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Playing around with the display layout- amidst my cluttered workbench- ...amazing that my bench is 7ft long but I always end up working in about 2 square ft.. cheers P

Have a look at my new website!!! https://zactomodels.com A big thank you to the modelers whose pictures you'll see on my homepage. A huge thank you to Marcel and Miro who took multiple pictures of their kits until the lighting and pose of the images worked together so that I could merge them for the hero-pic. Thank you for tolerating my AMS! My old website was cluttered, crowded, not mobile friendly and way beyond obsolete. Not having a clue about building websites made this a real challenge. The site still needs a lot of work. I was mostly focused on making the homepage and store before going live. The "about us" page and "shipping details" are temporary and will be filled in when I get the time. The "privacy policy" and "terms and conditions" are copy/pasted standard legal mumbo-jumbo that nobody reads or cares about. I do plan to eventually add a customer build gallery and probably a few other pages for faqs, news, tutorials, etc. Just need more time... Please let me know what you think, if you find any problems or have any suggestions. Happy New Year!

Ahhh... light bulb switches on in my thick skull. What you are saying Radu is that there are TWO hinge pin holes in the wings, one for the closed position and the other for the open position. Not really a hole but a depression, which I totally missed. Instructions make no mention of this distinction (unless I missed it) and I was fixated on the the hole and didn't even see the depression. And I can see from the photos of the real aircraft that both you and Johnie posted that the hinge pin location on the wings is actually a track. I think I understand now... thank you very much everyone! Especially Radu and Johnie.

For a good start to 2021. My new model AH-1Z "Shark Mouth" Academy 1:35 The model is old, but very well fitted and easy to build Painted: Hataka Cockpit: Eduard interior

Derek sent me some info on painting...thank you very much! Were there REALLY that many stencils on a Phantom???? Anyway, I revised the demarcation to the end of the vari ramp and mixed up a colour I think looks right to my eye.... What do you think? Better colour? Cheers Anthony

A few pics after a couple of hours at the bench. Added some "busy-ness" behind the seat area. Have to create some cabling and add that. Would love to have a picture of the cockpit area behind the seat, minus the seat, but have not found anything yet. Aires seat that still needs some modifications to be a passable Mirage seat This is the seat produced by Eric Jolly. That's all for now. Thanks for looking. Scott

Thanks Matt! That's right! I've had the rivets get filled with paint by the time the pre-decal gloss coat goes on and running the riveter over existing holes is not fun. So I'm trying to be as proactive as I can to keep the rivets clear until the painting starts. A better look at the body work accomplished so far. As you know, I elected to modify the Hasegawa fuselage rather than utilize the Grey Matter resin pieces due to various reasons. The sculpting of the bulge is much more subtle than the grafted-on look of the Grey Matter and considers the cross-sections of the D-13 as found in the Mr. Crandall's Dora Volume 2.

Almost ready for decals.

Hello, As I like this old school Revell 1:32 kits I went for the real vintage from 1970 (plastic was still in great condition as well as decals) Model from the box with all raised panel lines (I just made "Titanic" rivets bit smaller by sanding) and the scheme is from the box too. Only aftermarket are wheels, interior and guns (all was defigned for the Trumpeter kit but it fits this old Revell wery well without any issuses). Airbrushed with Revell and Humrol enamels and aquacolor for the details. Weathered with Revell pigments. I know these days there are on the market more accurate models of this aircraft, but this was nice memory to build it again after 30 yeas when I found this model as a teenager under christmas tree. Martin

Thanks guys! I decided to spend today riveting the fuselage. Gotta strike when the willingness is there! The guide lines are sketched onto the fuselage using a soft lead pencil. I've been using thin strips of yellow Tamiya tape as guidelines, especially for the double lines of rivets that go around the fuselage. After the guide lines are drawn, the rivets are applied using a rivet wheel tool. In this case, I am using a 1.00mm pitch wheel from Galaxy Tools. The fuselage is given an overall sanding with fine sandpaper to remove the raised divots of plastic around each newly-formed rivet. A dark wash is applied over the riveted parts to check the work. Rivets and panel lines that don't hold a wash can be fixed at this point. The initial try on the Grey Matter cowling was not up to par so I filled the rivets with CA glue and re-did them. After photos, the riveted parts will be taken to the kitchen sink and given a scrub with a toothbrush to remove as much wash and sanding debris from the rivets and panel lines.

