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Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/19/2023 in Posts

  1. after 3 months bending wires finally finished this little one , hope you like it
    71 points
  2. Hello, everyone. If you've been following along the build thread, you're well aware that I was nearing the finish line on Hong Kong Models' new A-20G Havoc kit after starting it the day it arrived in June. If you haven't been following the build thread, but want a painfully verbose treatise on the inner workings of this brand new kit, feel free to dive into it and its ~350 photos. If you'd just like to see the photos, here's the gallery. Anyhoo, as I've stated in a number of other threads, I'm fascinated by the SW Pacific campaigns in the early-mid war years. I'm also a fan of big twins in attack configurations. Thus, when I heard that HKM was coming out with an all new A-20G Havoc in gunship configuration, I was excited to say the least. Unfortunately for me, their boxing was strictly marked and built for the European theater. Not to be deterred, I decided to embark on a bit of a journey. For this build, I'd be doing several firsts. To make a Pacific bird, I'd have to scratch build wing bomb racks and teach myself the art of printing my own decals. I'd also push the idea of masking farther than I had ever done before, so that was fun too. In the end, I'm very happy with the results and they feel pretty close to the original. The photos turned out a little weird, unfortunately; I suspect that's due to my camera trying to compensate for the failing evening light. So, things like the speckling on the nacelles and the dust pigments on the wings are much more pronounced than they are in real life. I found a few close up pictures of A-20s with extensive oil spatter all along their fuselage and nacelles aft of the engine, so that was the inspiration there. Anyway, here's "STINKY" of the 3rd BG, 12th BS in New Guinea. According to Michael Claringbould in Pacific Profiles vol. 3, this aircraft survived hostilities and was scrapped in situ after the war. The photo below is one of two taken of her supposedly while she was in Sydney, Australia. The squadron insignia and serial number were the first decals I ever printed for myself. The nose art was done with a mask. I painted the dark drop shadow, then moved the mask to the 10 o'clock position and painted the yellow. Turned out pretty sharp. For grins, I got my SW Pacific fleet out for a photo op, largely because I wanted to see exactly how the B-25 and A-20 compare in size.
    64 points
  3. Miloslav1956

    P-47N-2 Chautauqua

    Project 7/23 1/32 Trumpeter kit, Kits-World decals, Barracuda wheels, HGW wet trasfers stencils & national insignia, All colours MRP
    58 points
  4. Hello guys, this is my recently finished Kotare Spitfire. While I have no special interest in Spitfires and I have very limited knowledge of the subject I have to say that this is the best kit I have ever build so far! Especially from buildability point of view, with logical build steps, great fit, almost no cleaning required, extensive decals and best in class instructions with detailed color callouts and great profiles, the kit has the highest probability to get finished once started. I did not used any other references except the instructions. Truly OOB build except HGW seatbelts and Artscale double sided masks, which btw fit perfectly. I hope that Kotare will raise enough cash to become major player on 1/32 market. I have no doubts that I will buy anything they will release (and I don't mind that it will be small collection of Spitfires ) Jan
    57 points
  5. This is my recently completed build of the 1/32 scale Trumpeter P-47D Razorback kit depicted as Lt. Frank Oiler's mount christened "Eileen" of the 78th Fighter Group of the 84th Fighter Squadron based at Duxford, England in 1944. The list of aftermarket items is relatively short: 1. Barracuda Studios P-47C/D Diamond Tread Main Wheels in resin 2. BarracudaCals P-47 Thunderbolts Part 1 Decals for the Eileen artwork and maintenance stencils (Special Thanks to John Stambaugh!) 3. Montex P-47D Razorback (Trumpeter) Super Mask set for the engine cowling checkers 4. Yahu P-47 Early Instrument Panel 5. Eduard P-47D-20 Interior for Trumpeter The majority of the major markings were painted using custom cut masks. The complete build can be found at:
    55 points
  6. Hi guys! This is my Trumpeter P-38 in 1:32. I used Gunze SM2 metallics - Duralumin and Chrome Silver. I didn't wanted it to be as shiny as airshows RedBull ones so I didn't polished every place - it helped for differentiation of surface, making dull and shiner panels. For sealing I used Vallejo Polyurethane Gloss (kind of Aqua Gloss - not damages metal effects in greater extent). List of changes/added details: - Kagero decals - Pacific Lightnings and Eduard PE into cockpit, Master gun barrels, - cockpit cables, cables in wheel bays, seat moved forwards, side panels in one engine cutted, - changed side mirrors shape, landing light made from scratch, - additional rivets lines added beetwen existing near cockpit, - really, really many of fishing lead grains placed in nose, - landing gear drilled and 1mm steel wire placed inside, side struts are from wire too, magnetized propellers, - outside parts of the wing wasn't glued - it helped handling, model was more elastic which prevented bonds from cracking and more... Kit isn't perfect, nose panels don't fit (canopy too), large amount of weight needed so it's making gun bay opening harder, too large rivets. Geometry checking is needed for correct alignment wing/fuselage. But I'm overall happy with result. More photos in my FB site. Hope you like it!
    55 points
  7. Plm

    HPH Fw 189 Uhu

    Hello, Here is my last build, a very long one with a lot of sanding, test fitting and sometimes the help of boiling water to straighten parts.
    54 points
  8. Hello. I had a pleasure to build at the start of this year my first tamiya 1/32 model, i had it over 3 years along with 2 mustang and mosquito from tamiya in stash but never had a courage to tackle these rather expensive kits before. Well after some smaller scale planes and two years of competition where i achieved over 30 awards, I decided my skill are high enough to take the challenge of this kit. I used HGW seat belts and cockpit decals rest of the kit is OOB with some scratch build detailing love. Im happy to say it already been to several competition and even won some awards! Cheers! I prayed not to summon Cthulhu on this one. I had to add the engine shot because its the best engine i made to this day.
