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Afternoon all, My modelling mojo has deserted me of late, but I have had the beginnings of a return the last couple of days, so fancied doing a bit more to the Stirling. A while ago I made all the framing for the bomb aimer’s windows from Evergreen, as the kit supplied parts are completely the wrong shape and the plan was/is to add my own glazing. Thankfully, and despite the incorrect shape, I have been able to use parts of the kit supplied clear parts, carefully measuring and cutting them one by one: They were then ‘dropped’ into the framing using Formula 560 canopy glue, with the edges neatened up and sealed with Milliput Black. The end result isn’t too bad and once the whole area has been blended in with a top coat of paint, it should pass muster from 50 yards! I’m leaving the centre panel right until the end as a means to remove any bits of dust or stray debris - plus I need to make the bomb sight mounts which will be very fragile. Another job ticked off… More when there’s more. Tom

hello chaps thank you for the wonderful response - I had hoped it would be welcome news I think your persistence & longing was a large part of the decision Max also like that Tangmere idea a lot - this was my first thought - I know nothing other than it doesn't look like any Typhoon I have seen.. Thanks Dennis - all of those are in my wheelhouse I did look at the Battle but it is bloody huge so thought I would save that ambition for later thanks Andy - any details and suggestions are welcome - I did talk to Chris Thomas about a Desert scheme but he was a bit concerned about it as he has never located 'adequate photo's or drawings' - I mean I found this one, but for all I know it is in a bleached temperate scheme ..did you swoon Kev? thats all that matters to me now that is the highest compliment I have ever been paid and makes it all worth it completely untrue, but I like it anyway thanks Will the cockpit is indeed a challenge - in 1/32 and in 3D it is quite a fragile structure so would need to be super tough resin like the tough Defiant parts. There are also a number of assembly options that all have pro's and cons including what you are looking at which is all the framework is one part, but it is quite a job to minimise (& remove)the supports but make sure it is not compromised. I also tried having the side tubular structure in the fuselage halves with cross pieces and haven't discounted it, but it's not preferable.. thats pretty much why I started a WIP as I don't profess to be an expert so by showing and trying I am sure ideas will flourish I got a slot to test print a few bits, my iphone takes crap pics so I bought a camera but it's not here yet so apologies for the quality.. one thing I will say is IGNORE THE LAYER LINES I deliberately print at 70 microns so I get parts out quickly and spend no time at all thinking about orientation so as to get clean 'grain free' surfaces - these are just proof of concept prints to validate details, shapes etc and are whacked with mr surfacer to see what is going on.. the prop and spinner.. ..happy with that, no further work needed.. ..tailwheel.. ..same - happy with that.. ..tailplane.. largely happy, the elevator even has pop rivets with holes in which I think will come out with a wash, but you will see the trailing edge while nice and sharp is wonky behind the outer hinge - likely a print problem, but that is the sort of thing these are supposed to flush out.. other than that, happy days... ..now these are interesting parts as they are the proof of concept for the IM clear parts.. here I am looking for shape issues and fit - in fact the kit will feature both types of rear canopy - this type with the aerial and the later type with no framework as this is what JP843 the subject had.. in this pic the windscreen is a test where I want the part to sit in a hole in the fuselage, not on top of it. This is because it's the only way I can see where the shaped fairing into the fuselage can be represented and as long as the fit is super clean there is no seam to fill.. ..the upper canopy has two vertical triangular supports to align it with the windscreen to test the forward join which actually is excellent the parts are just resting on each other as there is actually a structure between the front and rear sections.. ' hinging that part (or at least showing it open) is another problem to solve and may involve a moulding for closed and one for open - i hope not as thats more bits and more cost... ..the door will likely be 3D with acetate glass to keep scale thicknesses.. otherwise, that bit seems to be going well.. ..the gear bay.. ..lots going on here actually - the wing and bay are ONE part / one print - I don't want a join at the dihedral break which brings its own problems, but this way, there are no seams anywhere and the anhedral (yes it did) and dihedral will be perfect.. that said one problem I have seen with the Defiant is the concept of fewer parts means less value for money people feel so i need to tread carefully.. in terms of fixes here - the spar structure by the gear mount is missing so that needs supporting properly, the framework at the rib should be straight so that has been corrected already, and the obviously over sized gear mount, but there is not a lot I can do about that.. there is also an odd flaw in this print where there is some kind of artefact running through the spar to the gear mount - you can see one end of it sticking out at the wing root.. that is corruption of some sort in the slice file or something, but other than that I was very pleased that the spar, all the ribs, the pipes and the rivet detail all came out well and most importantly the wing itself is strong (it's hollow) and the right shape with great surface detail (not finished yet) so the one part for a wing experiment was a success I hope the process is interesting, and if nothing else it keeps me busy posting as I am building absolutely nothing at the moment... TTFN Peter