Hello modelers, I just want to throw out there a few things that are saving time and money for me. Consider how many #11 blades are tossed when it is so easy to sharpen them using a ceramic sharpener rod. Other types of sharpeners such as wet stones, steels or diamond flats are too coarse. If you are not adept at knife sharpening I can help you with the technique. Honestly, once you get the hang of it you will be amazed at how quick and easy it is. Kabuki tape is great but expensive. 3M sells a low tack Washi tape marketed for house trim painting. It is easy to find in any hardware store. Don't get the standard blue painter's tape as it is too thick and too strong. You want the violet colored Washi tape. It is very similar to Tamiya but at a small fraction of the cost. One other tip is to use aerosol carburetor cleaner for your airbrush. I just remove the needle and using the long flexible nozzle supplied I go in thru the color cup and blast away. The solvent is amazing. Even dried on paint disappears instantly. It will not hurt your airbrush chrome nor have I had any deterioration of the O rings. I get mine at Walmart's automotive department. 3 dollars for a big can. Another money saver is the mini tubes of CA glue, again at Walmart. A 3 pack of thin or gell is less than $2. Money saved means more kits in the stash I say.

Hi Thunnus, Yes, that is correct. When the pins and tabs are left in place on the flap parts, they literally drop into the correct position, either up (before gluing the wing parts together) or down. You are also right about the "track" system. When I designed the parts I spent a lot of time experimenting with ways to correctly depict the complex flap mechanism, either up or down, in a way that works in injection-moulded plastic and this is the only way. Like most plastic parts, it is a compromise. BTW, you can glue the "deployed" flaps to the wing after painting, so you can avoid some potential damage. Hth, Radu

Got the final bits done today. Trying not to rush things, but also eager to get started finally on my P-51 for the Air Superiority theme GB. When I went to install the LG, I discovered that some excess Micro Sol had pooled and damaged the paint under the nose (I really need to remember to be vigilant on that - the stuff is pernicious). I decided to see if I could carefully overpaint it to fix it. Just added one quick mask to make sure I did not get paint on the decals. This worked fine and suggested to me that I should spend more time practicing working slowly, close up, with the airbrush. It's not that hard. And I think I often try to paint too fast from too far away. After getting the gear doors in place, I decided to try and replicate the small antenna standoffs under the starboard side of the nose that are visible in the old photo from my Air and Space magazine (see page 1 of this thread). I just used some 28-gauge copper wire painted with Mr Color Silver. You can see them pretty well there. I may go and try to CA glue a hair along the tips for the antenna wire. So that's all for this one. I'm very pleased with the result - this is the best prop liner and maybe the best 1:144 model period that I've ever done. Also glad that I took the time to try some experiments on a confidence-builder before tackling my planned NMF 1:32 Mustang.

Feeling pretty well wrapped up with this. I had originally thought I might try to weather it more extensively, but at this point I'm hesitant to screw up what I've got so far. And I'm excited to get on to the next thing. So I just did some panel line wash on the floats and added a little bit of light gray to the matte coat to fade it a bit. One thing that I do plan to do at some point is take a swing at an ocean diorama base for it. You can vaguely see a bit of the cockpit through the canopy. I tried a new approach to rusty exhaust headers. After painting them black, I sprayed each one with a coat of clear matte acrylic and then white it was still wet sprinkled a mix of brown, red, and orange pastel dust on it. The surface roughness is a bit overscale for 1:72, but the color looks right to me. Even with all the weight I put in the front of the floats, it still wants to tip back onto the back of the floats. Hence the lump of blue putty propping it up.

