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Last evening and today is when I got to enjoy the fruits of my two-year labor. Buckle up - I have many pictures to show. First, before I proceeded to fuselage join, there was the exterior rear-view mirror, and the pitot mast. These items were easy to Rhino design, and printing was straight forward. Take a look: I am pleased with the mirror, and it is not as wimpy as the mirrors I made for Miss Velma quite a while back. Never-the-less it is just one more item that begs to be broken off. This model is just "festooned" with fragile parts that are easily broken off. Handling it presents the constant risk of breaking something. It's nerve-racking. When done, I will display it and leave it alone! BTW, you are going to see in all these pictures that the Malcolm hood is in various positions. I do that just to show off. I am so proud that the hood can move, I just have to show that it can. 🥰 And speaking of fragile parts that beg to be broken off - the pitot mast: 3D printed of course. The early P-51's had a long mast like you see here. The -D has a much shorter mast. Why? And then - I just flat ran out of things to do before fuselage join. So fuselage join: What a huge Mustang! Look how it dominates my messy modeling table. It bumps up against everything - my foam wing tip protectors were vital! My heart was racing. I was careful as a heart surgeon doing this join, and my 3D printed round support tool was helpful maintaining a (fairly stable at best) upright stance. It was just such a position where the landing gear post breakage catastrophe occurred a month or so ago. Perilous moments for sure, but no problem this time. Once joined, I could bond on the main gear wheels/tires with flats properly oriented. And then it was on to the MLG strut fairings, or strut gear doors, which I have been patiently waiting for for a very long time. They are part of the signature look of the P-51. This is what I wanted: My Rhino MLG door layout, with deadly accurate kinematic geometry, taken directly from the engineering drawings. Needed to assure the gear doors are hanging as they should. Here are the parts (for the LH side), which have been waiting a long time: Installation of the RH door was straight forward, although very delicate work. But the LH door - I had long ago broken off one of the clevis lugs inside the wing which position the top of the door. So I had to jury-rig a couple of crude locator tools to help. And here are the results: The above picture includes the uber-scary repair of the LH gear strut, broken off last month in the most calamitous mistake of the entire build - a build that had plenty of calamities. I can make out the repair, but I hope nobody else can. I am happy with the gear strut fairings. And for new-comers, this Mustang has mismatched tires. On purpose. Also - that last picture shows the results of the big rake angle adventure, which took up lots of oxygen in this thread, and was a many-days-long hand-wringing affair. I think we have a correct rake angle here; let's hope it stays that way.... Once those doors were installed, this model was 99% complete. Lacking only these: Those bomb racks are from Model Monkey - I ordered them along with the rudder pedals and WM seat quite a while back. These racks are beautiful, and appear quite dimensionally accurate - I think I am going to use them, and you will see them installed next post. I am undecided whether or not to make 75 gallon tanks for this kite. But for now - let me flood the zone shamelessly with Cripes a' Mighty pictures: That, ladies and gentlemen, is a 3D printed 1/18 scale P-51B - a two-year effort. She is not perfect by any means, but by god she is dimensionally correct in all respects. Hope you like what you see. Next post will be about the bomb racks, and then I think it will be time for an RFI. Thanks all of you for supporting my effort on Cripes A Mighty.

Little more scratch, added couple boxes on the leftside panel, and its done, at last primer Mr Surfacer 1200 did the job, perfect smooth surface, now let dry...

Some progress

Today's update Lower surfaces were painted. I used Tamiya's white.

It's real. The link below has the story. https://www.designboom.com/art/reclaimed-supersonic-mig-21-fighter-jet-ralph-ziman-colorful-glass-beads-04-16-2025/

It's been a busy couple of weeks with grandpa and then "cat-sitting" duties away from home, but over the past couple of days I have managed to get a bit more done on my Tiffy. Firstly the two vents (port) and one (stbd) were added, made from lead foil over a carved resin former: Then I spotted that the servicing picture that I'm using as a reference showed that the cannon had been removed, so I altered mine (with the CO's approval): Next up were the fishplates, the originals were sanded off when the Revell back-end was added. I scaled a photograph then made mine from Oramask, I can't say they are the exact numbers nor locations but they are there: And then I made some camouflage masks, followed by painting, but only after Jacko's Z-Zebra leading edge letters had been added: The canopy doesn't quite sit right at the moment because the "A" frame behind the pilot is marginally too high, but that will be fixed when I do all the other gubbins in that area. Talking of gubbins, I'm going to make some ground crew walkway servicing mats similar to these: And finally, the latest addition to the Typhoon library: Brilliant reference book! Bye for now.

