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Got one!! By chance, Tim Maunder and I, who were running a temporary stand at the Telford show for Roy Sutherland of Barracuda Studios, ended up on tables next to Alan, and opposite Aviattic. We were all pretty busy, but the Harrier SIG managed to sell a bunch of 3D printed parts I had done for them, so with cash burning a hole in my pocket, Alan kindly sold me one of his Buccaneers! I only really got a close look at it today, and while there will be a fair bit of work to get it together, it has all the makings of a fabulous model. It is NOT Tamiya, you will have to apply a fair bit of experience to bring the pieces together, but considering the limitations of the process, and materials, all perfectly doable. AND IT IS A 1:32 BUCCANEER!!!! Alan has mentioned a few updated parts and decals are in the pipeline, and I don't think I have ever meet such an enthusiastic chap, he was talking to potentials the entire weekend! We had several chats about things, processes, materials, so I am looking forward to building this, especially as my late father and I spent 2 days at Lossiemouth researching the beast and its ground support kit. Yes, I still have all the sketches and photos... Now, I must get some large sheets of abrasive paper to flat the mating surfaces, and I think I might chop off the tail brake unit to a) model it opened, and b) be able to get the parts in my Kawasaki's top box! This thing is huge! You all know me well enough not to hold your breath on my project, but I am truly inspired by this. I'll keep you posted. Tim

After filling the ejector pin marks on the inside, the wing bulges have been glued into place. The wheel well roof sheets were just placed for this photo but got glued into place soon after. The wheel parts including the roof parts have layers of photoetch to give some 3D depth to the assembly but first I wanted to check the fit of the wheel well walls against the removals that I performed earlier. These dropped in fairly easily into the wing bottoms, with only some minor adjustments to the removal areas to accommodate the walls. With the wheel well walls simply resting in place without glue, I check the fit. I didn't notice any problems so I can continue adding stacking photoetch to build up the wheel wells. But it's getting late and I have a busy week at work so I'll stop here. Surprised at how much work I did over the last two days... proud of myself!

Okay, time for a real content update. First, a thanks to my incredible wife who was a-ok with me essentially sequestering myself in the modeling room for the weekend. I've been at it pretty much non-stop since Friday morning. Happy to say, I'm making good progress and am hopeful that I'll get it finished by the deadline. My goal for the weekend was to get the seam work done. As you will see, I made it a little further than that. Here she is after the majority of the seamwork, riveting, and scribing were done. The two flanges for the early E model are installed. Horizontal stabs installed. Windows back colored with aluminum. Primed with Mr Surfacer 1500. Wings base coated and walkway markers done. Props are dry fit and need to be decaled and have their tips painted. The belly of the beast. The mottling looks a bit more pronounced in photos than it does in person. The tail complete. In looking at the couple of photos taken during the war showing this aircraft in the swamp, you can clearly see that the vertical stabilizer was a lighter color as it was likely produced and painted by a subcontractor. I noticed in the same photos that the horizontal stabs appeared to be the same lighter color. So, I duplicated that here. Also, I'm really happy with how the masking and painting turned out for the rudder. Current state. The tape on the nose guns is simply there to keep them from falling irretrievably into the fuselage when I inevitably knock them off. :/ Not that it's already happened four times. Anyway, I've got things like the upper turret, wheels, and a few other bits to paint, and then it's on to decals, weathering, and the finish line!

I've just published my photos from Sunday... No extensive editing this time. So there's a lot of them.... The quality is not great in many cases, but I think the atmosphere is there. Flickr album - Scale ModelWorld 2019, Telford Enjoy! Juraj

Getting right into the office I discovered I'd need to renovate a bit to get the seats to fit, doing some work in the cockpit would also give me a chance to get rid of some ejector pin marks, kind of fixing two problems in one go. I removed the bottoms from both openings kicked out the walls and put in new flooring. Here's the cockpit before any work, the seat will not fit, maybe if I forced it? The bottom of the cockpit with new styrene sheet flooring installed Both seats test fitted now. There's still a bit of pour lug on the bottoms I'll get to later.

