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I am sadly stuck with my MH-53E at the moment - I haven't found a source selling litho plate for a reasonable price over here in Europe (buying it in the US would mean very high shipping cost), so I have to build something else. The choice fell upon the project which lost out to the MH-53E when I had to decide what to built earlier this year: an ERA-3B Skywarrior. I have a soft spot for electronic warfare aircraft and esoteric subjects, so the ERA-3B is just perfect as only 8 of them were built (converted from RA-3B). Two of them had the late CLE wing (BuNo 146446 and 146447); the idea is to build one of these 2 in the early configuration with the long canoe under the fuselage. I have printed the main components last year already. It's quite a big beast. It's basically an A-3B, so several changes are necessary to convert it into an ERA-3B. The A-3B is a "bomber" whilst the ERA-3B is based on the RA-3B, which is a so-called "version". There are several differences such as thicker canopy framing, different main wheels, no bomb bay, different APU exhausts and the entry hatch being located closer to the front landing gear bay on the versions. Here you can see the re-located opening for the entry hatch. The nose profile was modified as the nose of the CAD file was too pointed. One of the APU exhausts was already installed as well. The cockpit has to be built from scratch. I have made a cut to insert the bulkhead between the cockpit and the ECM operator compartment which is located in the former camera bay. The typical tail extension was drawn in CAD and 3D printed. There were at least three differently shaped tails, this one being the "early" version. It contained a chaff dispenser. The ERA-3B carried ALQ-76 pods which were also used by the EA-6A Intruder. Whilst externally similar to the ALQ-99 carried by the EA-6B, it is completely different in shape and overall dimensions. Luckily, Angelo Romano's excallent book on the Electronic Aggressor Squadrons provided the dimensions to enable me to draw the pod in CAD. More details will be added before it'll be printed; I'll probably use Eduard's PE parts for the heat sink radiators, just like Rich did in his excellent EA-6A conversion thread. The canoe was drawn and printed as well; it initially was too short but has been lengthened in the meantime. That's where I am at the moment; I hope this one continue to run smoothly - I'd love to finish this one until end of 2020 which would mean a new record for me. We'll see!

Hi Mike, All I can say is that we will stick to the 32 scale. We currently have two open projects, one German and one Japanese. Obviously we will be selecting some American subject to continue the line we started few years ago. S.

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 )

Some progress. The instrument panel's raised details do not correspond to the decal at all. Shame. Probably the Mk.II panel in the kit. Both sidewalls with some dirtying-up. But the end-result is passable after a bit of weathering. I still have to add the gunsight and compass. Wing fit leaves something to be desired (could be me of course), especially the right hand side. Not exactly putty-territory.... From sprue I made a spreader with small metal wire protruding a tiny bit in to the receiving plastic so it will not slip, secured with siper glue. Much better and within putty territory: Squeezing the wing dihedral in will also lessen it a tad more. So far, this Revell does not dissappoint me.

OK, last update before work for 2 weeks... (I DID get quite a lot of modeling in, next time off won't be near as prolific, as life and work throws wrenches in those plans. Anyway, my Vinyl masks for invasion stripes worked remarkably well!! I am pleased as can be with these! Looks a bit dirty in the radiator exhaust area, but that is easy to clean up. Also using the gear doors as a mask turned out to work real well too! Next up will be some clean-up, then gloss. but in two weeks or so! Cheers Harald

I'm glad you like the pictures. For the show, I have made a few rules for myself, based on my previous visits. 1st - Make a plan - what you want to see/visit/buy at home, before the show. 2nd - Make sure the plan travels with you. 3rd- Don't take out the camera on first day! 4th - As you don't really need any new kit to buy, don't go to the Kit Swap area and don't even try to browse through the hoards of kits around! 5th - Try to stick to the plan at least twice a day! Still, I'm sure I haven't seen everything that there was to see. And I know I haven't captured many things on my camera either. Maybe next time... Cheers. Juraj

