barrels and Look instrument panel flaps will be coated with decals imitating fabric E-3 and E-4 versions will be included in package, however the first release will be focused on E-7 This should be available in the autumn of this year jan

This topic was done very nicely at the June Model Contest at Nanton, Alberta. I'm not sure who the modeler is, but he should be commended. Both pics below are courtesy of Vaughn MacPhail, who posted them on the Rocky Mountain Model Club Facebook page. Cheers, Chuck

Hello everybody, I just started this project a week ago. After seeing everyone's phantastic builds going....I thought that I'd jump in too! I really don't get alot of time to build.....considering ALL of the other things that require my attendtion. But I'll give it my best shot at getting this 'monster' done by the end of the year! LOL! I plan on building a CAG bird from Da Nang Vietnam era! S/N 66-8775 1) 1/32 Tamiya F-4 C/D kit. 2) 'Black Box' F-4D resin cockpit. 3) Eduard Brassin USAF early resin exhaust nozzles. (After seeing Barry's excellent review) 4) Eagle Strike V.N. Warriors F-4D decals. 5) Eduard Brassin resin wheel set. 6) Eduard Photoetch (interior and exterior) 7) Harold's Mk.5 resin 'bang seats' 8) Rhino modelworks seamless intakes. ALL I've been able to get done so far is, remove the pour stubs from the resin cockpit........and exhaust nozzles! Whew! Not to mention removing those pesky raised panels on the 'Phantom!! Still haven't got ALL those done yet! I'll post more when I get further along in this build! Thanks for stopping bye!!

We dont have those..............We have "Wheaties" and we have "Frosted Flakes" if that's the same thing. I was thrown by the Tony part..........but I guess it makes more sense because hes a Tiger.

Dragon for sure.

I don't care about all that, I'm sure as hell gonna watch it, and probably enjoy myself.

HG or not, just like the BvR release, this allows us 'late to the party' to aquire these OOP kits without donating kidneys on ebay.

Thanks for the positives, guys!! For an older finish, I think these paints are great. I don't know how they would be as a glossy new finish. A smooth glossy primer would be the place to start, maybe one coat of primer and one coat of gloss black or even gloss clear. The P-38 disaster was when I built the Trumpeter Lightning for the Color my World Blue GB. First time I used the Vallejo Metal Color paint. Stuff came off with the masking tape. Had to strip off all and start over. I airbrushed these paints, thinned them with the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. Sprayed nicely, and that's using a Testors Aztek. Don

THAT is hugely interesting. I helped pick the danish 219 out of the water some years ago, but noone has been able to establish a wnr for it. All of the machines listed in the LW documents are accounted for, so it had been speculated if it was a Heinkel test bird, also because it did not have a full armament aboard... perhaps it's one of those ?

Hi all! I painted the tires with my usual mix of Extra Dark Sea Grey (Hu.123) and Matt Black (Hu.33)…. More detail painting in the cockpit…. It was a chore painting all those small switches, It made me cross-eyed! I went bananas with the wash, Artist´s oil paint, (50/50 Lamp Black/Burnt Umber) and mineral spirits) in the front wheel compartment, but I think It looks alright. Not as much in the cockpit…. More to come soon….. Stefan

Aint that the truth!

Hi Tomcatfreak for now testing new 3d printer for better masters

Damn nice finish. Sincerely, Mark

Goering or not its a WNW D.V11 with a WW1 ace not interested in war criminal drivel there were plenty of those on both sides in WW2 and this is based on events long before then.

... the...? Fingers crossed, toes too!

Indeed. The old Revell 1/72 Fokker D.VII has been released over the years with Goering's aicraft as a decal option as well. I also seem to recall that there were murmurs of discontent from various quarters when WNW released the W.29 without including decals for Friedrich Christiansen's aircraft - and he turned out to be a Nazi war criminal too. So much discontent, in fact, that WNW went with his aircraft as the sole option for the W.29 in the Felixstowe Dualists set...

Eduard released Goerings Albatros years ago. Did anyone make a hue and cry back then?