Have been working on this project for the last few months, I was able to find some miniature TV screens and some small digital media players to replicate the information screens in the cockpit. It has been a challenge to say the least.... hopefully you can see the video. https://imgur.com/a/sECnkxW

In my case, one doesn't. I must have seen less than 50% of the displays, visited nothing like all the traders, and just didn't get upstairs to the competition. The rest of the time was either manning the LSP stand or my club stand, or simply standing nattering. Every time I went from A to B, I'd bump into at least one person I know and we'd stop for a chat. And I wouldn't change any of it, it's what makes SMW so great.

For those that are interested:

Not far to go now, the engine is in place (I've added spark plugs and ignition leads etc.) but the "collector ring" and associated panels aft which interface with the forward fuselage was difficult, and not perfect - I may build up a couple of the panels between the cylinders where there's a slight step, or not! Just some pipes to run now from the right side of each cylinder to the collector ring and then the aileron cables - and it's done!

Hi guys, just for your information first kits is being delivered to first happy customers. This means that preorders has just ended and we are in normal sales mode from now on.

It's exciting Bob isn't it? I hope Simon may post some pictures before too long of the mouldings etc just so that we can drool a little longer!

I'd be interested in most of them. Especially the RF-101C and F-101B. The way the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Voodoo kits are engineered — I have bought four so far — with separate nose, centre section and tail would allow bigger 1/32 equivalents to be made without huge moulding machines. The Voodoo featured a long sleek fuselage with relatively short span wings, and a kit would sit nicely at an angle along a shelf. It's not a gangly thing with long sticking-out-at-90°-sideways wings. Not really huge at all. Just looks like a winged rocket, albeit a smoky one (as were all F-4s until the early 1980s). Tony

Hi all, I've 'fettled' the basic tail unit. Fuselage support fairing re-profiled and drilled. Tail plane drilled. Fin re-profiled and pinned. Rudder pinned. Elevator halves pinned. Rudder control line exit holes in fuselage drilled. Support fairing aperture opened up for elevator controls. Rear fuselage notched for rudder post. Rudder post added to rudder. Photo-etch rudder control horn added. Assembly all test fitted. Just elevator control horns then its on to the cockpit end, Mike

I removed the resin (closed nozzle) exhausts from the stubs and did a quick comparison with the kit parts, they're exactly the same size so, if the kit parts fit the resin ones should as well. I snapped a shot of the kit part then the resin one with my caliper as a reference. I'm thinking I may try a mix match of parts from the Academy D and the Trumpeter G in the office, not for accuracy but just for better fidelity. If there was a nice resin cockpit I'd be on my way.

Hi Guys, Some photos of the nose strut relocation. You can see the bottom end of the strut was smack in the middle of a panel. Not good! Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr So I heaved it off and here's the scar! Changes by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr About an hour later, a shortened, re-angled strut test fitted. Still had to build the bottom pivots. Changes by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr With the paint back on. Changes by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Changes by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr No progress here though. Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Untitled by Bruce Crosby, on Flickr Oh well, that's it so far. Regards, Bruce Crosby

Had a great day at Scale Model World yesterday and was very excited to get my hands on the new He-129 from Zoukei Mura, I have a few buids on the go at the moment but as ever couldn't help myself and got straight on with it, so first up the obligitary box shot. First impressions on looking at the box full of tan are very favourible with lots of nice crisp detail and minimal ejector pin marks in all the wrong places! My only grumble and a big one to be honest is only one scheme is available from the box but what a nice scheme it is, however the kit also only comes with a Mk 101 cannon and a pretty basic bomb rack which I can only assume looking at the stand yesterday means they will be putting out three boxings of this kit. My plan is to build this one straight from the box with the exception of some HGW belts as absolutely nothing is supplied by ZM on this front at all and a different colour scheme. My plan is to build this Rumanian machine as I have suitable national decals to take from my AIMS Bf110 G-2 set which will work perfectly on this kit. Back to the build and first up as ever was to get the cockpit sub assemblies built and ready for paint, a few ejector marks to deal with and the fit of parts is excellent. With the cockpit ready for priming it was on the the main fuselage, ZM supply lots and lots of internal detail which will never be seen unless you are doing an all hatches open type build which I'm not so will be leaving out all of this detail as I think it will come in and be very useful on other builds in the future. Next I turned my attention to the fuselage, ZM have moulded this with all open hatches should you wish. And with that is full internal bulkhead details, In the end I decided to add all bulkheads but no extra detail as this will be very useful on other builds in the future as nothing will be seen with all hatches closed. And with that the fuselage was closed up and tail pane fitted! So far so good and what a well thought out kit with excellent fit everywhere. Time to get some colour on that cockpit now. Regards. Andy