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

Wow, what a long time it's been since I posted on this! As late summer gave way to the beginning of the school year, I had less time for work on this project, and when I could get an hour, I never got around to setting up and taking in progress shots. The painting was done with MRP colors, black basing technique, and camo drawn freehand. After that I did a little post shading, decals, then oil weathering, with washes and filters. Wing root and leading edge chipping were done with a 3-0 brush and dark metallic grey and silver colors. Chipping/wear on the propeller was done by painting the whole thing dark anodic grey, then painting the AMT-6 black, and sanding back to the metallic grey color along the edges and back of the blades. I'll add a better shot of the backside of the propeller blades to show this effect more. I used the same sanding effect for the nose cone, and also sanded away some of the white on the theater stripes. Oil staining on the undersurface again done with artist's oils. Mud weathering in the gear bays and tires done with dark earth pigments and thinned Gator Grip glue. Splatter effect by thinning pigments with enamel thinner and flicking brush bristles with a finger. The airfields in Burma were muddy and it was constantly raining. Tried to demonstrate the effects this tropical weather had on the airframes with heavy weathering. Squadron insignia is from Barracudacals. Really blended into the paint scheme beautifully, especially with weathering over the top of the decals. My first fully painted item for the diorama is the wooden table from the Tamiya tank maintenance crew set in 1/35. Painted in MRP ochre wood and oils over. This is the approximate composition of the diorama. I'll be building a base from Styrofoam depicting a muddy airfield. The figures are from the Tamiya kit and another one from Master Box depicting a mechanic crew working on a motorcycle. Put together three figures by combining legs, heads and torsos from the kits. All other diorama items besides the figures come from Tamiya. Hmm. Something missing here....

glacier like progress: i have "toned down" the rivets on the fuselage with mr.surfacer and attached the wings

Would like to see this as a kit.

Back in the hobby room, in a bit of a fluff (a manly fluff though) because I lost the rear (GIB's) panel while working on the kit last night. I finally decided I could make my own with spares and bits and pieces and sheet plastic...then realized there were duplicate parts trees because the rear panel is on a external stores tree. Doh! Anyway, I was having fun so continued finishing my own piece using pictures found on the www. So here's a couple of shots of what Trumpeter gives in the box and what I came up with; Trumpeter's panel, there is actually a gap/step in the upper screen to coaming but sanding a bit would smarten it right up. This is my attempt at the rear panel, still needing some details obviously but it's in progress. While I was making shapes anyway I decided to try boxing in the front side walls, still also needing some structural details here but better than looking in and seeing that gap inside the kit...? I'm not going for perfection here, just having fun, no serious attempt is being made at a historically correct/accurate aircraft. And, as always...thanks for looking

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1244387 Ohhh look, there is me at the front in the green flying suit and the Aircraft I flew up in

I can't tell you how much I want this model, To me those pics show a model that needs to be Built not assembled, Don't get me wrong I love Tamiya Spits/Corsairs & Mustangs as much as anyone here , but it would be nice to get stuck into a project that will stretch my talents as regards model making , (assuming of course that I have any to begin with) And when the subject is one that not only has local resonance with me, but one that genuinely fascinates me too boot .. what's not to love Recently I've been spending days going through mall y old decal sheets , and I've now got an almost complete set of 12 Sq markings looked out ready to go .. So Just bring it on , I am so ready to get to work, Do you get the idea by now I'm interested in this kit! ColinR