    54 points
  9. Evening guys and gals! I’ve been working on the huge flaps on this beast of late - they are absolutely massive and I imagine vital in providing extra lift to get this behemoth off the ground. These two pics (used purely for illustrative purposes) show them fully deployed as they often were seen when parked up: I set about them by carefully cutting plastic card to the correct shape for the upper and lower skins, bending the upper surfaces carefully in some very hot water (ouch!) to best replicate the aerofoil shape. I then cut out the runners for the flap tracks and scribed some surface detail - incorrectly at first as the plans I was using were wrong! The uppers and lowers were then carefully glued together over a wooden dowel to act as a spar and help keep the aerofoil correct: As with all scratch building, test fit, test fit, test fit… I then made all the rough edges good with Milliput white and added the distinctive bullet fairings beneath - these were actually old and spare H2S scanners from 1/48th Sanger Halifaxes and with some minor mods did the job perfectly! These will then fit the wing like so: And the undersides: I’m well ‘appy with those! Onwards and upwards! Until next time, Tom
    54 points
  10. 54 points
  11. Hi All Yes, another F-16 - I cannot help it.. This is the Royal Danish Airforce F-16AM E-191 - otherwise known as "The Mighty Dannebrog Viper". E-191 was painted like the Danish flag "Dannebrog" in 2019 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Danish flag. It is the oldest unaltered flag in the world and something that we Danes are mighty proud of. Not every country use their flag for celebrations but in Denmark it is used in abundance to celebrate anything and everything so this paintjob turned out to be rather popular. People who have no interest in aviation at all seemed to all know of the existence of this Viper. Because of its popularity, it was decided to leave her in this livery until it was to be retired or sold as the F-35´s would make their way into service, and it has flown in this paint job ever since. Both as an airshow display Viper and on active duty on QRA. You have to wonder what the Russian pilots think when they are intercepted over the Baltic Sea by this F-16... I managed to get myself an invitation to the recent ceremony marking the first F-35´s arriving in Denmark. "Dannebrog" was on static display along with the display pilot "TEO". He let slip that it would be the last time that we would be able to see her in these colors as it was scheduled to be repainted in Grey. Someone asked if it was because the aircraft would be donated to Ukraine and the reply was just a polite smile.. The model is the Tamiya Thunderbird kit converted to an F-16AM. I used a few other aftermarket items to complete the build: PWMP Tail conversion Cross Delta strengthening plates Reed Oak Pilot Quickboost Old Style stabilators Reskit Sidewinders Phase Hangar Resin JHMCS Sensor Custom Masks in cooperation with DN Models I reached out to DN Models @Eagle Driver to see if they could help me design a paint mask set. I cannot thank them enough for dropping everything else to make this happen. Within a week of emailing back and forth with test designs we had a complete set of masks that worked. How cool is that!! It is not the easiest thing to work with bright colors like Red and White and keep some tonal variation without ending up with that "toy look", but I think it turned out ok in the end. I am super happy to have this iconic Viper on display on the shelf. I hope you like it too.. The Dannebrog Display Team have a facebook site if you want to see more of this aircraft and what they are up to: F16 Solo Display /Niels PS: The canopy is not glued into place which is why it sits a little proud in some photos
    53 points
  12. Hello i fairly recently finished this beast. Of course our know suspect is B-24J from bobby boss in 1/32 I used Eduard interior and seat belts PE set and resin wheel, Quick boost proppellers, montech propeller decals and DN models mask set. Kit wasnt that hard to build, lots of dry fitting helped along saly even tho i ommited 90% of rear interior 350g of nose weight erent enough to hold it so i had to use leg to support it in my first attemt then i made some simple diorama stand fot it and glued wires to the wheels and made a hook in fron tone to latch it in place. Personaly i know abaut the wing issue but decided not to get bothered with it and just enjoy the fact i have one of a kind models in my collection. The model comes in four parts, well rather 7 if we count each propeller invidually as i intend to take it to modeling convections and already did! Wing and fulseage are separate and then the proppelers come off. Really challenging was painting the model but it was easier since the wing are removable, dots, roundels, numberts etc were easy, but sharkmout was challenging in the end some brush paint tuch ups were neccesary especially since this "camofluage" was used on H not on J so the chin glass it bit different and lover jaw was 4mm short of the glass so some artistic freedom was used. Hope you guysl like it! Is this some mummy movie reference i am missing? Mentioned gap on charkmouth due to different chin glass After the hand paint correction The mentioned "diorama base"
    53 points
  13. Now don't slap me... I have not shelved the P40.... I was doing an experiment and it got completely out of control... In thinking about what to do next, I am a bit limited in it needs to fit in a 55cm sq display cabinet and I love working from drawings but apart from whats in Aircorps Library they are thin on the ground. I looked at whats in there (which is loads) and went for the I think much maligned and forgotten P39. Technically advanced and actually an interesting airframe to take on given the mid engine & nosewheel, plus the doors to the cockpit allow all of it to be seen I sort of got the bug for it.. in preparing & thinking about it, I was worried about the noseweight needed to stop it being a tailsitter so I thought 'what if I 3D print the tail section..' - this seemed straightforward given the fairly consistent oval cross section.. ..well in 2 days I had designed the fuselage based on drawings... now I am no Rhino expert but using some of the most basic shape forming processes got me here as can be seen by the messy 'creativity'.. ..I can't do complex shapes like the fin tip, or fillet, but basics seemed to work.. ..I also needed a subject, and I think you guys and I might be getting a bit bored with bare metal so while it will be skinned, it will also be painted.. My last two models were USAAF so this one will be AH601 of 601 Squadron. They operated the P39 (P400 version) for a short while and actually only completed one combat mission, but nonethelesss, it works for me.. I was also curious about what, if anything the RAF did to lend lease aircraft in order to make sure mine was accurate - I needed look no further than the Air Ministry Pilots notes... embelished with lovely pics of the wireless fit and the sutton harness..they also carried a 20mm instead of the 37mm prop cannon.. ..having got into a bit of 3D design, where I previously did wheels, spinners etc for my other models I thought why not try getting a printer and trying that yourself too, so after watching Youtube a lot I settled on the Elegoo Saturn 2 and 8K resin printer which with all the stuff including a wash & curing station came in at about £800. I think this will open up the world to my model building and actually will be a business tool for airscale as I look to grow it. Its a steep learning curve, but I just made my first print of the spinner, the fishtail exhausts and the 20mm cannon.. ..the detail is incredible and I am very happy with this for my first calibration - just look at the cooling fins on the 20mm - this is about 1.5mm diameter.. ..the other thing that has kept me busy is preparing the PE for the model - I have never done such an extensive set and this lot is about 900 parts across three nearly A3 sheets.. every one is from the factory drawings which is what gives me the most satisfaction.. ..they are with PPD being made.. now as for printing the fuselage parts, I was given a Flashforge Adventurer 3 for Xmas by my son in law and the bits were printed in PLA which is horrible to work with - it doesn't sand very easily but is incredibly stable & strong. I haave now got some HIPS which Tim tells me is better so will try that. The parts were broken down into substructures which fit within the 15cm x 15cm x 15cm print bed and took about a day to print. I also designed in square holes with 5.3 degrees dihedral to accept brass square spar sections ..the upshot is that in 3-4 days, I got a structure that is strong, light, accurate and represents what would have taken 6 - 8 weeks using traditional methods.. ..enough waffle, I guess you want to see it.. ..to say I am amazed is an understatement, and I wonder where it will end - I may make the whole thing out of 3D! ..anyways, it's just a side project for now, but thought I would share it TTFN Peter