Locals will already be aware the The Australian Model Expo is currently on this King's Birthday long weekend at the Sandown Racecourse. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I was only able to attend yesterday (Saturday), and have posted photos of the Kotare Bf 109K-4 and Spitfire Vb in the relevant thread. Here I'll show a selection of photos I took of some of the models on display. I didn't take many, and mainly focussed on the LSP stuff, so apologies in advance for that. So, let's look at those first: Airfix 1/24: Airfix 1/24: Kotare Spit: Kotare Bf 109K-4 test shot build by Sam Dwyer: Quite amazing to see two 1/32 Liberators on the same table, along with 3 Lysanders! Oddly, the only LSP jet I came across was this one: There was probably an entire table of them somewhere that I missed. The stand-out LSP entry of the show for many of us (including myself), was Les Applebee's amazing conversion of the HK Lancaster to an RAAF Lincoln: Suffice to say that my photo hardly does it justice. More in the next post... Kev

In amongst "somebody else's" Typhoon grabbing all the headlines, Z-Zebra has been getting her stripes: The last is a simple cardboard mask that I'll be using when I spray the wheel wells. So this love-child of Revell and MDC might soon have a godparent before too long!

Now that's what I call fast, ordered Friday delivered Sunday, thank you Peter. Cheers Dennis

I also took a few snaps of some other things that caught my eye, but there was a lot of stuff I missed, and many great models beyond just these ones. This thing was gigantic! 3D print I believe: Some civil stuff: But the non-LSP highlight of the show for me was this gigantic-scale Back to the Future DeLorean, complete with animated lighting and a superb display: I really should have taken a video of it! Among all the other excitement of the day, the fire alarm went off at one point, and we all had to evacuate the venue, which ended up looking quite surreal from the outside: So there we have it! Good luck to all the entrants with their models in the comp, and hopefully next year I'll be in a position to not only attend more than one day, but also enter something! After all, someone needs to hold down that last place... Highlights: great models, great people, and catching up with the guys from Kotare; Lowlights: the food, and the trip across town. Kev

I finally finished painting the interior and exterior of both the glider and the little things. Glossy varnish is in front.

Work continued on the beast, starting with masking over the bare metal area and priming the model, this time using Alclad Black with Microfiller, and, if I was a "what-if" kind of person, I would happily leave it like this, ans it looks pretty mean in all black! I then sprayed the model with FS36118 Med Gunship Gray, but when I peeled off the masking tape, some of the bare metal came off with it (I primed and sprayed the bare metal before my son's birth in Sept, mind you.) Seeing this, I reprimed the affected areas, and resprayed my Alclad, blending it into the bare metal that stayed, and also finally added the burner cans. I also primed/sprayed the canopy and windscreen, attached the canopy to the rail and test fit those items. Still a little more catch-up to do to get my progress up to current here without bombarding y'all with a massive photo dump! As always, thanks for stopping by the hangar!