G'day folks, First of all many thanks for the comments and kind words and messages they're much appreciated. In looking at this thread it is almost six months since i last posted my apologies. One has so little time for modelling and gets so involved in the process that I forget to take pictures and post updates thinking I'll do that tomorrow. There's been a lot of tomorrows and also explains some of the hit an d miss photographic efforts! Since that last update work has continued on the cockpit and canopy. Detailing the cockpit was somewhat tedious and took many hours. Despite the many references it was surprisingly difficult to get the exact layout and content right due to the many changes which occurred in the P-38 construction program. This is as good as I could get but I'm prepared to admit that there maybe some errors or omissions. The scale instrument panel was constructed from Al sheet after being traced directly from Leroy Weber's drawing and copied onto a piece of paper to create a PDF which was then enlarged 12 fold to make a base over which the instruments could be drafted. Hopefully this pic conveys what I mean. This 'stencil' was placed underneath drafting paper onto which the instruments were drawn. Some detail was omitted in order to get a better scale effect. I have found that reducing instruments down to 1/24scale using real life dimensions renders the final effect a little disappointing. Others may disagree. The resulting diagram was then made into a PDF and colours reversed using Microsoft Paint. The panel was then assembled as a three layer sandwich of the Aluminium panel, clear transparency and Instruments was created The following is the result which due to the poor photograph probably does not do it justice. Control boxes were constructed from plasticard or metal whilst the toggle switches were individually turned on a lathe from thin Al rod. The following three views show the left, front and right hand sides of the cockpit. Note the seat is not fitted yet as this will go in after the rear canopy is installed. Nor are the actual throttle controls as they would likely be damaged during subsequent work on the canopy. Cockpit placards were from Airscale. Fortunately due to the construction of the P-38 this work could be done on the cockpit tub ex the actual aircraft. Apologies for poor i-phone images but its the best I've got. Once the cockpit tub was more or less completed it was glued into the fuselage and work commenced on the seat This was constructed from brass sheet folded with a base inserted as per the following two pics. In the first pic shows the main seat component without the brass base which was soldered into place. The white plastic piece is the armour for the seat pan there is a base and back armour plate. Once this was assembled a thin piece of stretched sprue was attached to the edge of the seat to simulate the knurled edge of the original which you can hopefully see in the next pic. The seat was then painted and set aside for completion later with seat belts and buckles etc. Still undecided about material for belts. The next and most demanding task was the canopy. Using the polished master two types of material were used, thin 1mm acrylic sheet and 1mm PETG. The former was heated in an oil bath and then press formed with the male mould and produced the following. This is a messy process and was done outside on the BBQ. I also might add that it took a number of pressings to get exactly what I wanted. The picture below shows the original pattern polished master and resultant clear piece. Different size is due to distance from camera lens. A rotary razor saw was used to separate the pieces taking extreme care due to the rather brittle nature of the material. Only the rear section will be used on the model as i need this to be reasonably strong in order to form the lithoplate over the rear fuselage structure. Canopy frames were constructed from brass channel and then glued into place for the windscreen onto which will be attached the individual panes from PETG sheet. The rear section is somewhat more complex and I milled a 1mm wide x 0.5mm strip off the the front edge of the acrylic section into which the brass frame was pinned using pins cut from 0.4mm brass rod. The next phase is detailing the radio compartment and then the rear canopy can be attached. If you have got this far many thanks for looking and I'll endeavour to be a bit more regular in postings. Cheers Kevin

Thanks Haha and MARU5137. Moment seems to be building as the home stretch nears. A few more photos of the nose gear. Here are the current shots of the A/C with the black base. Looking pretty slick so far. Thanks again for everyones support. I guess the question is whether to do the exhaust area or the body of the Aircraft first. Gord

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!

For those that are interested:

Hi everyone, About a month back I posted a question (here or ARC, I can't remember!) asking if anyone had used Reskit's 32nd F-18 Hornet exhausts for the Academy Legacy Hornet. I didn't get any replies, so I decided to take a chance and ordered three sets, plus some F-105 wheels. After about two and a half weeks they arrived yesterday. I just test fitted one of the exhaust nozzles, and unlike the Aires set, which are too small, Reskit's actually fit! I ordered directly from Reskit. The items arrive quite timely from the Ukraine, and were well packed. The Hornet cans were $20 and fit nicely. The Aires cans are $35, and are too small. Go figure! The quality of the sets is very nice, and I can give Reskit a big thumbs up! They have some really neat items in all scales, so check them out. And no, I am not associated with them, just a happy customer Fred K.

