Leaderboard

Got around to finishing the pilot's seats added some Eduard B-17 belts. I decided to put the seats in 2 different positions as the kit comes with both seats all the way back to the bulkhead, I simply put a piece of styrene strip in the back notch of the left hand seat rails and knifed in a new pair of notches on the front portion of the rails, just thought it would look a little interesting.... Also started putting the Eduard engine set parts into the back end of the engine nacelles, I was going to glue them into the nacelles but I realized it was easier to glue them onto the wings, they line up right on one of the kit panel lines, left to right is simply putting the kit nacelle in place and marking the location with a pencil...

This time one of the most beautiful jets in the world. F-4J Phantom II VF-151 Tamiya 1:32 I made this model as always straight from the box, taking this model to the workshop you will not have any problems. Everything here fits together perfectly.

It's up on floats and the engine, at least three of the four cylinders, is installed.

Hello all. This is my first post on this great site so I hope you will be kind to me. When this kit was first announced I was excited - I love the F-5E. I’ve seen scores of them over the years - mostly aggressors - the 527 AS at Alconbury, VFA-127, VFC-13 at Fallon and VMFT-401 at Yuma. I have even more in my collection including 64/65th AS Nellis aircraft and the NFWS from Miramar. There were literally hundreds of different schemes over the years. I bought the kit as soon as it appeared but a few reviews and close inspection of the plastic soon revealed that all was not rosy! Well this is after all Kittyhawk! Needless to say - the lovely picture of an early F-5E out of Luke AFB is not attainable out of the box - it needs a bit of work! Unperturbed I set about building an early NFWS (Top Gun) F-5E using the Furball decal sheet and planned for it to be ready for SMW 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the formation of “Top Gun”. I failed miserably! So as not to bore those who are not interested I have added a list of modifications at the end of the post - it was a lot of work! Colours were from Mr Paint (FS 36375 Light Ghost Gray) and Testors and Mr Paint (FS 35109) which were virtually identical - I already had the Testers version but found it difficult to spray so resorted to the Mr Paint version. The F-5E evolved as time went on and various aerials, sensors and aerodynamic mods were scabbed onto the basic airframe. Why oh why didn’t KH do the same!? A classic miss of a golden opportunity! It’s almost as easy to update the ancient Hasegawa kit than correct this one! Since this is not a review I will leave it at that but here is a list of the modifications I made to backdate the kit - most of which will be necessary to model any of the aggressors until the F-5N (which is what the kit really is) came along. My main reference was the excellent build by Chuck on LSP here: https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/78413-132-kitty-hawk-f-5e-kicked-up-a-notch-oct-319-finished/ I will however point out that my build was not quite as involved as that one and nowhere near as good. I chose F-5E 169881/543 - mainly because I found a number of pictures of this aircraft on the web including a shot of the underneath. I chose to depict the aircraft a little later without the (IMHO) naff looking heart and diamond in the paintwork. The main changes I made were: Starboard cockpit side console was moulded reversed - carefully cut off and glued back the correct way and tidied up. Seat was assembled as per photographs and not the instructions. The cushion is shown in the incorrect place on the instructions. RWR sensors on nose filled with superglue and removed. Slots for the rear RWR sensors filled All gun doors closed up which involves reworking the latches. Fill sand and rescribe longitudinal mould flaw on fuselage sides. Chaff and Flare dispenser mountings removed from underside of fuselage and U/C door UHF Aerial on fin tip removed Slot for VHF aerial filled on spine. Refuelling ports are on the wrong side. Moulds were taken and the ports filled. Holes drilled in correct position and covers moulded and fitted. Rivets added to hot areas at fear fuselage and afterburner units. Archer rivets used. LEX modified to earlier shape Flaps and Ailerons modified to allow the correct droop. Master pitot probe fitted. No appropriate pitot included in kit for the “Standard” nose Resin A/B cans were poorly moulded on my example so I made a lining tube to give impression of “double skin” to exhaust Under fuselage pylon reprofiled - it simply doesn’t fit! Starboard side AOA panel scribed and probe scratch built Added Eduard Seat Belts - I was losing the will to live by then and couldn’t cope with sorting out a harness from the kit etch parts. Cheers Malcolm

100% same. I build what creates interest for me on a personal level, and ideology of the government behind that plane or that particular piece of history plays zero part on it for me.