    53 points
  14. just finished the excellent model, best helicopter a have ever built, in fitting and details
    51 points
  15. well, I had a thought one night about how 3D might evolve so things that don't exist, might one day exist This may go nowhere, but is a bit of interesting fun for me. I am going to try and make a whole airframe and do it in such a way that it could be printed as a kit of parts. I will say this though - don''t get excited it may take years and may not work, but it's good practice for me and is a fun side project. I have the Airfix 1/72 kit on it's way for reference, but for now, I just started playing around... ,,and tried printing it out much to learn, not least of which is part thickness & orientation and making it so it can be assembled. Mega challenges like the transparencies I will have to figure out along the way and also things like structural strength in areas that matter, so as I say, little chance of going anywhere, but thought it may be of interest TTFN Peter
    50 points
  16. thanks all Right - it's done... started 29 December 2021, finished 9th May 2023 so 17 months in the making... there are still a few bits to do - mainly the flaps - jury is out on these as while I spent a lot of time making them, I have not seen one picture with the flaps down at rest so I may just close them up... Max helped me out with the masks and they were perfect (thanks Max :)) & lots of bits done in the last weeks to get it pretty much done. i really enjoyed the build and learned a lot so here are some pics... so thats it onto the next one - thanks for coming along for the ride TTFN Peter
    50 points
  17. White 12 is now complete. Here's a link to the build: Here are the final photos. Thanks for looking!
    49 points
  18. Hi All This is a JASDF F-4EJ Kai of the 3rd Wing, 8 Squadron "Black Panthers" based at Misawa Air Base. It is painted in the 50th Anniversary markings of the 3rd Wing in 2007 It is based on the Tamiya F-4EJ kit with some additional goodies. Kopecky Rear end and exhaust Sparkit Ejection Seats Wolfpack F-4EJ Kai ("Kai" is the Japanese word "Modified") conversion set DN Model Paint Masks DXM Decal set It was painted using a combination of Mr. Hobby paints and MRP. - This was part of the Group Build "Turning Japanese" and there is a Build Thread here https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/95291-f-4ej-kai-8th-squadron-jasdf-50th-anniversary-finished/ This was a really fun model to build and I am a bit sad to finish it -luckily there are many cool JASDF aircraft out there waiting to be built Thanks for looking - Now what to build next ; The Tarhe.. AH-64D.. Border Model Lancaster.. another F-16 /Niels
    49 points
  19. Hello! This build from 2019 was inspired while reading the special issue of French magazine “Le Fana de l’Aviation” about the F-105 Thunderchief. A story in particular caught my attention. While on a bombing mission on the 23rd august of 1967, 1st Lt Dave Walrop shot down a first Mig-17 with his gun, before climbing to avoid debris and get back in formation. While coming back from the clouds flying on his back, Waldrop saw another Mig and shot it down too. When he was debriefing at the base, he got a phone call from… Robin Olds himself. From his F-4, this famous pilot was not happy to have seen a F-105 flying on the back and shooting down the mig he was engaging with his radar. This Mig could have been Olds’s fifth Mig Kill, making him twice an Ace. The Kit Trumpeter released this kit back in 2004. The model shows some shape issues as canopy section, nose curvature, mk117 bombs… Details are a bit basics for 1/32nd scale in the cockpit, wheel bays and exhausts. More great info here: thanks @thierry laurent Many aftermarket were used: - Blackbox cockpit 32014 - Master pitot tube AM-32-038 - Quickboost air intake 32068 - Cutting Edge canopy and spine correction CEC32163 (OOP, hard to find) - Aires Wheel bay 2076 - Fisher Wheels A3219 - Eduard F-105 interior 32514 - Eduard F-105 Exterior 32113 - Eduard F-105 armament 32208 - GT Resin Fuselage correction set (nose, camera, ventral fin) - Videoaviation MK117 bombs 163932 Eduard MER 632102 I will add WIP pics in another post. Hope you like it! Romain
    48 points
  20. With apologies to my P39, it is time to nail something new together... I was inspired by the exquisite models on show at Telford to go back to old school model making. My P39 started as an experiment that proved I could make a whole airfame in 3D, but after a long break from any modelmaking as I focused on airscale I found it hard to pick it back up.. Add to that a chance conversation with my friend Torben at SMW about subjects that could inspire me, he mentioned early racers and a bulb in my head went off :). Both he and I like ther S5, but the S6B has so many attributes that suit me - one being it is all metal rather than fabric winged and the other being that the real one is accessible at the Science Museum in London... So here we are... S1595.. ..a beautiful machine.. ..with inspiration in place and many hours of trawling the internet for images, I set off for London to get reference pics - unfortunately it is really badly lit, but 457 pics later I had enough with the disparate plans I found to start drawing out shapes... ..the rear of a float for example.. ..and this aeroplane is covered in a LOT of rivets, especially the wings as the surface doubles as the radiators (which were removed from the slipstream for streamlining).. typical is the float again... ..though where I have been doing complex cockpits in previous models, this one is pretty simple.. ..still room for 3D though, this will become the fuel tank under the instrument panel.. ..with drawings created, I made lots and lots of parts from 1mm card & 2mm cores... I also designed a 3D printed matrix with the bottom of the fuselage and the top of the floats to set the angle and give strength to the struts.. ..the cockpit is going to be tricky as there is just skin and very small thin formers so for now it is part of the core and with brass 'U' channel running down the sides where the real one has a strengthener I hope to cut it all away later ..the 3D core in the fuselage includes holes for the wing spars and you can see on the forward end one of the holes for 3mm brass rod for the strut cores (the other is just visible under the back of the wing).. ..Same for the float tops, though the scars from me getting the angles wrong on the first pass are visible here.. there is also a slot running around it to centre the cores... ..and assembly has started, the fuselage is super slim, literally the size of the engine cross section - the shape will be created by filling the gaps with hard sculpting foam and a skim of P38 filler before skinning.. for now there are just placeholders for the engine blisters as I need to refine the drawings - they are a complex shape.. so that's it - underway with a new project and I am glad to be back at the bench TTFN Peter
    47 points
  21. Plm

    CH-54A TARHE , ICM 1/35

    Hello, Here is my last built and my first helicopter. Very difficult to take good pictures as it's really big.