So, some more progress and a few fit issue's tarting to appear which needed a bit of thought and careful adjustments to over come. Initially I thought this was my making but ZM make a big comment box at the start of this sequence to check it all fita before going for the glue!! First of all I added all of the fuselage panels as none of these are being left open on this build and some care and careful trimming is needed to get a nice looking fit once the glue is added and then it was time to fit the wing spars, a very nice tight fit and simplicity to install. Next it was time to fit the centre lower wing section and here the fit problems appeared, you need to fit this panel as to get a nice tidy joint on the trailing edge of the wing but of you do this you will fing this problem. And if you force it into position you will get a very nasty trailing edge finish, after much careful sanding and adjusting around the foward edge of the weapons bay I started getting somewhere but you also need to remove a few locating lugs on the inside of the panel to achieve the desired effect. Once I was happy with the dry fit of this section I then moved on to the rear central fillet and once again more issue's. Once I had the length of the fillet part sorted I was still having problems getting the part to close up with the rear fuselage correctly. After a few check I realised the problem was down to the internal bulkheads. And after a little adjustment and it now fits And lower wing glued in to position Lower outer wing section fitted with no problems Some really good progress made today and pleased to get over those fit hurdles. Regards. Andy

Thank you for your comments everyone and this build is still very much on the work bench next to my Zuokei Mura Hs-129 I have started, made some important progress this afternoon and fitted the cockpit tub after remembering to dirty the seat belts, thank you for reminding me Max!! Then it was time to close the fuselage halves which was a pretty tricky job due to extra details addedand parts moves on the sidewalls I think rather than the kit itself. After much swearing and cursing this is where I am up to. All in all very happy with the results and pleased to get the fuselage halves together, now comes the really interesting bit of getting the wing assemble fitted and everything mating nicelt to the new resin nose section. Regards. Andy

a few details to go Mark

I feel like I am playing Pokemon Go... got to (or want to) catch them all. Or at least the one with Norway's colors and that red and white checkered one and... Too many fun choices, and great to see this released. Tnarg

Well, the pilots interior is done / assembled, not painted yet Thank you for watching as always and Cheers guys

Zero interest but if the six of you are happy. What the hell. All the best! How many had to google this to even know what the heck it actually was? Be honest!

I think that's a common sense plan Kev, my problem is that there are 2 types of 'shoppers', those travelling clockwise and those travelling counter-clockwise. Always fun anyway.

The good news is there's plenty of Tamigawa kits you can assemble if you don't fancy a bit of real modelling.

Rather than trade Hasegawa decals, EagleCals made a 1:32 sheet for Assi, both F-2 and F-4.

If ZM does a B Mustang, RoG might get their hinny in gear and do one. I'd hope ZM would do the B, and then the A as well. An A 36 would be cool.

Interesting picture I found on the internet tonight of a 129 cockpit, the main cockpit tub is painted RLM 66 but look at the outer tub and above the instrument panel area. What do we think, I'm going for RLM 02 as will be the rear bulkhead area of the cockpit. Any ideas or info would be greatly appreciated as currently I have the whole foward cockpit tub innRLM 66. Thanks for any help in advance. Regards. Andy

Good reading. I have my original Military Modeller with Shep Paines 251German halftrack diorama on the cover. I too, have my first Tamiya catalog: 1974. As well as my 1975 Revell catalog. At one point I had quite a collection of 1/32 planes in my room.

Hi guys Continue with framing and riveting of clear parts. I used aluminum foil and rivet-tool: And start with pilot's interior - cmk resin set, combined with plastic parts from the kit, because some (main) resin parts are shrink and too small : Thanks for watching as always and Cheers guys

myentireday.jpg On the plus side, sanding, rescribing, and re-riveting is more or less done. (!!!)

Hi guys Continue with the work over the Jumo engine and its nest The half-wings are ready also: Cheers friends

I agree with you both actually. Most all the things Bob pointed out are true, with the exception of the outright cost IMHO. Ive used Mr Color for years, and it sprays wonderfully for sure. My only issue was ever inconsistency, as in thinning inconsistencies. One of my grumbles about MRP (the fact that it was pre-thinned, as cost isnt really a factor at this point) is now is one of the things I love about it. I used to go through a lot of Mr color thinner bottles, and I find that I go through thinner much less overall since switching to MRP. With the addition of the paints being handled by SB.com, it takes care of another. If the mix is just perfect on Mr Color, it can spray just as nice as MRP overall. However getting there I have found is the issue. No muss no fuss with MRP I have found, and now I love the fact that I can just open a bottle of MRP, shake it and put some in the airbrush and go..............and each and every time you know the mix ratio will be exactly the same. Dont get me wrong I love Mr Color too, as it brush paints very well, and is smooth as glass and quite bullet proof. To get around the brush painting thing with MRP, I just take a bit of the color I used and want to touch up, and put it in a medicine cup, and then another in a bit of water on a candle warmer, and it generally thickens the MRP paint right up so you can brush it.