Purely aesthetics for me...ideology plays no part whatsoever.

The Alleycat Boomerang builds into a lovely model. Not without its difficulties, but with a bit of care it comes up nice.

Wow! The 1/32 Trumpeter F-100F looks set for release this summer! http://www.trumpeter-china.com/index.php?g=home&m=article&a=show&id=183&l=en Wanted to build a Connecticut Air Guard camo'd example since 1979. So, there's still hope for the Devastator then! (Though frankly, I hope enthusiasm for Century Series might give us a Six and Deuce) Tony

This was just going to be a basic build until I looked at the pilots office space. I then bought the Aires resin set and now starting, I will cobble and bumble along as I go...not really being any kind of expert at 50's era jets. The box opened I started dealing with ejector pin craters had a "better" idea both brass and kit pipes have the same O.D. remember, I strive for mediocrity thanks for looking

They grow out of this activity after 10-12 years. No big deal.

I build whatever I like, with no bias whatsoever towards axis stuff. In fact, axis aircraft, ships and armor, are usually my favorites.

It's just you, Chuck. Cheers, Damian

Major paint work. First I applied the Engine Grey but it seemed much too dark. You can see it here on the fuselage. I have also added panel line shading with flat black. So I lightened it with some white and applied it over the black shaded fuselage in very thin coats. Next I lightened the custom grey again and added it to the fuselage trying for a faded paint look. I have yet to paint the forward fuselage because I don't have the windscreen done yet. Underside. Dan

This is my 1/32 Tamiya P-51D-5 Mustang with the markings of “Passion Wagon” flown by Lt Arvil Robertson Cockpit modified by Eduard PE instrument panel, Barracudacast seat and RB Production cockpit floor decal. Wheels replaced with Barracudacast set. Paints: Gunze Sangyo acrylics Decals: EagleCals EC103 Happy modelling

Hi all, as I stated in the "Rules of the Road" thread, this will be the first of - hopefully two builds - the other being a PCM Mark I Hurricane. Below are photos of the kits and most of the AM I will be using, as well as the two figures that will go along with the 109. I am still looking for a figure that fits with my "full circle" plan of showing one aircraft and its personnel preparing for a sortie, and the other returning from a sortie. The German figures are going to be a nice little challenge as both the faces are looking somewhat downwards which makes painting the eyes area well fairly tough. The way the figures have to be presented will also pose a challenge to get them constructed, painted and positioned in a competent manner, should be fun - I hope! Figures primed and the acrylic flesh base laid in. I will be starting the detailed painting with oils in a couple of hours. Ernest

So, our black and white cat just brought in a mouse - live When challenged he dropped it, and it ran off. I was kneeling on the floor at the time and couldn't see where the mouse had gone It was up my trouser leg, just below my knee... Richard

Just build models for the "hobby", do it for the technical challenges, do it to apply your skill sets and and expand them, do it for fun. Don't think of the "politics". There is no war without suffering. Radu

Greetings all, This rather large box somehow appeared on my doorstep this week - how these things happen I shall never understand... I love the 8th Air Force and the B-17 and B-24 in particular, so decided to have a go at the recent HobbyBoss release of the B-24, or the 'crate the B-17 was delivered in' if you spoke a B-17 crew. Not very fair really, especially when you consider it could fly farther, faster and with a greater bombload than the Fort. The kit looks fairly simple in places as has been discussed at length elsewhere, but that's just what I'm after at the moment - something nice and straightforward but with an imposing end product. We shall see... Customary box shots: IMG_0197 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_0199 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr And progress so far... I thought I'd ignore the instructions and start with the main undercarriage bays. First up was a spraying of aluminium and a grey Flory wash to bring out some of the lovely detailing: IMG_0195 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr Following by it all slotting together rather nicely into a very sturdy box-structure: IMG_0200 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr IMG_0201 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr All that only took a couple of hours in total - lovely! Take care all, Tom