Like many others here, 2020 has been a good year for modelling. My normal output is about three LSP models a year, but this year I've completed five. Not very prolific compared to others, and partially explained by covid not being as much of an issue on the western side of this continent as other places, thankfully. Life has been as normal as you could hope for, given this pestilence. My year started off with the Special Hobby Yak 3 built as part of the Eastern Front group build. Most of the effort went into the cockpit and I also built rails to make the canopy slide. The second model was the Kitty Hawk P-39 Airacobra, again for the Eastern Front GB. This is a more complex kit, but I found it a joy to build. A lot more interior work on this one as it has opening panels for the cockpit, engine and guns. I added extra detail to the cockpit and engine, and again made the cockpit entry a movable feature - both of them . My third effort was yet another go at the Eastern Front GB; this time an I-16 type 17 by ICM. Another lovely kit, but much simpler to build than the P-39. As always with my models, extra details were added to the cockpit, and I did put ignition leads on the front of the engine as they can be seen, depending on how you display the cooling shutters on the front of the engine cowl. I also put in a fuel tank thanks to picture I found on the net, but I think this was largely a waste of time, as well as complete the bottom of the fuselage under the cockpit, which wasn't a waste. Model number four was Trumpeters P-47D-10 Razorback, and no, not for the Eastern Front GB . This model is at time very challenging and frustrating, but also has many good points. I went to town on this one with the additions. Engine, cockpit and the supercharger detailing. My last effort was the Trumpeter Curtiss P-40B Tomahawk. This kit was treated to a kit bash cockpit, comprising resin, Eduard etch, stock kit parts and a little bit of my own additions. Other additions were made to the engine and firewall. I was going to do a Flying Tigers P-40B, but it finished up as an RAF Western Desert P-40B. I also ran into problems with glue fogging of the windscreen, but the project was rescued thanks to the generosity of one of our forum members here. Now, roll on 2021. Who knows what this year will bring. I hope it's much better than 2020, for all our sakes, and who knows?? I may even build as many models as this year. Cheers, Michael

Thanks for that input Tony, I stand corrected! Pics of "RCAF" and a small emblem at the same time are fairly rare, although they obviously do exist now that I've looked around some more. I note at the museum they have a pic of this bird flying with the small emblem AND a pic of it with the larger emblem. I wonder why they chose to paint it this way, since it's so "atypical"? For those who might be interested and from what I have seen so far, these are more typical. In the early 60's RCAF had the more detailed maple leaf. Note this is one serial number after the Winnipeg Starfighter, assuming the serial is accurate. In 1968 when the forces were merged, there was a small maple leaf, but "CAF" instead, but this was for a very short time. Followed by the larger maple leaf, which is likely what I will be doing. Note no gun and the German insignia, so obviously in Germany. So pretty.... In the late 70's, it looks like this one has the gun. And last, no "CAF" on the sides replaced with "Armed Forces", although CAF still survived on the lower wings. Cheers, Chuck

none.

A little more done with the plumbing completed on the cockpit floor. Also thinking about adding a little more detail to the rear bulkhead with the hinge and rivet detail. Also not sure whether to add the extra seat/ step in this area also? Regards.Andy

Happy New Year my friends! I hope you are all safe & healthy! Here some pics of the models in 1/32nd scale that I have started and finished in the orrible-2020... AMI Tornado IDS - Revell Czech AF MiG-23BN - Trumpeter + HPH conversion USN F/A-18C Hornet - Academy CIAO! Piero

She is in the paintshop. The scheme is mostly speculative, but following AD.1160 (Admiralty Directive??), also seen on Fireflies , Skua, Barracude, and others. No clear images of Kingfishers showing more detail of the Temperate Sea Scheme are know to exist (to me).

