Leaderboard

result! I didn't know if the oval was part of it or not, so you have both - PM me your mail address Brian and I will ping it over Peter

AIMS Mistel S3C update.... cockpit finished! Obviously flash photography is not very kind on your modelling skills but without a studio set up there is no way to see into all the nooks and crannies. Thanks for looking, J

I took a deep breath and made the cut on the real wings. After around 20 dry fits and small adjustments, the new radiators were a drop fit. Well, actually a wiggle-to-drop-fit because of the glued wing halves but anyway now I'm here: and with the housings dry fitted: The fit may look a little bit rough but the intake ramps were'nt glued in the above picture. They're CA'ed now and it looks like there's only minimal clean up required. Less so, if I could have fitted them from above... To finish up the fuselage I have to insert the camera in its bay, but it needed some paint before that. Here we go with a dark blue grey for the F.24 and a little darker hue for the cradle I will have to figure out the actual attachment in the fuselage now. There were wooden cross bars with a slot to attach the cradle as it can bee seen partially on this PR XIX. The bars themself were directly attached to the bulkheads. So, it's down to cutting some styrene sheet/profiles.

Tonight i was all set to move forward with the canopy, finishing up my take on the jettison mechanism. But. There’s frequently a but. When i put the canopy in the open position, my scratchbuilt arch and jettison mechanism was sitting on ghe track for the chain drive, and it would not sit properly. i seek this stance all of the photos of open canopies show the canopy flush or very nearly sitting on the skin of the spine. But not mine. My clever replacement part and jettison mechanism made it sit probably 5 scale inches high. no go. I tore it out and started over. The obvious issue is, the sprue gate that i tried to use didnt have a tight enough diameter, and didnt rise high enough to clear the mechanism. so out came my first instinct before i got cute with the sprue, good old plastic card stock. i used a circle template to ensure the curve was a good deal more severe than the former sprue part. out came the punch and die, and a few simple parts make a good representation of something that looks like it turns. Later i will add some fine brass rod to represent the linkages and actuators, whatever they are called. here you can see the new part is indeed much higher of an arch to give the clearance needed. i even improved my old design by putting a styrene disc under the “arms“ to give it more depth. Thats all i got finished tonight. I am happy with the new part and will carefully check to make certain the canopy fits correctly before proceeding.

Stabs.............Printed, sanded, primed. Yeah! In the first picture you can see the 90 degree metal tab. Everything is just dry fit at this point. I am not sure about the exact dimensions of the stab. They look a little big to me, but I will check against my references. Next the wings. I plan to produce 2 different configurations. One with everything in the neutral position and one with slats and flaps deployed, printed as one unit. Dan

Hello all, Happy New year and thank lordy 2021 has right done one...Lets hope 2022 is a lot, lot better for us all. This was started in 2021 so i cant really claim this to be a 2022 build, but one that rolled over into 2022. The Trumpeter P-47D kits seem to be a little hit and miss as i've built a few and this one was a real tricky customer which need a fair amount of filler, sanding and re-scribing (replacing panels that was destroyed in the sanding exercise) to look half decent. I'm working on a few more weathering processes to make my aircraft look more realistic, so if there are any comments on the weathering that may need improvement please leave a comment as all comment are welcome. This aircraft is: P-47D-30-RE Sno 44-20344 #54 ‘Norma/Little Bunny/Helen and flown by Lt. William "Willy" Lyke and shared with Lt. Brad Muhl. The Aircraft is finished in RAF Green upper surfaces and Medium Sea Grey lower surfaces. The aircraft has the Leading edge of the nose cowl finished in red while the tail and wings have yellow identification stripes. the aircraft was an ex-Brazilian aircraft that was turned over to the 57th FG who painted over some of the markings resulting in a patchwork Olive Drab/RAF green finish. The name Norma was added by Lt. Brad Muhl and this was to impress his girlfriend who was a nurse in Pisa, Italy. Paint: I tend to stick with Gunze as much as i can and went for 303 for the cockpit interior. 27 for the wheel bays, the main paints were 13 (medium grey) and 23 (RAF Drab) with 38 (US tank Drab) for the camo scheme. Aftermarket: Only added Master 32004 1/32 Gun Barrels, Brassin Wheels and Eagle Cal's EC#104 set. As ever Eagle Cal do a great job on their decals but i wish they included the prop markings in this set. Seat belt are scratch built with tape and spare buckles. As i said, please comment on the weathering is there is anywhere i can improve on this. Keep safe folks.