Thanks @N4521U I may still look at this as an option. I've had the decals printed by a low cost printer (around £13 for an A5 sheet inc. postage) and although the stencils are absolutely fine it is clear that the roundels and code letters themselves fall short of the quality needed. For smaller scale models the resolution may be totally acceptable - but not for this project. I've not actually tested them yet but I understand them to be around 13-15 microns - so I will give a more thorough review later. Here are some sample shots: I'm still awaiting a response from another UK printer who can print at much higher resolutions. They have a large backlog of work so I don't know how long I'll be waiting. In the meantime I have still been trying masking but it is clearly a craft to be mastered and to be honest, because I've tried about 3 times now and each time have had to sand it off and start again I'm beginning to lose the mojo for adding it to my bank of (limited) modelling skills. In hindsight, because I need a white base for my colours, I probably should have done the main markings first and then sprayed the black. In all honesty, this is probably not the kit to be learning on. It is the most expensive kit I own and it therefore has to be done "right" and to my own satisfaction.

I built my A-6E gear down and it went together quite well. I found it to be one of the very best Trumpeter kits I have built in fact. My biggest issue was that the nose, if assembled separately as per instructions, will not fit the fuselage without a bad step. This will result in a lot of sanding and lost detail. I decided to glue each half of the nose to the corresponding fuselage halfs before closing them. This leaves a gap down the middle of the nose which is much easier to deal with. The large panels shown above are a bit tricky to fit but with a lot of dry fitting and sanding they will go together fine..

Workshop Update More dry brushing and weathering effects this week. Painting such complex internal components is a slow and meticulous process, and it’s easy to start wondering if it’s really worth the effort — especially when most of it will eventually be hidden inside the fuselage. There’s no universal answer to that. I'm not one to make definitive statements — I think it’s entirely up to each modeler to decide how deep they want to go with construction and painting. Below are a few selected shots from this stage. The full documentation will appear in the book later on. I focused mainly on edge highlights, rivets, and areas left in natural metal tones. Only now, with all the shades and details coming together, did the overall look start to make sense. I also completed the radio modules and various equipment blocks — and there’s quite a bit of that on this aircraft. This is by no means the end; decals, brush-painted details, and the planned wiring still lie ahead. I’ve also finished the instrument panel I mentioned in the previous update. Now you can see the almost-final result. I have to say — the solution provided by Lukgraph worked brilliantly. The panel turned out really well. Further work on the cockpit will resume once the fuselage interior is fully completed. I figured this sequence makes the most sense, so for the past few days I’ve been sanding and refining the inner fuselage walls. I want the entire interior to look crisp and cohesive — but I’ll talk more about that in the next update. Chances are I’ll be back with another update in about two weeks. I’ve got a trip coming up, so the model will have to wait a bit. That’s all for today, Lukasz