Hi Raphael, you have posed a question that will begin quite a debate I think. It probably depends on what you hope to achieve and how you like your models to look. For example, only Trumpeter offers the -A, -B and -D models out of the box. The Tamiya will need converting. If you enjoy lots of out of the box detail and an end result that looks generally like the subject you've chosen then possibly Trumpeter could be the way to go. That model has recessed panel lines and rivets that allow for washes and "artistic" finishes. There is some wheel well and cockpit detail plus you can pose the flaps down with wings extended I think. However, it has a number of glaring shape issues for those modellers who like a bit of accuracy. The intake openings are completely the wrong shape when looking from the front and the Phoenix pallets under the belly are wrong. The Tamiya kit is a much older design model. It has a combination of recessed and raised detail which although not popular with the more artistic approach to modelling favoured by many these days it is somewhat accurate to the full sized aircraft. The overall shape of the kit is generally better but it, too, has shortcomings. The cockpit is poor out of the box for a model of this scale and the main gear wells are woeful. The Black Knights boxing does address the burner cans though however, the flaps and slats are molded solidly within the wing so alot of work is required if they are to be posed down. Neither kit is perfect but both can be used as a base. Zactomodels has a number of beautiful parts for the Trumpeter kit to correct it's inadequacies and Aires produce resin cockpit sets for both kits as well as wheels and engine nozzles. I'm sure others will offer their opinions. Good luck and I hope to see your build here in LSP when you finally choose. Cheers.

I think if this kit were announced in 1/32 many of those complaining about the scale would be complaining because Trumpeter, Hasegawa, or Revell have already done perfectly good versions in 1/32 scale. I just don't get the complaint about scale, these kits already are represented in 1/32. So what is the knashing of teeth all about. I don't know if I want one or not but it is another choice. It fits the qualifications for an LSP as defined by this forum. If you have to be a 1/32 specialist there are plenty of alternatives to both subjects. I say calm down have another glass of wine and let's see what happens and if the kits are any good. All I care about is whether it is a good kit.

I’m making some good progress again. Stalled some over the main rotor. step 15 is set up wrong. The inner rotor parts, D5 & D6, go opposite each other not next to each other like the instructions show. next up are parts D21 &D22. I did not put these on in thus step. I waited till i had the 4 inner rotors on the main mast, so after step 15-2 but before starting 15-3. Those little tomahawks as I’m calling them are a pain. My one buddy couldn’t get them to fit so he made longer ones. I read 2 places where people had similar problems. It’s tough to figure out how they go from pictures we’re given but i got it. when you take them off the sprue they seem to bend at the head. As I straightened mine out they fit really well. Here’s what it looks like Those ugly pin marks are on the wrong side Academy! I made covers from 0.005” sheet as you probably noticed above. Sanding these was going to break them for sure. Finished product now it’s time for the paint booth. Lots going on this weekend for sure now. Here’s the black base beginnings. There’s just 2 or 3 touch ups to do tomorrow once this dries well. Then i can start mottling it and getting onto the final colors.

Because the other one sucks. Please let us be happy without being a debby downer for no reason.

Some people do find it very interesting, myself included, and are not depressed about it at all. To me it's more about personal research than modeling. However, imposing personal color standards on others' work is a little too unhelpful for me. Cheers, Damian

As usual, the build starts in the cockpit…. First I have to choose which seat to use, the one without any straps or the one with the straps molded in? I choose the ”strapped” seat, It looks quite good, actually, almost as good as a resin seat. The cockpit side panels built up… The cockpit floor… The engine started…. The Turbo/Compressor stage (?) Distributor, ignition ring and the mount for the seat pan…. The long propeller axle and the engine cooler…. The cooler is very nicely detailed…. Only thing left is to figure out which colors to use… I can´t read Japanese and I don´t know what color-system ZM refers to, I THINK it´s Vallejo or Gunze... Stefan