    47 points
  22. So here we have the final pics of my mammoth HK models 1:32 Lancaster Mk. B.I Special build. The finished aircraft looks spectacular from a sheer size perspective, as you can see from the picture with the 1' rule for scale. The inaccuracies for a kit costing over £300 are well documented and the fixes I've employed are far too numerous to list fully here. But a few have been: Complete rebuild of pilot's plinth and replacement of seat Removal of erroneous dinghy hatch on port wing Lengthening of Navigators table to match specs Addition of accurate instrumentation for a BI not the Mk. X Fit a B.I Flight Engineer's seat as opposed to a Mk. X Fit swivel navigator's seat as opposed to fixed one supplied Install "washing line" canvas sunscreens in canopy Remove erroneous wooden slatting from upkeep mine Built and fit hydraulic submarine motor to spin up mine. Move trailing radio aerial from starboard to port side. I've tried to take a few pics of the iconic shots from 1943 prior to the mission and I've included these as a bit of fun. It's now on its way to a new owner, which is just as well as, with a 1m wingspan, the wife would kill me if I said I was keeping it. Thanks to: Peter at Airscale for his always immaculate cockpit upgrades Top Notch for the insignia masks Thanks for looking as ever. For those interested, the link to the build is HERE
    46 points
  23. Hello, all. If you've been following the build thread, you know that this project was nearing completion. Tonight, after taking the afternoon off, I finally crossed the finish line. As has been my modus operandi of late, I wanted to more or less recreate an historical photograph. For this project, I chose this photo: It's from a fairly well-circulated set of photos and film that were taken either for training purposes, propaganda, or the news reels. In some of the other shots from this series, there's a movie camera crew just out of frame to the right. So, there was something big going on. Also probably explains why the pilot's exiting the wrong side of the aircraft. Anyway, this photo was taken in July of 1943 on Espiritu Santo. The pilot here is one Lt. Virgil Ray, great uncle to our own @ARay87. He did a pretty great write up on Lt. Ray at the WW2 Aircraft forums, so I'll point you there for a great in depth look into the man. Sadly, Lt. Ray was lost in a storm on 13 October, 1943, just a few months after this photo set was taken. Rest in peace, Virgil. I wanted to do this particular aircraft because it had red insignia surrounds (and I've never done those before) some pretty (ahem) unusual weathering. It wasn't until a few weeks into the build that I really realized what I'd gotten myself into. A couple highlights: I sculpted the crew chief from the waist up, using only premade hands and head. I also had to modify his ankles so he would stand up straight on the wing. The base figure was the standing pilot figure included with the Corsair kit. I had to resculpt the pilot's lower legs because the Black Dog Resin figure was in ETO heavy gear. It's still not perfect, but it's a lot better than it was. I also had to resculpt the pilot's hands as the stock figure's hands were nowhere near where they needed to be. I had to build 2 palm trees from scratch. I used Luke Towan's method, but also wrapped the trunks in masking tape to give them a little more texture. Each tree has 38 fronds. I could fit 12 fronds on a sheet of paper in my cutter. Each sheet took 65 minutes. You do the math. I added a ton of wiring detail to the cockpit, engine, and landing gear bay So, in all it was a pretty challenging project and a lot of fun (except the palm fronds) that really pushed my limits, especially the sculpting parts. See the build thread for full details on the sculpting adventures. Aftermarket parts used were: Barracudacast plain tread wheels Anyz canopy frame Quinta studio cockpit interior and harnesses Black Dog Resin pilot figure Though my dio is not a perfect 1:1 recreation of the source image, I feel it captures the essence of the scene. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Tomorrow, I have to build new floating display shelves in the model cave as I have officially run out of display room. Sorry, no under belly shots. The plane is not attached to the base, but there's no good way to set or hold the a/c upside down with the figures in place. It looks nice, you'll just have to trust me.