Super Glue it's a love hate thing, I first used it in the late 1960's in my capacity as a geologist working on rock thin sections, and have used it for work and play ever since (work had a sabbatical during my spell in mining) since then it's a staple of the modelling work. My material supplier Neills Materials https://www.neillsmaterials.co.uk/ I get all my resin and silicon from them , try them they split down to small sizes. They sent me a sample of the super glue range they do Krylex, the standard it was good great tack and hold so ok, conversation about rubber/resin/future stocks da,de,da and we got the gap filler in "chuck one in next order" Bloody hell this stuff is so good ,great tack tough hold when glued but the killer is that it sands really well so no super glue bump it comes down the same rate as resin I'm working on a fantasy job just now (it pays the bills) and working from resin masters had a few break normally a pain but a quick dab a bit of a sand no problems. The one you want is Krylex 1641 gap filler it's the best I've used Bob

In reality they are magnificent animals, capable of creating great joy, affection, playfulness, and small murders. They are ALL the same, 8 Lbs or 800. They can be a constant source of amusement....since they are indoor only kittys, our tuxedo twins (one grey/white tux the other black and white tux) have taken to watching bird videos on the phone while holding hands/paws

Hi Kevin, I'm back on on it... Stokey Pete sent me the piece i was missing... Will post some pictures soon Regards Stephane

Thanks Kev, I certainly appreciate your input. However I have a very strong suspicion that's it's entirely operator error. I'm getting old ya know? Cheers, Wolf

I look at a Corsair and a Hellcat / Wildcat in the same conundrum. The most boring camouflage ever invented but obviously superbly designed to the climate and theater of operation. My heritage is USA obviously, but with German, Luxembourg and French in me this has little to decide my interests. Americans are not bothered by this in the least, however this is my own observation. Age would likely have something to add here for sure. The Luftwaffe to me however, had the most interesting Camouflage ever. Totally arrogant and flamboyant in the beginning of the war and totally tactical in the way of camouflage mandated by the Reich as the war declined and not in their favor! Same with Japan, but I still love the axis aircraft examples. I have zero resentment to the political atmosphere but I do like the Luftwaffe subjects. IMHO they were well ahead of their time (honestly) and the crazy ideas on the axis sides. More disturbing in my opinion were the counties that switched sides in the waning months of the war and one day wanted their own country men to shoot at the people they were fighting with throughout the war! I don’t lean myself to subscribe to this mentality whatsoever. Now talk about boring! Former Army Aviator and US Army Helicopter Driver. Anything but OD!

Once the whole thing was glued up, that wing root mated up much better, although there's plenty of smoothing yet to do on that coarsely-filed surface: The starboard side had a bigger gap between root and wing than did the port - I'll need to stuff some Evergreen sheet in here: This is also going to require some work: As is this - the shape of the tail section is fundamentally deeper than how the wing section is molded. You know you are into it when you need to get the woodworking tools out: I squished it to make the edges match, applied copious Tamiya extra-thin, and went for a 4 hour bike ride to make sure it really set up well before I tried to remove the clamp. I was afraid that there was so much tension in the plastic that it might pop back apart once the clamp came off, but it actually held. A relief. On to patching with Evergreen: Just needed a little bit of putty on the port side: Starboard side smoothed and puttied after the glue set up Still needs fine sanding, but much-improved Evergreen plus Squadron putty plus a lot of sanding got this shaped up too: Obviously there's plenty of smoothing still to be done, but the shape is there. All in all it was only a couple hours' work to get all the seams straightened out. I have found that it really helps to have the combo of Squadron putty (toluene-based, much more "structural", takes real sanding/filing once dry) and Perfect Plastic putty (water-based, only good for narrow cracks, but can be put on and quickly wiped with a damp Q-tip for an almost-instant fix) in my toolkit. I still need to fine-sand and then cover all the putty with Mr Surfacer, and then re-scribe, but overall I'm pleased - I was worried that this would be significantly harder to do than it was.

Ok more waffle in lieu of the inevitable pics coming real soon ! The main update is a revelation that I still can't quite believe , the 1/2 ton lump of resin without weapons and no seats is a flippin TAIL SITTER.. seriously you could have knocked me down with a rolled up copy of the Radio Times, (Obligatory UK Ref , other listing mags are available) , I was convinced that the weight of the resin alone would have ensured is would have balanced it out , but with the benefit of hindsight , there's a whole load of airframe behind the centre of gravity .. but hey ho! So undercarriage - you may be aware that Alan has indicated that he's working on a metal U/C leg set , but I'm confident that the resin legs in the kit will be good enough with some tweaking , involving pinning with Dowels and metal pins to hold the wheels in place . There's a fair amount of scratchbuilding needed for nose wheel bay including a substantial retraction jack . Other than that there's a load of aerials t be added along with the final work to fit out the cockpit , but I can see light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope its's not an oncoming train!