Time to start building again. Haven't done much lately, though with winter here and lockdown in effect, now is the time to build. I've always liked the Norn 72 scheme, reminds me of the WWII Luftwaffe bomber scheme. Build will for the most part OOB with some aftermarket. Have seats from AMS, look really good, just have to figure out which one is right or close..exhaust can from Eduard for the late J79. Decals will come from the great Daco sheets, The Ultimate Starfighter Decal Set!! The two top colors are from AK Modern Colors, RC087 Gelboliv RAL 6014 and RC212 Basalt Grau Ral 7012. References will be online and the excellent Daco book I've built 3 of these kits so far, relatively straightforward builds. I will probably do a canopy closed build, i just think the Zip is such a sleek aircraft, want it be closed up as far as canopy goes. Still trying to decide on squadron and specific aircraft, either JG71 Richthofen or JG74 Molders. Loadout still up in the air, don't know if it will be a clean build, weathered or heavily weathered.... lots of decisions... Don

1/32 Tamiya F-16 “DARK FALCON” "It’s a longstanding tradition within the Belgian Air Force to have an F-16 Solo Display Team perform during the airshow season. A legacy worth preserving. Once every two or three years, an experienced F-16 pilot is selected to represent the Belgian Air Force internationally. From 2018 onwards, for the next three seasons, Senior Captain (Sr.Cpt.) Stefan Darte will perform at airshows all over Europe with a freshly painted F-16AM." ‘Vador’ "Very early in his career, his fellow student pilots gave him his nickname. It was obvious that his surname had to be extended with the addendum 'Vador', referring to the main character in the popular Star Wars movies." Stefan Darte "Sr. Cpt. Stefan Darte was born in 1977. He is a highly experienced pilot which has been flying the F-16 'Fighting Falcon' for some years. He spent most of his career flying with the 1st 'Scottish Thistle' Squadron, 2nd Tactical Wing, based at Florennes Air Base. He's currently a fighter weapons instructor. With nearly 3.000 flying hours on the F-16, 'Vador' will be able to demonstrate the maneuverability of the Fighting Falcon convincingly." “The F-16 Demo Team is more than a pilot and an F-16. Vador is supported by a vast team of professionals, each with their own speciality. During the airshow season, the groundcrew of the F-16 Demo Team will ensure that the pilot can perform in the best possible conditions with a perfectly prepared aircraft.” The team itself consists of one display pilot, fourteen technicians and a webmaster. All team members belong to ordinary air force personnel which means they have to fulfil their duties as the members of the team as well as they are available for any mission to preserve peace and security worldwide. So, this is my take on this aircraft in 1/32 scale, before you mention it there are some things, I couldn’t do to replicate the aircraft properly, the engine isn’t correct and the smoke winders are home-made, there are a few other things, but I have used what I could. There are no decals in 1/32 so this is all airbrushed, and I made my own decals were necessary. I used MRP paints as they dry quick and helped me in the masking department, this isn’t finished as I am waiting on reed oak to send me the figures I need, but the aircraft its self is finished. Enjoy

Very sad to hear that Eleanor Wadsworth, Britain's last surviving female ATA pilot, died recently at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, aged 103. Blue Skies ma'am. https://www.bpha.org.uk/international-womens-day-britains-last-surviving-female-pilot-of-wwii/ https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/buryfreepress-uk/obituary.aspx?n=eleanor-wadsworth&pid=197359902&fhid=32750 As an aside, if you read the first link, you'll note that her retirement home was in Airfield Road. This refers to Rougham, also known as Bury St Edmunds, wartime home to the 94th BG and still an active, albeit smaller, airfield today.

Happy New years everyone!! Slow year, just two builds. Better than last year, had one aircraft done. These were don for group builds, first is a Marine phantom. Second is a Piper Super Cub Don

As some of you know I was the UK source for GSI products for a few years basically picking up Mr S at a Nuernberg back in the 80's and been in love with it ever since. How I became UK distributor is another tale!! As you know Mr S can be removed without sanding with IPA (isopropyl alcohol) or Mr Color Thinners, just a tip I have been using , try optical lens cleaners the thin tissue wipes in the little packet the paper is slightly abrasive and removes the filler well the original tissue come with a mild alcohol base but can be easily re-hydrated with the solvent of your choice. My brand of choice is Zeiss as for some reason I get them offered as an add-on with Amazon I paid just under £2.00 for a box of 100 tablet wipes same as the spec wipes but bigger