Thanks so much fellas! Mark, I used MDF/ Supawood for that canopy form. In fact, as I mentioned before, I use it a lot for various reasons. It's cheap, can be shaped relatively easily and handles vacc forming heat rather well. It's also used, as you saw, on the nose sections for the masters for resin casting. In a "pinch", one could also use hardboard. The airbrake area is a ******* to copy! I am aiming for it to be operational on the model. (Manually, not hydraulically)LOL!!!! I just wanna get it right.

Thanks guys. I've made some more progress.

it should be available on E-day and HGW website on 28th of September looks like full meal deal jan

Almost there. After ... several years of struggle, finally I can see the light. There were some difficult moments, when I removed the masking from the canopies... together with most of the paint from their framing. Did my best to make it look acceptable however, decided rather to avoid cleaning up all the work and starting it over again. Maybe it was a wrong decision but otherwise the project would probably have stalled for another year or so. Just some weathering and final touches ahead.

If they’re going to go there, hopefully WNW will release Christiansen’s W.29.

And now ... we get to the GOOD story. Every now and then ... you come across one of those bargains ... Where the seller either doesn't know the value of what he/she has ... or really just doesn't give a rats. ... And for whatever reason - No-one else has seen it! Well ... every week or two I jump onto e-Bay and run a couple of searches ... Sometimes for kits or other stuff I'd like ... sometimes to see what some of my rarer kits will sell for ... other times looking for Classics books. For the last little while I've been monitoring several sellers with the Me.262 4 Volume set. Going rate is about $800-$1000 AUD plus postage. A couple have sold ... and a couple more sellers have listed theirs. Bear in mind ... these values are in AUD ... not USD. Then ... about 2 weeks ago I saw an auction lot on e-Bay ... The ad reads: "Assorted books on the Messerschmitt Me.262" The thumbnail picture shows a bundle of books - and there, buried at the bottom ... are the 4 Volumes of the Classics Pubs set!! No bids ... at opening $250 ... The seller is based near Sydney ... Listed as "Collection only" with less than 4 days to go ... I'm thinking ... it can't hurt to ask, right? ... So why is he not offering postage? ... Well - all of these books will add up to - like 9Kg - which will make postage costs HUGE! ... Calculated at about $36!!! Oh really? ... well ... If your prepared to pack 'em each individually in double bubble wrap and send a sturdy box to Perth ... I'm in for the cost. You only have to send the 4 Classics books too ... I was really hoping to move the lot though, he says ... no worries - What will you accept? Well if I can just get the starting bid I'll be happy! Tell you what, I said ... How about I give you $300 exact ... you can keep the additional books and resell if you want ... and if the postage costs you less than $50 by the time you've packed everything you've made more than your original $250 asking. Deal!! ... But I'm sending you the lot ... Well ... okay then ... if you must So today this arrived: And now ... they are happy sitting with the rest of the family Happily ever after ... Rog

A little progress in the cockpit area. Seat is painted. Small details and belts still to come. Canopy details. Deck behind seat. Still some wiring to be done. Dan

To get this thread back on track: for those interested, Chandos Publications has announced a new in-depth publication on the He 219 for late 2020, which is being billed as the 'ultimate' work on the type: https://www.chandospublications.co.uk/heinkel-he-219-book-confirmed-for-late-2020/ Also, in addition to the titles mentioned earlier, there's Roland Remp's book: Remp, R. 2000. Heinkel He 219: An Illustrated History of Germany's Premier Nightfighter. 160 pp. Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA.

Trumpeter Su-27 1/32 finally finished... I tried to build heavy weathered Flanker based above polar circle with units called “ Guardians of the North”. I used Zacto intakes, nosecone, missiles and pylons. Aires Cockpit, wheel wells and exhausts. Armory resin wheels. Front windshield is a scratch build as kit part was really bad in shape. Colors - MRP paint including silver primer, transparent paints and metalizers. Tamiya panel liners and weathering Masters used. WIP here:

Thanks all! to ringleheim: I applied the paint with a sponge.

This is the Dragon kit, re-boxed with some extra stuff and decals.