    46 points
  24. The Douglas TBD-1 Devastator was the US Navy’s premier torpedo bomber when hostilities broke out on December 7th 1941. Six months later it was completely obsolete and removed from combat operations. The subject of my build is from the USS Yorktown VT-3 aircraft (0303) crewed by Harry Corl and ARM3 Lloyd Childers. One the morning of the 4th at approximately 1200hrs Petty Officer Childers spotted smoke 25 miles away to the starboard. Machinist/pilot Harry Corl was able to get the squadron skipper Lt Cdr Massey attention. The skipper made a course correction to head for the nearest carrier (Hiryu). It was reported that at this time the squadron was jumped by approximately 30 Zeros. VT-3 was lucky enough to have 4 F4F Wildcats with them to help fend off the attackers. After what I could only imagine as an agonizing 20-minute slow approach, they were able to release 5 torpedoes. Corl and Childers 0303 had been badly shot up on the approach and the only way to keep airborne was to jettison their torpedo. The following is from Machinist WO/Pilot Harry Corl Mission report date 6-15-42: The free gun had jammed during the fight. Childers, Arm3, my gunner used .45 automatic during the 10 minutes of the attack. Childers was hit in the right ankle causing a compound fracture of the same. He received two hits in his left leg above the knee no broken bones in that leg. I arrived at the Yorktown at 1425 circled it twice and saw that there was no chance of getting aboard. (Yorktown was bombed by Hiryu Vals) So I proceeded over the Enterprise. I attempted to land aboard, but discovered I did not have enough tab control on the elevator to keep the nose up. I landed in the water head and to the starboard of the carrier alongside the destroyer USS Monaghan. The time of the landing was 1510. Ensign Harry Corl was KIA(VT-3 TBF-1) 25 August 1942. Lloyd Childers survived the war and became a Marine Aviator and retired as a Lt Col. This is the Trumpeter 1/32 TBD-1 Devastator from VT-3 USS Yorktown on June 4th 1942 Midway. I added Air Scale products such as the Photo Etch, propeller set, wheels and the single .30cal machine gun. I highly recommend their products. I did bits of scratch building such as adding cockpit wiring, relief tube, two internal windscreen braces (removed the molded on external windscreen braces), wingfold braces and leather pad for the bombardier under the pilots area. I used AK real color for the light grey bottom Model master Blue/grey for the top and AK for the interior green for the crew areas. I have seen some debate on-line about this, what color? But for me seeing the pics of sunken TBD’s aircraft from the discovery of the USS Lexington at the battle of Coral Sea. Interior green is also stated in TBD’s Devastators in action book(The Old One). Another debate is whether what squadrons carried the twin .30’s. It is very obvious that VT-8 for sure had them and I have seen some documentation that VT-6 (USS Enterprise) may have also had them. After many hours of research, I came to the conclusion that VT-3 only had the single.30. I came to this by listening to several recorded interviews With Mr. Lloyd Childers. And in the end, there is just no conclusive proof they carried the twins. I also used Hawaiian Air Depot masks for the A/C numbers and the insignias. I had previously bought the Gold Medal decal but figured painting over the corrugation would be far easier then decals. But I am glad I purchased it because they come with aircraft data. If anyone has seen what Trumpeter did with their data decals….well. Rod WIP Pics
    46 points
  25. tomprobert

    1/32 Short Stirling

    Howdy, partners… I’ve now completed the main bomb bay structure as well as the wing bomb cells on the Stirling. 250+ pieces of individually cut Evergreen has got the job done - quite tedious but the results are worth it. There will still be some more to add when the bomb load goes in such as racks and some piping, plus the doors of course. On the real aircraft the divider between the gear bays and the outermost bomb cell is actually open with the truss work exposed, but I’ve gone for strength over accuracy as beefy card is needed for the wheel bays and general wing structure to give it enough strength to support the model. I need to finish off the main gear bays but I’ve had enough if cutting plastic strip for the time being so will focus on something else! All the best, Tom
    46 points
  26. Hi guys! Italeri newest release, overall fine fit with raw surface and good interior details. I changed look of elevators and rudder, corrected fuselage wide lines and erased few on wings, added some cables and missing things in engine compartment. Corrected by a bit spinner too. I've made some rivets by painting from handmade masks and using watercolor crayons. WIP MC.202 Duo Camo
    45 points
  27. Hi Gents, Here is my Tamiya Zero, a good kit except for the silly mechanisms to make the landing gears and doors movable - corrections are time consuming. You'll also need to work on the engine/engine mount for a perfect fit with the cowlings in place. I used the excellent tweak list available here. I used RB production seatbelts, master barrels, Barracuada tires (for Spitfire originally), all excellent. AK Real and Tamiya paints, painted markings and HGW wet transfers. Tristan
    44 points
  28. I have always wanted to do this project and now being able to draw and print in 3D it makes things more inviting to me than scratch building. I plan to cover the airframe with embossed(rivets)aluminum and leave it "Bare Metal", Hopefully.... The parts are as large as I can print on my printer which is a Anycibic Photon Mono X. I printed the airframe parts with relatively thin skin, .030, so that it won't get too bulky with the aluminum skin applied to the surface. I hope to be able to use a fairly heavy primer on the interior surface so that I can spray a bare metal finish to the interior of the bombardier/navigator's compartment and the area below the flight deck. I plan on installing the "cheek" gun positions but I have had difficulty trying to draw them for printing, I want to print them as vacuum form patterns so that I can pull clear petg for the windows but I also want to form the aluminum skin over the same pattern for the clear piece to live under and add the assembly to the airframe. Pat
    44 points
  29. Hello all and i hope everyone is well This is the my Tamiya Spitfire which was going to be Johnny Johnson's Triple X beer barrel bomber but it......didnt. The issue arose that i was going to try and have the barrels and pylons removable as i do like the clean lines of the Spit, but the magnets that i had installed werent strong enough to hold the resin barrels and pylons flush to the wing surface, so i ditched the idea in the end. This kit build nice and easily, i add the Red Fox Studio IP set, painted with Tamiya paints plus used my own mask sets for the camo and all the insignia and serials. All comments welcome :-)
    44 points
  30. This kit is a pure magic. Absolutely fun build. It took about a week. I messed up few things due to my own arrogance and clumsiness. But the overall feeling is a pure joy. Thanks to William for the kit itself , I missed out on the initial order and he was kind and generously thoughtful to get extra one for my grubby fingers. He also provided guidance along the way. I have to admit my knowledge of the subject is minimal and his help was immense and badly needed. And finally a big thanks to the Kotare team for their efforts resulting in this amazing kit. Cheers Martin More pictures HERE
    44 points