Thank you Mark! My little disaster is getting near healing. A bit more Surfacer to apply here and there, and sanding to do. I have prepared the two brake lines made from solder wire and utp wire insulation cut to disks serve as fasteners. I gave them a coat of Surfacer and then RLM 66. Doesn't look too shabby IRL. I think I will reduce the weathering a tiny bit and give the gear legs a coat of semi-gloss to even-out the appearance. Or matt?

http://www.marshmodels.com/modelList.asp Wow! Richard

Hello, time to go on with my 23BN. Here are the finished undercarriages. I've to heavy modify the front landing gear because the 23BN is different compared to the 23MF. For the front landing gear I used the resin wheels and the mud-guard from HpH conversion set. Hydraulic and electric pipes were added too. External load will follow soon. CIAO! Piero

Test image, Trying to see if I can get a sharper image. This one is better I think but it still needs work. Cheers, Wolf

Thanks @chuck540z3! Chuck, builds like yours have improved my skills. Thanks again Ok, so I have slowly worked away at the kit which has been an extremely enjoyable process. I really appreciate the ZM philosophy.. lots of care and detail. Progress so far engine, oil tank and framing has been done - this will need more plumbing, wiring, detailing etc that will be done later. Lots more kit parts to be added. machine guns and ammo belts are done wing fuel tanks These are assembled on the airframe. Not sure how accurate the framing is.. I've read mixed reports, and there are lots of diagrams on the web, but again, I don't know which is most accurate. Obviously, period photos are best where available. Onto the pics. I'll be adding the wing skins, fuselage panels, but leave the following exposed on the final build engine bay, machine guns and ammo belts port side wing tank Here you can see the multiple colours that ZM moulded this kit black (eg. unpainted starboard wing tank), light gray (rear fuselage panel) and a dark metallic gray (unpainted bits of the wing framing) I'm not a fan of this.. the plastic is not as easy to work with as other brands (eg. tamiya).. it doesn't respond as well to solvent, is a little harder to clean up, etc. A relatively minor gripe (haha, but still easier than the full resin kit I'm building!) Still a lot more work to do for the engine bay... I'll save this for later. The cockpit is really nice out of the box. It's funny - on the sprues the detail looks a little soft but it paints up really well. I'll cut out some of the wing skin so that the port wing tank is visible.. and so at least some of the internal detail is displayed. What's the definitive guide to use of primer vs interior green? It seems to vary a bit. I've gone with the following primer yellow-green: for engine framing, engine bay, internal framing, wheel bays interior green: cockpit Thanks for looking. All comments, criticism, feedback etc is more than welcome. Tim.

I will also enlarge this little Meteor I started by converting F4 to F3 F4 are long engines and short wings In F3 it is the opposite

I've been on the fence about buying this kit and seeing this beauty again pushed me over the edge. I have one on the way and will strive to come close to yours.

Nope, not at all and I actually prefer them. I love my German cars and Japanese SUV's, but they represent today, rather than WWII. On that same vein, I have no problem building a jet like an F-4F or F-4EJ. Cheers, Chuck

You’re not alone. I read a post on Doogs site a while back along the same lines that made me rethink building certain subjects and I’m in the same boat as you now. Brett

I'm curious, does this apply to things other than models? Cars, audio/video equipment, cameras, appliances, tools.... Don

I'm not alone! Ironically, my favorite model manufacturer is Tamiya, which is obviously Japanese. Cheers, Chuck

I have that problem too but it doesn't extend to Japanese aircraft. I not going to explain why.

Looks good! Fixing things like that can be very satisfying.