I pulled the F-8 off of the shelf-of-doom to try to get it across the finish line. While it's only been 8 and a half years since the last post, a lot of things have happened in the mean time. Here's a quick shot to show where things currently stand. The cockpit is done, fuselage is closed up, the first coat of primer is on. The white on the underside is on. Last night I adjusted the fit of the resin front windscreen, by dipping it in hot water. The front end was a bit narrow and the aft end a bit wide. It took a few tries going back and forth to get it ok. Then it got a dip in Future. I'm also working on the interface between the wing and fuselage. The wing will be posed down, but here the putty is drying so I've just placed the wing on top. Mike

Hey guys its Ernest; thank you for the kindness you have shown my daughter on this thread! Ani knows I post builds on the forum and she asked to post the house we built together. I thought it was a neat idea and hopefully seeing how much support she is getting from the master level craftsmen, many of whom I feel I now and consider my friends as well as having a huge amount of respect for each of your very high skill levels, will inspire her to continue down the craftsmanship route. Ernest

So we can expect to see it finished by tomorrow then Dennis 😂

OK, here's the update. Model Expo in Melbourne is a 3-day event that takes place over the King's Birthday long weekend, but I was only able to attend yesterday (Saturday). Even so, it was a great show, with many magnificent models on display (not the least of which was Les Applebee's 1/32 Lincoln conversion). More pertinent to this topic however, was that I was able to speak not only to Richard Alexander about the status of the K-4 release, but also to Mark Robson (Kotare owner), who made a surprise appearance at the show. The official word is that the kit is now in production, with the exact release date down to the vagaries of that production schedule, along with the logistics involved with shipping them hither and thither. But for now, they're on target for the end of this month or early next for the kit to hit the streets. Here's a few (admittedly poor) photos of the production sprues: And finally, a sneak preview of the Spitfire Vb (early) kit: I was very pleased to hear that Mark is a fan of LSP, and he is of course a member here. Perhaps forums aren't dying after all! Kev

And the finish

Here are the finished model of the Wingnut Wings DH.9a Ninak. I went with the boxart version. This would have me change a few things I haven't tried before - like moving the stitching and using the PE version + making the cutout for the observer. This was also the first 2 seat biplane I have built. Apart from a few mistakes, Im very happy with it 😄 Thank you all for the motivation along the way!

The nose landing gear parts are cast metal. The two lower arms had cast stub axles that didn't meet in the middle and were a bit small, so the nose wheel was pretty wobbly in there. I cut off the two stub axles, and drilled out a 1 mm hole to run a 1 mm brass rod through, to serve as a new axle that goes all the way through. But the bore in the nose wheel is 2 mm. So I cut some brass tube to 4 mm lengths, and drilled them out, to slip over the 1 mm axle to give me a 2 mm OD. Now the position of the nose wheel is much better defined and overall things are stronger. Mike

Not quite, it will probably take me 6 months to open the box and read the instructions. Cheers Dennis

Coated the model with glossy varnish

I just spent 15 minutes trying to figure out why the engine on my BF-109E doesn't fit. Mainly because I've never built a German fighter before and guess who overlooked the fact the engine goes in upside down...

Adding missing details to the inside of the fuselage sides, and building the floor for the rear fuselage floor. There's going to be a lot going on in the rear fuselage, with two flare tubes (with hatches), F-24 camera (with hatch), Aldis sight (for framing vertical photos), Mark VII bomb-sight (with hatch), antenna reel, bomb-aiming instrument panel, bombing control panel, and the TR.11B radio installation.

Thanks Tom, It's just stupid styrene.... Ha Ha. Hi here, there and everywhere. I want the Jumo 213E to look like it has been flown and not like a new engine.

Had a splash of white paint left, so figured I’d see how she looks under a coat of paint. Not enough though, so a trip to the local shop is on tap for tomorrow. As I was spraying the Shrikes and LAUs, I realized I’d made a boo boo. Or maybe I should mount it backwards and see if anyone notices 😬 More after I buy some paint! -Peter

Hello, Few years ago I've made this 1/48 what if Lightning... which was sold and I've decided that I need larger one, same as 1/48. And here it is, brand new, with custom decals, resin seat and Master Pitot's boom. I won't leghten it but I'll shorten main gear legs.