  31. Hi all, The engines have been my recent focus, and considering the Stirling shared the same ‘power-egg’ as the Beaufighter, I utilised the cowls and engines (from the Revell Beau) which has made work much easier - considering all you get in the kit are these bumps in plastic: First up, I assembled the cowls themselves, tarting them up a bit with some Evergreen and plastic card: The engines from Revell are actually quite good out of the box, and considering everything is black and very little will be visible, I built them OOB, painted them satin black and weathered them lightly with some oils. Atop the engine nacelles are big carb and supercharger intakes. The MkIII Stirling had a longer intake than the earlier MkI, and handily the Revell Beau gives a good starting point to use. These were sliced and then extended with Evergreen: And then blended with filler: Next, the finished power-eggs were mounted to the plastic card firewalls I’d made previously when constructing the wings, the intakes added to the 12 o’clock position on the cowlings, and viola! A lot of this work has taken place al fresco as it’s been so warm of late: So, here we are as of now: I need to have a think about the oil coolers which hang low under the nacelles, but that’s a job for another day. All the best, Tom
    44 points
  32. Hi All This is an F-16A from the Royal Danish Airforce painted in special markings to commemorate the disbandment of ESK 726 in 2005. Denmark originally operated 4 F-16 squadrons based at different locations. In the early 2000´s it was decided to gather all aircraft at one location at FSN Skrydstrup into what became Fighter Wing Skrydstrup. ESK 726 (726 Squadron) operating out of FSN Aalborg was as a result disbanded. E-195 from ESK 726 was painted with this very special tail to commemorate the proud heritage of the squadron flying F-84, F-86, F-104 and ultimately F-16´s. The callsign of the squadron is Phantom. Being a pure Fighter Squadron the load out below was quite often standard and it was not until the Saab Drakens and F-100 Super Sabre´s were phased out that the F-16 fleet started to focus on "Mud-Moving" in earnest as well The model is based on the Tamiya Thunderbirds kit with a few modifications. The airframe was undergoing MLU updates at the time but had still not had its stabilators updated so I used the Quickboost set to backdate. The UHF antenna and air data probe were also still in the old locations and were modified. The tail was converted using the PWMP set and I added a searchlight just below the port side RWR. (They are present on all single seat F-16´s in the RDAF). Danish F-16´s are painted in lighter shades of grey than the standard USAF versions which is very noticeable when viewed next to each other. The stabilators are also painted in light grey on both sides making them quite unique. I love the simplicity of these special markings and I personally think its one of the best looking F-16´s ever. It was a true pleasure trying to replicate it and do it justice in 1/32 scale Thanks for looking /Niels
    44 points
  33. Hello, Some photos of my last finished project. Trumpeter MIG-29. Painted in a Ukranian digital camo scheme. Paint used was MRP & I used DN masks for the digital camo. Added Quinta cockpit set & Reskit HARM missiles & adapter rails. Added wires & pipes to the landing gear & some details added to cockpit. Thanks for looking & all comments welcome.
    43 points
  34. my last assembly, another mustang but with a nice halberdmodel conversion
    43 points
  35. Within a month or so Archer will be operating again under new management, and there's a little twist that might just interest you, but don't tell anybody, it's a secret. The website is back for training purposes, and you can order from it same as always. ARCHER LINK
    43 points
  36. More transparency work of late, this time huge steps have been taken with the canopy. The kit part was always suspect in my opinion - it just looked too big, windscreen shape was totally off and the sides too vertical: Something like this would really bug me, so I was thinking about making my own by either doing a master and vacforming it or alternatively doing the framing, much like the bomb aimer’s section, and dropping in the clear pieces using acetate. Then I had an idea… why not get in touch with one of the greatest model makers of our time, Peter at Airscale? And low and behold… And a comparison with the kit part: Here we now have a beautifully printed cockpit framing that will sit on top of a new vac canopy. As the pictures show I originally cut the fuselage to fit the kit part so some work is going to be needed here to get the fit right, but I’m delighted with Peter’s handy work! I’m currently working in finishing off the gear bays so the cockpit will have to wait for a while, but for once I can’t wait to get started on the cockpit and it’s interior - which is usually a job I hate! More when there’s more… Tom
    42 points
  37. Edit: 19 November - see end of thread. Not exactly, but...... Most of you know that Harold of AMS Resin announced his retirement from resin casting recently, and that AMS Resin would close up shop as a result. However, Harold has been gracious enough to allow my wife and I to acquire all of his molds, masters, equipment, and his blessing to continue producing his great designs under our own business! So, over the next month or two, we will be sorting through everything, cataloguing it all, getting set up, and casting some tests to make sure we can match the level of quality that AMS Resin delivered. We will also be adding some new items of our own design to the lineup. While I’ve done quite a bit of casting for my own use, I have nowhere near the experience Harold does, so please bear with us as we develop our business plan and get things up to speed. As both of us have full time jobs (and I have a second part-time one), we will not be able to spend as much time on this as Harold did, so we will likely do it on a much smaller scale. Stay tuned, and I will keep you posted here as those decisions are made. In the mean time, what you can do to help us is to let us know what AMS Resin items you would most like to see come to market again. As we sort through things, we will watch out for those items and make sure we give those a shot first. Feel free to post it here, or contact me via PM. Once we get the business properly set up, I will provide a new e-mail for direct contact. Thanks a bunch, and a BIG thanks again to Harold for trusting us with his excellent work! Tim & Christie B&B Resin Design
    42 points
  38. I present to you the well-known trumpeter kit in which I have used the following aftermarket products. Undercarriage,seat belts and mask by Eduard Cockpit by red fox Pitot tube by Master Wheels by Reskit PE by profimodeler The camouflage's colours are by Gunze
    42 points
  39. tomprobert

    1/32 Short Stirling

    A bit of progress on the bomb bay. An exercise in Evergreen and patience! I’ve made 238 pieces of individual strip so far - and counting! The wing bays will be next - more piccies when done! Tom
    42 points
  40. Hello all, this is my effort to do a Lakenheath F-15C from the Tamiya kit. I choose to do 84-0027 as it had an odd 'camo splat' on the horizontal stabilisers and it had quite a hard edged camouflage, the F-15C's seem to have a mix of soft-edged and hard-edged schemes. So to do this scheme i made my own mask set for it, which made it a lot easier. The add-ons to the basic kit were Red Fox Studios cockpit set, Reskit AMRAAM's and burner cans plus i used PK Productions 'BIG USAFE MOD EAGLES' decals.....all three are excellent products, plus my own masks DM Scale Models Camo and Canopy set. Hope you all like it, it was a nice build and turned out well i think.