It is Saturday night and I am live in Spartanburg. Fairly recently I have come to realize that my two favorite things in life are wine and model airplanes in no particular order. Because I am old and cheap, most of my stash has come to me via eBay. You may laugh or even scoff, but there are some good buys there if you are a careful and aware buyer. For example, there is a sizable cardboard box on one of my shelves that contains ten or so 1/48 Skyraiders of different labels - none of which I bought new - and pretty much every Skyraider AM Steel Beach ever released, all bought from an auction site. To me, that is epic. With one or two exceptions, every other kit and nearly all the AM I own came to me the same way. There is no secret to this. Anyone can similarly gorge their stash for minimal bucks with some awareness, due diligence and patience. So, I’m good on the model end of the equation; it is the wine part that has me flummoxed. How does one buy decent wine from on auction site? I mean, how does one know? Does one ask the seller to pull the cork and check it for oaky aromas or to pour a glass and tell you if the vintage has legs? Probably not - it just does not compute. Furthermore, while I think most people are more or less honest, I lose my amiable blind trust when Bubba offers up a case of the good stuff at a reasonable price alongside four pairs of XXXL bibbed overalls in used but serviceable condition and a commemorative dinner plate from Graceland, if you know what I mean. Therein lies the rub. Can one buy decent pinot noir from an on line auction site in the same way one snatches a Paul Fisher kit for pennies on the dollar? Truthfully, I doubt it. I will drink most anything, but even I have limits. Something else I have noticed: I am much more willing these days to pay more for either of my vices than I once did. Back in the days when I was broke and had babes to raise, I neither imbibed nor modeled - a couple of bucks for either was three dollars more than I had. Nowadays I scoff at the Three Buck Chuck red blends on twenty shelves in the market and those half started old Monogram kits I once drooled over. While I still can’t imagine spending $350 for a bottle of wine or an equal amount spent on a peerless 3D kit, thirty, forty, maybe fifty dollars a bottle is not too bad nor is a hundred or more out of the question for a box of hardened petroleum product that I am required to assemble later. Life is what it is, no matter what it is, so I am good with my vices. And like a US Marine colonel of some renown once told me in the strictest of confidence, it is supposed to be fun and that is all that matters. So there we have it: my contribution to your weekend, courtesy of the red, white and blue, a bottle of red of unknown provenance, and a smattering of Tanqueray. Go forth and enjoy; it is all good and you can do neither once you part the veil. At least as far as I know.

Working on major components. Mostly dry fit at this time. Dan

Some visual aids

One of the problems in doing this is that the Trumpeter clear parts are too squarish and too tall. With grinding, sanding and polishing you can use the windscreen and rearmost parts. And the Revell parts are too narrow. So, you need to make some parts on your own. Which for me meant vac-forming some of the clear parts. The interior framing on the real thing is part strips and part tube. But .5MM rod, while being the right size, tends not to be sturdy enough to work with, or hold a bend (and you have two at the back, attached to the ring that holds the swiveling MG window that have to be perfect mirrors of each other). And the strip part is far too narrow in scale to be firm enough to look factory and be sturdy. Brass would do, but milling it to the right size is just a skill I don't have, yet. ' I tried the colored decal route. But it just didn't look right. Dunno where you're gonna find RLM 02 tape, monsieur. Cutting tape and decals .5mm wide ain't easy. Uniformity is the problem. And again it has to stick to the Petg parts unless you're gonna suffer through with the Trum peter parts. Then the third issue is combining parts that are both flexible and flimsy but that don't like the same glue. PetG can be affixed to styrene with white glue... but you need a decent amount of surface area...otherwise you end up with a gummy looking mess. I've read that JB Weld works well. But again, we're talking about tiny amounts otherwise it will look awful. PetG doesn't work well with CA.

Mary had a little lamb Its fleece was white and wavy, It followed her to cooking school and now it's chops and gravy.

Hey folks! After finishing my Border Model Bf 109, I’m moving on to a plane I don’t know all that well, but it has some gorgeous lines, totally looks like a "pylon racer". I went with the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien this time. The kit’s easy to find, and there are a few aftermarket parts to dress it up a bit: Quinta Studio cockpit, and pylons + exhausts from Quickboost. I picked a pretty well-known camo scheme, full NMF, no green mottling, but with lots of red and white markings that really bring out that fresh-from-the-factory vibe this beauty has. This particular aircraft belonged to Taii Fumisuke Shono of the 244th Sentai. The advantage of this camouflage is that there are many ground and in-flight photos of this aircraft, unlike some magnificent color profiles which are not validated by any photos. Catch you soon! Denis, who swore he’d never touch another NMF-painted model ever again… or at least not for a very, very, VERY long time...

pictures like this make me really appreciate the once disturbingly vivid turquoise blue.

After much sanding and filling I now have a primer coat on.... Dan

Rear section of the exhaust has come out well. I had zero to go off for this apart from a photo taken straight down the pipe but it should give the look that photo gave.

Appreciated Gazzas, detailed, thorough - food for thought.