2020 was a rollercoaster ride with great up's and subsequent declines... All at the same time. The worst and the best year in large scale modeling. 2020 started out very good with the finished Aeromarine 75 build and the Hydro Monoplane I around February first. Then the Corona virus hit and Wingnut Wings crashed. At this point the stock was pretty thin regarding WNW's kits, only 3-4 in the stash. So I started 'collecting' what I could get my hands on without having to pay extra. I finally managed to finish the Fokker Dr. I Jasta 11 Roden triple diorama in April. Then I had to make up my mind where to go next.... This ended up becoming quite the struggle. And a lot of new builds were started F-16, Thuling G etc. At the end of June the KLP Arado build was ready to go... By now the WNW's stash was swollen to 12 + 2 duellists kits, I almost had every WNW kit I ever wanted. In the end, a second Felixstowe was the last one to be added to the stash. By the end of summer I was now working on 3-4 builds simultaneously, building in every direction possible... I finally settled on doing a build that I would be able to finish. Rodens Albatros D.III with Aviattic/Pheon decals. This helped me to begin focus on what I wanted to do next and the Rumpler 6B.1 Seaplane conversion was started... One of the great news this year were the resin kits from Lukgraph. The De Havilland DH.89 is one of my all time favorite's. And it was just what I needed and I managed to finish it in the dying days of this horrible year. On a positive note, in 2020 we finally got our Mengnut Fokker Dr. I and who knows, a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel regarding WNW's? Roden announced they would begin producing WWI large scale models again, SPAD XIII, Avro 504 & Sopwith 1½ Strutter are in the pipeline. Lukgraph is on a roll (please support) the highlight for me being the upcoming Friedrichshafen FF33L. Some very nice new kits are coming from ICM too. Copper State has announced the Caudron. I hope to be able to finish the Rumpler 6B.1 sometime soon and the T-33A after that. I will try my best not to run around like a headless chicken in 2021! Cheers: Kent

Thanks to everyone for the welcome and curiosity to have a look. OK so here is the Box Art, pretty nice but NOT by me...LoL. And dry fit of the cockpit assembly before paint. It really was quite a simple layout. I apologize if I made any photo insert faux pas. Using Google Pics for a source / host. Curious what other use to host...

Thanks guys! Alain, indeed those stacked plates avoid cleaning up mould lines of cylinder fins. In hindsight, I think I should have run the backside of all those little plates over a piece of sanding paper, to get rid of the die-cut ridges to lose the springy-ness of the stack and making the cylinders just that mm narrower. But that would be too much work. I fitted the rocker covers and the pushrod tubes. The latter were just long enough: Note that the round hole in the middle of the ridge of the crank case has been removed. It was supposed for a fuel injection valve and lines. But the engine I am making has no fuel injection so this had to go. Anybody who has been flying behind a Lycoming will notice immediately that something is missing: the oil filler pipe and cap (with dipstick) behind the rear cylinder at the right side. This is not in the kit and will be added! The inlet and exhaust pipes were lenghtened with a piece of rod. To keep track of the right part numbers I labelled them and taped them on a small piece of wood: Here the inlet pipes are fitted: Now, all kit parts of the engine that will be grey are fitted. The engine is now ready for its primer coat. Indeed it is, that's why i decided to do a WIP to show what it is like. Cheers, Peter

Howdy folks, I've just published the first What's New update for 2021. Happy New Year! Kev

SU-24, SU-30SM, SU-22

su-24

Let's be realistic, we need them all.