Oá meu amigo Ben! Tudo bem no seu outono europeu? Aqui tudo tranquilo no Brasil, não falemos de política kkkk. Parabéns pelo nova empreitada, gosto muito do EA-6B prowler, enho um scratch dele aqui para terminar faz uns anos, quem sabe recomeço em breve?... Estarei te acompanhando nesse seu novo trabalho! Grande abraço do se amigo aqui do Brasil. Hercules de Araujo

If it's lighter that 66, 02 is your safest bet Andy.

Amazing work!

Looking good, I can't wait to get a hold of one of these myself. I will keep an eye on this build. f

Great shots, many thanks :) https://thejavagoldblog.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/find-a-fighter-quick/ Therefore it seems the Dutch A-7s had a different type of exhausts, that did not protrude so much from the engine hood.

Well done Tim. Glad you blow torch guys finally get a new one to work on and build. RAF subjects are always rare to see come out these days. I’ll wait for that Whirlwind twin to come out.

Hi all, My research is throwing up more apparent anomalies - this time with the flight controls. The kit instructions show both the rudder and elevator control 'cables' exiting from an open aperture in the fuselage support fairing for the tail plane and fin/rudder assembly. These cables are attached to the rudder control horns at the base of the rudder itself and to control horns only under the elevator halves. However it seems that: The rudder cables exited the fuselage at the base of the support fairing and were routed back to the rudder control horns, which were in fact attached the rudder post and below the rudder assembly. The elevator 'cables' it seems were more likely to be a push/pull rod which was connected to the elevator control horns only under the elevator halves. This method of control would only require control horns on one side of the elevator as it was a push or pull control. Finally the model does not have aileron control cable exit openings in the rear decking behind the pilot, from where the cables were routed up and into the underside of the upper wing. As an aside the model does not have the filler cap for the fuel tank, which should be located at the right side at the top of the rear decking panel. This is all detailed, with illustrations etc, in the PDF build log I'm compiling as I go along. However before I sort that lot out I need to 'fettle' the tail unit as the there are a few issues to be corrected there as well, Mike

Wingleader magazine goes from strength to strength, the latest is a particularly fascinating one especially for us "older" modellers: https://issuu.com/wingleader/docs/wingleader_magazine_-_issue_11_-_digital_edition

This is a fantastic build, I enjoy every new post !!! Lothar

hello Guys! Thanks... Here are "istructions". I put together two of last casted exhaust and everything fit perfect...

Hi guys Here I will try to simulate the upper side of fuel-tank with some plastic sheet and metal caps : And 2 hours for riveted the upper half of the wing : Thank you for watching friends Cheers

I was surprised how well taken care of the seams were by the time I got my primer coat on. Only a very little remedial sanding was necessary to remove some excess filler. I have always used Badger Stynylrez for my primer. It sprays ok straight out of the bottle, but I have had much more success recently by adding some Vallejo airbrush flow improver and a couple drops of Mission Models thinner. It levels very well sprayed on thick, but it is just perfect if you thin it a little bit. So after a nice smooth coat of black primer, on with the medium sea grey marble coat. Applied with my new toy! Love the H&S, and love the Grex MAC valve. It's really nice not having to get under the table and mess with the pressure at the compressor. Also really nice is that you can vary the pressure at the trigger with the H&S. I would not say I can do it in any sort of reproducible way, and the MAC valve is still my primary way of adjusting air pressure, but you can get some variation. I think I ended up over blending. I applied my first blend coat, then did some post-shading, then another blend coat. Since MRP goes on so thin anyway, I didn't thin it, and it washed out all my detail. It looks better than the picture shows, which I tried to capture with the second photo, but still not exactly how I would have wanted it. For the camo, I'm going to thin my blend coats and see how that goes.