A lot has been written about Revell's 1/32 Spitfire IX, and no review can help itself and HAS to compare it to Tamiya's, a four times more expensive kit. Well I do love Tamiya's kits, but can't pass up on this cheap Spit. Hence, my first build on LSP. I switched to 1/32 a while ago because my eyes need bigger things It will be finished as one of these two, haven't decided yet but lean toward the bottom one with the larger roundels: Starting with the cockpit, I added a few tidbits to make it look a tad more interesting (and expensive )

This is my recently finished 1/32 Pacific Coast Models Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 with the markings of L1909 LR-R, 56 sqn RAF North Weald,mid 1939 Cockpit modified with Warbirds seat and control stick. Watts 2 blade propeller is from Fawcett Models Artillery vacuform canopy used. Paints from Gunze Sangyo acrylics and Alclad metalizers.

My first experience was my Uncle Peter who was a military and war enthusiast and a modeller, who took me when I was around about 5 years old to see the Spitfire at Manston Kent, It was a high back Mk16 TB752 and I remember him lifting me up and looking into the cockpit which was all taped up round the edges with black masking tape. Years later when I worked as a teenager on the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Steam Railway we had a visit organised to Rochester Airport to see it being restored there MAPS [ Medway Aircraft Preservation Society ] It is now immaculate in it's own purpose built hall. It is an actual combat veteran with 403 Canadian Squadron and is all original too, this set me off on a love of WW2 aircraft. Graham https://www.spitfiremuseum.org.uk/spitfire

Hello again. I hope everyone has been well. I've been enduring another long break without the desire to build models. I've checked into LSP now and then but even that eventually petered out. Fishing season is long over and both my daughters have left the house and are in college. I've got the time but the motivation is still lacking. I forced myself into the modeling room today. It's a long weekend and I thought Veteran's Day would be an appropriate time to mark a return but... honestly, I don't know how long it will last or how consistent I'll be. I'm trying. Of the two projects that I have going, I picked to K-4 to do some work on. I feel more comfortable with Late War Luftwaffe subjects than anything else. After reviewing my own build posts to catch myself up on this one, I thought I'd do some riveting. The Hasegawa kit is pretty well molded but does not include any rivet detail. I'm sure it is not everyone's cup of tea but I rather like the visual interest that riveting can give to the surface of an aircraft. Here's what the clean wing looks like before I put hundreds of tiny holes in it. Using a detailed plan view of the Bf109K-4, I draw the lines of rivets on the wing using a soft lead pencil. Balancing the desire for accuracy with my innate laziness, the accuracy meter for these rivets is probably around 75%. Using a roller-type rivet tool (RB Productions Rivet-R being the accessory of choice), I slowly apply rivets all over the wing, one line at a time. The key is keeping the wing solidly in place on the table while applying steady pressure on the tool as it rolls. It kinda feels like mowing the lawn on a microscopic level. Forcibly punching holes creates little craters of plastic around each hole. I like my rivets to be very subtle so after wiping off the excess pencil marks off with a paper towel damped with iso alcohol, I sand the riveted surface with fine sandpaper to remove the craters but leave the hole. The sanding process makes the riveting work difficult do see in the photos but they are still there! The weathering process way down the road will make them pop out more but for now, the riveting on the wings is complete.

I did a wash and some dirtying up (very little) of the cockpit. I noticed I missed a little when trimming the decals. I'll sort that asap. Other than that I think I'll consider the cockpit done and will start putting the fuselage together. There are two decals for the black side panels, that I'm considering as there's no detail to pick out with dry brushing. Or just leave them black as they are. Speaking of decals, I've decided not to use the kit ones. Instead I'm considering a set for the BoB paint scheme. Could look nice I think. Håkan

Another coat of paint. Green now on, looks ok from far anyway! Some parts, wheels, undercarriage, prop, with newly repainted spinner, and some smaller parts from another build! Cheers Harald