Thanks Maru Next little nightmare to take on, is the exhaust nozzle. The Italeri nozzle seems to be some sort of hybrid between an open and closed nozzle. It cannot be corrected, only replaced. I used some plastic tube tube to make the new clam shells. Added another layer of tube on the outside of it to create the bulged appearance, with some filler to blend it. Lots more detail goodies to on the inside. Cheers, John

another model with a fork stuck in it. The upper windows are tinted blue/green but it's not really visible here Ok so the flaps shouldn't be down but when given the option I figured I would use them

Hi Guys, Some more bits and bobs on the Ta152C. I decided to break up the blue areas with standard RLM76 rather than the RAF Sky I used to get the late war grunge 76. so I masked up the flaps and applied standard 76 as if they were wood and subcontractor factory painted. Finished result. Its not much of a difference but every little helps! Ailerons also lightened on the top surface, again sub contractor painted. This morning I cut some more masks on the Silhouette to make the fuselage identity numbers. Paint is MMP-101 Insignia red over their Pink Primer. Abbreviated airframe number on the port fin side only, which seems to have been common practice at the end of the war. As it is at the moment. Reading the Japo books it seems like late war FW-190D airframes didn't have much in the way of data and servicing stencils applied, generally the fuel and oil triangles, maybe First Aid cross, power socket and Oxygen but very little else. So I expect the production Ta152C would be issued in a similar state. That's it for now. Hope you like it a bit. Regards, Bruce Crosby

This one arrived this morning...

OK, OK, this was bugging me so much I just had to "fix" it. In almost all of the pics I have of the R-2800 engine, which of course is many different versions, the rocker covers are bare metal aluminum, so I left them that way. On this particular kit, these features are split down the middle as the cylinder halves come together, which usually leaves a big gap which I filled with CA glue to make them look a bit better, but they have always been an inferior feature of this engine. No two of these covers is formed the same and the size and outline of them is all over the place. Painting them black would hide much of that, so I dug a little deeper thanks to spartacus2000. Here's a pic of someone working on the engine (Will Ferrell's Dad?), which sure looks like wartime and as an added bonus, it's even in color. Note the color of the rocker covers. Jet Black. Also note the wing-root panel that he's standing on, which is a one piece wraparound and when the rear engine cowling covers are off, this panel usually is as well, so I think I'll be leaving it off too. Also notice the rear of the front cowling, which is full of fastener receptacles, which I'll be adding later since the front cowlings will always be off, as well as the faint panel line just above the "4", while there is no join just above "Rocker" where the kit parts have one. I was reluctant to paint these little suckers, because I SUCK at brush painting and I didn't want to make a mess. Using black enamel paint, which I could fix with plain solvent against a lacquer background, it turned out better than I thought it might. A reluctant close-up pic to show how crappy the rocker covers are formed in the first place- and my brush painting. At least the black paint forms a shape, which is mostly missing from the kit parts. There, it's now "fixed" and while I was at it, I learned a few new things about engine cowling details that I'll use later. Cheers, Chuck

This model has been collecting dust for over 16 years. I lost the compressor faces and landing gear during a move so I decided to build it wheels up, then found out I'd lost cockpit components (seats) as well. I bought seated resin pilot figures to add to the model, still didn't find the ambition to build it. During some farting around...I mean test fitting, I found the Aires resin cans I had bought when the kit was new were never going to fit the model being about 2mm smaller in diameter than the kit pieces. Another reason to keep in the S.O.D. then I bought Reskit exhausts, and Foxbot stencils, a submission to Scale Aviation Modeller International "Jurassic Plastic" many years ago also earned me a set of 1/32 Russian numbers/ markings for Russian aircraft and then, this group build coming up, maybe I can work up some love for the big Sukhoi. In the hopes I could get going on it, I also (just tonight) ordered the Zacto intakes and weapons pylons. Don't expect a miracle here...but thanks for looking

Thanks Sooooo, I think I've found all the pieces (all the big pieces) I'll need to put this SOD kit together. Some pieces may need to be scratched, and I'm still awaiting some upgrade parts from Zacto. I found some parts in another SOD box of a kit Trumpeter 1/32 Ju-87 (maybe do that next) some comparisons; the Reskit parts left, (amazing stuff) Aires (undersize) center and, kit parts right; Reskit stuff is really nice! some parts; and some more parts; An idea of how long this kit has been on the shelf- That's an automotive OBD 1 scan tool connector Intakes (to be replaced with Zacto stuff) Thanks for looking

I built this kit many years ago (and have another one in the stash), and it wasn't such a big deal to mask the canopy by hand: Kev

Normally I wouldn't post another pic so soon with only a minor change, but in this case the minor change involved a couple hours of math. I was calculating the curvature needed for a decal to wrap around a conical surface. On the Honey Badger the tip tanks have formation lights ("slime lights") installed near the rear of the tip tanks. Maybe it was overkill, but I had to derive the formulas, measure the location on the tip tank to get three parameters: small diameter, large diameter and thickness for the decal, plug those numbers into the formulae, then convert from millimeters to pixels and draw the decals in Gimp. All for a very tiny slime light. It needs to be cut out with an X-acto knife, which may as well be a chain saw after all the measuring and calculating.