Wingtip damage up next. This is what I'm trying to recreate So I have a nice little supply of thick foil yogurt pot lids, that I've been squirreling away. I made up the wingtip from the kit then used the pattern to recreate the panels and rivets. Its not cut to the shape at the end simply because it wont be then. I then cut the tip down and glued in place before adding the foil and cutting and tearing it up. I also used some plasticard and some redundant photo etch to fill in the end and add some interest and try and match the photo. Think it will be OK? Aaron

OK, after a LONG detour to do a couple other builds and practice up my NMF skills, it's finally time to get started for real on the Mustang. Searching around the forums here I discovered that this kit was built several years ago, with phenomenal attention to added details, by Mark (dodgem37). While I don't for a minute think I'm capable of that same level of scratch-built super detail, I'm going to start by completely reading his thread and making notes on what I might want to try and emulate: Just as reviewing Sean's (Madmax) build of the Tamiya A6M5 Zero helped me do a bit better with my Zero, I hope to be able to up my game a bit on the P-51 by following along with a superb completed build. Since the first thing up per the instructions is the engine, I'm also off to scour the interwebs for color photos of that Packard V-1650... New Year, new warbird...good stuff.

I tend to agree; obsessing over specifics like paint particulars, can be a real joy killer, for sure.

Obligatory box art .... Seat choices .... 1. Kit Seat (light grey plastic) 2. MB Mk.10 seat from Aires Quickboost (preinstalled belts) at the upper right position 3. MB Mk.10 seat as produced by Eric Jolly (left of the other 2 seats) I plan on installing the Quinta belts and details on Eric's seat and choose between it and the Aires The Quinta Studios set Prepping the kit tub for the Quinta Studios set That's it for now ..... Scott

Maybe these pics could help too to understand the kinematics. Btw I have to agree with John regarding Revell's guideline.

This is not a "goof". The problem is that all existing models before this kit (and aftermarket manufacturers) treat the flaps of the 262 in the same manner as the flaps of the Bf 109, i.e. hinged at the front and dropping straight down. However, the flaps of the 262 are much more complex as they extend out and down. Hopefully these photos will help. I took these photos at the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 2015. At the time the aircraft was being dismantled in order to be moved to the Oberschleissheim facility and many panels were removed, which revealed a lot of information that otherwise would not have been visible. First, here is a photo of the underside of the flap. As you can see, the flap is not hinged at the front and when deployed there is a noticeable "gap" between the flap and the wing. Here is a photo of the flap seen from the back. On the right edge of the flap you can see a "pin" that connects to the wing. The kit flap parts have those pins, one on either side. The Eduard photo-etched parts have indentations for the pins. I recommend that you add those pins to the flaps, one on either side, maybe using metal rods as recommended by Matt above. If you look at the kit wing parts, you can see the indentations, close to the underside edge, on either side of the flap wells, where these pins are mean to "engage" in the open position. In the photo below, at the front of the flap you can partially see a part of the swing arm. That is the part that was represented by the small tabs at the front of the kit parts The small tabs are intended to go into the long slots cut on either sides of the curved "roof" of the flap well. I recommend that you add those tabs at the front of the flaps. I am sure that if you look at the kit parts and these photos, things will start to make sense, I hope this helps a bit. Radu

Thank you, I am very pleased that you like the workshop Now I'm working on marking the plane. I make them using Techmod PZL P11c decals and my own invention.

Much better! It's definitely overscale, but looks much better, even though the shape isn't completely correct, and the two sides of the fin are a bit uneven. I'm going with it. Kev

Apologies, I did not post progress pictures but I steadily worked on that one and so I am in the home stretch. This is a wonderful kit but by no means an easy kit. I struggled with the seamless intakes and the construction is far from perfect but at least I am pretty happy with how the paint scheme turned out. I need to attach the flaps and ailerons and then next step will be gloss coat and decals. I can't wait to see the Russian star on this bad boy. I hope you like the scheme. Cheers, David

Last week I started this 1:350 Academy kit to kill the covid boredom during this lock down. Just finished the decks last night using scaledecks decking https://scaledecks.com/ They are nice but take a little work to fit as they are not a perfect drop in item likely due to them being thin wood and change with humidity. They don't come with pre-applied sticky glue either, you have to brush wood glue on them first. I had to cut the forward deck into three pieces as it was far too big of a section to do in one go.

Fun ride Alex, I really enjoyed this and learned alot too. Thanx, Bill