Finally an update! Modelling is limited to the weekends right now but there is progress. Masks apllied for the wing crosses: Followed by a coat of greyish black (50:50 Tamiya XF-69 and X-18) And the first mask pulled on the fuselage codes (ignore the two black spots; they're already gone) It's still missing the fuselage crosses but apart from that all insignia is painted and prepped for the next colour - RLM78 for the undesides. Stay tuned and be patient Cheers Joachim

I let my wife complete the debate on what to complete next in "Large Scale," Tossups were with the Tamiya P-51D, F4u-1A, and the Kinetic Hawk 155. She said I'd done lots of props lately so a blower is next! Kinetic's Hawk 155, with resin seats as I was given them, Master Pitot tube, home made vinyl MDC for the large fine canopy, Airscale decals for the instrument panels, and some Archer rivets for hte rear fuselage. I have scoured EricG's and BloorwestSiR's builds for some assistance, and there are tips there! No schedule, as I go to work in 2 days for another 2 weeks, but hey, a little at a time, feels good to actually complete some models for a change!

I'm hoping to get a start on this, hopefully this coming week and have it done for the group build deadline...nothing like a late start hey?! The armload of accessories My (hopefully) chosen color scheme I'm not sure what all it needs for improvements but I guess I'll burn that bridge as I cross it.

Hello all Started this one more than a year ago and finaly managed to push myself to finish it. Kit was realy a dream to build with no problems at all. Used Model Master enamels and Valejo varnishes. As u can see weathering is minimal as usual with me. Decals are from Avi Print and where quite nice. so here it is: Ki-84 Hayate - Frank Pilot : Takayuki Yamashita Unit : 57th Shinbu-Tai Base : Shimodate Air Base, Ibaragi Prefekture 17.05.1945

I think we can rest assured, it's going to be worth the wait. Wouldn't surprise me if it turns out to be their best seller.

and 2 more boxarts jan

My Dad was quite a 'mover and shaker' in the UK historic aircraft preservation world, so from a very young age my life was steeped in aviation! Most weekends up until the age of 6 were spent hiking across the North Yorkshire moors looking for crash wreckage, or when he was posted to RAF St Athan, in the cockpits of the Axis aircraft that were (at that time) stored there. Even to this day, he is a useful man to know - we got VIP treatment from Tony Agar when we visited his Mosquito at East kirkby as he and my old man go back as friends to the 60s. I've got loads of old magazines that he let me have which I'll try and scan and share.

If my 14 year old son was the target of this movie, from his take on it the movie is a 5 star hit. He really liked it, just short of a Star Wars sequel.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/live-resin-lre-35088-mag-58-gsmg-general-support-machine-gun-l7a2-gpmg--221184 These guys do some great castings. I grabbed a whole Blackhawk full of chaps and guns from Live Resin, so can vouch for their high quality.

I could be tempted to dip my gout inflicted toe into Post WW1 subjects. That subject being this beautiful Moth Von Buckle

Wright Cyclone exhaust on A-4:

I’m also annoyed that those L.E slats are actually deployed while it’s sitting on the ground and taxiing to and from the main runway! They should be stowed in the up position as all the museum examples are! Humor. Whatever.

Yep, that's the one. I remembered it as being quite good, haven't seen it in years now though.

I painted it using the new(er) Vallejo metal paints. I am amazed how good these are - strong and easy to apply, only have to watch for not pooling them on the surface. Then it looks terrible. Only gripe is that the different aluminium shades are too close and does not - in my opinion - provide enough contrast to each other. So I painted the panels with 'Burnt Iron' and toned it down with a mist of duraluminium The original Thanks guys

And the new P-38 from Tamiya looks gorgous: I was lucky to find out, just some 20 minutes before I had to leave on Sunday, that Keith Burns was there with his works: So... Cheers. Juraj

And the competition (trying not to duplicate above pictures). Really great LSP section (without the "until 1918" part...): And these have got my attention as well:

Had a great day, as usual we went on the Sunday when it is a bit less hectic, the competition area was especially good, here is a selection of my photos, these are the ones that really caught my eye. Cheers Dennis

thank you all workd on the front frame off the car still in progress thanks for stopping by Mark

Some quick and dirty photos of some of the LSPs in the competition area yesterday: Great to see everyone! Iain

Thanks for your kind words. Here are the rest of the images. I hope you like. Cheers, von B

I wish someone made brass LG for the P-38.