UPDATE: The Dr called the family in to say their goodbyes. He said that even with a ventilator, she's too far gone. He thinks it won't be very long. It don't matter to me what other people's religious views are (although I respect them), I am a former preacher and I've seen GOD move in impossible situations and miracles happen, so we're not giving up until it's either finally over or she pulls through. Will keep updates as we here it Tim

Luckily the Top Drawings Grumman F4F Wildcat book came with drawings in 1/32 scale which will help with making the tail taller. First of all a blob of 20 thou plastic card was glued to the existing rudder with Tamiya White glue and reinforced with VMS Black supergoo. Then it was out with the really harsh sanding sticks and slowly working back to a fine and finer grit until I was happy with the shape and finish. The rudder looked the easiest part to convert to the taller tail until the shape was traced out and then the shape is very different from the original rudder, not wanting to make a completely new part a compromise was made here with original part being thinned in the cord as mush as possible without completely throwing out the shapes again the 20 thou stock came out and was glued to the top of the rudder after the tip had been removed lots and lots shaping later the rudder looks half descent. Both sides well on the way to completion The shape doesn't look too bad but there is still the need to fill the upper hinge point and then create a new one higher up, along with making a scallop shape to replicate the fabric at the rear of the rudder on the attached pieces.

This one has moved back to the bench almost 2 years to the day since beginning! So here's where we kick off. The cockpit can't be fitted after the fuselage half are closed (which is my normal preference), so everything (except the seat harness, is being installed Let's see if I can get this across the line this time! Denzil

Hello all I brought this one across the finish line just before New Years but I only had time to take some pictures now. (For the Photo Geeks amongst us, I used a Canon EOS 5Ds with a 24-105mm L lens and a 80x80x80cm lightbox) The kit was my first full blown resin kit and it was a little intimidating to say the least. Up until now I did not enjoy using large amounts of CA glue but it has been a good experience. The fit is overall very good, especially between the 3D printed parts. It is a big heavy model but the landing gear (3D printed as one piece) is very sturdy and supports the model very well indeed. How great is it to have a 1/32 JA37 Viggen! - now bring on the Draken!! Enjoy /Niels

Caling the ejection seats done. Not really sure what to think of it but this is the best it gets. It took me 8 hours.......... Rick

Good evening Chaps many thanks for the nice comments and questions As the FM-2 has a single row 9 cylinder engine the kit one will need to be replaced as that is a double row 7, as luck would have and a short search on the internet I found a nice resin engine from Vector that would fit the bill just nicely (1/32 Wright R-1820-G (late) Engine Vector Resin #32-006) Great resin quite rather vague instructions after the cylinder heads were attached it was time for push rods which have been cut from stretched 0.5mm wire cut to length and glued in place with super goo. Ignition leads made from 0.3 tubing and 0.2mm wire also fitted with VMS super goo Unfortunately lost a couple of work in progress pictures When the engine was completed and all the pushrods added the engine got a nice coat of Tamiya LP-1 Black to make it nice and shiny the tops of the engine heads were sprayed Tamiya LP-11 Silver and the bottom of the heads Tamiya LP-20 Light gun metal. All the pushrods painted Mig satin black followed by a Silver wiring harness with rubber black leads and brass for the ends Neutral grey for for the Crank case head and a couple of decals from the spares box to liven up the whole thing. A test fit for the engine within the cowling showed the need to sand some material from the top off the pushrod heads for the correct positioning the loss of material wont be noticed as that is a quite tight opening. Slight problem arose from reading the reference material in that I had basically built the a Dauntless engine this was soon corrected by moving the air intake One air intake removed and three new ones built and ready for paint The almost completed engine looking much more like the one fitted to an FM-2

Exactly. Although I have a 335 kit myself, my understanding is there were only 12 built, so the number of different kits represents 33% of the entire production volume, yet we don't have a 1/32 wartime Meteor. Meteors took out more buzz bombs than the entire production run of 335s, yet we have 4 versions of the DO from 2 different manufacturers, and no wartime Meteor. Heck, there's a resin P59, which never saw combat, but no wartime Meteor...