Hey folks, first post here. I got back into the hobby about 6 months ago and this is my first truly large scale build. This is a newly released kit, I had it on preorder and it came in Thursday. It's probably going to be an out of the box build, haven't seen any aftermarket available yet and the detail on the kit is so incredible that I'm not sure I could improve it much with my skills. I'll be doing Bundeswehr markings - the only downside of building the Leo is that they're all basically identical (I read that they're painted by robots). I'm now at the super fun track assembly step. 😅 Honestly it's not been too bad, about 2 hours Friday evening got all of the track pins off the sprue and cleaned up, another 2.5 hours last night got half of the track links off the sprue and about 1/4 of them assembled. The tracks are so big that they go together easy! Finally a few close ups of some of the amazing detail on the kit. Pretty decent looking weld seams IMO, able beautifully crisp bolts and casting marks.

We’re close! Punch list has 3 things left on it… I think it’s looking pretty dang good, and just how I’d envisioned This is my favorite-think it looks like the cover of the Osprey series about A-4 units in Nam! More once I figure out how to paint the danged Zunis! Peter

Thanks for all the interest everyone -somehow the Hellcat does not seem to be all that popular in my circle, but nice to see interest in Grumman's classic! (IMHO ) FWIW, Modellbau König has the Hasegawa kit on discount and has most Trumpeter boxes for ~28€ so if anyone wants to make a duo build.... No affiliation, happy customer only. Since it was too hot to do anything outside I figured I'd do some thing on the Hellcat. I had tried Kevin's idea, which was my original plan at first, hence working so carefully to remove the fillets, but I found the glue surfaces were really thin and they would not really stick all that well. The plastic is really hard, I found the Evergreen to melt more & allow more manipulation. I do think with more care it may be possible to reuse the fillets, though. Or maybe I'm just an average modeller with too much glue & brute force At first I went with the upper wings. To get rid of the Trumpeter fuselage curve, I glued a strip of 0,5mm Evergreen underneath to act as a support to lamimate the top, but also to act as a guide. As a non-native English speaker it may be a bit hard to explain so here are some photo's, it's not really complicated. After you determine between which 2 points you need to straighten out the wing, glue the Evergreen on the underside: This should more or less follow the Hasegawa fuselage contour now. Then laminate the top with another bit of 0,5mm Evergreen -it is thin enough to bend sideways so it follows the Trumpeter curve. If it is all dry you can carefully cut along the guide you determined when glueing the first piece. The top needs another 0,25mm to be fush with the wing, but first you'll need to fix the fuselage gap since the Trumpeter wing sits lower. Turned out I did have something useful for that, although it might be a bit more work later.... I first glued some remnants of this strip (~1,2 mm thick, I lost the bag with the label) inside the fuselage as after the fillets were removed it had become really thin. This gives more glue surface. I then laminated more of those strips as you can see until there was no gap when dry fitting the wing: Which looks like this: As I wrote earlier, the upper wing needs another layer of 0,25mm Evergreen to make it level with the upper wing surface, while also closing the gap near the wing root. What I found interesting were 2 things: 1. the cowl, as you can see, seems to be a perfect fit, which is of course pleasing to see! 2. the position of the Trumpeter wing, according to the Jumpei Temma drawings, seems at first glance to be more accurate -the trailing edge in side view ends at the tail hook, making the Hasegawa wing, according to those drawings at least, sit too high on the fuselage. I'll leave it ot the Hellcate-expers to determine if this is true or not, I'm just glad I can make it work, have folded wings, and get rid of the awful Trumpeter fuselage Hope this helps!

Been away for a few days camping, so a little late to the party. Some years ago, I started struggling with this same subject, and even started a build thread for my Stuka project here, but lost my momentum about 6 years ago and shelved it: First off, I vacuformed all new canopies. If you want to know more abut that, you can check out my old thread. Then built the internal frame from copper wire of the appropriate size, which I can't recall at the moment. The wires were soldered together. Unfortunately, I did not take any pics of the bare frame, like a dumbass, but here's the rear canopy after assembly: As you can see, my first attempt to show the fasteners with small drops of paint sucked, so I planned to wipe those off and do what Thierry alluded to above, drilling small dents in the canopy and rubbing paint into them, which I tried, and slipped, scratching the canopy. That was probably waht made me take a break. At any rate, this was working pretty well, but man, was it hard!! Tim

I like it, he didn't harm anything and created something. new and appealing . Unlike the guy, who few years back buried MiG-21, just because he could.