We have a she cat that does those kinds of things - checking everything because there might be mice! The mouse police never sleep Yes, training us up to be self sufficient. Every cat knows you won't be able to eat unless you can catch things - or persuade humans to get food for you How do you manage without a cat in your life? Richard

Hi all, Based on other modellers reviews I expected problems with the 'Loon Models' engine support frame, and it didn't disappoint. The four struts supplied are intended to fit over the front support ring and be long enough to reach the engine bulkhead. But if you follow the instructions, the struts are too short and don't reach the bulkhead. Also it's difficult to fit these four struts in their correct positions on the support ring such that they can fit through the cylinders to reach the engine bulkhead. In the end I located the support ring inside the engine cowl, then fitted the four struts inside the cowl, with the front end contacting the support ring and the other flared ends at the cowl rear edge. The four struts were then scrapped to reduce their thickness and allow the engine to locate fully into the cowl and support ring. Now onto modifying the wing tips and ailerons, Mike

Hi Guys A new brass undercarriage set for the recently released kit. https://aerocraftmodels.bigcartel.com/product/messerschmitt-bf108-brass-undercarriage-set-for-eduard-kit PLEASE NOTE all brass sets are now either back in stock or are getting restocked, so all are available to order but please be patient as there are many back orders that are going to be filled first.

Checked one of my two kits which I bought around three years ago and the canopies look perfectly clear

Dear Paul, Wish you a safe and healthy birthday! Stefano

As my time being laid off of work comes to an end I needed to get as much done on the Corsair as I could. With the engine, cockpit, and fuselage complete I had to get cracking at the centre section of the wing including the main landing gear and wheel bays. I had some excellent photos of the wheel bays that I found on line so I decided to add the hydraulic lines that run through the wheel bays. These hydraulic lines operate the flaps, wing folds, landing gear, and gear bay doors. I had originally planned on using lead wire but went with copper wire instead. The copper wire was much easier to keep straight and lead wire is too soft so kinks easily and looks a mess for this application. The copper wire, however, was more of a pain to work with given the number of bends I needed to make to run the lines as per my photos. I found that if I glued the wheel bays together except for the upper forward section, which the MLG fits in to, I could slip the gear bays off and on the main spar without any trouble. If the front upper section had been glued on the bays wouldn't have had enough flexibility to slide on and off. That made the initial copper wire runs and painting of the canvas covers much easier to accomplish. I added brass 0.5 mm nuts to detail the hydraulic manifold and hydraulic sequencing valve for the MLG and MLG bay doors as well as scratch built the small angled fittings at the top of the hydraulic manifold that run to the top of each hydraulic cylinder for the main gear doors. Hopefully the following photos will show well enough what I've tried to accomplish. Cheers, Wolf

I’m committed now. After fiddling with wing, fuselage and strut alignment, modifying my jig to allow adjustment of the angle of incidence between wing and long axis of fuselage and adjustment of lower wing dihedral, I was never quite getting everything exactly line up exactly. So, I decided on a different tack. As best I could, I squared and trued wing to fuselage, locked everything down in the jig and glued in both cabana struts. Leaving the fuselage and upper wing locked down in he jig, I freed the lower wings. They were free to flex slightly. I lightly fitted the end struts and they were close. I believe with some gentle persuasion and super glue, I’ll be able to get everything in place with everything fairly well aligned. Maybe. At that point, I called it a night and left everything in the jig to cure overnight. Reviewing this week’s challenges and hurdles with this build, I’m left with two thoughts. 1-I think we’ve hung the wings and rigged a real Stearman in less time than I’ve tried getting this one done. 2-I’m glad no one, especially me, won’t be trying to fly this model. I’m sure it would be a poorly rigged and sorry flying Stearman. Also, some asked about the landing gear strength somewhere. I broke one of the landing gear axles tonight working on it. Had to drill out with 1/16" bit, insert a piece of hard steel wire from a large paper clip into the gear leg and a piece of 3/32" brass tubing into the wheel hub. The legs seems sufficient, but the oleo strut and axle are quite small and fragile. I'm thinking I will go ahead and pin the other side as well. Considering drilling the small oleo strut/axle assembly where it inserts into gear leg/fairing which is fairly thick and pinning it as well, as it is quite thing and fragile and will be prone to breaking easily once finished.

Covered here. That's why there was a small cutout in the aft edge of the canopy frame, so it would clear the antenna lead-in insulator. After the war the insulator was moved to the left side well below and aft of the canopy.

So I've been slowed down since I lost my right eye I've decided to press on anyway with one and a half eyes. The lack of depth perception improves when I hold things closer to my eyes and use magnification. Getting the cockpit together I decided to go with a Yahu panel (first time) and MRP rlm 02. I think it's a little dark so I lightened it up with some white. I just hate sittin' around watchin' the boob toob Some progress ... Going back to the eye doc next Tuesday. Maybe get an eyeball transplant ?