Amazing work, as always. This clip may be of interest:

Hi John WOW !!! I salute your tenacity to enhance tiny details such as this nozzle , so , I was intrigued , , so I took a look at my Mi III C kit , well , I think , that the nozzle , .....how can I say ... fills !!!??? the "rump " , and looks wide open .( it's only my opinion )...............I agree , the inside details are ..so so , and need some improvements , if you allow , here is how I fixed this area ...note , I don't want to be an adviser , you don't need one cheers Alain

Well the twin just got completed ive learned some lessons on this one, - i dont like the HGW wet transfer decals, the top insignia had some crumble and the bottom one bubbles. - When it come to fiber optics -- not a great idea to have them in movable parts (wingfold) -- they dont like super glue -- they dont like Tamiya extra thin -- they get less flexible once painted last night while finalizing the wing fold i broke 3 stands on the right wing and 1 on the right, rendering nav light 1 position light and 1 top light useless, ive rarely been mad while model building but i had to put the plane down for couple hours to prevent myself from throwing it at the wall. All in all it was a fun project and i learned a bunch of new things so its a win in my book here are some tease shots ill break out the camera this weekend and take some shots of both of the F4u's for RFI Thanks for following along!

I am really quite overwhelmed by all the nice feedback - Thank You so much /Niels

Hi, friends! My bird is ready for painting Regards, Sergey.

Well, maybe we are getting something big and new! This is from their Facebook page this morning: "It's almost time. With new introductions in all your favourite categories, our huge new offering is not one you'll want to miss. Get ready for Airfix 2022! Details below 10th January 2022 16:00 (GMT) uk.airfix.com #Airfix #Airfix2022" So, who knows? Maybe we will be in for a treat. - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA

Greetings colleagues! Happy New Year! I wish you be health and safe in the new year! By the way, I read that unguided rockets were tested on the He-162. What do you think if I install air-to-air missiles on the He-162?

Hey all, my wife and I found out several hours ago that her sister has COVID really, really bad and the hospital don't think she's gonna make it very long. She's not on a ventilator per her request (DNR), but her oldest son is getting an emergency POA in order to override it. I (We) would appreciate any and all prayers right now for her. Her name is Janie! Thanks in advance! Tim

Here's a re-paint I did for a good friend of mine. She started out as a 1/18th scale JSI VF-84 "SpotCat". I didn't do any bodywork, seam filling, panel fastener detail to her, like I did on my F-14B conversion. I did scratch-build the tail stiffeners, the GPS dome on the spine, the wing glove sealing plates, the reinforcement plate around the RIO's boarding step and, one of the small circular pieces that hold the tailhook in place ( it was broken off and missing when he received her ). I also shortened the IFF / Data Link antenna. Built him one of my custom stands and made the display plaque. This is one scheme that I wish JSI had released, I really like it. Enjoy the pics. Steve "TOMCATS FOREVER, BABY...!"

Love the messy workspace I never trust people who can model and keep tidy.

Before I begin painting the aircraft I want to finish up the prop and prop hub. Prop Boss got a base of Gunze 69 Off White over Gunze Mr. Primer Surfacer 1200 gray. The white base is to give the bright green some visual punch. Then I cut spiral tape and secured in place. Gunze 66 Bright Green applied. Why the green prop boss? This A29 will be a VMFA-121 Green Knights livery. After paint dry the spiral tape removed. Some very minor cleaning will be needed. Those double stripe prop tips! I knew going in this might be difficult. Decals were out of the question. Then I had an epiphany. After an overall Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1500 black I hit the tips with Gunze Mr Surfacer 1200 gray. This will help the white show up and limit the number of coats. Maketar Utility Mask Series in 1mm strips are a beautiful thing. I cut 3 short strips of 1mm strip tape about 6mm long and carefully removed keeping all three strips intact. Slide an xacto blade and lift the three strips up at same together. After tape is applied on prop blade you carefully peel back the center strip. Now you have equal stripe spacing. Masking method applied on the prop blade. Do one side at a time. You'll be surprised how easy this is. Just a little time consuming. Now apply some Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1500 Black followed by MRP 77 NATO black. Masks removed shows good equal spacing. Laid out all prop blades with prop boss. I'm happy with results. Prop assembly was figitey at best. I used putty and gently pushed the frontplate into putty. Then locate attach points for blade and carefully push into putty. Carefully aligning each prop to the backplate into correct position with the prop blades. A touch of glue (TET) secured each prop blade. Prop boss secured. I like the look and will be a great contrast to the overall Gunze 305 Dark Gray FS36118 finish.