Ah, a 3D printing wishlist thread. This is a new twist. Modern problems require modern solutions.

I've had this model kicking around the stash for many years and thought while I'm a bit crook with some head cold and currently high on cough medicine, it might be time to start a WW1 aircraft. I don't usually build WW1 so fitting the struts was interesting, I think I managed to get them mostly lined up. I also in my haze, decided rigging would be a good idea. I drilled small holes and threaded some stretchy line through them. It took me a day but it does look nice. A simple little base was made from a wooden thing i found at a good will shop, grout, some spares box stuff, CMK resin pilot and Mini Natur grass tufts. I left the aircraft pretty clean and glossy, I've read that WW1 paints were high gloss and then faded off, but as this aircraft was not in use long I figured a dead flat finish wouldn't be realistic. The aircraft is apparently one flown by Olivier Freiherr von Beaulieu-Marconnay in probably Jagdstaffel 18, some time in late 1917 or early 1918. He would score 25 victories flying mostly the Fokker DVII between March and October 1918. On October 18th he was hit in the leg, probably by friendly fire. He managed to get back to base but was not expected to survive his wounds. His recommendation for the Blue Max was rushed through, but he would not live to know he'd become the youngest recipient of the award at just 20, dying in hospital 10 days later, only a few hours before confirmation of the award arrived.

The Hasegawa Stukas include decals for both the external and interior framing. Hasegawa ST25 Junkers Ju87G Stuka Kanonenvogel

So many details, so many parts to create, so many challenges to face and then overcome, so long to build and so very much WORTH IT! Congrat's Jay! This is the epitome of what LSP is all about and you are truly one of the very top masters of this website. We are all very proud of you. Cheers, Chuck

So in essence Paul and to summarize by your informed understanding of the subject and enjoyable explanation, neither kit represents accurately what is, in effect, a complete 'what if' project and model company best guess assessment. In many ways it is as futile a serious debate or assessment for model building purposes as arguing 'what if' German Army Panzer 1946 camo colours or AFV projects. As you say, only the single seat version actually exists in any meaningful format to invite critical assessment against a model kit. Both the Takom and ZM kits will satisfy most modelers who simply want a superbly detailed nice fitting kit and a subject platform that will allow them to have a free camo palette just like 'fantasy' painters have with fantasy model figures i.e. you can't be wrong within (reasonable) camo parameters. Thanks for the explanation of a little known subject and I will happily build my (cheap as chips!) Takom 2 seat 'night fighter' kit in the full knowledge that it has as much accuracy and reality as a Star Wars 'AT-AT' or 'X-Wing' model kit. Gary

Congrats on finishing the build, Jay! It's a stunning achievement, and one of the great milestone threads here on LSP. Can't wait for your next project! Kev

I've done the flushing. Weathering is almost complete. There will be gunpowder fouling and a couple of places to accentuate. All the little things are done. Now it's all gonna take off. )))).

Could new cuss words be an original thread? The context for each word's invention would be the true interest.

Slow progress at the moment due to many “social” commitments, but progress is progress!

Hi, My first post on LargeScalePlanes, since I usually build 1/48 and the occasionally 1/72 models. Please find the Revell 1/32 Westland Lynx in Dutch service. The kit was converted to a SH-14D using the Mk 88 and HAS 3 boxings. The kit rotor was adapted displaying a folded rotor blade configuration using the Scale Warships conversion set. The port side engine compartment was opened up and a resin engine added. The dummy torpedo was modified with detail added, using parts of a 1/48 A.M. Avenger torpedo. Although, perhaps an unlikely weapon combination, in addition a machine gun with platform was added to the starboard side. The machine gun was used in some operational situations. (Ref. YouTube search for: boardingteam Tromp Taipan) Since the 1/32 Dutch Decal Lynx sheet was unavailable, I asked Heli Scale Quality to print the decals for me. I supplied various images and they delivered. The decals are now available on their site. Paints by MRP. Hope you like it. Rgds, Rob

I'm using v5 of the software (5.0.219ssbe Business Edition), and the interface for those settings is indeed quite different. I found them by going to the SEND area, then clicking on the MORE button in the Modify Settings area: This opens up a long list of material types, but there's a settings panel at the bottom, which contains the settings in question: And a couple of parameters you can adjusted when selected: Kev

The M1A2 has a companion now...