3 videos showing the proper way to paint, and do touch ups, mainly a Spitfire: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060020850 Jari

Actually they are somewhat useful at times. The rest - just trying to be cute. They are scaled pretty well, so gives the viewer another indication of the size of the component in real life. For instance - this post! Last post I showed pictures of hard-fought-for Rhino models of forming blocks for the empennage fillet fairings. They printed up nicely: Now to put them to work. Here I show one of the eleven fairing details sitting on a form block after using it to form and trim the detail. It was exceedingly difficult to form with its two compound curved valleys. Heavy-handed work best done on the form block; not on the model. Add faux fasteners, and it is ready for installation. Here is the first of the eleven details bonded onto the fuselage and empennage: Wahoo!! As you might guess, not an easy forming task either. And then after a couple days of hard work, I got them all finished and installed. I am reasonably satisfied, not absolutely thrilled mind you. I took full advantage of the welded seams defined on the drawing as an excuse for some less-than-perfect butt joints at the severely curved edges (three places). It's the best I could muster methinks. Take a look: The form blocks have done their job, and are now relegated to my ever-increasingly populated bone yard. Those fillet fairings had been on my mind on again and off again for months. One of those things to wring hands over. They were small, tough to handle, and finicky - but they are also done. Actually, as I near the finish line, I do not think any of the remaining tasks are as challenging. The elevators, rudder, and tail gear doors should be more straight forward. And they are next. So stay tuned as we run the last lap or two!

Recommendations? Stand by! OK, in no particular order: Frank Ziegler was the Intelligence Officer of 609 Squadron and was in a unique position to write about the pilots and all the other personnel who comprised a fighter squadron. More than half of the book is about their time spent on Spitfires, the Typhoon section starts on p249 and ends on p317. One of Ziegler's colleagues was Doc Bell, the MO to 609 Squadron. He was able to write of the personnel from another perspective, as the "blurb" recounts "he describes the months full of drama, bravery, horror and fear, balancing the realities of war with accounts of humour, laughter and tolerance." This is my favourite all time Hurricane book, but "Steve" Stevenson also spent time from D-Day onwards flying Typhoons with 184 Squadron. All well written and readable, he's, like many of them, very self-deprecating. Jimmy Sheddan was a Kiwi who flew initially with 485 Squadron RNZAF on Typhoons, then with 486 based at Tangmere. He flew Tempests from early 1944. David Ince flew with 193 Squadron, he became an expert with gun cameras and helped develop the systems that we see today. The second part of the book is post-war, he was a top glider pilot. James Kyle is a Canadian, serving with 197 Squadron operating from Tangmere alongside 486 Squadron in Spring 1943. 197 was a "Bombphoon" squadron, the actions of these low-level ops are very well described in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and the incident shown on the cover really did happen to Denis Sweeting. It reads very much like John Golley's book, you become totally engaged. This is another 609 Squadron recount, names, faces and events were becoming quite well known to me by now. Lallemant was another Belgian pilot who fought with great determination. Originally written in French, it was translated by Frank Ziegler. Difficult to find and expensive when you do. John Golley brings to life "the atmosphere of the crew-room (or tent) life, and the split second reactions of combat when the Typhoon Wings were spear-heading the assault by the combined forces..." Superb book. 609 Squadron....Belgian pilot...beautifully written and complements the other titles about 609. Desmond Scott, a Kiwi, had a meteoric rise to Group Captain and had a varied career both at the sharp end throughout the war, and also in Staff roles at the AM. Very enjoyable read. Another excellent read charting Johnny Wells' career from an RAF apprentice (Halton brat) through to flying biplanes in the Middle East then latterly Typhoons. This is the rarest of the lot, my copy was the only one available in the country and hence not cheap! A large book, weighs a ton and very detailed about the exploits of 486 Squadron and the later Wing that it was part of. My top three are: "The Day of the Typhoon", "Typhoon Tale" and "Wings of Chance". All superb, all give you very much insight to flying and fighting with the Typhoon, and my personal favourite is John Golley's "Day of the Typhoon". He was a Typhoon pilot but he writes it in the third person, portraying himself as "Bob Stanford". He used this technique to "be able to stand back and give an objective view of events." Highly recommended.

Just bought it from amazon, less than half price, should be an interesting read.