    42 points
  41. Please join me in welcoming the team from ResKit as our latest sponsor! As many of you will be aware, ResKit is based in war-torn Ukraine, but still manages to be one of the most prolific aftermarket producers in the modelling community. Not only that, but many of their products are aimed at improving LSP kits, helping our little niche in the hobby tremendously. Welcome aboard, guys! Kev
    42 points
  42. Hi gents I am happy to share with you my last build . this is the Tam’s E converted to the G version ..as I didn’t want to spend too much money on AF market sets ( but little bit though ), I sratchbuilt the main components, namely the chin pod, the vertical fin antenna, the belly reinforcement strap... I focused the main improvements in the cockpit , I scratbuilt the rear bulkheads as well the side walls , I used the "Redfox" IP and console sets, however dedicated to the Revell kit . I admit that I naively thought that they only needed a few adjustments, but obviously , they are not intended for the Tamiya kit , I struggled a bit to adapt the aft IP.. indeed it seems that the Revell IP are oversized compared to the Tam's kit, well the result is not so bad . Some wires into the gear bays as well on the legs ... the seats are from " quickboost " , decals are from " speed hunter graphic ", outerwing sections are from Isracast ....... hope you 'll like her bad smile ... was it a cool "trip " ?? I struggled a bit sometime , but .... not so bad .... so as I usually say ............enjoy ..........or not cheers Alain pictures were taken outdoor pictures indoor
    41 points
  43. Hello! So! finally finished! After an almost 3 years stand by. I used some aftermarket: - Eduard photoetch - Master barrels - Legend bays and folding sets - Werner wings stencil decals - Reedoak figure paints are Mr color laquer c308 and mrp 105. Weathering with oils, mostly mig oilbrushers. Again I felt very frustrated with the figurine painting. I tried again the uncle Nightshift hack with black primer, zenithal white and filters. But... Again I did not succeed. The base color are acrylics from vallejo but I tried to paint the highlights and shadows with oils. And I think I liked to do that way. The build will be detailed in a 2024 edition of french magazine Cocardes. Now some pics! Romain
    40 points
  44. Done! Lots of firsts in this build, and Improving my photography skills wasn't one of them. Overall, a typical of Special Hobby's earlier offerings, with plenty of opportunity to use good ol' Basic Modelling Skills The paint scheme was surprisingly straight forward, if a bit monotonous. The drawn out build can be found Here Make sure not to stare, lest it traps you in its gaze... All hail the Hypno-Fiat! Paints used were MRP. Thanks for checking it out! Denzil.
    40 points
  45. Well, finally das is it! My first 109. OOB, with PE seatbelts, canopy masks and Quickboost tropical filter. I made many mistakes from which I have learned for the future. It is what it is and I'm mostly satisfied with how she turned out. Among other things, I obviously need to work on my canopy painting skills. I was lazy and just wanted to finish her so the tires are not weighted, although it would definitely look better. Maybe I will do it one day... Anyway, on to the pics: And some WIP cockpit pics: WIP link here:
    40 points
  46. Hi everyone I wanted to present you my latest model, which shows a miniature of the PZL P.11 prototype no. V. This aircraft was presented in 1934 during the 14th International Air Show in Paris. I built it on the basis of a 1/32 scale PZL P11c aircraft model kit by IBG, or two such kits in fact. This was due to the fact that there are quite a lot of differences between the prototype and the serial P11c aircraft, despite the fact that both aircraft have the same marking painted on the vertical stabilizer. All these nuances, it would seem, are quite important and together with the occasional silver-red painting, they make this plane stand out from all the other PZL P.11c. These differences were meticulously picked out from the analysis of archival photos and documents and I decided to show them all so that the final effect was as close as possible to the appearance of the prototype. Below is a list of these differences, although it cannot be ruled out that this is only part of them and perhaps in the future it will be possible to expand it. - The horizontal stabilizer had elevators with a larger area and a different shape. - Chassis with aero fairings and Dunlop low pressure wheels. - Elevator trim tabs of a rectangular shape with an external drive. - Longer recess for the barrels of hull rifles, extending to the firewall. - Different division of plating elements in the truss part of the hull. - Larger side panels for access to hull armament. - Different layout and form of the entrance steps to the cockpit. - Hull hand grips in the form of openings with flaps at the height of the windshield. - Higher windshield without rear view mirror. - Another form of upholstery of the periphery of the pilot's cabin. - Covering with corrugated sheet additional panels on the upper surface of the wings near the fuselage. - Different location of the Venturi nozzle on the hull. - No longitudinal ventilation holes in the engine crankcase cover. - No ventilation holes, so-called. "gills", in the fuselage behind the engine in front of the firewall. - No radio station. - Missing access panel to the radio station in the semi-monocoque part of the fuselage. - No antenna installation on the fuselage and wings. - No generator drive cover on the right side of the hull behind the engine. - Missing one of the rudder drive inspection holes in the rear fuselage. - No bomb launchers under the wings. - No bomb release lever in the cockpit. During the conversion, I made a lot of components from scratch and used a lot of commercial add-ons (Archer, Bitskrieg, Master, Yahu, Part and Edurad). I put a lot of work into reducing the thickness of the trailing edges in the lifting and steering surfaces of the model. From scratch I made an imitation of the entire riveting on the fuselage and partly on the wings and stabilizers. A different layout of the prototype's hull panels required re-creating most of the dividing lines. I also made an imitation of small deflections on the fuselage and wings simulating deformations on the skin as a result of technological and utility processes. For the purposes of the presentation, I made a small base inspired by archival photos from the exhibition in Paris. And the model looks like this: The model premiered last weekend at the modeling championships in Bytom. He received the first place in his category and the prestigious "Black Diamond". Now a small collection has been created Best regards, Marcin :-)
    40 points
  47. This is the model of one of many G.3s serving in Bydgoszcz Pilot School in the years 1921-1927. The example 15-18 was photographed around 1926. The lovely CSM model had to be modified to the Polish post-war version which most striking difference was in the aileron lateral control replacing the original wing warping - I have done it basing on a couple of blurred photos and unconfirmed scale drawings from several sources, let me call it an educated guess. The decals with numerals and masks for Polish national markings were provided by Mr. Decal. All in all a very pleasing project ended in a result, which I deem differs substantially from many other great builds of this great CSM kit. I hope you will enjoy these couple of photos.