Folks discovering how involved it ACTUALLY is to go from idea to a batch of successfully sold products. The Road to Perdition is paved with good intentions. And before anyone asks, yes, I have several of those tee shirts.....

Cripes a'mighty!! What an absolutely magnificent achievement Jay. She's a beaut and you should indeed be rightfully proud of your accomplishment. Bravo that man Before you get started on your next epic adventure I would dearly love to see some photos taken outdoors in the sunshine with a suitably uncluttered backdrop if at all possible. I'll wager your model will be utterly indistinguishable from the full sized aircraft.

The long nose 190 has tail feathers now.

Hello here, there and everywhere. Thanks for dropping in Mike! We took the radiator off because it was in the wrong position. The back plate that the radiator fits on was too big in diameter and we took it off and put on one that was a better fit. Looking at this shot you can see the new plate on the front of the Jumo.

It seems that some of the round items on the hull front are actually raised, so some punched discs fixed that right up.

A few progress

So my plan is to now build up the etched dive brakes in particular the upper sections and the work from the outside in so I can then re-make the undersize inboard section from plastic card with no big gaps between sections May be a day or two getting this little lot together but a long weekend away awaits in London, lots of nice chill time, food and Linkin Park on Saturday evening. Regards. Andy

Uncanny, Thierry! My plan differs from yours only in the detail of the internal framework. Rather than decal material, I'll try thin Evergreen sheet strips, built up to achieve required thickness, fixed with pva. I have built a couple of large scale Stukas. A week ago I had never noticed Ju 87 interior framing. Now I could not tolerate a Ju 87 canopy done wrong. Argh! I am wondering about the colour of the internal framing in contact with the canopy glazing. What do you think?

How I'm intending to do it: 1. Drill holes in external frames to mimic the fasteners 2. Sand the external frames and polish the canopy 3. Add internal frames with painted decal strips 4. Dip the canopy in Future 5. Fill the external holes with thick black paint to simulate the fasteners

Hello all, Here's my next post and it's a 'in other news' one... When I got the fuselage finished, thoughts turned to the diorama. The setting would be late late autumn 1944 with her flying from a base in Caen-Carpiquet. This is why I have been weathering and muddying her a tad. So, a rough layout was done and a wooden base made to suit my table. 2 x 20mm styrene sheets were then added to make the base. The Officers Tent is 3D Printed. I looked at the geology of the area and you will love this bit, the earth colour nearest match is British Leyland, Morris Marina Golden Red!! Thoughts now move to why did British Leyland go bust?; I find mud coloured cars quite warming! Then some other tints and finally a surround to hold it all in position. Next up is copious amounts of PSP Marston Matting from Kit Form Services ( https://kitformservices.com/) Then a base coat of steel, varnish so I could give it some abuse then, 8 different shades of brown and rust. The orange light is a flickering LED for the oil drum coming soon. The white cut grooves will be furrows that have been made by the vehicles etc. Here's the fitters table; Finally, everything Ammo! Wet mud; closest match to my desired brown. Sculpting Putty Dirty water Autumn bits and pieces plus trees etc. The roof over the table is scratch built. The Tent has a desk light then a full light to see inside. Hope you like it; This is John Arthur Houlton DFC flying over the beaches of Normandy. Two Ravens enticed from The Tower of London... Just the bomb trolley and the glass cover then good to go! Thanks for looking. Cheers Steve

And I've finished the build at last. After starting in December 2023 it's rewarding to see this one across the finish line. I really enjoyed the kit a lot, from cutting the first parts off the sprue to positioning the landing gear indicator rods today. Like all Zoukei Mura kits that I've built (this is number six) I've learned a lot about how the actual airframe came together. This kit isn't without its challenges but with careful planning and dryfitting I can recommend it highly. Here's a few photos before the RFI post. Cheers, Tom

Some progress

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.