I’m amazed that they only made a single kit of the Meteor, while releasing 4 Do335 versions. Nothing against the Do335. I have all 4 kits and am happy to have them. Just would have liked to have other Meteor versions too.

I’d love to see decals for the inside of pilot’s NVG’s. This is a market sector that’s been ignored!

Upon further review, my belief that stabs looked too big, is correct. I will redesign. This is an issue that I have had before. Either I am making measurement mistakes or I am using two different drawings that don't match up. Makes it hard sometimes to know what is actually correct. Dan

Been there, done that on a -2800, and, quite frankly, it’s sucked! (Not a Hellcat, FG-1 Corsair!) Looking good, Chuck! Thor

A Blackbird looks good next to anything.

Both have vanished unfortunately, i managed to grab a kinetic F slatted wings(i would prefer korean war one) and just found a f-86d. Didnt hobby boss make a huge f-86 recently? Im really really hoping for a sea furry in 24th scale we dont have any in 32nd appart from the unoptabium fisher and the hobby craft but that dosent have folding wings so its dead to me. This is the same reason i ended up with 2 typhoons, there are just no other options In 24th scale i want to see planes with wing folds

In compare with Bunker Buster kit fuel tank.

i started with shooting all of the exterior parts white: stay tuned....

Haven't been very active here for months, life and other issues got in the way. Had some time over Christmas and New Year, and with Omicron requiring working remotely from home, I thought I should finish the last bits to go on the Mustang, so I can finally call it done. ...but first, another distraction. I bought the superb AIMS 1/24 FAA/RAF pilot figure, and the flying gear closely matched a colour photo I have of an RCAF Mustang pilot, so I thought that I would tackle that first. It will provide some scale for the Mustang, and a bit of "life". The figure itself is excellent...crisply moulded and sharp features that are easily painted. If you have a post-war Commonwealth aircraft subject in 1/24 scale ( I know, not exactly thick on the ground ) that needs a pilot, you need to order this one. I may order one more just to have another crack at it. Here is the progress so far. I've never painted a figure before, and found acrylics aren't very good at blending. I found laying down thin coats of very thinned paint built up the depth in a convincing (to me) manner. Skin...still not happy with that but I'm going to leave it alone. There are still some bits of equipment and hoses, ties, and straps to paint but I'm pleased so far. It needs to be matte coated to make the fabric look more natural, and less shiny and wet looking. The map he's holding is a copy of a vintage military air navigation map I found online and reduced it to scale size and printed it. Funny enough, it's of southern Ontario and the Great Lakes from 1952, which would have been the area 424 Squadron would have been flying over. The head also has a separate mask with dangling straps and oxygen hose, which I haven't painted yet. Still needs a bit of refinement... Anyway, I'm not dead, just been very busy the last few months. I need to catch up on all the fabulous work you've all been doing! Richard

Thanks all. I'm more concerned about my wife and Janie's family actually than I am myself. Tim

And here's where it stands at the moment, ready to mask up and shoot a first undercoat. The grey marks are the remains of where I've painted unthinned Tamiya acrylic into the joints, then sanded it back. It makes an excellent tell-tale for any faults, and also acts as a filler for very small scratches and other dings. Wet-sanding it with fine wet-and-dry can get a bit messy, though.

Happy Nude Year, everyone. Back from Holiday I rushed down to the Lair to do some painting.. Not much to show, but at least I can button up the cockpit and move on. Added seat belts and flat coat. I don't know what that red is at the circuit breaker, but I'll go check. I see it needs some dusting off. Painted the wheels instead of using decals. Paint cracked at throttle. I'm going with it anyway. Flat coat then some gloss over the instrument faces, pull handle, and knobs. Thank you for looking in. Sincerely, Mark

Thanks for the encouragement! The first of the two trim colors is on after a full day of masking...well not all day, I stopped for coffee and lunch and stuff. Anyway, a couple of pics of the model in it's masked up and painted glory, awaiting the second trim color. Thanks for looking

Some photo's of the underside, the cockpit, and Luigi's helmet...

Hi! Some work has been done! I painted interior details and (because i'm lazy man ) add some of the Quinta 3D decals (I combined Aires and Quinta))) I also added rivets to the fuselage and remade sleeve outlets. Regards, Sergey!

Progress has been slow, but has been happening on the Camel. Weathering is pretty much done, assembly has begun, and the finish line is somewhere in sight. Not 100% satisfied with it, but I'm not sure that any of us are ever truly satisfied with our work. Still need to thread the last two cabane struts in, then get ready for all of the rigging. Matt