There were at least two other large scale planes there:

So are you thinking of doing yours as de Selys-Longchamps' Typhoon Dugy which he flew on his unauthorised but daring solo low-level attack on the notorious Sipo HQ in his hometown of Brussels? There is no doubting the man's courage and his need to feel that he was striking back in a very personal way against the Nazis, but he wasn't very popular amongst his fellow Belgian pilots in 609 Squadron mainly due I think to his upper class arrogance, in fact he was transferred to 3 Squadron soon afterwards.

Just landed, my very first ever Optivisor.

Oh dear, there goes my wallet…….

I really envy a lot of you. My workshop is the backyard table, when I'm allowed to use it! On the other hand, the weather is nice.

Well Kev, it’s time to hit the deck This auspicious date is perfect to announce what marks the start of the next journey for airscale. The Defiant kit is selling so the venture is a success in my eyes, meaning I will take a chance on another subject in what I dream will be a long line of new exclusively 1/32 kits The Typhoon, the brutish, powerful, hedgehopping, unrelenting powerhouse that didn't whisper death from above; it announced it with violence – especially after D-Day. I chose the car-door version, both because I think it is more atmospheric, but also because I thought the transparent parts would be easier to manufacture – bubbletops are hard and have seams…. that said, the centre section is modular so assuming there weren’t many/any other airframe changes it could be done afterwards Key with this kit is the partnership with Typhoon Legacy, where Ian Slater and team are restoring JP843 to fly. As mammoth a task as could be imagined so I wanted to help. A healthy % of the sale proceeds will go towards that. The kit will feature JP843 before her conversion to a bubbletop as one of the options. I am keen on suggestions for other options too, especially any that were in non-standard or interesting markings. I have also been working with Arthur Bentley whose drawings and CAD knowledge have really helped kick-start the project. So here is where we are at… the cockpit is virtually complete, the remaining structure about 90% done but not ‘kit ready’ and the surface detailing less than 50% ..and a few coarse test prints to check a few things.. I would anticipate another 4 -6 months of development / production and welcome any and all contributions to this thread so we, together can make this something to fill the gap in the market. We are off again Peter

Howdy folks, I've just published this week's What's New update. Enjoy!

Thank you for all the kind things you said about my magic house. My dad says that most of you are his friends and that you also build models very expertly and he has a lot of respect for all of you. He told me that because you build models so well that your nice words really mean a lot and he reminded me that it is correct to thank you for your kindness in liking the magic house my dad and I built. My dad said he is very proud of me and my dad is good at building models like all of you so I am happy that everyone likes my magic house. Ani

The intakes are complete now... and painted. I'll keep the masking stuff inside the trunks for the final painting stage, just in case. I expect some ''fixing'' of the bottom-side color to be required, at least just a bit. I drilled the ECS exhaust pipes... crazy stuff here, don't ask me how, there is a picture from the bottom side following, but it all went very well. The difference would be visible if only someone points a flashlight toward it. Note how, on the right-hand side vent, I slightly smoothened the edges of the resin part, while on the left-hand side they are not yet - hence the ridges of this resin part look a little bit more exaggerated. I must not forget to improve them like on the other side later on... The two wing-root vents on top of the fuselage are also prepped. It thinned all the edges: And jsut one pic upon finally gluing the two main sub-assemblies. The ladder door is also closed. You can see how I ''drilled'' the resin vents from below too. The two darker rails of plastic on both sides of the vents are just structural pieces, to reinforce the future mounting holes of the vertical stabilizers, cause I plan to make them removeable. It is a monstrer with the nose section just taped up. I'm finishing the pylons of the MLG - they and the mounting of the vertical stabilizers are next.

Ordered Friday delivered today, thank you Peter Cheers Dennis

Aaaaand it is finnished. wanted that field worn look on Hermann Graf BF109G-6. and her is my interpret of that.