    40 points
  48. Hi, everyone! Because I just can't stop building big twins for which I have precisely zero room, it's time to add the HKM A-20G Havoc to the display shelf! My SprueBrothers pre-order just arrived today (sans the promised mask set, which SB is already fixing) after several months' waiting. To say I'm excited for this kit is an understatement. I have a soft spot for SW Pacific gunships and when I heard that HKM was doing an A-20G, I vowed that it would be a bench clearer... and here we are. My aim for this is to build the kit out of the box with the exception of the paint scheme and markings which will likely be custom done via my mask cutter. I will be doing something from the SW Pacific, but exactly what is yet to be decided. My super awesome wife bought me the Pacific Profiles A-20 volume for Father's day, so that should be here soon and will help me decide which aircraft I want to model. I'm going to try to document pretty much every step as I go along so that those who follow in my footsteps may learn from my (admittedly often self-induced) mistakes. Here's the box. Everything is nicely packed and arrived unharmed. Note the nose weights in the small bag stapled to the inner box (far left, just barely visible). I like the way HKM seals their bags. The adhesive strip on a flap makes it easy to get at the sprues without having to cut everything out. Everything is out, organized and ready to go. I'm not going to dive into detail on the sprue layout or molding quality as that's been covered in quite a few places in the run up to release. Steps 1 and 2 have you build the cockpit. Here is the factory seat and PE seatbelt. The PE is nice and thin and, after annealing, sat nicely. Note that I think the lap belts are illustrated backwards in the instruction manual. I believe I have them placed correctly here with the square tip across the seat and the triangular anchor at the side of the seat. The instructions are a little small for the seatbelt PE, so take your time and test fit. It's not overly complex like an HGW set, so it's fairly straight forward, but for some reason, the way the instructions were laid out for the PE was hard for my brain to visualize. Basic dry fit. I tend not to glue bulkheads together until I can see how they slot into the fuselage halves. Nothing like getting all the way through an interior build just to find that you glued them together incorrectly and now the interior parts don't fit into the attachment points of the fuselage. The armor plate aft of the pilot. This part contained the only ejector pin marks that I've thus far felt compelled to cleanup. Ejector marks don't bother me too much if they're in an area that won't be seen after construction, so I don't bother cleaning them up. There are a few on the aft bulkhead behind the seat, but they'll be invisible, so there they shall stay. And the doodads and whatsits behind the pilot's rear bulkhead. Step three has you move on to the nose landing gear. It goes together well without any major fuss, though the fit of part H54 (the little knob sticking up off the side of the strut isn't super well illustrated in the instructions. You can see it more clearly in these shots. On H54, there is a small cutout for a corresponding knob on the gear strut which wasn't obvious in the instructions until I got out my magnifying glass. Here you can see it in the proper position. The nose landing gear fully assembled (but mostly dry fit). The nose tire has very nice molding detail for the treads and sidewalls. The hub is keyed to the yoke so that the tire's flat spot (presumably) sits right where it'll need to. You can just see the flat spot on the bottom of the "axle" which provides the key in the photo below. Here we have the instrument panel. A decal is provided for the instruments, so we'll see how that turns out. I've had mixed luck with decals over IPs in the past. If I were patient (I'm not), I would have waited on building this kit till I could get the aftermarket IP that... someone... (I forget) is coming out with soon. Outside of that, the molded detail is very nice and crisp and should paint up splendidly. I've left everything dry fit here so just in case the decal IP goes to hell in a handbasket, I can replace with aftermarket as necessary. This pic also shows some of the detail molded onto the back of the seat... which will absolutely never be seen once the cockpit is together. That's it for tonight. I'm pretty jazzed on this one, so I intend to move pretty quickly on it. Be sure to follow along!
    40 points
  49. Here I present my build of the Fokker DR.I #425/17 in its early days. This Meng kit is well detailed and mine presented additional work due to mis-aligned mold halves, in addition to the usual warped wings and broken fuselage panel. Thanks for looking in!
    40 points
  50. Let's inspect some details - The underside with the gear bays: The main landing gear: Most of the landing gear and gear doors are 3D printed. Tim Perry in the UK printed these up for me from Rhino 7 digital models I created myself. Scratch built tail feathers: Aluminum skinning should be in evidence - the tail area was the most difficult of all to skin. Tail wheel: Almost the entire tail wheel and support were 3D printed. Also the tail hook and the doors Wing trailing edge (flaps and ailerons): That last one shows the effects of the "double hairspray" method of chipping two layers to expose both yellow zinc chromate and bare metal. The ailerons, BTW, are 3D printed. The prop and nose cowling: Both items (prop hub and blades, nose cowl) are 3D printed. This aircraft (#17 VF-17 Pilot Roger Hedrick) had a white painted prop spinner to identify his flight. Other flights had other colors (black, red, etc). Also note the open cowl flaps - another big sub-project. Cockpit, windshield, and canopy: Windshield is scratch built; the canopy salvaged and heavily modified. The cockpit is a bit dark (sorry) - other than the engine, it was the largest and most complicated sub-project of all! Engine compartments open: There's that engine! The cowl panels are held in place by little magnets. More: You can see the magnets. The engine accessories compartment is chalk full of 3D printed parts. I am especially proud of the engine accessories compartment - it was an integration nightmare that had a good ending. Many fellow modelers helped me out on this effort. I got technical advise from Kaeone57 and TAG and OldBaldGuy. I got modeling technique advise from Airscale, Thunnus, and others. Painting advise from Chuck540z3, Thunnus, others. Airscale also provided me some of the decals, and aluminum sheet for skinning - all free of charge. Thunnus provided stencils for the numerals - also free of charge. It also helped to have a retired Naval Aviator looking in - Easixpedro. I am going to forget somebody, darn it. I'll come back and edit if/when I recall. I must give a shout-out to Airscale Library for all their technical information - drawings, manuals, catalogues. It's just amazing. Also the books I bought - Dana Bell volumes 7 and 8, Lee Cook's "Skull and Crossbones Squadron", and the huge "R-2800 - Pratt & Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece" by Graham White. I would like to thank all my dozens of followers on the build thread who were patient during 4 1/2 years, and kept me going with kind and enthusiastic comments - it's great to be an LSP-er! I hope you like the big F4U. It's a far cry from its beginnings. Thank you for looking in!
    40 points
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