In any case informing people does not cost a penny! 😠

I'm in Cheers Dennis

After a short intermezzo during which I remodeled the modelling room I have made some more progress. The room interior was not that old but when I did it a few years back we just got the keys to our brand new home and a lot of work had to be done, and I did not put enough thought into the layout. A few weeks ago I purchased a 3D printer (Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16k, a resin printer) with a washing and curing station, and now was a good time to do it once more, but right. I apologize for my meager stash. Soon a Lukgraph J2F-5 and Thai Pham's A-1E will join it. I don't have the first clue about 3D printing or CAD designing, and if there is interest and the mods allow it I will start a thread in the 3D printing forum about my endeavors of treading slowly into this new (for me) but exciting field of modelling. I have decided to go with Fusion 360 for CAD software using the free Personal licence. Fusion 360 has the largest community on the net and there are a lot of tutorials / videos to be found explaining things. The flaps show a gap at the wingroot that is not there on the real plane. I shimmed them, and will file and sand them flush. I coated the vertical stabilizer in MRP gloss (again, see further down in this paragraph) , but the Humbrol Uniform Green did not like that at all this time around. I am going to have to repaint it for the third time. The first time around I painted it upside down because Italeri's painitng instructions show the bottom panel line pattern as the top one, and I didn't bother to double-check, and now this. Luckily the paint comes of very easily in an ethanol bath using a brush. I will use Humbrol gloss for coating the model from now on. A test on the nose section revealed that works well with both the Uniform Green and the MRP shades for the other three colors. Today I was able to paint the model in it's base colors. Some tweaks and correction need to be done here and there. I opted to paint the main gear bay and gun bay after painting the camouflage. It's much easier to mask those off in that order as it's all straight edges. Cheers, Leon

Installing the engine bearers. Still fiddling with the nose gun section in order to get the right angle. Almost there.

Riding the momentum, I finished riveting the fuselage. This time I did things a little bit differently. I taped the fuselage together and drew the vertical rivet lines so that the rivet lines would meet at the seams. Again, the surfaces were sanded and a pastel wash was applied to check the work. There were some errant rivet lines that need to be filled and re-done but I can soon move on to fitting the cockpit into the fuselage and gluing the fuselage halves together. Just for fun, I taped the riveted components together and took some photos before the parts are cleaned off. By the way, the wing to fuselage fit at the wing root looks great doesn't it?

Thanks Troy for your message. I’ve been wrapping up the final steps. I sprayed a coat of semi-matte varnish (super important, because MRP’s matte varnish is way too flat, not great for a plane on the European theatre), then used a light grey watercolor pencil to add some wear and tear around the engine cowl, the wing roots, and on the wings. I’ve gotten used to working with a light grey pencil (instead of silver or aluminum) because it just looks more realistic in the end. Once all those little pencil marks were in place, I sealed everything with another layer of semi-matte varnish. I took off the masks on the three canopies and wrapped it all up by making and gluing the pitot tube onto the tip of the left wing.

That Typhoon must have been produced at the Border factory!

If your an airplane nut like me, this was enjoyable to watch. It would have been fun to be there for the day.

phew! busy days thank you all for the positive vibes well first thing it won't be the same price, it won't be cheap but it is a smaller aircraft and the way I do things in modular components it should have less parts than the Defiant so i am thinking less than £250 - still a lot I grant you, but I have limited resources, small purchasing power and am committed to giving Typhoon Legacy a healthy chunk of profit so it is what it is it is also obviously a calculated risk against other manufacturers - I have to say I am less worried about Special Hobby as their announcement was over 10 years ago - Kotare on the other hand - who knows? I still think it is viable, as I hope to get to market faster than anyone else and in my humble opinion my kits represent a different animal to an IM one anyway - we will see. I may get egg on my face, but at least there will be a choice for folk Interesting question that - undoubtedly it would be popular and it is certainly possible, but I can only do low volume. Will see how we go, but for now no, only the car-door is planned.. No, I plan for 500 - the first batch however will be 150 - 200 A fair way to go before that though thanks all Peter

Thank you Alan! I make my own pastel washes using pastel chalk, water and a dab of dishwashing soap. Very easy and since it is water-based, you can use it over any paint. The engine cowling has been riveted. After the riveting process is complete, I will wash all of the parts with water to get as much material out of the rivets and panel lines as possible, in preparation for painting. The rivets especially are vulnerable to being clogged with sanding dust and dried pastel wash.